|
|
|
December 15th, 2009
 | 08:26 pm - Have You Had This Baguette? It Tastes Like 'F'
I have once again thrown my hat into the Holiday Love Meme! Please say wonderful and nice things about me. I had a bad day at work (there were tears).
But my bad day at work was balanced out by a phone call I received during dinner.
On Saturday, I had auditioned for DeathPlay, the next Thunderbird show. It was about two theatre companies fighting to the death for the last theatre space in town. Out of the six people in the slot, only three of us showed up, which meant we all got to read a lot. It was very fun, although I had to overcome the fact that my partners couldn't read sides very well.
I GOT IN. I WAS CAST. I HAVE NOT BEEN IN A SHOW IN SIX YEARS. UNLESS YOU COUNT AMWA SKITS.
I didn't get the part I really wanted—it went to someone who'll be awesome, though—but I will be playing one of a pair of union stagehands who function as the Greek chorus or the Fools. I think it's the smallest part in the play, but there are no small parts, only small actors! And besides, there really aren't any small parts in a Thunderbird show. Everyone has a good time.
On Saturday, after the audition and before Writers with Drinks, Seanan (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cadhla) and I wandered the Mission looking for dinner. Seanan is a picky eater, so the default taquería suggestion wouldn't fly. We came across Cafe La Boheme on 24th. They appeared to serve food that was palatable to both of us, but there were no free tables. There was one table, however, that was empty but for one cute girl reading a book. She looked Middle Eastern, Persian or Iranian.
Seanan asked if we could sit with her, and she said it was okay. I noticed she was reading Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut. She had just started. I had just been at a used bookstore and passed on a Vonnegut title. I asked her if she'd gotten it from Abandoned Planet. She said she'd gotten it from Borderlands, which we had just come from. I told her I had been looking at a Vonnegut but couldn't remember the title. I asked to see inside her book for a list of titles to jog my memory, but none did. (I think it was The Sirens of Titan.) I said I'd only read Slaughterhouse-Five but wanted to read more, and she was in the same situation, hence the book.
Seanan recommended I read Cat's Cradle and explained the premise, which she said made her think for the first time that there were some things science shouldn't do. I said I was watching Dollhouse and thinking the same thing.
The girl commented, "That was canceled, right?" A cute girl who read Vonnegut and knew about Dollhouse! Huh. I think at this point, she had given up all pretense of trying to read while we carried on a conversation a foot away from her and instead began conversing with us. She asked us if we knew any good music venues. Oh, there were many! We flipped through the SFWeekly looking for shows. She liked indie rock.
As it turned out, she was from out of town. Like, from France. And she was in town for a geophysics conference! A cute French geophysicist who read Vonnegut, liked indie rock, and knew about Dollhouse. I tell you, I am amazed that I was able to talk to her without stumbling over my words. Her name was Selene.
Since she was staying near Union Square, I told her about the glass elevator in the Westin St. Francis. I also invited her to Seanan's reading and told her how to get to the Make-Out Room. She was going to meet up with some of her colleagues and see what they were doing, but she said she might check it out. She put on her black fedora and bid us adieu (not literally, although she totally should have).
"Of all the places you should not invite cute French girls to," said Seanan, "the 'Make-Out Room' is at the top."
"That is my plan!" I cried. "I have not yet made out in the Make-Out Room. I am trying to rectify that."
Of course, she did not show up, and she is out there somewhere in San Francisco right now not making out with me.
Current Music: Skins - Wild World
|
December 4th, 2009
 | 11:40 pm - The Beast with 171 Labs
Today I had oatmeal for the first time. It was not as bad as I expected, though that's probably the maple and brown sugar talking. I feel so...fibrous.
( Dexter )
( Friday Night Lights )
( FlashForward )
( Fringe )
( The Office )
( 30 Rock )
( Dollhouse )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/full.png) full
Current Music: The Belle Brigade - 4%
|
November 29th, 2009
 | 11:23 pm - What's! On! My! DVR!
Almost five months after my last batch of capsule movie reviews, I have finished watching the next batch. As before, you guys voted on your favorites, so it's time to hear what I think of them!
( Shoot 'Em Up: A+++ )
( A Fish Called Wanda: B+ )
( Black Sheep: B/B+ )
( Shadow of the Vampire: B-/B )
( The Omen: B+ )
( 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: B+/A- )
( Michael Clayton: C+/B- )
( The Night of the Hunter: A- )
( Be Kind Rewind: A- )
( Edward Scissorhands: A )
( The Deer Hunter: C+/B- )
( Almost Famous: A )
I'm sorry if I hated something you loved or loved something you hated! Here is what the future holds. I should note that I get the majority of my recommendations from Jandy's Film on TV alerts, which I highly recommend. What should I look forward to most?
