Summer is coming hard upon us, and “The Avengers” has heralded in the blockbuster season. In honor of this unique time of year, particularly with the anticipated releases that are due out soon (“The Dark Knight Rises”, “Brave”), here are five legendary masterpieces that have made America love the summer blockbuster:

5.         “Raiders of the Lost Ark”: A standard B-movie plot made into some of the most fun a person could ever have at the movies.  Steven Spielberg and George Lucas combine their love of old serials from the 1940s with a bigger budget and a grander vision. This is the kind of film Humphrey Bogart would have made if he were still adventuring in the 1980s.

4.         “Back to the Future”: It’s got one of the tightest screenplays ever written for a Hollywood production. Every line, quip and joke circles back onto itself, and after watching it is difficult not to wonder why all movies aren’t this clever.

3.         “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”: Probably the finest sci-fi action film of all time, James Cameron made this sequel to his apocalyptic killer robot movie before he became obsessed with 3D and the color blue. It takes a certain genius to stage a comprehensible action sequence, while also keeping the humanity of the characters intact. In the early 1990s, Cameron was peerless in this category.

2.         “Jaws”: The first and one of the best. Without Spielberg’s “Jaws”, none of the other movies on this list would exist at all. But that’s not why I listed it. It also has a keen knowledge of how to play to and against its audience’s expectations. Like Hitchcock before him, Spielberg is a master of the gut reaction, and takes glee and satisfaction making his audience chuckle and then scream within five seconds.

1.         “The Empire Strikes Back”: I’m cheating a little with this one; it was originally released in May, not quite a summer month. Regardless, this is still the film that represents everything that summer movie-going is about. A grand story, boundless imagination and a responsibly allocated budget convene in a mythic sci-fi film that incorporates the talents of the greatest technical artisans in the picture business. Imagine the rapture of being among those who first experienced this masterful sequel to “Star Wars”, particularly when the famous twist at the end was still a surprise going in.

I had no idea that quiche was French. I know I’ve had it here — usually around Christmas or some other holiday.  In France, people eat quiche usually at the end of the week in order to clean out their fridge — it’s a medley of leftovers filled in a yummy pie crust.

I have to say, this is my favorite recipe from around the world that I’ve written a blog about. It is so tasty. You can eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and it’s fairly quick and cheap to make! Impress your friends and family with this delicious dish.

Original recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-french-quiche-461228

Start to finish: 45 minutes

Servings: 6

1 deep dish pie crust (premade or frozen) Tip: If you make your own, did you know nutmeg is the secret to delicious pie crust?

6 strips bacon

1 bell pepper (any color)

1/2 cup regular yellow onion

1/3 cup broccoli

4 eggs

1 cup half-and-half

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

1 cup Swiss cheese (shredded)

Salt and pepper

1-2 cups Spinach

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and then back the pie crust in a pie dish for 10 minutes. Sprinkle parmesan on the bottom to keep it from getting soggy.
2. Either bake the bacon in the oven for about 6 minutes, or cook it in the microwave. You don’t need to fully cook it since you will put it into the oven afterward. Pre-cooking it helps keep a lot of grease out of the quiche.
3. Cut the bell pepper into strips, and make sure to pull out the seedy insides. I cut the onion into thin semi-rings. Wash and cut the broccoli up into bite-sized bits — it’s OK if it falls apart.
4. Sauté the veggies for just a few minutes in some oil.
5. Once the bacon is done, cut it into bite-sized pieces — about 1/2-inch bits.
6. Mix half-and-half and eggs together. Add salt and pepper to your liking.
7. Layer spinach across the bottom of the pie crust. Then add a layer of Swiss cheese, then onions and broccoli, then bacon, and then top it off with some more Swiss.
8. Finally, place the pepper strips artistically around the top so it looks like a bike wheel — the ends meeting in the middle.
9. Poor the egg mixture evenly over the quiche so that it seeps into all of the fillings.

10. Put it in the oven, and cook it for about 30 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes, but I had to keep it in for about 35 minutes). Just check on it, and don’t take it out until a toothpick comes out clean. That means the egg mixture is all cooked. If the crust becomes too dark, you can take it out and cover it with aluminum foil — this will help it still cook for a while.

11. Once you take it out of the oven, let it cool for a bit. I know it will be hard to wait, but, trust me, it will be easier to slice without it falling apart. Bon appétit!

I left 2011 feeling a little cheated. As my movie tickets indicate, I went to the cinema five times that whole year, and only twice do I remember leaving the theater completely satisfied that my money went to a good cause … and one of those times was for “The Lion King.”

Needless to say, it is not a year that I will remember fondly at the movies, and apparently I am not alone, as this article from The New York Times demonstrates: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/business/media/a-year-of-disappointment-for-hollywood.html?pagewanted=all.

