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Wanza’s Wicked Temptation , one wild bitch of a hot sauce

Posted by haltse on January 31, 2007 – 6:58 pm

Filed under recipes, reviews

CaJohns Fiery Foods: Wanza’s Wicked Temptation – 5oz.

Enough insanity already,.. there’s a new hot sauce for me, oh that’s bull. I can still see both of them:) I find it hard to explain to people why I like inflicting pain on myself, but it’s my legal high, no running , no adultery ( hard when I’m not married) and this is a hottie Erin will accept:) or a myriad of other vices that cause endorphin rushes, like running , or shoplifting.. why do the former if no one is chasing you? Anyway check out this fun site for more in the world of oral pleasure/pain delivery

More heat

Pan’s Labyrinth no trip to Arcadia would be complete with out a little panic

Posted by haltse on January 26, 2007 – 2:37 pm

Filed under Culture-internet, media, reviews

The wolf wanted to eat a little more of Red riding hood than the tale lets on, Cock robin wasn’t just killed, it was a contract job and do you really think the three little pigs had a platonic relationship? Anyway the term fairy tail in UNISTAT often refers to the ending, the happily ever after, the good triumphs over evil and the big bad wolf is hanged from the neck until televised. Personally I prefer the one about the gingerbread house though I am sure that Hansel and Gretel should have been booked on charges of 350 degree murder but I digress.

Often a mark of a really good movie for me is what I would call my “lost highway” effect which relates to a quote from David Lynch’s “lost highway”

FRED I like to remember things my own way.

AL What do you mean by that?

FRED How I remember them. Not necessarily the way they happened.

I.e my memories of what I thought I saw are often enough to not revisit films I considered powerful at the time and it’s odd that the one of views that leave an impression and I have a feeling this is one of those movies. Firstly it’s in Spanish set around the end of the Spanish civil war and while there’s no wicked witch the sadistic father figure way beats any apple wielding tart , doesn’t just beat her he bludgeons her and cuts off body part, for the role of evil in uniform. Escape is always the safest place .. this dissident pearl of a child is jammed between her pregnant mother’s need for security at the expense of hers. Let’s have the movie sit a while and discuss it later.

Ole goat boy was glorious IO PAN !

General update. Kid, recorder, Torture, lame food at Earl’s

Posted by haltse on January 24, 2007 – 8:52 pm

Filed under Dobhran, Family, podcasting, Podcasting Tech, reviews

Finally, at long last, after a difficult and complicated pregnancy Quick Recorder was brought into the world and is a pretty way of creating the basic building block of podcast. More on the work blog but for now I have some housekeeping.
Dobhie the cute. New video is up at Podcast.john-paxton.com and has him wandering around a park on a happier day. Today is not happy he’s got a double ear infection, more time of work for Erin I just couldn’t leave today which is horrible feeling:(

Maybe I’m just looking for it but representations of torture seem to be increasing within the entertainment sphere as a handy little plot device, not happy about it.

Today’s meal at Earl’s wasn’t exactly torture but on three occasions now I have had a dish in transition. Their curry has gone from vindaloo to , are you sure this isn’t just isn’t a sauce from the store? Today’s attempt was on par with Pataks sauces, I like those but maybe restaurants should aim a little higher. I really used to like this place but it’s sad to see a slide so completely into the mediocre. Previously the people I’ve been with have on the whole experienced one meal failure per 4-6 people. Scottsdale triangle. …

A rant is coming soon. Seemingly Janet the governer is into speed cameras for reasons that ring hollow on anything other than revenue generation. In short whenever somone refers to law enforcer rather than peace officer I thin you really get which side of the state their bread’s buttered on.

Today I’m playing the role of the anti windmill

Posted by haltse on January 22, 2007 – 11:19 pm

Filed under Erin, General, reviews

Today worked in mysterious ways. An almost natural double act that despite the lack of collusion came out with the result that made sense , I probably could be good at politics if I put my mind to it.. oh wait then I’d have to have Erin kick me..

