Another Early Halloween Celebration

Jenn and John's Halloween party was this past Saturday. The theme was alien landing, and they decorated their yard with a UFO and aliens.

We had a tough time deciding on costumes. I considered the stomach bursting alien, Star Trek and Star War characters. Jeff thought of the Coneheads. 

Jeff suggested we get hazmat suits and go as people inspecting the alien spacecraft. I loved that idea. We got yellow hazmat suits, bought a pair of zombie arms, leeches and blood tattoos. Our idea was that radiation from the spaceship caused the skin of our arms to melt away and created lesions on our faces. 

Apparently the leech package was old; the adhesive and fake blood had hardened. Luckily I already had the idea to use some of my cucumber peel off mask to make decaying skin. I had to cut some of the leeches because the mask wasn't strong enough to hold them. We used red and yellow food coloring to add to the cucumber mask. I also added some clear mask to my face to simulate sheaths of skin falling off my face. Someone said it looked like snot, and another was grossed out, so I guess it was successful. Jeff used green food coloring on his arm.

We saw a friend with the stomach bursting alien, a couple of Coneheads and a Star Trek character. We also saw other aliens (mostly glamorous), Men in Black and non-alien themed costumes. As always a fun time. 

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DVR Catch-Up: Non Noir Edition

I recorded several movies last summer as part of my online course, Summer of Noir. In the past six weeks or so, I watched several of those films. But I've watched other films as well--this will be the shorter post.

Young Bess (1953): a romanticized story of Elizabeth I (Jean Simmons) and  Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger.) Things I've read depicted him as a lech, but here he is an honorable man dedicated to his wife Catherine Parr (Deborah Kerr) for the most part. A good film, if historical accuracies don't bother you.

Girl Missing (1933): I watched this mainly for Glenda Farrell--I love her as Torchy Blane. The cast included Lyle Talbot (an under-rated actor) and Guy Kibbee in a memorable scene. It was fun, if not memorable--a typical Warner Brothers B movie.

Nazi Agent (1942): I was curious to see Conrad Veidt in a dual role and was pleasantly surprised by this effective B film. Veidt expertly plays the kindly bookseller who has emigrated to America and the ruthless Nazi operative. As it sometimes happens in films (A Stolen Life and Dead Ringer come to mind) one twin impersonates and takes over the other's  life. I especially love that it's a pet bird that alerts the bad guys to the impersonation.

Wine, Women and Horses (1937): If there's a C movie category, this could epitomize it. Kind of predictable, only worth it for Ann Sheridan and Warner Brothers fans (like me.)

Find the Blackmailer (1943): Fun to see Jerome Cowan as a private eye again  (he was Miles Archer in The Maltese Falcon, and a detective in Crime by Night with "perky sidekick" Jane Wyman.) The plot was silly and complicated, but Cowan was good.

Now onto the 21st century.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): good popcorn movie--not much else to say.

Mockingjay Part Two (2015): I wasn't happy with the decision to split the last book in the series into two installments, and the third book was my least favorite. Still I watched this film with an open mind. Ultimately, it was a disappointing end to what could be an epic series.

I'll catch up on noir films in another post.

Waning Days of DPF

A few weeks ago, Jeff speculated that it could be our last DPF (Dog Park Friday.) I argued that we had another month's worth. I remembered a warm Friday in November a few years ago. Unfortunately, Jeff may have been right.

Three weeks ago, we had a nice night with several people; two weeks ago, it rained. Last week only three of us showed. It was still a nice night, but not the same as having eight to 10 people.

I don't think many people can make it tomorrow--but we'll be there--die hards to the end. Three more weeks and the end of daylight saving time effectively ends DPF. Those last weeks are especially iffy.

I always say we'll stay in touch with DPF friends over the winter, but it can be hard. We may run into a few people at the park. Last year we went to a dinner party in February.

I'll have to be proactive if I want to get people together this winter.

Heartbroke

Baltimore, I know how you feel.

Yes, I'm proud of what the Mets did accomplish with all the injuries.

But right now, I'm too close to the loss; the pain is too raw.

Maybe tomorrow.

LGM

Silly me--I saw LGM on comments to this post and it took me a while to figure out what it meant.

LET'S GO METS.

Tonight is the National League wild card game.

The Mets won the National League wild card before in 2000. This was before there were two wild cards and a winner-take-all game.

I've thought a lot about this season compared to last season. At the beginning of the 2015 season, I would have been happy with a winning season. The Mets provided much more than that. Some (such as John Smoltz) say the Mets paid the price for that successful season with the injuries suffered by the 2016 pitching staff.

Obviously Smoltz knows more about that than I do.

What I think about is how sweeter it would be for the Mets to reach the Wild Card last year and the World Series this year. Of course, I haven't given up on the Mets reaching the World Series this year.

It's just the idea of expectations.

TV Time--Star Trek TOS

As I previously mentioned, BBC America ran a marathon of Star Trek episodes from the original series. I caught several episodes (or parts of episodes) in passing: The Man Trap, Charlie X, The Menagerie, Amok Time, Patterns of Force. Some were mediocre; Amok Time and The Menagerie were classics.

I recorded my favorite episodes and worked through them over the next few weeks. (One exception was Mirror, Mirror from Season Two--I didn't record that because I had watched that a few months earlier.)

Season One episodes:

Balance of Terror--I recorded this thinking it was The Enterprise Incident. Still a good choice, it provides the first look at the Romulans and an indictment against racism.

The Galileo Seven--This was a favorite that had lost luster over the years. I wouldn't record it again.

Space Seed--This episode didn't resonate with me, but it spawned a movie so it was worth a re-watch. An interesting concept, but not a favorite.

The Devil in the Dark--Similar to The Galileo Seven, this had lost luster to me. Watching it recently, it held up okay. But the "horta" was hokey looking. I hated how Kirk and Spock changed positions about the need to kill the creature.

The City on the Edge of Forever--This is the best episode of the original series. It combines some of my favorite ideas of time travel and alternate realities. Plus a love story. This episode was written by Harlan Ellison, apparently with many rewrites and some turmoil. Similar concepts were explored in the Deep Space Nine episodes Past Tense. In both cases, alterations to the timeline prevented the creation of the United Federation of Planets.

Season Two episodes:

Journey to Babel--I liked this for the introduction of Spock's parents and what I think is the first formal reception on the Enterprise.

The Trouble with Tribbles--The most fun episode, it gives Shatner a chance to play comedy. There were some great lines, especially when Scotty explains why he threw the first punch in the fight with the Klingons, "They called the Enterprise a garbage scow."  And of course, "Before they went into warp, I transported the whole kit 'n' caboodle into their engine room, where they'll be no tribble at all." This was another episode revisited in Deep Space Nine.

Season Three episode:

The Enterprise Incident--This was the first mention of the cloaking device. I enjoyed the subterfuge of Kirk and Spock infiltrating the Vulcan ship.

Funny how the first season episodes were my favorites. Looking at the third season episodes, it's no surprise that the series was canceled. Plus the series was inappropriately scheduled at Fridays at 10 PM.

The last broadcast episode, "keep women in their place"  is a travesty to the original ideal of Star Trek and should have been completely rewritten if not shelved.

What's Cooking--Birthday Edition

Last Sunday was Jeff's birthday. Usually we go out to dinner. But for the last few birthdays, we went out for lunch and had a a dinner by request at home.

For Jeff's day, we first went to Rowayton dog park with Lola, then Sedona Tap House for lunch: kobe beef and pulled pork sliders, and Italiano flatbread. We returned to the dog park. Later over Moscow Mules, we caught the end of the Mets game. They beat the Phillies 17-0 in their last home game of the regular season. Happy Birthday.

Jeff had requested that I make him a vodka sauce for penne alla vodka. I had made that sauce before, but decided to look for a new recipe. Some of our friends have a food blog and I found a great penna alla vodka recipe there. It was more labor intensive than the recipe I'd used in the past, but it was well worth it. Delicious.

In the same post, I found a good appetizer: steak bites with Bloody Mary dipping sauce. This was an easy recipe. I made the full amount and served the rest of the sauce over chicken later in the week. I added a mixed green salad and we ended with a chocolate mousse cake.

A great meal for a happy day.