Photography

by Colleen

Guess what!! I heard about this 365 project that the kids are doing these days on flicker, excuse me - flickr. The purpose of the project is to take one photo every day for 365 days, and what with the notice of this coinciding with New Years-fricken-Eve and all, I've decided that THAT's what I'm doing in 2010.

But it's not a new years resolution, cuz .... I don't make those. So starting tomorrow, 1-1-10, one picture/post, per day, people. Hopefully not too sporadically*.

*my tribute to Brittney Murphey. rip.

New York City Comic-Com Videos

by Hubert

6 minutes to Christmas, and I thought the best thing I can do is post videos from February of this year. From Comic-Con!

Usually you see lines this long at Disneyland, except you don't see the whole thing! Actually this isn't the whole thing either. Scary, huh? If I remember correctly, it took at least 20 minutes to get onto the show floor.



There is a man in a giant banana suit in the next video.



Scarfy Blue makes fun of a sign.



Pac-Man lives!



Scarfy Blue's favorite comic book character.



That doll is ugly.

Scarfy Blue in New York City...Again

by Hubert

Digging through the archives...

Scarfy Blue went to Otto's Pizzeria, a restaurant owned by the famous Mario Batali. At least I'm told he's famous. I didn't know who he is, although everyone at work did.

Watch Scarfy Blue's amazing powers at work:


Scarfy Blue is not the goody two-shoes that everything thinks he is. Goody two-shoes? Does that even make sense?


Well, will you look at this! Now I know where the phrase "goody two-shoes" comes from.

A silly reunion with Scarfy Blue's mom.

Not biological of course.

And finally, food! Dessert counts as food.


What will Scarfy Blue do next?

More Giant Manatee

by Hubert

In the previous video, you couldn't see just how large Giant Manatee is. Well, now you can see.





Now THAT is a giant manatee.

How Big Is That Manatee?

by Hubert

You will see how big that manatee is another time. But in the meantime, here is that manatee roaming the hallway.

Day Three, San Francisco, Pictures!

by Hubert

Tasty lunch!



Go Mighty Mouse!



Neither Scarfy Blue nor I know what this is.



Big mess o' pictures.



Big George Washington.

Day Three, Part Two, in San Francisco

by Hubert

I took video inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art...that is, until an employee told me I couldn't. But it's too good to keep to myself.

The first thing I did was take a guided tour. Otherwise there would be no way for me to understand what I was looking at. I'm not the art-appreciating type normally, but felt I should get some culture in my trip.

Below is a pile of rocks.



Art is everywhere. Sometimes it's on the wall, and sometimes it is the wall.



Is this pushing the boundaries of art?



I can't imagine how long it took to make the following:



Video is better than words for the following:



Warning: There is poop in the next video.



This is art?



This is the lobby of the museum.



Here's your random bonus video of where Apple used to hold their trade show!

Day Three, Part One, in San Francisco

by Hubert

For day three of my trip, I only had plans to go to two attractions, the Cartoon Art Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I did this because unlike previous nights where I headed back to the hotel around 7 PM, I was having dinner with a friend and guessed that I would be out late. I also got to sleep in!

But before any museums was lunch! My first stop was Caffe Museo, the cafe attached to the SF MOMA, as my guidebook mentioned it opened an hour earlier than the museum itself.



Scarfy Blue was amused at my drink.



Here's the menu:



Yes, this is the kind of food you can get in San Francisco where you go to a counter to order.

Summer Pasta
Orecchiette Pasta
Mediterranean Quiche
Grilled Marinated Portobellow Panini
Toasted Niman Ranch Smoked Ham & Fontina Cheese Panini

and of course "The majority of our produce is organic"

I had the ham & cheese panini, it was good.

After lunch, I walked a short distance to the Cartoon Art Museum. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside the place, so I just have video from the outside.



Oh, thank goodness for Youtube. After playing the last video, it suggested a video that I saw playing inside the Cartoon Art Museum and had to share with all three of you who read this blog. Imagine four panels that are continually painted over to tell a story. It's hard to explain, so please enjoy!



Next San Francisco entry: The SF MOMA

Day Two, in San Francisco, with pictures!

by Hubert



Oh no, what did Scarfy Blue do to deserve this?



