#70 AFI Top 100 Movies - #8 On The Waterfront

On The Waterfront

Katieschmatie and I are both watching movies for our 101 Tasks: I’m watching the AFI’s Top 100 List and she’s watching all the Oscar Best Picture winners. There’s a fair amount of overlap, and we’ve decided to watch this one together! Watching a movie with a friend makes it a lot more fun, because we can compare notes / perceptions and laugh together at the funny parts (and the occasional ridiculous melodrama).

On The Waterfront stars a young Marlon Brando, which I was very excited about. I can’t remember seeing him in any movie other than Don Juan Del Marco, in which he is much older, balder and fatter. Seeing him as an attractively muscled hero was a little bit of a shock to my system, but I was pretty ok with it.

I really loved some things about this movie and thoroughly disliked other things. Let’s start with the bad.

Marlon Brando’s character, Terry, is an idiot. Not just uneducated (although he is that too), he doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of street smarts either. A lot of his heroism seems to be based on being so rockheaded that he can bulldog his way through any situation; no matter how many times he’s kicked down and beaten bloody (metaphorically and literally), he’s too dumb to quit and just keeps getting right back up again. He constantly throws himself into danger because he doesn't think before he acts, ever. 

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing at first, added some realism to the situation and gave him a reason to be grateful for his job from the mob. But then the love interest, Edie, arrives and my tolerance for his machismo, pig-headed behavior lowered considerably. The fact that Edie becomes interested in him also seriously lowered my opinion of her.

 Well educated, sweet and naïve, she’s just as stupid as Terry when it comes to street smarts, and somehow Edie finds her passions ignited by Terry’s lackluster romancing of her, which mostly includes stalker-like behavior, getting her drunk, insulting her, lying to her about his involvement in her brother’s death, breaking down her door after she locks him out and kiss raping her. Swoon.

Other than Terry’s behavior towards Edie, there’s also the utter predictability of the plot – and some parts that make no sense at all. Terry’s brother is supposed to hush him up – one way or another, and when Terry refuses to promise to keep his mouth shut his brother sends him out of the car. Then the camera pans to the driver, who is one of the mob bosses’ goons, who almost immediately takes off and speeds to one of the hideouts. Um… why on earth did he let Terry out of the car? Why not just take care of both brothers at once?

The good: I felt like this was a very realistic situation. Katieschmatie and I started wondering if this was based on a true story (as far as I can tell it’s not). Even though it’s not my normal genre of movie-watching, I ended up getting really into the whole brow-beaten underdog general workers fighting for their rights against the corrupt and wealthy minority. As the men try to band together to give their union the strength in needs, even though it has been undercut by the corrupt for so long, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Despite the fact that this movie was made in 1954, a lot of the themes carried through quite well to modern times.

The speech by the Reverend was particularly moving as he compared all the men who died in pursuit of justice against the corrupt minority as martyrs like Jesus, exhorting the true Christians to stand up in the face of adversity for what is right. I thought it was a great portrayal of what Christian virtues should be and how they can relate to modern circumstances.

My favorite quotes from the movie:

Terry: “They tried to beat an education into me, but I outfoxed ‘em.”

Edie: “Shouldn’t everybody care about everybody else?”

Terry: “Oh what a fruitcake you are.”

#51 New Recipes - Tzatziki Just Like In Greece!

Hubby and I went to the Mediterranean on our Honeymoon, including three stops in Greece where we consumed mountains of tzatziki. You haven't had tzatziki till you've had it in Greece. It's tangy, cool, smooth, crunchy, and utterly delightful. The flavors were more robust and crisper than anything I've had in the United States, probably because the ingredients were MUCH fresher.

Ever since returning home we've been searching for tzatziki that will send our taste buds back to Greece. We found a Mediterranean restaurant nearby that was close... so close... but not quite. So I started looking up recipes online, figuring that if I could make it myself then it would be cheaper, more satisfying and I could make large batches.

Finally I found it. Delightfully tangy, fresh tasting, almost exactly like real Greek tzatziki. Takes 20 minutes to make (and some time in the fridge chilling)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced finely (I used just a touch less minced garlic and sprinkled in some garlic powder)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 cup Greek yogurt, strained (I used 1 1/2 cups of Oikos Greek Nonfat Plain yogurt - I didn't really strain it, although you can use cheese clothe to do so, but I did empty out the liquid on top of the yogurt in the container)
1 cup sour cream
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
1 tsp chopped fresh dill (Impossible for me to find, I used 1/2 tsp dried dill)

I got my Chef Husband to do the cucumbers for me:

Obviously he was thrilled to be helping out.

Preparation
 1. Combine olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix until well combined.
2. Using a whisk (I cheat and use a fork because I don't have a whisk of the right side), blend the yogurt with the sour cream.

3. Add the olive oil to the mixture to the yogurt mixture and mix well.
4. Finally, add the cucumber and chopped fresh dill and mix in.

Chill for at least two hours before serving.

Serve with Pita Bread or crackers. Mmmm delicious.

Trying out Dry Shampoo

I hate getting up in the mornings. I'm not one of those girls who wakes up an hour and a half before she has to leave the house, takes a shower, blow-drys her hair, puts on make-up, picks out a cute outfit and eats breakfast before heading off to work. My alarm goes off about 20 minutes before I have to be out the door, and I always hit the snooze button at least once. I shower in the evenings, I pick out my cute outfits on Sunday and hang them up in my closet so I don't have to think about it, and I rarely wear make-up to work.

But what about those days when my hair feels greasy? Or limp? Or just plain dirty? And even putting it into a pony-tail doesn't make it look less gross? Well, TRESemme hair products claims to have the solution with its Dry Shampoo for Oily/Straight to Normal Hair. It's a waterless, oil and odor remover with mineral clay and citrus. No shower necessary and it's supposed to take less than 3 minutes. Sounds perfect for a girl like me!

One morning when my hair was a greasy clump (especially at the roots), I decided to try it out.

It smells a little odd, and I definitely recommend holding your breath (the inside of my mouth felt chalky after I breathed in, the stuff apparently hangs in the air longer than hairspray does.)

After spraying my hair, from the directed distance of 8-12 inches, I was looking a little bit different already...

