![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Whoa! It's Been Awhile...
and part of it, much to my chagrin and eternal shame, has been the ease of posting links to FaceBook. i am a worm. mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
the holidays so far -
Thanksgiving - was nice, even if it did involve a trip to S'ville. God love 'em, my family believes in Holiday Lunch - 12-noon-we've-been-up-for-hours-so-you-have-no-room-to-bitch. numero uno - your insanity doesn't affect my reality - therefore i DO have room to bitch. numero dos - i hate holiday mornings - for me or anyone else - that are hurry-up-hurry-up-bustle-rustle-scurry-scurry-scurry. Dorris and i have a much more civilized tradition of Holiday Dinner - food generally hits the table between 4 & 5 PM. allows for a more relaxed morning, much less stressful day. (in their defense, Dorris and i also aren't generally juggling the schedules of 3 families in addition to our own.)
blissfully this Christmas the family isn't going to be getting together on Christmas due to scheduling conflicts. we're having friends in from Houston - Lori-chan & her four young 'uns...
which explains why this week has been (and through today will continue to be) prepping the house and such - or at least as much of that hoohah as we ever do.
notes on various shit -
theory: passive races do not go to the stars. aggressive species do. peace, love & drugs stay home. angry, meat-eaters are explorers.
doesn't really bode well for first-contact scenarios.
idea for a bit of weirdness -
(best redneck voice)
"Cletus, I'm bored. Whut playthang kin you offer me t'day?"
"An obscure body in the SK system, yer Majesty. Th' inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth."
"FLASH! YEE-HAW!
Saviour of the universe!"
not sure i could make that work, but backwardsass countryfuck Flash Gordon has a certain perverse attractiveness for me.
quote that caught my attention, may be a story in it (the humor of that will become evident in a moment...)
"Once one has seen God, what is the remedy?"
- Sylvia Plath, "Mystic"
wow, sounds like it's already been done by some hack named Plath. still, might end up writing my take on the concept.
Dorris' birthday - well, from moi she got a Kitchen-Aid Immersion Blender and Alton Brown's "Good Eats - the Early Years", and a Romano's gift certificate from Lee.
on the Saturday before, we grilled (damn good) steaks, played 'The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin', and ate on a Maggie Moo's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake.
Tuesday of, we went to Austin Land and Cattle. not the steak house experience we were hoping for. first off, a bit of history...
years ago, Dorris took me to Dan McCluskey's (alas, no longer with us), my first trip to a real steak house. i saw the prices, said 'oh HELL no!' and prepared to walk out. generally speaking, if you're charging me upwards of $40 for a steak, i damn well better get an orgasm or three out of it, somehow, some way. Dorris managed to chill me out and with all my personal reservations still loudly telling me i was an idiot, i gave it a chance.
an hour and a half later - pre-dinner drinks later - approving the steaks before they went on the grill later - superb meal later - after dinner coffee later - i had enjoyed the first truly civilized meal of my life. the waiter was so unobtrusive that i swear he went a member of a ninja clan, our fellow patrons were as respectful of us as we were of them, i enjoyed a conversation with my beloved over dinner that was only interrupted by food and once, i think, the waiter waiting until one of us finished what we were saying and only then asking us if we wanted dessert.
all that... that was worth $40 a piece, plus drinks and dessert, tax, title, dealer prep and options, final tab for two coming out to about $120.
well worth it.
courtesy of a Groupon, went to Austin Land and Cattle, hoping for something similar.
uh, no.
as Dorris put it, "They don't have much land, so they packed us in like cattle."
prices were high. Dorris' Cosmopolitan - while potent - only had a passing acquaintance with cranberry juice. my "i-can't-remember-the-name" cocktail - a liqueur/sparkling wine mixture - was lovely. Dorris was missing a big ol' steakknife in her place setting - when there's only three items - fork, butterknife and steak knife (and it really was honking huge - i felt like i could go kill a bear with mine) i expect waitrons to notice when a piece is missing - we shouldn't have to tell them. patrons with small children who couldn't be bothered to calm them. uncomfortable tiny none-too-stable chairs (and i'm not just saying that because i have the mass of a small star). the dinner rolls were fresh - crusty on the outside, nicely chewy interior - and we dang near lost skin on them when they arrived - like i said, 'Fresh dammit'. when i'm paying upwards of $35, i expect my choice of your house steak sauces to be provided gratis - i want to sample more than one, fine, charge me, but $3 each or 4 for $10 - uh, no - fuck you very much. side dishes were uniformly excellent, steaks were indeed a religious experience (if there's a better taste in the world than a bite of well-marbled ribeye, i don't think i could survive it). after dinner coffee was good, strong, and served in decent sized cups (by our Mega-Mug o' Coffee standards).
all in all, disappointing. shan't be going back again.
