we are only made of air and dust

I fixed everything and got internet/wifi back up a few days ago and then immediately went into a frenzy of downloading and flailing over silly things to get the taste of failed social skills out of my mouth - it's funny (or not) that I've lived in other countries without access to the internet for a long time, but one week in America and I'm climbing the walls.

I think this means social life/I need to work on that. But the internet is important! How else will I download Korean TV and check obsessively on the status of my official documents to go back to Korea?

Speaking of which - the FBI finally came through on my background check, so now I just need to do some more paperchasing - I need apostilles on my BG check and my diploma. Then I can finally present myself as a prepared candidate, then I get a job, and then I disappear for another year.

And it will be the best damn year ever, because it has to be - to make up for the first year of mostly awful things.




yoinked from lauds & the greatness of tumblr (I'm nextstopbliss on that - feel free to follow me, Russian porn bots are doing so!)

I will admit that my ovaries did wake up briefly during the entire video but then promptly went straight back to sleep after it ended. I really yearn to have a cat, but not a human being. (my priorities - A+++)

( I missed your heart )

mistakency I GOT YOUR MIX CD AND I LOVE IT (like two weeks ago). Expect a reply!

and I've been sucked into the WTFAWESOME of City Hunter and hopefully by the time 4th of July is over, smithereen will be too.

tokujo kabachi ep2 softsubs released.

Ep 4 of the kabachi gives us Maki as Misuzu infiltrating a hostess club, drunk Misuzu, Tamura's suspicions of Dai-sensei entrapped in compensated dating, more close ups of the 3,000 dollar wig, and the opening riff of "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn & John as music cue repeatedly throughout the episode, so I'm taking that as a shout out to sinonymity

I've consumed a lot of media in the past few days: I finally saw Zombieland and the omibus film New York I love you, caught up with episodes 5-7 of Pasta, watched the most recent episodes of Community and Leverage.

Zombieland was enjoyable, and I vaguely remember the guide it was based off when I was still working at Borders. Though my favorite zombie movie will still always be Shaun of the Dead. And I know it seems like I've been focused on race issues lately (what with the most obvious fail of Avatar: the Last Airbender, etc.) but it was a thought re: Zombieland, with the sheer amount of Chinese & Indian people on the globe, and then factor in vegetarians and vegans, it made no sense to me that the only people alive after the Zombie apocalypse would be quippy American Apparel attractive Caucasians. Of course, I could be missing something, (other than the obvious: thinking Deep Thoughts about effing Zombieland) but yeah. It was a fun movie for what it was.

New York I love you was a pretty movie, but disjointed terribly - I didn't feel any of the vignettes really flowed into the other very well (and oh wow, Hayden Christensen is a terrible actor. Terrible.) and while well intentioned, never really gave me a impression of a true New York. As a real character in the stories, not merely a backdrop to it - and a lot of the shots seemed rather generic, postcard cookie cutter New York, of the I ♥ NY variety and on tv sitcoms. They could have been filmed in any metropolitan city - with the exception of the short film featuring Julie Christie & Shia LeBouef, which seemed completely out of place with the 'modern' films of NY, almost dream like and a throwback to old mystery films. It kind of jarred with the rest of the films, but I definitely remembered it.

A few stand out performances/memorable moments - Anton Yelchin has never been so adorable, Maggie Q and Shu Qi's amazing face (I could look at her face all day - she's simply mesmerizing), Chris Cooper's Cantonese, the moment the light catches Natalie Portman's head, the Legend of Earthsea anime playing in the background of Orlando Bloom's film (helmed by Shunji Iwai, full of his trademarks) and the film about the elderly couple.


Community is clever but not annoying, snarky but not mean-spirited for the sake of subversion or cool. And it consistently spotlights a member of their ensemble cast and everyone gets to have an A story, often in surprising and unexpected ways. Plus, Troy and Abed's epic bromance for the ages: "They're just jealous." I'm so glad hulu.com streams it so I don't have to watch it on NBC.

Leverage is missing something, and it's not just the splendid Gina Bellman. While I really like the new character that Jeri Ryan plays, I feel like I'm missing the old adrenaline spark that Leverage used to bring. Maybe it's because when it's consistently good, just 'okay' episodes, while still better than most primetime television, falter when I remember just how great Leverage has been.

Pasta is going to require another post. Namely, I have my reservations (ha!) about Pasta, and why I can only still, after seven episodes (nearly at the half way mark) only like and not love the drama, though it's trying really hard to make me love it.

thanks to smithereen, I read a super fantastic Community fic by dollsome who gets the characters dead on, and the meta - the glorious meta. And trashing of Bronte (not a spoiler alert, but just go read the whole damn thing, it's so good and reminds me of everything great about the show.)

I've been watching Community on hulu, and I know Glee is fandom's favorite, but seriously. Community, way more entertaining. It has KEN CHEONG in it. As Senor Chang! You cannot go wrong there.

I personally am a fan of Abed and Troy's riffs at the end of each episode. Troy! Abed!

Got sidetracked by paperwork for the K. embassy and such - I did not realize how much work is involved in leaving the country, but now I know. I still have to get the Secretary of State's office to look over my paperwork and get an Apostille.

