Herman's Honeytown

Movies 1-5 of 2012

2012-01-19T00:10:00.004-06:00

I wanna keep track of the movies I watch this year.

First of the new year was Blue Velvet. Images of Dennis Hopper and his gas mask haunted my youth. I had a recurring dream where he was chasing me in a labyrinth in the equivalent space of a crawl space beneath a house. Seeing it now, I didn't like it.

First theatre marathon was David Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mission:Impossible Ghost Protocol, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I preferred the Swedish GWTDT. I agree with Ebert that the US version is almost too confident and polished:

"Fincher is certainly a more assured director than Niels Arden Oplev, who did the 2009 Swedish film. Yet his assurance isn't always a plus. The earlier film had a certain earnest directness that seemed to raise the stakes. Emotions were closer to the surface. Rooney Mara and Noomi Rapace both create convincing Salanders, but Rapace seems more uneasy in her skin, more threatened. As the male lead Mikael Blomkvist, Michael Nyqvist seemed less confident, more threatened. In this film, Daniel Craig brings along the confidence of James Bond. How could he not? He looks too comfortable in danger."

M:I Ghost Protocol was directed by Brad Bird, of Pixar experience. I liked this movie. I thought the action set pieces were really great. Ethan Hunt climbing on the outside of one of the taller buildings in the world with dysfunctional sticky gloves is good stuff. However, I also liked the third installment of Mission: Impossible with Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the villain, a much darker film, and Ghost Protocol with its rich, redeeming story telling is basically a Pixar movie with the Mission: Impossible material.

I tried to read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and got about a quarter of the way through it before it was due back at the library and had finally hit the theatres in Lincoln. I might return to it (in the meantime, I have The Spy Who Came in from the Cold at my bedside). I really liked the movie. Very nicely written and performed.

SUPER with Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, and Kevin Bacon (more victims in his degrees of separation) was a film I'm still uncertain about. It came out around the same year as Kick-Ass, and a year after Defendor. I've intentionally avoided Kick-Ass and haven't seen Defendor, so I can't compare it to others in the citizen turns comic super hero genre. But through the movie, I was unsettled by the violence. At one point, Frank cracks open a guy's forehead with a heavy pipe wrench for butting in line. It could be the way the writer and director of the Dawn of the Dead remake and Slither executed the blood and gore, but it affected me in a way I wasn't expecting. Then the movie ends and wraps up with a nice voiceover and montage about how all the horrible things Frank did were for the greater good and that his means were justified by the end.

I hold the belief that if a story (novel, tv show, movie) is spoiled by finding out the ending, then it wasn't worth the journey. I think something should be valuable throughout its consumption, but this movie challenges that belief for me a bit. I don't know that something can't be redeemed by its ending. I guess in that way my experience with this movie and the movie's plot parallel each other.

When I rate things on Netflix, they have five stars. For me one star is a hated it and regretted wasting my time watching it, two stars are I didn't like it, three stars are I did like it, four stars are I would be happy to watch it again, and five stars are that I would gladly own it.

Blue Velvet **, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) ***, M:I - Ghost Protocol ***, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ****, SUPER **

Comma Chameleon

2011-11-05T07:49:00.002-05:00

The Power of And. The key to great improv: Yes and . . .

Bread & Cup, Beaker & Flask, Abe & Arthur's, Pies & Thighs, Pies & Pints

I say it is time for another punctuation mark to get some respect. The comma is really great. So very useful.

Naturally, it has all the handy functions in grammar, which yields the metaphorical applications. There's the pause (some mumbo-jumbo about how taking a break and slowing down is even more important in our break neck paced modern society. "The Sabbath is God's comma.") It frames ideas in a supportive and elucidating fashion that a period just can't pull off. Then there's the meaning that it adds through its pacing of words: Eats, Shoots, and Leaves; "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." I even like how it sets off who's speaking or being addressed or the tone/mood/feel of the subsequent sentence (see first sentence of paragraph).

Eat Me. Drink Me. (or the Magnificent Seven)

2011-06-25T03:19:00.005-05:00

It is getting late here, so I'm not going to post pictures yet, but I wanted to get my wonderful day all down in words before I forget some of it.

I'm vacationing in Portland, staying with my aunt just south between Sherwood and Newberg. Yesterday was the Coast starting at Tillamook and her cheese factory and going down to the beach at Lincoln City south on US 101.

Today, instead of going to Multnomah Falls and Crown Point, we "relaxed," which gave me the opportunity to go into Portland and hit up some restaurants/bars I'd been wanting to catch. My day started with making a rhubarb custard pie.

I made it to Clyde Common (1) at the tail end of their lunch around 2:40 and just before the 3 o'clock Happy Hour, so after my barrel aged El Presidente with my juicy cheeseburger and out of this world crispy fries, I had the Nasturtium (a cocktail with Dolin Blanc vermouth, Canton de Domaine ginger liqueur, and Bonal Gentiane-Quina aperitif) at the bar.

I thought my friend Neil was doing a tasting/cocktail demonstration across town at Immortal Pie and Larder (2) (a little wine and savory hand pie boutique) from 3 to 6 but discovered when I arrived at 4:15 that it didn't start til 5. This allowed me to wander up the street and discover Bipartisan Café (3), where I enjoyed marionberry pie à la mode with my Stumptown coffee (an "only in Oregon" moment).

At 5 I joined Neil, who I hadn't seen since Spring of '96, for a tasting of four aperitifs, starting with his company's Imbue bittersweet vermouth, Cocchi Americano, Cardamaro, and coincidentally, the aforementioned Bonal Gentian-Quina.

Since dinner with my sister's recently transplanted roommate wasn't until 8, I went to Voodoo Doughnut, Too (4) (as the original downtown location with the ambiance of the homeless is still under renovation) where I got an Angel Dust (marionberry filled, powder sugar coated), Old Dirty Bastard (peanut butter with Oreos), and Portland Creme (chocolate glaze with Bavarian creme) in addition to my Voodoo dozen (13 of their choice). For those concerned about my poor little pancreas, I only had the Portland Creme in the parking lot, saving the rest to share later.

The combination of my aunt's GPS and my Google Maps phone app got me to Beaker & Flask(5), which was everything my mind built it up to. I loved my New Vieux (view, not veau, for those of you rusty with your French) a "twist" on the classic New Orleans Vieux Carre with rye, apricot, Benedictine, and bitters, served on the Rock (they've got one of those fancy ice machines that makes the baseball sized ice cubes so your drink doesn't get diluted as fast.). While my crispy pig ears were being prepared, I asked if they had a session beer (an easy-drinking lower alcohol beer you can drink multiples of in a session), and sho'nuff, they had a beer called Session Lager. It was like asking for a refreshing drink and getting Refreshing Drink™. Nevertheless (what is the protocol on Nevertheless versus Nonetheless?), the Session lager was a fitting complement to my fried bar food.

All of that timed perfectly for me to pick up my sister's friend for dinner at Grain & Gristle(6), where I had mussel frites with my Upright Brewing's Seven (a Belgian style beer)after half of a Fressen pretzel. Dessert was at Rose's Ice Cream(7) where I had a shake made from fresh cantaloupe ice cream.

The last of it was when I got home at 11:30 and had a slice of the pie with some Yogi ginger tea.

Amplitude

2011-04-22T03:31:00.002-05:00

It was student night at The Ross, so admission was only a buck with your student ID for any showing. I went to Win Win, starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Canavale, and George Bluth (okay, not George Bluth, but the actor that plays him).

I first found out about the film watching trailers on apple.com/trailers and immediately put it on my calendar when I saw it was "coming to a theatre near me." I was drawn to it for Giamatti, the wrestling, and a nice enough story. Then I saw that it had a nice freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes and had no doubt I was going to watch it.

The only review I actually read of the film was this one. Cliffs Notes version is the reviewer didn't want audiences to think the movie was a classic indie movie just because it was written and directed by the same guy, Tom McCarthy, that helmed The Station Agent (which I really loved) and The Visitor (critically acclaimed, including a Best Actor Oscar Nomination, but still in my Netflix queue unseen)and starred Giamatti, indie darling (I did just see him in Barney's Version at the Ross earlier this year.). The reviewer liked the stars' performances, but felt the movie relied on them being stars for there to be a "spark" for the film. Instead, the film was missing something for him.

After watching the film, I understand where the reviewer is coming from, but I disagree. There's two reasons I can see that it felt empty: there was a very spartan score for the film, often with no music underneath at all and when it was there, sparse indeed; and the story didn't have a very large amplitude.

The waves weren't very tall, or deep. That's okay. It's unnecessary to have characters dying or crying to tell a story well. I'm glad for McCarthy's restraint. I much prefer it to the Michael Scott Improv technique (he introduces a gun and shoots someone in every sketch).

Josh Brolin Pivot Questionnaire

2011-04-16T00:58:00.002-05:00

1. malt liquor
2. stinky
3. Diane Lane-Brolin (wife)
4. children in pain
5. candles being lit
6. crunching
7. probably fuckinshit
8. law
9. running an ice cream shop where the kids didn't want ice cream
10. "Let's do it again."

Bradley Cooper Pivot Questionnaire

2011-03-14T23:37:00.003-05:00

Bradley's the first alum of The Actor's Studio to appear on the stage.

1. energy
2. boring
3. vulnerable expression in an artistic form
4. cynicism, probably
5. The sound of someone I love breathing.
6. The sound of a woman screaming when you know something really awful happened.
7. I remember Willem Dafoe talking about how he doesn't curse anymore. I remember him here talking about that, and I thought, I like that. Obviously, I didn't listen to it. I just feel so comfortable here with you guys. It's Italian; it's fotutofuchocazo, which means "you motherfucking cocksucker."
8. I'd like to be a conductor maybe.
9. It'd be hard to be a soldier.
10. "Hey, you hungry?"

Colin Firth Pivot Questionnaire

2011-02-07T23:41:00.003-06:00

1. It's the word "get," "get real," "get into the car," "get up," "get a life," "get a job." They all have completely different meanings
2. yeahno, it precedes so many sentences, I'm guilty of it. You start with something, "Yeahno, it's really good . . ." It's amazing, you disagree with yourself.
3. creme bruleé
4. tripe
5. the cello
6. loud booing in the theatre
7. there's an Italian word stronso, I was told it means a piece of shit, but it more specifically means a floating piece of shit.
8. Oh, I'd love to be an arch criminal.
9. I would absolutely hate to run a country.
10. "I personally thought you were very good in Mama Mia!"

James Franco Pivot Questionnaire

2011-02-07T22:30:00.002-06:00

1. Only word that comes to mind, I guess just 'cause I like the way it sounds is "scotch."
2. When I'm reading, I don't like unnecessary things like "I thought" or "he said."
3. Sometimes rabbits, like, turn me on. I don't know why.
4. I don't really get turned on when I'm embarrassed.
5. Like, Mo-town, I don't know.
6. There are a few people's voices that, yeah, probably shouldn't say their names, but people I've been forced into tight quarters with
7. One of the swear words, that for whatever reason, I tend to use when I'm alone isv"shitburger," but when I do something stupid I say, "Ohh, shitburger."
8. Well I've been writing and directing so yeah, those are things that I'm doing.
9. If you had to design weapons, I mean you'd probably feel pretty bad about yourself I would think.
10. That you lived to the fullest and you know, helped some people.

John Cusack Pivot

2011-01-15T12:18:00.002-06:00

1. kinkajou
2. ferret
3. energy
4. passivity
5. i like hearing a sound of a home run
6. when it's against the Cubs
7. three top contenders, I'd say fuck, motherfucker, and cunt.
8. i think probably be a musician
9. oh, anything dealing with morgues and dead bodies
10. "What happened?"

Jim Carrey Pivot Questionnaire

2011-01-10T20:46:00.002-06:00

1.I like making up words, one of them being statusphere, the place in which we all kinda end up in the pantheon of "supposed importance." there's another one. you know that feeling you get when you feel like some one walked over your grave? That's called a fner.
2. its actually two words "a lot," but it wants to be one.
3. I have one sound in particular that I'm crazy about, but you have to close your eyes. yells after having everyone close their eyes
4. "Is that it?" Somebody saying, "Is that it?"
5. painting and then there's this little spot on the back of my neck that if you stroke it in an upward motion very slowly, I'll go crazy.
6. people who need me too much
7. custodial work
8.
9.
10. "It's okay she's not coming."

