Pacificapocalypse

Heh.
Doc Pop finds the Euros make with the funny.

Watched Léon the Professional again this weekend. Such a great film.

Busy! I need another full day around the house. Saturday started early and completely disassembled my old office desk and hauled the pieces down to the driveway. Need to call Claude the JunkMan to come pick them up. Put together my new desk and chair. So cool. Now I just need to find homes for everything; files, printer paper, knicks, knacks and paddywhacks. Still have to hook up the printer and finish up with the PC and external drives. *sigh* yeah one more day would do it.

Sunday Court and I went to go see my Mom. Stayed for a couple of hours just hanging out.
Sounds pleasant and innocuous, but this is a pretty significant milestone; Mom had never met Court before and we (Court and I) thought that it’s time Mom faced up to facts. It’s been two years, everyone else has moved on, now it’s time for Mom to start. It was a little awkward, but not overly so. I had to explain to Court that, sometimes, that’s just how Mom is. But it was good, and now that Mom has met Court and talked to her, perhaps, she’ll be able to finally understand that life goes on and that the past is a different country.

Anyway, Court’s side of the office/studio space is pretty much completed. As soon as we’re finally through I’ll post some pictures. It looks brilliant and she’s very happy with all the work we did.

Ok, Monday morning, let’s do this thing.

We Watch Movies: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Amazing, Del Toro has created an astounding universe for Hellboy, which we sort of saw in the first film, but in The Golden Army you get thrown in the deep end like a medieval witch trial. A little back story, in a flashback to 1955, as told by Prof. Broom to an adolescent Hellboy (whom is convinced that Howdy Doody is a real boy)  and we’re set to go.
Favorite scene; the Troll Market. Damn, it’s like every extra creature from Labyrinth and Dark Crystal that didn’t make the final cut is in there.  We plan on seeing it again just to check out all the details and goings on in the background. Creature effects for days.
And Doug Jones is still the most amazing actor who’s face you’ve never seen.
Can you believe that Ron Perlman is 58? Selma Blair is a lot more fleshed out as a character this time around, not so much the shrinking violet from the first film; more confident. That’s hot. Go rent Feast of Love and Storytelling;  she’s *totally* naked in them.

The Wii Fit - I predict a headline from the future: Nintendo Saves an Obese America.
This thing is so cool that it sizzles. I was a little skeptical at first ( silly me, I should have know better - I’m a huge Wii fanboy and should keep the Mario Faith ) but we were able to score one at Game Crazy in San Bruno ( kudos to those guys, best customer service ever. Game Stop; you SUCK!) and Court set it up yesterday. If you have a pulse and/or an internet of your own, I’ll go ahead and skip the details. You know what it is and what it does. But I had no idea how well it does what it does.  Talk about unintended consequences; I broke a sweat with the original Wii Sports games, but the Fit just might make me even more sexy than I already am. Side note: the Fit may increase Court’s sex appeal but we have to be careful - she’s already hot - increasing her attractiveness factor could be dangerous - we don’t want the universe collapsing into a sexy singularity.
Wii Girl ain’t got nothing on my baby. But she’s indicated that if I post the video of her doing the hula hoop exercise that I took last night… I will regret it. We’ll see. I have powerful means of persuasion.
Oh and my Wii Fitness Age: 35! Suck it entropy!

Nerd girls are hot. They come in many flavors. Court is a comic nerd, science, art and lit geek.
And then there’s Becky.
Rebecca is a math and physics nerd of the first water. I’m pretty sure she’ll be famous someday for solving some unsolvable equation, discovering a new GUT or she’ll disappear in a lab experiment gone awry and then return with super powers. Something like that.
Anyway, she has a fascination with the number five and already has geek ink to prove it.
Her latest:

Dude, you had a Turing machine inked on you.
That’s so geek I can’t even begin to approach it.
Talk about MIT street cred.
You win one (1) internet.

