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Wedding Ceremony

Posted in Events, Personal with tags , , , on May 26, 2009 by doomcookie

The following is the ceremony that I wrote & performed this past Sunday for my very dear friends David and Adrienne. It’s the second wedding I’ve officiated, and I was honored and pleased to once again be asked to unite two friends and write the words that would bind them. Even if it continually perplexes me why anyone would trust me to tell anyone anything about love and marriage!

[March]
[Greeting]
We’ve come here today to celebrate the joining of Adrienne Dorig and David Leland. They’ve chosen to hold their wedding outdoors within a spread of all Nature has to offer. Alongside trees that may outlive our great grandchildren, and near flowers that will only bloom for a season, we can meditate on the way in which life, in all of its cycles, is ephemeral, and yet somehow constant – connected. Love is what reminds humans most fiercely of that connection, because it is in our capacity to love with we find eternity, touching into an emotion deeper, and more powerful, that we could have ever thought possible. Barriers drop, edges blur, and you find yourself forgetting where you end, and your other begins.
As light to dark, day to night, all things have an equal but opposite and together they are complete. So do two people find one another and in coming together, find the half of themselves that, prior, they might never have known they were missing. Of course, this is only the foundation, though a beautiful and rich foundation it is. Today, David and Adrienne have come together to recognize the union that has already long since happened between their hearts, and from there, to affirm their commitment to everything involved in a shared fate – the joys and burdens alike. Together, they will grow beyond limits, and they will laugh at foibles, and they will learn from mistakes, and when they fall, they will get back up together; recognizing always that though they are two people with two minds and two hearts, they are a matching set, and will ever strive to work in tandem.
They have asked all of you here today to see them off on this journey, and to share with them the incomparable moment where it began, because it is true that though they are a pair, this pair is nested within a vast network of friends and of family. We are no greater a product than the sum of those who have touched us, helped us, guided us, and supported us, and so it isn’t simply two wonderful people who are joined in this marriage, but also the families who nurtured them so that they could become quite so wonderful; two families, now come together as one. Thank you for sharing this day, this moment, and for your continued love and support as they go forward.
I will now invite Carl Sachs, a good friend of the bride and groom, to step forward and read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.
[Reading]

[Declarations of Love]

[Joint Vows]

[Exchange of Rings]
As an unbroken circle, rings are a symbol of undying love. May they serve as a reminder of this day on which you pledged endless love to one another.

[Sand Ceremony]
Next, Adrienne and David have decided to invite their mothers forward to participate in the Sand Ceremony with them. At its essence, this ceremony is about unity. We begin here with a single empty glass, a vessel, and two others that are full. Each piece of sand represents the multitude of moments, thoughts, decisions, plans, and feelings that have all come to shape our bride and groom. As the sand is poured from these two and into a common vessel, mingling and merging, so are they joined, their paths entwined and paved with common purpose and shared experience. As their mothers delivered them into their original vessels – screaming and crying – it is appropriate that they unite them here as well – though hopefully with less screaming and crying. Diana and Thelma would you do your children the honor of stepping forward?

[Pronunciation]
Love, understanding, and respect, these are the seeds of a happy marriage, and like any seeds, they must be cared for and nurtured so they do not wither. Today you have made a commitment to give these seeds what they need: to communicate, to forgive, to cherish, to laugh, and to learn, today and always, for the rest of your lives. Do so, and live with no regret. It is my very great honor to pronounce you David and Adrienne, man and wife, woman and husband, matching set. David, you may kiss the bride.

[Breaking of the Glass]
Finally, the ceremonial breaking of the glass.

[Conclusion]
Ladies and gentleman, allow me to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Leland

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Bradley Horror Interviewed

Posted in Technology with tags , on April 28, 2009 by doomcookie

An internet interview of my brother, Brad, on behalf of his band the Black Eyes & Neckties.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/577673

It is really funny, because my brother is not the geek in the family, by any stretch. He’s no geek at all. So he is talking to a video blogger who is trying to quiz him on how “geeky” he is by testing his knowledge of internet resources for bands, a quiz Brad manages to undermine pretty immediately. Also, when the guy asks him what he would do to save the dying music scene, Brad, without any hesitation, blames internet downloading and the fact that people who claim to love bands will now just go out and download without taking the effort to come and support. He isn’t only condemning free downloading here, but any downloading at all. He has told me stories of selling only a handful of albums at a show (which the band actually makes a decent amount of money from) but then seeing on their iTunes records that dozens of people went home and downloaded the album (which they see all but nothing from). So, basically his solution is that he wishes he could be making music 30 years ago. It was amusing. I can’t claim I wasn’t a pretty terrible music downloader as a teenager, but I can at least hope to say I never downloaded anything from a band that needed to have a day job because they weren’t making enough from their music to live (if not live in excess).

