The 2012 Oscar List

It's Oscar time again, with a fresh roster of films to review: "The Artist"; "The Descendants"; "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"; "The Help"; "Hugo"; "Midnight in Paris"; "Moneyball"; "The Tree of Life"; "War Horse." The list of Best Picture seems much less stylistically diverse than last year, and for me, a lot less enjoyable from a horse-race perspective. Again, I will be commenting on all of the Best Picture nominees... or as many of the as I can catch before they start handing out the short gold trophies. In the meantime, here's a review of one I saw just recently.

● It seemed like whoever wrote and directed "The Iron Lady" had such a dislike for Thatcher, that they tried to temper it by making her something pitiable. And so it was less biography than a 'Look how the mighty have fallen!' uppercut. The interspersing timeline and flashback narrative style doesn't allow for us to get an undistracted glimpse of her glory years. There's always this slap in the face that the woman is now senile, physically seeing her deceased husband and thinking she's still the PM. But even then, they took to task that metaphor of the "Iron Lady," careerist, giving her own children the cold shoulder, and the requisite "shop-keeper's daughter" quips. It would be like a film of Ronald Reagan's life concentrating hard and viewed through the extrapolated, exaggerated prism of his secluded Alzheimer's years that few people would even be able to speak of --- but that would be more appropriate, given that some of the signs did show in public. There weren't more important things to focus on that happened in her longest reign as PM? They had to assault her with this, during her lifetime? Yes, some people get old and some people develop dementia, but the decline is not the most important part of someone's life. I fundamentally disagree with this period of Thatcher's life being used as the basis.

I suppose the excuse would be that it's a "King Lear"-like drama that focuses on the final fall of its subject, laying out where he'd gone wrong and the ignominy of no longer having power coupled with the loss of wit and vigor. But Shakespeare with a quill and moving his players, this was not. The performances were good with what they were given, but it's a shame that Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent were used so ill here.

No surprise that Hollywood gave it a political nomination. As Sean Penn himself said after he won for "Milk" in 2009, God knows they can't resist lauding "commies and homos." And, I would add, the cutting-off-at-the-knees of strong women who happen to be politically conservative --- just about the only thing most Academy members do judge to be an unnatural abomination.

Frankly, it looks like they hope to use the cachet of "The King's Speech" win last year (Firth's performance aside, something I was very disappointed with, given the screenplay's reductive and overwhelmingly fast and loose portrayal of history) and hope that a film about a British upper-cruster's personal battle with disorder can catch lightning for Ms. Streep in the Kodak ______ Theater a second time in the "Best Actress" category.

"When Envy breeds unkind division:
There comes the ruin, there begins confusion."

--- William Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI, Act IV.i.195-6

Can You Hear Me Now?

After having AT&T landline phone and DSL Internet service for about 10 years, which amounted to ~$52 per month, we decided it was time for a change. The plan was to switch our longtime phone number over to a cell phone for an add-on $10 per month with an existing Verizon account and switch over to an Internet plan that didn't require phone service.

The phone switch, which the Verizon vendor called "porting" the number, was a fairly easy process. Verizon has great coverage, there's the convenience and portability of having a cell, and the price was a no-brainer.

But then came the Internet switch. As mentioned above, we had AT&T for a long time and to go along with Verizon FiOS Internet being unavailable in this area, there was a sense of brand loyalty to Ma Bell as I first tried their "High Speed Internet Direct Elite" plan ("DSL Without a Land Line!") that advertised 6mbps (megabytes per second) download speeds. It also had a virtually unlimited usage allowance, which is important with Netflix Streaming being about 1-2GB per movie. I called and ordered and wrote down what numbers I was given. This brand loyalty was put to the test and failed. First, the technician that showed up was in and out of here in a whirlwind and left without my computer being connected to the Internet because I wasn't given the correct account number that had to be entered for access. It took two phone calls to AT&T customer service to find this account number out. The first of these calls was to someone who had a heavy India accent when I could hear her over the digitally-garbled connection, which at times was like listening to and trying to decipher Peter Frampton's lyrics over his synthesizer machine. "Samantha" was wholly unhelpful, somehow kept getting the account number wrong (either through the bad connection or a bad interpretation) and yet she evidently was able to have my account information because she knew the name and phone number on the account, and then after about 20 minutes, most of which I spent on hold and muzak three times after calmly explaining that "I really can't tell you anything else because this is the account number I was given when I ordered. This is the only information I have." Then, she hung up on me. After fuming for a little bit and trying the account # as the log-in one more time and still getting nothing, I called AT&T customer service again. This time I got a clear connection and a friendly Southern accent. I told her my name and account # that I had been given and that it wasn't working as a log-in, and she immediately said that this was wrong number and gave me the right one. I entered it in and was shortly connected. How AT&T can justify such a variance in customer service quality for the sake of saving some money by outsourcing these jobs, I'll never understand. It's what makes it too large a company for its own good.

