December 29, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
9:19 PM (Pacific)
Hey! I've had this blog for two years now. I started it when Joe Strummer died...was disappointed back then, that there was hardly any mention of him in the media. He was the Bob Dylan of his time. Oh, what am I saying? Our media is perfectly capable of saying next to nothing when Bob Dylan's time comes. We've become entirely corporate.
Was I ever 37?
All we have now is the Internet. Now there is irony. We moved away from the printed word, before...to radio, to movies, to television, to having a webcam and a cell phone that takes pictures. Whatever. I'm sitting here typing on a keyboard, exactly the same way I did when I was fourteen years old.
rotfl! Now I know why I couldn't place the accent of the English guy on Angel. I looked it up on imdb. He's from Baltimore. Okay, I thought it was funny...
December 28, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
10:46 AM (Pacific)
It only just now occurred to me...except for the "ain't got no" part, London Calling was written with perfect grammar. Try and find that these days.
December 27, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
1:33 PM (Pacific)
London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look to us
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running but I have no fear
Cos London is drowning...I live by the river
That was not the first Clash song I ever heard. I'm almost sure it was "Train in Vain."
I read about The Clash long before I ever heard them. Oh...that era is gone, long gone. The era in which the radio ruled your life.
Hmmm...a lovely Christmas, actually. Easily the best Christmas dinner I've had in a very long time. It was a combination...we did the ham, turkey and sweet potatoes (I'll post more about it in the Food Blog). "They" :) did this Portuguese stew. I don't know how to make it...it's basically a big piece of lean beef, sliced...it's got carrots and potatoes in it, in a sauce with tomatoes, soy sauce (I think), bell pepper (I think), some other stuff...and you have to cook it slowly all day, so the meat can be eaten with a fork. You eat this stew with steamed rice. Then they had green beans fixed with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and some sort of pepper (I think).
Mmmmm!
They had a couple of pies but I was too full to eat dessert.
The only serious bugaboo with fully cooked turkeys--the gravy. I mean the turkey itself is ideal. It's like a rotisserie chicken...it's basted, it's got broth and stuff in it, it's perfectly cooked. You need only thaw it, put it in a baking pan, cover it and heat it over low heat (325 F) until it's heated through. This is the second time we've had this (Foster Farms brand).
But gravy...I tried a different store-bought gravy (Heinz I think) and again I wasn't happy with it. Again--the drippings you get from fully cooked turkeys are way too salty to use to make gravy with.
Ergo, what I have in mind is to find some "gourmet" bottled gravy. grumble It's still worth the extra step; it's still worth it since the fully cooked turkey is that much tastier than cooking a regular turkey. Hmmm...
I can admit it was good to see the Portuguese relatives. They're sort of a mix actually since they came from Hong Kong.
I'm watching Angel reruns. It's a much better show than Buffy. Buffy wasn't bad, exactly...I think the thing is this. Buffy herself had to carry Buffy. Angel is much more of an ensemble show; Cordelia is as strong a character as Angel.
Plus, there seems to be much more complexity...less black and white. Plus, their English guy is younger, cuter and has a much better accent than Buffy's English guy. Oh, I know I said that before. I'm such a sucker for a certain kind of English accent. It's not the Queen's English. I don't know where it's from...
That and of course I've been watching the Bond-a-thon on Spike TV.
December 20, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
4:55 PM (Pacific)
Ah, here it is. This is not the same retelling of this story that's plastered all over the Web (the Townsend version). This is much closer to the version I read when I was a child in Aesop Without Morals:
The Farmer and the Snake
An Aesop Fable Retold by Rose Owens
It was bitterly cold as the farmer climbed the path to the high hills to check on his livestock. A rattlesnake lay across the path, nearly frozen.
"Please," begged the snake, "take me down where it is warmer. Or I shall surely freeze to death."
"I don’t think so," said the Farmer. "I would be a fool to trust you."
But the snake pleaded. "If you will do this thing, I promise that I will not hurt you."
Having compassion upon the snake, the farmer picked him up and carried him down into the valley and laid him down upon the ground. As the snake warmed up, he wiggled and stretched. He coiled himself up and struck the farmer.
"Why did you bite me?" cried the farmer. "You gave me your word not to harm me."
"Ah," said the snake, "but you knew what I was when you picked me up."
So far I have my koobideh recipe up. It's really good.
Basically I'm going to convert the entire Green Choi site into this section. Then I'm going to nag everyone on the site to contribute their personal recipes.
