Sat 7/29 Events and more.

There are some events going on this weekend that are sure to be as cool as you are. There are some events going on this weekend sure to be as hot as you are... So take your pick.

I blogged this a minute ago, but it's worth getting proper attention. If you are at all into turntablism, beat jugling, hip hop, or DJ'ing; then this Saturday you should be at Cell Space for the DMC World Championships SF Heat. If the last sentence made no sense to you, pay me no mind. (You can pay me no mind anyways). However, these are the best of the best and they are taking on all the contenders.

For more Old Skool hip hoppers, KRS-One will be at the Red Devil Lounge on Sunday July 30th. He puts on a pretty good show, lots of energy, and gives away lots of swag. Digital Underground and Human League will both perform there in September.

For fashionistas and would-be fashionistas if they had a personal shopper of their own, there is the Fashion Week Kick-Off Party on Saturday night on Maiden Lane. Party under a tent with dee-zine-urs and other industry garmentos. Oh sorry, did I just say that? Sheesh. Pre-sale price is $40.

Who cares about music or clothing... You wanna know where to drink? Well, VinoRosso is a Bernal Heights wine shop that is having a tasting on Saturday 3-6 pm. They will have artisan cheeses, black truffles, figs, and olives to nibble on as well.

This Sunday is the SF Opera at Stern Grove. Make a picnic, get there early, and drop a few bucks in their donation box or with a volunteer. Hey, it's still the cheapest free opera concert in town!

Once again, plan for NEXT TUESDAY. The first Tuesday of each month is free at many local San Francisco places: SFMOMA, De Young Museum, Legion of Honor, Asian Art Museum, and the Conservatory of Flowers. I know, somehow free Tuesdays never seem to land on a weekend, so many may not have the ability to enjoy these. Go figure.

First Wednesday of each month is free at the San Francisco Zoo. I know I blogged the free stuff before (Champagne Events on a Kool-Aid Budget) but they, uh, are repeating events. There you go.

I might also suggest viewing the July and August program list at the Castro Theatre. They have some amazing classic films coming up and the Jewish Film Festival ongoing.

Baraka screams out to be seen on the big screen, shot in 70 mm in 24 countries on five continents; it's like a National Geographic special, with a soundtrack instead of narration. Very stirring, very lyrical, and beautiful imagery. A trailer is here for download. Just like traveling the world, uh... not that I'd know. On my top 10 list of films.

The Doors, Cleopatra, Tron, 2001, Titanic, Weird Science, and a film called Playtime by Jacques Tati are all noteworthy on Castro's August playbill.

image credits: Technics Turntable from Panasonic-Europe site. SF MOMA pic is my own original photo. Baraka image from Castro Theatre site.

Dog Days of Summer

The upcoming SF Giants vs. Colorado Rockies game on Saturday August 5th is a chance to have your well-traveled dog go to new hang-out. The ballpark. I'm trying to find out if there is interest in this, so check out my old post from a couple weeks back for links and more info... (Actually, here's a full re-post if you're really not interested in looking through my blog. I'm adding this kinda late, SBC DSL just blows. I keep getting my DSL line connection dropped).

I was just checking the SF Giants website for the "Take Your Dog to the Game" night... Alas, it is still coming up on Saturday August 5th! Tix are here. But there are some interesting upcoming events at the whatcha-ma-callit Park. How about poker nite Monday, July 31st. Or singles nite Friday Sept. 8th. Or, um... (now don't be confusing your Friday and your Tuesday peeps), Tuesday Sept 12th is LGBT nite.

Hopefully we can still get tix, usually I've heard it sells out. But as of today, tix are still available. I have had a tough time actually reaching the people at the SF Giants, hence the delay.

SF Giants office got back to me earlier today with the info and e-mailed the forms. I'll be in touch with them in the afternoon on Thursday (tomorrow). If you wish to go on your own, that is fine also. You will need to get the form and payment to them independently.

photo credits: both images of SBC/AT&T park and Barry Bonds are my own original photos.

Sites to see...

Oh, these puns are just slaying me... No, really. Why to check out these sites?.......

