Entry for April 23, 2008: Pennsylvania trip

Friends, I hope you had a good weekend and a Happy Passover. My thoughts are with the ill parents of Ron J.K., Brian D.H., and Erik B.L. Speaking of family, this past weekend, Janice and I drove down to Pennsylvania to see her extended family. She normally tries to visit around Easter, but the holiday was early this year, and her mother was just recovering from knee-replacement surgery.

On Friday, 18 April 2008, we managed to avoid serious traffic on the long drive from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, which held its presidential primaries this week (gas prices are hurting everyone). We met Janice’s parents, youngest sister Melinda, and Melinda’s children Amanda and Joshua at Perkins for lunch before checking into the Howard Johnson in Allentown, Pa. Melinda’s husband Gary wasn’t able to join us from Upstate New York.

We then caravanned out to Roadside America, a miniature village that we’ve gone to before. However, each time is a bit different as our nieces and nephews grow up. I’m a big fan of model railroads and such dioramas.

We then grabbed dinner at Saville’s Diner, where Janice’s paternal grandmother (Mammy) had taken us after Thanksgiving (I ate scrapple), before visiting Janice’s Uncle Billy, the boisterous brother of her mother Linda. Unfortunately, Josh became ill with some sort of stomach bug and slowly recovered through the rest of the weekend. Despite Joshua (and thus Melinda) being indisposed, it was nice to see that side of my in-laws.

On Saturday, April 19, we went to a local Earth Day fair/flea market before meeting Janice’s middle sister Shelly, her husband Melvin, and their children Becky, Laura, and David for lunch at Talarico’s, a longtime favorite for its cheesesteak subs.

We then went to Mammy’s apartment nearby, where we met more of Janice’s father Marvin’s side of the family. I spent much of that afternoon horsing around outside with smart Laura, rambunctious David, and precocious Amanda, while Becky talked about boys and Joshua slowly felt better. Janice and I also stopped by the Zern’s indoor flea market (we picked up some shoo-fly pie; see photo above). We later ordered pizza for dinner.

On Sunday, April 20, Janice and I stopped by the Blue Colony Diner in Connecticut on our way home. If, gentle reader, you’ve made it this far, by now you’ve no doubt observed my love of cuisine, specifically so-called comfort food. Why? Part of it is from growing up around New York City, where Jewish delicatessens and Greek diners are as much a part of the landscape as corner pizzerias (or, more recently, burrito chains).

Part of my affection is that in diners, one can get many types of food (breakfast, ethnic, dessert) at all times of day or night, served by swift, friendly, and unpretentious people. There are relatively few near where I now live in New England, so nostalgia no doubt plays a part. I realize that to eat grilled sandwiches or chocolate cake too often probably wouldn’t be especially healthy.

I’ve spent the past few days catching up on work, gaming, and genre television. The fourth season (series in the U.K.) premiere of the revived time-travel drama Doctor Who and the second season finale of conspiratorial spin-off Torchwood were both surprisingly serious, with significant character casualties, as was the latest season finale of young metahuman ensemble Smallville.

Although I didn’t get to the New York Comic-Con, I’ve been catching up on news from the event, most of which pertains to cinematic adaptations of comic book superheroes. I’ll be catching up on the hardcopy versions, but this coming weekend’s editorial off-site retreat and next week’s opening of Iron Man should be good. More on those to come!

Superhero collection — Josh’s action figures

Entry for February 04, 2008: Movies, Super Bowl

I’d like to congratulate the New York Giants and the team’s supporters on their victory in Super Bowl XLII and offer my condolences to fellow fans of the New England Patriots. While the Pats didn’t get the perfect undefeated football season they had hoped for, the big game was a close challenge rather than a blowout for either side.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning successfully drove down the field, and his defensive teammates did an excellent job of keeping the Patriots from advancing and kept the overall score low. Unlike some more hard-core sports fans, I have no interest in gloating and am glad that the game was close and that the Northeast was well represented.

Backing up a bit, on Saturday, 2 February 2008, Janice and I had brunch at Fresco and ran some errands in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, which The Boston Globe reports is becoming a foodie town. It remains to be seen if the local population can support the various restaurants that I’ve blogged about. We also caught up on Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Batman, and decent romantic fantasy comedy Ella Enchanted.

We then met co-worker Ken G., who was in the neighborhood and brought over some DVDs. We watched noir comedy Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, which was based on a graphic novel. We were pleasantly surprised to like the movie, which starred Robert Downey Jr. (soon to be Iron Man‘s Tony Stark) and Val Kilmer (once Batman). I’d rate it about an 8 out of 10.

