never underestimate the power of nostalgia ... a while back i found a site where you could get some old old old old school games. i'm talking about the ones from way back in the days of pixels the size of your hand and bleeps and bloops from the sound card-less apple ii computers. download number munchers: as good as you remember. i mean, how can you not get a thrill when you see a trogdor nearby? this version has difficulty settings you can adjust, so if you're a bit beyond "factors of 10" you can try "factors of 812". download super munchers: i think this is a newer game in the series. you'll get categories such as "countries in south america" (which turns out to be much harder than you'd think). also has a food category, haha. download gertrude's secrets: wow, i remember this one from waaaay back. from the same folks that brought you reader rabbit. this one's a puzzle game. hours of fun even though it only has four colors. haha.

i'm sure winnie can help me out here, but occasionally i want to look up some food-related term. the best online food dictionary i've found so far is on epicurious.com. anyone have any other suggestions?

random but old pic (b/c no one else posts pic on this blog, hint hint) ... BBC News, April 9, 2004

Triple D Farm and Hatchery, in Palmer, injects the eggs with dye to produce multi-coloured baby chicks. Children visiting the farm in the run-up to Easter were met with more than 400 orange, red, green, purple, pink and blue chickens and ducks.

in other news, recently saw a movie that i bet winnie's already seen, called babette's feast, (aka babettes gæstebud). it's this story about a woman who flees france and ends up living with two elderly religious sisters in a small town in denmark. the story was pretty straightforward, but the direction, characters, and acting were good, and the last scene was quite memorable. won the 1988 oscar for best foreign film. also, after having resisted for a while i sat down and watched absolutely fabulous - complete series 1 (aka ab fab). i'd seen an episode or two before and really wasn't into it (for the same reasons no doubt that a sizable number of gay men are into it), but after having gotten into french and saunders (fantastic british comedy duo) andy and i have gone back and watched some of their solo work. in case you don't know, ab fab's mostly about an irresponsible mother and her long-suffering daughter. here's a funny excerpt from the first season that'll give you a good idea of what the show's like:

Edina Monsoon: Sweetie, make mama a cup'a'coffee. You're so clever and you know where everything is, don't you? I think it's marvelous that you know where things are. I think you're marvelous. Saffron Monsoon: Flattery won't turn me into your slave. The coffee is on the table in front of you. Pick up a spoon, put coffee in cup, pour on boiling water ... Edina Monsoon: ... and scald my hand and get third degree burns, screaming in agony. Do you really want THAT on your conscience this morning, darling? Saffron Monsoon: Alright. Edina Monsoon: Thank you, darling. Not instant, darling. Not instant. Grind some beans for God's sake. Instant coffee: beans that've been cremated. I don't want THEM. I want them entire, full with life force today. Would you not pull that face while you grind? I don't really want to drink a cup full of your anger.

quick restaurant tour Where I went with my parents.. Taiwan Restaurant, 6th and Geary in the Richmond District Pretty authentic food from Taiwan and elsewhere. The noodles are excellent -- I had some dish with noodles and a bit of ground beef and pork tripe. You can watch them make those Chinese crullers in the window. The shiao long bao were good but not excellent. Cheap with cheap decor -- the best thing for a Saturday morning brunch. The Slanted Door, Ferry Building, Embarcadero There's been enough said about this restaurant. They've moved into their new digs at the Ferry Building and have a breathtaking view of the Bay Bridge. It's a great place to go for any reason. I've been once for lunch in the temporary location and once for dinner this time -- they were both excellent. It's not so much the stunning-ness of any one dish as it is the overall flavors and presentation. You might want to order family style -- you'll get your entree on a separate plate which makes this easy. They also had the perfect dessert for when you are too full to eat dessert -- Apricot almond pudding with fresh mango and white wood ear. PPQ Dungeoness Island, 25th and Geary in the Richmond District Great dungeoness crabs. Great sea bass -- although a bit on the sweet side. Great garlicky noodles in a portion too large for you to even think about finishing. Great everything, pretty much. Not cheap. Koi Palace, Serramonte Exit off I-280, Daly City Fancy-schmancy dim sum that you really only want to eat when someone else is paying. My favorite -- the "Peking duck burrito" (horrible name, I'd say), and the egg custards with birds nest on top. Earlier this week I made a repeat visit to Pesce in Russian Hill, which was just as excellent as the first time I went. Everything they have on their menu is such a wonderful combination of flavors. I can't even recommend anything because it was all dreamily good. Maybe I'll write about it sometime when I stop drooling over it.

