This particular meal is still cooking, and has not yet been tasted, so I'd wait to make it until it's done. Just sayin'.
In a 3 qt. crockpot:
4 boneless pork chops (I'm sure a pork loin would work good here too)
1 honeycrisp apple (because it was nearing the end of it's shelf life and I wanted more in the cooker)
1/2 white onion (cause the whole thing wouldn't fit)
1/2 small jar of apricot preserves (with enough hot water to loosen it up)
About 3 TBSP of Penzey Spices "Raspberry Enlightenment" flavoring.
About 1 TBSP soy sauce
A squirt or two of Sri Racha hot sauce.
A squirt or two of honey.
Chops first covered by the apples and then the onions, the liquids then poured over the whole. Since the chops are frozen, I'm starting it for the first couple of hours on high, and then will turn to low before I leave for work.
Serving it with either sweet potato fries or ginger green beans, which ever comes out of the freezer first when I go looking when I get home.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Butt-Numb-A-Thon Reviews.
So, I was one of the attendees of Harry Knowles' yearly 24 hour (this year? try 27 hour) film festival, Butt Numb A Thon (otherwise known as BNAT) and I have finally gotten home, and now I can share with you my take on the movies.
I won't go over the trailers, cause I sure can't remember all of them, and other people will be far more in depth than I will.
First movie of the evening was the 1926 silent version of "Faust" and it was just bloody incredible. The print was gorgeous, and it reminded me of much of what we have lost in cinema since then. In the push to make things hyper-realistic, we have lost the ability to envision film as not just an art unto itself but also as a visual art. That things don't have to look 'real' to look amazing and to get the idea across. The special effects were great not because they blended seamlessly, but because they always got the visual point across in a striking, effective way. I could not get enough of the fabulousness of Mephistopheles.
Second movie, and our first premier was Peter Jacksons "The Lovely Bones" from Alice Sebold's novel of the same name. I had read about 3/4 of the novel earlier this year, and though I liked it, well, I didn't finish it. I don't think I'd have seen this movie in the theaters and I still don't think I'll see it again, but that isn't to say that it's a bad movie. It made me cry, and on occasion even made me laugh, and it's truly gorgeous but.. it's too melodramatic for me, I have to admit. Stanley Tucci was amazing as the creepy neighbor though, and the girl who played Susie Salmon will go far and is a joy to watch on the screen.
"Girl Crazy" was next, and for me it was a very mixed bag. Yay Busby Berkely setpieces! Yay Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra! Yay screwball comedy! But then also? Realizing that I never liked Mickey Rooney, and that Judy Garland and he have no chemistry together, and the feeling of not understanding the humor of previous generations. However, also amusement at how the world has changed because... a young girl singing "Embraceable You" to a room full of college boys? Really? Who thought that was a good idea? I have to admit, I actually fell asleep during a couple of scenes of this movie. But I didn't miss much plotwise by doing so.
"The Red Shoes" was Martin Scorcese's pick for this slot on the program, and it was so, so very gorgous. I'm not a fan of abstract dance scenes generally (I fast forward through the Broadway Melody section of Singin' in the Rain whenever I watch it without my Cyd Charisse loving husband) but the way that these were filmed was just so stunning and the colors. My god, the colors. Why did Moira Shearer never do anything else? She was so, so amazingly gorgeous.
The reason Scorcese got to pick a movie? Was because his "Shutter Island" was next. I was interested in seeing this movie, so was very happy to be there for what amounted to its premiere. It was beautifully filmed, well acted, suspenseful. Claustrophobic. Cerebral. I really enjoyed it quite a lot, but won't say much more due to possible spoilers. I am so glad that they do not give too much away in the trailers. So very glad.
Wacky French comedies were up next on the list, first with a 1970's movie "Le Magnifique" which I made the mistake of thinking I wasn't going to like, thus disappearing out to the lobby for the first fifteen minutes or so. Huuuuuuge mistake. What I thought was a bad madcap detective movie was actually a very funny film about an author writing a bad, madcap detective novel through a string of misfortunes and annoyances. Very amusing, very well done, and yes, Jacqueline Bisset was effing gorgeous.
