AnimeYourLife

Friday Night Cables

Sat, 17 May 2008 13:53:08 GMT

One More Video I Promise!

Thu, 15 May 2008 09:03:35 GMT

So I'm still having a good time with this Animoto slideshow program - so here's one more video, with lots of photos - set to Regina Spektor's song, On the Radio. :-) This is the best one yet! ha.

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www.LeahAndMark.com

Rated #1 Slideshow of my Trip! - by Me!

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:24:50 GMT

Since my econ paper is moving along quite well, I figured that I'd make this slideshow and post it. It's some of the photos I took in Phoenix - just in that Animoto slideshow style! I suppose I could've put more thought into it - and eventually take some time to edit all of the actual VIDEO that I took - but hey! Life moves fast and as much as we blog around here, it's hard to keep still long enough to post about EVERYTHING! (Even though it may seem like we try.) So. Here ya go - my weekend in Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona. All that 'being in the moment' distracted me from taking MORE photos - I'll have to let go and just do that whenever I'm on trips - well... you know what I mean.

www.LeahAndMark.com

AZ Weekend

Some Final Videos of China

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:15:30 GMT

I always meant to post these videos, but slow internet connections and editing always got in the way - so before we get even more caught up in our lives here in Atlanta, I thought that I'd post this set of videos from China, and then mostly leave it at that until I do some real editing and get streams of clips and photos ready for our house warming/China slide show party in July/August.

SO much to do, and just short of the time I would like to do it all in - the pace is just faster than I would like. Well, the pace plus it's just a list of things I don't want to really do however, it'll be much quicker when I just knock them out instead of talking about, procrastinating about how I don't want to do them. Mow the lawn. Spreadsheets for work. Stay awake and not take a real nap today to really combat the jet lag time difference (we stayed up 'til practically 4 am last night, although we are awake at 7am today.)

It's Sunday. I have work and we have breakfast to go to - just us, but that's all we need most of the time. Today's breakfast - Belly General Store. Well. They have bagels or something. We'll see. Until we get back. Here are some videos.

This first one is on the train we rode from Beijing to Guilin - 24 hours overnight. At some point, they stopped coming by with the drink cart so we went off in search for a bottle of water. We ended up going to the far end of the train. This is our walk back to our bunks and you can see the size of the space, the feet hanging off the beds, and just get a feel of how close the quarters are in there. We slept in the hard sleeper section which isn't exactly hard - but it's not soft. Open bunks three levels high. I think most travelers would recommend this level since you get your own space, but you're also close enough that you really must interact with the other people near you. So rather than riding the whole time without meeting anyone - it's an easy bet that you will.

LeahAndMark.com - Train Running

This second one is when Leah and I met up with Amy - she's an artist from Baltimore, MD and she was there in China working with our other artist friend, Alonzo Davis at that artists commune area on the far fringes of Beijing. She had been 'on the reservation' for practically the entire time she had been in country (she was working) so it was nice to be able to take her out and show her around - I do feel bad that on her back, things went horribly wrong with the bus route (they didn't go back the way we came and had different stops) and I'm sure that it took HOURS longer for her to get back - I hope it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun hanging out with her, exploring a few areas that we ourselves hadn't been to yet.

LeahAndMark.com - ordering Chinese food with no English and little Chinese

The next two are just short clips, one of the Sichuan Opera (which is more like a variety show) and then one taken at a hot pot restaurant also in Sichuan. Sichuan food is pretty hot, as in Spicy. The stuff is good although I'm not sure I'd have it everyday. Still, it was a fun experience - much better than many hot pot restaurants where instead of cooking your food in flavored broths - you basically boil everything.

LeahAndMark.com - Sichuan HotPot

LeahAndMark.com - Sichuan Opera

Now I need to get a full version of a video editor (hence the 'trial version' stamp at the top of that train car walk video) and then get to editing... of course, there's so much else to do.

*looks like it's going to rain most of today so thankfully, no lawn mowing will be going on (now I need to lower the shades so no one can see who lives in this house with the embarrassing overgrown lawn.)

Oh yeah - and one more. I know I know - but you have to realize that what we've posted here on our blog is only about 20% of all the stuff we actually filmed and photographed. There's SO MUCH more - and fortunate as it is, our lives have already started moving on, and there is little time to reflect on the past month in China.

This last one is just one of the nights we spent at the hostel community room in Beijing. The Red Lantern House. The manager plays several instruments, including the Violin and Guitar - this is the erhu - a traditional Chinese string instrument.

LeahAndMark.com - Erhu performance

Okay. I'm done. For now. Ha. But don't worry, I have actual work to do today so you know that means I'm going to procrastinate and post other things on here.