Doc manages to get himself, the iPhone and Jailbreak all pimped in the same story-

From the Thursday, July 10, San Francisco Examiner-

Brian Roberts, a professional yo-yo performer known as Doctor Popular, said he had to hack into his first-generation iPhone to download and develop games and other applications.

“I get all the applications for free right now,” he said. “It’s going to take some convincing for me to pay for them.”

Roberts said he isn’t going to buy the new phone unless he comes across a surplus of money. Not only would he have to buy another phone, but the AT&T service plan for the new phone also costs an extra $20 a month for the faster service.

Surplus of money, yeah. Sell some shit!
Doctor Popular, available for newspaper quotes and/or vaudeville, burlesque, weddings and bar mitzvahs.

A little late, but better than not at all.

Ah the Fourth of July! Now the Fourth in Pacifica is a little different. Pacifica is one of two cities on the Peninsula where fireworks sales are legal. Come the week or so before, the stands pop up on every block like mushrooms after the rain. Each stand dedicated to an individual fund raising effort: the Pacifica Little League; the local Girl Scout troop, the  local Hells Angels ( ok I made up that last one), you get the picture. People from all the surrounding cities flock in to buy their fireworks and Pacifca makes a fair bit of cheddar from it.

The night of the Fourth though, Pacifica PD is on the lookout for illegal fireworks (you know, the fun, dangerous, explody kind). And as usual we were fogged in. Up on the point we’re above the fog so we got a sort of arena rock lighting effect from the fireworks on the beach floating up through the fog bank. Safe and Insane is the motto for fireworks in Pac. Anyway, we invited Melissa up for the weekend and mainly watched movies and drank.
Except for Saturday.
SATURDAY! GUNS! GUNS! GUNS! Ah yes it was time for yet another Calguns Shoot-n-Que at Chabot. We had, I would say, the best turn out so far. At least 50 members showed up, and as usual, more food than we could eat ( we did our best, but after tri-tip, hot links, salmon, samosas, and various sides, it was a forgone conclusion. The food wins every time). Brought out only iron sight rifles figuring that since Melissa had never fired a gun before, she should start simple, at the 50 yard line.
Check that smile!

And of course Court still love *her* M1A Scout.
Goodness knows why my darling 5 foot nothing buck and a quarter girl loves that .308 so, but I’m not complaining.
Now that’s a gun happy face.

Tip o’ the hat to Rivviepop for letting Melissa shoot his S&W 686; I didn’t bring any handguns this time out.  Good time had by all; the bullets went that way and the girls were so proud of their bruises the next day. Weirdos.
More pics here.

We Watch Movies: Wanted
First things first; this movie is based upon a comic book of the same name.
Same it with me: COMIC BOOK.
Got it? Ok now that that’s out of the way, it was pretty fun. Over the top special effects, very bad bad guys, ultra violent, automobile stunts that would have Newton spinning in his grave so quickly, he catches fire from the friction. I won’t go into all the absurd details ( wait a minute, you mean they get their orders from a… loom? The thing you weave cloth with? In binary code?
And where do they get the hand crafted, engraved bullets from anyway?) but it is fun.

Don’t go expecting it to have any sort of connection to reality and you’ll enjoy it. Plus Angelina is still easy on the eyes. Minor divergence: we’ve decided that, at this point in her career, nude scenes are pretty much off the table.  Except in the case of a serious film, like Selma Hayek in Frida. But it’s unlikely we’ll ever see the blistering hot loves scenes as in Original Sin.
One last observation, more of a question really; where can *I* get one of those old timey flintlock rifles, that has the optical capability to see into the future and shoots multi-stage bullets, from? Seriously. I’d like to know.

Found this over on Bam! Kapow!; Ten Marvel Characters Who Need Their Own Movies.
Arguably a pretty good list; which I forwarded to Court who promptly sent back *her* picks:

I counter these 11 with my own.

Emma Frost -Interesting past, conflicted, dangerous and Hot.

Black Cat -
Ummm just hot. but no, really interesting.

Kitty Pryde -
Great character possible crossover for Emma Frost movie. (University X?) And Andy could be cast as Lockheed!

