For all my young men

Apparently "men who masterbated a lot in their youth are less likely to have prostrate problems".

From Bruce Beresford's Josh Hartnett Definately Wants to Do This Film ...

So yea. I'm sure you'll all take this to heart.

Are you depressed? No more!

Why do people insist on doing this to themselves then POSTING IT ONLINE?

So, for your entertainment, here is some videos of people miming to Girlfriend.

4 crazy sluts

2 mad cows

4 pretty great chicks having a sleepover (this one gets 5 stars for greatness)

3 slutty preteens

Lucy and Helen are good too

Totally a man

Champs

Ok I'm bored now. Really, the last one is the best. And the sleepover. :) People are effing INSANE.

Mocking Music?

I don't know how to post YouTube vids here yet... but here's Avril Lavigne's Hot... Does anyone else feel that it is awfully Christina-Aguilara-ish?

And, for old times sake, here's Girlfriend. Which you might remember as being really old school Britney looking. So here's my question: Is this entire album meant to be a pop star mockery?

I suspect it is.

Across the Universe

So I took Dom boy to see Across the Universe. I thought it was something a bit cool and idie that we could do together that would totally up my cool-older-sister points. Not that I don't have enough. I have tons. Millions.

The Plot: Is NOT about the Beatles, as I thought (and told my brother). Both of us waited with bated breath for the band to form, but it never did. It's actually just about this English sex god (not really, he's a dock worker... but he's my new hero... and as I have excellent taste, you all should look out for him in the future) Jude, (aka Jim Sturgess aka not really famous yet but will be in the Other Boleyn Girl) who goes to America in the 60s-70s to find his long lost daddy. In England he meets Max, (aka Joe Anderson, aka cute in the David Spade way, aka friend of James since he's also in becoming Jane) who becomes his new bff. Joe has a hot sister (Evan Rachel Wood, aka Marilyn Manson's girlfriend... that's as far as I 'll go with her) whose boyfriend is away at war and it all gets very political and complicated, all you need to know is that it's a love story and there is not a Beatle to be seen.

The Good: The men are pretty hot. Men that sing and wanna hold your hand = <3
[edit: Ok so I don't know why it erased everything else good I had :( But I also said that the sound track was so amazing that I would buy it despite only buying about 5 CDs a year. And I did buy it. I'm listening to it now. The effects and cinematography are awesome, especially if you are a film student but even if you aren't, even if you have no artistic inkling whatsoever I think you could still enjoy it. Finally, I adored this chick TV Sharpio aka not famous at all but look out for her...]

Maybe because she looks like Claudia from the Babysitters Club? Actually, more because of this.


The Bad: I wasn't very into the whole Sadie plot, their landlord who is a singer and is seeing another roommate of theirs who moved there from Detroit after some really adorable little black kid got shot. Anyway, it was ok but I found it distracting and had too much attention so it got tiresome, especially since it wasn't like about anyone's real lives so it's not like they were impossible to leave out/give less songs to. Yea, a lot of the plot got a bit schizo and random, but I assume that was the drugs that were probably censored out of the Singapore version.

The Ugly: Evan Rachel Wood's nose and acting. I could forgive either if the other wasn't there. Actually, it wasn't her nose, there was just something about her face being a little too horse-ish... I had remembered her as being very delicate and waif-like, but she seemed a little course in this, much too course to be a muse. And her acting... I mean it wasn't awful, but it was pretty awful actually. Ummm she just got a little melodramatic and teeny boppery.

Other things to look out for: Great cameos from Bono as some kind of insane hippy (hippie?) that I was convinced was Robin Williams circa August Rush, and also from Selma Hayek as the hot nurse.


Yay or nay? Umm, I'd say yay if you're into (old) music and a hot English man or if you are particularly into arty film effects (I have a neighbour who would probably adore all the animation-y parts). If you are in a mellow mood, maybe when it's raining. Also yay if you like Evan Rachel Wood coz her boobs are all over the place. Nay if you are looking for something with lots of action and or humour and or horror and or any genre stuff basically.

PS. Here's another thing: When they did 'a little help from my friends', I couldn't stop thinking of the Wonder Years. And when they did 'All you need is love' I had a terrible montage of Moulin Rouge and Love Actually that wouldn't leave my head.

Martha O'Connor

So, it seems that The Bitch Posse (the orig American title...) has a whole lot of the author's life in it, which is pretty interesting. (She's mostly Rennie, the fallen-from-grace valedictorian, I think. But probably lots of her in the other characters too. Also doubt her friends killed her ex lover.)

She also has a nice blog.

The Bitch Goddess Notebook

So, home for the holidays means I get to read again. Haven't done that in a while, other than some crappy romances from Ralphs. And by crappy I mean really amazing.


Anyway, the book is basically about 3 BFFs in 1988 and also them after 15 years of not speaking to each other because of some big bad that they did. (I bet you thought it was going to be one of those hilarious how-to books, like how to be a bitch goddess. I wish it was too.)

It has an interesting style, the chapters are POV of the 3 girls in turn, and every other chapter is 15 years ago... so there's alot of time travel going on.

Lots of sex, which was pretty excellent. I liked that it didn't glamourise it at all, and that the girls were always bitching about it after. Er, it was pretty graphic though. That might be a good or bad thing, depending.

Didn't like the blatant forboding 'hints' at the terrible terrible thing which they did.

Also, was not entirely sure that I believed that they all had such fucked up lives and parents.

One girls parents were alcoholics because their first daughter was perfect except that she was mentally retarded and had to live in a home. This same girl used to be a cheerleader but ditched the bitches to hang out with these 2 freaks so they could have a really cool lesbian sex death cult, or so the rumours at school said. Then she grows up and has a really predictable melodramatic story line that I felt no sympathy for whatsoever.

The second girl was the 'tough' one but she was in an abusive relationship and her (single) mother was shooting up all the time. And she was obsessed with cutting and Princess Diana. She ends up in a mental institution for the 15 years later part.

The last girl is the valedictorian, who has an affair with her married teacher and 15 years later is a published author slash teacher that sleeps with her TAs and likes to be cut during sex.

Drama, huh?

I did like the frequent references to Degrassi (the original), it was nice to know that people cared about Spike and Joey when they were young.

(SPOILERSSSSSSS) Other than that... the whole Bitch Posse thing was cute because it's something I think that all girls go through, having a gang (somehow usually of 3...) that you can go to for anything. I mean, they were a little drastic, I'm not sure that I would take the blame for killing a man alone so that Adelle and Su could run free. On the other hand, I'm almost certain that Adelle and I wouldn't decide that it was a great idea for the 3 of us to get revenge on Su's teacher lover by pretending that he would get an awesome night with 3 underaged chicks and then carve his wife's name into his chest and then accidentally kill him. But if we did accidentally kill him, I think we'd still talk afterwards.

Speaking of, it's nice to have Su around. Now where is Adelle? I miss you my own Bitch Goddess!

Mandiette the Spy

So, I'm cleaning up my room. Find one of my old notebooks, with some french crap in it. Also, 3 pages of Dom's journal.

I know, I know, how could I read it? Worse, how could I write about it on my blog? Well....

