Saturday, December 31, 2011
New Year's Eve. It's a new movie opening this weekend. I don't think I want to subject you, my readers, to something that painful so I'm gonna fall back to one of my favorite Coen movies,
The Hudsucker Proxy.
Norville Barnes, a hick from Muncie, Indiana, peers perilously over the ledge as the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve. He wants to take his life because he was a failure at being the CEO of the Hudsucker Corporation, but he was just a stooge put in place by the board to drive the stock down. At the disastrously lowered price, the board members wanted purchase the stock on the cheap. Needless to say, Norville's idiocy guides the Hudsucker Corporation to new heights especially with the introduction of the hula-hoop, Norville's invention.
Amy Archer is a Pulitzer winning journalist who spies something funny about Norville Barnes as CEO, and she decides to investigate him. She poses as a fellow Muncian and becomes Norville's secretary. She finds out how much of an idiot he is, but also that there is some genius to his idiocy. She falls in love, yet, she exposes his idiocy and causes his downfall. "How could you a fellow Muncian?" Queue the climb to the ledge.
The Christmas theme today is the circular notion of "what comes around goes around." Christmas comes just once a year. It's gone, but it will be back again next year. Live for that and it will come around again. Give and you shall receive. Or as they said in the movie karma.
The big O! "You know, for kids!"
So as you celebrate New Year's Eve remember, you do get a second chance. It'll come around again in a year's time.
Labels: movies, the shelves, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
11:14:00 AM
I'm not doing anything. Just the same routine. Would you like to remedy that?
Labels: finis
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:40:00 AM
Friday, December 30, 2011
I've become really stingy when it comes to doling out stars in my reviews. I only gave one movie a plus positive rating of four stars or more from all the movies I've seen this year. My list is so meager that I'm adding in the best movie I saw this year which happened to be on DVD. Also, the other movie I added is considered the best picture from last year, but I saw it this calendar year. There's plenty of 3 star movies this year and there are also plenty of two stars or less. It's depressing. Movies haven't moved me in awhile. Perhaps I may see something on the last day which would.
L'Illusioniste on DVD (5 stars)
The King's Speech (5 stars)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (4 stars)
Labels: lists, year in film
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
6:40:00 PM
Most every anime featuring high school romance is going to have it's Christmas episode.
Hatsukoi Limited is no different. It's title is
"Before it Snows" (雪が降り出すその前に) I just wanted to copy and paste that. You see I needed an anime to tell us all about Christmas in Japan from the schoolboy's perspective. I would've chosen my favorite anime, but settled on Hatsukoi Limited because it sorta has a theme we could attach to it for today.
The set up for the anime is that these girls and these boys have crushes on each other and they either need to acknowledge the crush or be crushed by rejection. It's a short, simple, complicated manga turned by Kawashita-sensei that you should read about its plot at wikipedia. Anyhow, the Christmas episode has the gang planning a Christmas party. Three girls and three boys each crushing on someone are to attend and they'll exchange gifts. The day arrives and two girls and two boys have bailed out for various reasons leaving the more antagonist couple alone. They don't know if they like each other; they just know that the other is really, super annoying. They argue then get into a snowball fight which clears their heads enough to acknowledge that each has a good point to them; they're steadily falling in love. They exchange presents and each finds that they got what they had wanted.
The Christmas theme for today is koi. Love not familial or brotherly, but passion. We should feel it all year long, but it is more acute around this time because of the sharing and
The second Christmas theme for today is
"tsudere goodness." Assertive, combative, confrontational at first given way to gentle, warm-hearted, loving that's a Christmas present I can't wait for.
The third Christmas theme is grade S zettai ryouiki. That's the star on the treetop and the ribbon on the gift. Waiting for it is worthwhile.
Labels: anime, Hatsukoi Limited, tis the season, tsundere goodness, Twelve Days of Christmas, zettai ryouiki
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
3:13:00 PM
I did like
Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, but I thought it lacked emotion. It was a very rote, by the numbers Misson, but no heft in outlying why we should care about IMF. They were gonna be disavowed, but "meh," why should I care. The previous installments in this film series forced Ethan Hunt to the brink emotionally. Whether through revenge and betrayal or love and passion, Ethan always was running fueled by his emotions for getting the job done. In this movie, it lacked the personal, emotional investment for Ethan to keep running.
That is not to say the plot was a mess, but the standard rogue agent with a nuclear bomb makes me think Lex Luthor, and Lex Luthor was a comic book villain. This could've been a plot for any other task force team -- someone look up what John McClane is up to.
I think Paula Patton is beautiful. I think Brad Bird did a fine job on his first live action film. I hope Brad Bird doesn't just do live action films anymore. I think Tom Cruise runs funny. Simon Pegg is overexposed. Anil Kapoor should be in more Hollywood productions bringing some Bollywood over. I thought when the twist came that Josh Hallowell would be under that mask. I wonder what the IMAX hype was all about.
3 of 5 stars.
