Bent Objects- The Secret Life of Everyday Things

After a couple weeks of hiatus, I thought I'd come back strong by sharing with you all one of my new favorite things: Bent Objects. Artist Terry Border takes everyday objects, yearning for an anthropomorphic life of their own, and turns them in to life-like dioramas of hilarity. His blog, also titled "Bent Objects," is great, and he just came out with a book of prints of some of his best works. Here are a few of my favorites...

"Trigger Happy"

"Mail Order Bride"

"Mr. Kiwi Gets Ready for a Day At The Beach"

"Paper Training"

For more, check out the link to his blog above, or just Google "Bent Objects" for more trials and tribulations of inanimate objects...

-K

Kinda Fantastic, Don't You Think?

To my dismay, at this time of year when I need to be most productive, the sheer volume of movies released seems to directly correlate with how much work I need to get done.... productivity FAIL.

So, in another procrastination spectacular, I hauled-tail over to the St. Anthony Theater to check out Wes Anderson's new stop-motion film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. The prognosis? Cussing fantastic.

I'm incredibly glad that Anderson jumped on the rights to Roald Dahl's classic novel before anyone else did, because I highly doubt it could have been handled with such ingenuity, humor, or even sheer random depth in a cinematic undertaking by another director. As per Anderson's usual head-cocking randomness, Fantastic Mr. Fox was filled with laugh-out-loud WTF moments ranging everywhere from plot-furthering revelations like "Blueberries? Beagles love blueberries." to unexpected black-power fists for wolves on the hillside.

For the film, Anderson rounded up a solid list of actors to voice his puppeteered animals and their human enemies, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzmann, George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, and Michael Gambon. I will have to admit, it was a bit unsettling to hear Dumbledore's voice coming out of a crazed Hard Cider magnate, Mr. Bean, but Gambon breathed Dahl's quintessential English-Gothic villain to life despite his recent turns as Hogwarts Headmaster.

The story, about one Mr. Fox (Clooney) who decides to face his mid-life crisis (at the age of seven fox-years) by reverting to the chicken-stealing habits of his youth and ends up pulling his entire animal town into the melee, is very simple, but manages to be complex on screen. Mr. Fox doubts who he is, and despite being a husband and father, he wants the "glory" he once had (compounded by a not-so-subtle moment when he loses his tail). His adolescent son, Ash (Schwartzmann), is going through his own crisis of identity as well, and the Fox's talented houseguest, cousin Kristofferson, only compounds Ash's desperate (and hilarious) cry for reverence from somebody, anybody.

Where Anderson's other movies have left off, Fantastic Mr. Fox certainly picks up, but, I believe, with improvement. Unlike Anderson's previous films, Mr. Fox manages to keep pace or even pick up speed where many of his others lost their elements of absurdity to prolonged catharsis. Maybe this is because unlike Anderson's other films, Mr. Fox, no matter how entertaining to adults, can and should still be a kid's movie. There is adult humor, sure, but it is tacful and subtle, and Anderson even managed to turn adult emotion into kid-friendly fun by using the word "cussing" where streams of profanity could have been had it been rated higher. This tounge-in-cheek homage to "Yep, this sure could have been an adult comedy" keeps Anderson in his normal sphere while causing a little girl in front of me in the theater to blissfully laugh as hard as I did.

Example:

Badger: In summation, I think you just got to not do it, man. That's all.


Mr. Fox: I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.

Badger: The cuss you are.

Mr. Fox: The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?

Badger: No, you cussing with me?

Mr. Fox: Don't cussing point at me!

Badger: If you're gonna cuss, you're not gonna cuss with me, you little cuss!

Badger: You're not gonna cuss with me!

[Both start snarling at each other, and then settle down]

Mr. Fox: Just buy the tree.

Badger: Okay.


Surprisingly, my favorite aspect of the film was that it proved that audiences don't need computer-generated graphics, flashy visuals, 3-D, or enormous budgets to make a fantastic animated film. To say the least, it was a complete visual delight, and proved the artfulness and care it takes to produce puppeteered stop-motion animation did not go out of fashion with Wallace and Gromit. When you come right down to it, goofy expressions just look goofier on clay-based puppets than they do on a CG character... don't believe me? Go see how fantastic Mr. Fox is for your self, and try to cussing prove me wrong.

-K

That's Right, I Can BAKE Suckas!

This Thanksgiving, despite the nation-wide pumpkin shortage and my step-father's tri-store search for canned pumpkin, we managed to gather all the ingredients for, dare I say it, the BEST PUMPKIN PIE EVER. Read on, young grasshoppers, for my family-wide thumbs up recipie that made my non-baking soul believe that exact measurements and oven temperatures can indeed be worth the effort.

The final product, held by yours truly, the lumberjack.

Shiver Cities Pumpkin Pie

(Adapted from a recipie by the Southern butter-lovin Paula Deen)

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed

1 cup sugar (or a little less, for a tangier taste)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 stick melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 piece pre-made pie dough


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Place 1 pie crust (made from Betty Crocker boxed pie crust, use the directions on the box) down into a  pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. (DO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT THE ALUMINUM AND WEIGHTS, it will get puffy and shrunken) Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, and beat until it looks mixed.
Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Ta-DA! I also made some really incredible Almond-Spice Whipped Cream to top the pie. It was very easy, simply get heavy whipping cream, whip with a wisk or hand mixer until fluffy peaks form, and then add a tablespoon (or more, to taste) of almond extract, some vanilla extract, and ground nutmeg and cinammon and mix again. The pie and whipped cream complimented each other perfectly!