The question is, how do you save the music scene without going back 30 years? Grants? Sponsorships? Soundtracks? How can the internet be used to both spread information but support the burgeoning performer? All good questions. I’ll admit, the implications to the music scene are not something I think about, as I tend to think more about my own trades, writing and video games, but they are all being affected by it. I think most people still find it difficult to read on a computer, but the proliferation of kindles and other such eBooks are going to make that problem hit writers more as well. And increased abilities to pirate has made it hit game companies for as well. Outraged fans ruined the game Spore over the DRM, and while it was definitely a limit taken to the extreme and not something I would say I supported, the game companies have to do something to stay in business. I think it’s fair to say, though, that musicians have been hit the hardest thus far by our increasingly downloaded culture.

I have and do continue to believe that the information age is a good thing, and that mass access to media is a good thing, but how can people continue to make art when it becomes increasingly difficult to make any kind of living doing it? I’m sure a purer artiste than I would say that shouldn’t matter, but anyone who has worked a full time job and tried to come home and have the energy to do their art and doesn’t have a chemical imbalance that makes them revel in being a martyr will tell you, it’s hard, and not preferred. And while not everyone wants to “sell out” (though plenty are more than happy), I think most people will agree that anything that enables you to spend more time doing what you love, and less time doing something you don’t love so you can still eat, sleep under a roof, and buy materials (whether that be pen & ink, a guitar & amp,  paint brushes and canvases, or a laptop computer) is a good thing. Maybe it doesn’t mean you make millions, maybe it means you only have to work half-time instead of full time, and maybe you’ve made that much reviled step to commercial art, but at least that’s that much more of your life doing what you know you were born into this world to do and less time wasted.

It’s a difficult question. I know there are a lot of websites out there meant specifically to promote indie musicians, but I’m not a musician, so I’m not sure what the strings attached there are. You can’t truly blame anyone for not wanting to buy physical copies of CDs when they are only going to then going to just rip it anyway to add to their iPod, and it’s much more ecologically sound if we do move toward less plastic waste, but there needs to be some way for that to be profitable for bands. They can sell music by way of their website, sure, but most people are too lazy not to use a central location for their music buying needs (and who can blame them, or actually “us”, as I certainly am not less lazy than that). An idea I have toyed with in response to this problem would be, in essence, a non-profit iTunes. That is, the prices would be roughly the same, and so the bands would see money from it, but the service itself would not be for profit, and so the cut would only be as much as they need to keep staff and servers going. Hopefully if this service were able to receive an endowment, it would need to pull even less from the artists, but it could probably be pulled off with or without the generosity of some wealthy benefactor who loves music (I’m looking at you, Paul Allen). I would imagine that in order to keep this service from getting too overwhelmed, you would probably have to put a distribution limit on the bands who are able to be involved. Once you reach a certain level of success, you can make money despite the cuts of the labels and the major distributors. So, no one wants to see Nickelback taking up the server space and staff time so Chad Korger could add an additional wing to his mansion. I’m not sure what implications that would have in a long term sense, because it is more than conceivable that a band could start small on this service and make it big in the course of their time there. Are they kicked out? “You’re too cool to hang out with us anymore.” I’m not sure. It would be something to consider further than this rambling blog entry has considered it. But I think that something like this needs to be considered.

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The Baby Bottle List: The Younger, Less Morbid, Sister to the Bucket List