The Magneto Family (House of M style)
Pietro, Wanda, Lorna and Magneto at a holiday gathering: priceless. Pietro- “Yeah well at least my significant other isn’t a robot, and I can produce children!” Wanda- “I’m crazy I’m crazy I’m crazy I’.m crazy”  Magneto- “Why couldn’t I be sterile?”

The Rhino -
Yes that lame villain from Spider-Man, but totally do a “Falling Down” type movie about being a buster costume villain who’s done taking shit.

Spider-Man Blue -
I would like to see a period 70’s piece separate from the current collection, that almost boarders on dramady.  touching poetic, and we could see what dating a superhero is like from the chicks point of view as opposed to the refrigerator women they tend to be in cinema.

Kingpin -
Great character, very interesting and just overall amazing arc.

X-23 -
So sad, so strange, so an outlet to see Summer Glau kick ass and have razor claws!!!!!!

Mystique / Nightcrawler -
Not the watered down sex kitten version from the movies but everything from being born, to Azazel, the lesbian affairs, the murders, abandoning her children, etc etc.
Nightcrawler as a college aged romantic, not emo, but before he becomes an X-Men leader, and he gets with all the A-list mutant tail.

Inhumans -
Watching Medusa and Black Bolt make love and he not being able to utter a sound for fear of destroying the moon. Hot!
Oh and that zany cast of mutant goodness.

Psylocke
A character that has really come up and is very interesting. and she’s the twin sister of Captain Britain?
Oh yes! New Excalibur goodness!

Yes, my dear Courtenay is a comic geek of gargantuan proportions; and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love the zoo.
Yeah, yeah I know, “zoo’s are cruel” whatever Peta dude, go suck down some organic Humus and let me get my zoo on. So last Saturday, we took a little day trip to the San Francisco Zoo. It was hotter than the hinges of hell and there was no way we were going to stay indoors. We still had Kaitlin with us and she couldn’t remember if she’d ever been before (the 12 year old female mind is…  a mystery of Bermuda Triangle proportions.)
I dig the Africa Savanna scene with the Giraffes, Zebra, Lesser AND Greater Kudu. Come on man! Baby Giraffes are awesome. The ginourmous Silverback Gorilla and all the primates. The birds and reptiles. I like the Tapirs and the big Black Swan. I dig the Penguins and the petting zoo with all the farm critters. I love them all.
The Zoo gets a bad rap I think. Yes, ok, I agree, the 1930’s architecture of some of the paddocks are horrific when compared to modern standards, but the new habitats are so much better and they never seem to stop improving. Ok, the whole ‘Death by Christmas Tiger‘ thing was pretty bad for the tiger and the guy that was killed (though in retrospect the two other guys involved come off as world class douchbags.) but I still think the Zoo serves a grand purpose - to allow people and families to see and learn about these animals that they might never otherwise get the chance. Besides. they *did* save those two bear cubs that were up for destruction, and got a nifty new Grizzly bear habitat out of it as well.
So all you naysayers can go fish.
It’s all happening at the zoo.

More pictures here.

An ex-co-worker and aspiring writer friend of mine, Chelsea Lin, stated this morning on her Facebook status that:

Liz Phair will make your eardrums bleed. Is ‘eardrums’ one word or two?

Which of course provoked me into the following exchange:

Me: Liz Phair topped out with “Exile in Guyville”… but what do I know? I was only there when the album (black, vinyl, lots of little lines - hole in the middle) was released.
You should listen to a little Polly Jane Harvey or Cat Power.
And get off my lawn you damn kids!

Chelsea: so she was performing only “exile in guyville” last night at the fillmore (i was covering it for spin.com) and i was not impressed… sacrilege, i know.

Me: “Not impressed”
Bah. Your prematurely jaded opinion is tiresome.
Next thing you’ll deny that the 80’s were, without a doubt, the crowning decade of human existence and the pinnacle of cultural and societal achievement.

