Give Us a Snog Then, Eh?

I know I've talked about my "angel' Matty before. Matty appeared in my 2009 production of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and served as Assistant Stage Manager for this summer's production of Sordid Lives. The last time I saw him, we had dinner and fireworks (literal, not figurative) at Seaside Heights, a few weeks ago. Matty is a very talented actor and one of the sweetest, funniest and most genuine people I know. I suspect we'll be seeing Piranha 3D together, as he is almost as big a Horror fan as I am.

Matty and his friend Bobby have become official contenders for a new Guinness World Record for Longest Continuous Kiss. And not only that - but the first Same Sex Longest Continuous Kiss. That's Matty and Bobby in the above photo (Matty's on the left, sans hat). The pic is from their official Facebook page. You can also visit their website, here. The record is currently held by a straight couple from Germany.

I'm blogging about it because A): Matty is a dear friend; B): They've managed to get an article on Queerty.com and C): Well... they're just both so adorable. The event will be taking place today (August 11th, 2010) on the campus of The College of New Jersey (my alma mater). I only wish I could be there to root them on (damn the whole needing to work for money to live thing!). Matty and Bobby are not a couple and have in fact, never kissed before, though I'm sure both young men are up to the task.

Please join me in wishing them the best and hoping that they break the current record, as well as setting a new one.

By the by... I almost titled this post "Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang," but thought better of it. There will certainly be no "Bang-Bang" here... Besides, the whole Guinness thing seemed to require a British reference of some kind, don't you think?

*Update (8/13) - Because of the unexpectedly large spectator turnout, Matty and Bobby's kiss-a-thon had to be re-scheduled for September... I'll be sure to keep you updated.

More, anon.
Prospero

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I'll Blog If I Want To

This is a postcard from Luna Park, Coney Island's Premiere Attraction in the early 20th Century. Uncle P is so obsessed with the accounts of the attractions at Luna Park, he wrote an as yet un-scored musical about it and it's founders.

Since it's after midnight here, it is officially my Birthday. And if you must know, I am Old Enough to Know Better and Young Enough to Say 'F**k It' and Do It Anyway, Bitches! I have been this age for quite some time now and expect to remain this age for quite some time yet (or at least, I hope to).

Several of Uncle P's dearest friends, including D, K, Q and Dale - as well as some old college buddies he hasn't seen in ages are joining me for an adventure to a place I've never been and I can't wait. I'll post pics and stories... eventually.

And for the curious, here's some footage of the original Luna Park, shot in 1903:

The boat ride was called the Shoot the Chutes and it's obvious there was more thought given to thrills than to safety. The pile-up on the slide at the end would be a tragic accident, today. Still, the story of how that amazing place came to be is just as fascinating as the place, itself.

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Prospero

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School Daze

Tonight, Uncle Prospero had one of the strangest, most surreal* and thoroughly enjoyable experiences of his life. Yes, I attended my 30th High School Reunion.

"Holy crap!" you might be saying. "Prospero is that old?" Yes, I am that old. Still, more people recognized me than I recognized, so I guess I'm doing okay.

I went to Woodrow Wilson High School, which has since been re-named Harry Truman High School, after the closure of my district's other high school in the 80's. I moved around a bit and lost touch with almost everyone from Wilson. But, with the advent of Facebook and similar social networking sites, I suddenly find myself reconnected to folks I haven't seen in 30 years. And it's wonderful.

I was, I will admit, a bit apprehensive about attending. I hadn't been to (nor was even aware of) any previous reunions, for any number of reasons. But thanks to Facebook, I was able to attend this one - and it was just terrific.

So much of who we are today is based on the relationships and experiences of our past. It was honestly wonderful to see so many friends from the past (and sad to not see those who couldn't attend). I recognized some folks immediately (my friends Nina and Holly virtually unchanged) and a few others after squinting at their name tag under the banquet hall's dim lights. One friend surprised me with what she thought was shocking news, while others surprised me with their rather unexceptional lives. And more than a few were absolutely unrecognizable, but out of a class of 400+, that's understandable.

Kudos to Debbie L and Suzanne B for organizing an outstanding evening.

Remember - there will be no Saturday post this week. Instead, read me on The Zombie Zone.

More, anon.
Prospero

*By the way, this is a link to my favorite painting of all time, by Salvador Dali. I have no idea why it means so much to me -- it just does. Dali is my favorite artist and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus speaks to me in a way few paintings can, even if I don't understand why. I hope you've experienced the same phenomenon, yourself.

P

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Nom, Nom, Nom (Movie Edition)

Are there two more gorgeous people than Campbell Scott and Isabella Rossellini in their prime? This shot is from one of my favorite movies, Big Night. Of course, Big Night is a lovely, touching and appetite-inducing film about hope and family and the silence in which two brothers can say more than any spoken words could. Oh, and food. Tons and tons of food. A feast fit for a king, actually.

Brothers Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secundo (Stanley Tucci) run a failing Italian restaurant at the Jersey Shore in the 1950's. Perfectionists, they serve their family recipes to patrons who don't always appreciate their efforts. When they hear that singer Louis Prima may be coming for a meal while in town, the two set about preparing a massive dinner party, invite all their friends and family and wait for Prima to show. The meal they prepare is one of the best ever set to celluloid, and features a timpano, a sort of pasta; meat; cheese and sauce pie, so named because of its resemblance to a drum.

