Recent events of note

1. Made a flickr page, with photos from Japan and some other places.
2. Took KB's recommendation and went to San Francisco for the first time. Some highlights: the Musee Mecanique (free museum where you can experience all sorts of old time mechanical entertainment from marble baseball games to peep shows of the San Francisco fire to a very un-pc animated diorama of a Chinese opium den), eating fresh steamed crab on the wharf, Indian Pizza at Zante's, and just walking around a pretty amazing city.
3. Saw the original Inglorious Bastards. From the initial info, it looks like Tarantino's version of the same name is going to be predictably awesome. Here's a quote from an article sent to me by HM's and KB's dungeon master, MZ:

The first chapter, set in 1941, introduces Shosanna and the film's antagonist, a Nazi officer named Landa who's known as the "Jew Hunter." The second chapter introduces the Bastards and their tactics...The third chapter, set in 1944, reintroduces Shosanna in Paris ("This whole Chapter will be filmed in French New Wave Black and White"). The fourth sets up the Bastards' attack on the theater. And it all comes together in Chapter Five, which plays fast and loose with history, to say the least...All in all, it reads like Kill Bill meets The Dirty Dozen meets Cinema Paradiso.

That last line is the one that got me...
4. Went to 88 Boadrum, LA. I was actually out of town when they released tickets so I completely missed out. Ended up volunteering, and got free entrance, which was actually even better as I got to see the rehearsals too. Some of the best bands in history have employed the multi-drummer approach, from the Allman Brothers (correct me if I'm wrong Sauce or Kevin) to the Grateful Dead, to the Fall (at times) to Pavement, to Tortoise, and all the way to...Je Suis France. So, with 88, you kinda knew it would be insane.
The show was held at the field that connects LACMA (LA CO Museum of Art) with the La Brea Tar Pits, making the afternoon rehearsal really interesting as completely unaware museum attendees, from summer camp kids to grandmothers took the opportunity to take in what I suspect was the first Boredoms show any of them had witnessed. I sat by an elderly woman who was steadily bobbing her head with each boom of the 88 drums. I heard another guy, probably in his 70s, comment "This is gonna be wild." It was, to say the least. Even more so after dark when the real thing started. I ended up bowing out of my already vague volunteer duties a few minutes before the show, taking a seat on the hill, and taking it all in...