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Friday, March 28, 2008

Pardon Moi

Dear transient reader,

I've been down with the sickies, the achies and the grumbles this week, updates are coming ahead. With pics! (not of me being sick, sorry)

Su

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

An SNL Digital Short


I'm the most open person you'll probably ever meet. But for some reason, I'm not cool with it either Andy. No, not at all.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Sweet rolls for your tum tum...

*gasp* 2 posts in 1 day!

I made my first batch of homemade cinnamon rolls from an Alton Brown recipe. I was watching an episode of Good Eats (awesome show by the way) last month titled "House of the Rising Bun". Basically, teaching me a fool proof method of overnight risen dough. First of all I'm not a baker, I've found baking tedious and unnecessary. I prefer to leave it to the professionals as once the thing is baked you can't alter the ingredients. I studied the recipe for a while before attempting to make the cinnamon rolls as the directions require 2 days of prep time (and that's before putting it in the oven).

Fresh from the oven, cooling on the stove

Close-up of a GND (golden & delicious) unglazed roll.

At this point, I had to let the whole thing cool down to room temp (the boyfriend cried torture) before I attempt to glaze it with the cream cheese icing that was included in the cinnamon roll recipe. I turned them upside down so that I glazed the caramelized bottoms (that way there was only one messy side to tangle with).


Glazed cinnamon roll *drool*

Did someone sneeze on my roll? Or worse... D: ? As you can see the icing turned out a little runny but I purposefully added more cream cheese to the mixture. 

Alton Brown's Good Eats show format has helped me better understand why I cook the way I do and introduced me to new ways of cooking. It's a fun and informative show done in a unique style that reminds me of my other favorite, Mythbusters. It can be found on the Food Network channel on most weeknights, which means there is a chance you might see Rachael Ray (you've been warned).

Recipe available here.

A happy St. Patrick's Day to you...


One of the few videos that make me feel a little more dead inside. I was never able to get an explanation but I hope that this was all a well constructed prank. Please tell me it was just a joke.

Su

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Kitteh n' Puppeh



Kitteh is sweet and innocent. Kitteh loves the internets. Kitteh has a friend named Puppeh on the internets. Puppeh has a link for Kitteh. Hilarity ensues.

Su

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Wonder Con 2008 in review

The boyfriend and I decided to spend a rainy Saturday at Wonder Con, which is a tiny teaser to the summer mega-convention Comic-Con. This year it was held in downtown San Francisco at the Moscone Center. Wonder Con this year was crammed into the much smaller south building as the Game Developers Conference took up the north and west building the entire week. We arrived a little later than we had anticipated as a huge line had already formed for the on-site registration. I must admit that attending Wonder Con is not a must for us as we never know if we'll be able go until the week before. We can be there at a moments notice as we live less than 10 minutes from downtown San Francisco; but you can't just go to Comic-Con on a whim.


L to R Karl Cohen, Ralph Eggleston, Andrew Farago

The Cartoon Art Museum held a panel in honor of Mary Blair's legacy, the legendary Disney animation designer. Her work defined an era of design, form and color that we still see being used or influenced today. The panel is even now more poignant knowing about the impending fate of the "Its a small world" ride at Disneyland. The ride had been going through an 10 month renovation to deepen the moat the boats float on but the real tragedy is that the New Guinea rainforest portion of the ride will be replaced with a "Hooray for the USA" scene.



When Blair decided to step away from animation in her later years she created more illustrative pieces like the one above. This was probably created sometime in the 1970's when her work was being seen in the "Little Golden Book" series that are still available today for your children (and collectors like me). If you're interested in more of Mary Blair's work there is a wonderful collection being held at the Cartoon Art Museum at 655 Mission Street at New Montgomery in San Francisco.


Bionic Commander 2008

Immediately after the Mary Blair panel the Capcom group came straight from GDC to talk about the information they had shared with the media the other day. They shared the 2 new Bionic Commander games that were scheduled to be released later in the year. The first game unveiled was a revamp of the original Bionic Commander. I'll let the picture above tease you till the game comes out for PC. The other version is more of a Bionic Commander training game to get players to push their gameplay in the new game, it will be available for download for 360 and PS3 later in the year as well.


