For wifebot's birthday, we left wee Z int he hands of her Oma and headed into the city for reservations at NOPA, a restaurant on Divisadero (apparently undergoing a name facelift as 'north of panhandle' as opposed to 'Hayes valley/Western Addition' as it was when we lived here 12 years ago) that she had been hankering to try. It was a fun, nostalgic evening, eating in our oldest SF neighborhood, thinking about how much has changed since those days.

The space is right up our alley, frankly. Two-story vaulted ceiling, exposed raw wood trusses, a healthy bar and seating service, a big common viking style long table in front for bar dining, and a mezzanine with a few tables on it, one of which was ours, in the front corner, so we could people watch and enjoy the space. It got loud towards the end but was totally packed. My pet peeves in restaurant atmosphere are crowding and heat, and we were spared from BOTH, so that was a huge plus for me.



We had some cocktails, wifebot having a champagne and me the above pico sour, in a very TRDL/ R3 branded manner. Delicious. I was intrigued by some selections available, prepared with a limited stock of quinquina, which is basically a grape-based aparatif with some bitter notes. That's the best i can describe it. I was curioous, so my waiter brought me a sample of the french (Bonal) and the italian (cocchi) and we really liked both, enough so that we planned to order some straight, but never got to it. I'm kind of hoping to find some at a specialty spirits purveyor in the city later int he month. VERY interesting.

We started with baked giant white beans with tomato, feta, oregano and breadcrumbs. This was a highlight of the meal. I'm a fan of white beans served in a baked dish like this, and this was easily the best presentation of it.

My wifebot ordered a country pork chop with grilled peaches, green beans (pronounced 'grenBEEENS!') and a mustard seed vinaigrette. I had a wood-grilled leg of lamb, with mission figs and polenta. We both like the addition of fruit to meals, so that was an obvious selection component. I was sold on the lamb because it was off the bone, which is a plus for this bot, and I was turned off by the thought of wifebot's pork chop, just from my childhood pork chop experiences (little medallion of overcooked pork on a bone.) Well, in a surprising plot twist, her chop killed my lamb hands down. My figs were amazing, and the polenta was delicious (and as a corn lover, I've actually never really liked polenta, until now) but man. MAN! This 'country pork chop' was like a LEG from a county faor pig, as my wifebot described it. It was almost cured in flavor. Soft, grilled, crispy, salty. EXCELLENT. My figs, I think, trumped her peaches, but it was probably a tie. Since she generally orders best and I crave what SHE had, this meal was no exception. Fortunately, her chop was approximately the size of her HEAD, so i still had half of HERS. HA

Dessert was the same for both of us, disappointing our waiter who hoped, i think, we'd try different things: we had brown butter cake with miniature plums and anolive oil ice cream i wasn't sure about, but was VERY intrigued and delighted by once it came. I don't have much experience with savory ice creams, but it was really something else. It had rock salt here and there to kick the flavor, and was complimenting a very sweet cake, so it worked well.

I should mention NOPA is one of a shortlist of restaurants we enjoy that use only locally-grown/obtained, grass-fed produce and local greens. Like one of our faves, Serpentine, the menu is based on in-season, locally-obtained food, and we really value that. Fresh, simple, amazing stuff.

Highly recommended!

http://nopasf.com/

9/10 Clicks

Related posts:

1. Farmer Brown – First-ever TRDL restaurant review!
2. new sf restaurant number 931,682 – spork
3. Town Hall Lunch BBQ

So, macro and/or wide-angle micro-lenses for smartphones are popping up on various coolhunter and gadget sites at $40 or so. I did a little research with some of the Taiwanese importers I've used int he past and voila. TEN bucks.

So, how does it work?
This is a Wide-Angle AND Macro lens kit for any smartphone. I'm using it with the iPhone. It uses magnets, so if you have a ferrous metal phone or case, you can just pop em on there. If not, little magnetized rings with adhesive do the trick. And no, not enough magnetism to eff with your sensitive shiite. Now, the Wide-Angle is screwed onto the Macro, which then can mount onto the phone. Or, remove the Wide-Angle and just use Macro. You have a lens cap and a key fob as well...

