Yearly Archives: 1997

Jul 26 1997

Face Off

Cop changes identity with a bad guy to find out where he hid a weapon of mass destruction somewhere in L.A. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage give fine, if not brilliant performances. John Woo is at his best since **The Killer** opened in Hong Kong.

[[faceoff]]John woo is one
of those directors that you either love or hate. There’s not much in
between. I fall into the former camp and believe is artistic mayhem to be
some of the most visually pleasing directing being done today.

==This action movie has it all==

How often do you see an action movie that has moments of drama so gripping
that they bring tears to your eyes? Not very. But this one does. There’s
also comedy, beautiful direction, great action. In short, this is great art
in the form of a summer movie.

==It’s like looking in a mirror… only not==

==Ballet of Blood==

[[faceoff-mirror]]
John Woo movies tend to be extremely violent. That’s no crime for an action
movie director. But his violence has a certain style that’s almost undescribable. He has said in interviews that his biggest influences in
film were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He loved the way the dance
numbers in their movies were put together. In his own movies the gun play
is choreographed as one of Fred and Ginger’s dance numbers. Little
attention is payed to the realism of what’s going on, but rather on how
things happen visually to create the biggest impact. For instance, there’s
a scene after Travolta and Cage have changed identities where they’re
having a gunfight in a hall of mirrors. Why a hall of mirrors? No reason
as far as the story is concerned, but it gives John Woo a chance to make a
statement about the characters: they have to shoot themselves to get their
nemesis.

Jul 26 1997

July Trip Report

We visited L.A. and S.J., my brother got married, and I got to play some golf!

July 5, 1997 – July 21, 1997

Southern California

Saturday 7/5


Our ride picked us up around 9:30am EDT and took us to Logan airport in
Boston. The flight left on time and was uneventful. The movie on the
flight was [[The Saint]].

We arrived at LAX around 2:30pm PDT to a surprise. Danae’s father Rodney
had decided to meet us at the airport. We had no plans for anyone to meet
us since we had a rental car waiting, but it turned out to be a fortunate
surprise. It turned out that we had so much luggage that it would have
been difficult to get everything from the airport to Rodney’s place where
we were staying!

We had arranged for Norma (Danae’s mother) watch the kids for the night so
that we could go see the movie [[Face Off]]. Thanks Norma!

Sunday 7/6


We visited Danae’s grandmother Edla and took her out for dinner to
celebrate her birthday. We went to her favorite place Hof’s Hut.

Monday 7/7


I played golf with Scott Tibbetts at “Los Verdes” on top Palos Verdes.
What a beautiful course!! Scott’s buddy Andrew that played with us
described it as Pebble Beach South. I’d have to agree. The 15th hole, for instance, is a par 4 that extends onto a peninsula that
overlooks the cliffs of Palos Verdes. Don’t hit it tool far past the hole!
I ended up shooting a 92 which isn’t bad considering how much golf I’ve
played in the last 10 years. Counting the 10 rounds I’ve played this year
(trying to get my game back in order for the round with my brother later in
this trip) I’ve played maybe 14 times!

During the round, Scott’s buddy Andrew asked me how I got this nice little
draw on the ball. I had to confess that I had know idea. At that point
Scott popped off that “Mike has 3 major swing flaws and 2 corrections. The
flaw that’s left over is what gives him the draw.” After the round he told
me what the flaws were so that I could work on correcting them. Thanks Scott!

Scott shot an amazing 75. He later told me that that was perhaps the best
round of golf in his life and that he could count the sub-76 rounds on one
hand (I can count mine on no hands :-).

Wednesday 7/9


We decided to visit Disneyland on Tuesday, and that turned out great.
Danae had a stroke of genius. Instead of trying the cram a visit to Disneyland into and afternoon (the kids would have to be home for bed), we
rented a room in a nearby hotel for the night. This way we were able to go
for the early afternoon and then take a nap. After the nap we had dinner
and then went back to the park until it closed. Since the kids had a nice
nap late in the afternoon and we didn’t have a long drive home, we were
able to stay in the park until it closed.

Disney’s new Light Magic show is just wonderful. If you’re there,
make sure to catch it. Vanessa and Madison actually got to participate in
the show!

