Friday, November 24, 2017

Lazy Movie Weekend: Movies to Be Thankful For

Happy Everyone Goes Crazy and Buys Stuff They Probably Don't Need Which Will Probably Be on Sale Later So Why Did You Get Up So Early Day! That really doesn't roll off the tongue as well as Black Friday. If you did brave the stores and the lines today, I hope you found that television or hot toy of the year or whatever it was that you ventured out into the fray to purchase today. I also hope you were nice to the clerks and the other people in the stores; I really don't want to see anyone I know in some horrible "When Shoppers Attack" video online later today. Let's all try to get along.

I don't participate in Black Friday shopping. I'm not a huge shopper to begin with and I don't like crowded malls or Targets all that much. Any Christmas shopping I'm doing this year will be done at the NMWA museum shop, a few local stores, and the DC Holiday Market. I'll probably get a few things online and I'm making some gifts this year. No need to rush out today to shop. Instead, I'm going to spend the rest of today and parts of tomorrow and Sunday watching some of my favorite movies and enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers. In honor of my second favorite holiday, I've put together a little "Movies to Be Thankful For" movie marathon. Some are more recent releases; others are classics or movies I've featured in a past Lazy Movie Weekend post. So grab a turkey sandwich, maybe some pie, and settle in for this marathon.

