da blogs da thang

… I stirred up a nice big bowl of zesty and spicy Gazpacho (chunky, of course… love the crunch) and cut watermelon in the fridge. And got a loaf of sourdough. I think I’ll be grazing all day. In fact, I’m off for some watermelon now.

Some of my favorite Summer fixin’s.

I’ll update later… and include the weekend movie selection.

UPDATE: It’s later.

Since KFarmer asked in the comment section… I’ll share my version of Gazpacho with you.

What you’ll need…

Part 1
3 cucumbers (seeded – scooped out with a spoon – then diced)
5 firm tomatoes (seeded – scooped out with a spoon – then diced)
3 bell peppers (seeded- then diced)
1 hot pepper (seeded- then diced)
1/2 sweet red onion (diced)
1 clove garlic – smashed or finely chopped

Part 2
red wine vinegar – 2 tablespoons
Worcester sauce – 2 tablespoons
squeeze of one lime
salt & pepper to taste

Part 3
1 can V8
1 can V8 spicy

Put part one in a bowl. Season to taste with part 2 and let it sit for 10 minutes to marinade. Put the seeded portions of the cucumber and tomatoes into a blender with the V8. Blend then pour into the bowl with part 1 & 2. Cool in fridge for 1 hour.

Generous servings for 4 and should be eaten with hot bread. It’s the perfect anytime Summer dish and really great with Sangria…

weekend movie selection

I’m sure most have wondered on some occasions how different our lives would have gone if…

• we had caught that bus instead of missing it
• we had not approached that person sitting at the coffeeshop
• we had worn the blue outfit instead of the black

I could go on and on but that is the very basis of Sliding Doors. The question of “what if?” In this case the options are played out by our protagonist, Gwyneth Paltrow on weather she catches the train or not. What’s really interesting is that BOTH options are examined in parallel… almost simultanously as this movie plays out. One would expect that this could get very confusing after a while… but the clever structure of the script makes it all seem quite straight forward as both stories are interwoven with each other. Nothing too heavy here and the film is actually a pleasant romantic comedy. Definitely worth the look-see.

Here are some short quotes from the film.
_____________________
James: Everybody’s born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They’re passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact, they should be called “The Fetals”.
_____________________
Patron in Restaurant where Helen is a waitress: Hey, gorgeous. What do you do when you’re not serving up mad cow burgers in here, eh?
Helen: Well, now, then, let me see. I get up at about 7:30AM making and delivering sandwiches in the West End during the day before I come here about 6 o’clock and finish at midnight. After that, if I’ve got any energy left, I give my boyfriend a blow job.
[pause]
Helen: Would you like some mayonnaise with that?
_____________________
Lydia: Gerry, I’m a woman! We don’t say what we WANT! But we reserve the right to get pissed off if we don’t get it. That’s what makes us so fascinating! And not a little bit scary.
_____________________

Cheers and have a great weekend!!

… well absinthe does make the heart grow fonder. You’ve heard me speak of this before… so, I won’t bore you. (don’t you love the blue flame burning the suger cube though?) If you are here just for the pic…. look no further. If you actually want stuff to read… there are a couple of posts below.

CHEERS & HAPPY HNT!

Feeling pretty prolific today… so, here’s another post. I made a cryptic comment a few posts ago that several of you had enquired about. Here is Part 1.

1. “This is your first piece and you guys are writing a musical about a singing frog? I’ve been in the local theatre scene for years and I’ll tell you why it will never work. One, this is Malaysia, man! Two, you don’t have a big local name in it… OK, Mike is an emerging name… but that’s in the jazz world! Three, a musical has never been written and produced by a couple of local boys – no one will pay money to see anything local!” - about “Frogway” circa August 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia… over 2000 tickets sold for the 4 performance run.

2. “It’s called “Frogway”, it’s about a singing frog and it’s a musical? Well… the Experimental Theater Company is set up for our students to try out stuff and also allows for the luxury to fail… not really about big box-office. In fact, our productions over the last 4 years have hardly broken even. Oh, and you will get our standard production budget… $450.” - about “Frogway” circa Spring 1982, California State University, Fresno… 3 sell-out performances over a 4 performance run.

3. (from an actor) “O.K… during that exorcism scene last night… I’m pretty damn sure I wasn’t on stage but people keep telling me how good I was in it!” (actor listens to my explanation) “You’re shitting me, right? That was not dramatic license… that’s actually a real ceremony? Fuck! So, some… entity was using my body on stage???” - about “Wax Figures” circa Fall 1986, California State University, Fresno… Masters project in playwriting & directing.

4. “Let me get this straight… you’ve been commissioned to adapt the piece for the stage. You accepted the gig because you HATE the original. So, you’ve decided to take this much beloved Hans Christian Anderson story, set it in Fresno… where there’s no snow… which is paramount to the story – girl freezes to death in the show? Hello? Now you’re telling me that a major chunk of this adaptation of “The Little Match Girl” will be 2 kids on the stage talking about life and death… and in the plot you kill off 3 people. And this is a holiday show for children’s theatre?” - about “A Bundle Of Wishes” circa sometime in 1988, Fresno Childrens Playhouse… where I was one of 2 playwrights in residence for the next 3 years.

more to come… sometime.

… and spent most of it finishing off a new website for Ashtree Studios. These fine folk have been hosts to a Rogue cafe venue and gallery for the past 3 years and are some of our biggest supporters. They wanted something simple, elegant and functional. I’m hoping to get it up and “live” by Friday. Aileen, the owner/artist has a new series of work she will be unveiling at ArtHop on the 9th. All pretty exciting stuff! They’ll be swinging by sometime this week to check out what I’ve done. I hope they like it. After that I’ll be creating the new pre-Rogue site… and sometime this Summer I will finally get my own site up for my plays… something I’ve been promising myself for the past 3 years.

