Movie Round Up: Watch or Skip?

In the past few weeks I’ve seen a few movies and totally neglected to blog about them. Enjoy the following selected thoughts on various recently-viewd movies.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Is it possible for something to be so self aware that it ceases to be self aware at all? If so, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist would definitely be the poster child for this seeming conundrum. Imagine the amalgam of every movie that was unintentionally cool and generation defining, but boiled down to a science– processed, and spit out like those creepy McDonalds chicken nuggets that only have four shapes.

This movies tries too hard to be Garden State, American Graffiti, and Juno rolled into one. And you just know that the sound track will be bitchin.’ Steer clear of this faux indie mess of skinny jeans and earbuds. Skip it.

Midnight Cowboy

Pressing on in my quest to watch every classic movie from the last 60s, I watched Midnight Cowboy expecting something very different from what actually played across the screen. Yes, there were steamy moments. Yes, John Voight made me think of Angelina Jolie the entire time. No, I was not prepared for the complexity of Ratso Rizo beyond that famous ad-libbed line “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” Crazy. There’s much ponder about life beyond all that “we’re so small and insignificant” shit and even more to just leave in confusion and ambiguity. Strange, poigniant, unexpected. Watch it.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

More 60s cinema. Paul Newman and Robert Redford play the pair of badass cowboys, respectively, who traipse around robbing banks and living as the outlaws who are far too smart and good looking to catch. It surprisingly flies in the face of the romanticized old west where you can kill a man and just disappear into the dessert, never to be heard from again. Cell phones or no, there’s never been such a thing as “getting away.” The landscapes are fantastic and the interaction between the two is fascinating. Watch it.

Almost Famous

Saw it for the first time about a year ago. Has taken on a strange new meaning for me in recent months. It’s basically a fictionalized version of Cameron Crowe’s adventure writing a cover piece for Rolling Stone about the Allman Brothers. The movie is riddled with interesting, quirky characters and events, including Frances McDormand as William (the Cameron Crowe character)’s hyper intellectual, protective mother, and Billy Crudup’s acid-dropping (“I am a golden god!”) rock star, Russell Hammond. Everything is so believable– the people, the music, the setting– and Almost Famous will defintely survive multiple viewings. Watch it.

Happy 4th!

Cookout and Pancake Style!!!!

I got the pics…

Sweet, Easy Treat

A new, fun recipe that I (Heather) made the other night…. just grab a bag of pretzels, Hershey kisses and m&m’s and you’re good to go. Place a Hershey kiss on the pretzel and place in the oven for a couple of minutes – then press an m&m into the snack! Enjoy!

Popcorn – the New Delicacy?

Realizing that popcorn does not need to be limited to butter and salt alone, we decided to create some dessert popcorn options with our fresh-off-the-stove popcorn. Mmm. Approval from both participants.

If you can see from the pictures, there are some sugary mixtures added to each batch. Erin decided to caramelize her popcorn – dripping it over the popcorn which results not only in an amazing taste, but also popcorn clusters! The second batch Heather created a cinnamon sugar butter mixture heated up. The result was a cinnamon toast taste. Next up? Hopefully some chocolate. Nutella even!? Stay tuned, we are just figuring this whole popcorn-as-a-delicacy thing out!

Daddy Issues: Just in Time for Dad’s Day

Things have been a little slow at work lately, so we’ve taken advantage of the instant movies on Netflix to amuse ourselves in the afternoons. The other day Erin and I finally watched Rebel Without a Cause with the one and only James Dean, and neither of us were expecting the substance or the daddy issues in this movie.

Jim Stark (James Dean) is the new kid in town, and he seems to be in that position often because he gets in trouble and his family moves for a fresh start. He feels the need to prove himself to the popular kids, and his only friend Plato is living vicariously through him. Jim, Plato, and the quintessential bad girl who changes sides and falls for the main character, Judy, wrestle with their respective dysfunctional families and absent or just plain sorry fathers. I won’t give it away, but I will say that every action of the characters can ultimately be traced back home. Overall, it’s a great movie, and if you thought James Dean was just a pretty boy, you’re in for some substance.

Happy Father’s Day!

Erin and Kindall’s Excellent Adventure at Movies in the Park

On Wednesday, the gods finally relented and allowed the Nashville Scene’s Movies in the Park to take place, rain free. On tap? You guessed it– Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a movie that I’m sure haunts Keanu Reeves. If you haven’t seen it, it is pretty funny. The premise has to do with time travel. In the future, a society will be built around Bill and Ted’s crappy 80’s metal music, but unless they manage to pass history class, that will never come to fruition. So, George Carlin is sent back in time to aid them in accomplishing that last project. The pair winds up kidnapping various historical figures and bringing them back to 1988 San Dimas, CA. So ridiculous.

Armed with Wendy’s, we arrived about 2.5 hours early to secure a good spot on the grass and were happy we did because of how many people wound up coming. There was a wide range of folks– families, college kids, young adults, res life staff (can I get a “what what?!”), Nashvillians in general, there to take in a free movie and maybe pick up some Moose Head kettle corn (they don’t moose around.) The Mas Tacos truck was even there.

