How to Cook

This post is for the Archduke and DoubleD, who need basic lessons in the art of cuisine. It's a site put together for batchelors principally, but there's a good photo series that takes the would-be cooking student through the stages of cooking pasta.

Actually, I hear both the above have branched out and cooked at least one meal for themselves, and independently too, with no help! If things get really bad guys, make sure you put Cooking for Dummies on your Christmas lists.

Thanks to J-Walk.

Film Review - Corpse Bride

Having seen and enjoyed 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', I was looking forward to seeing the Corpse Bride; I had read that it was another of Tim Burton's projects - his way of welcoming the audience to his own private view of the world. A view I've always enjoyed (apart from Planet of the Apes, of course). Of all the Batman movies, only Tim Burton's looked like the dark cityscape that the original comic books portrayed. This atmospheric vision repeats itself in many of his movies, and apart from the technical achievement of adding so much life to customarily dark subjects, his camera angles, and his sense of drama define his movies.

This film centres around a wedding between Victor and Victoria, and it starts with a song shared by both the parents. It immediately stamps a light heartedness, and a real sense of Englishness on the movie that I warmed to straight away. One set of parents are nouveau riche, and are marrying off their polite son to a posh girl from a family, who, while dreading the lower classes joining the family, are secretly looking forward to the money they might bring into the fold.

The wedding rehearsal goes badly - Victor stumbles on his lines, and makes a fool of himself. Later that night, when he is on his own, he rehearses his lines to find he has accidentally married a corpse. He gets taken into a world beneath our own where the dead run around in some sort of vaudeville club, singing morbid songs, and generally having a great time. In the struggle to return to his living bride, the mawkish Victor starts to develop feelings for his dead bride, and this complicates the original plans.

This is a highly original plot, and is very amusingly portrayed. The song and dance routines are great fun, and the voices are spot on. A heavyweight cast of voice overs include Johhny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lee and so on, and again the Englishness shines through.

I felt the middle section dragged a little bit; obviously at this point, having introduced the characters, and the misery of Victor's situation, he needs the give the characters space to form bonds, and develop a rapport. Maybe it’s because they are puppets that doesn't help the realism of the situation, but the first and last acts are chock full of humorous observation, and seem to flow better.

Technically the film is brilliant; the animation, and even the tiniest facial expressions are captured in detail. The effort needed to produce stop animation films is immense, but no corners have been cut. Again we are thrust into Tim Burton's imagination; and as visions go, this one is pretty compelling. 7/10

Las Vegas diary - Part six

This is the final installment - alas, my holiday is now at an end, and I write this from my computer at home.

Friday was good fun - I met Phil at work, and afterwards we joined his mate Jeff at his second leaving do this week. This was held at Artisan hotel on the edge of the strip. This place is classy (in its own opinion, anyway), with lots of artwork around the place, and a saxophonist playing just loud enough to make conversation noisier than it needs to be. Even the toilets had works of art in them.

Well Jeff was pretty loaded, and had to leave early, so we all left around 9ish. A small group of us then went on to our favourite Road Runner bar, where we stayed until around 2.30am. I woke up early again, as I have every day on this trip, and watched some college football till Phil emerged at around noon.

We had to nip into work quickly to finish what Phil had started the night before, and then we bought a ticket for the cinema. We then went for a quick couple of beers and a game or two of pool, then watched Serenity (review to follow). We were planning to head out towards Charlston as quickly as possible, a place with fantastic views, but since the traffic was horrendous, and the sun was fast fading, we didn't quite make it.

We got about as far as Red Rock, and took some photos there, which have come out ok. We then headed towards near Art's house (one of Phil's mates), and went from some Mexican (the best yet), and then wandered over to Sedona (pictured), a genuinely up-market bar. After a good few in there, we headed back, with only some packing left to do before flying this afternoon. We did manage to grab breakfast in the Sunset Station casino, which was delicious (and voluminous, as pretty much all the food has been all week).

So it was with some sadness that I left today, as I had a fantastic week, and Phil has been brilliant company, as has everybody I've met this week. I only hope it's not as long next time before I come back.

Film Review - Dukes of Hazzard

Well, once upon a time there was a TV series that became a minor cult classic. Nothing happened in it really. Two young lads tore up Hazzard County in their orange Buick, getting in and out of fights. Their uncle brewed moonshine, and their cousin flashed her long legs at every opportunity. That's it. Every week, the show lasted about as long as you could wheel out the same plot again.

So why remake it as a movie?

Why indeed. 4/10

Las Vegas diary - Part Five

Thursday was mostly a day to myself. Phil worked the whole day, so I went hunting for shopping malls to buy stuff for people back home. I had in mind that I would get Phil a set of nested tables for his apartment, since his coffee table is a box that contained a set of 8 saucepans (which I don't think he's used!).

In the end, on some good advice, I decided to look for a Target, KMart or Walmart for something not too expensive (well, I looked in some furniture 'galleries' ('shops' to us), but some of the tables were nearly $1000 - he's a mate, and everything, but there's limits).

I found a KMart, and bought a set from there, which we then assembled when he came home from work .. boy, do we know how to party. Then we set out to a friend's house for a BBQ, that turned out to be a takeaway (nobody, I mean nobody cooks). It was from P.F.Changs, which is a franchise chain that I've started to see in the UK (I know Edinburgh has one on Waverley Bridge). It was actually very good, despite my normal disappointment with Chinese takeaways.

I was also invited to spend time down at Aladdin Casino (pictured), in the spa there. So today (Friday) I went down there, and it turns out it is an Elemis spa (who are actually based in Leatherhead), and is quite the biggest I've seen. Two hours later, after a sauna, steam room, and full-body massage, I was feeling about as relaxed as I felt all week (without sleeping, that is).