Home by the Sea

But do they offer room service?

2009-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Lots of places offer sleeping accommodations with a range of services and unique experiences. But would you pay for the privilege of spending the night in jail? That's what a sheriff's office in eastern Missouri is offering, calling it a "bed and breakfast".

Now, I've not actually stayed at a bed and breakfast before, but I'm going to guess that the normal accommodations are much nicer than at a county jail.

I can't imagine why someone would want to stay there overnight. But if they decide to and then change their mind and want to leave early, they've gotta pay extra.

Weird.

"Thor" casting news

2009-07-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

"Thor", the Marvel Comics film to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth in the title role, has cast the love interest in the film with Natalie Portman. I like Natalie, so I hope it's an interesting part and not *just* the love interest.

This film is getting interestinger and interestinger, first with the story itself, and then the director, and with each bit of casting news. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I can't wait to see how it turns out.

things that spin in a circle

2009-07-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

So, there has APPARENTLY been some confusion amongst some people about how particular amusement park rides work. So, to clear up that confusion, I thought I'd present the following examples.

Here is an example of how ferris wheels work. One will note that it is bolted to the ground and spins in a sort of vertical fashion. This video is particularly interesting because the ferris wheel runs on man power - some guys climb up to the top and then shift their weight around, and that's what sets the wheel in motion.

And here is an example of a carousel. One will note that unlike the ferris wheel, the carousel spins in a sort of horizontal fashion. Having the carousel spin in a vertical fashion like the ferris wheel would be a BAD THING.

I hope that clears everything up.

(Yeah, I know, Kevin is never going to read this. Nor will Ron Jeremy, for that matter.)

musical interlude - "Oughta Know By Now"

2009-07-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

So, did you know that I really love Phil Collins' music? Yeah, I think I might have mentioned that one or twenty or a billion times. Well, I've been rediscovering my iPod lately, realizing that it will play me music I really like as I'm driving. Yeah, I know, not exactly breaking news, but I've been really weird about music the last couple of years, so using the iPod in the car is actually a good thing.

Anyway, Phil Collins' second-to-last studio album was "Dance Into The Light", which has a nice mixture of different kinds of music, and there are actually quite a number of songs on the album that I really love. I was listening to the album the other day, and I remembered how much I absolutely adore a particular song called "Oughta Know By Now". There were a couple of songs on the album that immediately hit me, upon first listen, and that was definitely one of them.

It's a little hard to describe exactly why it affects me so much - it's really just the perfect mixture of everything. The rhythms and tempo in the song are so sensual and sexy - that kind of gets you into it. And then the mix of drums and keyboards and guitar - that draws you further in. And then you get to the lyrics themselves - alluring and powerful. And then to top it all off, you get the driving passion with which Phil sings the songs, especially when he punctuates certain words. Oh my.

I think it's the "torch song" quality of the song that really gets to me. I can totally see Phil singing this in some little dive of a nightclub on a tiny stage, smoky atmosphere, not very many patrons, with just a couple musicians behind him, and him just singing his heart out, right at the person he's directing this song to. Wow. (And yes, in case you were wondering, the husband does read this blog, but it's not like it's any secret to him how much I like Phil.)

So I don't know if I'm simply imagining that scenario or if I'm channelling. I believe he did do a music video for that song, but I can't remember, and that might exactly have been the setting. But no matter where the imagery comes from, it's still just as potent.

So, for your listening pleasure, here's the song itself, "Oughta Know By Now".

Is it getting a little warm in here?

things I don't understand - Do I need your phone number or not?

2009-07-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

If I'm calling a friend who I know has my phone number and I have to leave a message, I won't leave my phone number in the message. If I'm not sure if they have my number, or if I'm giving them a different number to call me back at, I'll leave the number. And if I'm calling a business and leaving my phone number on an answering machine or voicemail, I'll leave my phone number. In each case, I'll include the area code, and I will pronounce each number, saying it slowly and clearly.

APPARENTLY, not everyone thinks this way. I can't tell you the number of times I've listened to voicemail messages where people have left a phone number, and they just ramble the phone number like it's some kind of contest to see how fast and jumbled they could possibly say it. They're not even saying the phone number with the same pacing as they've left the message. The message will be left in regular conversational tones, but when it comes to their phone number, they speed through it like they have someone chasing after them who's about to pounce so they really need to get off the phone. In almost all of these cases, I don't already have their phone number so I actually needed them to tell me. So, they either knew I didn't have the number, or they were just leaving the number in case I didn't have it. But in either case, they're still giving me the number for a reason, right, because they think I might need it? So why not say it at least clearly and slowly enough that if I actually *did* need it, I could actually understand them and being able to write the number down? How does mumbling it at a mile a minute help me to get that number?

There was this one time at work, and I am *not* exaggerating, where I had to play the message over and over again, because I could only make out one number at a time. Our phone system at work now has the ability to slow down messages, so there have been other occasions when I've replayed a message but slowed down so I could understand the phone number they were leaving me.

If you want me to call you back, why wouldn't you want me to be able to discern the phone number you're leaving me?

"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" - spoiler movie review

2009-07-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

I loved "Ice Age", and I even liked "Ice Age: The Meltdown", so when I saw the trailer and one-sheet for "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs", and there was a T-rex in it, I was definitely in.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I think I actually liked it better than the second film. I wasn't crazy about Ellie or Crash and Eddie in the second film, but I liked them much better in this film. Yeah, the story of the entire world of dinosaurs living underneath the frozen layer on top was a little hokey, but that was ok. I liked seeing all the other dinosaurs, and really, who doesn't like seeing a T-Rex? I liked that the T-Rex was a mommy, and Sid was pretty cute playing mom to her babies - he even drew faces on the eggs! Those little T-Rex babies were *SO* cute! I loved when they terrorized the little playground that Manny had set up for his child. And when one of the babies had to throw up the two animal younglings it had eaten. Gross, but funny. When the T-Rex brought the "dead" bird back to feed the babies, that was more grossness, but then it didn't turn out to be dead. And Sid was funny trying to teach the T-Rex babies to be vegetarians. FAIL! But it was pretty sweet when the mother T-Rex picked up Sid and put him in the enclave as well as they went to sleep, hiding from Rudy. And yeah, even *I* knew that T-Rex was going to come in and save the day against Rudy.

And oh my gosh - little Peaches was just *adorable*! Cutest.little.thing.

During the chase scene when Diego is going after that antelopey thing, it was pretty funny that at one point, there was dirt splashed on the "camera". Pretty cool.

The whole bit with Scrat and Scratte (or however you spell her name) was ok, but it took up more time than I thought it would. (Oh, and btw, contrary to what the person who submitted the summary to themoviespoiler.com wrote, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" is by Lou Rawls not Al Green. If you don't know who sings the song, that's fine, but don't get the artist wrong. That's pretty much Lou Rawls' signature song. And it's a damn good song, too.) They would periodically have them interact for a second with the main story, but otherwise, it was a completely separate B story. I have to say, though, that the new version of "Alone Again, Naturally" that's "sung" from the acorn to Scrat had me in hysterics at the new lyrics. I might have to pick up the soundtrack just for that.

