The Great Pizza Review of the 2020-2021 Pandemic

12/2023 EDIT:
I'm not changing the title, but I wanted to point out that calling it the 2020-2021 Pandemic was optimistic.

Now back to the original post:

We heard about a friend who was having frozen pizza from famous locations across the country mailed to him. Intriguing. I looked into it, and we found that it was prohibitively expensive, for the quantity anyway. So, we moved forward with a new plan: get a list of the most recommended provisioners of pizza in the Pacific Northwest. Well, the greater Seattle area, anyway. First up: 

Zeek’s Pizza

When I first came to Seattle in 1999, this was the place my friends said was unique to the city. It’s solid. A perennial favorite. One of our friends turned me onto the bacon pesto breadsticks for this review, so let’s start with those:

These are salty, savory, tasty. A cut above with a variety of evolving flavors than the typical breadstick. My wife pointed out that these are cheater sticks: pizza dough cut into sticks. She’s not wrong, but I don’t care. They go well with ranch and washed down with Hunniwater Kindness Green Apple Lime.

 

Now onto the pizza itself. Here are the remains of our first meal: 

 

 

On the left is their Yeti; Chicken, Bacon, Tomato, Red Onion, Parmesan with an Alfredo Sauce Base, They are essentially savory bread sticks pre-dipped. They go great with ranch. Some people with delicate palates would prefer something more subtle. I have admittedly simpler tastes. I like primary and bold color combinations. I like salt and juicy goodness, digestive tract be damned later that evening, no matter how many lactaids I take. This fits that bill.

On the right is their Puget Pounder. Original ingredients are Pepperoni, Canadian bacon, Italian Sausage, Mushroom, Black Olive. We subbed out the mushrooms (which, let's be honest, have such a subtle taste they might as well not even be on food. They look like cartoon dog noses anyway) with pineapple, as per my daughter's request. They covered half with the Pineapple. I can't tell if that was a mistake, or a suggestion. I had slices of both. The sauce, almost squeaky mozz and mid-crust reminds me of Pizza Baron in Portland and an unnamed parlor on the way to Mt Hood. (Theirs are a little thinner, with more corn meal on the bottom, and big bubbles showcasing exposed sauce with all the little triangular cracks on the edge. I miss both.) I say mid crust, where the cheese skates a little on the sauce when bitten. This is tasting nostalgia. I don't care how many people are going to talk about the merits of New York vs Chicago vs Detroit pizza. THIS is the heart of Pacific NW pizza. This essence. This experience.

 

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. It reminds us of sledding and 3-1 snowball fights with the whole family pitted against Dad, and he still would get the upper hand, throwing into the branches of the trees where we took shelter, raining all their snow down upon us. Heading back to the truck, socks wet and feet frozen, exhausted to a pizza parlor where the stucco ceiling stalactites hung at least three feet down, like a battery of swords of Damocles, while we ate the best thing in all of creation.

Open Letter to the USGA on the 2015 US OPEN at Chambers Bay

In case the USGA doesn't get these notes that I submitted to them on their website, I thought I'd also post them here for posterity (embellished a bit)

I attended the US Open on Sunday, with Trophy Club tickets.  For those of you who don't know what that means, I went ahead and paid extra to have access to a large air conditioned clubhouse.  (They also sold tickets to *another* clubhouse  called the 1895 club for even MORE money) I thought I'd need it because I was hoping to take my uncle, but as luck would have it, he couldn't make it, and I had a nasty cold/nasal infection/bronchitis/crud.  So, it paid off for me. 

I used your surveys system at the even early on, but wanted to give you my end of day thoughts.  This is the first time I ever went to ANY golf tournament, and I was not sure what to expect.  Others said that it was hard to see the players, but I wasn't that upset by it.  We found some spots that gave us decent views.  My sister, nephew, daughter and I had a great time!  We are considering going to another US Open when it is in our region (California is close enough for us!)

Things done well: 

• The Course!
• Love that you chose a course with fescue grass that requires less water!
• Love that the course was challenging!
• I'm laughing at the players who complained about it.  I play at municipal courses where they have uneven surfaces (not always because of aeration).  Man up and learn to deal with lines that are not perfect curves.
• Ticket package mailed to me in advance
• Well thought out package that answered most of my questions
• Lot O special instructions on back, so we could read it as we drove. 
• The walk from parking to the actual busses was a bit long, but otherwise it was a good solution.
• Shuttle bus wait was zero, and admission was only a few minutes (we came in around 11AM)
• American Express sponsored earbud radio was really cool, and came in handy when the Merchandise tent ran out of lanyards. 
• Jumbotron on the 13th & 14th green that gave ball distance to hole, player stats and amateur standings was very appreciated
• Lemonade stand as a general concession was nice.  Very popular with a long line.
• Trophy Club porta potties were very nice!  They were trailers, with porcelain seats.  
• They wobbled too much, but were otherwise comfortable
• Grandstand line for the 14th hole was MUCH faster than I expected.  We got there about 2 hours before the final pairings.  The volunteers made the process go incredibly smoothly.

THINGS TO IMPROVE
Again,  we had a great experience.  I am seriously picking nits here.  Magnifying the problems to talk about them at all.