LeahAndMark.com</div>

Hello from Shangri-La - www.LeahAndMark.com

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:15:27 GMT

Our syndicated LJ Feed: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/leahmark/profile

Hello from 10,200 feet and the lower portion of what used to be Tibet. We will not be able to make it up to Tibet proper and the capital city of Lhasa, but we're here in the remote town of Shangri-La.

Shangri-La is the name China gave to this Tibetan village which was originally named Gyalthang. It's pretty high up and the air is thin. We've had trouble walking around and climbing steps but it's generally no problem.

We've covered many miles on this trip so far since we left Atlanta, landed in Korea for a second, and then finally touched down in Beijing. Then there was that 24 hour train ride to the south of China and we've been making our way through small towns ever since then, inching closer to Tibet. But it looks like this will be as far north as we'll be able to go. Shangri-La itself was off limits to foreigners until earlier this week so we're lucky to even get this far.

It's cold here too. We've experienced some variations in weather that we weren't expecting. From the hot and humid air of Yangshuo (which made it really seem like we were in Vietnam and not just north of the country) to up here where we broke down and bought some North Face jackets - for around $30.00 US each. Yes. Obviously there is the risk that they're fake - but ya know what? $30 for a fake jacket that keeps me warm is still better than the $175 and up for the real thing. So we're happy about that.

The hostel that we're staying at here in town is actually quite amazing. It's honestly one of the more expensive ones at $24 a night, but hey, we thought we'd splurge - AND this one has a heater in the room so yeah. It's like we're fancy this time around. Although we'll admit that we have definitely been very lucky as far as the hostels that we've stayed at on this trip.

Tomorrow we're visiting several of the major monasteries in the area and then the next day we're hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge - it should be quite amazing and hopefully it won't rain - because then it would be a seriously deadly hike and suppose that dying is something we're trying to avoid on this trip. Especially since I have some more work to do.

These few weeks have made me think about my life back in Atlanta, nothing particularly good or bad, just the differences between life here and there - and how it could be in both places. I admit, both are great lives and each has its own benefits, but having traveled even for this short period, it's been interesting to think about some things. However, Leah's got grad school coming up so we're in Atlanta for the next few years indefinitely - until we change our minds of course.

Shangri-La isn't anywhere close to what it should be. The old town quarter doesn't come close to Lijiang and rest of the city is like any other city in China. We're staying here an extra night but mostly to slow down for a second since the pace we've been going at was a little fast - faster than we needed to go - because traveling should not always be conducted as if you're trying to binge. Americans in particular have 'binge' vacations all the time - requiring a vacation from their vacation.

Life is both hard and easy - you just have to be willing to overcome the obstacles that come with making your life easier sometimes - and then get back to work 'cause the world is gonna keep going with or without your help - but it can be better with your help.

Goodnight.

www.LeahAndMark.com

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:01:09 GMT

www.leahandmark.com

Traveling in the US can be a very lonely act. Traveling anywhere in general can become a lonesome journey where one aims to lose themselves in solitude and to escape the general madness that can stretch from downtown to far borders of any suburb.

I feel that a substantial difference between our trip compared to others is the degree of openness, how much we are seeking others out, and always up for meeting someone we can connect with and possibly be friends. Because although many of us from the US seem to believe that simply flying to some destination, eating the food, buying the goods, and taking pictures constitutes traveling – we're missing a substantial chunk of the experience. We're getting the postcard fed to us by the chamber of commerce and nothing more.

Chances are good that we won't ever see or hear from some of these people again – but because the initial connection was made, because that wall which separates strangers is no longer there with these people we now consider friends, everything changes – and we experience China as it really is and not what is reported on the news.

Because although the media is partially correct in their delivery of facts, they are unable to convey what it is like to meet these people. To know them and find that common denominator that we share, even though we live on other sides of the planet.

We have handed out roughly 20 friend cards – and hopefully we'll hear back from everyone – some have already been writing and we still have so much time, and fortunately, many more cards to hand out.

So tonight we're here in Guilin, just north of Yangshuo and a day before we fly out for the next city - even though we experienced something different, something less pleasant and hopefully forgettable in the town of Yangshuo - everything else about this portion of the trip was worth the trouble.

We've met many other travelers from other parts of the globe. While there are obviously many obnoxious people that I am happy to never meet, the ones who have somehow broken past my own barriers have been quite excellent. Just because we're traveling doesn't mean that we haven't run into an A$$hole every now and then - so we keep away and turn to the other people that we'd rather meet. All of the people in these pictures.

So aside from eating our way through China, it would be accurate to say that we're... friending our way through China because that's also what we're doing. And the diversity that we've come across has been quite awesome.