The final result....

I hope everyone had as great of a Thanksgiving as I did!

-K

The Hand-Turkey, Misinforming Children's Sense of Bird-Anatomy Everywhere

from nataliedee.com

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, I'll be sure to update about my catastrophies in pie-baking soon!

-K

AN EDUCATION: See It!

Last week I was excited to finally begin my Oscar-season movie viewing when I headed over to the Uptown Theater, grabbed a bag of popcorn, and plopped down in a seat for Lone Scherfig's Sundance-favorite, An Education.

I was initially excited to see the film because of the reputation of both its director and its starring cast, but I left the theater impressed not only with the talent it employed, but the grasp of the film itself. Jenny (Carey Mulligan), is a sixteen year-old student at a girls school in 1960's suburban London, and despite some stickiness in her studies of Latin, she is bound for an Oxford education. She is the smartest girl in her class, and is praised by her instructors, most notably her English teacher (Olivia Williams), who is her woman role-model in academia. She has doting parents, played by a hysterically awkward and gullible Alfred Molina, as well as Cara Seymour, whose lack of outright sophistication allows them to be as easily wooed as Jenny by the charms of David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man she meets who is twice her age. After giving her and her cello a ride one rainy day, David takes Jenny down the rabbit hole of the adult world she's never had, taking her to parties, clubs, concerts, and exotic cities on a regular basis. Of course, it is not all fun-and-games, as Jenny's involvement with David and his less-than ethical livelihood eventually threaten her standing in school, her relationship with her peers, and her Oxford future. Add David's glamorous friends, Danny and Helen (played by a suave but caring Dominic Cooper and a blissfully "blonde" Rosamund Pike), and the recipe for Jenny's sojourn "off the chosen path" gets more potent.

I won't let you in on any of the dicier plot details, because much of the roller coaster that David takes Jenny (and us) on stems from ignorance of just exactly what is going on, but I encourage everyone to go and see the film for themselves. The film is set to show at the Uptown all month, so eat your turkey and pie and get there!

Franconia and Fluttery Fall Foliage: Alliteration Trip Up the St. Croix Valley

Fall is on crack this year. Not to rag on either Fall or anyone who is currently struggling with addiction problems, but REALLY? Why is Mid-November suddenly 60 degrees? Has something happened and somehow we are not Minnesota anymore? Oh wait... we ARE Minnesota.... thus the eff'ed-upness of our wonderful super-spaz weather. Hooray!

Well, since we are in Summer once again, I feel that today is a good day to reminisce about Fall. We had a beautiful two days of it a few weeks ago, and true to form, Kellen and I went wandering Northward, via the "super-stretch" of Fall-colors that line the St. Croix River.

Starting in Stillwater, we took a nice drive up Highway 95, stopping along the way to check out the awesome views of the River Just north of Stillwater.

Look! It's the New World! Let's go give the inhabitants some smallpox.

We kept driving north, on our way to my family home in North Branch, and on the highway just outside Franconia (TINY TOWN) we stumbled across one of Minnesota's most commonly overlooked gems, the Franconia Sculpture Park! IT. WAS. AWSOME. Their website is here if you'd like to learn more.

My favorite piece... built to look like the cable was pulling up an entire piece of earth.

Five!

Big lizard sees you...

Very Seuss-esque

Never been the same since that house fell on my sister... er... boyfriend...

The BEST thing about Franconia's Sculpture Park? It's free!

So get out and enjoy our second summer, because it's probably going to snow sometime soon!

-K

Monday Mood Brighteners

Happy Monday everyone! The year is wearing on and the work is getting harder, and I thought I would lend a hand to whatever procrastination you are partaking in this morning with a few random lessons on life in general... with help from the incredible internet of course.

1. You can do anything if you work hard enough, and dream big enough...

From superpoop.com

2. Always apologize to the people who are important in your life...

From nataliedee.com

3. Always be sure to explain what you mean...

From failblog.org

4. Don't eat shit like this:

 

From thisiswhyyourefat.com

5. Don't let pre-conceptions get you down...

From icanhascheezburger.com

6. Make logical connections...

From upnextinsports.com

7. And finally, smile big....

From sexypeople-blog.com

-K

The First Non-Embarassing Halloween Ever! (And two whole costumes to boot!)

Well, Halloween weekend came and went, and now November is upon us. This weekend I managed to sucessfully host a Halloween party for the ages, and attended one as well, with TWO costumes, neither of which, you will be surprised to hear, were embarassing in the slightest. Conclusions? Halloween WIN.

First, my housemates and I hosted a spectacular shindig as the color-centric characters from the boardgame CLUE, with my boyfriend dressing as the Tim Curry-esque butler from the film. I was a fiendishly proper Professor Plum.

From Left: Prof. Plum, Col. Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. White, and the Butler

Milo dressed as his favorite thing: a paper bag.

Murder in the eyes..

Next, Kellen and I attended another party on Saturday night, huriedly changing costumes because two lonely Clue characters minus their posse just didin't make sense. Thanks to my fabulous red trenchcoat, I was geography-theif Carmen Sandiego. Kellen went as the Tour de Franzia...

Yes, I did steal the Eiffel Tower

The king of class.

So there you have it, shiverers, a successful Halloween gone by, not a clown or Xena Warrior Princess character in sight. My mother would be so proud.

-K