Saturday was Dad's birthday. We spent most of it on the California/Nevada state line, in Primm, on the Nevada side, at the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas. This is where you find your outlet stores, arranged in the round. Start at one entrance/exit and you'll end at that same point. Getting back to where you started from becomes the furthest thing from your mind once you see what's offered.
We were there because we couldn't be there on the day we moved to Las Vegas on that Friday in September, being that we had Tigger and Kitty, and our two finches in the car with us, and we were late to our new home. We had hoped to get there before the manager of the mobile home park left for the weekend, so Meridith and I could finally meet her. We were getting close to the time that she'd be leaving, 3 p.m. every day even though she lives on the same property, but why stay longer than you have to?
So we bypassed it. We didn't get to the Williams-Sonoma Marketplace. I didn't get to see the car that Bonnie and Clyde were killed in, countless bullet holes delivered by angry law enforcement. At that time, I had thought that it had been placed between one section of the mall and the indoor entrance to the Primm Valley Resort and Casino. Having written that, I now think back to when we were last at Whiskey Pete's in 2010, and didn't I see the car then? Hadn't we walked around enough that I spotted it somewhere in that casino? Or has it always been moved between properties, depending on how many visitors each casino and the Fashion Outlets get? I don't know. Looking through the photos in the Whiskey Pete's listing on yelp.com, I find that someone took a photo of the Bonnie and Clyde car, which is dated August 21. So had we stopped at Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas that day, I still wouldn't have seen the car, which was one of the reasons I wanted to stop there.
At the start of this visit, which makes up incredibly for having to drive past on the first day, I still think I'll see the car. But first, we stop at the Nevada Welcome Center, where I have a long conversation with a native Nevadan about the UNLV Rebels, about Jeremy Renner's character in The Bourne Legacy hailing from Reno, about his experiences all his life in Nevada, about his travels throughout, a conversation that lasts long enough for Mom, Dad and Meridith to head into the outlets, leaving me behind to chat some more. When the opportunity's there, I take it. My fascination with Nevada never ends.
I walk into the outlets after reaffirming my hope to the Nevadan that the Rebels at least grab onto the Sweet 16 this season, if not make it all the way to the top. I hang a right, and find Mom and Dad walking from Williams-Sonoma Marketplace to Viva Vegas, the souvenir store with everything Las Vegas. Mugs, t-shirts, cigarette lighters, shot glasses, magnets, everything but bookmarks. I still can't find Las Vegas bookmarks. Yes, I know Las Vegas isn't thought of as a literary or even literate city, but we do have libraries, and they haven't let me down yet. I don't expect them to. Plus, we have the Vegas Valley Book Festival every year. However, Viva Vegas isn't geared to residents. I know. It's for the tourists either driving into, or out of, the state. Even so, some tourists read, too. My search for bookmarks continues.
After still not finding bookmarks at Viva Vegas, I decide to go where Mom and Dad have left Meridith: Inside Williams-Sonoma Marketplace. I want to see what kind of mustard they have, mustard that has to be better than the whole-grain French mustard I picked up on our way back to Southern California back in January. I first find smoky chipotle mustard in "collectible European glassware," as it's touted, and it's $8.95, though 30 percent off. Honey pops into my head. I must find honey. I hate walking through the aisle in the supermarket and finding the same kinds of honey I always see, with the same high prices. I know honey costs a lot to make, but the brands aren't all that interesting in Smith's. Here, I find Florida orange blossom honey, manufactured by the Savannah Bee Company in Savannah, Georgia. It's Florida, so I have to get. Never mind that it's $11 and change. When am I ever going to find this in Smith's?
I'm happy in my city. I've so much still to explore, still to read about, still to experience. But those instances of deep satisfaction, when you're absolutely certain of what makes you endlessly happy and you vow to pursue it, don't happen every day. It's not that satisfaction doesn't happen here; it's just that awesome, lasting feeling of knowing what you want and going for it that takes time to find. I want to keep reading, as I always do, I want to write more books, but I need something else, and I think that comes either in career or community involvement. I'm not sure which, yet. It's going to take some time to find.
The overall picture of one's life is, of course, a challenge. Naturally, it's the little things that emerge more quickly. And I found that after we had rounded the corner near Williams-Sonoma Marketplace, walked a little bit longer, and came upon the food court, which I had previously only seen in photos on yelp.com. When we came here as tourists, we thought the side of the mall with Williams-Sonoma and Viva Vegas was all there is. We hadn't realized that there was another side to the mall. And inside this food court was an arcade, which had driving games, and a hoops game, shooting baskets in 60 or 90 seconds (whatever it was, since I didn't look), and comparably higher-tech claw machines. There was nothing there for me, until, as Meridith and Mom were walking to the restroom, they spotted a Galaga arcade machine, actually one of those Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga hybrids, but to me, only Galaga matters.
