Guys. I’m about to introduce you to the best motherfuckin’ dip in the entire world. Yeah. It’s that good. I know no one gives a crap about recipe backstory, but just allow me to say this. I made this dip for a fantasy football draft party four years ago. When we decided to have another fantasy football draft party this year, THE FIRST thing I was asked is “Will you make that dip?” These people hadn’t had this delicious crack in four years, and they still asked for it. It’s. that. good. Also, this recipe is courtesy of friends who hail from Buffalo, so you know it’s legit. Alright. Let’s dive in.
Ingredients:
(2) 8 ounce packages of cream cheese (softened)
2 cups diced chicken (we marinated ours this time around, but we’ve also just used grocery store ready made rotisserie chicken in the past, and it all works)
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1 cup Frank’s Red Hot Wing Sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (plus a little extra for sprinkling)
Mix everything together in a big bowl and then pour into a 9 x 13 pan (glass works best). I know you are looking at this and thinking I am a crazy person and there’s no way this is actually going to taste good. You’re wrong.
Sprinkle on a top layer of shredded cheese, then bake at 325 degrees for about a half an hour, or until the cheese on top is all bubbly. I like to serve this dip with Fritos, but really any chip that you prefer will suffice. The only bad thing about this dip is that it needs to be served hot. So if it sits out for a while (which it probably won’t because it will be eaten within minutes) you might need to pop it back in the oven for a quick reheat.
Honestly guys, you know I never lie to you, and this dip is one of my favorite things to make and eat. It’s super simple (takes maybe ten minutes to throw everything together) and everyone loves it. When it comes time for Super Bowl parties, this baby will be your superstar.
Let me know if you make the dip and how much everyone loves it when you do!
If you know me at all, you know the reason I went to see The Current War has little to do with an interest in electricity. Or science. Or inventions. It mostly has to do with an interest in seeing Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch in Victorian era suits. Yes please. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the film as a whole (and the suits did not disappoint).
The basic plot of the movie is the war between Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) as they race to become the leading provider of electricity in the United States. The Westinghouse way is cheaper, the Edison way is safer, and thus ensues a game of patents and new products and all kinds of shady business. Along the way, Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult, yum) and Samuel Insull (Holland) provide intellectual support and JP Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen) provides the cash. It’s an interesting look at the way some of our everyday technology came to be. It should be mentioned that the film also focuses part of the subplot on the development of the electric chair and the first man to be put to death using that method. Nothing is shown on screen that was too disturbing, but it is talked about often.
As I’m sitting here thinking about what I liked about this movie, it’s kind of hard to narrow it down to one or two things. The story is compelling, the cast is fabulous, and the direction was solid. I don’t see this film making a killing during awards season, but it was an enjoyable movie to watch. Nothing about it blew me away, but all together as a complete film, it was well done and entertaining. And given some of the crap I’ve seen lately, it was a nice palette cleanser! Overall, it’s get an A- from me.
Guys. The end is near. If you, like everyone else on the planet, tuned in earlier this week for the final trailer for The Rise of Skywalker (aka Episode 9, aka the end of the Star Wars saga), you’re probably pretty pumped for December 20th. If you are a true nerd (like me), you’ve already got your tickets for December 19th. Now, back before The Force Awakens was gifted to us (don’t @ me, I love it), Matt and I sat down and watched the first six Star Wars movies. But given the epic-ness of TROS (and the addition of Disney+ to my life), I’ve decided to take this year’s viewing one (or ten) steps further. Much like my now infamous MCU challenge, I’m issuing myself a Star Wars challenge. I will be watching all of the movies, plus three series worth of TV shows before I head to the theater to watch Episode 9. This is not going to be easy-mostly because I will only have about a month to do it. But I am nothing if not totally willing to veg out in front of my TV all day for the good of all mankind. Now, I don’t think my SW posts will be as in depth as my MCU ones, just because I’m going to be short on time, but I will do check-ins throughout the process to let you know how I’m holding up. And of course, I would love for you to join me on this journey through insanity.