That new mega-dinosaur thing, Rudy, was pretty scary.

Simon Pegg was pretty funny as "Buck". I'll admit that I didn't recognize his voice, and he was a bit over the top, but he was still good.

I saw the film in regular projection (though it was digital - digital rules), and I'm interested in seeing it again in 3D. The T-Rex and Rudy segments might be pretty awesome.

Two thumbs up from me. It was funny and action packed, and the segments with the T-Rex babies and Sid and then Peaches and everyone were really sweet, something I didn't expect from the movie going in.

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 8, 2009 episode

2009-07-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Brent wasn't happy about having been chosen for the elimination game, but he was happy to have won and stayed in the game. He was ready to take on anyone else he had to compete against.

After the elimination round, the contestants had some relaxation time back at the house, where it seemed that bonds had been forming. Linda, Megan and Bobaloo had become very good friends, and Drew and Jamie had gotten quite close, with speculation running rampant about exactly *how close* they'd become.

The next day, it was back to the competition. A little Judge Bob fan club, known as the Bobbettes, had formed in the audience.

The first game was called "Snap Attack". One member from each team sat opposite a member from the other team, with a wall in between so that they couldn't see each other. Each had the ability to pull a rope that would cause a rubber band to snap at the opposing person. The team members are all lined up, sitting down, on either side of the wall, each in a different colored zone. Two hits won that particular zone, and the first team to win three zones won the game. Oh, and did I mention, the men were shirtless and the women had on the equivalent of jogging bras on top. Yep, lots of skin, especially in the stomach area, to be hit by the rubber band. There were ropes all across for them to pull, but they were randomly attached to the rubber bands on the other side, so you really couldn't aim - it was just the luck of what you picked and whether it would hit the other person.

Some of the rubber bands harmlessly snapped in the air, but others found their mark, and from the comments made by the contestants, they H.U.R.T. Ummm, yeah, I would think so. Crazy game.

Preparing to be snapped.

The Red Robots won the first two zones, and then the Green Tigers came back to win the third zone, but the Red Robots then pulled off their third zone win, fittingly because of Cathy, the displaced Green Tiger. The Red Robots win gave them an advantage in the following game.

The second game was called "Paint Splash Madness". Team members had what looked like a giant measuring cup strapped to their front. While standing on a spinning disc, they then pulled a lever that released paint to fill their cup. They then had to make their way to another team member who was sitting on another spinning disc, holding a jug, and they had to fling the contents of their cup into the jug. The team with the most paint in the jug in the allotted time won.

The advantage for the Red Robots from winning the first game was that their team would have an extra cup that they could fill.

The Green Tigers went first, and while Brent did a decent job, Megan really sucked. She fell down, dropped her cup and then missed when trying to get the paint into the jug. The Red Robots had their problems as well. Drew had the extra cup, but he had trouble filling up one cup, let alone two. They had a hard time staying upright and filling their cups, and even Cathy dropped her cup a few times. Both teams made the mistake of flinging the contents of their cup at the jug when the person was turning away from them, which meant they weren't reaching the jug but just splashing paint everywhere. They never seemed to figure out that didn't work.

The spinning player with the jug, waiting to be filled.

Getting paint in the cup is messy work.

Even messier when you're trying to fling the paint into the jug.

Being the jug holder is like being the canvas of an abstract painting.

In the end, here were the results:

Green Tigers - 0.68kg
Red Robots - 1.12kg

The Red Robots won by quite a large margin, marking their second overall win in a row, which meant they not only got a reward but were also safe from elimination.

The Red Robots' reward was to experience race car driving, but not just regular race car driving, but the particular brand known as Tokyo Drift. They started off as simply passengers in the car while the professionals drove, and they had a great time. They were then offered the chance to drive, which Drew took them up on, even though he wasn't really given any instruction at all. They each also had a signed helmet they could keep.

Meanwhile, the Green Tigers also were around cars, but their punishment involved working at a Japanese gas station, which involved not just filling tanks but also cleaning cars, cleaning out the ashtray, cleaning the windows and even changing a tire, all without a translator. They had some pretty interesting customers too, from a Godfather/mob-type dude, to the convertible full of "Grease"/Elvis guys to a very particular owner of what looked like a massive roach coach almost.

After their punishment, it was time for the Green Tigers to go back to the studio for the elimination game. They had already made their decision about the participants the night before. Brent said that he didn't think he should be sent back to the elimination round since he'd done well in both challenges, and the others agreed. Megan tearfully said she didn't want to be in the elimination round either, but based on her performance, she had to volunteer. She was given the choice of choosing the other participant, so she had to choose between the two people she had bonded with. She picked Bobaloo because she thought she'd have a better chance of winning against him.

The name of the elimination game was "Alien Took My Teddy Bear". And for the record, they weren't teddy bears - they were panda bears. Different. Each of the contestants had to take a giant stuffed panda, go up one conveyor belt, make their way through another section with three spinning discs, and then another conveyor belt before depositing the bear in a bin. Whoever delivered the most bears in the allotted time won the game.

Bobaloo was picked to go first. He didn't have much trouble to begin with and delivered one bear without too much trouble. But he wasn't so lucky on subsequent attempts. He fell three times, each time being deposited into a bin of flour, and that meant he had to start all over again. The game really took its toll on him, and he only ended up with the one bear.

Then it was Megan's turn. She fell on her first try and had some difficulty but finally managed to deliver her first bear. On her second try, she fell in the spinning discs section, but she was trapped in between two of them, so she never fell in the flour. She finally managed to get her footing again, and she delivered her second bear with only seconds to spare, winning the game.

Megan was happy at her win but sorry to see Bobaloo go. He took the defeat very well and was happy to have been able to participate in the show. I had wondered how the Sayonara Mob was going to handle carrying out Bobaloo, and I did notice that one of the bulkier guys was given the task of carrying Bobaloo's mid-section while some of the other guys had his arms and legs.

I didn't really have a feeling about Bobaloo one way or the other, but he went out well, so good job.

Bob "Bobaloo" Koenig
Bob "Bobaloo" Koenig is a loud, large, loveable guy with true Midwest values. Growing up in Milwaukee, Bobaloo was always the funny athletic kid who loved sports and traditional Midwestern food. With a healthy diet of beer and cheese, he was the chubby kid everyone loved to be around. Not much has changed for Bobaloo since his childhood days -- he's still the funny, high-energy guy from the Midwest everyone wants on their team.
Age: 35
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: House Cleaner

More Japanese madness next week, and it looks like things are heating up between Drew and Jamie. What is this - Big Brother or Survivor?