I don't know why they skipped profession other than your own you'd most like to attempt and what is your favorite curse word.

Tom Hanks Pivot

2011-01-09T04:05:00.002-06:00

This is from his second appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio

1. I'd have to go with the original, and that'd be, "Dad."
2. bitter compromise (because if it is a bitter compromise, it's not a true compromise.)
3. laughter
4. eggshells (not the kind that you eat, the kind that you walk on)
5. the family's conversation when they're in the other room
6. the ringing of the telephone
7. well, years ago it was horseshit. now it's the old stand by. it's fuck.
8. I would like to try to be a weekly columnist
9. a lawyer, that's doing homework for a living
10. "Different than you thought, ain't it?"

Holiday Movie Oscar Bait

2011-01-02T00:25:00.004-06:00

ovie marathons are usually more fruitful now because all the good ones are released this time of year. Here's the five I saw this last week, since we've been closed at work.

True Grit: Really great. I recommend it to everyone. Everything that always makes Coen Brothers' movies great is here. Jeff Bridges is super in his role as Rooster Cogburn. I found Matt Damon's character really funny. And yes, as all the other reviewers have said Hailee, the actress that plays Maddie Ross "holds her own."

The Fighter: It is also bolstered by wonderful material and tremendous performances from all its actors. I was kinda surprised by how much it affected me at the end, which was a good thing.

Black Swan: This one was really, really wonderful. Pi caught me at a more impressionable time, but this is second only to that for Aronofsky films for me. The difference is the writing. It achieved quite well what is so difficult when paralleling the film plot with the ballet plot (the ol' play within a play). Doubt was probably the last film whose writing I appreciated as much.

The King's Speech: The best part of this film was Colin Firth's performance, which was very good. The film is well made and has many funny parts, but if you aren't particularly interested in the subject matter, it isn't necessary to watch it.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I: Tired of heming and hawing about how I was going to first consume a piece of the Harry Potter ouvre, I tacked this onto the end of a movie marathon and enjoyed it. I'm sure I was missing some things by not reading or watching any previous, but it is a good movie in and of itself. And I look forward to the next one. I might go back and watch the Christopher Nolan directed Potter or something like that, but I'm pretty sure I won't read any of the books. My reading is scarce as it is to fill with an obligation.

as per usual the drop cap is from Daily Drop Caps by Jessica Hische

Speech from the end of The Great Dictator

2010-12-31T03:18:00.003-06:00

This is the speech given by the Jewish barber mistaken as the dictator Adenoid Hynkel.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible: Jew, Gentile, Black man, White. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there's room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men. Cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, "Do not despair." The misery that is now upon is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die. And the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers, don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think, what to feel, who drill you diet you, treat you as cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate. Only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers, don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
(Looks directly at camera.)
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written: The kingdom of God is within man. Not one man nor a group of men, but in all men. You, you the people have the power! The power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure! Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future, and old age a security! By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, and hate, and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

The Original, Unabridged 39 Days of Christmas

2010-12-06T02:14:00.003-06:00

From the Simpsons.

39 fops a-fopping, 38 fishwives hawking, 37 coopers cooping, 36 bootblacks buffing, 35 buskers busking, 34 something something, 33 alchemists transmuting, 32 Dutchmen plotting, 31 doctors leeching, 30 year average life span, 29 smiths a-forging, 28 coopers cooping ("We did that one already." "Shh."), 27 eelers eeling, 26 anarchists bombing, 25 swamis foreseeing, 24 sideburns curling, 23 monks a-changing, 22 rats a-plaguing, 21 coxswains calling, 20 flautists fluting, 19 footmen bowing, 18 gungas dinning, 17 seventy six, 16 midwives birthing, 15 aliens alienating, 14 jacks a-ripping, 13 scriveners scrivening.

BBC Book List

2010-11-22T03:29:00.003-06:00

I'm going to delete those I don't want to read (if you're curious what they are I'll post them next). I'll share those I've read and those I wannaO and ditch the others. Apparently BBC says the average number on the list that have been read is 6; I'm at 18 with six partials. Though one of my good friends had a cursory total of over 40.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
6 The Bible
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman?
10 Great Expectations - Charles DickensO
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas HardyO
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare partial, might not read any I haven't already
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk?
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
20 Middlemarch - George EliotO
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott FitzgeraldO
23 Bleak House - Charles DickensO
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy undecided on this one
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor DostoyevskyO
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
33 Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur GoldenO
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne partialO
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins?
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas HardyO
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret AtwoodO
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank HerbertO
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons?
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram SethO
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon?
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
61 Of Mice and Men - John SteinbeckO
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt?
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas HardyO
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie?
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
72 Dracula - Bram StokerO
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill BrysonO
75 Ulysses - James JoyceO
76 The Inferno - DanteO
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome?
78 Germinal - Emile Zola?
80 Possession - AS Byatt?
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell?
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry?
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan DoyleO
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton?
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-ExuperyO
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks?
94 Watership Down - Richard AdamsO
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy TooleO
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute?
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald DahlO

So I count 41 I don't want to read, 25 I do, and 16 I don't know enough about to decide on.

The consumer (in the purest sense of the word) in me likes these kind of lists, but there are many other parts of me that don't allow me to make progress on such things. A whole lotta biting of(I typed it this way and I'm leaving it because it kinda makes more sense) more than I can digest, much less chew. Though I'm changing the hours of my day, as you can see by the time stamp on this post.

Oh, if you have any info/recommendations on this list, do let me know. I'm sure I can try harder on some with a personal recommendation.

My Rejects from the BBC List

2010-11-22T03:28:00.000-06:00

Any I should take off this list?

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR TolkienX
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte BronteX
4 Harry Potter series - JK RowlingX (Sorry Ceri)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper LeeX
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily BronteX
11 Little Women - Louisa M AlcottX
13 Catch 22 - Joseph HellerX
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du MaurierX
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey NiffeneggerX
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret MitchellX
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas AdamsX
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn WaughX
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck partialX
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth GrahameX
31 Anna Karenina - Leo TolstoyX
32 David Copperfield - Charles DickensX
34 Emma -Jane AustenX
35 Persuasion - Jane AustenX
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled HosseiniX
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De BernieresX
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan BrownX
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia MarquezX
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John IrvingX
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM MontgomeryX
50 Atonement - Ian McEwanX
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane AustenX
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia MarquezX
62 Lolita - Vladimir NabokovX
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice SeboldX
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre DumasX
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen FieldingX
71 Oliver Twist - Charles DickensX
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson BurnettX
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace ThackerayX
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles DickensX
83 The Color Purple - Alice WalkerX
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave FlaubertX
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. WhiteX
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch AlbomX
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre DumasX
100 Les Miserables - Victor HugoX

Blue Bunny v. Breyer's Ice Cream Throwdown

2010-11-20T19:30:00.002-06:00

It was Blue Bunny's chocolate ice cream versus Breyer's Extra Creamy Chocolate. Usually ice cream is made extra creamy by whipping air into it (the industry term is "overrun"). This is why I preferred Blue Bunny and its fudgier consistency (like a nice fudgcicle). You pretty easily identify overrun ice cream by grabbing the carton in your hand, if it doesn't feel heavy for its size they've probably added air to it. I know some prefer the smooth mouth feel of this stuff, but I don't.

As far as the chocolate tastes, they were different, but I didn't necessarily prefer one over the other. Breyer's seemed to have more of a roasted chocolate flavor, but that could be because it was burned from being in the freezer longer.

Video from Concert

2010-11-18T20:53:00.002-06:00

Sara Bareilles - Nice Dream from Daniel Murauskas on Vimeo.

My sister took this with her camera. I apologize for the orientation. Sara refused to share the name of the song or the group, but a quick search revealed it is Nice Dream from Radiohead.

Drinks All Around

2010-11-17T23:58:00.002-06:00

Tonight was Iconoclastic Cocktails night at the Bourbon Theatre.

I started with the Violet(te) Fizz, mainly because I wanted to try the creme de violette to see if I want to get a bottle, mainly for Aviations. It was a nice drink but the violet was kinda lost in the gin and lemon juice, and while the egg white added a nice head to my cocktail, it didn't change the mouth feel too much from a Tom Collins.

Next was the Trinidad Swizzle, with an entire ounce of Angostura Bitters (for the uninitiated, this is a lot, since most drinks that include any bitters call for one or two dashes). I really liked this one. It had a wonderful spice to it and the freshly grated nutmeg and mint were nice garnishes.

After that was the Toronto. It had Fernet-Branca, rye, and simple syrup. I'd never had Fernet-Branca before, which is why I wanted to try this one, and I really liked it. Ian, the bartender, said the mint came from the immense amounts of saffron in it. Surprise, surprise.

Last was Butter Beer, from a 16th century recipe. It was fine, if you like hot butter and beer together. I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to Tom and Jerry's, though I've yet to have one of those.

It was a wonderful night of drinks, and I look forward to going there again to expand my cocktail palate.

Officially Off the NaBloPoMo Wagon

2010-11-16T23:46:00.006-06:00

I loved her shoes.

Yes, we were quite close.

King of Anything

At Sara Bareilles

2010-11-14T19:25:00.000-06:00

I'm in Lawrence, KS with my sister. Pictures to come. Whew, I didn't think I'd get a post in today. Thank goodness for phones.

Loyalties

2010-11-13T21:00:00.002-06:00

Tonight's Husker game was only on pay-per-view because they're going against a team they were favored by 35 points to beat. Instead of shelling out the 40 bucks to watch it at home, I figured I'd go to one of the many bars carrying the game downtown.

I hadn't let Merle out for his ten minutes of fresh air, so I thought I'd do that before I headed downtown. I also needed to sweep the leaves off our front steps and sidewalk, and this is when Merle took his opportunity and went who knows where. I walked around the immediate area for a half hour after losing track of him, but the game was fast approaching. So after making two or three passes and not seeing him I went to the game, hoping he would turn up at the steps when I came back three hours later.

And he did. Part of my distress was that earlier in the week he'd run across the street which he normally doesn't do and was quite reluctant to be wrangled by me when I followed after to get him. So I wasn't sure he'd come back. I'm not going to take this incidence as a reason to trust him outside alone though. I can do without the drama, and as much as he is sometimes a nuisance, I'd be sad to lose him.

Happy Birthday Karen.

2010-11-12T23:54:00.001-06:00

I got home from work with a message from Karen inviting me to her birthday gathering at Tokyo Grill. I'd never had teppanyaki before and it was fun.

Never Let Me Go

2010-11-11T23:42:00.003-06:00

I just got back from Never Let Me Go at The Ross. I really liked it. The main protagonist is Carey Mulligan, who is still great. Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield are also wonderful. It is directed by Mark Romanek, mainly of music video reknown and One Hour Photo, and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've previously read and watched The Remains of the Day, which I also really enjoyed (the book more than the film).

It is about three students who were created, along with their peers, for organ donation. There's a love triangle, and the emotion associated with having no control over your life (and its completion). I love the pacing of the film. We see Cathy H., Ruth, and Tommy D. at 11, 18, and 27. I found it a wonderful testament to Romanek and the casting director that the core of each character is present in the child actors and seamlessly transitions to their aged selves.

The character I marveled the most at was Tommy. He had more than innocence, more than simpleness, he had purity. I found it very easy to involve (turn with) myself with his life and emotions because of their pristine nature.

Another donor was played by Domhnall Gleeson. I've never seen that name before and I like it. And now I see I've already enjoyed his father's acting many times. Another name that caught my eye in the credits was Lloret, though I forget if there was one 't' or two.

I'm trying to read a life of Vince Lombardi right now, but the novel is definitely on my list.

In other news, I had some of those cheese buttons warmed in cream in my slow cooker with a spot of honey. The magic of heating the cream is that it thickens like a clotted cream and makes a very nice sauce. The reheated buttons also become more cheesy as the cottage cheese melts a bit.

Drat!