Street Fighter 4

I admit that its been years since I've played an enjoyable Street Fighter game. But the new teaser trailer shown at Wonder Con has piqued my curiosity for the 2D fighter. There were more scenes of the newest character, Crimson Viper (if you haven't seen her yet she appears to be a tough yakuza bitch) who kicked Chun Li's ass in a trailer only shown at GDC. There were few in game shots and the ones I did get to see gives me the impression that Street Fighter 4 will be a beautiful game as well as entertaining.


C.H. Greenblatt talks about Chowder on Cartoon Network

Greenblatt opened his panel introducing a few members of the creative team responsible for bringing Chowder to television. He then opened the first 30 minutes to Q&A and I managed to get my question about Chowder's pants answered (He wears it on his head and he liked the way he looks with them up there). After the fandom we were treated to 2 new 11-minute episodes of Chowder. The first one involved "mood beans" and starred Endive and Panini, the second was about a day at the beach that never was starring Chowder's massive nipples and super expandable bladder.


First shot of the exhibition hall


Second shot of the exhibition hall.

The hall is much smaller than what we're used to. We were surprised to only find 3 booths selling DVD's  (cons are the best time to buy kung fu movies). We did end up going home with a copy of "The Great Yokai War" (a children's fantasy movie) and some pencils from a raffle I won. We did manage to find a booth with bean bags to crash in for about 30 minutes. But other than that there was little else of notable value.


R2D2 being flanked by children

This cool looking R2D2 was being controlled by RC (I'm guessing) near the exhibition hall and escalators causing a big traffic jam. 

Yoda statue 

Seen at a booth on the exhibition floor. Every year I see more and more companies getting into the collectible vinyl industry. Small independents and big conglomerates go head to head attempting to entice the vinyl collector to go with the limited editon "My Little Pony" or the newest edition of Qee.


Gaia Online panel (bloated Kiki carcass near the end)

The day ended with a fandom panel with Gaia Online. It was probably the single most terrifying panel we attended... in the history of convention going. There is nothing more rabid and ferocious than screaming fangirls when the panel presentation set off the "special prize" alert during the panels powerpoint presentation of "behind-the-scenes" and "upcoming attractions".
We didn't score any fat "loots" but we did survive with our skins (and a little less of our hearing) intact.

Hope to see you at the next one,
Su

Year of the Rat at the zoo...

Note: this post is image intensive


The boyfriend had an old friend from SoCal come and visit us to meet some friends and spend a day with us 2 weeks ago. During this time of the Lunar New Year festivities in San Francisco, the zoo held a special day of events mainly for children. There was chinese food and beer offered and lots of arts and crafts along with stage performances of acrobats, jugglers and lion dancers. The weather was a bit unkind to us that day as brisk winds and cloudy skies kept us from warming up as we walked around. The zoo was pretty full of families, tourists and teenagers.  But I did managed to get a few good photos despite the crowds.

"Long-necked sentry guard activated"

We first visited the the African animals section we missed last time. The zoo had been open for about an hour but the cold temperature kept these savannah critters sluggish and sleepy during our visit. We got to see one of the baby giraffes poke his head out from a grassy area that he had made his bed in. Giraffes are such striking looking creatures and they were interesting in that they showed as much interest in us and we in them. Starring straight at us with their heavily lashed eyes as they chewed their breakfast.

"Salads keep my girlish figure trim."

"Where's my Sunday paper, woman?"

Our next stop were the primates (specifically the gorillas), who every time I visited in the past  were always pissed and throwing poo at asshats who think it's funny to yell at them. This morning the majority of the gorillas stayed in or near their bed area for the exception of the newest addition a young female who you can see eating breakfast two pictures above.

"Zzzzz...."

The red-ruffed lemurs were also snoozing it up in their treehouse playground (not seen the pic are the large radiating heaters keeping the lemurs warm). It may not look like it but the platforms the lemurs were on were very close to the viewing area we were on. When they did manage enough energy to lift their furry little heads they had bright, atomic yellow eyes that pierced straight through to your very soul.

"None shall pass..."

Just letting you know that the Big Cat area has been gated off from visitors while they make the necessary changes to the exhibits so that the Christmas day incident would not be repeated. The construction has the big cats going a little batty as we could hear them roaring in their smaller cages in the cat house. This also means that the animals that are located across from the big cats don't get any visitors. We peeked around some fencing and saw that at least they got to walk around their large viewing environment.