Thursday 7/10


After sleeping in and recovering from the late night trip to Disneyland, we
headed out to visit Danae’s friend from high school Sue who doesn’t live
very far from Disneyland (maybe 1/2 hour South).

[[vm_mermaid]]
We thought we were going to be the only one’s visiting her, but she got a
call that her entire family was going to be there at the same time!
That actually worked out pretty well, because Danae knew Sue’s brothers and
sisters as well. We went to the beach near her house and I did some body
surfing. I hadn’t body surfed in probably 15 years! I was washing sea weed out of my stuff for days afterwards.

Friday 7/11


I woke up early Thursday to get in a quick round of 9 holes with John
(Danae’s brother) at the “El Segundo” golf course just 10 minutes from
where we were staying. It’s a small pitch-and-putt course thats par 29.
Although short, it was still enjoyable. I shot a 36 and John shot a 45.

Saturday 7/12


John just bought a new house so we thought we should visit and take a look
around. It is simply gorgeous. The way John tells the story is as follows:

I originally didn’t want the house. It was just too expensive. I came by
the house for one last look to find something wrong with it so I could
justify to myself why we weren’t going to buy it. Instead, I couldn’t find
anything wrong, so we made an offer and somehow found a way to finance it
once the offer was accepted.

Sunday 7/13


Played golf with David Smith (Danae’s nephew) at “El Segundo” again. This
time I shot a 34.

Norma took us to see the movie [[A Simple Wish]] with the kids. Thanks Norma!

Northern California

Monday 7/14


We flew to San Francisco. When we landed this time we got a minivan for a rental so there was plenty of room for our luggage!

We went from the airport straight to my Mom’s house in Santa Rosa, CA, and
got there just in time for lunch. She served grandma famous grilled
cheese sandwiches. Later Danae would remark “You’re Mom makes the best
grilled cheese sandswiches. How does she do it!”

That night Danae and I went to see [[Men In Black]].

Tuesday 7/15


This was the first relaxing day of the trip. Danae got to go shopping at
the New To You shop where my Mom works as part of her charity work.

When she got back I went to the country club and spent several hours
working on the parts of my swing that Scott Tibbets told me to work on.
What a difference! I still need to work a bit on releasing my wrists (when
I don’t I get a horrible slice).

Wednesday 7/16


We headed south to our hotel room in Los Gatos at the Los Gatos Motor Inn.
This is where everyone who was coming from out of town for Scott’s wedding
stayed.

That night and old friend of ours in San Jose watched the kids
while Danae and I went to dinner with my cousin Sarah Sweeney and my friend
from work (who happened to be in town for a trade show) Becky Owens-Martel. We picked Becky up outside the San Jose convention center around 6:15pm and
got to Sarah’s place in Menlo Park around 6:45. While there we had a
couple of drinks and did a little catching up. Sarah had made dinner
reservations at Ristorante Carpaccioin Menlo Park. We had a
wonderful dinner and got a summary of Sarah’s latest adventures in China
and Ashland Oregon.

Thursday 7/17


We were able to sleep in (thanks kids) and recover a bit from the night before.

Scott (my brother) and I played golf at “Pruneridge”, another little pitch
and putt course a little harder than “El Segundo”. The par is 31. I shot
a 36 and Scott shot a 37. I didn’t think my game was up to Scott’s, but it
turned out to be.

That night Scott and Kristen got all of their close friends together along
with me and some of our cousins from Montreal. We went to Rooster T.
Feather’s comedy club. It was a great night for comdedy. We got lucky
and had 4 wonderful comedians (who all picked on Scott and Kristen at least
a little bit)

Danae’s long time friend Mary Anne watched the kids for the night at her
apartment in San Jose. She’s been like an aunt to the kids ever since they were born. Thanks Mary Anne!

Friday 7/18


This was the big golf day that I had been planning for 6 months. Scott
made the reservation 6 weeks before the we actually played at
**Summitpointe** golf course just to make sure that we could get the times we
wanted. We actually had 10 people there (2 threesomes and 1 foursome)
consisting of several of Scott’s friends, our uncle Maurice (from Montreal,
there for the wedding), and Dave Grant (a friend of mine from the area).
Everyone who was there that was not on vacation took a day off from work to
be there, so everyone was relaxed and ready for the day!

