Happy Belated Birthday, USA!

I actually did celebrate Independence Day on time, I just forgot to post about it. I’ve been running around like crazy for the past few days. Sunday would be a party at Piper’s place. I needed to bake a pie, a personal goal that I committed to earlier in the week. Beth was going to be coming and staying with me for a few days so I desperately needed to clean my room. Brunch commitments and evening commitments had been made for Saturday so I definitely couldn’t bake or clean much on that day.

Friday was a half day, during which I needed to look at an actual recipe for the pie I was going to make. Tracy had suggested this one from the Smitten Kitchen. On Thursday night I ended up at the farmer’s market in my neighborhood and bought a three pack of strawberry baskets. I was a little worried though because strawberries bought at farmer’s markets are really things that should be eaten right away, instead of four days later. If you throw them in the fridge for four days, they turn to mush.

I think ended up getting all my ingredients together. The pie crust was going to be the most difficult part as it needed to remain cold as it was being made since there  needed to be chunks of butter in it. This actually took two days because I kept needed to throw it in the freezer then  postponing it, since I found myself in a time crunch. I had to pick my sister and her friend up from Anime Expo, which was also happening this weekend.

Saturday found me at my parents house where I brought my sister and her friend the night before. I then zipped off to our monthly brunch at Shore House Cafe. It was good, I finally gave Jamie her birthday gift:

and found that she had bought me a box of Samos… oh sorry, Caramel de-Lites.

Yumz. I then booked it to the optometrist so I could get an eye exam and new prescription. I also ended up buying a new pair of glasses, which was stupid on my part because I forgot that for such a strong prescription like mine, lenses are really expensive. I ended up spending hundreds more than I had hoped.

Later I worked on the pie crust and finallly got it done, well meaning, made but it still needs to be baked with the filling.

When done with that I met up with Patrick and we went to heckle people at Anime Expo, which is where my sister was at the time.

Sunday I woke up early, prepped the crust, threw in the pie filling and baked that sucker. Started cleaning and was in the middle of cleaning when Beth called and said she couldn’t get to my place because of a parade. Low and behold, there WAS a parade, right on my street, in front of my door. Annoying.

Finally I found her and we parked, came back to the apt and proceeded to watch Daria until it was time for the BBQ at Piper’s. The rest is history:

L.A. Film Fest and An Epic Lot of Epicness

The L.A. Film Festival started last Thursday ( the same day as the Lakers game that led to stupidity and the last day of E3 ) and tonight Patrick and I went to… it?

We went to the 8 pm screening of Katalin Varga. I don’t want to talk about the film (though it was good and I would suggest seeing it), I mostly want to talk about the experience of going to the film festival… which I sort of did but sort of didn’t. There seems to be this whole subculture of film festival fanatics. These people have passes! Like passes around their necks that they paid $200 for! I like movies and all but I don’t know if I’d be into paying that much to view some movies that I may or may not like. Though, I think I probably would watch them all if i had the time.

That kind of thing makes me wonder who these people are. I like to think they all know each other, they are like the discussion board members from Pattern Recognition. They have their little dramas etc. This makes it more interesting than the truth, which is that they are probably in the industry, or are reporters.

This post was not well thought out at all, nor did it really have a point. Oh well, LAFF, it’s here, it’s queer, get used to it.

Speaking of movies, check out the genius marketing that is being done for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (which I am very excited about seeing):

What if would look like in a Scott Pilgrim comic
What I really look like

Lost: 80% Complete

Okay so May 21st I started watching the T.V. show Lost. Now, almost one month later (editor’s note: I was sick when I wrote this and thought it was the 18th) , I am in the middle of season 5 (out of 6).

nice Photoshopping

So far I’m not thinking the show is great. At least not as great as the six years of OMGLOST would lead me to believe. It’s good television I suppose, though I’m still waiting for the moral of the story. I feel like there is some metaphor that I’m not getting and I’m hoping that maybe it is made apparent at the end of the show. However, I’ve heard from many people that the last few episodes are pretty aggrivating. I don’t think I will be bothered by it since the most time I have invested is one month of my time.

One thing I do have to give them a hand for is how dedicated their audience is. They are great at the cliff hangers and mysteries that never get solved but reveal just enough to make you hang on for another few episodes.

I know there’s a lot of stories that happened behind the scenes that influenced the story lines in the show. For example, Anna Lucia being shot and dying was because Michelle Rodriguez has gotten a DUI while filming in Hawaii. Season 3 dragged and didn’t have any major plot points because it was filmed during the big LA writers strike.

So it’s interesting to see how the show developed, and it was definitely worth watching but I can’t say it was great or one of my favorite shows. I think they did some great things with the characters of John Locke and James “Sawyer” LeFlour but I think some of the other stronger characters were a bit predictable. I know the early dialogue was EXTREMELY predictable, as I was saying most of their lines before they were.

A common expression used on Lost : confusion

Anyway, will resume watching season 5 today as I am at home and sick with a cold. Maybe slipping in and out of consciousness will make things more even more interesting.

Post: Comic Con!

Went to San Diego Comic Con on Saturday and Sunday for the 3rd year in a row now. Last year was my first time sitting in on a panel, which was for JG’s show. This year I actually went to a panel for a show that I had no affiliation with (aside from being a fan), Doctor Who! I’m currently on the third season of Doctor Who, I think they might be finishing their fourth season now.

Here is a short picture recap of my SDCC 2009 experience. I actually saw a lot less this year than last year, even though I spent the night in San Diego this time.

Waited in line for Doctor Who panel
Doctor Who queue

Got to hear David Tennant’s real accent
Doctor Who panel

Ran into a bending unit. did not kiss his shiny metal ass
Bender costume

Still didn’t buy this! (but I want to)
koibito at Munky King booth

But this is what I DID buy
Scott Pilgrim

my SDCC loot

and didn’t run into Nathan Fillion, unfortunately.