Harold and Kumar, part deux

So, last night, I had a free pass to another preview screening of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. I took my friend Alvin to it, in which we took off from Redmond at 5:30pm to catch the 7pm showing. It was because of rush hour traffic that we had to leave this early because the seats were not guaranteed, even though we had passes (it was still first come, first serve).

We got to Pacific Place at about 6:15pm and the line up around the theatre was HUGE!! We dottled to the end of the line and waited patiently to get in. About 6:40pm, they let ppl into the theatre. About 6:45pm, the line stopped and the theatre was full. We didn't get it.

In fact, A LOT of people didn't get in. There was enough people who didn't get in to fill another theatre. And we were slapped right in the middle of this line.

Personally, I didn't care too much about getting in to see it again. But I felt really disappointed for Alvin because he drove and he skipped off from a major deadline of work just to see this movie with me. Oh well. BTW, of all the free screening movies I have given passes to and went to, this is THE FIRST I was ever denied into the theatre. They REALLY OVERBOOKED for this event.

We later went to University Village for some dinner. We actually got to eat at this little Thai restaurant that Alvin has been ALWAYS wanted to get into but never could because it was "always a line up outside." And now we know the reasons, because: a) the place is INCREDIBLY SMALL so it wont fit alot of ppl and; b) THERES ONLY ONE COOK cooking everything!! It took about 45 minutes to get our food and though it was cheap, it wasn't a whole lot. I really dont think I will come back here again but if I do, its take out all the way (when we left, expected take out time was 1 hour).

New Album!

Actually...old album...my steps towards bringing the other 3 old albums available for viewing...

Here is my Zoo Trip album taken sometime after E3 and before my vacation to Toronto. We went to the zoo as a company trip / wrap up party for my last project (for a "Monkey tour"...get it? hahaha)

Anyways, check it out!

The other 2 albums coming soon!

Out of the Blue

You know, since I have moved to Seattle, I have become kinda of a last minute kinda guy. Yes, I procrastinate in everything I do but I also never usually have anything planned to do, say, for the weekend until the very last minute. Like that river rafting trip I took last couple of weeks ago...that was only planned for the me the night before, just cuz I happened to be at Linh's place that night, with nothing to do that night either...

Which is why I also love it when things happen for me "out of the blue." When I have nothing planned for a particular day only to get a surprise phone call / msg to go do something...

Take last Thursday night. Nothing planned for dinner...was just going to work thru the evening and then go work out, when Alvin calls me and asked me to an inpromptu BBQ with a bunch of Canadian pharmacist / Microsoft employees I have never met. Cool! Good food, nice ppl (some of which turns out I met before) and I even kicked ass in a game of Big 2. Not bad for a Thursday night...

And of course, take this past weekend. Denny suddenly appeared in Vancouver last week and asked me to come up for Saturday. Not that I had anything planned for Saturday but I pretty much dropped everything and drove up to Vancouver to spend it with Denny and his family. Had an great time out with Denny and his cousin (which included a lounge, a club and a last event that I can't talk about but involved money and sitting by yourself) and dim sum with his parents. Drove back to Seattle the next day only to go to a last minute movie (Bourne Supremacy--good movie) with Linh...

And even yesterday....minding my own business, and I get asked to go shoot some frisbee that evening, just cause it was a beautiful day...wow

Oh...speaking of out of the blue...NEW ALBUM...Dragonboat and my company picnic pictures with my NEW CAMERA :) Check them out here:

Saturday Fun Day

Enjoy

Hawaii, here I come...

Great news. Bought my tix to Hawaii for Denny's sis wedding / hawaiian party this new years. Been procrasting a little too much to go and actually buy the tickets but today I did. I guess seeing Denny's parents this weekend and how excited they were if I were to show up made me wanted to go even more...

Even better news. So, I check my junk mailed filled hotmail account this afternoon to get a flight fare price notice that a flight to Hawaii during new years DROPPED almost $300!! Normally, a flight from Seattle to Hawaii is about 700 bucks during that peak new years time (and I was more than ready to pay that much) but when I saw it drop to $452, I literally jumped at buying my tix to Hawaii. And its on United, so I get the miles!! Waaaahooo! It was a no brainer!

But what luck, eh? I felt so lucky today I decided to go buy some lottery tix as well...hey...you never know :)

Now December seem so far away :(

Harold and Kumar

I saw a special sneak preview screening of this movie last Friday and I must say, this is a VERY FUNNY (stupid and dumb) movie which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED (so much so I had already won a free pass to another screening this THURSDAY in which I will go
see again).

