zrath

No, that's not a typo. I am posting one update for multiple weekends. In this case, two weekends.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!! :D

Saturday March 28th: slept until noon, then packed some eBay stuff and took it to the post office.
Ran various errands all over town, wound up near Downtown L.A. at 20:00, hungry, trying to think of someplace to go.
Golly, why not go to Philippe The Original, birthplace of Le French Dip (hyuck hyuck hyuck!)!?!?
So I went, and boy is it ever quaint! There's sawdust on the floor, big wooden tables and stools, old signs everywhere.
I ordered the beef dip sammich and a side of macaroni salad and a Coke (cold can, yea!).
Instead of giving you a dry sammich and a cup of "au jus" like other places do, the folks at Philippe's dip the beef
into the au jus then place it on the bun. That and the excellent-tasting au jus makes for a tasty sammich.
It's a bit pricy though, at $5.55 for a sammich about 6 inches long. Guess it's more of a touristy joint.
Well, at least, I can say I've been there! And I have the postcard and the matchbook to prove it!
I don't know why but I find it comforting that some places still give out customized matchbooks.
They're certainly more useful than business cards! :D
I pulled out the ol' cellphone and snapped a nightime pic of Philippe's facade by night, see it here.
Then I went home and watched some DVD, probably from Season 1 of "Burn Notice". That show is really growing on me.

Sunday March 29th: woke up at noon again, showered and dressed, prepared and ate lunch.
Left home around 14:30 to go see "Watchmen" at the Pacific Stadium 12 in Downtown Culver City.
Paid $8.75 for one adult matinée. Unlike AMC, Pacific does weekend matinées, same price as weekday matinées.
(By the way, "matinée" is French for "morningtime". "Matin" is "morning".)
The showing was at 15:30, but the ticket-taker wouldn't let me in until 15:10.
Went outside and enjoyed the mild weather until the appointed time rolled around.
Eventhough I own a tradepaperback of the graphic novel, I had not read it until the '80s. I decided to go see the
movie with only the bits and pieces I remembered from reading the book, and the references in pop culture since. :)
The screening room was a bit small, and a grand total of about 20 people shared it with me.
We were pummeled by TV commercials, and I thank Pacific Theatres (their spelling) for allowing me to catch up on the
latest inane ads that I don't get to see due to my lack of cable and broadcast TV reception. Thanks a lot, jerks!!
Eventually, at some point, we had movie trailers. I closed my eyes when "Observe And Report" came on. Not my bag!
The "X-Men Origins Wolverine" trailer was the perfect excuse to slip out to the little Kzin's room; I had already
seen it, and I didn't want to have to go during the movie. I shouldn't have drank some Gatorade for lunch. :)
After some more trailers, the movie started! Yea!
The opening credits are brilliant! Some of the short vignettes are recreations of famous photos and paintings!
The film itself is really well put-together, the casting is very effective, and there's tons of little things to look
for and to listen to. Of course, some aspects of the graphic novel are missing, and a few changes have been made.
This is a movie, not a miniseries, and this is based on a 23 year-old graphic novel.
There's a 3 hours and 10 minutes long version of the film heading to theaters in July of this year.
The original theatrical release is 2 hours and 40 minutes. An even longer Director's Cut will be available on DVD.
I may go see it again in July. And I'm pretty sure I will get the DVD.
After movie, I went to the Trader Joe's conveniently located nearby and did some grocery shopping.
I spent the rest of the evening kind of in a haze, still processing "Watchmen: The Movie".
For some reason, I always have a problem going to sleep on Sunday nights. This was no exception.
At around 02:00, I got out of bed, drank a tall glass of water, grabbed the "Watchmen" graphic novel and read it.
I was comparing it to the movie, looking for missing bits and modifications.
And I found myself shocked at the original ending in the book. It seemed like such a ridiculous scheme, like something
out of a bad episode of "The Outer Limits" or a really bad sci-fi novel. I find the movie ending much more interesting
and effective and insidious, on the whole. And I'm impressed at how much of the book was squeezed into 2:40.
So yeah, overall, in my own personal opinion, good job Zack Snyder and Co.!!
I finished reading at 04:00 and went to bed. There were dreams, but I don't remember them...


Saturday April 4th: slept in, woke up late, took care of computer and eBay stuff.
Managed to watch "The China Syndrome" on Streamflix, though IE crashed at least a dozen times. Grrrrrr...
(Streamflix only works with IE, so no browser recommendations please.)
Went to trader Joe's to pick up a few things, then walked across the street to Albertson's for mayo.
Saw the misspelled aisle sign, took a picture and vowed to use it as a Random. See previous post for picture. :)
Refuelled the truck, got a phone call from Jean-Louis, who had disappeared for over a week. Vowed to get together
soon to have dinner and hang out and try to think of solutions for various problems.
Drove home, made killer sammich with parbaked Ciabatta small loaf, turkey, ham, provolone and swiss.
Watched a couple of episodes of Season 2 "The New Avengers" (Steed, Purdey, Gambit).
Then played "Need For Speed: Carbon" on the ol' PS2 until 06:30!!!!
Gawd, I haven't gamed like that in a long while.
Sold the Alfa-Romeo Brera, which is a great beginner's car and looks sexay, and bought a Lotus Elise, which handles
like a slot car! Beat three bosses and wound up with their cars: Dodge Charger R/T (old-school), Aston Martin DB9,
and Mazda RX-7. The RX-7 has better handling than the Elise. How the hell is that possible? On the other hand,
the Elise has better acceleration and top speed. Hopefully I'll find a car with all three somewhere in the game.
The drift races are much harder than the ones in "NFS: Underground". I find myself unable to complete them.
And you know, I don't like drifting. I'm Mister Grip, I want my wheels firmly attached to the asphalt.

Sunday April 5th: because of marathon gaming, didn't get up until, like, 16:00.
Took photos of all of dad's Vespa Club badges and pennants. I have decided to sell them on eBay.
They're all originals from the '50s and '60s and I'm hoping to get something decent out of them. I haven't posted
them yet, I need to work up some copy for the auctions to explain what they are and the history behind them.
Dad was very active in his local Vespa Club and was instrumental in organizing the first National Vespa Meet in our hometown.
Afterwards, I put together some tasty pasta dinner then settled down to watch "Transporter 3", which is fun and has
a fairly coherent plot. In other words, it's better than "Transporter 2" and almost as good as "The Transporter".
And ladies will enjoy Jason Statham's bouts of shirtlessness. :D
There is a director commentary track done in English by the amusingly-named Olivier Megaton in a heavy French accent.
The Kzin says check it out.


And voila!
Weekends update and a wee bit of -flixing!
A bientot!