The other night some of my friends, my wife, and I were preparing to go caving (spelunking), one of our favorite past-times. We had assembled all our gear. Flashlights and headlamps, grubby clothing (the caves around here have soft clay floors and often have creeks running through them), and some bottled water. We were all ready, in fact we were putting our gear in to the cars when one friend, David, noticed an annoying noise. “What the heck is that?” Looking around we realized that it was the fire alarm going off in the apartment two doors down from mine. Through the open window we could see a haze of smoke and an occasional flicker of a flame. Quickly I ran up the stairs to see if anyone was home. Michal called the emergency line for the complex (it simply sent her to a voicemail-box), David called 911. We evacuated the neighbors, letting them know that there was a fire (which none of them seemed to think was a really big deal). Within 5 minutes the first fire truck arrived, soon followed by 3 or 4 other vehicles including 2 full sized fire engines. After breaking down the door and dragging in the hose, the firemen discovered the source of the smoke and flame… a burning trash can in the kitchen. I talked to the guy who lives in that apartment a couple days later and found out that his friend had flicked a cigarette butt in the trash can right before they left to return to the friend's house. The scorch mark up the side of the kitchen wall reminded me of videos I have seen of trash-can fires quickly torching an entire room.
Caving was fun. We weren't able to get out of our parking spaces to go until all the fire trucks were out of the way… but it's best to trespass on private property in the dark any way!
Fire Down the Street
Encyclopedia of Arda
Well, there are a few web sites out there that can easily catch ones attention and distract that poor fellow for hours (homestar runner is one such site). But after going to the Glyphweb website I have found a site that keeps me busy for many many hours, and yet I don't walk away thinking “dang, what a huge waste of time” (though my wife might think so). This site is dedicated to be an all encompassing guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien. My favorite pages are the movie guides that go through each error in the movie (not just the “that didn't happen in the book”s, but the reasons why certain statements would conflict with the metaphysical world that Tolkie created). Anyhow, there is so much to read, you should go right now!
Strange New World
Check this out [link]. The picture is a little strange... but the idea is awesome! I think it's great that my computer can barely recognize a voice and type out what is being said, and yet this guy can mouth words and have the computer translate it into english (or spanish)... way cool!
The World At Large, How Can I Complain?
Okay, so I haven't written on this blog about my musical choice in a long time, and knowing that all of you hard-core bcBlog fans are desperate for some new tunes, here are the songs and bands that I have been recently listening to:
Alexei Murdoch – Orange Sky. I was watching a preview for some movie coming out about suicide bombers and this song started playing. I was like “wow! I thought I had heard all of Nick Drake's music, where in the world did this one come from?” – then I searched and found that A. Murdoch sounds just like the Drake! – great music.
REDISCOVERED! – The Moody Blues – Yeah so they pretty much rock! – This is a great band for all occasions.
The White Stripes – Blue Orchid – The more I listen to the White Stripes the more I realize two things. First, all there music is about the same. Heavy drum, same ol' guitar riff, etc… Second, there music gets better the more you listen to it (for some reason). Yeah, so I don't know why I like them, but I do.
The Wailin' Jennys – Michal's godfather sent her this CD and it's great. They came to Bloomington just a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't find out until the day after. They really have some beautiful harmonies (though I still can't figure out why all their songs are about sailors?)
Dude 222 and Grandpappy Lewis – If you haven't heard of them, you should check 'em out!
Serenity
Yeah, so I remember when kids use to play video games... so now are kids so lazy that they have to watch them. Of course I remember sitting in our living room with my brothers watching Peter (the self-proclaimed "Master" of Mario) power-up and shoot fire balls. We could have watched him for hours (if our Mom hadn't unjustifiably relegated our time to 20 minute increments). But what’s the deal with video games coming to the big screen? Books being made into movies makes sense, movies allow the viewer to give up their rite to an imagination and allows the director to dictate the world that was once only words and descriptions. I understand comic books being made in to movies. The stories are there, they are a visual media, they simply become “animated”. But video games? The story lines of these game/movies are all the same… monsters take over something and an elite force of someones has to save the day/planet/galaxy/dimension…etc… This movie Serenity will be no exception. If you want to spend your money watching a game that you will never get a turn at (Peter always had to turn over the controller sooner or later), you might as well wait for the Halo movie to come out. But I recommend dusting off that old NES and bouncing off of some Hammer Brothers… Cute, Eh?
Brave New Job
Okay, so I haven't posted anything for a long time, and this post will not be long either (I'm on break and I need to get back to work soon). I have just started a job at Author House book publishing. We are a self-publishing company (vanity press) and the job is great. I design book covers for a veriety of different kinds of books. Everything from children's books to murder mysteries to self-help books come across my desk (or rather, my screen) and I get to find all kinds of interesting ways of fulfilling our authors' every last whim using stock-photography. Very fun! Well, I will now get back to work, but be sure you will be hearing more about the House in the days to come.
Save the Green Planet
I have found it yet again. The film that all people will be saying "have you seen" about. And it's name... Save the Green Planet. This film has been a smash hit in its native Korea and was directed by Jang Jun-Hwan who has made many waves in the independent film pool and will hopefully begin to see more notoriety on the film circuit. Save the Green Planet claims to not be adventure, not be romance, not be comedy, but rather be something that you have never seen before. And I dare say, they are right. I have never even heard of such a hair-brained plot. This guy thinks his boss is an alien and his paranoia leads to more mishaps than Mrs. Fletcher and McGuiver escapades combined.
The Crazy Film, Save the Green Planet
My Rating: I'm having a hard time with this one, I think maybe a 7/10 or 7.5/10. This film looks really funny, but you never know with Asian filmmaking what the story will pan out to be like.