It could just be me...

I just finished watching Bunny Lake is Missing (which was great) but I noticed something very odd about the score. It was very drum/bongo heavy. And I was thinking of what other movies from the 60s with really drum heavy scores. The main one I thought of was In the Heat of the Night (especially in chase scene in the first 30 minutes of the movie) but I think the more suspenseful portions of Charade feature some really weird drumming (and I am sure there are plenty more!). The plot of Bunny Lake is Missing is that a single mother (who has just moved to London to be with her brother) drops off her daughter as a daycare and then when she comes to pick up Bunny, she is nowhere to be found. The police are called in and then begin to suspect the Bunny never existed. This type of psychological thriller is one that I love and I have seen 5 movies with this same plot device: Flightplan, Bunny Lake is Missing, Dangerous Crossing, So Long at the Fair, and The Lady Vanishes. I have to say, giving into my preference for all things Hitchcock, The Lady Vanishes is my favorite. But, I did see some influence of Hitchcock on Bunny Lake is Missing. I recommend all of the movies above (all are DVD except for So Long At The Fair, but it will be on TCM on August 10th at 6:30pm EST), even though Flight Plan is probably weakest of the 5. On the negative side, I read that Bunny Lake is Missing is going to be remade, yikes!

It's time to change, it's time to rearrange

My mom came to visit me this past weekend (I had Monday off) and she thought it would be good to rearrange my furniture and organize my apartment (and she was right). I got a new entertainment center last month (at Ikea) so I wasn't sure what to do with the old one (and ditto for a desk, I wanted to get a smaller less hulking one).




We talked mostly on Friday night of how to rearrange the furniture and the type of desk that I wanted. On Saturday, we went to Lehman's (as per tradition for anyone that comes to visit me!). We also stopped at Wal-mart to look at cabinets to help organize my vanity area. And after some discussions (and difficulty putting the stupid thing together!), we ended up with this:



Later on Saturday afternoon we headed to Target to get a new desk and after about 30 minutes of discussion (and only slight difficultly putting together the desk and the accompanying side table) and picking out some really cute bamboo storage bins, this is what we ended up with:


On Sunday, we went to World Market (in Akron) to get some baskets to help organize the two re-purposed storage cabinets. So after moving them and going through my kitchen to decide what to move and what to put on display:




Which means my awesome Jane Austen quote mugs are on display!
Bonus points to whoever can tell my which book each quote is from (except for the two that say the book of course):

So Awesome

See more notes like this at PassiveAggressiveNotes.com. Enjoy!

Brief Absence

I haven't blogged for about two weeks now but I am going to try to do better. I went to the farm for the 4th of July holiday. I talked mom into teaching me how to sew (it didn't take much) so on Friday we spent a little while at Jo-Ann's looking through patterns and then getting some material to make a dress and an Asian style top. We also picked up some flowers and had some lunch (and picked up some feed for the goats and chickens) before heading back home. But we forgot to get material to line the dress, so we went back to Jo-Ann's on Saturday morning to get the lining. This time Lucy (and Vaughn) can with us and Lucy got material (and a few patterns) for a sundress, a pair of pants, and a top. On Friday night, mom and I cut out the material for the dress (which is when we discovered that we forgot the get the lining). And then on Saturday, we went of the Logansport to Josh's family 4th of July celebration. Lucy and I spent about 2.5 hours picking black raspberries (and so our arms are covered in scratches and mosquito bites) in the rain. But, now I am looking forward to delicious jam and the black raspberry pie mom made for our family vacation later this summer!

More Mystery Love

And here is the opening credits for an episode of Sherlock Holmes (and this is from 1984, when I would have been one, so I think that by the time I watched it, Diana Rigg was the host)

I don't know, we'll have to find out

Are these the coolest opening (and closing) credits ever?

