popplers

Nerdvana

Life is good: Serenity and Mirrormask both open today (although it looks like the few reviews posted so far for Mirrormask are not so hot). Not being the movie geeks we once were, we won't try to cram them both in on the same night. But we're definitely heading to Kendall Square tomorrow to catch Mirrormask. (And afterward, Toscis!)

Also, don't miss The Onion's A.V. Club interviews with Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. Neil, on being cool:

AVC: Has having children affected your interest in children's books, or changed your writing?

NG: Possibly, but I think having been a child, and having been a certain sort of child, is probably the thing that made me the most interested. But it's certainly been incredibly useful for my credibility at home, doing children's books. Especially from my youngest, Maddy—it's been fun doing things like Coraline, and having a daughter to try them out on. It's simply lovely having somebody who thinks this stuff is fun. From Maddy's point of view, really, the cool thing is the fact that I know Lemony Snicket, that she got to have dinner with Daniel Handler, the fact that R.L. Stine says hello. I am now cool.

Día de los Muertos

Corpse Bride (IMDB:7.7|Rot:83%*)

Went to see Tim Burton's Corpse Bride with Sean & Chris. Extremely reminiscent of Nightmare Before Christmas— especially Danny Elfman's songs. (Elfman voiced Bonejangles, too.) The look of the film is beautiful; it's like a 3-D Edward Gorey claymation fest. The characters and sets are amazing, with an unbelieveable amount of detail. I couldn't get over the oil paintings in the background of the scenes at the Everglots' mansion. Sometimes it's a little too familiar, too reminiscent of Nightmare, but it's sweet and funny and extremely well done.

*Cream of the Crop: 91%

Strange, but fun

Bunny. Bunny bunny.

Don't think that the bunny is art? Create your own.

Now why didn't Amazon recommend this for me?

What do you want to be for Hallowe'en, Billy?

I want to go as a Tropical Tiki Drink, mommy!

p.s. I know what Poz is going as this year.

Anansi Boys

On Friday, we went to Cambridge to hear Neil Gaiman read from Anansi Boys. The reading (not surprisingly) was sold out, but I had bought tickets a few months ago. The signing afterward took quite a long while— I had almost finished reading Anansi Boys by the time our turn came up! It's excellent; you can read an excerpt at neilgaiman.com. (Alas, the event only garnered a one-line entry on Neil's journal, but at least he said that it was fun.)

Also entertaining is this interview with Neil and Joss Whedon (although it's sad that Time can't manage to spell Joss's name correctly in the headline).

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Actually, it's much, much worse. Jones Soda prepares for Hallowe'en with its veerrrry spooooky flavors: Scary Berry Lemonade, Strawberry S'Lime, Caramel Apple, and… (aieee!) Candy Corn.

Panda quickies

Pass the bamboo shoots, brother:

• Baby panda!
  
• Giant panda!
  
• Tare panda!
  
• Stealthy panda!
  
• Radioactive panda!

I do wonder about the Chinese-Norwegian one.

Highly enjoyable New York Times article on "hyphenated Chinese cuisine" (with some pix):

[…] I call them second-generation Chinese restaurants," said Cheuk Kwan, who has directed a documentary film about the spread of Chinese restaurants around the world. "These restaurants always have a hyphen: Chinese-Venezuelan, Chinese-Norwegian, Chinese-Mexican.

"Chinese-Malagasy," he said, on the island of Madagascar, "was the best food, with lots of coconut milk and spices." […]

The city's first hyphenated version of the cuisine - after Chinese-American, of course - was Chinese-Cuban, which arrived in the 1960's, when thousands of Cubans of Chinese descent came to New York after Fidel Castro's rise to power.

"My grandfather was born in Zhanjiang, but his whole life was in Havana," said Manny Liao, a musician who lives in Washington Heights. "He always ate Chinese food, but he cooked Cuban." […]

Cheuk Kwan's Chinese Restaurants is a 13-part documentary series, airing on TV in Canada and at select venues in the U.S. (San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (New York), for two). Maybe PBS will pick it up? Someone should make this available to a wider audience in the U.S. Happily, it looks like there will be a DVD available in December.

