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December 30, 2004

"I'll send him a red cap and a speedo"

I went and saw The Life Aquatic last night with Ben. I'm not exactly sure what I think about it, it was weird. I chuckled a little bit but most of the time I just sort of stared at the screen a little dumbfounded. It wasn't that the plot was confusing, it wasn't, it was just so random. I'm used to every element in a movie having a purpose, whether it's for the plot, laughs or an extraneous sex scene. With this movie the random things they put just seem random. And I'm usually the one that thinks randomness is hilarious, but this movie just seemed weird. I hear that it's getting crumby reviews, and I'm not exactly surprised, but then, I'm not sad that I saw it either.

Anyway, this wasn't the purpose of this post. The subject of this post is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We saw a teaser for it and I was so excited. My beloved, wacky, and zany books are becoming a full fledged movie as we speak. There was an incident with a mini-series in 1981 but it was rather aweful and a complete let down. Despite that, I have high hopes for this adaptation. I can't wait. Most of all I can't wait to see how they treat Marvin the Paranoid Android, probably my favorite character in the books. On imdb they have Warwick Davis playing him, which I'm slightly concerned about. He's Willow in the movie of the same name, or for those Potter fans, he's Professor Flitwick. Also they have a separate listing for Marvin's voice, Stephen Moore who apparently played Marvin in the 1981 mini-series (more cringing). I don't remember Marvin very much from the mini-series but to be honest it's probably because I couldn't stand it for the 2 hours that it took to get to the part of the story where Marvin comes in. Anyway, I'll allow myself to be hopefull.

For those of you who haven't read the books but would still like to see the movie when it comes out next May, here are a few warnings. There may be many people attending the movie carrying:

full sized bath towels
a second head glued to their necks
an inflatable whale
or perhaps a potted petunia plant
T-shirts that read "Don't Panic" in large friendly letters
wearing a dressing gown or pyjamas

Don't Panic

December 28, 2004

Only Manly Men wear thongs

Thanks to Naomi for sending me this bit of Australian fun.

LEDGER SHOCKS TV HOST WITH TALK OF GRABBING 'WEENIES'
Heath Ledger shocked American audiences by talking about grabbing
"weenies" with his male buddies while wearing "thongs".
The Australian actor, 25, stunned host Regis Philbin with his
Antipodean colloquialisms for having a hot dog while sporting
flip-flops as he detailed the way he bonds with his male pals over
Christmas.

Ledger says, "I was promoting my film on the 'Regis and Kathie Lee Show'".

"Regis asked me what I did Down Under for Christmas fun, so I told him
that me and my mates liked to put on our thongs and grab weenies and
look at the world go by, and that was our perfect way to male-bond.

"The whole audience just went silent, and Regis was all frantic
gesturing for a commercial break.

"At the break, I explained that in Australia, Christmas is our summer
and thongs are flip-flops, not G-strings, and I meant putting hot dogs
(weenies) on the barbie (barbeque)."


Most Australians are careful about their own slang terms, when speaking to American audiences, so the questions is, is this an honest innocent mistake on Ledger's part or was it a fun loving Aussie jab at us uptight Americans?

this reminds me of walking down a street in Melbourne, Australia and chatting with a friend. She was explaining to me why a friend of hers couldn't come out with us that night. I think I remember her saying something like "her and her boyfriend are on the runs." There was a very amusing and embarrassing conversation that followed in which i found out that she meant the couple were having a fight and did not have any bowel problems that she knew of.

Sidenote- you can get amazing weenies at the club parties in Uni Melbourne, and they're free if you show any interest at all in joining their club. I got one at the Surfing club and the Scuba Diving club. I miss Australia!

Bali is OK but my head isn't

The combination of incomprehensible international tragedy and shallow materialistic happiness this christmas is incredibly confusing for my own measurement of what is politically correct social interaction. So first off here are a couple links for a list of places to send money for the Tsunami relief effort.

CNN List
Washington Post List

Most relief efforts are asking that people send money instead of food and clothing since money will reach the areas in most need of help faster than bulky material goods.

As the only place I've ever been to in that area of the world I was a bit concerned for Bali. Only two years ago they had suffered from a tragedy that they are still recovering from. The site that was bombed in 2002 in the village of Kuta is still rubbles. I was relieved to find out that Bali was not affected by the Tsunami or the earthquake. But I was sad to find a travel forum for Bali were people are asking questions like this one:

Can anyone please advise as to the weather conditions in Bali at the moment? We're due to arrive in Sanur on Thursday, and are curious to know whether the tsunami elsewhere in SE Asia has had an impact on Bali's weather conditions... Many thanks.