Hmmm. I seem to have gone prematurely grey. But it's not a true experiment unless I go all the way, so I left it in for two minutes while I brushed by teeth and put on my shoes, hoping that the grim dusting would brush out as thoroughly as promised.

Sure enough, 2 short minutes and one brisk brushing later, my hair felt a little weird but it looked great!:

It's definitely not as good as a shower, my hair felt a little stiff rather than being soft to the touch, but I got compliments all day on how nice it looked. I lost some volume, but it had a silky smooth appearance that made up for that. All in all a shower is going to be more effective, but if you're in a hurry and you don't have time, dry shampoo is a quick and easy alternative!

#51 New Recipes: Shepherd's Pie (w/ Ground Turkey)

Appropriately enough for a post-Thanksgiving blog... a turkey recipe!

I've been trying to eat more healthily, which means I've been substituting lean ground turkey for beef. This cause me to search for recipes that actually call for turkey, rather than just substituting it into a beef recipe. I was very excited to come across a Shepherd's Pie recipe because I absolutely love Shepherd's pie, but it's not always the healthiest thing in the world.

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes (about 10 oz) peeled and quartered
1 medium parsnip, peeled and cut up
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I suggest substituting low-fat milk / sour cream as yogurt tends to break up when it's heated and it made the mashed potatoes really dry.)
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 oz uncooked ground turkey breast (or 90% or higher ground beef)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 10-oz package frozen mixed veggies
1/4 cup water
One 14 1/2 oz can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes
1/2 of a 6 oz can (1/3 cup) no salt added tomato paste
1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme or sage or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme or sage, crushed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. In a covered medium saucepan, cook potatoes and parsnips in enough boiling water to cover about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Mash with a potato masher or with an electric mixer on low speed. Gradually add yogurt (or substitute) and salt, mashing or beating to make mixture light and fluffy. Cover and keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook turkey and onion over medium heat until meat is brown. Drain well.
4. Stir in mixed veggies and water, bring to boiling and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until veggies are tender.
5. Stir in undrained stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Heat through. Divide turkey mixture among four 12-16 oz individual casseroles or ramekins, or transfer mixture to a 1 1/2 court casserole (I used 9"x13" flat baking pan).

6. Pipe or drop mashed potato mixture in mounds atop hot turkey mixture (at this point, I also sprinkled on some cheddar cheese. Because I like cheese.)

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are heated through.

The pie was pretty delicious although the mashed potatoes were dry. My chef husband told me it's because yogurt doesn't do well when heated and it probably made the potatoes dryer just by being mixed in. So that's good to know! Next time I'll just make my regular mashed potatoes with some milk, margarine and chicken broth and put that on top.

The inside was nice though! Pretty moist and tasty. Not quite as flavorful as it would have been with beef, but I still enjoyed it and it's nice to have an all in one meal. It only took me about an hour to make, including baking time, which is not bad at all, and I ended up with plenty of leftovers =)

Thanksgiving & Family

Exactly two months ago from today my family grew a lot bigger. This Thanksgiving it's easy for me to find things to be thankful for, the many blessings in my life in the form of all the wonderful people who inhabit it. I love this time of year, even though the multitude of Christmas decorations that are already up annoy me, because of the amount of love and warmth surrounding the entire season. We move from Thanksgiving, where people finally take the time to look at all the things and people they've otherwise taken for granted, into the Christmas/Chanukah holidays, which is still all about love and family and togetherness.

 I am especially thankful for the amount of sane family members I have. The holidays can be an incredibly stressful time, especially when two families have come together as a family but don't have any holiday traditions as a family together. My husband and I are extremely fortunate that we are able to spend some time on each holiday with some of both of our families because my parents and his father both live in the same area as us. However, that also means that both families want to see us on both holidays!!!

This kind of thing could turn into WWIII in some combined families, but our families are very generous. Today we spent a few hours at my Aunt's house with my parents, grandparents, some aunts and uncles and cousins, chatting and eating appetizers. The time we were planning on leaving coincidentally coincided with when dinner was ready, so we said grace with them and then headed off to my husband's aunt's house for dinner with his Dad, stepmother, aunt and cousins.  Of course we wish we could have an entire day with both families, but sometimes in life those ideal situations aren't possible and it's important to make the best of it, which I think we have. I think our experience is exactly what the holidays are about - spending time with the people we love however we can.

Hopefully next year we'll be able to travel to Georgia and get some time in with my husband's mom and grandparents =)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Remember to share the love, and appreciate it, until next Thanksgiving.

Watching the Moot

Main Entry: moot court
Function: noun
:  a mock court in which law students argue hypothetical cases for practice

Over the weekend I had my first experience watching a moot court when I went to see my friend Ellery, a second year law student, compete in the Byron L. Warnken Annual Moot Court Competition. I really had no idea what to expect going in – would there be a jury? Was it going to be like watching an episode of Law and Order? Was I going to be bored out of my mind?

No, no and no.

The set-up was actually a little American Idol, with three judges (dressed as judicial judges and judging the competitors) and I could even identify who was the Paula, the Randy and the Simon. The competitors had already turned in their briefs and were now presenting their oral arguments.

The case was rather fascinating: a young woman, Ms. Tuckerman had created a blog which was very popular with the student body, on which she theorized that a fellow student, Mr. Walsh (her main competition for Valedictorian) cheated on a pop-quiz. The school claimed that the blog entry created a disruption at the school, as the number of students disciplined for being on their phones increased substantially in the days following the blog post. The Vice-Principal, Ms. Bliss, investigated the charge of cheating, which she found to be unsubstantiated and she counter-accused Ms. Tuckerman of trying to distract Mr. Walsh from his studies. Ms. Tuckerman was subsequently disciplined for the blog post.

My friend was arguing that the school had absolutely no right to discipline Ms. Tuckerman for her blog post, written on her own time at home and, as such, was not under school authority, and that by disciplining her the school violated her First Amendment Rights. The counter-argument of the other team was that Ms. Tuckerman wrote the post about the school, knowing that she had a wide following among her classmates and that it would cause a disruption to the school – which, using Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District as a precedent, holds that school officials may censor students in cases where it causes a danger or material and substantial interference with the school.

