History repeats itself

Why is it not obvious that what's happening in Egypt is a repeat of what happened in Iranian Revolution / fall of the Shah in 1979? My prediction that one of two things will happen, with the last one being a joke:

1. "Orderly transition" which probably involves Mubarak stepping down -- appointing someone else to take over who is non-religious affliated / non-extremist / US-sympathetic. These protestors will not stop until Mubarak steps down. The tipping point has been reached and there's no way to stop it unless what the masses get what they want (or think they want). As much as I sympathize with Mubarak, he had 30 years to do something, and hasn't. I think stepping down in an orderly transition is the smarter thing to do without completely ruining Egypt and allowing for chaos and a potential coup.

2. Mubarak doesn't step down. Protest goes on for weeks. Mubarak loses the allegiance of the army. There is utter chaos and the Muslim Brotherhood organizes itself together to take over. Mubarak is thrown out by force. Coptic Christian Egyptians flee Egypt to escape persecution. Israel loses its biggest ally in the middle east. Someone bombs Israel and World War 3 commences.

3. ElBaradei takes over. HAHA yeah right - that tool wished.

J'adore!!!!!!

JAK & JIL Blog

This is so ridiculously cute :)

Boys of Milan & Paris FW2011 from Justin Wu on Vimeo.



Jingle Bell Rocks! from Justin Wu on Vimeo.

Can't Sleep...

Can't sleep because I'm looking through my old pictures of when I used to be college / studying abroad / on vacation to really cool places. Instead, I'm in this shitty city, sleep-deprived, and so not wanting to go to work tomorrow.

Santa Monica Blvd at Sunset

SOAP.COM

Seriously this site is kind of amazing. Three stores that I love shopping at: Bloomingdales, Staples, and DuaneReade (or CVS, Walgreens). With my current job, I literally don't even have time to buy toilet paper - considering how drugstores in LA close at midnight and are not 24 hours like in NY. Thanks so soap.com, everything that I could ever need is accessible with a click of a button. I got myself some organic shampoo / conditioner, body wash, toilet paper, and Moraccan hair mask. It's literally DuaneReade or CVS -- all for you online. They sell things like trash bags, detergent, batteries, vitamins, sex toys (if you feel uncomfortable buying it in the stores), tampons, light bulb - anything really. The best part is that shipping is usually free (over $25 and next day) PLUS there no tax if the shipment is to California. Why would I ever buy anything in the stores when I have to make the effort to go, pay for tax, deal with annoying cashiers, if I can just buy it online cheaper and get it the next day? This is kinda amazing.... I love the internet.

Use this coupon code: ANNI150951 to get 15%

Enough rambling about my very amature take on venture capital investment ideas......

Not sure if this will be a coherent entry - but I guess writing for the sake of writing. I also have more posts in January 2011 than any other month in my 2 year blogging life... My question is this: Who are these people that are googling me in California if I don't even have any friends here?

I had a conversation with a friend who is moving to DC. We were talking about how we both want to be in NY. So in LA, you're the shit if you're in the entertainment industry. In DC, you're the shit if you work on Capitol Hill. In NY, you're the shit if you work in finance. And by "the shit" I mean being impressive to girls at bars. Another way to be impressive to girls at bars, smell like money.

Tenka is kinda cool

I'm making this assessment before actually having used it. I am slow to jump on the bandwagon but it's not really my fault. When Tenka started getting big in NY, I had already moved to LA. Anyway, I think Tenka provides a far superior product to the consumers than GroupOn / LivingSocial / etc. Tenka points out an interesting statistic on their site: 50% of pre-paid deals are never redeemed. So here I am rambling on and on, about how these groupons are not actually a good deal, since you are trading cash for highly illquid assets. Now I have at least a sense that what I'm saying is not way off. Don't buy those things! They are totally useless. I have 3 and have yet to use it.

