Sunday. I slept in, and after breakfast decided to forgo my usually weekend walk in favor of a bike ride. My first impulse was to ride around Alameda, and I set out to do that. But I was thwarted because while I can see there is a pedestrian walk through the Webster Tube (which goes under the channel) after circling the tunnel entrance a few times I still cannot see how the Hell you're supposed to get TO it. I checked out the Posey Tube a block away and there the path is obvious, but since the Posey Tube is inbound from Alameda, I didn't feel like I should ride the wrong way down that very narrow sidewalk.

Frustrated with that, I just decided to explore the areas south and east of Lake Merritt. My first destination was the estuary that connects Lake Merritt to the channel (the lake is a saltwater and formerly a tidal slough). This was my first trip to the estuary, and I've lived here almost 7 years! It's effectively cut off from the Lake by the foolishly designed 12th Street, which puts 12 lanes of traffic and a huge median between lake and estuary, with no crosswalks. Very uninviting. Most of the estuary itself is on the grounds on Laney College and is quite nice. I rode the paths there and across a small arched bridge there before departing.

The bulk of my ride was in the hillier areas east of Park Blvd. Oakland's not as hilly as S.F., but it's got it's share, and some fairly steep grades on many streets. I did ok on some of the streets, but I'm clearly not in shape to seriously take on hills. One street was just too tough for me the first time, so I rode back and half block and got a good running start to make it up to the top. Whew! After finishing poking around there, I crossed back to the lake, then rode through the estuary one more time before heading home.



One final detour...I stopped and visited Deb and Shana as they painted the living room of their new place. Finally, after home and a shower, I went out for Thai food with my new friend John Kitchener.

Posted by molyneaux at 9:56 PM PST

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After a couple of cooler gray days the sun was back out again all weekend (night excluded, natch). Saturday started at Café Flore in the Castro in S.F., where I read, had breakfast, and played Scrabble on my Palm pilot. I also did some writing, wrapping up the Act One break for the Starship Exeter script I'm writing. I feel like I'm finally getting some momentum on it and I think the act climax could be pretty exciting if directed properly.

After a short post-breakfast stroll I drove out to Golden Gate Park and left my car near the Dutch Windmill. The tulips in Queen Wilhelmina's garden at the windmill were all in bloom. Most of them were closed when I was there some weeks back.

CLICK HERE for a picture of the tulips!

From there I walked around above and on Ocean Beach, watching the surf and the really amazing kites that people fly there. I particularly enjoyed watching a man make his rainbow tailed kite swirl above the heads of his kids like some airborne Chinese dragon!

CLICK HERE for a picture of a kite at Ocean Beach

I crossed back into the park, looked at the base of the dismantled (south) Murphey Windmill and the adjacent Millwright's Cottage. A bulldozer was running back and forth so I didn't linger. I strolled through the trees back to my car and then drove over to Seacliff where I was to meet Terry and Carol. As I was early I wandered around a few blocks of the neighborhood.

CLICK HERE for a picture of the Murphey Windmill
CLICK HERE for a picture of the Millwright's Cottage

Terry and Carol and we piled into Carol's car for a road trip to Mountain View and Amber, an Indian restaurant so good we're willing to drive almost an hour for it! We stuffed ourselves on appetizers, lentils, butter chicken, a dish of garbanzo beans with mango powder, and fried cheese with peppers. Fabulous stuff, and spicy in the way that makes my scalp sweat but doesn't burn my mouth. Yum yum! We returned to their place, where Terry showed us all 650 pictures he took on his recent trip to Egypt, where he visited Cairo, Luxor and Nubia, rode the Nile, visited Karnac and Giza, etc. Oh, and he spent a few days in Paris on the way back. 650 pictures we saw, but it was never boring. Terry takes nice pictures and tells fun stories. Damn, I'm envious. I wish I'd gone!

I finally made it home at 12:30a.m. Lonnnng day.

Posted by molyneaux at 1:09 AM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:00 AM PDT

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I discussed my affection for the show Cowboy Bepop a few entries back (CLICK HERE for the Bebop Entry). I recently rewatched the theatrical Bebop film, but I have to say I think it lacks something the TV show has. Haven't quite put my finger on what element fell out...

Monday night I rented a DVD of the final 4 episodes of Bebop, because I always miss the two-part series closer. The first of the two parts was good, but it was the second part that had me riveted. So much happened in 23 minutes that I was stunned, especially the resolution given to the characters. This final "session" also had a really sad and beautiful image that I found incredibly striking. It's a super-slow motion shot of a dying person seen falling in profile, behind whom a flock of birds are seen flying. The following shot snaps back to real time as the body hits the ground with a sickening thud. Amazing work!