I love those credits, I remember watching Mystery when I was younger (including Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett) and back when Diana Rigg was the host (and then when it was host-less for a few years). PBS has split up Masterpiece Theater into 3 types: Classic, Mystery, and Contemporary. I do like the new format (and Laura Linney and Alan Cummings have been great hosts for the Classic and Mystery versions, respectively) but I do miss the old opening credit for Masterpiece Classic. Fortunately, the awesome Edward Gorey credits still remain. The work of Edward Gorey is always delightfully macabre and quirky. I remember knowing that I would be really good friends with a girl from the Academy when we both agreed that we loved the lady with the fan (and the lady with the stole blowing in the wind) and they were the best part of the credits (during my pre-Academy days, there were few people who watched a lot of PBS). And this same person and I shared a love of the Kevin Sullivan production of Anne of Green Gables and other old PBS movies produced by WonderWorks (which includes Frogs! and The Gryphon).

And, as a bonus this older version (back when Mystery was hosted by Vincent Price) were just as cool:

For your viewing pleasure

Here are a music video from the 80s with the song lyrics describing what is actually happening in the videos. And I must admit, I kind of love this song. And the video is pretty much hilarious!

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Quick and Versatile

I love making naan, which is a type of Indian flatbread. It is really easy to make, relatively quick (it takes a little more than an hour), and can be used for lots of different things. I usually make it with curried pork bites (or chicken tandoori, really anything that is spicy) but I have also toasted the naan with cheese on top, and spread both peanut butter or nutella on a piece of naan. So here is the recipe (and with picture!):
8 oz (225 g) bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 oz yeast
4 T milk (lukewarm)
1 T vegetable oil
2 T yogurt
1 egg Combine milk and yeast. Set aside for 15 minutes.


Sift together flour and salt. Add the yogurt, oil, egg, and milk and mix to form a soft dough (it will be pretty sticky).


Knead the dough for about 10 minutes (until smooth and elastic). Again the dough with be a little sticky so make sure to use plenty of flour. Place in greased bowl and let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk (I've reduced the raising time to about 30 minutes in a rush and the naan still turned out well). Punch down and then divide into 8 pieces and roll into balls then roll out into a disc. You can make the pieces of naan thicker and bigger if you like. I like to make my naan a little smaller and thinner so it cooks faster.


Heat a pan to medium (or use a grill). Place naan on the pan (or grill) for about 3 to 4 minutes (the naan will start to puff up) and then flip over and cook on the otherside for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and repeat until all pieces of naan are cooked. Enjoy!

Success!

I remember watching The Simpsons when they were still on the Tracy Ullman show and we used to watch it every week back in the first few years of the show (I think that I stopped watching it around my senior year of high school around season 11 or 12, when the show seemed to be more about Homer than the whole family). One of the characters, Nelson Muntz, always says goodbye by saying "Smell you later" and Rachel (and sometimes me) has been saying that to Ellis whenever ever he would leave the room or go upstairs for a nap. And then on Sunday as Rachel was taking him upstairs for his nap and I said "Smell you later" to which Ellis replied "I will smell you later. Aunt Caferene, I will smell you later". It was pretty much hilarious and adorable. I couldn't find a clip of Nelson saying smell you later, but here is a pretty funny clip of him from the first episode I remember him saying smell you later.

I personally don't feel this way (all the time anyway)

Coolest Choir Teacher ever

I can't resist a Coldplay song! (Especially one from Viva La Vida, I love that Album!)

Celebrate!

In honor of Earth Day, I thought that I would make a (bulletized) list of planet-friendly products or services that I really like.

• Soap: Lucy and I have been experimenting with making our own soap. And what I like about making my own soap is that I know what is in that soap and I know where the ingredients come from and the quality. But if I don't have my own homemade soap with me, a brand that I have discovered is Pure& Natural. They only make 3 products (bar soap, body soap, and hand soap) in really interesting combinations like grapefruit pomegranate (my favorite) and rosemary mint. They use a combination of palm oil, vegetable oil, and olive oil. The packing is made of recycled material which is embedded with baby breath's seeds (so you can plant them in the garden). And the company donates to the World Wildlife Fund.
  
