Blogs Guide

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Omni Daily Crush: The World of Skippyjon Jones

When it comes down to it, a great children's book is determined by two factors: (a) how much kids love it, and (b) how many consecutive times an adult can read it aloud before going insane. The first criteria is obviously the most important, but considering how many other ways parents can be driven crazy (I submit The Wiggles as Exhibit A), it's extremely special to find books both parties will love.

With that, I give you the adventures of Skippyjon Jones, an imaginative Siamese cat who fancies himself a brave, sword-fighting Chihuahua. Author Judy Schachner's mischievous feline day-dreamer is tops in our household, as my son greets me after work with a hug that usually grips Lost in Spice or Mummy Trouble. Schachner's engaging style keep even an exhausted parent from mailing in a bedtime read. Her tongue-twisting stories force accents, sound effects, and sing-a-longs that will have listeners and readers cracking wide grins by the final page

One word of caution, however: since picking up our first Skippyjon book, I haven't figured out how to get my son to stop "bouncing on his big boy bed." *sigh*

--Dave

Recommended for active imaginations and weary parents.

I Heart This Easy Heart-Shaped Dessert

Whether you plan to celebrate the feast of St. Valentine by candlelight with your significant other, or you're having a slumber party with your besties, you will *heart* this light and dreamy dessert. I saw Ina Garten whip this on TV more than a few moons back, and I've been making it, by popular demand, ever since. This heart-shaped mold and the striking contrast of the red sauce with the white cream make for a stunning presentation. And, though Ina serves it with a bright red raspberry/Grand Marnier puree, fresh berries are a perfect complement on their own (I find the sauce to be a bit overpowering). The strawberry stands are already popping up in my neighborhood. Sweet!

Coeur a la Creme

Ingredients for the Cream:

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
Raspberry and Grand Marnier Sauce (recipe below)
2 half-pints fresh raspberries

Directions for Cream:

1. Place the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the beater and bowl with a rubber spatula and change the beater for the whisk attachment. With the mixer on low speed, add the heavy cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and vanilla bean seeds and beat on high speed until the mixture is very thick, like whipped cream.

2. Line a 7-inch sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels so the ends drape over the sides and suspend it over a bowl, making sure that there is space between the bottom of the sieve and the bottom of the bowl for the liquid to drain. Pour the cream mixture into the cheesecloth, fold the ends over the top, and refrigerate overnight.

3. To serve, discard the liquid, unmold the cream onto a plate, and drizzle Raspberry and Grand Marnier Sauce around the base. Serve with raspberries and extra sauce.

Ingredients for Raspberry and Grand Marnier Sauce:

1 half-pint fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)

Directions for Raspberry and Grand Marnier Sauce:

1. Place raspberries, sugar, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 4 minutes. Pour the cooked raspberries, the jam, and orange liqueur into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Chill.

Yield: 2 cups

Dessert serves: 6 to 8

Recipe Credit: Ina Garten, 2004
Photo Credit: www.soniatasteshawaii.com

--StellaCadente*

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Monday, February 8, 2010

Nikon finally fills some gaps with a 24mm f/1.4 prime and 16-35mm f/4 VR

There are certain thing every camera user likes to ding their system of choice over: Canon users can complain about the flash system or AF of some bodies, Sony uses complain about high-ISO, yadda yadda yadda. But the howls and yelps from Nikon users for years have been there: Where are the fast primes? Where are the lighter, cheaper f/4 zoom lenses?

Well, Nikon just took a major stab at making its users happy with the 24mm f/1.4 and the 16-35mm f/4 VR, both lenses made to fit full-frame cameras (but will of course work on DX models).

How big is this? These aren't merely updates with new technology: The last time Nikon made a 24mm f/1.4 was … never. There has never before been a general-purpose Nikon lens faster than f/2.8 and wider then 28mm. Ever.

And the last consumer-aimed constant f/4 Nikon zoom (not counting the exotic 200-400)? I'm going to go with the 70-210mm, released in 1986.

Of course, the question that remains to be seen is "Are these any good?" and "Are these a sign of future Nikon lenses that more people have been asking for, like a 35mm f/1.4, 70-200mm f/4 or 300mm f/4 VR?" The short answer is "Who knows?" But we can take a good guess until I test both models. They both feature nano crystal coating, and while you could put that coating on a poorly designed lens, all such Nikon lenses released so far have been exceptionally sharp and contrasty. The 24mm prime focuses down to 25 centimeters, which isn't bad for such a fast lens. The real trick will be to see how accurately it autofocuses, particularly at distance -- this can sometimes be a trick for wide, fast lenses because you're mixing limited depth of field with big frames of view, getting lots of different junk in front of AF sensors.

Another question is how useful VR will be in a lens that goes as wide as 16mm, and thus doesn't need very fast shutter speeds to begin with. Of course you can turn it off, but that will keep the street price from being too low. Of course, this sample Nikon photo, taken without a tripod at a 1.5 second exposure, shows that there may be some value.

I will test both of these as soon as they are available. I have been using the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 — a very good lens as long as you have a camera with focus micro-adjust to fix Sigma's poor quality-control — and it will be interesting to see how they stack up.

Of course, you pay for all this, and it ain't cheap. The 24mm f/1.4 clocks in at $2199, and the 16-35mm f/4 VR is $1259.

Stile Antico: Media Vita

In a few days, the wait is over for fans of Stile Antico, the phenomenal vocal ensemble who specialize in Tudor and Renaissance choral music (and high-profile side projects with Sting.) They release "Media Vita ," a selection of works by the sixteenth century composer John Sheppard.

