Lunamania

Thanks, Julian for the following slice of history.
Back in late 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and America was pretty much hating on anyone looking remotely Asian. To ensure the venom was flowing towards the right peoples, Life Magazine published some pictures and diagrams (complete with ESPN style chalkovers) addressing what they identified as the "distressing ignorance on the delicate question of how to tell a Chinese from a Jap."
See the article and diagrams here.

Posted by at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I woke up yesterday quite upset that I was missing Yukari's thanksgiving feast and my people's in New York. As a devoted disciple of Yukari's school of cooking, I've had the privilege of occupying the Stool of Honor during the 2 day prep for the thanksgiving feast. Generally, my important duties include, pestering Yukari and Elaine with inane questions--what if you had to give up beef or pork? or pondering the relative macho factor of catherine zeta jones and angelina jolie. I also cheer on every stick of butter and dollop of cream! Every once in a while, I am actually useful. I was once assigned to grate ~10 lbs of cheese. It remains a highlight in my cooking endeavors.

So sad that this year I was afar, but I was blown away by my brother's first thanksgiving feast. Thanks to Magical Mirei's kitchen and home decorating skills, we had a lovely feast. Mirei roasted a perfect turkey and Tomi made the creamiest mashed potatos and a slammin' cranberry sauce. Stuffing, gravy, tasty little appetizers, cheesecake and get this...chirashi sushi. Nothing like some toro, salmon and kohada to celebrate this all American holiday.

The feast was also an opporunity to re-connect with some high school buddies. Our post-turkey digestion activity was to cheer on Kobayashi "the Coney Island hot dog eating champion" Takeru in the Glutton Bowl. It was the most wasteful, disgusting, pointless and American thing I've ever seen. Of course we watched it all. Rounds and rounds of enormous white dudes stuffing their faces with cow testicles, beef tongue and sushi. Kobayashi--all 130 lbs of him--strolls in and completely toasts the competion. 43 hot dogs in 12 minutes--second place was 11! He proceeds to the finals where he downs more than double the cow brains than his closest competitor. No one can touch Kobayashi "my eyebrows are so well groomed" Takeru. I think the brains finale was a way to put him out of competition via Mad Cow.
OK, I'm grossing myself out. If you want more details check out the official website of the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
I'm off to partake in some leftover parties!

Posted by at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In no particular order:

Britney Spears, those creepy incestuous Olsen twins and Colin Farrell
For teaching me that my increasing distance from pop culture is not really a bad thing.

Carbohydrates
French fries, mac and cheese, pizza, garlic mashed potatos, pesto pasta and the almighty...RICE.

People who order Turduckens
Most folks pack their turkeys with some stuffing, a few herbs and spices, a pat of butter. The more carnivorous cooks may throw in a sausage or two. The real champions stuff their turkeys with...ducks! The adrenaline rush associated with this culinary russian doll pales in comparison with the propsect of setting the kitchen on fire with a deep fried turkey, but the turkey stuffed duck wins the prize with the decadence factor.

The promise of post-thanksgiving spoonbread
Over the last several years, my thanksgiving has been defined by Yukari's "don't mess with the Master Chef" spoonbread. It's the ultimate starch, cream, corn and cheese treat. We're on opposite coasts this year, so I'm jump up with joy thankful for the promise of spoonbread when I visit.

Play Station 2
Creating even more gateways to repetive stress injuries.

Snowboarding
Since Play Station doesn't open gateways to head injuries.

Friday Farmer's Market
This is not just any farmer's market. It's graced by the Roli Roti--a chicken rotisserie truck adorned with a mock up 8ft x 4ft roast bird. Pretty kewl.

David Pogue, Manhola Dargis and William Grimes
Assurance that I will have at least a few moments of funny, solid writing each week.

David Quammen, Dave Barry, David Sedaris and David Pogue
For establishing my theory that white guys named David are funny.

The internet
For sucking time from my life that could be better spend on self-improvement projects.

Happy turkey daze!

Posted by at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Given that comments on this blog are about as common as an elf of color in Lord of the Rings or a person of color on Friends, I am happily responding to the suggestion for a list of Thankful Things. But not yet. It's not Sanks Gibing Day yet! As a teaser, you can all read about Gear I am Thankful For.

My iPOD
It's been over a year since love at first sight, but just last night I was rolling around the couch pawing and fawning over my iPod. iPod, you're just so pretty to look at! It's a music player, hard drive and shiny fingerprint coated mirror all in one!

