Ah, Love and Pride

During my drive back home today, I’m listening to the “flashback” hour on the radio, and they start playing “Love and Pride” by King, a minor hit from the eighties. Oh god, I haven’t heard this song since…well, the eighties.

Back in the day, I liked the song enough that I even bought the 45 (that's right kids, old-school vinyl). I’m pretty sure that the singer named King was a one-hit wonder, since I never heard anything else from him. His name was kind of interesting to me, because at the time that “Love and Pride” came out, Prince was huge with Purple Rain. I always thought he was trying to top Prince by being “King”, but ultimately I guess they were totally unrelated. Check out the mullet on this guy!

Even though I liked the song, the chorus perplexed me: “That’s what my heart yearns for now, love and pride”. Huh? How can someone yearn for pride? I know this is just a silly pop song about loving someone and being proud of them, but come on. That’s just awkward grammar.

130 Bush Street

One of my favorite books in my small library is 130 Bush Street. It traces the development of a building on Bush Street and the adjacent structures in downtown San Francisco from the early 1900’s to the present.

What’s great about the book is that it is entirely made up of hand-rendered illustrations of the buildings. The book was written by L.G. Segedin, a professional architectural illustrator. There are over 60 pen & ink drawings in the book, half of which were painted by the author. It’s easy to see that this book was a labor of love.

A feature of the book that helped suck me in was that every page with a color illustration is preceded by a translucent vellum page with the same illustration printed on it in a grayscale line. When you first view this page, the muted colors of the next page that show through create a nice overall effect. Turn over the vellum page, and then you see the fully colored drawings in all its glory.

I’ve always liked the "controlled-squiggle" style of architectural drawings. On one hand it can look like an incredibly elaborate sketch, but you know that a lot of work went in to construction the perspectives or tracing the photos. While computers can do wondrous things with architectural illustration, it’s a little sad to see the hand-generated drawings slowly become a relic of the past.

130 Bush Street is out of print, but it can be obtained through some specialty bookstores. It’s a nice piece of work for people who are interested in San Francisco history or architectural illustration.

Please Don't Step On Me

I’m on Sony’s mailing list, so from time to time they send me free previews of upcoming games. I received a demo disk for Shadow of the Colossus, so I sat down and gave it a try.

Wow.

First of all, the game looks really good. It takes place in vast stretches of wilderness where you have the ability to go almost anywhere. Most video games restrict you to certain areas, but this one takes place in wide open plains and canyons. If you’re afraid of being in open spaces, you better not play this game - it may freak you out.

Otherwise, see the little speck way in the distance? Better start moving, because you need to go there.

Luckily, you have your best friend with you. A horse! This isn’t the first game to have horses, but it’s pretty cool to ride your steed full speed across those wide open fields. Your horse doesn’t mind if you keep kicking him in the side to make him go faster, either. What a pal.

Best of all, you have to fight a number of the “colossus”. They’re monsters. Big monsters. No, I mean really BIG monsters. The one I fought in the demo was a huge monster with a teddy bear head, huge hoofed feet, and a really big club. He stepped on me and squashed me flat before I finally figured out how to beat him.

You have to run to the back of one of his legs, jump on, and climb up his hairy hide all the way to the top of his head. Then you stab him with your sword until he falls down! I can’t say that I’ve ever done that in a video game before. What a hoot!

OK Sony, I’m sold. I’d like to play more of this game just to see what’s next;...and to fight more big monsters.

Flightplan

We saw Flightplan last weekend, and I must admit I wasn’t blown away. It was a decent movie, but not a memorable one. As with most action thrillers, there were some plot holes, but nothing to harp about. Without giving anything away, I was really glad the movie wasn’t another version of The Sixth Sense. Nope, no ghosts here; just Jodie Foster kickin’ ass.

I think everyone would agree that Panic Room was a better movie than this one. Jodie Foster is a great actor, and it’s a little disappointing that she would make two movies back-to-back that were fairly similar to each other. Probably the money was too good to pass up.

