Tag: Sliced Tomatoes

Pizza, Salad, and a Movie: Get Out

Last weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Tomatoes
  • Jalapeños
  • Mushrooms

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It was a beautiful evening, so we sat outside on the patio. I had the V-8 salad (tomatoes + other fresh ingredients but no lettuce).

Movie:

Get Out

If you know anything about this film, you know it’s basically Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner meets horror film. I’m not a big fan of the latter, but the former is one of my all time favorite movies. I thought that film’s story was wonderful, and the acting was super.

Not so much with this movie. My husband liked it better than I did (and he is more okay with horror movies), and though I admit it was cleverly done, I don’t think it’s destined to be a classic. There was one scene in particular that truly horrified me, and – spoiler – it had to do with brain surgery. If you’ve read my third book, ALL THE ABOVE: MY SON’S BATTLE WITH BRAIN CANCER (or even if you haven’t yet) you’ll know why.

So, I came out of the theatre a bit shaken. But I guess that was the idea.

 

 

 

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Pizza, Salad, and a Movie: Queen of Katwe

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Sliced Tomatoes
  • Jalapeños
  • Red Onion

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and a spinach salad for me.

Movie:

Queen of Katwe

He had heard of this film and wanted to see it, and I really enjoyed it. Based on a true story, it’s about a young girl in Africa who turns out to be a chess prodigy. I don’t play chess (and don’t want to learn how), but it was absolutely wonderful that this girl did. She was amazing, and during the chess competition scenes, it was tense, and she didn’t always win. I was mesmerized by her and her opponent’s eyes – watching their expressions and their reactions as they competed.

There was a lot more to love about this movie, too, including the rest of the cast, and it was well done. Sully was a feel-good film, and so was this one. It was just a tad bit too long, but overall I think it’s an A.

Our dinner was great, too, and it was a fun evening out. I’ll eat pizza again later on – but not with jalapeños on it!

 

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Pizza, Salad, and a Movie: Ghostbusters

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Chicken
  • Jalapeños
  • Sliced Tomatoes

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Me? I had a wedge salad again.

Movie:

Ghostbusters

The film: A solid remake, funny, entertaining, well cast, and if you liked the original, you’ll probably like this one, too.

The pizza: He’s on a jalapeños kick (with my blessing) because I’m not eating pizza for the foreseeable future. My salad was great, though.

Movies we want to see very soon: The Secret Life of Pets, Jason Bourne (we’re binge watching the previous ones, all of which I LOVE), Captain Fantastic, Bad Moms (note: I almost titled my last novel, DADDY’S GIRL, as BAD CINDERELLA – and maybe I should have), and later on, Ben-Hur.

 

 

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Corn
  • Ground Beef
  • Sliced Tomatoes

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Movie:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

This isn’t the movie we planned to see on Friday night, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The pizza toppings were my choices this time, and I don’t know why the photo is so dark/shady. I tried to lighten it, but I liked it best in the original. Maybe it turned out this way because it gets dark earlier now.

Speaking of early, all the movies we were interested in seeing were showing at 7:00, so my husband arrived home from work a tad bit early so that we could make it. With it being the Friday before Thanksgiving, traffic was lighter than normal, so we actually had plenty of time. (When did people start traveling for the holiday on the Friday before, though?)

We had planned to see Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks (a friend recommended it, and we knew The Hunger Games would be out longer). But, in anticipation of seeing this movie, we watched Part 1 at home the other night. When we were in line for the tickets, with the ending of that film in my head, I asked my husband if he wanted to pass on Spies and see this instead.

He did.

It was good, and well done. Unless you don’t like that kind of thing, you’ll probably enjoy it, and I’m not a science fiction reader or fan myself. But by the time it was over, I found myself feeling thankful that the trilogy is over. I’ve read the first book only, and do plan to read the other two. I don’t know when, though, because I have a ton of books (and a wide variety of them) on my TBR (to be read) pile on my nightstand (and on goodreads.com)!

And I still want to see Bridge of Spies! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Best of Enemies

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Arugula
  • Ham
  • Sliced Tomatoes

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Movie:

Best of Enemies

This was kind of like a ham and tomato and arugula sandwich, on a pizza – except that it was light on the ham, which was fine. My husband chose all the toppings, and they suited me. He also chose the film, which didn’t completely suit me.

