Happy Memorial Day everyone!
I'm sorry I've not been posting in a while. Things have been crazy busy! I do have a couple of things to talk about. One is directly involving Memorial Day.
So I wonder. In most American's minds is Memorial Day only about the Vietnam War? At least that's the impression I get from the media. Rarely do they talk at all about World War I or II or any of the others, Korean etc. Hell, doesn't it even include Civil, Revolutionary, 1812? Americans died there too. But all we get now is Vietnam.
I was reading that Memorial Day was established in 1868. It has a long history coming from widows laying flowers on graves at a particular time of year.
My second topic is even more of a rant, actually, So I was watching the Today show today and they had some chef on making some kind of party dips. This is the guy from Take Home Chef on Discovery Channel (Or TLC, I never can tell the difference.) Anyway, he's that Aussie Chef, Curtis. Anyway, he made crab salad dip. Had lovely jumbo lump blue crab. Mixed it with some things and then came out the evil evil Lemon! *queue dramatic music*. Immediately my head exploded. Ok, so maybe this guy doesn't know because he's Australian and doesn't know the nuances of Blue Crab, but you NEVER NEVER use lemon on blue crab. NEVER! This has been a pet peeve of mine since I was about 18 years old and read an article in the newspaper by a Marylander. In it he explained that lemon will kill the delicate taste of the crab.
Really, you are paying something like 20 dollars a pound for premium lump crab meat, and. you. put. lemon. on. it. What's the point? Get imitation and pretend if you have to have lemon on your crab. Save yourself some money.
Come to think of it, I'm not a fan of lemon on any fish. Lemon will mask any flavors of the fish, presumably if the fish isn't all that fresh the lemon will cover up that fish age. If you have fresh from the sea fish, there's no reason to slap that lemon on it, don't you want the nuances to come through.
Anyway, happy Memorial Day everyone! And drop those lemons!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 5th, 2009
Happy Cinco De Mayo! I hope all of you are enjoying your Margaritas! Wish I had one! I really miss them, LOL.
So I thought that this week I'd talk about X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
If you haven't seen it, I've got a few spoilers in here, so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. I'll try to keep it vague though.
Husband and I went to see it over the weekend. I can honestly say I liked it. But it wasn't perfect.
First of all, it just felt like something was missing. I guess, for me, there just wasn't enough inner conflict with Wolverine. He very quickly shook things off, even deaths of important people in his life. In the comic, Wolverine is gritty, feral, haunted. Yes, wisecracky and seemingly put together, but in reality he's a bit of a disaster. I didn't get this in this movie. It was a little watered down. Believe me, if 13 year olds read this comic and understand it, then they'll understand the same theme if presented in the movie. And no, you should not be bringing your 8 year old. There is violence in there, what's wrong with you?
There wasn't enough exposition explaining what shaped Sabretooth and Wolverine in their early years (that really stuck in my craw). We guess they had it rough, but how? What exactly happened to make Sabretooth really lose it. And no, being "crazy" isn't cutting it. What bonded Sabre and Wolvie together? What made Sabre flip out? Argh, exposition folks!
One of the things my husband had an issue with is the adamantium bullets. Would an gun shoot this bullet hard enough and fast enough to penetrate an adamantium skull? Sure it's an adamantium bullet, but if you don't have a special gun what good is it? They didn't imply that it was a special gun, just special bullets. Does that mean if I have, for example, an adamantium nail clipper I can destroy Wolverine?
My issue was when they were injecting the adamantium into Wolvie. Stryker makes Wolvie indestructible. Even says so. Then Wolvie goes bananas and jumps out of the tank and runs away. Stryker turns to Zero and says, "Hunt him down and blow his head off." HOW? Dude, you just said he was indestructible! Audibly. For everyone in the damned room to hear! You encased his skull in adamantium! Zero may be a minion but is he really THAT stupid not to think to himself, "hmm, how do I take down an indestructible man? Better bring a bazooka." I remember turning to husband and saying "how?". Two minutes later, after sending Zero to pretty much his death, Son of Bitch Stryker magically produces a gun that shoots adamantium bullets. Hello? Moron, give the gun to Zero! That might have helped stuff, if you, you know, give the magic weapon to the man who can actually use it deftly! Argh!
So what did I like about this movie after some of this ranting? Well I thought the action was terrific. X-Force at the beginning was fantastic! The best was Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. It's a real terrible shame there wasn't more of him in the film. Not liking what they did later in the film with him though. And it is totally WRONG in as far as cannon is concerned, and I wasn't even that familiar with that character and I still knew something was wrong. Incidentally, Deadpool is an interesting character! What a crazy backstory!