Posted in Personal with tags , , , on March 30, 2009 by doomcookie

Toward the end of a long night of conversation with a friend over citrus mint hookah, he begins laughing at me. “What?” I ask, pausing and blinking at him through the smoke. He’s stopped me just as I have begun to explain to him my goal to “travel to every continent before I am thirty.”
“You have said that a lot tonight, ‘before I am thirty’? What happens at thirty? Your life comes to an end.” He teases me goodnaturedly.
I pause and consider the question. “I suppose it’s not actually thirty. It’s before I settle down and have children, because, well…They make life a lot more complicated.”
“Oh they sure do!” He laughs knowingly; a father himself to seven-year-old girl.
“Perhaps I need a different way to say it,” I muse. “Perhaps there is a better term.” We consider the challenge. I pause to suck in a long breath from the hookah, exhaling gently to let the smoke tickle against my nostrils. And then it comes, in a jerk of the brain. “A baby bottle list,” I say with a laugh. “I’ll call it my baby bottle list.”
“Perfect!”
The term “bucket list” was, as far as anyone can tell, either completely created by or popularized by the film of the same name. In it, the character portrayed by Morgan Freeman has a “bucket list”, describing a list of things he will do before he “kicks the bucket”, and his life comes to an end. To say that life “comes to an end” with child birth is a great insult to the institutions of parenthood, but to claim that it is not forever changed, and in many ways limited, would be naive. For all that the duties of parenthood have begun to be split more and more between husband and wife, there is no denying that this rings particularly true for a woman, if for no other reason than that the structures of our society enable it. Maternity leave is considerably heftier than paternity leave, more women’s bathrooms have baby changing stations than men’s, and no matter how feminist one’s mother might have been, chances are most girls demanded a baby doll, or two, and put a diaper, or five, on them. We’re kind of trained for it.
By no means take this to mean men cannot have a baby bottle list. I fully encourage it, but from my own personal experience as a woman, I feel an acute pressure to get done all the things I want to do that might be too expensive, time consuming, or risky once I have a brood either waddling right at my heels or peeking out the window and waiting eagerly for me to get home. If the book The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine is to be believed, my body will likely be flooded with so much oxytocin at the sight of my offspring that I will be too high on hormones to even care about whether I publish a novel, travel the world, or complete a marathon. It’s the biological imperative to reproduce at work, and our body’s are finely tuned to make certain we see it through. This is not to say there are not cases of women up and leaving their families, but these are generally cases of mixed complex physiological and psychological factors. Most women are in it for the long haul, no matter what their children put them through in the meantime, nor what they have to sacrifice for them.
I don’t have this list written anywhere. It might be fun to do so and tack it to my wall and feel a sense of accomplishment every time I scratch one off, but despite my preponderance for putting my thoughts into writing, I have never been much of a literal list person – shopping lists, Christmas lists, to-do lists, not my style. However, it’s there regardless, buried in my consciousness, manifesting in saving my pennies for plane tickets, gradually run longer and longer in the morning, delirious scrutinize my manuscripts, and a dozen other behaviors that crop up with an undeniable fervor. No doubt if you are still unattached and unsettled, you probably have one too, no matter how consciously or subconsciously you are aware of it. If you’ve never thought about it, consider it. What things do you really want to do in your life? And how many of those are most achievable right now? How many of those are probably not at all achievable later?
If more than just one or two come up, and if your biological clock has kicked in so that you have found yourself picturing a baby in a sling across your chest in the middle of the mall during a routine holiday shopping trip with so much detail that you could later tell someone how they smelled… it might be time to start making a serious plan. If this requires making a physical list, and color coordinating a set of star stickers you award yourself every time you make a step toward completion, do it. But don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll somehow manage to hop on a motorcycle and drive along the grand canyon with a tot clinging to your waist, nor that you’ll necessarily be able to put in enough hours at the office to get climb to the exact position you want when there’s bedtime stories to be told over hot cocoa and ginger snaps at home. You may not want it, and they definitely won’t want it, and chances are it won’t happen. But there’s no time like the present. You will never be as young as you are right now – literally. You’re now two seconds older than when you read that sentence. Think about that. Old doesn’t mean dead, but but it sure can progressively feel that way.
So get out there. Make a baby bottle list. If you’re already elbow deep your own pile of babies, make one anyway and work as best you can at getting its contents accomplished before life passes by quickly and this once innocent collection of to-dos morphs a bucket list, whose contents you race against the Reaper to see completed.

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St. Patty’s Day Menu

Posted in Events, Recipe on March 15, 2009 by doomcookie

The following was my menu for my St. Patty’s Day party!

For the main entree was my dad’s corned beef & cabbage recipe with just a few additions. Corned beef briscuts were placed in pots, covered with cold water, and then I added some chopped fresh garlic, pepper corns, salt, nutmeg, and garlic salt. Covered them, brought them to a boil, and then reduced them to a low boil. 45 minutes before they were done I added chopped onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. 25 minutes before they were done, I added the cabbage. Or well, that was the plan, until I realized I had done everything about an hour too early, so I reduced it to low heat following the end of the scheduled total cook time (3 1/2 hours for the 4.5 lb briscuit, and a little under 3 for the 3.5 lb briscuit), so the veggies got a bit mushy. The corned beef didn’t suffer, though, as I understand it! Yes, I am probably a bad pescitarian in that I am more than happy to cook meat for other people if I think it will make them happy (and celebrate my culture).

With it was soda bread. Here’s my last year’s post with the recipe I use: http://exlibrisblog.com/2008/03/18/irish-soda-bread/
I actually did make it a night in advance this year and it turned out very good with the day to sit.

