le tour de france

I live in a pretty active city. All of these crazy people who love to do outdoorsy stuff like ride bikes for miles at a time, even in this heat. However, it is hard not to at least learn about it. Enter Le Tour de France. Hundreds of miles of impressive sportsmanship upon the luscious landscape of France. It is hard not to like it. Plus I can watch video or read headlines of the events in French and feel like I am practicing. Finally, the color is yellow, my favorite. It is who is wearing the yellow jersey that passes as news and with the bright sun keeping me indoors these days, Le Tour is a welcome relief.

journey of natty gann

1985: John Cusack, Meredith Salinger, and a beautiful wolf. A very sweet movie about a girl looking for her father and finding adventure along the way, The Journey of Natty Gann, does not disappoint in emotion nor in music. I have had snipets of this score probably since my university days. Finally, finally, it has been released in a 2,500 limited edition from Intrada Records. Words do not express the wonderful themes from James Horner in his prime. I ordered it straight away.

anyone want to fry an egg?

I know it is usually July when I start to complain and that the heat wave has spread across the country but this is ridiculous.

deux ans avec Harry

It was two years ago, almost to the day, that I started Harry Potter in French. Today, I finished the last book with a sense of accomplishment as well as sadness that once again, Harry Potter has come to the end.

There are two reasons that I began this journey. The first and foremost is that I adore the Harry Potter series, its characters, the wonderment and fantastic story telling that each scene emits with each word. Not only that but rereading again, in any language, only serves to relive those favorite moments of mine.

The second reason was improve my French. With each read came comprehension, vocabulary, the ability to answer questions both written and orally. There is no substitute for this amount of learning and the fact that it was with books that I enjoy immensely only helped to enhance the experience. The French translation is beyond impressive. The fabricated names and spells were creative and sometimes better than the original English. And no detail was left out or glossed over.

So it is with a bitter sweet memory that my days of Harry Potter in French are over. I know that I will return once again in the future. Maintenant, au revoir Harry et merci pour tous les souvenirs.

anime songs on repeat

Okay, here is where my very bizarre fancy for anime and geeky love of languages rear their ugly heads.  On repeat this week are five anime songs of which I am learning the words, the Japanese words that is.  One is from Miyazaki's Spirited Away called "Itsumo Nando Demo" which translates to "Always with You".  I already know this song by heart  and in learning it, learned how to make the sounds from the romaji translation.  From there I went on to learn the "Princess Mononoke Theme Song" and the "Tatara Women Work Song" from Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime. However, with my recent purchase of Origin: Spirits of the Past soundtrack, I want to learn two more songs sung by Kokia, a popular pop artist and opera trained Japanese singer.  The first is the opening song called "Chouwa Oto (with Reflection)" and is very fast with complicated vocals.  The second is "Ai no Melody" which is just very very long. But I am eager to be able to sing without the words in front of me so I can hear it over and over in my head alone. Only then will my heart be satisfied.

shonen sunday anniversary stamps

The latest stamp from my postcrossing.com trading.  This is Pro Golfer Saru, a Shonen Sunday weekly manga part of the 50th Anniversary of Japanese Comic Books for Boys collection.

I take the plunge into blu ray

Another birthday rolls around.  Every year I typically splurge on something.  This year was no exception.  My home theater has been lacking for some time.  The only true HD that I see on my beautiful 42" plasma is through the cable box.  Even my xbox 360 is connected through component and not the hdmi of which it is capable.  I also run most of the audio through my boring DVD player so that it will play on its cheap speakers. 

Well, it was time for an upgrade and I went the whole way up.  I chose the Sony DA2400ES which is an upper mid range receiver with four wonderful hdmi inputs and 7.1 capability.  I chose Energy 5.1 Take Classic speakers but am still debating how to hook up the rear speakers because there is no place to hide wires in my apartment.  I am considering the Rocketfish wireless rear system but have decided to put that on hold though it is on sale at Bestbuy.  Finally, I chose the LG BD390 blu ray player which has internal wireless capability so I can stream from my network server and even from netflix watch instantly. 