First, I'll tease you with, "How do you get an XBox 360 core system for a $3 (yup, three clams) and $5 shipping? Well, you Woot! Well, you woulda Woot!ed when you needed to two weeks ago. Yup, for their site anniversary they had sold what they described as a "Bag o' Crap" for $3. They actually tried to insist on you getting three for the $3 since you could pick any amount up to three BoC's for the $3. And some lucky peeps got XBox 360 core systems. No joke. Check their site daily for some serious swag at jokingly small price tags. Caution: they start daily sales at midnite Central time and often sell out great products within an hour or two.

Aeropostale has all tops on sale 50% off. This is a company that was on my top three list of companies I wanted to work for in NYC (when I lived there). I never ended up working with them, but their reputation was so solid. I'd heard designers stayed for years there and one designer was offered more than double to leave and stayed. Wow. In case you're wondering, the other two are Triple Five Soul, that I did a wittle project for and Club Monaco (who I turned down working for to do the Triple Five project at the same g%@*##& time).

Office Depot has a coupon code: 79303552 for $40 off any $200 purchase online. Coupon is supposed to expire on 7/27/06.

Crutchfield.com is the site to check out for techies and gearheads. They have product specs on electronics and tech products that can put the owner's manual to shame! How, one might ask? They put their own reviews up and believe me, they know what they're doing. Worth buying from if you have any questions. Just check out their "Hands-On Research" page for my Canon S3 IS camera.

Once again, I find frustration with Netflix. I want to rent Dopo Mezzanotte (After Midnight) but it seems unavailable. It was released in 2004, so I dunno whether it was never pressed to dvd, imdb.com doesn't seem to show it as available either. Hmmm.

Next, Dogster.com seems the hip-hop-happenin' place to see and be seen for dogs and dog-lovers alike. Wow, I quickly found, like, um, two other Shiba Inus named Kira... And then stopped browsing dogster immediately. I thought my Kira was special... Actually, she still is.

Gee, what does the number1,639,381 have to do with anything? Well, funny you should ask me that. It just so happens that that was the rank I got on Technorati.com when I signed my blog up with their site (they call it "claiming your blog"). I blogged about Technorati already. Notice how I said past tense "was my rank"? As pathetic as it is, my rank has dropped daily since Saturday. Currently, it stands at 1,659,377.

Well, my flickr gallery has had 1,290 views now in less than 3 months since I started it.

Oh, if you don't use your programmable keyboard shortcut keys, maybe you should consider it. I think this is a quality-of-life improvement for me. Actually, maybe that is understating it. I have the Logitech LX 300 wireless keyboard/mouse set (Office Depot had on sale for like $35). I actually thought mine was a MX 500, but looks identical to this one.

I use the calcualor key for Sunbird calendar. Function keys for MS Office apps and Adobe apps. Home for Firefox browser, and some others for keystroke combo's like ctrl+w (close page) and alt+ left arrow, etc. These nav hot keys also work for Windows Explorer, while searching hard drives, cd drives, flash drives, and folders. I have a dedicated button for ctrl+O for switching from Photoshop to Bridge too. If you don't yet have a programmable keyboard, it's a great investment. I'm sure many don't care to read about all this... But anyways.....

Here's an event I think interesting. I'm putting at the end of my blog post, but it's worth noting. If you are at all into turntablism, beat jugling, hip hop, or DJ'ing; then this Saturday you should be at Cell Space for the DMC World Championships SF Heat. If the last sentence made no sense to you, pay me no mind. (You can pay me no mind anyways). However, these are the best of the best and they are taking on all the contenders.

More Upcoming Films.

You can BOLO (Be On the LookOut) for many more superhero films in the conclusion of this decade. It seems a popular theme, no doubt because many of the top grossing films of all-time are rooted in this genre. And also, because there is a limitless pool from which to choose.

First, Thor, Nick Fury, and Captain America are all announced projects now. In pre-production: Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Hulk 2. Yup, but no more Ang Lee. Louis Letterier, Director of Transporter 2 will helm the sequel. I'm not sure how they concluded he'd be right, but I'm not planning on a "Marvel-ous" finished project.

