Obama and Me [Presidential Similarities]

It's nice to see that Obama is also a bit depressed that BSG is now over. Maybe I can pick up gardening.

Gorillaz goes Monkey

Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl and Gorillaz) and Damon Albarn (Blur and Gorillaz) are at it again. This time, they've collaborated to bring one of my favorite childhood stories to life.

The ad is inspired the Ming Dynasty book Journey to the West (西遊記), which one of the Four Great Classic Novels (四大名著). As a kid, I was fascinated with mythology and lore. Beyond reading all I could about the Greek mythology, my dad went Chinese on me and bought vividly colored books about Monkey King's escapades to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras. In fact, I built a tiny diorama based on the Monkey King's escapades. If only we had digital cameras back then. Oh, the craft I could expose you to.

Through time, I've seen permuations of the character crop up all over the place:

• Cartoon
  
• Musical
  
• TV Miniseries
  
• 2006 National Book Awards Winner: American Born Chinese
  

OK, enough talk, check out the clip via BBC's Olympic site here.

Top Chef Season 4 Finale-Find it online here...

After Dale got punted off the show, I promised never to watch the show for the rest of the season. But like a month to the flame, I just couldn't stay away and was drawn back.

Now, not neither TIVO or cable poses a problem. Where does one go to watch the episodes. While Youtube may have been a sufficient source of television shows, I recommend Hulu.com. A collaboration of NBC and FOX, Hulu (you can read about it here) contains your everything from SNL clips, episodes of Family guy, and movies like The Girl Next Door.

But more relevant to this post, it has the most recent episode 13 (Season Finale pt. 1) of Top Chef. The compression is smoother and larger than anything you can find on Youtube, veoh, or surfthechannel.

If you haven't seen it yet, I advise you follow the following drinking rules put out by Metromix Chicago:

Rule No. 1: Drink every time Lisa curses.

Rule No. 2: Drink every time a Glad product appears on screen. Chug for the first five seconds of any Glad commercial.

Rule No. 3: Drink every time Dale lashes out, directly or indirectly.

Rule No. 4: Chug for five seconds any time someone says “threw me under the bus” or similar.

Rule No. 5: Drink for every tight shot/zoom of a GE Monogram logo.

Rule No. 6: Drink every time Spike appears on screen wearing a hat.

Rule No. 7: Drink every time Tom says “interesting,” asks “Have you done that before?” or “kind of just blinks and pulls his head back.”

8. Drink every time a contestant butchers the pronunciation of a Spanish word.

Top 10 Reasons to Watch New Season Battlestar Galactica (David Letterman)

I will come out and say it. I watch BSG. And no, bears don't beat it.

Yeehaw, camping near sxsw

In a couple hours I will be on a plane from Midway en route to the great Texan state. As a person bitten with wanderlust, this must be my mid-west year. Barring any delays, I will arrive in Dallas, TX tonight. It's been a while since I've been to Texas. But you've got to love a state where there are restaurants on top of restaurants. I wont' be spending much time here though... only to rest and to take a shower...

Tomorrow morning, me and my college roommate, will be driving to Austin. A city definitely worth checking out, for the past week and for the next two weeks, the city is teeming with people.

Why? Because it's so cool? I'm sure it is, it's because of the annual SXSW festival. three festivals that abut each other--interactive, film, and music. Initially a music festival, this festival has grown in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.

But, I may not partake. I will be about 20 miles outside of the festival. Away from the hubbub, I am going to go fishing, hiking, and communing with nature (it does have its benefits). We may go in, we may not. I'll report back after I get back sunday night.

Scratch that, i fly back and immediately drive to Jeff's place to watch the season finale of the wire.

Can life get any better?

Episode 9

It's out. ep 9 of the wire is out and available at surfthechannel.com

The wire leak...

For those of you who are fanatical about the Wire. My friend just sent me a link that has a couple episodes that have yet to air.

Clearly, this is for for the impatient:
http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/Television/The_Wire.html

Hungry for Bourdain?

Many of you have already read his books, watched the show, and now... you can devour his blog.

If you have read any of his books, its a must read for any aspiring foodie. Kitchen Confidential is a great reveal of what goes in the back office of a restaurant.

Truthiness of the wire

Sudhir Venkatesh watches the latest season of the Wire with a bunch of gang leaders to see close to real-life it is.

Here's a couple bullets from the session:

• The Bunk is on the take.
• Prediction No. 1: McNulty and the Bunk will split.
• Roughly $8,000 was wagered on the timing of Marlo’s death.

You can read the rest of the blog at NY Times.