me

me
Originally uploaded by Monster Pete

ben fong-torres and us

ben fong-torres
Originally uploaded by Monster Pete

The former Rolling Stone writer gave a great speech at the SF State Journalism school graduation.

Photo 215

Photo 215
Originally uploaded by Monster Pete

tone generator

Brian and I were talking about a simple music maker that anyone can use online. Ours would have looked like a radar screen, with a revolving straight line that played the notes that you place onto the screen. Some of our ideas were that you could place little chickens on the thing to make a chicken sound, and other ducks that quack and other things beyond regular musical tones or rhythmic beats. I guess placing an object closer or farther from the center would regulate its pitch, timbre or volume. It could also be 3-D with objects placed over one another for some reason (pitch/tone/volume) and far below some water to put the tones underwater (use your imagination).

Then Brian finds this, which is also pretty cool, and a lot simpler:



I've had some fun with it.

LOL Cool J (courtesy of CansaFis)

So M. Albert Flury is in town and CansaFis we met, who related, at great merriment and laugh-making to all, his latest foray into comic mischief, whereupon I undertook to remember and re-produce for my readers such here:

LOL Cool J:

Q: What's Chris Brown's favorite hip hop group?



A. (backwards) saeP deyE kcalB

food for thought

I was wondering if eating can make you hungry, and found that it can. Evidently, eating breakfast also helps you lose weight. Who knew? Maybe I can eat off my lawschool/girlfriend pounds :)

Star Trek Messes-Up San Francisco: Skyline Like Hong Kong

word

spring break

it's never too late to blog my spring break. so far, i've played hours of New SMB for DS, beating the game once and proceeding to unlock level 4, a couple warp cannons and shortcuts, and catch many golden coins. I plan to continue getting the coins, as they are something I can accomplish without the aid of a walkthrough. This way I still feel I am accomplishing something cool while preserving some sense of curiosity and discovery.

Princess Britt helps me all the time. All of our wrists hurt.

Break has gone well, with wonderful weather and many walks. I visited Menlo Park, where I ate at Hobee's, and picked up some fresh lemons and oranges. Back in SF, I drank a lot of good coffee and got together with friends. Sunday night dinner, with Keith and Arie, was pan-Asian themed, with fish, rice, light salad, Sapporo, soju, instant miso soup, broccoli and cauliflower, and Polly Ann's mango and coconut popsicles from Richmond New May Wah Supermarket. We then watched Waking Life.

On Monday, Britt aced her midterm, she claims. More importantly, I defrosted the freezer, even though this is the kind "you don't have to defrost." Years of ice caked on the elements formed a formidable foe, but I attacked with metal spoons, knife, and can opener, assisted by pots and pans of boiling water, and succeeded in defrosting the lower half. A partial victory, but one I relish. I quit when an ice chip flew into my right eye.

Lukashenko, moonlit trust walks to Starbucks and back, stargazing, and a couple books (White Teeth, Memories of My Melancholy Whores) as well as the BBC version of White Teeth fill my nights.

Off to experiment with bike routes to school!

Journalism for dummies

Step 1: Don't do this:



Step 2: Copy edit, or at least read, the story you post from AP as your lead story for the day.

Step 3: If you can't do step 1 or 2, maybe you deserve to go bankrupt.

Post Hill 88

everybody was tired after the hike. even Roz the Dog.

HIking the headlands (Blair Witch style)

TV Guide

We got a hotel room in the Marina's Cow Hollow Motor Inn last night for a little vacation. The place is old school, with yellowish flower print wallpaper, hanging lamps, and green 7-Up soda vending machines with both Canada Dry ginger ale *and* Diet Canada Dry. Dinner was a trek. We crossed the street for Amici's "east coast pizzeria." The pepperoni, sausage, sauteed mushroom, bacon and garlic puree was a tasty treat. Good thing we skipped the Grove. The next morning we witnessed a great waterfall coming down onto unsuspecting outdoor seating.

For kicks we watched mucho TV, from the Cosby Show and Fresh Prince to J. Lo's Enough, the Colbert Report, Sex and the City, Futurama, the Smart Guy, South Park (smug pollution episode - how apropos), Wife Swap (not the Steven Fowler episode) and of course the Girls Next Door. Then I saw Pres. Obama's speech to the troops. Why so serious?

check in your bike here, please

cool new bike rack at the inner richmond branch library

ordered liberties

1. hit a car with my car yesterday. it was parked and i was pulling out. i cracked the bumper of the older BMW and dented in my door. i left a note.
   
   last night i got a call from "Steve." FIrst off, he said, he wanted to thank me for leaving a note, something not often done in the city. Second, he was going to give away the "roach coach" soon and didn't need any money from me. Yippp!


2. saw Milk at the newly remodeled Sundance Kabuki theater. comfy seats, small theaters, a wine bistro up the ticket price but are worth the $3 amenities fee per ticket. or maybe i just say that cuz the film was so good. my hang up with the movie was its addition of a line at the end about the killer's "Twinkie Defense," an overblown sensationalist mantra of the press pillorying the justice system for letting a guy off because he was high on sugar -- though the whole twinkie thing was actually just evidence of Dan White's bipolarism. whatevs. Diego luna was great.



