we're planning to go down to kyoto for a few days in late june.
it's so fun to be planning a trip again,
looking up things on the internet and fantasizing about beautiful gardens and
quiet walks along kamo-gawa... where should we stay? and what to eat?? should i buy a new canvas tote bag at ichizawa-hanpu? or should i buy a proper silk purse at chingire-ya instead? (i shouldn't tell purpleman about my shopping plans yet)
ahhhh, it's so nice to have something to do and think about at work again!
Monday, May 30, 2005
Of Love and Other Demons
purpleman lent me Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. i always loved Marquez, the way he mixes miracles and passion and tragedy all together. this particular novel is much shorter than most of his other famous masterpieces, but, like some of his best short stories, poignant and beautiful. i finished the book several days ago and i'm still haunted by the image of the little girl sitting at her windowsill, eating grapes.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Saturday by Ian McEwan
i finished reading Saturday by Ian McEwan, which reminded me a bit about another great novel, Virginia Woolfe's Mrs. Dalloway. in both books, the "life in a day of" setting and vivid moment-by-moment narratives force the reader into the protagonists' minds.
Saturday also reminded me about the real pleasure of reading. i'm always so impatient that whenever a passage seems a bit tedious i unconsciously skip ahead, which makes me quite a fast but careless reader. I wanted to read every single sentence in this one.
Saturday also reminded me about the real pleasure of reading. i'm always so impatient that whenever a passage seems a bit tedious i unconsciously skip ahead, which makes me quite a fast but careless reader. I wanted to read every single sentence in this one.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
slow starters
Saturday: we had a very slow start to the day since purpleman was very, very hung over from last night's drinks with the big boss from singapore. he doesn't remember details, like how he he lifted my skirt in the train on the way home, like an ordinary chikan!
We met the Laynes for dinner in Shimokitazawa. the pizza "napolitana" is very good. i love anchovies and black olives!
We met the Laynes for dinner in Shimokitazawa. the pizza "napolitana" is very good. i love anchovies and black olives!
Sunday, May 15, 2005
life aquatic (less drooling, more laughing)
saturday: went to watch Life Aquatic with purpleman. it was so much funnier than i'd expected, maybe even better than the royal tenenbaums. it's been a good film week.
at night we went to altoto in shimokitazawa, where "dj jona" was spinning. a mix of breakbeats, jazz, and cutsey bossa playing in a comfy little bar... what a cool event! and we saw one very energetic girl jumping on a dance floor. purpleman said "yeh, there's always one jumping girl on any dance floor" but she was extraordinary --it looked like she was on a trampoline and it went on for the whole 3 hours that we were there! our friend double-D was totally entranced, and i decided we should leave before purpleman fell under her spell too.
sunday: great food stalls at the annual thai festival at yoyogi park, but the crowd was a bit too much, so we left after getting some green curry and basil-chicken from one of the food stalls.
we couldn't get into cafe apres-midi, which was once my favorite cafe in all of tokyo. it was always quite popular, so i wasn't surprised that it was full, but when i took a look inside it felt very different from the way it did a few years back. more lively, less saudade. i commented that the customers were now much younger than the old crowd, and purpleman replied: "isn't it just that you've grown older?" ahhh, hadn't thought of that!
i don't mind doing different things and hanging out at different places now that i'm older. but i want to think that it means we have more options, more places to go and things to enjoy, not less.
at night we went to altoto in shimokitazawa, where "dj jona" was spinning. a mix of breakbeats, jazz, and cutsey bossa playing in a comfy little bar... what a cool event! and we saw one very energetic girl jumping on a dance floor. purpleman said "yeh, there's always one jumping girl on any dance floor" but she was extraordinary --it looked like she was on a trampoline and it went on for the whole 3 hours that we were there! our friend double-D was totally entranced, and i decided we should leave before purpleman fell under her spell too.
