red.circusgeek

Classic Flight of the C. …. Enjoy

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Entertainment | 1 Comment

So EXCITED for this…. Love that Depp… love that Burton

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | Entertainment | No Comments

He’s a GENIUS!

No better choice for the Mad Hatter… I do say, “A very merry unbirthday to you… to you. A very merry unbirthday to us….to us!”

The cast is phenomenal. Alan Rickman as the caterpillar is genius and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Well I can already hear the echoing boom, “Off with her head” echoing through the delicate vocal chords of Miss Carter. Be still my beating heart as Crispin Glover takes on the role of the Knave of Hearts. Matt Lucas will be a perfect tweedle dee and tweedle dum.

It’s a classic “Alice In Wonderland” and Burton will make it one magical nightmare none of us will forget.This ain’t no Disney fluff.. no way.

I used to quote the following a lot, I even remember seeing my mom use this in an audition she conducted to get into our churcn’s musical. She didn’t get into the musical but it got ingrained into my head as she imbedded it into her memory.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”

{image via comingsoon.net}

Vegas

Sunday, November 9th, 2008 | Entertainment, Travel | No Comments

Simply Surreal. Vegas.

Cabs are EXPENSIVE.$60 cab ride from airport to Hotel. Nevermind Hotel was way off of the strip, in fact it was about 23 miles from the strip. When arriving to Vegas, just hire a Personal Sedan Service vehicle. It’s easier. We waited about 10-15 minutes in a line of Disneyland caliber just to catch a cab to the hotel.

Cabs are UNRELIABLE. We had to be at our event at least by 5:15. We ordered a cab to pick us up at 4:45. Cabbie showed at 4:30 apparently and then took off. Never to show up again. Our VALET and let me repeat our VALET people used one of their rentals and took us to our event. We got there at least by 5:40pm. I was simply over-done by the customer service at our hotel and the care and concern the VALET service showed towards us. The VALET also ensured we had a Personal Sedan Service scheduled for us when we wanted to go and hit the strip after our event. So we enjoyed a nice comfortable and cozy (on-time) journey from hotel to the strip at 10:30 on a festive Friday night.

Easy to catch a cab at 5am, which is about the time we finally felt like turning into pumpkins after two crazy clubs and then street wandering on the strip.

Vegas is crazy.

CLUBS cater to the men which in turns requires them to overtreat the ladies and men have a harder time getting into clubs, we just had to get on some kind of VIP list to get in and with no cover charge. Our hotel did this for us, amazing. Simply put- we were two young girls (well my colleague is young) and well we’re “ladies” so we got practically worshipped and adorned with specials. We got drink tickets, twice.

Anyway, First stop on our journey was TAO which is located in The Venetian. Buddha’s adorned the walls of this club with 2 floors and the top club floor was ridiculous. Stage of girls dancing in Victoria’s Secret specials and tubs filled with flower petals some with girls bathing in nothing. It’s a man’s paradise but then Vegas really does fit the bill for lonely souls, or souls seeking a little underground thrill.

I don’t judge I merely observe

LAVO was the next stop. The bottom floor was far tamer, more relaxed, better music. But upon climbing the stairs to the second floor, it was complete chaos. Strobe lighting- couldn’t see a thing really, wall to wall with bodies bumper to bumper, we couldn’t barely move in this place. Not too long trying to weave through to a bar, we headed back down. Phew.

So I saw a lot of either attention seekers or mere desperation with majority of girls wearing next to nothing. Lots of make-up, big lips, big boobs, high heels and no reservations. Simply Sin City’s charmers.. eh?

At least I made it to Paris, well Vegas Paris. We met up with friends of my colleague’s 5 boys, and they were kind and generous and bought our drinks for the rest of the night, which helped my pocketbook. Geez, with each drink at a 10 -15 dollar hit, it got spendy. One place charged a guy $17 for a vodka / Red Bull.

Whoa!

I don’t know who can go to Vegas on a budget anymore and some alarming statistics is that Vegas’s unemployment rate is at around 9%, the highest yet. Lots of construction going on there too.

The plusses of this trip, enjoying the time with my colleague, enjoying the nice warmer weather, good drinks, nice hotel, experiencing hospitality at its finest and staying up till 5am in the morning which I hadn’t done since… oh well since the last work event for M&C. So it hasn’t been that long.

