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10 Tips for Entertaining in Small Spaces

• Sep 13, 2010 from menuism(Menuism) in *
  Photo by wEnDaLicious
  When I moved to Japan, I knew entertaining might be difficult. Living in Minnesota, hosting parties was easy because we had plenty of room for friends and food. Moving from our 1,000 square foot apartment in St. Paul to a 450 square footer in Tokyo was a shocker. I thought our entertaining days were over. However, entertaining became simpler and more efficient with a little creativity. These tips may seem obvious, but they make a huge difference in how successful your next gathering can be.
  1. Prepare in Advance
  Chose two dishes to prepare in advance. I find that if I am busy making food and putting together drinks as guests are arriving, stress is sure to be close behind for my friends (and me.) I use a lot of recipes that can be prepared a day or two ahead, then kept in the refrigerator or freezer until I am ready to assemble and serve.
  2. Talk Garbage to Your Guests
  One of the most confusing things at parties (and the least addressed) is where on earth to toss all that garbage. Guests end up wandering around searching for the correct receptacle or putting garbage on just any open surface and subsequently taking up space. Not cool. Use more than one garbage location, make sure you label garbage and recycling, and tell guests about the system. Make sure the garbage is empty at the start of the party so it doesnt get stinky.
  3. Pillows vs. Chairs
  In our tiny apartment in Japan, it is difficult to fit more than a few pieces of furniture in any room. A more space-savvy choice for us happens to be using floor pillows and coffee tables. Not only is it easy to store the pillows, but they help to create a fun, whimsical environment that guests enjoy. Keep in mind that sitting on the floor may not be comfortable for everyone. Its helpful to provide a wall to lean against and of course, mix in any chairs you do have available. It may sound like roughing it but our circle of friends does it all the time with much success.
  4. Stackable Plastic Serving Trays
  Small spaces are tricky for hosting, but also for storing the materials I need to put on a fabulous party. Bowls and large numbers of place settings are not easily stowed away in a small apartment. To better utilize our limited space, I started using stackable plastic trays. I decorate them using thin sheets of cork or rubber and a hot glue gun. The decorations are cute and help keep items from sliding around. And of course, the lightweight trays are easy to stack and stow without taking up much space.
  5. Bite-Sized Instead of Super-Sized
  The plastic tray idea brings me to my next tip: bite-sized food is the way to go when you have limited dishes and/or space to serve. With bite-sized food there is no need for a formal dining table, leading to fewer dishes and less table space. Trays of food can be scattered around the entertaining space, allowing people to circulate the room(s) rather than creating a traffic jam around only one table. Trays are also easy to replenish throughout the night (with all that food you prepared in advance).
  6. Take it Outside!
  For those who do have outdoor space, use it! Whether its coolers for drinks, or a couple chairs, outdoor space is like hitting jackpot for home entertaining. I use lanterns, candles, and strings of lights to help add a little romantic flare and provide a haven for guests who need a breather. When the weather is cold, its a built in cooler for beverages. Score!
  7. Set the Mood
  I find that the mood of a space makes or breaks an event. Fluorescent lighting has to go. Set up candles and other soft light instead. Its more flattering to guests faces (which they will thank you for) and creates a more relaxing atmosphere for everyone, including you. Make sure the music is at a volume that facilitates conversation. Here are some artists that I put on shuffle at our gatherings:
  
  Blossom Dearie
  Carla Bruni
  Ella Fitzgerald
  She & Him, Volumes 1 & 2
  Josh Rouse
  The Puppini Sisters
  John Legend
  Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros
  Niel Young, Best Hits
  
  8. Have a Drink Desk
  Our first year in Tokyo, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving. No oven, limited counter space, 450 square feet and no real table to speak of made this a challenging venture. One thing that made the entire event run smoothly was simply using a desk for a drink area. Make a bowl of punch, set out wine bottles and plastic party cups (see tip #9). When guests need a refill, they can help themselves to the punch or wine selection. I often put out drink recipe cards to provide some cocktail ideas for guests using the available mixers.
  9. Speaking of Drinks
  When I set up my drink table, the last thing I need is a lot of glassware taking up valuable real estate. Instead of using fancy wine and cocktail glasses, I often use disposable glasses that can be stacked. Use biodegradable cups, plates and silverware if possible, like these from The Branch Home. There, isnt that better? Environmentally friendly and much more room for extra beverages!
  10. BYO...

