So, we went to this small city that everyone called “miner town.” I guess this is where a lot of mining is done? we didn’t actually see any miners or mines of any sort, so I’ll take everyone’s word for it. It was a long drive here from Saigon. Had to wake up super early and then just sit on the bus. I actually finished reading 3 whole books on this whole trip. On the way here, its very rural, so we ended up eating lunch at some house like place with a big room. I didn’t think it was very clean, and I’m wondering if it was psychological because we had a lot of food left over. I did try the wild boar that was made and thought it was pretty good though. We actually went to this place too on the way back to Saigon, and the food the second time around was much better I thought. Maybe just cuz it was different food??
Anyway, we finally got to the place at night and had dinner first, at a restuarant that was inside the resort we were staying at, Lak Resort I think its called. You can hear crickets and frogs all over the place as you eat and as you walk outside. Dinner was decent. Afterwards, we all trekked over to a cabin type place where natives performed for us. I was told they were Vietnamese highlanders, but that means nothing to me cuz I have no clue what that is. They did not seem to speak Vietnamese though. I think these locals were called something like the M’nong. Their song and dance performance was pretty cool. During the ceremoney, there was a part where everyone could try some rum type drink made from leaves or something. It tasted like wood, very weird.
Our actual room was I guess as good as you can find, considering it was cabin like. There were lizards crawling on the walls and mosquitos in our room which kind of sucked. The electricity came and went with the rain, showers had hot water, but no curtains, so the water could go all over the floor. V said that when he went to the bathroom to wash his hands, a cockroach came out of the drain in the sink..haha. Gross, but funny now. This is definitely not the worst place I’ve ever stayed at, but it definitely reminded me of why I don’t like camping and outdoors stuff.
When I woke up, I saw how truly beautiful the outside was. I got here at night, and so you could not see anything, just hear crickets and such. Nice lake, very green vegetation, pretty flowers, etc. We got to go on a little canoe ride in the lake, which was kind of freaky because it felt like we were going to tip over all the time. After that, we went on an elephant ride, which I’d never been on before. The elephant actually stole some lady’s animal feed while we were walking, which I thought was funny. She was trying to feed her cows. The elephant actually ended the ride walking in the lake, which was kind of neat. Water went up to just below our feet level, so no one got wet or anything.
We did a little tour also, talking about another local tribe that specialized in capturing wild elephants. Our tour guide was cute, but didn’t speak any English, so I pretty much just sat there and listened to people if they ever translated anything. It was actually interesting cuz we went into a typical style home that these people lived in, went to a graveyard as well as visited the home of the “elephant king.” I guess he captured tons of elephants or something. He’s like 92 and still alive!! He created some drink for longevity and I guess it works. He wasn’t there when we went, but his daughter was.
We stayed at a different hotel after all this, in the city, so the accomodations were much more normal. After this we went to a tiny museum, which was not all that, but there was this tree that I climbed for a photo. Let’s just say, I’ll never climb a tree again, at least not in Vietnam. There were huge fire ants on that tree that bit me when I was up there, like tons bigger than those puny ants we see back home. They’re freaking aggressive too. I flicked so many off me and was yelling for the picture to hurry and be taken!! Bugs in general are bigger in Vietnam, and I learned the hard way here. Oh well. When you all see the picture, you can tell me if it was all worth it.
Anyway, that was about it for this place. Just a nice outdoorsy type area. Nice scenery. Had a long drive back, but we got pulled over by a corrupt cop not too far into the drive. It sucked. Guess we were going 45 km/hr in a 40 zone. Freaking cops, I hate them even in another country. But its worse here. He freaking took our driver away to “pay a fine.” We just waited at some little house that had a table set up so they could sell drinks and such for like an hour. I found out afterwards that the cop kept the driver’s license in addition to making him pay a fine. After he drove us all the way back (whole day’s ride) he had to drive all the way back himself to get his license back. Freaking corrupt cops. Oh well. This portion of the trip was more relaxing than anything else. Kind of cool to do outdoorsy stuff sometimes.
