The Skunkeye Consumer Guide

So tired right now I'm sore. Its been kinda a surreal weekend with old friends visiting and the awful journeys to Fairfax Hospital. Haven't really gotten enough proper sleep and I'm still in manic mode.

J & M couldn't have come at a better time. Truly a gift to me. I've known them since child days in Paris and luck brought us back together again in high school in Kuala Lumpur. We've always had this triumvirate bond thing going on (they're twins). It was great to kick back, catch up, and spend quality time with dear friends who truly know who I am and what I'm about and care for me unconditionally. It's been around six years, right before I went into exile, since I've seen them and even longer since I've spent time with the two of them together. Well, I guess we haven't lost our penchant for getting into trouble. Friday night was the latest and trippiest I’ve had in a long, long while.

The twins have evolved into real free spirits and maintain a refreshing easygoing nature and compassion. Skunkeye has turned into Mr. Jade these days. And I always was the the arty one. Yarg, feel so bourgeoise. J & M spent Saturday afternoon hanging out with me in my garden area/rat sanctuary in the sun and it was nice with the all the flowers and be able to use the space like I’ve wanted to.

My grandmother was actually eyes open and semi-awake for brief periods this weekend when I came by. Seemed confused, helpless, and panicked and really not there. Still intubated on the machines. This is really awful and painful. Thirteen days ago she was so present, eating dinner and watching Colonial House with me.

A good family friend - who is being an absolute saint through this ordeal - and I went to this amazing Korean restaurant on Columbia Pike in Annadale-K'town Staurday. Neither one of us could recall the name although she has been there several times.. something "--- Tofu." so awesome and delicious! Looks kinda plain from the outside but the interiors are very pleasant, a lot of wood, Korean screens, the service was lovely, and the food just hit the spot. While I'm on this kick, check out Po-Siam in Arlandria - the Mount Pleasant of VA - my uncle and I went there on Thursday night and it was fantastic and reasonable. Also, Nam-Viet in the same area, went last night. Obviously been too tired to cook.

The party I coordinated for the Cambodian Chief on Friday went well despite all the surrounding tragedy (his son died two weeks ago and he really doesn't want to retire right now but he's being forced to). My Thai friends really pulled through in a pinch with the food and I am so grateful.

Also three different friends called to thank me for recommending the new Cardigans album.

As always, Blake Gopnik is right on the mark. God those pandas are stooopid.

Trying to figure out a menu for the Cambodian chief’s party on Friday. No one wants to cook. Guess we’ll just have to order Thai. So disorganized…

The Man and his Chinese Mafia are driving me crazy. Looks like Essie got into the Corn Liquor again last night - still no sign of her today. Need her humor. I think The Slovak is on strike.

Transcribing an interview with Angelina Jolie right now. R from Khmer interviewed her yesterday. She's really smart, put-together, and pleasant and clearly adores her son.

This is what I’d rather be doing right now. Fantastic site.

Figured it Out!

Now I can sleep. Robert Reich.

This is totally bothering me... I just saw that really short charming man with a beard who was a Clinton aide and now has a book out. He walked by me out front and came into our building probably for an interview to sell his book. I just saw him on a late night chat show (Conan? I never watch that because he annoys the shit out of me and is pasty and is not funny but maybe I fell asleep and woke up). Anyways, he ballroom danced for a bit with a really tall starlet/model guest (dunno who she was). He's really, really short like a dwarf. Now I'm going to be bothered all night trying to remember who he is. I hate that. I'm so not a politico...

Despite all the drama, I managed to have an okay weekend. My sister and I are determined just to get on with things and so far it seems to be working. We spent a lot of time at the hospital but there is not much we can do there other than consulting with the doctors and making decisions here and there and my grandmother is asleep all the time anyways. She’s getting very good care so we can rest easy on that. Thursday really was the worst the day.

On Friday night I went to a party at a former co-worker's apartment. She and her husband live in one of those billion dollar new condos on 13th so every one always gets insanely jealous. They have a great balcony. Suede furniture is really unwise, especially if you are going to entertain guests with beverages. Actually, suede in general is problematic, especially suede shoes during rainstorms. Well that’s what I learned on Friday night at least. I met a couple of nice people and went home after a bit because I was exhausted and had to get up early the next day to do the hospital thang.

Saturday between hospital visits I finally saw Bon Voyage. It was a little too light on its feet for me and I was easily bored. Maybe I was distracted. A lot of old chatty types at my screening so there was somne tension and near violence in the rows behind me. The film reminded me a bit of the Carole Lombard/Jack Benny Nazi farce, To Be or Not To Be (later remade by Mel Brooks). Just an aside, I read in Entertainment Weekly this weekend that Morrissey lives in Carole Lombard’s old house. Sorry, I’m not a huge Morrissey person. I’m also not very fond of Isabelle Adjani. She really bothers me for some reason. So much plastic surgery. Maybe she feels pressure with Monica Bellucci nipping at her heels. I kept on looking for the scars during her many close-ups during Bon Voyage but I guess she went to a really good surgeon.