"Tron - Legacy" in theaters - enjoyed it a lot - it was gorgeous. already looking forward to the next film. plenty of nods to the original. i highly recommend it.
"Get Crazy" at the Ritz - first off, sorry all you snobs and haters, one of the best films of the '80's for sheer, frenetic, twisted wonder - and music, let us not forget the music. alas, with the bankruptcy of MGM, this was the final showing of 'Get Crazy' from the sole surviving 35 mm print until the film vault is purchased by someone - i still hold out hope for an eventual DVD release, although rumor has it the sticking point has been the music rights.
when this first came out, our group of freaks caught it five times in the theater and i swear wore out two VHS copies - no big surprise that i could quote great chunks of it with a little visual prompting. (for years i've been using Captain Cloud's line "Time... it's a trip, man." even though i'd forgotten where i heard it.) for years the film's "Electric Larry" - a magic/sufficiently-advanced-technology drug dealer - was the patron saint of my roommates and i. surprisingly for one of my personal obsession films, Dorris understood why i'm so fond of it.
King Blue, Luther Jr., Nada, Piggy, Captain Cloud, Reggie Wanker - i love you all.
was debating whether to submit a story to an "Oz" anthology (as in 'Wizard of') - my brain gave me four good story ideas without me even thinking about it. i took that as a sign that i should probably submit. would actually LOVE to write all four, but only one of them has, i think, the potential to be accepted to this anthology, so if i ever, y'know, have the time, i'll write the other three for my own personal jollies.
work proceeds on a number of other projects - the drunken slut of an Irish Muse is in town, but has been relatively gentle with the spurs this time around.
love y'all, Happy Christmas and a Better New Year than last.
the holidays so far -
Thanksgiving - was nice, even if it did involve a trip to S'ville. God love 'em, my family believes in Holiday Lunch - 12-noon-we've-been-up-for-hours-so-you-have-no-room-to-bitch. numero uno - your insanity doesn't affect my reality - therefore i DO have room to bitch. numero dos - i hate holiday mornings - for me or anyone else - that are hurry-up-hurry-up-bustle-rustle-scurry-scurry-scurry. Dorris and i have a much more civilized tradition of Holiday Dinner - food generally hits the table between 4 & 5 PM. allows for a more relaxed morning, much less stressful day. (in their defense, Dorris and i also aren't generally juggling the schedules of 3 families in addition to our own.)
blissfully this Christmas the family isn't going to be getting together on Christmas due to scheduling conflicts. we're having friends in from Houston - Lori-chan & her four young 'uns...
which explains why this week has been (and through today will continue to be) prepping the house and such - or at least as much of that hoohah as we ever do.
notes on various shit -
theory: passive races do not go to the stars. aggressive species do. peace, love & drugs stay home. angry, meat-eaters are explorers.
doesn't really bode well for first-contact scenarios.
idea for a bit of weirdness -
(best redneck voice)
"Cletus, I'm bored. Whut playthang kin you offer me t'day?"
"An obscure body in the SK system, yer Majesty. Th' inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth."
"FLASH! YEE-HAW!
Saviour of the universe!"
not sure i could make that work, but backwardsass countryfuck Flash Gordon has a certain perverse attractiveness for me.
quote that caught my attention, may be a story in it (the humor of that will become evident in a moment...)
"Once one has seen God, what is the remedy?"
- Sylvia Plath, "Mystic"
wow, sounds like it's already been done by some hack named Plath. still, might end up writing my take on the concept.
Dorris' birthday - well, from moi she got a Kitchen-Aid Immersion Blender and Alton Brown's "Good Eats - the Early Years", and a Romano's gift certificate from Lee.
on the Saturday before, we grilled (damn good) steaks, played 'The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin', and ate on a Maggie Moo's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake.