6 Things With Da7e [9/13]

• Sep 13, 2010 from Latinoreview(Latino Review) in *
  Happy Monday folks!
  I spent some time with my 3D glasses on this weekend, so either way you cut it - ironically or unironically - I'm part of Resident Evil's box office win this weekend. It was also a weekend for festivals of fall, farmers markets and a surprising amount of fur and faux-fur being sold on the streets of New York. It seems odd to me that someone would buy any sort of fur off the street, but I guess that's where you have to get it these days.
  I'm tempted to discuss my friend Rachel Paton who used to send me dead things through the mail, but that's be a digression we can't afford this week...
  Dark Tower's mammoth deal got left out of my Things this week, as did True Blood, because I've done my best to keep this post under 4,000 words (sorry about last week, I guess I had a lot to say about Entourage, which also wrapped up last night, and didn't make today's list).
  But for all the TL ; DR, I did get a few interesting conversations out of last week's column, and also a few recommendations that will be popping up in the coming weeks.
  Get psyched! This week we get some TV premieres and next week: BOARDWALK EMPIRE. And if anyone managed to score extra tickets for the NYFF screening of The Social Network, I'd love to go. I know they've already scheduled and overflow show, but I don't know when. ARGH! I'm going to have to wait until 10/1! NOOOOO!
  
  [#6 - Resident Evil: Afterlife]
  
  The Resident Evil series and I don't really get along because of Paul W.S. Anderson. Many times, I've railed on the fellow for not being able to elevate his movies to anything beyond semi-enjoyable visual exercises in special effects photography. The two movies that carry his name that I actually enjoy (Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon) are movies where he's brought on to direct other people's material. My big beef with Paul's Resident Evil franchise was with the first movie, a movie where they had a George A Romero draft of a zombie mansion script, based on the plot of the video game, and instead decided to make it a chicks rock action film that wasn't at all about zombie horror.
  My brother was really into video games growing up. While my father taught me hand-eye coordination by sending me in the backyard with a tiny skillet and a pack of ping pong balls I'd have to bounce endlessly for an hour, my brother was allowed to play video games. He was into Broadway and RPGs for awhile, so parts of my gaming youth are really confusing, like watching my brother in the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time while Jean Valjean's Who Am I/The Trial from Act One of Les Misables played on the stereo. Some of the more vivid memories I have of lazy summers involve making freezer corn dogs and watching my brother play video games. He was good enough at it (and invested enough in it) that you could watch him play video games like a spectator sport. ESPECIALLY the Resident Evil games, when we'd turn off the lights and I'd read a walk through by flashlight, helping when I could.
  When Resident Evil became an action franchise, I was taken aback. I probably trashed it because I was expecting a Tyrant or Nemesis or something, but instead I got a holographic British child and snarling Michelle Rodriguez. Not to mention that Milla Jovovich's Alice and her team all start the film with Plot Device Amnesia that allows them to remember key parts of their past when the overall plot gets stale. Any film that would be a completely different movie if none of the characters had amnesia (or if they had realistic amnesia) is not a good movie in script form.
  Plot Device Amnesia pops up again in Resident Evil: Afterlife, this time striking Ali Larter's Claire, effectively making her a completely different character than she was in Extinction. Wentworth Miller comes aboard for this film as Chris Redfield, Claire's brother, for no apparent reason whatsoever. The fact that those two are brother and sister in this film makes me realize how much bullshit about a brother/sister relationship these two have been spewing in the press. There is no brother/sister relationship. Chris says something like: Don't you remember me? I'm your brother! Alice says: If it's true, you'll remember and Claire spends the rest of the running time near dialogue-less, never getting a side scene to mention that yeah she remembers her brother. There is an inexplicable lack of any dialogue where these two characters acknowledge that they are actually related to one another. Just baffling.
  There are many, many, many, many reasons to dislike Resident Evil: Afterlife. So let's talk about why I ended up not disliking this one at all: 3D. I've been very against up-conversion for 3D and I've managed to have a good half-dozen conversations with filmmakers about how shooting in 3D requires a different way of thinking than run-and-gunning on digital video or setting up meticulous shots on film. Resident Evil: Afterlife doesn't show the audience anything new in terms of special effects or zombies (oh,...

