Today is Golden Ticket Day - the prop used in the movie and the dialogue in the movie both agree that the day of the tour of Willy Wonka's factory takes place on the first of October.
Unfortunately, we live in an era where we can't celebrate any day without some sort of controversy and Golden Ticket Day is no exception, so let's address it.
Firstly, the book has the aforementioned events taking place on February 1st. But since "Willy Wonka" is one of the only cases where the movie is better than the book, I go with the movie.
Secondly, while the tour of the factory is October 1st, it's made clear that the day Charlie finds the golden ticket is September 30. Perhaps that's the better object of commemoration.
Celebrating on September 30 would also make sense because of the ways you could celebrate that day. Golden Ticket Day could be a day for looking into sewers for coins and eating bars of chocolate. Celebrating the next day, what can you do? It would be difficult to schedule a tour of a chocolate factory for that day.
I could be convinced for either one and wouldn't mind celebrating both, but I think the weight of the printed object with the specific date means October 1st makes much more sense. So Happy Golden Ticket Day!
I may re-visit "Big Top Pee-wee." It was always my favorite of the two but this seems to imply it's not very good. I really liked the Rube Goldberg device in "Big Top" and remember really liking the 80s babe love interest. Those two things were the only things that mattered so maybe that's throwing me off.
My favorite joke in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" is this one:
It's clever, it's goofy, it's perfectly setup but still a surprise. So good.
Mustard (Plochman's) - As much as you can get out of the thing. [Substitute French's if necessary]
Instructions
In a large bowl, beat eggs to a homogenous consistency, whilst making "tsk" sounds with your mouth.
Add half and half and mix into eggs (as above).
Heat a pan to medium heat. Add butter. Once the butter has melted, add the egg mixture to the pan. As the eggs cook and solidify, massage with fork until fluffy.
Once eggs are done, pour onto plate and add mustard. Serve.
Review
So I tried this recipe, following the instructions completely, with the exception that I assumed the "as much mustard as you can get out of the thing" thing was an exaggeration. I'm no Julia Child, I'm no Gordon Ramsey, but that's my guess. I found that Plochman's Mustard is available on Amazon, I bought that. I even bought a pint of half and half even though I only needed a tablespoon.
A few things that I found confusing...Firstly, I'm confused by the complete mixture of the eggs. I always thought when you're making an omelet, you beat completely but that if eggs are scrambled, you would keep some marbling, some heterogeneity. I also don't know what "massaging" the eggs is in this context because, again, the way he describes it sounds like an omelet and I'm not making an omelet. The final thing I found confusing was: I was left to my own devices as to how much mustard to use. Given the charge to add the entire full, new bottle, I didn't make that disaster but simply added more than I was comfortable with.
The result? The eggs are fine but the taste of mustard dominates and it's unpleasant. That's going to differ completely from person to person but I personally don't like the strong mustard taste. I may try again with a different massaging technique and less mustard. When Dave mentions mustard, the audience gasps. I also was not familiar with scrambled eggs and mustard so I could relate. But I was trying to think why it's weird and can't find a reason. After all, I normally like scrambled eggs with ketchup so I don't have an objective leg to stand on.
Update: I tried again with the following modifications:
Less egg mixing
Added salt/pepper.
Used my own method of "scrambling" rather than "massaging."
Used a smaller amount of mustard - like "essence of mustard."
Result: Much better. Although it still seems like an acquired taste that I haven't acquired, still they're good and it seems at least possible that I could acquire the taste.
This idea for a video, particularly in the context of Red Letter Media, makes absolutely no sense. It's a testament to the charm and skill of the channel that they can make it work.
And now a personal story (spoilers for the end of the video).
In High School, going through the halls, I became acutely aware of this dude who would always be surrounded by a group of girls. It was quite a mystery, and in fact an injustice, when I looked at him and considered that there was absolutely nothing about him that should really warrant this kind of attention. But the daily walking paths to class are set and regular and this phenomenon was confirmed over and over. Spurred by jealousy and curiosity, I looked at him and the situation trying to figure out his secret. I think it was much later, probably years later that I found out that the dude was the drummer for The Bloodhound Gang.
I'd like to think that going to the same high school as... the drummer... for The Bloodhound Gang is the weakest claim to fame in the world - especially when you consider that they've had multiple drummers. But maybe having the weakest claim to fame in the world is itself a claim to fame? No, it's nothing.
