crimini

Happy Birthday retrobabble!!!

Rented "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra".

It would have been adequately enjoyable as a cartoon on Saturday morning. It even had a moment of mwhahahaha from the evil villain, who ends up calling himself the Commander. With plenty of villainous monologuing.

In some ways, I would have enjoyed the movie more if the villain had actually laughed more with maniacal glee. Instead, we don't really get to see the eeeevil geeenius until the last 1/4 of the movie, and by then, the revelation doesn't matter. The impact is lost in the midst of "meh".

Too bad. I loved seeing the Joes kick Cobra's butt every Saturday morning. I still think Snake Eyes is the best character, but that's just cos I like ninjas. And the fact that the good ninja wore black while the bad ninja wore white. Cheezy, but awesome!

What's up next:
Masters of the Universe (He-Man)
Thundercats
Smurfs

Any more I missed?

Good points made by an agent about writers being negative.

I thought this was succinct:
And of course, all that negativity begs the question: why are you trying so hard to be part of an industry that you clearly disdain?

( Some stuff I find helpful when I get stuck in my writing )

In an effort to really understand the phenom that is the Twilight thing, I rented the movie.
( Why it doesn't work as a movie. )

( I read some books )

Weather is chilly; fall has finally set in. I moved my sewing table to another wall, which means I had to clear off the clutter. That led to my making a promised tote for a friend who is knitting me socks. I wish I had the patience to learn to knit socks cos I really really like colorful knitted socks.

I missed the deadline for the Plush Team's Breast Cancer fund raiser, but feel free to check out all the awesome entries at the team site.

Had drinks with a handful of Seattle-ite book people--some writers, some ex-editors, some new writers. Funny enough, I'll see most of them on Sunday at an Oktoberfest gathering. Small world, I tell ya.

Other than that, life is pretty copacetic here. No complaints, no earth shattering kaboom.

I admit I really enjoy the Clone Wars animated series a peck of a lot better than the prequel movies. Actually, it's more than a peck, it's a bushel. There are big gaping holes in the whole Jedi power thing, but it's a half-hour kid-oriented series. I liked the traditional animated series done earlier (for those who don't know, there was a pen-ink animated series done a few years ago with awesome styling and really good stories. There are comics based on that series that mimic the style and they are just great), but I don't mind this stylised CG version.

I don't post regularly about the whole health care debate and the ludicrous arguments that get thrown back and forth from both sides of the fence. The basic issue (imo) hasn't even been touched upon, nor commented on by any of our elected officials (that is, to tear down the entire "insurance" system altogether--the idea that we need to pay-to-play in the event that something "might" or "might not" happen, but that we do not, in fact, reap any of the accrued interest of our payment into this system has made me leery, critical and often angry at the paper pushers. I know doctors and other people who offer care are not at fault (although we all know there are "health" care practitioners out there who are only interested in the payouts). Listening to the debate is frustrating. I'm also frustrated that the media seem complicit in doing very little to inform the general public.

It's stuff like this that seem unbelievable given that this is an elected official, given that in any other circumstance the talk would not be civilized. There are smiles and chuckles, but really, did no one else think, "WTF did he just say?!"



It's crap like this that makes me understand anarchists just a little bit.

Woke up this morning to rainy, cloudy, coolish weather--typical Autumn stuff.

It instantly had me planning all sorts of roasted veggie foods, roasted chicken, stews, pot pies, you name it.

And then I started cataloguing my sweaters and hoodies.

Autumn is my favorite time of year (partly sunny is in the forecast for this upcoming week, so it's not quite autumn yet).

I made this recipe last night for Sunday dinner.


Image is from the recipe on the Jamie Oliver site.

Ours looked pretty much like the picture. And while it does seem odd--milk and lemon zest?--the resulting sauce is super tasty. It's also a super easy one-pot recipe--brown a whole chicken in butter and olive oil, drain, add sage, garlic, cinnamon stick, milk and zest of 2 lemons. Cook for 1.5 hours. Done. We have a cast iron Dutch oven--I put the lid on for 45 minutes and then took the lid off for 45 minutes, basted once. Good eats indeed.

We ate it over baby spinach that wilted slightly with the warm sauce poured over and mashed some potatoes that I smoothed out with a stick blender upon request (I like rustic chunks of potatoes, but the boy wanted creamy smooth, so we just went with that).

Leftovers will be lunch today--nomnomnom.

If you're looking for a new chicken recipe, definitely give this a try. It's odd and surprisingly tasty. It won't replace our normal herb-under-skin-and-in-cavity roast chicken, but it's a nice alternative when we're looking to make a chicken.

Needs eyes, still, I think. Maybe a ghost bunny?

A small handful of little critters. I'd like more colors to play with. I also have no idea why I'm working in such teeeny tiny sizes. I think I just don't pull enough felt off and when I get to a shape, I just go with it.