A funny contrast to this was a strange little documentary I rented called Plaster Caster, about the legendary groupie who has since the late 1960's been making plasters casts of the private parts of some very public figures: musicians. I first became aware of this story back in the 70s upon hearing the KISS song "Plaster Caster", but my youthful naïvete prevented me understanding exactly what the song was about. Anyway, the documentary is only so-so. The camera work wasn't very good and the editing was kind of clumsy. The titular woman is nothing like what you might expect of someone with this kind of extreme hobby. She's nervous and shy and easily flustered, and she treats the entire affair very clinically. In fact, her approach is so deadly un-erotic one wonders that her subjects ever rise to the occasion. Most peculiar.

The tempation here is to comment on how various rock lengends stand up to each other, but I think I'll just leave that well enough alone...

CLICK for the official website of the Plaster Caster movie

Posted by molyneaux at 12:27 AM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:01 AM PDT

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While poking through my weblinks today I rediscovered an piece about the work I did for the Cyber Studio design discs that was published on a website devoted to that software series. I was interviewed for the piece back in 2002 I believe. Funny to think I was doing 3D animation 15 years ago!

CLICK HERE to read the article on the Design Discs!

Speaking of web links, there's a very clever animation called "I Love Death" that Nick pointed out to me recently, set to the music of a band called Lodger. I was really taken by the absolute simplicity of the graphic design and the execution.

CLICK HERE for the "I Love Death" video (requires Shockwave Flash).*

*-This will be a real slow download if you're only on a dialup connection...


CLICK HERE to download PC Flash Player if you don't have it installed

or...

CLICK HERE to find Mac OS versions of the Flash player

Posted by molyneaux at 1:53 AM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:02 AM PDT

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The past few days have been pretty low key. I finished all my week's work late Thursday, so I gave myself a 3 day weekend to play around.

Friday the 19th
I got together with Christopher Moore today, and after showing me all the work he and his partner Russ had done on their house in the hills above San Pablo, we went to a Chinese buffet were we stuffed ourselves to the gills. Oof!

After slogging back through rush hour traffic I stopped at my usual coffeehouse and wrote a new Teaser for the script I am rewriting for the Starship Exeter guys. I wrote about 40 pages of a previous draft and realized it was going nowhere, so I'm starting over and learning from my mistakes...I hope! I'm pretty much just taking the broad elements from their original but changing the story fairly radically. Trying to write anything Star Treky without making it a yap-fest is tough, but I'm giving it my best shot!

Coffee and writing done for the night, I wandered over to an "Empty House Party" held by my friends Deb and Shana in their terrific new apt. just two blocks from my place. Heck, I can see their bedroom window from the topmost landing in MY building...but lucky them, I'm no Peeping Tom!

Saturday the 20th
This lazy Saturday began with my sleeping in, then strolling down to the once-a-week Farmers Market and coming home with yummy fresh oranges, samosas and nan bread. Oddball combination! A bit afterwards Christopher Gray called from Rhode Island to tell me that he and his fiancé Lee are coming for a visit starting next weekend. Hurray! Christopher is one of my all time favorite people. I met him my first full day in the Bay Area when I started at Psygnosis, so he's been part of my world here since day one. He moved back east last summer and I've missed him.

This was followed by an early dinner at Le Cheval, a Vietnamese restaurant in old downtown Oakland with Christopher (Moore) and his partner Russ. After a nice visit I returned home and worked on my online résumé, as I'm starting to do some serious job hunting.

Sunday the 21st
Naturally, I jinxed the weather by yesterday telling Christopher Gray how sunny and warm it's been for the past two weeks. Sure enough I open my big trap and this morning it's cloudy out. *sigh* Becky popped and suggested going for brunch at Cheers, a nice little restaurant out on Clement St. in S.F. where they serve you hot fresh baked bread as soon as you sit at your table. Mmmmm! Post brunch I suggested a drive down the coast. We stopped briefly at the pier in Pacifica to marvel over how green the water looked and watch as fishermen pulled crabs up from the sea. We then moved on to Half Moon Bay, where we walked a trail above the beach. A tad cool, but not cold enough to merit more than a sweatshirt. I love the sound of the surf... ahhhh!

Click HERE for a pic of me on the Pacifica Pier

Click HERE for a pic of me at Half Moon Bay

Posted by molyneaux at 6:28 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:04 AM PDT

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Another gorgeous day out! After visiting with neighbors Marc and Alyssa and their baby Madeline as they had lunch at a local taqueria, I struck out on the big weekend walk that I didn't get to last week. As with the Trestle Glen walk on the 28 Feb., I started off with no clue as to where I was going and just followed my nose.

This time I went up Grand Ave. and crossed a pedestrian walkway over I580... just because I'd never gone that way before. Then I zig-zagged up and down little residential streets until I hit upper Piedmont Ave. My right ankle sometimes gives me trouble and it was aching more than usual on the first part of my walk, so I figured it would maybe be a short one, but by the time I reached this point it had stopped bothering me so I decided to press on.

At lunch Alyssa had jokingly asking if I was going to the Columbarium, and as I was a block away, I decided to go onto the grounds and then walked into St. Mary's cemetary directly behind it. From there I got a new perspective down onto the small lake that I normally only see from a restaurant I go to very infrequently.

