February 9, 2010

Snow Boundish

The snow has come, and with it a chance to slow down.  Some of it is too much.  Many roads still need plowed, but the region is bracing for another storm.  Because of that, I’m hunkered down.  Opting to keep another car off the streets, I walked to the grocery today.  It was about 4 miles round trip, but in the deep ass snow, with a backpack of groceries, it seemed like a bit more.  Plus, I ended up helping push a minivan out of the snow.  That made for a much more exercise than I planned on!  No work for a few days (which is brilliant), but worries over the power going off is a pain. 

With wintering in for the last 2 1/2 days there have been a few pleasures.  One has been getting more and more into my winter time X-Files obsession.  We’re into season 3 and it keeps getting better and better.  I love everything from the kind of cheesy jokes and one liners, to the overarching themes of the whole program.  It’s pretty amazing.  That combined with getting to look at Gillian Anderson is a WIN//WIN.

So brilliant. 

REMEMBER:

January 27, 2010

Wishlist: Cabourn Jacket

I ran across this wax cotton “cameraman” jacket.  I’m not a huge Cabourn fanatic, but this is a treat.  I really like the look of this one:

I do like this one.  Bit out of my price range, but that’s why it’s on the wishlist!

January 26, 2010

Veg Agitprop #2

This probably isn’t new to anyone but me.  I stumbled across this brilliant “Defensive Omnivore Bingo” card on the JordanPattern blog (he’s one of those Vegansuaruses).  He credits it to Brian Vander Veen and his Veganachronism blog.

I had a good laugh.  Enjoy!

January 26, 2010

Antler Bomber // old time family stuff

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now.  This is a sentimental piece.  This jacket has been around my parents house for probably 30 years (or more). 

I think there is an old driver’s licence featuring my brother wearing this jacket from probably 1982 or so.  I needed something to wear to the work sites I was working at over the last few months, and I found this in the back of an upstairs closet while visiting my Dad last fall.

You’ll notice a bit of the sewing technique my Mum had.  She “installed” these large strips of velcro to the front to keep this thing closed.  I guess my Dad and Brother complained of wind getting in the jacket with the old closures.

Big hood, too:

I’m retiring this guy, though.  It served me well on the cold mornings, but the down insulation is coming out.  It’s time to call it.  I was glad to give it a spin.  Nostalgic jacket with family ties.

January 26, 2010

Shady

I broke down.  A few months back I bought the most expensive pair of sunglasses I’ve ever owned.  They cost around 8 dollars. 

See above the very blurry “Glasses, Flying Sun” case.  I picked these up at the Army surplus.

I’m stoked on these.  Brilliant.

January 25, 2010

Veg Agitprop

I found this image in a post over at Vegansaurus

Pretty brilliant!

January 22, 2010

Up in the Air…

This week my Missus and I hit the discount Tuesday night at our local mega-plex cinema.  It’s a five dollar ticket.  That’s a pretty nice price for new releases.  (A few weeks back we caught Sherlock Holmes, which I thought was a great time…who knew R. Downey Jr. could still act well? … plus, all those over the top effects looked sweet on the big screen!)

At any rate, we decided to check out Up in the Air.  This is the new Jason Reitman (Juno, and Thank You for Smoking [which I haven't seen either of!]) vehicle.  This one stars George Clooney and features Jason Bateman.  It’s the film adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel (from 2001) of the same name.  

It seems that this film has suffered from some early branding as a romantic comedy…which it most certainly is NOT.  Now, it’s trying to be re-cast as something other than a “rom-com.”  I hope it succeeds, because it was brilliant.

I must admit, my interest in this was really piqued when I read a stunningly good review in the commie newspaper I read (which is now, sadly, all on line…but still good).  The last film I read a sweet review of in there and watched was The Badder Meinhof Complex, which was amazing (I posted a blog about that film a little while back).  They have a good track record of pointing me in the right direction.  I also heard an interview with Kirn on NPR about the adaptation of the novel to a film.  He said it was NOTHING like the book, but that he liked it a lot and that it was very good.  All of this…plus Clooney.  YES!