But then I read this series of posts and my faith in the kindness of strangers was restored:

My former colleague and still-friend Dedi Ramlan has all his family in Aceh. He's currently the manager of the Elephant Safari Park in Taro. I can't contact him as he has no email and I can't get through phone communications. Please I'd just would like to express my sympathy to him and get some news from him and his family. Please if anyone goes to Taro to visit the park, ask for him (Dedi)and give him my worried thoughts. Here is my email address if he can send one to me : [email removed].
Thanks for your help
Sandie and Nyoman BUJANA
(in France)
---
Hi Sandie and Nyoman. I will be in Bali on Jan. 11 and I will contact the Park and Dedi for you.


As for myself, I had a wonderful Christmas. My accoplishments include:

Seeing Antietam battlefield
Getting lost in the back roads of western Maryland
Taking Whites Ferry for the second time ever
Introducing an 18 month old to the wonders of Lord of the Rings the extended version
Drinking way too much red wine
Seeing Castaway and thinking it hilarious (after several glasses of wine)
Successfully navigating my Sister and and Brother-in-Law through DC (after my brother got us around Dupont Circle) and then to Iwo Jima Memorial
And helping to teach my father the time honored game of Asshole

Our family has successfully managed to create the fully adult Christmas morning stocking experience. Hungover from eggnog the night before, I woke up to a stocking with exactly three things in it.

A pair of shell earings
Two Pick Nines lottery scratch offs
One mini bottle of 12 year old GlenFiddich Scotch

Needless to say, I believe that Santa was good to me this year. As for the rest of my x-mas presents, I didn't do too bad in that area either. I guess i'm most excited about my new handheld cordless mouse and the full set of LOTR extended version DVDs.

Anyway, it's awefull to say it but I'm thankful that I have the luxury of being so materialistic in times such as these.

December 23, 2004

And so it begins...

Last weekend was loads of fun. Friday I went on a Potomac River cruise for our company christmas party. The food was alright, the scenery was pretty, the wind was gusty, the dancing was horrendous, and sadly the drunken Elvis/Santa impersonator was missing.

I went to Catherine, Tom and Charles' holiday party on friday night, which was hoppin'. Sadly, there was no mistletoe but there was good homemade eggnog (the best I've had besides my mom's, that's saying a lot) and mulled wine. By the time I'd exhausted my eggnog drinking abilities and made it to the wine, Jeff had been there and apparently added a ton of sugar. I loved it and drank it most of the rest of the night. After we sent the weaker partiers home a few of us hunkered down to observe the Dr. Mario duel of our lives. Slightly drunk and beligerent the two Dr. Mario heavyweights did not dissapoint. Although Naomi trounced Jeff, as lets face it we all knew she would, it was an extremely entertaining game (as Dr. Mario goes). At some point in the evening Naomi and Brian had discovered Sober Ride, a free taxi service for the holidays. She called them up and about half an hour later a taxi showed up. Na and I headed outside and got into the Taxi (from hell) only to find that the cab's transmission was out of wack. Our driver could not get it into Reverse! Also, the idiot had pulled up behind another car and so we couldn't get out on to the street. I was fearing that we would have to get out and push but luckily Jon and Adam's cab had arrived at about the same time as ours, so our driver got them to get out of their cab and push us back enough to pull out. Thanks guys! This was not our cab's only problem, we also discovered to great amusement that the car would not go above 50 mph, how lovely and not in the least disconcerting. I might have thought about getting out of the cab and calling another after the reverse incident but a) I was drunk b) I was tired and c) it was something like 4 am. Anyway, Naomi being the nice person that she is was giving directions to the driver, because you can't always expect a DC driver to know the in and outs of the Arlington roadways. Anyway, he let her direct him the entire way until we made it to Williamsburg Blvd (a block away from our house) she was about to tell him which street to turn on for our house when all of a sudden he snapped at her "I KNOW WHERE IT IS!" What a jerk!