Anyway, about Tenka. It's basically an iPhone app that allows you to access deals / promotions (usually free stuff) at restaurants, bakeries, bars, etc in your neighborhood. Who doesn't like free shit? It's also synched up with facebook, so frequently, I would see facebook statuses like "Betty just scored a deal on Tenka - a free Mojito at Bar X." The more consumers advertise, the more that the store will reward that customer. In terms of profitabability, not sure where revenue comes in besides through advertising which is not as lucrative as groupon's model of it being commission based. I still think that it provides way more added value than those coupon sites can provide for the consumer.

I'd invest as well if I had money.  But I don't, which is why I said the same thing about Netflix right after they launched and lost out on a cash cow opportunity.

Amazing soundtrack for an amazing movie...

So this French movie L'ArnaCoeur or Heartbreaker (2010) is recommended with 5 stars (personalized stars) via Netflix. I've not even gone through 10 minutes of it yet and am convinced that this will be one of my favorite movies of all time. Anyway, I had to share this song which plays throughout the movie.

Doing the Wrong Things by Rebecca Young




Edit: Finished the movie - didn't like it all that much. Besides the movie takes place in Monaco and is super pretty, the plot is pretty lame. The song is still amazing though...

Solid business model

After groupon's $6Bn bid from google, and IPO valuation of $15Bn - more of these online coupon sites are proping up. I've encountered 10 the past week from website ads, emails, pop-ups, etc. One that I'm sorta impressed with is livingsocial.com. The interface is legit, the geographic coverage is good, and they actually have a really smart online marketing campaign.

First it's linked up to facebook, which is why I've seen it shared by 20 of my friends on my feed. Also, if 3 of your friends buy it, your coupon is then free. The concept of word of mouth marketing and being compensated for it has been explored with flash sale sites, but has not been implemented well. Usually, to invite your friends, you need to have their email address. Who knows anyone's email address?! Anyway, this livingsocial site makes sharing with your friends seamless and it makes people incentivized to share.

Lastly, it's kind of genius to start with a 50% off coupon from Amazon. I personally didn't buy it because I wouldn't pay $10 for a less liquid asset, even at a 50% discount from face value. (seriously - it's not that good of a deal if you think of it that way) But I think 99% of the demographics they are target have bought something from amazon in the past. Which makes these people think that swapping for a way illiquid asset is actually a good deal. 1 million people have already purchased it, which means they have the email address and credit card info of 1 million people already on their first day.

Solid business model. I'd invest if I had money.

Les films que j'adore

So the best way to learn a language is to pratice using it - so I'm going to start writing pieces and parts of my blog in French, i.e. the title of this post. Apologies if you find this to be incredibly annoying or pretentious. Anyway, just listing some movies I've seen the past few months that have changed my life in some way or the other.

Un Prophete - Made me question the true meaning of identity - is it defined by your ethnicity, morals, occupation, allegiance? and if you aren't bounded by any of these, does it mean you have no real identity or have such a strong sense of identity that none of this matters?

An Education - A precocious school girl who wants to grow up way too quickly and desires / does things that most people her age does not - hm sounds familiar.

Welcome - What an amazing film. Made me cry like no tomorrow. Also made me think about what unselfish love, not necessarily in a romantic sense, but from one human being to another.

Priceless - This was life-changing simply because the Azzaro dresses Audrey Tautou wears are so beautiful.

L'Auberge Espangole - Made me question what I'm doing with my life.... And why I'm not abroad and enjoying life like I should.

Au Revoir Les Enfants - Beautiful story of friendship between two boys during World War 2.

Jeux D'Enfants - This film isn't really mind blowing or life changing, but it's super cute and so is Guillaume Canet.

La Vie en Rose - Really amazing story of how out of brokenness comes success. Also Marion Cotillard (Mal in Inception) did a superb job of playing Edith Piaf. Don't know how Edith Piaf is as a person, but her Cotillard's acting totally convinced me that she is the physical reincarnation of her.