( Allen, Wilder, Hitchcock, Linklater, Leone, and some other dudes )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/satisfied.png) satisfied
Current Music: Filter - God Damn Me
|
November 25th, 2009
 | 10:44 pm - Tastes Like Chicken
Last week, I was sitting in the lunchroom reading the Powers Encyclopedia when the Vice President of Program Leadership walked in, glanced at the cover of what I was reading, and remarked, "That's a great comic."
Wait, what, someone at this company read Powers?! He did, in fact. And he was a huge comic book geek! We talked comics for quite a while, and he recommended to me Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory, which sounded interesting. I poked around the Internet and found that it was actually a huge success for a new comic; it had completely sold out several runs. Sounded like the Hot New Thing in comics. And then, in a brilliant marketing move, they put out the first trade today—collecting issues #1-5—on the same day that issue #6 came out, making it the perfect time to jump on the Chew train.
In the world of Chew, a bird flu pandemic leads to the deaths of millions...and the outlawing of chicken. The FDA is the new Homeland Security, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, and they declare Chicken Prohibition. They investigate cases of black market chicken, chicken speakeasies—yes, I said chicken speakeasies—and other chicken-related illegal activity. It is as yet unclear whether other kinds of poultry like turkey and quail are kosher or not.
The newest recruit to the FDA Special Crimes Division is Tony Chu, a totally unstereotypical Asian-American. He's hired because he's a Cibopath, which means that whenever he eats something, he gets impressions of its past. If he eats an apple, he gets feelings about the tree it grew on, what pesticides were used, and when it was harvested. If he eats a hamburger, he gets feelings about...the slaughterhouse. How is this useful in crimefighting?
You know how in Pushing Daisies, Ned can bring dead people back to life and ask them how they died?
In Chew, Tony can bite into corpses and gather information from them.
As his partner, Agent Mason Savoy, says: "You're going to eat terrible things, all in the name of justice." (Agent Savoy, by the by, is described by the artist as "the lovechild of Orson Welles and a grizzly bear." As his name suggests, he has a very British way of speaking, which is a good contrast to Chu's downbeat straight man.)
There's another character of importance, Amelia Mintz, a food critic who is a Saboscrivner. This means that she can write about food so vividly that you can literally—literally—taste it. Whether it's scrumptious or repulsive, you will feel as if you've eaten it.
In the first five issues, Layman establishes the world of the comic and hints at bigger mysteries like the suggestion that there's a...wait for it...conspiracy surrounding the cause of the bird flu and a whole lot of bizarre events in issue #4 that will surely be explored in the future. The first story arc covers one smaller mystery too; this is essentially a detective comic, after all. The comic is clever, wryly narrated, and laugh-out-loud funny, though I don't know how long it will take for the novelty of the premise to wear off. Guillory's art is reminiscent of Gabriel Bá's in The Umbrella Academy (Savoy even resembles Hargreaves), offbeat and pretty, perfect for a slightly absurdist comic. Although Layman does name Y: The Last Man as an influence in that he wanted to take a high concept—CHICKEN PROHIBITION!—and extend it to its logical, real-world conclusions, you don't want realistic pencils in a book that so frequently features its main character, er, taking a bite out of crime.
Check out the first volume, the aptly named Taster's Choice, for a mere ten bucks. See if you can spot the cute Lost shout-out.
And think twice before you bite into that turkey tomorrow. You don't know where it's been.
But Tony Chu would.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/amused.png) amused
Current Music: Muse - Falling Away with You
|
November 22nd, 2009
 | 09:24 pm - The Prisoner? More Like The Busy Nerd!
I have not heard very good things about AMC's remake of The Prisoner, but I do thank AMC for providing all the episodes of the original series for free this month so that I could experience this 1967 cult classic.
In The Prisoner, a British spy decides to resign his position, giving no reason for his decision. When he returns home, he is kidnapped, and he wakes up in the Village, an Orwellian community where everyone is assigned a number. He is Number Six. But he is not a number! He is a FREE MAN! Yes, yes, I know; that's pretty much all I knew going in. The Village is run by Number Two, and it is Number Two's job to find out the answer to one important question: Why did Number Six resign? Why did he resign? Why did he resign? WHY DID HE RESIGN?!?!?! They really want to know, you guys. It must be really, really important. Because it can't be something as simple as "Oh, I got tired of being a spy and wanted to live a normal life" or "The health benefits just weren't cutting it for me anymore." No, he's probably going to sell out some state secrets or something, so they really really really need to know why he resigned.
