Me and Bridget Jones

it's a little unsettling, but me and Bridget Jones seem fated whenever i go through a break-up. 


during my last 2 recent break-ups, Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason were airing on television. it's kind of weird. 

this time, as i was going through my post-break up period and wallowing in my bedroom while watching television, i couldn't understand why i was having such a sense of deja vu. was it because i was dealing with a break-up, which is always a sad, familiarly empty feeling? no that wasn't it.

and then it struck me. it was because i was watching Bridget Jones's Diary right after a break-up. which is exactly what happened after my previous break-up. which is a little uncanny, because both times, the movie just happened to be airing on tv. it's not like i intentionally sought out the movie or was watching it on DVD.

i don't know what karma or life is trying to tell me. it is that i'll end up an old spinster like Bridget Jones would be in the real world and not in the make-believe movie/novel world? or that i should hold onto unrealistic idealistic fantasies that there may even be a Mark Darcy out there for me?

because truth be told, post-break up, no one would have the heart to believe the latter.

Highs and Lows

life can be a little funny: sometimes when you expect something to be bad, it ends up being better than expected. then, when you expect something to be good, it turns out to be awful.  life, you've got one helluva sense of humor.

i had a date with Sully to go see The Amazing Spider Man at the Times Square Regal theater. the movie itself was "meh" (even in 3-D) aside from the fact that Andrew Garfield is worthy eye candy. that Emma Stone is 1 lucky lady. it wasn't as witty as its predecessors, though it tried to be, but the action was pretty good and the chemistry between Garfield and Stone was fun to watch. i don't think the story was as great as the movie itself which resulted in my lack of interest at times.

the surprise of the night was actually dinner. and a Groupon dinner at that. i'm quickly jumping on the Groupon bandwagon, although it's just such a commitment to purchase something in advance. but i digress.

Sully had gotten a $60 Groupon for dinner at Destino. although i wouldn't call Destino a destination restaurant, if i lived in the neighborhood, i might consider it a worthy local italian spot that i could suggest to friends and family who were visiting. it's not a big restaurant, and if you're in a party of 2, be ready to sit thisclose to your neighbor. i could feel (and hear) the awkward atmosphere of the table to the left of us: it was an older gentleman with a younger woman and they barely said 2 words to each other the whole night. and we arrived right when their entrees arrived and they sat through dessert and coffee. AWKWARD. i could also hear (and sympathize) with the table to the right of us: a guy and a girl who were clearly "just friends" but through the conversation you could tell that the girl clearly liked the guy but the guy was either not interested/oblivious. they kept talking about bad dates the guy had recently been on.  these flaws (or not flaws since they were pretty entertaining) aside,  the Groupon deal for Destino was very impressive.

for $60 you had the choice of 1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, and 1 glass of wine per person. and they didn't skimp on the options. with the exception of a few items, you pretty much had the whole gamut of the menu to choose from.

to start, the restaurant provided us with bruschetta as a sort of amuse-bouche. while a little bit heavy for an amuse, it was definitely refreshing (as it was 90 degrees outside). the crostini was a little too crispy, but then again, who disagrees with gratis food?

as appetizers, i chose the Polpettine di Mario ($14) while Sully chose the Insalate di Mare ($16). don't let the picture fool you: this is 1 whopping meatball. yes, it's only 1 per serving but it is 1 big serving. i ate about half of it and let Sully eat the rest. and i definitely recommend you order it; it's a balance between light and dense, and the sauce is hearty enough to give it some flavor but light enough so it doesn't overwhelm the meatball taste itself. i don't think i've ever had such a complicated (and pretentious) sounding meatball. just get it.  the seafood salad was also light and refreshing, and a nice counterbalance to the heavy meatball appetizer.

for entrees, Sully ordered the Vitello Milanese (veal pounded thin and breaded, topped with arugula, tomato, red onion, and buffalo mozzarella) ($24.50). i ordered the Dentice Marechiaro (red snapper sauteed with white wine and a touch of marinara)($26) since i wasn't that hungry and figured that a white fish would be lighter than the alternative, which was pasta. both the fish and the veal were fine, although slightly overcooked. however, Sully seemed very satisfied as he finished off both our plates after i had gotten full.

for dessert we opted for the Tiramisu ($11) and the Ricotta Cheese Cake ($11). both were nice and light, although if i had to choose a winner i would go with the tiramisu. it had a more dessert feel to it, most likely because it was slightly sweeter.

so, as is the irony of life, i had expected great things from the movie and very little from the restaurant, only to have the reality turn out completely opposite.