Next was "MicMacs" by the same director as Amelie. I will have to see this one again, because while it was very interesting and entertaining, I was so tired by this point that I kept nodding off and couldn't follow the rather complex plot and multitude of characters. Plot would advance when I'd nodded off and eventually, nothing made much sense anymore, though still managing to be funny and entertaining and beautiful.
Having gotten a little rest in, we got our first 'horror' film of the program, Adam Green's "Frozen". A lot of people thought this movie was fantastic. A number of people thought that it was so ridiculous as to be unwatchable. This line was drawn somewhere around the Mason-Dixon line, as anyone who lives in a cold climate voted for 'ridiculous'. The acting was good, the effects (non CGI, all of them) were great. The tension was very well done and the storyline was pretty well paced. But it suffered from a number of major plot glitches that made it difficult to embrace. Namely:
1) People who know the cold have better survival instincts than to leave their hoods off/down. Yes, it was probably done that way so that we could see the actors faces, but the fact that they had hoods and either didn't zip them up or put them on was annoyingly wrong. This could have been fixed simply by giving them jackets without hoods.
2) Wolves don't effing act like that.
3) Ski slopes don't effing act like that.
Next up was the Punishment Film slot, the sort of thing usually taken up by "Tiptoes" or "Toys Are Not For Children". This year it was "Centipede Horror" and the talking up it got before it started ensured that this would be the movie I would sleep through. My husband and another friend both decamped to the lobby for the duration, so I took over their seats and my own, stuffed my neck roll under my head and caught a few Z's.
So I was awake for "The Candysnatchers" (at least mostly) which was a 70's exploitation flick. It was heavily faded, and there was a metric assload of misogyny but it maintained at least a level of entertainment by the ineptitude of the eponymous snatchers and the weird autistic kid. At least it was better than last years exploitation flick, insofar as it had a followable plot and quite a few laugh out loud moments.
Then there was the glory of the whole night. Morning was rearing it's ugly, sun-bleached head and we rolled into a film that had barely entered into my consciousness, "Kick-Ass". And much ass it did kick indeed. Basic starting plot is a high school boy who's pretty much the geeky everyman who no one really see's decides to become a super hero by buying a custom wetsuit and proceeding to tell people not to be bad guys. This leads to a massive beat-down and his gaining both a somewhat stronger skeleton (from all the pins and metal joints) and a screwed up nervous system which means he doesn't feel pain as much as he should. That's it for super powers. More on the plot itself I should not say, but there is an 11 year old girl super hero who just, rocks beyond all words. We were a room full of very picky, very tired cinema fans, and this one brought us to our feet, laughing and hooting and hollering and clapping along with fight scenes. It was an adrenaline rush of a thing, and everyone, I mean everyone, should see this movie. But no one will ever get to see it the way we did, and for that, I am sad for all of you.
Finally, and most predictably, we got James Cameron's "Avatar". I liked it, even though it did suck my adrenaline away and I did nod off a couple of times. That was more due to the tired than the quality of the movie. On one hand, it's extremely predictable. If, after the first 20 minutes you don't know how this is all going to play out, then you just haven't been paying attention. Still, for all that you know where the ride is going, getting there is so damn beautiful it's difficult to relate. The CGI manages to avoid the uncanny valley more skillfully than anything else I've seen. The acting wen it's live is great, and even when it's through CGI characters, it's really damn good. And it's beautiful. It's just so. damn. beautiful. This had better come out in IMAX, and if/when it does, I will be there.
Anyway, so that's it. There was more of course, meeting new people, eating new food, coming home with a massive stomach ache. But I'm tired, and my wad is blown, and so I leave you all with this one last thought.
"Kick-Ass", you must see it.
I won't go over the trailers, cause I sure can't remember all of them, and other people will be far more in depth than I will.
First movie of the evening was the 1926 silent version of "Faust" and it was just bloody incredible. The print was gorgeous, and it reminded me of much of what we have lost in cinema since then. In the push to make things hyper-realistic, we have lost the ability to envision film as not just an art unto itself but also as a visual art. That things don't have to look 'real' to look amazing and to get the idea across. The special effects were great not because they blended seamlessly, but because they always got the visual point across in a striking, effective way. I could not get enough of the fabulousness of Mephistopheles.
