Happiness is a state of mind

There has been much talk of happiness in the press recently. University of Leicester recently came out with a world map of happiness, how cool is that?

It’s no shocker to see more developed countries taking the top spots, most studies do confirm that you need a basic level of health and education to have options in life and thus be happy.

But many American studies seem to focus on the context of sacrifice and materialism. Achieving happiness through denial of materialism is often presented as a painful but necessary means to a better end of happiness – self help books always trumpet the “don’t buy anything for 5 years and you can cancel your debts and be truly happy!” But to me, simplication is an end in itself. It’s not about simplifying my life so that I can be happy, it’s about simplication making me happy in the first place.

Coming to Boston has been serendipitous – one of the first writers I got inspired by was Thoreau and his call of “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify”. I drove past the Walden Pond with boyfriend J a few days ago and it was beautiful. Covered with light snow and basking in the glows of the setting sun, the pond had a spiritual feel to its beauty. Looking at the cabin by the pond, it’s easy to see how Thoreau could enjoy simplicity the way he did.

I’m not sure if Thoreau will really recognise America today, it’s far from his Walden ideals. While Americans do belong to the upper rung of many happiness studies, I’m not sure how long that would continue when American’s economy declines with the deflating real estate market and the rise of emerging markets (look out for China! And India! And Brazil! And Middle East! Oh the list is just too long…) When happiness is constantly viewed through the lens of consumption, can Americans see happiness as anything beyond Donald Trump, bling bling, McMansions, SUVs, expensive clothes, dining out at restaurants etc etc?

Sure, America will never be like Bhutan (neither can I to be really honest) but can America be like its closest neighbor Mexico?

300 homophobic racists

I had such high expectations for this movie since it came out of Frank Miller’s work and featured good British actors.

And of course, 2 hours of watching sweaty hunky men in ancient speedos aren’t that bad. Check out the beefcakes:

But boy was I shocked by the movie – at its thinly disguised homophobia and racism, weren’t there lawyers who looked at the movie before distribution?

For those who have not been assaulted by the 300 marketing machine (and ironically gay bloggers really went all out to promote the movie based on the early previews of, yes, sweaty hunky men in ancient speedos. Sigh, gay men can be so easily tricked by men flesh…), the movie is about the battle of Thermpylae where heroic King Leonidas led 300 Spartans to fight off the invaders from Persia. So it’s a (thump thump breast plate) movie of immense courage, brotherhood and sacrifice, where men become the heroes that they really are by standing up for their families, their homeland and freedom.

Or at least that’s what director Zack Snyder wants you to believe after the 104th time of scripting “defending democracy” diatribes into the dull and insipid dialogue. (the same scriptwriter probably came up with the brilliant “Axis of Evil” war monger slogan for Bush)

Sure, the movie had many problems: unbearably lowbrow and derivative direction(he did direct the remake of “Dawn of the Dead”), the dialogue stiff and unnnaturally modern but what really amazed me was the movie’s blatant homophobia and racism.

The first omen was King Leonidas’ (Gerald Bultler, even your posh British accent can’t save such drivel) snide remark about Athenians being “boy lovers”, hence losing their ability to fend off the Persians (ignoring the fact that Spartan men were just as into buggery as Athenians). Then we get to see the Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) dressed up as Persian RuPaul complete with gold makeup and S & M getup trying to convince Leonidas to submit to him by coming on to him.

When Leonidas rejects his advances, he throws a hissy fit in a truly divalicious manner that puts drag queens to shame.

And the racism, gosh. No wonder Iran’s president got upset with the depiction of Persians (modern day Iran) in the movie.

All the Persians in the movie were either strange looking Africans or Middle Eastern monsters right out of horror movies torturing their slaves (again, not mentioning that Greek society were comprised of a large class of slaves) and creating more monsters with three heads, crab hands etc etc. All the non-white actors were portrayed as crazy mystics, diseased fear mongers or simply incomprehensible monsters without the “science and rationality” of the modern greeks, aka the white man. And of course you get homophobia and racism combined in the Persian king… or queen really.

It’s such a shame that in an age where countries are war over ancient prejudices of xenophobia that such a movie would want to propagate such frat boy mentality. Sure, it’s a movie but cultural products shape attitudes and beliefs, there’s no doubt about that. I’m in marketing, my job is to create sales based on words and images, I know what power media wields.

Sham, shame, shame. Even more shame when the audience laps it up, making it the biggest movie this season.

Such shame.

Lobster rolls, my new mission

I get obsessed with things that I like and they start becoming missions for me where I simply need to find out everything about them.

For the past few weeks, it has been wine. I have attended all the wine tastings in town and have been loitering Shaw’s wine aisles every other day to see if they have new wines in since I live 5 mins from them. (Good job on the new French wines Shaws!)

Now last week, my friend who recently became a new Chicagoan came to Boston for a visit and I was thinking what’s quintessentially New Englandy that I could show her….

That’s how I became obsessed with lobster rolls.

The biggest, the cheapest, the freshest, the most authentic…. I needed to know what was out there in lobsterollland.

After hours of intense research, we were off to Maine for the best clam and lobster shacks in Kennebunk and Freeport.

Except nobody told me that these wonderful authentic shacks with cheap cheap cheap seafood were closed during the winter.

Sigh.

But no matters, friend Jolene, boyfriend J and I had a super time just driving past beautiful frozen landscapes and then eating at this glorious seafood restaurant Street & Co. (33 wharf street, portland, ME). Look at how fresh the scallop and lobster were, they sent shockwaves to the mouth with their tender buttery texture.

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Portland in generall really impressed me, it wasn’t the small little fishing village as I imagined. It was alot more diverse, aware and hip, okie fine maybe not hip but certainly interesting. The whole feel of the city was very European, Dutch perhaps? The streets were narrow and some were cobble stoned, creating a very laid back aura to the place. We hung out at this cafe and people were just hanging out and talking without the manic buzz of most American cities.

Not frazzled, anxious or pushy, people were pretty nice. Maybe they’re really Canadians.

I have a date with spring

My friend (yes you Rosa!) asked me why I don’t blog everyday. As you noticed, I’m quite a pathetic blogger, there are usually a week or two between my postings, and I rarely post photos on me blog unless I feel inspired.

My only defence is work. Horrid horrid work.

The past two weeks have simply been quite dreadful, since I was gearing up for a business trip to see my client. There was so many reports to write, graphs to make and meetings to attend. So much preparation, hand wringing, late nights amounted to 4 hours of intense grilling by the client and next thing I know, we were shown the door and “have a good flight!”

Now I know why TV always show professionals congregating at a bar after work, god knows I needed one after that meeting.

This week looks slightly better, the office has deliverables to the client but at least there’s some leeway with the timeline. Nothing like distance to keep your client off the top of your consciousness, a 3 hour flight between us and them is something I treasure very much.

And the best thing is that spring seems to be on her way, it was so warm today that I didn’t need to wear a jacket when i went out of the office.

Glorious.

Very soon, it’s summer time and Cape Cod!

For now, I’ll appreciate what’s left of the snow and ice. Boyfriend J and I took a walk on Charles River to enjoy the snow scene. Just standing by the river bank, it was a peaceful moment of reflection and contentment.

Beauty frozen.