  1. Home for the Holidays (1995) - By far the best movie about Thanksgiving there is, Home for the Holidays is a 1990s movie treat, featuring Holly Hunter, a pre-Ironman Robert Downey, Jr., Claire Danes at peak My So-Called Life fame, and Mrs. Robinson herself, Anne Bancroft. Let's not forget Charles Durning (a national treasure) and of course, Steve Guttenberg. Please pause to reflect on the fact that at one point in our collective history, Steve Guttenberg was a sex symbol. Just let that sink in. Holly Hunter plays Claudia Larson, who's Thanksgiving holiday has gone from bad (losing her job before the holiday) to worse (her fashionable coat is stolen, her mother is a little maudlin, her sister is awful, and a turkey gets dropped on someone) as she journeys home for the holidays. I can never decide if Anne Bancroft is my favorite part of this movie or if the collective crazy that is Larson family is what makes this whole thing work. I aspire to be Aunt Glady one day.
  2. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017) - I'm a big fan of the first Guardians movie as well, but there's something about the second movie that makes me thankful for superhero movies that both does and doesn't take itself seriously. The sequel is about family and how it doesn't necessarily have to mean people you're related to especially when your dad is a shady dude named Ego. We're also treated to one of the greatest characters of the last few years, Baby Groot. Adult Groot stole most of the first Guardians movie with his odd humanity and his bond with Rocket. But Baby Groot is a completely different story. There's a part towards the end of the movie where Gamora is holding him and he reaches out for Drax like a baby would reach for a parent. So cute. Vin Diesel voices Groot in both films, which is both genius and unexpected. It also leads us to our third entry on this list...
  3. Action movies made in the early 2000s featuring Vin Diesel and his arms - Look, we can pretend that we went to see XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Fast and the Furious, and The Pacifier because they all looked like fun, action-packed movies that would entertain us for an hour/hour and a half. This is a lie. Tell the truth; it was because of Vin Diesel's arms. I would start with XXX because it's the most ridiculous of this group of movies. 
  4. You've Got Mail (1998) - I will watch this movie anytime it's on television. I can't help myself. It's charming and sometimes, I need a movie that isn't serious or is going to make me regret my life choices or something equally dramatic. I want charming and this movie fulfills that order for me. Technically, it was the first Lazy Movie Weekend post here on the Island. I wouldn't come up with the theme until a few months later when I rewatched Return to Oz for the first time in 10 years (still creepy). Anyway, You've Got Mail is a modern version of The Shop Around the Corner and features a delightful Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as warring bookstore owners who are secretly chatting with one another (and falling in love) in an online chat room. It's charming and delightful and will make you fall in love with New York and possibility. Also, there is a sequence that takes place over Thanksgiving so technically this is a holiday movie.
  5. Harold and Maude (1971) - I dated a guy a few years ago who didn't understand why I love this movie so much. He thought it was morbid and weird (which it is). We were never going to last given his attitude about this movie. There's so much to enjoy about the story of Harold, a young man intrigued with death, who befriends Maude, an almost 80 year old woman who lives life to the fullest. She teaches Harold how to embrace living and live each day to the fullest. They meet at a funeral and Harold does things like stage his death several times to get out of the blind dates his mother sets him up on, but at the end of the day, Harold and Maude is about eccentricity, love, and friendship. It also features a soundtrack by Cat Stevens that becomes a character itself. 
  6. Almost Famous (2000) - Say Anything was my favorite Cameron Crowe movie until I saw Almost Famous for the first time. The movie is loosely based on Crowe's on time on the road as a rock journalist in the 1970s, writing for Rolling Stone. Patrick Fugit's William Miller is Crowe's stand-in, a teenage music fan and writer who ends up on tour with the band Stillwater (including Jason Lee and Billy Crudup). He falls in love with one of the Band-Aids, Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), who also happens to be involved with a member of the band. Set to an amazing soundtrack, Almost Famous is everything about 70s rock music I love. It's about fans and bands coming up through the ranks and love (all rock songs are about love). William's mother and sister (Frances McDormand and Zooey Deschanel respectively) are also a treat. If you love music, you should watch this movie.
  7. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - I will always admit to liking hipster things and Wes Anderson movies are probably the most hipster thing I like outside of craft beer and fancy cheese. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Moonrise Kingdom are my two favorites. I picked this one for three reasons: Bill Murray, the soundtrack, and Bud Cort. Bill Murray appears in many of Anderson's movies, but this is my favorite of his performances. He's like a less nice, heavier drinking Jacques Cousteau so, you know, delightful. The soundtrack is a mix of rock/pop hits from the 70s and 80s and performances of David Bowie songs in Portuguese (performed by the amazing Seu Jorge). I saw him perform these songs earlier this year and it was wonderful; go see him in concert if you have the opportunity. The movie also features Bud Cort, who we met earlier in this list as Harold in Harold and Maude. He plays an accountant who is kidnapped by pirates because that's the kind of movie this is.
  8. Amelie (2001) - When I visited Paris in 2013, one of my planned stops was the cafe featured in Amelie. I spent a day in Montmartre and had lunch at Le Café des 2 Moulins. It was a highlight of my trip. The movie is another movie that I can only describe as "charming." Audrey Tautou plays Amelie, a shy waitress who helps her friends, discovers a secret admirer, and has adventures around Paris. There's also a traveling gnome, revenge, and lots of quirk. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I could tell you more, but that would ruin it so just watch the movie yourself.
  9. Hairspray (1988) - This was the first John Waters movie I ever watched and it will always be my favorite. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Hairspray is at first glance, about a teenage girl who wants to be on a local televised dance show. However, it's also about civil rights, being comfortable with who you are, and doing what's right in the world. This was Ricki Lake's first movie role and she is a delight. Divine plays her mother, Edna, and is the best part of the movie. There's great fashion, dancing, and Vitamin C plays the mean girl. I would also recommend the musical movie version that came out a few years ago despite the fact that John Travolta is terrible in it. Queen Latifah and James Marsden make up for his awfulness. 
  10. Elf (2003) - I figured I'd end with a Christmas movie since everyone is now welcome to start decorating and listening to Christmas music if that's your thing. If ever there was a person destined to play a human raised by elves, it's Will Ferrell. He's so perfect for the role of Buddy the Elf; my brother doesn't care for Ferrell and he likes this movie. That's saying something. It's one of the most quotable holiday movies ("Smiling is my favorite.). James Caan is very James Caan as Buddy's birth father and Ed Asner should always play Santa. It's also a little weird and quirky which makes it even better. Enjoy while drinking cocoa and enjoying some maple syrup.
I hope ten is enough movies to get through the long weekend. If anyone has any creative uses for leftovers, let me know. I'm thinking of making waffles out of the leftover stuffing to go with my viewing of You've Got Mail. I feel like those two things belong together.