TVs in the Trophy Club
There were plenty, but all had on the same broadcast.  This is the same thing I could have watched if I stayed home.  And, the audio echoed so much, I couldn't understand any of it.  Subtitles would have helped.  I was expecting more than one view, guessing that there would be 18 different feeds, one for each hole.  At the very least, the three streams you pushed on the internet could have been on the screens in the Trophy Club. 

Food in the Trophy Club
With the potential exception of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (yay!), it was the exact same offering as what was available at the rest of the concessions.  I'm not expecting caviar (I actually hate that stuff), but I would have paid more money for higher quality food options.  Ruth's Chris Steakhouse was only serving steak sandwiches, while I wanted to be able to buy an actual steak.  The reviews in the room were that they were dry and chewy.

Drinks in the Trophy Club
Full disclosure, I run a whisk(e)y blog Washington Whiskey Watch (also on Facebook with event listings here). 

The drink options on Sunday were abysmal.  I saw less than 10 unique bottles in total at each bar.  The best blended Scotch was Johnnie Red.  I primarily drink Scotch, bourbon, rye, and other American whiskies.  I don't remember if you had any bourbon (maybe Maker's Mark?).  For the price of the tickets, I was expecting to have at least five Scotch, five bourbon, and two rye options.  I was hoping for some more exclusive stuff, like Glenmorangie Signet, The Balvenie 21, or Pappy Van Winkle.  Did the 1895 Club offer anything that wasn't in the Trophy Club?

The British Open has an official whisky sponsor (Glenmorangie).  Why doesn't the US Open have an American whiskey sponsor? There are plenty of incredible American Whiskies (including bourbon, of course).  If you wanted to stick to larger national brands, you still could get Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig, Knob Creek, Eagle Rare.

On the local front, here's a small list of Pacific Northwest distilleries that locals and travelers would have loved to tried:

• 2bar bourbon, vodka and moonshine
• Chambers Bay's Ghost Dog
• Dry Fly Distilling
• Heritage Distilling Company
• McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey 
• Parliament Distillery's Ghost Owl
• Westland Distillery's American Single Malt Whiskey
• Whippersnapper Oregon Spirits Whiskey
• Whiskah River Whiskey, Vodka and Gin
• Woodinville Whiskey Company's Rye & Bourbon

General Concessions
For concessions themselves, maybe some local options, such as Dixie's, Ezell's, Ivars, or one of several local burger companies (Red Mill, Kidd Valley, Burgermaster, Dick's) would have been something that out of town guests would have enjoyed and locals would have rejoiced in.  Heck, Seattle and Portland have some serious Food Truck culture.  Those would have been great on the course.

The Course
We visited the 13th green, the 3rd green and the 14th green.  Arriving at 11:30, we didn't have enough time, and due to my sickness I didn't have enough energy to check out other places. 

Directions were a bit hard to follow.  I was looking for the 3rd green's bandstand.  Fortunately, a volunteer let me know that that was none, and where the best place would be to stand.  Caught Jordan there!

The course didn't have a lot of shade, and more shade structures throughout the venue would have made it easier on the spectators.

The gallery porta potties were nice.  I didn't see the one option that speed up lines though:  the walk in long men's urinal.  These are huge boons to local festivals that I've been to.

Policies
No Photos
This was a hard one to understand.  I understand not wanting to disturb players with flashes or camera sounds, and totally respect that.  But, why were we not allowed to take silent photos from our phones? Or candids of ourselves with friends with the course in the background?

No Outside Food
This seemed just like gouging.  I paid $200 a ticket, and wanted to have some options in case the food at the venue didn't match my dietary needs.

Again, this was all nit picking, and my family is looking forward to attending another golf tournament in the future.  Hope these notes help a bit.

(Not So) Effective Altruism

A month or so ago, I got to see Australian moral philosopher, Peter Singer give a speech on effective altruism.

I've finally put my thoughts about his speech down.  Here goes:

The speech the Peter gave was interesting. He was very logical, and so I will talk about him in same terms. His logic was flawed.

His equation was essentially this:
If all human life is equal, and if it is easier to measure reduction of suffering than it is to measure happiness, then everyone should give as much money as possible to reduce suffering in others where one's money goes farthest.By his calculations this would mean giving your donations exclusively to third world country charities, as our buying power there is much greater and simple solutions there would go a longer way than more complex solutions in the US.  Example product  (not mentioned in his talk): Money Maker Pumps

He then went on to say that there are some high wage earning people (CEOs, stock traders, etc), who donate most of their money to charities.  Compared to someone else in that position who would hold onto their money for themselves, that this is an incredibly effective way to do good. Take the high wage job, and give most of it away rather than work at a volunteer organization.


He then went on to say that donating to the arts and domestic programs was a essentially bad thing to do, as that money could be used more powerfully elsewhere.

And this is the main flaw in his logic:

There are people who in the past donated nothing to charity at all, but after a family member contracted cancer, they begin to donate to cancer research.  When you factor in the variable of time and compare what we've done in the past to what we can do in the present, domestic donations are a totally valid way to give to charity.Finally, he cannot factor in all variables, such as how domestic donations to cancer research may have an larger effect than just helping out people in first world countries. 

