Watched the remaining two hours and forty minutes of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 epic The Seven Samurai last night, and wow. Some of the magic was dulled by the fact that i've been raised on action fare and have seen this formula a thousand times, until i realized that this film was the source of the formula. As Roger Ebert put it, this is the birth of the modern action movie. So many amazing scenes, so many compelling characters. There's an astounding interaction between the young samurai Katsushiro and the master swordsman Kyuzo, in which Katsushiro's eyes shine with the wonder and enthusiasm of youth while Kyuzo's complection is dull, worn down by age. Kurosawa was a master of framing scenes and using light and shadow ... another scene in which the samurai watch an old, familyless woman accept a gift of a bowl of rice shows the samurai, faces partially drowned in shadow, realize the plight of the lowly farmers. The story of what happened to the farmer Rikichi's wife is told with suspense and surprise that put to shame the plot tricks of today's schlock. A truly landmark piece of cinema.

My new favorite tv show is The Venture Brothers, a new series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Fantastic sixties Johnny Quest-style animation and a plot openly spoofing the JQ family structure. While the neurotic, inferiority complex-ridden Dr. Venture, his superhuman bodyguard Brock Samson (voiced by Puddy of Seinfeld fame), and his nitwit sons Hank and Dean provide enough comedy on their own, i have to give the nod to the villains of the series. From the neurotic butterfly-enthusiast The Monarch ("we've been engaged in a deadly game of cat and also cat since college!"), the German dictator Baron Underbheit ("Where i come from, a lab partnership is a sacred trust."), the Walt Disney parody Roy Brisby and his Busy Bee kingdom, to the Orange County Liberation Front and their orange helmets ("Free OC! Kill the bee!"), they are a nonstop source of chuckles. If only Cartoon Network showed more than one episode a week.

Been a movie weekend while V's been down south. After returning the puppy Thursday evening and trying to catch up on sleep while wracked with guilt, i awoke a bit late Friday and headed off to work after being out the previous day. I made some headway on my first NIH grant, due October 1, and finished off the revisions on my last CMIR paper, accepted with major revisions (meaning essentially that i have to address a few more nonsensical reviewer comments) by the Journal of Biomedical Optics. One of these days i'll also get around to making CMIR_Image Mac compatible. One day ...

Coming home Friday evening i grabbed a sandwich at Togo's and popped into Blockbuster to grab a couple of flicks. After reading Roger Ebert's review of the hotly anticipated Jet Li-import Hero, i was keen to check out some of Akira Kurosawa's work, which i'd heretofore missed. I wanted to see the oft-referenced Rashômon, but that not being in Cockbuster's inventory i settled for The Seven Samurai instead. While struggling for a second rental i eventually stumbled across the Steve McQueen WW2 prison camp piece The Great Escape, and having never seen that either i grabbed it.

I decided i wasn't in the mood for subtitles that evening and went with The Great Escape. As far as i'm concerned Steve McQueen was the coolest guy on the planet in the 60's and 70's ... Bullitt and especially Papillon are two of my favorites. The Great Escape was quite good also, although a little light on the McQueen. The cast was spectacular ... James Garner as the scrounger, Sir Richard Attenborough as the leader, Charles Bronson as the tunneler. It was amazing both as a drama and as a historical document: it's difficult to conceive how WW2 prisoners of war constructed such elaborate escape tunnels while evading detection by their German captors.

Saturday morning i awoke and drove over to Union City, broken Xbox in hand, to drop it off for repair and ... well, i'll still go with "improvement". In the meantime, i headed further down the 880 to Fremont to see my parents. After picking up the super-Xbox only an hour later, we headed across the street to Union Landing for lunch at the Texas Road House (am i allowed to make Patrick Swayze jokes here?). I mentioned my interest in seeing Hero, so we then walked over to the Century Theater, finding it starting within ten minutes. My mom opted for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, so it was just dad and i. I thoroughly enjoyed Hero. As expected, the cinematics are wonderful, especially the color composition. Wire fighting seems to have become an art form unto itself. What i mean is that in other films of this genre that i've seen wires are used to allow the actors to move and fight as if they have superhuman skills. In Hero, moves on wires are so blatant and heavyhanded that you are forced to recognize them. They still make for fantastic scenes, but are less a tool to create an illusion than a movie component in their own right. The plot unfolds as the hero, Nameless, and the king of Qin debate how Nameless came to defeat three assassins out to murder the king. The story drags in places, but the whole is excellent.

