revenge and ethics

Maybe Pung is right, we are falling too far behind and there's just too many benefits that may come from stem cell research.

A German who had his lower jaw cut out because of cancer has enjoyed his first meal in nine years — a bratwurst sandwich — after surgeons grew a new jaw bone in his back muscle and transplanted it to his mouth in what experts call an "ambitious" experiment.

Of course it's still highly unpredictable what may be the long term effects of doing such a thing, but at least they are showing signs of the possibility of this research.

In other things, there's a study about the emotional aspects of revenge and some such, which is fascinating and all, but I worry it can only aid what drives Nam's evilness.

virtually unbelievable

My gosh, why am I wasting time with Sylvia when there's this?

civilization may have an escape route

This is by far one of the most fascinating things I've read about in terms of the recent celestial discoveries. I wonder if within this lifetime there may be a day when we'd actually find another Earth (or maybe we just have) and send out something to it. However, judging by our current ability of speed and the distance of these findings, even if we did, the date of arrival would be far too late for me to ever see it. Then again, isn't there a theory that if you travelled faster than the speed of light, you'd actually start going back in time? There's something about that where scientists did some testing on atoms that led to this theory. I thought of some wild idea about how we'd be able to travel to a distant place with no time elapsing (and no, not by way of folding space). I'm too lazy to detail it now though. Anyway, if only we could travel faster than light. Oh well.

the cliche is apparently true

This article is nothing really new, but reinforces the good ol' cliche that "money doesn't buy happiness." If you go by the stated amount, I am supposedly at a peak in my happiness and I guess I can honestly say that I am quite enjoying life at the moment. So, let it roll on.

garden state

Here's my review of "Garden State." In case you haven't heard of it, it's an indie film written, directed, and starring Zach Braff (from "Scrubs"). If you live in the bay area of CA, the only place you can catch it at the moment is in SF (at The Bridge, specifically). The movie also stars Natalie Portman (oh yeah) in case anyone cares (I definitely do and if other guys are like me, they probably do too).

Anyway, it's a movie about a guy, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), who returns to his hometown after being gone for about a decade in order to attend his mother's funeral. Upon returning, he is confronted with having to try to re-relate back with his psychiatrist father and meets Samantha (Natalie Portman) who helps him to redefine his whole life.

It's a touching story, one that has a few tears and many joys. The chemistry between Zach and Natalie's characters is very quirky, but very believable. There's just something about what they say to each other that is so reminiscent of an actual real relationship between two people who like/love each other. I especially could relate to when Andrew (Zach) says something to the extent of, "Why do you have to keep saying that? If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here." It's in response to Samantha (Natalie) being worried that she was weirding him out and that he probably wanted to run out the door. I couldn't help but turn to Sylvia in the theatre and give her that knowing look.

Anyway, to think that this is Zach Braff's first time is amazing. I definitely look forward to more. This movie comes highly recommended by me (and it is giving "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" a run for it's money for best film I've seen this year), so don't hesitate to catch this flick if you can.

Oh and the soundtrack seems pretty good too. It has a lot of trip hoppish/folksie/rock stuff. You know, like Frou Frou, Thievery Corporation, Zero 7, The Shins, good stuff.

creating more envy from the non-broadbanders

Here I am again with another musical recommendation. This one is more like two. How can that be you say? I'll explain further. One band you should check out is Ivy, the other is Paco. Two different bands? Not by much. Dominique Durand, the frontwoman of Ivy, started Paco as a side project along with another member of Ivy. They're both under the same indie label, Unfiltered Records (an indie label with 3 bands, which all seem to have intertwining members). You can check out all the bands and sample quite a number of full-length mp3s, at the record labels site. I know Nam will definitely like this type of music, don't know why, I just have a hunch. Anyway, as usual, enjoy.

On other things, it's been one full month of extreme joy for me. I'm one lucky guy.