I have a confession to make: I haven’t watched a lot of movies lately. Instead, I’ve been concentrating on watching TV shows. At one point, I had 4 shows to watch on Sunday. Crazy, right? It almost left me no time to do anything else, too.

Right now, my must-watch schedule goes like this:

Monday: technically, these shows are on Sunday in the U.S but I prefer to watch them later in the week. Otherwise, I would not be able to sleep at all!

• Game of Thrones: I love season 1. Season 2 was somewhat of a let-down but so far, I like season 3. I keep on watching it just to establish my schedule for True Blood season 6.
• The Good Wife: now, I think I’m a minority when it comes to this show but it’s a really interesting and intelligent show. Since the beginning of this show, I’ve been following it quite faithfully.
• Revenge and Once Upon a Time: I currently put these two on hold and watch them once the season is over. These are addictive shows with soap opera quality. Not much substance if you want that sort of thing in a show.

Friday:

• The Big Bang Theory: it’s one of those shows whose quality do not go down in time. However, TBBT is not how it used to be. Less science concept, more corny jokes. At least Howard is less of a pervert now.

Sunday:

• The Voice: it’s here for 2.5 hours on Sunday, which means my Sunday night is locked down. I love season 4 so far, especially with new coaches Shakira and Usher. They are really sweet and talented and they make me wish Christina and Cee-Lo not to come back.

Other shows that I watch once in a while:

• American Idol: I have two words for you: Nicki Minaj! If you set aside her big boobs and her music, she is a decent judge. Her advice and critiques make a lot of sense. Mariah is weak as a judge. Keith Urban is ok, he’s sweet and all. But Randy Jackson is a pain! This season is the first time I am sick of him. And I don’t even watch AI that much to begin with.
• How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family: I watch whenever I can, which is not much. I do love these shows.

And of course, I am angling for the future: TRUE BLOOD!

Once June 16th comes, you’ll see another side of me: the obsessive-compulsive stalker side. True Blood is very addicting and last year, I found myself unable to function waaay after the season was over. Now, I don’t even bother to explain about this addiction. Only a Trubie can understand my pain, let’s leave it that way.

Most of the time, I find myself working on something else: reading an article, a book, discussing science with my colleagues, talking to my boss, gathering ideas, … But about 80% of the time, something weird happens. This True Lab Stories series is my effort to recollect what happened in the lab. Names are withdrawn to protect the identities of my colleagues, as how they should be.

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Story #1: Pictures, what pictures?

After my 12-hour shift of supervising my student, I was exhausted. My brain actually hurt. There was so much science I could take in that period of time. So what did I do?

I browsed Facebook!

Facebook is probably either the greatest thing ever happened to our generation or the biggest sinkhole. Your choice. But it does have great stuff, depending on who your friends are. Mine happens to like bags and shoes.

So I was browsing pages and pages and pages of pictures of faAabulous shoes, bags, and outfits when I let out le sigh.

“Why are you so beautiful?” I asked.

My student and two of my colleagues whipped their heads toward my direction in unison.

“What did you say? What so beautiful?”

“These,” I pointed to the screen.

They took a look at the pictures, took a step back, and screamed, “What in the world???”

Me: What? They are seriously beautiful things!

Dude 1: I thought you found a TEM pix on nanoparticles to help me explain what’s going on with mine, shees!

Dude 2: Jesus, clothes!

Dude 3: Guys! 

From then on, I realize they kinda step back whenever they see me looking at pictures of clothes. I think I scare them!

Guess what? I am blogging from my … wait for it … awesome KINDLE FIRE! I know, right? WordPress has an app for Kindle whereas the beloved Blogger has none. Now, I have been using Blogger for close to 10 years and it has been a fun ride but sometimes a girl needs to blog in bed, ya know? I truly wish Google would bring Blogger up blind hiah

On the other notes :

1. I can haz mentees: two 4th-year undergrads are now under my tutelage until the end of the semester. I feel sorry for them as I, their mentor,  has an anal tendency toward perfection.

