Beautiful Slow-vannah

As promised, here's some pics from last weekend's trip to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed two nights and had a great time. Savannah is a great little city because there's so much history there from the Revolutionary War and Civil War and all the periods in between, and all of the architecture is so amazingly preserved and maintained. It attracts a lot of tourists, but it definitely does not have a cheesy, tourist-trap feel to it. In fact, it's very laid back. Here was our trip: Day 1 - Check-in at the Sheraton Four Points, sightseeing on foot all around the historic district/riverfront, lunch at "Bernie's" (named after me, of course), drinks at Murphy's Law (Irish pub); Day 2 - Morning visit to Ft. Pulaski, guided trolley tour of the historic district, lunch in an old dining car from the last train to ever leave the Savannah Terminal, relax-time by the hotel pool, dinner/drinks at Churchill's pub, guided pub crawl ghost tour (good, campy, intoxicated fun!), Day 3 - Breakfast and bid farewell. We walked by 'The Lady & Sons' restaurant (Food Network chef Paula Deen's famous restaurant) a zillion times, but never went in to eat. Oh well! We originally intended to go, but it was constantly so jam-packed with hodads waiting to get in that we decided to skip it. Plus, if we had gone we would have gotten the buffet and would have eaten ourselves into oblivion (and not saved room for beer!). It's funny how her restaurant serves traditional, run-of-the-mill "Southern" food, but yet it was crammed wall-to-wall with people outdoing themselves to look ultra-trendy! It's amazing what a little bit of celebrity will do for a place! Savannah is also the home to SCAD - Savannah College of Art and Design, one of the toughest art schools to get into in the country. If I had any inkling of artistic talent, that would be the place I would want to go! It must be so much fun to attend a school like that. The main building is housed in one half of the old train terminal (the other half is the Savannah visitors' center) which has been beautifully renovated. SCAD is also the only art school in the country to offer a master's degree in historic preservation. That makes sense since the historic district there is so heavily protected and maintained by the local preservation society. More power to them!

Enjoy the pics!

Minty Fresh MINI

It's not so often I wash my car, but we did on Sunday so I thought it would be a good idea to get a couple pics of it looking all fresh and sparkly! I'm not a big car guy, but I loves my MINI.

Savannah

Patience. I will post some pics from our trip to Savannah this weekend later on. We had a great time, but I'm not in such a festive mood to talk about it right now.

Time Becomes A Loop

Finally...I finished reading the book "Time Traveller" by Dr. Ron Mallett. I'm not a theoretical physicist, and I don't pretend to know the faintest about theoretical physics, quantum physics, or Einstein's general and specific theories of relativity. However, Dr. Mallett is a renowned theoretical physicist and full professor at the University of Connecticut. I became interested in him and his book after hearing about his story on the weekly NPR radio show, "This American Life" (which, if you've never heard, you really need to check it out - it's available as a free weekly podcast on iTunes). The story, in a nutshell, goes like this. In 1955, Dr. Mallett was 12 years old and his father suddenly died from a massive heart attack. His father was a great teacher, friend, and mentor to young Ron and the death greatly impacted his life, almost for the worst. Almost, that is, until one day he picked a comic book version of H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine". From that point on he was determined, no driven, to one day build a time machine so that he could travel back prior to that fateful day in 1955 and warn his father of his impending doom so that he could make provisions in his health to prevent it. This story, all of it true, is about Dr. Mallett's climb up the academic ladder, enduring racial prejudice (he's African-American) and self-doubt and depression along the way. It is also an explanation, in layman's terms, of the theories of relativity and universal forces and how, theoretically, they make time travel into the past a very real potential reality. All of this is totally captivating and has gotten me thinking about things on a much broader spectrum lately. So much that the next book I want to dive into is Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time", which I thought I would never have the patience or will to read. At the present time, Dr. Mallett is collaborating with an experimental physicist to create a rudimentary time machine that will be able to transmit communications through time. From my understanding of his explanation of everything, time travel will only be possible into the past, and it will be possible to only transmit signals (and maybe eventually physical matter when they can build a large enough mechanism) to a point in time no sooner than when the unit is turned on. So, for example, if we had a time machine built today, May 26, 2008, which has the capacity to transmit humans, people in the future would only be able to travel as far back into the past as today. Wrap your mind around that one, will ya!

In a related story, I finally got around to watching "The Last Mimzy" today which I tivoed back in February. It is about time travel, in a way, in that a future generation of earthlings transmits a highly-developed artificial life form in the shape of a small stuffed bunny back in time in the hopes of obtaining some shred of human goodness to bring back to the future to save mankind. From what, it never really elaborates on. In the process, the story's heroes a little girl and her slightly older brother gain supernatural powers from the bunny, Mimzy, along with a host of other cool "toys" that were sent from the future. The story has such a great concept, which really showed so much promise in the first half of the film, but just totally runs out of steam by the end. It could have been so much more than it was in terms of story and character development. Even some of the dialogue was awkward and overacted. This is one of those movies that I really, really wanted to like, but ended up being a real disappointment. If only they could take it back and redo it! ...That's what time machines are for, right?

