Celebrity Sightings - Castle Special Edition

For all of Friday, our neighborhood was home to the cast and crew of ABC's Castle. I don't watch much television, so when I say that I am a regular Castle watcher, it means something. Today was the final shoot of the season, so the scenes they shot today will be appearing in the season finale.

The cast and crew were especially nice, as they had pretty much invaded our neighborhood for the last couple of days, taking up street parking with their prop and equipment trucks. However I got the feeling that even if they weren't on location in someone's backyard, they still would have been nice. I met and talked to several of the crew who were kind enough to chat with me about the show, the industry, and their jobs. Everybody had a story, and they were all interesting to talk to.

And we did get to meet the two stars of the show, Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion. They seemed genuinely pleased to greet us, and were kind enough to sign for us. I had my copy of Firefly signed by Nathan Fillion, and Sister C had Stana Katic sign her copy of Stiletto. Was Stana Katic ever surprised by that. For those who don't know, Stiletto was one of her earlier starring roles. It is an enjoyable film, and someday I'll get around to writing a review for it. Nathan Fillion was even kind enough to take a picture with me and Sister C:

As for what they filmed, I don't really want to spoil it, but here's a little preview: They visit the ******** house, and ********* him while his *** **** are ****ing ******. Oh, and Beckett wears her red jacket again. Oops, I've said too much.

Thanks to the cast and crew of Castle. The show is great, and I look forward to checking out the season finale on May 17.

Crazy in Los Angeles

When you live in a city like Los Angeles, you see your share of crazy people. Honestly, you have to be a little bit delusional to live here.

One time while working at Mail Boxes, Etc., a man in sunglasses came in requesting assistance, so my coworker attended to his needs. A few minutes later, the man stated in a voice loud enough for everyone in the store to hear that he didn't like my coworker's aura. My coworker wasn't being a douche or anything like that, and I felt that he dealt with the situation rather gracefully, not coming back with any anger and just letting the guy walk out. We had no idea what the matter was about. A few minutes later, though, the man in the sunglasses returned and apologized to my coworker, giving him a hug. Now in almost any other city with a few exceptions (New York, San Francisco, New Orleans) this would be aberrant behavior, but at the time while I felt it was strange, I wasn't particularly shocked. After all, the man had said aura, so he was dealing on a spiritual level. My assessment: SoCal crazy.

Another time while I was attending college, I was taking the bus home when a lady got on and started arguing with the bus driver. Like, loud, cursing-arguing, and right from the get go. If you've ever ridden the bus, you know the bus drivers don't take no shit. She had a heavy accent too, yelling, "You fargin' sunnovbitch! You sunnovbitch!" The bus driver couldn't kick her off but he did give her an equally good tongue lashing, and the whole time I kept hoping she didn't stop and stand near me. My assessment: Crazy-crazy.

These are pretty much both ends of the spectrum here. Everybody else falls somewhere in between. And me? I'm a good deal of both, just for good measure.

Celebrity Sightings - Two-fer

This celebrity sightings is political. Back in 2001, Brother G's senior class took a trip to D.C. for the inauguration of a certain unpopular president who shall go nameless. We went to pick him up from the airport and were waiting at the airbridge. (Remember, this is months before 9/11.)

Since his class flew economy, they wouldn't get off until the end, but who else did we end up seeing? First was John Lithgow, of Third Rock From the Sun fame (or Harry and the Hendersons, if that's your thing). He's pretty tall, but then I knew that already. But then a few people later, there was Busta Rhymes. And he's also really tall. That, I did not know. He looks so small in the music videos.

So there you have it, John Lithgow and Busta Rhymes both partied together at the inauguration for a certain unpopular president. Woo-hah, they got you all in check.

Yokai of the Week - Amikiri

Amikiri is a chimera of sorts, sharing the physical traits of various creatures: it has a serpentine body, a lobster's exoskeleton and claws, and the bill of a bird. And above all, it can fly! When no one is around, amikiri cuts up mosquito nets and other nets hung out to dry. Perhaps it's a distant relative of kamikiri?

Yokai Masterpiece #4 - Amikiri - colored chalk on poured concrete.

Officially, this is masterpiece #4, as I have two other unrevealed pieces from my original yokai series. Unfortunately this masterpiece is impermanent.

Buta no Kakuni

Dinner was a late night affair tonight, because I made buta no kakuni. Buta no kakuni is pork belly steamed and braised/boiled in a sweet soy sauce. And it takes four hours to make, and I only got home from the market at 6pm!

Pork belly is a relatively inexpensive cut of pork that is delicious to eat depending on how it is cooked. It has an extra thick layer of skin and fat that when cooked long enough, turns to gelatin.

For kakuni, you have to parboil for three minutes, steam for 2½ hours, and boil it for an hour. But if you follow all of the steps closely, you end up with a piece of pork that is ultra tender and ultra tasty.

Here's a picture of a piece that had a nipple on it. It was delicious.

Ghost Curse

I have spent a great deal of time reading ghost stories and studying ghosts, so I don't think it's too much to assume that a lot of hauntings result from traumatic deaths. Yet it's interesting in many hauntings how mundane most ghost sightings are. Even battlefield ghosts tend to be seen and not heard, and generally the sound of fighting is somewhat nondescript. What amazes me though, is how little you hear about angry, cursing ghosts. Angry ghosts are fairly common, but not particularly cursing. If I was fighting for my life, I'd probably be cursing.

Some might argue it's a difference in eras. Most history would have you believe that people were more genital (Ed. note: I originally mis-wrote this as "gentile," when I meant "genteel," so I decided to correct it as "genital" because, hell, what the hey?) in times past, but I don't believe that to always be the case. The American western frontier was occupied by many single men, and wherever there are single men, there is cursing. And there were enough gun fights resulting in fatalities that there should be angry, cursing, ghostly gunmen.

Perhaps the ghosts didn't know they were going to die and weren't prepared to swear. While possible, that couldn't always be the case. A gangster getting gunned down by G-men would most certainly know what was coming. And I don't think he'd have very kind words in that situation.

It'll be interesting to see if future ghosts take on more of the attitude of this era—and I wouldn't see why not considering that if someone dies now, they will always be from this time. That being the case, maybe there will be more swearing ghosts. Just once I'd like to read about a ghost that yells out "motherfudger."