Absurd Singularity

Erin decided to spend her Sunday afternoon trying out a recipe for scallion buns that she found online. This was her very first attempt at baking anything so expectations weren't very high. She was pretty enthusiastic about it though and I got a very funny picture of her sitting on the floor in front of the oven staring in while the buns were baking which unfortunately I'm not allowed to show.

Truthfully they came out looking a lot better than I was expecting. Pretty edible looking I'd say. She wants to get a bigger pan so next time the buns aren't as squished together.

Why scallion buns? Cause we both like them. And the pictures in the recipe looked pretty good.

Edibility-wise, they actually turned out pretty good. Only knock on it was that the bread came out to be a bit denser than we're normally used to from the stuff we get at the Chinese bakeries. But very good for a first attempt.

The remaining test is to see how edible they remain after a day or two. Since she made a dozen what we didn't eat today will be our breakfast for the coming week. But so far, I give her and the buns a solid "B". ;-p

Back in the olden days, anyone putting out a list like this would just be begging for their stuff to be pirated. In these new, more litigious RIAA/MPAA days, not so much.

And as usual, the University of Chicago gets no respect, coming in at a yawn-inducing 16. ;-p

I've been a user of My Yahoo for a long, long time now. It's my default page to be where I get my daily news fix. Awhile ago I noticed Yahoo had added the ability to create and customize avatars that you could use with your Yahoo account. Never paid attention to it until thirty minutes ago. And thus, I present to you... Angry Samurai Chef (in an office):

This is the type of exchanges one has when a baby has kept you up for most of the night.

The following occurred at around 6am this morning:
Me: (woken up for unknown reason) Blrgh...
Erin: Hey, can you move baby to his crib?
Me: (a bit more awake) Oh, uh..... ok.
    Looks around for baby. Not between her and me.
Me: (thinking) Ok, maybe he's on the other side of the bed past Erin.
    Gets up, walks to the other side of the bed. No baby.
    Looks in crib. Baby sleeping, moves a little.
Me: Hey, he's already in the crib.
Erin: (no response)
Me: (slips back under the covers) @#$@#$@!

Due to recent viewings of Together and Nodame Cantabile, my current music interests have veered back into the classical realm. More on that later. But while trolling iTunes for music by noted violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, I found it absolutely hilarious that for her Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto CD (live recording), they had split out the applause that she gets in the beginning and at the end into 2 individual tracks and they were on sale for $.99 each! "Opening Applause" is 25 seconds long while you get more clapping for your buck with "Closing Applause" which clocks in at 1:18. Unreal. Although I guess after looking at the CD track list it's not really iTunes' fault since the 2 applause sections do seem to have their own individual track numbers.

Another annoyance that I find when purchasing classical pieces through iTunes is that not all works on a CD can be purchased separately from others. Many times they are but sometimes they aren't. I wonder how they decide how tracks on a CD should be sold. Seems rather random. Sometimes they'll let you purchase one movement of a piece by itself but the other 2 you can only get if you buy the album. The hell.

The following sequence was taken with Devon seated in my mom's lap. He was having a grand old time while my mom was fussing over him but then stopped smiling when it was time to take actual photos where my mom was looking at the camera as well. Silly kid.

Man, Andy Richter just can't get no sitcom love. First, Fox pulled Andy Richter Controls the Universe after less than a season's worth of episodes and now NBC is slamming the door in his face; yanking Andy Barker P.I. after just 4 episodes. That's just wrong. Both shows were quite funny (or had the potential to be in this most recent case) and undeserving of their early demise. Hell, 30 Rock and The Office got off to slow starts too before hitting their stride. Just ridiculous. Apparently starring a doughy white boy in a comedy sit-com just doesn't generate ratings. Although The Drew Carey Show ran for 9 years. Bleh.

While meandering through the Anime & Comics board over at RiceBowlJournals, I picked up on this title and although a cursory glance over at AnimeNfo wasn't particularly overwhelming, I took a look anyway. Twenty episodes later, I'm pretty glad that I did. The overall humor and zaniness of this series tickles my funny bone perfectly and it's also got a very catchy OP: Pray by Tommy Heavenly⁶. I normally jump right past the OP/EDs but this one had me scouring BitTorrent.