I have some other news that I'm not sure is appropriate to post on my blog, but I'm still trying to figure out how to handle it mentally and emotionally so maybe it's best if I talk about it. My uncle and cousin, on my dad's side, who live in Nurenberg, Germany were vacationing in Italy last week with my aunt and my cousin's wife. My cousin (41yo) went swimming in the ocean, got caught in a riptide, panicked and called to my uncle for help. My uncle swam to him in an attempt to save him and both ended up drowning. Somehow, it still doesn't seem like it's true to me. Especially since my cousin is a body builder - he won in his weight class at the 1998 Mr. Universe. It just doesn't make sense. I'm contemplating whether or not I should fly to Nurenberg to be with family. My mom thinks it would be best to wait until later after the funeral when my aunt will be in a little bit more of a state of mind to accept visitors. I haven't seen her since my dental school graduation in 1996. Not sure what to do.

increase production. prevent accidents. be happy.

Sounds like my job.

So last night I was watching the Biography channel at some ungodly hour of the night (why can't I go to sleep?), and they were showing the George Lucas bio. Obviously, I think he's done some brilliant things, but there's one little known movie of his that I almost completely forgot about - THX 1138. This is perhaps his most obscure film, but for some reason I remember watching it on TV (local station, not cable) when I was really little, maybe 7 or 8 years old. It's so odd that something like this would have been broadcast on regular TV. I remember being really enthralled by it, as all of the imagery was so minimal - all white and "cyber"-like, with robo-cops with emotionless metal faces. If it were remade today, it would probably have a soundtrack by Daft Punk! Here's a brief synopsis stolen directly from Wiki:

"THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film directed by George Lucas, from a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch. It depicts an Orwellian future, featuring three residents of a dystopia in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through ever-present faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, including sexual desire.
It was the first feature-length film directed by Lucas, and a more developed, feature-length version of his student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which he made in 1967 while attending the University of Southern California, based on a one and a quarter page treatment of an idea by Matthew Robbins.
THX 1138 shares themes with The Machine Stops, Anthem, Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Giver, Ira Levin's This Perfect Day and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, and was inspired in part by the short film 21-87. The film was produced in a joint venture between Warner Brothers and Francis Ford Coppola's then-new production company, American Zoetrope. A novelization by Ben Bova was published in 1971."

The movie starred Robert Duvall as the title character. I wonder if he was already famous at this point or not. Now the curiosity is eating at me and I really want to see it again to find out if it still holds the same kind of fascination. I think it didn't do that well in 1971 because it was way ahead of its time. But if you think about it, "The Matrix" definitely has some very similar plot points. Bit of trivia - the "THX" audio system used by Industrial Light and Magic derives its name from this movie - you can see that familiar THX logo at the beginning of a lot of movies.

I'll check this movie out and let you know if it's worth watching or not.

Unbridled Enthusiasm

Howdy-Hey. I have absolutely nothing new to post today. Just getting ready for a nice long weekend away in Savannah. Mowed the lawn today and probably ought to wash the MINI tomorrow, though it will probably get coated with bugs during the drive up. I'll post again tomorrow if the mood strikes, but for now let me leave you with this endearing photo of the greatest band that ever was...

"That's One Doodle That Can't Be Undid, Home Skillet"

Forgot to mention that we watched "Juno" from Netflix last weekend. It was well-made and, yeah, I guess it did deserve the accolades it received. The director Ivan Reitman seems to have his finger on the pulse of smart, witty, emotionally with-it storytelling. His previous offering, "Thank You For Smoking", is one of my all-time favorite movies (see my review of it on my "Big In Japan" site). I did sincerely like the characters, but my only skepticism is are they an accurate reflection of teenagers today? I graduated high school in 1989, and "The Breakfast Club" was more true to the stereotypical breakdown of the high school caste system of that era - i.e. the princesses, the geeks (me), the jocks (or, the surfers at my high school), and the losers/weirdos/space cadets (I'm convinced that Ally Sheedy was the prototype of the modern Goth/Emo chick of today). Now, in "Juno", Juno is the smart, sassy heroine "every-girl" (the dialogue in the beginning of the film was almost a little too witty for its own good - in a Dawson's Creek kind of way). However, for somebody with such an acerbic wit, she hangs out with a cheerleader of all people. And her cheerleader friend is very sincere and supportive vice superficial and snotty. Could it be? Also, Michael Cera (loved him in "Superbad") is a quiet, gentle jock who looks like he might wilt like a flower if you poked him. Guess times are a changin'. Not that that's a bad thing. We all need to be a little more worldly. Guess I was a little too traumatized by my own high school experience. Thank God that's over with!