What he says may work really well for a lot of people, but he is so adamant that his way is the *only* right way to help people, that I take serious issue with his philosophy.There are many people, myself included, who want to do good in the world, but also do so from a stance of altruistic self interest. I want to help the whole world, but I especially want to help the areas that also effect my life and the lives of those around me. This may be somewhat selfish, but I do so without apology.

I currently donate artwork to Make a Wish's annual auction, and my Lodge serves breakfast bi weekly at a homeless shelter.

Are Costco Exclusive Callaway Balls Identical to Chrome Soft?

There is a fair amount of speculation  about the Hex Control ball. There's been a rumor going around that the Callaway golf balls available exclusively at Costco is either identical to their premium Chrome Soft ball or the older Hex Hot.   Here's the chatter on GolfWRX. 

And, for $30 for two dozen (or $60 for four dozen online) compared to MSRP of $37.99 ONE dozen for Chrome Soft balls, who can blame anyone for wanting to save a few dollars.

Callaway's Chrome Soft golf ball was the highest rated ball in Golf Digest's June 2015 issue, in all categories but demand.  But after that review, we'll see if demand goes up! According to them, it has better feel than the Pro V1.  That's right, better feel than the so-called best ball on the market.

I called up Callaway to find out from the source.  It was a brief conversation (spent most of the time talking about the Callaway X-Hot clubs set, which are a smoking deal for someone who needs a new set.  Note that they sell lefty and stiff models too!)  I was told that the closest thing on the market in 2015 to the Hex Control was in fact the Chrome Soft.  I asked if the only difference was the logo.  They implied the cover was the only difference, without exact words to that effect.

Let's take a closer look.

Specs on the Chrome Soft:
3-piece
Cover: Thermoplastic Urethane
Dimple pattern: HEX Aerodynamics

Specs on the Hex Control:
3-piece
Cover: Trionomer Blend
Cover Hardness: 56D
Dimple pattern: HEX Aerodynamics

So, right there we know that the cover material is different.  Being that urethane is a much more expensive material, I'm neither surprised nor disappointed by this.  The Hex pattern on all modern Callaway golf balls seems identical to me.

But, what about the inside?  There was only one way to find out, so here are the results of a little vice and jig saw work:

Results:
Here's the inside of the Callaway Hex Control.  I found this watercolor palate to be the perfect holder!  (How many golfers out there would have one?  Seriously, if you do paint and golf, please comment!)

OK, what about The Chrome Soft?

Nope!  This matches the photos in the Golf Digest article, minus the blue circle in the very center.  As my cut was off center a bit and the saw blade left discoloration patterns on the ball, I'm not surprised it is not noticeable.

Here's the big differences:

The Chrome Soft has a thinner outer layer.  When I cut it, it was a lot stickier and softer.  It was also noticeably harder to cut, due to the sticky softness.  It closer to rubber than plastic and was surprisingly tough!

If I was to guess, I'd say the thin middle layer material is identical to both.  And obviously, the inner layer is different.  The green material smelled different when cut, and stuck to itself more, like you can see in the top photo. 

So, Chrome soft was been ruled out.  Others have said it was a rebranded Hex Hot, or perhaps the Chrome Supersoft with an extra layer.

Here's all four balls side by side:
Chrome Soft, Hex Control, Supersoft, Hex Hot (Yellow)

All are different!

Detail shots:  Note that the Supersoft material does not match the 2015 Golf Digest article.  This particular Supersoft ball was found on a golf course with a corporate logo.  I'm not sure if the performance is a little different, or if the dye lot is the only thing different with the material.

Older Big Bertha & Big Bertha Diablo shots in case you were wondering:

Conclusion:
The Callaway's Costco exclusive Hex Control ball is not a relabeled Chrome soft or Hex ball, It is it's own unique ball.  The cover is thicker, and fairly durable.  The performance is great for me (a mid to high handicapper)  The reviews on GolfWRX are outstanding.  It is still a high performance ball, and is perhaps the best value per dollar that you can find on the market for well known balls (Snell, you want to send me a sleeve or two to review?  I'd be happy give you my honest opinion!)

The Chrome Soft ball is made of more expensive materials.  The cover on the Chrome Soft will likely give you more greenside control, because it's literally stickier when attacked with a metal object.

Suggestion:  If you are a mid to high handicapper and lose a ball or two per round, the Hex Control may be the best ball for you because due to the price/performance factor.  And, it's a great backup/practice/early season ball for better players.

But in terms of quality, if you can afford it (and won't lose it), go for the Chrome Soft.

Golf Pros & Cons

GOLF COURSES

PROS

MANY courses employ environmental stewardship best practices

When properly designed, they can become habitats for animals.  In some urban zones, they are often the only green space available.  Having a golf course near environmentally sensitive areas can help protect those areas from over development.

CONS

MANY courses use too much water, fertilizer & pesticides.  And, they are primarily for cosmetic reasons.

Improperly designed golf courses can ruin wildlife refuges that used to exist in the area, or nearby.

