Friday Funday XXII
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0626 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet during the previous week.
SOCIAL SECURITY CRISIS!: The FAQ! [del.icio.us]
An extremely funny and sarcastic look at privamatupilous splendiferacy. Er, I mean the privatization of Social Security.
SeatSale: License to Sit [del.icio.us]
This chair has a, "magnetic stripe card reader and spikes that retract when a seating license is downloaded from a license server in response to input from the card reader incoroprated [sic] into the chair." And yes, the spikes come back out when the license eventually expires.
The Angel Light [del.icio.us]
The Angel Light can reportedly see through walls, as if there was no barrier at all. Troy Hurtubise (the guy that built a suit that would protect him in a hand-to-hand encounter with a bear) says he invented it because of a recurring dream. That the fuck does he smoke before he goes to sleep?
Fake Thai Disneyland [del.icio.us]
I'm not sure what's more amazing: That someone bothered to build a fake Disney theme park, or that Disney hasn't sued yet.
Safecracking for the computer scientist [del.icio.us]
An amazing paper detailed the common vulnerabilities of safes in use today. This paper is so good that locksmiths and safe-makers are shitting themselves.
And the Verdict is...
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 2055 hrs
FUCKIN' TATTOO, BABY!
I totally called it.
Looming Over the Cat
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1605 hrs
I was looking around on craigslist today and I found that image. I laughed out loud. The picture is supposed to illustrate the loom that someone in Seattle is (or was) giving away for free. I hadn't expected to see the cat, but I think it's integral to the picture.
Foxy Oprah
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0938 hrs
Is it just me, or does Oprah like to make FOX's programming her own? First she had her own little version of American Idol, and last week she had a Nanny 911-esque episode. I hope the studio execs at FOX are paying attention...
Actually, I have another, "is it just me?" for you.
Is it just me, or is television getting really predictable these days? For example, last night I was watching 24 and as soon as that guy showed up at the Araz family's house, I knew that Behrooz was screwed. Then later in the show, Behrooz realises he's going to be killed, so he kills the guy with his shovel, which I called as soon as Behrooz pulled the shovels out of the car.
Other shows have been easy to predict as well. The twist in My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss was that N. Paul Todd wasn't deciding who to fire, but a secret boss named Mr. Big. As soon as I heard about this twist (well before the show hit the air) I said, "It's a monkey." Sure enough, a monkey was calling the shots. FOX canned the show before it ended, but you'll be able to view the episodes you missed online soon.
There was another show that Morah and I were watching where I correctly predicted something, but I can't recall what it is right now.
I mostly watch FOX, so I don't have a lot of examples from other stations. Perhaps only FOX is becoming predictable.
I recall that when we were watching the episode of CSI with the "Sherlock Holmes" murder, I came up with the suicide theory (based on the evidence) before they revealed it on the show, but it turned out that it wasn't a suicide. Of course, I was also able to tell that the suicide theory was incorrect because it was too far from the end of the show for them to solve the crime (sadly, CSI, like many crime shows, are predictable that way).
Moreover, last night's 24 did have a nice twist at the end that I didn't see coming. The black woman (whose name I can't remember and isn't on the 24 website) calls someone on her cell phone and it's implied that she's working with the terrorists.
So here's another prediction for you (we'll see if I'm correct). Bear in mind that the affiliates are just as clueless as everyone else about what's going to happen (well, =I= am anyway. Some of the higher-ups might have a clue, but we lowly folk sure don't know what's going to happen). The network has been advertising a big shocker on this week's OC. The ads make it seem as though Marissa and the bi chick (the one Seth was hooking it up with) are going to have a... Thing. And perhaps they will, but one of the scenes they've been showing in the promos is Marissa and the bi chick at the Cooper residence. Marissa is all wet (although it's kind of hard to tell in the promo) and she takes her shirt off. She's standing there in her bra and the bi chick is bent over (as though inspecting some part of Marissa). Then a guy walks in. I'm not sure what his character's name is because I don't actually watch The OC and he's not listed on the official website. He's not her dad, but I think he's supposed to be her stepfather. Anyway, he walks in and says something to the effect of, "Oh my God, what did you do?" The bi chick stands up and turns to face him with a surprised look on her face. Marissa has a smile that slowly fades. And that's all the promo shows you.
