Brothers... and a Sister: A Tale of Quiet Reflection

The younger brother is a bit of a trickster. He has a natural ability for the musical arts. He is kind to animals, preferring to set birds free from the cages that trap them than to see them chirping sadly in captivity. Yet as a young spirit, he finds himself leaning towards the inquisitive, playful and sometimes naughty side: teasing a bunny along the way or mischievously creeping up on an unexpecting villager. He is far more trusting and curious. His sometimes daring nature and carefree attitude lands him in trouble but at times, it is just what is needed to further a journey.

Foodie Adventures with Nach: Days 4 and 5

Let it be known (again) that I have wayward math. Alright, not really but Nach's visit began Tuesday night and continued through Sunday afternoon. I combined Saturday and Sunday because Saturday was a bit of a strange day for food (and by that I mean I really don't have pictures…), while Sunday we said our goodbyes on the streets of Chinatown. It was my last attempt to rid myself of the hipster. And if you are to believe UI, I was successful. UI may be making claims that this current Nach floating around TAY is an imposter, since he, UI was not with Nach during his final hours and I pulled a switcheroo.

Foodie Adventures with Nach: DAY 1

About this time last week, I was probably doing the same thing as I am now.  I was probably trying to write a blog post or at the very least, thinking of one.  The only difference being that, I was cursing under my breath thinking about how I had to leave the comfort of my house to go to dinner.  With a Hipster, no less.  That’s the real reason for the cursing… because you know, Dinner is always cool.  Hipsters… not so much!

SnackTAYku International: Hurry Hurry, Come for Curry!

It’s Saturday and the sky has been grey all morning. From the funeral service to the countryside for the burial, there’s sadness and reflection. As you’re standing there trying to fight back the tears, the sky opens up and it starts pouring. People comment that it’s a blessing as their voices become dull background chatter. Making your way through the thick mud to put that rose with your kiss on it as a final goodbye to your favourite Uncle, someone calls you Maressa.

Flashback: Family Woes!

The 14th day of February never really meant that much to me. With retailers’ ploys to grab at your hard-earned cash to be spent on lots of wasted paper and cheap chocolates; I never understood why a special day had to be set aside for those shenanigans. But I remember that one year I got something incredibly special as a Valentine’s Day present. Gifted to me by my awesome Father during a time when I was still a student and without the means to buy games for myself. It was presented to me unwrapped, and behind the red paper cut out heart that read “ To My Little One, Happy Valentine’s Day - Love Daddy” was a menacing, half-eaten zombie face. Indeed, my father with his amazing sense of humour had gifted me a bloody Valentine of Resident Evil 2.

Foodie Adventures: Morso? Yes, Please!

It was great seeing a few of my friends last Friday night.  We took to the subway and headed to the Upper East Side for dinner, drinks, laughs and to celebrate missed birthdays at Morso.  On the recommendation of a friend's friend, we decided to try this place with empty stomachs and an open mind.  Unfortunately, Morso was not participating in NYC's Restaurant Week* (hell, I did not even realize that was on).

*I adore the concept of Restaurant Week.  I love that NYC Restaurants open their doors to people to afford to sample of what their establishment has to offer by tailoring a menu of some of their best selections for a three course prix fixe meal (usually).  Truly not all selections are great for Restaurant Week, and some can be really hit or miss but there are gems waiting to be discovered at any number of great places in NYC one may otherwise have not been able to try due to pricing restrictions.

SnackTAYku: At Lunch with Street Meats

Sometimes confusion sets in.  With the multitude of street meat carts, food trucks lining the streets, and restaurants all vying for your attention, it's easy to see why decisions become that much harder to make when it comes time to decide on what to eat for lunch.  To make matters worse, the rivalries between vendors result in utter chaos with territorial fights ensuing and vendors posing as other vendors.  It's a colourful business, getting lunch in Midtown.  How do you decide on which place to get good food for a fair price when everyone's just trying to addle your brain? After much consideration you may decide that lamb over rice from a Halal Food cart is the way to go.

