I had two thoughts as I walked out of this film. One, there seems to be a trend towards female heroes in teen lit, so does that mean there mostly female teen readers? Two, does it seem like the writers of these teen movies like to use the threat of suicide to get their characters out of last minute tricky situations? Actually, there was a third thought: I liked this better than Hunger Games.
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The Numbers Station
Who doesn’t like hit man with a heart movies? What kind of cold heart do you have to have not to? I’ve seen two (3 Days to Kill) in the last few weeks because the genre works for me. Gail and I put this on one night because we are Cusack fans. He did hit man with a heart in one of my favorite movies of all time, Grosse Pointe Blank. Although this one was certainly not as good, or as funny, or as well soundtracked, it was pretty decent. Good intrigue and they didn’t dumb it down by making the CIA boss the mastermind. Enough said.
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Sherlock – Season Three
Gail and I are done with all three (so-called) seasons of Sherlock. Each season is not really a season in the American network TV sense; each one is actually a trilogy, made up of three 88 minute episodes. They never deviated from this formula in the slightest. It was effectively like watching nine full-length movies over the last few months. We even made some microwaveable Boy Scout kettle corn once to simulate the movie-going experience (thanks nephew Paul). Awesome.
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Reno Chicago – Hammer
We hit Reno a few Sundays ago and I had one of the best breakfast sandwiches ever. It’s called the Hammer and it’s simply a fried egg, sausage, and rajas on an English Muffin. The sausage is spicy and thick and formed in a somewhat loosely packed patty. The rajas makes it; it’s peppers and onions sauteed in some cream. And the English Muffin at this place is gargantuan, but light and fluffy. Really good.
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Bulls vs Spurs
The Bulls got killed by the Spurs this night even though the final score was relatively close. Gail and I got there early and watched the warm-ups. It was fascinating to see what the pros do before even shooting layups. And yeah, Joakim Noah is the hardest working guy in the NBA!
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Sherlock – Season Two
This thing got considerably better in season two. I liked season one, but didn’t really get all of the hype. These next three episodes were worthy of some serious hype though. They had more interesting characters, better plots, and some huge climax scenes.
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3 Days to Kill
I was pleasantly surprised with this stylish thriller. Not great, but good. It was directed by this dude called McG and written by Luc Besson (he did The Professional), so it had a lot going for it even before you toss in the star power of Kevin Costner and Hailee Steinfeld (from True Grit).
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[aside] The Coffee Corridor of Chicago
The 56 Bus with a few diversions will avail you of the heart of Chicago coffee culture. For a curated tour, I’ve set up a Foursquare list called Coffee Corridor. It’s unbelievable how many excellent coffee roasters and purveyors have set up shop along a single public transpo line. Also note that the Blue Line works too. Furthermore, I suggest stopping half way at Chicago Avenue, grabbing something from Big Shoulders (and checking the 66 Bus), then diverting west to Asado Ukrainian Village and Star Lounge.
[link] The Best Article About Toast You’ll Read This Year (psst…it’s really about people)
I know, I’m talking about bread just warmed to the point of toastivity, maybe with a spread of some sort. I won’t try and describe it…some snippets to entice…
“Tip of the hipster spear”…
“I did a study in New York and San Francisco, standing on the street holding a sandwich, saying hello to people. No one would talk to me. But if I stayed at that same street corner and I was holding a coconut? People would engage,” she said. “I wrote down exactly how many people talked to me.”
You gotta read the article for it to make sense. So let’s go, chop-chop.
It’s really this simple if you’re a first-timer at French Market Chicago: Get the pastrami from Fumare Meats! It’s a perfect sandwich that’s fine with just meat and bread, but I often add a little Dijon mustard. It melts in your mouth and always exceeds expectations. Amazing. They have other great stuff, including the awesome Navy Bean soup they made yesterday.