I really liked Gambit. Not only was he a cutie, but they did a nice job with his powers. I wish he was a little more like the Gambit in the comics, but it's ok, they can develop him more.
Wolverine's Lady love, Silverfox was awesome. So beautiful and I thought she did a good job. Nice powers too, under used though.
The scenery was lovely.
It was cool to see some of the mutant kids.
But the suspense was a little lacking...because you know he's going to pull through. You know?
The movie should have been longer. 1 hour 45 minutes, made it feel rushed. I wonder if it will be longer on the DVD.
All in all, it was an enjoyable popcorn flick. Nothing really to philosophize about. It's no Ironman, Watchmen, Spiderman, The Dark Knight, but it was fun enough to be entertaining.
What did you all think?
For now, Gothic Dragon
So I thought that this week I'd talk about X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
If you haven't seen it, I've got a few spoilers in here, so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. I'll try to keep it vague though.
Husband and I went to see it over the weekend. I can honestly say I liked it. But it wasn't perfect.
First of all, it just felt like something was missing. I guess, for me, there just wasn't enough inner conflict with Wolverine. He very quickly shook things off, even deaths of important people in his life. In the comic, Wolverine is gritty, feral, haunted. Yes, wisecracky and seemingly put together, but in reality he's a bit of a disaster. I didn't get this in this movie. It was a little watered down. Believe me, if 13 year olds read this comic and understand it, then they'll understand the same theme if presented in the movie. And no, you should not be bringing your 8 year old. There is violence in there, what's wrong with you?
There wasn't enough exposition explaining what shaped Sabretooth and Wolverine in their early years (that really stuck in my craw). We guess they had it rough, but how? What exactly happened to make Sabretooth really lose it. And no, being "crazy" isn't cutting it. What bonded Sabre and Wolvie together? What made Sabre flip out? Argh, exposition folks!
One of the things my husband had an issue with is the adamantium bullets. Would an gun shoot this bullet hard enough and fast enough to penetrate an adamantium skull? Sure it's an adamantium bullet, but if you don't have a special gun what good is it? They didn't imply that it was a special gun, just special bullets. Does that mean if I have, for example, an adamantium nail clipper I can destroy Wolverine?
My issue was when they were injecting the adamantium into Wolvie. Stryker makes Wolvie indestructible. Even says so. Then Wolvie goes bananas and jumps out of the tank and runs away. Stryker turns to Zero and says, "Hunt him down and blow his head off." HOW? Dude, you just said he was indestructible! Audibly. For everyone in the damned room to hear! You encased his skull in adamantium! Zero may be a minion but is he really THAT stupid not to think to himself, "hmm, how do I take down an indestructible man? Better bring a bazooka." I remember turning to husband and saying "how?". Two minutes later, after sending Zero to pretty much his death, Son of Bitch Stryker magically produces a gun that shoots adamantium bullets. Hello? Moron, give the gun to Zero! That might have helped stuff, if you, you know, give the magic weapon to the man who can actually use it deftly! Argh!
So what did I like about this movie after some of this ranting? Well I thought the action was terrific. X-Force at the beginning was fantastic! The best was Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. It's a real terrible shame there wasn't more of him in the film. Not liking what they did later in the film with him though. And it is totally WRONG in as far as cannon is concerned, and I wasn't even that familiar with that character and I still knew something was wrong. Incidentally, Deadpool is an interesting character! What a crazy backstory!
I really liked Gambit. Not only was he a cutie, but they did a nice job with his powers. I wish he was a little more like the Gambit in the comics, but it's ok, they can develop him more.
Wolverine's Lady love, Silverfox was awesome. So beautiful and I thought she did a good job. Nice powers too, under used though.
The scenery was lovely.
It was cool to see some of the mutant kids.
But the suspense was a little lacking...because you know he's going to pull through. You know?
The movie should have been longer. 1 hour 45 minutes, made it feel rushed. I wonder if it will be longer on the DVD.
All in all, it was an enjoyable popcorn flick. Nothing really to philosophize about. It's no Ironman, Watchmen, Spiderman, The Dark Knight, but it was fun enough to be entertaining.
What did you all think?
For now, Gothic Dragon
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
April 22nd, 2009
Happy Earth Day! Also, Happy Administrative Professionals Day! Both wonderful reasons to celebrate. Now if only the people at work had remembered their admin professional today. Grumble.
