elkit in wonderland

I'll Tell You What I Want, What I Really Really Want

From Friday's Bad Reporter, SFgate.com

Give Love, And Keep Blood Between Brothers

My friend Silvia has had a rough month:

First, a pitbull attacks her granddaughter in the stroller. Silvia bodychecked him, the pit bull decided to bite down on Silvia's boyfriend's dog instead.

And last Friday, her daughter Sarah's ex-boyfriend (the aforementioned granddaughter's father) confronts Sarah, punches her in the face, breaks her jaw and knocks out several of her teeth. And then, to add insult to injury, they give her the runaround at Kaiser.

Silvia, I wish Sarah a swift and good recovery, and all of you an entireless bloodless and non-violent future.

But Nothing Compares, Nothing Compares To You

From The Rude Pundit:

Six Other Things the Office of the Vice President Actually Is:
Dick Cheney has decided that his office is a free-floating radical in DC, not quite an executive entity, not truly a legislative one, but some unholy Reese's cup of evil. Here's some other ways the Veep has untethered himself from mortal binds.

1. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a Native American religion, Cheney and his staff are free to smoke peyote at the start of every morning meeting.
2. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a breach in the space/time continuum, Cheney is free to enter at will his own dimension, the realm of Cthulhu and the slime beasts.
3. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a motorcycle gang, Cheney is free to beat Senators with chains and blackjacks.
4. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but technically an executive bathroom, Cheney is free to wipe his ass with whatever documents are handy, memos, executive orders, Constitutions.
5. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a freak show, Cheney is free to bite the heads off chickens. And nosy members of Congress.
6. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually an insane asylum, Cheney is free to rain bedlam down on the whole of government.

[Spotted this on the Daily Kos.]

I was trying to think of a few more, but I don't think I can top these. And visualizing Cheney biting the heads off chickens, and nosy members of Congress, just derails my thought process.

Waiting On The World To Change

Tim O'Reilly says:

I've often quoted William Gibson's observation that "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed," and noted that "alpha geeks", who are bending technology to their own interests, are often already living in pockets of a future that will one day spread to the rest of us.

Makes perfect sense to me. I like my futuristic Silicon Valley pocket.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I just made Inside-Out Cheeseburgers from a recipe on Yahoo! Food. No, mine didn't look as glamorous as this - this is the photo from Yahoo!

Was it good? Yes. Was it better than a regular burger with cheese on top? No, but I must admit I didn't follow the recipe too closely. I skipped the Worcestershire sauce, I used different cheese, and since I don't have a barbecue, I grilled the burgers in my grill pan. I do think I will try this again, and make very sure that I crimp the edges tight (a couple of the burgers split at the edges, although I had no cheese damage on the grill pan), and I will use the cheeses they recommend (cheddar and gruyere). Mine didn't melt and ooze like their picture, and that's just not acceptable.

I can has cheezburger. Lol.

Der Vogelfaenger bin ich ja

You say Mozart, I think Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), and the time I saw it performed by puppets in the Münchner Marionettentheater. And the title of this entry is one of the arias from this opera. But enough of all that German stuff ... onward with this week's Unconscious Mutterings:

• Compulsion :: Tourette's
• Spiritual :: elevated
• Spray :: surf
• Compatibility :: software
• Pursuit :: of happiness
• Fake :: show business
• Mobile :: phone
• Ceremony :: wedding
• Ribbons :: and buttons
• Mozart :: Die Zauberflöte

But Proof, Yes ... Proof Is The Bottom Line For Evryone (31/52)

Faith
Faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone

That's from Paul Simon's song "Proof", from his "Rhythm of the Saints" album, and I am listening to it as I am thinking about Scott Turow's novel "The Burden of Proof". (No, I don't know all these musical connections off the top of my head. I just love querying my iTunes libarry. That's what the information superhighway is good for: everything at your fingertips. It's good being a geek.)

I finished "Burden of Proof", and have been thinking about the connections with the previous novel, Turow's stellar debut "Presumed Innocent". Turow sets all his novels in the same county, but he focuses on a different protagonist for each book. (I like this - you proceed to another novel, and will find echoes of others, but tangentially, just like in your own community.) "Presumed Innocent" told the tale of Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor who comes under investigation for the murder of a colleague, with whom, as it turns out, he had an affair. "Burden of Proof" is set several years later, and focuses on Sandy Stern, who was Sabich's attorney. For me, the mastery of "Presumed Innocent" is in the fact that Turow tells the story from the point of view of Sabich without ever giving away whether he is guilty or not, thus I don't think the movie holds up to the novel. But thanks to it, I saw and heard Raul Julia in my mind's eye as I read "Burden of Proof". This is not a complaint at all.

In both novels, a central figure sets an investigation in motion, acting from the assumption that it would have to end without a conviction. Probably not such a good assumption in either case. And in both novels, there is a central figure who suffers from depression, described in such stark and black tones that I really got it. Fine writer, that Scott Turow. It was a pleasure re-reading this. I half-remembered some pieces, but I couldn't recall how they fit together.

PS: Forgot to put the numbering in the headline. 31! Ahead of schedule for 52 books in 52 weeks!!

