Day the 180th and Day 14 of Advent

Reader, I went to a movie.

People, this is HUGE.

It's not that I don't like to go to movies, because I do. It's just the time/$$ issue... I love to go to movies. I refer to theaters as the Temples of Cinema. I am a cineaste. I love film. I love it a big ol' whole bunch. I love trying to analyze shots, color pallete, symbols - but all too often, I am simply lost in the narrative.

As well I should be. Film should draw us in to its own reality. And I will tell you about The Movie Weltha Saw Last Night, but first...

No, I forgot to weigh in this morning (I know, I know; Freud says there are no mistakes. No, that's not what Freud said, but I enjoy saying that...) because I went back to sleep and woke up at 7:16 am and had to hightail it OUT the door to make it to work on time. Which I did. Very proud of myself.

In fact, I was very pleased that I had taken my shower and washed my hair last night AND had packed my lunch so that all I had to do was get dressed, wash face, brush teeth, feed cats, grab lunch from the icebox (do you enjoy the word 'icebox' as much as I do? I think I like it because it takes me back in time, and as I have confided on this blog, Grandmother Daisy - Mom's mother - had a real icebox, and besides, honey, we're Southerners, and we enjoy saying things like 'icebox' so don't mess with me and get all up in my grill, she said in a spirit of Christian love...) and scoot out the door, complete with iced tea in Mason jar (what? what? You don't carry around a big ol' Mason jar full of ice and iced tea? Really? You don't?) and off to work. Arrived right on the money.

Lunch yesterday was not only crackers, etc. from home (I know...you'd think I was getting ready for a marathon by carb-loading...) but also some asparagus and some edamame from the Excellent Work Salad Bar. However, I have spent all my spare pennies because on the way home from the movie, I went to The Grocery Store (I love typing random words with initial caps...) and got the fixin's for...Hot Artichoke Spread.

And even though it's a TOTAL NON-DIET FOOD, I'm adding the recipe right here because it's so good and so easy.

• 2 cans of artichoke hearts (NOT the marinated variety), drained


• As many cloves of garlic as you can stand (I can stand 3)


• 2 cups of finely grated Parmesan (I get the 3 Cheese Blend - and I do get extremely finely grated version and 1 plastic container = 2 cups)


• 1 cup of mayonaisse (Hellman's or homemade - Miracle Whip is An Abomination)


• 1 jar of sliced mushrooms, drained


• Red pepper flakes

• Squeeze the extra brine out of each artichoke heart.


• Chop or grind them up so they aren't big lumps of artichoke.


• Combine artichokes with pressed or chopped garlic, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, mayonaisse, and as much of the red pepper as makes you happy. Or add Louisiana Hot Sauce. Or both.
  

Bake in a large greased baking dish @ 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until the top forms a nice browned crust.

Spread on whatever you want, including kids, cats, and pieces of cardboard. (I always say that things like Artichoke Dip, Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, HP Sauce, Nutella, and Branston Pickle are so good you could spread them on cardboard and it would be worth the eating...)

It's not good for you. But it's so yummy...

And now, The Movie...

I saw...The Help.

I was disappointed. A serious subject, and the writer/director played way too much of it for easy laughs - black maids acting "all black" in a way that is not reminiscent of the 1960s setting. Ditzy white debutantes acting twitty at Junior League.

I love Emma Stone - and she did as good a job as she could. Sissy Spacek as the addled mother of one of the Head Debs was outstanding, but it was Civil Rights Lite. And I was disappointed. It hit all the notes - just prefunctorily. Filmed in colors that made it feel like a Disney cartoon...a waste of Viola Davis and more fine actresses than I can count. However, Leslie Jordan as Emma Stone's editor was a delight...but then, I love Leslie Jordan...I do.

The time to myself was great. I needed it desperately. I just wish it had been a more transcendent film. And on the way home I bought a copy of Defiance with Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell and the ever-wonderful Daniel Craig as the Bielski brothers who built a kingdom in the forests of Belorussia during the Holocaust, saving themselves and others. It's not a great film either, but a better treatment of a serious subject.

And so...today's Advent Thought is about...

CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Here is my list of favorites just as they occur to me, and why because we all know, I love me some lists...

1. Christmas Story - I love Ralphie, and the Leg Lamp - "a major award."


2. White Christmas - because we always decorated our tree while it was on, despite the cheesoid sets and doubly cheesoid excuse for a plot. Although anyone who has ever seen my Choirmaster and my Bishop singing "Sisters" at St. J's Karaoke Fundraiser knows that I love the movie just for that song.


3. Joyeux Noel - I first saw it during the Christmas when I was awaiting aneurysm surgery and was on ox-felling quantities of Dilantin, making me even weepier than ever. I love it, and I love the cat at the very end. It's a tremendously sweet and touching story. I always hope "they" all survive the war and visit each other later...Diane Krueger as the opera star is transcendently beautiful.


4. A Christmas Carol - the one with Alastair Sim, in all its Victorian squalor and a touching little Tiny Tim..."he thought they would be pleased to see him and think of the One who made the cripples walk." Dang it, Tiny Tim, stop it right now...


5. A Wonderful Life - It never grows stale, it never becomes cliched - it's as fresh as they first time we all saw it. Thank you, Jimmy Stewart, and thank you, Frank Capra.


6. The Bishop's Wife - both versions. I have to admit, I love the modern version with Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington. Denzel, you can take me ice-skating any day you want...


7. Miracle on 34th Street - O Natalie Wood, how lovely you were. What a sweetie of a film.

And your favorites?

Independently,

Weltha