Some clubs are exclusive and fosters a have/have not society

Golf Digest's 2008 issue on Golf & the Environment was a real 'game changer' (pardon the pun!) regarding this topic.  In a nutshell: they changed their review process of courses.  They don't judge on color of the grass anymore, but rather playability.  Dry, yellow grass is now OK away from the putting green.  As these reviews drive reputation & sales, this takes a LOT of pressure off courses to use costly chemicals.  And, using less water not only saves them money, but the water can now me used for more important things, like crop irrigation.

GOLFING'S EFFECT ON PEOPLE
PROS

Healthy long term activity that people can play for many, many years (unlike football, basketball, etc)

Game Environment that fosters FLOW

Challenges oneself

    Giving your best, and being OK with what you are given.

    Being present to the shot at hand, and not thinking about past mistakes

    Overcoming anger in frustrating situations

    Becoming calm and level headed in wonderful/exciting situations

A chance to get together with friends

A chance to be with family

Encourages dedication, discipline, honesty and integrity

 
CONS

Time not being spent producing anything (can also be considered a PRO)

Expensive equipment prevents people with lower incomes from playing

Used equipment is slightly better, but still expensive.

Takes 4-6 hours to play a round, too long in a fast paced world.

Does not *really* cater to youth market (in spite of The First Tee's best efforts)

Spendy Windows

Golfing: Not as many douchebags as one might expect

When I was a lot younger, I thought that golf courses were a waste of land and golfers were pretty much the epitome of the white male elitist snob who looked down on everyone else.

For what its worth, I've encountered some people on some courses that would still fit that bill.  I like to call them 'snooty self-absorbed douchey-bags'.  But there is a whole lot less of them at the courses I play than I would have expected.

Haven't seen the judge on the course yet.  I hear he never slices.

I still think we should consider combining golf courses and cemeteries.  But more on that in a later post.  (the punchline:  '..and you can put the ashes in the sand trap!')

Before I started golfing, I thought it was a very exclusionary, elitist activity.  (For a break down on private clubs, here's a neat blog entry.)  Never mind the fact that I had three uncles who were all very down to earth and all enjoyed it very much.  And, one of my cousins almost made it into the PGA.  All very good, down to earth people.  But, having seen Caddyshack during my formative years, I thought that it was what golf was all about.  A bunch of snobs.

And flashy pants.  Golf is all about the flashy pants.

And then, a few years ago, (OK, ok, 9 years!), I had an upcoming interview with EA's Motion Capture studio.  I figured I should pick up a few of their games to see how good they were and to talk intelligently about their product in the interview.  One of the games I got was Tiger Woods 2005.

It was actually a lot of fun!  Of course, it was really easy to hit the ball, when all you had to move was a joystick.  Oh, and there were explosions and particle effects.  that made it pretty cool.

My office was about half a mile from a golf course and driving range.  So, one lunch I thought I'd try it out for real.  At first, I felt like I didn't belong, that it was too rich for my blood.  But then I noticed that there were people from all walks of life there.  Not just old, rich, white guys.  And they served hot dogs, not lobster.  It was still intimidating, not knowing what to do.  I put the rubber tee on top of the mat, and hit a ball off of it.  The tee flew further than the ball!  And, I wasn't supposed to go out there and retrieve it, else someone hit me with their shot.  I quickly figured out that the tee was supposed to go through a hole in the padded mat.  I was so embarrassed.  (I later saw other rubber tees out there from people who made the same mistake)

But, then I went back to it.  Eventually, one ball really flew.  That particular swing was effortless, and I barely felt the club hit the ball.  I'd later learn that was the 'sweet spot'.  And this was how I got hooked.  In that moment, I felt a connection with the ball.  It was as if I was flying with it.

The next time I talked to one of my uncles, I mentioned that I wanted to get into it.  He got me a starter set of clubs.  And I've been golfing ever since.

It's a great way to meet people from all walks of life, especially if you go to municipal (public) courses.

Next up:  The Pros & Cons of Golfing.

Taylormade Penta Golf Ball

I'll add to this post later with my impressions of how this golf ball performs.  But, in the meantime, I thought I'd post this image.  I went ahead and cut into this ball to see what the layers looked like.  And, while the colors don't match the marketing on the back of the box, there is indeed five layers.

UPDATE 6/5/2013
I tried these, and was unimpressed.  Maybe it was just my golf game that day, but for someone with a swing speed of less than 95 miles an hour, this is not your best ball.  I was getting more slicing, and less overall distance.  I had as much greenside feel with the Bridgestone e5. 

So, if your handicap is over 18, this is not the ball for you.

Now then, anyone know where I can get rid of the rest of this pack?

The Prestige: A really late review

Two of my friends host weekly dinner & movie parties.  Yesterday's was "The Prestige" I loved it, and we all had a great talk afterwards about certain parts of the film.  MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW.

The Movie Itself:
The multiple story lines at different points in time were reminiscentof LOST & Pulp Fiction.  I liked how the Olivia betrayal scene was shot twice, once for each memoir.  Seeing that it was the same director for "Memento" makes sense.