"Bored, staying at home doin nothin. I love looking through my sis things, i got a page of her diary but its really BORIN too. "

What an ass. So in revenge, HA! All over the internet.

It was kind of earth-shattering, to see him writing in this not at all a little passive Dom boy way. But more like a beng little boy. Erk. I forgot that at 11 people are already interested in girls.

Here are some choice extracts:

"I really wanna go to dat international school ting. dere will be girls + boys... together!!! Hope their HOT!"

I'm actually really concerned with how shitty his spelling and grammar is. Was. Hopefully it's better now.

Here is the golden nugget:

"Today needed to shit really badly in school, but held it. from bout 9:15-3:00. felt so bad sia."

Ahahahhahahahaha.

Bored as I'm S'pored!

2 good movies you can watch on the plane:

Ratatouille - For delish food and a cute french chick Oh ok, and some good old happy feelings etc. Brad Bird is kind of amazingly talented.

Goya's Ghosts - For historical settings/costumes (Spain during Napoleon's time), Natalie Portman and that scary man from No Country For Old Men (Javier Bardem)

Wrong Solar System

It sucks being an alien, especially during finals week.

Having done my time in the prison known as the Asian school system, I know how to cram. So really, half a semester in one night? No probs. But then I find a million zillion formula for different useless things I'll never use in my life. And everyone knows, if there's one question that'll come out, it'll be an 'apply the formula' question. The one where you sit there going "oh eff oh eff, was it one over MPC or one over 1-MPC? Or MPS?" So really, it took all night. I was effing exhausted before I even started the final.

And guess what? Not one single 'apply the formula' question.

Suicide

It's 5:21 am. At 11am I have to go take a final, that I am amazingly unprepared for even though really it's a freshman class so it should be nbd. And somehow I just can't study any more, but I've only been studying for 2 hours, tops!!

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Why do I do this to myself?

Also, tomorrow, I have a math exam tomorrow. Business Stats. I know absolutely nothing about anything to do with it, yet I know that I will probably go shopping after this exam instead of studying, because what's more important than xmas presents?


To come: Golden Compass.

More Math

This article says that facebook has almost 5000 pictures. I'm pretty sure they're missing a 0, or several, because I have 400 tagged of me not taken by me, and I probably have like 600 in my albums, and there is no way that there are only 10 people like me posting pictures. I don't even post that many.

Movie Marathon

Someone please please drive me to a movie theatre and leave me there for days

1) The Golden Compass

2) Juno

3) Atonement (James!!!)

4) 27 Dresses

Crutchfield Electronics

Math

So, I know calorie counting is disgusting and horrendous, but sometimes I can't ignore the math...

1 chocolate orange = 230 * 4 = 920

1 jar of pickles = 5*8 = 40

therefore, 1 chocolate orange = 23 jars of pickles.

OMGZORZZZZZz o_O

Strange Snacks

What's on my desk/in the fridge/ cupboard that I'm eating at the mo:

(I dont mean I eat them all at once. Except I totz do.)

1) Terry's Chocolate Orange

2) Jack Link's Sweet and Hot beef jerky

3) Crab stick salad

4) Maille Cornichons (little pickles)



I know, I know, little pickles, weird right? But listen to this: One serving = 8 little pickes = 5 calories. 5!! That's amazing. That's like the perfect snack.

Uh except I've learnt that if you eat too much salt, you can put on 2-3 lbs of water weight (thanks cosmo). Bad times. Even my perfect snack is making me a fatty.

xoxo - gossip girl...

Spotted: Angry Banana outside Leavey Library pretending/trying desperately hard to be a cool fratty. Seemed to be planning some sort of (promo?) event at the 9-0 with small group of Greeks, which he thinks will be huge. I have my doubts. Also regaling Greeks with drunken tales such as "he was sooo wasted!!"

Post-Thanksgiving Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Secret Not-Santa Turkey

The Rulez:
1) Must be under $10 or handmade
2) Must be a secret
3) Must be amazing

Apart from no 2, we kept it pretty good.

Here are the prizessss:



Dear Shawks, Here is a turby twist for your unruly hair. Love Rach.


Dear Mom, Here are some hello kitty things because you love her. Just keep that shizz outta my room. Love Me.


Dear Rach. Because You Love Nuts. Love Mom.


Dear Ronez, I'm sorry assholes like Clark steal your snapple. Love Shawks.


Dear Amanda. Here are some really awful socks. Love Ronez.

Rona Gets The Last Laugh

So, you know how I used to laugh at Rona all the time for meeting men on MySpace and Hot or Not (or worse, seekingarrangements.com) ?

It would appear that the whole "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy on life is my current one, because I've gone and joined something called woome.com . It's like speed dating on webcam...

... stop laughing.

Basically, you log on and they have sessions, and it can be anywhere from 2 on 2 to 4 on 4 (so basically, the 'anywhere' inbetween is only 3 on 3) and then you have one minute ++ 'sessions' with them, where you're meant to talk about whatever the session topic was, but really you spend most of the time going 'hello hello? Can you see me? I can see you..." and waiting for the lag to catch up. Then at the end you say if you were 'wooed' or not and if your person was wooed by you too you get their email add.

But, it's actually been kinda fun, met some cool people. I know, shock shock horror horror, who does that, there shouldn't be normal people on there. But I met a guy from UPenn who knows Caleb Yap (from AC), that's weird huh?

Anyhoo, Rona and I are totz competing to see who gets 'wooed' more. She's winning but I don't think it counts coz she has bad taste and presses woo for anyone. Slut.

So y'all should sign up and woome... Then I can win. Thanks I love you.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

Or: How to do Vegas the smart way.

Go with a native.

1) Stay with native, or, go when her mother is around to get you a room at the MGM.

2) Do meals with her relatives.

Eat: Buffet, Thanksgiving Dinner, Pizza, Thai, Pie, Vietnamese, Good ol' homecooked chinese food.

Be: a Fatty.

3) Watch movies at places where she has 'comps'. As in, here's your tickets and your popcorn, fatty.


This way, you get to spend all your money on:
Clothes. Shoes. And junk. Which are not on thanksgiving sale, for some reason.

Tonight after the movie, we also spent a really long time looking for this mystical sonic that Rach and I swore we saw on the way to somewhere. Our excuse was that I've never had it, and it's a must. When we finally saw it, Melissa swerved dangerously towards it. We all screamed, but not in terror of the impending death, but joy.

The end.

August Rush

I've been wanting to see this since Spring Break 05 when we saw this filming at NYU and took it for some shitty student film with a really hot guy and some dumb kid. I wish I could say it was the best movie ever, especially the bit where Wen, Aimee and I were in the background. Unforch, it was close to great but somehow missed the mark completely, and also, we totz weren't in the background. Or the foreground for that matter.

