Easily Amused

We’ve Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:49:00 +0000

And by “we”, I mean me.

And by “moved”, I mean to my brand-spanking-new blog.

And now I’m wondering just exactly what the search engines are going to think of my reference to spanking. (Good thing this isn’t Twitter, I guess — I’d be in for an influx of pornbots, for sure.)

I mean, I’m not picky about my readers, but I’d sure hate for anybody to be disappointed!

My Own Personal Beatlemania

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:16:00 +0000

If you’ll forgive the expression, The Beatles: Rock Band is, well… totally fab.

We finally cracked open our copy yesterday, and both immediately fell in love. The graphics are just beautiful. The gameplay is awesome, as you get to follow along with the history of the band. And the music is, of course, simply the best there ever was.

The most interesting part to me is the addition of harmonies, although it’s difficult to play. Otherwise, I’m doing pretty well with the vocals, due to a combination of my unfortunate tendency to sing male vocals better than female anyway, as well as the fact that I’ve been singing along with these songs for, well... we don’t need to go into exactly how long, now, do we?

EAToo is enjoying the drums as usual, and is more willing to sing than he normally is, because this time he knows all the words. We’re also both eager to try out the bass part — apparently, according to the difficulty levels, George Harrison was even more of a genius than either of us realized.

I’m also eager to get into the downloadable content. By the end of November, the remainder of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (my all-time favorite), will be available as DLC. DLC releases have tentatively been scheduled through the end of the year.

I’m planning to post a more detailed and technical review over at Suite101.com later today, and I’ll add the link to that when I do.

Suite 101 Is a Blast!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Sure, I haven’t been blogging. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. In fact, I just finished my first writing “challenge” at Suite101.com. The challenge was “Pump It Up: 14 Articles in 14 Days”.

The challenge was a bit daunting... it’s a lot of work to write that many pieces, especially when you’re juggling your writing with a full-time job and other responsibilities. But, armed with inspiration from a recent vacation and the new television season (Finally! Can I get an “amen”?), I put my mind to it and got it done. In fact, last night was the first night I’ve taken off from writing since I started the challenge. And it really felt odd not to stay up writing, although I certainly needed the sleep at that point!

I can’t take all the credit. My husband has been very kind in terms of reading all my stuff, finding the occasional typo, and not minding too much when I disappear for hours to write. I also need to thank Suite101 for being located in the Pacific Time Zone — that extra couple of hours before “midnight” definitely helped me stay on track!

Writing for Suite101 has been great. While I also want to get back to the more informal style of blogging, I’m really enjoying the structure the website provides me in terms of style. It makes the writing more of a challenge; writing as a “puzzle” that I have to put together, just so, is far more interesting to me. Additionally, it makes me think out my opinions on things and develop them further than, say, the “Squeeeee!” that was all I had right after I saw the season premiere of Dollhouse.

And, I might add that the people of Suite101 have been wonderful. A special thank you to Cindy McGlynn, who has been the most patient editor a girl could ask for and has never made me feel stupid for asking stupid questions.

So, if you get a minute, drop by Suite101 and check out the content. Not just my pieces — although I’d certainly appreciate it — but all of the other writers there, too. There’s a lot of great work over there.

More... of Me!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:26:00 +0000

So... you’re thinking you’ve been disappointed that I haven’t posted in a while? You really, really want more of me? Well, more of my writing, anyway?

Well, you’re in luck! There are two other ways you can keep up with me.

First, check me out on Twitter. My username is @moodyredhead. There you can read all the articulate wittiness I can stuff into 140-character-long, grammatically inferior chunks. Food, pop culture — I even get political occasionally, which I’ve tried to avoid here. I’m excited to have reached (and now surpassed!) Twitterlibrium today. Come follow me and help work on getting to a milliWheaton!

If you’d like to read something a bit longer, I’ve also begun freelancing as a contributing writer for Canadian online magazine Suite101.com. And by “begun”, I mean that I’ve only got one article up so far. But I’m working on more, so keep checking out my page there!

I probably won’t have time to write long posts over here, although I will check in to keep you updated on my other projects, and maybe to write a bit about things I decided not to submit to Suite101.

Y’all come see me!

“Dollhouse,” “Sarah Connor” Benefit from Live+7 Ratings

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:46:00 +0000

Even geeks go out on Friday nights. And now, Nielsen is recognizing that.

I’ve been waiting eagerly for months for the premiere of Joss Whedon’s new show, “Dollhouse.” But my excitement was tempered when Fox banished it to 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday nights — universally known as the “Friday night death slot” where no show on Fox, save “The X-Files,” has ever thrived, almost all being cancelled within a single season. (And even “The X-Files” was moved to Sunday for the final six years of its run.) So I’ve been very conflicted the last few weeks; I love the show as much as I expected to, but as I’ve previously mentioned, Fox has a long history of disappointing me.

But there is a ray of hope. As reported today, both “Dollhouse” and its lead-in, “Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles,” have benefited greatly from the Nielsen Live+7 ratings. This system, begun in January 2006, has allowed the Nielsen system to finally catch up with DVR technology. Rather than simply reporting how many viewers watch television shows as they air live, the Live+7 ratings also report data on how many people watch a show on their digital video recorders within a week of the episode’s original air date.

The Live+7 ratings may make a huge difference in ensuring that “Dollhouse” has a future. Ratings for the pilot episode were originally considered mediocre-to-disappointing, with middling ratings despite airing against reruns. However, the Live+7 ratings showed that the viewership was actually a full 30% higher when DVR viewings were included. In fact, among shows watched on DVR, “Dollhouse” ranked 28th out of all network shows for the week. Add to that the fact that the “Dollhouse” pilot ranked #1 on iTunes and #10 in online pirating for the week, and it’s clear that the old ratings systems alone are no longer getting the job done.

This is great news for those of us who have been underrepresented in Nielsen ratings for years — those of us who lead lives that are too busy to allow us to watch television programs as they air. It’s been a long time coming, but television ratings have finally caught up to the fact that the average American household no longer spends most nights settling in early in front of the television together after a family dinner cooked at home.

And it’s great news for fans of quality television, because the Live+7 ratings may just be the best hope for extending the lives of shows that would otherwise be cancelled before their time.

Playing With My Food: Crawfish Pie

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:01:00 +0000

I have a confession to make. I cheat in the kitchen.

My friends would argue with this. They’d tell you how I inherited a slightly-less-severe case of my mother’s Martha Stewart Complex. They would explain how I always insist upon making things from scratch that normal people just buy — coleslaw, potato salad, salsa. That I can’t just use the instant stuff to make banana pudding — I have to make homemade custard. They can tell stories of my constant criticism of things I’ve made, how I should have added more salt to this or cooked that longer. They know that I often make homemade cake (or tiramisu) for birthdays. They would tell you how I am nine different kinds of crazy due to my refusal to use canned frosting. (Buttercream is easy! I swear! And it tastes better! But I digress....)

And they’d be right about all that. But sadly, also, I cheat. And I don’t just mean buying cheese that comes already shredded or using cake mixes. Okay, so I’m not saying I’m a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade wannabe. I mean, seriously — if that lady put half the time and effort into her food that she puts into her overdone “tablescapes”.... but I do take the easy way out sometimes. And up until recently, one thing I totally faked was crawfish pie.

Not only did I use pre-made pie crusts from the dairy case (I can totally make pie crust, I just don’t normally have the time), I even used a filling mix. Mam Papaul’s. All I did was make the sauce mix according to the box, stir in the crawfish, toss it in a pie crust that came from a factory, and throw it in the oven. Honestly, I felt a little dirty. At the very least, I didn’t feel remotely like I had really cooked anything. I might as well have thrown a frozen pot pie in the oven (Yes, I do that, too. Although I’ve also done it from scratch.)

But last week, I decided that was all over. No, not because I felt so bad about cheating. It was because I realized Schnuck’s had stopped carrying the mix. So I took the next logical step, and went to the internet looking for a recipe. I checked all the usual suspects — All Recipes, RecipeZaar, Cooks.com, even FoodNetwork.com — but couldn’t find a recipe I liked. They all had something that didn’t sound right; canned tomatoes here, cream of mushroom soup there.

And I realized it was time. I had to cowboy up and figure this out for myself. I decided my modified faux-étouffée recipe (I don’t take time to start with roux. Yes, I’m ashamed. Please don’t judge me.) was a good start, and went from there. I think it turned out pretty well, and I’m pretty sure EAToo didn’t have any complaints, because it disappeared pretty fast. You’ll notice that I don’t start with the trinity — I don’t like green peppers or celery. Feel free to swap out if you wish.

