It's somewhat appropriate that I spent my last full day as a resident here in White Plains at one of my friend's house, swimming in his pool. When I first arrived back here in New York, almost 14 years ago, I had met him for the first time at his place...swimming in his pool.
Good times. For the most part, the past 14 years here have been good to me.
7.12.2008
The long goodbye
Aside from changing my address, it's also a time to say goodbye to many people that I have come to know well over the years. Today, I bade farewell to an online community that I've been a part of for several years. It was also the last time in potentially a long time that I'll see one of my best friends from my school days. Such is life these days.
7.11.2008
The final step: cleaning up
The end of moving in is near when you're beginning to clean up the place. My living area now looks respectably cleared up; the next area to work on is the kitchen. I only wish Ikea made their damn boxes smaller. They're a pain to figure out how to get rid of (I don't get the vibe that the building managers like big things getting thrown out).
Open your eyes
That's something I need to work on. Either that, or my phone's alarm clock chose today to simply not function. Whatever the cause, it gave me a near-heart attack when I leaned over to check what time it was this morning.
7.10.2008
More stupidity: Rudy Giuliani edition
Rudy Giuliani is lionized by the media as some kind of savior, even though a vast majority of people in the city he used to serve as mayor hated his guts. His doomed campaign for president was best summed up by Joe Biden: a noun, a verb, and 9/11. He has made millions off the thousands of lives lost that day, which is what disgusts me the most. So it's hard to take him seriously when he says crap like this:
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.) said Thursday that Barack Obama is capturing 'an anti-American feeling' responding to Obama telling a town hall audience in Georgia that their children should learn to speak Spanish.
"Well this is why he is a popular candidate in Europe, because there is such an anti-American feeling and he is sort of capturing that," Giuliani said on MSNBC.
I'm not quite sure how those two are even connected...and what the hell does that have to do with 'anti-American feeling' anyways? For someone who's raised the most money of any presidential candidate in history from the most donors, there must be a lot of self-loathing Americans out there.
Someone needs to tell Rudy to shut his trap, go back out to the Hamptons with Judith Nathan, and stay hidden away from public view before he makes a further idiot of himself.
Cash money millionaire
Visited the local grocery store to use their coin counter. In the end, rolling up the obscene number of coins I had (which amounted to somewhere around nearly 600 dimes, 400+ nickels, and the random quarter and penny) would've been a too laborious a task. Despite the 8.9% cut the machine took, I ended up with a solid $80 after fees. Not bad for a bunch of coins that had been sitting around in my room since the end of high school doing nothing.
What'll be more interested to see is how many pennies I have on this oversized plastic bottle from a bar mitzvah that is 8-9 years old. It just weighed in at over 53 pounds. Damn.
What'll be more interested to see is how many pennies I have on this oversized plastic bottle from a bar mitzvah that is 8-9 years old. It just weighed in at over 53 pounds. Damn.
Widening the musical sphere
When I was younger, my musical tastes were pretty rigidly defined - I listened to a few set number of artists, and that was that. With the advent of YouTube, Pandora, and other places where listening to streaming audio is a breeze. I still don't like a couple of genres - country and rap/hip-hop to be specific (the former just doesn't suit my tastes, while you hardly need any musical talent at all for the latter) - but I'm just about open to listening to anything other than that. It's been useful helping me to get exposed to entire genres (for example, European power metal, through bands like Nightwish, Kamelot, and Sonata Arctica), as well as individual bands in genres I wouldn't ordinarily pay attention to (e.g. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, an indie rock band).
There's also the old-fashioned way - getting music from friends. One of my good friends from the good 'ole days in New York introduced me to a couple of divergent bands - Muse (an English prog rock band) and D'espairsRay, an industrial JRock band (my Japanese Pop Culture professor didn't expose us to any of their music) - through a mix CD. They're widely different styles, but I enjoy the music of both a great deal. Given that I don't listen to the radio - it's dominated these days largely with rap/hip-hop and pop punk garbage - listening to new music, even if it's not 'new' in the true sense of the word, is always an event for me.
