Link: A Softer World 527

A plan for when the dead rise.

My plan: the baseball bat in the trunk of my car.

Happy Labor Day!

What did everyone do for Labor Day?

I know I sure had an enjoyable weekend, even if I wasn't at Dragoncon. I feel like I really needed the three days. Two days is just not a long enough weekend. Even with the extra day I still managed to not get everything done that needed doing. I did relax though and that is important.

Highlights from the weekend included:

Friday night seeing my wonderful neighbors and their band Ocelot Robot at The Good Hurt on Venice Blvd. I'm still not quite sold on Good Hurt (the Stella was warm! What up with that?) but it's growing on me. Mostly I just enjoy seeing the guys play and hanging out with everyone. They have another show coming up on October 17th. Sadly I will be out of town but if you're in the area and need something fun to do, check out The Good Hurt and Ocelot Robot! If nothing else, it's always cool to support your local bands.

Saturday I actually got down to it and spent the day writing. Yes, as usual I've been slacking on the writing around work. Saturday was good though. The screenplay re-write is still going slowly but I did make a little progress. I also cleaned up a short story I've been working on. I think I'm fairly satisfied with that one so I may even release it into the world soon we'll see.

Sunday was delicious. After spending the morning dealing with the plumber (boo!) I ventured into downtown to one of my favorite new spots Wurstkuche. Sausage and beer really has to be one of the best combinations of tastiness to ever have been discovered. This place does it's beer and sausage right. They even have veggie sausage for me! Throw in the exotic Rattlesnake and Rabbit or Alligator and Pork with the sausage classics and you've got a little something for everyone. If sausage isn't your thing but you like beer, this is still an excellent spot to try. They have an impressive selection of beer on tap that always seems to include something new or rare or just plain not on the menu. The guys working there all seem to love the beer and will enthusiastically recommend something to your taste.

I should look into this more but I believe that veggie sausages are even Vegan as are the fries. There's apparently some question on the buns. Either way, it's a super tasty place to go for the eating.

My Chouffe beer. An excellent recommendation.

Veggie Chipotle Sausage
 

After an incredibly satisfying beer and sausage adventure, we made our way out to Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the Cinespia screening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If you live in LA and haven't checked out the movies in the cemetery yet, well, what are you waiting for? This season is almost over (they only screen in the summer) but there are a few flicks left. Go catch one! It's $10 a person and you can bring blankets, food, drinks, or whatever with you for a picnic and movie on the lawn. It's a lovely way to spend an evening with some friends. I'm also always impressed with the range of films they screen over the course of the season. It includes everything from the classic to the artsy and it's almost guaranteed that they'll show at least one movie you love by the end of the summer. I try and go a couple of times a year and I have yet to be disappointed.

Ferris Bueller, you're my hero.

Monday, the actual Labor Day, I finished off a few errands while pretending to be a responsible adult and then said Screw the laundry, I'm going to the beach! Well, I never did make it to the beach but I did make it to a sailboat. We sailed off of the beach though, so that sort of counts right? Seriously, it was amazing and completely made my weekend. Sailing is one of my favorite things ever even if it is something I haven't done nearly enough of yet. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday.

At times like these, I enjoy living in LA

Once I got home last night I somehow managed to find the energy to actually pull together lunch for the week. I made a slight variation of this Tomato and Corn Biscuit Pie and it is AMAZING. If you need something simple and savory and wonderful, go make this right now. Seriously. I stayed pretty close to the recipe making a few substitutions based on what I had in my kitchen. I only had white onion so I used about half of one of those. I sadly also had no fresh basil so I went with dry. Finally, we didn't have any lemon (my bad, I thought we did) so I used about a tablespoon of orange juice. It was sweeter than the lemon would have been but I thought it worked out quite well. Really, the key to this dish is the tomato and corn. If those are fresh (my corn was soooo sweet and good) then you're pretty sure to get a tasty meal. The biscuit crust is also super, super easy. I can't wait to try just making actual biscuits with that recipe.

OMG delicious

Yes, I am very, very satisfied with the state of my lunch this week.