Saturday night i gave my Xbox Plus a spin, and began watching the Seven Samurai but was felled only forty minutes in by sleep. Today i've been Mr. Domestic, washing dishes, towels, and clothes, and tidying the entire house. Now just to pick up V and have a restful Sunday evening so i can motor through the rest of my grant starting tomorrow morning.

Oh yes, Chelsea won again, their fourth straight to start the season. We conceded our first goal of the season only 12 seconds into the match, but fought back to take the match 2-1 over Southampton. Still not looking quite the force that Arsenal is, but we're level on points at the top and have the excuse that our awesome squad is still settling. Watch out!

There's a reason i make all these comments about not quite being an adult yet. And some of them have been reminded to me in unpleasant fashion over the last few days. Veronica and i have been looking for a dog to fill the void in our lives left after Cobi passed. We've spent more than a little time at local rescue missions and animal shelters, but haven't found any doggies that have screamed "I'm the one! Take me home!". On Wednesday V sent me some photos she'd gotten from a woman advertising lab mix puppies on Craigslist, and i was taken with a little chocolate-colored girl. Having really missed Cobi over the last few months, we both decided to just take the plunge and get a new puppy. So we drove down to San Jose, played with the little girl for 15 minutes, and bought the 8 week old pup for $250.

As soon as the ride home i began to realize the commitment we'd just made, and began to question whether it was one we could fulfill. The pup, justifiably frightened at these strange new people and her new surroundings, was very restless and hard to settle. She seemed to have been at least partially housebroken, but we had trouble reading her requests, resulting in several accidents in the house. At bedtime she was understandably skeptical of her crate and whined and yelped when put in. Neither V or i got any sleep that night as we tried to look after her. I ended up laying on the floor with the dog from 4 until 9am, trying to simulate her old sleep environment with her littermates. Come morning, i confided in V that i thought we'd made a mistake. Our love of dogs and grief over losing Cobi led us to attempt to insert another dog into the role that Cobi filled. She was an older dog, happy to relax on the couch and cuddle, and fine with being left alone. An 8 week old puppy doesn't match any of those specifications, and our lifestyle doesn't match with that needed to attend to a pup.

While V had to fly down to LA for a funeral yesterday, i ended up returning the little chocolate lab to the woman in San Jose, who was very sympathetic. Part of me feels downright stupid for taking on the responsibility of a puppy and then bailing out 24 hours later. V and i discussed things and came to the conclusion that we're not at a point in our lives where we can raise a young dog. With work and friends and family, we can't be there 24 hours a day to properly train it. And we're not ready to sacrifice to attempt to meet that demand. That part sounds selfish, and it probably is, but it's also realistic. I've been asking myself whether things will be different when we have kids ... will i also be asking if i can take it back a day after my child comes home? Honestly, i don't think it's the same, but for fear of trying to build up an excuse i won't go into that further.

Maybe part of the reason i feel so guilty is that i really would like to try to train a puppy, but i can't do it with everything else in my life. One day i will raise a doggie, but it will have to wait until i can in good faith give her the attention she deserves. And to our little chocolate lab puppy, i just hope she gets a good family that gives her the love she needs and deserves.

It's always tough reentering normal life rough after spending a lot of time and energy preparing for and undergoing a landmark event in your existence, and that's exactly where i'm at now. I'm very happy to be married now, and wouldn't change a thing, but find myself in somewhat of a rut with respect to work, daily affairs, etc. Maybe living in anticipation of the wedding wasn't so bad after all.

V and i do have some post-wedding domestic affairs to keep us busy. We've been receiving loads of great wedding gifts from our registry, plus Arlene and Alan bought us great new shelving for our kitchen and a swank dining table from Drexel Heritage, which we just ordered last week. I've been hunting around on the travel websites to see when V and i might be able to take our honeymoon in Greece. Several labmates from Boston reside in the Greek isles and have extended invitations to us, so we plan on taking them up on their offers once 1) the brutal heat of the Mediterranean summer has died down a bit, and 2) the chaos of the Olympics has passed. Looks like late October or November might work. Finally, we're also beginning to become more serious about buying a house. Tonight we have our second appointment to look at houses with friendly local realty agent Joe Campagna, and i've begun chatting with mortgage brokers to elucidate the financial end of things. Who knows? My last barrier to maturity may be broken soon.