2. I seriously thought of opening my own scientific editing service today: there is obviously a demand within where I work and so far, the ones I have been edited are either mad or happy. I ride ‘em hard and point out mistakes they made. There’s no sugarcoating when you edit papers. So far, no repeat customers but I think they are mostly happy. Also, I am thinking of charging $10/ page (less money in exchange for authorship.)

3. Pub date’s gotta move back a little: as of the end of last year, I wanted to push my book out by now. But things have gotten insane! On top of my project + mentoring time + beauty writing time + study time (I take a class online with one of my work bros) , I hardly have time to do anything else. I even dropped Farmville 2 out of my schedule, really. That’s how srsly busy my life has become. However, I anticipate the next few weeks to be less hectic so I can get this editing going.

4. Joe Konrath really makes me want to publish my book, man: I am not kidding, if you haven’t read his Blog, you should. This guy is a decent writer and a marketing genius! He is awesomeness wrapped in awesomeness with awesomeness filling. That’s how rad he is. Please read his blog, you guys! (The link is on the side bar)

5. I need to go to sleep now. My work mates are awesome. From the beginning of this year until now, I am invited to a party/free meal at least once a week and I don’t know why. It’s either because the economy is picking up or I know some awesometastic foodies. The places they took me are really very good!

6. I do have awesome friends, old and new: it’s like this year is getting better and better or something. I don’t even try
to explain things anymore. I guess The Secret works in some miraculous ways.

First off, let’s talk about Argo. And by that, I mean, let’s talk about Ben Affleck. I have been a fan of him since “Good Will Hunting.” He obviously had talent. And being handsome didn’t hurt back then, either. I followed his works for a while but didn’t pay much attentions to who he dated until the Bennifer part 1 oompa-palooza. (It did feel like that, didn’t it, with all the fake tans and kissing J.Lo on the butt and all?) While almost everybody and their mothers jeered at him after “Gigli”, I actually had faith in this guy. For some unknown reasons until know, my young 20-something heart believed that Ben Affleck would one day rise into greatness.

Fast-forward to “Gone Baby Gone.” I loved that movie. I made my then-roommate sit through it while fully knowing that she hated profanities. And guess what? She liked “Gone Baby Gone” as well. Then came “The Town”, which was also another movie set in Boston with a lot of profanities. It also became a success and people were kind of taken by it. Once, you are lucky. But twice? You are talented.

And now with “Argo”: he made difficult topisc of kidnapping and anti-terrorism seem easy and seamless. As I watched the movie, I did not even find a way to make it better. It was perfect and oh so clever!

Which only means one thing: when it comes to talent, I have an eye for it.

The second -go is Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino. Now, I didn’t know QT’s works until Kill Bill vol. 1. But once I watched it, I really liked it. Gory, yes. Bloody, yes. Lots and lots of violence, yes. But somehow he made it work. To this very day, I still think Kill Bill vol. 1 is one of the greatest movies Tarantino has ever made. Even better than Inglorious Basterd (and this one had Brad Pitt!)

But Django Unchained blew everything I have ever watched from Mr. Tarantino out of the water. Hard. For the first time ever, I got to watch Christoph Waltz playing the bad guy. And he always plays the antagonists really, really, really well. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and watch “Water for Elephants” where vampire Edward did not sparkle (haha!)

But I digressed. Mr. Waltz was beyond awesome. He played the role of Django’s mentor so well that I believed he would make Yoda weep. On top of that, we have Leonardo DiCaprio as the bad guy (wow!) and Jamie Foxx not being a comedian or Ray Charles. All of the actors played their parts to a T and I did enjoy them in this movie very much.

As Django Unchained came to an end, I wondered if we could ever know how Quentin Tarantino’s mind works. He has written some really incredible and somewhat historically bent movies that people enjoy, despite fully knowing how inaccurate the details are. That is a different level of genius that we are used to.