So, to help plug this movie again and my love for Asian Amercian (and Canadian) cinema, here is a letter from Harold and Kumar themselves that you should read:


MESSAGE FROM ACTORS JOHN CHO & KAL PENN - Please forward to everyone!

July 24, 2004

Dear Friends, Fans, Haters, Players, and True Money Makers,

Hey! This is Kal Penn (aka Kalpen Modi) and John Cho writing to encourage you to go see our upcoming comedy from New Line Cinema, "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," opening nationwide on July 30th. This film marks the first time a major studio is releasing a project with two Asian American males as the leads. We don't have stereotypical accents, we don't passively tread through the story, we're not asexual or hypersexual, there are no martial arts scenes, one-dimensional cab driver segments. We play a couple of all-American guys who happen to be of Indian and Korean American descent. Our characters (Harold and Kumar) are post-collegiate buddies who get the munchies and end up going on the adventure of their lives as they set out to satisfy a spontaneous craving for White Castle burgers. Ebert and Roeper just gave our movie "Two Thumbs Up"! We hope you will too. Read on.

The opening weekend for any film is extremely important. Studio executives (the people who make big decisions about movies) track the numbers from that first weekend's ticket sales and make all kinds of decisions based on that data.
They decide if they will add more screens to show a film, if they will spend more money in promoting it, if they will start investing in a sequel... but most importantly, they decide if elements of the film work and whether they should do it again. In our case, that means they will be asking, "Will a strong script and story succeed or fail with 2 Asian American guys in non-stereotypical roles?". We personally think it will succeed, but we need your help! This film is our chance to prove that realistic, nonstereotypical depictions can make an audience have a blast, and take in enough money to make this happen in the future.

By buying a ticket to "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", you aren't just gonna get to see a really funny movie with two dudes who look like you. Nope. You're also going to be saying to media outlets, "I support accurate representation of Asian Americans and would like to see more." You have the power to change things simply by buying a ticket to a film that we believe you'll have fun watching anyway!

Please go to the theaters on the weekend of July 30th, and watch "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle". We look at this awesome opportunity like we do voting in an election. Every movie ticket someone buys is a VOTE, and the cool part is, you're allowed to vote as many times as you want. With your support of the film, we will show decision-makers in Hollywood that supporting movies like these is not only the right thing to do, but is also good business. We'll also show YOU what it's like to ride a cheetah, hang glide off a cliff, pick up a hitchhiking Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser), tell off a bunch of ignorant punks, get love interests, and sing Wilson Phillips at the top of our lungs.

So just hold on for one more... week, and check out the website at www.HaroldandKumar.com. This film opens the weekend of July 30th! Send this email to all of your friends. Throw parties. Order food. Make a night (or weekend) out of it and go see "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"! This is a landmark opportunity for the Asian American community, and we are proud to be the faces involved. With your support and the success of this film, we hope that it's only the beginning of many more Asian Americans on screen...

Enjoy the movie,

Kal Penn and John Cho
"Kumar" and "Harold"
New Line Cinema's "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle"

NOW GO SEE THE MOVIE!!

3 Day Long Super Weekend (or how I FUCKIN' love my new camera!)

HUH? 3 day weekend? well...turns out, after I took the Monday morning off for a doctor's appointment, I went home only to lock my keys to my car in the trunk...so I had to wait for AAA to bail me out...so I decided to take the rest of the day off...

SUPER weekend? well, I did ALOT this weekend. One of the most fulfilling I have ever had...lets break it down!

--saturday morning: Dragon boat race. Drove up to see the NAAAP team do really badly (last in every race, even beaten by a team of old ladies, almost tipped over in one race as well...). It was also very sunny and hot out. Took a lot of pictures with my new camera, while discovering all the cool stuff it can do. The funny thing about the camera is that it takes pictures REALLY quickly, so much so I had a hard time adjusting because I was use to a pause like from my last camera. But once I got use to it, I REALLY admire how fast it takes pictures. I love my new camera.

--saturday afternoon: company picnic. Hanged out with Vivek and James and Max and Nate and Jon Johnson and his girlfriend. Its funny how Jon has totally changed into a new person after working in Japan for a month. He is now a "playa!" I am dead serious. Anyways, ate like a king, played some volleyball and took some great action shot of the picnic. I love my new camera.

--saturday evening. Dinner with Alvin and a bunch of his friends, including meeting his new cute gf, Julie (who I have met before). Highlight was meeting a couple who's met while the guy was enaged and the girl was dating the guy's roomate. They went out for only 2 MONTHS before they married each other. Been together for 13 years now. Lovely...Didn't take any pictures but I still love my camera...

