Georgia Pok Guy

Lets say you’re sitting in your local Starbooks, all by your lonesome, and you’re just dying to converse with someone about the Japanese serow.  Do you:

1.  Stand up and shout out that the Japanese serow is an even toed ungulate?
2. Use iFob to see if anyone else has listed “Rare fauna of East Asia” under their interests?

iFob is a really cool (in theory, haven’t used it myself) piece of software for your iPhone that connects you to everyone on your local wireless network, allowing you to exchange information about yourself.  It’s like MySpace or Facebook at WLAN granularity.  For introverted people constantly living in fear of being rejected by others (such as myself), this sounds like a great piece of software.  I can see who around me shares my interests, and can use that to strike up a conversation.  Finding a kindred spirit is always an uplifting experience.

One potential downside I could see, especially for the womenfolk, is having creepy guys pretending to share your interests.  This problem already exists in places like MySpace, only this time the guy is in the same room as you.  Still, I think this looks like a really interesting, innovative idea, and I look forward to testing it out sometime.  Now, if only I liked coffee… 

If you type “ramapajama” into everyone’s favorite search engine, Google, you’ll find the third result is for my ol’ Adult Swim messageboard account (I haven’t used it in over 2 years, so I’m assuming I won’t be going back anytime soon).  Reading some of my posts is rather odd.  Either I’ve improved as a writer, or someone hacked my account and wrote a few posts.  It just seems like a completely different voice than my own.  However, I suppose I’ve matured a tad bit (this is being generous) since then, so, who knows.

Still, I was able to find a few posts of mine I enjoy.  One was a reply to the question “If you could make an anime, what whould [sic] be in it?”  Here is what I wrote:

A band of nerds, sick of hanging about in the dank, overcrowded alleyways of Akihabara decide it is time to move to greener pastures. With the help of a wise, toothless tofu vendor, they build a highly advanced, highly stylized robot. With it in employ, they hope to take over the popular-with-teens Shibuya. On a bright, clear October day, their robot rises from their secret base under theSumida river. However, while they’re destroying Tokyo, they stop in their tracks. Before them stands a rag-tag group of warriors. Four bishoujo, and a stupid robot that keeps singing songs from Japan’s Imperialistic past. All four girls must, MUST have cat ears. And then the next 24 episodes is just both groups fighting, retreating, going to school, learning lessons about love, and the virtue of chopsticks. In the end, the Japanese government decides to move the capital to Osaka, so all of the freaks will go trash it instead… And the nerds get beat up, like all nerds should. But they do mysteriously find love during the war. And then, because this is impossible, this imaginary world self-destructs, and becomes more like FLCL…  

 I forgot to put in an angst bishi character, who would be modeled after elmsfu, naturally…

By the by, I realize this post is pretty narcissistic (”Oh, look at me, I’m a friggin’ genius!”), but I haven’t posted in a while, and I thought an update was in order…  See elmsfu’s blog if you want an entertaining appraisal of the Republican debate tonight… 

On this day in 1984, Apple released their first personal computer.  It came with an 8 MHz processor and 128 KB of RAM, all for the modest sum of $2495.  I’m sure Arjun can attest that Apple has come a long way in the past 24 years…

My family had a Macintosh way back in the 80’s, but I don’t think it was the Macintosh 128K.  I have some fond memories of playing around with it on the ol’ library table in the family room.  My favorite program was a painting program (which naturally appealed to my artistic side; I lament that Apples after the late 90’s don’t include this program).  So I suppose it was only natural for me to return to Apple at the behest of a crazy Indian-Omani back in 2002, after falling under the influence of M$.  Unfortunately my father, who was a big Mac fan, buying them up until 1997, doesn’t have one currently.  Maybe the fact that all of his sons have Apples will sway him to buy another one to sit on the office desk in the villa familia…

Apparently there are international laws pertaining to births and deaths on boats and airplanes. I can see how on a boat, given the longer journey time, births are a fairly common occurrence. But how many people are born on airplanes? That would be an interesting statistic to come across. One to drop at parties, for sure.

What is fun about these laws are the potential citizenship combinations for newborns. The vessel one is born in abides by the laws of the host country. Compound this with the laws of any territory the vessel is in at the time. If the host country of the vessel and the territory the vessel is in have jus soli laws, the the newborn has citizenship in both countries (and if the citizeships of the parents are different from those nations, the newborn will have those too, assuming their nation(s) of citizenship have at least jus sanguinis laws). Assume that you are born on an Air Canada flight over Romania with an American father and a Armenian mother. Canada and Romania have jus soli laws, making you at least eligible for Canadian and Romanian citizenship. Your American father gives you instant American citizenship (because that’s how we roll). You can get your Armenian citizenship from your mother using their simplified process. So, expectant parents, if you want to give your children triple or even quadruple citizenship, think about giving birth on an airplane or boat.

