But outside of that, I've no use for dough

[sovay]

Tonight I was told by the teller at the bank in Stop & Shop that my leather jacket makes me look like a Ravager from Guardians of the Galaxy. I told him that observation had made my evening.

Then I went home and spatch and I made steak tips with helljam (tamarind now permanently incorporated) and cheese grits on the side, much to the complaint of Autolycus who had to be locked out of the kitchen after he leapt onto the stovetop and began daintily licking melting butter out of the saucepan in a display of maximum chutzpah and minimum regard for flammability. I am presently in a somewhat endorphin-illuminated food coma, but I'm still pretty pleased.

Films I watched this weekend include A Dark Song (2016), The Ritual (2017), and Starred Up (2013), all of which I hope to write about because they are good, recent, and two of them made an excellent if unplanned double feature, but I don't know what I can promise with work and other commitments in advance of the 'Thon.

Torvill and Dean's free skate to the condensed Boléro is still unparalleled.

Comments

[kore]

OMG, helljam? //goes to look

Aww yeah Torvill and Dean. I remember my mom and I watching that with our mouths open. She said "I'm surprised the ice didn't melt!"

[sovay]

OMG, helljam? //goes to look

I can't remember when we started calling it that. It's a variation on my family's barbecue sauce, tailored to differing food tolerances (my mother can't deal with much chili powder, spatch can't deal with much onion) and the fact that everything is better with tamarind; it was designed for St. Louis-style pork ribs, but goes very well on other meats. We've just started talking about using it as a base for pulled pork.

Aww yeah Torvill and Dean. I remember my mom and I watching that with our mouths open. She said "I'm surprised the ice didn't melt!"

I can't remember if I watched it live: I might have, since I've watched the figure skating with my mother as far back as I can recall. But my parents taped it off the broadcast and I remember watching the tape growing up. I've still never seen anything like it, and the rules may have changed so that I never will, but who knows? Last night my mother saw Mirai Nagasu land the first American women's triple axel at the Olympics. (I remember Midori Ito in 1992.)

[kore]

WHOAH, first triple?? I remember Midori Ito too, wow. Hard to think that was so long ago.

[kore]

Also wow, that was PERFECT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pyV0G7HeEc

And that face! https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180212070846-01-mirai-nagasu-0212-exlarge-169.jpg

[sovay]

And that face!

Completely deserved!

[gwynnega]

I respect Autolycus's chutzpah.

I'd never seen Torvill and Dean before. That was great. I also like their purple costumes.

[sovay]

I respect Autolycus's chutzpah.

He is a daring cat. If he didn't react so badly to everything that isn't his prescription food, we wouldn't mind!

I'd never seen Torvill and Dean before. That was great. I also like their purple costumes.

I'm so glad you enjoyed them! They were the definitive ice dancers when I was growing up, and I believe the score they received for that routine is still a record. They're just wonderful to watch.

[rosefox]

Torvill and Dean's free skate to the condensed Boléro is still unparalleled.

I had never seen this. WOW.

[sovay]

I had never seen this. WOW.

I'm glad I linked it!

[thisbluespirit]

began daintily licking melting butter out of the saucepan in a display of maximum chutzpah and minimum regard for flammability

LOL, oh dear. Maximum cattage, though, really.

Torvill & Dean! Ha, oh, dear, I have not really watched much ice-skating since, but watching sport's a bit time and energy consuming.

[sovay]

Maximum cattage, though, really.

He is very good at being a maximum cat.

(Hestia is sitting on the desk beside me as I type, strongly hinting that she too is a maximum cat.)

Torvill & Dean! Ha, oh, dear, I have not really watched much ice-skating since, but watching sport's a bit time and energy consuming.

That happens. I'm glad you have the time and energy for the things you really want to watch.

[asakiyume]

That Autolycus! What a hero ^_^

But could you expect less of someone who lives with a possible Ravager?

[sovay]

But could you expect less of someone who lives with a possible Ravager?