Second movie, and our first premier was Peter Jacksons "The Lovely Bones" from Alice Sebold's novel of the same name. I had read about 3/4 of the novel earlier this year, and though I liked it, well, I didn't finish it. I don't think I'd have seen this movie in the theaters and I still don't think I'll see it again, but that isn't to say that it's a bad movie. It made me cry, and on occasion even made me laugh, and it's truly gorgeous but.. it's too melodramatic for me, I have to admit. Stanley Tucci was amazing as the creepy neighbor though, and the girl who played Susie Salmon will go far and is a joy to watch on the screen.
"Girl Crazy" was next, and for me it was a very mixed bag. Yay Busby Berkely setpieces! Yay Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra! Yay screwball comedy! But then also? Realizing that I never liked Mickey Rooney, and that Judy Garland and he have no chemistry together, and the feeling of not understanding the humor of previous generations. However, also amusement at how the world has changed because... a young girl singing "Embraceable You" to a room full of college boys? Really? Who thought that was a good idea? I have to admit, I actually fell asleep during a couple of scenes of this movie. But I didn't miss much plotwise by doing so.
"The Red Shoes" was Martin Scorcese's pick for this slot on the program, and it was so, so very gorgous. I'm not a fan of abstract dance scenes generally (I fast forward through the Broadway Melody section of Singin' in the Rain whenever I watch it without my Cyd Charisse loving husband) but the way that these were filmed was just so stunning and the colors. My god, the colors. Why did Moira Shearer never do anything else? She was so, so amazingly gorgeous.
The reason Scorcese got to pick a movie? Was because his "Shutter Island" was next. I was interested in seeing this movie, so was very happy to be there for what amounted to its premiere. It was beautifully filmed, well acted, suspenseful. Claustrophobic. Cerebral. I really enjoyed it quite a lot, but won't say much more due to possible spoilers. I am so glad that they do not give too much away in the trailers. So very glad.
Wacky French comedies were up next on the list, first with a 1970's movie "Le Magnifique" which I made the mistake of thinking I wasn't going to like, thus disappearing out to the lobby for the first fifteen minutes or so. Huuuuuuge mistake. What I thought was a bad madcap detective movie was actually a very funny film about an author writing a bad, madcap detective novel through a string of misfortunes and annoyances. Very amusing, very well done, and yes, Jacqueline Bisset was effing gorgeous.
Next was "MicMacs" by the same director as Amelie. I will have to see this one again, because while it was very interesting and entertaining, I was so tired by this point that I kept nodding off and couldn't follow the rather complex plot and multitude of characters. Plot would advance when I'd nodded off and eventually, nothing made much sense anymore, though still managing to be funny and entertaining and beautiful.
Having gotten a little rest in, we got our first 'horror' film of the program, Adam Green's "Frozen". A lot of people thought this movie was fantastic. A number of people thought that it was so ridiculous as to be unwatchable. This line was drawn somewhere around the Mason-Dixon line, as anyone who lives in a cold climate voted for 'ridiculous'. The acting was good, the effects (non CGI, all of them) were great. The tension was very well done and the storyline was pretty well paced. But it suffered from a number of major plot glitches that made it difficult to embrace. Namely:
1) People who know the cold have better survival instincts than to leave their hoods off/down. Yes, it was probably done that way so that we could see the actors faces, but the fact that they had hoods and either didn't zip them up or put them on was annoyingly wrong. This could have been fixed simply by giving them jackets without hoods.
2) Wolves don't effing act like that.
3) Ski slopes don't effing act like that.
Next up was the Punishment Film slot, the sort of thing usually taken up by "Tiptoes" or "Toys Are Not For Children". This year it was "Centipede Horror" and the talking up it got before it started ensured that this would be the movie I would sleep through. My husband and another friend both decamped to the lobby for the duration, so I took over their seats and my own, stuffed my neck roll under my head and caught a few Z's.
So I was awake for "The Candysnatchers" (at least mostly) which was a 70's exploitation flick. It was heavily faded, and there was a metric assload of misogyny but it maintained at least a level of entertainment by the ineptitude of the eponymous snatchers and the weird autistic kid. At least it was better than last years exploitation flick, insofar as it had a followable plot and quite a few laugh out loud moments.
