Ron Howard's "Walt"

This isn't real. But if it was, it would win every award.

This is real.

-av
A Plus1Press Publication

Chicken and Dumpling Soup for the Soul

This soup recipe is amazing. Just make it.

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Ingredients: 

2 32-oz. containers chicken stock

¼ cup olive oil

1 large white onion, chopped

2 ½ cups chopped carrots

2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tablespoon pre-minced garlic)

2 cups chopped celery

2 pounds chicken breast (or whatever cut you like)

Salt and pepper

1 can Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits

1 small bag/bundle fresh spinach, (optional, highly recommended)

Parsley (also optional)

Directions:

1.     Prep: Chop onions, carrots, and celery. Mince garlic. Trim chicken of fat, leaving the cuts whole.

2.     Pour chicken broth into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat.

3.     Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, and garlic and sauté until onions start to brown, about 5 minutes. Drain.

4.    When the broth begins to boil add the onion mixture to the pot, along with the celery and chicken.

5.    Season with salt, pepper, and any other spices you like (Italian seasoning works well).

6.    Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

7.   Separate the dough by the perforated lines. Cut each piece into quarters.

8.    After 20 minutes, remove the chicken and cut it up into bite-sized pieces. Add the chicken back into the broth and bring the heat up to medium.

9.    When the soup is simmering, add the dough to the pot. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

10. Wash the spinach and remove stems.

11.  After 10 minutes add the spinach, stirring the pot so the leaves get under the dumplings.

12.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes more.

13.   Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley if you’d like.

-ID and AV

A Plus1Press Publication

Moonrise Kingdom Trailer

The trailer for Wes Anderson's latest movie is out. Our very own AM worked on this and it looks freaking great.



-av
A Plus1Press Publication

The Wellesley Tupelos and LAB sing "The Chain"

 Just thought I'd share this sweet performance by our very own LAB:



-av, Fan
A Plus1Press Publication

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

If you've taken Psych 100 and this is old news to you, I apologize. Last week, some article made an off hand reference to the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator assessment. Being an Senser (more on that later), I did some research. It's basically an assessment that measures psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. And using a free online knock off version, I got results that kind of blew me away. Apparently it's the most widely used personality test in the world and I've been living under a rock.

Four days later, eight people were sitting around a kitchen table taking the test, sharing results and then reading the wikipedia page for each person's results. And we still haven't stopped talking about it.

So if you're interested, take the test here, and then you can go to wikipedia and put in your 4-letter results and get all sorts of information about it. And if you'd like to post your results in the comments, feel free. I've been speculating about everyone I know, and I'd love to know how my perception lines up with your results. So far only two people have had the same type.

Want more info? As an ESFJ (Provider), I'm happy to help. Read on!

The test is based on the idea of 4 pairs of dichotomies, or opposing psychological preferences, which makes for a possible 16 types. The terms have specific meanings to this test which may differ from their everyday usage.

Some of these descriptions are a bit judge-y, which is off-base, but I thought it was somewhat helpful as a visual.

 1. extraversion/introversion (E/I)
People who prefer extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. Conversely, those who prefer introversion expend energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again.

2. sensing/intuition (S/N)
Sensing and intuition are the information-gathering (perceiving) functions. They describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern)

3.thinking/feeling (T/F)

Thinking and feeling are the decision-making functions. Those who prefer thinking tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules. Those who prefer feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it 'from the inside' and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved.

4. judgment/perception (J/P) 
Judgment and perception reflect the implementation of the above preferences. Those who favor judgment prefer a planned or orderly way of life, like to have things settled and organized, feel more comfortable when decisions are made, and like to bring life under control as much as possible.Those who favor perception prefer a flexible and spontaneous way of life, and like to understand and adapt to the world rather than organize it.

Happy introspection!

 -av, lover of tests.

A Plus1Press Publication

Minimalist Fairytale Posters

Like id's post about Poe books with new awesome covers these fairytale posters are sweet and simple. My favorite is the 3 Little Pigs, if you wanna see more theres a whole collection to check out.

 

-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

Pinterest is my creative distraction

Recently I've become obsessed with Pinterest, a self-described “virtual pinboard” and hub for all things visually-inspiring. Rather than racking up a long list of bookmarks, I “pin” images to my Pinterest boards when I find something interesting online. Recipes, DIY projects, artwork, quotes, landscapes, fashion—anything worth remembering. You can "follow" other Pinners' boards so you can see what your friends find exciting. I'm LOVING following Alice, Jill, KatieCaff and Lucy.

When I get stuck in my writing at work I often browse Pinterest for the sake of creative distraction. It’s inspiring to be presented with an array of fresh visual ideas whenever I want. And like all things social, my Pinterest experience would be much better if you joined. The site is still in closed beta (let me know if you want an invite!), but the interface is beautifully done and I expect big things in their future.