--saturday nite: clubbing with 6 girls at X Factor, my friend's club, as he attempts to throw a "party". This is like the second time I have been to his club and both times, it was COMPLETELY DEAD. It was horrible. Me and the six girls, trying to liven up the place were the ONLY PEOPLE DANCING! We left around 12 midnite which was very awkward cuz we were the only "life of the party" and we left our friends in the cold...hey...we tried...later went to Red Door bar in Fremont where I discovered the cute new girl of the group has a bf already...Aggrrrrr...at least my camera takes good nite shots....I love it!!

--sunday morning: slept in.

--sunday afternoon: softball practice. Most ppl didn't show up because of probably being tired from Dragonboat. Too bad, they missed out on MY TRIPLE PLAY as a pitcher...too busy playing to take pictures but doesn't mean I dont love my new camera...

--sunday late afternoon: went to "the Bite of Seattle" a food fair at the Seattle Center. I missed last year so it was cool to finally check it out. LOTS of food to try out. I had mostly Crab Cakes, Beef Brisket over a Sausage on a bun and Coconut Shaved Ice. Some pictures taken while we try to recover from food coma. Camera...Love...

--Monday: because I decided to take the rest of the day off, I decided to do stuff around the house that I have been negecting, like Laundry. Because my washer and dryer was broken, had to use the in-complex facilities for the first time which meant I needed quarters. But since I had no car (yet) and no change machine anywheres, how the heck was I going to do laundry? I ended up getting about $4 in quarters from my collection of those "US State" quarters I have been collecting. Turns out I had enough "doubles" to make up $4!! When I got my car back, used it to do Dry Cleaning, wash car, dinner, and even bring a old computer to be recycled. And I managed to clean my place up too. Awesome!

Did I mention I love my new camera?

New Digital Camera

So, yesterday afternoon, I got my new digital camera...the Sony Cybershot DSC-W1 (black one) and must say, I absolutely LOVE THIS CAMERA. I thought it was time to "upgrade" (but really downgrading) to a new camera and I spent a lot of time researching my perfect camera which made me come this camera. Without getting all technical, some of the reasons why I got this camera were:

i) Size. Its about the size of all those Canon IXUS / Powershot / Digital Elphs. After lugging my huge Sony DSC S85 everywhere, I realized I wanted a small camera. This thing fits into my pocket nicely, which means I can finally be comfortable bringing my camera virtually anywhere. More nite club shots a coming...

ii) Memory Stick. As expensive those lil' fuckers are, I am stuck with a whole bunch of them so it was a no brainer to get another Sony camera.

iii) Large 2.5 inch LCD. Its HUGE!! Just look at it!!

iv) Batteries: this camera actually uses AA batteries. Though you should use the provided Ni-MH versions of AA that it came with (last increibly long), I can always plop in good ol' alkaline AA in there as well. Though, it wont last as long, its a good back up battery source for those last minute "cool girls in Kill Bill costume" shots.

v) Its cool and new: only out since last month, ya'know I have to get the latest and greatest!!

Anyways, I plan to take my first pics this weekend when I go to a Dragonboat race and my company picnic. Should be cool...


Oh...so, what did I do with my last camera? well...when i went back to Toronto, I actually "donated" away to my sister and her husband. They were looking for a camera and thought they should have it since there first child is coming soon (need to take plenty pics of that!). Its still a great camera and I know they will get great pics out of it!


Speaking of pictures...

I have a new photo album up. Pictures from last week's rafting trip with Linh. Taken with a disposable waterproof camera. Check it out.

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/rafting_down_sauk/

To show how busy and/or lazy I am, I still have like 3 other albums that I need to post on my online album. They include an album from a trip to the zoo I went and 2 albums from my trip back to Toronto (some of my LAST PICS with my old camera). Trust me...they are coming...


"ITS ANCHORMAN! NOT ANCHORLADY!"

My favorite AnchorLADY from San Diego, Lee Ann Kim (aka NewsDiva) has a wonderful webpage / blog that I like to read every so often. Everyone should check it out if you are looking into the insights of an proud Asian American journalist.

http://www.xanga.com/skin.asp?user=newsdiva

I met Lee Ann thru the San Diego Asian Film Festival (she start the darn thing) and I must say she is one of the most nicest, coolest and most down to earth person I have ever met. Its funny watching her on the news and how proper and professional she is, and then getting to "hang out" with her with her "hair down" and its like 2 different people.

Anyways...it was a great pleasure working with you girl...and I hope to see ya soon...