Ireland, England, Australia, Nanning(China), and people from nearly every region of China - and then of course Alonzo Davis, an artist from Baltimore back in the 'States.

It's always good to have friends in far off lands and while it's been very convenient to meet people over the screen and through the internet, it's always better to have that face to face connection, when things seem to be effortless and the distance doesn't seem so great. When the distance between each of us seems as though it could be the reason we actually keep in touch.

But Leah makes it easy when she can turn anyone into a friend - even the vendors trying to sell us their wares... here's a good clip of both her Mandarin speaking skills, and her ability at haggling and friending the vendors. Have a great night.

Leah Haggling @ the Market

Frank Ma’s - Da San Yuan - Atlanta Restaurant Review - Chinese

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:06:16 GMT

Frank Ma’s.

I USED TO LOVE THE LANGUAGE BARRIER. It kept everything foreign, different, making each meal at a chinese restaurant more chinese simply because I couldn’t understand anything. I didn’t need to understand, back then I just wanted good food. Of course I also used to order general tso’s chicken thinking it was authentic cuisine straight from Zhongguo.

It’s the details that make everything great at Frank Ma’s. The way Amy Ma welcomes you when you first enter; how the server smiles, surprised when your Caucasian dinner-mate actually orders her food in Mandarin. The way the food comes out with the wok-essence infused, visibly floating upward, intertwined with the rising steam. Dumplings cooked to perfection, balancing the pan fried outer texture with the heavenly ingredients within. Entrees prepared with copious amounts of oil, leaving residual spoonfuls only adding to the flavor, multiplying the desired effects. Your meal will definitely make you happy.

On this sunday afternoon with the restaurant near empty, it’s just my girlfriend and me. Frank Ma stops by our table and ask how is everything. “Hen hao chi” she says and a surprised smile registers on Frank’s face. I sit there quietly eating my gloriously roasted Beijing duck, trying to avoid letting on that the only Mandarin I know is from lesson one of Pimsleur. She tells him of her time studying in Beijing and his eyes light up. Question after question he asks while I reach across the table with my chopsticks, snap at some perfectly braised eggplant and fill my mouth repeatedly while they talk back and forth.

Hongshao qiezi is one of the few vegetarian dishes I can always count on. Every restaurant has a slight recipe variation but all of them satisfy completely. If you’re vegetarian and you’re tired of eating fried rice with steamed vegetables or any number of tofu substitutions, try this Chinese eggplant dish. Even if it’s not on the menu, ask for it and nine times out of ten they’ll prepare it for you. The stuff at Frank Ma’s is on par with the best.

I sit facing a wall of mirrors. The air outside is crisp and a thin layer of snow still covers the ground. I watch reflections as person after person comes in from the cold and is greeted by Amy Ma before walking to the back where a meeting is beginning. I eavesdrop, trying to identify the handful of words I understand, listening for tones, attempting to gain a language immersion lesson for free - all of it lost on me as I get distracted by the arrival of more food. Sliced fish in hot oil is so much more than the title suggests and insanely fulfilling as my rice catches every flavor. If I could lick my plate without being seen, I’d do it in a heartbeat. And no matter how incorrect the sentence; this food tastes beautiful.

Frank Ma is looking at me, expecting me not to be rude and finally say something. He speaks perfect English, but instead I meekly respond Wo hui shuo yidianr putonghua with a Beijing accent sounding a bit like a pirate. I add Wo shi Feilubinren explaining that I’m Filipino. He grins and says in English, “Keep working on it”. Just then a crash of dropped metal clangs from the kitchen and he abruptly walks away.

I look at our empty plates. The table top is covered with evidence of an excellent meal, meaning not a single morsel of food is left. Mandarin being spoken in the kitchen carries out and fills the dining area mingling with the noise from the meeting in back. Laughter mixes in with exclamations while the big screen television shows a celebration taking place somewhere in Taiwan. Reaching across the table my girlfriend holds my hand and tells me wo ai ni. I don’t know this term but like the food at Frank Ma’s, translation is not needed - everything here taste beautiful.

Daddy D’z BBQ Joint

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:44:02 GMT

A SWEET, BLOOD RED SPLATTER DOT the size of a pinhead gave it all away. Standing there, I tried my hardest to beat back the smile creeping across my face. I didn’t stay home - I couldn’t, not tonight - nothing drives me away from my laptop like an essay paper due the next morning.

When the jamaican waitress with a sugary sweet accent asked for my order on this particular sunday evening, ‘the sampler plate’ spilled out of my mouth with giddy excitement. Daddy D’z BBQ joint located south of the MARTA tracks and just off the King/Memorial station is clearly not in the middle of a suburban planned community. A soccer mom and her son sit happily in the corner, pacing themselves through the meal and laughing in between bits of meat and spoonfuls of their top shelf sweet potato sides, clearly they know a good thing when they find it. No longer a secret, and to the point of being cliche, the food at Daddy D’z is good - sickeningly great in fact.