Minnie Driver, Allison Janney, Ian Holm and Liev Schrieber all take part in the meal, which immediately induces the need to eat pasta and other evil carbohydrates.

I mention the timpano in particular, because it was part of our latest themed dinner party, "Food from Movies." Even now, several hours after eating, I am stuffed. We started out innocently enough, I suppose. The appetizer was cheese fondue, inspired by La fondue. Next was salad (Uncle Prospero's contribution): Warm Goat Cheese and Endive Salad with Pears and Candied Nuts, inspired by There Will Be Blood. I made some minor alterations to the rather expensive recipe I found on Epicurious and would make some adjustments if I made it again, but the end result was still a delicious and unusual salad which everyone enjoyed.

Then came the three-dish entree: Beef Bourguignon (from Julie & Julia); the timpani and sweet Mary's last-minute, "I-was-freaking-out" chicken tetrazzini (from "It's gotta be in some Italian movie," though I'm convinced it's because Mary is obsessed with this); all of which were delicious, labor-intensive and calorie-laden. And then to end things off, using a real movie recipe from Waitress, Mary made a "My Baby Was Crying and I Was Up All Night" cheesecake for dessert. Creamy, delicious and not at all too rich, it was the perfect way to end another successful gathering of most of my longest and dearest friends.

Tomorrow it's high-fiber, high-protein, low-fat all the way. In fact, I may not eat at all.

And since this post mentions one of my favorite food movies, I suppose I should mention my very favorite food movie, Tampopo.

This Japanese version of the classic Western Shane, is about a mysterious trucker who helps a widowed mother to make the ultimate ramen. Interspersed are several tales which all revolve around food, including the story of two gangland lovers who share some rather erotic eating experiences and the story of a woman who rises from her sickbed to prepare the best meal of her life before happily dropping dead. I couldn't find a dubbed or subtitled trailer, but you'll get the idea from this original Japanese version of it:

Over the next two months, you know we will all be indulging a little bit more than usual. And while I will continue to strive to be good (-27 lbs and counting), I know there will be plenty of temptations I simply won't be able to resist. And that's OK. We're all only human, aren't we?

More, anon.
Prospero

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Dinner with Friends

Not a lot to talk about tonight. I'm not at ComicCon (sigh) and haven't seen any movies lately. I'm saving "Torchwood" to watch as a marathon on Saturday, so I can't even talk about that.

But I did have a lovely reunion dinner with two friends from the production of "Love! Valour! Compassion!" in which I played Arthur 11 years ago. Good food (if you ever find yourself in Somerset, NJ, I highly recommend Sophie's Bistro for casual French dining), good wine and good company; a couple of laughs and a bit of nostalgia. Delicious!

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Tweet of the day

Lai San is my tweet-buddy and she's really funny. She loves food and she tweets about it many times a day and her tweets really make me smile and relax. She's passionate about food and cooking. And today, when I saw her tweet (screencap below), I really had to laugh. This is my tweet of the day. It's a short tweet-poem, so charming, I wanna share it with you here. Enjoy! Thank you, Lai San :)

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The sisters surprised me!

My girlfriend's sisters or my Chinese sisters (as I refer to them), really surprised me! I had the plan to buy the Nokia E66, I just waited for the euro exchange rate to rise a bit, before I change to Malaysian ringgit. Since december 2008, the euro got weaker comparing to the Malaysian ringgit for about 10%, so things became 10% more expensive for me. So the last weeks I was paying attention to the exchange rate on daily basis, plus I tried to find a good bargain for my Nokia.

My girlfriend's father likes handphones, likes to discuss the prices and other things. So last time he brought me to one shop near by the house, where they showed me this Nokia E66, the price was the cheapest of all previous ones. So after that, he got an idea for a farewell present for me. He told his daughters, who apparently started to collect money and bought the Nokia for me. In 4 days I will fly home, so basically yesterday I wanted to buy the Nokia myself. But suddenly the father comes in our room, passes me the Nokia and goes. I was so shocked! I was thinking, why he bought already, I haven't changed the money yet, how much did it cost and everything - I was confused! Then my girlfriend told me how they all treated me. Wow! I really didn't expect. And I was very shy and humble. I went to all of them individually and said thank you. My girlfriend said, they all liked me and they wanted to give me like a farewell present and the birthday present all together, since my birthday is in 1 month. I must say, they all grew even fonder to me. I will miss them when I go back. I hope I can see them soon. So... thank you again, da jie, er jie, san jie, ah Juan, ah Ling, ah Wen and xiao mei for surprising me that much. Best of luck to all of you.

[My MALAYSIA page][My BATU PAHAT page][Photo: Nokia promo]

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Happy new year from my friend Cherry!

[Photo by Cherry]

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My friend calls me fish

Why my friend Cherry said this?

我是一隻魚
喜歡游來游去
下個月我要游去馬來西亞
去當沙嗲魚.


She is so naughty, she's always teasing me. But I like it :)

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