Mushroom Hunting

It was always on those mornings when I had just enough time to scour the freshly cut, dew laden lawn for those tiny mushrooms that dared to grow, that I knew the day would be a decent one.  "Hey!", my sister would threaten, "what are you doing?! Don't do it..." With a knowing, mischievous chuckle I would kick one of my finds down.  Sometimes the cap would stick to my shoe along with grass blades.  But it was the ones that went flying clear across the lawn that made me laugh triumphantly.  The other morning I found a few scattered about after having not seen them for some while.  One down.  Then another.  However, my usual joyful glee - at having destroyed the imaginary fairies resting atop their mushroom capped stools - turned pensive.

Happy Birthday, Mittens Kittens

To my Mitts,

Happy Birthday.  And thanks.

Heart,

Mitties.

The Return of the Claw and More at Gleason's

I'm not sure why it took me this long to go to Gleason's.  Maybe it's due to the fact that I don't really like pizza even if the ones made at Gleason's are specialty flat bread pizzas and high class.  Or maybe it's due to the fact because the pizzas are specialty it makes me think that this place would be plagued by hipsters.

On Tuesday, X and Moodou paid us a visit and we decided to go on a foodie adventure for old time's sake.  You know, that's what we do when X comes around.  It's what we're supposed to do! Never mind we have yet to take her for Tea at Kathleen's Tea Room.  X, don't worry about it.  You saw nothing and you remember nothing about that.

The Legend of Zelda Symphony That I Dragged H1 To

Yep, it was some time in November when I dragged a poor, little H1 to that thing.

November 28th to be exact.

Much like our trip to the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Symphony in April of 2011, there were people dressed up as their favourite characters but the best I saw had to have been the awesome tribute someone did as a Skull Kid from the best of the Zelda games (which of course is Mask of Majora).

However, unlike our trip to Distant Worlds, this Symphony was vastly different and not in a terribly positive way either.

The Highlights

1.  In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, the good people at Nintendo crafted this entire tour featuring the music of the fantastic Zelda series.  It was the same for the 25th Anniversary of Final Fantasy and I couldn't be happier.  Both series shaped the type of games I enjoy playing now, and gave me a greater appreciation for music of its kind.  I'm sure I spoke at length before about my adoration of one Nobuo Uematsu but he's not the only one to thank.  The great Koji Kondo, composer to the Zelda series helped create the tone and indeed, the world of Hyrule and beyond.  The fact that the opportunity was afforded to be in attendance to hear musical genius realized by a full orchestra is a highlight enough.

2.  I saw Stephen Totilo and Jason Schreier of Kotaku at my show! They sat one row in front of me but more to the left of me but not too far away that I couldn't hail them.

3.  The music was played absolutely beautifully.  The orchestra sounded better than at Distant Worlds and the acoustics at the Theater at MSG were quite lovely.

4.  The scenes accompanying the music from the various games in the Zelda series was well-thought out and put together.

5.  Ending the Symphony with music from The Mask of Majora? That's a damned plus right there even if it almost felt like an after thought.

6.  Whhhhaaaaa...??!! Conducting the Orchestra with the Wind Waker baton? I see what you did there...

Well-played (and I see what I did there).

7.  I would have rioted had "Lost Woods" not been played.  They're lucky... 

The Lowlamps

1.  This is not so much the music but the Theater at Madison Square Garden.  It's not that nice, which is sad.  It sounded great but it was not that comfortable.

2.  I did not shout out to Totilo and Jason at Kotaku.  I was playing Woobeewoo in that, "I'm shy".  It also meant I did not get to tag them in Streetpass.  It also made me miss Crecente.

3.  The Symphony itself while it sounded fantastic, as H1 rightly observed, it was not as fun.  This was not really the fault of the music selection though maybe that could be part of it but it was very much due to the fact that the musicians did their job and that was to read sheet music.  It was not played with feeling and there was no investment on their part into what was being performed.  At the very least in Distant Worlds the musicians truly had a keen interest in what was going on and the interactions from the crowd.  It made the FF concert that much more lively while this one suffered from a lack of personality.