I also bought my first blu ray disc. Sword of the Stranger which will be released this Tuesday. Finally, I splurged on an imported CD of Origin: Spirits of the Past which has two of the best songs that I listen to over and over.

all songs considered

It has been a while.  Summer is rolling in and I have to get up even earlier so that I can walk around Town Lake when it is still comfortable outside.  This morning, as I was listening to my regular podcasts, the NPR's All Songs Considered kept me fully entertained.  It is so difficult to keep up with music and in Austin, with all the musicians trying to find their place, it is even more so.  Still, this podcast is a great way for an introduction to recent music and this show was one of its best.  It is a compilation of listeners and followers of the blog's favorite lesser known bands and a song is played from each the owner of the show deems worthy of time.  Every band was one for which I would have gone to buy the CD, or at least downloaded a song or two.  It made the walk fast and fun and I highly recommend the show.

ponyo in august

Just in time for a cool dip, Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea hits US theaters in August. There is no end to my excitement over this.

mad world

On repeat this week is Roland Orzabal's "Mad World", the song in Donnie Darko. The score for this movie is twisted, as you can imagine, but the song is very repeatable.  The melody is so simple, the lyrics even more so, and Gary Jules does a beautiful job on the vocals.  I just can never get enough.

stamps from russia and china

I do not collect them but I love getting them. My correspondents take note and some even comment. The man in the Russian stamp is Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut and the first human in space.

"can you help me with my computer?"

http://supportdetails.com/

Very slick and very useful.

lost fathers

Being a devoted Lost fan, I can not believe it took me this long to figure out the father theme that has splattered this series since its inception.  Here is a list of dysfunctional fathers that I could come up with...

• Jack's (and Clarie's) father, Christian Shepherd
  
• Walt and his father, Michael
• Hurley's father, David who left him when he was young
  
• Jin's supposed fisherman father
• Sun's organized crime father
• Desmond's wife's father, Charles Widmore
• Ben's father, Roger Linus
• Mile's recent father revelation, Dr. Pierre Chang, director of the Dharma Project
• Sawyer adopts the name of the man who conned his mother, a sort of father figure
• Sayid's father, who was shown to be disappointed with weakness
  
• Kate, who killed her abusive step father, later revealed to be her real father
• turns out I forgot John Locke (I claim selective amnesia) who's father found him late in his life, got his kidney and then disappeared.  He was later killed by Sawyer at the request of Locke himself.  Sheesh, no wonder I wanted to forget (thanks, Christine!)
  

podcasts

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  What is not to love, abundance of free mp3 to pass the time while working out and on any topic you can name. For me it is all the anime, movies, tv, gaming, and french I can get and you can set it up to update itself and fill up your ipod by just plugging the darn thing in your computer. Seriously, how easy is that? One podcast that I would like to introduce to the world is one called movies you should see.  A podcast based solely on films and hosted by four Brits.  All types of movies ranging from whichever just won the Oscar to classic film such as 12 Angry Men.  It is not technical but just prose on what works and what does not, the characters, setting, music, and mood.  I enjoy their banter and their opinions, mainly because they say brilliant a lot. Whatever your tastes, this podcast is one I make sure I listen to every week.  Check it out.

so inviting

I have lived downtown for almost eight months now. For all that time, I have not had anything to sit on and enjoy the balcony with its amazing view. I guess I was waiting for the patio furniture to go on sale. Well the lovely weather beckoned and so I now have two lovely chairs and a table for reading or watching the city. Now that things are complete, my media cabinets are delivered and stocked and the patio now sports a tomato plant, all are invited to come and spend some time in Austin, the live music capital of the world. By the way, that is Elora, my orchid, on the table. The leaves fell and part of the upper stem died. I clipped the stem and opened the roots to air. Hopefully that and the slight drop in the temperature for the next few nights will allow it to bloom again. Note to self to take it out of the light in the morning!

spring break in Los Angeles

I have been remiss in talking about my vacation with my brother in Los Angeles. I always assumed that LA was too flashy for me but honestly, it is much more down to earth. Of course, we braved the traffic to head downtown and see the hot spots in Hollywood. But then we drove up into the hills, Beverly Hills that is, and my mouth dropped at the gorgeous palm tree lined roads and wonderfully landscaped mansions. There is the flash. But after that, our time was spent at the Santa Anita race track where I actually won $2 on Lucius Antonious. I lost it on the the next bet though. We also visited the LA county Arboretum where we walked among the peacocks and explored the natural wonders of the world: flowers, trees, shrubs, all types. The track and the arboretum were just a walk away from my brother's home so it all felt extremely relaxing. I can not forget though that my amazing brother exceeded all of that by purchasing tickets to the opening game of the LA Galaxy. Obviously, that was the grandest part.

found my team

My love for soccer knows no bounds. That is to say it knows no state boundaries. I watched the Seattle Sounders play today on Fox Soccer Channel. They seemed to walk all over Toronto FC beating them 2-0. I have had a hard time getting behind the Houston Dynamo simply because they have been very inconsistent. But Seattle looked glorious in their bright green kits sporting xbox 360 live sponsors. I may have to support the new expansion team this year and forever more.

want a taco?

someone must really like tacos, this is a study in taco journalism and is a list of all the taco trucks and taquerias in Austin

View Larger Map

bright lite

pretty neat commercial...

more stamps

These are awesome! The first is from Thailand and the second from The Republic of China.