My Blog

Karfluki Music and Arts Festival: THIS WEEKEND

mish — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:12:07 GMT

Well, the time has come. I feel like this weekend is kind of like a presidential election. Most people already know what their plans for this weekend are. Those that are coming are already planning on going; those that have other plans sure as hell aren’t going to drag their butts to Auburn unless they already live close by. You’ve already decided where you'll be... or perhaps you’re the 1-2% that hasn’t. So, this is the message that is directed at all those folks that are undecided. They have nothing else on their plate this weekend than to sit at home, watch Robot Chicken reruns and eat nachos. Now, we all know how tasty those nachos are. And hell, Robot Chicken is a damn fine show. But this is an honest to goodness music festival folks! You will have an awesome time! And it’s cheap for a festival, $38 for the weekend, or $25 for the day. Digitally recorded TV and California cuisine will be there for you when you return. Come spend the weekend basking in the sun, drinking beer, and enjoying some Flamenco, Gypsy, Zydeco, Folk, Bluegrass, Celtic, and Accordion Rock. Website for complete info - www.karflukifest.com - please be patient - load time may be slow

The Real Video

mish — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:04:22 GMT

Sorry for Rick Rolling you all, it WAS April 1st. Not like anybody noticed or understood my lame joke anyway. Stupid gag. I blame humor as an institution actually. The other thing I noticed was that there was only one guy who responded to the blog, Jon, and he made the superawesome(tm) image above. The nature of people I guess. Anyway, here is the real wedding ceremony video, enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOfyvdyZXwY

Happy St. Stupid's Day!

mish — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:55:50 GMT

So it’s been awhile since I wrote anything I know. I’ve just been overrun with things to do, been planning a music festival and getting married. So you know, avarage stuff. Anyhow, although I sometimes cannot bare the intricate personal lives of others, the following has been requested by many. If you’re not into this, please don’t click it. I wouldn’t if I were you. Awesome Wedding Photos by Will Bersca: http://public.fotki.com/musichallproductions/las-vegas-wedding/ I’ve gone ahead and put the video from the ceremony up on YouTube for anyone wants to see that too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Ignorance and Politics

mish — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:23:30 GMT

Welcome to how much of the the rest of this county feels about religion and politics http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/rb_08_feb_05 They are among us.

PANTO! You know. For kids!

mish — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:33:24 GMT

Heya gang! Well aren’t I doing my fair share of promoting this week. My pal Bryn posted this and I thought I’d give it a push along. So if you’ve got kids, know someone who has kids, take care of kids, or are a gingerbread dwelling witch and like to eat kids (they're so good with chips!), this is the show for you! The Stark Ravens are renting a full theater and putting on their full blown spectacle of their critically acclaimed British style Pantomime show in February for one weekend only! “Panto! The Musical Fairytale Adventure” shows Feb. 15, 16, 17, at the “Little Theater” on the Drake High School campus, 1327 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in San Anselmo. Show times 7 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. Sat. and Sun. Advance discount tickets $15 Adults, $11 for kids 4 and up and seniors. At the door: $16, $12. Tickets and full show times available at: www.PANTOMARIN.com Sponsored by Marin Artists Intl. Network, 415 339-1378. Presented by Stark Ravens Historical Players- www.StarkRavens.com

At least the Poster is better this year…

mish — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:32:50 GMT

Anyhow, last year’s Karfluki Festival of Arts and Music was a big hit. The day was perfect, the music was amazing, and the crowds were mild. This year it’s a full 2 day weekend, and I dedicate myself to packing this show. Check out the video of last year’s festival! http://blip.tv/file/616332 Highlights from Karfluki Fest 2007. The Second Annual Tempest Festival of Arts and Music took place at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, California on May the 5th. Featured artists included Big Brother and the Holding Company, Fairport Convention, Wicked Tinkers, Fishtank Ensemble and, of course, Tempest. Also entertaining the crowds were fire dancers, jugglers, sword swallowers, belly dancers and much much more. Don't miss Karfluk Fest 2008!

