there’s always hulu

My dad wants to sign up for an AT&T Uverse plan. Basically, that’s a Satellite TV/Internet/Wiretapping bundle. Our cellular plan is currently also AT&T (and that will never change as long as I have Helmut!!).

But I am wondering if this is a good idea. On the plus side, we’d only get one bill! And they might give us a discount for installing ourselves firmly in the AT&T empire.

On the other hand, whenever you think you’re saving money on Internet or cable, you always end up getting nickel-and-dimed to death. So I wanna think this through very carefully before we commit.

On the other other hand, the last two sentences would apply even if we didn’t go with a bundle. Because all TV and Internet companies in the US, well, how you say? Suuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Maybe the best thing would be to learn to live without cable TV (going without internet, of course, is out of the question).

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at the supermarket: molto coffee and tea

Okay, this week’s featured product isn’t exactly available at your supermarket, but it IS a common beverage item and I’ve had it for a few years now, so when it does become more widely available, I will be ahead of the curve!

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of single-serve coffee pods, due to the overall waste and expense of the whole thing, but you really can’t beat the convenience of it! The only thing more convenient is drip coffee, and quality-wise, it’s hardly a fair tradeoff. So the price, environmentally and financially, is (just barely) worth it, I think.

My parents got a Simplehuman single cup pod brewer a few years ago.* Simplehuman also distributes single-serve pods made by Molto Coffee, and I’ve found this company’s coffee pods to be slightly superior to most other such pod brands, like Senseo’s brand (Douwe Egbert) or Melitta; it’s much better than Folgers. Some of Molto’s beans taste kinda burnt, but I’ve yet to find a better brand for single-serve coffee pods of this shape.

My parents prefer the Decaf Colombian, and I have to admit, it’s not bad, especially for decaf. But I like the Kona Blend, as it’s decently mild and smooth. For a stronger cup, try the Sumatra Mandheling – it’s a bit on the toasty side, but I like it better than the Costa Rica, which is a little too earthy for my tastes.

On the tea side, the Tropical Green Tea is quite pleasant. Earl Grey is really strong and a bit too bitter, as if it’s not brewed properly by the machine.

On the whole, I wish more coffee brands produced pods. I can understand why they wouldn’t, and it may still be too early to figure out how to sell coffee in this form without seriously compromising its quality, but really, this category needs more worthy competitors. It’d be nice to be able to drink great coffee even when you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to prepare a cup the hard way.

*Simplehuman stopped selling the original coffee maker; a revamped version is due out in 2009. I doubt I’ll be buying the new one, seeing as how I’m neither rich nor a die-hard early-adopter, but I think the company produces some of the best-designed machines around (even the unboxing is well-considered, just like with Apple products!). They also have great customer service. Also, I’m totally not being paid to write this (although if anyone would LIKE to recompense me for the trouble, I wouldn’t say no!)!

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*french-ist*

The last two French movies I’ve seen, it turns out, are both adaptations of American stories (or rather, one story and one real-life occurrence. “Tell No One” was a novel by Harlan Coben adeptly adapted by Guillaume Canet, and “La fille coupée en deux” was loosely based on a sensational trial in America at the turn of the century. With Chabrollian twists, of course.

I think that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed any American version of either. I’m not saying that that’s at all rational, I’m just saying it’s probably true.

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Home Movie Day PSA

This Sat Oct. 18th, bring your home movies to a worldwide Home Movie Day location near you. We’ll inspect the film in any format (like Super8, 16mm) and if it’s in good enough shape, we’ll project it! And teach you how best to take care of it so it’ll last longer. Or tell you where you can have it transferred. Etc etc. Even if you don’t have any home movies, you can still come and watch other peoples’!

more about "Home Movie Day PSA", posted with vodpod

Filed under: fun

at the supermarket: hansen’s creamy root beer

Until recently, Hansen’s creamy root beer used high fructose corn syrup. Now, as anyone who’s ever heard of Michael Pollan knows, HFCS is the devil’s saliva and must be avoided at all costs.

So when I decided to go off HFCS, I knew I had to quit drinking Hansen’s soda, and that made me really sad. I’m a huge soda fan, mainly for the fizziness. I’m very into the idea of giving up Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, and all those other mainstream soft drinks, but soda with real sugar is a bit pricier than those, especially the bottled kind (which I hear is better because it lacks the plastic lining inside).

Now, I love Izze soda and Jones soda and Thomas Kemper as much any true aficionado, and maybe it really is worth it for both taste and health (or, to be more accurate, lesser un-health), but for a die-hard fizzy-drink addict, the toll on the wallet is hard to take. I’ve even experimented with making my own soda, just using club soda or sparkling water and making variations on simple syrup by adding flavors from berries and things, but that’s time-consuming, and kind of difficult to do when, say, you just want something to drink at work during your lunch break.