However, despite the interesting subject matter, what I found most fascinating about moot court was the interruptions in arguments. Each competitor was given 10 minutes to stand in front of the judges and argue their side of the case. Those 10 minutes could have consisted of speeches, but the judges are expected to interrupt with questions, which the competitors must answer. Talk about thinking on your feet! The judges threw everything from opinions to little-known precedents to far-fetched examples at each of the competitors, to test their understanding of the case and, not just how well they knew the law, but how they thought the law should be applied based on that knowledge.

It was not fast-paced, but it went by much more quickly than I thought it would and it made me very glad I’m not a law student. Most impressive was my friend – and that’s not just me being biased! If confidence can win a case, he stole the show. Stood straight, stayed calm in the face of an obnoxiously needling judge, and said everything with complete assuredness. He could’ve been making up half of what he said, and I would have believed him just based on his apparent certainty.  The most astonishing thing was that he was the only competitor to go the entire time without his notes. He stood up there with nothing but his brains and his suit, and it was inspiring. The judges and his competition were impressed too.

I don’t think I’ll become an avid moot-court watcher, but I’d certainly return to watch people I know compete. It was an interesting and educational morning (plus, men look good in suits)!

In some ways it reminded me of improv theater, similar to Commedia Dell'Arte. Each competitor got up, knowing the information that they wanted/needed to get out, and yet they had to constantly change up what they were saying as they answered questions or altered their information to fit the audience's (the judges') desires. There were some stumbles, a lot of nerves, but they all kept their cool and came out the otherside. Afterwards the judges complimented them all on their composure - apparently not everyone in the competition had dealt as well with the interruptions and questions. I'm kind of sad I missed seeing those!

Breaking Dawn - The Twilight Saga

Last night Katieschmatie and I viciously eradicated the hopeful romantic delusions of 3 teeny-boppers who took the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn, very seriously.

If you take Twilight very seriously or if you haven’t read the book and don’t want to know how Breaking Dawn Part 1 ends, this is not the review for you.

I knew this was going to happen as soon as they sat down, and leaned over to whisper in Katie’s ear, “They’re going to be really sorry they sat in front of us.” Katie and I do not love these movies because they are good. We do not love these movies because the books are good. We indulge in these books and movies because they are so entertainingly melodramatic and terrible. It also doesn’t hurt that Jacob is constantly taking his shirt off.

Don’t get me wrong, there are one or two good things about the books. There have also been one or two good things about each of the movies. Last night we were treated to some of the best moments – truly good moments and not just delightfully laughable moments – in the movie series to date.

First of all, Bella and Edward finally have their first real conversation. By “real” conversation I mean something approaching an argument with actual emotion and addressing realistic issues. Bella is pregnant and has decided to keep the baby, and just as in the book Edward is agonized by the choice that she has made. Unlike the book, Edward is more than agonized, he is angry at Bella. He confronts her with their marital vows: “We’re supposed to be partners,” and reminds her that, “You made this choice without me.” It is one of the most tense and best acted moments I’ve seen in these movies. Edward is anguished, maddened with despair and almost hateful that Bella has made this decision without him, leaving him out in the cold and (eventually) he fears without a wife as she the decision she has made looks to lead to her death.

Later he will apologize, realizing that he has left her alone in this struggle for her and their progeny’s life; recognizing that he has not behaved well as a partner either. It was so refreshing to see something approaching a real relationship between the two of them, rather than the monotonous perfect love they usually portray.

Another refreshing moment occurs when Jacob tries to talk Bella out of having the baby and she tells him, “I’m strong enough to do this.” THANK GOD. Throughout all the previous books and movies Bella has been a whimpering female, constantly moaning and whining about her weak state as a mere human female and insisting that the only way she can provide something of value or worth is by becoming a vampire. Even in the third movie when she “contributes” to the fight between Edward and Victoria, her contribution is to mutilate and injure herself. Finally we see her fighting for something. Finally Bella see her weak human female self as being worthwhile, as having the strength and willpower to overcome incredible odds without needing to be turned into a vampire – she doesn’t falter when Carlisle informs her that carrying the baby to term will kill her and she will not have the opportunity to make “the change.”  Of course, that’s not what happens, but it’s still fantastic that this paragon of teeny-boppers is finally telling them that they can be strong in the face of adversity and personal pain/sacrifice and that they don’t need to be a vampire to be worthwhile. Hopefully they don’t all start thinking that they can only be that way if they’re pregnant; but, despite its circumstantial drawbacks, it’s still a moment that breathes fresh life into Bella’s character.

One of my favorite things about this movie is that it does not pull its punches in regards to Bella’s appearance. So often when Hollywood makes someone “sick” they just look attractively pale and drawn. Bella, as Jacob informs her, looks like hell. Her hair is stringy, her skin has an unhealthy tinge to it, dark circles bruise her eyes, and her already thin body becomes even more skeletal. And no one thinks that this weight loss is a good thing. She looks like she’s dying, and not in a sweetly, waif-like way. It looks like the life is slowly being sucked out of her one drop at a time, and it looks painful.

Of course, being a Twilight movie, there’s plenty of humor as well – intentional or not. First of all, there’s a lot of comedic relief needed throughout the movie because the producers decided to make two movies instead of one and, although there are two separate story lines in the book, there’s really not enough material for two movies. So they had to add some in. At least 10 minutes of awkward speeches at Bella and Edward’s wedding reception, which made me cringe and writhe in my seat. Jessica’s was particularly painful – “And suddenly Edward’s all about Bella… even though she’s not the captain of the volleyball team. Hahaha… just kidding. Or president of the student council.”  Who let that girl in front of the microphone?! Charlie’s speech, of course, was pure gold as he enumerates the many reasons he knows Edward will keep Bella happy, starting with the fact that Charlie is a cop and he has a gun. I love Charlie. He’s my favorite.

The honeymoon provides plenty of opportunity for movie extenders and humor. Bella and Edward apparently get a little bit of time in Rio, dancing, before heading off to Isle Esme. Then, of course, prior to Bella and Edward’s first night one as man and wife, he heads to the beach while she indulges in all the female hygiene rituals a girl must complete, especially before sexy-time. The first big laugh of the movie came when, the following morning, newly deflowered Bella tells Edward that “I can’t imagine it getting any better than that.” The teeny-boppers in front of us looked around in confusion, not understanding why the rest of the movie theater found that to be such a laughable sentiment. Less time could have been spent on the Honeymoon, but at least watching Bella try to seduce Edward again (and her frustration as they played chess instead) was extremely amusing. 

