Neglected!

this blog is... Probably 'cause my focus has been elsewhere so perhaps if I post occasionally my focus will be more focused.

One of the more interesting books I read recently (fitness, nutrition, and self-help book junkie) was the Thrive Diet. His hormone of interest is cortisol and he talks a lot about adrenal fatigue and recovery. A lot of people freaked over this book saying it was a raw foods book which automatically makes him a vegan nut-job. While he does emphasize the value of raw foods in your diet, from which even omnivores can benefit, there are cooked recipes. Or recipes you can eat either raw or cooked. Unlike normal raw people, he doesn't dehydrate so you could probably dehydrate a lot of the recipes instead of cooking them. I actually kind of like the raw because then I don't have to cook.

My only problem with raw food is that it's usually some kind of a paste--which gets tiresome--or a salad, which I don't need a recipe for. There were some complaints that the recipes are too complicated, but it's really just an unfamiliar method of food prep. The upshot is that you gather some fresh ingredients and some soaked nuts/seeds and toss them into your food processor. Cook, dehydrate or don't. How hard is that? My favorite things are the dressings which you can dip veggies in, pour over salad, or eat with a spoon =D.

He did convince me to eschew caffeine in all forms and wouldn't you know it, I started sleeping through the night! Late! Until like 6:30 some mornings! And dreaming again (I was arguing with one of my students about the word "Pangarian"* and that they had really meant "Pangean")! I was all evangelical about it (caffeine) until I started waking up again at 2-4:30. So far I have determined that a solid night's sleep is encouraged by some mysterious combination of the following factors:

• no caffeine (soda, coffee, or chocolate)
• stop eating at 6:00PM
• take some Probiotics (NOW Probio Defense is best)
• don't watch monster movies or play scary videogames at night
• wear socks to bed
  

* I had to google it when I woke up. As far as I can determine, it is "something of or pertaining to 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines." Whadderya know, it's a real word after all!

Instant Classics

Today I'd like to review two movies which you should rush out immediately and buy on DVD even though they're not out yet. Make someone stand in line for you at your local DVD store while you finish reading this.

Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" is an epic love story, an Australian "Gone with the Wind" as it were, set in a harshly beautiful setting of desert, towering red rock, and HOLY SHIRTLESS HUGH JACKMAN, BATMAN! He kicks ass, he rides horses, he is rugged, dusty, sweaty and sunburned, and even spiffs up for your viewing pleasure (girl, he cleans up goooood). Sure, he probably smells like the New England Patriots' team laundry hamper caught in a stampede of terrified cattle evacuating their bowels, but it's not in smell-o-vision now is it? Oh and that skinny blond chickie who was married to that nutty guy was in it too....

"Quantum of Solace" stars Daniel Craig of the piercing blue eyes, craggy handsomeness, and tiny-waisted, fatless physique. I think he was playing a spy or something....

Holiday Recipes

Keeping with the red and green holiday theme, I thought I'd post some recipes I've been enjoying lately.

Granted, they look like something the bilge pump might barf up, but I am rather devoted to them both. I was reading an informal study where people raised their alkalinity just by drinking greens powder twice a day so I decided to do the same and suddenly I have a lot of extra energy. I don't crash in the afternoon and I never need naps anymore which is remarkable here at the nadir of the arctic winter.

I also "stopped" drinking coffee and diet Pepsi, meaning I still drink them, but I don't make them a regular necessary part of my day. Now I get sort of groggy if I have coffee in the morning so I'm not really sure if it's the lack of coffee or the sludge that gives me all this energy.

Anyway, the first is an oldie but goodie:

Otter's Famous Swamp Thing:

• 1 scoop greens powder
• 1t Frank's Red Hot hot pepper sauce
• 1t soy sauce
• 1T fresh lime juice
• 8oz water

Greens powder is slightly less disgusting tasting if treated as a savory flavor. Otherwise it's like putting sugar or chocolate on your broccoli, blech!

and the new recipe

Otter's Chunky-Style Swamp Thing:

• 1 scoop chia seeds (they're good for you!)
• 1T flax meal (lignans!)
  
• 1t kelp granules (superfood!)
  
• colloidal minerals (why not?)
  
