Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

One Movie Meme

1. One movie that made you laugh

Safety Last by Harold Lloyd. This 1922 movie played at the Silent Movie Theatre in Fairfax. It was great to see an old classic with a large audience to laugh with.

2. One movie that made you cry

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. When Gandalf fell.

3. One movie you loved when you were a child

The Swiss Family Robinson

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once

Jurassic Park. Four times in the theater.

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Gone with the Wind. I love all epics, even when they're geared towards chicks.

6. One movie you hated

The English Patient. Yes, I know. It's an epic, too. But that was just another reason to hate it. My favorite kind of movie betrayed me.

7. One movie that scared you

The Village. This was one where being able to see the danger made it worse. When the blind woman faced the "monster" I felt like my skin had been peeled off and I was exposed to cold air.

8. One movie that bored you

Chicago. I watched it because it got the Oscar for Best Picture. What a chore!

9. One movie that made you happy

The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. That town looked like a lot of fun to live in. The movie was brimming with goodwill.

10. One movie that made you miserable

Could have been Red, White, or Blue. One of those French films from that stupid series.

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see

There isn't one.

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with

Mary Kate Danaher from The Quiet Man.

13. The last movie you saw

Leatherheads. The newspaper gave it a D+. It was better than that. Maybe a B-. With some A- moments and some C lulls.

14. The next movie you hope to see

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

15. Now tag five people.

Kobra thinks memes are gay. So I won't tag anyone. (Hat tip: The Kibitzer, who is not gay, since he didn't tag me.)

5:13 pm Pacific Standard Time

[ posted by Rick Ritchie | 3 comments | Permalink ]

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Sidebar Notes

I decided to temporarily pare down my sidebar, especially under Lutheran blogs and the related blogs I had listed. If you're missing, don't feel bad. You'll likely find yourself back up later. I wanted to alter which blogs I go to in the morning, as some blogs tend to consume me. So if you don't see your name on the sidebar, maybe you can be worried when it shows up again. Your peace will have been short-lived.

4:18 pm Pacific Standard Time

[ posted by Rick Ritchie | Comments | Permalink ]

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Fun Food Facts

I just read that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined. This makes me feel better about my country.

I love restaurants. I grew up with Mexican and Italian being the main ethnic restaurants we frequented. My dad had enjoyed Chinese until he got sick on it once, before my time. The two restaurants, Mario's and Vittorio's, are still open. Vittorio's is the first place I ever read the menu.

The Jaegerhaus serves German food. I have ordered much of their menu. My favorites are Paprika Schnitzel and Sauerbraten. I once grossed out a friend's wife ordering the Szegediner (pronounced by the waitress zock-uh-DEE-nuh) Goulash. I have had many good conversations there with my friend Brett on mythology and the History of Religions. Food goes down best with a Spaten.

Indian and Thai are my newer discoveries. I had an introduction to Indian food when UCI Interfaith held a Gandhi night when I was a student. An Indian feast was prepared and then we watched the movie. I had some take-out Indian after that, but ordered wrong. More recently a friend and I made a short trek to Artesia, where they have an area off Pioneer Blvd. called Little India. We went into one of the nicely appointed restaurants made for visitors. Later I went back with another friend to a hole-in-the-wall called Ambala Daba I had seen mentioned in an online review. We drove down, and entered what looked more like a drugstore. The other customers were all Indian. We ordered. It was heavenly. (They're now in nicer digs, too.) I've also gone to a couple of other restaurants closer to my area that I've liked: The India Cook House which has a wonderful All-You-Can-Eat lunch buffet, and The Clay Oven, which makes some superb Lamb Pasanda. Bukhara is nearby and is worth crossing the street from Bella Terra when you want to choose home-cooked intimacy over big box efficiency. Thai Sensation in Fountain Valley is my favorite local place for Thai.

In my book, lamb can be better than beef. I ordered lamb once at Muldoon's (near my favorite cinema, Edwards Big Newport). Seeing that I had ordered lamb, my friend Pat said, "Dude, why did you order lamb, when you could have ordered steak?" I said, "Try a piece and see." His response? "Oh. That is dynamic! That's the best piece of meat I have ever eaten." He was not overstating, as I had determined the same a few seconds before. I do have to say, though, that the lamb I ordered was not on their regular menu, but was a special.

One local restaurant, The Arches, recently closed. It had been running since 1922, and I had read it was the oldest restaurant in Orange County. Looking online, I find it amusing how I can also find that honor given to The White House in Laguna Beach which opened in 1918, Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant which opened in 1936, and Sarinara's Tamale Factory which opened around the same time. Watson's Drug Store in Orange opened in 1899. Another landmark restaurant, El Adobe De Capistrano, which opened in 1948, boasts buildings that date back to 1797.

9:51 pm Pacific Standard Time

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