Labels: movies, thoughts
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
11:29:00 AM
Thursday, December 29, 2011
If I didn't have the time to watch
last post's film, I'm even more crunched for time for today's,
Christmas In July. So, to save time, what we'll have here is the transcript as I live blog the film. I'll just have to figure out the Christmas theme on the fly as well.
Ready? Here we go...
Christmas in July is one of
Preston Sturges' lesser films not as great as the
Lady Eve or
Sullivan's Travels, but one of the few he directed himself. No idea who Dick Powell and Ellen drew are, but still it's filled with his repertory cast such as
William Demerest.
William Demerest locks the jury on the Maxford House Coffee slogan contest. Maxford House!
They don't announce the winner? Oops.
Dick Powell doubles down after every loss! Always bet on black!
"If you don't sleep at night, it's not the coffee it's the bunk."
It's a Viennese doctor's theory that coffee doesn't make you sleep.
Maybe the Christmas theme for today and this movie is Christmas should be 365-24-7, year round. Always be sharing all the time outside of Christmas. Maybe?
What would Sturges do with more accomplished actors? Wait until his next movie to find out.
He works for the competitor! There's a bell to start work? Like school! It is school! Rows and rows of desks where the workers ply there trade. And a secretarial pool as well.
Going to principal's office. Damn he's getting grilled.
"Cheese it!"
Co-workers have sent a fake telegram for winning the Maxford House slogan contest. He won the big prize. $25000! He's going on a spending spree, but he's been fired. No, he's gotten a promotion.
"It's bred in the bean."
I don't think this movie has anything to do with Christmas...
The contest winner is here? They hadn't even announced it.
"I just give money away." "I can't wait to give you my money."
They just waltz up and took the money.
Now they're buying some crazy contraption automatic pull out sofa bed. The future is now!
Here we go... they're buying everyone in the neighborhood presents. Truly it is Christmas in July.
They're walking out of the department store without paying again.
That's probably it for the Christmas mention. I wonder how they'll get out of this one.
They're still arguing about the slogan winner and the guy has already spent the money on gifts. Here's Sturges and his witty dialogue.
He's a loser... And the jokes on him.
His name has already been painted on the door so he keeps his job! And he did win. I think we saw that coming!
Wow what a short movie. Must've been a single reel.
Welp. It would've been better but I didn't know a movie with a title including Christmas wasn't about Christmas. I'll try and do better tomorrow.
Labels: tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
12:51:00 PM
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Okay, now here we go. I"m gonna have to do the next installment cold. I don't have time to watch this one. I've slipped up. I do know that I should've already written a post or two on
Tokyo Godfathers. If not, then tonight I'll make up for it.
The
story takes place during Christmas and centers around three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo. One is a runaway school girl who fled her home after an argument with her father over a cat. Another is a drag queen. The final hobo is an ex-
keirin racer and bicycle shop owner acting as a bum because of a gambling problem. They find an abandoned baby who they vow to reunite with its mother. Adventures ensue. Hmm. I guess you have to watch it to understand.
Anyhow, you wouldn't expect a Japanese anime to have anything to do with Christmas, but they make an anime about everything and anything. You'll see later on as I hit up some anime in later posts.
Today's Christmas theme is how universal the tidings of joy and goodwill to all men are. Christmas shows up in a film in a most non-Christian of nations, and the film celebrates redemption through the birth of a child. Each of the three Tokyo godfathers experiences redemption in some form. Christmas brings some of that to us with the birth of our savior. It doesn't matter if you're some Japanese homeless person. Joy and peace are universal truths and it takes a Japanese anime to remind us.
I do miss Satoshi Kon. I wonder what more he would've brought to us. I hope you search out his films and realize he was a master storyteller. And I hope you add Tokyo Godfathers to your holiday movie list.
Labels: hoboes, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
11:21:00 AM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
6:04:00 PM
The
Northern Exposure episode
Seoul Mates is what made me embark on this foolish blog journey in the first place. If I didn't read about it on the
AV Club, I wouldn't have tried this out.
This episode of one of my favorite television shows occurs in its third season, the peak of its story telling prowess. The main story involves Maurice finding out about his son born of the hostess he had a fling with during the Korean war. The second story is about Joel, the Jewish doctor, embracing his inner Christian. The third story has Maggie all clumsy because of her imminent homecoming with her parents. The fourth is about Holling freaking out about Shelley missing out on her Catholic Mass. All this in the middle of Christmas as the Raven comes along.
Ravens are what decorates the trees in the town of Cicely for Christmas. They are the Native American spirit of the holiday times. The Raven brought the light to the darkness. "A long time ago the Raven looked down from the sky and saw that the people of the world were living in darkness."
The Christmas theme is community. Northern Exposure was always about community a place where you belong and where your quirks don't bother anyone. You'll always find community in Christmastime. Everyone sharing the same good cheer and good will towards all. It's what brings us together.
I still haven't taken up the task to watch the whole Northern Exposure run. I can't wait to do that one.