Revenue from last year’s box-office gross came up about $500 million short of the year before. Factoring in excessively increasing ticket prices, and gimmicks like 3D making the price of a theater seat even more expensive, that is indeed a sad figure. If 2011 will be remembered for anything, it will be the year that Hollywood almost entirely lost relevance with American moviegoers. Oh, and the last “Harry Potter” movie. That was pretty great too.

As for this year, I am happy to say that I see great potential, both in the mainstream and underground scenes. “The Hunger Games” and “The Avengers” both great examples of blockbuster filmmaking that understand the value of character development and strong writing, even in a business where the big bucks mean everything. They are wonderful preludes to what looks to be a very promising summer, with upcoming releases like the “Spider-Man” reboot, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” and, perhaps most intriguing of all, PIXAR’s “Brave,” which looks nothing like anything the animation studio has ever produced in the past.

Patrons of the art house will also be satisfied with this year’s crop of selections. Terrence Malick, who last year polarized critics with his beautiful and enigmatic “The Tree of Life,” will come out with his new project. Due to his secretive nature, nobody knows more about it than the basic synopsis, but it is sure to be as divisive as his last effort. “Cosmopolis,” starring Robert Pattinson, promises to be the first film about the new century, and regardless of how true that claim ends up being, the trailer is certainly a compelling enough argument for me to go see it.

And for film buffs, the new Quentin Tarantino film, “Django Unchained,” is impossible to ignore.

The trend that I am noticing is chance-taking—if not in the movies, then the people they are employing to make them. The dismal profit return of last year may have been the greatest thing that could ever happen to the American filmmaking system. It may be the creative push that they have been begging for for so many years.

Adding on a second voice to the style blog, I as well will be documenting style trends over these next couple of weeks. However, I won’t just be limiting it to the Western culture but coming at it from a more broad approach in hope to appeal to all sorts of fashionistas out there.

Bringing back the 90s

There’s no doubt about it that the 90s are making a come back so it’s only appropriate to do a mini series in the next couple of weeks covering everything from denim to color blocking to geometric shapes and neon’s.

These past couple of weeks I’ve noticed the jean jacket being worn more lately around campus than usual.

My personal favorite thus far has been the denim-collared top, which I preferably substitute for a structured jean jacket. It’s a much lighter material that can be easily paired with basically anything or can stand on it’s own.

Here are two basic ways one can utilize their denim top for any occasion.

1. Denim on Denim

-When pairing denim on denim remember to keep in mind: never to match the same denim. Try different washes such as a light wash denim top paired with your darkest blue jean.

- Most commonly, the denim top has been worn unbuttoned with a quarter sleeve rolled up and loosely fit.

-To add in a bit of color, throw on a peach tank underneath which if springs most trending color, or a floral print.

-Just remember, although jean ensembles are making they’re way back around, no one wants to looks like the Olson twins in their Mary Kate and Ashley days of glory so don’t over do it!

1. Layering your Denim

-Now is the perfect time to layer your denim over Spring dresses. A denim top adds more contrast and structure to a dress and can transform your entire look for the day.

Mix it up with floral

-Add a light wash denim over a floral pattern for a fun spring feel, accessorizing with jewelry or scarves for a more ‘layered’ look. Or pair your darkest denim over floral with boots to a grudge twist to the feminine look.

1. Graphic Tees

-For a more casual approach, layer your denim top over a graphic-tee. Grab one of your old band tee shirts and pair it with a blue wash denim top.

-Don’t be afraid to go oversized with your tee-shirt as long as you’re keeping a tight fit down below. Try pairing it with some leggings or tight dark wash skinny jeans.

-Dress up your graphic tee by pairing it with a high waist skirt, like Alexa Chung down below. Or even dry a bandage skirt for a more ‘dressed up’ feel.

So there I was enjoying the rare glimpse of Bellingham sunshine from the grassy hills of north campus, when the “whump whump whump” of helicopter rotors broke through the sound of students laughter and shouts of people playing catch.

It was around 4:30 p.m. when the helicopter slowly approached the north campus dorms of Western Washington University. At first it seemed like it would be a simple fly-by, but soon the helicopter came to almost a dead stop above Old Main. It then proceeded to circle above the campus at tree top level three to four times, hovering after each turn, before continuing south over the arboretum.

The helicopter had all the markings and color schemes of a military aircraft. It was most likely a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from one of the military bases in Washington. One thing that made this helicopter unique was the additional probe that ran along the right side of the aircraft. So why the low-level fly-by of Western?

Maybe the pilots felt the need to buzz a few college students trying to enjoy the sunshine. President Obama’s visit to Seattle could have been another explanation as to why the helicopter was in the air, but does not explain why it decided to make a pit stop above Old Main. We may never know the real reason, but at least we can feel safe in knowing that the helicopter pilots of our military are well trained in executing right turns.