Ding Dong, the Wedding’s on!

mish — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:09:46 GMT

Holy honking SHIT!!! are there a lot of weddings going on these days. Congratulations to all you folks who are planning of getting married, just gotten married, been married for what seems like forever, perhaps thinking about someday maybe one day getting married or perhaps getting married right as you read this blog. So guess what? Alright that ones too easy. We’re getting married. IN VEGAS!!! Alright, so it was a tough decision but we have decided that Heather and I are getting hitched this February 29th. That’s Leap Day folks, in Las Vegas. Actually Heather suggested it, and I had to think about it for awhile, but now I think it’s ‘the bomb’ idea. I know what you’re thinking. “Man, I love you both but there is no way in hell I can afford to make it to Vegas.” Don’t you worry about it if you really wanted to come to our wedding; we’re going to have a big potluck/celebration/live music playin’ BBQ in a big park most likely in August. Lots of friends, family, musical instruments, all that wonderful crap. BUT, if you can find the time and money and want to come to Vegas from Feb 29th – Mar 2nd, let me know, leave a comment, send me a message, email me, whatever and I’ll get back to you in about a week with the details of the location of the chapel and the weekend plan, starting with the wedding on Friday night. A day like this only happens once every…. 4 YEARS!!! Dun Dun Duuuunnnnn.

planning a wedding

mish — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:24:34 GMT

So planning a wedding is a great big hassle as many of you recently have discovered. Now, its finally time to plan one myself and I really have NO IDEA where to start looking. I want a local affordable outdoor area that can hold a few hundred people in the SF bay area. There are thousands of options and I have no idea where to start looking. A call to all of you who have had this dilemma recently, I appeal to you, send me to the websites that helped you moist! I mean most.

It’s time for Pai

mish — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:25:43 GMT

Our final chapter begins, but let me start off by saying we are safe and happy to be back home. Sooooo coohohohld heeerrree though. We have not come down with Dengue Fever or Malaria, as far as we know, but rest assured if we do die, you’ll all be safe. Travel days were days where all there was to do was take one form of transport to another and basically do that all day until we got to a hostel or hotel. Nothing to do but sit on our ass and read until we got there, then get up with all our gear and walk to the next station where we sat in long lines to get on one thing or another where all we did was sit yet again. The longest travel day took 27 hours and that was the trip from Southern Thailand to Northern Thailand full of boats, buses, planes, subways and an overnight train. After all that, we found the magnificent Northern Thai city of Chang Mai, booked into a hotel and set out. Parts of this city are just pure tourist-land, hundreds of discount hotels, places all over to book jungle trekking, elephant rides, trips to Laos, plus LOTS of open air markets for shopping for gifts. We did eventually book a overnight camping trip through the jungle that featured hiking through some thick jungle (very stressful due to sharp and pointy plants, rocks, and insects), camping overnight at a longneck village (those tribes where the women tribe folk wear rings around their necks to extend their necks) (sleeping was difficult on very thin mattresses and bugs aplenty), elephant riding (oh my god those poor elephants), and whitewater rafting (all in all the best part of the trip). Thai back massages upon return to the city were a necessity. We stayed through the weekend markets, HUGE street side festivals where food, clothes, trinkets and foot massages are bartered into the night. It has a feeling of a city-sponsored party and the locals definitely outnumber the tourists, which makes it all the more appealing. After a few days cruising around Chang Mai, we left for our favorite place in Thailand, the small mountain town of Pai. This town too has become a visitor’s favorite although it comes with its own unique charm that also pulls the upscale Thai tourists as well. A beautiful valley, dotted with farming villages, surrounds this small town with hot springs and a happening live music scene. We stayed for a few days at a fantastic bungalow with soft beds on the river and rented a scooter to explore the local countryside and hot spring spas. At night the only thing to do was wander around the music clubs with all the other backpackers in the city, listening to all the great bands and getting quite hammered. All this was remarkably inexpensive considering the US dollar is slipping at about the same rate as American worldwide popularity. As we tried to take an overnight train to Bangkok, we were surprised to learn that the railway had cancelled our train due to a strike. Even more surprisingly, the strike only affected that ONE train. Ohhh kaayyy. So, we stayed one more night in Chang Mai and booked a flight the next morning for Bangkok for our last few days before our flight home. In Bangkok we took in an outdoor theater festival (the performances were quite good even considering it was free), along with all the other things one must do in that city (explore the ancient Castle and Temple of the King, see the emerald Buddha, take a river tour of the city, eat and shop till our stomachs and bags overflowed, tour museums and royal mansions, ect ect). Our turbulence flight home was like a rollercoaster ride and we are happy we landed at all. For the last couple days we have recuperated and tried to readjust to life where we don’t have to pack up and leave the next day. it is so weiiiirddd here. As well as cold, did I mention cold? Anyhow, we are both looking forward to the Dickens Fair this season and catching up with everyone. Obviously, these blogs do not do the trip complete justice, so I’ll be posting pictures on Flickr if anyone is interested quite soon. Of course, THOSE pictures don’t tell a complete story either… Well, damn, I guess I'll have to tell ya in person.

