Seasonal Saturdays - March

Yesterday I had the honour of attending the Themed Entertainment Association summit in Universal City - it is basically an event where all the year's winners of THEAs (the awards given by the association for special achievement in various categories within the industry) present their works and achievements.

The Expo in China dominated the morning, and Harry Potter did the afternoon - all fascinating presentations and brilliant achievements. Perhaps the most interesting to me, however, was the presentation by Martello Media of the new museum at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Certainly I think I must have been the only person in the room who could claim to have an immediate family member buried in the cemetery!

The beginning of March also marks the birthday/anniversary of said family member, my brother Kevin. He died before I was born, but somehow he has always figured in my consciousness, as I wonder what it might have been like to have an older brother, blazing a trail here or there for me. Oh well. Hopefully I've done a good job of doing so :)

Foodie Friday - Butler's Hot Chocolate

After my pontificating yesterday about giving up Chocolate, I was thinking about all the kinds of chocolate that I love, and would therefore miss. I'm no particular fan of chocolate soup, or any chocolate involvement in savoury items - although the mole negro at Monte Alban in Santa Monica is tremendous.

I was pretty much raised on drinking chocolate, mind you. It was a ritual in our house that at least two of us would have a cup of drinking chocolate (NOT cocoa) every night before bed. In France, on our camping holidays, my parents would often adjourn to the bar after putting us to sleep, where my mother would always have 'un chocolat chaud'. Last summer, in Samos, I had a very lovely cup of it, in the little dining area of a lovely cheapo hotel, much to the bemusement of the smiling Greek lady who prepared it for me.

I am looking forward to visiting Butler's Chocolate cafe in Dublin while I'm home - they make it quite beautifully. Somehow, though, I always associate their plush styrofoam cups with travel - probably because the two outlets of their franchise that I frequent the most are the ones in Heuston Station and Dublin Airport!

UPDATE (March 17th) - Orla and I had a delicious pair of hot chocolates, and a pear muffin, of all things, on our day of fun meandering around the city centre. Mission accomplished!

30 Mad Thursdays - Give Up Chocolate

As part of my whole 30 Before 30 growing up self fulfillment project, I have been seriously considering giving up Chocolate. Clearly not forever, but for a specific length of time. Not because I feel I am addicted, or because necessarily I eat too much of it, but mainly because I've been reading a lot about the effect it has on people - serotonin and all that - and I'm very curious to see if I could at least go without it long enough to cleanse myself completely of its influence. And then see how I feel.

But CLEARLY I won't be doing any such thing until after my trip to Dublin. A fortnight without even a taste of some lovely Cadbury's would be a fortnight wasted. If you don't know what I mean, you're missing out.

More on the chocolate-free lifestyle in April - provided of course that it doesn't kill me. Or anyone else, for that matter ;)

Wild Card Wednesdays - The Turn of the Screw

Our resident diva professor of design wrangled a bunch of tickets for the dress rehearsal of Jonathan Kent's production of 'The Turn of the Screw' tonight at LA Opera, and I was really glad to see it.

I've never forgotten how much fun I had PLAYING Miles in the play version (The Innocents) all those years ago. The opera is not quite as terrifying as the play, since the music - or maybe just the staging - prefigured a lot of things and painted things in strokes rather broader than the subtle horror of the Henry James might really need. That said, it is pretty amazing music, and it was extremely well-sung.

Tuesday Tunes - Janet Jackson

I kinda love and hate Janet Jackson. All her music sounds relatively the same - but surely this can equally be considered the mark of a truly consistent artist, and/or a commercial machine? It's all so sultry, smooth, or poppy and fun. She can sing, she can dance, she is part of the most famous pop family EVER, and so on. But somehow she never quite gets under my skin the way various others do. That said, her music always manages to crop up in my memories of times throughout my life, and she's pretty amazing regardless!

But I still kinda really wanna go see her in April. Anyone wanna come with?

Movie Monday - Le Grand Chef (1 AND 2!)

After two rather dark and depressing films in recent weeks, I'm happy instead to be bringing you a pair of fun ones, very appropriate to this blog. They are Le Grand Chef, and its sequel, Le Grand Chef 2 - Battle Kimchi. I saw the first one on a plane to or from Japan, probably in 2008 or so. It's all about a Korean competition wherein guys wind up cooking blowfish, to predictably dramatic and hilarious results. The sequel, rather wonderfully, is all about kimchi and what the idea of 'Korean' food might be.

Needless to say, both are filled with great humour, warmth, exuberance and charm - just like the majority of Korean people I know!

