beach bum vacation

Reading something about New York, it seems like some people are already saying the temperature has cooled down a bit there... It is atrocious... We are still in the 90's here!! The lazy summer is only good for day-dreaming... At our A Cut steak dinner (mediocre), my group of friends were talking about vacationing in Ko Samui, since a friend's friend's family owns a resort there... The thing is, with all the boring married couples (with children), not to mention busy schedules of everyone but me, it took us 3 hours to get plans settled for one dinner... I'd say it is impossible to book a vacation together, even just for a long weekend. Anyhow, it started me thinking about laying on a beach for a couple of days. My all time dream island has long been the Maldives on Indian Ocean. I also read in Apartment Therapy the 20 Hotels Around the World from Architecture Digest about the Cocoa Island Resort. The little fishing boat rooms just looks so cozy and cute! I even looked up flights from Taiwan and it seems like a transfer in Singapore is a must, so that I could go have all the great street food that I've heard about for soooo long but missed the chance when I was there with my parents. So who wants to join me for this dream vacation?

TV is running my life

As with the previous post, I've been watching way too much TV online, several hours worth a day. Watching all the Mad Men has been making me thirsty for Bourbon and martinis. I finally found some dirty martinis the other day and I actually liked it, even though ones I had were pretty weak... I've been trying to find some gin and cocktail olives but they are quite expansive in Taipei... (the olives I found were in Dean and Deluca... yes, the New York Dean and Deluca, and they are like 25 dollars for a jar...) so my search continues... Last week, I finished all the available episodes of Weeds. The heroine of the show, Nancy Botwin, is always drinking an almost empty container of iced coffee and sucking on the last drop amongst the ice cubes. This also gives me cravings for iced coffee, even though I am not a coffee drinker... Good thing that there were only a couple of episodes of the Closer that I haven't watched since I left New York. Otherwise, I might start hording chocolate bars in my desk drawer. Although I am trying to catch up on House now, so I may start a vicodin habit....

TV shows

So this definitely files under procrastination... I came across this website about 2 weeks ago and I've been addicted since... Fortunately (or unfortunately) for those of you located outside of Asia, this is probably not that practical... My friend Terri said it takes forever to load and of course it is all in Chinese, although searchable in English.


So far, I've finished 2 seasons of Dexter, originally on Showtime.
Dexter is a serial killer that works as a blood splatter expert in the Miami Police Department, so the show is filled with detective work as well as dark humor, not to mention sex and violence, being on Showtime. The beautiful backdrop of Miami and the art deco facade also is nice. Since the show is more like a serial than episodic, you really want to find out what happens next... So I finished 2 seasons in like 3 days... most of which was watched at work....

Another show that I've been watching is Mad Men, originally on AMC.
Mad Men refers to the ad men in New York. Set in the 60's, the show is filled with sexism, racism, homophobia... you name it. The interiors are very mid-century modern, so are the women's bras. The thing that leaves me with the greatest impact though, is that they are always smoking and drinking scotch and martinis. I never really cared for those drinks that much but I've been having cravings recently. There was this episode where they had a whole lot of oysters, like 3,4 dozens each, and many martinis to go with it. I could almost taste the cool sting and the briny sea in my mouth when I was watching it... It reminds me of a drink that I never had... a dirty martini... I don't like gin and I don't like olives... but this is the best that I can conjure up to what I've got the cravings for... Have to try it soon...

Weeds, originally on Showtime.
I've only watched a couple of episodes so far and in a weird way, it reminds me of the Sopranos... It is about a suburban housewife, after the sudden death of her husband, who started dealing weeds. It is really more about how she is dealing with her life, raising her children, making a living, and figuring out business.

Pride and Prejudice, 1995, originally BBC.
This is the famed edition with Colin Firth. While I can't get the thing with the wet shirt, it is a very good interpretation of the book, especially after watching the recent Keira Knightly version. I read the book for the first time recently and it is really good... And I usually hate the movie/TV versions of the book that I like, even with Gregory Peck's To Kill a Mocking Bird... My only complaint is that Jane is really not what I imagined her to look like...

I also watched Juno (great!) and Wanted (should've watched in a theater) on this website... There are really lots and lots of shows and movies there... hooray for pirated sites!

I am such a nerd...

I found this website thru Apartment Therapy, and here is what I've got so far:



I am such a nerd... The first thing I thought of is to combine all the abstracts I have from the full-length articles and put it up in my lab... come to think of it, I am also very narcissistic... It is a lot of fun though and I think I will carry out my plan... suggestions for other sources?