Potato Chips

Wow! I missed the big event. Well, it's not really big unless you like to eat potato chips, as most of us do. You see, August was the month potato chips were born. According to "legend" (rumor... or maybe somebody's guess) the original potato chip recipe was created on August, 25th in 1853, when a chef, frustrated by a patron (who kept sending his potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining they were thick, soggy and bland. So the chef decided get back at the complaining diner by slicing them as thin as possible and fry them until they were crazily crisp. The diner loved them, and our waist bands have been expanding ever since.

What could be unhealthier than a thin slice of potato cooked in grease and salted to death? Hmmm Not even my precious donuts are that artery clogging. But during W.W. II here in the U.S. potato chips were the only readily available veggie for war sacrificing Americans. The U.S. government even declared then to be "an essential food". (Today I am hoping the government will declare donuts to be a sacred food).

Today, potato chips are the most popular snack in the United States. Potato chips constitute 40% of snack food consumption in the U.S. And they are also universally popular. Try these weird flavors as an example: Cajun Squirrel, Lamb & Mint, Seaweed & Salt, Roast Chicken, Margarita & Salt, Steak & Onion, Chesapeake Crab, Tuna Salad, Prawn Cocktail, County Mayo Ham, Wasa Beef, Mango, Lime 'n' Masala, Spanish Chicken Paella, Chutney,

Bacon Sizzler, Fries n' Gravy, ramen (the noodles are always around because they bred like rabbits), cucumber, fusion (a whole bunch of unrelated flavors in one disgusting chip), paprika, kebob, oregano, caviar and....many more to please or repulse every palate.

Anyone can make homemade potato chips if they have a mandolin slicer to cut potatoes thin. Just drop the thin slices in 350 degree oil and cook until browned. But you can even make them in a microwave oven. I'm not kidding. Here's how:

-Pour vegetable oil into a plastic bag. Add the potato slices, and shake to coat.
-Coat a large dinner plate lightly with oil or cooking spray. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on the dish.
-Cook in the microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (if not browned, they will not become crisp).
-Remove chips from plate, and toss with salt (or other seasonings). Let cool.

Have I ruined your diet with this stupid potato chip report? Ok, then just have a nice donut and forget the whole thing.

Halloween Movies

Turn on your DVD or Blue Ray because I want to put you in the mood for Halloween with Halloween movie talk. For me, it isn't Halloween without some Halloween films to watch, in part (if they are especially awfully-good films) or completely (to set the mood). I think Halloween is especially popular because it allows us to pretend to be scared, to escape the real scare of everyday life and find refuge in pretending to be afraid by what we watch on screen. The late film director, Alfred Hitchcock said it best, "People like to be scared when they feel safe."

The Hollywood Halloween films do it in many ways......with fun or funny scary films, suspense scare films, special effects scare, suggestive scare, and with gruesome slasher films (I don't like those and won't recommend any of them today). Most people just watch them because they are merely fun to see. I prefer the older ones that have fewer special effects, come in black and white and have almost no special effects. That way, the imagination can take over the viewer. Suggested horror is always more frightening than seeing it in full blown modern tech, special effects enhanced with gore.

I also like the light, innocent Halloween films, the one the little kids also like.
Here are a few of my favorite non gory/violent Halloween films that you might want to give a try. I promise you will have a spookingly good time if you view any of them.
* Frankenstein , Dracula, The Wolfman- These three 30's era black an white films are, in my view, the greatest horror films ever made. Boris Karloff

(Frankenstein), Bella Lagosi (Dracula) and Lon Chaney (The Wolfman) created the characters that have changed little since. After watching them you feel frightened, but you can't remember why. It seems that all the fright was suggested and your imagination created all you could stand.

* Hocus Pocus- A fun 1993 Disney film that stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sara Jessica Parker tells the story of a Halloween-hating teenager named Max, who accidentally resurrects three witches, The Sanderson Sisters, from their temporary death and must risk his life to protect his sister and defeat them with the help of a classmate and an immortal black cat.

* War of the Worlds- This 1953 black and white film follows the world's failed efforts by we humans to stop an invasion from Mars. The film offers plenty of scares, but the biggest has to be the encounter with a Martian in the abandoned farm house.

* Dawn of the Dead"- The 1978 movie features some of the goriest scenes ever committed to film. It's no wonder the film was banned in 17 countries.

