movies to watch out for

Iron Chef? pikers
Top Chef? hackers

compared to Kings of Pastry, finally available via  Netflix.    this fine documentary didn’t make it anywhere close to these parts during its theatrical run.

but it is now on Netflix (both instant view and get-DVD-on-the-mail) and it is a very enjoyable watch. sixteen pastry chefs are  at the Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition, held every four years to determine who among them has the chops to wear the blue/white/red/ collar that marks one as  elite, or as each are referred to, a M.O.F. (my inner twelve-year-old inserted an “o” at the end, whenever I heard M.O.F.)

what took place were three days of patisserie competition at the highest levels of the craft. no stupid challenges, no eliminations, no personality clashes, no made-up drama: just men (all sixteen competitors were male) creating amazing confections and architectural marvels out of spun and blown sugar.

a beautiful movie.  the saddest part is at the end when you realize you have the most ridiculous craving for cream puffs and there isn’t a French patisserie in town.

the Oscars in bullet form

• meh
• raw display of Anglophilia
• Banksy was robbed
• True Grit was robbed
• eh
• wish I had a bit of the weed James Franco had
• with four of the five director nominees having solid tracks, and two (Aronofski and Fincher) doing what is widely considered their best work, and Christopher Nolan (not even a nominee) doing the dazzling Inception the Oscar goes to… Tom Hooper?  for a period drama?
• they asked Obama what his favorite Oscar-winning song is and he didn’t say Theme from Shaft?  I call shenanigans
• matter of fact, Theme from Shaft is the correct answer.  for any question
• somebody needed to sit on Anne Hathaway
• or give her some of what James Franco was enjoying
• Annette Bening was robbed
• meh
• whose idea was to bring out Kirk Douglas and make him talk?
• they need shot
• tackiest ending ever

one way to support the Wisconsin protesters

send’em a pizza

wish you could be there but can’t?

help feed the protests – order from Ians Pizza to be delivered to the protesters at the Wisconsin Capitol.
from their website:

If you are here to learn how help feed the protesters in Madison, here’s how you can do that:
Call us at 608-257-9248, then press 1.

As we have just three phone lines it may take a while to get through, and we apologize in advance for that.

[not affiliated to Ians Pizza or any other pizzeria – just doing this and sharing the info for anyone interested]

I just finished placing an order – according to the voicemail message at Ians Pizza, they have suspended their normal operations and dedicating 100% of their time and effort on feeding the protesters at Madison’s Capitol.  they are taking donations in increments of $20, which buys a 20” pizza and drinks, enough to feed ~ eight people.   they take VISA, MC, and Discover.

FWIW, I sent veggie pizzas – didn’t see any vegan options in Ians menu, though  :(

what is really happening in Wisconsin

a short excerpt from Dr. Krugman’s op-ed.

“

(…)  For what’s happening in Wisconsin isn’t about the state budget, despite Mr. Walker’s pretense that he’s just trying to be fiscally responsible. It is, instead, about power. What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin — and eventually, America — less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy. And that’s why anyone who believes that we need some counterweight to the political power of big money should be on the demonstrators’ side.

“

a-fucking-men

via Wisconsin Power Play – NYTimes.com.

Second class Valentines

remember all of us who are today celebrating their love as second-class Valentines

NOTE: because of the background song, the video has to be watched in YouTube. bah.
still needs to be watched and shared

Organizing so that we can, one day, celebrate February 14 as full and equal American citizens!

Yellow cardinals

Rare yellow cardinals spotted in Boyle county 

 

adorbs

source | Home | Kentucky.com.

SMBC >>>>>> NOM

this totally made my week.

I’ve been a fan of Zach Weiner’s SMBC webcomic, but my love has increased by eleventybillion percent

This Is All Kinds Of Right of the Day: The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM)  posted a Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic on their homepage by way of a hotlink. So SMBC creator Zach Weiner asked his brother Marty to change the image.

On his blog, Zach adds:

There seems to be this idea out there that action through the Internet has no important effect. Even people I really respect, like Jon Stewart, promote this idea. Well, today, I probably got a message of equality to over 100,000 people, among them members of the other side. This generation fights in a new way, but we fight just as hard.

via The Daily What.

 

P.S.: and to show how clueless the NOM folks are, this is the SMBC cartoon they originally hotlinked to:

 

...back in my day

 

P.S.S.:  if you are not already reading Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, you should. take my word for it. and despite its name there is a new cartoon every day

GUNG HO FAT CHOY

’tis the year of the metal rabbit

armored rabbit charging into battle

is there anything more badass that a rabbit in armor charging into battle?

for another kind of metal rabbit – the (heavy) metal bun

(heavy) metal rabbit

midnight madness!

at the Winnipeg Humane Society

kittens, they have kittens! buy one, get five free!