The actual AT&T Internet service was another point of dissatisfaction. The 6mbps speeds turned out to be just 400-600kbps over my wireless router, and ~1.5mbps when I used a wired connection to the modem/gateway, according to several tests on a reputable speed test site. A slower-than-advertised rate is not uncommon, but this was not worth $48/month. Granted that part of the problem may have been the age of our gateway/router unit. But AT&T recommends using their approved brands (and doesn't offer support for brands not listed), and it becomes a problem when all of these are old and none have the N-wireless connection that has become the standard. How AT&T can operate using outdated equipment and not contracting with a manufacturer to produce new ones as technology changes (and even then, N-wireless connection has been around for a while), I do understand. They produce X amount of units and sell them until they're gone and then maybe they'll produce a new one with newer specifications. The rudder turns slowly and again proved to me that AT&T is too large for its own good. The accompanying picture of a modified logo neatly sums up the company.

So, I was a little upset quite pissed at this point. I endured it for a couple of weeks. And then I remembered about Charter Communications, the local cable company in our area. I had totally forgotten to check out their plans (just to note --- this is very uncharacteristic of me) and upon talking to someone who has service with them and seeing a quick demonstration of the speed, I was interested. Among their plans was Charter Internet Express 15mpbs service (with unlimited usage) for $34/month, and an introductory deal with the first 12 months for $19.99 per month when ordered online. More speed for less $. I bit. Rather than renting a cable modem and router from Charter for $10/month extra, I went down to Best Buy and picked up a Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 unit that consolidates the cable modem and router, has good specifications for it lasting and was on sale for $134 down from $160. Score! In a year-plus, it'll pay for itself. The installation was three days later, went very smoothly (despite the inconvenience of electing to take down some tools and temporarily move some pegboard on in our utility area for access b/c the techs are not allowed to fish wires through walls... and despite the guy absolutely reeking of cigarettes... and despite me getting a bloody nose (from the dry winter air) right as he was finishing up and I had to sign the paperwork), and I was flying with a ~35mbps download speed. We called and cancelled AT&T service; I'm just glad there was no term commitment or early termination fee with them. Just about two weeks in, I'm still loving Charter.

It was something of an odyssey, but we should have done this a long time ago.

(Photo illustration © David Beren. Link.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

After Alfred

I just wanted to check in and report that I am still alive and kicking. And with power restored after two bouts of week-plus outages in Connecticut courtesy of Hurricane Irene in September and what they're calling Storm Alfred last week, I hope to be able to more regularly click on some pixels to make sure my blog is being fed and watered.

After all the to-do about this latest storm, what more can I add? Do I have to ream Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P / Crooks, Looters & Plunderers) over how they've failed to properly cut trees away from major transmission lines and roadside power lines... and how, with stronger storms and faster growing trees, we should be burying our power lines to avoid these major events? Do I have to lament how we had to make do with flushing the toilet with water bailed from the lake in the backyard? Must I again be thankful that we were able to make it through a lot better than others because of some better preparedness and home upkeep choices made over the years? Well, I'm definitely not going to tell you that we were able to provide some help to a few neighbors who were left in the 26-degree cold (spare generator and a couple of oil-filled radiators) and with tree damage --- some with 30-foot oak branches strewn in yards and in the road.

