Man, Inception was a really cool movie.  I haven’t seen a movie this creative since The Matrix.  (By the way, I just found out last week that a lot of the youth I work with have no idea what The Matrix is and who Keanu Reeves is.  Crazy, I know.  It’s finally happened.  I’ve stopped being pop culture relevant.  I’m the old lady in the room now.  I need to go listen to Gucci Mane or something.  Or is he irrelevant already?)

***** Okay here’s my obligatory SPOILER ALERT WARNING.  Stop reading if you haven’t seen Inception (or Shutter Island) yet. *****

Inception was so fun to watch and I really didn’t want it to end because I wanted to explore more possibilities in dream life and witness more jaw-dropping scenes!  I don’t really want to spend this post discussing alternate explanations though.  This other blog post I found lays it out pretty well.

For the record, I don’t think the whole thing was a dream because I feel like that would be a copout.  I also don’t think it was real at the end because it would be too nicely buttoned of an ending.  Aaaand not to mention too coincidental that his reunion with his kiddos was so much like his memory of leaving them.  But none of the other explanations are perfect, there seems to be loopholes in all of them.  The main problem I’m stuck at is what exactly limbo is and what are the different ways to get there and leave.  It seems a bit inconsistent in the movie.  And if Cobb was going to be stuck in Limbo, Arthur and Ariadne seemed pretty nonchalant about it when discussing it on the bank of the van crash.  Anyway, we can chat explanations later.  I do like how there are so many discussions that can come after the movie.  A mark of a great movie, right?

Here are my comments (in no particular order):

