7.20.2007

Always Awake for the Earthquakes

Yet another earthquake that I wasn't asleep for. This was my third, and I was already awake at 4:30 am this morning, probably due to the first BART train waking me. This was the worst I've been in, actually. The one I was in in Boston just rocked my old dorm room back and forth gently, there was one I was in in Oakland that felt like a truck hit the building with a short sharp jolt, but this morning I was afraid that the bookcases were going to come down in my room.

The one in Boston I was awake for (it was very early on a Sunday morning) and that I wasn't really sure it was an earthquake was because I was... um... tired from the rather active evening before, let's say and couldn't sleep.

I suppose the strength of this earthquake due to being close to the epicenter here in Berkeley, unlike the other earthquakes. Ke garne. I was always terrified of an earthquake while in Kathmandu since the geology there is very similar to Mexico City: a valley of loose soil above a major fault. And the faults don't get any more major than when the Indian subcontinent rams into Eurasia. And given that KTM is due for its periodic 75 year quake, it seems inevitable sometime soon. Cinderblock buildings seem to have little chance against any earthquake of any size, the one international airport in KTM would probably be damaged, and the overpopulation and overbuilding in the KTM Valley in the past 10 years would all add a major catastrophe. It was the biggest fear of most long-term expats in KTM, not surprisingly, even after Jana Andolaan 2 in 2006.

Well! That's gloomy enough to begin this morning.

7.19.2007

Bowling by Candlepin Light

Look, metafilter: candlepin bowling, while it might be experiencing a revival, is really, really an offense against the gods of polished wood slats. It may be that I haven't bowled in an antique wooden alley in New England or Nova Scotia, no, I haven't, since my haunt of choice was Lanes and Games. It screws up your regular bowling game like that one semester of badminton (don't ask) screwed up my tennis game.

It was sure entertaining to watch candlepin bowling on cable access in Boston though. Too bad I don't have a candlepin bowling Hall of Fame t-shirt to match my bowling HOF tee.

7.17.2007

Get a Southern Belly

Not a Jelly Belly, not a beer belly, nor a red-bellied woodpecker, but a Southern Belly.

Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover's Companion to the South by John T. Edge looks great. Any book that discusses Kool-Aid pickles has got to be a keeper. There is a good article in Salon about it.

What is it about the South and pickles? I had a deep-fried pickle spear with my BBQ in the Charlotte N.C. airport, and I'm still bemused.


7.16.2007

Harakiri

Praise all the chthonic spirits that Berkeley Public Library has such a good film library. I finally got back to watching samurai movies last night, and it was a gem, a psychological thriller that burns slowly until the very end, Harakiri. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the introduction by Donald Richie, the doyen of Japanese cinema, to play, but what to do, neh? Surprisingly, there wasn't a full commentary, usually a feature of Criterion Films, especially for a 2 disc set.

I got to tick that one off the list of the 50 Greatest Samurai Movies that I got from a book which unfortunately I can't find the title of. Tatsuya Nakadai, familiar from Akira Kurosawa's films, was excellent. It's one of those anti-authoritarian early 60s samurai movies similar to Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sanjuro, but with much more pathos.

I highly recommend it.