Trailers below :)

Sunday Spices - Thyme

Did you know that thyme has a fascinating history?

(DID YOU CARE?)

Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage. It was thought that the spread of thyme throughout Europe was thanks to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs". In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares. In this period, women would also often give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life.

(Thank you Wikipedia)

I just use it in cooking. Apparently it's good for you.

Seasonal Saturdays - SPRING BREAK

I'm so excited for Spring Break. It's my last one as a student here at UCLA. Clearly I should be heading for Florida or Acapulco or Vegas to get trashed and end up in photos like the one above, but actually I'll be flying to Dublin.

After spending the winter in LA and NOT travelling (not least because of the horrific snowy weather that beset Dublin during the holidays) I am chomping at the bit with the prospect of getting back to Ireland for a bit. Here I come!

Foodie Friday - Kebabs vs Burritos

The true star of the Fast Food scene in Dublin has to be AbreKEBABra - "where the food is only magic". I won't comment further, apart from stating that I have never eaten there. And likely never will. That said, here is photographic evidence that Ireland's finest - Colin Farrell and Keith Duffy - both have been there. At least once.

What is it with mankind and the obsession to roll up rough-chopped meat in bread, pittas, kebabs etc? Don't get me wrong, it's delicious on occasion, but why would anyone think it a good idea to eat such things on a stomach already filled with Beer???

What do I know.

There are no such kebab chains in LA, unfortunately. But we do have Chipotle - which, I learned recently - is worth something like $4BILLION to the young fella who set it up, comparatively recently, with a loan from his dad. Maybe someone should tell the magicians of Abrakebabra that they should think bigger?!

30 Mad Thursdays - The Man With the Flower in his Mouth

In continued translator-spirit, I finished another piece this week - a short but wonderful play by Luigi Pirandello, 'The Man With The Flower in His Mouth'.

Any takers???

UPDATE - In Dublin this week I learned that it was in fact the first play that my hero/mentor directed. Fancy that!

Wild Card Wednesdays - iPad 2

Dammit, Steve Jobs, you need to stop this.

I really didn't think I'd want or need the iPad 2. I get a lot of use out of my iPad 1, but you and your cruel/awesome game-changing ways have just made it pretty impossible to resist.

I hope you're happy. I hope I'LL be happy with it. We'll talk in April after my tax returns...

Love/hate,

Conor

Tuesday Tunes - Miserere

I really love the baroque stories that surround Allegri's Miserere. That it was for performance ONLY in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel during set times on the Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. That, over the course of the performance, every candle in the chapel (apart from one that remained unseen) was extinguished, one by one. That anyone who transcribed or stole it would be excommunicated. That apparently Mozart heard it once, and DID transcribe it - all sixteen vocal lines - but did return on the Friday to make minor corrections. That the ban on publication was lifted thereafter, since the fourteen-year-old genius had ruined its exclusivity.

But most importantly, I love this piece because it is so arcane and yet so very movingly human. The gorgeous lyrics, both in Latin and in an English translation, are available in Wikipedia and need not trouble us here.

But here's a nice recording of it, which I hope you'll love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh31j6L95Ok

Movie Monday - Biutiful

I didn't really 'get' the trailer for this (although I loved the Alexandre Desplat music that it stole from 'Lust Caution' - but it was Iñárritu, and Bardem, so I was very glad to hear that it was finally playing at Laemmle's in Santa Monica.

What a dark, quiet, devastating film it is. Bardem plays a father, in contemporary Barcelona, who is down on his luck and working multiple schemes to support his children and the various underdogs and victims he cares for in the shady side of city life. Oh, and he can also speak to the dead. To say any more might give things away, but suffice to say it is a must-see. Bardem is among the most interesting actors we have today - and how great that he continues to stretch himself and take on challenging, difficult roles.

Sunday Spices - Basil

Every time I watch a show on Food Network, I seem to see someone preparing a 'chiffonade' of (ie poshly-chopped) basil. It's the 2011 must-have, or must-do in the kitchen.

Basil is a great herb, though, and good and strong - really makes its presence felt! I like that - so often you include something and it doesn't quite have an impact. Take parsley, for instance. Can you actually tell what parsley tastes like? Or am I just doing it wrong?

Thanks to the lovely new blender/chopper thing my aunt and uncle got me for Christmas, I've been making all kinds of sauces and soups in recent months. The most recent success was a really delicious pesto, which came out extremely beautifully. (Pesto = basil, pine-nuts, a bit of cheese and some olive oil. Easy!) I made a variety of little treats with it, but my favourite was the roasted chicken breast, stuffed with pesto and cream-cheese and wrapped in bacon. Sound too good to be true?! Actually, if you cook it right, all the fat drains out and it is a rather guilt-free but flavour-filled triumph. Have a go!