• greens powder (alkalinizing!)
• reds powder (ORAC!)
• 8oz water

Stir, let set, stir, repeat until the chia seeds release their gelatinous goodness and everything stays in suspension. Enjoy!

See, now normal people would run screaming if I offered them a big ol' frosty glass of Chunky-Style, but you are tempted are you not? Mmmmmmm...

Current news

see now, leaving comments will just encourage me to post.
And I really have nothing to say...

Oh, except to the miscreant who stole my credit card number and bought $1 worth of stuff on Napster thereby precipitating the deactivation of my main source of credit JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. To you I say: I hope K-Fed moves in upstairs from you, with the kids, and that he takes up clogging, and that he has the "band" over to "practice" a LOT 'cause you know they need it. Not that I wish someone ill in this time of good-will toward men. Nay, think of the delight that music, dance, and the pitter-patter of little feet will bring! I wish you all this joy, and I hope you work nights and that the E! media van parks in your space at inopportune times (no, wait, cancel that, good-will and crap, blah blah).

Workout and diet-wise, I enrolled in the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating program and it was ok, geared more toward abject beginners, but the basics are useful to us all. I kind of had a meltdown toward the end and derailed completely so that was a wash. I can't focus for 16 straight weeks, I mean, that's longer than a whole semester.

Plus I've developed an aversion to the gym. I couldn't figure out what it was until I went to the gym last Sunday. I strive to be loving and compassionate to everyone around me, but when I'm in the gym my brain runs this continuous stream of negative commentary like, "Why are you blocking the weight rack so you can stare at yourself in the mirror when your form sucks? If you're gonna do hamster cardio, at least break a sweat. Why are you telling men to squat with 10lb dumbells? You're doing it wrong! You're doing it stupid! Why are you here? Get out of my squat rack!"

Anyway, I found kettlebells at my local sporting goods store so I played with those for awhile. Then I broke my e-book ban and bought Red Carpet Ready because I wore bike shorts to cardio kickboxing last week and saw that my quads and calves are way overdeveloped. Including a 10 minute warmup (oh, I got Cressey's "Magnificent Mobility" also, oops), the workout is a solid 45 minutes of fairly challenging high-rep, continuous tension sorts of exercises. Looking back, I was at my leanest when I was doing just that (Joyce Vedral's "Definition"). That was a daily 40 minute workout with an alternating upper/lower split and no cardio. I think if I do RCR, it will bring down the bodyfat while reducing the legs and waist. I'll still work hard at TKD so I won't lose explosive power or rotational force, I just don't think my legs and waist need to be quite so hefty.

And then, I'm just going to set silly, shallow short term goals. Currently, they are to get below 120lb before the next testing date so I get easier breaks and look hot when I go to Texas in December =P.

Winter Adventure

I did not tell you about the winter death-march from a few weeks ago. I will not say anything except that if invited to go for "a 3-hour hike" by a bunch of marathon runners I will consider carefully... and dress for wind.

So when a bunch of marathon runners asked if I wanted to ski out to a cabin over the weekend, of course I said "yes" because if there's anything worse than feeling the surface of your eyeballs freezing, it's looking like a wimp in front of your boyfriend's friends, right?

So the next day I find myself cursing life, trying to navigate an icy lopsided trail that had been destroyed by four-wheelers and snowmachines with a top-heavy pack that kept yanking me into the bushes every time my balance wavered. Everyone else flitted effortlessly into the trees, or so I assume, because I pretty much didn't see them for the rest of the day. I caught up with the slower people at the end, and when we arrived at the cabin, they all shouted, "Where are your skiis?" for I had thrown them into the woods and walked the last mile or so.

The next morning, I said I would get a head start and go get my skiis. I figured they would catch up to me before I found them so I really hoofed it out. I fastened then antique wishbone bindings and waited for a bit, expecting to hear them right behind me. Nothing. I figured I needed all the head-start I could get so I took off.

Heading back, the trail was great. The second half of the trail didn't have snowmachine ruination so the tracks were my own. I cruised happily along.... and nobody had caught up. I stopped and waited a few times until I got cold. Finally, nearing the halfway point, I decided to just wait until someone showed up. After what felt like ages, the dogs came stampeding past followed by the first skier. "You're making good time," she said, "I wasn't worried because I could see your fresh ski tracks... Maybe I should've told the guys."