Anyway, the next night, after a somewhat uncomfortable morning, I joined my family for a concert at Jammin' Java in Vienna. It was a Doors Tribute band, excellent! The only problem was that as I only own one Doors cd (that i love) there were several songs that I didn't know very well. Also, the band was extremely loud (although my brother in law maintained that they were not louder than any other concert). We left a little bit early but were mostly pleased with the concert. There were about 5 guys dancing up front throughout the entire concert. If you've ever been to Jammin' Java you'll understand how funny it is to see rave dancing directly in front of the band. This and the lead singer's full on leather pants provided endless amusement. After the concert however, things get a little hazy. I went to a bar with my sister, brother-in-law and their friends, but didn't realize until the next day (when we went to pick up the car) that the bar was in the middle of Clarendon. Then we went to my sister's friends house and there was much tequila, a bit of beer, and much more pizza than was needed. Also we played Trival Pursuit Pop Culture, the one with the DVD. But as most board games started at 3am we didn't get very far. I think that the random guy I was paired with and I got to answer only one question the entire game cause once the pizza came the game got pushed aside and was never revived.

I don't think I got over that night until about 9pm the next day. But i got to try Bailey's Icecream with Reeses Peanut Butter cups and watch Elf and The Terminal, so I tried not to complain too much.

December 17, 2004

Merry Christmukkah!

For all you OC watchers out there, who would you rather have in your Christmukkah stocking?



Personally, I think I'd pick Seth. Although Ryan is a bit more sane (saner?) he's too broody for me, I just wouldn't know how to talk to him. I think Seth would be much more fun. (Wow, this post makes me feel like I'm 13 again!)

December 15, 2004

Analyze This!

This thing is facinating! It analyzes your face from a picture and then spits out all sorts of fun statistics. Here is what I learned from the first picture of myself that I submitted.

28% Eastern European
72% Anglo Saxon
Intelligence5.8Average Intelligence
Risk4.5Low Risk
Ambition5.6Average Ambition
Gay Factor1.5Very Low Gay Factor
Honor4.8 Average Honor
Politeness5.8Average Politeness
Income 5.9$30,000 - $50,000
Sociability5.9Average Sociability
Promiscuity3.5Low Promiscuity


Gender: Female
YOUR ARCHETYPE: White Collar

Personality Profile:

You especially enjoy the traditional way of life. Having drinks with your friends, attending parties and relaxing while watching TV are some of your simple pleasures. You may also enjoy physical exercise. Your driving force is to retire as early as possible, so that you can do the things you enjoy more often. Your main source of ambition comes from this desire.

You dont particularly like your job but you do it without complaining. You realize that the income that it provides is essential to your lifestyle. You are friendly yet competitive with your co-workers. This competitiveness may lead you to squander your earnings to match other peoples' possessions.

You operate most effectively when there is a set power structure, and the lines of authority are clear. You know your place in the ranks, you play by the rules, and will deliver what is expected of you. You do not care for responsibility; you would rather be care free.

Your view of other types
You sometimes disagree with Boss types, but you respect them for the most part. You may even be envious of their lifestyles. You find Academic types boring and uptight. You have very little in common with them. However some White collar types may respect the accomplishments for certain Academic types. You think that Artist types are unrealistic and immature. You like interacting with Charmer types, and sometimes envy their charisma. You perceive Gambler types mostly as loners and untrustworthy. However, since you may have to interact with them on a daily basis you are not hostile to them. You believe Drifters are too lazy to work for a living but you sometimes feel pity for them.

Other types' view of you
Boss types may have some things in common with Blue collar types, but for the most part they only interact with you during the course of business. Academics see White collar types as unsuccessful versions of themselves, but because of work situations they may have to interact with you often. Artists do not interact with you, for they consider you to be a slave of conformity. Charmer types may associate with you; they find that the collar types are the people that mostly want to hang around them. To the Drifter types your repetitive routines seem boring; they would prefer having more fun and excitement. They may however enjoy the company of some Blue collar types.


White Collar:
-Slightly more intelligent and ambitious than the Blue collar type.
Occupation Examples: Secretary, Police Officer, Telemarketer, Computer Programmer, Office worker


So there you go i'm a cog in the wheel I guess. I submitted a second picture but that one said that I was male so i don't really trust the outcome, although it did say i was a charmer.

PS- if any of you html wizards can tell me why there is a huge space before my table i'd appreciate it

December 14, 2004

The Lynching of Earthsea

Ok so maybe I should have written this when I was more fired up about it last night but oh well. Anyway, so as you may know (and may not care) I've recently read the Ursula K. LeGuin Earthsea books. These books tell a great story and create an amazing world that could never really exist. It has dragons and wizards and yes even fulfilled prophecies. Last night the first episode of a Scifi mini series based on these books aired for the first time. Not that I was at all hopeful that the SciFi channel would actually come up with anything good but at least I thought it would be bearable!