Normal interrogation methods are totally passé in the Village. In the Village, you do things like drug the shit out of people and brainwash them and try to drive them crazy in an attempt to trick the truth out of them. Most episodes involve Number Six attempting to escape. To my surprise, sometimes he actually does. OR DOES HE. Seventeen episodes feature many variations on one of a few basic plots: Number Two fucks with Number Six and succeeds, Number Two fucks with Number Six and Number Six turns the tables on him, Number Six fucks with Number Two and succeeds, and Number Six fucks with Number Two and Number Two turns the tables on him. It's actually not as repetitive as it sounds! Each episode is pretty distinct (unless you describe it as "the one where Number Six tries to escape").
What I really liked about The Prisoner was that the political allegory and social commentary are handled much more subtlely than in Star Trek. Now, obviously the conceit itself is clearly a comment on individuality and conformity, but because of that conceit, the stories the show tells lend themselves very easily to asking questions like "How useful is a democratic election when the campaign process is so artificial?" and "Is it worth your freedom to have a peaceful, docile existence?" The Village is supposed to be a microcosm of society, full of prisoners just like Number Six, but most of the people we see have simply resigned themselves to life in the Village, having given up all hope of escape. Sure, every now and then someone will make a token effort (ORANGE ALERT! ORANGE ALERT!), but then a menacing white balloon stops them. Yes, a menacing white balloon. It's like the Smoke Monster on Lost except twice as puzzling. Or half, I can't decide which. Anyway, I liked that the show rarely delivered anvilicious messages and just let the stories speak for themselves.
I was disappointed, however, that the stories were so self-contained. I expected such a popular, influential show with such an interesting premise to have an arc where every episode you learn more about the Village or Number Six's history and there are all sorts of crazy reveals. But no, there is very little continuity (such that there are debates about the best order to watch the episodes [I used the KTEH order]) and there are very few recurring characters. In fact, with a couple exceptions, Number Two is different in each episode, the idea being that if you fail at breaking Number Six, you're replaced. It's kind of fun to have a different shade of the same villain, and the fact that the Village seems to treat each Number Two as if he has always been Number Two adds to the Orwellian nature of the establishment. Also adding to it is the Big Brother-like surveillance everywhere, of course.
Patrick McGoohan as Number Six is awesome and so much fun to watch. He's so unflappable! His whole mien conveys, "Fuck you all, you won't break me, I'm going to escape and you're going to pay, so shut your face." He's constantly half-smirking, and his line deliveries leave no scenery unchewed. He makes it easy for you to root for him.
There are a lot of interesting things about The Prisoner, and it requires you to pay attention since the plots are generally pretty dense (oh, they drugged him again, now I get it...). And it has a finale so famously WTF-y that Patrick McGoohan apparently went into hiding after it was aired. I think it was less WTF-y than the Twin Peaks finale, and I kinda liked it, as it ended pretty much as one would expect it to, thematically. Mostly. Except for the monkey.
The Prisoner was an influential series, and while I generally tend to like modern works more than their influential forebears, I did enjoy The Prisoner on its own terms. It was clever and intriguing and slightly offbeat and totally sixties. I believe that AMC will still have all the episodes online until the end of the month at least, so I recommend checking it out.
Be seeing you.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/confused.png) confused
Current Music: Filter - World Today
|
November 16th, 2009
 | 11:27 pm - I Think That I Shall Never See
Wire fans! You really need to watch 100 Greatest Wire Quotes in 10 Minutes. It doesn't hit every moment I would, but, holy shit, it makes me want to rewatch the whole series RIGHT NOW. It really is a fantastic show. I'm sorry, but I've become one of Those People. You really need to watch The Wire, you guys. But don't watch that video if you haven't, obvs. Full of spoilers!
Instead, you can watch the Galactica get repossessed. It's pretty hilarious.
You want to hear something weird? I got a roll of quarters from the bank.
One of the quarters...was a franc.
A 1972 French franc.
What the hell.
This post is inspired by musesfool's love of poetry. I thought that I would share my Bad High School Poetry. Which led to Bad College Poetry. It is pretty terrible, you guys. Even though some of it was published in my high school literary magazine. And there are some good lines here and there. I find them a little endearing now, since they're the only poems I've ever written. But overall, they're pretty awful poems. Enjoy. For the lulz.
( Sidewalk )
( First Day )
( Golden )
( Head in the Clouds )
( Sons of the Apocalypse )
I have not written a poem since. For obvious reasons. The college ones are certainly better than the high school ones, but they're still rather...er, I'll stick to writing prose.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/nostalgic.png) nostalgic
Current Music: Nine Inch Nails - Ripe (with Decay)
|
November 15th, 2009
 | 09:10 pm - Writers with Drinks, Burritos, and Fries
A few days ago, I discovered that Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of TV's The Middleman, was coming up here for Writers with Drinks, a monthly literary spoken-word variety show. Javi and I met three years ago at an 826michigan event, and he seemed to like me. He sent me a nice message when I found him on Facebook last year, and he was excited to see me at Comic-Con, even wanting a picture. So I figured I'd ask if he wanted to get together for burritos before the event, just for kicks. I assumed he would have more important people to see in his limited time here anyway.
