Day 4:
A nicer weather day than yesterday. Being out and about I feel more inclined not to go on an international trip soon but instead hop on the motorcycle and explore. A direction only without any destination, just a timeline for a self imposed perception of responsibility of going back to work. Continue reading
Day 3:
The stop in Spokane was way larger than expected but that’s hindsight. At one point people were just gone off the station platform so I hustled back inside, not realizing that we still had probably another 20 minutes or so. Eventually I fell asleep to wake up first around 5 then later around 7. A three egg omelet with swiss cheese, heavily salted potatoes and a croissant greeted me for breakfast. Continue reading
As typical this isn’t a mainstream movie but instead what is classified as independent. I usually define mainstream as sex, guns and violence with less thinking needed. I’ve seen independent movies with sex, guns and violence but they seem to more appropriate though. Moving on.
The Lunch Box is set in India. A country I know some about as I’m Indian but still distant from as I was born and raised in the Middle United States of North America or MUSNA. I’m ignoring Alaska and Hawaii for the moment as writing MUSNAWO is a lot longer. That’s the Middle United States of North America with Outliers. Sorta like when Agent Colsen in Iron Man spells out SHIELD until the end, I have yet to come up with a better world-centric acronym. Anyway.
It’s set in India and has to do with a lunch box, hence the title, The Lunch Box. If you’ve never heard about it or read about it, you can google the lunch box delivery service they have set up and that it really was studied for its incredible efficiency at delivering those meals. For this movie, the lunch box makes a wrong turn which helps set up the storyline. Good pacing and good lead characters. I feel a connection to them and believe them and their emotions. Back and forth we learn about each of their lives. One person not dominating over the other. The ending is what cinches this as a great movie and an independent one. It’s unclear. Just enough to drive me into a good crazy wondering about what’s going to happen. I’ve talked this over with others and we each had different ideas on the endings. I love it. I love being able to finish a movie and talk about it and ponder it and let it the unknown become something good to bring people together to talk. I felt similar with Silver Linings Playbook and Place Beyond the Pines. Both also very good movies.
See it (them). Let it sit in the back of you mind stewing and churning. Embrace the unknown and revel in not being spoon fed.
-SFA
I’ve been here in the past for Geeks Who Drink and enjoyed what I had at the time. They are a microbrewery. I also remember being embarrassed when someone in the group asked for a miller.
I’m back today because I’ve got some writing to do. Works as a reason to me. I had a Drunken Hobo Milk Stout at 8.3% ABV and the Warm Pretzels with queso and a side of mustard. I’m partial to the milk stouts. I like Left Hand’s Milk Stout also. I also like pretzels. Even with a partial lactose intolerance the queso is a must. The stout is good and while the pretzel became cold because I spent time writing and watching a UFC fight on the TV instead of eating, I continued eating it because it was tasty.
Come enjoy a good brew and pretzel if you are so inclined. They didn’t have food before but do now. Basic fare but I plan to come back to try something else (the Stinky Pink looks good based on grapefruit) while I work on more writing. Not a bad location to sit and ponder as I spill out letters onto the page.
Time to finish my food and drink and head back to some home projects to work on.
-SFA
Chef. Directed by John Fauvre.
My quick synopsis:
Just a straight up good movie. See it.
If you want to know more, keep reading.
So I woke up this morning and was working around the house and very last minute I decided that I wanted to see a movie. Open browser and a list appears of so many movies. So many movies I have no desire to see. Chef though stood out. I remember having seen something about it before and so, off to the theater with two minutes to spare before it starts. One of the benefits of going to see movies early, especially on a saturday is that there usually aren’t that many people there. Another is that if it’s an early bird movie, it’s much cheaper. Not as cheap as the second run theater but far more manageable than an evening movie. I try not to think about an evening movie in 3D at the IMAX. I haven’t heard back yet from the loan department at the bank if they would fund that.