Then there was the glory of the whole night. Morning was rearing it's ugly, sun-bleached head and we rolled into a film that had barely entered into my consciousness, "Kick-Ass". And much ass it did kick indeed. Basic starting plot is a high school boy who's pretty much the geeky everyman who no one really see's decides to become a super hero by buying a custom wetsuit and proceeding to tell people not to be bad guys. This leads to a massive beat-down and his gaining both a somewhat stronger skeleton (from all the pins and metal joints) and a screwed up nervous system which means he doesn't feel pain as much as he should. That's it for super powers. More on the plot itself I should not say, but there is an 11 year old girl super hero who just, rocks beyond all words. We were a room full of very picky, very tired cinema fans, and this one brought us to our feet, laughing and hooting and hollering and clapping along with fight scenes. It was an adrenaline rush of a thing, and everyone, I mean everyone, should see this movie. But no one will ever get to see it the way we did, and for that, I am sad for all of you.
Finally, and most predictably, we got James Cameron's "Avatar". I liked it, even though it did suck my adrenaline away and I did nod off a couple of times. That was more due to the tired than the quality of the movie. On one hand, it's extremely predictable. If, after the first 20 minutes you don't know how this is all going to play out, then you just haven't been paying attention. Still, for all that you know where the ride is going, getting there is so damn beautiful it's difficult to relate. The CGI manages to avoid the uncanny valley more skillfully than anything else I've seen. The acting wen it's live is great, and even when it's through CGI characters, it's really damn good. And it's beautiful. It's just so. damn. beautiful. This had better come out in IMAX, and if/when it does, I will be there.
Anyway, so that's it. There was more of course, meeting new people, eating new food, coming home with a massive stomach ache. But I'm tired, and my wad is blown, and so I leave you all with this one last thought.
"Kick-Ass", you must see it.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Reasons why I love my husband.
#268 - A sentence like "I think 'designer breeds' are my 'fake balconies'" makes absolute sense to him and nothing else has to be explained.
(My husband hates fake balconies on buildings with a passion. They make him grit his teeth. I feel the same way about mixed breeds that you can get at any shelter being created by the shitloads in poorly kept puppy mills and sold for a ridiculous price because they are given adowabew names like "Chorkies" and "Labradoodles")
Also, haven't posted in a while due to NaNoWriMo. Which I won. But the book is not yet done.
(My husband hates fake balconies on buildings with a passion. They make him grit his teeth. I feel the same way about mixed breeds that you can get at any shelter being created by the shitloads in poorly kept puppy mills and sold for a ridiculous price because they are given adowabew names like "Chorkies" and "Labradoodles")
Also, haven't posted in a while due to NaNoWriMo. Which I won. But the book is not yet done.
Monday, November 9, 2009
In rapid succession.
Rug buying.
Couch buying.
Held an Emmy.
Pretended that I was Kathy Griffin while holding said Emmy.
Got google wave invitations to give out.
Rolled on rolling on NaNoWriMo.
Couch buying.
Held an Emmy.
Pretended that I was Kathy Griffin while holding said Emmy.
Got google wave invitations to give out.
Rolled on rolling on NaNoWriMo.
Monday, November 2, 2009
How to Reduce Spousal Stress Through Well Timed Disasters
Or: How I made my husband nearly pee his pants.
So I was making an apple pie in one of those deluded moments when I think that I'm actually domestic or something. The pastry had been prepared and rolled out, the apples had been cut and dusted with sugar and lemon juice and left to drain, and I was mixing the dry ingredients to sprinkle between layers. Measured them carefully (ha!! right *snork*) into a container and then put the top on, making sure that it fit properly. I put my fingers carefully on top of the container to hold the top on and then started to shake.
And was promptly engulfed in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. Because the side of the top I wasn't holding down popped open on the upswing. Whoops!
Which is how my husband came home to find me severely dusted in cinnamon, sugar, corn startch and other lovely additions, the floor crunchy with sugar.
What else could he do? He literally fell to his knees laughing until he couldnt' breathe. And then he told me about his bad day that was much better now as he helped me clean up and re-fill the container.