To cut short a short story turned long, after the first few miles, the guys became convinced I was wandering lost in the woods on my ancient skis, soon to become a small, fatty snack for the wolves who had left all the grisly bloodstains and moose parts and poo on the trail. So they had gone all the way back to the cabin, looked around, skied in circles, checked to see if I had fallen in the river, etc. Someone had to go back and get them. "Ha, ha," they said, "we should've had more faith in your skiing ability!", but then we got back onto the crappy, icy, rutted trail so I was still the last one back to the car.

My Big Fat ABBA Wedding

"If your bachelor party involves dancing shirtless to ABBA music, I don't think the marriage is going to work out..."
~ John Stewart

You'll either love or hate "Mamma Mia", there is no "meh" in between. Lovers will be those of us who might be classified as ABBA enthusiasts (e.g. sang along to Voulez-Vous 8 hours a day on a 3,000 mile roadtrip through Canada with her best friend when we were 11 years old). Haters are pretty much everybody else.

THIS IS NOT A DATE MOVIE! Unless A) it's your birthday and you want to torture your husband for making you see "The Hills Have Eyes" or B) you have some suspicions about your new handsome, fit, unusually cultured and well-dressed boyfriend.

For the Lovers, it is both the most hilarious yet most pathetic thing you will ever see. There's something disturbing about watching people burst into a song shoe-horned into some bizarre context. The director may wish to note that in transitioning from stage to screen you generally need to tone the energy down a little lest everyone appear like they've been mainlining Greek coffee and PCP to ABBA music. And WHAT HAPPENED TO REMINGTON STEELE? Did he have a mini-stroke and suddenly believe he can sing? And the costumes... granted I was only born in '69, but I don't remember the 70's being quite so extremely extreme. I mean, Figure A above is actually pretty extreme.... for ABBA, but the costumes in "Mamma Mia" would've made Parliament Funkadelic, Edwina Monsoon, and Christian Lacroix put their heads in their hands groaning "Oh, stop! Just stop!" Anyway, be sure to sit through the credits as the Greek wedding/Oompah version of "Does your mother know that you're out?" is not to be missed.

For the Haters, spare yourselves! Go see "Hancock" or something!

I hope you like PAIN!!

All you need

More Extremely Excellent Movie Reviews

Forbidden Kingdom: a very silly PG-13 premise, but EXCEPTIONAL fighting by Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Jackie Chan shows his true grace and skill without the usual grimacing and "making it look hard". Jet Li is finally filmed in a not-stupid way so you can really see him fight. Go see it just for that.

The Visitor: a modern tragedy with scenes and themes that could've easily been slapstick, maudlin, or angry, but are all handled with perfect balance and a kind of objectiveness you never see. Done by the same dude that did "The Station Agent".

Harold & Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay: yep. Pretty much what you expect, but not as genius as the first one.

The Incredible Hulk: I liked the Ang Lee one too. This one has lots of nerdy references, nerds!

Hellboy II: dammit! I really wanted to love this!! But they live in such a bizarre world you really NEED Meyers in order to relate. Had longer fight scenes, wicked CGI and monsters, botched all the undercurrents that made the first one awesome. A typical sequel.

Dark Knight: you prolly saw it already, but have you seen this poor dude?

I Blame Rob

Have you noticed that I haven't posted in ages?

I blame Rob.

It's not that nothing happens in my life, it's that I gave him this URL. But there is not enough going on in my life to both write it down here AND write letters that aren't complete reruns so I've been saving it for the letters.

but enough finger pointing. You may just have to read about what I eat and hear me whine about my workouts and read terrible reviews of great movies and I'll save all the interesting stuff with personal details for your letters.

I haven't even had time to watch my Netflix this month, but I did see "Everything is Illuminated" not only because someone recommended it and because that little Elijah Wood is cute as a hobbit button. Mostly because one of the main characters is played by the lead singer of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. And he does a fine job. I'm not going to tell you anything else except that you really have to see a movie when there is a dog in it named "Sammie Davis Jr. Jr." Quite frankly, I'm beside myself that the new "Hellboy" is out because it looks like the crack-baby of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the original "Hellboy" spawned deep in the twisted skull of Guillermo del Toro, but this has nothing to do with "Everything is Illuminated"... which you all must see.