In late October, at The Orleans, I got tickets for Meridith and I to see John Pinette, one of our favorite stand-up comedians. And in our family tour of The Orleans after I bought the tickets, we went upstairs to the movie theater and found a considerably larger arcade than what Sam's Town offers. Nothing else there mattered once I discovered the Galaga machine, and Mom and Dad and Meridith gamely hung around for a little bit while I played. I don't even remember what my score was, but I do know that I played badly.
Every time I've played, in Nevada, in Southern California, I never could get past Stage 10. As the stages build, the alien bugs get bolder, firing their bombs as they spin upward to join the formation. I always fire at them as they join that formation because I want to destroy them quickly so it's less work when the formation is complete. I don't know whether they won't fire their bombs if I hold my fire while they're getting in formation. But I do know they go at it faster with each subsequent stage, and my bad habit of wedging myself in one of the corners on the left or right side of the screen when the bugs break from the formation and fly downward, their bombs drifting toward me, but not hitting me, becomes more dominant.
When I play Galaga, you can hear me. I furiously bang on that fire button and I jam the joystick to the left or the right to avoid those bombs. I duck and I weave and I jump, as if I was playing Dance Dance Revolution instead of Galaga, like the bugs are firing at me and not my starfighter. I love this game because it invites my imagination to tag along. I wonder why my starfighter is so intent on eliminating these alien bugs, and I make up little stories about who these aliens are and who pissed who off enough to start this war. I remember the movie The Last Starfighter and I fondly think about Robert Preston, that consummate showman actor whose Centauri was his final role in that movie, and who made Harold Hill in The Music Man and Carole Todd in Victor/Victoria so memorable.
This time, however, I'm not thinking about Robert Preston nor the origins of those bugs. I want to finally get past Stage 10. I have four quarters, which means two quarters for one game, and two more to continue that game after my lives run out. I put in all four and start, and by the time the bugs are usually in formation in Stage 1, I have only one more bug to eliminate. That's the fastest Stage 1 I've ever played.
The game goes on, and I duck, and I weave, and I jump, and I bang on that fire button, and I jam that joystick to the left and to the right, instinctively avoiding those bombs, even as they become more numerous. Instinctively. That's never happened before. I remember how I've played past games, but before this game in this arcade in the food court at the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, it's never been as laser-etched in my memory of how to play as it is now. My strategy suddenly clicks. I'm still in the bad habit of wedging myself, but I've never avoided those bombs so successfully before. Experience, yes, but I never expected it to click like this. And I feel it in my head, too, that it's there now, it's part of me now, and I can use it and improve my game even more.
When it's all over, when I've used the other two quarters and finally lose against the alien bugs, I find that I've reached Stage 17! 107,650 points! I've never gone that high before! It's far below the lowest score on this machine, at 240-something thousand, but it's good enough for me.
I take what turns out to be a break to have a banana slushie that Mom and Meridith got for me from Tea Zone, which makes the best slushies, the best Thai tea in Southern Nevada. Unfortunately, this is the only location. The proprietor tells us that he did have other locations a few years ago, but he closed them all and remained with this one because it's so far out of the way of Las Vegas, despite being only 20 minutes away. He couldn't make it against the competition that Chinatown poses in this market. The next time we go to the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, which is guaranteed, we're going back to him. He told Mom that she should look for the sealing machine they have for the cups in order to determine whether an establishment has the slushies or teas, but as Mom said to us at the table, she's had so many different Thai teas already and they're nothing like what she had from this guy. Nobody can make it like he can.
The quarters that Mom gets in change from the slushies and the teas (I don't remember what Dad had) go to me, four of them for another game of Galaga. Same excitement, same movements in the second game. This time, it ends for me at Stage 16, with 101,050 points. More Galaga games will come in which I don't make it past Stage 10 again. I expect that. But now I know that I can get past Stage 10. I know how. I know what I have to do.
I was saving this for another entry, but I'll tell it here since it relates to Galaga: We got a Nintendo Wii, the first Nintendo system we've had since the original, spurred on by Meridith wanting ABBA: You Can Dance and wanting a Wii just because of it.