But, in fact, he was totally game. He just had to see about plans with his potential future sister-in-law—I loved that he used that phrase, just as I refer to potential future wives—and he would give me a call. Potential future sisters-in-law surely trump dudes like me, so when I didn't get a call on Saturday, I figured he'd made other plans.
But, in fact, a few minutes before I was set to leave, he called. We'd meet at the Make-Out Room (the venue for the event) at 6:30. Cool!
( Pre-Pre-Party: Dinner with Javi )
( Pre-Party: Putting the 'drinks' in Writers with Drinks )
( The Main Event: Writers with Drinks )
( Pre-Afterparty: Not making out in the Make-Out Room )
( Afterparty: Crepes and fries with nerdy guys (and gals) )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/tired.png) tired
Current Music: The Arrogant Worms - Great to Be a Nerd
|
November 11th, 2009
 | 09:13 pm - American Zombie
In the last couple weeks, I've been to a lot of unconventional theatre.
Thanks to cofax7, I got to see American Idiot at Berkeley Rep for free the night before Halloween ($0), and I loved it so much I saw it again last night ($26). Now, I fully admit that my opinion about this show is heavily biased since I am a huge Green Day fan and think American Idiot is a fantastic album. But after a few minutes of the show, I thought, "I WANT TO SEE THIS A MILLION TIMES." The show follows the general narrative of the album but adds two characters, Will and Tunny, who serve as foils to the tale of Johnny, the Jesus of Suburbia. While Johnny goes off to the city and becomes a druggie, Will stays home with his pregnant girlfriend and Tunny goes off to war. I didn't want to know much about the story going in, but I actually had a greater appreciation for the storytelling, such as it is, the second time around since I found that I'd misinterpreted and missed a lot the first time. There's very little dialogue, and the story is told through the songs and staging.
Never having seen any of the classic rock operas, I was amazed at how well this one worked. It translated into a musical as if that's what it was meant to be from the start. I loved hearing the songs as sung by different characters, which imbued the lines with new meaning. I loved hearing Green Day sung by women. I loved hearing various harmonies and counterpoints being brought to the fore by a large ensemble. I loved that members of the ensemble got big solo moments. It brought the music to life in ways I had never imagined. The show includes all of American Idiot as well as songs from 21st Century Breakdown and a couple B-sides. The staging is generally very effective, interesting, and evocative. Standouts include "Give Me Novacaine," which is pretty brilliantly done in the way it highlights how all three leads are escaping from their lives (pot, sex, and war), and "Extraordinary Girl," which is a dream sequence that involves two actors flying around on wires. (It should go without saying that "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming" are especially well done and interesting.) The choreography, on the other hand, is often kind of silly and nonsensical, consisting of convulsions and randomly throwing your hands around, like some sort of punk rock interpretive dance. But it's like a party on stage! There is a live band along with a cute redhead in glasses playing piano and accordion and conducting when her hands are free. She jumps up and down and sings along and it's really cute.
The lead actor was actually my least favorite because I thought he went a little too nasal and overdid the "disaffected youth" bit at times, but we got an understudy the second time around, and he wasn't as strong a singer or actor and he didn't have the same energy, which made me appreciate what the regular lead brought to the show. I still preferred Will, who wore a Scott Pilgrim shirt, and Tunny, who looked like Matt Saracen and was very expressive with his gestures. They had better voices, too. St. Jimmy was awesome. The women all had very powerful voices. There was a lot of talent onstage: the three male leads all played guitar for some songs. And the show recently added an encore song in which everyone plays guitar—although some of them just learned—and sings "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," which is kind of cheesy but still awesome.
Berkeley Rep held little post-show parties after each performance, so I got to tell the pianist/conductor I thought she was just as much a part of the show as the actors. And last night, I got to tell Tunney and Will they were great. And I followed St. Jimmy down into the BART station. The understudy Johnny also came down and was swarmed by fangirls wanting his autograph. Also, it just so happened my friend Debbie was at the performance last night, so we saw each other for the first time since the last TimeCube gathering we both attended.