• Toothbrushes: One of the best toothbrushes I have ever used is made the company Preserve which makes a variety of personal care products (like razors) using recycled yogurt containers (which is no. 5, for all of you familiar with sorting your plastics). The toothbrush is slightly curved so it makes it easy to reach your back teeth. You can return the toothbrush back to company and it will be recycled to make more products. You can also send any clean no. 5 containers (or drop them off at a Whole Foods, maybe I will start keeping all my no.5s to take with me next time I visit Rachel in Ann Arbor!). The company has expanded their product line to include not only tableware but kitchen supplies like mixing bowls and cutting boards (I just ordered one to replace my old flexible one so maybe I will review it here on the blog).
• Books: So I am using 2 online services for lending books. One is a pay service to rent two books a month (for about the price of a Netflix subscription) called Paperspine. The books come through the mail and then you just use the pre-paid envelopes to mail it back (which means that you can put them in any dropbox, you don't have to go the post office.). The selection at Paperspine is really good (but only paperbacks) and I have gotten more than a couple books for my book reviews through Paperspine. The other service that I use (less regularly) is Paperback Swap, which is basically a service that allows you to swap books with other users for free (you do have to pay for mailing the books). The variety of books is dependent on the users but I found some interesting books through Paperback Swap like a novel by Jasper Fforde and a copy of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
  
• Resuable Shopping Bags: Rachel sent me the website for Reusable Bags which is where I have gotten 4 of the 7 reusable bags that I use every time I go shopping. My favorite bag from that site is the Envirosax ultra compact reusable bag because I can roll it up and keep it in my purse in case I have to make a quick stop at the grocery store. I also have the set of Happybags totes with the design names of Lucy and Catherine (I couldn't resist!). The latest addition to my collection of reusable bags is one I bought at Barnes and Noble that I really like because the material is a little bit stiffer so it is more like a fabric paper bag. And I have a bag that I take with me to the library (or the post office).
  
• Cleaning Products: I almost exclusively use cleaning products made by Method. All the cleaning products are make from environmentally friendly formulations which means that all you really smell is the scents used by the company like grapefruit and lavender. The cleaning wipes are made of bamboo which means that the wipes are compostable and biodegradable. I have used lots of the products made by Method like the daily shower cleaner, cleaning wipes, dish soap (right now I am using the spiced pear holiday scent), and air freshener. They also make laundry products and dishwasher soap (which I haven't used because I don't have a dishwasher).
  
• Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs: I've used a couple different brands but my favorite is the Meijer brand because they are pretty affordable and come in cardboard packaging which is completely recycleable (the other 2 brands I've used came in plastic package which could be recycled except that there is no number designation listed).
  

Thanks for reading and I hope that some of these suggestions are helpful!

It's April 22nd!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!

I'm going to write a real post soon, I promise!

For lovers of the Kool Aid Man game

see more pwn and owned pictures

Glitterize

I was picking up a few things at Wal-mart today after work and I came across a Martha Stewart kit to make cards. And as much as Martha Stewart can drive me crazy, her company really makes cute stuff:


The downside is, I got glitter pretty much all over the place in my living room.

Lather, Rinse, and maybe Repeat

I went home for the Easter holiday (I got Good Friday off from work) on Thursday night (the five hour drive isn't so bad now that I am used to it). On Friday, mom, Lucy, Vaughn, and I ran some errands in town (including my usually weekend errand of taking out recycling!) and had lunch (I will let Lucy tell the story about our lunch out!). On Saturday, I went up with my parents to Dowaigac to see Bridget for the day. On Sunday, Lucy and I tried our hand (yet again) at liquid soap making (ok, we made shampoo). Unfortunately (just like last time) the soap mixture boiled over onto the stove and then Lucy and I got the clean the stove. I had to head back (after the delicious Easter lunch mom made for us) before the last part of the process was complete so you will have to ask Lucy how it turned out! But I heard that her hair did not fall out upon using the homemade shampoo.

"I had a lot of time to think while I was unflushing Aunt Peggy's keys" - Luanne Platter

What's The Matter With Helen?

