Zombieland (2009, Movie)

It was directed with little ambition and even less distinction by first-timer Ruben Fleischer. Most of mankind has gone flesh-eating crazy from a Mad Cow–style pandemic. Luckily, the stars delight even when their lines don't.

NTUE reunion at Susan Huang's house

It was drizzling and overcast in the morning and turned into a sunny and beautiful afternoon when we arrived at Susan's house in Rancho Cucamonga. Shirlly and Eric Chang brought in one lobster salad and a Taiwanese flavor dessert. I made two vegetarian dishes in addition to Susan's numerous delicious ones. Even though time was short, we chatted happily for a couple hours. Susan was a wonderful host and great cook. It was good to see each other well.

Up in the Air (2009, Movie)

In the day of 10% job loss Reitman gives us a film about an Omaha man whose job is terminating people from employment because their company is fearful to do it themselves. Clooney loves to fly, loves to stay in hotels, loves to rent cars and loves to...avoid life?

It delivers a very powerful message about the American workplace and its culture.

Half Day at Getty Villa

The Getty Villa in Malibu is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.

A Roman Villa Recreated
The Getty Villa is modeled after a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy. The Villa dei Papiri was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, and much of it remains unexcavated. Therefore, Neuerburg based many of the Museum's architectural and landscaping details on elements from other ancient Roman houses in the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae.

This time we spent most of the time outdoors enjoying their splendid gardens and landscape.

What to See

• Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities arranged by themes including Gods and Goddesses, Dionysos and the Theater, and Stories of the Trojan War
• Roman-inspired architecture and gardens

Gardens are integral to the setting of the Getty Villa, as they were in the ancient Roman home. Open spaces around the site feature bronze sculptures, fountains, and lush plantings of trees, herbs, and flowers used by the Romans.

Around a narrow reflecting pool sit replicas of finds from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, including square marble basins and bronze statues depicting women who have come to draw water from a stream.

Outside the Museum entrance lies the Herb Garden, a mosaic of fruit trees and fragrant and colorful annuals and perennials used by the ancient Romans in cooking, ceremony, and medicine.

The Museum's south doors open onto the Outer Peristyle, the largest garden at the Getty Villa. It is adorned with hedge-lined pathways and circular stone benches. Plants favored by the ancient Romans, such as bay laurel, boxwood, myrtle, ivy, and oleander, are planted around a spectacular 220-foot-long reflecting pool. Bronze sculptures, replicas of statues found at the Villa dei Papiri, are placed in their ancient findspots. A peristyle, or covered walkway, surrounds the formal garden and leads visitors past illusionistic wall paintings to spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

白色曇花 (Epiphyllum) in my backyard

曇花屬（學名：Epiphyllum）是仙人掌科植物。

花大純白色，花瓣披針形，晚間開放，至次日早凋謝。開花時長4，5個小時，因此用曇花一現來形容時間很短、稍縱即逝的機遇。

Half Day at Huntington Library (Mayl 2010)

From Huntington Library_052010

We visited two exhibitions:

1. A Clash of Empires: The Seven Years’ War and British America Some 20 years before the shot “heard ‘round the world” initiated the War of Independence, other shots, fired in what is now southwestern Pennsylvania, literally set the world on fire. On May 28, 1754, a detachment of Virginia militia commanded by a young George Washington ambushed a party of French soldiers in the territory claimed by both France and England. Less than two months later, French reinforcements surrounded the stockade hastily built by Washington’s men and forced their surrender. This skirmish triggered a chain of events that erupted in a conflict known as the French and Indian War or the Seven Years’ War and drew into its vortex all the European powers and engulfed the entire globe. “A Clash of Empires” examines the causes, course, and consequences of the conflict through the eyes of its many participants, publicly displaying for the first time materials from the Huntington Library’s vast collections documenting this turning point in modern history.

2. Child's Play? Children's Book Illustration of 19th-Century Britain In the 19th century—with the work of Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, and others—children’s fairy tales and nursery rhymes began to be widely published, documenting what was originally a rich oral tradition across western cultures. In Britain, such publications were enlivened by the work of some of the most talented artists and illustrators of the period, including Walter Crane (1845–1915), Arthur Rackham (1867–1939), and Kate Greenaway (1846–1901). Drawing on the collections of The Huntington’s art and literary collections, “Child’s Play?” includes a selection of rare drawings as well as the books themselves. Although beguiling, some of the stories and their illustrations represent the often complicated layering of the joys and fears related to childhood and child rearing.

My gall-stones

After 7-days procedure, here is the result of it. There is a whole bunch of litter emerald-like stones, the biggest one is about 1.5 cm. Amazing! This is the first time I tried. Wendy Liu said a minimum of two cycles is required because there will be more stale ones lining up to be flushed out. We'll see.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007, Documentary)

Pete Seeger has had quite a life. He sang with Woody Guthrie, fought for civil rights and the right to organize, joined the Communist Party and left it, heavily influenced the environmental movement,and did more to popularize folk music than anyone else by far. Seeger was blacklisted for many years and the FBI dogged his every move and would only let him play children's concerts in the 1950's. These children grew up in the 1960's and changed everything.

Pete Seeger's story is inspiring and uplifting.

食客 (The Best Chef, 韓劇, 2007)

此片有對韓國料理裏面很重要的一個材料——醬的描述，其次是泡菜，再次是對食材的苛刻要求。

韓國每次把一些他們根本不存在的文化，硬是執入他們的戲劇裡，就覺得很牽強，是啦！他們的確是有其自己的文化，但他們的文化跟食客裡演的那風骨精神其實是大相逕庭，吃是一個民族最重要要的文化之一，但對於吃，我真的很難被催眠。

對於韓國的食物,除了泡菜, 個人也覺得乏善可陳 .其他那比得上咱中國料理。