My Neighbor

Sure it is in Japanese but who does not love Totoro. I love the fact that someone loved him enough to erect his statue.

http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/kiji/20080116/10.shtml

Persepolis (2007)

I do not know Marhane Satrapi, the Iranian born, French educated graphic novelist and children's author. Her work looks amazing though and this film has already won several film awards including being nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It opened Christmas day in the US with limited screenings. So far, I have not heard whether it will expand but it is on my Netflix list already. Make sure you at least watch the trailer.

imdb link

get lost

The TV show, "Lost", is a piece of work, both artistically and literally. The amount of detail and information in the show is not lost (ha!) on the audience either. The current publicity stunt uses something called a viral technique. Advertisements are placed on buses, billboards, and even commercials which look real but, in fact, represent fake products and services. For example, Oceanic, the airline in which the survivors of flight 815 crashed onto the island, has several commercials and billboards over the US. In fact, they have a website which has been apparently hacked by another fabricated character, Sam. You should visit http://www.flyoceanicair.com/ and then follow the hackers site to continue the game. It leads to some interesting information about season four, which premieres the first of its only eight episodes January 31, 2008. I enjoy the connections and things that people figure out as well as the beautiful images and music that make this show so special. Have fun digging.

quarterly search

I have a few sentimental possessions. I listed a few of them in my horcrux list. Another which fast moves up the list is my state quarters collection. 2008 is the last year for the state quarter releases which started ten years ago. I have been collecting both mints since then. Yesterday I received a quarter (thank you Chipotle) which reduced my number of missing quarters to six not counting the ten for 2008. Collecting them has been a blast because my mother and I would trade every time we traveled to see one another. Also, friends I did not know collected them would vie for the quarters when we paid cash at dinner or the movies. I have a list of missing quarters in my wallet in case one pops up in the grocery. I am currently missing:

• 2005 West Virginia (Philidelphia Mint)
• 2006 South Dakota (Philadelphia Mint)
• 2007 Washington (Philadelphia and Denver Mint)
• 2007 Utah (Philadelphia and Denver Mint)

If any one has one of these and can spare the $0.66 (a quarter plus the $0.41 stamp), I would be most appreciative to complete my collection.

Is ravelry a word?

I have discovered bliss. This site manages to capture everything that is good and geeky about knitting and crocheting. Details abound. I can upload photos of my projects along with the pattern, the yarn, down to the types of needles used. It is still in beta and you need an invitation but it kept me occupied for several hours and added too many projects to my list.

Ravelry and my site

worth as many words

I love photography. Not the actual taking pictures part because I do not have the eye for it. But I enjoy captured images, most of them evoking laughter, surprise, amazement, empathy, or some other emotion. The links below, especially Time's amazing images are some of my favorites to visit.

http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek/

http://fantasygoat.livejournal.com/

where's the fire?

Now that the first ten episodes have aired on Nickelodeon, the third and last season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is in full swing. I have not been ecstatic about the Fire Book but there have been exceptional episodes and still makes me laugh out loud. But Aang and gang are alone in the fire nation and their powers and friendship are growing. Now Aang, the Avatar, has returned and I sincerely hope that he learns some firebending soon because both Azula and Firelord Ozai are very powerful and manipulative. I will not spoil anything for those reading but I was happy with the other fire nation characters in The Day of the Black Sun. I am eager to see it all play out.

in search of a skull

Well, it is not the Indiana that we knew but the image of an aging Harrison Ford illuminated from the back, whip, leather jacket, hat and surrounded by cobwebs gives me hope. More at canmag.com

all will be revealed

So I love Batman. The whole brooding hero thing is all me. Plus, the guy has no powers . What is more sexy than a caped crusader who can fight like a ninja. It is the best of both worlds. That being said, I was not a fan of Batman Begins because it was too dark (not thematically but the film was actually too dark). And the editing was atrocious, à la Bourne Supremacy, where the choreography was lost. Don't get me wrong, the look and feel of Gotham was superb and Bale was spot on. Plus, Gary Oldman as Gordan makes the entire film. I just wanted something a bit cleaner with more detail. I hope they take this into consideration when they release The Dark Knight. I love the fact that it isn't "Batman 2" or "Batman Returns" or some other silly second movie title. Instead it feels like it is another story. If you have not glanced lately, take a look at the promotion. It is already big.

update: the cards are now gone and the joker is fully creepy
http://www.empireonline.com/heiscoming/

and if you can't wait that long, here is a sneak peak: The Joker

complete the set

Gosh, so much going on and not enough time to blog. I was happy to hear today that NBC has picked up "Life" for the rest of the season. I love this drama and hope that it continues for a while. I completed two soundtrack sets this past week. One was the fantastic game series, Halo by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. Now that Halo 3 has been released for Xbox 360 (I still have not played it yet!) the story and its score are complete. The soundtracks are an amalgamation of drama and action with a nice electronic blend, except in 3 the themes have been rerecorded orchestrally and with a choir. I love the themes and can not wait to hear it with the game. And last but certainly not least, I received the final installment of Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings The Complete Recordings which is a five disc version of The Return of the King. How wonderful to finally hear the portions of the score which were not on the soundtrack in all their glory; that little violin at the end of the lighting of the beacons, the fellowship theme sung by choir on the side of mount doom, and the little breathers which hint at each and every theme with only a few notes. These soundtracks have given me hours upon hours of listening and have changed my interpretation of the story through the dissecting of every motif. However, it is not over. A book about Shore's score is still to be released and I look forward to its analysis.