Gorgeous day, big skyline.



Lunchtime!



Scarfy Blue is a pig.



That's a lot of sea lions.



It's so tempting to violate that law.



Why can't one of these be closer to home?

Next San Francisco Entry: Day Three

Day Two, Part 4, in San Francisco!

by Hubert

I stumbled upon an museum one one on end of Fisherman's Wharf called Musee Mecanique. It's museum of entertainment machines that would eat your coins. But not just games, no no. Machines like the one shown below.



That's all the machine does.

Here's another one.



I can't believe what people found entertaining decades ago. And in 2040, people are going to say the same things about today's arcade machines, or what's left of them.

Then I was off to Hyde Street Pier, where you can go into real boats previously used for real things like...I forget.



And you can see parts of boats:



Why I was compelled to take video of this wheel, I do not know. As you can tell, I don't know why I do a lot of things.

All of this walking around made me hungry, despite having eaten only three hours below. So where did I eat an early dinner?



I have now been to In 'N Out Burger twice in my life. Why can't they be in New Jersey???

Next San Francisco entry: Pictures from Day 2

Day Two, Part 3, in San Francisco

Finally, lunchtime!

I went to Boudin Bakery at Fisherman's Wharf, a giant tourist trap. The Wharf, not the Bakery. The bakery is known for, well, look at the video below.



But Fisherman's Wharf is more than restaurants and trinket shops. For instance, a colony of sea lions make the Wharf their home year round.



I bet you're thinking "I want a closer look at these magnificent sea creatures". Look no further!



Too adorable. If you still are not satiated in your appetite for sea lions, you can dine at the place below:



One last look around the Wharf...



Next San Francisco entry: The rest of Day 2.

What is the Gay Chicken?

I had brunch in the city with my friend Brillo and three of his friends. I've had brunch in cities two weeks in a row! Will I make next week the third?

So we're all back at Brillo's place and someone mentioned the "Gay Chicken". I ask what that is, of course this is too good to pass up. I was given this definition, taken from Urban Dictionary:

A game played by two straight guys, where both slowly slide their hands up the inside of the other guy's legs until one player chickens out, and thereby loses. Gay players cheat.

It's always when guys do this that it is called Gay Chicken. I don't think women have a name for it. Also, women aren't dumb enough to do this.

Why would anyone do this? Unless you're trying to get two gay guys together?

So now that I'm home, I had to google this. Apparently Gay Chicken encompasses more games/dares, such as:

A game where two people of the same sex (and preferably straight) put their faces closer and closer until one of them chickens out. If none of them do, then they get closer until they kiss.

I'm laughing really hard. WHY? WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS? DOES NOT COMPUTE!

Of course there are Youtube videos of guys playing Gay Chicken.

Guy 1: I love pussy, I love pussy, I love pussy.
Guy 2: Vaginas!
Guy 1: This is the straightest thing I've ever seen!

Then the winner plays third guy:

Guy 2: As soon as we get bodily fluid swappage, that's it, right?
Guy 3: It doesn't stop until someone back off.
Guy 2: I'm not looking at you in the eyes.

The winner gets to slap the loser in the face. That's the reward for "winning". Really.

In the near future, Col and I are going to post reviews of "The Invention of Lying" and "Zombieland", since we saw both movies when I was visiting her in Chicago. So watch for that!

Day Two, Part Two, in San Francisco

by Hubert

Even at Alcatraz, inmates were allowed visitors. Very few visitors.



I stepped outside jail for a bit. Near Alcatraz Island is Angel Island, currently a state park, unless California's budget crisis changes that.



Now back inside the jail. There are several "blocks" in the jail, named after letters, and D Block was the worst for inmates, with poor lighting and some special cells for particularly bad behaving inmates. See below:



I had been on the island for over three hours, with the 90 minute history tour and the 45 minute jailhouse audio tour. Time to get some lunch back in San Francisco! Scarfy Blue said his goodbyes.



And on the boat ride back to land, an old friend was hovering around the Golden Gate Bridge.



Next San Francisco entry: Lunch and more!

Day Two, Part One, in San Francisco

by Hubert

Finally, back to posting about San Francisco!

I bought ticket to go to Alcatraz Island the week before, because I read that the island sometimes gets sold out during the busy tourist season. Although I wasn't there during the busy season, I like being careful.