Tuesday of, we went to Austin Land and Cattle. not the steak house experience we were hoping for. first off, a bit of history...
years ago, Dorris took me to Dan McCluskey's (alas, no longer with us), my first trip to a real steak house. i saw the prices, said 'oh HELL no!' and prepared to walk out. generally speaking, if you're charging me upwards of $40 for a steak, i damn well better get an orgasm or three out of it, somehow, some way. Dorris managed to chill me out and with all my personal reservations still loudly telling me i was an idiot, i gave it a chance.
an hour and a half later - pre-dinner drinks later - approving the steaks before they went on the grill later - superb meal later - after dinner coffee later - i had enjoyed the first truly civilized meal of my life. the waiter was so unobtrusive that i swear he went a member of a ninja clan, our fellow patrons were as respectful of us as we were of them, i enjoyed a conversation with my beloved over dinner that was only interrupted by food and once, i think, the waiter waiting until one of us finished what we were saying and only then asking us if we wanted dessert.
all that... that was worth $40 a piece, plus drinks and dessert, tax, title, dealer prep and options, final tab for two coming out to about $120.
well worth it.
courtesy of a Groupon, went to Austin Land and Cattle, hoping for something similar.
uh, no.
as Dorris put it, "They don't have much land, so they packed us in like cattle."
prices were high. Dorris' Cosmopolitan - while potent - only had a passing acquaintance with cranberry juice. my "i-can't-remember-the-name" cocktail - a liqueur/sparkling wine mixture - was lovely. Dorris was missing a big ol' steakknife in her place setting - when there's only three items - fork, butterknife and steak knife (and it really was honking huge - i felt like i could go kill a bear with mine) i expect waitrons to notice when a piece is missing - we shouldn't have to tell them. patrons with small children who couldn't be bothered to calm them. uncomfortable tiny none-too-stable chairs (and i'm not just saying that because i have the mass of a small star). the dinner rolls were fresh - crusty on the outside, nicely chewy interior - and we dang near lost skin on them when they arrived - like i said, 'Fresh dammit'. when i'm paying upwards of $35, i expect my choice of your house steak sauces to be provided gratis - i want to sample more than one, fine, charge me, but $3 each or 4 for $10 - uh, no - fuck you very much. side dishes were uniformly excellent, steaks were indeed a religious experience (if there's a better taste in the world than a bite of well-marbled ribeye, i don't think i could survive it). after dinner coffee was good, strong, and served in decent sized cups (by our Mega-Mug o' Coffee standards).
all in all, disappointing. shan't be going back again.
"Tron - Legacy" in theaters - enjoyed it a lot - it was gorgeous. already looking forward to the next film. plenty of nods to the original. i highly recommend it.
"Get Crazy" at the Ritz - first off, sorry all you snobs and haters, one of the best films of the '80's for sheer, frenetic, twisted wonder - and music, let us not forget the music. alas, with the bankruptcy of MGM, this was the final showing of 'Get Crazy' from the sole surviving 35 mm print until the film vault is purchased by someone - i still hold out hope for an eventual DVD release, although rumor has it the sticking point has been the music rights.
when this first came out, our group of freaks caught it five times in the theater and i swear wore out two VHS copies - no big surprise that i could quote great chunks of it with a little visual prompting. (for years i've been using Captain Cloud's line "Time... it's a trip, man." even though i'd forgotten where i heard it.) for years the film's "Electric Larry" - a magic/sufficiently-advanced-technology drug dealer - was the patron saint of my roommates and i. surprisingly for one of my personal obsession films, Dorris understood why i'm so fond of it.
King Blue, Luther Jr., Nada, Piggy, Captain Cloud, Reggie Wanker - i love you all.
was debating whether to submit a story to an "Oz" anthology (as in 'Wizard of') - my brain gave me four good story ideas without me even thinking about it. i took that as a sign that i should probably submit. would actually LOVE to write all four, but only one of them has, i think, the potential to be accepted to this anthology, so if i ever, y'know, have the time, i'll write the other three for my own personal jollies.
work proceeds on a number of other projects - the drunken slut of an Irish Muse is in town, but has been relatively gentle with the spurs this time around.
love y'all, Happy Christmas and a Better New Year than last.