A moment of unintentional hilarity was the one and only time that the movie attempted to showcase the unique communication of Jacob’s tribe. This was almost well done at first, as voices overlap voices, and they seem to be coming from all directions, just like in the book. But then Jacob arrives at the pack and as he and Sam start their dominance showdown, the voiceover becomes much deeper and also slooooooower. The entire movie theater cracked up, especially as Jacob finally overpowers Sam and dramatically declares, “I was not meant to follow you” in his newly deepened voice.

Still, the movie itself is overall not as bad as I thought it would be. The wedding was incredibly beautiful, and actually made me tear up a little. This is possibly because I was married less than two months ago, but watching Bella’s trepidation as she made her way to the aisle, then take her first deep breath as she sees Edward standing waiting for her, and the way her nervousness melts away… I related to that completely. 

Of course, they had to ruin it a few minutes later by rushing through the ceremony (fastest ceremony ever: apparently it consisted of just the vows and then making out) and using some awkward movie magic to “show” that they feel like they’re the only two people in the world (Seriously guys, you can show that feeling without a shot of the empty rows where the wedding guests were sitting). But the build up to the wedding ceremony, the peeks of her dress before they show the full get-up and the walk down the aisle are fantastic.

On a more gruesome note, Bella’s first sips of blood are just as grotesque and disturbing as they are in the book. Everyone cringed and gasped a little, even though we knew it was coming. Especially when she smiles a little and shows her red-tinged teeth; there is no attempt to clean up her mouth or make that moment prettier, and the movie is better for it. There is no attempt to sexualize or glamorize her blood drinking, it is dirty and gross and fantastic because of that.

Coming into the movie, I’ve been very curious how the two “mystical” transformations – Bella into a vampire and Jacob imprinting on Renesmee – would be handled, and I think they did brilliantly. The camera view shoots into Bella’s body, showing her nerves and blood vessels being encased in a diamond like substance, interspersed with brief flashes of red-tinted writhing and screaming so that we know she’s in pain, and then suddenly the camera’s back out of her body where she’s laying as still as a corpse. It was fantastic.

Jacob’s imprinting was handled just as skillfully, although in a completely different way. Just in case you haven’t read the books and didn’t remember back to the second movie where he explains the phenomenon, there’s a voice over of his explanation to Bella. Suddenly it’s like the universe is floating away, and there are clouds and a vision of the future, a vision of the young woman Renesmee will become (and man is she pretty!). It’s cheesy, but it works. Considering the subject matter, the cheesiness actually plays into everything.

The movie also played up the tensions between the vampires and wolves. I knew from the previews that there would be actual fighting, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that going into the movie. It turned out to be a very good thing. First of all, because throughout the entire fourth book every time there’s about to be a major confrontation, nothing happens. You can’t have that kind of climatic build up in a movie and then let it dissipate into nothingness. That’s not only boring, it’s frustrating. Instead, once Jacob informs the pack of Bella’s pregnancy and then leaves because he refuses to be a part of killing Bella, the pack surrounds the Cullens house and pens them in. This makes much more sense than Sam’s strategy in the book, which is to leave the Cullens alone and only guard the tribe (as if the Cullens are suddenly going to break the treaty and attack the tribe just because Bella’s pregnant… like they don’t have better things to worry about.). It also adds quite a bit of tension as the Cullens’ food situation becomes more and more desperate and they are unable to leave, especially once Carlisle breaks out the blood for Bella to drink.

When Carlisle and Esme actually do leave to hunt, forced into the situation because Carlisle must feed to be strong enough when Bella delivers, they are guarded by Emmett – and the guard is needed. Jacob distracts the majority of the pack, but the trio of Cullens are chased through the woods by Sam and Paul in wolf form. Esme, the slowest of the vampires, is actually knocked over and caught by Sam at one point, and is only saved when Emmett comes bulling in from the side. They finally leave the wolves behind when they jump off a cliff and over a large river, geographical barriers that would slow the wolves down too much even if they tried to follow.

Once Renesmee is born the pack comes to attack. Edward, Jasper and Alice are severely outnumbered. Leah and Seth jump in after a few minutes of fighting, and then the rest the Cullens show up and things get very exciting, until Jacob finally joins the action, and stands between the Cullens and the pack, commanding: "STOP." 

After a moment he turns into a wolf so that the pack will know he has imprinted on Renesmee. Fortunately we are not treated to another taste of ‘pack communication,’ instead Edward translates, a device which manages to heighten the tension and also the humor as he looks down at his future son-in-law.

 

The actual fighting is very exciting, although every time a wolf is actually in position to actually kill a vampire there tends to be a lot of snapping and growling instead of tearing them apart. The vampires show similar restraint. There is an obvious reluctance, for the most part, to do actual lasting harm to each other. The wolves don’t want to kill anyone but the ‘abomination’ and the vampires certainly don’t want to harm the wolves if they don’t have to (well, except for maybe Emmett). I’m not sure if that’s what the filmmakers intended, but that’s how it came off to me, and I appreciated the subtlety of it.

Overall, I think this is probably the best Twilight movie to date. Not saying it’s a great movie, just the best of the series so far. It’s entertaining, funny, and exciting; there’s tension, the heroine finally becomes a slightly better example for young girls, and Bella and Edward’s relationship starts looking a little closer to real life. Katieschmatie and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves watching it.

Although, I’m pretty sure our comments completely ruined it for the teeny-boppers in front of us who obviously thought that there’s nothing ridiculous at all about Twilight.

#70 AFI's Top 100 Movie List - # 63 Stagecoach

Last night I decided to get started on one of the more ambitious tasks from my 101 Tasks in 1001 Days List: #70 - watching all the movies on the AFI Top 100 Movies List. This is something I'm really excited about because there are a lot of movies on the list that I've wanted to see and never have.