In short, SEE THIS MOVIE.  It’s quite well done and it looks way better than I expected.  There are some beautiful shots that illustrate the modernist architecture of many airports in the US.  (Interestingly, the modernatity of design is well balanced with the scattered diasporatic nature of the postmodern really well here, both visually and thematically.  Sound pretentious and wankerish enough for you there?  Sorry…but it’s true!)  This film also serves as a pretty interesting analysis of contemporary capitalism, but not in some overly heavyhanded way.  It shows the elements, and then backs away.

The larger context of the film is about connection and interaction.  I think the play of that element juxtaposed with the larger economic realities of the film (what Clooney’s character does for a living, for instance) is quite interesting.

Aside from being good to look at and interesting in a thematic way, the acting in this film is VERY good.  Clooney, who is a fantastic actor – even when he’s not working with the Coen Brothers now!- is brilliant.  I hate that there is some element of his characterization that I don’t despise, but that speaks to the textured complexity of the film.  In a more characteristic portrayal i wouldn’t have any trouble just hating the Ryan Bingham character that Clooney plays so well.  I think some of the most brilliant moments are when there is no dialogue and Clooney is either still, looking at some element of an airport, or when he is simply acting naturally and having fun at his sister’s wedding. 

Likewise, the performance by Anna Kendrick is really well done.  She acts how someone like her character would act.  It’s refreshing to see that in a movie!  It’s a subtle ability, to have a way of mannerism that so closely resembles the person – or personality- that the actor is attempting to illustrate.  Kendrick does this really well.  Her character also experiences an interesting evolution that I was not expecting.

Finally…Bateman.  This dude brought his A – game.  I was blown away by his performance as the hilariously named Craig Gregory.  He plays a smarmy boss and is believable, not over the top or characteristic.  Perhaps the upsetting thing is that it’s NOT a stretch, a surprise or creepy to see this kind of character be the boss.  It’s pretty gross, but it’s supposed to be.  It works.

I saw this film on Tuesday, it’s Friday and I’m still thinking about it quite a bit.  It was well done and well worth your time.

January 21, 2010

// 10 // Ten // X // Deca //

Today I did my first 10 mile run! 

I’m pretty excited about it.  It was my five mile route twice…nothing special there, but it felt pretty good.  I felt better at mile 9 than I did at mile 7 I think.  It got a bit better.  It was a nice feeling.  It also makes something like a half marathon seem way more possible! 

It was a bit cold (around 35 degrees), and it took me a while to do this run.  It was just under 2 hours. 

I’m stoked.

January 20, 2010

LINKS N’AT!!!

I’ve included a few new links on the blog roll.

My old pal Lisa does a great blog called The Long Way Home, which is beautiful.  Check it out HERE!

My good friend JD does two different blogs…one about records called No New Records HERE!

He also does a great cooking blog called Gnarly Dining…chcek that out HERE!

Enjoy!

January 19, 2010

Chinese Food Take Aways and Cemeteries

The other day I was struck with the realization that perhaps the defining characteristic of my neighborhood (and the neighborhoods surrounding mine) is that there are tons of Chinese food places and tons of cemeteries.  I am interested in exploring this a bit.  I think the best way will be to review both the local cemeteries and the take aways.  It might seem odd to review cemeteries, but there are SO MANY of them around here I feel like they are more like parks that I rarely visit. 

This is all arbitrary, but I’m looking at a roughly 7 or 8 mile radius south of my house.  It looks like I’ve found 15 Chinese food places and 12 cemeteries within that space.  I plan on looking at the cemeteries from aesthetic point of view.  I plan on getting the same dish at each of the places.  That way I can have some benchmark. 

Over the next few months I hope to get to these places and get the info up here.   Now I have to finish my mug of sleepytime tea and get to sleep so I can dream about this project.