We grabbed dinner at the Ground Round before Ken left, and Janice and I watched a dog show. The next morning, after the usual City of Heroes game online, I met Thomas K.Y. and Beruk A. for a seafood lunch at Jasper White’s Summer Shack in Cambridge, Mass. We then went back to Thomas‘ place in Lexington, Mass., to watch a DVD of Day Watch.

The Russian modern horror/fantasy movie wasn’t as visionary as its predecessor, Night Watch, but I still thought the story of one man’s search for redemption and interpersonal connection amid a supernatural struggle among the forces of light and darkness was interesting. I’d give the subtitled film about a 7 out of 10.

We also checked out the dieselpunk/horror video game Bioshock and a few movie previews. As with the Super Bowl broadcast, Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian look most promising. The other commercials during the game were lackluster in comparison with previous years, but at least Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers gave a solid classic rock performance at halftime.

Speaking of various contests, next time, I’ll blog about the U.S. presidential primaries!

Entry for January 22, 2008: Cloverfield

Friends, I hope you’ve had a good week. Among other things I learned in the “Writing for Multiple Platforms” class at work last week was the fact that I need to shorten my blog posts and update this more frequently. So, here goes.

On Friday, 18 January 2008, Janice and I had a good dinner at Stone Hearth Pizza, following my New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, locally sourced food. We also ate at Finagle a Bagel later in the weekend, but we mostly stayed in and continued catching up on movies.

Speaking of food and film, I enjoyed French postapocalyptic farce (not a term you hear every day) Delicatessen, and Janice watched computer-animated comedy Meet the Robinsons during one of my D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands“ sessions. On Sunday, I watched the New England Patriots and New York (actually, New Jersey) Giants win their respective football championships.

Yesterday, I met Thomas K.Y. to screen Cloverfield at the AMC Burlington cineplex northwest of Boston. Janice had to work. While I’ve been a fan of kaiju, or giant monsters, since watching the “4:30 movie” on Channel 11 as a child in metropolitan New York. Thus, the family-friendly imports of the 1960s and 1970s, in which men in rubber suits stomped through miniature Japanese cities, and the classic stop-motion fantasies of Ray Harryhausen defined my tastes.

Kaiju in Manhattan — Cloverfield monster

Cloverfield is closer in spirit to the original Gojira as a parable and horror film. Just as the traumas of postwar Japan spawned Godzilla and Gamera, and Cold War anxiety led to a wave of alien-invasion movies, so Cloverfield and recent zombie flicks reflect our feelings after the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, whose images it directly invokes. As a result, I had more of an emotional response than I did to 1990s disaster pics, such as Independence Day or the weak Americanized Godzilla.

While the handicam-style cinematography is a bit tiring, the street-level view of an unidentified monster and the bloody destruction it wreaks on New York is compelling. Of course, I wish that other cities besides my hometown would be trashed in fiction, but Manhattan’s skyline is an icon of modernity. As usual, military’s weapons do little good as crowds of civilians try to flee. The creature is depicted as a force of nature whose origin and motives remain mysterious.

Like many movies of its kind, Cloverfield takes its time introducing its doomed human characters. I felt that some of the protagonists’ decisions endangered them irrationally, even for a horror flick. Cloverfield has gotten mixed reviews but done well at the box office. Overall, I’d give it about a 7 out of 10. After the movie, Thomas and I had a burger dinner at Fuddrucker’s.

Next time: Genre and gaming updates!

Nov. 21, 2006 — mice, cheese, cons, Casino Royale, and preholiday heroes

Friends, it’s hard to believe that autumn is passing so quickly! As expected, on Saturday, 11 November 2006, Janice and I raked leaves before the unseasonably pleasant weather ended. On that Sunday, we caught Flushed Away — the Aardman/Dreamworks computer-animated comedy, featuring Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet as mice and rats, was better than we had expected.

We also had dinner with Thomas K.Y. at Acapulco’s, a nearby Mexican restaurant, for the first time since his family vacation in Japan. We’ve been going to Newbury Comics quite a bit lately, partly because with the demise of Tower Records and Virgin MegaStores, it’s the last good (and local) chain for discounted music CDs, movies on DVD, and pop culture trinkets.