I learned from my friend Katieschmatie's first movie watching experience from her 101 task list (she's trying to watch all the Oscar Best Picture Winners) to not start with a super long war movie. I'll work my way into those. I had several criteria when trying to decide on a movie. Not too long. Not an Oscar Best Picture Winner (might as well watch those with Katieschmatie's company!). Available on Netflix Instant. And I wanted to watch one that I hadn't seen before.

At 1 hour and 36 minutes, and #63 on the AFI list, Stagecoach (made in 1939), seemed perfect. Also, I found the description Netflix gave unintentionally hilarious: "Stagecoach passengers and a notorious outlaw escaped from jail must consider banding together to fight vicious Apaches rumored to be lying in wait." Ahhh... a typical old Western with its fantastic stereotypes and racism.Why not?!

As the beginning credits rolled I informed my husband: "Oh hey! It's got John Wayne in it! Maybe it won't be too bad!"

The very first thing established is the dire threat of vicious Apache attacks, led by the infamous Geronimo. The fear of these attacks are verbalized throughout the entire movie, but not a single Apache warrior is seen until 25 minutes before the end of the movie. They are the constant and consistent threat... but, like the Stagecoach passengers, I started thinking that they were never going to show up. As a deliberate ploy to give the audience the same sense of security as the characters, it works pretty well.

The characters are all complete archetypes. There's Mrs. Mallory, an old Western Mean Girl, who is both popular and snobby, protected by the Cad, named Hatfield, who becomes reformed in order to keep an eye on her. The Doctor is a complete drunk. The Prostitute, named Dallas, has a heart of gold. And of course, there's the Rebel Hero, named Ringo and played by John Wayne. Ringo treats Mrs. Mallory and Dallas exactly the same, despite Dallas' shady past and in complete contrast to the way the other men in the stage coach treat Dallas.

The dichotomy of how Mrs. Mallory is treated by the other characters, versus the way Dallas is treated was one of the most interesting points of the movie to me, because it's behavior that continues into modern society. A known slut, Dallas is kicked out of her community by self-righteous old ladies, Mrs. Mallory won't sit next to her at dinner, and the gentlemen of the stage coach ignore her. The social ostracizing of Dallas for being sexually available is something that still happens today.  Ringo is the only one to treat Dallas as though she has any worth. While the gentlemen fawn over "the lady," it is obvious that being a woman isn't enough to make a female a "lady." Only if she behaves in a socially acceptable manner will she be accepted into their "polite" society. I put "polite" in quotes because their behavior towards her is so abominably rude.

But Dallas keeps a stiff upper lip all throughout, doing her utmost to be friendly to Mrs. Mallory and attempting to help the "lady" as much as any of the gentleman do. When it turns out that Mrs. Mallory is pregnant and ends up having her baby during their journey, Dallas stays in the room to help with the birthing and watches over Mrs. Mallory as faithfully as any best friend afterwards. It helps bring Mrs. Mallory to the eventual realization that Dallas is just as human and worthy of respect and dignity as herself. A message I heartily approved of and was surprised to see in a movie from the 1930's. I did not think that any of the "respectable" characters would change their minds about Dallas. Particularly poignant was when Mrs. Mallory told Dallas to come to her if Dallas ever needed anything; and then Mrs. Mallory's lips twist as she realizes that if Dallas ever actually makes good on that promise that Mrs. Mallory will be socially ruined. Dallas herself obviously doesn't want to put Mrs. Mallory in that situation, and the continuation of the status quo - as well as the inhumanity of the status quo - is acknowledged.

Stagecoach was quite often very funny. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes just because of my own reaction to what I considered over-acting or over-dramatic moments. The long moment that the camera lingers over John Wayne's face after he tells the other members of the party that  his father and brother were murdered was supposed to be dramatic, but was mostly just awkward silence and therefore funny to me. The drunken doctor's method of sobering up in order to deliver Mrs. Mallory's baby was very humorous: he had the other men force feed him black coffee until he threw up, so that he could empty the alcohol out of his stomach. One of the best moments was when the town's banker said: "What's good for the banks is good for the country." Considering today's banking environment, I found that utterly hilarious - especially later in the movie when he turned out to be a corrupt thief!

But, to me, best moments happened when the Apaches finally showed up. Dramatic music thunders out of silence as they are shown sitting horseback on a ridge overlooking the stagecoach, still as statues. They don't move an inch. But there are two shots of them shown looking over the stagecoach with extremely dramatic music, just in case you weren't sure that their frozen stance precedes extreme violence. But we don't see them attack the stagecoach yet, oh no! Not nearly dramatic enough.

Unaware that the Apaches are so close, although the stagecoach occupants know the Native Americans are nearby, the coach moves quickly but without fear. Then, out of nowhere, an arrow suddenly thuds into the chest of one of the men! The screen flips to the Apache charge... which is just coming over the hill. So somehow, an Apache managed to shoot an arrow yards and yards away and over a hill and hit a man sitting INSIDE a covered stage coach. There, however, the incredible Apache marksmanship ends, because as soon as they start shooting guns they can't hit anything. Not the coach, not the horses, and not anyone in the coach - despite the fact that there are at least fifty of them converging on the stagecoach and shooting constantly.

However, whenever one of the three white men shoots his gun, an Apache falls. This led to what I considered the most laughable moment of the movie: John Wayne lounging on top of the stage coach and hitting an Apache every time he fires.

I was tearing up I was laughing so hard at the ludicrousness of Hollywood's stereotypes. The Native Americans can shoot a man sitting IN a stage coach from over 200 yards away as long as they use a bow and arrow, but hand them a gun and put them within 10 feet of the stage coach and they can't hit anything.  John Wayne, on the other hand, can lounge on top of a moving stagecoach and is still a dead shot. Fantastic.

This was actually a very complex movie - there were so many little plot lines that I haven't even gotten into - and quite entertaining. I don't think it always meant to be entertaining in the ways that it entertained me, but being unintentionally hilarious is not necessarily a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and it's gotten me excited to continue watching the movies on my list. Not only that, it has me excited to watch more of the Old Westerns, an outcome I had definitely not expected.

My horizons already feel broadened!

Die Internet Troll, Die

Today I spent a lot of time dealing with a troll.

