Fried Beer: Yummy! September 15, 2010

Fried Beer

Saw this article on a chef who successfully figured out a way to deep-fry beer.

Fried Butter

When I told my roommate about this, her first reaction was to grab her stomach and making a gagging sound, the same reaction she had when I told her about how I tried fried butter and fried Oreos at another fair. Don’t knock it until you try it! That’s my mantra after first being skeptical about the butter and Oreos, and then loving them after tasting! I expected the fried butter to be a solid block of butter surrounded by fried batter, but it ended up being hollow and tasting more like a buttery croissant (which is yummy in my book). The fried Oreos were great because I love fried stuff and I love Oreos…simple as that. Oh and all of this fried stuff is served deliciously warm! But I have to say, while yummy, I could only handle a couple fried butter balls….same goes for the Oreos. I know not to overdo it…or my opinion might change! I love beer too, so I’m intrigued to taste this unique concoction. Here’s to hoping I can find some fried beer near me!

Btw, check out this cute video of a little kid dancing up a storm after trying fried butter (around the 0:20 second mark).

‘The Tourist’ Trailer!

Just saw the trailer for Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp’s spy thriller, The Tourist (in theaters December 10, 2010). Looks like a fun, not-to-be-taken-too-seriously movie, that I would enjoy checking out with some friends. I love pretty much any movie with either Jolie or Depp. Unlike Black Swan, though, this movie might not be critic proof for me. If the movie doesn’t get good reviews, I think I could wait until it comes out on DVD/online somewhere (not to sound cheap, but it comes to around 14 bucks a person to see a movie in a theater these days, so I only go if I feel like there is something to gain by seeing it on the big screen, like with Avatar or Inception). Anyways, the trailer:

The music and slightly injected humor in the movie, especially in the train scene, give off an Oceans 11 vibe, which I wasn’t expecting when I first heard about the movie. Jolie looks great as always (ok maybe she’s looking a little uncharacteristically thin, but we don’t know how she lives her life and this could just be natural for her!). BUT, someone needs to tell Jolie that she can’t do accents! Depp looks..umm..different… I can’t quite put my finger on it… maybe it’s just the makeup and wardrobe though! Whatever…it can’t be denied that they are both great actors!

Black Swan: One Movie I Can’t Wait to See! September 14, 2010

After seeing the trailor (below) and reading up on the movie, I don’t think December 1st can come soon enough!

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company. Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect. Black Swan also stars Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.

Reviews on the internet are mixed and although it currently has a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes–12 fresh, 1 rotten–, it’s too early to really be able to tell. I almost always check reviews before I go see a movie in the theater, but I don’t think bad reviews will prevent me from checking out Black Swan! From the preview it looks like Portman and Kunis do a good job and at least Porman will be recognized come awards season.  The cinematography and visuals look stunning as well! The film is supposed to have a limited release on December 1, 2010, but I don’t know if I can wait that long!!!

Re: It is what it is when you wear what you wear.

Re: It is what it is when you wear what you wear

I am really quite appalled at the ignorance of the main issue at hand in your post.  Your post, and some of the comments follow this line of reasoning: what she was wearing was clearly inappropriate for work, and guys will be guys, so it really wasn’t unexpected…… [and as an afterthought] oh but harassment is wrong. This logic is exemplified perfectly in your post:

“I am not condoning any harassment here what so ever because it’s never ok but it is what it is when you wear what you wear. It’s like me leaving the house with major cleavage showing a skirt so short you can almost see my butt and heels and then being absolutely appalled and disgusted when I get whistled at or comments are made walking down the street.  Men are men and the way they think will never change..it’s in their make up.  If you don’t want to be harassed, whistled at, comments made then cover up your body and quit letting it all hang out while you are doing your JOB.  Save your skimpy stuff for the club.”

SERIOUSLY??? This is exactly the type of thinking that is so dangerous for our society. But before I get into the broader issues at hand, lets first address the Ines Sainz situation. Check out this article, that also contains the Today Show interview.

A couple of things to point out. Sainz posted on her twitter, “I am dying of embarrassment. I am in the Jets locker room waiting for [quarterback] Mark Sanchez, while trying not to look anywhere!”  But the article and interview make it clear that it was not Sainz that initiated the NFL probe. She was approached by another female reporter in the locker room, and it seem she or someone else who witnessed what was happening, informed the Association for Women in Sports Media, which encouraged the NFL probe.

