popplers

Who writes these headlines?

Via little. yellow. different: heh heh. heh heh.
Via daypop: what a great mental image.

Yowza!

As Chris and I were driving home from Lunacon, we stopped off to have dinner in CT with some friends. As we were driving to the restaurant, we drove past a Krispy Kreme and noticed that the HOT sign was lit. After a very nice dinner at El Torero, we headed back to I-95. The HOT sign was still lit. Amazingly, there was no line in the parking lot or anything like that. (This particular Krispy Kreme has been open for a while, so maybe some of the insanity has abated.) We parked the car and headed in to sample the Krispy Kreme experience for ourselves.

We oohed and aahed over the cool manufacturing equipment, and I couldn't stop hearing Homer Simpson's voice in my head ("Mmm… doughnuts…"). We watched the fryer/ flipper mechanism, and stared raptly at the disturbing yet intriguing "waterfall of glaze". Finally, we reached the proverbial end of the line, and a Krispy Kreme employee handed us each a plain glazed doughnut, hot off the conveyer belt. Oh. My. God.

I have never eaten a doughnut that tasted this good. It was light and airy. It was still warm. It made me say "wow", multiple times.

Now, I've heard people rave about Krispy Kreme before, and didn't really understand the attraction. I'm a Dunkin' Donuts gal myself, and I had never sampled a Krispy Kreme that wasn't cold, from a box. Hot off the line is a whole 'nother story. Thankfully, there are only about 3 Krispy Kreme franchises in MA right now, and none of them are near us. I'm safe, for now.

Repent!

Read David Wong's Life After the Video Game Crash or Why Nintendo Won't Seem So Crazy in 2005.

Whoops.

I'm sure that there's a Gary Larson cartoon in this somewhere.

Laugh, it's good for you.

Via The Onion: "The shelves of America's dollar stores are packed with off-brand foodstuffs from netherworlds where Nabisco and Frito-Lay exist only as rumor. These weird little consumables sport odd names, curious mascots, unusual cooking suggestions, and flavor combinations that no sane laboratory chef could concoct. But how do they taste? The writers at The Onion A.V. Club recently emptied their coin purses and embarked on a quest for budget-friendly snacks."

Special humor bonus: God Hates Shrimp and The Exorcist in 30 Seconds (and re-enacted by bunnies).

Yay!

The Jeopardy check has finally arrived! As Jen predicted, it was pretty darn close to day 180 of the 180-day window spelled out in the contract, but at least it's finally here. Woot!

Quickies

• Marriage Constitutionally Defined as Between Man and Woman, or Two Hot Women
• The Onion: Jesus Demands Creative Control Over Next Movie
• Via Allison: Cows With Guns (Requires Flash)
• Via Frodo: Mr. Picasso Head and the Historic Tale Construction Kit (Requires Flash)
• Via cluefairy.com: Donald Rumsfield's Fighting Technique
• Mimi Smartypants: Ten Things I Miss About My Pre-Mommy Life
• Tom Tomorrow: A Brief History of Marriage in America

Obey me!

Via Room With a Moose: Invader Zim action figure prototypes! Woot!

In space, no one can hear you scream.

So, we're eating dinner and Chris springs this bit of news on me. Three words: Hellblazer. Constantine. Keanu. One response: Aieeee!

<comic_book_girl>What microcephalic studio executive green-lighted this train wreck of a project? No wonder Alan Moore has divorced himself from the film, "[washing] his hands of the entire debacle." Worst. Idea. Ever. I must register my disgust on the internet for all to see.</comic_book_girl>

Update (9:57 a.m.): Neil Gaiman refutes the above claim, stating:

Oh, it's true that Alan's rejected the money for CONSTANTINE and assigned it to his cocreators, but he's now done that for all films of his and things he's done that might one day be filmed. This was because he was deeply hurt and offended and irritated by being accused in the Larry Cohen lawsuit of having written League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as some kind of studio shill, and because Alan never does anything by halves. Up until the lawsuit his position was that he didn't care about the films people made from his work, but was happy to cash the cheques; after, he decided that he didn't even want to cash the cheques.

Movie update

While foamtotem.org was down, I saw a lot of movies. Actually, I've been seeing a lot of movies lately. Here are some of the ones that I can think of right now that I particularly enjoyed.

Theatre:

Big Fish (IMDb 8.0/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 76%)
Some of the reviewers complained that Tim Burton's latest effort was sappy or maudlin. I couldn't disagree more-- I found Big Fish to be charming, whimsical, and very sweet. There are far worse ways to spend an evening than watching this excellent cast (notably, Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, and Helena Bonham Carter). The one element that may have scarred me for life: Danny DeVito's naked butt.

