Alabaster City Fest was a completely new experience for me. Not only have I never been to it before, but I've never been to any music festival anywhere that was so mellow.
We made the one-hour drive from Tuscaloosa so that Jason could see Tonic. He hadn't done so since we lived in Ohio several years ago, and the free festival seemed like a good opportunity.
Upon arriving at Alabaster City Park, we found the area in front of the Main Stage packed with people - all sitting in lawn chairs like bumps on logs. I felt sorry for the band that was performing when we got there. Though their rockabilly music was pretty upbeat, the crowd seemed dead. There was no applause when the band finished each song. I detected not so much as a tapping foot among the folks seated near us.
We figured we'd be standing and brought nothing to sit on, but fortunately found open seats at picnic tables lined up to the side of the music area. We weren't terribly close to the stage but near enough to see the band members' faces distinctly. The speakers were plenty loud; we heard the music from the parking lot 1/2 mile away.
We saw about 15 minutes of White Oaks' set, then sat for another 30 minutes waiting for Tonic to come on (at the exact moment they were scheduled). About 10 minutes of that was consumed with City Fest business: a word from the sponsors at the local CBS affiliate and a drawing by one of the vendors for iPod prizes. The shooting of T-shirts from an air cannon seemed to wake up the crowd, so they had a little bit of pep to them by the time Tonic took the stage.
A small crowd of Tonic fans formed right in front of the stage, but we opted to stay seated where we were. We enjoyed a nice relaxing hour of good music on a temperate Alabama June evening. Jason danced in his seat and sang along to the songs he knew, and others around us also showed signs of life, tapping their feet, clapping, even getting up to dance. Generally speaking, though, the throngs of festival goers remained planted immobile in their lawn chairs. Failure of most of the crowd to repeat "Ohs" during a moment of participation led lead singer Emerson Hart to muse that the attendees apparently were too tired from sitting in the sun all day to play along.
Otherwise, the set lacked much banter. Hart thanked us many times for having them and frequently mentioned how cool it was that Alabaster was able to get so many folks together in a park for a free concert. The only memorable bit of between-song chatter occurred when Hart called out the folks who had hot air balloons in the kids area of the festival. Apparently, the balloon dude ruled.
Despite the lame crowd, Tonic rocked out. They gave no rest to their bevy of guitars and sounded great vocally.
I don't know them well enough to provide a set list, and Jason's not good enough with song titles to help me out. I can tell you that their one-hour set opened with the decade-old singles "Open Up Your Eyes" and "You Wanted More," and that the last three songs were "If You Could Only See," "Casual Affair" (with an attempt at crowd participation), and a nicely-done cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." Furthermore, I know that their most recent single "Take Me As I Am" was somewhere in the middle.
We knew no one else on the schedule - including the headliner, country star Terri Clark - so we bailed as soon as Tonic finished and beat the crowd out of the park. But, Tonic's set was well worth the trip. The Dairy Queen we found near the freeway entrance was icing on the cake, so to speak (Tuscaloosa's DQ closed a couple years ago).
Sunday, June 7, 2009
UP is a downer (WARNING: Contains some spoilers)
Pixar has been generating incredible films for years, and I'm always excited to see what they're going to do next. Upon seeing the first trailers for UP months ago, I was skeptical. An old guy sailing off in his house? How exciting could that be? Yet because it was Pixar, I was willing to give it a try, especially after hearing the rave reviews from everyone else.
Although the animation was characteristically well done and the script deceptively deep, I wish I'd steered clear. In the tradition of Marley and Me, trailers for UP lead you to believe you're heading into a light-hearted adventure/comedy when what you actually get is an emotionally-draining heart-breaker. It's a cruel bait and switch.
We meet Carl Fredrickson (voiced in his elder years by the iconic Ed Asner) when he is a young boy who dreams of following in the footsteps of famous adventurer Charles Muntz. During the first several minutes of the film, we watch as Fredrickson and childhood sweetheart Ellie marry and grow old, repeatedly setting aside their dream of traveling to South America due to the expenses of everyday life. During the remainder of the film, Fredrickson comes to terms with Ellie's death as he attempts to make good on his childhood promise to fly them to Paradise Falls.