4.  Musically, the song selections while not...horrendous, there was a lot overlooked and could easily have been included to make it not as somber as it felt at times.  I did not mind the inclusion of many of the Ganondorf battle music but what about the exploration? Some of it was there but not a lot...fantastic dungeon music, forest temples, and even some of the other minor bosses' music was overlooked.  Any piece of boss music (save Ganondorf) from Wind Waker would have made the whole thing so much more entertaining.

It was a fun night overall, except for the fact I failed to get a blasted ocarina at the shop which was a complete mob scene.  It was one thing to not get an ocarina but it sold out right before I could have ordered and sold to some woman who did not even want to really buy one.  ::sigh:: Such is life, I suppose.  And maybe it was Karma paying me back for having the "opportunity" to order a Virtue's Last Reward pre-order bonus thing.  I don't know.  Let's not talk about it.

I think H1 had a decent time and I think it's safe to say these crazy Video Game Symphonies won't be happening again any time soon.  Awww, that kinda makes me sad...Ah well.  Maybe next 25 years...

Awww, friends.

Fellow 3DS Cool Kids Met Via Streetpass: It was probably over 60 and it could have been more too, if not for my not wanting to leave my seat.

Currently listening to: "Magick" by Klaxons

Kimbra and Her Magical Frock in Limbo

It's true.

Kimbra has more than half a song in spite of what many of you clowns may believe.

Not only does she have more than half a song (as featured on Goyte's one-"hit" wonder song that was all the rage this year), but her album is 50 times better than that of the aforementioned Goyte.

It's an album that's actually 50 times better than most but I'll leave the gushing for the end of year review.

Thus, even threatening me with housing her concert at Webster Hall could not deter me.  Webster Hall's not that awful and it certainly is no Terminal 5 which I would have more than likely passed up.

But with TD5, Active Goat T., Alex and H1 in tow, I'm incredibly happy that TD5 and I did not pass up the opportunity to see the fantastic Kimbra.

We began the evening at Kenkas (sorry B.!) and ate a bunch of our favourites but nothing spectacularly strange as with past ventures being that Beetchie was not with me.  I don't think that gives me an excuse for going there without her and I won't tell her that the food was really good that night.

Especially our awesome fries which is fast becoming the only place to eat fries.

After a satisfying meal (and some trauma to the Active Goat's fragile, young mind of the aesthetics on display at Kenkas), we traipsed on over to Webster Hall for the best $20 concert I've ever attended.  In fact, I knew the evening could be nothing but awesome considering that's the cheapest I've ever paid for a concert.

That alone is amazing in itself.

Ushered upstairs, we were met with the sounds of opener The Step Kids.

We've seen some pretty horrendous openers in our time but The Step Kids should not be lumped with the lowest of the low.  They were more middle ground, I suppose.  Musically, they sounded pretty good but they were a bit too much funk and too much on a 70's vibe for my taste.  I mean, what business did these white boys from Connecticut have being so psychedelic, funk?!  It was funny save the forced falsetto of one of the vocalists ever so often.  That was done too much and everything just sort of blended into one song.

They did have an awesome little stage show though with the lights... 

...which you cannot really tell from this picture.  You can be assured that it was cool though.

After exiting stage right, and then brushing past us in the crowd (yeah, the drummer with some girl squeezed his way past us after their set was over), we had a little bit of wait while Kimbra's roadies set up her stage.  It was the point when her second microphone stand was set up complete with her boo boo tambourine that TD5, H1 and I lost it.

Some smoke machines later, a dimming of the lights and the extended opener version of "Limbo" playing over the loud speakers that things got under way.

It was quite the thrilling little builder of anticipation...I know I was excited as it's one of my favourite tracks.

There were lots of purple lights and soon, Kimbra came dancing out and straight into "Limbo", and she was dressed in an outfit that many considered doing for Halloween.  I loved its weirdness and the blast of multiple colours that Kimbra came dolled up in.  Soon, H1 dubbed the giant purple thing draped over her shoulders as "The Magical Frock" and so it shall be remembered from this day forward.