Bryan Singer is reportedly already in agreement to make a fourth X-Men film, prolly for a 2009 release date. This could be a truly interesting experiment in finding a new "franchise film series," the likes of which we haven't seen in nearly half a century (other than James Bond). Just my own speculation, but worth a shot if it keeps generating big revenue for the studio.

As if you're wondering if the studios have any more original projects in the pipeline... A Ghostbusters 3 is getting even closer to realization, and Harold Ramis has gone on record saying he wants Ben Stiller to be a Ghostbuster. Indiana Jones 4 has already gone through a couple drafts. Wonder Woman is not going to follow the former tv-show but will begin pre-production shortly.

For the 30th Anniversary of the Star Wars release, Lucas Films plans two seperate tv shows beginning in 2008-ish. One is live-action to fall between Episode III and IV and the other is an animated series to be during the late Clone Wars.

All the above info was from RottenTomatoes.com.

We have a new record for box-office weekends, with Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest grossing $135 M in 3 days. Not a bad return on a production budget of $150 million.

I haven't seen a very compelling film this week, I wasn't thrilled with Triplets of Belleville (as I hoped). I think the colorizing was amazing but the story wasn't very substantial. I did watch Dummy starring Milla Jovovich and Adrien Brody. It did have some moments that made me laugh out loud. Mostly from how well she played her role. Lots of cursing, but funny nonetheless. But the story? Kinda deflated after about halfway through (I thought).

Still, one of the funniest films I saw this year has to be Dinner Game (Le Diner de Cons), a French film that is simply unreal. A bunch of friends have a game where each has to bring an "idiot" to dinner each week, and they all vote to see who has the biggest idiot. Well, at one such dinner, things start going awry... You'd just have to watch it to see what happens!

Alta Plaza Dog Pics.

I've just posted some more dog pics up to Flickr. Mostly Alta Plaza Park dogs, a couple from Lafayette Park also. Obviously, there are some adorable dogs in San Francisco. Cheers peeps.

Wow, my shortest blog post ever!

Idyllic Weekend Ideas... Island hopping.

Well, yesterday AND today are officially Spare The Air days in the SF Bay Area. (Spare the Air Day means free public transit in most of the Bay). And that got me to thinking. And I thunk whilest I was thinking, "I wonder if that means cable cars are free also?" The famous, overpriced, tourist-people-movers are usually $5 each ride.

And whilest I thunk about that, I also started thinking about other touristy things that locals don't do much. If you are looking to me for ideas of what to do with your weekend, then that's your first sign of trouble. If you still want some of my personal ideas, then read on my friend, read on.

Alcatraz is a place we all know and love, we see it poised and perched smack in the middle of the bay. But do us locals really know Alcatraz? Go visit, it's an interesting trip that tourists enjoy for a reason.

Angel Island is another great destination. With miles of hiking and 740 acres of prestine land, you can truly getaway without having to get away. Get it? There is also a lot of history to Angel Island, especially Asian immigrants that first came through here to the US. A beautiful ferry ride over and great place to spend some down time.

The ferry that goes to Angel Island also goes to Tiburon. Sure you prolly have been to Sausalito, but when was the last time your heels were placed firmly in Tiburon? Ah-ha. There you go.

Oh wait, whatsthatyousay? Not exotic enough for you? What. I'm not a travel guide, and my advice is free. So, you get what you pay for. But here's another spot likely to have never found your radar, The Channel Islands.

Can you name all five Islands? Sure, easy: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara. All off the (oft tar-ridden) coast of the lovely Santa Barbara. Are you impressed that I could recite those from memory? Well, the dorms at UC Santa Barbara borrow their names from these same said islands. So most UCSB folk prolly have them stored in their subconscious. Which is the same state in which many of the students spend most of their awake moments.

Alright, if you're short of cash here's a thing. SF Citysearch is giving award reward money for reviews. So post 5 reviews for a chance to win some cheddar ($50-75). The comparison shop site Pricegrabber also offers $5 per review for many products, with a limit of like 3 different reviews per person per month.

