SPRING VACATION 2013: THE REST

As usual, my procrastination (and, in my defense, lack of wi-fi in certain areas on our vacation) leads me to summarize the rest of the trip today.

TUESDAY

Our travel down to Norco, CA, home of Bill and Mary Koster (Uncle and Aunt to me), was not as fraught as yesterday's journey. We started out with Mexican Breakfast at a small place in Morro Bay. If you've never had chips and salsa as part of your breakfast, I say that you're missing out. I had huevos con chorizo (or something something), which was delicious when placed in tortillas.

Thus Mexicanated, we set out for Norco. Our halfway stop today was Santa Barbara. We walked the pier and took in the general sights as much as we could. You really could spend a week in any of these cities... we, of course, crammed several into one week. C'est la vie.

We arrived in Norco and had a great time catching up with Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary. They took us to a place called the Wingspot for some awesome boneless wings - garlic parmesan was to die for. (The healthiness quotient occasionally got away from us this week, but again, it's vacation.)

WEDNESDAY

Onward to San Diego today, to take in the zoo and anything else that caught our fancy. The San Diego Zoo is awesome but tiring. We started with a guided bus tour to get the lay of the land, and then we walked the entire length of the zoo anyway. We got to see many animals up and around this time as compared to two years ago; the polar bears swimming around and playing for the audience was a real treat at the start of the day. While many other animals were napping, the big cats seemed restless for some reason - wonder why.

After a tiring but enjoyable day, we took in a little of Balboa Park before heading back to Norco, stopping along the way in Temecula, which has a great "old town" and also a burgeoning winery community. Since it was too late to visit the winery community, we took in "old town" and ended up at a biker bar/restaurant called Texas Lil's. Great burgers there. The waitresses were dressed up like... uh... loose cowgirls, shall we say? I only make these statements as observations, Dear Readers. I was focused on the burger.

Back home for more QT with Bill and Mary and then to bed.

THURSDAY

Today was "LA Day," as we headed into La La Land to catch a taping of "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," which is one of my favorite television shows. The tickets were free, but we had to arrive at CBS Studios at least 30 minutes ahead of check-in time (3:00 p.m.). However, not being confident in the traffic being anything but hellacious, we chose to arrive even earlier, which was good because there was a student group of about 27 waiting for the taping. The studio only holds 160, so between those students and the rest of Craig's fans who were in attendance yesterday, I don't think we would have gotten in, which would have meant a wasted trip to LA.

We had a healthy lunch at some place called Freshii (no, really, it was healthy!) in the Farmer's Market, which is a combination of shops and restaurants. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but it gave us a good place to park, since the CBS Lot was not surprisingly full when we arrived.

We then stood in line for about an hour (Camille's patience was sorely tested; while she likes certain elements of the Craig Ferguson show, it's certainly not one of her faves, and she didn't have my undimmed enthusiasm to get her through the long wait). After that, they let us in to pass through the security check: no cellphones, cameras, etc. We left our technology in the car (and Camille's purse in the trunk) to make the process easier. We then got to sit on a bench (fortunately the predicted rain held off while we were there) while the 1iota people (coordinators of the tapings) gave us the run-down of how to act, that we were "show enhancement," etc.

We then went up four flights of stairs to the studio. We actually got prime seats, middle of the third row up, so we could see over the cameras and the whole studio, including the "stable" of Craig's pantomime horse Secretariat (Camille's favorite "character" on the show). While the current studio is larger than Craig's previous studio (butt of much of his jokes), it still appeared much smaller than it does on television. The wonderful tricks the cameras can play, don't you know.

The warm-up guy Chunky B was slightly annoying (especially to Camille), but energetic enough to get us primed for the show. He told some pretty corny and off-color jokes, if only to ready us to laugh at anything that happened on the show. That wasn't too difficult for me, as I think most of what goes on "The Late Late Show" is funny.

We had a double taping, since Craig tapes Friday's show on Thursday. It was interesting to see how they shot things slightly out of order; I'm curious to see how the final product comes out. The first guest was Zach Braff, formerly of Scrubs and now the voice of a flying monkey in Oz, the Great and Powerful, I kid you not. Zach was there to promote the film that premieres today, but the humor in his interview mostly came from the fact that he apparently shot a television pilot with Craig back in 1989. Much laughs were had at the corniness of Craig's televised amazement of Zach's character using a 1989-era Game Boy.

Alison Brie from Community was supposed to be the next guest, but she was apparently ill, so Gillian Jacobs from Community took her place. Gillian was absolutely adorable and was game to play along with Craig's usual "improvisational style" interview. She even tried to play the rusty trombone! (Don't ask.)