We shoot this weekend so I don't expect to be writing much for the rest of the week. Today was all ready super busy and I suspect that will continue for the next few days. I will try and get something out for Girl Talk Thursday though. This week's topic is Halloween costumes! A topic I dearly love to discuss. I'm all ready thinking hard on what this year's costume will be. Maybe I'll let you in on the possibilities come Thursday.

On that note, I am out. Hope everyone had an excellent weekend!

The Cake that was Baked

Oh man, guys, the cake is good. I feel like I've been on sugar overload for the last three days. I am extremely pleased with the results. First off, the frosting is amazing. It's a perfect blend of tang from the cream cheese, sweetness from the absurd amount of sugar, and vanilla from, well, the vanilla. I adore it.

The vanilla bean experience was a fantastic one. I'm even in the process of making my own vanilla extract from the leftover bean. Should I be as excited as I am about this? I think so.

The cake itself is great. I was super paranoid about the baking time since our oven isn't the most consistent and made sure to check it at precisely 25 minutes. To my surprise, it was actually ready right then so I pulled it out. Somehow I managed to not dry it out at all! It's moist and wonderful. Personally I would almost like it to be more chocolately but I am kind of a chocolate freak. I've had no complaints from anyone else.

No complaints except from L who was a bit dismayed by the amount of sugar and butter and cream cheese involved. Not that she's wrong in that, this is not a healthy dessert.

I almost never eat sweets like this so I honestly really don't care. Since I generally try to go vegan in my baking so J can partake, a lot of what I do tends to be more on the healthier side (not that vegan is necessarily inherently healthy, I've still made some very unhealthy vegan treats. The healthy is just more likely in what I usually make). I'm perfectly happy to indulge every now and again.

I'm bringing some of the cake in to work tomorrow. We'll see what my coworkers think!

If you're curious to try this yourself, visit grammar monkey on her blog Do Not Feed the Editor. Actually, you should go visit her even if you don't want to bake the cake. She's awesome and entertaining and most definitely worth the visit.

While I was baking I did a mini "photo shoot" of the process. The pictures are up on Flickr for your viewing pleasure

Also for your viewing pleasure, more bad art! I'm sadly going to be slower on the uploading of my sketches since I don't have easy access to a scanner at the moment. For Jeremiah's sketch I actually took a picture with my phone and uploaded that. Not ideal, but whatever works!

Enjoy this for now! I've got another few coming and always feel free to add to the requests.

Jeremiah the Possum. 

He who lives outside my window.

LA is Burning. And Other Stuff.

The Station Fire in Angeles Forest is still burning like crazy. The view of the smoke today was epic, even from the Marina. Apparently brush that hasn't burned in over five decades is now burning and parts of Glendale are even being evacuated.

Down here in the Marina we're plenty far away but the air quality is still pretty gross. The last few days have not been good for breathing. Combine the bad air with today's heat, not fun. Apparently parts of the westside were even experiencing brown outs but if we lost power at any point today I didn't notice.

Here's an AP article with more info on the fire along with a few images.

In other news.

I'm baking my cake! I'm actually in the middle of it. I've just taken the cake out of the oven and it's currently cooling. In a minute I'll start on the frosting. So far it's going well! I've taken pictures, of course, and those will be up just a little later.

I even bought a real vanilla bean for the frosting. It's my first vanilla bean guys! I'm inordinately excited about this vanilla.

Speaking of pictures, Thomas Lennon just posted a good one on Twitter.



Last night was, as a friend put it, classic. Not really sure there's a better way to describe it. It was really great to see cast and crew that I haven't seen since December but sad as well, given the circumstances. So classic is one way to describe it. Bittersweet another.

Strangely I did not actually have a camera with me last night. A few friends did though so hopefully I'll get to see other pictures. Or maybe it's just better if this particular evening lives on only in my memory. Either way.

All right, time to make some frosting. Expect another post once the cake is finished and tasting has commenced. There shall be details and pictures. I'm convinced this is going to be delicious!

Flash Fiction: The Wiseness of Cats

A few days ago photographer Kyle Cassidy posted a writing contest on his Livejournal. Any fans of Neil Gaiman or Amanda Palmer (or both) may know Kyle's work from the book Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

The rules were simple, write a 350 word story about his cat Roswell and mer-people. The prize was a copy of Chris Howard's novel Seaborn. And Chris Howard himself was the judge.

