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Now, I am in North Carolina, safely.
I have been feeling dreadful about the flights over last night. It all started from Wednesday night in the kitchen.
On Wednesday night, after CAAM‘s preview event for the upcoming San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), I got home, pour myself a glass of wine, and started to heat up some leftovers in the pan.
Years of cooking has trained me to be tidy in the kitchen. I hardly make any mess when I am cooking. In other words, I am so not clumsy in the kitchen.
That’s the reason I surprised myself when I knocked over my wine glass at the kitchen counter. Luckily, the glass didn’t break; just a little mess. Shit happens.
At that moment, I thought the food in the pan was ready, but too hot to eat right the way. So I decided to turn off the stove and to check my email first.
A minute later, when I was reading my email, I smelled burning. I rushed to the kitchen. Oh no! My burner is totally in red cooking the food — instead of turning off the stove, I turned it the stove to "High!"
I quickly rescue it by getting the food into a plate.
These sorts of things almost never happen to me! What’s up with me today? Shit happens, again.
I sat down and got ready to eat. Right after I sat down, the chopsticks in my right hand knocked my plate to the floor. Red juice and food splashed all over the kitchen floor, on top of a broken plate.
WTF!?
All of these happened in less than three minutes! The most irritating part is that none of them caused the next. So they are completely three separate accidents!
I feel something is not right even I am not a psychic. Is it a sign that something bad might happen? My GAD starts to act up. The next logical event is my trip to North Carolina, is my flight going to be alright?
Even the next day, I still could not get over it. I began to get stressed out about the flight.
While I was still in the shadow of this sudden flight-phobic, I saw an airplane floating in a river in the Breaking News!
Oh my! That’s just what I need the least! But on the other hand, it’s totally a miracle that is worth of celebrate. I am so grateful to pilot’s heroic action. He is a hero to me not only because of his courage and intelligence during the emergency situation, but also for what he did after the plane landed on the river — he went up and down twice to make sure everybody was out before he left the plane the last.
To me, that’s what a hero is.
After all the scary thoughts, my flight was smooth sailing. I slept most of the time. Now I am here in North Carolina. It’s good not to have anything dramatic when it comes to flying. Statistically speaking, after all these mishaps in the kitchen and in New York, there should have no accident left for me.
I was greeted by bitter cold in Boston, and again, in North Carolina. I was really excited to see snow in Boston. Since I am pretty much jump between my rental car and the hotel room, I should be okay.
http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
Tonight, I will go parting, New York style.
The following are two reviews I wrote recently.
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If we are smart at choosing the food, what we eat can keep us alive and healthy. Otherwise, what we put into our body can make us sick or even kill us. Of course, everybody knows this. However, hardly everybody agree that a specific diet based on organic food can cure cancer. Not just some forms of cancer, but any cancer. That’s precisely what a documentary "The Beautiful Truth" (USA 2008, 93 min.) enthusiastically claims—Got cancer or other diseases? Try Gerson therapy.
The film follows 15-year-old Alaskan Garrett’s home-school assignment to study a controversial book written by Dr. Max Gerson that claims diet can cure cancer. He sets off to find the truth about these claims by interviewing many doctors, patients, scientists, and Gerson Institute staff members. He finds out the "beautiful truth"—virtually all cancers and chronic diseases can be cured by Gerson therapy, contrary to the opinions from medical communities and the pharmaceutical industry.
I am sure that many Gerson therapy patients and Whole Foods Market shoppers would warmly embrace Garrett’s finding. For everyone else, the film will not convince them to begin to practice the key elements of the Gerson therapy: a strict diet including dietary supplements and coffee enemas.
I certainly agree that removing toxicants through diet is very crucial to improve one’s health and to boost body’s immune system. This theory is very much agreeing with principles of traditional Chinese medicine. However, I am very much skeptical about diet’s effectiveness on curing cancer. As much as I want to believe that the Garson therapy indeed benefit many patients, I am disappointed that the film does not present the data scientifically. Therefore, the claim has no power by the end of the film. If I were the tutor for Garrett, his assignment on Garson research would have come out differently, which would make more sense.
Writer/director Steve Kroschel wraps up his film by sounding out quite a few words as if he was giving an eulogy—"It doesn’t matter how many you know, but how many will miss you when you are gone." Perhaps he is trying to distract my thought from figuring out if the claimed "beautiful truth" in this film is actually the truth.
Even though I need more research to come up any conclusion about Garson therapy, after hearing in the film how coffee does to my body, I quit drinking coffee. I drink more tea.
"The Beautiful Truth" opens on January 9, 2009 at Roxie Theater in San Francisco.
