OakMonster’s Den

The Rice and Beans crew struck again.  I mean, I don’t know what it is about going to get pho that brings out the funny in us.

Yesterday, Nhien drove me, Celeste and Eva out to Chinatown to our favorite pho place for lunch.  We parked on the streets, just outside a paid parking lot.  You have to J-walk to get to the plaza where the restaurant is at.  So, we started to look both ways.  Eva spotted a police car cruising down the road.

“Girls, cops are coming.  Don’t cross yet,” she warned us, but at this point Nhien and Celeste were already took a few steps into the streets.  We waited for the police to past and then we started making our way across.

“Well, this is Chinatown.  There are two Asians and two Mexicans on the side of the road,” I said.  “What does he think we’re going to do?  I mean, J-walking is built into our genetics make-up.”

*

When we were walking back, it looked like they were starting to set up a farmer’s market of sort in the parking lot.  There was a truck full of produce that was being unloaded.  There were a few tents set up, and an outdoor cooking area.

“Oooh, can you imagine a farmer’s market here with Chinese street foods?” I pondered aloud.

“Oh yeah, that would be awesome,” Nhien said.

Out of the blue, Celeste uttered, “No dogs allowed or we’ll cook ‘em.”

“What?!?  Where did you see that?!?!”  All of us asked her at once and started looking around for the source of the comment.

I spotted a sign that said NO DOGS ALLOWED.

Celeste looked at us, perplexed.  “You guys thought I was serious?”

Christmas passed away a few weeks ago. What we heard last was that her kidneys had shut down and she refused to eat. Brandon’s mom failed to update us later that they put her down soon after that report. She was 16 years old.

RIP Christmas. You will forever be Brandon’s favorite kitten.

Brandon and I went to see Jumper at the Los Cerritos Center on Sunday. (Yes, even after I spent the entire day before in the theater, I willingly went back.  Just don’t give me any popcorn.)  We dutifully sat through the previews. (Yey, Indiana Jones!) The movie finally begun.

Just after Hayden Christiansen’s character trudged home soaking wet after his first “jump”, about 5 minutes in, the little lights through out the theater started to flash brightly. A voice came on to tell us that there is an emergency and everyone please calmly exit the building through the emergency exits at the end of the theater.

We got up and started down the stairs. The lady behind me was pushing up behind me, not quite pushing hard to enough to make her own way but definitely pushing. I whipped around.

“Excuse ME!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I slipped.”

No, you didn’t, you overly panicky dramatic bitch. But whatever. We walked out the door and down the stairs outside the building.

Once outside, we didn’t see a stream of people exiting the mall. So, we went back in to get our money/tickets back. A blond lady pushed through the line of us who were queuing up to get our refunds, demanding that she gets a paper bag to breath into because she has anxiety disorder and was freaking out.

After that, she demanded a chair to sit down at the head of the line and some water but not the kind that the theater has because “I don’t drink that”. She told everyone within earshot that there was a bomb going off in her movie and when the alarm went off she thought it was a terrorist attack. (By the way, if you have anxiety disorder, why would you go see a movie that would make you anxious to begin with?) When the management offers to call the ambulance for her seemingly mounting symptoms, she refused but yet continued to discuss loudly that she can’t breath, that she needed water, that she was going to pass out, etc.

I can’t judge here, but I don’t know if people who would actually suffer such disorder would really make that big of a scene AND refuse medical assistance. But that’s just me.

The entire time, fear doesn’t even cross my mind. True, I was with Brandon so that was definitely an assurance. But still, the whole emergency thing didn’t bother me one bit.

It went through my head like this.

I didn’t smell smoke, so there wasn’t a fire. I didn’t hear gun shots or explosions, so there possibly wasn’t any AK-47 wielding mad men outside. I didn’t feel any movement of the building so that wasn’t an earthquake or the building wasn’t losing its structural integrity. I didn’t hear anybody scream so whatever it was couldn’t possibly be that bad. The exits were right there in front of me and they would put me outside the building which is only a few stories up, an easy escape.

And more importantly, my guts didn’t react to any of it.

There was no cause to fear. I wasn’t afraid.

But then there was all of these people pushing me down the stairs and this lady freaking the fuck out.

I wonder if in the real situation, who will actually survive the ordeal, me or them…

There was a few surprises tonight at the Big Show. Marion Cotillard beat out the shoe-in Julie Christie. I guess the Academy didn’t want to give it to her twice, eh? Otherwise, the obvious did win.

12 out of 24 this year, my dearests. 50%. Totally off my game. I’m blaming it on the flu. Heh.  I made a few bad choices but there are those Oscar surprises again, you know.