The sums: Keri Russell (aka Felicity) is a prissy Cello player. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (aka Bend it like Beckham's HOT coach, Vanity Fair's HOT if arrogant dude...) is a HOT irish rock band boy. They meet at a party and have a one night stand, then don't see each other for about 12 years. Meanwhile, they pine for each other, Keri Russell has (and loses) a baby, pine pine. Also, said lost baby (Freddie Highmore aka Charlie aka Asshole kid from Finding Neverland aka a young Russel Crowe in A Good Year aka PAN FROM GOLDEN COMPASS (!!! Did anyone know that???!!) ) grows up in some boys home outside new york, hearing music in everything and believing that music will bring him to his parents or vice versa. He runs off to the city to find them where he meets a CREEPER Robin Williams, who is the Fagin of modern days, then runs off from him and gets into Juliard and has a huge concert because he is a musical prodigy.

Not that sumful. Here's a more concise one:

Little Orphan boy searches for parents through music with the help of lots of black people. JRM is HOT.

A quote from Melissa: Really, all I learnt from this movie was that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is really hot.

The Good: Er, any shot where Jonathan Rhys Meyers is present. The music was amazing, and so were the musical montages. The use of polaroids. (Discussion on Polaroids to come) JRM's Irish band of brothers were pretty hot. Getting to see William Sadler (aka Sheriff Valenti from Roswell). The little kids. The build up about 15 minutes before the end of the movie.

(this pic is in polariod form for the movie but this is as close as I could get. Aww spooning. )

The Bad: The dialogue was SO SO SO bad. Corneee as the corn dog I just ate from Sonic, and just generally shite. The editing anywhere that the music wasn't. The unfulfilling ending (let down, anti-climax R US).

The Ugly: Robin Williams's red hair and piercings. Freddie Highmore's fake old man hands.

Some things were confusing too: How did Freddie get so good so quick? How did Felicity know the baby was a boy if she was all kinds of knocked out? How did JRM know that it was his kid on stage? How were there no sex scenes and barely any kissing? How come JRM was wearing a shirt all the time? Where can I get me a JRM?

And again, I was reminded how hot it would be to be someone's muse and get a great song written about how much someone loves you. Particulary if said someone was as hot as JRM. You think he can't get much better looking, but really, put him in a leather jacket (y'all know I love the leather jacketed man...) on stage with some other hot men, and wow wow whee.

:)

Yay or Nay? Yay to all girls, because you can't miss JRM. Yay to people who are big music fans. Nay to guys bringing a girl on a date coz she's gonna find you disappointing after this movie. Nay to groups of guys, because even a group of 3 girls spent a great deal of time saying "this movie is really gay."

Here's a shirtless pic. I think he's hotter in the movie, but really, why not right?

Cap ou pas cap?

So, my brother seems to be living Love Me If You Dare.

Here's a convo:

Hamtaru says: do u have any boxers in singapore

moooo says: no i dont think so but i just bought you 3 pairs

Hamtaru says: i have to ... wear ur underwear for a day

moooo says: why do you have ot wear my underwear

Hamtaru says: me n my fren were ing extreme dare

moooo says: hahah idiot. whats he gonna do

Hamtaru says: and i have to wear ur bra and stuff it

moooo says: ahahha are there even any bras there? you can wear a thong. there should be oen that says cowgirl or something on it

Hamtaru says: she has to wear this rly rly rly disgusting guy in my class boxers. we all h8 him. and she has to do some othr stuff

moooo says: with a girl, you ve been playing this with a girl?


Yea, I know, shock of your life, right?? Shock of mine at least.

Here's some of their other dares.

- i have to wedgy this rly rough guy who is gonna beat me up after
- and i have to jump onto this big guy ant put my arms around his neck my legs around his body
- and i have to do many more stuff which are rly evil
- she has to grab this guyz ass... the disgusting guy

Viva Las Vegas!!!

There's something a little ironic about spending Thanksgiving in Sin City, even if it is with a friend's families.

The Perfect Paella.... almost

Version 2.0 was considerably better than my first attempt -- I got the colour down and everything. :) Grin grin.

So for this one, I used:

1 boneless chicken thigh
1 carton of chicken stock (I have NO idea what the qty is on this, but it's the blue and white box)
1 can tomatoes
1 yellow pepper (in inch strips)
1 onion (diced)
1/2 bunch asparagus (chopped into inch long peices)
2 cups rice

Paprika
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil
Yellow food colouring (or saffron, if you're classy)

Lemon

Hokay, so. Let me try and remember what I did. Marinate the chicken in some paprika, salt pepper and olive oil. Leave it for a couple of hours.

Coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil on med heat and throw in the onion and bell peppers. Salt and pepper. Let them sweat til they're tender.
Cube the chicken and dredge in flour. Push the onions to one side of the pan and brown the chicken on the other. (That's really just for convenience...) When browned, stir it all together. Add the can of tomatoes and a tsp of paprika. Add half the chicken stock plus about a tea spoon of yellow food colouring and stir it all together. Throw on the rest of the stock. Let simmer for 8 min ish. (While simmering, preheat the oven to 350 F).

Turn off the stove and cover the pan with foil (I didn't do this and as a result my rice got all not cooked on the top). If the rice is already at the top of the chicken stock, add a little more, or else water is fine too. Stick it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Tada! ( I hope)

Serve with lemon wedges.

Thanksgiving Treats

They don't look very good but thats coz my camera has gone all funny and is taking ugly pictures. I assure you they were delish.

Cranberry & Pecan Sugar Cookies (makes 3 dozen)

So, first we make some basic sugar cookies... I use this:

3 cups flour
3/4 tsb baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the butter and sugar together, as usual, add egg and vanilla and keep beating. Sift in the dry stuff, add milk. Mix some more.

This should now be a big ball of poop. Delicious poop.

Add in:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped dried (or fresh? but I think tinned will be too soggy) cranberries

Mix all together, then dump them on to a long sheet of clingfilm and roll into a log (I usually make 2 logs or else it makes an outrageously long snake) about 1 1/2 inch in diameter.

Fridge for at least an hour, if you're lazy overnight.

Return after watching Heroes, or Grey's, or 2 episodes of Degrassi or Friends reruns ( I guess you can watch other stuff too) and take the rolls out of the fridge.

Cut the logs into 1/3 inch thick slices. I rolled coated mine in powdered sugar, but I guess you could skip that if you want. You might want to shape them a bit better too, or not.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes (maybe longer if you left it in the fridge overnight...)
Let cool.

Melt 4 sq of Giraldi semi-sweet chocoate (I dont remember how much that is, but really I just used the leftover chocolate from the cheesecake) with 1/2 a cup of heavy whipping cream (I'm sure you could use regular cream) and stir on low heat to thicken, you might want to add a little vanilla, but maybe not.

Half dip the cookies in the chocolate. Leave to set.

Eat and be a fatty.

Here is my fine Microsoft Paint masterpiece that I'm sure everyone loves. But anyway,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SU LING
I LOVE YOU MANY MANY!

Mars and Venus

So, in a convo with my neighbour, we both discovered that we fall in and out of love easily and frequently. So here's the difference:

Him: Amanda, I fall in love with girls and fall out of love with them when I realize they aren't interested in me.

Me: I fall in love with boys and fall out of love when they are interested in me. Which is why I love jerks.

Him: No, you love jerks because you are a girl.

So let's say, all girls think like me and all boys like he.

