Category — random weirdness

It’s official–gas has gotten REALLY expensive in Southern California. The gas station across from my office is now selling regular unleaded for $3.99/gallon. It’s premium brands are $4.09 and $4.19/gallon. Sheesh! Partner-in-Climb and I were serendipitously invited to Joshua Tree this weekend by friends who scored a campsite, and now we are furiously doing some post-tax season budgeting to pay for the gas. I think it will take about 2 full tanks to get us there and back, so that’s at least $150.

I am trying to focus on the fact that I have REALLY REALLY wanted to go to J Tree on this particular weekend for months. It’s the full moon weekend, and it gets so bright in the desert that you can scramble around on some of the boulders at night. It is SO much fun. If it’s not windy, it’s also a great time of year to sleep outside without a tent. Plus, it’s probably the last weekend before it gets to be what I consider “way too hot” in the desert. So there are a lot of good reasons to go. It will just suck to pay that much for gas.

I can’t figure out if this article about remote-controlled fish on Red Herring is meant to be punny or not.

I am a bit concerned/confused yet totally fascinated/intrigued with the series on the History Channel called MonsterQuest. I guess I can’t decide if the show is a good thing or a bad thing. I have a certain expectation that channels like History, Discovery, National Geographic, etc, provide entertainment that is informative and factual, but programs like MonsterQuest seem, at least on the surface, to detract some credibility from the History Channel. In spite of that, however, I find it somewhat encouraging that the History Channel takes on subjects like Sasquatch and the Loch Ness monster and does somewhat scientific research regarding the evidence. It’s like they are at least hearing the argument out, even if the evidence doesn’t add up.

The Sasquatch episode that was on this weekend was particularly engaging. A film/science team went to this cabin on the shore of Snow Lake in Manitoba that allegedly has been the scene of various Bigfoot encounters. The most compelling evidence recovered from the team was some blood and hair samples and a night vision video of the researches freaking out as rocks start being hurled at the cabin in the middle of the night by an unknown source. I found the night vision footage to be a little questionable; I couldn’t tell if all the researchers were accounted for inside the cabin, and supposedly one of the camera men was outside during the whole thing trying to catch the creature on video. The video basically shows his circling of the perimeter several times, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The crew had one night vision camera in the house recording the freaked out researchers, then the other camera outside, haphazardly scanning the woods. I feel like legitimate scientists would not bother taking a camera inside the cabin and would instead try to position each of the cameras outside in such a way that they could consistently record the events in the areas covered by the lens, and then strategically position themselves with night vision binoculars or something in the areas not covered by camera. But, what do I know.

The sample that was used for DNA might be a little more convincing, almost as compelling as all the eyewitness accounts. It reportedly shows a structure that is similar to Human DNA but slightly different; of course the show conclude by saying they’d need another year at least to be certain that it was distinctly different DNA. I am interested in hearing about what they have to say at the end of that year. Because I kind of want to believe that Sasquatch is out there…

This weather is really getting to me. I feel SOOOOO unmotivated. I half-heartedly agreed to go biking and possibly climbing this weekend, but I have a feeling it’ll be one or the other, and most likely biking. My bike just got a much-needed replacement tire, and I am really anxious to try it out. I think it’ll be really fun to muck around in the mud for a bit.

But today, i feel like doing nothing except crawling up under a blanket and watching TV. Ugh. Wake me up tomorrow.

Partner-in-Climb was fixing up his mountain bike last night when I realized that we now have an absurd collection of stickers accumulated from various sporting goods purchases. I mentioned it to him and he was like, “Sure, it’s a great way for free ads…who doesn’t like to put stickers on their stuff?” True enough. But the problem is that we don’t really put the stickers on our stuff, we let them gather in a box of other stuff and forget about them, then rediscover them, debate the relative merits of saving them, and the cycle continues like that. It’s sticker limbo. Although, I have to say, if the stickers were more graphically exciting, I might be more inclined to actually stick them on things and not just collect them. A few more recent additions to the sticker collection:

• Bell Helmets
• Thomson, maker of things like bike seatposts
• Ritchey, maker of the recently replaced seatpost
• New England Ropes Maxim
  

Anyway, I am thinking about doing a sticker collage or something. Maybe on our Thule luggage carrier? That might be the perfect canvas.

Tonight is the big night…the last total lunar eclipse until 2010! The show is supposed to start around 6PM, so hopefully we’ll be able to catch a glimpse of it here on the West Coast.Here’s some info on the event:

NASA
Mr. Eclipse

Hermit

On Saturday morning around 9 am, I watched 1001 Nights from 1945, starring Cornel Wilde and Phil Silvers. I love love love this movie, and most movies like it, like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) , Jason and the Argonauts(1963), Ali Babba and the 40 Thieves (1944), etc. I think I need to state up front that I do realize I have some of the worst taste in movies ever. I generally don’t like the movie experience. I get bored sitting in theaters, I talk through DVDs, I turn down most invitations to go see a movie, especially if its new and there might be a line. I am, however, totally addicted to campy films from Vincent Price horror, to 5 Deadly Venoms and other old-school kung-fu movies, to musicals like Brigadoon, etc, and I could possibly sit through them a million times.

But I digress. 1001 Nights is not run of the mill camp or cheese. Its utterly ridiculous yet completely fantastic in a way that is entirely it’s own. I can’t believe it was nominated for two Oscars in 1945, but it is a rare spectacle that deserves note . There is a 50 foot, cave-dwelling giant; Aladdin turns into a talking dog at one point and when in human form occasionally wears outfits that look like they were inspired by Faberge eggs; “Princess Armina”, Aladdin’s love, is a bleach blonde with finger waves; and the genie is a Lucille Ball wanna-be named “Babs”. I will not even get into the women’s outfits other to say that i didn’t know trampy pastel pageant wear was ever in vogue in 11th century Arabia or wherever this film was supposed to be set. Oh, and i almost forgot. Aladdin sings. His sidekick Abdullah, played by Phil Silvers, also sings. Frequently. That alone is worth the price of admission.

For me, one of the coolest parts about 1001 Nights was that the outdoor scenes were filmed at Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth and Vazquez Rocks in Agua Dulce…within exploration distance! I can possibly go see a part of movie history and maybe even locate the cave where Aladdin found the lamp. At least I’ll try to look for it the next time I’m at Stoney Point!