* The Things- Made in 1982 it follows a crew stationed at an Antarctic base stalked an alien. But which member of the crew is the alien? The crew doesn't know, and neither does the audience until the creature begins one of its stomach churning transformations. There's one part with a head sprouting insect legs to escape.

* The Birds- a late 60's classic by Alfred Hitchock that is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier is about an invasion of earth by birds. The use of suspense and the unknown (we are never told why the birds of the world suddenly turn violent and attack humans) are classic ways to spook anyone without resorting to cheap special effects gore.

Sleepy Hollow- A rare twenty first century thriller about a headless ghost slaughtering the villagers of an 18th century town. It's a complex murder mystery that Johnny Depp is sent to unravel.

* Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein- It's a lot of fun to watch the great comic duo Abbott and Costello work out slapstick routines and mix with with horror pro's like Lugosi (the original Dracula) and and Chaney (the original Wolf Man).

* The Invisible Man- The 1933 black and white classic d filled with as much humor as frights.

* The Mummy- Boris Karloff brought The Egyptian Im-ho-tep to life in the 1932 version of The Mummy. This one is full of intriguing imagery and suspense and sort of, well...creepy.

Social Media Web Sites

About Face book and the rest of the social media sites or more specifically, about their usefulness. A decade ago before those social media web sites existed, no online profiles existed. There was no profile picture to choose, no status update to draft… no relationship status request to hope for. In order to actually be seen by others, one would have had to contact face to face. But with Face book and other social media sites, we always have an audience.

Now people find a sort of empowerment in being able to control how others saw and shaped their opinions of them. They use the sites to craft an image
(often distorted) of themselves. Some live vicariously through there social media profile. I think it's fair to say that social media in general has created a somewhat unavoidable compulsion to put ourselves up for public approval by a panel of often unknown judges. Unsurprisingly women are, according to a University of Buffalo study, more apt to use Face book as a means of self promotion than men are, especially in terms of crafting an ideal representation of themselves for those in their networks to see.

It is curious, and I wonder if it is a positive or negative thing. Just look at any social meeting site and you'll see far more women posting far more personal information and being far more active there. According to researchers, not only do women tend to have larger social networks than men do, and share five times as many photos, but also, women who seek approval based on others' views of them tend to be more active in social media.

I wonder if in opening that online door we've ultimately closed one of intimacy. Sometimes when we go on one of those sites it feels as if we are watching a movie with people we doubt exist as they have presented themselves. We have taken this social network so far that we've begun to lose the individualism of ourselves and our private lives. Yet, the do bring people together, do open new worlds and have many positive benefits as well as the negatives I have mentioned.

So I ask. Are the social media sites more beneficial or are they more injurious to our every day relationships in this confusing and cluttered world? You tell me....

Halloween Foods I Remember

I saw a candy apple for sale at a grocery store today and had to by and eat it. Candy apples are definitely associated by me with the autumn and Halloween season. I like the ones with the hard red candy coating much more than the caramel coated apples. It's probably because when I was a child we ate many more of the hard coated ones. It got me to think about varies foods that I associate with during Halloween and autumn. I believe we all have childhood memories of traditional foods during a certain time of the year. Halloween is one of those holidays that have plenty of memories for me.

Another food I crave at Halloween time is apple cider. Apples season hits a peak in October, so apple cider makes an appearance everywhere. There is nothing more symbolic of Autumn than a glass of apple cider that is cloudy with all the parts of the apple that have been ground in it and so naturally sweet. It's one "healthy" food I endorse. I have already had many glasses of it this October.

Then there is the Halloween cookie. Every year I made them with Jane when she was small, and she or she and her friends would decorate them at the kitchen table. It reminded me of the times in my boyhood when my mother would do the same for me. I can still see myself decorating with colored icings those sugar cookies shaped in to the images of bats, pumpkins, skeletons and other Halloween symbols. Jane and I did make a few last year( though not with the fun and enthusiasm we showed in her childhood as she and her friends did the decorating of the cookies I baked) and I will offer to do it again this time, for my sake and to pass on the tradition so that when Jane has children she will make Halloween cookies with them as well.

For me candy is also synonymous with Halloween and Autumn. I always over-eat candy that I allegedly buy to hand out Halloween night when trick or treaters appear at my door. I confess to buying my favorites so that I can nibble on some before Halloween night and after on leftovers that were not needed to be handed to trick or treaters.