She's nuts. I made the mistake of watching the movie "What's the Matter With Helen?" this afternoon with Debbie Reynolds and Shelly Winters. The basic plot is the mothers of two convicted murders move to California to start afresh. I like Debbie Reynolds a lot (especially in Singing in the Rain) but I do not like Shelly Winters at all. She was really annoying in this movie (I think she screamed for about 15 minutes total at various points in the movie). And she is super unlikable in "A Patch of Blue" and totally useless in "Night of the Hunter". So if anyone knows a movie that Shelly Winters is actually good in, please let me know. But I'm making up for watching that terrible movie by watching an excellent movie: Murder, My Sweet. The original title for the movie (and the book is it based on) was Farewell My Lovely but it was changed so moviegoers wouldn't think it was a musical. And I didn't understand that until I saw 42th Street and realized Dick Powell was in a ton of musicals before doing Murder, My Sweet (and the actress Anne Shirley is in this movie too!).

HANK: If you ask me, you've got too much imagination. Everything's all loop-de-loops and flibbertigibbets.

The Juice and Jack McCoy

Tonight I watched Capricorn One (on TCM naturally) which is a 1978 movie about a faked Mars landing starring James Brolin, Elliot Gould, Sam Waterson (aka Jack McCoy) and O.J. Simpson. It was really strange to see all the lead actors so young (I don't think that I have ever seen a movie with Sam Waterson without gray hair, not to mention James Brolin without white hair!). And it is always a little strange to see pre-trial O.J. Simpson. I have only ever seen him in the Naked Gun movies (and his scenes were always my least favorite) so it was strange to see him in a dramatic role. That being said, he didn't have to have a lot a talent to play his part in Capricorn One. Most of his lines were basically stating the obvious. But Sam Waterson did get to play kind of a smart-ass in the movie, which was quite enjoyable. Overall, I enjoyed the movie but for the most part I like the conspiracy theory movies (like The Manchurian Canidate and most Hitchcock movies [i.e. North by Northwest, Foreign Correspondent] and Sneakers) so I'm not really suprised that I liked it.

DALE: I can't afford to be out of commission for three days. As one of Arlen's leading skeptics, I've got my fingers in a lot of pies.
HANK: But Dale, you made a deal. What about all that great stuff you got from John?
DALE: Damn, the stuff! Stuff is my weakness!

More TCM love

I know I have mentioned in the past how much I love the TCM channel (it is one of my favorite channels and I usually check what is showing on the weekends). I have seen some great movies on TCM (like Now, Voyager, A Night At the Opera, and Christmas in Connecticut to name a few). But tonight, they are showing a bunch of Chuck Jones shorts as well as a short documentary about Chuck Jones and The Phantom Tollbooth (which is on at 11pm but Lucy is taping it for me). This is the perfect remedy to my somewhat stressful day at work.

MINH: Kahn, we have no nanny for Connie.
KAHN: Oh, cruel, cruel fate! This Maui speech could be my stepping-stone from systems analyst to senior systems analyst!

The return

I think that it has been about a month since I last did a book review (and I've actually finished 3 books in that time!) but finally here is another book review (I'm sure all of you were waiting for one!). The book for this week (or month) is "The Hours Before Dawn" by Celia Fremlin. It is a mystery novel set in 1958 London about a housewife named Louise with 3 children including a new baby that cries all night. The family lets a room in their house to a mysterious lodger named Vera Brandon. Strange things start happening around the house but Louise is so tired that she isn't sure what is real and what isn't real. On top of that there is a feeling on anxiety all though the house that may or may not be due to Miss Brandon. Since a lot of the action takes place in the house it feels very claustrophobic but also a little more terrifying since there is no safe haven for Louise. You also sympathize with Louise as she struggles to get through the day through her exhaustion (I'm sure anyone with a new born can understand Louise's struggle). The novel is pretty short (about 175 pages) but it really good. I discovered the book (which has a been out of print for a long time) through Bas Bleu which is one of my favorite bookstores (although it is really just an online store/catalog, there is no physical store). Every book that I have read that was recommended by the catalog (like Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day) has been fantastic. They specialize in more eccentric/lesser known books (basically the complete opposite of Oprah's Book Club). So there are more books from small publishing companies or companies outside of the United States and older books (and less well-known books) that have out of print (like the one for this review). I highly recommend "The Hours Before Dawn" (which may soon be making the rounds through my family) and Bas Bleu.