[[summitpointe]]

What a great day! The course is absolutely beautiful. It’s up on top of
the hills behind Milpitas and has several holes with spectacular views.
The course itself is quite difficult with every shot presenting unique
challenges. I was quite happy with how I played. I shot a 90! Scott shot
a 99. It was a great way to spend a day.

That night was the rehersal for the wedding. The rehersal went smoothly,
and the rehersal dinner was great at Le Mir Michelle in Saratoga.

Saturday 7/19


We had a picnic with a bunch of the families that we associated with in San
Jose at Paul Moore park. It was great to see everone again.

After the picnic I went to visit a friend of mine, Allyn Erickson. He
plays trumpet in the “Mike Sloan” big band. We tried a couple of his
homebrews (nice Allyn) and he gave me a bottle of his homemade zinfindel
wine (which was excellent by the way). We also listened to a couple of his
arrangements for the band. I’m trying to learn how to arrange for big
band, so this was some good instruction.

Later that night we went to dinner with Mary Anne to celebrate her birthday
(Happy Birthday Mary Anne!).

Sunday 7/20


Scott got married today! I still can’t believe it. The wedding went off
smoothly, as did my toast as Best Man. Scott and Kristen really planned
this out well.

Monday 7/21


Time to go home…

Jul 26 1997

News for 7/26/97

[The ULTIMATE Macintosh](http://www.freepress.com/myee/ultimate_mac.html)
is where to find anything Macintosh.

Here’s all those [gopher://gopher.ocf.berkeley.edu/11/Library/Monty_Python Monty Python Scripts]
you’ve been looking for!

Wouldn’t it be nice… [Dataquest prediction: Mac ‘autumn windfall’](http://www8.zdnet.com/macweek/mw*1116/nw*dataquest.html)

Tiger didn’t do too well at the [126th Open Championship](http://www.golfweb.com/ga/epga/1997/0703/features/tigertrouble970720.html.)
But not too well for him is a T24 finish. The 2 triple bogies and 1 quadruple bogey are what did him in.

[The Claris Guide to Email Etiquette](http://www.claris.com/products/claris/emailer/eguide/index.html)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the
[Aliens](http://www.vis-con.com/aliens/)
movies

The Clash are [taking a look at Zico](http://www.clash.com/news/0723.html)
and Quinn rejoins the team.

Trying to get more out of your golf swing? Then check out
[Why Less is More](http://www.golf.com/golfdigest/instruction/less0897.htm)

Things you should know about [Mac OS 8](http://www.macintouch.com/m8intro.html)

Jul 23 1997

News for 7/23/97

Jeremy’s Golfin’ Tips: What’re [swing thoughts](http://www.markcom.com/recroom/content/recroomjeremy.html)
for anyway?

Apple releases [Mac OS 8!](http://www.macos.apple.com/macos8/)

The official [Operation Condor](http://www.dimensionfilms.com/movies/operatio.html) page.

Tiger Woods is just a hair away from the all time [PGA Tour Money Record](http://www.golfonline.com/tours/pga/tigerwoods/watch.html)

John Daly [tries for another comeback](http://www.golfweb.com/library/ap/daly970722.html.)
Can he stay clean and sober this time?

Jul 22 1997

News for 7/22/97

I knew it! [Roger Ebert](http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/condor1.htm)
loves [[Operation Condor]]! He gets it! He really gets it!

The [Chicago Tribune](http://www.metromix.com/object/6395.html?oid=6952) loves [[Operation Condor]].

The [Boston Globe](http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe/globehtml/199/Chan*s”exuberance”makes””Condor*_so.htm)
likes Operation Condor too!

Jul 4 1997

News for 7/4/97

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was
[life in the Alpha Centauri system](http://monet.physik.unibas.ch/~schatzer/Alpha-Centauri.html!)

[Congress may extend Microsoft probe](http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,12118,00.html.)
Ya’ think maybe it would be bad for the PC market for one vendor
to control the entire OS market, AND the software market,
AND the internet? But I don’t have an opinion or anything….