Results of research, performed by a legion of robots at my command, all painted yellow/orange:

Test 1: Mini MINI


About an inch away. No macro.


Far closer, WITH Macro...


Again. With Macro.

Pretty great results! Given that you can't even get this close with the camera normally, it's a nice option. Auto-focus can get a little jangy. I found it easier to just physically move my own self instead.

Test 2: Wide-Angle Lens as seen with Macro


I don't know about you, but I can't see anything this close. Maybe it's the martini.


With the Macro, we're in good shape.

Test 3: Wide-Angle Lens


Here the results were murkier. To make good use of this one, you're shooting landscapes or panoramics, really wide shots, and these don't reflect that. But they do show the fisheye curvature at the peripheral and the generally expanded cone of vision.


With Wide-Angle (more awning, little blurry)


No Wide-Angle

Not bad. But I just wanted the Macro, really.



I am somewhat concerned about this 'reliability paste' however.

For $10 it's a no-brainer.
On the iPhone, the ring mount of the magnet CAN interfere with the close flash module, so you have to be judicious in the application precision. But it was fine.
You can get yours here, cheap:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14953

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3. clarifi 3g iphone case brings clarity to your pix

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier No. 2
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Dale Eaglesham

This mini-series is unfortunate. Unfortunate not from poor product but that it is a mini int he first place. I love Bucky as Cap and the direction that title has gone for the last several years. But I'm also enjoying this tale of a cowl-less Steve Rogers on a semi-espionage mission (yes, yes, in uniform) that feels both true to the character and fresh in it's own way. We've followed Steve Rogers as he explores the resurfacing of someone using the Erskine name, the same name as the Professor who developed his super-soldier serum. In this issue, Rogers meets the villain behind the plot. Set in Madrippor, the story really does feel exotic in that regard, with little details like Rogers grabbing banners to slow his fall but the fabric tearing because of 'poor Madripoorian quality'... to the vaguely Indonesian-slash-Moroccan vibe of the interiors and cistyscapes. I quite enjoy it.


Gah! retro Kirbyesque android face!

This is all about Dale Eaglesham. I LOVE this guy. i liked him on JSA but I LOVED him on Fantastic Four, and same again here, with the broad chests and chiseled jaws and smaller eyes, like everyone is a member of the same family of bullies that kicked sand in Peter Parker's face. It's glorious, consistent artwork, with retro flourishes and modern framing. I can't get enough of it. And add to that Carlos Pacheco covers? What a win.

9/10 Clicks

Related posts:

1. Steve ‘Fighting American’ Rogers
2. Review: Captain America No. 603
3. Cap Event in Summer 09?

Invincible Iron Man No. 29
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Salvador Larroca

This title is a tough nut. Fraction is attempting to tell a story like you would see in a feature film, one not about superheroes, very much in the Iron Man film vein. We see Stark meeting with potential investors, in a red and effing gold suit. We see him setting up his secret cabal of engineers to pull a Tucker-style concept car scheme (but one that actually runs. Well TWO). We see developments in his relationship with Maria Hill and Pepper Potts, as the after-effects, or lack thereof, from his mindwipe are explored and denied. And we see more of Stark sussing out what's going on with the Hammer women, including identifying the younger one as the girl behind Ezekial Stane's terrorist attack on Stark Industries in the book's first arc.


Tony and Pepper discover their repulsor batteries...repulse each other. Which calls to mind OTHER positions...

