Random samplings and musings

Inception was brilliant. I had to see it twice this week.

If you have not seen the film, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph. If you have seen it, and realized the Edith Piaf connection, click here and read the article/watch the video. Hans Zimmer scored the film and he is amazing.

I'm trying to unravel the bar exam-related webs that have formed in my brain; sleep is helping, as are movies and books, too. I've been reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I am liking it! I think I'm the last person on the planet to have read it, but that's OK.

I've also been enjoying some yummy food and drinks:

Sam's Cafe is "southwestern" food, meaning that it combines mexican, southern, and even some native american flavors into the menu. I had the most amazing blackened shrimp quesadilla - it had goat cheese (c'mon), red bell peppers and roasted corn. Heaven on a plate. The margaritas are awesome too!

I recently went to Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Scottsdale to celebrate a friend's birthday. The pizza was good, don't get me wrong, but the stories of how the owner ships water from NY to specially make the pizza did not convince me. This pizza is labeled as "NY Pizza" but it isn't; it's California-style pizza with a thin crust. True NY pizza is really street food and you can't get feta cheese and kalamata olives on it, OK?

It was tasty, but not as good as Pizzaiolo in Oakland or Dove Vivi in Portland.

Went to the old [healthy] standby, Pita Jungle with a friend today. Yummy hummus and our waiter was either from the UK or Australia. I'm leaning toward the latter but the crowd made it hard to hear him.

Tonight I'm going to Cyclo with some friends tonight. This is my second try with Vietnamese food. My first attempt was at a place in Berkeley and while I can't remember the name, I remember it being very bland. I think Cyclo is supposed to be tasty. Looking forward to it!

Next Saturday I'm heading to Rokerij with with a big group of friends to celebrate the end of school, *passing* the bar exam, and moving out of AZ. Should be tasty - it looks like it is American with some southwestern/Mexican flavors infused there and about. Yummmmmm.

I've been discovering and re-discovering music recently. "Audience" by Cold War Kids is worth checking out (even if it did come out 8 months ago). And I just realized I owned "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap - I had no idea.

Lastly, Cat Power and Nick Drake have really helped me the last couple of months.

Weeds Season 6 Trailer

If you haven't seen season 5 of Weeds (the most recent season on DVD) then to avoid spoilers you shouldn't watch the trailer below.

Weeds is ridiculous and absurd, and the matriarch of the family is one of the most effed-up characters on television. Nevertheless, this show is an amazing train wreck and season 5 was like crack cocaine. It looks like season 6 will be just the same:



PS: I love Andy!!

The Ultimate "B Movie"

Every five years it seems there is someone commemorating Jaws, which hit theaters in 1975. It factors into my life in a weird way - my mom went into labor after seeing it at the drive-in with my dad!

Here's a trailer for a new documentary about the making of the film:

MTV's 120 Minutes

Why did MTV stop playing music videos? Was it the internet? Whatever the reason, it's sad that the station I knew as MTV during my pre-teen and teen years is lost to history.

Especially sad was the loss of 120 Minutes, two hours of "alternative" music that normally wasn't played during waking hours.



Well guess what? I was browsing the interwebs today and found The 120 Minutes Archive - every show online and available for viewing!

Truly amazing stuff here. Enjoy.