Spring! Garden! Veggies!

It's getting warmer and almost time for t-shirts and shorts (and most definitely flip flops). It also means time to make camping reservations and casino trips. I love this time of year because it no longer gets dark at 5 (when I feel like I'm staying late at work everyday and don't want to do anything once I get out because it's so dark).

And spring also means I get to plant warm climate vegetables in the garden! I've been neglecting the garden because 1) it's been getting dark so early, 2) I get home late from work, and 3) I haven't had to water thanks to the steady Bay Area rain. This past weekend I went to the Flowercraft and picked up some starter seedlings (since slugs and snails and birds have been picking off the ones I grow from seeds). I picked up more cabbage because I think they're beautiful and the last batch made for some good soup. The hard part of gardening is getting rid of all the weeds after letting them go wild for months. I wore my plaid flannel shirt because I knew I'd be doing manly weeding and manly soil-turning and other manly things. It took a couple hours to clear out my two tiny plots.

I love when my plots are nice and tidy. It's much more inviting that way. Below is a photographic inventory of what I've got going in the garden so far. You can bet there'll be more updates soon(ish).


Strawberries


Cauliflowers from last year. One of them finally started to actually get big.


I've been growing zucchinis every year since they produce so much fruit and are so easy to grow. This year I've moved on to round zucchinis.


Three kinds of cherry tomatoes because I'm indecisive. There's a red one, orange one, and yellow one.


Carrots


A mix of regular and Roxanne (red) cabbage


Chard mix


Artichokes, also from last year. There are two plants left after one was dragged into a hole by a gopher.

Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen is, undoubtedly, the man. His songs are like soundtracks for lonely motel rooms (it's a good thing!)...they're magically sombre.

Remember when they played Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" on the season one finale of The OC while Seth was sailing away on his boat? Ugh, so heartbreaking.

After seeing Leonard Cohen's performance below, I'm pretty bummed I didn't get a chance to see him when he was in the Bay Area. If he ever decides to come back, I'll be there...pumping my fist for the old man.

A ton of albums that I used to/still love but don't listen to

I used to buy lots and lots and lots of music—to the point where I stopped learning the lyrics to the songs...or even the song titles. Here is a fun little list of 10 20 a bunch of albums I used to have on repeat on my boombox.

Looks like I've got a lot of listening to do.

In alphabetical order:

Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Björk - Post
Blur - Parklife
The Charlatans - Some Friendly
The Cure - Wish
De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead
Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
DJ Shadow - Entroducing (I crashed my first car—not my fault—while listening to this CD on the way to class)
Erasure - Pop!
Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun
Grant Lee Buffalo - Might Joe Moon
Janet Jackson - Janet
The KLF - The White Room
Latyrx - The Album
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Morphine - Cure for Pain
Morrissey - Bona Drag
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Oasis - All of them, including B-sides
O.M.D. - Best of O.M.D.
The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The Pixies - Doolittle
Pizzicato Five - Made in USA
Portishead - Portishead
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Pulp - His N' Hers
Radiohead - The Bends
The Roots - Do You Want More?!!!??!
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
Stereolab - Emporer Tomato Ketchup
The Strokes - Is This It?
Suede - Dog Man Star
Tortoise - TNT
Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
The White Stripes - De Stijl
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One

Better living through computer graphics

This video has popped up on pretty much every tech (and some non-tech) blog I visit, and it's totally justified. Alex Roman made a short film about architecture that is mind-blowingly beautiful and technically amazing. I couldn't believe this entire thing was made from CG. Even at full-screen, I couldn't tell it was CG because the animation is so ridiculously photorealistic, especially in the beginning. Have a look below. Do yourself a favor and put it on full-screen.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

For those who still don't believe this is all CG, check is out:

Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.