Also with it was scalloped potatoes. Admittedly, I was actually in the mood for potatoes au gratin, so I made mine a little cheesier than was called for by the recipe I found, and because the whole thing sounded a bit plain, I also added sauteed onions, mushrooms, and shallots. So anyway, the whole process was: slicing 6 potatoes, placing down about a third of them and then sprinkling them with a mix of flour, salt, and pepper and then sautee-ing the shallots, mushrooms, and onion in fresh garlic and olive oil, then spreading that on top. I then added another layer of potatoes, sprinkled on more flour, salt, and pepper, and then a third layer of potatoes. Next, I scalded two cups of milk and poured that on top. I baked all this for 45 minutes, and then pulled it out and sprinkled on/mixed in about a cup and a half of sharp cheddar cheese and baked it for another 15 minutes.

Finally, Guinness cupcakes were dessert, and mmm, mmm were they good:
http://culinography.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/saint-pattys-day-is-on-its-way/

Amanda also brought Irish cream pudding shots, which were delectable, and many rounds of car bombs and Jameson & coke were had.

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Watchmen Thoughts: NOT SPOILER FREE

Posted in Movies on March 6, 2009 by doomcookie

My reactions to the film. I’m not going to explicate the plot, as I am more interesting in looking at the thematic devices, especially the handling of the character Rorschach, but there will probably certainly be some sort of spoiler material to follow. Mostly in discussion of the fact that Zack Snyder does not pull punches and my goodness do I love him for it. Nothing that will probably bother you if you have read the book, but have yet to see the movie, but in case you want to go in complete unpolluted, don’t read ahead.

Got that?

Really?

Sucka, if you didn’t listen, and are going to be mad at me for this, turn back now.

All right. Personally, I thought it was a very good movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was never bored, and never too turned off by anything I was seeing on the screen in order to be distracted. I think the fact that it is down to a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, especially having started out closer to an 80% with all early reviews raving, is ridiculous. The progression of these ratings seemed to be: early reviews were calling it genius. New reviews are calling it flawed genius. But does flawed genius make a movie “rotten”? No. I think without such a hype storm raising everyone’s hackles, it might have ended up in the mid-to-high 70’s, which is a good spot for a comic book movie with no pretensions of winning Oscars to be.

Now, I do think it was flawed. To begin with, I had to wonder: if I were not a fan of the book, had not read the book, or had even read the book but not paid that close of attention, would a lot of this have come off as strongly? For example, did the montage at the very beginning completely lose a new viewer? Did they ever truly get a grasp of who the Minutemen were and their place in it? I’m not sure, but it did give me pause. Was everything explained well enough? For example, they mentioned the “Keene Act”, but did they ever explain that was an Act that unmasked the masked men and made them illegal? I can’t recall. Personally, I enjoyed all these touches quite a bit, but I have read the book, more than once, and once very recently. That said, though, for fans of the comic, there were a lot of nice little touches – things you had to look for in the backgrounds (such as the “Millenium” poster in the end).

I understand some of the critics who have said that at times the movie was too in love with itself, too in love with its message, and that it came off as heavy handed because of it. I agree. There were moments where I thought to myself, “Really? There wasn’t a more subtle way to say/convey that?” Again, that said, I feel like this was worse toward the beginning of the film, and that it hit its stride going into it, but then some of the Ozymandias scenes reverted back to that.

I actually did not find the change to the ending to be offensive, and thought it worked quite well. Admittedly, when I first became aware that there had been a change, my hackles raised, I crossed my arms, and waited, but had faith that if Zach Snyder actually filmed the Comedian shooting a woman pregnant with his baby, he was not going to pull the final punch. Making Dr. Manhattan the manufactured by Ozymandias/abstract/non-human threat was, in my opinion, just as effective as making it an “alien thread” and required fewer scenes to do. The one thing I will say about that is that it thus became far too easy for the Comedian to figure it out. I liked that the fact he figured it out in the graphic novel was such a matter of chance. In the movie, you had to wonder: if Ozymandias was not able to do that without the Comedian seeing, what were any of them able to do? But it wasn’t that much of a distraction.

Oh but I was a little annoyed that Seymour (the kid in the very end who got the journal) was a brunette and not a redhead. Just because that robbed me from getting to say, “Gingers kill Utopia”, for a moment of ironic self-loathing. ;)

The stilted/stylized acting… was not done as well as I think it has been in some other movies, *but* I don’t think they should have gone for a realistic/naturalistic acting style either. I preferred that they went stylized, and it fell short, to them going naturalistic. The Watchmen was never trying to do what Dark Knight did in that it took a completely realistic approach to superhero films and that, I think, was one of the things that made it genius. It was a superhero comic in many ways, and it was still a literary masterwork, and that was what made it so fantastic. Any attempts to make a naturalistic film would have frustrated me. That said, there were people who I thought were better – Jeffrey Dean Morgan [Comedian], Jackie Earle Haley [Rorschach] – and people I thought were worse – Matthew Goode [Ozymandias].

