Streaming Under the Influence is my favorite night of the week
It was March 20, 2020. A text message to my aunt read, “Guess whose boyfriend moved in with her at 11 last night because of government quarantine?!” A string of pointy-finger emojis followed my punchline: “This girl.”
So that’s how all this started, I guess. Alex and I had known each other for exactly two months. And then Covid-19 hit, and the state of California called for non-essential travel to cease as part of the Safer At Home initiative. Driving back and forth between Glendale to North Hollywood seemed frivolous. Dating had been going well so far. The solution was simple: he could just stay with me. You know, for a while. Like, all the time. So in the middle of the night, we drove to his apartment and gathered his essentials, and we’ve been sharing a 300-square foot studio ever since. Was moving in with a human you’ve known for less than 8 weeks a responsible decision? Questionable at best. But have we been really creative with how we spend our time as a quarantine couple since then? Holy shit yes. I regret nothing.
A photo I snapped a few weeks after Alex moved in “temporarily.” I liked the way our stuff had started merging together.
When we learned about the threat of Coronavirus in March, Alex and I decided we would take it really seriously. So since then, we don’t leave the apartment more than two or three times a month. We have groceries and household supplies delivered. The handful of times we’ve seen friends and family, it’s been outdoors and at a distance. These are strange times. But one thing we’ve managed to keep a grip on, despite all the anxiety and uncertainty of a global pandemic, is finding ways to stay creative and entertained.
We spent the first 100 days of quarantine working our way through “Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki.” Every day - and I mean every day - we made a new drinkie. I learned a few things about mixology and cocktails and why drinks are made the way they’re made. It was great! (Sure, we gained ten pounds each and probably did some long-term damage to our livers, but that’s another post. It was an exciting 100 days.) With all that liquid courage under my belt, I thought it was time to branch off on my own and try to actually invent recipes. And, friends, let me tell you, there’s nothing I love more than themed food and beverage.
The very first Streaming Under the Influence drink was Flatten the Cuervo. Tequila, orange curacao, lemon and tangerine juices, egg white, simple syrup, Paychaud’s bitters, blackberries. For Sci-Fi Western Night: John Carter, Wild Wild West, Firefly.
I’m not entirely sure who was the one to suggest it, but at some point in late April we decided to start doing themed movie nights. We kicked off May 2 with Sci-Fi Western Night: John Carter, Wild Wild West, and the first three episodes of Firefly. I made a feisty tequila cocktail called Flatten the Cuervo and we ordered buffalo wings. We were inebriated, we were full of fried food, and we were damn happy. Streaming Under the Influence became a Saturday ritual after that. There was Will Ferrell night (Night at the Roxbury, The House, and Zoolander) complete with Mugatu-misu for dessert. There was 90s Mayhem Night (Hook, Man of the House, Richie Rich) with a cocktail featuring spiked Capri Suns. I’m pretty proud of my cleverly named The Rock-lava Baklava for Dwayne Johnson Night (Race to Witch Mountain, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Baywatch). And then there was our crown jewel on Memorial Day: Mouthwatering Movies, featuring a food prepared and timed perfectly to be enjoyed at the exact moment it’s served in the film (grilled cheese and Cuban sandwiches for Chef, caramel crème puffs for Simply Irresistible, truffles for Chocolat). So, yeah, you can say we quarantine entertain pretty well.
For 90s Mayhem Night (Hook, Man of the House, Richie Rich) there was the Capri Fun. Strawberry Kiwi Capri Sun, dry gin, lemon juice, Angostura bitters.
For those of you thinking, “Gee, this sounds pretty great! I want to Stream Under the Influence!” know that there are zero rules and that you’re absolutely welcome to join in on the nonsense. For our own sake, we developed a set of guidelines. Do we need guidelines? No. This is a fucking themed movie night and doesn’t matter at all. But do guidelines help us feel like we’re in control during a time when it feels like the world is crumbling? One hundred percent. So here we are:
#1: Streaming Under the Influence should be streamed whenever possible.
Sure, we pay to rent a movie occasionally, but we try very hard to make good use of the many services we’re subscribed to. Plus, it helps narrow the field sometimes when we’re having a hard time deciding what movies to include.
MerMay Night (Splash, Beach Blanket Bingo, Thirteenth Year) was about both streaming and splashing. See what I did there? It also featured a lot of edible glitter garnishes, like the insane sprinkles on this silk pie.
#2: Three movies on Saturday, two movies on Wednesday.
Holy hell, that’s a lot of movies, right? In June we joked that if Safer at Home continued into July, we’d start Streaming Under the Influence mid-week, too. It was a half-hearted passing comment at the time. Then July came and we realized we needed to pad our week out, because if you feel busy, you stay sane in an apartment. So we try to find a theme for Saturday that works for three movies, and a theme for Wednesday that works for two movies.
Earth’s Core Night (The Core, Journey to the Center of the Earth) was a two-movie Wednesday feature and included a spicy Molten Chocolate Lava Cake martini. Cinnamon hot cocoa mix, almond milk, vodka, allspice dram, overproof black rum.
#4: Finish with a bang.
It’s imperative that after sitting through a themed night featuring those beloved garbage movies, that you end the evening with a palate cleanser. So if you’re going to watch, say, Starsky and Hutch for Owen Wilson Night, best to finish with Midnight in Paris. If you’re going to brave Knights of Badassdom for Larping Night, plan on ending with Role Models. We find that knowing we have a solid movie as the finale of our night keeps us motivated.
Knowing we have a great movie to end the night helps. Also having super-yummy themed desserts, like The Rock-lava Baklava for Dwayne Johnson Night (Race to Witch Mountain, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Baywatch).
#5: Learn the lessons and take sloppy notes.
Alex and I love storytelling. We love dissecting cinema and analyzing arcs and debating films after we see them. We are good at this when we’re sober. But this is especially fun when intoxicated and as a Disney Channel Original Movie credits sequence scrolls past. We have a habit of getting up on Thursday and Sunday mornings to find hastily-scrawled notes about screenwriting or character development. Sometimes we’ll even kick around an idea for an original concept, and then find it the next day and be delighted by our past selves. Don’t be surprised if some of these Streaming revelations make their way into future blog posts.
I have nothing relevant to note taking for this sexy food pic of a Cuban sandwich from when we watched Chef, other than I hope that Jon Favreau is proud of our storytelling analysis while Streaming Under the Influence. From Mouthwatering Movies Night (Chef, Simply Irresistable, Chocolat).
So there you have it. Streaming Under the Influence in a nutshell. We post our fun on Instagram using #streamingundertheinfluence, so be sure to let us know if you’re joining us for the shenanigans!
Want to know more?
Seriously Nerdy always strives to provide recommended reading and outside viewpoints so you can chase your own fandoms and form your own opinions. If you’d like to learn more about this, we’d recommend:
· Love themed food and movies? I was slightly too young to fully participate in it, but I had an adolescent appreciation for the TBS program Dinner and a Movie. Read more about it in this retrospective from Joe Blevins at AV Club.
· Not to dampen the mood, but some studies have found that television can increase depression, so always make sure you’re keeping your quarantine habits in check and doing what’s right for you. This article from Robert Lloyd at the LA Times provides a counterpoint.