Next weekend: Your Resident Single Friend goes speed dating. Yes, it's really happening. I wouldn't want my mother to worry that I'm going to die alone.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Old Lady Concert Rules: Loving you is cherry pie

Some pop confessions I need to make:
  • Madonna's "Lucky Star" was the first pop song where I memorized both the lyrics and the video choreography. If pressed today, I could sing the song and probably do about half of the choreography. Eighties-era Madonna will always be my favorite.
  • I stopped listening to boy bands after New Kids on the Block. I cannot stand any of the 90s era boy bands, but I enjoy Justin Timberlake's solo work. 
  • I adore Ariana Grande as a human being and a member of the Hairspray Live cast, but only know two of her songs and only like one of them.
  • "Toxic" is my favorite Britney Spears song because everyone has one favorite Britney Spears song.
  • The Spice Girls are overrated. 
  • Even though I actively fear the Beyhive, I don't love Beyonce. I appreciate her artistic vision and her social activism. The only Beyonce song I listen to is "Crazy in Love" and that's mostly because of the line about pagers which makes me giggle uncontrollably.  
  • Until yesterday, I would have considered myself, at best, a casual Lady Gaga fan. 
I feel so much better after getting all of that out. Most of the true pop music I love is from the 1970s and 1980s, the best time for pop music. Give me David Cassidy (let's hope he gets better), Madonna, and every British synth band ever. While the 1990s was a heady time for pop music, there was so much else going on that I didn't focus on it much. By then, I was into rock, metal, old school punk, and alternative/indie music. Pop isn't my thing and that has continued well into the 2000s. I would never begrudge anyone their love of pop music; love what/who you love and own it. That's my motto when it comes to anything pop culture.

So I was late to the world of Lady Gaga. Her first album, The Fame (later reissued as The Fame Monster) was released in 2008 and catapulted her to stardom with songs like "Poker Face", "Paparazzi", "Just Dance," and "Bad Romance" (on the reissue). I was less interested in the songs on her first album, but drawn to the stage persona she created. The visual story Lady Gaga tells is amazing. It's avant-garde and weird and fun. It fells very much like long-form performance art. She was (still is) intriguing in the same way Bowie was intriguing in his many characters and personas throughout his early albums. Lady Gaga was another space alien dropped into our midst to bring us art and music and love. I just ignored her at first.

It wasn't until the Christmas after The Fame came out that I started to have an appreciation for Lady Gaga and her music rather than Lady Gaga and her spectacle. I was in Detroit for Christmas that year with my family and we happened to have a Canadian pop/rock station on while we were in town (you can get some Windsor-based radio stations in Detroit and some Detroit-based stations in Windsor). Anyway, "Paparazzi" was in heavy rotation on this station, playing every hour. Normally, this would annoy me. It's part of the reason I don't listen to pop stations; it's always the same songs on rotation. It gets boring. However, in this case, I became obsessed with the song. I was genuinely disappointed when I didn't hear it while in the car. I wasn't focused on the visual of the video, which is fantastic, but on the lyrics. At it's core, "Paparazzi" is about fandom. Obsessive, stalk-y fandom, but fandom nonetheless. There's a wonderful lyric in the third verse (I think), "Loving you is cherry pie" that I adore. Listening to this song on repeat that Christmas made me appreciate Lady Gaga for than the spectacle. I was starting to like her for her lyrics. I went home, bought a bunch of her songs, and and read the liner notes, one of my favorite musical past-times. Lady Gaga can write a song.

In the years since my Canadian radio obsession, she's released several more albums including the wildly successful Born This Way, worn a dress made out of meat at the VMAs, won some Grammys, and stole AHS: Hotel from everyone else who was on the show. She gave an amazing performance at the Super Bowl and performed with Metallica. She also did an album with Tony Bennett and has become an advocate for LGBTQ causes, created the Born This Way Foundation, worked with "Uncle" Joe Biden on the "It's On Us" campaign, and released the haunting "Til It Happens to You" for the film The Hunting Ground.

And then there's Joanne. Her current album, the one she's on tour with, is awesome. It's some of the pop-ness of her previous albums, but there's more rock and country influences weaving their way through. The lyrics on all of the songs, but particularly "Joanne," "Diamond Heart", and "Million Reasons," are solid. I can listen to the entire album on my commute to work in the morning and it's awesome. I feel like if you didn't like her previous albums, you'd like this one. It's got a little something for everyone. Critics have called it her most personal album; she even alluded to that during the concert. The album has a more mature, but also vulnerable and raw quality that the other albums don't have. I can listen to the whole album and start over again without even thinking twice. That doesn't often happen for me with full albums.