"Ready dude? Ready dude!"

The penguins were walking about their man-made island probably waiting for their appointed feeding time. They were the most active critters we had encountered so far that day as some had formed individual discussion groups and were getting into some intense debates (accented with lots of squawking and flailing of flippers). And some formed some swimming teams to scout out the perimeter of their exhibit to stare right back at the visitors who were making a hoopla about their cuteness.

"Please to be getting my good side."

This double-wattled cassowary has proven to be elusive on past visits as on sunny days he can be found in the far corner of his pen hiding behind the bushes. But the dark skies and cool weather brought him out in front of all the visitors, being very inquisitive and as photogenic as something with 2 wattles can be.

"Looky here Carl, the food givers."

The 2 beautiful carp seen above were very comfortable with coming to the surface of their pond and pleading visitors with their fishy eyes that they are in need of feed pellets. Unfortunately, the feed dispenser was empty so all I could offer was a my finger tips (I don't recommend doing that).
"Is that cheeseburger ovar thar?"

While visiting the prairie dogs again, I managed to get some shots of this dapper little fellow that had no fear of the giant visitors that loomed over him. He was transfixed on something outside of their environment that I could never figure out. The entire time he felt comfortable enough to ignore his surroundings, groom himself and eat some grass all while staring at something. There must have been some delicious looking pizza crust or popcorn on the ground.

Officiating over cutest tennis match ever.

The meerkats weren't very active that day but this guy was doing a great job of being a dutiful watch out for the rest of his little tribe. He's working hard on a Sunday.

*Insert obligatory ass joke here*

This little donkey loves snacks and a sign also informed us that he loves little fingers just as much. So with this bit of information it was entertaining to watch visitors try to hold their hands still with the treat and avoid having their fingers chomped on like pink fritos. The donkeys turned out to actually to be very sweet and avoided my hands for the most part. They didn't mind it so much when I petted them between the ears; it actually felt like petting a large broom.

*bleat* Why hello thar...

This little black goat wanted to try out my camera, he almost grabbed the wrist strap off of my wrist. Nimble little buggers...

"I am so cute and cuddly, hug me."

The last thing we got to see was the opening of the Animal Resource Center that afternoon. They gave us the opportunity to pet some of the more tame animals that the zoo interns work with everyday and do wildlife talks with at local schools. The second the doors opened the ARC was flooded with screaming children and their parents toting giant strollers that can hold 4 at time. If you look you'll see the same 2 pink sleeves appear in my photos as there were some children who's parents have given up in trying to control their compulsive animal rubbing (which is what they did). 

" I don't want to be rubbed anymore, kthxbai."

The ferret was a wonderful little critter that was very inquisitive and licked my hand like a puppy. I managed to take this pic after the little kids ran off to molest a rabbit.

"I don't run very fast actually, thx."

This little hedgehog was that days all around favorite, the boyfriend would love to have one. Like the ferret, the hedgehog is not a legal pet to own in the state of California (and Hawaii) due to bullshit paranoid legislature by policy makers that believe they would destroy the the delicate balance of California's wildlife.
Never mind the fact that the domesticated ferret and hedgehog would have as much chance of surviving the wilds as your more wild dwarf hamster. And unlike the more popular exotic pet the prairie dog, they have been found to not transmit diseases to their handlers. Despite their prickly appearance, the hedgehog felt softer than I had anticipated.
We managed to fit in more animals that day than the last time we visited. It will probably be a while till we visit again. Next time, we hope that the big cats will be in their exhibits. And if were lucky there will be some new kittens from the lions by this fall.

Su

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Cat of 1000 Faces- Episode 1



Jonathan Howells  brings us his super spy cat, Hugo. And his amazing ability to transform his appearance into incredibly convincing disguises.

Su

Monday, March 3, 2008

Love and the island prison...

Note: this post is image intensive

I mentioned in an earlier post that I spent this years Valentine's Day being tourists in San Francisco with the boyfriend (very romantic, eh?). This post I'll be sharing the pics I took that day while on Alcatraz island and provide the captions for your reading pleasure/displeasure (your pick).


