Happening(s) @ the HowlerCafe

 

Completed security for the Cafe..Art is found in strange places...

 

Looking through towards the ocean. Yes, walking distance.

 

Apocalypse Now has nothin' on the Howler. Taken from the front of the restaurant!

 

Spencer is the Barkeep, Waiter and the President of HowlerCafe Inc! The taller, more shy partner and author of this post hides in the kitchen, preppin' the Ribs..
Serving Handroasted Coffee daily on the Peninsula, Playa Tambor.

RIP Marilyn Chambers

I guess this happened awhile ago. I remember some great nights watching her perform on the big screen, years ago. She recently did a commentary track for the "Definitive" version of "Insatiable", which was a delight to see again after all these years. The Ivory Snow girl was 56 when she died.

Crank 2

The expectation? They can't possibly live up to the first one.
Very few sequels outdo -- perhaps because of the novelty factor, a la "bullet-time" in the Matrix -- the original. Crank was such a surprise, fantastic camera, decent acting and Dwight Yoakim, that I figured it would follow the Charlie's Angels model.
You remember, the first Charlie's Angels was perhaps overlong but had a terrific sense of humor and nice campy visuals, and the second one lost it.
Crank 2 is a sequel that replays the first one in feel and deed. The feel was "wow" these guys(Neveldine/Taylor directors, and the entire cast) had a great time making this and are not too arty to share with us. Yes, there is way too much misogyny, homo jokes and gore, but Christ we live in a time that Pirate Bay is in jail and Bush got away with it.
Crank 2 felt fresh in a way "Shoot 'em Up" should have but didn't. The film is packed with ideas, everything seems easy and edgy and pushed as hard as they wanted.
Recommended!

Senseless Juxtaposition

We interrupt this occasional Howler update page to voice a little rant. Apologies in advance!
My gmail box gathers a few journals and news feeds, including the ACLU. Oddly enough I know enough Kansans to finally understand they are just a bunch of communists trying to destroy our country from the inside. These are the same Kansans that hate listening to me rant in person about unlawful wiretaps, being searched at the airport, etc ad infinitum. The ACLU writes:
The new administration will not pursue legal action against the torturers or the architects of the criminal acts carried out in the name of "security". They will continue wiretapping, but that is another rant. This is a juxtaposition.
So, the juxt: Pirate Bay founders get a year in jail each and severe fines. Media companies applaud (and paid for) this brave decision to put those cassette trading, used book reading communist hippy freaks away.
So, crimes against humanity committed in the name of Freedom by a country I once called home are not worth addressing, but some suits tricklestream coke budget is.
What a wonderful world we have made. Let me lock the gate.

Ice Machine Lives

 

For now just a picture, coming soon, the entire "saga of the Hoshizaki"....stay tuned!

HowlerCafe Lives!

 

 

 

Rib night at the HowlerCafe. Guests included some local Ticos who usually find my food too spicy, but loved the Jamaican Jerk! A nice couple from Massachusetts were in attendance, eating Howler Chicken and beans..
Sold through the ribs, the Diablos, and the Stag dessert I designed(think Rhino and Raspberries). We have been well received, now it is just a matter of doing it every day really well, keeping it fresh and paying attention to costs! Simple, right?
No AC as you can see, but it is comfortable outside the kitchen with the useless overhead fans and the ocean breeze. One might hear the ocean if your host didn't have the blues turned up so loud! Towards the end of the evening when your the Blind Boys are belting out their holy thing the entire restaurant gets a gentle rocking vibe on, and spanish and english people mingle together like rice and beans.
Makes me smile!

Benjamin Buttons

The San Jose HowlerCafe shopping trip ended in a mall, of all places. The theater in the mall showed movies that are either dubbed or subtitled, as Costa Rica is a Spanish speaking country. They don't bother asking the audience to turn off their cellphones, which the stadium seating allowed me clear view of bright phone screens, as opposed to the film, which was film, not digital, but it sure was terrific to see a movie on the big screen again!
I am in a foreign country with my <6 month wife, missing her terribly and not due home for another miserable(where miserable = not sleeping with aforementioned spouse) night.
"Benjamin Button" is about the big thing(s), with concentrations in "living in the moment", family, love, old age and love. Yep, love is all over this film.
I left home at 3am with an unfinished collapse of understanding between the spouse and I weighing heavy on my heart. We will not be able to resolve the misunderstanding when I get back -- temporary madness and all -- but that is another matter. The tough part of dramas like "Button" is that they always seem to be about the trouble(s) in ones own life. Things happening in the film ring with truth because you just lived it, particularly when the writing and the acting are up to the task.
Fincher and his crew are, and are playing for keeps. This movie, without overt flash, pulls out all the stops, and only shows off a little. Great whale and squid ww2 scene in the midst of button, arcs of tracers illuminating even as it rips apart the target. There is of course the CGI conceit of the premise and the sepiatoned bits, but these diminish over the course of Benjamin's long life.
"Benjamin Button" is the movie "the Notebook" wanted to be, with more sex and alcohol. The movie is long, thoughtful, and willing to show us what we need to stay engaged. I was at the end of a day that started at 3am and found myself enthralled over the entire 3 hours of this epic. Many of the reviews I have read after watching the film seem to find it too "Gump" or too trite, for me it banged on all cylinders, in a way Gump did not.
Living in the moment may be a lesson we all have heard, but few live it, regardless. Nothing wrong with a reminder once in awhile. The response here in Costa Rica to the question "how are you?" is "Pura Vida!". I hope some of those peeps on the phone caught that message before they filed out of the theater.
"Benjamin Button" is a 3 hour tour de force of skewed time and gets it right.
Recommended.

Sunrise from the Ferry

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of them is the moon.

Costa Rica Jumble

 

 

 

 

HowlerCafe Meter

 

Our new power meter. I cannot wait to watch the kilowatts count up!
The boat has arrived with my equipment, now it is in customs. Custom duty is 46% of declared value. I love borders, passports, duties and tariffs!

Bug Beauties

 

 

 

 

These got left off the Aliens posting...

Is this gonna be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?

 

 

 

 

Local critters hanging around the not quite open Howler Cafe...

Pre-emptive Strike

 

So we were chillin' in the dining room last night. Doors open..no AC, commenting on how this "vacation day" involved the Wife being at work --pro bono-- for a 9 hour stretch, and in walked this fella...
We are not unfamiliar with scorpions, after all Jezebel had immaculately conceived 17 of them in my care, but this one was walking across the floor. Very healthy, medium claws which means pain not death, but as you can see no small beastie.
I thought a couple things: wife might be upset if I kill it which would mean long debate about killing things that are genetically mean and could ruin a potentially good Friday night forecast, or I could take the let the scorpion be and kill bugs that don't bother us until it stings us in our sleep..
So I killed it.

Nicaragua Contrasts

 

 

 

 

Nica Culla!