Four Movies

So this morning, I read an article on the A.V. Club that asked what four films define you.

Now, this isn't supposed to be your favorite movies, but those that helped make you who you are.

So let's see...

Star Wars (1977)

Superman (1978)

The Princess Bride (1987)

... and, hmmm.  Let me think.

So, let's start with Star Wars.  It shaped so many of my generation, but it became the center of so much growing up.  The toys were a collection to be completed, but I was forced to stop collecting midway through The Empire Strikes Back sets.  The music was everything to me.  It was what I listened to always.  John Williams became the standard against which all other composers were measured.  And then there was the beginning of the concept of what a Jedi is and what they can do.  Star Wars also began the slow trickle of science fiction into my life.  Surte, it's actually space fantasy, but it still piqued my interest.

Superman was a given that I would watch with my love of comics, but again there was more to it.  It was truly giving in to the hype that "You will believe a man can fly."  It was the amazing score again by John Williams with the main theme that I would use to test any new sound system.  Or for celebration.  And seeing my favorite comic book hero looking so real just kept me waiting to be a better person.

And speaking of being a better person, we come to The Princess Bride.  Released the autumn of my freshman year of college, it had everything Peter Falk's character promised: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...  Fencing became very interesting to me, and I even took a weekend class on it.  The more I learned about it, the more amazed I was at the choreography in the movie.

My fourth is difficult because there are two that helped bring me into my groups of friends in Maryland for high school and California in high school and college.  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension has to become a close fifth movie, but the true fourth is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

Monty Python had been something that I watched with my parents and their introduction to me of the movies was vital to those who became my friends.  In my high schools in Maryland and California, I bonded with other members of the marching bands.  It was where I first learned about the entertaining call and response aspect of reciting lines.  In college, that was only reinforced.  And then there's just the whole structuring of my sense of humor.

Shoes

Growing up, I had weird feet, apparently.

Most shoes didn't fit well.  And so,  I wore a lot of Stride Rite.  (And as I'm writing this, I'm discovering that they still exist.)

Stride Rite had great customer service.  When we would go to get me shoes, we would usually go there first, and then walk around the mall afterwards.  This would let me partially break in the shoes and see if they were truly a good fit.  I can remember a couple times when we walked back to return shoes that were painful or causing blisters.

It was a big thing to finally be able to wear different shoes.  Sure, I had dress shoes, and my favorite cowboy boots, but finally wearing Nikes was great.

Nikes work well for me.  They tend to have a more narrow heel, and most styles have a sloped sole at the back.  This work for me because I have a narrow heel and walk heel to toe.

This walking style was reinforced by marching band.  Years of marching band.

When I wear other brands of shoes, the square back of the shoe makes a weird shock on my foot.  I tend to get blisters and/or weird calluses.

And yet, as an adult, I've experimented with other brands, most recently trying Skechers.  They've got some nice memory foam insoles, but the soles don't last, and the extra-soft insole makes for strange bike riding sometimes.

This weekend, we went to Nordstrom Rack to try to decide my shoe size for various shoe brands.  I had learned over the past few years that for 20 to 30 years, I had been buying shoes with growing room in them.  And I've had the same size foot since I graduated high school.

So, shoe shopping is still an adventure sometimes.

But when we got to the Rack, I beheld a lovely site: a giant pile of orange Nike shoe boxes.  There was an event going on.  And I got to slip into my favorite shoe brand again.  There's still the getting used to wearing a shoe that my big toe goes to the end of, but I'm working on that.

Cooking

So a couple weeks ago, Jennifer got some pork shoulder.  The butcher suggested she make it into carnitas.  She found a citrus recipe to slow cook it, and we had some amazing tacos.  But then we still had half of the pork shoulder leftover.  So I went looking for a new recipe for carnitas chili.

I found this one, and made some modifications:

Carnitas Chili

Ingredients

---

·         2 tablespoons chili powder (heaping)

·         1 tablespoon ground cumin

·         1 teaspoon paprika

·         1 tablespoon celery seed (ground)

·         2 tablespoons ground cilantro

·         1 tablespoon garlic powder

·         1 tablespoon onion powder

·         2 teaspoons kosher salt

·         3 tablespoons vegetable oil

·         1 cup beef broth

·         2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch discs

·         1 28-ounce can tomato

·         1 bay leaf

How to make it

·         In a small bowl combine the cumin, paprika, salt, chili powder, cilantro and garlic.

·         In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add seasonings to bring out oils.

·         Add the beef broth and the bay leaf and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, add tomato sauce and cover.

·         Chop carrots and add to sauce.  Cook sauce for 1 hour.

·         Warm pork after an hour.  Separate meat from grease.  Save grease for noodles.

·         Remove and discard the bay leaf.

·         Boil noodles

·         Plate noodles, then pork, then sauce, then grated cheese.

·         [Jennifer suggested that next time we try ¼ teaspoon cinnamon or cinnamon stick, and 1 clove]