Game Size 46 MB
OR
Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3
Fruits Inc
Diposting oleh good reading on Sabtu, 30 April 2011
Game Size 46 MB
Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3
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cover LOVE
Diposting oleh good reading on Jumat, 29 April 2011
VISUAL INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEKEND...
Gisele and Kate... both gorgeous... both May issue cover girls...
both Brazilian magazines!
Have a great weekend
X
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Sharing the Spotlight: Mohawk by Malisia
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Today the spotlight is on this mohawk style shared by Malisia.
Malisia writes:
"This is my daughter Coryn, aka Coco Puff. For her fifth birthday I thought I would give her a cute yet funky hairstyle, so what better than a mohawk. I originally wanted to do cornrows leading into the mohawk but my braiding skills need some work and I knew cornrows would take hours. So I opted for the veil pattern. The style turned out just as cute and it only took me an hour to accomplish. As you can tell from her diva pose she loved it."
This style looks wonderful and that pose shows how much Coryn is feeling it! Thanks for sharing, Malisia!
If you would like one of your styles featured on Sharing the Spotlight, click on Contribute at the top of the page to find out how!
More about → Sharing the Spotlight: Mohawk by Malisia
Malisia writes:
"This is my daughter Coryn, aka Coco Puff. For her fifth birthday I thought I would give her a cute yet funky hairstyle, so what better than a mohawk. I originally wanted to do cornrows leading into the mohawk but my braiding skills need some work and I knew cornrows would take hours. So I opted for the veil pattern. The style turned out just as cute and it only took me an hour to accomplish. As you can tell from her diva pose she loved it."
This style looks wonderful and that pose shows how much Coryn is feeling it! Thanks for sharing, Malisia!
If you would like one of your styles featured on Sharing the Spotlight, click on Contribute at the top of the page to find out how!
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Voodoo Whisperer - Curse of a Legend Collectors Edition
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OR
OR
Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3
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Snark Busters All Revved Up
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As you charm a snake, stop an airship from crashing, and feed a T-Rex, Jack will entertain you with his humorous quips, the story about his missing grandfather will tug at your heart, and his race to catch the Snark will keep you on the edge of your seat. Packed with mini-games, animated cinematics, and clickable surprises, Snark Busters offers a ride you'll never forget!
Game Size 300 MB
OR
OR
Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3
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Farm 2
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Johnny and Annie go on holiday to their uncle's farm. Upon arrival they find their uncle sick in bed and decide to take care of his farm.
Help them out and see how the small farm grows into a big family business. Buy new pens and upgrade already owned. Then plant new plants or buy animals, so you can produce more goods and deliver more orders to a nearby town. You're on your way to become a millionaire!
Game Size 56 MB
OR
OR
Screenshots: #1 , #2 , #3
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Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part I
Diposting oleh good reading on Kamis, 28 April 2011
A Curious Finding
It all started with one little sentence buried in a paper about obese rats. I was reading about how rats become obese when they're given chocolate Ensure, the "meal replacement drink", when I came across this:
As I explained in previous posts, the human (and rodent) brain regulates the amount of fat the body carries, in a manner similar to how the brain regulates blood pressure, body temperature, blood oxygenation and blood pH (2). That fact, in addition to several other lines of evidence, suggests that obesity probably results from a change in this regulatory system. I refer to the amount of body fat that the brain defends as the "body fat setpoint", however it's clear that the setpoint is dependent on diet and lifestyle factors. The implication of this paper that I could not escape is that a food's flavor influences body fatness and probably the body fat setpoint.
An Introduction to Food Reward
The brain contains a sophisticated system that assigns a value judgment to everything we experience, integrating a vast amount of information into a one-dimensional rating system that labels things from awesome to terrible. This is the system that decides whether we should seek out a particular experience, or avoid it. For example, if you burn yourself each time you touch the burner on your stove, your brain will label that action as bad and it will discourage you from touching it again. On the other hand, if you feel good every time you're cold and put on a sweater, your brain will encourage that behavior. In the psychology literature, this phenomenon is called "reward," and it's critical to survival.
The brain assigns reward to, and seeks out, experiences that it perceives as positive, and discourages behaviors that it views as threatening. Drugs of abuse plug directly into reward pathways, bypassing the external routes that would typically trigger reward. Although this system has been studied most in the context of drug addiction, it evolved to deal with natural environmental stimuli, not drugs.
