Monday gifts -- 04/05/2010

An odd dream

I just woke up from a vivid dream, like the ones I had back around 1999-2002. It seemed hours long, but I only remember the last parts.

In the middle of the dream, I came out of a theater in a downtown mall (there's no such place in the real Los Angeles) where I'd just seen an anime movie that was artistically cool but utterly baffling in the plot department. Back at my parked car, I begin to drive and search for the freeway signs to take me home.

But I get lost, and find myself in in some out-of-the-way place near Silverlake (that also doesn't exist); a historically preserved Spanish mission, and now it's broad daylight. The trees are beautiful, and the day is pleasantly warm, and I'm forced to stop the car and explore a bit on foot. A small community of people live here, mostly Hispanic, but there are also a few blond-haired kids are running around underfoot. Germans, just like those who founded Anaheim (the reason for that city's name being half Spanish and half German).

As I look around I find some leaves from the trees, they're about 5 inches long and dagger-shaped, deep green with some orange and red flecks. After picking one up, it finds its way into my mouth and I nibble at it. Surprisingly, it has a pleasant taste, if chewy. I eat another.

I meet a man and a little girl, both Hispanic, and talk with them for a few minutes, then on a random impulse I pick up one of the dagger-shaped tree leaves and ask about them. Are they poison? As it turns out, they are quite poisonous, though it takes a while for the toxin to take effect. I confess to having eaten a couple, and express some worry. The girl laughs and said she ate some too, when she was younger, and was given medicine by her mother. I'm alarmed but relieved there's a cure.

But there's a slight shift of scene and I'm driving again, still trying to find my way home and just as lost, for about thirty minutes. The poisonous leaves are totally forgotten. I drive over a big incline and have to gun the engine, it's so steep, and end up going airborne slightly at the top where the dusty road suddenly goes level. My car lands with a thump. Fifty feet before me a Hispanic man who had been riding a burro, I see him tumble to the ground when the sound of my car frightens his mount and causes it to fall over in surprise. It's really funny. He isn't hurt, and the little blond girl walking with him laughs with a sound like sunlight on water at the unexpected slapstick.

I marvel that I've stumbled my way back to the mission, though a quarter mile from my previous location. Now I recall that I needed that antidote, and briefly tell my story to the man and girl. He uses his cell phone to call someone at the mission, and I'm taken there quickly. I am shown inside to a kind of kitchen/bakery which has a quasi-European quality.

There is a blond woman, in her early thirties and very pretty, who is glad to see me. Upon first hearing of the need for the antidote to the leaves she'd baked a special pie for me, thankfully it was ready now. It looks like a turnover, square with three open slices on top revealing what looks baked apple inside. When given a fork, I discover it is slightly bitter, but also sweet, and rather tasty, far better than I anticipated.

The woman is a mother, and one of her older children, a blond boy of about 15, watches me with unfriendly eyes. I don't know why he doesn't like me.

That's when I woke up, filled with the belief my dream was a message couched in symbolism. But what does it mean?

p-Cubee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iV0Icy41JM

Dungeons and Dragons Online changes to free-to-play economic model, earns 5x more money as a result.
http://www.fearlessgamer.com/2010/02/27/dd-online-got-the-free-to-play-model-right/

See, this is cool. I spend far more money in free-to-play games like Second Life (which is to say, some) than I do on subscription-based games (which is to say, almost none). Here's the actual DDO site.
http://www.ddo.com/

Attack of the Clones savaged, er reviewed in 9 parts.
Maybe he's trying too hard to top his Phantom Menace review.
After watching it entirely, though, I have to admit it's pretty good.
I'll save you the trouble of hunting down the additional parts, because YouTube's redesign mostly baffles me. Aren't redesigns supposed to make things *better*? Then why is it so unhelpful now? Am I missing something?
1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBhi6qqFLA
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im7k4LUzA3Y
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux8pCqiiBLA
4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGnorxUw4AA
5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1L63TdhC8
6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-isAmaVbsM
7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blkx6axytKQ
8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QThD0r3hZg
9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0wv2ossJU

Bunny Chow and other gourmet food trucks
http://laist.com/2010/03/31/las_first_bustaurant_world_fare_is.php
The street in front of our office has become a lunch truck alley, and every day there are unusual offerings. The most unique I've seen has to be this one, a double-decker Bus-taurant that serves Bunny Chow, a slang name for a kind of curried South African sandwich. The lower part of the bus is the kitchen, the top storey is the dining area.

Another interesting truck serves a fusion Soul-Asian cuisine which is quite good, but so far my fave is Fishlips Sushi.

Flint, Michigan is burning
http://paxtonland.com/archives/2010/04/153/

The 10 Most Unfortunate Masters of the Universe Toys
http://io9.com/5508866/the-10-most-unfortunate-masters-of-the-universe-toys
Even as a kid I new Masters of the Universe sucked. But age has sharpened my appreciation of that fact.

October by Eric Whitacre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EoUAbODO34
I really like Whitacre's compositions, they have a certain Aaron Copland quality, with a dash of Michael Kamen.

Cloudburst, another nice Whitacre piece, this being more like a melodious Gyorgi Lygeti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zqp0OpzMAI

Miegakure - 4D platform game
http://marctenbosch.com/miegakure/

Bob and Beyond -- Those doomed Windows apps
http://technologizer.com/2010/03/29/bob-and-beyond-a-microsoft-insider-remembers/

U900 - Diamond Head -- A very cute video. There's something about the simple music and soft morning light on the animated dolls that makes me feel happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-VWdPGGTT8

Top 5 Just Cause 2 stunts
http://kotaku.com/5505470/top-5-just-cause-2-stunt-videos-are-here-now-vote

Yume
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGOeYzWTIFc