Venezuela mine!

Find more videos like this on EduBloggerWorld

Speaking Practice at Chinswing!

Chinswing is a great place to listen and to be listened to.

Chinswing is a global message board where anyone can add voice messages to ongoing topical discussions. Share your personal interests or hobbies, debate hot issues or find answers to questions. We've combined features of podcasting, text forums and live voice chat to create a whole new way to talk.

I started some discussions there... Introduce yourself is our first task. Please, leave a voice message and tell the world what you think or listen to what other people think. You can also download your voice messages and save them as mp3 files.

It's Free, It's 3, It's D!

Baltimore's Free Fall Films in 3-D Bonanza



These are the salad days for 3-D film fans.

On 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 3, the programming gods at the Maryland Film Festival are presenting a one-time free screening of Alfred Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER in dual-projector 3-D at the Charles Theatre!

Here's a capsule review (courtesy of Midnight Movies author J. Hoberman) from the Charles' website:

Dial M for Murder was by far the most visually compelling of studio stereoscopic movies— rivaled only by Jack Arnold's half-underwater Creature From the Black Lagoon. Taken from a hit Broadway play, Dial M is a genteel thriller. A reptilian ex tennis champ (Ray Milland) decides to eliminate his wealthy, unfaithful wife (Grace Kelly), and blackmails an old schoolmate to do the job; when Kelly unexpectedly dispatches her attacker with a pair of scissors, Milland shifts gears to have her framed. Perhaps 90 percent of the action is confined to the couple's cramped, incongruously dowdy living room, but Hitchcock made no attempt to open the piece up. While other 3-D productions assaulted audiences with hurtling tomahawks or Jane Russell's bosom, Hitchcock positioned his actors behind a fussy clutter of monumentalized bric-a-brac and made visual jokes out of rear-screen projection. The lone use of the proscenium-breaking projectile effect is reserved for the murder sequence.... Hitchcock's canny restraint allows the stereo image to assert its own uncanny characteristic.

The Charles promises more free 3-D films throughout October, including THE MAD MAGICIAN (10/10) and HOUSE OF WAX (10/17) - both starring the King of 3-D, Vincent Price (who made four 3-D films in his illustrious career), and previously presented by Sun film critic Chris Kaltenbach at Maryland Film Festivals past - and the 3-D musical KISS ME KATE(10/24). The latter was directed by George Sidney, one of the earliest experimenters with 3-D technique, having directed an MGM "Pete Smith Specialty" short called THIRD DIMENSIONAL MURDER back in 1941.

Of course, the "Warnercolor" HOUSE OF WAX is considered the quintessential stereoscopic film. Ironically, one-eyed director Alex de Toth couldn't see 3-D, but he overcame his monovision with an uncanny sense of framing and perspective. Meanwhile producer Jack Warner's insistence of filling the film with 3-D gags resulted in the famous paddle ball scene with Reggie Rymal. And the black and white print of THE MAD MAGICIAN (an obvious but enjoyable knock-off of HOUSE OF WAX) that the Maryland Film Festival screened two years ago is outstanding.

Not to be outdone, the Enoch Pratt Free Library will present two free 3-D films at the end of October and the first week of November at its Central Library location on 400 Cathedral Street. And why not? This past July, so many people showed up for Pratt's 3-D screening of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1953) - considered, along with HOUSE OF WAX, to be one of the greatest 3-D films of all-time - that they ran out of 3-D glasses. The people have spoken, and Pratt is answering their call (with extra supplies of 3-D specs this time around!).

On Saturday, October 27 at 2.pm., the Pratt screens the 1961 Canadian cult horror rarity THE MASK for its Halloween treat. Here's the program description from the Pratt's online film events calendar:

THE MASK (1961) IN 3-D
(Directed by Julian Roffman, Canada, 1961, 83 minutes, b&w with color 3-D sequences)

Though it shares the same title as the 1994 Jim Carrey comedy, this little-known 1961 low-budget Canadian horror movie - parts of which were filmed in 3-D - is far from a comedy.

When a young archaeologist commits suicide after wearing a mask that causes weird hallucinations and possibly murder, the mask falls into the hands of his psychiatrist Dr. Barnes, who is soon plunged into the addictive nightmare world of the mask. Whenever the narrator instructs you to "Put the Mask on now!", put on the provided 3-D specs to see some truly eerie nightmare sequences.

This cult film provided the cover illustration of V. Juno's Incredibly Strange Films book and has been called a metaphor for drug experimentation, with the surrealistic color dream sequences anticipating such 60s drug culture films as The Trip and Psych-Out.