As food is one of the most important elements of survival, the brain's reward system is highly attuned to food's rewarding properties. The brain uses input from smell, taste, touch, social cues, and numerous signals from the digestive tract* to assign a reward value to foods. Experiments in rats and humans have outlined some of the qualities of food that are inherently rewarding:
The human brain evolved to deal with a certain range of rewarding experiences. It didn't evolve to constructively manage strong drugs of abuse such as heroin and crack cocaine, which overstimulate reward pathways, leading to the pathological drug seeking behaviors that characterize addiction. These drugs are "superstimuli" that exceed our reward system's normal operating parameters. Over the next few posts, I'll try to convince you that in a similar manner, industrially processed food, which has been professionally crafted to maximize its rewarding properties, is a superstimulus that exceeds the brain's normal operating parameters, leading to an increase in body fatness and other negative consequences.
* Nerves measure stomach distension. A number of of gut-derived paracrine and endocrine signals, including CCK, PYY, ghrelin, GLP-1 and many others potentially participate in food reward sensing, some by acting directly on the brain via the circulation, and others by signaling indirectly via the vagus nerve. More on this later.
More about → Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part I
It all started with one little sentence buried in a paper about obese rats. I was reading about how rats become obese when they're given chocolate Ensure, the "meal replacement drink", when I came across this:
...neither [obesity-prone] nor [obesity-resistant] rats will overeat on either vanilla- or strawberry-flavored Ensure.The only meaningful difference between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry Ensure is the flavor, yet rats eating the chocolate variety overate, rapidly gained fat and became metabolically ill, while rats eating the other flavors didn't (1). Furthermore, the study suggested that the food's flavor determined, in part, what amount of fatness the rats' bodies "defended."
As I explained in previous posts, the human (and rodent) brain regulates the amount of fat the body carries, in a manner similar to how the brain regulates blood pressure, body temperature, blood oxygenation and blood pH (2). That fact, in addition to several other lines of evidence, suggests that obesity probably results from a change in this regulatory system. I refer to the amount of body fat that the brain defends as the "body fat setpoint", however it's clear that the setpoint is dependent on diet and lifestyle factors. The implication of this paper that I could not escape is that a food's flavor influences body fatness and probably the body fat setpoint.
An Introduction to Food Reward
The brain contains a sophisticated system that assigns a value judgment to everything we experience, integrating a vast amount of information into a one-dimensional rating system that labels things from awesome to terrible. This is the system that decides whether we should seek out a particular experience, or avoid it. For example, if you burn yourself each time you touch the burner on your stove, your brain will label that action as bad and it will discourage you from touching it again. On the other hand, if you feel good every time you're cold and put on a sweater, your brain will encourage that behavior. In the psychology literature, this phenomenon is called "reward," and it's critical to survival.
The brain assigns reward to, and seeks out, experiences that it perceives as positive, and discourages behaviors that it views as threatening. Drugs of abuse plug directly into reward pathways, bypassing the external routes that would typically trigger reward. Although this system has been studied most in the context of drug addiction, it evolved to deal with natural environmental stimuli, not drugs.
As food is one of the most important elements of survival, the brain's reward system is highly attuned to food's rewarding properties. The brain uses input from smell, taste, touch, social cues, and numerous signals from the digestive tract* to assign a reward value to foods. Experiments in rats and humans have outlined some of the qualities of food that are inherently rewarding:
- Fat
- Starch
- Sugar
- Salt
- Meatiness (glutamate)
- The absence of bitterness
- Certain textures (e.g., soft or liquid calories, crunchy foods)
- Certain aromas (e.g., esters found in many fruits)
- Calorie density ("heavy" food)
The human brain evolved to deal with a certain range of rewarding experiences. It didn't evolve to constructively manage strong drugs of abuse such as heroin and crack cocaine, which overstimulate reward pathways, leading to the pathological drug seeking behaviors that characterize addiction. These drugs are "superstimuli" that exceed our reward system's normal operating parameters. Over the next few posts, I'll try to convince you that in a similar manner, industrially processed food, which has been professionally crafted to maximize its rewarding properties, is a superstimulus that exceeds the brain's normal operating parameters, leading to an increase in body fatness and other negative consequences.
