Anny’s World

I am definitely NOT going to miss the traffic of going from Emeryville to SF and SF back to Emeryville. Normally, without traffic, it takes me 10-15 minutes to drive to/fro the city…with traffic 30-60 minutes.

Number one reason to move to the city: (with my new job, I hope I get to meet him..)

Wow! That’s all I can really say right now…when 2005 started, remember how I made a list of my Plans and Goals (http://annyhong.com/?p=40.) I actually accomplished everything I said I was going to do on that list up to this point in time. But so many other spectacular unplanned things happened thus far this year and it’s leaving me saying WOW! at this very moment:
-I found out that my current division is sending me to Hawaii to attend the Sales and Service Awards conference for my accomplishments in 2004
-I received my AVP (assistant vice president) title
-I got a new job…actually, it’s my dream job…I get to still work for the same company but I get to make a difference in the community at the same time…today (4/29) was my last day at my current job and I went to my new job to visit and I’m getting my own office (it might be temporary tho)
-Today, Dai Dai and I went to check out a 2 bdrm apt in the city…we loved the one we saw and basically signed it and are getting the keys on Monday… so I am officially moving from the East Bay to the city…it was such an impulse b/c two days ago, we found out our current landlord is raising our rent..so we said we might as well live somewhere nicer…we went to check out these nice apts in emeryville, but then we decided that if we were going to pay that price, we should move to the city…so two days later, we have an apartment, not to mention with a nice view, but the rooms are A LOT smaller.

I think I am very lucky…and none of the above could have happened without a lot of people. I am eternally grateful to my family, friends, and coworkers who have continuously stuck with me. One of the future entries to come will be entirely dedicated to all of you, but I didn’t want to write this entry w/o telling you guys THANK YOU AND I LOVE YA!!!

Oh, to add to my 2005 Plans and Goals, there has been a list of things I’ve been wanting to do but never gotten around to it…maybe I will get to them this year:
-Drive to all of the city’s famous landmarks and take pictures (Treasure Island, Coit Tower, Palace of Fine Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, Golden Gate Park, City Hall, Legion of Honor, Union Square, Embarcadero)…this might be easier since I’m gonna be living in the city now…
-Take hip hop or yoga class…there’s a Club One gym underneath my new apartment complex…maybe they’ll offer these classes
-Watch a movie by myself

(Okay, maybe Anny’s World won’t go on a break, but SATB will. I need to think about if I want to bring back some ugly memories before proceeding with any more SATB entries…) But I’m kind of lazy so I think it’s about time to re-post my mission statement again. I know I posted it back in November but doing it again will be a good pre-cursor for my next entry which will be about Buddhism, 7 Habits, and Concept of No Self.

To live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.
The key roles that I play in my everyday life are:
1. Family Member
2. Friend
3. Student
4. Employee
5. Community Member
6. Financial Manager

In the above key roles, I live whole-heartedly with the following purpose:
-To build healthy, loving relationships in which all of us can become our very best
-To appreciate everything given to us in life and to never take any of it for granted
-To promote learning and growth and keep a positive attitude in all the different good and bad experiences all of us go through
-To remember, to understand, and to keep an open mind that all of us operate on different paradigms, never holding that against anyone, and to encourage all of us to do the same, but to also practice open communications and share our paradigms whenever we feel a need to
-To treasure all of our memories from the past, to encourage all of us to live the fullest in the present, and to prepare all of us financially and emotionally for a better future

(Any reference to “all of us” signifies everyone, including myself, who are affected by the different roles I play.)

Once a procrastinator, always will remain one…

Why do I find myself still up at 2:13am preparing for a presentation I need to give tomorrow?

I sure wasn’t thinking about the presentation when I was sitting in the hot tub with my roommate after work.

I sure wasn’t thinking about the presentation when I was having dinner with dufus and my roommate.

And I sure wasn’t thinking about the presentation when I was sitting at the Cafe Strada writing thank you cards. (Yes, sadly, henry, cindy, and I, with mike sometimes, still frequent Strada in Berkeley to procrastinate our presentations…our studying for GMAT, Series 7 and CPA exams.)

I think I have definitely perfected the art of procrastination…because at least I’m not pulling an all-nighter like I used to back in the days…

(oh, my original roomie hasn’t changed the time yet on the server so it still says 1am!…or maybe it’s something I need to do but don’t know how.)

(oops, I think Yagoohoo!gle is not working anymore…he he…too bad!)

So I’ve been listening to the classics all day long. Just to name a few:
ATB - Don’t Stop, Too Much Rain
Mark Van Dahl - Waterverve
Watergate - Heart of Asia
I know this is just making my cravings even worse.
And it doesn’t help that I picked up Ma-Ger at carpool this morning and he told me he has some.
All I have to say is, damn sigs and their parties…

Ricky sent me this today…

YaGoohoo!gle

SOOOO COOOOL!!!

P.S. If you type in my first and last name, Anny’s World comes up on the Yahoo! side but not the Google side.

