Year: 2004

Widescreen Lives!

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Slate reports on a new trend in the video-rental industry: widescreen. I’ve watched widescreen videos and DVDs for years, but I never thought that it would catch on with the general public. I really thought that Joe Moviewatcher would remain forever oblivious to the portions of his videos that simply weren’t there.

Apparently, widescreen is now the preferred format for DVDs at Blockbuster these days. The way Slate phrases it, “the chain was conceding what cinephiles had argued for years: that widescreen was the superior way to watch a movie at home, even if it left black bars at the top and bottom of your television screen.” They mention the black bars like it’s a bad thing ;).

I gotta say that I’m completely surprised by this — I figured that Blockbuster was simply content in stocking the film industry’s lowest common denominator. All the same, I don’t think I’ll be renting from Blockbuster anytime soon; I’m boycotting them for their anticompetitive business practices.

They set up revenue sharing agreements with the major movie studios which gave Blockbuster discounts on videos and DVDs in exchange for sending a share of the profits back to the studios. Normally, I’d wouldn’t have much problem with this, but these were exclusive contracts and the smaller mom-n-pop video stores had no choice but to pay the higher prices.

Well, hold on a moment… After doing some research, it appears that Blockbuster has cancelled its revenue sharing agreements. The guy at FilmJerk (from the previous link) isn’t too pleased about this, but I see it as another pleasant surprise in Blockbuster’s favor. First this widescreen news and then the revenue sharing cancellation — perhaps I should stop by Blockbuster more often <g>.

Nectarine Pie: The Music Video

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Josh Baugher passes along what’s essentially a music video for foodies. In Katy Bakes a Nectatine Pie, Katy goes through the steps of baking a pie, including commentary on the cooking process. Considering that it’s a Quicktime file (a .mov), it may have even been edited in iMovie.

To some, this may just be a pleasant diversion, but I really enjoyed it. In some ways, it was like watching an engaging movie but with the director’s commentary track playing as well. I’m only disappointed that I couldn’t find a reference to the recipe itself (especially since the pie-eaters at the end of the clip appear to be really enjoying it). The movie is hosted on The Amateur Gourmet blog, but I only saw it listed as a link in the sidebar without a proper entry to go along with it.

I was a bit dismayed at the use of shortening in the pie crust. Not that I’m surprised, really — shortening is a common ingredient in pie crusts — but shortening if full of trans fat. Trans fat is probably the worst kind of fat since it both lowers “good” cholesterol while raising “bad” cholesterol (even saturated fat doesn’t affect “good” cholesterol).

Now that the government is requiring trans fat labeling on foods (beginning in 2006), companies are all of a sudden reformulating their products to reduce their trans fats. In particular, I’ve noticed that there's a trans-fat free version of Crisco shortening now. But, I’m still skeptical — if a 2% increase in trans fat can really increase a women’s risk for heart disease by 93%, then I’d feel most comfortable with a shortening which actually had 0g trans fat, not just 0g trans fat per serving :-/.

Update 06/03: It appears that J.M. Smucker (the makers of Crisco) create the trans-fat free version by fully hydrogenating the cottonseed oil. And, much in the same way that partial hydrogenation turns oil into a semi-solid form, fully hydrogenating it turns it completely solid. So, they then add sunflower and soybean oils to soften it. I’m not sure whether fully hydrogenating an oil creates any trans fat, but if not, this trans-fat free Crisco may not be so bad.

Low Carb Potatoes?

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

Low-carb eaters have mostly accepted the restrictions on bread and potatoes these days. But, I never thought I’d see the day where we’d be talking about low-carb potatoes. To be fair, they’re actually reduced carb potatoes (about a third the carbs of a regular potato), but that’s still progress.

Potatoes are among the banned substances on the Atkins diet, which advocates a high-protein, low-carbohydrate food regime. The new variety has yet to be formally named but has already been called the “spud-u-lite” by its inventors. They claim it contains a third less carbohydrate than normal potatoes and has an “exceptional” flavour.

The new breed is believed to have reduced carbohydrate levels because it has a lower density of flesh and matures over a shorter time. It was developed as a result of cross-breeding, but its low-carbohydrate properties were discovered by chance by researchers at the HZPC seed firm. A co-operative of potato growers in Florida is planning to mass-produce the variety for the American market but it is not known when the vegetables could be on sale in Britain. […]

I’m not sure how they’ll really taste compared to regular potatoes, or even when they might become available in stores. But, if I run across them at Super Target sometime, I’ll give them a chance. I’ve almost forgotten how to prepare potatoes but, come to think of it, a baked potato with sour cream and bacon chips could be worth the wait.

Still Looking for a Roommate

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

I’ve mentioned this to several people already (and posted about it the other day) that my roommate Mike has just moved out. So, I’m looking for a new roommate. My posting on Craigslist has more details, but here are the pertinent ones:

  • It’s a two-bedroom townhome in The Village (around 75 & Northwest Hwy).
  • Rent is about $504/month plus around $120 for utilities.
  • The floorplan is online.
  • I’ve already setup the cable modem including WiFi via a Linksys router :).

If you know someone that might be interested, please have him/her get in touch with me. (And be sure to check out the Craigslist posting for the rest of the details.)

Quiznos Chocolate Bundt Cake

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I think the sandwich may be one of my favorite food groups (so tidy and yet delicious). And, after I helped Mike move out on Monday, he invited me out for lunch (he’s moving in with his fiancee in College Station). We went for Quiznos and that was just the meaty elixir I needed.

I selected a small Turkey-Bacon-Guacamole sandwich, with double meat. And, as I neared the checkout, I spied a stack of mini chocolate bundt cakes in a cooler. They’re no more than 4” in diameter and, well, in the shape of a bundt cake. I had tried one before, years ago, and it was a bit dry at the time. But, I decided to give Quiznos the benefit of the doubt that maybe the prior cake was just a fluke.

In any case, after eating my sandwich, I opened the plastic dome enclosing the bundt cake. I offered some to both Mike and Annette, but they declined citing shrunken stomaches on account of skipping breakfast that morning (yeah, I don’t understand it either). So, I broke off a piece and indulged.

To my pleasant surprise, it was distinctly better than the last one. While the last one was dry and almost airy, this one was properly moist and seemingly denser. And, the chocolate icing (about 1/8” thick) was chocolaty enough and smothered the top half of the cake. As a bonus, the icing pooled slightly in the hole of cake to form a chocolate nugget.

The chocolate cake was better than I expected and just what I needed after moving furniture all morning. And, judging by the unscheduled carbohydrate-induced coma nap later that afternoon, it had plenty of sugar in it (though Quiznos’ nutrition information is remarkably sparse in this area). I don’t think it’s something that I’d pick up with every Quiznos trip, but I might just grab one of their bundt cakes again sometime.