PoppuPuri

Sunday on Roosevelt Island

2012-01-29T17:54:00.000-05:00

First Week in New York (once again)

2012-01-28T08:16:00.000-05:00

Jetlag has made me a better person. My current routine is going to bed around 10–11 and getting up around 5–6.

Though I did not cry out loud when I dragged my bags from the airport to my apartment, I felt sad that I really have no place to go to orient myself to the city. When I was in Tokyo, I got into some shops and cafés in Shibuya to get the vibe. In New York, I like anything from West 4 to Soho to Union Square but there are no places I feel really comfortable. Fortunately it is not so cold at this time of the year.

This semester will be busy. Academically I have to take one more class, write a paper, and get ready for research proficiency exam. And I may move to a new place in summer or even go to do research in Korea. Too much uncertainty going on. For now, I have to catch up many things on Hulu.

On Wikipedia’s SOPA/PIPA Blackout

2012-01-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

Below is a compilation of my replies to my own heatedly debated Facebook status, “Am I the only one who thinks that Wikipedia blackout is childish? I want my donation back.”

Okay, just to be clear, I don't support SOPA/PIPA but still Wikipedia blackout decision seems childish/irresponsible to me. If they want more attention to the bills, wouldn’t a big, say full-page, banner enough? For me, putting a link/banner or whatever is okay but limiting its own website’s availability is technically unacceptable.

What bonds me to Wikipedia is more than just donations. A project like Wikipedia is possible because of an unsaid social contract between the website and users; we provide and edit information while Wikipedia sets the platform and keeps it running. However, this blackout decision broke Wikipedia’s side of the contract to keep information viewable/editable online. A lot of people have contributed something to the Wikipedia but they now have no control over their information’s availability. What if Wikipedia decides to voice their “opinion” on something else that we may even disagree with too? How far can a web service go for its political agenda?

I am not sure if this is voted or discussed somehow among users. One thing I learn from this is that Wikipedia is not to be trusted to make information freely available. Again, wouldn't a huge banner enough?

Last Week in Bangkok

2012-01-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

My winter break has ended. So fast. I ate. So much.

Right before boarding, I started feeling homesick for Bangkok already. In-flight, 2 meals, 2 short naps, 3 episodes of Community, and 4 movies (Source Code, Friends with Benefits, Another Earth, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes) didn’t help.

Best Films 2011

2012-01-21T10:51:00.000-05:00

In the past year, I have watched almost as many movies as in the year I graduated and was largely unemployed, thanks to abundant movie releases in New York. Happy, I think that the state of cinema in the United States is healthy though their own films are not among the very best. Their motion picture creative force has been dispersed among other popular media such as TV and music videos. (See Best Music 2011.)

My favorites are all about breakups in its original sense and others such as getting away from political, artistic, financial, biological, or philosophical constraints. Statistic has it that, out of seven, three are about real breakups and, not so surprisingly, three are Iranian. No further ado.

A Separation

Equivocal ethics. Equitable humanism. Read more.
The Turin Horse

This “black-and-white piece of shit” was a totally new experience for me. Like a virgin, I embraced its perfect combination of visual and audio. Salute to the master’s last film. Read more.
Certified Copy

Abbas Kiarostami has never ceased to amaze me. Read more.
Tuesday, After Christmas

This may feel like A Separation minus religion and morality plus sex and midlife crisis but Tuesday, After Christmas is more personal, despite its predominant long shots, and more of an excellent character study. Read more.
Agrarian Utopia

Politics is in the air. I wish politicians were reborn as fat mice and grilled by farmers. Read more.
This is not a Film

Politics is in the face of Iranians. And Jafar Panahi put it in your face too. Read more.
The Artist

Was it not so formalist, this would be my guilty pleasure because of its highly entertaining value. Read more.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order)

Take Shelter
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Weekend
The Skin I Live In
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Restless
Three
Potiche
The Adventures of Tintin
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best non-2011 (in chronological order)

Serie Noire (1979)
Through The Olive Trees (1994)
Antichrist (2009)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

P.S. Best Films 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006.