sunday: great food stalls at the annual thai festival at yoyogi park, but the crowd was a bit too much, so we left after getting some green curry and basil-chicken from one of the food stalls.
we couldn't get into cafe apres-midi, which was once my favorite cafe in all of tokyo. it was always quite popular, so i wasn't surprised that it was full, but when i took a look inside it felt very different from the way it did a few years back. more lively, less saudade. i commented that the customers were now much younger than the old crowd, and purpleman replied: "isn't it just that you've grown older?" ahhh, hadn't thought of that!
i don't mind doing different things and hanging out at different places now that i'm older. but i want to think that it means we have more options, more places to go and things to enjoy, not less.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
bad education
i finally got to see Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education.
on my way home i compared various characters from the movie to people i know in real life, something i sometimes do. i don't know anyone as corrupt as the characters in Bad Education, but i think there are people who can do things --sex, deception, manipulation-- without really feeling anything.
i should be more tired after watching movies two nights in a row, especially since both had dark, labyrinth-like plots. but i don't. both were mesmerising in different ways and featured beautiful men. Gael Garcia Bernal, he can come and swim in my pool.
on my way home i compared various characters from the movie to people i know in real life, something i sometimes do. i don't know anyone as corrupt as the characters in Bad Education, but i think there are people who can do things --sex, deception, manipulation-- without really feeling anything.
i should be more tired after watching movies two nights in a row, especially since both had dark, labyrinth-like plots. but i don't. both were mesmerising in different ways and featured beautiful men. Gael Garcia Bernal, he can come and swim in my pool.
movie night
i was afraid of watching Wong Kar-wai's "2046" as it had such bad reviews and i heard kimutaku was in it... but i ended up renting it at tsutaya after trying to go see Almodovar's "Bad Education" and finding tickets sold-out (ah, it was ladies' day!).
it's definitely not my favourite Wong Kar-wai movie, partly because i was annoyed by kimutaku (who looked so puny next to Faye Wong) but mostly because his other movies are so much better. perhaps i'm bothered by the storyline --the various sequences are interesting on their own, but it's hard to make sense of it as a whole. but i've thought that way about some of his previous movies and changed my mind later....
the visuals are definitely stunning, the slow motion montages, gorgeous chipaos.... and of course Tony Leung! if i ever have an illicit love affair it will be with Tony Leung. next time i hear "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" (the christmas song that kept on playing in the background) i might start drooling.
and watching the movie made me want to dress up. wouldn't it be cool if people still wore silk chipaos and high-heels all the time. Of course it would be nice to look like Zhang Ziyi too.
it's definitely not my favourite Wong Kar-wai movie, partly because i was annoyed by kimutaku (who looked so puny next to Faye Wong) but mostly because his other movies are so much better. perhaps i'm bothered by the storyline --the various sequences are interesting on their own, but it's hard to make sense of it as a whole. but i've thought that way about some of his previous movies and changed my mind later....
the visuals are definitely stunning, the slow motion montages, gorgeous chipaos.... and of course Tony Leung! if i ever have an illicit love affair it will be with Tony Leung. next time i hear "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" (the christmas song that kept on playing in the background) i might start drooling.
and watching the movie made me want to dress up. wouldn't it be cool if people still wore silk chipaos and high-heels all the time. Of course it would be nice to look like Zhang Ziyi too.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
i take that back
about purpleman being an idiot, because he was very nice to me today when i:
assumed no one would come and drank lots of wine, fell asleep, and couldn't bother to talk to anyone when some friends finally did show up, and then to top things off got sick on the way home. idiot, idiot, me.
tomorrow it's back to work after a long holiday--- i always hate this. but it's just one day and then there's the weekend again.
assumed no one would come and drank lots of wine, fell asleep, and couldn't bother to talk to anyone when some friends finally did show up, and then to top things off got sick on the way home. idiot, idiot, me.
tomorrow it's back to work after a long holiday--- i always hate this. but it's just one day and then there's the weekend again.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
pre-picnic anxiety
today i went food and wine shopping for tomorrow's picnic.