There's also the old-fashioned way - getting music from friends. One of my good friends from the good 'ole days in New York introduced me to a couple of divergent bands - Muse (an English prog rock band) and D'espairsRay, an industrial JRock band (my Japanese Pop Culture professor didn't expose us to any of their music) - through a mix CD. They're widely different styles, but I enjoy the music of both a great deal. Given that I don't listen to the radio - it's dominated these days largely with rap/hip-hop and pop punk garbage - listening to new music, even if it's not 'new' in the true sense of the word, is always an event for me.
A superhero flick with heart
It's hard to take comic-book superheroes too seriously, and for those that try to delve too much into emotions, they usually end up failing miserably (just watch Spider-Man 3). That's why I liked Iron Man - the character of Tony Stark fits perfectly into the flighty world that superheroes live in.
To the main point: I got around to seeing Hancock last night, inspired mainly to do so because of the promise of Will Smith flipping a whale into the ocean (it was worth it). Reading reviews, it seems like a lot of movie critics had a problem with the film not being as satirical as advertised. To which I say: did they even bother watching the trailers for the movie? It was clear that Hancock would undergo a transformation at some point and that he wouldn't keep being the drunk-ass, wholly imperfect superhero that he is at the beginning of the movie. I thought it was put together well, and that the introduction of an intriguing backstory for Smith was a plus - namely because it's nice to hear about superheroes who don't get their powers through a freak accident.
I'd be down for a sequel in this movie, if only to see the trio of Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman (who was giving off a serious Michael Bluth vibe in the film, unlike in Juno) together again. The chemistry between all of them was great.
To the main point: I got around to seeing Hancock last night, inspired mainly to do so because of the promise of Will Smith flipping a whale into the ocean (it was worth it). Reading reviews, it seems like a lot of movie critics had a problem with the film not being as satirical as advertised. To which I say: did they even bother watching the trailers for the movie? It was clear that Hancock would undergo a transformation at some point and that he wouldn't keep being the drunk-ass, wholly imperfect superhero that he is at the beginning of the movie. I thought it was put together well, and that the introduction of an intriguing backstory for Smith was a plus - namely because it's nice to hear about superheroes who don't get their powers through a freak accident.
I'd be down for a sequel in this movie, if only to see the trio of Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman (who was giving off a serious Michael Bluth vibe in the film, unlike in Juno) together again. The chemistry between all of them was great.
Working to the death
Hopefully something like this doesn't happen to me. Japanese companies are notorious for instilling a sense of hard work in their employees, so the extreme hours aren't that surprising. Nevertheless, it's still jarring to see someone who is roughly double my age die from working too hard...given that the field I'll be in (finance) is known for its long hours as well.
7.09.2008
First tastes of Manhattan
I've had a chance to sample a few restaurants in Manhattan since moving my stuff in, so I figured it would be a good time to write about them...in the case that anyone should come to the City and find the urge to eat at somewhere other than a local pizza joint (which could be hard, I know):
Umi Sushi: This little shop was fairly empty when my girlfriend and I visited for a weekend lunch (I feel like the sushi shops only fill up at night; I'm not sure how they stay in business otherwise), but the sushi was delicious. The prices were very good for New York (only slightly more expensive than Vic's in Philly, which I've mentioned several times before), and the special roll we ordered (called the Shogun roll) was huge - 10 large pieces - for a very reasonable $13. The rice-to-fish/veggies ratio in the regular hand rolls was very manageable, but I wasn't a fan of their tamago sushi - the egg was a bit too big.
Shanghai Cafe: My girlfriend loves these Shanghai specialties that she calls 'soup dumplings' (but seem to be referred to as 'tiny pork buns' on the menus), so we visited this restaurant on one of her friend's advice. The soup dumplings were extremely delectable - better than New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, which is where we had previously eaten them. The dumplings here were larger, and the liquid had a better taste to them - namely, they didn't make my arteries choke on fat with each bite (as much). The other food was delicious as well; we ordered wontons and mooshu pork, which we ended up getting for free when we discovered plastic in the dish. That ruined it a bit.