American Idiot was awesome, and it's headed to Broadway, so if you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
On Halloween, I saw Zombie! A New Musical at the EXIT Theatre ($22). The director's note was really super-serious and freaked me out. It was all, "I was inspired by the death of my youngest brother, and how the disease ate away at him and I still loved him and couldn't let it go, and that is the allegory of zombies, and everyone in this play makes selfish decisions, and I've never seen a zombie musical that could be funny and still tell a story UNTIL MY BRILLIANT PRODUCTION CAME ALONG." So I was expecting something really heavy. Thankfully, it was still funny. Sitting in the front row was the best idea because there were zombies on the floor groaning and grabbing at your feet the whole show. They also doubled as stagehands, handing the actors microphones or crawling up to change the set. Sometimes they just writhed in agony. Also, there was a genderswapped Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. And the reporter character flashed a boob during one song at the line "Like a Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction." I didn't hear the rest of the analogy because I was distracted.
There were some entertaining technical malfunctions. The music was recorded, not live, and it started skipping or something during one song. At first the character just started saying, "Cut the music, cut the music," in-character. When that didn't work, the general character marched in and told us there was a technical issue, would we all please just stay in our seats. Then the singer said, "I'll just take this one a cappella." And sang about workin' the motherfuckin' graveyard. It was pretty great, and one guy assumed it was part of the show. Later, during Ozzy's song, she was all, "1, 2, 3!" And the music didn't kick in, so she kept going, "4, 5, all right there we go." It was amusing.
It was a heavy metal musical, and the songs were pretty catchy, especially the title track. As far as the story, it's your typical boy-likes-girl, boy-and-girl-have-sex-on-roof-of-creepy-warehouse-conveniently-located-next-to-a-graveyard, girl-falls-off-roof-of-creepy-warehouse-conveniently-located-next-to-a-graveyard-and-dies, boy-brings-girl-back-to-life-with-government-experiment-zombie-gas-and-accidentally-starts-zombie-apocalypse story. You know, that old tale. My favorite non-zombie-related line belongs to the girl's psychotherapist father, who says, "Violet, it's like you're having a party...and you forgot to invite the truth."
Zombie! was awesome, and you will probably never get a chance to see it, so sucks for you.
This past weekend, I saw Zombie Town, also at the EXIT Theatre ($16). In fact, throughout October, the two shows were playing right across from each other, which led to some confusion. Zombie Town is a documentary play, the conceit being that a theatre group called the Catharsis Collective traveled to Harwood, Texas, and interviewed the survivors of a zombie outbreak in order to tell the story in their own words. It's sort of like The Laramie Project with zombies. Five actors played all the characters, and all five were fantastic. The most impressive was the one woman, who played several distinct characters throughout the show, sometimes switching characters right there onstage. The show was hilarious because it turns out that talking about a zombie attack without actually being shown any zombies can be really, really funny. One of the characters, in describing what the first zombie looked like, described it something like this: "You know how a turkey after Thanksgiving looks with all the meat picked off and it's just the bone with little bits of meat hanging off? Puke on that. And then bury it. And then dig it up and puke on it again and bury it again." After a while, it strayed from simply being testimonials from townspeople and started walking the line between retelling and reenactment, as we watched three characters take refuge in an abandoned cabin.
To my surprise, the show ended up being less a zombie show and more a satire of the healing power of the theatre. One of the members of the Catharsis Collective gave a lot of pretentious monologues about the purpose of the show and what it will do for the community. And then the show broke, like, the fifth wall by having the in-show actor playing a zombie in a reenactment of past events become a real zombie and set off the zombie murders of the entire Catharsis Collective onstage. It was bloody madness. No, really, there was a lot of blood.
Zombie Town was even more awesome than Zombie!, and you will probably never get a chance to see it, so sucks for you.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/sleepy.png) sleepy
Current Music: Foo Fighters - Alone + Easy Target
|
November 9th, 2009
 | 11:43 pm - There May Be a Toad in Your Bass Guitar
After another delightful dinner at Threehaus—chicken chili and cornbread—with Dan (incidentist) and Gabby and Sarah and Jason, I was introduced to the most amazing Tim Curry performance of all time.
For some ungodly reason, in addition to owning Gummi Bears on DVD, Gabby owns The Worst Witch, a terrible made-for-TV movie adaptation of a book about a Hogwarts-esque witches' school. It looks like it was filmed in my backyard. The titular worst witch is played by Fairuza Balk, and the head witch is played by Diana Rigg. Yes, that Diana Rigg. I don't know how this movie exists. It was 1986. In any case, here comes Tim Curry as the Grand Wizard to star in the most awesomely bad Halloween music video ever.
The video does not include his subsequent departure because he has another...gig.
In exchange, I introduced them to "That'll give you bees."
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/flirty.png) flirty
Current Music: The Smashing Pumpkins - Doomsday Clock
|
November 8th, 2009
 | 03:30 pm - Hugs, Zombies, Comic Books, and Indian Food
This weekend, lodessa came down to visit, since I had gone up twice and she owed me a visit and we just picked a weekend and made it happen. Also, it gave me an excuse to clean my apartment. We gerunded quite a bit!