Hai, Majide!

MJ

2009-07-07T23:40:00.000-07:00

I didn't watch any of the coverage of the memorial service today, but I've read bits and pieces of comments from those who were there, and it looks like they did a decent job with the service/event/whatever.

I'm still not sure how I feel about everything. It's hard to overlook the allegations, even though nothing was actually proven. It's hard to ignore the multitude of odd behaviours. But there's also no denying the immense talent that he was, the impact that his music had on so many people, the influence he had over younger talent.

He had everything in this world - fame, fortune and adoration. He had the life that people dreamed of having. And yet, it was that very same life that turned into a nightmare no one could ever have imagined.

But what I'm feeling sadness for is him. I don't know what his demons were or what gave birth to them and made them grow. I don't think anyone is ever going to know that. I'm sad that the little boy who sang songs beyond his years like "I'll Be There" and "Ben" grew up into something different. I try not to read foreshadowing and irony into the fact that he sang "Ben" so wonderfully, especially at that age, when the song was about a pet rat that turned killer because the boy couldn't relate to others and couldn't control the rat.

I saw the genius that created "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" and "We Are The World". And I saw the adult that did questionable things, the incredible talent that turned into the subject of snide jokes.

I heard of the people who went to sing his praises. And I wonder, somewhat bitterly, where they all were when he needed help, why they didn't step up then to intervene, to say something, to do something, to stop him, to save him. Maybe he was already too far gone, incapable of listening to anyone. Maybe my expectations at what people should have done is unreasonable.

I just know that such promise, such talent, such a gift, should have not turned out this way, should not have ended this way.

I hope that his family's pain at losing him will decrease over time. I hope that his children will be able to have as normal a life as possible, that they will be able to overcome the legacy that is impossible not to pass along to him.

And, most of all, I hope that he is finally at peace.

call for very young volunteers

2009-07-06T23:18:00.000-07:00

I have a co-worker who has a little daughter who is about a year and a half old. She's at the daycare center that our company has at our work location, so I've seen her daughter on occasion - cutest thing. I was asking the co-worker about the daughter the other day, and she said that her daughter was learning quite a bit of sign language, and that it was really cute when she used it. She knew words like "more" and "want" and such. She mentioned that it's much more convenient for her daughter to be able to communicate even before she can really speak because she can at least convey some of what she wants. The co-worker said that sometimes, kids can bite because they're frustrated because they can't really talk yet and can't get their thoughts across.

I found that to be a really interesting point. And it made perfect sense. And I thought, hey, Orkid does that too - she tends to bite when she wants something but can't convey to us what she wants, and we're not picking it up from her simply walking around and meowing, so she can bite in frustration. However, I don't think I'm going to be able to manage to teach her sign language. Other than that I don't know it (though I'm sure I could learn), I don't think her little paws are manipulatable (Is that a word?) enough to be able to form sign language letters and words. Pity, because it would really help to be able to communicate with her better.

But the concept of teaching sign language to children still fascinates me. They weren't into doing that when my siblings had young kids, so I don't have any experience with that. I can understand teaching children signs for finite things, like "milk" and "food" and "sleep" and such. When my siblings' kids were little, I would teach them various things pretty much by rote and repetition, but that still mostly consisted of actual objects I could show them. I suppose the exceptions would be "please" and "thank you", which are abstract concepts, but that was really a matter of training. They didn't know what those words meant, but they knew that if they said it before or after receiving something, they'd get what they wanted. OK, well, really, it's more accurate to say that they made sounds that sounded like those words because at the point where they were learning that, they couldn't really speak yet. They just knew that making those sounds at certain times generally got them what they wanted.

But how do you teach a child the concept of "more" or "want" enough to be able to even teach them the sign language for that? That's what baffles me. When I was in college, I took a sociology and psychology class, and one of the sections was on child development. When I came home on break, I had a convenient little test subject there - my niece. There was a section about when kids realize that the child in the mirror is actually them, but before that, they just think it's another child - kind of like parrots, but parrots never realize it's their own reflection. There's also the concept that if you don't see something, it doesn't exist, so if you have a ball and then put a cup over it, they don't realize it's under the cup and just think it's gone. But at some point, they do figure out that if they just pick up the cup, the ball is right there.

Well, the siblings' kids are too old to use as test subjects now, and I don't have any friends with really young children that I have access to on a regular basis where I could try out/watch this sign language thing in action, so if anyone wants to volunteer a test subject for me to observe, I'd really appreciate that. Thanks.

Johnny Carson Park in Burbank

2009-07-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we had occasion to be in Burbank, but we were early, so we ended up driving around to kill some time. The husband saw the sign for Johnny Carson Park, right near NBC Studios, so we decided to check it out. One odd thing we discovered is that to get to the designated parking lot for the park, you have to drive through part of a section of a private religious school to get to said parking lot.

The park was actually quite nice, with lots of nice scenery. Several groups of people were taking advantage of the nice backdrop with semi-formal picture-taking sessions. One party of three (man and woman and photographer) looked to be taking what seemed to be engagement pictures.

There's a little stream that runs through the middle of the park, and there's naturally a playground as well, with a bench referencing "The Tonight Show".

We found the sign for the park, but I didn't like it much because it looked too much like a grave marker to me.

According to a plaque on the sign, it seems that the park was dedicated to Johnny when he left "The Tonight Show".

There's parking on a couple of adjacent side streets as well if you don't want to have to drive through the school to get to the official parking lot. Here's the location of the park on Google Maps.

Johnny Carson Park
400 So. Bob Hope Drive
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 953-9572

the trip to the top of The Lady

2009-07-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

I had remembered hearing the announcement a while back, but I had forgotten about it until I saw a news headline today that the crown of the Statue of Liberty reopened for visitors today.

Access to the inside of the Statue was closed after September 11, 2001, and while parts of the Statue were reopened several years later, access to the crown has remained closed. Until today.

On my first trip to New York in the 90s to visit a friend for her graduation, we did some sightseeing, and we did go to the Statue of Liberty and waited and made the trek up to the crown. It's a pretty small space, and the climb up the stairs was a little tiring, and it was a pretty long wait. But it was all worth it. Being up in the crown, seeing the amazing view of New York and knowing about the history and meaning of the Statue was all pretty amazing. It was one of the rare occasions when I asked to have my picture taken, inside the crown, because it was that amazing.

It makes me very happy to know that people will be able to visit the top of The Lady again.

America

2009-07-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Neil Diamond's song "Coming to America" seems very appropriate for today, and it's a terrific song to boot. The footage below is from the film "The Jazz Singer", which was a really good movie, and Neil Diamond did a terrific job. Oh, yeah, and some unknown dude named something like Laurence Olivier played his father. He was good too.

Here's wishing everyone a safe and fun Fourth of July.

Oh, and of course, the obligatory cool Google logo for the day.