-Senior Pinterest Correspondent
id

ISHABAMI

In 2009 I drew a picture and tried to write SHABAM! underneath the picture and to be fancy I was going to put an upside-down exclamation point at the beginning of the word. I drew the word from left to right starting with the upside-down exclamation point and working my way over to the regular one on the other side. I messed up and put another upside-down exclamation point at the end of the word. "ishabami" I liked the way the picture looked though, so I hang the picture anyhow. The next day when BJK came over he saw the picture and said "ishabami?" and the word sounded right. Since then I have adopted it as a nonsense word that can mean anything or nothing at all. And I began to write it everywhere along with a bunny. I began a blog a few weeks ago to have ownership of the word on the internet. ISHABAMI.BLOGSPOT.COM I have added a bunch of painting and pictures, some from 2009 and a few that are more recent. Here are three samples.

-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

Stairs To The Attic

A Plus1Press Publication


Short Film: STAIRS TO THE ATTIC

My senior friend Mark spent the last five weeks of his high school career taking 8,000 still shots and compiling them together to make this music video. Enjoy.


jb

48 Hour Film Fest - Boston

A Plus1Press Publication

A guy I work with at redbones needed some more ladies in his film project and asked me if I would help. I'm not sure who won the competition but here is our humble project...

Only 6 days to the 21st.


Know Tomorrow

-sct

Goldeneye Spawn Patterns

Part 1: Temple.
Temple was the first level I ever noticed a pattern in. I know the patterns to Facility, Stack, Archives, Bunker, and most recently Complex. I have enjoyed sitting atop the Goldeneye multiplayer world for long enough and now it is time to spread the wealth.

Any level I do not know the pattern to is not worth playing.

I have taken pictures of each of the spawn points. I have set up the pictures so that on the top of the screen there is the hunter and on the bottom there is the hunted.

Step 1

Step 2: From Step 1 move to the right to the door that leads to a downhill ramp. There is a room on the left with no door and a room on the right with a door. Your opponent will spawn in the room to the left wait until they spawn and go down the hallway so the game does not bump them onto Step 3

 














Step 3: After having gone into the room without a door from the downhill ramp go back to the hallway. Wait at the door, you can open it just do not go inside. Wait for your opponent to spawn they will be in front of you slightly to the right.

Step 4: Having gone into the room with a door proceed across the room and go up the far side ramp. This will lead you back to the room from Step 1. Stay close to the wall on your left and go straight ahead to the door. Open the door and move forward until you see a dark downhill ramp on your right. Your opponent will probably have just enough time to spawn by the time you get there, proceed down the ramp.

Step 5: Go back up the dark downhill ramp you used to enter into Step 4. At the top on the ramp take a right to go downhill. Once at the bottom of the ramp do not enter the room. Wait for your opponent to spawn they will be to the right.

After Step 5 to pattern resets and goes back to Step 1. As long as you do not get to close to the spawn point the cycle will continue until the end of the game.

I will be putting up the spawn patterns to Stack, Facility, Archives, Bunker, and Complex in the upcoming weeks.

-jv

p.s. KMV, I could have never done this without you, love you very much.

I am excited for Scream 4

I am too much of a wuss to really dig horror movies. I remember watching the first Halloween at my dad's house in the middle of the day with the lights on and being terrified. Anaconda scares me to even think about, right now I am a little scared. And if you are really looking to not be able to fall asleep or look at Ronald McDonald for a little bit you should see IT. I quit scary movies after seeing Section 9 though, that shit is too scary. Props to The Horror Digest for being able to do it, I am too much of a wuss.

I am excited about Scream 4 though. I have seen all the other ones and don't have any lingering "omgimsoscared" moments. I really enjoyed them more then anything. And Scream 2 inspired me to sing a partridge family song to my girlfriend in 8th grade in the cafeteria the day before she moved away. Scream 4 comes out on Friday and while I might not see it this weekend when I do I'm sure I will love it.

I had plans to put links in to the trailers for all those movies I had mentioned before, I got too freaked out just searching for them I only got as far as the first Halloween.

Also I just saw the first bit of footage from the new Planet of the Apes movie, I'm excited for that too.

-jv

5 Fav Actors

I had a discussion on set with a coworker last week about what can qualify someone as being a great actor. There are many different parameters and exclusively deciding on the particulars, as we concluded, usually comes down to opinion.

SO, just for the hell of it, seeing as this is a completely subjective question, I'd like to see who everyones favorite top five actors are. If you are an avid TV or movie watcher, this changes constantly, so just list your current favorites in the comment section.

Coming up soon, I will ask who the top five favorite actresses are, so prepare for that as well. JV's post about "Inside the Actors Studio" led to my thinking of this, as I think it was one of the best posts yet.