2010-11-11T01:09:00.007-06:00

I missed a day. Here's some pictures of the pumpkin cheese buttons. They didn't taste much of pumpkin, but they're a nice color and there's more nutrition in them now.

Dry ingredients: 4 cups flour (increased to account for added moisture of pumpkin), 1.75 tsp baking soda, 2.5 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp salt (this seems low on salt, but Tbls. would be too much)

Wet ingredients: 9 cups dry curd cottage cheese, four eggs (added one for consistency), 2 cups sour cream, one can pumpkin puree

Combined. It is a pretty stiff dough.

Here they are baked (350 degrees for 23 minutes). The final touch is heating them up in cream, ideally in the oven at 300 for 20 minutes, but for the potluck, I used my slow cooker which works okay if you start it an hour ahead of time.

Gourmand for Punishment

2010-11-09T23:42:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow there is a potluck at work with the theme of Fall foods. I'm going to make my cheese buttons, but also mix in some pumpkin to make them more autumnal. Adding this moisture will require more flour and more leavening. We'll see how it turns out.

The main problem is that I haven't started yet, so I'll be baking into the night, which means less sleep and a grumpier me. Man am I a putz.

Conan

2010-11-08T22:53:00.003-06:00

I'm gonna try to "live" blog during the premiere of Conan. I've recorded it and I'll typy-type my thoughts while watching it.

It starts with "Last Season on Conan" and Conan refusing on a phone conversation to move to 12:05 then he's shot like Sonny Corleone at the studio entry gate. Then he's sitting in a wife beater with 14 kids running around and his wife telling him to get a job, then he is not hired at Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price by Jon Hamm. Then he's doing a monologue as a clown at a kids party. About ready to jump off a bridge, Larry King with wings tells him not to do it.

Nice colorful opening credits with the guests and Andy Richter announcing. It is now Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band. Requisite string dance. Much applause, he hugs an audience member. "Welcome to my Second Annual First Show." "People asked me why I named the show Conan. I did it so I'd be harder to replace." They're having a hard time keeping his hair in frame. Clip of masturbating bear on a local news channel shaking up the lotto balls in his underwear while the anchor man draws them out. I like the set so far, though the desk area is dark during the monologue.

They come back from the monologue with Andy in the chair next to the desk with Conan. They're now taking a moment to look at the set. They have a nice view of the ocean with a full 3 dimensional moon moving by remote. It's now wobbling. His summer low point was the Conan O'Brien mask that due to legal reasons was called the Ex-Talk Show Host. After putting them on, Andy says it's authentic because the inside smells like tears.

Guest video from Ricky Gervais. He congratulates Conan on the new gig while offering condolences for what happened previously. After his message, he looks off camera and says that while he's here he might as well bang out a few more. "Hi Conan, sorry things didn't work out at TBS, but I'm sure Food Network is a great fit for you." You know Conan, Food Network didn't know how well they had it. You're gonna be great on Good Morning Dayton. Don't worry about Dayton, now you have the national audience you deserve, and I'll be tuning in just as soon as I get satellite radio.

Third segment recaps the voting contest for first guest. "The deliberately rigged results are in and" it's the curator of the nutcracker museum. She just paraded through with a guy pushing a giant nutcracker behind her and out the studio.

Second first guest is Seth Rogen promoting Green Hornet, which doesn't open til January. Second guest is Lea Michelle, the brunette from Glee.

Music guest Jack White. Conan performs a song with Jack, a rockabilly type thing. Very fun. They apparently recorded a live album together in Nashville this summer.

Jack gets a desk interview after the song.

"We'll see you tomorrow. Byeeverybodybye."

Friends

2010-11-07T23:42:00.002-06:00

Tonight I went over to a friend's to try some scotches, two Ardbegs, he'd been wanting to share. I also ended up trying a great and different bourbon, and a likewise tequila.

The Ardbegs were similar in that they were both cask strength but one was aged longer in sherry and bourbon barrels.

The bourbon is Booker's, and drinking it neat it just evaporates on your tongue and leaves wonderful flavors behind.

The Milagro añejo tequila was unlike any I'd had before (given I haven't really had many). It was fruity on the nose and so very smooth on the palate. Plus it has a fun bottle.

I eat too.

2010-11-06T23:28:00.002-05:00

Not only do I lay on my couch, I also eat.

Just now I finished two Red D'Anjou pear and Muenster grilled cheese sandwiches. They were great. I'd have a picture but the SD card is missing from my camera. I blame my sister.

Not too complicated; just slice some pear to put between two slices of cheese in the middle of buttered bread, and grill on a low to medium heat pan for a minute and a half on one side and a minute on the other.

Muenster is a pretty mild cheese and the pear isn't earth shattering in flavor either. but together it is nice to have the juicy fruit cut through what can be a pretty heavy snack. I've tried it with apple too which is nice. More extreme flavors like sharp Cheddar and Granny Smith apple should make for a tastier experience.

Brie and pear are a common combination, but I'm not experienced enough with brie flavors to make a judgment.

Branded

2010-11-05T23:53:00.002-05:00

I'm kinda particular about a few mundane items.

I prefer Post Raisin Bran to any other.

Charmin Basic is my toilet paper of choice.

Hellman's Mayonnaise. On this one the important issue is mayo vs. Miracle Whip, but I like Hellman's so I'll stick with that.

Locally I prefer Blue Bunny Ice Cream, not over Haagen-Daas but over Kemp's, Breyer's, and others of that ilk.

American Crew Citrus Mint Conditioner. I was introduced to this from a previous hair stylist, and just loved the cooling mint on my head.

Where do your brand loyalties rest (cop-out to avoid the lay-lie solipsism)?

Monitor Lizard Part II

2010-11-04T23:44:00.002-05:00

The other monitor I lay in front of for as many hours as the TV is the computer.

My routine is Hotmail, facebook (first the status updates and "clever comments," then that stupid game Mafia Wars), then Google Reader and the aforementioned 122 (check that 123 now) RSS feeds.

I've organized the chaos a bit. The main folders are Bears, Beer, Blogs, Dailies, Food, Media, Sports, and Words. Bears, Blogs, Food, and Sports (mainly the Huskers) are self explanatory.

Beer has some beer bloggers (I've trimmed this one quite a bit after some overzealous subscribing.) but includes cocktail blogs now too.

My two Dailies are Delancey Place, which provides excerpts of non-fiction books, and Pearls Before Swine, the comic strip.

Media is a bit of a hodge podge: AdFreak, FILMDetail, The Nerdist, The Comic's Comic.

Words is a broader category too. I have Ben Zimmer's columns for the NY Times and Visual Thesaurus, Nameberry, Frittinancy (mainly about names in the business world), and The Rosa Parks of Blogs (this is a fun one).

Monitor Lizard Part I

2010-11-03T23:34:00.002-05:00

They were right when they said DVRs would change the way you watch tv. Now, I watch a lot more at any hour of the day. Before, I watched a lot at very scheduled hours of the day.

I forget why I added HBO to my DirecTV package. I think it was for Flight of the Conchords and then they kept adding great new programming like The Pacific, and I started watching True Blood, and How to Make It in America. Now I watch Boardwalk Empire, Eastbound & Down, and Bored to Death. I added Showtime again for Dexter and that's it for that one, though in January they'll have Californication again. I'm a big fan of AMC too with Breaking Bad, Mad Men (which I just started watching this Spring, so I'm three seasons late to that party), Rubicon (which has two actors from The Pacific), and they just started The Walking Dead (which I checked out the first 10 graphic novel volumes of to get in on that).

Then for Network TV I watch Rules of Engagement, Modern Family, The Office, and Fringe. Though I also record 30 Rock and SNL. I forgot to mention the FX shows It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League (and not airing now but thoroughly enjoyed was Justified).

My reality competition watching is limited to cooking shows Top Chef, Top Chef: Just Desserts, and The Next Iron Chef.

Next is Adult Swim/Comedy Central. I watch Venture Bros., Metalocalypse, Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, and Nick Swardson's Pretend Time on Comedy Central.

For sports, I have my daily Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, my weekly Bo Pelini Coach's Show and Big Red Wrap Up, and then the Huskers' (even if I attend the game, I record it) and Bears' game, plus any other intriguing football match ups.

A quick tally gives me around 17.5 hours of programming plus six for the two requisite football games and more for any others I catch. So this averages out to 4 hours a day of TV each week (though I do fast forward through commercials which shrinks that number negligibly).

In Concert

2010-11-02T23:02:00.002-05:00

Last week my sister came down from SD and we went to Mumford & Sons in Denver. The first opener was King Charles. He performed that song and started with an a capella performance of The Brightest Light Has the Darkest Shadow that captivated the crowd. I preferred his performance (say that three times fast) of Love Lust at the concert since it was just him and his guitar. but you get the gist of the song, and the wonderful line "If your beauty is a fortress, then my love will be the moat."

Mumford and Sons was as great as I had hoped they would be. It was funny how great all their songs were that I forgot until they played it as the encore that they hadn't played The Cave in the regular set. It was also encouraging that their newest songs (including the one they "just worked out during sound check") were of the same high quality, so I'm anticipating their next album already.

The Blogging Month

2010-11-01T23:53:00.003-05:00

I hate, hate, hate the insult douche or douche bag or douchebaggery. I don't pretend to know anything about actual douches. I'm fairly certain they are a part of feminine hygiene. But I understand the insult to imply that one of the worst things you can be is the waste of said feminine hygiene process. My guess is that that waste is not a pleasant thing at all, and maybe I'm out of line and confused, but to link such a crude insult to females seems to me to be an insult to those females as well.

The only thing related to males I could see as a parallel would be smegma, yet you don't see this as an insult nearly as pervasive as douche and its kin. Sure, you'll get the occasional "dick cheese" crack, but not all over the media like douche is.

So help me on this. Am I misguided? Am I forcing that implication there, revealing my own confused view of women? Or am I kinda close on this thing?

Peach Accompli

2010-08-30T18:42:00.010-05:00

o for my first two peach consumption recipes I made my favorite rhubarb crunch recipe and a peach gelato with no egg yolks.

It never ceases to amaze me how effective it is to peel peaches by blanching them in boiling water then shocking them in ice water. I tried to do this once with green tomatoes for a pie I was making, but that wasn't nearly as effective (probably not enough pectin to loosen through the process).

<<< These peaches were pureéd for the gelato.

I got the crunch recipe from a family cookbook of my former cafeteria boss in academy. I like it because there's crunch on the top and bottom and the cinnamon (for this recipe I split the spice with ginger, though I should have used more) is so very aromatic. It's also a simple recipe to execute and adaptable to any seasonal fruits. Another mistake I made (can you use a word like "another" when referring to a comment made in parenthesis?) was not cutting the peaches uniformly and small enough to get a good dense layer of fruit. Some might call this rustic, I call it inefficient and lazy. I must confess, though, that I do enjoy the big burst of peach flavor in every other bite.

I have this preconception about gelato that one of the things that separates it from ice cream or frozen custard is that it doesn't contain egg yolks, only milk to provide the fat, and maybe some milk powder for smoothness/richness. Though some brief research while trying to pick a gelato recipe from my rss recipe cache revealed from a trusted source that gelato just means frozen in Italian, and the ingredients vary from the intensely regional cuisines from North to South, with the North having richer gelato with eggs and chocolate and local nuts, like hazelnut, to the South and their granita.

Despite being armed with this info, I was hesitant to use 8 yolks in a recipe I hadn't made before, and while enjoying homemade ice cream with numerous yolks before, I wanted to make gelato (dammit) and my mind still hadn't expanded to include eggs in it.

So I went with a simple recipe, which may or may not have been a good idea. The recipe, if you don't care to click through, is two tablespoons of cornstarch, a cup each of whole milk and heavy cream, three quarters cup sugar, three cups of fruit and a tablespoon of vodka. Very simple.

The trick with simple recipes is excellent technique and execution. There's three things I didn't do that I feel contributed to the finished product being less than I hoped. I didn't attend to the dairy and slurry mixture enough, and it scalded on the bottom removing valuable thickening starches. I didn't return it to the heat after adding the peach pureé to reduce the water content, leaving too much fodder for ice crystals. And the third denial of culinary principles before the cock crowed was not adding enough Galliano to shine through after churning. I thought its vanilla would pair nicely. I could taste it in the mix before, but it's nonexistent now. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Salt you moron!] Alcohol's function is to lower the freezing temperature of the gelato to keep it melty so you can taste the intense flavors without numbing your tastebuds. I thought I could add some flavor to the functionality, alas.