Nikon D70 digital camera
If the house caught on fire, I would 1) follow my Monkey Partner to safety since she would undoubtedly be more on top of it than I would 2) shepard the furry animals and transport the wriggly ones to safety then 3) try to take a picture with my D70.

Adobe Software
We all use it to open and convert pdf files. Photoshop is now a verb and audiophiles use Audition to edit audio files. Pun fully intended. Har har!

Adobe:gear weenies::Darwin:evolutionary biologists

My Numark turntables
The gear that marked my late 20's, instigated many ear aches for 392 Grand Ave and enabled much mischief with the Restless Produxns crew.

Firefox 1.0
The Firefox browser is not just for gear nerds. It's for me because I hate the damn pop up ads that invade my screen every time I surf the NY Times website. It's a browser with build in ad and spyware blockers. It also has various "extensions" or little programs that do neat stuff for you like fetch the local weather or alert you to new email, it has various "skins" that allow you to customize how it appears on your screen. Ooooooooh, pretty.

Posted by at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some of you don't believe it, but two-headed turtles (see below) really do exist.

Posted by at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chalk it up to the job search, post-election paralysis, switching to the Firefox 1.0 browser, global warming...this blog is having and identity crisis.

Should I post more news tidbits of real significance?

Go for shock(!) value?

Chat about good books? See sidebar.

Be a gear weenie?

Navel gaze? Well, that's at least an easy NO.

Post more pictures?

What I should do is get back to work.

Posted by at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I spent the weekend trying to get my bearings in the dizzy sprawl of Los Angeles. This was my 5th or 6th time down there, but this being LA and me having the memory of a goldfish, every visit feels like the first.
Of course, we drove a lot. I listened to Lisa G. reminesce about her childhood memories of Exit 7 off the 5 and heard Christina sigh over the scenic mountain ranges that cradle the 1. OK, maybe she was talking about the 7 or 3. All 6 lane highways look the same to me.
Spacial disorientation aside, it was good to connect with new friends, make funnies with old peeps and marvel at one of the few cities in the U.S. populated by Korean tofu house restaurant chains.

Posted by at 6:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Breaking news--While the democratic party re-evaluates their political ethos, an informal poll of Lunamania reveals that residents are sticking to their agendas. There is no rest for the weary in the fight for tasty snacks in the workplace, maintaining a high sparkle/glitter content in all wardrobes, feline friendly workplaces (dogs already have it good) and more big screen roles for Angelina Jolie. I'm pleased to report that regardless of who is in office, my peeps remain committed to the struggle.

I was lucky to celebrate my birthday with a day full of Tomales Bay oysters, many cheery birthday greetings from across the coast and the warmest, most ginormous surprise (ok, it wasn't really a surprise...) dinner. It was a nice embodiment of all the good things in my life--something I've been most grateful for during this week of collective processing. I'm lucky not to be one of the legions of oft-mentioned "newly politicized first time youth voter of the MTV generation." I find solace in the incredible friends I've made through years of political defeat!

I've been recovering from a nasty cold/flu, so sorry about the delay in returning calls!

Posted by at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I woke up this morning to NPR and other new analyses of the "moral values" issues and the successful mobilization of the evangelical Chrisitian republican base. I'm told gays, guns and God were the deciding issues of the day. Call me crazy, but based on those same news sources, I thought the "war on terror" and to some extent the economy/jobs were the defining campaign issues. I realize that the wing nut moral majority zealots are always a factor, but since I don't live in the bible belt nor a swing state, I'm guess shielded from the hateful messaging. I feel completely out of touch.

I dread 4 more years of W in office--especially now that he is really claiming some holy Christian God Mandate, but sadly I am more fearful of the 51% of the country that mobilized to keep this fool in office. Who ARE these people?

And since when did 51% of the popular vote and a sliver of the electoral votes equal a mandate? 2000 lowered the bar so much that an election without blatant fraud now confers a mandate on an administration.

Speaking of fraud, I voted electronically courtest of the Diebold corporation. Back in Aug. the CEO of Diebold promised to deliver Ohio to W. No conflict of interest there. I'm not really a conspiracy theorist, but it would make me feel better to have at least a receipt or some paper proof that I voted.

Finally, all of the CA prop. initiatives went the other way. 64 passed, 66 failed and 72 failed by a sliver.

It's raining outside. My dog and cat are ignoring me.

To add insult to injury, I'm feverish and down with a cold.

I promise the next posting will have nothing to do with the elections or local politics.

Posted by at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those who follow the polls, here are the latest results for the CA propositions.
Just a little anxious that Prop 72 is such a tight race.

Posted by at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)