Labels: boobtube, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
12:54:00 PM
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is verbose. Lots of deductive reasoning going on. Turns out, it's not bad, but it got to be annoying. It is what it is.
3 of 5 stars.
Labels: brevity, movies, review
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
3:16:00 PM
If it wasn't for Fox Movie Channel, I would be writing this entry cold. As it were, FMC is trying to compete with TBS in a "movie marathon on Christmas Day." Whereas TBS showcases the beloved,
A Christmas Story, FMC comes at you with a more recent entry into the Holiday movie canon, Home Alone.
Yup. That's today's treat.
Home Alone. The movie that gave us Macaulay Culkin. The movie that reminded us that John Hughes was still alive. The movie that gave us Chris Columbus.
Okay. Since it was a while that I had seen Home Alone, let's recap. Kevin McCallister gets into a spat with his family on the eve of their holiday trip to France. His mother sends him to his bed, but not before he wishes that he had no family. In the morning in a rush, the rest of the family runs to the airport for their trip leaving Kevin behind. He wakes up finds himself home alone, rejoices, and proceeds to do the things he always wanted to do. Eventually, the Water Bandits come a calling, and Kevin must defend his home from these thieves. Meanwhile, his mom realizing the error is trying to make her way back. Hitching a ride with Gus Polinksi she makes it home in time to find that Kevin has reformed his ways and misses his family.
Today's Christmas them: home. The place you live. The place where your family is. A place where you gather together and celebrate Christmas. But it doesn't have to be the old family home. Home could be the place where your friends or with your buddies. Home is where you find yourself surrounded with love. It's here. It's there. It's down the street. It's physical. It's metal. It's the atmosphere of the place. Home is where you are.
I like that FMC has decided that Home Alone is the holiday movie that it wants to make a holiday classic. I doubt that they could make it as such, but they'll keep trying. I will keep up with it because damn if it ain't stupid when Jennifer Connelly miscounts children, or when Catherine O'Hara tries to haggle for an airplane seat, or when John Candy (!) shows up as the Polka King of the Midwest. It's a stupid movie, but there are just as many stupid other holiday films.
Labels: movies, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
1:52:00 PM
Sunday, December 25, 2011
So I had this
brilliantly stupid idea which I cribbed from the
AV Club. I will blog about some movie or television show that can relate to Yule time, and I will post an entry once each day for the Twelve Days of Christmas. I was hoping you would join me, if not writing a post, reading my posts and celebrating Christmas time with me.
I shall start with
It's A Wonderful Life, the beloved Frank Capra classic. It's corny, but I love it. It's one of my all time favorite movies not just at Christmas time. So bear with me as I lavish once more praises on this most clichéd of films.
The story if you've never seen it: George Bailey is on the verge of suicide on Christmas Eve, because he's worth more dead than alive. His family and the town of Bedford Falls prays for him that night, and their prayers are answered in the form of Clarence, ASC. He shows George that life was worth living because he was beloved and cherished by all the people who came to know him. "Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
That's the Christmas theme: camaraderie and friendship. No matter how sad you believe your life to be, the fact that you have friends makes all the difference in the world. It becomes apparent at Christmastime. As you visit with friends and family, you see as much. What a joy it is to be with everyone! You realize life is good because of all the people you know. Christmastime brings us together.
Anywhoo, this is my start of the
twelve days of Christmas Blogathon. It' an inauspicious start hopefully it gets better. Your turn.
Labels: comraderie, movies, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
3:30:00 PM
"God bless us, every one!"
Tiny Tim, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Labels: qotd, tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:27:00 AM
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Gogo Yubari as a housewife, ex-spy, private investigator? Yes.
Sure. I'll watch that.
http://www.crunchyroll.com/secret-agent-erikaLabels: boobtube, lotd, you'll need babelfish
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
3:45:00 PM
Hoy! I missed the
airing of grievances last night. On my couch at 10; fast asleep by five after... zzz... zzz...
Hunh?
Festivus is over!?
Not yet!
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, et al. ... for the crap that is the patent wars in the mobile devices arena
Android... for being so lame
Android handset phone makers... for not doing software updates
Windows... for being Windows
Flash... for not dead yet
Senior leadership... for their ignorance
Program leadership... for their smoke up the ass blowing
Self... for sticking around for this shit
Labels: anger and frustration, tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:38:00 AM
A little Megane-chan for you this morning. "
Shinagawa-kun! Shinagawa-kun!" (Hee hee hee... she has me laughing even now.)
Hope you've got all your shopping done. Now time for the wrapping and the cooking. We'll be having a wonderful time soon.
Labels: ha ha, hunh?, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:07:00 AM
Friday, December 23, 2011
Let's start with the Airing of Grievances.
Later will come the Feats Of Strength!
Labels: brevity, ha ha
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
5:08:00 PM
Thursday, December 22, 2011
It's that time of year again.
Labels: tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
7:09:00 PM
What is mistletoe? I have no idea except that it is a plant that we use as an excuse to kiss a girl during Yule. I haven't had the excuse to use it. Yet. There should be plenty time for that.
