Swoon: George Hamilton
Mood:  bright
Topic: Ignore me please

 George Hamilton had already launched his comedic career by the time I started watching his movies, and, I'm sorry to say, I haven't seen too many of his dramatic performances, but I have always enjoyed watching him on screen.  From Love at First Bite (previoulsy on the Bean), Zorro the Gay Blade (previously on the Bean), him hawking chips with the line, "I know toasted" (referencing his famous tan, if you don't know), to his appearance on the View (Jezebel), even when splashing around in the dregs of consumerism he completely captivates me.

I will eventually be reading his autobiography, Don't Mind if I Do, right after I finish reading the biography of Sweeney Todd, right after I finish reading about Bella DaCosta Greene.   Yes, I need to catch up.

 

 

Halloween watching: Satan's Little Helper
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: "Little Red Riding Hood" - Paul Revere and the Raiders
Topic: Seriously

As part of our Halloween TV programming, we rented Satan's Little Helper and watched it last night.  Honestly, sometimes the necessary gullibility of the victim characters in horror movies gets me all hot under the collar.  Really, how many times would someone really be tricked into the same situation over and over and over and over again?  But thankfully most of this gullibility was perpetrated by a child, so it was slightly more realistic, I guess.

Satan's Little Helper follows a little boy dressed up as Satan's little helper from his favorite video game who sees a thoroughly bad man in a terribly disturbing costume and, identifying the bad man as Satan, decides to be the little helper he really wants to be.  Hilarity ensues!  In all honesty, this is a good and enjoyable Halloween horror movie.  There was gore in the amount of the publicly consumable Scream movies, an isolated location, and plenty of plot twists.  

See other Halloween programming on the Bean:

Witches in Stitches

Garfield and Friends, Halloween, and Ghost Stories

Shepard's Pepper
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Teenage Frankenstein - Alice Cooper
Topic: miscellanea

Here is my first recipe share, the Shepard's Pepper.   I haven't used a recipe for making anything besides bread and cakes yet, but sometimes I come up with something that was such a hit I figure I should keep track of it somehow.  This is a kind of mix between a stuffed pepper and Shepard's pie.

Ingredients:

two bell peppers

two baking potatoes

sour cream

ground beef

1 can quartered artichoke hearts

shredded cheese

onion powder, dried parsley, garlic powder, olive oil

notes:  I didn't include amounts for sour cream because its really discretionary (I put a lot in my mashed potatoes), and I started with 1 lb of ground beef, but had left overs of the filling--so it could be made with less.  We use onion powder in the house because we're both sensitive to onions so real onions and real garlic might be even tastier.

First: make the mashed potatoes for the top--I did this the day before.  Just peel and cut two medium sized baking potatoes and boil them till soft.  Then mash up with sour cream.

Then:  heat up a large fry pan with some olive oil and saute the ground beef with the seasoning above (or ones of your choice).  After the meat has started to cook through add a drained can of quartered artichoke hearts and continue to cook until the meat is fully browned.

Cut the bell peppers in half from top to bottom and remove seeds and stem.  Rub or brush olive oil round the outsides of the peppers and set them up in a pan that will keep them upright.  Fill peppers with your meat and artichoke mixture and some shredded cheese.  Top with mashed potatoes (I sprinkled more cheese on top).  

Cover with foil and put in oven at 350 for half an hour.  Then remove foil and bake for another half an hour or until the peppers are cooked through.

Voila!  Shepard's Peppers.  

 

I love me some futuristic architecture
Mood:  happy
Topic: Futurism
Someday I'll have to pick out some older architecture that I love to give ya'll a comparison.  I do not only have eyes for concept or futuristic (which, I guess is right now) architecture.  I do not have eyes for the 70s (possible 60s--I'll have to research) to 90s stuff that proliferates my landscapes.  I like to dream of living in a place where the objects and structures are beautiful as well as useful and inventive.  Since that's not going to happen any time soon, at least outside the walls of my home where I'm working on it, this is for dreaming.  There are some awesome building designs out there and they are as good looking as they are amazingly taking advantage of our technology to solve problems and streamline life like building never did before.