Except for Jennifer Lawrence, whose performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” I did not get to watch, I figured out the rest of the major nominations. Perhaps because I did not care of this year’s Oscar that I did not feel bitter over certain losses like last year. The ones who received the awards this year deserve them. Also, if you haven’t watched “Argo” and “Django Unchained”, you should. They are two incredible movies. And you can always thank me later

First of all, don’t we all miss Conan’s brilliant “In the year 3000″ segment? I know I do.

2012 has been a strange year for me. I started it with one determination in my life: to exercise again. So I did Hip Hop Abs for about 2 months before realizing that I should do P90X. I did complete that 90-day challenge and went on to Brazil Butt Lift, which is much harder than P90X itself!

Then, out of nowhere, I got a job as a research scientist at the University of Science. Unlike the U.S or other countries, Vietnam has this gigantic system comprising of 2 public universitites: Vietnam National University (VNU)- Ha Noi and VNU-Ho Chi Minh City. In each university, there are various campuses specialized in certain things, such as science, law, architecture, business, engineering, arts and humanity, etc. So University of Science itself is only about hard science and it is not so bad. People are serious with their research here and I am happy to be a part of it.

But before that, I was searching for jobs like mad. I applied for a position as a web editor for Elle Vietnam, got myself a face-to-face interview but didn’t get the job. However, I got an offer to be a writing contributor to Elle and I accepted. That was in March. Since then, I have written countless feature articles not only for Elle but also for Saigon Marketing, Family Kitchen (Women’s Day in the upcoming year), and F-Fashion. With each step, I gain even more creative control in my own work, which is a big blessing for a writer.

My plan of getting out of Vietnam is slowly working. Last year, I applied for a doctoral scholarship in Australia but did not hear anything back. This year, using my VNU credentials, I contacted that person again and voila, got a reply! While the fellowship was already filled, the contact promised to keep me afloat once another opportunity emerges. This is a breakthrough as not so long ago, I emailed people asking for information and never got anything back. But now that I am a member of the most prestigious university in Vietnam, people want to reply to me? Oh please! I’m still the same person and this makes me want to have a Harvard affiliation at some point in my life.

Job-wise, I can’t complain. I have the most wonderful group of co-workers and bosses. They make me feel so free and loved. I have worked so many labs before but it had never been like this. There was always been some sort of jealousy, rivalry or sabotage going on within the lab environment. But this lab is so different that I want every labs I am going to work in the future to be like this as well. This is a big relief to me as I am finally working in a sane environment.

People-wise, I decided once and for all to cut some people out of my life. There was no point of keeping them around anymore, virtually or not. Either they care or they don’t. And those who don’t need to go. I was antagonized over that decision but once I removed them out of my life, it has become a lot better. I do believe that once you remove negativity out of your life, positive things are bound to come in. I didn’t expect to have such wonderful work buddies but reflecting back, I realized they did come into my life after those antagonizing “friends” were out for good.

I’m looking forward to 2013 with hope that it is going to be better than in 2012. Here are a few things I have in plan:

• Secure a scholarship for my PhD
• Publish that book already: with so much work lately, I have no time to edit my first fully written book. It’s a pain and a half to edit and I am going to carve out some time to finish it. Estimate pub date is in March and I am going to work my ass off to make it.
• Continue writing for magazines: maybe I’ll be the beauty editor of Vogue Vietnam in the future (and I hope so as I always have high regards for this magazine) but as a writer, I have had tremendous exposures of the beauty industry the way a blogger does not. I pray to have even more opportunities in 2013 as I love makeup and beauty very much.
• Do that P90X/Insanity cross-over program: first, I need to start on P90X again, then work my way to Insanity before doing that 90-day cross-over. On top of that, I want to do Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method program. I’m a fitness DVD enthusiast and so far, it has worked well for me.
• Take a couple of classes: surprisingly, there are a lot of courses to take online and they are completely free. I am going to take a few courses for spring on Statistics and Chemistry. On top of that, I am thinking of taking a computer class on Photoshop and web design and maybe a sewing class.

Yup, that’s about it for now. Let’s pray for a better year in 2013, shall we?