You Down with Ko Phi Phi ?

mish — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:55:13 GMT

We landed in Southern Thailand on the island of Phuket. Strangely enough, they pronounce it poo-ket, and not the dirty way you're thinking, which is odd cause this is the island to do dirty things. Prostitutes are everywhere! And not just girls, but boys that look like girls (they prefer to be called lady-boys and not transvestites thank you very much). The main drag of beach (Patong Beach) is an overdeveloped mess teeming with huge hotels, bars galore and more hookers than you can shake a stick at. I'm not kidding, your stick shaking arm would fall right off! This is one of the major islands that was devastated by the tsunami in 2005 but you wouldn't be able to tell now. The place looked completely overhauled and open for business (if you know what I mean). Heather and I took a van to the beach town just to the south (Karon Beach) and arrived just before midnight. We started looking for one of the hostels in our guidebook only to find that it didn't actually exist. We did stumble upon the only place that seemed to be open in the neighborhood which was a bar/hostel with 3 rooms, all of which were booked. The owner, an Aussie named Jerry, turned out to be the coolest cat in town and proceeded to run about and found a room close by for a completely decent rate. A day later he also managed to convince us to rent our first scooter which was just about the best way of getting around almost everywhere in Thailand. This guy was top rate and we proceeded to drink with him at his place every night we stayed on Phuket. Some things we did on Phuket in no particular order: * Saw the Simon Cabaret Show (performed almost entirely by lady-boys). Costumes and Scenery - 5 stars. Lip syncing and dancing ability of lady-boys - 1 star. They were HORRIBLE. Really bad. I mean, it was lip-syncing for gods sake! How could you suck that bad after so many shows? HOW??? Also, the dancing sucked too, but you really can't say much about that. NOBODY in Thailand can dance. Its just a strange cultural phenomenon. * Rented a motorbike, explored the island and found an excellent white sand beach. Super cool way to see anywhere in Southeast Asia. * Attended the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket city. This is not what you think. They do in fact serve vegetarian food for the entire length of this week-long Buddhist festival but the real attraction is the parade of people who have impaled sharp pointy objects through both cheeks and parade through the city in a trance bleeding profusely while children throw giant firecrackers at their heads. If you're interested, look up more pictures of the Vegetarian festival on Google, you'll be stunned. These people impale themselves with almost anything. Spears, hooks, swords, BBQ skewers, tree branches, arm sized statues of the Effiel Tower (not kidding), and then there were these guys actually licking serrated blades and bleeding all over themselves. Bloody awesome(har har har)! After we were through with Phuket, we sailed for Ko Phi Phi , an island just to the south of Phuket. This place was a backpacker mecca and had to be one of the most beautiful locales we have seen, even greater and more stunning than the Gili islands in Indonesia (the movie The Beach was filmed nearby). The snorkeling was divine(we took a boat tour), the nighttime entertainment was fantastic (fire dancers and lots of drinking!) and Heather and I won $60 in a sand castle building contest (true were the only ones that showed up, but it WAS an awesome sand castle). Apparently this place is also a divers paradise, so if anyone if thinking of coming to SCUBA, this place is it! Our last attempt at the beach life for this trip was to spend some time of the famous island Ko Pha Ngan, reknown for the world famous Full Moon Party in Thailand. Unfortunately, it being monsoon season, the island had become a lagoon. The place was soaked from 6am-4pm everyday by a torrential downpour(interesting for awhile but it gets boring fast). The nighttime weather cleared the sky but the streets were soaked and going to the beach during the day was useless (although it is interesting to step into the ocean during a downpour and find the water much warmer than the falling rain). The one rave-like party we attended (the Half Moon party) was an alcohol-fueled techno dance without the raver drugs. We'd heard the authorities have come down quite hard on the island due to its drug-fueled party reputation and undercover cops were around in legion. Apparently the island is quite lovely during the dry season, but we booked a flight to Bangkok and than a train for Northern Thailand as soon as we got the chance. Next stop, the entrancing city of Chang Mai.