• It was alarming how many similarities this movie had to Shutter Island.  Leonardo is getting really good at questionable sanity roles!  Haha, seriously.  When he went to the bathroom to splash water on his face, I chuckled to myself.  (I wanted to say, “Get it together, Teddy!”)  And of course, let’s not forget the psycho wife.  The general feeling of creepiness that stayed with me after the movie felt the same too.  The main difference is that Shutter Island had a lot of harrowing images and is downright grotesque at times.  And it wasn’t quite as cool.  I’d watch Inception again but I really don’t want to watch Shutter Island ever again.
• Why didn’t they make all the characters more likable?  Sanky made a comment about character development and I agree with her.  I’m usually pretty generous with character development when it comes to movies, too!  My imagination can carry me pretty far… I was sad for Kevin Costner’s character in The Bodyguard for days.  But I don’t feel like Inception even made an attempt to get me to like the characters!  I mean, I liked Eames and Arthur but I found myself questioning why they would risk their lives like this.  I didn’t get the feeling that either was particularly attached to Cobb and it felt shallow if they were just mercs, doing it for the cash.  I normally like Ellen Page, she’s a cool kid.  But sometimes she could be annoying in the movie.  When she ran into the elevator and snuck down to Cobb’s Basement Level of memories, I was horrified.  Why would she do that?!  And there were times where I was thinking, “Why does she have to go?  Why does she have to go after Fischer with Cobb?  Isn’t she kind of a liability?”  It was like watching Bourne Identity, wondering why the CIA was relying on Julia Stiles in her one-bedroom apartment playing recon central.  Cobb was pretty likable until we found out that he FAILED TO MENTION THE WHOLE LIMBO FOREVER RISK IF YOU DIE  to his teammates.  It’s great that he wanted to reunite with his kids but sheesh.  I wouldn’t exactly call him a great leader.  The worst part of all the unlikable characters was Cobb’s wife, Mal.  I really think they should have softened her up instead of making her the SCARIEST PERSON IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE.  It was hard to sympathize with Cobb’s conflicted heart of deciding between reality and being with her because every time she showed up on screen, instead of thinking, “Aww… there’s his beautiful wife,” I was thinking, “OH CRAP, GET AWAY FROM HER, SHE’S GOING TO STAB YOU, RUN AWAY NOW!”  At least in Shutter Island they waited until the end to show you what a nut job she was so you could feel the emotional collapse that Teddy felt.  By the way, I think one of the most well done, yearning-for-wife, movies has got to be Minority Report when they show Tom Cruise watching home movies over and over on his super high tech AV system.
• I really enjoyed Arthur’s character.  I know Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s bandwagon has been pretty full since 500 Days of Summer but I’ve got to comment on the guy anyway.  I like how he did everything in the movie with such a *shrug*, just-another-day-in-the-life-of-a-dream-invader attitude.  His zero gravity fight scene was pretty sweet and he’s opened the door for all the skinny actors out there to wield a gun in an action movie more confidently.  I also like that he’s not attractive.
• I think they did a great job with all of the action scenes.  I had no idea the movie would be so action packed with so many chase scenes, gun fights, and hand-to-hand combat scenes and they were all surprisingly well done.  When they were on their mission in the rain, I could sense the vulnerability and danger of the gun fights, which is usually hard to do when it comes to action movies.  Usually the characters seem invincible but I was actually scared for the team.  Even though I knew they were in a dream.  And before I knew about the whole Limbo risk!
• I love that they created all these rules and consequences for the dream life.  I think that’s the draw of a lot of sci-fi movies like Harry Potter, Twilight, etc.  Rules.  This group of people can do this, this other people can do this, but they can’t do this because if they do, this will happen.  Advantages and disadvantages for certain people (or animal?) groups.  Offenses and defenses.  I think it’s the same reason why people like Pokemon, Magic Cards, Starcraft and the like.  I think we’re naturally drawn towards these kinds of movies and ideas.  A clear structure in an obvious fantasy.  I especially liked how time was exponentially faster the deeper they went in dreams.  Especially because it’s based on truth —  we can definitely dream of days in one night.
• After the movie, I tried to think of whether or not I’ve ever gotten an idea from a dream before.  The closest I could think of was being scared into remembering something because I dreamt I forgot something and it was disastrous (this happens a lot when packing for a trip).
• I like how they used Ariadne’s introduction to show us the dream world piece by piece.  I always enjoy that part of a movie.  When they show one character being trained up.  That was my favorite part about watching Wanted.
• I like how they set up the planning at an abandoned warehouse with old lawn chairs.  It was cool how gritty everything was.  Seemingly high-tech but to the casual eye it just looked like a group of people taking naps on lawn chairs together.  I also like how they didn’t try to explain the technology of connecting IVs to their arms and entering other people’s dreams.
• Cillian Murphy is still SUPER scary from Red Eye and The Dark Knight.  I knew he was a harmless character in the movie but I kept getting the sneaky suspicion that he was going to become Dr. Jonathan Crane a.k.a. The Scarecrow at any given moment.
• I didn’t know anyone’s names until after the movie when I was reading online about alternate explanations.  Right after the movie, the Husband and I discussed the movie by saying, “Ellen Page, Leo, Ken Watanabe, Funny Guy, etc.”  Ariadne?  How do you even pronounce that?!?
• I’m not sure how old Ken Watanabe was supposed to be in the opening and final scenes with Leo, but geez, I think they may have overdone the makeup job.  He was waaay past old — he was in alien territory.
• The more I think about it, the more I think the movie was brilliant because it used so many tried and true devices.  So let’s see:  structured sci-fi world creation, apprentice training, team of people with various strengths/abilities, team heist premise, a connection to something we can relate to (dreams), visual entertainment, action sequences, creepy factor, and debatable ending.  Well done, Christopher Nolan!