Then on Saturday, November 3 at 2 p.m., Pratt presents a free 3-D screening of Jack Arnold's IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953). Here's the description from Pratt's online events calendar:

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE IN 3-D
(Directed by Jack Arnold, 1953, 81 minutes, b &w)

It Came From Outer Space is one of the classic 1950s sci-fi films. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury and directed by Universal Studios veteran Jack Arnold (The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man), it was unusual among sci-fi films of its time because it portrayed alien invaders as non-threatening creatures – this at the height of '50s Cold War nuclear paranoia. And, despite being filmed in gimmicky 3-D, it was an "A" production with good special effects and a solid cast of Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Kathleen Hughes and a young Russell Johnson (who would go on to play The Professor in Gilligan’s Island). The film has been interpreted as a metaphorical refutation of the xenophobic attitudes and ideology of the Cold War.

So if you think Baltimore's a one-dimensional town, think again. And get a good center seat to enjoy these stereoscopic cinematic treats!

Democracy... What is it?

Yesterday, in Myanmar - Burma, a protest leaded by monks ended on people been killed by a government that doesn-t listen to its own people. That-s a terrible thing to happen... Where-s democracy? what-s democracy? that-s our topic in this posting..

I love this definition of democracy...

A political system that allows the citizens to participate in political decision-making, or to elect representatives to government bodies.

What do you think? what-s democracy for you?... Leave a comment... Prticipate in a petition to stop violence in Burma. Sign a petition at Petition on Line

I found this interesting site... Why Democracy

They say that this group is not about being able to define democracy but about sharing conceptions, perspectives and experiences. Discuss current events, intellectualize about political theory, or talk about how cool documentaries are in our forums:
http://www.whydemocracy.net/forum
(You can chat about other stuff, too.)

Check it out and start sharing opinions with people in the world...

Keep on shining!
Doris3m

A Most Honored Profession

While I was helping tend Caitlin's booth at the Renegade Craft Fair, I was lucky to meet a wonderful young woman who was purchasing a "HOORAY Banner" for her classroom. Wow! What a thoughtful teacher! She is using the Banner in her Classroom! Her name is Pegs, and she teaches third grade in a Chicago area school. LUCKY KIDS! And lucky parents. Do we all not cherrish those teachers that truly are called to teaching and make connections with our kids because of there giftedness as teachers!
This is not the end of this story!!! No way. Pegs read Strategies that Work over the summer. As we were talking, she told me of one of the strategies that she has already incorporated into her classroom this new school year. She has her students keep a "Question Journal". Everyday she has them write down questions that are on THEIR OWN mind. What ever the topic. They then take the journal home on the weekend to show their parent(s) and discuss the questions. If you have ever had a conversation with a third grader you have most likely noticed their creative minds expanding! However Pegs said that as they reach 5th grade this questioning mind subsides. We discussed several reasons... but the good news is that this journal she has started them on will most likely continue for them past 3rd grade. They will continue to write down the questions in their journal and seek answers. AND how truly wnderful that a new tool for thier parents is being gifted to them by Pegs. This provides a very tangible and measurable way to stay connected to our children through the years as they go through some very challenging years.
OH MERCI MLLE PEGS!!!

A Most Honored Profession

While I was helping tend Caitlin's booth at the Renegade Craft Fair, I was lucky to meet a wonderful young woman who was purchasing a "HOORAY Banner" for her classroom. Wow! What a thoughtful teacher! She is using the Banner in her Classroom! Her name is Pegs, and she teaches third grade in a Chicago area school. LUCKY KIDS! And lucky parents. Do we all not cherrish those teachers that truly are called to teaching and make connections with our kids because of there giftedness as teachers!
This is not the end of this story!!! No way. Pegs read Strategies that Work over the summer. As we were talking, she told me of one of the strategies that she has already incorporated into her classroom this new school year. She has her students keep a "Question Journal". Everyday she has them write down questions that are on THEIR OWN mind. What ever the topic. They then take the journal home on the weekend to show their parent(s) and discuss the questions. If you have ever had a conversation with a third grader you have most likely noticed their creative minds expanding! However Pegs said that as they reach 5th grade this questioning mind subsides. We discussed several reasons... but the good news is that this journal she has started them on will most likely continue for them past 3rd grade. They will continue to write down the questions in their journal and seek answers. AND how truly wnderful that a new tool for thier parents is being gifted to them by Pegs. This provides a very tangible and measurable way to stay connected to our children through the years as they go through some very challenging years.
OH MERCI MLLE PEGS!!!

NICE!

I can show you some of Caitlin's Banners!!! Doug, my oh so handsome in everyway son, silkcreened labels for Caitlin, my oh so beautiful in everyway daughter. Caitlin put them on her "HOORAY" and HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banners. So cleaver!





