For Bond lovers

I really hated James Bond growing up. Watching that guy hook up with all these ridiculously gorgeous girls wasn't really what I would term an enjoyable movie experience. Every female character could be placed into one of two categories: the backstabber, and/or the dead. Usually she is a backstabber who will become dead.

I still have many issues with the franchise, even after seeing the amazing movie Casino Royale (it was off the hook!....) last year. Props to Daniel Craig, who really pulled that movie out of the cinematic drain gutter. And to all those special effects people....and to Vespa or whatever her name was.

Anyway the point is the new movie Quantum of Solace (sounds good, but ultimately a rubbish film name...don't you think?) is coming out in November. And recently the theme song "Another Way to Die" by Jack White and Alicia Keys was released to the public for their own listening pleasure. And pleasure it was. This song is really good. I just hope it won't outshine the movie it is linked to.

Listen to it....

http://stereogum.com/archives/new-jack-white-alicia-keys-another-way-to-die_022371.html?utm_source=bb&utm_medium=mc

News Worthy of Postage

I was getting my daily dose of the New York Times today and found two op-ed articles that should be of interest to every American. This election is a very sensitive issue for me. My parents are voting McCain, as are (so far as I know), all of my grandparents. I wonder if any of them know of McCain's plan for revamping health care? I know I didn't. This article boggled my mind. I really had no idea...READ IT!!! And please don't make some lame excuse that the NY Times is a liberal news machine. This is way too important.

McCain's Radical Agenda by BOB HERBERT
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16herbert.html?em

I also thought the following article was quite insightful. I agreed with it completely. I'm still trying to understand why others don't. By the way, this columnist is awesome...

Making America Stupid
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14friedman.html?em

On a non-political yet still serious note, Richard Wright, member of Pink Floyd, died yesterday of cancer. This guy wrote "Us and Them" and "The Great Gig in the Sky," arguably two of PF's best songs. RIP Wright. Your stuff will forever live on in my itunes library.

SNL Skit- Palin and Clinton

Moving

I will, on the 24th of September, be flying back to the States. And where am I going? Well, Provo, Utah of course. A little surprising considering all I wanted to do was get away from there, but I figure I'll give it another go. And if I hate it again, well that's fine. There's nothing holding me in the bubble. It is escapable...right?

Anyway, I'll be looking for a part-time or full-time job so I can make money while I work on Grad school prep and my Peace Corps application. I figure I'll start going for both things and if they both work out, great! I'll have more options. Anyone have any GRE advice? Study materials they're not using anymore?

August Book Reviews

I am getting very lazy. Hence, these very short reviews consist the entirety of my effort towards reviewing my August books.


The Road

by Cormac McCarthy

5/5

McCarthy is a genius. I should have known this already, when I saw No Country for Old Men, but it didn't click. It did with this book. Read it before the movie (starring Viggo Mortensen) comes out later in the year. The book is a long detail of fear and apocalypse, starvation and brutality, but also a love story of family, loyalty and persistence. It is the ultimate survival tale. And it won the Pulitzer.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

4/5

If your looking for a very fast read, this is it. It reminds you how hard it was during those teenage years. This coming of age story is refreshingly raw. And is not filled with lame alliterations either... And, to tell the truth, I liked Charlie (the protagonist) more than I ever liked Holden Caulfield.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston

5/5

Autonomy. Male/Female Relations. Race. Black Folk Tradition. God. Spirituality. Love. Death. Power. The American South. This book has it all. The writing is amazing, the story is amazing, the characters are amazing. This book is literary and accessible. Meaning: everyone can and should read this.

Salem Falls

and

Plain Truth

by Jodi Picoult

3.5/5 for both

I really enjoy Jodi Picoult novels. She is one of my guilty reading pleasures. I was hooked in high school, when I read The Pact, and then again recently when I picked up my sister's copy of My Sister's Keeper. Salem Falls and Plain Truth, the two more recent books I read, were addictingly good, although I am noticing many similarities between her various novels. Expect each book to include a controversial/hidden issue brought to light, a town/family torn apart, a trial, a lawyer and his/her love interest, and lots of drama. I recommend checking any of her novels out if your looking for easy reads. My favorite was My Sister's Keeper. Although make sure to read it with a box of tissues at hand.

Wicked

by Gregory Maguire

3/5

So I know I already blogged about Wicked. But I did so before I read the actual bonafide book. Which, I have to admit, was pretty disappointing. Creative it was, enjoyable it was not. Elphaba (the 'wicked' witch) is made into a kind of freakish anarchist with a skin deformity. I actually really liked her, right up until she is post-Fiyero. Her character, and the story, go rapidly downhill from there. I felt like the author had so many great ideas, but could bring little, if any, of them to fruition. Really the only parts in the novel worth reading concern Melena, Elphaba's mother, and Elphaba's college years (where the nature of good vs. evil is first brought up). Maguire brings up many good questions for readers to ponder on, but he fails to provide any kind of concrete solution we can grasp onto. This probably was purposeful, (by nature of the time period he is a Post-Modernist) but all would be better equipped to answer life's questions if one picked up a copy of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics instead of Maguire's Wicked.

Breaking Dawn

by Stephenie Meyer

4.5/5

Wow, didn't see that one coming! Honestly, I can't say a lot about this book without giving stuff away. So don't read further if you don't want to know. OK so definitely the most crazy twist was the whole pregnancy/death/vampire baby thing. I mean, what was that? Don't get me wrong, I loved the baby. But some things that bothered me were:

1. When did Bella suddenly become mother of the
year? She went from hating marriage stereotypes to wanting a child and loving being married in like 2 seconds.

