crooked house

On My Wishlist: The Fisher Price iPhone Case

We've been waiting for the release of the Fisher Price iPhone case for a few months now. Sylvie particularly loves the Talking Carl app and it's a great way to distract her for a couple of minutes but we're always afraid that in an exuberant display of glee she is going to hurl the phone across the room (or out the car window). The amazon reviewsseem favourable so far. But if you're going to buy it right now, you should go directly to the Fisher Price site, which offers it for 15 bucks instead of 28.

A Victorian Kindle

Illustration student Rachel Walsh designed this book filled with tiny books in response to the assignment "Explain something modern/internet based to someone who lived and died before 1900." It's a visual explanation of the Kindle e-reader for Charles Dickens. Love it with a passion. Via Iris Blasi

Small Children Singing Sad Songs for Grown-Ups: Little Girl Singing Caitlin Rose's "Own Side"

This is just lovely. Check out five-year-old Rowan's tremendous feeling on the chorus. I just might have to start a new category devoted to small children singing sad songs for grown-ups.

One Line a Day

Seeing this pretty and old-fashioned One Line a Day: A Five-Year Memory Book makes me wonder if anyone is using twitter to write one tweet at the end of each day summing it up. Just one tweet -- no more allowed. Facebook could work like that, too. One status update summing up each day, no more. But both twitter and facebook seem much more ephemeral than a journal. Are all your tweets and status updates saved? If so, for how long?

My mother-in-law kept a five-year diary before she died -- I believe she faithfully jotted just one line or two about each day before she went to bed. And I know my father-in-law does -- he often surprises me with a comment about what we were doing on this day two or three years ago. This is particularly of interest when you have small children who seem to change so fast.

I've often thought of using something like My Quotable Kid: A Parents' Journal of Unforgettable Quotes but I already record almost everything interesting or amusing my children say either here or on my facebook page, which I know drives a lot of people nuts. But I'm even a sucker for the funny things other people's children say, which makes me the perfect audience for sites like My Kid Is Gifted. 

British Telephone Box Iphone Case

I want one.

Allrecipes Reviews

Yesterday, in an effort to begin cooking more meals from scratch, I took out my crockpot and googled for slow-cooker chicken recipes. Allrecipes.com came up in the first couple of links for me, so I chose something easy from there. The ratings and reviews never fail to crack me up. Assume this was the recipe I chose (which it was and yes, I realize it's not very from scratch-y, what with that jar of salsa and all):

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (11 ounce) can Mexican-style corn
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans

Directions

1. Place chicken and salsa in the slow cooker the night before you want to eat this chili. Season with garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook 6 to 8 hours on Low setting.
2. About 3 to 4 hours before you want to eat, shred the chicken with 2 forks. Return the meat to the pot, and continue cooking.
3. Stir the corn and the pinto beans into the slow cooker. Simmer until ready to serve.

The reviews tend to go something like this (the first one is copied verbatim):

Reviewed on Jan. 10, 2004 by Paula

The first person to taste this chili asked for the recipe! I did make the following changes and additions...3 chicken breasts instead of 4, 1 can of diced green chilis, 2 teaspoons fresh garlic instead of the garlic powder, 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes, and 2 teaspoons sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. OTHERWISE, this was a great recipe and will be added to my winter repertoire! Thanks.

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Reviewed on Nov. 13, 2007 by Lorraine

This recipe has become a staple in my household! Love it! Instead of chicken, I use pork, instead of salsa I use sauerkraut, instead of cumin and chili powder I use paprika! I do use garlic powder! And I omit the corn and the pinto beans. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!!

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Reviewed on Feb. 13, 2008 by shewhoeats

what a tasty soup, perfect for this wintry weather.  instead of making this in my crockpot, i loaded everybody into the minivan and went to taco bell, where we poured a large diet pepsi over three grilled chicken burritos. i was very pleased with how it came out, but may add a couple of packs of ketchup in the future.

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Reviewed on January 11, 2011 by sogoodithurts

Made this last night and am NOT happy. Replaced the chicken and the rest of the ingredients with a large bag of Doritos, a box of Oreos, and a sixpack of beer. Did not slow cook, of course. Tasted great at the time but I was up with diarrhea in the night and still feel quite sick to my stomach today. I do not recommend this recipe.