I can't play ABBA: You Can Dance, because I don't. I don't feel it like Meridith does. But I have tried the bicycling in Wii Sports Resort and the bowling in Wii Sports, and I like it, especially the 100-pin bowling, in which the number of pins builds in each single frame. There are no spares to try to get. You just knock down as many pins as you can.
I thought that I wouldn't spend as many hours playing the Wii as Meridith would. What reason would I have? I have books to read, my books to write, and sometimes a movie, such as it is with our recent library visit, in which I checked out Albert Nobbs, since it was directed by Rodrigo Garcia, one of my favorite filmmakers, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition. I want to finally have watched more than just Star Trek: Generations, and I want to do it chronologically.
Why would I need the Wii? But it turns out I do need the Wii, for the best reason I can think of. In fact, I thought of it while I was playing Galaga in that small arcade: I should see if there's any Namco Wii titles with Galaga in them. I've tried Galaga on Nintendo DS, and it's not the same. I need a joystick, or at least something that resembles a joystick.
And I've found it in Namco Museum Megamix, which has an odd variation on Galaga, having to protect Pac-Man rolling down various slides from the same kind of alien bugs in the original game, flitting all about these slides. However, the original arcade version is included in this! Plus, there's a Wii Nunchuck that came with the system that I can use. It has a miniscule joystick that I have to be very careful with, since this obviously isn't an arcade joystick, but now I can strategize at home! I can break my habit of wedging myself in the corner of the screen whenever those bombs get near me. When I played Galaga in that arcade, I discovered that in stages such as 13, 14, and so on, those bombs go right to where I am instead of simply next to me. I was blown up three times by them in those two games.
So I'll be spending more time than I ever expected to on the Wii because when I go back to that Galaga arcade machine, most likely at the Pinball Hall of Fame next, if it's still there, I want to be ready and able to dodge those bombs better than I do now. I want to destroy those bugs as they climb into formation and have lots more stages like Stage 1 in my first game in which there was only one bug left in the full formation. However, in one of the challenge stages in between stages, after Stage 10, I discovered a new bug that, when in a group, separates in a circle when you fire at it. I've got so much more to learn.
After that experience at that arcade at the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, I can say without any doubt that besides reading, Galaga makes me endlessly happy. That's two. I know there's more and I'll either discover them or rediscover them in time.
Showing posts with label galaga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label galaga. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Day 6 of a Four-Week Pleasure Cruise
We four are standing on a section of sidewalk overlooking part of Ventura Harbor, in front of a large fishing boat that's firmly anchored, yet slowly drifts to the dock and away from it repeatedly. I've got a butter pecan ice cream malt, and Meridith's got a cotton candy/bubble gum ice cream malt (which turns purple, her favorite color, when both flavors are combined), both from Coastal Cone nearby. We're right near the Fisherman's Memorial, which faces the parking lot that's adjacent to Andria's Seafood Restaurant, which was prohibitively expensive for us this time. It's the afternoon of New Year's Eve, also Mom's birthday. Being at Ventura Harbor Village used to feel vivid, exciting in parts, with much to look at in all the shops. It doesn't anymore.
Before this point, we went to Pacific View Mall, which Mom wanted to go to as a farewell before we finally left the Santa Clarita Valley for good (It'll happen soon enough, I hope), and she wanted to see what calendars the Calendar Club store had. I like that mall because most importantly, it's not Valencia Town Center, where you can walk around but feel throughout that you can't touch much, unlike Galleria at Sunset in Henderson where you can go anywhere in that mall and feel like it's yours to explore. Pacific View Mall actually feels like a mall, not just a collection of stores separated by escalators. There's Sears, Macy's, JCPenney and Target as anchors. The second floor is wall-to-wall carpeting. It's not a mall for me to embrace because outside of the Santa Clarita Valley, I always feel like a tourist wherever we go. California has that gift, good or bad.
At Target, I found a Matchbox flatbed dump truck, which I snapped up for my working vehicles collection. That's as far as I go with construction vehicles. Bulldozers, mixers, backhoes and others do a lot of work, but generally in one place. A dump truck has to get from one place to another. You can't drive a backhoe down the 405.
After that was Super Panda Buffet at the corner of the mall property. We've been to it before, and Mom decided to go there because Andria's was far too expensive and at least here, the price for all four for us was a lot more than what we could have gotten at Andria's for the same price. Plus, we could all find something we liked there, and we did, save for the hard-boiled egg I had at the end which was in the fridge in its shell for too long, with a gray color around it.