As you might have read, the problem with the early snow (we got about 7 to 8 inches in our little spot in northeast Connecticut) was that it accumulated on the leaves that hadn't fallen, increasing the snow load beyond what some trees could take. As the adage goes, the branch that does not bend must break. Many types of trees had already shed all their leaves, but this was a particular problem among weaker evergreens and oaks, which tend to hang on to their leaves and drop little by little, just enough to drive compulsive yard rakers crazy. A red oak in our yard sometimes keeps its leaves, brown, withered and sere, into March. Combine this with CL&P and homeowners not adequately trimming or cutting trees near power lines, and it's the recipe for the mess we were in. And so, when branches (and in some cases whole trees) fell, they did their damage. For sure, there will be a Lessons Learned approach after this latest storm. Or at least one hopes there will be; there doesn't seem to have been one after Irene.... Two weeks out of two months where large sections of the state have been without power isn't acceptable for a modern economy. This storm will be the death knell for some businesses and make it tough on people who had to spend money on hotels just to keep warm, generators and fuel, and have to replace food lost to spoilage. The power grid is not an area where we can continue to cut corners and bet that these so-called "once in a century" storms won't keep happening year after year.

The Romans said that pride goeth before the fall, and if you knew how I pride myself on keeping a clean home you'll know that last week was a little painful. We don't have the latest and greatest, nor do we need it or even want it much of the time, but what we do have is clean. Even with a dog that sheds like the Dickens and does a full-body shake-out probably 20 times a day. I was able to keep my head above water --- barely --- with regard to vacuuming and dishes with the generator power, but there are a lot of things left to catch up on, not least of which is the laundry. Since we got power back on Monday afternoon I've gotten three loads in and there's probably eight to go. Not looking forward to that, let me tell you.... 

But enough grumbling. We live in Connecticut and are used to having to put up with wacky weather and the destruction it can bring. You have to try to keep calm and survive this with grace.

"When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you. . . you may know that your society is doomed." --- Ayn Rand, in "Atlas Shrugged"

Saucing Tomatoes

As a gardener, I enjoy growing tomatoes and I grow about a dozen plants a year. As an eater, though, I've only recently come around on them... as long as they're de-seeded and tucked away inside a sandwich or grinder/sub. It may sound a little weird, but there it is. Usually, I keep a stock of nice slicers for those in the family who do like tomatoes, but my real motive for growing them is for saucing. And so, here is my process:

Pick and wash the tomatoes, checking for freshness and firmness. Don't use any that show signs of widespread insect damage, over-ripeness or other problem. The one shown in my hand here is my garden's biggest this year.

Slice them up (halve the Romas, quarter the Celebrities, and make several cuts into Beefstakes or Big Boys) and remove the seeds into a container headed for the compost. I also cut away any unseemly sections. And while I used to use a corer to make a V cone cut to take out the white section where the stem leads into the fruit, it doesn't really matter for saucing.

Put the sliced, de-seeded tomatoes, along with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan (the rest of the water shown comes out of the tomatoes) on the stove until boiling for about 5 minutes. Then I usually let them cool for upwards of a half-hour so milling them won't get too hot.

Drain as much water from the pot as possible. Get a sufficiently-sized bowl to catch the sauce and place the food mill on it, using the pronged feet to perch it securely. Then, using a sieved ladle, transfer a workable amount of the stewed, cooled tomatoes into the food mill. Work away turning the gear clockwise and counterclockwise (there's the saucing direction and the unclogging pulp direction) to produce sauce until there's only mostly dry pulp left. You shouldn't go overboard on getting every last drop of sauce or you'll be there a while and expend quite a bit of energy. Keep ladling in the stewed tomatoes until finished, getting rid of pulp in the same container as the seeds and cut-away parts as necessary to keep the food mill from spilling over.

You're left with a bowl of tomato sauce. It can tend to be a little watery, so it's a good idea to either boil it down a bit before using in recipes or add some tomato paste as a thickening agent. At this point, before covering the bowl with some plastic wrap and putting it in the refrigerator, I add about a tablespoon of a good kosher salt or sea salt as a preservative. The sauce will keep upwards of a week in my experience, but I can't speak to the longevity of freshness or when it starts to get fungus because it's never lasted long enough for me to discover how long that takes.

This process supplements my tomato sauce use during the summer months. At all other times of the year, I use Hunt's plain tomato sauce on pizza, pasta, etc. and season to taste with oregano, basil, parsley, garlic, black pepper and sea salt.