I'm making a number of attempts to amuse myself also. For one, you'll immediately notice that the journal section of the site has seen a few changes. Just like Dean Moriarty, i'm never quite happy unless things are in a state of flux. I'm eager to give the site a whole new look, but just can't find anything that i like better than the simplicity of the current layout. So instead i've taken to adding functionality here and there, with the latest being the calendar showing dates when i've posted, and the search utility. Try it out, let me know if anything's funky. And let me know if you've got ideas on how to make things more useful or pretty.

Video games are another sure-fire way to entertain me. Matthew has graciously agreed to host this year's SMFA Cup down in Los Angeles on the weekend of October 16 and 17. He's arranged a day of open sea fishing followed by an evening of hard fought video footie also starring Gary, Sean, and new entrant Kevin. We'll be duking it out on FIFA 2005, which will be released a few days prior to the tourney. Therefore none of us will have time to hone our skills in the new version of the game, which should level the playing field a bit. Nevertheless, lately i've been refreshing my memory of FIFA 2004 so as to optimally defend my 2003 SMFA title. Matthew's been talking some major trash, and i fully intend to see if he can back it up.

In other video related news, i used some Best Buy rewards coupons to offset the cost of a wireless adapter for Xbox Live. I've now got my Xbox online, sans cables running across the house. It hasn't helped my skills in multiplayer Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow though. Whether i'm a spy or a merc, i'm still getting tooled. Getting ordered around by your 14 year old teammate is not flattering to the ego, either. Web tutorials suggest i need to practice offline, but i haven't found time for that yet. Instead i'm developing a little phobia of Xbox Live.

I've also decided to have the broken Xbox that Veronica got from AuctionDrop repaired and ... ummm ... "improved". I found a guy in Union City who will replace the faulty DVD drive as well as ... ahem ... well, "improve" other aspects of the system for a reasonable fee. I'm dropping that off this Saturday, hoping to pick it up shortly thereafter.

And last but not least in my mind, the new Premiership season is now a week and a half old. Chelsea have maximum points from their three matches with four goals scored and none conceded, and are 3 points in front of Arsenal who've played only two matches. The press is already branding the Blues "boring" and "dour", but Mourinho isn't hesitating to bark back. He has correctly pointed out that 1) our first two matches were against tough opponents Birmingham and Manchester United, 2) our newly-assembled squad is still learning to play together, and 3) we haven't dropped any points yet. This naturally has incensed the media and caused them to lambast Chelsea further, but if anything Mourinho is not one to suffer fools (or anyone else) gladly. Of course i'd love to see us beating everyone 5-nil, but 1-nil and unattractive is better than 1-3 and flamboyant. The Arse are looking mighty strong, so it'll take a special season to win the Championship. But with a touch of luck there's no reason to expect that as the season comes to a close Chelsea won't be near the top of the table.

i would never wish this much on you when what you have might be enough i would never want to drive that fast unless you're ready, willing, happy i would never want to take you with me until you're open and grab my hand i would never wish this much on you until you like to live that fast i would never want to do that to you to take you far and leave you stranded i have never gone quite far enough but you can get off whenever you like

With the stress of the wedding behind us, my immune system decided to crap out and i've picked up a little sinus infection. At least it happened now, and not last week. It also managed to wait until after V and i met up with new SF residents Naomi and Geoff on Tuesday night for dinner at Chai Yo, followed by Sebadoh at Bottom of the Hill with old friend and wedding attendee Lance. I was worked by 11:15pm on Tuesday when Lou and Jason came on (no drummer, just a taped drum backup courtesy of a CD player named Phil ... Lance tells me this is how Sebadoh was originally conceived), but managed to stick it out until they finished their encore at 12:30am. The pair started out with four or five Lou numbers, which to be honest began to drag after a while. Things picked up when Jason's songs came out. In the end a very entertaining show, with the highlights coming from 1994's Bakesale: "License to Confuse" and "Rebound". I must say i agree with Veronica's assessment, Lou Barlow can be a tad pretentious and annoying but when he and Jason get together they do make some fantastic music.

That new Green Day song "American Idiot" makes me feel like it's 1994 again. And i mean that in the most horrible way possible.