Basil is also making its way into cocktails and mix-drinks at the moment. More to follow ;)

Seasonal Saturdays - The Met Opera

So actually I managed to see my first ever broadcast from the Met only this month. Disgraceful, I know, but I'm more than making up for it, since I'll actually get through at least three before the end of this quarter. (Or at least before the end of Spring Break.)

And what a three to get through - Peter Sellars' NIXON IN CHINA, Gluck's IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE (with lighting by our dear UCLA professor and resident genius, Neil Jampolis) and then Mary Zimmerman's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, with everyone's famous pint-size French megastar, Natalie Dessay.

Funniest part of the Iphigenie broadcast - the moment when, just as the maestro was getting into position, the live feed from Dessay - as MC - was not switched off, and people all across the world, happily congregated to hear and see Gluck's incredibly beautiful opera, heard the soprano mutter "I fucked that up!". She really didn't. For someone whose English is apparently not great, she did a terrific job.

The opera itself is such a beautiful piece - quite, quite devastating. And Stephen Wadsworth's production has some really splendid moments. You'll be wanting this when it comes out on DVD...!

Foodie Fridays - Shamrock Shakes

Well, to be sure, tis the season for everything Oirish again. Begorrah.

(The US seems to relish Paddywhackery far more than was ever evident in Dublin, be Jaysus...)

However, nothing at all says St. Patrick's Day to me like the reappearance of commercials and posters for Shamrock Shakes at McDonalds. Can there be anything better than a mint-flavoured sugary milkshake to wash down your burger and fries?

What I didn't know - and I must thank the ever-brilliant Michael K of dListed for this - is that the Shamrock Shake actually has a MASCOT. His name is Uncle O'Grimacey. Apparently he even had his own commercials, in the dim-and-distant past. Thanks to the glorious interweb, I can share this with you...

March 17th is actually my father's birthday. So it tends to be more about him than about greenery, snake-banishing and hardcore drinking at my house!

30 Mad Thursdays - Modern Noh Plays

So, I did a manic bunch of work this week and finally got through my translation of 'A Requiem for Genji', the one outstanding Modern Noh Play by Yukio Mishima that hasn't been translated into English. Major coup, I'm very proud of it. (Most fun 'independent study' ever!!!)

I have been working on translating ALL of the MNP for several years now - about five, I think? - and it's definitely been one of my 30before30 to get them done, at last. I think I'll try to publish them, too!

Wild Card Wednesdays - Aphrodite

I just remembered that I'm going to the curiously double-named Aphrodite/Les Folies Kylie Minogue tour at the O₂ in Dublin next month! CANNOT WAIT.

I have never been entirely enamoured of the stuff that Kylie does live. I really enjoyed the tour that was filmed 'Live in Sydney', but everything since then has been very over-done (William Baker, I'm talking to you - and if you're reading this, hire me and I'll make you better). BUT this newest show seems to be inspired by showgirls and follies and Esther Williams, and will be a return to happy shiny sparkly Kylie, as opposed to wannabe-relevant-dark-deep-Damien-Hirst-crystal-skull Kylie.

Also, I was very burned out by the Hollywood Bowl concert - venue too big, show to small - so I'm happy to see her perform on a bigger scale. MUCH bigger. And Perez Hilton won't be in the audience.

UPDATE (post show, I didn't cheat and check before!!)

LOOK AT THE MODEL FOR THE SHOW!

Tuesday Tunes - Mary Black

Mary Black is an Irish singer. if you haven't heard of her, go and hunt down her work through which ever online challenge you prefer. She's marvellous! She's been pumping out the tunes for well over two decades, and comes from a great family of Irish musicians and songsters.

Whenever I feel a little homesick for Ireland, Dublin, my friends or my past, she'll get some airplay in iTunes. I think my favourite of her albums is the compilation "The Collection". Lovely, clear phrasing, and great heart.

Stop reading now and go see what I mean!

Movie Monday - The Illusionist

This movie has much to recommend it - beautiful animation, oodles of French wit, clever and surprising imagery, and perhaps the loveliest cinematic representation of Edinburgh ever. But it's so depressing. SO depressing. Gorgeous, but devastating. It probably didn't help that the night we saw it was horrendously rainy - but by god, it was miserable!!!