Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of May 25, 2012

Semi-regular posts that when I fail to publish on a weekly basis Tara tells me, 'it's okay maybe next week'.

(via thecolorless.net)

• Rumor has it Prince William isn't too fond of the Queen's Corgis  ...because they bark all the time?  Corgis are herding dogs that are loyal, obedient, even-tempered, confident, love to dress up in costumes, live in the sewers whilst fighting crime and eating lots of pizza.  Sounds like the perfect dog to me, WILLIAM!
  
  I should mention that the Queen also has four Dorgis...  What's a Dorgi?  Any reasonable person would ask that question.  It's a Corgi/Dachshund mix.  And I know what you're thinking, that's silly because they both have short legs.  (This information was obtained from Wikipedia)
• "First, I shall stop going to the vet.  Next, I shall take over the world.  Stupid Humans, BOW TO ME!!!" (Click here to see our new feline leader)
• Have you ever wonder what it would be like to have an Ice Cream Dad?  It's a lot like having a human dad.
• "Siri, do you think conditioning air is oppressive?"  (Zooey Asks Siri Twitter Feed)
• Let's rewind for a second.  Wolf Parade went on an indefinite hiatus since May of last year.  Last week, Handsome Furs announced on their facebook page that they were no more.  (For those who don't know, Dan Boeckner is in both of these bands.)  So all hope is lost... right?  NO.  Because early this week news comes out about a new Dan Boeckner band called Divine Fits with Britt Daniel (Spoon) and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks).  If anyone wanted to see me dance for joy, that was the moment and you missed it.
• Random Celebrity News:  Adrian Grenier is selling beer (and the ladies love it), Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor are VEGAN (which means I like them more than you), and Jackie Chan isn't doing action movies anymore (it's time for more serious acting roles).
• Have you been wondering where The Melvins were this week?  Me Too!!!  We're like twins!

• So as of 2011, the name Tara ranked 877th in popularity with the Social Security Administration and strangely enough the name Taraji ranked 795th.  Now... how is it that the name Taraji became more popular than the name Tara?  As I was pondering this, a bit of news drew my attention.  This bit of news involves Tara Reid and 60 year old man... 
• If you live anywhere by New York, you have felt the gloomy overcast rain rain rain rain weather we've been having and for everyone where ever you are, please play this song because it's perfect (especially on the mornings when you just want to lay in bed all day):

• This is for Adam.  It's the "Call Me Maybe" Supercut video everyone was waiting for.  (via The Daily What)
• Please Save the Cakeshop

Cocktail of the Week:  Jack Rose

This cocktail consists of applejack brandy, grenadine, and lemon or lime juice (personally I prefer lime).  Jake Barnes drinks this cocktail in The Sun Also Rises and I'm always inclined to choose the drink of a fictional character.

Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Stream a Little Stream - The Executioner's Song

Norman Mailer wrote the Emmy-winning screenplay for the gritty 1982 Southern drama The Executioner's Song, adapting his true life novel of the same name. Emmy voters may have had a soft spot for schizophrenia in the early eighties, considering that this film and its characters shift attitude and tone so often that viewers may think they've stumbled into a Utah desert full of Sybils.

Tommy "Alleged Jim Carrey-Hater" Lee Jones stars as career criminal Gary Gilmore, who ends a twelve-year prison sentence and is released into the custody of his cousin, Brenda (Christine Lahti). Gary, who was sentenced for armed robbery, has a hard time adjusting to life outside the pen (stuffing sliced tomato in his mouth as if he's rushing through lunch in a prison cafeteria, trying to make out with his cousin while her husband watches in annoyance through a window), but is soon constructively employed and tooling around in a Ford Mustang supplied by his boss.

"Damn straight we cray."