Now, they're setting it up like he walks in on them in the middle of a lesbian love tryst, but given what he says (and what Morah tells me based on my prediction), I think he's cross because Marissa got a tattoo. So we'll all have to watch on Thursday night and see if I got it right.
Friday Funday XXI
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0828 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet during the previous week.
The Madness of King George [del.icio.us]
This picture is an anonymous coronation day gift. Er, I mean, inauguration day gift.
The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck [del.icio.us]
This guy tears The Polar Express a new one and shows why the film didn't work. He also shows a few examples of how the film =could= have worked. This site is getting serious attention from big players in the film industry. Be sure to read the second half of his review here.
Snowflake Photomicrography [del.icio.us]
The Bentley Snowflake Collection at the Buffalo Museum of Science has a comprehensive collection of photomicrograph of snowflakes by Wilson Alwyn Bentley. These things are amazing.
Free songs from iTunes and Pepsi [del.icio.us]
Also known as, "The tilt trick still works."
Jesus of the Week [del.icio.us]
Normally depictions of Jesus are no laughing matter, but after you get a load of some of the Jesii on this page, you won't be able to hold it in.
New Avids
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1134 hrs
The Avids came today. This picture is mostly for Kris.
Bad fonts!
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1112 hrs
I have created a list of fonts to avoid, which you can find as a .jpg here. I will continue to add to this list as I find fonts that qualify.
The basic requirement for a font to make it on to the list is volume of use. In other words, the fonts on this list are overused. Some of them (comic sans, sand, papyrus, et cetera), you'll likely recognize instantly, even if you're not a font-a-holic or graphic designer.
I thought about adding unreadable fonts to the list, but there are =SO= many that it wouldn't be feasible. Plus, you wouldn't be able to read the name of the font to know not to use it! Besides, it should be common sense as to which fonts are readable and which aren't.
You'll notice that I have included look-alike fonts on this list (AdLib & Socket, Mistral & Stucco). If you see a font on this list that you recognize, but have always known it by a different name, let me know and I'll add the look-alike.
Also, if you know of a font that you think qualifies to be on this list, please let me know!
My Hawaii Calendar
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1125 hrs
That's me holding up the new 2005 Hawaii calendar. I was surprised at the quality from a CafePress.com item (I have been less than pleased with them in the past).
The calendar features 24 images I took while on my trip to Hawaii, as well as some interesting facts about what you see in each picture. The entire calendar was designed by me (well, the monthly images and cover were, anyway. You can't edit the actual monthly grids at all, which really annoyed me). Most major U.S. holidays are listed and CafePress.com is now offering a 30-day, no questions asked return policy.
So step right up and buy your slick new 2005 calendar! All profits from the crap in my CafePress shop will go right back into keeping alifelessordinary.com online (since it doesn't pay for itself otherwise).
At the time of this posting, I'm only offering the calendar and a bumper sticker. I used to have a mouse mat, but it's currently being redesigned.
Speedticketbeaters.com or Bigfuckingcheaters.com?
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1144 hrs
In looking around on the internet today, I found a site called speedticketbeaters.com. I looked around their (crappy) site for a bit and found some testimonials. One of them was from an actual lawyer who had used their services and won his case.
I was suspicious.
So, as I often do when reading the testimonials of products about which I am suspicious, I checked the AnyWho to see if I could find contact info for the people listed.
Not a single person listed on their testimonial page exists in the AnyWho.
Anyone surprised?
Friday Funday XX
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1035 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet during the previous week. This entry marks twenty weeks in a row. You know it.
T-Shirt Underwear [del.icio.us]
From the site, "Turning a top into a bottom and making your bottom tiptop".
Kamiel Proost's Website [del.icio.us]
This guy is a trippy (though talented) artist. Check out the one and five dollar bills in his gallery.
Tsunami Simulator Project [del.icio.us]
This guy built a tsunami simulator and used it give a very cool description of why the recent Tsunami was so devastating.
Super Mario Brothers Sheet Music [del.icio.us]
You know it.
Radiohead Rorschach [del.icio.us]
I could have sworn that I already posted this one, but I can't find it on my site, so must just have sent it to Kris and mistaken that for actually posting it. Anyway, this article is about a really cool experiment wherein fifth graders listen to Radiohead and draw whatever the music inspires them to. Go now, I know you won't read any more of my drivel anyway.
