stephanieNY

So, that last meal I wrote about was not our final best-meal-ever of the summer and had some serious competition last night. Still recovering from the BME two nights earlier, I was pleasantly overwhelmed when after I suggested yesterday that we get some sort of meat to cook up for dinner, Adam turned around and whipped up some pepper-crusted filet mignon in barolo sauce. Fancy, right? It was. Restaurant-quality at worst, the filets were cooked perfectly and had a great crunch with a kick around the edges with the peppercorn crust. Don't even get me started on the sauce.

Feeling the pressure from The Graduate/Arrabiata night, we cued up another classic that I had never seen all the way through....Goodfellas. Reeeallly good, and a nice cap to my summer of The Sopranos.

...of the summer was the best meal ever. I once called another meal, in another post, the best meal ever, so I think we can assume that the meal in question is crazy good and my excitement over it at the time makes me want to declare its supremacy. Adam cooked an amazing pasta dish last night with what he called a "quick" arrabiata sauce. I've tried my hand at cooking this summer and made some decent dishes (from recipes), but there's a pretty large difference when someone with mad skillz comes in improvising and achieves "best meal ever" status.

Fresh pasta, fresh peas, fresh tomatoes, and pancetta. I should've photographed the pancetta before it was cooked because we were both blown away by its raw form. I've only ever seen it in its final state, cooked in a dish. From the butcher, it was rolled and stuffed, and I'm pretty sure still had the pig skin on it...yikes.

Last night's best meal ever was followed by the best movie ever. I had never seen The Graduate before. Now I have and I can't believe that nobody sat me down earlier and had me watch it. I get these a lot: "You've never seen Bravehart!?" and "You've never seen Star Wars?!" Star Wars, Shmar Wars. Where was the concern about the lack of The Graduate in my life? I guess its credits and its endless references in pop culture should've clued me in sooner. But anyway, I am now hip to the brilliance of cinematography and directing that is The Graduate. I want to frame stills from about half of the film frames. It was gorrrrgeous. If I could go back in make-believe time, I choose to go to the barbeque pool party in the Braddock's back yard in 1967. I'd bring the pasta with me.

We just watched an awesome documentary that's here on Hulu, Abel Raises Caine. This guy Alan Abel made a lifetime career out of massive media hoaxes starting in the 50s through to today. He is brilliant and hilarious. Each fabricated story was complete with actors and literature and fake research. He essentially made up these completely ludicrous scenarios to see how much crazy people will actually believe. But the brilliance of it was that he would just set up the story and then when the media went crazy, it became sort of a real-life social self-commentary on media and sensation playing itself out. The stuff this guy got away with is incredible.

He originally got the idea when he had to stop his car on some country road because there was a bull and a cow having sex in the middle of the road. The appalled look on the other motorists faces got him thinking...and SINA was born, the Society for the Indecency to Naked Animals. A total hoax of course, it's ridiculous, but people jumped on board. People actually and seriously advocated that animals wear clothes. Their slogan was "A nude horse is a rude horse." And some guy actually wanted to donate $40,000 to the Society. Hahahahah. So this makes front page, the media goes nuts. But then, when it's revealed way down the road that it's a hoax, that story makes page 10 or something. Nobody's hurt, hopefully some people feel stupid, and he moves onto his next one under the radar.

Anyways, I could go on...I want to tell you all the hilarious stunts that he pulled and that people fell for. Watch the movie. He's old now and in the movie, and he and his wife are lovely and quirky and totally deadpan. It's so fun and makes you want to not take anything too seriously.

Does anyone remember him from during of his pranks?

Last Saturday, Adam and I had a special all-American afternoon. We were both craving some fast food, and decided to preface it with a Hollywood film at the Loews at Boston Common. We saw the new Pixar movie UP in 3D (animation was incredible; story was kind of a downer). 3D glasses have come a long way since I saw Captain EO at Epcot Center circa 1986. The modern version is actually kind of stylish. Adam wore his the rest of the afternoon and didn't look out of place. At McDonalds, I had an Extra Value Meal #1 to include my very first Big Mac, and it was pretty amazing. The special sauce didn't seem all that special, but more like thousand island dressing. It was all so good and so gross at the same time. Then Adam, his glasses, and I strolled through the gay pride festivities in Government Center where Mayor Menino's name printed at the bottom of the banners marked his official support of the festival.
Go, America, Go.

...there's a new awesomely horrible thriller in town.
Much to my delight, Adam sent me an IM this afternoon that read: If you don't think we're going to go see Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus this summer, you're crazy. followed by a link to this:

As if I weren't already looking forward to this summer. I can't tell you how excited I am about seeing this movie. As we walk out of the theater, I'll probably say something like, "I haven't laughed that hard in ___."

Oh, and to boot, Debbie (excuse me, Deborah) Gibson is the lead role. Yeah...with Lorenzo Lamas. Awesomely horrible movies can't get any better than this.

Here's the scene from Ghost Ship that sparked my love for awesomely horrible thrillers:
(warning: it's a little gruesome.)