My 9 Fave Flicks

It was all quiet on the western front tonight. Still reeling from El Flu, I visited the 'rents and made it a Blockbuster nite. My eagerly awaited rental of The Grudge, however, was postponed upon discovering that they just released The Forgotten. Still recalling the trailer where Julianne Moore frantically tears back wallpaper revealing child scrawls, I convinced my Dad that this was a quality night in the making.

I liked it, Mom criticized it intermittently (along with asking a multitude of questions that would be answered if she just quietly watched the movie), Dad fell asleep. and Grandma came in to snag 2 kernels of popcorn before going to bed at 9:30. Tough crowd.

Whenever I go rent a movie, I can never recall many that I actually have been waiting to see. I'm not sure if it's the way Blockbuster only highlights recent releases or whether my memory just plain sucks, but if I were forced to go to the old school aisles categorized by department, I wouldn't know what movie to pick out. With so many flicks flying by all the time, this is a crying shame.

So, while this list won't help me any longer, perhaps it will aid you with your next night in. Renter need not beware, viewer satisfaction guaranteed :).

Dodger's Top 9 not-so-obvious* Movies (* this list does not include the popular blockbuster types no doubt everyone's seen/knows of/knows they're good):

1. The Ring - probably the only truly scary movie I've seen seeing Exorcist/Poltergeist when I was a kid. Hey, given how jaded most of us our, real scary movies are hard to come by.
2. Spellbound - Oh yes, it's a documentary on the spelling bee. Then again, I got beat in the county round by an autistic kid who put his hands in his pants each time he spelled a word and still harbors dreams of the golden stage ;).
3. The Hunt For Deep October (or, as some may call it, Red October...)- Denzel and Hackman - power struggles personified. The claustrophobic, deep sea element is the perfect pressure cooker.
4. Amelie - Cute. Fun. You will go to sleep a happier person.
5. Shakespeare In Love - Maybe it's cuz I like proving I can understand languages other than plain English (see all Alberto-related posts), but I found this movie really fun. Not recommended, however, for those who suffered the shakes when studying Shakes.
6. The Negotiator - Spacey and Jackson in a fantastic faceoff. If you like mental battles and rhetoric, this is a must-see. Also good for dealing with car salesmen.
7. The Shawshank Redemption - A tricky name makes remembering it even trickier at Blockbuster. But if you are one of the poor few who haven't been clued in to catch this, GO NOW. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman (before he adopted Ashley Judd) are incredible. Go go go! (surprisingly, Stephen King penned this)
8. The Assassin (or, as some may call it, The Professional)- Rapport can make or break a movie. The French guy and Natalie Portman (her debut) definitely do the former. A warm, thoughtful movie amidst bullets and blood.
9. Monsoon Wedding - A Bollywood flick prepped for the casual American audience. This is fast, colorful, and ultra-festive. Much like real Indian weddings - which, I attest, are very much like the one in this movie (monsoon optional).

Now, I could only come up nine recommendations, so that's that. Happy renting.

As for your own faves, I'd love to hear them!

Rip Van Winkle

16 hours! I cannot believe I slept for 16 hours... that is like going to work and sleeping in my cube all day -- twice in a row. egads.

so i had limped home from work on Friday, amidst a renewed assault by my friendly flu. i could barely crawl into bed before passing out. suddenly nothing seemed better than my coccoon - neither bathroom nor kitchen could tempt me out of getting up. fast forward to now, a brand new day.

i hope i don't have bed sores.

Red Pill Blue Pill

Good evening everyone, on this fine 1am evening...

I'm fresh from poker at nabster's (4th place thanks to some massive slow-playing) and still sick of being sick. well, at least the fever's gone. now all i have to contend with is my niagara falls of a nose. y'know...i was wondering -- why IS it we get so dehydrated when we are sick? Is it simply from blowing our noses too much? Where exactly does all our moisture go? Strange indeed. Sidebar to come should I ever discover the answer to this oh-so-worthy secret of the universe.