* Nerves measure stomach distension. A number of of gut-derived paracrine and endocrine signals, including CCK, PYY, ghrelin, GLP-1 and many others potentially participate in food reward sensing, some by acting directly on the brain via the circulation, and others by signaling indirectly via the vagus nerve. More on this later.
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和风豆腐戚风蛋糕
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Another milestone along my baking trail...
Since the start of the year, I have began to re-tracked my baking trail. So far I have been going back to the basics...making muffins and simple banana cakes. This time, I have taken on the challenge to bake another chiffon cake after my earlier matcha chiffon cake turn out really well. The preparation method is almost similar...the only 'challenge' is to change my mindset about using unfamiliar ingredients for baking.
The unique ingredient used in this chiffon cake recipe is silken tofu or soft soya bean curd. I am really curious how tofu will taste like in a cake...and I wonder how the texture of the cake will turn out? will it going to be light and airy? and will my kitchen be smelling of tofu when the cake is baking in the oven?
I took the opportunity to bake this cake when I was planning to cook soondubu (a Korean tofu soup/stew dish)...I could use the left over tofu for the soondubu...we certainly didn't mine having extra tofu in our soup. It was already night time when I finally had time to unmold the cake. So pardon me with the two lousy images above...my 老古董 (antique) camera can't seems to focus well under poor lighting conditions.
The cake was easily done...with only 5 ingredients...tofu, sugar, eggs, flour and oil. The only problem I had, as usual, was combining the egg whites with the yolk batter. I have deflated the whites a little, and the eggs I used were only medium sized ones...the finished batter was only able to fill up the pan to about 70%. As a result of the poor mixing, my heart sank together with the cake when the baking time was almost up. It shrank further upon cooling...and so my tofu cake was a little katek (short).
There were many holes too...thanks again to my poor mixing...or maybe I should blame the tofu? The yolk batter was thick and a little grainy. Except the oil, no water is used in this recipe...it rely solely on the water content in the tofu. That is also why it is not necessary to drain the tofu before using.
Here are the answers to my questions above:
1. I can't taste tofu in this cake, not even smell it. It is just like a plain cake...luckily it is sweet and if not for the eggs, it will be like eating a slice of dish sponge?
2. The texture of the cake is good though...light and airy...it could have been better if I have done a better job at folding the whites and yolks.
3. There is definitely no trace of tofu baking in the oven. The aroma was similar to a sponge cake. I don't know why...but I kept expecting to smell tau huay 豆花 ( a local soya bean curd dessert). Maybe I should replace the silken tofu with tau huay?
I think the next time I were to make this, I will certainly add some flavourings to enhance the taste. Even though the cake has got nothing to cry out loud for, it was certainly a good experience for me. At least I am now more open to trying out different ingredients and not having to stick to the usual bananas or chocolate chips ;)
and in case you ask...my first attempt at cooking soondubu was far from good. The soup was a little blend and taste diluted...despite having added shrimps, sotong and clams. My kids enjoyed the dish though...they were slurping away and the three of us could finish the whole pot. Wait till they have tasted the real thing...I am sure they are gonna be very disappointed with mummy's lousy cooking skills (^^''')
Tofu Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
(for 7" tube pan)
120g silken tofu
20g caster sugar
3 egg yolks (use large eggs)
40ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
4 egg whites (use large eggs)
50g caster sugar
Method:
Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子
More about → 和风豆腐戚风蛋糕
The unique ingredient used in this chiffon cake recipe is silken tofu or soft soya bean curd. I am really curious how tofu will taste like in a cake...and I wonder how the texture of the cake will turn out? will it going to be light and airy? and will my kitchen be smelling of tofu when the cake is baking in the oven?
1. I can't taste tofu in this cake, not even smell it. It is just like a plain cake...luckily it is sweet and if not for the eggs, it will be like eating a slice of dish sponge?
2. The texture of the cake is good though...light and airy...it could have been better if I have done a better job at folding the whites and yolks.
3. There is definitely no trace of tofu baking in the oven. The aroma was similar to a sponge cake. I don't know why...but I kept expecting to smell tau huay 豆花 ( a local soya bean curd dessert). Maybe I should replace the silken tofu with tau huay?
