Recapping E.A.B.F.A.T.M.D.

Well, Burrito Day was a bit of a mixed bag. We did manage to keep the day burrito-centric, but that isn't saying much as the day was plagued by an extreme lack of appetite. After a trip to the grocery store to stock up the day before, we woke up with not only no desire to eat a burrito, but no desire to eat at all. Certainly a bit problematic.

We skipped breakfast and headed to the food bank to help there. We met up with Bostonsteamer and spent the day sorting food, building boxes, and moving things from Point A to Point B. It was surprisingly brief, and it was good to catch up with Bostonsteamer. The food sorting was organized by the Jewish Family Service, which runs the food bank near spanning_time HQ. We only note the organizers to add context to how inappropriate it was to have Borat's "Throw the Jew Down the Well" stuck in our heads for hours after discussing the Borat movie with Bostonsteamer (he had the same problem, and he's Jewish).

After that we headed to Cocina Cantina for lunch where we had what amounted to the only real burrito of the day (and the only meal of the day). It was tasty. So while Bostonsteamer and his other cohorts had much more success with their Burrito Day (he closed the day with four burritos), spanning_time had to close out the day with a burrito count of one. Pretty sad, but we still got to help and be part of the festivities, so that counts for something. Thanks to Bostonsteamer for setting it all up.

This Week in Film

Two things that may have slipped under your radar:

Gumby 50th Anniversary Celebration @ NW Film Forum
We have to admit to liking Gumby more as a concept than a show, but we still respect the Gumby contribution to the world of animation. Maybe this retrospective will turn us into a full fan.

Just For Kicks @ Harvard Exit (Scion Film Series <- free with RSVP) - Monday, 10/23 Only
We're admitted shoe fanatics here, so we were all over this film screening as soon as it was announced. For the rest of you, your reason to attend is partially to get a peek into this obsessive little world, but mainly to watch a bunch of guys (and yes, it'll be mainly guys) walking around staring at each other's feet, since you know the attendees are going to dress to impress - from the ankle down.

Eat a Burrito For All Three Meals Day - Sunday

In real life, spanning_time knows some of the best people around. They, like us, are willing to take on all manner of personal projects, some important, many not-so-important. Bostonsteamer has ordained this Sunday as Eat a Burrito for All Three Meals Day, which has been on upcoming.org for a while, and which we propose to you as a spanning_time-worthy event. Bostonsteamer even went the extra mile and set up 1) a volunteer opportunity at a food bank and 2) a potluck afterparty for all participants at the Alibi Room. We fully support Burrito Day, and we're making our trip to the grocery store tomorrow to prepare. You should do the same. Why? Well, why not?

A Moment For Nostalgia

Today turned out to be filled with nostalgia, with discussions and subsequent downloads of The Transformers and G.I. Joe, but what brought us to make this post is the news of a Fraggle Rock movie. We hope they can live up to Jim Henson's legacy. They'd better include the doozers too. It's a bit early to announce, but expect word of a spanning_time gathering once this movie comes out.

Be Careful Out There

spanning_time is typing this post from outside of spanning_time HQ, as the fire alarm is currently going off. We still get wireless and it seems to be a false alarm, but after seeing someone get hit by a car a few minutes ago (they seem to be more OK than not, although they were taken off by ambulance to the hospital), we want to tell you to just stay careful out there. Not just 'cause we want the readers, but because here at spanning_time, we care about each and every one of y'all.

Recapitulations

So in the last couple of weeks we've been bad about reviewing the various things we've attended, so we'll remedy that now with some quick recaps of what's been going on in spanning_time territory (per a comment from reader Freudian Slip). But then again, you're all going to these events so you don't need these recaps, right?

- NWBrickCon, 10/8
This was a lot of fun, and we heartily recommend it for next year if you didn't make it. It's hard to describe everything that we saw, so we'll just mention our favorite and provide this link to some pics on flickr. By far our favorite was the huge piece we dubbed "Morbidtown," which featured a series of trains circling a busy township. There were families, people driving around and just normal bits of life. Upon close inspection however you could see beatings in the street, car accidents, and even someone run over by a train. Through it all, the inhabitants had a smile on their faces, making it all a bit creepy. The Smith Tower model was also impressive with its accuracy.

As a complete aside, in much the same way that many of the guys at PAX needed some time in the sun, many of the guys at NWBrickCon (and yeah, they were mainly guys) need some time on a treadmill.

- s_t on the Radio, 10/12
Our time on the radio was brief, a little weird, but fun. We showed up to the talk radio station last week and walked right into the booth to meet Ron & Don, two normal guys that were pretty pleasant to talk to. Then the red "On Air" light turned on and while they were nice, they were in total "radio mode," with Radio Voice. Despite our practice, we're not entirely sure our Barry White voice quite came through, especially since we were busy trying not to laugh at their overenthusiastic enunciation and inflection. They asked about our expertise, faux-arguing when informed that spanning_time is more of an RPS scholar than tournament player. They shut up when we kicked ass during our on-air best two out of three match (No sweat, Don was easy to read.). So that was neat. We were most excited to have our shoes mentioned no fewer than four times on-air (red Nike Cortezes in case you're wondering). We were also called good lookin', but that's neither here nor there.

Unfortunately, no podcasts exist for the station, so there's no audio to be had. Oh well.

- RPS Tourney, 10/13
No, spanning_time did not take home the win. We did manage to make it past the first round though, a tournament first for us. Still fun as well. We're looking forward to the next tournament already.