On Monday, Nov. 15, Janice and I met with former co-worker and fellow genre fan Jacqui M.D. We chatted about our competing employers, Heroes, and the careers of actors who have worked with Joss Whedon. After dinner at Bertucci’s, she stopped by our place for the first time before heading back to her hotel.

This past Saturday, Nov. 18, Janice and I visited the shops in Harvard, Central, and Porter squares in Cambridge, Mass., including Pandemonium Books and Games. We also ate lunch at one of my favorite places near Harvard University: Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, where I usually get the “Viagra burger,” which contains blue cheese. As Wallace & Gromit might say, “How about some cheese!”

There has been no cheese to speak of in recent strong episodes of Veronica Mars, Heroes, Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Doctor Who, IMHO (in my humble opinion, for those who are netspeak-impaired). With the revisionist Battlestar Galactica moving to Sunday nights and the Stargates coming off of hiatus, my television viewing schedule will change yet again.

On Sunday, I went to Super MegaFest at the Sheraton in Framingham. The genre entertainment convention was a bit of a bust, with fewer vendors and several last-minute cancellations by guests such as professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer‘s Juliet Landau, and Firefly/Serenity and Justice League Unlimited/Stargate SG-1‘s Morena Baccarin.

However, it was still a decent show, with “Elvira, mistress of the dark” (nee Cassandra Peterson), Star Trek and Batman‘s Yvonne Craig, and Happy Days‘ Erin Moran, as well as wrestler “Captain” Lou Albano. Since relatively few of these cons have been successful in the Boston area, I try to patronize those I can get to. The more literary (and pricey) speculative fiction gatherings of Arisia, VeriCon, Boskone, and Noreascon tend to be in the winter/early spring.

That afternoon, I met Thomas and Greg D.C. at the AMC Framingham 16 to screen Casino Royale. We had tried to get together to see The Prestige a few weeks ago, but those plans fell through. Greg and I mostly liked the latest James Bond flick, which marked a return to a more serious tone than the Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore versions.

Casino Royale (based on the first Ian Fleming novel, and not to be confused with the David Niven spoof of the same name), opens with an impressive free-running stunt sequence and tries to explain Bond’s attitudes toward women, his superiors, and his lethal occupation.

Thomas felt the film was too predictable, and Dexter V.H. preferred the more glamorous espionage/action movies of the past. However, I’d give newcomer Daniel Craig and the franchise relaunch (not unlike Batman Begins) about an 8 out of 10.

Here’s my list of Bond movies and ratings:

Doctor No (Sean Connery, 1963) ****
From Russia With Love (Connery, 1964) ***
Goldfinger (Connery, 1964) ****
Thunderball (Connery, 1965) ****
You Only Live Twice (Connery, 1967) ***
Casino Royale (spoof with David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen) **
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (George Lazenby, 1969) ****
Diamonds are Forever (Sean Connery, 1971) **
Live and Let Die (Roger Moore, 1973) ***
The Man With the Golden Gun (Moore, 1974) ***
The Spy Who Loved Me (Moore, 1977) ***
Moonraker (Moore, 1979) **
For Your Eyes Only (Moore, 1981) ***
Octopussy (Moore, 1983) **
Never Say Never Again (Connery, 1983) **
A View to a Kill (Moore, 1985) *
The Living Daylights (Timothy Dalton, 1987) ***
License to Kill (Dalton, 1989) **
GoldenEye (Pierce Brosnan, 1995) ***
Tomorrow Never Dies (Brosnan, 1997) ****
The World Is Not Enough (Brosnan, 1999) **
Die Another Day (Brosnan, 2002) ***
Casino Royale (Daniel Craig, 2006) ***

Before last autumn’s basement floods, I owned some first printings of Fleming’s novels, but I still have several reference books on James Bond. As you can tell from the list above, I prefer the Sean Connery/George Lazenby portrayals of the cinematic superspy, as well as stories rooted in the Cold War. However, I don’t mind updating the archetypal series, as long as the cool hero, daring stunts, exotic locations, beautiful women, and dastardly villains are left intact.

After the movie, Thomas and I had dinner at the Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. The D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Halmed Desert” fantasy game is going well, but we’ll have a few breaks in the coming weeks due to the holidays and weekend one-shots. Dan A. will be running a D20 Call of Cthulhu on Tuesday, Nov. 28, and Byron V.O. and Dexter V.H. are still working on plans to visit the Boston area in early December.

The City of Heroes virtual superhero party has been meeting more regularly, although Steve M.R. had to drop out (hopefully only briefly) due to the same kind of technical problems that have afflicted David I.S. and Kim M.E.A.G. We’re still working on tactics but are proceeding in level.