Baldur was having troubling dreams. He dreamt of his death. It worried him so that he consulted his mom about it. His mom had the same dream. Baldur's mom, the goddess Frigg, was disturbed by them for it was said that with the death of Baldur, Ragnarok, the end of the gods, would soon come. She vowed to do something to prevent it.
So Frigg visit all nine realms under the tree Yggdrasill. She went to extract promises from all the creatures, plants, and living things to do no harm to Baldur. She scoured the realms from high to low and received the promises from all things.
In Midgard, in the deepest forests of the north she came upon the mistletoe. As she looked upon the small plant, whose small leaves she figured it was too innocent and benign to harm anyone. Its immaturity garnered pity from Frigg. She figured that she can't subject such a young and innocent plant to the burden of the promise, so she did not extract a promise from it.
Thus with oaths from creatures and plants big and small did the gods of Asgard believe that Baldur was safe from harm. Most of them tested this theory by attempting to hurt Baldur. They would hurl spears at him or swing at him with swords, but nothing would touch him. They believed Baldur to be safe and Ragnarok far from coming.
Loki heard about the dreams that troubled Baldur. He talked to Baldur about it. He talked with Frigg about it. He learned of the mistletoe, the plant so small and harmless but without the oath of harm to Baldur. Loki went in search of it and found in the deep northern forests of Midgard the sprig of mistletoe. He hastened back to Asgard with it.
Loki returned as the gods played at sport with the untouchable Baldur. They were arrayed around Baldur taking turns throwing things at the god trying to harm him. On the outskirts sat the blind Hodir. Loki crept up to him.
"Why don't you take part in such sport, Hodir?"
"My blindness keeps me from joining in."
"Then let me help you. Use this bow and arrow to try and hit Baldur."
Loki points Hodir in the direction of Baldur, places the bow in his hands, and guides Hodir's aim with the mistletoe arrow. Hodir releases the bow.
Gasps arise as the mistletoe arrow hits Baldur who succumbs to the injury. So came to pass the truth in his dreams. And soon Ragnarok.
Labels: tall tales, tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
8:28:00 AM
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Come on seed your slow the punch today!
Sent from my iPhone
Labels: anticipation, oops
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
1:08:00 PM
We are done. The album ends on my favorite tune. You should hear the remix. Thievery did release a remix of some of the songs on this album. Get it as well. Or maybe that will be the next album for a fusillade of music.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:45:00 AM
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Though I have lost my religion I am thinking about celebrating the
twelve days of Christmas and/or the
Epiphany. I'm thinking about a twelve day blogathon starting on Christmas day and ending on the fifth of January, Twelfth Night. Then having some fun on the following day to celebrate, as the Irish call,
Little Christmas.
We'll have fun. We'll have a blogathon. We'll write up a post a day about some movie or television show that relates to Christmas or has a holiday theme to it. I'm not sure what to focus on, but I want to write about how the holiday is found in the media. And perhaps a few things about how it affected me.
So join me, if at least for a day or a post, to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas Multimedia Blogathon.
Labels: time sink, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:34:00 PM
Apple says, "Check and mate."
I hate that I don't have one.
And I hate that I am not writing applications for one.
http://www.cultofmac.com/135844/why-the-ipad-is-the-most-hated-gadget-ever/
Labels: Apple, lotd
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
12:43:00 PM
One thing about digital delivery of music: no liner notes. There's nothing to read to figure out who the singer was, who wrote the song, or where they sampled the loop. Nothing. Like for this song, who's singing? Is it the same girl from the opening tune? Or is it a whole different person? I would like to know and I am too lazy to check it out on the CD or duckduckgo it.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:07:00 AM
Monday, December 19, 2011
A day later and my ramen tasted better. I don't know if it was because it had a chance to sit overnight or if it was because it wasn't straight out hot from the stove, but it tasted better. More balance to the broth even though it still tasted of mostly of seaweed.
Anyhow, I went and looked up some recipes for ramen broth and found an interesting one that was meat based. This is a most interesting concept. I don't have to stick to dashi as the main source of my broth. Perhaps, a mixture? A little bit of dashi, then a little bit of beef stock. Maybe, that is the way to the true ramen broth. I guess I'm gonna have to think about my ramen some more.
http://www.mendoukusai.com/2009/06/adventures-in-cooking-tonkotsu-ramen.html
Labels: cooking, lotd
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
4:42:00 PM
We're almost done. I hope you've been enjoying the morning music break. I like that you've shared in my favorite album. Thanks for listening. We just have a couple of songs to good. Stay tuned. We're just getting to the good stuff.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:34:00 AM
Sunday, December 18, 2011
On my ongoing quest to eat some decent
ramen, I just had to go synthesize my own ramen recipe.