Come to think of it, Jodie Foster and Ashley Judd should make a buddy movie together. Both make action movies about tough, smart women who overcome impossible odds: one does the “mother & child in peril” stories and the other has made a couple of “wife out to save/get revenge on her husband” stories. They could play sisters who have to rescue their families who have been kidnapped by serial killer burglar terrorists, but then it turns out that their husbands orchestrated the whole thing. The big showdown could take place on top of a skyscraper, or on a moving train, or maybe a rickety suspension bridge.

That’s a movie I would go see. Just remember you heard it here first.

God Bless Cheap Video Games

I’m a sucker for low-priced video games. PS2 Greatest Hits or Xbox Platinum Hits? Sounds good! I don’t know about you, but I can’t always afford to buy new games at $50. I don’t need to be the first one on the block to have game; the hype for a game always dies down after a while. If a game is truly good and popular among the masses, inevitably the game will be re-released as a “greatest hit” with a $19.99 price tag.

I read all the rave reviews for Burnout 3: Takedown and patiently waited for it to become a Platinum Hit. I finally bought it about a month ago, and played the game for more hours than I’m willing to admit. See? Fifty dollars worth of fun for only twenty.

Value-priced games? I’m there! Hey, sometimes quickly and cheaply produced games can be fun too. I haven’t tried it yet, but Obscure for PS2 was released with a $19.99 price and got relatively good reviews. I’m sure its no Resident Evil, but for the price, it sounds like a good deal to me.

Poorly-received games forced to lower their prices? Sign me up! Sometimes good games get lost in the shuffle, like Beyond Good & Evil. This game was praised for its style and substance when it first came out, but sold poorly because it was overshadowed by the flashier games that came out at the same time. The price plummeted pretty quickly, and I was right there to snatch it up.

Of course, not all games are good. In fact, a lot of them suck. But sucky games need love to, and for me, it’s easier to try a game at 20 dollars than 50. Who knows, you might have a winner. I haven’t seen many good reviews for Nano Breaker, but look at this game…how can you go wrong with getting this kind of carnage for twenty bucks?

Anyway, Amazon has a deal right now: buy two $19.99 games, get one free. Get those early stocking stuffers while you can…

The Deadly Fist of Sodoku

I’m still obsessed with Soduku puzzles, so here’s another tidbit: a series of Sodoku books called Martial Arts Sodoku just came out recently. Each book is named after a different colored karate belt, indicating the degree of difficulty. There’s white belt (easy), green belt (not-so-easy), brown belt (hard), and black belt (super tough).

There are 300 puzzles in each book, so its a pretty good deal for seven bucks. Sure, there a plenty of free Sodoku puzzles online, but do you really want to bring your laptop in the bathroom? I think not.

Sorry kids, there are no actual martial arts or any kind of fighting involved at all in Martial Arts Sodoku; although a real hard one could kick your ass. I’ve been feeling a little cocky about my puzzle-solving skills lately, so I purchased the black belt book. Hopefully I won't get slapped around too much.

Stellastarr* - Harmonies for the Haunted

Stellastarr’s new album, Harmonies for the Haunted, is a winner. I was really looking forward to this CD since their debut album (the self-titled Stellastarr*), was a really good record that yielded two great songs, “Jenny” and “My Coco”.

There are no immediate standout tracks, but I may find it after listening to the album a few more times. This CD contains Stellastarr's typical 80’s-style sound; sure, it can be a little derivative (the first song, “Lost in Time”, curiously sounds a lot like the Cure’s “Pictures of You”), but who cares? They're still a good band that makes great music.

The most annoying thing about this CD is the copy-protection the record label puts in that prevents you from freely ripping the songs like any standard CD. The CD will allow you to copy the songs to your computer in the Windows Media format, but it won’t let you convert these files to MP3. If you try to rip the CD in iTunes, the songs come out garbled.

After doing a little internet research, here’s what worked for me: burn an audio CD from the Windows Media files (I used Nero to do this), then use this CD to rip the songs into iTunes. It worked for me; it may work for you too.

…So beyond the ripping issues, the CD is worth a listen. Plus, it’s got a really cool cover.

Phil Hale

Phil Hale is a relatively recent addition to my list of favorite artists. I haven’t seen a whole lot of his work, but the more I see, the more I like his unique style. I don’t know if he’s actually done any comics work, but his paintings have appeared on the covers of several comics titles in the past few years such as Swamp Thing, the limited horror series Flinch, and Legends of the DC Universe.

