Consumed Media in 2011

I clearly dropped the ball on this list. I had just bragged that I keep track of everything I read and watch, too. My New Year's Eve weekend is off to a lousy start, so I'll be quick: This year I survived two rounds of bedbug infestations, several long-term mice infestations, and a barrage of terrible, terrible roommates. But everything is still pretty awesome.

My favorite books this year were Swamplandia!, Model Home, Please Look After Mom, and Nightwoods. My favorite movies were The Artist and Attack the Block.

I have some goals for 2012. When I have some progress, I'll try to update here.


See 2009 and 2010.

A Dirty Shame
Down By Law
The Duchess
Louie
Louie C.K.: Chewed Up
Parks and Recreation (Season One)
Parks and Recreation (Season Two)
The Young Victoria

Eating and Drinking In New Orleans

I went to New Orleans last weekend for Tales of the Cocktail, a conference dedicated to drinking. This year you got into the conference by signing up for a session. From there, you could explore numerous activities and tasting rooms throughout the week. I made an effort to take copious notes in the three days I was there. Here is what I imbibed and consumed:

NEW ORLEANS: WHAT I DRANK

All drinks were in a smaller cup and provided at the conference, unless otherwise noted

St. Germain Cocktails (3; probably the “full” size)

10 Cane Swizzle

10 Cane + Coca-Cola

Cointreau Cup (full size)

Ramos' Gin Fizz (full size, Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel)

Bloody Mary (full size, but only a few sips, Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone)

Coffee + Kahlua and soy milk (medium coffee)

Hendrick's gin and tonic

rum + ice cream

a third, undocumented, Hendrick's beverage

Sailor Jerry rum root beer float

Sailor Jerry rum bacon bloody mary (only a few sips, confusing flavor profile)

Nectar soda (non-alcoholic, WII Museum's Soda Shop)

Leblon's coconut sorbet

Root and Snap phosphate (sample, Sodatender or Barjerk panel)

Unidentified grapefruit and lime mess (sample, Drinking On Deadline)

Second unidentified in every way (sample, Drinking on Deadline)

Pernod's absinthe drink (FULL SIZE, WHOO)

Pernod's Green Beast (FULL SIZE, WHOO)

Campari's negroni (Full Size, only 1/3)

Champagne Cocktail (Sylvain's)

A LOT of water

This is butter.

NEW ORLEANS: WHAT I ATE

This is alligator. I only tried it.

The Felix Special (half shrimp, half oyster po' boy, Felix's)

Pecan waffle, hashbrowns, coffee, pecan waffle (3 bites; The Camellia Grill)

Barbecue shrimp (Mr. B's)

Fried Chicken (Sylvain)

Beignets, coffee (Cafe du Monde)

Visiting New Orleans also satisfied my goal of traveling South. I don't think I like the ways of genteel people, but I enjoyed my time in New Orleans and look forward to going back next year.

Allow Me To Introduce Ladies Vivian and Diane

Providing a small investment to Bust at the Maker Faire last summer was a great idea. The magazine often has cocktails and recipes, plus book reviews, in-depth interviews, and smart articles about pop culture. I think I paid $5, which is perhaps unfair, because I often feel like I learn a lot with each issue. This month I learned about carnivorous plants.

Carnivorous plants, which are found in bogs (and in some cases, the desert) in the wild, have adapted to an environment where the soil does not provide nutrients. These plants have adapted by eating insects (and not raw meat or delicious children, which I once feared). When planted, horticulturists recommend that the plants be potted in peat moss or sphagnum. Some plants, like the Venus Fly Trap, need only a few insects a year. 

I like to boast that I know a lot about gardening. This is, however, not entirely true. I know a lot about planting over 100 tulip, hyacinth, and lily bulbs. I know a lot about dead heading petunias, and I know how to kill beautiful purple and hot pink daisies. I know how to turn on a hose and drench tomato plants, and how to prune bushes and shrubs. I know how to spread much! I do not actually know a lot about gardening.