The soundtrack… Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn’t. “Times They Are a Changin’” was perfect; “99 Red Balooons”, maybe not as perfect. Admittedly, I am not sure what I would have preferred. I wouldn’t have wanted it to have done the usual fare of metal and hard rock comic movies frequently do, but I’m not sure I would have wanted it to do symphonic Oscar movie score. Maybe something in between. I’m not sure. I am certain that was one of the harder decisions.

Visually, I might have liked to see Snyder be as faithful to the visual source as he was to 300 and done something with a palette closer to the graphic novel just to see if he could pull it off, but I still enjoyed what he did instead. I never did not like looking at the movie. Again, a case where it was very much not naturalistic, and I thought that was good.

I knew the Pirate Story would not be there. Snyder said as much in the first panel he ever went to. I completely understand why it wouldn’t. It was a genius literary device. It was a: in case you don’t get it, here it is, plain as day, exactly what I want to say in this novel,and yet somehow it did not come off as cheap. Tied in with that were the ruminations of the newspaper salesman, representing both a sort of Greek chorus and also the common man’s position in all the uncommon events surrounding him, the terror of the end of the world that everyone felt at that time. *But* to address both of these things would have added… a lot of length to the movie. I am hoping maybe we will get Lord of the Rings style 3 1/2 hour extended editions in which we see it, and more of those characters, but I’m not holding my breath. I was happy enough that they were still present in the movie and I could see Old Bernard selling papers and Young Bernard obviously reading the Pirate Story.

Now, Rorschach’s character, who was so key to the novel, was, I think, handled okay, but I did think there was not enough of those small humanizing moments you get in the novel that lead up to Rorschach being the only one to oppose covering up what Ozymandias did, and dying for it. For example, I don’t know know why they left out his line, early in the graphic novel: “Nothing is insoluble. Nothing is hopeless. Not while there’s life.” For a man who would later claim to his therapist that there is nothing at all beautiful in human kind, that’s an amazingly optimistic statement. Also, the interesting use of the “Nostalgia” cologne produced by Veidt, tying in both with the woman in the picture in his room, and the bottle he kept in his pocket. I’m not sure what all there is to say about that but if nothing else, it instilled the idea of the world gone-mad-what-did-we-fight-for chaos that contributed to the necessity for such a broad, real threat to unite everyone. A Nostalgia for simpler times gone past.

Also, another missing thing was the most direct explanation for why it is his name is Rorschach and the further implications on the reader’s relationship with the story: that is, him going off to his psychiatrist about how he had wanted there to be a meaning, a purpose, a design, but that he had long since realized there was not, and any attempt of ours to create a reason for things being the way they are – “fate”, “god” – is more of a reflection of our own psyches and our own attempt to make sense of the world than any absolute existence of said things – much like we do a Rorschach blob. I thought this was huge because one of the secondary reasons I think his name is Rorschach is that he himself becomes the Rorschach test for the audience, as he is a very difficult character to make judgments about, to condemn or condone, and that trying to understand and judge him, you learn more about yourself than you do about him as a character.

Anyway, all of these things, as far as I am concerned, make this movie a work of flawed genius, but genius none the less, and easily the best Alan Moore adaptation to date. It was maybe an impossible book to film, but I think they did a damn good job of trying and may see it again before it leaves the theaters if for no other reason than to look for more of the nice little touches in the background I might have missed.

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Ohai!

Posted in Crafts, Gaming with tags , , , , on March 2, 2009 by doomcookie

Over the weekend, I made a plush of our company mascot. He turned out well, and I’m happy. It’s my first true plushie from scratch I’ve made. I made a Cowthulhu a few years ago but I used another stuffed animal as a base and essentially made him a suit that was all stitched together. Ohai is all his own man, though!

If you’re curious, the body is fleece, and all of the accents are felt.

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WonderCon 2009: Montage

Posted in Events with tags , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2009 by doomcookie

A wrap up of WonderCon in small bites. Some of these taken from my Twitter and others just thought up now.

Set my alarm for 8:30 PM, so woke up at 9:15 and dashed out the door.

Parked in the Mission parking garage. Probably not the best of plans as I did not pre-pay but don’t have the patience to search.

Waiting in the professional badge line is actually taking longer than Comic Con as they do not have this process automated. Ah well. Not ashamed to admit that one of the many good things about Cons is the legions of cute geek guys. Enjoying the view.

Wow. Waltzing into empty panels. This is so much more laid back than Comic Con. Evidenced by the fact that the people crossing the street to get to the Moscone center could be described more as a “stream” than the “choking flood” that blocks off downtown San Diego.

The IDW panel was a let down. Everything they talked about was a re-release/repackage, and this isn’t even the “properties” panel! That is tomorrow! I wonder if they have anything original at all coming.