Best Music 2011

2012-01-17T14:08:00.000-05:00

Best Albums

Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Borderline cheesy but utterly beautiful.
The Weeknd, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence

This series of emotional albums is a proof that free music can be great or even the best artistic choice due to no commercial constraints.
Real Estate, Days

Repetition has never sounded better. Kinder Blumen and the second part of All The Same are my favorites.
Atlas Sound, Parallax

Easy listening with a twist.
Das Racist, Shut Up, Dude, Sit Down, Man, and Relax

Personally I don’t like their attitude but I cannot resist their upbeat talent. They feel like a funny musician clone of Lars von Trier.
Of Montreal, thecontrollersphere

This five-track album is so diverse as if it was made by five different artists. And all different styles are equally great. As a whole, it feels like Animal Collective’s Fall Be Kind of 2011.
M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Though I am concerned about the album’s up and down pace, I have to keep telling myself “no, you are not dreaming; it sounds that good.”
Drake, Take Care

This feels like something in between The Weeknd and Das Racist. Definitely not bad but not a knockout.

Honorable Mentions

Noel Gallaher, High Flying Birds
Miranda Lambert, Four the Record

Best Tracks (in no particular order)
Note: Any tracks from the best album list are not included.

Penny & the Quarters, You and Me
Björk, Crystalline
สควีซ แอนนิมอล (Sqweez Animal), คำบางคำ
โยคีเพลย์บอย (Yokee Playboy), คอลลาเจน (Collagen)
ดีเจ โต้ สุหริท feat. บู้ เสลอ, จาระบี (ลื่นขั้นเทพ)
Adele, Someone Like You
Lana Del Rey, Video Games
Rihanna, We Found Love
Ohshu, New Song
salyu×salyu, ただのともだち

Best Music Videos (in no particular order)

Rihanna, We Found Love
Youth Lagoon, Montana
Is Tropical, The Greeks
M83, Midnight City
Ohshu, New Song
salyu×salyu, ただのともだち
Radiohead, Lotus Flower

P.S. Best Music 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006.

Museum Showdowns

2012-01-16T05:40:00.001-05:00

The museum scene in Bangkok has improved drastically since many new developments on the old Bangkok and the introduction of cheap DSLR cameras to the narcissistic nouveau-riche. Despite my place’s walkable proximity to some of them, I had never visited these places before. This time I utilized my short time in Thailand wisely by spending my afternoon time, while my friends and family are working, with old and new stuff in museums.

Round 1: Jim Thompson House (below) vs. Suan Pakkad Palace (far below)
Verdict: tie

There are a lot more real traditional Thai artifacts at Suan Pakkad Palace but much less guidance staff or descriptions. While both take roughly an hour to visit, I have learned more from an excellent professional guide at Jim Thompson House. (The walking tour is provided in Thai, English, French, and maybe more.) However, you have to pay twice the ticket price. Please also keep in mind that Jim Thompson House is Thai-western Frankenstein at best.

Round 2: Nitas Rattanakosin (shown in the previous post) vs. Museum Siam (below)
Verdict: arguably Museum Siam

This is quite a hard decision. While Nitas Rattanakosin looks grander and actually takes longer time to complete (4 hours vs. 1-2 hours) at the same price, there are much less real contents on anything. Any topics are superficially discussed. Staff cannot answer some questions. Many rooms are completely pointless. Videos could be digested into shorter presentations for non-linear itinerary as in a more museum-like and educational setting in Museum Siam. Indeed this divides my family somehow; my dad and brother prefer somewhat timed linear show-like aspect of Nitas Rattanakosin while my mom and I prefer the opposite.

P.S. What I found on the way:

More Eating and Going Out

2012-01-13T13:42:00.000-05:00

(Eat) Out & About

2012-01-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

I continued eating. I watched another movie. (Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) was mouthwatering but did not provide any new perspective on food or Japanese cultures.) And I went out more. Bangkok never runs out of places to go.

Bangkok-scape

2012-01-07T03:14:00.000-05:00

Going around, eating, reading comics, and watching movies.

Though I didn’t really get what was going on in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) but I respect its grace. The film felt realistic, mature, and under control. Tomas Alfredson can easily become one of my favorite directors if I watch more of his films and they are on par with this and Let the Right One In.

To Eat

2012-01-06T01:47:00.000-05:00

To be continued ...