Fine, I'm a Sucker

Yes, fine, i admit it: i totally want to see The Vow. let's just stamp a big fat "sucker" on my forehead, but it's true. i have become completely swayed by the commercials.

and, no, it's not because i'm a giant Channing Tatum fan. i think he's attractive, but he's no Jamie Bell or Joseph Gordon Levitt (yes, those are the men in my 5-and the traditional Ryan Gosling).  



now this might make you question my taste but i'm going to admit it anyway: this movie just looks adorkable. in a you're-totally-going-to-make-me-cry-but-then-give-me-a-happy-ending-and-resent-that-my-life-isn't-exactly-like-this kind of way. and i'm fine with that.

or maybe it's because The Vow is reminiscent of The Notebook. and i loved that movie.

HEEEEY yooooou guuuuuys~

mini-law school reunion in Richmond, VA! woot woot! SHOT SHOT SHOT, SHOTSHOT!

ok, so not quite that Jersey Shore-ish. but still fun nonetheless. haven't gone down to Richmond to visit BigBoobsMcGee and KappaGamma in a while so Kiddo, BGA, and i packed our bags and drove the 6 hrs down to Virginia for the weekend.

the drive down is always focused on 1 thing: when are we stopping at Chik-fil-A? there really is no other option since we're so Chik-fil-A deprived up in the north.  we always get pretty amped when  the "food" signs on the side of the highway start listing Chik-fil-A with the frequency of McDonald's. and since BGA had never had Chik-fil-A before, it sealed the deal as to where we would stop for dinner (we had been debating between Chik-fil-A or Sonic). and as BGA dug into his peach milkshake (with real peach fruit bits!) and his spicy crispy chicken sandwich, he had to admit, "hate tastes GOOD." for all of Chik-fil-A's religious, conversative, left-wing ideology and belief, it's some damn good food. which made Kiddo postulate the question, "i wonder what Nazi food tastes like?"  if hate has a direct ratio to taste, i can only guess it was delicious.


NOM NOM NOM! hate tastes delicious!

we arrived in Richmond after 11 p.m. and drove straight to Cous Cous to meet up with the law school crew, which included KG, BBM, and Cubed, who had flown down from Boston. we drank and danced to 80s and 90s hip hop until the wee hours of...1:30 a.m. o yea, i forgot, we're not in NYC anymore. bars actually do have closing times and last calls.

Cous Cous was a pretty great bar, although i haven't been in such a packed, sweaty environment in a while. it was like a sauna in there, but the cheap drinks made up for it (a Jameson on the rocks and a Jack & diet=$11.00). not to mention the daebak fashion. guys wearing jean cutoffs/ jorts and multi-colored tank tops with flip flops? daaaaebak. although at 1 point i realized how young the crowd was: Whitney Houston's, "How Will I Know" came on and BGA, KG and i belted our hearts out in excitement, which prompted this exchange:

"Wow, looks like you guys really grew up with this song" says RichmondHipster next to me wearing a cutoff sleeves t-shirt, bandana/headband, and jorts.

"Uh...yeah! you DIDN'T?"

"No... but i remember my older sister blasting this song all the time!"

uh...how old are you? that's when i looked around the room and realized how young these Virginia hipsters were. my night out had also become an impromptu babysitting excursion. the girl behind me clearly did not like HipsterBaby talking to me and promptly wedged herself between us (it was really weird, she was practically leaning on me in order to push us apart). i wanted to tell her, "don't worry. i'm not after your HipsterBaby because while i was bopping around to Whitney and Debbie, he was still in diapers and pacifiers."

after the bar closed, we headed back to BBM's where Cubed promptly passed out. or was he? we all attempted to wake Cubed up. when KG tried, Cubed reacted violently by yelling "don't touch me! you're too hot!" and slid from the air mattress down to the floor in his endeavor to escape from her. and although Cubed acted as if he was dead to the world, yet when i threatened to molest him if he didn't wake up, all of a sudden a mischievous smile appeared on his face...suspicious. very suspicious.

