KJ

In my writing goals post for the month, I said I was going to try and do some gameblogging for Horizon Forbidden West, but I've discovered that I'd rather be spending my free time playing the game than writing about it. Also, it's hard to easily mark spoilers in a post about an open world game, because just naming a main quest doesn't signal what sidequests might be mentioned in there, or vice versa. And even just the name of the main quest we're working on right now is spoilery for anyone who has played the first game but not the second. But the primary thing I want to talk about now isn't really plot related, it's more about the environment, and it's spoiled by both the box art and the trailer, so I feel pretty safe in talking about it. Still under a cut, thought.

( On heading through the Lowlands to Landfall, includes some details about the Landfall tallneck, also spoilers for HZD. )

Lately (if by lately, you mean "for the last several months"), T and I have been discussing a possible a trip to Italy. In theory, we try to take an international trip every other year, but it hasn't worked out that way, largely because we were planning to go on a family trip to China last year, which then fell through. So we turned our sights back toward Europe. I've wanted to go to Italy for very many years. I still remember sitting in class with JR, first in Form of the City, but also in pretty much every architecture class we took together, looking at slides of temples and palaces and piazzas and nudging each other: "Let's go there. And there. And there, and there." Thanks to my trips to Paris, Barcelona, and Japan, I've now been to some of those places. But so many of those pictures were taken in Italy. And of those, many of the most compelling were in Rome. So Rome has been at the top of my "places to go before I die" list for a long, long time.

Today, we booked a hotel and a flight. Leaving at the end of April, going for a week. Right now we're only planning on Rome, although a day trip to Pompeii or somewhere else within a do-able bus ride could be in the cards. We have a little time to plan.

After all this time talking about it, thinking about it, dreaming about it, now it looks like it's really going to happen. I don't quite believe it yet, though. Probably I won't actually believe it until I'm sitting on the plane.

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, have some photos. And I threw in some kitties, as long as I was at it. ;) All photos by T.

Update: I am informed that the bridge photos I uploaded were not properly resized, and you should look at these versions instead.

( Tori being cute )

( Lexi being cuter )

( The Golden Gate Bridge being awesome )

Walking back home from the car tonight, I passed a MUNI bus that was out of service. Its destination?

"Nowhere in Particular"

No camera, alas. I'll have to keep my eye out in the future.

Some of you may have heard about KFC putting their logo in a Nevada town in such a way that it would be visible from a plane. (I saw the link in kunstarniki's LJ, but I'm sure it also made the rounds in other ways.)

That was bad enough. This is much scarier.

Golden Gate Bridge to explore corporate sponsorship options.

I am at a total loss here. What can they possibly be thinking?!

T has taken some really neat San Francisco photos over the last several days. ( Behind the cut. )

( And a cat picture for good measure. )

John King (johnkingsfgate) has an excellent tribute to Jane Jacobs, in which he also presents some fine jabs at faceless suburban development. I'm not opposed to development when it's done right, but this sounds like development done wrong, which drives me oh so crazy.

Also, steluch shares her thoughts on Ms. Jacobs as well.

Ganked from cosmorific and iamleaper, who both beat me by a long shot.

( So, like, am I one of the popular kids? )

It's cold and overcast here today. Yesterday was nicer -- T and I took a walk down the waterfront and wandered around Embarcadero Center for awhile. There's a mall that's in trouble; seemed like there were more empty storefronts than open ones. T and I exchanged theories as to why, including problems with circulation, isolation from the neighborhood, and competition from the Ferry Building. We also hit the Ferry Building briefly, although it was late afternoon so the farmer's market was long done. Mostly it was an excuse to get out of the house and soak up some sunshine. Fresh air is a good thing.

Oh yeah, more lines.

(More lines here. Just one song left. C'mon you guys, this is a classic! Someone must know it. Update: And someone did. All songs answered! Wow.)

Last night, T and I dropped by the grand re-opening of the de Young Museum. This art museum was closed for several years so that they could construct a new building -- the old one was seismically unsound. Before the old building shut its doors, they opened it for a twenty-four hour museum marathon. We had attended the farewell party, so we thought that it was only appropriate to attend the welcoming as well. We left the house around 11pm and, after some parking adventures, arrived at the museum perhaps fifteen minutes before midnight.

It was a mob scene. Literally. The line to get in extended into the night and out of our sight. We didn't even bother finding the end of it. We took a glance into the galleries through the picture windows and they weren't visably crowded, so they must have been enforcing some sort of "one-in one-out" policy. So we spent some time walking around, looking at the grounds and the building. I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at it someday -- the new building is highly controversial, the design provoking wails of agony from San Franscisans everywhere. For a city that takes its identity from a reputation for open-mindedness, the design sense of the populace is amazingly stodgy. I found the tower, the main source of complaint, to be quite striking, lit up at night. Apparently the galleries are well designed. We'll probably go check it out in a few months, after the buzz dies down a little.

The crowd was an odd mix of art types, people looking for a party, and the merely curious. I wonder if there will be a backlash from the art community -- "those club kids ruined our opening!" Only time and op-eds will tell.

Last Thursday night, T and I left for four days in Los Angeles. The stated reason for the trip was T's ten-year architecture school reunion on Saturday, and he very much enjoyed reconnecting with his old friends, but it was also an excuse to spend some time in LA. T is an Angeleno by birth and upbringing, and he is quite fond of his home city. For many years, I had the typical Northern Californian attitude of smug superiority toward Los Angeles, but the more I visit, the better I like the place. I never expected LA to become one of my favorite cities, but it really is.

( Some photographs and perhaps way too much detail here. )

The complete photo gallery is here. This is my first experiment with using the gallery so I hope it all came out all right.