We brought him up right!

[kore]

Also I thought you might like this

http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm/folksongs/les01.htm
SOLDIERS' SONGS: THE FOLKLORE OF THE POWERLESS
Les Cleveland
Copyright Les Cleveland, 1984 and used by permission. All rights reserved.
A later version of this paper was published in New York Folklore 11 (1985)

Warning, a lot of these are, as might be expected, pretty offensive, but the thesis is interesting.

[sovay]

Warning, a lot of these are, as might be expected, pretty offensive, but the thesis is interesting.

I actually have the book that article became part of! Dark Laughter: War in Song and Popular Culture (1994). It's fantastic. Thanks for making sure I'd seen him!

[kore]

Of course you do! oooh that sounds great.


-- THEN THAT GUY MADE ME CURIOUS AND I LOOKED UP 'RING DANG DO'
*MISTAKE*

[pameladean]

Autolycus and Ninja must never, ever meet. And honestly, I believe that Hestia and Nuit must also never meet. They would find something domestic and apparently harmless but deeply scary in some multi-dimensional way, to get up to. But Ninja finds forgotten food for Cassie already, and he would undoubtedly team up with your Autolycus to find things that A would react badly to. He does not do this for his sister because he has other duties towards her (head-washing, butt-sniffing, wrestling, ear-chewing, and the storage and presentation of horribly filthy forgotten toys). But he would do it for Autolycus as he does it for Cassie. Yikes.

P.

[sovay]

He does not do this for his sister because he has other duties towards her (head-washing, butt-sniffing, wrestling, ear-chewing, and the storage and presentation of horribly filthy forgotten toys). But he would do it for Autolycus as he does it for Cassie. Yikes.

Autolycus padded up as I had this comment open and thumped his head into my hand in the way that makes it almost impossible for me to type, which has given me some difficulty in replying, so that looks like confirmation of your theory to me.

[pameladean]

Yes indeed. We're maybe half a step ahead of them at best.

P.

apologies for spamming

[kore]

and OK you've probably seen this, but, if you haven't --

http://pyrrhiccomedy.tumblr.com/post/166714718166/catwinchester-evieplease-iamthebadwolf85

Re: apologies for spamming

[sovay]

and OK you've probably seen this, but, if you haven't --

I had not. Thank you!

[negothick]

Your "Listening to" posts--and the quotations from the lyrics--reliably amaze me.
I didn't know anyone alive still knew that song, which comes out of the early Depression years. "Oh baby what I wouldn't do-oo-oo, with plenty of money and you." I incorporated it in my Depression-era musical revue "Just Around the Corner," set (where else?) on a street corner in 1933. My collaborator and I noticed that the songs of 1933 were either "cheer up, it will all be well" like this one, and "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," and "Just Around the Corner" (so let's have another cup of coffee, and let's have another piece of pie)--or else they were more realistic than any American popular songs had been before ("Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" "Remember My Forgotten Man"). By coincidence, I'm again mounting a show with the star of that 1987 production, and we were just reminiscing about these songs.
Thanks for the memories--and the synchronicity.

[sovay]

Thanks for the memories--and the synchronicity.

You're welcome!

The Ink Spots were actually playing on spatch's computer as I made this post; he'd gotten "Java Jive" in his head, so he put on a compilation album it belonged to. But I know a fair amount of pop culture from the Depression. It's served me well over the years.

[rinue]

Huge fan of that Bolero. If you haven't seen it, my mom's favorite pairs skate is a piece Dean choreographed for the Duschenays called "Missing." Slighly blurry video here.

[sovay]

If you haven't seen it, my mom's favorite pairs skate is a piece Dean choreographed for the Duschenays called "Missing." Slighly blurry video here.

I'd never seen that before. That's fantastic. Thank you.

(I'm also not sure I'd ever seen Dean's choreography for anyone other than himself and Torvill, unless he worked with the Duchesnays on their Olympic routines in 1992. It's a recognizable style.)