I was worried when I looked up the official Legend of Earthsea Miniseries website and found that they'd added a whole new main character that wasn't even in the books. But was not fully prepared for the horror that appeared last night.

As many of you have probably not even read the books its hard to explain the butchering that I witnessed last night. Suffice it to say that it looked to me like they asked a four year old child with no grasp of plot or meaning to roughly outline the books and then gave this to the screenwriter and said go with it. Although in reality, the screenwriter must have (this is based on hope rather than product) read the books there is no indication in the miniseries that this person understood any of the reasons that these books have received international acclaim. I'm utterly flabbergasted. It's worse than taking religion out of His Dark Materials, it's like like translating "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" into "bad luck" there's no poetry, no depth, and no understanding. I'd like to say that I'm boycotting the rest of the miniseries, but I'm weak. I'm stuck watching this train wreck out of shear masochism.

PS- sorry for the lack of links, but it's 5pm and time to go to the gym.

December 13, 2004

Muffy pass the olives, won't you dear?

While crashing a Fraternity/Sorority Mixer on Saturday night. Well actually it wasn't a mixer and we weren't crashing but those are small details that can be over looked. I was reminded of my college dream to one day own a nice useful bartending set. I had lofty dreams then. So as we are only two weeks away from Christmas I decided to find a nice set to put on my wishlist. But amazon did not have the right kind of sets. I find this disturbing! I have come to think of Amazon as a blackbox of goodies, whatever you may need it will be there, be it a Lord of the Rings DVD or a Scunci Steam Cleaner. Needless to say I was dismayed, here are the types of kits that amazon had.

Whatever happened to traditional cocktail strainer techniques? As any barman knows, all you really need is two different sized stainless steel tins preferably 28 and 16 oz. What's up with all of these "Special Bartenders Glasses"? I soon found that there are several thousand websites devoted to selling the poor naive college student the "ultimate bartending kit" but none of them is what I would consider practical. If you've ever used a Cocktail shaker you know that often times with the shaking of ice and liquid the temperature in the shaker will drop drastically, physics steps in contracting the air left in the shaker and making a nearly unbreakable seal between shaker and top. The easiest way to break the seal is to give the top a good thwack against the bar. Now how does one do this (without fear of life and limb) if the top is made out of glass? The built in strainer is a nice idea but suffers from the same freezing seal dilemma and a good thwack doesn't work too well due to the design. If you are buying a home bartending kit for someone that fancies themselves a competent, if not knowledgeable bartender here is what you should look for.

Even this kit has many expendable parts. What you really need is:

The 2 tins
strainer
pouring spouts (several)
mat and bar towel

Jiggers are nice for the anal retentive bartender who likes to measure everything but for home use most won't use it. A muddler may be useful but i've never used one. An ice scoop is kinda silly unless you're throwing a party and have a nice ice bucket to go with it. The corkscrew/bottle opener, most people already have at their homes anyway. I'm purposely leaving all the different types of glasses out. I think that all drinks should be served in their proper glass, there's no good reason for this I just think is more fun that way. What's a martini without the constant danger of spilling it all over yourself?

So if I left anything out that one would need for their home bar, let me know. Otherwise enjoy the eggnog and "drink responsibly".

December 10, 2004

Deep Fried Haggis

I'm feeling aweful today. Maybe it's the shrimp I had yesterday, one of them tasted a little funny. Maybe it's because I didn't have dinner last night cause it took me an hour and a half to get to the movie theatre (that would usually have taken me 15 minutes) to see a 2.5 hour movie (Ray, it was a great flick and now makes me want to go buy all of his music). Maybe it's the caviar that I just sampled that came in a gift basket from a work client (I'm not really a caviar person, tastes a bit like rotten anchovy to me). Maybe it's because I stayed up till 3am last night finishing a book cause I just couldn't freakin' put it down. Whatever it is, the adjective that could best describe me at the current moment is "bleh".

On the upside, my non productivity from yesterday produced a wish list on Amazon.com so, eh hem Rents, if you're looking for ideas for me for x-mas you can look here. I'll try to add things when i think of them.