I may have overstated my prowess when spring began, and I may have convinced myself that I'm a great amateur gardener when I planted marigolds, a tomato plant, and purple daisies. Then I planted lavender (because bees and butterflies love it), and a small pink cactus. I have dropped the daisies and cactus (on separate occasions), but have yet to kill any of my botanicals with finality.

And this is good, because today I bought two carnivorous plants. Let the record show I have never boasted to know much of anything about bug-eating botanicals.

Bust's Megan O. Andersen convinced me easily. Andersen calls her skin a "neon 'all-you-can-eat-buffet' sign for mosquitoes" and says she uses the plants to keep the pests "at bay." I have my own mosquito problem, and tend to attract the biting bugs more than most (and definitely have a bigger problem with bites than my oblivious, unbitten floormates).

Andersen provides information about the main plants, and where they do best (window sills, patios), and how to take care of them. So naturally, I went on the hunt for the plant that, Andersen "enjoy[s] being overlooked in the winter" and feasts on mosquitoes.




It took some work, but today I bought the last Butterwort, or Pinguicula, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden had. I also like that the Butterwort is rosette-shaped (it makes it look like an otherwise very boring plant) and produces beautiful purple flowers.




I was surprised by how small the plant was, so I invested a second plant for my window sill. I bought Sarracenia, which like the sun, "are happiest in sitting water," and catch bugs in their cup-like appendages. I like how pretty they are when they grow larger. I like how they're reddish and regal.

From the plants' labels:

BUTTERWORTS
Pinguicula sp.

Butterworts lure, capture and digest insects by coating their leaves with a sweet-smelling sticky glue. Gnats, mosquitoes, and other small insects get stuck and their bodily fluids are then absorbed by the plant.

PITCHER PLANTS
Sarracenia sp.

Pitcher plants lure and capture insects by producing a sweet nectar which attracts and immobilizes their prey. The hairs on the lip of the pitcher grow down, so the insect slips, falls in the cup, and then is digested.

AWESOME.

I hope the low maintenance and general stigma (asking for these plants has irritated a lot of plant specialists across the city) makes me look like a bad ass botanist.

Meet Wilbur

This is Wilbur, my ukulele. He's a patient fellow. I haven't picked him up in earnest yet, but he's survived the arduous journey from Maryland to Brooklyn, and doesn't mind that we haven't really bonded yet. Joey found him in a thrift store, had read about my goal to learn the ukulele, and dropped him off at my parents' house. (I may be taking this naming-your-instrument thing too far.)

I know nothing about playing stringed instruments. Frets and chords are new to me, and this explanation from soyouwanna.com overwhelmed me:

The Ab6 or A flat sixth chord is most commonly played in the key of Ab. While playing in the key of Ab, the Ab6 chord will normally follow the A chord.

Of course, going to Borders for a book yielded an armful of discounted childrens' books and cookbooks. Thankfully, I have the Internet. I asked Facebook for suggestions. A friend of my sister's has put me in touch with a friend who can (possibly) give me some lessons (maybe), and a friend from home has encouraged me by averring that it is very easy.

The Internet is also full of videos and articles (and Web sites), including this one:




I'm going to watch this at least a hundred times. It's only eight minutes long, and I don't feel confused or over my head. Jody Kamisato is a patient and enthusiastic man.

I'd me remiss if I didn't research the ukulele at length, so it might be awhile until you hear about Wilbur again, but know that my summer has upgraded from porch drinking to porch drinking and ukulele playing. (Even if I don't, the idea is soothing. It snowed today.)

(I meant to post this several weeks ago.)

Rooster Kills Man in Cockfight

...Poyo.

Screw you, FX

Seriously. I can't afford cable. What a bunch of baloney.

Un Tour De Manege

UN TOUR DE MANEGE from alexis liddell on Vimeo.

Wow.

(Via Gizmodo.)