But in light of Earth Day, I have a pretty good website to pass to you all. First of all, I got this from a website that helps homeless animals. They sell products to benefit and feed animals in shelters and the like.
One of the little stores they have on their site is called Global Girlfriend. Here is the philosophy behind it,
"Created to help women worldwide gain economic security for themselves and their families by earning fair wages for their handiwork, Global Girlfriend sources women-made, fair-trade imported, eco-friendly products. By supporting long-term partnerships with the artisans, it fosters equal employment opportunities, healthy and safe working conditions, technical assistance, and development strategies to help reduce poverty, one community at a time. Become a "Global Girlfriend" and help build a brighter future for girlfriends around the globe!"
But wait, there's more. If you buy something from Global Girlfriend through the animalrescuesite.com a certain number of bowls of food are donated to homeless animals. Sounds like a good deal, help empower women and feed animals!
Here's the website! http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/category.do?categoryId=2663&siteId=310
For now, Gothic Dragon
But in light of Earth Day, I have a pretty good website to pass to you all. First of all, I got this from a website that helps homeless animals. They sell products to benefit and feed animals in shelters and the like.
One of the little stores they have on their site is called Global Girlfriend. Here is the philosophy behind it,
"Created to help women worldwide gain economic security for themselves and their families by earning fair wages for their handiwork, Global Girlfriend sources women-made, fair-trade imported, eco-friendly products. By supporting long-term partnerships with the artisans, it fosters equal employment opportunities, healthy and safe working conditions, technical assistance, and development strategies to help reduce poverty, one community at a time. Become a "Global Girlfriend" and help build a brighter future for girlfriends around the globe!"
But wait, there's more. If you buy something from Global Girlfriend through the animalrescuesite.com a certain number of bowls of food are donated to homeless animals. Sounds like a good deal, help empower women and feed animals!
Here's the website! http://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/category.do?categoryId=2663&siteId=310
For now, Gothic Dragon
Monday, April 13, 2009
April 13th, 2009
Well, Happy Easter Monday everyone! Sorry been so quiet, but life's been a little busy.
I would like to talk a little about something makeup related. Some of you may know I'm a real sucker for eye makeup. I like to play around with vivid shadows and all. But what to use to remove all that?
For many years I've been using the Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover by Mary Kay. It worked pretty good, that is until I couldn't find an agent to sell me anymore. There is one who works in the same building as I do and I've asked her to come by so I can buy some, but she never does.
Besides, I get a little sick and tired of needing to buy some Mary Kay product and getting backed into a corner about how I need to join the cult, etc etc. So I decided to try something over the counter.
Well, I managed to find Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover by Almay. It's got cucumber in it to make it more refreshing. Let me tell you, this stuff is great, by far a better makeup remover than the Mary Kay stuff, and it's half the price. I highly recommend it!
The only drawback is that this stuff is so good and removing stuff from your face that you'll need to extra moisturize after. I managed to order something today from Avon. I'll let you know how it goes and recommend that product if I like it.
Anyway, Almay's Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover gets a thumbs up from me!
I would like to talk a little about something makeup related. Some of you may know I'm a real sucker for eye makeup. I like to play around with vivid shadows and all. But what to use to remove all that?
For many years I've been using the Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover by Mary Kay. It worked pretty good, that is until I couldn't find an agent to sell me anymore. There is one who works in the same building as I do and I've asked her to come by so I can buy some, but she never does.
Besides, I get a little sick and tired of needing to buy some Mary Kay product and getting backed into a corner about how I need to join the cult, etc etc. So I decided to try something over the counter.
Well, I managed to find Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover by Almay. It's got cucumber in it to make it more refreshing. Let me tell you, this stuff is great, by far a better makeup remover than the Mary Kay stuff, and it's half the price. I highly recommend it!
The only drawback is that this stuff is so good and removing stuff from your face that you'll need to extra moisturize after. I managed to order something today from Avon. I'll let you know how it goes and recommend that product if I like it.
Anyway, Almay's Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover gets a thumbs up from me!
Monday, March 30, 2009
March 30th, 2009
Well, it's been a few days. Thought I'd take a break on the blog just to build up some things to talk about. Been a tough couple of days but things are getting better.
Well, on my Watchmen forum in the "everything else" section there's been discussion about the Twilight series of books as well as the movie. What really shocks me is to see fan reaction. It would appear that if you are not a fan you get attacked! And not only verbally. I've read account after account of outraged 13-19 year olds who punch, scratch and kick non fans.
