Going where no man has gone before

Posted on August 31, 2010 by John

You may have seen Mary Roach recently on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” talking about her book “Packing For Mars,” which apparently looks at some of the earthier aspects (pardon the pun) of space travel and the space program. Here’s a very entertaining audio interview with Roach from Jesse Thorn’s “Sound Of Young America” podcast. Listen all the way to the end if you’ve ever bought “astronaut ice cream” at your local science museum:

The Sound of Young America

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Fallen prey

Posted on August 31, 2010 by John

It’s a combination of things, really – I had trouble getting to sleep last night (which has happened to me several times in the past few weeks) and I’m tired from the Celebration – a combination of intense work each morning getting results and cutlines ready to go, and then bounding up numerous flights of stairs to the press box several times a night whenever I’m at the show, even though that’s only been three of the five nights so far. Plus, I got some bad news today about something, and I’m still processing the events from earlier in the month. Tonight, I feel achy and grouchy and tired.

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Predatory

Posted on August 29, 2010 by John

I got a packet of tracts about grief and loss in the mail a week ago from one of our local churches, a very conservative Baptist church whose pastor has a daily radio show.

I guess their hearts are in the right place, but to me, that seems kind of tacky and counterproductive – reading the obituaries and sending out impersonal cold-call packets to people you don’t know at a very vulnerable time in their lives. That’s not good evangelism or good grief counseling. It’s definitely in the best traditions of Christian compassion to reach out to those who are grieving, and I value to the comfort which has been extended by people who know me, both from my home church, Shelbyville First UMC, and from other churches. But surely there are better ways to reach out to those in grief than ambulance-chasing.

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Born to glee

Posted on August 29, 2010 by John

Here, in an abridged form, is the hysterical opening of tonight’s Emmycast. In the interest of comedy, I will forgive the desecration of the greatest rock and roll song of all time.

Look for Emmy host Jimmy Fallon, cast members from “Glee” (including Jane Lynch), Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Betty White, Joel McHale, Tim Gunn, Jorge Garcia and Randy Jackson, among others.

Strangely, they omit the setup – Jimmy arrives for the Emmys and sees the “Glee” kids hanging around outside the theater. They can’t afford tickets for the show. But what if they could win the big cash prize from a conveniently-upcoming glee club competition?

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What does a yellow light mean?

Posted on August 28, 2010 by John

The blog TV Squad did a post about memorable cabbies on television, and they embedded the clip below, which gave me a wonderful smile of nostalgia. Before “Back To The Future” or “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” or even “Buckaroo Banzai,” Christopher Lloyd made quite an impression as the lovable but chemically-damaged “Reverend Jim” Ignatowski on “Taxi.” Here he is in a classic scene, with co-stars Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza and Jeff Conaway (speaking of Jeff Conaway, why isn’t anyone showing “Babylon 5” reruns?):

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Flatiron carpaccio

Posted on August 28, 2010 by John

This morning on Cooking Channel’s series“French Food At Home,” Laura Calder made a luxurious, expensive recipe. She called it Basil Beef, and it started with a beef tenderloin. On TV, she seared the tenderloin, barely touching the inside, although she gave directions for cooking it in the oven if you wanted it more done. (It is those directions which Cooking Channel has on the web site, no doubt at the direction of their lawyers.) The tenderloin was then thinly sliced and allowed to marinate (yes, after cooking) for hours in a dressing made from lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and fresh basil.

Tenderloin is way too rich for my pocketbook, although some time back I did find a smaller-than-normal piece on expiration-day sale and enjoyed it greatly. But I thought the technique might be fun to try with flatiron steak, another piece of meat which is quite tender and which is best served on the medium-to-rare end of the spectrum.

So I found a flatiron steak at Kroger tonight, seared it on my cast iron griddle, and then cut it into thin strips on the bias. I improvised a bit on the marinade, replacing the fresh basil with dried thyme and minced garlic, adding a little dry mustard as an emulsifier, and hitting it with a bit of soy sauce in lieu of salt. I would give you a recipe but I was not paying much attention to quantities.

I tried some just now — after just a couple of hours, not nearly as long as Laura Calder let hers marinate — and it was quite good. The rest may be even better tomorrow.