Potato Washer

Holy Christ! Here's a very recent photo from Shichirigahama. Absolutely dangerous! Good luck not getting a board in your face or getting gored by a fin. Suckers!

Diet

So since I've been back in the states, my diet has been pretty piss-poor. Well, ok, maybe not that bad, especially when we eat at home. But overall, I find myself eating out quite a bit, and most of it is unhealthy. I can see how and why obesity is such an epidemic in this country. And the reason why is because it's very inexpensive and convenient to eat poorly here. It's more expensive and time consuming to eat healthier choices. Why should a single mother of three spend $40 to buy groceries and cook a dinner at home, when she can go through the McDonald's drive-thru and feed them for $20, and not have to wash dishes on top of it. When Akemi and I go out to eat, especially on the weekends, we usually only stick to appetizers to accompany alcohol. In Japan, that was great because, as I've mentioned before, most izakaya food is very healthy, nutritious, simple food, much of it raw. But at pubs here, bar food is mostly greasy and deep-fried. Tempting, but not good. I keep pondering the idea if izakayas or izakaya-style drinking establishments would do well here. I've heard that some have opened in more metropolitan places, like New York and L.A. It seems like when those kind of places open here, they come off as being pretentious or snooty (see, "big plate, little food"). I remember two pretty good tapas places in Virginia Beach that were crazy-overpriced. I'm not really sure why - the ingredients were not all that exotic. I think if Americans learned to eat in moderation, those restaurants could flourish and become more widespread and affordable. We can only dream. Maybe after the majority of the population eats itself into oblivion will people begin to wake up and become more food conscientious. ...Or maybe I need to start drinking in moderation.

My Farewell Party, Part 2

Yes, I'm having one of my "I miss Japan" melancholy moments, so I thought I'd go ahead and post the second part of my farewell party entry. These photos are starting to look like ancient history now. They were all taken at a karaoke place about two blocks from base, where we went following 'Banzai'. Karaoke is so much fun in Japan. It's practically a national pasttime there. And in these type of establishments, you actually get a private room for your group, and you can order food and drinks. Yes - that is an orthodontic retainer in a glass of beer! Funny story about that - that belongs to Dr. Martha Michaelson (lady in the pink sweater), or at least it DID. She put it in there as a joke, but the real joke is that she ended up accidentally LEAVING it at that karaoke joint!! And the guy taking a picture of it with his cell phone is her orthodontist!! So ironic - the orthodontists absolutely HATE it when people lose their retainers! I died when I heard that we all walked out of there and let Martha forget it!! Apparently, alcohol and dentistry don't mix!

You Only Live Twice

I don't consider myself a 007 officionado. Hell, I haven't even seen all of the movies; and I couldn't really tell you alot about the plots for the ones that I have seen. Except for one - a perfect Bond movie all by itself - "You Only Live Twice". I finally recently procured this film, one of my all-time favorites, for a whopping $5 from Amazon. Without argument, this is the best Bond flick ever made (runner-up would be last year's "Casino Royale"), and Sean Connery was hands-down the quintessential best actor to ever don the Walther PPK and the dry martini. If you would like to challenge me on that statement, I'll happily go a few rounds with you. And what makes YOLT so special to me is that the majority of the film is set in Japan, with a focus on Japanese culture that does not parody it. Consider the year this film came out - 1967 - Japan at that point had had 20 years of almost lightspeed industrialization and rebuilding after being all but destroyed during WWII. So this film, if you think about it, represents one of the very first forerunners of the West's modern fascination with Japanese culture - that's pretty culturally groundbreaking considering the bloody course of events which had transpired barely a quarter of a century earlier. But sociological points aside, this movie has several other great aspects - e.g. a fantastic soundtrack by composer John Barry (with the title track hauntingly crooned by Nancy Sinatra - see my playlist below), a great sense of mid-century style (note the beautiful Eames-esque furnishings in the Osato Chemicals head office - it killed me to see Bond toss those chairs around like throw pillows), fashion (mod suits galore!), and originality (what villain up to that point had his headquarters in a hollowed-out volcano?). Not only that, but look at all of the great fodder it provided Mike Meyers to spoof in all of the Austin Powers movies. Dr. Evil is Blofeld! See also Pixar's "The Incredibles" - plenty of YOLT influence there as well. I'm sure there's plenty of other movies out there that have also been subconsciously inspired by this film. Yes, I'm totally otaku about this movie!