During some points of the movie, I'd almost confuse "The Professor" with "The Great Danton".  This was for several reasons.
1) They were often in disguise.
2) They became a single unit when they locked in as rivals.  It reminded me a lot of Ridley Scott's "The Duelists" The advantage of that film, however, was that the two leads looked very unique in relation to each
other.
3) They seldom *felt* like the actor that portrayed these characters. Very little Batman or Wolverine in them.  In fact, the director went to great lengths to make nearly everyone in the movie appear foreign to the essence of the actors playing the parts.  Bowie was portrayed as short, even more restrained, and curt.  Very staccato.  Andy Serkis acted neither like a cat with a peanut stuck in his throat, or an enormous ape.  Instead, he played a much more garish character; that of a loud and gaudy American.

Huge Freaking Plot Hole:
"What knot did you tie?"
"I don't remember"

Seriously?  OK, I can buy that, with the guilt and panic and all.  But did anyone ever *look* at her hands from the time they broke her out of the water to the time they buried her?  That would clue you in about the knot methinks.  Even if it was halfway undone, I would think one could figure out what it used to be pretty easily.

Post Movie Ponderings aka Beyond Clone Killing Dilemmas:
If Tesla built this machine that *freaking* cloned anything inside of it, why wasn't it put to much better use?
I'm no Tesla, but here's just a FEW of the things I came up with that you could do with such a machine:
1) Replicate gold.  Instant funding!!!  Hmm, I wonder if you can make a copy of a copy.  1 gold bar =  2 gold bars = 4 gold bars = 8 gold bars.  Even if you couldn't make a copy of a copy, you still could generate limitless gold, just slower.
2) Replicate hard to manufacture items.  Like the Mona Lisa.
3) Replicate Tesla.  Imagine a room full of Teslas, working together on a project.  Besides the need for a little more money to house and feed them, think of how much more work they could accomplish.  First invention they could work on: A safe form of suspended animation for humans.  Teslas throughout the ages!  And, it would also be a handy way to ensure that they don't get on each other's nerves.

So, it worked well as plot moving device, provided you didn't put any post movie thought into it.

Jonsi 4/10/2010 Concert Review: A letter to the visual designers

I just wrote this letter to 59 Productions.  They are the creative visual force behind Jonsi's current concert, and they created the best visual performance that I've ever seen in a concert in my life.


To whom it may concern,

I wanted to thank you very, very much for the incredible set and visuals at Jonsi's last night's performance at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington.

Having been to a fair number of concerts, I've never seen such visuals so perfectly integrated with the music.  These effects trump Roger Dean's association with Yes.  And, although it was not as extravagant as a Peter Gabriel show I went to several years ago, (he bounced around inside of a human sized gerbil ball, rode a tricycle upside down, and made his stage crew wear bright orange suits), it was by far the best I've seen.  It didn't seem that you threw money at a problem to solve it.  It looked like everything was very well thought out.

I like how the show started with the color palate of a Brothers Quay film, and ended on some very bright notes.  The overall transition was incredible. 

I have some dated motion graphics experience (not my profession any more).  There were some subtle things that other members of the audience may not have picked up on.  I wanted to compliment you on these technical points, as I know that it required a lot of extra work to do it the way you did.  For me, this paid off immensely.  For everyone else, I'd suspect that subconsciously they were drawn into the performance more, and had a deeper, richer experience.  Thank you for not cutting corners.

For main video sequences, I never saw any loop points.  It looked like you spent the extra time to use full lengths of footage.  If there was a loop, it was seamless.

The window pane in the background:  I liked how you slowly revealed how exactly it was aligned to your video source.  At first, images played over the whole thing.  Then, with the rain/water filling up sequence, it showed how you had some vertical alignment  (I *think* you might have used the same water source, time delayed between parts.  Am I right?  If so, this is a smart example of asset reuse.)  Finally, one song had drum beats causing the shadows of individual panes to bump out on vertical & horizontal lines.  That obviously took more time to set up.  And, I think it was very much worth it.

That last piece made me wonder one thing:  was that 'bump' effect in real-time and synched to the drum mic?  Or was it prerecorded, and the band had to use an in-ear speaker to listen to a metronome to synch up to your graphics?

I was also impressed with the live video with effects overlays in real-time.  Things certainly have changed since I've done this type of work.

So, now for only a few constructive criticisms:

On several occasions, I noticed that the video playback paused for a split second.  It was pretty minor. 
The animal and ant rendering technique was exquisite!  However, their motion (all but the fox/wolf) was a bit stiff.  The ant on the ball was the worst.
The film burn stock footage:  As it burnt, there was still a 'film scratch' footage comped over it.  These all look like pieces from the Artbeats stock footage library, and, well, once the footage get burned up, I don't think there should be any scratches left!  I doubt anyone else in the audience thought about this. 

At any rate, this was a very memorable concert experience, and I'll cherish it for a very long time.

Thanks again,
Troy McFarland

"Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume One: 1980-1982" Review

This review originally appeared on Amazon.com. If you want to buy this product (and you should!!) Please click on this link right here.

The reason I'm including this review here, is that the images I uploaded onto Amazon were reduced dramatically in size.

And as usual, CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VERSION. You'll be able to see the paper's grain on these shots!!





