What are 48 hours? Nothing much. Just 2 days. This is the obvious response that I expect from any normal person. And even I was such a normal person till now.

But thanks to a train journey to Chennai, I realized what 48 hours actually meant.

My organization decided to send me to Chennai for some work and I swear that the first things that came to my mind was coconuts & lungis(!) [Nothing personal here] I was excited at the prospect of going to Chennai as I had never gone so south in my life! Also, this shall help me add another city to the growing list. [Note – One of my aims of life is to visit 100 Indian cities. Read other such aims here]

And the train route which IRCTC’s site had allowed me to take, was about 2500 Kms, starting somewhere in Rajasthan, then passing through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & finally to Tamil Nadu. And though my decision of not taking my laptop with me was born out of sound reasoning like ‘why take a liability while travelling’ & ‘security’, I did realise about the graveness of my mistake, much later on.

It is very rightly said that when you don’t want to get bored, then the entire universe conspires to bore you. I had my reservation in II AC; which unluckily got upgraded to IAC. And that too in a coupe! Now, it was not me, but my fate that decided that, Dev will spend his entire journey talking to just one person who would him in the coupe, and not many like there are in IInd or IIIrdAC. And apart from Ahmedabad, there were no big stations in route to Chennai. Luckily, I grabbed this opportunity, and bought a fiction. Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States.

For those who have already read it, might recollect that a major chunk of the book is written with Chennai as the background. And this was indeed a great help to me, as I could make tentative plans about places to visit in Chennai. [Thanks Chetan...your book acted as a guide book for me].  And let me add a nano-book-review here – 2 States is much better than One Night @ Call Center & 3 Mistakes of my life. But still, not as magical as Five Point Someone. Though, I strongly recommend this book.

Only problem with the book was, that I devoured it in less than 4 hours. And I was left with nothing but magazines, some songs in mobile and an old person besides me to communicate. And I still had more than 1500 Kms still to go.

This was the point when I realised that sleep is also a means of entertainment in such a long journey. Though I don’t sleep much, I had no better options. So I slept. I slept whenever I had nothing else to do. And just imagine how frustrating it would be to have someone staring at you continuously? This act was performed by a Tamil Nadu Tourism’s poster depicting a tiger, which had huge eyes staring out of the poster all the time. It was terrible.

One night when I was about to doze off…it just came to my mind, that apart from a stupid update, I had not written a post for a long time. My blog was in a sort of dead state. Somehow, after my Desert Bike Trip post, I did not have any inspiration to write. But, as they say, out of desperation, courage is born, so is this post. In the middle of night, I started writing this post in ink and paper…

[Please don’t analyse my writing – Its universally known to be pathetic]

So, after travelling in train alone (effectively though), I did eventually realise that 48 hours is something huge. It is actually a lot of time. I don’t want to give a lecture here, but we can utilize our time in ways that are unimaginable. Time is power. Real power.

I finally did reach Chennai, after, you guessed it…48 hours on train. And frankly speaking, I have never before been so happy to see a railway station.

And after reaching the city, I travelled as much as I could. Went to Marina Beach, T. Nagar, another beach whose name I cant remember, Mahabalipuram, Kovalam beach and likes…

Below are some of the pictures which I shall share with the readers…

Marina Beach – Chennai

Mahabalipuram [Above & Below]

Mahabalipuram Beach

Kovalam (Not the one in Kerala )

And just to make it sure that I don’t have any lack of reading material, I bought some of these…

And once I finished my journey, I realized that I was not wrong in buying these

And by the way, Chennai is much more about Coconuts & lungis…its a beautiful place and a lovely city. Though language was a problem for me. But it had its own charm.

[P.S. – After Chennai, I went to Bengaluru & Ahmedabad...but I have no pictures to share from there due to reasons known to the virus which fell in love with Bengaluru & Ahmedabad pics.]

Specialty Equipment: dehydrator, pastry cutters, refractometer, mandolin
Specialty Ingredients: isomalt, yellow pectin, malic acid, grapefruit essential oil, glucose
Days: 2
Dish as in The Fat Duck: not found

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I don’t really have anything special to say today. I’ve never heard of this dish and couldn’t find a thing, maybe a few words, on this dish on the internet. Oh, what did happen, I mixed up my hand for a chopping board and cut myself not seriously, but enough to cause a wound that would not be pleased with water. Therefore I cooked this dish, a  pâte de fruit coated by candied beetroot discs and finished with a edible wrapper, and as soon as my wound heals I can go on with the book. The recipe instructs to chuck everything, grapefruit puree, yellow pectin, sugar, glucose and thyme, in a pan and boil this to 69° Brix. I can’t say I own a refractometer, so I looked at other pâte de fruits recipes in the book and saw this instruction at the mandarin aerated chocolate recipe: ‘in the absence of a refractometer, heat it to 107°C.’ So that was my game plan.

Notice the space unused in the pan.

The mix has to boil to 107°C, which takes quite a long time, in my case about 5 minutes of complete mayhem in the pan. The puree came so high it was about to tip over the side of the pan! I divided the puree in 3 and below a picture of 2/3 of the mixture. It still came dangerously close to the top of the pan.

Checking the temperature with my thermometer.

Once the stuff reaches the desired temperature you have to turn of the heat. It almost immediately looses it air and returns to its original size. Not all that different from this creature. Now you have to act quickly and mix in malic acid and grapefruit essential oil and pass the boiled liquid trough a fine sieve into a baking tray before it starts to gel. In my haste I forgot to take a picture of this step. I’m still looking for a flat and square baking tray, so I used cake tins (spring form).

Oil and acid.

After it sets completely, about 2-3 hours, and is completely cool, about 4 hours, you can cut it in circles with a pastry cutter, but if you happen to be blessed with the ability to cut perfect circles your hands would off course suffice.

What was left after cutting lots of circles I cut in squares and dusted with fine granulated sugar and citric acid and ate like regular pâte de fruits.