- High Score Documentary
This documentary is funny, engaging and well worth your time. It doesn't appear to have DVD release yet, but keep an eye on the movie's official site for when it becomes available. This would truly be a perfect gift for either a documentary or video game fan.

As always, if there's something you want to see here in spanning_time, just let us know. We read every single mail and every single comment, which trust us is a Sisyphean task.

Two Things You're Doing Tonight

1) Rock Paper Scissors Tournament. 7pm. Baltic Room. Tell your friends. Should be fun.

2) High Score. It's a documentary playing at Central Cinema tonight. First film there in a while that's caught our interest (we'll be at the 9pm showing). Here's the copy:

Although technology continues to evolve, a group of die-hard gamers refuses to abandon the classic arcade games of yesteryear. The 80's live on for these enthusiasts, who compete against each other and history to record the world's highest scores. Portland gamer Bill Carlton is one of the most brazen, fearlessly taking on some of the toughest records on the books.
HIGH SCORE follows Bill as he attempts to take down the Atari classic Missle Command and its twenty year-old record. To get the 80 million points he'll have to play the game on one quarter for over two days straight. There is no pause button. There will be no sleep. There can be only one victor in this classic story of Man versus Missle Command.

Really, it's Google's Fault

So spanning_time, being risk-takers, signed up for the Blogger beta, which gives us a bunch of features we won't use (although tagging might be useful). In any case, as part of the migration, Google's RSS gnomes republish the entire blog, leading to what appears to be a bomb in your RSS reader. Uh, sorry 'bout that.

Another Case of spanning_time-worthy Obsession

It seems like lately a lot of the focus here has been on people with strong fixations on obscure topics. Something about that resonates with us, with our obsession being these obsessions (how very meta of us!) and taking a peek into these worlds. We suppose this blog is just the manifestation of our obsession, an attempt to turn this otherwise personal pursuit into something (quirkily) useful.

Similarly, a couple of taco truck obsessives (we never would have even imagined...) have a website documenting and reviewing the various mobile Mexican establishments in the area (recently expanding to Denver). There was one we used to hit back in our time on the Eastside, but other than a random stop at one in Columbia City, we haven't found a regular one. This is definitely the resource to find it (despite its lack of updates - not that we're ones to talk). Cheap good food, what more could you want?

[via Ario (via Rachel)]

One Step Closer to World Domination

Today spanning_time's superultramegaok secret identity is going to be on the radio. Topic? Rock Paper Scissors (tournament tomorrow, 7pm, Baltic Room, be there for fun and merriment). For the last week we've been trying to perfect our sexy Barry White voice. You'll have to let us know if the practice has paid off.

Here are the details:
Station: 710KIRO
Hosts: The Ron and Don Show
Date: Thursday, 10/12 at 6:05pm (live interview, done by 6:30)

NWBrickCon This Weekend

If they could combine LEGOs, robots, and curling, it would make for the greatest spanning_time event ever (so long as there was funnel cake being sold on the sidelines). As it is, the world isn't ready for that much awesome at once, so each one of those areas has a following of its own. Last weekend was Robothon, and this weekend is NWBrickCon at Seattle Center, featuring the region's best LEGO artists showing off their work. We've heard from friends how amazing this is, and we're not going to miss it.

[via Kim]

He's Living the Dream

We've meant to share this link in case you missed it on SLOG last week. Winter, a programmer, is on a mission to visit every Starbucks around the world. We'd heard about him before, but this was the first piece we've read about the man and his adventure. We're not coffee fans, so this has zero appeal to us, but we do have to give the man credit for taking an obsession and not just sitting on it, but making it a way of life.

Spelling Bee Tonight @ Rebar

We haven't made it out to one in months, but tonight is this month's edition of the Spelling Bee at Rebar. Starts at 7, doors at 6pm. In addition to displaying your verbal prowess, it's a good opportunity to pick up passes to the Borat movie's sneak preview Thursday (passes are sitting on the bar right by the door).

The Experiment Ends: Yup, We Go Out A Lot

So last week the "document going out for a month" experiment came to an official conclusion. The documentation turned out to be actually quite pleasant, so we're considering continuously adding to that, creating new pages as some sort of archive. To what end? None really, but there's some sense of comfort in closing the night by adding an entry to the list for posterity.

We've moved the final list for the experiment (plus the last week of September) here. So how were the results? We started on the 21st of August, and counted only dates until the 21st of September. Here are the raw numbers:

# Nights: 32
# Events: 47
Weekend Events: 25
Non-music Events: 14
$ Spent: $46

As noted in the original comments, money wasn't much of a concern here, although it was interesting to note how low the expenditure turned out to be. That was a minor observation however. The biggest thing of note was how much we go out, averaging well over one event per day. Really, there is no such thing as a "quiet night at home." Weekends, usually a time of rest, are instead a time to kick it into high gear, with more packed schedules than during the week. It's absolute insanity, but it's an insanity we love, so we are hardly complaining.

In conclusion, we're glad we did it, we're glad we shared the list with you readers (we love y'all!), and we're glad that some of you have commented on the list occasionally. Good to know we don't write in a vacuum.

HOT TIP!!!!

Word has it that there's a renegade trampoline set up in Volunteer Park, on 15th just a few blocks up from the Canterbury. It likely won't last long, so go get your hop on before "The Man" takes the fun away.

[from "A Friend"]