Today's announcements:

• mark this day, for my friend just got the news of her life. i couldn't be happier :).
  
• happy bday lizzo fo shizzo! welcome to club geezer. her blog's posted on the left.
• today, my cubemate next door, sansan schadenfreude, asked me for the third time what my blog url was. then, she balked when i suggested she bookmark it. nice peeps, nice peeps.

And without further ado, onto today's pondering: Red Pill Blue Pill.

If I were Neo, I woulda been stuck at square one. When offered the choice of the red pill or blue pill, the movie would have screeched to a standstill as I evaluated the ramifications of each decision as far as I could possibly foresee. I'd try to figure out the upsides and downsides for each choice, then compare and contrast, slice and dice, and due diligence it to death. they could use that cool Matrix bullet time slo-mo special effect on me as I tried to decide -- only I wouldn't be moving due to decision paralysis. Maybe it was a good thing I passed on the role. Yeah, Keanu, you owe me ...big time.

So what is it about decisions that paralyzes me so? Regardless of the type of decisions-- Thai food or Chinese? -- Sweater or button down? -- Gym or dinner? -- I find myself having to weigh my options and take the best of the lot. Did you catch that? I said -- the best of the lot. That, my friends, is the crux of the issue. Why do I have to always select the best option? How do I know what the best option is? Is there always a best option?

My pal Wencher enlightened me to this quandary during a recent discussion about whether I would choose Kellogg or Stanford if provided both options. I was quite betwixt - on one hand, Evanston would be a tremendous, eye-opening change of pace, on the other hand, Stanford is the holy grail of the Chinese world (souvenirs for all!) and Silicon Valley darling. I anguished over this decision when Wencher (aka She-Yoda) imparted, "It's just a decision. It won't necessarily be the right or wrong decision. It will be just be a decision."

Clouds parted. Rays of light beamed in. Angels sung. Boom - I fell to my knees, blinded by the pure trueness of that statement.

It was just a decision. A million different things may happen after I make that decision, but it is practically impossible to determine the outcome in advance. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure, I wanted to keep my fingers at all the key junctions and flip back just in case I got zapped by an alien or got eaten by a tiger. But life's not like that - and fearing what lies behind the next corner will only add paranoia and secondguessing to every step I take in life.

Ever the do-right by-the-book good-boy, I have wanted to make my choices that my teacher/parents/peers/public would approve of. I wanted to choose correctly -- not wrongly. But, the funny thing is, with many choices (we're not talking pop quizes or open heart surgery, mind you), you'll never know what would have happened if you went the other way. It doesn't matter, you see, because the Pachinko game keeps on going (the marble/buncha pegs game). You hit another decision point and you just choose a direction. And then you just keep truckin' on.

...and only time -- and maybe Morpheus -- knows what awaits you :).

EvansTon o' Fun

Seasonal greetings, peeps!

It's been a whirlwind President's Day weekend and now that I am felled by the flu, I can finally take sometime and share the haps on the past few days.

But first, a few announcements are in order!

• Congratulations to my buds Darrell and Vivian Wong on the birth of Kayla, their one-day old little girl! I still can't believe DarDarBinx is a dad ... Kayla is going to be logging some MASSIVE tv/dvd hours :).
• Happy bday to Jen Gu! hope you and lhm rock ny tonite :)

So, I apologize for going AWOL on y'all. Last Thursday, I headed out to Evanston as part of Kellogg's Day At Kellogg orientation/sell-day weekend. About 200 bschool admits flew out to partake in team events, mixers, dinners, mini-lectures, and presentations about the fun world o' Kellogg. It was an amazing time - there were people from various regions, professions, cultures, and family backgrounds. I felt like I was plunged into a dunk tank full of intense life experiences.

