You know how some second films in a trilogy end up being fun and pretty -- but empty -- filler *cough*Hellboy 2*cough* while others are complex and gorgeous creations that not only add depth to the overall story but exist as classics in their own right?
I'm usually not a fan of record companies, ASCAP, and the RIAA because of just this type of ridiculous behavior, but it's going to be very entertaining to see how this plays out:
This pic of the phenomenal Helen Mirren has been flying all over the internets, and I am going to be the 5 millionth woman to say that I hope I look half as good as she does when I'm 50, much less when I'm 63.
She's without makeup, vibrant, voluptuous -- she's gorgeous! And I love that it looks like she hasn't had any work done. But it's also important to note, for fairness' sake, that she's had no children. In fact, she's said she "[has] no maternal instinct whatsoever." You go girl! Women like this can start a revolution.
Helen Mirren is the embodiment of what I hope for in my golden years.
Can't wait for The Last Station, where she plays Leo Tolstoy's wife, Sofya, alongside Paul Giamatti, Christopher Plummer, Anne-Marie Duff, and James McAvoy.
I haven't been cooking much lately since I've been on this detox diet. What's the fun with vegetables, vegetables, more vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and a little grain?
Okay, if you know me, I suppose there's plenty of fun to be had with those ingredients, but I guess I've just been cranky without my beloved hot chiles.
Tonight, however, I felt like cooking something fabulous for myself. Inspired by recent trips to Chez Simone and La Note, I decided to have a ratatouille omelette.
Looks good, non? Though a little ratty around the edges, courtesy of my small spatula (and a little blurry overall, courtesy of my one handed camerawork).
It was so delicious, I decided to commit the recipe to le blog. I constructed it with what I had in my fridge and pantry, so obviously it requires no special ingredients, but it was still quite an impressive finished dish.
Ratatouille Omelette
You can be a rebel and use other vegetables (for example, I omitted the more traditional zucchini in favor of meaty mushrooms), but for me, ratatouille definitely requires five things -- garlic, onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and eggplant.
1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium globe eggplant, sliced into rounds 1/2 inch thick 3-4 large garlic cloves, minced 1 small yellow onion, diced 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces 8 oz crimini mushrooms, quartered 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes 5 or 6 basil leaves, chopped salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs, beaten 1/2 tsp olive oil 1/2 tsp dried rosemary 1/3 cup grated parmesan, divided into 4 portions
chopped parsley for garnish
Note: I spray my eggplant slices with an oil sprayer before baking, but feel free to brush the slices with oil if you prefer. I also prep my vegetables while the eggplant is baking and cooling.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush or spray eggplant slices with oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake eggplant for 15 minutes or until tender but still firm. Remove from oven and cool.
Heat olive oil in a one quart saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until onion begins to turn translucent. Add bell pepper and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 or 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Meanwhile chop eggplant into rough 1/2 inch cubes.
Add eggplant and canned tomatoes with juice, incorporating it into the other vegetables. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chopped basil leaves, then remove from heat and set aside.
Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Mix rosemary into the beaten eggs. Pour half of the eggs into the skillet and sprinkle with 1/4 of the parmesan. Cook eggs until firm but still moist. Add 2-3 tablespoons of ratatouille to the eggs and fold the eggs over the ratatouille.
Plate the omelette and spoon 1 or 2 tablespoons of ratatouille over the top. Sprinkle with another 1/4 of the parmesan, and parsley. Repeat to make a second omelette.
Serves two, with plenty of ratatouille left over to eat on crostini, or with a little rice for lunch! :)
The creator of a calendar that featured shirtless Mormon missionaries was excommunicated Sunday after a disciplinary meeting with local church leaders in Las Vegas.
A calendar of shirtless, corn-fed Mormon boys? Genius.
I want to think this is a ploy by the Mormon Church to get more publicity for this calendar -- and thus more female converts -- but if I know stodgy old religious men, it is probably just more 18th century behavior and an unwillingness to understand good marketing.
And this is good marketing, for this calendar aims to show that being sexy and religious are not necessarily mutually exclusive, by chronicling not only the beefy results of biking and hiking door-to-door for the lord, but the backgrounds and missions of each calendar boy. For women fed up with men who don't think about anyone but themselves, having a guy who is purportedly intent on supporting his family AND worked with the Special Olympics or built wells in Africa can sound mighty enticing. Check out these Utah boys for yourself.
