Three Strikes Against Our Dinner

These Have Been Some Of Our Favorite Things

The loss of Los Azteca (DW) today, makes this the third of our favorite restaurants to be shut down in 2012 -- two in Allendale itself.

Back in February, I had tried to call in a pizza order to Joe Chicago's on the way home from WMU -- no answer. But since the weather was awful, I figured it might have been the phones. Then on a better night, I swung by, only to find that once again, Joe Chicago's had closed. No more Chicago stuffed pizza in Grand Rapids, dammit. And what really hurt was that the first owners had the place open for nearly two years before I found them the first time! Oh the stuffed pizzas I lost! Oh the humanity!

The second sunset on Joe Chicago's Pizza. (Click on photo for larger.)


Mixed messages in the window. (grin) (Click on photo for larger.)

Then a month ago, this sign popped up in front of Stromboli's in Allendale. Were they closed, too? Apparently so. Damn, they did fine Italian food -- we used to get pizzas there before I found Joe Chicago's, and we had one pizza from them recently -- and they delivered. Can't tell you how many times we had company and had some lasagna, manicotti, fettuccine and strombolis, plus salads delivered. And when we could get them to make it, they turned out to have the very best eggplant Parmesan anywhere.

Say it ain't so. And apparently, on the other side it doesn't -- they didn't have enough Ps, so it's THANK YOU FOR SUFFORT, I think. (Click on photo for larger.)


The sign over the front is gone. We don't know what happened. (Click on photo for larger.)

Sigh.

Dr. Phil

On A Happier Note

The Day Lilies Are Blooming!

Late Monday, when it was still in the 80s, I noticed that a couple of the day lilies that were hiding from view of the bathroom window behind the railing had bloomed. Tuesday, a front had gone through and the high was around 70°F, but there was lots of sunshine, so I waited until around 6pm to get the flowers nicely lit by the sun.


First day lilies of the year. (Click on photo for larger.)

Next, I need to see some fireflies -- and to find some monarch caterpillars. (grin)

Summer is coming. Even if it's 45°F outside and some counties north of us have frost warnings. (double-grin)

Dr. Phil

More on Prometheus

The More I Read The Madder I Get

After reviewing Prometheus over the weekend (DW) with a minimum of spoilers, I am now reading a number of things from pre- and post-release. Seems that some of the bad science I noted wasn't just a case of Hollywood being sloppy, it appears that some of this trash was actually designed. Ridley Scott, say it ain't so!

At some point I will collect a number of links for you to peruse.

But in the mean time, I urge you to read this awesome captan's log. Larry Correia, who I'll admit is a New York Times bestselling author I've never heard of, absolutely nails Prometheus. He starts:

I quit reviewing movies here on the blog when I started selling stuff to Hollywood. The last thing I wanted to do was insult somebody that could potentially give me money for a book. However, I’ve just got to comment on Prometheus.

I really wanted to love this movie. I really did. It is gorgeous. This is one of the best looking movies ever. The acting from the main characters is remarkable. Michael Fassbender turns in an amazing performance. Idris Elba can do no wrong. Charlize Theron was great (especially the way she emoted in the flamethrower scene)… Noomi Rapace did a great job. The cast was awesome.

But despite all that good, Prometheus made my head hurt. I’ve heard some people try to say that it is a “thinking” movie for “grown ups”… No. And quit being a pretentious wannabe English professor. The problem with Prometheus being a Thinking movie is that the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. The more I think about it, the more things I have a hard time with. (you’ll notice that you never hear anybody complaining about the plot holes of the Avengers, because it didn’t try to be a Thinking movie. It just says shut up and enjoy your awesome).

Instead Prometheus was written in such a way that it required the cast of supposedly intelligent characters to make decisions like unto the cast of a low budget B horror movie. It was one step above “hey, we’re in the haunted murder mansion with a serial killer, let’s split up and wander around in the dark!” “Great idea. Let’s have sex and smoke pot so the slasher can murder us faster while we’re distracted!” I expect that kind of cheap cop-out writing from movies that cost $100 and the actors were paid in beer, not $200,000,000 gorgeous movies starring a bunch of great actors.

Yea, thar be spoilers in his piece. But it's funny as all get out. The man can write and it's spot on target.

Notice we both are still saying to go see it. But damn, it could have been a great movie. I mean really great. I mean 25-30 years later and we're still talking about Alien and Aliens -- about the timing, the scariness, the action, the questions, the awesome ensemble cast, the special effects AND the realistic settings. The list for Prometheus is much shorter. MAD Magazine could do parodies of Alien because it was great. Parodies of Prometheus will focus on how stupid the film team were.

Such an opportunity wasted.

Dr. Phil