Talk About Tuesday 315

It's mostly cloudy today, and it snowed yesterday. It's still freezing cold and blowing a gale out there, so I'm not in the best mood. I was in a far worse mood yesterday, though, when it was pouring and snowing and not a bit pleasant.

Today, I'm just trying to get motivated. I feel very tired and my brain is not working great, but I'll try to focus more. I won't be updating the blog daily after today as part of an ongoing effort to finish my book before 2021, because while I'm working it'll be hard to blog. I will try to keep up with Tuesdays and Thursdays at the very least but for now don't be alarmed if I go quiet.

I do want to keep posting things that are useful or interesting, though, so you may end up with a few scattered days here and there where I'm blogging a random recipe or game I've played.

There... isn't a whole lot of wrestling right now, either, though if you want to send me a Ko-fi with a link to a match on YouTube you'd like me to watch, definitely do so!

Art will continue on - I'm working on a few pieces right now, including one that will require some reference photos... I'm thinking of possibly taking prompts from people, though I cannot, in good conscience, charge for those. I'm notoriously flaky when it comes to these things.

Movies may be reviewed now and then, but I'm mostly on an X-Files and Dark Shadows kick right now, and it's hard to focus on movies when you're dealing with the current existential dread of a pandemic.

I still play silly clicker games, but I haven't been able to focus on any of them long enough to form a proper opinion. I died in Breath of the Wild yesterday by accidentally landing on a bear while I only had 3 hearts.

Cooking is also difficult - since everyone's home, that means I'm having more proper meals, but it also means that there's no room in the kitchen for lil old me.

Meanwhile, crochet is the easiest thing in the world right now. I'm working on several head scarves that I'll use when I'm done making them. After things calm down and I can get a dang haircut, though, I might sell a few of them... And, y'know, I'm also working on that shrug...

Next week, however, I'll probably still be back on Tuesday to update you on how the writing is going, what's up with my life, etcetera.

So... no schedule this week because I'll be writing!

Go Enjoy Something
FC

Fiber Monday 315: More Work

In Which I Continue To Work

I'm a bad crochet-er. I keep telling you I'll do a ton of work on the shawl and then...

I just end up adding a single new row...

Whoops. Sorry.

On the other hand, I've been working on some head scarves so I can keep my hair out of my face while I'm outside. If I need to, I can also add pins or buttons onto them to preserve my ears if masks become a necessity for coming outside. I hope it doesn't come to that, but... man, it would probably be better for everyone if we just made them mandatory :|

It's hard to tell, but this one has a Dragonfly pattern!

But enough about the Human Malware.

How are you guys doing on your creative endeavors? I've been working on my book some more, crocheting a bunch (obviously) and thinking about learning digital art.

I also had to run downstairs just a minute ago to go check on a songbird that hit our kitchen window. Since I didn't find it anywhere (and I really looked, guys, I even checked in the tree nearby), I'm going to tell myself it was surprised and then flew off. It looked like it hit feet first, rather than head first, so that's good.

The birds around here seem to like to perch on our window screens, so that's probably what the poor thing was trying.

Poor lil dude. Hope he's okay.

Regardless, I'll be doing more work today on my projects, get as much done as possible, try to write a bunch more, maybe do some gaming.

Keep on keeping on, folks!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 314: Dalgona Dreams

In Which I Try That Viral Coffee Everyone Raved About

If you know me, you know I like deep bitter and sweet flavors. I'm all about that bright, citrus sweetness, don't get me wrong - orange juice is still the bizzomb for breakfast out - but when I'm home, I wake up with a 2:1 ratio of hot cocoa to coffee. My partner calls it my morning gruel. I've brainwashed them into liking it. Apologies.

Regardless, this means I've got the ingredients on-hand for a viral drink sensation that's sweeping the internet.

Dalgona Coffee, or whipped coffee, is everywhere on the internet right now. I cannot escape it. It has completely saturated YouTube and Twitter, and I cannot blink without seeing a caramel-colored whip in a cup somewhere. It drove me completely to the brink, and I eventually just said...

Alright, where is my tiny whisk and some sugar?!

Because despite its complicated appearance, it's actually the easiest thing in the world to make, gives you a fantastic caffeine and sugar high, and gives you a workout. Also, there's milk involved.

You need four things:

• 2 Tablespoons instant coffee powder (I use Nescafé Taster's Choice House Blend, but pick your poison preference)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons hot water
• A glass of milk

I have no idea if sugar substitutes would work for this. I'm gonna guess honey wouldn't work. Regardless, you'll also need a bowl, a whisk, and something to get the Dalgona out of the bowl with.

That tiny whisk in the above pic? Too small. Get you something bigger than that.

What you want to do is pour the dry ingredients into a bowl - not too big or it won't whip well, but not so small that it just goes flying when you start to whisk. That's a large cereal bowl.

