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Apparently Verizon Wireless offers employee discounts (if one is available). I work for a UC school, so I can get 15% off my monthly plan (that's about $5-6). You can check if you're eligible.

Last week, I went to a nicotine & tobacco research conference in Austin, Texas, apparently the headquarters of Whole Foods (or whole paycheck). The conference was great - got to hear lots of interesting presentations and ideas. I wasn't too impressed with the actual city of Austin maybe because I didn't really take the time to explore the city. My labmates and I did find a vegan-friendly Korean fusion restaurant called Koriente, which was about 2 blocks from our hotel. On our last day there, my labmate and I found a gelato place downtown - I tried their chocolate soy gelato! Muy excelente! I didn't check out the huge Whole Foods store while I was there - wasn't quite walking distance from the hotel I was staying in. I recently heard a very interesting NPR Marketplace interview with the CEO of Whole Foods. Too bad I didn't go during Austin City Limits or South by Southwest although I probably wouldn't have been able to check out a lot of the festivals, what with the obligatory conference activities. Ah well, I'm leaning towards more coastal cities for my year of internship: like Boston, DC, Long Beach, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Philadelphia, NYC, and LA. One of my good friends is headed to Seattle for internship, and my partner's parents live close to Seattle. Hmmmm....

My friend and I checked out an event at the library:

This free event will be held Sunday, February 25th at 4:00pm in Geisel Library's Seuss Room as a tribute to the silent cowboy films and early cowboy talkie musicals that featured an all-black cast. The Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra for Silent Films will be there to provide live music. Sponsored by AAASRP and the UCSD Arts Libraries.

I didn't know there were black cowboys, much less movies with black cowboys, much less movies with an all-black cast of cowboys. The experience was participatory - the audience was given different instruments to enhance the sound effects. Good times.

 

I was a bit disappointed about the movie Good Night and Good Luck. My partner noticed the dialogue in the movie is not consistent with how people actually spoke in 1950s - made more apparent when contrasted with archival film footage. It's like the movie characters were almost talking like today, modern times. Also, the framing and filming of the movie (directing?) were not very good, a bit annoying at times. The filmmakers try to tackle a big issue, but they fail to do it in a way that does the issue justice. My first exposure to the movie was through the soundtrack (available on emusic), featuring jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, quite excellent.

• I pre-ordered my copy of the final Harry Potter book, release date of July 21, from amazon.com. I'm very much looking forward to reading the last installment. My bet is on Harry Potter and Voldemort both dying by the end of the book, but we'll see. My partner doesn't really see the appeal of the Harry Potter series. I say whatever! :o)
• In the last month, I purchased some vegan goodies to ship to both of my sisters and my parents. What's funny is I haven't tried most of the products I've sent them, but they looked good on the internets. Great for upcoming birthdays, college care package, and late christmas sisterly love.
• I finally took advantage of the free e-texts through the gutenberg library. i recently finished reading george eliot's middlemarch - i'd watched the miniseries during the break. the book is so much better than the miniseries. reasons why: the minseries was limited by time and resources, the plot is actually fairly complex, readers have access to the characters' thoughts and emotions (not so easily perceived on the tv screen).... now i'm working on jane austen's emma. i've seen the movie starring gwyneth paltrow never read the book.
  
• looking forward to checking out divas in denial (an annual entertaining drag show). i went to one a couple of years back. fun times.

my partner cut my hair today - he even layered my hair! this was his first time cutting long hair. i've been cutting his hair for the past year, and it's quite a challenge each time.

i submitted my dissertation grant proposal to TRDRP (tobacco-related disease research program) at 8:52 PM on Thursday night - well ahead of the midnight deadline. much thanks to my advisor for submitted the recommendation letter fairly early that evening.

i just recently started using google docs and spreadsheets. a good way to back up my documents and collaborate on my documents (mainly with my partner).

we recently watched a couple of interesting films (now i'm back in movie-watching mode). another Pedro Almodovar film called Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which features a lot of interesting women characters as well as a very young-looking Antonio Banderas. Scratch is an interesting documentary about dj'ing in hip-hop.


edit: the AMVETS thrift store in San Diego is amazingly huge, and i've always been able to find some good stuff! during the most recent excursion, i found some nice comfortable long-sleeved shirts. perhaps dress pants on the next shopping trip!