So what else. We saw Pan’s Labyrinth which I am about 1/2 way through a “review” on but the upshot is that it’s very good and worth viewing. It’s not a date movie unless your both goths ( shocking generalisation #45)

Ah ha! A new Indian restaurant, Tandoori village, finally opened on 43rd and Bell road and woo hoo it’s good. Note I didn’t say excellent since I am biased to the UK bastardized curries of my youth but these guys are reasonably priced, don’t have the stand offish nature of many Indian eateries in the US where it’s almost like eating in a red wall papered funeral home In common with all new restaurants the menu had more typos than was necessary and I’m not sure that literacy is even require in print shops these days. The Vindaloo was pretty close to how I make it traditionally, the Tikka Masala Erin had was way way nicer than I make it. Pakora nicely spiced but of the loose type ah well I can’t have everything. No liquor licence either making it a carry out that I can carry in

And the anti windmill? More of an anti climax seemingly the bumper on the pinball table of life hit the tilt a few times and rescued the ball before it was irretrievably lost. ( If even I know to what I am referring to in 2 years from now I’ll be surprised:)

Children of Men: And your state too!

Posted by haltse on January 17, 2007 – 9:26 am

Filed under Culture-internet, Family, political, rants, reviews

Yes there are spoilers.

Children of Men is bound to end up one of my favorite films of the year. In common with many of my favorites the ending’s ambiguous, the heroic meet unfitting ends at the hands of unworthy all while the true authors of the society they inhabit shuffle through existence , life having been eradicated from their souls long past. The movie’s about life. Set in a near dystopian future the planet’s women are barren. The youngest person on the planet is 21 and if you can think of all the worst behaviours the species could get up to when there’s no “for the children” to rally behind.

It’s a brutal realization of what UK totalitarianism would look like though spliced in with enough visual cues to tie it to more contemporary conflicts which is where this film hit me the hardest. I’m actually being forced to pay for this treatment of other people , the more money I make the more it goes to create misery in the world. Fine it’s taken by force but the attempt to accumulate more, ergo paying my masters off, is something I do have a control over it’s a rather large pickle to digest I’m afraid.

What if … A girl gets pregnant?

The baby belongs to the world? The first thing that occurs in the movie is the report of the death of the youngest member of the race due mainly to events arising from the celebrity of being such which presages the fate of this infant, let alone being born to an immigrant. They wont want an immigrant baby, the anti state forces want to use the baby as a figurehead and the evils of collectivism at both ends of the spectrum are battling to be the first to extinguish the first baby born in over 20 years by their sheer ideological stupidity ( that part isn’t from the future)

The apparatus and visual crunchiness of the near future is superb work, understated ,and CGI has been used to get out of the way of the story in a way that’s just breathtaking.

Side note: Harkins Theatres really have to get their act together on their small screens. This is the second movie in a row that has had severe disruption on screen for most of the picture ,the print 1/3 of the right had scratches all the way through, this was at Arrowhead, the time before was Scottsdale 101 where someone can’t focus They were good on both occasions about refunding the money but it’s incredibly sad that their core competence , ie all they can offer me that my house cant is space, better projection and sound and a shared experience with a large audience. The tickets are all one price which is interesting when you think that you pay more money to get into the Capri, bigger screen , better sound.. yet the same money to get into the smaller crappier outlying screens.

Rock Bottom, Arrowhead, ( near phx az)

Posted by haltse on January 7, 2007 – 3:11 pm

Filed under Family, reviews

We’ve enjoyed may meals at Rock Bottom though I have to say the Saturday special , wasn’t. A steak chili burger that maybe one tablespoon of chili on it, a patty that had been medium at one stage in the cooking process was on the same quality level as Sam’s club sirloin burgers to the point I wonder just how close the supply lines are.. If those bbq beans are “home made” then someone’s mother has been lying to them. I’m going back to my regular entree there next time I hope this was just someone having a really cheap day.

Another lesson to check your bills. Babyjellybeans.com silent partner?

Posted by haltse on January 7, 2007 – 9:54 am

Filed under Culture-internet, Dobhran, rants, reviews

This is fun. For a project I checked out a site on a trial that I’m damn sure I cancelled within a few days because frankly the service offered for $9 is way over the top for the minimal resources provided and the answer to the question that I was investigating was fulfilled in 10 minutes of set up. ( i.e does it do anything interesting..)

Get this a generous offer · 1 year domain registration – $30 which is so funny I just hurt myself laughing. One thing that I find odd is that mails from the company re the billing were not sent, how odd is that?

Anyway this is a crappy situation for customer service since it’s really my responisibility to ensure no one, even if their practices appear to be a little sharp in the non notification of billing ( given the pricing structure and the feel of the site it seems to be playing on the less sophisticated web user ( ok that’s why I am upset, it’s pride at having been made a fool off:) )

The Sunday Ramble Radio shack, Ill ,

Posted by haltse on December 17, 2006 – 8:28 pm

Filed under General, reviews

In bed late, kid at grandparents and I’m still mopingly ill. Losing voice, croaking and getting out of breath. Lovely time. Radio Shack seem to have been closing down a lot of stores of late and .. well I think I know why. They only stock as “web only ” the last few items that I wanted from them. Here’s the thing Radio Shack’s prices are not that great, they are however good at getting you out of trouble by stocking a lot of leads, connectors and electronics that you’re not going to get at your average.. well anywhere. I go online , oops part is available everywhere cheaper the ONLY thing Radio Shack can do for me is put it in my hand TODAY which at least for me was their one true calling. Now, now it’s selling tacky add ons for cell phones and RC crap.