- hugging lodessa upon her arrival
- whisking her away for lunch and parallel parking perfectly—though not on the first try
- beating the Bakesale Betty rush, which deprived her of the waiting-in-line experience, although she got it vicariously by watching everyone else in line
- getting complimentary lemon ices and shortbreads with our fried chicken sandwiches
- extolling the many virtues of the famous fried chicken sandwich—the bread, the large amount of chicken, the cabbage salad, the jalapeños
- enjoying the best shortbread ever
- hanging out in It's Your Move, a game store, and attempting and failing to play Dino-Mite! because there was no die
- showing lodessa College Avenue, one of my favorite avenues, which appeared to have a lot of salons
- discovering in Diesel that it was National Bookstore Day
- pawing over children's books in Pegasus
- admitting to the possibility that I used to think falafels were Indian food since my mom made them
- getting the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie from the library because Cute Comic Book Store Girl #2 (CCBSG2...she sounds like a protein), who dressed as original Buffy for Halloween, recommended I watch it again since I hadn't seen it since it came out
- watching lodessa admire my comics and recommending everything to her
- passing off La Perdida to her so it would no longer be in my apartment
- watching the original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage," and commenting on how it was Bizarro Star Trek but yet still Star Trek
- watching the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer and commenting on how it was Bizarro Buffy but...no, it really is sort of Bizarro Buffy even though some of the seeds for the series are clear
- remembering how awesome Pike was and being surprised at his prominence in the trailers
- watching lodessa admire my books and pointing out books I owned but hadn't read while she pointed out books I owned that she had read
- shoving one of my two copies of The Princess Bride into her hand when she said she'd never read it
- reading aloud two of my favorite short stories from when I was a kid, "Much Ado About [Censored]" by Connie Willis—I hadn't realized she was the author until yesterday and now I am more interested in reading her books—and "Brian and the Aliens" by Will Sh*tt*rly—I hadn't realized he was the author until I bought the book a few months ago and now I feel sort of dirty, but I read this story to my brother a lot
- ordering butter chicken and chicken tikka masala at Little Delhi and not being blown away by the chicken tikka masala but being reminded of my mom's butter chicken
- admitting that until recently I thought my mom invented butter chicken
- debating whether our cute waitress was a robot
- managing to grab front row seats for Zombie Town, which was hilarious and awesome and will be written about later, but for now deserves props for a Buffy reference that went from possibly coincidental to subtle to blatant (one theory regarding the zombie outbreak was that the town was on a Hellmouth)
- buying a poster for the art and a two-page comic for CCBSG2, who had really wanted to go but never made it
- braving a ride with the worst BART train operator ever, who couldn't even stop at our station properly
- striking up a conversation with the people behind us about striking up conversations with people on public transportation
- showing lodessa the "Creative Writing" episode of My Name Is Earl for the hilarious Katamari reference
- showing her an episode of Kitchen Confidential ("Rabbit Test," on jeeperstseepers's recommendation) since not enough people know about it
- suggesting we watch another episode since A) she laughed more at it than she had at MNIE and B) we needed to watch one with John Cho
- lending the DVDs to her since she appeared to enjoy the show
- closing out the night with the Middleman episode "The Flying Fish Zombification"
- stumbling upon a "relentlessly grim" horror movie on SyFy starring Thomas Dekker with his floppy emo hair
- sleeping in on Sunday morning
- showing lodessa Piedmont Avenue, another of my favorite avenues, which was also full of nail salons
- having Chinese for lunch at Little Shin Shin to make up for the terrible Chinese we'd had the last time I'd visited
- buying the out-of-towner local ice cream at Fenton's, which for the first time ever didn't have a line
- showing lodessa my comic book store
- discovering an Angel season four Wesley action figure with a scar on his neck and a closet to keep Justine in and for some reason Angel's soul that lodessa decided she had to get, if only to show LJ
- Cute Comic Book Store Girl #1's looking at my chest for a couple seconds and then declaring, "Cool shirt"
- not spoiling CCBSG1 about why the action figure was so great since she was only in season two
- spending a few minutes in Spectator Books, a used bookstore
- hugging lodessa upon her departure
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/sick.png) sick
Current Music: Cave In - Woodwork
|
November 3rd, 2009
 | 10:18 pm - I'll Eat You Up
Last Sunday morning, after the AMWA conference, I made the decision to defy my parents. I had come into town early to spend time with them, and I had reserved Sunday for me. Me, me, me, whatever I wanted to do. But they wanted me to come back for a little while anyway, and I had assented, downtrodden, even though I didn't want to. This morning, though, I wanted to stop giving in all the time.
The phone rang. "When are you coming?" said my dad.
"I'm not coming," I said.