The movie, preceded by a Pink Panther cartoon (old school!), started a bit after 8p.m. and we were probably all tucked in bed by 10:45 p.m. (well, Kindall probably was, anyway). It was a good time. The adorable little boy next to us made friends with the former sorority girls in front of us and mooched off their popcorn, while the tattooed couple behind us offered to share their watermelon. Friendly, no?

Then there was the little high school love connection that got going as a group of ridiculously well-prepared boys showed up with a picknick basket of fried chicken, two kinds of cookies and yes, a whole watermelon. A girl they apparently knew was sitting a few feet away and was really diggin’ one dude. Oh, how we miss high school. Wait, no we don’t. Never mind.

Anyhoo… next week is Mean Girls. Maybe we’ll see you there!

Saturday Morning at Frothy Monkey

Yeah, yeah… we know. It’s definitely Tuesday and we’re shameless bums for not posting sooner.

Well, as the post title suggests, the three of us hit Frothy Monkey this past Saturday morning, located in the trendy 12th South neighborhood. This happens to be one of Heather’s favorite spots, but Kindall and I only had been once before.

We stuck to our usuals. I got an iced coffee which was actually pretty smooth and pleasantly mild. Kindall got an Americano and Heather got a regular cup of coffee and a wheat bagel with an egg.

They were certainly doing swift business– definitely a kind of weekend morning place. Good natural lighting, good service, good mix of people (not just the artsy fartsy Belmont types). Overall, a good experience.

Donnie Darko

Sometimes it’s good to have your brain bent. This week, we signed up for Netflix, and the first movie to hit our mailbox was Donnie Darko, a 2001 indie flick that established enough indie cred for the Gyllenhaal siblings to keep them grounded in that realm though they have branched out into bigger, more commercial projects.

Set in the late 80s, it’s the story of a mentally unstable teenager (Donnie), a paranoid schizophrenic who talks to a creepy-ass guy in a rabbit suit named Frank. The family is classically combative, and the meds aren’t really working. But the bunny; he seems to have some insight, drawing Donnie out of the house the night a jet engine mysteriously crashes into this bedroom. Also, according to Frank, the world will end on Halloween.

Then it gets weirder.

Dealing with concepts of time travel and psychosis, Donnie Darko doesn’t give many clues as to who’s world (read: multiple meanings of the word) the audience is inhabiting. If you need tidy resolutions and pretty answers, this really isn’t your kind of movie, but if you’re willing to try to figure things out on your own and maybe hit up Wikipedia afterwards, definitely check this out.

Prepare your mind to be messed with.

Fun and Games

Last week’s game night was fun and pancake-filled, but this week most definitely topped that small gathering. Twelve competitors assembled to eat snacks and later divide into teams with the hopes of leaving victorious. We started out with a game of Spoons which provided individual competition and a good icebreaker, but the main game of the night was a rip-off of the game Encore, and it was a hit. We had two teams and a stack of index cards, each with a word written on it. One team draws a card and then must proceed to think of (and sing) a song with that word in it. The other team then counters with a different song containing the same word until a group gets stuck. There is a 30-second time limit, and the team who stumps the other gets a point. It was a great game for a big group, but if you ever use it I would recommend separating the music journalist and the songwriter onto different teams because my team was crushed by immense musical knowledge. This game is cheap (all you need are index cards and a marker) and easy, and we had a blast playing.

And because we love recipes, here’s the avocado dip we served:

3 avocados
3 tomatoes
cilantro
green onions
1 can black beans
Italian dressing

Chop the avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions and combine in a good-sized bowl. Add the black beans and just a little Italian dressing and stir. Serve with tortilla chips. This is an easy and flexible recipe, so you can add more or less of each ingredient depending on how you think it tastes.

We also had Pilsbury chocolate chip cookies and popcorn. Mmmm . . . party food.

Homecomings, Birthdays, and Return to Routine

We’ve been pretty quiet lately, but that doesn’t mean we’re gone. Since you last heard from us we’ve all been home to see our respective families, Erin has gotten a year older, and we’ve had plumbing problems in our apartment–we’ve been busy.

The trips home seem to have been overall refreshing, and thanks to my farming grandparents, we have half a cow (raised at home) and homegrown fruits and vegetables in our kitchen. Yesterday our dear Erin moved from teenager-dom to the world of the grown-ups (I act like she isn’t twice as mature as I’ll ever be).

And for dinner tonight we had “love me tenders” and sweet potato fries. Because we love you, here’s the recipe:

Love Me Tenders
-Frozen chicken breast strips
-1/2 cup crushed cornflakes
-2 egg whites
-1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly beat egg whites together. Coat chicken strips with egg whites. Combine cornflakes and paprika in a ziploc bag, and put chicken strips in the bag one at a time, shaking until the chicken is coated. Place the chicken strips on a baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Sweet Potato Fries:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel sweet potatoes (we used three, but you can use as many as you want/need) and cut into french fry-esque slices (try not to chop off your finger like I almost did). Spread on a baking sheet and cook for 40 minutes, flipping with a spatula after 20.

June is here, which somehow makes the summer even more official. Expect much more summer fun (and food) to be documented.