This year so far (a pictorial assessment)

I cleaned out all the photos on my camera phone tonight. Almost all of them were taken in 2007. Here are a few highlights.


First "meal" after finishing the Master Cleanse. I had to throw away the actual food and just drink the broth.


Ross points out my pee stain.


Pigeon feathers on the street by my apartment. That's what happens when people are desperately hungry.


Posing in the Mission.


I eat too much junk and gain lots of weight.


Uyen comes to visit!


I FINALLY served jury duty. Kind of, since I didn't get selected.


I started this blog.

Audrey sucks at video tennis

She's making me play Virtua Tennis 2 on Sega Dreamcast on a Friday night. And we're losing to the computer. Argh!!!

Real friends buy you gummy ice cream

Ross and Lucie once again surprised me with more delicious, well-preserved treats! This time they brought me Cadbury Creme Eggs and...wait for it...Make Your Own Gummy Ice Cream! it comes with gummy ice cream, candy cones, sprinkles, "bits," and chocolate sauce. I can't wait to make a couple.

Outdoorsy Adventure Club does Pt. Arena

This weekend was spent in the semi-wilderness...Point Arena to be exact, the smallest town in Mendocino County. Population: 474.

The purpose of the trip was to see the Honorable Mention Collective show, including Vetiver and Two Gallants. They had some really awesome posters for the show that I can't seem to find right now. On the way up to Pt. Arena, we took Stewart's Point Skaggs Spring Road, the craziest road (and longest name) I've ever been on. It was super windy without many barriers, and in a lot of places it turned into a one lane road. We nearly collided with another car coming from the opposite direction at a blind turn. I feel sorry for people who have to travel that road regularly.

We stayed in a kabin at the KOA kampgrounds. The kabins were surprisingly kozy. Ours was freshly shellacked and had the smell to prove it. For dinner we grilled some sausage and ate too much. The best part was the lighter fluid.

The show that night was enjoyable and all around what I would expect from a folk line-up. There were lots of hippie hipsters, to be sure. I call them folksters. We missed the Morning Benders because we were busy playing Pasoi/13 in the bar next door. Audrey and Mike caught a few songs and thought they were good. The first act I caught was Micahel Hurley, an older folk singer, a favorite of the locals apparently. He's got a thing for epic folk songs (which is kind of an oxymoron) and falsettos. The music was good, but what stuck in my head were lyrics like "I want six cups of teee-EEEEEEEEEEEEA, not one or twoOOOOOOOHHHH" and "I'llllllll paint a white horse, or a fire-breathing dragon" or something like that. Vetiver was pretty much what I expected, except better live. Brian was horrified when they turned into a jam band and the folksters started walking up towards the stage to dance. He claims they were twirling/spinning a la Grateful Dead fans, but there was no such thing. After the impromptu dance was over, Two Gallants came on. They're like Mates of States and Bright Eyes with a harmonica, but better than both.

The show ended pretty late, around 2 in the morning. I drove back because Brian was making drunken threats to kill hippies. Back at the kabin, Brian wanted to go use the hot tub. Audrey and Mike were tired and wanted to make out, so they went to bed. I was told to "Sack up!" and go to the hot tub, but ended up staying behind to tend to the raging fire I started with lots of lighter fluid.

On the way home, Brian discovered that a painted library makes the front page around town, I took pictures of stuff on Stump Beach, and we all fed ducks. Oh, and we stopped in Guerneville to get ice cream. Guerneville wasn't what I had expected. There are a lot more meth head looking guys and a lot less gays than I would have liked.

Britpop, Part I

I feel a bit nostalgic watching this video of Northside's "Take 5." It takes me back to my late high school/early college years when I was a total Anglophile. It was a time when I didn't mind paying $10-$15 dollars for an import-only single with one B-side or a whole album for $30. And driving an hour to the city almost every Thursday for Popscene was no big deal because it was fun and worth our time.

As for Northside, I consider them a poor man's Stone Roses. They never got as big, but their Madchester baggy sound is undeniable. Plus, the singer sounds like what Ian Brown might on a good day.

When bikes die

I've been semi-obsessed with finding out the model and year of my bike. Unfortunately, the serial number has been scratched off (many years ago, I'm assuming, because there seems to be years of rust on the exposed metal), so I can't really look it up.

