Traffic in the 21st century!

Traffic in the 21st century!, originally uploaded by mc Kodachrome.

Traffic was at a standstill for about an hour when I was coming over Donner Pass last weekend. I realized I had my laptop (with 5 speaker sound) and a Netflix movie so I poped it in and enjoyed the shit out of the traffic.

It wasn't as much fun as making snow angels and falling asleep in the middle of the road. But that's another story.

Deux Gros Nez

So as most know Deux Gros Nez is closing. I have never been a big Deux Gros Nez fan but I figured I should go there before it closes. After all there aren’t many places like it in town. The first of the pictures below was taken at 1am on Monday. There was still music blaring and people going strong.

The Experience:
When I first went to Dex Greus Nes years ago, I was uncomfortable there. It was too different and I just wasn't ready for it. Also, I went there with people who were raving about it which of course doesnt make a skeptic less skeptical. So this time I went alone, of my own volition, and it did feel more comfortable. I like places that are different and funky and I was finally enjoying it there.

I watched the other patrons laugh and have fun at the counter and then ordered from a funky fast talking girl. While I was waiting for my food I couldn't help but overhear a very gregarious guy talking to a girl at the next table about why he loved Deux Gros Nez. He talked about how there are other places kinda like it but nowhere else has the feel of Deux Gros Nez (I gotta agree with him there). One of his really interesting opinions was that Deux Gros Nez is the best place to bring a first/blind date because it is a filter. "It's intimidating and some people just can't handle it." He said that people either pass or fail and you know someone isn’t a keeper if they can't relax at Deux Gros Nez. Now I have some real problems with the pass/fail part of that statement, but for now lets focus on the intimidation that he mentioned. Later, I heard one of the waiters say that he was intimidated by the place when he first came in. After a few times he got used to the people, loved hearing all the new different music, and just came to feel at home. When he said that, I looked back at the counter and saw how great a time the people there were having. They were laughing and talking with a familiarity that you don't see other places.

The Food:
I ordered a quiche and a quesadilla. The quiche was weird because although the plate was so hot you couldn't touch it, the quiche itself was refrigerator temperature. This did seem odd to me but being a quiche newbie I ate it anyway. I have since called a friend and found out that yes, as most of you readers already knew, it should be heated. The quesadillas had a cheese that I didn't recognize and although it was pretty good it wasn't really what I expected (which I should have expected).

The old standby:
I didn’t really fill up so I got in my car and decided to do a culinary 180. I drove to McDonalds to have a Quarter Pounder and a Coke.

The experience at McDonalds was totally different. Familiar but souless. I went through the drive through. The employees had the normal "I don't really want to be here" attitude. The smell was strikingly different. Deux Gros Nez smelled crisp, tart, and fruity. Like the food itself tastes when it first hits your tongue. McDs smelled like grease and cleaning solution. Like the foods nasty sweet & meaty aftertaste on the back of your tongue.

The food was what I expected, which is what I went there for. Unfortunately, half way through the drive-thru I remembered that I had seen Fast Food Nation the night before but I still managed to eat most of the burger.

Everything at MickeyDs reminded me of death (or at least decay) and everything at Deux Gros Nez reminded me of life. Deux Gros Nez has some preppy guard. Preppy Guard is what you spray on something to keep the preppies away (Every copy of Master of Puppets was sprayed with preppy guard). Dex Greus Nes was sprayed with preppy guard which is why these people and myself felt intimidated when they first came there. It's important that some places have a little preppy guard on them. The food may be a little inconsistent and they might be a little slow. But these things that jar you out of what you expect are part of what creates the atmosphere. The need to accept a little, give a little and be willing to look through the preppy guard is what keeps the atmosphere alive in Deux Gros Nez. I probably never would have become a Deux Gros Nez regular. But it always made me happy to see that pink neon when I drove down California Ave. I will be sad when it is dark.

They are open until the 30th and I'm going one more time at least. But since I am not a full fan of the place I cant really capture the spirit here. Anyone else? Please comment and fill the holes I am missing.