I also got the new Cardigans, Long Gone Before Daylight. I’ve never been a Cardigans fan per say and this ids the first album I own by them. I really, really liked Nina Persson’s solo outing A Camp. I was turned on to that because Mark Linkous/Sparklehorse worked on it. I heard the beautiful single, “I Can Buy You,” and was sold right away. Also, Nina Persson is married to ex-Shudder To Think’s Nathan Larson and they’ve done some nice work together. Jealous God had some good songs. Long Gone Before Daylight is a real tour de force, a really solid collection of songs. At first listen it sounds very 1970’s FM classic AOR rock radio. I like that sometimes. Very mature intimate sound. Then the songwriting and the hooks really get into you and you can’t get it out of your head. The tone of the album is very bittersweet, sad almost – no “Lovefool” bounce here – and judging from the lyrics some one in the band or close to Nina Persson is going through some kind of recovery. One song is even downright Nick Cave. They’ve definitely been listening to a lot of Neil Young. Persson’s voice is in fine, fine form. I just love this album. Warm like a fireplace on a cold winter's night. Maybe I'm just a little extra sensitive this week.

I kept on telling all my friends to buy the new Cardigans all weekend. My friend T called Saturday night to say she is getting boob implants next week. She claims she is getting them for herself and that she has always wanted them but I know she is doing it to get her man back. I told her “You gotta get the new Cardigans now! I’m serious.” Another friend is going through some man shit and I said, ‘You will totally relate to this album,” even though its probably totally not her scene. I can be such a goof ball. This album is definately going to be “the time my grandmother was in the ICU” soundtrack. Equally blessed and cursed. At any rate, it brings me comfort.

I also got the new The Real Tuesday Weld, “I, Lucifer.” It is a riff on Peter Duncan’s of the same title. The album is pretty awesome, a real roller coaster ride, and has some real stand out tracks, but I’m too tired to write about it right now. Combinaton funhouse/cabaret/chanson-y with plenty of beats and bleeps and stuff you can equally cry or jitterbug to. I used to put the real, real Tuesday Weld in a lot of my drawings in college.

Things are a little tense at mi casa, my little l’auberge espanol. I’ve been away for quite a few days but apparently Housemate D is officially not speaking to Bumblefuck right now (not that they see each other much anyways). Bumblefuck must have done something really absolutely disgusting this time… I don’t want to know. As usual when I’m stressed out and things are out of my control – as they are with my grandmother’s situation – I obsessively clean and repair things and run out and buy more plants for my garden. I’m a madman that way. For some reason I absolutely had to buy ferns this weekend. Dunno why, never cared for them before. Well, now I got quite a few.

Well, on Wednesday we found ourselves in crisis mode again. My sister and I had been taking turns staying at my grandmother’s as she was suffering from what seemed to be a mild cold. This time last year she was in the hospital with pneumonia and it was the most frightening time of our lives and she spent considerable amount of time in a scary rehab facility and had somewhat of a difficult time transitioning back home because of nightmare nurses. None of us wanted to repeat that experience.

Tuesday night she seemed to be recovering well and was eating and getting about. When I came over Wednesday night after work she had not changed out of her pajamas and had managed to consume only a can of insure and was somewhat disoriented (she thought I had merely gone out to see a movie). So I called my sister and we took her to Kaiser. She was getting worse by the minute the whole evening and they took x-rays and it appeared to be pneumonia and they got her in at Fairfax Hospital at 3 am. By 10 am she was intubated (which, because of the risk, was not done the last time) and in the ICU.

Thursday was the most difficult and emotional day. My mother is in Korea and my uncle lives in Massachusetts and we had a lot of “life or death” decisions to make. Fortunately, we are a lot stronger after surviving the crisis last year and are able to manage our emotions and handle things more rationally this time around. My sister and I really know how to pull together for these things. I was so drained come Friday but one has to just get on with things.

My grandmother is a real fighter. She’s 88 years old with all sorts of respiratory and pulmonary conditions and really took a beating with last years illness. We keep on trying to impress upon the doctors and nurses that its not just a matter of it simply being “her time.” She may look frail, but she leads a very full and intellectually active life. I think we’ve been lucky with the quality of the doctors and nurses this time. She’s still in the ICU on the machine but they’ve been trying to wean her off. Saturday she managed half an hour. Yesterday she made two hours. The doctor just called me and said she’s been off for over two hours today so far. She’s still on morphine and other drugs so she’s pretty much asleep so we haven’t been able to talk with her.

We’re more optimistic now and realize this is going to be a long haul once again but this time we know what we are getting into so its less overwhelming. I’m so used to hospitals at this point. I almost lost my job last year because I had to miss so much work, especially after she moved back home and we had all those awful crazy nurses who didn’t show up (one even disappeared with the house key!). My house was flooding at the same time and my grandmother's roof was leaking and it was just a big horrible mess. I was so overwhelmed and in crisis mode I thought was going to explode. A year has passed and I am seasoned and can handle all sorts of things now.