Enjoy the weekend. Have a better one. Cheers.
photo credits: Angel Island from angelisland.org, Alcatraz from sanfrancisco.citysearch.com, view of SF from Tiburon from the Town of Tiburon photo gallery.

Know News is Good News

What's up this weekend? Well, Mavis Staples of the former Staples Singers is at Stern Grove on Sunday for free. I really like the Cannonball Adderley song Walk Tall written by the leader of the former Staples, Roebuck Staples.

I really won't go into news topics much, mainly because that just isn't my thing. But(..........) I thought some current business news was interesting enough to mention. Here are some business news postings from earlier today I took note of.

Cingular is the #1 mobile-service provider in the US, I remember in 2002 when I signed up for Verizon, Verizon was then the leader with I think a 22% total market share. Cingular had net income rise to $540 million from $147 million a year earlier. Total revenue was $9.2 billion.

Motorola (MOT), a company I've always liked for strong stock value ('specially when it was well under $10/share each time over the years), rose $2 to $21.26 today as a response to Strong 2nd Quarter growth (quarterly income of $1.38 billion, total revenue rose to $10.9 billion).

I may be the only person to have switched from Mac to PC in recent years, it seems. Apple's marketshare is growing in the computer segment. And their stock rose 12% today based on quarterly earnings report. Plus, AAPL announced a 2-for-1 stock split yesterday. If only I kept my shares ....longer.... that I bought in '97(?) for 14 3/4. They've sold some ree- E-dic-u-lous number of iPods, to the tune of 60 million units to date. I still think there are better mp3 players (I've already blogged this, or maybe I haven't); but hey, I guess 60 million people can't be wrong (or simply like the coolness factor Apple does well). Read my CNet review posted here.

How about our friendly neighborhood Google? Well, 2nd Q profit more than doubled. So, our local economy can breathe a collective sigh of relief. People, this is good news. And Google is still working on the free WiFi network for SF. In fact, they sent a letter to the city and the letter is available for public viewing here.

Totally different topic, here's a kewl review of eateries in SF, Jatbar.com. Over 700 restaurants reviewed. And nice site too. Did I mention they have downloadable vCards (for your mobile phone)? Yup. That's the serious hook-up if you ask me- they've done the work, you get the rewards. Great work peeps. Keep it up JaT. Cheers.

Lastly, some stats for my sites.

My Flickr photo galleries have now had 1,241 unique views. Feel free to browse, leave comments, whutever. New pics going up all the time.

This blog, since its inception a two months ago, has had 755 unique visitors for a total of 1275 unique page views. I'm happy to see a very significant majority of viewers use Firefox 1.5 for their browser (see my favorite Firefox extensions blog post here). I can't believe some peeps are still on Windows 95 and 98 operating systems. But hey, whatever blows your hair back, I suppose. Linux users accounted for only 5 visits that are recognizeable by my stats counter app.

image credits: Apple and Google icons from their respective sites, photo from my Flickr photoset.

Interesting Sites... and Other

I guess it's been a while, maybe three whiles since I've posted sites I've visited that I like. Well, here are a couple, and a few images I like.

First, is the site arthur hungry. Obviously, this guy gets out more often than me. Huh. I've been told I need to get out more often. And I'm not sure everybody always means that in a good way. Aaaanyways... He reviews restaurants and eats in San Francisco, and has great pictures of meals on his site. All the places we all wish we were going to, he goes to for us. Um. Other cities as well. Job well done, um, Mister Hungry.

Another popular foodie site is chowhound.com. Very impressive amount of participation from regular folks chiming in with where their fave meal is and where to avoid. Or where your money is/is not well spent. If you're traveling somewhere and want to find good eats, I'd look into this before Zagat.

Next up is this photoset on Flickr from Plemeljr. But first, you'll need to read these "words" out loud for me.
twa
twe
twi
two
Did you just say "tw-oh?" Is that a number? Gee, I dint know.
It has some really beautiful shots of Eero Saarinen TWA terminal at JFK airport in New York City. Now, that's a beauty. For more "reference" pics including interior shots, here.