We finished dinner early and had some time to kill before the movie started so we went to the Apple Store to check out the iPhone4 (and to look at iPad accessories).  The iPhone table was full of people playing around with the phones and there were small plastic displays teaching you how to use FaceTime.  A couple of teenage girls next to us were trying to figure it out and they kept giggling because they were pushing each other to ask us if we wanted to do FaceTime with them.  We told them we were cool with it and also wanted to see how it worked so they quickly dialed our phone.  At first we didn’t know how to engage it, but we finally figured it out and all four of us excitedly exclaimed that it was “connecting”.  When one girl’s face showed up in our screen and my face in her screen, she squealed in delight.  (I may or may not have squealed as well.)  The other girl pushed her face right next to her friends so they were both on screen and the husband did the same.  ”This is so cool!”  ”Omigosh, tight!”  We were all smiles as we stood next to each other, looking at each other through the phones and lamely exchanging various giddy words.  It was sort of awkward, sort of geeky, and really really neat.  I’m still waiting to see the white one to decide whether I want white or black.

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Toy Story 3 was so great!  If you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading and go watch it!

****** WARNING ****** SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

• I loooooved the opening scene of the movie.  So creative, I love how they acted out Andy’s make-believe world.  I laughed so hard when they emptied the barrel of monkeys!
• When they first showed Molly, I thought, “Look how big she’s gotten!”
• I don’t know why, but I was kind of shocked so many of the old toys were missing.  But that’s pretty realistic, I guess.
• I didn’t like Toy Story 2 very much because of Jessie but she was much more likable in this one.
• I gasped when Andy put Buzz in the bag and Woody in the college box.
• I think Bonnie, the little girl, is so adorable!  She’s almost as cute as the little girl in Up.
• I loved the scene when Woody is at tea time at Bonnie’s house and he meets all of Bonnie’s toys.  Haha, especially the part where a chat window comes up on the computer and the Rhinoceros tries to hide it.  Hahaha.  I laughed when Dolly made fun of Woody’s name.  I loved seeing Totoro and the Edamame toy!  I especially liked when Woody hugged Totoro and his eyes just got really big.
• The whole theater laughed so hard when Chuckles the Clown was telling the Lotso story.  He just looked so bitter as he told the story.  I don’t know why but I laughed really hard when they showed that Daisy got another Lotso.  Nobody else was laughing at that point so I felt kind of mean but it was so funny!  Hahaha.
• Ken’s character was predictable but funny.  I like that they gave him a semi-dark side.
• Spanish Buzz was also funny, the dance moves were impressively choreographed!
• I have a fear of baby dolls with those automatic eyes so I was really freaked out by Big Baby.  I like how she was the strongest out of all of the toys.
• I thought the use of the tortilla with Mr. Potato Head was so clever!  Hahahaha man.
• So, in the incinerator scene… I was really worried that they would end it with them all peacefully accepting their death.  One of the youth at our office had made some comments like, “There will never be another Toy Story again.”  So I was like, “Oh no…. please don’t end it like this.”  I was also worried it would start to get preachy… sort of like Wall-E but it was pretty subtle about the trash/landfill message.  I don’t think they went overboard.
• So the scene where Andy is telling Bonnie about each toy — it was surprisingly emotional for me.  It caught me really off guard which is why I think it was done so well.  I thought I was in the clear and then Andy got in the car and said, “Thanks guys,” and I had the choke back the emotions all over again.

I don’t know exactly why I like the Toy Story series so much.  I didn’t grow up with a lot of the character toys in the movie so it’s not nostalgic for me in that way.  I do think the movies speak strongly to the part of me that longs for aspects of my childhood and a more innocent time.  They challenge my adult sensibilities that I’ve carefully built up around myself over the years.  And they push me to wonder and to want to play.  Pretty good reasons, I guess.

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With the summer in full swing, the Husband and I have been stocking up on tons of fruits.  Something about fruit and summer just goes hand in hand.  We’ve stocked up on blueberries, apricots (a new favorite of mine!), peaches, cantaloupes, clementines, grapes, and more.  With that said, we still indulge in some sweet treats here and there.  We recently picked up Haagen-Dazs’s new frozen yogurt line.  I love the peach flavored one!  It’s not too sweet but light, creamy, tangy and refreshing.  We got it at Pak ‘n Save which means you can probably find it in any grocery store.