Train, Planes and Automobiles… and Boats and Pedi-cabs and Buses, oh my!

mish — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:49:56 GMT

I feel that I’ve really let everyone down on the blogging front. There is quite a lot of traveling that has not been written about and for all of you that care, I apologize. For all of you who don’t care… why are you even reading this? Traveling can be an interesting experience and quite an educational one. Unfortunately, they are not all positive lessons. Lesson #1: Almost everyone in the travel industry will flat-out lie to a tourist for their money. After leaving the Gili islands by boat, we encountered a fellow trying to get us to pay for a cart ride about ½ a km to the van stop. For some reason, the van wasn’t allowed to pick up people from the dock but it was fine to drop them off there. Un-huh, right. After walking the paltry distance to the van, the van operator tried to convince us not to go to the airport due to the busyness of the season (Ramadan) and the apparent impossibility for us to find any flights to Java, and to return to his tourist office to find another way. Having heeded lesson one, we listened not to this fellow and proceeded to insist on being dropped off at the airport. We then were able to buy 2 tickets to Java for about $40 each on a virtually empty plane that left that afternoon. After a quick 45 minute flight, we took a taxi to the train station and bought 2 tickets to the city of Solo in the heart of Java. Java has got to be one of the best experiences of our trip thus far. Westerners have been largely scared away by Java’s reputation as a devoutly Muslim country and that the residents would hate us, spit on us and beat us to death with the Koran as soon as they found out we were from the US. That belief could not be further from the truth as everyone we met turned out to be some of the kindest and most helpful people we had met so far. White people were few and far between and those we met were of the adventurous and non-frat boy variety (which tend to plague the majority of “tourist” destinations we visit). Once off the train in Solo, we were quickly set upon by the local Pedi-cab operators to take us to our hostel. These guys would peddle both our asses and all our gear around the entire city in a frontloaded 2-person carriage for about a buck. We ended up employing them quite a bit while in Java although the downside was having to breathe street exhaust as they peddled along the street right behind all the scooters and buses. While in Solo, we had a great cultural journey. We explored two separate King’s palaces (and sat in one of their chairs), visited the museum devoted to an archeological dig surrounding the discovery of bones of the missing link (nick named Java Man if you want to look it up), saw a Javanese carnival (just as lame as at home), saw a shadow puppet play (incomprehensible), took a bus to Prambanan (an ancient beautiful enormous Hindu temple), and then arrived in Yogjakarta. Yogja (as it is called by the residents) was another amazing city in the heart of Java. As soon as we arrived, we befriended a local nicknamed Beng-Beng who had an affinity for us due to our being from San Francisco (he had close friends that lived there). I too immediately took a liking to him for some reason. He offered to take us on a tour of the local sites and, for a modest fee (of course), him and his friend drove us all about the next day on a great journey. We saw the monolithic Borobudur (an ancient, even more enormous, Buddhist temple), climbed a tall hill to see an active volcano (unfortunately obscured by cloud cover that day but still a great climb) and ate at a little known but utterly fantastic restaurant surrounded by Japanese décor and swimming fish. The next day we set off to explore the local Sultan/Governor’s palace. Once there, we were befriended by a royal gamelan musician who took us for a private viewing of one of the princess’s private palace that was being cleaned for that day (just our luck). Then off to eat with the Sultan’s staff in the middle of the palace. The guide book warned that there would be fellows who would try to take us to a local artist’s store and have us buy their overpriced wares. Although I was well warned, we were pleasantly conned into purchasing some overpriced art. Beng-Beng later told us that evening that we had been taken. It was such a pleasant experience though, I would gladly get conned again. That night, we sat shooting the shit with some local expats that had made Java their home. A truly magical place and one I would recommend to any future travelers. After Java, we decided it was finally time to head North. We found discounted ($30 each) tickets (hurray AirAsia) to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. A quick note on Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia in general… skip it. It was a big modern metropolitan country in the heart of South East Asia and there is surprisingly little to do. We were so bored we ended up finding a modern water park to spend one of our days in (like Raging Waters only bigger). As soon as we could we booked a flight for Phuket in Thailand, but that’s a story for another blog.

