Orange County: Keeping it classy

Year of the Snake 2013

The Year of the Snake (1965- 1977- 1989 - 2001- 2013) is slithering just around the corner.  If born under this Chinese zodiac sign you are known for being

• Private
• Intelligent
• Materialistic
• Unusually stressed
• Jealous, even obsessive
• Elegant
• Good with complex problem solving
• Desiring an orderly home life

New year serpent ornament by feltmates on Etsy!

Ajumma calls out the good thangs

Elastic waist lines--not just for summer anymore

Festive steel cow holiday ornaments by Iowa artist Valerie Miller:  I've got two hanging on my Christmas tree!

Vintage Christian Fletcher, Andy Irons, and Nathan via Christian Fletcher Surf

Nordic Gummy Fish: How did I go 36 years without discovering these soft, fruity bits of happiness? Via Candyality

I've seen hundreds of Asian horror movies. The documentary The House of Suh is exponentially sadder and more disturbing than any fictitious ghost story. This engrossing film re-examines the 1993 murder by Andrew Suh of his older sister's boyfriend whom he killed at her request.  

Now that NBC's Community is off the air, my favorite television character has become nurse Morgan Tookers on FOX's The Mindy Project.  As the no-way-but-loose nursing juggernaut, played by Ike Barinholtz (formerly of MadTV), Morgan cranks it up and whips it out of the ballpark each episode accidentally smashing a car window here and a lamp post there. He had me at his interview when he asked to be called "Ransom" on the job.

Rebecca's blog post on xoJane about her quest to get a pixie haircut.  You go girl!

Let's hear it for the Ghost Boy

I watched the perfect ghost movie last night.  귀 鬼 (Gwi) is a 2010 Korean horror film featuring four chapters by four different directors.  Each chapter revolves around students chasing attention from their crushes via a devious tarot card fortune spell.

My favorite of the shorts is Ghost Boy by director Joachim Yeo. Ghost Boy is about a high school student (sympathetically and humorously played by Minho Lee) who can see spirits, including young Seo-Hee. Within the 15 minutes of this story, I shrieked (this movie includes the 2nd freakiest ghost I've ever seen in Asian Horror), I cheered, and I laughed out loud. At the end of Ghost Boy I actually cried. I haven't experienced a horror movie this entertaining and well-rounded in years, even if it was a short film.  You can watch Ghost Boy on Youtube (starting at 3:38) or on Roku's Asian Crush channel.

Pics via Gonin Movie Blog

Frank talk from Kidada and Rashida

Kidada and Rashida Jones (daughters of music producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton) talk openly about race, identity, and sisterhood in a  2005 Glamour magazine article.

Via Bossip and Uproxx

Bruce Lee in specs

When I met my husband's brother and sisters in 1997, they were living in a high rise apartment. The only art in their sparsely decorated living room was an framed 8' x 11' photo of Bruce Lee. It hung high above their sofa. It reminded me of images you see of Jesus, Mao or Kim Jong-il's portrait displayed in homes in National Geographic magazine.(Sorry to put Jesus in the company of Mao and Kim Jong-il, but that is seriously what it looked like.)

Here's Bruce Lee back in the day sporting his infamous black rimmed glasses.  When I tried to find a photo of him wearing these specs in February 2011 there was nothing on the web. The closest I got was Aarif Lee.

Photos via Seattlepi and Fark

* Day of the Dead * cookies

These Day of the Dead (November 2) cookies are almost too beautiful to eat. SweetTweets Online sells their frosted sugar skull cookies on Etsy and ships them from (clap! clap! clap! clap!) deep in the heart of Texas.

Why mess with awesomeness?

File this post under "Handsome Men Who Looked Awesome Before Their Plastic Surgery, and Probably Didn't Need to Go Under the Knife in the First Place."

1) Japanese SMAP member (and prolific drama star) Takuya Kimura (39) was the epitome of cute before his double eyelid procedure and nose job.  This old school photo of Kimura 君 warms my heart!

2)  Red Cliff, House of Flying Daggers, and 神様、もう少しだけ actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (39) has had surgery on his eyelids. Maybe if the Taiwanese-Japanese star were coming onto the scene today instead of the 1990s he'd keep his original eyelids like Korean thespian Yoo Ah In.

Photos via Freewebs and Hey-Ai

Patchwork pillows

I see Korean bojagi when looking at these colorful pillows in the Corcovado collection by Dransfield and Ross.

More bojagi at The Pad

Me gusta

Photos via DSYR, Smosh, Dramabeans and me