but i still don't know if anyone will show up. this is the worst thing about planning parties --you don't know how much food or drinks to have ready because everyone says they'll "try" to come.
the first year we did this it got a bit crazy --we received lots of vague replies so we kept on expanding the guest list, and in the end everyone showed up and there were more than 20 people packed in my tiny little room. so this year we only invited 3 or 4.
that reminds me... purpleman didn't come last year because he was too hung over. idiot! idiot! i can't believe i ended up dating him.
but i still don't know if anyone will show up. this is the worst thing about planning parties --you don't know how much food or drinks to have ready because everyone says they'll "try" to come.
the first year we did this it got a bit crazy --we received lots of vague replies so we kept on expanding the guest list, and in the end everyone showed up and there were more than 20 people packed in my tiny little room. so this year we only invited 3 or 4.
that reminds me... purpleman didn't come last year because he was too hung over. idiot! idiot! i can't believe i ended up dating him.
Monday, May 02, 2005
melbourne mmm, mmm, mmm....
melbourne is definitely one of my favourite cities in the world now, next to istanbul and rome. i'm particularly impressed by its cafes and restaurants, the culture of doing "breaky" and business lunches by the river, and the chilled-out, easy-going atmosphere you find everywhere.
some of the best food:
*the mango, lychee, and hazelnut gelati at trampoline on brunswick street, fitzroy
*banana and lemon pancakes banana and lemon pancakes and scrambled eggs with coriander and chili from joe's garage, also on brunswick street.
*chinese at the famous flower drum on drummond street
*moroccan at momo on collins street
one highlight was a trip out to the yarra valley wine country and staying at outlook hill, a beautiful boutique winery. from our cottage we could see the entire vineyard and the neighbouring dairy farms. one of the most beautiful sunsets i've ever seen --for about five minutes a gorgeous orange glow hung over the entire vineyard. the hotel had a great jacuzzi bath too --so relaxing, especially after a hard day of wine tasting!
the cellar doors at outlook hill, coldstream hills, yering station, and tarrawarra were all very different. hard to say which wine i liked most. the chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir from coldstream hills and the chardonnay at tarrawarra maybe? we also had a terrific dinner at the healesville hotel. purpleman had local free range pork in a wine and honey sauce while i had lamb. a very impressive wine list too, of course.
but the best part of the entire trip for me was meeting purpleman's brother and sister, luke and kate. i always forget he is the eldest of four because he is such an easy-going own-drummer type. i like them a lot -- both just as kind and laid back as purpleman but slightly more mischievous.
some of the best food:
*the mango, lychee, and hazelnut gelati at trampoline on brunswick street, fitzroy
*banana and lemon pancakes banana and lemon pancakes and scrambled eggs with coriander and chili from joe's garage, also on brunswick street.
*chinese at the famous flower drum on drummond street
*moroccan at momo on collins street
one highlight was a trip out to the yarra valley wine country and staying at outlook hill, a beautiful boutique winery. from our cottage we could see the entire vineyard and the neighbouring dairy farms. one of the most beautiful sunsets i've ever seen --for about five minutes a gorgeous orange glow hung over the entire vineyard. the hotel had a great jacuzzi bath too --so relaxing, especially after a hard day of wine tasting!
the cellar doors at outlook hill, coldstream hills, yering station, and tarrawarra were all very different. hard to say which wine i liked most. the chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir from coldstream hills and the chardonnay at tarrawarra maybe? we also had a terrific dinner at the healesville hotel. purpleman had local free range pork in a wine and honey sauce while i had lamb. a very impressive wine list too, of course.
but the best part of the entire trip for me was meeting purpleman's brother and sister, luke and kate. i always forget he is the eldest of four because he is such an easy-going own-drummer type. i like them a lot -- both just as kind and laid back as purpleman but slightly more mischievous.
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