KG, BGA and i were the only ones still awake and since i'd had the foresight to request Firefly be purchased from the liquor store before our arrival, we continued the night. i'm still surprised we killed a whole new bottle of Firefly in the time between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. it was a total slumber party with talks about boys and sex and other inappropriate sleepover topics.

the next morning was a much needed liquid brunch from Village Cafe. the food was ok, but the real winner was the drinks! anything non-alcoholic is served in a mini-pitcher! considering how dehydrated i was, this was the perfect remedy. and the bloody mary was pretty good too, particularly if you like them spicy.

the perfect liquid brunch. in order of hydration quality: water, diet coke, and bloody mary. i'd also wanted a milkshake (they looked epic) but was convinced by BGA to wait until after the meal...and then we forgot.

after brunch was a romp in the St. James River. meh. i've never been much of an outdoorsy/nature girl so after 30 mins the novelty of the river wore off. the boys on the other hand, loved it, as did BBM. KG on the other hand, is even more nature-phobic than me. it probably took a good 25 mins before she was even willing to enter the water. and she claims she's not high maintenance some times.

after the river, BBM, BGA, and i headed out to pick up dinner from Cook Out. daeeebak. amazing milkshakes in over 20+ flavors and super cheap and delicious barbecue, burgers, chicken. although i totally ordered wrong by opting for a burger cheddar style (1/4 lb. patty topped with bacon, cheddar, onions and mayo) instead of the barbecue sandwich (pulled pork north carolina style meaning coleslaw and hot sauce), it was still amazing and a whole meal was only $4.39 + $1 for a specialty shake instead of a soda. you must go there now.

trouble started when we stopped at 7-11 for provisions. all of a sudden, BBM's car wouldn't start. now, although BBM, BGA, and i are all functioning and well adjusted adults, none of us knew jack about cars. and then the most amazing thing happened: a random stranger came over and asked BBM to pop her hood and began helping us!! i shit you not. when the hell does that ever happen?

turns out BBM needed to jump her battery but no one had jumper cables. fortuitously, we had broken down across the street from a car dealership so BGA and i trekked over to humbly request to borrow their jumper box. as the salesman handed us the jumper box, he said he needed us to leave some collateral like a wallet, purse, etc. which makes perfect sense to BGA and myself and we started to reach for something to leave with him. except he was kidding! whaaa?!?! you mean you'll let us just walk off with this piece of equipment and trust that we'll bring it back?

BGA and i just looked at each other in disbelief. where the hell were we? ohhhhh, right. we're in the South.

crisis averted, we brought the food home and all sat down to dinner, during which we realized BGA has not seen any of the classic 80s movie e.g. Pretty in Pink, Better Off Dead, Breakfast Club, Princess Bride, Sixteen Candles, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Goonies, etc. since we had made a liquor and beer run, we decided to bunk down for the night and watch Goonies and Princess Bride.

p.s. Goonies drinking game. daeeebak.

p.p.s. BGA didn't like (and might even hate) Princess Bride! i know! INCONCEIVABLE!

the Strong Silent Type

ok Won Bin, you got me. i have officially hopped on the Won Bin train.

i took my sweet time getting around to watching Ahjussi 아저씨 aka The Man from Nowhere.  i'd heard it was a good movie, top grossing in Korea and blahbitty blah etc. however, when i heard that my guy cousins were falling all over themselves in love with it, i got slightly turned off about seeing the movie. in the same way that guys are in love with Old Boy 올드보이, their extreme passion about it makes my latent rebellious side refuse to watch it out of some perverse refusal to follow the trend. plus, it's slightly weird how devoted the male species is to that movie. also, since i wasn't a rabid Won Bin fan, i wasn't particularly enthusiastic about watching Ahjussi.

