Gluten-free January Participants: Take the Survey!

Matt Lentzner, Janine Jagger and I have designed a survey for participants of Gluten-free January, using the online application StatCrunch. Janine is an epidemiologist who studies healthcare worker safety at the University of Virginia; she has experience designing surveys for data collection so we're glad to have her on board. The survey will allow us to systematically gather and analyze data on the results of Gluten-free January. It will be 100 percent anonymous-- none of your answers will be connected to your identity in any way.

This survey has the potential to be really informative, but it will only work if you respond! The more people who take the survey, the more informative it will be, even if you didn't avoid gluten for a single day. If not very many people respond, it will be highly susceptible to "selection bias", where perhaps the only people who responded are people who improved the most, skewing the results.

Matt will be sending the survey out to everyone on his mailing list. Please complete it, even if you didn't end up avoiding gluten at all! There's no shame in it. The survey has responses built in for people who didn't avoid gluten. Your survey will still be useful!

We have potential data from over 500 people. After we crunch the numbers, I'll share them on the blog.

More about → Gluten-free January Participants: Take the Survey!

Sound on Screen: The Exorcist, Haneke, J-Horror, Warner Bros., animation, Apocalypse Now

Image from Apocalypse Now Redux (Francis Ford Coppola, 2001)

Film Studies For Free only just heard about the Spring 2010 issue of online journal Cinephile (Vol. 6 No. 1). So, while technically FSFF is 'rushing you the news', it red-facedly admits that it arrived a little late to this particular, openly accessible, Film Studies party...

Anyhoooo, it's an excellent issue on ‘Sound on Screen’, available as one large PDF. The contents are given below.

FSFF earnestly promises to keep its e-ears closer to the ground next time an issue is due...


Table of Contents

• 'William Friedkin’s The Exorcist and the Proprietary Nature of Sound' by Jay Beck

• 'Acoustic Infidelities: Sounding the Exchanges between J-Horror and H-Horror Remakes' by William Whittington

• 'Listening to Silence: The Films of Michael Haneke' by Lisa Coulthard

• 'Audiovisual Ecology in the Cinema' by Randolph Jordan

• 'Lunacy at Termite Terrace: The Slapstick Style of Warner Bros. Animation' by Andres Lombana Bermudez

• 'On the Occult Nature of Sound-Image Synchronization' by K. J. Donnelly

• 'The New Scene Canon - Chopping Choppers Unforgettably: The "Nowhere to Go but Down" Scene in Apocalypse Now' by Mark Harris

More about → Sound on Screen: The Exorcist, Haneke, J-Horror, Warner Bros., animation, Apocalypse Now

A Girl in the City

With her journalism degree in her pocket, Laura leaves her small-town home to take a bite out of the Big Apple! She dreams of becoming a freelance journalist with a major New York women’s magazine, but the road is long and fraught with pitfalls! Help out A Girl in the City in this fun Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game! 

Game Size 88 MB

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Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles Collectors Edition

Charles Baskerville is the latest victim of a centuries-old curse! Now, Henry Baskerville needs Sherlock Holmes’ help to break the curse, before another murder occurs! Travel to legendary Baskerville Hall, and figure out exactly what is going on, and what the mysterious Hound of the Baskervilles is after. Crack the case in this incredible Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game, Sherlock Holmes – Hound of the Baskervilles! 
  
Tested version, no bugs, excellent adventure game.

Game Size 384 MB

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SherlockHolmesHBCE.part1.rar.html

SherlockHolmesHBCE.part2.rar.html

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LIN’S CHINESE CUISINE

Dan dan noodles with Meat Sauce.  Rating:  6/6

This is one of my favourite versions of dan dan noodles.  I am no vegetarian and always ask for the deluxe with meat sauce.  The noodles are smooth and have good bounce.  Good bounce? maybe that’s not what I mean, but it’s not exactly “bite”.  They are not al dente, yet still a little springy.