2. Did anyone else notice the lack of fatherly affection Edward displayed for his new offspring?

3. The whole connection between the baby and Jacob was a little too convenient. What, suddenly every romantic feeling Bella had for Jacob and vice versa is gone?

Those are really my three main problems with this book. What I loved most about it is that Bella ceased to be a pathetic girl always needing to be saved by various men. I love vampire Bella more than I ever did her weaker human version. Kudos to Meyer for finally allowing Bella to save herself...

"The sarcasm is rich"...

I admit it, I'm a complainer. I know this because everyone (and I mean everyone) seems to know I'm currently having a hard go at life. I, of course, was to first to know this, but it doesn't fail to tickle my emotional validation bone when other people tell me how bad and how hard my life is. All it takes is for me to hear one one post-graduation nervous breakdown narrative and I am happy for at least 15 minutes. These tales of woe and rejection offer me proof that I am at least handling this better than some people. I am not the sorriest loser on the block, nor am I most lamentable. And this is good, especially when your self-esteem is shot and your will to work nonexistent.

Really though, to all those currently worried about my sanity, it is well intact, I can assure you. If you don't believe me, read the above paragraph. No one can retain that much sarcasm and dry wit when they're crazy. Jack Nicholson was, after all, the only sane person in Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. And he was very funny. See what I mean?...

I am doing fine. I am at peace with the imminent move, though I don't yet have the answers to where I will be going or what I will be doing. I do know that I have crazy cool and good friends and family, and really what else does a person need? (very little sarcasm there, I swear...) OK, so I do kind of need a job. And money. Easy peesy, lemon squeezy. Right?

PS: Do I really need to explain the reference of my title? Look it up.

Being Blonde...

I was bored the other day (surprising I know...) so Anna and I decided to dye our hair. I'm still not sure if I like mine. It was supposed to be an ash colored blonde but I guess there is still too much red in my hair...Anyway, I've decided to leave it for now and see how I feel in a couple of weeks. Right now I'm not sure being blonde is all its cracked up to be.

A tribute

I love my family and friends. Ever since I announced that I am moving to the States and am clueless as to where to live or even how to live, I have had many, many beautiful, generous people offer their homes and support to me. Humankind's ability for love and kindness amazes me, it really does. Sometimes I forget about all the good in this world, as I'm sure we all do from time to time. There really is more good than we can recognize. And that is definitely something I've learned over the past couple of weeks. So thanks. To my truly amazing family and friends. You guys really do make me feel like we are all in this together.

The Big move to....where?

I realized I haven't written lately about anything actually going on in my life. There were many reasons for this. Mainly, I was going through a hard time emotionally. If anyone else has at some point in their life spent a good deal of time on a job hunt, they understand what I'm talking about. I never knew it would be so hard. And I'm not talking about actually finding a job. I'm talking about figuring out what job you want and where to go to find it. The how is important, we all know this. But I've found it a little easier to answer than the other two.

A couple of days ago I found out that I am going to have to leave the country. One, because I'm only on a tourist's visa, and two, because that tourist's visa is preventing me from getting any valuable work here in Singapore. I never thought the technical side of moving to a country where one is not a citizen would be so difficult to figure out. A word to the wise for anyone who is thinking of moving to a foreign country for work--get the job secured before you move there. Believe me, this is important!

The conclusion of this whole Singapore job experience has been coming on for about a month. I begin to feel I'm not supposed to be here. That its not good for me to be here. That I need to leave. I had pretty much given up my job hunt. I made one last half-hearted attempt at my search when I applied for an internship which I actually really did want (once I found out what I would be doing). The sorry end came when I was informed I couldn't get the internship because I was a foreigner, and they didn't want to fill a spot that a Singaporean could rightly take. I wasn't angry. It actually made sense. But I knew it was over.

So now here I am, ready to leave and yet reluctant to go. The biggest question on my mind is where? And how? With my resources at an all time low, I am very limited in my options. That still hasn't made it any easier for me to decide. How do you chose something when your prevented from seeing the ending?

I know to a certain extent what I want. I would love to work as a writer or an editor or even in public relations for a publishing, media, or creative company. And I would love suggestions from anyone who knows about a publishing company or knows someone who works for/in a profession similar to the above description.

Any advice is good advice, especially coming from all my smart family and friends! So please, bring it on, anything! Please...

I so called this...

Check out this new video from Obama supporters. The video features music from the National, who you can read about a few bloggings back. And like I said before, change is the golden election word in 2008. And Obama is the golden man...

Beck's Modern Guilt

Beck. They are rockin hot. I know this because even my uncool dad has two of their albums. Now I never got into Odelay (1996) which is supposed to be prime Beck material. I did, however, become particularly obsessed with Sea Change (2002). The album is brilliant. If you haven't yet experienced it, please do. The year it was released it was given five stars by Rolling Stone, a feat that Stones readers know, it next to impossible. It was one of only two albums that year to receive the highest music mag honor. (The other album, incidentally, was Springsteen's The Rising, recipient of that year's Rock Album of the Year Grammy).


Lately, I have been sampling Modern Guilt (2008) a very traditional, Beck-esque album. Translation: Beck fans will go ga-ga and sell their pinky fingers for a copy. For me it lies in between the caffefinated and chaotic Guero and tranquilized "this is your brain on drugs" Sea Change. And, as a on again, off again Beck lover, this album makes me shiver with delight and itch to press mute. I give the album 4/5.

Disjointed music bouts are never really good, even on youtube. Which may be the only reason why I am hesitant to give these guys music God status (i.e. the perfection that is 5) for creating Modern Guilt. But don't listen to me. Listen to them and decide for yourself. The first track is "Chemtrails" the second "Orphans".