Next up were the beetroot discs. These steps resembled the cauliflower carpaccio: cut them thinly on a mandolin and cut out circles. Before drying they are candied, by boiling isomalt and water to 74°C Brix and coat the discs with this sugary syrup. The problem was I had now clue what temperature it required to get to 74°C and there are no general rules for Brix=temperature, because every recipe will have different kinds of sugar, proportions etcetera. I boiled it and hoped at one point I got somehow a sign the mixture was at the right level, but strangely this didn’t happen. At 120°C it became thicker, and I took it off  the heat. The isomalt was pretty stiff, even when quite hot, so I probably took it too far.

Coating the discs on both sides with boiled isomalt to candy them. The instructions ask for a tray lined with clingfilm, so in my curiosity I lined one with clingfilm and one without.

After drying the beetroot for 24 hours there was a clear difference between the two sets. The discs on the clingfilm, on the right, were shiny and the ones on the left loosed all their glistering. The top side, not in contact with clingfilm, also loosed their glass like exterior, so there was only one, as the book calls it, ’shiny side’. In my dehydrator it was impossible to get the discs completely crisp, even after a extended period in the dryer. My solution was putting them in a 100°C oven for a short period of time. To my amazement they were crisp in no time, meaning they probably only need a little more extra heat to crisp up. Anybody else experiences with drying stuff until crispy?

The last component are edible wrappers, made of powdered gelatine, glycerine and water. First you have to soak gelatine and glycerine in water until soft and heat the water gently to dissolve the powder.

This should be deposited on Petri dishes, but I completely forgot about them when shopping, so I used what I had on hand, which were dessert tins and a couple of grey, plastic, square dishes.

You have to deposit small amounts on dishes and dry them in a warm place. I know asking for a warm place  in a kitchen is like asking for a cool place in Bruce Willis’s house, but I was fresh out of warm spots. So after a day they were still not dry and I became impatient and put them in the dehydrator. Not a good idea! They dried until there was nothing left and the wrapper was inseparable from his new best friend. Luckily I also put some of the mixture in a tarte tatin pan and left it out for 2,5-3 days in a ‘normal heated’ place.

The thing was that only certain area’s dried completely, so I was left with not that much wrapper to play with.

The stuff is extremely thin and nearly as strong as a hair of Superman, with the feature that it melts when you put it in your mouth. Fun stuff!

What ‘plastic’ I had left I cut with a warmed pastry cutter and knife.

A pâte de fruit harassed by a lolly stick.

Beetroot discs placed on either side. They attached easily to the lolly.

The edible wrapper around the lolly. I went for this look, because I thought it would look better than the shape  pictured in the book (large square).

The lolly was ok, the beetroot discs (dehydrated raw) were very strong and the combination with grapefruit and thyme was not superb. What I can say if you make this dish, is NOT to leave out the grapefruit essential oil. I did this with 1/3 of the pâte de fruit to see what the oil brings to the table and I can say: a lot. It really boosts the flavour and without it thyme is all you taste. Maybe you could even use a bit less thyme. Also important is the crispness of the beetroot. I had problems getting them crunchy in the dehydrator and tried a lolly with ‘pliable’ discs and the beetroot flavour  was much more intense. Really interesting what a difference it makes if the discs are not completely dry and crisp. There are other recipes with edible wrapper, so I will make them again, but if that was not the case I would make them again anyway. Mine were not perfect, but it is really fun having something that looks exactly like a wrapper and can be eaten. So far all the dishes have a certain twist or technique that makes them fun to cook and present to unsuspecting guinea pigs.

Specialty Equipment: vacuum machine, ice cream machine, pastry cutters, mandolin
Specialty Ingredients: transglutaminase, gellan F, maltodextrin, malic acid, sodium citrate, distilled water
Days: 2
Dish as in The Fat Duck:

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Yep, looking at the photo and picturing a dish, a delicious for that matter, requires some serious imagination or pure good faith. Do you want to spend most of the day and a part of the next day working on something with sardine sorbet and glued raw mackerel? Well, after some time I could answer this question with ‘yes’. I must admit this dish was from then on the top of my list, just to see if Blumenthal is absolutely bonkers. I’m not easily put of and will try (almost) everything, but this is the one dish I approached with some hesitation. Was this justified?

The marinated daikon radish was the first victim to my kitchen. I blanched garlic three times, plunging it into iced water after every turn in the boiling water. This is then mixed with lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger. I used toasted sesame oil, which is much stronger, so watch out if using the toasted instead of regular sesame oil. The daikon is supposed to be marinated while under vacuum, but I made the dish on saturday and I was just too late for a visit to the butcher to have this done for me. The second picture shows the slices of radish, sliced on a mandolin, after a day in the marinade ready to be cut into 1 x 5 cm rectangles.

After marinating the daikon you have to get rid of the oil. I put everything in a plastic candy bag and waited for the fluids to seperate, then cut the bottom of the plastic and cought the dark lower layer.

This stuff is made into a fluid gel. A fluid gel is a jelly made with the gelling agent gellan F, and after setting  (sometimes during) is blitzed continiously to create a thick liquid. This has a number of advantages. The liquid is made without classic thickeners, like butter, flour or cornflour, who can mask the flavours. On top of that gellan gives, according to the material in the cookbook, a very potent flavour release. I can vouch for that, having made a onion fluid gel from another recipe, who’s flavour explode in your mouth. Good stuff!

What would be a guess of the final product if you showed this picture to a random person.  Toast with sardines?  Soup?  A pasta sauce?… A sorbet? No way! Exactly, but sorbet it really is. The stuff is made from toasted bread, tinned sardines, gelatine, full milk, water, maltodextrin, salt, pepper and malic acid.

The milk is warmed to melt the maltodextrin and gelatine. In my case the matlodextrin decided to clump up, so make sure it is fully dissolved.

The recipe, according to the intro to the dish, used to contain pre-sliced white bread, but now gluten-free bread is used However, I used the pre-sliced white bread. It should be toasted until golden brown all over.

Blitz everything into a smooth liquid. I let it blitz for two munites to make sure there were no lumps. Looks good?