Null Hypothesis: I am happily in love and loved back.

Reject null because: If I love a boy, and he loves me because he sees that I love he, then I will fall out of love with him because of the Me clause.

I just got really confused as to why my love life is not happening, but I've found the fallacy: Clause He only works if he has already fallen in love with me, that he would see that I love him and thus not drop me. (But I'd drop him).

It's too late at night for these types of mathematical theories.

But it does explain how guys get over things so fast.

Paula's Cheesecake

So, I made this a buncha weeks ago, but the computer was out of order. But here it is!

From Paula Deen's Quick & Easy Meals magazine

2 Cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (I used regular and that was fine.. I think digestives would work too)
1/2 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter
2 1/4 softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup baileys
Chocolate glaze (laterz)

Oven at 325 F
Mix crumbs, brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, butter. Press into bottom and a bit of the side of a 10 inch springform pan. Bake for 10 min.
Beat cream cheese until creamy (if you dont have a mixer, hungry neighbours are useful) add sugar and keep beating. Add eggs one at a time, beat those too. Now the vanilla, beat.
Half the batter goes into the pan, then stir the baileys in with the other half. Pour that over the first layer. Bake for 1 h.
Remove and let cool for 10 min, spread chocolate glaze over then fridge for 8 hours.

The Glaze:
1/4 cup butter
2 oz semi sweet chocolate (I used the classy one that begins with G that i cant spell and it was AMAZINGGGGG)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt.

Melt butter and sugar over med-low heat, then whisk in the rest and cook over med-low heat for 2 min, whisking constantly.


Now, I know that was just a total rip off of the magazine, but I thought it would be rude to show the picture and not say how to do it. I saved some of the finely chopped nuts to sprinkle on top, you can have whipped cream too if you feel really fat.

Mac-n-cheese-osti?

It's getting cold her in Sunny California, so here's a carbo-loading comfort food that I made the other day... dedicated to Su and Adelle, and the good ol' days in Marche.

Kraft macaroni and cheese may be a classic, but I'm finding it increasingly texture/taste less. On the other hand, I have about 55 thousand boxes (er, not really that many) left over from my freshman year dining dollars. I made up a box the other day, it was orrite but nothing amazing. Half went in the fridge as leftovers. Inspired by Paula Deen, The Cheesecake Cafe, Sonic and not wanting to be fat enough to deep fry it, I would like to introduce:

The Mac-n-Cheese-Osti!

To do it as I did it, You need:
A box of macaroni and cheese
Garlic Powder
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan cheese (the powdery kind you put on pizza not the grated kind)

Make up the macaroni and cheese, stirring in some salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. I had mine in the fridge, so it dries up a bit, but I don't think you need to.

Put a thin layer of oil in a pan, on med heat. Put a thin layer of parmesan on the pan. Chuck the mac n cheese in. Squash it down with a spatula into a sort of pancake. Sprinkle parmesan on this side too. Cook for about 4 min (depending on the size of the pan, how much mac n cheese there is...) then flip and do the same on the other side. (Here's a flipping tip: It's frugging hard to flip mac n cheese, so you can slide it on a plate then put the pan over it to cover the uncooked side and flip it then... no fancy pancake moves needed.)

Serve with marinara sauce.

BONUS FEATURE!!

Because I love you all so much, here's something I thought of AFTER I had made mine. And you really only need soem grated cheese, I'd say cheddar or mozerella. This is for those who love cheese.

Put only half the mac n cheese down, squash into pancake like I said before. Sprinkle with grated cheese, then put the rest of the mac n cheese over it and squash that bit down too. Continue as you would have.

TADA! Theoretically, you should get a macncheeseosti that oozes with melted cheese when you cut into it.

Be Prepared!

My computer is home and safe!

So get ready for an onslaught of useless posts as I rekindle my romance with my darling.

Life's funny like that

Remember how I was complaining about my computer-lessness? Well, on the way to bringing my computer to the Geek Squad (I'm not being rude, that's honestly the name of the computer people here...) I passed this sign up thing for the Campus Movie Festival.

It looked like you had to register online to get the free gift bags, and I thought, hey why not? So after posting on this, I went to check out the site and registered a team for the festival. Basically, I have til Tuesday to produce a 5 minute film.

But the AMAZING part is: they provide you with a macbook and digital camcorder to work with, so I am now computerly endowed.

Fab.

Go Trojans!!!

My computer has trojans. The irony is not lost on me. (For those of you that don't know, we are the USC Trojans over here...)

As such, I am left rather internet-less and moping around the house with nothing to do but eat and watch tv.

I am typing this standing up at a computer terminal in the School Of Business. It's a little like being at an airport, but without a chair.

But here's what I wanted to update with yesterday:

I was looking particularly ravishing yesterday morning (read: actually really ugly and definately just-rolled-out-of-bed). So who should I run into but the Trifecta of Good Looks?

First, I bump into Stephen's Golden Boy. And of course he engages me in a longer-than-usual conversation. Then, it turns out that he is hanging with My Handsome Handsome Man of last semester, who joins in the conversation. Of course. Meanwhile I am self-consciously wishing I had bothered to wear more than a dykey black t shirt. So, we have our bitter-sweet parting (Sweet because then they can stop looking at my frumps, bitter because I love both of them...) Then, naturally, after pretty much ignoring each other for 2 years (that's not ENTIRELY true, but it might as well be), guess who finally says 'Hi' to me? None other than Hayden Christianson Lookalike, crush of my freshman year.

And you know, up until recently, 2 of the 3 were deeply in love, but it seems their girlfriends have chucked them. I don't know how they could do that. In the words of Manny from Degrassi: If it were me, I'd love you for months...

Really, the only way it could have been worse/better is if I had seen Fireworks-and-Competitions and the Fox.

No More Ladies

Probably the best written film I've seen in a long time. It was on TCM last night, so if you don't like black n whites, read no further, although I really think you'll probably love it anyway. It was pretty timeless. Or actually, it was pretty racy, much to the shock of Rona and I. (Incidentally, Rona was into her 12th hour of straight television at the time. Just thought I'd throw it out there.)

Tagline: Joan Crawford plays some rich New Yorker who manages to score a big time playboy as a husband. She is completely aware of his womanizing ways, but loves him anyway, except when he hooks up with some other woman and she decides to teach him a lesson.

The Good: Everyone was pretty good looking. I don't usually go for the 30s hero type, but they were all pretty hot. But more importantly, it was HILARIOUS. Who knew people in the 30s were having affairs and talking about sex and drinking all night all the time? And implying that they swore (Grandma says: I haven't said 'darn' in 20 years...")? Shouldn't they have been focussing on things like the great depression? Great characterizations. Women were pretty independent, lots of great parodies (watch for the Englishman).

The Bad: Well, okay, the plot wasn't the MOST original, but that's ok. Back in the 30s it might have been.

The Ugly: Some of Joan's clothes were hideously marred by strange big bows and nun-habit bibs. Also, her hairstyles weren't very sexy.

Yay or Nay? Yay. Come on guys, it's a classic. And I think it would appeal to both men and women. So there.