“I’m not the one who [made] the charge,” Sainz said. When the NFL and Johnson called her Sunday to apologize and tell her that an investigation had been opened, Sainz said she didn’t know what they were talking about.

Asked if she now considered that she’d been sexually harassed, Sainz replied, “I prefer that the NFL judge. They have all my tapes.

So it is not exactly clear what happened and if the Jets are guilty of any wrongdoing. Buts lets assume for argument’s sake that she was harassed with catcalls and whistles, which made her uncomfortable while she was trying to do her job.

There are a couple of separate issues in the Sainz case: 1) Was what she was wearing inappropriate for work? Yes, I think everyone can agree on that, except for her (and her employer?). Does it matter that she does not want to change the way she dresses? No, because she is not breaking any rules, unless they invoke an official dress code for reporters. Issues of dress codes and appropriate attire for work are a whole SEPARATE issue and should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as harassment, as it implies cause and effect. The fact is, the Constitution protects freedom of expression, so long as no one is harmed and she is not breaking any obscenity laws. She was not harming anyone with her attire, nor breaking any rules. And obscene? I don’t think anyone would argue that.

2)  Was the Jets players’ behavior expected? Yes and no. (Some) guys will be guys. Apparently, Mark Sanchez was a complete gentleman with her, so not all guys act like pigs. I cannot imagine any of my close guy friends ever hollering at the reporter or making her feel uncomfortable either. I think it comes down to how you are raised, and the environment you live in. Parents should raise their kids to treat women with respect. Employers should make sure they train employees to act appropriately on the job and that they do not encourage such behavior, as I believe the NFL is currently making sure they do in this case. But lets face it, professional sports culture in general does in many ways encourage this type of behavior, regardless of what the suits say.

3) Should this type of behavior be tolerated? No. Guys will be guys is not a good enough justification for such inappropriate behavior. We should expect more from men because they are NOT animals (lets not get technical on this). If they were, we’d be ok with them humping lamp posts and such just like our pets! Yes, all humans may have instinctual desires, but what differentiates us from other animals is that we have the conscience and ability to control them.  These “primitive” instincts are harmful for the well-being of the human community, because in this case they can cause harm to women, which is why there are laws and rules against it.

4) Was Sainz asking for it? OF COURSE NOT! Anyone heard of blaming the victim? This is the biggest problem I had with your post and some of the comments on your post. What really upset me was that Sainz felt the need to defend what she wearing by posting a picture of it on twitter. Fanhouse.com columnist Kevin Blackistone says it best when he opined that sexual harassment protection “doesn’t shrink with the fit of jeans or disappear with the height of a hemline. Women in journalism, or any line of work, shouldn’t be subjected to … sexual innuendo for any reason.” To even add a “but”, as in “sexual harassment is wrong, but look at her outfit, she was asking for it!” is WRONG and such a dangerous argument, especially when it is used to mitigate cases of violence and rape!

The double standard is clearer when we look at how we deal with other types of crime. Remember the recent the fight at the US Open? Most people can agree that while the young man was acting like a douchebag, the two older people who physically hit him, had no right to do so. The crime the two people committed against him is no less wrong because of his doucheyness. This reasoning should be expanded to harassment or violence towards women too! Instead, with violence towards women, it is usually insinuated, as it is in the Sainz case, that she was asking for it! The fact that so much of your post, and the comments focus on what she was wearing, instead of what actually happened, proves that. Lets focus on what really matters,the behavior of the players and if any laws or rules of conduct were broken!!!!

In my mid twenties and living in Manhattan, I love getting dressed up for a night on the town. I, like most young women, have experienced looks and catcalls from guys. In some cases, even sexual advances. But my wardrobe usually consists of a more-demure-than-my-peers Anthropologie dress.  So I feel that regardless of what I wear, I will still get harassed by guys. Should I walk around in a Burka? Of course not. Is it my fault? No! These guys have no manners and no restraint and it makes me feel so uncomfortable. But it isn’t my fault! There are some people who may even feel that what I wear is scandalous… but where do we draw the line between acceptable and slutty? All of this judging what a woman wears focuses too much on subjective matters, when the issue at hand is the harassment!

So while I appreciate your post because it has started a very important, open dialogue about women’s rights and crimes against women, I hope that you can see how your post perpetuates some very dangerous attitudes towards women.