My sister really enjoys the gelato, and it is a nice expression of peach, just not what I think it could be.

On a metablogging note, do you compose your post in reverse so that the pictures end up at the bottom, or do you have to do what I do and cut the code and paste it where you want?

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische.

Peaches and Herb

2010-08-26T00:26:00.004-05:00

s a child, there were four things I didn't like to eat: tomatoes, cheese, cottage cheese, and peaches.

I eventually embraced tomatoes and cheese. Every time I try cottage cheese again to see if my palate has changed, I'm revolted again for the first time. The peach that I mainly objected to was the canned peach in syrup or fruit cocktail, though I didn't care for other peach flavored things like Peach-Os. Then, as a cafeteria worker in academy working the supper shift with Angela Barber, I decided to like peaches. And I have appreciated them ever since (I'm sure that nectarines had a hand in bringing me to their cousins.).

Fast forward to the last 36 hours. My sister has been getting peaches at the store the past few shopping trips, and they've tasted quite wonderful out of hand. Last night a Union College student called me to say his parents were coming through with a bunch of peaches and pears from Colorado. I asked how big the boxes were, and when I heard they came in 22 and 19 pound boxes, I said I couldn't process that many and didn't bother asking how much they were. This morning, I told my sister about the call, and she expressed interest in getting some peaches. Alas I didn't remember the student's name (I still don't know how he got my number.), but I said I'd ask the student workers if they knew who it was. Long story short, the aforementioned parents parked their trailer full of fruit right in front of my work (located on campus), and the father came in and announced to everyone that he had peaches for 25 and pears for 27 dollars a box.

Now I have 22 pounds of peaches I must use before they turn. I did a quick search in my email of my over 2000 saved recipes from my RSS feeds (a majority come from tastespotting, which is an aggregate of food blogs with photos). I have 43 choices, four of which are ice creams or gelato. But I've been wanting to make a galette for a very long time, and I have two little tubs of local quark cheese I got at the farmer's market almost too long ago.

I'm going to make a peach quark ginger galette, an ice cream/gelato, a crisp, and probably a cobbler but maybe a muffin of some sort. I'll try to document these here.

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische.

Release the Kraken.

2010-05-20T20:45:00.003-05:00

I finished that bottle of Gosling's, and since I've had no luck on the Barritt's front, I've postponed getting another one. In the meantime, I opened my other bottle of black rum from the Kraken. I've had it with my Shurfine ginger ale and another bottle of the Cock 'n Bull. I think I like the Gosling's better with the ginger ale than the Kraken, but I might prefer the Kraken with the ginger beer, at least in the Cock 'n Bull iteration, I didn't get that bitterness I was complaining about with the Gosling's and Cock 'n Bull. I might have a side by side when I get Gosling's again.

This weekend I'm headed up to the Twin Cities for a cousin's wedding.

Nix.

2010-05-14T22:57:00.002-05:00

I called Rocket Fizz to see if Barritt's came in, and the girl who answered the phone said their shipment comes in on Monday's now. The gentleman who seemed to be placing the order when I asked him for it over a week ago expected that it might be in Wednesday or Thursday, and for sure by Friday, so maybe they do have it, but I'm fine with a break.

In other news, I'm thinking about rebooting my word blog. Should I use Blogger or Wordpress? I know some of you have used each, or is there another option that is better than either of those?

Dark and Regatta

2010-05-13T21:24:00.004-05:00

Another good one. Better than Cock 'n Bull, so it replaces that at number four. I'm still getting a bitterness. This one is better than Cock 'n Bull alone as well. I'm hopeful that it is a solid representation of what Bermuda produces and if they chose Barritt's over this one, then Barritt's should be better.

Next up: a new bottle of Gosling's and (fingers crossed) Barritt's the original and trademarked Dark 'n' Stormy!

Dark and Cock 'n Bull

2010-05-12T23:01:00.004-05:00

This is another good one. Yes, I'm getting a bit tired of this drink. There is a bit more bitter than sweet/smooth than I would prefer. Let's put it at number four behind Squamscot, Buderim, and Maine Root.

Depending on who you believe, Cock 'n Bull was started by a guy trying to make vodka popular and a guy trying to get rid of his ginger beer and copper mugs, hence the Moscow Mule. I didn't really like the one Moscow Mule I've tried before. Cock 'n Bull has a recipe for the drink on the box and the bottle, more lime. That might be why it is more bitter. Regardless this is formulated for mixing, not drinking alone, and maybe for drinking only with vodka.

Up Next: Regatta Ginger Beer Authentic Bermuda Stone

Dark and Old Jamaican

2010-05-11T23:09:00.003-05:00

Meh. So this bottle has more reading than is good for its 10.14 ounces. Naturally and Artificially Flavored Carbonated Beverage Ginger Beer TWIST. Looking at the ingredients the twist is lime and ginger. The ingredients are filtered water, sugar, concentrated lime juice, natural and artificial ginger and lime flavors, gum arabic, citric acid, sodium benzoate, and carbon dioxide. And get this, it is a product of Canada bottled for an address in Jamaica.

What I thought was an off taste was a bitterness from the lime. Fortunately, I got some Cock 'n Bull today, so I'm gonna throw out this tasting and substitute that one.

Theme Songs

2010-05-10T18:54:00.003-05:00

Justified, Trueblood, The Life and Times of Tim, The Ricky Gervais Show. These are shows that I started watching this Spring whose theme songs I really enjoy. I've since stopped watching The Life and Times of Tim, but the others are good. I've linked to the songs in each title.

Dark and Buderim

2010-05-10T18:33:00.004-05:00

This is another good one. Must be something with calling it ginger "Brew" instead of ginger beer. It is a little lighter in hue than the Squamscot and a smidge stronger, but some time in the glass with melting ice cubes and a few more swirls mellows that.

Alone, it is very similar to the Squamscot, with more bite in the finish and sweeter. Again, it is another pure cane sugar soda. And on second thought, I think the sweetness is what helps it meld with the rum. You don't know if you're getting the sweetness from the rum or the ginger brew, and that's a good thing.

Up next is Old Jamaican Ginger Beer Twist with Natural and Artificial Flavorings.

Dark and Squamscot

2010-05-09T23:41:00.003-05:00

We might have a leader in the clubhouse with this one. It has the slow peppery burn that I think should distinguish the dark and stormy from the ginger gale. It also succeeds where the previous two failed in becoming the sum of its parts. Flavor profile-wise, it is more subtle than the Maine Root Ginger Brew, and with a honey color it makes for a prettier drink, probably, than the greenish, cloudy Ginger Brew.

Drunk alone without the rum, I think the cane sugar instead of corn syrup serves the drink well. It has an effervescent and refreshing punch.

Next up: Buderim Ginger "Authentic Australian" Ginger Brew

Dark and Saranac Ginger Beer

2010-05-09T00:00:00.002-05:00

The Saranac is a delightful drink alone, but like Sioux City (though better executed), it seems to be a ginger flavored soda. As you can see from the picture, it is much fizzier with more head than the previous two (that's what she said). This one is closer in flavor to the ginger gale, but with more of the black rum present, the combination then tastes a bit--off.

I don't know what impact two fewer ice cubes had on this tasting, though I made sure to still use eight ounces of the ginger beer with two ounces of rum. Up next is Squamscot.

Dark and Sioux City Ginger Beer

2010-05-07T21:15:00.003-05:00

The first difference I noticed between this one and the Maine Root was the color. Maine was cloudy and slightly green, while Sioux City was clear and brown, like iced tea. Sioux City also paled in comparison when it came to flavor/taste. It didn't have the bite of the Maine Root, and while it has more punch than a ginger ale, it is a big meh on the ginger beer spectrum. Tasting it alone, without the rum, it reminds me of Sioux City's sarsaparilla with ginger added, and sort of an artificial flavor.

As for with the rum, it isn't any thing to write home about (though it is enough to blog about). I don't know what Barritt's is like or what the other five I have are, but this one seems to be sitting on the fence twixt ginger ale and ginger beer, so I'd rather have one of those two, than one that doesn't know what it wants to do.

Dark and Maine Root Ginger Brew

2010-05-06T23:44:00.004-05:00

It begins! Initially (pre-stir) this had a lot of the bite of a ginger beer, that peppery, sorta harsh ginger with an inkling of fermented power. This was subdued with a stir but is still present with a scratchy ginger at the top of the throat. Definitely not the same drink as a Ginger Gale. With the Ginger Gale you don't have the taste of the ginger ale or the black rum, they blend to form a new happy libation. With this drink you have that punch of the ginger brew and a sweet shadow of the rum.

My method is six ice cubes of boiled Brita water (boiling and cooling before freezing makes for a clearer ice cube), two ounces of Gosling's Black Seal Rum, then filling the 12 ounce glass to the top with ginger beer (there were four ounces remaining in the bottle).

Operation Weekly

2010-05-04T22:19:00.003-05:00

I found this blog mentioned in a beer blog I follow. Keith and Stephanie are doing one thing each day for a month. Last month was a different beer each day. This month they're doing this.

I've been drinking Ginger Gales the last two weeks, and they're really delicious. What I want to drink is a Dark 'n' Stormy, but I need Barritt's Ginger Beer in addition to the Gosling's Black Seal Rum that I already have been enjoying with my Ginger Gales. I requested it from Rocket Fizz, a soda and candy store in Lincoln. They have a pretty wide selection of brands (Boylan, Squamscot, AJ Stephans, Sioux City, and Faygo) and flavors within those brands.

Anyway, I have seven of their ginger beers, and my plan is to have one each night in the week leading up to Friday the 14th when Rocket Fizz should have Barritt's.

I should also have some pictures with the camera I got for my birthday.

Still here.

2010-04-19T23:10:00.003-05:00

I just got back from watching Un prophète. It has earned a spot next to The Godfather in the pantheon of organized crime film classics. I can't think of any false steps. I was the fourth person to enter the theatre, but we ended with three when one of the guys left during/after the throat cutting scene. I'm not sure why they left then, they didn't say anything like, "That is an appalling and desensitizing depiction of violence, of which I will take no part." But their manner was a bit huffy. Their loss, there was only a couple more scenes of violence/murder, and they weren't as graphic, then again I didn't leave after the first one.

Back to the movie, it is the story of a 19 year old illiterate, Arab named Malik. He is sentenced to six years with no outside friends, or inside for that matter, which brings us to Cesar Luciani commissioning him to kill another Arab that will be testifying in a case. For doing this, Malik gets protection, and isn't killed by Cesar himself. Cesar uses Malik and his 12 hour leaves from prison to run errands for him between Arab and Corsican mafia. I really recommend this film, if you can't see it in the theatre, put it on your Netflix queue. And there is a really neat cover of Mack the Knife by Jimmy Dale Gilmore.

In other news, I had my 29th birthday the 28th of March. To celebrate,I went to the first home match of The No Coast Derby Girls this season. They are split into the Road Warriors and the Mad Maxines (JV and Varsity respectively). The most interesting/vulgar name of an opponent that first group was Queefer Sutherland. This last Saturday was their second home date, to which I won tickets with a radio contest (I'm not really sure how that should be phrased).

The 10th of April, my sister and I went to Sioux Falls to attend my uncle's induction into the SD Sports Hall of Fame. It was a wonderful time with family. One of the stories my uncle told during his speech was about an opponent he'd wrestled about six times over a three year period. The opponent was asked in an interview whom his most feared opponent was, and it was my uncle. The opponent continued to say it was like wrestling Death itself. Of course this was neat to hear, considering my uncle has never resembled Death to me in any of my own interactions with him.

Next weekend I plan to go to the Parkville Microfest just outside of Kansas City. It is a great craft beer festival that pulls brewers from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. There's also good food vendors and live music. And being outdoors in a city park, there's plenty of dogs too.