The Life

I'm not sure why, but from time to time I still like to check a website that features daily photos of Shichirigahama, a very well-known and heavily populated surf spot in Japan, about 5 or 6 miles from where we lived during my second tour. On decent days, it's dangerously crowded, parking is murder (plan on waiting an hour to get a parking spot and paying ¥2-3,000 on top of it), and many of the surfers are very aggressive in the water. But nonetheless, there are some beautiful, mellow days like this with long lines of gentle rolling swells that perhaps make me miss surfing there. This pic sums it up. Small waves but perfect conditions for old guys with long boards (Hey! I'm headed in that direction!). If pictures like this captivate or inspire you, check out a beautiful photo book entitled "PreWar Surfing Photographs" by Don James. James took surfing pictures like these of his buddies with a simple SRL camera mounted in a wooden box on the front of his board way back in the 30s and early 40s, a good decade before the surfing scene exploded in California. Interesting side note - James went on to become a dentist!

Food Porn

Please excuse my laziness! There's no excuse why I haven't posted something new on here in a few days. Today was unusual. All but one of my patients cancelled, so I had most of the day to spend with Akemi, run, sleep in, and watch waaaay too many episodes of Bravo's "Top Chef" reality show. I'm not sure why I'm addicted - I'm not a chef, not really a 'foodie' outside of Japanese cuisine, and I'm not a connoisseur of reality shows in general, so it must just be the creativity and tension of it all. Isn't it funny how you can watch a show about fine cuisine while consuming half a bag of Doritos? Bravo seems to have the most interesting reality shows, but it makes one wonder if this trend will ever end or is it a permanent part of American pop culture. Nonetheless, I find myself rooting for some of the competitors and booing others. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with selective editing on the part of the producers to create a mood. Anyway, it was good fun, but I better turn off the idiot box and do something more productive...like spending countless hours plugging every possible topic I can think of into Wikipedia! Somebody save me from myself!

New Additions

So on Sunday we had some unexpected visitors, appropriate for Mothers' Day. The strong blustery winds blew down a bird's nest out of one of the tall pine trees in our backyard and scattered all of the babies that were inside. There were five total, two of which did not survive. They were very small, probably the younger ones of the pack. The other three were slightly stunned, but healthy. They were pretty large for chicks, so we guess that they were crows or ravens. We placed them back into their nest and waited to see if the mother would come back. We were not sure if she located them or not, so we placed the nest into a cardboard box and Akemi took them to the studio with her since she had to teach a 4pm class and I needed to be at my brother's for Mothers' Day luncheon. The pet shop next door gave her some baby bird formula to feed them. They were very content and slept soundly afterward. Yesterday, Akemi drove them up to BEAKS, a bird sanctuary and rehabilitation facility up in Fernandina. It was a nice little adventure for Akemi because she got to take the Mayport Ferry across the St. John's River for the first time. She was pretty sad last night about giving them away, but it's all good. They'll get the appropriate care they need until they're ready to fly in another week or two.

Gettin' Some Culture

Pretty laid back day today - I went to Bikram (without Akemi - she was feeling under the weather), picked her up afterward and went down to St. John's Town Center for a little shopping, then came home and cleaned up and took my mom down to the Jacksonville Landing where we met up with Tony, my sister-in-law Lysa and niece Eleanor. We grabbed a quick dinner at Hooters, of all places. The food was ok (greasefest - but I guess we all need our USDA of Crisco from time to time) but the joint was freakin' LOUD! I don't know why. You get a bunch of rednecks around a bunch of barely-legal girls in skimpy orange shorts and next thing you know people are hootin' and hollerin' and the Bachman-Turner Overdrive gets cranked up to mindnumbing levels. So from there, we did a socio-economic 180 and walked next door to the Jacoby Auditorium and watched a Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra benefit concert which was being held to raise money to rebuild a church that burned down last December. Good times! The selection of music was nice, and didn't drag on too long. I do enjoy classical music, but I can only sit through about two hours of a live classical performance. Is that wrong? I don't think so -- you're average movie or rock concert is only about two hours long. That's a nice little unit-dose of time. Kind of like the way that Hugh Grant's character in "About A Boy" divided up his daily activities. The view from the river walk behind the Landing and auditorium is stunning, especially at night. It's too bad that that area gets kind of sketchy at night, otherwise it would be fun to go down there more often.

Bring Out The Monkey

Today was good. Work was short and sweet - only one patient, and a patient that did not need treatment at that. So I made zero cashola today, but I did come home early, a rarity. So I got to run my usual 6-miler (in the heat) then came home and read a little bit. Then, we caught the extra-early happy hour at Sun Dog Diner at Atlantic Beach, followed by Sliders Oyster Bar with Rob, followed by coffee/live jazz at the little outdoor cafe and patio outside of Shelby's. The pictures speak for themselves, friends. Yes, it's official - my hair can get no goofier looking.