So it has been 2 weeks at cooking school – and I have been very remiss in my blog posts. This is partly because I have been exhausted every evening after classes, and partly because I wasn’t sure of the best way to write about this.

One of the things about learning how to portion a roast chicken, say, or cook a stirred custard sauce is that these techniques are hard to describe, but much easier to learn by watching and doing. This is of course, one of the reasons that I am in cooking school in the first place! However, it would make for a pretty dull read if I just described everything we did each day. And I’m sure that many of you are not that interested in the ins and outs of the cooking in any case. So instead, I will try to write around what we are doing, to give you a flavour of what is going on, without all the detail.

Just so you know, I am at Tante Marie’s Cooking School, based in North Beach, San Francisco. They do evening courses and also let people come int o join in the cooking school classes on a one-off basis, so look them up if you are coming to visit. We generally cook in the mornings, and eat what we have prepared for lunch, then have a demonstration of the next day’s dishes in the afternoon.

Today, continuing the film theme, I thought I would give a little mini-guide to films and video on the web. This area has taken off in the last year or so.

First off, film trailers, to link in with all the Oscar-related stuff. Apple hosts a huge number of past and present film trailers on it’s site as a promotion for it’s Quicktime video software (which is free to download as a player). You can also access these through iTunes if you have it (although I actually prefer the web page interface). As it is mostly U.S. trailers on the site, this is a good way to preview films before they reach the UK.

Atom Films is a site showcasing independent films and animation, generally pretty short pieces. You can give you rating and write reviews, so it quickly reveals those that are worth a look. Some seem to generate a pretty cult following. This sort of site will undoubtedly be where the Oscar-winners (or at least Sundance-favourites) of the future are to be found. I’m currently enjoying This Land, a nice little summary of the U.S. election in the form of a version of the Woody Guthrie song.

Being deprived of the BBC (and believe me, 300-odd channels can’t make up for lack of decent content), one of the best ways for me to access it is through their new Player application. This is an extension of the Radio Player, which allowed you to listen to radio live online or to listen to previously broadcast shows. Now you can also access news reports, sports highlights and the weather forecast. It does require Real Player though.

I mentioned Weebl and Bob on a previous blog, as winners of the Yahoo People’s Choice website award for 2004. Having explored the archive of cartoons of their site now, they are pretty good and deserve their popularity. Student humour, but none the worse for that 🙂

If you don’t fancy professionally-generated content, you can always see your nearest and dearest live on a webcam (assuming you both have them). We have had a great deal of success with Apple’s iChat software interfacing with AOL 5.5 on our parent’s PCs, where video-conferencing operates as an extension of AOL’s Instant Messenger. As this requires Windows XP on the PC end, you can also use iVisit, which is a cross-platform application.

Being moderately short of inspiration (and sick) at the moment, I thought I would give you a quick update of my progress in attempting to watch all the major Oscar-nominated films before the awards. In the week or so since the last post on this subject, I have worked through Hotel Rwanda, Maria Full of Grace and Sideways – three *very different films.

Hotel Rwanda was very moving – but how could it not be, with such powerful and real-life subject matter. Nonetheless, it did a good job of telling the story, and I think the best actor nomination for Don Cheadle is certainly well deserved. Maria Full of Grace isn’t one that I was expecting much from. A slightly obscure Colombian film, and something of a surprise in the nominations, it has received a nomination for best actress for Catalina Sandino Moreno. It is a story of a girl trying to escape poverty and look for something more extraordinary. Catalina Sandino Moreno does an excellent job – I don’t know how old she is, but convincingly plays 17 in the film, and gives a phenomenal performance. If you get a chance, go and see it. Drugs in Colombia may not seem like an inspiring subject, but I promise you, it is an uplifting and often very funny film.
Sideways, as expected, was excellent. Yes, it is the only comedy nominated for best film, and it is very funny, but it is also more than that; it’s a sensitive comedy, with real depth to the characters rather than just a series of farcical situations and pratfalls. A genuinely enjoyable movie on every dimension, and I wish it would win best film, although, as it is a comedy, it inevitably won’t.

Should be able to get in Ray and the Aviator this week, and maybe catch up on some of the others when I get to the UK in the week before Oscars.

The Aviator
Before Sunset
Being Julia
Closer
Collateral
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Kinsey
Maria Full of Grace
Million Dollar Baby
The Motorcycle Diaries
Ray
Sideways
Vera Drake

I’m sure it passed you all by, but last Sunday was Superbowl Sunday in the U.S. As you were probably spared any coverage at all, I thought I would give you a little guide to Superbowl XXXIX.

According to some friends of ours, the important things to do on Superbowl Sunday are, in order of importance:

1. Get together with a room full of people and get drunk
2. See the new Superbowl commercials
3. Watch the game
4. Watch the half-time show

Well, we weren’t a roomfull, but we did watch the game (and the commercials, and some of the show) with friends.

Like many American sports, American football is on a stop-clock, meaning that the clock is suspended while there is no play going on, e.g. between plays or when there is a foul called. So while a game is officially 60 minutes of play (divided into four quarters), the Superbowl took over 3 hours to complete. Including the pre-game and post-game ceremonies and programming, there were around 5 hours of programming dedicated to the stadium events!