After trudging through tons of sites, I found this little treasure. It's a no-nonsense collection of bikes—and bits of bikes—that have been abandoned around NYC. Clicking through these photos made me a bit sad. I wonder if my bike will end up unwanted and rusty on the streets one day. Hopefully not.


Part bike, part vomit.


(Un)intentionally funny?

Boy on a bike

Found this bike on Craigslist and picked it up in San Jose. It's a 10-speed Peugeot road bike from the late 70's or early 80's. The guy I bought it from was pretty nice. I talked him down to $100 from $200. It's only been a day and I've kind of gone crazy buying stuff for it. Bye bye paychecks :(

Thanks to those who had to hold my hand through the process. I'm sure I'll be coming to you with more questions like "what's a fork?" and "do I really have to re-grip the bar?"

I didn't have my camera with me, so I took a shot with my camera phone. More to come!



More photos:

Lost Highway, Part. I

After reading David Foster Wallace's essay on David Lynch, I was inspired to go out and buy everything Lynch on DVD. Luckily, I only got was Eraserhead before realizing I can just rent them since I don't really watch my DVDs after the initial viewing.

Last night Ross and Nicole were having dinner at Herbivore (see "Things I hate" in sidebar) so we planned to meet at the local coffeeshop after they were done. That didn't really pan out, but they did meet me at the video store where I got Lost Highway. Ross left me with a cryptic message: "He gets more pussy than a toilet seat."

I went over to Corky's to watch the DVD after parting ways with Ross and Nicole. It's been about a decade since I saw it on the big screen, so I really don't remember much about the movie except that it thoroughly confused me. About 10 minutes into the movie, Corky and I were completely freaked out. I don't remember it being this scary. Nothing is more ball-shriveling than seeing Robert Blake's face superimposed on Patricia Arquette's body while in bed with Bill Pullman. Corky screamed a few times and freaked me out even more.

We ended up stopping the movie about half way through because we were both tired (I was secretly afraid that I might get spooked on the way home). We'll have to finish it during daylight hours.

Also, we both agree that Lynch's Bob character from Twin Peaks reminds us of our friend Eugene. See below.

Here are a couple shots of Bob lurking at the foot of the bed:



Here are pictures of Eugene lurking behind various plant life:

IHOP

Audrey (aka Corky) and I went to the Embarcadero 24-Hour Fitness the other night. Afterwards, we decided to go to IHOP to celebrate our health. Here's a before and after picture of my meal.

Before:

10 minutes after:

300 = Sea of muscly pecs and abs

Today, the most beautiful day in the city, was spent indoors watching 300. It's a Zach Snyder adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel about Spartans who accompanied King Leonidas to fight off the invading Persians. Going into the movie, I had some expectations; I love stylized films, fantasically choreographed fight scenes and period costumes. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed.

First off, it's a violent, gorey film. Despite the stabbing, lancing, slicing and flying blood and limbs throughout the movie, however, the gore added to the stylization of the film. I thought the contrast was cranked up just enough, the color was desaturated to the right level, and there was nothing too gimicky to make me cringe. Let me just say that the contrasty quality of the film accentuated every actor's bulging pectoral and abdominal muscles. Now imagine that with some leather bikini-type undies and a big red cape and you've got yourself a Spartan. I must admit, it was pretty hott. See below.



The storyline wasn't spectacular and was nothing I couldn't have predicted. But, again, it was well executed so it was more than watchable. Also appreciated was the lack of a overly dramtic love story. Check out the official site for a bunch of extras about the movie including a production blog and video journals. Here are some more shots from the movie:

Sun

The most awesome day in the city ever.

The Super Bowl is hella gay

I found this article about letters people sent the FCC about the recent Super Bowl. They got 150 letters from citizens who were troubled by what they saw (which I thought was surprisingly low number since people write to complain about everything).

The letters seemed to mostly focus on Prince's halftime performance and the Snickers ad where the mechanics make out. The article links to The Smoking Gun post where they've compiled some of the best letters. My favorite is one where a concerned father claims that Prince is a homosexual (he's twice-married...to women, and has dated a Bangle and Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks...neither of whom are men). The concerned father says that his boy wanted to be a quarterback, but because of Prince's performance his son will now be gay. Go read it at The Smoking Gun. Also check out page 9, where the person goes way in-depth about the Snickers guys making out.