Fox's 24 Game
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1602 hrs
If you visit Fox's Website, you might notice an ad for the 24 game. It's kind of a fun game (though entirely unrealistic). If you complete all of the objectives, you gain access to a "reward". I spent about a two hours last night trying and trying to complete all of the objectives. I =FINALLY= managed to get my reward, only to find out that I wasted two hours trying to get access to 24 and LG camera phone themed desktop wallpapers. That were stored on the hard drive. What the fuck? So my advice is to just play to complete the primary objectives, then (if you =really= want to see the wallpapers), do a search for "rewards" on your computer. It will be buried in some folders, but it should be there.
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0910 hrs
Well, my website is changing, anyway. And not a lot, just a bit. I did want to point out a few new features that I've added over the past couple of weeks.
I have added a "5 Most Recent Posts" section for those people who visit the site regularly, but not frequently. If you're using Mozilla, you'll likely notice a formatting error (the numbers in the list cover up the first few letters of the first word of each entry). This is a bug that I am aware of and am currently researching a way to fix it. I have only seen the page on IE 5.5 and 6, as well as the latest version of Mozilla, so if you have something else (Safari, Opera, et cetera), please let me know how it displays.
I also added a "Year in Review" link under the topics section. Clicking on this link loads a page that has a calendar for each month of every year that I posted something. Each calendar works just like the one at the top left of my blog.
Another change to the blog is the ability to make multiple posts in one day and have them all show up at the same time. I'm not 100% sure that it's going to work how I want it to, but early testing has given me hope.
I also set up the ability to do something similar in the archives. When you visit to the Year in Review section and click on a day that has multiple entries, they'll all show up (they weren't before).
The whole site is now under a Creative Commons License. To view which license, click here.
I have added a disclaimer and legal section which mention a few important "cover my ass" sort of things. I've tried not to be a dick about everything, but in this day and age, it's hard. Pretty much, you only need to know four things. First, everything on this site is mine (unless credited otherwise), is protected by U.S. copyright laws, and is not to be used without permission (and if you adhere to the terms of the CC License, you have permission). The other thing is that the site is presented "as is", so if something doesn't work properly, you have no legal recourse. Third, if you transmit something to me (post a comment, send me an e-mail, chat with me in an IM, talk to me on the phone, et cetera), it could end up on the site. And finally, the fourth thing is that if you click on a link that takes you to a domain that I don't control, you're assuming all risk and responsibility for visiting that site (so if you click on a link that takes you to a page that I don't control and that page is covered in porn and you get fired from your job, it's not my fault).
I recently shortened the wait times for the webcams to two minutes for work (we'll see how long I can get away with that) and one minute at home. These changes were made on bandwidth uses and projections. These wait times could change in the future.
So, as you can see, things are slowly moving forward with the site. I have a few more changes I'd like to see implemented in the not-too-distant future, but I'm still unsure about their feasibility. In any event, testing shall continue.
If you notice any bugs (or anything you think is a bug), I would appreciate it if you would e-mail me and let me know.
Friday Funday XIX
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0746 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet during the previous week.
Cryptozoology and Philately [del.icio.us]
Would you expect there to be a market for cryptozoological stamps? Neither would I, but as this site shows us, cryptozoology and philately (stamp collecting) go hand in hand.
Hugh Panero Gets a Headache [del.icio.us]
And Jason Calacanis is the guy that gave it to him. Be sure to check out the video of Hugh Panero, CEO of XM, answering questions about losing Howard Stern to Sirius and whether or not gay people are, "biological errors". ZING!
iMac Fingernails [del.icio.us]
A Japanese salon offers acrylic fake fingernails that emulate the look of old iMacs. I think, anyway, I can't actually read the page.
The Top 20 Nude Scenes From 2004 [del.icio.us]
Believe it or not, this site contains nudity, which is why I gave it a NSFW rating.
Jenny, Are You There? [del.icio.us]
This guy, Dan, has no life. And free long distance and weekend minutes. So guess what he did? Remember that song by Tommy Tutone? I'm sure you can guess where this is leading...