Went out for drinks last night with SSM. Kowboi was there along with Katie and Rach. Jade Ed turned up as well. When she found out that I was 3 scotches to the wind she coaxed me to read palms. (Sneaky girl). If Zonthar was present he would have spit out in disgust “That Damn Malaysian’s Shrine is ON!” That’s what my male friends call it, “the Shrine.” Apparently, I’m pretty good after 3 or 4 scotches… the women swear by it. I actually do make an effort to veer away from that these days but Jade Ed caught me at a weak moment. In days of yore there are tales that regale of times when every woman at the bar was lining up to get a palm reading from a very drunk me. On one occasion there was a line of 20-30 women reaching from the pub area all the way into the dining room. Their male companions were left to sit alone to pick their noses and stare at me with disdain while I looked at palms and blatter away… or so I’m told.

That’s all I have for now. You have a good day.

EDIT: Just to make sure you got a small dose of education today… CLICK HERE!

Oh, and certain conditions have to be present before I can even consider reading palms. 1.) I have to be slap-happy drunk on scotch to where I’m incapable of saying “no”. 2.) You HAVE to be physically present… because touch is a major factor in this deal.

cheers!

… but for now… go check out my friend Kien who today has begun his very own version of Musical Monday!

UPDATE: 3:06 PM
I’ve never done this before but… we’ll get to that in a while. Mum needed to get a couple of shoes today and requested that I take her to Kohl’s… which I did at 10ish this morning. I had been hermitizing the past week and decided that it was time for me to get out and about for a bit… so, this fit into my plans perfectly.

While Mum browsed in the shoe section I sauntered through men’s wear. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular… just checking out what they had. As I did… a strange yet old familiar sensation came over me as I eyed a sand colored Summer suit. I actually wanted to buy it!

This was strange because I hadn’t felt this prickly little rush in years. Familiar because oh so long ago I was quite the dapper dresser. This was the pre-marriage days… before my lovely ex-wife bought me jeans. Not that I had never owned a pair of jeans before then… I had… but always considered them “work-wear”. It was my ex who actually convinced me that jeans could be worn as “casual-wear”… which until that point meant at least a pair of pleated linen pants for me. Since then my wardrobe has never quite been in the mode of elegance that it use to be. So, did I buy said sand colored Summer suit? (Only $130) No… but I seriously considered it. Though it was nice to know that I still have pretty damn impeccable taste in clothes.

So, once Mum had made her purchases I suggested lunch at her favorite Chinese buffet place. She was delighted at the prospect as she had been cooped up at the homestead of late and was on the verge of cabin fever. We drive down there and are shown our table. The friendly (and cute) waitress welcomed us. She had remembered us from a couple of months ago and throughout our meal… kept coming over with tidbits of friendly chatter. She even wrote our names in Chinese on napkins. She was very sweet (I did already mention that she was cute, didn’t I?) and was really making an extra special effort to connect… lavishing more attention on us than anybody else. So, what did I do? I (in a moment of measured abandon) GAVE HER MY NUMBER!

Yes, I’ll admit I was quite captivated with her (remember, she’s cute)… but I’ll have you know… I have never done this before! Really! That is so damn forward… just not my style!!! WTF is wrong with me???

To cap it off here is Mum’s comment as we walked to the car, “That girl is really quite resourceful.”

… if you didn’t catch “Lies My Father Told Me” onstage either at the Rogue Festival or last Thursday at Full Circle Brewing Company… it just ain’t happening again. That was the last performance. The reason? Most of my friends know that I really hate being on stage. O.K. that’s an easy cop out.

The actual reason is I really wasn’t even planning on doing it for the Full Circle gig except that I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending during the Rogue. So, the gig on Thursday provided me with the opportunity to craft a better ending. Which I think was achieved… at least to my personal satisfaction… and still managed to keep the source material intact and fairly pure. So, now I can put that one to rest and move on.

I knew even as I was initially cobbling the show together that it didn’t really have “legs” past the festival. Even though for a couple of minutes there I did entertain the fantasy that it could possibly go further. But in order for that to happen I would have to employ my playwriting tricks to “craft” it further… And that’s just not something I am willing to do. These are my father’s stories… Were presented that way and they should remain as such. So, in it’s present form it is a mild, charming and somewhat entertaining curiosity for an audience that I hope honored my father. Who knows… Perhaps plot elements from those stories may be developed into a different form down the line. However, continuing to do the show in it’s present form would cross the line into indulgence… And goodness knows I already used up my quota of that.

If you managed to catch it… Thank you for allowing me to share my inheritance with you. I had fun doing it. If you told me you were going to (especially if you live in town) but didn’t or couldn’t for whatever reason… Sorry… You may have actually have enjoyed it.

I’ve decided to show off one pith a day (not specifying the days either) on this blog. Think of it as a pith-tease of sorts. LOL! (O.K. I’ll admit that was pretty lame.)

Of the new piths I have… let me first introduce the Wolseley which was named after Army Chief of Staff, Sir Garnet Wolseley in and around 1902, at the close of the Victorian era. This was really a new and improved redesign of this type of helmet that was used during the Boer War and still retains a bit of the “beak” in the front of the brim. The major difference with the Wolseley is that the top or the bowl is a little shorter and brim at the back is longer to protect the neck from the sun. ( Here is a full side view.) These were used during the Gallipoli campaign all the way up to WWII.

Worn mainly by British forces in the desert and tropical sectors of the Empire. The cool thing about this one… when worn backward… you could look like Daffy Duck in that one episode when his bottom bill was shot off.