Barbecue shacks in the deep south are as abundant as Filiberto shacks in the south west. Heavy debates over which is better, over which is the best, over which sauce lathered on the most tender meat will cause you to curse the day you decided to become vegetarian and regret all the lost time that could have been spent devouring red covered animal parts. A grinning smile I once fought back, stretches across my face right now just thinking about the beef, the pork, and the sides.

The building creeks under the weight of the big Daddy D’z sign when you walk through the gravel parking lot towards the door barely hanging on its hinges. After your food arrives, you sit there with one plate full of meat and another plate sitting empty, waiting for the bones beneath the hunks of smokey flesh to be uncovered and discarded.

Thinking back, some of my absolute best meals have been eaten from styrofoam plates, using plastic silverware - Daddy D’z is no different. Recently, on the rare night when my vegetarian girlfriend is out and I’m left to my own devices, I’ve been heading directly for the next barbecue spot, the next great place that everyone raves about, the spot that everyone says you must try - and then I remember how reviews tend to mathematically compare each spot as if it’s an equation - a poor comparison of souls. While sitting there at my dingy, uneven table, surrounded by walls that have obviously soaked in their share of pork and beef fat molecules, I have no idea how anything anywhere else could possibly be better than this.

Daddy D’z is everything it wants to be and on that tired Sunday night the only diners in the restaurant were people seemingly not there for anything other than what they know - that this place delivers the goods and it doesn’t matter who you are. Whether you’re the hipster twenty-something woman with thick rimmed glasses in the corner, the father and his two sons trying to watch the football game on the big screen, or me - some guy desperately trying to avoid writing his paper that’s due the next morning.

So when my girlfriend came home later that evening and asked me how the paper was coming along, before I could utter any sort of simple lie, she noticed the blood red splatter dot on my shirt and immediately knew how I had spent my evening. Daddy D’z is my new favorite barbecue joint and it was absolutely worth it.

Tech. Money.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale Review

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:58:51 GMT

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Director: Uwe Boll
Staring: Jason Statham, Ron Perlman, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds

Farmer, was an orphan raised by the town he lives in, grew up to be a “farmer”. He is a man who has a loving family but yet he can’t say those magic words to his wife, “I love you.” His peaceful life is turned upside down when a race of humanoid creatures, the Krugs, attacks his peaceful village. With his son killed and his wife missing Farmer goes on a quest to find his wife and bring the man who killed his son to justice. Well, justice at the tip of his blade.

[......The Review of a man, went insane ...]

Solstice Cafe - Atlanta Restaurant Review

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:37:35 GMT

Solstice Cafe and I think of Sunday mornings.

I love Sunday mornings. Before the dread and realization that monday happens overnight, you have a few hours to move slow, eat a good breakfast, and realize how great can be when you finally get a chance to actually stop thinking about things that matter to everyone else except us - specifically anything having to do with work.

We wake up from a dead sleep caused by a Saturday night of too much everything, settle into the car, and tune the radio to one of the acoustic sunrise stations and drive while Radiohead carries us to Solstice Cafe in Grant Park. There it is at the north end of a strip mall, next door to an vacant space, a dirty, old, rundown laundrymat, and a small mexican food market with a ceiling lined with pinatas, Solstice Cafe is a quaint, bohemian food spot easily below the foodie radar.

Simple metal tables painted over with an amateur painter’s touch, walls lined with paintings in various media and a bar serving both omlettes and alcohol, this is yet another secret spot unvisited by the hoardes of breakfast feeders searching for another order of biscuits, grits, and pancakes.

Solstice Cafe is what would happen if you turned an excellent bohemian coffee shop into a breakfast and lunch spot and then gave it a liquor license. The staff is friendly and on this particular Sunday morning, everyone seems to be gripping the hours before tomorrow as they sip their coffees and enjoy Sinantra crooning over the speakers.

The menu is lite, mostly consisting of eggs, sandwiches, potatoes and other simple fare. No pancakes, no super size servings. Just a quiet space away from the lines at the Flying Biscuit, Thumbs Up, and Crescent Moon - all with a huge painting of Elvis behind the bar.

Review Summary: 4.3 out of 5

Tags: Solstice. Cafe. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review. Grant. Park. Breakfast. Brunch. Best.

Solstice Cafe
562 Boulevard SE
Atlanta, GA, 30312
(404) 622-1976

Chef Liu - Atlanta Restaurant Review!

