Everything in excess

Hi, Kenneth Turan. I heartily agree with your summation that perhaps Mamma Mia! got a little out of control with the dance numbers, the singing, the general downpour of estrogen. But you know what - not to advance tired stereotypical gender differences here - but you, sir, found it pretty freaking awesome in The Dark Knight that they managed to flip over an entire 18-wheeler and got it to look even better than a CGI trick, right? Here's what you said:

"Nolan and Pfister have actually upped the ante by filming six of the film's action sequences, including the remarkable flipping of an 18-wheel, 40-foot tractor-trailer, with a 65-millimeter Imax camera, meaning that they have an extra sharpness when shrunken to fit into a 35mm print."

And I agree - totally badass! But the ladies I spoke with don't remember the 18-wheeler. The things that are memorable to girls tend to be things like, well, Meryl Streep jumping up and down on a bed:



Like she did in Mamma Mia! So I'm just saying. Right on with your film reviews - both of them, The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, and, full disclosure, I have a worn-out copy of your book Never Coming to a Theatre Near You - but I'm compelled to point out that sometimes men and women take away different things from different films. Is all.

Ok so guys, I don't know if Pierce Brosnan is supposed to be the most hilarious part of this movie or what, but I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did at him belting it out to a synthesized, ABBA-approved soundtrack. Harder, in fact, than watching Richard Gere tap-dance for Chicago. Do y'all remember that? Think that level of ridiculousness x 50. Pierce Brosnan, you stole my heart! For the man who always plays it cool - way to haul out your cheese. Brava!

My rec? Ladies - and only the ladies who get a kick out of big, frothy wedding movies - go see it. Together. It's not a date movie. For boy-girl hetero couples, anyway - I think Jeff, Jon, and Eddy (all gay) would sincerely love it. Boys, do you?

And one last thing - there is nothing Meryl Streep can't do, I've decided. Dinner with one person in the world? For me - it's her. Love you lady.

Food Experiments + Mamma Mia

Hi hi hi.

So, last night, right after R. and I had just gotten home from a big grocery store trip at Le Heb, I'm dutifully arranging the 4 ingredients I use to make 80% of my meals when R. says "woman, we need to learn you some new recipes."


And I've been thinking - maybe he's right.

You see the lettuce, veggie burger, tortillas, and pasta sauce there? I compile those 4 things almost every morning and most nights to make my favorite, veggie burger tacos!

Isn't that sad? You can just tell that a grad student came up with that. But after two years since I invented it - groggily, before Victorian lit. seminar, after we had run out of coffee at home and these were the only ingredients in the refrigerator - it's still pretty good. Tasty, really.

But I think it might be time to explore the exciting world lying just beyond the texturized soy protein horizon. Such as fish? Fruits? Vegetables? Dare to dream!

So I'm starting a weekly segment here called "Food Experiments." I'm actually a pretty healthy gal - just lazy. R. is definitely the cook in this household. Our roomate Caleb wanders in and makes a frozen pizza from time to time, so there's that, and I just showed you the only thing I know how to make. It's time, as R. wisely instructed, to learn me some more.

The reason behind the veggie burger tacos' undeniable staying power is that they are so freaking easy: 4 ingredients, 5 minutes, BREAKFAST! (Has anyone ever heard of the book A Man, A Can, A Plan? If so you can see where I'm going with this). I want Food Experiments to have roughly the same criteria as the tacos: let's set the bar low. If there is "prep" involved, then, no. Ix-nay on the julienning of tomatoes. Negatory on woven pie crusts. The beauty of writing restaurant reviews is that you can pay the real geniuses to do stuff like that for you. While Food Experiments, on the other hand, will be just that - hey, let's put these 4 things together and see if they taste good. Let's spend 5 minutes doing it. Ready? Ok go.

So I'll try to think of something easy and fun next week to share. And if you guys have any "Food Experiments" - remember, minimal ingredients and prep time people - I am all ears.

Moving on - I'm going to see Mamma Mia tomorrow night!



It's been quite the movie week. It's Steph's birthday on Friday, and we work north, so we're going to Manuels at the Arboretum and then onto Regal Arbor Great Hills for the 8:00 of Mamma. Let's check in with the critics, shall we?

From the esteemed Kenneth Turan, at the Los Angeles Times:

"In the transition to film the "Mamma Mia!" brain trust just couldn't resist overloading the story with unneeded improvements. Lured by the siren song of a Hollywood budget, they allowed themselves to be fooled into thinking that bigger -- more singers! more dancers! more bad jokes! -- would automatically be better. It's not necessarily so."

The bottom line? He gave it a C, y'all!

But lest we forget, there's Meryl Streep. So it can't really fail as a movie, now can it? I'll offer my thoughts soon.