So, I finally uploaded my pictures from my trip. I put them on my facebook, so if you have a facebook account, just go ahead and you can see them. If not, then go to the links at the bottom of this post. I think you can only leave a comment on a pic if you are a facebook member though. It took me longer to post these than I thought. These are like 10% of all my pictures, so just kind of chose the coolest ones I could find in the shortest amount of time. If you want to see more, you’ll have to stop by my place and I’ll be more than happy to show you! Hope you enjoy. Let me know if you have any questions.
Our flight to Thailand was only like 90 minutes. I love it. I wish we could of flown everywhere. Did quite a bit here in Pattaya…
First off, our tour guide (“just call me Joe”) was very, how shall we say, shady. But, I don’t know if he was really bad per say, maybe that’s just how Thai people are? He’d touch guys and make gay jokes. Gross in itself. He points at call girls in the street and asks us if we want him to bring them over for 4000/night. Haha. I actually thought he was pretty cool, up until the point he grabbed my knee and made a gay joke with me. Yeah, not cool with that. The first night, he ended up taking the whole group to a massage place, which he said had no pretty girls, they just give good massages. Haha.
On our first night, Joe said that we could go to a “sexy show,” which of course the guys jumped on. The show was actually pretty cool. Hot Asian girls getting naked and doing dances, inviting people from the audience on the stage to embarrass them, but these embarrassed guys get to see and touch these hot girls up close! No, I did not get invited on stage! Cost like 700 baht, or 20 bucks or so, for the hour show. The show was not gross or anything, like you hear about when visiting Thailand, with ping pong balls and such. Just naked girls dancing, strutting, doing tricks, etc.
After the show, the guys and I decided to walk around the streets of Pattaya. An adventure in itself. Imagine Vegas, but 10 times worse (or better depending on who you are talking to). The selling of sex is just overtly blatant. Many of these girls you see are not even remotely attractive, especially from the neck up because it was obvious work was done from the neck down. The ones from the show were tons better. Guess that’s why they are in the show. Because we were 5 guys walking around, almost everyone was trying to get us to go to their place. There are go go clubs (which I’ll explain later), “massages”, bars served by scantily clad ugly girls (haha, yes I’m mean and will be stuck marrying one of these girls as punishment). We ended up going to this go go club because the door girl was cute. Too bad the girls inside weren’t. Anyway, inside its loud music and lots of girls dancing on various stages throughout. Most are wearing almost nothing, a few actually are wearing nothing. As these girls perform in front of you, they ask you if you want to buy them a drink. If you do, they will come sit down next to you to talk. How long they stay to talk depends on how many drinks you buy her. The longer she stays, the more likely it is that you can do more than talk. No cute girls there, so no drinks for any girl from me.
We also took a boat to a beach island on another day. It was a pretty nice beach I thought, with the water much clearer than back home and also much, much warmer. On the way to the island, we stopped off at this boat/ferry where we went parasailing. I’d never gone before, and so I totally went for it. It’s actually quite short, but it was lots of fun, and literally feels like you are flying. Very nice and very cool. I got my picture taken, but its not digital, so its just sitting in my room. The actual beach we went to was pretty fun too. Went swimming for a couple hours. There were a lot of Chinese people there, Hong Kong and mainland I think since they spoke Cantonese and Mandarin. There were a lot of shops there too, but many of them were selling the same bags and trinkets, so you really didn’t have to walk along the entire way.
We visited a few other places as well, like some tropical gardens that had nice flowers and such to look at. At this place there was also a cultural dance performance and an elephant show. The dance show was aiite, nothing great, but the elephant show was pretty cool. These elephants are freaking smart. They were trained to do many things that were neat, like shoot a basketball, play darts, kick a soccer ball, paint!! I wonder how painful it is for the elephant to be trained like this.
