In last week's Wednesday post, I explored the idea of a Breakfast Manhattan and suggested the Whiskey Sidecar as a possible alternative. I got this Bourbon Sidecar recipe combining bourbon, triple sec and lemon juice in 4:2:1 ratio from The New York Bartender's Guide. I included a cherry garnish. The recipe doesn't call for it but, well, we like cherries. The result was definitely sweeter and more citrusy than a Manhattan. It's tasty but still not quite what I had in mind.
My next attempt was more satisfying, a combination of my own devising: rye, sweet vermouth and triple sec in 6:1:1 ratio plus orange bitters and a cherry garnish. I'm still not sure the drink was exactly breakfasty but my wife and I both preferred it to the Sidecar. Worth remembering.
Once again, Peter Parker's personal life offers the most interesting story lines. I had not realized that Peter met Gwen Stacy before he met Mary Jane Watson.
My Recent Reads
The Amazing Spider-Man #29
Originally Published October 1, 1965
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Villain: The Scorpion
Ned Leeds is back from Europe and appears to have the inside track with Betty Brant.
Is Aunt May sick?
The Amazing Spider-Man #30
Originally Published November 1, 1965
Lee/Ditko
Flash is stalking Liz Allan and Peter Parker intervenes.
Ned proposes to Betty. She still loves Peter but confesses to him that she'd be terrified to be with someone like Spider-Man (not knowing Peter is Spidey), preferring a quieter life with someone more dependable. Sensible woman, really. Though it breaks his heart - and hers - Peter steps out of the mix. He doesn't explain why but he walks away from Betty and doesn't take her calls. Let's be honest, it's the merciful choice. For once, Parker did the right thing.
The Amazing Spider-Man #31
Originally Published December 1, 1965
Lee/Ditko
Part one of three - longer arcs are creeping in.
Villain: the Master Planner. We don't know who he is yet but we know it's someone Spidey has faced before.
Peter starts at Empire State University, meeting Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy, a particularly important character for the franchise and - again, no hyperbole - the American comic book medium as a whole.
The Amazing Spider-Man #32
Originally Published January 1, 1966
Lee/Ditko
Part two of three
Master Planner is revealed to be Doctor Octopus.
Dr. Connors (Lizard) returns, this time trying to help Spider-Man find a cure for Aunt May's current ailment, probably caused by a blood transfusion from Peter.
Doc Ock's goons intercept the curing serum en route so Spidey has to go get it.
The Amazing Spider-Man #33
Originally Published February 10, 1966
Lee/Ditko
Master Planner story concludes.
The Amazing Spider-Man #34
Originally Published March 1, 1966
Lee/Ditko
Villain: Kraven the Hunter
Betty Brant finally gives up on Peter, leaving her job at The Daily Bugle. Jameson has a new secretary, as yet unnamed.
The Amazing Spider-Man #35
Originally Published April 1, 1966
Lee/Ditko
Villain: Molten Man
Peter meets Jameson's new secretary (still unnamed). He learns from her that Ned Leeds has also left for the West Coast. Peter suspects Betty and Ned have run off to get married.
Yogi Berra reference! A New York baseball legend, and history's most quotable athlete, the Hall of Fame catcher retired as a player after the 1965 season. In 1966, he was a coach for the Mets.
An old friend warns Picard of a conspiracy within Starfleet. When the friend's ship is found destroyed, the Enterprise returns to Earth so the captain can warn the top brass of the impending danger. Alas, the admirals have been possessed by parasitic aliens. Admiral Quinn (Ward Costello) and Lt. Cmdr. Remmick (Robert Schenkkan) return in pivotal roles.
"Conspiracy" often features in Best Episode lists for TNG. While it's definitely on the stronger side for Season 1, it's not one of my favorites. For one thing, it tends more towards horror than usual - heads exploding, people eating squirming worms, aliens bursting out of people's chests - and horror is generally not my scene. The episode also undermines the satisfying resolution of its prequel, "Coming of Age." While it is kind of cool that the threat Quinn warned of in the earlier story is happening right under his own nose, it turns out Remmick truly is a rat. He was redeemed so nicely before. Oh well. There's some production sloppiness, too, especially with the camera work for Costello's body double.
