or would you like to try this first?
Now over there
is my friend Wanda. Yes, the vamp with the Betty Page
cut. Noticed the fangs I see,
lots of people do. No, she didn’t buy them
– she was born with them. Once
people notice one fang has a small filling
they tend to freak a bit! Don’t
worry she’s safe. Well, at least I’ve never
known her to bite anyone who
didn’t want her to!
The posters
are reproductions of works by Paul Cadmus an artist I admit
to not caring much for originally.
While envying his technique and skill I
found his work too stylized
for my taste. Then I found he also had a more naturalistic style as well.
These are what I appreciate most. Also I’ve read more on what he thought
and felt. Finding these online I felt they just had
to live here. I have a couple
of more on disk or is that “in a disk”, hmm… anyone knowing the correct
grammar let me know? Anyway I now include Cadmus along with Hopper and
other artists whose work I enjoy.
You must try this!
Wanda brought
that. Usually she substitutes shallots for garlic but
she feels the recipe is entirely
yummy as is. So much for the rubric
about garlic though!
From of my
favorite movies, maybe we’ll watch them later.
Many people
will recognize the still from Bergman’s THE SEVENTH SEAL
but fewer know of the wonderful
St. Trinian’s movies. While I will watch
any of them anytime the fact
is the first two in the series are the best. The final one seems to run
out of steam and doesn’t measure up to the first
one. I believe the same company
that did the series of CARRY ON movies
did them. Usually I caught all
these movies after school on TV but
THE SEVENTH SEAL is the only
one I haven’t seen in a theater.
I have affection
for these older Black and White movies, my only weakness.
I dread the day someone remakes
them in color with a multi-million dollar budget for special effects! Growing
up in New York City I got to see many movies like these when my parents
went out to dinner and movies on East
86th Street in Manhattan. We
lived in the area of West 83rd and Amsterdam Avenue.
Just east
of Lexington on 86th there were a couple of movie houses,
several restaurants and a few
nightspots. There was a nice Irish bar and
grill we would go to that had
an excellent buffet service. I tended to
load up on the free lunch counter
pickles there.. But to my taster the
best was a little spaghetti
restaurant across the street from he Irish place.
I don’t recall it having a name,
just a menu on a board on the sidewalk.
It was two maybe three steps
down from the sidewalk level as I recall and
it had a line of stools at the
counter and a couple of small tables. I was
partial to their spaghetti with
meatballs in sauce though their lasagna was fantastic!
But back across
86th next to the Irish pub and grill was a small movie
house that seemed mainly to
show foreign films. Memory being what it is
I’m no longer sure if it was
right by it or a storefront or two away.
The still
from the Bergman movie is one of my desktop backgrounds. I switch them
according to mood. This one is for when I need to remind
myself to be hopeful. SEVENTH
SEAL is all about the necessity of hope.
Considering
that after since this is a brunch we need some breakfast
style edibles. When I had a
family to care for one of the things I cooked
that the kids gobbled down enthusiastically
were breakfast burritos.
First, while
cooking some bacon, I diced a leftover baked or boiled
potato from last night’s supper,
which I then fried in the bacon fat.
After that was done I scrambled
one egg for each burrito. Removing
the eggs from the pan and lowering
the heat I put in one flour tortilla.
(Small pita bread can also be
used instead.) To which I laid one cooked
egg down the middle of the tortilla
with one strip of bacon on that,
covering them with some of the
browned potatoes and Cheddar or Swiss cheese. You can add a line of salsa
or ketchup and fold the ends over.
Now turning the wrapped tortilla
over or folded Taco style a couple times
to melt the cheese.
Another breakfast
item I like to make starts with either a toasted
English muffin or toasted bagel.
I scramble an egg with either crisp
bacon pieces or well-done sausages.
You can substitute thinly sliced
steak or pork chop – minus the
bone of course! I prefer to top with
Swiss or Cheddar but you can
use whatever cheese you like. I put the sandwich in a small toaster oven
to melt the cheese before putting the
top on and serving. I
confess to adding a dollop of ketchup to mine!
While this owes more to an egg
McMuffin than Eggs Benedict it is a big improvement over the former. Maybe
it is just my taste but I find their muffins are never toasted enough or
hot enough.