Aki Sushi: Slightly more expensive than Umi, but the taste was very good here. I wish I had a Dragon roll there, because the one that the chef at Aki put together melted in my mouth - it was that good. The hand rolls were good, but there was a bit more rice in them than at Umi. They did a better job with the tamago, though - it was a much more manageable size. This is closer to where I live (half a block away, compared to 4.5 blocks for Umi), so I may be visiting more often.
Black Duck: Also close to where I live (one block up and half a block over), the food here was very good. While my girlfriend had some qualms about the service, they did a good job with keeping the water glasses filled. The soup was a good appetizer; I had their clam chowder, which was different from authentic New England chowder - it was thinner and also employed a lot of dill. Their cream of spinach soup was very good as well; it wasn't the cheap kind that mixed spinach into condensed cream, diner-style. That being said, the portions were too big; I wish that they had served less soup. The entrees were fantastic; the host wasn't lying when he said the chef did seafood well. I had salmon done medium-rare over cous cous; my girlfriend had their fish of the day (wolf fish, which turned out to be quite tasty in its own right). Dessert was a chocolate granache - a great finish to the meal. It doesn't quite match the level of Roy's famous chocolate souffle (which is served hot), but for a cold dessert, it was very well done. I would visit the restaurant again, but I'd probably get a lighter appetizer.
Saravanaas Bhavan: I ate food from here with my mom after we finished a long day of unpacking/building furniture. The apartment's pretty damn near the center of Curry Hill, so I might as well get used to the cuisine. While the meal ended with me sweating a river, the food itself - I had a dosa (basically an Indian crepe) filled with spiced potatoes and various dips - was very filling and tasty. I'll probably end up visiting it on a regular basis...as long as I have the air conditioning on.
Todai: We ate here for a Sunday brunch-style meal. For the price, I don't think it was worth it. The sushi was above average, but the pieces were tiny, and there weren't any standouts among what I ate. The fruit was...well, fruit (it's hard to distinguish), and the desserts - bite-size pieces of cake - were far too creamy. Maybe if I had a bigger stomach, I wouldn't mind, but I didn't feel like I ate $18 worth of food, either in quantity or quality.
Umi Sushi: This little shop was fairly empty when my girlfriend and I visited for a weekend lunch (I feel like the sushi shops only fill up at night; I'm not sure how they stay in business otherwise), but the sushi was delicious. The prices were very good for New York (only slightly more expensive than Vic's in Philly, which I've mentioned several times before), and the special roll we ordered (called the Shogun roll) was huge - 10 large pieces - for a very reasonable $13. The rice-to-fish/veggies ratio in the regular hand rolls was very manageable, but I wasn't a fan of their tamago sushi - the egg was a bit too big.
Shanghai Cafe: My girlfriend loves these Shanghai specialties that she calls 'soup dumplings' (but seem to be referred to as 'tiny pork buns' on the menus), so we visited this restaurant on one of her friend's advice. The soup dumplings were extremely delectable - better than New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, which is where we had previously eaten them. The dumplings here were larger, and the liquid had a better taste to them - namely, they didn't make my arteries choke on fat with each bite (as much). The other food was delicious as well; we ordered wontons and mooshu pork, which we ended up getting for free when we discovered plastic in the dish. That ruined it a bit.
Aki Sushi: Slightly more expensive than Umi, but the taste was very good here. I wish I had a Dragon roll there, because the one that the chef at Aki put together melted in my mouth - it was that good. The hand rolls were good, but there was a bit more rice in them than at Umi. They did a better job with the tamago, though - it was a much more manageable size. This is closer to where I live (half a block away, compared to 4.5 blocks for Umi), so I may be visiting more often.