Today we have a guess reviewer. My teddy bear B.B decided to review Ted on my behalf. Please give a warm welcome to B.B Lam!

So, last week Mom and I watched “Ted” together. It was more of her coercing me into watching it. Comedy is not my thing, I’m more of a True Blood kind of teddy bear guy. But Mom was all, “Look, B.B, that’s a teddy bear just like you! He’s cute just like you! Let’s watch the movie together!”

Okay, Mom. Whatever you said.

I plopped my butt down on her stomach and shimmied myself into a cozy little place at the crook of her elbow and watched it. Okay, that teddy bear Ted was cute. And big. And fluffy for like the first 10 minutes.

And then he started to curse. And smoked weed. And drank beer. And fraternized with women.

This movie is so unrealistic, man! I mean, if I were to curse, Mom would have grounded me already. No more hugs for the teddy bear. No more nice clothes. No more True Blood (and I’m a fan of Sam the dog so it’s hard to let go!) But that Ted guy was able to do such things without consequences? Please!

And he’s mean, too! I’ve met lots and lots of teddy bears and other plush toys but none of them are as mean as Ted. I guess he was never grounded.

Overall, I could not watch the whole movie. It had so much teddy bear cruelty. I had to turn my face away when Ted was torn in half. Such violence to a teddy bear.

By the end of the movie, I ended up apologizing to Mom for being mean to her lately. I don’t want to end up being ripped in half like Ted.

About B.B

B.B Lam is a 12-year old teddy bear who is Dao’s writing buddy. He is currently the President of the teddy bear       chapter of Cat Enthusiasts in Vietnam. B.B loves True Blood, especially the dog form of Sam Merlotte.

I ended up watching “The Dark Knight Rises” twice just to make sure of how I feel about this movie. I was not a Batman fan until Christopher Nolan took over the franchise and gave it a more human touch with “Batman Begins.” And then, “The Dark Knight” came along and really blew it out of proportion. Heath Ledger’s Joker is someone you can’t forget. If you want to build an awesome psychotic supervillain, Nolan’s Joker is something you have to learn.

With that said, TDKR created a lot of hypes when filmed in New York City. For years and years, I always believed Gotham City to be somewhere like Chicago where the place is cold and the crimes are real. New York City does not have that desperation and darkness that Gotham City has. It is just too cheerful. But as I said, it was filmed in the big bad NYC and there’s nothing we can do about it, except to try and do our best to match it to Gotham City.

As I watched the movie for the first time, I was somewhat excited. But that feeling waned right about half way throughout the movie. This is one long movie with a somewhat temperamental pacing. You don’t see a lot of peaks of excitement the way “The Dark Knight” did. It’s just rather flat and on and on and on with car chases, gun fires, and hand to hand combat. At some point, I wondered if Mr. Nolan took a page out of Michael Bay’s play book or something. The violent action scenes are flashy but not that creative, despite Batman had a new toy and all.

When I learned that Tom Hardy was cast as Bane, I was excited. I mean, in Batman Universe, Bane is the only one to break the Bat in half. Put him up and crunched him down on Bane’s knee like a twig, just like that. This guy is a legend within himself. Therefore, I was really looking forward to it. And Tom Hardy is a really good actor, too.

But just a few minutes with Bane, I was disappointed. While Tom Hardy did buff himself up a lot and he looked like an ox with a mask on, Nolan’s Bane is weird. He lacks the psychotic finesse that The Joker carried so brilliantly within himself. On top of that, Bane’s voice is strange. Had Nolan decided for Bane to go full-on asthmatic brassiness like  Darth Vader, it could have worked. But Bane’s voice is not like that. Instead, it’s like a cross between a man’s voice and a woman’s voice sounding from a coffee cup with an English accent. Even The Penguin sounded scarier.