BEST PICTURE
[ ] Atonement
[ ] Juno
[ ] Michael Clayton
[X] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood - I think this one should win, but I’m no Academy member.

DIRECTOR
[ ] Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
[X] Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
[ ] Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
[ ] Jason Reitman, Juno
[ ] Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
[ ] Juno
[ ] Lars and the Real Girl
[ ] Michael Clayton
[ ] Ratatouille
[X] The Savages - Okay, I should’ve stuck with my guts on this one. I just wasn’t all that impressed with Juno, is all.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
[ ] Atonement
[ ] Away from Her
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[X] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
[ ] George Clooney, Michael Clayton
[XXXX] Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
[ ] Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
[ ] Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
[ ] Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
[ ] Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
[X] Julie Christie, Away from Her
[ ] Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
[ ] Laura Linney, The Savages
[ ] Ellen Page, Juno

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
[ ] Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
[XXXX] Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
[ ] Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
[ ] Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
[ ] Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
[ ] Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
[ ] Ruby Dee, American Gangster
[ ] Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
[X] Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
[ ] Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton - A surprise here too.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
[ ] 12 (Russia)
[ ] Beaufort (Israel)
[X] Counterfeiters (Austria)
[ ] Katyn (Poland)
[ ] Mongol (Kazakhstan)

ANIMATED FEATURE
[ ] Persepolis
[X] Ratatouille
[ ] Surf’s Up

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
[X] No End in Sight
[ ] Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
[ ] Sicko
[ ] Taxi to the Dark Side
[ ] War/Dance

SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
[X] I Met the Walrus
[ ] Madame Tutli-Putli
[ ] My Love (Moya Lyubov)
[ ] Peter & the Wolf

SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
[ ] At Night
[X] Il Supplente (The Substitute)
[ ] Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
[ ] Tanghi Argentini
[ ] The Tonto Woman

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
[ ] Freeheld
[X] La Corona (The Crown)
[ ] Salim Baba
[ ] Sari’s Mother

ORIGINAL SCORE
[X] Atonement
[ ] The Kite Runner
[ ] Michael Clayton
[ ] Ratatouille
[ ] 3:10 to Yuma

ORIGINAL SONG
[X] “Falling Slowly” - Once
[ ] “Happy Working Song” - Enchanted
[ ] “Raise It Up” - August Rush
[ ] “So Close” - Enchanted
[ ] “That’s How You Know” - Enchanted

ART DIRECTION
[ ] American Gangster
[ ] Atonement
[ ] The Golden Compass
[X] Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
[ ] There Will Be Blood

CINEMATOGRAPHY
[ ] The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
[ ] Atonement
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[X] There Will Be Blood

COSTUME DESIGN
[ ] Across the Universe
[X] Atonement
[ ] Elizabeth: The Golden Age
[ ] La Vie en Rose
[ ] Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

MAKEUP
[ ] La Vie en Rose
[ ] Norbit
[X] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

SOUND MIXING
[ ] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] Ratatouille
[X] 3:10 to Yuma
[ ] Transformers

SOUND EDITING
[ ] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] Ratatouille
[ ] There Will Be Blood
[X] Transformers

VISUAL EFFECTS
[ ] The Golden Compass
[ ] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
[X] Transformers

FILM EDITING
[X] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[ ] Into the Wild
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood

Yes, dahlings. I survived the 2nd annual movie marathon! Actually what the doctor’s order although all that sittin’ seems to have pinch a nerve in my left shoulder.

Irena and Danny came with me. I also made acquaintance with my neighbor Amanda who also did this last year. The guys in front of me sat next to me last year as well. It’s becoming a tradition for most people. Haha!

My favorite of the five is There Will Be Blood, amazingly. Daniel Day Lewis blew me the hell away. I mean, as much as I was anticipating the milkshake line, when time comes, I was actually too traumatized to laugh. No Country For Old Men was superb. I was frightened of Anton the entire movie. I mean, he’s on screen and I’m already losing my shit and he doesn’t even have to do ANYTHING. The thing is, I wasn’t rooting for either one of them, really. Not the way my emotions were invested in Daniel Plainview. I guess that’s the difference.

Juno was very cute, very touching. I didn’t think it was Oscar caliber though. Atonement was amazing, a great interpretation of the book. Michael Clayton was thoroughly entertaining but I didn’t really see what the big deal about it is. I didn’t think this was Clooney’s best performance. Tom Wilkinson always does well, and this seems normal for him though.

But anyways. Here are my predictions. As always, I haven’t seen any of the foreign films, documentaries, or the shorts so those are completely wild guesses. Let’s see how I do this year.