Black Duck: Also close to where I live (one block up and half a block over), the food here was very good. While my girlfriend had some qualms about the service, they did a good job with keeping the water glasses filled. The soup was a good appetizer; I had their clam chowder, which was different from authentic New England chowder - it was thinner and also employed a lot of dill. Their cream of spinach soup was very good as well; it wasn't the cheap kind that mixed spinach into condensed cream, diner-style. That being said, the portions were too big; I wish that they had served less soup. The entrees were fantastic; the host wasn't lying when he said the chef did seafood well. I had salmon done medium-rare over cous cous; my girlfriend had their fish of the day (wolf fish, which turned out to be quite tasty in its own right). Dessert was a chocolate granache - a great finish to the meal. It doesn't quite match the level of Roy's famous chocolate souffle (which is served hot), but for a cold dessert, it was very well done. I would visit the restaurant again, but I'd probably get a lighter appetizer.
Saravanaas Bhavan: I ate food from here with my mom after we finished a long day of unpacking/building furniture. The apartment's pretty damn near the center of Curry Hill, so I might as well get used to the cuisine. While the meal ended with me sweating a river, the food itself - I had a dosa (basically an Indian crepe) filled with spiced potatoes and various dips - was very filling and tasty. I'll probably end up visiting it on a regular basis...as long as I have the air conditioning on.
Todai: We ate here for a Sunday brunch-style meal. For the price, I don't think it was worth it. The sushi was above average, but the pieces were tiny, and there weren't any standouts among what I ate. The fruit was...well, fruit (it's hard to distinguish), and the desserts - bite-size pieces of cake - were far too creamy. Maybe if I had a bigger stomach, I wouldn't mind, but I didn't feel like I ate $18 worth of food, either in quantity or quality.
Pants, pants, pants
So I went to the local Syms, and it turns out they are having an awesome sale right now (simply called 'Bash'). I ended up picking up a ton of slacks for work at a very good price. I got more slacks than I can wear in a workweek, but it will help keep the frequency of dry-cleaning down that needs to be done.
Daily dose of stupidity
I'm really thinking of starting a set of posts related to John McCain when it comes to this, because the candidate himself - not even surrogates, but the man who wants to be president - says so many idiotic things that it makes one wonder why someone who finished 5th from the bottom of his graduating class at the Naval Academy could be considered a competent president.
Anyways, here goes: first, John McCain jokes about killing an entire country:
How exactly is talk like this supposed to help burnish our image in a region where it has suffered the most? That's aside from the fact that it's completely inappropriate for anyone to say, much less a presidential candidate.
Then there's this gem, which shows McCain talking about Social Security:
The money quote from this:
Except, you know...that's the way Social Security has been run since its inception in the 1930s. That's what a 'pay-as-you-go' system is all about. Are there some problems with the program? Sure. But any modifications to Social Security, even steps that go towards privatization (which will never happen, at least in the current political and economic climate), don't eliminate the fact that current workers fund retirees.
Duh.
Anyways, here goes: first, John McCain jokes about killing an entire country:
How exactly is talk like this supposed to help burnish our image in a region where it has suffered the most? That's aside from the fact that it's completely inappropriate for anyone to say, much less a presidential candidate.
Then there's this gem, which shows McCain talking about Social Security:
The money quote from this:
Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed.
Except, you know...that's the way Social Security has been run since its inception in the 1930s. That's what a 'pay-as-you-go' system is all about. Are there some problems with the program? Sure. But any modifications to Social Security, even steps that go towards privatization (which will never happen, at least in the current political and economic climate), don't eliminate the fact that current workers fund retirees.
Duh.
7.08.2008
Wasted
No, not in the sense of being obscenely intoxicated, but in feeling extremely tired. Today wasn't much in terms of moving in or building furniture...nevertheless, I have an acute sense of feeling devoid of any energy at all. Maybe that's the way I should feel at the end of my last vacation.
Shooting fish in a barrel
This is too easy to pass up. On the heels of John McCain's wonderfully insightful explanation about how we're going to get out of a recession, he comes up with this gem on today's morning shows:
It's good that he can imagine that we might be in a recession, but does he know? I'd bet a lot of money that he doesn't have a flippin' clue.