Did and To Do

2012-01-04T02:25:00.000-05:00

~~Will buy~~

one more CD

other souvenirs

~~Will have a small surgery to get rid of a cyst on my back~~
Will see a optometrist
~~Will meet more friends~~ but there are more friends to meet.
~~Will go to visit more places~~ but there are more places to go.
Will watch

Take Shelter
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
~~The Adventures of Tintin~~ was so much fun. The atmosphere and pace felt like the original comic. It was even more action-packed
~~The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo~~ was generally better than the original. Besides the sexual abuse scene, everything including the cinematography, rhythm, and characterization was better. I had watched the Swedish version and lost interest in the story. This time, I am looking forward to the sequels.

Task List

2011-12-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

Family
Friends

Dispatched

What people asked me to bring
Souvenirs for family (stuff) and workplace (chocolate)

Bought

Books (including comics)
Thai oldie CD for my friend

Rooted and unlocked my phone
Wrote two postcards
Renewed

National ID card
US visa

Updated my financial status
Saw

Dentist
Doctor

Watched Sleeping Beauty (2011), promising but failed

Will buy

one more CD
other souvenirs

Will have a small surgery to get rid of a cyst on my back
Will see a optometrist
Will meet more friends
Will go to visit more places
Will watch

Take Shelter
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
The Adventures of Tintin
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

First Days

2011-12-29T05:02:00.001-05:00

After a short stopover in Hong Kong, my first sight of nostalgia in Thailand was stacks of cassette tapes and CDs I had bought before I went to college. They have been abandoned ever since mp3 took reign of audio media format. Probably the next victim of the digital invasion will be my books; they are sitting still in my shelf and gathering dust.

Also the old Bangkok is nostalgically fascinating as ever. Together with street food, this could be heaven. A friend of mine saw my photo album and mocked me if I came back to Thailand to eat. And actually the answer is yes.

I do not like the budding of Japanese this and that all over the city though. Despite many new buildings, the architectural scene in Bangkok is still bad. Many new apartments and that one big lot opposite of Siam Paragon will be major players soon. The economy of cheap food will struggle in this most-expensive-than-ever city. We will see.

Last Days

2011-12-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

Like Crazy (2011) would be like a normal handheld soft-focus indie love story if there was no immigration problem and the classic story of fidelity, long-distance relationship, and true love. The most interesting part was that the director kept the equivocal tone throughout. Maybe the British-American couple had grown up or they were destined to be doomed. According to my first-hand experience, I was pessimistic.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) felt even more defeatist. While watching the first half of this drama about escaping from a fictional cult in Upstate New York, I expected it to keep a good balance between the secluded life and the “real” world with a moral punchline that we all were in a cult.

It turned out to focus more on the title character’s psychological state and her confusion between her fractions of memory and delusion which were seamlessly cut and blended into each other. I loved how each scene was elaborately framed. The overall mood was realistic, succinct, and a little disturbing. The acting was great. The tone and pace were perfect.

I was in such a cinematic climax that I wanted to watch another film before boarding to Bangkok, say House of Pleasures (2011), but I had not packed my bags and many people had asked me to bring too many things back for themselves, their families, their friends, etc. (I will write about this social burden later.)

To be constantly exposed to pop media, I plan to read Ender's Game and watch a few episodes of Community and movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and or Another Earth (2011) on the plane. A little geared towards sciency and geeky stuff.

I am ready to go.

Sleepless in New York

2011-12-22T20:25:00.000-05:00

Five in the morning,
my pajamas were pulled down
as friend rhymes with end.

Only in New York

2011-12-21T02:03:00.000-05:00

Brazil barber (in Chinatown!) and Bangkok burger.

Last Week

2011-12-20T16:50:00.000-05:00

Been to two parties in the same day. Got a hand cream.
Carnage (2011) felt Hitchcockian with characters by Woody Allen. The breakdowns seemed like a stretch though. The question is whether watching a film by a child rapist is morally objectionable?
Contagion (2011) was surprisingly quite realistic, at least to a computer scientist like me. The narrative was unnecessarily more complicated than it should have been without gaining any emotional impact. It is interesting how Steven Soderbergh has shifted from a good director to a mediocre one.
Returned two books.
Gave a presentation. The professor gave bad comments again. Sometimes he had better say nothing.
Lost my water bottle. For the second time.
Started packing my bag. I am so ready to go (despite my stagnant research progress.)

New Exibition

2011-12-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

The pixels on these canvases are vertically randomized average color tiles of famous paintings. Can you guess the originals?

I have just ...

