Happy Thanksgiving from Yosemite

We're chilling with our friend Lauren, her two dogs, and one other couple for Thanksgiving out near the southern entrance to Yosemite. It's my and Corrie's first trip since I proposed back in 2006. Yikes. Anyway, she was spreading her dad's ashes at the park---permits all up to date---and we're all here for her. And us, since this place is fantastic.

We're staying at a crazy AirBnB, a giant cabin on HWY 41 itself. Above is the living room and dining room zone. The kitchen tile is lava-red and screams late-70s.

Yesterday we went into the park, and it's spectacular as always.

The iconic shot above is the view from Tunnel View, a small parking lot at the end of the 4,233 foot long Wawona Tunnel.

Visible below is the upper portion of Yosemite Falls:

We stopped at the Ahwahnee for a cocktail and a snack, before turning around and heading back to the cabin. Many of the interior shots for The Shining were filmed at the Ahwahnee lodge, and it had a familiar feeling, albeit in an eerie way.

Here's to hoping you and yours get to celebrate Thanksgiving. Show gratitude! Be thankful! Enjoy loved ones. Be safe.

Birthday Party at Gardena Cinema

Back in January 2020 a comic shop opened in our building in downtown Long Beach.

Atomic Basement was both a publisher and a comic shop, as Mike Wellman, one of the two owner/operators was also the writer for two of their titles. Tony was the name of Mike's partner, but by February he was gone. Mike ended up in a beef on the Internet with a blowhard, and both Mike and the blowhard got banned from Facebook for a couple months. Tony was shook by the whole thing, and sold his half back to Mike.

He got out just in time, as it were, since opening a brick-and-mortar store in January of 2020, a store whose business already had razor-thin margins, would prove difficult to find lasting success. The pandemic caused a rupture in many things in this country, and Mike's run as owner/operator of Atomic Basement turned tumultuous.

The neighborhood looks like it would have great foot traffic, something mandatory for a downtown comic shop without easy to find or use parking. But in reality it never materialized. By May Mike was running the joint with natural light only, and from there things went downhill.

When I would take a break from talking to my laptop, I would stroll down and chat with Mike and share a beer or a cup of wine. We'd talk about a great many things as he would sell comics to the random passersby that only wanted current Marvel fare. By that time he was a cash- or Venmo-only status.

On Sundays, one of Mike's friends, Judy Kim, would hold arts and craft activities for neighborhood kids. One day they colored shirts. Another day there was a prize wheel to spin. Since the only "neighborhood kids" who ever really came by were Cass and another kid from our building, both kids ended up with great gear and/or plenty of attention.

The sad day came and with it the end of the shop in our building. I tried to stay in touch with Mike, but my time on social media is limited, which made the endeavor difficult. One time I made my weekly, or monthly, trip to Facebook, I was excited to see that I got an invite to Mike's 50th birthday party at his friend, Judy Kim's, movie theater, the Gardena Cinema:

After working out the details---I would go by myself, as the party was for a Wednesday, and started at 8pm---I ended up the first person to arrive. Judy was going to show Mike's favorite movie: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Freaking rad.

Both Mike and Judy spoke before she started the movie. Mike was happy that his newfound sobriety may prove advantageous to the people he counsels; and Judy gave us a brief history of the theater, and it's glorious 800-seats:

It was opened in December 1946, during the postwar boom, and Judy's father bought it in the summer of 1976, while it was doing so-so business showing not-quite-so-new releases. In Citrus Heights we called this phenomena the "dollar theater." By 1979 Judy's father noticed that the Wednesday night Spanish-language feature at the drive-in was always sold out, a change in programming was warranted. Showing exclusively Spanish-language films proved the secret for success for the Gardena Cinema. 

After the Mexico City-based production company they'd partnered with collapsed in 1994, the theater went back to their precarious spot on the margins for nearly thirty years, where it remains today. Looking for a buyer, they try to do cool and weird new things. Events and the like. In any case, support your local independent cinemas. Check out what they're up to. Go to something if it seems like your thing. They'll certainly appreciate it.

Then, the movie finally started. It was exciting and glorious and fun and heartfelt. Temple of Doom is very brutal and quite heavy, what with kids being kidnapped and tortured and enslaved. Indy and Ke Huy Quan's Short Round hit differently now that I have a kid the size of Shorty (if younger), and Kate Capshaw's constant screaming seemed less annoying. It is a very gross movie, as well, what with the huge-snake-filled-with-screeching-tiny-snakes, the bug slurping and the post-slurp-belch, the eyeball soup, the monkey brain dessert, the hallway full of bugs... The humor hits as well: one of my favorite scenes is how Indy's puppy-dog eyes look after pleading with Willie, "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!"

Every minecart level from video games (Donkey Kong Country), as well as the previous cave level in that same Donkey Kong game are taken directly from this movie. So are classic one-liners like "No time for love, Doctor Jones," or the absolutely best, "Cover your heart, Indy!" I've shouted Cover your heart! so many times, but I can't remember why, and I'm not even phased or ashamed.

Corrie and I watched Temple of Doom before Cass was born, and I remember thinking, Whoa! Enslaved kids? Punching chicks? Eating brains? WTF is up with this flick? 

After this evening at the Gardena Cinema, my appreciation for the movie blossomed, and I can see how it could become Mike's Favorite Movie. 

It was a magical evening.

Limited Time Flavors...?

On a trip tot he grocers the other day I noticed two different "limited time" flavored options at the checkout, in the impulse buy zone. The first was this style of potato chip:

Um...what? At first I thought it was an accident. But ketchup is a pretty rad combo of flavors---salty, sweet, savory, and tangy---a combo that it took me far too long to appreciate. It seems basic, but it seems like it could be good. I would try them if someone offered, but since I never buy chips like this anyway, I would likely avoid them. (Writing about it now...I may try them...just to say I did, like I did with the 'dill pickle' peanuts a while back (those were NOT good)).

The next made more sense, given the season:

These I would try, and I do like eggnog. Er, occasionally. We get at least one jug of the nog each season, and we like to cut it with whiskey. At least the kids like it, too---sans whiskey. What exactly is the flavor? All spice and cream?

Both is a single trip to the store, good times.

Jack-O-Lanterns and the Warm Cities

This year, like all f the recent years, we've purchased and carved pumpkins for the Halloween time:

This year we did it at a Halloween party. In the past Corrie would buy the cool paper overlays that you tape onto the pumpkin, and then trace out, and then carve out. This year, I was abandoned at the tarp with instructions (do Batman! do Godzilla!), and I did the best I could. I carved a pretty basic Jack-o-lantern (seen above and below on the left), and then I carved a Batman ('89) logo on one of them (as per the request).

Upon returning to check my work, I was told, No, do Godzilla. I handed a marker over and proceeded to carve out the (duckbilled...?) Godzilla that was there, opposite the Bat-symbol, seen below:

One other Halloween decorations I loved seeing everyday was this, visible right as the elevator doors opened on our floor.

It puts the lotion in the basket!

When we were kids, my brother and I, and out friends, in Sacramento, it was chilly! It was Fall in Sac, and it was basically cold-ish. Pumpkins would chill on the stoop for a while, preserved by the, eh, basically refrigerator-like air outside.

But now, once you pierce the pumpkin, you start the quick deterioration of said pumpkin. It will last only a few days before essentially liquifying on the counter/table. In the lotion/basket pic above, you can see at least one of their pumpkins, and it has been drawn and painted upon (both were---the other isn't quite visible). This helps them last longer.

I guess each year I'm surprised by how fast the pumpkins die, rot, liquify...quite horrifying, really, but that checks out due to the season, right?