Oh, and I went ahead and used the pre-made pie crust anyway. And I didn’t feel the least bit ashamed of skipping the hand-made pastry. Much. Go ahead and do it the old-fashioned way if you get the urge — I’m sure I’ll eventually get all obsessive-compulsive and do it myself, anyway.

Crawfish Pie

EA’s Crawfish Pie

8 oz. (1 stick) butter
1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic
12 oz. crawfish meat with fat
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. hot sauce
3 tbsp. flour
½ c. heavy cream
3 eggs
2 pre-prepared pie crusts

Preheat oven to 350°. Finely dice bell pepper and onion. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute pepper and onion in butter for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring, for 5 more minutes. Vegetables should be soft, but not caramelized.

Stir in crawfish meat, salt, pepper, and hot sauce, and cook for another minute or so, until the temperature in the pan comes back up. Sprinkle flour over top, distributing evenly, and mix well, continuing to cook and stir for another minute. Add cream, mixing well. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Place one pie crust in the bottom of an ungreased pie pan. Prick bottom and sides with fork. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs. Stir eggs into the cooled crawfish mixture, combining well. Pour crawfish mixture into pie shell. Top with second pie crust; seal edges well and cut slits or prick top with fork to allow steam to come out.

Cover edges of pie crust with crumpled strips of foil (unless you have these, which I want desperately) to prevent burning, and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Allow pie to cool for a few minutes before cutting. Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredient notes:

I like red bell pepper in this, partially because I like them and partially because it looks pretty. If you prefer green pepper, or orange, or yellow, feel free to substitute. If you want to get all traditional and use the trinity, go ahead. I just don’t see the point in celery.

The frozen crawfish I have found lately comes in 12 oz. packages. Up until very recently, it came in 16 oz. packages. If you can find the 16 oz., or find it fresh, great. But just know that a few months ago they were charging you the same price for 33% more meat.

As far as hot sauce goes, use whatever you have handy. I suppose Tabasco would be the norm, but I tend to use Sriracha, because that’s what I keep around. Feel free to substitute your favorite, and use more if you like that sort of thing.

Upcoming Movie Remakes Beg the Question — Why?

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:55:00 +0000

I’ve heard it put different ways. According to the Barenaked Ladies, “It’s all been done before.” Just recently, “Battlestar Galactica” reminded us that “This has all happened before and it will all happen again.” And of course, Christopher Booker (or William Foster-Harris or Stephen King or any number of other authors) told us how there are only seven (or six or 36 or 69, or insert-your-own-figure) basic literary plots.

But I ask you — does this excuse Hollywood’s abandoning all pretense of originality and falling back on the crutch of constantly “remaking” movies and television shows? Particularly those that the moviegoing public is noticeably not clamoring for?

That is not to say that remakes always fall short. But for every Chicago or The Dark Knight or The Blues Brothers, we’re “treated” to innumerable cheap copies of movies or television shows like Bewitched or A Night at the Roxbury or Blues Brothers 2000. And when surfing the ‘net this weekend, I was horrified at some of the “rebootings” that are scheduled to be inflicted upon us in the near future:

Arthur — Warner Bros. has deemed it necessary to remake 1981’s Oscar-nominated film about a loveable, funny alcoholic. Setting aside the question of whether there is much nostalgia value in remaking a picture that a lot of moviegoers aren’t old enough to remember (or whether alcoholism can still be considered funny and charming), it turns out they’ve cast goofy Russell Brand of Forgetting Sarah Marshall as the title character. And let’s face it, when it comes to acting, Russell Brand is no Dudley Moore. I’m not even convinced he’s a Mandy Moore.

CHiPs — Starring Wilmer Valderrama, making the interesting career leap from Fez to Ponch. Admittedly, I watched “CHiPs” when it first came on. On the other hand, I was six years old when it premiered. I’m sure the car chases will be great eye candy, but how do you develop a storyline based a television show that had no storyline?

They Live — What? You don’t remember professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s 1988 acting debut? I do. But only because it was so bad that it scarred me mentally and emotionally and became the yardstick by which I have measured bad movies for over 20 years. The first time around, I truly regretted not just leaving the theatre and asking for my money back. Or just plain leaving the theatre. A remake might just qualify as a crime against humanity.

Top Gun — This one’s mainly still in the rumor stage, but ideas floated have included Tom Cruise helming the project and casting himself as a now-flight-instructor-Maverick to Katie Holmes’ cocky young pilot. Do I really need to explain why this is wrong? Didn’t think so.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show — Oh, wait. Never mind. I’m actually willing to give that one a chance. Especially if I get to do the Time Warp and throw toast at the movie screen again.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against remakes on principle. In fact, I think they work really well. On television. For example, with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Joss Whedon had a unique “do-over” opportunity, getting a second chance to show just how complex and layered his dramatic vision was compared to the campy movie that the studio once “fixed” for him. “Smallville” consistently manages to both work within and rise above the Superman mythos, giving viewers access to Clark Kent’s origin story that would not be possible in a theatrical release. SciFi’s “Battlestar Galactica” took the basic structure of what amounted to a ‘70s throwaway kids’ show and truly did “re-imagine” it, giving rise to a well-written, well-acted drama that is both wonderful television and startlingly relevant social commentary.

But these remakes worked for a reason. The nature of television provides more time for expanded storytelling. There is an opportunity to expand upon the characters and the world they inhabit, which is entirely different than a rote re-telling of a story we’ve already seen. (This is why I’m looking forward to the day the BBC creates an unabridged miniseries that does real justice to the Harry Potter books. I believe it’s inevitable.)

No, there’s nothing wrong with examining existing stories and checking to see if there’s any life left in them, any new directions to explore. But the studios underestimate their audiences — and their own continuing profitability — when they assume that moviegoers are simpletons who will cling to the familiar and spend increasingly limited entertainment dollars to see the same stories told over and over again.

One More Reason to Buy a Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:13:00 +0000

As many of my friends know, I covet the Amazon Kindle. It’s not that I don’t love actual paper books. Far from it — my ownership of books borders on the pathological. But I love the idea of buying books literally anywhere, anytime. And I love the idea of saving a bit of money. And I’m beginning to think I’d be better off buying a Kindle than buying another half-dozen or so bookshelves.

The only thing stopping me? The fact that instead of lowering the price, Amazon instead came out with a new, fancier model. Mind you, I did the math last week, and if I had enough self-discipline to stop buying books for a couple of months, I could afford a Kindle easily. Unfortunately, I have more willpower when it comes to food than books.

Yesterday, though, when getting my daily dose of webcomics, I found yet another compelling reason to own a Kindle. After reading this from xkcd (“a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language”), I may just have to bite the bullet and save up for one of my own:

(Click on the image to see the full-size version.)

I hadn’t thought about it before, but the Kindle probably is as close as I’ll ever get to owning the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That and a nice towel, and I’ll be all set.

In the meantime, I’ll keep looking at webcomics, since they’re free. If you’re a complete geek like me — the kind of geek who appreciates references to Hitchhiker’s Guide and enjoys the occasional Microsoft bashing — check out xkcd. You’ll be glad you did.

Website Explores “Deliciously Gross” Food: thisiswhyyourefat.com

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:50:00 +0000

Please note: What follows in this post is NSFL!

No, not “NSFW.” It’s totally safe for work. It’s “NSFL.” Not Safe for Lunch.

Some of the images that I’ve included (and definitely those I’ve linked to) may contain graphic scenes of food abuse. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Generally, I don’t spend a lot of time reading the local newspaper. But while I’m not happy with the majority of their coverage, I do occasionally breeze through their website to check out local food news. While poking around this morning, I ran across the most wonderful website, entitled This Is Why You’re Fat.

Our local food reporter described it as “revolting… in a train-wreck, can’t-look-away way.” But really, it’s so much more than that. Billing itself as “where dreams become heart attacks,” it doesn’t really answer the question of why anyone is fat — mainly because most people wouldn’t eat the majority of these foods, and certainly not on a regular basis if they did. I looked through all of the entries, and just couldn’t help sharing. I found that the food pictured mostly falls into three categories: things you can’t believe a human would eat voluntarily, things that really aren’t so bad, and things you would only eat at the fairgrounds. (I know that last bit may not make sense if you’re not from around here. But southerners know that all bets are off at the fair, at least in terms of civilized eating.)