I really wish Fairfax Hospital weren’t so far away because it is a real hassle getting out there once, twice a day from the city. This upcoming weekend will be rough because my sister will be out of town and I don't drive. But I'll be very grateful if there is a weekend at least.

Skunkeye is duller than The Washington Post.

- Everyone is talking about My First Cicada. From the look and sound of it, Brood X apparently started their business in my grandmother’s hood this morning.

- Skunkeye is so not into Colonial Americana but after a few nights taking care of a grandmother with a cold, I’ve gotten sucked into this. Believe me I would not last one week. Imagine the stench! And everyone all on top of each other – I would make like Dom and go AWOL! And wear a “P” and “B” everyday.

- Gawkermedia exposed.

- Gee. Never knew there was another Cassavetes kid besides Nick and Sofia’s pal Zoe. Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes’ documentary on LA’s Z Channel looks fascinating.

- Need to mind what I blog about what goes on in the building where I work… Belle de Hill apparently lost her gig. Not that there is any juice, any seed to spill here. Would be just dull and revolting. The Washingtonienne developments of the last two days have been a welcome diversion – I wanted to read more!

Visitor Du Jour

Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap

Back to the grind after an okay weekend. MJ and I had brunch at Little Quiapo on Route 50 – masarap! The place is very clean and they have an amazing breakfast deal. And I treated myself to halo-halo – its been a long time! We need a Little Quiapo on U Street.

Friday night saw The Saddest Music in the World. I enjoyed it so much – visually rich, inventive, and hilarious too. Wonderful, brilliant film. Fantastic storytelling. Some folks were complaining about how strange it was after it was over – ummmm, duh. They had to know what they were getting into if they read anything about it. Same experience with Dogville. Folks, if you can’t handle movies that are widely known to be challenging, just don’t go.

After baking in the sun walking along the canal on Saturday I decided to cool off and catch Young Adam. Since most of the action takes place on a canal, and I was a bit sunstroked, the film was kinda surreal for me. And also a bit dreary. The few moments of humor were much appreciated. Could have used more of the lovely and amazing Emily Mortimer – she’s such a breath of fresh air in every film she’s in. Never read the book so can’t compare.

On Sunday I saw Mean Girls. It was cute, could have been meaner. I’m kinda digging the newly voluptuous Lindsay Lohan these days. Her character experiences American school for the first time after spending her whole life in Africa – I could relate to that experience. After being beat up every day for three years by a nasty Belgian for my lunch money at a catholic school in Paris, one of my survival techniques was to immediate befriend the bullies and the mean girls when arriving at a new school. Worked for me.

I can't get enough of Something to Declare by Julian Barnes.

I'm totally digging this advertising campaign right now.

This is tres ammusent. ( via Krucoff) Maybe a chain-smoking Graydon Carter/Serge Gainsbourg?

I got the new Jane Birkin, Rendez-Vous, last week. She went all dancing barefoot with Arabesque and appears to be on this whole earthmother kick now. I don’t particularly care for it. Her kids must be cringing. The Guardian gave it a good review - and I’m a longtime fan - but maybe I’m just not in the right mood for it. The concept of the album – duets with Caetano Veloso, Beth Gibbons, Brian Ferry, Brian Molko from Placebo, Paolo Conte, her colleague Francoise Hardy, and others – is promising but the affair turns into a muddle of over produced and thoroughly middle-aged Euro Pomp. It’s like a godawful new age Sunday night variety show. Dreadfully insipid lyrics. Actually on many of the duets Birkin appears to be merely chiming in.

Jane B.’s voice has always been more than a bit sharp and strained. As Arabesque revealed, her vocals shine when employed as a sort of exotic instrument. The jaunty opening duet with Mickey (3D), “Je M’Appelle Jane,” works because collaborator Mickey(3D) understands this. And although Birkin should be admired from stepping out of the shadow and moving on with new material, she has always been at her best performing the songs that Gainsbourg wrote for her.

Rendez Vous is all over the place, and the guest vocals seem to be literally phoned in. Heavy, dated synths feed the argument that the French can’t rock. Birkin should take her cue from recent efforts from her contemporaries Anna Karina and Valerie Legrange, who collaborated with Katerine and Benjamin Biolay, respectively. She could really benefit from working with a young producer/arranger/writer with the vision, sensitivity, and skill to put together a solid, focused product worthy of her legacy. I personally feel Biolay would be a stunning match – god knows there’s tons of great talent in France right now – Air, Mellow, Phoenix(when is the new one being released in the US?!!!), Bertrand Burgalet…

Oh, I dunno why I’m being so harsh… its not that bad. Above average adult French shit. At any rate, I’m definately seeing Jane Birkin when she comes to Lisner in the fall.

*******

Right now a bit out of sorts. The Cambodian Chief - whom we all adore and respect and whose retirement party I was planning even though he doesn't totally doesn't want to retire but the government is forcing him to - just called. I was in the middle of proofing the invites for printing. His son just passed away. 34 years old. It was sudden. I went to grade school briefly with his kids (the two were way ahead of me so we didn't really play together). Saddened.