My younger sister has a contoured memory foam pillow that I tried out when I stayed with her this past winter vacation, and I really liked it! My partner had previously tried memory foam pillows in the standard pillow format and in the contour format, but didn't like it. He did keep the memory foam mattress topper, which makes the bed quite comfortable. I decided to buy a memory foam pillow with fiber clusters for a relatively reasonable price. I was deciding between that and the memory foam contour pillow. I figured I would be more comfortable with the fiber cluster one since it's more like a standard pillow. It has a 5-year warranty! Hopefully, it'll stay fluffy and nice! We'll see.

My partner and I recently watched the very funny Borat movie. We listened to the NPR Fresh Air interview with the Borat-creator, comedian Sasha Baron Cohen. Very interesting and entertaining interview. I guess he doesn't give many interviews out of character.

We also watched a Woody Harrelson-narrated documentary called The History of Marijuana. Very interesting history - I sure didn't know much about it! Free to watch on the Google Video.

Bolivia -- A black-and-white film showing the story of an illegal immigrant from Honduras in Bolivia. A lot of the action takes place in the cafe he works in.

Borat -- Funny satire. The naked wrestling scene is definitely something else....

Little Miss Sunshine -- A dysfunctional family takes a road trip to a little girls' beauty pageant. The storyline is somewhat predictable, but still funny nonetheless.

X2 -- I'm a sucker for the X-Men movies. Good action. I saw parts of it previously.

The City of Lost Children -- A Caro and Jeunet film, same people/person who worked on Amelie and Delicatessen (which I haven't seen yet). Very interesting story.

Thank You For Smoking -- Satire portraying lobbyist for the tobacco industry. I wanted to see this because of my own professional involvement with the tobacco control movement. Very entertaining, nicely paced movie. Recommended!

Middlemarch -- This is a UK 375-minute-long TV miniseries based on the novel by George Eliot. I'd put this miniseries in the same category as the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice. Fantastic casting, intricate storylines, and lots of drama! I was hooked!

All About My Mother -- I haven't been disappointed by a Pedro Almodovar film yet! My partner and I have seen Talk To Her, Live Flesh, and What Have I Done To Deserve This. Apparently, he's considered an "auteur" because he writes and directs many (maybe all) of his films. This movie features a lot of interesting female characters and their stories....

Sabrina -- Starring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. The remake of this movie pales in comparison to this original.

We had some carrots and leeks from our Community-Supported Agriculture box, so I decided to make this potato leek soup recipe, courtesy of elise.com recipes. Yum Yum Yum results. We actually added a bit more salt at the end; the salt quantity was unspecified in the recipe. We actually added 3 small carrots to the soup since we had a lot of it. Also, we added the green leafy parts of the leeks. Blending half the soup really made it a nice consistency. Really good winter soup!

Last night, my friend norvalicious and I checked out the Les Nubians concert (with Sene Africa) at the World Beat Center, which is one of my favorite places in San Diego. N had mentioned Les Nubians to me a while back, but I didn't really explore their music until after I bought tickets to their show recently. Through lala.com, I requested 2 of Les Nubians' albums, One Step Forward and Princesses Nubiennes. Anyway, the set-up of the show was a bunch of chairs arranged in front of the stage with some standing room available behind the chairs.

The opening act Sene Africa was amazing. They are from Senegal, West Africa. It was two guys on stage, one playing an acoustic guitar and singing, and the other playing the very interesting-looking instrument called the karo (a 21-stringed instrument). Their music reminded me of Ali Farka Toure in some ways. Absolutely amazing. The karo-player was really working the audience. Unfortunately, I can't locate a CD of theirs, but maybe I'll sign up on their myspace.com page to stay posted.

The headliner was Les Nubians, a 2-sister act with roots in Africa and France. They make and perform music blending hip-hop, jazz, r&b, Europop, reggae, worldbeat, Afropop... It was their first time performing in San Diego! And we were there to experience it all! It was intimate set (apparently they usually have more people who back them up) - a guy was playing hand drums and another guy was alternating between keyboard and acoustic guitar. They were a lot of fun - sharing stories behind the songs. I don't know how else to capture the feeling, but definitely musical bliss for me. I had a hard time going to sleep that night since I was feeling so alert and energized and aroused. Lovely!