I sadly didn't win (oh well!) but it was a lot of fun to participate in and I really enjoyed a lot of the other stories. The winning ones are all pretty rad. You can read them all over on Kyle's LJ.

You can read mine right here! So now, without further ado, is my little Flash Fiction.

***

The Wiseness of Cats

She stood alone on the vast, empty shore. The great waves roared, crashed, frothed over sand and raced towards her feet. She shivered in disgust. To step foot in that awful ocean was the last thing she wanted.

She daintily slapped at it with one sandy paw. The water swirled around her claws and she pulled back, hissing.

It was so cold!

However, the call had come. She sighed, onward it must be.

With one powerful thrust she let herself fly through the air and into the waves. After a brief moment of swirling mayhem, her feet found purchase and she settled on the ocean floor.

Seawater filled her lungs. Choking, she gasped for air. The water filled her mouth and she felt herself begin to retch. Her whole body convulsed and she hacked an impressive cough.

At her feet sat, or rather floated, a hairball. She knocked it away in distaste.

She crossed many leagues before finally arriving at the undersea palace. The distance would have been annoying but she had traversed it many times before.

The Sea King was waiting. Ten stories to Roswell’s tiny stature and yet she stood before him, mighty in her pride.

“What do those Humans think they are doing?!” He bellowed.

“How should I know?”

“You are the ambassador.”

“I’m just a cat. You’re a King.” At once he deflated, his anger giving way to sadness.

“They have forgotten me. I no longer have even a name.”

“Then you must remind them. That is the only advice I have. You were once a god to them, they trembled in fear at your power. Make it so once again.” He stared glumly at her, not deigning to reply.

“Is there anything else? I dare say it’s time for my lunch and I will soon be missed.”

Back on land Roswell regarded the horizon; an angry storm of justified anger would soon be on its way. Roswell supposed she could attempt to warn them, but humans had forgotten the wiseness of cats. That memory was buried deep along with the names of their forgotten gods.

Links for Friday

I have so many random things I've been looking at today. I shall share them with you now! There will be links. Oh yes. Links there will be. And appreciate this because I'm taking a break from my Mad Men to share goodness with the world. Does that make me a philanthropist? Okay, maybe not.

Anyway, on to the linking...

Speaking of Mad Men, The New York Times has this article about the series. It does contain spoilers so if you haven't finished season 2 yet, be careful. To say it one more time, the new season premiers this Sunday at 10 PM. So make sure you're home or set your DVR or, like me, try and do both.

Another interesting New York Times article about Photography in NYC. It details a fascinating portrait of the city. If I was in New York I would definitely try and check out some of the photography being exhibited at galleries around the city. Someone on the east coast should go look at it for me.

This feeling seems familiar... Image from explodingdog.

This story from Mark Evanier made me laugh. How very Hollywood! I'm just curious to know who that Very Big Movie Star was.

Finally, I leave you with this video detailing the lovely harmonies of the Beach Boys. Yes, I still love Pet Sounds. Personally, I think it's brilliant.



What else?

Oh yes! I shall be going here tomorrow night to see a gallery filled with expensive toys. As someone who still loves her My Little Ponies, I fully appreciate the toys-as-art (or whatever it is) idea. Plus, they're really cute. And awesome.

And that's it for now! At some point I'll actually be posting an original little flash fiction I wrote yesterday so stay tuned for that. Guys, I'm going to let you read something FICTIONAL that I've written. I'm just as in awe as you are. That may happen tonight or may happen tomorrow. I promise I won't keep you in suspense for too long.

Otherwise, I hope you all have fabulous weekends full of good news. I'm tired of bad news. I've decided that it's time for me to stop receiving it. I will only be accepting good news from this point forward. Just an FYI. Send good news my way!

Links: A Comic, a Video, and a Purple Raccoon

I promised things that make me smile and I deliver on my promises.

Dog Hates ME

Short little comics by Sam Brown that make me smile. This one suits my mood at the moment but many of them make me smile. He updates a few times a week for guaranteed entertainment.