Due to recent budget cuts to my checking account, I have had to limit expenditures on luxury items such as groceries.

Luckily, a few friends recently introduced me to the wonderful world of dumpster diving for free food. Don’t worry; it’s not nearly as gross as it sounds.

Here is a non-comprehensive list of places to score some free dumpster food in Bellingham.

Nick’s Top Three Dumpster Dive Hotspots:

1. Papa Murphy’s – Prepare to have your free pizza quota fulfilled for the rest of your life. More often then not, the dumpster behind the Papa Murphy’s is jammed packed with individually saran-wrapped bake-at-home pizzas. Usually they toss out plain cheese pizzas, but occasionally you will hit the multi-topping jackpot. You know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s carbo-load.

1. Cash n’ Carry- This restaurant supply store’s dumpster can be a goldmine for tossed out produce. You may have to dig around a bit, but a little bit of work could uncover all types of fruits and veggies. You can find everything from onions, to assorted peppers, to strawberries. Just ignore the strange looks the actual Cash n’ Carry customers shoot at you while leaving the store. Haters gonna hate.

1. Trader Joe’s- Thinking about going organic? The Trader Joe’s dumpster provides all of your natural food needs. From bananas to chocolate covered blueberries, this dumpster is full of a variety of “au nautrale” goody options. I recommended the slightly expired frozen orange chicken. It is truly worth blogging about.

After thinking for a while, my Slovakian friend and fellow Western student, Lucia Hubova, told me that we needed to cook “zemiakove placky s kuracim masom” (zea-mia-coh-veh  plots-kee suh koh-rot-seem-may-sohm). It may look like a mouthful, but it is easier to make than it is to say!

She told me this burrito-style dish is often sold as a form of Slovakian fast-food in mall — not to be mistaken for our horrible American fast-food. It is a ketchup, chicken and cheese mixture that is eaten wrapped up in a hasbrown-style “tortilla”. Although people don’t eat the dish weekly, almost all restaurants carry some variety of it — such as cheese and sour cream, or mushroom. Lucia said it is usually a treat her grandma makes. When you give it a go, try adding Tabasco or other spices to the stuffing for a different flavor.

Start to finish: 1 hour

Servings: 2

1 onion

1 pound chicken

2 potatoes

1 egg

3 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil (canola or olive)

Ketchup

Shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)

1. Dice onion and cut chicken into 1/2-inch cubes.
2. On low-medium heat, sauté onion in oil, stirring occasionally.
3. Grate and peel potatoes. Use a grater to shred potatoes – think hashbrowns.
4. Make sure to squeeze out the water from the potatoes! If you don’t, the potato mixture will be too soggy, and the potato cakes will not cook well.
5. Add egg, garlic, salt and black pepper to potato mixture. Mix well, adding flour until the dough isn’t sticky anymore.
6. When onions are almost done, add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked.
7. Add black pepper and salt to taste, and finally add ketchup and cheese to the chicken mixture.
8. Over medium heat, fry potato mixture on each side until brown, but not burnt!
9. Now, place the chicken mixture in the potato cake and wrap it up like a burrito. This is where it helps to have a nice, thin potato cake. Ours turned out too thick, so I just folded it over like an omelet and ate it with a fork. Yum!

This weekend The Avengers premiered as Marvel’s culmination of several blockbuster movie projects. 

Warning: this post contains some spoilers, although no major ones

Written and directed by Joss Whedon, this film was written in typical Whedon fashion, so as expected, was funny, clever, and contained the obligatory heart-wrenching moment that is typical of his movies.

As in typical comic fashion the evil villain of this film is motivated by a silly and childish grudge, but commits acts of evil with certain kind of genius. This film’s big bad is Loki, Thor’s brother, who wishes to make all of humanity kneel at his feet.  Of course, Thor gives him multiple opportunities to redeem himself, and in typical comic fashion, he refuses.

One fault that I find with the movie is that every single woman is wearing heels. If she is not wearing heels, then she is barefoot. For females there is no sensible footwear, even in a military-like uniform.  I do understand that this is typical of comic books, but my feminist side tells me I should be upset that women cannot be seen wearing normal footwear.

The movie was smart and clever, and played with typical comic/blockbuster tropes and clichés. However, the movie was very slow to get to the meat of the action and the ending pretty much dropped off a cliff, there was almost no resolution or falling action. I would recommend seeing it, as it appeals to most people (the viewers in front of me were an older couple).   Stay for the credits, they’re fun and there is a surprise at the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Recently, I decided to delete my Facebook. I have been thinking about it for a while now, and in the past couple of months have deleted it and just activated it later the next day or week. However, I think I have completely had enough of it.