Not unexpectedly, i haven't had any time to post since returning from Pittsburgh. Immediately upon arriving at SFO at 11:30am on Friday July 30, Veronica picked me up and put me to work getting things ready for our wedding the following Thursday. First task: finish the covers for our CD favors that i'd been slowly generating over the last few months. They ended up coming out great and got rave reviews at the reception. Have a look! I also laid out the program in Powerpoint, as well as the seating cards for the tables. Luckily Dionne and Michelle arrived that evening to expand our work force, which was already bolstered by Veronica's mom Arlene. Ana was also there for intermittent distractions. That Saturday V and the girls headed to the city for her bachelorette party, while i hung out with V's cousin Naomi's boyfriend Geoff, Naomi's cousin Joey, Ana and Arlene, and played some Mario Kart. Ana took a quick liking to the game, but got frustrated at my consistent victories before losing it around 12:30am. However, after much practice in the last week she's now a respectable competitor.

I had to work a half day that Monday, mainly to prepare a talk that i'd absentmindedly agreed to give that Tuesday in Sacramento. That went well, although i was a bit annoyed that in the end i drove 2 hours to give a 30 minute talk and drive 2 hours back. Bright side: at least i missed traffic. The next day we continued our frenzied work before heading to Fremont and the rehearsal dinner/Ana's birthday party thrown by my parents. Carne asada, guacamole, and lots of other tasty morsels were served, and Ana got to gloat after victory in Pin The Tail On The Donkey and then beat a piñata senseless. Matthew spied a decades-old soccer ball lost in the bushes, which i retrieved so he, Sean, and Gary could kick it around a bit. Bad idea. Not long after breaking one of my dad's sprinkler heads, Gary pulled up lame while walking up to kick the ball. We'd all though he'd just twisted his ankle, but he quickly let us know that it was serious. Feeling his Achilles tendons, the right one quite normally felt like a taut rope under the skin, but the left felt like two limp strings. Uh oh. My sister Emily was kind enough to take him to the emergency room at Washington Hospital. I relieved her around 10:30, and found out he'd partially torn his Achilles. He was issued crutches and vicatin and told to see an orthopedic surgeon asap. Surgery is tomorrow. But despite this he made it to the wedding the next day, even picking up Rudha, Rob, Greg, and Greg's dj equipment, and hobbled down the aisle as was his groomsman right.

Despite last minute panics, the event came off wonderfully. The girls all looked fabulous, but Veronica rightfully stole the show with her awesome hair. makeup, and dress. What every groom hopes to see approaching him down the aisle. Michael put together a brief ceremony that came together nicely. I achieved my goal of making Veronica tear up during my vows. We then took some photos with our great photographer Dave before being announced by Greg and having our first dance, to "Breathless" by Adorable (a great pick by Veronica). Dinner by Shai's catering was scrumptious, and then we danced away. The highlight was Michael and i clearing the dance floor to skank to "Little Bitch" by The Specials. Unfortunately everyone then told me that Michael put me to shame, and it's evident in this photo: his knees are twice as high as mine! I can't defend myself, i was dying 3/4 of the way through the song.

We reconnoitered to the Berkeley Marina Doubletree before heading to Popscene in the city, where DJ Jeremy had put us all on the guest list. We got a good hour of dancing and drinking in, with Veronica and i still in our wedding duds, as were most of the bridesmaids. Those sissy groomsmen all changed into casual attire though. Just kidding guys, you were great.

All in all, a truly memorable wedding. I have to give Veronica endless praise for being the mastermind behind the whole affair ... she worked tirelessly to make it the event it was. And thanks to all who participated and attended ... we love you all and are happy we had a chance to show you.

The rest of the weekend was spent with Alan, Arlene, and Ana, including a trip to the California Academy of Sciences in its new temporary location on Howard in Soma. Not a bad intermediate site, while the truly impressive new Academy is constructed in Golden Gate Park. Ana also got to further develop her Mario Kart skills. We opened gifts with my family in Fremont, reorganized our kitchen, and had several nice Alan-prepared meals. I was a bit sad to see them leave on Monday.

Does being married feel different? To me, yes. There is a renewed sense of commitment ... i want Veronica to feel that we are at a new level, and not just back to the same ol' same ol' after the climax of the wedding. I said it in my vows, and i meant it, and will mean it until Veronica and i are soaking our dentures while sitting in rocking chairs on the porch.