some upcoming releases that i'm pretty damn excited about. april: bjork: singles box. every single she's ever made. it's going to cost way too much, but man it'll be worth it. 5/11ish: sondheim: bounce (original cast): first new show from sondheim since 1996's passion. 5/18: the streets: a grand don't come for free (2nd album). i've already heard the first single off of this (called "fit but you know it", humorous in the vein of "don't mug yourself") and i'm psyched. there are other tracks floating around also. 5/17: tori amos: welcome to sunny florida, live DVD 6/8: pj harvey: uh huh her, seventh album late 2004? bjork: new album rock 'n roll ...

andy and i saw pinback on tuesday. they were giving out a few free tickets to each show via email, so we got in free. aw, yeah. the show was good, although about the same as the other two i've seen. but the newer songs were thoroughly enjoyable. one song, "microtonic wave", is on the offcell EP which i've been listening to and which has this funk sort of waah waah guitar which is a new sound for them. another one, which people refer to as "fortress" sounded to me like a new wave song a la pinback at first, but it's an original apparently. not sure what the name of the third one is yet, but it's as catchy as anything they've written. looking forward to the album. been to some restaurants for the 2nd or 3rd time lately. winnie and i have talked about how important it is for a restaurant to be not only good but consistent as well. so here's the skinny: via matta: seemed to have more vegetarian stuff than last time i went. i had the minestra which was chockful of nice veggies in a savory but understated broth. i also had the crispy eggplant again, and though it wasn't quite as smooth as before it was still quite good, and the tomatoes were nice and fresh. both appetizers were quite big and overall very good. oh, and the olive oil they have is nice and grassy. heh. andy had the arugula salad and the homemade ravioli. i'm probably likely to go back here sooner than most others. hamersley's: got the mushroom sandwich again, which was again quite excellent. nice and garlicky. also had this baked penne in a cream sauce which was good although a little plain. the major drawback w/ that dish was that it was way too hot temperature-wise. i had to wait at least five minutes before i could eat it w/ out scalding my tongue. troquet: everyone i went with got the beet salad. i think i might have had this before, and it was quite good. big and straightforward. i'd had the mushroom cavatelli about two years ago and it was definitely not so good this time around. andy had the game pigeon which he said was only about average. all in all the place is a bit overpriced.

andy and i went to new york this weekend to see winnie before she leaves us forever. :( we went to the cooper-hewitt and saw the christopher dresser exhibit. dresser was a designer in the late 1800's, but a lot of his work looks completely contemporary. the exhibit was -really- good. actually i think i liked it better than the triennial. just check out the flash animation on the site about the exhibit -- it'll make you want to go. the whitney biennial was about as so-so as the other time i've been to the whitney. there were some things there that were worth seeing, but so much of it was the same old junk that it was easy to get through it pretty quickly. it was really crowded when we left, though, so if you go you should be forewarned. we also saw the revival of stoppard's jumpers (imported from london's national theater). apparently it's not one of his best shows, but it was entertaining enough. the play lacks any character development and doesn't have much of a plot, and its philosophy is pretty trite, about on the level of an introductory course. but the acting was generally good, as was the production. also finally got around to seeing gypsy with the incomparable bernadette peters. that was quite good, although the show does have its flaws, but still it was great to finally see bernie live. stayed at the hudson. funky, although the rooms are a bit small. had brunch there on sunday and although andy wasn't that impressed w/ his eggs and chicken hash, i thought my waffle w/ fruit and a strawberry and apple compote was quite good. winnie's leaving this week. WAAH!

my review of x-statix is in today's tech. winnie already knows how much i worship them, but i have to say that even now that the first bloom of adoration has worn off i still think x-statix is simply the best x-men comic right now. one of those totally-indie-but-somehow-hit-the-mainstream successes. above are some of my favorite characters (l to r): doop, vivisector, u-go girl, sluk, and dead girl. also, check out my x-statix gallery.

courtesy of aman, the most sick and twisted song i've heard in a very long time. george bush victory song

wahoo! i have a cable for my camera finally! this is a bizarre little article: Young brothers found living in woods -- Mounties seek clues