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I'll let you know how my version turns out. Update: There was too much chicken and not enough beans. It was more like a meat sauce than a chili. Also, it was a bit bland. We ate it on tortillas, with sour cream, grated cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. David added a few drops of Dave's Insanity Sauce and quite liked it. 

Television Series: BBC's Survivors

As I've mentioned a couple of times, I've been reading a bunch of post-apocalyptic fiction for a project, picking and choosing from the fiction section of this list. Just this week I switched to the film and television section, downloading both seasons of BBC's Survivors from iTunes and devouring them. I managed to watch it late at night, after the children were asleep, and therefore I've been a bit of a zombie during the days. Happily, though, there are no zombies in Survivors, something that, obviously, can not be said about a lot of post-apocalyptic stories. Although I am a big fan of fantasy, magical realism, and the like, for some reason I prefer my post-apocalyptic fiction as realistic as possible -- straight up, as it were -- maybe because the circumstances of these stories are surreal enough already. Survivors is this kind of story, about how a small, diverse group of ordinary people manage to keep it together after 95% of the world's population is decimated by a flu pandemic. The leader of the group is a middle-aged woman, Abby Grant, who is looking for her twelve-year-old son who was away at camp when the virus struck. She meets up with a survival-minded systems analyst, the recently divorced Greg; Tom, a career criminal who'd been serving a life sentence in prison; Anya, an altruistic young doctor; Al, a wealthy playboy, and Naj, a twelve-year-old boy and a devout Muslim. Beyond the group's survival efforts and Abby's search for her son, a great deal of the show is devoted to an exploration of morality in a completely broken society.

Survivors is a remake of a BBC television series of the same name produced in the early 70s, based on a book by Terry Nation. I've reserved the book at the library and would love to watch the early 70s version. Now, because when I think "BBC television series" I think "The Prisoner," that odd yet oddly appealing late-60s show featuring a guy trapped in a village by an enormous white beach ball that moved in slo-mo, I suppose I was unconsciously expecting the current series to  have low production values or something. Boy, was I wrong. I was especially impressed with the casting and the quality of the acting.

While looking for a link to The Prisoner, I've discovered they'd made a remake of that, too. Excuse me while I disappear for another week. And by the way, Survivors, which I highly recommend, is available through netflix, too.

Welcome to the Future

This will blow your mind. I am going to download the free sample of the Word Lens app right now. (Note: only the English/Spanish version is available right now. Can't wait for the French.) I've recently downloaded two other really fun apps: the Hipstamatic and Talking Carl. The Hipstamatic takes vintage-looking photos and some people can get really cool results with it. I've been playing with it for a couple of days and will share soon. Talking Carl, who repeats whatever the children say to him in a funny voice, keeps them occupied for ages.

I wish everyone could afford to have an iPhone. Apps like these would make fantastic stocking stuffers.

TED: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

"Everyone should watch this." Apparently, those are the most common words used in blog posts about this video featuring Ken Robinson, which has been around since 2006. I'm one of the few who somehow missed it and am posting it here in case you are, too. I've just downloaded the first chapters of Out of our Minds: Learning to be Creative and The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Thanks for An Awesome Book of Thanks!

We got this book in the mail today -- appropriately enough, as it's Thanksgiving in the U.S. It is An Awesome Book of Thanks! by Dallas Clayton, who self-published the first book in this series, An Awesome Book!, because he couldn't seem to find a traditional publisher. He finally decided to go the DIY route instead and the book quickly became a phenomenon.

Both books are endearingly quirky, visually appealing, and have great messages about dreaming big and being thankful. But don't take my word for it -- you can read both books for free here. Additionally, Clayton gives away one book for every book that is sold. This is a clever gesture, as well as a kind one.

This time,  An Awesome Book of Thanks! is being published by Amazon Encore. Apparently Amazon Encore targets indie and small press books that have generated a real buzz and good sales on their own and then republishes the books with a little more fanfare. It's a very interesting model, one to watch closely. An Awesome Book of Thanks! is their first picture book.

My favourite spread:

Yes, thank you! (And Happy Thanksgiving, American friends. We're eating turkey tonight, too, in solidarity and thankfulness.)