My partner checked out a few more movies from the UCSD library this past weekend:

Nine Queens - the best of the bunch, in my opinion. a thriller/crime movie with an interesting twist at the end. vaguely reminded me of The Usual Suspects, at least my feelings and my racing thoughts after the movie. I'll definitely have to re-watch the movie in light of the twist. the story is about "two con artists [who] try to swindle a stamp collector by selling him a sheet of counterfeit rare stamps (the "nine queens")" (from IMDB).

The Crime of Padre Amaro - I love Gabriel Garcia Bernal. with that, although my partner thought the storyline was "pedestrian," I thought the movie was excellent in exploring church politics in Mexico. apparently, when this movie was first released, there was quite a bit of controversy.

Amores Perros - I actually watched this movie a few years ago, and I remember thinking it was brilliant and innovative. This time around, I was kind of bored with the storytelling, the pacing and so on. I stopped watching after the first story was done - there are 3 stories that are loosely connected. The movie is about how "a horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love" (from IMDB).

Some more movies to come, while we're on our Spanish-language film run.

and Q is getting a piece of the action! here's my haul thus far:

12/06/2006 (all $2-3 CDs, except for Sufjan)
Sufjan Stevens / Avalanche
Zuco 103 / Whaa!
Celso Fonseca / Rive Gauche Rio
Cibelle / The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves
Ekova / Space Lullabies and Other Fantasmagore
Ekova / Soft Breeze & Tsunami Breaks
Ekova / Heaven's Dust
Suba Tributo
Banco de Gaia / You Are Here
Bossacucanova & Roberto Menescal / Brasilidade
Yuri Yunakov, Ivo Papazov, Salif Ali, Neshko Neshev / Together Again: Legends of Bulgarian Wedding Music
Issa Bagayogo / Timbuktu

altogether $35.40 (before tax)

11/28/2006 (hip rap 70% off, everything else 40% off)
Kaskade / Here & Now
Jel / Soft Money
Spank Rock / YoYoYoYoYo
Ammoncontact / One In An Infinity Of Ways
Jurassic 5 / Feedback

Total cost $31.78. I saved $47.46!

11/27/2006 (hip-hop rap 70% off)
Pete Philly & Perquisite / Mindstate                          
Soul Position / Unlimited EP                                      
Dead Prez & Outlawz / Can't Sell Dope Forever     
Roc C / All Questions Answered                               
P.O.S. / Audition
Aloe Blacc / Shine Through
J Dilla / Donuts

Total cost $33.94. I saved $73.43!!!

11/17/2006 (everything 40% off, i think)
Tilly and the Wall / Bottoms of Barrels  
Squirrel Nut Zippers / Sold Out             
Phoenix / It's Never Been Like That       

Total cost $21.95. I saved $13.60!

more to come later when the discounts get even bigger - i'll be doing some major foraging!

Over the Thanksgiving Break, D and I checked out a few Spanish-language films from the UCSD library.

What Have I Done To Deserve This? is a black comedy film from Pedro Almodovar. I didn't realize it was a black comedy - I was expecting a drama of sort. The movie took a series of ridiculous turns in the plot, but in retrospect, the film was pretty amazing. The main character is a mother/wife/cleaner along with her husband, two sons, and mother-in-law.

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) consists of 4 stories as part of an epic poem by a Russian director. The stories take place before the revolution (Castro) and illustrate conditions ready for a revolution. So pro-Castro, pro-revolution. Coppola and Scorsese co-presented this project. Very interesting.

Live Flesh is another Pedro Almodovar film. An intricate web of love among quite a few characters. Some details of the relationship plots seem implausible, but for the most part, I enjoyed the movie.

edit/update: Last night, we watched Herod's Law, a very dark comedy about a janitor becomes an appointed mayor and gradually becomes corrupt. The story takes place in 1949 in Mexico.

D "gathered" 2 bunches of very ripe bananas from the on-campus food co-op before they closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. We used the banana bread recipe on postpunkkitchen.com. We used a bit less margarine since we didn't quite have enough. Yummylicious! We're on target to finish the banana bread (seems more like cake) by the end of Sunday. Next time we'll add some walnuts to make the bread even better.