legano, ni legano, is gray area

Cutting Edge quote there. Too bad I had to miss the goal of the season last night. If you are looking for good soccer, head over to Twellman's

www.MLSnet.com

Big damn heroes

I did not start out liking Naruto. The anime focused on the young ninja who was whiny and annoying. Plus, his main strength is his determination and not his ninja ability and to me, this is boring. I like my heroes special, strong, moody. Which brings me to Sasuke who was just that. Meanwhile, Naruto grew stronger and Sasuke grew jealous. So Sasuke goes off to seek power and revenge. Naruto goes after Sasuke to bring him home. The bitterness between them, despite their previous camaraderie, was felt in their last meeting when they both fought to kill. Now, it seems, Naruto, is a top notch anime which has improved both in character and animation. I can not wait to see how things work out.

Which brings me to the end of the Bleach run on adultswim for a while. They have switch to Death Note, another interesting anime. But the thing that bothers me is that they stopped right as the Soul Society arc gets really good. The big hero scene (I do love my heroes) when Ichigo shows up and brings his bankai. The big scene is that much more enjoyable because he shows up dressed to kill with his big ass Zanpakuto and stops Rukia's death with the best line, "Yo!" God, how I love Bleach. I hope it comes back soon. Meanwhile, I will open my mind to other anime and try Death Note.

Let's talk 2007 Fall TV

It is not the most stellar season. Frankly, I feel there is something missing. After thinking about it, I found it was the lack of a fast talking, witty, pop culture reference show à la "Buffy", "Gilmore Girls" or "Veronica Mars". Without this kind of writing, TV feels empty. Sure a show like that never reflects real life or true situations but hey, what television show does? Still, in a dimly lit room somewhere, Joss is writing the 'next' show that makes me all giddy and fanatical. Anyway, a girl can dream. But even with the dismal season, there are a few good eggs in the basket. Let's take a look

"Chuck" - A less charming rip off of "Jake 2.0" with Betty's beau Christopher Gorham, "Chuck" plays the shy geek card against an energetic Alec Baldwin and typical blond spy, Yvonne Strzechowski. Even the geekiness is less than par with encoded images having been downloaded into Chuck's brain. At least Jake had some powers, this guy just decrypts images leaving the audience to witness flashes on the screen and a 'doh' moment when Chuck tells pretty blond what it means. So far the plots are weak and the chemistry superficial. There is potential. I like the brother and sister relationship and the fact that Chuck and his friends are part of the 'Nerd Herd' computer fixit guys who work at a place called 'Buy More' which is next to a 'Weinerlicious'. That's two shows that have made generic names for typical American commercialism and have to say, fun stuff. But the action should pick up or the writing should improve quicke because both are just average and can not sustain this show as quality television. Next to Adam (please oh please throw a toaster at someone every episode!), Zachary Levi has got it down as Chuck. He is such a lovable geek.

"Reaper"- Which leads us to the other geek show. Even though it is on The CW, "Reaper" provides more entertainment and plot than "Chuck" has so far. The premise is this: When Sam was born his parents sold his soul to the devil and now he must work as a bounty hunter and send escaped souls from hell back where they belong. It seemed doomed from my point of view but both the devil and Sam have proved me wrong. The devil is played by Ray Wise and does he ever fit the part. His every scene is fantastic and his motives are still very unclear and the mystery adds points in my book. Sam works for 'The Work Bench', TV's version of Home Depot or Lowe's and though he has no focus, plays the ever wavering bachelor very well. There are a few problems, specifically an average boy - girl scenario. 'He likes her but will not tell her his secret' just drives me crazy. It was a nice twist that she did not go back to school and an unexpected move is always a plus. I like his friends too, though I wish we had more of Ben and less of "Sock".

"Pushing Daisies" - If one show was to scream novel, this is it and is my pick of the season. A fanastical and visual journey into the world of reanimation which has the look and feel of a Burton film. And please, the chemistry between our 'touched' hero, Ned and undead Chuck (who names their kid Charlotte Charles?) is boiling over. I can imagine that the ever changing ways of them touching without actually touching is going to be the thing with this show. The audience is swept into the lives of its characters intertwined by little details given in the form of a narrator, the ever fantastic voice of the Harry Potter audio novels, Jim Dale. In fact, the narration and the scene formation culminating in the character looking directly at the camera reminds me a lot of Amélie. With a fantastic cast (again I beg for Kristin Chenoweth to sing in every episode) and an even more enchanting plot, "Pushing Daisies" is here to stay.

