Movies, Rhubarb, Raps and Geeks

Ok first off...hallooo Vanilly! :) Its been lovely to read your posts so far (pointless or not). Methinks this is a superb way of keeping each other in the loop of the random stuff we get up to!

1. I haven't watched No Country for Old Men yet, but I plan to this weekend! I've heard quite a few conflicting reviews on it, so I'm throwing all those opinions out and watching it with a clean slate. I'm not much of a Coen brothers' fan since I watched The Big Lebowski. It was a strange movie. So was The Man Who Wasn't There. I think its an aquired taste, their movies..just like movies by the The Wachowski Brothers (which I love). There are a couple of movies I've seen lately that I really enjoyed after a slew of crappy ones. My recommended list goes : Rendition, A Mighty Heart, Juno, Atonement, The Kite Runner (though it doesn't do the book justice, as usual) and La Vie En Rose. All worth a download, Vanilly. Most are the intellectually stimulating sort that really get you thinking.

2. I've actually used rhubarb in pancakes i made last year while in Scotland, it was recommend by a friend. These pancakes are like rhubarb cake, only less sweet. You could try them for breakfast or dinner. Let's see if I can recall correctly-

To two cups of your usual pancake batter, fold in the following ingredients:
3/4 cup finely diced rhubarb
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Cook batter on a hot skillet and serve with yogurt, maple syrup or your favorite fresh fruit, jam or jelly.

It was indeed tasty, though it did take a few attempts to get it right. Woo experimental cooking!
You know I've always thought rhubarb suffers from an identity crisis-is it a fruit or vegetable? An online cookbook, Joy of Cooking says "Only by the wildest stretch of the imagination can rhubarb be included in this [fruit] chapter, but its tart flavor and its customary uses make it a reasonable facsimile, when cooked, of fruit." Sadly, rhubarb is also the world's favorite pie plant that people love to hate/ hate to love! Very underrated indeed.

3. Moving on, I watched the latest Beauty and The Geek last night...it was hilariously lame.
*Spoiler alert* They had a talent show where it was the Brainless Beauties (BB) against the Gutless Geeks (GG) and boy, was it interesting. The process whereby the girls prepare(or not) for the talent show is just purely cringe worthy. I like how they admit that they have absolutely no talent and hence can't really come up with a show. At least they are honest. The eventual outcome was painfully awkward to watch, I actually felt a wee bit sorry or them in a "this was expected" sort of way. The GG's on the other hand surprisingly pulled through, shocker of their show being the short ben stiller lookalike guy had a pretty fit body. The velociraptor impersonation was a tad disturbing for a guy his age. And to top it off-they rapped!! So funny. It was endearing though, you could tell the audience was glad they hadn't wasted their time by coming in for the show after the BB's performance.
One thing that really hit home at the end of this episode was that I realised ALL guys are alike in that they think with their dicks, even supposedly smart guys. Getting rid of bitches like Amber who blatantly manipulate guys with their sexuality shouldn't have to be discussed over 10 motions?! That poor guy who she was flirting with was even sad to see her go and actually believed he had a "connection" with her. Sad sad. Oh well, at least she got booted.
You know this is one show i love to hate. What amuses me most is that the "social experiment" that is based on the stereotype that beautiful women lack brain matter and intelligent men can't attract the opposite sex is proven on this show. But despite the silly premise, this reality show does offer some surprising insights- like how the men and women genuinely learn lessons and skills from one another. They have conversations about social issues, what's acceptable in society, and why. Both the beauties and the geeks end up recognizing the value in their newfound knowledge -- be it social or academic. The conversations that ignite when contestants are sitting around the house are far more interesting than the challenges themselves, which involve contrived competitions like the one mentioned above that are meant to reinforce stereotypes -- is it supposed to be amusing that a beauty doesn't have any talent or doesn't know who the vice president is? Still, it's refreshing to see them getting past their differences and sharing their strengths with each other.

4. I've got a headache now. I smell lots of Xylene. Stupid interns who don't close the lab door ought to be shot. At least its the start of a nice long weekend tomorrow, hoorah.

Enjoy your easter break Vanilly. Huggles.