Le Fils de L'épicier - I guess nothing really that special about this movie besides the fact that Nicolas Cazle is so darn good looking. It moves pretty slowly and really has no climax, but I've gotten used to and learned to appreciate movies like such.

Black Swan - Not to be a total elitist, but it's annoying how everyone is saying this is such an amazing and artistic movie. Darren S. Aronofsky is good, but his style pretty typical of movies outside Hollywood. Anyway, this movie is life changing for me because after watching it, I really want Lily's tattoo (Mila Kunis) of the wings on her back. SO HOT. lol. Anyway, enough of this pretentious list non-Hollywood films. Let me end with this SNL spoof of the Black Swan. My favorite part is how they call out on Vincent Cassel's character. Repetitive and only serves one sole purpose in the movie, to tell Nina that her white swan is good but black swan sucks.

LA neighborhoods to live in

So I live in Westwood, on what they call the Wilshire Corridor, or the Golden Corridor, or whatever condo real estate agents want to call it to make it appeal and conducive to condo sales. It's definitely not "golden" or anything fancy like that -- besides the fact that every other car is a ferrari which I find stupid. I convinced myself that the Wilshire Corridor is where I want to live, because it reminds me of NY with all the high-rises. The ironic thing is I would never live in financial district, murray hill, or hells kitchen, where they do have the high rises in NY. I would rather live in a brownstone in the west village, chelsea, or soho. Anyway, there are several neighborhoods in LA that I didn't really know about before moving here that I would actually enjoy over my current location.

Brentwood: Super cute neighborhood wih nice restaurants / cafes / stores. Currently my favorite place to go for food or coffee. Lots of younger people live in the area, although there are families as well. Another plus is that Brentwood park has pick-up basketball games. I think the air in Brentwood is better there for some reason. Smell of money? Who knows.

Santa Monica: I wanted to live in Santa Monica when I knew I was moving to LA. People who lived there talked me out of it, telling me I really don't want to sit in 30 mins of traffic going to work. Instead, I chose to live 3 minutes away from the office, which is kind of amazing, but not as amazing as being by the beach. I would love to run by the beach every morning. Also, Santa Monica is super walk-able and there are stores / restaurants / brunch places / and Bloomingdales!

Downtown: Granted, I've never even been downtown (crazy I know), but I think I would feel like I were living in a city if I lived there. There's public transportation, people of other nationalities (unlike the west side where there are only white people or Persians), bars with happy hour, and sidewalks. Also, the Los Angeles Athletic Club is downtown. It's silly to move to an area just for the gym, but that's essentially why I moved to Chelsea - to be next to Chelsea Piers. The commute to work would be horrible though and probably not worth it.

lol @ Britney Spears and dubstep

Converging evidence that electronic music is the way to go....

Tom Hardy at Lakers Game with Dior Homme Chiffre Rouge

The photographer here does a good job of capturing the pensivity of the subject, while watching a basketball game. The subject is stagnant, while the action of the sports game is captured in the eyes. Also, the subject has one foot forward, almost like he would like to participate in the game, but ends up just running the plays in his head. His style is somewhat casual, represented by the faded jeans, sneakers, and t-shirt, but is offset by the accessories. The choice of the Dior watch adds to the dressy aspect of the outfit.

Fuck it - who am I kidding. There's absolutely nothing to analyze about this picture and no good reason to post it whatsoever. I just like Tom Hardy....

Goal for 2011 - scratch all the previous ones

So speaking of authentic Asian mothers, had a 4 hour long convo with my mama yesterday. As per this conversation, I realized what my goal for 2011 really should be: stop setting goals. This conversation came about when I told her I want to run the LA Marathon in March. Of course the typical Asian mother reaction is to not run to avoid muscular legs so that guys won't be scared off by me (haha thanks mommy) and also didn't want me to drop dead given I have WPW syndrome. But the she was mostly concerned with my results-oriented / goal-drive / accomplishment-whore personality.