Triggering the light, fantastic? The 1911SC Smith and Wesson

Posted by haltse on December 13, 2006 – 12:53 pm

Filed under Erin, firearms, reviews

This weekend saw the purchase of two new boomsticks for the house. Firstly though one of the funniest gun comparison charts I’ve seen re the AK,AR and a Mosin Nagant.

I bought an old SKS and ammo for a happy price, specially since more ammo was included in the deal than I expected. Erin decided it was time to get something a little more refined, substantial and just all round fluffier than her polymer 9mm ( A SW9VE , reviewed here) and bought the fairly recently released 1911 SC. A commander sized 1911 with a Scandium frame. This has a full size grip, 4 and 1/4″ barrel and for a first trip out shot pretty damn close to the fullsize 1911 I have ( though with less style;) ) It comes with two magazines, if your problems are larger than 16 rounds you should be shopping in the rifle aisle, and during the first 84 rounds not a single fault. I don’t like the safety much it’s not as overt as my other one, ie thunk! rather than snick. Sadly it has a huge pain in the ass “fault” when disassembling it where holding down the beaver tail can pop the thus preventing reassembly without first taking out the safety which is utterly bullshit. It’s part of the safety mechanism , very safe, can’t get it back together. On the whole an excellent carry gun which I will enjoy stealing .

On The Border (of being) “Mexican Food” Tatum blvd Phoenix

Posted by haltse on November 30, 2006 – 11:59 pm

Filed under Bad CS, Family, General, reviews

On The Border Mexican Food Restaurant Grill Margaritas

It saddens me to say that this isn’t the worst Mexican restaurant we’ve eaten at, that’s on Oahu near Waikiki beach, but it’s close. Damn it we had to drive by Arriba’s to get to this place. I had a chimichanga that was a little anemic, though what there was of the filling was ok, beans tasteless, rice looked the part but as spicy as your average UK meal involving boiled meat and root vegetables. Erin’s Fajita salad was similarly lack luster with all the appearance of being tasty yet bland chicken. Usually, unless there’s an attempt at “chefing” as opposed to cooking I’ll order a basic dish ( I don’t shoot the chef though and trust me these guys are safe from Agent Sands) for the first time out and if the beans/rice suck.. no return.
It feels like aliens, space ones, are running the place and learned cooking from pictures. It’s certainly a mistake we won’t be repeating.

The name’s, Blonde, who gives a rats arse if he’s blonde?

Posted by haltse on November 20, 2006 – 12:21 am

Filed under Culture-internet, media, political, reviews

>>> Spoilers.

Ah Mr Craig,

Thank you for returning that effete English wanker back into something that licenced to kill rather than licenced to cut hair. While the movie “Casino Royale” has surprisingly little cheese, I’m going to call the 180 in a fuel truck cheesy to near Mission Impossible standards , there’s maybe just a tiny bit too much bread left over but MMMM that is a tasty burger.

Apart from being a tad overlong it suffers from people that mistake a camera man with parkinsons and rapid editing for fight choreography. Hot cars, Hot women and average weapons I’m not convinced he’d be touting a p99 Walther but it’s used nicely (if just a tad WTF , I’ve really tried to blow up gas cylinders with a bullet ( S’ok have a scrapyard and it was “safe” and didn’t succeed I’m relatively sure 9mm or a .40 would t cut it)

Hell it kicks arse where the others couldn’t reach ass , or in Dalton’s case bottom: )

So what else? well there’s a really cute pic

Lord of bore? Quick Review

Posted by haltse on October 21, 2006 – 10:31 pm

Filed under Culture-internet, firearms, reviews

Lord of War (Widescreen)