He soon meets Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette, with her magnificent bazooms in a key supporting role), who is sixteen years his junior and implies that she has reached Blanche Devereaux-esque heights of sexual experience. All of her partnerships, she tells Gary, have been rooted in simple crushes, not love. This bit of disclosure makes it all the more confusing when she is deeply, all-encompassingly in love with Gary within perhaps twenty hours of meeting him.
From this point, relationships between characters start to twist and flip-flop. "Wow, Gary and Nicole sure do love each other. Look at the nakedness of emoti-Wait, why is Nicole French-kissing a mutual friend at a backyard party while casting Gary spiteful glances?" At first, it is suggested that Nicole and Gary find refuge in each other, both products of an unfeeling world that has no desire to understand them. Suddenly, Nicole is lobbing insults and Gary is belting her in the face and threatening her with a butcher knife. Through the gobbledygook, it is revealed that both Gary and Nicole abuse drugs, but the viewer needs to backtrack to try to establish a clean link between the drug abuse and their unpredictable behavior.






















Director's Cut: Fifteen Percent More Rosanna Arquette Boobage

The head-scratching continues as Gary falls back into his prior criminal habits. The dual armed robberies that he commits before his arrest are not odd, considering what the viewer already knows about his character; the fact that he punctuates those crimes with the murders of those he robs, however, is. His second-act bloodlust appears unprecedented, and the reactions of his family members are disdainfully irritable when they should be shocked and horrified. When Gary and Brenda are in Brenda's backyard discussing his strained relationship with Nicole and Gary says, with utmost sincerity, "Maybe I'll kill 'er," Brenda all but rolls her eyes at him as if he said he was considering shoplifting a box of Yodels from the Piggly Wiggly.

Spoiler Alert (do you care?): Gary is sentenced to death for the murders, and lobbies for the sentence to be carried out ASAP so he doesn't have to deal with the abusive, stifling atmosphere of prison again. In the scenes leading to those of his execution by gunfire, Gary's family members roll over to the prison for some good old-fashioned clownin' and dancin'. Nicole reads a letter from Gary riddled with emo platitudes and realizes that, no, she doesn't hate him after all, she really really LOVES the sumbitch and needs to commit suicide so that they can be together in their next lives. Her suicide attempt, like most of this off-putting mishmash of a film, fails. Grade: D-

Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of January 27, 2012

Semi weekly posts that cover quasi-relevant news in list form.  

Disclaimer:  I had planned to post some stuff three weeks ago, so you will find stuff that is as old as the Shit People Say Fad.

• The Puppy Bowl recently posted the starting line-up of poochie pies* and they are as adorable as usual.  I hate to say this, but Fonzi reminds me of a girl I went to high school with.
  Anyway, thanks to Animal Planet, most of us don't have to waste our night watching the Super Bowl and we get something to talk about with our friends the next morning. 
• However, there is a new referee this year and I think we all need to discuss this because this affects all of us.  What happened to Andrew Schechter?  He was with us through Puppy Bowls IV, V, VI, and VII and now we have Dan Schachner, whose last name is eerily similar.  I don't know if I'm comfortable with this...  What does "Dan"even know about personal fouls?(*poochie pies is a term Tara uses to refer to dogs of any age).

• Speaking of adorable things, is there anything cuter than a 7-year-old boy imploding an old granary (thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation)?  He says that watching Mythbusters inspired him to want to blow up buildings.  You know, I never thought about it before, but that show does leave me with a desire to destroy something. (via Videogum)

• Need even more cuteness?  How about this video compilation of Great Danes being scared by things like garden hoses and kitties?  Try not to go straight to petfinder looking for local rescues to bring home... I dare you! (via The Daily What)
  
• Bryan Lee O'Malley (cartoonist, best known for the Scott Pilgrim series) has recently joined the Tumblr community where he's been posting artwork including 'some roughs' from his upcoming book "Seconds" so you should follow him.
  
• If you follow Simon Pegg or Edgar Wright on twitter than you know that they are working on a new project.  Looks like it might be awhile...
  
  
• Have you been sitting at home wondering how you can get all the Ron Swanson GIFs onto one page on the internet?  Well... wonder no further because you ask, and Funny or Die delivers.
  
• Need more GIFs!  Tara and I downloaded a GIF camera app for iPhone and now we're making GIFs of everything.  Check out Tara's dancing skills.
  