What makes the series so good? Well, Gintama's a naturally-permed, silver-haired, JUMP and chocolate-parfait addicted ronin living in an Edo where aliens have taken over the world and brought their advanced technology with them. So even though he dresses traditionally, he putters around on a scooter and the police have flying cars. Plus the antics of the Shinsengumi is such a contrast given their traditionally more serious roles in series like Rurouni Kenshin and Peacemaker Kurogane. The humor draws from literally everything. They make fun of anime, themselves, even stuff from recent history, nothing is untouched. Plus there's a warm-heartedness that's thrown in for good measure. It's just a fun, fun series to watch. A bit long though; it's still running in Japan (right after Bleach) and there's currently 50+ episodes.

In my younger days I was a big fan of Battletech (robots of mass destruction!) and later on, Legend of the Five Rings (samurai CCG/RPG? I'm there!). What I enjoyed most about both wasn't actually playing the games (although the most recent Mechwarrior games were damn awesome), but the massive background and history that the creators came up with.

For Battletech, there's an entire line of easy-reading novels that take the reader through the most current developments in the Inner Sphere. I read a couple back when it first began a decade or so ago but lost track after awhile. Recently, I wondered how the story had progressed since then. Unfortunately, there's been a TON of books written since I last left off and attempting to sort out which ones deal with the main storyline is a real pain in the ass.

On the L5R side, what's cool about the story is that it's still being created and is dynamic. Because it started out as a CCG, major plot points in the ongoing saga are actually dependent on the clan affiliation of the winner in large tournaments throughout the year. That's a pretty good way of keeping people involved and interested. And even though the official site posts stories based on the outcomes of the tournaments, there's no historical timeline that one can easily read through to find out exactly what the hell's been going on in Rokugan.

Enter wikis. It's not just Wikipedia anymore. Content-specific wikis are sprouting all over the Interweb. A few minutes of rooting around brought up the L5R Wiki which seems to be pretty comprehensive so far. It's answered most of my questions even though I had to click around more than I'd like. Of course, being a wiki, the content is only as good as the people involved. The Battletech Wiki unfortunately is not as comprehensive and what can be found there is the same info that I already knew of.

But anyway, wikis seems to be the way to go when it comes to content sites (obscure topics or not). It's a quick and easy way to centralize information about particular topics provided enough enthusiasts contribute. And combined with some other Net 2.0 stuff, you wind up with sites like WikiMapia. Pretty soon, if not already (I'm not always 100% up-to-date on Interweb fads), "wiki" will just be another commonly used term. Like "google."

While "Made in China" has replaced "Made in Taiwan" on practically everything that's manufactured in the last decade or so, there's still a whole group of items that I'm much more leery of purchasing if it came from China. That item? Food.

With the current pet food fiasco that just keeps expanding, Americans are finally catching a glimpse of what a good chunk of Asia (or at least Taiwan) already knows about China and food. Namely, calling some Chinese food manufacturers "unscrupulous" is probably the best thing one can say about them. My dad's been working in China for the last decade or so and every time he comes back he always tells us, "don't buy anything in the supermarket if it comes from China." Apparently it's widely known in China and Taiwan that Chinese food manufacturers can't be trusted. They'll try to pass off crap as edible if they can and have no qualms coating their products with chemicals in order to make them look better. They'll even pick up any old crap off the ground and try to pass it off as Chinese medicine. Then again, Chinese medicine does look like some guy just picked up crap off the ground in the first place. ;-p

So when I first heard that the investigation into the pet food contamination was delving into China, I wasn't surprised. And now that the FDA is starting to question whether or not the melamine contamination was deliberate, it won't surprise me either if it turns out to be so. Anyway, hopefully there'll be enough of a fallout from this that the Chinese companies get their act together but somehow, I doubt it.

or just plain crazy. As mentioned in an earlier post, recent viewings of classical music themed anime and movies brought my current music focus back to the classical realm. Which is nothing new as I've concentrated solely on classical for stretches at a time in the past. Even took a music history class back in college that I very much enjoyed and aced to boot. But I have my quirks when it comes to classical pieces. For the most part, slow movements bore me to tears so I generally skip past them unless I want to fall asleep. So sophisticated classical aficionado I'm not.