The figures in his oil paintings are always in motion, and seemingly made of rubber. The lighting in each piece is like a flashbulb, harshly illuminating every fold of clothing and every fiber of muscle. His work is visually hyperactive and intense; it makes my hair stand up on end.

I would love to have one of his paintings hanging on our wall. But that won’t happen, because it would probably scare away little kids.


If you want to see more, check out Goad: The Many Moods of Phil Hale. It’s a great collection of a lot his paintings, sketches, and photography work.

No Dead Can Dance For Us

It took me a week to get over the disappointment and embarrassment, but I think I’m OK now: we had tickets to see the Dead Can Dance concert at the Paramount Theater last week. I love this group. I bought these tickets six month earlier in March, as soon as they went on sale. The September show finally comes around, and what happens?

I forget about the date, and we miss the concert. I’m such an idiot.

Don’t ask me how it happened, it just happened. Call it a brain fart, since I’ve taken a bite from the big burrito of stupidity.

In any event, I am comforted by the fact that earlier I purchased a two-CD set of the highlights of their European reunion tour. It’s a snazzy little package put out by a company called The Show, who produces official live concert recordings. CD’s of some of the US dates are already for sale, although the Paramount shows are not included, for some reason.


It doesn’t beat going to a live concert, but it will have to do for now. Maybe Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry will enjoy touring so much, that they will come around again. One can only hope.

Incidentally, The Show also has CD’s from the current Pixies reunion tour. This is one concert we didn’t miss when they came to the Greek Theater last year. The Pixies rock, needless to say. They rocked before, and they still rock now.

Sudoku-Mania

Sudoku! It’s the new fad that’s sweeping the nation! Or maybe not…but I sure like it.

When we were in London last summer, I started doing the Sudoku puzzle in the daily newspaper. Since then, I’ve been hooked. I can’t go through the day without doing a puzzle or two. I used to be obsessed with Mahjong tile-matching game, but now I have a new addiction. Sudoku!

The game was first created in the US, but it really first took hold in Japan. Recently it became really popular in the UK, and now it seems to be spreading to the US, judging by the number of new online and computer games I’ve been seeing.

If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. The online Sudoku puzzles I do the most are at Web Sudoku and USA Today. I like the USA Today puzzle because of the little clapping melody you get whenever you complete a row or block. When you complete the puzzle, you get a snazzy drumbeat.

Brian Ralph

Brian Ralph is a talented artist whose comic book work I like a lot. I haven’t seen any new books from him for a couple of years now, but maybe I’m looking in the wrong places. The comics that I do have are really great pieces of work that left me wanting more.

Cave-In is a wordless graphic novella about a cave dweller’s adventures in his weird little world. I don’t think it was intended to be purely for kids, but it’s suitable for all ages, as the narrative flow is very easy to follow. Best of all, the book is a cool little package. It measures 5 inches wide by 6 inches long, and the ink color changes as you progress through the story. The book came out in 1999, but it’s definitely worth a look if you can get your hands on it.

Climbing Out is Brian Ralph’s other graphic novel; this one involves the subterranean adventures of a monkey creature. The story has some dialogue, and it’s a little more involved than Cave-In, as there is an underlying sadness in the main character’s quest to escape his bleak world. This book came out in 2002 and is also worth seeking out.

Brian Ralph’s next book was supposed to be Crum Bums, a continuation of the story from Climbing Out. However, I don’t think that this book was ever released since Highwater Books, Brian Ralph’s publisher, went out of business last year. Hopefully someday it will see the light of day.

Keep Your Mouth Shut

The neighborhood I grew up in was on a hill. When I was young, I used to walk up the hill, and then run downhill at full speed. Why did I do this? I really don’t know – I either wanted to feel the rush of speed, or it was because I had nothing better to do. Little kids do things like that.

One time I was doing one of my downhill runs; with the wind whooshing by me, my eyes watering, I thought I was breaking the sound barrier…!

…Until a bug flew into my mouth.