The final show we saw here was a cabaret show. But, this show is different in that all the women in the show used to be men. Apparently, according to Joe, the top plastic surgeons in the world go to Thailand to perform these types of surgeries. He actaully went into quite vivid detail of what this surgery entails….thank goodness I don’t speak Vietnamese. Anyway, while watching the show I swear that if I didn’t know beforehand, I’d of thought many of these “women” were hot. Seriously. I could not tell. And if you say you can, I’d call you a liar. Go look at the pictures I posted and tell me if you could tell. I have no idea why anyone would want to change their sex, and why in particualr Thai guys do it on a more regular basis. The show was actually quite entertaining, but it ruined Thailand for me cuz whenever I did see a hot girl on the street, I asked myself it she really was a girl! Every guys nightmare huh? Falling for another guy…haha.
Before we actually went to Bangkok, we stopped off at a few places. First was the World Gem Collection Co. Apparently Thailand is big in the world gem scene. We got to see many different types of gems and how they are mined and created. After the tour, we entered this huge store where they tried to sell us jewelry! Every person in our group was literally followed by an employee who tried selling us stuff. They’d just keep tailing you, even if they didn’t talk to you. I literally walked back and forth, made random turns and shit like that just to fuck with my tail. I didn’t buy anything, but many of the stuff looked nice for sure. There were these pictures they were made from gems only that were very pretty.
We went to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo also, and watched many different shows there as well. The first, and probably best IMO was the crocodile show, which was just freaking scary. I know these crocs are trained and all, but I would never ever put my head inside a crocodile’s mouth. Or do anything near a croc. I think the fact that crocs in general are scary is what made this show the best. The other ones were much tamer, if not less entertaining. There was also a tiger and a dolphin show.
After this, we went to some butterfly exhibit, which had nothing to do with butterflies. It was just some cheesy exhibit about how to collect bird’s nest, and then after we were done, they tried selling that to us, and it was expensive! I think it was Chinese owned and operated.
Haha, after this we had to stop some place to let the bus driver eat lunch. Apparently there are some laws that the driver has to stay with the bus, even if we invited him to eat with us. So crazy. Just stopped some place so he could, while we walked around. When we went back to the bus, I was the first one in and the driver smiled at me and thanked me. Haha. Poor guy. Stupid laws.
And finally the last place we went to before actually arriving in Bangkok was some cool cobra show. I sat in the first row and so was very close to the show, and it almost had a similar effect as the crocodile show, scary and entertaining. So many times the guy would swing the snake right at us, scaring the crap out of me and anyone else sitting in the front row. And then after the show, we were herded into a room, and yet another infomercial. It was all in Viet, so I just sat there. Apparently it was a lecture and sales pitch for things like supplements from snakes or whatever. What is up with the freaking tour taking us to places that try to sell us this stuff. Do they get a freaking commission? I have no problem if you take us to a mall or something, but don’t take us some place where they literally lock you up in a room with a guy so he can sell you crap.
So we finally get to Bangkok which reminds me a lot of downtown LA. Its a big city, with many tall buildings. And there is a lot of traffic too, totally like home. The first night, we all went to a massage place that took like 45 minutes to get there, and it was only really like 15 minutes away. The city is definitely more urban and developed than the other cities I’d been to at the time. There is no vegetation to look at while driving, just buildings. Also, I don’t know why but there are a lot of Indian people here. Is Bangkok a big vacation/immigration spot for people from India? I saw a bunch of Indian restaurants too, so maybe it is.
The Royal Palace we went to visit here is very beautiful. Tons better than the one in Cambodia. It was super hot that day, and we were required to wear pants! I think the outside of all the buildings are covered in gold and gems or something. It all looked so impressive. The actual buildings looked like they cost much more than, say, the ones in Vatican City. But, the wealth in terms of art and culture is like a million times more in Vatican City. We also went to a Safari Park later, which was aiite. Tons of animals, like birds, zebras, lions, tigers, rhinos, giraffes. I thought it was more fun in reading signs like “Animals have the right of way” or “Lions are dangerous, do not get out of car.”
Of course, we also got massages while in Bangkok. I enjoyed them, but looking back, I think I enjoyed my “shampoos” better in Saigon. Just enjoy that extra pampering! I had a nice foot massage right near our hotel that I enjoyed. I only had 2 my whole trip, and this one was the better of the two by far.