I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down (23/2007)

Work was pleasantly slow this week, so I skipped out early yesterday to catch an afternoon showing of Ocean's 13. I like Clooney and his Nouveau Rat Pack, and enjoyed Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12. (I don't know if I've seen the original; if I have, clearly, I don't recall.)

I've heard several reviewers say that they liked this one better than Ocean's 12, and Clooney himself says this is the movie they should have made last time around.

Well, good for you all. Me? I am disappointed. I get that I am supposed to suspend my disbelief in a movie. But if you are presenting to me something that purports to be the very clever setup for a heist, you better make it ironclad. This one? They didn't plan their heist any better than the government planned the Iraq War; they were just lucky their enterprise turned out better. They had all these things that depended entirely on coincidence and maybes and things that were possible, but didn't HAVE to happen the way they did. I walked out (no, not during the movie, afterwards) thinking that this was not a heist movie, but an action slapstick disguised as a heist flick.

How does Joe Bob put it? "Not a lot of plot getting in the way of the action." I wish that had been the case here too. Unfortunately, lots of plot getting in the way. And lots of the pieces not making sense. Grrrr.

Oh Yes, Wait A Minute, Mr. Postman

  The Stash 
  Originally uploaded by elkit

The mailman has been good to me this week. These items arrived yesterday and today. Lots of food for watching, reading, and listening.

I bought most of the books used from the Amazon.com marketplace, traded one through Paperback Swap, and traded the CDs at the top of the pile through Lala.com.

Let's tally up my cost and savings, shall we?

• 4 audio CDs traded through Lala.com, at the cost of $1.75 each: $7
• Sandinista Project CD, new from amazon.com: $14.99, free super-saver shipping
• Graham Greene's "Heart of the Matter", traded through Paperback Swap. Costs me a return trade at the price of postage, usually $2.13 at media mail rate.
• First season of Lost, used through amazon.com marketplace: $29.99 plus $2.98 s/h
• First season of The 4400, new from amazon.com: $13.49, free super-saver shipping
• "Small Pieces Loosely Joined", used through amazon.com marketplace, $3.45 plus $3.99 s/h
• "The Life of Graham Greene", Vol. I, used through amazon.com marketplace, $3.50 plus $3.99 s/h

Yes, I realize that the shipping and handling is more than the price of the two books I bought, but they're still great bargains, compared to new editions. (Why didn't I buy everything used? I could not find good enough deals on The 4400 and The Sandinista Project, so I ponied up, because I wanted them badly enough.)

My calculator said I spent a total of $85.51.

If I bought everything new from amazon.com, and the traded CDs from iTunes, my total would be:

• 4 albums from the iTunes store, assuming $9.99 each: 39.96
• Sandinista Project, as before: $14.99
• Heart of the Matter, new paperback: $11.25
• First season of Lost, $46.99
• First season of The 4400, as above: $13.49
• Small Pieces Loosely Joined, new paperback: $12.38
• Life of Graham Green, new paperback: $15.60

Grand total: $154.36. I saved $68.85, close to half. Nice going!

Can I have Another Piece of Chocolate Cake?

I've been using my RSS reader more consistently, and have added more blogs to my reading list, including several food blogs.

One of these, Kalyn's Kitchen, has a reader survey today. The perfect topic for some lunch-time bloggery! I'll try to answer as best as I can.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. (If you'd like, tell your name, where you live, and what you do for a living. If not, just share something interesting.)
   My name is Elke, I go by elkit online. I live in San Jose, California with three cats, and I make web pages for a living.
2. How did you find Kalyn's Kitchen and how long have you been reading this blog?
   I am pretty new to Kalyn's Kitchen; only been reading for a few weeks. I forget how I found her - by searching for a recipe, and her blog came up in the results? Or through a link from another blog? In any case, I like how well-organized her site is, and how easily you can find recipes, so I added her to my above-mentioned RSS reader.
3. What are some things you'd be sure to eat if you were visiting San Francisco?
   I live about an hour away, so I trek up to "the City" regularly. My favorites are the Suppenküche, a home away from home for this German ex-pat, and Eos, about whose liquid-center chocolate cake I have recurring dreams. And the Ferry Building is hog heaven for foodies.
4. Where's the best place you ever went for a vacation and what did you eat there?
   Tuscany, with a dozen friends, for about a dozen days. We ate lots of great Italian food, drank wonderful wines, and lots of good strong coffee. One of the finest meals I have ever had was Pasta Carbonara with smoked duck instead of the customary bacon, at Sotto le Fonti in Siena. Still makes my mouth water, just thinking about it five years later.
5. What's the next thing you'll be cooking in your own kitchen?
   The very next thing will probably be some veggies tonight. The green beans and mushrooms need killin'. The next thing I am really looking forward to cooking? A clafoutis, like this Apricot and Cherry Clafoutis from The Ethicurean, or the Clafoutis à la Fraise from Chocolate and Zucchini. Like I said, I've been reading a bunch of food blogs lately.

Oh, and to answer my question in the title: No, I cannot have another piece of chocolate cake. Matter of fact, since I've been curtailing my sugar intake, I am not even going to have a first piece.