Was glad to observe Felicia Day move unharassed through the exhibitor hall. Poor girl probably gets swamped at these things.

Visited Steph! And ran into another coworker, Boyd, at the same time. Her booth is so professional. I’m jealous. She gave me buttons but I forced her to let me pay for one of her spectacular sketchbooks. I accepted the discount, because I only have so much cash.

Epic ATM line. I wish I hadn’t overslept and has gotten cash this morning.

Observed an awesome Godzilla suit from the ATM line. Wanted a picture but had waited too long to get out of line.

O. Adam Baldwin to my right. That is who this huge line was for.

There is a whole corridor of washed up celebrities! Admittedly, I recognize a lot of these people, but have not seen them in movies for a long, long time. I had to get out of the way of the guy who played Jaws in Bond as he moved through the crowd in his wheel chair.

Fangirled a little over David Mack… This is my third or fourth time meeting him and the first time he actually approached me (of course, I was dressed as one of his characters), but I do this every time! It would be easier to not blush if he weren’t so darn cute!

Slipped into an auditorium to get a seat for the Star Trek movie panel and saw a trailer for a fun looking movie called, “Alien Trespass”. Will see this movie. And not just because all the cast and crew seemed to be totally in love with it in a very genuine way.

World premiere of new Star Trek trailer! GEEKGASM! JJ Abrahms is as much of a neurotic ball of energy as one would expect.

Zachary Quinto is incredibly eloquent, and admittedly, cuter in person than my impression of him as Syler.

So excited by footage from 9. What a spectacular looking movie. And Elijah Wood is so gracious about all of the LOTRO questions he gets asked, though he did remark, “I will be asked about that until I die.”

What is even better than dudes dressed as Nicholas Angel and Danny from Hot Fuzz? Not much.

People watched in the anime/manga area for a bit. Cosplay-ers really are a whole little subculture I find a little fascinating and a little too weird. I have dressed up for Conventions before, but I would not say I have ever truly “cosplayed” next to these people.

Attended both the Vertigo and 100 Bullets panels back to back. This felt somewhat redundant as until they managed to pull the inker for Fables up to the stage, the writer of 100 Bullets was the only Vertigo creator in attendance so as soon as the guy from Marketing finished the preview of up coming titles, it was almost all questions for Brian.

The Vertigo panel was the redundant part though. The 100 Bullets panel also featured cover artist Dave Johnson and had some really great dialog about the series. The MC described it as a contender for “the great American novel”. I thought that was a little effusive but it is admittedly incredible.

Once again, am reminded that this is not Comic Con, as I left right at 7 and despite that there were no huge crowds in front of the convention center. I like it, but I also like Comic Con. They are different, but there was definitely more to see/attend at Comic Con.

Has discovered Isotope, a comic shop/lounge, and next to it a knitting shop and nearby tons of vintage stores. This could get expensive.

Attended a cool mixer at Isotope in honor of the 100th issue of 100 Bullets. Many of Dave Johnson’s beautiful covers on display. If you like comics, or noir, or really well written literature, and especially if you like all of the above, you should check out 100 Bullets. It is truly fantastic.

Left with a renewed vigor to create. Need to get some of my projects finished, edited, and into hands that might do something with them.

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Cooking with Morgan: Nommy Vegetarian Tacos

Posted in Recipe with tags , , on February 22, 2009 by doomcookie

Made this Friday night and already want some again…

1/2 package Smart-ground Veggie meat substitute, Mexican style
1/2 can Black Beans
2 Tbls. olive oil
Fresh garlic, chopped
Fresh white onion, chopped (about 1/4 of a small onion)
1 Tbls. Crushed red pepper (or less/more depending on how spicy you want it)
1 small can sliced mushrooms
Salt & Pepper
Lime juice
Fresh Cilantro
Shredded cheese
1/2 Fresh avocado, sliced
Your favorite sort of tortillas

1. Heat up the fresh chopped garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over med-high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped onion and continue to heat for another couple of minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add the black beans and the red pepper, heat for another couple of minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.

2. Add the smart ground to the mixture and add a little more salt & pepper to taste if you feel like you need it. Add the small can of mushrooms (alternatively, get fresh mushrooms, chop them up, and add them + 1/4 cup water at the same time as the onion). Heat all of this together for about 5 minutes.

3. Chop the cilantro to small pieces. Heat up the tortillas (I used small yellow corn tortillas). Spoon the “meat”/bean mixture onto the tortillas. Sprinkle the cilantro on top. Put sliced avocado on top. Sprinkle with cheese (all I had was an Italian blend… mozarella, mild cheddar, provolone, and asiago.. which was oddly tasty). Splash the whole thing with lime juice.

And YUM.

Serves 1-2!