Haylp!

So. Need some help here:

If a guy was cheating on a girl, then decided to chuck her, what would he say to her to make the break up seem like her fault?

Dawson's Creek is Deep

I didn't want to put this on facebook, because I just know people are going to jump to conclusions. Facebook is dangerous like that. Still, it was so wise, I had to put it somewhere.

Tobey: I know. I just can't help looking. What is that?

Jen: What is what?

Tobey: That stupid fantasy you have where the guy who broke your heart suddenly realizes he's made the biggest mistake of his life, and he finds you? Wherever you are, he comes running up to you, and he says, "I can't live without you. You are my entire universe, and if you don't take me back right now, I will never love anyone again." Where's this fantasy come from?

Jen: Movies. Television. And that little place in your heart that harbors hope.

Accepted

Way better than expected.

Plot: Bartleby (Justin Long aka Geeky kid from Ed aka Geeky kid from Dodgeball aka Nearly had sex with Britney in Crossroads... haa, bet you forgot that one!) fails at life. Well, not really. He just doesn't get into any colleges. His parents are hugely disappointed, so he makes up a fake school that he 'got into'. Then he actually has to make the fake school, and it turns out the fake website has been accepting other kids (Acceptance is just one click away!) who are also college-rejects. They have barrels of fun doing their not real classes while trying to foil the principle of a real college who is trying to destroy them so his school can buy the land.

The good: The script was hilarious, if a little slap stick. It was nice because unlike most college humouresque movies, there weren't any gross-out laughs, mostly just puns and entendres and injuries and stupid people. The characters were great, I especially liked that there was a girl called Rory who didn't get into Yale, I am convinced it's a hidden Gilmore Girls reference.

The bad: Love interest (Blake Lively aka Serena from Gossip Girl) has terrible acting and was really kind of a downer in all her scenes, and her giggle gets annoying. But at least she was pretty and had some cute outfits. Also, the plot was a little predictable. Alot predictable.

The ugly: The best friend (Jonah Hill aka Superbad) was looking particularly fat in this movie. And he was kind of an ass in the middle.

Yay or nay? Yay. Definately yay. I might even say buy the DVD, it seems like something you could watch often, you know when you're sitting around watching funny college movies as I'm sure people do. I mean, it isn't academy worthy or anything, but it's a nice feel good thing.

Post Man Pat Post Man Pat

Look what I got in the mail today!

I like how none of my mail is ever my own.

Fatting Around

So, my guilty pleasure as of late has been Food Blogs.

Here's my current fav: La Tartine Gourmande.

From what I gather, she is a food photographer. An AMAZING food photographer. And, she has all these little anecdotes to go with the pictures and recipes. And some of it is in French! But always with translations so don't worry, you don't miss out.


(I just stole that from her portfolio... hopefully, she won't sue me.)

Makes me wish I had photography talent and also that my 10 years of French classes had taught me more than "Je m'appelle Shaun" (even though my name isn't Shaun).

But beware, reading food blogs is a double-edged sword. You are almost guaranteed to get hungry from it and then go foraging for snacking food, thus ensuring that you will never have a flat stomach and legs that don't wobble when you breathe. You also get grocery-envy, a dreadful disease where you are suddenly taken with the desire to make whatever you are reading about only to realize that you don't have any of these ingredients/have all except the critical one, and it's 2am so Ralph's is closed, and even if it was open the produce is nowhere near as nice as what it could be if you had a car and could drive to a better supermarket... and you have no money anyway.

Clown Face!

So I know regularly I'm the last person anyone would ask for make-up tips from, but here is my one contribution: My Excellent Mascara

That is, 100% Waterproof Mascara from Rimmel.

Why, you ask?

Last night, I went to the sauna. It was like 3am, so I had my 'owoot tonight' face on. Sweated buckets, got really dehydrated... yet somehow, remained completely streak free. Amazing. I woke up the morning after with cotton mouth, a pounding headache, and wonderful thick lush lashes.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised since it's all 100% waterproof, but I never really thought that was true.

Cleanin' Out My Closet

Today, after a really really long time, I finally worked out the pin to my voicemail box and cleaned it out.

Msg one was telling me that someone had tried to get into my voicemail with the wrong pin 3 times only minutes before (er, that would be me...)

The next msg was from January 2006. Yes, it turns out that I haven't known my pin since freshman year. So here's some return msgs.

Dear Kris, thanks for all the offers of rides to work.

Dear Melissa, why aren't you eating lunch with me, you beeyotch!

Dear Shaun, I think you sat on your phone.

Dear Jake, Cool, see you downstsairs in like 2 minutes.

Dear Isaac, woohoo, the exams are over, time to party!

Dear Aunty Olive, okay, I'll check my email.

6 Degrees .. more like 5. Or even 4.

So.

Macaulay Culkin

was married to

Rachel Miner

who was in a movie with

Bijou Philips

who is dating

Danny Masterson

who was on a TV show with

Mila Kunis

who is dating

Macaulay Culkin

Junior

Am I the only person in the world that DIDN'T know that Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin were dating? Are dating? Have been dating for like 6 years?

I just read his book, Junior.

It's weird, and confusing, I liked it. I think Nick will. I think Wen might. I think everyone else won't. Adelle won't have the patience for it.

Mostly I liked it for being a secret-not-so-secret love story. Restores my faith in love a little. I had plans to swoop in and steal him from whomever this mystery girl is but then it was Jackie, and how could anyone steal from Jackie?

I also loved it because he thanks Mandy, Eva and Jenna in the dedications at the back. I.e the girls from Saved! That's pretty great.

There were lots of lists, and I really like lists. There were also a few great poems (my fav fav fav part is his poem about sp a ce sinw ron gpl ac es.)

Failure to Launch

More like Failure to... Failure. Sorry. The wit ran dry half way.

Premise: Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) lives at home with his parents. They want to be free to have sex so they hire Paula (Not Deen. Sarah Jessica Parker), a professional child-kicker-outer, to convince him to get out. Supposedly by engaging in a romantic relationship with her, these live-at-home-losers are given the self-confidence they need to fly the coop. And while it's meant to be purely professional on her end, this is also a romantic comedy, so naturally they actually fall in love for realz.

The Good: Everyone but the 'couple' were pretty hilarious. Also, I'm in love with Zooey Deschanel who played SJP's kinda goth roommate. She's cute. She's also been in a ton of shit but not as anything particularly significant to my life. Now that I think about it, she kind of looks like Marion Cotillard, another fav. And her man friend (Justin Bartha) was too cute to have not been in anything else (er other than National Treasure, which really, he shouldn't be showing off about....) Kathy Bates was in this too ( as Rach said: 'Hey look, it's the Unsinkable Molly Brown!')

The Bad: The Main Couple - The Acting, The (lack of) Chemistry, The Likability. Seriously, at no point did I think either of them was actually attracted to one another. Also really terrible was M McC's little subplot about how he is not in touch with nature so a bunch of normally really peaceful cute animals have to show their really badly puppeteered teeth and bite the shit out of him. Such as the dolphin which dragged him around by the ankle, and the lizard which sniggered after he fell off a mountain. Yeaaa...

