Tag: ek Holiday

While not quite a pivotal in BCS Standings as tomorrow’s big games, many teams are putting the finishing touches on their seasons today with the following telecasts this afternoon.

• 11 am ESPN2– Syracuse @ Temple
• noon ABC– Nebraska @ Iowa
• 2:30 pm CBS– LSU @ Arkansas
• 3 pm FX Utah @ Colorado
• 3:30 pm ABC– West Virginia @ Iowa State
• 3:30 pm Faux– Washington @ Washington State

It’s also the start of College Hoopies with most schools participating in pre-season tournaments.  Individual matchups are not available because of the format but ESPN is providing continuous coverage from 12:30 pm to 7 pm and ESPN2 from 3:30 pm until 2 am.

Interlagos Practice @ 11 am.  College Throwball Day 1.  More pre-season College Hoopies.  Movies!  Gold!  Hitchcock!  James Bond!

In short plenty of reasons not to shop.

So this day 1 thing, that means you’re going to have to put up with this tomorrow at least and frankly the schedules don’t get ‘normal’ until Monday.  I haven’t yet made up my mind about Saturday and Sunday since Zap2It is undergoing some kind of site re-design to make it more ‘mobile friendly’ and it’s screwing with my crystal ball.

I might decide just to highlight specials, we’ll see.

This project covers the Black Friday overnight from 6 pm to 6 am.  I remind you it’s also national ‘buy nothing’ day, advice I intend to take myself.

For the 19th year UBS sponsored Big Balloons scurry through the corporate concrete canyons of Stamford Connecticut bringing the joy of greed and unaccountable villany through big bags of gas and vapid consumer marketing to impressionable children of all ages.

This year we have 12 bands, 6 floats, and 18 Balloons the newest of which, The Lorax, is a 40 foot tall celebration of how ‘green’ and environmentally conscious the good burghers are, represented by the 9 members of the Grand Marshal Team of first responders fresh from their contest with underwater squirrels.

Also new this year is Red from Fraggle Rock appearing with old favorites Oscar the Grouch, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Elmo, Billy Blazes, Kermit the Frog, Hagar the Horrible, Smurfette, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, The Cat in the Hat, Mr. Potato Head, Popeye, Scooby Doo, Garfield, Fred Flintstone, and Super Grover.  The master of ceremonies is Alan Kalter of “The Late Show With David Letterman”.

There are also clowns to scare the youngest-

For the most part, the Auguste plays the fool. As Season explained, they’re the clowns that have no idea what they’re doing in their routine, blowing up a balloon backwards, or accidentally letting it go so it whizzes out of their hands. But in the end, their balloon is perfect.

…

White Face clowns know exactly what to do with their balloon, mini-bicycle or the bowling pins they’re juggling. They do everything right. But in the end, it’s a total disaster.

…

The two work together, playing off each other’s yin and yang. As the perfectionist White Face clown meticulously works with his props, the Auguste garners giggles through his trial and error. In the end, the White Face generates laughter from the audience with his failed exercise, while the Auguste rejoices in his Tada moment.

What?  You say there’s another Big Balloon Parade?

Their mascot appears to be a windblown comb over about as convincing as Sam Puckett’s lip squirrel and they have a mere 16 Balloons following the retirement of Snoopy.  The returning veterans are-

• Buzz Lightyear
• Charlie Brown
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Julius
• Kermit the Frog
• Kung Fu Panda
• Pikachu
• Pillsbury Doughboy
• Ronald McDonald
• Sailor Mickey
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Spider-Man
• SpongeBob SquarePants

with 3 new additions-

• The Elf on the Shelf
• Hello Kitty
• and Papa Smurf

They’ve also managed to find 12 bands to supplement their freezing cast of Broadway lip-syncers-

• Banda Musical Delfines, Veracruz, Mexico
• Father Ryan High School, Nashville, TN
• Kenton Ridge High School, Springfield, OH
• Macy’s Great American Marching Band, United States
• Niceville High School, Niceville, FL
• North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
• NYPD Marching Band, New York, NY
• Oak Ridge High School, Conroe, TX
• Saratoga High School, Saratoga, CA
• United States Air Force Band & Honor Guard, Washington, DC
• University of Louisiana Lafayette, Lafayette, LA
• Wyoming All-State Marching Band, Wyoming

and 28 floats for 28 celebrities and 9 performance groups.

