serene’s posterous

We rarely head all the way to Cupertino these days, even though we used to go about twice a month a couple of years back.  But we had gone there twice in 2 weeks, and unsurprisingly Eu-Jin and I ate the exact same things both times.  I had Shui Kau noodles, while Eu-Jin had the fish congee at Joy Luck Place bistro (Food's good, but service is unattentive).  And I got green milk tea with pearls from Fantasia for dessert.  Yum!

Image from here.

The only other show other than Glee that I watch consistently this fall is Castle.  Admittedly the show is essentially a murder mystery with a murder solved every week.  But you can't beat the charm of Nathan Fillion as the mystery writer, Richard Castle.

This week's Halloween-themed episode, started out with Nathan Fillion dressed as Mal Reynolds - aka Captain Tightpants - of Firefly (squeal! I am a big fan of Firefly).  Try to spot the catalyzer (from one of my favorite episodes 'Out of Gas' in Firefly) in the opening scene.

Edited to add...

From Nathan Fillion's Twitter Feed:

How did the catalyzer come to my possesion? I got it the same way Mal would. I stole it.7:10 PM Oct 27th from Tweetie

Look closely, when Mal comes out the door- under the gun, under the boat, just to the right. It's a nothin' part, till ya need one.7:03 PM Oct 27th from Tweetie

It was a pretty bad movie and the battle scenes (other than the last climatic battle between the good and the bad robots, which went by in a flash) dragged on for way too long and were monotonous.  And the story just didn't make any sense!  I spent most of the movie doing some ironing and some work on the laptop.  Yes.  It was that boring and senseless.

Tatu slept all stretched out on Eu-Jin's lap this morning.

Been obsessively listening to this song by Animal Kingdom.  I think it was a free single of the week on ITunes a few weeks back.  Even though they are from London, I guess they don't sound typically British.  The rest of their songs based on what I heard on myspace seem pretty good too.

So tell me if it's love, 'cause baby I'm a tin man
Tell me if it's love, I wanna be a real one
Tell me if it's love, 'cause baby I'm a tin man
Since you took my heart, I've got a missing part

Photo taken by Eu-Jin.

After not visiting for almost 2 weeks, Tatu showed up this wet, rainy evening.  He sat on Eu-Jin's lap for a bit, and then later deigned to sit on my lap too.  He licked my fingers a fair bit too, because he probably tasted the roasted butternut squash I was eating before heading to the balcony to hang out with him.

We were lucky enough to see James perform in SF back in October last year.  They didn't perform this unreleased song during their tour in the US, but the song was apparently back on their setlist for their performances in Europe this summer.  Their official website http://www.wearejames.com/ is offering the mp3 for free if you join the mailing list.

Tim says: “The song is about a boxing match. A genre of one unless you count Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’. I am interested in the paradoxical sense of peace that can arrive at the moment when you feel you have lost everything.”

It has a great, catchy tune so here's looking forward to their new record...

Photo taken by Eric Chan.

Tatu (his/her name according to our neighbors from the next apartment block) apparently lives a few blocks away, but comes by sometimes to sleep in the sun at our open balcony.  Tatu's really friendly, and likes to butt his head on our hands and walk around our legs.  He hasn't visited since Tuesday, so I wonder where he is...

I thought this book by Jon Krakauer was only average.  He uses the account of the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her baby daughter (by her Mormon fundamentalist brothers-in-law, Dan and Ron Lafferty) to examine Mormon history and roots of their beliefs.  While I don't think this is an anti-Mormon book, it certainly does reveal some less than flattering parts of the Mormon history.  It seems, however, that the historical parts are not well integrated with the rest of the book, as Krakauer moves from chapter to chapter. 

The TV show I enjoy the most now.  Yes, it is super cheesy, and probably takes place in an alternate universe where inappropriate songs are sung by high school kids.  But it is great fun, and there's lots of good singing.  Lea Michele has a lovely voice (Cory Monteith as Finn suffers in comparison).  My favorites so far are the covers of Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and Queen's Somebody to Love.