No special effects, no 3D glasses, and no computer graphics but it had a killer soundtrack and a decent script.  A surprisingly good movie using old formulaic movie magic.  It was sort of refreshing to see a movie not try too hard.

George Clooney is the main character and his job is to fly around the country telling people that they have been laid off.  Some of the firing scenes were pretty difficult to watch — it hits a little too close to home these days with so many people losing their jobs and out of employment.

For my birthday this year we went to a great resort in Sausalito called Cavallo Point.  It was an incredibly relaxing time, soaking in the large heated meditation pool, lounging by the fireplace, having a fabulous tasting menu at Murray Circle (I believe it’s the first restaurant we’ve been to that has any Michelin stars!) and a relaxing evening in our contemporary junior suite.  It was tastefully modern (not the over the top modern that the W hotels like to do) and really comfortable.  I wish we could have stayed there longer.

We stopped by the Marin Headlands for yet another amazing view of the Golden Gate bridge.  I’m still not tired of that silly red bridge.  I then bought a new bike (2009 Fuji Absolute 3.0 Hybrid) and then we went to a fun Warriors game.  The Warriors can be frustrating to cheer for but it’s a fun rowdy crowd on the upper deck (more fun than the Toyota Center I dare say) so we had a good time.  We bought Warriors tshirts today (what a commitment) so we’ll hopefully be going to more games next year.

Also, in other news, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 12.1MP Micro Four-Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with LUMIX G 20mm f/1.7 from Amazon.  The estimated delivery date is sometime next week so I’m pretty hyped about that.  If I get into a good habit of taking pictures everyday I might finally put up a photoblog like I’ve been talking about for so long.  Many thanks to Enoch for his advice and help.

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So okay, I know I was going to write a healthcare blogpost and I put it off for the longest time.  The reason?  I started to read up what I could about it and the more I read the more I got confused and the more I realized it was more complicated than I originally thought.

These two articles were particularly enlightening, give them a read when you get the chance:

The Cost Conundrum (The New Yorker) — Atul Gawande

How American Health Care Killed My Father (The Atlantic) — David Goldhill

If you have any other healthcare articles that you have read that have impacted what you think of healthcare in America and health care reform, please send them my way.  I would love to read more about but honestly don’t feel ready to write about it.  Will the bill pass before Christmas?  We’ll see.

Happy Holidays, folks.  See everyone on the flip side.

Do you know what G.I. stands for? The internets give several answers: government issue, general infantry, and galvanized iron.

Wiki also chimes in saying:
“The term is now used as an initialism of “Government Issue” (or sometimes incorrectly as “General Infantry”)[1], but originally referred to galvanized iron. The letters “G.I.” were used to denote equipment made from galvanized iron, such as metal trash cans, in U.S. Army inventories and supply records.[2][1] During World War I, U.S. soldiers sardonically referred to incoming German artillery shells as “GI cans.” In that same war, “G.I.” started being interpreted as “Government Issue” and said as an adjective of anything having to do with the Army.”

Anyway, the husband and I went to watch G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last night. What a fun summer treat!

When I was in elementary school, I copied my older cousins in their love for GI Joe action figures and I watched the GI Joe cartoons regularly but I don’t remember the stories AT ALL. I made up the backstories for the action figures I played with and I only owned one action figure, a red headed man with a white tshirt, camo pants and a flashlight (this is what my memory tells me anyway). My cousins all had this character (but our action figures were all in varying conditions of quality) and we enjoyed acting out elaborate war scenes where this character would progressively get more worn and lose more limbs. All this to say, I can’t speak to the accuracy of the movie to the comics.

The movie is pure fluff. Impossible action sequences, shallow emotional investment, cheesy dialogue, and the liberating feeling that no matter how bad things get, the good guys are going to work it out in the end. Truly wonderful fluff.