but now that i've watched the film, i've got to admit: it's good. REALLY good. the action scenes were great to watch in that they're the kind that i like. not crazy machine guns and car explosions but more close, hand-to-hand combat in small spaces. one of my favorite fight scenes that i always watch when it's on tv is from The Bourne Identity: when Matt Damon, while suffering from amnesia, all of a sudden discovers he's skilled with hand-to-hand combat by taking out 2 German police officers that stop him in the park. so cool. and that's similar to what the action sequences are like in Ahjussi. Won Bin's character is calm and collected and extremely focused in his single-minded mission throughout the movie. and after he cut his hair in the second half of the movie and flashed some shirtless scenes, i had purchased my ticket aboard the Won Bin express. CHOO-CHOO!

speaking of all things korean, i recently found out from MrsOppa and Kiddo that Pandora's added k-pop to their playlists. say what?! when did k-pop become so mainstream? although, since i'm chinese and avidly listen to k-pop, i guess i really shouldn't say anything...

Kiddo discovered Big Bang's Hands Up through Pandora. of all of Big Bang's songs, Hands Up isn't my favorite but that might just be because the group has SO MANY hit songs to choose from. so, in honor of Kiddo's discovery, i'll share some of my Big Bang recs.

since i don't want to seem like too much  of a teenybopper fan, i'll limit it to these 2: a new album song, Cafe, and a classic, Lies. Enjoy!

as fleeting as a firework

i just finished watching Blue Valentine. and it was epic.

i admit i'm not much of an intellectual movie watcher. i tend to like the more formulaic main-stream type of movies. i'm a big rom-com fan. i have never been able to get myself to finish watching The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke is just so sad-looking in the movie i can't bear to watch it.

but every once in a while, i get tricked into watching a smart indie film and actual love it. that happened when i saw Children of Men. i thought the story was so intelligent and so well presented. it was definitely the type of film that made my brain continue churning and thinking about the subject matter, as well as the film itself. and after watching Blue Valentine, i have the same feeling.

admittedly, i initially was intrigued by the notorious scene that got the movie initially labeled with an NC-17 rating. and Ryan Gosling, of course. i mean, i love him as much as i love JGL. or Topher Grace. yep, he falls in my 5 i would say. correction, he is most definitely in my 5.

if you haven't seen it yet, i highly recommend watching the film. and while Ryan's looking good in 50% of the film, he's a lot less good-looking in the other 50% of the film, so if you're looking for eye candy, i'd wait for The Ides of March when it comes out. that will have Ryan and George Clooney. the physical transformation of Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine is sort of impressive in itself. it's only a little weight and a receding, thinning hairline, but, coupled with his white-trash-like character, it's an effective turn-off. congratulations Director Derek Cianfrance, you managed to make Ryan Gosling unattractive. a feat i once thought impossible.

the movie's an extremely effective juxtaposition of the best and worst in a relationship. the scenes depicting the fall and ruin of the relationship is interspersed with scenes of the beginning and development as well. and it's truly heartbreaking. the scenes where love is clearly growing between the two made me smile as a reminder of a similar memory in my past experiences (not the accidental pregnancy if that's what you were thinking) and envious of the younger Ryan that was immediately smitten with the younger Michelle Williams. and of course i was jealous that Michelle Williams got such a hot Ryan Gosling. even if it is only in the movie (although rumors are flying that life is imitating art, which wouldn't be the first time for Ryan-yes, we're close enough that we're on first-name bases).

but the relationship between the adult Ryan and the adult Michelle was cringe-worthy and uncomfortable, as it was meant to be. it's clearly headed for disaster, and you know that if the couple doesn't break up, they'll only be together because they're stuck with each other, not because they want to be. the conversations and other relationships, represented by Michelle's parents, demonstrate how relationships end up being about "settling" or become some sort of miserable existence.

it's a sad sad reality that Blue Valentine depicts. and what's worse is, it doesn't feel false. in fact, it rings unsettlingly true.

but even if that's the case, and even though you now know that the movie depicts this tragic truth (if you didn't already), the way the story's told and the way the actors portray it, won't stop you from rooting for their younger selves. and it won't stop you from still hoping that you'll be the exception to the rule. even as the story ends, the credits are presented in front of a backdrop of exploding fireworks. and each time the fireworks light the screen, you see a fleeting image of the happier, younger version of the couple. obvious symbolism, yes, but it doesn't mean i don't like fireworks, even if they are fleeting. and loud. and destructive.

i guess that's the rom-com lover in me.