Shanghai soup noodles.  Rating:  4/6
This wasn’t really appetizing looking to me though the kiddies ate this soup noodle.  I think we all agreed that the best way to eat Shanghai noodles is stir-fried; not in soup.






Xiao Long Bau (Little Steamed Pork Dumplings) here are really good.  Some larger tables in the restaurant order 2 or 3 steamers of these.  The skins are thin but remain strong enough to hold in the soup until you can pop them into your mouth.  Lovely broth.  Porky-good filling.



Stir Fried Shanghai Noodles.  Rating:  6/6

Excellent wok fire.  Great texture to the noodles.  There are tender pieces of pork and the veg of choice here is baby spinach.   My kids love this dish. 

Lin’s is a good deal (Shanghai food always is because it’s carb-heavy).  The restaurant’s atmosphere is nice; dishes show a little wear and tear in that they’re chipped or banged up but you can see they at one time were very pretty and emerald green.  The restaurant is frequented by regulars and can get pretty busy at lunch time on the weekends.  Service is efficient but can get spotty when it’s busy.

There’s a bus stop out front and you can miss it easily if you’re not paying attention driving by.  There’s parking along W. Broadway (metered).

More about → LIN’S CHINESE CUISINE

Werner Herzog's Cave: videos and links

One of the most distinctive filmmakers of our time, Werner Herzog has been called the "romantic visionary" of the New German Cinema movement. His edgy, larger-than-life films fuse the epic with the intimate, redefining the scale and scope of filmmaking to include more than 60 works shot on every continent. He appeared in conversation with acclaimed author and essayist, Pico Iyer at UC Santa Barbara on October 25, 2010. (download the video here)

A 10 minute fragment from a 'masterclass' with Werner Herzog. For 7 Planete Doc Review, with Pamela Cohn with Michałem Chacińskim, 2010. Also see this video.

Film Studies For Free hopes its Werner Herzog-obsessive readers will have a few hours to spare. They'll need them to watch the above embedded (and linked to) videos, some of the more recent, and most worthwhile of freely accessible online encounters with LA's most interesting resident filmmaker.

These videos, and the critical and scholarly reading below, will help time pass before the Spring 2011 premiere of Herzog's latest (3D) film, Cave of Forgotten Dreams (trailer, related video,  second related video). Don't say that FSFF isn't looking out for you, Herzog-ites!

Scholarly online writing about Herzog:

• Jesse Amato-Grill, 'Trappings', Mercer Street, 2007

• Matthias Wilhelm Benfey, Religious cinema as virtual religious experience : a theory of religious cinema applied to Werner Herzog's Herz aus Glas, PhD Thesis, McGill University, 1986 

• Adam Bingham, 'Images from the end of the world: Werner Herzog's La Soufrière', Senses of Cinema, September 2006

• Tom Bissell, 'The Secret Mainstream: Contemplating the Images of Werner Herzog', Harpers Magazine, December 2006

• Karl-Rainer Blumenthal, 'Of Gods and Grizzlies: The Non-Aesthetic of Nature and the new Kinship of Werner Herzog and Caspar David Friedrich', Senior Thesis, Bryn Mawr College, 2006 

• Buffalo Film Seminars - selected writings about Herzog (and, especially, Aguirre: Wrath of God)

• Garrett Chaffin-Quiray, 'An Adaptation With Fangs: Herzog's Nosferatu,' Kinoeye, Vol. 2, Issue 20, December 2002

• Alkan Chipperfield, 'Murmurs from a Shadowless Land: Fragmentary Reflections on the Cinema of Werner Herzog', Senses of Cinema, June 2001

• David Church, 'Werner Herzog', Senses of Cinema, June 2006

• David Church, 'Examining the Role of Disability in Herzog's Even Dwarves Started Small', Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol 25, No 4 (2005)

• Roger Dawkins, 'Thoughts of Deleuze, Spinoza and the Cinema (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser)', Contretemps, 3 July 2002

• Eric Dewberry, 'Conceiving Grizzly Man through the "Powers of the False"', Scope, Issue 11, June 2008