The CG was surprisingly bad, it seemed like it was from a decade ago — hard to believe this kind of CG still exists when movies like Star Trek have taken it to another level this year.

I’m a firm believer that you judge a movie by it’s intended purpose and not on individual expectation. I think GI Joe has completely fulfilled its purpose: fun summer blockbuster that is a launchpad for future blockbuster sequels.

If you are good at suspending your disbelief and still have a childlike heart somewhere inside of you, go catch it in the theater!

(This post was written on the WordPress iPhone app. Not sure how it’s going to look.)

EDIT:  Special thanks to Brian for reminding me that they’re called action figures and not figurines.  It’s been awhile since I’ve played with one.

Well, Peru was just absolutely incredible.  I’ll make a mega post later when all of my best photos are uploaded and spare you the play by play.

It’s summer!  What are my plans?

I turned in my TCH badge today but I still have a bit of work to do on the LEAH website.  Hopefully I can wrap that up by the middle of June.

Here’s a rough to-do list for the next few months:

Try to hook up with the Boys and Girls Club

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Landscape the backyard to look like one of these yards

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Successfully complete some inductive bible studies (starting with Kay Arthur’s book, Lord, Only You Can Change Me)

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Improve my photography skillz (via Tom Ang’s Digital Photography Masterclass)

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Improve my tennis skillz (try to reach a 4.0 rating)

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Read the Harry Potter Series

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I think I’m most excited about improving my photography skills.  Peru is such a beautiful country that really almost any photo you take is going to be a good one but I spent a lot of the trip frustrated with settings and not being able to get my photos to look the way I wanted them to.  I think photography is one of those fads that a lot of people can latch on to and most people plateau and are okay with it but only some people really disciplined in learning and pushing themselves to the next level.  It reminds me a lot of acoustic guitar in high school where everybody and their mama learned to play the C, G, D, E, A, B, F, Em, Am, and F#m chords, learned how to do a double strum, and then just quit learning.  I really want to push myself.  The book seems pretty interesting, it’s presented in the format of a class so there are assignments.  Maybe I’ll post my homework assignments here to log my progress.

It’s going to be a summer of transitions and changes, goodbyes and hellos, sunshine and mosquitoes, and learning and growing.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, and if you haven’t seen Pixar’s UP yet, go see it!  I think it’s the 4th best Pixar movie.  (1st Place is a tie: Toy Story & The Incredibles, 2nd Place: Monster’s Inc.)  Such a sweet movie to start the summer with — (oh and the 3D is not that great so it’s not a must).

No spoilers this time.  I just wanted to write that I thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek.  It’s everything I want out of a summer blockbuster hit.  Action, humor, love, cool special FX, great sound editing, a fun cast and fist-pumping victories.  (That doesn’t count as a spoiler does it?  You can’t spoil what you already expect?)

I was really surprised by the cast because I didn’t read anything about Star Trek before seeing it and it was fun to see familiar faces pop up here and there.  I definitely did not recognize Eric Bana (let’s just say he didn’t look like the Eric Bana from Troy).  The husband laughed at every single scene John Cho was in — serious or not.

We saw it at the IMAX theater at Edwards Marq*E on 1-10 and I think it was worth the extra money (beware the fake IMAX at AMC).  The sound and the size of the screen really makes a difference.  The husband was disappointed that it didn’t cover the entire IMAX screen the way Batman Begins did.  But it was still nice and big.  I like how when the bright green screen they show before previews came up, the audience gasped.  It was so bright!  There were some scenes (especially the opening scene) that made me dizzy and I had to look away from the screen but overall I like being immersed into the movie.

I don’t know if watching this makes me want to see the TV series.  But I do have a deeper appreciation now for the complex personalities on board the ship.  And I’d probably watch a sequel if they come out with one.

They should do an origins movie for every major TV series.  Come on, you know you want to see Tracy Jordan as a kid.  (Have they done this already?)