I'm loving almost everything about the storyline, from Rhodey going to the Army to volunteer his services again in the hopes that they will abandon the Detroit Steel program (a moment of such obvious naivety I have to wonder if it was a fact-finding mission) to watching the Hammer women work their scheme, to the new Detroit Steel unmanned war drones in the hands of gadget geeks with iPhones, to the continuing evolution of Stark and Pepper. My only gripe is that the 'unlimited power source' concept feels both too timely and too dated. We're in the throes of an energy crisis today, and sustainable design is all the rage, so it feels a bit too on the nose, while at the same time, reminds me too much of the universal battery scheme in WildCATS. We'll see how it plays out.

I've grown very familiar with Larocca's use of familiar character models in his work, most obviously Lost's Josh Halloway as Stark, so much so that when I don't immediately recognize Halloway, I'm thrown. He's doing a pretty good job of realizing Pepper too, though I don't know the model. The armor is looking great, though I'm not as much a fan of the bigger eye slits. But still, one of the best books of the month, month after month. The golden age of Iron man stories continues...

9/10 Clicks

Related posts:

1. Review: Invincible Iron Man No.11
2. Review: Invincible Iron Man No.11
3. Invincible Iron Man!

Daredevil No. 509

Writers: Andy Diggle / Antony Johnston
Artist: Roberto De La Torre

De La Torre, who I first became familiar with in the pages of Thunderbolts, is a good fit for this book, if you can't have the murky, sketchy work that we had a few years ago with the dream team on the book at the time. His is half way between that style and superhero art, and frankly, a story with Luke Cage, Iron Fist and 3,000 ninjas involved probably wants that. But man, I'm really struggling with this arc. I love Andy Diggle, primarily from his Losers work with Jock, but what the hell. I can't even imagine the planning retreat that led to Shadowland. Someone actually thought you could do something like putting a castle prison full of ninja in Hell's Kitchen and put Daredevil in charge, but have it devoid of intrigue or plot development, and it wouldn't get old? The only thing interesting about this arc was leading up to it, not knowing if it was really going to happen, if Matt would go down this road. And then he did. And now, we learn, he's possessed. BORING. Characters making dodgy choices of their own free-will are interesting. Characters having excuses for erratic behavior, less so. But especially when everyone else in this story has glowing green eyes and is obviously influenced by dark forces, and Matt did NOT, it was at LEAST interesting when it seemed like he was surrounded by bad influences and manipulated down a dark path, taking the final leap himself. But no. And given how long the series will continue while Shadowland is ongoing, we have plenty of MEH to look forward to, before the inevitable character replacement int he role of Hell's Kitchen guardian, the worst kept secret at Marvel.


Points for Typhoid Mary's Dead Kennedys jacket. Did they get the rights for that? Hmmm... we'll see if it's gone by the time the trade paperback is out...

It really underscores a growing concern with Daredevil. It's always been a book, when in it's good arcs, with a noir pedigree, with a tragic lead making troubled choices and carrying terrible burdens. But look at characters like Batman, who suffer but are clinical and intelligent. Meanwhile, arc after arc, Murdock is manipulated, loses his marbles, goes into denial mode until the latest girlfriend is eviscerated, whatever. Don't you pine for some stories where Daredevil is being tested and manipulated, but he turns the tables on them, playing THEM, because he's that good? I for one am hungry for some COMPETENCE under the cowl.

4/10 Clicks

Related posts:

1. Review: Daredevil No. 505
2. Daredevil #56
3. Daredevil #50-52

Adi Granov Cover

Tom Raney Cover

Black Widow: Deadly Origin No. 1
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artists: Tom Raney /John Paul Leon

For the record, I got the Tom Raney cover, which stung, not because it's Raney, but because I loves me some Adi Granov. So I show you both, up top, for science.

This was a mini-series I was looking forward to, for a few simple reasons: I like espionage stuff, and Black Widow, when divorced from all the superhero stuff, is Marvel's coolest spy; John Paul Leon would be working on the book; and it's set in the world of the spy game, not the Avengers. This is an origin story, and it'll be interesting to see how Cornell folds in some disparate elements of Widows past, such as her brief first appearance with magnetic powers, for example. So far, he's already tackled, in one issue, the circumstances of her adoption, her training, her mentorship, murder and intrigue, her agelessness, and both Logan and The Winter Soldier. Very nice! This is one of those blast-from-the-past stories, where ghosts haunt the present that yield revelations about how the character developed. Unlike MANY mini-series these days, it doesn't feel like a shoe-horned, out-of-continuity story. I'm enjoying the narrative so far.