What is wonderful about the banners is that they can be used over and over thruought the years. Tradition, which we all know how our Kids love those special things we do that they can count on, Re-use..each year, and Recycle! Yes indeedie, vintage fabrics sought out by the expert herself! Aw, ED would be so proud : )



NCE DETAILS!







I think this is my current favorite..ooh so hard to decide!
Tomorrow I am going to have a great tip I learned from a teacher at the Renegade Craft Fair!!!
I have been having computer problems OR maybe it IS ME!!! Hahahha.

NICE!

I can show you some of Caitlin's Banners!!! Doug, my oh so handsome in everyway son, silkcreened labels for Caitlin, my oh so beautiful in everyway daughter. Caitlin put them on her "HOORAY" and HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banners. So cleaver!





What is wonderful about the banners is that they can be used over and over thruought the years. Tradition, which we all know how our Kids love those special things we do that they can count on, Re-use..each year, and Recycle! Yes indeedie, vintage fabrics sought out by the expert herself! Aw, ED would be so proud : )



NCE DETAILS!







I think this is my current favorite..ooh so hard to decide!
Tomorrow I am going to have a great tip I learned from a teacher at the Renegade Craft Fair!!!
I have been having computer problems OR maybe it IS ME!!! Hahahha.

Do the Salmon Dance!

The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance Lyrics

Hello Boys and girls, my name is FatLip
and this is my friend Sammy the Salmon

Today, we’re going to teach you some fun facts about Salmon,
And a brand new dance.


Let me introduce to you a brand new dance
I know you’re gonna love it if you give it one chance
It’s not complicated, it’s not too hard
You don’t even have to be a hip hop star

See anyone can do it, all you need is style
Listen up peep gang (?) I’m a show you how
Put your hands to the side, as silly AS SILLY AS IT SEEMs
And shake your body like a salmon floatin’ up stream!

I’ll float up stream
(you know how we do it, you know how we do it)
Again

*All my peeps spend part of their life in fresh water*
*And part of their life in salt water*

Wow, very interesting

*We change round a couple of days after spawning*
*Then we DIE* (?)

When I first did the Salmon all the people just laughed
They looked around and stood like I was on c****
I heard somebody say out loud what the f*** is that
This n***’s dancin like a fish while he’s doin’ the snap

But the more I kept doing it the more they kept feelin’ it
Tnd then I heard some b**** say yo that n**** killin’ it
By the end of the night everyone was on my team
And the whole club was dancing like a salmon floatin’ up stream!

I’ll float up stream
(you know how we do it, you know how we do it)
again.

*Most of our friends find their home waters by their sense of smell*
*which is even more keen than that of a dog or a bear*

Wow.

*My family also rely on ocean currents, tides*
*The gravitational pull of the moon*

The moon? Fish pay attention to the moon? Wow.

*Did you know?*

What?

*That I could go to Japan, and back.*

You’re kidding me. Amazing. Jeez.

*Polluted water can kill both baby salmon, that are developing*
*and the adult salmon, that are on their way to spawn.*

Wow what a shame, what a shame
Huh?
Woah.
Wow. Hey kids, hey give it up for Sammy the Salmon and his amazing salmon dance.
Huh? Whadda ya say?
Who’s Hungry?

Just Another Manic Monday

Life IS Stranger Than Fiction

Observations from a busy Monday at work.

My boss had a seizure at work. It's not the first time it's happened, but it's always scary when it does. I really like my boss, so I volunteered to ride with the paramedics to Mercy Hospital and stay with her until her husband could meet her there. It's funny what you think about at dramatic times like this, when your senses are working overtime and seem to pick up every little nuance in the air. Sitting in the ambulance waiting for the driver to finish up in the back, I noticed the usual gaggle of unemployed loiterers hanging out in front of the library. Then an attractive Indian girl walked by (simulated at left), her buttocks rhythmically moving up and down like the bouncing ball in a singalong cartoon as she swayed down the street in her form-fitting jeans. With all due respect to my girlfriend, this young lady was a headturner - maybe not enough to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window to get a better look at her (as Raymond Chandler famously put it), but a headturner all the same. Enough to elicit wolf whistles from the Alpha Male Posse leaning against the book drop box.

Then I saw something even more alarming than my boss's seizure. Instead of blowing off the young men's overtures (as had the previous woman who had been ogled by them), she stopped, turned around and smiled (also simulated below).


"You talking to me homeboy?"