Gili Islands

mish — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:36:34 GMT

As we awoke the next morning, ready to depart the island of Bali, we hopped in a shuttle bus that took us to the ferry that would take us on a 5 hour journey across the sea. It was here that we met our new and most exciting traveling companions to date, Samantha and Bruce, the American drinking squad. These two friends had just come down from hiking a volcano, hadn’t slept, and were ready to spend some time partying on an island paradise. It is rare to meet other Americans over here due to the fact that its not tourist season, the US’s relative distance from this side of the world, and the fact that everyone thinks that they’re going to get kidnapped by Javanese terrorists ready to saw their head off. Samantha was a tall, athletic, hiking east coast traveling chick and Bruce was her New York Super Gay best friend. We started talking and realized at once we could hang and didn’t stop until 5 days later. Our journey took us to Lombok, an island just off the west coast of Bali, on a hot cramped shuttle bus ride through the center of the island, saw yet more monkeys, and onto a small departure point for Gili Trawangan, the party island. We all jumped aboard a 12’ long wooden boat with a single outboard motor. The boat contained about 20 westerners and 4 native “sailors”. Although the boat ride started easily enough as we all laughed about the sea spraying us, getting us lightly wet, the ride went from chuckles to HOLY SHIT WE’RE GOING TO DIE very quickly. To say the sea was NOT all that nice to us on the way is a huge understatement. Almost everyone on board confirmed that they were considering which island to swim for when we would all go into the drink. The swells were at least twice as high as the boat and the fact that we didn’t go in was an absolute miracle. The “sailors” looked like they were going to shit themselves. We landed soaked to the bone just as the sun was setting behind the island. The four of us wandered to the closest set of bungalows dripping sea water and checked in. The next four days and nights were spent drinking booze at night, snorkeling around coral reefs, eating delicious local food, reading and relaxing on the beach and swimming in crystal clear warm blue water. Unfortunately, we were not free of the pushy natives that would constantly harass us to buy their jewelry or drugs. Still, this was but a small price to pay for the romantic story book setting we inhabited. Eventually, on a snorkeling excursion, we met an Australian globe trekking mother and her two young daughters who would end up tagging along with us for the last few days. The older 11 year old daughter was awesome and had the haggling skills of a Moroccan bazaar trader. We set her on the locals pestering us to buy their jewels and she ended up wandering after a local for over two hours, hitting her with money, trying to get her to sell her a string of pearls for $5. She eventually got it too! I want a kid like this. (Side note: On this island is where I delivered the $100 to continue its journey. The full story of the bill will be told in a later blog as it is long and purely marvelous) Eventually after 4 days and nights of repeated partying and recovering, we grew weary of paradise (and short of $ since the island had no ATM) and made plans to finally continue on our journey. We left early in the morning and made it back across the calm morning waters with narry a drop on us. I definitely plan to return here someday.

A note on traveling

mish — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:04:17 GMT

Before I begin the next entry, I’d like to add that backpack traveling is not all amazing experiences, beautiful scenery and amazing meals. This shit is hard folks. Traveling is general has got to be one of the most maddening and demanding times of my life, more so than even Burning Man. When we’re away from home and all our creature comforts, it is amazing what we tend to realize that we miss. I miss my bed, the one that feels right and that I can sleep in without getting eaten to death by mosquitoes or tossing and turning all night. I miss the lack of sweltering humidly that lets me walk 15 feet, or sometimes just sit still, without breaking into a heavy sweat. I miss being treated as a person instead of a walking dollar sign. I miss a bathroom that has toilet paper instead of a water bucket. I miss being able to communicate with people clearly or even sometimes at all. I miss my friends and family, although Heather makes this trip very much easier on that account (but its not always a bed of roses). AND I REALLY miss my computer, the one that boots up when I want it to, doesn’t cost me a per minute usage fee and very rarely crashes mid-blog. Sometimes a good journey is one that you truly appreciate fully when it’s over.

