Year: 2005

You wanna know a great way to make a near 100 degree summer night even better? Turn the oven to 450 degrees and then forget about it for an hour or so. I could have sworn I killed the gas midway thru cooking some taters. Well after having eaten dinner, I noticed the kitchen was still pretty hot, but figured it was just taking awhile to cool off. Finally Lisa and I noticed that the knob was still pointed at 450. Brilliant! A couple hours later, and the kitchen is finally approaching the torrid temperatures of outside.

All of the reports of overloaded grids have left me somewhat concerned. Since the back A/C isn’t running that well, Lisa and I have brought the piggies into our bedroom for the night. I’m actually trying to conserve energy a tad more so, in addition to my desktop system (which has been powered off more frequently these days), that A/C can be shut off completely. We’ll leave the little goobers in our bedroom for the next day or so with the more efficient unit keeping them cool. Otherwise they just sit on the wet lettuce I feed them, rather than eating eat.

Fortunately, parakeet are more accustomed to high temperatures, so Birdie should be quite comfy in the jungle-like atmosphere in the front room. Of course that means he gets far less company these days.

Since I am horrible at getting around to reviews of all the movies I watch (which is really sad, considering how much I’ve slowed down with Netflix these days – more on that later), I try to at least talk about what I see in theaters. So how could I ignore the blissfully tripped out viewing from Saturday night – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?! I most certainly could not!

For starters, let me get this off my chest: THIS IS NOT A REMAKE! THIS IS NOT A REMAKE! THIS IS NOT A REMAKE! This movie is, in fact, based on a book upon which the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was also based. You can easily compare them, but it is also quite possible to love them both. I don’t think I could really decide between the two of them, as I thoroughly enjoyed both Gene Wilder’s and Johnny Depp’s portrayals of Wonka in their own right.

Wait, I’ve already told you that I liked it, now where do I go with this review? The movie is bizarre – as dark and twisted as the first one was, this movie was creepy and trippy. Depp plays an awkward and rathered isolated Wonka consistent with the surreal worlds that Tim Burton so often creates. His Wonka is filled with a certain disdain for both children and their parents that is conflicted with his love of sweets. While Wilder’s Wonka was a realistic view of an improbable world, Burton and Depp create another fairy tale geared more towards adults than the usual Disney crowd.

The Oompa Loompa songs are brilliantly adapted by Danny Elfman (perhaps the greatest film score talent of our time) and performed by Deep Roy (you have to see it to believe it). I could barely contain my mixture of laughter and bewilderment each time “they” would take the stage. The entire film was a great ride from start to finish, and now I really need to read the books.

With each film he does, I am even more certain that Johnny Depp will go down as the greatest actor of our time. He has solidifed his ability to take on any role – whether it be serious and dramatic or bizarre and comedic – and “CatCF” continues that trend. But equally enjoyable in this film is the appearance of Freddie Highmore as a spot-on Charlie Bucket. He also recently played Peter with Depp in Finding Neverland, and looks to be on his way to a promising film career.

There’s more I could say, but I fear I have already given away too much. “Charlie” is a brilliantly executed film, and I highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t already.

…the third one ducks. The questions in this quiz alone had me laughing pretty hard – but I’m easy that way.

the Wit (56% dark, 39% spontaneous, 38% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you’re probably an intellectual, but don’t take that to mean you’re pretentious. You realize ‘dumb’ can be witty–after all isn’t that the Simpsons’ philosophy?–but rudeness for its own sake, ‘gross-out’ humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it’s also the best, in my opinion. Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart – Woody Allen – Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 56% on dark You scored higher than 56% on spontaneous You scored higher than 68% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating

One thing this was way off on was the suggestion that I might like “The Office” – terribly unfunny show (and yes, I’m talking about the British version). Nevertheless, I am quite the wit!

(thanks to various LJ brethren)

I normally don’t get this “personal” online, so let me lay down a quick disclaimer: Lisa is typically the sweetest, most even-tempered person in the whole-wide world. Even when it comes to that particular time of the month, she is far more of the overly emotional, “prone to excessive crying during Hallmark movies” type than the angry, “nothing you can say will be right” type. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, perhaps I can relay the night’s happenings without doing serious damage to our relationship.

