I sold my microwave for ten bucks!

Counter space in my kitchen is at a premium and with the arrival of the ice cream maker it was no decision, nuke box gotta go.

Monday update: having trouble finishing this week's comic even though it's a fairly simple one. Lets try again tomorrow.

Tuesday update. Ok! Pushed through my laziness tonight and wrapped it up. I got a new computer last week (an iMac) and it took me a while to get the hang of the bigger screen and increased resolution (I'm drawing in 300dpi now!). Let me know if anything seems different. I tried to keep everything close to the same (brush width, overall brightness/color, etc) so there wouldn't be any jarring style shift midstory.

The cupcake photo I posted in place of a comic on Monday:

Labels: comical

The Sunset Junction street fair was hot and crowded, but still fun! Click on Horton for photos!

Labels: comical, snappy

(Spoils to be had ahead)

I was expecting funny. With everyone involved it had to be funny, but when when Seth and Evan have their last moment across the escalator, it hit me like the final shot of The Graduate. "Holy shit," I thought, "this isn't just a funny movie, this is a great movie!"

Not that I expect it to be hailed as such come Oscar season, but Superbad might end up being the best film of the year.

Superbad is my Dazed And Confused. That's a film that I never got in highschool cause I had no connection to it. That wasn't my life in highschool. I didn't even really get it in college. It wasn't until I graduated that I actually started to enjoy it. Superbad on the other hand, instantly clicked with me, the profanity laden dialogue, the atmosphere, the fear of losing your friends when you leave highschool or leave college, that hit home.

"Bromance" is the hip term to toss around for this type of film, but I feel like this transcended the Will Farrell bromance genre. Behind the overt homo eroticism there was a heartbreaking sincerity. A barrage of dick jokes to mask the honest fear and drama between two friends facing the inevitable separation. And the dawning on them that if they ever want anything to do with girls, it will mean spending less time with each other. I felt like there was so much in this film that I'm not used to seeing in a movie.

A lot of the credit goes to Jonah Hill. His character had the most difficult balancing act, the most over the top gags and physical humor with the most important dramatic beats. It's the only way his character could have worked, those moments of insecurity between being bled on and hit by cars.

Michael Cera's character didn't quite get the same dramatic range to play as he was supposed to be the straight man, but I can't get enough of his twitchy physical humor and passive aggressive deliveries.

I think I wrote so much in my Pushing Daisies reviews I'm tired of typing. Both Daisies and Superbad were really inspiring from a writing standpoint. That's when I know a movie crossed the great line for me, when it gives me a kick in the ass towards my own writing.

I can't wait to see if Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow can bring the same over-the-top-but-honest style to their stoner action film Pineapple Express next year.

Labels: critiqua

Last night ABC screened a preview of the pilot for Pushing Daisies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Three things drew me in: Bryan Fuller, creator of Wonderfalls who also did some great work on Heroes, Lee Pace, the super hot and charismatic brother from Wonderfalls, and Barry Sonnenfeld who I guess is playing in TV now but I didn't realize, I'll have to look up his work on Notes From The Underbelly too.

The screening was at 8, but I should have realized that meant 9 (the sun doesn't set any faster for ABC on Thursdays than it does for the Cemetery screenings on Saturdays).

I really liked the show. It's got some pilot pains, and it didn't knock me out like Wonderfalls did, but by the end of the episode I was excited to see what happens next. I'm going to be spoilery.

Things start of both brilliantly and clunkily as an idilic moment of Ned and his dog running through a super saturated field of flowers is interrupted when a truck splats the dog. On paper, this is all stuff I love, the cartoony colors, the morbid hilarity, the dying pet saddness, but the puzzle pieces don't quite fit exactly. I'm not sure if it's the actual editing, or the decision to not let the young Ned actor speak (using faux-stonefacism as a ZachBraff-esque dramatic cheat?), or the overbearing narration, but the entire first act felt like everything was a beat off. Which is a shame, because the same scenarios could have been brilliant.

The premise of the show is that Ned can bring dead people/animal/plants back to life by touching them. But there's catches. If he touches the person/animal/plant a second time, they die again, this time permanently. If he lets them live permanently though, fate will take the life of someone near by. This little eternal life or death exchange happens one minute after the initial touch.

The narrator is easily the biggest problem in the episode. I guess they decided the premise was too complicated to explain gradually or visually, or through a few simple dialogue exchanges. Instead the narrator attacks us with all the information at once. It almost sounded like they edited out his breaths so they could keep the words coming.

In Wonderfalls, Jaye's ability is vague and the source of her powers is even more vague, but it was organic, it was in the world of the show. Here the narrator says right off the bat something like "it's not known what entity gave him these powers, or why." If this show reaches any of the heights of Wonderfalls they were probably already planning on exploring the social/moral/religious implications of a man who can bring things back to life, so why bring it up in a such an odd way?

