The Travel Pack

Honkfest 2013!

Ah, Cambridge...

 

  

Meh

Not sure about your RSS feed, but mine didn't replace the hasty first post (which included a typo in the title) with the better reviewed one (which occurred once I'd uploaded the photo to the feminist tumblr and actually looked at it).

Apologies. 

Haste makes title typos not caught by spellcheck... 

Out of Character

 
okay - I've had this thing for several years now (at this moment, I'm trying not to think about for how many).  and for the most part, I've wanted to stay anonymous (the elf will tell you that even LinkedIn scares privacy-conscious me). However this is absurd, and i want to be a part. and Luddite me, can't figure out how to upload a picture to this without posting it online first.  So here it is - my internet debut, after however many years:

In which I go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so you don't have to...

Things that Perplex Me

things that gmail thinks I meant to write when I typed "Caroline's"

Arty vacation pictures

A few more pictures from paradise

 sheep, for some reason

 a bird friend

 another bird friend

this was my first time in the Caribbean -  I have never seen ocean that color before

 lizard friend

 we made good use of these hammocks

 my feet with elf feet

yet another bird friend

Sharknado - the live blog

(obviously I did not take this picture)

8:00 pm - So tonight is the night, kids.  Tonight is the premier of Sharknado.  Note - that is not the same as SharkNATO, which is what we first thought when we heard about it, which would be possibly the only thing better than a tornado full of sharks.  I would also want Tara Reid to star in SharkNATO, by the by.

Anyway - tonight, for your reading pleasure, the elf, the loon and I will be liveblogging this masterpiece. Some of us are drinking wine. Some of us are on Sudafed.  Some are throwing caution to the wind and mixing our metaphors. Or something.

It starts at 9.  Tune in!

8:14 the elf explains to the loon what the pup is saying - "I will leave you alone as soon as you let me put my tongue in your mouth!"

8:15 - the pup has settled down for the moment.  We'll see how long that lasts. 

8:48 - last 15 minutes of SuperShark.  May have to go back for this one.

The elf points out the only SyFy movie that we've been disappointed in was something like Ice Spiders.  blech.

8:55 - I did kermit arms at the Sharknado commercial.  The pup enjoyed that. 

8:56 - B-man is joining us! Hooray!

9:01 - apparently Beau from The Dukes of Hazard was in the SuperShark movie.  Minds = blown.

9:02 - Here we go!

well, they're starting right in with it.  I appreciate that. 

Loon - puts a whole new spin on the wizard of Oz.

9:04 - elf - we're so close to the ocean, could that happen to us?

b-man - anything on the syfy network could happen to us.

9:06 - the shocking moment when we realized that we hadn't set up rules to this drinking game.  the group has decided if we drank when there was bad cgi, we'd all die of alcohol poisoning. 

9:07 - three minutes in, four deaths already. 

and now we're in Venice Beach Santa Monica. 

9:08 - loon - can we buy the soundtrack?

9:09 - the dad from home alone! who isn't in this movie?

9:10 - so obviously the girl with the mysterious scar has no checkered past involving sharks, right?

9:12 - they're calling 90210 dude grandpa.  not sure if I should be offended. 

farewell, pretty Asian actress.  should have guessed we wouldn't learn your name as no minority actor has ever made it to act III of a SyFy movie. 

9:14 - so the sharks get the whole beach, half of the guy on the jet ski, but 90210 makes it, floating on a surfboard. 

9:16 - b-man and the elf are tweeting our local weatherman to see about the chance of a sharknado in Southie. 

9:19 - b-man - "Global Warming brings Sharknados?"

me - "also Birdemics."

Commercial break! Time for b-man to work on his outline!

9:24 - first Tara Reid sighting!

9:25 - It's not safe out there.  The storm's coming. So I'm going to send all you drunks out into it to fend for yourselves.

Stake through the shark's heart.  Sharkula cannot be far behind. [Sharkula versus Zombie-pus?]

9:27 - home alone dad with bar stool > macrame shirt chick with the gun

9:30 dear movie watching friends. you're debating the physics of the ferris wheel through the building in a movie about a tornado of sharks. 