This shot, of Widow's old mentor getting ventilated, was equal parts Michael Mann and Akira. I love it.

The art is a mixed bag, to be fair. I think Tom Raney is producing some of the best work of his career, and I've been a fan since his Stormwatch days.


An example of Raney's combat sequences. Great panel flow in the vertical stack format.


His combat sequences are getting more detailed and technical, and I liked a lot of his framing choices.


An example of those googly-eyes. And this is one of the better ones!

Unfortunately, he's STILL producing faces with eyes that don't focus, and it may be a pet peeve for me alone, but it completely wrecks the composition of each panel when I see those googly-eyes. Drives me nuts! And I know what i'm talking about, as an artist, because it's something you have to be consciously aware of, and I just can't decide if he doesn't know, or doesn't care. But what's right here is very right. The really unfortunate thing for Raney, however, is sharing a flashback-based espionage book with John Paul Leon.


John Paul Leon's page work, and last page of the issue. Dig Winter Soldier's old-school cyberarm!

Not JUST because JPL is one of my favorites personally. But his style is murky and evocative and works with this material so wonderfully, it pushes a hard juxtaposition with Raney's more contemporary comic art. There are definitely scenarios where this works, namely books that explore flashbacks in the comic styles of the period being flashed to. This isn't one of them. I found myself hoping, with every page turn, that the next would continue the flashback narrative. That's just not fair to Raney, who has paid his dues and is putting out some solid work here.

8/10 clicks



See what I mean about Granov's work? Man,that's neck tattoo worthy...

Related posts:

1. Winter Men #1
2. Is This Black Widow?
3. Review: Avengers The Origin No 1 – 2

Otherwise known as 'A Sentimental Journey' but without the big band.

I used to get hives at the prospect of going to Toys R Us as a kid. I mean the GOOD kind. It was glorious. The shelves reached to the heavens, the aisles were a mile long, and the greatest torture was being told: pick ONE. Torture then, because I wanted three, and torture now, because the memory makes me feel like I was a selfish child. But anyway, that's youth. And that was Toys R Us. For this action figure kid, there was no better.

We went to Toys R Us this weekend to source a ride-on wagon type Radio Flyer for our sick toddler, Wee Z, who loves pushing and being pushed and wifebot(tm) wanted to cheer her up with a little surprise. While we didn't find the toy we were looking for (Amazon got it to us one day later, and cheap, too) I did take some time to walk around and just flash back to being a kid, but WITH my kid in hand, who was cranky and not in the mood but liked a few things. But here's what caught my eye.

We start with a line of licensed toys called 'Imaginext'. The designer in me was delighted. These are aimed at younger kids so the toys have less choking hazards, are more durable, and have a cute squatness to them. Not as cute as superdeformed Japanese toys or the rad arthouse hipster figures you wouldn't be finding here anyway. But I was still pretty jazzed. it's like these are the Scions to regular action figures being Toyotas, like training wheels for future me-type kids.

It's the subject matter that got me the most. i would have KILLED for some of this. I think. Or, I like that it exists NOW, at any rate, given my current tastes in fantasy and illustration.


See, dino action...


The Penguin...


Effing vikings!


Serpent attackeds...


Skeletal dino backs up the first dino...


Oh yes.


And where, and where, is the Batman?
Right here.


Two-Face, both menacing and coy.


I just don't know. Puberty?


The first Batmobile to strike my fancy.


Then I found this Mr. Potato Head, randomly stuffed in front of some other products. We've noted this one before around here. I just think that's a clever name.