Henry Darrow played the role of Admiral Savar, one of the top brass who came under control of the aliens. Darrow was born Enrique Tomás Delgado Jiménez in New York City, September 15, 1933. When he was 13, his family moved back to Puerto Rico where he went to high school, then the University of Puerto Rico as a theater major. As a junior, he won a scholarship to study at Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles.
His best known professional role is as Mano in the the 1960s western series The High Chaparral. He also won an Emmy for his performance on the soap opera Santa Barbara. Along with Ricardo Montalbán, Edith Diaz and Carmen Zapata, he co-founded the Screen Actors Guild's Ethnic Minority Committee. He was also a founder of Nosotros, an organization which helps Latino actors find non-stereotyped parts.
Grandmaster and expert chess writer Yasser Seirawan provides analysis of twelve of his favorite professional chess showdowns. Whereas his books normally focus on a particular aspect of the game - Tactics, Strategy, Openings, etc. - Brilliancies encompasses all, providing the full-game context his other volumes generally lack. Chess folklore runs deep and the author provides insights into several of the top players of the late 20th century. Included are the four most famous champions of the era: Fischer, Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov. There are plenty of other names new to me as well.
The book begs a question: is chess a sport? Seirawan refers to it as such several times but I'm not entirely convinced. And if chess is a sport, are all tabletop games? ESPN airs poker tournaments, after all. Where is the line between the two if there is one?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) seems as authentic an authority on the distinction as any. The IOC recognizes both chess and bridge as "mind sports." Chess has been featured at the Asian Games twice this century. Chess was on the short list of new sports considered for the 2020 Olympics and is applying again for 2024. Interestingly, it is not rejected outright as the motor sports are, though the international auto racing and motorcycle racing associations are also both recognized by the IOC. Perhaps if the games are ever included in the Olympic lineup, I will feel differently but for now, I don't consider chess a sport.
More important to my reading habits and blogging purposes, GoodReads doesn't list chess books as sports books. Though, interestingly, I first learned the names Karpov and Kasparov from a Sports Illustrated article in the mid-'80s chronicling their first world championship match, an encounter also documented in Winning Chess Brilliancies. I can't deny that the sports fan in me enjoys a presentation of the game such as the one Seirawan offers here. We see contrasting styles between the classical and modern approaches. We have glimpses into the psychological battle within a tense match as well as the intense preparation grandmasters do ahead of time. Seirawan includes two of his own games which is a little vain but it does afford more personal insights.
I will not pretend I followed every alternate thread Seirawan suggested in his analyses. It's definitely the sort of book with which it's easy to get lost in the details. I'm not sure I learned anything new from the book. However, it is a worthy supplement to Seirawan's other Winning Chess volumes as he clearly documents how the players follow general principles, along with when they violate them and why. As with the others, I will keep Winning Chess Brilliancies around for reference as I seek to develop my own chess game.
My wife and daughter made breakfast for dinner on Friday night: blueberry waffles and bacon. My wife suggested Manhattans to drink and it seemed a fine occasion for an experiment. How might one create a Breakfast Manhattan? There are recipes around, of course. The simplest one I found was this one from Difford's Guide. We didn't have any marmalade (not really a fan anyway) so that wasn't gonna happen. For the initial attempt, I simply switched out the usual Angostura bitters for orange bitters. The result was perfectly pleasant, though not especially breakfasty. In fact, basic Manhattan recipes allow for the substitution.
How might I fix that? The basic idea of a fruity infusion seems a good one though I don't want to go so far that it overpowers the other flavors, always a risk with citrus and the marmalade would. How about switching out the vermouth for triple sec? Well, then the cocktail is called a whiskey sidecar, perhaps an acceptable alternative. We like sidecars. Or could I split the difference and use a combination of both vermouth and triple sec? Would the grape/orange combo be weird?
