Cheese

I wanted to share a bit with you about one of my favorite foods.  Cheese.  It’s a pretty universal food, often used as an appetizer, in main courses and as dessert.  There aren’t many foods that can stand up to that sort of use.  I prefer milder cheeses in general, but will try almost any cheese.  I even re-try blue cheese occasionally.  Sad to say blue cheese lovers, you can have mine, I still don’t care for it.  I’ve recently discovered my love for feta.  I really like it in salads, and it’s presence in a salad will allow me to add fruit to my salad, something I rarely do.  String cheese is probably one of my favorite cheeses though.  It’s food that’s acceptable to play with.  In fact, it’s usually encouraged.  Again, how many foods are you encouraged to play with?  I love cheese!  Cheese fondu is fun, but be careful not to burn your mouth, thus ending the fondu-iness too soon.  Cheese and crackers.  Blocks of cheese by themselves.  I just love cheese.  Which I guess is why I perform Shakespeare

~Andi

10,000 miles

You know the song, my friends!  “I would walk 10,000 miles, and I would walk 10,000 more…”

Well, the Mechanicals have done it!  In 2009 we traveled 9781 miles to bring you Shakespeare!  The distance between Philadelphia and London is 3548 miles.  It’s almost like we went to London and back, with a stop Belgium for Francis.   Now with 2010 before us, I wonder how many miles we have to go before we sleep…I wonder how many new friends we’ll make…I guess we’ll find out!

Dead Beat review

No, not a review by a dead beat.

Okay, maybe….but anyway….

This is a quick (I have a bathroom to clean) review of “Dead Beat” by Jim Butcher.

This is book 7 in the Dresden Files series.  That being the case, I’m not going to discuss the plot too much here, and simply say to you all: “READ THE DRESDEN FILES BOOKS!”

They are amazing.  The characters are compelling, the stories tense, and the writing style is humourous, dramatic and very easy in which to lose yourself.  This series follows the life of one Harry Dresden, wizard for hire.  It takes place in modern day Chicago in a world where magic and monsters are just under the noses of a populous that is too scared to recognize that it’s actually there.  That being the case, Harry is the only wizard you’d be able to find in the Yellow Pages.

What follows are book after book of gritty film-noir style, Dashill Hammit like, just plain good stories of all the troubles these monsters bring to poor Dresden’s life.  Butcher takes familiar creatures of legend: Vampires, werewolves, faeries, ghosts, and in this books case zombies, yet with a few subtle changes makes them his own.  Vampires have three seperate species seperated into courts (White, Red, Black)…and no, none of them sparkle, if you’re curious…werewolves also have different types, all taken from different myths (fool-moon changing, changing by wearing wolf skin, etc.)…and with the introduction of zombies in this book, you find necromancers can only control them by mimicing the beat of the zombie’s now-stilled heart.  By acting like the heart, the commands of the necromancer seem to the zombie to be what it WANTS to do, since it’s coming from inside it.  Brilliant!

Don’t get me wrong, the spell-slinging and monster-slaying bits are cool, but it’s the characters that make books wonderful.  Harry, who will probably die “doing the right thing,” Thomas the White Court vampire who…well…you’ll have to read.  Susan, Harry’s girlfriend and reporter for the rags who…well…I won’t spoil that.  Lt. Murphy, the head of Chicago’s Special Investigations unit who…maybe I shouldn’t say.  And this book introduces Butters, the cowardly polka-obsessed coroner  who….I think this joke has run its course.

I’m not going to say all 7 books I’ve read have floored me, but this one certainly has.  The others at the very least have kept me interseted, but I was honestly wowed by this one.  If you pick it up and are finally introduced to Sue in her glory, you will not be disappointed.

So for those of you who don’t know, go out right now and pick up “Storm Front” by Jim Butcher.  That will get you started on this journey.  What’s interesting is I think that’s the weakest of the series so far.  That being the case, it can only go up from there!  (I personally think “Fool Moon” is the best I’ve read so far, which is book 2, in case you’re curious).

I give it 5 rubber chickens!

New Year!

So, we hope eveyone had a great holiday season and enjoyed our audio holiday card.  I know the holidays are almost over (I believe there are a few more seasonal celebrations for some), but New Year’s Day got me to thinking about traditions.  I grew up in the Philadelphia area, so New Year’s Day included watching the Mummers Parade and having pork and sauerkraut.  This year I got to watch the Mummers Parade and had the French Canadian tradition of pork pie.  So what good luck traditions do you have in your family?  I figure going into the new year we could all use as much luck as possible

~Andi

2009 Christmas Card

Here’s an audio Christmas card from your Mad Mechanicals.  Enjoy!