When did Minnie Mouse become a can-can dancer?

2009-07-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

So we were back at Disneyland tonight (we were there on Thursday night as well, to see the special independence celebration fireworks show, which was AWE.SOME, BTW, but I digress...), and then we were heading out of the park later in the evening to go home. There's a merchandising kiosk to the right of the tunnel, to the right of the Main Street Train Station, just before you go under the railroad tracks. It's a pretty small kiosk, usually with just little knickknacks and stuff. Well, they had one particular merchandise item in demo mode, presumably to attract customers to purchase it.

Here's the very short video I took of the item in action. It's a fairly crude video since it was taken on my phone, so apologies up front for that, and ignore the people in the background and such since they don't figure into this.

Who in the world thought this was a good idea? I mean, I know spinnies are quite popular, and Disneyland has a ton of different styles. But a spinnie that has Minnie's dress flying up and showing her undergarments? That's just wrong. It really makes me wonder if the merchandising department thought this through at all.

Thousand Cranes - tempura bar - restaurant review

2009-07-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

We had discovered the Thousand Cranes restaurant in Japantown in 2007, when we were staying locally at the New Otani for a convention, and boy what a discovery it was. We went back once a few months after that but haven't had a chance to go back since until a couple of weeks ago.

We had heard a while ago that the New Otani had been sold, which made us wonder if anything was going to happen to the restaurant and staff. When we drove up, we noticed that the hotel was now called the Kyoto Grand.

We went to the third floor and inquired at the reception stand. Since it was a Saturday night, we thought the tempura bar might be really busy, in which case we'd "settle" for the sushi bar, which we had been meaning to try and hadn't had a chance to either. They took us back to where the tempura and sushi bars were, and we were surprised that the tempura bar was empty. I was also sad to note that it was a different tempura chef - we had very much enjoyed the one we'd had previously.

But, all the surprises and disappointments and concerns about the changes were soon swept away. This tempura chef, Hiroyuki Shiono, had been there since shortly after the ownership change, and we really liked him too. He also struggled with his English, but I'm beginning to realize that usually means they're awesome cooks and really nice as well. We again ended up being the only party at the bar during our stay, so we again had his full attention. (The second time we'd gone, it was a full house, and we got two seats at the far end of the bar, and the tempura chef was so busy that we barely talked to him, pretty much just saying "hi" and "thank you" when he'd give us goodies to eat.) We had a chance to talk to Hiro for a bit, so we found out how long he'd been at the restaurant, and what he'd done before coming there. He was very forthcoming, and it was fun to learn about him. We talked about the food and other things during the course of dinner as well, and sometimes, the language issue was a struggle, but with both sides trying, we managed to communicate just fine.

He was also helpful with giving advice about techniques and etiquette with tempura. It had been so long since I'd been there, I forgot much of what I'd learned last time! In addition to the regular sea salt, he also gave us a green tea sea salt mixture that he'd made, which was really good. He also taught me that for tempura, you either dip it in the sauce, or you put lemon juice and sea salt on it - not both.

They've made another change in that there's no longer a menu that you order from - it's all just a one-price set menu. Before he started cooking anything, he did put together what he was going to be feeding us, and he went through everything and asked if there was anything we didn't like so he could have changed it. If we'd asked for something in particular, he probably could have accommodated that as well.

The meal started with a sashimi appetizer, which was really yummy. I tell you, we have *GOT* to go back and actually try their sushi bar.

Some of the things he cooked, he just put on our plate, but other things, he had other presentations for them.

Orange roughy tempura with salad and ponzu sauce.

Salmon. I loved all the different cute little plates he used too.

The rice and miso soup were brought about half-way through the meal.

We had a lot of the same things we had on previous visits, like the squid and crab claw and shrimp and asparagus and lotus root and sweet potato, and the top of the chrysanthemum. We didn't have the oyster this time, which I actually quite liked, so I'll have to remember to ask for that next time.

Chrysanthemum, shrimp and crab claw.

For dessert, he gave us white bean paste with some kind of fruit, I think, in the middle. The husband thought it was mango, but I wasn't convinced, but otherwise, I have no idea what it was. It was all cute and tasty though.

The service was a bit slow even though we were the only ones there because they were busy elsewhere in the restaurant. A few times that we needed our server, the chef had to get her attention for us, and he seemed a little annoyed that it was so hard to get them to help us. But she was very nice when she would rush in to see what we needed and then rush back out to get it for us, so we didn't mind too much. The set-up also makes it a bit difficult to get the server's attention because the tempura bar is situated so that the diners are facing the chef and pretty much staring at the back wall, whereas the chef is facing out into the restaurant. So to get a server's attention, you have to keep turning around and look to see if they're in the room, whereas the chef can just see all the time.

As I mentioned, it's all a set menu now, so they never bring you any kind of menu to peruse, but that also means there's no price anywhere. The set menu is $65 per person and includes the tempura bar items, green tea, rice, miso soup and dessert. It's not exactly an inexpensive dinner, but you definitely get full value for your meal. And one thing you should remember - GO HUNGRY. There's a lot of food, and you're going to want to enjoy it all.

Thousand Cranes
Japanese Cuisine, Sushi & Tempura Bar
Kyoto Grand Hotel & Gardens, 3rd floor
120 South Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-253-9255

"Thriller" in Legos

2009-07-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's read my blog knows I love Legos, especially vignettes done with Legos. Well, someone I follow on Twitter posted a link the other day to the entire music video of "Thriller" all done in Legos. It's pretty awesome.

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - July 1, 2009 episode

2009-07-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

The Green Tigers were enjoying their win streak while the Red Robots were determined to win a challenge. And then the twist - instructions came down that to even out the players (since the Green Tigers still had 6 people but the Red Robots were down to 4), the Green Tigers had to pick one person to send to the Red Robots. The person chosen to change sides was Cathy, who wasn't happy about being sent away, but she was hell-bent on showing her old teammates that they made a serious mistake.

The first challenge was called "Gopher Make U Crazy", which was a variation of Whack-A-Mole. The team members had to pop up out of a hole and spit ping pong balls into a bin. One of the opposing team members was in the middle with a mallet that they could hit the popping-up people with. The remaining four team members each had a flimsy noodle thing with which they could deflect the balls being spit into the bins. Of course, that made a mismatch since there were 5 spitters and 4 noodle people, but they never really addressed that. Bobaloo did a really good job for the Green Tigers, and even though he was getting whacked, it had no effect on him. When it came time to switch, Linda was the mallet person for the Green Tigers, and she was hitting the Red Robots pretty good - but she'd end up hitting them after they'd already spit the ball, which did no good to try to stop them from spitting the ball in the first place.

You can see the purple section has a cameraman instead of a noodle person.

Whack-er and whack-ee.

Noodle.

I absolutely *loved* this game!

When both teams had gone, they revealed the count of ping pong balls.