I like collecting accomplishments. That's not to say I'm so amazing and have so many accomplishments - but I am a very efficient person, so I tend to get things I want with minimal effort. The problem is that I've never been content with anything. I work towards one thing, am happy for a brief moment, and then totally forget about it and disregard it. That just means I'm always chasing something and am never actually content with life.

I think a sorta stupid example would be the attitude towards this big framed photograph I have next to my bed. It's a night scene of The Seine looking towards the Effiel Tower. Of course, being that it is Paris, I wanted it for a long time. I couldn't find a way to bring it home, but somehow managed and hung it up in my room. I've had it there for four months, but I realized I never looked at it until yesterday on the phone with my mom with nothing else to do but stare at it. I started to notice how beautiful the photograph was - the details in the lights, the cars, the buildings, the bridgs. I guses that's my attitude on everything. I get something I want - and then do not cherish it. I wanted the job I currently have for a really long time, and now that I have it, I don't appreciate it at all. I wanted to live off campus in the West Village, but when I got an apt there, it was like whatever, what's next? I spent $400 on an Alexander McQueen skull scarf that I NEVER wear. I mean the list goes on and on.

I guess all this would be ok if I were actually content with my accomplishments. I kept blabbing on and on about my goals of running the marathon, learning French, HBS, doing a masters in foreign policy - my mama stopped me told me "slow your step." She stressed that inner growth is more important than outside accomplishments. I could technically achieve all these things and still never be happy. I guess that's why I'm so terrified of getting older. My ambitions get wilder, yet my time / opportunities to do so just keep dwindling. Like my cici told me verbatim, "Dude you're 22 years old. You should be optimistic about life, not dreading it."

The other takeaway from this entry: Amy Chua - you are dead wrong. Just because you are an overly driven Maoist like mother that force your kids to over achieve so you can sell more books, doesn't mean all other Asian mothers are. My mom actually cares about my happiness way more than my accomplishments to the point where she literally wants me to stop setting goals for myself.

My Review of the Article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"

Ok - so in case you live under a rock or do not know any Asian people, this article, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua from the Wall Street Journal has been in the spotlight as of late. She basically advocates the parenting style of ignoring your children's feelings and calling them "garbage." She also forces her daughter to be a master at the piano, dispite a lack of natural talent. I know the article spurred on a lot of controversy, as some readers pointed out that she over generalized Chinese mothers to be protrayed as Maoist leaders. Others are concerned about the implications of this article, with mothers changing their parenting styles creating low self-esteem, drugged-up, and suicidal children.

My problem with this article is about the authencity of this piece. Amy Chua - we get it. You're kind of a big deal - graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, then JD from Harvard Law School, to then teach at Yale Law School, with two beautiful children and a hot husband. Obvie, you kind of have a perfect life. I was curious to know about her parents - to find out that her dad has his own wikipedia page. So apparently. he is considered to be the "father of nonlinear circuit theory and cellular neural networks", he is also the inventor and namesake of Chua's circuit and was the first to conceive the theories behind, and postulate the existence of, the solid state memristor."

Um what? Most of my Asian friend's parents definitely did not have a cellular neural network circuit named after them - let a lone a whole wikipedia page with proper citations. My parents are small business owners, and like most the the Asian parents I know, are pretty middle class. So that begs the question, what does is an Asian mother usually? (Lets broaden the term to an Asian mother, as opposed to a Chinese mother as Amy Chua coined it, because I frankly think its ignorant.) My research comes from http://mymomisafob.com/ - a blog where users send in communication they have with their mom where they speak in broken English resulting usually in a hilarious misinterpretation or a ridiculous situation.

Reading through the entries, my abs hurt so much from laughing, but also arrived at a few conclusions about Asian parenting (predominately East Asia, as most of the mothers were either Chinese, Korean, or Japanese).

