New Year's Eve rainbow from Zaragoza!

Our beloved Blas has just arrived back home in Zaragoza where it was raining. He captured this rainbow looking out the front window after the rain stopped--what a wonderful image for this transition from 2009 to 2010!

Year-End Staycation

We are having a staycation this week because it is the only week that both of us have off from our respective schools. SOMEBODY got a shopping trip to Robot Love as a Christmas present, so we went there and touched every single thing in the store before we made our choices. Then we did the same thing next door at SooVAC. The Soo Visual Arts Center is a non-profit art gallery that also has a great store featuring unique work by local artists, including "Curster" (Erin Currie). I absolutely loved her clothing.

Later on this week, we might see some movies. We might make popcorn and watch the anime series Cowboy Bebop at home. We will definitely go to the Free First Saturday at the Walker Art Centerto look at the work of Chinese artist Zhao Liang "Heavy Sleepers".

Here's a year-end treat: that genius DJ Earworm has created his yearly mash-up, "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop): A Mashup of the Top 25 Hits of 2009, according to Billboard,"

Beat Freaks + Vogue Evolution = Love!

I keep writing posts and then not posting them because they dissatisfy me. I'm getting frustrated that blogging feels more like a chore than a pleasure. I briefly considered going on hiatus or even closing it down. But then I found this clip of the Beat Freaks taking voguing lessons from Vogue Evolution, and it made me very happy.

FREAK THE VOGUE Trailer from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

"A Very Herring Christmas"

Happy happy! Fresca, Lucinda and friends made this wonderful film. We're off early this morning to beat the winter storm.

"Let's put the Saturn back in Saturnalia"

Garrison Keillor has been indulged by the Baltimore Sun in publishing a mean-spirited anti-Semitic rant (ostensibly about messing with the lyrics of "Silent Night", but really a somewhat hysterical attack on Emerson, the Unitarians and other pointy-head Eastern seaboard "elitists") that seems to me to be a sign that his recent medical issues have seriously affected his judgement. And no, it's not satire, duh, it's a reminder of why the Coen brothers most recent movie about growing up Jewish in Minnesota is still relevant.

"Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that's their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite "Silent Night." If you don't believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn "Silent Night" and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough. And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write "Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we'll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah"? No, we didn't.

Christmas is a Christian holiday - if you're not in the club, then buzz off. Celebrate Yule instead or dance around in druid robes for the solstice. Go light a big log, go wassailing and falalaing until you fall down, eat figgy pudding until you puke, but don't mess with the Messiah."

Ugh.

I will indeed celebrate Saturnalia, starting with my favorite clip from The Big Bang Theory (repeated last night):
"It's a Saturnalia miracle!"

And to cleanse the palate from GK's nastiness, here's a holiday song beloved by many:

This song, Fairytale of New York, was written by The Pogues in 1987, and sung by Shane McGowan and Kristy McColl (lyrics here). Here it's covered by Billy Bragg and Florence and the Machine

A small wish list.

My daughter has ordered me to make a Christmas wish list. I really don't need anything, but I do have a wish list. Given her purchase power, I can't expect her to get me a trip for two to Japan. Or to buy me these Criterion Films boxed collectors sets. But they are on my wish list! Maybe I'll have to netflix the list next year. The Janus Essential Art House: 50 films is 50 of the world's greatest movies for $650 (along with books, notes, poster, etc). That works out to an incredibly reasonable price per film, and one could watch one a week all next year.

Another boxed set they have is Akira Kurosawa 100: 25 films, to honor the 100th anniversary of his birth. $319 I have probably seen most of these, many in Japantown in San Francisco with my mom when I was in high school, but I would love to own them; I never get tired of Kurosawa's films.

I have a backlog of books in the house I have to read, so no new books or I will get them from the library. But 2 books I would like to own are cookbooks:
Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is one I've had my eye on for a while, and now that I have a slow cooker, I'd like to try out Make It Fast, Cook It Slow A Year of Slow Cooking by Stephanie O'Dea. Yes, one can read recipes online and print them out, but I love holding cookbooks, getting them dirty, and pulling them off my shelves to get inspiration.

For real? honey, if you could find me a really nice winter fleece hat that doesn't make me forehead itch (no wool, alas!) I would be thrilled.

More Lady Gaga

In our house, we are big Lady Gaga fans. This clever and vocally splendid acapella cover of a medley of Lady Gaga songs shows why they have become such earworms: the arrangements and harmonies are incredibly sticky! Great singing by nayamarie2009!

Why I don't use Facebook, revisted

Via Bob Collins on his NewCut blog on MPR, a video on the privacy concerns about Facebook, and the possibility of identity theft. A reminder of why I shut down my Facebook account and deleted it. Although it is possible to use it safely if you are somewhat savvy and constantly vigilant for their privacy settings changes, ultimately, it's a giant data mining operation.