No, no. Not the creepily adorable fuzzy kind with a cute little belly ring that matches its bright shock of hair. I spent my day dealing with an ugly, mean, stalking, negative black hole of a troll... the kind that most internet boards immediately kick off. Unfortunately, this troll managed to find a board without a moderator on an international wedding website community called The Knot.

Because of the lack of moderator, the troll could not be banned from the board. Although singular posts could be deleted, nothing could be done to keep the troll permanently away. This troll not only made vicious personal attacks on members of the board, it also began looking board members up on Facebook and stealing their pictures. Then it would take those pictures and post them on the board, saying the most incredibly cruel and untrue things about the girl in the picture, mostly centered around her weight and appearance.

It made me wonder, what kind of low, miserable person not only has an entire afternoon of time on their hands to be a troll, but has the lack of humanity and compassion that she would personally attack others in a way almost guaranteed to hurt them?

This picture is what I imagine their soul looks like:

I've known many toxic people in my life, some of them who were incredibly shallow and judgmental, but I have never known anyone who would blindly attack complete strangers in such a personal and antagonistic way. Is there something socially wrong with this person? Are they that lonely and miserable, with no friends or loved ones, that they have to go out and try to mess with other people's lives in order to make themselves feel better? Or do they have a twisted sense of humor and some part of them actually thinks it's funny to wound someone else in a vulnerable place?

To me, trolls are the lowest of the low. They do more than interrupt the flow of a good conversation, the seriously crazy ones can become downright scary if they start legitimately stalking people. And the idea that anyone is getting a kick out of someone else's pain is just sickening. Part of me wants to meet a troll and ask them these questions, find out what kind of - I hesitate to call them a - person actually spends precious moments of life doing this. Obviously it's someone who has no regard for others, or for themselves, or they wouldn't be wasting the short time they have on this earth in such nasty, and ultimately meaningless, way. But the other part of me knows I wouldn't get many questions out before punching them in the face.

In the meantime... at least we have this:

#51 New Recipes - Steak Sauce & Cheddar Biscuits

Yesterday was my husband's 28th birthday and his first birthday as my husband. Although it was during a work day for both of us, I wanted to commemorate the day in a special way and decided to make him a delicious dinner which would include (not so incidentally) trying out some new recipes! Task #51 on my 101 Tasks is to try out 30 recipes I've never made before, and last night I knocked out two of them.

Originally I wanted to make Adam some lamb, because it's a meat I'm not as familiar with and so have less experience making, and it's also one of his favorite kinds of meat.  I had a great recipe all ready to go, with the ingredients that I needed to buy on my shopping list... all the way up until I got to the store after work and there was no lamb. Crap! Silly Muffin, sheep give birth in the spring. It's November. Of course there's no lamb.  But, as luck would have it, there was filet mignon on sale! Adam's favorite cut of steak. Good enough! I decided I would look up a filet mignon recipe as soon as I got home, gathered up the rest of the ingredients I needed for dinner and started heading home.

I was about 5 minutes from home when Adam texted me that he was leaving work early. Crap! I rushed home and started gathering all the ingredients together on the kitchen counter while simultaneously looking up recipes for filet mignon sauces and setting the table with the fancy table clothe and napkins my mom gave us for a wedding present and our wedding china. I managed to get the table set up all nice looking before he got home:

Once he came in the door I barred him from the kitchen and got to work. Fortunately, once I actually looked at the recipe I had for biscuits I found that they weren't going to need as much time as I'd thought they would. Unfortunately, I hadn't managed to find a single recipe for filet mignon sauce that I could make using ingredients that we already had.

So this muffin got creative.

I remembered a friend telling me that the reason steaks taste so good in restaurant is because they're smothered in butter. I looked around on our shelves and spotted some Sherry Vinegar which we hardly ever use because it's hard to find, but its flavor is more delicate and not as over-powering as Balsamic Vinegar (and if you're going to eat good steak, why overpower it with the sauce?). I couldn't remember what Sherry Vinegar tastes like, so I gave it a quick sniff. Yum. The vague citrus overtones inspired me and I grabbed the orange flavored olive oil that I bought from a specialty store only a few weeks ago. This was either going to be great or really really strange. I melted the butter and whisked in equal parts Sherry Vinegar and flavored oil and then smothered the filets in it. For the two filets I used about 2 tablespoons of butter (pre-melted measurement.).

For a vegetable I made steamed broccoli seasoned with Mrs. Dash (A nice easy, lazy but delicious way of doing it). The piece de resistance, however, was the biscuits. My friend Anna bragged that she had found a recipe that made the mouth-watering, soul-satisfying, addiction-starting Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits (<---click here for recipe). If you've ever been to Red Lobster, you know those biscuits. I don't even like seafood, but I'm always willing to go to Red Lobster just because I want the biscuits. Well, now I don't have to!

These biscuits were so much easier to make than I thought they would be, and only took me 20 minutes total including baking time.

The blend of the cheddar biscuits baking combined with the sizzle and scent of citrus-y, buttery steak was heavenly. My kitchen smelled great. Adam kept commenting about how good everything smelled, and he didn't even know what I was making!

Paired with Joseph Phelps Insignia Table Wine from 2000, it was the quietest birthday dinner I've ever sat down to. The conversation consisted mostly of "Mmmm" and "Ooohhh wow." The steak was succulent, the citrus and sherry flavors present but not at all overpowering. The broccoli steamed perfectly and was just slightly crisp in the stems and soft in the flower. And the biscuits. Oh... the biscuits. Crunchy, flaky outside opened to a moist, soft inside that melted into buttery, cheesy goodness in our mouths. Adam went back for seconds.

He was highly impressed, not just by the biscuits, but also by my creativity and resourcefulness in creating my own filet mignon sauce. A very good birthday dinner!!!

(If you're wondering about dessert... I cheated and bought it from a local bakery, but we ended up not eating it. My kitchen prowess inspired him and he ended up making us some brownies, which I'm going to make him write down the recipe for so I can try my hand at making them =)

Just Do It

Last night I went to the gym for the first time in 2 months. I had good reasons, of course, for why it's been so long. There was the whole getting married thing. Then the being on my honeymoon thing. Then the recovering from incredible jetlag and honeymoon thing. But about two weeks ago my reasons ran out and only the excuses remained.