Once your sugar and coffee are together, dump in your two Tablespoons of hot water and immediately start whisking. Just... beat the tar out of this mixture. Obviously, you can use whatever mechanical means you usually use for whipping cream for this, but I only had my biceps and a whisk. My poor, poor biceps.

Because this whip job is a long one. It's gonna look like coffee soup and smell like someone tipped over a Tim Hortons, but keep going. Whip it like it's the 1600s and it took an apple from your yard. Whip it like it's your hair at a metal concert. Whip it like you want it to call you daddy... uh... that got weird.

Eventually, it will start to look whippy. This is good.

The coffee mixture, which, by the way, does not yet have any milk in it or near it, will start to lighten in color as it thickens in texture. Whip it til either your arms are screaming louder than the Devo song you now have stuck in your head or until it's at a consistency you find appealing - somewhere between foamy batter and whipped cream. I got mine to a loose whipped cream texture.

At this point, you get out your glass of milk and start carefully dolloping (or if you're smarter than me, piping with a pastry/icing bag!) your Dalgona into the cup.

I used half of this mixture in each of two cups and it was supremely overwhelming for my mother. It's sweet from all that sugar, but it's also mondo bitter - pure coffee goodness. If I'd had the presence of mind I'd have made chocolate milk to put this in, because it's insanely addictive and I think it would make a stupid-tasty mocha drink. It thickens the milk as you stir it in, and it's just... it's really good.

10/10, would whip the crap out of ingredients until my arms hurt again.

So in conclusion: This is one viral food trend that I not only understand now, but am actually a convert/advocate for it. If you have instant coffee and sugar and a kettle with water and some milk (or a milk substitute, I'm not cutting vegans or the dairy-challenged/allergic out of this fun), you should make some Dalgona.

It's probably going into the rotation for summer drinks, tbh.

Stay tuned for next week when I make 2/3 of a meal and then forget to take photos at the end (or they don't come out)!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Saturday Casual Gaming 314: Uhhhhhh......

Besides being my current gaming logo, this is an accurate representation of me today...

I am aware that Saturday is almost over in the EST Zone, but I also am aware that I spent all day playing video games and napping like a child.

It rocked.

I mean, yeah, my eyes are gummy from all the napping, and I feel like I want to take a run around the block (I'll do some pushups instead), but actually, today was pretty great.

I just... uh...

I don't have a game to tell you about.

Because I was literally just testing possibilities.

I mean, I could tell you all about Conceptis Games, but I'm pretty sure I did that at some point in 2018... Long story short, they're all logic games, they're heckin fun, and I'm pretty sure you can find them on app stores as well as Kongregate or just their own website.

Currently, I'm testing out an idle game that is turning out to be fun, though it has 0 tutorial and is basically trial and error.

I'm sorry this is up so late, and I'll try to do better tomorrow. I actually have something Viral to show you!!!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Filmic Friday 314: When Ladies Meet

Sometimes We Watch Without Watching

I'll be honest, guys, I haven't been able to actually focus on a movie in a while, so forgive me if this review isn't up to my usual standards.

A Surprisingly Nuanced take on a movie about infidelity

When Ladies Meet is a film in which a novelist (Joan Crawford) falls in love with her married publisher. His wife does not know. The novelist's on-again-off-again boyfriend has come back to see her and finds out the hard way that she's been swept off her feet by a guy who he immediately pegs as a serial philanderer.

While, yes, the boyfriend (played by Robert Taylor) is a manipulative little jerk on occasion, he actually has everyone's best interests at heart - except for Rogers Woodruf the publisher (Herbert Marshall). Joan's Mary Howard is thoroughly enchanted by Woodruf to the point where she completely blinds herself to the fact that he's married and his wife likely loves him. His wife, Clare (Greer Garson) does not appear until about the halfway through, but when she arrives, it's clear that both she and Mary are being played by Rogers. Jimmy (Robert Taylor) is offended by all of this, behaving pretty terribly so that everyone can blame him in the end if he's wrong about Clare not knowing that Rogers is cheating on her with Mary. He's not wrong.

The final confrontation is facilitated on one of the coolest locations I've ever seen in a romantic drama - a converted mill where Spring Byington's Bridget Drake (Mary's best friend) lives. Bridget is a flake, but her taste in obliquely gay designers is apparently impeccable because that set is gorgeous, but interior and exterior, making for the perfect setting to act out the title.

Because it is in this laughably overwrought setting (with functioning waterwheels, fantasy swings, a severely out-of-place French butler, and bars made from the gears of the grist mill) that the eponymous Ladies (Clare and Mary) meet at last.

They are very much alike - strong women who have a very good idea of what they want out of life, trim, athletically built, and with "hands as graceful as thoroughbreds" (because of course a guy named Rogers would have a bizarre hand fetish) - and they would easily become best friends if it weren't for the fact that they've both gotten played by Rogers Woodruf.

