Hilarious "STOMP" performance!

I just watch the dvd of a STOMP performance - well, some of it. As I got it from the library there are some major scratches that prevent me from viewing a lot of it. Thankfully, there's some posted on YouTube. Which is great, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see the last half of this gem:




I don't know what the tall black guy is on... though I'm pretty sure it's some form of awesomeness! I love, well everything he does in this, but most especially when he's trying to eat one of his dreadlocks, when his newspaper "bird" "poops" on the white guy in the middle, and when he's a superhero. You can tell that the white guy is trying so very hard not to laugh, not altogether succefully either! If you've never seen them before (what rock are you living under?), you should really check out the DVD - it's just called "STOMP". And if you have seen them before, which I was lucky enough to, it's still a treat!

Super simple Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe

Now, try saying that fast 3 times :) This recipe is a major hit with adults and kids alike - as well as the cook! It's super simple, as the title explains.

2-4 chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise
1 egg, lightly beaten
cornstarch
cooking oil
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C vinegar
1/4 C ketchup
1 T soy sauce
1/2 t garlic powder (or garlic salt)

Heat cooking oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
Place beaten egg in a shalow dish.
Pour cornstarch into large ziplock bag.
Dip chicken in egg and place in bag with cornstarch.
Shake bag to coat chicken, then place chicken in frying pan.

Cook until golden, then place in 8X8 baking dish.

Mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over chicken.

Your sauce will be a bit darker as I was a bit daft and forgot to add soy sauce to mine. I also apparently forgot to take a picture at the end... oops :)

Anyhow, just stick this in 350-degree oven for an hour and serve over rice. For super yummy rice, just substitute half the water with coconut milk.

Enjoy!

A new favorite movie composer

I saw a fantastic movie today, but I can't think straight enough to review it. But I will soon.
But, just real quickly, I have discovered a new film composer whose stuff I'm loving through the movie "House of Flying Daggers." The movie itself was pretty good (great fight choreography, tragic love, gorgeous/beautiful/captivating cinematography), but I loved the music. So, I started looking up other songs by the composer, Shigeru Umebayashi. Beautiful, beautiful stuff!

Here's some of my faves of his that I've found so far...










and this last one is the one that made me fall in love with his compositions in "House of Flying Daggers"

Two cute etsy artists

Riverton has an arts festival every year and I usually just have the kids do crafts and jump in the bouncy castles. It's free admission and then you just pay per craft (ranging from $0.25-$8.00) and they usually have dance groups and bands performing. Fun stuff!
Anyhow, this year I actually broke down and bought some stuff from a couple of cute ladies who both have etsy sites. There was some other fantastic and beautiful stuff, but I really shouldn't have even spent what I did, so I think it says something about these ladies that I was even tempted, let alone gave into temptation :)

First, I actually bought a necklace! If you know me, I hardly ever wear jewelry, other than my wedding ring and watch. But, I just couldn't pass up this fantastically chunky necklace. Normally I have a hard time finding something that strikes the right balance of being chunky, but not overwhelming and I feel this was perfect:






And I also got a cute little crown necklace for Ava for only $5. Not only that, but after the first chain broke, and the second one fell off, what did she do? She got another crown charm and put it on a different kind of chain for us! That's customer service! Go to her etsy site at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/dboutique?page=1

Then there was another lady there selling those little kits that have the crayons, colored pencils, and paper. But these had another bonus - the middle was a little chalkboard! So cute!!!

Her etsy site is

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kiddiecloset?page=1

Check them out! They have some super cute other stuff as well!!!

In honor of a new season of So You Think You Can Dance?

How can I possibly post all my favorite dances from the past 7 seasons? There isn't enough room, but I'd like to post some of my very faves since this new season is going to kick "A" :)

First, here's the only ballroom dancer to get in this year. Dancing with Pasha (*drool*)



Jeannine and Jason dance a Travis Wall contemporary in season 5



Katee and Joshua from season 4(?) dancing a Samba. This was so the power couple that season (next in line would probably be Mark and Chelsea).



Ellenore and Jakob from season 6 dancing my favorite Sonya routine (Mark and Courtney dancing "The Garden" would be my second fave Sonya routine)



Oh no! I forgot my other favorite Sonya routine! :) Alex and Allison dancing to "Hallelujah" - so beautiful!



Speaking of Alex, how about one of the most surprising hip hop performances ever?! Sorry for the quality, most of the vids had embeding disabled



Kayla and Kupono dancing "Addiction" by the dancing genius that is Mia Michals



Sexiest Argentine Tango and there's only ONE video posted on YouTube and it won't let me embed it. *grrrr* Go check out Lauren and Pasha (oh big surprise) from season 7

http://youtu.be/E81hcQQRm5s

The dance that made me fall in love with Mia Michaels. Lacey and Kameron from season 3:



And, how do I choose a Wade Robson routine to share? I don't... I choose a few :)

"Ramalama" from season 2



How do I not include the Hummingbird dance? I think this is season 3



Brandon and Janette dancing to "Ruby Blue". Janette got gipped! She should have made it to semi-finals, at least!



How do you not include one of the very first NappyTap routines? Mark and Chelsea "Bleeding Love"



And I can't resist one more glorious Mark routine - "The Garden" :)




Oh, okay, I could go on and on, but I won't. Must stop watching dance vids... must.... stop :)

New links

Check out the links over there in the sidebar! I added some of my favorite sights - subcategorized, of course! :)

BBC's Sherlock Holmes

I have to confess, I haven't seen many Sherlock Holmes films - the pipe-smoking pompous know-it-all detective aided by the bumbling fool just never interested me, I guess. I did see the Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law movie and thought it was fun and enjoyable. I just recently rented "The Hound of the Baskervilles," which I found out, through the featurettes, was one of Arthur Conan Doyle's most popular Holmes novels.
The only actor I was familiar with was Richard E Grant (A&E's fantastic Scarlet Pimpernell, also the dad on "Penelope"), whom I'm a big of. And he's fantastic in this as well. As Holmes, they cast Australian Richard Roxburgh, who has such an interesting screen presence. He seems a really great mix of being able to pass as an English gentleman, but there's something off about him, which works great.
And Ian Hart as Dr. Watson is personable and SMART! I love that there was geniune frustration between Watson and Holmes.
The supporting cast is beyond fantastic as well. John Nettles, who plays Dr. Mortimer is able to carry off the telling of the legend of the curse of the hound of the Baskervilles - a feat not to be taken lightly. What could have been the most cheesy part of the movie ends up being actually creepy and feels almost Shakespearean.
This movie was superbly done from the acting, to directing, the CGI is a little cheesy, but for a small budget, it was passable. It's eery and genuinely creepy. Love it! I would definitely recommend this one!

Here is the clip of Mortimer explaining the legend. You need to forward it to 7:15, where it begins. It only goes till about 8:30, so super short and will give you a flavor. The whole clip is actually the beginning of the movie if you want to watch the whole 9:40 to get a better idea.