The teams this year were the New England Patriots, who won the Superbowl last year and also in 2002, versus the Philadelphia Eagles. With this history, the Patriots were obviously the run-away favourites, with the Eagles playing the underdogs. The Eagles made a couple of purchases of players at the start of the football year with the specific intention of putting together a team to get to the Superbowl. One of these acquisitions was Terrell Owens, who became the star receiver for the team, taking them to a number of victories before becoming injured in a December game. The injury was a broken leg below the knee, and a torn ankle ligament. So, everyone was pretty sure that he was written off, and therefore the Eagles would get taken apart.

Well, in the event, Terrell Owens played the whole game (against doctor’s orders) made 81 yards (which is good for a receiver I think), and the Eagles only lost by 3 points. I can’t say that I’m any closer to understanding the game, though. There is a lot of stop and start, as the whole team is substituted every time they go from offence to defence and back again. Give me rugby any day – or maybe not after England’s performance at the weekend…

Being a lady of leisure, I thought I would make a serious attempt this year to do what I have tried a few times before, namely see all the major Oscar-nominated films before the Oscars ceremony. Usually, being in the UK poses a major obstacle, as several of the films aren’t released there in time. However, being in the U.S., the qualifying criterion is that it has been on release here sometime in 2004.

So I have compiled the list based on those films that have an acting, directing or screenplay nomination, and it runs as follows:

The Aviator – Howard Hughes biopic

Before Sunset – Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy sequel

Being Julia – profile of actress starring Annette Bening

Closer – adaptation of Patrick Marber’s play

Collateral – Assassin plus taxi driver in L.A.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – weird Charlie Kauffman screenplay

Finding Neverland – JM Barrie biopic and story of Peter Pan

Hotel Rwanda – based-on-a-true-story look at Rwandan genocide

The Incredibles – the latest Pixar animation

Kinsey – Alfred Kinsey biopic

Maria Full of Grace – drug mules from Colombia

Million Dollar Baby – boxing story

The Motorcycle Diaries – Che Guevara on a motorbike around Cuba

Ray – Ray Charles biopic

Sideways – vineyard comedy

Vera Drake – abortionist Mike Leigh drama

I have crossed off the list those I have seen thus far. Million Dollar Baby was this afternoon – a really nice little film, with two great turns by Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman as a pair of grumpy old men. It was a bit disjointed in a couple of places though – I suspect that there is a longer, and possible more complete film in the director’s cut.

The only ones that I think will be tricky are those that have been and gone at the cinema but are not yet on DVD – Kinsey and Closer, as well as Vera Drake, which I haven’t seen anywhere yet.

As an aside, they showed the teaser trailer for the new Hitchiker’s Guide movie before it started – due to be released on May 26th. Very exciting! For more information, have a look at Empire magazine’s profile.

I suspect that many of you have heard or been sent the link to the Underground song by now. I thought you should know that the authors and performers of this work have been revealed as a couple of doctor’s from Imperial. I discovered this from the Going Underground blog, a blog about, you guessed it, the tube. They have a whole album of songs that are being sold in aid of MacMillan Cancer Research. I heartily recommend you have a look. Some of them are particularly good for medics or those who know them. And if you haven’t heard the underground song, and have ever been through a tube strike, I suggest you proceed there forthwith (warning: it is quite rude. But funny).

Amateur Transplants

It seems to be something of a tradition in California to have someone stand on the side of the road with a large placard and/or a costume to promote your slightly-out-of-the-way store. I suppose that this has similar origins to the ‘Golf Sale’ people in London; i.e. it is illegal to put the sign up on the street but it is OK if someone is standing there holding it.

There are various amusing variations on this theme. Especially popular is the dancing-while-you-hold-the-sign example. The person with the placard is often wearing headphones, and jumps around at the side of the road like a dervish – very amusing to watch. Yesterday I saw someone doing this with a sign for ‘Flowers’ and also someone in a silver lame space suit (complete with helmet). Presumably he was promoting a computer or electronics store? I didn’t really notice as I was too distracted by the costume – effective advertising there.

My personal favourites are the poor sods who work for Quiznos. These guys don’t do anything as downmarket as hold a sign – they have to wear a huge foam cup costume (complete with straw) and dance on street corners. If this isn’t the job from hell, I don’t know what is. Proof (if proof were needed) is the Quiznos cup we saw on University Avenue shortly after we arrived – banging his cup-head against a lamppost. One of the funniest, and most surreal, things I have seen here.

There is more on the Quizno’s cup in this article.

I have just discovered the British Library’s Turning the Pages website, and spent a happy afternoon perusing Leonardo’s notebooks, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and Blackwell’s Herbal, amongst others. This is an amazing site. It allows you to turn the pages of precious books, view the illustrations and text close-up and each one is accompanied by a commentary about the book that you can view on the screen or listen to using the audio button.

I learnt about this site by reading news reports on Yahoo’s best internet sites vote, where this site unaccountably came second to Weebl’s Stuff.

This is what the internet is for.