When you get winter, make winterade

After the first big snowfall, put on the snowsuits, break out the sliders and hit the slopes!

She's alive!

Golems, doppelgangers, doubles, replicants, cyborgs, monsters:


I just reread Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (complete text available online here) because I bought Peter Ackroyd's fascinating novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.

The first film version of the Frankenstein/Monster story was a silent feature made in 3 days in 1910. I've seen the famous 1931 James Whale film, with Boris Karloff as The Monster.

I have never seen the 1994 version called "Mary Shelley's Frankestein," directed by Kenneth Branagh in which he played Victor Frankenstein, casting Robert de Niro as the creature, and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth. But I just watched Ken Russell's famously over-the-top movie Gothic, (with Gabriel Byrne! and Natasha Richardson!!)

In the comic art world, Bernie Wrightson's illustrations are prized by fans. The drawings were collected and published by Marvel, but have been rescanned and printed in a higher-quality, full-sized version by Dark Horse.

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that he is planning his own version of Mary Shelley's novel, which makes sense, but it is still a few years away.

Now I'm watching Gods and Monsters, an amazing movie made of only $3 million, but absolutely gorgeous. With Ian McKellan, Lynn Redgrave, and Brendan Frasier in his best role ever. The shooting script for this Oscar-winning film about the director of the most famous film version of Frankenstein can be downloaded here.) The collector's edition DVD I got from Netflix has a special feature called "The Making of Gods and Monsters" which so makes me appreciate the actors, the director Bill Condon.The biography of Whale has been rewritten by James Curtis (and published by the U of MN press, how about that!).

On my wish list: Christopher Bram's novel The Father of Frankenstein (on which Gods and Monsters is based).

Ox Tail Improvisation

My next cook book is going to be Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.
I improvised an oxtail stew with my new slow cooker, and it is delicious! I cooked the pieces in dark beer with a handful of dried savory, some tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. I didn't brown the pieces, although I could have, just threw it all in the pot and cooked it overnight on low. Not much liquid is needed because the oxtail gives off so much itself. In the morning, I pulled the pieces out of the pot, separated the meat from the bones (and picked out the larger pieces of fat), and added potatoes to the broth left in the crockpot. Those didn't take long to cook, and they soaked up a little bit of the juices. When it was done, I strained the broth into a bowl and chilled it. The fat congealed on the top and was easily scraped off. I ended up with about two cups of beef tallow, and a few cups of gellied broth that I froze. The only change I would make to the recipe if I did it again would be to add carrots, maybe, and more salt. I'm learning that the amounts of seasoning need to be increased while the amounts of liquids should be cut in half, at least, depending on if you want a soupy preparation or not.
I've had "rabo de toro" in Spain, mmmmm

Next time I think I might try using the spices in this recipe from "Asia Down Under", or I could try it Jamaican style, a Filipino recipe.

Here is the Iron Chef Oxtail challenge! Part 2/5. The dubbing is a hoot, but the techniques and ingredients are fascinating.

Part 3, Part 4/5, and the finale, Part 5.

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers debuts on SYTYCD

(crossposted at SYTYCD Social)
The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD) is a group of amazing dancers who are working with director Jon M Chu (StepUp 2 and the upcoming StepUp 3-D)on an online serial show scheduled to begin in 2010. They debuted a showpiece on last night's broadcast of So You Think You Can Dance that was absolutely wonderful. You can friend them on Facebook, Here's the video, with choreography by Harry Shum (currently performing as "Mike Chang" on Glee!) Christopher Scott, and Galen Hooks.



And here is a trailer for the show:

LXD "Moments" Trailer from Jon M. Chu on Vimeo.

They are keeping a very tight lid on publicity; I"m trying to find a list of the dancers, but have only found a list on this video of the crew performing with Ellen DeGeneres at her live show in Vegas. Here's some background on the project, but I have not found a wikipedia entry, which shows how Chu is building publicity, bit by bit. I'm so psyched for the success of this venture! The premise of the series will appeal to comic book/manga fans as well as dance fans:

"The 10-week Volume One of LXD...will chronicle the formation of “the most elite dance crew in the world,” tracing the origins of the seven schools of dance that make up the famed crew. Chu blends comic-book style characters with a fictional cinematic narrative. The story begins with the modern day regrouping of a 1930’s era dance troupe birthed out of the traveling circus circuit."

An ode to a typeface

The sublime Kottke turns us on to the nerdcore version of Lady Gaga's Pokerface and...a font. "Helvetica, you've been served!"

"You'll read my
you'll read my
you can read my Neutraface
(even if it's bold italic)"