November 2010 – jellybeansofdoom.com

November 29, 2010January 3, 2011

Leslie “Don’t call me Shirley” Nielsen has died

He passed away Sunday, at the age of 84, due to complications from pneumonia.

Leslie Nielsen was born in Skaskatchewan, Canada in 1926. He served in the Canadian Air Force and worked as a disk jockey before taking up acting. He began working in television in 1948 with more than 50 appearances in two years. He later went on to appear in a great many television shows.

He started in films in 1956. His first roles were dramatic. My first and fondest memories of Leslie Nielsen are as Commander Adams in The Forbidden Planet (1956) and the Captain in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Nielsen gained his biggest fame when he starred in Airplane! (1980) later in The Naked Gun (1988) and it’s sequels. His ability to play a serious character who is oblivious to the absurdity surrounding him brought him a new generation of fan.

Leslie William Nielsen will be missed by all. We, at JBoD, extend our sincerest condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis in The Forbidden Planet

November 28, 2010

From creature-features to funny commercials: JBoD’s Sunday funnies

While Lastech was off shaving, I discovered that his post from earlier in the day had vanished. I noticed because the comments for it had become attached to another post and I was forced to delete them lest confusion reign. Very strange. I managed to go find it as one of Google’s cached pages and rescued it. Here it is again. 🙂 -Rudha-an

While inspired by Rhuda-an’s “guide to survival“, I wanted to work up a post about what to take on road trips to cover most emergencies.
As I ran through lists of items with shelf-life of varying length, a pain to keep track of and replace, a light bulb came on about an “organic” solution. All you’d ever need is a Trunk Monkey.
Watch the commercial, then enjoy the other two.

Like seafood? And “Kung Fu Panda”? You’re not alone.

“Bug”, a disturbing drama directed by William Orkin.

November 28, 2010October 19, 2013

Cityscapes: San Francisco in dream sequences

There’s always been some dream-like quality in films from Tarkovsky, Lars Von Trier or Kurosawa which I found attractive beyond the visual dimension, and it has to do with the way scenes flow, details and locations reveal themselves.
I used to dream this way: I would find myself going from one somewhat familiar location to a completely different one, a construct of my imagination, which could not possibly belong next to the original place in the real world, like going from day to night by the flick of a switch.
Living here in California means zooming by unknown treasures at 75 mph.
Exploring a city like San Francisco makes you wonder whether it was conceived by Morpheus. Take Mountain Lake Park, just off Highway one at Lake street, the park borders the Southern edge of the Presidio, and I’d never have known it was there, hadn’t we in fact looked it up.
The trail which starts at the Lake goes on for several blocks, seemingly forever.

Mountain lake path — Mountain Lake hiking trail

Within a large city, suddenly you find yourself in the woods, starting with a lake which once reportedly had an abandoned albino alligator as a resident.

Continue reading “Cityscapes: San Francisco in dream sequences”

November 26, 2010

Friday night cat blogging: Dimension Mazuzu

A friend of the blog, HG, commented after meeting Mazuzu “he’s an alien!” Even for me, the fascination has not diminished.
I recently considered that rather than being an alien, Mazuzu may be coming from another dimension.

The spice must flow.. — The Spice must flow...

That’s got something to do with the way he moves.
I posted before about his annoying habit of “backing up”, which is how the infamous butt up my nostril incident happened. And watching him at play with Tito, I wondered at times how it was Tito could keep up.

I mean the naked streaker is fast, and leaps higher and farther than most cats I’ve known.
But here’s the thing: it’s almost, though not completely, as if he cannot move sideways. I am thinking about testing his peripheral vision, not that I suspect anything unhealthy, but the bugger is just so worthy of observation, even Tito seems to watch him with amazement sometimes.

Watching them run parkour is one of the most spectacularly entertaining things ever, especially the leaps off or up the Tower of Power.
I imagine Mazuzu’s dimension to be like “Tron” with his brethren speeding across planes and lines broken by angles. By the way, he’s been known to…. cut the cheese on occasion, too.

November 25, 2010October 26, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

We just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving day. We don’t really celebrate holidays like a lot of others, but we’re not stick-in-the-muds either. Lastech didn’t grow up with a Thanksgiving day like me. Some of our readers celebrate different holidays than we do in the States.

So….we’ve made this day our own. We have many things to be thankful for. We have our health and Lastech is working again. In addition to having some pretty great friends and family, we also have the added blessing of having two wonderful kitties. We hope many of you can say the same.

We hope that all of you have a wonderful day.

Best wishes from Lastech and Rudha-an

November 23, 2010December 13, 2012

Thanksgiving loaded groovy gravy: “blood freak”

I was salivating about stuffing a turkey with Spam this week, how unoriginal I know… I do like Spam, even the kind we find in the site’s ‘Spam’ box. Those buggers are getting semi-creative, as in this comment about “the worst journey in the world”:

“This was interesting and ive forwarded it on to all my friends on planet zikzar45. IF they like what you have written they may spare your life
but if they dont, well you should prepare your will. Earthling.”

