Tuesday, January 29, 2008

San Francisco!

Well folks, I'm now in San Francisco. It's a really nice city so far, and wonderfully mild in the dead of winter. I've  been charmed to point where it's now in competition for where I might end up.

Onwards with the pictures! Though the day was grey and shit, so it's pretty hard to see in some of them.

I rather like the quote in the first one.


I wish I lived in the Empress of China


Billy and Jimmy Lee will pummel you into relaxation! And I'm guessing not all of you will understand why this is funny.


This building isn't actually that tall, it's a pyramid. Which fools your brain into thinking it stretches upwards much more than it does.


Oooh, scientologists! February 10th. They'll get what's coming to them.


Golden Gate bridge, way out in the mists!


Ditto!


Alcatraz!


Delicious sourdough crabs! Now you can enjoy getting crabs!


Not actually a strip club. A real club, just called Bimbo's 365.


Crazy ass cubist water sculpture.


This place was amazing. It was full of boutique food places. Two chocolatessens, a cheese maker, wine stores, local meats, a caviar café, a mushroom place. And it just kept going. I could have spent a fortune here.


The cheese place. So tempting!



The only food I bought? Quite good, but not amazing chocolate.

Finally, well, just read the sign.


TB/AC

Shiny!

Normally, I'm not a fan of cars. I don't specifically dislike them, but they don't really do it for me. But my uncle invited me to go with him to a car show in Portland, so I figured it'd be at least interesting. And while he was there to look for a new car, I was just there for the shiny. Unfortunately, some of these are concept cars, so will never see the light of day.









Friday, January 25, 2008

Childhood obesity edition!

Newport! Home of my childhood! Photos!

That's the beach. It's pretty!

And yes, that's ice forming on the beach. It was really cold.

Porn and Jesus. And I just love the idea of of a 24 hour porn store. So, if at 3am you desperately need something, it's right there!

CORNDOGS! They're kinda like Kiwi hotdogs, but they're dipped in cornbread batter before being deep fried. They're damned good, but so deadly.

Candy corn is a mainstay of halloween candy. No one really knows what it is, and it's not really edible, but it's a classic. Weird little things, they'll probably outlast Armageddon.

This candy bag is pure childhood sugar high material. There's a jawbreaker, saltwater taffy and pixie sticks. There's enough sugar in this one bag to transform someone into the Flash for a limited time.

And this is what's inside a pixie stick. They're paper tubes filled with sugary sherbet-y stuff that's a toxic colour. It's like speed for 5 year olds.

Any wonder I was a pudgy child?

TB/AC

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Bus crazies

So, I'm back from Newport. And I had interesting bus rides in either direction.

Going there:
There was a crazy lady who very vocally told everyone her opinion. She kept going on about how she felt blessed to be an American, and how wonderful it was. And she was of the opinion that all the Mexican immigrants came to America for the social security program. Right...thousands upon thousands of immigrants, many illegal, are coming across the border for a compulsory super-annuation scheme. And then she busted out the most amazing comment ever, that she like American money, and thought it was really pretty, but that they should change the faces on them because of the wigs, and they should be swapped for something "more American". The mind boggles.

On the way back, I had a big chat with a guy who grew marijuana medicinally. According to him, with an Medical Marijuana licence (which you can get from the Dr.) you can legally grow, buy and sell with other legal folk. So him and a friend of his made their living by selling weed to people with a license to smoke it. He said that his friend was making $17,000 every 45 days. I'm not sure how much of this was bollocks, but it certainly makes you think.

Newport was interesting to go back to. Surprisingly, most things hadn't changed much, and I was able to find my way about without too much trouble, even based on memories more than a decade old. Everything was smaller than I remember too. Pictures later.

Oh, and the guy I was talking to on the bus? Told me about how he randomly got punched at a party by someone. They just rocked up and punched him as hard as they could. His face was completely destroyed, he needed $40,000 of surgery, his eye socket had to be replaced, and had pins all up and down his nose. And he had the scars to prove it.

Fucked up shit, that.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Tales from the site stats...

