I just had the best weekend I’ve had in a very long time.  I put in a few hours on the class that will not die (finished the 20 page paper for the most part…now to put the fine polish on it…heh bullsh*t makes a right fine polish).  Then I lounged (try not to faint…your skirt will end up over your head).  I’m not sure when I did that last.  It has to have been March?  I have no idea. 

 

 

I laid on the sofa and watched not one but two movies.  Next with Nicholas Cage which Dave highly recommended and M. loved, but it didn’t do much for me.  Frankly, Cage just looked really gross and orange (bad spray tan technician bad…he should smack you on the nose with a newspaper), and it got even more skeevy when he started fondling Jessica Biel.  Ick!  I just kept thinking he should have snapped Julianne Moore’s neck after the logs fell.  Too much?  Oh well, I’ve got a sadistic streak.  For the last few years all the new movies have made me think, why didn’t they just _____?  There seems to be a bit of tweaking that’s going undone.  There have been several things I’ve seen that could have been spectacular if taken from a different angle.

 

 

The second movie was Secret Ceremony on Sundance.  Elizabeth Taylor is a hooker whose child died suddenly.  Mia Farrow is a highly disturbed child whose once overbearing, dead mother bears a striking resemblance to Taylor.  It was one of those odd 1960’s flicks that are all psychological misfits and dark deads with Taylor trying to make Farrow over in her dead child’s image while Farrow tries to screw her stepfather, Robert Mitchum.  I don’t much care for those types of movies but Elizabeth Taylor is always compelling, and no one does crazy like Mia Farrow. 

 

 

In fact, M. and I had a running conversation all weekend about actors.  There aren’t many actors in the world in my opinion.  Most “actors” use the same expressions, voices, and attitudes for every role they take (Jack Nicholson comes to mind…don’t believe me?  watch About Schmidt and As Good As It Gets…I’m not saying his style hasn’t changed over time…his younger work is very different).  Then they complain about typecasting.  The most successful of these “actors” just learn to pick the right flicks to suit them.  The actors that do crazy best are the ones I love.  I’m a big believer in the idea that any really good performance takes from a facet of the actor’s personality.  Like I said, Mia Farrow is great at crazy.  For that matter, so are Anne Heche and Jenna Elfman.  Just sayin’….

 

 

I even picked up a book.  I Am Legend by Richard Matheson has taken up residence in M.’s library (aka the john).  So while ‘um taking care of business (pretty, delicate, flowery girly business cuz that’s how I roll and all…nothing stinky cuz that wouldn’t be girly…even though it does allow time for said reading…why I’d never!) the other day, I picked it up.  I guess he hooked me since I’m still reading it.  The writing is compelling, but I cannot see how it would make a good movie.  The vast majority of it is one white guy talking to himself in his own head.  I think I’ll have to see the movie version after I finish it.  Obviously, M. thought it was the book translation of the movie or he wouldn’t have bought it.  I always wondered who the heck would buy one of those.  I mean why read it when you can just watch the movie?  M. not only watches (and often owns) the movie, but then he goes out and buys the book version of the screenplay.  I’m not talking about reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and then watching the movie.  I’m talking about stuff like Star Trek’s Insurrection or SpiderMan 2.  I don’t get it, not one bit.  Am I missing something?

 

 

The weekend even ended on a high note.  I had a craving for Sesame Chicken.  I haven’t had sesame chicken since I was a carnivore.  So I got on my favorite recipe site (Recipezaar) and found hundreds of recipes, but in the back of my mind was a recipe I’d seen years ago using ketchup to make the sauce.  It sounded odd then, but I kept looking and found 3 Sesame Chicken recipes using ketchup.  None of them worked for me because I didn’t have many of the ingredients.  So I started experimenting.  And, it was FABULOUS!  The sauce came out exactly like the local chinese restaurant’s sauce.  I was in love.  In case you want to try it:

 

 

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup ketchup

5 tablespoons brown sugar (the original recipes often used honey but I was out)

1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice (I had Emeril’s Asian seasoning)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

 

 

Allow to bubble on the stove for about 3 minutes.

 

 

I was amazed at how close I’d come to the restaurant.  There is no way it’s good for you.  Maybe I should get that colonic!