I’ll usually watch movies that have an opinion contrary to mine without too much fuss, unless it’s been telegraphed as being totally divorced from reality ( Michael Moore’s “bowling” comes to mind.) This one I was expecting not to be bored in, it’s guns, chases, explosives and .. maybe in a slow motion way it is. While the movie ultimately agrees that the “merchants of death” are nation states belonging to the security council ( oh there’s a shocker ) it totally fails for me in the last third. Fundamentally there’s
something missing in the logic when seeing a gang of men with machetes hack up a young woman and child means that not selling weapons to them was somehow adding insult to injury. There’s a sad and unavoidable fact larger numbers of people control those without the means to damage the larger group, some call it anarchy I prefer to think of it as the natural expression of situational democracy. If they really cared , arm the helpless. Oops I’m now beyond the pale of the humanist groups but seemingly they get off
on the idea that a dead women with her panties around her ankles in an alley is morally superior to one explaining to the cops why two guys have holes in them:) It’s easier to explain in pictures;)

This man does an excellent job,

Zoom H4 recorder. Initial impressions.

Posted by haltse on October 10, 2006 – 11:29 pm

Filed under Culture-internet, General, Podcast and Portable Media Expo, podcasting, Podcasting Tech, reviews

Came home to a box from BSW. The Zoom H4 had arrived. I have read the manual once all that follows is an initial impression only. I saw the demo one at the Podcast Expo and had BSW send me one ( in exchange for cash and $20 off coupon ) Definetely a company I will be doing more business with.

Good: Pretty good stereo on the inbuilt mics when the compression is turned off. When it’s got the pop shield on and about 4 inches away it’s pretty damn good I’ll be carrying it to meetings over the coming weeks ( not at work so don’t worry) to see if I can use it as a back up to boards
The mounting bracket it comes with fits on a standard mike stand ( necessary .. it pics up handling noise like a motherforker. Runs on AA cells, no panic when the inbuilt battery dies
Access to monitor for record to recording falls naturally in the handheld grip for me.
price. $299 for a recorder, audio interface and an “effects” unit
Phantom power , drove my mikes no problem , preamps don’t seem too bad.

Bad: All the effects are noisy and you hear most of the phase type effects with no input , others you hear a heterodyne like whine ( no that’s not me)
Build quality around the memory card / battery flap.
Comes with 128mb card, I know the $299 is a damn good price to offer this at in relation to the competition but come on, add the cost of a reasonable size of recording time into the price and drop the effects 12 mins at CD quality , er thanks.

Clickwheel, not responsive, doesn’t seem to seat on center clicks all the time
no immediate access to gain controls other than gross hi/mid/lo the access to gain,
User interface is a pain, the 4 track section is certainly interesting though swapping effects in and out and configuring them per track, just ick. Maybe if the device can be remotely controlled by a pc this would rock.

Undecided. Not sure if it’s noisy in general or if it’s the headphone amp in particular going to transfer it to pc and have a listen over the monitors , turning on the compresser is it’s excuse to ramp
Turning on the compresser ramps up the noise level, doesn’t seem configurable in two track mode ( this may be ignorance on my behalf and I’m going to look at it

More , and possibly sound samples as I play with it.

Vacation 2006 Hawaii _ Transport Outback and Sebring Convertible

Posted by haltse on September 17, 2006 – 10:31 pm

Filed under Culture-internet, Erin, General, Hawaii, reviews

I’ve already dealt with the “joy” of commercial air travel So let’s start from the ground up. We took Supershuttle to and from the airport which lead to the classic “cabbie” personality that the UK sends up as the atypical man on the street, the mobile philosopher prone to considered opinions like “it’s your darkies innit?” or “hangin’ too good for ‘em” Maybe driving a public hire vehicle provides an insight into the world’s cultures that the general population are ill afforded by paying attention in school? Service was on time for pickup , annoyingly delayed for return trip.

On arrival we found that the hotel didn’t have a shuttle ( or many of the other things that the site claimed) ,that rental co’s can’t pick you up from the airport and that hailing a cab would be the best choice. Cab = limo which is not that bad a way to start off your trip:) price = same as a cab. First duty to was to secure the rental car from Enterprise which was meant to be either a Maxima or a Charger yet turned into a Subaru Outback.

When I last considered a car purchase, a moment of economic weakness and insanity that should be avoided , the Outback was high on the list of purchase options. The reason I didn’t get one is twofold. I’m not happy with the fuel efficiency and price took it too close to a diesel jeep when you take the “incentives” masses on the Jeep side / none on the Subaru at the time I made the best choice and bought neither:D Anyway I didn’t really drive on vacation so most of my observations are from the passenger seat. Apart from a tire destructively blowing out, the difference between pssssssssssssssss flump and bang,whoosh scrape the car was great. Sadly the tire can’t have blown out since it was new ( claims enterprise) the jack can’t have collapsed under the weight of the car ( not just collapse but snap in half) so how we ended up stuck in a remote area for 2 hours in the blazing heat till we could secure a working jack ( 5 trucks had none) is beyond me.
positives: Solid, good pick up in city traffic, tight turning circle (really usefull for the Oahu car parks) rugged interior with many practical storage opportunities that actually are usable rather than cute.. VW beetle owners will recognise the latter problem.