I think the next time I were to make this, I will certainly add some flavourings to enhance the taste. Even though the cake has got nothing to cry out loud for, it was certainly a good experience for me. At least I am now more open to trying out different ingredients and not having to stick to the usual bananas or chocolate chips ;)
and in case you ask...my first attempt at cooking soondubu was far from good. The soup was a little blend and taste diluted...despite having added shrimps, sotong and clams. My kids enjoyed the dish though...they were slurping away and the three of us could finish the whole pot. Wait till they have tasted the real thing...I am sure they are gonna be very disappointed with mummy's lousy cooking skills (^^''')
Tofu Chiffon Cake
(for 7" tube pan)
120g silken tofu
20g caster sugar
3 egg yolks (use large eggs)
40ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
4 egg whites (use large eggs)
50g caster sugar
Method:
- Sieve flour and set aside.
- Place silken tofu in a mixing bowl. With a manual hand whisk, mix the tofu and add in the sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Add in egg yolks, whisk to combine. Add in vegetable oil gradually, stir to combine. Sieve over the flour and whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
- Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
- Pour batter into a 17cm tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, when lightly pressed the cake will spring back. Invert the pan immediately and let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.
Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子
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Issues of KINEMA (Spring and Fall 2010)
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 |
| Image from Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, 2007). Read Alessandro's Zir's article on this film for Kinema (Spring 2010) |
Lots of good stuff here, but FSFF particularly enjoyed Alessandro Zir's essay on Paranoid Park, Antonio Sanna on the connections between the Alien series of films and Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, and Des O'Rawe's study of Godard's Film Socialisme.
Spring 2010Fall 2010
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CALL ME SUPERSTITIOUS
Diposting oleh good reading on Rabu, 27 April 2011
Go Canucks, Go!
I’m not ordinarily superstitious, but these are extenuating circumstances. My colleagues proclaimed many weeks ago that they would grow out their beards so long as the Canucks were in the playoffs. Ahem…that is, the males on staff, of course.
At one time in my youth, during the Canucks’ first run at the Stanley Cup in the 80’s, I was such an avid fan I used to listen to every single game (there were only 80 in a season at the time) on CKNW. I did strange things during the playoffs to ensure that they would win. At one point during that infamous Stanley Cup run, I had my mom trim my hair every time they lost because right after I cut my hair, they won a game. I was looking mighty punk-rock after a while.
I was such a great Canucks Booster that I owned a Canucks Cookbook (yes, believe it or not I still have it), I attended all sorts of fan events and sought their pics and autographs at gas stations, around the Coliseum, and at my high school ice rink, where they used to hold their practices. I even *gasp* skipped one block once to watch them practice. I still have stashed away in a shoebox all sorts of autographed hockey cards from the 80’s and 90’s with newspaper clippings and other Canuck paraphernalia. Though I was definitely not a stalker--I somehow even managed to find out what types of cars each Canuck drove. My girlfriends hung around the Coliseum a lot and watched as the players would come and go. They told me. I swear! and I knew their hockey stats, marital status and other such trivia by heart. I could name most players in the NHL on sight of their jersey number and I even knew heights, weights and some of the birthdays of my favourite hockey players. Ah, youth! I was a passionate Canucks fan, to put it mildly.
Nowadays, I seem to have fallen off the bandwagon. I still watch games on t.v. here and there and attend perhaps one game a season (gratis! from hubby's excellent behind-the-home-bench-so-close-you-can-smell-the-players-company seats) but I watch primarily playoff games. Every year, I enter the hockey pool at work --and never win! but alas, I am not as fervent a “believer” as I used to be.
What has all this hockey stuff got to do with my batch of White Chocolate Walnut Cookies? Well, last night during the 7th game of the Canucks’ nail-biting overtime win against the Chicago Black Hawks, I was baking a batch of these cookies. You know how players and fans have their superstitions about doing the same things to ensure good luck (or ward off back luck)? Well, now I have this overwhelming feeling that I have to bake cookies every time they play to ensure they have a win. It’s not as if I could try growing a beard anyway.
If they make it all the way to the final round of the playoffs for the Stanley Cup, I’m either going to get really really fat or preferably, my colleagues are going to be extremely happy after every game as they would undoubtedly reap the edible rewards.
