Rob, Kelley, Chu, and I all got together for a sweet Chengdu-style barbecue (authentically pictured above) in Sacramento’s Tahoe Park (just down the street from where I’m living right now). There was a little BBQ place across the street from the place I worked last summer that had all sorts of stuff on a stick that you buy and they grill for you in a really spicy sauce. For whatever reason I’ve been missing Jiading a little recently, so I was super pumped to try and recreate it in Sacramento. All in all it was decent, I thought. Chu ripped it up with some chicken, lamb, tofu, vegetables, and pineapple. I had an assist with some mango guacamole and lighting the charcoal. I think we made a boner covering part of the grill with foil (to protect the vegetables from sticking/falling into the fire). I think the foil ended up reflecting a lot of the heat so it took forever for the vegetables to get appropriately charred. Live and learn.

Also in that category, a pall was cast over the entire affair by two jerk park patrol guys citing Rob for drinking in a city park. Not only does Rob now have a criminal record, but he also has to pay a ridiculously heavy fine. All of which happened about 30 seconds after our arrival at the park. Apparently I’ve been Rob’s Typhoid Mary recently, since he also got a speeding ticket after dropping Chu and I off a few weeks ago. Sorry, Rob!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway I hope you guys are having a sweet 4th and everything.

Miniblog

• Dual Transform – A pretty cool text adventure if you’re into that.
• Stoked that Avatar: The Last Airbender is a total critical failure. I know it sucks for Shyamalan but he made his bed. I feel worse for the Delgo people. Plus there’s this.
• For some reason I watched the Rent movie because it was on TV. Found it 100% disgusting. I think out of all of the characters the only people I didn’t think were horrible, terrible people were Taye Diggs (the villain) and a smokin’ hot Tracie Thoms.

Tracy Thorn – “Why Does the Wind?”

Does anyone still take Kristol seriously?? Obama, re: BP oil spill:

And I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.

Kristol, re: Obama:

Guess the criticism of him as a professor and seminar leader has gotten to him. But his pseudo-macho defense of “talking to experts” is itself professorial: He talks to experts so he’ll “know whose ass to kick.” Real men don’t need experts to tell them whose asses to kick.

That’s right! Real men force their perceptions to conform to their a priori assumptions about the world so that whose ass needs kicking is a fait accompli!!!
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what is the deal with all the talking/cgi animal movies recently?

furry vengeance – remarked to rob once that I can’t imagine who would want to see this movie:

marmaduke – continuing to mine the comedic gold of the comic strip, where every punchline is “marmaduke is a bad dog.”

cats and dogs 2: the revenge of kitty galore – not since baby geniuses 2 has there been a less necessary sequel

Michael’s mom must be freaking out right now.

Some more stuff under the cut

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0:10 – “evolution best explains the origins of LIFE????”

Interview with G. Willow Wilson – The whole interview is great, which isn’t surprising given how well Willow writes. Ross may even be interested in the book she’s promoting, “The Butterfly Mosque” because it’s non-fiction. Here’s a question & answer I found particularly thought-provoking:

If there is no universal literature, as you put it, what commonness allows us to translate between different experiences and values? Can we really understand one another, or do we only approach a respectful sympathy? Can a secular worldview engage a religious worldview?

Honestly, I hate to say it, but I think the answer is no. There is no real 1:1 translation of experiences and values that I have found. I think respectful sympathy is as close to understanding as we can get. And I think it’s vitally necessary—the grave problem with our Western idea of tolerance is that it hinges on understanding. Real tolerance means respecting other people even when they baffle you and you have no idea why they think what they think. And in this world, if we are being truthful with ourselves, one is baffled far more often than one reaches understanding. Humility and sympathy are two of the greatest unsung weapons against intolerance. This is something I learned from my friends and in-laws in Egypt, to whom my life before I converted and came to live with them was unthinkable. (Tattoos? Clubbing? These things don’t exist for them, especially where women are concerned.) Their love for me was a decision: even if we find her history alarming and bizarre, she is here now, she is our responsibility, and we are going to love her and accept her. I didn’t have to prove anything, to explain anything. That kind of acceptance blew me away. It’s shattering to be loved that way.