SUMMARY:
2/3 of book is unpublished material from the early years!
6 strips never before in print anywhere
13 samples of Academia Waltz (Berke Breathed’s first strip, whilst in college)
Factoids on sidebar to keep book relevant for future generations
High Quality Construction & Paper
Only one Problem: Image quality not as good as “Loose Tails”

STORY:
I just finished reading Vol 1 today and it’s incredible. It is much, much more than I expected. Because I started reading Bloom Country in about 1985, there are entire story lines that I’ve missed that were never published before. Binkley’s mother is in this book. There are a lot more Limekiller strips, and a lot more strips of the royal family. You finally meet the landlord. Probably 2/3 of this book was not in “Loose Tails”. And this book doesn't even get all the way through "Loose Tails"!

CLOSER TO AUTHOR’S INTENT
Additionally, I noticed that some of the lines changed. I think some have been restored to their original lines before an editor got to them. Case in point: when Opus calls in to Donahue, the punch line in “Loose Tails” was that the show was on Nun beating. In Vol.1 , the punch line is Husband Beating. Looking at booth, it would appear that “Loose Tails” was doctored.

PHYSCIAL BOOK CONSTRUCTION
It’s nearly perfect. It’s in chronological order, and the Sunday strips’ color are very good.
It’s not too heavy, like the Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes and Dilbert 2.0 collections. The pages are very thick and sturdy. Are they archival? I’d have to test their ph, but I think it’ll last a long time. There’s even a built in bookmark.

NOT SCANNED CORRECTLY
The ONLY thing keeping me from giving this book 5 stars, is the fact that the image quality is not as good as the original compilation, “Loose Tails” by Little, Brown (out of print). Even though they mention the quality being lower for some of the older strips, I can’t give them a pass on this, because I have better copies of many of the strips myself! (again, Loose Tails)

I will attempt to upload close-up comparisons of a portion of one panel of Vol.1 & Loose Tails. Please note that these images are part of this review, and therefore are allowed according to the copyrights listed on both “Loose Tails” and this publication.

Most strips in this collection are decent, but feel a little fuzzy. This is something you’ll probably only notice if you have this collection side by side with “Loose Tails”. However, some strips are truly bad.

Cases in point of two of the poorer scans:
Vol 1 pg: 172 punch line “Leaving a trail of slime wherev-“. Compare to “Loose Tails” on page 24.
Vol 1 pg: 198 punch line “Boo”. Compare to “Loose Tails” pg 47

Other printing notes:
Straight lines above the page numbers are halftone, and therefore are also fuzzy.
Blacks are not 100% black, but a little lighter. Could be because of matte paper.

Calvin & Hobbes Complete Collection, The Far Side Complete Collection & Dilbert 2.0 do not suffer from any of these problems.

Berke; please insist that they fix this problem in the second printing (yes, I'll buy it, too) and all further volumes!

I hate to sound like a know-it-all, but when I published an independent comic book with a friend, we were able to test different scanning techniques for comic art. So, these notes below are for the publisher. They really, really need to fix this for their second printing of the book, and certainly, ALL future editions of the complete library need to have this fixed!!

Publisher: Whatever resolution you scanned the images, triple it! For the daily strips, it looks like you scanned the original artwork with the grayscale setting, then converted it to black & white, and printed it halftone. You need to scan them in Black & White (each pixel is either black or white, and no gray scale). To make this work, the scanning resolution needs to be really, really high! For a color or gray scale image, you can usually get away with 300 dpi. This will NOT work for Black and white scans!! You should scan the original artwork (the stuff Berke drew, NOT from another compilation or newspaper) at least at 800 dpi before you reduce them! The final resolution needs to be anywhere from 800 - 1600 dpi. If you need better copies, I'll lend you my copy of "Loose Tails"! Your collection is going to be the definitive collection of Bloom County! Do it for posterity! Do it for the children!

Yes, I'm a fanboy, but I assure you, I wasn't one of the people who camped in front of Berke's house waiting for this to come out (really!)

Roadside optical illusion #1

This really is the second roadside optical illusion, but as I didn't have a camera for the first one*, I'll call this one the first.

I was sitting at a Vancouver, Washington Burgerville (click link *after* looking at photos below)when I took this photo, just off of 1-205's exit 30A. By the way, I totally recommend this fast food restaurant. The servers were very friendly, and their communication skills were great. Also, this chain buys from local suppliers whenever possible. It's a bit pricier than other fast food joints, but you do pay for quality.

Take a quick look at this picture. At first glance it looks like there is a retro store outside, perhaps catering to the tourist crowd.



I first noticed that something looked wrong with the mountain. It wasn't supposed to be there, and if it represented Mt. St. Helens, it should be missing it's top. Then the store looked a bit flat. But, the sky's color matched up exactly with the side window. Something was clearly wrong, although with a nasty head cold & road weary eyes, I wasn't sure what. I took a step forward, and saw what was up. It was a mural on the side of a building. The perspective was somewhat close, but the sky color was perfect! And, the clouds were really, really well done!

I had to go grab my camera and take these shots. Thanks to the patrons & staff for being understanding :)



*A Taco Time, I think north of Seattle. While I sat, I looked out the window, and saw two people eating in their PR Cruiser. When I looked behind me, I saw the same people. Turned out that their reflection in the window, and the bench seating in this Taco Time lined up perfectly with the car parked there.