Here are my reasons behind why YOU should delete your social media websites too:

1. Imagine not having Facebook, Pinterest, tumblr or Stumbleupon… Now imagine all of things you could actually get done! There are too many days that I’d like to admit that I haven’t gone to the gym because I’m glued to my computer looking at what everyone else is doing. How sad we all have become.
2. These websites are built around the fact that you care about the people you follow or are friends with. Look at your friend list… are all 500 of these people your best friends? Do you care about what all of these people have to say? I don’t know about you, but I don’t care. I don’t care that Susie has the day off and that Freddie and Mary broke up. If these people were your true friends, wouldn’t they call you up and tell you in person?
3. I think it’s important to realize what all adults have been telling us for years: “what you put on the internet will follow you forever.” I don’t know about you, but I completely believe it. Putting up those photos from Cinco de Mayo, wasted, making out with some random probably won’t make your mom or your future employer happy. Social media is there to make you feel free and important to the world, but people forget that they have absolutely no privacy online. Every time Facebook changes anything about their webpage, your privacy settings change as well, which means you may think that your albums are hidden but most likely they aren’t. This should be reason enough for some college kids to delete their social media accounts.
4. Let’s be real, all of the social media websites kind of suck anyways. After you scroll for what feels like days, stalking your closest friends and enemies all you have to do is play mafia wars or move on to the next one. Doesn’t this get boring? Now that summer is coming around the corner and the sun is finally coming out, there are so many other things to be doing!!

Well, that’s my rant on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and whatever other websites you use to procrastinate on a daily basis. You may agree or disagree with me on these topics, but I dare you to try and delete them for one week and see how much you get done and who actually contacts you… it may surprise you – in a good way.

One second the brightly colored lightweight nylon material lay motionless on the gravel, the next it was wrestled to life, filling the parachute canopy with the rising air currents. The pilot, showing no hesitation, raised the chute higher, pausing it overhead to take stock in the intricate connecting lines before turning 180-degrees and plunging off the cliff face.

No sooner had the pilot left the launching area was he replaced by another anxious thrill-seeker, ready to make the leap. This, for lack of a better term, was a crash course in paragliding 101.

The gathering of paragliders and hang gliders had assemble under perfect weather conditions atop Blanchard Mountain at the maintain overlook 20 minutes south of Bellingham, to ride the rising thermals from Puget Sound.

Paragliding took off (sorry, I couldn’t help it) in the late 1980’s and 1990’s.

“It started really catch on back in ’93 and now you have people who have done it for twenty years versus people like myself, who have been doing it for eight years,” said Paraglide pilot and trainer T.J. Sopher.

Sopher joined the paragliding group from Seattle to take advantage of the light winds and sporadic cloud cover, both of which help give the glider more lift.

“Clouds are definitely good markers for lift,” Sopher said. “Just looking out of the environment here I can get a sense of where the air is rising.”

Glider pilots use columns of rising air created by the evaporating water vapor, to propel them high into the sky, essentially “jumping” from cloud to cloud.

Several of Sopher’s hang gliding companions have launched from the top of Tiger Mountain, east of Issaquah, and jumped from cloud-to-cloud until they touched down at the base of Blanchard Mountain some 80 miles north.

As more gliders filled the sky a veteran pilot named Mike explained the differences between hang gliders and paragliders.

“There’s a lot of similarities, but there’s a lot of differences also,” Mike said. “Primarily a rigid wing as apposed to a fabric wing that can be folded up, put into a bag and carry it up the hill; that’s a big advantage.”

Mike has been paragliding for three years after hang gliding since the 1970’s.

The nice thing about hang gliding is that you do not need wind to launch, Mike said. A high point, a running start, and a rising thermal are all that are required.

Similarities between gliding methods is also noticeable by how the pilot is seated.

Paraglide pilots enter the seated position after take-off, tucking their legs into a lightweight aerodynamic shell, while hang glider pilots remain in a horizontal position after launch, as if lying stomach-first on the ground.

The seated position of the para glider pilot allows for relaxed turns and control of the parachute canopy.

“You control the glider simply by weight shifts and brake inputs (left and right hand control levers),” Sopher said.  Sopher explained the process:

“The first thing I do when I want to turn left, for example, is I look to the left, I make sure all the traffic is clear and I don’t have any obstructions, gliders or terrain in the way. I lean over, so I kind of shift my weight over to one side [left in this case], which starts to initiate the turn and then I apply brake input [left hand controls come downward] as I’m looking, and that completes my turn. It should be a nice, smooth, easy transition.”

Learning to control gliders requires training and at least several two-person “tandem” rides, before taking flight on your own, Mike said.

Gliding is not a cheap to sport to get into, with a new glider setup costing between $5,000 and $6,000, Sopher said. However, certified used gear can be found through Seattle-based glider forums between $2,500 and $3,500, he said.

Both Sopher and Mike agreed the steep starting cost is well worth it.

“It only took one flight, and I have been doing it ever since,” Sopher said.