(cross posted at renodiscontent.com)

Thanksgiving Holiday Challenge: Turkducken

I don't think I have what it takes. But this looks like quite the holiday challenge. Itss a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken!

Paula Dean's Recipe
WikiHow Turducken
Wikipedia Turducken

Or if you are completly insane:

some enthusiasts have taken it a step further, and come up with the turduckencorpheail. This is a standard turducken, which is then stuffed with a cornish game hen, which is then stuffed with a pheasant, and finally stuffed with a quail. The turduckencorpheail is not for the faint of heart; it is an extremely time consuming endeavor, as birds of the proper size must first be obtained, and then prepared.

Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

Natural Progression

7:20pm Dinner

8:10pm Movie (Fast Food Nation)

10:15pm Inspired to write. I Go to Shenanigans to sit at a table, drink 2 large dark beers, and write.

12:00am Run 2 miles

12:30am Feel nauseous. Consider pucking to get it over with.

Aww hell. Just shower and go to bed.

Photos from an Antarctic researcher

Craig and Aurora, originally uploaded by Snow_girl.

I am fascinated by Snow_girls photostream. She is located at the Halley Research Station in Antarctica and has amazing pictures of the station, trips around the Antarctic, beautiful sunsets and sundogs, and thousands of penguins. The ones that fascinate me the most though are the ones of everyday life at the station where you get to see what they do and how they have fun in such a lonely place. She has pics of Halloween, a Midwinter celebration that they had (formal dress of course), a dance night that they called "Club Nido", lots of dress up nights, and of course, pics of their work. The sunsets have colors I've never seen in a sky.

Here are a few of my favorite pics (I couldn't embed them sorry):
Penguin Trip - Group Silouette
Laws (one of the shelters)
Man and Sundog. Its ridiculous how awesome this shot is.

A pic of them using their melting tank as a hot tub
One of her notes reads: It did get too hot again though. We ended up having to take it in turns to lob chunks of snow in to cool it all down.

Penguins
Glasses before wine. Check them out after as well. These shots are some of my favourites. (She's British, respect to the "u". BooYaKaa!)

Penguins set

Club nido. I'm pissed that I missed this party. Our hero is a badass.

Check out the whole photostream though. Every shot will both tell you more about what they are doing and make you wonder about it at the same time.

This dude is thinking about moving to Winnemucca

I put my 2 cents in. Let him know what you think if you have an opinion on the matter. (i.e. If you lived there or have spent any time there. If you are one of those whose only opinion is that you drove through but you missed it because you blinked, then dont waste your time. You have more important things to do like find an original joke.)

~Z

8 films to die for - Horrorfest in Sparks this weekend

After Dark Films is sponsoring a film festival that will show 8 horror films in November 17-19 in only 35 cities around the country and Reno is on the list! From the official website:

Horrorfest is a weekend of horror films that are considered to graphic or too disturbing for general audiences. After Dark Films will release "8 Films to Die For" (plus one bonus film) for one weekend only in approximately 500 theaters around the United States.

Check out descriptions and trailers for individual films here. You can also see am trailer for the festival itself with a mashup of the films on the Horrorfest YouTube page

All films are playing at Century Sparks. Here are the showtimes:
Friday November 17:
Dark Ride - 4:00 10:00
Reincarnation - 12:00 6:00
Unrest - 2:00 8:00

Saturday November 18:
The Abandoned - 2:00 8:00
The Gravedancers - 12:00 6:00
Penny Dreadful - 4:00 10:00

Sunday November 19:
The Hamiltons - 4:00 8:00
Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror - 10:00
Wicked Little Things - 2:00 6:00

Sorry, Im not cool enough to make the showtimes linked like Fandango. But I also don't wear a paper bag on my head. Buy tickets here

This almost makes up for no Tenacious D movie this weekend. Ok thats a lie. nothing makes up for that.