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:25:34 GMT

Chef Liu

On a lazy Sunday afternoon with a craving for chinese food gnawing at our insides, my girlfriend and I decided to make a jump over to Buford Highway and try out yet another new spot for lunch (new to us.)

So I took her to Chef Liu’s. It’s on Buford Highway, about a mile ITP.

As we got closer and I pointed out where we were going to be eating, my girlfriend made it clear to me that she did not want to eat at this shack in the middle of a parking lot! After some heated convincing, we opened the sliding glass door (sliding as in, like the one you have going your backyard) and sat at a table closest to the kitchen. Not that we could see through the bamboo shade hanging down and dividing the trailer.

Ambiance? It’s so awesome here. With six or seven plain tables set inside a trailer and little decoration other than the strip mall you see on the other side of the parking lot through the glass walls, Chef Liu’s is closer to what you might find in other countries that allow food to be sold from run down shacks on the side of the street - at least closer than most places you’ll find here in Atlanta.

Cold Noodle dishes, dumplings and soups are the main offerings here, although we also ordered a leek pie - absolutely delicious and we ate it long before our actual meals arrived. The pan fried pork dumplings are beautiful and look exactly like the picture in the overhead wall menu. You won’t find these at P.F. Chang’s.

You can’t compare Chef Liu’s to a regular restaurant or most other places. It’s simply different and unique. Of course they don’t use the highest quality ingredients, of course it’s not food you would find at a ‘finer’ establishment - this is food for the masses, cheap food done well. Your food comes out fast and hot and you feel like you’re eating at some secret spot that only the best know about - no matter how many people eat here on a regular basis. About as quick as ordering food at Burger King or Wendy’s, but not as bland and generic as Panda Express - this is good, different fast food.

Sitting there with your limited basic mandarin you picked up from pimsleur during your morning commute, you over hear the waitresses talking to each other and with the customers - people who aren’t foodies obsessed with finding the most authentic anything. Just a spot to get good food reminiscent of their homeland while living in the deep south. This place is great and will always be near the top on the list of choices when I get that gnawing feeling for some dumplings and a slightly different menu offering.

Review Summary: 4.6

tags: Chef. Liu. Atlanta. Restaurants. Reviews. Chinese. Foods. Best. Dumplings. Buford. Highway. Shanghai. Noodles. Soups. Parking. Lots.

Chef Liu
5221 Buford Hwy NE
Atlanta, GA, 30340
(770) 936-0532

Shoot em Up Movie Review

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:08:59 GMT

Director: Michael Davis
Staring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci

Mr. Smith, minding his own business at a bus stop drinking coffee gets his world turned up side when a pregnant woman runs past him, being chased by a man who does not have her best interests in mind. Of course things turn violent and Mr. Smith finds himself in the middle of a gun fight delivering her baby.

As luck would have it the mother is shot in the head and now Mr. Smith is the proud father of a baby boy. Running from very bad men, he tries to stay one step ahead of them not only for his sake but also to save the life of his prostitute friend and unravel the mystery as to why so many people have a special interest in the life or death of a new baby.

[......The Review of a man, a baby and a whole lotta bullets...]

Severance Movie review

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:24:16 GMT

Director: Christopher Smith
Staring: Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Tim McInnerny

What can go wrong when a group of people head off to forests of Eastern Europe to do a team building exercise? Well when you are working for the company Palisade Defence and you are being lead by an incompetent boss a lot can happen. Unfortunately that can turn deadly when you add in a mix of war crazed killers who only want to kill anyone that enters their territory.

We start off with an innocent detour, let’s forget about the do not go in there or you will die warning for just a moment, our band of unlikely victims follow a forrest road to a run down cottage. Thinking that’s where they are are supposed to stay they set up camp and the fun begins. Well not quite the fun that they are expecting.

[......The Review of how not to go paint balling with buddies from work...]

Sakana Restaurant - Phoenix Sushi Review

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:41:33 GMT

Eat All Day.

There are sushi snobs everywhere. Sushi in Phoenix? Ha. At least that’s what I used to think. Sure it’s easy to look down on everyone who thinks they’ve had good sushi after eating at Ra, or Zen 32 - but forgive them, this is Phoenix and they’re still learning about sushi and that’s okay.

When they’re done having bad california rolls and a happy hour menu full of pieces that fall apart, take them to Sakana in Scottsdale. I know, I said Scottsdale but don’t let that turn you away. Sakana is away from the cheesy old town and located in a non-descript strip mall on Hayden just east of Scottsdale Rd. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’ll be surprised at how awesomely fresh, clean and flat out delicious your food will be.

If it’s just you and a friend, I’d definitely recommend sitting at the bar and not only watch the sushi chefs work, but actually talk with them. While there are a few who would prefer not to say anything, there is usually at least one who’s up for anything and definitely up for you buying them a cup of saki.

