Watch Gang-First Watch-Aeromat

 Later, I will write about my first Watch Gang watch. But before I do that...

The Harlem Globetrotter watch you see is the first watch that I owned. It was a Christmas present from Santa that I received in 1971, and it still runs! I was wearing it yesterday.

I remember picking it out of the Sears catalogue. I was in third grade, and was very excited that I could tell time and that my parents thought I was old enough to have a watch. I was torn between one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons, The Harlem Globetrotters (a quick note on the Globetrotters cartoon-the theme was written by Jeff Barry, music supervised by Don Kirshner, and featured three relatively famous African-American actors doing voices, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Scatman Crothers  and Robert DoQui-ask your parents if you don't know who they are), or one of my favorite toys, Hot Wheels. I remember thinking long and hard about it, but went with the Globetrotters.

I wore that watch every day, even breaking it twice, and for reasons unclear to me now, my Mom would take it and have it repaired for me. Around the Bi-Centennial, I remember switching the band for this great red, white and blue strap that I had on it through high school. In high school, I had more 'grown up' Sears diver-style water proof watches, but would still pull the Globetrotter out of a drawer once in a while to wear to change things up. 

Years later, in '90 or '91, I was on Melrose at Wanna Buy A Watch, looking longingly at the cases of vintage watches, and there was my Harlem Globetrotter watch! They had it for $200 at that time. That seemed like an awful lot for a character watch, (currently there is a 'Dudley Do-Right' listed for $750), and though mine is hardly mint, I dug it up, had it serviced, and put it on, alternating it with several other watches.

Which brings me to my Swatches....

As many people will tell you, I'm not very prompt. I've gotten better about it over the years, but punctual has never been a character trait of mine. I saw this watch in the case of the Broadway in 1984, and had to have it. It spoke to me! But I didn't have the $30 it cost, and had to wait until my next paycheck. Then when I was paid and went back, they were all gone! The nice girl at the counter said that she thought the next Swatch shipment was supposed to come in the following Wednesday, and the following Wednesday, I was there. I asked a different counter girl about the Swatches, that I wanted the one that said 'Don't Be Too Late,' and she said she didn't know if they'd gotten anymore of those, that she'd heard that Swatch made limited amounts, but she'd check.

I waited an agonizing few minutes as she walked to the back, but then she brought one out. Success! I had my first Swatch!

I've bought several Swatches over the years, but nothing struck me the way that this one did. It must have hit a lot of people the same way, because on eBay they still fetch a pretty penny. It was my every day watch from 21 to 28, and as you can see, I beat the hell out of it. I was surprised that it still ran, but with a fresh battery, my near 40-year-old Swatch fired right up. I've tried changing the batteries in a few others that I own, and though the watches ran fine many of the straps deteriorated to the point of being unwearable-and for a few of the Swatches, the bands were an important part of the design.

Swatch has re-released the "Don't Be Too Late," design like this (same design but words are different colors), and this (same message, but much less subtle). I might buy the first one for old time sake.

Watch Gang

A friend of mine belongs to Watch Gang, and he's been sporting some cool watches-but some not so cool ones, too. I looked on their website, and I've been going back and forth on it for months. I've read reviews, and watched people on YouTube, and couldn't decide. But I had a little extra money this month, and decided to pull the trigger. I signed up for the 'Black Level', figuring that I spent $99 a month on junk anyway. They list two other levels, "Original" for $49.99 and "Platinum" for $299, but I've heard that there's one more above platinum for those in the know. I figure I'll give it six months, and if it isn't working for me, I'll cancel the subscription. They do three giveaways every week, one for a Rolex, one for an Omega and one for a Tag Huer, so I'm crossing my fingers-I'd really like an Omega...

The watch came in an unmarked box, which I'm pretty happy about. We don't have too much trouble with 'porch pirates' in my neighborhood, but no need to tempt fate. Opening the packing box brought me to the actual watch case. The watch is an Aeromat. I've never heard of them, which implies that they're a small brand that most likely outsources their movements. So the question is whether they're using Chinese, Japanese (better) or Swiss (best) movements, though the difference between Japanese and Swiss is marginal. I unzipped the case.

Searching the Aeromat website, I found the watch pretty quickly. It's a Type GMT Black Bird, and has a list of $250! Over double what I paid-score! Except...

I can't find anyone that sells them, so I don't know it's true value. Apparently, a few others went out to Watch Gang members, because there's a two on eBay as I write this, one for $250 and one for $200. 

But as I well know, the value of something is correlated to what I'm will to pay, and would I have paid $250 for this watch? Or even $200? Well, no, not really. 