Speaking of dogs, leaving the theatre, I saw a young lady walking two miniature/Italian greyhounds, André, 9 and Mia, 6. I'm normally not big on small dogs, but they were a fitting pair, André white with grey patches, and Mia, a fawnish-grey (as far as I could tell in the street light). I asked if he got along with her, and their owner said he only gets upset with her when she sleeps on him too much.

Five Years Before

2010-03-03T05:41:00.003-06:00

y guess is it was a blog post recapping Warren Buffett's letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway that planted the seed for the dream that has me up at such an obnoxious hour. His letter mentioned some things he wished his company had not done, and some things it should have done even more.

So following logically from that, I had a dream that took me back five years (of course it is the dream world, where I know it is five years, though I didn't look at a newspaper or ask someone who the President is or any of that cliché time traveler stuff). Aside from knowing I was five years in the past, the only things I remember in the dream are warning an English major that the economy/job market is going to have a downturn, and while it is always a bad time to be an English major, this is like the worst time ever. And a young, thin, bearded, Paul Giamatti was the friend/teacher? of this star-crossed student. The other part of the dream was me and Paris Hilton and her mother shopping in some boutique for Paris' 21st Birthday. I was sort of their personal assistant, and was the only one of the three who had small enough bills to tip the boutique assistant for the free bottle service to sample, in two ounce plastic cups, a fine Champagne we'd gotten in a two pack, (Classy, I know. The two pack was two Champagne bottles in a decorative pink paper gift bag).

My take away from the dream is that I wouldn't change anything. In the dream, I remember thinking, I don't need to tell myself to do anything to change his future. Now that I'm awake, there are some things I'd like to tell my past self, but nothing more than exercise more, Christ hasn't come in five years, and maybe some strategic relationship advise, nothing big.

How about you? Are there some things you wish you could tell yourself five years ago that would change your current life?

The drop cap is from Jessica Hische.

Beautiful

2010-02-04T01:37:00.002-06:00

The latest music video to captivate me is for Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz' On to the Next One. The first image I loved was the hooded actor. The first two or three times I saw the video I thought the actor was a woman, but closer inspection belies that.

This is a link to a bunch of director Sam Brown's videos. I really liked his video for the Foo Fighters' The Pretender, though I didn't seek out the director at that time. I thought the videos are a solid progression, especially from The Pretender then Love is Noise to On to the Next One, not to exclude some elements from Smilin' (skeleton "hip-hop" video). But the best pairing is Love is Noise and On to the Next one, with literal shots of sound waves and close ups of the lead singer mixed with "abstract" images and open shots of the band.

Kate Hudson's Mother's Pivot Answers

2010-01-08T23:54:00.000-06:00

1. Joy
2. Hate
3. People who are inspired and connected to a strong positive belief system.
4. A person who is defensive, immobile, and fixed.
5. I love to hear a baby laugh.
6. The reverse beep beep beep beep in a golf cart.
7. Shit
8. Neuroscientist
9. Any profession that would take me down into the earth.
10. "You did good, and I'd like you to be on my team, because we're gonna figure out how to save every child from pain."

Kate Hudson's Pivot Answers

2009-12-22T02:21:00.002-06:00

1. a great sounding word, cloud. for meaning, sex.
2. moist (she was preceded with this word only by Drew Barrymore, whom she played in an SNL sketch with Will Ferrell as Lipton and her as Barrymore)
3. this is so cheesy, but life
4. lies
5. my son's laughter
6. truck beeps, the backwards beep, beep, beep thing
7. the one I use the most would be fuck, the best sounding one as a mother you don't want to say it. the best curse word to me is cocksucker
8. I think I'd be a pretty good lawyer
9. anything that had anything to do with milk product. milk makes me gag.
10. "Congratulations, you might not have to do that again." or "Your family's in the other room."

"And that makes everything right"?

2009-12-16T22:34:00.003-06:00

Gene Autry wrote "Here Comes Santa Claus." I like Elvis' version, but my favorite might be Willie Nelson's. Regardless there's a line I've puzzled over, sometimes admiring the ability to blend the commercialism of Santa and gift giving with "the Reason for the Season," sometimes appalled at that same fact.

"Santa knows that we're God's children; that makes everything right."

That was the line that jumped out at me, though most all of it is a mash-up of Santa and God. I guess part of it hearkens (I wanted to type "harkens" but the dotted red line says no.) to the Saint Nicholas of Christmas lore, and a Conservative audience, but it seems odd considering what Christmas has become. I think I've unburthen'd myself of Christmas song musing for a while anyway, so thank you for your forbearance. For some reason, like those that place great authority in the printed word, I treat songs/lyrics as the gospel truth. Because it is in a song, it must be so. Though the reality of the matter is setting me up for some serious reckoning.

In other news, unlike last year when I tried to do a twelve baking days of Christmas, this year I just want to make some things I haven't before. One of those things are truffles, another is a créme anglaise (maybe for my annual figged bread pudding), and a third might be a roasted bird that isn't a turkey (maybe some Cornish game hens, like my newlywed couple friends do for Thanksgiving, or a duck; goose is too expensive--I couldn't touch a frozen one for less than 50 bucks.).

I was looking up varsity in one of my bedside dictionaries (British shortening of university) and stumbled across vegete. It is an archaic word that means full of life. I found this interesting considering "vegetable" is now an adjective for the exact opposite.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Pivot Answers

2009-12-14T20:28:00.002-06:00

1. print
2. spelunker
3. spit balling
4. motives
5. uncontrollable snorting laughter
6. custom ringtones
7. sonofacocklovinwhore
8. inventor
9. trespassing paparazzi
10. "Boy did I have a ball with you."

And Crack We'll Take the Lead!

2009-12-09T23:54:00.002-06:00

I think I've used this space before to wonder what a bobtail nag "two forty for her speed" means. Regardless, I really like the Jingle Bells song. My three favorite renditions of the song are from Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (they have a wonderful breakdown near the end [1:39] with Bing singing over the Sisters with some "Ohwe'llhavealottafun." Plus, that part is followed up with that beautifully warm clarinet.), Sammy Davis Jr. (my favorite part [1:24] is when he's going all out with some "JING-JING-JINGLE IN THE MORNIN'"), and Frank Sinatra with some men's choir that starts the song with "I love those J-I-N-G-L-E Bells (yeah). Those holiday J-I-N-G-L-E bells (yeah). Those J-I-N-G-L-E B-E-Double L-S."

Other Christmas songs I can't bear the season without are Elvis' Blue Christmas (Porky Pig has a version I haven't heard forever), Elvis' Here Comes Santa Claus, and not necessary but kitschy fun is this one.

I'll leave you with the naughtiest Christmas song lyric from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller sung by Elvis in the song Santa Claus Is Back in Town:

"Hang up your pretty stockings
And turn off the light,
Santa Claus is comin'
Down your chimney tonight."

He Puts What in What?

2009-11-28T23:35:00.003-06:00

British reality host (Simon Cowell or Gordon Ramsey): Demean in demeanor.

sad Mexican: Sombre in sombrero.

scorned lover: Fuse in refuse.

erectile dysfunction: Eager in meager.

a linebacker: Tack in tackle.

Vatican Hotel: Amen in amenities.

for an ex: Oath in loathe.

Oat in oath.

bigwig: Lout in clout.

From The Simpsons: "We put the fun in funeral."

just inappropriate: Cont in continue.

Please share any you've thought of, or improve my applications of these memes.

Dinner Roast Day

2009-11-27T00:53:00.002-06:00

Sunday will be Turkey Day when the folks come down from SD this weekend. Today the featured protein was Dinner Roast. I made mashed potatoes, Easy Baked Cheese & Vegetable Twist, and brought cheese buttons I'd made for a Midwestern Classics potluck last Monday.

Oh and I made another apple pie with grains of paradise. This one was better because I used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon and since my sister said the first one didn't taste like apple pie because it was missing something, I added a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. I think I might have hit the mark now. It was a Granny Jazzy Crisp pie since I used Granny Smith, Jazz, and Honeycrisp (thank you University of Minnesota).

Late With Daniel

2009-11-25T00:30:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure if I went on the record here about my tastes in late night talk show programming (there will be another post discussing programs vs. shows).

I used to catch Conan every wohniclee (sorry but that is once in a while) when he was on at 11:30. He had the hipper musical guests and there were often super funny moments during his guest interviews. I never enjoyed Jay Leno, so I watched Letterman if I was watching a show, but normally it depended on who the guests were, musical and otherwise. I usually like Craig Ferguson, but don't watch him. I like his email segment and the "What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?" at the end.

This brings us to the big shift when Leno was bumped for Conan. I have the new Tonight Show on season pass since the beginning. Conan's monologue usually isn't that great, but he understands this and isn't below mocking it to get laughs. He still has fun moments with his guests, but probably not as outlandish as before.

When I first saw Jimmy Fallon's show, I was not impressed. He still can't keep a straight face, and his interviews are either sycophantic, or with his cast mates from SNL and very buddy buddy. I do appreciate a couple things about his show though. The Roots are a really great house band. And from the little I've seen from The Steve Allen Show, mostly from PBS documentaries on the Pioneers of Television, Fallon has a lot of similar games and fun with his guests like Allen did. I admire this. I think if Fallon is given the freedom to explore this goofy side he might be more comfortable, and you'll get a better overall show.

2009-11-24T23:47:00.003-06:00

olid gold.

I watch Top Chef, and a couple of the "cheftestants" are brothers well-versed in "molecular gastronomy" (the Voltaggio brothers). This basically means they use technologically advanced techniques to change the texture and temperature of food to challenge how eaters approach food. Wylie Dufresne is a popular chef of this school (his restaurant is wd~50). Another chef and restaurant of this ilk is Grant Achatz and Alinea. I see his recipes on the blog Alinea at Home, and it seems they always start with pureeing, straining, and turning a food into a gel with agar agar or some other thickening agent.

In addition to gels, there are also foams and airs. Sometimes a spice smoke is trapped over a dish with plastic wrap and then you cut the plastic with a knife to release the air (and the experience). This got me to thinking about the essence of things, and which is the purest form.

Gas, Liquid, Solid, Plasma?

Is the soul of popcorn the corn saturated steam? Is an herbal infusion distilled to an extract the best way to capture a spice? Is a diamond the purest expression of carbon?

In the movie Cold Souls, they extract the soul and store it in glass containers not dissimilar in shape and size to the vacuum tubes at a bank drive thru. Paul Giamatti's soul is the size, shape, and color of a chickpea.
*drop cap by Jessica Hische

Medical Beer

2009-11-23T23:27:00.002-06:00

Jeff Evan's A Beer a Day entry for the day talks about a time of Medical Beer:

But there was another branch of American society that was also hindering the country from staying dry – declared temperance campaigners – and that was the nation’s medical fraternity.

A loophole in the 18th Amendment to the US constitution, which introduced Prohibition to America in 1920, allowed doctors to prescribe alcohol as they would any other medication.

In a country where strong spirits were traditionally considered effective methods of seeing off colds and other ailments, this should not be surprising. Even today, the benefits of alcohol – when taken in moderation – are recognised by physicians, as ways of easing stress or reducing heart disease, for instance.

The anti-alcohol brigade didn’t see things the same way. Their hard-won victory for enforced abstinence looked set to be eradicated by doctors liberally handing out prescriptions for booze.

According to a feature in The Smithsonian magazine, it was even suggested that drug stores should be able to supply beer over the counter, alongside the soft drinks they sold to kids. The erstwhile triumphant temperance lobby hit the roof, forcing the Government to back track and reconsider the doctors’ exemption.

Consequently, on 23 November 1921, prescriptions of wine and liquor were made subject to new limitations and it became illegal for doctors to prescribe beer.

Other news I got today is that cherimoya.com now has cherimoya available in season again. For 34.95 including shipping you get five pounds, usually six, of cherimoya. And if available they use fresh lemons as part of the packing material. I find that a half of a large cherimoya serves one nicely, so though they're about 6 bucks each, it's only 3 per serving, and what a tasty serving at that. I very highly recommend them (I've already placed my order). They also have small cherimoya available for free samples if you're pensive.

I realized today that Clint Eastwood will be working with Morgan Freeman for at least the third time. I can think of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby previously, and now we have Invictus, with Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as captain of South Africa's rugby team.