Rice Rice Everywhere

mish — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:41:15 GMT

We have returned to the modern world finally, after a week of exploring the Bali countryside and the islands of paradise. There is much to write, so I think I’ll take it in chunks. So… when we last left our intrepid heroes, they were left trekking into the rice field filled center of Bali. In Ubud, we finally found our stride and began meeting fellow travelers. Our first friends, Jon and Kathleen whom we met at the hotel pool, originally from England, lived in Australia. We decided to travel together the next day on a local temple tour, passing through some of the loveliest scenery that ever there was. Some temples were lame and insignificant, some were enormous and awe inspiring. We ate great meals together at pricy restaurants. Pricey by the way means we spent $20 for our meal, combined. One quick observation here. We ate one night in a BBQ restaurant that specialized in serving beef. Great food, but that’s not the point. Cows in Bali are raised by Hindus. They raise them, wash them every day since they are sacred, generally treat them very well and will not consume them at all. EXCEPT, they WILL sell them to the Muslims over on Java who they know will slaughter and eat the cows. That is why the Muslims are buying them for in the first place. Yet the cows are sacred, but apparently not sacred enough to not be sold to the slaughter. I fucking love religious hypocrisy. Over the next couple days we saw various local dances, the Barong and the Kacak Fire dance being the most memorable. We joined a bicycle tour that took us to a town overlooking an awesome volcano and then rode down through rice fields and villages, stopping along the way to meet villagers and visit their farms, drink local teas and coffees, meeting local school children, photograph their schools and exploring the countryside and rice fields all the way back to Ubud. The next day, after some shopping for gifts, we got drunk with the owner of a local recommended restaurant and his friends. His name was Gunner and apparently he was an Icelandic pop star back in the 70s. Just awesome. Cultured out, we took off for Pandang Bai, the ferry port that would eventually bring us to the Gili Islands. We spent the day on a white sandy beach playing in the waves and surf. We spent our evening drinking with American expat divers who have made Indonesia and Malaysia their home. When next I write, it will be about the paradise that is the Gili Islands and our next and as of yet most intriguing travel companions.

Monkeys, Turtles, and More Monkeys

mish — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:36:55 GMT

Having spent as much time as we could stomach exploring the overcrowded and overconsumerfied (yes, I know it’s not a real word, but it seemed appropriate) beach town of Kuta, we set out for day trips to see the local sites. Ula Watu, a highly sacred Hindu temple, sits high above the cliffs of the south coast of Bali. A flock of priests, which I would have SWORN were surfer beach bums had this been any other town, sat watch and guided tourists around the site. For a few dollars, we bought some pineapples from them to feed to the monkeys that are the true inhabitants of the temple. The monkeys are quite bold and come take the pineapple directly from our fingers. Seems to me this is how zoos should operate in the western world, letting the monkeys roam free in an open protected area, instead of locking them away behind cages, reduced to throwing feces at their jailers. Think I’d do the same thing if I were locked in a cage in my supposed home “environment” fed the same thing day after day. Spaghetti-os AGAIN? Here’s what I think of your Spaghetti-os! The next day we set out for snorkeling adventure along the eastern coast. A too brief stint in the air parasailing and a banana boat ride came along with the package. After snorkeling and feeding the fish that remained just out of our reach, we boated to a secluded island (not so secluded really since scores of tourist boats like ours were docked as well) to visit the sea turtle sanctuary. We were urged to hold and feed the turtles as well as a toucan, a Burmese python and a huge fruit bat (easily my favorite). We left a donation and headed back to the beach to chill and drink lots of beer. Kuta became tiresome quite quickly and so we headed inland to the artist town of Ubud, renown for the woodworkers, stonemasons and painters that have made it their home. This town also sports a stunning monkey sanctuary which we visited almost immediately upon settling into our room. This thick forest sanctuary, which backs up to enormous gorgeous rice fields, also possessed the same spirited and bold monkeys as the temple. The monkeys played among the visiting humans as if we were part of the scenery, accidentally running into us sometimes when they weren’t looking and making sweet monkey love without a care for our presence. This town is much more laid back and quiet than the hedonistic Kuta and sports different Balinese dance and theatrical performances every evening that we plan to enjoy for the next couple of days. (note: picture is not mine, but you get the idea)