This time around, I'm fixated on concertos, specifically two of the more difficult pieces out there: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18. Why? Cause they happen to be the centerpieces for Together and Nodame respectively. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto I've liked ever since I first heard it and is my favorite violin concerto out there, particularly the fast 3rd movement. Rachmaninoff's concerto didn't particularly strike me at first when I first got a CD of it a few years ago but after actually paying attention to it this time around, it's really a beautiful piece.

So just for kicks, I decided to compare different recordings of the 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto by some of the best known violinists within the past few decades. After two weeks or so of constantly listening to the same 9-11 minute movement over and over again during my daily commute, surprisingly, I'm not sick of it yet. =) I couldn't imagine doing something like this with a pop or rock song. Anyway, my list of contestants (with my top 3 first):

1. David Oistrakh and the Philadelphia Orchestra
2. Sarah Chang and the London Symphony Orchestra
3. Itzhak Perlman and the Boston Symphony Orchestra

• Julia Fischer and the Russian National Orchestra
• Augustin Dumay and the London Symphony Orchestra
• Akiko Suwanai and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
• Joshua Bell and the Cleveland Orchestra
• Kyung Wha Chung and the London Symphony Orchestra
• Midori and the Berliner Philharmoniker
• Isaac Stern and the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Wiener Philharmoniker
• Jascha Heifetz and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Li Chuanyin and the China National Symphony Orchestra

Of course such a comparison basically comes down to personal choice. My fav 3 will most likely be different from someone else's. And at this level of performance, they're all very good anyway. For the top 3, Oistrakh is consistently top notch. I prefer Chang's 3rd movement more than Perlman's but if I consider the entire piece, then Perlman comes in before Chang. And while I believe Li Chuanyin's performance is top 3 worthy, I don't have the other 2 movements from him so couldn't do a full comparison. The Heifetz recording was a bit of a disappointment since I had heard so many good things about him. While the 3rd movement is supposed to be quick, I think he ripped through it a bit too quickly and because of that started to sound rather scratchy at the high and very fast sections. At the other end of the spectrum, Mutter had a very powerful sound and tone but went at it slower than I like. Fischer's performance is easily top 3 material as well but it's a tough group up there. Although she could possibly replace Chang in my top 3 list. I haven't had time to listen to her entire recording yet.

I suppose it's pretty nuts to purchase 13 copies of the same song just to do a comparison but I enjoyed it. It's a fantastic piece of work. As for Rachmaninoff's piano concerto, I only have 4 copies of it (Richter, Rubinstein, Bronfman and Lang Lang) and they're all great. Anyway, no matter how familiar or unfamiliar you are with the classical music world, you can't go wrong with these 2 pieces. Definitely timeless.

While poking around on Wikipedia looking up violinists, I started reading up on the creme de la creme's of the string family, the Stradivari. I had seen a show on the Discovery channel awhile back talking about the ice age theory as to why the instruments made by this famous luthier sounded as good as they do. I love that out of the couple of hundred Stradivari still in existence, most are accounted for, still used, and even named. That's just awesome. Interesting that two of those currently missing have the coolest names as well: Colossus and Herkules. If I was rich beyond my wildest dreams I wouldn't collect artwork, I'd collect these violins. They're works of art that can still be used to play other works of art. Is there anything else in the world that comes close? How many other things exist in the world that are 300 years old and still sound as good as they do. And that goes for the Guarneri's and Guadagnini's out there as well.

Interestingly, it seems like science has been able to finally replicate (and arguably surpass) the quality of these old Stradivari. These new Nagyvary's sound interesting. It remains to be seen if they'll stand the test of time like the Stradivari.

I believe I can touch the sky...

R Kelly song aside, the NY Times had an interesting article today on the declining interest in obtaining a pilot's license these days. I looked into it a few years ago but found the cost prohibitive although I would still love to go for one eventually.