It’s almost 1am and I am still awake. You’re probably wondering why, well maybe not, but I’ll tell you anyways. I had Business of Film class until 9:30pm and then had to finish a 10 page plan and a presentation for my class tomorrow night. To make things worse, I was doing someone else’s part. I already finished my part of the plan and presentation a while ago. One of my team members has been flaky that he has not been returning ANY emails, phone calls, or anything. But I know for a fact that he gets our emails because he freakn’ printed our latest plan, took it to class last week and proceeded to ask the professor questions about our plan that he hasn’t done jack shit on. Last Wednesday after class, he said that he’ll send his part in on Thursday because the rest of us already finished our parts. Of course, he didn’t send it on Thursday, and I emailed him on Saturday and still haven’t heard back. I’m not writing it to bitch or complain because it is by my own choice that I did his part, so I’ll just give him the benefit of the doubt that some emergency happened and he couldn’t do his part. But tomorrow’s the last day for that class!!! whoo hoo…

What I really wanted to post today was the essay I turned in for my Business of Film class tonight. Considering the number of papers I had to write for classes lately, I don’t even know why I still write in my blog. But posting the paper is easy because I already wrote about it. It was an open-ended topic so this is what I wrote about:

Happily Ever After, Again: A Plea For Better or No Romantic Comedy Sequels

*As of April 2, 2005
**Domestic and Overseas are pure gross and are not adjusted with inflation

As a huge fan and DVD collector of Romantic Comedies, a.k.a. chick flicks, I am thoroughly concerned and upset about the quality of the sequels to some of my favorite RomCom movies. As I have learned, the decisions the film industry makes are hit-driven, franchise-driven, and internationally-driven, and looking at the box office numbers from above, sequels do generate significant sums of revenue. However, RomCom sequels are not as big of a hit as their original counterparts, which lead to no franchise.

From the above chart, here are some of the trends observed:
-Sequels have generated lower domestic box office gross
-Sequels have a higher production budget (and marketing also, but is not shown)
-Domestic movie ticket prices have increased from the time of the original to the time of the sequel

To summarize these trends, production of sequels use more money and although domestic movie ticket prices (and inflation) are rising, domestic box office gross is dropping. This seems a little disconcerting because if I was the producer and spent more money on sequels, I would want to realize the rise in movie ticket prices (and inflation) and expect higher domestic box office returns. However, domestic gross of sequels decreased. This is not surprising to me because, as I stated before, as a fan and DVD collector of RomComs, I have felt that sequels have ruined the romance provided by the original. Thus, I want to make a plea to create better RomCom sequels or better yet to stop making them. I will attempt to identify the problems of sequels and formulate a strategy on how to create better sequels or to drop the sequel if the problems I identify arise.

Same Formula Multiplied. Sequels often follow the same formula from the original and this is understandable because the formula obviously worked the first time around. However, sequels tend to over-exaggerate the same formula and use the same formula multiplied. In each of the movies, I can identify each of the same formulas that was repeated and exaggerated during the sequel, but by looking at the cover arts of these movies, I can already point out those formulas. Reading the taglines of the cover arts, the originals say, “Irresistible”, “Two Thumbs Up!”, and “Terrific Fun!”. The pictures on the sequels’ cover arts reflect the similarities (same formula), but tout the taglines that it is bigger and better, “Big Laughs!”, “Big Liar, Big Dilemma, Big Lawyer”, and “Bigger. Bolder. Blonder.”. This same formula multiplied presents a problem because although the formula worked the first time and made the audience laugh and feel, when those formulas are seen a second time but to a greater extent, the audience is less pleased. I can predict the story and how the characters will act even before seeing the movie.

Happily Ever After, Again. What makes RomComs a joy to watch is that the main character, a girl, resolves all her conflicts, and eventually gets together with the man of her dreams, gets the Hollywood ending, and it is assumed that they lived “happily ever after.” Sequels destroy that romance, bring up new conflicts, and the main character girl relives her “happily ever after” once again according to the same formula multiplied. Somehow, the “happily ever after, again” does not play well with me. In Miss Congeniality 2, Benjamin Pratt does not even come back and the happy ending from the first Miss Congeniality was destroyed.

I watched all of the original movies on the big screen and I am one of those suckers who still goes to the big screen for the sequel in hopes of being romanticized again, but instead have came out disappointed. I have learned from my past mistake and am not even going to bother watching Miss Congeniality 2 in the theaters. I also own all the original movies on DVD and have not and do not plan to buy any of the sequels. I believe that the two problems I mentioned above were a big cause of my disappointment in sequels and have resulted in my lack of interest in watching RomCom sequels in the future and buying sequel DVDs.

The prime target the producers are marketing to watch RomCom sequels are the people who have seen the original or own the original on DVD, like myself. With the original RomComs being a hit, the fan base is already there. To leverage and draw this same fan base to watch and buy the sequel, the producers need to re-evaluate their strategy for creating sequels. The strategy lies in the pre-production script-creation stage.

Same Formula Lessened, Different Formula Applied. I agree that sequels need to use some of the same formulas that were a part of the original. I just think that it does not need to be exaggerated. I also think that new formulas should be included, applied on sequels and then marketed and tested prior to launching. When producers are considering scripts for sequels they should consider bringing in their target market, people who watched and own the original, and conduct market research on those people. Considering I am in that prime target market, I would not allow the producer to even pursue the scripts of most of the sequels.

Happily Ever After, Period. I really do not know how producers can resolve the “happily ever after, again” problem. Maybe they should just leave the good RomComs with the good “happily ever after” endings alone and not pursue sequels. Or, producers should only pursue sequels with those RomComs where the main character did not get her man, e.g. My Best Friend’s Wedding, and give Julia Roberts her very own wedding.

For now, I have lost faith in watching and buying any RomCom sequels during the time being. However, being the dreamy romantic girl who is drawn to RomComs, I have not lost hope that producers would realize and create better sequels. I have yet to see that one RomCom sequel that meets my expectations and romanticizes me more than the original.