Panang Curry: Tac Quick

Tisher and I finished writing Bubble Boys Season 2 over a dinner at Tac Quick. The Panang was surprisingly and delightfully spicy, without the customary "level of spice" inquiry from the waitress. It had red peppers, green peppers, jalapenos, and basil. The chicken was good and the curry itself had a great consistency- thick without being stewy. The peanut flavor was muted by the spice but not overpowered by it.

The plating bothered me a bit and made it hard to coat the rice with the curry without making a total mess. Usually the rice is served in a separate bowl. But would I go again? Yes.

Funeral Arrangements

I just finished watching The Way recommended to me by my mom. It stars Martin Sheen as a grieving father on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. His son has just past away on the pilgrimage and Sheen embarks on it scattering his sons ashes along the way. It's a great film, emotionally complex and life affirming. It got me thinking about death, not in a morbid way but what kind of ritual I would like after my own passing.

When I was a child I fantasized about my own funeral, not out of any suicidal desire but because I was enamored with the attention. I liked the idea of a group of people being sad that I wasn't there and saying nice things about me, telling stories that maybe I had forgotten. As I grew older and went to a number of funerals my macabre fixation with post-mortem praise faded.

Now I'm more interested in the ritual. I doubt what happens to your body matters much to your spirit after death, but if something lingers it should linger in the right place and in the right way. Ideally I'd like to have a viking funeral. Put me in a boat, light me on fire, and push me out into the middle of a lake. That's not feasible and probably against the law.

I'd like to be cremated. I'd like a couple friends and family members to take a road trip up to The Badlands and scatter my ashes while the sun sets.

"I hope the end is joyful, and I hope never to return." -Frida Kahlo

'Ender's Game' A Review

Ender's Game is a SciFi movie set in a future where there is an imminent threat of alien invasion, based on the novel by Orson Scott Card*. In this future, which takes place 50 years after an attempted alien invasion, the government is extremely militant operating under the assumption the aliens will invade again at any moment. The military fosters potential commanders from a young age. Ender, the young lead and tactical prodigy, is put through a series of tests and advances through the ranks eventually commanding the entire international fleet.

The bulk of the narrative follows Ender on his rise to Commander. He goes through a series of training institutions shaping and honing his natural strategic abilities. For the most part he's an outcast but through persistence and skill becomes a leader and gains the friendship and respect of his fellow cadets.

The movie ends in a rush with a climax that you don't realize is a climax until it's almost over. The journey getting to the final confrontation, following Ender and his peers through training, is the real treat the "resolution" leaves a bit to be desired.

The performances are well rounded and serve the story- nothing great but nothing neglected. The amazing visuals are what make the movie a real experience. Ender's Game is a fun scifi adventure with some disturbing moral implications which are better left uninspected.

See It.

*Note: Orson Scott Card, noted homophobe and opponent of same-sex marriage, was paid a flat fee by the studio for the rights to Ender's Game and will not receive any percentage of the money made by the movie.

A Moment Of Grace 3

I almost fainted on the train.

At times I'm in too much of a rush to eat breakfast. Usually this does not bother me. Often times I get a seat on the train for my morning commute but when I'm running late I do not. Usually this does not bother me. Most commutes I'll listen to podcasts like Radiolab or Mental Illness Happy Hour which at times have subject matter which is graphic or disturbing. Usually this does not bother me.

Standing on the hot, crowded train I began to feel light headed. The Radiolab episode I listened to, describing Kenyan runners, took a hard right turn with a detailed description of a particular tribes violent right of passage ritual culminating in circumcision. It was described in excruciating detail. I began to feel really sick. Then the trained stopped.

I began to sweat, nausea hit me-boom, my legs weakened. I figured I could power through if the train kept moving. It did not. One minute dragged into two, then five, with no sign of getting moving and no update from the conductor. I was going to pass out. Sooner rather than later. I swallowed my pride, tapped the woman next to me and warned her I felt sick and needed to sit. She barely moved or acknowledged my presence. I sat on the train floor wedged into a corner surrounded by people on their phones.

Most of my fellow commuters were pointedly ignoring me. One young woman did not. She was hipsterish with a curly fauxhawk and almost immediately gave up her seat to me. I unslung my bag took off my coat and panted for a good 5 minutes with my head between my knees. The feeling passed. The train resumed movement. The young woman tapped me on the arm and asked me if I needed something to eat, needed some sugar. I smiled weakly and said no and thanked her. The rest of the train ride was without incident.

Typically I would be ashamed that I almost had a fainting spell on the train. But the immediate kindness and concern of one person in a sea of people playing Candy Crush really made me feel good, made me hope. And just like you, I'm human, sometimes I get sick on the train.

A Texas Forest In Winter

Lady of dusk-wood fastnesses,
Thou art my Lady.
I have known the crisp, splintering leaf-tread with thee on before,
White, slender through green saplings;
I have lain by thee on the brown forest floor
Beside thee, my Lady.

Lady of rivers strewn with stones,
Only thou art my Lady.
Where thousand the freshets are crowded like peasants to a fair;
Clear-skinned, wild from seclusion
They jostle white-armed down the tent-bordered thoroughfare
Praising my Lady.

-William Carlos Williams

R&R

I headed to Rockford to see my sister and celebrate my dad's birthday. Nicole came with and we spent a good deal of time lounging around watching Master Chef Junior. Great show.

 

It took me a long time to become accustomed to Chicago. The size and speed. Now I don't really think of it. Rockford by contrast is much more sedate. It's nice to go back and just relax, decompress.

But after a day or so I get antsy. It's more open in Rockford, more space-less people, more nature which I love. But I want to be on the move. Need to be. I love my childhood home and the city I grew up in, it's a great place to recharge. But it's not home anymore.

'Escape From Tomorrow' A Review

Escape From Tomorrow is a surreal fever dream that follows a family's last day in Disney World. The black and white film was shot guerrilla style without the consent or knowledge of Disney. The story is told through the perspective of Jim the father, a semi-schulbby quasi-lecherous good-ole-American dad just trying to have a nice vacation.

The film opens on Jim losing his job and his son locking him out on the balcony while his wife and daughter sleep. The family eventually ventures out into the park and Jim notices and starts obsessing about two french tween girls. The film gets ever stranger from there. The park and the park goers seem to be hiding a dark and sinister agenda with demon faces appearing on tourists as well as puppets, the Disney princesses moonlighting as prostitutes, and a secret brainwashing center under Epcot. Jim's life and his family begin to crumble as the sun sets and the evil forces rise.

The performances are surprisingly good with well rounded turns by the nuclear family juxtaposing real family interaction with absurdism, panic, and foreboding.

Escape From Tomorrow has the potential of a great film but only succeeds in being a good one. The plot isn't surreal enough to be an artistic sensory experience and doesn't explain/flush out enough of its odd characters, plot lines, and non sequiturs to achieve narrative clarity.

Ultimately there is a sense of indecision and distraction about the film that detracts from its overall impact. It does however have an incredible amount of potential making writer/director Randy Moore's next film a must see.

See It.