I was rather intrigued by this collection at the de Young Museum by Deborah Oropallo. What makes art original anymore? If it’s…only the creation of the art that matters anyway?

She took digital prints inspired by online costume stores and overlayed them on famous paintings. Is it art? Or is it a conversation piece?

But in other news, if you’re lucky to be in the large metro areas, you might be able to go to a museum for free (and a guest) sponsored by Bank of America.

“I always believed we were seeds in the sky,” the narrator started. “Plucked out just by chance.”

What if a chance encounter never happened? What if that one single event that caused your parents to meet didn’t happen because someone decided to turn right instead of left? Almost like the butterfly effect, the fifteen-minute oscar-winning animation The Danish Poet explores the theme in an optimistic way.

We saw this yesterday at the San Francisco International Film Festival in the animation shorts program. It was the cute short that ended the program, borrowing the earlier form animation. No flashy digital 3d or soundtrack. Just a simple story, supported not augmented by animation.

In some way, what if my parents never did meet. I probably wouldn’t be here. What if my mom had decided to pursue a newscasting career rather than go to nursing school? What if she didn’t have that fish dinner in her dorm room that probably got her closer with a friend who introduced my mom to her brother—my dad? What if my mom’s friend decided not to flake and actually went on that trip to United States for the first time? Or what if my dad learned that the best schools in the United States were the Ivy Leagues in the East Coast rather than a school in the Northwest with the word Washington in its name? And what if my grandparents decided to immigrate to Michigan in the boonies than to settle in the bay area? What if? Would it still be the same as today?

“You have one too,” she said to him.

“Have what?” he asked.

And she pointed to hers. Right above her lip. The wavered over hers for a moment and then to his, panning across their faces.

After watching Eagle vs. Shark as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival, I felt self-conscious about my mole. Even though I wrote about it as my personal statement for undergrad, I find it almost jarring to see the mark on anybody else. The two characters in the New Zealand movie each had a mark above their lip. A sign of soulmates?

As we approached the tunnel, Chris’ face lit up. His left hand poised over the center of the steering wheel. I swallowed and slightly grimaced, knowing what was to come.

Honk! honk!, his BMW shouted as we ripped through the short tunnel through Geary. At the same time that Chris yelps in delight.

On Friday, when we dropped Joe off, I told him about what was to come as we entered a tunnel. I mentioned a few words in laughter, Inappropriate. Surprising. Immature

“I mean the only thing I ever do is honk in tunnels,” Joe responded.

Chris was quite pleased and we ripped through the tunnel, honking. Because he could. And because it echoed through the stoney walls, bouncing noise up and down. And probably scaring the cars in front of me.

Chris really loves driving through the Caldecott tunnel on the 24. It is a nearly 2 minute stretch. There are not many tunnels in the bay area like that.

Fortunately, we don’t drive to my parents’ house that often.

Chris Mullen used to run the track at my high school. When I was younger, I remember when the basketball games were good. My dad loved the basketball games. I remember watching a middle aged man pacing back and forth on the court. Blonde-ish hair, flat, 80s style.

We always had nosebleed seats to the games I went to. I can barely remember the baseball games, only remembering that I got fidgety and really just paced around the snack stands. But the basketball games, I remember sitting at the top watching the players play below like ants lost in a maze.

When I was older, the Warriors weren’t great. But I had friends who were not fairweather fans. I saw them at the Madison Square garden. They lost of course. And then once in Oakland. They did win that one time. It was my friend’s birthday and it was the gift he wanted. I remember being not myself, being a little talkative.

So today, Warriors vs. Mavericks. Chris was over and we had the radio at 1050. An excited announcer giving the play by play. I did fall asleep during the 4th quarter, a 23 point lead by the Warriors. And later woke up to a quiet room and a jubilant Chris. “They won,” he exclaimed. “The biggest upset in NBA history!”

When we have to sit closer and make conversation, it’s not for me.

My crush on that country down under began when I first visited Sydney when I was about 12. The shores, the amazing opera house, and the great people.

Then the movies. I saw Jindabyne yesterday at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Based on the short story So much water, so close to home. Even though it was rather disjointed, it spoke so much of the country, the culture. The isolation perhaps? And the disconnection among the immigrants and the fishes out of water.

I shall never miss a concert with sonicliving.com ever again. So 2.0!

At first, I was slighted. Then…it makes me wonder how many logos and names out there are influenced by things around us.

“Our advice was to choose people who would support us during our marriage,” a friend said about how he and his fiance chose their groomsmen and bridesmaids.

Almost by instinct, people often choose people who they have known the longest. A friendship stemming from childhood—the preschool days. And rarely do they choose people they have met recently. But why bestow the honor to stand next to a friend at the altar when you have barely spoke in the last few years—because you’re involved in your own lives? Because you’re on the other side of the country? Because you have little in common anymore?

We often like to think that we are always there for people, to support them in every way. But like everybody else, I admit I falter too.

What is friendship when it’s only based on duration and not knowing that the support is there? To receive such an honor?