RANT - The Bad News Map

A tightly-written story about a new, interactive map giving real-time information about nasty stuff going on around the world, right now. 

So 'tight' in fact, that I'll link to it, and repeat it here.

Holy Crap - Is This Really Us?

An absolutely intense map of the world showing all the disasters going on, everywhere, right this minute - ranging from (as of 17:30 EST) Nuclear Events (Japan), Flash Flood (Brazil), Vehicle Accident (El Segundo, California), Explosion (Bostik Chemical Plant, Boston, MA), Fire (Brooklyn, NY), Volcano Eruption (Azerbaijan, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, Hawaii), Airplane Incident (an insane number, all over the US; fortunately, in almost none of them were there any persons "affected"), Epidemic (New River Valley, Roanoke, VA), Biological Hazard (Bangladesh), and on and on and on and on. With level of severity.

Just the list of earthquakes that have happened...today!...is staggering (though all of them of relatively low numbers): Wyoming, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Taiwan, Poland, New Zealand, Kazakhstan...

A fascinating, terrifying, fascinating website out of Hungary. Thank you. Damn you. Thank you.

Like it or not, we're all in this together.

(Oh, yeah - the news scrawl reports "Ice sheets melting faster than earlier estimates." Anyone have a blanket to hide under?)

REVIEW - Battle: LA

Another thumbs up / thumbs down movie.

Her ladyship loved the movie (which was a big surprise, seeing as it was jerky hand-held camera and non-stop explosions) while I was less than wowed by the initially impressive but subsequently indistinct SFX. 

There was a lame attempt to build characters in the first 10 minutes, but thereafter it was a noisy melee.

If you liked Transformers or Skyline, you'll like this. If you liked District 9, Battle: LA will disappoint you.

All in all, the trailer is better value for money than watching the whole movie. Shame.

RAVE - Fifth Floor

This is a restaurant that I hear way too little about.

It may be because it's out of street view, on the fifth floor of The Palomar Hotel here in SF. There's not even a decent sign at street level.

To show how much she adores me, (and to partly atone for treating me like dirt the rest of the year), Mrs. Page took me to Fifth Floor last night.

This used to be a special place for special celebrations - like my birthday. We've been here twice before, for previous birthday and anniversary celebrations, but something's happened to the magic that used to accompany meals here.

The company was just as magical, and my meal ....

Hot and Cold Sonoma Foie Gras
bergamot marmalade, caramelized apple, calvados, toasted almonds

Brillat-Savarin Ravioli
Brillat-Savarin Ravioli hedgehog mushrooms, sage, brown butter, walnut pesto, wilted chicories

Roasted Lamb Loin and Confit Belly
farro, golden raisins, black radish, black garlic, argan oil, harissa jus

... was perfectamundo, while Pavey's ....

Asparagus Soup

Local Halibut Crudo
cara cara, yuzu, fennel, radish, mint, ice wine-soy vinaigrette


Slow Cooked Squab 
confit leg, black trumpet mushrooms, house cured pancetta, root vegetables, salmis sauce

wasn't :(

The squab let the meal down, by being waved in the general direction of the oven, rather than being properly cooked. She made a point of asking for it to be medium well done, but the kitchen found that too much for them.

Ah well, we'll pick somewhere else for the next special celebration.

RAVE - Fewer Great White Sharks!

Not that I'm an anti-ecologist, but in among the bad news of global warming, food shortages and disappearing butterfly species comes some good news, about lower than expected numbers of Great White Sharks.

Now, I don't know why they're 'great', and they're more grey than white, but it doesn't really matter about those details, just so long as there are fewer of them around when my cruise liner goes down in the Pacific.

According to a survey published today, "Far fewer great white sharks are cruising the waters off California than previously thought, according to researchers who conducted a unique shark census in the northeastern Pacific Ocean".

This picture, apparently of a shark having eaten a basketball team, and now pursuing the basketballs, shows just how nasty they are (er, sharks, not Lakers' players). 

I guess no-one needs reminding of that, although whenever I think of the Jaws films I'm reminded of the fabulous spectacle of going as a family to see the first Jaws movie, and seeing my Dad leaning waaaay back in his seat as the shark grappled with the rear of the fishing boat and stuff started to slide down the deck towards the shark.

RAVE - The Adjustment Bureau

Despite being advertised as a thriller, this is a love story, and a bit of a fairy-tale one at that.

Based on a Philip K. Dick short story. 9 of Dick's stories have been made into movies, including Blade Runner, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.

This one's about Fate, and how The Adjustment Bureau (angels, basically) follow certain subjects and do things to keep people on the path to which they're fated.

Matt Damon is a politician who meets and falls in love with Emily Blunt, a dancer and choreographer. Trouble is, they're not fated to stay together, so The Bureau keeps interfering to break them up and keep them apart.

I couldn't give away the happy ending - oops, I've done it.

So, despite it being a fairy-tale love story, it's a great story and a well-made film.

REVIEW - Colombia

OK, it was only one night, but it was Colombia.

Horrible traveling that far for such a short stay ... 6am flight from San Francisco, 6 hours to Miami, change planes and a further 5 hours to Bogota. With transfers and time difference, it meant getting into my hotel at 11pm, just as the bar was shutting. All the warnings about crime meant I wasn't about to go bar-hopping, so that was that.

An early start the following morning, giving some training in the IBM office, and at mid-day I was back in a taxi to the airport, for the same butt-shredding return journey.

Got home at half past mid-night on Friday, and spent the weekend trying to sleep my way back to perkiness.

What was Bogota like? Damned if I know.