JohnGerman

I absolutely loved the Sichuan restaurant in Billerica. I wonder if it's still there?

I'm probably in the minority..

90 Million? Bullshit!...over priced...inflated market...good publicist years ago..

Must have blown someone...

Well, good ol' Dave certainly has blown quite a few and that's a fact.

As for whether his work is worth 90 mil, the market has spoken. From a modern and contemporary art history perspective, it can be argued that he can be worth that much. Personally, I can think of quite a few painters that could or should be worth more, but art market is really fluid.

Heck, in the sleeping picture above, I would have absolutely zero despair staring at my guy's cute ass which I know I can have all to myself at any time! :p

The bright cheeriness isn't all. There is a lot of irony in the bright cheeriness. Yes, much of his work depicts sort of sunny, languid Southern California afternoons. But they scream with existential despair.

I know what you mean, just as the cheesiness of Jeff Koons is really not a real cheesiness. That being said, was there really that much despair for Hockney when he was trying to convey a sense of despair? And as he gets older, his later works don't even have any pretension of those pseudo despair anymore. It kinda got me to think of a current pop singer, Sam Smith. When I first heard his song on radio when I was driving, I thought it was a middle aged African American soul singer, but when I saw the effeminate British kid in pictures, I just felt completely betrayed.

Don't get me wrong. I like David Hockney, but I like his prettiness and shallowness, and not the purported despair.

I like David Hockney's work. Not necessarily too deep, but bright, cheery, and has charisma. I am fine with him being the most expensive living artist. I certainly prefer him over the cheesy ex-stock broker. That being said, if it's up to me, I'd say Gerhard Richter is the best living painter in the world today.

Who is the red head in the Icon Male picture with a blue star on his right cheek?

Absolutely should take it. I have first hand experience. Feel free to PM to discuss more.

Bei-Jing, or Peking, means "Northern Capital"

Nan-Jing, or Nanking, means "Southern Capital"

Do we have a "Western Capital"? The answer is no, but do we have a real city called "Eastern Capital" in Chinese? The answer is YES! Wanna guess which city that is?

The Chinese government wants people to call it Beijing since that is the pronunciation in Mandarin and pinying which which is the phonetic writing adopted for Mandarin. Peking is the cantonese pronunciation of it. You probably will still here people in Cantonese still refer to it as Peking though officially it is Beijing.

I am sorry, but this is simply wrong. The old translation has absolutely nothing to do with Cantonese. As an earlier poster indicated, ”北京" literally means "Northern Capital." The old English "Peking" translation was done via the old Wade-Giles transliteration method. It was much criticized as its translation and pronunciation was not that precise and was quite confusing to modern readers. For example, its Ps sounded more like Bs. After the founding of the People's Republic, this translation was still used by the Chinese government pretty much into the late 60s and 70s. Since then, the Pinyin method was widely adopted, thus "Beijing" is now considered the proper translation. as Pinyin pronunciation much more precisely matches the Chinese pronunciation. In Chinese, the name didn't change. Now, in the case of Peking University, again, the Chinese name "北京大学” didn't really change, but for the sake of legacy and heritage, they decided to stick with the old translation. Same situation for the other half of China's Big Two universities: 清华大学. It's still using the old translation of "Tsinghua University," and not the "Qinghua University" using the Pinyin system.

Plus, the concept of “Red China” has been obsolete for 40 years. You probably have been listening to too much Rush Limbaugh. Dongguan, a medium sized city in Guangdong province, was called the sex capital of China. Its “service industry” has optimized and standardized the entire sexual service practice into minute details (like MacDonald’s), which were then copied by any self-respecting brothels throughout the rest of the country.

There are lots of web based male escort services in China, in almost all the major cities. Service quality varies though. And homosexuality is now legal in China.

After watching the movie, you could fall in love with that hot Romanian guy. In reality however, those eastern European guys are not the easiest to deal with.

For him to also be an engineer and math lecturer at University College London is just so unfair. You can't be this goodlooking and smart. Something isn't right!

I am not necessarily talking about your "favorite" porn stars, but just the ones who physically exactly match your taste. I will give out three names whom I like: Scott Tanner, Paul Wagner, and Jeremy Stevens, in that order.

The gay character, played by Nico Santos from NBC's Superstore, was somewhat clownish and rather stereotypical, but it has more depth than what you'd expect from some "typical" gay comic sidekicks. An example was how he, when asked for help by the matriarch, broke up the movie financing son and his gold digging wannabe movie star girlfriend. Plus, the character is a fashion designer! He is supposed to be flamboyant...

