Month: January 2005

More photos are here. We wrapped up our attendance of a Hakka Chinese conference at York University. We took my uncle there — he put one kid through there, and has another one presently, so it was kind of a back to school experience for him. That night we went to the Carribean Chinese Association’s New Year’s Eve Ball, which featured a live reggae band. The sight of 400 Carribean-Chinese, many of them middle-aged, dancing to sca and reggae was something amazing. The next day we went to the CN Tower, which was practically empty because of the holiday. Afterwards, we went through the downtown Chinatown, had Vietnamese sandwiches, and then made it back to Eaton Plaza, where we had Carribean ox-tail stew, rice and beans, roti, and whitefish. We quickly ran back to the house for our ride back to the airport. Having a few Canadian bucks left over, we bought some additional duty-free items. After a luggage fiasco (they announced the wrong baggage pickup area) we finally recovered everything and went home. I’m working on my annual recap message now….

The passing of Representative Robert Matsui (D-Ca.).

What is the glory age of NYC, if there was any? Interesting set of proposals by various famous NY’ers in the NY Times.

Virginia Heffernan of the NY Times comments on Regis Philbin as the Dick Clark substitute, and the work of other MC’s of the New Year’s Eve night. Personally, I thought Regis did ok, but sub par for him (and the on-the-street “reporters” helping him were annoying). I missed Dick Clark like anyone else, but at one point, the taped tributes to Dick Clark were annoying too and the music on the show seemed a little… well, dated (Earth, Wind, and Fire? Rod Stewart?). I caught a bit of the Carson Daly NBC New Year’s bash (thanks to my brother’s videotaping stuff or was it NBC’s considerate post-midnight Carson Daly broadcast? I forget now) – thought that Carson Daly was slightly better than Regis, in so far as he had better, more up-to-date musical acts (Heffernan thought he seemed desperate to make Rockefeller Center the Times Square New Year’s rival). (and, ok, so I’m not a big Rod Stewart fan; at least, not a Rod Stewart who’s singing 1950’s standards music – he just doesn’t have the voice for me).

Interesting NY Times article by Kate Arthur about the Zoloft commercials – the ads with the fuzzy blob that suffers from depression but then bounces happily when the chemical imbalance is corrected:

PEOPLE who suffer from panic, feelings of isolation or social phobias would be the first to admit that those conditions bring out their least adorable selves. Certainly they do not bring out the sort of images well suited to a chirpy 30-second advertisement. Facing these long odds, the antidepressant Zoloft’s campaign of four commercials – each featuring an animated blob that goes from shaky and isolated to healed and happy over the course of the advertisement – achieves the implausible. It makes the struggle for stability downright cute.

Two commercials are in regular rotation. In one, the simply drawn blob is in a dark cave. It sighs and groans, and its body, which consists entirely of a face, wears a downcast expression. “You know when the world seems like a sad and lonely place?” a narrator asks. This blob does, because it is suffering from depression. Led by an orange butterfly – is that you, Zoloft? – it emerges from the cave and joins two other blobs. Its mouth turns into a smile, and it bounces playfully after the butterfly.

The other commercial, geared to those with social anxiety disorder, takes the opposite approach. The blob is at a party, pink with embarrassment as it watches a conga line of other blobs. As Latin music plays, it sweats, hyperventilates and backs away from the dancing, party-hat-wearing revelers. There’s no butterfly here, but the Zoloft kicks in anyway: the blob begins socializing, de-pinks and bounces.

Zoloft’s blob advertisements began running in May 2001. They are directed and illustrated by Pat Smith, an animator whose résumé includes directing the former MTV cartoon show “Daria.” The popularity of the commercials can be measured not only in their longevity, but also in the volume of online commentary the blob has inspired. On one message board, participants discuss how sweet-looking the blob is and express a desire for a stuffed animal version.

Sweet-looking, medication-dependent blob. Umm, yeah, I’ve been uncomfortable by the commercials for those reasons.

And, so on and so forth. Have a good return to work-week…

Have a Happy New Year in 2005 everybody. (Now I get to spend the next couple of weeks writing 2004 by mistake and deleting “4” for “5”…)

Some preliminary resolutions (which may or may not happen) —
– updates to my website (still barebones, but at least has stuff on it)
– drink more water
– take vitamins
– exercise just a little more
– have better sleeping habits
– have more disciplined writing habits
– be a better person… (uh, yeah, right…)
Etc., etc.

Saw “Ocean’s Twelve” yesterday. Fun movie watching a cast have fun. George Clooney is fun. Matt Damon – fun. Brad Pitt is just beautiful (eye candy… umm, well, he does demonstrate some acting chops, but he’s still beautiful to look at). Plot holes are… holey. (“Ocean’s Eleven” probably had a better plot, but not as fun in feeling). Thumbs up anyway.

Oh, heck, one more Christmas card to send out, for fear of offending anyone. Thank goodness that there are 12 days of Christmas to cover me….