The Ugly: SJP's scream. You may have heard it on Sex and the City, and it rears it's skwaky head all over the place in this one. Baaad times.

Yay or Nay? Is it on Cable? Do you have an abundance of free time? By no means pay any money to watch it, or even waste your netflix queue on it. But if it's on, and you have homework that you don't want to have to do, go for it.

And with that, I leave you with my new lady-love:

Shake your Money Maker

Mother Of Mine has just informed me that The Family has decided that I should be graduating in 3 years (i.e. at the end of this year). As I am obstinately refusing to graduate even a semester early, I have been informed that I will have to be finding my own life-funds come senior year - tution will be covered though.

After much thought, here are my current options:

1) Find Sugar Daddy. May have to try my hand at www.seekingarrangements.com, see if I can find me a silver fox who wants to spoil and pamper me/ make sure I am not living in a cardboard box.

2) Sell Screenplay. My main problems with this are a) finishing a screenplay b) that screenplay being commercially viable c) finding an agent d) finding someone who will buy it.

3) Turn Holding Cell Into Brothel. A plan which has been discussed between Rona and I on several occasions, on account of us already having a red light in the window. However, if we can't even get people to take it when it's free, how will we ever get to charging?

4) Sell Eggs. May have to lie about sinus problems ( I have a cold) and exzema (I was camping and accidentally rubbed poison ivy on my inner elbows) but other than that, I should be good right? Alternatively, I could invest in chicken eggs and then actually sell eggs.

5) Find Illegal Work. If millions of illegal immigrants can do it, I guess I can too. But this is definately a last resort.

Thoughts?

Pushing Daisies

Premise:

As a child, Ned discovers he can bring dead things/people back to life by touching them. Except they die if he touches them again. And if he doesn't touch them again within a minute, someone else has to die instead. Now, 20-ish years later, Ned lives his life with as little human attachment as possible. His day job is owning a pie shop. His night job (except it always seems to be in the day too) is talking to corpses for a minute, solving their murders and claiming the reward.

Pie-lette: (isn't that cute?? because of the pie shop?)
A girl's body washes up, there's a $50 000 reward on finding the killer. Ned and his partner decide to go for it. The victim turns out to be Ned's next door neighbour as a kid - his first (and only) kiss. Unable to bare letting her die (again), he lets the minute pass. Now there's three of them solving her murder.

I didn't do that very well.

But it was AMAZING. SOOOO good.

The thing that stands out most is the style. It's really vibrant, bright and just generally surreal, which is a great way to deal with the premise because it sort of makes it seem like it's in a different world... helps suspend the disbelief, you know?

I read a comment that compares they style with Amelie, which I can see, but it was a little bit more satirical. Reminded me of Love Me If You Dare... and a little bit of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

So, watch it for: Style. Romance. Ned (He's cute in that dorky kind of way.) Hilarity. Irony (as in, English humour is often referred to as Ironic). General uplifting.

Don't watch it if: You feel dramatic and solemn.

Thoughts

1) Had I not been waiting for fish to cook, we probably would have been in the store at the time the crime went down.

2) Had we been in the store, we would probably be in the fresh produce section.

3) I spent my recovered money at Ralphs... was this a warning??

Just another day on the job...

Crime Alert.

Location: Ralph's next to my house.

Crime: Not really sure.

Suspect: African-American male. About 1 foot when slumped on the floor. 40-60 years of age.

Description:

Rona, Rachana and Amanda left the house to go to Ralph's. Outside, they noticed a small crowd peering into the side door, and a ruckus was occurring within.

When questioned, witnesses said that a fight was going down. The three noticed an old friend leaving the store and interrogated him also, but due to his shaken-upped-ness, he could only say that he 'just wanted some milk'. Being brave, the three were like eff this man I need my food. However, using great prudence they decided to start at the frozen food section and work their way towards the fresh produce, where security guards were attempting to intervene.

The air was thick with pepper spray, causing customers to lurch into sudden coughing fits whenever a deep breath was inhaled.

It seemed that the hullabaloo was done with by the time they reached aisle one, as the cleaning crew had come in and members of the security detail were just standing around. However, Amanda got a nasty shock when she rounded the corner for a bag of broccoli wokly and came toe to toe with the badguy. She jumped back and found an alternative route that was still a little too close for comfort, but had Rachana with her this time. (Tip: Always use the buddy system!)

Rachana overheard the detainee claiming 'this store is about to be robbed'. Conspiracy theories about the homeless of the neighbourhood rising up and committing a series of robberies was discussed amongst the girls, especially with regard to the Early Morning Robbery At GunPoint At Starbucks, only days before.

When the three left, the detainee was lying on the floor outside, surrounded by bloodied security guards and some LAPD guys.


Remember now, you heard it here first. And if you didn't, serves you right for not reading on time.

A real college education

Watching reruns of Gilmore Girls...

Rory and Logan are an amazing couple.

They're right up there with Max and Liz, Joey and Pacey, Derek and Meredith, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston...

Anyway, here is what I took away:

-Logan's family didn't like Rory because she wasn't of good breeding, and wanted to be a career woman, and wasn't bred for it.

-Therefore, in order to catch a Logan, (or be what the fam wants I guess) don't you have to catch a man by like soph. year so that by senior year you can be engaged so you never have to work?

-Which means you probably need to be in a sorority so you can be exposed to all these eligible bachelors. This is probs a generalization but ...

-Which means I fail.

But what I did appreciate:

-Even Rory gets ignored.

-Her hair is really cute.

So here is the real life lesson:

How to use Rona's straightening iron in the bathroom instead of going to Math in order to tame my hair into Rory's season 6 hair.

Tada!

Facebook knows things...

My most recent Facebook horoscope:

Aries: You're about to come into some extra cash, but be careful how you spend it. Using it all now would not be wise

This evening, I got my bank statement. It had 2 overdraft fees for no reason (er actually my cheque had a hold on it blabla) so the lady waived them and now I have $40 more.

But I must not spend it.

Thoughts on the Paella Party

I'm meant to be doing an essay, but Rona wants me to update, so I shall. (I was really hard to convince.)

On the Paella itself:

-Why was it so sour? Next time (or for anyone who might want to make it in the future), must make sure my tinned tomatoes are sweeter. (These ones were Ralph's generic brand, possibly stewed in Italian herbs but it's hard to remember.)

-The pans were way to full even before rice went in. Must learn about proportions.

-The rice on top was 'crispy' the rice underneath too mushy. Must make sure all of rice is covered (should be easier when there are less ingredients) and not cook for so long. Also make sure there is enough long grain rice so one does not have to resort to large random bag of japanese rice.

-The rice was not nice coloured -- must find sugar daddy to buy me saffron. Alternatively, must locate my yellow food colouring.

-At one point, tomato paste was just smeared over top of rice. Should stir the tomatoes in before putting the rice in.

-Chicken was tasteless. Must marinate properly.

-Catfish has annoying spines even in fillet, made it hard to cut. Next time may splash out and spend an extra 50c to get Talapia. Also, catfish a little fishy.