Many other people like me gain weight during the month of October and blame that constant candy snacking for it. My childhood memories of coming home after trick or treating, emptying my bag of candy spreading all the candy on the living room rug to trade what I didn't like for what I did with other kids who I trick or treated with were replayed when Jane used to do the same thing, as millions of other kids will do again this Halloween night.

I remember then feeling so sorry for the kids whose parents told them something stupid after we returned to our house with our trick or treat candy packed full in our loot bags. After the trades we would make (I don't like nuts in my candy, so I always traded those first)... there was always some jaded parent who would declare to his or her son, "Johnny, you can take only three pieces and we will give the rest away so you won't eat too much candy tonight." It's like a parent telling a child on Christmas morning that he can only have three of the eight presents under the tree. Those insensitive parents were the Scrooges of Halloween, and did not need to be costumed to prove their identity.

It probably ruined the fun of Halloween and trick or treating for those poor kids, and as adults they must be the ones who turn off their porch lights and pretend to be away from home when the children try to trick or treat at their houses. Hmmm Too little candy for them during their childhood, means no candy to give for kids who trick or treat at their houses. It's sad.

I also associate pumpkin sweets with Halloween and autumn. I think I eat the vast majority of pumpkin sweets during October and November. Just yesterday I bought a pumpkin donut at a local bakery. I love pumpkin in sweets except when it is a pumpkin pie. I hated pumpkin pie when I was a child and hate it now. This must be proof that the child is the father of the man. Strange I like just about every other pumpkin sweet and have already had pumpkin ice cream, made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, had a pumpkin shake and a pumpkin smoothie.

Come to think of it, I am stopping this reminiscence now to have my morning breakfast...yep...it will be... pumpkin pancakes.

Charade Of Democratic Refrom

It's too bizarre to be logical, even if it's another of those crazy Muslim state policies. What I refer to is the fact that Saudi Arabian women have now been given the right to vote in Saudi election and to run as candidates in local elections there. Uh, it's great that women can now vote there, but the sequence of women's rights seem a bit off in Saudi Arabia and many other extremist Muslim nations.

Need an example? Well, how about two even more fundamental rights every human should have today but are forbidden to Saudi women, the right to drive an automobile and to leave the country unaccompanied by a male. Uh, so women in Saudi Arabia can't drive their own cars, but they have the right to vote and run elections. I wonder how the women will conduct their election campaigns or get to the polls to vote. Will they still be barred from driving and have to be chaperoned by a male member of their family.

It's sort of like buying car insurance for a son or daughter but telling them they can't use the family car. But them those fanatical Muslims were never very logical.
No doubt the women, like the men of Saudi Arabia, will be voting for "nothing" anyway. The whole Saudi population, males included, is in effect disenfranchised from the the ruling autocratic regime who appoint the key political positions and make elections meaningless by ruling as dictators. A few token women will be elected to meaningless posts and women will have the right to cast meaningless votes as life will go on there are before with no real change.

When ever the thugish Mullahs and princes in Saudi Arabia want to keep the underlings (the other non privileged 99% of the population of Saudi Arabia) down they always cite the democratic changes the people there as for as as "incompatible with Sharia Law"? Sharia Law is the ancient law that the thugs there use to stay in control. It is taken from the Koran and from the examples of Mohammed. Thank goodness we still don't use the Bible for our civil and criminal laws. if so, we might, for example, be stoned to death for divorcing. But the Muslims believe some things should never change, and that would be whatever their Koran says that best suits their agenda for maintaining control over the population.

Oh well, despite the voting change and the chance to run for meaningless elected offices in Saudi Arabia. I suspect the women there aren't celebrating too loudly about it. If they do so, they will probably be flogged for making too much noise disturbing the males in the kingdom. of course, Sharia law would probably be used to permit the flogging too.

Halloween Costumes 2011

Halloween is near so you get my senseless rhetoric about costumes today. Statistics say about 40% of people in the U.S. (and 11% of their pets....I love the idea of a Lindsay Lohan dog outfit.....kind of makes a statement about the actress) dress in costume for Halloween. I think the kinds of pretend costumes we wear for fun reflect the kinds of things we don't pretend about, uh, that is, the serious things we are thinking about . According to a survey in the U.S. conducted by the National Retail Federation last year, witches are still the number one costume for adults, followed by vampires, pirates and nurses. But, some pop culture costumes are immensely popular this year.