Oh yeah, and I'm doing NaNoWriMo. No I will not be publishing chapters on here.
So I was making an apple pie in one of those deluded moments when I think that I'm actually domestic or something. The pastry had been prepared and rolled out, the apples had been cut and dusted with sugar and lemon juice and left to drain, and I was mixing the dry ingredients to sprinkle between layers. Measured them carefully (ha!! right *snork*) into a container and then put the top on, making sure that it fit properly. I put my fingers carefully on top of the container to hold the top on and then started to shake.
And was promptly engulfed in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. Because the side of the top I wasn't holding down popped open on the upswing. Whoops!
Which is how my husband came home to find me severely dusted in cinnamon, sugar, corn startch and other lovely additions, the floor crunchy with sugar.
What else could he do? He literally fell to his knees laughing until he couldnt' breathe. And then he told me about his bad day that was much better now as he helped me clean up and re-fill the container.
Oh yeah, and I'm doing NaNoWriMo. No I will not be publishing chapters on here.
Friday, October 23, 2009
I'm outraged, you should be too.
And not just because I've been pretty much un-wacky lately. Lots of outrage to go around. I promise, the wacky will come eventually. But first...
Senator Inouye, Chairman of the Appropriations committee, may remove the Franken Amendment from the latest bill.
I hope I don't have to tell you how bad this would be. Apparently the defense contractors have been lobbyin hard. We, as citizens, need to lobby harder. Make a big, big noise, people. Contact Senator Inouye, contact the members of the appropriations committee.
Here's what I wrote.
Senator Inouye,
May I remind you that your duty is to the American people, not to Defense Contractors? I am seriously disturbed that you would even consider removing or watering down the Franken Amendment to the Appropriations Bill. I could rant long and hard here, but someone else has already boiled down how I feel much better than I ever could, to wit:
"If, to protect Haliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to rethink your allegiances." - Jon Stewart
I may not be in your Senate district, but as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, you serve a wider group of constituents than just those in Hawaii. Removing this amendment would be bad for women, bad for workers, and bad for America.
Sincerely,
<>
Senator Inouye, Chairman of the Appropriations committee, may remove the Franken Amendment from the latest bill.
I hope I don't have to tell you how bad this would be. Apparently the defense contractors have been lobbyin hard. We, as citizens, need to lobby harder. Make a big, big noise, people. Contact Senator Inouye, contact the members of the appropriations committee.
Here's what I wrote.
Senator Inouye,
May I remind you that your duty is to the American people, not to Defense Contractors? I am seriously disturbed that you would even consider removing or watering down the Franken Amendment to the Appropriations Bill. I could rant long and hard here, but someone else has already boiled down how I feel much better than I ever could, to wit:
"If, to protect Haliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to rethink your allegiances." - Jon Stewart
I may not be in your Senate district, but as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, you serve a wider group of constituents than just those in Hawaii. Removing this amendment would be bad for women, bad for workers, and bad for America.
Sincerely,
<
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Twitter, Trending Topics, and Information Manipulation.
So today there was a bit of a tempest on Twitter. You may or may not have noticed, a lot of it depended on who's in your follow list, and whether or not you pay any attention to the trending topics list on the side of the page. Let's start with a short time line so that some things can be put into perspective.
This morning: A reverend with a large church and a lot of young followers posted the old "No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace." It gets retweeted alot, but due to the way that trending topics are created, it showed up on the list as "No God".
Mid afternoon: No God shows up on the trending topics side, and is pretty immediately grabbed by atheists and non-religionists and run with.
Evening: No God becomes the number one trending topic, with a huge chunk of the hits having no positive reference to any deity. Clearly this upsets some people because ...
All of a sudden, No God went from being #1 on the trending topics to not being there at all. Whatsoever. It was just gone. But manually searching for it (along with other trending topics) showed that it was stil getting more hits than any other topic on the TT list.
Night: The 'Know God' trending topic starts rising up. Many a fundie starts cheering at their side 'winning' (and probably still are) but those in the know (or who simply understand how to look at links) see that the Know God TT link now brings up both Know God and No God mentions. Research showed that at no time, did the words Know God show up more often than No God.
