Teutonic Eurotrash Bliss
Andrew stated that it was not all bliss, and that she was not German and not teutonic. He recommended eutonic. I just think it would be a great band name; we could even shorten it to T.E.B.
Music, recipes, and popular culture.
Baby Man: “At 54, William Windsor sleeps in a crib, eats in a high chair and does it in his diaper—by choice. Believe it.” The story of a man who lives in diapers ... the whole adult baby/diaper lover (AB/DL) fetish. It is a somewhat interesting article from the Phoenix New Times about the former actor-turned-country-singer. You can find out more on his website—he goes by the name heidilynn.
When she came over in May with Corina and Kim, Kristin brought over the following recipe:
Chocolate Bombe
Chef Robert Barral
New England Culinary Institute
Recipe for 8 people
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. Semi-sweet Chocolate
- 1/2 lb. Butter
- 3 Eggs
- 6 oz. Light Brown Sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 oz. Flour (2 Tablespoons)
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
Procedure:
- Melt chocolate with butter.
- Combine sugar, flour, and salt in bowl, add egg slowly while stirring with whisk. Add vanilla.
- Add chocolate/butter mixture slowly while stirring. Mix until uniform.
- Fill molds about 1/4’ from the top.
- Bake in 325F oven, about 18–20 minutes—centers should be soft and underbaked when cool (Bombes will soufflé a bit and just begin to crack and reveal their velvty, chocolaty centers.)
The same recipe is available elsewhere online, but I wanted to keep my own copy, and I did not want to hold on to the paper, figuring I would lose it.
On Saturday at Half-Price Books I picked up The Ruby in the Smoke, the first of Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart mysteries. I first came across Pullman when I read about The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights) and related books on Slashdot several years ago. I purchased that trilogy (His Dark Materials) and shared my enthusiasm for it with Leena. This was before I had read the Harry Potter books, which means that it was around 2001, since I first read Harry Potter in May of 2002 (but did not read through book 4 until the fall of 2003, and book 5 until last summer). Along the way I acquired a copy of I Was A Rat and Count Karlstein, the latter of which I have read. Like Count Karlstein the first Sally Lockhart novel is a book for children or young adults that emulates the literature of the period in which it is set, in particular a style of nineteenth-century narrative. In The Ruby in the Smoke it goes so far that one character relies on the penny dreadfuls of the time to solve puzzles and unravel clues.
I also cracked open The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the other day; it has been years (the 9th grade?) since I read it. In the summer of 2003 I listened to the old BBC radio drama.
On the playlist I have for some reason been focusing on a bit of old Dire Straits, in particular “Sultans of Swing” and “Down to the Waterline”—they are comfort songs of a sort. The guitar is relaxing, invigorating, and seductive all at once. KMN remixed a bunch of TV theme songs (hard to call them songs if they are only 20-to-40 seconds, right?) into 2-minute pieces; Danny Elfman’s introduction was the best part of Point Pleasant.
As for TV, I have been pulled in by Veronica Mars. I read about it on Salon months ago, I think—Heather Havrilesky seemed to like it. I watched the pilot, and it was catchy enough, so then episode two. Three and four will come later. It has had full season, so that is quite a bit to watch; I might recommend it on DVD later on. Comfort-TV of a sort.
This evening I gave myself some time for David Mamet’s Spartan, with Val Kilmer in what many believe is his best role since Tombstone (which I still need to watch, but it is in the queue, so to speak). Mamet succeeds where so many other mystery/thriller/action movies and writers/directors fail because he (Mamet) does not feel the need to fill his characters’ mouths with empty words that only explain what we already see on the screen. He does not bother with background narration, he does not fill in all the gaps, and he does not feel like he needs to hold our hands. Such a touch was lacking in the recent Star Wars movie, for example, in which Lucas felt it necessary for the actors to state all their intended actions before actually doing them (in a wooden fashion). Spartan also has Kristen Bell, aka Veronica Mars, so there is a bit of continuity in my viewing practices.
As for continuity ... or coincidences:
I finished up the car deal last week (and have not heard back from the purchaser of the Ford, so I suppose everything went smoothly at the DMV) and later had a conversation with His Swissyness. During said conversation Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness” (1931) was mentioned, for we were discussing the current trend of locating Atlantis and/or pyramids in Antarctica (e.g. Fingerprints of the Gods, Stargate, Veritas, Alien vs. Predator).
That very evening I watched the beginning of the new season of The 4400, and the above-mentioned Lovecraft story played a pivotal role. Coincidence? I think not! Furthermore, it featured Summer Glau, whose striking and particular looks made it easy to recognize that I had seen her before, just not where. A brief search revealed the name, and I recalled that she had been in the short-lived space-western Firefly, a truly magnificent, cult-favorite that is making its way to the big screen later this year in the form of Serenity (in which Glau plays an equally curiously-named character, River Tam, and in which we have Alad Tudyk [A Knight’s Tale], Gina Torres [Alias], and a non-Baldwin-Brother Baldwin).
—June 22 2005