Another thing that’s interesting is the casual mixing of humans and aliens.  Will we ever find out if there’s other lifeforms in the universe?

I’ve been using five ways to legally hunt and I’d like to share them with you:

One: The good thing about commercials is that they’re using better songs these days.  I downloaded (for $0.99 on Amazon.com!) Citizen Cope’s “Let the Drummer Kick” from the new 2009 Acura TSX commercial last week.  Same concept applies to prime time TV shows.  Usually a quick google search will help you find the song you’re looking for.  Just try to remember a line or two of lyrics.

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Two: I’ve been paying attention to what people are listening to on Facebook.  It’s especially easy when my friends (or distant acquaintances) have great taste in music and post awesome lists of artists or albums.  My childhood friend, Charlene Jackson, recently posted a great list of the top 25 albums of 2008 with commentary and I slowly worked my way through the list, looking for YouTube videos of the songs and buying songs off of Amazon whenever I found winners.  Even a quick glance through people’s music lists can tip me off.  Thanks in advance for letting me borrow music from you all.

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Three: A few weeks ago, I discovered La Blogotheque and The Take Away Shows (on YouTube of all places).  I know I already shared this on Google Reader but I just have to reemphasize for those of you who don’t read my Google Reader shared feeds.  In their own words:

“The Take away shows are la Blogotheque’s first video podcasts.

Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword.

The Take away shows exist since April 2006. There was Chryde, who wanted to shake things up and find another way to share music, and there was Vincent Moon, who wanted to film music differently. Chryde offered Moon to go and film musicians in the city, Moon seized the idea and glorified it. Since then, other directors across the world joined this project, and we plan to extend it worldwide.”

Here is one of my favorites.  It takes awhile to get going but listen to it through the end, it’s beautiful and powerful.  (I can’t really watch the video without getting motion sick, which is a shame since it’s such a beautiful place.  Not all of the videos on the website are this shaky, the different directors have different styles.)

Here’s another good one:

And here’s a fun one (thanks again to Charlene J.!):

They have so many amazing videos on there.  I love the way the videos are so organic and natural — in such ordinary and breathtaking environments (on a rooftop in Paris!).  I am going to try to listen/watch all of the Take Away shows.  There are a lot of popular artists on there like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and even Jason Mraz — but there are also plenty I’ve never heard of like Satine or Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s.  And I figure, a band cool enough to let someone record a video of them like this deserves to be listened to.  This is easily my new favorite website.

We watched a late showing of Coraline this past weekend and while it did not blow me away, I think the visuals were interesting enough to make me like it and feel like it was worth watching 3D in the theater.  I’ll go as far as to say that if you do not watch this movie in 3D, it’s probably not worth your time.  Unlike Bolt, Coraline doesn’t really have a charming little story to draw you in.  On a side note, I think the 3D element has really given animated movies a boost.  I don’t know if it’s just the child in me but the 3D still thrills me, especially as they improve the technology and utilize it more and more in the movies.  I wonder if 3D will soon become commonplace in our living rooms and not just at the theaters.

I’m going to give away some low-level spoilers but it’s not really a plot twisting kind of movie so it’s up to you whether you want to read ahead.

A lot of the people we watched it with didn’t enjoy it.  I agree with most of their complaints.  The pace was way too leisurely.  I told the husband that the movie pace strangely reminded me of the PS Simpsons game where you walk around and solve puzzles and riddles.  The AngryBaker expressed similar sentiments saying, “Oh no, the princess isn’t in that castle!”  The story was pretty shallow, despite efforts to be dark and creepy.  (Great job Teri Hatcher on the vocals!)