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Among famous revolutionaries, besides Mao Zedong (毛泽东), perhaps Ernesto "Che" Guevara is the most recognizable historic figure as well as a pop culture icon. Around the world, many wear Che’s image as a fashion statement without knowing Che’s story, while many others are inspired by Che’s bigger than life legacy and hold him dearly in their hearts as a hero.
Forty years after Che’s death, Academy Award winner director Steven Soderbergh‘s two parts biopic "Che" brilliantly bring Che back to life. Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro‘s terrific portrait of Che won him the Best Actor Award at 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Che was an Argentine physician who became involved in political movements fighting capitalism, neocolonialism, and imperialism which he believed to be the root of the poverty in Latin America. At the age of 27, Che met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1954 and jointed a group called "26th of July Movement." The goal of the organization is to overthrow Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista government by a guerrilla force.
On 26 November 1956, Che sailed to Cuba with Fidel Castro and other rebels. Eventually, he rose to a revolutionary hero in Cuban Revolution.
After the victory of Cuba Revolution in 1959, Che was proclaimed a "Cuban citizen by birth" and served as Industry Minister and the president of Cuban National Bank. He traveled around the world to as the spokesperson of socialist Cuba.
In 1965, Che suddenly disappeared from public eye without a trace. Fidel Castro revealed a letter from Che that declared his intention to leave the power and fame in Cuba and to help the fight in other country’s revolution. Later, Che reemerged in Bolivia as a leader of an underground guerrilla group consists of Cuba comrades and Bolivian recruits. Che was captured and executed on 9 October 1967.
Director Steven Soderbergh‘s ambitious effort to bring Che’s story to an epic on the big screen results in not only one, but two feature films: "Che: Part One" (USA 2008, 129 min.) tells Che’s story during the Cuban Revolution; and "Che: Part Two" (USA 2008, 128 min.) focuses on Che’s guerrilla campaign in Bolivia.
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Che: Part One
"Che: Part One" (USA 2008, 129 min.) (also called "The Argentine," although I did not see this tile in the film) begins with the meeting where Che meets Castro for the first time in Mexico and chronicles the Cuba Revolution led by Castro and Che. Jumping in and out of their battles in Cuban’s countryside, the film reenacts Che’s visit to the Unite Nation in New York City during his tour around the world.
The film does a brilliant job to narrative the vast amount of materials and historic contents into a 129 minutes motion picture. A heroic, intelligent, brave, inspiring, charismatic, disciplined, and confident revolutionary vividly lives on the big screen through Benicio Del Toro‘s impeccable performance. The film is a tribute and celebration to Che’s idealism, dedication, and sacrifice.
When Che was asked to identify the most important quality of a revolutionary, his answer is "Love." That explains why Che passionately fights for what he believes in, and nothing can deter his determination.
Like the speech Che gives at the podium of the the Unite Nation, shot beautifully in black and white, "Che: Part One" has an uplifting tone of victory and exhilaration. This is one of the best films I have seen in 2008.
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Che: Part Two
"Che: Part Two" (USA 2008, 128 min.) is also called "Guerrilla," a title again I fail to find in the film. This film entirely focuses on Che’s underground guerrilla war effort in Bolivia. Che wants to start a revolution in Bolivia and repeats the victory in Cuba.
After Che disappeared at his fame and power, he reemerges secretly in Bolivia to lead a guerrilla group. However, he does not have the support and alliance as during the Cuba Revolution. The film shows how he loses one battle after another one to the Bolivia Army. In the end, he is captured and executed.
The condition is horrendous in Bolivia mountains, yet Che’s spirit and courage are never shaken. He continues to fight until his last breath for his idea and his belief.
"Che: Part Two" has a much different tone as "Che: Part One." The film seems showing nothing but how Che is defeated and how he is leading the guerrilla group on the run, instead of attacking. It is quite depressing.
It would be better if the film contained more historic background and more character development. Instead, the film tells the story like a documentary and follows the exhausted guerrilla fighters escaping from one ambush to another one. Besides Che, I can hardly tell Che’s comrades apart, especially when they wear the same uniform and the same beard.
Perhaps I am so impressed by the Che’s valorous figure in Part One that I reluctant to see him falling in Part Two.
Although "Che: Part One" and "Che: Part Two" are two separate feature films, they will be presented together in a Special Roadshow Edition beginning on Friday, January 16, 2009 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Theater for one week.
Director Steven Soderbergh will appear in person for a Q&A on opening night, Friday, January 16, 2009 at the 7:30 show.
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Silky Tofu, 味道好极了! 