Last Flag Flying (2017)

One thing to be thankful to Amazon for is that  they bring to a broad audience many little known films.  There are a lot of movies that are made and worth seeing that never make it onto my radar, or on occasion my local theater for very long.
Richard Linklater is the director, the man who brought us the trilogy that started with Before Sunrise in 1995 and Boyhood.  He is also the guy who made Dazed and Confused, so he has a sense of humor as well.  The first two say something about him, and about where this movie came from and is going.
This is a film built on the deeply humanist career of its filmmaker, one that is about, at its core, what we’re willing to do for one another on our darkest days. It is about being there for people when they need a shoulder to cry on or a hand to help them get up.
The plot is simple.  Three Vietnam veterans who are tied together by a shame in their past that only one of them paid for are called upon to pay their debt to him when his son is killed in Iraq.  They go with him to get the body and  help him bury his only child.  It is how they do it that matters, and Linklater is a master at telling a story.

Zucchini Pizza

We are well into the zucchini season, and while I have a good number of recipes that I love for this part of the summer (I am one of those people who mourns the end of the summer squash season, I just love a number of dishes that you can make with abandon this time of year), there are a limited number that use grated zucchini and on occasion, there is a need for that.
We came back from a recent trip and had a gigantic zucchini, and this is what we made with it.

3 medium zucchini, or about 4 cups grated zucchini

1 large egg

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

3 c. shredded mozzarella, divided

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

1/4 c. cornstarch

kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 c. pizza sauce

1/4 c. pepperoni

Pinch red pepper flakes, for garnish

Basil, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425º and line a baking sheet with parchment. On a box grater or in a food processor, grate zucchini. Using cheesecloth or a dish towel, wring excess moisture out of zucchini.
2. Transfer zucchini to a large bowl with egg, garlic, oregano, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, and cornstarch and season with salt and pepper. Stir until completely combined.
3. Transfer “dough” to prepared baking sheet and pat into a crust. Bake until golden and dried out, 25 minutes.
4. Spread pizza sauce over crust then top with remaining mozzarella and pepperoni. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is crispy, about 10 minutes more. Garnish with red pepper flakes and basil.

Rouen Cathedrals, Roy Lichtenstein, 1968

I have always loved Monet's obsession with light and his series of paintings that are not nature, but rather buildings, are something that I have always enjoyed.  I have postcards of two of them up in my office, I like them so much.  I was unfamiliar with Lichtenstein's riff on this theme until I saw this at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany recently.
Roy Lichtenstein saw photographs of Monet’s Rouen Cathedrals, which inspired the young pop artist to create what he called “manufactured Monets.” While Monet’s repetition seemingly reaffirms the individuality and uniqueness of Rouen Cathedral, Lichtenstein’s Cathedrals, broken into democratizing dots and binary color schemes, mechanize this subject matter. Lichtenstein’s appropriation delved into the nature of repetition and seriality by taking an iconic image, by then cheapened by overexposure and popularity, and reinvesting it with renewed, ironic vigor and relevancy. Yet, for both artists, the subject is less important than the act of seeing, and it is precisely this obsession with sight that this brings to light (so to speak). I read that they have been exhibited together, but I have seen them separately.

Tomb Raider (2018)

This was total wonder woman style action adventure.  Lara Croft is kind of a devil may care bad ass, who fortunately for the trajectory of the story has been kick boxing, bike messengering, and generally getting herself into superior physical shape before impulsively taking off for an island in the middle of the Pacific looking for her long gone father.  She gets a clue as to where he was off to when he disappeared, and rather than declare him dead, she has been ignoring it, up until the point where if she doesn't do something, she is going to loose the family home--which she doesn't live in but still is very attached to.  What she finds there sets her off to be shipwrecked, captured, chased, a few near death experiences, only to be rescued, come home, and find out things that will set up the next movie in the series.  It was very entertaining, Alicia Vikander is an excellent bad ass woman, and I would root for her again in a sequel, no question.

Corn and Butternut Squash Chowder

My son and friends made dinner for us this weekend, and we had leftover butternut squash and corn.  What to do?
Turn it into something else, is what I say--it is rare to have fresh corn and winter squash in the fridge at the same time, but if you find yourself in that situation, here is your solution.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 5 cups)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 10 oz. of corn
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 28 oz. of broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

1. In a large heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high; add squash and onion. Cook until onion is soft, about 6 minutes. Add corn and curry powder; cook until curry is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add broth and simmer until squash is tender, about 25 minutes. In a blender, blend half the soup until smooth. Return to pot and stir in cream; heat through over medium-low (do not boil).
   
