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What cognac is to France, the pungent, fermented fish sauce in Tinh’s vats is to Vietnam: A national treasure that shouldn’t be produced anywhere else. And everyone agrees that the best fish sauce, or nuoc mam, comes from the island of Phu Quoc. The islanders use only top-grade black anchovies, natural inputs and traditional storage methods to make their sauce, as they have done for a century or more.

A new trailer for the sequel to The Departed Pixar’s Ratatouille is up on YouTube. It looks like it’s intended for a Chinese audience.

So the film is about “a kitchen boy who can’t cook” and a “rat who dreams of becoming a chef” and how together they “can be the greatest chef in Paris.”

Woopdeedoo. I wouldn’t want any disgusting rodent near my food. The first time I caught a rat in the house was in the kitchen several years ago. I was able to catch it by using one of those glue papers. I had placed the trap on top of the kitchen cabinets (there’s space between it and the ceiling). When I went to retrieve it, the fella was still alive. As I was about to reach for it to dispose of it, the darn creature hissed at me.

When I came across Tideland at Blockbuster, I wondered why I haven’t heard about it. It’s the latest from ex-Pythoner Terry Gilliam, director of such classics as Brazil, Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Twelve Monkeys. The film’s protagonist is a young girl who escapes harsh reality by drifting “into a bizarre fantasy world where only her dolls’ heads keep her company.” Hmmm, popular theme nowadays (Pan’s Labyrinth, anyone?). This should be interesting, I thought. And it’s got Jeff Bridges.

I rented it.

The film opens with Terry Gilliam facing the camera, in noir lighting, à la Rod Serling, but in a black t-shirt, saying:

Hello. I’m Terry Gilliam and I have a confession to make: many of you are not going to like this film. Many of you, luckily, are going to love it. And then, there are many of you who aren’t going to know what to think when the film finishes. But hopefully, you’ll be thinking.

I should explain. This film is seen through the eyes of a child. If it’s shocking, it is because it’s innocent. So I suggest you try to forget everything you’ve learned as an adult, the things that limit your view of the world, your fears, your prejudices, your preconceptions. Try to rediscover what it was like to be a child, with a sense of wonder, and innocence, and don’t forget to laugh. Remember, children are strong. They’re resilient. They’re designed to survive. When you drop them, they tend to bounce.

I was sixty-four years old when I made this film. I think I finally discovered the child within me. It turned out to be a little girl.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[fade out]

“Remember, children are strong. They’re resilient. They’re designed to survive. When you drop them, they tend to bounce.” I do believe children are strong and resilient, but I dare you to tell that to actual young victims of horrible circumstances, Mr. Gilliam – like the ones written about in websites like this.

I want to know one thing, Mr. Gilliam. Why did you go there?

Ok, this news is about one week old but did you know that Adobe will be offering Photoshop as a free online app sometime this year? Serious graphic professionals will still need the desktop version because features like batch processing will be disabled in the online version.

Everyone’s predicting that the release of Adobe Photoshop CS3 this coming March 27 will boost sales of Apple Macs. That’s certainly a given. Early last year I thought that Adobe dragging their feet in developing Universal versions of their apps would hurt Apple hardware sales. Well it would have if Apple hadn’t announced the ability of Macs to run Windows last year. It sure attracted a whole slew of new customers.

One of Wikipedia’s recently created articles is on the Philippine gong instrument ensemble called the kulintang.