Encouraged, a runt-sized guy in a wife-beater and those droopy "shorts" that are so long they scrape the sidewalk raced over to her with a grin as big as Norbit's Rasputia. They walked down the block together, where I saw the young lady pull out her cell phone and press some buttons. I do believe she was punching in the lout's phone number! I was amazed. Whenever I see a construction worker whistle at an attractive woman passing by, I always think to myself, "Has that Cro-Mag approach ever worked with a babe?" and yet here my preconception about the futility of caveman courtship was just shot to hell. And the punk made it look so easy, so easy that even he looked surprised when he went back to high-five his mates.

Mercy Me

Later, I was at Mercy Hospital, where a nurse was rather short with me, banishing me to the world's noisiest waiting room. It was actually more like an amusement arcade.


Mercy Hospital's Waiting Room

You're supposed to listen up when they announce that visitors can visit whoever you came in with, but with three TV blaring full bore, it was hard to hear anything. I initially sat in the Scholar's Corner, where it was a slow news day on the CNN News Channel. The Iranian President was at Cornell to give his usual Jews Are Bad lecture to the students. Nothing new there, so I switched over to watch Ellen Degeneres talk to Wolf Blitzer about his facial hair and how much he reminds her of former Surgeon General C. Everett Hoop, followed by Oprah Winfrey talking to an soap opera actor who's portraying a real-life schizophrenic in a made-for-TV movie. Or something. A young girl and some intellectually-challenged adults sat in front of a third TV set, which was tuned to The Cartoon Network. There were lots of explosions on the screen.

Then a slacker-looking Abbie Hoffman-ish dude came in with his drowsy, but not all-together unattractive girlfriend. She staggered to the women's bathroom, where she remained for about half an hour, until the guy knocked on the door and asked if she was OK. Then he went into the bathroom with her. What are they doing in there, I wondered? Did she have diarrhea? Were they having sex? Was she shooting up? Later I heard him say he had gotten the woman registered and admitted. A hospital aide came out witha wheelchiar and wheeled her away. I think they were druggies. The girl looked fucked-up, and not in a three martini lunch way, either.

I eventually was let in to see my boss, who seemed much better than she was a few hours earlier. They were still doing tests on her, but she was OK and looking forward to going home as soon as her husband got there. She said her doctor allowed her to drink a glass of wine for special occasions. "Have a relaxing glass of wine tonight," I told her. "I think this definitely qualifies as a special occasion!"

Nothing left to do, I bid her adieu and headed home to get dinner. Stopping back at work, I remembered to finally take home a coveted kitsch artifact that a friend had given me: a discarded American Library Association poster featuring Michael Bolton in his full-on mullet glory days promoting reading. The poster was huge and, unfortunately, I had to lug it several blocks to get to my car, hurriedly power walking past onlookers. I mean, kitsch is all fun in the privacy of one's home, but walking down the street with a big picture of a mulleted Michael Bolton - like you're a fan - well, it's as bad as wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt (full disclosure: I gave mine to my girlfriend). Anyway, I got it to the car at last (it's now sitting in my living room, next to a picture of Beck, who would surely enjoy the irony, but I plan on giving it to a Bolton-hater to use as a dart board) and headed off for food.

Blue Monday
Stopping at Eddie's supermarket store, I immediately saw Richard Sher grocery shopping (the silver Jiffy Pop hair is unmistakeable!) - while wearing one of those hideous Bluetooth phones in his earlobe! I hate people who wear Bluetooths. I don't care what the technological benefits are of them, their reception, frequency, bandwidth, all that yada yada yada crap. They look dorky, period. They make you look like some Klingon creature from Star Trek. Anyway, this chance encounter at Eddie's was another chance Richard Sher had to win me over and like him. But he blew it. Or should I say, he "Blue" it? Sorry, I DO judge a book by the cover. There are certain bold truths that are non-arguable. If you drive an Oldsmobile, you are old and a Republican; if you drive an SUV, you are self-centered and arrogant; if you drive a Jetta, you are a young attractive, female who I would like to know better (that is, if I was single, which I'm not); and if you wear a Bluetooth, I am laughing at you along with the rest of the world because you look like a fool.

Fixated

Came across the picture above of a blogger called Broadsheet and must admit that I'm obsessed with her Leg Show-worthy legs. Call it Claire's Knee Syndrome, after the film by French director Eric Rohmer (pictured below).



Can the sum be equal to the parts? I certainly hope so. Love the ankle bracelet, by the way, and the fact that she color coordinated her black pumps with the black laptop. Nice, very nice.

Trimester sep/dec2007 week 4

Hello, everyone! We are starting week 4 of this trimester. This is to remind you that this week we will working with the following units and contents. Also, this week we have test practice at the lab.