AAFES Still Says No to M.O.H. on US Bases, Even After EA Removes Taliban Label

• Oct 07, 2010 from geardiary(Judie Lipsett Stanford) in Technology
  Image courtesy of HDWallpapers
  Video game developers and production studios and publishers are no strangers to controversy over video game titles and content. In the past few weeks Electronic Arts and Danger Close have been under fire from the military organization AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Service) about their new Medal of Honor (MoH) title. The new game has a multiplayer mode, where you can choose to be on either the American Force or the Opposing Force which in the game was formerly called the Taliban. When the game was initially announced, AAFES made the call to ban MoH from all military installation sales in the base exchanges and any GameStops affiliated with the bases. The General in charge of AAFES, Maj Gen Bruce Casella, stated Out of respect to those touched by the ongoing, real-life events presented as a game, Exchanges will not be carrying this product.
  The only other instance of a game recall that I can remember is when Konami pulled the title Six Days in Fellujah. This game was a little more centralized to a single battle in the conflict, and not so general as to have Taliban as the opposition.
  After the announcement to ban MoH was made, EA decided to change the Taliban side over to Opposing Force and engaged AAFES again in hopes that they would understand the modifications to the game, and once again allow its sale on military installations. MoH is set to drop this month, and its still unclear as to whether our troops will be able to buy the game on base or not. This decision would also affect our troops fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other hot-spots around the world.
  So lets step back from the Taliban or Opposing Force debate for just a moment, and consider that most First Person Shooter (FPS) games are about a conflict between a good and evil side, whether they are zombies, vampires, Nazis, or an opposing force. This game really is not different from any of the other hundreds of games which have already been released. Most of our world conflicts have been recreated through video games, and a good number of the available FPS titles are about conflicts and previous wars in the past.
  So why is AAFES making such a big deal on this particular game? Is it only because this war is so fresh? Are they worried about offending the current troops and their families? Do we not care about offending people or families who were touched by the Nazis in WWII? Has anyone expressed concern over all the Vietnam titles, a war in which we lost tens of thousands of soldiers?
  I understand that this is a very sensitive topic in the news because we are still winding down the Iraq Conflict and ramping up our operations in Afghanistan. We send men and women of the Armed Forces overseas every day to fight for the greater good and to defend the freedoms of this country against perceived threats from everywhere. Is it somehow off-limits to recreate current scenarios when gaming?
  As you all know, through war soldiers suffer injuries and they sometimes die, changing their lives and the lives of their families forever; I am especially sensitive to this issue since Ive seen it first hand. But I have to disagree that a video game could somehow disrespect the families of those lost.
  Having been deployed overseas for the military three times in the past seven years, and as a current member of the National Guard, I can tell you first-hand that when soldiers get any downtime in the desert, they are likely playing video games or watching movies to pass the time and keep their moral up. All new games are welcomed by the troops, because they use them to keep their minds occupied on downtime, whether they are virtually fighting against the Taliban or not. I think its the media that has turnedthis topic into a moral issue, and it really only hurts the troops by preventing them from buying this game.
  Click here to view the embedded video.
  And its not like troops wont be able to get this game if they want it. Ordering things online almost becomes a hobby for many soldiers, and getting a copy of the new Medal of Honor within two weeks of its release really wont be too hard to do. So if troops want to play the new MoH, they will find a way to get it. It would be a big convenience however, to be able to run into the shop on base and pick up a copy of the MoH game without having to wait for a mail order.
  Nothing is yet final with the decision of AAFES, and hopefully they will reverse their decision, letting MoH ship to stores overseas and on bases everywhere. This game is fun, even in its beta form, and it is sure to be even better once the full title is released. Ive had a chance to check out the MoH Beta, and I have to tell you its one of the best First Person Shooters Ive yet played. If you want to try it, you can download the open beta now for free and play until October 8th.
  As always, my hat is off for our men and women in uniform. Support our Troops! Itdoesntmatter if you support the war or not, the troops still need...

