Thor: The Dark World

broderic on November 16, 2013

Thor: The Dark World is a continuation of Loki’s story in the first Thor and in The Avengers. It does include Thor, the god of thunder, but the more interesting character is Loki. And we don’t see much of him until the final third of the film. The early parts had him locked in the prison he was sentenced to at the end of The Avengers. Once freed, the Trickster does his thing: tricks his way to the throne of Asgard. What does it mean for the rest of the Marvel Movie Universe and for the Thor franchise?

The Dark World is very similar to this summer’s Superman, The Man of Steel. A once banished villain, the dark elf, Malikith, wants to return and bring ruin on the son of the man that put him away. To do that he must threaten all the worlds of Yggdrasil, Asgard, Midgard, the Giant land, the dwarven home, and to do that he must do it in Greenwich, England. Thor is there to stop him along with his love and their wacky science team.

Can I say that it got kind of funny in the middle of things with the wacky science team. It’s weird, because it was not grim. There’s always a little bit of laughter in Midgard.

3 of 5 stars.

Link of the Day [11.13.13]

broderic on November 13, 2013

I was browsing the bookstore the other day when I decided to slow foot it to work and came across the Ivan Ramen recipe book. I bought it immediately. Then I read it. It was 2 books in one: an autobiography of the eponymous Ivan and how he came to be a ramen chef in Japan, and a recipe for his ramen, the one he serves in his ramen-ya. There are some other recipes in the book, but there is only one ramen recipe in it! It takes up a better part of the book, but there is only one recipe for ramen — Ivan Ramen!

Ivan breaks his ramen down into the parts, and he gives a recipe for making that one ingredient. He also gives you a recipe for the ramen noodles! If you make his ramen completely, damn, your hardcore!

http://ivanramen.com/

The Counselor

broderic on November 10, 2013

Went to see Ridely Scott’s latest, The Counselor, because it was filmed in Monte Pego. (Pego! Pego! Monte Pego!) It’s another fast and loose film about drug deals gone awry. Boring stuff. I’ll forget this in a month.

3 of 5 stars.

Ender’s Game

broderic on November 10, 2013

I’m not sure how to approach reviewing Ender’s Game. I should treat it as a movie, but there’s the book. It’s been twenty years since I was steady reading science fiction novels, and Ender’s Game was a favorite from that time. And it’s a good read, a very good read. It’s got that battle school thing going for it. Imagine Hogwart’s but like a first-person shooter. It was the best part of the book, and it showed that how good a tactition Ender Wiggins was. Of course, this was barely shown in the movie, and that’s what’s wrong with the movie. It can’t do the book justice.

It zooms through the more interesting things, gives a few glimpses of the intrigue of the aftermath, and talks, talks, talks, about how good Ender Wiggins is. Show don’t talk. Show.

Read the book. Don’t watch the movie.

2 of 5 stars.

Tacloban

broderic on November 10, 2013

No words. My father was from there. Perhaps I still have some family out there. Hope for the best.

Arroz Caldo

broderic on November 10, 2013

With winter coming, I turn to making a traditional Filipino dish: Arroz Caldo. I’ve asked my brother and mom about their recipe for it and they give it to me without actual measurements or time. My brother makes a chicken stock first, then makes the soup. My mom just gives me the steps: cook chicken with ginger, add water, add rice, cook until done. Not very many ingredients and not many steps. What can go wrong?

My mom left out let the chicken simmer into a stock!

SO YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CHICKEN STOCK.

And now my version doesn’t taste too well. Here’s how I worked my version.

I did use some of the chicken stock I made two weeks ago here. I also used 2 cups.

I take 3 chicken thighs and fry it with ginger, salt, and pepper. Cut the ginger into little slivers so that when you eat the soup, you’ll spend your time spitting out the ginger stalks.

When the chicken looks to be cooked through, add your chicken stock and enough water to cover. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for twenty minutes. This is were my mom should’ve said to let it simmer for another 2 hours. Next time simmer for 2 hours.

Here add the rice which you should rinse until the water is clear. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for another 2 hours.

Take the chicken out and shred. Add it back into the soup along with a heaping dose of patis.

Serve with scallions, fried garlic and more patis.

Escape Plan

broderic on October 31, 2013

Escape Plan featured Arnold and Stallone. It comes twenty years too late in either of their careers. They are no longer the action movie heroes. They are old guys in a really obvious movies. As soon as the caper is afoot, you’ll know who’s behind it all.

Stallone is jailbreak artist whose job is to find the holes in the security of seemingly un-breakable prisons. He signs up for testing a secret-secret CIA prison, but finds out that he’s been put away for forever. There he meets Arnold who’s been put away on false pretenses or so we are led to believe. Why are they there? Can they get out? What’s the deal with this prison?

It is senseless movie meant to fill a Saturday afternoon. Forget it already except when it shows up on USA network.

2 of 5 stars.

Bean Barley Soup

broderic on October 30, 2013

Right now on the stove is a concoction I threw together, Bean Barley soup. Hopefully, I’m making something that is tasty.

I made some chicken stock just for this. It consisted of chicken wings, onions, celery, carrots, and garlic boiled for 3 hours. Out of this came about 4 cups of stock. Some of it’s freezing in the fridge, but about 2 cups is the basis for the soup.

I threw this soup together because of all the left over vegetables I had. A bag of celery and a bag of carrots need to be used.

So how did I make? Three carrots, two celery stalks, and a half an onion fried together for a few minutes before a half a cup of white beans and a third of a cup of barley go into the pot. In goes 2 cups of the chicken stock followed by 4 more cups of water. It may not need that much. Bring it to a boil then turn down the heat to simmer for an hour. Throw in some parsley for good measure. After an hour add half a tablespoon of vinegar to make it brighter. Salt to taste. Fresh ground pepper to taste.

Let’s hope I’ll enjoy it. I’ve got a few cups to eat for the next few days.