Green Tigers - 66
Red Robots - 106

The Red Robots won by a landslide, with newest member Cathy responsible for 32 balls all on her own.

They then went immediately into the second challenge, which had them wearing mouse outfits, with ears and a nose. The game was called "4 Near-Sighted Mice & Big Cheese". One team member was designated the big cheese and swung over the playing field, calling out instructions to the other team members. The rest of the team wore goggles with only a tiny bit of vision that was allowed, and one person would set a carton of milk on a conveyor belt, and then the other 3 had to try to catch the carton, while wearing boxing gloves, and then dump the milk in a large bin. Whoever ended up with the most milk won the game. Because the Red Robots won the first challenge, they had an advantage in this game - one of their mice members did not have to wear boxing gloves, ostensibly making it easier to catch the cartons. I didn't really think it was that much of an advantage.

At the end of the game, the Red Robots were revealed to have quite a bit more milk than the Green Tigers, marking the first time the Green Tigers won a reward and wouldn't have to go to the elimination round.

The Green Tigers' punishment was to build a zen garden, which ended up right in their backyard. It was a lot of hard work and manual labor, and when they were given a break for lunch, they got scary food that creeped them all out.

The Red Robots, on the other hand, started off their reward with a first class train ride, which ended up being on the bullet train, where they were given chocolate and sake to enjoy on the ride.

Their destination was a spectacular restaurant, but when they arrived there, it looked like any other little restaurant.

They were surprised, though, when some of the servers were monkeys, bringing them hot towels and opening bottles of liquor for them. (Here's an article about that restaurant. And here's another one, with video. And a third, also with video.)

They very much enjoyed their food (though I couldn't tell what they were being served), and then after the meal, the monkeys even performed a show with tricks for them. This would *SO* not happen in the U.S. for a myriad of reasons.

The Green Tigers then had to choose two people for the elimination round, and rather than do as the Red Robots had done and choose their weakest members, they decided to eliminate their competition and chose Brent and Debbie, two of their strongest players.

Brent and Debbie had to wear full-body penguin outfits, and the elimination game was called "Big Penguin Belly Flop". There were balloon eggs that they had to pop using their belly, and whoever popped the most in 2 minutes won. What's with the whole popping giant balloons with your body thing? They've used that trick a few times, though this was the first time where it had to be with your belly.

Brent went first and did a pretty good job, though he also made a mess. His popped balloon count was 20.

Then Debbie went, and her smaller size proved to be a disadvantage as she was having a hard time popping the balloons just by landing on them. By the time she figured it out, she had lost a lot of time, and when she was done, she had popped only 16 balloons, which meant she was out.

I was sorry to see Debbie go, because I liked her. She was ragging on Bobaloo *hard* though, including making some really mean personal comments. Oh, well, phone's ringing for you, Debbie, and it's the Sayonara boys.

Debbie Kaufman
Debbie is an incredibly book smart, eccentric and funny young woman. She was raised an only child by supportive parents who shielded her from the realities of sharing, poverty and heartache. Debbie hasn't had to deal with a world that says "no" or tells her that she isn't good enough. She believes that she can do anything, get anything she desires, and she isn't afraid to tell you what's on her mind.
Age: 22
Hometown: Easton, CT
Occupation: Stable Hand

Hai, Majide!

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" - spoiler movie review

2009-06-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

I really liked "Transformers", and the trailer for the sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", looked really good, so I was looking forward to seeing it. We've been to a few midnight screenings for movies in recent months, but we weren't quite as excited about this film so decided to pass on the midnight show and just see it opening weekend. That turned out to be a good decision.

I liked the film ok, but it wasn't nearly what I expected, and I did like the first film much better, even with the problems I encountered when I saw the first film. The first film was frenetic in parts, but mostly during the final battle sequence. When the bots are madly fighting each other, it's a little hard to tell who's fighting who. Well, in the case of the sequel, that was multiplied tenfold. I have issues with films that are too jarring, and they can induce nausea, which is no fun at all, so I usually have to manage that by not staring right at the action during those parts. Guess how much of this film I didn't watch/see because of that? And it REALLY didn't help when Michael Bay, the director, decided to dolly the camera around Megan Fox multiple times for seemingly no reason whatsoever, other than that she's hot, and she looks great with the sun behind her. OK, so just have her standing still, in front of the sun, tossing her hair seductively. Done.

The film seemed very disjointed to me, kind of schizophrenic, unable to decide what it wants to be and failing to mesh the disparate parts together. Much of the attempted humour - Sam's mom getting high on brownies and then behaving really oddly at his new college, the whole irony of who Sam's roommate is and his whole attitude, the "twin" Autobots who talked street - just fell flat and seemed forced to me.

The main plot itself, with the Decepticons looking for the magic source, and the prior battle eons ago that led to the sacrifice of all those Primes, was pretty cool. But the plot point that I objected to in the first film, when the head of the bad guys, Megatron, was killed? Well, they wiped that all away pretty handily with the magic bit of cube left over that they brought him back to life with. So, since Megatron was so easy to bring back to life, the "death" of Optimus Prime really lost its effect. Everyone in the movie, from Sam to the military folk to the Autobots, were all devastated at Optimus Prime's death. Me, not so much, because I knew he wasn't going to stay dead, that he was going to be brought back to life before the film was over. If it was that easy to bring back Megatron, it was going to be pretty much that easy to bring Optimus Prime back. Which made his death kind of meaningless. Which was a shame. In the first two films, they've killed both of the main characters in the fight between the Autobots and the Decepticons *AND* brought them both back to life. Isn't that pretty much playing all your cards too soon?

And I hadn't paid enough attention to the title of the film, but the trailing part very much echoes the second "Star Wars" film - "The Empire Strikes Back", and it's not just the titles that are similar. There were quite a number of scenes that really smacked of a Palpatine/Vader relationship.

One odd thing - in almost all of these kinds of film, at least to my memory, they refer to a "president", and sometimes, they actually show him or at least give him a name, but it's always some fake name. During the early parts of the movie, they only referred to the "president", but after the Fallen makes his broadcast, there's a line about how President Obama has been taken to a secure location. This is the first time I can think of where they used the actual real president's name. Weird.

The kitchen appliances gone bad was pretty funny though.

There is one thing I love about this movie, which I got from the trailer - it's got one of the best lines around, right up there with "No fate but what we make for ourselves." In this case, it's Optimus Prime's line - "Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing." Hmm, weird that the two lines are kind of related, huh?

But then that leads me another point I really didn't like. I don't profess to be all that knowledgeable about the Transformers toys and lexicon. I know they change from one thing to another. But I don't recall there being Transformers that were related to Terminators - the hot girl who goes after Sam (and yeah, that was telegraphed that there was something wonky about her, though I did find the scene funny when Bumblebee was playing songs while she was in the car, and then he whacked her into the dashboard - and wasn't it weird that she wasn't then bruised or bleeding or anything like a normal person?) turns out to be a Decepticon who's got this layer of skin and totally passes for a human, until it grows a tail/spine and has magic elastic tongue? Really? Really. No, sorry, doesn't work for me.at.all.

