Last night's casualties included:

2 orders of Chicharon Bulaklak
1 Four Seasons
2 orders of Tuna Belly
1 Ripe Mango Shake
2 Garlic Rice
1 Sinigang Bangus
1 Chicken Fritters
1 glass of Red Wine
½ glass of Pale

Man was I full.

For some reason I am wondering how many couples broke up last night, and wish that I could have my own quick Amelie-montage of couples fighting, with me whispering the correct figure at the end.

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I have to admit that most of my Bush-hating comes from Steven Grant, and his column Master of the Obvious. It's at Comic Book Resources, and yes, deals with comics. However, it also deals with world politics, reviews, popular entertainment, etc. The man's well-informed. If you're curious, just check out his columns. There's been a section in each column on American politics for a long while now, so if that's all you're interested in reading give it a look-see. You'll find out all sorts of sordid things that Bush and Ashcroft have been pulling seemingly behind the scenes, because most of the American people are either ignorant (by which I mean not paying attention to how laws are literally being rewritten without their knowledge, which should never be the case in a democracy) or misguided. When I wrote one of my major papers in Political Science last year I pretty much used Master of the Obvious as my main source of info (it helps that Grant also notes his sources, some from Slate). Meanwhile I'll let you read this piece from the Onion, which as usual is funny but seems all too true:

Saddam Enrages Bush With Full Compliance
WASHINGTON, DC-President Bush expressed frustration and anger Monday over a U.N. report stating that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is now fully complying with weapons inspections. "Enough is enough," a determined Bush told reporters. "We are not fooled by Saddam's devious attempts to sway world opinion by doing everything the U.N. asked him to do. We will not be intimidated into backing down and, if we have any say in the matter, neither will Saddam." Bush added that any further Iraqi attempt to meet the demands of the U.N. or U.S. will be regarded as "an act of war."

I sort of wish that Iraq would suddenly announce that they just ran out of all their oil. See how quickly Bush's hard-on for war disappears.

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Some interesting quotes from a Christopher Doyle interview I found:

"We break the record every year for film used in a Hong Kong film, and yet he discards 95% of it. And I don't care, because if the image doesn't hit the screen, it's still there. I had the visual, and the emotional, and the technical experience of having made that image, and I think that comes back on the screen."

I suppose I should explain this one a bit. See, Wong Kar-Wai doesn't really work with a script. He has a general plot, and basically comes up with scenes on a daily basis, and then allows improvisation and inspiration to affect the story's development. A lot of times he doesn't even know how they will end. In that sense his "filmmaking" is really done in post, the editing process, where he sculpts what will become his film. In other words, instead of building up, he removes what is extraneous. It's an expensive process, but his works are amazing, and very few people are allowed that liberty.

And here's one that made me laugh:

SAB - So in these movies- the guys have such incredible charm, like in Days of Being Wild, when Leslie says, "I'll remember this minute forever."

Chris - Yeah, "Give me one minute of your time... this is the beginning of the rest of your life' kind of thing.

SAB - Can you be that charming?

Chris - No, no, I wish. Those lines are all Wong Kar-Wai's lines. I don't know how he became so charming. (Laughter) That line was chosen by this film magazine as the line of the year, and you can imagine how many poor young girls in Hong Kong lost their virginity because of this line.