Plus Santa.

It’s nationally televised on CBS and NBC, I’m going to favor the CBS broadcast since NBC will repeat at 2 pm after the National Dog Show.  It used to be that you could gain an advantage by watching CBS’ uptown coverage but so much of it is pre-canned and tape delayed it’s hard to get any continuity out of either presentation.  If you want to see Broadway on Ice go with NBC’s Herald Square location.

Happy Thanksgiving all, I’ll be joining you again later for Throwball.

As opposed to night which will be coming soon enough.

Most of my regular readers know that I look on Holiday blogging as a public service.  Many times I need a distraction while I’m working or an excuse to get away from the crowd.  That’s difficult when schedules are disrupted and regular habits and outlets are unavailable.

So I put these little research projects up to inform you of special events of interest and alternatives to absent activities.

Additionally today we’ll have special coverage of Big Balloon Parades and three Throwball games and as the weekend progresses other Holiday sports including the final Formula One of the season from Interlagos.

This particular piece covers the hours from 6 am to 6 pm.  Feel free to contribute items I’ve overlooked.

Well, some people are up getting set for tomorrow and since many of them are seldom awake at this hour I thought I’d point out some background programming.

I’m a little behind myself so this is an appetizer.

midnight

• CBS– David Letterman (Amy Poehler, Josh Hutcherson, Tegan and Sara)
• A&E– Duck Dynasty (marathon until 4 am)
• BBCA– The Man With The Golden Gun
• Discovery– Moonshiners (marathon until 3 am)
• Food– Restaurant: Impossible (marathon until 4 am)
• History– American Restoration (marathon until 4 am)
• H2– How the Earth Was Made (marathon until 4 am)
• SciFi– For Your Eyes Only
• TLC– Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (marathon until 3 am)

12:30 am

• CBS– The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

1 am

• AMC– Gone With The Wind
• Animal Planet– River Monsters (marathon until 6 am)
• TBS– Conan

2 am

• BBCA– Luther (marathon until 6 am)
• Hub– Facts of Life (marathon until 4 am)
• Turner Classic– Wise Blood

2:30 am

• Comedy– Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• SciFi– Dr. No

3 am

• ESPN– Hoopies, Clippers @ Thunder
• ESPN2– Sports Center (until 6 am)
• Nat Geo– Ultimate Factories (marathon until 6 am)

4 am

• Turner Classic– The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Us Scandinavian Bachelor Chefs (h/t CompoundF) frequently find ourselves in the position of needing a last minute substitute for real food because planning ahead is not one of our strengths (if it were we probably wouldn’t be Bachelors anymore).

Here’s a recipe that is not too fussy and can be thrown together at the last minute and great expense as a cheap imitation of inferior quality.

You will need-

• Ground Turkey
• Dried Cranberries
• Onion (chopped coarse)
• Bread
• Butter
• Garlic Powder
• Bell’s Poultry Seasoning
• An Egg

• Dry Packaged Instant Turkey Gravy

Optional (of course the more you add the better it will taste)-

• Walnuts (chopped coarse)
• Canned Mushrooms (stems and pieces, chopped coarse)

The goal is simple, to create a reasonable taste facsimile of a Turkey dinner with stuffing and gravy without days of defrosting and hours of cooking time.  It is somewhat pricey as ground Turkey often costs as much as ground beef or more.

The primary problems to overcome are cohesion and dryness.  I’m going to recommend what seems like a lot of fat but Turkey is quite a lean meat.  I’ll be working with approximately 2 pounds of Turkey as a base (that’s how much the local Super Market puts in a package), you adjust the other ingredients for taste and volume.

The most labor intensive part of preparation is chopping the onion(s).  Depending on how strong the flavor (in decreasing order- yellow, red, sweet) you’ll want to prepare about half the volume of your meat.  If you use yellow and are sensitive to onions (I am) you may want to saute them a little to take some of the harshness out.