Our time spent with Kimbra felt incredibly short even though she played just about every song from her album but I guess time flies when you're having fun, which is exactly what we did.  We danced, yelled, screamed, cheered and marveled at Kimbra's genuinely excited demeanour.  The girl was so happy, it was too cute for words.

Scary at times, too.

 To recap as we always do, here are the highlights and lowlamps -

The Lowlamps

1.  I was expecting hipsters.  Hipsters are lowlamps for sure but what I was not expecting was probably one of the rudest crowd I have ever encountered.  I don't know what the fans could be categorized as but they were not hipsters.  Hipsters, at the very least, are polite and tend to stand around not doing much.  The jerks at this concert were pushing their way to the front, cutting off a lot of us and standing way too close to us and others in an attempt to get up to the front.  These people exist at all concerts but it was particular horrendous this night.

2.  The Great Herding of Webster Hall.  Marketing or herding, it was awful.  After Kimbra was done, there was a herding situation of epic proportions that had us going down flights of stairs and into a section for "more live music", the bar area (in which we almost lost TD5 because he was very tempted to sit down and have one) and an eventual street escape.  It was ingenious and pure evil at the same time.

The Highlights

1.  Our girl, Kimbra! Her vocal range is nothing short of spectacular.  She sounded great live and even better than on disc (if even possible!) changing up songs just enough to be interesting and not jarring.  Her personality on stage was playful, joyous and again, she was just so darn cute.  I think it's safe to say that TD5, H1 and I can highly recommend seeing her live if anyone is afforded the opportunity.  I really do hope this girl is going to get a lot more exposure than she is being given.

2.  Webster Hall's Sound System.  Everything sounded so incredibly awesome which H1 rightly pointed out at some point during the evening.  It was clear, and fantabulous.

3.  Two Microphones? Kimbra's vocal prowess is so intense that the girl needs two microphones to sing with.  Two.  At the same time.  It's a spectacle.  I say vocal prowess, while others might say she's a wide-mouthed frog.  Same difference?

4.  That outfit.  The purple Magical Frock that completed the outfit was just dynamite.  It wouldn't be a Kimbra concert without some weirdness/artistic madness and insane hand gestures on her part.  At one point the Magical Frock got away from her shoulders which she mentioned too as "having never happened to her before...must be New York". 

1. 5.   "Settle Down".  Apparently, we weren't playing along.  By "we" I meant the fools in the crowd.  We were supposed to be singing along and we didn't (TD5, H1 and I did) but no.  Anyway, she restarted it and the entire performance was the best.
   
   
   The Kimbra at Webster Hall on October 19, 2012 Set List:
   
   
   1.  Limbo
   2.  Posse
   3.  Good Intent
   4.  Plain Gold Ring
   5.  Two Way Street
   6.  Marigold
   7.  Old Flame
   8.  Warrior
   9.  Something in the Way You Are
   10. Settle Down
   11. Cameo Lover
   12. Come Into My Head
   
   
   Encore:
   
   
   13. Withdraw
   14. Call Me
   As you can see from the set list, I got the better song.  Or rather, we had never heard that song before but it was quite the danceable fun song that I cannot wait to get on a follow up cd or something.   I managed to get the better song over H1's.  Heh.  I think I got choked for that at some point.
   
   In closing, (I don't know why my blog post just got messed up - unrelated but I cannot seem to fix it) it was a great night with lots of fun with friends and to Kimbra: Our hearts are already open.
   
   

   

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to little H1 who this day does not get closer to zero.

I hope you like your prezzies and I am sorry for the boring Birthday post this year...what with the broken camera and all.  Yeah...I really should get that sorted.  And fast.

"These Guys are Amaze-Balls"

Amaze-Balls = When the use of "ing" does not aptly express the level of supreme awesome once wishes to convey.

So was the term used to describe The Black Keys by new friends we made on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

And the term shall be used henceforth when needed.

Personally, I would not call them "amaze-balls" myself because while my ticket said I had purchased pit tickets for The Black Keys, in my heart (and as obvious to every unmoving body in that place except for The HOchieS') I was there for Arctic Monkeys.

