Going to the Shire

I just finished booking our Coast to Coast walk across England! We'll be staring the 190 mile trek beginning of August, and I'll finally be able to fulfill my dreams of being a hobbit and walking for pleasure. This is how I imagine things:



We'll be following the route created by Alfred Wainwright - a crusty old English curmudgeon if there ever was one. We'll start at St. Bees by the Irish Sea and end at Robin Hood's Bay at the North Sea.

Now the real question is: who is Sam and who is Mr. Frodo?

Perpetual Foreigner Or Perpetually Invisible

Heard all the buzz about the first Asian to win the Best Director Oscar?

I didn't think so. But I clearly remember the buzz around Halle Berry winning Best Actress (not to begrudge her that, of course).

When looking in Google news for "first Asian" "Ang Lee" and "Best Director" I find the following venues with stories:

Shanghai Daily
Journal Online, Phillipines
China Post, Taiwan
Radio Free Asia

Apparently, only Asians care about Asians. Maybe Lee should've started sobbing. Or gotten kissed by Adrien Brody - which might have been strangely appropriate.

The Road Goes Ever On and On

... at the very least for another five years, in New Haven. M and I will pack our bags this summer for our next great adventure! And thank God it comes from an invitation for both of us to go - truly a miracle.

Christmas in February

The Christmas pudding, it is a-flamin'. Sorry 'tis so dark.
Actually, we named it Gilbert, since he had been with us so long (British Christmas pudding is fermented for at least a month before eaten). All this to cheer us up in our wintertime-blues and indulge my obsessive anglophile-bent. You know, it was so easy to set the pudding a-flame, I want to start doing it to all foods, just for a touch of drama. I may start with tomorrow morning's Frosted Mini Wheats.


And these are pomanders - used in bygone days to freshen up the house. Those are cloves.
Look! It's Father Christmas!


Paper crown courtesy of silly Christmas crackers with lame jokes like, "What do they sing for the snowman on his birthday?" "Freeze a jolly good fellow."