We're still here!
If it’s July, it’s time for the New York Asian American International Film Festival, one of our favorites. The venues include the Asia Society and Quad Cinemas on E 13th St. Of course, it’s impossible to see everything, but we’ve made a few selections. We’re watching Train Man, Music Video Showcase, Colma – the Muslcal, the 72 Hour Shootout, and American Fusion.
Save the date for the New York area Asian Alumni Picnic, Saturday, August 5, again at Van Cortlandt Park!
Lots of people, when they ask me “How’s it going… how are you?” My reply has been “I’m tired” I am really, I just can’t fake it anymore. 6 weeks on the road since mid-May, I’ve travelled on Cathay, Singapore Air, China Airlines, to KL twice, Singapore twice, Jakarta, London, Hong Kong twice…. Loads of FF and hotel loyalty points, but I need a rest :o.
B- was already here when I came back on the 5th. She’d done a great job on the new apartment to make it very homey. It’s nice to come home now. New beginnings for the both of us in many ways, from the apt, being away, catching up, and also celebrating her b-day as well. So it’s been good. We did some apt shopping together, got a new convection oven, microwave oven as well as accessories for her new Canon A-530 digital camera. Apparently she only had 16Mb so automatically upgraded her to 1G so she’s got like almost 700 pictures and she’s excited about it :).
Brought back a lot of goodies from the States… I got my b-day gift in advance already and definitely some of the best gifts I’ve ever got :D. She picked out this awesome watch and a crochet scarf :). Is very handy already!
Hope everyone is doing well. Keeping cool here in the hot and humid Taipei summer.
2 movies this extended weekend (I did work Monday, but it was bogus): “Superman Returns” and “An Inconvenient Truth”.
Superman was 2 and a half hours of pure fun, designed for the detail-oriented fan – the same demographic of “Batman Returns”. OK, Lois wasn’t that exciting – but do you really expect someone jilted for 5 years to be any other way? Some paper (I don’t remember which) mentioned Perry White’s controversial clipped quote “Truth, Justice, and all that stuff” instead of the traditional “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”. Today of all days, we are idealists and we think that all three belong together. However, I don’t think that Superman is solely for Americans today, and “original intent” be damned, even though one of Superman’s creators was Canadian. Why we need Superman (or Superperson?) more than ever? — the same reason that we need a Santa Claus: we need hope.
“An Inconvenient Truth” shows what ought to be happening with American discourse. Back in the days of Lincoln, it was not unusual for a speaker to go on tour at meeting halls around the country, having an exposition that went on for one or two hours about a topic of the day. It is difficult to criss-cross the country holiding these speeches (although Al Gore estimates that he has given his road show over 1,000 times), but this is the next best thing. Complaints that it is too much like a college lecture belies the anti-intellectual attitude that Stephen Colbert paradies; that it is too partisan the view that people ought not to have views anymore. Good job.
We spent the day making a big pot of turkey chili, and then we made our way to the Brooklyn Promenade to see the Macy’s Fireworks. I thought it was a much better view than from the FDR Drive, and you don’t have to camp out like you do for a Manhattan vantage point. P’s brother was working security at the site, but we didn’t see him until afterwards.