I'm really liking the wispy fringe on top of the two on the right--reminds me of muppets. I suppose I could add mouths to them, but I really like them without.

Right now, though, I need to get some higher density foam--the foam I have just hangs on to the fibers so I can never get a truly smooth exterior.

Happy Birthday raecarson!

It's almost the end of August and what have I done?

* Lots and lots of writing, still WIP.
* Moved furniture, so now I have the whole downstairs to myself. It's a lot of space. I've been neglecting all of it except my desk area... because I am (mostly) writing.
* Signed up for Happkido classes. Will begin in September with the boy and husband. I expect to be sore for most of the month. And possibly into October.
* Started to needlefelt. Having fun. Should do more.
* Finally visited the EMP/SFF Museum. Not wowed by either. Thought there could have been more for the cost of entry. Understand they're out of money, but thought the SFF thing really lacked.
* Ate Dim Sum today. Gained 45 lbs. Walked several blocks in shoes that hurt feet. Still gained 45 lbs.
* Survived record breaking summer heat wave.
* Started watching Torchwood. Fun stuff. Very British.
* Decided to grow my hair out again... what? Winter is coming. Time to grow the hair.

Heat wave has passed. Strawberry plant suffered the most. Saved everything else--basil LOVED it. I hope it takes over.

Cukes are growing. Now I have to figure out when they're ripe enough to pick. Cherry tomatoes are also growing, but not maturing. They're still green. I should take a photo.

I really hope the moles don't eat the roots out from under the plants.

It's hot here.

It's record breaking hot here.

Sitting in a kiddie pool in the backyard is more refreshing than I thought possible.

Tomorrow, temps expected to hit 100.

Sam Raimi to direct WoW movie.

I have no comment on this other than to wait and see if a) it actually gets made, b) Raimi remains the director, c) who writes the screenplay (which also means which/what story line they will decide to follow/adapt), d) who they cast.

All I want to know is whether or not they're going to keep some of the in-game jokes in the movie... because that would just be awesome!

"They're real... they're not mine, but they're real." --female, Forsaken

"We're allied with the Tauren? Fantastic! We'll have steak twice a week!" --male, Bloodelf

"Someday, I'm going to find the nuggets on a chicken." --female, gnome

"Roses are grey, violets are grey, I'm dead and colorblind." --male, Forsaken

"Moo. You happy now?" --male, Tauren

Almost-homemade miso soup and edamame for dinner last night. Yum.

I used a miso paste that I added to water, chopped up some tofu, dumped in some dried seaweed, and sprinkled some spring onion as garnish. N wanted noodles, so I dug out some rather old rice noodles, cooked those in hot water (drained them, then added more boiled water to the bowl), and then added them to the bowl before covering with miso.

I was pretty full, and pretty pleased that the miso paste came out pretty much like the kind of miso soup we get at a restaurant. Our local Asian foods market is pretty fully stocked with all this sort of stuff, but for the life of me, I couldn't find the block of seaweed you mix with dashi to make the stock. I found bonito flakes, wakame, and a heck of a lot of different brands of insta-miso, which we usually get, but it's pretty pricey for the 1/4 cup servings. And I wanted to make about 4 servings, not just individual portions. The paste I found ended up in the cold section with the tofu. And, of course, we couldn't leave without getting some rice cracker snacks, which are really really bad for you (there's a reason why I can't eat just one), and mochi. Nomnomnom!

We went to see T:RotF last night. It was fun, but wasn't as good as the first one. It lacked cohesion and really really could have used another edit round. Seriously, if you thought there were plot holes in the first movie, this one is worse than cheesecloth.

I admit I like the fluff that is big stuff going boom! I like robots beating the ever living crap out of each other. And I like stupid villains and their cheezy monologues. There are some moments in life I don't want to be challenged, nor provoked, nor take anything away from it other than the thrill ride. Call it the roller coaster moment.

There were just too many moments in the story that made me scratch my head wondering wtf they added *that thing* or why they didn't take *him* out or why they needed to insert *this* in the first place. And while I understand they're not following the stories of the Transformers from canon, there were some things that just never ever appeared in the universe at all as far as I can tell... and I won't mention it here for spoilers, but if you want you can comment on it below and beware those who don't want to know.

It felt like the studio got its grubby little hands into instead of just letting the director, screenwriters, and actors make their movie. Really.

In other news: 2012 has Roland Emmerich destroying the White House yet again. It's another END OF THE WORLD movie that pretty much puts together all the other End of the World movies together. I don't know about its chance of longevity at the box office. If you've seen Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow, then that pretty much looks like 2012. I'm only basing this on the trailer, but still...

Can't wait to see 9. Post-apocolyptic steampunk fantasy. OMG! Squeee! I lovelovelovelove the design of this movie!