Being that I was this close to the end of College Ave. I decided to just head up there and to Rockridge. Just about the time I was toying with walking all the way to downtown Berkeley and then taking BART back, I heard my name called out. Deb -- a woman I know from the Piedmont Ave. coffeehouse I frequent -- was there with a friend of hers, and I ended up chatting with them for well on an hour.

Click here to read about Rockridge

By this point the afternoon was fast running out and I decided to go for dinner at the Cactus Taqueria. After stuffing myself to the gills on enchiladas and guacamole I decided to forego Berkeley and head home via a relatively direct route as the sun was on the horizon.

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP OF TODAY'S WALK

As with my previous walks I noticed lots of buildings and neighborhood details that I've missed in all my years of driving around. The smell of flowers was most everywhere as well, making it a delight for the nose as well as the eyes. I gpt home just after dark, listening to the water lapping the edge of Lake Merritt on my final few blocks

I checked my mileage as I made the map of this way, and it looks like I clocked in about just a hair under seven miles.

Posted by molyneaux at 8:31 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:05 AM PDT

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I was up waaaay to late last night working on the website for my online résumé (http://www.mpmolyneaux.com), designing the as-yet-unposted pages on my work in wireless gaming. As such, I didn't get up until 10 a.m. I met John and Becky and the three of us got lunch in Rockridge and then hung out at Piedmont Park. John sat in the shade and read while Becky and I walked the paths. Gorgeous weather, still. I wonder how long it will last.

Posted by molyneaux at 7:11 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:39 AM PDT

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Ah, the Bay Area; where the weather is predictable only in its unpredictability. Less than two weeks ago a rainstorm turned to hail mid-afternoon, and now for the past few days it's been sunny and warm. So warm, in fact, that I walked back from coffee this morning sans shirt!

Posted by molyneaux at 3:02 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:06 AM PDT

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Friend, performer, and man of bionic hips, John Sugden asked me if I would videotape the most recent play he was putting on with his students and the Woodside Priory in the hills south of Silicon Valley. Naturally, I said "$@#% no!" but he cried and begged and I finally acquiesced because of my sterling character, my generous nature, and the fact that I desperately need him for reshoots for my short film Flight Control.

Anyway, I braved sluggish traffic and got to the school just in time to tape show, which I recorded on both my digital video camera and one John had borrowed, operated by a student. After the show was over, I set the second camera up to record the next performance from one locked off position. My plan is to edit together these three recordings and make a DVD John can copy for the kids.

The play they performed was "The Mouse That Roared" (subtitle "The Wrath of Grapes"), based on the 1955 novel by Leonard Wibberley (and made into a mediocre 1959 film with Peter Sellers).

(The story concerns a microscopic country called Grand Fenwick, which is going bankrupt because a Californian winery makes a cheap knock-off of their only export. When their protests to the U.S. go unanswered, they decide to declare war, assuming the Americans will be victorious and do a "Marshall Plan" on Grand Fenwick, thus reviving their economy. But, when their intentionally futile invasion force of men with 14th century costume and longbows arrives in of New York City, they quite by accident capture a government scientist who has created the most powerful explosive in the world: a cigarette pack sized "Q Bomb" that will level 2000 square miles if detonated. Suddenly, Grand Fenwick is the super-est of superpowers, and the question becomes what to do now that they have defeated the United States!)

The play was pretty well done for kids in middle and high school. John's staging was fun, and the cast was huge (there were 44 students in various parts), as were some of his alterations to the script to make it more timely. The material is certainly dated, but as I was watching I could see how one could update it. Makes me wonder if I should look into the rights...hmmm...

Posted by molyneaux at 10:33 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:07 AM PDT

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In my new efforts to get out and about more, and to explore my neighborhood of the past nearly seven years, on the 28th of February I decided to go out for brunch and then just start walking. My thought was to go up Trestle Glen, a very nice road with very expensive houses more or less due east of my humble abode at Lake Merritt. I've driven up and down the road a few times and always thought it was beautiful, and decided it would be a prime candidate to see on foot where I could take in all the homes and yards and stop and smell the roses (or whatever flowers happened to be on the way). I zigzagged off onto side streets at various points and discovered cute little bungalows, amazing homes, and one really big beautiful but sadly under-maintained apartment building.

My original thought was to go until I was tired, as Trestle Glen is mostly a gradual uphill that gets to San Francisco steepness near its finish. But, the end was only about two miles, so not as far as I'd thought. Being that I'd gone to the highest point of the walk I planned, I decided I'd take a longer route home, down Park Blvd. and nearby streets, and then around the far side of Lake Merritt. After I got home I mapped the walk on Mapquest and realized I'd gone about seven miles without feeling at all worn out. This emboldens me to take even longer walks in upcoming weeks!

CLICK HERE for a map of today's walk!

Posted by molyneaux at 8:41 PM PST

Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:25 AM PDT

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