The sorbet base should mature in the fridge for 8-24 hours, so I let it sit in the fridge for about a day. On sunday I churned it with my Nemox Gelatissimo (damn, what a annoying little thing). The sorbet came out extremely smooth, (smoother than with other ice cream mixes) cause  it probably was already quite cold and thick.

The salmon roe magically hopped itself into a bowl straight on a weighing scale (I love it when that happens), so it was the logical next step. I rinsed the roe two times in cooking sake to clean them. They are them marinated in mirin, soy sauce and grated yuzu or sudachi. These citrus fruits are nearly impossible to obtain in my area, so I used some yuzu juice, which is not the same, but I saw no other way.

As predicted in the book, broken eggs float to the surface, which you can easily remove.

Marninating.

The book instructs to marinate the roe for at least two hours. After a couple of hours I checked them and a the skin of a large portion of the eggs had gone extremely hard. I looked around on the internet for a possible cause and came across a very interesting post by someone who spend a few days in the kitchen of  The Fat Duck. He says: ‘The eggs were marinated for exactly 20 seconds in an equal mix of soy sauce and mirin before being drained in a tea strainer. “Any more than that, and the skins of the eggs start to harden,” said Jon.’ What could explain this small, but interesting discrepancy?

The following was totally new to me, in that I never used it or seen someone apply it. It revolves around transglutaminase. It’s an enzyme with the ability to ‘glue’ flesh from fish, meat and poultry. It is nicknamed ‘meat glue’. In this recipe the fillets of a mackerel are glued together after filleting and curing to give the look of a cross-cut of a whole fish. I sounds far out there, but everyone has eaten plenty of this stuff in meat products and if you’re unlucky in surimi (fake crab). I’ve seen a program on surimi and compared to the production of it, this dish looks like something your grandma, a very modern one, would make for you.

After filleting you have to remove the pinbones in the middle of the fillet and cut some of the meat from the belly. The resulting flap is used the close the log of the two fillets.

Before the fillets are rolled together they are cured in salt, sugar, lime zest, lemon zest and coriander seeds for 1 hour.

After curing, washing and drying them with paper the fish is sprinkled with transglutaminase. The key is to remove the excess of powder to not overdue it on the glue which can toughen up the flesh. However, you must not remove too much or else the stuff wont stick that well. A little bit more white that on the third picture (where it dissolved a bit) is a good indication.

The fillets are laid nose to tail, the thickets part of one on the thinnest part of the other, and then rolled into a log and refrigerated for at least 4 hours.

For the final touches of the dish you have to make crunchy walnut bread and fried baby eels. The book states to cut the bread into 2mm slices using an electric slicer. I cut it with a bread knife, which worked fine. As you can see in the picture of The Fat Duck their bread slices are way thinner, so I wonder if 2mm if the right thickness.

The left row of slices are covered in a small amount of cheese and the other with generous sprinkling of grated cheese. In the end the left row produced better slices with a good mix of walnut flavour and cheese notes.

The last part required baby eels or anchovies and the frying of them. I remembered an episode of In Search of Perfection on Fish Pie, where the pie is topped with fried eels and panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). I fried some panko and sprinkled it with fish sauce (made from fermented anchovies) to give a similar result of frying eels/anchovies.

The last components, which require no cooking, are powdered sushi rice vinegar mix and salted kombu (both available in Asian stores).

So, time to plate. First on are the marinated daikon slices, the kombu with the fried panko, a diagonal slice of mackerel and a smear of fluid gel of the marinade. In the pictures of this dish on the internet this is the only one I saw with the kombu/panko mix on the plate. All the others lacked these ingredients.

The plate is finished with a rocher of sardine sorbet, al least that is what it is supposed to resemble, a slice of bread and the salmon eggs.

So what did this stuff taste like. Did a one way trip to the bathroom accurately describe the dish or was it culinary heaven. I thought something in between. Savoury ice-cream can be delicious, but a sardine sorbet  (fish!) is on the extreme end. The thing is it tasted fine, even good, but with the first few bites your brain opposes to the flavours, expecting something sweet and a familiar sorbet flavour. You need a good few bites to adjust yourself to what you’re eating and once you have the sorbet is gone. I had a few more helpings of sorbet which went down much better, with me and my family, than the initial scoop. So I can figure that in the restaurant itself there is too little time and sorbet to combat the initial reaction of your brain and enjoy what you are eating. If anyone has eaten this dish at the restaurant, do not hesitate to put your thoughts online.

As for the mackerel, it was amazing. It was extremely soft and clean tasting with a citrus kick. It also looked like an exact cross-cut, without the bones, leading to some wonderment at the table how this was possible. I loved the mackerel, liked the sorbet and do give this dish a go if you want to mess with people, while giving them an exiting course, when inviting them over for dinner. Remember, it will be an elaborate joke.

Where: Garda Lake, Italy

When: 31 October – 1 November 2009

Who: Michela, Dodo, Buby, enrico, Isabella, Lara

Type:  rides, road trip

How long: 2 days

Fotos,

Tour,

The 1st of November was Michela’s birthday and as I tend not to give material presents but emotions, I tried to organize a special surprise weekend.  On Saturday morning I set up the alarm at 7:30am and started jumping around like a kid. I proposed to take the car and drive around a bit, and I recommended to pack the suitcase in case we wanted to spend the night out. “We” decided to head south, and once arrived to Milan, east. Everything ok until we got close to Peschiera: there were cars queuing already a couple of kilometers before the exit of the motorway. And from there to our destination it was a long uninterrupted line of cars. But finally we got to (surprise surprise) Gardaland (a theme park, for those who don’t know it)!!! Once there we started queuing for the tickets, were we bougth…four, as Marco and Lara were also arriving, while Enrico and Isabella were waiting for us inside the park already.  Once inside it was clear that it was not really as expected, a quite day in the off-season: it was probably the busiest day of the year. So we ended up queueing one hour or more for each ride, and half an hour to get food. But it was really good fun to be together and just talk without any break from the first to the last moment. We had dinner in a nice Trattoria together and me and Michela went to Verona for the night while the others drove back home.