Yeah, I’m posting this on a Tuesday. Whatevs. What are the days of the week anyway, but a construct in our minds? Honestly, these days, I pretty much never know what day of the week it is, so I’m rolling with it. The husband and kiddo were out of town this past weekend so on my day off (I was working the rest of the weekend), I took myself out to a movie. I had to trek all the way across town to the AMC that shows indies to catch this bad boy, and let’s just say, I don’t think it was worth the twenty minute drive.
Lucy in the Sky is “loosely inspired by” real life astronaut Lisa Nowak, who was wrapped up in a NASA love triangle about ten years ago that ended in her arrest for attempted murder. Though many details in the film were changed, the major plot points lay pretty close to the real life events. In the movie, Lucy (Natalie Portman) comes home from a mission in space, and though physically she seems to handle the transition well, it doesn’t take long for her to mentally and emotionally unravel. Which seems not far-fetched. I can only imagine what it’s like to be in space, let alone what it’s like to be in space and then come back to Earth. Hard to go back to washing dishes and folding laundry after seeing the entire universe laid bare before you. Lucy is hyper-competitive and an extreme overachiever. When her equipment malfunctions during an underwater training exercise, she refuses to stop her task, ultimately holding her breath for over two minutes to complete the job. When her emotions start to unravel, she leans on her fellow astronauts, which on the surface is a good plan since they are the only other people on the planet who have experienced what she has. Unfortunately, it leads her to start an affair with fellow astronaut Mark (Jon Hamm), even though she is married to what seems like the world’s best husband (played by Dan Stevens, hello). Lucy’s erratic behavior leads her to be pulled off her upcoming mission, which sends her into a total downward spiral. When she finds out Mark recommended she be pulled from the mission, and also finds out he is seeing another astronaut, she drives through the night to confront him while he and his new girlfriend are on a romantic weekend getaway. Lucy sprays him with insect repellent and is arrested.
Alright. I guess the hardest thing for me here is I just didn’t like the story. And it’s hard to get into a movie if the story just doesn’t sit right, and this one didn’t. It really rubbed me the wrong way that of all the amazing, strong, successful women there are in NASA, we’re going to make a movie about the one who loses it on her boyfriend when she comes back from her mission. Because we really haven’t been told enough that women are too emotional for these kinds of high pressure, high stress jobs. So I found the choice to tell this story kind of nauseating, to be completely honest (and of course, it was written and directed by men).
Before I figured out where the story was going and thus began to loathe it, it felt slow and the performances felt flat. I love all three leads, but none of them were delivering the kind of performances they’re capable of. There was also this really weird sensation in the beginning of the movie of not knowing what time period we were in. The clothes and hair all gave me late seventies vibes, but then they had newer cars and cell phones. It felt very disjointed, when I’m guessing the goal was to make them all look like small town residents? Who knows. It was unclear.
There were also a TON of very weird shots and camera angles that started about halfway through the movie and made NO SENSE in the context of the story. Like we all the sudden went from Lucy in the Sky being a literal title, to it becoming a reference to the movie being a total acid trip. I didn’t get the purpose behind them and it pulled me even further out of the film.
On the surface, I felt like there was a lot of potential with this setup. It’s interesting to think about the psychology of what happens to astronauts when they come home, and we don’t really see much about it in movies because movies tend to focus on the missions themselves. But I just thought the whole thing was handled so poorly. And yes, I get that it was a kind of true story and some of these things actually happened, but it left me feeling gross and kind of stabby and that’s not how I want to feel when I leave the theater. D+ from me.
So August was this most epic month of romance reading ever, and in September, I decided to mix it up a little, which means I don’t have two parts of romance reviews for you. But I did read a fair amount of lovely romance books this month for you to peruse, so let’s dive in!
