After a somewhat draining week (first week of classes, yay), Two-Headed Blog is looking forward to the weekend. Besides simply sleeping for hours and hours, here are a few things on the agenda:

Tonight at the OKCMOA, we’ll (finally) be seeing Food, Inc.:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Food, Inc. features interviews with some of Two-Headed Blog’s personal heroes – Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation). Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto). Joel Salatin (farmer extraordinaire, owner of Polyface Farm). Yep, we’ve been eagerly waiting to catch this film for some time. (Screenings are Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29, at 5:30 and 8:00pm.)

And tomorrow, Two-Headed Blog will be hitting Campus Corner in Norman to check out the Dustbowl Arts Market. 60 local and regional artists will be peddling their wares from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. There will also be live music from 2:00 - 10:00 pm. Good times will, undoubtedly, be had by all.

It’s been a couple of weeks since he’s passed away, but a John Hughes apparition keeps whispering “don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t you forget about me” into my ear. With that in mind, I wonder:

What is your favorite John Hughes movie?

Two-Headed Blog is looking forward to what’s shaping up to be a real art-binge of a weekend.

Tonight at Mainsite Contemporary Art, is the opening of Phase V – OKCMOA film curator Brian Hearn’s re-imagining of Saul Bass’s 1974 sci-fi film, Phase IV. (Yes, the same Saul Bass who designed the brilliant title sequences on several of Hitchcock’s films.)

A story in this week’s Gazette explains how Hearn’s home recently suffered an ant invasion, which brought to mind for him Bass’s film about “super-intelligent ants on a mission to wipe out humanity.” (Mental note: remember to add Phase IV to Netflix queue, for it sounds awesome.) Hearn then set about editing and reworking Phase IV, to focus in on “the conflict between the scientists and the ants.”

Tonight’s opening of Phase V will feature an original score by Norman musician (and Anvil Salute member) Brad Fielder, with speaking roles voiced live by actors. In the Gazette article, Hearn describes his project as both “having a bit of a ‘radio drama’ feel,” and as being kind of like a “drive-in movie remixed in an art gallery.”

Screening times tonight are at 7:30 and 9:00pm. Check out Mainsite’s website for more information.

Tomorrow, we plan to hit both the Modern Materials installation at Untitled, as well as the Turner to Cézanne exhibit at the OKCMOA. According to Untitled’s website, Modern Materials: The Art of the Quilt is:

…an invitational exhibition bringing together the best and most innovative contemporary artists in the United States who are working in the medium of quilt art. With an emphasis on three-dimensional works, the exhibit will also include non-traditional two-dimensional works.

At some point, I got myself on Untitled’s mailing list, so I receive periodic mailers about upcoming exhibits (I’m still kicking myself for missing the steampunk one back in the spring). The announcement I received for the Modern Materials exhibit was by the far the sweetest – it unfolds into a poster depicting “Pattern Fusion #10: Motherboard 1, 2008” by Arturo Alonzo Sandoval:

The quilt’s cool, detached intricacy turned my previously held image of quilting on its head. I’d always considered quilts to be those cozy, chintzy blankets folded on the back of Grandma’s sofa – not pieces of contemporary art. The Modern Materials poster is currently hanging in my cubicle at work, and I’m very much looking forward to finally checking out the exhibit (on display through August 27th).

On a different note, the OKCMOA is currently displaying, Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales. This exhibit runs through September 20th, and features works that:

…reveal the cross-currents between artists and movements that propelled nineteenth-century painting from the romantic naturalism of J.M.W. Turner to the post-impressionism of Paul Cézanne.

Included in the exhibit are works by not only Turner and Cézanne, but Monet, Manet, Renoir and van Gogh.

It’s going to be a fun weekend.

Update 9:14pm:

Okay, so I’m an idiot. Tonight wasn’t the “opening” of Phase V, as I incorrectly stated above. It’s a one-night only screening. So if you missed it tonight, too bad for you. (It was awesome, by the way.)

From Wikipedia:

Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. 

To be honest, I probably should have stopped referring to myself as a “vegetarian” many months ago, when I found myself beginning to eat meat a little more often than I cared to admit. Although the visceral repulsion I’d once felt towards meat had long since dissipated, and I no longer had any real ethical commitment to a strict vegetarian diet, I still clung to the label. Maybe I liked the slight twinge of moral righteousness I secretly enjoyed whenever I told people I was a vegetarian (assuming I managed to ignore my own hypocrisy). Or maybe, to paraphrase Peggy in Year of the Dog, I simply liked having a word that described me.

Regardless, I was still drifting towards the occasional buffalo burger, or the occasional Eischen’s binge. Then, events transpiring over this past weekend finally pushed me to officially change my status from “vegetarian” to “flexitarian”: Dwight and I saw the new film, Julie & Julia.

While it wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, it was certainly enjoyable. More importantly, it very effectively sent us racing through Norman on a wild goose chase, searching for a copy of Julia Child’s classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. After unsuccessful trips to Wal-Mart, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, I think we scored the last copy left in Norman (big ups to you, Hastings).

I felt no trace of revulsion as I paged through the book, lingering longingly over recipes for coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon. It was then that I knew I could no longer, in good conscience, call myself a vegetarian. I felt a choice had to be made: I could be a vegetarian, or I could be a foodie. I couldn’t be both, as a strict vegetarian diet would cloister me away from an entire universe of gastronomical adventures.

Don’t think I’ve jumped straight into the Hardcore Carnivore camp, though. My meat-eating will remain of the “once every couple of weeks” variety, since I still prefer a meatless meal most of the time. And when I do eat meat, I still feel some responsibility to choose it wisely, and buy from locally-raised / grass-fed / free-range sources whenever possible. This is partly for ethical and political reasons, and partly borne of simple snobbery and good taste – I think this kind of meat simply tastes better.

This is why I like the label “flexitarian.” It describes my current state rather well – someone who is mostly vegetarian, but who also enjoys a meat dish every now and then.

I like occupying a sort-of middle ground. We can get so worked up about what we, and other people, eat. Meat-eaters mock vegetarians. Vegetarians are disgusted by meat-eaters. I’ve been on both sides of the divide. I’ve dished out my fair share of  trash talk, and been the recipient of my fair share. I’m kind of tired of all that. I respect the vegetarian diet, and still (mostly) conform to it, but I no longer can deny the exquisite pleasure of a perfectly-cooked filet mignon with a blue cheese crust and wine sauce.

As for Two-Headed Blog’s foray into French cooking? We tried our first recipe last night, in the first of what we now refer to as our “Julia Sunday Dinners.” We prepared Carbonnades à la flamande (beef and onions, braised in beer), and upon Julia’s suggestion, served it alongside parslied potatoes, a green salad and a glass of beer (our beloved Fat Tire, no less).

It was stunning.

Two-Headed Blog is longing for sweet, sweet summer – and everything it brings with it. A break from school. Fresh tomatoes. Long, lazy evenings spent on the back patio with pitchers of frozen margaritas. Even a few big, dumb popcorn movies sound extraordinarily appealing right about now. So with that in mind, your Question is this:

Which summer movie are you most looking forward to?

a. Star Trek
b. Terminator Salvation    
c. Public Enemies    
d. Inglourious Basterds    
e. Land of the Lost    
e. Other