Carnivále

I just finished watching two seasons of HBO's Carnivále.  My gosh.  I'm glad I finally got around to it.  Thank goodness for torrents.  Lol!

Years ago when it was playing on HBO back home, a friend mentioned the show and really encouraged me to watch it. But I never got to watch any episode because I always end up catching it when it was playing right in the middle of an episode already, while I was browsing through channels.

Anyway, years later (this year in fact), I still remember that recommendation and decided to try it.  Well what do you know, it's now my favorite show.  Better than Rome, Game of Thrones, Lost, etc., if not the best.  I can't believe it.  If this show was broadcast at the time of Twitter and FB, etc., I think it may have had enjoyed more popularity.  But then again maybe not.  Many good shows today get the ax and the not so good ones remain.

And the actors were all good - especially Nick Stahl, Michael J. Anderson, and Amy Madigan.  Wow.  It feels kinda bad that Nick Stahl doesn't seem to be too active these days.  It's a pity.  (I also liked Terminator 3 where Nick Stahl was in, vs the second one).

The set and production design alone for Carnivále was worth buying the DVD sets for the two seasons for which the show ran.  It's like I just collected something historical, almost factual, but in very good art form.  My goodness.  I'm just so amazed by it.  HBO's Rome's set design/production effort paled next to this one.  Gosh.  *shakes head*  I liked Rome, Game of Thrones, Lost etc but none of them made me buy their DVDs.  I may have thought it but I never did/decided not to.  But for this show, I did.  Especially when it's probably getting harder to find original DVDs for it as time goes on.  It's a great show.  I wish it went on for more than 2 seasons but it's all right too that it stopped where it did.  Great ending. 

These Made My Day

I saw some robin's eggs one weekend two weeks ago at a friend's place in the country.  I never thought I'd see any, let alone 4 in a nest too, but I have.  Seeing them certainly made my day.

 

the robin's nest in an overturned canoe stored in the garage,

image that's closer to how it looked (without flash)

 

 w/ flash

there they are

Colombia and the Philippines...No Reservations

I'm just now watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations as I get ready to leave later for some little neighborhood shopping (it's soooo sunny hot outside...).  The episode is set in Colombia.  Amazing how many things are similar between Colombia and the Philippines.  It's crazy!

Even the streetside restaurant where Anthony is having his lunch with a local coulde be a streetside restaurant in Manila, in a semi-residential street in Manila's Malate district.  It looked like that part of Manila except the people look different.  Lol!

Then they have these colorful little buses for public transport that's pretty much like Manila's jeepneys except they're buses!  Complete with the barker or guy that shouts the routes out for commuters looking to get on the right bus, the markings of the routes on the buses' windshields, etc.

And then of course, the food.  They went to a local market where there were many different sorts of tropical fruits.  One of which was a caimito that Anthony tried.  Caimitos are also available in the Philippines.  One wonders if the Philippines got those from South America originally or vice versa during the heydays of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade... a version of globalization for that time.  Amazing!

Another food they have which the Philippines has too is the chicharron, and the chunchullo (Colombian term).  The Philippines also has chicharron, and chunchullo would be the Philippines' chicharon bulaklak.  The latter are fritterlings of pork intestines.  They are yummy but more of a guilty pleasure sort of food, mainly consumed as a snack.   I wonder if Anthony knew just how much bad cholesterol he was chowing on when he had those.  Lol!  I remember some of my older family/relatives trying to shy away from consuming chicharon bulaklak because it's really unhealthy... a pig's internal organs deep fried to lip smacking crackling goodness! Lol!  :D  And dipped in vinegar in the Philippines as you eat them like chips.  

Colombia has empanada as well.  I love empanada!  Gah!  It's kinda obvious we probably got these pork recipes from the Spanish or perhaps once again, because of the galleon trade and the exchange of cultures and goods between Latin America and the Philippines that surely transpired along with it.

The people might look somewhat different but it's amazing how many things are similar between the Philippines and another place thousands of miles away.