Back at that section of the harbor, after air hockey with Meridith, two games of Galaga, and two games of Cruis'n USA (I wish it had been Cruis'n Exotica, like at the roller skating rink in Ventura the year before last, because I liked rolling under that landing 747 at that Hong Kong airport), I thought about the entire day, had liked what we did, but it didn't feel like it used to. And I realized what was missing.
The many times before that we were at Ventura Harbor Village, there wasn't as much hope as there is now in moving out of Southern California. So being there, being somewhere completely different from where we exist ("Live" is a word that should be used when you're happy with where you are), we threw ourselves into the experience, which wasn't hard. This time, the pleasure was muted, because we know better things are coming in our lives.
Even so, it's places like Ventura Harbor Village that saved me from feeling insane from where I exist. It's true that in order to do anything interesting in the Santa Clarita Valley, you have to leave. Thank goodness for those options.
Before this point, we went to Pacific View Mall, which Mom wanted to go to as a farewell before we finally left the Santa Clarita Valley for good (It'll happen soon enough, I hope), and she wanted to see what calendars the Calendar Club store had. I like that mall because most importantly, it's not Valencia Town Center, where you can walk around but feel throughout that you can't touch much, unlike Galleria at Sunset in Henderson where you can go anywhere in that mall and feel like it's yours to explore. Pacific View Mall actually feels like a mall, not just a collection of stores separated by escalators. There's Sears, Macy's, JCPenney and Target as anchors. The second floor is wall-to-wall carpeting. It's not a mall for me to embrace because outside of the Santa Clarita Valley, I always feel like a tourist wherever we go. California has that gift, good or bad.
At Target, I found a Matchbox flatbed dump truck, which I snapped up for my working vehicles collection. That's as far as I go with construction vehicles. Bulldozers, mixers, backhoes and others do a lot of work, but generally in one place. A dump truck has to get from one place to another. You can't drive a backhoe down the 405.
After that was Super Panda Buffet at the corner of the mall property. We've been to it before, and Mom decided to go there because Andria's was far too expensive and at least here, the price for all four for us was a lot more than what we could have gotten at Andria's for the same price. Plus, we could all find something we liked there, and we did, save for the hard-boiled egg I had at the end which was in the fridge in its shell for too long, with a gray color around it.
Back at that section of the harbor, after air hockey with Meridith, two games of Galaga, and two games of Cruis'n USA (I wish it had been Cruis'n Exotica, like at the roller skating rink in Ventura the year before last, because I liked rolling under that landing 747 at that Hong Kong airport), I thought about the entire day, had liked what we did, but it didn't feel like it used to. And I realized what was missing.
The many times before that we were at Ventura Harbor Village, there wasn't as much hope as there is now in moving out of Southern California. So being there, being somewhere completely different from where we exist ("Live" is a word that should be used when you're happy with where you are), we threw ourselves into the experience, which wasn't hard. This time, the pleasure was muted, because we know better things are coming in our lives.
Even so, it's places like Ventura Harbor Village that saved me from feeling insane from where I exist. It's true that in order to do anything interesting in the Santa Clarita Valley, you have to leave. Thank goodness for those options.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Rosh Hashanah and Furlough Days Off - Day 6: Everybody Should Have a Day Like This
One of my most prized t-shirts in my collection is of the comic strip character Andy Capp, my favorite, hoisting a wooden case of three bottles of booze on his shoulder, clearly happy to have his favorite thing in life with him, wearing a sprig of holly behind one ear, and giving a thumbs-up. It's no wonder I wore that t-shirt today when I went out with Mom and Dad and Meridith. I had exactly that kind of day, one of the greatest of my life.
It began before I woke up, an e-mail in my inbox at 10:05 from the Warner Archive Collection. I woke up at 10:33, which I can do easily whenever I'm not working as a substitute campus supervisor, which seems to be often so far this new school year. In that case, I don't go to bed until after 2 a.m., but before 3, since I've either got books I want to read or TV shows I want to watch on the Tivo and I enjoy the silence of the night.
I found the e-mail from Warner Archive a little after noon. I looked at every single one that came in for the past few months, hoping for the day that Travels with My Aunt, starring Maggie Smith and based on the novel by Graham Greene, would be released on DVD through the Warner Archive Collection, which had to happen since Warner Bros. owns countless MGM titles from way, way back, including 1972.
I opened the latest e-mail, spotted the words "'70s Cinema," and my heart started going a little faster. I scrolled down a bit, to the images of the DVDs to be released and...OH MY GOD! I excitedly called Meridith over and showed her. Travels with My Aunt was now available for purchase! And I had e-mailed them about three months ago, asking them when it was going to come out, and to please, please, please release it soon. I bought it on VHS about a week after the Valencia library pulled it from its circulation. It's one of those rare instances in which I like the book and the movie equally, and both can easily stand separately, with the end of the movie a clever and necessary change from the book.