Here were the highlights of a toy line on Terminator. Had it been SCC there might have been a bunch of salacious Summer Glau figures, but no.


I LOVE the Terminator torso attackeds. Now you can have one in the playroom (or office)


This T-600 has a removable yuckface of zombie skin.


I told wifebot(tm) they had sex toys at Toys R Us.

Then I turned the corner and was hit with the effing Iron Man section. Of course, of COURSE this exists, but I just didn't really parse it until now. I spent my childhood with one Iron Man figure (Secret Wars) and pining for more, and even through adulthood would watch for good ones here and there, of which there were few. But now...


I present the good, the bad and the whytheface.


You know I would have worn the HELL out of these... for about 3s until my coke bottle glasses fogged up.


These have a name, like giant Kubrics, but not as cool as the ones I have in the cloffice/TRDL Studio. But I liked the paint.


A superdeformed old school armor.


Most awesome figure seen.


Second most awesome figure seen.
And there were many more. Even Nick Fury!
Black Widow was long sold out, presumably. And no Peppers for big pervs.

At this point I was overstimulated with youthful craving and adult financial concerns, so I backed away.


And then I stumbled across a big Tumbler, and had to hurtle myself through the plate glass window to avoid buying it. Sure, all of these are available online, it was just seeing it all inone place, I was 10-12 again.

Pretty fun!
And documented, for science.

Related posts:

1. Jonah Hex Toys Cause Me Hypocritical Rumblings
2. Gary Kurtz Toles the Star Wars Fail: It’s the Toys!
3. 3 Rad Toys Seen this Weekend

I can't get enough of this. Enlarge it so you can be adequately educated.
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/ ... e_date.php

Related posts:

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In the immortal words of the One who Toles:
I want to go to there.



http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/the-l ... 9148219/1/

Dude! Even a Snackb0y11 style specimen!

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When one observes a flash drive for review purposes, it's kind of a laughable affair. Quality, ease of use, aesthetics, reliability, sure. But you look on Amazon or Buy or Newegg and yep, there are people banging out comprehensive reviews that read like five-paragraph essays, and others who write 'this suxxx!' and call it a day. But you know I'm dedicated to the cause.

I periodically have to order flash drives because my office associate steals or loses them. Well, he doesn't steal them since he owns all the tangible property in the office, but he uses them and they never return. So, most of the time, I'm restocking based on price more than anything. The guts are largely the same on these things, and it's just about the cases anyway. So I go for either multi-packs, or cheap prices on per-unit packaging and get three or four at a time (well, three at a time, to be consistent). Now, my personal use is limited to the ones I actually like. Sometimes it's aesthetics (I have a metal and wrongrobot orange/yellow translucent one, for example, from Kingston.) Sometimes it's function (does it seem to get bashed up? Is it fat or does it play nice with others in a USB hub? Sometimes it's brand loyalty based on reliability.

With the Lacie iamakey, I was angling for all three.



The iamakey is one of three or four designs by Lacie, each pretty much just different shapes. This is brilliant, and I only just realized why. These are clean metal shapes, so you could have more than one on a key chain and identify them by form. Anyway, mine is a pretty standard 'key' shape. It's the size of a key. Little bit heavier. Very thin. Tiny little clear protector for the circuit point, but that's not really necessary and will be lost in 3 hours anyway. But it fits on my keychain, looks fly, and it's Lacie, who I buy hard drives from exclusively.

So, I'm going to give it a 10/10 Clicks! Even though I have only had it for about 3 minutes. I'm being optimistic. But I have to tell you, flash drives are only as valuable as their access, and having one on your key chain means you generally will have it with you, while being shaped like a durable key and not a dangling participle tenuously chained TO your chain means you're less likely to ditch or lose it. And best of all, it's fly.

PS 4Gb of online cloud storage for 2 years as part of this package. Unneeded by self, but could be a factor for someone else...

Related posts:

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3. most creative flash drives

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