On Sunday we did the tour of the Garda Lake, which was truly magnificent. However it was clear that the season for weekend outdoor activities such as hikes and bicycle rides is (sadly) over until next year. But we’ll find something else to do …;)

Specialty Equipment: thermomix (optional), vacuum machine, ice cream machine, juicer
Specialty Ingredients: none
Days: 2
Dish as in The Fat Duck:

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After the cauliflower dish I was thinking what to cook next. I flipped through the recipes and found that almost every dish contained an ingredient or piece of equipment I do not possess. Stuff like transglutaminase, gellan LT100, maltodextrin DE19, yellow pectin, sheet gelatine Bloom 170, powdered gelatine Bloom 200 and a (professional) vacuum machine still elude me. I got in contact with a chemical supplier over the weekend and I am hoping I can get some stuff from them. There are sources online, like L’Epicerie, but they don’t send to my country and they sell a lot of stuff in large quantities, so purchasing for example gellan LT100 would be expensive, since I only need a few grams for all the recipes.

Luckily there is a dish that does not require any of this stuff, the mustard ice cream and red cabbage gazpacho. Let me begin by saying the ice cream was a bit sweet and after doing research on the internet, did not contain the spicy kick like it should. The cookbooks states ‘pommery grain mustard’ for the mustard, so I got the ‘moutarde de meaux’. However the same brand also sells a spicy one, the ‘moutarde des pompiers’ (translated ‘firemen’s mustard’), that would, I think, work better in the ice cream. The meaux one is too sweet for my taste.

First I made the ice cream by separating some eggs, mixing it with sugar and blending it for 5 minutes until the mixture became white.

Next was the milk base, with powdered milk to give it some body.

The milk is brought up to 60°C and poured over the egg yolks. The mixture is then heated to 70°C and blended for 10 minutes. This is lower than conventional methods of making a custard base, so the result is thinner than normal. I remember an episode on Kitchen Chemistry where Heston says that heating above this temperature gives an ‘eggy’ taste, so he stays below, with the disadvantage the mix is less thick. In combination with the low sugar content I was foreseeing problems with my domestic ice cream machine!

After pasteurization I let the mixture cool, added the mustard, let it mature in the fridge for 24 hours and churned it. The ice cream was not as smooth as I would have liked, but still within the boundaries of the acceptable.

Next was the red cabbage. I love braised red cabbage and a gazpacho made from red cabbage sounded like a really good idea to me. I’ve never used the juice before, but love to make stocks out of vegetables. A tomato, beetroot, apple or sauerkraut stock is a wonderful base for soups, risottos or sauces.

I don’t own a juicer, so my war plan of freeing the juice from the cabbage was chopping it up, cut it up in a blender and push all the juice out in a muslin (I used a hair net). The book recommends 2 cabbages, but 1 did the job for me.

I added white bread to the cabbage juice, let it sit for 2 hours and passed it through a sieve. Anyone up for red cabbage flavoured bread?

Next was the red wine mayonnaise, which I made in a mixer (read the cookbook for the origin of  adding a mayonnaise to a gazpacho). This stuff is amazing, I recommend giving it a go.

The mayonnaise needs to then be blended into the gazpacho juice along with A LOT of cabernet sauvignon vinegar. I use the vinegar from FORVM, who also sell a chardonnay vinegar, which have an amazing flavour. Nothing like the cheap ones from the supermarket. It is very IMPORTANT to blend the mayonnaise and gazpacho in a mixer to fully incorporate the two. I mixed the two together with a spatula and ended up with a white surface on the gazpacho due to the mayonnaise. This hid the beautiful colour underneath, so blend them like hell and let the mixture sit for a while to get rid of the air bubbles (the flame of a crème brûlée blowtorch aimed at the air bubbles works wonders).

The last thing to do were the cucumbers and I was not looking forward to this part. You have to cut slices of 2mm, vacuum pack them and slice them in brunoise. Easy, apart from the vacuuming, because it has to be done in a real vacuum machine to put the cucumbers under pressure (sous vide). This is the real meaning of sous vide, not cooking on a low temperature, but cooking under pressure. A domestic vacuum machine simple does not have the power to achieve this. With hesitation I visited a local butcher with the cucumbers under my arm (it would be easier if I came there all the time, which I don’t), waiting like a hawk till the shop was free of customers and asked if they would put  my slices of cucumber in a vacuum machine. I expected laughter or eyes staring at me in wonder, but they were really kind and did it for me without hesitation. Phew. As you can see in the second and third picture the cucumber becomes wonderful translucent and light green and the flavour is intensified. Finally, plating time.

Before serving the book states to add some fresh red cabbage juice. Apparently the odourless compounds of freshly juiced cabbage diminish over time, so by adding fresh juice the natural enzymes in cabbage can react with these compounds to ultimately enhance the flavour. This technique is also used in the cauliflower risotto, where just before serving some fresh cauliflower juice is added to the risotto.

The colour of the gazpacho was stunning, but the ice cream could have had a better shape. Taste wise I found the acid level a bit high, so  I diluted the gazpacho with more fresh juice than recommended in the book. Besides that the taste was awesome, really pungent, to the point that one small bowl is more than enough. The ice cream was a bit too sweet, but I should probably use another mustard. The compressed cucumbers really gave a nice crunch to the dish and a refreshing mouthfeel with all the strong flavours around. In the cookbook this is really one of the easier dishes, but the visual and flavour impact is so high, that it would make a wonderful course for an extravagant dinner.

cre:luvbakeel

It’s not that they are actually Lee Seunggi’s manager. But MC Mong state that all 1N2D’s members are Seunggi’s ‘manager’ because all the members really care of everything Seunggi does. However Seunggi has a big part of 1N2D. And MC Mong said that no matter what, Seunggi can’t have a girlfriend because it’ll has an effect for the show. Seunggi will need a permission from other members too to have a girlfriend. calm down fangirl, we’re save for now xDDDD