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Response:

Fnkybee and all of her supporters have based their argument on the fact that she loves this attention and brought it all on herself. I quote Fnkybee:

“It’s a shame that she is going to make such a fuss out of all this and the Jets are going to have the spotlight on them and most likely be reprimanded when all of this was brought on by her and the choices she made before walking out on the field or into the locker room.”

Well it’s clear from the news reports that she wasn’t the one that initiated the probe, and didn’t even realize anything was wrong until another reporter pointed it out. She she was embarrassed about it, but OK with it because she was trying to ignore it. It wasn’t until after she heard the tapes that she realized some of the things that were being said to her weren’t right. As for her rounds on the talk shows, ya I’m sure she loves the publicity, but she wasn’t the one who initially brought it on, so it wasn’t some sort of master plan of her as some of you believe! And believe it or not, she does have the right to stand up for herself and explain what happened when things like this get to the media (and she wasn’t the one who started this whole thing in the first place, as I keep trying to point out!).

Also, I should point out that no one knows exactly what happened or the severity of what happened. Apparently Fnkybee has the inside scoop because, as she states in her comments, “In my book what happened is not harassment, so I agree with you. I’m not a fan of the Jets either but on this one I am.”  In your book, what book? I’m so confused, the articles don’t even make it clear enough for anyone to make a conclusion. I have not taken sides, because for all I know the Jets could be completely innocent. In my arguments above, I am assuming that there was some sort of harassment involved, not because I think the Jets are guilty in this situation, but I am just trying to show that this attitude towards women puts us on a slippery slope when dealing with other potentially more serious, but related, issues. Yes, catcalls and whistling are related to, and can escalate to harassment and violence and rape. I have experienced the situation at least twice (if not more) where a guy/a group of guys will be calling out things to me, then follow me around and then grab my arm or aggressively grab me from behind to dance with me, even when I have already expressed no interest. Luckily I had guy friends with me who stopped this situation from escalating both times. No reasonable, American would say I dress slutty, but if the courts followed the reasoning Fnkybee and others follow, they would be analyzing what I wore and if “it is what it is when I wear what I wear”. And who knows, maybe the judge would think Anthropologie dresses are slutty…And even the guilty party could say “well I’m a guy, and she was dressed in a manner that suggested she wanted it!” My point is that while I agree that Sainz does not dress appropriately for a reporter in America, that does not justify immature behavior from the Jets. There should be no “buts” about it. Ever. If we allow anyone to use the excuse “but I’m a guy, and boys will be boys,” then it sets a dangerous precedent for other related situations. Those who disagree with the Fnkybee aren’t reading too much into it, or making a big deal out of “a thought or opinion from a girl drinking her coffee at 7am…” Fnkybee, your points are very clear, as I state at the beginning of my response.

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The Men Are Pigs Hypothesis ( 7 Sex Truths Everyone Should Know) September 12, 2010

I’m usually not a fan of these types of lists bc it’s the same stuff over and over again. This one, however, is actually pretty interesting! For example, it’s good to know that most men focus on the face more than the body (#2)!

Here are 7 potentially surprising sex facts everyone should know:

1. Get frisky with 12 people before settling down. Mathematicians have actually crunched the numbers on this, and while it’s too complex to explain in full, here’s the gist: When it comes to picking a great mate, your chances of picking right improve the more people you meet—up to a point. Settle down with your first or second sweetheart, and the fact that you have so few points of comparison means the odds are high that you may be selling yourself short. Mow through thirty potential soul mates, though, and you likely have passed over someone who could actually make you happy were you to drop your pickiness. The right balance, it seems, is to carry on a romance with twelve people, then settle down with the very next person who floats your boat.

2. Men ogle women’s faces more than their bodies. When women strip down, they’re often worried that men are eyeing their thunder thighs. Scientists tracked men’s eyes to see where they land on naked photos. The result? Men spend the majority of their time looking at women’s faces—not their bare bodies. Guys may not even realize they’re doing this, but they are! Scientists theorize that the reason for this is that women’s faces contain clearer cues to their arousal levels than their bodies. Men, in other words, want to know that a woman is enjoying herself in bed—that’s far more important to them than whether she looks porn-star perfect. So relax!

3. Size really doesn’t matter. Men will be relieved to know that the size of their penis doesn’t impact women’s ratings of their performance in bed. Scientists know this because they’ve actually measured hundreds of male volunteers’ packages, then compared their dimensions to the total number of orgasms each delivered in the sack. They found that big and small models alike give the same number of orgasms.

