Weekend!
With our man Jaybird out of pocket for a little while, we’ve passed out some Mindless Diversions stuff. I get the first Weekend! post.
And it turns out some pretty big stuff is happening in sports this weekend.
- Friday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, is the United States National Team against the Swedish National Team in the World Cup, played at Winnipeg. “What?” you ask, “World Cup? That’s not for another three years, man.” No, it’s going on right now. Women’s soccer, which has its World Cup going on right now, in Canada. The United States National Team is really good. As in, the forecast odds to win it all as of the time I wrote this post on Thursday in the late afternoon are Germany 7:4, USA 3:1, France 6:1, Canada 12:1, and Brazil 12:1. A win against Sweden secures advancement for the USA into the single elimination round.
- Saturday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, is game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. The series is tied up, 2-2. There is nothing quite so intense, possibly in all of sports, as a Stanley Cup game. As far as I can tell, western conference teams have been, as a rule, a whole lot better in the past few years than eastern conference teams and this year is no different.
- Sunday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, is Game 5 of the NBA finals, between the Golden State Warriors with the marquee matchup between league MVP Stephen Curry and god-amongst-mere-men LeBron James. As of the time I write this, Game 4 (which you were told to watch) has not yet been played, but Cleveland was ahead in the series, 2 games to 1. So I know there’s going to be a game 5, but if it turns out Cleveland wins game 4, then maybe Cleveland can close it out.
At the movies, all the major releases have deferred this weekend to Jurassic World, a film which has earned decidedly ambivalent reviews. It’s going to have big-ass scary dinosaurs, it’s going to have a decidedly non-feminist story, it’s going to have Ron Howard’s very cute daughter looking like the haughty antagonist clone from Orphan Black (please note that I’m not saying that’s a bad thing), and of course it’s going to have Star-Lord. (But what it won’t have is Nick Fury and Newman and that guy who defeated the aliens with a Macintosh PowerBook) By all indications, if you’re looking to avoid the T-Rex crowd, your best bet may well be the arthouse release Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
Although, truth be told, I haven’t seen either film. Moreover, I am unlikely to go to the movies this weekend at all. now, if you’re like me and enjoy the movies but aren’t likely to get to one this weekend, then allow me to presume that you have access to Netflix. There, you can view a mostly-colorized version of A Trip To The Moon, the groundbreaking 1902 short film by Georges Méliès. Now, you may be one of those film fans who thinks colorization for old movies is the worst idea for art since the Synod of Elvira, but I think you’d be wrong in this case: among the many innovative things Méliès did for this short movie was to have each and every frame of the film tinted by hand so that audiences could see it in bright, glorious colors. And contrary to some criticism, I thought the modern electronica soundtrack was pretty well-conceived and executed for this project. Finally I’m not going to advise that you consume a mind-altering substance before watching it, but to be perfectly honest, it occurred to me that doing so might very well enhance the experience.
Lastly for film buffs, you may want to spare a moment and consider how cool it must have been to have been Christopher Lee. He was Dracula. He was a Sith Lord. He was Scaramanga. He was Saruman. Getting to portray all of these really fun bad guys had to have made for an enviable and enjoyable career. If there is an afterlife, then you know Christopher Lee and Vincent Price are hanging out together.
As for me, mission this weekend is to replace my “Sixties-Guy Sunglasses” that broke earlier this week, and making ready my house for a visit from the parental units starting next week. Also of interest to me is continuing to find a way to conform to my doctor’s orders to adhere to a low-carb, low-sodium diet. A colleague at work has pointed out to me that Trader Joe’s sells bags of frozen riced cauliflower, which ten days ago would have caused me to roll my eyes — but today, I am giddy in excitement at the prospect of something that tastes and feels like rice when I eat it.
So what’s on your respective agendas for this weekend? Don’t forget to brush and floss!
Burt Likko is the pseudonym of an attorney in Southern California. His interests include Constitutional law with a special interest in law relating to the concept of separation of church and state, cooking, good wine, and bad science fiction movies. Follow his sporadic Tweets at @burtlikko, and his Flipboard at Burt Likko.
I’m waiting for Jaybird to get home so we can see Jurassic World together (we have a fondness for the franchise derived from sharing the tiny enclosure of the drive-n-shoot arcade game most every weekend for enough months to beat it twice), so mostly my weekend will consist of doing ALL the chores and errands that we normally divvy up between us. Fun times.
But there is gaming on Saturday and TV with Dman’s wife on Sunday. Also I have to work for 2 hours on Sunday. And today I have to work for about 10 hours, so I’d best be off! 😀Report
We’re going to see Jurassic World next weekend, as the teenager decided he wanted to see that over Mad Max, and he’s with his mom this weekend. Y’all can feel free to join us. We’re going to the Alamo across the street, which means good food and booze in the theater!Report
@chris Dude, if Jay wasn’t going to be hella jetlagged, I would try to make him take you up on that!Report
Rain check, then.Report
I haven’t seen JW and don’t know your son, but objectively-speaking, I am sorry to report that he almost certainly chose wrongly. I’d see Fury Road a third time in theaters if I got the chance.
(I thought about showing Jurassic Park to the six-year-old, since he is way into dinosaurs and it’s a great flick, but I think it’s probably still a bit too intense just yet).Report
This is how the conversation went:
“Hey, you’ve finished 11th grade and you got great grades. Want to go see a movie at the Alamo to celebrate?”
“Yes.”
“Awesome. How ’bout Mad Max? I hear it’s very good”
“What is that?”
“I have failed you as a parent.”
I then frantically searched Netflix and Amazon Prime to see if we could stream the original for free. Alas…
We may end up seeing it anyway, but at a different theater. The Alamo is more expensive than most theaters, because you eat a meal and get booze (well, teenager doesn’t get booze), so despite the fact that we can walk to it in under 5 minutes, going it is something of a treat for us both. Especially when I get my fries with garlic, Parmesan, and mayonnaise, a white russian, and maybe a local brew.Report
Maybe it’s a bit pricier, but It has a reputation for a more memorable experience.Report
Ask Ozzy.Report
Dude, I worked a 13 today. To work in stuff like commute time and varied and sundry upkeep-related issues, I worked almost a 15 today.
As such, I ought to be able to only work a 10 tomorrow and maybe even only work an 8 on Sunday.
I am SOOOOO going to fall asleep during Jurassic World.Report
Recovering from Vacation.
Watching Orphan Black, which surprisingly has been less disturbing than It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
(it’s not the shows, it’s the conversations they spawn. http://www.handyguyspodcast.com/1399/using-a-pneumatic-nailer-for-target-practice/)Report
I knew you were Charlie!Report
My boys are very, very into ITSIP. They quote it all the time in conversations in a way that I have no idea what the hell they’re talking about.Report
RE: the soundtrack for the colorized version of Trip to the Moon – I haven’t seen/heard it, but Air is pretty great. In a similar vein, there was a version of Metropolis with a Moroder score that also inspired (IMO unearned) controversy.Report
A long week here at the AD household (little dog started having seizures,so multiple trips to the vet at odd hours and wife may need a root canal) so just rest for us, thank you.
My wife has a recipe for mashed cauliflower that is a pretty good potato substitute, I will see if I can get it for you.Report
Hope the dog is OK, and the wife isn’t in too much pain.Report
Thank you Chris, dog is OK now (pheno prescription) and now I just need to convince the wife that she needs to go BACK to the dentist.Report
What Chris said, plus I hope you’re staying as stress free as possible with a week like that.Report
The intent was to start trying to catch up on the work on the outdoor plants. Given that it rained an inch yesterday evening, and another half-inch (with small hail) this morning, that’s looking more and more doubtful. We have moved past “unusual” for describing the precipitation this year, and are closing in on “bizarre”.Report
Oh, and regarding film colorization; to colorize a B&W film back in the ’80’s, they had to restore the actual film stock beforehand. Thus vastly improving the quality of the late, late, late night films going around at the time. And to get past the colorizing, just adjust the color levels on your CRT machine to B&W levels and you were good to go!Report
You should watch Lawrence of Arabia on a good monitor these days. Absolutely fantastic, and better than it was in theaters.Report
Kiddo’s birthday party (deferred since she was out of town most of last month) is on Saturday, for which my parents and mom in law are arriving in town today, for which some semi-frantic house cleaning is coming up.