Hey sons and daughters,

Below are a few questions to assist a critical analysis of  4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. While reading you might notice that I say that “Mungiu”, and not “the film”, does this or that. I encourage you to think of directors as the true authors of films, even though doing so always opens up a big ol’ can of worms. For example: Is director Arthur Penn the “artist” of Bonnie and Clyde, or was hands-on producer and star Warren Beatty more responsible for the film’s form and content, the final product? (It’s said that Beatty was the architect of crucial scenes, including the ultra-violent finale.) While such conundrums of true authorship– if it’s even possible in film– may discourage you from endorsing a “cinema of directors” in academic contexts, on our blog and at CFS meetings I encourage you to place all emphasis on the director’s credit, for the purposes of categorizing and humanizing films. So let’s talk about what Mungiu is doing (to great effect, I believe) in 4 Months in the same way we talk about what Quentin Tarantino “does” in any of his films, ‘kay?

—

How would you describe the camerawork? When are you most strongly reminded that someone is manipulating the camera? Do you think this is intentional? If so, what purpose is served by the camera being “present”?

How are scenes framed? On average, what is the distance of the camera to the actors? How often are close-ups used? When Gabita and Otilia are talking, are their conversations presented in conventional “shot/reverse-shot” fashion? Are the (physical) distances between characters important to each scene? What techniques does Mungiu use to emphasize them?

Does Mungiu employ elaborate or glamorizing lighting? Why or why not? Is the set design carefully considered?

How abrupt are the scene changes? Are there on-screen actions that anticipate a cut from one scene to the next, or from one locale to the next? (Pay special notice to the first 20 minutes.)

In which scene (or scenes) is sound– not dialogue–most important to the telling of the story? How does the audio being amplified contribute to the particular feeling these scenes are meant to evoke?

How is colour used within the film? Is there a colour which stands out– a motif? If so, what ideas, feelings or themes does it connote?

How is Otilia treated throughout the film? What sort of tone do the “adults” take with Gabita and Otilia’s boyfriend? What distinct societal differences are being portrayed? How might they be split? What is the general mood of the film? Do you think we are meant to compare it with a specific mood or atmosphere enveloping Romanian life at this time?

—

Hopefully there are enough humdingers and brainbusters in there to cultivate a Saturday night of quiet study and sober reflection. If you wish to respond or comment on the film, the Internet allows you to do so below.

See you next week!

Scott, Gaddafi of CFS

Where:  Torino and Sarre – Cogne  region in Valle d’Aosta

When: 12th and 13th September 2009

Who: Edoardo, Marco, Beat, Emin, Mäthu, David

Type: Bicycle, Rafting, Party, City

How long: 2 days

Fotos,

I was for the first time in January ‘08 in Torino and the first impression had been the one of a nice city. For some reason I believe more than half of Italy grew up with idea that Torino is a grey and absolutely unpleasent city. I can’t say it’s like New York, but it has some really nice buildings and squares, with the mountains all around and it is a very lively city. Also, without official statistics on hand, I bet it’s the Italian city with the largest ration of cars per inhabitant.

This time I got back to Torino for Marco’s stag night and with that chance I did on my own a small bicycle tour from Sarre to Cogne and back (nothing impressive).  Then we did with Marco and all his buddies a very cool rafting ride and in the evening party in Torino, which was excellent. On Sunday I still had the chance to visit the Mole Antonelliana with the Museo del Cinema inside, which was extremely cool.

Yeah, I missed writing yesterday, just plain forgot- but yesm, I have been drinking loads of water. Still eating what I am eating, but the water is a great cleanser, I feel better and less sluggish.

It’s a good one ^_^. I’ll do this for another week or more if I still feel good about it.

Only 48 hours until I’m on a plane headed for Florida!

Concert promoter AEG Live released this clip of Michael Jackson rehearsing his ‘This Is It’ tour two days before his death in Los Angeles. (July 2)

When I told my friends I was heading to Greece for a week and that I had allocated 2 full days for its capital, Athens, the response I got was not overly enthusiastic.  They told me there wasn’t all that much to do, and a single day would be more than sufficient.

Well, they lied.

There’s heaps of things to do in Athens!  We used Athens as a base from which to get to other places (like the Peloponnese and Delphi and cruises to the nearby islands), but we did have a full 2 days to explore the city itself.  And it was barely enough.  If I had my way, 3 days would have been optimal.  However, keep in mind that I had my parents with me, and it was scorching hot, so if you are young, energetic and don’t mind the heat, you could probably squeeze all the main sights into 2 days.

Must See Attractions

1. The Acropolis

Usually the so-called ‘top attraction’ of a particular city will be underwhelming, but for me, the Acropolis lived up to its expectations, despite part of it being surrounded by scaffolding as part of maintenance.  If you only go to one attraction in Athens, make it the Acropolis.  It’s one of those things you just have to see and take in.

The nearest metro station is the aptly named Acropolis Station, and from there you just follow the signs.  On the way, you can check out the Lysicrates Monument, which is nothing special but worth a glance.  At the foot of the Acropolis is the wonderful Theatre of Dionysos, which is definitely worth a look before making the trek up.  You’ll also get a good view of the Odeum of Herodes, which they still use for shows and concerts.

Advice: wear comfortable shoes and preferably non-slip, because it can get a little slippery on the rocks.  And if it looks like a long way up, don’t despair, because it isn’t.  You’re up there before you even notice it.  And the view of the Parthenon and of Athens from the top is spectacular.  It’s also more crowded than any other attraction, so try and go early, especially before the noon sun hits.

There are plenty of guided tours available, and if you want to learn more about its history and so forth, then by all means, join a tour because it will be worth it.  However, I preferred to go at my own pace and read up on it beforehand or afterwards.

Note: the long-awaited Acropolis Museum will be opened to the public on 23 June 2009.  Apparently it is going to be superb (and from the promo I saw at the airport I have to agree).  For those visiting the Acropolis from that date make sure you check out the museum as well.