I used Callebaut White Chocolate Chunks and Walnut Halves for these cookies. The recipe is unique in that it employs only bread flour. This, along with honey (I used Manuka honey—tres expensive! but that’s all I had at home) will ensure a cookie that will be soft and stay soft… if they can last that long. You can substitute the walnuts with macadamias or pecans but the walnuts added a faintly bitter edge that can temper the cloying sweetness that you can sometimes get with white chocolate.
This recipe comes from one of my favourite cookbooks, The Professional Pastry Chef, by Bo Friberg. I've had this book for years. It's like a Baking Bible to me. I have also made the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it rocks! The book is a behemoth that is fully 5.5 cm thick (2 1/4 inches)! The only drawback is that there aren’t tons of pictures. There are a few pages of pictures that intersperse sections of the book, but by no means is every recipe illustrated with a photo. I’m a sucker for pictures, I must admit. However, if every recipe were illustrated the book would have to be produced in a few volumes instead.
So here I am providing you with a series of pictures for this particular photo-less recipe. And here’s the recipe. I didn’t adapt anything other than the timing. I baked them 13 minutes whereas the recipe calls for 15 minutes. I like my cookies very soft and under-baked (yum! cookie dough!) As well, I saved two-thirds of the dough in rolls of parchment in the refrigerator because I like my cookies freshly baked. I’ll let you know how the aged dough tastes after Thursday’s game!
My advice is for you to weigh your ingredients like I did to achieve consistent results to the recipe.
CHUNKY WHITE-CHOCOLATE WALNUT COOKIES
from The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg
yield: 60 cookies, approximately 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in diameter.
- 14 oz (400 g) white chocolate [I used Callebaut White Chocolate Chunks]
- 12 oz (340 g) walnuts [I used halves, which I carefully incorporated into each cookie by hand as I was forming them]
- 8 oz (225 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 oz (225 g ) light brown sugar
- 6 oz (170 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temp
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) or 3 oz (85 g) honey [I used Manuka Honey]
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 lb 2 oz (510 g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (6 g) baking soda
- Chop the white chocolate and the walnuts into raisin-sized pieces and set aside. [I used Callebaut White Chocolate Chunks that are the perfect size already and Walnut halves, which I refused to chop because they were so gosh-darned pretty]
- Using the dough hook at low to medium speed, mix together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt until well combined. Add the eggs, honey and vanilla.
- Sift together the flour and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chopped walnuts and white chocolate. Chill the dough if it is too soft to form.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, approximately 1 pound 9 oz (710 g) each. Roll each piece into a 20-inch (50 cm) rope; use flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Cut each rope into 20 pieces and place them, staggered, on sheet pans lined with baking paper or Silpats.
- Bake the cookies at 350 degreesF (175 degrees C) just until they start to colour, about 15 minutes [13 minutes for mine]. They taste best if still somewhat soft in the centre.
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In search of Dr. House...
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Keith's mom has been in the hospital since Saturday with some mysterious symptoms. The doctors just can't seem to figure out what exactly is going on. They've ruled out things like a stroke and Lyme Disease and they're waiting for some more test results, but still no definitive diagnosis. We're really wishing it were like an episode of House and we could fast forward to the part where Dr. House fixes everything. Please send good thoughts her way!
More about → In search of Dr. House...
In other news... Keith and I went to see my breast surgeon today. We talked through a couple of scenarios. The next step is for me to get another breast MRI. He wants me to get this a week after my last round of chemo (hopefully that is next week). The scan will give us a very detailed picture of what is left of the cancer in my breast. The results of this scan will determine what kind of surgery my surgeon would recommend. If there is just one spot left, he'd recommend a lumpectomy followed by radiation. If there are two spots left (there were two spots visible in my MRI in January (before chemo)), he'd recommend a mastectomy. I just want to get rid the cancer that is left. I know the recovery from the mastectomy will be harder, but honestly I'm totally ok with that. I'm actually excited to get rid of this crap. Yes, I know there is probably more floating around, but anything I can do to get rid of it is good by me.
My surgeon also spilled the beans that my oncologist is leaving?!?!?! From the sound of it, he wasn't supposed to tell me, so I'll keep my trap shut and pretend to be surprised when she tells me. I don't know how I feel about this. I trust my oncologist, but she isn't the most warm person. The doctor I will be transferred to comes highly recommended and hopefully she is a little more personable, but no matter what change is hard. I'm just feeling happier than ever that I have my trusty second opinion oncologist at UCSF (hopefully she isn't going anywhere anytime soon!).