It all started with a simple enough idea: Let’s go get some ice cream! We had a nice weekend, including joining the Y and starting to work out (hopefully a regular occurance). After dinner and a movie, it seemed like a nice enough evening to walk over to Bloomfield Ave and get a scoop of cold, creamy goodness. Lisa conceded, and we began the trek.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of skipping the local throwback diner, and decided the softserve options at TCBY might be better. After several minutes deliberating over the somewhat limited selection, Lisa and I both made our decisions. It is important to note that Lisa’s choice was predicated upon the addition of hot fudge to whatever flavor was available. So a single scoop of mint chocolate chip it was.

The girl behind the counter already got Lisa in a bad mood by ignoring her request for a scoop, and insisting upon the small, regular, or large sizing. After filling the small cup with not one… not two… but three scoops, the girl informed us that they were all out of hot fudge.

Now, let me interject here and say that yes, this was stupid. If I place an order, and you can only fulfill half of it, let me know right away. That gives the customer a much easier out for weighing their options and possibly fleeing a hot fudge-less ice cream insitution. But what followed left me somewhere between terrified and hysterical with laughter.

Sure, Lisa was disappointed, but I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Lisa, however, had become convinced that this girl was, in fact, a hell-born demon sent with the intention of destroying her sweet enjoyment (the order coming to $6.66 might also have contributed to this theory). And that had killed the mood. Walking home, she just kept ranting and raving about what an idiot this girl was and how nasty she had acted – purposely screwing her out of the ideal opportunity for hot fudgey goodness. The nerve of some braindead teenager to just force upon her a topping-less cup of useless ice cream. Every few steps, just as I thought we had made progress, she blew up again over the outrage of the situation. How could she enjoy such a worthless cup of nothing?!?!

Granted, she realized the hormonal overeaction, but that didn’t stop her from a few more explosions of vitriol aimed at the flunky cashier. But at least by then we could laugh about it – although I did so from a few steps away. Normally the whole PMS thing doesn’t really amount to much around these parts aside from a need for more tissues, but it can still get a tad wacky.

I rarely get out to shows these days, and haven’t seen much of the ol’ Open Mic crowd. But Eugene is playing at Maxwell’s tonight:

Revolutionary Records and ArtKore present:
Girls Rock & Girls Rule the Road!
Wednesday, July 20th
Maxwell’s
[1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030]
(VERY short PATH train or bus-ride away from Manhattan)

8:30pm-9:00pm -For the Love of Nancy
9:10pm-9:50pm – Tang
10:00pm-10:40pm – G-spot
10:50pm-11:30pm – eugene

Since Chris has suggested it, perhaps tonight’s a good night to cut loose and have some fun. Sure, I prefer it when I know a few of the bands instead of just one, but this means that we don’t need to follow a tight schedule. If we catch the other bands, great, otherwise we actually have time to eat and drink (and be merry). If anyone else is interested let me know (or just show up).

Also, I’ve been thinking of getting people together for some hibachi. Lisa and I frequent a great sushi place down the road from us, but have yet to try their slinging chefs out. I like the idea of filling an entire table for that, so I’m just putting it out there.

Alrighty, the rest of the Internet can shut down, we have a winner. There is no need for anything else on the web, except for Jowlers! This site should be able to keep us amused until the end of the world. The insrtuctions alone left me howling – imagine my delight at discovering they had liquid-specific entries! Taking these photos was more fun than should be legally allowed. I think I may have found a new avatar…

(thanks to Jess)

A humorous attempt to fight back against idiot spammers:

If you are getting here through a search on Popup Blockers or for Pop-Up Blocker or Pop Up Blocker Internet Explorer, please do not buy from pop-upblocker dot org They are spammers and unethical. ADB Popup Blocker and ANB Pop Up Blocker are from the same company and you should not buy their product. Any SEO people want to help me get this post up on top on the SEs?

As of my last check, the above WTC post had moved into the top ten results from a quick google for “popup blockers” (#9 to be exact). Not that I have enough PR to actually help here, but I’m curious as to how high it can get.

(thanks to Dougal)

Testing out the flickr “blog this photo” feature. Last Thursday Lisa and I met up with Chris (and a friend of his… damn, I can’t remember her name) in Central Park for Broken Social Scene and Dinosaur Jr. at Summer Stage. Although they let me in with the Digital Rebel, the staff let me know that my telephoto would be confiscated if I tried to take it out.

In other words, I decided not to bother with the photography that much. It was pretty awesome seeing J. Mascis and Lou Barlow play together, even if it was too loud for Lisa. I did play around with some shots from our speeding taxi, which has created a desire to try some more “cityscapes” when I have the time.

P.S. I forgot to mention that I decided to use “indieb0i” for Flickr. So you can find my full photostream at http://flickr.com/photos/indieb0i/

Last night went well. Lisa and I met up with both sets of parents for dinner at the Cock ‘n Bull. What a meal! After my grilled meat spectacular on Saturday night, the chicken breast smothered in gorgonzola sauce and prosciutto has left me contemplating the future of my heart. Lisa wasn’t exactly thrilled to watch my eating habits this weekend, and will probably push for salads all around this week.

As for the family members, everything started smoothly and continued even smoothlier… By the end of the evening we practically had to pull them apart, the conversations never took a break. Pretty amazing considering we even drudged up some political discussions (fortunately both sides adamently dislike Bush). The best part of all the talk, however, was when our fathers started swapping stories about old ballplayers. Even though I still have a distaste for baseball, I know full well what a great unifier its history can play. We all remember the idols from our youth, and love to connect with those of others.

Unfortunately it started raining just as we left the restaurant thus, since all of the shops were already closed, we were forced to call it a night. Probably a good time anyway, but it still felt cut short. That’s one more milestone down – next we’ll need to have the entire families meet.

Actually, there was one other milestone this weekend. Lisa and I opened joint savings and checking accounts at Commerce, although very little money will be in there to begin with. Oddly, these financial unions are not the ones I fear most… But that still remains slightly in the future.

Life has been a crazy mix of work and debates over wedding matters. These are the times I start to wish I was more of a guy’s guy. You know, the kind who does’t care that much about plates and drapes and reception halls. But I just can’t keep all my metrosexuals opinions bottled up inside, dammit!

The big issue right now is the hall itself. We’re (and by we I mean Lisa) hoping to book the place ASAP, but still keep wavering between two places. Of course, each of us prefer the other. Lisa is still very much in love with The Manor, which I can testify somewhat to be an excellent place (oh my, just how long ago was Jeff and Sara Jane’s wedding?). I, on the other hand, am leaning towards Il Tulipano ever since we visited there a week ago. Friday her parents came over to see The Manor and have dinner at Il Tulipano, with the idea of writing a check that night. Unfortunately the offices were already closed, and the entirety of Il Tulipano was taken over by an event.

One failure down, we decided to try dinner again last night. Oh crap, was that good. You gotta love a place that actually brings the salad out on two plates when you mentions it’s to be split (especially when it includes a wonderful selection of arugula, endive, and radicchio). And while the shrimp were somewhat larger than Lisa and I prefer (we’re weird that way), the saffron risotto was delectable. And then there was my dish – a selection of grilled meats.

We’re talking quail, filet mignon, freshly made sausage, lamb, and even some liver. The last one was the only bit I wasn’t crazy about, but that’s just personal preference. Although I will add that, for my first real experience with liver, it wasn’t that bad – just has an unusual taste and aftertaste. The rest, however, got better and better as the meal went on. I’ve had better lamb, but the filet mignon was delightful. Grilling is a rarity with that cut, and the mixture flavors was better than I would have imagined. The sausage was just plain ridiculous. I never knew meat stuffed in a casing could be this good (okay, aside from fresh kielbasa). It was probably the fattiest I’ve ever had, which made it even better. But feeling a bit weighted down from all the meats, I decided not to finish that part. As for the quail – can’t we genetically engineer these birds a tad bigger?! I couldn’t get enough of this one (although the vague resemblance to our own parakeet turned Lisa off), and now desire to eat quail as frequently as possible. (CLAP! CLAP! Bring forth my daily quail!)

Even after that evening (we also snuck upstairs to see what a wedding in progress would look like), I am willing to concede to Lisa’s choice. I know I’ll be happy at either place. Unfortunately, she posed the question on The Knot, and was met with overwhelming support for Il Tulipano. In the ensuing confusion I have switched my vote to Vegas! Now we’re going to head over to The Manor again for another look (I need a refresher on the two rooms), which will probably solve nothing. I opted out of sampling their brunch because… well… I’m not made of money (it would cost more than our dinner last night).

Oh yeah, and this evening our parents are meet for the first time… Does the fun ever stop?