p e n g u i n d e v i l

You can tell I am getting old (or maybe it is just growing up), I finally felt the need to own something with some level of water resistance. While Portland may not be the rainyland people think it is, it certainly does rain. And though I have long conducted most of my transportation either on foot or on bicycle, I have never owned a jacket that had any ability to keep out water. Well, except for the ability to absorb it to some level. Today though, getting off work with nothing but a cotton cashmere sweater and a t-shirt… And thinking of the two miles and two errands between me at home… the fast and thick rain outside the office window led me to stave off leaving, especially since I knew I wouldn’t be able to use my headphones in that mess. So at the halfway point, and though it had pretty much stopped raining, I stopped in Next Adventure and picked up a used North Face jacket (you know, the yellow and black ones). So there. My first wet weather kind of coat. So we’ll see how it goes. it makes me feel more prepared for Vermont in the fall, though I don’t have much idea about the weather there, and also allows me to face the daily rain that is ahead of Portland for the next 5-6 months in a manner of preparedness unmatched in my 23 years of cross-city biking and walking.

Now if only I had some water proof shoes..

In slight movie news. I must here admit that I have had a long liking for Ralph Bakshi. When I was teenager I really liked both Wizards and The Lord of the Rings. In fact, I like his rotoscoping technique quite a bit. I know a lot of animation fans don’t like it, but then again, I don’t tend to like animation, so maybe it all makes sense. Any so the liking of Bakshi inspires some curiosity about his projects and when I recently realized that he had made a movie with Frank Frazetta, Fire and Ice. I just had to see it. Well, see it I did.

our heroine, always running

one of our heroes gets heroic

The story of two kings at war. When the daughter of one of them is kidnapped, she escapes her captors and most of the movie is her fleeing from the bad guys, with some heroic help. Though the dvd cover looks promising, the movie doesn’t look good and seems rather boring. the buxom animated girl wearing a little see through harem suit running through the woods, some uninteresting fighting, uninspired animation and a rather cliched storyline made me want to fast forward through the whole thing. If I am going to watch something like this, I’d pick
Heavy Metal over it anyday. At least that has Richard Corben and a good soundtrack!