Cinematic Titanic!

Remember Mystery Science Theatre 3000? It's back, in a couple of different incarnations - one of which is Cinematic Titanic, wherein the five original members of the old show "riff" hilariously on appropriately bad movies. Scott and I have hooted, snorted, and cackled at their DVDs ever since we discovered them, so when I learned that they riff live, and that Cleveland was a stop on their tour, I was determined to go.
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Sarah and Andy felt the same, so the four of us headed off yesterday on the long drive to Cleveland. (Thanks for driving, Andy!)
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First stop: Andy's one-time hometown, Chagrin Falls. Feeling touristy despite the winter chill, we checked out the falls and visited the nostalgic Popcorn Shop Factory.
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Dinner was at Corky and Lenny's Restaurant and Deli, as traditional and delicious as you can get. I had the incredible "Three Little Tootsies," which were corned beef, chopped liver, and hot pastrami on three dinner-sized rolls.
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The show itself was even more fun than I was expecting it to be. Accompanying the cast was David Gruber Allen, whom you may remember as the guidance counselor on the show "Freaks and Geeks," although you'd probably recognize him from any number of other shows as well. He and J. Elvis Weinstein did some riotous stand-up before the show, followed by a short hoot of a routine by Frank Conniff. MST3K founder Joel Hodgson got things rolling by paying homage to some of the great TV horror hosts, including the Cool Ghoul, who turned out actually to be in the audience. And then they were off and riffing!
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The movie was "Blood of the Vampires," a dubbed Philippino horror movie made in the mid-1960s and set in 1920s Mexico. Was it riffable! The five cast members delivered line after hilarious line, which was even more fun live, since the entire audience was rocking with laughter right along with us.
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At the end, Gruber appeared with a cake for Mary Jo Pehl, whose birthday it just happened to be. She was serenaded by the cast and audience.
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We met the cast afterwards. They were clearly tired: I can see what difficult work it is now that I've seen them do it. You have to stay focused and deliver your lines with impeccable timing. I asked both Joel and Trace Beaulieu whether it was as hard work to riff a full-length movie as it looked, and they said with surprising candor that it really was.
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We headed home happily and made it home by 2 a.m., which was earlier than I had thought it would be!
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Great stuff. We got a couple of blurry pictures of our own - I'll post them soon, blurry or not.
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If they ever come back around, I'm making you all go. You'll thank me for it.

Can you hear it?

I know I'm not a teenager, but still! Surely I should be able to hear a tone so irritating that it is supposedly used to keep teenagers from loitering. I should at least be able to hear something.
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Click here to listen (if you can!) to a tone that usually only people under 25 can hear.
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I can't hear a thing.
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I know I'm turning 40 in May, but frankly I don't feel much different than I did as a teenager. Shouldn't that count?! ;-)
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In any case, if you can hear anything, please let me know. I'd be interested.

Sound of Music fondue night!

At long last, we did it! Sound of Music fondue night. First, deliciously dippable cheesy gloriosity, with asparagus and various breadstuffs. Then, deliciously dippable chocolate happiness, with fruits and cookies and other earthly embodiments of culinary bliss.

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And just when you think it can't get any better, you realize you have the whole three-hour majesty that is "The Sound of Music" awaiting you on Vikki's huge flat-screen television.

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I bellowed along happily (my fellow film-watchers were most patient, but the cat wasn't so pleased) and remembered in full technicolor the reasons why I was so obsessed with this movie as a child.

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Thanks, you guys! That was fun.

The Space Age is here!

If you read science fiction when you were a kid, you probably remember reading scenarios where astronauts - and maybe even regular, everyday people - ate pills instead of food. Vegetable pills. Steak pills. Dessert pills.

Anyway, that's what some people foresaw as our culinary future.


Well, the future is now. Look what I bought yesterday at the food co-op!

That's right! Fruits and vegetables in a pill! Look at that: "One tablet = One serving of fruits and vegetables."

Jackpot! No more feeling guilty about not eating as many fruits and vegetables as I should. What the heck! I'll simply take a pill!

The box says each supplement contains a "proprietary phytonutrient blend of wild blueberry extract, grape and grape seed extract, raspberry and raspberry seed extract, cranberry, prune, tart cherry, wild bilberry extract, strawberry, artichoke, beet, blueberry, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, kale, parsley, spinach, and tomato."

Isn't that great? That's broccoli and spinach and prunes that I don't have to eat!

Of course, it also says that "it is not intended to wholly replace fruits and vegetables in your diet," but it probably has to say that, right? I think I'll just ignore that part.

Welcome to the Space Age.

OMG! Shoes!

So rarely do I ever buy shoes that I find I must celebrate by posting a picture of my new purchases on my blog.
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Fig. 1a

Look at that! One pair of groovy boots, one pair of Sensible Work Shoes (Dockers, as a matter of fact - what could be more Sensible?)... and one pair of very silly shoes with a very silly number of buckles.
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Fig. 1b

This would have been a major stimulation of the economy if it weren't for the fact that I have huge feet, so my size is always on clearance. I got all three for a measley sixty-eight bucks. For three pairs of new shoes!
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I am thoroughly pleased with myself.
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Thank you, DSW.
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Postscript: One of these days, I will use my blog for some loftier purpose than posting pictures of balloons and shoes. But for now, I am so like omigod and stuff.

I'm ba-ack!

I woke up this morning feeling relatively normal for the first time in what seems like eons.
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I came home tonight to find a big Valentine's Day balloon and a watering can full of tiny roses. Not to mention incredibly aromatic apple-butter ribs in the slow cooker.

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I wish to state unequivocally that life is good.

Your blog service has been temporarily interrupted

Service will be restored as soon as my health is restored.

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If that ever happens.

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I was just starting to be able to breathe, taste, and smell normally again when this thing got me last weekend. And it is hanging on for dear life.

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Someday, my friends! Someday...!

Whew!

Well, I'm back! Maeve's first business trip. Sunny California and all that good stuff. Whew.
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One of these days, I'll even blog again. Maybe even tomorrow!
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For now, though, I'm going to bed stupidly early again.