1 Lion v. 42 Midgets; Midgets: 0, Lion: 42

Though, this isn't the lion that killed 28 Cambodian midgets and seriously injured 14 more, it I still wouldn't try to fight it. This story is a couple years old, but it was just brought to my attention today. It's surprising that the Cambodian government would allow this kind of thing to happen...but I guess it would be hard to refuse when you get to pocket 50% of all ticket sales.

UPDATE: I'm a chump. Here's why. Thanks Brian and Audrey for being real friends and not making me feel stupid or anything, jerks.

In the courthouse

• 9:01 am: In the jury assembly room now. I've been here since 8:20 or so. I just finished up a David Foster Wallace essay about a carnival in the Midwest. About 5 or 6 names have been called from the roomful of people here. Also, I just paid $6.00 for a one-day pass to go online here.


• 10:36 am: So I was just in my first non-drill alarm. I was called into an actual courtroom for further selecting. The judge assigned to the case as briefing us on the background of the case when an alarm went off. No one was in a panic while leaving the building, probably because we've all been desensitized by all the drills. Everyone evacuated to the plaza across the street. It's gonna be real fun waiting in line to get back inside. One metal detector and a couple thousand people...hott!


• 12:01 pm: Lunch time. I was granted hardship from the first case because it might last until June. Gyro probably wouldn't like that too much. I'm back in the jury assembly room awaiting another case...hopefully a shorter one. Selection starts up again at 1:15pm.


• 12:29 pm: This dutch crunch roll that my sandwich was made on is the stalest thing I've ever bit down on.


• 1:07 pm: Lunch is almost over. I'm bored out of my mind.


• 1:59 pm: Chatted online for a bit, read for a bit more, now I'm actually starting to miss work. They called people for two court assignments, and I wasn't included in either one. The assembly room is almost empty now.


• 4:ish pm: Home and jury duty free. The most horrifically boring day of my life. Thanks, America.

Jury duty and the flu

I started feeling achy as soon as I got home from work today, and by 7:30 I was feeling pretty toasty. Pooh called and lured me over with stuffed peppers and apple cake. He also supplied me with chewable vitamin C tablets and zinc lozenges.

When I got home, I checked in with the automated jury duty system and guess what? I have to report for jury duty tomorrow...at 8:30, in the morning. Awesome. I guess a decade of weaseling my way out of jury duty ends tomorrow. They'd better let me go home because a lot of people are gonna get sick.

My co-workers friends are awesome

This afternoon at work Ross and Lucie made their way to Walgreens for a routine Toffifay (that's Toffifay with 3 F's) run. When they came back, Lucie brought me some delicious almond cookies in the shape of....WINDMILLS! They're crispy, they're sugary, and they're delightful!



Ross, however, brought out the big guns by presenting me with Lucky Puffs. Just as I would have envisioned from the descriptive name, there's a green shredded coconut crust, an outer mantle of soft marshmallow, an inner mantle of chocolate cake (!), and a gooey cream core. Sound familiar? Yup, they're Sno-Balls, but green for the upcoming St. Patrick's day...I think. I found an in-depth analysis of the treat here. Curiously, there's no mention of this treat on the official Hostess website.

Thanks again to my friends, who have brought me snacks ranging from the exotically Dutch to the classicly American (though surprisingly Irish).

Below: Photo of Lucky Puff I found online.



Also, as LUCK would have it (get it?), Ross had on the perfect shirt for enjoying a LUCKy Puff.

Go to church, have sex

I was baited into accepting this postcard from a solicitor at the Montgomery BART station exit. They were handing them out along with a granola bar. Man, I love granola bars. Anyway, from the front it looks like some kind of flyer for the Power Exchange or one of those sex conventions. Once you're done looking at those deliciously glossy lips, you turn it over and...WTF?



It's a flyer for a "casual, contemporary christian church." Wow, I thought, how...progressive. It promises live music, free food, and "gods [sic] best" for your life. Is this church or the company picnic? It didn't matter. By that point I had kind lost interest and eating my granola bar.

I was banned

I haven't been able to blog because I'm banned. With fancy logarithms, Blogger has pegged me as a spam blogger and froze all new entries. I had to request for someone from the Blogger team to review my site to make sure I was a real, flesh-and-bones web logger.

This is what I got: