A New Project for the Worm and I

Lately, the Worm and I have been talking about co-authoring a book. Our first idea had been to post it on here, our fascinating blog of modge-podge things. Then I, the Duck, came up with this brilliant idea: why not create a Webs in which we could keep our story? Luckily, Webs also has blogs so it was easy to begin The Life Account of Aiken Mars.Granted, we're starting slow so none of the actual story is posted yet (check back on April 1st for Chapter 1), but the Worm and I are still working on the story behind the scenes. Granted, I may be obsessing a bit, but the Worm is good at controlling my obsession. So, wish us luck, and be sure to check out our newest project! Thanks for reading. Oh, and The Duck and the Worm will still be updated though it'll probably be monthly now instead of our hoped-for weekly posting.

What you see isn't always what you get

So today, we'll take a look at foods that have one name and are something else entirely. I'll warn you that you may not have much of an appetite after reading this, so you might want to make it a special occasion.

First off, Rocky Mountain Oysters. Now, if you know anything about the Rocky Mountains, you know that it is completely landlocked part of the country. So, how do you suppose this area of the country has oysters? Well, I'll give you a hint: it utilizes a rather abundant source of food already here.

Rocky Mountain Oysters are actually bull testicles. Yes, you heard right: testicles. They are deep-fried and usually not recognizable as anything other than some chewy meat.

Along similar lines, we have something called Lamb Fries. They are, as you might guess, lamb testicles. Another food like that is called Duck White Kidneys, which are duck testicles.

Ants on a log? Raisins with peanut butter and celery.

Any other fun foods you can think of? Have I put you off your appetite completely? Hehe, good.

Movie Review #1

Recently, I saw the movie 50/50. Due to personal reasons, I didn't actually get to watch the end of the movie, but what I've seen so far tells me that it's a great, funny and sad movie. At the beginning of the movie, you are introduced to the main character Adam. He has a friend, Kyle, who's one goal in life is to apparently screw every girl in the world. Adam also has a girlfriend, Rachael, who is actually quite a bit of a bitch. So, it starts out with a little bit of background about Adam--he works with his friend, he jogs in the mornings, he lives with his artist girlfriend, he rarely sees his parents, and he has recently been having some back pain.

This back pain turns out to be cancer of the back, in layman's terms. His doctor is an ass who has absolutely no people skills. In fact, Adam finds out he has cancer because the doctor is making notes about his case on a recorder, not because he actually spoke to Adam. Adam ends up visiting a therapist to deal with his cancer, Katherine--who is actually still a student. He makes some friends in chemotherapy who introduce him to medical marijuana. Kyle gets him a prescription. Kyle also helps with shaving his head, as you can see in the image below.

Another thing we are introduced to about Adam is that he doesn't drive. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and doesn't do anything that could be hazardous to his health. In fact, he doesn't even have a license. And yet he ends up with cancer that has 50/50 odds. So, basically as the story continues, his girlfriend ends up being a total bitch--pardon my French. Here are my reasons that she's a bitch, taken from my notes about the movie:

• Rachael, Adam's girlfriend, buys him a dog called Skeletor. She got him from the pound and tells him that having a dog is "good for the healing process." He obviously doesn't like the dog but keeps it because Rachael goes on about how she'll just take him back to the pound where he'll share a small cage with 10 more dogs and eventually will be put to sleep. So, he keeps the dog. Kind of a bitch move that she didn't talk about something as big as getting a pet with him considering she lives in his place.
• The first time Rachael takes him to treatment, she asks if it's okay if she stays in the car because she doesn't want to mix "that world" with "this world." Considering they're in a romantic relationship, there should be only one world--their world. And it shouldn't matter if that world has to include a medical hospital, a psychiatric hospital, or even a prison.
• Another time that Rachael takes Adam to his treatment, she ends up driving off and shows up late to pick him up. I'm not entirely sure just how long he was sitting there waiting, but he was pretty upset. He'd brought his friends from chemotherapy to meet her, and she didn't even show up.
• Kyle goes on a date with a girl who loves art, and it ends up being an art gallery opening that Rachael is actually attending as well. Adam is lying at home, feeling sick and lying to his mother saying that Rachael is going to be home soon to make food for him. Kyle catches her kissing a guy with a big Jesus beard. When Rachael gets home, Adam wants to spend some time with her, but she's "tired" and just wants to go to bed. Kyle shows up and brings along photographic evidence that Rachael is a bitch.
• When Rachael comes to get her things, she realizes Adam is removing every part of her out of his life including her art that was hanging up in the house. They go outside for a moment to talk (Kyle's been spending days at Adam's house to keep him company), and she starts kissing on him saying they could start over and she'll try harder.
• Rachael was a bitch from the beginning. She didn't care to spend time with him, when he woke in the middle of the night to throw up, she just asked "Are you okay?" but didn't go check on him. She was late to pick him up and complained that she was trying and that it was tough. And she blamed him and his cancer for her cheating. Because apparently Adam didn't know how stressful it was to be dating him while he had cancer--always sleeping, needing something, getting sick all the time.

Anyway, so where I left off in the movie, Adam and his therapist, Katherine, were getting closer, and Kyle and Adam were spending a lot of time together just being buddies trying to survive through his cancer together. It really was a very beautiful movie about survival, friendship, and apparently one big bitch.

Book Review #1

I recently finished a book titled Matched by Ally Condie. It's of a society in which all things are regulated, from who your parents are, to how many siblings you could have. From there, things only get more restrictive. Each person has individual nutritional requirements that have to be recorded. Your day is tightly controlled (except when you are given "free time").

At seventeen, you are presented with your "Match". This will be the person you marry when you are 21 (the optimal age to be married, as that is when males and females are most fertile). For those four years, you have supervised outings with your "Match" accompanied by an Official.

This book is about a girl, Cassia Reyes, who is Matched with her best friend Xander. She's grown up with this boy and knows pretty much everything about him. If only things were that simple?

The twist comes when she later goes to read the guidelines about the Match as well as to see if there's anything about Xander that she doesn't know. For just a second, Xander's face is replaced with another's. This one's name is Ky Markham and he is what is considered an 'Aberration'. Something happened with his parents and he was adopted by his aunt and uncle.

As the story progresses, we learn that this 'Perfect' society is hiding some very ugly facts. Such as the fact that no one lives past 80 years old. (Again, the optimal age. This time, to die before no diseases set in.) Their food is poisoned and they die quietly with no one knowing the difference.

There are many rules and regulations in place. You can't share your food, you can enter another person's home, you can't be out past curfew.

By the end of the story, Cassia has learned that not everything is perfect. She loves Xander because he is her friend and her Match, but she also loves Ky because he is different. He knows how to write (a skill no longer known when everything is typed) and he knows about poetry that is not confined to the Hundred Poems list (there is a list like that for music as well).

I liken it to Alduous Huxley's Brave New World, about a utopian society that controls everyone through a modified caste system. There are similarities between the two, such as a controlled society and showing people that this control is necessary and welcomed.

However, Matched is slightly more engaging. After all, it is told from the eyes of a teenage girl. You can see her struggle to come to terms with the revelation that not everything always goes as planned and that, sometimes, it's okay to rebel.

I know that I couldn't live in a place like that. If I'd been raised that way, perhaps, but then again, maybe not. There are simply too many rules to remember and follow.

It's supposed to be part of a trilogy, but I haven't seen the other two books yet. I hope that Condie does write more. I'm eager to see her idea of an imperfect 'Perfect' society develop further.

Vegan Cake--One Word: DELICIOUS

My sister made the most amazing cake today. It was supposed to be a checkered cake, but the pan didn't quite agree with my sister's decision to remove the cake. Apparently, the pan really wanted to keep the cake. But I'm getting distracted. The best part about this cake was how amazing it tasted. But guess what? The cake is completely vegan. There are no eggs, milk, or any other animal products used inside this cake. But it was moist and fluffy (though the brown part tasted more like brownie), and it was rich. I loved it, and so did the rest of my family. And my sister's the only vegan one out of the six of us! I don't have a recipe (sorry, vegans), but I do know this cake was delicious.

Introducing: The Worm

So, I'm the Worm and I'll be honest with you: I'm a terrible blogger. I like to pretend I'm a decent writer, but I know that's not always the case. I also know that I either ramble a lot or can't stick to a schedule. My personal blog is a good example of this.

However, being a co-author might be a step in the right direction for me. At least this way, I'll have someone hounding my ass to put something up for people to read, in a timely fashion no less.

Let's see... what can I put for an introduction? How about an example of the reviews we'll be doing on here? That's a good enough place to start, I suppose.

Movies
The latest movie I've seen, in theaters at least, was The Muppets. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do. It's good for a laugh and, if you're a child of the 80's or 90's, brings back a few memories. (At least for me anyway. The Muppets may have been around before then, but I sure wasn't.) I won't post too much about it, spoilers and all that, but I will tell you that the songs are a little on the cheesy side while the acting is a little... iffy. I'm not sure I would have chosen the actors they did, but I also can't give a good example of a better actor for the part.

In a normal post, either movies, music, books, or something else altogether would be the focus of the post. This is just an example, obviously. Next time, it will be a little more in-depth and, possibly, even contain some spoilers. *gasp!*

I'll pass the torch to the Duck to continue from here.

Laters

Introducing: The Duck

So, I'm sure you're all a little curious just what exactly drove us to start this blog. Well, the Worm and I do a lot of writing--mainly in the form of role playing. But it's not the kind of role playing of video games. It's more like... Dungeons & Dragons. I suppose the best way to describe it would be to give an example. So, here's a few examples:

Isabel hadn't grown up in Tortuga. She had a family once on the coasts of Italy. A beautiful girl, she had black, curly locks and striking blue eyes. It was her beauty that captured the pirate captain, Barbosa. Taken aboard the Black Pearl, she was used and abused by several men during the trip. When they put in port at Tortuga, she was sold at the inn for fifty gold pieces. 

Three years later, she was used to the life of a bar whore. Men paid good money to watch her dance and even more to spend a night with her. She would give the inn it's share, and she saved the rest. One day, one day soon, she would have enough to sail away from this god-awful place.

That's me writing. Now here's the Worm:

Everything seemed to be working correctly, for once. When the Tardis materialized, he didn't recognize the time period or the place. "Well, a new adventure is not unwelcome." He left the Tardis and was immediately hit by the smell. It made him stagger a little before he regained his composure. He straightened his suit and went for a walk, then noticed something very odd. Everywhere he went, there were men dressed as pirates and women as wenches. What have I come across? He saw a tavern and decided it might be a good place to figure out where exactly he was. He ducked inside and stood to one side, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

Does that make sense? I create a character and write something, and the Worm follows with her own character and her own writing. It's a lot of fun, and I'm sure we'll write about it in this blog.

So, this blog is meant for a little bit of everything. Food, reviews, role playing, writing tips, whatever we can think of! Anyway, I shall now leave it to the Worm to write her own introduction post.