Sitting here in YBM's office in Seoul with Monica listening to Daniel Powter and trying to stay cool. Daniel and Ross are with Alaina doing an interview with the press. I think. It's very peaceful. We're kinda stuck here because we're not sure how to get back to our hotel. It's ok, I have power, I have wireless (I think I'm stealing it from a nearby Starbucks), I have over half of Season 6 of 24, and I have some weird honey drink. I'm good to go.
This is my first time actually crossing the Korean border - last time, we only had a layover an Incheon Airport, where we had some really good bibimbap on our way to China. I have to say, as a city, it doesn't really impress, but I keep thinking, this is the place where FINKL and SES and HOT and all those Kpop bands I used to love are based! Though.... I don't think those bands are really popular anymore.
I am very tired though. Still jet-lagged. And our bed is really hard, and the towels have a weird odor to it. Come to think of it, so do the pillows.... maybe it's the detergent they use?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Gassing down to a stop
I finally did it. I finally made the decision to go from the 89 grade gas to the 87 (regular.....cheapest) grade gas. My car might be bumpy for a while, but honestly, a Camry doesn't justify more expensive gas.
I'm also making the resolution to keep my speedometer under 70 mph. My speedometer reads 5 mph faster than actual speed, so I'm trying to keep my max speed to under 65 mph. Mostly to see whether or not I see higher mileage over the next few weeks.
Driving slower is really more a psychological test of restraint than anything, because I'm used to driving with the flow of traffic, which is ... well, a lot faster than 65 mph. So today on the way home, I had all these cars speeding by me, no doubt peeking in to see just how old of an old lady I am. It takes all my self-restraint to not speed up and overtake them all! I'm thinking of putting a sign on my back window that says something like "Slow Down, Save Gas!" I mean, I have my pride to think about!
In any case, I won't have to worry about getting speeding tickets.
I'm also making the resolution to keep my speedometer under 70 mph. My speedometer reads 5 mph faster than actual speed, so I'm trying to keep my max speed to under 65 mph. Mostly to see whether or not I see higher mileage over the next few weeks.
Driving slower is really more a psychological test of restraint than anything, because I'm used to driving with the flow of traffic, which is ... well, a lot faster than 65 mph. So today on the way home, I had all these cars speeding by me, no doubt peeking in to see just how old of an old lady I am. It takes all my self-restraint to not speed up and overtake them all! I'm thinking of putting a sign on my back window that says something like "Slow Down, Save Gas!" I mean, I have my pride to think about!
In any case, I won't have to worry about getting speeding tickets.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Modern Human Circus
We saw Zumanity tonight - the Cirque du Soleil show at New York New York in Las Vegas. While I would say a good portion of it is gratuitous sexuality and trashy humor, it was overall a well-put-together show with many metaphorical aspects of the circuses of old. (We watched Mystere last time, and whereas Mystere had more acrobatics, Zumanity felt like a better show overall.)
The whole concept behind Cirque du Soleil is to create a circus that doesn't use animals. As a side note, a great book about how they treat circus animals in the heyday of circuses is Water for Elephants. Instead, the focus is on humans, and acrobatics and such. What struck me about Zumanity was how many aspects of a traditional circus they incorporated into the show. Examples are as follows.
In Zumanity, they had the concept of a ringmaster (who is a transvestite in this case, which also takes care of the Bearded Lady staple of circuses), a main ring (the main act that everyone watches), side rings (the background dancers and minor acts off to the side during the main act), the clowns (in Zumanity's case, two "merchants" of sex goods - complete with dildos and scotch baggies), the "animal" (a guy called the "Beast" who didn't speak - only growled), the lions in a cage (two men who "fought" in a rubber cage, lots of sexual tension that culminated in a kiss - to both cheers and boos), freaks (the Rubber Band Man - crazily double-jointed dude who did seemingly painful things with his body), and of course, the acrobats.
The show really doesn't NEED to have nudity in it. It's completely gratuitous. And, I feel, distracts from the show itself. The nudity is a spectacle, and probably a huge reason why people see it. Because of it, the technicalities of the show are lacking. It's much less exciting in terms of the acrobatics than some of the other shows.
