Everyone loves "I Love You, Man"

It has been a long time since I've seen unanimous positive consensus on a movie. I thought maybe "Slumdog Millionaire" would be the breakout, but some of my friends strongly disliked the movie. Go figure.















So I was kind of surprised that my friends, future in-laws and random co-workers all gave "I Love You, Man" the thumbs up. I was expecting it to be another raunchy comedy and I was expecting to have some LOL* moments but I certainly wasn't expecting to leave feeling so happy. It really combined elements of outrageous humor and heart-filled moments in an original storyline that tied together neatly like a beautiful department store gift-wrapped present - with the exception that you cannot get from Silver Lake to Venice in 30 minutes no matter what time of day it is in Los Angeles!

Borrowing from JesusH.com, 5 Pocchacos!

*I know using IM/text message abbreviation in a blog post is obnoxious but what can I say, I've succumbed to this ultra-lame behavior! When in Rome...

Korean BBQ Tacos!!!!

There's nothing like standing in a Korean Taco Truck line for over an hour with a bunch of hipsters, some shaking what their Momma gave them to Tupac, to make you feel young again!



















On a side note, the food was freakin' delicious!!! Korean spicy pork, beef short ribs, tofu and spicy chicken over corn tortillas - who woulda thunk it? They also make some mighty fine breakfast burritos - same filling with eggs, potatoes and cheese added. Yum!
















Sorry for the blurry pics - only had my blackberry camera with me.

Book Review: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

It seems like I may be the last person in Los Angeles to have read this book but what the heck, I'll write a review anyway! Every person I've mentioned this book to has always had positive things to say about Bel Canto. One of my friends called it "a beautifully written book." I find that an odd description as I'm not sure I found it beautifully written, but I did find the story beautifully tragic. And I have a renewed interest in discovering opera. However, given my short attention span and lack of appreciation for fine arts, I'm sure I'll discover that I wish they'd make movies based on operas so I don't have to sit through the opera.

All-Time Festivus Grievance: Crazy Craisins

I got a grievance to air. How in the world are Craisins still on the market? 2008 marks the 15th anniversary of these little boogers. Let's back it up. Or as George Costanza would do, picture George's palms beckoning you towards him as he goes "beep...beep" I was the first person in line, prepared to sing from the rooftops about this amazing hybrid invention. I like cranberries. I like raisins. Ergo, no doubt I would LOVE craisins!

So imagine my dismay when I find out they are none other than freakin' dried cranberries!!! As a marketer, I should praise them for their ingenious way of duping consumers to pay double the price for a product that is as old as Thanksgiving. However this is one of those times when being a marketer and a civilian are in conflict. I am so offended by Craisins that I might have to start a boycott petition.

BOO CRAISINS!!!




Fro Yo and W suggested I share my Craisin gripe with the blogging community, so I dedicate this gripey post to them.

A Review about a Site about Reviews

If you're in the know...the geek know that is, then you know that when you see "w00t", something good is going on. Yes those are zeroes instead of the letter "o". That's the whole charm of the geek world. I can't really explain it but if you ever run into AP, ask him. I liked the quirkiness of it so much that I adapted it into a verbal exclamation..."w00t, w00t!" Of course, the geeks aren't happy with me. I apparently didn't get that it's only effective in typewritten form.

But I think from now on, I'm going to have to retire "w00t, w00t" and replace with "yelp, yelp!" If you haven't yelped, you're truly missing out. A site dedicated to reviews of everything you can possibly think of...that's right...you read correctly. How cool is that? Well I'll tell you how cool it is. It's so cool that I done got myself a yelp profile. I hope you will check it out.

Note to Tenzeau: If you yelp, you may be able to gain some of your coolness back, especially if you write a review about Crabbie kiddie pools.

Fro Yo Review: Pinkberry

I couldn't resist the temptation. There was just too much hype and buzz. I practically threw my Hamilton at the Pinkberry lady. And what did I get in return? A refreshing, tasty shaved ice treat that would have been way more refreshing and tasty without the Pinkberry signature plain yogurt mucking up the treat...blech. WTF? I realize it's 25 calories per oz. That's a very big plus. But it's not good. And it's not cheap either.

For those that have not ventured into the Asian dessert world, shaved ice is a freakin' fantastic concoction of condensed milk, some sort of sweet syrup, your choice of fruits and flavored gelatin and/or red beans, plus mochi all topped with a bed of shaved ice. And you can get quite a nice serving of this for a mere $2.50 at the Old Country Time Cafe in Alhambra.

