BSR

Note that does not include unrealized capital gains. For example, if one of Geffen’s stock holdings was valued at $10 million at the start of the marriage and increased to $20 million by the time Geffen filed for divorce but he didn’t sell, he still holds the stock, Michaels gets $0 of the stock’s appreciation. As expected, Geffen’s legal & accounting team knew that CA’s community property laws would adequately protect their client. Gotta admit, I’d love to know how much Michaels manages to squeeze out of his ex sugardaddy husband.

I used to watch Grey’s in the early days and was so damn addicted. For the life of me, I can’t remember why I stopped although I vaguely recall the episodes were becoming too chick-flicky, too much like a Lifetime movie. That said, hats off to Sondra Rhimes for keeping it afloat all these years, hell of an accomplishment in this day & age.

https://x.com/cruisinggalicia/status/2041877333892579782?s=61

The trailers look terrific. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 whole years since the original came out. I’m crossing my fingers that my local theater in Manila shows the sequel.

We use How much stuff gets put into storage but never gets taken out? Recalling the storage room of our basement growing up, I think some boxes sat in there untouched for decades until my parents sold the house. That storage room should have been called the “stuff I don’t feel comfortable throwing out” room.

A very sweaty Tommy Paul … https://x.com/atphotness/status/2041118516464517598?s=61

How keepers got a tubby baby elephant to lose weight …

Not sure, but I think it has something to do with wets, whites … weights? That’s it! Weights. You push them or carry them or something like that.

In all fairness, the book->movie was based on the author’s time as Anna Wintour’s assistant, an experience she still suffers PTSD from. If anything, I’m guessing Streep’s portrayal of Miranda Priestley is far more sympathetic than the real-life Ms. Wintour. I loved The Devil Wears Prada, can’t wait for the sequel.

I think you’re onto something. Even though I’m Asian myself, but for a few exceptions I was never really into Asian guys. But now that I’m living in Manila, holy sh!t, my head is on a swivel checking out all the cute Filipinos. I’m sitting at Starbucks right now trying (but failing miserably) not to be too obvious while staring at one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen. Not the most beautiful just in the Philippines or Asia, but anywhere. Oh gawd, security is about to kick me out for stalking, eek! Once you get past the imprinting, there’s a whole wide world out there.

Even though the tango shows are indeed super-touristy, it’s still worth going. I just searched for “tango show” on Google Maps and picked the one with the highest rating that was within a 30-minute walk. OMG, it was fantastic! The tango was simply spectacular. Even the weakest dancer (watching several seasons of DWTS qualifies me as a ballroom expert) was pretty good, plus he had a magnificently cut physique. Hey, if you’re not a great dancer, at least rip your shirt off. If you plan on going to a steakhouse, it’s helpful to learn how to say rare, medium-rare, etc. in Argentina. I foolishly assumed they were the same as in Spain (eek!) and ended up having too-long a discussion with the server to figure things out.

It’s been a long time, 22 years, since I was in Cuba, yet I still vividly remember how hard life was for Cubans. I didn’t think things could get any worse, but oh my God, conditions have gotten so much worse. When I think of the suffering of the Cuban people, coupled with the beautiful poetry of José Martí, I cry every time I listen to “Guantanamera.”

Either you’re into cars, or you’re not. Those who aren’t too often assume that a flashy car is how an inadequate (whether penis size or something else) man compensates for his sense of inferiority. While that might be true in some cases, it ignores some men’s genuine love of cars. Flashy cars are adult toys: they’re beautiful, they’re luxurious, and they’re a shit-ton of fun. A great car transforms driving from a burdensome chore to one of life’s great pleasures. If you don’t see things that way, so be it. But don’t defecate all over a guy just because he enjoys something that you don’t. Live and let live.

I loved it (the movie, that is, haven’t read the book). Yes, it is a bit long (running time 2h36m), but I don’t see how they could have trimmed it down because every scene, every bit was critical to the storyline. To be honest, I wasn’t buying hunkalicious Ryan Gosling as a dweeby microbiologist PhD, but he does such an amazing job with the role that he totally won me over by the end. This might sound a bit nutty, but I couldn’t help but think of Lazarillo de Tormes (the American equivalent would be Huckleberry Finn) while watching the evolution of Ryland Grace, but instead of a boy, we see how the dweeb becomes a man. The movie has a bit of everything — comedy, drama, bromance, an edge-of-your-seat action scene, impending apocalypse — yet manages to weave it all together into one cohesive story. While I wasn’t much of a Ryan Gosling fan before (had only seen him in The Notebook), I’m like his #1 fan now. The role of Ryland Grace required some serious acting chops, and Gosling cleared that very high bar.

Three great TV theme songs: And my personal favorite:

In less than a month, gas prices have jumped 30-40% in the Philippines, which is bad enough. Even more worrisome is that the government says the country has only 45 days of supply left (the Philippines doesn’t have a strategic petroleum reserve like the US). Yikes, unless something changes, and fast, a gigaton of sh!t is about to hit the fan.

If your CD rate matches the inflation rate, then you’re sinking because you have to pay taxes on the CD’s interest.

Not by choice but by circumstance, I’m listening to a lot of Filipino pop music — cabdriver has it playing, piped through at the mall, singer at a restaurant. OMG, it is awful!

“Natural immunity” — what exactly does that mean? I think it’s people who contract HIV yet whose immune systems are never compromised in any way, but I’m not sure.

Since Kathy Griffin is or at least used to be a comedian, I couldn’t care less about her politics, including whatever LGBT advocacy. But I do care whether or not she’s funny. I’m guessing @BOZO T CLOWN and @PhileasFogg were never Griffin fans to begin with, but I certainly was. I used to search for and watch videos of her standup all the time and even watched her show “My Life on the D-List.” Unfortunately, something about the Trump presidency broke her brain, and she became so political that she stopped being funny. I’ve had to endure presidents I couldn’t stand, whose policies were in my opinion destructive, but their presidencies didn’t fundamentally alter who I was or how I lived my life. You grin & bear it and fight for or at least wait for somebody better to come along. That’s how any healthy, well-balanced person deals with it, but Griffin instead allowed her Trump hatred to consume her life and consequently damage her career. Griffin’s epitaph will be every comedian’s worst fear: “She used to be funny.”

Not that strange … I’m guessing he’s in some dire financial straits and was hoping he could squeeze you for it. I’d stay away from him like a broken Petri dish of Ebola.

My gym here has launched a longevity program that features, among other things, red light and cryotherapy. I did a bit of googling on both. Red light therapy has proven benefits — skin rejuvenation, pain relief, inflammation reduction — and claims plenty of benefits to date unproven — athletic performance gains, weight loss, anti-aging. The proven benefits of cryotherapy are even fewer — helps with soreness after workouts — and plenty of unproven claims not worth mentioning. I just tried one session of red light therapy. It didn’t get nearly as hot as I feared it would, and I feel pretty good afterward. It’s quite inexpensive here in Manila, so I’ll probably sign up for the intro 10-session package. After that, see how I feel and reassess. Have you done one or the other, both? How did it work, or not, for you?