Granted, there are some really horrifying things shown — this website is not for the weak of heart (or stomach). People have done some really, truly evil things with food, including chocolate-covered bacon and hot dogs topped with macaroni and cheese. One of the most horrifying was the “Big Mac-Chicken” — a frightening Frankenstein of a sandwich, cobbled together by replacing the bread on a Big Mac with chicken patties from McChicken sandwiches. (Yes, sadly, you read that correctly.) The version shown on This Is Why You’re Fat is horrifying enough:

I’ve stuck with the tame version here. But if you need real carnage, check out the original article, complete with a picture of this monstrosity in its half-eaten form. If you dare.

On the other hand, there were a few things that didn’t sound half bad. Taking poutine and topping it with bacon? I’d totally do that. Chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick? Doesn’t sound like it would be horrible once in a blue moon, especially shared with someone while walking down the carnival midway. Bacon-flavored mayonnaise? Honestly, doesn’t sound so bad.

(I did begin to wonder what the fascination with bacon is, though. You will, too. Out of the 87 current entries, at least 25 use or misuse bacon. I say at least, because you just can’t tell from some of the pictures whether bacon is included or not.)

There were a few odd items that I didn’t realize would bother anyone. I’m not sure what’s exactly disturbing about welsh rarebit. And I thought apple pie topped with cheddar cheese was pretty common, although maybe not so much here in the south. King cake isn’t necessarily pretty, but totally traditional. Even the tongue-and-pastrami sandwich didn’t seem terribly outlandish, although admittedly not my cup of tea:

I think my ultimate favorite, though, was the Frito pie. Come on, if you’re from the south, you’ve probably had it before — Fritos topped with chili and cheese, amongst other things. There’s even a chain in East Tennessee, Petro’s, that sells them as its main offering. Generally, they’re not too bad, if somewhat unhealthy. But the reason this was my favorite was the picture, specifically because of how the Frito pie was assembled:

Um, just so you know... I think you’re doing it wrong.

What I’ve shown here is only the tip of the disgusting culinary iceberg. Go see for yourself, and take some time to explore the links and see how some of these people explain their crimes against food. (Although I don’t believe there is any justification, at all, for a “Happy Meal Pizza.”)

Just PLEASE don’t go looking if you happen to be eating in front of your computer. Trust me on this one, y’all.

Blog — Version 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:21:00 +0000

You know how you keep thinking about how you need to start working on something, and you even have a few good ideas, but then you realize you really aren’t going to be able to concentrate until you get something else done that’s been bugging you, but then you realize that you don’t really know where to start on that either, and it’s very frustrating and doesn’t go well when you try to get started, and the whole thing starts giving you kind of a headache, and then you decide to just go play sudoku instead?

Oh. Just me, huh?

Anyway, I haven’t been so much intentionally not posting as spending way too much time trying to redesign the blog. (I heard that! I was not procrastinating. This time.) The old layout had really been bugging me, so much so that every time I even considered writing, I’d start thinking about how much I didn’t like it and how I really needed to fix it before I posted anything else.

So, after a lot of starting and stopping, several completely failed ideas, and quite a bit of time considering how badly I hate Blogger sometimes, I’ve finally done it.

So, loyal readers, let me know if you love it, hate it, didn’t notice, don’t care.... Seriously. I expect to hear from both of you.

And stop back in soon. I’m going to get back to work, I promise.

I Blame Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Okay, so it’s not entirely fair to blame Facebook for my lack of posts for the last couple of months. Sure, there were other factors — one of my busy times of year at work, lots of personal commitments, and perennial time-eaters Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. And let’s not forget Christmas (although I’d certainly love to).

But Facebook certainly hasn’t helped. I started on Facebook last August, although I wasn’t really that interested. Peer pressure kicked in, though, and as more and more of my friends got involved, so did I. (Although I still refuse to post a picture of myself for my profile. I hate pictures of me.)

Wikipedia describes Facebook as “a free-access social networking website.” Basically, Facebook has two main functions. One is keeping up with people in your life. I’ve reconnected with people from high school, but I also use it to keep in better touch with my mom and my best friend. I’ve even spent time chatting with my five-year-old “niece” on Facebook — whenever the princess is able to convince her mom to type for her.

The second function of Facebook is wasting time. Even if there’s no one online to chat or trade snarky wall comments with, there are plenty of quizzes to take (and challenge others to), pictures posted by friends to look at, and groups to join. Just today, I became a fan of “Memphis music” and the television show Dexter, and joined the groups “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet” and “I judge you when you use poor grammar”.

There are, of course, down sides. For example, while I refuse to post pictures of myself, others have no such qualms, and have “tagged” said pictures such that others can easily find me in them. Also, while it’s great that your friends can find you easily, so can anyone else, whether you want them to or not.

Apparently, I’m not the only one to concede a chunk of my life to Facebook. Just today, I was reading this article on Time.com, questioning whether Facebook really connects people, or just allows them a false sense of connection without face-to-face contact. Maybe I’m deluded, but I feel like I’m more in touch now than I was a few months ago. And since I’m going to spend time online either way, if I can do it in a way that allows more human connection, so much the better.

But I do have one piece of advice for anyone considering joining Facebook. Be forewarned: somewhere out there is a person with a copy of your sixth grade class photo and a scanner. And that person may just be on Facebook, too.

Top Five TV Moments — 11/22/08

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Instead of trying to do a weekly TV synopsis wrap-up (‘cause we all know I watch too much TV to do that), I’ve decided to instead do a weekly post with my top five favorite moments of the week. So, for this week, here are the things that made me laugh, made me cry, made me hurl, or just stuck with me in general.

In no particular order:

Smallville: “Bride” — In the “mid-season finale” (no more new episodes until January 15), Clark escorted Chloe down the aisle to marry her beloved, Jimmy Olson. Despite flushing canon down the toilet, it was still a great ep, especially when Clark and Lois came thisclose to acting on their feelings after sharing a dance. Of course, as always, stupid, stupid, stupid Lana had to ruin everything. (I’ll give the girl bonus points for one thing, though — somebody needed to light into Clark for giving Chloe selective amnesia, and Lana did a great job of it.)

Heroes: “Chapter Nine: It’s Coming” — While I agree with those who think the show has lost its focus (and I totally agree that Mohinder needs to die!), I also think Heroes is in the process of getting its groove back. And the best example of this is the work done this week by the indescribably talented Kristen Bell and Zachary Quinto. It was pure magic to watch supposedly-evil Sylar help the supposedly-evil Elle get her powers back under control. In the process, he learned both compassion and how to keep his voracious hunger for others’ powers in check — and, I suspect, kicked off a love story that will cause ramifications for all of the other characters for a long time to come. Anyone else thinking that Sylar’s future son, Noah, looked a lot like Elle? Me, too.

Chuck: “Chuck Versus the Fat Lady” — Yes, sometimes you can see the plot twists coming a mile away. But predictable or not, part of why I keep coming back every week is that Chuck and his portrayer, Zachary Levi, are just so darn charming and lovable. It may not seem so on the surface, but the stories on Chuck are driven by character, rather than plot, and you just can’t help but care about them. This week, the show made me laugh, kept me on the edge of my seat, and eventually broke my heart, as we found out that Chuck’s girlfriend is actually an enemy agent — the realization coming right after he nearly committed treason to save her life. It may be predictable, and Chuck may never catch a break, but it’s kinda like Charlie Brown. I’ll keep watching in the hopes that one day he actually gets to kick that football, ‘cause I just like him that much.

Pushing Daisies: “Oh, Oh, Oh... It’s Magic” — On the other hand, one of the best things about Pushing Daisies is that it is always unpredictable. It’s hard to describe in terms of genre (fantasy-procedural, perhaps?), but eventually you stop trying to label it, because what matters is that it always delivers. This week, the best thing I didn’t see coming was a “reunion” of sorts between our heroine, “dead girl” Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, and her mother. You see, Chuck just found out that the mother she thought was dead is really her “aunt”, who is alive. And her Aunt Vivian has been mourning the daughter who she raised as a niece, and now believes to be dead. More complicated than your average TV show? Sure. But also more touching, as Chuck’s boyfriend, Ned, and best friend, Olive, arranged for Chuck to talk to her mother through Olive (think Cyrano de Bergerac, except with 21st-century electronics).

Bones: “The Passenger in the Oven” — My favorite TV moment of the week. Investigating a murder on an international flight, Booth comes upon Brennan, wearing a passenger’s horn-rimmed glasses as makeshift magnifying goggles. Grinning, he says, “Alright. What I want you to do is take off your glasses, shake out your hair, and say, ‘Mr. Booth. Do you know what the penalty is for an overdue book?’” Brennan, of course, simply blinks and asks, “Why?” Booth tells her, “Never mind,” but after they discuss the latest evidence and Booth walks away, Brennan tries taking off the glasses and shaking out her hair. Priceless.

