Tonight rounds up a nice 10 days at home in California with my mom and brother. We had a great Christmas and enjoyed the company of Brett’s boss, renowned New York Choreographer Shen Wei. I learned a few things while he was here. Among them are:

1. I learned how to play real Chinese Mahjong. Not the kind you play online where you match pairs of symbols. Its actually a lot like Gin Rummy, at least the version we played. My mom has an old authentic set of real ivory and bamboo pieces that made the game very entertaining.

2. I am not a Monkey. All the placemats in Chinese restaurants told me I was a Monkey growing up, because I was born in 1980. However, they don’t bother to get into the details of the Chinese New Year and the fact that it is actually in February. So, in fact, I am a sheep. We read stories behind all the signs and I think the Sheep actually fits me a little better. At first I was a little irritated because I thought the sheep would be the herd animal or the “follower”, but I guess that’s a very European interpretation.

3. Our humble Christmas morning ritual is really a special tradition. Shen Wei had never spent a Christmas morning with an American family before and was really very gracious and grateful to be included. It was a bit inspiring to have someone with us who’d never experienced a Christmas morning like that before and gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for my family and our intimate gathering.

This holiday I also got to see 4 movies and I guess I could do a little review of each. Spoilers are guaranteed.
1. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” – I had my doubts about this one, just due to the obscure plot about a baby born as an old man who ages backwards and gets younger as everyone around him gets old. However, it does star Brad Pitt and that’s usually enough to get me and my mom into a theater. As my mom observed as we exited the theater, the movie had a distinct “Titanic” feeling, since the entire movie is told from the perspective of a old, dying woman. The story unfolds from a diary of Benjamin Button as his life is recounted for us. It plays out exactly as you might suspect, so I guess you could call it predictable. Benjamin is born old, grows younger and younger until he dies of young age as an infant in his lover’s arms. The acting, I will say, was quite good. Cate Blanchett ages well and carries off all stages of her character’s life. Of course, Brad Pitt reverse-ages VERY well. It was a bit difficult to buy into the fact he was a child caught in an old person’s body when he was young, though. The curiousness and youthfulness of a teenager was not visible in his eyes or expressions, but it may have been completely abstracted by the hours worth of makeup he had to don. All in all, it was a slightly above average holiday flick, but nothing I’d demand you go and see before it comes out on DVD.

2. “Slumdog Millionaire” – Unlike the previous movie, this one I demand you go and see. Now. As soon as possible. “Slumdog Millionaire” is also told as a visual flashback but with much more substance and creativity. Jamal Malik is a young Indian man who is about to win 20 million rupees on the Hindi version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, but who gets arrested after the end of the first episode (which ends right before his last question), being accused of cheating since he comes from the slums of India. He recounts his brutal childhood and teenage years which led him to know the answers to each question as they are presented to him. It is a story of ultimate poverty, liberation , and, ultimately, victory. It is a story everyone should see.

More to come….

Every once in a while I see someone with a Facebook or MySpace status that says “So-and-so is is…” and I always wonder what they mean. In the truest sense, I would interpret it to mean that they don’t really know what else to put or that they just feel like the only thing that described their current state was “is”.

Last night, I almost used “is is…” and now I see a different way it can be used. This posting of status to the open world is freeing, most of the time, makes us feel connected to those we cannot spend time with or those we know only through the web. But sometimes I imagine folks are feeling something or doing something they still cannot broadcast to the world without guilt or shame, or a feeling of too much vulnerability. I have to admit I was a little mopey last night, but I didn’t want to put “is depressed” or “is a little nuts” because no few snippets of words could’ve described everything I was feeling or not feeling. If I was going to put anything about my mood, all I would’ve been able to put was “is is”.

As I was getting off the shuttle the other day I noticed a large Frosty-the-Snowman in the middle of a large bronze statue of children running in a circle. My first thought was, “Aww, that’s cute”. Then I thought “I wonder if they’ve ever put a Christmas tree there”. Then it clicked. Of course not! That’s too “Christmasy” and definitely not generic enough to represent all holidays celebrated this time of year.

But then I thought, is a snowman an less Christmasy than a tree?? I mean, do other religious celebrations include snowmen? Sure, I know anyone can build a snowman, but this was obviously Frosty and that means Christmas, right?