Ta da! Alcatraz Island! From the boat!



Ok, not the best angle. Oh well.

Got off the boat, took an hour-and-half tour about the history of the island before it was a federal penitentiary, saw where Nicolas Cage ran out of a doorway with green flares from the movie "The Rock", blah blah blah.

Eventually got to a part of Alcatraz Island with a good view of the city:



Then Scarfy Blue saw a bird and well...you know.



Eventually, I went into the jail, and wouldn't you know, it was just like the one in the movie Escape from Alcatraz, because they filmed on location. Ha. I found the cells important in the movie and of course in the jail, there is a giant poster which talks about the famous escape from Alcatraz.



You can even see what the guard saw when the escapees left behind dummy bodies.



Next entry: More Alcatraz!

As the bicennquattuordecimtennial, plus a score, (234th) anniversary of our nation's independence approaches...

by Colleen

I would like to point out that I heard yet another British accent today in the crowd of people waiting to cross the street with me. That's about the 5th one I've heard in the past 6 months. And no, these Brits are not dressed like tourists. How many British expats are living in our city right now? Why? And what are they up to? Fair citizens of Chicago, they are up to no good!

Well I have a message for them:
We kicked you out of this country in 1776 and we'll do it again!

Evidence of Tory Sleeper Cells in Chicago:

- Increase in Tea (and coffee) Tariffs
That's right, all soft drinks including coffee and tea went from a 1% to 6.25% tax rate effective this past Sept. 1st.  Brits arrive in our city and taxes go up. Coincidence? I think not. Is Daley just a Limey shill?

- Chicago loses 2016 Olympic bid, Britain hosts 2012 Olympics
In possibly the most understated, albeit classy, handing off of the Olympic flag yet, Beckham sat atop a red double-decker bus and some British dude slowly waved the Olympic flag as Bei-Jing handed the reins over to London. Stately London, who you know will manage to host a smashing Olympics on probably half the 2008 Olympics budget. Bah.
While the English get 2012, Chicagoans get - nothing! Alright Britain, you can have your scone and eat it too....this time.

- Did I mention I heard 5 people speaking the Queen's English in the past 6 months?
 That's a lot.

Possible updates later. In the meantime, remember: Tory Sleeper Cells - If you see something, say something. Thank you for your time.

Yikes:

THAT'S WHERE THE ******* TICKETS WERE?

by Hubert

Hello everyone.  Or at least all three of you readers out there.  I just spent the weekend hanging out with my illustrious co-author, and yet neither of us posted anything!  And we normally live 900 miles apart!

Just a quick post today.  I buy my movie tickets from Costco because I can buy AMC tickets for $8 a piece, when they cost $11-12 at the theater.  I'm cheap, and it's an excuse to go to Costco.  I don't have many reasons to go since I live alone and don't eat a battalion's worth of food in a week.

I thought I brought four ticket vouchers with me to Chicago when I left my apartment Thursday morning, but then when I arrived in Chicago, I couldn't find the tickets.  Oh well, we'd have to pay full price for movies.

I got back home less than two hours ago, start unpacking, and find there is a small pouch underneath the top flap of the duffel bag I brought to Chicago.   I also notice the movie ticket vouchers in that pocket.

OOOOHHHH, NOW you understand the title of this post.  I could have saved Col and I three dollars each!

And how did I miss this every time I looked in the bag for stuff in Chicago???????

Fahv-ruh and the Anti-Catch

by Colleen

Okay okay, much has been said about Minnesota's Miracle Man by the East Coast Biased MSM so I'm not gonna harp on it too much other than to voice my own reserves over the ending - both feet were in bounds? really? really?

Nonetheless, I'm as happy as a fan can be considering we walked away with a loss. The 49ers came to Minnesota, played an early game in a weird time zone, lost Frank Gore in the first few minutes, and still had the lead in the final drive of the Vikings' Home Opener - a game that the Vikings were supposed to win anyway, because, well, it's the home opener. Who doesn't win that? Oh yeah the Rams and the Browns. wah wahh.