BEST PICTURE
[ ] Atonement
[ ] Juno
[ ] Michael Clayton
[X] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood - I think this one should win, but I’m no Academy member.

DIRECTOR
[ ] Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
[X] Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
[ ] Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
[ ] Jason Reitman, Juno
[ ] Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
[ ] Juno
[ ] Lars and the Real Girl
[ ] Michael Clayton
[ ] Ratatouille
[X] The Savages

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
[ ] Atonement
[ ] Away from Her
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[X] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
[ ] George Clooney, Michael Clayton
[XXXX] Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
[ ] Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
[ ] Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
[ ] Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
[ ] Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
[X] Julie Christie, Away from Her
[ ] Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
[ ] Laura Linney, The Savages
[ ] Ellen Page, Juno

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
[ ] Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
[XXXX] Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
[ ] Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
[ ] Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
[ ] Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
[ ] Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
[ ] Ruby Dee, American Gangster
[ ] Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
[X] Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
[ ] Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
[ ] 12 (Russia)
[ ] Beaufort (Israel)
[X] Counterfeiters (Austria)
[ ] Katyn (Poland)
[ ] Mongol (Kazakhstan)

ANIMATED FEATURE
[ ] Persepolis
[X] Ratatouille
[ ] Surf’s Up

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
[X] No End in Sight
[ ] Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
[ ] Sicko
[ ] Taxi to the Dark Side
[ ] War/Dance

SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
[X] I Met the Walrus
[ ] Madame Tutli-Putli
[ ] My Love (Moya Lyubov)
[ ] Peter & the Wolf

SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
[ ] At Night
[X] Il Supplente (The Substitute)
[ ] Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
[ ] Tanghi Argentini
[ ] The Tonto Woman

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
[ ] Freeheld
[X] La Corona (The Crown)
[ ] Salim Baba
[ ] Sari’s Mother

ORIGINAL SCORE
[X] Atonement
[ ] The Kite Runner
[ ] Michael Clayton
[ ] Ratatouille
[ ] 3:10 to Yuma

ORIGINAL SONG
[X] “Falling Slowly” - Once
[ ] “Happy Working Song” - Enchanted
[ ] “Raise It Up” - August Rush
[ ] “So Close” - Enchanted
[ ] “That’s How You Know” - Enchanted

ART DIRECTION
[ ] American Gangster
[ ] Atonement
[ ] The Golden Compass
[X] Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
[ ] There Will Be Blood

CINEMATOGRAPHY
[ ] The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
[ ] Atonement
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[X] There Will Be Blood

COSTUME DESIGN
[ ] Across the Universe
[X] Atonement
[ ] Elizabeth: The Golden Age
[ ] La Vie en Rose
[ ] Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

MAKEUP
[ ] La Vie en Rose
[ ] Norbit
[X] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

SOUND MIXING
[ ] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] Ratatouille
[X] 3:10 to Yuma
[ ] Transformers

SOUND EDITING
[ ] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] Ratatouille
[ ] There Will Be Blood
[X] Transformers

VISUAL EFFECTS
[ ] The Golden Compass
[ ] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
[X] Transformers

FILM EDITING
[X] The Bourne Ultimatum
[ ] The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
[ ] Into the Wild
[ ] No Country for Old Men
[ ] There Will Be Blood

The flu seems to have run its course.  The coughing is not bronchitis but the leftover from the ongoing sinus infection.  No, I am not entirely out of the woods yet.  That was my doctor’s opinion.

She said to take it easy this weekend.  It’s okay to go to my movie marathon tomorrow as long as I stay warm.  LOL.  The best thing for me right now is rest.

Sloth by prescription.  I can totally use some of that right now.

Brandon took me to breakfast after the morning appointment and we picked up my antibiotics on the way home.  Oh yes, my first FULL MEAL of the week!  I had almost 2 eggs, some hash browns and a piece of bacon.  I can actually taste my food and there was no nausea.  Woohoo!  Food!!!!

Not another half hour later I got back, I was fast asleep…for the next 4 hours.  I woke up for a while and continued to doze off and on for the rest of the evening.

And even with all that sleep, I am still incredibly exhausted.

So, good night, my friends. I’m sorry I don’t have more exciting posts these past few days.  But Sunday morning, you shall have my Oscar predictions, and we’ll see you after the Awards is over. 

Just dropping a line to let y’all know I’m still alive.  The high fever continued through Monday.  Reduced to low grade for the past two days as I marched along to put on a Big Conference yesterday.

I spent the night at the hotel on Tuesday and had 3 hours of sleep.  That was what I got for $200, a room on the 4th floor by the freeway.  The entire crew of Tokyo Drift must have been practicing outside my window all night.  Needless to say, right after the event, with the blessing of my boss, I went home and slept at 1 p.m.