For those of you interested, there is even a list of famous people born at sea. Everyone’s favorite founder of Singapore, Stamford Raffles was born at sea in 1781. Also of note is Oceanus Hopkins, who wins the award for most original name of someone born at sea.

Here are two indicators that you have waaaaayy too much free time:

• You’ve been playing World of Warcraft so long, you managed to max out the gold you can carry
• You do something like this

Converse has released a new commercial which, frankly, is positively horrific.

Now, I am no fan of shows like American Idol, which is the obvious target of this advertisement. I do find it sad that more people voted in American Idol in 2004 than in the presidential election. But I consider American Idol to be a product of the same forces behind Converse shoes, making this advertisement laughably absurd at best, and post worthy ironic at worst.

One of our great strengths as Americans is our individuality. We take pride in thinking of new ideas and treading unknown paths. Few do it, ’tis true. But we look up to those individuals who do, and that is admirable. Now, if you want to express yourself by buying a pair of Chucks, be my guest. You have a far easier time expressing your individuality in a market economy than any other (unless you make your own cloths, which you might do). But for Converse to purport that it is the savior of your individuality is just wrong. No corporation can do that. They say they can, because they know it helps sales by appealing to your desire to differentiate yourself. But in the end, it is down to you, and you alone. Thinking for yourself comes from within, not from a shoe box. Post worthy ironic indeed…

Is it strange that I feel old not because I recently had a birthday, but because I found out Trogdor is five years old?

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing the Speed Racer movie coming out in May. Through some miracle, the Wachowski brothers have managed to take an anime from the 60’s with crappy animation (and crappier English dubbing) and make it look entirely bad ass (at least, judging by the trailer). I mean, we are talking about the anime so throughly mocked in an episode of Dexter’s Lab, it was so funny only because it was true (Mock 5 just so happens to be one of my favorite Dexter’s Lab episodes). I even really like the cartoonish look to the computer generated backgrounds, which seem more of a nod to the movie’s origins than a lack of attention to detail. So, I’m putting Speed Racer on my watch list!

So, I’ve realized that even though the word “Maryland” appears in the title of this blog, I rarely write about Maryland. I guess, in a way, I don’t get out much. And my interests tend to focus outside of this country, despite how much I love it. So, to buck the trend, I will write about my favorite restaurant in Columbia, the Mango Grove.

Mango Grove (MG) serves southern style Indian food. That means dosai instead of curry. Having a crazy, Tamil friend is good for introducing one to the deliciousness that is dosai. And MG just so happens to make very delicious dosai. In fact, the best I’ve had, although since I’ve only had dosai at one other place, it may not make for the best comparison. Still a true statement, damnit! My personal favorite is the Butter Roast Masala Dosai (sounds healthy, don’t it?), although the Mysore Masala Dosai is also quite tasty. The only “flop” that I’ve had at MG was the Madras Rava Masala Dosai, but that was more it not being to my liking and not that it was of an inferior quality. MG, like every other Indian restaurant in America, also serves that embodiment of pure delight known as the mango lassi (forsooth, it is the avatar of Ganesh!). Truly, you can’t go wrong with this place. The dosai are light, the stuffing tasty and of proper proportion, and the chutneys perfect for dipping.

Now for the inedible aspects of one’s dining experience at MG. Like most Indian restaurants I have been to, the interior is rather bland. My suggestion would be to bring an attractive friend, so that you have something to look at aside from the tacky decor. The table cloths also look like they haven’t been washed since the Reagan administration, but that isn’t so important because you’ll be eating with your hands anyway. Unless you go on a Saturday night, you will mostly be one of the few people in the restaurant, so the service is very prompt. The waiters are friendly and attentive, so make sure to leave a nice tip. So, the ambiance of MG is not the best I have experienced, but the food is fantastic, and when I get home I remember the good feelings in my belly and not the stained table cloth.

To drive home how much I enjoy this place, my worst experience with MG happened to be when a friend and I tried going on a Tuesday, which happens to be the one day of the week it is closed. Disappointed, we headed to the hybrid Sino-Indian place next door, which was gawd awful. If you drive up to MG and it is closed, DO NOT GO NEXT DOOR! Can’t stress that enough.

So, if you happen to be a little weird like myself, like south Indian cuisine, and live within driving distance of Columbia, MD, head on over to the Mango Grove. The $12 you’ll throw down for a dosai and mango lassi is a steal, in my opinion.

Pulling off the perfect New Year’s party takes team work, as this photo shows…