Shia LaBeouf was ok in this film. He still played it well, the boy who gets thrown into a situation he doesn't want to be in, and he ends up having to save the earth and mankind as we know it. I didn't watch the parts where the bots were probing his face and brain and such, even though I knew it wasn't really him. Oh, but I really enjoyed the scene when Sam tells Bumblebee that he can't come to college with him.

Megan Fox was ok, but I think she had a better part and more to do in the first film. She played on her looks and sex appeal in the first film, but they also showed the substance and fire underneath. It seemed like in this film, they focussed mostly on the sex appeal and neglected developing her character better. However, I did like when she captured the bot that was trying to get into the safe, and she beat the heck out of it and kept it captive, and then she ended up with her own pet Decepticon. Oh, well, Sam had his pet Autobot, so she can have a pet Decepticon. But, Bumblebee never tried to have sex with Sam. She screamed "Saaaaaaaaam" a lot during this movie.

Josh Duhamel was ok in this film, but I'd like to see him in a film where he has a bit more to do. I think he's capable of it - we just need to see it. I did like him in the scene with the asshole rep from the White House, when he's showing him how the parachute works and the guy pulls the plug too soon.

I will admit that I don't remember John Turturro from the first film. But, I did only end up seeing it once, and that was two years ago. I enjoyed him in this film quite a bit, probably the best thing about the film. I loved his delivery of the line about chasing after these alien creatures for years, and Mikaela (Megan Fox) had one in her purse. Speaking of which, how in the heck did she get the bot through the airport scan in her checked luggage?

Still love Glenn Morshower, though I didn't realize they were using his actual last name. "Aaron" kicks butt wherever he is, even if Jack Bauer isn't around.

I've wanted to see "Terminator Salvation" again anyway, but seeing this film just makes me want to see that film even more.

little yappy dogs do appear to have SOME purpose

2009-06-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of chihuahuas. I don't find them to be cute, they have annoying little barks, and people for whatever reason seem to like to make weird movies with them.

But, I've been alerted to a few instances when chihuahuas actually served some useful purpose.

This story out of Oregon tells the tale of one chihuahua who saved another chihuahua from a cougar.

This story is more local, from Riverside, where chihuashuas trapped a mountain lion. Or a cougar. The link and the headline say "cougar", but the story itself says "mountain lion". I don't think cougar and mountain lion is the same thing, is it?

In any case, tiny little yappy dogs besting much bigger cats aside, I'm still not that fond of chihuahuas.

ok, yeah, so I follow a cat on Twitter

2009-06-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, I happened upon this article about a cat that is on Twitter. OK, yeah, so it's not actually Socks, the cat itself (duh), it's the owner channeling the cat through the tweets. I mentioned this to a couple of friends over the weekend, who were amused by this. I find the tweets to be funny, especially as someone who has a cat, so what the heck.

Here's an example of some of the tweets I particularly liked.

AAA WHEN DID I SUDDENLY GET THE REPUTATION OF BEING PORTABLE gah put me down PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN flump sheesh come on guy

I'LL BE TAKING MY DINNER UNDER THE DINING ROOM TABLE CANOPY THIS EVENING hey come back here oh well usual eating place it is trot trot

JUST CONSIDER THIS TWITCHING TAIL A DO NOT DISTURB SIGN thanks

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS INSIDE THIS CORD must gnaw to determine what's inside GNAW GNAW GNAW REVEAL YOUR SECRETS CORD other than you're chewy

SAD TO SAY I AM NOT CURRENTLY A TWITTER VERIFIED ACCOUNT but watch this nobody knocks over the one expensive thing like I can SEE IT'S ME

hey fatty how ya doing SURE COULD USE SOME FOOD AND HERE I AM RUBBING AGAINST YOUR FACE AND HEY FOOD AND SO FOOD AND oh you're awake FOOD

spending the day at key information gathering location under coffee table AM HAPPY TO REPORT THERE ARE FEET AND LOTS OF THEM

FLAT CAT IN CENTER OF ROOM absolutely no reason SOCKS PEROGATIVE

GAHHHHHHH no matter how long I stare at that rabbit it stares back MOVING HEAD no difference HOW DOES IT DO IT what do you mean it's stone

flat cat on stairs NONE SHALL PASS woah you walked right over me had no idea that was even possible OH WELL zzzzzzzzz

THIS DOOR IS A PARADOX WRAPPED IN AN ENIGMA TRAPPED IN A RIDDLE ok fine it is merely closed STILL RATHER CONFOUNDING

PANTS STATUS: FUZZY TRY AGAIN LATER ha ha will be even more fuzzy then SHED SHED SHED ROLL ROLL ROLL

There's something called the Socks Army that APPARENTLY does some good stuff, but I haven't cared enough to find out more about it. I just think Socks is funny.

And no, in case you were wondering, Orkid will not be getting her own Twitter account nor will she be allowed to exchange emails with any other kitties who would have the ability to teach her how to open doors and cabinets and such.

more purse talk

2009-06-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

So, Vera Bradley released three new patterns and four new styles recently.

The Carnaby (middle) is a little bright for my taste, and while the Pirouette (right) almost looks like Pink Elephants at first glance, it doesn't appeal to me either.

But I really like Blue Rhapsody.

Here's a little swatch of what the color looks more like. The Blue Rhapsody purse in the first picture is at an angle.

And I'm really liking the new Saddle Up style, so I might be needing that in the new Blue Rhapsody pattern.

Isn't this cute?

That would be another nice "going out" purse to add to my collection.

of showers and pigs

2009-06-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing ThinkGeek the other day, and I ran across this shower curtain and bathmat set.

This would seriously freak me out. I'd be stumbling into the bathroom in the middle of the night and turn the lights on and then probably scream my guts out at the sight of the shower curtain and bathmat. And you know that would happen every.single.time. And can you imagine if we put that in the guest bathroom, and some poor unsuspecting person staying the night encountered that and thought someone had been slaughtered? Interesting idea, but not for me.

And speaking of slaughtering, lots of people like bacon. It's pretty yummy, and it goes well in a lot of dishes. But bacon doesn't go well with everything. For instance, bacon ice cream would be pretty gross. Bacon gumballs might not be *quite* as bad as bacon ice cream, but I think it's in the same neighborhood.

I've been told that chocolate covered bacon is pretty good. I'm not sure I'm on board with that either, though I *might* be able to be convinced to try it.

I'm just saying

2009-06-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

And I'm not going to be saying much more. I'm just going to link to this story about alleged voter fraud. I could say a lot about it. A WHOLE LOT. But I think the story speaks for itself.

