Cartoon Time!

I do find myself wondering if Rush Limbaugh would be much different without the fame he has. Perhaps it's time to take a peek into the life of Everyday Rush!

I don't why there's a whirlpool around Rush, but just go with it, I say...

Since it is pretty damn tired to make Cheney into some super evil force, I think it's time for a new take on the man.

See...? Doesn't that just make you happy inside? All warm and fuzzy? I know it does me. Even if you let all this crazy right wing stuff get to you, just remember what it'll lead to...

Something for Sonia Sotomayor as well, since she is the awesome, stop hating!

Remember, always, to love one another! LOVE I SAID! 

Ranking Pixar films

I saw Up last night and I was utterly charmed by this amazing movie. It was just absolutely wonderful, and I highly recommend it to anyone. In fact, after seeing the film, me and Mike started to discuss how we'd rank all ten Pixar movies to date. So why don't we all take a stab at it?

I encourage anyone to try, even if they haven't seen Up yet, or all 9 of the previous Pixar films.

My ranking!

1 - The Incredibles - I know this isn't their big artistic vision movie and all, and thus its sacrilege to have it top any rankings, but for pure pleasure I just can't put any movie above it. The most fun I've ever had watching any Pixar movie.
2 - Up - I really liked this movie, a lot. You must see it.
3 - Finding Nemo - A poignant movie, and a lot of fun to watch.
4 - Toy Story 2 - This one just hit on all cylinders for me. It is a perfect piece of entertainment, absolutely sure of itself and without the occasional wobbles of the first.
5 - Wall-E - Yea, yea, if it had stopped at the first hour it would be at the very top, easily. The first half is an absolute master class in movie making, and note just cartooning, but the second half of the movie was a bit of a dud for me. Really, I feel the movie would have worked much better if the humans of the future weren't involved at all.
6 - Toy Story - Yes, the one that started it all! It is a superb movie and still has an element of discovery watching it today.
7 - Ratatouille - I liked this one a lot, but it wasn't entirely entertaining more than a movie to be appreciated to me. Expert craftsmanship all around.
8 - Monsters, Inc. - Here we start to approach their best works, and I feel this one sits just outside that category. It just never fully worked for me, it came off as a little sketchy and not fully formed.
9 - A Bugs Life - Their second attempt, and it holds up, but it just can't hang with their more polished works. A pleasant trifle.
10 - Cars - It's nothing special, really. The closest that Pixar came to making a movie with the bottom line in mind.

Cooking Time - Banana Bread

      People often tell me that I make very good banana bread. I mean, really good banana bread. It's good enough that if ever I hear anything about it at all, it's in the gasps of orgasmic pleasure that people emit between bites. This strikes me as both a wonderful thing and a little dirty. I just never know quite how to react when someone starts to moan lowly while eating my bread. (Bread not a euphemism, naturally.) I figured that it was my solemn duty to the world to give unto you, world, the recipe for this lovely bit of flour and such. 

 Behold!

 PERFECT BANANA BREAD

So, just where does one begin? With love, of course! Love and these ingredients...

• 1/2 cup butter
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 11/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 3 mashed bananas
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts, whatever)
  

Alright, so get your oven heated to 350 to start with. You want to get your dry goods mixed in its own bowl first. That means the flour, salt and baking powder. Sugar doesn't count as a dry good in recipes, since it dissolves easily in water. No, the sugar (both the regular and brown) will go into a separate bowl with the half cup of melted butter. Blend the sugar and butter together with a hand mixer for a minute or so, to give it a little lightness. Then add the eggs and mashed bananas into the sugar mix and beat that for a minute or so. As a note, this bread is greatly improved by using old bananas that are too soft to eat. It'll work either way, but the older bananas will have a sweeter taste and balance the flavor of the bread nicely. Once the bananas and eggs are mixed in, go ahead and add the vanilla and nuts (finely chopped) into the mix as well. Give that all a good stir, and then add the dry ingredients from the separate bowl into the sugar mix and bring it all together thoroughly.

Once the batter is ready, go ahead and put it into a loaf pan for the oven. The best way to bake it is to line the loaf pan with aluminum foil and cover the foil with non-stick spray. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and trace a little line in the middle of the loaf with a knife, this will put the inevitable split it develops as it bakes in the middle, where it'll look a lot nicer. The baking will take about 60 minutes, but be sure to check your banana bread with a toothpick before taking it out of the oven. Sometimes it'll take another 10 minutes to fully cook in the middle. Puncture the bread with the toothpick and submerge it into the middle of the loaf. If it comes out of the loaf with little to no bread on it, then it is done!

When you take it out of the oven, let it set for about 10 minutes, and then lift it out of the pan by grabbing the sides of the aluminum foil in the loaf pan and lifting. (See? I told you this way worked better!) Once out of the pan, let it set another 10 minutes. By then it should be cool enough to cut. Enjoy every wonder ful bite.