Lots of Monkeys

My mother called me just now.

Our canary died this morning. Granted, I didn’t see him for the last 6 years, but I remember when he came into my family’s life.

I recall getting ready to sit down at the dining table when there was a sound from the kitchen. Something had run into our screen door with a large thud. My mother opened the screen door and a yellow canary flew into our house. It perched at the top of one of our bookshelves and started chirping in a somewhat agitated manner.

It flew around the house for a few hours, from perch to perch, before finally deciding that the corner bookcase was where it would like to stay. We kept our bedroom doors closed for a couple of weeks, and the canary had full rein of the house. We left food and water out for it, and it left little reminders out for us. We were cleaning quite a bit, and my mother was exasperated that it couldn’t just find one place, “to go poo.” We always knew where it was, as it was most definitely a songbird. Sometimes, it sounded impatient, but most of the time, it sounded like it was just happy to be where it was.

We put up some posters and talked to our neighbors about the canary. Two weeks passed.

When no owners appeared, I had to fashion a rudimentary trap composed of some string and a clothes hamper. After we managed to get it in a cage, we brought it to a vet and made sure it was healthy. He (we found out) passed with a clean bill of health, and we decided to keep him.

I named him “Windfall,” and he became a member of the family. We’d leave the radio on for him to chirp at, and he’d always sing more whenever one of us was in the room. He was cute.

He had been sick the last few months, and visits to the vet and the medication were only doing so much. This morning, my mother found that he had passed at some point in the night.

Since he was already singing when he decided to enter our house, that means he was at least a year old. I’d place him as around 7 or 8 years of age. Canaries can live up to 10 years.

I feel bad that he’s gone, and my parents grew quite attached to him after my brother and I left the house–but I’m glad that my parents were there to enjoy his company and his song for the last 6 years.

There’s an album you should be aware of.

Also, Shaolin Soccer got released. So if you’re one of the 3 cities that’s playing it, (it’s limited release, but I couldn’t find where) I suggest you go see it, even though it’s dubbed and they’ve edited the hell out of it. Or, you could just watch the trailer, since they give everything away. Everything.

My Timbuk2 bags have served me well over the years, but as of late, my left shoulder’s been complaining that the right doesn’t do anything all day but answer the phone. So, in my continuing effort to spend more money than sense on things that I don’t need, I’m looking at backpacks.

I just wanted something that let me carry my PowerBook and accoutrements, my current reading material, iPod, a bottle of water, snacks, my GBA SP, a couple of notebooks, digital camera, and whatever DVDs I happen to pick up on the way home from Best Buy. You know, the essentials.

The one thing I need always happens to be the thing that I leave behind. So I take it all.

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started shopping. Gone are the days when a manufacturer could just slap some nylon straps onto a bag and call it a backpack. Now they have to have value added.

Case in point, JanSport. They have a crazy animation for the Jansport Euphonic up. As far as the flash animation is concerned–“Well, you see, when a pair of headphones and a backpack love each other very much. . .” I can’t even begin to imagine the board meeting for that particular ad pitch. Jansport’s also sunk a lot of tech into their regular backpacks, such as air filled gel straps, and suspension foam for their laptop carrying models.

I’ve got a backpack right now that can hold my laptop, but not much else. Browsing through eBags, I find the four backpacks that I’d like to check out.

First, from Nike, and rating very high on the stealthy-and-sexy category is the Nike Epic. There’s also the Epic 2, which rates very high on the “Electric Boogaloo” scale of naming conventions.

Jansport also has two models that I’d like to check out. There’s the Razor Back, and the Syncline. Sure, I don’t carry around an ice axe everyday, but it’s nice to know that I’ve got the straps to carry one.

I’d still like to find a brick and mortar retailer so I can try either one of them on for a comfort evaluation.

Not high on my list of things to wear is Ogio’s Flight Vest. This is an accessory that asks the question, “Am I luggage? Or am I clothing?” Three pounds for an unladen vest, that’s not even bulletproof–pardon me, bullet resistant.

Whatever I decide, I know that my best option can be summed up in three, simple, one syllable words: Carry. Less. Shit. Stuff.

I think the movie CASSHERN could be very interesting. It looks like a fairly thoughtful sci fi piece about the dangers of cloning and Artificial Intelligence that just happens to have a lone ninja fighting a robot army. At least, that’s what I get from the trailer.

Contents: Retro futuristic styling, amazing looking CG, and no english whatsoever.

Also, be warned, there is some violence against robots in this trailer.

I’ve started revisiting the pulpy fantasy novels that I read back in grade school. Say what you will about R.A. Salvatore, his writing gets the job done and his stories are paced fairly well. He’s placed his characters in the Forgotten Realms subset of Dungeons and Dragons, and his first novel, The Crystal Shard, is very quick reading. 15 years later, after watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, (still haven’t read the books) I am forced to admit that the story has more than a few, “similarities” with the source material. Then again, what doesn’t?

Nevermind that, I’m going to read the whole trilogy. It’s the origin of one Drizzt Do’Urden, one of the most popular characters, ever. Besides, Drizzt is the man. Er, drow. Whatever.

The constant combat and straightforward stories of the intellectual property almost begged to be turned into some form of electronic entertainment. Wizards of the Coast promptly did, and thankfully, they lucked out and got Black Isle Studios (may they rest in peace) and Snowblind to develop their PC and Console games, respectively. Of note is Drizzt’s appearance as a secret character in almost all of the video games (PC and console) that are based on the Forgotten Realms property. He’s a really popular guy.

After my fantasy kick, I’m probably going to head off into Sci-Fi, and I want to pick up some Asimov. I’ve got a two volume extremely heavy collection of his short stories, and I like his ideas, although his writing could be a little more exciting.

Speaking of excitement, (and being careful about what you wish for) there’s the Will Smith summer vehicle movie based on I, Robot. I have to say, I’m not looking forward to this as an adaptation. I’m expecting a “creative reimagining” ^* of Asimov’s work. Nice of them to mention him on the website, too.

* See also: bastardization