Paid promotion for Disney. All opinions are mine alone. #CelebrateMARVEL
*For the record, I hope I have not quite reached middle-aged just yet, but yeah, close enough.*
My name is Falon and I’m a MARVEL-aholic. For those of you who have been around here for a while, you know my MARVEL love runs deep. Really deep. Obsessively deep. And you probably know I am a more recent MARVEL fan (meaning I came into this fandom as an adult). And you’ve probably picked up on the fact I’m a chick. Being an adult, female, new MARVEL fan is not always easy. In some ways, I feel like a false fan because I’m new to the game, but mostly, I just really love sharing my obsession with these characters with like-minded people (also, not gonna lie, I also enjoy forcing convincing other newbies to join the fandom with me!). And now that MARVEL is celebrating is 80th Anniversary (that’s more than twice my age, just to reinforce that whole middle-aged deal), it’s the perfect time to make new MARVEL fans, or for current fans to fully embrace their inner MARVEL-hood. (Because, let’s be real, sometimes as a woman in the fandom world, it seems easier to hide our inner nerds than try to prove them to others, but the great news is, we don’t have to do that anymore!) Amazon has made it super easy to let your MARVEL flag fly, with their one stop shop, www.amazon.com/marvel. I found so many things I love on this page, but these were a few of my standouts. Wanna buy these items too? Of course you do! Just hover over the picture and each item has its own link (I love technology).
One of the things I love the most about MARVEL, and one of the things that drew me in, was the fabulous collection of women in the MARVEL universe. It’s safe to say I love them all, but I think Captain Marvel and Gamora (from Guardians of the Galaxy, in case this is your first foray into MARVEL) are my favorites. Or maybe Black Widow and Okoye are my favorites. Sometimes it’s Wasp and Scarlet Witch. Honestly, it’s hard to choose just one. And how amazing is that, that there are too many strong women for me to narrow my picks down to just one or two? Truly, one of the best parts about being a new MARVEL fan is getting to go back and dive into eighty years of women who are their own heroes (all the while wondering where they have been all my life…right there, in front of me, in the comic store). Yes, please. My favorite thing about this MARVEL 80 Years of Comics Anniversary Shirt? It comes in women’s sizes! Woohoo! You guys know I am all about repping my fandoms in my everyday life. One, it makes me happy. Two, I love letting my inner nerd shine. And three, I’ve made some legitimate connections with strangers out in the world because of our fandom bond. So clearly I’m a sucker for the merch. Give me all the merch. And with MARVEL‘s 80th Anniversary Celebration, there is only one home for the merch. Amazon. Duh. Amazon’s MARVEL-centric landing page, www.amazon.com/marvel is the only place you need to go to find all your MARVEL fandom goodies. So trolling the www.amazon.com/marvel page left me drooling over many, many MARVEL items, but of course, the number one for me was the MARVEL’s Box of Super Heroes: The 80th Anniversary Notebook Set. These could not be any more made specifically for me. Notebooks! With MARVEL characters! The only problem is they are so cool, I don’t want to write in them. That’s a lie, I will totally write in them because I want an excuse to carry them everywhere with me. Right now they are sitting on my desk, just off to the right of my computer, and they are calling out to me. All the heart eyes for these beauties. The other item I absolutely could not resist from www.amazon.com/marvel was the Funko Advent Calendar: MARVEL 80th Anniversary. And yes, I already opened some of the boxes because HOW COULD I NOT. But then I was good and put them back in their homes, where they will live until December. At which point, I will be rearranging my bookshelf in my office to display them all because they are the cutest and I cannot get enough of them already. (And yeah, I’m definitely going to have to fight my kid for some of these, but I will win.) One of the ways I truly rock my MARVEL fandom in my middle-aged(ish) life is by displaying all of my MARVEL goodies in my office. Because I’m a grown up and have an office. Who cares if there are Funkos on all available surfaces? One way I love to display these Funkos from the advent calendar is by using levels. Since they are mini figurines, some of them could easily get lost in the display, so to create some height, I flipped over a vase to make a kind of shelf. Cap gets a place of honor because he’s Cap. Another way I display all my MARVEL madness is on my desk. My notebooks are within easy reach, and I placed some of my Funkos at various spots so I can see them while I work. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of them while I’m typing and they make me happy. Whether you are an old fan, a new fan, a young fan, or a (not quite) middle-aged fan, the best thing about MARVEL is there is a place for everyone. I could not be more proud to be a MARVEL fangirl, and I am so thrilled they are celebrating eighty years of entertainment, and brilliant stories, and truly awesome characters. Here’s to the next eighty!