I went right to the Warner Archive site, ordered it, and so what that it came to $24 total? This is going to be one of the grande dames of my DVD collection, and I've no qualms about tossing my VHS copy because Warner Bros. has remastered the movie, and the clip provided on the site (http://www.wbshop.com/Travels-With-My-Aunt/1000239737,default,pd.html?cgid=ARCHIVENEW) shows a pristine picture and clear sound. And it'll be nice to see my favorite parts over and over without having to rewind a videotape.
Barely a few minutes after I ordered it, I received a press release from a PR firm (I'm still on the e-mail lists of many, despite being a former film critic) announcing that owing to the success of The Lion King 3D, Disney is releasing Beauty and the Beast 3D on January 13, 2012, Finding Nemo 3D on September 14, 2012, Monsters, Inc. 3D on January 18, 2013 (a few months before the prequel, Monsters University, arrives on June 13, 2013, in 3D), and The Little Mermaid 3D on September 13, 2013. Meridith is especially excited about the latter, her favorite movie. I'm happy that Disney is converting Monsters, Inc. into 3D, because the climactic doors sequence will look stunning like that. Plus, the East Australian Current in Finding Nemo will reap the same benefit. But despite its failures in theaters and on home video, I wish that Disney would take the risk of converting Treasure Planet into 3D. It's Treasure Island in outer space for the most part, the ships are mostly computer-animated, Long John Silver is a cyborg and is half-hand drawn animation and half computer animation, and there's a lot of galaxy scenery that would be awe-inspiring in that form. I hope that these future releases do equally as well and possibly better than The Lion King so these opportunities continue and possibly lead to Treasure Planet getting the same treatment. It's worth a try. But of course I say that without being an investor in Disney or running the company. So I can.
Mom decided to go back to Fry's in Woodland Hills to return some key rings that it turns out she didn't need, and to look at the others they had, to see if we needed any more for the net in the trunk, rings to latch onto the hooks there. And then came Walmart in West Hills, a surprising one, not because of how it looked in the front, with curved signage, but because of a store nearby, in the same shopping center, which seemed strange because despite the "Crown Books" banner at the top of the building, the store below was selling Halloween costumes and related accessories. Perhaps Crown Books had once been there but didn't take down the sign?
Meridith went with me to see if there was a discount book store, and we rounded the corner of that building, and I found heaven. In two ways. First with the tables full of books I spotted on the inside, and a sign against the glass that said, "Book Heaven - Every Book for $1". That section was on the other side of the store, a lot of square feet of space for books.
I looked over as many titles individually as I could. I stood against tables with the spines of paperbacks facing the ceiling and I pulled out whichever ones seemed interesting, read the back quickly, skimmed the first page if my interest went that far, and pulled to me what I really needed, what I could not leave Crown Books without. This included a book called Do Bald Men Get Half-Price Haircuts?: In Search of America's Great Barbershops by Vince Staten, who visited 300 barbershops across the country. I also found, by Jane and Michael Stern, Dog Eat Dog: A Very Human Book About Dogs and Dog Shows. I'm a dog lover, so that immediately went into my stack. There also came a novel called Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston, about a pregnant woman confined to her bed for the final three months. And State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work by Barbara Isenberg, which I picked up at the very end of my long exploration and needed it because there's a piece by opera director Peter Sellars, one of my heroes because of his true uniqueness, that you look at him and think that it could only be him. He lives according to what he loves. That's all that matters.
At the end, I came away with 10 books for $19. And even so, there were some books I picked up, like The First Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer, thinking I might try Rumpole of the Bailey again, but decided not to. The Supreme Court of late is the only interest I have in the law.
And Meridith found a book I absolutely needed to buy and did: Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar, which I read as a kid and loved, and this edition from the '90s by Avon Books is the original cover I remember, as well as the original illustrations. This will be snug in my permanent collection.