The lunch and happy hour specials are excellent here. Order lots and try everything eventually. It’s all good.

We used to live deep in Phoenix at 36th st & McDowell and we’d make the trek to Sakana simply because anything else was bound to be sub-par. Sure Zen32 was practically in our front yard, but we’d simply keep driving.

The ambiance is everything you’d expect for being in Scottsdale except you’ll notice that families come here. You’ll see groups of friends both old and young eating and drinking - all without the pretense you’ll find down in Old Town. This isn’t the sushi restaurant to be seen, this is where you go if you want the best sushi you can find in all of Phoenix.

If you grew up and Phoenix and the first time you had sushi was during a Zen32 happy hour, graduate and get over to Sakana in Scottsdale.

Eat All Day.

Review Summary 4.7 out of 5

Sakana Restaurant
6989 N Hayden Rd., Ste A12
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
(480) 609-3850

Coffee Plantation - Biltmore Fashion Square - Phoenix Review

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:30:18 GMT

Eat All Day

The Coffee Plantation at Biltmore Fashion Square has been there forever - well, a long time. Long enough for many adults to remember back in high school when they’d get dropped off by their parents for a fun night with friends… walking around the closed Biltmore Shops and the open Borders books & music. Of course, the hordes of teenagers and college kids always annoyed the upscale crowd who uses the location for the exact same reasons - for meetings and hanging out, and simply to be seen. Often voted as one of the ‘best places to be seen’ in Phoenix (well, it comes and goes), the Coffee Plantation at the Biltmore is nearly an institution.

With several high schools nearby and a good number of them of the private and catholic variety, these aren’t the same kids that hangout in Buckeye. These are the epitome of upper class preppy punk students. Annoying as anything can be to a college student, or adult - but their energy is so much a part of the atmosphere that without them, the place loses some of what makes it great. The eclectic mix of hyper-giddy teenagers, college hipsters, and yuppie city-life wannabes make this a great location to hangout with friends and people watch.

Nevermind that the coffee is terrible - all of it - any of it. It’s all bad. How bad is it? Let’s just say that they’re a good five rungs down the ladder from StarSux (see what I did there? StarSUX! hahaha, I’m hilarious.) People wax nostalgiac about how the quality of the drinks keeps going down, but they don’t realize that the drinks always sucked. Seriously.

Although I must admit, my current coffee addiction began here. With their milky sweet iced mochas. They used to make them from scratch, real ingredients before they started using power and water, but the mochas tasted much better back then - 10 years ago… and there I go waxing nostalgiac. The coffee sucks. The food is boring, and the service sucks.

But it’s always been that way. The service was always bad.

With lots of tables both inside and out, and most of them lining the walkway corridor seemingly designed for people watching, this is a prime spot for people watching while you sit alone, drinking your latte and filling your notebook with ideas and dreams you’ll never fulfill. You’ll see those people there right beside tables surrounded by 5-7 kids or adults. When there’s live music it’s everything you wish your local coffee shop would be - again, except for the coffee sucking.

Review Summary: 3.2 out of 5

Eat All Day - Click Here

Aliens vs Predator 2 Requiem Movie Review

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:52:34 GMT

Directors: Colin Stause, Shane Salerno

Staring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz

A Predator’s ship crash lands on Earth and alien face crawlers escape. We also get the joy of watching our first alien/predator hybrid. Eggs are laid in people, chest busters hatch and aliens begin their attack on a sleepy town in Colorado. A Predator receives a distress signal that one of his kind has gone down and he flies off to his rescue…oh sorry he flies off to destroy evidence and kill some Aliens.

To give the Aliens time to grow, we are treated to some forgetable stories of some of the towns folk. We get the story of an ex-con returning home, his brother fighting a bully for the love a girl and the sad return of a solider and her daughter is not showing her the love she quite expected.

[......The Review of what happens when two different species can't get along...]

I am Legend Movie Review

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:39:24 GMT

Director: Francis Lawrence
Staring: Will Smith, Alica Braga, Charlie Tahan

Cancer is cured! Go us! Oh wait the cure actually mutates us into albino - bald mutants that die when they come in contact with the light and crave human flesh. Nice trade off there doc. Well it doesn’t take long for things to go bad and humanity for the most part is dead.

One survivor, Dr. Robert Neville, quite possibly the last surviving man lives in NYC. He spends his time during the day playing golf, hunting, renting DVDs and trying to find a cure of this plague. As fate would have it his path crosses with those hungry mutants (not to be confused with the X-Men) but this time one of them shows a sign of intelligence. Of course for us, this is when the fun begins.

[......The Review a man and his dog in a world who hates him...]