Grammar Check
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0807 hrs
So, in the creation of my 2005 calendar, I needed to know the correct method for capitalizing the names of animals. Google found this:
From "Merriam-Webster Concise Handbook for Writers":
"The common names of animals and plants are not capitalized unless they contain a proper noun as a separate element, in which case the proper noun is capitalized, but any element of the name following the proper noun is lowercased. Elements of the name preceding the proper noun are usually but not always capitalized....In references to specific breeds, as distinguished from the animals that belong to the breed, all elements of the name are capitalized."
Some examples of properly capitalized names, using these guidelines:
blue whale
cardinal
South African crowned crane
The Real World: Hawaii - Episode Five
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1152 hrs
Ah yes, Episode Five. Wherein Thomas gets sick of writing about the trite crap he did in Hawaii, so he wraps it up in this one.
Thursday. We got up early and went to the USS Arizona Memorial. I've been there a million times, but my dad never had! None of us could believe it when he told us.
After that (wow, that was the quickest description of one of our activities yet, huh?) we went to the USS Missouri, also known as the Mighty Mo. She was the ship on which Japan surrendered to U.S. forces in World War II. We bought the $50 Explorer's Tour and it was =SO= worth it. We got to go down into the bowels of the ship, which is closed off to regular tourists. We saw all sorts of cool stuff and at the end they gave us a meal chit. Dad and I used ours to get chili and rice, while Morah got a big soft pretzel and mum and Ashley got a slice of pizza. I was thinking that we wouldn't get much food, but the pieces of pizza were huge (at least 1/5 of an entire pizza each!) and the plates of chili had two scoops of white rice =smothered= in nice, hot chili. It was so much food that dad couldn't finish and I had trouble myself. On top of all of that, all of our meals came with crisps and a drink!
Those two activities combined took up most of our day, so Morah and I dropped my family off and headed out toward Hawaii Kai so we could go to Spitting Caves, a cliff area that Lauren had shown me when we were dating. I had forgotten how to get there, so I jumped on to Google to try and find directions. I thought, "surely someone has posted directions online." Google gave me almost nothing. I searched for about ten to fifteen minutes and gave up. Then (because I knew it had to be online =somewhere=), I sat back down and started searching again. I used a few roundabout methods, but I was eventually able to find a website that gave perfect directions. No, I'm not going to tell you how to get there. Go do your own sleuthing.
After that, we went to Punahou so I could show Morah where I went to school and so I could see the new Case middle school. Unfortunately, we were running late and didn't have a whole lot of time (=someone= didn't want to leave spitting caves...). We didn't get to walk around much, but I showed her a few key things and we took off.
We had made plans to meet with Joe Aikala (from Episode Four) for a few drinks. We were supposed to meet my parents for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe only thirty minutes after we met Joe, so I convinced him to meet at the Hard Rock as well. It was good to see Big Joe again and get his... Unique perspective on how North Shore is doing (and the film industry in Hawaii in general). He was also quite pleased to hear that Morah and I got engaged.
And, as if I weren't popular enough that day, a couple of my friends from high school wanted to meet Morah and I after dinner. So we decided on a location and hung out for a little while. It's interesting to see how much people have changed in five and a half years.
One of my friends, Guy Wagner, wanted to see Dorm Life (my senior project from college), so we made plans to meet again the next day.
That brings us to Friday morning.
The Honolulu Zoo was our first stop. It hadn't changed a whole lot since I had last been there, but some changes were apparent. That really old fiberglass lion drinking fountain is gone (the one where you drink out of its mouth; anyone who has ever seen it will know what I'm talking about). That made me sad.
After the zoo, we all had lunch at LuLu's Waikiki Surf Club, a fairly new restaurant right across the street from the zoo. The food was great and the portions were huge. The atmosphere was also very fun.
After lunch, everyone went their separate ways. My parents went back to my grandmother's condo, Morah and Ashley went shopping in Waikiki (by themselves. Hmm.), and Guy came and picked me up so we could go back to his house and watch Dorm Life.
It was cool to see his house and his parents again. I hadn't seen them in =forever= and they were just as cool as I recall. Guy played some of his music for me and I showed him Dorm Life. Then he took me back to Waikiki and I met up with Morah and Ashley.