Overall, I think I had more fun in Pattaya than I did in Bangkok. Not really fair cuz I actually went out on my own without the tour guide more often in Pattaya than in Bangkok. I only walked the streets once in Bangkok at night, and saw a lot of people selling things on the sidewalk, food vendors, and also tons of hookers. But, the selling of sex and stuff was not as blatantly obvious as it was in Pattaya. Its much harder walking in Bangkok because its so big. We didn’t feel like taking the taxi anywhere, so that really limited where we could go. Pattaya was much smaller and so we walked to many more places and explored much more. Maybe if I ever go to Bangkok again, I will stay there for longer and give myself more of a chance to look around it.
By the way, this has nothing to do with Thailand, but on the plane ride back home, I saw with V’s aunt. There was a very cute Vietnamese flight attendant. I made the mistake of sharing this observation with his aunt. So, what happens next? She calls her over and tell her in Vietnamese that I think she is cute. The girl says thank you. You’d think that was the end, wouldn’t you? She proceeds to ask her if she speaks English, which she does a little. Then they ask her to talk to me, but the girl says its a very short flight and so she is very busy. She’ll stop by if she can.
She eventually does, but it was so hard talking to her because I was literally sitting by M and V and all his relatives, who were watching and listening to all this unfold. Its not like I have problems talking to girls, but it was so hard cuz everyone was watching me. Plus the girl’s English was only ok at best. And then while we are talking, a relative of V’s here and there would ask her something in Vietnamese, and of course I had no clue what they were saying. It was very painful for me, haha. She eventually left and afterwards, everyone is telling me to go to her after the flight lands and ask her for her number and such because in Vietnamese she said that she is free on our last day there. I didn’t want to go, but eventually did. Peer pressure! haha. That and she’s cute. Anyway, plane landed everyone gets out and I just wait. Finally get up, with only a couple of V’s relatives watching this time, go to the back of the plane and she smiles while I’m walking back there. There was a guy flight attendant watching us the whole time, punk. I asked her if she was free for dinner or something, but she is flying back out tonight. Say a few other things, and then I eventually ask her for her number or email. She turns around and says how about you give me your email? Haha, REJECTION!! Suffice to say, to this day she has not written me. Hahaha. Not like anything was going to happen since she is Vietnamese and I’m American, but it was all funny looking back.
Nha Trang is like a beach city in Vietnam. So, obviously, we went to a couple beaches while there. But, did some other things too.
We stayed at the Green Hotel. Just a green building. But, stupid thing about it is that you need the key to lock the door. What’s dumb about that? You need the key to lock it both from the outside, but the inside as well! And, you also need the key chain to leave the electricity on. That’s not a huge deal, cuz you can just disconnect that from the key. But, even if you do so, and a person wants to leave the room and will come home late, he needs to take the key if he wants to lock it. But, that means the person staying in the room behind is literally locked in his room! Every hotel we went to actually did not give you more then one key, which really sucked I thought.
The first night after dinner we went to some amusement park called VinPearl Land, which required you to take a cable car to get there because its on an island. Its a small park, but it was fun. Had rides and games. The games were all free, which I really loved. Too bad Disneyland is not like that. You gotta pay for everything at Disney. I had a lot of fun here. Rides, bumper cars, and I rode a mechanical bull.
The first beach required us to take a boat there. On the way there, we stopped at some other boat that had a glass bottom so that we could see the coral reefs under. It was pretty fun, but did not have the same effect or look as nice as snorkeling in Hawaii when I went. I actually wanted to jump in the water because it looked so nice! The actual beach we went to afteward was pretty nice. We were the first ones there, so it felt like our own private beach island. There were free kayaks to use there, a nice lagoon you could swim in, pretty view. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that the sand was very hard and rough. It almost hurt to walk on it, and a couple people did cut their feet on it.
The street market we went to in this city sold many of the same things as Saigon did, but was more expensive. So, didn’t really buy anything, outside of these donuts that were very tasty. Basically just fried dough with sesame seeds. Sounds simple, but tasted very good.