To watch these episodes for yourself, you can check out the links below. All are (or will be) available on iTunes, as well.

Smallville — “Bride”

Heroes — “Chapter 9: It’s Coming”

Chuck — “Chuck Versus the Fat Lady”

Pushing Daisies — “Oh, Oh, Oh... It’s Magic”

Bones — “The Passenger in the Oven”

(For other, free television online, I’d strongly suggest you check out Hulu. They do better with online streaming video than most of the networks.)

Kindlenomics — Amazon vs. Sony vs. Dead Trees

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:37:00 +0000

This time last year, I was trying to decide whether I wanted an Amazon Kindle or a Sony Digital Book Reader. Each had its advantages. The Kindle has immediate download and doesn’t require connecting to a computer to purchase books. The Sony is cheaper. The Kindle had a better selection of books. Sony e-books cost less. Kindle has newspaper and blog downloads, and Wikipedia access. Sony allows you to read .pdf files.

A year later, and I’m still on the fence. Two main concerns have stopped me from purchasing either device. The first is being unsure about giving up my paper books altogether. I can’t really pinpoint why it bothers me, although those who know me understand that I have a bit of a problem with books. I’ve lost track of how many I own — EAToo tried to make a spreadsheet once, and gave up. I currently have five full-sized bookcases that are all overstuffed and overflowing, in addition to a few random, overlarge piles of books in closets and such. And that doesn’t even count my pre-high-school collection, which I’ve completely lost track of, except for a few special volumes.

I know I have a problem. I also still have every college textbook I ever owned. And two copies of each Harry Potter book, hardcover and paperback. (Three if you count audiobooks.) And I probably shouldn’t even go into the fact that I subconsciously don’t even crack the spines of paperbacks I read — something I wasn’t even aware of until EAToo pointed it out to me.

But nostalgia for “dead trees” aside, I’m also held back by the economic side of the equation. The Amazon Kindle, originally $400, has only dropped to $360 over the course of a year. The Sony Reader is $270. And I’ve never been sure that the convenience factor would be worth that kind of money. I’m also not sure if “convenience” is a good thing in this situation — I love bookstores, and while being able to buy a book within seconds would be nice, I can’t imagine not hanging out at Barnes & Noble (or “the mothership”, as I have come to think of it).

It turns out, I’m right to be worried about that. According to this blog article on ZDnet.com, an analysis of “Kindlenomics” shows that for the average reader, you must download and purchase at least six books per month, or 72 per year, in order to save enough just to cover the cost of the Kindle itself. The analysis is a bit more advantageous if you are a college student (a literature student in particular), although that logic falls through a bit considering that a lot of college textbooks aren’t yet available in digital form.

I keep coming up with “ifs” — a digital reader would be great if I went back to school... if I found another job that would require me to keep my documents portable... if I traveled more. But for where I am right now, it seems like it’s more economically advantageous to keep killing trees. Physically, I could certainly read six books per month (being something of a natural speed reader anyway), but my schedule doesn’t ordinarily permit me enough time to do so. Plus, I’m not sure I want that kind of pressure, constantly worrying if I had wasted money on a digital reader.

According to the ZDnet article, the current price point to make the purchase of a digital reader reasonable if you read one or two books per month is $125 – $150. If you assume three or four books per month, an appropriate price point is about $200. (Here’s the actual math.) While I’m sort of leaning toward the Kindle over the Sony, I’m positive of one thing — it will make a lot more sense to buy a digital reader when (or if) the current prices drop by about half.

Does Television Cause Unhappiness?

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Apparently, I’m terribly unhappy.

I didn’t know I was. I thought I was pretty content. I mean, sure, there are things in my life I would change, given the option — a better job and more money would be nice. And I’d like to get a bit more sleep on average. But here I was, blissfully ignorant of the fact that I must be miserable, despite the fact that I have a great husband, a nice home, and wonderful family and friends that I love and who love me.

And it’s all because I watch too much television.

It’s a good thing I read this story, entitled “Unhappy People Watch More TV.” It led me to this story, “Watching Television, Channeling Unhappiness?” (Clever with the puns, that one.)

According to those stories, the study in question revolved around the question of how one’s level of happiness correlates to the amount of television one watches. It seems, from the results, that happy people spend more time being “socially active”, participating in church activities, and reading newspapers They also voted more. (That last one still mystifies me. I don’t know about you, but voting does not take up a significant amount of my time on a weekly basis.) Apparently, unhappy people watch 25 hours of television a week on average; happy people “only” watch 19 hours.

(At this point it should be noted — the news stories focus on the fact that the unhappy watch 20% percent more television. Setting aside the fact that an increase of 19 hours to 25 is an increase of 31.5%, not 20%, no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that what appears to be a huge increase when described that way is actually only a difference of six hours per week — less than one hour’s difference per day.)

My first thought after reading this was to rail against the biases of the scientists who performed the study. And they do seem very biased — one of them going so far as to take the clichéd (and pompous) approach of calling television an “opiate”, an “addictive activity” that would by definition “produce momentary pleasure but long-term misery and regret”. They also kindly noted that heavy television viewers are just the socially disadvantaged type to become addicted. The abstract seems to suggest that they set out to compare television to other, better activities. Even the title of the study, “What Do Happy People Do?”, suggests a predisposition that television watchers are sad and pathetic.

But after doing some poking around, I have a slew of problems with the methodology of the study as well:

The researchers themselves note that their research is inconclusive as to whether television causes unhappiness or whether unhappiness causes television viewership. Which means that even if they’re right, they didn’t look into other potential reasons for unhappiness. (Their “predictors of happiness”, for what it’s worth, were age, education, and marital status.)

The study doesn’t seem to address at all what kind of television the survey participants watched — for example, I’d bet that watching several hours of television news each day might just cause depression, and quickly. Just as watching several hours of say, professional wrestling each night, might cause significant loss of brain cells.

The study seems to assume that social activity and television watching are mutually exclusive — that all television watching is done by lonely people, sitting in a sad, empty room, staring motionless at the set, with perhaps a cat or 12 to keep them company. In addition to the possibility of people watching television together, or doing other, more “productive” things with the television on, there’s also the watercooler effect — people watching shows with the intent of discussing them with friends the next day. As I’ve mentioned before, popular culture can be very useful in bringing people together.

The study appears to be based entirely on self-reporting. I daresay that a lot of people either don’t realize how much television they watch, or, more likely are reluctant to admit it — particularly to Ph.D.-level researchers who will likely look down on them for doing so.

Do I watch a lot of television? Sure. Some (cough — Mom — cough) would say “too much”. But I still spend time with friends, read, participate in other hobbies, and have a very full life in general. It makes no more sense to accuse a television fan of needing a pseudo-narcotic to fill the unhappy void than it does to assume that everyone who enjoys food is substituting cookies for hugs.

Am I just being defensive? I don’t believe so. With all due apologies to Will Shakespeare, the fault, dear Brutus, is not in ourselves, but in the researchers. In looking for answers and enlightenment, I think there is a real danger of trying to pigeonhole the world into easily-quantified divisions — group a versus group b, you must be one or the other, you can’t be both. But that’s not real life. In real life, you can be a happy, productive person who really enjoys television. Or you can be miserable and lonely while appearing to have an active social life. People are all about the gray area, and trying to neatly label them is an exercise in futility.

Besides, trying too hard to quantify our universe generally sucks all the wonder right out of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a full DVR of television to watch. Right after I go out to dinner with my husband.

Twilight: Reluctantly Jumping on the Bandwagon

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Yes, I know.

I’m a bad, bad blogger.

I could give you a line about how September and October are my busiest time of year at work (which would be entirely true), but honestly, I’ve been gone due to a mixture of business, job dissatisfaction, distractions, general malaise, and lack of inspiration. I’ve been thinking that eventually, something would happen that would inspire me to pick back up and post again.

This week, it finally happened.

So, you may ask, what have I run across that caught my attention so powerfully that I was compelled to put fingers to keyboard again? I finally got around to reading Twilight.

As usual, I’m a bit late to the party. I didn’t read Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone until July 2000 — the same week that Goblet of Fire, the fourth book in the series, was published. But, much like my experience with The Boy Who Lived, Twilight has become an instant obsession for me.

At first, I wasn’t terribly excited. I’ve read and seen a lot of vampire stories. And as a veteran Buffy/Angel fan, I assumed that as far as the star-crossed vampire/human love story goes, I’d been there, done that. Plus, I’m still a bit irritable about the whole Harry Potter being pushed back thing.