4. The way your date smells matters more than looks. No matter how attractive people appear, the way they smell is a far better predictor of chemistry. That’s because your nose is a keen instrument for smelling a genetic blueprint called the major histocompatability complex, or MHC. When certain people smell good, that means their MHC is complementary to your own, which means you’d produce strong offspring if you tried. When someone’s MHC is not a good match to your own, you won’t like the way they smell, and will probably move on.

5. Women on the Pill will pick the wrong mate. The hormonal mix in birth control pills confounds a woman’s sense of smell, steering her toward men with a genetic blueprint that’s not very compatible to their own. So ideally, if you’re looking for the perfect guy, you should use other forms of birth control until you’ve honed in on Mr. Right.

6. Men don’t sleep around more than women. They just lie about the number of notches in their belt. Women, as we’ve long heard, indeed downplay the number of their sexual conquests, according to one study that ferreted out the truth by hooking female study subjects up to lie detectors. Meanwhile, men tend to inflate their totals—if they’ve slept with two, they say ten. Not because they want to look like a stud, but because they honestly can’t remember every encounter and decide to round up, a phenomenon scientists call the Men Are Pigs Hypothesis (no joke).

7. People have sex for many, many reasons. Scientists have tabulated a total of 237 distinct reasons why people have sex. Some reasons are obvious (they were in love) but that barely scratches the surface. Some reasons are pragmatic (they want to burn calories), others are preventative (they want to keep someone from losing interest and having sex with someone else). Still others have sex for religious reasons (they want to be closer to God), bragging rights, because they’re bored, to relieve stress, to get to sleep, the list goes on and on.

Project Runway at NY Fashion Week September 11, 2010

As the season aired on Lifetime, there were ten Project Runway designers remaining on the show as Fashion Week arrived. All ten showed on Thursday– seven decoy collections, along with the three actual finalists, which will not be revealed until the finale airs on October 28th. Only the three finalists’ collections will air on the finale, so you can wait until then if you do not want any spoilers, or you can check out all of the collections here now!

To my disappointment, nothing really blew me away like season 4 winner Christian Siriano’s collection did. But I do like Mondo and Andy, so I am hoping they made it to the finals. While Mondo and I do not share the same style, I like his collection enough to want to buy some of the separates! With Andy, I am not so sure about the green he chose, and some of his designs are a little restrained, but I think he is very talented and I love almost everything I have seen on the show from him. I also like Ivy’s very wearable collection (even though I’m not a big fan of what I have seen on the show so far, in terms of her designs AND attitude). I like April’s collection as well, although I am not so sure about the drab color choices. The two-time winner (so far) Gretchen disappoints (I haven’t really been a fan of her style anyways). I’m not so sure about Valerie’s Skittles color palette either! Anyways, check out the collections for yourself by clicking on the designer’s name:

Michael CostelloGretchen JonesMondo GuerraAndy SouthCasanova (out Sept. 9th)Michale Drummond (out Sept.16th)Ivy Higa (out Sept. 23rd)Valerie Mayen (out Sept. 30th)Christopher Collins (out Oct. 7th)April Johnston (out Oct. 14th)

Some Great Tennis

I’m one of those sports fans that is always rooting for the underdog, and I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Novak Djokovic of Serbia upset Roger Federer today during the US Open semifinals! Djokovic was ranked 3rd coming in the US Open, but a Nadal-Federer finals was so highly anticipated, that everyone had pretty much discounted Djokovic from the running. The game was so close, coming down to the 12th game in the 5th set, with Djokovic playing a strong game! I love Federer, but it was clear Djokovic really wanted this:  he played Federer in the past three U.S. Opens, losing in the 2007 final and the semi-finals the past two years.

Congrats and looking forward to a great match against Nadal tomorrow!

What is Going on with Kim Kardashian?!

I saw this picture of Kim Kardashian on The Huffington Post, and I can’t help but wonder, what the heck has she done to her face?! She looks like a transvestite (nothing wrong with being one, but it’s not usually considered a compliment unless you are a cross- dresser!). The pounds of makeup she puts on is clearly adding to the tranny look, but another story on Huffington shows her geting Botox, which I think definitely adds to the look! Someone needs to tell this girl she does NOT look good. I remember just a couple of years ago thinking how naturally gorgeous this girl was, curves and all. Within a couple of years, she has aged at least ten years..and she’s only 29!!! Reminds me of my post on teenagers getting Botox. Listen up teens, after looking at Kim, it seems as though Botox at a young age actually ages you more!!!