December 15, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
9:59 AM (Pacific)
mumble Ever since I reviewed "that" movie, I've had problems with Blogger. Coincidence, or...? How dreary?
Oh, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Here are some quotes I got off imdb (then again, the entire show is comprised of memorable quotes):
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Zaphod Beeblebrox: You mean they want to arrest me over the phone? Could be. I'm a pretty dangerous dude when I'm cornered.
Ford Prefect: Yeah. You fall to pieces so fast that people get hit by the shrapnel.
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Prosser: But the plans were on display.
Arthur Dent: On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar.
Prosser: That's the display department.
Arthur Dent: With a torch.
Prosser: The lights had probably gone.
Arthur Dent: So had the stairs.
Prosser: But you did see the notice, didn't you?
Arthur Dent: Oh, yes. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign outside the door saying "Beware of the Leopard." Ever thought of going into advertising?
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Arthur Dent: You know, it's at times like this, when I'm stuck in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, about to die of asphyxiation in deep space, that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.
Ford Prefect: Why? What did she tell you?
Arthur Dent: I don't know. I didn't listen.
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Eddie: Hi there. This is Eddie, your shipboard computer, and I'm feeling just great, guys, and I know I'm just going to get a bundle of kicks out of any program you care to run through me.
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Ford Prefect: Zaphod, old mate, I trust you about as far as I could comfortably spit out a rat.
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Arthur Dent: The Earth.
Slartibartfast: Well, the Earth Mark II, in fact. We're making a copy from our original blueprints.
Arthur Dent: Are you telling me you originally *made* the Earth?
Slartibartfast: Oh, yes. Did you ever go to a place - I think it was called Norway?
Arthur Dent: No. No, I didn't.
Slartibartfast: Pity. That was one of mine. Won an award, you know.
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Arthur Dent: You know, this explains a lot. Because all my life, I've had this unaccountable feeling in my bones that something sinister was happening in the universe and that no one would tell me what it was.
Slartibartfast: Oh, no. That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that.
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[Cops corner Zaphod]
Shooty: We don't want to shoot you, Beeblebrox.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Suits me fine.
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Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hey, I thought you said you didn't want to shoot us.
Bang Bang: It isn't easy being a cop.
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Shooty: I don't go around gratuitously shooting people and then brag about it in seedy space rangers' bars. I go around gratuitously shooting people, and I agonize about it afterwards to my girlfriend.
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Shooty: Either you all give yourselves up and let us beat you up a little - though not too much, because we are firmly opposed to needless violence - or we blow up this entire planet... and one or two others that we noticed on the way over.
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Marvin: "Reverse primary thrust, Marvin." That's what they say to me. "Open airlock number 3, Marvin." "Marvin, can you pick up that piece of paper?" Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper.
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Marvin: The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million: they were the worst, too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that, I went into a bit of a decline.
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Zaphod Beeblebrox: There's a whole new life stretching out in front of you.
Marvin: Oh, not another one.
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Zaphod Beeblebrox: It's the weird color-scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it.
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Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hey, Ford. How many escape capsules are there?
Ford Prefect: None.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: You counted them?
Ford Prefect: Twice.
December 14, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
5:19 PM (Pacific)
Can you believe I never saw The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy until now? Just now?
They showed the first four episodes. grumble I was very tired and was sort of fading in and out during some of it...but what an incredible program. What sheer perfection.
December 11, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
1:04 PM (Pacific)
Okee...finished the first two items on the list. We'll likely be putting up more articles, but I've finished putting up what I had in the pipe...16 total.
I've tried out 3 out of 4 of my Ava Aromatics samples. I'm going to buy two of them--Chic and Ingenue, which is a recreation of Deneuve.
I've honestly never heard of the Deneuve perfume, so I googled it: Deneuve's Fragrance
December 1, 2004
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
1:57 PM (Pacific)
Okay here is my to-do list:
Take down the Ava Aromatics link. I'll do it tomorrow, I'm in no rush.
Ava Aromatics bought a link on the Lipstick Page Forums site. Good stuff; I'm going to order at least one item (the "Chic" smell-alike for Chanel No. 5). I can't wear Chanel No. 5, I'm terribly allergic to it, and it's my favorite scent of all time (along with Givenchy Organza). Ergo, the smell-alike. It's quite close. I get a tiny little reaction but so far I can wear it. At least I'm knocking wood and using up the sample of perfume oil I have.
Put up links to A Shayna Punim on the Milani Cosmetics site. A Shayna Punim is a new site. It's under development but I'll need to start setting up links.
Convert Green Choi into a recipe section in Food & Travel.
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