The most time consuming part is the bread.  Toast it a bit (hey, if you have enough time to stale it you most likely don’t need this recipe), smear generously with butter and shake quite a bit of garlic powder on top.  Cube.  You need about 3/4 of the volume of your meat (6 slices or a little more).  Crusty European breads work much better than Balloon breads because the goal (as with meat balls) is to lighten the texture of your finished dish.

Mixing–

I put the other ingredients in the bottom of the bowl with the meat on top but I don’t think it makes any difference.  The important thing is not to over mix because the loaf will get gummy and dense.

A cup or more of Dried Cranberries (I like them), Onion, Garlic Toast, 4 Tbls Butter (chopped), Ground Turkey, 1 – 3 Tbls Bell’s Poultry Seasoning (the primary flavor is Sage in case you can’t find it), an Egg or 2 to bind.

Mix gently, completely, and not too long with your fingers.  Now is the time to add your optional ingredients, if using Mushrooms include the liquid too.

Cooking–

I like loaf pans, others mound on a sheet.  Grease for clean release.  It leaks a bit so you’ll want a lip to catch the drip.  In any event at least an hour at 325 – 350 until the internal temperature reaches the recommended level for poultry or brown on the top and gray through the thickest part.

Rest 5 – 10 minutes while you prepare the gravy, slice and serve.

Thanksgiving on a stick.

Gobble, gobble.

Too soon?

Now I’ll admit that most of what drives this particular post is my New England skin flintiness and it’s  hard to find meat cheaper than Turkey even when it’s not on special.  Indeed the problem for most people is its abundance as in, what do you do with the 15 pounds of it you’re too sleepy to eat?

I have an easy and tasty solution that will tide you over until the briskets of spring are available.

Pulled Turkey (sometimes called Turkey Hash) is easy to prepare and freezes well.  Basically you take all the bits and scraps you can pull off the bone (or shred larger pieces by hand) and remove all the tendons and cartilage and fat and uncrispy skin so that you’re left with a pile of pure stringy meat.

Now you can freeze it right at this point in individual recipe size portions in case you’re a big fan of Turkey salad or other treatments that don’t require visually attractive slices.  I do it to save freezer space.

My ultimate destination is a pot of gravy which I make in my typical fashion from a dried mix heated and whisked for a few minutes before dumping the meat (frosted or defrosted) into it for warming to serving temperature.

If it is shortly after Thanksgiving there is usually some leftover stuffing around but it works equally well over egg noodles or rice.  In a pinch or a hurry just a slice of bread will do and you can call it an open face Turkey sandwich.

The simplicity belies the taste (if you happen to like Turkey) and last time I checked 2 cups of gravy mix (prepared) went for $1.50.

Hard to beat.

Tomorrow- Turkey Loaf.

Though mentioned by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, the modern idea of daylight saving was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson and it was first implemented during the First World War.

Thus proving that not every idea is as good as bi-focals (Wait.  Bi-focals are a good idea?).

An alternate view-

What?  Too soon?

In any event I think this means that we will be joining the action from Yas Marina at a time that is actually legally 8 am but which will seem like 9 am to your body and any clock you haven’t adjusted.

Since my clocks are set 2 hours in advance anyway I’m not quite sure what they’ll say.

Ahoy mateys.  It be Cap’n Hank Bloodbeard hijacking your blog ag’in.  Since the establishin’ of International Talk Like a Pirate Day in 1995, the number of Pirates has increased gratifyin’ly thereby proving the success of our Pastafarian Pirate Recruitin’ Program and confirmin’ the link between increased piracy and declinin’ Global Warmin’.

But wait ye say, Global Warmin’ has gotten worse and Pastafarianism is a made up religion contrived out of equal measures of ennui, ignorance and Rum!

WHY IS THERE NEVER ANY RUM!  Oh, that’s why.

Ye scurvy dog, them be fightin’ wards.  Ye’ll walk the plank. I’ll keelhaul ye.  I’ll see your black hearted soul in Davey Jones Locker (the one ‘e shares w’ Peter Toth).