-Half a pound of unpeeled prawns were not a good idea. Next time, 1/4 of a pound will do.

-Tinned greenbeans are brown. Vile.


On the Sangria:

-The merlot (yes, it turns out Franzia does have different grapes) was too heavy, but the 'chillable' wine (aka mystery grapes?) was good.

-Added rum as it was the only available liquor in the house.

-OJ was a little sour especially with the merlot so added minute maid lemonade also. But didn't really need it for chillable wine. Maybe was just too drunk to notice taste by 2nd box?

Change...

But not really. Thursday nights is still "I can't go out before 10 coz I have to watch Grey's" night. Except I failed at that because I was lured out to dinner, so I ended up watching it on ABC.com ... (TV online is the best invention. TV on demand or whatever that we always talk about in class... pretty great.)

Soo... the verdict?

It was orrite.

The first 39 minutes were kind of dull, some good hilarious lines but really just everyone feeling sorry for themselves. However, the last 2 minutes were definately the kind of tv gold that made everyone fall in love with Grey's in the first place. I think I wont say more so that it isn't a big spoiler, despite me loving the whole spoiler biz.

Somehow, I have a big problem with Meredith's sister. She's really annoying. First off, stop flirting with McDreamy (and Derek, stop flirting with her.) (oh and stop trying to steal Meredith's life/all her friends. AKA George.) Secondly, stop choosing the most inopportune times to introduce yourself to people (like when they're running out to meet an ambulance). Third, stop looking like (a brunette) Claire Danes. I might like her if she grew out her hair.

And really, that's all I have to say on the matter.

Oh except I thought everyone (other than like Callie O'Malley and Stupid Sister) was looking very attractive today. They sort of lost their glow for a while, but Meredith's hair looked nice and Izzy looked all glowy eyed, and even Christina had some cute curly pigtails going on. George looked hot. Erm, Alex, not so much.

And if you feel like a good read to tide you over til next thursday, here's one. (Be sure to regard and fall in love with the first picture.)

AND DUBS-TEE-EFF, JASON BHER IS MARRIED??! TO some SLUT from Private Practice???? Uh, you might remember him as the love of my life, Max Evans from Roswell. He also used to date Izzie Stevens, aka Isabelle Evans on Roswell. (uh yea, incest?)

Ok now that's really it.

Gossip Girl

So, finally watched a bootlegged copy of the CW's pride and joy of Pilot Season... Gossip Girl. I've heard good things about it. Stephen adores it.

What it's about: Some posh prep school in New York and all the glam underaged drinkers that go there. As seen through a blog written by Anon (aka narrated by Kirsten Bell aka Veronica Mars).

The story so far: S (aka Blake Lively aka Slut Soccer Girl from Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants) is back from boarding school, she's kind of perfect except her best friend hates her and her brother tried to kill himself. But at least all the boys like her, right?

Good for: Ridiculously good looking people. Amazing clothes. Constant drinking. Some eating - cupcakes and a grilled cheese with truffle oil mmmm. Nice production/lighting.

Good or bad?: Sex scenes. Or implied or almost ones. There's a good scene with S (for Serena. Cool people have not only dropped their surnames but also anything in lower cases.) and B(see?)'s boyfriend, Chase. It's lit nicely, and they are quite funny and making some very dirty analogies. I'm undecided as to whether this is good or just the CW trying to be edgy. At least they aren't saying things like "IDK, my BFF Rose?"
Characters all look a little familiar somehow.. B is definately some sort of Rory Gilmore-Summer-Hilary Duff type Hybrid, and S's Mom could pass for Kirsten.

Bad for: Seems a little formulaic. A little TOO OC. Coz S's mom used to be dating someone else's Dad back in the day or something. Some of the lines, really not that well written : "Oh my God, that's Chuck's scarf!" How do you know that? You've been away all year. And even if you have on the off chance noticed him wearing that at school, how did you even know to check the roof when the party is down stairs in a dark club where I'm sure there are plenty of dark corners for horny teenagers to take advantage of.

Yay or Nay?: Yay if you're bored, or just in one of those moods. Nay if you want to see something mentally stimulating.


And USC has our own little version, obvi, since we live and breathe Hollywood. Except ours sucks and is clearly only interested in people from AEPi (the Absera brothers in every post... really??) and a couple from the Greeho. Which I would be fine with if only they were a little more detailed with the gossip rather than "so and so standing on the corner. Why is he standing there?"

I mean, I could do that too. Especially since I'm such a nosy cow. For example:
"Mick Partridge spotted today telling Heather Post that he couldn't go to her invite on Friday. Why Mick, what are you doing instead?"
I'm hoping no one that knows them is reading this. It's just an example.

It would be really great if our one had pictures. I would worship it.

Serving Sangria

I'm just a little bit too fond of alliteration.

Anyway, it's 3 am but thanks to a midnight coffee run by Mom and a post-coffee Del Taco run by Dad, I am sufficiently caffinated enough to be buzzed all night not doing work. Woo woo.

So instead, I am looking up how to make sangria.

We've done this before, but it was sour as all hell. From using lemon concentrate.

This sangria isn't actually one that I made, it was one consumed in Cabo. But I took the pic so that counts for something right?

So here's how it's gonna go down:

1 part orange juice
1/2 part gin or maybe brandy.. we'll see.
2 parts red wine.

Zinfadel, or Merlot, some recipes say. In this case, it's Franzia. We're classy like that. (Does Franzia even have a type of grape? Or is it just a hodgepodge of leftovers?)

And er, some chopped apples and oranges and maybe a few grapes for good measure. Actually, we have some frozen grapes in the freezer, those would make pretty cute ice cubes huh? Then it won't dilute the drinks. Anyhoo, they can all hang out in the 5 million plastic pitchers left over from the big 2-1.

So far, confirmed:

Me
Rach
Ronez
Ginge
Shawks
Mom
Dad
Steph
Stephen
Liv
Bert
Jake

Waiting on:
Jesse
The boys from 5
Ross
Probs some other peeps

Do you even care? Probs not. But that's cool.

More on Paella

And maybe in the last 2 minutes of the vegetable one, I'll crack a couple of eggs over the top. That would look nice, hopefully.

The Paella Plan

The Roommates and I are having a Paella Partay this Friday. Mostly because I wanted to try to recreate the amazing Paella that Sam and I had in Spain, but also because I have been having these little visions in my head of being a classy lady and hosting cocktail parties and soirees etc etc.

However, I am finding recipes difficult to decide on. I'm making 3 different ones, Seafood (coz that's the real deal), chicken (because I like chicken) and veggie (coz Rach and Mom are anti-animal).

So, just to keep my thoughts in order, here's what I'm going to do:

Ingredients:

Diced onion
Chopped tomato
Diced red pepper
Diced yellow pepper
Garlic
Chopped parsley
Frozen peas
Paprika
Saffron
Med grain rice
Chicken stock
Olive Oil
Salt n pepper
Lemons

Seafood:
Fillet talapia, cubed (and salted)
Squid, ringed
4 large prawns (not shelled)
some muscles.