"Life" - That being said, my next favorite new show is "Life" and it all has to do with Damian Lewis. Lewis plays Crews, an LAPD policeman who was accused of murdering his business partner, wife, and son when DNA evidence, 12 years later, acquitted him. He was released, promoted to detective, and awarded some billions of dollars for compensation. So the plot, while fairly droll, has some potential in that the crime is still unsolved and the audience gets pieces every episode. His partner also catches my interest and she has done well trying to understand and deal with this confounding man who has a house but no furniture (I love the zen) and keeps company with a known embezzler (a brilliant Adam Arkin). Lewis, my newfound love, steals the show. With a piercing stare and a love for life, the character Crews and the actor Lewis go hand in hand. It must be the mystery or the scars beneath the surface. Whatever it is, it draws me. If you have not seen "Band of Brothers", netflix the sucker and enjoy the ride. He has only improved with age and "Life" is the little known secret of this year's premieres.

Look Ma, no hands!

I detest needles and anything having to do with doctors or blood. I can count the number of times that I have been stuck with a needle and NOT fainted without any hands (zero!). So imagine my apprehension when some insurance that I am buying said they needed to draw blood. I basically spent three weeks worrying about it. But things worked out fine. It turned out to be a great day with temperatures just hovering under 60 degrees. This alone made my day. The nurse came to my house which also put me at ease. She hummed and only had to prick me twice. I lay there with my arm over my eyes and felt only little nausea. But the best part, no fainting. Banner day for me.

Kettle Corn

I do not know who created this tasty treat but it happens to be the best stuff on earth. Kettle Corn is a perfect blend of salt and sweet and just happens to be the basis for the title of my blog. Usually I have to wait for some festival that has a stand and buy the largest bag they have but I found a fantastic recipe which is easy and tastes just like you buy at a fair. For my pot, you need just a little more oil or you burn the corn. Try some, I guarantee you will love it.

Kettle Corn Recipe

Oh, and here is a little history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_corn

Hello Halo

So I have played the first and second on two different consoles. I have yet to tackle the third, deterred by the price. But I love the Master Chief and the entire story. This advertisement is awesome, simple yet effective in its emotion, and utterly enjoyable. I can not wait to finish the story.

Victor victorious

I had not watched a netflix movie in weeks due to my trip to Italy and my mail being stopped. Finally receiving them this week, I was able to enjoy, again, what I love so much. Watching the kind of movies I like in the comfort of my home. This weekend, one disc in particular gave me perfect enjoyment and that was The Best of Victor Borge. Victor Borge (1909-2000) was a talented pianist and comedian. He combined his love of music with the most fantastic gags. But after all the hilarious stunts, the sheet music gag, the opera singer, the duet, and the inflationary language, the man sat down and did what he is best at: playing the piano. The man was pure genius on the keyboard. If you have never watched him, put it on your netflix list now. You will not be disappointed.

Life goes on

I have not blogged in a while. However, when I tried to pick something to blog about, I found there was a lot going on in my life. There was the whole trip to Italy where I spent a day in Venice and a day in Milan. Oh, and there was the work part of the trip too. Perfect weather and perfect food culminated for a rather perfect trip. Then there is the matter of playing Doom 3 on my Xbox 360. Oh how it reminds me of the good days when my brother and I would play for hours in front of the computer. I have to admit that I had low expectations of the game but am enjoying it immensely. ID has done a wonderful job of updating the demons and story for a scarier, most excellent first person shooter but never sacrificing what made it a great game in the first place. I wish my brother was around to experience the multiplayer. Then there was the series premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3. The first episode of the most anticipated season of fire bending was a little less than fantastic but the second was back to its old form, hilarity with magnificent heart. Was there ever a funnier brother than Sokka or a more tortured character than Zuko? Please someone start watching this show so I can share the love. Nevermind that the Buckeyes are kicking butt, that Beckham will continue to be on the disabled list until the end of the season, or that hockey starts today. I will not blog about the premiere of the 2007 Fall TV season of which nothing has sparked intense feelings as yet. I will not speak about my excitement at seeing the Macy's Day Parade in New York City this year. No the one thing in my life which seems to have made the most impact is that two of the only people I knew when I moved to Austin are now moving away. In this time of an unsteady job and a more unsteady life, it saddens me to lose two good friends. Something like that makes you realize that life is short and friends are scarce. Make sure you appreciate the ones you have.

In need of a doctor

In its greatest episode yet, "Blink" had very little of the doctor in Doctor Who. Mostly it was about Sally Sparrow (great names in this show) and how the lonely assasins, the weeping angels, stole the doctor's time travel box and how Sally had to get it back to him, losing several friends in the process. The story was nothing truly novel but I find it is the characters, themselves, in this series that capture my attention. Most of them are never one dimensional and their humor is usually spot on. The doctor always finds himself in the greatest of situations and the fact that he time travels is aways appealing. I have not seen the previous versions of Doctor Who but, in my opinion, David Tennant is the best. Catch up on this show by watching the first season online at Netflix.

A king of an album

It is official. The release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the complete recordings is Tuesday November 6. 5 discs: 4 CDs and one DVD; 3 hours and 50 minutes of music total. I can not wait.

http://www.howardshore.com/news/pressreleases/lotr-rotk.html