Bet he or she drives a Plymouth Satellite (wink-wink), I’d like to have what he’s having.

But lo! Do I have a recommendation for your Thanksgiving night viewing….

“Blood freak” – (1971, USA 86 minutes, rated R)

This is no longer available through Netflix, and my recollections might be –perhaps – somewhat “clouded”…

Whatever your poison of choice is, even if it’s Wild Turkey, load up on it. Put the flick in the machine (can’t bring myself to even call this a movie). Well, look, it’s really bad. But in a groovy way, dig? As in dated… Carbon dated.

We’ve seen silent films which didn’t feel this fixed in their era.

Where was I? Thanksgiving started early…. Oh. So this dude Herschell (Steve Hawkes, born Sipek in Croatia), so named as a reference to Herschell Gordon Lewis, rides up on Angel, stranded by a flat tire, gives her a lift back to her pad where her sis is getting’ high with hipsters, yeah?

But Herschell, normally a righteous guy, partakes of the evil grass and boffs Ann, the baaaad sister.

Continue reading “Thanksgiving loaded groovy gravy: “blood freak””

November 22, 2010December 13, 2012

Midnight Movie Madness: a “death note” everyone has to pay

“Death note” – (Anime series, Japan 2006, NR)

I always enjoyed serialized sci-fi and horror shows broadcast late at night, re-runs of “Star Trek: Voyager” or “Friday the 13th: the series”.
If you do as well, I recommend watching “death note”, a Japanese

animated series about a student, Light Yagami, who finds a notebook with special powers, the Death Note. The titular notebook is the artifact of Light’s doom, something he could have bought from Louis Vendredi’s shop in “Friday the 13th: the series“. The note, dropped on purpose into the human world by Ryuk, a demon-like Shinigami (death deity), has the following rules written in it, which Light attempts to refine and perhaps even circumvent: “the human who uses the note can neither go to heaven nor hell. If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name”.
Continue reading “Midnight Movie Madness: a “death note” everyone has to pay”

November 21, 2010October 26, 2013

Meddling with forces of nature: working in America

I am typing this with the old tingling feeling down my left arm. No, it’s not the tick-tock man in my chest, it’s nerve damage, although the ticker could be in better shape, too.
Damage from performing data entry hunched over a less than ergonomic keyboard-desk-chair combos, like well, so many of us “working wounded” today.

No, no, it’s true, well…. Truer, that it is better to work than not. I mean, the media’s not turning the spotlight on suicides/murder suicides/tent cities around the country, a word which certain politicians pronounce as though the letter ‘o’ was not part of it.
No, I’m happy to be working. It’s just that the nature of work in America sucks and blows at the same time, something Bart Simpson thought a physical impossibility.

Continue reading “Meddling with forces of nature: working in America”

November 20, 2010October 19, 2013

Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park: Part 2, The Potted Plant Gallery

I meant to post this sooner, but we got caught up in a rather heavy rain/hail/lightning/ mess, so I turned the computer off to be safe.

Previously, I posted Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park: Part 1, The Lowland Tropics.

Anyone who comes to San Francisco should try and find the time to visit the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Opened to the public in 1879, it is the oldest building in the park. It houses around 1700 plant species. The orchid collection is said to be one of the best.

This time we’re going to visit the Potted Plants Gallery.

The Conservatory of Flowers is located at 100 John F. Kennedy Drive. It is accessible for motorized and non motorized wheelchairs. Strollers are not permitted inside, but there is a place to park them while you explore. As it is a greenhouse, it will be quite warm and humid inside. As it can be rather cold outside, be sure to wear removable layers. It is open Tuesday thru Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm. The cost is $7 for adults, $5 for ages 12-17, seniors 65 & over, and college students with school ID. $2 for children 5 – 11 and free for children 4 and under. Local residents receive a discount with proof of residency.

Note: On Sundays, John F. Kennedy Drive is closed to vehicular traffic. For those who don’t mind walking, you can just park on Martin Luther King Drive and walk to the Conservatory.

Amazingly, the Conservatory barely escaped disaster more than once. It had to have the dome restored after an 1883 boiler explosion and fire. It also managed to survive the 1906 Earthquake. In 1933 Structural instability caused the Park Commission to close it. The Great Depression meant a lack of funds preventing it from reopening until 1946.

The Potted Plants Gallery is home to hibiscus, cymbidium orchids, bromeliads, begonias, and much more. When I know the name of a plant, the pictures will be labeled. Not everything had a marker, so I was unsure of a few. Should anyone know the name of any of these unnamed plants, feel free to comment. I’ll update if necessary.

[Show as slideshow]

I hope you enjoyed some of these. I also hope they give you the urge to visit our fine city and see what it has to offer. I wasn’t born and raised here, however, I can understand the song “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”. 🙂

November 19, 2010November 19, 2010

Friday Night Cat Blogging

Time for the boys to shine