Anyway, I found the following quote explaining how women learn differently from men to be pretty funny:

“Women learn differently from men,” Mr. Kauffman said. “If two men go up, they will scream and shout, and a transfer of knowledge occurs, and we’d get back on the ground and go have a beer, and life is good,” he said. “If you yell at a woman, she’d start crying, and she’d never come back.”

And I would beg to differ on the following passage:

BUT some veterans fear the magic is gone for good. Men who returned from World War II having seen the Mustangs, Corsairs or Thunderbolts might have wanted to fly their own propeller planes. In the wars in the Middle East, the A-10 Warthog has not inspired the same ambitions.

Granted the Mustangs, Corsairs and T-bolts of the WWII era were fantastic planes but I loooove the Warthog. The problem isn't that the Warthog isn't inspiring me to want to fly. The problem is I can't fly a Warthog even after I get a pilot's license. If you told me I could fly a plane that mounts a 30mm Avenger Gatling cannon which fires milk-bottle sized rounds of depleted uranium at 3900 rounds/minute after I got a license, I would be all over that like white on rice. But I can't, so obtaining a pilot's license will remain on the backburner of my life. ;-p

About a week ago I packed up my PS3 and sent it out to Sony to be replaced because the video was freezing constantly. Just started happening a few weeks prior. In a couple of days, I'll be packing up my XBox 360 and sending it back to Microsoft to have it fixed because the console was freezing under a specific condition. Both are under warranty so the whole thing won't cost me a penny but still, kinda irritating. Not a huge deal though since I don't play console's as much these days.

I just thought I'd note down the differences between these 2 companies when it comes to support. First off, Sony:

• Phone support seems to be located in the US.
• Got to talk to an actual agent in a relatively short period of time. Still had to go through a menu system first but not too bad.
• To have my unit fixed/replaced, I need to send in EVERYTHING. Console, controller, all cables that it came with. It's a good thing I save the unused cables in the original box instead of just chucking them.

Microsoft:

• I think their phone support may be located in India. Called twice and both times there seemed to be a hint of a non-US accent. However, the agents were quite fluent in English so communication isn't a problem.
• To actually get to talk to an agent on the other hand was a bit of a pain. You first get routed through an automated self-help system that works ok but is annoying if you're calling back a second time. And the recorded voice is funny cause it's indicative of the type of audience that Microsoft is aiming for with the XBox: teenagers. Basically the way the voice talks is a bit more informal and extreme gamer-ish than what we usually encounter with these types of systems.
• To send my unit in for repair I only need to send in the console. Actually I need to send in the console minus its hard drive and faceplate. Nothing else.

So the reliability of these new console system hardware is a bit suspect. I don't recall ever having to repair a console system prior to now. Although my first PS2 bit the dust after 2-3 years, that's perfectly reasonable to me at least. By that time getting a replacement didn't cost as much as when they first came out. The issue with the 360 wasn't particularly severe, I had noticed it a few weeks after I bought it over a year ago but didn't really care to do anything about it till now. It was an annoyance more than anything. But I finally figured I'd put the extended warranty I had dished out for to some use at least.

As for my Wii, it's just sitting there minding its own business.

Erin wanted to get out of the house so we headed into the city to get haircuts. Originally the plan was to just take Devon in his car seat/stroller combo but after thinking seriously about that for the past week I decided I must be freakin' insane since the entire contraption must weigh like 40 pounds. There was no way in hell we'd enjoy navigating the stairways of the city public transportation system with that thing.

So Thursday evening I hopped over to Babies 'R Us to pick up an umbrella stroller. I wasn't planning on getting one so soon but what the hell. This thing is pretty awesome and ideal for city travel. Relatively lightweight, relatively easy to collapse/deploy, and highly maneuverable. It worked pretty darn well during our outing today. It also has variable incline positions so that we can change the angle closer to vertical as Devon grows.

Devon's turning out to be a relatively easy baby to take out on afternoon excursions. He doesn't fuss much and is very quiet. The toughest part is finding secluded spots to breastfeed him while out in public. That is if he'll even feed. He seems to be pretty easily distracted so feeding him in public is always a pretty short endeavor as we figure it'd be easier to feed him once back in the car or at home. So he can go for pretty long stretches without food if we're outside. He'll complain a little but once the stroller starts moving he quiets down.