But goo, then there's reality: the LDS doctrines of women submitting to male authority -- of which the worst thing for me is only looking forward to churning out spirit baby after spirit baby in immortal death (which happens only if your husband can remember your name so you can actually enter heaven -- WTF?), after a mortal lifetime of churning out real babies and waiting on men. Takes the shine off moving to Utah real quick!
Actually, I'm also loving the entire stretch of Clement Street in the Inner Richmond where this restaurant is located. Here exists the most extensive and lovingly displayed anime toy store around, as well as the smallest but most fashion-forward Goodwill. Wondrous Asian shops selling everything from Chinese herbs and dried fish to firecrackers and probably Mogwai are also quite abundant. But it is truly the restaurants that rule!
Holy hot hell. You really must embiggen and get a look at those eyes. Sweet mother of god.
Such a perfect 21st century, iconic photograph -- the type that will get referenced in his future retrospective -- but still not unlike one of my favorites of Paul Newman from the 1960s that was featured on the cover of GQ last year. Yum.
Not only is Mr. McAvoy also yum, but seems smart and grounded, and BTW did you see Atonement? The man can act. On his way to legendary.
Details, however -- eh, not so much. More like creepy and trying too hard. But this is pretty funny.
3) The wallpaper in the ladies' room at The Avenue (may be NSF your W).
4) yoCup in San Francisco, and live culture, probiotic frozen yogurt in general. Now that this phenomenon is exploding in Northern California, I am crossing my fingers for one to open up in Oakland so I no longer have to dream constantly of 150 calorie tart goodness topped with enormous succulent blackberries. Damn, I would BART across the Bay right now if they were open.
5) Cocktails at Flora, especially with my sweetie, and my good friends Chris and Jumoke. Never was much of a gal for gin, but you learn something new everyday!
Merced Farm Labor was subcontracted by West Coast Grape Farming, whose president, Fred Franzia, also owns Bronco Winery, makers of Charles Shaw wine — also known as Trader Joe's cheap and wildly popular "Two-Buck Chuck." Approximately 72 million bottles of the $2 wine are sold each year, exclusively at Trader Joe's.
United Farm Workers, responding to [Maria Isabel Vasquez] Jimenez's death, have asked supporters to fire off letters to Trader Joe's requesting the company "implement a corporate policy to ensure that [its] suppliers are not violating the law by failing to provide basic protections such as cold water, shade, and clean bathrooms."
The inhumane treatment of farm workers in California (and elsewhere in the US) is a pervasive human rights issue that many seem to turn a blind eye to in favor of low produce prices. It's all about the money, baby. But it is exactly large, successful, purportedly more "progressive" groceries -- with a high percentage of well-to-do and socially-conscious clientele -- like Trader Joe's who can make a difference by demanding suppliers treat their employees humanely.
I really like Trader Joe's. An early purveyor of natural, organic, and vegetarian foods, touted as a chain of groceries privately-owned by one family, and a company that pays a competetive wage to their employees, I rejoiced when one opened in my neighborhood. I also love myself some Two-Buck Chuck. But I won't be buying it until they take some responsibility for the actions of their suppliers. And while they're at it, why not be a little more forthcoming about their "organic" dairy products? I've stopped buying those products too.
While I understand it's impossible to monitor as socially conscious every little morsel of food one gets from a grocer, it's important to bring this kind of gross negligence and disregard for human life to light. Please send a fax to Trader Joe's, demanding that they use their buying clout to help improve their suppliers' treatment of farm workers, here.
No larger risk imaginable was recently forced upon a gaijin gimp by Narita Customs.
On May 26, a customs official planted 124 grams of cannabis in a [non-Japanese] tourist's bag. Why again? It was to train the sniffer dog.
Unbelievably, the bag got lost. Customs later tracked down the tourist and his bag at a Tokyo hotel. They publicly blamed one bad egg — and one bad dog.
However the Kyodo news agency now reports Narita has laced bags 160 times since last September. The Mainichi in English called it "common practice."
Never mind that anyone else doing this would be committing a crime. If the bag had got on a connecting flight to a place such as Singapore, the unwitting possessor could have been executed!
I'm used to hearing about Japanese police officers stopping foreigners, repeatedly and for no reason. But for this I'm speechless.
It took some time, but Americans are responding to rising energy costs by driving smaller cars and cutting back on miles they log on the road.
The persistence of high energy prices plays a role. It takes time for consumers to make changes that lower energy use. That isn't so much because people first shrug off high energy costs. They can and do react quickly. But the most important factors in energy-consumption changes come only with time -- buying a new refrigerator or a smaller house or trading in a sport-utility vehicle for a smaller car.