Wish me luck for chemo next week. At this point I wouldn't be at all surprised if my counts are too low for chemo despite all my bone soup!
Send good vibes up to Duluth for Keith's mom (and her doctors)!
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New Issue of Screening the Past
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 |
| Image from The Party (Blake Edwards, 1968). Read Charles Barr's article on this film, reprinted in issue 30 of Screening the Past |
All the new contents are listed below. FSFF hasn't read everything yet, but is enjoying STP's tributes to Blake Edwards, as well as the Open Access reprint of Chris Berry's wonderful essay China’s New “Women’s Cinema”.
First Release
- “The China Film”: Madame Chiang Kai-shek in Hollywood
- Tokens of Exchange, or The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Lover: Marginal Asian Characters in 1920s Australian Cinema
- Working Within the System: An Interview with Gerry O’Hara
- Two Channels, Two Truths: Reporting the Iraq War in Control Room
- ‘Give It a Go You Apes’: Relations Between the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals, and the Early Australian Film Industry (1954–1970)
Tribute to Blake Edwards
- Introduction to Reprints of Two Essays on Blake Edwards
- Detecting, Defecting and Whistling in the Dark: The Films of Blake Edwards
- “Crazy World Full of Crazy Contradictions”, Blake Edwards’ Victor/Victoria
- On Blake Edwards
- The Bitter Essence of Blake Edwards
- Sophisticated Naturalism
- Ridicule and Panic: On Blake Edwards
- Blake Edwards, Switch, and the Price of a New Man
- Topping the Topper: Blake Edwards
- Strange Bodies: On The Great Race
- The Party
- You Can’t Keep A Good Auteur Down / Cruel To Be Kind
- The Party
Reviews
- Ford At Fox Part 3b
- Films by Gordon Ball (dvd review)
- Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento, Maitland McDonagh
- Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince, Mark A. Vieira
- Lost in Translation: Orientalism, Cinema, and the Enigmatic Signifier, Homay King
- Film Violence: History, Ideology, Genre, James Kendrick
- The Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930s, William M. Drew
- New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves, Darcy Paquet
- Hidden Talent: The Emergence of Hollywood Agents, Tom Kemper
- British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade, Laurel Forster and Sue Harper (eds)
- Casablanca: Movies and Memory, Marc Augé (Translated and with an Afteword by Tom Conley)
- English Filming, English Writing, Jefferson Hunter
- Calling All Cars: Radio Dragnets and the Technology of Policing, Kathleen Battles
- The Francis Ford Coppola Encyclopedia, James M. Welsh, Gene D. Phillips, and Rodney F. Hill (eds)
- Béla Balázs: Early Film Theory – Visible Man and The Spirit of Film, (Edited by Erica Carter, Translated by Rodney Livingstone)
- Idols of Modernity: Movie Stars of the 1920s, Patrice Petro (ed.)
- Wake in Fright, Tina Kaufman
- Neo-Noir, Mark Bould, Kathrina Glitre, and Greg Tuck (eds.).
- Second Takes: Critical Approaches to the Film Sequel, Carolyn Jess-Cooke and Constantine Verevis (eds.)
- On Michael Haneke, Brian Price and John David Rhodes (editors)
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30 Online Film Studies Books and PhD Theses from OhioLINK
Diposting oleh good reading on Senin, 25 April 2011
 |
| Image from When Night is Falling (Patricia Rozema, 1995), a film discussed by Jamie L. Stuart |
As usual, these links will be added in due course to FSFF's permanent listings of Online Film and Moving Image Studies PhD Theses and Open Access Film E-books List.
- Carolina Siqueira Conte, Bonds: A Theory Of Appropriation For Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice Realized In Film, PhD, Ohio State University, 2005
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Easter Style
Diposting oleh good reading
Syd's Easter style didn't quite go as I had expected. To start with, I had an updo in mind, but our weekend was so busy I didn't have the time I would need to do it. I came up with something else that wouldn't take much time and got started.
I removed her cornrow style from last week, added some Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer, and gently detangled to remove shed hair. Then I immediately moved on to starting the new style. Luckily it had only been six days since her last wash, so it was ok to skip that step for the sake of time.