It was surreal to be there live and in person, to watch Craig have quick conversations with Michael the producer, etc. I had never been to a television taping before, so I'm glad that this was my first (if only).

The second taping's guests were Chi McBride (you'd recognize him from a lot of stuff; he's currently starring in CBS's new show Golden Boy). He was very funny and also played along well with Craig. Also present on the second taping was Laurie Holden, "Andrea" from The Walking Dead. Considering she's usually dressed down on the zombie apocalypse show, she cleaned up real well, as they say, for the taping, dressed in a very attractive red dress that definitely caught Craig's eye, if you catch my meaning.

The taping wrapped up and we headed back to the car. The only negative was that the CBS pages wouldn't let us use the restrooms after the taping wrapped, so after 3 1/2 hours, our bladders were sorely tested. We also tried to get out of LA at rush hour, which is a delight. Fortunately, we were able to find some facilities in Azusa, and all was well.

FRIDAY

And so we reach the end of our fabulous trip to California for 2013. We crammed many sights and sounds in during this week, and we definitely look forward to returning when we get a chance. I hope that you've tolerated my written ramblings about our journey as well. Until next time...

SPRING VACATION 2013: DAY 3

You will be happy to know, Dear Readers, that Camille and I are fighting the forces of jet lag by sticking to Michigan time, whether we like it or not. We've been in bed by 8-9 Pacific each night, and I've woken up by 5-6 a.m. every morning (Pacific time), whether I wanted to or not. So except for that pesky Daylight Savings Time, we should be fine when we get back to Michigan. Or perhaps we're just getting old... who's to say.

Day 3 started out with breakfast at Leann's. Again nothing with Spam, but instead some delicious pancakes and some passable eggs. (Coffee did not exactly meet muster either, but rocket fuel is rocket fuel.) So fortified, we headed off for San Jose.

One item of business to attend to first thing this morning, as my work with staffing speech language pathologists for schools lead me to my biggest client for summer schools work, Santa Clara County Office of Education. Traffic was horrendous on the way down to San Jose (and yes, I did have Dionne Warwick cycling in my head, why do you ask?), but we endured.

Santa Clara County Office of Education has an impressive facility right off Highway 101 in San Jose. They had a cafeteria where Camille was able to sit and study (ever the diligent student, gotta love her), and I was then able to schmooze and schmozzle with my client contact. Good day, as I was able to obtain a job lead immediately and solidify our chances at staffing with them for the summer. Excelsior!

Then it was on to Monterey, another lovely "little" seaside town. Being an off-peak Monday, it certainly was not as busy as San Fran was on a sunny Sunday. We were able to take in the Monterey Aquarium, which, while being almost twice the price of the San Francisco aquarium, was definitely worth it as they had many varied aquatic species to enjoy. I highly recommend it.

We had lunch at Cannery Brewery: some delicious clam chowder and a house salad with a surprisingly tasty citrus vinaigrette. Lest ye worry that we slipped into totally health conscious mode, we also hit up the Tollhouse Cookie shop for a pre-lunch cookie. I hated every delicious Tollhouse morsel, Rabbit Holers, I'm sure you'll imagine.

Then it was on to our adventure portion of the day: California Route 1, which runs right along the Pacific coast. Scenery was spectacular, but if you've ever wanted to experience what a James Bond car chase might feel like, California Route 1 is for you. So many hairpin curves that I lost count and enough hills to give Peter Jackson second consideration on where he might have filmed "The Hobbit." The trip, though not for the faint of heart, was definitely something to do once in your life. Next time I might just hop on US-101, though... (Sorry if I'm beginning to sound like that awful SNL sketch, "The Californians.")

Our first disappointment of the day then occurred, as we arrived at Hearst Castle too late to take one of the tours. We had hoped to see the inspiration for "Xanadu" in Citizen Kane up close and personal, but alas, it was not to be. Something for next time, I suppose.

Then on to Morro Bay, a sleepy bayside town that was just right after the harrowing (yet enjoyable) trip down the coast. Camille and I have a tradition of having one "splurge dinner night" per vacation, and this was it, as we traveled to Distasio's on the Bay. Excellent shrimp scampi (I had to get my seafood fix one way or the other while we were on the coast) was eaten by me, and Camille had some excellent grilled halibut. All in all, a great day.

Onward to SoCal tomorrow to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary, but now if you'll excuse me, I need to be in bed to keep up with our strict adherence to Michigan Time. Ciao bella!

SPRING VACATION 2013: DAYS 1 AND 2

Finally got the wi-fi in the Red Roof Inn to work, so now I can catch up on the blog...