2. Lycabettus Hill

A sample of the views from Lycabettus Hill

If you want a spectacular view of the city, then head to Lycabettus Hill.  The nearest metro is Evangelismos Station, and from there you have to head north via a steep path up towards the cable car.  From memory the price is 6 Euros return per person.  At the top you can wander around, where there is a little chapel and legendary panoramic views of the city.  There is also a cafe or two where you can relax and sip on a drink while watching the sun go down.  Very nice and highly recommended.

3. Ancient Agora

The spectacular Temple of Hephaestus at Ancient Agora

Ancient Agora, Athens’ ancient markeplace is huge and worth a visit because of the well-preserved Temple of Hephasestus, which you would have seen if you were on top of the hill at the Acropolis.  There is also a museum there (which we didn’t visit) and plenty of other ruins lying around the site.  The second best archaeological site Athens has to offer in my opinion after the Acropolis.

4. National Archaeological Museum

If you’re a museum lover then you must go to the National Archaeological Museum, one of the great museums exhibiting ancient artifacts in the world.  Tickets are around 6 Euros I think and the nearest metro is Victoria, from which you’ll have to take a 10 minute walk.

Some of the things in there are simply amazing, and the artifacts are not confined to Athens.  Of particular interest are the items found in Santorini (which suggests it could be the mythical Atlantis?).  I was amazed to see the level of expertise they had 3,000 years ago in making pottery, jewellery, wall-paintings…they even had giant clips and pins that are almost identical to what we have today!

5. Temple of Olympian Zeus

There’s not much to see at the site itself other than the giant pillars of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, but it is a majestic sight worth seeing.  You can get up pretty close to its 17m high pillars and you can also get a decent view of the Acropolis from there.  Don’t forget to check out the adjacent Hadrian’s Arch nearby and take a happy snap.  It’s located south-east of the Acropolis Station or you can take a walk there through the National Garden from Syntagma Square.

Other Sights and Attractions (in no particular order)

1. Syntagma Square – the ‘central’ station of Athens.  There are actually archaeological exhibits inside the station itself, which is pretty cool, and check out the various vendors in the square.  Across the road is Parliament, with the Tom of the Unknown Soldier.  Nothing special but worth a look if you’re staying nearby.

2. Zapion Exhibtion and Congress Hall – another attraction you can walk past if you take a stroll through the National Garden below Syntagma Square.  The architecture is impressive.

3. Panathinaikon Stadium – the site of the 1896, first modern Olympic Games.  It’s located very close to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the National Garden.  Definitely worth checking out.  I was amazed at how stylish it was.

Panathinaikon Stadium

4. Roman Market – this is where you go to eat traditional Greek food (like Souvlaki) and buy souvenirs.  There’s also cheap fruits (especially cherries sold by this guy who keeps yelling like a madman).  The recommended restaurant we went to was called O Thanisis and is located on Mitropoleos.  I’m not usually a fan of Greek food but this was excellent.  It’s right outside Monastiraki Station.

5. Roman Agora – if you go see Ancient Agora then you won’t really need to go here.  It’s near the Roman Market.  The Tower of Winds is quite interesting though.

6. Hadrian Library – also near the Roman Market.  If you got a combined ticket then might as well check it out for a few minutes.

7. Keramikos – I didn’t end up going there, but it’s an ancient Greek cemetary.

8. National Library, University & Academy – all three are wonderful pieces of architecture over a hundred years old and are lined up next to each other between Akadimias Street and Panepistimiou (El Venizelou).  We rode by via taxi a couple of times but didn’t stop.

9. Benzaki Museum – apparently really good too but we didn’t have enough time to go.

Where to Stay?

The most convenient area would be near Syntagma Square (Plaka area) or Monastiraki.  There’s lots of shops and hotels and restaurants in that area and you get easy access to the metro.

We stayed at 2 separate hotels, Hermes (3 stars) and Amalia (4 stars) which were both splendid and located in Plaka.  I would suggest you shop around and find some specials to get more value for your money.

Getting Around

I wouldn’t recommend taxi unless you want to get stuck in traffic a lot.  We used a combination of the metro and walking, which was very easy.  The metro is 1 Euro for a single ticket that lasts 90 minutes and allows you to go in and out of stations. It’s an honour system but if you get caught there’s a huge fine (I think) and plenty of embarrassment.  If you’re planning to use it a lot then get a day ticket for 3 Euros (and I think there are weekly tickets too).

Suggested Itinerary

I would recommend splitting the areas up.  You can get a combined ticket for 12 Euros, which allows you go to most of the places such as the Acropolis, Roman Agora, Ancient Agora, Temple of Olympian Zeus etc and you can use it for several days. Definitely worth it.

The first day we started in Syntagma Square, walked through the National Garden then checked out the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch, before rounding back up to see Panathinaikon Stadium.  In the afternoon we went up to Lycabettus Hill and spent the afternoon there checking out the views.  For the second day we started early and went to the Acropolis then Ancient Agora (and the others nearby), then up to the National Archaeological Museum in the afternoon.  Nice and easy and you can squeeze in more attractions here and there if you want.

The blog has been quiet for a while and will probably remain so. Other than the tedious, unlucky Job Search, I’ve been trying to limit my internet time.

Books

I’ve added two to the pile: Best American Travel Writing 2009 and BLDGBLOG book. As you’ll notice, I’m linking to Powell’s instead of Amazon. See previous post for reasons why.

Best American Travel Writing is co-edited by Anthony Bourdain this time around and bears the traits of his interests – the darker places of the world, intrepid adventure and food. It’s been quite good so far with few stories skipped unlike previous editions.

The BLDGBLOG book was written by Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG and has so far been quite wonderful, which isn’t all that surprising given how continually delightful and thought-provoking the blog the continues to be.

