The Godfather (1972)

Rarely have I had such split emotions about a movie. I was not prepared for what I saw, and I am not sure I have a coherent opinion about this movie. It is exciting, and it is dull. It is wonderful, and it is disappointing. There is just not one opinion to form, but a great many, and very conflicting ones. In short: the movie is about the Corleone family, a Mafia family that is trying to wrestle itself out of a complicated system of vendette that has engulfed the family’s scion, Don Vito Corleone (played by an astounding Marlon Brando). Continue reading

Season starting? Not according to HeavenlyCam

I am itching to get the board out, but there is no snow yet… How do I know? Here is the latest image from the Heavenly cam stationed on beloved East Peak: Of course, by the time you read this, the snow may actually already be there… Notice the view. It looks like it’s from the East Peak Lodge, so it would be looking up Little Dipper with its awful moguls…

Digital SLRs

{moszoomimglink:canon_eos_digital_rebel_xt}I have been a fan of digital photography since the early days (for amateurs). My Nikon 950, despite its shortcomings, shot wonderful pictures. So did the 990 that replaced it. Unfortunately, I was always dreaming of something better. I remembered my old days with the first autofocus cameras, my first EOS 650, and the beautiful pictures it shot. Stolen by a vandal in Amsterdam, it was replaced with a Minolta that, I am sure, was state of the art back then. Continue reading

Nickel and Dimed (B. Ehrenreich)

A MUST READ. I don’t care what you have read this year, you HAVE to read this book. An incredible account: successful journalist decides to descend into the bowels of mankind and tries to balance her budget by working like a low earner and spending like a low earner. She finds out that’s impossible. What is really shocking is that she really, really tries. Barb goes in and tries herself at waitressing, at house-maiding, at Wal-Marting. Continue reading

Second Month

{moszoomimglink:Honokaa/makai window frames (flash)} Back! This time, the weather was abysmal, but the progress was swift. Brad succeeded in getting the floors done, the main lanai, the window frames. There was a lot to be looked at, and I am only sorry that it was so short. I had fun seeing the house growing, and for the first time I was already looking at furniture. Brad was not only working on the house: he has been great with suggestions for improvement. Continue reading

2000

It’s a sad moment. After a long series of sad moments. The 2000th American soldier died in Iraq. Despite the fact that I am not a citizen (yet), I find that deeply saddening. I am just thinking of myself when I was a young and stupid kid, being in the military, and realizing that’s probably who is in Iraq right now. I remember us being trained in the Soviet Union being about to invade us. Continue reading

Into Thin Air (J. Krakauer)

Do you think an expedition to climb Mt. Everest sounds fun? Well, if you do, you should read this book. Jon Krakauer is very sympathetic to the plight of mountaineers. He understands very well why people are attracted to high mountains, their rarified atmosphere, and to the incredible opportunities to die. And the latter are the most remarkable things about this book. Sent by Outside magazine to discover the thrill of Everest climbing, Mr. Continue reading

2005-10-21 Visit

Imported Photo Album Continue reading

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, famous revolutionary, came from an upper middle class environment and dreamt of becoming a doctor before deciding to shoot at people instead. This movie is about the young doctor-to-be going on a road trip with a friend and discovering poverty. Like a great many European (and European-inspired) movies with a background in social strife, this movie is very plump in its melodramatic accentuation of the rigors of poverty and prejudice. Continue reading

OpenSuSE 10.0

I did it! After running my IBM Thinkpad T41 for a year on Fedora Core 2, I decided it was worth switching to OpenSuSE, in an attempt to move back to the old days (0.96) when I first started with SuSE, trying before deciding to switch this site to OpenSuSE as well. I started with the BitTorrent download. Initially, this was extremely painful, because bits would trickle in at a snail’s pace, but after applying routing changes suggested and waiting for a while, things picked up. Continue reading