Category: Miscellaneous

The Capital

August 14, 2014

The train trip was long and I kept falling asleep. After passing through New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware and Maryland we eventually arrived at Washington DC. We had spoiled ourselves with a suite hotel very close to the national mall, but were both amazed by how comfortable our suite is!

We wasted no time crossing the street to the mall. A brief stop at the Smithsonian visitors center and a whirlwind tour of one level of the museum of American History (more on Saturday…) and then we decided to see the sites.

That’s midway between the Capitol Building (yes, spelled with an ‘o’) and the Washington Monument. We decided to leave the Capitol until later and headed to the impressive monument.

It’s so tall! Much taller than we ever thought, and very impressive from any distance. Here’s a shot of KLS at the base showing the sheer size:

As we were there a US government helicopter kept flying over doing brief return flights from just south of the monument to the White House lawn. I wonder who he was transporting?

Continuing west along the mall led to the reflecting pool. We walked the length. The entire area is beautiful and well kept and very tourist friendly. This is a good thing, since there are more tourists here than I’ve ever seen in a US city. Here’s a look back from the western edge of the pool.

Turning around after taking the above photo you see this:

This is the Lincoln Memorial, which is also much bigger than either of us expected. This massive building contains just one thing really: the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln:

Don’t assume from the above shot that this was an unpopular attraction. Quite the contrary! Of course everyone wanted to pose with Lincoln, and I noted that almost all of them were tourists. I guess he’s an inspiration to everyone 🙂

We then headed back east and then north from the monument to a certain residence. Here it is:

We had to pose for a shot with The President (he’s waving at the camera from the window):

Security here was impressive. Four strong fences separate the public from The White House and a multitude of security vehicles and personnel are visible all around. I find this a little sad, but I suppose it is necessary in today’s world.

Have you ever seen such variety in an ice cream truck?!?

The next two days we’re going to visit several of the Smithsonian museums. I wonder what wonders we’ll see?

The Washed-out Fair

August 13, 2014

I went to the Altamont Fair today. I go every year, but this time was different because I was alone, and because it was raining. Heavily!

I sat in my car for a while thinking paying admission would be crazy. But I wanted to see the animals and the rides, so I had to go in! I grabbed my giant umbrella and braved the elements.

It was dead inside. This performer had an audience of just me for his (good!) one-man band 🙂

This miniature horse looked at me like I was crazy! “You’ve only been here 15 minutes”, she neighed “and your shoes are already drenched!”

The sheep were wary of my umbrella, but eager to pose for snaps. Resplendent in their coats, they wondered where all the humans were.

The poultry building was a ghost town. The noise of the rain almost – almost – drowned out the cacophony of a hundred dozen screaming chickens. Most of which were very handsome!

The rain had picked up, and the ground couldn’t soak it all up. Large pools started appearing everywhere, and the wind made my umbrella of questionable utility. I ducked into other exhibits..

Gourds that look like swans? This didn’t even win a prize in the ‘craft’ contest.

This saucy scarecrow did however. Thank god her lipstick wasn’t real, else the torrential rain would have washed it off her face!

The baby ducks were popular, even though they may have been more happy splashing around outside.

This hare on the other hand was not amused. He glanced at me disdainfully, as if he neither knew nor cared I was standing in inch-deep water to photograph him!

That’s the view as I strolled toward the midway. Seconds after I took this an Englishman holding a mad dog ran past…

I spent some time in the midway, staring with childlike fascination at my beloved rides. While technically ‘open’, not one single ride was going.

The reason was apparently safety. Or so mumbled a ~~criminal~~ carny, without even glancing up from his phone.

The Magic Maze was abandoned but I was too much of a gentleman to simply walk on.

And then I saw ‘Crazy Outback’, decorated with kangaroos, crocodiles and large-busted Sheila’s! I had to explore this fun house didn’t I?

Alas! It was closed too. As I was told in broken English by the refrigerator sized ~~felon~~ carny manning the entrance.

After taking the above shot (see the guy sitting in the bear) I was alarmed by a shout of “Hey!” From behind me.

A menacing looking ~~murderer~~ carny approached: “Are you from the fair board? Why are you taking photos?”

I explained I was taking them to show friends.

“If you’re from the fair board you need to wear a badge.” As he said this he flexed his titanic muscles, which dislodged his vest to reveal an arsenal of weapons underneath. Maybe.

I scurried away.

The rain had become biblical. People huddled under cover, weeping in terror. I shuffled toward the circus tent, and barely cared when my feet sunk into the wood chips that had become a giant sponge, squirting water up my legs with every step. At the entrance of the massive tent, water careened down like Niagara Falls. Holding my umbrella tightly I ducked inside.

Those are ‘The Lovelies’. I suppose they were, but I couldn’t see them since the tent interior had become a humidor and my glasses were completely fogged. I was drenched and I was tired, and it was time to leave.

Next weekend we’ll go to another fair. Let’s hope the weather is a bit more cooperative 🙂

(Long Live) The Playstation Vita (Is Dead)

August 11, 2014

Earlier this year I purchased one of these:

It’s the Playstation Vita, which is their followup game system to the PSP. It actually came out quite some time ago (December 2011), but I held off buying one simply because there was nothing on it that tickled my fancy. The game that eventually lured me enough was TKX by Jeff Minter:

There’s a lot to like about the Vita. It’s solidly built, has very nice controls (especially the dual sticks), is solid state only (which means no silly discs like the PSP) and has a beautiful screen. And when I say beautiful, I mean beautiful. To save costs Sony has actually downgraded the screen in newer models to an LED, but the first version (and the one I have) includes an OLED screen which is simply the brightest and highest resolution screen on anything I own. Yes it means the battery life is abysmal (maybe 2 hours) and the unit is quite heavy but I’d say the tradeoff is worth it for the great screen.

The problem with the Vita is, well it’s that it’s pretty much a dead system.

What does that mean? It means that here in America retail support for the system has floundered, and interest amongst consumers is at an all-time low. Few games are released for the system and those that are don’t have any sort of wide appeal. Furthermore, there are no games at all scheduled after November this year and Sony themselves have said they will release no games themselves. By this time next year I very much doubt this system will be in stores, if produced at all.

And yet these past few weeks I’ve been having more fun with my Vita than any of my other game systems! These ‘no wide appeal’ games infrequently coming out are mostly niche Japanese RPGs which mean they’re my game of choice and I’ve been snapping them up! Games like…

Demon Gaze, an awesome Wizardry clone featuring a complex game system and fabulous graphics…

Toukiden, the closest game every to capture the magic of Monster Hunter. The screenshot above shows how impressive the graphics of the Vita can be in an AAA game…

Persona 4 Golden which I haven’t played yet (it’s next on my list) but if it’s anywhere near as good as Persona 3 on the PSP will be a gem!

There’s many more, and most of the remaining games are of this genre as well. Even if nothing else is released after November, I’ll still have a library that will take me a year or more to finish (assuming I ever stop playing Toukiden). For a dead system, that’s not so bad!

So what killed the Vita? It was an also-ran outside of Japan, where it seemed to immediately inherit the niche market from the PSP. Western exclusives were nonexistent and ports from PS3 games (such as Borderlands 2) were flawed. Obviously competition from the 3DS (especially Capcom’s choice to move Monster Hunter to 3DS) and tablets/phones hurt as well. But ultimately the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of Sony, who for many many years now have demonstrated they have no idea how to market a handheld outside of Japan.

Rest in Peace Vita. You may be a dead system and simply not know it yet, but I’m going to be playing you for a long time yet!

Robot Claw