And to continue the randomness of this post... One of my coworkers sent this to me the other day. Apparently the chippies are finally catching up with those Scots! But man, what I wouldn't give for a big bag of 'chips' covered in brown sauce right now. mmmmmmm

December 08, 2004

Family History

Everyone knows that my family is a little silly, but as some may not know a couple of them are also into genealogy. Here is a bit of history from our MyFamily.com website:

Uncle Thomas Wheeler died at the age of 20 in 1691. He was murdered by the Indians, under the supposed leadership of a chief known as the black sachem. Mr. Wheeler was away from home, out on a hunting excursion, traversing the forests of the town of Preston(dch note-that's in Connecticut), and when near Quinebaug River he met a squad of Indians, who were hunting in the same region, who ordered him to clear out and leave the game to them, as they were the original owners of it. He refused to obey their orders, when they told him if he did not leave the game of the forest to them they would kill and scalp him on the spot. He bid defiance to their threats, when they attacked him with their tomahawks and scalping knives. He defended himself as best he could, and a terrible struggle ensued which resulted in his death, and that of five of the Indians.

Uncle Thomas was the brother of Martha Wheeler,mother of Isaac Williams, father of Atwood Williams,Sr., father of Atwood Williams, father of Mehitable Williams, mother of George H. Leslie, father of Harthan F. Leslie, father of Jean Kemp Leslie, mother of Elizabeth Grace Hadley, mother of Mark who should be on the lookout when using the ferry to New London, Ct.

A note for Mark's father- Williams College is named after cousin Ephraim Williams who was killed in the French and Indian War near Lake George, NY. He left his fortune, by will, to found a free school at Williamstown, Ma. which afterwards became a college named after him. Ephraim's father Ephraim,Sr.'s brother John married Martha Wheeler, sister of the star of the preceding story.


Note: Mark is my first cousin. I challenge you all to trace the exact relationship of Uncle Thomas to myself. Anyone?

After reading the preceding post on myfamily.com I was struck by two things. 1) I could be exceptionally cruel to my children by naming them with family names. 2)Black Sachem sounds like a scandalous name for an Indian chief to me. So I looked up the word Sachem in the dictionary here is what I found:

Sachem n.
1.
a. A chief of a Native American tribe or confederation, especially an Algonquian chief.

b. A member of the ruling council of the Iroquois confederacy.

2. A high official of the Tammany Society, a political organization in New York City.

So now I'm confused was this Indian Chief's name Black Chief or just Black?

Now (or earlier) you might ask, "What is the point of this story?" I am happy to say that there isn't one. But, wasn't it nice to read something that has nothing to do with current Social or Political issues or even Reality Television? I thought so at least.


December 03, 2004

TGIF

Ok, so sorry for the long lagg in postage. But, I'm finally done with all that work that's been bogging me down lately. Now, I just have to get myself caught up on everything that was tossed to the side for the last two or three weeks.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. Hung out with the family and partied hardy with my bro and cousins. And here I thought I was too old to be out till 4 am two nights in a row. Once, again my relatives have pulled the inner-college-kid out of me.

Been reading a lot recently, I got three books from the EarthSea Cycle by Ursula LeGuin from the Library on Sunday and finished all three by the next Sunday. LeGuin is one of my favorite Fantasy novelists, The Left Hand of Darkness is a masterpiece. I liked the Earthsea books but they weren't nearly up to Tolkein standards (as some tout them to be). But, oh well, they were a fun read anyway.

Currently, I'm reading Deception Point by Dan Brown, yes that guy who wrote the DaVinci Code. I must say that I really, after all, don't like Brown's writing style. He's brilliant at those wide ranging and exciting plots (this guy definitely does his research), but the actual words aren't all that great. His characters are rather shallow and uninteresting, as well. Not that I want to discourage reading his books, too much. His best book is definitely Angels and Demons but the others (yes, I include DaVinci Code here) are passable. For a quick sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat read the others are good, but none of his books could be mistaken for high literature. I'll be very interested to see DaVinci Code the Movie when it comes out, but (as I've told anyone within shouting distance) I think that Tom Hanks is an aweful choice for Robert Langdon. I like Tom Hanks in most of his movies, but he just doesn't have the rugged good looks that Brown so praises in his books. A slightly younger Harrison Ford-type would have been infinitely better thant Tom Hanks.

Also, I plan on working out an RSS feed for this site soon. I tried to switch on the Atom site feed option they have here at Blogger, but it doesn't seem to be working correctly. So I'll try FeedBurner or something soon.

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