All that being the case, things like installing baseboards in the basement will probably wait until Sunday at the earliest.Report
Yesterday was a sad day for the arts: Ornette Coleman and Ruby Dee also died.Report
Oh dear. That’s two more bits of bad news.
The news abut Coleman is especially sad for me to hear. The man was a visionary.Report
I saw him about 4-5 years ago. Fantastic show.Report
I saw him in the 90s. Also fantastic.Report
And I’m really jealous because I don’t think I ever got to see Coleman.
But we have all his records on vinyl, I think; unless he released later stuff on CD that never got pressed.
My sweetie had many a Coleman tune in his practice rotation, and practices his riffs regularly. His tenor style is deeply influenced by Coleman’s tenor playing. (Did ya’ll know Coleman played tenor, too?)Report
More slow work on the garage, in the cooler evenings. Continuing to work my way through the Vorkosigian books — on book 8 now. Can’t believe I missed these!
Visiting my brother — he’s responding really well to chemo, tumor was almost gone on his last image test. Two more chemo sessions, then three of radiation — no surgery. And Hodgkin’s doesn’t tend to reappear, so we’re all pretty stoked about that.
I never did get him that fedora, but I keep bringing him home cooked meals he can actually eat and buying him books and watching his kids, so he’ll live on ball caps. 🙂Report
Nice to hear about your brother.Report
Mirror Dance is my absolute favorite. It’s also the first of the novels I read, after loving The Mountains or Mourning, but I don’t think that’s why. It’s because it combines everything that’s great about the non-stop action-adventure earlier books and the later, more reflective ones. It’s Bujold’s Annie Hall.Report
RIP to another great artist – ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes
Here’s a few of his greatest promos, that I think even non-wrestling fans can love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9py4aMK3aIU – ‘Hard Times’ – Widely thought of one of the greatest promos ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGG1QGU1VEg – ‘The View Never Changes’ – Dusty, a little older in 1994, asks his son Dustin if he can be his partner against Arn Anderson and Terry Funk. One of the most emotional things, wrestling or not, I’ve ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbEy0DhAJ0 – ‘I Have a New Partner’ – Dusty introduces his new partner (Nikita Koloff) after Magnum TA got into his car accident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9hpDTR8Q5Q – ‘Livin On the Edge of a Lightning Bolt’ – Dusty calling out Ole Anderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZW11wlB_-0 – Dusty goes all pro-America in the way only he couldReport
Oh, how sad I am that this has come to pass.
In a just universe, he and the von Erichs are arguing right now over his booking decisions.
He was one of my favorites, if not my All Time Fave.
Thanks, Dream.Report
Have you ever made mashed cauliflower? Give the florets a quick boil and toss in a food processor with some salt, pepper, and milk. If you want it richer (and your doctor hasn’t also ordered a low fat diet), you can include butter. I actually enjoy cauliflower so I don’t feel the need to mask its flavor, but you can toss in some garlic and other things to make it more like mashed potatoes. If you have time, you can roast the cauliflower to bring out its earthiness.Report
Had this (with the butter) this winter. It’s lovely.Report
There are decent crockpot recipes too. Cauliflower with Campbell’s Cheese Soup and Broccoli, for example, gives you a nice textured “almost cheesy mashed taters” experience. Throw some chicken in there as well, why not.Report
Jaybird! Dude! Check you out with the free time to check in!Report
Yeah, I got really self-indulgent and only worked an 8 on my Saturday.Report
I’m alone with the boys tonight and tomorrow as Zazzy went to the city for a morning 10K. I’ll be taking them into Brooklyn tomorrow to meet up with some college roommates and their assorted little ones. BOYS TIME!!!! Love it…Report
There is really only one T.Rex:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAtBrsdfnhsReport
Damn eventful weekend for me. I just got back from picking my oldest boy up from his freshman year at Oregon, and having him here for the summer makes everything feel right in the universe.
Tomorrow night, though, I have to cook dinner for a sit down dinner party of — at last count — 19 people. I’ve done open houses and such, but I’ve never done a sit down dinner that wasn’t a potluck for anywhere near this number, so most of my tomorrow will be spent either in the kitchen, at the grill, or going to the store to pick up everything that I forgot to get the first half dozen times I went to get everything so I didn’t have to go back.