Thankfully I missed most of their shopping spree. In the time that it took Guy and I to go to his house, watch a few things, chat, and drive back to Waikiki, they had only made it halfway back to my grandmother's flat.
While walking through Waikiki, I had a celebrity sighting. You know that famous bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman? He was walking down the sidewalk with some chick. I wanted to stop him and ask to get a picture with him, but I was afraid he'd kill me.
That night we went to Don Ho's restaurant in Aloha Tower Shopping Center. Never eat there. The food was mediocre at best and all of it was =way= overpriced.
Christmas day was fairly uneventful. I got some cool gifts, though. And it's nice to see that people in my family are also giving Morah presents now.
We spent the day snorkeling and relaxing, then had an early dinner at the Hale Koa (a military hotel). After dinner, Morah, Ashley and I went to The Pearl Factory at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Morah and I went "pearl diving" and the pearl she got was fairly large. The girl that was working there was Latvian and totally hot.
Then on Sunday we left. We didn't want to leave, but alas, we had to. If anyone wants any tips about where to go while in Hawaii, e-mail me and I'll let you know about some places I highly suggest.
More Crap for the New Year
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1043 hrs
Randomness:
On New Year's Eve, Morah and I had dinner at Fugazzi, I really classy restaurant in downtown Spokane. The food was good, but the wine was what really caught my attention. I'm not sure our meal was really worth $100 (we only paid half of that thanks to a gift certificate I won at the Fox company picnic this past summer), but at least we got to feel really classy and have our last meal of 2004 at a nice restaurant.
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I'm way behind on my magazine reading (again), so I just read this in December's WIRED Magazine:
US Air Force Captain Edward Murphy said it in 1949, and we all paraphrase: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Most of the scientific community has written off the law as a myth - a result of selective memory or a self-fulfilling expectation. But an amateur mathematician from the UK has another explanation. Phillip Obayda drew up an equation combining the factors that influence the performance of a task - urgency, complexity, and importance, as well as skill (or lack thereof). He calculated the likelihood of a few familiar scenarios. The good news: To change the odds, all you have to do is alter one element of the equation. For instance, try to avoid doing anything complex or important when you're in a rush, particularly if it requires skills you don't have. But in general, the math proves that the universe really does hate you.
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New words I like:
Mobile Speed Bumps: Community-group members who drive the highways at the posted speed limit in an effort to force the cars behind them to do the same. <- That's totally me. -)
Fabjects - Objects made in fabrication laboratories (fab labs). Think 3D printer.
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More Crap I Found in WIRED:
Neven Vision's idea for a "visual Google". From WIRED:
The company has tweaked its facial analysis algorithms to identify anything from a Coke can to the Mona Lisa, barcodes to kanji. By linking this object-recognition software to a database of images, Neven aims to build a search platform for phonecam users. Don't know what something is? Snap a pic and the service sends back a match within 10 seconds.
Travel guides are next: Snap a picture of the Pantheon to learn its history, or click a road sign you need translated from German to English. "The system hyperlinks the visual world," Neven says. "Eventually every building and object will be in the database."
The True Measure of Success and Why Nerds Are Unpopular are a couple of fantastic articles.
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For some reason the DVD player on my computer won't play DVDs (I can use it as a normal drive, so I think it's just a software issue, but no software seems able to play them) and our set-top DVD player has also crapped out.
Last night Tom Dineen and I were tooling around and stopped into Best Buy where I found this DVD player for $41. At first, I thought it would be a crappy DVD player. I mean, look at it, it's only $41! I asked one of the employees if it had an assigned region and not only is it region free, but the guy said he bought two of them himself.
I also bought Bowling For Columbine; Sex, Lies and Videotape; and The Family Guy Seasons 1 & 2. So far, the DVD player works extremely well and we =finally= have a remote control! Now we can access all the special features we haven't been able to watch on other discs.
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I wrote another entry about my trip to Hawaii this morning, but it's going to be overshadowed by this post. If you're interested in reading it, you can find it here. Kris, make sure you read this one.
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High school chum Daniel Akiyama recently sent me the following in an e-mail. It contains references to people you likely won't know, but you'll still get the point.
