I think I've told a couple people here and there about Adam Carolla's podcast but I wanted to let everyone know. Most of you will remember Adam from The Man Show, Loveline, and as one of the voices on Crank Yankers. He's hilarious and is a master of the rant. Adam could riff for 10 minutes on anything.
Check out his podcast on iTunes and http://www.adamcarolla.com/ , it's well worth it.
Also, check out his movie The Hammer. Very funny and touching story of a 40 year old carpenter attempting a boxing comeback for the 08' Olympics. I think Rachel was reluctant to watch it but was soon laughing throughout. It's currently in rotation on the HBO family of networks.
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
I'm pretty sure I'm all here
Has anyone ever time traveled? Well, if you haven't, then I suggest you head on over to Jonah's in East Peoria. And you don't even need Doc Brown, though, who would refuse him?
Valentine's Day, after our Menards saga, we went to Jonah's Fish House for dinner. I made reservations several weeks ago using Open Table (I highly suggest). We arrived at 6:45 for our 7:00 reservation to a packed house (well, it is Valentine's Day). I sauntered up to the hostess station to let her know we had arrived. She found my reservation and then proceeded to utter this phrase, "I'll put you down as partially here, come back at 7 to check in." Right then I quickly thought:
So, I ask her, "Just to clarify, I have told you I'm here but I need to come back at 7 to tell you I'm here again?" Her response, without batting an eyelash but with a heavy does of snide and a dash of unmitigated gall, "Yes",
Ooookaaay then
No seats in the bar so we find some benches to sit on. We did enjoy watching patrons mistake the bathroom signs (that's what happens when you get cute with the names, Whalers and Maidens) and almost run into a column. Promptly at 7 I went up to the hostess and announced, "I checked, and I'm all here". I'm sure she loved that but I could care less. I asked how long the wait was and got "20-25 minutes".
I found a table in the bar and brought Rachel over to possibly get some drinks. HA! No waiter in sight and the bar tender seemed to be on an internship from the Illinois School for the Blind. OK, the waiter was in sight at one point, when I was at the hostess station he came zooming by uttering curse words under his breath. So, in hindsight, probably good he didn't serve us, I like my Jack and Cokes sputum free.
Expecting a long wait we were surprised to hear my name 7 minutes later. NICE! We even got a seat by the window overlooking the Peoria river, not too bad, and the employee parking lot, interesting placement.
The waitress was very nice and took our order promptly. She even had one of those hand-held computers to put the order in. Our salads were tasty and the calamari was very good. The bread was...bread. Now our entrees arrive. I had Marlin and Rachel had Scallops. The Marlin was overcooked and the Scallops were barely plural (just 3). Not too impressed.
I will say the dining room staff were excellent, prompt, courteous, and efficient. But the food is the ultimate sticking point and for the prices they were charging, I will not be back too soon. Afterwards we surmised that we would have been happier at Red Lobster.
Another failed Valentine's Day dinner. But hey, if the relationship is fabulous and the Hallmark Holiday dinners are bad, I'll take that any day.
Valentine's Day, after our Menards saga, we went to Jonah's Fish House for dinner. I made reservations several weeks ago using Open Table (I highly suggest). We arrived at 6:45 for our 7:00 reservation to a packed house (well, it is Valentine's Day). I sauntered up to the hostess station to let her know we had arrived. She found my reservation and then proceeded to utter this phrase, "I'll put you down as partially here, come back at 7 to check in." Right then I quickly thought:
- There are only two of us and we are both here
- I don't remember driving my Delorean
- Did I request "snotty hostess" on Open Table?
- I wonder what Joe's Crab Shack's phone number is?
- Am I being punked?
- Is this a Monty Python sketch?
- This is possibly a bad/weird sign
So, I ask her, "Just to clarify, I have told you I'm here but I need to come back at 7 to tell you I'm here again?" Her response, without batting an eyelash but with a heavy does of snide and a dash of unmitigated gall, "Yes",
Ooookaaay then
No seats in the bar so we find some benches to sit on. We did enjoy watching patrons mistake the bathroom signs (that's what happens when you get cute with the names, Whalers and Maidens) and almost run into a column. Promptly at 7 I went up to the hostess and announced, "I checked, and I'm all here". I'm sure she loved that but I could care less. I asked how long the wait was and got "20-25 minutes".
I found a table in the bar and brought Rachel over to possibly get some drinks. HA! No waiter in sight and the bar tender seemed to be on an internship from the Illinois School for the Blind. OK, the waiter was in sight at one point, when I was at the hostess station he came zooming by uttering curse words under his breath. So, in hindsight, probably good he didn't serve us, I like my Jack and Cokes sputum free.
Expecting a long wait we were surprised to hear my name 7 minutes later. NICE! We even got a seat by the window overlooking the Peoria river, not too bad, and the employee parking lot, interesting placement.
The waitress was very nice and took our order promptly. She even had one of those hand-held computers to put the order in. Our salads were tasty and the calamari was very good. The bread was...bread. Now our entrees arrive. I had Marlin and Rachel had Scallops. The Marlin was overcooked and the Scallops were barely plural (just 3). Not too impressed.
I will say the dining room staff were excellent, prompt, courteous, and efficient. But the food is the ultimate sticking point and for the prices they were charging, I will not be back too soon. Afterwards we surmised that we would have been happier at Red Lobster.
Another failed Valentine's Day dinner. But hey, if the relationship is fabulous and the Hallmark Holiday dinners are bad, I'll take that any day.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Movie Reviews
Thought I would give some movie reviews. Scale is 1-5 trees, 5 being the highest.
