A Fine Day for a Drive

... NOT!

That is, if you are not baaaacraazy like me+A. All in all it was quite OK, but next time we want to wonder about taking pictures through the Grand Duchy, we'll check some weather forecasts beforehand.

Anyway, here's the crazy baboon plowing through snow in a "parking" area, the winter tires did quite good...

Mark my words, I shall allow neither snow, fire nor man to prevent me from driving around without purpose!

The Blairwitch Project

Well ... not THE Blairwitch Project, but we've had a somewhere between fun and chaos experience in the forest while enjoying the Loire valley when we visited Chamboureneauxsomething castle. We wanted to rent a bicycle to roam the castle domain, but we needed two, but we actually only wanted one ... so we ended up with this:

yeah ... the cow poop was on the house

Anyway, as we started travelling at hypersonic speeds through the woods we realised at some point that the map we had was not really that accurate, so we got lost a couple of times. We finally ended up somewhere in the middle of the forest with little idea with regard to where we should go...

And then we found a house with some scary stuff inside ... Ok, ok, maybe I am not really telling you exactly what happened because it wouldn't sound so interesting, but the journey was quite  perillous especially since I haven't ridden a bike in about 20 years. We finally realised that we needed to return the vechicle so we pedalled in a hurry back...

at hypersonic speeds, of course ...

We finally got back and visited the castle and had some more mediocre food. But more on that later ...

I laugh in the face of Avatar

I know I've been pretty lazy with my blogging lately, but besides being caught in a bit of chaos I have also been prepping a new thingie together with my little sister.The thingie is a new Science Fiction story that we will publish as a blog over a number of episodes accompanied by some very cool graphic illustrations (like the in-progress preview up there). Make no mistake, it will be very very cool, as the story will take you on a journey full of ups, downs and turnarounds.

The new blog can be followed here: http://thecyanvoid.blogspot.com/

Did I mention we're going for the Nobel prize ... oh, and, Holywood, here we come...

Food and Whine in Blois

... or should I say ... in bleah ... because that's what the first contact with the ultra-delicious Loire valley tasted like. So, without any further delay, behold the cown jewel of the Loire valley gastronomic wonders:

 No, I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered that... I was actually expecting to get something else ... something tasty, at least. But it wasn't tasty at all. It was like a horror movie went wrong and then landed on my plate with a desire to scare my belly into oblivion ... Only later I discovered that a bottle of wine was enough to cure the trauma I though would follow me for a long time.

things looked much better after a bottle of wine ...

and so did I ... no?

It was only a bit later that we discovered what I think might just be the best restaurant in the world ... but that's coming up later on ...

Pitstop in Paris

Not so long ago, we took a trip to the wine & food heaven Loire valley... or at least that's what we were expecting it to be. But before we got there it was pretty clear that we can't just pass close to Paris and ignore it ... yup ... it was pitstop time. Because you know what's better than sushi?

Sushi ... in Paris ... and ...

of course, Starbucks in Paris ...

And so on ... you get the idea. It was another really good trip to my favorite place in the world, but I must admit it's barely still hanging on to the top spot. But anyway, we had our share of fun, went to the humongous IMAX and then started on our way.

 I swear this time it was about to roll off.

My belly was ready to be happy.

Entangled

Following my intense absence from blogging, I have decided to put a stop to all this nonsense and finally post something. The problem is that my blogging mood is not really in shape, as we currently find ourselves entangled in the same kind of nonsese I was hoping never to have to deal with again. Things are moving slower than a turtle on sleeping pills and xanax... Looks like the perfect moment to call in:

THE NINJA JEDI MASTER

We tried to have a quiet relaxing getaway in Brussels for 2 day but, as you can see, the Aliens invadeed just in time to keep these karate weapons busy.  It was mainly easy peasy for the ninja jedi skills, which will hopefully also get us through this entanglement and back on track for the Godzilla fight we have planned for next year.

I'll be back ... like, Terminator style ... imagine that Ninja Jedi Master Terminator ... yeah ... I'm not right up there ...

Fishie Fishie 3D

Although I was planning on blogging about cheese and wine, I am compelled to interrupt this broadcast in order to share a mind bending neuron vaporizing experience. I can say for sure we have a winner. And when I say winner I mean that somebody should give this man the Nobel prize for film making... or something making at least. What I am blabbering about  you ask? This:

Can you read that? Sea, Sex and Blood. That's exactly what this movie has. Actually, I tried counting if there are more 3D piranhas in the movie than naked 3D boobies and I can't say between the two who is the looser, but I know for sure I am the winner. Make no mistake, this is the glory moment of the underwater naked 3D boobie. So ...piranhas ... boobies ... I am surely missing something ... oh yeah ... gottit! BLOOD. You can be darn heck sure there will be blood ... tons of blood ... Which almost made me throw up at some point, but I'm just a woosie so don't let that bother you.
However what really really makes this a winner, is the scene where you get to see Mr. Johnson floating around and almost getting eaten by the fishies and then a couple of sillicon implants going about in the background. It's a moment of pure 3D history in the making. Nobel prize, baby, N O B E L P R I Z E !!!