9:31 - our favorite newswoman just tweeted the elf back after we sent her the trailer.  evening = a success. 

9:33 - and now the weatherman responded: "Nope, it's okay to swim with the fishes here." evening = epic success. 

9:38 - even in a science fiction sharknado world, you can't drive anywhere in L.A. 

me - "in what way is that like Old Faithful."

elf - "well, there's water."

9:41 - home alone dad has his bar stool again to save the dog! 

r.i.p. home alone dad.  i lost the over under on you. 

elf thinks that the voice synchronization on this show is almost as good as early iron chef.

outside input - miss j (coworker of the elf) "if this really happened, our company would still be open."

9:51 - new over under on douchebag boyfriend? 

9:51:30.  apparently the under. 

9:56 - getting a lot of milage out of that storm drain footage...

9:58 - more traffic navigation. 

City Council candidates are tweeting about their Sharknado contingency plans. 

9:58:30 - the moment we realize that 90210's name is Fin.

10:02 - b-man has officially surrendered his outline. 

10:03 - OMG - children in peril! wonder how this will turn out...

of course 90210 is repelling down. if they do this one kid at a time, i'm going to need another drink.

elf - one kid in 12 can climb a rope in gym class. 

b-man - i hate the rope climb.

elf - there's no craft in that. 

10:06 - we've gone from televised Los Angeles driving, to televised phys ed.

bus chaperone gets it in 3..2..

ooh - lost that one too. i've lost my syfy formula touch. 

10:08 - the shark being cut loose from the rope and falling into the water may be a new high or low in the cgi effects in this program. 

10:09 - movie "it's clearing up." elf "you still have another hour to go."

10:10 - bye, bus chaperone.  you lived five minutes longer than i assumed you would. 

why has there been no "it's raining men"/sharknado mash-up? b-man points out they're saving that for the Broadway adaptation. 

b-man - if i get a doctorate, I owe it all to Sharknado. and Absolut. 

10:17 elf - "that's what happen when chicks drive."

loon - "i hate it when the shark blows up with my car."

10:18 the least realistic thing about this movie so far is that this is the first trip to the liquor store. 

the liquor store guy is the guy you cast when Zach Galifianikas' people don't return your phone calls. 

10:21 - elf - "what's real in this movie? not Tara Reid's boobs. Not the wheels on the cars..."

10:22 - the time we realize that we have no idea how the intro with the guys on the ship relates to anything that has happened since.

10:23 - Holy shark filled water spout, batman!

10:24 - and they catch up with the loon's 9:02 Wizard of Oz joke.

10:31 - you were all huddling in the closet and you didn't even know about the sharks? lame.

10:31:30 - didn't expect the sucking out of the ceiling.

elf - "this shit is bananas!"

10:34 - is one of these people the droid they're looking for?

got to love throwing bombs into the tornados! this climate change plan brought to you by the Bush administration!

10:35 - ooh! generically handsome flyboy is 90210's son. it's all so clear now!

"I came for you first. remember that." - sharknado country song waiting to happen!

10:37 - mysterious scar story revealed! 

"they took my grandfather. that's why i really hate sharks."  emmy winning acting and writing right there.

10:46 our thoughts on who Tasmania is trying to be: loon - David Boreanaz; elf - Gerard Butler; me - Hugh Jackman

"we're going to need a bigger chopper!" Everybody drink.

I'm going to assume that macrame girl's black nail polish is an homage to Deborah Gibson's hand double in Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus.

"that worked" I'm sure it did. 

elf - oh my god, they're not going to chainsaw sharks coming down!

10:49.  bye bye borebutlerman and your weird bang.

loon - sharks love product. 

bye bye Joni with an i.

10:50 - elf - fish and chips!

10:50:30 - and that's why you always leave a note.

10:51 - of course there was a gasoline can next to the pool. 

10:52: elf -ooh connect four! i love connect four!

10:52:30 - elf - I want to discuss how his kids can drive a helicopter. 