Next, this is from Jencu's (a fellow shiba inu owner in SF, I've never met though) photoset on Flickr. This is just funny. And 'cuz I don't watch tv (no cable, no reception, just plays dvd's, so don't even ask) I never had heard about this MTV/Yahoo project called IMU. I guess "Breaking Up Is Easy" after all. Here's my new IM shortcut: DCAYCTB (Don't Catch Anything You Can't Throw Back). Um, not that I IM. Can't stand IM really. Oh well. Or texting on my phone for that matter.

Another site I like is this blog: Current Flavor, by a storyboard artist talking about the craft mostly. Since I'm so fascinated by film (and watch just about every dvd commentary/extras I can) this is kewl info. Some great artwork on this blog and the related blog too. Nice work TSM.
I just watched Ultraviolet, a film staring Milla Jovovich. Crazy visual style, but the acting was pretty flat in a lot of places (I thought). I went to the-numbers.com and checked the production budget. I am totally impressed they did all that on $30 mil. I guess that shooting practical locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong helped. And not having major principal actors (for the most part). Still, the style of the film was stunning. It seems the new sci-fi genre is modernist, and more thoughtful. Has anybody else noticed that details are becoming more important?

Ultraviolet and Firefly both use a combination of Chinese and English as the common language. It seems Hollywood is starting to look at what culture might actually become in the future, not just "making stuff up." Oh wait, they still do that; just differently.

Speaking of film, my uncle Thomas Zung, former partner of reknowned architect Buckminster Fuller, (speaking of architects) had an extras role in the film Oh in Ohio. Gee, this doesn't seem like a very recommendable film... But it's playing at the Lumiere right now. I don't really know his (extra) part, just that while it was shooting (about a year ago?) I was told he was in a Danny DeVito film. My immediate question was whether he was in Be Cool? "No, it wasn't that (sequel to Get Shorty), some weird name I don't remember," is what I heard.

A deal I found was on American Eagle Outfitters. Try on a pair of jeans and get a free movie pass for an AMC theatre. Now that the AMC Kabuki in Japantown was sold to Robert Redford's Sundance group (right?), is it still AMC? Sounds like it will be first of many new "Sundance" Theatres. oh-kay.

Another Why that retail is dead (see last blog post), BestBuy has as one of its Wednesday specials, Webroot's SpySweeper spyware app for $39.99. You know you'll prolly pay sales tax in most states too. Well to comparison shop, Wal-Mart's regular price is $29.73 and CompUSA is $49.99. Heck, Webroot's own site sells it for $29.95. 'Nuff said here.

Amazon has the PNY 1 GB Attache flash drive for $16 after a $15 MIR (mail-in rebate). If you don't yet have a flash drive, maybe it's a good time to get one. Of course, I'd suggest getting one that uses a flash mem card (whatever type your camera/phone/PDA uses) so you get more convenience and value. I use mine (Patriot sD card flash drive) for toting doc's and artwork around with me for easy printing at Kinko's or wherever.

Staples 7-day Online Savings Event has some pretty darn good prices. Check it out. Ends 22 July 2006.

photo credits: Ultraviolet image from imdb.com gallery, Zung photo from Buckminster Fuller Institute site.

Is Retail Dead?

This is just my own personal incessant babble about how I believe retail sales are changing. Dying really. Sure adults today are used to walking into a store, touching, trying on, testing, and buying products. But really, if I can walk into Macy's or Foot Locker and find my shoe size and then go buy online at Zappo's for $15 less; my question is, why wouldn't I?

I understand about supporting local businesses and community business. But really, folks. Our economy is consumer-driven. And if Foot Locker can't figure out how to compete with Zappos.com, then they've already lost my dollars and shame on them.

Here's the catch. The next-gen of adults will be plenty internet saavy. They already are. Maybe buying habits will include being okay with 3 day's wait for free ground shipping instead of this "instant gratification" thing we've been sold for years. I'm already very comfortable with it.

Why do I ramble about this? Because when I walk through the San Francisco Embarcadero Shopping Center and see so many vacant retail stores locations or even on Maiden Lane (prolly SF's most exclusive shopping addy), it saddens me. Because A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books is gone for good- and that means no more book events (there) that I've cherished in the past (yes, I bought books from them for the signings to support them).