"What we're seeing now is prices have been high for a while and consumers have become convinced high prices are here to stay. That's given them time to make changes, such as the car they buy," said economist Christopher Knittel of the University of California, Davis. "That has larger effects than, 'Well, I'm just not going to drive to the mall this week.'"
This is big. We are going into a massive cultural shift that will see Americans not only changing the way they drive, but how they interact with their local community. I daresay this may even convince folks of how spoilt and entitled we've been, as we have clearcut our way through fossil fuels with our massive SUVs and McMansions and the like with nary a glance at what the consequences are for the rest of the human populace. May we finally experience even a small bit of what our ignorance has wrought on the rest of the world, and may we begin to learn from it (and turn it around before Wall-E comes to pass!)
And if you still feel like complaining after that spiel, chin up! Get a grip on yourself about our paltry almost $5 per gallon, and fall on your knees to praise jeebus -- you could be living in Britain!
Many environmentalists have quietly rejoiced that the high cost of fuel is apparently achieving what governments have largely failed to: a reduction in carbon emissions.
But not all subscribe to this logic. Tom Burke, an environmental scientist and former government adviser, says high pump prices "inevitably fall hardest on people who can least bear them, instead of on governments who took wrong decisions."
"You can't just say it's a good thing that prices go up and people will do more sensible things," he says. "Older people, people already at the bottom of the pile, will find it harder ... to live and anyone who welcomes that has lost their humanity."
BTW, I am one of those folks who has "lost their humanity." I do hate high gas prices for the same fundamental reason everyone else does -- it makes my life less convenient -- but I do secretly rejoice at the same time. And yes, for those of you keeping score at home, it is easy for me to rejoice. I live in an area with ample public transit, I am healthy enough to ride a bike and walk, and I have plenty of shops carrying the necessities within walking distance of my apartment.
But no matter: I still think gas prices being so high is a good thing. And more to the point, I don't think we can be so simplistic as to say welcoming high gas prices equals not caring about the suffering of the people on the bottom of the pile. What a ridiculous idea. To focus on environmentalist glee over something that will actually change the bad behavior of millions of people, rather than focusing on the failures of public policy to address the inevitable shitpickle that was looming and now exists because our insatiable hunger for non-renewable resources is simply rhetoric, and lack of foresight.
This is also what capitalism wrought, baby. Nothing is perfect in our capitalist society. But even so, many folks are anti social programs and anti spending for community benefit until it hits them straight in the gut. I have no patience for people who are Capitalist when they get the long straw and Socialist when they don't get their way. Anyway, you work for policy with what you have been dealt; environmentalists have been doing that very thing in an unresponsive populace for years. And with what we have been dealt, change seems to only come from discomfort.
Any uncomfortable change (read: one that makes us evaluate need vs. want) that is good for the whole of our society and our world will inevitably hit some of the most economically fragile first -- whether it's paying a living wage for goods and services (buh-bye Wal-Mart), or getting in line with Europe and reining in our entitlement around fossil fuels. The key to leaving the least amount of people behind is demanding and working for social programs, and being community-minded.
There are poor, sick, and old people everywhere, and I don't see the preponderance of said populations elsewhere being used as an excuse to not do the right thing for the environment and our future as humans. In addition to the obvious -- exploring and implementing alternative fuels -- demand better public transit, build communities that incorporate necessary businesses within them, and get to know grandma or your neighbor and take them to the store or to work with you.
Birthday weekend started Thursday and ended today. I was spoiled rotten! Hikes to scary woods, eating (and shhhh, smoking) all the things I'm not supposed to have, shopping like you wouldn't believe (thanks baby -- remember, it's only once a year!), hanging out with friends, watching fireworks, and capping it all off with Wall-E. Righteous.
I am blessed with good friends. Still life with birthday brunch at La Note:
Another highlight was ferrying to San Francisco for a day of Ferry Building goodness, thrifting (lucked out with a beautiful Jil Sander top for $4) and fro-yo.
You can't tell from this photo, but San Francisco looks like a toy city from the ferry...
Okay, and now shhhhh -- time for a secret...
Today I dropped into one of the better high-end second-hand clothing stores and treated myself to a really cool and fairly expensive ginormous leather handbag. Checking out all of the pockets afterward, what did I find but a little suede bag from Pave. Inside were large Tahitian black pearl earrings! Oh my god, they are gorgessity.