• Thomas Elsaesser, 'The Cinema of Irony', Monogram no. 5, 1973

• Thomas Elsaesser, 'Hyper-, Retro- or Counter-European Cinema as Third Cinema between Hollywood and Art Cinema', in European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood(Amsterdam University Press, 2005)

• Caryl Flynn, The New German Cinema: Music, History, and the Matter of Style. Berkeley: University of California Press, c2004 2004

• Andrew W. Hurley, 'Re-imagining Milirrpum v Nabalco in Werner Herzog’s Where the Green Ants Dream', Paper delivered at PASSAGES: law, aesthetics, politics 13–14 July 2006 Melbourne Australia

• David T Johnson, '"You Must Never Listen to This": Lessons on Sound, Cinema, and Mortality from Herzog's Grizzly Man', Film Criticism; Spring 2008, 32: 3

• Michael Koller, 'The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner', Senses of Cinema, February 2002

• Joe Muszynski, 'A Legacy of Quality: Werner Herzog's Nosferatu and the New German Cinema'

• Benjamin Noys, 'Antiphusis: Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man', Film-Philosophy, 11.3, November 2006

• Ingo Petzke, 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God', Senses of Cinema, February 2002

• Cynthia Rockwell, 'Werner Herzog and the Documentary Film', e-Thesis, Boston University 1994

• Antonia Shanahan, 'My Best Fiend', Senses of Cinema, February 2002

• John W. White, 'On Werner Herzog’s Documentary Grizzly Man: Psychoanalysis, Nature, and Meaning', Fast capitalism, 4.1, 2008

More about → Werner Herzog's Cave: videos and links

Farm Mania 3: Hot Vacation

Join Anna and her grandparents in a farming challenge around the world with Farm Mania - Hot Vacation, an all-new adventure in the hit series.Anna, Bob, and her grandparents are on vacation to visit some of the most wonderful places around the world. On their first stop, they learn about a farming contest featuring great prizes. Little do the organizers know that farming runs in Anna's blood, and now she and her friends are off to prove that they can be the best anywhere.Travel to Australia, Egypt and China, looking after rare animals and taking care of exotic plants. Help Anna grow pineapples and cacao beans, breed camels and ostriches, make tequila and sushi, to win the first prizes in 59 challenging levels. Learn new skills at school, buy advanced equipment, and keep upgrading your farms to win these fabulous competitions. With two play modes, Hidden Object mini-games, colorful characters, and wonderful rewards, this can be the greatest vacation ever.

Game Size 79 MB

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Screenshots:

Have fun and feel free to leave your comments!

Recommended for free users: Use Jdownloader to increase download speed!

More about → Farm Mania 3: Hot Vacation

DREAM SUSHI JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Rainbow Roll.  5/6

Salmon, Tuna wrapped creative roll with california roll filling in the middle.




Negitoro maki & Tobiko nigiri.  Rating:  5/6

Good flavoured tuna and green onion in the negitoro maki. 


Tuna and Salmon Nigiri; Negitoro Maki.  Rating:  5/6

Pretty big slabs of fish.


Black Pearl Roll.  Spicy scallop filling.  Black tobiko.  Rating:  5/6


Sushi Combo A: Kani, Ebi, Tuna, Salmon nigiri; California maki.  Rating:  5/6


Gyoza.  Rating:  4.5/6


Beef Yakisoba.  Rating:  5/6


Beef Udon.  Rating:  4/6


Deep fried Banana with Vanilla Ice Cream and pop rocks.  Rating:  5/6

Fun to eat for the kiddies…especially with the surprisingly fizzy pop rocks, which are unfortunately distracting for my adult palate!   I liked the banana deep fried (as I like anything deep fried!) contrasted with the cold vanilla ice cream.  However, I wasn’t so gung-ho about the panko-type crumb crust.  A light tempura batter batter would have been my preference.  Artfully presented.  Very cute and kid-friendly.