From left to right down and repeat:  EDITT Tower (Ecological Design in the Tropics) in Singapore (Inhabitat), Herzog and De Meuron pyramid building in Paris (io9), Generali tower designed by Valode & Pistre in Paris (Inhabitat), Designs for a Verticle Farm Project by Despommier and graduate students at Columbia University (Apartment Therapy),  Meraas's Jumeira Gardens to add more to the inconcievable development of Dubai (Inhabitat).

A space elevator might not being a building, but it would sure dominate the landscape like one.  And whether the Japan Space Elevator Associated plans for an elevator to the stars (io9) have any meat to them, I can't help thinking of the anime Wandaba style (amazon).  Partially about a producer assembled pop group struggling to make it big, and partially about a scientist desperately trying to reach the moon without resorting to ecologically damaging rocket fuel to get there.  Yeah, there are giant rubberbands, and giant bottles of carbonated soda, high altitude balloons, and I'm sure (though I can't remember really) there is something that might look a little like a space elevator.  It was a damn funny anime by the way--I suggest you check it out if you are so inclined.

Previously on the Bean:

Buildings of the New.  Again.

City of Silk Rail Network tower to rival Burj Dubai

Our Wonderful Future

On top of the Sea

Ever Expanding Dubai

 

Wish you were here.
Mood:  happy
Topic: Ignore me please

I am taking a much needed mini vacation starting this weekend, so you lovely people will have to do without me for a little while next week.  I will be back Thursday, so don't get too fed up with me and leave forever.  I like you!  I want to keep writing things that you will read.  I want you to keep reading.

See you soon!

World wide space exploration
Mood:  happy
Topic: Hmmm?

I like to think that I do pretty well in keeping up with news from all over the world.  I had long forsaken the U.S. popular media because I was unsatisfied with biases I perceived and because I didn't get the international coverage I was craving.  But even so, I recently realized, I had no idea what other countries were doing about space outside of the U.S. and Russia.  So, I also thought, perhaps my inadequacy of knowledge was not unique to my self.  This here, is a tiny fix.

If you don't know already, NASA has been facing some wicked cut-backs and is now relying more than ever on her partnership with Russia and the international space station to continue exploring the universe as we know it (New York Times via io9).  

China is executing their first space walk mission and plans to build a space station as part of their growing space program( via io9).

JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is looking forward to having an astronaut on the international space station come 2009 and is extremely active in weather studies and perfecting satellite wireless internet service.

ESA:  European Space Agency is celebrating the successful mission of Jules Verne the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) from its cargo delivery to the international space station and its controlled distructive re-entry over the Pacific.   

Well, that covers some of the largest global economic powers and their designs on space.  I feel more informed already.

Kamikaze Girls
Mood:  bright
Topic: Oh So Shiny

Like some crazy combination of Josie and the Pussycats zaniness with Amelie's visuals but better than both of them and all revolving around girl gangs in Japan, Kamikaze Girls was a hilarious ride (and if you don't remember how I feel about Josie and the Pussycats, you should read about it)   It was one of those movies that starts amazingly and leaves you expecting the rest of the movie to try, pitifully and unsuccessfully, to live up to it (like Ghost Ship).  But Kamikaze Girls didn't fail to live up to the first fifteen minutes.  Brimming with asides, some animated, Kamikaze Girls has created a hole in my DVD collection just by not being there, a hole I never knew existed.  

Kamikaze Girls is the story of Momoko (Kyôko Fukada), her obsession with Roccoco and sweet Lolita style, and her encounters with Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya), a local gang member.   You could say this was a film about two young people discovering who they wanted to be with the help of a chance encounter, or perhaps it revolves around two outsiders presented with the valuable opportunity of belonging who decide to eschew established life paths and venture out on their own.  Until I began typing I didn't think about the intended message because the story and the way it was presented was so fascinating and entertaining.  So, there you have it.