Sometimes I’m very pleased to be wrong.

Twilight is told from the point of view of Bella Swan, a 17-year-old in the process of moving from her lifelong home in Arizona to live with her father, Charlie, in the sleepy (and annoyingly rainy) small town of Forks, Washington. Arriving in town, Bella finds Forks to be exactly what she expected from her sporadic visits growing up — a small town where everyone knows each other, everyone already knows more about her than she would like, and a school curriculum that runs a couple of years behind her school back home, leaving her completely bored. However, she also finds several surprises in her new home: good friends, a better relationship than she expected with her father, and a lot of male attention.

The biggest, most life-changing surprise of all, though, comes in the form of her new lab partner in biology class — Edward Cullen. At first, Edward confuses Bella. She doesn’t understand why she is attracted to him, especially when he alternates between being interested and friendly one minute and cold and angry the next. Even more puzzling is the fact that Edward always seems to be there at the exact moment that accident-prone Bella needs help. As Bella begins to discover Edward’s secrets, he can’t help but let her in. As their story progresses, their lives become inextricably intertwined, their relationship growing stronger and more powerful than either is prepared for.

In describing Twilight, I hesitate to use the word “epic” — at best, it’s overused. But I cannot think of another word that accurately describes the relationship between Bella and Edward. (It reminds me of a quote from “Veronica Mars” — “I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me…. Spanning years and continents... lives ruined, bloodshed, epic.”) You understand from the beginning of their story that their lives will never be easy again. There will be angst, and pain, and yes, considering that Edward is a 107-year-old vampire, there will most likely be bloodshed. But you also know that their connection is so strong, so undeniable, that it’s already too late to turn back.

Twilight is marketed as a book for kids and teens. But that label doesn’t do it justice, any more than it did for the Harry Potter series. Even at my advanced age of close-to-40 (although I’m not quite there yet!), the themes and characters are completely relatable. (And it’s not just that I refuse to grow up.) I felt immediately connected with Bella, in particular. Brainy, sarcastic, and terribly clumsy, Bella has a difficult time believing that she is particularly attractive. Part of her journey involves trying to truly believe that anyone as physically and intellectually spectacular as Edward could possibly be interested in her. I suspect that struggle to believe in yourself, to see what others see in you, is something none of us ever completely outgrow. I know I haven’t — that feeling can still be just as strong now as it was when I was Bella’s age.

And even if you don’t identify with the clumsy, brainy girl who fully expects to be unpopular, you can certainly identify with the story of two people in love who were never meant to be together. True, Bella and Edward have bigger problems that just being incompatible — their relationship exposes them to literal danger, in addition to emotional danger. But their connection is so strong that it’s irresistible, undeniable. They can’t live without each other. They have the kind of connection that we all crave, in theory, regardless of whether it would truly be healthy in real life.

Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a little obsession. At least, that’s what I’ll be telling myself when I buy the soundtrack and tear through the rest of the books in the series, immediately after I see the movie on the weekend it opens.

Allez cuisine! Iron Chefs Headed to Wii, DS

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Move over, Cooking Mama. Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cat Cora are horning in on your virtual kitchen with the new video game “Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine.”

Due to hit stores sometime around October 25, “Supreme Cuisine” offers you the chance to “cook” on your Nintendo Wii or DS game system, much like “Cooking Mama.” This isn’t Mama’s kitchen, though. Not only will you be battling three of the real Iron Chefs in your virtual Kitchen Stadium, but you’ll be expected to work on multiple dishes at once, all while battling the clock, just like contestants on the show.

And the best part? You also get your own virtual Alton Brown as commentator. Virtual Alton isn’t quite as cute as the real thing, but since I’ll probably never have real Alton in my living room, I suppose it’s a fair trade. The Chairman is there, too, as portrayed by actor Mark Dacascos (also recently seen as Sensei Ping in my favorite summer television show, “The Middleman”).

I found out about the game while surfing Alton’s website, but you can get more details at the game’s official site, including an image gallery that shows off the characters as well as the food.

From what I can see so far, the game looks absolutely beautiful. The graphics used for the food are more reminiscent of Pixar’s Ratatouille than “Cooking Mama.” And while the game motions appear to be fairly similar to those required in Mama’s kitchen, it definitely appears to be more of a challenge overall — which ought to be interesting, considering Mama’s not easy to please. Priced at $39.99 for the Wii and $29.99 for the DS, “Supreme Cuisine” costs a bit more than “Cooking Mama,” but is more than reasonably priced compared to other Nintendo games, or even other video games in general.

And to me, at least, it looks to be totally worth it. “Iron Chef: Supreme Cuisine” combines three of my favorite things — food, television, and video games (four, if you count Alton Brown). What more could a geek like me ask for?

Allez cuisine, indeed.

My Favorite Time of the Year — TV Time!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:43:00 +0000

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

No, not that time. No trees, no presents to buy, no joyous music that makes you think you’d rather have a sharp stick in the eye than hear one more chorus of “Jingle Bells.”

No, it’s WAY better than that — a whole season of brand new television to watch!

It’s hard to believe that summer is over already, but the networks will roll out season premieres beginning next Monday. The first week of premieres will include:

Monday, September 1 — “Prison Break,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Two full hours!

Tuesday, September 2 — “90210,” The CW, 7 p.m. CDT. Also two hours. (Yeah, I’m gonna give it a try. Watched the old one, too. What’s your point?) If “90210” isn’t your thing, do yourself a favor and spend that night watching a repeat of the two-part finale of “House” — these two episodes, titled “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart,” are two of the best hours of television ever made.

Wednesday, September 3 — “Bones,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Again, two hours! The television gods are definitely smiling on me.

If all goes as planned, I’ll be inspired to check in with recaps and comments for these sometime next week. For a full list of fall premiere dates, click here.

Saturday Night at Bigfoot Lodge

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:46:00 +0000

As much as I detest the constant “what are we going to have for dinner?” debate, I do love that it takes us to some odd places at odd times. Last night, the debate started pretty late, so our options were limited. We wanted Soul Fish, but by the time we got all the way in from the ‘burbs, it was closing in less than an hour and had already emptied out. EAToo said it was a shame we didn’t have our coupons for Bigfoot Lodge with us. I replied that they weren’t good on Saturday, anyway, but that it sounded great and isn’t all that expensive. So off we went.

It turned out to be a great idea. We found a parking spot downtown without too much trouble — kudos to the guy who parallel-parked his ginormous white SUV behind us on Gayoso after the little Yaris left, without messing up our new car. (EAToo did an excellent job with the parallel parking as well.) Even better, after we got inside Bigfoot, our “10-15 minute” wait suddenly morphed into about five minutes. Woo-hoo!

Bigfoot Lodge is one of my favorite places, for several reasons. The food is always good and relatively inexpensive, the portions are huge, and the service is always dead on. Plus, we again defended our title as the “World’s Greatest Aunt and Uncle” the night we took the princess there and got the make-your-own s’mores. Baby girl apparently enjoys fire and toasted marshmallows just as much as her aunt does.

Last night’s trip turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. One reason was the music. Bigfoot has a great digital jukebox, and apparently someone our age had gotten hold of it right before we got there. When we arrived, Journey’s “Faithfully” was playing. A few songs later, “Elvira,” by The Oak Ridge Boys, came on, at which point we could overhear one of the managers explaining that the song was “really big at the skating rink” and yelling, “Wait! Here comes the bass part!” (Admit it – if you’ve ever heard the song, you know you love it.) I, myself, was belting out “Summer Nights” from Grease — fortunately, the place is loud enough that no one could really hear, so we weren’t thrown out.

One thing I don’t always like at Bigfoot is sitting in the front window. The entire front of the restaurant is glassed-in, and I always feel like the exhibit in a people aquarium. So I was glad we were sitting back just a bit last night. Right up until we had a bit of a celebrity sighting outside the window. Watching the people walk by outside, I turned to EAToo and said “That’s funny. That kind of looks like — it is! It’s Joey Dorsey!” My suspicions were soon confirmed by the crowd that was forming around him, cell phone cameras in hand. Just as I have always heard, the 6'8" Tigers’ forward was extremely gracious to his fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs, with that big, sweet, genuine grin he’s so well-known for. It’s obvious watching him that he still can’t believe he’s such a rock star around these parts. Just for a second, I kind of wanted to go outside and get a picture (and I probably would have taken the kids outside if we’d had them last night — they both adore him), but the poor guy was getting mobbed badly enough already. Besides, we had some serious food on the way....