Greetings to the 3 or so people who read this blog. Welcome to the annual travelogue of the Alles Spring Vacation: 2013 Edition - San Fran and beyond. Being Florida'd out from last year, Camille and I decided to travel back to California. This time I would keep a promise to Camille, as last time she asked if we could go to San Francisco and I had to say, "Uh, that's a 6-8 hour drive from [Norco], honey." So, this time we start out in San Fran and then head down the coast until we reach SoCal and all the wonders of La La Land and San Diego, which means the va... never mind.

DAY 1 - SATURDAY, MARCH 2
Our flight from Grand Rapids to San Francisco was blissfully uneventful. Layover in Minneapolis and then on to the Golden Gate, with no delays or any problems of which to speak. The flight from Minneapolis to San Francisco has quite simply the most awesome thing I've ever encountered on a flight: Inflight Trivia Challenge. I got to match my useless knowledge against other denizens of Flight 2153. Not to brag, but yours truly had the highest score for the whole trip. No prize, however, just gloriously useless self satisfaction.

Once off the plan in San Francisco (which actually arrived 1/2 hour early, mind you - so far, no problems whatsoever, which made me worry, Murphy style, what could be just around the bend), we went to pick up the rental car. No problems there either. Unfortunately, FOX Rent a Car did not upgrade us to a souped-up Dodge Charger like last time, but considering the gas prices here in California currently (anywhere from $4 to $4.50), we were happy with our gas-conscious non-souped-up Toyota Camry.

Away we went, and after some brief confusion on how to find our hotel in nearby Burlingame, we arrived. Still on East Coast time and tuckered from the travel, we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, a diner-style family restaurant called Leann's Cafe. I imagine there's some Hawaiian heritage in Leann's family due to the amount of Spam offerings on the menu, enough to make Monty Python jealous. I took the bait and ordered the Loco Moco, which consisted of a beef patty, egg, and spam on rice with brown gravy. Despite what you may be thinking (and gagging, as Camille did), it was actually quite tasty. (By the way, while I've lost 20# so far this year, I will probably not have the greatest weight loss this week. If I at least maintain, I will be extremely happy. But it's vacation, dang it.)

DAY 2 - SUNDAY, MARCH 3

Up for a breakfast at Leann's (convenient - no Spam this time, just a delicious family restaurant-style omelette and hash browns) and then on our way to Napa Valley. Camille saw a picture of a winery that looked like a castle in one of the handy travel brochures we grabbed at the FOX Rent-a-Car queue, and so off we went.

For the burgeoning wine snobs that Camille and I are, Napa Valley was breathtaking. Scenery is great, nestled in the mountains as it is, and there are a few quaint towns on the way from San Fran to Napa Valley. We eventually arrived at Castello di Amorosa in Castiloga. (I'll post some pictures to Facebook to annoy all of my Friends soon, I promise.) Or you can just check it out here.

A great tour through the winery with our guide Mark, who took delight in the fact he was from Ohio and we were from Michigan. We also had a nice young couple from Minneapolis, Minnesota (GO VIKINGS!), on our tour, so the Midwest was well represented. After touring the castle, which this rich winery owner had restored from 12th century designs (estimated cost: $80 bazillion or so), we got to the most important part: wine tasting. Friends and neighbors, I love Michigan wineries... don't get me wrong. However, this was quite simply some of the best wine Camille and I had ever tasted. Our guide Mark knew that we were a bit wimpy when it comes to wine (white and sweet), so he catered to us, but darned if the reds we also sampled weren't also delish. We managed to contain ourselves and only purchased two bottles (not the $89 2012 prize winner, however).

On the way back, we stopped at the winery that made all the money for Dario Sattui, V. Sattui. They were having a picnic barbecue there, and so Camille and I decided that would make an excellent lunch. I had a roasted pork sandwich that was quite possibly the most wonderful pork sandwich I have ever tasted. I will probably dream about that pork sandwich for years to come. Camille had a mozarella sandwich that was sort of like a caprese salad on a baguette, and she thought that was the bee's knees as well.

Then back to San Francisco, and after some confusing navigation through the heart of town, we ended up at Fisherman's Wharf, which has a lot of eccentric and charming shops and local artisans and residents nestled between all of the corporate wonder of Bubba Gump Shrimp. We went through the Aquarium of the Bay, which was pretty cool, as you walked through glass tunnels and the fish, sharks, and other denizens of the bay swam above you. A bit underwhelming for the $18 entry fee, however. We then wandered around Fisherman's Wharf some more, picking up some knick knacks and souvenirs, and had an extremely healthy supper of crepes at a French creperie. (I was hoping for seafood but with Camille's myriad allergies to most seafood except fish, we opted for the latter.) We split a savory chicken crepe and a Ghirardelli chocolate crepe for dessert. As I said, it's vacation, but I probably would have made Calorie Count explode if I had tried to input that particular dessert.)

