I Watch Movies, Read Books, and Eat Food

Happy Oscar Day!  I am disappointed to report that this is the least excited I have ever been about Oscar Day in my whole life.  Like I said in my previous post, I feel that this was generally a very weak year for movies, and the Oscar race reflects that.  Not one film or person nominated has me that excited.  (I am excited for Ed Norton's nomination, but he won't win, so I feel like what's the point?)  I will watch the Oscars for the fashion, for NPH, and of course for Lady Gaga!  But as far as who wins, I'm not too invested. Here are my top ten favorite films from last year! 10. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Cesar, noooo!!!!  I was surprised how much I liked this movie.  I was expecting to feel meh about it, but I totally dug it!  It has very smart social commentary about how and why societies have enemies and fight wars.  Paranoia and fear, man!  That's how it starts.  You wouldn't think a film about talking apes coul...

Was it just me, or was 2014 one of the worst years for movies in recent memory?  Of course there were good films (every year has at least a few) but when I look back at all the films I saw over 2014, generally speaking, the movies were pretty blah.  Actually "blah" is a good word to describe this list of mine.  Most of the movies weren't terrible, they were just blah. 10. Dumb and Dumber To   I was one of the few who was actually really looking forward to this movie.  I LOVE the original Dumb and Dumber.  It's seriously one of my favorite movies of all time.  To see Harry and Lloyd together again twenty years later?  Sign me up!!  The movie wasn't exactly bad.  I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed parts of it.  But I didn't enjoy enough of it, and it was missing that something special that made the first film a classic.  I think the thing it was missing was a certain level of innocence.  In the original fi...

In three days, it will be one whole year since I've eaten meat.  I did it, you guys!  I set a nearly unreasonable goal for myself, and I achieved it!  I'm quite proud of myself.  And you know what?  It wasn't THAT bad.  Sometimes it was hard, but most of the time it was a no brainer.  It's definitely more of a psychological exercise than a physical one.  If I got my mind to believe that I didn't need meat, my body would follow through. The hardest part was eating outside of my home.  Eating and cooking at home as a pescetarian was easy.  When I'm in control of my own food, leaving out meat was not a big deal at all.  Going out, and especially going out to friend's houses was the hard part.  I never wanted to be THAT friend.  You know, that friend who's like, "Thank you for cooking this delicious looking BBQ, but would you mind throwing these tofu burgers on the grill?"  I feel very uncomfortable asking people to mak...

Happy Oscar Day, everyone!  Here are my favorite films of 2013!  I hope everyone enjoys the show and I hope the movie stars don't get too cold and wet tonight! *My comments may have what some might consider spoilers.* 10. Don Jon I still refuse to like Scarlett Johansson.  I didn't have high expectations for this one.  I expected it to be amateurish because it was Joseph Gordon Levitt's directorial debut, but I shouldn't have underestimated him!  It's not a particularly original movie - it's about a porn addict who tries to have a normal relationship, but his addiction creates problems - but it's executed very, very well.  It's funny, it's charming, and it's surprisingly human.  The script is really good, and the acting is good as well.  Yes, even Scarlett is good...but I still don't like her! 9. Saving Mr. Banks Snubbed, I tell you!!  Snubbed!!  I understand why Tom Hanks wasn't nominated, I mean he was good, but maybe not the ...

The Oscars this year completely took me by surprise!  For some reason I thought we had one more week!  But no!  It's THIS Sunday!  Which means it's end of the year list time! 10. Pacific Rim This movie wasn't BAD, exactly.  It just didn't do anything for me.  It was supposed to be an over the top summer popcorn movie - and I usually LOVE over the top summer popcorn movies - but Pacific Rim was just lacking!  The action scenes were only okay.  I think I have a real problem with robots fighting.  That's why I don't like any of the Transformers movies.  I like my action to involve people.  I feel a real threat for their lives when human characters are doing something dangerous.  Giant robots fighting other dimension alien creatures?  Not so much.  Yes, I know the humans are inside the robots controlling it, but I still didn't buy it.  I didn't end up caring too much about the robots or the humans.   ...

If you know me, you know that I don't bake.  I love cooking, but baking is waaaay beyond me!  I don't like it, I'm not good at it, and every time I try to do it, I mess it up somehow!  But I felt inspired today and I decided to bake bread! Here is where I found the original recipe: Seasons & Suppers: Soft Cheese Bread 2 Ways The only other time I ever made dough, it turned out hard as a rock, and the bread was even worse!!  It was like biting into a bone!  But the dough for this bread turned out great!  Soft, smooth, not sticky - just like the recipe said!  The recipe makes two loafs: cheddar & herb and Parmesan garlic & herb. I was afraid of the shaping part, it looked super advanced!  But surprisingly, I did it! First you lay out the filling on top of the rolled dough. This one is the cheddar & herb one: Here's the Parm garlic & herb one (before adding the cheese): After rolling it up jelly roll style, yo...

Between March 2010 - March 2011 I gave up fast food.  It wasn't so bad.  To this day I very rarely eat fast food.  Maybe five times a year.  Now I wanna step it up a notch and be pescatarian for one year.  Why, you ask?  A few reasons. 1. I never thought this would happen, but I feel guilty for eating meat.  I've read all the books (Omnivore's Dilemma, Eating Animals, Fast Food Nation) and seen all the documentaries (Food, Inc, Super Size Me, Forks over Knives, Vegucated, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead) and they all say the same thing:  Eating meat is bad!  It's bad for the animals, it's bad for the environment, it's bad for society, and above all, it's bad for our bodies!  Maybe if I was alive 100 years ago when farms were actually farms (as opposed to factories) and the food industry wasn't the disgusting monster that it is now, eating meat would be fine.  But today it's not fine, and I don't want to be a part of that. Yeah, I get a...