Friday, December 11, 2009

Yeah, I know... A Month and a Half Later...

Ok. okokokokokokok - I know I haven't updated the old blogski in a while, but that does NOT mean that I haven't been busy with doing stuff for my 101 in 1001!!

Ok for one, I really wanted to know after making the commitment of donating 100,000 grains of rice, as to how much rice that actually was; so I did. According to Producer's Rice Mills, (http://www.producersrice.com/rice/facts.html), there are over 29,000 grains in a pound of rice. By donating 100,000 grains, I will be donating approximately 3 and a half pounds which is actually pretty damn good since I get full off of like, I don't know, a cup of uncooked rice... so YEAY!! I was worried that there was going to be something like 250,000 for a pound and so donating all these grains wouldn't be as "fruitful", if you will, than I would have liked...

Sooo, that being said, I have to date, donated another 7,000 grains of rice (Troyskis helped with about 1,000 because we were battling to show off our wits HA!)

MOVING ON!!

I have watched another 4 movies for my 26 movies from A through Z!! I guess I’ll go in alphabetical order…

G – G.I. Joe blah blah blah – there’s more to the title, but I can’t remember it. Rise of the Cobra or something. Regardless, yeah yeah, it’s not random like it’s supposed to be, but to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have watched it if not for Troy so whatever; random enough… The movie was ok, some of the fight scenes were pretty cool and there were a few moments that made me laugh pretty hard, buuuut, godamn with the corny one-liners. They kill me… and this movie is full of them (i.e. When all else fails….. (wait for the pause)…… we don't.) Kills me…

K – Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – I was nervous this movie was going to be the typical murder mystery blarg… and this seemed to be the case for the first couple of minutes of narrative monologue before the jokes started coming fast and furious. This turned out to be a highly entertaining comedy/buddy film couched in a tongue in cheek film noir setting. The dialogue was witty and the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmour was great. Some of the jokes went by so fast that I'll have to see this movie again to see what I missed as I was still laughing at the previous one. The ending was kind of, um, not-believable and made you kind of go, “yeahhhh ok”, but the jokes made up for it… I laughed hard.

P – The Proposal – I was partially forced into watching this by Troyskis’ mom who insisted is was hysterical and wonderful. I would tone it down a little to mildly humorous and cute. However, there was one scene that had me in tears. Picture Sandra Bullock trying to do a Native American chant with “grandma” and she doesn’t know what to chant so she starts chanting …”to the windows… to the walls… (waiiiitttt for it!!!!!!) …till the sweat drips down my balls!!! …till all these bitches crawl!!!” I lost it. I couldn’t believe she went there and it was fabulous. I watched that scene again about 5 times and even showed it to the Skis… the ending was very cliché and blah blah blah happy ending. Fart.

S – The Snow Queen – Now this was not what I expected AT ALL. It was produced by the BBC Channel and it was made in a way that I have never seen before. It was almost animated but with real people and cut out scenery from a magazine. Cute but realllly slow moving and too childish – even for me. OH! And the weirdest part was that during many of the scenes there was no talking, but children singing what was going on in the scene. Kinda weird… but overall, an ok movie. I may or may not have fallen asleep before it finished… whoops.


MOVING ON!!!

I also finished two more novels!! =) The first was:

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan – This is Amy Tan's second novel, after the hugely successful 'Joy Luck Club'. It is a much heavier novel than Joy Luck, mainly because it is influenced by the true life story of Daisy Tan, Amy's mother, who had many terrible experiences in China before immigrating to America and establishing the family Amy Tan grew up in. The book's main theme is a mother- daughter relationship, rather dysfunctional, which we discover is due to complete misunderstanding and a number of deceptions. Winnie, the mother, has kept secrets from her daughter, Pearl, for over forty years and it is only under the threats of Auntie Helen, an annoying but lovable family friend that she decides to tell all to Pearl. Winnie's story is a harrowing one, including physical and emotional abuse, war, death of loved ones, prison... it's even more harrowing when you realize it's based on a true story. As in all good stories, true or not, the end is at least partly happy: mother and daughter grow closer or at least respect each other more, and the book ends on a positive note.

The book is well written and compelling, taking the reader through a variety of emotions as the story unfolds. From pre-revolution China, through the Sino-Japanese War, and eventually modern day America, the reader laughs and cries together with Winnie and Pearl. An incredible book, highly recommended. A-



The Concubine’s Daughter by Pai Kit Fai - The Concubine's Daughter is part history, part romance, part drama, part legend, part martial arts, part tragedy, and part poem. Li-Xia is born the daughter of a concubine on a spice farm in early 1906. An unwanted child, her father tried to rid himself of her but her life was spared when her father believed he saw a fox fairy. In the attempt, her mother tragically dies. And so Li-Xia grows, is sold off the farm to a silk farmer, and learns to gather silk cocoons, spin silk thread and makes friends. All the while, she years to be a scholar, as her mother saw herself a scholar. She treasures her mother's diary, filled with poems and "pieces of gold." In an amazing turn of fate, Li-Xia eventually finds her path to gold, and bears a daughter, however, at the birth of her daughter, they are parted. The daughter, Siu-Sing is raised far from the place where her mother found her peace and stillness. She is raised in the art of The White Crane by a learned sifu and faces a deadly nemesis her entire journey. Along the way, she has to fight her way out of being sold into slavery, being sold into an opium den and surviving with her bare wits. She has to face her mortal enemy, her past, and find love. What I enjoyed most about this novel was the attention to detail. Bowls of seasoned congee for breakfast. Learning about the sung-tip contracts for girls. The corruption of Shanghai and Kowloon and Macau power triads. The gentle play of history over the forward motion of the story. The social classes and disdain for interracial marriage. The gritty feel of absolute slavery. The lavishness of riches and power. I absolutely adored this book. A+


OH BOY!! Well, I have got to go – more to come soon =)

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