As a nice denouement for the day, we witnessed some sea lions hanging out on the docks in Pier 39. They were quite amusing as they honked at each other and messed around for our amusement. We were able to scratch one more thing off the "San Francisco Bucket List."

The weather was a bit chilly in San Francisco today, so with the sun going down, we headed back to our car and home to our Red Roof Inn away from home. The next time we come back to California, we will definitely book more time in San Fran and Napa, as there was a ton more we could have done if we had more time. Oh well... looking forward to travelling south to San Luis Obispo tomorrow. I will update you then, Rabbit Holers.

HALF OF ME: DAY 2

Those of you who have seen recent (or not so recent) Facebook pictures of me may have noticed that I'm a big guy. Much bigger than I need to be, actually.

Basically, I'm at a point where I have to lose roughly half of my current weight to be a size that while maybe not totally acceptable to the BMI Police will still be something that will be a lot easier for me to maintain my health. I do want to at least be around for the next three Star Wars films, after all.

To that end, I will use this blog to track my progress. I have set a goal of myself to get to the "half of me" point in two years or less. Definitely doable, as long as I stick to it, and I hope to stick to it by being vigilant. My incredibly loving and supportive wife is helping as well to make sure we have things in the house that are better for me than cupcakes, which is quite a list, surprisingly. She is also gently encouraging me to get my oversized posterior off the couch and to the gym or at least outside to walk around several blocks.

So, welcome to the journey. Some of you may wonder why I am starting with "HALF OF ME: DAY 2." Well, I've actually been trying to start this since January 1, but as you can see, it has had difficulty taking. So, I figured this time I would wait until "day 2," which I have successfully made. Onward and upward, as they say.

Half of me: I will get there.

Excelsior,
Brent Alles

"SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK": DAVID RUSSELL'S "JERSEY GIRL" (not a bad thing)

Camille and I saw "Silver Linings Playbook" tonight. While it was enjoyable, I don't really think it deserves an Academy Award or anything. Quite honestly, it reminded me a little of "As Good As It Gets," and it's nowhere near the quality of that film.

That being said, there is great acting from Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert Deniro (not surprising for any of them, but it's nice to see Robert doing something that doesn't make you cringe thinking of what he used to do). The supporting cast was also solid.

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. As they set up the main characters, I thought, "Oh boy, I'm not going to want to spend two hours with these people." Gradually, though, the actors and the writing won me over.

Then came the ending, which was a little too pat. This lead me to conclude that this is David Russell's "Jersey Girl."

Allow me to elaborate: the first David Russell movie I saw was back in my undergraduate days at Syracuse: 1994 to be exact. It was a wonderful little indie comedy gem called "Spanking the Monkey." I'll spare my more delicate readers a full summary (you can Google it if you're curious); needless to say, it explored the taboo in a way that made you laugh.

Also, in 1994, I saw another wonderful little indie comedy gem that also explored the taboo in a way that made you laugh: Kevin Smith's "Clerks."

After "Clerks," Kevin Smith made other scatological and yet thought-provoking and hilarious (if sometimes uneven) films, and he eventually came to 2004's "Jersey Girl." That film polarized Kevin Smith fans, with some of them accusing him of "selling out" and "going Hollywood."

Now, I enjoyed "Jersey Girl," but I could somewhat see the point of the haters. While "Jersey Girl" maintained some of the old Kevin Smith "independent spirit," the ending was a bit of a standard Hollywood rom-com sell-out. Compare it to, say, the ending of "Chasing Amy," which was not your standard Hollywood rom-com and didn't "sell out" at the end with a "perfect Hollywood ending."

Coming full circle on the analogy, then, that is where "Silver Lining" falters: for a film that does a good job at being quirky and somewhat unpredictable, the ending is a little bit too pat and wrapped up in a neat bow. Not enough to completely sink the film for me, but enough that I wished for a somewhat less "traditional" Hollywood ending.

GRADE: B

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (SPOILERS!)

Well, I finally saw it. Enjoyable but not awe-inspiring. Great but not epic. "Dark Knight" is definitely the best of the three of the Nolan trilogy... it's tough to call at this point which is the better between "Begins" and "Rises."