Sunday we’ll have our first real all-family home dinner that we’ve had since December.Report
My son just finished his sophomore year at Poly, though he is not coming home for summer. At this point his life is down there and as he has been named music director of his college radio station, he has a lot of work ahead of him.Report
I am recovering from the migraine from hell. Today, my town hosts the Maine Moose Festival, in which all things moose are celebrated, and the highlight is the state’s annual lottery of licenses to go out and kill moose — of course a lottery is held because more people want to kill moose than there are moose to kill and still have a sustainable population of moose. There will be moose calling competitions, demonstrations on gun handling, moose clothing in forms only seen to be believed, moose art, and even moose dishes served at the local dining establishments — mostly from moose injured in auto accidents. Go Moose!
I’ll spend the first half of the moose festival running a tag sale for a friend who owns a restaurant/cafe/catering business and is cleaning out 30 years of store room clutter. Her speciality is catering for movies made here, and she’s fed a lot of people most of us can only dream of meeting in real life, including Robin Wright and Paul Newman.Report
Deeply sorry to hear about the event, may your echoes be mild and short-lived. But the Moose festival sounds like fun!
Out here in California, we call them “yard sales” or “garage sales.” I notice the phrase “tag sale” when I go to more eastern areas of the country. I wonder where the dividing line in nomenclature is.Report
We have them all here; yard sales, garage sales, and tag sales. It’s part of the backwood-ethos of making a living, and that is what some people do for their summer work, this being a winter resort area. The nomenclature is the venue; a yard sale is open, a garage sale in a garage (duh!), and these are the norm. A tag sale, however, is any other venue, and mine was the dining rooms of a restaurant that won’t open for the summer season until next week.
And it was very slow this morning; people were more interested in the Moose Fetstivus.
One interesting thing: this is a pretty red-meat, 2nd amendment festival; what you might call a small-government crowd. So I was sort of amazed that something like 90% of the trailers used to bring in display stuff were government trailers. We host summer festivals here nearly every weekend, and I’ve never seen that before. But these were all Wildlife, fisheries, extension service, etc.; very few artisans, etc. Just seemed ironic to me.Report
Burt, I need to know how you are preparing that cauliflower. Now.
We had a big day yesterday. There are eight of us in our social circle that turn/turned 40 this year so we planned a day out to celebrate. It just happened to fall on my wife’s actual 40th so that was pretty fun for her. We spent the afternoon at the track (sad note, related to my most recent post: we saw a horse break its leg right in front of us and later learned it was put down…ugh). Then off to the Silver Dollar for an epic Southern dinner. Lots of fried things, lots of various meats, lots of bourbon. We did the bar thing afterwards and it was pretty fun to watch all the not-so-young anymore folks start to fade by 11pm. Once upon a time the night didn’t get started until 11pm.
Today is all about getting ready for a 2-week trip back to NH for work and then UFC tonight.Report
I haven’t made it yet, it’s something my friend from work told me about.
One head, raw cauliflower, remove core and green leaves and any dis colored bits with paring knife.
For “rice,” grind it down with a cheese grater. For “couscous,” pulse it in a food processor.
Bag in serving-size portions and freeze until ready for use.
Roast at 375 for about 15 minutes, or sauté for about five, with a moderate amount of a fat of some sort (olive oil for us real folks, coconut oil for paleo enthusiasts, butter seems like it would work just fine too) and herbs & spices to suit the rest of the meal.
That seems to be it. My friend found some that Trader Joes offers in the frozen food section prepared by roasting first and then putting the softened veg through a ricer, if you’ve got one of those reasonably nearby.Report
I’m not on call or working my second job this weekend. Ah, it’s like a real weekend! 🙂
Junior and I are spending the entire weekend at my friend’s place. We hit the Oregon Zoo today and it was amazing! Tomorrow is blueberry pancakes and visiting my grandmother. I served an amazing 2012 Zinfandel from Lodi, CA last night at dinner. I need to buy a case!Report
My daughter graduated from university yesterday. My brother and his wife flew in for that. My son is home, though he’ll be returning soon to where he goes to school for his summer job. And it’s my birthday.
So, all in all, a good weekend.Report
Congratulations all around @mike-schillingReport