   

Educated by Tara Westover

Let me start off by saying that I did not love this book.  It has gotten great reviews, and so know from the beginning that I might be amongst the few rather than the many.
This memoir spans the authors entire young life, growing up in rural Idaho in a large Mormon family with parents who lived off the grid for paranoid and religious reasons.  She describes her father as bipolar, but what she says about him doesn't raise that diagnosis as a possibility, and she has a very cruel and uncontrolled brother who physically abused her.  He father put his children in dangerous situations and left her mother to heal them.  That part of the story is about the happiest part, in that the mother uses herbs and her skills as a midwife to largely support the family.  The other plus is that three of the kids go to school, and those who manage to tolerate conventional education all pursue higher degrees and are independent, at least financially, from the yoke their parents saddled them with.  It is a good reminder that trauma always comes back to bite you, even when you have a good escape route.  You can't run and you can't hide so you better face up to it.

The Leisure Seeker (2018)

This is a break your heart movie about a couple who are at the end of their lives.  She is dying of metastatic cancer and he has dementia.  So if you are nowhere near this phase in your life, you definitely want to skip this because it hits all the problem notes just right.
Helen Mirren is the wife, and her life is exasperating with occasional flashes of happiness.  Her husband doesn't always even know her, much less the kids, and his well remembered threads from his life as a passionate and inspiring high school English teacher annoy her more than they entertain or reassure her.  Donald Sutherland is the mostly vacant husband who only occasionally is aware that he is not altogether there.  They cause their two offspring no end of worry when they take off in their 40 year old RV for one last adventure.  Everything that you would think could go wrong does, and even so, as it unfolds in all it's predictability, it keeps a hold on you because it rings all too true.  WIndow into many of our futures.

Dionysus Mosaic, Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne, Germany

This mosaic was uncovered in 1941, largely intact, and it was so big and so stunning that it was left where it was found and the museum was built around it.  The museum is designed in such a way that you do not have to go into it in order to see the mosaic.  You can peer in through a large glass window about one story above.  The view takes in the scope of the floor, but lacks the detail that can be seen close up.
Dionysus is in the center mosaic, but the various scenes depicted include satyrs playing instruments and maenads dancing.  The level of detail in each scene is not well captured in this picture but is breathtaking to see.  The floor dates to about 200 CE, which is around the time of Hadrian.  His personal villa in Tivoli is replete with mosaic floors, and the skill of the artisans of the time is magnificent.  I think the Romans would applaud the recent surge in valuing hand made items, as they were builders on an almost unimaginable scale.

Toro Bravo by John Gorham and Liz Crain

My spouse and I ate this highly recommended Portland restaurant a number of years ago, and I am not sure why, but it just didn't wow us.  Maybe it was us, maybe it was the night, and maybe they paled in comparison to some truely exceptional food that the city has to offer.
The cookbook, which I came upon when I was looking for one by another Portland chef, is a whole other story.  This is an exceptional reflection on both the food and the people who are making it.  I have made several of the vegetable side dishes and they have been distinctive, easy to prepare, unusual in both flavor and presentation.  I had to order an expensive and unusual ingredient, and, as the recipe described, it makes the dish.  One thing about cooking at home is that not only do you control the ingredients, you also enjoy food at a fraction of the price of a high end restaurant and this cookbook allows you to do just that.  Highly recommended.

Game Night (2018)

This is exactly what you would think it is based on the title and the cast.  It is a little bit juvenile in an adult sort of way, and entertaining in a "I really do not want to think too deeply" kind of way (although there are some underlying messages about inclusion, sibling rivalry, and how quickly things can spin completely out of control embedded not too far under the surface here).
The story is that a group of friends meet regularly at Max and Annie's house to play games.  This is actually making a comeback, the face to face playing of games without screens involved.  There are two significant threads that unravel.  The first is that their cop neighbor has been excluded since his divorce and he is looking for a way back in.  The other is that Max's brother Brook, who has outperformed Max since childhood and is constantly reminding him of his bigger talents, higher income, and overall  greatness turns out to have a skeleton or two in the closet.  These two themes interweave in an entertaining way to a modestly surprising (not really) conclusion.