From what I hear, our defense was awesome. Let's just get this next week over with, I'm not going to say anything to jinx the outcome, but once we're out of the bye week, it's gonna be an interesting 10 weeks of football, I can tell you that much. Can't wait to see how we're gonna match up against the Jags, since the Cards ripped them apart and we edged out the Cards. And should be interesting to see what the defense does against Indy's offense....ooh I just noticed it's in Indianapolis..maybe I'll try and go!

Let's end this thing on a better note:

Day One, in San Francisco, with Pictures!

About time I uploaded some pictures...

I saw this poster before even hopping on a cable car!



"Experience Gender Transcendence"? "Our world famous transgender stars"? How many would famous transgender people are there?



The Golden Gate Bridge when I first got there.



A great view of the city from the Golden Gate Bridge!



A view of the Golden Gate Bridge after I left its gift shop.



Click on the picture so you can see those stats!



Scarfy Blue at the Palace of Fine Arts.



This is from Ghirardelli Square...a daycare methinks. Cute turtle!



Outside Kara's cupcakes. You can see Scarfy Blue salivating.



One set of cupcakes!



More cupcakes!



A view of the San Francisco skyline from Coit Tower.



Another view from Coit Tower. What a hilly city!



Looking at the top part of Coit Tower.



And the bottom part of Coit Tower. Not that interesting, really.



Penguino!

Next post: Day two in San Francisco

Day One, Part Four, in San Francisco

by Hubert

I walked from Fort Mason back to Ghirardelli Square to get some food. It was almost three o clock, I had gotten up before 10 AM, and I still hadn't eating a damn thing. Why...I do not know.

I couldn't find anywhere that would give me a sandwich-to-go. The Square is a boutique mall, as in there are no big chains here. So I eventually ate at Lori's Diner, a small 50's style diner-chain in San Francisco. How many 50's diner-chains are there in the country? I got a patty melt. It had onions and mushrooms in it. Is it supposed to? I have no idea.

Afterwards, I walked around Ghirardelli Square some more, and found Kara's Cupcakes. What did Scarfy Blue say after he saw the place?



Succinct.

I got the chocolate velvet cupcake. And then I dropped some on my shirt and backpack. It was still very good.

Next stop was Coit Tower. I got there by bus, thanks to my iPhone, which knows EVERYTHING EVER DONE BY MANKIND. Just click on the link to see what it is, because I don't feel like explaining it.

See what I saw below:



I wasn't there for very long. Luckily, that bus in the clip didn't go anywhere, so I hoped on that bus to get down the hill. Took a different bus through Chinatown, and I haven't been a bus with that many Chinese people...well, ever. Not even in Taiwan. Took the bus to Union Square, and walked to the Metreon, a mall that Sony used to have their flagship store in, but they moved out earlier this year, and the mall is current half-empty, to be redone starting next year. But there was one good surprise to be had, as I found the following at one of the entrances:



Next entry: Pictures from Day One

Day One, Part Three, in San Francisco

by Hubert

From the Golden Gate Bridge, I took the bus over to the Palace of Fine Arts. According to Wikipedia:

The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California is a building originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition...It was one of only two buildings from the exposition not to be demolished...Many forms of wildlife have made their home there including swans, ducks (particularly migrating fowl), geese, turtles, frogs, and raccoons.

It is big, as you will see below.



Clearly this was a terrible angle so I walked to the other side.



Now you see why I mentioned the wildlife above.

Scarfy Blue was especially amused by all the wildlife.



Here's one last view of the place.



Oh, and a fellow tourist asked me to take a picture of her with the Palace in the background. Why she was not scared off by Scarfy Blue, I'll never know. People do crazy things on their vacations!

The Palace of Fine Arts is a completely outdoor affair, so I didn't spent much time here. I took the bus back to Fort Mason and went inside the converted-fort-to-community-center instead of around it, and stepped into an art display.



Yes, this qualifies as art. You can actually buy parts of it, assuming your place of residence is lacking in mesh balls.

Next entry: The rest of my first day in San Francisco.

Day One, Part Two, in San Francisco

by Hubert

Just a block away from where the last video was shot, I hopped onto a bus that took me straight to the Golden Gate Bridge (thank goodness for iPhones).

This sight greeted me upon arrival.



I had traveled three miles, from gorgeous weather to fog city. Couldn't see any of the top spires of the bridge.