Level 1 Unit 3 * Where are you from?
Tasks* Describe yourself. Write short descriptions of you, a friend and someone you admire. New Interchange exercises

Countries and nationalities

Verb to be Practice. Descriptions. More verb to be practice

Level 2 Unit 11 * Celebrations!!! What are you going to do?

Tasks
* Write a composition about your favorite festivity. In groups prepare a short presentation about a world celebration
New Interchange Exercises

going to. future plans
hollidays and celebrations

Level 4 Unit 11 * It's a very exciting city! Describing a city of the world.
Tasks
Write a two paragraph composition about your city in Venezuela and about your favorite city in the world. Say:

Why do you like living in the city?
What are some of the advantages of living in a city?
What are some of the disadvantages of living in a city?
Do you know the neighbors who live near you?
What's your favorite city? Why?
What city do you live in?
What part of this city do you like the best?
Can you describe the city?
What aspects of life in the city would you complain about?
What do you think should be done to improve living condition in cities?

New Interchange exercises

Puzzle: Adjectives describing a city

Read the following City Description... What do you think? Leave a comment... get a Punto Extra

Unit 5 Unit 3 * Time for a change!
Tasks
Composition describing where I live, what I wish to change about it and my dream house.

New Interchange exercises

Level 6 - Speaking Group
Unit 2 * Technology. What-s your favorite Gadget?

Tasks

Write in your blog your opinion about your favorite gadget

Listening!!! 20 questions

The Two Koreas

Battle Lines Drawn at Baltimore's 20th Street Parallel

They are neighbors standing side by side, speaking the same language, eating the same food - yet they are pitted against one another in the court of world opinion, each claiming superiority. Is this the story of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of (South) Korea? No, actually I'm talking about a clash of culinary ideologies to see who will reign as Baltimore's Best Korean BBQ Restaurant, a battle whose lines have been clearly drawn on 20th Street where Joung Kak (18 W. 20th Street) and Nak Won (inexplicably listed as 12 W. 20th Street, though the two properties are on other sides of the same wall) sit shoulder to shoulder as Baltimore reigning (and only) downtown BBQ houses.

Joung Kak last won the Baltimore City Paper's "Best Korean Restaurant" award back in 2000 (for some reason the CP had a love affair for years with the so-so Nam Kang restaurant, up the street on Maryland Avenue and once referred to by the CP in a fit of hyperbole as "the benchmark by which all other Baltimore Korean restaurants are measured"). To my knowledge, Nak Won, which has only been around under its current ownership for a couple of years, has never won any accolades from the City Paper. That's a shame, because I love this place.

As a former City paper writer, I'm familiar with just how subjective their "Best of Baltimore" criterion is. Basically, when you're not writing up your friends or the paper's advertisers (ka-ching!), you're not exactly picking a spot after exhaustive research. Far from investigative journalism, the picks are often the result of serendipity. You went to a place one or two times, had a good experience, and there you go, it's the Best of Baltimore.

But surely this year these sort of journalistic excesses went too far when, in perhaps the CP's most ridiculous award yet, they named Joung Kak NOT as its Best Korean Restaurant but - get this - "Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant."

Here at City Paper, we're (usually) firm believers in the old adage "Children should be seen and not heard." Particularly when it comes to dining out. There's just something downright unsettling about attempting to enjoy an intimate meal surrounded by screaming hellions and whining brats. But we're not so insensitive that we don't realize that every now and then, long-suffering parents need a place where they can take their tots to eat, without drawing looks of cold hatred. Which is where Joung Kak comes in. The folks at this long-established midtown Korean joint practically fall over themselves to make kids feel welcome--not that they offer crayons or games to amuse your offspring like other "family friendly" establishments, it's just that they truly understand and embrace the concept of family dining. Plus kids love getting involved in the whole DIY aspect of tableside BBQ. Trust us, it's a winner, and it sure as shit beats Applebee's.

I guess just naming a place Best Korean Restaurant would have been too conservative, too much like Baltimore Magazine, or too helpful for City Paper readers interested in knowing where to eat. I mean, can one really say Joung Kak is the place to take kids over Chuck E. Cheese or Applebees - a restaurant with an open fire charcoal grill at each table (where, worse case scenario, a kid could stick his hand in the grill in the blink of an eye)? Don't get me wrong, I like the waitstaff there and the food, but there are also lots of Korean men getting drunk off their asses slamming down shots of Korean vodka (soju) - which is not exactly like having having clowns come around performing for children at their tables. Plus the place is open until 4 in the morning - not exactly kid-friendly hours and not exactly a parental crowd piling in there in the wee small hours after the bars are closed. And why the totally unnecessary use of the word "shit' in the review (I suspect it was written by potty-mouthed attention-craver Joe Macleod now), which taints any chance the restaurant owners would hang up the review or quote it in full? In other words, what a stupid and pointless award, one that serves neither parents nor the restaurant owners (whose expertise is in cuisine, not daycare). Which is a shame because, while in years past the CP's "Best Of" categories had become increasingly self-indulgent (e.g., this year's "Best Fabulous Nobody" nod for Carey Anderson, which reeks of drinking buddy cronyism), this year's ish was fairly restrained and actually useful.