So, Innocent Love photobooks coming along slower than molasses, but hey, Mukai Osamu's photobook is up still for those of you who missed it.

my friend tweeted this and I read it and I fell in love.

Things that irritate me

• I have Katy Perry's Hot N Cold stuck in my head. And not just any version of it, the Hillywood remix of it from their maddeningly addictive parody of Twilight. I'll let you google it yourself.
• Now that I've officially given notice at work, the remaining time I have to go into festering workplace of utter suck.
•  Beloved children's classics being made into movies. There are exceptions to this, obviously - but while I'm looking forward to Where the Wild Things Are, I'm rather annoyed at Cloudy with a side of Meatballs.
• My right knee has been bothering me. I'm seriously too young (I feel) to have a tricky knee. I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING INTERESTING TO GET THIS KNEE.
• My router is on its last legs - the wireless connection I'm being getting the past few days drops in and out of existence, my speed is erratic and when I can get onto the internet from my netbook, my main laptop sputters and fails - and vice versa.

Things that do not irritate me, in fact bring sunshine and delight into my bleak existence

• My friend Tom is going to be releasing a new album soon
• Samurai Champloo - I downloaded the entire series over this weekend and have been watching - I'm almost done. Momo-san is my favorite, apologies to Jin.
• I have the Mukai Osamu an an issue, along with its highly amusing instructional dvd.
• Getting geared up to take a teaching english as a foreign language course/certification - need to do research/fill out applications for Aeon, et al 
• No longer working at cesspool of humanity and having to see hateful boss ever again
• I will be getting All about DBSK season 3 in the mail this week, probably. 
• Along with a bunch of other stuff. I had some mad money and indulged in retail therapy
• looking at my flickr for my NY photos/memories, I'll attempt to do a recap, but really guys - I didn't go to work, I hung out with my BFF, ate a lot of food, baked cookies, walked into furniture, petted her extremely affectionate insane little dog, watched a tv show about mermaids, did epic picspam, and plotted world domination. In other words, I did everything the same as if I was in California. And you know, without the dog or the feeling of being independently wealthy.
• When I was at Kinokuniya yesterday, Yuzu's new pv came on, and it involves them wearing cockroach costumes with girls wearing strawberries on their heads, cake slices, and choreography. Clearly, this is the best pv EVER. Also, I LOVE YOU CUTE GUY.

Did I mention I never have to see my horrible boss ever again? In TWO weeks. TWO.

I'm slowly catching up with dramas - I'm behind on Ninkyo Helper, I'm finishing up Boss (solid entertainment if a bit too glossy and pleased at its stunt casting - I'm watching for Yuki Amami, which is the best reason of all.), Futatsu no Spica, and god help me, Koishite Akuma and Meteor Shower - the former because teenage fail!vampires in love trying to emote will never stop being funny, the latter because I need to brush up on my Mandarin. I don't really speak it at home anymore, and I like to keep my ear up to date with the different accents. My family's from China, but we settled in Taiwan - I can understand a little Taiwanese but not much, and it's interesting to contrast the Taiwan accent with the Mainland tonalities. 

Oh, and it looks like the end of summer/beginning of fall romance push is upon us, as 500 days of summer, the time traveler's wife, and paper heart are all released now. I've watched TTW (and am now reading the book - I like being behind everyone else sometimes) and it was an okay movie. Bittersweet. I can't help but think of kitsune714 's comment about the PedoBana though. The Time Traveler's Wife: or, No really, You Just Want to See Eric Bana Nekkid.

I'll probably watch 500 days of summer this weekend.

So, this might need a segue to fully explain the non circular workings of my fannish brain, but as kitsune714 knows, my segues are a delight, a haiku, a perfectly placed maraschino cherry on single scoop of slow churned ice cream...

or maybe I'll just say, for the non-Asian popculture minded of my FL (Oh, remember when I used to read Harry Potter? And post poems a day? Yeah, me neither.) this post does not exist. You did not see this post.

( this is why LJ cuts were invented! )

THERE ARE THOUGHTS HERE. HAVE SOME. AM WORKING ON UPLOADING CAPS.

also, last night's episode of Leverage was when I went into full on love mode, instead of just merely liking it, a lot.

ETA: OH MY GOD, THERE ARE THREE OF HER.

MEISA'S SO HARDCORE, SHE BACKDANCES FOR HERSELF.

( I don't think we're in a jungle with pinball machines, anymore )

re: Leverage, darkeyedwolf, I just finished watching episode 1, am part way through episode 2, have 4 queued up for download, and I need episode 3. NVM: kitsune714 comes through! Could you possibly help a girl out here?

Got back from seeing Slumdog Millionaire, one of the best films I've seen this year. Words like epic, visceral, stunning get tossed around I know, but finally a movie that actually delivers on a textbook promise: to entertain, to amaze, to delight. It's a simple enough story, but it's so well paced and the acting of fairly unknown actors --- I felt like I was witnessing something amazing.

And the soundtrack is bangin', as the kids say.

Seriously, go see this movie.

You want gripping, eyes-open romance and humor and danger and life? Choose this movie. Twilight is the emotional equivalent of dysentery compared to this.