A theoretical disaster, today, but peaceful. Here are the bad parts in order:
1. The Dufflebag's audition, all the way in Providence, Rhode Island, turned out to be a scam, and the "agency" wanted credit card info and a couple of grand to "train" him.
2. We stopped afterwards at the Newport Cremery in Smithfield, where it took took so long to get a table we felt the waitstaff were taunting us. I had a decent burger and fries. Jess got a veggie burger with steamed veggies. The veggies were still slightly frozen, so we sent them back, and they were returned, on the same plate, obviously microwaved, but now white and dry, although cooked. Vomitous. We originally were planning on getting their supposedly famous ice cream, but couldn't wait to get out of there. So we didn't.
3. We watched Control, the Ian Curtis biopic, which I've been excited to see. It is a photographer's film -- visual and rich with black and white contrast. The music, to me, is still powerful. However, as a life, there simply wasn't that much going on. Sorry, Ian. Or at least that was our sense from the film. At one point, Jess, knowing the ending, was cheering for Curtis to hang himself, just to get it over with.
But now the skies are clear and cold. We're listening to good music, and cuddled up on the couch. Jess has dozed off, giving me a few minutes to write.
The cd is Devendra Banhart's Cripple Crow. I used to listen to it intently on the farm. It still sounds good. Great, even. Yes, great.
Let's consider the positives:
1. Ian liking the Unsane when I played them for him.
2. . . . and still curious about acting despite our bad experience today.
3. Pizza at Dario's in Lunenburg tonight. Completely made up for the awful pizza experience on Friday, detailed below. Praise be to garlic! We just got a pie and all drank water, bringing the bill for a family of three to a whopping twelve bucks. Cheaper than Mikey D's but actually good and everyone left full. Next time, I'm going with just Jess and we'll go for the putanesca.
4. And, okay, I didn't get a word written, but I will, tomorrow. Jess is going to a baby shower, leaving me to look after the Dufflebag and work on the novel. And I'll do both. I will do both. Today, I drove long distances. And if that isn't part of being an American writer, I don't know what is.
5. Have I told you about Billy's flask yet? Just wait.
6.
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Hey, silver lining to the scam... at least he got to see the seedier side of things. Now he knows the BS that's out there and will hopefully be able to more easily identify the more realistic opportunities. Better now then later in his teens when he has more power to act of his own accord and do silly things like waste $ or run away or some crap like that. Hard realities keep people centered. The trick is not becoming cynical.
ReplyDeletePraise be to garlic indeed! You've heard of the ShamWOW! right? Well that same dude is hocking a new thing called the "Chop Slap" or "Slap Chop"... go checkout youtube for it. There's some funny lines in the infomercial. I sent it to TnR too. But anyway, if I remember to do so I'll probably get one b/c the ShamWow actually performs as promised (actually I have a knockoff which I THOUGHT was a better deal but it turns out its not... still performs as promised though) so this thing probably does too. It will chop and de-skin garlic in one slap!!! Which means when the wife makes home made pizza it will be even better!
Oh hey that's an idea... you're so in to cooking you should try some home made pizza! The dough is like a dollar at Trader Joes and then you just top it with whatever you want. My wife keeps telling me its super easy to do and that I should do it but eh... as with all things kitchen I'm tentative. I'm sure you can make a mean pizza though... and put all the polar bear food on it that you want!
Dario's, yes, just steer clear of ixtapa. they just took down the tiki torches and put up the mayan decor. weak and sloppy food, flavor aimed at pleasing the average milquetoast tongue ("I like mexican food, but can you make it less hot? I like mexican food, but I don't like spicy food. What's a mole? Is that like a beauty mark? Do you sell Burrito Supremes?") Vulcan was better and cheaper.
ReplyDeleteThe acting lessons are a good idea, all else aside, although obviously not at that place. Acting lessons in Boston at a reputable (but cheap place) will get him the notices for gigs that otherwise you don't hear about. If you want to do it on the cheap with no lessons, scan this page regularly.
http://newenglandfilm.com/jobs.htm
They post calls for extras and learning on the job is the way most people do it. And he will get paid instead of the the other way around.
Oh, Mikey (whoever you are), listen to your wife! Sparque can make that dough and you can too. If you're in a hurry, you can do it in 3 hours (of roughly 20 minutes of real work). Once you do it a few times, you'll do it overnight and you'll be amazed at how much better it is than that bland spent dough/glue stuff at the grocery store. Unless your wife already does and thus you know how much better...
My snobby rule of thumb; if its an ingredient, you buy it at the grocery store. If its a technique, you do it at home. Making pizza dough is a technique. Only when the product or the cost ratio doesn't improve do I break that rule (dried pasta, cheese, preserves, chocolate chips, etc.)
Man, you guys are making me hungry, its too early to be hungry for pie...
Yeah, that was the silver lining. We'll look into the acting more -- it's hard because we're both busy enough that we don't want to take on what seems like a mini-job. Plus, he seems more driven to make/edit films than to act in them. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteI've made homemade pizza dough before. Right now, I don't have a pizza stone and money is extremely tight -- usually by the middle of the week I'm left with a few dollars in my pocket for coffee, the occasional snack, and that one last top off of the tank to get me into work on Friday morning. I'm taking care of the cat's surgery on Monday. Point being: for the short term, I'm aiming at value pack marinated chicken with rice for lunch and marinated pork on tortillas for breakfast. Not a bad menu at all, and it means I'll be able to eat good food all week for about twelve bucks total.
But as for the greater point, adding pizza to the household menu is a great idea and I'll do it soon. It will also help please three people with entirely different dietary inclinations.
And oh yeah, once I get the Kitchen-Aid back from Mac, it's going to open up a world or two for me. I bought a good bread cookbook and I'm going to start working through that.
ReplyDelete3 hours with 20 minutes of work, or 20 mins of work and then eating it 30 mins later. I'm hungry. I vote option 2. The dough we get from Trader Joe's is usually already seasoned and tasty and it's just a $1.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I don't have a very discerning palate... I still love me some Dominoes! (it's like heroin to me)
Doug, the wifey said you can borrow our pizza stone for a bit if you want. It's just not "seasoned" yet she said. She's started making pizza pockets and calzones too... yummy
The KitchenAid is the key. If you have it, any flour-based proposition becomes part of your daily routine. Without, you work more than you eat...
ReplyDeleteHey, for cheap pizza stone, alls ya needs is unglazed terra cotta tile, pert near cheap as bricks even at home depot. I have a round stone because I happened to find them on sale at LNT one day for less than even that. If I get out there, I'll get you something to work with...
Next terra cotta experiment is going to be an Alton Brown trick I have wanted to try for a long time, though I have to wait for spring. Gonna build a terracotta oven from big ass flower pots. I want to try a loaf of bread and a chicken that way, hell, maybe move up to a pork roast or slow smoke some meat with it.
PS: when I say unglazed terra cotta, I'm talking unglazed quarry tile, you do have to be a little careful about what its made of, but if memory serves, they actually mark the stuff if not real quarry stone whether its food safe, even in the flooring section...
ReplyDelete