Movies, Music, and Birthdays Oh My!

Took a vacation of sorts down to SoFlo (hey, SoCal’s accepted, why not SoFlo for the sunshine state?) with Amanda to visit the folk this past week for Thanksgiving and Birthdays and so forth. Really spent a fair portion of my time going through the crap in my room from my childhood. Not so fun and I’m surprised Amanda didn’t kill me for wasting her limited vacation time in this manner, but at least we got to go to Monkey Jungle. I assume I’ve mentioned this place previously (although a brief search of the blog says I haven’t), but it’s a pretty cool zoo-type place where the people walk around in little caged in walkways with the monkeys roaming free on the outside! You can buy little boxes of dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, apricots) as well as sunflower seeds and feed them by placing the treats in little metal food dishes that dangle from the ceiling of your cage on little chains. The monkeys sit up there and reel in the bowls by pulling up the chain and grab all the treats. It’s really a cool place. Check out the photos I took the last time we went. We also had an outstanding Thanksgiving dinner thanks to Amanda, chef extraordinaire. This included a tasty italian-style turkey roll (stuffed with italian sausage, prosciutto, olives and sage… from the “Everyday Italian” show), mashed potatoes, stuffing, fancy green beans, cranberry-pear relish and pecan pie for dessert. Yum. While I was down there I snagged some movies from my Dad… namely some old Bogey stuff (Big Sleep, Key Largo, Maltese Falcon) and Day the Earth Stood Still (one of my all-time favourite sci-fi flicks out of the 50s).

Came home to find my pre-ordered Calamine CD (“What We Forgot To Remember”) had arrived. For those not in the know, they did the theme song for Adult Swim’s Sealab 2021 which just happens to be one of the damned funniest things on tv. This album’s been in the works for some time (saw on their website it was slated for release last Spring). From what I’ve read, I guess they’ve had some trouble nailing down the sound for the album and had a fair bit of life getting in the way (eg Julie had a baby). The official release date is not till January, but I got it now since I pre-ordere direct from the band. Mmmmm… indie pop. Good stuff.

Another November, another couple of birthdays for Amanda and I. I’d given Amanda a necklace right before we left and she gave me a workout bag to take the gym (there’s plans for a lens for my camera, but until I can figure out exactly what I want…) While we were down in Miami my folk gave us some cool stuff they’d picked up on their trip to Egypt (suppose I should upload some of the pics from their trip since they aren’t likely to do so). Came home and had a more traditional turkey dinner for our birthdays with Amanda’s family. They gave me a guide to digital photography (which I can most certainly use) and the movie Garden State. Had the chance to watch it for the first time yesterday and I have to say that movie’s most enjoyable. Excellent writing/directing debut for Zach Braff (you might know him from the show Scrubs). Thanks a bunch Rachel!