Especially since EAToo and I finally decided to try Bigfoot’s signature appetizer, the “Poutine.” (That’s pronounced “pooh-tin”, by the way.) I wish I could have taken a picture, but I hadn’t been planning on blogging — as far as I knew, we were just as likely to end up at Krystal last night. But I will do my best to describe the Canadian wonder that is poutine in words, instead. The dish begins with a ginormous plate of french fries. (And make no mistake — at Bigfoot, these puppies have never been frozen and do not originate from a plastic bag.) I don’t eat fries out a lot, anyway, but I always make an exception for the handmade ones at Bigfoot.

But these weren’t just fries. Oh, no — these were covered (dare I say bathed?) in a beautiful brown gravy which was perfectly seasoned and not a bit too salty. Also included was a lovely, fresh cheese. I’m still not sure what kind of cheese, but it’s a lovely, fresh one, about the same texture as fresh mozzarella. The curds, like fresh mozzarella, were soft enough to melt just a bit in the hot gravy, without disappearing entirely. And the proportions were perfect — it was possible to get fries, cheese, and sufficient gravy with every bite. EAToo enjoyed them as much as I did, which is a grand endorsement, considering that he has issues with most of the softer cheeses. If I had any argument at all with the poutine, it was that it’s a big enough appetizer for at least four people — and EAToo and I probably shouldn’t have tackled it alone.

We followed that up with a burger for EAToo — the “Four Cheese” — although he would have been happy to skip the American and make it a “Three Cheese” with the Cheddar, Jack, and Swiss. (No, even EAToo wouldn’t try to eat the entire four-pound “Sasquatch” burger alone in an hour, although he has shared it with friends before.) Bigfoot is one of the few places where he can order his burger medium rare and I can order mine well done, and we both get what we want. I had the “Asian Egg Roll Salad.” I’m not normally a salad kind of girl, but who can argue with a salad topped with sesame seeds, fried wontons, and egg rolls stuffed with pork shoulder barbecue and slaw? Not me, especially if the whole mess is covered with Bigfoot’s light but flavorful sesame ginger dressing.

We didn’t have any room for dessert last night, thanks to the poutine. But Bigfoot does have a wonderful dessert menu as well. They also have great sandwiches, including a really good bratwurst and an amazing pork tenderloin sandwich — the night I ordered it, I had to trim so much meat off the thing just to be able to pick it up that I could have had a second sandwich. They also have a really good, reasonably priced kids’ menu. You can check out the entire menu here.

Obviously, EAToo and I don’t really get the idea of “too far to drive for food.” But we hear that some people do, so here’s some good news for those of you who may not want to make the trek to downtown Memphis to sample the wonders of Bigfoot Lodge. According to this post, the owners are currently asking for input on where to locate Bigfoot #2. I’ll keep my ear to the ground and post about it if I hear any further news.

Bigfoot Lodge
97 S. Second Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 578-9800

Open 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 a.m.
Seven days a week

Your Chance to Vote for the Emmys!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Ok, well, maybe not exactly.

Or, you know, at all.

But you can vote in the online contest for “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” — the winners will be shown during the 60th Annual Emmys telecast on Sunday, September 21.

Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the Emmys. They usually only serve to irritate me, as the same few shows and actors win over and over, especially during the last decade or so, when some truly brilliant people and shows have been overlooked just because they were on broadcast television instead of cable. I mean, honestly — someone should get Hugh Laurie an Emmy, about five minutes ago, just for his American accent. Or his gorgeous eyes. But I digress...

This year, I actually have a few dogs in the Emmy fight, including “Lost”, “House”, “Pushing Daisies”, and “Mad Men”.
So I’m watching the press on it a bit more closely than usual, and found this story about the “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” competition. As always, I was a little skeptical, since the Emmys don’t usually congratulate cutting-edge television. But as the article mentioned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, I decided to at least take a look.

Even if you don’t vote, I’d definitely suggest taking a look at the nominees for a great walk down television memory lane. I recognized many of them from the pictures on the links, but each has a video clip attached as well. The comedy clips ranged from the brilliant (Suzanne Pleshette’s surprise cameo at the end of “Newhart”), to the iconic (Lucille Ball’s candy conveyor belt schtick from “I Love Lucy”), to the downright confusing (“American Idol”? Even if you must lump music moments in with comedy... American Idol?!?!).

I ended up voting for Carol Burnett — even 32 years later, her “Went with the Wind” skit still cracks me up every time; when complimented on her dress made from drapery — curtain rod still attached — she replies, “I saw it in the window and I just had to have it.”

The drama clips cover a bit more random ground, but I guess there’s at least something there for everyone. I’ve never been a big fan of “Miami Vice” or “Grey’s Anatomy”. (There. I said it. I don’t watch Grey’s. I’ll probably lose my girl card over saying so, but it’s true.) But the “Moonlighting” clip of Maddie and Dave’s fight-turned-passion is just as powerful as it was 20 years ago. And they even threw in a smattering of great sci-fi moments, from “The Twilight Zone” (in case you weren’t aware, To Serve Humans is a cookbook), “Star Trek” (Harland Ellison’s legendary “City on the Edge of Forever”), and my all-time favorite scene from “The X-Files”. Was Mulder finally kissing Scully onscreen a “memorable moment”? Why, yes, it certainly was.

Ultimately, though, I had to go with “Buffy.” The “blue ribbon panel” chose Buffy’s death scene from “The Gift.” Now, I’m not convinced that “Buffy” was even Joss Whedon’s best television show. And “The Gift” is easily the second-best episode of “Buffy”, behind “The Body”. But much like my comedy pick, years later, I still cry every time I see Buffy Summers say good-bye to her sister and sacrifice herself to save the world.

My only nitpick with the clips, overall, was that a couple of the comedy clips were far too dramatic, and kind of belonged in the other category. I don’t care if “M*A*S*H” was a sitcom. The scene where Radar enters the operating room to announce Henry Blake’s death? Well, it’s apples and oranges. You can’t really compare it to the funny stuff.

So vote now, and go back and vote again when the second round picks up on Tuesday, September 9. Even if the Emmys ultimately get it wrong (again) this year, they’re making an effort to celebrate great television, and I think we should reward them for it by participating.

Unfortunately, there’s no ballot to vote against Ryan Seacrest as one of the Emmy hosts. Oh, well. I guess you can’t have everything.

Harry Potter and the Ginormous Marketing Blunder

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:54:00 +0000

Okay, let’s get it out of the way — I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. My only excuse is the insufferable wall of heat that hits Memphis every year, making everyone (meaning: me) not want to do anything until it's over. And lucky me, it came early this year.

(Well, it’s not exactly my only excuse... but more on that later in the week.)

But the heat wave has broken now, so it’s time to blog again. Plus, I’m really mad and I need to rant.

It came to my attention on Thursday night that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, previously scheduled for a November 21 release, has been pushed back to next summer, and is now set to premiere on July 17, 2009. This irritates me, for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of which is that it totally ruins my plans for my birthday this year, on November 22.

But even more irritating than finding out that I would have to wait an extra eight months for the movie was the way in which the news was presented. Now, I understand the decision from a business perspective — sort of. Obviously, the writers’ strike took longer to become obvious in movie theatres than it did on television screens, due to the exponentially longer production schedules, so it makes sense that Warner Bros. wants to spread a bit of the wealth into next year. Of course, I’m sure The Dark Knight is partially responsible as well, causing those at the WB to be concerned about keeping their overall profits up next year.

That’s all well and good. It doesn’t excuse the fact, however, that Warner Bros. announced their decision in what can only be described as a textbook example of how to outrage their customers. So, just in case a situation like this arises again, I’m offering the guys in charge at the WB some free advice on public relations:

1. The fans are not stupid.

In an effort to put a happy face on the news, Jeff Robinov, president of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, was quoted as saying that “The good news (for fans) is that the gap will now be shortened between ‘Half Blood Prince’ and the first part of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’” Oh. So we should be grateful to the studio for putting off the premiere. They’re just doing us a favor.

I hate to be the one to tell Mr. Robinov that most Harry Potter fans are smart enough to figure out that it also lengthens the gap between Half Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix. If you must give the fans bad news, at least don’t underestimate their intelligence and try to convince them to be happy about it. The only people grateful to Warner Bros. over this move are the people who produced Twilight.

2. Don’t taunt the fans.

Warner Bros. president Alan Horn took a different approach in trying to reassure fans. He told reporters that “I’ve seen the movie. It’s fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”

Now, I’m not advocating lying to the fans, or trying to mislead them in any way (see no. 1). But really? You honestly think it softens the blow to mention that you’ve already seen it, and it’s great? I imagine that quote spoken in the voice of Nelson from The Simpsons, followed by “I’ve seen it and you can’t! And I could have let you if I wanted to! Ha ha!” I mean, really?