• Asian mothers can't spell / text since apparently Merphin w Dosage = Muffin w Sausage.
• Asian mothers tend to mix up words like organic and orgasmic. Cheesecake and G6?. or Institution for Prostitution, in front of a college admissions officer.
• Asian mothers like to give dating advice using squirrels as examples and give explict tips for keeping a boyfriend.
• Asian mothers are blunt - and will let her daughter know that her hair cut is ugly and to not run marathons to avoid muscular legs to look nice in a skirt.
• No matter how blunt or how ridiculous, all the things that an Asian mother does or say comes from love. Case in point and also this. Amy Chua, what do you say to Joyce Fung's mom who cheers her daughter on instead of puts her daughter down? I'm sure Joyce is doing fine in school, and frankly, Joyce's mom is more authentically Chinese than you will ever be.

What makes me angry about the article is that given Amy Chua's success in life, she feels like she has the authority on what it takes to be a good Asian mother. She obviously was raised in a different social economic background than most of my Asian friends' familes. She is also second generation Asian, married to a white guy. Whatever worked for her, or will work for her daughters, is definitely not going to work for everyone else. Also, it just makes me mad that she thinks she is the authority on "Chinese mothers" parenting. Asian parents do show affection, tell me not this is the sweetest thing you have ever seen.

Chanel 2011 Spring Le Vernis

So having a slow computer at work means I need something to do while my Excel is running macros on my models. The perfect solution -- nail polish. Seriously, the fumes cannot be good for my brain cells as I'm applying and reapplying 3 times a day. Anyway, I picked up the Chanel 2011 Spring collection and here it is.

Pêche Nacrée 515:

I'm automatically attracted to any pink / coral / peach nail color so natural it was the first color I went for out of the 3 colors of the spring collection. I do like it, although I don't think it goes well with my complexion. It kinda blends in, even with 3 layers. I wouldn't recommend it, since it's really nothing special.

The Black Pearl 513:

So I was a bit intimidated by the color at first but after seeing it on C, I thought it was super super pretty and had the courage to get it. Besides, they featured it in French Vogue so it has to be cool. This color is supposed to emulate the look of a black pearl, which it does! It sorta has a greenish undertone, which black pearls do have. It's actually really cool, seems like I have pearls on my finger nails. :) I also wore it for a full 2 days, which is saying a lot since I change my nail color twice a day usually. Anyway, if you are rocking this color, definitely go for shorter nails since dark nail color and long nails look kinda trampy.

Pearl Drop 511:

Don't have a picture of this one. This one is supposed to emulate white pearls. I tried it on, and didn't like it. It was too sheer, even after 2 layers. Besides, it has a yellowish undertone, which nice pearls are not supposed to have. Who wants to get nail color that emulate shitty pearls?

Reasons why I am addicted to soccer

• There are no timeouts -- so my ADHD self can't channel surf
• It embodies passion -- I am a passionate person... yeah...
• Supporting your team means extereme dedication -- I would know a few things about that being a long-long Knicks fan
• If Europe thinks its cool....
• The players are pretty damn hot

My relationship with B

So I always knew of you mostly from TV, but didn't really start a relationship with you until high school. We even tried to make it official in high school, but I realized that it's much better to just play around and not have any obligations around our time together. In college, our relationship was on and off, depending on my work and school schedule. You were alright with that. Whenever we did spend time together, it was always fun. Maybe it's because you remind me of my dad, or because we always have a great time together. Time with you was always destressing. I haven't seen much of you since I've moved to LA, but on my winter break back in NY, we spent some time together at NYU. Sorry for neglecting you and I realize how much fun we have together. I'm going to try to make an effort to work and spend more time on our relationship.

In case you haven't figured out by now, B = Basketball. :) I need a place to play in LA, and NOT Sports Club LA because it is so trashy despite meeting Ron Artest there.

