Mad Max: Fury Road – IMAX 3D Review

I ended up completely exhausted after watching Mad Max: Fury Road in IMAX 3D, and I absolutely loved it. If you get a chance to see it in that format, it’s totally worth it. This is very much a successor to Mad Max 2, which is one of my favourite films. There’s a wonderful lack of exposition, which I really appreciate. I love it when a film just drops you in the middle of the action and lets you work out what’s going on.

Charlize Theron is very good as Imperator Furiousa. She doesn’t have that many lines, but she’s completely believable as a one-armed truck-driving badass. This is the second film that I’ve really enjoyed seeing her in, after “A Million Ways to Die in the West”. She’s backed up with a gang of very pretty, delicate ladies who are also all believable and excellent.

I loved Tom Hardy as Max, who probably has the fewest lines out of the main characters. He definitely embodies the spirit of Max Rockatansky. This is very much an ensemble piece, with Nicholas Hoult bringing lots of personality to his role.

The 3D was beautifully done, in-yer-face when it needed to be and subtle for the rest of the film. There was one very cheeky “boing” out of the screen near the end, even better for its cheekiness.

In summary, if you loved the originals, I’m sure you’ll love this. If you love action, if you love chases, if you love stunts, if you love films that have a heart; I think you’ll love this.

Everything is fixable

Baldwin was twenty-eight and severely depressed on the August day in 1985 when he told his wife not to expect him home till late. “I wanted to disappear,” he said. “So the Golden Gate was the spot. I’d heard that the water just sweeps you under.” On the bridge, Baldwin counted to ten and stayed frozen. He counted to ten again, then vaulted over. “I still see my hands coming off the railing,” he said. As he crossed the chord in flight, Baldwin recalls, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped.”

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/13/jumpers

Design Pitfalls – free weekly course from the author of Design for Hackers

You only have today to sign up for a great, free online course:

David Kadavy is the author of Design for Hackers

I’ve signed up for the course, as I’ve spent so long in the back-end, my eye for design is rather rusty.

Our little gardening club

Aoibha was very disappointed not to be picked for gardening club at school, so I’ve told her we’ll have our own little gardening club!

I know it’s a bit late in the year, so I’ve found the following table really useful to help decide what to plant. We’re going to be planting in tubs, so we can sow indoors in the conservatory too.

http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden-month-help/sowing-harvest-vegetable-chart.php

The basics

These are my favourite links for the basics. I love making sauces and there are patterns to learn:

Guide to Aromatics of the World
http://www.cooksmarts.com/cs-blog/2014/10/add-flavor-aromatics/

Thickeners
http://www.cookscountry.com/how_tos/9126-getting-to-know-thickeners

The five basic sauces
http://lifehacker.com/five-sauces-everyone-should-know-how-to-make-for-endles-1498247518

And six more t’boot
http://lifehacker.com/six-more-sauces-everyone-should-learn-how-to-make-1580465771

Guide to using Herbs with different meals, by an Irish Builders Merchants for some reason
http://www.heitonbuckley.ie/blog/herb-guide-to-cooking/

Trying not to waste food

I really hate throwing out food that’s gone bad. I try very hard to menu plan, etc. I also use veg in sauces and soups which is a little off its best. These links are really useful for me:

Fresh produce shelf life
http://www.cooksmarts.com/cooking-school-101/produce-shelf-life-care-guide-download/

Mix and match slow cooker food
http://www.prevention.com/food/easy-slow-cooker-meals

Make pesto with any herby leaves
http://skillet.lifehacker.com/make-green-pesto-from-just-about-anything-with-these-ra-1704523343

How long can you store stuff in your freezer?
http://www.freezerlabels.net/frozen-food-storage-times-infographic/

Katsu sauce recipe

I got this recipe from a poster on Mumsnet, who promised it was just like the real thing from Wagamamas. She was totally right. My six year old, who’s terribly fussy, loves this.

I originally thought that the recipe wasn’t right, because it included Indian spices. Turns out, the British brought those Indian spices to Japan and China, which is where this recipe was born.

Serves about 4

You’re going to need:

  • 1 good tablespoon of frying oil
  • 1 large white onion, well-chopped
  • 2 good sized carrots, grated
  • At least 4 cloves of garlic (add more if you love garlic!), chopped
  • 500ml of good chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons of plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon of Curry Powder (mild or hot, to your taste)
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce or teriyaki
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 a tablespoon of garam masala
  1. Heat the oil ready to fry the veg. I stick a wee bit of onion in and wait till that starts sizzling.
  2. Sweat the onion, carrot and garlic, uncovered, for about 20 mins or until soft. Medium heat in a saucepan that’s not too wide and shallow. I use a 1.5 litre milk pan, so it doesn’t get too dry.
  3. Add the flour and curry powder, and mix it in well. Keep mixing for a minute or two, so the flour has absorbed the juices. It will be very dry at this stage.
  4. Now add the hot chicken stock, slowly at first while mixing. You want to dissolve the powder you just added.
  5. Add the honey, soy and bay leaf. Mix it all in well.
  6. Simmer gently while covered for 20 minutes. Stir well occasionally, making sure you scrape the bottom of the pan.
  7. Remove the bay leaf, add the garam masala, and then blend with a stick blender or blend in batches in a processor. I find stick is best.

This plays very nicely with customisations. I add passata sometimes; sometimes removing a little stock and sometimes just adding it as well.

Obligatory First Post

Hello World, and indeed, Greetings Universe.

The human brain cannot stand the unfinished thing. It’s the cause of earworms, which burrow in and eat away at the brain until you finish the song in your head or listen to it in its entirety.

I’ve always wanted to get started with a blog, full of all the things that I’ve found out and will need again.

Starting is the scariest thing, so I’m just going to do it.

Best links that I’ve found recently:

A list of sites with free stock photography
https://css-tricks.com/sites-with-high-quality-photos-you-can-use-for-free/

Transform your lists
https://www.transformy.io

Quick palette generator
http://coolors.co/

Programming Languages ABC for Kids (and Adults!) My daughter is fascinated by me being a programmer, so I know she’d love this
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/627324241/programming-languages-abc

So it begins.