Obviously, further studies will be required.
Squid on the Vine
Les Deux Moulins, Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2018
Strong apple and pear
My rating: 8.4
Cento Cavalli, Terre Siciliane Nero d'Avola 2018
Chocolate-covered cherry
Maybe too sweet
Astringent
My rating: 8.2
House of M was Marvel's major comic book event of 2005 and the eight issues collected here launched the story. While an ailing Scarlet Witch is struggling to hold the fabric of the universe together, both the Avengers and the X-Men are thrust into an alternate reality. The mutants role over mankind with Magneto at the helm. Only Wolverine remembers the way things used to be.
There's nothing like an Avengers story to bring a cast of thousands. The movies only scratch the surface. Plus you throw the X-Men on top of all that. There are a lot of characters to keep track of here! I am grateful for the movies and for what limited comic book experience I already had. Despite it all, I was still mostly able to grasp the broader story. There are some great what-ifs, including what if Gwen Stacey had lived.
A couple of important differences between the Marvel comic books of the 1960s and those of the 21st century:
There is less text on the page now than there was in early eras. This leaves a lot more room and storytelling heft for the artwork.
Panel layout is more varied and less predictable. This can be confusing in trying to follow the story in proper sequence.
Like I said, these eight issues are only the beginning. I'm not in any rush yet but at some point, I may seek out more.
The beauty of animated characters is that they are immune from the effects of aging. Or at least, they can be. Bart Simpson has been on television for over three decades and hasn't aged a day. Our daughter is an Archie comics aficianado so I asked her if that gang is still in high school after all these years. She reports that while there are some tangent, hypothetical timeline arcs that offer glimpses of later life, in the main core story all of the principals are, in fact, still teenagers. 81 years is a long time to wait to graduate.
It didn't take quite so long for Peter Parker. In issue #28, Petey gets his diploma along with an academic scholarship to Empire State University. And who won the athletic scholarship to the same fine institution? Flash Thompson, naturally.
My Recent Reads The Amazing Spider-Man #22
Originally Published May 10, 1965
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Villains: Crafty Clown, Ringmaster and the Masters of Menace, the group previously known as The Circus of Crime. Frustrated with Ringmaster, they kick him out and choose the Clown as the new leader.
We discover a Spidey weakness: he won't fight a female villain. This works out well for Princess Python. I recall Batman had similar issues with Catwoman in the beginning (see here).
The Amazing Spider-Man #23
Originally Published April 10, 1965
Lee/Ditko
Villains: Green Goblin and The Gangsters
Frederick Foswell - aka The Big Man - is out of jail and now working as an investigating reporter for The Daily Bugle. He seems to have a connection with the Green Goblin, too.
Nemesis: J. Jonah Jameson, using a robot built by a Dr. Smythe (the robot in this issue is the one in the lower left)
A very important character is introduced: Mary Jane Watson! But we don't get to see her face yet. According to Betty Brant and Liz Allan, Miss Watson is movie-star beautiful.
The Amazing Spider-Man #26
Originally Published July 1, 1965
Lee/Ditko
Beatles reference! July 1965 was also the month the movie Help! opened in theaters.
Frederick Foswell is connected to the villains' machinations but as yet, it is unclear exactly how.
We also meet The Patch, a police informant.
The Amazing Spider-Man #27
Originally Published August 1, 1965
Lee/Ditko
The Green Goblin, Crime-Master story continues.
Foswell's connection is revealed! He is The Patch. I was fooled, twice. For a while, I thought he might be Green Goblin. For a while, I thought he might be the Crime-Master.
The Amazing Spider-Man #28
Originally Published September 1, 1965
Lee/Ditko
Fantastic cover. Ditko was especially good at the trippy, pre-psychedelic stuff. A good fit for the era just around the corner:
