In honor of Halloween, I’m skipping the travel stuff today. Instead, I’m naming my 5 Scariest Movie Robots of all Time. They are:
Maximilian – The big red robot from “The Black Hole” was freakin’ awesome, just floating there with that glowing red eye. Being from the creepy spaceship Cygnus also helped, because that thing just looked like a spacegoing mad scientist’s lab.
The Original Stripped-to-the-Metal Terminator – Obviously. He was big, strong, unstoppable, implacable. And those glowing red eyes!
The Robot Gunslinger – Yul Brynner’s character in “Westworld” scared the hell out of me, especially when he was shown without his faceplate. There was just something so creepy and so plausible about it. Revolting. Though a cowboy with a Teutonic accent is just a bit funny. Who was in charge of casting?
Interrogator Droid – The one that helped Darth Vader question Princess Leia. It just floated there, making that noise, laden with dripping needles. I would’ve squealed the location of the rebel base like a tattling first grader.
Al Gore – What? You don’t see it?
Honorable Mention – I’m a little old to be too scared of a robot, but those Cylon Centurions from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (which I consider among the finest TV series ever!) certainly make me nervous. By your command! (I wish they still said that now and then)
October, 2009:
My 5 Scariest Robots Ever – A Halloween Special
The Best Museum Meal Ever – Mitsitam Café in Washington, D.C.
Let’s face it – nobody goes to a museum to find a good meal. You’re bound to get either over-priced fast food or something more amibitious that’s been bungled, burned and left to dessicate under a heat lamp.
But then you have the Mitsitam Café at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The contents of the museum itself didn’t do much for me. But it’s an amazing building. And even better, if I lived in D.C., I’d make regular visits for lunch.
The cafe is broken into several themed sections. Each section represents a different region of indiginous people from the Americas, such as Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains. In each section, you’ll find items using ingredients that people from that region would’ve used in their cooking. That yields some really unusual items such as a quinoa-type grain with blueberries, smoked eel, braised rabbit and nopales (a type of pad cactus). I managed to find some sort of dish using chilled beets and potatoes, and it was tasty enough for me to try making it at home. I’d love to see a complete list of the cafe’s menu somewhere so I can do a little research and duplication here in Arizona.
Now let’s say you’re not quite up for eel, or you have kids. They can take a small step over to the wild side with pupusas, a nice corn-based flatbread sort of thing that’s usually stuffed with meat or cheese. [...]
2 Bikes for My Next Epic Ride – Which to Choose?
I have a little problem here. My Gary Fisher Cake 2 DLX and I have never gotten along. And I’m about to get back into long-distance mountain biking again, since I’ve been roped into joining the duo team “Lost Nuts” in the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo.
The Gary Fisher has just never fit me well. It’s always been a bit too long in the travel department for me, and I’ve just never felt comfortable on it. So I think it’s finally, really, truly New Bike Time for me. I’m an Arizona rider, so that means a lot of rocky madness.
Here’s what I’m considering:
1. Curtlo Advanced Mountaineer – A custom-made steel hardtail. Some of you tyros may never have ridden a steel hardtail. You might think I’m crazy. But a quality steel hardtail is light, rugged, low-maintenance and snappy. Take care of it, and it will keep riding after the flavor-of-the-month carbon wonder machine is delaminating in the landfill. Doug Curtiss, according to his site, builds these to suit each individual rider’s body, preferences and riding conditions – making the already-great steel hardtail even better with attention to detail.
2. Santa Cruz Superlight – A simple, rugged full suspension bike. It’s a proven winner – I’ve owned two bikes from Santa Cruz, and both delighted me with super fit and killer ride quality. They’re also reasonably price and handle snappy as all get-out. You can spend a lot more money on a full-suspension bike – but you can’t get all that much better.
I’m leaning toward [...]
Riding Your Bike? Leave the iPod at Home
Cell Bikes, an Australian bike shop, friended me on Twitter. They asked followers if they listen to tunes while riding. And if so, what?
I never listen to tunes while I ride. Off-road, the bike has way too much to tell me:
-Tires make a certain sound when they’re about to break loose in a corner.
-There’s a tingtingting sound spokes make when they’re hitting a bent derailleur. Failing to hear that sound can cause you problems. Lots of them.
-I can always hear a flat a split second before it happens, which lets me prepare to right the ship and get ready for problems.
-I can hear sundry other bike noises, all of which are good pre-indicators of potential bike problems.
-Arizona has rattlesnakes. More than once, a hiss or a rattle has given me a nice warning. Just try that with earbuds stuffed into your gulliver.
And then there’s road riding. Who doesn’t want to hear all the cars bearing down?
I often do get tunes stuck in my head. This is one of the more surprising ones I’ve had stick, and it kept popping into my head for several rides. Odd since it’s so slow and mellow, though the second and third chorus are freakin’ huge. It might have to do with learning to play it on the guitar, I suppose. Maybe I should learn Aces High, because that would be a killer riding tune.
Part of me also wonders why people can’t remove themselves from the teat of technology for just a spell, too. The [...]
Hansen Beverages Takes Aim at Vermont Craft Brewer
There’s yet another reason not to like Monster energy drinks. You know the ones – they come in huge cans slathered in busy graphics, promising more energy to pimply basement dwellers so they can frag each other while playing Halo better.
Hansen, uber-manufacturer of this concoction of mysterious and noxious ingredients, is taking aim at Rock Art, a Vermont-based craft brewer. That’s because Rock Art, before Monster oozed out of the primordial marketing sludge of Corporate America, had the audacity to create a brew and name it Vermonster.
“Oh, noes!” shrieked the suits at Hansen. “It has the word ‘monster’ in it! Heaven forfend! How will we possibly afford more yachts now?”
And thus they let slip the dogs of law, who ran barking to Rock Art to order its brewer (Matt Nedeau) to quit brewing, selling and promoting with the name Vermonster. Here’s a great, succinct synopsis. I’ve read in several stories that legal counsel believes Rock Art would prevail in court – if they can afford to fight it out. In other words, Hansen can bully them in the pocketbook, regardless of the letter of the law. That’s an outrage and a travesty, a complete perversion of the way justice should work.
This bit of heinousness reminds me of a similar incident between Arizona Ice Tea (which has nothing to do with Arizona) and Four Peaks Brewing (which isn’t near Four Peaks, but is at least in Arizona). Apparently, Arizona Ice Tea was so convinced there would be confusion in the market [...]
6 Impressions of Boston – Plus 3 Great Restaurants
Generally, I avoid the eastern United States. It’s just not my sort of place. Up north, it’s cold. Down south, it’s humid and flat.
But since my sister-in-law is studying law at Boston University, the wife decided it was time to visit her and maybe see some Boston landmarks. Boston intrigued me. I’d never been there, and it has a lot of history. I also have some Internet buddies living there. So I could think of worse places to go. We wound up staying at a HoJo near Fenway Park. It was grossly overpriced, as were all of the hotels I found. But it was a nice location near Berklee College of Music, BU, Harvard and even MIT. And near this great running path near the Chahls* River.
Here are six things that really stick out about Boston, plus three awesome restaurants and the best-ever pop culture reference to Beantown. As you’ll see, I really liked Boston overall with one big quibble.