So it’s been hard to give up on Coke entirely, or even HFCS in general, which is in every freaking product ever made, it seems. But I try.

The point is, I’m super pleased to find that Hansens no longer uses HFCS in their creamy root beer! It’s now made with cane sugar like every other socially acceptable soft drink. So I can enjoy the delicious creaminess of this concoction once more, and with less guilt! Also, it’s still in cans, so it’s still reasonably priced, $2-3 at Trader Joe’s.

Anyway, so yeah. If youer’ a root beer fan, give Hansen’s Creamy Root Beer a try. Real sugar is where it’s at!

At least, until I take the next big step and remove THAT from my diet. But that is a very, very long ways from now.

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yay for reading!

Now that I’m used to using Google Reader, I’m liking it a lot. I esp. like the Sharing feature, because I can see what friends are reading, plus they provide an additional filter – I can rely on my friends to show me the 20% of the internet that’s actually worth reading, so I don’t have to read the crappy 80% of the rest of what’s out there (unless I want to!). Also it’s way easier to share interesting articles/links. (note to self: should find a way to hook this up to delicious or Tumblr, where I used to do most of my sharing.)

Reader’s still got a few UI shortcomings, esp. compared to Bloglines, which I still use for more in-depth blogs, but as far as oxymoronically efficient time-wasting tools go, it’s not bad! The skimmable RSS feeds all go to my Reader, because the layout makes scanning really easy. I esp like the keyboard shortcuts that make sharing and marking all read really easy to do.

Give it a try if you haven’t already. And add me as a friend so I can see what interests you!

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decisions, decisions

My mom just told me that I have one last chance to fly the airline she worked for – I have to buy my ticket by the end of September, but I can use the ticket to travel anywhere the airline flies until the end of April.

As always the ticket is standby, but it’s a pretty hefty discount – when outrageous fuel surcharges cost more than the price of the actual round-trip international flight, it’s nothing to sneeze at!

So…where should I go?

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yes, yes they are

Yesterday I made a day trip out to Westwood (because it’s *that* far away that I had to make it a “day trip”). I had to go to the student health center. Before that though, I dropped by my old work-study to shoot the breeze with my old supervisor. Later on I walked with her to the food place at the north end of campus, and as we were walking through the school I remarked that it was nice to be back on campus again.

My supervisor was like, “Are things really that bad that you’re happy to be here!?”

Okay, so apparently things are not going so well at my former place of employment/school, but hey, I enjoyed being a Bruin! I enjoyed being in school and being able to put off living for awhile.

Now that I’m out of school and faced with having to find work, things are pretty horrible. So yeah.

Whatever. Anyway, I finished my day trip with a visit to Westside Pavilion (to watch “Tell No One,” a brilliant French adaptation of a Harlen Coben thriller that was nevertheless quite Hollywood-y, with callbacks to films like “Vertigo” and “Mystic River,” at the recently-redone Landmark theater that serves alcohol and has reserved seating, with full-on leather chairs and loveseats!).

Then I went to the Westfield behemoth at Century City to pick up more Molto coffee pods for our Simplehuman machine.

I have to say that both those malls, despite being malls, are quite pleasant! Either is miles better than the Grove.

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at the supermarket: wasabi peas

Cheryl got me hooked on these. They’re like those peas that sometimes come in those Japanese savory snack bags, you know, with the differently-shaped rice crackers that are sometimes wrapped in nori, and that taste sort of umami-ish with just a hint of, like, mirin, or something.

Well, the peas *look* the same as those. But wasabi peas are covered in wasabi powder (who’da thunk?). When you first pop them in your mouth you don’t really notice anything, so you pop a few more in your mouth, enjoying the mild burn on your tongue.

And then, a few seconds later, comes that rush of heat that overpowers your nose and climbs roaring all the way up your septum, nearly burning off your adenoids and conveniently clearing any sinus problems you might have had.

The lingering aftertaste, though, brings back that umami-ish flavor; there’s also that fun texture, with the translucent skin of the peas that crackles when you bite through, and the sturdy pea underneath, all of which induce you to shove your hand back into the bag for more, until they’re all gone.

Yeah, and you can even get them at Trader Joes! =)

Filed under: food , food, peas, wasabi

double take

First headline in my google reader this morning: “China wins early gold after big opening.”

First headine when i refresh for newer stories: “China’s winning start dulled by murder.”

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