The Weekly Wrap: January 15, 2023

You might not want to watch movies with me.

Well, don't watch movies with me if I've a) seen the before or b) know a lot about the subject material. I have a horrible habit of providing running commentary. (My poor, poor husband...)

For example, this week, we tossed on The Day After Tomorrow. This is no masterpiece, but we do love disaster flicks and this one ranks at the top of our rewatches. In about fifteen minutes, I talked about a continuity error I caught; my love for the librarian who is still working; how one character, in reality, would be called "Doctor" and not "Professor;" and the impossibility of a freighter making it that far through city streets. My husband, used to this, mostly smiled and nodded.

I have no idea what drives me to do this. Maybe I just want to talk. Maybe I feel like showing off. Maybe I think my commentary might enhance understanding of the movie. I just seem incapable of not talking when I think I see something interesting. 

To my credit, I (usually) don't do this with new movies or in theaters. 

Still, you've been warned. 

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• Making art from shipping glass. [Colossal]
• Roman concrete may be self-healing. [CNN]
• What we keep of our teenage selves. [Culture Study]
• How to build realistic fake windows. [Apartment Therapy]
• Getting started with book journaling. [Book Riot]
• On dignity in death. CW: assisted suicide [The Audacity]
• Let's start funding bold innovation and research. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• Write-in candidate results are always amusing. [DCist]

• Why we need relationships that cross the socio-economic divide. [Hidden Brain]
• Bridges have personality. [Atlas Obscura]
• How to enjoy your next art museum visit. [Life Kit]
• Ice worms! [Short Wave]
• Viewing It’s a Wonderful Life through an economic lens. [Planet Money]
• On changing demographics and the economy. [Hidden Brain]

• We watched the college football championship game on Monday. As a Notre Dame fan, I rooted for TCU just in the hopes that there wouldn't be another SEC victor. It was a total blow out for Georgia which made for a rather dull game. That set me Googling and I found that most of the recent championship games have been blow outs. The NCAA might want to reconsider this format. [NCAA]
• We're nearing the end of our Dawson's Creek viewing and I'm glad. All of the atrocious pedagogy that happens in this series drives me batty. Teachers cross boundaries and their ethics are iffy. They are bullies who demean and abuse their students. Professors set unreasonable assignment expectations with the express intention of embarrassing specific students. They brag about how many people fail their class as if it's a badge of honor. No! It just means you're a bad teacher. It's so aggravating to see this portrayed as normal - as a way to "push" students to do better. It's not. It's just awful teaching. [HBO Max]
• A wonderful interview with a chef in Bangkok. [Aden Films]

• This year, I'm making more of an effort to use up the random ingredients in our fridge. I even added an inventory to our meal planning document. This week, we had some celery and parsley to use up. That lead me to make tuna, celery, and white bean salad for my lunch meal prep. It was so darn tasty I want to make it again very soon. [WaPo - gift link]
• After all the holiday beef based meals, we're still going heavy on the veggies. Sesame chicken and green bean stir fry was made even more veggie forward in that we served it over cauliflower rice. I really liked the sauce on this one. It was a bit of a longer prep for a weeknight meal. I might reserve this one for days I have more prep time at home. [Ambitious Kitchen]