And so Court and I got to talking; what exactly DID happen to Liz Phair?
“Guyville” was brilliant. Where did that brilliance go and why?
Court opines:

I don’t think (Chris) is talking about “exile in guyville” as being her best material, it’s more along the line of, Liz Phair was at her best at the time she wrote the album and her overall presences at that time. When that album debuted in 93′ she was willing to fully embrace her sound. I would say her second album, Whip-smart she maintained a similar sound but the influence from her Matador label-mates was far to obvious. With the move to Capital Records and her decent into commercial music success, the new glamorized shiny Liz’s sound comes off as vapid and indistinct. Now while she may, as you say make your eardrums bleed, it’s not because of raw passion or even a desire to perform… more likely its a production assistant turning a mic on to an obligatory 11. In short Liz Phair is dead. Lets hope for a resurgence of music not first filtered the digitized, then synthesized into catchy tunes for automobile, energy drink or tampon advertisements.

Brutal. I love it.

… and learning roller-coasters; ok I *think* WordPress can do everything I want it to do.
Now I just have to get it configured - end even with my very good friend, the internet, this may take some time.

Snarky comments about technology leaving old men like me in the dust are not appreciated.

And get off my lawn.

Ah man, back from camping at Richardson Grove, up past Fort Bragg on the coast. Big tree country. Had an outstanding time but too short of course. Court and I drove up on Sunday evening after meeting my dad for Father’s Day dinner at the Italian Society Hall in Menlo Park. Totally old school place; a bartender that looked like he’d served drinks at the last supper, traditional anti pasti plates and overcooked pasta, and a crowd that looked like a bunch of extras from the opening scene of the Godfather, but we had a good time.
Then the drive north.
CAMPING!
There’s no better breakfast than camping breakfast.
Great weather; just cold enough at night to make the campfire and the sleeping bags appreciated and pretty warm during the day. Got up there around 11pm on Sunday evening and were grateful that Court’s family were able to put up our tent and air mattress for us beforehand. Setting up camp in the dark sucks. And hey, I love the hardcore, no amenities, dig a hole to poop in, type of camping, but there’s something to be said for running water and bathrooms with flush toilets.
Monday we hung out by the river and in beautiful downtown Garberville. You can really tell that you’re in NorCal hippie country by the number of smokeshops, hydroponic grow stores and crystal emporiums in that town. It’s like all the old hippies that moved out of the Haight set up town here. Dinner was pork loin roasted on the fire and I don’t care what anyone says, 140° internal temp is not fit to serve. Sorry Bob, but I draw the line at 160°. The smashed potatoes were very good.
Tuesday was all day at Shelter Cove and man what a sorry little… hm.. not sure what you’d call it. Tourist spot? Coastal community? Whatever it was a little bleak. Great beach and ocean views but Archie mentioned how he thought it would be pretty miserable place to spend the winter - miles of switchback road, possibly washed out and blocked. No way in or out, storms from the Gulf of Alaska smacking you straight in the face. Pass. You know what it reminded me of? A setting for a Stephen King novel. Something about little isolated communities like that creep me out. Total “Storm of the Century” fodder. Court and I cooked dinner Tuesday night; grilled coulette steaky steak and caramelized onion sammies were tasty. Wednesday we broke camp and hit the road. A short trip but I would not have missed it for the world.

More pictures here.

We Watch Movies: The Happening.
Thursday we went and checked out M. Night’s newest.
Wow, well, first and foremost it wasn’t as bad as all the reviews said it would be, I mean, yeah I never really developed any sort of sympathy for any of the characters and I sort of like all the actors involved. And you *really* have to buy into the premise for the whole movie to even have a chance (dude… it’s the plants!). Ok some of the set scenes were sufficiently disturbing; and they don’t waste any time starting with the weirdness. But why was it only effecting the North East? I didn’t buy the explanation they provided. Whatever.
AND! Betty Buckley gets the nod for Most Disturbingly Creepy Old Lady Living in An Isolated Farmhouse award. They have that, right?

Overall it was entertaining but not fantastic. Worth seeing at matinée pricing.