An Endless Cycle

My friend took a motorcycle trip from New Orleans to Chicago to the West coast and then back to NO. He promises updates and even if there aren't many it's a fascinating trip to follow. I have to admit to complete jealousy. What I wouldn't give to be able to take a crazy journey like that... Maybe someday I will.

Never Gonna Give You Up

KT sent me the link to this video to make me feel better. It worked. That bartender is awesome.

Then there's this guy:



Dude! He's a purple raccoon named Boris! I'm in love.

I honestly don't know why I love this guy so much. Maybe because he's awesome?

He's brand new from artist cool guy Nathan Hamill (yes, he's related to THAT Hamill). Nathan's got a blog too, go check him out.

You can also find Boris online at U1 Toy Arts.

This weekend also made me smile. I spent it with the family in San Diego since my little brother was in town for the week. He's in his second year of law school so he hasn't had much time for the visiting and whatnot over the last year. It's always nice to see him and his girlfriend and spend time with the folks.

The weekend really was a good one. Family time, delicious pizza, an afternoon spent at Stone Brewery in Escondido, beer, a little beach, onion rings, True Blood watching. Pretty good right?

As always, there are a few pics up. San Diego pictures.

EDIT:

One more thing to add. If you're on Twitter, check out @robhuebel. His updates are top notch and make me laugh without fail.

Comic-Con in Pictures

As many folks who like comics, video games, sci-fi, Twilight, movies, and all other things nerdy and geeky all ready know this past weekend was the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. I guess folks who live in San Diego probably noticed as well.

It was my first year going to SDCC. In fact, it was my first time going to ANY kind of Con. (How does a self-described nerd get away with never attending a convention? Um. Nerdfail?) It was also completely unplanned. I literally found out I’d be able to go a half hour before leaving. A friend and coworker type person had an extra pass and when he realized I wasn’t going… He’s a really, really good friend!

I drove down Thursday night with another friend for Wil Wheaton’s reading at Stone and then made my way to downtown Friday morning. There were many nerdy adventures to be had, a lot of food and beverages, and rather than try and recount it all I’ve decided to just be lazy and share the pictures.

Thursday Night:



Steve and I with Wil Wheaton.

By the time we made it through traffic from LA we had unfortunately missed his reading. But we did get to say hi, drink beer, and watch part of the RiffTrax movie playing in Stone’s garden. All in all a successful evening and a solid start for Nerd Adventures.

Friday & Saturday:



Check out my Comic-Con set on Flickr. It pretty much sums up the weekend. Since I didn’t know I was going until the very last minute I really never made much of a plan of my own. I mostly just tagged along with my friend. Which worked out quite well I think.

If I go again next year (when I go again next year) I will definitely make more of a plan. For the most part I’m not sad I didn’t really go to many panels, the lines were absurd, but there are a few I wish I had tried to check out. And staying Sunday may not have totally sucked.

At the end of the day though it was lovely. The hotel was perfectly situated, the food was tasty, and, most importantly, the company was fantastic. For a first time Comic Con adventure, this was a great way to go.

I’m excited for the possibilities of next year.

****

People should also really share pictures with me. I want to see evidence of other experiences! Send me links! Email me! Whatever. Share! Please? Pretty please double chocolate fudge ice cream sundae with a cherry on top?

Thoughts: I'm a Writer?

I’m doing this thing that I’ve mentioned on occasion called Writing. Right. Write. Really. I know that’s a weird thing to say, of course I’m writing. I write all the damn time. Sometimes I write in this blog. Daily I write in my journal. Hourly I put words on Twitter.

I’m obsessive with writing. It’s this weird thing I’ve been doing ever since I learned that putting letters on paper in a certain order made words. Frequently they were the wrong letters in a bizarre order. But still, words! Sentences! Paragraphs! Thoughts! Ideas! Stories? I started keeping my first diary when I moved to Florida in 3rd grade and while there have been periods of quiet I’ve never stopped.

I have notebooks full of stuff. I have notebooks half full of stuff. I have notebooks with a page full of stuff. I have a quote book that I’ve inflicted upon my friends (and filled with our nonsense). I have a self-inflicted rule that I’m not allowed to buy any more notebooks until I use more of the ones I all ready own. I frequently break that rule, but I try.