This coming weekend, Janice and I will be visiting her immediate family in Upstate New York. It’s likely that I’ll be watching some of my nieces and nephews while Janice, her sisters, and their mother go shopping on “Black Friday.” Wish me luck! Fortunately, I look forward to hanging out with them and with my brother in law Gary T.L. May all of you and your families have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Entry for May 23, 2006 — Las Vegas

Friends, I hope you’re having a good week. Janice’s and my trip to the U.S. Southwest went well. We left from Boston’s Logan Airport on Saturday, 6 May 2006, and stayed at the Bally’s/Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

Gene & Janice hit Sin City — Viva Las Vegas!

We walked up and down the infamous Strip, exploring the various hotels, casinos, shopping malls, and restaurants. While the heart of Las Vegas Boulevard is only a few miles long, the desert air and the oversize scale of the themed buildings (which Batman artists Bill Finger and Dick Sprang would have appreciated) made distances seem smaller than they actually were.

We overdid the walking a bit on the first two days, although I believe that the casinos may make the sidewalks bumpier to lure people back into the air-conditioned gambling halls. Sore feet and hot, dry weather (especially compared with New England, where it rained for almost two weeks straight) didn’t stop us from seeing anything.

Janice attended the annual conference of the Society for Technical Communications and found the sessions informative. I joined her at the opening reception (free food) and even met a Belgian technical writer! There were sessions that interested me as a copy editor at a computing magazine, but since my employer declined to pay for registration, I was free to roam.

Janice and I went to the “Star Trek Experience” at the Hilton, where we enjoyed the exhibits of props from the long-running space opera franchise. I rode a virtual-reality simulation, sat on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D, and had a Romulan ale at “Quark’s Bar.” Definitely recommended for any speculative fiction fan.

Of the casinos that Janice and I visited, we liked the Venetian (and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum), landmark Caesar’s Palace, the indoor plazas of the Paris and Aladdin, and the upscale art galleries at the Bellagio. From our hotel room window, we could see the Paris’ half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower (and sunbathers at its rooftop swimming pool) and the Bellagio’s famous dancing fountains.

Although I’m not a big gambler and found the thousands of senior citizens sitting for hours in smoky rows of slot machines a bit depressing, I played videogames and pool near the lion exhibit at the MGM Grand, walked with Janice through glass aquarium tunnels at the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, and ate pizza in New York, New York’s replica of downtown Manhattan. We also admired the ancient Egyptian style of the Luxor and saw scantily-clad showgirls duel on pirate ships in front of the Treasure Island.

While Janice was in conference sessions from 8:30 a.m. to about 5:00 p.m. from Monday through Wednesday, I went to the old downtown casinos. The neighborhood around them was a bit seedy, but it verified Las Vegas’ reputation as a sort of Disneyland for adults. The numerous people at street corners passing out leaflets for escorts and strip clubs notwithstanding, I felt reasonably safe and saw many tourist families.

I also managed to find some book stores and comic book/gaming shops near the University of Las Vegas campus. At first, I tried to walk, but the distances ended up forcing me to take buses and taxicabs. Between the casinos on the south/central strip, we were rode an affordable monorail.

We didn’t get to any of the major stage productions, which range from standup comedy and magic shows to old-fashioned crooners, circus acrobats, celebrity impersonators, and topless revues (and sometimes combinations of all of the above), but we took several amusing photos at Madame Tussaud’s. Most casinos prohibit cameras, which was a pity, given the opulent décor.

Time and money are always in short supply, especially with many fine restaurants. We did feast at a New York-style delicatessen at Caesar’s and the “Round Table Buffet” at the Excalibur. Despite the 90-degree F temperatures, we didn’t take advantage of the hotel pools because the casinos have limited hours to keep everyone focused on gambling. The high-roller tables and games were interesting to watch.

On Wednesday, May 10, Janice and I took bus tours to the Hoover Dam. The massive civil engineering project was impressive not only because of its scale and Depression-era art deco style, but also because it was finished two years ahead of schedule and under budget–if only Boston’s “Big Dig” were as successful! The Colorado River and Lake Mead provided our first glimpses of the wilderness.

We saw the desert landscape of Nevada being encroached upon by Las Vegas’ rapid suburban growth, and I stopped at the Ethel M Chocolate factory and a cactus botanical garden. Next post: Beyond Sin City! -Gene