First I parted out a circular section in the front of her hair and tied it out of the way.
Then I parted the back section down the middle and added five cornrows on each side. I moved from the sides toward the middle part, following the curved part from the top section.
I forgot to take a picture of it but at this point, I put two strand twists in the rest of her hair - the front, back, and ends of the cornrows. Then I was done for the night. My plan was to pin it up Easter morning into a really neat updo that existed in my head.
This is where the Easter style went wrong for the second time. When we woke up Easter morning, we discovered that our little container of bobby pins is MIA (how does that happen?). So I had a style that was halfway complete, no pins to finish it, and no time before church to do something different. After a split second of minor panic, I decided to put the back part in a flat twist up the center of her head. I left 2 twists out in the front and pulled the rest of the front twists back to meet the top of the flat twist. I used an ouchless ponytail holder to secure all the hair on top of her head.
Then I told Syd we are just going to let her hair fall where it wants, so I let go of all the hair and hoped for the best. Luckily, her hair was in a cooperative mood and ended up looking pretty good, even though it looked nothing like either of the styles I had previously envisioned.
We decided to keep these twists and cornrows in for the coming week. We just pulled all the hair back this morning into a ponytail. And the few cornrows on the sides gives the ponytail a bit of personality. The result - one happy tween. :)
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cake for a cake friend
Diposting oleh good reading on Minggu, 24 April 2011
I made this matcha chiffon cake for a reader who has now become my real life friend.
She is the first reader whom I have picked up the courage to meet, face to face.
In the past, I only knew her as someone who dropped me a comment once in a while, from her profile name, I could only picture her as a mother with 8 limbs ;) From some of her comments, I also gathered that she has three boys and is holding a full time job. That was all I know about her...until the beginning of this year, she dropped me a note to inform me that her second child happens to be my younger boy's partner. Their desks are side by side, and they queue up together. What a surprise!
It turns out that my elder son was actually the same age as her eldest boy. Through reading my blog, she discovered that they were in the same school, and although they were not in the same class, both boys were friends. She kept mum about it as she feels paiseh or shy to approach me. I would probably do the same if I were her (^^')
Until end of last year, it was by chance she found out that her second child was my younger boy's classmate (I have to thank my boy for it!). In fact, all this while, the four boys know each other. It's a small world, isn't it?
Even though there were some prior exchange of emails, I almost 'shrank' when I thought it was her when I wanted to pass her boy a banana sponge cake I made for her. I wasn't 'ready' to meet anyone...at least not someone who reads my blog. There is this 'thing' about me...that is, I prefer to hide behind an anonymous name. I will be very concerned if my true identity were disclosed. First of all, I do not want to give people the impression that as a stay-at-home-mum, I am so free and have so much time that I could bake and even keep a blog. I don't even tell most of my friends about the existence of this blog....since there is really nothing to be proud of. Furthermore, I think I am doing my readers good...I don't want anyone to faint if they ever meet me in person, haha! I know, I am strange!
It was only last week that I felt I am actually 'ready' to meet her in person. Actually, the feeling just came naturally...or rather, I didn't feel intimidated at the thought of having to meet someone who has been reading my blog. I attribute it to the fact that we seems to share many similarities and most important of all, both of us like baking!
I sorted of hinted by asking whether she has tried baking anything with matcha powder, and she wrote to say she was planning to make me something with matcha! So with the assurance that she likes anything with matcha, I set off to test out a matcha pound cake the night before. I wasn't sure what went wrong...but the cake took an extra 15mins to be cooked, or at least for the top to turn golden brown. Trust me, the loaf of pound cake looked really lovely, but the moment I sank in a knife to cut a slice, it hit me that I have over baked the cake! I felt as though I was cutting into a block of dried sponge foam...you know, those dark green foam that is used for fresh floral arrangement? The cake felt 'sandy' and dry :'(
I didn't want to take the risk to bake the same thing the following morning. I turn to plan B instead...a matcha chiffon cake, recipe from a cookbook which I have just bought. I was taking another risk since it has been a long time since I last baked a chiffon cake. Even though the cake looked good upon unmolding, I wasn't sure about the texture. In the end, my lack of confidence drove me out of the house to get more eggs. I could only feel easy about it after I baked an exact replica.
