Downtown Mountain View has changed ...

... and it doesn't look good. From 2002 - 04, I used to frequent downtown mountain view a lot (on castro) close to where I lived. It was a quiet, peaceful place. Now, almost 3 years later, I move back here and found some unwelcome changes ...

Whatever happen to peace and quiet? It's a much more crowded place now. Damn, it's even harder for me to find parking there nowadays.

2 weeks ago, I finished watching movies on Friday night. It was saturday morning around 2 am. So, I decided to go to eat at Pho Hoa. Boy oh boy, the place has changed. There are many clubbers and gangsta wannabes in town frequenting the new clubs in town (one of which is called Buddha bar -_-). I thought this town was peaceful. Pho Hoa was just as crowded. Speaking of clubs, I thought this town was not the kind for clubbing ... 2 years ago, I actually saw a club close down here. But maybe times have changed and it's modernisation time.

... and speaking of modernisation. There's a bubble tea place here called Verde. That place hold a lot of memories for foothill students like me who hang out there. It looks like your typical bubble tea place: bright decor, flat screen tv on the wall playing a chinese movie/mtv/concert footages, crowded with asians, and with magazines and games that you can play in the shop. and then it went for renovation. Last weekend, I finally went there to see the "new" Verde. It has become like an elite knock-off of Starbucks. With dark chocolate walls and fluorescent lighting ... and the big screen tv shows "The Marine". and it's not surprising to find the visitors are mostly white too. Have the store tried to change its customer demographics? No wonder it lost its charms. But worry not, assuming it has not undergone similar renovation, there's still an old school Verde in Cupertino.

and the last straw about this town? Last weekend, I went to KFC there and there was this beggar outside. When I returned to my car, the beggar asked me for money. Being the stingy ass person that I am, I ignored him. He then YELLED at me. WTF. Boy, you know, all this while, I thought Berkeley is a bad town with its homeless people and all. But those 2 years I spent there, the beggars/homeless never yelled and actually say "thank you" even when I ignored them. I hardly recall seeing any beggar in Mountain View before, but this one really upset me. Mountain View has really changed. It is no longer the town it used to be. Why is that? could it be Google? lol. But yeah, that beggar really made me feel that way. I miss Berkeley and maybe next time I go there, I will actually give some money to the beggars/homeless.

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Anyway, some random ramblings of the day...

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom admitted his alcohol problems on top of the affair scandal that erupted last week. Oh boy.

Steve Jobs share his thoughts on Digital Rights Management system. Interesting read. My skeptical self says that his position is probably motivated by the recent potential european ban on iTunes. But hey, at least he is candid enough to admit only 3% of songs in iPod are purchased from iTunes. Can you see Bill Gates admitting Zunes only have 2% of mp3 player market share? Go Steve.

Watched Superbowl 2 days ago. Much has been written about it, especially Rex Grossman's incompetence. But I won't write on what I'm not familiar with. Instead, I will show you how noob i am. About 1/2 an hour into the match on the first quarter, I was watching and remarked "wow, they play really well, look at the throws ..." and then my roommate who was watching with me said, "Of Course, this is Pros". Ooops, oh well.

My sister wrote an interesting and funny take on the indonesian movies based on a recent movie she has just watched. I recommend you head over, but I will print the funniest part:

"... everything always runs ever so smoothly for the main character of the show!!--which 99% of the time happens to be a skinny bitch with a pair of bambi eyes and super long black hair. How can it be so coincidental that your neighbor's son whom you've never met before suddenly shows up looking like a person someone ripped out from an Abercrombie Ad?! And how can it be that he, already looking so darn good, also drives a freakin Range Rover in Indo and a fucking Ferrari in amrik, lives in this apartment overlooking a panoramic nightscape in SF, and goest to school at Berkeley ..."

Okay, maybe the filmmakers mistook Berkeley student for a spoilt ass USC student. But yeah, the indonesian filmmakers is only digging their grave by making more pointless fantasy like that film described. I really want to blog on Indonesian film industry... but I shall save it for another day. My sister's entry is as good as it is. And until then, ciao.