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A New Year
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The Lusty Lady: destination pour fêter notre entrée dans le millésime 2007, peut-être pas, mais j’apprécie leur sens de l’humour.
The Lusty Lady (la dame grivoise) est une boite de strip tease/voyeurisme à Seattle, qui se trouve sur First Avenue, sur un pâté de rue plutôt lugubre, avec des signes de décrépitudes (en 2005 au moins). Lors d’une de nos premières balades en voiture, en octobre 2005, j’ai lu, sur leur panneau d’affichage « All Clothing 100% off », « 100 % de baisse sur tous les vêtements ». En tant que nouvelle résidente de la ville, j’ignorais la « raison sociale » de l’établissement. Je pensais que c’était un magasin de vêtements spécialisé dans les robes de soirée (paillettes, plumes, scintillements)… C’était amusant.
Ils mettent à jour leur message relativement souvent. Ca fait partie de la vie de quartier de downtown Seattle.
Photo: “Les résolutions pour le nouvel an”. (“Lewd” veut dire lubrique en Anglais).
An Inconvenient Truth
Last night, we watched a film that was bigger, badder, more chilling and harder-hitting than Saw, The Hills Have Eyes and Wolfcreek combined. I wouldn’t recommend any of those three horrors to anybody, but I believe everybody should see Al Gore’s far scarier film, An Inconvienient Truth. For one thing, we all have a stake and we all have something to add to the discussion. For another, unlike the daunting message of Hills and Wolfcreek, the documentary delivers the ultimate message of hope. We don’t have to end up like the ill-fated travelers. We have options.
Essentially, An Inconvienient Truth is based on a multimedia presentation that the former Vice President has given and refined over several years, and in which he explains how global warming is threatening the planet. While the stats and footage are alarming, Al Gore’s message is neither alarmist nor preachy. And it doesn’t need to be. Global warming is melting sea ice. Polar bears are losing their habitat and drowining, one by one. Last July, he reminds us, the city of Mumbai, India, received some 37 inches of rain in 24 hours.
I had almost forgotten about that disaster, which seemed so remote at the time, and Hurricane Katrina, a few months later, overshadowed everything else last year. The deluge was unfathomable, even in a region that’s accustomed to heavy rains during monsoon season. Western Washington received a record-setting 15 plus inches of precipitation last November. Of course the rain count does not compare to the Mumbai deluge but we lived through record rains, and those 15 inches had dire consequences for many Washingtonians. I don’t want to imagine anything worse in the years ahead. We also lived through that dreadful heat wave in 2003 that killed more than 10,000 people – mostly older residents – in France. The first two weeks of August were unbearable. At midnight, our sixth floor walkup in Paris remained as steaming and sweltering as it was at midday. I remember dreaming up novel ways to keep our dog cool, like putting a little fan under the bed where he slept, and I wanted till up an inner tube with ice cubes – or even frozen peas! My laptop kept shutting down, and the keys kept heating up, making typing uncomfortable. News reports kept revising the death toll and the weather forecast upwards. That was our wake-up call.
An Inconvenient Truth also explains Al Gore’s personal, and long-standing commitment to the environment, which started with a college professor and intensified following three different life trials: the death of his sister to lung cancer, the accident that nearly killed his son, and the bitter loss of his 2000 bid for the White House.
The documentary is more political than I expected. People who dismiss global warming, or who simply do not like Al Gore and “liberals,” could easily dismiss the film as self serving or as sour grapes. And the sequences of Al Gore walking through airports, armed with laptop, like a crusader en route to fight off global warming seem a tad bit contrived. What’s more, An Inconvenient Truth includes footage that David noticed is part of the opening sequence of The Day After Tomorrow, a thrilling and highly entertaining movie about climatic shifts triggering the next Ice Age. I am surprised this sequence, and some other CG images, were included. The real footage of the glaciers breaking up was powerful enough. No doubt, skeptics will draw parallels in order to dismiss the film as another silly disaster film or Godzilla sequel – the part of the angry dinosaur played by global warming – and its statistics as scary science fiction.
Of course, these details are minor and neither undermine the pertinence of Al Gore’s message nor the importance of this film. And the message is clear: global warming is real. We’re causing it, and we need to act now. End of debate.
A nice day for a drive-by
Pentax *istDL
Last April, I made my forays into DSLR photography with a Pentax *istDL. The 6.1 megapixel camera is a great compromise for a newcomer to world of digital SLRs. The dials and large, bright LCD monitor and menu screen make it simple to use, and the compact camera body and rubbery texture feels good in the hands and provides a solid grip. I rely heavily on the Auto Picture Program, which selects the best mode (macro, landscape, low light, etc.) for each shot, so you don’t have to. What’s more, the camera gave new life to the two interchangeable lenses I bought with my Pentax MZ-30 SLR a few years earlier. I have taken my DSLR everywhere, from British Columbia to Correze, France and have produced a gallery of some 6,500 pictures in eight months. A lot of these have to be discarded, but that’s another project.
Of course, the *istDL has some kinks I wish Pentax had worked out before I got my camera. For instance, life is too short for standard batteries. I depleted the four AA alkalines we initially loaded in the camera in less than 24 hours, or roughly 50 shots. How disappointing to have to cut my shooting spree short so soon after getting the gift of digital! Immediately after, we switched to more efficient, rechargeable AA batteries, which we have been reusing ever since. Some of the colors captured are also a bit off, especially blues. This isn’t always an inconvenience – sometimes the off color even pleases me – and granted, I’m not selling swatches online, but I would be more satisfied with truer colors. The *istDL also does not include a blurr reduction feature, available on some newer camera models. I’m sure all those problems will be worked out by the time I’m ready to upgrade to my 10 – or even 11 or 12MP Pentax DSLR. In the mean time, I’ll keep on snapping and experimenting.
