January 27, 2003

Fun with lard, and other ephemera

What I did today: well, today was Nonfiction Writing class today. I need to set up a separate journal for that class (I'm already two weeks behind on that project); I could just type it in Word, but I feel most comfortable with a web setup for journaling. So that's number one. Number two, after class I went and ordered my new computer. My baby should be here in a week or so. No, I didn't just pick up a junk-filled Emachine at Compusa, that's not good enough for the princess. I had needs: specifically, 512 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, one of those AMD processors (comparable, so I was told, to a 2.4 GB Intel; we'll see), and a CD-RW (I forget the speed; adequate -- I'm not going to be running a music studio or burning CDs every hour).


f136_cont_hobbits.jpg Frodo and Pippin stare in awe at the lard sculptures.
After some research I decided to go ahead with XP Pro. Soon I will have a machine on which I will be able to open up more than one lousy program and not have cack out on me. I figure it will get me through a couple more years, like my current machine did.

Today I stopped to eat lunch at a local Korean restaurant. Yes I love Korean food; no, they don't serve Rover baked in a casserole. I hadn't been there in over a year and the waitress recognized me. I guess they don't get many lone Anglo women at their place. Too bad: the food is great, and the ambiance is sufficiently Not Chinese; they have the usual tacky Chinese-restaurant lacquer and tasselled fake lamp decor, but they also have these neat weird masks on the wall (I want one! I heart masks) and they play Korean tv on a widescreen in the back. Not that I was able to understand anything on the Korean news channel they were playing. The Korean subtitles were no help at all. But it was still interesting. Many things were confirmed:

  1. Damn, Korea looks cold. In the outdoor shots everyone was standing around in one of those frozen fogs. Brr!
  2. They are still quite exercised over the accidental running over of those two Korean girls by some servicemen. They showed footage of a rally of some sort complete with photos of the dead kids, flags, upset people, etc.
  3. Hyundais! They drive 'em. Who knew?
It was all very interesting, but I kind of wish they would have been playing something like the movie they were playing the last time I went: it was some sort of costume/magical powers/sword-and-sorcery thing, Korean style (or maybe it was Chinese or Japanese -- my memory is foggy). The plot was simple enough to make out even if it was all in foreign: there was this kind of surly hero in a red robe, a female wizardess of some sort who kept interfering/fighting with him and against him, a villain (you could tell because he had his hair pulled back in an intimidating way, while the hero had messy, I'm-too-busy-saving-the-world hair), and some Loyal Peasant Kids on the sidelines who seemed to function as a kind of Greek chorus. There was much Oriental magical kung fu, and the hero and heroine/wizardess got to die tragically together at the end (after the villain was dispatched, of course). It was totally cool, and I was reminded of this film when I first saw the fight scenes in Fellowship of the Rings. There was also a similarity to the costuming. It made me wonder if Peter Jackson was at all inspired by Asian sword-and-sorcery-and-kung-fu movies. It would not surprise me at all. (I haven't listened to all the interviews on my dvd nor have I read all the articles on the making of the film, so if he has said anything about this I have missed it so far.)

On a final note: in Luxembourg they have something called the Culinary World Cup, aka "the cooks' Olympics." One of the contests is to see who can carve the best statue out of the aforementioned greasy rendered substance. This year's bronze winner was a lard statue of Saruman the White (well, the "Off-White"). Try that with 100% pure safflower oil, organic food weenies.

Posted by Andrea Harris at January 27, 2003 11:05 PM
Comments

At today's prices I'd have gone for more disk capacity. It may seem a bottomless pit but there are no end of nifty ways to fill it.

Posted by: Eric Pobirs at January 28, 2003 at 01:32 AM

Andrea, you described every "sword western" ever made. They're great. I love 'em.

Posted by: Just Some Poor Schmuck at January 28, 2003 at 02:09 AM

Oh, good for you. After a year in Computer Hell, I couldn't be happier with my own 2.4 Ghz, et c, et c machine. And so far, no trouble with XP at all; such a change.

Later, you might consider one of Iomega's nifty Ion removable hard drives for your backup needs. IT plugs into the USB. I find it a conventient place to keep images, too.