Oh, waking up with limited sleep and limited hangover. That was nice. Although I pulled my shoulder / neck muscle yesterday so I’m not feeling in full throttle, but hey at least I am home and snuggly with my hubby and my kitty.

Life is short so if one wants to make the most out of it in a short amount of time, Vegas could be the place. The town where people can do all the pretending they want to do, escape from reality and live as if life were ending tomorrow.

Anyone of any age of any path in life can come to Vegas and simply be someone else.

What Jane Austen heroine are you?

Sunday, October 12th, 2008 | Entertainment | No Comments

So, apparently I am Elinor Dashwood!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Take the Quiz here!

Okay now THIS is taking a dining experience just way too far….

Saturday, September 6th, 2008 | Entertainment | No Comments

Get Your Reservations Set….

I know bathroom humor is lame, but I just couldn’t resist this email I got this email from a good friend I used to work with. Living with all boys in my house, I’ve had to learn to laugh at more things than I used to. Check out this restaurant in China. Would you be caught dead eating here?! Gross. Clean out the toilet bowls and Have a great weekend!!

Modern Toilet is a restaurant in Taipei . It accommodates 100 seats with each made from toilet bowls. The specialties at the restaurant accompany sink faucets and the food is served in mini plastic toilet bowls. The toilet rolls that serve for wiping hand and mouth are hung above the tables, which may resemble glass-topped jumbo bathtubs.

This is just wrong? Chocolate ice cream!?

Ok, who’s bringing this idea to the US?

Thanks for the memories!

Saturday, September 6th, 2008 | Entertainment | No Comments

As adults and as time passes and we become parents, our lives are consumed with creating the wonderful memories we experienced throughout our childhood.

My distinct memories always seem to include the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I don’t think a single Christmas has gone by without watching that. Animators definitely are not the same as they used to be. It is a cherished gift that we were able to experience the imaginations of those creators. One especially was Bill Melendez.
So here’s to the great and talented Bill Melendez. Thank you for the memories!

Pandora, Control, Anniversary, Girl in a Cafe

Thursday, August 21st, 2008 | Entertainment | 2 Comments

I have fallen in love, I am still in love with R of course, but this is a new kind of love. It’s different.
This is a love with no strings attached, I can dance, drink wine, reminisce, imagine, explore and dream with….Pandora. With Pandora… there is no guilt.

It fits my mood at each second of a song change. It is beautiful, inspiring, creative, wondrous, non-judgemental, moody and feeds me the chocolate cake I so desire when the urge arises, it fits me even on my skinny days where a 5 mile jaunt came with zero sweat just as easily as it met my needs on my fat days when only a mu mu could bring me to a sense of contentment with myself… even if I felt the impetus to have a cigarrette and pabst at my side. I love it and I am in love…

Pandora. You take me to new heights….allowing me to express that being within and emphasize my mood at a moments notice, being a woman that’s your ticket to the promise land and I am in heaven with your embrace.
I truly hope you never go away. All I need to do is type at my fingertips whim what tune, melody, song, charisma I so seek and you bring it alive. Thank you. Which leads me to to the story of another love constricted by the demands of two different lives that evolved from the passon and fame experienced by the one and only Ian Curtis.
So really my love succumbed again to the beauty that was so apparent in the movie Control. Based on Deborah Curtis’s collection of events around her love, Ian Curtis- Lead singer Joy Division. This movie brought me to tears. Ian… he was so young in falling in deep, passionate love with Deborah, even at the time when her immediate intimate interest sprung from Ian’s friend, seeing each other enough there was discovery. They fell for each other. They fell in love. Ian is a compelling character, with such passion, creativity and wanton need to please, to meet the external requirements around him.

Taking his life at 23 with accomplishments equivalent to a 40 year old. There were two parts to Ian, actually two lives. He sought to please those in his lives, but couldn’t meet the demand. There was his commitment to the life he chose at 18 and the life that sprung up around him at 20. The rock star status, the attention the wanton desire he conjured in his audience. I was somewhat seduced by his deep intensity, who couldn’t be it was intoxicating. Here is a very moving article about Ian and Deborah.. it is a must read.

