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randy_byersThanks to all for the birthday wishes. I had a very nice day, which began once again with breakfast at Roxy's.
I managed to find time before the big game to watch Mothra (Mosura, 1961), which it turns out I had somehow never seen as a kid. What a sweet monster movie! Shades of Miyazaki in that Mothra is a kind of nature god protecting the noble savages from the greedy exploitation of civilized humans. I was amused to see that Mothra's mysterious island home may be somewhere in the "Carolinas" (according to the subtitles) -- that is, the Caroline Islands, which is a chain in Micronesia that includes Yap. Radiation is once again a force to be reckoned with, although it's unclear what effect it has actually had on the island, which was an atomic weapon test site. Unlike Godzilla, Mothra does not seem to be a product of the radiation. The songs sung by the Peanuts are great. Is there a soundtrack? Anyway, very reminiscent of King Kong in a lot of ways, including the brownface natives (referred to as Polynesians in the subtitles) doing goofy faux-ritual dances. Also, evil Americans! (Although called Rosilicans or Ruritanians or something like that.) Great kid-movie fantasy fun, with Toho's typically awesome miniature work.
After that was the UO-Utah game, which was once again nerve-wracking, but ended up well largely thanks to great defensive play. Good win for the Ducks against a ranked team, but the tough games continue next week with 8th-ranked California.
As if that wasn't enough of a birthday present, I then discovered that Steve Stiles had e-mailed the cover arwork for the next issue of Chunga. He claimed he didn't know it was my birthday, so that was some pretty good synchronicity right there. The issue is slowly taking shape, and I'm meeting with the boys later today.
To cap the day off, Scott K and carl braved the Fremont Oktoberfest traffic and brought some of Scott's private reserve of beer over. We started with a bottle of Snoqualmie Brewery's grand cru, Spring Fever, which I had been aging only since the spring. Still seems like a disappointing vintage compared to past batches. After that was a terrific "Belgian wild ale" called It's Alive! by a brewer named Mikkeller, who apparently travels around the world brewing in different places every year. Amazing stuff, slightly sour, similar to the grand cru but much more complex. Then a bottle of Survival 7-Grain Stout by the Hopworks Urban Brewery of Portland. The seven grains are barley, wheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa (?), spelt, and kamut (?). Nice stuff, and a nice break (at only 5.3% ABV) between big beers. The next was another completely amazing beer, the Consecration from Russian River Brewing Company -- "ale aged in oak barrels with currants added". Extremely sour, and reminding me that very sour beers often taste salty to me for some reason. The oak and currants were very subtle aftertastes. This one and the Mikkeller were definitely the brilliant high points of the evening. To finish off what brain cells we had left, I pulled out a bottle of the 2007 Old Wooly barleywine from the Big Time Brewing Company. Two years of aging have definitely smoothed it out, although I may have to leave the other bottle of 2007 for another two years.
So an excellent day all around, with many good gifts. 49 is off to a good start.
I managed to find time before the big game to watch Mothra (Mosura, 1961), which it turns out I had somehow never seen as a kid. What a sweet monster movie! Shades of Miyazaki in that Mothra is a kind of nature god protecting the noble savages from the greedy exploitation of civilized humans. I was amused to see that Mothra's mysterious island home may be somewhere in the "Carolinas" (according to the subtitles) -- that is, the Caroline Islands, which is a chain in Micronesia that includes Yap. Radiation is once again a force to be reckoned with, although it's unclear what effect it has actually had on the island, which was an atomic weapon test site. Unlike Godzilla, Mothra does not seem to be a product of the radiation. The songs sung by the Peanuts are great. Is there a soundtrack? Anyway, very reminiscent of King Kong in a lot of ways, including the brownface natives (referred to as Polynesians in the subtitles) doing goofy faux-ritual dances. Also, evil Americans! (Although called Rosilicans or Ruritanians or something like that.) Great kid-movie fantasy fun, with Toho's typically awesome miniature work.
After that was the UO-Utah game, which was once again nerve-wracking, but ended up well largely thanks to great defensive play. Good win for the Ducks against a ranked team, but the tough games continue next week with 8th-ranked California.
As if that wasn't enough of a birthday present, I then discovered that Steve Stiles had e-mailed the cover arwork for the next issue of Chunga. He claimed he didn't know it was my birthday, so that was some pretty good synchronicity right there. The issue is slowly taking shape, and I'm meeting with the boys later today.
To cap the day off, Scott K and carl braved the Fremont Oktoberfest traffic and brought some of Scott's private reserve of beer over. We started with a bottle of Snoqualmie Brewery's grand cru, Spring Fever, which I had been aging only since the spring. Still seems like a disappointing vintage compared to past batches. After that was a terrific "Belgian wild ale" called It's Alive! by a brewer named Mikkeller, who apparently travels around the world brewing in different places every year. Amazing stuff, slightly sour, similar to the grand cru but much more complex. Then a bottle of Survival 7-Grain Stout by the Hopworks Urban Brewery of Portland. The seven grains are barley, wheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa (?), spelt, and kamut (?). Nice stuff, and a nice break (at only 5.3% ABV) between big beers. The next was another completely amazing beer, the Consecration from Russian River Brewing Company -- "ale aged in oak barrels with currants added". Extremely sour, and reminding me that very sour beers often taste salty to me for some reason. The oak and currants were very subtle aftertastes. This one and the Mikkeller were definitely the brilliant high points of the evening. To finish off what brain cells we had left, I pulled out a bottle of the 2007 Old Wooly barleywine from the Big Time Brewing Company. Two years of aging have definitely smoothed it out, although I may have to leave the other bottle of 2007 for another two years.
So an excellent day all around, with many good gifts. 49 is off to a good start.
