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Labels: picture, thankful, tis the season

I received a text message from Cousin Bob saying that Bill Murray was an awesome guy. Seems he's doing makeup for the Untitled Cameron Crowe movie filming out in Hawaii. Sounds pretty much fun meeting movie stars, etc., etc. Cousin Bob also says he's working with Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and the sweety Rachel McAdams.

Wait! Rachel McAdams? Why didn't you say so? I just saw her in Richard Curtis's droll science fiction, romantic comedy, About Time. It was only because she was in it that I went to see the movie. I think I would go see her read the phone book.

About Time is about a lanky ginger who finds out that he has the gift of time travel. He gets to go back in time to any point in his life. Of course, he uses it to find the love of Rachel McAdams.

Their meet cute was decent. He loses her, because he changes his timeline on the day he fell in love with her. Then he waits to meet her again, woo her, and make her his. The time traveling helps for the first kiss, first date, first sodding, first wedding.

Then the film turns away from rom-com and becomes a study of living life to the fullest. The guy's father dies, and he uses time traveling to revisit him until complications with the time line forces him to leave his father forever. That's a scene that teared me up a little thinking about my own father.

I came for Rachel McAdams, but found a wonderful film to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Thor: The Dark World is a continuation of Loki's story in the first Thor and in The Avengers. It does include Thor, the god of thunder, but the more interesting character is Loki. And we don't see much of him until the final third of the film. The early parts had him locked in the prison he was sentenced to at the end of The Avengers. Once freed, the Trickster does his thing: tricks his way to the throne of Asgard. What does it mean for the rest of the Marvel Movie Universe and for the Thor franchise?

The Dark World is very similar to this summer's Superman, The Man of Steel. A once banished villain, the dark elf, Malikith, wants to return and bring ruin on the son of the man that put him away. To do that he must threaten all the worlds of Yggdrasil, Asgard, Midgard, the Giant land, the dwarven home, and to do that he must do it in Greenwich, England. Thor is there to stop him along with his love and their wacky science team.

Can I say that it got kind of funny in the middle of things with the wacky science team. It's weird, because it was not grim. There's always a little bit of laughter in Midgard.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

I was browsing the bookstore the other day when I decided to slow foot it to work and came across the Ivan Ramen recipe book. I bought it immediately. Then I read it. It was 2 books in one: an autobiography of the eponymous Ivan and how he came to be a ramen chef in Japan, and a recipe for his ramen, the one he serves in his ramen-ya. There are some other recipes in the book, but there is only one ramen recipe in it! It takes up a better part of the book, but there is only one recipe for ramen -- Ivan Ramen!

Ivan breaks his ramen down into the parts, and he gives a recipe for making that one ingredient. He also gives you a recipe for the ramen noodles! If you make his ramen completely, damn, your hardcore!

http://ivanramen.com/

Labels: lotd, mmm

There's a moe version of the new Internet Explorer? Sign me up! O, wait... <scare quote>Upgrade</scare quote> my operating system to Windows 7 or 8? Upgrade? So cute.

It's the personification of cuteness that is the bestest.

http://www.internetexplorertan.com/home/

Labels: interNOT, lotd, www

Went to see Ridely Scott's latest, The Counselor, because it was filmed in Monte Pego. (Pego! Pego! Monte Pego!) It's another fast and loose film about drug deals gone awry. Boring stuff. I'll forget this in a month.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

I'm not sure how to approach reviewing Ender's Game. I should treat it as a movie, but there's the book. It's been twenty years since I was steady reading science fiction novels, and Ender's Game was a favorite from that time. And it's a good read, a very good read. It's got that battle school thing going for it. Imagine Hogwart's but like a first-person shooter. It was the best part of the book, and it showed that how good a tactition Ender Wiggins was. Of course, this was barely shown in the movie, and that's what's wrong with the movie. It can't do the book justice.

It zooms through the more interesting things, gives a few glimpses of the intrigue of the aftermath, and talks, talks, talks, about how good Ender Wiggins is. Show don't talk. Show.

Read the book. Don't watch the movie.

2 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

No words. My father was from there. Perhaps I still have some family out there. Hope for the best.

Labels: disaster

With winter coming, I turn to making a traditional Filipino dish: Arroz Caldo. I've asked my brother and mom about their recipe for it and they give it to me without actual measurements or time. My brother makes a chicken stock first, then makes the soup. My mom just gives me the steps: cook chicken with ginger, add water, add rice, cook until done. Not very many ingredients and not many steps. What can go wrong?

My mom left out let the chicken simmer into a stock!

SO YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CHICKEN STOCK.

And now my version doesn't taste too well. Here's how I worked my version.

I did use some of the chicken stock I made two weeks ago here. I also used 2 cups.

I take 3 chicken thighs and fry it with ginger, salt, and pepper. Cut the ginger into little slivers so that when you eat the soup, you'll spend your time spitting out the ginger stalks.

When the chicken looks to be cooked through, add your chicken stock and enough water to cover. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for twenty minutes. This is were my mom should've said to let it simmer for another 2 hours. Next time simmer for 2 hours.

Here add the rice which you should rinse until the water is clear. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for another 2 hours.

Take the chicken out and shred. Add it back into the soup along with a heaping dose of patis.

Serve with scallions, fried garlic and more patis.

Labels: cooking, step-by-step