That's not a discredit to The Black Keys though because they were pretty damned good themselves.

The Low-Lamps:

1.  Again with the crowd.  I was surprised that so few people were there for Arctic Monkeys.  And of the ones that were who just wanted to get to the front of the stage, they were hella' crap.  I suppose they were not there for Arctic Monkeys and couldn't care less to dance or sing along but that was some disappointing and shocking crud, if I do say so.  Oh, hipsters.  You're so fickle, self-righteous and self-indulgent, aren't you? Yeah? Yeah.

Happy H1's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day to all!

On this day, everyone should be celebrating H1's day unless you would like to be given the evil eye.  Such is the fate I met this morning when I needed to be reminded that I had not wished her greetings today.

It was scary for me.

Anyway, everyone's a little bit Irish on St. Patty's Day! This is why we spent our day eating St. Patty's Day Dim Sum.

What's that? You find that sentiment ridiculous and not very Irish of us?

If you don't think about it too much, it makes perfect sense.  Plus I'm hoping the lot of you are so drunk from your own bastardizations of St. Patty's Day activities that every thing I say is a sensible green... Green like the money you're about to give me.  Hooray!

...

If you are reading this while you're sober then please enjoy these dim sum pictures I took at our trip to Aberdeen, a dim sum house located in White Plains.  They're expensive as all hell and it's not the best dim sum I've put into my mouth but they're decent and close enough for me to keep visiting.  I may have spoken about them in the past but I can't recall.

Pork spare rib tips (upper right), soup dumplings (upper left), shrimp dumplings and a pot of tea.  Figure out which is which from that! ...

Valentine's Day at the Hospital and at Kati

It may come as no surprise that Valentine's Day means nothing to The HOchieS, other than our recognizing that it is a horrible, vomit-inducing marketing scheme for a waste of red paper and the gifting of poor quality chocolates.

We don't do much by way of celebrating the day but we do bah humbug it quite a bit.  For instance, I gave H1 a really depressing and disturbing anime box set of Mushi-shi (go watch it for those of you who don't know it! It's uplifting and won't make you cringe or cry.  Honest!).

And she gave me diddly squat.

H-hey...what the Math?!

Newly found bitterness towards H1 aside, we spent our Valentine's Day at the hospital.

Food of Champions

Never chronicled before (at least, I don't think so), I present to you one of my favourite quick time foods that H1 specializes in making.

There's nothing better than spaghetti with vienna sausages a la H1.

Just look at how beautiful it is!

More importantly, it tastes beautiful.  What's in there? There are secret ingredients in here other than the love.

The Great 2011 Frenemies' Visit, Part II: Seminar

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving it rained and put a damper on our plans.  Ha! Sorry, I could not help myself.

The rain was pretty intense but off Clee and I went to meet up with Pandy, Jilly and Pandy Incarnate of Evilness (True story - PIE is wickedness and we love him plenty!), spend time at Nintendo World, eat at Shake Shack and then to drop some culture on Clee's ass at 7 p.m.

The End of Days, Part VI: The Takoyaki Stand, The Best Fries, and a Failed Toy Run. Again.

As one final adieu "until next time, of course!" with Beetchie in the Summer, we went to our old haunts in St. Marks.

H1 and Beetchie are obsessed with takoyaki, as I'm certain I've mentioned before.  What's not to obsess over though? Takoyaki's pretty fabulous what with its gooey, chewy, salty masterful texture and flavour.  We have yet to find another stand that makes it fresh outside of Tokyo but are thankful enough to Beetchie to have discovered this one.

Never you mind the hipsters on the street.

For All Souls' Day

Before I forget, I took a little picture of a Halloween fright planted on H1's window as part of her Halloween decorations this year.

In case you missed it, the poor black cat was not hanging from a noose this Halloween (thank goodness!) but there was another cat sighting.

The scary scene?

A black cat was cleverly waiting by the bird feeder...

See? Smart.

...scaring the sheet out of some birds.

Poor thing.