We used to worry about that too until we took up w’ a crew o’ Freshwater Pirates from the Chicago School who explained that it doesn’t matter how consistently and thoroughly wrong ye are if ye suck up to rich people enough and parrot their prejudices, beat down the po’ folk until morale improves, and kiss their ass long and hard.  Take what ye can, give nothin’ back, yo ho.

Polly want a grant?

E’en on these shores Cap’n Bloodbeard (aside from really enjoyin’ referin’ to hisself in the thard person) be known for ‘is trail of terror and carnage and really bad puns.

• 2007 DocuDharma

• 2008 DocuDharma
• 2008 Daily Kos

• 2010 The Stars Hollow Gazette

• 2011 DocuDharma
• 2011 The Stars Hollow Gazette

I generally celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day by telling the 3 Pirate Jokes.  There are only 3, all the others are just variations.  As Cap’n Slappy says:

Thar be only three pirate jokes in the world. The biggest one is the one that ends with someone usin’ “Arrr” in the punchline. Oh, sure, thar be plenty o’ these, but they’re all the same damn joke.

“What’s the pirate movie rated? – Arrr!” “What kind o’ socks does a pirate wear? – Arrrrgyle!” “What’s the problem with the way a pirate speaks? – Arrrrticulation!” …and so forth.

The second joke is the one wear the pirate walks into the bar with a ships wheel attached to the front o’ his trousers. The bartender asks, “What the hell is that ships wheel for?” The pirate says, “I don’t know, but it’s drivin’ me nuts!”

And finally. A little boy is trick or treatin’ on Halloween by himself. He is dressed as a pirate. At one house, a friendly man asks him, “Where are your buccaneers?” The little boy responds, “On either side o’ me ‘buccan’ head!”

And there ye have it. A symposium on pirate humor that’ll last ye a lifetime – so long as life is violent and short.

If ye steer a course to the official website of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, ye may wish to read the FAQ, to help ye splice the mainbrace proper like.  Then ye’ll be ready to talk like a pirate.

Talking like a pirate, however, doesn’t just mean running through the hallways yelling “yarr!” at everyone. To get more in touch with one’s inner pirate, here is a short list of useful terms that may help readers throughout their day of pillaging and searching for buried treasure.

I also spend this day in Worship at Church and emulate the manners, customs, and language o’ me Pirate forbearers (I have the good fortune to be 1/4 full blooded Pirate through my Viking ancestors, indeed Viking is a verb which means ‘Pirate’) and singing some Pirate Carols.

There will come a time when you have a chance to do the right thing.

I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by.

re-posted from Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 07:00:00 PDT

Welcome New Users to DocuDharma.  We expect there will be a lot of you today.

DocuDharma is a Soapblox blog with Ajax comments.  If you’re here from someplace else like My Left Wing or Never In Our Names I expect most of our controls will be familiar to you.  If you’re visiting from Daily Kos or Booman Tribune some of them may be confusing.

Any HTML that works at Daily Kos will also work here.  There are no fancy format buttons or autoformatting shortcuts (*bold* for instance), no ordered or unordered lists either.  Here is a table of the most common formatting tags-

re-posted from September 12, 2007 at 05:00:00 PDT.

Time to start making our marks.

We look sharp, time to be sharp.

When I think about blogging as art I see it as halfway between a Magazine and a TV Channel.  You have an audience for the Gilmore Girls and when they tune in they expect to see it.

But also a Community blog is a team effort, the kind of artistry you see on a Baseball Diamond between 9 people who love the game they play.  Sort of a dance, but competitive.

First day of the season.  Home opener.  Score is nothing nothing and anything can happen.

That said I expect we’ll get our asses kicked and be cleaning up the mess for weeks, but I love this game.

It’s a long season, 162 games at least.  I’m not disappointed in the talent, but we’ve never played together before and you can only expect miscommunication and errors.

It’s all good.

As we learn together we will get stronger as a team.  Pretty soon we’ll be turning those double plays and figure out where the bumps in the field are.  We have the pitching to succeed and the bullpen to close.

Now we just have to start scratching out the runs.