Wednesday, April 30, 2008


I had a chance to see this operation. What an invention. Wonder how many animals were tested before doing on human. Also 1st Human to undergo this operation was some gutsy dude.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008


The Other Side of Heaven (2001) Mediocre story but nice Tonga perspective. Good movie to watch with children. $10.

Thursday, April 24, 2008


No Country for Old Men (2007). movie with unresolved ending. I liked Coen bros Fargo but after that whatever I have seen is not my taste. This one including. Strange case in strange town sounds like their likings.. Bring in more comedy or strange twist or let police do more tricks.
The main actor looks interesting though. $3.

Sunday, April 20, 2008


Ming's Chinese Cuisine & Bar
www.mings.com

1700 Embarcadero Rd
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 856-7700

We have not been there for year or so. Since the last time the food is improved I think. But the not many people than before.... $58 for four. B-.

Ergon GC2 bike grip. I did not know they had so many varieties. Bought this pair for $35 at REI. Always wanted one when I saw this in IF back in 2005 or some but finally found it. Nice ergonomics and look. A bit heavy and pricy. I shall commute on it from tomorrow and see how it feels. It turns out to be pretty good I like it. Yet at work I started to feel pain using mouse on PC. I just hope it is not related....

Disney Enchanted 2007. Very Disney but with little twist. We liked it. Good with girls under 10. $13.

Saturday, April 19, 2008


Another single geared bike I like is called Peacemaker fixie from Karlsruhe, Germany. If Alta does not respond and Obey was not found in decent price and size, I might move on to this. They have a cool handle bar called car scratcher or some'n.

Thursday, April 17, 2008


Gombei Japanese Restaurant

193 Jackson St
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 279-4311

Crowded for weekday night. Food wise a bit above average but price is right and service is quick and clean. Open kitchen also gave me some assurance. I had a Adobo. Wish it was more sour and a lot of coriander on it but could just my taste. $35 for four. Would go there again.

Beowulf 2007. All CG-ed adventure movie. Amazing texture mapping and realism. Decent story too, which I did not know was based on old folklore. Would been fun to watch with kid if Grendel murder scene was less played out.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008


LaPalma Lem stool designed by Azumis in the UK. I used to know them. Too bad they are separated but at the same time, I did not know them well enough to state that. Anyway, we happened to get three of them!! We always wanted but $700 each we were postponing it. Now we got them, kids love them. The sitting surface came in two different finish=light veneer and black leather, so it will be fun project to make them match. One way to go is to make them look like shown here.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008


Planettran, Prius base eco limo taxi to airport. About the same price or a bit cheaper. I do not see why not to use them from now on. $99 from cupertino to SFO.

6星集足體養身會館 Foot Massage Center. I always go to the 76 street number one. About $60 for 90 minutes foot and body. The last time was too hard and felt that I could skip for a while but I went back again. Number 63, 陳海梅さんwas
good.

京星港式飲茶 Citystar 24HR HK Style Restaurant. I kind always wished someone to do dim-sum 24hr unlike lunch only around here but there it was. In heart of Taipei street, there was one. And tasted not bad either. What more surprising was that there are more than one restaurant doing 24/7 dim-sum! Viva Taipei.

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner
by Paul M. Sammon. This author is Ridley freak. He write many about him.. This book gave me nice insight about the movie and looking forward watching the Final Cut soon. $5.

August Rush (2007) The kid Freddie Highmore is amazing in it. He is acting as Evan Taylor - 'August Rush'. Love to know how much musical playing he did himself but it looked brilliant. Also Terrence Howard was good in it too. Good story and beautiful ending. $25.

The Savages (2007) It is one of those awkward not so main stream movie but I liked it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are brilliant in it. A bit like American Splendor (2003) with Paul Giamatti, it shows lonely and stale side of the US. Nicely done. This director might be my new Cohen brothers since those lads kind lost interest of mine from O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) $12.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) Nicolas Cage's hair line getting funnier and funnier. It is time to be like Bruce Willis and face the fact. Not sure if he ever made it to be an actor if his relative was not Francis Ford Coppola. Not that I do not like his acting but his stuffy nosy voice can get me like Adam Sandler's. Story wise sucks. SFX wise OK. $5.

I Am Legend (2007) Directed by a dude who did MTV for Britney and J-Lo. Not bad beginning seeing Manhattan with no one in it. SFX is amazing. Story gets kind a weak toward the end and why did he has to die in the end? Nice golfing scene by Will Smith.

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) A boy find a dinosaur egg which became loch Ness Monster. Weak plot but nice pictures. Like Ben Chaplin in it. Not sure what I have seen him before. Also Emily Watson is in it but she looked big. May be fun to watch with kid below 10yrs old.

Monday, April 14, 2008


Took HSR to Taichung. Went over 300km/h!! Fast and cool. Used to be 150 minutes, now 45 minutes. $560NT one way from TPE.

Sheraton TPE. Not as good as Grand Hyatt but still too fancy for me. $6100NT per night. Small but OK pool at the top. Japanese restaurant there is below average.

Watami in Taipei. The menu is pretty much same as the J. Tasted the same too. Cool.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008


The Kingdom 2007
Jamie and Chris did decent but usual Miami Vice role but were good. Toward ending I realized it was not just terrorist=baaaad movie but to question the both side. $12.

Richard Serra at LACMA.
I could search for the title on this one but what is the point? His stuff is so overwhelming that no need to look for title on tiny placard but just experience by whole body. I have seen his stuff 1st time at Bilbao about 10 years ago and thought it was much bigger and longer than one in LACMA, but may be because I grew up.... The steel is look rusted but does not smitten the fingers when touch it. Beautiful surface. Another favorite of mine.

Damien Hirst
The Collector
2003-2005

I loved watching this at LACMA. The guard told me that they replace plant weekly, but what about butter fly, they keep living self-generating? The Lab lady (or man) moves legs once in a while too. It is a good one. He is a half scientist and half nutty artist. Great.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Fixie bicycle


Fuji Obey. I love the look of it. Different taste to Alta bike I also like but since Alta people does not respond to me at all, mind as well I get this one. Now Ebay $700... for 54cm.

My 69 Coupe odometer was broken since I bought it and decided to tackle it. Took while and weird hand twist to get them out from trunk side. It turned out that 10 tooth pinion which drove the mecha was broken. Called up meter specialist and quote for having THEM fix was $200. I went there and just ordered gear and part cost me $25. The gear used to be plastic and now in brass. Porsche picked plastic for torque balance issue or cost issue, not sure but for now it is working fine. I also greased up the speed cable. The speed cable used to dance a bit but now a swiss quality solid speedo... well almost.

BOOQ bag. http://www.booqbags.com
Bought Sleeve for PB17, bag(slimcase XL90) and small iPod sack. They are TUMI with a color for younger generation. Slim Case has the handle at bad balanced position. Their color pick and design is decent, just need to work on ergonomics more. Not sure how useful ID tag idea is but always like people who innovate.

Yoshinoya. Just like Taco Bell, I have an urge to eat this once in a while. The meat is thicker than J and rice is dry but overall not bad. Never seen Japanese working there though, unlike Ringer Hut.

Ringer Hut Nagasaki Champon. 1072 Saratoga Ave, San Jose
Taste OK and service is pretty quick. They used to do lunch but the hours shows no more... I thought they were doing well lunch time too.