That's a Boy's Movie.

I have theories about things.

Sometimes these theories make other people confused or angry. Example: mango flavoring is "white trash".

Sometimes these theories threaten my "indie" credibility. Example: the guitar riff in the bridge of "Here Comes Your Man" by Pixies is inspired by the guitar bridge from "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart.

Certain movies, no matter how widely loved, are, at their essence, boy's movies.

Let's break these down, shall we?

I know that my feeling about mango flavoring comes from my time as a server at Chili's in a small town serving mango iced tea and mango margaritas. I also know that I would never have even thought about "Here Comes Your Man" and "Maggie May" at the same time except that I heard both songs back to back on the radio (on different stations, of course). And probably, my love of Mash-Ups helped that a little bit. Also, I'm pretty sure that I don't have "indie" cred to lose...

But the things about movies being BOY's movies... well, that seems to make people react in all sorts of ways. I suspect the reason for such varied reactions is because I never proclaim that movies like "Rambo" or "Heat" or "Terminator" or, especially, "Porky's" are boy's movies, the same way "Sixteen Candles" or "Dirty Dancing" or "She's All That" are girl's movies. I feel like that's kind of implied and isn't the point I'm trying to make. Obviously these a movies are created fora specific demographic.

My theory is this: "Toy Story" is a boy's movie.

"Toy Story 3" came out this year, and I don't know about your friends, but basically every guy that I know when bananas over this release. Boyfriend was surprised when I confessed that I didn't remember a thing about "Toy Story 2" and promptly sat me down to watch the first two films. (I think that I had created some imaginary plot that had never happened and THAT was my vague memory of "Toy Story 2").

I'm not saying that no girls liked these films. I'm sure they did. But whenever I talk to a guy about these movies, you can see what a profound mark these movies left on their childhood. That's just not something that you hear from girls typically. Sure, they like the movie, but it wasn't life altering.

People get outraged when they hear this for some reason. I'm not sure why. It's a buddy movie that happen to feature toys. Toys that are not only boys, but boy's toys: a cowboy and a spaceman. These toys that are also owned by a boy. To me, it's obvious why this speaks to boys more than girls.

Discuss.

Meet Me in the Basement

Oh my god, you guys. I've figured it out.

I'm gonna walk down the aisle to this song some day.

Meet Me in the Basement - Broken Social Scene

Oh! Probably, you should ignore the images and just focus on the music.

I require pearls

I made my first from scratch Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting this weekend. It caused in to realize that I need a string of pearls. Yes, you read that right. Pearls.

Let me start over...

Last week they painted the inside of my flat. Without warning. It was kind of a disaster. And, gasp!, I had to bake for a dinner party I was going to. But, silver lining: I was able to use my Mom's newly remodeled kitchen to bake. It's like 5x as big as my kitchen and, right now, like a billion x less filled with paint dust

So, my mom comes home to find me mixing the last of the cake batter together - part dry, mix; part wet, mix; repeat. I'm pretty sure that she has no idea who I inherited my culinary skills from because all she can do is make scrambled eggs (but for the record, they are the best scrambled eggs ever. We call them "rubber eggs" because that's what her dad called them. I judge all other eggs by this standard... ) She seemed impressed by my use of the electric mixer that she got as a wedding present when she married my dad in the '70s. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who has ever really put it to much use.

ANYWAY, I baked the cakes and then made my first attempt at cream cheese frosting all while watching Julie & Julia. I think they provided moral support of some kind because my frosting came out surprisingly well. I did a victory dance. Seriously. Then I licked the beaters.

This all has a point, though, I swear.

See, the dinner party was on Saturday night and I was putting all this together on Friday night because I had to work on Saturday during the day. So, I bring my cakes back to my newly painted flat with the plan of frosting and assembling the layers after work before the party.

The next day I get off work, take a quick shower, and change for the party. I decided to wear a vintage style dress. I throw an apron over the dress and assemble and frost the cake. It actually looked pretty good, too!

My first Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting. Note the skull and cross bones plate.

Then I realized that my friends were coming over to carpool to the party and that my house was still covered in paint dust. Which is why I was holding a broom and sweeping the house in a vintage dress, heals, and an apron when they all arrived.

All I was missing was the pearls.