Author Archives: Felix

Netflix’s J-Style Trip

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Jay Chou… musician, songwriter singer, actor, entertainer… and now a travel show host on Netflix.  Jay Chou certainly is using his leverage and star power to invite a lot of the Taiwanese guest entertainers to his show (so far up to episode 4).  What’s fun about the show is the guest will show Jay around a city (usually their home city) and the local attractions.  In addition to the guest, he also has a group of friends that tag along with him and act as the targets of his antics.  And of course the crowds that follow them trying to take a picture or autograph.  He has also has

What I didn’t know is Jay’s fascination with magic tricks and competitive nature.  In just about every show so far, there’s a competition with a punishment associated with losing.  Of course, Jay “has to not lose” every time and will stack the cards in his benefit.  Even his friends know that and are willing to play along.  In those interviews afterwards, you can tell they don’t take it him too seriously and it’s all in good fun.

In the Taipei episode (episode 4), Jay saying he’ll treat everyone at the restaurant is a good PR move.

Netflix’s Tiger King

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If there’s a trainwreck documentary to watch, Netflix’s Tiger King would be very high on that list to watch.  There’s just so many things that’s crazy and wrong about the show that it’s hard to stop watching.  I really don’t know how to describe it.  It’s also a top ranked Netflix show.  Even President Trump was asked about it (clip from Twitter) .  Talk about crazy…

Dave Chang on Instant Pot

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Celebrity chef Dave Chang has a podcast that I regularly listen to.  This particular podcast had a short segment starting at 39:34 about the ubiquitous InstantPot.  To be honest, I had been looking to see if a pressure cooker or a slow cooker would be beneficial to me during these unusual COVID-19 times and once normalcy returns.  I had looked at an InstantPot but I had been hesitant about these multi-functional devices because… well multi-functional means the devices does nothing well (which I might add was also a sentiment of Dave Chang and his guest).

Since then I’ve done a deep dive into the various pressure cookers, slow cookers and multi-functional cookers in the market.  There’s a lot and such a wide price range too.  For now, I’m going to hold off on any purchase until later.  I’m trying out a 2nd hand slow cooker to see if its useful.

Why is COVID-19 severely affecting LA County?

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Reading LA Times coverage of COVID-19 in California… I’m struck at the severity of the cases in Los Angeles.  LA county has approximately 4x more cases than the nearest county and approximately 5x more deaths.  With more cases there would be more deaths but why is LA being hit so hard?

 

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Amazon’s Making the Cut

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Do you remember Bravo’s Project Runway? Amazon was able to sign both Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum (the OG hosts of Project Runway) to a new show that looks and feels EXACTLY like Project Runway called Making the Cut.  The twist?  Apparently, the winer of each episode gets to have their design sold on Amazon.

Apparently, the show is popular enough and generated enough interest to have things “sold out.”  Although if you look at the Amazon review of the first episode’s winner, the reviews appear to be mixed.

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Regardless, I find that these shows where creativity and design translates into tangible wearable clothing to be pretty fascinating.  It’s very similar to cooking competition shows like Top Chef, Master Chef or even Iron Chef (OG Japanese version is much better).  Both types of shows focus on the creativity of the chef or designer to create something that just “wows” the judges.  There’s rarely any cut throat or back stabbing like you see with other reality shows like Survivor, Bachelor, or Big Brother.  I also find creative/design shows to be different from talent shows like The Voice or American Idol.  With talent shows, people usually will know who a good singer is and it becomes a matter of cultivating that talent through hard work, good music and proper guidance of experienced professionals.

Anyways, if you have Amazon Prime… check out the show  Making the Cut.

Brandywine Coffee Roasters

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March’s Angels Cup comes from Brandywine Coffee Roaster.  I’ve received their coffee before in the past and I really liked their bag designs too.  What’s not to love about a sleeping cat?

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Anyhow, these beans are from Costa Rica.  I don’t believe I’ve ever had beans roasted from Costa Rica before.  There is a subtle aroma of flowers, honey and earthy nuts.  Making my latte, the taste was initially normal but the subtle honey and apple flavors started to shine more after the 2nd sip.  One thing that struck me about tasting these lattes was that I didn’t taste any chocolate flavors.

The presumptive 2020 nominees

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It’s official now… Bernie has dropped out of the Democratic primaries.

So now we have to choose between Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump?  /sigh

Bill Gates the Oracle?

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Have you seen this TED Talk from Bill Gates talking about an epidemic…. FIVE YEARS AGO?  FIVE YEARS AGO!! Egads…

A highly infection virus?  Prepared response teams? Enough inventory to support the hospitals and 1st line workers?  Gates even presented solutions on some of the biggest concerns.  And I’m pretty sure as we’re in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic none of the solutions were implemented.  Seriously…. the adage of “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” still holds true.

Here’s a pretty cool follow up in 2020.