food and peoples

I'm raving about this documentary right now, another solo movie watching in my new-find The Modern art museum in FW. hardly 20 odd ppl in the auditorium, just about half of them alone (one reading a book while the ads played before the movie started). I like such crowds, we laugh together, share the space a lil more privately, a couple of voices get louder than in other movies - ppl repeating dialogues for those who didn't catch them.

I love movies about food (one of my fav Chinese movies so far is 'Eat drink man woman') .

top that with a documentary about the streets and cultures of LA (my fav amongst all the cities I have ever wanted to move to). man, I had to see it.

and now I'm in love with this guy Gold. not in that way. its very like how I feel for Anthony Bourdain and Michael Palin. there's something about each one of these guys. watching them travel and sample different things and places (for Gold all of that is in LA itself - a city of countries and ethnicities) makes me salute them inwardly in admiration of their openness, frankness, a very strange combination of self-confidence and self-effacement when facing the wide world in front of them.

Gold's love for LA and for people of the city and of the world ("we are all citizens of the world, we are all strangers together") brought me to almost-tears (especially in these days of growing xenophobia), while his humor, procrastination, doggedness (he eats at a place many times before reviewing it; his record is 17 times), kept me grinning throughout. "you could take notes while you're having sex, too, but you'd sort of be missing out on something".

sad I'd never heard of him before I went to LA. I'm thinking of taking a sabbatical there in the near future, maybe a semester of driving around, walking, and eating out.

I got so hungry watching the movie (was a noon show too) that I headed straight to my favorite Korean restaurant and for the first time in my life devoured two portions (kimchi fried rice with beef, and a bowl of spicy pork & rice) alone. (won't try to review the place, cos Gold's professionalism and standards made me realize how presumptuous I was in reviewing any place ever). even had the owner(?) come up to me to ask if both were for me and if I was a Korean food fan. in this life I can't decide which things I love most, but food definitely tops that everchanging list very often.