Movies

I can’t recall the last time I posted about movies. Here’s a list from my recently watched Netflix ones:

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days – spectacular, moving, and brutal
Fitzcarraldo – watching today
Aguirre: The Wrath of God – insane
Something Wicked This Way Comes – light entertainment
Picnic at Hanging Rock - well-designed ambiguity
Army of Shadows – top-notch film about the French partisans in WWII; not blindly jingoistic or heroic as American films about the war tend to be – just ppl doing a dirty, brutal, thankless job and typically being killed for it
The Man Who Would Be King - fun adventure in Afghanistan in the 19th c
The Lookout – excellent movie with always excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Man on Wire – captures the delight and insanity of being human
The Deer Hunter - surprisingly engaging 3 hour film about life, love, and war
Mongol – beautiful scenery of the Mongol steppe, okay story
Snow Angels – Sam Rockwell being great in a tiny film about love in a small town

I’m kind of on a Werner Herzog bender in my queue the next few movies. Depending on job prospects and itchy feet, I might not get around to them for another month or so. We’ll see. I highly recommend 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It’s about a young woman in a difficult situation in Ceausescu’s Romania. It seems that it is part of an emerging Romanian cinema trend that I will need to check out. I loved the lingering shots, even with the main characters far away, or offstage. You can see similar shots in Army of Darkness and even Picnic At Hanging Rock. Picnic At Hanging Rock amazed me in how it could get the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up without having anything particularly frightening happening. I don’t know if it was the cinematography, the story, the music or the combination of all three but it work. If I were to recommend anything I would say those three are my top picks of the month with The Lookout also well worth watching.

Internet / Other

Los Angeles Cycling Map is still going along unsuccessfully. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve put no effort into marketing it other than begging Timur for a plug.

Late Night TV: I’ve been watching. It’s how I end my day. Conan and Jimmy. It’s nice to laugh before going to bed. Most of the jokes in Jimmy’s monologue fall flat but he’s good at riffing on them and even gives cue cards of the worst to audience members. One of the best moments recently has been Shatner on Conan. Sorry, unable to embed the video.

And I built a fence along my folks’ driveway. Tore down the old, salvaged what good pieces of wood I could, dug holes, and got it to stand. This kind of relates to some thoughts I’ve been having after reading the excellent Matthew Crawford article ‘The Case for Working With Your Hands‘ (via Michael Ruhlman). More on this later probably.

You just got yourself someone’s phone number and you desperately want to set up a date. Now when do you call her? I think everyone would agree you shouldn’t call them the same day. Should you wait a day? A week? A fortnight? Everyone has their own view on the amount of time you should wait before you call. Mine is 2 days. It’s the most optimal amount of time. It’s long enough to not seem too straightforward, pushy and desperate and you’ll give them enough opportunities to think about you. It’s also not too long, with the risk of her thinking you’re deliberately trying to play hard-to-get or worse, her forgetting everything about you. I must admit that I didn’t come up with the 2 days myself. Cause I was thinking: “what would Jesus do?”. His answer, too, was: “2 days”.

Remember when he was crucified on Good Friday? Now he’s a guy who can do about everything, he’s Jesus freaking Christ! I’m sure he could easily be resurrected the next day or months later. So he was thinking, when best to arise from my crucifixion? If he resurreced too fast, people wouldn’t have gotten the possibility to mourn. If he had returned too fast, they’d be like “What the fuck?! Didn’t you just die?!”. It’s a little bit scary. On the other hand, had he waited too long, his disciples may have found themselves another Messiah and probably would have forgotten all about him. So he chose to arise from his death 2 days later on Easter Sunday, just enough so people wouldn’t have forgotten about him and just enough so all of his disciples would be all happy when they would see him! See my point? Jesus is with me on this one! 2 days, my friend.. 2 days.

…D-DAY IS COMING!!!

by Abizeleth

This is us in Kona. 

I had just gotten a weight dropped on my toe and the pain was shooting up through my leg.  The look on my face is fighting back the vomit that might rise due to shock.  At this point, I was in an extreme sweat and dizziness.  Shortly after, while the instructor was going over the important info before diving, I temporarily lost my hearing and my eyesight when to a bright white.  *I kept telling myself, “Go away from the light, it’s not your time”!  *exaggerated a tad.

Jason’s hiding his casted wrist from a surgery he had just had.  There was no way he was missing a diving trip in Hawaii and he’s just letting us know all is *okay!  *Circle with thumb and index finger is the universal diving signal for “I’m OK”.

my stepmum and dad decide to redecorate their bedroom…my gf is here so since i only see her once a week im spending time with her, they strip the wallpaper off…
THEN, i hear a few fucking snide remarks
about ME being lazy
ME?!
there are 4 people living in this house
I am the only cunt with a fucking job
me = work full time hours(38.5), plus 2 hours each day for my travel
stepmum = disabled, cant do much due to illness
dad = her carer
other bloke = unemployed

whilst THEY sit indoors, and maybe do housework like once a week or something

yet IM THE FUCKING LAZY ONE

BOLLOCKS
I GET TWO DAYS OFF A FUCKING WEEK
why the fuck should i then have 2 spend MY free time doing work at home ?!
they have ALL WEEK
i have 2 days
so… in a month (4 weeks) i get 8 days for MYSELF, which i still have to do my own cleaning washing, and all that shit in

whereas they get 28 days, the whole 4 fucking weeks

im assuming ive made my fucking point here
load of bollocks

2 DAYS! ♥

i waited this long to fill out my ‘best of’ list for 2008 for two reasons.  1) i hadn’t seen ‘the reader’ and i know how much i like kate winslet and 2) i hadn’t seen 3 movies in 2008 that made me want to pick them.  fortunately 1 took care of 2.  so here’s the list in no particular order

• ‘milk‘ gus van sant
• ‘4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile‘ (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days- for you non romanian speakers out there) cristian mungiu
• ‘the reader‘ stephen daldry

they may actually be in some kind of order. but i’m less concerned with the order and more with what these films hold in common.  while i was digging the reader- kate’s best work to date and masterfully maneuvered by mr. daldry- i decided that if beauty is the rendering of a human experience into finite space, these were the only three beautiful movies i’d seen from 2008.  they each took themselves only as seriously as they needed to put you definitely in their world, but provided enough breathing space to let you roam the narrative without being constricted by the story.  and therein is the chief accomplishment of each film.  on first look they seem like a dour lot: gay rights in the 70s, abortion in the soviet bloc, and the holocaust fallout; lacking in slapstick moments to be sure.  but the artfulness of these films is how they rise beyond their grim outlines, side step the heavy lifting of ‘a gay movie’ or ‘a holocaust movie’ or ‘an abortion movie,’ and put us squarely into the lives of the characters at their most humanly vulnerable.