Ah, this looks tempting!
More stuff on my walls!
The first is from a cover
on The Nation magazine, and then two portraits
by Tamara de Lempicka and H.R. Giger did the
final print.
Well I hope you enjoyed
this visit! My plan is too completely redo this site from
time to time. My idea is to change the theme
with the season and holiday, it maybe
an indoor meal or a picnic or just a pub-crawl.
How does Marx’s birthday sound?
I think they still have a traditional one
on his birthday in London. The inspiration
was the loneliness and isolation I experienced
during the year and a half during
which I was homeless. One Thanksgiving I got
to crash out in an office in a mall
where I did some work; it was a desperate,
desolate time but I was determined to
make the best Thanksgiving I could out of
that night. The only places open to me meant being around people I did
not want to be around and those I did I couldn’t. From my local Stater’s
brothers Supermarket I had a small box of stuffing, a sweet potato, a turkey
leg, frozen broccoli and a tiny can of cranberry sauce. The cooking was
done with a hotplate and microwave oven. Using my laptop I went online
- I used the free Internet service from K-Mart
at that time, not only was it free
but also it didn’t add to the phone bill –
and sent a Thanksgiving card from Yahoo
and Excite to my friends online. Also I sent
one to all the members of the
Homeless People’s Network, an online news
and discussion group I belong to.
I had set out paper plates not just for myself
but for all the people I love who
weren’t there and one more in memory of anyone
who didn’t have a place to go
to and be wanted.
There are way too many
of them.
I found some comfort in
doing this and the night seemed so much less lonely.
Then surprisingly around midnight Wanda and
the other vampyre girl squad members showed up! They are Masquerade players.
They’d decided to find those they knew
who had no one and no place and get them together.
So after all I had company
and an extra meal I hadn’t expected made all
the better by having the chance
to share it. This has been my best Thanksgiving
to date.
Some Thanksgiving I’ll
do the full story of that night.
Right now I plan to archive
this site on CD not online. At times I may bring
back an earlier version or another but mainly
I plan to do new versions. I do not
intend to avoid discussing social issues but
I will ask that anyone sending commentary for use must remember this site
is open to everyone and as such I will not use
what I may consider inappropriate language.
Yes, I am saying to avoid offending
the other guests. A little thought will get
your point across without turning off
others! Nor is it required that you have to
discuss anything heavy; we’re just
friends getting together for mutual comfort.
One of my plans is to throw
an online picnic in which the invited guests
participate by emailing me a recipe and picture
of the dish. Clicking on the items
on the picnic blanket will take you to the
recipe and the photo and any
commentary by the contributor. Also
in place of conversation I hope to have contributions from guests, some
solicited some not. I can see getting ghost
stories for a “Halloween Campfire” version.
While much of the sites
will use available online graphics I will illustrate much
of it. I have this idea of my friend Erin
as Washu from the TENCHI MUYO series
or better as space-pirate Ryoko and dear kitty
as Ayesha; the Cataro-Cataro
warrior maiden from OUTLAW STAR as they “discuss”
whom exactly is going
to get the last of the chocolate. (This could
be trouble!) I can’t even begin to
imagine how either of them will take to that
but I don’t think Erin would object
to being able to levitate and have a pet cabbit/starship!
I get pretty protective
of my friends so the idea of kitty being able
to transform into a large
saber-toothed feline when threatened has a
certain appeal.
Cheap Thrills Cuisine can be found at:
http://www.pccomix.com/cheapthrillscusine/index.html
Also they can be found in your local
newspaper, if not - ask them to carry the
strip! They also have a book for sale from
their site. You can find more Cheap
Thrills Cuisine on the Comics .con site at:
http://www.comics.com/wash/cheapthrills/index.html
The Worry poster is the
property of and can be purchased from The Nation magazine at: http://www.thenation.org
My other website:
http://www.geocities.com/jos_reyn
Entrance picture,
Sunday Morning is by Edward Hopper.
Well that’s all for this time and if you’ll excuse the pun – heck, even if you don’t – the handwriting is on the wall. (Puns, my only weakness!) Come back soon and often!
Wishing you the best,
Joseph