I had the opportunity to see the Joanne tour last night here in DC. My company has a suite at the Verizon/Capital One/Figure Out a Name Already Arena and I got tickets in a ticket lottery. My friend, Emily, joined me for the concert. I don't know that Emily and I can ever do things like concerts and baseball games together again; it seems like we always end up in the most extreme version of the event we can experience. It's exhausting. For the record, now that I've seen the show, if I could go back in time and buy tickets I would. A Lady Gaga concert is worth the money.

To say that it was a good concert would be like saying we need water to survive. It was a phenomenal concert; it's definitely in my top five concerts of all time. A Lady Gaga concert has everything: elaborate sets, fire, costume changes, cheeky language, love, rainbow bridges that make one think of The Wizard of Oz, risque choreography, salty language, awesome choreography, and beautiful lyrics. There were moments when I was overwhelmed by her talent and her humanness all at the same time. Some of my favorite moments were when she played the piano with nothing else going on. The acoustic version of "The Edge of Glory" was one of my favorite concert moments of all time. We also got to be involved in the American Music Awards (AMAs) which were on last night too. She performed "The Cure" from the concert on the show. Later on, they cut back to us when her category was announced and she won for Best Female Pop/Rock artist. It was a cool addition to an amazing experience.

As I told my mother, it felt like Lady Gaga wanted to give us all a hug and a puppy, but also wants us to be super fierce and not take anyone's shit. She talks about her pain, both emotional and physical, as a source of inspiration. She encourages people to ask for help and to understand "invisible" illnesses like chronic pain and mental illness. She told people to be nice to the 2 people in the arena who didn't cheer when she asked if they were part of the LGBTQ community or an ally of said community. Lady Gaga has created a space where her fans can come together and be themselves and love life and each other and be awesome. Lady Gaga fans, the Little Monsters, are delightful. Part of the fun of the show was seeing people in costume (from their favorite songs and albums), including a large number of men in the outfit from the cover of Joanne. Gentlemen, I salute you and your white pants. It's so different from other fandoms I've experienced. I'm sure there are catty Little Monsters, but I've never met one.

I woke up this morning, after way less sleep than I'm used to, feeling amazing. I had a wonderful Monday. Is it after effects of a truly inspirational concert experience? It might just be.

Please excuse me while I go listen to Joanne again.





 Happy Thanksgiving from the Island! A new Lazy Movie Weekend post will be up on Saturday (or Friday night if I'm super ambitious).

Friday, November 10, 2017

You're Doing Everything Wrong: Butternut squash burns edition

The kitchen smelled like goodness and deliciousness, chasing the cold, gray day away. I spooned butternut squash from the pot to the blender as instructed by the helpful Food Network recipe. And then it happened. I was transferring one batch from the blender to the bowl and somehow, a glob of squash made its way to my hand instead of to its home in the bowl. I felt like I was in the slow motion part of an action movie; my movements didn't match the pain I was experiencing. Instead of flinging the errant squash off my hand, I was transfixed by it's beautiful golden hue. My movements slowed and the pain increased. Finally, I snapped out of it and got my hand under some cold water.

Stupid squash.

This is what happens when I plan to cook. I get all excited about making certain recipes and I think I'm doing a good job planning out how the cooking will impact my week. But then the squash starts attacking, the brussel sprouts get an attitude, and I realize I have ground ginger not grated ginger because I'm an animal (apparently). I do everything wrong when it comes to cooking and meal planning.

I'm a planner in literally every other aspect of my life (have you seen my color organized closet?), but I've never been good at meal planning. Conceptually, I understand meal planning. I'm obsessed with the fact that there are over two million results when I Google "meal planning containers" - that's just for the containers to hold said meals. There are almost twenty million results when searching for "meal planning." Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has an opinion or method for getting your meal plan on. I've read so many articles on this, trying to get inspired. Friends, who do this well, have shared recipes and techniques they've found useful over the years. I've tried their techniques. I've made the recipes (some of them), but it never seems to stick. I could pretend like it's because I'm a terrible cook, but I'm not. While I prefer baking, but I'm a good cook. As my friend Emily would say, I would make my village proud where we still living in times when a woman was judged based on her cooking skills and ability to birth children. Oh wait...