I also updated some of the side bar stuff, including a new link to Jules' website. I also found out she is getting married as well! Congrads girl!

iNfoCity Weekly Blog Entry Template

insert comments about being busy and/or lazy to blog recently
Sorry...been busy with work. This past 2 weeks, they actually gave me work to do on a new project. Lotsa work. Lotsa work that require me to think a lot. Its amazing how much of my work is just thinking for very long periods of time, sometimes with nothing to show for it, so most people think we game designers do nothing but play games all day...but in reality, we are thinking...anyways...that's my excuse

insert listing of things I did last weekend
--friday, Anchorman with Linh. I laughed a lot. She hated it.
--saturday, white water rafting with Linh and her sister up at the Sauk River. It was a free outing with Linh's sister's lawyer group so all I had to do was show up. Though the water wasn't as wild as the last time I went, this river was much more technically challenging and more scarier IMHO. Because the tides were low, lots more rocks stuck out of the water creating new obstacles to get the raft stuck in, plus it really freaked me out how I can see the bottom of the river and all its "jaggy-ness" and how bad it would be to fall out of the boat.
--saturday nite, didn't go out because I was just dead tired. Slept.
--sunday, softball tryouts/practice in the morning. very fun, though I am kinda rusty. Dim sum for lunch. Went back to work to finish stuff. See, I am busy now :(

insert funny antidote of the week
--nothing else to talk about, because either there wasn't anything or I just plain forgot...
--oh oh...my new digital camera comes in tomorrow!! What happened to my last one? Ah...more on that some other time...

insert promised to write more frequently next time
Yeah...yeah...

Blog Blah!

Inspired by Denny and his now frequent daily entries into his "chronicles", I was going to do the same...

Naw...I have become officially more busy and therefore more lazy to do so...

Here are the highlights:

--my July 4th weekend was not a complete bust as I thought it may be.

--Went to comedy stand up show on Friday (the openning act guy was funnier than the headliner).

--Saturday, went to Mt. St. Helen. Though the "volcano" was covered by clouds, it was still a beautiful view, day and drive.

--Sunday...spent the whole day drunk on Sangria with co workers and a bunch of female Japanese exchanged students in Bellevue. Had an awesome view onto of Scott's condo, which not only did we see Bellevue's fireworks, but we also were able to watch Seattle's and Kirklands too...it was like little nuclear explosions shooting off in many locations all at the same time...

--Monday...finally watched Fahrenheit 9/11. Regardless if I am a Bush Hater or not, the movie openned by eyes (ears and heart) to corruption politics really is. Its scary really...

--Tuesday, back at work. New project. Insane new project with a more insane amount of time to do it...welcome back to Crunch time :(

--tuesday also marks a very busy day as everything needed my attention. Let me count the ways:
i)cell phone buggy last couple of days, so I needed to call for replacement
ii) couldn't get the new digital camera I wanted (btw, my old one is no longer with me) from NZ's Sony connection so I had to order one ASAP from this place in NYC. Awesome attitude these ppl on the phone. Anyways...ended up with better deal then going thru Sony.
iii)Tivo in the morning going wonky...had to restart Guided Setup again, but didn't know how to redo it with internet. Had to look it up online. Done but almost late for work...
iv) washer and drying not working properly. took too long to dry clothes, made clothes smell like mildew because to too longer to dry (and stay wet longer). Called in apartment to fixed. Still waiting for response.
v) because no washer and dryer, had to go to friends house to do laundry. Did 2 very big loads of laundry
vi) business proposal meeting with friend. More on that some other time :)
vii) needed to do my finances to figure out if I can afford a house this year. Doesn't look good so what am I going to do especially since my lease is up REALLY soon.
viii) did I mention work got a hell a lot busier :(

First Off...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

Nothing Planned for July 4th

Wow...maybe because I am just lazy or something, but I have nothing planned for this long weekend here in the US...nothing at all :(

And what's worst, most of my friends here are busy entertaining their own guest or out of town this weekend so I have nothing to do with them either :(

Originally, I wanted to fly up to SF again for July 4th weekend but then I decided I should try to save some money and stay in town. Now I wish I have done that instead (I did try to look up some last minutes flights, but it was still too expensive and Jon is busy anyways).

So, what the heck am I going to do this weekend? Think dammit think!! :(

On a lighter note, this past week has been incredibly boring at work, with very few things for me to do and things I do have to do, I do very quickly...of course, I shouldn't complain...at least I get to go home early and have my weekends off...

I did go to Portland last weekend for the first time and I watch a heck of a lot of movies too, like Dodgeball (funny), White Chicks (funnier) and Spiderman 2 (better than the first IMHO).

This week was also the last time I will see Justin before he moves down to Pleasant Hill, CA (outside of Oakland) to take a traveling Occupational Therapist job. Justin was one my closest friends here in Seattle and he will be missed. Good luck buddy...