I did go to a club across the street from the hotel. It was not all that. Music was very loud. There were a ton of tables, most empty. And pretty much all of the girls that were there were ones who worked there! Never a good sign. I had a beer, but did not dance. I think these girls will dance with you that work there, but afterward you have to tip them. Ummm, no thanks.
The other beach we went to was Doc Let beach. It was a lot bigger, but I don’t know if I’d call it better. There were a lot more people, so not as “private.” Plus, everything at this beach cost money, from the kayaks, to jet skiing, to showering, etc. Although, on the plus side, the sand was much softer, sand that I’m used to back at home. I did swim for a couple hours as well. There are not a lot of waves in any of the beaches we went to. I wonder if that’s because of our location, or because of the beaches that we went to.
After this we all went to get a mud bath in some special mud made with mineral water. Its a weird experience. We just sit in this big tub with a faucet, but instead of water coming out of it, its freaking mud. It looked and smelled pretty gross. I like massages 10 times better. But, at least I can say I’ve tried this now. I don’t see what the appeal is, or why women back home pay big money to do stuff like this.
I met a girl who worked in the internet cafe downstairs at our hotel. She is very nice. I put a picture of us up in my Nha Trang album. I actually got her e-mail address and have written her and she’s written back. Yay, I have a new pen pal. I actually asked her to go get coffee when I got her e-mail, but it was too late at night for her. LOL. Oh well, I got to talk to her, and we’re writing now. Always good to meet new, nice people who become friends.
I promise you this is the last vacation post I will have! I’m actually getting sick of it myself, but since I’ve gone this far, and this is the last place I went to, might as well finish it up!!
We had a 12 hour layover here on the way back home, so we decided to take a day tour. First experiences here sucked because our tour guide was like 90 minutes late. Claimed he was waiting at the wrong gate, but whatever. Oh well. He reminds me of Hiro, from Heroes. Just looks like him. He’s a nice guy, so I guess we all make mistakes huh? I changed some money, where about 1100 wan is 1 dollar.
While driving, the first thing I noticed was that almost all the cars were Hyundai or Kia. Back home we think these cars suck. But, a whole country uses them, so they can’t be all that bad huh? Just thought it was funny.
This tour was very rushed. The places that we did go to, we only spent a little bit of time at. The first place was Cheong Wa Dae. There’s a nice fountain here with a phoenix on top, the President’s home is behind, and there’s a tiny exhibit/museum you can walk through. Took some photos, and bought a little something.
We then went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. I liked it and thought it was nicer than the palace in Cambodia, but not as nice as the one in Thailand. Reminded me a lot of those Korean dramas that I watch, and even of Chinese palaces too. there were soldiers there dressed up just like in those dramas, with the same uniforms and traditional weapons. I wonder if these are actors or if the soldiers are still required to wear this type of clothes out of tradition.
Lunch was some beef stew that was very good. In my opinion, it was the best tour food we had the whole trip. Not saying much, but still true I think. I really liked it. Beforehand, there were small dishes like kimchi, and some purplish colored grained rice, all of which I’ve had before and liked. The beef stew had a really nice flavor, made in a beef broth, and had a very small amount of some noodles at the bottom. V and I wanted to order more, not because we were unhappy with the food or cuz we were still hungry, but just to compare it to the States. But, we didn’t have enough time. But, from what I can gather fromt he taste and presentation of lunch, from those small appetizer bowls or kimchi like stuff, to the grained rice, metal chopsticks and bowls, and the look of the restaurant, I’d say that a lot of the Korean food I have back home is pretty authentic. So, I think that’s good to know.
Wasn’t really much afterwards, as we were short on time. We went shopping for a couple hours at a street called Insador. Its a nice long street with lots of stores, restaurants and other stuff. Its actually quite nice and I bought a few things here as gifts. I bought some ice cream too that was yummy, as well as these snacks I brought home that my mom likes. I’ve actually had things stringy snacks before, and i think technically they are Japanese. Went to a temple after this, which was really the last place we visited before going back to the airport. It was a pretty small temple, and nothing really extraordinary about it.
