Cafe Novo

Brief Notes of San Francisco

ben — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:56:41 -0500

I'm quite amazed at certain things. For example, I recently spent a few days in lovely San Francisco (though lovely is certainly a state of mind - of the three days I was there it rained all day one day, was blazing hot the next, and on the third was foggy and sharply cold). Anyway, I stayed at a cheapish hotel in North Beach called the Saint Paul on the corner of Kearny and Columbus that was comfortable enough, if cramped, and had shared bathroom and shower facilities which were basically two or three single bathroom/showers at the end of the labyrinthine hallways. The bathrooms usually had a slight odor of pot lingering and I caught a glimpse of the room next to mine, which looked like the occupant had moved in for a long, long stay. The Saint Paul was across the street from Cafe Zoetrope, owned by Francis Ford Coppola with writing and production offices in the upstairs floors of the building (and a landmark building in SF).

Cafe Zoetrope

However, all this is beside the point. While doing a bit of tourist walking, I was passed by a group (flock? mob? herd?) of people wearing reflective neon yellow vests - of the type cops wear when directing traffic at night - wearing helmets and riding Segways! I later learned that there is a company that runs Segway tours of San Francisco. It was highly amusing, but I just could not for the life of me see myself strapping on a helmet and reflective vest to putt around one of the coolest cities in the world on a Segway. But maybe that's just me.

Segway tour of San Francisco!

Pics from the Himalayas

ben — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:13:02 -0500

A good friend of mine has been working and living in a number of places around the world since he graduated from college - Hawaii, Taos, Spain, the Ukraine, Southeast Asia, and a few other places I can't now remember. Currently, he's either in Nepal or India, I believe, and sent out some pictures from a trek he just finished which included a day in which he both climbed and descended 5,000 feet and that reached an elevation of 17,769 feet at the Thorung-la pass. My friend, Taylor, is the guy on the right of the picture below. The other guy is his guide, named Him.

Review of "American Gangster"

sean — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:10:13 -0500

The Age of Moral Ambiguity

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Ridley Scott's "American Gangster", an action-packed crime drama. (Caution, spoilers ahead)
The action was well-paced and exciting, but I left the theater with a distinct sense of unease. The story starts out describing the situatuions of a low-level gangster and a "narcotics division" police officer; well-acted by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe respectively.

By mid-film, Denzel's character Frank Lucas is one of the top heroin importing crime lords in the country, and Russell's honest cop is heading a then newly-formed and federally-funded narcotics enforcement squad. Throughout the film, Denzel's Lucas peddles heroin on an industrial scale, murders rivals, and enforces obedience with an iron fist. True, once he's achieved a level of financial success he brings his family to New York from North Carolina and employs his many brothers as lieutenants, even putting his poor aged mother up in a palatial estate. Ok, a thug with family values, we get it. But does this really redeem him socially?

The inevitable climax ensues when American forces pull out
of Vietnam in the mid 1970s, and Lucas' Indochinese Import/Export
business is threatened. Crowe doggedly pursues the crafty smuggler and eventually gets the collar. The real twist for me however is at the end.

Lucas plea bargains for a lighter sentence in exchange for
turning in as many corrupt cops as he can finger. According to the film, which is "based on actual events" a full 2/3rds of New York's Drug Enforcement Police forces are brought up on charges. My point of confusion/contention is this:what is the moral of story? Is this movie seeking to make some point, or is it pure entertainment? Am I supposed to sympathize with Lucas' character? In a lovely montage towards the end, after Lucas has opted to plea bargain, he is shown in grandfatherly reading glasses, wearing a sweater and laughing congenially with Crowe's character as they plot the downfall of so many crooked cops. (huh?) In a text-based epilogue, the movie states Crowe's character later quits law enforcement to become a criminal defense lawyer, and that his first client is Frank Lucas. Wait, now it's a buddy film? Lucas was originally sentenced to 70 years in prison. Due to his cooperation he served only 15 years, and was released in 1991. So this murderous wholesale heroin importer is back on the streets? Am I supposed to feel good that he turned in all the dirty cops? Am I supposed to believe he's some victim of circumstances and deep down just a really a nice guy with a strong (albeit misdirected) entrepreneurial drive? Sure this historic episode (depending on the veracity of the script) probably cleaned up the act of drug enforcement agencies nationwide, but what is the state of affairs today? It seems to me the drug war is still an endless cycle of corruption, cynicism and shattered innocence.

This movie left me deeply confused. I suppose it is an interesting story, but what on earth possessed a director the caliber of Ridley Scott to make this film I may never know. Most of the time with crime dramas I feel like the moral of the story is pretty straightforward, for instance like in the recent Martin Scorcese film "The Departed". Here is an honest to goodness tragedy. Pretty much everyone dies, and the point of it seems to say, live by the sword, die by the sword, and children beware, because in fact, a life of crime is really not glamorous. Maybe this was a movie about redemption, but again, I just can't tell.