Then came the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a mainly outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment center. Fuddrucker's is there, and Mom wanted to go there to eat. We walked in, and I looked at the back of the place and found a Galaga arcade machine. But before that, I ordered a chicken cordon bleu sandwich and chili cheese fries. Then, once we found a table and I got my drink of watered-down Hi-C fruit punch, I asked Mom for a quarter (I didn't have any) and went to play. And it was pure bliss. I like having it on Nintendo DS as practice, but it doesn't compare to standing at that machine, slapping the fire button as fast as I can, eliminating as many aliens as I can before all of them stack up and begin flying down, firing their weapons. I ended fairly quickly at 20,000 points, owing to a dumb move that eliminated one of my ships right away, and then went to eat. After I was finished, I opened to where I left off in The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, and Mom, noticing that I was done, asked if I wanted another quarter. I first said no, because she was still eating and I didn't want to interrupt, but out came another quarter, and a better game, reaching 50,000+ and the ever-reliable level 10 that I can never seem to get past, and I didn't this time either.
But this was perfect. A lot of my favorite things so far during the day, and it continued with a small pumpkin pie I found on a circular tray under a plastic cover at the counter when Meridith was ordering cookies for Mom, Dad and herself. I love pumpkin pie and I got it. It was mild pumpkin pie, reliable enough for the flavor, but nothing notable, though that was ok. I was living fairly low-key pleasures throughout the entire day, so this tied into it very well. But as I told Dad before we left the house for Fry's, I couldn't wait for him and Meridith to go back to work so I could eat normally again. I know that it's my choice with what I eat, but given the opportunity to indulge in really good chili cheese fries at Wienerschnitzel, and so-so ones at Fuddrucker's (The chili used for these fries is just a salty dark brown covering, with meat to show that it's chili, but with little enthusiasm), and a chicken salad melt and curly fries at Jerry's Famous Deli in Woodland Hills, I grabbed it over and over. Six days with Dad and Meridith home, there were obviously going to be changes in eating habits, but I look forward to getting back to my usual eating, my regular diet.
After Fuddrucker's, Walmart in Panorama City, which has a heavy Hispanic population. We were the minority of that Walmart, but I was envious of those who shopped there. First, it was the standard Walmart we once knew before they made all the changes that turned it into a slick operation. It's a true neighborhood Walmart, with a major difference being that it's two floors, accessible by escalator or elevator, which we've never had in any Walmart we've been to, here in Santa Clarita or in Florida. The Lion King was playing on DVD on flatscreen TVs across from the electronics department, and it was at the part before Scar's "Be Prepared" number, so I had Meridith watch it with me so I could point out to her where Jeremy Irons drops out and Jim Cummings replaces him (because Irons blew out his voice after shouting, "You won't get a sniff without me!"), and the differences in their voices if you pay attention closely. Meridith noticed.
And once we got back down to the first floor, we unexpectedly found the entrance to the Panorama Mall, which looked comfortably worn. Everything was on one floor, all the stores across from each other were close together, and it felt like a community gathering place, evidenced by those who were playing chess at small tables outside La Curacao, an Hispanic electronics store. We went in there too, and man, if only Santa Clarita had felt like this for eight years, had felt like a genuine community like this was. I don't know a great deal about Panorama City, but this part at least felt like people gathered often, that there's more closeness. All we've got in Santa Clarita is plastic to bounce off of when you try to get close enough.
Nevertheless, this was the kind of day that everyone should have, in which a great deal of what you love is threaded throughout. It's why I believe in hedonism. I remarked to Meridith in Walmart that it was amazing that I had enjoyed many things that I loved in one day. Just one day! Reading, ambient music, and my favorite TV shows such as Jeopardy! are part of my daily life, but not usually to this extent. And this was incredible through and through. For me, all this was the definition of living.
Dad and Meridith will be back at work tomorrow, and I'll have my diet again, which I need back badly. But most importantly, I'm going to aim to have more days like the one I had today. I'd like those feelings constantly. It's wonderful! What better way to live?
(Addendum at 12:31 a.m.: I just pulled out of my bag of 10 books Like I Was Sayin'... by Mike Royko. This was from the Book Heaven side of Crown Books, and was a dollar. The price sticker is still on the book, and it was affixed on September 25, 2010. Maybe it had been moved around somewhat since then, and maybe some people had flipped through it, but it's been there until today. Over a year. Among many reasons I love discount book stores, this is one: Nowhere else that sells books will you find price stickers with the date of origin on them.)
It began before I woke up, an e-mail in my inbox at 10:05 from the Warner Archive Collection. I woke up at 10:33, which I can do easily whenever I'm not working as a substitute campus supervisor, which seems to be often so far this new school year. In that case, I don't go to bed until after 2 a.m., but before 3, since I've either got books I want to read or TV shows I want to watch on the Tivo and I enjoy the silence of the night.