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Fantastic

Posted on August 25, 2010 by John

Each August for the past several years, the church where I’m a member – First UMC Shelbyville – has hosted a weekly family movie night on Wednesdays. Because of my mother’s illness and passing, tonight was the first movie I’ve gotten to attend this August.

The movies are intended to be family-friendly, and that usually translates into “young-kid-friendly.” Last week, however, they ran “The Blind Side” in the fellowship hall and offered “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” in the youth room as an alternative for tots uninterested in college football or Sandra Bullock family drama.

This week, everyone was back in the fellowship hall, for … “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” in glorious old-fashioned stop-motion, based on a book by Roald Dahl (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach”) and directed by Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “The Royal Tennenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”).

I’ve certainly enjoyed Anderson’s movies for grown-ups, but I assumed that a family movie – even one based on a book by Roald Dahl – would only have room for the occasional sly Wes Anderson touch.

I assumed wrong. “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is saturated with Wes Anderson. It has his rhythm and it has more of his little touches and trademarks than I can easily count. The voice cast would be right at home in a live action Wes Anderson movie: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman (of course), Bill Murray (of course),  Owen Wilson (of course), Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe (!!). I had two reactions:

  • I loved it, loved it, loved it, and can’t wait to see it again.
  • I can’t believe we showed it in church, especially without dwarves in the youth room.

It’s not that there was anything all that offensive; it’s just that the powers that be have usually bent over backwards to avoid anything that anyone in the church could even conceivably, remotely find offensive. There was some violence that parents of very young kids might in theory be offended by. There was also the word “cuss,” used frequently in place of a variety of curse words, and sometimes in sentence constructions that made it perfectly clear which Very Strong curse word was being replaced.

But everyone seemed to be in a good mood when it was all over, so maybe I’m reading too much into things.

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Pep Boys, Andy? Really?

Posted on August 23, 2010 by John

One of the funniest parts of the Emmy Awards in the past has been the announcement of the writing nominees for the late night comedy shows. Each year, the shows come up with some amusing way of listing their writing staffs. One year recently, for example, the writers for “The Colbert Report” were introduced, standing side by side on a New York City sidewalk. At the end, an angry Stephen Colbert walked in and gestured at the writers, and the camera widened out to show that they were lined up in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of a different New York-based talk show.
Unfortunately, those writing awards were moved from the main Emmy telecast to the untelevised Creative Arts Emmy awards held last weekend. But the staff of the former “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” brought the funny anyway, with a nod to the fact that soon after their Emmy-nominated episodes were broadcast, they were, um, unemployed:

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Head Rush

Posted on August 23, 2010 by John

MYTHBUSTERS (SEASON 6) If you’re a fan of “Mythbusters,” and especially if (like me) you’re a fan of Kari Byron, check to see if you get the Science Channel (a corporate sibling of Discovery Channel). Today, Kari started a new daily show called “Head Rush,” a commercial-free science show for kids which adults will enjoy too. I, personally, would watch Kari read the phone book for 30 minutes, but that’s just me.

I’m watching the first episode, which I DVRed while I was at work (the show airs at 3 p.m. Central). It contains extended clips from “Mythbusters,” interspersed with science material (think “Bill Nye, The Science Guy” or “Beakman’s World”) hosted by Kari. Grant Imihara reassured his Twitter followers today that Kari is not leaving “Mythbusters,” by the way.

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And I know he watches me

Posted on August 22, 2010 by John

My father usually sings in the choir at First UMC, but he doesn’t like to if he hasn’t been to practice in a while, and – for obvious reasons – he hasn’t. So he was in the pew this morning with me and my sister, who was visiting this weekend.

Our organist / pianist, Lori Schuler, did a beautiful job on the piano with today’s offertory; I did not recognize the tune, but it was beautiful and exhibited Lori’s incredible keyboard skills. But then the choir touched all three of us in the pew this morning; the special was “His Eye Is On The Sparrow,” my mother’s favorite song. It was not only a beautiful thought (and, yes, it was intentional) but a beautiful arrangement; our music director, Jon Brock, and the choir really outdid themselves, which is saying something.

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