Dress Like We Say or Go To Jail!

ben — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:52:51 -0400

And we seem to march towards a quasi-fascist state by leaps and bounds. It seems that fashion - always a popular whipping boy of those wishing to quash expression of any kind - is under the gun again. Baggy pants are now in the crosshairs, though I should quantify the statement with the disclaimer that most current or proposed laws restricting the wearing of 'baggy pants' focus on pants worn in a way that shows boxers or bare butt. From CNN.com:

Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 fine.
A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta, Georgia. And in Trenton, New Jersey, getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed.

The real issue, which isn't touched upon in the CNN article, is that such laws would once again put the judgment of who's wearing pants that are 'too baggy' in the hands of the police or general public. Oh yeah, and in America why is the government controlling what clothes I wear???

Some Good Duke Ellington Quotes

cn — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:00:33 -0400

Hey hey, here are a few good quotes from Duke Ellington:

“I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” - (thanks to Meg for pointing this one out ot me.)
“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”
“There are two kinds of worries -- those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter.”

Road Trip to North Conway, NH

cn — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:47:32 -0400

So North Conway, NH is a pretty hefty drive from where I live in NY state. I'd never been and my dad's family was having a reunion there so I hit the road last Friday and headed out to North Conway.

North Conway, it turns out, is a great location if you're into anything outdoors. We all stayed at a big alpine-style house. It was a bit run down and the beds were hard, but the location was great and there were 12 bedrooms or so.

North Conway is pretty much surrounded by White Mountain National Forest and the Saco River runs through town. As a result of this a town of outfitters, gear rental places, coffee shops, pubs, and numerous other shops that you'd associate with a ski village has developed where in winter there are all types of snow sports and in the summertime there's kayakers, canoers, road bikers, mountain bikers, hikers, drivers, campers, photographers, climbers, rafters, etc., etc., etc...

Oh, and there are outlets. No sales tax in NH and throngs of tourists and travelers seeking the great outdoor experience means only one thing! Brand name outlet stores! Some of the stores I wandered into weren't necessarily ones you'd find in every outlet strip mall. I browsed a Pearl Izumi factory store and a couple mountain gear outlets. Not to mention the ski shops! All that and no Starbucks....hmmm...I guess there MUST have been a Starbucks somewhere, but they keep it off the main area at least...

Of course, the real draw of the area is the wilderness, and it is spectacular. If you don't hike, don't bike, don't ski, and don't like getting out on the river, you must at least go for the drive. Coming from the west, you zigzag through the mountains on state roads and a couple of interstates and the views are spectacular. No matter which direction you approach from, you'll pass through at least a dozen New England villages, seemingly all built around modest, stately churches with tall, white steeples.

North Conway may be pretty far from everywhere but Concord, NH, but it's worth the trip. Unless, that is, you're agoraphobic (fear of open spaces)...but even then the mountains might be enough too keep your fears at bay and if not, North Conway itself will be just built up and bustling enough for comfort.

Underhill House

ben — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:51:53 -0400

Check out this cool house! The owners built it themselves and have a how-to site that shows you how to do it yourself, complete with pictures, costs, and plans!

Check out the site here.

The Ultimate Geek Travel Itinerary

ben — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:02:05 -0400

So this has nothing to do with technology or gadgetry, but most definitely qualifies as geek travel. Some people follow Phish around for the summer, I have a friend who spent a couple of months following Widespread Panic. Others go on road trips, and some people will do every marathon, 5k, or triathlon within hundreds of miles of their homes. So why not tour around the country to hit every Star Trek-esque convention in the country?

There's a list of upcoming conventions (not all of them Star Trek specific) at startrek.com. So grab your Klingon phrasebook, pack your bags, and jump in your alternative-fueled shuttle-craft to hist the conferences this summer. Here's a sampling of events:

Columbus Sci-Fi Expo
July 13-15, 2007
Columbus, OH
The Official Star Trek Convention
August 9-12, 2007
Las Vegas, NV
TrekTrak
August 31 - September 3, 2007
Atlanta, GA

There are events listed through the year and into 2008!

Outside Mag - 5 Great Roadtrips

ben — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:53:51 -0400

As you may know, I'm a big proponent of road trips, and this month Outside Online has a good list of 5 great summer road trips - one for each region of the country. From the article:

At some point after puberty and before mortgage payments, that summer ritual our parents used to make us do became something we couldn't do without. And the rules have changed. Cars are faster, highways are better, and there's cool stuff—really cool stuff that doesn't involve buffets or Dollywood—just about everywhere. Stop sitting on those vacation days and get out there. Our five two-week loops will get you rolling.

The only problem is that the online version doesn't have maps of the routes. I haven't seen the paper version, so I'll have to check that out, but nonetheless, the trips look good and the online version lists stuff to do all along the way.

Short List of Fun Travel Blogs/Sites

ben — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:33:59 -0400

BudgetTravelOnline.com has a list of fun travel sites here about food, gear & gadgets, hotels, and maps. Listed sites include:

Slice, sliceny.com; News, reviews, and musings on pizza, including where to find the best pieces of pie in the Big Apple.
TravelGearBlog, travelgearblog.com; Reviews of clothes, equipment, backpacks, gadgets related to hiking, camping, and other travel activities.
Hotel Chatter, hotelchatter.com; Hotel reviews from all over the world.

If you like pizza and live in or visit NYC, check out that first site! It's constantly updated and is a pizza-lover's best resource...