In its 2007 Best of Baltimore issue, Baltimore Magazine at least gave an award to a Korean restaurant for its food, naming Nak Won's Beef Dumpling Soup (pictured below) Baltimore's "Best Cold Remedy":



Here's what BM had to say about Nok Won's soup:

According to every Earth Mother we know, both ginger and garlic are good for fighting a cold. And the beef dumpling soup, right, at Nak Won, 12 W. 20th Street, 410-244-5501, is chock full of both. The mild broth is soothing on a sore throat, and a quart of it is filling enough to see you through a couple of days of lying on the couch with a box of tissues. It almost (almost!) makes us look forward to getting sick.

I recall bringing my copy of this issue into Nak Won and showing it to the owner, who had not yet received a copy from Baltimore Magazine. She was so delighted when I gave her the review that she brought a plate of Korean dumplings (mandoo) to our table in return. This is why I love Nak Won.

If I were a food critic, I would say both restaurants are great, with efficient waitstaffs and BBQ grills available at tables.

Joung Kak has authentic table top charcoal grills and big booth seating and offers more BBQ variety - go here if you want grilled chicken or fish (versus Nak Won, which only offers beef, ribs and shrimp). They also have a big fish tank by the cash register where, the last time I went, there was an ugly Otto fish that didn't move the entire meal (either this was a meditating zen fish or old Otto was dead). The wait staff is friendly, but I've found that Nak Won's staff speaks better English, especially waitress Sun, who explains every minute detail of every dish if you express any interest at all in Korean cuisine. They also feature a menu that has English translations of most of the dishes.

No one bothered to mention the great vegetarian/seafood dishes available at both restaurants, particularly the spicy squid (designed to be served with soju or beer, which cool off its "bite") and seafood pancakes (pa jun). I prefer Nak Won's pancakes, which seems to have more green peppers mixed in with the squid (which is the dominant seafood in any Korean dish). Also unmentioned was the fact that Joung Kak has a sushi bar.

Sometimes Nak Won has a TV set up screening Korean TV shows or, last summer, the Republic of Korea's national soccer team playing in the World Cup - not to mention that security camera showing your car in the parking lot (the neighborhood is not the most relaxing, so I like this feature! In fact, one reviewer aptly put it this way: "The restaurant occupies a quintessentially Baltimore category of real estate - nice when approached from one direction, considerably less so when approached from another.").

But don't take my word for it. And please, don't take the CP's word for it either. Check out both and make your own decision.

Joung Kak 18 W. 20th St., (410) 837-5231

Nak Won, 12 W. 20th., (410) 244-5501

Related Reviews:
Nak Won (Karen Nitwin, Baltimore Sun, 11/5/2006)
Joung Kak (Areaguides review)
Joung Kak (Richard Gorelick, City Paper "Omnivore" review, 9/14/2005)

China Girls, Redux

Wong Kar-wai's Hua Yang De Nian Hua



A while back, I wrote about "China Girls," those anonymous women who appeared briefly alongside color strips in film countdown reels (as pictured above), an industry practice used to calibrate color balance and tone from 1928 to 1992 before the advent of digitalization made them unnecessary. (Why the term "China Girls" was used to describe them is anyone's guess; they were also sometimes referred to, in more politically correct language, as "projector girls" or "Kodak girls.")

I had first discovered them thanks to a short film by local filmmaker John Heyn (Heavy Metal Parking Lot, 1986), "Girls On Film," which remains the definitive celluloid collection of images of these women.

I thought about China Girls again last night as I was watching a short film by Wong Kar-wai that was included on the Criterion DVD release of his film In the Mood For Love (Fa Yeung Nin Wa, 2000). This 2 1/2-minute film, "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" (2000) is, like Heyn's film, an edited collage of images of "China Girls," only in his case these really are women from China, being images of long-gone Hong Kong actresses preserved in the Hong Kong Film Archives. Wong Kar-wai said he made this short film, which was shown at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, as the inspiration for his In the Mood For Love project, which is not just a story about unrequited love but a reflection on and a yearning for a bygone era: early 1960s Hong Kong. At this time there was a community of first generation, post-1949 refugees from the People's Republic of China, especially from Shanghai and the Cantonese provinces, who had relocated to the British colonial port city to star life anew. Whatever the reasons, this was also the most productive period in the history of Hong Kong cinema. According to the Hong Kong Film Archive, 2,200 feature films were made during this time, including some of the best in its long history. (It was also a time marred by several sensational movie suicides, including those of actresses Tu Chuan, Lin Dai, Kitty Ting Hao and Loh Ti.)