And then I woke up with a 100F when Brandon called around 5 to ask about dinner.

Brandon consulted our on call Doc Justin who told me to get my ass to my doctor ASAP.  4 days…well, now, 5, even if it’s low, it’s still a fever…of fever is a cause for concern.

That’s exactly what I will do tomorrow.

But today, the aftermath of the conference.  I just have to survive today.  Just one more day.

That was the temperature I woke up with at 4:45 a.m. this morning. Only once has it dipped below 100 but only for an hour if that.  I’ve been hovering around 101 all day with occasional 102s.

Seriously man. Just shoot me.

It’s beautiful outside.  So Cal is having a summer weekend again.  Brandon is out and about.  But here I am at home.

I told you my boss has this coughing cold, right?

Of course, I caught it.

I was at the office until 9 p.m. last night with a cold in development.  I was staying late in hopes that I would get most of the prep work for the Wednesday conference done so I don’t have to go in today or on Monday.  I don’t really remember eating the giant cobb salad Brandon brought home for me.  I however remember taking the last shot of Nyquil and went to bed.

Woke up nice and icky, my friends, and effectively got myself out of going back to the office today.  But that also put me out of going to Mazing Amy’s going away party.  That part totally sucks.

Because the cold is sitting pretty on my chest, I am blessed that I can taste my food.  And taste I can.  Especially when I am craving food as if I haven’t eaten in days.  I had soup. I had salad. I had apple fritters.  Along with all of that is the main stay of the day of green tea and Airborne interspersing with Tylenol and Mucinex which Brandon went out and got for me this morning.  God bless my husband who just came off of a case of strep throat himself.

Uh-oh.  I’m sweating.  I think the fever just broke.  That’s good sign, right?
I need a bath…

*sigh*

In that order for the evening.

First, food.

Valentine’s Day voluntary potluck tradition at the office continues under my watch. I haven’t heard much discussion of who is bringing what this year, which usually mean that table in our tiny break room is going to be PACKED with stuff. It always happens that way.

All I know is Celeste is bringing a chocolate cream pie. And I just put my champagne brie fondue in the fridge.

I stopped at home to hunt down a fondue recipe before I went grocery shopping. Brandon, recovering from a mini strep throat (poor baby), on day 3 of his vacation week (bastard), went with me to the store.

Shopping hungry was never a good idea in the first place. But shopping hungry after not having really eaten anything much for 2 days was a really, REALLY bad idea.

“Let’s just get a rotisserie chicken” turned out to be a basket full of ingredients for 3 dinners–Von’s fantastic stompin’ steakhouse chilli in sourdough bowl, homemade Chef’s salad, and cheese quesadillas.

I made the quesadillas…which we effectively dunked into a little bowl of chilli. The Chef will have to make her salad another day.

Now, wine.

Only one cup of champagne–well, it’s the cheap spumante, but whatever–is used in the recipe for the aforementioned fondue. The rest of it has to go somewhere, right?

I WISH I could make it all go somewhere. But I can only handle a glass this night.

After the kind of day I had, this little glass is perfect to cap the day off. Crazy, crazy, crazy, I tell you! Well, our big summit is only around the corner. What else are a couple of marketing girls to do!

My boss lady is getting sicker by the second and that stubborn crazy lady won’t take the day off. I swear to god instead of a Valentine, I’m going to get her some chicken soup tomorrow.

You know, nothing says BFF like donning a biohazard mask to deliver fresh chicken noodle soup to her desk. [ETA: She’s out of the count today. Good for her. And for us!]

And finally, friends.

I have made a few new ones recently from all sorts of different places. First up is Lori, the travel specialist and sister-in-law to my friend Emily. Lori arranged our trip, got us a great deal, and it was so painless. I promise to plug her shamelessly here. So, if y’all want to travel in grand style or on a budget, give Lori a call. Okay?

Then at Emily’s wedding, we sat with Brenda who is currently traveling through California. A former teacher and a current traveling writer and consultant, she reminds me a lot of Olaina. She has a blog and a writing center. So check both out.

And finally, a brand new friend made contact over email a few days ago. He shared his thoughts on my Mother’s Day piece I wrote for Thai-Blogs. As it turns out, not only he is a Thai living in the U.S., but he has just started a blog on his life and food, his career and passion. He said that it’s destiny that bring people together. Sure enough, it is.

After all, his Thai nickname is House.

Yes. I am serious.

ETA: Stumbled upon the blog of the photographer who did our Big Gala for the past few years, Vernon.  I figured I’d add him here too.