Once the show gets moving with the main cast the narrator mostly disappears, randomly interjecting way too much information that could have easily been explained otherwise and sometimes ruining tender moments. Hopefully he's just the product of a complicated pilot pitch and not a heavy presence in the show. Though I will say there was one line that got a chuckle out of me, with the one eyed aunt, "it appeared the jig was up, and if she'd had two good eyes, it would have been."

The show picks up in a big way when when we're introduced to the present day Ned, "The Pie Maker," have I mentioned how much I love job titles being used for names? Lee Pace conveys brilliantly what didn't quite come across with young Ned. The Pie Maker is twitchy, neurotic, and Pace's lanky physicality expresses so much emotion and vulnerability. He also strikes a great balance between morbid detachment and awkward sincerity.

The only present day character who didn't click with me was Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook, an employee, neighbor, dog watcher and not-secret admirer of Ned. Her acting style didn't quite mesh with the rest of the cast, and I'd sort of wished she was more than one character. Why not have an employee, a neighbor, a dog watcher AND a rejected admirer? I guess you could say having them all be the same person adds more complexity, but the Olive character isn't that complex and the show already has such a small cast that I was sort of looking for more regulars.

Chi McBride plays the PI Emerson Cod, who discovers Ned's power and strikes a deal with him to touch the corpses of unsolved murder victims to collect the reward money when they solve the case. He's got almost all the best lines in the pilot and he nails every one.

Rounding out the main cast we have Anna Friel as Chuck, have I mentioned how much I love guys names for girls? This one might be my favorite ever. Chuck is Ned's childhood first kiss who he's reunited with years later when she's murdered. Of course the minute time limit passes and he lets her live. Now they're in the perfect will-they-won't-they tv show scenario of being in love but being unable to touch. Anna's Chuck is adorable and quirky, Amelie with the spunk of Zooey Deschanel.

The look of the show is over the top, but in sort of a classic way. Ned's storefront, "The Pie Hole" looks straight out of a cartoon, like when a cat would dress up it's mouth and roll out it's red carpet tongue for the mice. Barry Sonnenfeld's direction was surprisingly hit and miss. One thing I always associate with Sonnenfeld is his fluidity of movement. His camera is always moving but it always leads you into the next shot. When it works (Adams Family/Men In Black/Get Shorty/Raising Arizona), you get this great rollercoaster sensation in your stomach. I got that feeling a few times in the pilot. But more often shots cut to one another in an abrupt, clunky way. Kinks like this will probably work their way out as the show goes on.

There's a surprising amount of effects in the show. Similar to Wonderfalls I guess except without the reason necessarily. Like the rich set design there's also a lot of Amelie-style effects of things coming to life in a childlike way. While I love it stylistically, it's not really motivated by the characters or the story which makes it sometimes seem unnecessary?

Overall I left the episode excited for the next and that's the important part. The chemistry of the main trio is great and the premise is ripe for all sorts of adventures and genres and guest stars. My only reservations is the narrator, the friend/employee who doesn't seem to have an apparent purpose or story arc and a small cast that might limit the show the longer it plays. For instance, Wonderfalls had 9 some recurring characters introduced in the pilot that went on to play major roles through the season, Daisies has 4, 5 if you count the dog, 7 if you count the Aunts who seemed more like this week's guest stars.

After the screening they passed out cute little pies from Joan's, oh how I love gimmicks. The only downside now is that the show doesn't start until October 3rd! What's up with that?

If you're interested in obsessing, maybe get lost in Lee Pace's dreamy eyes, check out The Pie Maker, that's right, a show that hasn't even aired yet has a fansite. I take that as a sign the show will be cancelled immediately.

Labels: critiqua

I saw this Iron Man cover on Comics Continuum yesterday:


Which is not unlike one of my favorite movie posters of all time:


And speaking of graphic movie posters, I've been passing this 3:10 to Yuma poster on the way home from work, it's really iconic:


Looking it up online I found a few others, this one is also striking, I especially enjoy the texture and the font work (love the formation of the title). As with the one above, the only thing that would make these better if they abstracted the figures, maybe with a little Soul Bass cutout style.


Of course even the most beautiful movie campaigns now-a-days still have their crappy "here's our stars pasted together in Photoshop" poster:


Poster links: IMP Awards is a great poster archive with some nice large scans. While I was musing about posters I also found PosterWire, a movie poster blog that has good content but only updates a few times a month. Wish more advertising agencies put more thought into their poster campaigns.

Labels: inspirado

Tonight I went to see the pilot of Pushing Daisies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (review to come shortly, but it's got potential). I decided to whip up more ice cream to bring with (still had some vanilla left, but no harm in them sharing a container.

I used the same recipe as before, only this time I added 3 or 4 teaspoons of CremeDeMenthe liquor and a quarter bag of chocolate chips. A vague attempt at mint-chip.







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Much better than just plain vanilla. Not quite enough CremeDeMenthe for the kick I wanted but the hint was nice. And the alcohol almost gave it a green tea-esque aftertaste. Time to start branching out!