I, like most people with a website, compulsively check the stats behind it whenever I have free time. I use a free plugin from to track things like what countries people are viewing the website from, what search strings they use, how long they stay for, that sort of stuff.

And today I found something interesting.

A police department North Carolina (who will remain unnamed, due to the fact I have no idea about privacy laws concerning who visits your website) came to my blog after searching on google for "arthur curry surveillance", and finding my post on the Uruwera situation. They left after only one second, and never came back, but still...I'm being watched...

TB

My culinary adventure continues

Well, I've been in the US for about a week now, and things are slowly starting to settle in terms of weirdness. Their light switches are the wrong way round, with down being off. People here just start conversations with random strangers. After years of living under the basic credo "anyone who talks to you on public transport is a fucking crazy person", all of a sudden I'm in a country where perfectly normal people do that. And talk loud. On the phone.

Anyway, photos! From Portland!

Otter Statues. They're not quite up to the same level as the Christchurch corgis, but still...

The second one is purely to make Chris jealous. Yes, that is a half litre of Red Bull. No you can't have it.

Reese's Peanut Butter and Banana Creme: These are actually pretty gross. They take that horrible fake banana flavour (kinda like the Cadbury bannoffee bars) and add it to Reese's peanut butter cups. Not cool


OH GOD GIANT ANDROGYNOUS BRONZE POSEIDON IS COMING TO GET YOU! EVERYBODY RUN!

A hot dog. From a random stall. These things are actually pretty decent, with nice buns and about 30 options for toppings. I wonder if they have such a selection of extras to mask the flavour of the sausage itself? I mean after adding onions, saurkraut, capsicum, mayo, mustard, bbq sauce, jalapeños, chilli beans, etc. etc., maybe you can't taste the thing. And it's still only $2.25

Finally, a building from Portland that I just found intriguing. 

Anyway, peace out everyone, and read the blog! It's got even more stuff (sometimes)

I hope you're all doing well, wherever you are.

TB/AC

Friday, January 18, 2008

In comparison

Here's my hand holding a normal sized coloured pencil. Now do you see how big the pizza is?

America, part 1

Well, I've settled down, and started to face the crazy. It's actually been good so far, and everyone has been absolutely delightful. And I now own a super warm coat.

But, on with the crazy!

A pizza slice that I bought for lunch. $3.75. Look at the size of it! That's my hand, and I do not have small hands! Holy crap! There was like half a pepperoni sausage on it! It was so salty and greasy I've been crazy thirsty all day.


Secondly, an empty lot, covered in barbed and razor wire. I'm sure there was something there, I just find it funny that it looked completely empty.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Arrival

Well folks, I'm in America! The travel went well, no disasters, and I'v arrived to a palmy 30° Portland. 30°F. Which is freezing. Well, at least they know how to warm their houses and buses here...

And, while waiting in San Francisco, I saw Jamie Hyneman in the distance! The bald guy from Mythbusters! Woohoo, famous folk!

Initial impressions of America? Cafes that serve biscuits and gravy. Food joints everywhere. PB&J restaurant for kids. Everyone seems to have new cars. Not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, but also walk on the wrong side of the hallway.

Crazy stuff.

More when I actually get out and about.

Tim

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

It's time.

Well folks. Here it is. This afternoon, I'm off. Next stop: Portland. Well, not technically next stop, but where I actually spend some time. And I'll start updating this blog regularly about the things I encounter.

In the meanwhile, those of you who are still in NZ, I thoroughly recommend you go see the Retrophonic Funk Machine who are currently touring across the country. Go check them out, they're awesome.

31/12 Canaan Downs Festival, Takaka
03/01 Poverty Bay Club, Gisbourne - w/ Odessa
04/01 Harbourview Hotel, Raglan
06/01 Sawmill Cafe, Leigh
11/01 Parihaka Peace Festival, Parihaka
17/01 Bar Mode, Palmerston North
18/01 Mighty Mighty, Wellington - w/ Harbour City Electric and the Julian Temple Band
19/01 Phat Club, Nelson
20/01 Barrytown Hall, Barrytown
24/01 The Backstage, Dunedin
25/01 Dux de Lux, Christchurch - w/ L'Ocean
26/01 TBC, Wanaka