* courtesy n. patrick *

“That’s it… I’m making milkshakes!”

Here’s the recipe for a mega-tasty, and super-refreshing cantaloupe shake:

• 1/4 cup cantaloupe nectar, more for flav-ah
• 2 scoops vanilla bean ice cream
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2-3 drops of almond extract
• a splash of  half and half

Blend until you’ve reached the desired consistency. I’d imaging that using honeydew or musk melon would give the same amount of punch to a shake. I found the light pastel orange to be pleasing to the eye and so gall-dern-delicious. Also, if you want a lighter melon drink, substitute more ice for ice cream, and milk for the half and half.

I happened onto this video again. It’s the old class project for world history class, about 2 years ago. Every time I watch this I like it a little less, but it was a good show for the time. The subtitles were a decision made based on our crappy microphones. The vocal narration is part of a speech by a Hindi professor talking about god. I can only imagine what he is actually saying, especially because I spliced chunks of the audio together to get the cadence I needed for the speech. I’ve also gotten a bit a criticism on my facts (which is understandable). Mainly, Shakyamuni was born into a warrior caste, not to a Brahmin family. And, he was born in Nepal, not India. Enjoi!

]]> http://meanether.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/junky-class-video/feed/ 1 roq The Life of Buddha http://meanether.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/the-symphony/ http://meanether.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/the-symphony/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:08:33 +0000 roq http://meanether.wordpress.com/?p=61 Continue reading →]]> Ah, the symphony. My first rendezvous with live orchestration was amazing. Thanks to a tip from Mal, we were able to secure five tickets to the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds show. Nothing fancy, mind you. For $35 each, we were sitting in Siberia on the second tier balcony. $110 would have gotten us at the ground floor, where Sir Uematsu himself was sitting (I think that price also included a photo-op after the performance and a signed copy of a previous orchestra recording). Ne’er mind the nosebleeds; the show was incredible.

We got parking a couple blocks away. The crowd was mixed: plenty of greasy, long-haired chums in jerseys or black t-shirts. But also, a good mix of the well-dressed and symphony regulars. After a couple cocktails at the bar, we all herd in, minutes before the show begins. Unfortunately, none of us took any photos. The usher seemed pretty adamant about the nil-camera rule.

I had planned on playing the “Name that Game” game with Dustin and Ryan, but the whole program was laid out in writing, complete with song titles and series. Here:

1. FFVIII – Liberi Fatali
2. FFX – To Zanarkand
3. FFVIII – Don’t Be Afraid
4. FFVII – Aerith’s Theme
5. FFI-FFIII – Medley 2002
6. FFV – Dear Friends
7. FFIX -Vamo’ all Flamenco
8. FFXI – Ronfaure
9. All – Main Theme
   *intermission*
10. FFVII – Bombing Mission
11. FFIV – Theme of Love
12. ALL – Swing de Chocobo
13. FFVIII – Man With Machine Gun
14. FFVIII – Love Grows
15. FFVI – The Opera Scene, ‘Maria y Draco’
16. FFVI – Terra’s Theme

The line-up was a little FFVIII-heavy, but no matter. I was on the edge on my seat during the entire performance, grinning. Arnie Roth, the conductor, came out and opened up the show with the timeless Victory! fanfare. Duh-dahdah-dun-dun-Dun-duh-duhDUN! Right… It kept getting better. I’ve been a marginal fan of classical music for the past few years, casually tuning into our local station. But nothing compares to the power of a 60-piece symphony. The sound waves tickled my heart and I was enamored.

Uematsu requested a Swing-style Chocobo theme, which was perfect. Terra’s Theme was accompanied by the original FFVI introduction on screen, but with the concert credits inserted. We were all a little sad to see the concert end, but it turned out Uematsu requested a performance of One-Winged Angel for an encore. Probably not too surprising, after all.

I’ve had the symphony on repeat in my head for at least a week. It was an inspiring event and I plan to attend more concerts in the future. Found copies of Verdi and Stravinsky to stoke that enthusiasm. And I picked up FFVIII again, thanks to the many great songs at the show. Ah… Nothing better than a change in the wind.

The music has been infused with new meaning. In my symphony-inspired afterglow, I’ve put together all of the original music ripped straight from the games and reconstructed the set list from the show. Double nostalgia- feeling good about feeling good…

Nothing more satisfying that slicing through a fresh radish. Not sure why… but I suggest you give it a shot. Someone ate exhibit P soon after, unfortunately.

As an avid gardener, it was an exceptional delight to receive this cake for my 23rd birthday. The lovely Ashley and Mallory team created this little doozy from scratch, complete with wonderful fondant veggies and crumbled chocolate graham cracker soil. Please notice the skewer-stakes for the tomatoes. Also, I think it’s completely necessary to appreciate the lack of gophers and/or aphids in this little slice of Eden. By the way, it was delicious!

Unfortunately, I have no right to claim acquaintance to this mega-trio. However, it is with ultimate respect that this blog is represented by the very same name… and attitude. Amen.

roq

cheers,

roq