julie and i had dinner in chinatown, at the kaze shabu shabu (aka hot pot) restaurant. maybe due of the rainy weather, but there weren't many people dining tonight. the interior of the restaurant has a clean modern vibe, and i was initially hesitant about eating there because it looked too pricey. the pink and blue overhead lights reminded me of my own grow lights back at home. i decided to go with the $12 lamb hot pot with an additional $3 for the spicy sichuan soup base. it's actually sort of expensive for food that you're essentially cooking yourself and the owners must be raking in the money. i guess what you're mostly paying for is the privilege of the hot pot experience, for those who've tried it before. the other shabu place in chinatown is shabuzen (which i've visited a few times before 1 2 3 4), which is far more popular (kaze is still pretty new, not many people know about it yet, plus it used to be a transvestite karaoke club). the hot pot was okay, nothing exceptional. the spicy soup base had a sweetness to it which reminded me of chinese medicine. after we left i was a little bit worried about adverse reactions: normally after i eat hot pot i have to go use the bathroom. something about the oiliness combined with the spiciness that just doesn't agree with digestive system.

the main reason why we were in boston was because joel had invited us to a movie screening for jumper. this was a film i planned on paying to see, so it turned out to be a lucky break. despite the fact that the movie is named after a british word for "sweater," it's a thoroughly entertaining film nonetheless. it's story of a young man named david rice (hayden christensen) who from an early age realizes he has the power to teleport ("jumping") anywhere in the world. being a young man, naturally he uses his powers for selfish gains: taking money from the bank (leaving a handwritten IOU), filling his luxurious apartment with the latest gadgets and toys, and when the mood suits him, transporting himself anywhere in the world to pick up girls. that right there would've been a pretty sweet movie. however, there's a secret organization whose mission is to hunt down these jumpers and kill them because they pose a danger to society. one of these "paladins" is roland played by samuel l. jackson with his usual bad-ass flair sporting a head of silver hair. along the way david comes in contact with griffin (played by jamie bell AKA billy elliot), a fellow jumper himself, who's waging a secret war on the paladins. and what movie would be complete without a love interest, played by rachel bilson. jumper seems like the perfect big-budget special-effects-ladened summer movie, so it's strange to find it playing during the winter. the story is pretty straight-forward, simple cat-versus-mouse chase, except the cats are armed with electrified grappling hooks and the mice can teleport anywhere. since it's also about teleportation, the movie can also be billed as a scifi, except the mechanics of the teleportation are never actually explained, so it's more within the realm of fantasy. the weakest link in the film however is probably the love story. not that i mind one - rachel bilson is very easy on the eyes - but the relationship dialogue is pretty corny and more than once made the audience snicker with laughter. the special effects are amazing and few fight scenes and chase scenes involving teleportation is pretty much must-see for any action movie aficionados. the scope of the film is also extremely grand, from egypt to tokyo to england to even a mexican swimming pool. if you're looking to see something you've never seen before, i definitely recommend jumper this weekend.

after the movie we ran into tim, who also just happened to be at the screening. the big news for him these days is his impending nuptial scheduled for this fall. as we headed out the theatre we all got caught up to speed on what we were doing now. joel went back to brookline while the rest of us took the red line to cambridge-somerville.

the heavy rain had pretty much stopped by then (it actually stopped after we left the restaurant). walking back home from the subway station, i trod recklessly through deep puddles since i was wearing my rubber boots. i caught the last 30 minutes of project: runway before playing some more hellgate.

earlier today i was outside shoveling the slush off of my sidewalk. it was sort of miserable as the snow from last night transitioned into freezing rain. i worked without gloves and by the time i was finished my hands were freezing. i had some leftover wings for lunch while unavoidably watching roger clemens delusional congressional testimony denying the fact that he ever used steroids.