Approaching the dock on Alcatraz onboard the Hornblower.

We arrived on the island at noon and were excited to start the tours. Since the night before, the bay area was being whipped by high winds that made the bay waters very choppy (we got a little sea sick waiting for the boat to leave Pier 33). It had been years since the boyfriend had been to Alcatraz and it was my first time. Stepping onto the island, I immediately felt the imposing nature of the decaying prison fortress grounds. The elements had reduced the exteriors of all the buildings to drab grey tones and sea water might have caused the rusty stains that were on every surface. Even in the middle of the day the place was kinda scary looking.


Finally got to see the graffiti from the occupation in real life.

There were indications all over the island of the Native American occupation in the 1970's. The NPS decided to keep all marks as it was a vital part of the history of Alcatraz. It was kinda fun trying to look for other evidence in the buildings.

This is our exterior grounds tour guide who's name I forgot. Sorry

He told us in excruciatingly detailed stories of how several prisoners tried to escape the "rock" via the waters of the San Francisco bay (in the way grandpas are known for). Most never made a clean break (i.e. caught and dragged back) and at least one escaped permanently (i.e. moved onto the next life). The building behind the guide was the wardens personal home which was burned down during the Native American occupation.


This tiny room was the only morgue on the island.

We were told that the prison was never filled to capacity and only a handful of deaths occurred during its operation. This quickly crumbling out house is where the deceased were received and prepared (cleaned, dressed, embalmed) before being shipped to the mainland and to its final destination (you can see my reflection as I took the pic forgetting to turn off the flash, oops!).


This is what a typical prison cell looked like.

The main prison building had 350 cells and at the most housed 302 inmates while in operation as a federal prison. You can see a small seat and a small table top in the right edge of the picture. And as you can see, you go bathroom right where you sleep. Its not as bad as the stripped down cell known as the "Oriental" were there was nothing but a hole in the ground for prisoners to go bathroom. The guards were the ones who chose if the prisoners "waste" was flushed down the hole. They were also not allowed any clothing or bedding; a bedroll was offered at night and was taken away at 6 AM. This punishment was only to be endured for 2 days maximum; supposedly the inmates feared this the most. (I'm starting to get that "icky" feeling in the pit of my tummy. The "rock" is starting to get to me)


This block contained the solitary confinement cells.

Interior shot of the solitary confinement cells.

In comparison to the regular cells, these cells were roomy. They were furnished with bedding, a toilet and sink but inmates had to endure it in complete darkness. Imagine having to endure that and comply with the prisons 24 hour silence rule they enforced during the early days. It will drive you insane.


One of only 4 cells that received the afternoon sun everyday.

We were told that these cells were the most highly desired as the lighting kept prisoners who lived in there happy and more content than any other. When the wind was right, the sounds of daily life in downtown San Francisco were carried straight into these cells as this part of the prison was directly across. On New Year's night the prisoners there would also be treated to the lights of the fireworks celebration that were at the piers. The lucky few would be treated to the sounds of parties, music and the laughter of women. 


The view of the city from the prison wardens office and guards control room.

San Francisco was so close but yet so far away. Supposedly, no prisoners ever saw this view from the island. It would probably be one of the more cruelest punishments on Alcatraz. I don't know if I could bare it.


The painted plaster head of either Frank Morris or John Anglin. 


View of the corridor between cells where the 1962 escapees entered.

4 inmates attempted to escape one evening after a year of preparations. Allen West, Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin managed to get materials to dig out the water damaged concrete around a vent located in their cell into an unguarded utility corridor (West was the only one to not leave his cell). They made dummy heads to stand in for them as they made their escape under the cover of night (did you see those plaster heads?). They made an inflatable raft out of raincoats. Supposedly they aimed for Angel Island but new research surfaced suggesting they actually made it to Marin. People have claimed to have been contacted by the Anglin brothers but Morris has never been heard from again. If anyone knows what happened or where they are there is still a $1 million award offered.


The kitchen knife cupboard to keep track of the knives.

The inmates had 20 minutes to eat their meals after they had time to clean themselves and their cells and after being counted. Afterwards they were marched out and given their days work assignments. This schedule was unrelenting, unforgivable and never changed the entire time the prison was active. 