‘the reader’ had a tough time converting me.  daldry was the best part of the first half as the camera and the pacing carried an otherwise unremarkable story.  kate winslet was so on her game it was scary but she was matched with a poor kid so over his head it was obvious he wasn’t acting when he was nervous.  and we follow these two for an hour or so of inconsequential back and forth.  you’re never invested in their affair but you had no reason to discount it either.  it’s like a less compelling lady chatterly’s lover (which makes a cameo, actually). then daldry pulls the masterstroke of the film, shifting us to the “present” where ralph fiennes’ enigmatic and cloistered michael berg breathes new potential into the film.  in the last 45 minutes the film goes from good to great, and for all the deserved superlatives ms. winslet collects, fiennes carries the better portions of the film, consumed by an unrelenting sense of justice and an unrequited love.  it’s hard to connect with the unforgiving, ungrateful hannah schmidt or the young berg (played by david kross in way over his head).  but fiennes finesses a crushing vulnerability out of berg, 20 years on, and it’s the cold, quotidian lawyer who offers us an emotional inlet to the leaden characters from the ‘past.’  the final meeting between berg and schmidt is worth every penny you could possibly spend to see this film. 

‘4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days’ is perhaps the biggest gut-check of the three.  and before you go run off to rent it, in the interest of full disclosure, just know that the it shows everything.  everything.  but again, that’s not the point.  by the time it comes to that you’re daring the movie to bare it all.  it never feels hyper-political or hyper-emotional, then you realize how far in the shit the two women at the center of the film have gotten themselves and you realize that it somehow snuck up on you.  abortion was strictly illegal in the soviet union and its european subsidiaries.  the penalty was death.  this forced women to seek out black market abortions, and (shocker) some rather unscrupulous ‘doctors’ for their procedures.  the death rate for an abortion was 50%.  yes, you read that correctly.  50% of women who sought out abortions in romania and other eastern bloc countries died. but rather than give you any of that info (you get zero statistics) the film focuses instead on the relationship between otilia and gabriela, roommates at the dumpiest university ever seen, who barter for cigarettes with their hall mates and who are packing for a rough weekend ahead.  from start to finish the film is outstanding.  the shots are rough and imposing, like the cityscape, but never crass or daunting.  it’s obvious the camera sympathizes but it’s also apparent that the camera better understands the gravity and danger of the undertaking.  

i’ve written my peace on milk (bam! i just linked myself) but i’ll add that while penn and van sant carry the film to that next, ‘all-time great’ level, it’s the admirable supporting work by emile hirsch, james franco, and of course josh brolin that puts it at the top of my list.  the movie pulls off what few biopics can pull off: the characters always manage to be real.  it takes a special combination of script, actors, and director to make that happen and  ’milk’ pulls it off with an array of people you’re hard pressed to not love.

.

and here’s a two film addendum for those in need of some levity after getting through the first three picks for ‘08.  ’in bruges‘ and ‘the dark knight‘ are both highly entertaining and consequential ‘08 events.  in fact, before ‘the reader’ came along, ‘in bruges’ was #3 on the list indicating that above all, i may just have a huge ralph fiennes crush.  written and directed by the dashing playwright and  oscar winning short film director martin mcdonagh, ’in bruges,’ is funny, romantic, violent, and provoking, without ever forcing you to settle on one and the whole while displaying an awareness of the camera that few writers can ever muster.  ’dark knight’ needs no introduction: it is a cinematic event.  it only gets better the more you watch it and ledger gives us the ultimate anti-hero.  the final act is somewhat of a let down, but it doesn’t detract from the prior spectacle.  i saw it 4 times in theaters and was sad i didn’t go back for more.

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while we’re on the topic, ‘in bruges’ would be perfect with northern rhone syrah, i’d say crozes-hermitage, if you’re forcing me to pick.

Thursday :

Photo credits here

Went to an audition for my Ko-Ku Drama. Since we’re staging Patung-Patung, I got to play this warior named Dupa respectively. Pemilik Keris Puasa.*warior la sangat aku ni*

Friday :

photo credits here

I skipped my Literature in ESL Classroom because I wasn’t able to complete the journal assignment’s given that was due that day. Yes I was finishing the task until I dozed off somewhere around 4 am and continued with my..sleep, beauty sleep.*bad acad!*

There goes my new year resolution of getting a full attendance this semester.

Perish in a day.

I have been sick.  Not a long lasting cold, or something you can go to the doctor for. I had the 48 hour flu.

NOT. FUN.

Tuesday I had a dull headache all day and I just chalked it up to being tired.  Boy, was I wrong.  Late in the evening I had a very sudden and horrible headache come on. I laid down to bed to try and feel better and within 2 minutes the nausea started. Flash to me sleeping on the bathroom floor for 5 hours that night because I couldnt move, let alone go upstairs to sleep, in fear I may get sick again and not make it downstairs to the bathroom.

Not. Fun.

I havent had this violent of a flu for a long time. Not that I can remember.  I literally was sick ALL NIGHT. Then Wednesday I couldnt eat because any time I tried I, again, got sick.

I am thankful to say, I feel 99.9% better today.  2 DAYS!  Thats it?!  When I normally get sick I feel like poo for a week. Nope. Not this time. I feel great today.

HOORAY!

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032846/ 8 out of 10 stars

In 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, it’s in the in the lack of dialogue that the director successfully conveys his message.