Ebert reviews Australia. I find it interesting that he doesn’t really say anything about the performances. He doesn’t even describe the story very much, except to say it’s old-fashioned. He seems mostly interested in the racial aspects, which, yeah. Probably the only bit worth talking about. I still don’t have any desire to see it though.

I was just reading this round-up of changes at Disney theme parks when I got to this bit:

Now that Obamania is in full swing and the country appears ready to proudly wave the red white and blue again, Disneyland’s Main Street is ready to highlight the long neglected ‘U.S.A.’ part of its title in the coming months. Up will go the banners and flags while the Opera House will welcome back a resuscitated Lincoln, now sharing the stage with Barack himself in a supporting role. God Bless America on that one.

FANTASTIC. I didn’t even think of that. They’ll be adding an Obama-bot to the Hall of Presidents. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I predict a renewed interest in that attraction for the next few years, well beyond its current demographic of families with bored kids just looking for a few minutes of air conditioning.

Watchmen: The Condensed Version. That is all kinds of awesome.

Me: Whoa! Corncob wine!
Snook: That’s disgusting.
Me: I think you mean AWESOME. It’s like moonshine! You should make me some!
Snook: I don’t think so.
Me: No, you should! And then we could serve it to somebody who really likes wine, like your brother-in-law Chris, and try to get him to guess what it was!
Snook: And he’d wonder why we were giving him a glass of horrifying sludge.

When in doubt, comment it out. Nice.

Happy Thanksgiving!
The Snook and I celebrated last night with Amy and Rob at a special dinner hosted by the Democrats Abroad. As you might imagine, the group had a lot to be thankful for! There were some very hearty toasts and cheers happening. We talked about exactly the type of things you’d expect: why Australians who romanticized snow were CRAZY, how stupid the American healthcare system is, what was wrong with Sydney’s public transport, how we all wanted to marry gays and give tax money to druggies. You know, that type of thing. I have to say I was a little surprised at the demographics. The only DA event I’d attended before was the primary, and I remember noticing that everyone there was… older. Well, they were pretty much all older last night too. I’d guess that the average age was probably 50+. Snookums guessed that the younger expats just might not be as politically active. Another random observation: I saw more black people (as in, people of African heritage) last night than I have in the previous eight years of living here, I think. Anyhoo, we had a great time and got to meet some cool people, and none of us had to cook a turkey. WIN!

I did, however, bake on Wednesday night. I made Martha Stewart’s Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Topping for us, and a traditional pumpkin pie to take in to the office. The pumpkin pie was more difficult, mostly because my usual source for Libby’s canned pumpkin had sold out! So I had to make this from scratch. (Yes, you can totally make pumpkin pie from scratch. Just cut up pumpkin – I used Kent – boil or nuke til it’s soft, then run it through the food processor. Substitute for the canned stuff in the recipe.) They were both a big hit!

God bless Paula Deen: Deep-Fried Stuffing on a Stick. To go with your deep-fried turkey, naturally.

According to a wine-tasting robot, people taste like bacon. I probably would’ve guessed that.

Oooh! I just discovered that Brideshead Revisited is starting this Sunday at 7:30 on ABC2. There are eleven parts and this is the first episode, so set your TiFauxes to record! (I’ve never seen it before, but I understand it has something to do with gay men and Jeremy Irons, and I’M ALL ABOUT THAT.)