Part of me feels bad, even though, 1) I will never know who they belonged to, 2) I love black pearls, 3) I will never be able to afford earrings like these, and 4) it's my birthday. Okay, those last three things don't really factor in to whether or not I should feel bad, but I need something to assuage my unjustified guilt. I think I just feel bad because someone lost some really badass and expensive earrings, and now I have them. So, anyway, I am but a twig floating in the stream of fate. Or something.
It's been 5 days of loveliness -- back to the real world tomorrow.
Oi, tomorrow! Tomorrow I have acupuncture. My acupuncturist is going to feel my pulse, sense the bacon and ice cream coursing through my veins, and then promptly kill me with his disapproving gaze.
A delicate ribbon of gas -- a remnant of a supernova that occurred more than 1,000 years ago -- floats eerily in our Milky Way galaxy in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. The supernova was probably the brightest star ever seen by humans and surpassed Venus as the brightest object in the nighttime sky, with the exception of the moon.
Utah? Utah as the harbinger of progressive and outside-the-box thinking? Utah?!?
California might have to hand over its cool credentials.
This is a really intriguing and simple idea that more state governments should look into. An added bonus might be economic stimulation, what with the extra day off and the costs saved on commuting. Happy people spend more money too.
Additionally, I've maintained for a very long time that the 40 hour workweek is inhumane. I see this Utah business is really just four, 10-hour days, but three days off is a step in the right direction. I've been working this way for two years now, and I don't think I can ever go back.
And, it goes w/o saying -- my occasional yummy Nat Sherman.
Which, you know, pretty much means abstaining from MY LIFE.
But the funny thing is, the tea I drink twice a day actually helps me not crave this stuff. And I've lost 5 pounds. So it's all good, right?
You would think so.
Today we went to a poetry reading at McNally's, home of the best damn Guinness pour this side of the Bay. And good god, I almost cried because I couldn't have one.
So, today, an ode -- to all the foods I've loved before:
Where's the spicy food? Forget it -- that one actually hurts too much to post anything. I regularly eat so much spicy stuff that the evidence would just be a picture of me with a big grin. So sad.
Not that I've ever found something on this scale, but a girl can dream. I do get lucky on the small scale, usually via quality vintage pieces from high-end designers. I've also found a lucite purse or two.
But I long for my high school thrifting days, because it is getting much more difficult every year to find quality vintage at a decent price. This is because it is true what the article says: the folks at these shops are getting more skilled at recognizing the good stuff. But this also leads to overvaluing too -- hence my recent shock at a faded 80s Lacoste sweater for $25!
I also love to blame eBay for the influx of people who prowl the stores and snatch up anything and everything that could possibly sell for more than a dollar. Where's the love?
I've been avoiding "organic" behemoth Horizon for a while, but this clinches it (all emphasis mine):
Unlike the majority of all organic dairy farmers in the United States, who concentrate on the health and longevity of their cows, caring for them from birth, the Dean/Horizon Idaho farm sells off all their calves. Later, presumably to save money on organic feed and management, they buy one-year-old conventional animals on the open market. These replacements likely have received conventional milk replacer (made with blood—considered to be a "mad cow" risk), antibiotics, other prohibited pharmaceuticals, and genetically engineered feed. Many practices on a farm of this nature put ethical family-scale organic farmers at a competitive disadvantage.
Very helpful, and eye-opening, as well as a reminder that you don't get quality for nothing.
I'm not so naive to think this was purely the result of grassroots organizing, but I don't want to be so bitter to think that it came about solely because even the Richie McRichersons were going to get sprayed. Let's just be happy it's been halted!
Opening the debate, [U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice noted there had long been dispute about whether the theme was a security issue and hence something the Security Council was authorized to address.
"I am proud that today we respond to that lingering question with a resounding 'yes'," she said. "This world body now acknowledges that sexual violence in conflict zones is indeed a security concern.
"We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not only the health and safety of women but the economic and social stability of their nations."
I know -- it's unbelievable that there has been debate about this being a security issue, given the way rape has been documented as a weapon of war for as long as there has been historical record. NGO groups like The Global Fund for Women have been working on these issues with other NGO women's groups on the ground in war-torn countries since their inception, and they know exactly how much of a hindrance to "economic and social stability" the weapon of rape has been and continues to be.
I have to tell you that I'd become very bitter and hopeless about the U.N. ever taking any action, and it is about time. I just hope they walk the talk.
Oh my, look what my new acupuncturist gave me to boil in a gallon of water:
Yeeee! No more pre-made formulas for me!
I knew this guy was the real deal the second I walked in his office -- degrees/licenses in Chinese, complete with those little black and white Communist passport photos; cramped, packed to the gills space that looked more like a storage room than a place for medical procedures; a no-nonsense, super practical demeanor which meant he interrupted talking with me about my treatment in order to answer his phone. And most telling...everywhere you looked, paper towels.