V for Vendetta
Interesting movie that was quite hard to follow at times. My guess is the director and writer wanted to parallel the government in the movie to W's administration, albeit quite ham-fistedly (is that a word). I liked the fights scenes and the set decoration but had trouble understanding the dialogue since they used very strong English accents. Normally I have no problem understanding accents but these were a little difficult.
3 Trees
Defiance
I really enjoyed this movie and thought Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig did a very good job. Interesting that Craig has now played two vengeful Jews (the other was in Munich which was excellent too). Both actors portrayed the conflicting emotions well. The dynamic between the two is smooth and you have no trouble believing they are brothers even though they look nothing alike.
I had read an excellent book about the Bielskis called The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy about a year ago. The movie did a great job transferring the story to the screen and didn't skim over their situational ethics. Afterwards I wanted to go out and kill some Nazi's.
4 1/2 Trees
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Good SciFi/Fantasy movie about Vampires and Lycans (werewolves). If you've seen the previous two Underworld movies you definitely want to see this one. It is a prequel and helps explain a lot of what went on in the first two. Bill Nighy predictably steals the show and you just have to love the way he pronounces his lines. The special effects are muuuuch better this time around.
3 1/2 Trees
That's all I can remember of recent movies for now.
V for Vendetta
Interesting movie that was quite hard to follow at times. My guess is the director and writer wanted to parallel the government in the movie to W's administration, albeit quite ham-fistedly (is that a word). I liked the fights scenes and the set decoration but had trouble understanding the dialogue since they used very strong English accents. Normally I have no problem understanding accents but these were a little difficult.
3 Trees
Defiance
I really enjoyed this movie and thought Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig did a very good job. Interesting that Craig has now played two vengeful Jews (the other was in Munich which was excellent too). Both actors portrayed the conflicting emotions well. The dynamic between the two is smooth and you have no trouble believing they are brothers even though they look nothing alike.
I had read an excellent book about the Bielskis called The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy about a year ago. The movie did a great job transferring the story to the screen and didn't skim over their situational ethics. Afterwards I wanted to go out and kill some Nazi's.
4 1/2 Trees
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Good SciFi/Fantasy movie about Vampires and Lycans (werewolves). If you've seen the previous two Underworld movies you definitely want to see this one. It is a prequel and helps explain a lot of what went on in the first two. Bill Nighy predictably steals the show and you just have to love the way he pronounces his lines. The special effects are muuuuch better this time around.
3 1/2 Trees
That's all I can remember of recent movies for now.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Weekend
This weekend was pretty fun.
Friday night we played Settlers of Catan with the Schicks and the Roethles. If you've never heard of Settlers of Catan I highly recommend you try it out. It's similar to Risk without the in-game fighting. As for out-of-game fighting, that's a different story... The great thing about the game is the board changes each time you play so it doesn't become routine. Anyway, I lost both games (as did Rachel), but we still had a good time.
Saturday night we went to a surprise birthday party. It was for Rachel's sister's sister-in-law (follow that?) and the party was held at Jupiter's Pizza lounge in Champaign. http://www.jupiterspizza.com/
The place was set up like an upscale Chuck E Cheese, although, sans cheese maze (a missed opportunity if you ask me). While the concept is a good idea (one that Dave & Buster's have already exploited), the execution on this night failed. Here's my review on a scale of 10 trees, 10 being the highest.
Selection of drinks - 8 - bonus tree for having Stella Artois on tap
Food - 7 - The pizza selections were very...hip with spinach and artichoke being the common ingredient. The wings were very good
Games - 4 - for a place that prides itself on entertainment they should have more video games - the availability of an air hockey table was good
Decor - 7 - nice and clean (unlike most Dave & Buster's) though we were packed into our tables
Staff - 7 - staff was friendly but we had a waitress who had only been there a week - not very nice of management to give her a big party that early in her tenure
End score 6.5 trees - I'm not dying to get back but would give them another chance if I am in Champaign and want to play pool
Sunday was spent watching football. Condolences to my friend Chad (Eagles fan), but that Philly-Phoenix game was excellent. I'm rooting for the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl. The Steelers have had their time.
Friday night we played Settlers of Catan with the Schicks and the Roethles. If you've never heard of Settlers of Catan I highly recommend you try it out. It's similar to Risk without the in-game fighting. As for out-of-game fighting, that's a different story... The great thing about the game is the board changes each time you play so it doesn't become routine. Anyway, I lost both games (as did Rachel), but we still had a good time.
Saturday night we went to a surprise birthday party. It was for Rachel's sister's sister-in-law (follow that?) and the party was held at Jupiter's Pizza lounge in Champaign. http://www.jupiterspizza.com/
The place was set up like an upscale Chuck E Cheese, although, sans cheese maze (a missed opportunity if you ask me). While the concept is a good idea (one that Dave & Buster's have already exploited), the execution on this night failed. Here's my review on a scale of 10 trees, 10 being the highest.
Selection of drinks - 8 - bonus tree for having Stella Artois on tap
Food - 7 - The pizza selections were very...hip with spinach and artichoke being the common ingredient. The wings were very good
Games - 4 - for a place that prides itself on entertainment they should have more video games - the availability of an air hockey table was good
Decor - 7 - nice and clean (unlike most Dave & Buster's) though we were packed into our tables
Staff - 7 - staff was friendly but we had a waitress who had only been there a week - not very nice of management to give her a big party that early in her tenure
End score 6.5 trees - I'm not dying to get back but would give them another chance if I am in Champaign and want to play pool
Sunday was spent watching football. Condolences to my friend Chad (Eagles fan), but that Philly-Phoenix game was excellent. I'm rooting for the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl. The Steelers have had their time.
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