Negatives: supplied jack is dangerous and unsuited to the task, spare wheel is not full size,

All in all this vehicle rocks, I know of two people that had nasty accidents within these , one from the side and one head-on in both cases heavier vehicles smashed the shit out of the Subarus and they walked away. (your accident may vary:D )

After the tire destructed we limped it back on the donut where we were given an “upgrade” to a Sebring convertible. The only feature of this car is that it’s a convertible. Underpowered, massive turning circle, blind spots a plenty with the roof up, utterly shitty traction trying to get up out the parking garage, crappy suspension on anything other than a smooth surface. It’s cheap, obviously so, and without the top coming down would be returned as a piece of shit. It’s an upgrade from walking.. not much else. There are far nice convertibles out there for a reasonable price now that it’s maybe time to put this one to sleep.

Parking near Waikiki? Sucks. Hotels charge 10-15 a night for non guaranteed parking, i.e you may have to use the lot next door, or the one next to that. Most of the parking lots are not well suited to anything other than a medium sized car but that doesn’t deter the people with suv’s:) truth be told you may not need a car for most of the “attractions” i.e if you want to be shown the island rather than discover it most of the companies pick you up, supply the gear/ food, and drop you back off. Though I would suggest walking after many of the exceedingly keen meals, if possible.

Like all tourist holes Waikiki is full of people that can’t ride scooters that hire them regardless, watch out you may miss one of these annoying gits;) On the whole roads are good, they get a little more interesting in the North but the worst hazard really appears to be the low low roofs on the underground parking and the “fuck the suv” width of these.. ( wow I hope this picks up soon.. It’s sending me to sleep:)

Vacation 2006 Hawaii , Oahu . Reviews, abuse and out of the way places to store the bodies of ticket touts

Posted by haltse on September 16, 2006 – 5:40 pm

Filed under Culture-internet, Erin, Family, General, Hawaii, reviews

Hawaii’s Official Tourism Site — Travel info for your Hawaii vacation

Rather than post that I’m headed out for an extended period please come by and take all the possessions here’s the announcement. This year’s vacation, one I thought I would never take, was a trip to the Islands , though we only set foot on one, of Hawaii. Rather than jump into a linear “Galt’s length” piece I’m breaking it all up into little chunks the kind of little chunks I want to produce every time I see TSA staff.

So without further ado here’s the big picture.

We left Sept 7th and returned on the 15th , direct flights both ways,the threat level was elevated ,which I am sure is a mauvy shade of pinky russet, resulting in the BS treatment I’ve railed against for years (prior to 911 too) were the state infantalises adults for their own protection. No shoes, no belt sounds like prison, checks for toe-nail bombs? and our current favorite no liquids ( I do wonder what what occur if you tried to get a block of ice through). Even though Tatp and I really suggest you wander over to a recent Garrison Keilor piece

..This way, if some guy in a burnoose sets up a chemistry lab in row 24 and mixes hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid and acetone in a big beaker that is packed in 15 pounds of dry ice to keep it cool, and cooks up some triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, the passengers will be able, in the several hours it will take him to make the deadly explosive, to bring him under control, assuming the fumes haven’t knocked Ahmed out…

which nicely illustrates the assinine nature of liquid free flight. My cpap machine was swabbed for explosives , our luggage opened and not securely repacked and the condescending bitch on the way out of Hawaii just added to my overall animosity at these “guardians of freedom”. Suggestion: let the airlines decide what security they need.

Note I never am anything other than respectful to them in person they just seem to forget that it’s a two way street. Flying sucks more than it used to. The inability to get a drink when you want one is laughable, you have to buy your food onboard (since you can’t really bring on anything that has a paste or liquid on it ) and this time they ran out early. I mean really early not only do these ass clowns have a natural monopoly , a TSA enforced monopoly atop that they had enough food for under half the plane. At $5 a sandwich, cheaper than Starbucks, you would think an industry with serious issues making money without a Gov subsidy wouldn’t miss such an obvious stream.

Anyway nothing new in all of the above, just the price of doing business.

Coming up :

reviews: Subaru outback, Chrysler Sebring and general driving.

The Ottermanempire.com