My partner and I have re-subscribed as members of the Community-Supported Agriculture program (a great way to support the local food system) at Be Wise Ranch. One challenge with our CSA box: what to do with turnips, rutabagas, and butternut squash. Well, I found and tried a vegan recipe of mashed turnips. Very very very good! Definitely a recipe I'll be using over and over again. Kind of reminds me of mashed potatoes (but probably more nutritious)! I have some ideas about the butternut squash - maybe stuff it bake it or puree it soup it.

Lala.com is a recent re-discovery for me. one of my music buddies recommended this site to me. membership is free. you trade CDs - send CDs you have and receive CDs you want - in lala.com-facilitated exchanges. you pay $1 + 75 cents standard shipping for each CD you receive. the company provides pre-paid envelopes and protective shell cases for shipping discs. pretty good set-up. also, 20 cents out of each dollar goes into a foundation that benefits musicians (goes towards health and dental insurance). very nice!

According to a USA Today article, federal government grant guidelines were changed for 2007 to broaden the age range for funding of abstinence-only sex education from 12-17/18 years old to 12-29 years old.

guess i'll be sticking to my annual emusic.com subscription (with 20% discount) for life:

"On November 21st, 2006, eMusic will begin offering new plan options to new members. While the price of our eMusic Basic, Plus, and Premium subscription plans will remain the same, the number of downloads in each plan will change:

eMusic Basic = 30 Downloads (formerly 40);
eMusic Plus = 50 Downloads (formerly 65);
eMusic Premium = 75 Downloads (formerly 90)

As a value eMusic annual subscriber, your subscription rollover plan will not change.

If you are happy with your current monthly or annual rollover plan, simply do nothing. Your selected plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing. However, if you wish to lock in a new rollover plan, you must do so before November 21st, 2006. We recommend that you review and set your rollover plan now to lock in at the lowest price per download available. After Nov 21st, if you want to upgrade, you'll no longer be able to upgrade into the older plans. All the more reason to upgrade now!

For the serious music fan, we recommend that you take advantage of our 2-year annual subscription plans to get up to 25% off our month-to-month prices. Lock in your plan today!"

Last night, I watched two films back to back: The Wedding Banquet and In The Mood For Love.

The Wedding Banquet is an amusing, entertaining film about what happens when a gay Chinese American man marries one of his tenants out of convenience (at his European American partner's suggestion) and his parents visit from Taiwan to help prepare the wedding! Interesting to see the issue of homosexuality explored in an Asian cultural context.

In The Mood For Love is a magnificent film (Criterion collection) with great actors (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung), beautiful cinematography, and interesting storytelling. The movie's story haunted me for quite a while. What happens when two people move into two apartments next to each other in Hong Kong.

Last night, my partner and I watched Murderball, a documentary "about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style wheelchairs." I first heard about it when it came out in the movie theaters. At the time, my clinical practicum included a rotation on the Spinal Cord Injury unit at the VA hospital, so the issue of living with spinal cord injury was personally relevant. The film won the Documentary Audience Award and Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival! The special features on the DVD were fairly interesting too - including a Larry King Live interview, Jackass movie special, etc. As an able-bodied person, I thought the documentary depicted some interesting aspects of life with spinal cord injury. I could see how this movie would be inspirational for people with spinal cord injury. Links: official movie website.

Afterwards, my officemate and I checked out a Nada Surf "secret concert" that was on-campus and free for UCSD students. The show was held outdoors in the Student Center plaza. Very good performance - mostly alternating between fast songs and slow songs. The lead singer had the crowd two-stepping en mass during one of the songs. Very fun way to engage the audience. Now, I'm listening to Nada Surf songs on shuffle!

Next up: watching The Wedding Banquet and In The Mood For Love!

The co-director of clinical training recently sent a policy statement about webpages and blogs to all students in the program:

"It has become increasingly more popular for people to have personal webpages and/or to communicate over the web via blogs. The purpose of this policy is to provide some guidelines about any public representation of you or the program over the web. While now this applies to individual’s webpages and/or blogs, nothing here is intended to limit it to only these public presentations.

I filled out my absentee ballot last night: