stuff i'm thinking about

[this post has no real subject.]

1. movies about the end of the world that i want to see really, really badly

melancholia
i've probably already posted about this. have i? whatever. exciiited.

another earth
just watched the trailer. end of the world movies are a new obsession.

2. covers by kevin barnes that i really, really like

harvest moon (originally neil young)
sidenote: i'm not endorsing the homemade video, just the song

starman (originally david bowie)

3. philosophical readings

(wellsortof). i have this book called 101 experiments in the philosophy of everyday life. it's well written and (as described on the back cover blurb) "irreverent and wise". and there's nothing i love more than irreverance. followed by wisdom that assures me that my irreverence is, in fact, wise in itself. but really, it's an easy to read philosophical pondering/workbook. experiments include #31-watch dust in the sun. #15-walk in the dark. #67-watch someone sleeping. it's a good book.

i go through brief and absurd obsessions. right now it's kind of anything listed above plus weird, dark scandinavian directors (specifically: ingmar bergman and lars von trier). i just can't help myself.

should i watch wild strawberries (bergman) first or antichrist (trier)? OR persona (bergman again)?

so many questions, so many kevin barnes covers.

Butterbeer Cupcakes (1.0?)

Ever since I tried the J.K. Rowling approved butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which, by the way, is only a section of a theme park. It is not--I repeat, it is *not*--its own park) I have been aching to make a butterbeer cupcake. Well, I have good news and bad news. In fact, two good news and one bad news, though I supposed you could look at them a bit differently.

Good: For those of you fans that have yet to go to the Wizarding World, rest assured that the butterbeer is incredible. Honestly, if you don't think this looks incredible, well then I challenge you to go to Orlando and taste it and tell me to my (virtual) face that you did not like it. Of course, that would make you Vernon Dursley, but if you're willing to own up to the fact...

Good: I did, in fact, come up with a recipe for butterbeer cupcakes. This was actually my second attempt, as my first attempt was wildly experimental and was mainly to see how certain ingredients changed the cupcakes' flavor and texture. Also, I want to explain that this is not the only butterbeer cupcake recipe out there, but I think this one is different from the others. Maybe I'm just being vain and naive, but I think I focused more on making it butterbeer-y rather than just butterscotch-y. Also, all the other recipes I found seemed to be almost exactly the same. Of course, some of my ingredients are still similar, but, ah well.. You can decide what you think.

Bad: Like I said, the butterbeer at Universal is amazing. It has a very rich flavor, and its liquid coolness really helps make it what it is. So, unfortunately, I don't think a butterbeer cupcake could measure up to the real thing. Also, it's quite hard to get the cream soda flavor to be strong in a cupcake. Most of it gets lost somewhere in the actual baking.

BUT I don't think this is a bad start. While it is a lot more subtle than the butterbeer itself, I think there's a definite similarity. A fellow HP-fan friend of mine who had recently had the real butterbeer tried it and liked it a lot. She said that if the tastes had been stronger, it might've been too sweet. Either way I hope to continue experimenting with this a bit more, though it'll have to wait until I can get back to my kitchen and mixer.

Now, a bit about the actual cupcakes. I know, I know; this is a terribly long introduction, but I feel it is necessary. As you know, I modeled the cupcakes after the actual butterbeer from the Wizarding World, and so I made the cupcake itself like the cream soda-y liquid that is the main part of the butterbeer, and I made the topping a butterscotch whipped cream that is similar in taste to the butterbeer's white topping. I also made another whipped cream that tasted like cream soda and I filled a few of the cupcakes with it. I think the idea was good, but it ended up being too much whipped cream, so I think I need to make an actual frosting or some other sort of cream soda filling for that. Therefore, I'm not including that filling in this recipe for now. Okay, I think that's more than enough. Here we go! This recipe makes and tops 12 cupcakes.

Butterbeer Cupcakes:

•          1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp flour
•          1 1/8 tsp baking powder
•          a small pinch of salt 
•          1 stick (1/2 cup) + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
•          1 cup sugar
•          2 large eggs, at room temperature
•          1 cup cream soda
•          1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.      Line 2 tins with cupcake papers
3.      In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4.      In a large bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5.      Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
6.      Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and cream soda. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
7.  7  Add the vanilla and mix.
8.      Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
9.      Cool the cupcakes in tin for 15 minutes. Remove from tins and let cool completely.

     Butterbeer Whipped Cream:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp butterscotch extract (you'll have to buy this online)
• 1/4 tsp butter flavoring

1. Whip cream until it looks like whipped cream. (To do this, increase the speed of the beater until it is close to forming soft peaks, then decrease speed slightly until it has reached that point)
2. Mix in sugar, butterscotch extract, and butter flavoring until just combined.

Well, that's it, folks! If you try this out at home, feel free to critique it in the comments. Oh, and for all of you Harry Potter fans reading this, there will be a post about Pottermore real soon!

somewhere

so, somewhere.

(and here i am stating a should-be understood fact: sofia coppola is my favorite director of all time. so if i glorify her a little. well, it's because i think she's glorious.)

...maybe that makes me a plotless aesthetics whore.

but i still loved somewhere, in all its static glory.

first of all, it stars this guy (ok. i can call him by his name. stephen dorff.) who is incredibly watchable. and also elle fanning, who i think is incredibly cool. basic plot: stephen dorff is an actor who lives in circles. he goes to parties, he drinks, he pays strippers to dance for him, he passes out. but he has this amazing redeeming quality: his daughter (fanning. duh.)

so yes, it starts with a nearly ten minute long shot of a car driving around a track. but it's obviously a METAPHOR!!!!!!! johnny marco (stephen dorff's character) is just "somewhere". and yes, for a 97 minute movie, it has less action than that pixar short of the old man playing chess against himself. and yes, it is slow. but slow means gentle and subtle and meaningful and (this word again? ag) poignant. and poignant means true.

so yeah, coppola is more concerned with mood than plot. but the thing i love about her is this slice of life postmodernity because in the real live world plot doesn't always matter.

(i wish i could describe the brilliant, quiet humor in the stripper scenes to someone who hasn't seen the movie.)

on another note: elle fanning's clothes in it. they're so cute. her stripey shirts, her cutoffs, her fancier goingplaceswithmyfamousdad dresses, her cool yellow backpack/purse! sent me giddily to the thirteen year old girl section of my closet.

this is not a spoiler (though it does occur near the end). because plot plays second fiddle, i don't think somewhere can be spoilt. but my favorite scene of all was the underwater tea party scene, which can be seen briefly in the trailer. to me, if you find nothing else about this film appealing, that scene makes it all worthwhile.

also, the soundtrack is charming. the trailer song is my favorite: i'll try anything once by the strokes.


oh, and in the vein of 40s prison movies: this movie is a classic.

That dramatic movie set in the 40s in a *prison*.

I thought The Shawshank Redemption was a Holocaust movie. Why is that? I think I was completely confusing it with Schindler's List. I'm glad I skimmed the summary on the netflix dvd sleeve before watching it, because otherwise I would've spent the entire movie waiting for them to get packed into a train and shipped to a concentration camp.
It seems the only thing I actually did know about Shawshank was that Morgan Freeman's in it. And what the cover looked like, which only worked to confuse me more, actually.
The Shawshank Redemption is about a man that becomes a prisoner. That's all you need to know. Not because there isn't more to it than that, but because, as I've mentioned before, I hate spoilers (but it's nice to know that you shouldn't be expecting something entirely different, --hehem, sadness and starving in Auschwitz--). But.. I guess you can know a little more...
It's a darn good movie. It's dramatic and sad and funny and thoughtful and glorious. Sometimes it gets really close to being cheesy, and sometimes it is cheesy, but I never seemed to really mind much. Oh, and it has a truly satisfying denouement, though in what sense, I won't say.
It saddens me that the only other noteworthy thing the director Frank Darabont directed is The Green Mile. Really? Two prison movies? (and back to back?) That kind of makes me wonder what Darabont's life has been like... Ah, well. The lives of the prisoners at Shawshank will more than suffice.

saturday morning cartoons

so lately my tv diet consists of old xmen cartoons. with this, there are two options: the bangin', brightly colored nineties hit (pictured above) or the teen angst filled early 2000s xmen: evolution.

the plot to nearly every episode of xmen: evolution can be summarized as, "[character] finds answers to his past." ok, maybe not really. but there's a lot of long lost family members, secret pasts, and angstangstangst. also lots of cyclops leaning against walls longingly while jean flirts with literally any male character. the girls wear tight midriff-baring tops and baggy cargo pants. the lines are cheesy. i love it.

but not nearly as much as i love the nineties version (full title: xmen: the animated series). this version is in vivid color; literally nothing is gray, not even the background on a foggy night. all the characters wear exaggerated clothing. storm (who has been forever saddled with this "ethnic mother" persona) wears tribal gear and oversized earrings. wolverine ("rugged") wears lumberjack shirts and bomber jackets. and the dialogue! wolverine is forever uttering grumpy gus statements such as, "me? sing christmas carols? when pigs fly. grumblegrumble."

i'm addicted to almost any xmen media, except the (terrible, terrible) movies. the newest movie (xmen: first class) is the only good one.