Hmmm, I refuse to dress like "Snookie" and think that anyone who does might have an IQ equal to a reality TV performer, or worse to one of the viewers of that mess. But Snookie outfits are big sellers this year for both adults and kids. I saw quite a bit of Snookie gear at one local store that sells Halloween items. When I was a kid my costume was more often a ghost, crafted from an old white bed sheet my mom tailored for me. I still remembering hitting the ground after tripping over that thing and getting more laughs directed at me than spooks sent out by me from underneath it.

Anyway, last year surveys said that the most popular costumes for 2010 came straight from the youth-dominated music or TV networks. The cast of a reality TV show called "Jersey Shore" (no, I have never even had an inclination to watch one second of it) in which people with no discernible talent are photographed in situations to show their stupidity and are then made rich and famous for it. Jersey Shore outfits topped the list of most desirable. Lady Gaga outfits finished as the second biggest seller. It makes me want to gaga gag.

Among other hot costumes last year were: anything associated with the inane Twilight' Vampire series; all things 80's (think that Madonna look); those Hollywood movie characters , as in 'Avatar' and 'Harry Potter'; and the standard Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman and other traditional outfits we no longer are scared by, given their ubiquitous nature.

I like all Halloween costumes because they reveal our inner thoughts and because they are just plain fun to see. They are a kind of Freudian slip in how they let us show things we don't otherwise say. The fact that the culture is now so obsessed with nonsense (think Snookie) targets when costuming indicates the frivolous and anti intellectual nature of society today. But then, who wants to dress like Einstein or Steven Jobs? When we costume we more often lower ourselves, not elevate.I more often dress for Mardi Gars than Halloween, and when I do it is almost always a satirical outfit spoofing politicians, infamous newsmakers or pompous celebrities. This is because I like to make more than a visual statement with my costumes. I want to throw spears at who I am spoofing. My 'Obami The Clown' outfit last Mardi Gras day drew quite a few laughs and compliments. In fact, no one seemed offended by the slurs I hurled at Obami....err....Obama. It seems that when humor at an event like Halloween or Mardi Gras comes into play, people love it even when you criticize a favorite of theirs.

So Halloween might be the best time to make your serious statement about someone or something that in your real life you find odd or objectionable. Yes, that means you could even dress and mask as me.

At Halloween And Every Day After

I still keep in touch with the activities in New Orleans through my computer, mostly with a New Orleans radio station I listen to from time to time and the web site of the 'Times Picayune', the New Orleans daily newspaper. Today I read about the usual Halloween activities going on this year in New Orleans. Halloween is much bigger in New Orleans than most other places in the world. Everywhere else in the U.S. Halloween is a night of trick or treating for the kids and a smattering of adult activities. But in New Orleans, like nearly everything else, it's different. Halloween there is second only to Mardi Gras for wild and crazy activities in the most haunted city in the U.S. And it's become more of an adult holiday than a kiddy day.

Even when Halloween is over and forgotten, the Halloween edge there is constant. On any night, for example, one can take one of the many haunted tours through the old part of the city, The French Quarter. Every year scores of tourists who are vacationing in the Quarter report hearing or seeing ghosts, apparitions or bizarre activities at night. It is said that the cries for justice, vengeance or sympathy from the dead can almost be heard, crying out eerily. The stories told about restless souls, zombies and ghouls have been :"verified" by quite a few who have witnessed the spirits of the departed walking about at night.

One haunted tour operator, 'Haunted History Tours', claims that 90% of their tour participants capture paranormal activity in their photos. Day time in New Orleans before or after Halloween also has plenty of macabre activities to see. One popular one is to visit the old cemeteries of the city. The tomb of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, for instance, at St. Louis cemetery #1 is the second most visited tomb in the U.S. On occasion the visitor to the cemeteries can find candles and other paraphernalia used and left behind from the bight before by Voodoo worshipers who met and sacrificed chickens or made incantations at tombs said to be inhabited by the possessed. before I left New orleans I visited some of my ancestors tombs at old Lafayette #2 and saw the same at the foot of one of the graves.

Another Halloween-like activity one can do in New Orleans any time of the year is to visit one of the many Voodoo shops operating in the city. Besides learning about the haunted nature of the city one can buy what is needed to cast a few spells and mystical incantations (don't worry, I haven't cast a spell on you yet!) or he or she can have a consultation with a practicing Voodoo priestess. Voodoo is alive and functional in the city.

The list of Halloween activities in the city would fill a book, so I wont mention them. Just remember that if you are ever in New Orleans and in a spooky mood, you need not go far to find some frights.