3. Don’t make matters worse by embarrassing your own company.

Not handling your fans well is one thing, but hanging one of your corporate subsidiaries out to dry? Of course, we don’t know exactly when Warner Bros. made this decision. But you would hope they would have done so early enough to get out ahead of the annual “fall movie” media blitz. And if not, you’d think they still would have had enough class to give a “heads up” to the folks at Entertainment Weekly. Also a division of Warner Bros., EW put out their annual Fall Movie Preview issue this week, only to be embarrassed Here’s the cover:

Um, yeah. ‘Cause that’s not embarrassing or awkward. At all.

Of course, I’m still planning on my usual ritual of re-reading all of the books, followed by seeing the movie as early as I possibly can. Preferably in IMAX. (Did I mention that I’m a geek?) But I refuse to be happy or grateful about the delay, no matter what anyone at the WB says.

If they wanted fans to keep the fans happy (or at least relatively non-violent) despite the postponement, it would have been much easier to deflect the bad publicity by focusing on this. If it’s true, I’m pretty sure it will definitely make everyone forget about the release date.

The Wait Is Over — Rock Band Track Pack Is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:41:00 +0000

I think Nickelback said it best:

Hey, hey, I wanna be a rock star...

Really, don’t we all? Unfortunately, as I mentioned previously, playing Rock Band is pretty much as close as I’ll ever get.

But while I am only a legendary vocalist (and bassist) in my own mind, like all great rock stars, I still need new material to keep things fresh for my virtual audience. That’s why I was so excited that MTV Games finally released Rock Band Track Pack: Vol. 1 this week for both PS2 and Wii. So excited that I went to three stores on Tuesday looking for it, and spent a good portion of the day on Wednesday hitting refresh on the Best Buy website trying to buy it. Sure, I know I’ve only had the first Rock Band for eight months, but you have to keep working on your art, right?

Priced at $29.99, the Track Pack is a pretty good deal, considering that it contains 20 songs, all recorded by the original artists. Downloaded individually for Xbox or PS3, that would run you about $40. On the other hand, that only seems fair, considering that neither PS2 nor Wii players have ever before had access to the now 156 downloadable tracks that have been offered to Xbox and PS3 users since November 2007.

The song list for Track Pack Vol. 1 is pretty satisfying. I’m not a big fan of David Bowie in general, and it’s much harder to sing along with the Grateful Dead than I imagined. But there are a lot of tracks that I love. “Crushcrushcrush” by Paramore is my new favorite to sing, although I also absolutely love Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”, “Move Along” by the All-American Rejects, and 30 Seconds to Mars’ “The Kill” (although I kind of wish that last one was the acoustic version I’ve been listening to on the radio). The one that surprised me a bit was how much fun it was to sing Blink 182’s “All the Small Things”. (It would have been fun even if I hadn’t scored 100% on medium on my first try — but it probably helped.) I also like “Live Forever” by Oasis, now that I’ve moved from “I don’t think I know that one” to “Oh, yeah — I remember now!”

There are still lots of downloadable songs I want — AAR’s “Dirty Little Secret” and Weezer’s “El Scorcho” come immediately to mind — but I’ll try to be patient. After all, the best thing about the Track Pack is that it’s Volume 1. So Volume 2 has to be on the way. Although it can’t get here soon enough for me.

After all, my imaginary fans will expect new material at some point, and you have to give the people what they want.

Television News: Ausiello’s Back!

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Or should that be “Television News News”?

My favorite television journalist, Michael Ausiello, has finally completed his move from TVGuide to Entertainment Weekly. His new online presence, The Ausiello Files, launched on Wednesday, July 2.

I have enjoyed Mike’s work on TVGuide.com for years. It’s not just that he provides enough television scoop to keep an obsessive fangirl like myself happy. He’s funny, snarky, and does not tolerate fools well — so I’ve always considered him a bit of a kindred spirit.

Both loyal fans (aka “Ausholes”) and newbies who love television should rush right over. You can once again get your fill of television scoop, have your burning questions answered at Ask Ausiello, and guess at new blind items. (One of which he even answered in Ask Ausiello – a first!)

At first I was sad to hear that Mike was leaving TVGuide.com. But it appears that the news is all good for us Ausholes. Not only has his blog been updated more regularly than his old site was (even on weekends), Mike premiered his new “Ausiello TV” weekly vodcast on Friday. And unlike his weekly vodcast on TVGuide, you can actually download the ATV video without any trouble at all — no need to post comments begging the privileged few viewers for a transcript anymore! (The first edition was a hoot, featuring some really special guest stars — definitely worth checking out.)

Welcome back, Mr. Ausiello! We missed you for those few weeks between gigs, and I can’t wait to read your first postings about the Television Critics Association Press Tour this week.

Playing with My Food: The Memphis Farmers’ Market

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:55:00 +0000

Part 1: Peaches

On Saturday morning, despite his better judgment (and with promises of a nap later), I drug EAToo out of bed and downtown to the Memphis Farmers’ Market. Just a couple of blocks from the Mississippi River, the Memphis Farmers’ Market is a bit of a drive from the suburbs, but it’s worth the trip. Located at the old Central Station pavilion on Front Street, the MFM is open from April through October, and offers entertainment and family activities in addition to the opportunity to meet and buy food from local growers. They also sponsor events out in the community, such as their Dinner Tour this summer (the next one is at Restaurant Iris this summer.

We arrived at the MFM around 9:00 a.m. — not as early as I had hoped, considering it opens at 7:00 a.m. — but it was still fairly cool and pleasant for a July morning in Memphis, owing to the clouds that were threatening rain. My main intentions were to buy peaches and cucumbers, before heading to breakfast at Café Ecletic (more about that another time). I had bought both items a few weeks before, but had not gotten around to using the produce due to a rather unfortunate incident involving my (now former) car and a light pole on I-240.

I did get my peaches (purchased from the lovely folks at Jones Orchard) and some lovely pickling cucumbers (from the Ly Vu family farm). After some discussion, and a promise from EAToo that he would help me keep it alive, we also bought a basil plant. Our final stop (which required very little discussion) was at Bun in the Oven bakery and catering, for the best carmelitas I have ever had. (Sorry, Mom.)

Saturday afternoon, I began my first project, a peach cobbler. Since I hadn’t made a cobbler in years, I did a bit of recipe research online, but couldn’t find a cobbler recipe that sounded right to me. I finally gave up and went with my old standby, the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. (A wedding gift in 1993, mine is the updated version of my mother’s BH&G, which I used to read over and over as a child, the way normal kids would have read a favorite storybook.) It’s a great starting place for just about anything I want to cook, and very useful for conversions, ingredient substitutions, etc. However, as always, I couldn’t help but going off book a bit. Here’s the recipe as I actually ended up making it:

Peach Cobbler

EA’s Peach Cobbler
(as adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook)

Ingredients for filling:

4 c. sliced peaches (about 8 or 9 medium peaches)
1 c. sugar
1 tbsp. corn starch
1/4 c. water

Preheat oven to 400°. Peel and slice peaches into a 2-quart baking dish. (I suggest doing your peeling and slicing over your baking dish, so as not to lose any juice.) In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, corn starch, and water to form a slurry. Stir the slurry into the peaches. After the oven has fully preheated, go ahead and place the baking dish into the oven to allow the filling to cook a bit while you make the dough for the topping.

Ingredients for topping:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
5 tbsp. butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 c. milk, as needed

Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and ¼ cup milk. Stir into flour mixture until just moist. Add milk as needed until dough is completely moist and a workable consistency. Drop topping dough by spoonfuls onto hot filling. Spread to cover — the crust won’t spead much as it bakes. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

The cobbler turned out pretty well, although I really think it needed more sugar (I added more in the recipe above). The BFFs definitely seemed to enjoy it, and didn’t force me to take the leftovers home with me, which I think is a good sign.

My project Sunday afternoon was to use at least some of the remaining peaches for ice cream. This time, I did go with an internet recipe that I found on AllRecipes.com. After much looking around, I went with this recipe. Yes, I know. It calls for eggs, and yet the custard isn’t ever cooked. But EAToo and I weren’t scared, and you shouldn’t be, either. (It’s not that I laugh in the face of salmonella — it’s just that food borne illness from uncooked eggs is unlikely. If you’re worried, buy pasteurized eggs.)