The Six-Pack: Week 3

• Sep 24, 2010 from gearupforsports(Gear Up For Sports) in Sports
  So Im watching the 19th-ranked Miami Hurricanes destroy the Pittsburgh Panthers, my alma mater, on Thursday night as Im typing up this column, and I feel a little sad. I mean, Pitt doesnt field an awful squad their loss in week 1 was in overtime to a pretty gifted Utah team but losing to Miami pretty much squashed their incredibly remote shot at a national championship or a reasonable bowl game. Then I thought to myself, wait, they can just run the division and get into a BCS game that way! Then I thought to myself: wow, college football sure is stupid.
  Im amazed that the debate, Which is the better version of football, college or professional? is even a debate at all. It should be termed pushover, or easily answered hypothetical or ramblings of a five-year-old. Come on. There are really people out there who prefer college football to the NFL?
  Fine. For this weeks Six-Pack, I present to you more than enough ammunition for shooting down one of the lamest sports debates should you find yourself in the crosshairs of a passionate Gator or Buckeye or Crimson Tide fan.
  
  The quality of play. I put the most obvious response to the Nuh-uh, college is better! at the top of the list because this argument is most likely to determine whether or not you can continue having a conversation with this imaginary person or if he/she is one more boilermaker away from losing bladder control. This argument is so incredible because of its simplicity and strength. Its impossible for a college-backer to say that their brand contains the better athlete. College kids dream to play in the NFL, to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, to compete against the highest level theyll ever face. How many seniors selected in the NFL Draft decide, Nah, I think Ive gotten all I can out of football, peace?
  The players are faster, stronger, more agile, more flexible, quicker on their feet, quicker in their decision-making. The playbooks are thicker and more intricate. The competition never stops. Even the rules that govern the game inherently recognize the discrepancy in talent. A college receiver only needs one foot in bounds for a completed catch; an NFL player needs two. The play clock stops after a first down in college to allow the offense to get to the line without much time being wasted; an NFL offense needs to manage the clock with more scrutiny. A pass interference call against the defense marks off fifteen yards from the previous line of scrimmage in the college game; at the professional level, the ball is spotted where the foul occurred, a nod to the concept that NFL cornerbacks are a little headier and less likely to mug their opponents.
  Its all there, and at the end of the day, the real question is: why would you prefer to watch the minor league version of anything over the professionals?
  
  Im sure Jeremiah Masoli had nothing but his academic career in mind when he transferred to Ole Miss.
  The tattered banner of integrity. Oh, I know youll find one of those champions of morality who herald the college game as being more pure than in the NFL. In the NFL, theres no heart, this idiot spews. Youve got steroids cases every week, you have the Patriots and their cheating, you have Braylon Edwards and his .18 BAC, you have players promising their love to a city then turning their back the moment another owner opens his checkbook. And what about the greedy owners, taking money from taxpayers then threatening a lockout? At this point, try your best to ignore this persons flagrant halitosis problem and acknowledge the follies of the NFL. Yeah, those are all bad things. Heres the kicker: college sports have their slew of integrity-threatening problems too.
  Hi, Reggie Bush. Thanks for returning the Heisman. Youre welcome to stay here all week; weve rented a house for you and your familywhoops! Not only are stories like Reggies ridiculously commonplace, weve started to roll our eyes a bit when we hear about them. So an agent gave Recruit Xs mom a diamond necklace, big deal. So another agent gave Recruit Y access to drive around an Escalade his freshman year, doesnt hurt anyone, right? No matter where you stand on the issue of college players being treated as employers of a business or not, one has to respect the actuality of the arrangements as akin to bribery. Plain and simple. Theres a reason these things take place on back channels and arent presented at press conferences.
  OK, so youre sick of hearing about agents and recruiting violations. Thats only one aspect of college sports. Leaving aside the ignominy of college athletes also getting busted for drug/alcohol usage and the specter of steroid accusations looming at the NCAA level, we must address the myth of the vagabond free agent NFL player. Yes, an NFL player is going to respond to material incentives, just like any consenting adult would do in any line of business. Sometimes imagine this a player and his agent will offer a team a discount for a longer-term deal because he enjoys the security of...

Lafite Sets Auction Wine Record at $230,000 a Bottle - Bloomberg

• Nov 01, 2010 from franktiger(Weiguokong) in Business
  Three bottles of Chateau Lafite’s 1869 vintage each sold for a record price of HK$1.8 million ($230,000) at a sale in Hong Kong last night, underlining Asia’s dominance of the auction market for trophy label wines.