Although the colour was not pleasant...the texture of the cake was good, or at least, it was a 'pass'. It was soft, springy and moist, something I will not feel too shy to give away, even to a fellow cake friend. This time, I even remembered to do a 'spring test'.
It was a pleasant meeting with my cake friend. We didn't choose to meet at some nice cafe or restaurant...but out of convenience we had desserts at a neighourbood hawker centre. If not for the time, and the fear that the boys would eventually turn the hawker centre into a playground, we would have talked and talked and talked! She baked me a batch of delicious matcha mochi cakes but I didn't have chance to take photos as they were all gone during breakfast :)
Matcha Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
(for 7" tube pan)
3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
60ml water
50ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
10g matcha powder
4 egg whites
55g caster sugar
Method:
Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子
More about → cake for a cake friend
In the past, I only knew her as someone who dropped me a comment once in a while, from her profile name, I could only picture her as a mother with 8 limbs ;) From some of her comments, I also gathered that she has three boys and is holding a full time job. That was all I know about her...until the beginning of this year, she dropped me a note to inform me that her second child happens to be my younger boy's partner. Their desks are side by side, and they queue up together. What a surprise!
It turns out that my elder son was actually the same age as her eldest boy. Through reading my blog, she discovered that they were in the same school, and although they were not in the same class, both boys were friends. She kept mum about it as she feels paiseh or shy to approach me. I would probably do the same if I were her (^^')
Until end of last year, it was by chance she found out that her second child was my younger boy's classmate (I have to thank my boy for it!). In fact, all this while, the four boys know each other. It's a small world, isn't it?
It was only last week that I felt I am actually 'ready' to meet her in person. Actually, the feeling just came naturally...or rather, I didn't feel intimidated at the thought of having to meet someone who has been reading my blog. I attribute it to the fact that we seems to share many similarities and most important of all, both of us like baking!
I didn't want to take the risk to bake the same thing the following morning. I turn to plan B instead...a matcha chiffon cake, recipe from a cookbook which I have just bought. I was taking another risk since it has been a long time since I last baked a chiffon cake. Even though the cake looked good upon unmolding, I wasn't sure about the texture. In the end, my lack of confidence drove me out of the house to get more eggs. I could only feel easy about it after I baked an exact replica.
(Notice the force I exerted on the poor cake? This must be at least the 3rd take and it could still spring back.
A chiffon cake is not as fragile as I thought!)
A chiffon cake is not as fragile as I thought!)
It was a pleasant meeting with my cake friend. We didn't choose to meet at some nice cafe or restaurant...but out of convenience we had desserts at a neighourbood hawker centre. If not for the time, and the fear that the boys would eventually turn the hawker centre into a playground, we would have talked and talked and talked! She baked me a batch of delicious matcha mochi cakes but I didn't have chance to take photos as they were all gone during breakfast :)
Matcha Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
(for 7" tube pan)
3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
60ml water
50ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
10g matcha powder
4 egg whites
55g caster sugar
Method:
- Sieve cake flour and matcha powder, set aside.
- Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a manual hand whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk to combine. Add in vegetable oil gradually, stir to combine. Add water gradually, stir to combine. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
- Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
- Pour batter into a 17cm tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, when lightly pressed the cake will spring back. Invert the pan immediately and let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.
Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子
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Crepes
Diposting oleh good reading
Not really a recipe, but a meal idea.
fresh fruit
whipped cream
crepes
Other ideas, Nutella and strawberries; chocolate chips, peanut butter, banana, and whipped cream; or a savory crepe with chicken, mushrooms, and cheese. The possibilities are endless!
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Hash Brown Casserole
Diposting oleh good reading
1 bag of Ore Ida frozen hashbrowns
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 container light sour cream
2 cups reduced fat shredded cheese
1/2 stick melted butter
Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients and place in casserole dish. Top with butter and cheese. Bake for 30-45 minutes.
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Pina Colada Cupcakes
Diposting oleh good reading
For the cupcakes...
1 box yellow cake mix (only the mix, no eggs or oil)
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple (not drained)
Mix cake mix and pineapple with electric mixer until combined. Bake according to directions on cake mix.
For the icing...
1 8 oz box 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 sugar
1 cup coconut
Combine all ingredients with hand mixer and top cupcakes.
1 cupcake=4 WW points plus
recipe found here
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