2009 Christmas Card

More Cat Ponderings

So I’ve been on second shift and thus spending more time alone with my cat.  Probably not the best of ideas, but short of kicking her out of the house (which I have given serious thought to as of late), or me spending much time out of the house; here I am with the cat.  We’ve had this cat for something like six years now.  When we first got her she was this polite, quite thing that was a pleasure to have around.  We actually tried to get her to wear a bell becuase she was so quite we often lost her in our two bedroom apartment (she would have none of that, by the way).  Moving forward in time to today.  Yesterday she got on my dining room table.  While I was eating breakfast.  Now, I know many people who have given up the table war with their cats and just allow it to happen.  The thing is that when we got this polite, quite cat, she never got on tables.  At least not in front of us, as we all know all cats do whatever they want when you’re not around.  It seems that the longer she lives with us, the less respect she has for us.  She’s also much more talkative.  Now I’m not complaining about this part, it’s actually kind of cool.   We actually have conversations with the cat.  Ok, maybe I should have admited that, but whenever you want to be right about something, make your conversational partner some one you have to interpret for, then you’ll understand.  I’ve lived with other cats, but don’t remember noticing a personality shift (unless you count the one cat we had that was sweet as a kitten and hell spawn as an adult…I blame hormones for that).  Anyone else have an odd cat personality shift?  I know she’s not sick, by the way, at least not physically, so no worries there…she’s just acting…well, like she’s in charge.  Darn.  She’s a cat.  She is in charge.  *sigh*

Reviews: Season 2!

Well, I suppose since I started it at the end of last season, I might as well start it again…..Book review time!

For those of you who are new to the blog (both of you), when we’re off season we Mechanicals tend to read a lot (okay, we read a lot during the season, but we’re often too busy to write reviews), so I decided as a way to keep the blog traffic flowing (before we unveil our soon-to-be-really-frickin-cool 2010 season) is to write reviews of said books.  So here’s number 1:

The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz

Written by a fellow Philadelphian, this book postulates that our inherent desire for freedom in all things has led to a plethora of choices for every aspect of our lives, and this sheer multitude has caused us, in general, to be more unhappy with those choices.

Interesting.  I was aware of some studies that indicated that people would make inferior choices in order to “keep their options open,” so I was already halfway towards agreeing with him before I even opened the book. It begins by pointing out how many more choices we make today than people a generation ago.  Remember when jeans were just jeans?  Now there’s relaxed fit, boot cut, hip huggers, loose fit, baggy fit, etc.  Using a series of studies (that were sadly only cited in the back of the book in a “notes” section…I prefer some kind of mark at each bit of data that shows where it came from), Mr. Shwartz demonstrates that all these choices can cause us to effectively feel like the choices we end up deciding upon aren’t as great as they would be had we only had a 50/50 shot.  I won’t get into specifics at the moment (as I’m getting a little sleepy and will be forgetting details), but a number of different psychological and sociological defenses to his postulate are raised, each contributing more and more to our eventual dislike of the choices we make.

Strangely, a few days after I started reading this book, our washing machine exploded and we’ve had to go shopping for a new one.  Because of this everything that was discussed in the book was personally appearing before me.  Society was telling me (mainly through Facebook, as it would happen) that not getting the “best” deal possible was a failure on my part.  I must search as many stores as possible and only get the best I can find.  The differences of the washers I didn’t choose (whether based on size, features, etc) would weigh on my head, making the one we do end up taking seem somehow lessened by statements like “Oh, if only we had spent a little extra money we’d be able to fit the comforter in here.”  I was essentially finding the proof all around me.

Don’t get me wrong, as I stated at the beginning of this rant, I already agreed with him even before I began reading, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Anyway, the book concludes with ways to lessen the negative psychological effects these choices may be having on your life.  Good to know…especailly now that we’ve picked our washer…went to the store….and found they were sold out.  Doh!

I recommend this book to…well…anyone.  Maybe it will convince you that there are some things worth worrying about, and others that merely waste our time by racking our brains about it.  And hey, if you use that extra time to come to a Mechanicals show, then I guess we’re all winners now, aren’t we?

4 out of 5 rubber chickens.

Cats

Why do cats sit on and in boxes?  What is it about the feline psyche that says “ooo…box…must jump in and paw around”?  Most things a housecat does can be traced to instinctual things from the wild.  Most of their toys and play are training for hunting (because, as we all know, crunchy or gooshy food is rather hard to catch while it sits inertly in a bowl).  They sleep like they need to conserve their energy for the hunt.  Many prefer their water to be in motion.  But why, oh, why do they play in boxes?  What instinct does that serve?  I have never seen a lion, tiger, leopard or any other large wild cat attacked by a wild box.  I’ve never even seen a wild box before come to think of it.  Maybe I should stop thinking about this so hard…

 

~Andi

Potty humor?

So, the other day, I noticed something about all of the bathrooms I frequent–at home and at work–if the toilet paper holder is mounted to the wall, it is on the left hand side.  Why?  Is this always the case?

I’ve been taking an informal facebook survey and so far, left is in the majority. 

Thoughts?  What’s your TP holder situation?

 

A funny happening…maybe

So I’m getting my hair cut today…it didn’t go well…that’s not the funny bit.

Anyway, the “stylist” is making small talk and asking why I don’t have children. I respond that I have hobbies and that’s enough of my time. I mention that I’m usually away on weekends performing in a comedy troupe. The conversation went like this:

“You do comedy? Tell jokes?”
“Well, kinda.”
“Go on, tell a joke.”
“I’m actually in a troupe, we actually do Shakespeare parodies.”

“And that’s funny?”

It was obvious Shakespeare was way out of her league.

::sigh::

-Adam