Tea
Mood:  happy
Topic: Ignore me please

Part of my mini break last week consisted of going to Epcot Center for a day.  My goal when visiting Epcot is to catch some Spaceship Earth, see the aquarium and then spend the rest of the day in the World Showcase (which they should massively expand, in my opinion).  What with online ordering and shops carrying more and more variety, I could probably get all the candy goodies, and tea, and drinks from somewhere that might even be cheaper than a theme park, but I still buy these things while I'm there.  And that is how I came across Twining's Herbal Revive - Black Currants, ginseng, and Tahitian vanilla.  I tried to pick teas that I hadn't seen in my local grocery.

I had my first cup today, and I already thought it was awesome before I tasted it.  It smelled like Coldstone Creamery's Cheesecake fantasy without promising any of the digestive discomfort of ice-cream for a lactoid like me.  I'm sure it would be heavenly with a little sugar and/or some cream (somehow easier to digest in tea), but I am a lazy butt when it comes to tea at work and in order to avoid trekking to a sink that has dish soap I avoid any tea additives (yes, I wash my cup well, just not every time).   For me and my familiarity with sugarless beverages, the tea was well sweet enough without any additives and had that nice smooth velvety taste of vanilla more and more as it cooled.  It was also a pleasing shade of violet for a consumable.    

I will be using this tea to console me to the fact that even though EdibleNature lists my very favorite Yogi Tea in stock, they canceled my last order because the flavor has really been discontinued by the manufacturer.  Oh why, I ask?   

Oh yeah, Spaceship Earth's overhaul, by the way, actually updated the original in a non destructive way (unlike the Mexico ride).  I liked the animatronic improvements very much and Judy Dench's voice was a pleasure to listen to.  I even went back on the ride to listen to it in Japanese and found that I have a long long way to go before I can understand things without subtitles.  The best part of the improvements? --the little survey they have you take at the end in order to create for you, on your personal computer screens, your future world.  I was laughing to tears the first time around as my face (photographed at the beginning of the ride) was pasted a top a cartoon and made to happily eat, play, and pilot a flying car. 

Halloween viewing
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Yma Sumac
Topic: Seriously

I said I would, and I am running out of time to share so that you to might be inspired to watch some truly awesome, sometimes terribly awesome, Halloween movies.  We broke out Scream because it was on the Halloween list we made up at the beginning of the month, and discovered that it really had nothing to do with Halloween.  So why were we so sure this was a Halloween movie?  I'm thinking that it was hyped as a Halloween release way back when, and hyped so well that it stuck with us and our memory of the movie.  We also sent to Netflix for The Crow, and were reminded that we really should own this one.  It is perfect for the Halloween list in that it deals with coming back from the dead, trapped spirits, and takes place (a great deal anyway) on Halloween.  

We've also been DVR-ing any and all Halloween specials we can, some from shows we don't even watch, and watching about 60%.  As for the left over 40%--let's just say there are reasons why we don't watch the shows in the first place.  And while our tastes differ a bunch sometimes, my man Richard did a great write up of some of the TV specials here on Doomedmovie blog.   

Now for the awesome stuff we're saving.

 

The Worst Witch --    Fairuza Balk as a little'un playing the most clumsy unsuccessful witch student of all time, who, of course, saves the day.  Those of you who haven't seen this yet may have seen the clip of Tim Curry's Halloween song (yes song) circulating online.  You may not know that the ever awesome and beautiful Dianna Rigg from the Avengers TV show plays a mean and terrible potions professor, and that Mrs. Garrett (from the Facts of Life) is the headmaster AND her own evil twin sister (who also has a song).  Is there anything else you could ever want? Oh yeah, this gets extra props for being set during Halloween.

  

Rocky Horror Picture Show --  Granted, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, does not take place during Halloween.  When I was a kid watching Texas TV during the Halloween season this movie was the tried and true programming for the weekend before the holiday.  And when I got to college and lived in the dorms with nothing better to do, this was the movie on the lawn for the week of Halloween.  There's very little I can say about this movie since everyone knows how amazing it is (and that's part of the reason there needs be no remake).  I love it. 

  

Sleepy Hollow --  Also not set during Halloween, wow way to break my own rules, but the gloom, and the very memorable flaming jackolantern make it perfect somehow.  I'm surprised this one doesn't pop up on more people's Halloween recommendations lists.      

 

Slumber Party Massacre --  Another non-Halloween Halloween recommendation.  When we had begun movie-thons but were still amateurs we had a Halloween marathon and this movie, and our friend's reaction to it, made sure that it would repeat on Halloween for all time.  It also includes the best line ever said while eating dinner over a corpse:  "Well life goes on after all and eating makes me feel best when I feel bad and boy do I feel bad." 

Idle Hands --  Yes!  Movies that take place during Halloween.   Now that its already got somethings going for it, let me enumerate some of its other pluses.  It has demonic possession, and a mystery killer.  This movie also has zombies, a Halloween ball at the highschool and a high priestess from an ancient and undescribed magical religion.  Do you really need more reasons to put this on your viewing list?

 

Halloween (1st) and H2O  --    I didn't see the first Halloween until after I met Richard, and now I've seen so many horror movies, and all the Halloween s.  The first and H2O are my favorites in the Halloween series.  

 

Previously (concerning Halloween viewing):

Halloween watching:  Satan's Little Helper

Witches in Stitches

Garfield and Friends, Halloween, and Ghost Stories

Last year's Halloween from Doomedmoviethon.

 

Oh no!  How could I forget May? The film about a supposedly ugly but really beautiful outcast with socialization problems who becomes obsessed with the first few people to be nice to her and then with their most beautiful body parts. She is so endearing awkward that even her monstrosity is adorable.  AND, a good third of the movie takes place on Halloween.  Yes, I knew there was something I was forgetting and I am so glad I remembered it.  Though, truthfully, I think I remembered the wrong movie and there is still something I am forgetting.  It will have to be a post Halloween post script I'm afraid. 

What anime hath fortold
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Futurism

By now all of you know that I watch and have watched a lot of anime and I read io9.  So, if you have not yet seen the awesome prophetic powers of anime let me educate you!

First, an aside.  I have come under the impression that an adult affinity for anime is kind of like a dirty secret amongst upstanding intellectual people.  Perhaps because it is animated, or because it is imported entertainment, it is not always worthy of being admired.  Or perhaps many people who were willing to give it a chance were tired out by some of the first imported shows that are, in my opinion, far from the best pickings out there.  It is in anime's disfavor in the end.  I've found awesome stuff and the awesome stuff I've found has traces of prophetic emergent technology the way sci-fi literature did during the golden age of Science Fiction, which of course makes me squeal in the geekiest way possible (yeah, I like it when I get the symbolism in a historical novel too). 

Anyway, i09 writes about an aparatus that transmitts commands from the brain to paralyzed limbs externally, and you know by my previous ramblings that this already happened in an anime.  Angelic Layer is the story of girl who's natural talent as a rookie in a combat doll game propells her through competitions.  It is positively brimming with melodrama, and you already know about my love of melodramatic anime.  But we were talking about the correlation between the amazing device that externally transmits brain commands to paralyzed limbs, right?  Well it just so happens that the combat dolls in Angelic Layer are a kind of prototype for an external device to relay brain commands to paralyzed limbs!   So, anime has done it again, just like it did in, Denno Coil (Electronic Face Masks and Animated Prophesy), and Wandaba Style (I love me some futuristic architecture).

for your information addiction: 

The Golden Age of Science Fiction on Encylopedia Britannica

 

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.