One Ian who was creative and kind and passionate, committed to the one he loved so compellingly, but taken away by the awestruck world in which he was the star. It was so demanding to the point where he had lost “control”. Each piece of a Joy Division song they played throughout was equivalent to the mood and feeling that Ian was feeling, I was simply awestruck.

So, today- Today was a great day. Work is, what it is, I might long for different but overall it’s been great getting close to colleagues and meeting with people and simply doing whatever I can to feel connected and challenged and involved.

2008, it’s anniversary time.

Today, August 21st, marks R’s and I’s 4th year “being married” anniversary. It’s so interesting because time now seems so irrelevent. It’s just time and time will continue and we’ll continue to make our memories and live day to day. It’s significant and wonderful and even just all of the journies we had been through over the year from now. I wouldn’t change anything. I love R, I love our house, our friends…. I love working downtown and really I am blessed.

In Fact:

I met a very cool person today. She’s celebrating her 4th anniversary in Sept. She was married before, which brings me to appreciate how simple my life is. Luckily she said they never had kids in her first marriage and she knew she couldn’t with her previous husband, she knew it wouldn’t work and now, she feels ever so confident with the person she is with now. She’s talking about having kids and I supported her all the way.

Today for me?

As my anniversary gift, Ry surprised the heck outta me with flowers, dark chocolate truffles, garbage already out on the curb and a clean, sparkling kitchen. This is why expectations in marriage should be dumped at the front door. I was floored, cried and surprised, R can simply surprise me with the smallest gesture and I am in heaven. I Got home from walking from the bus stop. Petted Guinness, looked around in awe and thought about how lucky I am.

I opened my bottle of wine, whipped up pasta with mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and cheese and enjoyed an evening for me on the couch. Eventually I cracked open a delicious dark chocolate truffle… okay maybe it was two of those, planted my big ass on the couch and just relaxed. It was marvelous and R. had this all planned for me even without me knowing it. I am a lucky girl.

So I decided to venture and have a movie adventure.

Tears emerged as I watched “The Girl in the Cafe”

It was….. beautiful and profound.

I LOVE Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. I loved and appreciated the nuances and wierd ticks of Bill’s character and the simplicity yet extreme complexity between him and Kelly’s charachter (Gina) as they learned about each other. So, yes, it is a bit weird to see him and her in a love scene considering he could be her like father, but fundamentally what was beautiful was the simple need for human interest, compassion, love and just plain company between each other.

Eventually the complexities unfold… you journey with the G8 summit to Reykjavick and there are some serious reflections you encounter in this political world where all human interests of a country are at stake. I balled at the thought, there is so much wrong going on and we don’t hear, don’t know, don’t understand… we lose perspective. What we have…. luxurious from those living in corrupt 3rd world countries with governments clearly more concerned for their wealth versus the people’s livability. It’s incredibly moving in its profundity. I am spoiled and I am lucky.

What I could relate to:
The best association Kelly’s character has to Iceland is Bjork, something I completely relate to. I know that Reykjavik is on my list of places to see in my lifetime, for sure. The only thing is that almost everything has to bet shipped in, because, fundamentally not a lot can grow there. It looks beautiful, full of culture, art, music… I mean one part of this movie was the soundtrack and in fact I typed in “Sugir Ros” in Pandora, because they were in the end of the movie and it has been playing some amazing stuff on my Pandora.

Oh , Pandora, how do I love thee. But Ry, you made my real anniversary compelling, moving and surprising. Thank you.

Dinner at Ciao Vito sounds lovely.

What a Wednesday

Thursday, February 7th, 2008 | Entertainment, Music, work | No Comments

With this job opportunity just at the reach of my fingertips, I have to now go through the process of negotiating for a competitive wage. I think this is THE most gut wrenching part to the hiring process. How do we know exactly how much we are worth? We look up websites and run averages of salaries that fit job descriptions equivalent to the job we are being considered for and then just throw that back to the hiring managers and hope for the best?

The worst case scenario being they decide not to hire me after all, but wait, I really want to work for them… but there is something to be said about incorporating our value, worth and contribution to the organization.

Needless to say I’ve been obsessing over it all day.

SO, I tried to find peace of mind in doing some inhale yoga this morning. Violin lessons this afternoon, coffee with a friend, coffee alone with my school work, beer at Shanghai, and then met Ryan and I felt all better again. He’s good at doing that for me! :). Phew!

