Ragnarok: Addendum

Before I let the electrons take me, I just wanted to recount a few things.

Two of my most cherished friends, Dave and Sam, are living an incredible experience by road tripping the USA. Their recent pit stop in Atlanta, where the pimps pimp and the playas play, was something of a minor miracle. A revelation that we still got it, both in the sense that parties are discovered, not invented, and that there are some people with whom time is no factor and commonality, not exposure, is the catalyst for friendship.

Their accounts of the time spent are, in engineering parlance, sufficient and adequate to give an idea of the visit and what it meant to us all.

http://slvangilder.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-touched-brock.html

http://thiswitness.org/356/places/unitedstates/strangers-in-atlanta/comment-page-1/#comment-14

Follow them across the land. You will not be disappointed.

Another quick thing. I went to a soccer match between Club America and Manchester City at the Georgia Dome yesterday. It was awesome because soccer is a beautiful game, but it was even more awesome because were sitting up here:

And then a man in a beige suit with a headset asked us if we wanted to sit closer, and we got to move to here:

Nosebleed to court side ain't too shabby. Also, there are cup holders for every seat. God bless America.

Hell, it's about time...

The original plan was to write a blog post more or less every day, maybe once every other day, about something interesting that had happened or something awesome in my life that required immediate sharing. That was before the end of the world.

That was before Starcraft 2 released.

I'll see you on the other side, amigos. And just in case you don't recognize me, the passphrase is "the biscuits are cold, ma".

What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever

Seeing as how this is the inaugural blog post, I guess I should explain what this blog is about. People often ask me what I do here in Atlanta, both related to my work and my life. All too often, the interesting details, the stories within the stories, get lost on the canvas, and it's only afterwards that I realize that it's not the overall picture I wanted to convey, but the context provided by these specific thoughts and situations. This blog is an attempt to provide insight into the specifics, the reasons for it being "a long story". It may be mundane, it may be philosophical musings, or it may be a breakdown of an incredible impromptu dance party and details of it's inception. I don't know yet... that is the whole point. What I do know is that if this project succeeds, then I will go beyond just explaining myself and create something a little more abstract.

What better way to kick off a blog than with food? Probably the second most blogged about thing second only to Lindsay Lohan's SCRAM bracelet. But this is more interesting than that. If you were paying attention to the title of this blog post, you will recognize that this is not only a mission statement of sorts, but also a quote from a certain movie, and from this movie springs the theme of the following event:

The Horror Movie Potluck

I wish I had a better name for it, but that's all I got. The basic premise is fairly simple and well played out: Watch horror movies and create delicious horror themed food. Our event was unique in that we had a sweet projector and watched the movies in the largess they deserve and we also had food that didn't suck. Major props to Jamie for letting us use his Dell projector. We hung a sheet from our ceiling as a backdrop and it worked out beautifully. I don't have the pictures yet (they are on a different camera), but I will update with that image shortly.

The Usual Suspects:

David Torello (aka "Dt")

Adrienne Little (aka "The Ragin' Canadian")

Katie Matlack (aka "K-monster")

Eliot Quon (aka "China's Finest")

Frank Bender (aka "Kaiser")

Sarp Satir (aka "The Cleaver")

Toby Xu (aka "China's Second Finest")

Daudi Jjingo (aka "Africa's Most Wanted")

Patrick Chang (aka "The Chang-erang")

The Motion Pictures:

Silent Hill (Just plain creepy)

Seven (I wish Morgan Freeman was my best friend)

The Food:

This is obviously the best part. The first offering was a combination of solo efforts turned into a beautiful collaboration. Behold:

These are Adrienne's and Eliot's brain children (somewhat literally)... stuffed peppers, made with a delicious rice, meat, cheese, onions, and pure goddamn delicious stuffing. Obviously, they are awesome, because they are in the shape of people (I will take credit for the hands and feet, thank you). Also, note the Mr. Bill style potato frowns. Pure class. I think this was the most creative dish of the night. Adrienne was the mad genius behind the peppers and the stuffing, while Eliot provided the meatballs (which were described as "Jesus") which could either be the final expulsion of these poor beings or balls, depending on your view of pepper person anatomy.

Next is Toby's contribution... delicious chicken with almost no horror theme whatsoever. The only reason we didn't kick him out is because that boy knows how to cook some damn good chicken. This is his one free pass. Next time, he goes straight to jail.

Daudi provided the beans, which were made to look like mashed up brains of sorts. I would say that the connection is thin, but the effect worked and I love beans. Another free pass, although I give this one out with less regret. Besides, I think everything was jaded by the peppers. Those were just brilliant.

Finally, my contribution. Behold, vampire bitten cupcakes. The idea was not exactly original, nor was the recipe for the batter, but they called for disgusting marshmellow frosting (kill me now, please) so I replaced it with much more delicious cream cheese frosting (now revive me). I cored out and cherry pie filling took the place of the removed cake. The cake was set back in place as a cover and this provided the feel that the cupcakes were bleeding when you bit into them. How clever. The two dots are supposed to be vampire bites trailing blood, but how well that effect turned out is all up to the spectator. Either way, they were delicious.

Anyways, the night was a blast. The movies were sufficiently freaky/scary/horrifying and even though the timetable for the cooking was constantly pushed back with reckless abandon, the night was a success. Just another Sunday evening at the Hampton House.

More to come in later posts, as there is much, much more to discuss.