Flaming Turtle
Milk chocolate, caramel and
chopped pecans, flambéed tableside.
Dippers...
Fresh strawberries, banana, cheesecake, tasty marshmallows, pound
cake and brownies for you to dip into any of our decadent chocolate
fondue creations.
Pictured here are:
Foreground:
Boston Lager Cheddar Cheese Fondue
Aged cheddar cheeses blended with Samuel Adams Boston Lager,®
Tabasco,® Worcestershire sauce and chopped chives.
Bread and apples for dipping.
Background:
Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Nothing like Mom used to make! Smirnoff Strawberry
Twist vodka, fresh strawberries, basil and lemonade.
[Click the title of this Blogger post to go directly to my Picasa Gallery and view these images (and more) in greater detail.]
I've been busy shooting but haven't had time to post much. I've been shooting for fun, but I've set random goals here and there to test myself. The Air Show set features attempts to convey the scale of one of the huge cargo planes on display. The City Life '08 night shoot wasn't very successful because I strongly resisted the urge to use the flash. Well, here are some of my latest sets:
7/16/08 - Wednesday Afternoon at demolition of "The Coop", Patterson Cooperative High School
7/18/08 - Friday Evening at Great American Ballpark for Cincinnati Reds versus New York Mets
>
7/20/08 - Sunday Afternoon at Dayton International Airport for Dayton Airshow
7/23/08 - Cicada Hatchlings
8/10/08 - Sunday Afternoon at Montgomery County Fairground for the German Picnic
8/17/08 - Sunday Morning at Fraze for Breakfast with The Beatles with VenusLoveCircus
8/18/08 - Monday Night at Riverscape with the City Life '08 statues
At the pool today, I spotted what I thought was a butterfly. Then I noticed it wasn't moving like a butterfly. Then I noticed it was a tiny bird! I thought hummingbirds were larger, so this tiny avian really took me by surprise. I went home to get my camera and tripod and probably got some strange looks from other folks at the pool while setting up... I was too concerned with getting my shots to actually notice. BTW, there were originally two hummingbirds, but I only saw one, or one at a time (who can be sure from 20 feet away) once I had the camera ready.
I had to keep my distance so I wouldn't scare it/them, so I used full zoom and tried to pre-set my focus on some of the floral clusters they were frequenting. Check out the slideshow below. The images aren't great, because of their size, my distance, and the fact that it was necessary to severely crop the images. Prior to cropping these photos were like a "Where's Waldo" picture, Waldo, in this case, being the hummingbird. I'm excited to have caught my first hummingbird photos. If you click to visit my Picasa gallery, you'll find my other recent collections from my first Reds game at Great American Ballpark, the 2008 Dayton Airshow, and some pretty cool new cicada images. Enjoy!
[This introductory text posted/updated via Blogger]
Some time ago I purchased the Nintendo DS Browser, which consists of a version of the Opera browser on a 'game' chip and a separate 'accessory' chip with some extra memory. For those who don't know it, the Nintendo DS has built in WiFi, which came with neither my mobile phone or my handheld. I have wireless access at home where I was able to test and play with it. It works, but not extraordinarily well. I took it downtown to try and access the free wireless in Dayton's Oregon District. The signal is very hard to pick up even right out on Fifth Street. So, now, at work, we've added a private wireless network, so I had to test the DS again. The signal is exceptional, but still, the experience of Nintendo DS browsing leaves much to be desired. So, I visited my blog, this blog, BonK!, and took a photo of it with my mobile phone, as shown below.
[This photo and the text following the photo were posted here from my LG 8300 via Blogger Mobile]
I've finally seen Cloverfield! Because of all the fuss over the movie's release date, 1-18-08, there has been something of a common presumption that the events of the movie took place on that date, which is not so. At the end of the film Rob states that "it's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd," a date which won't occur until 2009. Details in the film, like the cars on the streets and the phones and cameras being used throughout, preclude this film from taking place on the previous occurrence of Saturday, May 23rd, which was in 1998, but, because Cloverfield is a fictional experience, who's to say how calendars work in that world. Perhaps months only have 23 days. ;-)
I enjoyed Cloverfield and I'm pleased to have finally caught up with my anticipated movie watching for 2008. I'll probably fall short again with the pending release of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and then "The Incredible Hulk." There are simply too many movies coming out this year for me to keep up with. Narnia:Wardrobe was a good enough movie, but I'm just not stoked to see Narnia:Caspian. I left it and many other movies off of this list intentionally.