I don't know any of the actresses (I wonder if any of the suicide victims mentioned above appear) or the films these clips are taken from, but the film provides a good visual reference to what Wong Kar-wai was thinking about and where he got his source images and fashions for the look and feel of In the Mood For Love. DVD program notes state that it includes scenes from vintage Chinese films that were considered lost until some nitrate prints were discovered in a California warehouse during the 1990s. Wong Kar-wai then set his montage to a "goldie oldie" song by Zhou Xuan. This song is also included on the soundtrack to In the Mood for Love.

You can watch this short film on YouTube: Hua Yang De Nian Hua. See what you think.

Related Links:
"Countdown To Ecstasy: China Girls" (Accelerated Decrepitude blog)
Hua Yang de Nian Hua (Wikipedia)

Talented People!!!

Do you know who Aldemaro Romero was?

Also known as
Maestro Aldemaro Romero was born on March 12, 1928 and died last week September 15, 2007 in Caracas. He was a Musician who was interested in Venezuelan popular music, Jazz, Classical, and Onda Nueva Music.
He was a great pianist, and wonderfull composer

Wikipedias says

Romero was a prolific composer, creating a wide range of music, such as Caribbean, Jazz, Venezuelan waltzes, including works for orchestra, orchestra and solist, orchestra and choir, chamber music, up to symphonic works of great dimensions.

Listen to some of his music here!

In the Mood for Wong Kar-Wai

Moody cinematography from In the Mood for Love

Last night I watched In the Mood for Love (Fa Yeung Nin Wa, 2000), Wong Kar-wai's celebrated film about unrequited love between Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk in 1962 Hong Kong. Having seen 2046 (2004), the sequel to this film, earlier this year, I figured it was time to back-pedal and finally get closure on the story. I wasn't disappointed. Though they are related (2046 is a hotel room where the two actors meet in In the Mood for Love), they are almost two completely different films (in fact, Zhang Ziyi replaces Maggie Cheung as the lead in 2046); you don't need to see both to appreciate either, but seeing one, you want to see both.

First all of, watching a Wong Kar-wei film is like visiting an art museum in which the paintings move. The cinematography - usually by his frequent gwailo collaborator Christopher Doyle (as well as Pin Bing Lee for In the Mood for Love) - makes each film a visual feast in terms of lighting, colors and framing.

Second, he gets the best in acting talent. At 43, Maggie Cheung is no longer the young babe who prances around in black leather catsuits like in Heroic Trio (Dung Fong Saam Hap, 1993) or Irma Vep (1996), but her work since the mid-'90s has grown in stature, especially in films like this, Wayne Wang's Chinese Box (1997), Zhang Yimou's Hero (Ying Xiong, 2002) and her amazing polyglot performance in Olivier Assayas' Clean (2004). And frequent Wong Kar-wai performer Tony Leung is, well, Hong Kong's best actor, period. No one else comes close.

Third, Wong Kar-wai is a non-narrative filmmaker who writes his own non-narrative "scripts." (In fact, filming for In the Mood For Love was shifted from Beijing to Macau after Chinese authorities demanded to see the completed script from this director who notoriously never uses scripts.) What this means is, his films are like zen koans whose meanings must be unearthed and deconstructed, like unfolding intricately layered origami. The surface is beautiful and elegant, yet restrained; it must be reflected on. He creates - as this film's English title suggests - moods rather than resolutions. Ultimately, this is much more rewarding than a simple "let X=X" narrative exposition.

But my words cannot do justice to In the Mood for Love. For that I turn to Roger Ebert, whose Chicago-Tribune review (below) got it just right, IMHO. I also suggest checking out Wong Kar-wai's DVD commentary, as he points out many things that are obvious to Chinese audiences (such as the food being consumed signifying what season it is) but not so to Westerners.

In The Mood For Love
BY ROGER EBERT / February 16, 2001

They are in the mood for love, but not in the time and place for it. They look at each other with big damp eyes of yearning and sweetness, and go home to sleep by themselves. Adultery has sullied their lives: his wife and her husband are having an affair. "For us to do the same thing," they agree, "would mean we are no better than they are." The key word there is "agree." The fact is, they do not agree. It is simply that neither one has the courage to disagree, and time is passing. He wants to sleep with her and she wants to sleep with him, but they are both bound by the moral stand that each believes the other has taken.