-AM

Spaghetti doesn't grow on trees

You've probably realized it's April Fool's Day. Perhaps you've been inundated with prank attempts. Maybe it was TKM's not-birthday or Gmail Motion made you consider clearing a four foot space around your desk (my dad was totally fooled).  Perhaps an enthusiastic French teacher taught you about how April first is Poisson d'Avril or Fish of April in which all the jokes involve fish, so you've been noticing fish everywhere.

My favorite kind of April Fool's prank is fake news. I came across the first TV news April Fool's prank. In 1957 the BBC aired this news clip (don't mind the ten seconds of black at the beginning):


Apparently at the time in the UK spaghetti was considered pretty exotic, so people didn't know it didn't grow on trees and the BBC received a boatload of calls asking where to buy a spaghetti tree.

I wish spaghetti grew on trees, that'd be awesome.
-av

While at Sea, We Planned a Robbery

During the long-ass stretch of time we spent at sea crossing the Pacific Ocean during the end of Semester at Sea, my friends and I started to go stir crazy. My roommate Coretta came up with the idea for a "Let's Plan A Robbery" (Three 6 Mafia) music video, and we ended up shooting it all on my Cannon digital camera between the hours of 1 and 4am one night while everyone else on the ship was asleep. Our friend edited it on a bootleg version of Final Cut Pro, and this is the result.

Coretta and a bunch of others from this video were visiting us in Boston this weekend, so I wanted to (re)share it with y'all. I look totally gangsta -- please ignore the Yankees hat I'm wearing, it was all for show.

<3 id

Body Of Proof Premiere

This Tuesday, March 29, 2011, yourself, your friends, and everyone you know and their mothers, should be watching ABC at 10 p.m. Or you will surely miss out on the American premiere of what critics are saying will be the new Grey's Anatomy, "Body of Proof". The show is sort of a combination of Grey's Anatomy and House, with a police procedural background, and a great cast.

Not to mention I worked on it, and Episode 8 will be Mary Fegreus'(Mary Mary Mary) world television premiere. So now you all should be personally invested.

BE THERE!




Ignore the promo that says Fridays this fall. Don't forget, get those ratings up Tuesday, March 29th at 10 PM on ABC!

-AM

Poe Classic Bookcovers Reimagined

My friend Rich Stewart, a graphic designer I worked with at Everest Poker, has been doing some amazing freelance work since the two of us got laid off in November.

All the projects are great, but my favorite is this Poe series, where he redesigned the book covers of five of Poe's most well-known works. Check them out on his Behance portfolio, and click "Appreciate" at the bottom if you feel so inclined. "The Pit and the Pendulum" one is really cool.

Rich's specialty is typography/type treatment, which means he's really good at choosing the right font to communicate the "feeling" of a brand. Good examples: local Allston/Brookline favorites Fast Eddie's Barber Shop, Rat City Beer Co., & Zaftigs Delicatessen.

I really wish I could make stuff like that in Photoshop. Damn.

-id

p.s. the photography of these projects was done by another former coworker: Reid Haithcock, of Alice & Johnny's Wedding fame. He was the AMAZING photographer hanging around all day taking color and black & white pictures. He has a Behance portfolio too.

Napkin Art

Sometimes SCT and I play a game where I draw a nice scene, and she adds some special flare.  Below are a couple of my favorites.  Enjoy!

In case you can't read them, this one says,

"Just keep going."

"OK!"

In the boy's right hand: "ROOF-E"

jc

Friar Film

So recently JV asked me to throw new videos of trailers and other tidbits of film industry excitement on the blog. However, I would post new things every day, multiple posts a day, probably multiple pages a day.

So I thought it would make things a bit easier and less cluttered, to simply start a new blog solely for new film news, interesting tv clips, new trailers, and so on and so on.

The blog is:
http://friarfilm.blogspot.com

Friar Film as it's a website that religious about films. Get it?

Anyone is MORE than welcome to post new info. The username is Friarfilm and the password:

Here's a hint. It's a very famous movie quote that's only one word (and it's not Rosebud). If you can't figure it out, let me know and ill let you know.

-AM

The Dark Art of Knitting

Hi Everyone!

I know there are a few HP fans checking this out and I also warned Alice that my contribution may end up being a bunch of arts&craft ideas so this seems like the perfect way to start.

One of my little sisters friends spent a lot of time in the hospital as a child and became a knitting prodigy. This is her newest creation. Its too incredible not to share:

So from straight on this just looks like your run-of-the-mill striped (black and glow-in-the dark green!) scarf but as you look at it from different angles the dark mark is revealed! I have no idea how she did this and I sort of want it to remain a mystery. Maybe she's a deatheater..

- sct