As the previous post showed, I made some
dashi for the soup broth. It was quick and easy. I'm not sure if it turned out alright. Perhaps I should've used a smaller piece of the kombu because it tasted more like the seaweed and on occasion the fish that is the bonito flakes. Overall it was stronger than I expected. What can I do to cut this down?
Next up came the poached egg. I poached the recipe from the
Momofuku book. Basically, you poach the eggs in shell by stewing them in a 145 degree water bath for 45 minutes. Easy-peasy.
Usually, in the restaurants around here, they serve chicken katsu with your bowl of ramen. I wanted originally to have tofu, but I changed my mind once I went grocery shopping this afternoon. I picked up some chicken cutlets, flour, and panko. My cupboards are now filled with junk. Need to cook more. With the chicken, it's your usual frying. First, I flatted out three pieces of chicken. I don't have a mallet, so I mashed it down with the heel of my hand. Next the chicken went into the pan. I need to put more oil in because after the second piece went in, there was hardly any oil for the last piece which didn't get the beautiful golden brown fried color. Once done with the chicken, I set it aside and concentrated on the soup.
I took the dashi I had made in the morning and boiled it. Before the noodles go in I added a teaspoon of light soy sauce -- I'm calling this shoyu ramen. I added the noodles, cheap store bought package noodles, into the boiling broth. I let it boil for a bit, but then took it off the flame and let sit for a couple minutes.
Sounds just like I was doing package ramen!
Of course, I then put it all together. The ramen soup gets scooped into a bowl. I crack a poached egg into it. Then to finish it off, a dash of more soy sauce, some wakame seaweed, and some pepper.
How'd it turn out? Okay. I guess I need to figure out the dashi. Next I have to find some good ramen noodles.
Labels: cooking
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
4:04:00 PM
Sunday morning finds me making dashi following this
recipe. It's nice that I don't have to boil vegetables for hours. Just soaked the kombu and then boiled with some bonito flakes. I was done in half an hour.
I have about 4 cups cooling in the fridge ready and waiting for the ramen noodle that I will be having for dinner tonight. I will add a poached egg and maybe some wakame seaweed, plus a touch of soy sauce. We'll see how it goes.
Labels: cooking
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:39:00 AM
I find my reaction to
Young Adult similar to how I felt about
Bad Teacher, but without the extreme revulsion. I was puzzled by the main character. I couldn't like her. She was a nasty person, yet I still don't know if I liked the movie or not.
Young Adult stars Charlize Theron at her most ugliest. Her character was described as a "psycho, prom queen bitch," which is an appropriate appellation for her. It succinctly describes her personality. She's believes her life to be stuck in neutral -- divorced, work life as an author coming to a sad end. She needs to live, and she chooses to try and relive her past by going back home to small town Minnesota and steal her old boyfriend back. He has a new baby, but that doesn't stop her. While in town, she bumps into an old classmate played by Patton Oswalt, who was horribly scarred in a bad beating during high school. They make a pair as she finds a person who is as damaged as she is. Eventually, the week at home unravels in a big embarrassing scene. She confronts her ex, and he pities her. She runs to her friend for comfort and finds that she should embrace her bitchiness.
I'm not sure if I should be happy or not that she goes back to being big city girl. She broke the grip of nostalgia, but embraced being bad. She is a psycho prom queen bitch.
Theron makes for the perfect psycho, prom queen, bitch. She can do haughty, that look in her eyes and her ice queen beauty, equates to crazy. Oswalt is his usual alternative, hipster, cool guy, geek guy self. Patrick Wilson as the former boyfriend makes due as a slightly clueless, hickish dude, who loves his wife, but doesn't know what he got himself into with his former flame.
The film was a Jason Reitman film from a Cody Diablo script. I couldn't tell. It missed the glib hiptserism of their previous collaboration,
Juno.
I can't say I liked the movie, but I can say I didn't hate it.
3 of 5 stars
Labels: movies, review
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:31:00 AM
Saturday, December 17, 2011
I have nothing to blog about. Blogging about not having a subject to blog about seems to be blogging about a subject: no subject to blog about.
Aww, who am I kidding. This post is going nowhere. Sorry about that. Here's a picture from a decade ago: your humble host in Iceland.
That's the
Gullfoss falls just behind me. This ain't the US; there's barely any barrier to keeping me from jumping in!
Labels: meta, picture, vacation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
11:06:00 AM
Friday, December 16, 2011
I came up with this game that I used to play with
Margaux (Or maybe I didn't play this game with her, but I did come up with a game). It was centered around bands, their discography, and your own knowledge of. You were to think of a band and focus on their songs. Once you focused on a band, you would say, "You know {insert band name here}. No, their other song." That should conjure up which song you're talking about amongst the players. Most of the time you know which song is being thought about, but other times, depending on the band, it becomes difficult.
I came up with this game because of Cold Play. "You know Cold Play. No, their other song." I bet you now know which song I am talking about.