  
• If you are anything like me, you are wondering what the next project is for the horse from War Horse.  Watch a clip of his new film in this interview with Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man (Rob Huebel) and Trent Hauser (Paul Scheer)

Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer Interview The War Horse from Paul Scheer

Recipe of the Week:  Roasted Vegetables with Lemon-Cannelini Sauce

My mom informed me that Brussels Sprouts are the new Kale.  In light of this new information, I decided to choose a recipe that had Brussels Sprouts for this week.  Enjoy!


Cocktail of the Week: Old Fashioned

According to Wikipedia, an Old Fashioned is a mixture of 12 parts American Whiskey, 1 part Simple Syrup, and 1-3 dashes Angostura Bitters.
"In an old-fashioned glass, add bitters to simple syrup and stir. Add about 1 ounce of whiskey and stir again. Add two cubes of cracked, but not crushed, ice and top off with the rest of the whiskey. Twist lemon peel over the top and serve garnished with the lemon peel and a maraschino cherry." 

It's also really good with an orange peel.

Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of January 6, 2012 (Tara's Birthday)

Semi monthly posts that only cover a week of news.  Happy Birthday, Tara!!

(via: ifeelyoufadingaway)

• There is an epidemic of shit on the internet... shit (fill in the blank) say, that is.
  
  Check it out: Shit Girls Say Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 ...and the many parodies that followed like this one, or this one, and this one.  My favorite being Shit Vegans Say and More Shit Vegans Say.  That's a lot of shit.

• Remember, in season 4 episode 8 of iCarly when Carly's brother Spencer sneaks his Bottle Bot sculpture into a museum in order to convince their grandfather that he's a successful artist and doesn't need to go back to law school.  Well, an art student in Poland has tried the Spencer method with great success.

• 12 Reasons to watch the sky this year.  One already happened... so 11 reason to watch the sky because stars and stuff are cool.

• 18 Shows to watch this winter (some new, some returning).  Soak in that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) because who needs social life when Veronica Mars and Jean-Ralphio are going to be in a dark comedy with Don Cheadle!  Pinch me!  (via The Daily Beast)
• Side note: Did I see Knives Chau, Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), and Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite in that Don Cheadle video?

• Party Down: The Movie!  Be excited with me!  A. Go watch Party Down now. B. Go buy a pink bow-tie.  C. Start a fan club with me where all we do is talk about how awesome John Enbom is and wear pink bow-ties!!  
  

• Speaking of awesome people, this Wil Wheaton video kind of speaks for itself:
  
  
  (via The Daily What) 
  Remember that time when he was on Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show as the talent agent... That was funny.
  
  
• Are you shopping for a camera?  Because the people at kottke.org found this awesome buyer's guide that I'll probably be using in the not to distance future.  You'll be able to tell when all our pictures stop looking like they were taken by a camera phone.
  
  
• Speaking of my iPhone... here is a video I took of the band Hunters during CMJ Week:
  
  
  
  They're going on tour with The Kills, you should check them out, buy their EP, see them live!
  

Recipe of the Week: Cremini Mushroom, Rainbow Chard and Shallot Soup. (via Hobby and More)  It's the perfect time of year for soup.  Treat yourself.

Cocktail of the Week:  So Delicious Dairy Free Nog with Rum and Cinnamon sprinkled on top (because I didn't have any nutmeg and I love cinnamon)

Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Stream a Little Stream - Hellraiser

It's the holiday season, and nothing complements the softly colorful lights of my Christmas tree and the scents of vanilla and cinnamon in the air like a 1987 British horror film about an attic creeper with no skin.

Frank, the skinless gentleman in question, has been held in a state of eternal torture by a posse of sadomasochistic demons called the Cenobites as payback for messing with a supernatural puzzle box. Frank's doofball brother drips blood onto the attic floor one day, and Frank is incompletely reborn. He enlists Julia, his brother's wife (and his former lover) to lure unsuspecting schlubs in business suits up to his lair so he can suck them dry.