When I first saw the trailer for Judy, I was beyond. excited. I had a real thing for old movie musicals when I was a kid, and Judy Garland was legend. And Renee Zellweger has always been one of my favorites. But I left the theater with mixed feelings.
Judy mostly focuses on a period later in Judy Garland’s life, when she is broke, divorced, and forced to move to London to perform nightly in order to make any kind of money. She is separated from her kids so they can live a more stable life with their father, Sidney Luft. Judy struggles with insomnia, is clearly addicted to pills, and is most likely an alcoholic. She’s a mess, and these shows in London are her only chance to make enough money to be able to get her kids back. At first, she is a nightmare to work with, but she eventually befriends her handler Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley) and her bandleader Burt (Royce Pierreson). She finds some success on the stage in London, but after a fifth failed marriage to Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), she slips back into her old ways, showing up late or drunk or high. The audiences don’t take too kindly to her antics and she is fired. A postscript informs us Judy died six months after her London run. Interspersed with all of these later in life scenes are short snippets of Judy’s time working on Wizard of Oz and what her life was like under the thumb of Louis B. Mayer.
For the first half hour of this movie, I was really worried it was going to be absolutely dreadful. And honestly, some moments were. If it weren’t for the stellar performances, mostly from Zellweger, but also from the supporting cast, I might have legit fallen asleep. The story just wasn’t there for me. I can’t even really put my finger on why I didn’t like it, I just know that I was stoked for this movie and it fell short of my expectations. I liked the scenes from young Judy’s life (I think they would make an interesting movie all on their own), but they felt completely isolated from the rest of the film. And while there were so many opportunities to delve deeper into some plot points-her addiction, her relationship to her kids (Liza makes a five second appearance in the movie, but other than that she’s a nonentity), her fifth marriage-everything seemed to just skim the surface. It was like there were too many options, so rather than go deep on one, we got the barest hint of all of them.
There are a couple of standout scenes in the film. One being when Judy goes out to dinner after a performance with two fans who come to all of her shows. It’s late and nothing is open so they end up back at this couple’s home. The whole scene is beautifully played, and it gives a real insight into how lonely Judy was-that she would spend her entire evening in the company of strangers (fans nonetheless) because it was preferable to going back to her hotel alone. And she creates a real friendship with both of the men, and it’s one of the most relatable relationships in the movie. The other most notable relationships are the ones formed between Judy and Rosalyn and Judy and Burt. I was lacking that kind of development in the relationship between Judy and Mickey and Judy and her kids (and if the point in that was that she felt closer to her fans and employees than her family, the delivery was off).
The final scene of the film is what really got to me. Judy sits alone on the edge of the stage and sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to her final audience in London and it’s a tear-jerker. I cried more than I would like to admit. Because I already know a fair amount about her life and what she went through, it was pretty heart-breaking to watch her go through that final performance, knowing she had been rejected yet again. Had I not already had that knowledge of her life, I don’t know that it would have made such an impact.
I think one of the reasons this movie felt so lacking right now is we’re coming off of Fosse/Verdon, which in a lot of ways, felt similar to the story Judy was trying to tell. And in comparing Zellweger’s performance to Michelle Williams’s as Gwen Verdon, Zellweger’s doesn’t live up-and her performance is one of the best things in the movie. Perhaps I would have enjoyed Judy more if that comparison weren’t looming in the back of my mind (and on that note, if you haven’t watched Fosse/Verdon yet, get on it-talk about brilliant storytelling).
Overall, despite some stellar performances, Judy was a miss for me. And it breaks my heart to say that because I wanted to love it. I give it a C+.
You guys know I am all about repping my fandoms in my everyday life. One, it makes me happy. Two, I love letting my inner nerd shine. And three, I’ve made some legitimate connections with strangers out in the world because of our fandom bond. So clearly I’m a sucker for the merch. Give me all the merch. And with MARVEL
So trolling the 
The other item I absolutely could not resist from 
One of the ways I truly rock my MARVEL
Another way I display all my MARVEL
Whether you are an old fan, a new fan, a young fan, or a (not quite) middle-aged fan, the best thing about MARVEL