Acorn Books on Polk Street is also closing. They are calling it "retirement" and I'm not sure that means for the owners or the retail book industry in which they refer to. The good news (if this can be said to be such), is that everything is 50% off in their entire collection. I asked if they will sell the more precious collectibles through an estate auction or eBay and they said "no, everything will be sold here." That's amazing. They'll remain open through the end of September, unless everything is gone earlier. So spend a few bucks and do them some good. I'll miss Acorn, 'cuz they are one of the few sellers that has used books as well as antiquarian books for sale and completely indexed in their computerized inventory. Green Apple Books on Clement is the other.

Acorn and Green Apple just kick serious butt compared to Borders and Barnes & Noble. Used, new, collectible, bargains, and people that actually are highly literate working their. ha ha did you catch that typo, just funnin.'

Wherehouse closed their Van Ness location less than a year ago. Good Guys has closed all its 46 locations in California and Hawa'ii. Now, they're teaming up with CompUSA for in-store sales. But CompUSA will likely not do too well in years to come either.

None of this comes as a surprise to me, since I believe that only service industries and food industries will truly survive (and thrive) in local communities. Everything else will be "kiosk" shopping and big centralized DC's (distribution centers). Malls will likely be the exception.

Cost Plus closed its store in Colma across from the Target. I could expect some Pier1 stores to close also. If they can generate strong internet sales (some already have), they'll be around for years to come still. This is why Starbucks is so successful, you just can't download a cup o' joe yet. They could be on every three city blocks and stay busy. So could restaurant chains. And service businesses like auto repair and law firms.

What's next? Circuit City is on my cxl (cancel) list. Best Buy I might expect to last a bit longer. WalMart, Kmart, and Target have strong staying power due to kid's clothing, grocery and utilitarian things like light bulbs and ironing boards. Small independent antique stores, music stores, poster stores (like the former Prints Plus). Magazine/Newstands (3 closed on Upper Fillmore in the past two years).

We all understand how much it costs to have retail space: utilities, insurance, staffing, taxes, inventory, security, et al. Basically, business is now all about click and mortar. So, if you are like me and like to have choices, may I suggest you go out and patronize the places you want to keep around. Like the Castro Cheesery and Sidewalk Cafe if you want to keep caffeine alternatives to Starbuck's in your neighborhood. Good news is, supposedly, Slanted Door is slated to open a second location on Fillmore sometime, possibly by next year? I can't find much info on this (all I've found is on this page, near bottom). My guess is prolly slated to open by Spring 2007 in conjunction with Yoshi's West on Lower Fillmore.

I've got some kewl sites to blog, so check back soon, I'll get to it in a day or so. Cheers peeps.
(All images are taken from their respective websites)

Sum Sun Day eVents

Okay, folks... I'm getting to this weekend's events kinda late, usually I try to post them by Thursday. But I've kinda posted these already, so I'm not really behind schedule I suppose.

First, if you feel the need to do anything this weekend in San Francisco; then, you should be watching a film! The Castro has their Annual Silent Film Festival, which is truly remarkable and we are very fortunate to have such a unique event. I personally think their entire Sunday lineup is worth seeing, including Laurel and Hardy, Girl with the Hatbox, The Unholy Three, and Show People.

If irreverent humor isn't your thing, then maybe you should consider visiting The Red Vic Moviehouse for the Sunday & Monday screenings of The Conformist (Le Conformiste). This is a remarkable work of cinematography (Vittorio Storaro, Cinematographer), with (IMO) some of the most memorable visual shots of any film I've ever seen to date. Many a film schools use this work as an example of cinema, and for good reason. Oh yeah, another good reason to see on the big screen (other than stunning visual imagery) is because it's not available on dvd.

If you can't go to the tropics, then bring the tropics to you! Stern Grove is having a Hawa'iian vocal ensemble and hula concert this Sunday.