Just took the long way back to the airport after that. We drove by Seoul Tower, which requires a cable car to get there. It looks like it would be awesome to go up top on that cuz you can totally see the city. My friend says its the best place to go at night because the view is great.
Although officially I can say I’ve been to Seoul, unofficially I’m not going to of claimed to been here. Everywhere we went was really rushed. Our tour company actually booked 3 days worth of stuff for 8 hours, so our guide could not take us there obviously. I liked Seoul. Definitely the cleanest and most modern city we went to. But, it still seemed like it oozed tradition and culture. I want to go back and actually experience it. Visit that tower, eat more food, explore more places. The tour guide named so many places we could of gone that I would of gone too, but that will all have to go onto a checklist and marked as next time!
And so, that was the last of my trip. It was tons of fun and going back to work was very hard.
Wow, this is my first real blog post in a long time. I almost forgot how to write one, seeing as how the last 5 or 6 were about my vacation. Probably lost my only reader during that time. Oh well, will just have to win that person back! I don’t even know what I should write about. Will come up with a title for this post after I’ve written it out I think.
Let’s see. I’m slowly transitioning from my vacation back to normal life, as having to come back here actually sucked in that I now have responsibilities again, i.e. work. I missed the entire Olympics, as they started after I left and ended before I got back. Not that I’m a huge fan of them anyway, watching only at most a couple hours every time they are on. However, I did catch a few of them, live on TV over there. I noticed a lot of differences from the way they are broadcast in Vietnam, and the way they are here.
One minor difference is that the announcers over there are terrible. I don’t speak the language, but I can just tell. I was watching the USA basketball game and the announcers would just say the guy’s name when he took a shot, and whether or not the shot went in. Seriously, that’s about it.
Also, they show a lot of sports there that would not be or hardly be shown in the States, at least I’ve never seen them shown here. For instance, taekwondo. Even though that is a martial art, after watching it, I would not really call this a martial art event. I watched this and its kind of like the opposite of boxing. You can only kick, and you can’t punch. Plus everytime someone connected with a kick, they’d yell out loud and pump their fists to get the judges attention that they got a kick. That was a huge turnoff for me. They showed a lot of ping pong there, as well as badmington. They showed a few other sports there too, but I don’t remember. I didn’t really watch all that much as I was out most of the time. But, I did catch stuff here and there as I got ready.
Furthermore, unlike in America, the coverage over there is not just limited to Vietnamese athletes. Granted the number of people in my group traveling was greater than the total number of Vietnamese athletes that were in the Olympics. But still, outside of like gymnastics, NBC pretty much limits its coverage to American athletes, and only American athletes in swimming, track, and the occasional boxing or basketball match. Why only those sports? Because those are the only ones that American athletes win at. Seriously. Why do you think you never see soccer on NBC? Cuz Americans suck at it and will never win.
And finally, the biggest thing I noticed is that no commercials were shown there, no athlete profiles about how so and so overcame this and that to come to the Olympics, no pre game shows, no halftime shows…..it was all about the sports! I think women make up like 50% of the viewers of the Olympics, which is like 5 times the percent of women that watch any other sport. That’s probably why we’re stuck with those stupid profiles and crap, instead of the actual sports. Guess NBC has to cater to this audience, hence all the non-sports coverage crap?
Didn’t NBC pay for like 900 million bucks to the International Olympic Committee for the broadcast rights? And isn’t this like a huge percent of the IOC’s income? Would the Olympics survive if America decided not to pay that ridiculous broadcast fee? Guess when you pay that much money, you have some pull. NBC got the Olympics to schedule many of Micheal Phelp’s swims at times where it would be live on the east coast. Is that why they pay so much money? So they can set the schedules? Can’t be just that.
Why the hell does America have to pay so much and all? Why doesn’t every country that wants to broadcast pay the same amount? Its because NBC has to pay, or chooses to pay, this crazy amount that we are bombarded with commercials every few minutes. It was such a breath of fresh air watching Olympic coverage with no commercials. Why does Vietnam not show commercials but the US does? I’ll tell you a big reason why. Vietnam didn’t pay 900 million bucks to broadcast them! Maybe that’s why the announcers over there are crap too.