Sunny Day Real Estate

Alyssa & I just got back from the Sunny Day Real Estate concert. They started their set right on time!!! They didn't make us wait too long!!! If for no other reason, this band was teh awesome!!

Read Alyssa's review

She thought I'd mess with their name like I did with My Bloody Valentine, but the only thing I could think of was "Suni Gay Trill Relate", and that neither makes sense nor describes the event accurately.

I'd never heard really their music before, except when they were wafting from her speakers in the house. So, every song was pretty much new for me. After the show I found out that they started playing in 1994. That explains why all the young kids there were cool with these guys looking older than me. I love it when you can have a bald lead singer, and he's still hip.

About the music:
I liked most of it, even if it there wasn't as much variety between the songs as I would have liked. Within each song, there were wonderful dynamics... but each song, even their ballads followed the same structure.

They were incredibly tight. Like James Brown backup musician tight.

The lead singer reminded me of my late great uncle Larry, with overly broad shoulders, a very slight hunch, and a solid colored T-shirt that hung too far from his neck. So, I kind of expected him to be leaning over egg salad and playing cards with my family at a reunion. But he sang instead.

Their guitarist reminded me of a very happy go lucky guitar playing roommate of mine in Eugene. This one was a bit more spastic. His face held much more contrast on stage than the other players.

The Venue:
The Paramount just put their new sign up, but didn't turn on the lights. I think they're holding out to raise $150,000 before they do. Hey, the old sign used to cost them $25k a year in electric bills. If they wait 6 years before turning it on, it will have paid for itself ;-)

There was a club near the restrooms, astonishingly called "The Paramount Club" We walked in and were stopped. We were told rather snobbily that it was a private club. I was not impressed. It was mostly empty.

The interior was exquisite, of course. I kept looking at the gold leaf on the walls. Textures everywhere! The sound was incredible where we stood. (Center orchestra pit general admission, about 15 people from the front of the stage)

Where we were standing, the place smelled like Diamond Dry, (ground up corn cobs for those not in the know).
I'm guessing that was from all the rain tracked onto the old floor. Or possibly from the guy next to me.

It was really hot and humid in there, and on occasion we'd get a light wafting of cool air from the ceiling. I wish we had that the entire time, instead of every five minutes.

The crowd was mostly younger than us, I'd say just post college age.

They went out of their way to dress down and uglify themselves. All ill-fitting earth colors too warm for the venue, eyebrow rings, thick rimmed glassed. I felt like I took a time machine back to the beginning of the grunge movement. But everyone was very nice.

There was a couple in front of us, and the girl was obviously into the music and her date a lot more than he was into them or her. She was filled with nervous energy, and kept scratching his back to the music. We also noticed that she liked rubbing his butt. To the right of us was a shorter couple. The girl next to me kept trying to crowd me out, and it took until about mid show for me to realize that it was so she could get a better view. Every time I go to a general Admission show, I dream of having everyone line up from short to tall, with the tall people in the back so everyone can see. That's how it'd work if we had a *real* fascist in office!! (So quit complaining folks)

Like everyone else there with an 'eye'Phone, I felt obliged to snag a couple shots of the band. But I didn't. Take any photos. I just happened to find one on the internet when I came home tonight. Of the same show. I took one of the shots into Sketchbook Mobile tonight. Since it doesn't handle horizontal shots well yet, I had a lot of extra canvas to play with. Behold it's glory.

A Head of it's Time

I just read the wiki about a TV show in the 60's that only aired one episode "Turn On".

Is it just me, or does this sound similar to a fast paced Monty Python mixed with MTV to you?

Anyone know where to find a copy of the actual episode?

Cheers,
Troy

My Bloody Valentine. More like My Bloody Eardrums

Wow, that makes me sound old!

My wife & I just got back from the concert in Seattle at Wamu Theater, and I've never been to a louder concert. Not Scorpions in the 80s, not Joe Satrianai, not Zappa plays Zappa. My Bloody Valentine. What. The. Fawk.

Some of the security were using ear protection that is usually only seen in an airport or shooting range. They were handing out earplugs free at this venue (good for them!) Their ear plugs, however, paled in comparison to the Lazer Lite ones we brought.

I wore them the whole time and my ears are still ringing, over an hour later.

Concert quirks that I noticed:
When the first band came on, every time a certain bass note was played, my skull rattled. We moved *closer* to the stage & off to the left side. The resonance was gone! As the audience hadn't filled in yet, I decided to meander through the auditorium, mapping out all the skull shattering resonation points. The loudest ones were in the middle, with minor ones spreading out from there. I think it was where the speaker sound overlapped. It was bad!

Why does it take so long for the band to come out once the sound check is over? Every show I've ever been to is like this!

They pointed the strobes (I counted over 20) right at the audience. I never could really see the band. After a while, I just closed my eyes, and enjoyed the patterns inside my eyelids from the strobe effect. Too bad they never had it go fast enough or last long enough for a good effect.

Most of the visuals that I could see reminded me of failed animation projects I did in college, in 1992.