And in case the article becomes unreadable unless you register, I'm duplicating the story below.

Veteran Latino-rights advocate charged with voter fraud
7:09 AM | June 25, 2009
Felony charges have been filed and an arrest warrant issued for a well-known Orange County political activist suspected of committing election and voter registration fraud, the California secretary of State's office announced Wednesday.

Investigators in the agency's election-fraud unit said Nativo V. Lopez, 57, of Santa Ana leased office space in Boyle Heights and registered to vote using that address although he lived with his family in Orange County. They also say Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Assn., cast an illegal ballot in L.A. in the 2008 presidential primary.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which is working with the secretary of State, charged Lopez with four felonies: fraudulent voter registration, fraudulent document filing, perjury and fraudulent voting. A warrant was issued for his arrest and bail was set at $10,000. The offenses carry penalties of up to three years in prison.

Lopez is a longtime Latino political-rights advocate in Orange County who served on the Santa Ana school board. Lopez has been a vocal advocate for Latino voting rights and supported immigrant amnesty and allowing undocumented workers to have driver's licenses. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

In 1997, the Orange County district attorney opened a criminal investigation into allegations that a group in which Lopez was a leader registered some clients to vote before they took the oath of citizenship. No criminal charges were brought, and Lopez demanded an apology from critics.

-- Dan Weikel and Shelby Grad

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - June 24, 2009 episode

2009-06-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing really in the way of culture experiences or acclimation to the new country in this show either - it was all about the challenges.

The Red Robots were pretty bummed about having lost both challenges in the last show, so they were raring to beat the Green Tigers.

The first challenge was called "Party In My Pants". Each of the teams had to be inside a giant pair of pants. 8 cannons fired tennis balls at them (and I mean "fired" - those balls were whizzing), and they each had plastic grabber arms (the kind where you close your hands into a fist and it makes the pincer at the end close and grab), and they had to pick up tennis balls and put them in the pants. Each team had 3 minutes, and whoever had the most tennis balls in their pants at the end won. The teams were kind of tethered to the middle, so they could really only move around so much.

Each team took their turn, and many of them were pelted with the whizzing balls.

At the end, there was the count:

Red Robots - 102 balls
Green Tigers - 104 balls

The Green Tigers won by 2 balls. They had beat the Red Robots in the very first challenge this season by just 1 bento box. The Green Tigers were very happy, and as expected, the Green Tigers were dejected, especially being on the wrong end of a close game again.

For winning the challenge, the Green Tigers won an advantage for the next game - which started immediately.

Both teams were dressed as ballerinas, in hot pink body suits and tulle tutus in the color of their team. The Red Robots were now really mad at having lost 3 times in a row and were really wanting a win.

Before the game started, Judge Bob came out dressed in a golf suit. He said that it was his birthday, so he was dressed in his birthday suit. Rome said that wasn't what a birthday suit was and promptly stripped Bob until he was down to his boxers, which he refused to let Rome pull down.

The challenge was called "Somebody Put Clothes on Bob". The goal was to dress a mannequin Bob. 5 articles of clothing were hidden in an area covered with flour. The items were a hat, tie, vest, shirt and pants. Each team member had to dig around the flour and look for a bag which would contain an article of clothing and then run up a conveyor belt going the other direction and dress mannequin Bob while running in place. However, there were other articles of clothing in the mix that didn't count. Each team member took their turn, and when they'd found an article and put it on Bob, they would tag out and another team member could tag in to search for another article of clothing. If someone fell on the conveyor belt, though, they were automatically out and had to tag out. Whoever got Bob all dressed first won the game.

The Green Tigers' advantage from having won the first game was a 5 second head start.

Each team member went through the challenge, and sometimes, they had trouble finding a bag, and sometimes, they found articles of clothing (like a bra) that didn't count. They put the articles of clothing on Bob as they were found, but that meant that if a tie was found first, that was put on, and then a vest was found, and then the tie had to be moved but not dropped while the vest was put on.

The Green Tigers had a lead, partly because of their head start, but then the Red Robots caught up. They were mostly tied for a while, but then the Green Tigers pulled ahead because a few of the Red Robots team members fell on the conveyor belt. The last item for the Green Tigers was the shirt, which Debbie found, so she had to make her way up the conveyor belt and stay steadily there, take off the vest and tie without dropping them, put the shirt on mannequin Bob and then put the vest and tie correctly back on mannequin Bob. She did a great job, leading the Green Tigers to a 5-3 win over the Red Robots. Yeah, the Green Tigers had the 5 second head start, but 5 seconds really wasn't that much, and they beat the Red Robots handily.

The Green Tigers were thrilled about their win and even more thrilled about their prize - they were going to visit the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium as the VIP guests of the Yomiuri Giants, and one of them would even be able to throw out the first pitch.

The demoralized Red Robots were even more depressed to hear about their punishment. It was also sports related, but nowhere close to what the Green Tigers would be experiencing. They were going to go to the largest driving range, and they'd be put to work.

The Green Tigers were taken to the stadium and were on the field during batting practice. When it came time to decide which of them would actually be throwing out the first ball, they didn't hesitate and picked Debbie because of her stellar performance in the last challenge. Before the game, they were all on the field and put on the giant jumbotrons, and Debbie didn't do particularly well with her pitch, but the crowd was supportive anyway. They all had a great time.

Meanwhile, the Red Robots arrived at the driving range, Lotte Kasai Golf, which had three levels of golfers hitting golf balls. 2 of the team members were put in a kind of enclosed mesh tent, and they went onto the driving range to round up the balls that were hit there. And yeah, their bright orange vests pretty much made them moving targets. 2 other team members were given the task of cleaning golf clubs, and the 5th person was given the task of cleaning the little mirror at each station that allowed the golfers to watch their own form while they swung a club. He had to ask each golfer in Japanese if he could clean the mirror, and of course, he would periodically mangle the Japanese, asking either inane questions or sometimes making lewd offers.

The Red Robots made it back to the studio first, and then when the Green Tigers arrived, they were still eating hot dogs from the stadium and kind of flaunting it at the Red Robots, which pretty much pissed them off.

It was then time for the Red Robots to choose two players for the elimination game. They decided to choose the two people who did poorly in the last challenge, which were Yari and Dan, who had both fallen on the conveyor.

The elimination challenge was called "Lotion, Lotion, What's the Commotion". Each contestant had to make their way through an obstacle course while lubed up with some kind of slippery liquid. They had to carry a torch thing through the course, and first up was climbing some mountains, then they had to carry an egg on their helmet and transport it intact from one point to another, and then they went through a lotion bath, and then they had to make their way over 6 sumo wrestlers lying side by side (that part was really weird), then they traded their torch in for a medal and had to make their way back in the other direction, minus the egg bit on the return round.