So I walked onto the bridge, and this is what I could see:



This was no better. And people were looking at me. Or Scarfy Blue Penguin. It's hard to tell.

Time to walk to the first spire of the bridge.



STILL CAN'T SEE THE TOP OF THE BRIDGE!

I head back to the southern entrance of the bridge and take about 15 minutes mulling over purchases in the gift shop. Gotta get something for my troubles!

I buy a bunch of trinkets, step outside, and see this!



Woohoo! Success!

And here's a bonus video:



Next entry: Palace of Fine Arts

Guess who got a little too into following the pro-cycling circuit this summer?

by Colleen

With the end of the third Tour of the summer, La Vuelta, this past Sunday, the cycling season is officially over. Or at least the Grand Tour portion of it is. There was talk of world championships coming up, or something. I’m not quite sure – I didn’t get that into it.

Know Your Grand Contender Cyclists:

Don’t be fooled by their skinny appearance! Cyclists aren’t jockeys. They’re taller. To put it in some perspective, if jockeys are like hobbits…well hold on, hobbits are kind of fat. Okay, if jockeys are like skinny hobbits, then pro-cyclists are close to, but not quite elves. Better than humans though. Right, jockeys are skinny hobbits and cyclists are a human/elf hybrid. Except Lance Armstrong. Lance can be full elf.

eh?

Alberto Contador - 2009 Tour de France Winner

 

Frank and Andy Schleck (the younger one is Andy) Andy came in 2nd in the Tour de France and 1st in the under 25 years category.

Lance riding for Team Astana in this year's Tour de France - the Kazakhstan team (yakshimash)

Cav(endish)

Oh those Brits..

Brice Feillu

Won one of the Tour de France stages, looks vaguely rodent-like.  But in a 'small furry mouse that you want to hug' way. And hey, how about that name? Clearly, Europe is decades ahead of us when it comes to nomenclature.

Alejandro Valverde. Won the Tour of Spain - La Vuelta Espana

Showed up wearing gold (1st place colors) on the first day of the race - classy.

Cadel Evans

Oh, Cadel. He has the dubious distinction of being the only rider to "blow up mentally" (actually said by a commentator) towards the end of the Tour de France, finishing in 30th place and almost getting fired by his cycling team. Admittedly, he also has the dubious distinction of being Australian, hehe.

He finished 3rd in the Vuelta, but may have been able to take 1st. His fall down the podium was due partly to a punctured tire during a critical portion of the race. His team car was supposed to hand him a new bike in under 30 seconds and his teammates were supposed to pace him back into the race. Well, the team car took a minute thirty to show up and his teammates never showed up. wa waaa.

A random rider from Team Milram

Hey-oh!

by Colleen

As one of the contributors here, let me just go on record as saying I am never going to watch that tool-y cable car video, ever. What, you filmed it turning around? Whoop-de-flippin do! You know what else turns around? CARS. I saw 47 of them turn around just today.

Day One, Part One, in San Francisco

By Hubert

I was in San Francisco from 9/15 to 9/20 and thought I'd share it will all three of my readers. So let's go.

Worked at half day at work on the 15th, took an afternoon flight to SFO, and arrived at the hotel at 11:30 PM PST. I stayed at the Oakland Airport Hilton despite landing in San Francisco International Airport because I was in town for a wedding and my friend got the group rate at this hotel. It was only 15 minutes away from the wedding place. The Hilton was slightly less than an hour and half away from the SF airport, but when the hotel room is less than $65 a night, I don't complain.

So this takes us to the 16th, and the first thing I did was ride a cable car. You can see what a cable car is below!



Nifty, huh? Somehow this thing goes up and down the hills of San Francisco, pulled by a cable built into the road.

For the first half of the trip, I hung onto a pole in the front part of the cable car, sat down for the latter half. This cable car route takes people to the western end of Fisherman's Wharf.

I walked west and stumbled upon San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, with a beautiful view of the ocean.



Onward, to the end of the park's pier:



Fort Mason was just next door. It was a former military base, now turned into a community center. I could "sort of" see the Golden Gate Bridge from it.



Before taking the bus to the Golden Gate Bridge, I walked by a lovely grassy area. Scarfy Blue made some observations.



Next entry: Golden Gate Bridge