Viewed - Title - Theater/DVD - Notes
20080429 - Iron Man - 20080502/ - Sneak preview @ Showcase Dayton South w/son
20080511 - Speed Racer - 20080509/ - Showcase Huber w/wife & son
20080517 - Cloverfield - 20080118/20080422 - DVD home theater-solo
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 20080522/
- The Incredible Hulk - 20080613/ -
- Get Smart - 20080620/ -
- WALL-E - 20080627/ -
- Hancock - 20080704/ -
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 20080711/ -
- Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D - 20080711/ -
- The Dark Knight - 20080718/ -
- The X-Files: I Want to Believe - 20080725/ -
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - 20080801/ -
- Quantum of Solace - 20081107/ -
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 20081121/ -
- The Soloist - 20081121/ - [a friend is an extra in this]
As you can see, there are more movies than months on this list, and it's hard enough to afford a single movie a month, let alone FIVE! I mentioned there are big, anticipated releases that I'm just not interested in seeing, but there are many lesser known movies I'd like to see that have been left off the list as well. C'est la vie.
I've never owned, built, or raced a real hot rod or a muscle car. I've never watched an entire Indy 500 and I've actually tried to avoid NASCAR.
My race influences are Hot Wheels, banana-seat bicycles, SSP Racers, slot cars, skate boards, Speed Racer, and an album of hot rod music that I've been unable to track down because I don't remember it's name or any of the songs or performers on it, but I remember the cover, and if I ever see it again, it's mine... it had the sounds of revving engines and other car sounds between the songs. Good stuff.
As I mull it over a bit, I'm beginning to realize there's a primal 'something' about racing. Quick and skillful mobility is probably our first greatest cumulative asset as human beings. When it comes to the fight or flight reaction, flight isn't much good if it's not successful, therefore, outrunning or outsmarting a predator is probably the handiest and oldest skill that we have, because such competitions were truly the difference between life and death.
Racing taps that primal instinct, turning it from life-and-death struggle into competitive entertainment and a display of prowess. In today's racing world, that prowess isn't limited to the speed and skill of the individual racers; it takes the skill of engineers, mechanics, pit bosses, and even the people behind the office desks to get into the winner's circle.
As ever, since prehistory up to the closed oval tracks of our present day, there's still the chance that something could go wrong; from an errant piece of timber tripping up the next meal of a sabre-toothed tiger to blown tires and pit delays; no matter how controlled the arrangement becomes, there's still the chance something could go wrong.
I've been looking forward to the upcoming Speed Racer film for some time. I haven't been this excited about a new movie since the original Star Wars first hit theaters.
I grew up playing with all sorts of toy cars but even as a small child I knew there were no better cars than Hot Wheels. Sure, Matchbox cars looked more realistic. But, realism is for replicas not for racing!
Another company once tried to knock Hot Wheels off the top spot with a brand called "Johnny Lightning". Johnny Lightning cars (JL, for short) were fast, and my brother had one that could beat some of my Hot Wheels, but there were a few problems with the line. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty certain that the 'lane' of a JL track was wider than that of a Hot Wheels track. I also remember two-lane track segments which were probably meant to speed up assembly time of dual straightaways for impatient kids, but that's beside the point. The wider lanes of JL track allowed them to make slightly wider cars, though they didn't always design their cars to 'fill' the lanes. If memory serves, most JL cars would not fit on Hot Wheels tracks and many Hot Wheels cars had too much room on a JL track, allowing them to bounce side to side. Naturally, bouncing side-to-side down a track isn't going to give you a good race.