Pinkberry puts a twist to the shaved ice by adding that disgusting yogurt to it. You also have the option to just get the yogurt with toppings. My posse and I tried both and the pics are below. Please see Abul, the camel plush, for size perspective. Also included is a pic with me and one of my posse members hanging out in the ultra-sleek store. If nothing else, it makes you feel really cool to be Pinkberrying it up.

Restaurant Review: Ketchup

My bday had the unfortunate circumstance of landing on a Monday this year so no big beach bash or K-town karaoke night this time. I decided just a low-key dinner at a semi-trendy restaurant with some family and Kid Dynomite would be the way to go. Figured it be best to keep it small - after all, I think Monday bday celebrations could possibly be worse than Sunday night wedding receptions...I threw that in there for you Meddlesome. I know how much you despise Sunday weddings!

So seeing that ketchup truly is my favorite condiment on this earth and Ketchup, the restaurant, is part of the Ashton Kutcher Dolce group, I chose this uber cool looking dining establishment. The interior is all white 60s modern furniture with lots of red accents including all red lighting. The music was a fun 70s-80s mix and the location overlooked Sunset Plaza. The menu was also very fun with entertaining signature cocktail names that included ingredients like Tang, Kool-aid and Yoohoo. But that's basically the best that Ketchup's got to offer.

The food was fine but not spectacular.

The service was no bueno! Our server forgot to input our entree orders so two hours into our "celebration", we're still muching on our apps. Let me tell you, fries don't taste good after two hours! The server's excuse was the best - supposedly our order went to the wrong printer. WTF So to make up for it, he told us dessert was on the house but then proceeded to bring out more desserts than we asked for so he could charge us for 3 of them. So WEIRD. Note to Ashton Kutcher: If you're reading this, please know that I am a big fan of yours and am very disappointed with my experience.

Here are some pics. I haven't figured out how to position the pics so I can put comments next to them so hope you enjoy them sans commentary.

Movie Review: The Queen

The Queen is a really interesting look into how the monarchy reacted to Princess Diana's death. And there's also some cool insight into how tough Queen Elizabeth II is. But that's basically all the movie is about - don't expect a lot more. If you don't know much about how the Prime Minister and the Queen interact with each other and/or want another interpretation on the reaction/response to Princess Diana's death, this is the movie for you.

I can't say I'd recommend this movie over others currently out in theaters right now. If you are debating between this and something like We Are Marshall or The Pursuit of Happyness, this is definitely one that you could wait for the DVD release. We're still within the Holiday window so go for the uplifting movie!

Movie Review: We Are Marshall

This was the perfect movie to lead up to the college football filled viewing day that I just had. All the teams that I was rooting for lost - Arkansas Razorback, Nebraska Cornhuskers and Tennesse Volunteers. But if you read my Rose Bowl post below, you know my day ended up pretty swell.

We Are Marshall is a solid feel-good movie. I almost always like inspirational sports movies based on true events and this movie fits that bill. It wasn't as good as Miracle, but Disney really excels in these kind of feel-good movies so not really fair of me to compare. However it was absolutely better than the more recent release, Glory Road. I highly recommend it - you'll pick up some really good metaphors by Matthew McConaughey's characterization of Jack Lengyel.

Book Review: Prep by Curtis Sittenfield

I haven't read a book completely in a long time. I have a bad habit of starting books and losing interest about halfway through - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Blink by Malcom Gladwell...the list goes on. So I surprised myself that I finished Prep. It's the kind of light popcorn book that makes me embarrassed to read it in public and also a little uncomfortable to admit on a blog that I finished in 3 weeks (a record for me). But there was something really appealing about it...I think the whole teen angst thing was spot on and I could really identify with the main character, another embarrassing admission. I'm now pumped to give Catcher in the Rye a shot, but I have a feeling it'll suffer the same consquences as all the other "quality" books that I've attempted to read oh so many times.