Now seriously, you'd have to be an imbecille to pay money to see this ... or you'd have to like sea, sex and blood ...

The Loire Experience

So, what has been cooking? I haven't been able to keep up with current events since I'm ... well ... working ... But enough about that and back to cooking. We've recently and finally been on vacation on the Loire Valley. We had some good food (and some bad food), we drank a lot of wine and visited some castles. It was quite nice and so here comes my new mini-series:

* Pitstop in Paris
* Food and Whine in Blois
* The Blairwitch Project
* Castles, lots of Castles
* Cullinary Jackpot
* Salt&Peppa
* It's a kind of Magic
* Leo's Crib
* Chartres and back

 I'll try to keep up ...

Stop looking at my Butt

... or at least this is what Wolverine would say if he knew what's happening with this blog. I am confused to report that over 60 people have landed on this blog by searching for wolverine's butt. In fact, so many people landed here that I am currently ranked NUMBER ONE on Google if you run a search for his butt. Wolverine's butt, that is.

How bout that, Wolverine?

Hey, don't hate tha playa, hate tha game ...

Engineers can dance!

Yea,dude, but I already knew that since I am an Engineer  ... anyway ... it's official now, and you can watch Step Up 3D if you don't take my word for it.

See that? BOOM, that's Engineering baby... in your face! Yea...

But speaking of Step Up 3D , I recently went through what I can only imagine you feel after you accidentaly buy a brand new squeeky cool pair of Abibas. Yeah ... aBiBas!! I went to see this movie called Street Dance 3D, completetly convinced that it is Step Up 3D. I mean, the second Step Up had something with the Street in the name ... Well ... bottom line was ... aBiBas name, aBiBas quality. Step Up 3D should win an Oscar compared to that poohie movie.

So anyway ... Step Up 3D ... great dance moves, prety cool 3D, crap acting, horrible script ... exactly what you would expect ...

Now I'll go back to my engineering business ... which is perfectly cool because it doesn't mean I can't bust it like the cool guys if I wanna.

Bordel, c'est pas trop tôt!!

Ah ouiii!! I've had an excellent great surprise today when Andreea popped up this from her purse:

No, not the Pleo and not the Vaio, the other thingie. Yessss, I am a lucky garçon ... And je suis content, because my Starcraft 2 copy (yes, my Starcraft 2) is in FRENCH. Hourrra for the french, I could download the game in english from blizzard, but it's waaay to funny like this ... So far the game looks and plays just as what I was hoping for, so I'm happy to report that Blizzard didn't make a big bordel de merde out of the franchise.

Bon sang, oui je suis content!!

Go ahead ... zoom in on the picture ... you know you wanna see what a baneling is called in french ...

Later Edit: Mmmmyeah ... SC2 is (re)installing .... in English ...

Karate Kick

I saw this amazingly cool movie a few days ago. It's about children kicking each other repeateadly and that's cool because let's face it, there's just not enough child violence in movies these days. I feel like I could bring more to the franchise. In fact, I was so inspired that I designed some posters for the upcoming sequel:

Yeah, that's me in the picture, and YES, I really am a NINJA JEDI MASTER. Hollywood should start calling any minute. In fact, you'd better start saving up for:

No joke, the kid really gets kicked in the second sequel.

Inceptionizing

There it is ... inceptionizing ... just like nolanizing only it sounds a bit cooler ... I think... What's inceptionizing, you say? Well ... probably the fact I'm not sure anyone really understood what the hack happened with all those jumping up and down between different dream levels. Apparently some guys believe they got it and made a visual illustration ...

... hmmm ... nope ... I still don't quite get it ...

But do you want to know what's even more inceptionizing?

This tube right here:



And it seems they even did it on purpose ...

Wow ... I've been nolaned.

Christopher Nolan just loves to f#$k around with your Head

Yes, I've seen the only movie I was actually looking forward to this year, and Inception was really worth the wait. Nolan does his usual mind confusion stuff and there are some action scenes like the tumble/zero gravity fight that spank any other movie and, yes, I am looking right at you, Matrix.

The idea of the movie is not really that original, so I'm sure everyone is wondering how this all happened. Lucky you, I managed to make a succesful extraction from Nolan's mind a few days ago when we bumped into each other at the spa, so here goes:

[Nolan's house, Nolan meets friend John Warner]

-So, Chris, I was thinking we could do more of your mind stuff in an action movie.
-Yeah, I've had this great idea where we can plunge people in a non-real world, and
-Oh, something like the Matrix...
-[minor shrug]... yeah ... OK, but I'm going way beyond the Matrix, I'll do like the Matrix inside the Matrix and the
-Oh, you mean like in the 13th Floor...
-[shrug] ... yeah ... ook ... well, two levels, that's child play, I'll do 4 levels of Matrix inside the Matrix and there
-Oh, you mean like eXistenZ
-[big shrug] .... F#$k you, John .... throw me a beer ... nobody bothered to see "Existance"

Credits, Best ending ever ... in the movie I mean ... we were back from the memory, did I forget to say that ...

HA, you just got Nolaned. And I rule because I just reinvented googleing.

But I mean it ... the ending is Nolanizing.