Pivot by Lipton with Swank and Apatow

2009-11-22T22:41:00.002-06:00

The Key: 1. favorite word, 2. least favorite word, 3. What turns you on?, 4. What turns you off?, 5. What is your favorite sound?, 6. Least favorite sound?, 7. favorite curse word, 8. profession other than your own you'd most like to try, 9. profession you'd never like to attempt, 10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

Hilary Swank

1. infinity
2. crotch
3. passion
4. I'll say inequality right now
5. baby's laughter
6. kinda cliché but things scratching on other chalkboardy things
7. ass
8. photography
9. hair styling
10. "Good effort."

Judd Apatow (By the way, I love that his movies get the adjective Apatovian.)
1. hilarious
2. prick
3. men, I mean Mann, Leslie Mann
4. I guess cruelty, unless it's done right, then it turns me on.
5. the sound of guffaws
6. Silence, 'cause then I have to hear the voices in my head.
7. Fuck-off Mr. Lipton.
8. A monk, like a Buddhist monk, so I could conquer the quiet.
9. Secretary of Defense
10. "Hey, we let in Jews too."

Football

2009-11-21T16:02:00.003-06:00

Tonight my sister and I are going to Nebraska's last home football game of the year. If they win, they win their division and get to play in the conference championship, which if they win that game, they'll get to play in the Bowl Championship Series, which means millions more dollars in revenue for the school and conference.

All that said, the game is even more important for Kansas State. It is KSU's last game of their season, if they lose. If they win, they become bowl eligible and win the division and play for the conference championship. So a lot hinges on their play tonight, a game in which they're 16.5 point underdogs.

The Pie

2009-11-17T23:59:00.002-06:00

The grains of paradise work. There's this kinda pepper tang at the back of the mouth that lets the apple do its thing on the rest of the tongue. I used a tablespoon of the spice, which might be too much, especially when I looked up Alton Brown's recipe again (on my saved dvr list) and he only used a quarter teaspoon with a combo of salt and maybe one other spice. Another suggestion he had on that show was to use caraway, which according to him is the common spice pairing for apples in Scandinavia.

Music for the Holidays/Gift-Wish List

2009-11-17T13:49:00.003-06:00

ne of my default gifts for my mother on Christmas is music. In the past I've given her Chris Rice, Sara Groves, and Breaking Sand from Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. Last year, if I remember right, was a cd of Willie Nelson's Red-Headed Stranger (one they already had on cassette).

Hoping to stick with what works again this year, there are some new candidates:

Crosby, Stills, and Nash Christmas

And while we're talking about Christmas albums, how about Bob Dylan's Christmas? But my mother was more of a Willie Nelson hippie than a Dylan hippie. One of my many friends on Facebook commented that Bob Dylan is perfect for mondegreens. Which takes me to this post from The Pioneer Woman.

Next up (and including a Dylan Song), Roseanne Cash's The List.

Last Saturday I went to a concert in Omaha, for the opening group Elizabeth & the Catapult (the headliner was Justin Nozuka). I normally try to be on time for concerts, but it seems that often the venue does not. So I thought I had some leeway in arriving at the concert. However, ten minutes late was ten minutes late and I missed half of Elizabeth and company's set. I did catch their music video single and title track, Taller Children, and their cover of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows, so it wasn't a complete loss. I also got a cd, which I'm enjoying a lot, signed.

And for me, I think I've mentioned before that I really like Mel Tormé's recording of The Christmas Song. What I didn't know until I was looking for a link is that he was one of the writers. One of the things I like about the song is the end:

Love and Joy come to you and to all your loved ones too, and God bless you and send you a happy new year.

*my drop cap came from Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

The Perfect Burger Condiment and a Tablespoon of Paradise

2009-11-17T00:55:00.003-06:00

Tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he had a NY chef who won a burger cookoff. The chef felt that his key ingredient was a caramelized onion and bacon jam. Then, not twenty minutes of television later, on Last Call with Carson Daly, Carson was at a Culver City bar called Father's Office, with 72 taps and what is considered one of the best burgers in LA. The burger is a special blend of meat with Maytag blue cheese, Gruyere, arugula, and a caramelized onion and applewood bacon compôte. So from NY to LA the way to a great burger is a bacon and caramelized onion jam/compôte. All that is left is for me to find out how to make it.

In more important food news, my grains of paradise apple pie is less than ten minutes from coming out of the oven. If the aroma of the sugar, cornstarch, spice mixture is an indicator, I'm pretty optimistic that it will taste good. Verdict to come.

I have an opportunity for my readers. I make pies quite a bit which requires that put slits in the top of the pie to let steam escape. Because I do this a lot, I thought it would be nice to have a signature pattern. I understand it might be hard to explain, but I would appreciate any suggestions to get me in the right direction.

Catching Up

2009-11-16T14:05:00.005-06:00

This morning's Big Band Show: When Melody Was King featured the songs of Dorothy Fields, the other half of The Way You Look Tonight from Jerome Kern. She was also part of the team that wrote the songs for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The song from that show that was played on the radio was I'll Buy You A Star ("and not just a star, but the best one" kinda puts the name a star for $50 gift to shame). Another line in that song I liked was "I'll get you a silver chain made from the rain of a Summer afternoon."

Another thing I'm catching up on is that pie. I went home for lunch today just to make the crust, so I could bake the pie tonight. In other food related stuff, that Nicaraguan (that is a tricky word to type) dry-process coffee was very good, and I even kinda miss it, now that I'm grinding another Ethiopian Sidamo dry-process.

Jerome Kern

2009-11-11T03:04:00.002-06:00

He died today in 1945. He wrote a lot of great songs amongst the over 700 published in his name. Ol' Man River, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I Won't Dance, The Way You Look Tonight.

I knew he wrote a bunch of popular songs, but what I didn't know was that I really like Fred Astaire singing his songs best.

Chad Daniels' Joke

2009-11-10T21:41:00.002-06:00

I have "season passes" on my DVR for a bunch of Comedy Central stand-up comedy shows, Premium Blend, Live at Gotham, and all the Comedy Central Presents. The latest comic to catch my eye is Chad Daniels. I'll try to transcribe his joke now:

My name is Chad Daniels. That's a horrible name when I go to the Deep South, cuz I always get that drunk redneck, you know. (in obnoxious drunk redneck accent) "Hey boy, your name Daniels? WHOOOO! (slapping the knee and ankle like the Austrian knee dance) You related to Jack? Ha-ha! (making gun sounds while firing a hand shaped like a gun in the air)" Then I have to explain to this guy, "Jack Daniel's has an apostrophe in it," right? And one guy honestly said, he goes, "You mean he followed Jesus?" Yeah sir, he was one of the Twelve Apostrophes. Way to go. Why don't you go color?

Like an apostrophe would ever follow Jesus, right? They'd have to give up all their earthly possessions, and, hello, their main job is to show ownership.

Every time I tell that joke and English teacher gets their wings.

Chad Daniels (aforementioned joke is among those in tab to the right) apparently got his start hosting karaoke in Grand Forks, ND, so that is nice that a Dakotan type is making it "big."

Music and Food

2009-11-09T23:48:00.003-06:00

Egg nog is back in stores, and I got a half gallon of it, like it's going out of style. I might make the next batch myself though, that way I can put the bourbon and fresh grated nutmeg in (not that I can't add it to the store bought stuff, but then I'm just a lush). One of the grocery stores I go to has a new batch of shopping carts, and they run really smooth and clean and improve the shopping experience. The trip this evening was to gather the ingredients for the cheese buttons that were a big hit last holiday season. There is a soup lunch potluck at work on Wednesday, so I'll bring these, which aren't a soup, but they're something.

This morning was one of my favorite radio shows on Lincoln's community owned radio station KZUM 87.3, Dance Bands: When Melody Was King. It's a wonderful way to start the week. Con Good, the host, does a nice job of building shows around a year or an artist, or a band leader. Through him I've discovered or gained appreciation for a bunch of singers and songwriters I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. Like Lena Horne was really cool, and Bob Merrill not only wrote The Chicken Song, but Sparrow in a Treetop and If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake.

Another thing I like about the radio show, similar to Mad Men, is that it shines a light on the culture and social mores of the times, just like a radio show of our Top 40 sixty years from now would show how obsessed we were with sex and money. And then you hear old favorites like Billie Holiday sing lines like, "I love my man like a school boy loves pie, Like a Kentucky Colonel--his mint and rye." from St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy.

But that is not why I brought up the radio show. I brought it up because the show this morning, and a listening to my soundtrack of Sweet and Lowdown last week at work, reminded me how beautifully warm the clarinet can be. Especially in contrast with the sound of water fowl being stomped on at the beginning of Jay-Z's Run This Town.

Dignangely Jimenez, Edith Coxaj

Wants for 2007

2009-11-05T18:56:00.002-06:00

I took one of my books into work to lend it, and I went through it quickly to take out any notes or scraps of paper I might have left. There were two things: a library receipt from October 4, 2006 for Blink: the power of thinking without thinking, and a self-adhesive note with a list

Wants for 2007

Desk
Recliner
End tables
non-stick skillet
Chef knife/sharpener
Blender
coffee pot
Bath Robe

Three years and a month later I have some of these things, a recliner, some tables, a non-stick skillet, a blender that also has a food processor attachment, a French press. Once I get the remaining items, my life will be complete. Because I can't think of a more satisfying moment than sitting at my oak desk in my bath robe sharpening my chef's knife.

In other news, I got some Nicaraguan coffee beans today that are dry processed. This was the first time I've seen dry process for a bean outside of Ethiopia. I'm also excited about the size of the beans; they're big like Papua New Guinean beans, but longer instead of rounder. And since I'm trying to blog a lot this month, I'm sure I'll let you know how they compare with my memory of the Ethiopian dry processed coffee.

Becoming

2009-11-04T23:31:00.002-06:00

I especially like the second "major grammatical or semantic division" of become in my Shorter OED. And that semantic division is Befit instead of Come --.

7 Accord with, be appropriate to, befit.
9 Of a property, attribute, quality, etc.: suit, look well on or with, (its owner or subject).
10 Of a person: grace (a place, position, etc.); look well in (a dress etc.).

and

becoming adj. Fitting, suitable; characterized by grace or decorum; tending to show the wearer etc. to advantage, attractive-looking.

When I first thought about this sense of the word, I was fascinated with the idea of transition (the first sense of become) being the beauty/attractiveness, similar to how I'm fascinated with the magic of the gloaming hours, both dawn and dusk. And while my initial thoughts were thwarted once I reached the dictionary, I appreciate this second "semantic division" more now, because there is beauty in the appropriate. Often things are ugly because they don't fit. All the more reason to appreciate the grace/elegance/beauty of those things that are well placed and suited, be they a gesture, a glance, a copse of trees on a hill, eggs in a nest, etc.

Vegas Part Two

2009-11-03T23:53:00.002-06:00

Just a skeleton to get my blog in today.

Marcy and I went with Bryant to Red Rock Canyon after breakfast at Roberto's, a Mexican fast food chain in town.

Red Rock Canyon was a cool place and it helped to have Bryant, who works with the USGS on that area and others similar to it.

After Red Rock we went to Torino's, the local Husker Bar for the second half of the football game. It was fun to see 400 people gathered in a bar a long way from Lincoln still feverish about the Huskers.

Then we had tacos at Tacos Mexico. These were very tasty. One of my tacos had buche (pork maws) and another might have been cabesa, which I was surprised in this case was beef cheek instead of brain, oh well.

This is where we made a sorta regrettable decision, instead of going home to take a nap, we "had" to go through some more of the Strip, checking out Paris quickly before picking up our "O" tickets for the 10:30 show that night.

Before the show, we ate at Merkata, an Ethiopian restaurant. My first time at such a place and very delicious and filling. Gotta love that ingera (spongy, sour dough type bread).

So because we didn't take naps, recommended if you are going to a show that starts 12:30 AM in the time zone you've traveled from, I dozed a bit during some of the slower parts of the Cirque du Soleil show. In spite of that I did really enjoy it. While the acrobatics and showmanship were very impressive, I was equally, if not more, impressed with the logistics of raising and lowering the stage with dozens of performers diving into and out of the water without any collisions underwater, or even slips on what I'm guessing was a pretty wet surface.