But, as I said before, a show that is very well done and put together. I enjoyed it immensely.
The whole concept behind Cirque du Soleil is to create a circus that doesn't use animals. As a side note, a great book about how they treat circus animals in the heyday of circuses is Water for Elephants. Instead, the focus is on humans, and acrobatics and such. What struck me about Zumanity was how many aspects of a traditional circus they incorporated into the show. Examples are as follows.
In Zumanity, they had the concept of a ringmaster (who is a transvestite in this case, which also takes care of the Bearded Lady staple of circuses), a main ring (the main act that everyone watches), side rings (the background dancers and minor acts off to the side during the main act), the clowns (in Zumanity's case, two "merchants" of sex goods - complete with dildos and scotch baggies), the "animal" (a guy called the "Beast" who didn't speak - only growled), the lions in a cage (two men who "fought" in a rubber cage, lots of sexual tension that culminated in a kiss - to both cheers and boos), freaks (the Rubber Band Man - crazily double-jointed dude who did seemingly painful things with his body), and of course, the acrobats.
The show really doesn't NEED to have nudity in it. It's completely gratuitous. And, I feel, distracts from the show itself. The nudity is a spectacle, and probably a huge reason why people see it. Because of it, the technicalities of the show are lacking. It's much less exciting in terms of the acrobatics than some of the other shows.
But, as I said before, a show that is very well done and put together. I enjoyed it immensely.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Bag Chair Man - or, an Outrageous Episode
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”
“My bag’s on it.”
I looked around. Every other chair in sight had a tush in it.
This was the exchange I had with an obviously petty, cankerous (and rather overweight and unhealthy-looking) fellow while waiting for dinner (before watching a truly amazing production of Fortinbras – Dagney Kerr, the actress who played Kathy, Buffy’s annoying college roommate in the beginning of Season 4, was starring as the ghost of Ophelia). Juliana had reserved us tickets as industry, meaning we didn’t have to pay for the $20 show. So we caught dinner at this place called Pitfire Pizza right down the street from the theatre, and it must have been popular because there were no tables left.
We positioned ourselves on a knee-high ledge bordering the perimeter of the restaurant, and secured one of the cheap red plastic chairs – the only piece of furniture we had – all tables were taken. The plan was to use the ledge as a table, and to find one more chair. That’s when I approached the fellow sitting next to us, who had only one dining companion, but three chairs (and a table to boot!).
Needless to say, we failed in finding another chair, but made do with the ledge, and had a wonderful dinner while staring daggers into the back of Petty Bag Chair Man.
What happened to the good ol’ days (or just places other than LA – ie: 1952 Alabama) when people gave up their own seats for others? Now we’re in competition with bags.
And it wasn’t even a nice bag. It was like an oversized man-purse.
“My bag’s on it.”
I looked around. Every other chair in sight had a tush in it.
This was the exchange I had with an obviously petty, cankerous (and rather overweight and unhealthy-looking) fellow while waiting for dinner (before watching a truly amazing production of Fortinbras – Dagney Kerr, the actress who played Kathy, Buffy’s annoying college roommate in the beginning of Season 4, was starring as the ghost of Ophelia). Juliana had reserved us tickets as industry, meaning we didn’t have to pay for the $20 show. So we caught dinner at this place called Pitfire Pizza right down the street from the theatre, and it must have been popular because there were no tables left.
We positioned ourselves on a knee-high ledge bordering the perimeter of the restaurant, and secured one of the cheap red plastic chairs – the only piece of furniture we had – all tables were taken. The plan was to use the ledge as a table, and to find one more chair. That’s when I approached the fellow sitting next to us, who had only one dining companion, but three chairs (and a table to boot!).
Needless to say, we failed in finding another chair, but made do with the ledge, and had a wonderful dinner while staring daggers into the back of Petty Bag Chair Man.
What happened to the good ol’ days (or just places other than LA – ie: 1952 Alabama) when people gave up their own seats for others? Now we’re in competition with bags.
And it wasn’t even a nice bag. It was like an oversized man-purse.
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