I have to say, I find this really reprehensible behavior. Part of learning to be an adult is to accept that others may not have your same opinions or points of view. You learn to deal with that. I'm not happy that there are those who don't like Watchmen or don't want to understand it, but I'm not going to gouge someone's eyes out for it.
Also in these books there are the elements of stalking, possessiveness, and control. Is this really the kind of thing that young people ought to be reading and identifying as "true love"? In real life those are terrifying things. Words of experience here, believe me. It wasn't romantic, let me tell you.
Again, I'm still quite shocked at some of the fan reactions, and I'm also saddened by it. What do you think?
For now, Gothic Dragon
Well, on my Watchmen forum in the "everything else" section there's been discussion about the Twilight series of books as well as the movie. What really shocks me is to see fan reaction. It would appear that if you are not a fan you get attacked! And not only verbally. I've read account after account of outraged 13-19 year olds who punch, scratch and kick non fans.
I have to say, I find this really reprehensible behavior. Part of learning to be an adult is to accept that others may not have your same opinions or points of view. You learn to deal with that. I'm not happy that there are those who don't like Watchmen or don't want to understand it, but I'm not going to gouge someone's eyes out for it.
Also in these books there are the elements of stalking, possessiveness, and control. Is this really the kind of thing that young people ought to be reading and identifying as "true love"? In real life those are terrifying things. Words of experience here, believe me. It wasn't romantic, let me tell you.
Again, I'm still quite shocked at some of the fan reactions, and I'm also saddened by it. What do you think?
For now, Gothic Dragon
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 24th, 2009
Good evening folks. Yes, normally I post my blogs earlier in the day but it has been a crazy day and I'm only really concentrating now on this particular blog.
I was shopping in Ulta the other day for some oil free eye make up remover...found an awesome one, but I'll blog about that another day I think. In other words, I don't want to get up and look right now, haha.
But in my browsing I came across this crazy mascara! Crazy enough for me to glom on to it and want to wear it! It's called Max Vivid Impact Mascara. I didn't buy any at the time, but I think I may, for occasions such as conventions and places where it's ok to be a little crazy. Anyway, it's a double application. You have a base color for your lashes, such as a dark plum or a midnight blue color and then a really bright contrasting shade you are supposed to put on the tips of your lashes.
Here's a web page that explains it a little better and has a sample of the stuff. Fun stuff. I'd wear it for sure! What do you all think?
http://www.splendicity.com/makeupminute/max-factor-vivid-impact-highlighting-mascara/
For now, Gothic Dragon
I was shopping in Ulta the other day for some oil free eye make up remover...found an awesome one, but I'll blog about that another day I think. In other words, I don't want to get up and look right now, haha.
But in my browsing I came across this crazy mascara! Crazy enough for me to glom on to it and want to wear it! It's called Max Vivid Impact Mascara. I didn't buy any at the time, but I think I may, for occasions such as conventions and places where it's ok to be a little crazy. Anyway, it's a double application. You have a base color for your lashes, such as a dark plum or a midnight blue color and then a really bright contrasting shade you are supposed to put on the tips of your lashes.
Here's a web page that explains it a little better and has a sample of the stuff. Fun stuff. I'd wear it for sure! What do you all think?
http://www.splendicity.com/makeupminute/max-factor-vivid-impact-highlighting-mascara/
For now, Gothic Dragon
Monday, March 23, 2009
March, 23rd, 2009
Good evening all! Here's hoping that everyone is well today.
I just spent the better part of the afternoon writing! Yes, for my other blog. It's basically a fanfiction, creative writing project. I write a little more in the story every day.
Funny thing happened the other day. Husband asked me why the TV wasn't on and was it broken. I was writing! It's easier to concentrate when the tv is off. Though it's only for a few hours, I've found that focusing on writing or doing something, anything, engrossing has gotten me out of watching so much television. I still watch a lot, but at least not as much as I did. Just as well, I was starting to watch too many court shows, LOL.
Have any of you made any kind of changes in your tv watching routines lately?
I just spent the better part of the afternoon writing! Yes, for my other blog. It's basically a fanfiction, creative writing project. I write a little more in the story every day.
Funny thing happened the other day. Husband asked me why the TV wasn't on and was it broken. I was writing! It's easier to concentrate when the tv is off. Though it's only for a few hours, I've found that focusing on writing or doing something, anything, engrossing has gotten me out of watching so much television. I still watch a lot, but at least not as much as I did. Just as well, I was starting to watch too many court shows, LOL.
Have any of you made any kind of changes in your tv watching routines lately?
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