Old school Asians love paper towels. Today my acupuncturist even used a paper towel with a rip in it as a stand-in for a disposable face rest cover on his massage table. I was stoked at his ingenuity. You know how much the real thing costs? At least $12 for a 50 pack. A roll of paper towels? Maybe $2.
In addition, my face rest was made of a block of foam with a crudely cut hole in the middle. Ugly, sure, but comfy.
Paper towels, practicality, and penny-pinching -- that's right, represent!
But lest you think these ghettofabulous touches were indicative of bad business, au contraire -- my acupuncture was top-notch, and my massage was better than some I've had at spas (and it was half the price, yo). And I got a personalized bag of crazy shit to boil down into sludge and drink twice a day.
Trevor's reading Friday at Pegasus for Rarer and More Wonderful was fantastic! Many thanks to the friends and other folks who came out to support his first book, and for extending the celebrations later on at Jupiter.
For folks who couldn't make it, you can pick up Trevor's book at Scrambler Books. And there will be more reading dates to come!
Saturday was Adrienne and Tobin's wedding at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. Bride was stunning in a strapless corseted wedding gown with a lacy dress train. With pearls in her hair, she was reminiscent of a mermaid. Groom walked in to the Imperial March, cello-style. Nerds! The wedding was gorgeous and brilliant, just like the bride and groom.
Sunday was to be a day of rest, but lo, Chris' siren's call of BBQ and beer in the afternoon was too much to resist -- as was the requisite game night, now with pad thai.
Good friends, good times, good living, here in the Bay.
Funny and sad how it was Obama in his own nomination speech who praised Clinton with the very things she should have been campaigning on.
Also, speaking of politics, check out Ballotpedia. I was super impressed with not only the coverage of what's happening in U S of A state-to-state politics, but the sections on particular states -- with articles on the history of propositions and the like, as well as up to the minute news on what has been approved for the upcoming ballots.
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.
I bought The Tijuana Sessions, Volume 3 years ago on a recommendation by one of my favorite musicians, David J, and then promptly lent it out to a friend who lived out of town -- without uploading it to iTunes first. I just got it back, and this is the first song on the album. Reminds me of summertime!
I recently bet a friend a burrito that this song was by Foreigner.
Le sigh.
3) 'Oh Yoko!' by John Lennon
Three things:
a) People always want Trevor and me to dress as John and Yoko for Halloween.
b) I really like Yoko Ono.
c) Trevor has put this on many a mix for me over the years.
You can really tell how much John loves her in this song. I was in Trevor's workplace yesterday and he played this song -- which is one of the reasons why I can tell he loves me.
The first song on an album I'll be buried with, I never paid much attention to 'Buzz Saw' because in comparison to the rest of The Air Force it seemed so simple and unassuming. But I've been revisiting this album lately and this song is a perfect introduction to the impending maelstrom -- simple honesty and controlled angst punctuated with jarring percussion and just the slightest little noise.
Live it's phenomenal, but watching it on Gootube can't do it justice. Just buy the album already!
I've been hearing this song a lot lately in the ironic hipster bars I seem to frequent, and I'll just say it: I loved Journey when it wasn't cool to do so, I love them now that it is, and I will love them when they are again yanked from the jukebox in favor of Lawrence Welk and gluing pubes to your face or whatever ironic cool thing the kids think of next.
When the weather warms, it means getting outside and taking roadtrips. This also means I actually remember to grab the face of my car stereo so there are tunes. Inevitably, this means Trevor (un)intentionally garbles the lyrics to many songs that end up on the mixes we make for said road trips. It always comes back to that "twister" that was born to walk alone.
Since I have some readers who don't have blogs, rather than tag 7 bloggers only, I tag Jack, T-Zone (what's rocking your socks in Asia?), The Stresstaster, and...YOU! Non-bloggers, please let my universe and Google know what's rocking your world by posting in the comments.
Please come out to support Trevor's first book, and both independent bookstores and independent small press. The inimitable Eleanor Bayne Johnson will also be reading.
My friend Jack, who is vegan, recently informed me about the use of animal products -- particularly gelatin -- in beer production, and how it's low on the radar of most folks.
While I'm not at all vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter) I am friends with many people of both persuasions (hey, more sausages for me!). Out of respect for my friends' dietary choices and their full enjoyment of a cold one, this is of concern to me.
Also, it's not just veggies who get the shaft when beer companies use an