I found the e-mail from Warner Archive a little after noon. I looked at every single one that came in for the past few months, hoping for the day that Travels with My Aunt, starring Maggie Smith and based on the novel by Graham Greene, would be released on DVD through the Warner Archive Collection, which had to happen since Warner Bros. owns countless MGM titles from way, way back, including 1972.
I opened the latest e-mail, spotted the words "'70s Cinema," and my heart started going a little faster. I scrolled down a bit, to the images of the DVDs to be released and...OH MY GOD! I excitedly called Meridith over and showed her. Travels with My Aunt was now available for purchase! And I had e-mailed them about three months ago, asking them when it was going to come out, and to please, please, please release it soon. I bought it on VHS about a week after the Valencia library pulled it from its circulation. It's one of those rare instances in which I like the book and the movie equally, and both can easily stand separately, with the end of the movie a clever and necessary change from the book.
I went right to the Warner Archive site, ordered it, and so what that it came to $24 total? This is going to be one of the grande dames of my DVD collection, and I've no qualms about tossing my VHS copy because Warner Bros. has remastered the movie, and the clip provided on the site (http://www.wbshop.com/Travels-With-My-Aunt/1000239737,default,pd.html?cgid=ARCHIVENEW) shows a pristine picture and clear sound. And it'll be nice to see my favorite parts over and over without having to rewind a videotape.
Barely a few minutes after I ordered it, I received a press release from a PR firm (I'm still on the e-mail lists of many, despite being a former film critic) announcing that owing to the success of The Lion King 3D, Disney is releasing Beauty and the Beast 3D on January 13, 2012, Finding Nemo 3D on September 14, 2012, Monsters, Inc. 3D on January 18, 2013 (a few months before the prequel, Monsters University, arrives on June 13, 2013, in 3D), and The Little Mermaid 3D on September 13, 2013. Meridith is especially excited about the latter, her favorite movie. I'm happy that Disney is converting Monsters, Inc. into 3D, because the climactic doors sequence will look stunning like that. Plus, the East Australian Current in Finding Nemo will reap the same benefit. But despite its failures in theaters and on home video, I wish that Disney would take the risk of converting Treasure Planet into 3D. It's Treasure Island in outer space for the most part, the ships are mostly computer-animated, Long John Silver is a cyborg and is half-hand drawn animation and half computer animation, and there's a lot of galaxy scenery that would be awe-inspiring in that form. I hope that these future releases do equally as well and possibly better than The Lion King so these opportunities continue and possibly lead to Treasure Planet getting the same treatment. It's worth a try. But of course I say that without being an investor in Disney or running the company. So I can.
Mom decided to go back to Fry's in Woodland Hills to return some key rings that it turns out she didn't need, and to look at the others they had, to see if we needed any more for the net in the trunk, rings to latch onto the hooks there. And then came Walmart in West Hills, a surprising one, not because of how it looked in the front, with curved signage, but because of a store nearby, in the same shopping center, which seemed strange because despite the "Crown Books" banner at the top of the building, the store below was selling Halloween costumes and related accessories. Perhaps Crown Books had once been there but didn't take down the sign?
Meridith went with me to see if there was a discount book store, and we rounded the corner of that building, and I found heaven. In two ways. First with the tables full of books I spotted on the inside, and a sign against the glass that said, "Book Heaven - Every Book for $1". That section was on the other side of the store, a lot of square feet of space for books.
I looked over as many titles individually as I could. I stood against tables with the spines of paperbacks facing the ceiling and I pulled out whichever ones seemed interesting, read the back quickly, skimmed the first page if my interest went that far, and pulled to me what I really needed, what I could not leave Crown Books without. This included a book called Do Bald Men Get Half-Price Haircuts?: In Search of America's Great Barbershops by Vince Staten, who visited 300 barbershops across the country. I also found, by Jane and Michael Stern, Dog Eat Dog: A Very Human Book About Dogs and Dog Shows. I'm a dog lover, so that immediately went into my stack. There also came a novel called Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston, about a pregnant woman confined to her bed for the final three months. And State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work by Barbara Isenberg, which I picked up at the very end of my long exploration and needed it because there's a piece by opera director Peter Sellars, one of my heroes because of his true uniqueness, that you look at him and think that it could only be him. He lives according to what he loves. That's all that matters.
At the end, I came away with 10 books for $19. And even so, there were some books I picked up, like The First Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer, thinking I might try Rumpole of the Bailey again, but decided not to. The Supreme Court of late is the only interest I have in the law.
And Meridith found a book I absolutely needed to buy and did: Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar, which I read as a kid and loved, and this edition from the '90s by Avon Books is the original cover I remember, as well as the original illustrations. This will be snug in my permanent collection.