"What do you mean, not coming? Not coming doesn't work!"
"Of course it works; why wouldn't it work?" I expected to have to explain myself.
But: "Okay, you do what you want, bye." And then he hung up.
( Are you locked up in a world that's been planned out for you? )
( Are you feeling like a social tool without a use? )
( Scream at me until my ears bleed )
( I'm taking heed just for you )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/lazy.png) lazy
Current Music: Kittie - Choke
|
November 2nd, 2009
 | 11:16 pm - Deep in the Heart of AMWA, Part II: Creative Nonfiction as an Outlet for Medical Writers
If you're just joining us, you may want to read Part I first.
( Friday: Creative Nonfiction Panel, Conferencing, Wife Meeting, Buffista Meeting )
( Saturday: Lunch, Conferencing, Sports Bar, Dinner with Brother, Sports Bar )
The AMWA conference experience was over, for all intents and purposes, as I wouldn't see anyone the next day. It had been a pretty good conference, and I was glad that the people I'd bonded with this year were local, so I hope to see them more frequently than just at conferences.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/weird.png) weird
Current Music: Metric - Satellite Mind
|
November 1st, 2009
 | 11:00 pm - Deep in the Heart of AMWA, Part I: Introduction to Cancer Pharmacology
From Atlanta to Louisville to Dallas, the American Medical Writers Association sure doesn't like to gather in the typical conference towns. And even though I was from the area, I was unfamiliar with downtown Dallas.
This year's conference was going to be very important, as I was giving a three-hour cancer pharmacology workshop and speaking on a creative nonfiction panel. The former I had been preparing for almost non-stop for the last couple months. The latter I was mostly going to wing. But I was also going to, as always, meet some great new people, which is what I enjoy most about these conferences.
( Wednesday: Registration, Reception, Creative Reading, Family Drama )
( Thursday: Keynote, Cancer Pharmacology Workshop, Dinner, Dessert )
Tomorrow, the adventures continue!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/numb.png) numb
Current Music: Deftones - Xerces
|
October 10th, 2009
 | 08:55 am - What Does Topher Have in Common with Emma Frost?
My Daredevil obsession continues, as I just bought a couple back issues—Annual #1 and "Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula"—because they weren't collected in trade and the resident DD fan recommended them to me. The cool part is he totally would have let me read them without buying them, but I wanted to have them for future re-reads.
( The Office )
( Dollhouse )
( Psych )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/awake.png) awake
Current Music: Nine Inch Nails - Beside You in Time
|
October 7th, 2009
| 04:05 pm - Well, Personally, I Kind of Want to Slay the Dragon
This Monday was the 10th anniversary of the premiere of Angel. In its honor, I post a filk I wrote in 2004 celebrating Tim Minear's penchant for killing characters. It's to the tune of "Pepper" by Butthole Surfers. The song was just begging for it.
If I recall correctly, Tim liked it and said he sang it out loud to himself.
( Given that I'm going to spoil a bunch of character deaths, I figure I should cut for those people who haven't gotten around to watching Angel yet. And to those people, I say, why the hell not, fool? )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/stressed.png) stressed
Current Music: Dido - White Flag
|
October 4th, 2009
| 10:42 pm - San Francisco in a Day
If you knew me back in my Rice days, you may remember Katie. She played a very important role in my life, sometimes without even knowing it. For instance, she was the first person to introduce me to Farscape. And she also showed me my first anime. Of course, I didn't really get into either of those things until years later.
Katie and I were very good friends at Rice, and we managed to keep in touch, thankfully. She was a year behind me, so I probably saw her on my visit back for Pirates in 2004, but then it was all Internet and the occasional phone call. She got a job she loved, married a Ryan she loved, and bought a house she loved. She's living the dream! She even makes her own curtains.
Katie & Ryan came across some cheap flights from Houston to San Francisco and planned a vacation the first weekend of October. She gave me a heads up, and I took the day off work on Friday to hang with them. I asked her what they wanted to do, and they had no real plans. Katie had never been to San Francisco, and Ryan had only been there for a conference and not seen much of the city. They wanted a local to show them around, and they were putting their day completely in my hands. They trusted me! It was a big responsibility.
I'm sure you all know where we started our day.
( The Mission Tour )
( The Walking Tour )
( The North Beach Tour )
( The Chinatown Tour )
( The Union Square Tour )
( The Rice Alumni Happy Hour Tour )
( The Sushi Tour )
It was one of the best complete days, from start to finish, that I've had in a long time.
Current Mood: weird
Current Music: Guster - Happier
|
October 1st, 2009
 | 11:58 pm - Matt Murdock Is Refusing to Leave His Home While He Wallows in Self-Pity
My paternal grandfather turned 89 today. 89! And he smokes and drinks and everything. Sure, he got some colon cancer a few years ago, but he's better now. Let's hope I got his genes.