Little philosophical digression: One of the crucial stages of childhood development, as psychologists have determined, is when a child learns that objects exist even outside of his line of sight. That is, when a ball falls off a table, an infant assumes that the ball has just "disappeared," that it no longer exists. But there comes a point when the child begins to realize that a ball that has fallen off a table actually still exists, even though he no longer has any physical proof, i.e. he can't see it or touch it. It's a matter of being completely trusting of your environment, of accepting that the world still functions beyond your own perception of it.
Some of us -- me, for example -- never outgrow that stage. I felt so strange coming to the realization that yes, people exist, grow and change, even when I'm not there to witness them. Rachel Antal got married and taught high school! Matt Johnson is writing plays! etc. Weird realization of 1) how successfully everyone is getting on with their lives, and 2) how oddly self-centered I think I've been all this time.
Earlier today I participated in a benefit concert to raise funds for victims of the tsunami disasters. THAT helped put things in perspective.
The Real World: Hawaii - Episode Four
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0919 hrs
Wednesday morning was a wet one. Kalihi is normally wet (as are many valleys on the island), but it was raining all over the island, so our plans had to change.
We took our time getting ready and met my parents downtown. Through an old friend of hers, my mum had arranged for us to visit the set of the Fox TV show North Shore (before it conflicted with CSI, Morah and I watched the show regularly, so visiting the set was an exciting prospect). The show is filmed on Super 16mm at the Diamond Head Studios.
The first thing we saw was the production office. Joe Aikala, a friend I met at EWU and with whom I graduated from the film department works on the show, so we got to see where he sits when he's there (it was his day off, so we didn't get to see him just then).
We walked past the Surf Hut set to the hallway/room set. The Surf Hut was originally shot at an actual, but they ended up just building a new one on the studio lot for convenience.
Next we saw the hallway/rooms stage. It was cool to walk around and see how everything worked. The rooms were, more or less, actual rooms that had doors leading in from the hallway, but there were only two or three of them and there weren't any ceilings. All of the views out the windows are completely fake and if you knock on the walls, it's clear they're just plywood. It is interesting to note how much detail was put into the rooms, however. There was molding near the floor (even in the closet) and a bathtub in the bathroom (actually, the bathroom was really nice).
The fake views are really cool. Pretty much all you're looking at is a =HUGE= photo hanging on a track (like a curtain). So if you want to change what's outside the room, you would just have to drag a new picture into place.
Next we went to the big sound stage where the lobby had been built. Originally, they weren't going to built their own lobby because they were shooting at Turtle Bay, but things got complicated, so they dropped $800,000 and built their own lobby. The exterior was nothing really special (of course, it wasn't set up for a shoot, so a lot of the greens and all of the signs were missing. Also, we were told that most of the exteriors are shot at a hotel on the Big Island). Instead of beautiful glass doors for the main entrance (is that how they are on the show? It's been a while since we've watched, so I can't recall), the doors are just made of plywood.
When you first walk in to the lobby, it's kind of hard to tell that you're on a set, though it quickly becomes apparent. The huge lights sitting all over the place give it away, but the ceiling lights are hidden behind muslin (a trick also seen in Citizen Kane).
When you first walk in, you pass two fountains (one on either side of you). If you really look at the fountains, they look pretty crappy. On TV, they look fabulous, but up close they're rather lackluster. I never had a good mental map of the lobby, so being on the set put it all into perspective. If you're standing at the fountains facing in, on the far wall is the Bamboo Lounge (who puts a bar right in the lobby?). To the right of the lounge is the gift shop. Further right is the concierge desk and all the way on the right are three lifts.
To the left of the Bamboo Lounge is a seating area, presumably part of the Bamboo Lounge, but I think it may actually be part of GW, Frankie's bar. GW itself is just through a doorway in that seating area. Further left is a hallway that doesn't lead anywhere (none of them do) and one of the walls of the hallway has three payphones attached to it. I thought that was a clever little touch. All the way to the left is the reception area, which in my opinion was far bigger than it needed to be.
The upstairs area was pretty dull. The lifts "go up to" the second floor (of course, they don't =really= go up to the second floor) and there are a bunch of seating areas. Apart from that, there wasn't much to see upstairs.