Yari went first, and she fell a lot, and it looked like she'd be very bruised from all the falling. Her trip over the sumo wrestlers was quite interesting, as she was grabbing them in places she probably shouldn't have, and she would often have her face right in their crotch areas. Her time to complete the course was 5:33.

Next up was Dan, who was quite tall and so tried to lower his center of gravity, and during the egg part, he was moving v.e.r.y. s.l.o.w.l.y., but then he pretty much raced through the rest of the course. He slid over the bodies of the sumo wrestlers (kind of swimming over them, though he did kick one in the face, it looked like). His time to complete the course was 2:36.

So, Yari lost in her second time in the elimination round. I kind of liked her, though her accent really bothered me, so I wasn't too sad to see her go. Bye bye, Yari. Great effort.

Yari Agramonte
Loud, outgoing and opinionated, this spunky Latina is the center of attention wherever she goes. This energizer meets Rosie Perez can't hold back on her emotions and will give it to you straight whether you want it or not, both in English and in Spanish! She's a little spark plug who brings her can-do attitude to everything she does, especially the games. This girl from the Bronx knows what she wants, will stop at nothing to get it, and she'll have the time of her life on the way to reaching her goals.
Age: 22
Hometown: Yarmouth Port, MA
Occupation: Accounting Clerk

The husband pointed out that one person from last season didn't come back this year - Tony. He was the dude who would periodically show up at the house to tell the contestants things, and he would make appearances when they went to their rewards and stuff, but that's all he really did. We kept wondering what was the point of him being there. I guess other people wondered that as well, because he's not around this season.

The preview for next week's episode looks pretty good - that human version of "Whack-a-Mole" looks awesome!

Hai, Majide!

Orkid's hammock

2009-06-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

When we first decided to get a cat, the husband decided that we should get one of those automatic litter boxes. It has a sensor that triggers when the cat goes inside, and after a set amount of minutes, the rake triggers. That way, you don't have to clean out the litter box as much as with a regular litter box. The device works out really well, and Orkid is fine with it, which is good. I've heard that some cats are too scared by it and won't go near it, so it's no use. She was kind of suspicious at first, but at this point, we think she's figured out what it does, because sometimes, she'll just go inside and come right back out, and then once it has raked, she'll then go back in and do her business.

Yeah, I know, peculiar cat.

Anyway, we decided to get a privacy tent for her litter box, and the other really useful thing about it is that Orkid has never given up her habit of flinging litter when she's trying to cover up, so having the tent keeps most of the litter contained to some degree. It's a kind of zippered canvas/plastic tent that has a frame inside that fits around the entire litter box, and there's a flap in front for her to walk through.

Well, the tent now has a use that I don't think the makers ever dreamed of. The litter box is near my computer, and Orkid likes to just hang out on top of the tent sometimes, like she's relaxing in an outdoor hammock underneath some shade trees. She'll roll around, almost like she's enjoying catnip, or she'll take a bath or just hang out or take a nap.

Here's Orkid relaxing in her hammock.

Sometimes, she jumps up there with her full force, which I don't think it's built to take, at least not for any length of time. The frame was made of some material that was starting to wilt under the weight of her repeated leaping up there, so the husband actually remade the frame with pvc material so that it holds up better. The tent itself is fraying a bit, but I think it'll last for a while longer, and we actually bought another as backup for when this one eventually crumbles.

Yeah, it's been many years since the last time I had a cat, but I tell you, Orkid does some things that my cats *never* did.

f'ing with the classics

2009-06-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

I know that it's common for Hollywood to do remakes.

They do big-screen remakes of television shows, like "Bewitched" (never saw the movie, heard it was awful), "S.W.A.T." (saw the movie, hated it), "Miami Vice" (saw the movie, hated it) and "Land of the Lost" (didn't see it).

They also do big-screen remakes of previous movies, like "Psycho" (never actually seen all of the original, didn't see the remake - didn't see the point), "Sabrina" (never saw the original, liked the remake) and "Halloween" (liked the original though didn't see it until much after its release and don't plan to see remake).

But there are some movies that are just so classic, so iconic, so perfect, that they should be untouchable, never to be messed with by new hands. And now, they're daring to do a remake of such a classic, to try to make lightning strike twice in the same spot. Impossible!

Are they remaking "Gone with the Wind"? "Birth of a Nation"? "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"? No. Worse.

They're remaking "Fame".

"Fame" was an amazing movie. It was based on the real-life performing arts high school in New York, and it allowed the rest of us to see what it was like. That cafeteria scene. Remarkable. The street scene with Bruno's music blaring? Incredible. And how awesome was the scene of Doris coming into her own during "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"?

You had Coco and Leroy and Bruno and the other students and the teachers and other faculty.

Irene Cara was Coco, the confident, talented singer/dancer/actress who knew she was going somewhere. But it was heartbreaking to watch her sing on camera as she took her clothes off, hoping this was going to be her big break. Irene Cara made a name for herself for a while, partly as a singer.

Gene Anthony Ray was Leroy, the foul-mouthed street punk who had an attitude unsurpassed by anyone, but he could also dance his ass off. His relationship with teacher Mrs. Sherwood (played by Anne Meara) was incredible to watch. Different worlds, on a collision course.

And then there was Lee Curreri as Bruno - Bruno was my favorite. I had such the crush on him. Yeah, ok, he's quiet, and he doesn't have the greatest singing voice, but he was shy and a hell of a musician and composer.

And Paul McCrane as "I'm afraid to come out of the closet" Montgomery. Who knew that skinny little nervous kid was going to grow up to be the asshole head administrator of a giant Chicago hospital, not to mention Jack Bauer's evil brother?

Albert Hague played Shorofsky, the music teacher. I would have loved to have had him as a music teacher. Maybe I might have been inspired to be more musically inclined.

Oh, yeah, and Debbie Allen was the dance teacher.

Perfection. The final concert at graduation. Spectacular.

The movie was so great, they even made a TV show out of it. OK, the TV show wasn't quite as good, though Bruno was still in it, and I did like Erica Gimpel as the new Coco, though I don't think I saw her in anything else other than a few episodes of "E.R."

But later this year, they're going to release a remake of the movie.

This is the trailer that I saw when I was at the movies yesterday. I will admit that the singer (I'm told it's Naturi Naughton) does a good job with the song. But I can't do it.

It looks like they've changed the names around, so it's not technically a remake, but I guess a modern day re-telling. Whatever. I don't care. Yeah, kids are still graduating from that high school. But it won't be the same.

Debbie Allen plays the principal in the new movie. She was relevant in the 80s. She hasn't been relevant in a really long time. I hope she's not choreographing the new movie though. Once upon a time, she was a damned good choreographer. But that was a really long time ago too.

I know some people will be interested in the new movie. But me? I'll be hangin' with Coco and Leroy and Bruno.

The Oscar-nominated song "Out Here On My Own".

The Oscar-winning Best Original Song "Fame".