What I Watched -- Breaking Dawn, Part II

This might be the worst movie ever made.  I can't say that it is the worst movie ever made, because I haven't seen all the movies.  But it's possible that it is.  Even worse than the last one.

It's the fifth in the mopey, sad-eyed Kristen Stewart tetrology - which really doesn't make sense at all, except that apparently they were having so much fun watching Kristen and Rob be all depressed that they just needed a fifth movie.

Bottom line: it sucks.  And -- MAJOR SPOILER ALERT -- most of it is both imaginary and imagined.  So.  Yeah.

Circus Flora

In the grand tradition of summer activities (2012, 2011, 2010), my cousin A and I went to see Circus Flora, St. Louis's own local show, earlier this week.  It came at the end of a long, hectic week, so unfortunately I didn't have the enjoyment of looking forward to it like I usually do.  But as soon as I got there, it was a blast!

This year's theme was "To the Moon," based on the 1902 Georges Melies short film Le Voyage dans la Lune (which also had a fairly central role in Brian Selznick's book The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the resulting film adaptation Hugo).

We were entertained by dogs, a horse and a miniature horse, goats, clowns, a rooster, a donkey, and all sorts of other fun.  Of course it wouldn't be a Circus Flora without the Flying Wallendas on the high wire and the Flying Pages on trapeze!  And - man! - you should've heard the women in the audience swoon when Andrew Adams of the Duo Ardeo shed his wizard's robe for his aerial routine.  It was quite a moment!

All in all, A and I had a great time, and everybody should go see the show before it's gone!

Happy Birthday, K!

Random Links

Heights of fancy.

Say hello to your microbiome.

Another shout-out for the Lou.

Public spaces.

Hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs.  No wonder no one likes them.

You say crayfish, I say crawdad.

Goal #23

Goal #23: cook (or at least eat) good food.

I've been on a bit of a junk food kick lately.  It happens periodically, and it was not aided by the fact that I made three delicious ice creams with the ice cream maker I got from E for my birthday a few years ago.  Over Memorial Day weekend, I made strawberry ice cream, lemon basil sorbet, and cheesecake ice cream with strawberry sauce.

I did share these delights, but even keeping half or a third of each batch for myself still made for a lot of sugary goodness.  Then there are the loads of baked (or fried) treats that have shown up in our office kitchen lately - and about three in the afternoon I have no willpower.

But I will try to be better!  (Although I do still have some frozen blackberries that will one day become ice cream as well....)

Recap of goal #22: my goal to get the cedar chest to T's house was revamped a bit.  T is on a roll with some of his own projects, and he needed the space, and - given that it's his house and all - my project will wait.

P's Little Slice of Paradise

Here it is!  Isn't it perfect?

Brunch at Oceano

I met a group of girlfriends for brunch at Oceano this past weekend.  I had heard good things about their brunch, so I needed to try it!

Unfortunately, we planned brunch for the weekend of Taste of Clayton, which both made parking difficult and meant that I missed Taste!

But once I was through that maze, it was great!  First things first: I was thrilled to see coffee with Rumchata on their menu in addition to a few of the classic breakfast cocktails.  When it came time for food, I had the garden omelet, and it was pleasantly stuffed full of veggies.  (I had just finished a 50-mile bike ride, so I could have used an additional egg in the omelet, but c'est la vie.)  The omelet came with absolutely delicious and slightly spicy breakfast potatoes - everyone loved them!

There were eight in our party, and once we ordered, the food came fairly quickly and was well-presented to everyone within just a few seconds.  I think they had four people delivering plates.  It was simple but well done, and I hope to go back.

Happy Birthday, Radar!

My little man turns 14 today!

Surrounded by his favorite toys.  Apparently he doesn't believe in "too much of a good thing."

(Sorry for the weird coloring - my phone is the worst.)

Doing his thing in his younger days.

What I Watched -- American Psycho

I watched American Psycho by accident.  I was over at a friend's house having a few beers, we flipped on the TV, and there it was, right at the very beginning.  I didn't really know what I was getting into, but it had Christian Bale in it - even a creepy version of him - so I was down.

Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a slick-suited Wall Streeter who doesn't actually appear to work for a living.  Instead, he just expresses his masculine insecurities in juvenile pissing contests with his similarly pin-striped colleagues, comparing business cards while all sporting their matching, gelled-back hairstyles.

By night, Patrick Bateman becomes a menacing, chainsaw-wielding killer, in a disturbingly and darkly comic way.  It's not funny in the strictest sense, but it's not a horror movie either.  It's stuck somewhere in between, the same way Patrick is stuck between his many personalities.

Bottom line: mostly just weird.

Goal #22

Goal #22: cedar chest, step #1.

This is not a particularly big step, but it's the first step in a long process.  I need to get my cedar chest from storage to T's house to start refinishing it.

Recap of goal #21: I can't say that my freezer is empty, but I took inventory of everything in it this week.  I threw out some old stuff, ate some not-old stuff, and added new stuff (ice cream fresh from my own ice cream maker!)