Posted by: Jack at January 28, 2003 at 04:41 AM

One 40 GB drive is really too little disk capacity for today's software, especially if you play around much with multimedia (video, audio, images) or are a gamer. I have two 80 GB Western Digital drives on my system which I got for a grand total of $175. Also, at the risk of sounding retrograde, I have to say that I'm sticking with Win98 SE for a while longer. I don't trust the security holes that XP is reported to already have experienced, and I hate the entire concept of "activation", especially because any significant upgrades afterward, I'm told, will invalidate that activation and force you to do it over.

Posted by: Joe at January 28, 2003 at 04:41 AM

One of the best things I ever saw on TV was called "Tears of the Dragon" on the Asian Broadcasting Network. It was serialized into 160+ episodes, minimally sub-titled, and utterly fascinating. It told the dramatic story of the power struggles and machinations within the 15th century royal family. 90 episodes had already passed when I found it, and I have been looking for it ever since.

Posted by: bob the corgi at January 28, 2003 at 04:47 AM

When we were in Southeast Asia, every store had a little TV behind the counter, and a medieval sword western/epic was playing all afternoon. The salespeople were distracted when it was on and I was always trying to catch a glace at the TV. It might have been "Tears of the Dragon" – it had the supernatural kung fu and the bad guy with the pulled-back hair. It was a huge hit.

Posted by: mary at January 28, 2003 at 08:37 AM

Almost every desktop I've ever owned has run off an AMD CPU; I'm convinced that I'm not giving up anything by opting for the #2 brand except the opportunity to spend more money.

Posted by: CGHill at January 28, 2003 at 08:43 AM

Only thing I remember about my one short visit to Korea (South) was that I could smell the Kim Chee before the airplane even landed.

Posted by: sharkman at January 28, 2003 at 09:08 AM

I had to go with what I could afford; from 10 megabytes to 40 seemed quite an upgrade to me. I don't game at all, and I do very little with audio, though I do some graphics stuff. But my main requirement was having a machine that could be on high-speed internet and run Office, Photoshop, and Adobe Acrobat without freezing up after a while, which is my current machine's problem. Maybe I am overcompensating with the RAM, but I wanted a little extra in that area. (I wish I had been able to afford even more.) As it is, I can barely afford this one. I can always add an extra drive later. (I do have an external Zip drive, one of the now tiny 100 megabyte capacity ones.)

I know about the XP security holes, but 98 isn't really that much more secure from what I've read. You may want to upgrade to 2000. That's why I at least got Pro; apparently you can set up firewalls and things better.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 28, 2003 at 09:21 AM

I will have to look for "Tears of the Dragon."

Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 28, 2003 at 09:22 AM

Is it true that in South Korea they drink Jack Spaniels with their meals?

MonkeyPants
Imperial Falconer

Posted by: MonkeyPants at January 28, 2003 at 10:18 AM

"Woof woof." That one's a real dog, Monkey Pants.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 28, 2003 at 10:20 AM

Andrea, you just bought the same machine I have (except I have a 1.4ghz Athlon). It runs famously. XP Pro is so much better than Me or SE it's not even funny. 40gigs is plenty of space for a regular user. Besides, you will fill up whatever you get. It's kinda like a purse. You can get by with a little bitty one, but if you buy a huge sack, you will somehow fill it up with stuff you just HAVE to have!

Posted by: amy at January 28, 2003 at 10:35 AM

Oh, yes, Korea is indeed cold in the winter! Keep in mind that it's not all that far south of Siberia...snowy, damp and with a bone-chilling wind.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at January 28, 2003 at 10:54 AM

mmmm....LARD

Posted by: Steve H. at January 28, 2003 at 12:49 PM

A lard Michael Moore would have aced gold I think.

Posted by: Steven Chapman at January 28, 2003 at 06:24 PM

The curious thing is that the center of Korea is on the 38th parallel. That is the same latitude as San Francisco. It's the effect of Siberian air that makes Korea so cold.

Posted by: Michael Lonie at January 28, 2003 at 10:12 PM

One of my mother's favorite treats after coming to this country from a Japanese prison camp was bacon grease spread on bread. YUMMY!

Posted by: Frank C at January 29, 2003 at 01:11 AM