Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Wiggle While I Work

I know I'm supposed to write about my cakes, but last night was the last night of my 19 cake stretch, and I'm exhausted. No sleep till Brooklyn, right?

I can barely string together my sentences so I'm just going to post some of the media I play while I'm working. I'm moving my old TV down to the Dungeon, to join my old dvd/vcr player. Since I haven't done that yet, I usually just have a portable harddrive hooked up to my netbook and I listen to movies or music or audio books. Here is some of the stuff I usually listen to:

My all-time favorite Pixar film, followed by Monsters, Inc. I know this movie almost word for word, and it gives me a time frame on how much time I have left to decorate. If I'm not wrapping things up by the time Linguine is giving his press conference, then I'm in the weeds. Besides being executed exceptionally well, as is the unwavering style of PIXAR, this movie does indeed detail the real kitchen experience. Besides having the stations worked out perfectly and explained without fault, Collette's badassery is spot-on as it is the attitude of any successful woman in a male-dominated field. She can't just be good at what she does. She needs to be the best, have the biggest balls, and trash any sense of female wiles in her. My favorite thing about her, besides her perfectly cut purple-hued hair? The very faint burn scars I spot on her wrist- the mark of any real chef that works in a real kitchen. Well done, Pixar!

This is my other movie love- Tim Burton. He does have many other movies that are in this style of  stop-motion film making. Why do I like this while I'm working? Well, I've seen it so many times, I also use it as a gauge for time. If I'm still not nearly done when Emily says "Hopscotch" then I'm going to be in trouble. (I usually am in trouble.) The music, another particularly recognizable score by Danny Elfman, is catchy. It keeps me awake while I'm working in the crazy night hours. It's peppy. And call me a mush, but I just dig Johnny Depp's fake English accent. Around the holidays, I'll put this film to the side and put on the Nightmare Before Christmas. Why not? While I'm punching out holly leaves and rolling berries out of fondant, I may as well get in the mood. Tim Burton movies are lovely company to keep in the bowels of the Dungeon when I have no one to help me work in the wee hours of the morn.


I love audiobooks. I love books. If I had more "me" time, I'd be laying in bed with a super-long starw dipped into an endless glass of ice-cold Coke with a box of Cookie Crisp cereal handy, with mountains of books surrounding me. I'd never have to get up for anything....Well. Almost anything. Audiobooks have been my Godsend. I've gotten most of my "reading" done because of them. I never used to like them, until someone gave me a copy of the audio version of World War Z. With a star-studded cast of actors doing the reading, this book came alive. Since then, my late-night activities have included many audio versions of very long, time consuming books being downloaded onto my hard drives. My buddy Mal turned me onto the Dresden Files while we were wandering around Comic Con 2010. We were at the Buzzy Media booth, and I was having a good laugh at the witty tee shirts, when he told me I should really give the Dresden Files a spin. Described as an Urban Fantasy about a modern-day Wizard For Hire making his way through Chicago, battling supernatural forces, it was not my first choice. Later that day, the group of people I was with was leeringly enjoying James Marsters in the flesh (That would be Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) He was nice enough, and I downloaded the available 12 books in one shot. WOW! Awesome. Enthralling! James certainly brings this series to life. I've been painstakingly listening at a snails pace. The 13th book was just released (read by a different actor, much to my consternation), and I'm up tp book 7. I hate waiting for a new book to drop, especially when they leave you at a cliff hanger. Right now, this is my favorite audiobook series.



Speaking of audiobooks, I'm sure you've all watched the Game of Throne series on HBO. "Game of Thrones" is actually the first book in a series called "A Song of Ice and Fire". After watching the first episode on HBO and seeing it was based on a book, I googled and found this audiobook series. Luckily for me, the 5th audiobook was just released as I finished up the 4th one. They are loooooong. It took me several hours to listen to them all, and there was a change in actor doing the reading, as well, which I did not like at all, but what can you do about these things? Long road trip? Maybe you've got a ton of hours in front of you where your mind needs to be occupied with something else other than music. I say, give this series a spin. It's gotten me through many tedious cake nights in the Dungeon.

I'll do a separate post about music another time. "Wiggle While I Work" kind of referred to the tunes I listen to while I'm working, but I'm pooped and I want to go home and pass out.

2 comments:

  1. Go home & pass out already! I didnt know Mal turned you onto Dresden. Is it because you have a Spike crush, too?

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    1. No, I was never a Buffy fan. I'm not knocking it.I just never got into it. My friends were standing on line for three hours waiting to meet him. When they finally got up there, my buddies and I walked over to take pics for them, and he was very cool about it even when the security was about to shoo us away. That was my overall impression of him. I finally bought Dresden when Mal offered to lend me his set. I didn't want to inconvenience him, so I told him I would just get my own. I downloaded all 12 books, and played the first one during an all-nighter. I was hooked! I try and take a couple of breaks between each book so that they last.

      He was right. I really like this series.

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