This is very much a 1940s movie (though there was an earlier version of this same film in 1933 starring different people yet still directed (in part) by Robert Z Leonard. I... kinda want to see both to see how they handle everything differently. It could be used as a tool to see what individual actors brought to their roles, I'd imagine...

I don't usually, as a rule, enjoy these kinds of films, because they're usually pitifully melodramatic to hide the fact that there's no story and poor direction, but When Ladies Meet was pretty engaging! With excellent set design, powerhouse actors, and a fascinating look at women as active participants in a movie (with the men serving largely as catalysts, rather than as the main driving force), it's a pretty fresh movie from 1941.

I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch if you can find it somewhere!

That'll do it from me, today

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Thursday Art Walk 314: Dinomite!

In Which I Keep Drawing

The worst thing I could do right now is to stop doing the things that bring me joy and accomplishment. While I know that I'm not the best artist on the face of the planet (my pride and joy are a set of shadowy cityscapes in watercolor and a sketch of a banana in a Jedi robe called "Obi-Wan Banana"), but that's not my aim. I just want to make things that make me smile.

A while ago, I made a small dinosaur from crochet. The pattern was on Stringy Ding Ding, and I love it. If you crochet, you should check her stuff out - it's adorable. I have it sitting on my windowsill, where it silently judges me as I heave myself out of bed in the morning, so of course I had to draw him.

"DinoMite"; crayon on sketchpad; 2020

And yes, if you squint, you can see Dedbert flying above the dino.

If you are having a hard time focusing on whatever you're doing right now (unless you're on break at your Essential Employment), I strongly suggest grabbing some scrap paper and whatever you have that can serve as a writing/drawing implement and scribbling something into existence. Whether it's a photorealistic Ferrari or a potato-faced doodle bro, it will probably help you unwind and draw your mind back from panic. Even just slapping a bunch of lines on a page can be beneficial!

The world is scary right now. Maybe you have to unleash the scary by making scary art. Maybe you have to squash it with silvery landscapes of graphite on the back of an old receipt. Maybe you just want to draw genitals and snicker. Maybe you want a page full of cats and pawprints. Maybe you want a fleet of tanks rolling over a paper bag you brought home from the supermarket last week.

Whatever you make, it's a good thing to make it.

Making things is good, and you should feel good.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 314

In Which Wrestling Of Many Kinds Has Happened

The Haru Basho in Japan has come to a close. How was it? Really, really good. People got thrown into the cheap seats, Chiyomaru came back (despite having had to be tested for the Human Malware - he just had the flu, which... uh... maybe he should've sat the rest of the basho out regardless?!), and there were some very scary Hakuho matches. It's one of the few bashos I've seen with the Mongolian Yokozuna where he lost a match or two. Takayasu had to leave the basho due to a severe muscle tear, and I hope that's not the last we've seen of him.

So yeah, Haru Basho, the Ghost Basho (due to mandated lack of attendance) was certainly strange.

But how is pro-wrestling doing without a live crowd?

In my opinion... not great.

I've seen stuff from the WWE shows, and they have no idea how to wrestle without a crowd. It's an "advantage" that the New Generation (and earlier) era guys have which the modern wrestlers do not, since new guys have not really wrestled in empty arenas before, and the writers have never prepared for this.

Kinda like how sitcoms wouldn't fly right now because there can't be a live studio audience.

So much of wrestling is reactionary, and it's silly to watch people waiting for the crowd that isn't there to pop. Their cadence is thrown off. It's a trainwreck.

As for AEW, since most of them are more fluid talkers than the WWE anyway, it's not that hard to imagine them holding their own with promos (especially since Jake Roberts is working with them). Brodie Lee has arrived as the Exalted One, which is a fantastic idea. Broken Matt Hardy working with the Bucks against the Inner Circle is great. I am loving what I'm seeing from BTE and Dark (Sunny Kiss vibes surprisingly well with Joey Janela, which I never would have guessed as it seems like a non-trademarked styles clash on paper). They still miss the crowd and it's obvious.

The crowds miss them, too.

As for the indies, it's going to be a hard fight, but they're doing their best. Wrestlers are spending this time to send out feelers into other forms of media, to do work (Wheeler Yuta is apparently a professional steel drummer and I guess WARHORSE runs a... soft rock show on the radio?! What?!), and to load their merch shops up so they can make it another 1-8 weeks. I hope it doesn't come to that.

If you have a wrestler you like, definitely follow their social media. If they have a YouTube channel, turn off your adblocker and watch all of their videos on repeat. It's a good time to support people in any way we can.

Oh, and if you're in the mood to have some horror in your life, VICE has put out a documentary on the Chris Benoit incident.

I think that about covers it for wrestling today.

I'm going to go disinfect some stuff and throw on a wrestling tee and pants.

Go Enjoy Something (preferably from your home)
FC