Brunch the next morning was at one of many Original Pancake Houses. I had a baby German pancake (our family calls them egg pancakes with the basic recipe being four eggs, a cup of flour and a cup of milk baked about twenty minutes in a cast iron skillet at 425 degrees Fahrenheit) and bacon pancakes. Our server April? made some cute comment about how "somebody's hungry" after my order and then another when I had eaten what I ordered about how I "actually was hungry," but obviously, five weeks later, I'm over it. The orange juice was very good here.

I might flesh this out later, but probably only if I can't think of other stuff to blog about.

And if you can't tell by my glowing comments about every experience, I really liked this trip and often (in still silent moments at work) I dream wistfully about going back soon (hopefully this winter after the new City Center is opened).

Namploblomoschlomo

2009-11-02T23:07:00.003-06:00

Sorry I've left my faithful readers hanging on that Part II of my Vegas trip. Work has been busy, though that hasn't cut into my routine of coming home, eating ice cream, reading through my 113 blog subscriptions, and catching up on my DVRed programming, with bedtime usually coming around or after midnight. So really I've had plenty of time to blog, but I haven't because I procrastinate on things that mean more to me. Case in point, I got some apples at the last farmer's market October 15 and have yet to make an apple pie with them and the grains of paradise that I got online. Don't worry though, the apples are still keeping nicely in my potato cellar of a dining room.

One of the newer blogs I've added is A Beer a Day which is from a British author, Jeff Evans. He talks about a historical event from the day, a beer that matches that event, and closes with notable births, deaths and events. Today was the finale of the TV show Black Adder. Births were Daniel Boone 1734, Marie Antoinette 1755, and KD Lang 1961. Deaths were George Bernard Shaw 1950, Hal Roach (film producer and director) 1992, and I was sad to find out about this one: Eva Cassidy (singer) 1996.

I first discovered her looking for covers of songs when I was in my mp3 downloading phase. I might have checked out a cd or two of hers from the library after that, but she is a wonderful interpreter of popular music. I especially like her version of Woodstock, written by Joni Mitchell recorded by Crosby, Stills and Nash. But her Somewhere Over the Rainbow is just as moving. So if you haven't heard her and you like the Judy Collins, Ann Murray types, you might check her out under positive recommendation from me.

Now to make those cookies I promised for the student workers.

Amy Poehler

2009-09-22T21:59:00.002-05:00

She clarified that she was aware of the questionnaire and had prepared both honest and comedic answers.

1.ensemble, macaroni
2.panties,panties
3.dancing-movement, money
4.cynicism, flip-flops on the subway
5.my son when he sighs before sleep, cha-ching
6.anyone in pain, the sound of a man crying while I make love to him
7.fuck, fuuuck
8.teacher, trophy wife
9.finance, maggot therapy person who gets them out
10."Come on in.", "See, your mother was right."
Who in the history of the planet would you like to spend an evening with? 11.JFK, Prince And the night with? 12. Paul Newman, Eleanor Roosevelt

Las Vegas Trip Part One

2009-09-20T22:30:00.003-05:00

We flew outta Grand Island on Thursday arriving without event fifty minutes later, thanks to the time change.

Friday we were going to go to Waffles Café for breakfast, but they probably (I say probably because it looked closed with the shades drawn and we didn't go up to the door) closed at 10am, so instead we went to Mandalay Bay and ate lunch at The Burger Bar.

Hubert Keller's restaurant was very delicious and wonderful. I had the Kobe beef burger with caramelized onions, oyster mushrooms and Black Perigord truffle sauce. Marcy had the Surf and Turf burger. Dessert was quite wonderful. We got the sampler paddle of beer floats: Blue Moon/strawberry ice cream, Guinness Stout/coffee, Lindemans framboise/vanilla, dunkel/chocolate, and Höegaarden/raspberry velvet. I recommend you try any of these combinations, though the best were the Blue Moon and Lindemans.

Supper was at In-n-Out Burger. I'd never been, but wanted to go based on its reputation. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, if reputation is the shadow of the tree and character is the tree itself, then In-n-Out has a great tree. One clever touch is Rev 3:20 on the wrapper for the burgers. The burger, fries and shake were all well executed, and when that is all you have on the menu, it had better be.

Next was the feature of the day, The Bravery concert poolside at the Hard Rock Hotel. The concert was short, 50 minutes, but they made up for it in quality. I was very impressed with them, and Marcy loves them and still does.

After the concert, we went to the Fremont Street Experience in downtown, or the old Strip. According to Bryant, the current strip is unincorporated, not providing any taxes to the municipality, so the city needs the Fremont thing to boost its tax revenue. All in all, it was something to see, but not better than the regular Strip. After that we went to Circus Circus, but the shows were already over, so we went home and went to bed.

Notebook and Knowing

2009-09-15T23:49:00.003-05:00

Once before I've mentioned my little notebook that I write thoughts and shopping lists and words I want to know more about. Well its 50 pages are almost filled front and back, and I've been looking for another. Of course, the canteen at the state developmental center where my mother got the original for less than 50 cents no longer carries it.

At first I scoffed at the gift from my mother, but now as I try to replace it, I realize how very great it is. First is the size, it's 2.5" by 4.25" which fits perfectly in my pocket. Second, it's spiral bound [initially, a white or pink spiral (i forget.) replaced by a black one from work], which is really handy because it stays open and makes it easy to write on each side of the page. Antepenultimately, it started with a pink elastic band that could hold it closed, but that wore out. Fourth, it has a plastic cover which resists wear and tear, though the back cover is regular notebook cardboard and is holding up fine. Finally and most important, it is not ruled. I've found other notebooks that are small, but not others that are small and unlined. The closest replacement I've found is the Moleskine Volant X-Small (any suggestions on which color to get are welcome), but I'm holding out ordering it until I check at my local novelty store, The Bad Robot.

I love that I have strong opinions on what I'm looking for. There is a joy that comes from the confidence of knowing.

Pictures of My Notebook

2009-09-15T23:48:00.002-05:00

Jason Bateman

2009-09-12T00:27:00.003-05:00

1. Happy
2. Shush
3. Humility
4. Arrogance, unsubstantiated arrogance
5. I've always liked the sound of a can of tennis balls being opened. I don't play, but I just like that sound.
6. NYC garbage trucks
7. I like douche.
8. Architecture,
9. driving nyc garbage truck,
10. "come right on in, everybody you've ever know is right behind that door."

Mundane, Mundane. Can't Trust That Day.

2009-09-07T07:43:00.003-05:00

I write this from work today, on Labor Day.

My walk home from downtown Lincoln goes by the Night Before Lounge, a "gentleman's" club (do they spend all their time opening doors for each other, while saying please and thank you?) with exotic dancers (apparently they know more dance moves than Stir-the-Bowl and the Running Man). The last time I passed by there, a patron was re-entering after finishing his cigarette. This made me realize a couple things. Either the exotic dancing at the Night Before Lounge isn't that compelling, or nicotine is an addiction so powerful it will drive men away from half naked dancing women.

Now on to some of my favorite things.

My favorite raisin bran cereal is Post; it is head and shoulders above Kellogg's and their two scoops.

My favorite toilet paper is Charmin's Basic.

My favorite pen is the Pilot G-2, and I might even prefer the blue ink to the black.

My favorite hair conditioner is American Crew's Citrus Mint.

Have a safe and happy last day of Summer.

Three Movies, Four Flavours.

2009-08-31T00:14:00.004-05:00

Today was three movies: Ponyo, Inglourious Basterds, and District 9.

Ponyo, from the same director as Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away was not good. The animation wasn't as revolutionary as it might have been ten years ago. You see one group of fish swimming you've seen them all.

Inglourious Basterds didn't feel as long as it was because Tarantino is good at breaking his film into chapters, with literal chapter cards. Pitt's performance was great given the material. It seems Tarantino is most effective with two or three actors in a scene. As I think back on the film there are great vignettes. And aside from some scalping and carving into foreheads with a Bowie knife, this wasn't as violent as many Tarantino flicks I've seen. (I keep on typing Tarantion.)

This is a good time for me to point out that Pitt has worked with a lot of great and renowned directors. David Fincher (thrice), Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro González Iñárritu (Thank you, Michael.), Soderbergh, Tony Scott, and like passing a torch: Robert Redford. My chicken/egg deal is whether these directors are more effective because they are working with Pitt, or if he is a better actor because of their direction.

District 9 is much beloved by my friends who like playing 1st person shooter video games like Halo, Call to Duty, and the like. I thought it was the best of the three films, for its story telling, if any reason. It is a fine example of the sci-fi genre and if the rest of Neill Blomkamp's films are this good, Peter Jackson might be a better talent scout than he is a director.

And now for the four flavours.

Wednesday, Ivanna Cone, through Facebook, said they would have their Salted Caramel for the first time, and that ol' standby Chambord (I remember Ellen loving this flavour, and it was my first half gallon from them.) I was also interested in their Hot Cocoa, so I brought a contingency of friends with me. I had those three aforementioned flavours, but the star of the show was the surprise Sweet Basil. It was great, sweet, basily, and all within the great ice cream of Ivanna Cone. I am curious about the Wild Plum they have in the works, and when I know about it, you will.

And Every Bite We Drew Was Hallelujah

2009-08-17T14:10:00.002-05:00

So I finally made The Pie last night, and It was everything I wanted. I loved how the crust was essential to the whole. And there was a deep spicy sweetness that made me think of the Holy Dark Leonard Cohen speaks of in his song. (though wikipedia says it was Rufus Wainwright's addition, regardless--Holy and Dark and my Pie.) Beautiful.

Insubstantiation?

2009-08-14T12:40:00.004-05:00

So last Summer I exchanged a pie (read Ashley's review in the comments of that post) for a Wolfgang Puck deep fryer and a mandolin (not the musical kind).

Since the pie was not for me, I didn't get to taste it, so I was greatly anticipating Concord grape season to roll around again, so I could taste it this time. And the last go-round through the produce aisle, there were some Niabell grapes from CA that advertised themselves as "Concord-like."

I've taken to calling this my communion pie, because of Ashley's comments, and because an unleavened crust with a grape is very Adventist communion palate. I find it best not to get too carried away with this comparison because sacrilege and blasphemy are a slippery slope. I'm now going to take the comparison too far and be sacrilegious and blasphemous.

My understanding of the Roman Catholic sacrament is that there's transubstantiation where the wafer and wine become the body and blood of the Christ. Does transubstantiation work both ways? If I truly pour my soul into making this pie, does my blood and body become the pie components? Or does reverse Transubstantiation require a different term, like Insubstantiation--from soul to substance. And with making the crust Wednesday night, seeding the grapes Thursday night (about 90 minutes of work for 2 pounds of grapes), the pie will rise on the Third Morning; Remind you of anyone?

You Say Aubergine . . .

2009-08-12T00:41:00.003-05:00

and I say eggplant. Of course everyone knows these are interchangeable terms for that nutritionally vapid purple racial epithet of the nightshade family.

But did you know what courgette refers to? I've been reading a lot of British food blogs and it is mentioned quite frequently. I had a hunch after the first recipe or two, and then I confirmed my suspicions with my resident food scientist at work. I'll put the answer in the comments.

Remember

2009-08-09T00:32:00.001-05:00

Remember that French chef that enjoyed my black raspberry pie? Here's a more accurate description of him with a picture even.

Let the Ounces Just Melt Away.

2009-08-05T00:03:00.002-05:00

I'm not happy that the last carton of ice cream I got from Haagen-Dazs was 14 ounces instead of the 16 of a pint. This is their explanation. This angers me that I can't eat a pint of their ice cream without getting two of their cartons. They're even reducing their 32 oz. cartons to 28 oz. Their explanation is some mumbo jumbo about increased cost of ingredients and transportation. Then raise your price. A 12.5% increase in price (the percentage they are reducing the pint by) is 43 cents on a $3.50 carton. The whole point of Haagen-Dazs is to indulge and consume conspicuously. This is why I usually eat my pint on the way home from the grocery store (since I'm sans cell phone, this is my poor driving vice.). So what is four bits to continued pint enjoyment. I used to take joy in the fact that ice cream and beer both came in pints. Now I'm frustrated.