Seriously, its not just the Olympic coverage that we as Americans have to subsidize the rest of the world in. I mean, where the heck would the IOC be without our money? But also, look at freaking prescription drug coverage? Do I have to pay freaking 100 dollars for a drug just so that, say a Canadian, can pay 15 bucks for the exact same drug? Are you kidding me? WTF is that? If someone outside of this country is paying 15 bucks for an American drug, why the hell do I have to pay so much more for that drug? Am I missing something here? Are we such a great country that we have to pay for everyone else’s stuff? I know these topics are not related at all, I’m just venting. Big reason for this is that freaking drug companies are in every freaking congressman’s pocketbook. Honestly, in this case it does not matter if you ever vote for a Republican or a Democrat. The drug companies and all the huge wealthy companies bribe, ahem campaign contribute, to politicians on both sides so that it doesn’t matter who wins an election. They make out either way.
Anyway, just got way off tangent there. Haha. Maybe I am getting back to normal now, seeing as how I’m always random. Anyway, all I’ll finish up with saying that it was so very nice watching Olympic coverage with no commercials. And watching Olympic sports other than gymnastics, swimming, and track. And actually watching athletes outside of America compete. I don’t even know why I blogged about this. I don’t watch the Olympics anyway when I am in the US. Probably for all these reasons, and actually one more. Most Olympic “sports” are not sports.
So, I’m a big fan of Lost as many of you know, and was also a huge fan of Alias. So, when J.J. Abrams has a new show come out, I just have to check it out. And that is what I did last night, with the premeire on Fox. What’s this show about? As in Lost and Alias, there are definitely sci-fi and supernatural elements involved. Its definitely got some X-Files influence as well.
Anna Torv plays Olivia Dunham, an FBI agent who investigates a plane in which all passengers die of some contagion that like melts the skin of everyone. While investigating this, her partner/lover gets infected with the same thing while chasing the prime suspect. In order to save him, she has to get the help of a man locked up in a mental institution for his past work in the “fringe” sciences. That is, things like telepathy, invisibility, ESP, etc. Anyway, she uses this science of his to find out who that prime suspect is.
The way the episode plays out, it looks like this plane incident was not the first time that these experiments were played on people. There have been other incidents, such as a boy who was missing for years, only to reappear looking exactly like he did when he disappeared and not aging one bit. Apparently, someone or group is using the world’s population as their experiment and guinea pigs. Dunham is recruited into an organization to protect them and find out what is really going on. Obviously, like any J.J. Abrams show, there is much more going on in the background that you just have to watch to find out. Joshua Jackson plays a guy with a very high IQ, and is the son of that scientist from the mental institute.
Anyway, I just did a crappy job of describing the pilot of this show. What did I think? I did enjoy the pilot, but it did not capture me right away in that first episode like Alias and Lost did. Alias was just awesome in that first episode, in that first season actually. I think I’ll keep watching this show for now to see how it turns out. There is no character in this show that really stands out, that I really like. I think if you like X-Files you’ll like this show, although I think X-Files seemed a bit darker to me. Anna Torv is aiite, but she is definitely no Jennifer Garner.
I know many girls who have told me on many occasions that they have to get married by such and such age. I always ask why and I hear the same types of answers, many of which are related. If I don’t get married by then I’ll never get married. I’ll be too old otherwise. I want to have kids before too late. I don’t want to single all of my life. You’d think these girls were like 40-50 or so, but no, this magical age is usually somewhere in the late 20′s.
All of this leads me to the conclusion that these women would rather settle for a guy just to fulfill this goal rather than marry a man she truly loves. That’s a broad generalization, but what else can one be lead to believe? I’m sure that yes some are lucky and will find that right guy before they reach their ideal age. But, if this really is a hard, dead set goal, then as you get closer to that age, doesn’t how perfect the guy is matter less and less?
Its actually a sad belief in our society that women, once they reach a certain age, lose their beauty. I’m not going to say what that age is, but I know many of you know what I’m talking about. Don’t get mad at me, I didn’t make it up. But, its actually quite sad. Do you know how many times I’ve heard comments like, damn she used to be hot. Or damn, she really aged. Famous women celebrities probably get this more vocally than anyone else, which is probably why plastic surgeons make so much money. But, these celebrities are not the only ones who get these comments.