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Looking Back: SD Favorites

Posted in Personal with tags , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2009 by doomcookie

A random exercise in nostalgia I have been working on over the past week.

Favorite Hookah – Zodiak Hookah Lounge

Comfy and classy Moroccan decor, a plethora of flavors of sheesha, belly dancers on Friday and Saturday nights, good food, and good ventilation so that you don’t end up choking on smoke. You know anywhere that you can end up being the only white person is probably a good find.

Favorite Comic Store – Comickaze

Robert and Lucky earned my loyalty by always being friendly, personable, ready to answer questions or re-order a comic, and by hosting a ton of cool events and giving me the opportunity to meet some of my favorite creators. I’ve never not been able to get what I wanted there and have ended up with a lot of awesome things I never knew I wanted.

Favorite Bookstore – Mysterious Galaxy Books

Similarly to Comickaze, the staff at Mysterious Galaxy really makes you feel welcome and appreciated. On top of that, they have brought through pretty much every major sci-fi/fantasy/horror writer you can think of, so there is really not any contest for top spot in my book here…

Favorite Beach – Cardiff State Beach

A long stretch of beautiful white sand that you can always find parking at? Where the hell else does that happen in So Cal? I don’t know why I’d ever want to go anywhere else.

Favorite Doggie Spot – Oceanbeach Dog Beach

… UNLESS, of course, it is not to actually go relax at the beach but to let my dog off her leash and watch her be the happiest she has ever been in her life. Dog Beach is huge, friendly, the dogs all get along well and have a great time doing it, and the owners are friendly and happy to chat as you watch your dog chase theirs. I rarely see “accidents” that someone hasn’t taken care of, and they even have occasional dog-themed events there with cute little shows, contests, raffles, etc.

Favorite Karaoke – The Ould Sod

A lot of my favorite karaoke spots have come and gone, but currently, you cannot beat the song selection or the enthusiasm of the patrons at the Ould Sod. And the drink prices aren’t too bad either, so it’s easier to grease the vocal chords of your less singing-inclined friends.

Favorite Thursday Night Spot – Boombox Thursdays at Air Conditioned

Air Conditioned is a nice lounge. There’s no cover, the dress code isn’t too extreme (no shorts, no sandals) (but it serves the purpose of keeping the crowd looking good), the drinks are cheap, the VIP room nice and comfy, and the music spun by DJs Edgartronic and Groundfloor is a good mix of electronic, indie, and 80’s… enough to keep you on the floor if that’s where you want to be, but pleasant to listen to if you’re not. Plus, the sunken lounge with the vintage bond posters is just too precious for words.

Favorite Dancing – Shooterz (in memoriam)

I haven’t really found my new dance spot since Shooterz shut down because of the untimely passing of its owner but because it was such a great place to go for so long, it gets to hold this spot. I have had a decent enough time hitting a few new places, but it’s not quite the same as the classic Shooterz was. At one time, you could spend every night of the weekend dancing and know it was going to be a good time (and I did, more than once)… the unmatched Klub 80’s on Thursday night, Therapy on Friday, and Sabbat on Saturday. Sabbat had long since moved on, but Brian Pollard seems to have been having trouble finding a spot so good to settle down his clubs, which is a shame because I think they were a cornerstone of the alternative scene in San Diego.

Favorite Indian – Punjabi Tandoor

This is one of those hole-in-the-wall spots that you feel pretty much like you rule at life win you find them. The food is just top notch. Every dish I have tried is delectable, and the prices are more than reasonable. Plus, the owner/chef works right there and is very friendly to chat with.

Favorite Mexican – Fidel’s Little Mexico

My family has been going to Fidel’s since it was actually the kitchen of a guy name Fidel, so perhaps I am biased, but it is just simply the best. Wonderful margaritas, wonderful chile relleno, wonderful crab burrito with green sauce. Plus, you always feel like you are on an adventure with the way that the building has grown into this maze of little rooms based on its ever expanding nature.

Favorite Vegetarian – Sipz Vegetarian Fusion Cafe(Followed closely by Pokez)

They have pretty much every Asian dish you have been missing since you became a vegetarian in an amazing tasting form. I have found that I definitely prefer gluten based meat substitutes to soy based substitutes, and that is most of what they serve. I’ve also brought numerous meat eating friends here and made them fans, so you needn’t only visit there if you are a veghead.

As for Pokez, they do a similar thing for Mexican food, and only fall short because after having been there a few times everything begins to taste… well… pretty similar. But if you space out your visits, that is still a very good taste.

Favorite California Sushi – Station Sushi

Easily the most creative and best tasting variety of “rolls” I have found anywhere. Not to mention you are right on the coast highway in beautiful Solana Beach and often park in the beach parking lot to go. I especially recommend their crunchy roll… It is such a dangerous combination of spicy mayo, tempura batter, and eel sauce (yes, I am aware a crunchy roll is not unique, but there’s is hands down the best I have had). The biggest flaw of this place is how busy it can get, but order for carry out, and you’re fine no matter how busy it is.