A few highlights:

• Among the peeps I met were a minor league baseball player, black belt automotive engineer, FDA food tester, Emergency Response Team volunteer, biochemist, an infantryman who was in Iraq, a gal from the NBA, and a screenwriter.
• Dean Jain's speech moved me to near tears (I swear I was scratching my nose...). He shared with us the story of how he fortuitously avoided getting swept away by the tides in Phuket simply because he decided to walk back to the hotel and get some water for his kids. When he returned to the beach, he and his family were about 1.5 minutes from the lagoon into which people and ships were being tossed. Sometimes the smallest things can result in so much...
  
• SNOW. This is less of a highlight as it is a notable occurrence. I believe the aforementioned flu can be directly attributed to the FREAKING COLDNESS of Evanston. Alas, I shall suffer for my education much like Van Gogh suffered for his art. Vincent cut his ear off, I shall freeze off mine.
• Totters. As always it's great to see Totters, my Gatorade-nacho-lemon pepper popcorn of a gf. She was a DAK leader this past weekend, a kindred spirit of an RA, if you will. OH, and she got me the Canon SD 330 of my dreams. I'll be posting some pics from it soon.
  
• Freshman year all over again. As you guys know, I'm RA through and through. DAK was a great chance to meet people that wanted to meet others. After spending forevers in the Berkeley residence halls, I've noticed a phenomenon I shall call The Window. (see sidebar)

[sidebar]
The Window is the brief period of time when people are truly receptive to incorporating new people into their lives. This most commonly occurs when someone is new to an area (e.g. freshman year in the dorms or new job), experiences a traumatic/life changing experiences (e.g. September 11th), or suddenly changes his/her friends base (e.g. post-breakup social shift). The Window can last just a few days or sometimes up to a few months. At some point, however, the inner circle of the social network is filled (you can only rehash your deepest darkest secrets/ life story so many times to so many people) and the window is closed. Once closed, those people met during The Window are processed and sorted into the following categories: lifers (friends for life - you can actually call these people to chat), event buddies (friends for specific activities/needs), and acquaintances. Depending on opportunities for new Windows and the availability of lifer/event buddy/acquaintance slots, people may open The Window periodically throughout their life.

Having returned from the party that was DAK, I've gathered my senses and look forward to starting this exciting chapter in my life. I now know what I want to study (business, tata engineering!), I know what type of people I enjoy being with (exciting communicators- carpediemers), and I know what type of stuff I want to pursue (mgmt consulting, growing Recess, starting some company). Bschool couldn't be coming at a better time in my life - I can't wait to getting the heck outta Dodge.

BUT (there's always a but)...

• Stanford suddenly wants to interview me. (um...urk!). While choices are nice, this really throws a curveball into my future plans. I still think I am Kellogg-bound, but suddenly this goes into extra innings. GSB is a world-renowned program and the endless opportunities of giving Stanford apparel to my Chinese parents and relatives is almost too sweet to pass up. I guess I will keep my options open for now, but I just think it's sort of funny how there's always some sort of wrench (albeit a wonderful wrench) that gets thrown in to keep my life interesting (or at least dramatic).
• The Fam and the Peeps. When I say I want to get the heck outdo dodge, I am referring more to the need for me to open my eyes and stretch my life experiences a bit more broadly. Life in the Bay Area has been one giant nacho (dodgertalk for "couldn't ask for anything better"). Being so close to home has been one of those perks you can too easily take for granted... Mom, Dad, Jerry, Danny, Grandma and Max (yes, even Max), you have always been there for me and wherever I end up, I will be thinking of you guys. My hometown peeps have been the bedrock for all the fun I've experienced. Nabster, Yangstar, e.Dub, CMUG, Kroosts, Danvillians - you guys are my boys (and, um, girls) and distance will never fade our bonds. Both Totters and I will be back before you know it :).

And there you have it, the past few days in a nutshell.

It was a wild merry-go-round of faces, places, and experiences. As the memories from the taste of my new life dry, I am reminded of the wonderful life I lead here and vow to live the next four months as though they were my last.