What really won me over was just how visually interesting it was.  You could probably put a great soundtrack to the visuals and cut out all the dialogue and I would enjoy the movie just the same.  Maybe more!  I feel like it’s a lot like Fantasia.  Weak storyline, but the visuals make it very worth your while.  I especially liked the opening scenes with the credits when the doll was being unstuffed and then filled with sand.  I also enjoyed it when Coraline and the black cat walked to the “end of the world” and the background slowly became simplified.  Of course I loved the scene in the garden (I knew those live flowers could potentially be dangerous!) and the dancing mice.  I also liked the way everything turned to greyscale whenever Coraline found a pair of eyes.  The overall feel of the movie was pretty unique.  It was like a cross between claymation, plastic, and really rough fabrics.  It fascinated me.

If I could change the story in any way, I would make the parents stay aloof and uninterested even at the end — that way the message is really driven home.  (The message: the unglamorous reality we live in is better than our indulgent fantasies where nothing is sure and safe.)

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One of the movie trailers they showed before Coraline was Tim Burton’s new movie project: 9.

It looks promising as far as character development and plot lines go.  It should be better than Coraline.  I hope it’s not as disappointing as The Corpse Bride.  The characters remind me of LBP’s sackboy and the environment reminds me of Fallout 3 (which the husband started playing recently — it really creeps me out.).

Here’s the trailer:

I’m thinking about showing one of these two music videos as a good example– can you guys think of any other good ones like these two? I wanted to use 2Pac but I couldn’t pick a song that I wanted to use and frankly most of the kids I work with don’t listen to 2Pac these days.

So working out at the gym more means watching more bad TV.  Especially when we go late and there are no games to watch and you’ve seen all of the SportsCenter highlights at least three times each.

I saw this show for the first time last night.  I had never even heard of it before.  For those of you who also have never heard of bromance, here’s MTV’s own description:

“For those of you living under a rock, a bromance is an intense brotherly bond that makes two buddies become virtually inseparable. And Brody is Lauren Conrad’s on-again, off-again love interest and the seminal party boy on The Hills, and he’s looking for that one special guy to join his elite entourage. In case you’re having trouble putting two and two together … Brody + Bromance = A whole new level of reality TV.

Nine guys are yanked out of their boring lives and go from regular Joes to bros vying for the chance of a lifetime — to become best buds with Brody Jenner and live a life right out of the pages of Maxim magazine. Since it’s virtually impossible to find a genuine friend in Hollywood, the contestants must compete in various challenges to prove they’re the right man for Brody. They are put through the wringer to prove they are trustworthy, reliable and fun … in other words, a true bro.”

I mean, I’m glad they’re trying to portray guys as more sensitive and vulnerable and are trying to get rid of the idea that the lone wolf is the most attractive — but I’m really reaching here.  It’s a lame show.  Period.

My biggest beef is that the Asian guy on the show is a such a weirdo.  Why are all the Asians on reality shows so weird??  Why?!

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I cut my finger yesterday while chopping onions and it’s really not that serious but I’ve never done it before so I kind of freaked out.  I’ve always been queasy around blood and I’m that girl that shields her eyes during E.R. and Grey’s Anatomy and the one that got really sick during Saving Private Ryan.  But yesterday was the first time I felt sick at the sight of my own blood.  The blood just kept gushing out and I held my finger under the sink to wash it out and the husband was on a conference call and was trying to put them on hold so he could help me bandage.  It was all kind of hectic.  And for some reason I just started breathing kind of fast like I was about to hyperventilate and I got really light headed — it was so strange.  After the husband helped me bandage it up, I had to lay down for a bit.  And I remembered to keep the finger above my heart so it would stop bleeding.  I won’t lie, it really hurt!  It must hurt a lot to get stabbed in the gut.  So yeah, this was strong confirmation that I made the right choice by steering clear of any medical profession.  And also why I would not really want to be a medical social worker.  The husband later said he would have no qualms sewing stitches in my finger if it had come to that.  Ugh, I just got a little nauseous typing that last sentence out right now.  The thing is, it got me wondering what makes someone queasy about blood?  Nature, nurture?  Thoughts?