This show was similar to the art show I put on in college, where the entire show was only viewable from one glass window. Our mutual goal: See how much the audience was willing to put up with to enjoy our art.

As curmudgeony as this sounds, I actually had a really good time! But I think they enjoy assaulting the audience. with an over load of light & sound. Serves us right for still listening to 80s music ;)

I Love Marmite!

There once was a gaping hole in my culinary life. It has now been filled. With Marmite. For those who haven't tried it, it can be best described as "Salty spreadable vegetable bouillon" What's not to love? Except for the bitter aftertaste, if you eat it on its own or don't spread it thinly enough.

This is what your tastebuds think they are going to experience after eating about a pound of poutine. But the poutine never quite delivers, does it?

I've had this stuff on toast (it goes great with almond butter on top), on burritos, and today, even on top of pizza. That was a bit much. That's like taking weapons grade plutonium & saying "Hey, let's mix in a little Led Zeppelin." Not safe. For your eardrums or the remaining living members of the band.

If you haven't tried it yet, go get some now.

Now then, anyone in Seattle have a good line on where I could try some vegemite?

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Apex DT502 Review, North Seattle

I've had a little more time to play with the Apex DT502.  Here's my take on it:

Manual Tuning  

A number of reviews say that this device cannot tune channels manually.  Maybe I don't understand digital tuning, but is seems that it can.  Here's the process:

When it is turned on for the first time, it scans for all channels, and automatically adds them.

You can then go into a menu and remove channels that it has found manually that you don't want.  You can also add or subtract channels from your favorites list.  The removed channels are still in it's memory, you just won't see them until you reactivate them.

In my area (North Seattle), it found 18 channels.  Of those, 13 have a pretty darn strong signal.  The other five (Ion, Qubo, Ion Lite, Worship & Ion W) I decided to remove from the list, as 1) the reception was really bad and 2) from what I saw, I wouldn't want to watch those channels anyway.

Of the remaining 13, there were 8 that I really liked (KCTS Create is awesome!  Seems like nothing but Bob Ross & other cool people hosting "How To" shows).  I made these my favorites.  There are two sets of scroll buttons; one for all channels & one for favorites.  

So, I went from 4 channels to 13, and doubled the channels I like.  Not bad at all.

Screen Zoom

For whatever reason, some channels have black borders on all edges of the image.  That is lame, but not nearly as lame as when I watched Battlestar Gallactica (1970's version) tonight, and there were bars on the sides of it, with a squashed image (everyone looked like coneheads).  Later, on the same channel, a different program had the opposite problem, it was stretched too long.

I think most of these problems are coming from the broadcasters.  The screen zoom function is supposed to fix this, but on every station, it said that the zoom option was not available when I tried to use it.

Other Stuff

It also has parental control options.  I didn't use it yet.  

In general, it's a great box so far.  For more details between it and the other box offered at Best Buy, make sure to read my previous entry.

Digital TV Converter Box Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

So after my daughter & I left Circuit City with no $250 40" LCD TV with built in digital tuner (darn!), we headed over to Best Buy to buy a digital converter box. Too bad my government coupon expired, but I needed to get one soon.

They only had two models to choose from, the Insignia NS-DXA1-APT  and the Apex DT502.  Their website also sells the Apex DT250, but from what I've heard on the web, it's reception is poor.

OK, here's the plusses & minuses of both boxes if you have to choose between the two:

The Insignia has channel up & down buttons on the box, should you have an unhealthy aversion to the remote control, but only RF out (the single round plug thing with the hole in the middle that outputs sound & TV signal.  Also called Coaxial).  It costs about $60 at Best Buy.

The Apex DT520 doesn't have any buttons on the box other than power, but has Coaxial, Composite (also known as RCA) and S-Video out.  It costs about $50

So, ten bucks more for two buttons on the box, minus higher quality outputs.  I got the Apex.  I've heard it's reception isn't the best, but I plugged it into my Radio Shack Picture Frame Antenna (which for $16 got seriously great reviews) and I went from getting about 4 non-digital channels with crappy reception to well over 10.  This is in North Seattle, so your milage may vary.  I now get a couple of Spanish stations!  Now my three year old daughter can learn a second language by watching soap operas!  Right?

So far, I dig the Apex (tried it once so far).  Setup was easy.  It doesn't mention in the manual how to hook it up to your VCR.  But yes, it works just fine.  In case I'm not the last person who hasn't ditched their VCR, simply plug our antenna into the DT502, then the DT502 into your VCR & your VCR into your TV.  

As all my other TV inputs were already taken up with other stuff, I ended up using the 'crappy' Coaxial output.  It was SO MUCH better than when I had an analog signal.  I'm sure the s-video & RCA outs rock too.  I'll probably never know, because the next TV purchase I make will probably come with a digital tuner, or just be connected to the interwebs somehow in the bright future of tomorrow.

The main thing I can't figure out yet is the zoom feature.  Apparently, some channels in digital have a black border around all edges.  I noticed this on a couple channels.  This box has a zoom feature, but when I pressed the button, I got a "cannot zoom this image' prompt on the tv screen.  Not a big deal; all the major channels are zoomed or are letter boxed.

There's a bunch of features, like "favorites" that I haven't tried yet, but so far, so good!