Olympia, Washington
Washington’s capital city, Olympia, located on the southern tip of the Puget Sound, about 60 miles from Seattle.
La ville d’Olympia, la capitale de l’état de Washington. Elle se situe le long de la partie la plus au sud du bras de mer Puget Sound, à une centaine de kilomètres de Seattle.
The Grotto, Portland, Oregon
The Grotto (The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother) Catholic sanctuary and botanical garden in Portland, Oregon, is “a place of solitude, peace, and prayer” open to visitors of all faiths. Visitors are offered free admission to the plaza level, which includes a chapel, the rock alter and Our Lady’s Grotto, carved at the base of a cliff that’s well over 100 feet tall.
Tokens for the elevator to the upper level cost 3 dollars. We took the outdoor lift over 100 feet up to the top of the cliff to the serene, wooded area and gardens. For us, it was easy to find solace among the rich array of flora, from roses and rhododendrons to towering, awe-inspiring Douglas firs and Redwoods. The upper level also includes shrines, plaques and sculptures explaining the mysteries of the rosary and the stations of the cross; reflecting ponds; a glass-walled meditation chapel perched on the cliff; the peace garden; a rose garden; a small, red chapel dedicated to Saint Anne and a monastery. The monastery is inhabited and is off limits to visitors.
On a clear day, the upper level is supposed to offer visitors a breathtaking and unobstructed view of the Columbia River, Mount Saint Helens and the Cascade Mountains.
The Grotto is non-profit and supported solely by donations and gift shop proceeds.
Holiday lights in Bellevue
Winter wonderland at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens
Light displays at the Bellevue Botanical Garden holiday lights show. Crafted by volunteers, the light creations are inspired by Pacific Northwest flora and fauna. It reminded me of Disneyland.
Le jardin botanique de Bellevue s’éveille en robe de lumière pour les fêtes de fin d’année.
Avec quelques milliers d’ampoules et des lumières étincelantes, le jardin botanique de la ville de Bellevue, Washington, se transforme en pays hivernal des merveilles. Inspirée par les plantes qui se trouvent naturellement dans les jardins du nord-ouest du continent, la mise en lumières fait partie de la Saison Féerique de Noël de la ville de Bellevue. Les œuvres tridimensionnelles faites de lumières magiques ont nécessité l’intervention et la mobilisation de nombreux bénévoles. C’etait un peu comme Disneyland.
Saturday after the windstorm
Many drivers on the East side stayed off the road on Friday after the storm. Motorists who did venture out – at least the people we crossed going back and forth – were extra cautious, approaching intersections with disabled lights as they would four-way stops, and waiting their turn before proceeding. Nobody was honking or shouting, and lots of people took advantage of the daylight to walk to neighborhood shops that were open for business. I don’t think I have ever seen that many pedestrians at a Redmond intersection.
While service had been restored to most Redmond residents by Saturday afternoon, numerous traffic lights were still without power. The roads, however, were packed with motorists trying to make up for the lost time, and wasting a lot of time in the process: queuing up for the post office, circling the full Town Center parking lot in search of that elusive empty stall, waiting in long lines for gas, and idling in traffic. We waited in line for about 20 minutes at the Arco station before we realized that drivers had formed a line in the opposite direction, and we were still more than a half a block away from the nearest fuel pump! One inconsiderate motorist cut off the droves of drivers to the pumps by entering in the wrong direction and trying to merge at the head of the line. Plus he had the nerve to flip and mouth off the irate driver behind him, who got out of his car to let him know that others had been waiting. This sense of entitlement just baffles me.
Hello from Seattle!
We got a Zune, the 30GB portable media player from Microsoft.
Here’s what we think:
Look: The Zune comes in three translucent colors—brown, white, and black. We opted for black. The texture of the plastic case feels good to touch and the attractive matte finish should hide eventual nicks and scratches better than a glossy finish. I like that we could personalize our Zune by using one of our uploaded photos as a background image. The design is clean and uncluttered: just the large video screen and three discreet controls for navigating. The Zune comes with ear bud headsets that feature a sleek design and tiny magnets that keep the buds together.
Interface: The device is simple to use. I learned by trial and error. The three controls under the screen, from left to right, are: a back button; a large, central navigation circle, which comprises five buttons (volume up, volume down, skip back, skip forward, select); and play/pause. The Zune website offers detailed information about these controls, the connector port on the bottom and other Zune features. The rest is pretty straightforward. You need only select from the options presented on the screen – music, video, radio, and so on – by pushing up, down, left and right along the outer rim of the central control circle, then pushing the middle to select. Et voila.
Video/audio: The image is sharp and bright, and the larger screen and landscape-mode viewing make sense. The sound quality is good. I have only listened to music using the ear buds sold with the device, but I suppose better headphones would deliver higher-quality sound. Isn’t this always the case? The player also has a built-in FM radio that picks up lots of stations, for many of which it displays station identification and song information (artist, song title) for the current track. I wonder why laptop computers don’t come with built-in tuners?
The social: The integrated WiFi technology allows Zune users to exchange music and photos. A friend recently got a Zune for her birthday so we’ll soon be able to sync our devices to test this feature.
V, A, A, T and D family blog 