Bane in this movie is not a full-fledged villain. He has a back story but it does not really offer him a motive to do what he does. The same goes with Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul. Of course, she wants revenge but her motivation is not that strong to begin with. She even sounds like a spoiled child in some parts. At some point, I started to believe Amanda Clark in “Revenge” is a better character to portrait this line of “I want to seek revenge for my father” motif. And as you may know, “Revenge” is this campy soap opera show on prime time at ABC!

With that said, the movie was not all bad. Catwoman/Selina Kyle is great, not just because Anne Hathaway was in great shape at all. In fact, her dialog is the best. It has finesse and fits her character perfectly. The one who managed to steal my tears is Alfred. Michael Caine gave a very sincere and heartbreaking performance in this one. And it would be a mistake not to mention Lucius Fox. The fantastic Mr. Fox has always been a joy to be from the beginning of this Batman trilogy.

But the biggest surprise is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance of John Blake. I was watching him and I felt like he was being himself instead of playing a character. If the villains are not so believable, John Blake makes up for that. The twist at the end is a nice touch. Will he be the next Batman? We don’t know.

Which leaves us the last character to talk about: Batman.

I wonder if Christopher Nolan reread “The Hero’s Journey” before he wrote TDKR because the whole thing does sound a lot like a typical hero’s journey without anything to jazz it up. Straight up hero attempted something, failed, got a mentor, tried, tried, tried again until succeeded, fought off villain and won. We should remember that Bruce Wayne came into this movie 8 years after the events in “The Dark Knight.” He lost his most beloved and he did not seem to bounce back. Physically, Bruce Wayne looks worn down in this movie but that does not reflect on his own mental struggle. Because of that, Batman feels too superficial to me. But if you take a look at the new James Bond, who also lost the love of his life, we can see how torn up Bond is and how much he wants to win. We don’t see that in Batman. It’s like the old Batman in “The Dark Knight” is gone. The only bright spot in this movie was when Bruce Wayne was in a pit and he tried to get out. But then, it’s like a variation of the hero’s journey.

In conclusion, “The Dark Knight Rises” is neither a bad or a good movie. It is somewhere in between with no so vicious villains and not so energetic Batman. In this trilogy, I have to say “The Dark Knight” is the best, “Batman Begins” comes second mainly because of Katie Holmes’ performance, and “The Dark Knight Rises” places dead last. With that said, it is still not a bad movie. You can do much worse with a sleuth of brainless action movies out there. But for it to be the last in Nolan’s Batman Universe, I wish it could have been better.

Guess what I did today? Yup, I finally did it: I watched “The Hunger Games” in Vietnam!

And guess why it’s a big deal? Because, dear friends, this movie is banned throughout the entire country. You can find the translated version of the books, you might even find the English copies as well. But when it comes to the movie? Banned. Banned in theaters, banned for sale on DVD, banned in all shapes and sizes.

But how could I watch it?

I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a place where we can watch stuff. And watched it we did, in a very quiet and air-conditioned place as well. Huddled together, we watched “The Hunger Games” and gave commentaries during various parts of the movie. Some commentaries are:

Friend 1: Peeta is like a rich kid who doesn’t know anything

Friend 2: But he knows how to camouflage *looked at the scene when Peeta made himself look like a tree trunk* Ooh! Mekkup!

Friend 1: Those kids from District 1 and 2 are like those kids in gifted schools here in our city. So cocky!

Me: Yup! *Watched Cato got hacked* Down you go, pomelo!

Overall, the movie reminds me of Gladiator and Survivor for kids. The whole kids killing kids thing is rough and before watching the movie, I was afraid it would be too much. But the director handled it well and made it artful. The whole cast was fantastic: Katniss was fierce, Peeta is a noob, Rue was cute, Cato and his gang were so full of themselves. But the ones who shined in this movie were not the two main characters. It took me a while to realize the fashion designer with golden eyeliner was Lenny Kravitz. Yup, the rock star played Cinna. And then we have Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and she’s unrecognizable in this movie. After watching so many movies of hers playing a dumb romantic kind of blonde, I hardly recognized her in this movie. I oh so wanted her to be the bad guy but so far, she was not.

