I'll take take take all that you have for me
What do you know, I actually came through on a promise. The picture is an example of reason #6,545,399 that I will cry 1000 oceans when it comes time for me to leave the bay area. I was wandering around my neighborhood the other day, and all of a sudden, in the place of a trendy Mission apparel boutique was a wacky little shop that called to me. Inside awaited a wall of Pocky! The picture does not do it justice, nor does it capture all the other wackiness in this store dedicated to Japanese kitsch, including chocolates and candies that are made to look like sushi. Best part about the shop- the dippy, frenetic cashiers. Blinking, smiling, crazy Mission girl behind the counter doesn't even bat an eyelash as I snap a picture of the Pocky display. And when I check out, she asks, "oh my god, have you tried the Green Tea Pocky? It's new!" I wanted to ask her if there was LSD in that particular flavor, but she was just too pleasant to kid like that. I love my neighborhood. And so I shall be mopey no longer. Anyway, Abhi, can you guess which Pocky was for you??
Speaking of the bay area, turns out TMBWITW was in Oaktown this weekend filming The Mistress of Spices. I'll admit to not liking that book or Devakuruni's work very much. I also must say that this article on Aish and the film was really poorly written in certain portions. And finally, I will just remark that the pairing of Aish with Dylan McDermott is going to cause my brother's head to explode into a million pieces. He went nuclear when he realized she was getting paired off with Henderson in Bride & Prejudice (actually, he went ballistic during that movie for many other reasons as well). I don't get the whole ooh, Dylan McDermott thing. On the other hand, after talking to SP this weekend, I realized I have to get my Gael Garcia Bernal fascination in check. My friends have started to give me that look that says "please speak no further about him, or we will be forced to testify against you when he takes out the restraining order." And my brother had to point out that Bernal would not be waiting for me at Machu Pichu, in case that was motivating my plans. It's SP's fault most recently though, since she told me that Bernal refused to introduce Antonio Banderas at the Oscars in protest against him singing the nominated Motorcycle Diaries tune. Come on, I'm not made of stone!
And...some shady shiznit regarding celebrities and the pharmaceutical industry here. This is another one of those gray zone issues that drive me batty. Should we raise awareness about depression? That seems like a no-brainer yes. But should we do it through Pfizer and GSK pay-offs to celebrities like Lorraine Bracco and Shawn Colvin? Seems a little more in the hmm, well... category. Meanwhile, the congress and W. are too busy worrying over the Schiavo case to think over these real gray zone issues that need tending (oh yeah, and getting the FDA to do its job, another thing that drifts in and out of the government's attention). The grandstanding going on in Congress lately is becoming so blatant that it's making me ill- first the whole steroid nonsense, now this. See Jeff's entry for some good raging around this topic.
NPR had a piece this morning on natural hormones that have been advocated by such notable flakes as Suzanne Somers as an effective therapy for management of menopause. The piece highlighted an issue that always drives me crazy with the granolas around here: just because something is natural or organic, doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. High levels of estrogen in menopausal women, whether through internal cascades, through drugs, or through natural supplements from soybeans increase a woman's chances of developing breast cancer. If the FDA could get off its a** and properly regulate pharmaceutical drugs, maybe, just maybe it could even expand and finally take a long, hard look at all these natural supplements and whether they are putting people at health risks. In the meanwhile, I'm treating the headache that has developed in the back of my skull with a tall glass of water, and a cease and desist on reading any more news today.
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