If something quieter is on your mind, then perhaps the Monet in Normandy exhibition at The Legion of Honor?A great deal from DealCatcher is the KitchenAid Pro 5 Plus Bowl Lift Mixer for $165 on Amazon. While I'm not a big fan of Amazon (can search my blog for more info), it's a heckuva deal on a spiffy kitchen product that I don't own. Yes, it's factory re-conditioned... But, yes, it's also FREE shipping. Price on Amazon is $189.99. Use coupon code: CLEAROUT for an extra $25 off during checkout.

photo credits: Conformist from Red Vic's site, Monet from Legion of Honor's site, mixer from Amazon.com

Nu Things I Like.

Well, Target (tar-zhay) is becoming a pretty kewl spot. Their prices on dvd's is fantastic. I found Sin City and the Collector's Edition of Pulp Fiction for $10 a piece during a 4th of July sale at the Colma store location. An old classic I really liked, Sneakers, that I hadn't seen in about 5 whiles (many more than a while) is still really good and was $7.50 in-store. In fact, it's a lot less dated than almost any other tech movie I've seen (like War Games).

Still on movies, they have the Ghostbusters I & II combo pack for like 14 bucks (first was great, 2nd was forgettable). And somebody puh-leez explain how the first-ever full length animated French film Kaena is $21.99 as a standalone, but is $12.99 as a combo-pack with Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. Both are exceptional anime films that never got their due respect IMHO. I just recently watched FF: Advent Children from Netflix, and thought it lacked the story narrative for a standalone film (if you know the background it might be much better), anyways I felt disappointed since FF: Spirits Within is a top film of mine for its elaborate work.

What else to tell? I tried a few flavors of their new Bibita Italian Sodas, the Blood Orange and Lemon flavors are really delish. I'm not crazy about the Wild Berry, it tastes kinda like uhhhh... cranberry soda that's gotten a little ripe... like sat in a hot car for a few days or something... Not that I drink that kind of thing, I'm just, um, speaking figuratively here. Anyways, sodas don't seem to be rep'ed on their site, so visit your local Tar-zhay. huh.

Still on the topic of dee-vee-dee's and Tarzhay... I recently watched the entire season of Firefly. Too bad this show was cancelled so quickly, it was really entertaining. Something like a western-futuristic-Shakespearean tv-series just grabs hold of me I guess. Sorry, I dunno how to explain it, but it is really something different. Which is prolly part of what I liked 'bout it, and what the studio suits prolly dint. Well Target's got it for $35 bones for the 4 disc set (13 episodes). I'm waiting for Triplets of Belleville on my Nflix queue, seems interesting, stylistically maybe something new I'll dig.

What else is new? Well, in the two weeks since my last post (sorry folks, not that I'm guessing anybody even noticed), I've been a bit busy. I just got my spanking new Canon S3 IS camera. I didn't even realize a few of the new features it has. And it has many. But it's mostly still a smallish upgrade to the S2. But enough to definitely make it worth my while. I just posted some very unglamorous ISO test shots on my flickr gallery to show the differences in 80-800 ISO's. Anyways, I got it from Dell for like (here's the math stuff) $499.20-25% off promotion ($99.80)- $100 concession coupon (got on eBay for $68, blogged this whiles back), and a $35 off coupon from eBay for $4. Tax was AFTER discounts, so figure my total was $358.66 for a $500 camera, not bad I say. Sorry, promo was only for 450 redemptions and ended quick.

I was just checking the SF Giants website for the "Take Your Dog to the Game" night... Alas, it is still coming up on Saturday August 5th! Tix are here. But there are some interesting upcoming events at the whatcha-ma-callit Park. How about poker nite Monday, July 31st. Or singles nite Friday Sept. 8th. Or, um... (now don't be confusing your Friday and your Tuesday peeps), Tuesday Sept 12th is LGBT nite.

Lastly, my first Woot! purchase seems to be not-perfect. I've nearly cracked the Logitech Bluetooth headphones all the way through perfectly down the center (between the two headphones on the stabilizer bar/headband thingy). Doh! More customer service issues, geez...

My flickr gallery just reached 1003 visits! Cheers peeps.
(photo credits: Kaena image from Target's site, S3 image from Canon's site, Bonds image from SF Giants photo gallery)