Then came the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a mainly outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment center. Fuddrucker's is there, and Mom wanted to go there to eat. We walked in, and I looked at the back of the place and found a Galaga arcade machine. But before that, I ordered a chicken cordon bleu sandwich and chili cheese fries. Then, once we found a table and I got my drink of watered-down Hi-C fruit punch, I asked Mom for a quarter (I didn't have any) and went to play. And it was pure bliss. I like having it on Nintendo DS as practice, but it doesn't compare to standing at that machine, slapping the fire button as fast as I can, eliminating as many aliens as I can before all of them stack up and begin flying down, firing their weapons. I ended fairly quickly at 20,000 points, owing to a dumb move that eliminated one of my ships right away, and then went to eat. After I was finished, I opened to where I left off in The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, and Mom, noticing that I was done, asked if I wanted another quarter. I first said no, because she was still eating and I didn't want to interrupt, but out came another quarter, and a better game, reaching 50,000+ and the ever-reliable level 10 that I can never seem to get past, and I didn't this time either.
But this was perfect. A lot of my favorite things so far during the day, and it continued with a small pumpkin pie I found on a circular tray under a plastic cover at the counter when Meridith was ordering cookies for Mom, Dad and herself. I love pumpkin pie and I got it. It was mild pumpkin pie, reliable enough for the flavor, but nothing notable, though that was ok. I was living fairly low-key pleasures throughout the entire day, so this tied into it very well. But as I told Dad before we left the house for Fry's, I couldn't wait for him and Meridith to go back to work so I could eat normally again. I know that it's my choice with what I eat, but given the opportunity to indulge in really good chili cheese fries at Wienerschnitzel, and so-so ones at Fuddrucker's (The chili used for these fries is just a salty dark brown covering, with meat to show that it's chili, but with little enthusiasm), and a chicken salad melt and curly fries at Jerry's Famous Deli in Woodland Hills, I grabbed it over and over. Six days with Dad and Meridith home, there were obviously going to be changes in eating habits, but I look forward to getting back to my usual eating, my regular diet.
After Fuddrucker's, Walmart in Panorama City, which has a heavy Hispanic population. We were the minority of that Walmart, but I was envious of those who shopped there. First, it was the standard Walmart we once knew before they made all the changes that turned it into a slick operation. It's a true neighborhood Walmart, with a major difference being that it's two floors, accessible by escalator or elevator, which we've never had in any Walmart we've been to, here in Santa Clarita or in Florida. The Lion King was playing on DVD on flatscreen TVs across from the electronics department, and it was at the part before Scar's "Be Prepared" number, so I had Meridith watch it with me so I could point out to her where Jeremy Irons drops out and Jim Cummings replaces him (because Irons blew out his voice after shouting, "You won't get a sniff without me!"), and the differences in their voices if you pay attention closely. Meridith noticed.
And once we got back down to the first floor, we unexpectedly found the entrance to the Panorama Mall, which looked comfortably worn. Everything was on one floor, all the stores across from each other were close together, and it felt like a community gathering place, evidenced by those who were playing chess at small tables outside La Curacao, an Hispanic electronics store. We went in there too, and man, if only Santa Clarita had felt like this for eight years, had felt like a genuine community like this was. I don't know a great deal about Panorama City, but this part at least felt like people gathered often, that there's more closeness. All we've got in Santa Clarita is plastic to bounce off of when you try to get close enough.
Nevertheless, this was the kind of day that everyone should have, in which a great deal of what you love is threaded throughout. It's why I believe in hedonism. I remarked to Meridith in Walmart that it was amazing that I had enjoyed many things that I loved in one day. Just one day! Reading, ambient music, and my favorite TV shows such as Jeopardy! are part of my daily life, but not usually to this extent. And this was incredible through and through. For me, all this was the definition of living.
Dad and Meridith will be back at work tomorrow, and I'll have my diet again, which I need back badly. But most importantly, I'm going to aim to have more days like the one I had today. I'd like those feelings constantly. It's wonderful! What better way to live?
(Addendum at 12:31 a.m.: I just pulled out of my bag of 10 books Like I Was Sayin'... by Mike Royko. This was from the Book Heaven side of Crown Books, and was a dollar. The price sticker is still on the book, and it was affixed on September 25, 2010. Maybe it had been moved around somewhat since then, and maybe some people had flipped through it, but it's been there until today. Over a year. Among many reasons I love discount book stores, this is one: Nowhere else that sells books will you find price stickers with the date of origin on them.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)