According to the website, this watch has a Swiss quartz movement and a mineral glass crystal, both good things. It arrived running, which wasn't a good thing because I don't know how much battery life was lost. It does have a certain heft to it, which I like. I've mixed feelings about the band, leather on the inside, canvas on the outside, which confuses me a bit. A thick leather band would have been cool. Leather always adds a little class. That the leather is hidden on the inside seems a little odd, though. I do like the engraving on the back.

When I look at the face, though, I'm not crazy about it. The size is good and seems like it would be easy to read, except that it's grey on black, meaning not much contrast. There does seem to be some luminescence, but I'm not sure how bright. The extra red hand is a 24 hour hand, designed for pilots crossing time zones, and that's actually pretty cool. There's no magnification on the date, and though it is in a contrasting color, it's tough to read because of it's size.

Looking on the website, I prefer the face of every other GMT watch to this one.

I don't know that I'd have paid $99 for it, but it's not a bad watch. I'll probably wear it when I'm feeling the need to be dark and moody.

Let's see how the next one is. Check back next month.

Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse

Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse
3159 E. Main St.
Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 676-1312

Sorry-Shakey Hand

I grew up in Bell, CA, in the 1970's, an area that at the time was in definite cultural transition. Bell was a working class city, filled with the folks who'd come from the Dust Bowl of the 1930's to work in the factories, rail yards or the Farmer John Slaughterhouse in nearby Vernon. 

But by the 70's, the people who could move out started their shift toward Orange County, and my family watched the transition from working class to poor, until we finally moved out in the late 70's. 

I bring this all up because of one of the changes I recall. My memories of Bell involve many 'greasy spoon' type diners, places where everything was made by a short order cook on a grill. I know those places still exist, but it seems, as I've alluded to more than a few times in these pages, that the majority of greasy spoon diners in So Cal have been replaced by chain restaurants and Mexican places.

So walking in to the Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse is a bit of a throwback. It's been a diner for a long time, and has the look of the places I remember from the 70's. Nagahyde and formica, a long counter in the middle and a pie cooler behind it. 

I'd love to say that I eat here often, but I don't really. I have to be in the mood. Service is a bit slow, my hashbrowns were cooked on a grill that was too hot so they weren't finished, and the gravy on my biscuit was a bit bland.

But it wasn't particularly expensive, and it gave me a chance to chat with my daughter. As often happens in this type of place, the person at the next table struck up a conversation with me, and was chatting up everyone else nearby, too.

My daughter's French Toast was okay, my coffee cup was kept full, and in the end, it was a pleasant morning breakfast. Nothing special, nothing bad.

 On a side note, this is the diner that was used in the movie "Erin Brockovich," both the interior and the exterior.

Netflix-Sharknado and Black Fish

For reasons unclear to me, my family has been all about ocean movies this week, and the spectrum is pretty wide-Sharknado and Black Fish.

The good thing about Netflix is the streaming video feature. My daughter hears about both Sharknado and Black Fish, looks them up and the next thing I know, we're having an ocean film festival.




So let's talk about Sharknado first. It's bad on so many levels that I have to think that John Heard demanded his character be killed early so that he wouldn't have to suffer in the film. I don't know if it's intentionally bad, like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, or just bad because it's just bad.

I knew I was in trouble from the beginning, when my daughter pointed out that tornados form over land and hurricanes form over water. That being said, it was bad from the title and only got worse as the movie progressed forward. Not to spoil the plot, let's just say that sharks fall from the sky and eat people.

I'll never get those two hours back. But at least I didn't have to pay a rental fee. The worst part, though, is I'll probably watch the sequel-and I've already downloaded the theme song from eMusic.

Black Fish, though, had a profound effect on me. I'll never go to Sea World again, in spite of the morbid curiosity that I really want to satisfy by eyeballing Tilikum, the killer Killer Whale that the movie is about. I totally respect everyone that is boycotting Sea World Orlando (Heart, Barenaked Ladies, Joan Jett, the Beach Boys, Trace Adkins, Trisha Yearwood, Pat Benatar and REO Speedwagon, according to Wikipedia). The LA Times reports that Disney Pixar creative team is changing the storyline of Finding Dory after seeing Black Fish shortly after the films release in August.

It's like Supersize Me and Fast Food Nation (the book, not the movie, which was pretty lame), the one-two punch that got me to stop eating at McDonalds. I understand why places like Sea World-or any zoo in the world exists. People want to experience nature and can't get to nature where it exists. So we set up places where people can interact with nature safely. And places like Sea World do provide insight into the animals housed there. But should animals be kept in captivity for my amusement?