As expected the theater was lite on population but still more than I thought because it was early as well as a non-mainstream movie (guns, sex, violence, less thinking generally needed). I was able to get pretty good positioning for my seat. I’m crazy like that. I want to be at the theater early enough to get good seating usually. Being last minute I winged it knowing this wasn’t probably popular. About 2/3rds back and just left of center is my preference.
Oh. Another benefit. Getting there after it starts means less previews to sit through if you don’t want to see them.
As a movie review people usually talk about the plot and all that. But you can see it yourself to learn those details.
My impression: The movie had good characters that interacted well. Lots of cameos but they never detracted from the movie nor overshadowed it. The pacing was good and I never felt like I wanted it to move faster. At times I wanted it just a little slower but only because I was really enjoying the character interactions and wanted to see and know more. I feel for them and wanted to be a part of their world. It doesn’t help that I have secret (not anymore) ambitions to take cooking classes and wanted to be a chef. Yes watching the movie on an empty stomach didn’t help me and as I write this I’m at a brewery having a Milk Stout and Pretzels with queso. Even though I saw the ending of the movie coming I was happy for it. I wanted it to happen and let it add a few more tears to my face. It’s a story of what happened to one person that stopped following a passion and became complacent and his journey back to himself, a journey I feel I work on everyday to not “give in” to some notion of what is standard and “society” and just be myself, regardless of what I’m advised by others.
Here’s to the dreamers. Those who see what is around them and in their lives and continue pushing forward, struggling against external and self imposed obstacles to try and make a better tomorrow for others and themselves.
-SFA
Day 2:
I woke to the sun. Always a good way to help set your internal clock. The slow steady ramping up of the light attacking the pineal gland and melatonin stops doing its thing. Somewhat sleepless night though. Very cold in the room. No heat and the blankets brought from home were thin. The room control for the heat was not working. Looking through the window the flat countryside of farmland is witnessed. Seriously flat country. Overcast and wet it is still beautiful waking up in North Dakota. Continue reading
Pre-Day:
In the past I’ve taken Amtrak from Richmond to New York or vice versa from New York to Richmond. It’s about a 6 hours trip. Nice and relaxing. You can sit and work and let someone else do the driving. Think about flying from New York to Richmond. JFK or LaGuardia you need to be there at least 2 hours early, plus the time to get to the Airport about 45 minutes to an hour in itself. I don’t think I’ve ever had much of a long commute to the train station in either city. Even getting to Penn Station was just a matter of hopping on the subway. Then there is the hour plus of flying. I’m not including the transit time to get you home because you have to do that even with the train. It’s probably very little time to get to the train station and board. Both places would need more time if you want to check in bags. Continue reading
What kid doesn’t dream of trains? Maybe not kids these days staring at their ipads and digital trains but I did growing up. I’ve always enjoyed the trips I’ve taken. It’s such a pleasure to be able to relax and let the miles move themselves. For this trip I took Amtrak’s Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. These are a few of the photos without most of my writing. A second entry will be my journal plus a gallery of the photos. Easy peasy.
The night before started with a bottle of wine. A celebration of a good voyage to come and the next day off to the train station
After some time, the site came up. I started working on it and then it went down again. As I was told 24-48h I put things down and tried again the next day. After not being able to log in, I called name.com again. There were problems of course but with godaddy. Somehow the nameservers reverted back off name.com and back onto godaddy. I rechanged those and just had to wait until they propogated. It’s up and running now. Just need to import and get things cleaned up and I’m back in business. I do wish the media area was more refined. Instead of showing all the pictures I wish I could have things in folders or something like that.
-SFA
As I’ve been trying to make a move from the wordpress.com to something else, I had way too much time looking over options. Not wanting to spend a lot of time managing as well as being scared about security threats and whatnot I’m trying (not I’ve gone to) Rapidpress on name.com. So far I have to say it’s been a pretty up and down experience. I talked to someone about a week ago on the site and he was great. Very knowledgeable and answered everything I thought I needed to know. Continue reading
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