Don't believe me?
Click here.
The point at which the 'No God' TT was taken off the list is pretty damn obvious.
"So what? You can still search for it!" you might say, but see.. I'm an Information Professional and the thing is that I know that that is really kind of a crock. Some people say that he who controls the money controls the world. Some that it's whoever controls the weapons. But the real answer to who controls the world is.. the one who controls the information. Because if you control the information, you control what people know, you control how they see and react to the world, and that in the end controls the world as e know it.
In our internet driven world, one of the most effective and insidious ways to control information is by controlling search terms. We use them every day without thinking about them, and the average joe on the street doesn't even realize how what they are finding is being controlled. A couple of recent examples-
A health database that was in part funded by the US government made 'abortion' a stop word. This means that if someone went to this database and entered abortion as a search term... they got back no results. Nothing would say that there were results that were legitimately available, you would just see that there were no articles that matched your search term. Luckily this change was caught and a cafuffle was made by librarians and other information professionals, and the database returned 'abortion' to the search terms.
Recently Amazon caused quite an uproar (amusingly, on Twitter) over the re-organizing of a number of books in their catalog so that they would not show in sales rankings.. and since sales rankings are a primary way that search results are displayed, the end result was that books about homosexuality from an anti-glbt view showed first, while those that were pro- or even just tolerant showed further down the list if at all.
In the end, other than giving a group that already has a culturally-based feeling of superiority yet more reason to crow and puff, this Twitter issue isn't going to do much. But what has to continue from here is the awareness as to what's going on, and why, and how. Because if you never know something is there, then it isn't. A lot can be hidden in the spaces you don't see.
This morning: A reverend with a large church and a lot of young followers posted the old "No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace." It gets retweeted alot, but due to the way that trending topics are created, it showed up on the list as "No God".
Mid afternoon: No God shows up on the trending topics side, and is pretty immediately grabbed by atheists and non-religionists and run with.
Evening: No God becomes the number one trending topic, with a huge chunk of the hits having no positive reference to any deity. Clearly this upsets some people because ...
All of a sudden, No God went from being #1 on the trending topics to not being there at all. Whatsoever. It was just gone. But manually searching for it (along with other trending topics) showed that it was stil getting more hits than any other topic on the TT list.
Night: The 'Know God' trending topic starts rising up. Many a fundie starts cheering at their side 'winning' (and probably still are) but those in the know (or who simply understand how to look at links) see that the Know God TT link now brings up both Know God and No God mentions. Research showed that at no time, did the words Know God show up more often than No God.
Don't believe me?
Click here.
The point at which the 'No God' TT was taken off the list is pretty damn obvious.
"So what? You can still search for it!" you might say, but see.. I'm an Information Professional and the thing is that I know that that is really kind of a crock. Some people say that he who controls the money controls the world. Some that it's whoever controls the weapons. But the real answer to who controls the world is.. the one who controls the information. Because if you control the information, you control what people know, you control how they see and react to the world, and that in the end controls the world as e know it.
In our internet driven world, one of the most effective and insidious ways to control information is by controlling search terms. We use them every day without thinking about them, and the average joe on the street doesn't even realize how what they are finding is being controlled. A couple of recent examples-
A health database that was in part funded by the US government made 'abortion' a stop word. This means that if someone went to this database and entered abortion as a search term... they got back no results. Nothing would say that there were results that were legitimately available, you would just see that there were no articles that matched your search term. Luckily this change was caught and a cafuffle was made by librarians and other information professionals, and the database returned 'abortion' to the search terms.
Recently Amazon caused quite an uproar (amusingly, on Twitter) over the re-organizing of a number of books in their catalog so that they would not show in sales rankings.. and since sales rankings are a primary way that search results are displayed, the end result was that books about homosexuality from an anti-glbt view showed first, while those that were pro- or even just tolerant showed further down the list if at all.
In the end, other than giving a group that already has a culturally-based feeling of superiority yet more reason to crow and puff, this Twitter issue isn't going to do much. But what has to continue from here is the awareness as to what's going on, and why, and how. Because if you never know something is there, then it isn't. A lot can be hidden in the spaces you don't see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