Exciting librarians everywhere!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Thank you Satan" - Dionysos
Topic: Seriously

So, how do get that sparkling glimmer behind the glasses of a tired and busy librarian?  In all reality, I think it has something to do with kittens, but if you're booky in your own right then this news is for you!

Sage publications is making access to its journals online free till Halloween (LIS News).  Not familiar with the offerings?  American Politics Research, Cross-Cultural Research, The Diabetes Educator, Gender & Society, and Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus are just a smattering of their over 500 titles.  Don't have a research project that would help you take advantage of this amazing information access offer?  Kingwood College library has a nifty list of issues in the news today.  

Following up on the DRM issue (on the Bean), the No Shelf Required post about Springer publishing's no DRM and ebooks with ILL rights is thoughtful and curious.  I wouldn't have imagined that an ebook publisher would have non DRM material with ILL rights.  Perhaps without DRM, but ILL of electronic media is pretty complicated most times.

Another hurrah for the non-academically hooked-up, the Journal of Distance Education has made all of its archives available online.  (LIS News via the Distant Librarian) Though most people have access to a library that can get them access to a lot of databases, I always silently celebrate when the walls are torn down--at least for searching citations sake.  I mean, if these academic providers don't get on the ball soon their entire potential non-affiliate public audience is only going to rely more and more heavily on Google and strides the giant is making to cover all information trafficking.

And of course, everybody has already seen Jay Walker's library -- the crazy collection that reminds me of the subterrainian library in The Librarian.

The Great Halloween Playlist
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "Werewolf" - Haunted Love
Topic: miscellanea

If you were looking for a long list of recommended Halloween listening, then I have just fulfilled your desires.  Over at The Expense of the Listener, I have posted the Great Halloween Playlist. 

Update on our Halloween TV programming:

Adams Family- The first one begins with Christmas and ends with Halloween, making it a perfect movie for both holidays :).  The second just naturally follows.

Tweeny Witches - Previously untried anime that ended up being pretty entertaining.  Although there are some pretty obvious cheats in animation, the art is good.  It doesn't really have anything to do with Halloween though.

Angry Beaver's Halloween Special - "How are your ankles?" - "Well, they're broken but they're better."

Garfield's Halloween Special - a favorite from childhood.

Vampire comedy nostalgia
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Seriously

By the time I had turned eight there was a nice little selection of vampire comedies the likes of which has never been made again (although Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1992 was hilarious).   My Best Friend is a Vampire ('88), Once Bitten('85), Love at First Bite('79), and Vampire's Kiss ('89) all revolve around the slow transition or perceived transition of a normal guy/girl from healthy happy youth to a vampire.  Aside from the main character's fears, there is very horror or terror involved, just fluffy campy goodness.  And while I have to admit a fondness for Queen of the Damned, Interview with a Vampire, Dracula 2000, John Carpenter's Vampires, and lots of really bad toothy movies, these four have a vampire wholesomeness that makes them perfect for a Sunday afternoon, and that's why I love them.

Once Bitten made it on our October viewing list because of the included Halloween party.  We are trying to restrict the movies to titles that have made the marathon list before, and movies with Halloween scenes.  Not all horror or monster comedy can be Halloween worthy after all.  Eventually I will compile my own list of the very best October viewing.  

Witches and Stitches
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: "Devil Woman" - Cliff Richards
Topic: Seriously

In our attempts to have something Halloween-like to watch every night of October, we turned to Netflix and sundry online recommendations and lists.  Witches in Stitches was the first previously un-experienced cinematic experiences to come of this.  

Even though this animated flick was made in 1997 (by an animation studio in Indianapolis) it has flavors of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  The trick-o-treating scene took place on a street that had to have been inspired by Charlie Brown.  The witches and some of the character interaction reminded me of The Point.  