An unmarked military plane that circled the island while we were leaving.

So that was what we did for our super "romantic" day of fun. It may seem funny to you but we did enjoy this outing, we will be challenged to think of something quirky for next year. This Alcatraz trip was a serious goal for both of us after living in the San Francisco area for so long and not finding the right time to do it. On the way out we got a tin cup souvenir to take home as we saw the humor in the item. 

At the conclusion of this post this also marks the end of our time traveling journey into my recent past. Now that we are all caught up it's time to move forward. Hopefully, I'll be more attentive to my blog and to your bloggy needs gentle reader. Thanks for the company, much appreciated.

Back to our regularly scheduled program,
Su

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A Christmas revival...

Unlike Thanksgiving, (or as I like to call it the "food coma" holiday) the boyfriend and I try to be festive and celebrate the Christmas season. School normally got in the way of any Christmas activities and the only time I would be in the "spirit" would be December 25th (a few days after finals).


2007 was the year to put a little more effort in the end of the year holidays. Besides the San Francisco zoo trip we also watched the tree lighting ceremony at Union Square amidst hundreds of gathered Christmas shoppers. We decided to brave "Black Friday" and go shopping for Christmas tree ornaments for our freshly cut 5 ft tree that the boyfriend insisted on. Those who knew of our plans scoffed at the idea of buying a tree so early but we kept that sucker green up until we tossed it on the garbage pile on New Years Eve. It was definitely difficult trying to travel that day but we made good use of the BART.

Facing south towards Geary St. at Macy's before the tree lighting.

Shopping on one of the most competitive day of the year and really brings out the "awesome" in some people as we saw a lot of Christmas "cheer" in hand gestures and flung spittle. Even trying to take a peep at the Macy's holiday window display to see the adoptable kitties and puppies will earn you a few elbows to the face or smooshed toes.
 
The crowds at Union Square that year was intense as everyone tried to fit (i.e. shove) into one square block in downtown San Francisco. City notables showed up to help entertain the crowd (the fire chief, the cast of "Jersey Boys", San Francisco Boys Choir and Santa Claus). What was kinda neat was PG&E trying to promote the use of LED lights that season and what better way to show how well it looked than have the Union Square tree be lit with thousands of LED's.

 I think I was pushed when I took this. D:

The weekend before Christmas the boyfriend and I made sure to go to the last day of the Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace. Nothing was better than to experience the holidays with Dickensian characters that were happy to survive another day in Victorian London (in the era of "consumption"). We partook in the huge variety of Victorian refreshments and street foods: meat pies, bangers, candied nuts, puddings and 4 o'clock tea time (and we just saw the new Sweeney Todd the other night).

"Some nuts, good sir?"

This woman made delicious cinnamon candied almonds that were so popular that a line remained while she made each fresh batch of nuts.

This little fellow (named Professor Phineas J. Flockmocker III F.H.S.G) was a part of the new Jules Verne themed troupe that joined the Dickens fair this past year. The Legion Fantastique members talked about and displayed their wonderful steampunk inventions that will hopefully, "CHANGE THE WORLD!". They were wonderful, energetic characters and if I ever break down and cosplay at the Dickens Fair it would be most likely a Jules Verne character.

"Powered by STEAM!"

These seductive ladies of song were the girls of Mad Sal's Dockside Alehouse who sang saucy songs to everyones delight. If you treat them very well you maybe rewarded with a tantalizing flash of a petticoat. Salacious!

"We'll sing songs about butts, dicks, boobs and vaginas!"

Another fun part of the Dickens Fair was to witness well known Dickens characters come to life and play their roles as you walk around the fair (in some scenes it becomes very interactive). It was really entertaining to follow the actors as the played out their story over time at different locations; we managed to catch parts of "The Adventures of Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol".

"Don't patronize me, bro."

At the end of the day I managed to get a pair of pirate socks from the "Pirate Cove" (pic is from a Northern California pirate festival, not from the Dickens fair). They turned out to be very scratchy but I still love them.

Not pictured: the red/black ones I bought

We were exhausted by the time we left but we had A LOT of fun and will return in 2008; despite this party poopers efforts. We will return!

Prudey McPrudenstein proselytizing


Su