Getting back to the gym was harder than I would have imagined. Before my wedding I was in the habit of going at least twice a week and I loved it. After the honeymoon, my brain remembered how good it felt to work out, how energetic I felt afterwards, and how much healthier I felt when I was exercising on a regular basis. My lazy body told my brain to suck it.

This past Sunday I was determined to go to the gym. I put on my gym clothes as soon as I woke up. Made a nice healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins. Sat down to read a little while I digested. A chapter turned into a few chapters turned into surfing the internet. By 3pm I was annoyed with myself, because I was hungry again and I still hadn't been to the gym. I ate a snack and then, not having learned my lesson from the morning, sat down to read a little while I digested. At 5pm, utterly disgusted with my lack of motivation, I made myself get up and do some stretches in preparation for the gym while watching my How I Met Your Mother DVD. As I sat on the floor in front of the TV stretching, I noticed that my husband had done the laundry and then left the clean clothes in the basket. Stretching turned into folding laundry, with the determination that I would go to the gym once the laundry was folded and put away. Instead, I made dinner. Hey, it was 6pm! Dinner time! Of course, the gym closes at 8pm on Sundays. Oops.

I never made it to the gym on Sunday. That evening, so that my exercise clothes weren't completely wasted, I did attempt #5 & 6 of my 101 tasks - 100 consecutive stomach crunches and 50 consecutive push-ups. I managed 62 crunches before I started to cramp and 8 push-ups. I am particularly proud of the push-ups, since the most I usually do during a workout is 5. I felt like I really pushed myself for those extra 3. Looking at my 101 list motivated me, I swore that I would get to the gym on Monday. After all, I have all these exercise goals like going to the gym 3x a week for a month, taking zumba classes, trying out yoga... and as weird as it sounds, I don't want to just jump right into those things. I want to be in slightly better shape before I embarass myself in front of a zumba class.

Yesterday, mindful of Sunday's setbacks, at 8pm I put on my exercise clothes, kissed my husband and went to the gym. Do not stop to stretch, do not stop to think, do not check Facebook, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. I knew that I just needed to get myself out the door.

I stretched, I crunched, I lunged, I lifted free weights while sitting on top of an exercise ball (helps to strengthen core muscles). Then I moved to the machines and managed a couple sets on those before my arms felt like soggy string beans. And although I didn't manage to complete my full 30 minute run, I did 20 minutes of it. I felt good by the time I left the gym. Powerful. Not just in body, but also in mind. My brain had finally conquered my lazy body and both benefited.

Nike knows what it's talking about. Sometimes you have to shut out the noise of the outside world, not accept any excuses, set willpower against laziness and just do it.

#65 Reading New Authors - Pavane & Daily Miracles

***Spoiler Alert: I do reveal the ending of the book, which had a considerable twist that blew my mind a little. I will note in the blog what paragraph to skip if you'd like to read the book and ending yourself.***

Going outside of my comfort zone with books is not something I'm always very good at doing, which is why I thought that trying to read 10 new books by authors I've never read before would be good for me. I love science-fiction and fantasy, I love historical fiction and I love George R.R. Martin, so I thought I found a great start for task #65 with Pavane by Keith Roberts. It was in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy section of the library, it's an alternate-history book posing the question 'What would the world be like if Queen Elizabeth I of England had been assassinated and the Spanish had successfully conquered England?', and there's a quote by George R.R. Martin on the cover exclaiming: "[A] masterpiece... One of the greatest alternate world stories ever told." It sounded perfect to me.

Pavane does several things. First, it gives us a glimpse into a world where the year is 1968 and technology has been stymied by the church. All progress must be blessed and too much progress is considered heresy. Steam engines travel the breadth of the land, but they are very primitive engines and their owners chafe at the lack of improvements that are allowed. Secondly, the book reaches into human motivations and rebelliousness, the natural desires of people to move outside the sphere of oppressive religion and discover life for themselves. Humans constantly want to improve their situation in life, to feel as though they are advancing and goals are being reached. The Catholic Church's hold over England oppresses this advancement by taxing the country of its wealth and violently suppressing free thought. Just as Lutheran Europe swirled with antagonism towards a church which preached poverty and forgiveness yet decorated its alters with gold and destroyed its enemies with the Inquisition, so does this alternate England. The country barely remembers the days of Henry VIII and freedom from the tyranny of the Pope, but the desire for free will has begun to burn in the heart of the country. The desire for each man to make his own future, to discover his own beliefs and live his own life.

A young brother within the Catholic Church finds himself turned against the Church after he witnesses weeks of the tortures of the Inquisition in England. The skewed reasoning of the religious torturers, "Brother John, his face screwed up as if in anticipation of pain, ventured a query. "But are not your prisoners given the opportunity to confess? Were they to confess without the Questioning-" "There can be no confession," interrupted the other, "without compulsion... False confession, made to avoid the pain of Questioning, is useless to the Church and God alike. Our aim is salvation; the salvation of souls of these poor wretches in our charge, if necessary by the breaking of their bodies."* The stark description of torture and 'questioning' which follows is horrifying, the more so when its protractors shrug it off as necessary and ordinary.

*SPOILER ALERT* - NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS








I was all set to write a Blog about how power corrupts and religious certainties taken to extremes can corrupt any good in the ideology. I still believe those two things. But at the end of the book, Roberts turns the entire premise I thought he'd been driving at one his head, when it's revealed that the Church's depression of progress has actually saved humanity from worse corruption.

"The ways of the Church were mysterious, her policies never plain. The Popes knew, as we knew, that given electricity, men would be drawn to the atom. That given fission, they would come to fusion.... The Church knew there was no halting Progress; but slowing it, slowing it even by half a century, giving man time to reach a little higher toward true Reason; that was the gift she gave this world. And it was priceless."*

*SPOILER ALERT OVER*

I was suddenly drawn back to one of my favorite books, The Callahan Chronicles by Spider Robinson,where an alien reveals himself to the characters and admits that his kind has been preparing humans to slaughter themselves (for various reasons) by forcing our technological advances faster than humanity can handle them.