Oh, it was bad.  But it was bad in the way all those Halloween specials were bad when they used to take over all access TV between 6 and 7p.m.  I miss those days.  Now, even with cable, Halloween specials are few and far between.  Gone are the hour long tributes to trick-o-treating by every popular cartoon on the air.  In their place stand Horror movie marathons on the SciFi and FX channels.  And in a house that has horror movies all the time, Halloween needs more special programing than that.  Any way, Witches in Stitches, buy it here.

A look at the special Halloween programing in my house so far:

Transylvania 6-5000 - totally saturated with classic monsters, although not really.

Hellboy - because the first half of the movie takes place during a Halloween party.

Hocus Pocus - self explanatory

Bewitched - awesome Halloween scene with trick-o-treating witches

Corpse Bride - because Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie damnit!

Once Bitten - Halloween ball and dance off!

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown - again self explanatory

And that's all you get right now, just know this:  we are saving a lot of really awesome stuff for closer to the day itself, and I'll probably watch Charlie Brown again.

 

   

The Art of Manliness
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Oh So Shiny

I have been reading the genius of the Art of Manliness blog for a little while now.  Usually I take the easy way out and simply 'share' items from my Google reader, but the Art of Manliness really deserves better treatment.  The posts are thorough, thoughtful, and poignant and applicable to men and women alike although they are written with a male a reader in mind.  I think that the art of gentlemanliness, chivalry, and quiet strength is largely lost in the world.  We have become too careless with one another and ourselves.  The Art of Manliness fills a void in instructional media that mainstream magazines and television have long since abandoned for more lurid and sensational empty content. 

So I encourage you to check out the blog, subscribe to the RSS and read the ebook:  Guide to Being A Gentleman in 2008.

And also:  The Art of Manliness Cook Book  - contributed to by readers as a group writing project.

New Stuff
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Seriously
 

Doomed Moviethon and the Spirit of '76
Mood:  cool
Topic: Seriously

Oh the HORROR! - Hollywood's Xenophobia
Mood:  bright
Topic: Seriously

I, for one, am tired of current cinema's sequel addiction.  Though I honestly didn't mind all of the released Harry Potter's, and did head to the theatre to put more money in Batman's pockets, I could have done without the extra Spiderman, Traveling Pants, Mummy, Saw, Bourne, Rambo, Indiana, Star Trek, Madagascar, and X-Files.  Have we lost our edge?  Are producers so afraid of rocking the boat that they'd rather hang on to the tail of something moderately successful than try a movie adaptation of any of the millions of awesome books out there.  I mean, with books the story is already written and its popularity can be tested by its sales.  This isn't even taking into account the mountains of amazing scripts that Joe Schmo Public will never see because they are never made!  

More hideous than a sequel addiction is our re-make addiction of late.  And yeah, I use the all encompassing our, because they give us what we buy because we buy it after all.  I suppose it might be painful to see a remake of a movie when you know you could have done so much better and have the means to do so, but it's not really a reason to remake the thing again.  Or wait, was Hulk supposed to be a sequel?  On the more delinquent hand, we all know that American's can't stomach reading sub titles, right?  So, let's all just pirate good ideas from other countries and remake them with English speakers while making wads of cash in the process!  Yeah!......  This opportunistic judgment was passed on too many excellent movies for my taste.  Can the U.S. really not read, or is there some greater xenophobia at work here?

I did enjoy The Ring and Dark Water (Honorurai mizu no soko kara) remakes, but not any more than I enjoyed the originals when I saw them.   The one thing The Ring really did have going for it was a scariness that I did not see in Ringu.  Personally, I have no interest in seeing the English remake of Pulse, Shutter, The Grudge, The Eye, One Missed Call, Suspiria, Tale of Two Sisters, or Tomie.  I liked them all just fine even though I had to read while I watched.  

And could someone please explain to me why it would be a good idea to remake the Rocky Horror Picture Show?  I mean, since the movie is still raking in the moolah this is just a grab at the purse right?  

Please excuse my sarcasms, I found it impossible to help myself, but I'm stopping now.  Love, LeE.