So, we decided the bartender at Shanghai was being a real grumpy pants, so we high tailed it to Thirsty Lion for more beer , dinner, then walked to Roseland.

I bought tickets for the Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV and Editors show for this evening. While Hot Hot Heat couldn’t play tonight we had a marvelous time escaping reality for few hours at The Roseland. I was pleasantly surprised at Louis XIV. With their string ensemble (2 people playing violins) and of course the usual bass, electric guitar and drums. They were hands down good old 60’s style rock and roll. Brilliant.

I always fall in love with the Editors when I see them live. They are incredibly captivating and the lead singer, Tom Smith, is just as cute as a button with his antics all over the stage. It’s as if the stage were his own playground and the piano his jungle gym.

The lights were EXTREMELY bright in the background, but at certain points it just felt as if I was looking over the horizon and the sun was setting and as such the silhouette of Tom, over the piano, made his more wistful melodies that much more poignant such as the song “The Weight of the World”. They are a charming, entertaining and just plain awesome band. I cannot wait for their next album.

I get teary eyed just thinking about it.

The weather was torrential too, so leaving Roseland was no picnic. But we made it home safe and sound and now my head is a buzz with wonder while my stomach goes back into knots realizing all the transpirations of today, this Wednesday Feb. 6th.

It’s now simply a matter of just waiting to see what tomorrow brings. It’s been a good day thus far, actually it’s been a monumentally memorable day!

Thanks again to all of my support group, friends and past work colleagues. All your affirmations mean more than mountains to me.

Keep safe and good night! Till tomorrow.

A little bit of Shakespeare

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 | Entertainment, Food | 1 Comment

Tuesday was a day of adventure and intrigue. The day entailed a nice interview surprise. This had to be one of the most relaxed, easy and just plain wonderful interviews of the interviewing stint I’ve experienced. The job sounds fantastic as does the firm. I would love to be considered for this opportunity, however, as with all the interviews my expectations are not exceedingly optimistic. I simply have my fingers crossed.

The real excitement of the day was first the happy hour with Miranda at Oba (they have excellent happy hours, as you get a discount on both drinks & food. I had coconut prawns and ceasar salad accompanied first by the House red wine (which isn’t anything to write home about, so I settled for a cabernet as my second drink of choice and it was a good choice at that). Miranda had the Ceasar and then the chicken tacos which she said was really good.

Followed was an adventure into the 16th Century. An enchanting evening filled with mistaken identity, love, double-entendre’s and perplexity around sexual identity. The garb was true Shakespearean (not totally true as there were no cod pieces). The lines were delivered with intention and the minstrel kept the air full of romantic mystery and magic.

Twelfth Night is a Portland Center Stage must see, as is their Web 2.0 website. I love that you can add comments and opinions to their discussion feeds. It’s really a great way to connect with the audience and enable the audience to connect with the productions.

I definitely recommend Twelfth Night.

Hooked on Heroes! Love that Doctor… who? You say…. Exactly!

Thursday, October 11th, 2007 | Entertainment, General | No Comments

I think that is just about all I need to say about that. But, to elaborate…..

This show is simply captivating. The evolution of generations and the capabilities of the individuals, fascinating. I so appreciate the dynamics, especially the relationship between Claire and the father who tried so hard to keep her safe. His love and care for her is just endearing. We are just about done with Season 1 and have enjoyed every second watching it via Netflix. No commercials! It’s awesome. However we have DVR’d season two, it’ll be much more painful to have to get through the commercials. Netflix spoils us. Either way. Excellent, mesmerizing, captivating show. It’ll be my blame for when I start getting behind with school.

Ohhhhh that’s the new Doctor, the tenth one to be specific. How handsome is he. Isn’t that David Tennet just Dreamy!Ahhhh… Sigh!
Okay, I am loving Doctor Who right now, however, enough of Martha’s whining about Rose and if the Doctor is smitten with her. Give me a freakin’ break. Martha, get over it and stop obsessing over the Doctor’s affections, if they are love, like … whatever! It’s not meant to last, it will never last and yes what he shared with Rose was special but you are his companion now, just make the best of it and stop your whining!

There I said it. I feel much better now!