Mr. McCain said, “I would imagine that technically there’s some question amongst economists about that. The fact is Americans are hurting, they’re hurting badly.”
It's good that he can imagine that we might be in a recession, but does he know? I'd bet a lot of money that he doesn't have a flippin' clue.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
I finally got the wireless set up for my desktop. At the very least, it's a marked step up from the last time I tried a wireless rig-up for the mission control. Several years back, I tried to go without wires with my desktop at home, but for some reason (possibly the presence of a few concrete walls, coupled with the fact that the antennas were aimed at a wall, under a desk) the connection absolutely blew. It's much improved this time around.
7.07.2008
Clap your hands and tap your heels
That's basically what John McCain's plan to deal with the budget deficit boils down to. Really, can anyone believe this?
Oh right, the 2013 speech...the one where McCain explains how we get from the present to his ideal future without explaining any of the details from getting from Point A to Point B. His campaign should stop insulting the public's intelligence with this nonsense. It's the equivalent of this:
It's pretty straightforward, as we win, costs will go down with a smaller footprint over time, and those savings will go to deficit reduction. It's really the logical extension of Senator McCain's position as articulated in the 2013 speech. Achieving success in Iraq would obviously lead to reduced expenditures on the effort.
Oh right, the 2013 speech...the one where McCain explains how we get from the present to his ideal future without explaining any of the details from getting from Point A to Point B. His campaign should stop insulting the public's intelligence with this nonsense. It's the equivalent of this:
A substitute for air conditioning
Well, nothing is a perfect substitute for AC, to put it in economic terms, but I do believe that this fan (or 'air circulator', as Vornado apparently likes to refer to it as) will function quite well. I went to a local Bed Bath & Beyond and tried it out...and man, does it spin out a lot of air. Lucky for me, I have a 20% off coupon I can use on it.
One of those days
First, it turned out that my bed frame from Ikea wouldn't fit in my mom's car.
Then it couldn't get delivered at a reasonable time today, so I had to get it delivered tomorrow - at additional cost (makes no sense; Ikea charges more the later it arrives).
Next, I got a $65 parking ticket 5 minutes after my time expired. Thanks, NYPD.
Finally, after I moved the car to a new parking spot and went to a nearby sushi restaurant (named Aki, which I will discuss in a future entry), I found that it was closed between 3-5 PM. It was about 4:20 PM or so.
What a great day.
Then it couldn't get delivered at a reasonable time today, so I had to get it delivered tomorrow - at additional cost (makes no sense; Ikea charges more the later it arrives).
Next, I got a $65 parking ticket 5 minutes after my time expired. Thanks, NYPD.
Finally, after I moved the car to a new parking spot and went to a nearby sushi restaurant (named Aki, which I will discuss in a future entry), I found that it was closed between 3-5 PM. It was about 4:20 PM or so.
What a great day.
A weekend of films
My girlfriend and I watched a few movies this weekend, mostly thanks to HBO's OnDemand programming. In an apartment with no cooling besides a solitary fan, it's a way to get some form of entertainment without having to move around and work up too much of a sweat. Anyways, here's what I thought:
Jet Li's Fearless: I remember seeing previews for this, largely because it was advertised as the title actor's last martial arts epic. We'll see if that holds up, but the film is definitely entertaining to watch from an action standpoint - the fight scenes are very well choreographed. The balance felt a bit off, as the movie spent more time on Huo Yuanjia's time as a fighter solely focused on being the best in his province instead of his redemptive arc. While a great portion of the movie doesn't appear to be remotely related to the real-life Huo Yuanjia, it was an entertaining film to watch.
