Goodbye 2009

Just a few days left for 2009. This is very likely to be this year’s last entry. Since long time ago, I have broken the tradition of writing an end-of-year-entry to summrize the good and bad deeds I have done during the past year. Most stuff is already in the blog, and there is no need and no time to repeat. This is a moment simply to say goodbye to the past and to move forward. There is so much to live on and to look forward. One thing I am quite certain is that I am content for what I have accomplished and I cannot think of anything that I regret. My ten-day long holiday break started last week with gorgeous weather day after day. I took this picture when I woke up on Wednesday before I headed out of the apartment. Without the mysterious fog as in the summer, the bridge bluntly shows off her elegancy under the morning sun. I even caught a rainbow last week when we were having a holiday lunch at work. The perfect weather motivates me to take some night pictures on Christmas Eve. I went to the usual spot in my neighborhood, overlooking downtown and the Bay Bridge direction and took this picture, when a few Asian guys were sharing a joint closed by—I do know what pot smells like. When I was taking the picture, I didn’t even notice something was flying across the sky. I don’t know what that was. Perhaps a UFO. When I was at the Fisherman’s Wharf, I was surprised to see very few sea lions at Pier 39. Where did they go? On Christmas break? I am a little relieved when I saw a bunch of them swimming in the ocean when I looked down from the Golden Gate Bridge today. I guess they must be tired of all the tourists at Pier 39 as well. Visitors are packing The City everywhere I go, even there is one in my apartment. Obviously, all the bad news have no impact on the visitors to San Francisco. All during last week, first, AA Flight 331 crash-landed and broke into three pieces. Then, some crazy guy wanted to blow up an Delta airliner by setting up explosive in his underwear. This is why I want to avoid travel lately when I can, besides H1N1. I am so afraid that before I notice, my holiday break will be gone. Let me take it slow and hopefully I can finish a few projects I plan to do during the break, such as organizing my photos, making backups, and perhaps researching on purchasing a new camera. My new year resolution? None. Goodbye 2009. It’s Complicated What a boring world would that be if divorce indeed gets banned—there would have no fight over money, the house, and the kids. Every marriage, good or bad, would be saved, and everything would be much simpler. Luckily, that has not happened yet, so both drama and comedy (in film or in real life) can be made about divorce. Writer/director Nancy Meyers‘s new comedy "It’s Complicated" (USA 2009 | 120 min.) takes a light-hearted look at the lives after divorce. Although the film’s direction is as lost as the film’s characters about what to do after divorce, the film still turns out to be an entertaining and satisfying chick flick. Jane (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Baldwin) has been divorced for 10 years with three grown children. While Jake is married to a younger woman and has a toddler, Jane has been busy on designing her new addition to the house with help from a divorced architect Adam (Steve Martin). Even Adam still tries to get over with his failed marriage, he is willing to date Jane. However, when Jane and Jake meet again at their son’s graduation, they begin to flirt with the old flare and to have an affair. Everything goes topsy-turvy from there, and surely becomes complicated. The film has an awkward start when Jane and Jake appear together like anything but a divorced couple. No matter where Jane turns, Jake is in her sight. Despite the terrific and hilarious performance by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, the story is unconvincing and the emotion is pretentious, like a typical sitcom on television. However, not necessarily related, after all Jane’s girlfriends suddenly disappear from the film, the film begins to shake off the comic appearances of its protagonists, and to explore their complicated state of mind. If Alec Baldwin gets most the laugh playing Jake, Meryl Streep must have most the fun playing Jane. She gets laid, gets drunk, and she even gets stoned. They have great chemistry on the big screen together. Judging from the film, nobody will understand why they get divorced at the first place and now they want to get back together again, because they never seem able to be apart. That is quite obvious and nothing is complicated about it. "It’s Complicated" opens on Friday, December 25, 2009 at Bay Area theaters.