More after the cut.
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I’m sure you’ve seen these ads, the AT&T vs. Verizon commercials where Luke Wilson is kind of schlepping around different locales talking about how AT&T’s 3G network is so much hotter than Verizon’s. I don’t really have a dog in this fight, my phone can barely make calls, let alone get online. But what really annoys me is how “put together” these commercials are. Like every single commercial exists as an annoying tableau in orange and white. And then Wilson’s vague doughiness talking at you in his smug manner is just so supremely unconvincing. That’s not even mentioning how snide and snipey the text of the commercials are. But yeah I think I object most to the visual aspect of the commericals. Like everything takes place in this very spartan AT&T universe. Although it has an element of corporate art (viz. Mark’s earlier post) it also has this overpowering nature that I for whatever reason find really distasteful. I know I’m nuts, but here are a few choice commercials:

at&t warehouse:

at&t apartment (does this situation ever happen to anyone?):

at&t restaurant (nice message about raising your kids – just give ‘em an iphone and shut ‘em up):

does anyone else see this???? different garbage under the cut.

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I realize it’s been a while since I really posted anything more substantial than a few youtube clips on RS. Chu and I are still embroiled in our house hunt. It’s not clear what we should do, exactly. The market is in this huge state of flux ATM because the first-time homebuyer credit is expiring in a few days, so I think people are rushing to get into contract to get the $8000 dollars. We might be better off waiting until after the credit is over and the pool of buyers dries up. Or maybe at that point there won’t be any properties left. In any case, if we can get a deal on the house, then we could be spending significantly less than what we are shelling out currently for our monthly rent. With the added benefit that we could get at least some small portion of the money we throw into a mortgage back when the house goes up for sale.

Some catblogging, gobie fetching one of his foam balls:

More under the cut.

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Allow me to set the mood…[dims lights]

You’re going on hour 5 of a coffee and mozzarella cheese fueled youtube bender. Nothing seems more inviting then the warm comfort your bedsheets, but for whatever reason you can’t help scrolling through the ‘related videos’ list hoping to find the most related video. Then you reach that sad point where you are just trying to remember every song you ever liked at one time and haven’t heard in a while.

It’s important to note that the video doesn’t really get started until about 0:50. 1:15, are those “cynical eyes”?

hey guys. you know roaringshark has hit the big time because it’s now blocked in China.

the past couple weeks and in particular the past few days have been pretty profoundly upsetting for me, but things seem to be on an upturn now that I’m out of Jiading and hanging out in Bejing for a couple days. I’ve been seeking solace, though, in Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.” I bought it for my dad in an ill-advised “buy someone else a book” moment. Predictably, he hated it and promptly re-gifted it to me. I’ve been pretty into it. For whatever reason the humor really speaks to me. A choice passage:

Apart from the bed, the only other furnishing, in the corner by the door, is a metal wastebasket. The wastebasket is a thing for children, blue and yellow with a cartoon dog cavorting in a field of daisies. Landsman stares at it for a long time, thinking about nothing, thinking about children’s garbage and dogs in cartoons. The obscure unease that Pluto has always inspired, a dog owned by a mouse, daily confronted with the mutational horror of Goofy.

I wish I had more stuff but internet access and a positive mood have been less than forthcoming in the past little while. Hoping that traveling around with Chu in August will restore me a little bit before coming home. Almost decided like “Fuck China” and rebook my ticket home for tomorrow, but I know as soon as I got on the plane I’d just be like: “shit.” Watching a lot of chinese music television here (vchinese.com). Here’s one pretty big song now that’s not too bad, Khalil Fong’s cover of Faye Wong’s “Red Bean.” Dig the girl’s sweater/hair combo.

Friday face offs has been falling off recently. I’ve got something to make life a little better for you (not much, xDD).

Don’t want to spoil it

Many dubstep songs on youtube. Epic!