Ocean's Thirteen: Maybe I missed something from Ocean's Twelve (which is the worst-rated of this high-wattage star ensemble series), but I didn't find this movie as compelling as Ocean's Eleven. The first film had a definitive plot, and it was also a bit more realistic - namely, that Ocean wasn't able to pull off everything perfectly. Here, the crew somehow gets a drill underground (a real WTF moment), and Al Pacino's character, billionaire casino mogul Willy Bank, gets played like a fiddle. Is it a fun movie to watch? Sure...but the wholly unrealistic nature of parts of the movie left me scratching my head. I also felt like some of the actors, particularly George Clooney and Matt Damon, were phoning it in a bit.
Finding Nemo: Okay, I finally got to watch the fish movie, and it wasn't that bad. I found the first scene of the movie (no spoilers) to be somewhat gratuitous in terms of adding drama to the film, but the rest was pretty good. It's easy to see why Ellen DeGeneres was highlighted for her voice work in this film, but I think most of the props have to go the animation team in creating beautiful seascapes.
Mr. Bean's Holiday: British humor is typified by awkward situations, and Rowan Atkinson's iconic character is...well, the epitome of that. There's plenty to laugh - and cringe - at during the movie, but surprisingly, everything works out to a happy ending. The Bean shorts are some of my favorite comedy moments (and Atkinson excels at making the most out of visual humor, given that the character says very little, if anything at all), and this movie doesn't disappoint in adding to a comic collection.
Jet Li's Fearless: I remember seeing previews for this, largely because it was advertised as the title actor's last martial arts epic. We'll see if that holds up, but the film is definitely entertaining to watch from an action standpoint - the fight scenes are very well choreographed. The balance felt a bit off, as the movie spent more time on Huo Yuanjia's time as a fighter solely focused on being the best in his province instead of his redemptive arc. While a great portion of the movie doesn't appear to be remotely related to the real-life Huo Yuanjia, it was an entertaining film to watch.
Ocean's Thirteen: Maybe I missed something from Ocean's Twelve (which is the worst-rated of this high-wattage star ensemble series), but I didn't find this movie as compelling as Ocean's Eleven. The first film had a definitive plot, and it was also a bit more realistic - namely, that Ocean wasn't able to pull off everything perfectly. Here, the crew somehow gets a drill underground (a real WTF moment), and Al Pacino's character, billionaire casino mogul Willy Bank, gets played like a fiddle. Is it a fun movie to watch? Sure...but the wholly unrealistic nature of parts of the movie left me scratching my head. I also felt like some of the actors, particularly George Clooney and Matt Damon, were phoning it in a bit.
Finding Nemo: Okay, I finally got to watch the fish movie, and it wasn't that bad. I found the first scene of the movie (no spoilers) to be somewhat gratuitous in terms of adding drama to the film, but the rest was pretty good. It's easy to see why Ellen DeGeneres was highlighted for her voice work in this film, but I think most of the props have to go the animation team in creating beautiful seascapes.
Mr. Bean's Holiday: British humor is typified by awkward situations, and Rowan Atkinson's iconic character is...well, the epitome of that. There's plenty to laugh - and cringe - at during the movie, but surprisingly, everything works out to a happy ending. The Bean shorts are some of my favorite comedy moments (and Atkinson excels at making the most out of visual humor, given that the character says very little, if anything at all), and this movie doesn't disappoint in adding to a comic collection.
7.06.2008
Late-night amusement
Via Balloon Juice, another political blog I read, there's this rather hilarious musing made at a right-wing blog:
A totally crazy Saturday-morning thought: Wouldn’t George W. Bush make an awesome high-school government teacher? Wouldn’t it be something if his post-presidential life would up being that kind of post-service service? How’s that for a model? Who needs Harvard visiting chairs and high-end lectures? How about Crawford High? (Or wherever?) Reach out and touch the young before they are jaded, or break them of the cynicism pop culture and possibly their parents have passed down to them. Whatever you think of President Bush, he’s a likable guy in love with his country with some history and experience to share.
Like I said, crazy. Saturday. Have a good one.
I would take my 12th grade AP Government teacher (who is a tree-hugging, bleeding heart liberal in the best sense of the word) over George W. Bush any day of the week...at least if I was concerned about getting myself a decent education.
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