Dream Sushi is owned/operated by Chinese people I think.  Well, that’s what I heard from the staff, anyway.  It’s a friendly, small restaurant on Main Street with an Asian fusion take on sushi.  One example of a creative roll that  featured Chinese/Japanese fusion ingredients was a BBQ duck roll I had previously…the pic isn’t in this particular visit.   It was pretty good.  Well, I like bbq duck so you can’t go wrong in my books if you stuff it with bbq duck!

Dream Sushi’s walls are plastered with kind notes about the food and service from their customers (I’m assuming!  because we never got any paper to write a comment on. Hm? who gets to write stuff?) 
We preferred the creative rolls to the cooked food here and thought that it was decent sushi at reasonable prices.  Service was attentive and friendly.  However, the place can get cramped pretty quickly.  The place is small and the tables packed pretty close.   The decor is nice and clean.  There’s this interesting light machine that throws light around one wall that is quite mesmerizing for the kiddies. 

Parking is along Main street or the side streets.  It’s across the street from Solly’s Bagels.

More about → DREAM SUSHI JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Jewel Keepers - Easter Island

Discover the mystery that holds Easter Island! After receiving a mysterious letter for help, a group of explorers travels to this beautiful Chilean island in search of the sender and a magical gems. Get inside Guardians Jewelry: Easter Island, a clever game of Match 3!  

Game Size 61 MB

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More about → Jewel Keepers - Easter Island

The Diabetes Epidemic

The CDC just released its latest estimate of diabetes prevalence in the US (1):

Diabetes affects 8.3 percent of Americans of all ages, and 11.3 percent of adults aged 20 and older, according to the National Diabetes Fact Sheet for 2011. About 27 percent of those with diabetes—7 million Americans—do not know they have the disease. Prediabetes affects 35 percent of adults aged 20 and older.

Wow-- this is a massive problem. The prevalence of diabetes has been increasing over time, due to more people developing the disorder, improvements in diabetes care leading to longer survival time, and changes in the way diabetes is diagnosed. Here's a graph I put together based on CDC data, showing the trend of diabetes prevalence (percent) from 1980 to 2008 in different age categories (2):

These data are self-reported, and do not correct for differences in diagnosis methods, so they should be viewed with caution-- but they still serve to illustrate the trend. There was an increase in diabetes incidence that began in the early 1990s. More than 90 percent of cases are type 2 diabetics. Disturbingly, the trend does not show any signs of slowing.

The diabetes epidemic has followed on the heels of the obesity epidemic with 10-20 years of lag time. Excess body fat is the number one risk factor for diabetes*. As far as I can tell, type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, which is probably due to energy intake exceeding energy needs (overnutrition), causing a state of cellular insulin resistance as a defense mechanism to protect against the damaging effects of too much glucose and fatty acids (3). In addition, type 2 diabetes requires a predisposition that prevents the pancreatic beta cells from keeping up with the greatly increased insulin needs of an insulin resistant person**. Both factors are required, and not all insulin resistant people will develop diabetes as some people's beta cells are able to compensate by hypersecreting insulin.

Why does energy intake exceed energy needs in modern America and in most affluent countries? Why has the typical person's calorie intake increased by 250 calories per day since 1970 (4)? I believe it's because the fat mass "setpoint" has been increased, typically but not always by industrial food. I've been developing some new thoughts on this lately, and potentially new solutions, which I'll reveal when they're ready.


* In other words, it's the best predictor of future diabetes risk.

** Most of the common gene variants (of known function) linked with type 2 diabetes are thought to impact beta cell function (5).

More about → The Diabetes Epidemic

Two Wheat Challenge Ideas from Commenters

Some people have remarked that the blinded challenge method I posted is cumbersome.

Reader "Me" suggested:

You can buy wheat gluten in a grocery store. Why not simply have your friend add some wheat gluten to your normal protein shake.