Maybe it's because you're a bunch of asshats

From today's Boston Globe, with the headline, In Northeast, Minuteman Project finding few takers:

[…] Co-founder Chris Simcox says simply, "People on the East Coast couldn't care less." […]

Now the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps plans to launch in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine on Oct. 1, but so far, Simcox says, no border residents are helping. […]

"We've seen some aggressive opposition in the New York area," Simcox said during a phone interview. "It's a sign that terrorism is alive and well in this country." […]

Warm up the Volvo

In an event that rivals the opening of a Krispy Kreme, Ikea finally comes to Massachusetts (Stoughton) on November 9! Only 49 days to 99¢ Swedish breakfast! Mmmm… lingonberries.

Ahead of the curve

Although I recently wrote about terrible costumes for dogs, I didn't know of the existence of Beedogs.com. Fortunately(?), bOING bOING is there:

Beedogs collects and posts photos of dogs in bee costumes. Dogs. In. Bee. Costumes.

Shipping in October 2005 - pre-order now!

Some time ago, we were discussing a Franklin Mint-style deluxe set for Settlers of Catan. Some of the ideas that we had: hexes that represent their resources (e.g., slate, some exotic wood, clay, woven fiber for wheat, wool for sheep), fancy gold dice, a built-in lazy-susan, storage drawers… the whole nine yards. And we figured you could charge $500 bucks for it and some gamer geek would say, "Ooh! Limited edition! I must have it."

Well, it looks like Mayfair beat us to it: the 10th Anniversary Settlers of Catan™ 3-D Special Edition Treasure Chest Set. (And they're only charging $380.00.)

Ahoy!

Pirate Quickies:

• Today be the day!
  
• Test yer scurvy knowledge!
  
• Yaaar!

Countdown to Serenity

In preparation for Serenity's big screen debut (only 2 more weeks!), we've been watching all of the episodes of Firefly in order. The Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary has been quite useful for following all of the muttered curses and interesting comments.

Not quite as bad as the "Gold Box" offerings

Found while browsing Amazon's Friday Sale: oh, the horror. I can't bear to see cruelty to animals. (Although I think this one is even worse, somehow. I think it may be due to the look of disgust in the dog's eyes.)

Toscanini's, look out!

I think I've found my dream job: serving homemade, organic, gourmet ice cream from a custom-decorated truck. Chris made a batch of Mexican Chocolate ice cream last night (chocolate, cinnamon, chilli, chopped almonds, Kahlua)— it would fit right in with the offerings. Plus, the name Morfudd is just so damn cool!

[…] So far, so different, but do the public like the most important ingredient - the ice cream itself? On offer the day we go out (as in all good restaurants, the menu changes daily) is a challenging selection including coconut sorbet, pineapple and chilli, and beetroot and blood orange. For stressed parents, there's cantuccini - an almond biscuit dipped in vin santo ice cream and sherry. "One taste and you're in Amalfi," says Morfudd [Richards]. […]

Where is Hothead Paisan when you really need her?

Anyone who tries to put me in a cow-shed is going to experience internal injuries. You have been warned.

Nobody gets out of here without singin' the blues.

I was listening to NPR on my way to work this morning, and caught the tail end of their interview with B.B. King (80 years old today— God bless 'im!) They played a great snippet of "I Gotta Move Out of This Neighborhood" (from the Blues Summit album):

Nobody loves me but my mother
Sometimes I think
She could be jiving, too

Thath groth, mubber.

Aaaaah! Aaaaah! Forget sharks and jellyfish and poisonous snakes— keep the tongue-eating bug the hell away from me. Gih.

To combat that mental image, go look at these polar bears. Awww, polar bears.

Yep, that pretty much nails it

Defective Yeti reports all the news that's fit to print:

BUSH BRINGS MUCH NEEDED HUGS, FROWNY FACES TO NEW ORLEANS

BELEAGUERED CITY'S DEPLETED SUPPLY OF PLATITUDES ALSO REPLENISHED

President reassures horrified nation: "Trent Lott's home will be rebuilt."

I love Mimi Smartypants

Mimi discusses her recent reading list:

The Lorax. Oh, shut up you fucking Lorax. I read this book to Nora every single day and she still wants more. She cluck-clucks over the glop in the Humming-Fish pond, she sighs with despair over the smoggy sky, she scolds, "No! You do not do that!" at the sight of axes felling Truffula Trees. Should I just order her Greenpeace sweatshirt now? I'm down with the environment and all, but repeated readings of The Lorax have made me want to go shoot a panda, load it in my Navigator and drive it to a national park, and then set fire to its corpse with gasoline.

More scream

Made a batch of Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream (from the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book) and added Andes Mints. That's in the freezer now, firming up. Also on deck: Alton's sooper-dooper rich perfect ice cream. (We haven't even cooked the custard yet.)