10:53 - our weather guy and newscaster are now apparently watching this and tweeting about it.  i consider that a win.

10:55 - the shark just left his imprint in front of the Chinese theater...the loon wants to know whose star he landed on...

10:56 - the pup is so over this!

10:57 - loon "I'm still not clear how a bomb will stop the tornado."

elf - "there are sharks in the tornado.  if you're asking questions at this point."

10:58: elf "fuck off steve!"

loon - "that's like a shel silverstein poem on crack!"

b-man - "how big is this shark?"

11:00 - massive screaming! 

elf - "out of all the sharks in all the world, you had to end up in here."

11:01 - "hell of a day"

elf - "this is the best thing I've ever done.  The wine helps..."

and scene.

Things That Please Me

The elf and I just arrived home from a marvelous holiday in the Dominican Republic.  I cannot say enough about the lovely time that we had (even the bad things are great stories, which she will tell you if you give her enough caipirinhas).

I may post other pictures later, but this morning, the overwhelming orangeness of the scene inspired me.

New keychain...

Not as good as the helm of awe, but hopefully there to keep me from dying in a snowstorm...

Note to Visitors

I made my way down Boylston Street today.  I'm not sure what I wanted to find there - just that on the first day the street was re-opened, it seemed important to bear witness.

I did not take pictures.

I did not take pictures because when I arrived at a place where windows remained blown out; where construction was under way; while workers were rebuilding and repainting; at a place where blood was still visible on the sidewalk - tourists were taking pictures.  more than that, tourists were taking pictures of each other at the site. 

how do you caption that picture? Hey - this is me standing in a place where 8 days earlier people were maimed and killed while gathering to watch an international sporting event?

i kept thinking about my sister when visited Auschwitz many years ago - she was baffled by the tourist telling his (very young) child - "see honey, that's where they burned people"

i don't know what to what to say.  obviously, i also was a tourist of sorts today - i was visiting the site of a brutal act. but i was nauseated by the proximity; not inspired to photograph...

also, while I only have 7 readers, I still want to put a link to the one fund - please give if you can.

also (again) here's a tee shirt that was designed by a friend of the elf. if you were looking for a #bostonpride shirt, I recommend that one.

Things that please me

So, all of us in the greater Boston area have had a pretty rough week. In other years I have been waiting for friends at the finish line of the marathon. On other Thursdays I have been outside that 7-11 at 10 pm.  The Watertown press conferences were in the parking lot of my Target.  The brothers lived a 15 minute walk from my apartment. It is all a lot to take in, and a lot to deal with. And it is easy to be angry, and to become irrational, and to focus on the evil, and the ugly, and the terrifying.  But I can’t imagine that helps. Or at the very least, it hasn’t helped me.  So given my love for lists, I’m giving you a few things that I love today. Remembering them doesn’t sew up my heart, or the heart of anyone else – but there is so little to hold on to, and this is what I have.

1. Social media – with several friends in Watertown, it was reassuring to me to know that, even if they were all in the backs of their apartments, clutching their dogs and laptops and beers in the dark, that they were safe. As much as Facebook and Twitter can frustrate and annoy me, I don’t know how I would have gotten through the day. Ditto for text messaging, email, skype and facetime – to assure the people outside of the (617) that I was still keeping body and soul together.
2. My cat – for being fuzzy, and snuggling up near me while I was on hour whatever of round the clock coverage with no additional information.  Sometime a fuzzy face is what is needed.
3. Social Wines in Southie – particularly for their amazing dog. And for being open during the small window between us being let out of our houses and the final chapter of Friday’s story.
4. Walking along the Charles River on a beautiful afternoon. Even yesterday with the 4:20 enthusiasts, the irritable geese, and the obvious and awkward break up happening on a bench by the footpath.  Fresh air, sunshine and people smiling as they go by served as a wonderful return to real life.
5. J.P. Licks vegan ice cream – I am lactose intolerant, and had given up the hope of every walking down the street with an ice cream cone again.  They fixed it.

This week, man

And so I give you many pictures of La Milo to raise our collective spirits...