Not quite Hoarders, but....

Oh Lordy help me.  THIS is our living room for the next couple of weeks?!  Do we really have this much crap?  AND we took at least 25 boxes to storage already!!!!  Alright, alright, I guess it is time to purge.  Luckily, Kevin made it a priority to hook up the cable and TV so I can have some "company" while I work through this project.  Thanks honey! 

Maybe I should watch a few episodes of "Hoarders" for some inspiration or maybe some HGTV for home organizing ideas...or maybe the "Project Runway" season 4 marathon...um yeah, the boxes may take longer than I thought......

Miami Hollywood Colliding

This week during me and Kashmir's daily sojourns, we ran across not one but TWO TV crews in downtown Miami filming!!!  Really exciting watching TV shows being filmed, right?  Nope. Lot of hurry up and wait.  Alas, I did not catch a glimpse of Michael, Fiona or Sam on site.  However it was interesting that they set up "Alice's Cafe" in an abandoned shop and made it look workable for that scene.  However, if Alice's Cafe was really set up in that location 90% of her customer base would be the homeless population as that seemed to be the mainstay for that neigborhood once the tv crew departed.

Kashmir was really exasperated with the "Burn Notice" crew as they a) took almost an hour to set up a car chase scene (which lasted all of 15 seconds) and b) that I made her sit there with me and watch it all.  These are the pictures of the crew setting up the stunt driver for a "speed test" where there was some "explosion" at the end.  We weren't allowed to peek around the corner from our observation area for safety and shooting reasons (i.e. we would be in the frame), so I'm not sure if the car had a blow out or they used the CO2 tanks to make the car "erupt".

Also, "Magic City", a TV show slated for release in 2012 (see more here ) was also filming using some great historic locations in downtown Miami like the DuPont building.  They trotted out some era appropriate cars as well!

Have Pup Will Travel

It looks like Floridians also like to bring their pups

with them EVERYWHERE, even on the back of their motorcycles!  So blows the pup in the purse out of the water.  This is some serious commitment for wanting your dog to be with you at all times!

Fun, fun, fun in Downtown!

So, now that we are in our "permanent" digs in Miami, Kashmir and I have begun exploring our neigborhood!  Miami definitely has its own flare.  Take for example the smokin' hot gentleman above that we met one morning.  He is totally rockin' THE color for this season (coral) and in linen!  I didn't know how to say "Blue Steel" or "Magnum" in espanol to specify how he describes his look.



And, the performing arts here in Miami have the luxury of Bombay Sapphire being one of their benefactors.  And within walking distance of us!  Can't wait for the season to start!

Camel Racing!

It was a bit of a drive outside of the city. It seemed more legend than an actual weekly event. The Kuwait Camel Racing Club in Kebd races every Saturday from October to March (inshallah) starting at 1400 hrs. The track is approximately 10 km around. The start for each race changes depending on the length of race. The noise you hear at the end of the clip is the sound of the whip that is operated by the little robots that are the "jockeys." It was interesting to view a Kuwaiti bedouin tradition!. The trucks driving alongside are the operators for the jockeys who have to stay within sight of the camel. No betting is allowed, so there were no trifectas or boxes that we tripled our money on.

Don Cheadle (can be) a Bad MoFo!

One of the great things about going on vacation is the craptastic cable movie that you may catch while lounging between touristing around your destination and the pool. I recently was sucked into "Swordfish" and realized this is the 3rd movie in about 6 months that I have viewed where Don Cheadle is a bad mofo. However, he is a quiet, bad mofo. Not the crazy-eyed screaming mofo-ness of Samuel L. Jackson (awesomeness) or the throw a few fists and a quippy line of Duane "The Rock" Johnson (hold on... I need a moment). Nope, he's the one you should really be scared of... he lowers his voice, threatens and then follows through. However this seems to be a thankless role as most people when you mention Cheadle's name say "Yeah, he was great in 'Boogie Nights'" or "He did a good job in Hotel Rawanda." Can't a mad, but quiet, mofo get some street cred, respect and love? I'm just sayin'...

Examples:
Swordfish (2001) :Plays the FBI investigator Agent J.T. Roberts who shot his suspect in the hand.

After the Sunset (2004): Plays the local thug - again with a more vicious quiet-ness.

Traitor (2008): Plays a superundercover agent attempting to infiltrate a terrorist network.

Fascination with Food

I've noticed a somewhat unsettling trend in my photography over the past year or so....food pictures. Specifically, I like to take pictures of my food. I'm going to chalk this up to an increased fascination with some culinary arts when you are deprived from such (hello Pakistan!). Or maybe I'm just getting older and if I had kids this would be the thing they would roll their eyes at and say not again! You judge....

Budapest - September 2008 - Fruit Soup



Aspen - March 2009 - Plate o' Meat

Kuwait - June 2009 - Mocktails
Amman - October 2009 - Salt Fish