Less well-known than Thomas Tallis, Sheppard's fame has spread slowly, because his compositions only made it to the twentieth century in manuscript form and many of them are incomplete. What survives bears all the hallmarks of greatness. This recording provides ample evidence of his bold, rich and individual harmony, as well as an inspired knack for compositional passion, while still adhearing to Archbishop Cranmer's protestant tastes for concise word setting.

The performance captured here is at the same lofty standard that Stile Antico's earlier recordings attained - almost perfect. This group engages the listener like no other, with the purpose of soloists, the tonal evenness of an ensemble, and with a clarity that is ground-breaking. On a few listenings, though, this perfection is itself the disc's undoing. I don't expect my thoughts to be received well, but I'm left willing the performance to move me more than it does.

If I'm honest, I miss children in this music. Children don't sing as well as the sopranos in Stile Antico, plain and simple. They are slavishly subservient to the choir director in front of them, the absence of which is one of the inspired features of this group. They also think about football while they sing and who might get the carol service solo instead of them, but when they get it right, for me, there is an experience beyond the finesse on this album.

If you doubt me, and live within a reasonable distance of New York, duck into St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, during a sung service and judge for yourself. Profound utterances, from the young, barely conscious of what they say, has a power that was understood by Britten, Walton, Boyce, Greene, Purcell, by all the great composers of liturgical choral music, all the way back to Sheppard. In the hands of a child, these notes and words come from a different sphere, literally. A sphere that the rest of us have had to leave behind. -- Hugo Munday

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Breakfast of Champions

I wonder if the Colts will be noshing on beignets and sipping Cafe Du Monde coffee Monday morning, or if they'll be boning up on Wheaties?

I stuck to my promise and watched foreign films and painted my toenails in lieu of watching the Game. But I did get to thinking about New Orleans, which I was fortunate enough to visit just prior to Hurricane Katrina. One morning before my conference started, I ambled down Conti Street to Decatur, where lies the legendary grande dame of doughnuts, Cafe Du Monde . Now, Cafe Du Monde is the In-N-Out of beignets. The menu is sparse: just beignets, coffee (blended with chicory), milk and orange juice. But a steaming cup o' cafe au lait, and a plate of piping hot beignets doused with powdered sugar will easily tide you over 'til lunch...or dinner.

Mmm. If only they delivered.

--StellaCadente*

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"Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths" Amazon exclusive clip

Watch an exclusive advance clip from the upcoming DC Universe animated movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, coming out on February 23 in numerous editions, including Amazon exclusive Blu-ray and two-disc DVD versions that include a Justice League lithograph. It's a battle between the alternate earth's Lex Luthor (who's a good guy) and Ultraman. See more in our DC Comics 75th Anniversary Store. --David

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Literary Super Bowl Counterprogramming: Louisiana vs. Indiana

The mayors of the two Super Bowl cities often concoct a symbolic wager of the fruits of their hometowns, but what I'd love to see them bet instead would be a box of local books. A few days ago, I ran across (via American Fiction Notes) Chauncey Mabe's entertaining assessment of how Indiana's literary legacy stacks up against Louisiana's (since limiting it to Indianapolis vs. New Orleans would be a rout from the opening whistle). He makes a valiant case for the Hoosiers against the more lauded lineup from the Big Easy, noting that both Vonnegut and Dreiser called Indiana home, and he really does his homework to credit Indiana with everyone from Jean Shepherd and Phyllis Naylor (whom I associate with Maryland, if only because her son played in the junior high school band with me) to the creators of both Clifford and Garfield. But it's just tough to go up against the pound-for-pound quality of the writers who have hailed from and written about the Pelican State, from Kate Chopin, Walker Percy, and John Kennedy Toole to Tennessee Williams, Anne Rice, and Ernest Gaines.

Longtime Omni readers will not be surprised that I was led back to the state lineups we put together in the Books of the States series from a year or so ago. A refresher: we gave each state as many literary representatives as they had electoral votes (in these cases, 9 for Louisiana and 11 for Indiana). Novelist Peter Charles Melman guest-selected our Louisiana list, and Pete gutsily opted to include a few lesser-known discoveries over some of the tried-and-true classics (to the point of leaving off Percy's iconic debut, The Moviegoer, which was sort of like the Colts benching Peyton Manning for a half--hey, they'd never do that, right?). Meanwhile, Indiana pleasantly surprised me when I chose its 11, going beyond its big literary names with a fascinating mix of classics of journalism, sociology, and humor (and of course, sports fans, Bobby Knight). You'd still have to put your money on the saints to go marching in, but, as Mabe says, you might actually have a game worth watching.

So in case you'd rather spend your day reading tomorrow (or if the game turns into a blowout that's only worth keeping on for the ads), here are our suggested starting lineups:

Louisiana (see Pete's comments on his choices):

The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld by Herbert Asbury
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Dancing After Hours by Andre Dubus
Bloodline by Ernest J. Gaines
The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon by Clara Solomon
Alligator Sue by Sharon Arms Doucet and Anne Wilsdorf
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

Indiana (see my full writeup):

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Sexual Behavior in the American Male and Sexual Behavior in the American Female by Alfred Kinsey
Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture by Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd
Brave Men by Ernie Pyle
Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back by Thomas Geoghegan
The Dillinger Days by John Toland
Raintree County by Ross Lockridge
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy
A Season on the Brink by John Feinstein

--Tom

Blogs Guide

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Omni Daily Crush: The World of Skippyjon Jones