Kuta

mish — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:17:47 GMT

We have arrived safe and sound in South Bali. The airplane ride was long but surprisingly not unpleasant. The planes we took have personal video screens installed in the seat in front of the passengers so that you can watch your own individual movie that you have pick from a variety of channels without disturbing the passenger next to you, who has picked their own completely different movie to watch. Plug in your complimentary headset for sound. Isn't that super keen? South Bali is an architect's dream. Every building is beautiful and has traditional Balinese detail, which of course is exquisite. The place is packed full of beautiful beaches, Australian tourists, and more scooters than a hipster convention. The air smells of gasoline which is kind of disgusting though. Plus, I'm truly shocked by the lack of motor accidents. I haven't seen one yet, but if Americans drove like they do here, they'd all end up dead by the end of the week. The traffic gods are strong with these people. Must be all the incense that's burned in the mornings and afternoons as offerings. There are more people trying to sell you useless stuff than anywhere else I have ever seen, even the Renaissance faire. Every other step (no exaggeration) someone is trying to get you to purchase this or that ugly t-shirt or cheap pair of sunglasses. Haggling here is a way of life. They will get you to pay an arm and a leg for a pair of flip flops if you don't stand up for yourself. Thankfully I have full training in the ancient Hebrew martial art of haggling - Jewjitsu. So far Heather and I have found a great place to stay, complete with a pool with a built in bar, house masseuses, and air conditioning in our room (Oh my GOD its humid outside). The first night we arrived we met some surfers on the beach and drank beers while watching the sunset. Anyhow, this is only the beginning of the journey. I look forward to getting out of this touristy jungle and out into the real one soon. So stay tuned true believers!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

mish — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:04:11 GMT

Today is the day Heather and I leave for Bali. After a year of planning and saving, after weeks of preparation, after days of packing and cleaning, we’re on our way tonight. To say the past couple of weeks have been trying is stating it lightly, just last week I had a last minute root canal and then new fillings the next day, fun fun fun. This summer has been filled with novel experiences galore from forested and astounding music camps and the new families there, to Burningman and the trials of the Black Rock Desert, at once both the most difficult and enlightening place one can go. And now, out to Southeast Asia until November. I will be blogging on the journey, hopefully cataloging our trip along the way with pictures from Heather’s new digital camera. Please feel free to comment, lend some advice on our journey if you have some experience or just follow along. I hope to inspire the rest of you to get out there and see the world for yourselves. I mean, that’s what its there for and you're just getting older right?

KRULL

mish — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:55:31 GMT

If you remember this movie at all from the 80's, you'll tend to either hate it or love it. Either way, its playing this Sunday night at the Dark Room Theater for... BAD MOVIE NIGHT - 8PM - KRULL Featuring the comic voice-over talents of Rey Zegri & Misha Frenklak Where? The Dark Room Theater - 2263 Mission Street. SF, CA 94110 You KNOW you wanna go, come on, it's KRULL! Come relive the geekyness of your youth, throw popcorn at the screen and play our patented KRULL drinking game, all at the same time! BRING YOUR OWN ALCOHOL! Or you can purchase something across the street if you like.

Electric Music

mish — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:51:58 GMT

Apparently, Tesla Coils aren't just for looking pretty anymore. This is pretty cool... http://www.hauntedfrog.com/gt/movies/2007/duckon/SingingTeslaShow.html

Volunteer Tourism

mish — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:01:29 GMT

So Heather and I want to do some traveling this fall to Southeast Asia and we’re busily saving money to make that trip happen too. *crossing fingers that we can save enough* In either case, Heather has brought up volunteering and lending our services for a couple of weeks while we’re out there and I found the idea rather intriguing. Still, I’m a research nut and want the most information I can get about it before I commit to one of the MANY organizations out there that want our time and money. So, has anyone out there ever volunteered during a trip? I’d love any advice, recommendations and stories about your experiences.