Fredrickson is not alone on his journey. Along the way, he picks up a young Wilderness Explorer (a fictional film version of the Boy Scouts) named Russell, a talking dog named Dug, and a colorful chocoholic bird that Russell dubs "Kevin." This motley crew presents a few moments of comic relief, but most of these appear in the trailers.
A wicked Muntz (who inexplicably still lives and somehow seems YOUNGER than Fredrickson, although he would have to be 15-20 years older) is after Kevin's rare bird breed and believes that Fredrickson and his young companion are in South America to undermine him. Trying to get Kevin safely to her chicks and Fredrickson's house to Paradise Falls before the helium balloons carrying it deflate, all while eluding Muntz and his pack of trained pooches, brings plenty of classic Pixar adventure as well as the conflict necessary for interesting drama.
UP's writers do a fantastic job with character development. Not only do we fully understand Fredrickson's pain and the urgency of getting his and Ellie's home to the falls, but we also feel for Russell after learning of the disappointments dished out by an absentee dad. The bumbling but friendly Dug and even Kevin (who has no dialog) burst with personality, and we want to pull for them just as emphatically as we root against Muntz. Even our villain has considerable depth. Banished to Paradise Falls after being labeled a fraud, he seeks to redeem himself by bringing back real evidence of the undocumented bird breed. We want to feel sorry for him, until we realize the length to which he's willing to go and the malevolent methods he's willing to employ to achieve his goal.
Overall, UP delivers a complex story told beautifully through top-notch animation and stellar voice-acting. Unfortunately, the light-hearted moments are too few to overcome the sad theme, and this seriously hampers enjoyment of the film. Furthermore, the plethora of children seated around us seemed bored by the middle of the movie, providing evidence that it does not provide enough adventure or humor to sustain juvenile attention for its 96-minute running time.
Although the animation was characteristically well done and the script deceptively deep, I wish I'd steered clear. In the tradition of Marley and Me, trailers for UP lead you to believe you're heading into a light-hearted adventure/comedy when what you actually get is an emotionally-draining heart-breaker. It's a cruel bait and switch.
We meet Carl Fredrickson (voiced in his elder years by the iconic Ed Asner) when he is a young boy who dreams of following in the footsteps of famous adventurer Charles Muntz. During the first several minutes of the film, we watch as Fredrickson and childhood sweetheart Ellie marry and grow old, repeatedly setting aside their dream of traveling to South America due to the expenses of everyday life. During the remainder of the film, Fredrickson comes to terms with Ellie's death as he attempts to make good on his childhood promise to fly them to Paradise Falls.
Fredrickson is not alone on his journey. Along the way, he picks up a young Wilderness Explorer (a fictional film version of the Boy Scouts) named Russell, a talking dog named Dug, and a colorful chocoholic bird that Russell dubs "Kevin." This motley crew presents a few moments of comic relief, but most of these appear in the trailers.
A wicked Muntz (who inexplicably still lives and somehow seems YOUNGER than Fredrickson, although he would have to be 15-20 years older) is after Kevin's rare bird breed and believes that Fredrickson and his young companion are in South America to undermine him. Trying to get Kevin safely to her chicks and Fredrickson's house to Paradise Falls before the helium balloons carrying it deflate, all while eluding Muntz and his pack of trained pooches, brings plenty of classic Pixar adventure as well as the conflict necessary for interesting drama.
UP's writers do a fantastic job with character development. Not only do we fully understand Fredrickson's pain and the urgency of getting his and Ellie's home to the falls, but we also feel for Russell after learning of the disappointments dished out by an absentee dad. The bumbling but friendly Dug and even Kevin (who has no dialog) burst with personality, and we want to pull for them just as emphatically as we root against Muntz. Even our villain has considerable depth. Banished to Paradise Falls after being labeled a fraud, he seeks to redeem himself by bringing back real evidence of the undocumented bird breed. We want to feel sorry for him, until we realize the length to which he's willing to go and the malevolent methods he's willing to employ to achieve his goal.
Overall, UP delivers a complex story told beautifully through top-notch animation and stellar voice-acting. Unfortunately, the light-hearted moments are too few to overcome the sad theme, and this seriously hampers enjoyment of the film. Furthermore, the plethora of children seated around us seemed bored by the middle of the movie, providing evidence that it does not provide enough adventure or humor to sustain juvenile attention for its 96-minute running time.
Cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce recipe
Recipes have been just as sparse as movie reviews on this new blog, part of the reason being I haven't been cooking a lot lately (too hot, too busy). But Jason and I have been trying to come up with something different for our usual Sunday morning Cribbage breakfast, and seeing prepared crepes in the produce section of our grocery store last weekend inspired me.
We've tried making crepes from scratch before and found the process tedious and disastrous. We just don't have the delicate hands required. Thus, when I mentioned to Jason that I wanted crepes for breakfast today, he gave me a look that screamed, "What are you smoking?" When I said we'd use prepared crepes, he thought my idea sounded good.
I wanted something light but filling. I wanted cheese. I wanted berries. Upon combining the simple blintz filling from an otherwise complicated Emeril Lagasse recipe with our store-bought crepes and a blueberry sauce from the VeganDad blog, I hit on something delicious.
The cinnamon sugar portion of Emeril's recipe makes WAY too much topping. He combines 1 tsp. cinnamon with 2 tbsp. sugar for eight blintzes. We managed to get nine blitzes out of our filling, and even stretching the topping to cover the extra blintz, the cinnamon-sugar flavor was a little overwhelming. I've halved it for the published recipe.
I used fresh blueberries for the sauce, although the recipe linked above calls for frozen. Because they're in season, that's practical now. If you're making this recipe in a few months, frozen will do.
Sunday morning cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce
Ingredients:
Filling
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 lemon, zest finely grated
Store-bought 9- or 10-inch French crepes
Sauce
2 cups blueberries
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
Topping
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. sugar
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1. Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth.
2. Spoon 1/4 cup of the filling down the bottom third of each crepe. Fold the edges over the filling, roll to seal the filling, and arrange in the bottom of a baking dish large enough to hold them in 1 layer.
3. Bake the blintzes until the bottom is golden brown and the filling is set, about 8 minutes.
4. While the blintzes are baking, make the sauce. Bring blueberries, 3/4 cup of the water, and sugar to bubbling in a saucepan.
5. Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/4 cup of water and add to pan. Stirring constantly, bring back to bubbling and let thicken.
6. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
7. Stir together cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
8. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar topping over crepes.
9. Serve with blueberry sauce.
We've tried making crepes from scratch before and found the process tedious and disastrous. We just don't have the delicate hands required. Thus, when I mentioned to Jason that I wanted crepes for breakfast today, he gave me a look that screamed, "What are you smoking?" When I said we'd use prepared crepes, he thought my idea sounded good.
I wanted something light but filling. I wanted cheese. I wanted berries. Upon combining the simple blintz filling from an otherwise complicated Emeril Lagasse recipe with our store-bought crepes and a blueberry sauce from the VeganDad blog, I hit on something delicious.
The cinnamon sugar portion of Emeril's recipe makes WAY too much topping. He combines 1 tsp. cinnamon with 2 tbsp. sugar for eight blintzes. We managed to get nine blitzes out of our filling, and even stretching the topping to cover the extra blintz, the cinnamon-sugar flavor was a little overwhelming. I've halved it for the published recipe.
I used fresh blueberries for the sauce, although the recipe linked above calls for frozen. Because they're in season, that's practical now. If you're making this recipe in a few months, frozen will do.
Sunday morning cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce
Ingredients:
Filling
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 lemon, zest finely grated
Store-bought 9- or 10-inch French crepes
Sauce
2 cups blueberries
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
Topping
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. sugar
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1. Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth.
2. Spoon 1/4 cup of the filling down the bottom third of each crepe. Fold the edges over the filling, roll to seal the filling, and arrange in the bottom of a baking dish large enough to hold them in 1 layer.
3. Bake the blintzes until the bottom is golden brown and the filling is set, about 8 minutes.
4. While the blintzes are baking, make the sauce. Bring blueberries, 3/4 cup of the water, and sugar to bubbling in a saucepan.
5. Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/4 cup of water and add to pan. Stirring constantly, bring back to bubbling and let thicken.
6. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
7. Stir together cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
8. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar topping over crepes.
9. Serve with blueberry sauce.
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