Reader David suggested:

They sell empty gelatin capsules with carob content to opacify them. Why not fill a few capsules with whole wheat flour, and then a whole bunch with rice starch or other placebo. For two weeks take a set of, say, three capsules every day, with the set of wheat capsules in line to be taken on a random day selected by your friend. This would further reduce the chances that you would see through the blind, and it prevent the risk of not being able to choke the "smoothie" down. It would also keep it to wheat and nothing but wheat (except for the placebo starch).

The reason I chose the method in the last post is that it directly tests wheat in a form that a person would be likely to eat: bread. The limitation of the gluten shake method is that it would miss a sensitivity to components in wheat other than gluten. The limitation of the pill method is that raw flour is difficult to digest, so it would be difficult to extrapolate a sensitivity to cooked flour foods. You might be able to get around that by filling the pills with powdered bread crumbs. Those are two alternative ideas to consider if the one I posted seems too involved.

More about → Two Wheat Challenge Ideas from Commenters

Reincarnations - Uncover the Past

Jane and Dr. Herzle have made a major breakthrough in reincarnation studies, but their hard work is compromised when Jane is kidnapped! Help her explore past lives as she tries to save her own life in the present in Reincarnations: Uncover the Past. Use your Hidden Object talents to take on the evil kidnappers and discover valuable clues.

Game Size 152 MB

More about → Reincarnations - Uncover the Past

Quiz Time

Test your trivia talents by battling it out solo or with friends! Which European country doesn’t have its own stamps? What’s the name of the drummer for the Stones? Work your way through thousands of questions to crack the jackpot!

Game Size 78 MB

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More about → Quiz Time

Rolling Spells

Help the Good Fairy prepare magic potions, repel bee attacks, open magic locks, and struggle against ice avalanches! Magical Fairyland has been invaded by a strange creature named Elephly and the Good Fairy needs your help. Pass through challenging levels and save the day in Rolling Spells, a fantastic Puzzle game!

Game Size 88 MB

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More about → Rolling Spells

Splash

Get ready for fast-paced fishy fun in this exciting challenge from the creators of Super Collapse! II and Aloha Solitaire. Colored balls are rolling towards the pond where they aren't wanted. Shoot streams of water at them to push them to the top of the screen and keep the pond clear. Featuring fantastic graphics, adorable characters, and original power-ups, Splash is a blast of watery fun.

Game Size 11 MB

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Magic Sweets

Conquer the Magic Academy’s inhabitants using yummy meals spiced with superb spells in Magic Sweets, a fun Time Management game! Help Dino, a tiny baby dragon, and his mistress cook up some exquisite food and delicious pastries as you master the culinary crafts. Work like mad to keep your clientele content and stuffed full of your amazing treats. 

Game Size 153 MB

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More about → Magic Sweets

Turkey Enchilada Pie

 Ingredients:
1 spray cooking spray
3/4 pound uncooked ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup fat free milk
1 can rotel
1/2 tsp cumin
10 tbsp low fat shredded cheese

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350. In skillet, cook turkey, onion, and chili powder until cook through. Set aside. In same skillet, add flour. Gradually add milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add turkey and cumin to flour mixture.

Wrap tortillas in damp paper towel and heat in microwave for 30 seconds. Place 1 tortilla in the bottom of a pie plate. Add 1/3 cup of turkey mixture on top of tortilla. Add 1/3 of the can of rotel and then 4 tbsp of cheese. Repeat again and top last tortilla with 2 tbsp of cheese. Cover pie plate with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Cut into 6 wedges.

1 serving is 5 WW points.

More about → Turkey Enchilada Pie

Blinded Wheat Challenge

Self-experimentation can be an effective way to improve one's health*. One of the problems with diet self-experimentation is that it's difficult to know which changes are the direct result of eating a food, and which are the result of preconceived ideas about a food. For example, are you more likely to notice the fact that you're grumpy after drinking milk if you think milk makes people grumpy? Maybe you're grumpy every other day regardless of diet? Placebo effects and conscious/unconscious bias can lead us to erroneous conclusions.

