Haines His Way

someone needs to dance for me... I'm running out of the house RIGHT NOW!

(make the dance spiffy )

A quick hello, then back to work. Was up at 5:30-ish. I like working early in the morning (if I have to). Have already taken a brisk walk - two actually - one with the Abester and a longer one by myself. It is absolutely gorgeous outside in the City of Studio. My phone meeting is at noon - so will work until then. Send me brilliant vibes, pleeze. (That is, vibes to make me brilliant.)

Media check:


DVD: The Jack Benny Program Vol. 1 (from Critics      Choice  Classic Television Collection);
         Sinderella and the Golden Bra;
         The Mask of Fu Manchu (on DVDr).

VHS: Nothing, because I totally forgot to tape the two movies on TCM that I wanted to watch this week.

CD: Arthur Lyman: Sonic Sixties
       Tito Guizar: Peerless 70
       Best of Bellydance:

And my Bollywood movie of the week:
MASEEHA (2002). A typical Bollywood crime drama...and not a very good one...but it does star Sunil Shetty, so at least the scenery is good!

JRand54, I want a full report on HANNAH QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES so I can know whether to pick it up myself, or not!

And she has the BEST coutourier in Vienna?  

Meeting vibes for Panni:

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%][size=20]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/size][/move]

(BTW, I came across a reference in a cooking magazine last night: the writer called paprika "Budapest MSG."   )

[move=down,scroll,6,transparent,100%][size=9]HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!![/size][/move]

You're close enough that you could actually drop by for some of the chocolate cake I promised BK a few days ago!  Any excuse for Betsy to make it is OK in my book.  

Media:  Like Vixmom, I'm currently listening to a Celtic compilation CD that Betsy gave me for Channukah.  I love Celtic music on gray, stormy days--don't know why.  I, like BK, have spent a lot of the last week listening to Mutiny on the Bounty, one of my all-time favorite scores.  I have also been listening to the latest batch of Percy Faith reissues--it turns out the bonus tracks on I Think I Love You are not just single versions of album tracks, they're all non-album single releases, so they are quite rare.  One of them, Anytime of the Year, sounds so familiar to me (it starts with the female chorus singing "I can hear the music...").  Was it theme music for the old Beautiful Music format that used to dominate MOR radio back in the early 70s?  Does anyone else remember this tune?

DVD:  I had been watching (listening to?) the commentary on Powell and Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going, but then Betsy gave me a MST3K DVD last night, so we opted for that.

A quick hello, then back to work. Was up at 5:30-ish. I like working early in the morning (if I have to). Have already taken a brisk walk - two actually - one with the Abester and a longer one by myself. It is absolutely gorgeous outside in the City of Studio. My phone meeting is at noon - so will work until then. Send me brilliant vibes, pleeze. (That is, vibes to make me brilliant.)

[move=right,scroll,6,transparent,100%]~~~The Most Brilliant of Brilliance Vibes to Panni~~~[/move]

MASEEHA (2002). A typical Bollywood crime drama...and not a very good one...but it does star Sunil Shetty, so at least the scenery is good!

My birthday wish for you includes the ability to track down a Bollywood epic that stars both Mr. Sunil Shetty AND Mr. John Abraham!

Time for me to pretend I'm the Food Channel again, because last night's Chicken Chile Verde was nummy!

Start with 1/2 pound boneless chicken (I used thigh meat), cut into thin strips.  Heat a couple T veg oil over high heat in a frying pan, add the chicken, stirring, until the chicken has just turned golden, about 90 second.

Turn the heat down to medium, sprinkle the bird with 1 1/2 t ground cumin and 2 T yellow cornmeal, and cook, still stirring, for another minute, toasting the spices a little.  Add 2 cups chopped scallions (that's about 2 bunches), and keep stirring for another 30 seconds.  Then add a can of chicken broth (or two-cups if you've made your own) and a 4-oz. can of chopped green chiles, and let the mixture simmer for five minutes or so, until it's thickened a little.  Garnish with some chopped cilantro and serve.

Ah, what to serve it with?  Rice would do, as would egg noodles.  I made some grits, to which I added chopped olives and pickled jalapenos, which made a mighty tasty combination.

And I can't see why this wouldn't work with pork loin instead of chicken.

And, on a grumpier note, is there anyone else out there who gets asked to do the Christmas shopping for relatives who are "too busy"?

Last year, der Brucer's family was constantly asking us to dash all over Delaware to find the gifts they couldn't (or wouldn't) travel to get themselves.  This year, it's happening again, twice so far as the son-in-law has asked der B to find something for the son-in-law's wife (der B'd daughter) without really knowing what it is the wife was requesting (which doesn't exist in any case), and the daughter has asked for a clothing purchase for the grandlads (which der B is afraid is already sold out, in any case).

Bleh.

Meanwhile, does anyone remember DR Charles Pogue writing earlier this week about seeing the stage adaptation of His Dark Materials while in London?

Well, a film version of the trilogy is being made, and according to an article in the London Times, said film version has hit a major snag.

Chris Weitz, the director, has horrified fans by announcing that references to the church are likely to be banished in his film. Meanwhile the “Authority”, the weak God figure, will become “any arbitrary establishment that curtails the freedom of the individual”.

The studio wants alterations because of fears of a backlash from the Christian Right in the United States.

And, because of this, the article further states, they've shelved a script by Tom Stoppard!  Yipes!

Anyone read the books yet?  They sound interesting to me.  (I should have picked up the playscript while we were at the Drama Book Store in NYC, but the original books should be pretty good from what I hear.)

Darn you, S. Woody.  Darn you all to heck!

I always aim to please!

I slept late again, but boy did I need it.  I'm going to take it easy again today because I have a crowded weekend, but come Monday I shall be writing like a whirling dervish or, at the very least, like a dervish whirling.

My birthday wish for you includes the ability to track down a Bollywood epic that stars both Mr. Sunil Shetty AND Mr. John Abraham!

The fallout from Oregon would be deadly!