A healthy whale swims thousands of miles in his normal life probably isn't that happy in a tank, regardless of the tank size. I don't know how much awareness an orca actually has, but if they can experience happiness, they most likely won't be experiencing it with a trainer on their back.

I just read Sea World's rebuttal, and I'm not overly convinced by what the park considers misrepresentations.

Netflix both and make your decisions on their quality.

House of Cards, English Style

House of Cards, English Style

I found Kevin Spacey's "House of Cards," to be the best thing I've watched on television since "Mad Men," and now, while I anxiously await the next season, which is currently in production, I thought I would check out the source material, a BBC miniseries of the same name. It is also streaming on Netflix.

Staring Ian Richardson as Conservative Party Whip Francis Urquhart in a post-Thatcher, 90's era Great Britain, the plot follows the same lines. Urquhart is passed over for an important position in the Cabinet, and decides to take his revenge on those he feels didn't keep their promises. With his wife's encouragement, he decides to become Prime Minister, and in so doing has to pull some strings, making it seem like he's helping some powerful people in trouble, while using their weaknesses against them. Richardson, like Spacey, often speaks directly to the camera, which means we can see his motivation, but it also means that the character doesn't know everything the viewer knows.

The BBC version has three distinct volumes, in which "House of Cards"is the first. Unlike the American version, at the end of the three episode "House of Cards," Urquhart achieves his goal of becoming Prime Minister, whereas Underwood is still angling to become Vice-President. There are two more volumes, "To Play the King," (which I just started) and "The Final Cut."


Like Spacey's Francis (Frank) Underwood, Urquhart needs to seduce a young reporter, which he does with the implicit blessing of his wife. Now this part could be just me, or some sort of English thing, but where I could see Spacey seducing a young reporter (and in that maybe I see myself, being that Spacey, at 53, is just a bit older than I am), I had a hard time dealing with Richardson seducing a young reporter (though he was just 56 when this was made, he seems much older), and the character's desire to call him "Daddy" creeps me out a bit.

A distinct difference between the two is the strength of the wives. Where Underwood's wife has her own powerful life beyond Underwood, Urquhart's wife is strictly about supporting her husband, to the point of assisting in a murder. Whether it is a comment about American women, the times, or the need to flesh out Underwood's wife's character to help fill the 13 episodes, it certainly makes it more interesting to watch-and that the character is played by Robin Wright certainly helps.

My favorite line gets repeated often in both series's, said often by both Francis's to their reporter/mistresses, "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment."

So as I wait for the new season of "Mad Men," (April 6!), watching the BBC "House of Cards," isn't so bad. I have to get used to the accents, of course, and the lighting and production isn't all that great. Then there's the bad English 80's hairstyles, but I do like getting wrapped up in a good drama.

Netflix's House of Cards and Streaming TV

I never watched "30 Rock" during it's normal weekly time slot. I discovered "30 Rock" after watching Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin, both (Fey and Palin) of which I think are totally hot. Netflix  had the show streaming, and it allowed me the opportunity to start watching "30 Rock" from the beginning.

Then someone at work was talking about "Spartacus," which was first shown on Starz. It sounded interesting, and was also streaming on Netflix. "Spartacus" was visually stunning, softcore porn with lots of violence, (and Lucy Lawless), and it appealed to me on many different levels. The amount of nudity, sex and violence was such that I could only watch after my children went to bed, and I'd sit through two or three episodes, usually on a worknight, and
end up dragging the next day. Still, I'd be waiting the next
night for the kids to go to bed so I could finish the series. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't stream Starz anymore, so if you want to see "Spartacus," you either need to get Starz or use Netflix to rent the discs.

I tried watching a few episodes of "Weeds" this way, but I couldn't get into it. Then, I noticed that my absolute favorite show, "Mad Men," was on Netflix, and I took the opportunity to watch every episode over again. Somewhere down deep, I very much want to look like Jon Hamm and dress like Don Draper. I don't smoke, and don't drink anywhere near the level that everyone seems to in "Mad Men," but really want to. It's too bad that smoking and drinking that way would either kill me or make me fat. And on a side note, I think Tina Fey and Jon Hamm are the two best looking people on television, so when Jon Hamm did his guest staring bit on "30 Rock," I was stoked.

When I was a kid, I loved watching "Dragnet." Joe Friday's droll introduction, "This is the city, Los Angeles, California. A city hopes and dreams. Sometimes those dream turn into nightmares. When they do, that's where I come in. I carry a badge," or some such comment, then the horns. "Da da dum dum. Da da dum dum dum," and then, "The story your about to see is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." I don't know if it was because I lived in Los Angeles or what, but I always enjoyed that show, and felt it talked about someplace that I knew. It's on Netflix, too, and watching the 60's version with Harry Morgan, I never realized how anti-hippy and amazingly conservative the show was. Though the program takes great pains to show that it isn't racist, it does seem very against the counter-culture of the 60's. My 11 year old and I watch now, knocking back a few episodes every couple of nights, and the same actors show up again and again in different roles, but playing the same type. 