Dusty's Barbecue - Atlanta Restaurant Review - BBQ Shack

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:53:59 GMT

I drive past Dusty’s Barbecue everyday on my way home. Everyday. I’ve lived here for almost a year and I never got around to stopping by and having one of their apparently famous bbq pork sandwiches. What took me so long?

I think many of us envision some of the best barbecue that can be found being made in small shacks out in the middle nowhere. Where no one goes and they have all the time in the world to slow cook meats with recipes created and perfected by long dead relatives. Dusty’s looks like that shack - even more so in real life than in that picture.

It’s even better when you step inside. Small and filled with two seater tables covered with red and white checkered-picnic- pattern table cloths, this place is great. It looks and feels great. It feels country, almost allowing you to escape the very busy intersection of Briarcliff and Clifton, a mile away from Emory and the CDC. Pig photos and ceramics of various sizes hang on the walls and sit on the shelves all over the place - and why not, they obviously love pork, just not in any sort of humanitarian-vegetarian fashion.

This is North Carolina barbecue at it’s best in Atlanta, Georgia. Skip the babyback ribs. They’re honestly not worth remembering or even trying. Go with the goods, and that’s the chopped pork sandwich and then pour one of their bottles of bbq sauce over the meat. This is what made them famous and apparently why that guy on This Old House stopped by a while back. Unlike many bbq spots, the sides here are actually pretty good. Although I’d argue that the hush puppies are as good as everyone seems to say they are. Sadly these are just okay. They’re not bad but I’ve had better hushpuppies almost everywhere else.

The staff is friendly and more than willing to have a conversation with you if they have the time. It’s relaxed and they walk by often so you don’t need to worry about flagging anyone down for drink refills - or to order another side like I did.

Dusty’s Barbecue is good. While I sat eating my meal I noticed that nearly everyone coming in was recognized by the staff. Apparently the regulars are remembered here and it showed on the customer’s faces how much they appreciated the welcome. I know many foodies who would never stop at this shack. They’re always chasing the next and newest name restauarant in town. Too bad. Well, it’s probably a good thing for us because then we won’t have to sit next to them while we eat our bbq pork sandwich with some close friends.

Review Summary: 4.4 out of 5

EatAllDay - Atlanta & Phoenix Restaurant Reviews

tags: Dusty’s. Barbecue. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review. North. Carolina. Pork. Sandwich. BBQ. Best. Pulled.

Dusty’s Barbecue Restaurant
1815 Briarcliff Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
Phone: (404) 320-6264

Burger Win! - Atlanta Hole in the Wall Review

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:28:33 GMT

People always talk about how they love hole-in-the-wall joints and how many times the best food is the least upscale. If you’re one who’s uttered those exact same words, well I say put yourself to the test and check out Burger Win - they serve chinese, malaysian, thai, buffalo wings, and hamburgers and fries. Try that.

It’s on the corner of Moreland and Mcpherson, just south of I-20. It’s not a restaurant. You order your food at the counter and stand, or sit… in one of the 3 chairs available for sitting. Except if you sit, you’ll be blocking the counter - so you stand. It’s so awesome.

Nestled in between 2 gas stations, at an intersection with four gas stations, a Checker, a Krystal, and a Mrs. Winner’s, you know this isn’t Alpharetta. The neighborhood looks rough and around 6 o’clock, traffic is busy and people stand on street corners for apparently no real reason (well, I could stereotype things and I know why they’re standing there.)

The lighted sign above the doorway says “Burger Win”. The story goes that the new owners simply took the “g” off of the “Wing” and just put the sign back up. (Actually, they got new menus and the real name of the place is Burgers Win. It’s an even better name since they primarily serve chinese, malaysian, and thai food - along with burgers and wings of course.

Owned and run by an elderly chinese couple, one takes orders and the other goes back to cook everything practically single handedly. Past the counter you can peer into their kitchen and witness a space smaller than the inside of a hummer. Furiously cooking both walk-in orders and the many call in & delivery orders, these people work.

Their menu is insanely huge. There are nearly 80 different items. If you have a craving for almost any food from Asia at 2:30 am, this is the place to go. They deliver until 3am, but the last order must be placed by 2:30am. They’re also closed Sunday and Monday.

I ordered the chicken fried rice with hot teriyaki buffalo wings. You know? It was really good. This isn’t fine dining but it’s honestly much more preferable than going to McDonald’s or any other fast food spot. Seriously, you want genuine hole-in-the-wall chinese takeout? Burger Win is the best place to go.

Review Summary: 4.6 out of 5

EatAllDay. Burger. Win. Atlanta. Restaurant. Review. Burgers. Chinese. Thai. East. Village. Best. Hole. In. The. Wall. Asian. Wings. Hot. Flavors.