Wyclef Needs to Shut It September 7, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Read this post and couldn’t help but laugh. Could Wyclef Jean really be any more immature? The post states:

“At a concert in NYC this past Friday, Jean had some harsh words for Sean Penn and sometime Fugees bandmate Pras, two of the most prominent celebs who have spoken out against his plans to run for president of that country.

‘I got a message for Sean Penn,” Jean sang. “Maybe he ain’t see me in Haiti because he was too busy sniffing cocaine.” Jean continued in the following line: “I got a message for Praswell/Even though you don’t want to support me, I got love for you/Even though you only kicked eight bars in the Fugees.'”

What annoys me is that he actually thought he could be the President of Haiti. It seems as though just because Haiti isn’t in the best shape and is the poorest countries in the Americas, that anything is better than what they have now. I don’t think that’s the right attitude. A future leader of Haiti should have the basic skills to be able to run ANY country. And I cannot not see Wyclef running for President of the United States of America, nor any other country for that matter. Furthermore, I think that countries such as Haiti require even greater skilled leadership because of the huge  challenge of rebuilding a nation with such little resources. This guy has become so deluded. It takes a lot more than love for the people (which of course is important). Yes a president of any country has countless advisers and specialists, but a president needs to have a basic grasp of say, economics and policies!

I agree with what Sean Penn and Pras had to say about Wyclef running for President of Haiti, and I think that his immaturity just takes away from the real issues in Haiti, which he claims to care so much about. If he has real concrete plans, if he understands how basic economics works, then please, let us know. Otherwise, you are just taking the spotlight from the important stuff.

Attention Losties: Lost Epilogue September 4, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

This came out a couple of weeks ago (when I did not have a blog), but I thought I would post a link for it in its entirety for any fellow Losties who have not seen it. The Link. The epilogue is titled “The New Man in Charge” and did not contain anything explosive, considering it is only twelve minutes, and lord knows how many questions were left unresolved! But I am OK with that. Some things are better left unsaid and in an air of mystery. Here are the things we do learn in the epilogue (via Vanity Fair):

WARNING: SPOILERS

• The mysterious food drops on the island that everyone seems so interested in actually originate from some sort of warehouse on Guam. Ben Linus, on orders from Hurley, explains to two employees at the warehouse that DHARMA hasn’t existed for quite some time and, in turn, he’s closing down the plant. As a reward, the two workers are given a fair compensation package.

• The two workers have been loading food drops for about twenty years.

• The transmissions that the workers receive on where to drop the food are automated and originate from a “lamppost station in L.A.”

• Hurley likes to be referred to as “The Man in Charge,” apparently.

• Ben Linus is environmentally conscious, asking the workers to make sure to turn off the lights before they leave.

• Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are mocking us when the one worker whines, “We deserve answers!” (We all deserved that!)

• The island moves (but we already knew that).

• It appears that Ben Linus owns the season five deluxe edition “DHARMA initiation kit” DVD set of “Lost.”

• DHARMA conducted genetic alteration tests on animals.

• Polar bears make ideal candidates for electromagnetic studies, hence their presence on the island.

• Whatever you do, don’t taunt polar bears. They eat arms!

• The electromagnetic energy on the island causes problems with the early terms of polar bear pregnancy— which obviously extended to human pregnancy, too.

• DHARMA used to kidnap “hostiles” (members of The Others) and interrogate them for information. Then, they wipe the hostile’s mind free of the interrogation by showing them what I can only assume is the Monkee’s psychedelic movie,Head.

• Walt, now a full-grown man who may be pushing 40, goes by the name of Keith John, these days. He also lives in a mental patients’ ward.

• Like all mental patients on TV and in movies, Walt enjoys solo games of Connect Four.

• Yes, Walt is still “special.” No, we still don’t know why Walt is special, exactly.

• Walt leaves with Ben and Hurley. Hurley has “a job” for Walt. It’s a good guess to assume that Walt is being groomed to take over the island. Perhaps this explains why Walt wasn’t in the alternate timeline purgatory in the aired finale; he took over for Hurley and is therefore immortal and wouldn’t be dead when all the other characters are dead.

• Walt can be convinced to do just about anything in exchange for a granola bar.