Ah, you are absolutely right! My goodness, can't believe you remember it! Thanks so much E.T.Bass!!

Normally I am not into this type of shallow gay flicks, but for whatever reason, I remember I found that film rather charming.

I need a little help here. About 12-15 years ago I saw a gay-themed film on DVD. It was more or less a lighthearted comedy and I enjoyed it. But for whatever the reason, I just can't remember the name of it and its plot at all! All I remember was, the leading guy was a young man who was passing out fliers in Times Squares for Broadway or off Broadway shows in the summer, but most of the people already went to the Fire Island or the Hamptons. There were also some short flashbacksof the guy having sex. That's all I can remember. Do these scenes ring a bell?

Just watched the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. The scene at Peik Lin's lunch had some of the funniest lines. The dad (Ken Jeong) told his kids to eat their food: Don't you know there are kids who are starving in America? Then he pointed to Rachel (Constance Wu) and asked his kids: Do you see how thin she is? Do you want to be like her? The kids then all shouted: No! The whole theater just burst into uproarious laughters.

For a romantic comedy, I also like the fact that the heroine is a well put-together person, not some screwed up hot mess in most of the other romantic comedies...

I highly highly recommend a visit to Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is located. The nice thing is, Angkor Wat is just one of the MANY awesome sites you can visit there. There is also Angkor Thom/Bayon with those giant smiling Buddha heads, Ta Prom (giant tropical trees growing into the crumbling temples. Angelia Jolie shot her Tomb Raider movie there. There is a tree there that local folks call it the Angelina Jolie tree ), Banteay Srei (or queen's palace), with those intricate red stone carving and sculptures. You can also go see Tonle Sap lake... Lots of excellent hotels, and the availability of handsome local professionals.

Based on my personal experience, while Pantheon and Versailles are indeed quite nice, they never came anywhere close to that awestruck, spine-tingling sensation that I felt when I first saw Angkor Wat or the Great Wall. Talking about the Great Wall, I think a lot of tourist attractions in China did not match my expectations. Even that huge Terracotta Warriors pit wasn't as big as I had imagined. But boy oh boy, when I first saw the Great Wall with my own eyes, I was completely blown away. I have never been to Machu Picchu, but when I first saw it on a Continental Airlines poster at a train station, I was absolutely mesmerized.

Though not on the list I would have liked the Roman Pantheon and the Palace of Versailles

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles

Borobudur is not even a semifinalist. So there is no point to bring that one out. Plus, I would think Angkor Wat has a bit more significance as it's THE largest religious complex in the world and it's very much the symbol of the Khmer civilization . This obviously doesn't take anything away from Borodudur of course. If you want to go down this road further, I'd say Pagan looks just as impressive as Angkor Wat... Anyway, they ALL should be more deserving than that Jesus statue in Brazil, built in the 20th century! And it's not even that big!

It would be a tough call between Borobudur and Angkor Wat. In this relatively overlooked part of Asia, both these behemoths are pretty hard to ignore.

 

Also, Borobudur is adjacent to the Prambanan temple complex which always struck me as Angkor's 'sharper' twin.

Angkor Wat should’ve been in. It is 10 times more important and impressive than Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. But poor Cambodia just didn’t have enough population/voters against Brazil. It’s a popularity contest after all. In fact, Angkor Wat should’ve been ranked ahead of the Petra as well.

Yes, Villa Giani is still in operation and with a functioning web site: http://www.villagiani.com/

I am shocked, to be honest. Isn't it illegal in London? The authority certainly knows this place...

Similar arrangements are actually quite common in China nowadays. Many older men, most of them widowed, and often with the implicit approval from their grown up children, hire live-in helpers/nannies/house aids/companions/or whatever you want to call them. Those helpers are often poor middle aged women from the countryside, either unmarried or widowed themselves. They live with the men, do housework during the day and sleep together at night. These arrangements often end when the men die.

I have to admit that a major reason Brokeback Mountain didn't resonate with me was the casting choice. Jake Gyllenhaal was not suitable for the role. There is just nothing "cowboy" about him at all. And Ann Hathaway is a complete miscast in her role. Michelle Williams was a good one, and Heath Ledger was merely adequate, in my opinion. I would much prefer Shawn Hatosy (and he did play a somewhat gay role before, in Borstal Boy), or maybe even give Brad Renfro (RIP) a try.