Is it this belief by pretty much most people in America that women have these lame goals of having to get married by a certain age? And, is it really true? I read more and more often that women are getting married later and later. Wasn’t one of them women on Sex and the City “old”? Also here that its becoming safer and safer to have kids at a later age. I don’t really know if that last part is true. I’ll grant you that it’s probably safer to have kids in the late 30′s then it was in the past, but I still don’t think its safer to have kids in the late 30′s compared to your late 20′s.
So, what do I think? I’ll be somewhat agreeable to the fact that some women want to have kids by a certain age. After all, despite medical breakthroughs, I think, for example, that the chance your kid will be born with Down’s Syndrome is higher in your mid to late 30′s then when you are younger. Its still a fairly low percent, but its higher nonetheless. Now, let’s just for the sake of argument assume that it really is true that women lose their beauty after a certain age. Ok. Who the fuck cares!! First of all, marrying for looks is lame anyway. That goes away, for both men and women. So you damn well better have something to fall back on. And second, do you know how many ugly guys there are out there in the world, even at their “peak”! If like 10% of all women out there are pretty, trust me when I say that the percent of handsome guys is about the same. Despite the egos that many guys have, they in general, are not the better looking sex.
Here is my advice to both men and women. Yes, I’ll agree that finding the “perfect” someone is hard. Probably doesn’t exist. Since beauty fades, you should probably find someone you can talk to, laugh with, etc. And if you absolutely have to find one superficial thing about that person that will trump all, do not be stupid and choose looks. Choose MONEY! Beauty fades, jokes get stale, talking gets boring. But money will always be green. 
Don’t watch Dr. Phil, just read jasers.com.
So, I finally saw this over the weekend. I know its been out for a while, but I was out of the country when it came out and only got around to seeing it just now. I went to the beach a few months back and a guy who works for the studio that made this movie was telling me this movie would be very funny and that I had to check it out. I was like sure, I’ll do so. I watch pretty much anything.
This movie is about a bunch of spoiled movie actors who all get together to film a movie based on a book about the Vietnam War. Things are too much to handle for the young 1st time director as his actors are spoiled, can’t really act, make crazy demands, etc. Things go way over budget and take way too long, so the director gets an ultimatum from the producer, played by a bald, somewhat overweight Tom Cruise in a role that’s totally different than probably any he’s played before. The director then takes his actors to the real jungles, so they can rough it, away from all the spoiled luxuries. However, they encounter a real life drug smuggling gang, only to think all of this is part of the real shoot. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues.
There are tons of cameos in this movie from many different stars. It was pretty funny, but also pretty unbelievable as well. I don’t usually have a problem if a movie is not believable, but that unbelievability has to be a part of the movie. If you have a superhero movie and your hero can fly, I can buy that. But, if you are having a movie based on real humans and all of a sudden a guy can fly or dodge bullets, then I have issues. When these actors “entered the real world,” it still did not seem anything was real. From the real bullets that never hit them to the leader of the drug smugglers, to the fact that the actors didn’t really seem all that scared even when they found out they were no longer really “shooting.” If I did not know the plot of the movie and just watched it from the middle, I might of guessed that the actors never really left the set and that the gang of smugglers were acting as well. No one really ever felt in danger.
But, if you can suspend all of that, then it was a movie that made me laugh. Many funny one liners, and physical comedy from a bunch of actors known for it. Robert Downey Jr. playing a black man was pretty funny. Tom Cruise was actually quite funny at first, but I think it got tired eventually and overplayed. Its not very often that he uglifies himself and he does comedic roles, so in that sense it was actually a nice breath of fresh air. And Ben Stiller playing a retarded guy was pretty hilarious as well. I think that if you just want a nice laugh, then go ahead and watch this movie if you haven’t already. Its actually been out for a bit now, so maybe you can just rent it when it comes on DVD or watch it on cable.
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