Labels: games people play, music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:14:00 AM
Thursday, December 15, 2011
We turn the corner and get to the home stretch of the album, several songs that are some of Thievery Corporations best. It starts with the title track, The Richest Man in Babylon. Once here, the album moves to its great conclusion. Stick around, it'll only get better.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:59:00 AM
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
I don't think of myself as a reader of Science Fiction. I consider myself a reader of stories first and foremost. If the book happens to be Science Fiction, then I am reading Science Fiction. I read Science Fiction. I read Science Fiction.
You should, too. Get thee to the Science Fiction Encyclopedia and pick out something; an author, a book, a theme, something to read and read it.
http://sf-encyclopedia.com/
Labels: bookish, lotd, science fiend
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
11:05:00 AM
I'm left to wonder how close these songs ripped an posted to YouTube are to the one on the original CD. This version sounds slightly sped up. A check on iTunes finds it 6 seconds shorter. Now I wonder if all the other tunes from this album have been altered from the original. That's okay. As long as it moves your soul I'll take it. Good music is good music.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:57:00 AM
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Not on FaceBook and it doesn't even matter.
Yeah, I miss lots of things. And probably even miss meeting that girl or some other girl from the past, but does it matter?
Anti-social much? Maybe. It's most likely because I maintain this blog that I don't do FaceBook. I like writing here and don't want my blog to die if I spend tons of time writing over there. But I do wish to connect with old friends...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/technology/shunning-facebook-and-living-to-tell-about-it.html
Labels: lotd
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
4:09:00 PM
We're onto the part of the album which I call the fly by states. Sometimes I listen to the songs. Sometimes I don't. When I let the iPod play, when they come on, I won't skip ahead. Yet, they all sound the same. Like I said
previous, there's a lot of latin rhythms on this album.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:51:00 AM
Monday, December 12, 2011
Network storage will become a bigger and important part of the home-consumer market with the adoption of tablet computers. Currently, iPad 2 maxes out its SSD drive with 64 GB worth of disk space. The Kindle and the Nook tablets are on the low end of storage, but Amazon wants you to use their cloud and perhaps Barnes and Noble does, too. Yet, as consumers go digital with their books, magazines, movies, television, and photos, there is going be a need for local storage.
There are Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices already being sold, but it's not a category that the average consumer will know about. This area is ripe for someone with an Apple-like bent to come in and remake the market.
Here's how I would make my own NAS appliance:
First, wireless and wired. Allow it to be connected by a physical connection.
Second, web browser interface. Configuration should be straightforward for the least tech savvy of users, but allow for as much customization under the hood for those techies.
Third, hot swappable. Drop in a drive and it should be ready in a click of the mouse. Plus, the chassis for this thing should contain 1-10 drives slots, but are adapted by price point: cheap is 1 drive, expensive is 10 drives.
Fourth, BYOD. The user can use any drive they want. Old 5200 RPM spinning platters? Go for it. SSD? Go for it. Mix and match. Do it.
I know about Apple's own NAS, Time Capsule, but that is for Apple's backup use case. I'm talking about something for everyone. I'm sure that you'll be buying something of this type in the next year or so.
Labels: computing, genius
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:30:00 AM
Liking Thievery Corporation means you have to like world music. You'll be hearing lots of Brazilian rhythms. You'll be hearing it a lot.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:55:00 AM
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Here's that
individual eggplant lasagna. These are in mini-loaf pans.
Labels: cooking, picture
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
4:16:00 PM
I read about these small portion lasagnas the cooking for two issue of the
Cooks Illustrated magazine. They baked the lasagna in a small loaf pan rather than a traditional pan. Since, I only cook for myself, that recipe looked interesting. I wanted to make a mini lasagna. The recipe was for a spinach white lasagna, and it had some béchamel as a sauce. That's starting to get complicated. My recipe is going to be an eggplant lasagna.
I started with the sauce. I diced up some green, peppers, onions, and carrots which I sautéed in olive oil with some garlic. Once that was nice and tender, I added some chopped whole tomatoes and some tomato sauce. I let this simmer down. Adding some salt for taste.
I had some ricotta which I mixed with an egg, dried basil, and oregano. This is the cheese layer. Maybe I should've mixed some parmesan in here.
Once all this was done. I started to build my mini loaf pans with a lasagna. Easy bake lasagna noodles, the ricotta mixture, eggplant, then the tomato sauce. I was able to only put 2 of these layers in one mini loaf pan. I topped it off with some more tomato sauce; perhaps I should've put some cheese here, too.
I bake it in my oven pre-heated to 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Actually, it's baking right now so I'll let you know how it goes.
Labels: cooking, step-by-step
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
2:38:00 PM
Saturday, December 10, 2011
NabeYaki
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.Labels: picture
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
4:57:00 PM
I give you Changmas!
Puts you in the holiday mood, doesn't it? Now my browser window is slow as all get out.
Labels: embed, tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
6:24:00 AM
Friday, December 09, 2011
The
death of Flash can't happen soon enough, but you're still stuck with it. In fact, if you're viewing this page, Flash is probably killing your browser.
For that, I apologize.