3. got Mike Sherman's random list of 25 things chain letter on Facebook. i'm happy that he's happy and healthy. he's working out and not lighting things on fire.


4. saw Across the Universe. Bono's in it, but it's still pretty entertaining, a cute 60s love story, and full of decent versions of Beatles' songs. also, Burn After Reading, Baby Geniuses, Erin Brockovich, Da Vinci Code, Caddyshack, Meet Me in St. Louis, Wall-E, & Angels in America. Obviously, I'm behind on my reading in Property, Criminal Procedure, and Contracts II.

meet my cousin, the atv riding filmmaker

this is an epic (thanks for the adjective britt) trailer for my cousin's upcoming film about, presumably, ATV riding. he lives in Nebraska and goes to school in Kansas and loves him some ATVs.

northern exposure

i went to the missoula, MT area for a few days. we flew there and drove through the snow to get to my uncle and aunt's ranch. i almost hit like 5 deer with the car.

other highlights: buying Starbucks inside a Target store, getting a complimentary espresso shot; buying Starbucks across the street from a Cracker Barrel and the C'mon Inn, whose billboard advertised an indoor pool, five hot tubs, and an indoor waterfall; and drinking Irish coffee and other cocktails (pear mojito, sour apple thingy) courtesy of my brother.

i read The Appeal by John Grisham and Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. Reading the two made me want to do a spoof of Grisham novels. The Appeal is more jaded than his earlier novels. Sedaris was fun and evil.

We mostly spent our time eating, reading, and drinking while playing Gin Rummy, pool, and beer pong. I taught my eight year old cousin to play Iron Man on guitar, and how to play chess. He and my uncle beat me.

The Daring Ones on the Flying Trapeze

Check out this video from our Circus Arts Center flying trapeze lesson. Don't miss my ginormous belly flop.

Thanks to my mom and Gabriel Micek for the footage and Britt the Director for direction/storyboard and music consultation. I produced, engineered, and sound edited. The songs are "Itchy Chicken" by Los Straitjackets, "Electric Counterpoint / Fast 2" by Pat Metheny/Steve Reich and "King Porter" by Jelly Roll Morton.

hep!

yesterday was our surprise holiday family outing day. the only instructions were to wear gym shorts and shoes, and give up your Sunday from 11-4.

first, we went to the Circus Center in SF for a flying trapeze session with three instructors.

the whole thing is set up in a big old gym near Kezar Stadium. first you sign your life away on a waiver, then, when it's your turn, you climb a 30-40 foot ladder and maneuver onto this little platform. There's a big net below, but not while you're climbing the ladder!

Once you're in position, they say ready, you bend your knees, then it's "Hep!" That means jump! Swinging, you wait for the next cue, to put up your legs. Finally you take your hands off the bar and swing upside down, with back arched, and knees over the bar.

the first time i went up i totally cheated and did all the stuff they showed us without waiting for them to tell me to. i got what i deserved, though, by doing this giant belly flop onto the net while everyone laughed at me. the second time i followed instructions and it was better.

the last time i went it was for the big Catch. The youngest instructor climbed onto another trapeze, swinging back and forth about 25 feet in front of me. he gave the instructions, the timing was perfect, and he caught me as I swung with my arms out!

Rad. Everyone did it except for my youngest sis. We're all paying for it with sore muscles today. Next we went to Andronico's to buy food to donate to St. Anthony's. Finally, we had a big lunch at the Beach Chalet. The view of Ocean Beach was pretty despite the rain.

It was a fun day.

cupcakes

Three finals down, one to go. Contracts, I will break you!! mwahahaha

• interviewed for britt's armenian genocide paper. never felt more armenian. forgot to mention a few things, that Borat's co-star is armenian, and speaks it the whole film; that Hitler said, after all, who remembers what happened to the Armenians? before deciding to go ahead with the Holocaust, and other random thoughts.


• movies: princess mononoke, finding forrester, the big lebowski, quantum of solace, casino royale, the great debaters, fear and loathing in las vegas, brazil


• other: Clue, photoshop, sushi on california (Chin's), Kara's Cupcakes, cold weather, christmas lights, Mario Kart for DS, shave and a haircut


• homemade: tortilla soup, massive salads, cupcakes (see picture), artichoke/mayo pita dip (thanks britt) and a Cucumber/oatmeal facial following a milk steam bath/mask. Presidio Inn and Spa is open for business!


• goodbye to brian, see you deutschman


• wiki'd: ted williams


• love Freedom

Microwave "usable", but still needs repair

George the Landlord and two older Russian gentlemen said the Presidio Inn microwave was still usable, despite its mechanical problems. The three made their way into the Inn on Weds. morning and in short order, diagnosed the gear-grinding type noise as a motor problem. "The heat rays" are not affected, one of the repairmen said with an accent. George then told Peter that the machine could be used.

The repairmen had threatened to break some of the custom woodwork to remove the built-in microwave, but they did not want to hurt such fine carpentry. George agreed to call the original installer.

Later, George told Pete that the original contractor would be out Monday to see it, in the morning or afternoon. He asked that the area of the kitchen be cleared out, "so none of your things get broken."

In other words, clean up yr dang apt!