Triplets of Belleville (IMDb 7.5/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 94%)
When Chris and I went to see Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, they showed a preview for Triplets of Belleville. I knew nothing about the plot, but from the moment that I saw the animation and art, I knew that I had to see this film. It is, without a doubt, one of the strangest little films that I've ever seen, but in a cute and amusing way (as opposed to a scary, disturbing, David Lynch-sort-of-way-- more on that later). This film should have won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, not Finding Nemo. The sequences involving Bruno the dog are incredibly imaginative and truly funny. And I've had that dang tune stuck in my head for weeks…

The Station Agent (IMDb 8.2/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 95%)
This is another case where I knew nothing about the plot. I wanted to see this for two reasons-- the excellent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and because we saw Peter Dinklage on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I wasn't disappointed. The Station Agent is not a comedy, but it has some wonderfully funny moments, great dialogue, and a likeable cast of characters. The plot, while believeable, is neither simplistic nor moralistic. Dinklage is brilliant as Finbar McBride, and I couldn't help but identify with talkative, gregarious, food-centric Joe (played by Bobby Cannavale). Go see this.

DVD:

Mystery Men (IMDb 5.8/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 60%)
This movie is too good to be called a guilty pleasure. I honestly don't know why it has such mixed reviews-- I really like it. Admittedly, I worship the ground that Janeane Garofalo walks on, and William H. Macy is priceless in this film. "We've got a blind date with Destiny-- and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." My new favorite quote from The Shoveler: "We struck down evil with the mighty sword of teamwork… and the hammer of not bickering." Wannabe (loser) superheroes, Tom Waits as a non-lethal weapons designer, and Geoffrey Rush as a super-villain… what's not to like? It's been on Chris's Wish List for months, so I finally bought it for his birthday.

Galaxy Quest (IMDb 7.2/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 87%)
As with Mystery Men, I often find myself quoting lines from this film (or, in some cases, about this film-- Rock: "Sigourney Weaver was a blonde?"). Gwen DeMarco/ Lt. Tawny Madison: "Look, I have one job on this lousy ship. It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it, okay?" Alexander Dane/ Dr. Lazarus: "I see you've managed to get your shirt off." It's parody, it's meta-humor, it's a loving tribute to the wonderful cheesiness of sci-fi (and the wonderful geekiness of fandom), and it's terribly silly. This one wasn't on Chris's Wish List, but I got it for him anyway.

TiVo:

Y Tu Mamá También (IMDb 7.8/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 93%)
I had wanted to see this when it first came out, but missed it when it was in theatres. I knew that Jenn had raved about it (but this is not always enough to get me to go see a film). I had no idea what to expect (and I was surprised at how sexually explicit it was…). (No complaints, though-- Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal are both fine to look at. Jenn was actually contemplating seeing Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights solely because Diego Luna is in it.) I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I thought that it ended rather abruptly and that the denouement was a bit of a cop-out. Definitely worth watching, but go see The Station Agent first.

The Sting (IMDb 8.3/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 100%)
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I had never seen this film. But then again, I only saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a few years ago. And I still haven't watched Casablanca (although Denis and Karen gave us a videocassette, so now we have no excuse). The Sting is a classic in the true sense of the word, and a heckuva of a lot of fun to watch. The scene with the high-stakes poker game is a riot: "What was I supposed to do-- call him for cheating better than me, in front of the others?" Long-overdue, but worth the wait.

Mullholland Drive (IMDb 8.0/10.0 | Rotten Tomatoes 79%)
This movie encapsulates everything that I love and hate about David Lynch. As we were watching it, I kept having Twin Peaks-flashbacks… the red curtains, the midget, the pretty blonde, the hallucinations… I knew that this had been originally conceived as the pilot for a never-picked-up TV series, so I wasn't expecting it to wrap up all pretty (but this was bizarre even by Lynchian standards). I was mostly keeping up with it until the last third of the film, where I completely lost the plot. The film is visually interesting, with great use of color. Naomi Watts and Laura Harring's performances are intense. There are lots of twists and turns that draw you into the story (just like Twin Peaks) and it completely goes off the deep end in the final 20 minutes (just like Twin Peaks!). I think I need to watch this again so I can figure out what the heck I think of it.

Indian pudding

Tried a new recipe recently. The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine had a feature a few weeks ago on Sweet Endings: panna cotta, rice pudding, etc. We had some heavy cream and whole milk left over from Chris's birthday, and there was just enough to make Indian pudding. It met my two major criteria for trying out a new recipe-- I liked all of the ingredients, and it sounded like a good combination: cornmeal, a little maple syrup, a little brown sugar, some dried cranberries and golden raisins, eggs, cream, and spices. I didn't realize until too late that it had to bake for 2 hours (slightly longer than I was expecting), but it was delicious and it made the whole house smell great. Presentation-wise, it's not much to look at (sort of like a nondescript, dark brown bread pudding), but mighty tasty (if I may say so myself).