However, in all of this writing and babbling I never actually believed that I could write anything of any real length. Sure, I’ve written a few short stories, some really bad poetry, a short screenplay or two. A novel though? Not bloody likely! What about a feature? I don’t have the patience or the focus for a feature!

Yeah. Belief. What a funny thing.

I know I've all ready talked about it but I'm saying it again. Guys, I’m writing a feature. For real here. I know, I’m probably jinxing myself talking about it as it’s happening. I’m not allowed to keep a running page count anywhere (I’m on page 87). I shouldn’t be so giddy when it’s not even done.

I am though! Giddy that is. I’m giddy and surprised and pleased. I honestly don’t really think it’s very good, yet at least, but the fact that I’m actually writing this thing. I’ve been working on it for a solid two months now, after leaving the idea alone for two years, and it feels so real.

And please don't ask what it's about or if you can read it or anything like that. We'll get to that but we're not there yet. Yeah, I shouldn't talk about it if I don't want to TALK about it. I do a lot of things I shouldn't do.

This writing thing is such a strange development. It’s my work. I’m unemployed sure, but I’m still working. Every day I write something. Sometimes it’s just notes in one of my many notebooks. Sometimes it’s five whole pages. Sometimes it’s not even one. Some days I write for twenty minutes. Yesterday I wrote for over four hours.

I think what’s most exciting about this for me (other than the fact that I’ve written 87 freakin pages) is that I’m discovering things about myself. I’m learning what works for me. I’m realizing that I actually have a process. A process! My very own!

I’m putting together words that are forming sentences that are telling a story.

I don’t think of myself as a writer. I don’t think of myself as a director. I only vaguely think of myself as a filmmaker. I feel like these are all titles that I need to earn. How can I be a writer if I’ve never really finished anything that feels substantial? How can I be a director when I’ve only directed one short film? I work in the film industry so I guess I can sort of get away with the filmmaker thing. Even that I’m not so sure of yet.

I don’t know. When do I get to call myself these things? These are the things I aspire to. I suppose I’ll get there eventually.

For now, it’s just one word in front of another.

****

In the meantime, other things!

Movies!
There are good movies out right now that people should see. I highly recommend Hurt Locker and (500) Days of Summer. I also really enjoyed Harry Potter. Transformers 2 I skipped but I have to admit that I kind of really want to see The Ugly Truth. Funny People looks possibly worthwhile and Humpday I cannot wait to see.

Photos!
I gave in and made my Flickr Pro. I'm very pleased. The photo posting will not be stopped. My Photostream

Crafts!
I love crafts. I love people who make cool, original things. Sometimes I buy them. Some recent cool discoveries from the Renegade Craft fair:

Vital Industries: They make cool shirts with bikes. I love all things bicycle related.


Supermaggie: More fun t-shirts. And notebooks! I adore the little notebook I got.



And finally, Ex Libris Anonymous: Not only do they make super cool notebooks, they are SUPER cool people.



(This is the part where I fail at not buying more notebooks. So worth it though.)

That's where life has me right now. Broke, unemployed, writing. It's certainly been an interesting year so far. What's the rest of '09 got in store?

Production: Returning to Unemployment, Quiche, Bicycles, and other Summer Activities.

It’s official, or rather has been official since last Friday. I’ve returned to Unemployment-Land. The land of… well, unemployment? Job(less)-centric anxiety attacks fueled by a dwindling bank account balance, uncertainty over the future, and infinite amounts of boredom. The question of “Why am I doing this?” being asked countless times a day, in between cups of increasingly cold coffee and a phone that remains stubbornly silent. WAITING.

At least, that’s what it could be (and I have to admit, has been). It doesn’t have to be that though and I am determined to not LET it be that this time around. It’s summertime and I live only 30 minutes or so by bike from the beach. I have a basket full of projects I had to put on the back-burner while I was working, including a feature length screenplay that I’m all ready 60+ pages into (yes, seriously, I’ve actually been writing something beyond a blog. How weird is that?).