You may disagree with my analysis. You may think one is more reluctant than the other. There is room for speculation, because whole continents of emotions go unexplored in Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love," a lush story of unrequited love that looks the way its songs sound. Many of them are by Nat King Cole, but the instrumental "Green Eyes," suggesting jealousy, is playing when they figure out why her husband and his wife always seem to be away at the same times.

His name is Mr. Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-wai). Hers is Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk). In the crowded Hong Kong of 1962, they have rented rooms in apartments next to each other. They are not poor; he's a newspaper reporter, she's an executive assistant, but there is no space in the crowded city and little room for secrets.

Cheung and Leung are two of the biggest stars in Asia. Their pairing here as unrequited lovers is ironic because of their images as the usual winners in such affairs. This is the kind of story that could be remade by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, although in the Hollywood version, there'd be a happy ending. That would kind of miss the point and release the tension, I think; the thrust of Wong's film is that paths cross but intentions rarely do. In his other films, like "Chungking Express," his characters sometimes just barely miss connecting, and here again key things are said in the wrong way at the wrong time. Instead of asking us to identify with this couple, as an American film would, Wong asks us to empathize with them; that is a higher and more complex assignment, with greater rewards.

The movie is physically lush. The deep colors of film noir saturate the scenes: Reds, yellows, browns, deep shadows. One scene opens with only a coil of cigarette smoke, and then reveals its characters. In the hallway outside the two apartments, the camera slides back and forth, emphasizing not their nearness but that there are two apartments, not one.

The most ingenious device in the story is the way Chow and Su play-act imaginary scenes between their cheating spouses. "Do you have a mistress?" she asks, and we think she is asking Chow, but actually she is asking her husband, as played by Chow. There is a slap, not as hard as it would be with a real spouse. They wound themselves with imaginary dialogue in which their cheating partners laugh about them. "I didn't expect it to hurt so much," Su says, after one of their imaginary scenarios.

Wong Kar-wai leaves the cheating couple offscreen. Movies about adultery are almost always about the adulterers, but the critic Elvis Mitchell observes that the heroes here are "the characters who are usually the victims in a James M. Cain story." Their spouses may sin in Singapore, Tokyo or a downtown love hotel, but they will never sin on the screen of this movie, because their adultery is boring and commonplace, while the reticence of Chow and Su elevates their love to a kind of noble perfection.

Their lives are as walled in as their cramped living quarters. They have more money than places to spend it. Still dressed for the office, she dashes out to a crowded alley to buy noodles. Sometimes they meet on the grotty staircase. Often it is raining. Sometimes they simply talk on the sidewalk. Lovers do not notice where they are, do not notice that they repeat themselves. It isn't repetition, anyway--it's reassurance. And when you're holding back and speaking in code, no conversation is boring, because the empty spaces are filled by your desires.

Quote of the month at Tappis

Quote of the Month - "The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys." - Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR at CHICAGO!

This is my favorite photo of NICE,Caitlin's Booth. This year the Renegade Craft Fair was open until 10 P.M. making way for nice photos at dusk. This also meant that electricty was brought in.


AHH...My two sweet, beautiful kidos. Ya, Caitlin is blonde and Doug has nice brown hair. My side of the family is Danish, Welsh, and Scottish. All of my cousins on my Dad's side are mostly blonde, otherwise beautiful red heads with a couple of brunettes. The hubby side are dark brunettes. Doug very mcuh resembles my Father ( although he was a blonde) and my brother, Matthew. Their face structure and body build,even their mannnerisms are very close! Caitlin looks very much like her grandmother Fraser when she was a young women! Same GREAT SMiLe!!



A cute couple at Renegade! I like how Caitlin and her Dad put the NICE sign out in front of her booth. She also has a more finished sign that she decide not to use this time...ya, we forgot to bring it!

Here are some photos of some of the crowd.





We ate at Smoke Daddy's which was at Wood and Division. They have great BQ and AMAZING coleslaw (I do not even like cole slaw and I loved it!!) So if you are in the area, give it a try! : )
LOOK!!! Caitlin had Mirror Girl next to her booth! Boy is she a SWeetheart!! And so is her Hubby!!! Caitlin got the mouse pads and mirrors and I have the cute coasters in the tin!!!





Catilin and Doug are very good at working the booth! Thank you to all of you for your support of Caitlin at the Renagade and thru her blog and etsy shop! It was a GREEEat Weekend!
Oh yaya! I met "etsy" Very nice!!!