Labels: icecream, snappy

Anyone who knows me knows that ice cream is a big part of my life. So it's a wonder that it's taken so long for me to try making homemade ice cream.

Last week I finally made the plunge and ordered this fancy ice cream maker. For my first attempt I decided to keep it simple and just make vanilla, Apartment Therapy's been talking about ice cream all summer so I used one of their basic custardy vanillas.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Beat milk and eggs together in a large saucepan. Add sugar and vanilla bean or vanilla extract, and cook over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until slightly thickened and registering 170° F on a thermometer. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove hull of the vanilla bean, if using, and stir in cream. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl and cover surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. The mixture will not be completely hard. To finish freezing, put mixture into a lidded container, cover and allow to harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 1 quart or about 8 servings







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Not pictured: the sugar, cause I forgot that ice cream has sugar?

I doubled (tripled?) the vanilla, cause I like vanilla. And instead of refrigerating for hours before the mixing step I simply put it in the freezer for half an hour. It turned out really well, sort of sweet and custardy (guess that was the point though). I liked it a lot but I have a feeling there's a better vanilla recipe out there to be had. Still, really exciting to make my own ice cream.

I'm hooked.

Labels: icecream, snappy

I found a new peanut butter chocolate chip recipe, this one includes a frosting recipe to make sandwich cookies:

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (packed) dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups (about 8 ounces) milk chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat powdered sugar, dark brown sugar, and butter in large bowl to blend.

Add peanut butter; beat until creamy. Gradually beat in vegetable oil and vanilla extract, then egg. Add dry ingredients; mix just until blended. Stir in milk chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by level tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until puffed and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely.

Filling
3 ounces high-quality milk chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina), chopped
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
6 tablespoons whipping cream

Place chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and kosher salt in medium bowl. Bring whipping cream to boil in heavy small saucepan. Pour hot cream over chocolate mixture; stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Chill until filling is thick and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Spread about 1 rounded teaspoonful chocolate-peanut butter filling on flat side of 1 cookie. Top with second cookie, forming sandwich. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies. (Cookie sandwiches can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)







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This might be my best peanut butter cookie recipe (minus a peanut butter/oatmeal one I have), but I totally blew the frosting. Last week, when I made banana cupcakes, I cheated in the frosting and used buttermilk in place of whipping cream, and it worked! I swear it did. But this time, instead of following the instructions and buying the right ingredients, I tried to swap again and it was a failure. The buttermilk cooked in a thick smelly kind of way and I followed it through to the end and it was just no no good. As my friend said, "well duh."

Luckily these cookies are really good and the filling wasn't a big loss. In fact, I'll probably use this recipe just for the cookies in the future, though I might try sandwich style and leave out the chocolate chips.

They're also some of the prettiest cookies I've ever baked!

Labels: icecream, snappy

Speaking of ear plugs, I always forget to buy them before a concert. Every concert I go to the opening act blows out my ears.

Labels: comical

A new recipe from my first and only cookbook that my friend gave me for my birthday this year, "Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans"

The recipe is supposed to be for Banana Butterscotch Cupcakes, but I like chocolate more than butterscotch.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 medium bananas broken into 1" pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin tin cups with paper liner.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until blended and creamy, about 2 minutes with a mixer. Add the banana pieces, mixing until they are blended into the mixture; you will still see some small pieces of banana. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 minute. On low speed, add half the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the buttermilk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with a scant 1/3 cup of batter, to about 1/4 inch below the top of the liner. Bake until the top feels firm and a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove them from the pan to cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

I used this recipe only I cut it in half (still too much) and skipped the corn syrup, and cocoa powder (and didn't taste any difference). Also, when I got tired of waiting for the icing to set I started added handfuls of powdered sugar to encourage it along.





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These turned out really well. Everyone liked them a lot. They tasted sort of like banana bread more than cupcakes, but it worked really well with the frosting. Will definitely be keeping this one. And I might use this recipe but swap bananas for strawberries (or even better, mix the two!) and see if it works better than my previous strawberry experiments.

Labels: icecream, snappy

Before my trip I made a batch of Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies (which I've made before: recipe here). Now I call them Cayenne Chocolate Chip Cookies cause saying Mexican always begged the question, "what makes a cookie Mexican?" and since the answer in this recipe is cayenne pepper I figured I'd skip a step and just call them Cayenne Cookies.




This time, instead of adding the dark chocolate as chips or chunks I melted it and mixed it into the batter to create chocolate cookies (no chips). They tasted great but I sort of missed having chips, and the mix of the batter got thrown off and the cookies were very crumbly. If I actually knew about cooking beyond following recipes I would have compensated for adding the melted chocolate but I don't know how (add more flour? eggs?).

Labels: icecream, snappy

My brother and father were rooting for the Orioles.

I was rooting for both teams. And the beachballs.

More Pictures.

Labels: comical