I think it’s time to head to the beach and go fly a kite now.

“In summer I can taste the salt in the sea
There’s a kite blowing out of control on a breeze” -

I haven’t been paying attention to singers from Australia since Kasey Chambers. So I’m always happy to come across something new. Well, at least it’s new to me.

Kate has a such a beautiful and unique voice. This song is both relevant and honest to me. Check out more of Kate’s songs .

The Last Day on Earth was first released 2009 in Australia. Kate Miller-Heidke is a singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. Although classically trained, she has followed a career in alternative pop music. She is signed to Sony Australia. - source Wikipedia.

Looking forward to getting her CD soon.

The Rocket, a movie set in modern day Laos is directed by Kim Mordaunt. Mordaunt also made the 2007 documentary , which is about the unexploded cluster bombs still left in Laos.

The movie has only been shown at select film festivals around the world. And winning a few awards too. It recently won Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film’s young leading actor, Sitthiphon Disamoe, received Best Actor honors for his role as Ahlo.

The producer of The Rocket, Sylvia Wilczynski adds that “The film deals with topical themes such as a family who are displaced from their home by a hydro-electric dam development, and impoverished kids who collect those bombs.”

The Sydney Film School gives a good summary of the story:

“The Rocket is about a boy who is believed to bring bad luck to everyone around him, who leads his dysfunctional family and a couple of ragged misfits through Laos to find a new home. After a calamity-filled journey through a land scarred by the legacy of war, to prove he’s not cursed he builds a giant rocket to enter the most lucrative but dangerous competition of the year: the Rocket Festival.”

The film was shot in Laos and Thailand and features local village people as extras. Thai casting director Tanawat Punya auditioned children in schools, markets, temples, drama and youth groups and on the streets to play Ahlo. They casted 10 year-old Sitthiphon (“Ki”) Disamoe who lived rough on the streets until he was adopted. They then cast 8 year-old Loungnam Kaosainam, who plays his friend Kia. Loungnam was born and grew up in Vientiane and is involved in a local drama group. Ahlo’s mom is played by Australian Lao actress Alice Keohavong.

I look forward to watching this movie when it gets released in the U.S.

We went to visit Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden a few weeks back. It was still too early to see all the tulips in full bloom.

The tulip garden was named in honor of the once queen of the Netherlands. For the Dutch, tulips became a symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Nice pastel tulip color.

Pink Icelandic poppies.

A view of Golden Gate bridge. It’s to be noted that Golden Gate bridge will no longer have real people collecting toll now. It’s going to be all-electronic tolling by end of March. Drivers who don’t have FasTrak can pay a one-time fee at a kiosk before or after the toll plaza. Or they can pay by mail after a camera photographs the license plate and sends a bill to the registered address.

And here is more info about Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden as noted by S.F. Parks & Rec:

“The Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, planted just below the Dutch Windmill, features thousands of tulips interspersed with Icelandic poppies, which burst into glorious flower in March and April.”

Address:
John F Kennedy Dr & Great Hwy , S.F., CA

Cat lovers in London will soon have their own cat cafe.  Entrepreneur Lauren Pears, 30 years old, was able to raise more than $151,000 through project-funding website Indiegogo. She is currently looking for space and will have the cafe opened up in a few months. The cafe idea is based on the popular Japanese cat cafe.

I wonder if the coffees are served up like this?  Photo via CoffeeStencil.com

Lauren’s already found 10-15 cats from the animal shelter to staff the cafe. She’s also received 300 prospective job applicants and more are coming in each day. She plans to charge about $7 per hour for customers to enjoy coffee in the company of cats. Or in the company of other cat lovers.

Lauren will have a volunteer program so people who can’t afford the cover charge can actually come in overnight and look after the cats. For hygienic reasons, the cats are to be kept out of the kitchen.

