Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I thought this was brilliant - especially the ending - which apparently _none_ of my friends liked. Though I don't know if they would have liked the ending - since none of them agreed to watch more than the first episode. However, I am not alone! Tycho agreed - and he gets more than 2 million page views a day - that must count for something.

The ending does tell you that Whedon must have had a pretty screwed up life. I mean if an online series with a name like Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog can't have a happy ending....

Serenity/Firefly

I think I'm reading too many comics. And watching too many movies. This blog is becoming like the TV giude. Rashmi and I (surprising, considering that we never like the same stuff) loved the Firefly series by Whedon. Unfortunately FOX didn't agree and didn't pick up the series after the first year. The series is awesome, and another one where the moralities of the heroes is iffy :). Watch it! 

On a side note there was a lot of protest in the "blogosphere", and so they made a movie called Serenity to finish some of the story lines. 

Never one to let a potential source of procrastin-X  go to waste, I decided to read the 'graphic novel' series Serenity-Better Days. Also awesome, and highly recommended.

Graphic novels

Once I started reading Gaiman (because of Terry Pratchett but that's another post), I started reading a bunch of graphic novels.  I now understand that comic books (sorry is that "graphic novels") are not for kids anymore. These are riveting stories, so dark that they are almost believable.Like Agent Smith said - "human beings define their reality through misery and suffering".? I mean, these couldn't be fantasies right ? Normal people do not fantasize about such imperfect worlds where superheroes loose and nice people die.

 Here are some of the best ones:

1. The Marvel Universe Civil war arc: Amazing stories. I think the future Iron Man movies are headed here (that where SHIELD and Nick fury are from), so if you refuse to read all the comics - there are about 50 of them - you can get some of it from the movies in the next 10 years. The story so addicted me, that I spent most nights awake for 4 days reading them, almost without pause.
2. Watchmen: Really cool plot lines. Unfortunately most of the story happens in the mind of the "hero" Rorschach, who is crazy, psychotic and kills people for fun. Did I mention he is a superhero who helps people? And that the night owl is 40, overweight and out of shape? As wikipedia notes (and it definitely deserves these awards and more!).: To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels" published since the founding of the magazine in 1923.

Sandman

Speaking of new stories, the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman is uniformly amazing. All the stories are new, amazing beautiful stories I had never heard before. Gaiman doesn't have any rules, he is free to make the Sandman despicable (which he often does). He uses some characters from greek/roman/christian mythology, but the ideas in each story never cease to astound. 

My favorite one is Worlds' end (note the position of the ' - took me a while to find that gem). It has stories within stories. Each story is set in a different reality/time/planet each with its own rules - and once those are fixed these stories make perfect sense.

My words cannot do justice :) to the awesomeness in these books, so read them!

Harry potter and the deathly hallows

Finally read this one. Completely forgot that the series was not done.  Unfortunately the main story line is amazingly predictable. What happens to side characters is random anyway, since there are no real rules in their universe :). However, if you know it is a story for "tweens?" then you can predict most of the story line. Where have all the good stories gone ?

Blazing saddles

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/

While all the town people are fighting with the junk people, the old crazy guy does HAAAAA and destroys the bad guy with his awesome breath!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake à l'Ankrom

My standard cheesecake recipe, from which nigh all cheesecakes I make are derived. It's a New York style cheesecake, in that it contains cream and is cooked at two temperatures.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake à l'Ankrom

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 3/4 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter (melted)

Filling:
24 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
12 oz white chocolate (melted)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping:
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Mix sugar & crackers in a bowl; add melted butter; press mixture along bottom and 2" up the sides of a 9" springform pan
3. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and flour; mix very well; add eggs one at a time, mixing very well between eggs; finish by mixing in the cream; set filling aside
4. When all of the above is ready (including preheating), melt the white chocolate; as soon as it's melted it must be quickly mixed into the filling; pour filling into crust
5. Set cheesecake in middle of oven and bake at 400° for 10 minutes; reduce temp to 300° and cook for 55 to 65 minutes (until filling is set)
6. Remove cheesecake and let cool for 10 minutes; carefully run knife around the edge of the pan to loosen it; cool in fridge for 2 hours
7. Place raspberries, sugar, and cornstarch into a pan; stirring often, bring pan to a low boil and cook until raspberries are broken down; remove from heat and pour over the cheesecake
8. Replace cheesecake in fridge for 2 more hours

Note: this recipe can be made in a 7" springform pan simply by reducing crust ingredients to ~60%, and filling and topping ingredients to 50%.