The way this movie is shot and edited freaked me out. When Frank and Julia first meet in the attic, she backs herself against the closed door and stares in horror as quick cuts show gooey demonic Frank scuttling across the room toward her. At the climax, the attic door slams shut on Frank, caught by the Cenobites, just after the audience gets a glimpse of his body getting torn apart by hooks. A wild-eyed vagrant who bothers Frank's niece also factors into the story; his purpose is revealed during the "surprise" (i.e., wtf) ending.

Last but not least, look out for that hallway monster (featured here in an accurate 30-Second Bunnies summary of the movie)!

Rollin' in Dough

Today marked the official start of Christmas Cookie Blitz 2011 in my apartment, which I celebrated by falling ill with some sort of inflammatory Martian virus, watching Gremlins, and making the Mexican Wedding Cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking.



















There go dah bawlz into the oven. Joy of Vegan Baking claims that these should take "about 30 minutes" to bake, but my batches took a bit more than twice that. Not to scare you or anything, but...PREPARE YOURSELVES.




















Once the pecan-flavored lovelies are ready, toss them by the handful in a mixing bowl full of powdered sugar and you're ready to stand back and stare wistfully into space as you imagine yourself munching these between sips of espresso at the holiday table.



















Sugar Crunch Divinity. No, that's not my drag queen name - I'm still swooning over these cookies. Thanks to Monica for inspiring me to try this recipe!



















Now that I've started my food frenzy, here's recommendation #1 from my list of songs one should listen to while baking Christmas cookies:

New York City Vegan Cupcake Party

The Power Players: Chocolate cupcakes from Babycakes, Lifethyme, Terri's and Champs.

With a panel of six omnivores, we tasted and reviewed all four of these lovely cupcakes.

Surprisingly, the Babycakes selection turned out to be the Bill O'Reilly of cupcakes. A unanimous complaint was dry, crumbling cake. An unpleasant aftertaste was noted by one reviewer.  (Monica's note:  I'm slightly biased toward Babycakes since they were the first vegan bakery cupcake I had ever had and they were heavenly.  However, this time the cake was a little drier than I remember.  Don't count them out though because they have delicious baked goods.)

Quotables:
"Good mouth feel."
"Dry and crumbly.  Frosting ok, but a little greasy."
"Pretty presentation"
"Taste was good - very chocolatey"
"I liked the cake better than the frosting, which was kind of thin." (Our fault on the frosting, we didn't keep it in the refrigerator.)
"Good amount of frosting."
"Did not fall apart but not as moist as I wanted."
"Cake good, firm and moist"

Terri's cupcake, a chocolatey coffee flavored cake with a vanilla frosting.  We got some mixed reviews on this one.  Some people thought the cake was bland, others liked it.  Some thought the frosting was too sweet, others said it wasn't sweet enough.

So here are some quotables:
"Moist cake and good consistency"
"Frosting not sweet enough"
"Frosting good texture and stiffness, confusing flavor"
"It was easy to bite into"
"Frosting much sweeter - good to me!"
"Good frosting to cake ratio"


The Lifethyme cupcake was unfortunately destroyed by poor handling during transit (Tara quote: "I effed up.") Tasters recoiled at the frosting, which was said by the majority to be the flavor and consistency of mayonnaise.

Appearance aside (and they did look amazing at the store before Tara got her hands on them), these were delicious cupcakes.  The cake was really good, however the frosting was a little iffy.

Quotes:
"The texture was nice of the cake"
"Frosting was kind of funky"
"Cake was really good."
"Best cake so far."

Hooray for Champs, swooping in at the last minute to delight everyone! The cake was richly chocolate and moist. The frosting was a light, refreshing vanilla (as taster Natasha noted, "Frosting was the bomb.com.").

This cupcake definitely got the best reception.  A slightly denser cake than the other three with a delicious wonderfully textured frosting.

One review card said, "moist cake, flavorful frosting, cake to frosting ratio perfect."  Pretty much sums it up.

Some more quotes:
"Great frosting - texture + taste"
"Best all around"
"Nice presentation"
"Best non-normal cupcake ever" (I'm assuming that a compliment from a non vegan.)