whyyyyyyyyyy

død snø

Død Snø or Dead Snow, a foreign film from Norway. About zombies. Zombies who were Nazis in life and still retain their loyalty to their general. Uh, somehow.

Actually, I liked it a lot. Original, yet decidedly cliché where appropriate. With a feel similar to Evil Dead 2 (some boo! ahh! moments, but not taking itself too seriously), this one entertained with suspense, gore gore gore (ew), and humor. What was unique about our viewing experience was that the director was in the audience with us, and took some questions at the end. It was interesting to hear him speak, and explain his intent for the tone of the film, which came across nicely. He also noted that American audiences laughed in different places than Norwegian audiences, partly due to some jokes being lost in translation, and a different sense of comedic timing.

If you liked Dead Alive, Evil Dead 1 or 2 or Army of Darkness, or really anything with zombies (or beings with zombie-like characteristics), and if you can read subtitles, you’ll probably like this. And… they are in talks about making a sequel.

listen, sister. don’t date a hipster.

Oops!

Worth it for: how many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

april, month of concerts

Bishop Allen at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was a great show, with great folks! I got some vids too but have yet to upload them. It takes a while!

Mates of State at Webster Hall, totally adorable, awesome. A magical night indeed. More pics on flickr, and thar be vids here! I love what they added to “Like U Crazy”, it has significance to me. Ratatat later this month, omagosh.

easter cake pops!

These took *forever*. We ran into some problems with coating chocolate viscosity, thus the lumpiness of some. Strawberry and chocolate cake variety, balled and dipped by me, mom, and grandma, and mostly decorated by yours truly. Recipe, idea, etc from Bakerella. My coworkers (except poor Adam and those observing Passover) reaped the benefits of leftover pops today. Leftover pops and me not trusting myself to ration them responsibly over the next week or so.

umm… azing?

Katie Nemmer made this. Fun times on the T.

rainy day (it was)

Sunday was quite unpleasant outside, so I decided to make some (healthy!) chili to warm up. It’s super easy. Here’s what I got:

1 lb ground turkey
2 cans crushed tomatoes (diced if you like more texture)
1 can red kidney beans
1 packet chili seasoning mix
1 yellow onion

Brown that turkey, and while doing so, drain the beans and add them to a saucepan along with the tomatoes. Now, I just dumped my chili seasoning right into the turkey, but you can probably just add it to your saucepan, to distribute spices more evenly. The turkey didn’t really give off any grease, so I just dumped it on in with the tomatoes and beans, then I diced my onion (ow, my eyes!), cooked it a little, so it was softer but still a bit crunchy (just like I like it!) and dumped that on in there too. Onions grilling is one of the best smells in the whole world. Oh yeah, and BAM, chili. I’d also suggest adding a pepper or two, but I didn’t really think of it. It was ridiculously easy, made enough for lunches for a good chunk of the week, and it’s not bad for me!

secret science club: neil tyson

Last night I went to Secret Science Club, a monthly lecture put on by the scientifically inclined and curious community of Brooklyn, with Neil Tyson, People’s “sexiest astrophysicist alive”. He’s probably better known for finding himself at the forefront of the movement to get Pluto reclassified from a planet to something else. While “dwarf planet” is the name that seems to have stuck, Tyson referred to Pluto and other like masses orbiting in our galaxy as “Kuiper objects” [however my commenter informs me that the terms aren't mutually exclusive, which makes sense].

The presentation Tyson gave was fantastic, and the Q&A portion after the lecture lasted about as long as the lecture itself. He discussed not only his battle with part of the astrophysics community over Pluto’s status, but also 2012, the asteroid Apophis that will dip beneath our communication satellites in 2029 (on Friday the 13th too, yikes) that could come back and hit us seven years later, and even the economic crisis. It was so refreshing and inspiring to hear such a brilliant person speak. Just looking up at the sky afterward, I had a change of perspective. Astrophysics would be an amazing field of study, not just because it’s extremely interesting but because it is also extremely humbling. We are so amazingly small, and we’re not that smart either. He pointed out that optical illusions, while amusing, are actually our brains failing. BRAIN FAILURES, he bellowed. He ended on some ideas about evolution, and how, if our DNA is 95% similar to chimp DNA (at least), what a more evolved being with a merely a 2% difference from our DNA would be like. Would their toddlers write sonnets and solve complex problems like the most intelligent humans, while our toddlers use rudimentary tools like the most intelligent chimps? Interesting to think about.

Anyway, I really really enjoyed the lecture and I can’t wait to go to the next one. If you’d like to see him go over some of his talking points from the lecture, his recent Daily Show appearance is linked right hurrrr.

boston, part of it

Look at that blue freakin sky. I’ll do a little write-up on Cut&Paste soon. I might be attending the NYC one on the 21st.

i love you!

Found at 9th St and 5th Ave, Brooklyn.