Favorite Traditional Sushi – Samurai Japanese Restaurant

Despite the crazy rolls at Station Sushi, give me a choice, and I will still pick Samurai. I will start with the very yummy cucumber salad they give you to start, and then move to the dynamite appetizer, because no one serves better dynamite, and then I will order the freshest nigiri in town served with just the right amount of rice, and finish with a samurai special handroll. Mmm, mmm.

Favorite Italian Food – Via Italia Trattoria

Like Station Sushi, Via Italia’s has the advantage over other Italian restaurants with its location: the heart of Encinitas on the 101. There is nothing like watching the sunset over the ocean while enjoying bruschetta and a good glass of wine. Plus, they have the best gnocchi in town.

Favorite Thai – Siamese Basil

It is hard to find Thai food in San Diego that isn’t California-cated and is instead homestyle, but Siamese Basil certainly tastes like something you would actually find in a Thai home. Yes, I think many of the qualities of homestyle suggest it is probably less healthy, but the food just tastes richer and more satisfying than the watered down Thai food you find almost anywhere else. Plus, they sometimes have Tad Mun, and that is a rare and beautiful thing.

Favorite Pizza – Pizza Port

You can tell I lived North County Coastal with my restaurant picks, but in north county, we had to have great restaurants because there was nothing else to do!

Obviously, trying to argue the “best pizza” is fruitless, because an individual’s relationship with pizza is about as complex as their relationship with a significant other. Everyone has different criteria for what makes it great. But, I think just about anyone I have ever made try Pizza Port has at least agreed, it is really damn good. My favorite pizza? Pizza Carlsbad: feta cheese, pesto sauce, artichokes, and sundried tomatoes, all on a spongy but not too thick crust. That served with some garlic “beer buddies” (basically their excellent crusts served in bite size chunks)… Well, I have heard the beer is fantastic too, so maybe if I liked beer, I would say it was heaven, but as it is, it is pretty damn close.

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One More Before I Sleep… Why I Love Slumdog Millionaire.

Posted in Movies, Personal with tags , , , , on January 31, 2009 by doomcookie

I have been singing the praises of this movie since I was invited to go see it roughly a month ago, and not knowing anything about it, went in without any expectations and came out amazed. Since then I have heard a lot of different things in reactions to it; a lot of people are now refusing to see it because of the hype, people are arguing over whether it is realistic or not, or whether it is exploitative of the children that it depicted. I don’t know much about the controversy. I have meant to look it up, but haven’t yet, so this reaction is based simply on walking out of a piece of art and letting people know how it made me feel. Maybe later I’ll read something that turns me around on it, but I hope not.

It could be the place I am in right now. On a personal level, I have every reason at the moment to be looking back on my life, all the good and the bad, and the people who have touched me, and so a movie like this was extra capable of striking close to home. But to me, what this movie seemed to say was that in all the mire, all the muck, in even the worst possible corners of the world, there is beauty, and hope, and love, and that they persist through even the harshest environs, because if they didn’t, why wouldn’t the human race have given up by now? The ending is troubling, tragic but also infinitesimally beautiful, but in the end, I know that I left feeling as if I had just seen incredible beauty, and loved it.

Everything about the movie added up to this. The vibrant cinematography, the brilliant score that effectively carried you throughout the troubled sea of emotions, the simple but effective performances of its cast, and the structure of its story. Paralleling a modern symbol of the most desperate sort of hope – the game show and its ability to lift one out of ones circumstances – with a stark and moving tale of love, both familial and romantic, and brutality, triumph and defeat, all in what could be seen as one of the bleakest corners of the world serves as a way to tell this as a story of the whole world. Because how many people haven’t watched a game show and dreamed? Not too many. Even touches as simple as choosing “Hoppipolla” by Sigur Ros to be in the trailer, a song that so captures that bittersweet celebration of life, and ending with a dance scene that brought the whole cast together, were brilliant.

Sometimes I think it is too easy to latch onto realism as a means of communicating truth, which is why I judge this movie as a fairy tale. Does a not completely stark view of the world eliminate its ability to resonate? I don’t believe so, or we would not be telling the same fairy tales in and out thousands of years after they were written. Sometimes parable is a more effective way of communicating an idea, because it goes past our brain and reaches down into a deeper place in us – a sometimes spooky but altogether unyielding place where dreams live and do battle with depression and anger and hopelessness. It is not often that movies try that, and even rarer that they succeed, but Slumdog Millionaire did, and it is worth all of the accolades it is getting.

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