Mental Note
Do not, I repeat, do not cut and paste from iOS Notes app to the blogger app. The style sheet will be copied as well making your post ugly.
Doesn’t anyone know the beauty of plain text?
She Was
Fresh dream about S.
Not sure if it was at Ocean City or in Spain.
Started like any other dream: we were on vacation. I met up with her at our condo or villa. She was much older but she was still beautiful. There were a ton of us. She was studying or doing some school but she decided to come over and hang out. Then we suddenly had a bright idea to go out to Camillo and Gigi’s place. She didn’t want to go, but went any way. I drove a bus.
There was plenty of drinking and fun times. We were out late. S had a conversation with my mom.
Then it was time to go home. I woke her up by tickling her feet. I said did she want to go home. Yes. Then I woke up everyone else. I was going to drive the bus. I woke up Cousin Bob who was passed out in a garbage bag rain coat. Cousin Ness was shaking her head with how late it was. We were heading back to the Condo or the Villa.
Before we left, I asked S what her plans were for the next night. I wanted to ask her out on a date. She said she had to study. She went out tonight, but she didn’t expect to have been out all night. My date question was not asked. I was too scared she’d turn me down.
While driving back. We discussed the deaths of our fathers. She was looking as old as we are. I remarked about the passing of my father. She said that in the conversation with my mom that she looked like her father. I said were. She goes to show me up close. Her eyes? No, she pulls up her hair. I noticed her age. She’s still as pretty as I thought she was 17 years ago. She says her forehead. I smile about that.
We get back. Everyone runs out the bus. I have to drive some guys back to another place. I’m driving the wrong way. I take crazy paths just to make a u-turn.
This dream started in Gilman as a senior in the new senior room with new lockers. It progressed through chapel at church. Then it got me onto the beach where S was. Darnit she was so pretty.
Baseball Sundays
Baseball Sundays
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.
Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim was my most anticipated summer movie. I was so gung-ho for it since catching the teaser trailer last winter. Giant robots versus kaiju? Sign me up. I’m there.
Now it’s in theatres as we speak, but will it live up to the build up?
HELL YEAH!
Pacific Rim is about monsters from space attacking earth. In the beginning, these monster, or kaiju — from the Japanese ‘strange beast‘ — were tough to put down. Yet, earthlings fought back forming a Pan Pacific Defense Corps composed of giant robots, or jeagers — from the German ‘hunters.’ They beat back these monsters, but after awhile the monsters evolve and gain the upper hand. This forces the shutdown of the PPDC and the earthlings to build giant walls to keep the monsters at bay. In a last desperate attempt, the few remaining jaegers are thrown into the Breach to shut down the monster portal. It’s a plot out of an anime!
If you compare Pacific Rim to an anime, you’ll find it wanting. When you have 13-26 episodes (6-12 hours), you can fill it with characterization. You can make your characters, troubled high school kids who also must save the world. With a movie of 2+ hours, you’re left with shallow characterizations summed up in cliché: the father son team, the washed up pilot and the newbie. There’s no characterization, but these labels. The characters are defined by them and they live up to them.
But what you want in a movie with giant mecha and kaiju? Big, loud battles! You get them. And more. If you ever wondered what a Voltron slash would look like, it’s here. If you ever wanted to see the missiles released from giant mecha, it’s here. Pacific Rim lives up to it’s billing in the fights. That’s what we want, it’s what we get. Satisfying.
I won’t let the shallow characters ruin it. After all, for 2 hours with tons of mecha versus kaiju battles, I would rather see that than the characters. Let television and anime have it. Just give me giant robots!
4 of 5 stars.
Rose Thunder
Nendoroids are also jaeger pilots!
"We are canceling the Apocolypse!"
Quick thoughts on Pacific Rim, which was awesome. And also with some reservations.
I came for kaiju blood. I got kaiju blood. I came for mecha. I got mecha. I came for kaiju bearing up on mecha. I got mecha beating up on kaiju. Pacific Rim came through in that regards. Unfortunately, it missed out on character and story. More about this later. But let me tell you, 13 episode anime ruins you for characters, storylines, and monster battles.
#paellaonthe4th
If I had more real twitter followers, perhaps there would be more tweeting about or re-tweeting #paellaonth4th hash tag. The same can be said about followers of my blog, as well. Maybe more readers would be happy to talk about this yummy event. I know I want to.
Anyhow, this is our fourth try at paella. I think last year’s was better. When you’re pouring more water in because not all the rice is cooking, you have to know that there may be something wrong with the recipe. In this iteration, there was too much rice — 9 lbs of it! Also, there may have been too much chicken as well because there was not enough room for the rice. Perhaps for the next iteration we can cut out 1/3 of the rice and 1/3 of the chicken. Maybe we should add some vegetables to the mix; it’s sorely lacking something as you eat it. Still it’s enjoyable but missing something.
The batch I brought home is savory the day after. It needs more though because of the lack of vegetables. Maybe I should eat it with some canned sardines or break out the Spam and an egg or two…
Link of the Day [7.03.13]
Gettysburg.
The more I think about our nation. The more I come to believe in Gettysburg. The Union won. The Confederates lost. One hundred fifty years later, we are still fighting that fight. States rights versus the Federal government. Whites versus blacks. Brother versus brother.
It’s still going on. We have lots to make up for. We haven’t solved anything.
Still. Gettysburg.
It’s awe inspiring. This is where our nation clung to the hope of being one nation. It is where the hubris of the southern gentlemen died. It is where the north held the field and brought the nation back together and from being rent asunder in is a small town in Pennsylvania. Lovely. Complicated. Hallowed ground.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/2013/07/01/paying-the-devil-the-first-day-at-gettysburg
The War on Fat: 202.8
I despise that number.
On the first of the month, it’s 202.8. On the thirtieth, it’s 202.8. In between, it was up, and down. It never got below 201, and on a few days it was above 206 — those were the days that went unrecorded. But, ultimately, it returned back to 202.8. June was a cruel month.
So, I cheated. I don’t record those bad days. If I put it in, the trend line points up steeply. And when I return back to 202.8 the trend line barely point down. At this rate, I will hit my target goal in December. Of 2014!
I have put in the time on the rowing machine. I pushed 150 K this month, the second highest of the year. Still it’s only 202.8.
I have a theory. Perhaps I’ve already explained it in a previous post. I’ve looked at my historical data on weight and noticed that I don’t loose weight in the summer. I gain it. My theory is that this is part of evolution. Humans over the course would gorge themselves in times of plenty to be ready for the lean times. Summer is filled with foody delights. Eat before winter sets in when there is nothing to eat. I’m gaining weight because of evolution. Also, cookouts, ice cream, and beer. Good things to eat when times are plenty.
Maybe the fall, I’ll finally start losing the weight.