Another side note, as I grow older. When I watched "Dragnet" back in the 70's, I thought Jack Webb was an old man. And even the most recent time I watched on broadcast TV, probably sometime in the 90's, I still thought Jack Webb was old. Watching now, he still looks old to me though in the series he is actually my current age. I asked my daughter if I looked as old as Friday, and she said only when I smile. Kids.

The original 50's version of "Dragnet," is on Netflix also, and that is much more like the radio show, very dark and Joe Friday roughs people up when they deserve it. It very much has a film noir style that isn't in the 60's version. Also, the Miranda Rights didn't exist, so were never read. I'd never seen the B & W version before I watched some episodes on Netflix. I like it, too, but it is very different and without the accidental comedy of the 60's version.

"House of Cards" was released on Netflix only, and it is far and away the most interesting thing I've watched this year. I've enjoyed Kevin Spacey's work since "LA Confidential," and when Netflix announced the show with Spacey as the lead, I thought it looked interesting. I wasn't familiar with the source material at all, but I thought the picture was intriguing.  The first episode was enough to draw me in. Spacey's technique of breaking the fourth wall and addressing the camera directly allows the viewer to know exactly what Congressman Underwood is thinking, and though that matches his actions, in later episodes it shows how much control he really doesn't have. His power isn't as absolute or as far reaching as he thinks.

I majored in history, and I've read enough books and watched enough television to the point where almost every story is predictable. "House of Cards," however, was able to throw a few curves when I didn't expect them. All through the 13 episodes, which I watched over the space of 4 days, I was constantly wondering what would happen. The characters of Underwood and his wife, Claire are both strong and ambitious. Both of them realize that they work best together, but both know that they can be successful alone, and sometimes being connected has a negative aspect. It really is good drama. It helps too, that Robin Wright and Kate Mara are both very easy on the eyes. Wright looks almost handsome, a very fit and put together 40 something, while Mara is all college girl sexy because she's still young and messy, and they make a good contrast on the screen.

Now I'm curious about the British show that this is based on. Actually, I think I'll go watch now. It's on Netflix streaming, too.

Buenaventura 6, 1440 Eastman Ave., Ventura

I love going to the movies. When I was small, my family would go to one of those 1920's era movie houses, the Alcazar in Bell, though it was approaching it's final days. For a big treat, we would head to Cerritos Mall, or Lakewood Center (which showed cartoons before the feature), which were both multiplexes. Though I didn't realize it at the time, the Alcazar had the bigger screen and better movie experience. The multiplexes at the mall just seemed more modern.

My point, though, was even with the advent of video, I still liked heading to the movie house. There's something communal in sitting in the dark and watching with others, and sometimes, that shared experience highlights something otherwise missed. I once saw Casablanca with a sold out crowd at the Orpheum, and jokes that I didn't realize were there in the previous 10 times I'd seen the film were suddenly pretty funny. Comedy and action films especially lose something at home and just need to be seen with other people.

Movies for two at $9 each isn't too bad, but to take a family gets pretty expensive. Then, there's popcorn-I love movie popcorn-drinks, maybe some candy, and it becomes cost prohibitive to see many films at all.

At $3 all the time, the Buenaventura 6 is just awesome-no other way to describe it. $6 for freshly made popcorn, with a free refill, and $1 hot dogs, and I'll go see any kiddie, romantic comedy, chick flick film that comes out. I'll pretty much see anything that shows up there that even remotely catches my fancy. The theatre has large screens, friendly staff, pretty good sound and is generally pretty clean. Enough of a crowd goes so that you get that sense of communal experience, but generally not so many that you feel crowded. There always seems to be a lot of staff around, too, which I think makes for a pretty safe movie experience. I've always been able to sneak in a soda and drinks for the kids, so I can generally get any configuration of my family in the door and filled with popcorn for under $20. They even show the occasional 3-D film for just $2 more.

In the trade, it would be called a "second run" theatre, meaning that you won't see a film here until it's been out a few weeks. Still, most movies open and close at the first run theaters so quickly that they end up here in literally a few weeks. I don't need to be the first to see anything anymore, and if there's something that I really need to see right away, I'll drive out to Santa Paula 7 and catch the $5.50 matinee.

I'm there almost every week, and sometimes I might go twice in the same weekend.