My connection to facsimile racing is as old as I can remember. Even now, as an adult, when playing with tracks on the floor is too hard on my knees to consider doing, I still collect a few Hot Wheels cars. I'm no completist in this endeavor. I don't care about 'Treasure Hunt" cars or classic "Red Line" collector's items. I just want the cool cars.
I'll buy versions of real cars, I'll buy fantasy cars, I'll buy versions of customs and hot rods, even those silly blimps. I don't generally spend time playing with them though. As I said, the tracks and floor based play would be too tough on my knees. But thanks to modern electronics I have a compact and exhilarating alternative. Video games! I have a PS2 and a slew of original Playstation games including "Hot Wheels Turbo Racing" which features digital versions of some of the best Hot Wheels cars ever on digital tracks, performing jumps and loops and crazy stunts the way only Hot Wheels and Speed Racer ever could. Speed Racer and Hot Wheels are the perfect match of all perfect matches if there ever was a perfect match.
I also have a "Speed Racer" game made for the original Playstation, but frankly, that game sucks. Sure, you get all the Mach 5 gadgets and fitting courses on which to use them, but the courses are barely a worthy challenge. "Hot Wheels Turbo Racing" has thus far proven to be the ultimate in Speed Racer-esque craziness.
A close second to "Hot Wheels Turbo Racing" is the physics-defying wonder called "Beetle Adventure Racing" for the Nintendo 64. This game includes only the New Volkswagen Beetle in a variety of racing configurations that must be unlocked through gameplay. The tracks are crazy with jumps and hidden shortcuts and all the great race locales found in the Speed Racer cartoon... There's 'Coventry Cove', a peaceful and quaint village thrown into chaos by turbo VW Beetles roaring through the streets. 'Mount Mayhem' is an Alpine race setting with snow covered bridges and turns and a hidden ice cave containing a frozen UFO... there's an MIB black helicopter flying overhead to prove it! Next up is the exotic jungle island setting, the name of which I can't recall, featuring a hungry T-Rex, a watery beach, a hidden tiki village, and the caves around an erupting volcano waiting to swallow your car whole! 'Sahara Sands' is a desert level reminiscent of Egypt in which you have to avoid falling ruins, wind your way through ancient tombs, and try not to get stuck in the sand. If you've survived all that you get to a track called 'Metro Madness' which is a cityscape with highways, drainage ditches, warehouse districts, parking garages, and glittering skyscrapers to drive... through! But wait, there's more! There is a sort of haunted psychedelic track that I have yet to unlock. There are also at least three versions of the New Beetle I haven't acheived, yet. And still, there's more...
If you have a Nintendo 64 with "Beetle Adventure Racing" and 4 controllers, whip 'em out, hook 'em up, and call your friends over for an outrageous Beetle Battle! The Beetle Battles take place on one of six closed courses, Airport (basic driving with a few tricks, no planes), Parking Garage (speed and control are essential here, no parked cars), Lava Cave (concentration and control to avoid lava traps), Ice Flows (lots of sliding and jumping), Dirt Track Arena (my fave, learn the terrain!), and Medieval Castle (confusing and dark, makes me grumpy). The 4-way split screen view can be difficult to see on screens as large as 26 inches diagonal (4:3 ratio). 2-way battles are easier to see but not nearly as exciting. The goal for each level is to collect a full set of multicolored beetles then race to the finish. Naturally, it's not as easy as that. If you crash or suffer enough damage to make your car blow up you will lose collected beetles. To make matters worse, there are weapons and tricks available to thwart your enemies, and vice versa. If your cars' demise is the direct result of an enemy attack, that enemy steals a beetle away from you. It's not as insane as Super Smash Brothers but it's kinda like that, on wheels. Literally hours of fun, many times over. If you're an N64 owner, find this game. You won't regret it.
Action, competition, insane courses! Project Gotham Racing? Gran Turismo? Who needs 'em? With old-school treasures like "Hot Wheels Turbo Racing", "Beetle Adventure Racing", and "F-Zero"... let's not forget that SNES classic, who needs realism? ;-)
