mmm...lunch

11/04/05@work-stuff I saw during my lunch…

This is kinda cool: Samantha Morton is in talks to star as Deborah Curtis, widow of Joy Division front man Ian Curtis, in "Control" helmer Anton Corbijn's bigscreen adaptation of Deborah Curtis' tome "Touching From a Distance" reports Variety.Matt Greenhalgh has adapted the screenplay, which covers the last years in Curtis' life, leading up to his suicide in 1980. Filming begins early next year in England.Plot centers on Curtis' struggle between feeling enduring love for his wife and beginning a burgeoning relationship with another woman, as well as his bouts with epilepsy and all-consuming performances with his band which would later become 'New Order' after his death.


This Sounds like it’ll be fun: LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox Broadcasting Co. is developing a comedy script with comedienne Margaret Cho, who unhappily starred in the short-lived sitcom "All-American Girl" on ABC in 1994-95.
The ethnic, multigenerational family comedy is said to involve a character based on Cho's mother that she has made a fixture of her stand-up routine.
"I'm very excited about this project because, finally, I get to become my mother," said Cho, who would also executive produce with "Just Shoot Me" writer Susan Dickes.
Cho describes the harrowing experience with "All-American Girl" in her concert film "I'm the One That I Want," alleging that ABC pressured her to lose so much weight that it triggered kidney failure
This is also funny: Takeshi Kaneshiro is studying English at UCLA and inconsiderate fans are following him all over campus, into classrooms, and taking his picture. It's disruptive! Now, he's had to be moved to different classrooms. The nerve of some people. Does anyone know what classroom he's in now?
This is kinda sad- also makes me wanna watch Stephen Chow’s God of Cookery again: HONG KONG · When I was growing up in Hong Kong, my parents liked to drag me to outdoor food stalls, or dai pai dongs, for a dessert of sweet black sesame soup.The stools would be sticky, the ground filthy and the air reeking of grease and cigarette smoke blown by huge rusty fans. The swearing taxi drivers who usually sat near us made me nervous.I thought that when I became an adult, I would head for a cheerful, air-conditioned McDonald's for a strawberry sundae.But I've gradually come to regard the street-side food stalls with a tinge of nostalgia as more of these traditional eateries are being forced into extinction by a government eager to clean up the streets.The greasy-chopstick joints are known for their authentic no-frills settings and cheap, tasty dishes. They are named as must-sees by several travel guidebooks but officials believe their poor hygiene does little for Hong Kong's claim to be Asia's world city.Keen to relive the dai pai dong experience before it becomes little more than a memory, hundreds flocked to have a last bowl of noodles at Man Yuen on its closing day recently. The stall had sold noodles for 80 years before the government ordered it to shut down after its licensee and owner died. The law allows a dai pai dong owner to transfer a license only to a spouse. No new license has been given out since 1973 and only 29 licensed street-side food stalls remain, the government says.Built from scrap-metal sheets, Man Yuen's kitchen shack and six folding tables with stools sat on a sloping street off Hollywood Road in the city's Central District. The dai pai dong, its tables balanced precariously on the steep grade, was just a short walk from the gleaming heart of this global financial hub.A lively mass of pots, boilers, buckets and steam, Man Yuen wasn't the cleanest eatery around -- but diners who didn't mind having their meals accompanied by the loud clang of plates dumped into buckets of brown soapy water right at their feet loved the great value for money.Lee Kin-kwun, who ran the stall with his brother, said their best sellers were noodles with beef brisket or pig knuckles. The dishes cost about $1.80 to $2.50 each, he said. He added that the brisket and knuckles acquired their flavor and texture after they were gently steeped overnight in broth in a giant boiler.The variety of tasty fare served by other dai pai dongs around Hong Kong, however, continues to draw devotees.Fresh seafood is a staple on many menus. Squid and crab are often served deep-fried with a spicy, garlicky coating -- excellent snacks to go with beer. Oysters mixed with an egg batter, fried and served as a flattened pancake, is another popular traditional dish.Indeed, the unique flavor of fried and stir-fried dishes resulting from vigorously shaking an oversized wok over high, licking flames is what most patrons of dai pai dongs are after. For many, the clamorous atmosphere that so repelled me as a kid is exactly what makes dai pai dongs so endearing.Cassie Suen, 23, says her favorite dai pai dong dishes are stir-fried clams and goose intestines fried with peppers."I like the atmosphere there. They're good places to go to celebrate a friend's birthday. You can talk freely, cheer and yell all you want. And you can lick your fingers because everyone does so."

Speaking of the mo-le-tai man: Stephen Chow was an hour late for a press conference and the Mainland Chinese press attacked. "Why are you so late?" "Do you know how to pose?" "You look really dumb like this." Finally, they asked why he wasn't nominated for a Golden Horse award for his acting in KUNG FU HUSTLE. "Duh!" Chow replied. "I didn't get nominated because I'm a really terrible actor."

German of the day: Welt·schmerz (vĕlt'shmĕrts') n. [German : Welt, world; see Weltanschauung + Schmerz, pain (from Middle High German smërze, from Old High German smerzo).]Sadness over the evils of the world, especially as an expression of romantic pessimism.


And always remember: Fishies go pook, pook, pook…