Perfect Six

Yes, yes, I know I've been a lazy lazy blogger, but I'm back with this very interesting thing to say ... Did you know that Six is the smallest mathematical pefect number? Well, me neither, but this is true, ask the internetz if you don't believe me, and, yes, of course, this isn't quite what I wanted to say. Six proved to be quite the perfect number for Andreea and me today, because exactly today we celebrate another year of happy marriage together. And what better way to celebrate than a 1 ton loveboat of sushi and a sip of sake? Nope ... nothing better comes to mind...

It's been quite a ride until now for our loveboat, with ups and downs, sudden turns and loops, and I can't wait to see what's coming next for us, be it rain or sunshine.

Kisses and hearts... big hearts ... I'm sure Seven will be just as perfect

Chillout in Egypt

If you managed to read my previous post about Egypt, you are probably expecting stories of us jumping on alligators or something like this. I'm not going to lie ... during the second part of our trip, we finally did manage to chill out.

Except, of course, for our trip to Cairo, which was ... you know ... wake up at 2 am, travel one hundred hours ... that kind of stuff. But this was basically the main reason of the whole Egypt trip, at least from my point of view, as I've always been fascinated with the pyramids and have wanted to see them live. First contact was pretty darn impressive...

From within the city, you can see them far off in the distance ... reigning on the horizon over the landscape of what seems to be a far more primitive culture ... It is then, when placed against the crowded but crippled Cairo skyline, that you can truly understand how only GREAT things are meant to last.

We did take our share of beautiful photos with the pyramids, so here are a couple of my favourites.

We even entered the medium one. It was small, crowded, and claustrophobic.

Next up was the Sphinx, which was remarkably pretty as well. Some pretty photos followed ...

It was a tiresome day, but it was definitely worth it.

For the rest couple of days, there were no more one day long trips, no crazy hopping around on alligators ... It was just amazing food, great sun, delicious orange juice and a swimming pool ...

... and Andreea jumping around

... and a couple of crazy tuc-tucs

.... oh, and a crazy cat.

And then, as another journey ended, a new one began ...

Robin Who?

I saw this movie the other day with this guy called Robin Longstride which goes actually by the name of Robert Loxey and finally ends up by being called Robin Wood or something like that ... looks like it has something to do with that Robin Hood guy. In then end I was a bit confused and a bit bored.

I'm being more and more convinced that Hollywood works in strange but familiar ways. In fact, I started a little short script of my own. Here goes:

[Ridley Scott's House]
Mr RS walking around,  phone rings, RS picks up.
- Hi, Ridley, what's up?
- Russel? How's it going dude?
- Great, great ... you know ... Hey, remember that movie we did a while ago, where I had to do a lot of sword fighting and horseback riding? I really miss that...
- Well ... you know Russel ... we've had this discussion before ... it's hard to sequel that, you know ... you *cough* died in the end...
- Oh ... right ...
- How about a Robin Hood movie? I'm kinda looking into that for my next project...
- Hmmm ... Robin Hood ... that sounds OK, BUT ... from what I recall he runs around the forest and shoots arrows ... not really what I had in mind ...
- Hey, what if I let you have a couple of sword fights and you get to ride a big white beautiful horse?
- Thanks a lot, Rid. Knew I can count on you. Will you let me keep the lady this time around?
- We'll see ... drop by tomorrow.
- I'll grab some Whoopers on the way.
- Sounds great.
[click sound ... Scene ends]

... Hollywood here I come ...

Butt Kick

I have recently seen this movie called "Kick Ass" ... I was expecting it to kick ass really really hard ... and it does ... sometimes ... other times it's just a lame teenager movie.

It's quite surprising actually just how good some of the action scenes are, they kicked ass like nothing I've seen before. It has some of the best action scenes I've seen in quite some time. However, the rest of the movie doesn't really kick ass, as it is often plain old boring and the humor is not quite my cup of tea.

All in all it was pretty good fun, so I'd say it's worth about 2 hours of your time... if you don't have anything else which is very special to be done... and want to see something that kicks ass.

Oh, there was one thing which kicked ass pretty hard ... the Music.

Did I mention the title is Kick Ass?

"Chillout" in Egypt

Yes ... that's correct ... "chillout" with a big pair of quotes. Why the quotes? Well ... here we go...

Day 1

After a very stressful and vacationless time, we finally had the oportunity to just sit down for a change and enjoy the beauty of the place. So, naturally, for the first day we woke up at 7am and we

,and

By lunchtime I was

By afternoon we were

The rest of the day is a bit fuzzy but it involved about one tone of food ... so here comes ...

Day2

From the desert, to a splash in the sea ... and when I say splash I mean

suit up and jump in, boy

kind of splash... By lunchtime I was

By afternoon we were

Yeah, scuba rullez hard. And a ton of food later came...

Day3

What? Rest? Rest is for woosies ... how about a wake up call at 3am and a trip to Luxor?

It started with a couple of

But, too much bus travel can ... well ... by lunchtime, we were

By afternoon I was

Which takes us to ... another ton of food, and then to ... Day 4 ... but that's coming up in a short while ...