House Music

Going to sleep, but gonna blog tomorrow about how house music, by objective definition and the elements of music, is the most perfect genre of music :)

Being Comfortable with my Asian-ness

I'm pretty sure I have blogged many times about my identity crisis in the past. To stop myself from reiteration, if you are interested in Part 1, 2, 3, feel free to be creepy and go through all my blog entries to find them. Just kidding, I love my readers. :) Anyway, another one of these "goals" (not resolutions) I have for myself in 2011 is to be more comfortable with my Asian-ness.

Honestly, it sucks being a minority in this country. Growing up, none of the TV shows I watched had Asians for me to look up to. (except for the yellow power ranger... why is she yellow by the way?! and the black ranger black?!) I essentially wanted to be white growing up so I can be pretty like the blonde girls on TV. I obvie grew out of that, thankfully (but managed to go through other phases like wanting to be black, and now French...)

T pointed out to me something interesting. Being a minority makes you interesting. Being Chinese, there is a 5000 year history associated with my culture. It's not really something to be ashamed of, or to hide. Its silly but when people talk about Chinese culture or something I'm familiar with, I would pretend I don't know to not accentuate my "Asian-ness." Sometimes, I would even say something way off to throw people off. In effect, they can think that I'm super not-Asian since I'm way off track. Yes, dumb, I know.

In my defense, being Asian comes with a whole can of worms and stereotypes that I just don't want to be associated with. I want to MYSELF as an individual and not just another Asian girl, which is probably the contributing factor to my extreme personality. Basically, to avoid being pigeonholed, I tend to do crazy shit. (L, I know you share this belief).

Anyway, in learning to celebrate and accept my Asian-ness, I'm going to start a list of reasons why it is super duper cool to be Asian. (Asian Face) ^__^

• Just got my hair digi-permed at a Korean salon. Gonna post pictures later and dedicate a whole blog entry later, but it's probably the best thing a girl can do to her hair. :)
• Haircuts are $30, as opposed to $100
• Asian food is the best food in the world, which is probably unfair because it includes 6 types of cuisine. And by best, I mean the most hearty and flavorful. i.e. Ramen, pho, Kimchee jigae, korean bbq, shu long bao, pho, dim sum, bubble tea, and all types Taiwanese food
• If I were homeless, I would probably never starve since Asian food is so cheap. 4 dishes and rice for $5 midtown Manhattan?!
• I will probably look like I'm in my 20s until I'm 50. Which then, I will proceed to look like my 30s.
• China's GDP will surpass America's in 2019, as per the Economist Daily Chart.

Free Spirit...

Just got back from NY and the trip was definitely much needed and appreciated. Caught up with most of my friends, and I realized how awesome all of them are. :)

Anyway, as per the conversation I had with T at Ace Hotel... she called me a free spirit saying the person I will eventually marry will be more grounded. The point is, I'm not sure if I'm really a free spirit. Obviously, I'm flattered that she thinks of me that way because I strive to be a free spirit. I try to have a "I don't give a fuck" attitude and do whatever I feel like. (i.e. keeping this blog, despite the fact that unknown people are googling me and finding more way more information about me than anyone should ever know which can probably be incriminating in the future)

But honestly? Investment banking is not exactly the epitome of the job you would expect a "free spirit" have. And although I do stupid shit, I try to be smart about the stupid shit. I try not to do anything that would have a long-term effect. Things I can do and just pretend like it never happened and get back to my normal-conservative-Christian-good-girl life. Like I would never do drugs, because I would never want to compromise my intelligence (or whatever intelligence I have) and kill my brain cells.

If I really were a free spirit, I would be living in Provence right now learning French and sipping on some good wine. But obvie, I can't just live life like that. I have goals I want to accomplish, and being a free spirit would unfortunately sidetrack me from them. I guess life is a dichotomy and a struggle between what we want to do and what we should do. I believe when we are younger, it's better to focus on what we should do and save the what we want to do for retirement. Which is why this super interesting Economist article believes that we are happier past middle age.