It was during my ice cream making adventure that I had my only unfortunate incident of the weekend. Saturday afternoon, EAToo kept offering to peel and slice peaches for me. He swore he was just offering to help so I could work on something else, but I’m pretty sure he thought I was going to hurt myself. On Sunday, while peeling and cutting the peaches for the ice cream, I thought I had slightly cut my thumb. Except there was no blood. Turns out that I had given myself a little splinter from a peach pit, once again ensuring my title as “Queen of the Freak Accidents.”

For some reason that I can’t properly explain, the ice cream didn’t freeze in my ice cream maker. Now, I don’t mean it didn’t get hard. I mean it was still liquid. Not one to give up, I went ahead and froze the mix in a bowl in the freezer, with pretty decent results:

Peach Ice Cream

It’s extremely rich ice cream, with the eggs and heavy cream. But that’s fine — I managed not to overindulge. You don’t need a lot at one time with the kind of flavor you get from the Jones Orchard peaches. And let’s face it — if I wanted to worry about the calories, I’d have skipped the ice cream making in the first place.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Adventures in Pickling!

A Gift of History

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:06:00 +0000

Yesterday, I received one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. My mother had mentioned last week that she had a box in her workroom that she needed to give me; yesterday, when I was at her house, she reminded me to go upstairs and get the box out of her craft room. I did, and found this:

My present

Pretty, right? I was wildly curious. Knowing my mother, it could have been literally anything. Unable to help myself, I opened it immediately, peeled back the layers of tissue paper, and found...

... my grandmother’s recipes.

Not copies, mind you, or a compilation. These are the actual recipes that she had scribbled down on whatever was handy, or clipped from magazines or old cookbooks. This was bits of my childhood, the origins of my passion for cooking, wrapped up in a box. My love of cooking began in my grandmother’s kitchen. It was there that I made my first solo dish, French toast. It was there that I learned to make biscuits, spaghetti, fried chicken, all of the basics. It was there that I learned to equate food with love and family, as cooking brought me closer to my grandmother, and as the food we served brought the whole family together.

Doing my best not to get too emotional since we had guests, I closed up the box, pushed back the tears that were threatening, and closed up my treasure to have a closer look at home, in private.

At home, I found a lot of great recipes that brought back wonderful memories. But my favorites were those I recognized as being in my grandmother’s own handwriting.

My grandmother’s jam cake recipe

Jam cake has always been a holiday recipe for my family. Growing up, my mother’s family had very little; she and her four brothers and sisters might get one gift at Christmas. But my grandmother always made up for that by making the holidays special with food — more cookies, candies, cakes, and pies than you could imagine. I lost my grandmother over twenty years ago, but we still have jam cake for Thanksgiving or Christmas nearly every year.

Even more than the history, though, this recipe was special to me for another reason. One of the things I remember most about cooking with my grandmother is how frustrated I would get when I would ask her a question and get a vague answer. “How much milk?” “Oh, enough.” “How long do I cook it?” “Till it looks right.” It drove me nuts back then, but now I get it. And it makes me smile to read the instructions for the jam cake, which after a brief description of how to mix the ingredients reads simply “Bake — 350 — until done.”

My grandmother’s pickle recipe

With very few exceptions, I spent my summer days with my grandmother until I started high school. My grandmother had the most amazing green thumb, and her tiny yard produced an amazing array of flowers, four fruit trees, and a prolific garden. Every day we would pick vegetables from the garden, and when the cucumbers were ready, it was time to make pickles.

Pickle-making is still one of my strongest memories of summer. I remember the smell of the pickles before they were canned. I remember jumping up and down on the dining room floor to make the pressure cooker whistle in the kitchen. And most of all, I remember stealing the freshly cut cucumber slices out of the ice-cold brine, as often as I could without getting caught and risking my grandmother’s wrath. (She never once spanked me, but I truly believed it was an option.) I’ve never been good with plants like she was — I’ve actually killed cacti and aloe plants — so I don’t have a garden. But I plan on hitting the Farmer’s Market next weekend so I can try out her pickle recipe.

My grandmother’s macaroni salad recipe

I have to confess, macaroni salad was never one of my favorite things to eat. I’m not sure why, given my lifelong affair with mayonnaise, and considering that I make a somewhat similar recipe now. But I do remember helping to make it for all sorts of occasions. Mostly I remember taking it to our annual family reunion — always a loud raucous, fun time as we reconnected with my grandmother’s seven siblings, their children, and their grandchildren.

But that’s not why this recipe is my favorite of the bunch. I love it best not for the recipe itself, but for everything else about it. First, true to my grandmother’s style, there are no real directions, just a line separating the salad ingredients from the dressing ingredients. Even better, it contains one of my grandmother’s intricate, swirly doodles. Plus, the added bonus of what looks like the scores from a game of rummy between her, my mother, and my aunt. All scribbled on the back of an insert that came out of my grandmother’s Scrabble set, which brings back a whole other set of memories.

I need to thank my mother again. This little box was more than just recipes. It’s a piece of my family, and my history, that I can carry with me. It’s a piece of myself, very much connected to the experiences that made me the woman I am today. And more than that, it will be a part of my future, as I begin to use these recipes to cook for the people I love.

Friday Night at the Drive-In

noreply@blogger.com (EasilyAmused) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:33:00 +0000

In the last several years, EAToo and I have gotten to where we rarely see movies out. In addition to the expense, I just don’t need the stress of trying to watch a movie while surrounded by people who don’t know how to behave themselves in public. (I think I gave up in 2002 when I took off work early to see Star Trek: Nemesis. I remember sitting in the theater, when I heard a cell phone ring. “Hey... not much... at the movie... Star Trek... well, it’s ok....”) So I kind of need it to be a pretty special experience if I’m going to see a movie with the unwashed masses.

On Friday night, we definitely had a special experience. We went, along with the whole family (the BFFs, and the “niece” and “nephew”), to the Summer Drive-In. As you can see, our double feature for the evening included WALL•E and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The box office at the Summer Drive-In

The first time I went there, with my parents, it was still the “Summer Twin”, with only two screens. It opened in the late ‘60s with one screen, and by 1985 had expanded to four screens, two of which had traditional speakers, and two of which worked with short-range FM broadcasts for sound. I think the first movie I saw there was Star Wars, but I definitely remember seeing Grease there, too. Later, as a teenager, I remember going there with friends to see Dirty Dancing (with the same aforementioned BFF — one of three times we saw it at the theater) and on a date, to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The concession stand

Things have changed a lot since then. Once one of two drive-ins in Memphis, the Summer is now the only drive-in left in all of West Tennessee. (According to driveinmovie.com, Tennessee is still one of the best states for drive-ins, although as of their writing, 14 of 15 operational drive-ins in the state were in Middle and East Tennessee.) Known as the “Summer Four” in its glory days, screen 2 was lost last year in a fire. Only its skeleton remains, and owner Malco has no plans to rebuild:

The former screen 2

But many things are still the same. (And not just the asphalt, which I’m pretty sure hasn’t been re-paved since the first time I was there, in the ‘70s.) The Summer still hosts rows and rows of families, sitting in their cars or outside them in lawn chairs with their picnic coolers. Parents still feel safe enough to let their kids (at least the bigger ones) run back and forth to the concession stand on their own. Intermission still brings the series of goofy nature pictures which has nothing to do with anything. And a lot of the kids still fall asleep before intermission (or “halftime”, as the princess called it when she woke up as we were packing up to leave, wondering how she had missed so much).

Our view of screen 1

All in all, it was a great, relaxing evening. We saw two good movies, and it was very comfortable and breezy, despite the Memphis summer heat. Sure, there were a few minor issues, all having to do with being around other people, some of whom were apparently not raised right. You know who you are — the people next to us who left your empty soda cans rolling around on the ground, for instance. Or the people next to us whose exhaust fumes we had to smell when they kept their engine running for twenty minutes. Or the people who didn’t know you were supposed to have your lights off the whole time. (Thank you, though, for finally turning off your parking lights after we asked.)

Despite the minor irritations, it was a night I wouldn’t trade for anything. Going to the drive-in is a quintessentially American experience, and a part of our history that is slipping away as more and more of these theaters close. Honestly, I’m not sure how the Summer Drive-In stays in business — they charge only $7 for a double feature, kids are free, and the concession stand can’t be all that profitable with everyone bringing their own food with them. I count myself lucky, not only that I can still enjoy the drive-in myself, but that the Summer Drive-In stayed open long enough to share that part of my childhood with the kids.

Summer Drive-In
5310 Summer Avenue
Memphis, TN 38122
901-767-4320