Anyway, it's not my cooking skills. What I've come to realize is my aversion to being good at meal planning comes down to four things:
  1. I'm an incredibly indecisive person when it comes to deciding what I want to eat on a particular day.
  2. I don't like eating the same thing more than twice in a row.
  3. I get easily distracted by convenience.
  4. I'm only cooking for me. 
I'm not a picky eater; a family only needs one of those and my brother called dibs on that long before I was born. Since I'm not picky, the options are endless, which is overwhelming, so I resort to making the same five or six things because I know I like them and it's easy. One of the things about meal planners that I admire is how creative they get with recipes. No, I don't normally cook sugar pumpkins (those are the little ones used for pies and soup), but I'd love to try! I don't ever think that way and I'm indecisive about food. How can I possibly make a dish that will last me a week if I'm not sure I'm going to want to eat that on Thursday? It's a level of food commitment that I'm not sure I have in me. Maybe this is also why I'm still single. I decided that to combat this particular issue, I would commit first to breakfast items for my meal planning experiment. Breakfast, like a lunch date, is less formal and less stressful. I converted my family banana bread recipe to muffin form and divided them into packs of two, freezing some and leaving others out. These are delicious and one of the best things I've made in a long time. I'd share the recipe, but my dad has to give permission first; it's a long story. I also attempted overnight oats for a few weeks. Let's just say that mushy oatmeal is not my thing. I wanted it to work out but no amount of pecans or fruit could help. I'll stick to regular old oatmeal moving forward.

After my mixed successes with breakfast, I decided to focus on lunch. When I started my new job back in June, I set a goal for myself to bring my lunch more frequently. We have very nice cafes within the office and full kitchens so there is no reason not to embrace lunch. No reason except I'm me. I was doing well for a while, bringing salads and leftovers, but it was so easy to walk downstairs and get something from the cafeteria. Before I started making work friends, I'd go out by myself to lunch to get off campus for a bit. Then I remembered my goal and decided to try some new things for lunch. Inspired by my friend Jessica's meal planning, I tried Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps and some fancier salad ingredients (from a series of recipes Jessica sent me). I made my favorite crockpot recipe; Turkey Sloppy Joes. I roasted a chicken so I could use it in salads and throw it in cauliflower fried rice for an exciting change. I did fine for awhile, but then the business of work and the stresses of commuting reared their ugly heads and I got lazy again. Then I got annoyed with myself for being lazy.

Enter the butternut squash soup.

I sat down at my computer two weekends ago and began my search for an easy butternut squash soup recipe. I enjoy butternut squash and it's been getting colder so I figured making soup on the weekend for the week was a great idea. I also made a Santa Maria Tri-Tip roast from Trader Joe's on the same weekend so I could alternate between the soup and veggies and the roast (which I put in a salad and had with acorn squash that didn't burn me). The only day I caved and didn't bring lunch was food truck day. I felt that was justifiable for Korean fried chicken. Anyway, I felt accomplished. Despite my squash burn, I successfully made meals for the week and brought them to work and ate them. My breakfasts included the banana nut muffins. The week went smashingly.

Building on the success of the week, I went searching for more recipes. I found a bunch of options in a Buzzfeed post featuring one pan chicken dishes. I opted to make the Sheet Pan Chicken Stir Fry as my first recipe. Besides having to buy oyster sauce and sesame oil, I'm not sure this recipe made much of an impression. I ate it for dinner the day I made it and then brought it for lunch twice last week. It's not terrible; the sauce was good and it was easy to make. It just wasn't great. I was underwhelmed and ended up eating peanut butter and jelly one day and buying a quesadilla from the cafeteria on Friday. If I make this recipe again, I'll double the sauce, add some chili paste, and a few different vegetables (maybe carrots and cauliflower). I'm not giving up hope on this one, but it needs some work.

I have three new recipes to try; Chicken and Pumpkin Rice, Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff, and Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Apples (also a sheet pan recipe). These are all things I think I can eat for more than a few days. If none of them work out, one of my delightful co-workers gave me a coupon for a free Hello Fresh box. I'm contemplating the veggie plan for some variety. Even if I don't like it, I won't be out anything.

And that's the real result of this experiment. I've lost nothing. I've accomplished much, even if I don't think I have. I may still cave on occasion and get food truck food or go to the cafeteria rather than eat that salad I so beautifully prepared, but at least I'm trying. I'm trying new recipes. I'm trying to be better about bringing lunch. I'm trying to be healthier when I can be. I will never be these women, but I'm good with that.

Recipes:
Coming soon to the Island: I try speed dating, a special Thanksgiving edition of Lazy Movie Weekend, and I reflect on six months at my new job. Where does the time go?