The lifts are pretty cool because if you pull on one door, the other door moves as well. They're wired together so that they open and close perfectly. They even have those bumper things that stop the door from closing on you, except that the bumpers on these lifts don't really work, they're just pieces of wood painted black that don't move at all. There was one lift that didn't have a car behind the door. It was like that scene in The Truman Show when Truman starts to figure out that something is amiss and he sees the doors of the lift open to reveal the craft service table (or whatever was behind it, it's been a while since I've seen that movie).
Morah, Ashley and I also took a little time to re-enact the "Nicole pushes Tessa into the fountain" scene (I'll have a picture online later). If you watch the show, you'll recall that in one episode, Nicole (Brooke Burns) and Tessa (Amanda Righetti) are having a heated discussion which results in them pushing one another back and forth. Nicole ends up pushing Tessa backward into one of the fountains, so we thought it would be funny to take a picture of Ashley (as Tessa, since she looks the part more than Morah does) being pushed into the fountain by Morah (as Nicole).
After our tour of the set, it was still raining and we weren't sure what to do. We decided to go to Ala Moana and get some shopping done. We didn't have a whole lot of time before we were supposed to meet up with my parents again, so we grabbed a map and figured out the optimal route to take to visit all of the stores we wanted to visit. I was able to find about two dozen different food vendors that I wanted to try, but obviously we didn't have time, nor did I have the appetite to do so.
One stop we made was to the Apple Store, where I finally got to see a 30 inch screen in person. Holy hell. I want it. I want it to have my children. The thing is =so= beautiful! I could just imagine having two, side by side.
Later that night, we all had dinner at my mum's favourite Japanese restaurant, Irifune. It's a fantastic little place on Kapahulu Avenue. Famed as the "Home of the Garlic Ahi", this place is truly fantastic. I ate one of their specials, a combo of garlic ahi (of course), shrimp tempura and sashimi. If you don't live in Hawaii and you go there, you'll likely be the only non-local in the place. But don't worry, the atmosphere is really friendly. A few things I should mention about the place, though, they don't have a liquor license (but from what I've heard, as long as you brown bag it, you're welcome to bring your own), they don't take reservations (they open at 5:30, so make sure you get there no later than 6p because they place will fill up), they're open Tuesday through Saturday and if you do go, ask them to do the thing where they turn off the lights.
A New Me in 2005
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1553 hrs
I've never been one for New Year's resolutions, but this year I have one. This year, I resolve to get into better shape.
Before you roll your eyes and think, "That old resolution? =Everyone= makes that resolution and never keeps it," consider what my resolution is saying. I'm not saying, "I resolve to go on a diet" or "I resolve to lose weight". What I want to do is get into better shape overall. I'm not trying to make a body change, I'm trying to make a life change.
I resolve to eat right. I'm not going to go on a diet, I'm going to change it completely. For life. I'm going to reduce red meat, refined sugar, and refined wheat products. I'm going to eat carbs in the morning and protein in the evening. Most importantly, I'm going to reduce portion sizes and eat five times a day instead of three.
I resolve to work out more frequently. Morah and I bought an elliptical machine and she has some pilates DVDs. If she and I can sort out a schedule and help each other stick to it, I think we can lose a lot of weight and really help our cardiovascular health.
I resolve to floss. I have never flossed with any regularity and every dentist always knows it. If you ask a dentist which they would rather do for the rest of their lives if they could only choose one, brush or floss, they'll always choose floss. I want my kids to floss, so I need to set an example and do it myself. Whatever it takes, I need to start flossing.
I resolve to do my traction. My chiropractor =has= to know that I don't do my traction and frankly, my back knows I don't do it. My back still hurts and I've recently begun to get headaches on an almost daily basis. I need to get my back sorted out before the bones in my neck begin to fuse.
I resolve to save money. Better shape doesn't just mean my body, but extends to all facets of my life. I have immediate needs and long term needs and I need to start saving up for both. Now that Morah's ring and our trip to Hawaii have passed, I need to sit down and seriously think about what lies ahead and earmark money for the future so that Morah and I can live where we want, how we want, when we want, and at the comfort level we want.
Morah and I (being the same person, only not) have the same basic resolutions. Ergo, it should be easier for both of us to keep our resolutions for better lives, provided we help each other and offer the support needed to make it happen.
Good luck to you all in the new year and I hope you are able to achieve your resolutions, whatever they may be.
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