"We cranked your technology to a fever pitch of frenzied production, led you to build yourselves a suicidal ethic and culture, gave you toys like the atom bomb and lysergic acid to play with: we gave a loaded gun to an infant... Do you really think it accidental that your people went from outhouses to zero-gravity toilets in half a century? From the Merrimac to Skylab in one short century?... The pace of progress yanks you ahead faster than you can run. Do you not notice?" 

In the technological process of human history, most of the major "modern" technology has been created in the past 200 years, an incredibly tiny time span in humanity's life. We have moved by leaps and bounds, advanced unthinkingly, always looking to improve without thinking about the cost of the improvements.


We have polluted our skies, our earth, our lakes. Weapons reach out across vast distances to kill people whose faces we have never looked upon, rendering them into nameless numbers, by products of war. One bomb has killed thousands of people. Eugenics programs to advice the human race itself has caused death in Europe, sterilization in America. And science rushes onward, always looking to advance, heedlessly rushing like a small child into the darkness without any idea of what lies ahead. In Pavane, the Church plays the role of an overly strict father, the ultimate disciplinarian, slowing humanity's progress enough so that as each new contraption, each new advance is made, we can appreciate it.

Now, these amazing advances, these miracles of technology are taken completely for granted. Travel back ten years into the past and people would be amazed at what we have. You have 100 cassettes that you put into your walkman? I have an iPod with thousands of songs on it. Those bulky DVDs? I download my movies straight onto my TV using the internet. Dial-up? Hell no, I would scream if I had to wait more than a second for each internet page to load. Your TV looks fuzzy and small... oh that's right, you don't have Flat-Screen LCD HD TVs. Wow... Playstation eh? Check out my X-Box 3 with internet feed.

Go back 50 years and the differences are even more apparent. Flying in an airplane has become something mundane instead of miraculous. A TV with a black and white picture would be unthinkable. 50 years ago, no one owned their own computer much less had internet access. People didn't have cell phones. They had to write each other letters or make expensive long-distance calls to stay in touch.

Pavanne really showed me that we live in a world of miracles. And no one cares.

Remembering Tippy

I know that today is a day of remembrance for our Veterans, and believe me, I have utmost respect and appreciation for them. I hope everyone remembers to thank their veteran friends and family (I know I have) but that's not what I'm going to talk about today. Because today I'm at my parent's house, and it's lacking one sweet little bundle of puppy love, and right now my memories are filled with her. We got Tippy when I was 14 years old. My parents had finally caved to years of pressure and demands from my brother and me, and agreed that we could get a dog as long as it was small.


Since we lived in a townhouse at the time with a very small backyard, their demand made sense. We visited the pound at least four times, and each time we found a dog that we wanted to bring home with us, and each time we were informed a week later that someone else had adopted the dog. One of my mom's friends had a daughter who worked at the pound, and the friend was incensed that such a nice settled family was having such an impossible time bringing home a dog in need of a home.

So we found ourselves back at the pound for a fifth time, with our hope renewed. A furry little mop of a shih tzu caught my eye, and we cooed at him through the wires of his pen. He happened to be in a holding pen with three other dogs. Two of them were very shy and stayed on the other side of the pen, but a little black puppy with floppy ears and a tip of white on her tail trotted up to us and licked our fingers, blocking us from petting the shih tzu that we were trying to get at.

We weren't supposed to be looking at puppies. Our parents wanted a dog that was already potty trained. But when they let us into the holding cell that little black charmer stole all of our hearts. She flattened herself out like a rug on the floor, whippy tail swinging a mile a minute as she quivered with glee at the attention. There was something so cautious about her - she wouldn't roll over and let us touch her belly at all - but so hopeful too. She wanted the love, the affection, the attention, even though she kept her guard up.

As fate would have it, the shih tzu was already promised, but we took that little black bundle of hopeful, terrified love home with us the very next day. My brother and I trotted along as close to our mother as we could, reaching out to give our new puppy reassuring pats as her tail beat a happy tattoo against my mother's ribs. She was shivering, excited and scared, with on idea what was going on. The pound had named her Tippy, for the tip of white on her tail and the little tip of white under her chin, and we kept the name.

She was the best of dogs. Potty trained within two days. Incredibly smart. And also rebellious. She was a wonderful sitter, quick to lie down just like she was supposed, and fantastic at rushing to whoever was calling her name. Most of all, she was a great fetcher... the trick was getting the ball back from her. Tippy quickly decided that although chasing after the ball was fun, it was much more fun to make us chase after her in useless attempts to get the ball back. She was always faster than us.

Tippy was not a lapdog, although she would condescend to let us hold her for short periods of time. She never begged, but would stare up at us with pitiful liquid brown eyes, and you were just absolutely sure that she hadn't eaten for days. Guests were especially vulnerable to her assertions of starvation, and we had to constantly remind them to please not feed the dog people food. My grandfather was particularly bad about following this rule.

Although territorial, she quickly adjusted when we adopted another dog when she was 7 years old. She was a friendly dog and enjoyed playing with Peanut for the day, but it was obvious that she was shocked that Peanut was staying the night. The two of them ended up with a very sibling-like relationship. Young Peanut constantly poking at her older sister as Tippy growled threateningly but never did anything actually harmful, even when Peanut would shove her small face into Tippy's mouth.

But eventually Tippy became an old woman - and she acted like it. She stopped caring that getting into the garbage was "bad." She would root through any purse or bag that smelled like it might have food in it. And we had to start putting a diaper on her when we would visit other houses. Not because she was incontinent, but because she had stopped caring if she was peeing in someone else's home, even though she never had an accident in ours. Last Thanksgiving we were sitting at dinner at my Aunt's when my brother let out a shout and we all turned to see Tippy, leg lifted over her favorite corner of the house, peeing straight into her diaper. The look on her face after she turned to smell the puddle to find a still perfectly clean corner, had us roaring with laughter.

Tippy passed peacefully. A sweet old matriarch. I visited my parents two nights before she died, when her breathing had become more labored and her interest in food was shockingly low. She perked up for me, finished her dinner, sat at my feet, and even allowed me to hold her for a full twenty minutes. I am so glad that I was able to say goodbye to Tippy.

Today is the first day I've been at my parents since she died, and the house seems incredibly empty without her.