So rather than lamenting about my lack of prospects, my financial uncertainty, or any of that other stuff, I am going to instead focus on the things I enjoy spending my time doing. Writing. Taking pictures. Bike riding. Cooking. Spending time with my friends and family. These are the things I’m out here for after all. What’s the point, I ask myself? Well, all of that really.

Writing: As I mentioned, I’m working on a screenplay. Yes, I know everyone and their mother in LA is working on a screenplay. I’m working on incorporating all of the clichés into my life. Screenplay? Check!

I am really excited about this writing adventure though. Sure I’ve written things before but this is by far the longest, most real feeling project I’ve worked on. I don’t know how good it is or anything like that but honestly at this point my goal is more to finish something. The rest of those concerns are for the next draft.

Bicycle: I got a new one! After my old one died (the rain killed it, I swear) I was feeling rather helpless and stranded. So on Friday, just in time for the 4th of July festivities, I ventured up to Hollywood and bought my new ride out of some random dude’s garage. I love you, Craigslist.

She was a little rusty but some steel wool and scrubbing took care of that. Really the bike is in great shape and kind of completely perfect for me. I now even know a tiny bit about Raleigh bicycles. Yes, I googled it almost as soon as I got home. NERD.

Here she is:



Photography: (I know, I’m going out of order here) Back in December I purchased my friend’s old Nikon D40X. He was upgrading and since this was the camera I’d be lusting after for months, it was the prefect opportunity. I took it on a road trip and played with it a little but now I’m finally, actually, attempting to learn how to really use it. So far my photo subjects have included flowers, my friends, my cooking experiments, my new bike, bees (poor idea), and an onion (um, better idea than the bees?). I don’t know that I’d call my photography “Good” yet, but I’m learning! I’m pleased. You can see some of my efforts over on Flickr.

And, finally,

Cooking: Quiche! I made one! I’ve been promising my mom I’d post this recipe (I’m only two weeks late) so here it is:



Adapted from Vegetarian Times

Vegetarian Times has this whole cool crust part of the recipe involving phyllo dough but I have to admit to laziness on this part. I went with the store bought Pillsbury variety. Which is apparently vegan, good news for the roommate! Not that she’d eat an egg filled quiche anyway, but I digress.

As they also note in the magazine, a quiche is perfect for customizing. Add the ingredients you love. The original recipe called for Feta cheese, which I don’t really like, so I used Gruyere instead. It also called for a red onion but since I had a yellow one all ready on hand, I went with that.

Crust:
Pillsbury Pie Crust (usually found with the pre-made cookie dough and biscuits and all that stuff)

Filling:
Fresh Spinach (You can also use frozen. 1 10-ounce pkg., thawed and all liquid squeezed out)
1 Yellow onion, finely chopped (depending on the size of your onion, you might not need all of it. I had a bit left over)
½ cup cheese (I used Gruyere, one of my favorites and GREAT for baking)
10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Batter:
2 eggs
1 cup soymilk (or your milk of preference)
pinch ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray. Make the crust at this point if you’re going from scratch. Press your crust into the pie pan.
2. Filling: Stir together spinach and onion. Sprinkle cheese over crust. Top with spinach mixture. Arrange tomato halves over quiche.
3. Batter: Whisk together all ingredients in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour quiche batter over the filling in the crust. Set quiche on baking sheet, and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until top is brown and center is set.

And that’s it. Seriously. How easy is that? If you’re making a bigger pie, it’s ½ cup milk for every egg used.

The recipe really is great. I think my favorite part was the nutmeg. It added such a perfect, subtle touch. The cheese on the bottom keeps the crust from getting too soggy so it held up really nicely for meals over the rest of the week. I think I may actually make another one this week. Maybe trying out a few different ingredients. Maybe not.

Other upcoming culinary adventures: Whole Wheat Pasta Stir Fry (also ganked from Vegetarian Times), a spinach smoothie, and a Rhubarb-Mango crumble my lovely friend posted over on her blog Do Not Feed the Editor.

I suppose that’s enough chatter for now. I should probably actually eat food, not just write about it. And there is more screenplay writing to be done as well. Maybe I’ll even make it outside today.

Unemployment-Land, here I am.