Pahrump hates Immigrants

Pahrump went a little farther to make immigrants unwelcome this week. The Minx noted their passage of thepreviously 'English Language and Patriot Reaffirmation Ordinance.' Now they have passed a law making it illegal to fly a foreign flag in a bar unless the US flag is also flown.

Jedis in Winnemucca

I did a search for Winnemucca on YouTube and found this pretty bad ass video someone made of a lightsaber battle filmed on the mountains around Water Canyon

I promise, my next post won't be YouTube related.

Fish Eye Video Camera

I take some pictures using a door peep hole in front of the lens on my point and shoot camera.

But, my camera also takes videos

Santa Claus HATES fire

If you look at the Washoe County web page and click on "Get the latest Washoe County election numbers". Look on page 3 and you will see that Santa Claus got 19% of the vote in the North Lake tahoe Fire Protection District!

So, was someone running named that?

Either way, I wish he would have won.


(Photo by g - s - h )

Flickr Open Mic Night

So tonight I went to a Flickr meet up. I am in the Bay because my Mom is sick, I looked at the Flickr Blog and noticed that there was an open mic night at the San Francisco Apple Store. I did go wanting to get up there but chickened out at the last minute.

However, right before they started the Apple guy asked if anyone had photos on Flickr. I raided my hand, a little. He then asked if anyone wanted to show their photos and was looking right at me. So that was it. I went over and gave Heather my disk. So I got to meet Heather and Derek who run JPG magazine. One of my camera tosses was on the back cover a couple months ago. I also got to meet George (who is the UI designer at Flickr, and I could write a whole seperate post about how amazing I think that is) and Lynn Hartwell aka fetching. It was a little weird meeing people that you kinda know a few things about from seeing their photos. I kinda had a hard time talking partly because I was nervous about speaking, partly because Im a fan of their work, and partly because of a Y! kinship (even though they have no clue that Im an ex-Yahoo!). It was weird. But very cool.

It was also great being with other people that are really really into what is happening on the web right now. Except these people are some of the ones making it happen. Steve Garfield a video blogger and video blogging consultant was there. The founder of Moo.com. The company that makes the very cool minicards I have. Steve and Derek were talking about the ScobleShow's photowalking with Thomas Hawk. I actually follow the ScobleShow and Thomas Hawk's blog, and it was just kinda nice to think that I'm following some of the stuff that these guys who are in the know are following. That Im not completely out of whats going on being in Nevada.

I hope I happen to be in town next time there is a flickr meetup. Now that Im through my initial nervousness and I see that it is layed back and comfy I will actually bring my personality to the next one ;)

Oh yea and fetching, if you happen upon this, I am a big fan of your photos! I even referenced yours in my very bad photo of Uchronia

Oh yea, also, this post brought to you though the free magic of Google WiFi here im Mountain View!

Crowdsourcing

Submitted a post about voting to Reno and its Discontentstoday. As an interesting followup Wired News posted an article today that gives a glimpse into what the future of news might look like and how we will be involved in it.

Im off on a last minute CA trip for the weekend. Have a great weekend here everyone!

I didnt know that all Tower Records were closing!

A great article on the closing of Tower records. I will miss Tower even though I never go there because its too expensive. It was a part of my early Reno experience. I have hundreds of CDs from there and spent more money there in my early college years than my parents really wished I had.
I remember browsing through the shelves for hours during my Jazz period. Finding soo much in the history of that music and knowing that I could never explore it all. I remember walking up to the counter and a sweet shy and confidant girl with the prettiest green eyes, ever. It was her last week and then she was off to Spain. Something told me she was thoughtful, and I never forgot her for some reason.

That's where I got my Don Rickles album, thats where I bought Ashley McIsacc after hearing him on the X. And that is where I realized just how amazing Frank Zappa is when I saw that the Zappa section took up 7 or 8 rows when the Beatles only had 4 or 5.

Late night dashes to Borders to get a new album just won't be the same. Ahh who am I kidding. I'll just download it.