2011-12-17T03:27:00.000-05:00

... started watching Community. American TV is really good.
... finished the last report (but not presentation) of this semester.
... wondered why someone asked my friend’s phone number instead of mine.
... bought a present for my advisor’s Christmas/New Year party.
... started packing my bags for my vacation in Thailand next week.
... wondered why people want something from here so much.
... wondered why chocolate is so expensive.

Wild Things Are In A Wild Film

2011-12-17T03:06:00.000-05:00

Spike Jonze was not a surprising choice for a fantasy movie but certainly one for a children book adaptation like Where the Wild Things Are (2009). Its warmth and raw visual brought me back to his early masterpiece like the music video for Fatboy Slim’s Praise You. It rode a thin line between a CG-heavy blockbuster and a low-budget handheld home video, a thinner line between a cute indie film and a predictable family drama about growing up, and the thinnest line between cheesy real and busy surreal territories. It is definitely on my must-see list for my children.

Shame-burger

2011-12-14T04:33:00.000-05:00

New York often claims the best, or at least the most, of everything. More often, this is not true. One thing is burger.

I have a routine of choosing a type of food and exhaustively visiting all famous places specialized in it. I have picked hamburger and started a tour since a few months ago. Too bad, many options in Tokyo such as Fire House, Baker Bounce, and a small café in Sendagi (of which Hawaiian burger is shown above) gave a better impression than any well-known and well-liked venues in New York I have been to. Maybe I just romanticize my time in Japan but I believe in my taste consistency. No further ado, below is my list:

Five Napkin Burger is the best so far. Its burgers are juicy and served with tasty caramelized onions. Anyway the comparison seems a little bit unfair because it is the most upscale and expensive among the others in this list too.
Social Eatz has a yummy bibimbap burger. But I am not sure if anything tastes good with that Korean sauce and egg.
BareBurger is a hipster heaven with the word “organic” attached to everything everywhere. Its burgers are just good but its shakes are awesome.
Five Guys is always a reliable place for a quick meal.
Shake Shack is overrated but not bad. Always fun to eat. Waiting in line is almost mandatory.
Burger Heaven is surprisingly good. Besides its diner feeling, there is no memorable features.
Corner Bistro is highly overrated. I love its local mood and cheap house beer though.
Brgr is a new addition to Upper East Side. Not bad but way too expensive for the value.
Goodburger is a little bit more than okay.
3Bs at FoodParc is okay despite its fancy order tracking screen.
Soho Park has a nice ambience and good location. (See that I didn’t mention its food.)
Joy Burger Bar has a nice front but nothing more than average.
Blue 9 Burger is okay.
Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien is the mother of all gimmicks. A homey burger joint hidden in a luxury hotel is cute but nothing else.
White Castle is cheap.
Pop Burger is bad, bad, bad.

P.S. Donovan’s Pub is the only place I want to go and haven’t been to despite its proximity to my apartment. Too close, too far.

P.P.S. The title of this post refers to Shame (2011). Overall, like New York’s burgers, its sexually explicit scenes were a hype. I like how sterile the city looked in the film but I feel like the story was plugged in. Like most things in New York, I think they tried too hard.

Electric & Electronic

2011-12-12T03:37:00.001-05:00

Sit-Down

2011-12-08T02:14:00.001-05:00

Watching last week’s New Girl, Glee, Gossip Girl, House, American Dad, and Family Guy in a row showed how I was desperate for sit-down entertainment after shopping for a birthday party, cooking and eating Brazilian food, drinking, sleeping for 10 hours, preparing a class presentation all day, sleeping for 3 hours, giving a presentation, and missing a train home.

On the way home, I read two comic books I checked out from the library though. I finished Chester Brown’s The Playboy and loved the autobiography of growing up feeling guilty because of his sexual discovery through many issues of the famous magazine (which has become obsolete due to the internet. ). The most interesting technical part was how the “voiceover” was visualized as a smaller and older version of the writer’s self flying around. It was a good twist of the classic good-vs-evil thoughts. Also, the rhythm is perfect; at first, the narrator closely followed the protagonist (his younger self) to focus on his emotion but gradually got visually distant from him to pace faster and reveal more plot. Smart.

I started reading The Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch. It was visually striking in a very unique way. I liked how the story of animation making was told in comic format as both are considered sequential arts. However, plotwise, it was quite hard to follow. I have to sit down and read more.

Science, Religion, and Politics

2011-12-06T21:02:00.001-05:00