Music Festival Volunteers Wanted

mish — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:25:13 GMT

This poster is ugly. I know. Really, I know. But its what we got to work with this year. Next year, I will insist that we use another artist. Now for quite some time, I’ve realized I really enjoyed music festivals and wanted to help put one together. Well, now it’s actually happening! I’m on the production committee to produce the Karfluki Music and Arts Festival in Auburn, CA on May 5th this year. The bands are fantastic this year: Tempest, Fairport Convention, the Wicked Tinkers, Fishtank Ensemble and Big Brother and the Holding Company (That’s Janice Joplin’s old band, woo-hoo!). There are fire-dancing performers and various carnival acts as well (the guy on the poster is supposed to be George the Giant who will be performing his side show act), to lend a more festive atmosphere. Plus, I will be MCing the main stage, introducing some of the bands and entertaining the audience. We are seriously looking for volunteers to help work the festival, anyone who would like to get in for free, work for a few hours, get some free beer and generally have a great time. Our first volunteer meeting is on April 7th in Auburn (although this is by no means mandatory). If you’re interested, please message me ASAP and I will put you on our volunteer email list. Time keeps on slipping into the future.

Twilight Zone – The Plays!

mish — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:31:37 GMT

Come. It is good. Rey Zegri and I have each directed a staged episode of the Twilight Zone for the Dark Room Theater. I have never had a production go this smoothly, all due to my fantastic cast. I know, I know, Theater is dead and all, but why not come and DO something in the city. It’s better than staying at home with the telekinetic cat on a Friday night, or with your haunted PS3 for that matter. We even have a matinee on Sunday, how eeriely convenient! IMPOSSIBLE PRODUCTIONS presents TWILIGHT ZONE: the Plays, Season IV New Directors! New Adaptations! New Rod Serlings! WHEN: MARCH 9th, 10th and 11th Fridays and Saturdays @ 8pm Sundays @ 3pm TICKETS: $15 at the door or online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/10445 INFO: http://www.darkroomsf.com 415-401-7987 wsup@darkroomsf.com

The Ultimate Apartment and the Twilight Zone

mish — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:48:31 GMT

So, as some of you may know, I manage an apartment building in Oakland near Lake Merritt. We have a couple of one-bedroom units for rent, which I usually rent out to folks on Craigslist. BUT, the building has a 2-Bedroom Penthouse unit that is the BOMB that just opened up and I wanted to tell all my friends about it first. Its on top of the building, so it has great views AND has its own outside private deck too. It has 2 bathrooms and private garage. It is in an amazing neighborhood and Whole Foods is being built a 5 minute walk away. Downtown BART is a 12-minute walk. The rent is $1600. I KNOW! its kick ass right? Secondly, I am casting a small 30-minute staged performance of a single Twilight Zone episode to be performed in March at the Dark Room Theater in SF. I need a couple of guys and girls. Rehearsals will be once a week for about 5 weeks. No money, just a fun time with a small time commitment. If either of the above descriptions sound appetizing, PM me and we can chat. Thanks!

TED

mish — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:26:55 GMT

Awhile ago, many of you may have heard, however distantly, that Al Gore spoke at the TED conference. What the hell are the TED conferences, you may ask. Well I did, and after that I looked online for the TED website and found many marvelous lectures by the worlds smartest people. I am absorbed listening to some of these people talk about the future of humanity and human perception and the world and politics and well, just about everything. Plus, it’s all in layman’s terms and immensely enthralling. If you have some time, go listen. Man... smart people get me hard. http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/ Oh, and if I may make a suggestion, watch Martin Rees speak.

Engaged

mish — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:41:24 GMT

It was all such a whir, but what a whir! So if you missed it, my friend Adrianne recorded this... just wow. http://www.7thsign.com/~izzy/mov/mishaheather.mov