It's because of me not you. I'm not writing enough posts to fill the gaps between the morning
music break. I know that I wanted to write more at least a post a day in December. Except the posts all relate to that Thievery Corporation release from 2002. (Whoa! I thought it was 2003 release.) I was gonna put some filler in between, but I don't want filler. I want well written posts on subjects that are worth writing about. Plus, link or quotes of the day. Yet, all I got are static YouTube videos of the cover to The Richest Man in Babylon.
What should I write?
Labels: meta, music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:04:00 AM
Thursday, December 08, 2011
It's rather late in the day for a Link of the Day, but here's one for you.
If your late to the latest internet meme, you can always check out "Know Your Meme" to catch up. Read up. Catch up. Forget about it. Get ready for the next one.
http://knowyourmeme.com/Labels: interNOT, lotd
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
7:55:00 PM
If I ever expected you to have heard any songs on this album, I would expect it to be this tune, "All That We Perceive." I think they had it on heavy rotation in any Apple Store back in the mid aughts. Back when the iTunes was first released. You could've found Thievery Corporation all over that iTunes version. They were the
iTunes darling back then.
Now let me admit right here, for the longest time I couldn't stand to hear this tune. It being popular (in my mind) rubbed me the wrong way. This is my band. Why should you listen to them if you've never heard of them before? Defensive much? Yeah, I was a while ago, but not anymore.
You've got to listen to this tune. Listen to this album. Listen to this band. They freaking rock!
Of course you'll be hearing this band for another week. I'm short of half way through the album. And after hearing that, maybe you'll feel apprehensive to hear another Thievery Corporation song. We still haven't gotten to my favorite song.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:36:00 AM
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Continuing on from
yesterday's music break, here's the second part of the tune. It's not the second part but they both flow very well together. Every time I hear this song, I hear the first verse as asking, "Whose bagel's offer hope?" Now why are they singing about bagels? Is this some kind of hidden message, but said aloud? I bet you that ain't the real lyrics. Someone, anyone, get on this and tell me what that lyric was.
Labels: hunh?, music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:47:00 AM
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
HTC Bionic Plus E XT Prime. Acer Devour Neo. Samsung Liquid Plus V Plus 3D.
Are these real? They could be, and they could be coming out in 2012!
http://androidphonenamegenerator.com/Labels: junk, lotd, phonies
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:58:00 PM
Short but sweet. I always thought that this song and its successor on the album were one tune. Perhaps I should just put both of them in this post.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:41:00 AM
Monday, December 05, 2011
Thus I
skipped on to track 3 and found some dub. It just can't be beat.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:19:00 AM
Sunday, December 04, 2011
I've always wanted to do try a series of posts related to holiday themed television shows. The AVClub has beat me to it. I seem to link to the AVClub every so often especially to their series of posts centered around a topic. This one is called the AVClub Advent Calendar highlighting holiday episodes of television shows. I had to post about this because the latest one features Northern Exposure, a beloved favorite of mine. If NewsRadio is my all time favorite comedy, Norther Exposure is my all time favorite dramady. The X-Files? It's my all time favorite paranoia show.
If I was to do a series of holiday shows, I know I would be diving into Northern Exposure's list of episodes. I want a girl who can appreciate the melancholia in this show.
http://www.avclub.com/features/tv-club-advent-calendar/Labels: I love this, lots, tis the season
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
6:31:00 PM
As I came home from watching
Hugo, I had come up with a nice way of getting into the review. But now, in the light of day, I can't remember the hook. That's unfortunate as I think it was gonna be a good intro that would've made me set up this review well and forced me to write with a better, even tone.
Hugo is about a young orphan living in one of the train stations of Paris, spending the day dodging Jean Girard, and winding the multitude of clocks of the station. He's the son of a tinkerer who had found a windup doll in the museum which he planned to fix before his death. Hugo takes it upon himself to finish his father's work by attempting to fix the mechanical doll. The tasks leads him to steal gears and springs from the toy shop in the station the proprietor of which carries the biggest surprise of the movie.
For the early part of the film, I was slightly bored. Hugo's story was slow in unravelling and slightly uninteresting. It was another story about poor orphan looking for a sign his father loved him. Why am I watching this?
Hugo does finish the mechanical doll. He winds it up and lets it write the message he thought his father had left him, but instead of the trite fatherly pablum, the mechanical doll draws something whimsical, a scene by George Melies signed by Melies. This changes the movie to being about something more magical, movies.
And here's where I remember what I was gonna write for the intro. In my former life, I had studied film and with it an introduction to then history of film. We got to see Melies, Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. Their films are as important to the history of film as they were integral to this movie especially Melies. His Voyage to the Moon is amazing and that said it made Hugo slightly worth it.
Melies makes this film for me. As he tells his tale of his life, the movie broadens up to being a tribute to a master storyteller. The tale of Hugo is the tale of finding something to fix. Hugo didn't have to fix the mechanical doll. He had to fix history so that it remembers Melies. He had to fix Melies so that he remembers the magic. Movies are magic.
