Random Recommendations

     This post is a hodgepodge of random recommendations. Try something new!  Or don't.

• Pomegranate Leinenkugel is the bomb.  It's light, but not watery.  It has a fruit flavor that is neither overpowering, nor sickly-sweet.
• Wegmans' coconut shrimp with Thai basil sauce is also amazing.  It is absolutely scrumptious, and the sauce is spicy but not insanely spicy.  Tip: it's also a little cheaper than their shrimp cocktail, oddly.
• Last night I watched a few episodes of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.  It was a fascinating show, but also terrifying.  I previously had zero knowledge of Scientology and presumed that it was a Christian denomination (I mean, they call themselves a church, so I thought that was a fair assumption), but watching the show, they consider man the highest being, and there is neither prayer nor worship.  I am not sure how that makes a religion.  It is very interesting to watch this documentary series, but also very unsettling.  It made me realize how blessed I am to know that my Faith is grounded in a God Who loves me, rather than in a business full of secrets and manipulation.
• I am not a makeup guru, but Maybelline's new "Striking Copper" gel pencil eyeliner is so much fun.  It has a rich golden sheen that I really like on the upper lid.  I also grabbed the "Unstoppable" crayon/pencil in jade, but have yet to try it.  I also do recommend throwing out old eyeliner and mascara, as it really must be bad for you if it makes your eyes and head ache.
• Apparently, Trader Joe's sells parsnip chips.  I have no idea how they would taste, but it's on my very long list of foods to try before I die.  (So maybe this isn't strictly a recommendation...)
• After some discussion of awful Disney sequels, I have decided I prefer terrible sequels of movies that I liked to horrible stand-alone movies.  Sequels that do not get released in theaters know they will not be that great, so they don't pretend to be anything spectacular.  The Toy Story sequels are fun, and Kronk's New Groove was entertaining.  I wonder, though, why there was never a sequel to Sleeping Beauty or Snow White?  Granted, they would be abysmal, as that's the general rule of sequels, but why did these movies never get sequels?  They made a sequel to Cinderella-- two, actually.  I wonder what would happen after Snow White marries the Prince, especially since we know absolutely nothing about him, except that he has a horse, he sings, and he loves Snow White.  There's so much room for inventing a back story!  They would have so much freedom!  They would have a little less freedom with Aurora and Philip since we know both their back stories, but they could have a movie showing what it was like for each of them to grow up, or a sequel in which they revive the thread-spinning industry after sixteen years of its becoming illegal.  That doesn't really sound exciting, but neither does anything that happens in Cinderella II.
• U2's "You're the Best Thing About Me"; I love that they're still making music 40 years after the band was born, with mostly the same guys as they started out with.  This song is also cheerful, while still in very much in the band's style.  (Those two things do not always go together, as we see most prominently in the album War, which is full of angst to say the least.  That was one of the album's I grew up listening to, along with albums from the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and Journey.  In fact, "Wheel in the Sky" was my favorite song when we lived in Italy, so I was sure to play it on my seventh birthday.  I digress: back to U2.)  They are possibly the only band I would consider seeing live.  I appreciate the fact that the songs are about a variety of topics.  Unlike Bono, I am not a pacifist, but it is refreshing to be able to listen to an album where not every song is about love/lust.  You turn on the radio, and 90% of what you will hear is, "Party, party, hot babe, sex, more sex," with practically no attempt at creative use of the English language.  Why do we call these people "artists" when there is no art and no originality?  It would be nice to have just the slightest bit of change.