Vienna, Austria also had their first cat cafe open up last year and it seems to be a hit among locals and tourists. Cafe Neko (”neko” means cat in Japanese). The cafe was opened by Vienna resident Takako Ishimitsu, a 47-year-old woman originally from Nagoya, Japan, who moved to Vienna some 20 years ago.

If there was a cat cafe near where I lived, I would definitely check it out. Although I already have enough cats in my life, I wouldn’t mind having coffee with a few new cats.

BBC News Report on Youtube here - Vienna cat cafe with strict no dog policy.

I just found out that Huell Howser, host of “California’s Gold” passed away last Sunday. His presence on PBS will be missed by his viewers.

Howser’s Production company mentions that “California’s Gold” is one of the longest running series about California ever produced. The success and popularity of the show helped to launch six additional series about life in California, including “Road Trip with Huell Howser, and “California’s Golden Parks”.

Huell Howser would go around to visit historical places, visit small family farms and business, state parks and other wonders found only in California. And every place he visited brought him much enthusiasm and joy. His style of hosting the show was very simple and genuine.

This is one of my favorite scene of a visit to avocado farm in southern California… and the avocado eating dog. And Heull said “their dog has the shiniest healthiest looking coat!”. That I know is from all the Vitamin E from the avocado.

Hopefully PBS continues to play his shows for future generations to enjoy and learn more about California’s Gold.

Read the rest of this entry »

This isn’t exactly new music. But new to me because I just discovered it. Mat has been writing songs and singing for some time now.

City of Black and White - This music, when listening in the middle of winter, makes a person reminisce for simpler times.

Sooner or Later - And this music is to remind us that things will get better. Mat’s songs are really good - his will be worth getting for the new year.

2012 was one of those years for me… with some memories I’d like to forget and others I will always cherish. I wish everyone a year full of peace, prosperity, and good health. - CN

Wishing everyone a warm and wonderful Christmas. - CN

This would make for a good morning. I especially love how surprised the cat was to see the yarn invasion.

This was posted on Youtube by madeofwool. It’s a knitted adventure about a boy and his cat who travel far and wide to deliver parcels in their little red plane. Two of my favorite, knitting and stop motion animation - all in one cute adventure. Very cute & creative!

We finally got some rain out here. And high winds… in the next few days all the pretty red and golden autumn leaves will be gone. Winter is just around the corner and December is here. Time just goes by too fast, best to make the most of it.

And here’s just some songs that are good for rainy days. Enjoy.

The Fray - How to Save a Life

Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days

I remember reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel back in 2002 (published in 2001) and thought it was a great book. The books gives you a chance to question those things such as life and death, spirituality, and your existence in this vast universe.

So now 10 years later, this book is being made into a film. Knowing that books rarely translate well in movies means I won’t give this version such high hopes. But then again, it’s directed by Ang Lee, so there’s a good chance it will be worth watching.

In the meantime, here’s the trailer for the movie.

Here’s a little excerpt from interview with the director Ang Lee from SF Weekly:

Question: Your movies are so different from each other. What was it about this story that made you want to make it into a movie?

“I also wanted to make the movie because the middle part, the voyage part, is really vividly written — it’s wonderful movie material. And the parts about India, even though there’s a lot of material before the ship sinks, are very colorful. And then it has a philosophical ending — that’s the tough part, that’s a challenge.

I looked forward to it, but I cannot say I enjoyed doing it. Philosophical questions haunt me. I wanted to do what the book does but with cinema. Adding my opinion is hard. It’s harder doing cinema than a book because cinema is more direct. It’s right there on your face. How do you discuss illusion in cinema? That’s a great challenge to me, and that’s a reason to do it. That’s a big dice to roll. For me and for everyone involved. But I think at the end it’s worth it.”

Update 11/25/12:

Went to see the movie this weekend. It started out nicely, especially with scenes of India and the botanical garden with zoo. And the rest of the movie was slow and just too long. Especially with the boy and the tiger.

It seem they put the best scenes from the movie on this trailer. I say better off waiting for DVD release. And yes - the book is always better than the movie.