And then we have Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman. He’s like a chameleon: every time I watch a Tucci movie, he plays something else. Never the same character twice, that Mr. Tucci. But the real joy to watch was Haymitch. I might have called him an asshole a couple of times during the beginning of the movie. And like Mr. Tucci, Woody Harrelson was unrecognizable as well. I have to give props to the makeup team in this movie. They did a fantastic job on everyone, especially Effie and Haymitch.

As a whole, I do enjoy “The Hunger Games.” The whole movie doesn’t have a moment of lag. It just rolls from one scene to another seamlessly. Also, the characters plays well together in such a diverse hodgepodge and the supporting cast not only make themselves shine but also the main characters. I’m glad to be able to watch it and I hope to watch the two other movies from this trilogy as well.

Yup, I finally did it! I finally got to watch “The Amazing Spider-Man.” When I heard rumors that they would make another Spider-man movie, I asked myself if there’s anything else for them to make. I mean, after Spider-man 3 was over, the story was pretty much cut and dry. There were talks of making a Venom movie and I agreed, it could have been a better option at the time. Besides, I love Topher Grace.

And then, the trailer came out and I was like, “Huh? Isn’t this something the Sam Raimi saga already covered?” But then a lot of people told me it was great so I decided to put it in my must-watch list once it’s out on DVD.

I came in without having a lot of expectations or any preconceived notions about this movie at all. I’ve always known Spider-man is a blockbuster type of action movie but man, this is out of the water. The action scenes are great, the fight scenes are real, CGI effects are crazy good, and the clarity of the whole movie is just breath-taking. It’s like New York being filmed at its finest. For that and that only, this can be the most beautifully filmed movie of 2012.

Andrew Garfield from The Social Network fame played the teenage Peter Parker and Emma Stone played Gwen Stacy. This is interesting as it kinda negates everything the first 3 Spider-man movies ever did. Instead of being bitten by a spider when he was already working at the newspaper, Peter Parker picked a pack of pickled peppers became Spider-man when he was in high school. And instead of Mary Jane Watson being his first love, we got to see Gwen Stacy, who really is Peter Parker’s one true sweetheart according to the comic book version. The teenage angst in Peter Parker was real and so was the chemistry between Peter and Gwen. The whole cast played well together and I love this movie for it.

The antagonist is Dr. Curt Connors. Yup, you got it right. It’s Curt as in, “He gave me a curt nod” and “She curtly replied to his question.” I wonder if it would kill Stan Lee to name his character as Kurt (which at the very end I realized his full name is Curtis, ah!) And why the matching initials? Peter Parker, Curt Connors, Victor Von Doom? But apart from that, Rhys Ifans was unrecognizable in this role. He played the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde dynamic well with the meek and nice Dr. Connors in one end and psychotic Lizard at the other. He was so good that I almost forgot how dreadful Sandman was in Spider-Man 3!

While I didn’t expect much coming in to this movie, I was plenty surprised after I finished watching it. The Amazing Spider-Man did indeed reprise this franchise very well. However, I wonder why every time a story hits the refresh button, the main character becomes younger? Is this an effort to attract a younger demographic? I don’t know for sure but as long as the other franchises keep doing what The Amazing Spider-Man did, we are going to be ok.

(Note: blog originally and partially written on November 2nd. Why it took me so long to complete is still a puzzle to me!)

To think about it, the only years I did not join NaNoWriMo were during the nascent stage of my grad school years. I think I didn’t do it for 2 years because grad school was insane (and insanely bad at the same time!) But from 2004 onto now, I’ve been pretty much consistent with joining in the game, although winning it is a different set of equations all together!

So yeah, I am sad that NaNoWriMo won’t be a part of my life this November. However, I have a whole bunch of writings I need to do. My writing life has never been dull lately and I’m glad to have it that way.

To those of you who are going to partake in this noble quest, I wish you all good luck.

May The Force be with you. Live long and prosper. I am Ironman.

Whatever it is, you are going to need a lot of it. And caffeine, too!