THINGS I LIKED:
* Anne Hathaway was great as Selina Kyle ("The Cat" - you know who).
* Michael Caine was, no surprise, great as Alfred.
* Morgan Freeman... ditto.
* Gary Oldman was awesome again as Commissioner Gordon. After the Dark Knight, I commented that I would totally watch a film that was just Commissioner Gordon and GCPD battling the forces of crime, which is what you basically got in this film. However, that leads me to:

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH
* For a Batman movie, this did not have a lot of Batman in it. It's almost like Nolan crammed too much into it and Bruce got put a bit to the side.
* At the end, when Selina Kyle blasted Bane, it felt cheap. Bane broke Batman... and then Batman's ultimate redemption against Bane was being saved by Selina and a big gun? Even though it gave Ms. Hathaway a good one-liner, it seemed a bit anticlimactic.

THINGS I'M... WELL... IN THE MIDDLE ON
* Tom Hardy as Bane. Still trying to decide if his vocals were brilliant or too over the top.
* Connections with previous two films. I enjoyed the cameo of Dr. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow). However, if you're going to do that... and bring back the ghost of Ra's Al Ghul, then one would think that the major villain of the second film (Dark Knight) would at least get a mention. I understand with the death of Heath Ledger that it's a sensitive area, and I'm not saying you needed to recast someone for a cameo of the Joker, but it was kind of bizarre that everything from the first two films got a mention except for, you know, the major foe Batman faced before Bane showed up.
* The ending. Bruce gets to live in Italy with The Cat and make kittens? (Thank you brother Kent for that amusing line. :) ) And John Blake becomes the new Batman? I did enjoy the brief line: "You should use your full name... Robin..." but again, not sure if I'm totally on board with how this ended.

Overall, the acting of all involved was top notch and Nolan knows how to direct action, that's for sure. As far as the superhero movies I've seen this summer, Avengers remains the best and most enjoyable. I would rank them as follows:
* Avengers
* Dark Knight Rises
* Amazing Spider-Man

That's it for now... it will be interesting to see who will play Batman in the future because after Avengers made over a BILLION dollars, you can bet your sweet bippy that Warner/DC is going to get a Justice League movie together STAT.

GRADE: A-

Cheers, BGA

Danny Trooper Write-Up at CompHealth Intranet

Brent Alles puts on production of “Danny Trooper and the Hall of Valhalla”
03 May 2011 | Grand Rapids Allied Health Staffing, Our People

What do you get when you combine students ages 7 to 18, dedicated community members and characters such as Wrex the Wunderdog and Princess Starlight?

Cast members of "Danny Trooper and the Hall of Valhalla" pose for a photo.
If you’re Brent Alles, you get a brand-new production: “Danny Trooper and the Hall of Valhalla.” Brent, a client representative for CompHealth allied health staffing in Grand Rapids, wrote and directed the play, which is being performed May 5-7 at the Lowell Peforming Arts Center in Lowell, Mich.

“This play is actually a sequel to my play ‘Danny Trooper in the Land of ModMyth,’ which was produced two years ago locally here in West Michigan,” Brent explains. “That play examined the idea of ‘modern mythology:’ that is, what ‘mythological’ figures are created by children (and some adults) by what they view on television and film, read in books, etc. In the original play, Danny found a passage into another world where all of the heroic and villainous characters from television, film and literature from the last 100 years reside.”

The Danny Trooper sequel continues the original story, with Danny’s father keeping his promise to take him to Asgard to meet the Norse gods on his thirteenth birthday.

Brent says that this production shows Danny getting older, aging from 11 to 13, and helps kids to understand the adjustments that happen in their relationships with their friends and family and their expectations in society, too.

“I was obsessed with mythology as a child, and I’m still pretty much obsessed with mythology, science fiction and fantasy to this day,” Brent shares. “So ‘Valhalla’ is still about that obsession, I suppose, but it also looks at growing up and what changes to you as that happens.”

While he spends a year writing, revising and rewriting every play he produces, Brent also invests time into auditions, which last two days, and rehearsals over six to seven weeks. He mentions balance as one of the difficulties that come with putting on a production.

“With community theater and working with kids, your challenges, of course, are dealing with all of the other things that kids and adults do besides community theater,” Brent says. “Obviously, we all still have to show up to school or our jobs.”

Despite the long hours required when putting these productions together, Brent finds the process rewarding in many ways.

“It’s always great to see my stories brought to life by actors, but the things I enjoy the most about doing theater for youth are getting kids involved in theater, which I think benefits them in a multitude of ways, [including] presentation skills, self-esteem and self-confidence, and getting kids to come watch theater and hopefully want to see additional shows,” Brent says.