I stopped immediately. I could feel the bug on my tongue and in the back of my throat. I spit the critter out, and it looked a lot like this:

It’s a stink bug, folks. It’s also known as the shield bug. This kind of insect produces a secretion from its thorax, which not only emits a bad odor, it can also kill other bugs. However, the secretion doesn’t harm larger animals that try to eat them. Like me.

Having a live bug in your mouth is bad enough, but to have one that brings the stink is even worse. Needless to say, I had an incredibly bad taste in my mouth. Just imagine something really bitter, and put six legs on it.

It took a lot of Hawaiian Punch and to get that taste out of my mouth that day.

Spider From Hell

We live in a somewhat forested area, so we have a lot of spiders outside our place. Those suckers build their webs everywhere. You sweep them away, and they come right back again. Inevitably, some of them get inside the house. Now, I actually like bugs and I don’t enjoy squashing them. But if you get into the kitchen, you gotta go.

Speaking of spiders, during my younger years I was once leaving my parent’s house to go to school. As I closed and locked the front door, I suddenly noticed that not more than six inches away from my face, there was a HUGE spider sitting on the door frame. It looked a lot like this:

Being the tough kid that I was, I didn’t scream like a girl. …OK, maybe I let out a little yelp. I managed to gather my courage and backed away from the eight-legged beast.

I know it could have easily eaten my face, but I managed to escape with my life. As I fled the scene, I could imagine the spider saying: “Yeah, run little girl. This is my house now.”

I never saw that spider again. If I saw that spider today, I’d show him who the boss is. Yep.

Its Cricket, Mate

When we were in London this past summer, we had the opportunity to watch some British TV. One of the first things that I saw was a televised cricket match between England and Bangladesh.

Not having ever seen the game before, I was totally perplexed. The game kind of resembles baseball, where one team throws a small ball at the batter, who tries to whack the ball with his big wooden paddle. That’s where the similarity ends. There are a lot of men in the outfield, but they don’t get to do much. All the players wear nicely pressed white polo shirts and slacks. There’s an audience in the stands, but they don’t do much. Most of the time, everybody remains really quiet.

The strangest thing about the game was that it seemed to never end. England was up to bat, and Bangladesh was pitching. The pitcher would hurl the ball at batter, the batter would hit the ball, and the outfielders would chase after it. England was somehow hundreds of points ahead, and Bangladesh couldn’t do anything about it. This is what happened the entire afternoon. Nothing else happened. That was it. They stopped the game eventually because the sun was going down. The next day, they started the game again, with England continuing to whack Bangladesh’s pitches all over the field. I guess there’s no “mercy” rule in cricket.

I know I’m just being the ugly American about this. I can only image how someone feels watching American football for the first time. I’ve been watching football my whole life, and I still don’t understand how the “tuck” rule works.


Cricket is so popular in England, they even have their own video games. Unfortunately, I don’t think that these games will be coming to your local Walmart anytime soon.

Our Friend Bibendum

I’m a big fan of cool packaging and advertising graphics, and I especially like characters created to personify a product. When you think of tires, who do you think of? The Michelin Man, of course!

When I was a kid, I used to think the Michelin Man was some kind of mummy that liked to hang around gas stations. However, if I saw him as how he originally appeared, I may have been frightened even more.

The Michelin Company, which originated in France, created the Michelin Man (originally named “Bibendum”) character in the 1890’s. Here’s the poster he first appeared in:

Good Lord, look at this guy. This is not the Michelin Man we know and love. He’s wearing glasses, smoking a cigar, and is about to drink a cup full of nails and broken glass to show how tough he is! Also, he doesn’t just have a mouth – he has a gaping maw to swallow children whole.
Here are a couple more of his early posters:

Watch out for Bibendum, he’ll nail you in the head with a tire if you’re not paying attention. Otherwise, he’ll be glad to give you a piece of his midsection if you need it – as long as get on your knees and beg.

Over the years, the Michelin Man has softened his appearance, put on a little weight, and stopped threatening children. He quit smoking cigars, got rid of the glasses, and put on some white gloves to cover his flesh-colored hands. Over 100 years later, he has evolved into the rubbery icon we all know and love, and we can all sleep better at night.