The beauty of the scientific method is that it offers us effective tools to minimize this kind of bias. This is probably its main advantage over more subjective forms of inquiry**. One of the most effective tools in the scientific method's toolbox is a control. This is a measurement that's used to establish a baseline for comparison with the intervention, which is what you're interested in. Without a control measurement, the intervention measurement is typically meaningless. For example, if we give 100 people pills that cure belly button lint, we have to give a different group placebo (sugar) pills. Only the comparison between drug and placebo groups can tell us if the drug worked, because maybe the changing seasons, regular doctor's visits, or having your belly button examined once a week affects the likelihood of lint.

Another tool is called blinding. This is where the patient, and often the doctor and investigators, don't know which pills are placebo and which are drug. This minimizes bias on the part of the patient, and sometimes the doctor and investigators. If the patient knew he were receiving drug rather than placebo, that could influence the outcome. Likewise, investigators who aren't blinded while they're collecting data can unconsciously (or consciously) influence it.

Back to diet. I want to know if I react to wheat. I've been gluten-free for about a month. But if I eat a slice of bread, how can I be sure I'm not experiencing symptoms because I think I should? How about blinding and a non-gluten control?

Procedure for a Blinded Wheat Challenge

1. Find a friend who can help you.

2. Buy a loaf of wheat bread and a loaf of gluten-free bread.

3. Have your friend choose one of the loaves without telling you which he/she chose.

4. Have your friend take 1-3 slices, blend them with water in a blender until smooth. This is to eliminate differences in consistency that could allow you to determine what you're eating. Don't watch your friend do this-- you might recognize the loaf.

5. Pinch your nose and drink the "bread smoothie" (yum!). This is so that you can't identify the bread by taste. Rinse your mouth with water before releasing your nose. Record how you feel in the next few hours and days.

6. Wait a week. This is called a "washout period". Repeat the experiment with the second loaf, attempting to keep everything else about the experiment as similar as possible.

7. Compare how you felt each time. Have your friend "unblind" you by telling you which bread you ate on each day. If you experienced symptoms during the wheat challenge but not the control challenge, you may be sensitive to wheat.

If you want to take this to the next level of scientific rigor, repeat the procedure several times to see if the result is consistent. The larger the effect, the fewer times you need to repeat it to be confident in the result.


* Although it can also be disastrous. People who get into the most trouble are "extreme thinkers" who have a tendency to take an idea too far, e.g., avoid all animal foods, avoid all carbohydrate, avoid all fat, run two marathons a week, etc.

** More subjective forms of inquiry have their own advantages.

More about → Blinded Wheat Challenge

Greek Turkey Burger w/ Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients:
Tzatziki Sauce:
- 1 container (6 oz) Greek Fat Free plain yogurt (They were out of Greek, so I just used plain nonfat yogurt.)
- 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
- 3 tablespoons chopped red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill weed
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ tsp salt

Burgers:
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1 cup crumbled fat free feta cheese (4 oz)
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill weed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 EarthGrains Whole Wheat Thin Buns

- 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
- fresh lettuce leaves

Directions:
In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup yogurt and remaining sauce ingredients; refrigerate until serving. Heat gas or charcoal grill. In medium bowl, mix all burger ingredients and remaining yogurt. Shape mixture into 4 patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
Place patties on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes, until thermometer inserted in center of patties reads 160°F. Place burgers in buns with tomato slices and sauce.
If you choose to broil your burgers instead, broil patties with tops about 6 inches from heat 4 minutes; turn patties. Cook 6 to 8 minutes longer or until meat thermometer inserted in center of patties reads 160°F.
Place a patty on one of the sandwich thins, top with 1 tbsp of Tzatziki sauce, a few tomato slices and a few fresh lettuce leaves.

This is another awesome Weight Watchers recipe that doesn't taste like it! Tastes like something you'd get at a yummy Greek restaurant.

Entire recipe makes 4 burgers
Serving size is 1 Greek Turkey burger with bun, 1 tbsp Tzatziki sauce and lettuce/tomato
Each serving = 4 Point Total

More about → Greek Turkey Burger w/ Tzatziki Sauce