BJ Novak previously documented the shrinking of Cadbury Bunny Eggs on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in April of 2007 (the video doesn't seem to be up on youtube or google video anymore). My other experience is with my favorite granola for eating in yogurt, Udi's (if you notice in the picture the bags still have the 16 on them from when they were packaged in pounds, but the description says all bags 13 ounces). Used to be they sold "one pound" of wholesome goodness; now they're all cutesy about their "Baker's Dozen" of 13 ounces. And as I look at their website further, the 13 ounces is only on the Home page, while the Our Products pages still have 16 ounces.

Christmas in July or Over the Moon

2009-07-22T21:57:00.002-05:00

Tonight I went to Moon at The Ross. It was really good, and I'm starting to come around on Sam Rockwell. It is an uncomplicated "science-fiction" film that executes with its simplicity. Kevin Spacey is a wonderful voice for the computer, GERTY. The actress who plays Tess, is Dominique McElligott, which I think is a great name.

After, I went to Ivanna Cone and had a dish of White Chocolate Lemongrass, Caramel Oreo, and . . . Waaaiit for it . . . EGGNOG! And a really good eggnog at that.

Walter Cronkite, Frank McCourt, and . . .

2009-07-21T01:03:00.003-05:00

So I'm getting better at faking discipline, though I really needed to make a blueberry pie tonight, I also wanted some pie. I haven't had a piece yet, but the overflowing juices were pretty tasty. I'm curious to see how the blueberries from the Garden State taste.

One of my favorite new music videos is Taller Children from Elizabeth and the Catapault.

Lazy and No Count

2009-07-15T23:42:00.002-05:00

Whence discipline?

Please. I need help.

I have plenty of ambition, but the discipline to achieve, I'm bereft.

Many of my readers are of the post-grad variety. I ask where you get the discipline to do the work you don't want to do, but must. Is it the financial burden of Master's and doctoral work that drives, or an innate thing you've had since birth, or the future reward of accomplishment? But those are all motivations, which I think are different from discipline. You see, that is my problem, I can't even provide examples of others' discipline eggs.

Do I just need to get powder milk biscuits?

Dappled and Drowsy and Ready for Sleep

2009-07-09T00:18:00.002-05:00

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Robert McNamara, Steve McNair, Karl Malden, Oscar Mayer, and I almost forgot Billy Mays.

I'm sure part of it is a heightened attention to celebrity deaths, but this seems like a lot in a fairly brief period of time. Usta be these sorts of deaths came in threes, but maybe there will be another before the end of the week which makes nine, or three sets of three.

I had Cardamom Rose Pistachio ice cream from Ivanna Cone tonight. If it were only pistachio, it would have been amazing because of the high ratio of whole pistachios, but there were also some bursts of cardamom flavor. I was also pleased that I couldn't detect any rose; I always find rose stuff to taste like a perfume.

Last weekend I watched Away We Go and Public Enemies. I enjoyed each of them. Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, and the rest of ensemble cast performed wonderfully. It is also well written, my favorite line coming from the child in the resort hotel lobby. The writers take three or four family scenarios as a foil to the central characters of Burt and Verona. The success is that they make the fairly cliche family types interesting while furthering the development of our couple. The music by Alexi Murdoch was also nicely done.

For interesting crossover, Sam Mendes also directed Road to Perdition, another 1930s crime film with Al Capone and Frank Nitti. I love Road to Perdition. Directing, acting, score, cinematography, set design, costumes, writing, I can't think of a thing I don't really appreciate about it. But we're talking about Public Enemies (I prefer both to The Untouchables, which I found to be weak except for Sean Connery's lines.), and it was what I expected from Michael Mann, an incredibly accurate, taut film. Johnny Depp was probably not in the greatest role for his "charisma," but it works. The actor who really struck me was Stephen Lang, in the role of Agent Winstead (a fed from the Southwest requested by Melvin Purvis, who has actually been in gun fights before). There was something about him that I recognized, then I looked him up on IMDb and it came rushing back to me. He played Ike Clanton in Tombstone.

Jules Cazedessus did something for the film too. Another thing I loved was the hood ornaments on the cars. Not necessarily in the film, but appreciated by me are the Packard swan/pelican, the Nash flying man, and the 1931 Buick.

Now for something completely different. You can order a milk shake as a chocolate malted. Can you order a root beer floated? Or is it classier to order a float as root beer ala mode.

Silly Thoughts

2009-07-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

So two years ago today, a second cousin of mine got married on 7/7/07. In 2010, October 10th is on a Sunday.

Paved Paradise

2009-07-07T08:59:00.005-05:00

Since I last posted, I had a wonderful weekend in MN with my family celebrating a cousin's high school graduation and my twin uncles' 50th birthday. This trip included a black raspberry pie whose berries had been picked not 12 hours before they came out of the oven in a pulchritudinous pie. One of the people who came back for a second piece (and was still talking about it the following morning) was Jean-Yves, a retired French chef who started as saucier at La Caravelle in 1969 in NY and moved to sous chef at Le Cirque before finishing at the University Club as Executive Chef. I'm still quite proud that I was able to make something for him to enjoy.

The parking lot behind Prescott Hall, in front of my work, is being refinished this week. Monday they sprayed a new coat of tar/asphalt, and today they painted new yellow lines. I find the immaculate lot to be a thing of beauty and wish I had the means to take some aerial pictures before it is spoilt by use and the bleaching sun. The black lot and yellow lines are striking. Then again, it could just be the tar fumes talking.

Leap Year

2009-06-22T22:53:00.002-05:00

This is my 366th post. One for each day of an olympic/election/leap year.

For no reason, the phrase "rassin' frassin'" got into my head today. Everyone I shared this with was under 25 and had no idea what I was talking about. I initially associated it with Yosemite Sam. A quick Google search, only 1010 results, revealed that it might also come from Snidely Whiplash's dog and the Wacky Racers.

Another thing I learned today, when my Google Reader recommended I subscribe to my own blog, is that I have 9 subscribers. So I thank each of you, and I'm sorta delighted that I could conceivably host a party at my apartment for all of you. I might have to make two pies, but that wouldn't be a problem. (I'm also sorta thinking I should have a Summer membership drive like my local community owned radio station.)

Speaking of pie, Saturday I made my rhubarb custard pie with cardamom instead of nutmeg, and it worked pretty well. Later on Saturday, Marcy, Michael Thurber, and I went to a David Sedaris reading/book signing at the UNL bookstore. I was fortunate to get my book signed before the reading. While he was signing my book with a wonderful drawing of a turtle with a human head that wore a top hat and had an Abraham Lincoln type beard, he asked me questions.

DS: Are you a student?

DM: No.

DS: What do you do?

DM: I working in a shipping department as an order coordinator.

DS: Do you have a home?

DM: Nope, I'm in an apartment.

DS: How much is the rent?

DM: 630 a month.

DS: That's not too bad. Is it clean?

DM: Nope.

DS: You don't clean your apartment?

DM: Well, I clean the kitchen when I bake. I made a pie today.

DS: Really, I wouldn't have guessed that. (Shares with helper woman that I'd baked a pie.) I wouldn't have picked you as the person who made a pie today.

Hurm.

2009-06-19T01:14:00.003-05:00

I've subscribed to the hoekstraisameme.com site so that I won't miss the next clever take on Pete's tweet.

But I have some complaints about many of the submissions. My opinion is that a hoekstra meme should be a comparison of personal minor suffering/inconvenience/discomfort to historic tragic injustice. I think this is a fine example. However, I've seen a lot that are comparing minor personal accomplishments to monumental feats. I feel this positive take on the meme undermines the initial intent to ridicule Hoekstra for not properly recognizing his rung on the ladder of human suffering. The memes I laugh the most at are those that attack the most revered martyrs.

2009-06-17T19:56:00.003-05:00

Hat tip to Michael through Facebook. I agree that these are funny metaphors.

Marcy's dog, Lincoln, put its wet nose on my foot, now I know how Siegfried and Roy feel.

Big Weekend

2009-06-09T18:47:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I went to Stillwater, OK for my Uncle Dennis' National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction. There's some pictures here too. Here's an interview that he did for the USA Wrestling website. So you have some context, it was taken after a hot windy morning of golf for him. I haven't seen the video yet, but there it is.

My favorite part of the weekend was seeing both sides of these legends of their sport. For example, I got to meet Dan Gable and most of the conversation centered around how he was going to pay for all of his daughters' education. Apparently, being a wrestling legend doesn't pay for Master's Degrees.

Then there was my introduction to Greg Strobel by my Uncle Duane. At a wrestling exhibition in North Carolina, Strobel was responsible for a group of wrestlers that were either blind or deaf. And at some point he came up to my uncles asking if they'd seen the blind and deaf wrestlers because he'd lost them. Later in the evening, I went to a feature on the Lehigh wrestling program which is celebrating its 100th season this year. And as the historian was talking about the different coaches who'd brought Lehigh success he mentioned Strobel, who'd returned them to prominence after a down period and now serves as Assistant Athletic Director at Lehigh. Funny, I knew him as the guy who temporarily lost a bunch of deaf and blind wrestlers and now he's in charge of 25 varsity sports programs.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Silver Dollar City on Sunday and meeting Allison's family on Monday before driving back home to Lincoln. A little over 1200 miles of driving all told.

Pivot Number 10

2009-05-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

The questionnaire Bernard Pivot used and James Lipton uses ends with the question "If Heaven exists, what would you like God to say to you when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?"

My previous answer was fairly generic, along the lines of, "Welcome."

Now I have my answer. "Would you make me a pie?"

But what kind of pie would God want? I'm curious what you think.

Une tasse n'est pas une tasse.

2009-05-23T01:13:00.002-05:00

So I've had my French press almost 18 months. And I've been fairly ritual in my preparation of coffee, i.e. waiting 10 seconds for the water temp to drop 4 degrees before adding it to the fresh grinds. Friday morning I tweaked the formula. Instead of having a scoop of beans for each 8 ounces of water, a normal cup, I went with a scoop of beans for every six ounces, a cup of coffee. So this means instead of four scoops of beans for four cups of water/32 ounces, I went with 5 scoops for about 30 ounces. The difference one additional scoop of beans made was really great. So much so that I let out a little whoop of glee as I was driving to work drinking my newly improved coffee. And in case you were wondering I was brewing with a washed Ethiopian Sidamo bean. I really like all the Ethiopian coffee I've tried be it Yirgacheffe or Sidamo. Dry-process is a favorite of mine too. And if size matters to you, get a Papua New Guinean bean, they're like twice the size of other beans.

I Miss You Mitch Hedberg

2009-05-12T03:45:00.005-05:00

In Mitch Hedberg's Comedy Central Presents special, he talks about how he's a stand-up comic, but people are always wanting him to do things related to comedy that aren't comedy, like writing for a tv show, developing a sit-com, making a movie script ["I gave a script to a guy and he said he really liked it, but he wanted me to rewrite it. I said, 'Fuck that, I'll just make a copy.'"]. He said it's like going up to a chef who's worked years at becoming a good cook and someone says, "So you're a cook, Can you farm?"

I've made a lot of pies. I'm getting good at it. I know how much sugar to include so as to not overwhelm the flavor of the provided fruit. I'm getting better at choosing which flavor extracts to put in the crust (current favorites are jasmine or almond, but I'd love to try a hazelnut if I could find it). Sometimes if I'm making a rhubarb pie, I'll add a half cup of buckwheat flour, because they're part of the same family, and it adds a nice color and nuttiness to the crust. There's a few reasons I make pies, including: I really like them, and I want people to think highly of me. This second reason creates weird situations for me.

People will try my pie or bread pudding and say, "This is really good, you should open a (bakery-cafe-pie shop)." No, I shouldn't, so stop making me a "farmer" when I'm a "cook."

Ahh, Sweet Squalor

2009-05-06T00:22:00.002-05:00

I've long been of the opinion that my room is a place of squalor. It's been this way for a while now, and while I really want to clean it up so I can do yoga in the morning and sit in a chair and read in the evening. Alas it is not any better. I finally looked up squalor in my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, and I was quite delighted with the definition.

Squalor: 1 The state or condition of being physically squalid; a combination of misery and dirt. E17.