Chicken:
Chicken parts, cubed (and deboned) (and salted)

Vegetable:
Asparagus?
Green beans
Canned artichoke
White beans

Method:

Coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil. Heat. Fry onions and garlic, then add bell peppers. Add paprika. Add chicken/seafood (minus prawns and muscles) /raw (ie not canned) vegetables.

(I'm debating adding Sofrito but it looks like a bit too much work)

Add chicken stock. Let simmer. Add rice. Add canned tomatoes/ other vegetables that you left out. Add saffron. Give it all a good stir. Let simmer for say... 10-15 minutes. Arrange seafood nicely on top.

Oven it for... 15 minutes?

Sprinkle some parsley on top, slice a lemon in half or mebbe into quarters and put on side or on top or whatevs.

Done :)
We hope.

Next up: The sangria I will try to make.

PS. To the person who asked: I loved James in Last King of Scotland and thought he could have been nominated for supporting if only Forest hadn't stolen the show.

Happily N'Ever After

To be honest, I didn't like it. Which is really surprising because I generally love animated stuff. Well I mean it was cute and fun, but nothing I'd want to add to a DVD collection or anything.

Good for: One liners. Hilarious Southern dwarf accents. Little kids (though there are a few raaather adult in jokes). Hilarious Andy Dick voice. Possibly Krunk as the handsome prince. Remembering that Freddie Prince Jr is still alive. Remembering that he's still married to Sarah Michelle Geller. Uncle Rumpy the baby stealer.

Bad for: Main princess (who is not actually a princess... it's Cinderella...) looks like a 12 year old boy. She then gets her hair done and it looks EXACTLY THE SAME except with a tiara. Lots of unoriginal stuff that channels other cartoons (2 little guys like Pain and Panic from Hercules, for example. Narration like the Emporer's New Groove. There's more, you just have to spot it.) Some other stuff.

Becoming Jane

Devastating.

Actually, not a very good movie. Kind of meh and unremarkable... But at least Anne Hathaway was not annoying or overbearing, so that was nice. And her 'brother' was hot.

And most of all, James has my heart and I'd marry him despite his height, or lack of, and poverty (ie Money, or lack of). Er, except he's married to some cougar actress.



Good for: Sexy James. Sexy Brother. Random cast members like Maggie Smith and Julie Walters (what is this, a Harry Potter reunion?). Sexy James and Sexy Brother run naked into the river. Princess Diaries is not out of place unlike in Brokeback Mountain. Anne Hathaway has nice handwriting and a cool pen. The farmer from Babe goes down on Julie Walters. Sexy James is shirtless on a few occasions.

Bad for: No sex. Somewhat predictable plot that is like a mix between Pride and Predjudice and Mrs Potter. Missing some montages or something that make relationships seem abrupt (we were sad that there was no 'going on picnics and eying each other across dinner tables' montage.) The frumps-ass 'aging' process. The fact that no one bothered to tell us there was a deaf man until 2/3 through when we realise that he's been in other scenes where we thought he was James on a bad day.

But still....


hot. :) Ever since the Leto II days of Hallmark movies.

Bored in class?

I wasn't, but here's something you can do:

Boy Toy

(It just kept me up an extra half hour.)

It's pretty effing impossible, but addictive. I can't get past level 2.

I'm a really great coffee drinker.

I had this presentation for class today... I went all kinds of early, so I could get a coffee on the way. But of course, the rule of the white shirt applies: If you are wearing a white shirt, you will get a leaky lid.

So now, the shirt is kind of brown. Which is kind of really irritating because I JUST did my laundry.

Facebook Horoscope

Aries: Be careful how you talk to members of the opposite sex this week. What you think is just kidding around, they might interpret as serious flirting.

Is that a promise?

Dangerous Beauty

Watch it.

Tagline: Ancient Venice. Or pretty old, the 1500s anyway. Victoria Franco (aka Tres Pretty Catherine McCormack) falls in love with her bee-eff-eff(aka Moira Kelly aka Mom in One Tree Hill)'s older brother (aka Rufus Sewell aka Bad Guy in both A Knight's Tale and also Tristan and Isolde). Unforch, he can't marry her coz she quite frankly is not that rich but he is, doesn't that suck? So instead, her mother teaches her the old family way of being a courtesan.

Good for: Boys that like pretty girls showing off their boobs (assuming you get the R version). Boys that are in the mood for crying. (Actually, why am I saying Boys? That's terribly sexist, and this film is sort of a woman's lib thing. Hell, girls that like boobs can watch it too.) Sex scenes, clever rhymes, a good cry, a renewed belief in love, a handsome older brother, a random handsome man in the court scene, pretty dresses, Denny's father from Grey's.

Su will love it, Sonia probs because it's like one of her romance novels but er real, Adelle when she's in a sappy mood, Sam probs not (actually having said that, there is one great scene where a peacock gets abused, so maybe just for that...), Nick should watch it with Lianne, Bev maybe because it's based on a real person. Does anyone else read this? Doubt it.

(HA HA I just found a GREAT review (and by great I mean it got a C)... from www.aboutfilm.com/movies/d/dangerousbeauty.htm, but I wouldn't bother going, I'll tell you the good bit: "If you are entertained by lush period pieces with an abundance of naked breasts, then Dangerous Beauty is an enjoyable two hours." Bahahah it appears that is me.)

For those of you lucky enough to get NetFlix, you can press 'watch it now' which is actually a pretty amazing tool.

For those who are not, go rent it. Or, get it here.

Based on the book:

Sorry this is so full of (interrupted) sentances.

Help MEEEEEE

Questions I want answered:

1) What is the worst thing a guy could do to a girl?

2) What would make a guy regret dumping her?

3) (ie) How can she get him back?

Now before y'all get all excited and hoo-hah she's been ditched, this is for a screenplay. But obviously I have no idea about questions 2&3 so I was hoping for a little input from the people I love/love me/ mostly Nick and Drei (only because of the male-ness. anyone else, id love your helpses too)

Mysterious Movie

The night is dark (as nights go)... the road is sorta shiney and wet. A man walks towards an accident scene, the lights from the police sirens reflected on his face.

He gets closer. His wife is pinned between the hood of a car and a tree. The sheriff wants to talk to him. She cracks a joke about not going anywhere.

They can't get her out. Her body has been severed by the car and once they move the car she'll die.

Does anyone else remember this scene?

Me: Her hair was long.
Rekha and Rachana simultaneously: ANd blonde!
Me: It was the opening of a movie!

But who was it?

Melissa: Dennis Quaid?
Me: Tom Hanks?
Rach: Bruce Willis?

It got to the point where I could swear I was lying on the couch with Rona watching it some time last year.

Rona didn't remember.
We still had no clues. IMDB searches of the afforementioned leading men left us blank (although I was convinced it was Sleepless in Seattle). So we start the random searches : Man sad wife dying tree. Top 100 Romance Modern Romance Movies.

Melissa: When we find out what it is you have to Netflix it because it was so good!

Eventually one of these searches got us to Scary Movie 3, which revealed... "bisected wife, pinned to a tree by a car and spitting up a spark plug."

Signs.

Murmurs of "oh..." and "really?" and "that wasn't that great."

Dang.