3 of 5 stars
Notes on the film: I miss the sound of the projector. Ben Kingsley in a good movie? Who would've thought?! Sacha Baron Cohen throwing out another one of his insane characters. I thought he should've been Inspector Clouseau. I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. For French people, they speak with a British accent.
Labels: movies, review
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
9:14:00 AM
Saturday, December 03, 2011
It's like the
Spinache Mushroom Barley Soup except without the spinach.
Used different mushrooms, rather than the plain white buttons:
Porcini mushrooms to flavor the stock and some darker mushrooms. Don't remember their names, but they taste just as good.
I followed the same recipe, but changed up the stock. I had to buy each ingredient for the stock individually rather than rely on the "soup stock" vegetable package I get the grocers. The stock is the Porcini mushroom soak, carrots, onions, celery, bell peppers, thyme, and pepper corns.
It's very weird to spend my time cooking variations of mushroom soup. I don't really dig mushrooms but I dig barley and the two go together. So with all this barley in my house, its only one package!, but I have to use it up. There's still a few cups left over. Maybe sometime soon, I have to make that barely risotto I keep thinking about.
Labels: cooking
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:41:00 AM
Friday, December 02, 2011
Looking at that title of this post and am amazed that we're fast approaching the end of the year!
This one's for the 99% and the 1%. For #OWS and the TeaTard Party. For Republicans and Democrats. For libertarians. Especially for those tards.
The US needs more revenue. The rich have the majority of the money. It makes perfect sense. Especially, if it broadens the middle class, who are the ones that make the economy work. Consumers pump money into the economy that make the producers produce more and hire more workers who get more wages who purchase more products. It's not the producers producing more that will make consumers buy products. If the consumer has no money, they aren't buying too much and producer's production is meaningless.
I may be ignorant about economics, but I know if you give people money, the majority will spend it. Cash in. Jobs out.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/raise-taxes-on-the-rich-to-reward-job-creators-commentary-by-nick-hanauer.html
Labels: lotd
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:04:00 AM
Not really too fond of the second song from the Thievery Corporation's
Richest Man in Babylon album, but since it's the second on the disc, it'll have to do for now. This cut is somewhat reminiscent of their big hit, Lebanese Blonde, from the previous album. Mid-eastern inflections. Sitar. Wailing woman. It's in there.
I usually skip this track and go on to the next one. I won't blame you if you don't play it. It'll break your streak, if you do, but its your bandwidth.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:03:00 AM
Always looking for advice on blogging. These
10 steps to better blogging are just as good as any. I guess I'll apply it to my blog. We'll see how it goes.
As you know, I don't Facebook. I
tweet. I love to blog though -- seven years and counting. It's been a slow but steady set of posts week after week, month after month. Mostly about things I am interested in. They are long form tweets. The link of the day is just laziness as is the quote of the day, but there's a blog post after each one has been posted. And that's what makes it worthwhile.
I mainly looking to establish some kind of voice, but it gets lost in some of the other chatter I throw up on here. I let my fingers do the rambling and I end up with posts about
nendoroids,
cute asians, or
Sakaragaoka High School Light Music Club which most people don't care to read about. I post them because it's something that I am fond of. I don't think I am embarrassed by these posts, but I know that they bore my three readers.
I think I'm more successful with my
cooking posts. I believe they read very well. I guess I can write about a subject if I need to explain how things are working out.
Yet, I know that my writing is still weak. I'm trying to get better. I better follow that advice.
Labels: meta
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
12:07:00 AM
Thursday, December 01, 2011
I just love this album. I remembering picking this up at Borders, quickly unpacking it out of its plastic wrap, and sliding it into the CD player of the Jetta for the drive home. I remember taking York Road south to the 695 on ramp as the opening of this song was playing and then it kicks in...
Dude!
Yeah. One of my favorite albums. I'm thinking about playing it at my funeral its that good.
This track was once one of the most played on my iTunes before I started ripping CDs and purchasing songs from the store. One things that always bothered me though is the circle has been turned into an oval with the album art downloaded from the iTunes music store. O, well, at least the remix album its a perfect circle.
Labels: music break, The Richest Man In Babylon, Thievery Corporation
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
10:07:00 AM
Nothing to really write about lately, but I have to try.
This morning driving into work traffic went from 80 MPH to a standstill because of sun glare. People, don't you know how to drive? I'm guessing that 75% (conservative number) on 695 this morning are commuters driving the same dreary route to work, but we still hit a slowdown because of sun glare.
Come on, people, you should know by now the quirks of your drive to work. You should know that sun glare's just around the corner. You should know to have your visor down. You should know to wear your sunglasses. You should know not to look directly into the sun. You should know to look at the lines on the road. You should know to look at the backlit car in front of you.
Follow the lines on the road and be wary of the cars in front of you and we can all still drive 80 MPH into the sun!
Labels: automotive, weather
Posted by: SoNSo1 |
8:02:00 AM
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