Good experience at R-Mine Bridal Salon in Studio City

Just wanted to give praise where it's due. I read some bad reviews on Citysearch about R-Mine Bridal Couture so I wanted to share a good review. I have gone to the store twice now and each time, the bridal consultant has been very pleasant and helpful. Bella helped me the first time and Nicolletta helped the second time. Nicolletta even picked out a dress that I hadn't seen that looked pretty nice so that she earned big bonus points for that. They have pretty reasonable prices and they do keep the designer labels in their dresses so you know who's gown you're trying on. The dressing rooms are spacious and clean and I didn't feel pressed for time at all. Overall great experience and would recommend this place if you live in SoCal. However I haven't bought a dress there so I can't speak to the contract which seems to be what a lot of the complaints are about on Citysearch but they seemed so helpful, I'd be really disappointed if they did end up screwing you over after you bought the dress. Also I only went to the Studio City location which I think is considered their higher end store. I don't know what the Glendale location is like.

Worst Bridal Salon in Pasadena: Paulette's Ambiance

If you have read my post on shopping for wedding dresses, you'll know that I find it pretty un-fun. But apparently I didn't know what un-fun really was because I hadn't been to Paulette's. I was actually really looking forward to going to Paulette's because I knew 3 people who bought their dresses there and they all seemed very satisfied. However 1 of the 3 did buy her dress there before the ownership had changed hands from the original Paulette to the current owner, who we'll call Crazy Lady. That should have been a red flag. Of also important significance, which I couldn't have foreseen was that all 3 were Caucasian, which we'll be explained shortly.

So it was a Friday afternoon, An and I are pumped for the weekend and are kicking it off with a trip to Paulette's. As we walk up, we are really excited because the store is the cutest little cottage and we saw the most adorable flowergirl dress in the window. When we walk in, we're greeted by Crazy Lady who keeps asking if I'm Vivian...those who know me will know the significance of that. Anyway, I approach her with the dresses that I have torn out of magazines to give her an idea of what I'm looking for. She becomes sort of agitated and starts pointing to different dresses saying "We don't have that one, we don't have that one either, and not that one" and "Oh so you want a Monique Lhuillier dress"...and I truly got the sense that she felt like I couldn't affford a M.L. dress and that I was crazy for even bringing the picture in. So I told her I didn't want those exact dresses, they were to give her an idea of what I'm looking for. She's not very happy and only shows me one dress that was part of the magazine cut-outs I brought. I have to ask if I can look through the rest of the dresses.

So I've chosen some dresses, out of her pretty limited selection, as most of them were very traditional and ball-gowny type and I wanted modern. An comes into the dressing area with me as that's what we've done at Saks, Neiman and R-Mine and we were the only 2 customers in there. Crazy Lady prompty kicks An out of the area saying "You can't be here, this is a dressing room. Go outside" So An uncomfortably leaves the room and I'm left in the uncomfortable silence with Crazy Lady. I should actually call her Dragon Lady - that seems more appropriate. So Dragon Lady helps me into the dress and tells me not to put my shoes on because there's a raised area outside. Why would you care if I wanted to wear my shoes???? Anyway, I walk outside to show An. An approves of the dress and starts taking notes like "An likes dress, VT likes dress", notes the price and does a quick rudimentary sketch so we can jog our memory when we get home and review our shopping trip. Dragon Lady proceeds to tell An that she cannot sketch the dress. An of course says she's only trying to draw a simple idea of the dress so we can remember it, then An shows Dragon examples of the dresses she's drawn so Dragon feels comforted that we're not trying to steal the design and go make it for cheaper elsewhere. Crazy Dragon then says "Those are great sketches, you can't sketch in my store". And not to rag on An but seriously if you saw the "sketches", you would die laughing at how absurd it is to think we could go make a dress from An's drawings. Anyway so An says fine that she will only take notes. Crazy Dragon says "No notes" and An says "What?" And that's when I lay into her about how ridiculous it is that she doesn't allow her customers to take notes. Crazy Dragon responds by saying "It's my store policy. You don't need to take notes. You just need to narrow it down to 1 or 2 dresses and that's it. You obviously know what you like, you brought in those pictures". I just go off on her because she is so irrational and stupid. Both An and I were thinking separately that she was being prejudice against us because we were Asian and that meant we were of course going to go and make the dress for 1/2 the price somewhere else. I mean she did tell me I was wasting her time and using her for all her customer service. I wanted to kick her when she said that. But I controlled my urge and told her that I can't see how she can keep a sustainable business and that I was going to tell all my friends about her. So that's what I'm doing. If only there was a way to get out the word beyond my little ole blog.

Anyway to sum it up, Paulette's Ambience is the worst bridal salon ever.