I didn’t dislike it – I found it enlightening, witty, and entertaining. Later, I asked him if he thought people ate arugula back in 1968 (the year the events in the film, a documentary, took place).

“I’m sure they had it, but it probably wasn’t on anyone’s table in America,” he said.

We were children during the 1960s, and as the oldest of nine kids*, when his mother served a “salad” at dinner, it was sliced iceberg lettuce (only), with homemade “French” dressing (ketchup mixed with water, or, if mixed with mayonnaise, “Thousand Island”).

Salads at my house were a close cousin: either torn iceberg lettuce, or green leaf lettuce I was assigned to pick from our garden. Our dressing was oil and vinegar – I remember thinking you had to eat at a restaurant to have other options.

We did have tomatoes in our salads, if we had some in the garden. My dad used to pick them early and put them on a window sill to ripen. Other garden ingredients I recall are green onions and radishes.**

As for ham, I like it well enough, but my husband isn’t too fond of it, so I was surprised he chose it as a pizza topping. But I know, over time, he wants to order every conceivable topping combination (see PIZZA AND A MOVIE tab above), so I assumed that had something to do with it.

Back to the movie. If you like politics, culture, and (especially), debates, you should see it. The footage from 1968 alone was great, and I found myself marveling that it happened the year Nixon was elected, and just a few short years before he resigned and the Viet Nam war ended. Watching the two “enemies,” William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal, go at each other was amazing; there were more than a few unexpected and unscripted moments.

And I bet each of them grew up in homes where arugula was served, occasionally.

* For more about my husband’s large family, read my latest book ALL THE ABOVE. Several people in the family (including his mother) appear in it.

** What ingredients were in your salads when you were growing up?

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Jurassic World

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Ground Beef (hamburger)
  • Mushrooms
  • Sliced Tomatoes

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Movie:

Jurassic World 

Okay – it was a hamburger pizza, complete with toppings you might put on one, and I guess it was in honor of Father’s Day this weekend. But it was tasty, and lighter than burgers would have been. And then we went to see Jurassic World.

We had gone to see Jurassic Park, I think (or maybe, with four young kids at home then, we rented it), and I had read that book by Michael Crichton. I had read and heard a little about this film (“it was the same story, basically”), and like Jurassic Park, it was suspenseful and scary. But I enjoyed the earlier film a lot more.

Although – don’t get me wrong. I’m as glued to the screen when I see (fake) dinosaurs gobble up people as the next person is. The story line was clever enough, and the little bit of dialogue was okay. But the thing that got me thinking the most was, how did that woman run so far, so long, and so fast in high heels?

A lot has been written recently about the same issue, and before I saw the film, I read the New York Times article Science Weighs in on High-Heels. But until I watched the heroine in action, I forgot about what I’d read. Then, I saw the actress wearing them early in the movie. And I kept waiting for her to take them off, especially after another character pointed them out to her.

But she didn’t – at least, I saw her still wearing them, at the end. If a movie (or book) calls for it, I’m happy to engage in the willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of the story, but I must say that in this instance, I had a hard time with it.

Who runs in high heels, anyway? If I were her and a dinosaur were chasing me, kicking off those heels would have been the first thing I’d have done. I do wear heels (and flats), and the last time I wore heels and regretted not taking them off was a couple of years ago, when I danced for too long at a wedding. My feet and ankles ached for days afterward, and I learned my lesson. I don’t really know why I kept them on that night, but I suspect it was the combination of vanity (I had just bought those shoes) and champagne.

In any case, back to the movie, and to the pizza. My husband seemed to enjoy both, and I don’t think he noticed the high heels marathon – he didn’t remark about it. He rarely takes note of what size heels I wear (even though he’s only a few inches taller than me), but once, he did marvel that I had packed four pairs of beige (nude) shoes of various heel height on weeklong trip to Texas and California. I smiled then and took it as a compliment.

Today, I’m off to a book signing at The Book Worm Bookstore in Powder Springs, Georgia, along with two other authors. I wasn’t sure whether to wear heels or flats, so I compromised. I’m wearing the heels and taking the flats along in case I need them.

But I won’t be running!

 

 

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