Victim of Abuse?

It has been so hot that I begin to wonder if this is San Francisco after all. Normally the summer is foggy and cold, but it has been over 80 degrees during the last couple days. Few days ago, even there was a brief rain. Although the rain only wet the roof tops, still, we are not supposed to have any rain drop from the sky until winter comes. However, when I was hiking in Marin Headlands on Sunday, there were plenty fog floating around the top of those mountains. The mountains are turning yellow gradually due to the drought during the summer season. Meanwhile, the flowers are blooming not only in the wild, but also on city streets. Couple weeks ago, I took a picture when I passed the famous Lombard Street a few blocks away from where I live. Surely there are plenty flowers. The city is always pretty, hot or cold, foggy or sunny, today or yesterday. I feel quite relaxed lately and energetic. Not sure what is happening. Perhaps from the hysterical laughing I had last week? Perhaps nothing. I have not missed a day at gym. I have been getting up really early. However, I still go to bed really late. That needs to change. I even spend more time in the kitchen. That’s how I found out that my new rice cooker already shows some fatigue! I noticed that there is a small gap on the top lid. But I just got it for about a month, how can this be? To be fair, I have been using this rice cooker a little bit too much that it might well be a victim of my abuse. Not only I cook rice with it, I also use it to cook stew and porridge. I even made bibimbap with it once. On Sunday, before I headed out to the mountains, I put in beef short ribs into the rice cooker, set the slow cook time, and went out the door. When I came back, a perfect stew was waiting for me in the rice cooker. I called the customer service today and I am quite confident that I will be able to get it fixed or replaced because it’s still under warranty. I might have to live without a rice cooker for couple weeks. How can I survive without my rice cooker? Dear rice cooker: I promise not to abuse you again once you recover from your injury. As for movies, I wish I liked "Brüno" as much as I would have hoped: Brüno After a tremendous amount of publicity campaign (remember bare buttocks falling on Eminem’s face and nude photos on GQ?), Sacha Baron Cohen, the star from the outrageously hilarious "Borat,", finally meets the audience on a big screen in director Larry Charles‘s new satire comedy "Brüno" (USA 2009 | 83 min.). Unfortunately, similar like those promotional campaigns, the film is more shocking than funny. It’s a big disappointment compared to "Borat." Sacha Baron Cohen plays his new character Brüno, a gay fashion journalist from Austria who is banned from the fashion world due to his mischief. He decides to move to Hollywood to become a celebrity, and gets rid of his gayness which he blames to be the cause of his failure. He tries to create his own talk shows, sets up humiliating interviews with celebrities, adopts a black baby, and stages gay bashing gatherings only to shock the homophobic crowd by his exaggerated gay acts. However, most of these events (and many more) are just to set up pranks for the audience—if you think you have seen them all, here comes another one. These pranks appear more shocking than entertaining, more offensive than funny, and more juvenile than intelligent. The film takes equal opportunity to offend just about every group: gay, straight, women, Asian, black, Latino, celebrities, and politicians. For a satire film, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What makes these offensive acts remain a tasteless shocker is that they are simply just a shocker, but not funny. For example, the sex scenes of Brüno with his small framed Asian bottom boyfriend (can it be even more stereotype than that?) are cheap shots to beg for a few chuckles. The scene in which Brüno seduces Presidential candidate Ron Paul is simply weird and puzzling than anything else. Certainly not funny. Director Larry Charles is brilliant at setting up stages to let unknown participants to create comic moments. His previous films such as "Borat" and "Religulous" are smart and hilarious. However, none of those qualities repeat in this new shocker "Brüno." Sacha Baron Cohen is courageous to take up this role and to push the limit beyond boundaries. I cannot think of any other actor who might be willing to perform as he does in this film, even what he is shaking might not be his own penis in this film—and the fact that this film gets an R rating is the last shocker if there are not enough shockers in the film already. "Brüno" opens on Friday, July 10 in theaters.