In other family news, I love my little brother! I posted a link on Facebook to The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology, saying, "Someone please buy me this book. Come on, you know you missed my birthday."
An hour or so later, I got a message from my little brother:Someone please
receive this book that I just ordered you plus a surprise filler - I am not cool enough for Prime. I wouldn't have said anything because I like Surprises but I know how popular you are, and I don't want you to end up with like thirty copies of this book. Aw. Hee. Yay!
( FlashForward )
( Fringe )
( Supernatural )
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Chevelle - Tug-O-War
|
September 28th, 2009
 | 10:47 pm - I Love You but I've Chosen Sadness
This is my life.
I can't choose among all my poetically miserable pre-cut bits, so I guess I will refrain. I wish I weren't this neurotic. I wish I could actually believe that something good lies ahead. Oh, whoops, that's not refraining.
( Dexter )
( Entourage )
( How I Met Your Mother )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/melancholy.png) melancholy
Current Music: Ben Kingsley - The Wind and the Rain
|
September 22nd, 2009
 | 02:37 am - I Feel Like I'm Wasting My Life on the Internet
One of my favorite webcomics is xkcd. It is an extremely geeky webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Filled with stick figures, pie graphs, and flow charts.
The creator, Randall Munroe—who is three years younger than I am—has put together his first book, xkcd: Volume 0, with the help of Breadpig. And he's doing a few book release parties to raise money to build a school in Laos.
One such party was at 111 Minna tonight, sponsored by EFF. Tickets were $30, or $100 to come an hour early and get some extra schmoozing time. I was waffling on whether or not I wanted to drop thirty bucks on the event, but then Aarika told me a story.
See, Aarika (adnirem) and Julia (skogkatt) celebrate my birthday like it's a national holiday. Every year, they get each other presents for my birthday. Don't ask me why. Don't ask them why. It's a thing.
A few weeks ago, Julia was chatting with a friend of hers in a coffeeshop. Said friend knows Randall Munroe (and Ryan North, I mean, COME ON NOW). They were talking about how she knew all these webcomics guys when...in walked Randall Munroe. Who invited them back to his apartment to play in his ball pit.
Julia decided that an awesome Sunil's Birthday present would be a ball from Randall Munroe's ball pit. So she got him to write "Happy Sunil's Birthday to Aarika" on a red ball. Randall Munroe wrote my name!
With that knowledge, I knew it was my destiny to meet Randall Munroe tonight.
( Pre-Event: Sunil meets both a cute girl and Randall Munroe! )
( The Main Event: Randall Munroe answers a lot of ridiculous questions! )
( Post-Event: Sunil manages not to bore a stranger to death! )
The event was a lot of fun, and it was very cool to see Randall Munroe be a normal person guy. There will actually be a free event on Wednesday at Borderlands at 7:30, so if you didn't get a ticket to this, you should go. I would go, but I should really be a responsible adult.
I would be annoyed that I paid to meet Randall Munroe when I could have done so for free, but it was worth it to make a new friend.
Current Mood: flirty
Current Music: Evanescence - Whisper
|
September 9th, 2009
 | 11:03 pm - 9 for a Lost God
9, expanded from a short film, is an animated post-apocalyptic tale featuring "stitchpunk" characters that look like little rag dolls brought to life—which is essentially what they are. In the first few minutes, we see the creation of 9, our hero. There are eight other numerically named characters, all with distinct personalities (except for the twins). They live in a desolate wasteland and battle giant steampunk beasties.
9 looks fantastic. Everything is so crisp and clear that there were certain objects that looked real and sometimes I thought that the characters could have been claymation, they were so tangible. Yet they move very fluidly. The character designs, both for the heroes and the beasties, are a treat to watch and examine. The sound design is also great.
The characters that are supposed to be likable are, but 1 is a bit too stereotypical in his characterization. The twins are a hoot. And the most badass character is the only female character (Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 will KICK YOUR ASS).
Most of 9 is an exciting adventure, but the real meat of it is a slight disappointment. For all the originality in the look of everything, the reason for the apocalypse is the same old thing, and the scenes explaining it are unintentionally amusing. I was more pleased with the answer to the major question the viewer has throughout the movie: Why were these creatures made? Why are they alive? What is their purpose? I thought it was a nice idea, although it then led to a rather strange ending. There were many questions inherent in the premise that I thought the movie would explore that it didn't, although they were touched on a little.
It's visually spectacular and very entertaining, but I wish the story were a little more satisfying. Regardless, it's very cool and worth seeing.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/busy.png) busy
Current Music: Skye Sweetnam - Billy S
|
|
|