Dream Cruise Masters of Horror Movie Review

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:57:28 GMT

Director: Norio Tsuruta
Staring: Daniel Gillies, Yoshino Kimura, Ryo Ishibashi

An American lawyer living in Japan was traumatised about the death of his brother at sea when they were young. Not only is Jack deathly afraid of the ocean, but he has been plagued with visions of his brother, Shaun’s ghost. Jack blames himself for the death of his brother and the guilt has been tearing him apart ever since.
Jack has been very naughty though. He has been having an affair with a business client/friend of his. The deal between the client and his company is not looking good so they send Jack to patch it up. His friend Eiji and his wife, the woman he was sleeping with, are going to take a day trip on their boat in Tokyo Harbor. Eiji will only talk business on the boat so Jack must gather the courage to get on the boat and face his ghosts.

Does Eiji’s unusual behavior towards Jack indicate that he knows of their affair? Will the ghost of Jack’s brother Shawn rise from the bottom of the ocean to take vengeance? Well you’ll have to watch to find out.

[......The Review about people taking a boat ride...]

Thai Lahna - Phoenix Restaurant Review

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:35:54 GMT

Oh man. It's just Tuesday? Three more days to go... well, after today.

The closer you get to the center of Phoenix, the more you’ll realize that some of the lines blur, the boundaries between lower income housing built in the 1950’s and newer renovated areas aren’t marked by a big fountain and sign in front of the subdivision. Get to the next street on the other side of a row of houses filled with families of fifteen, and that looks as though they should’ve been demolished long ago, and you’ll find new neighbors, with their BMW’s only a few years old. Gentrification still happens and it’s slowly making it’s way deeper and deeper into central Phoenix - whether anyone notices or not.

I used to live just north of the corner of 36th St. & McDowell, it’s not exactly south of I-10, but I-10 was in my backyard. Although walking around at night was always questionable, the spot was nearly unbeatable for it’s central location and fast access to some of the city’s best hidden or forgotten food spots. Thai Lahna doesn’t receive the press it used to, but that doesn’t mean it’s not always packed. Nestled next to a yoga studio in a non-descript strip mall on Indian School and 40th St, Thai Lahna has been serving the most authentic thai food in Phoenix for over 15 years. [ Read More ]

Atlanta Volunteer-Now

My Florist Cafe - Phoenix Restaurant Review

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:02:16 GMT

My Florist Cafe is misunderstood - by nearly everyone. Living in Phoenix you get used to how things are. If you own a food spot, it’s either a coffee shop, a bar, or restaurant. Much like the clear zoning lines between residential and commercial, Phoenix food spots are either this or that, and rarely allowed to be anything else - it would be too confusing.

So while the complaints about My Florist cover a variety of subjects from the lousy menu, the lousy food, and the lousy service, it’s only compounded by the fact that when you enter My Florist, you’re expecting to enter an actual restaurant. Someplace you can get hot food, drinks and listen to jazz music while sitting there pretending you’re in a completely different city. One that’s more metropolitan, one that’s more urban and cool, one that doesn’t shut down at 10 o’clock.

My Florist Cafe fails, consistently and miserably. Oddly, years and years of bad service, bad food, and surprisingly boring bread haven’t stopped people from giving this place a chance. Over and over again.

Sure they have one of the best jazz pianists in all of Phoenix (at least that you can find easily without having to be in any sort of music circles), but is that really enough? With the servers dressed up, disappearing regularly and delivering plates full of hard, nearly unedible bread, while having no knowledge at all about any of the wines they’re suggesting, why do people continue to frequent this place? [ More...]

The Screwfly Solution Movie Review

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:37:50 GMT

Director: Joe Dante
Staring: Jason Priestley, Kerry Norton, Linda Darlow, Elliott Gould

As homicides involving women victims rise at alarming rate, Scientists Alan and Barney discover a starting trend. As the mass killings are being reported, when you map them out on the globe, they form a straight line when you connect the dots.

Realizing that this can not be a random event, they believe this has to be the work of some kind of virus that is intended to wipe out the human race. The virus triggers violent urges in men to want to kill women. It seems that the virus is triggered in the sexual urges in men. Can Alan and Barney find a cure in time to save what is left of the human race before it's too late or is castration the only answer?

Well I guess this means all the strip clubs will be out of business pretty quick.

[......The Review about science gone bad...]

The Invisible Movie Review

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:12:57 GMT

Director: David Goyer
Staring: Justin Chatwin, Margarita Leviena, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Marquette

Nick’s life has not been the same since his father died. His mother seems to have plotted his life out despite what he truly wants to do. An opportunity to study in London seems to be his way out despite what his mother thinks is best for him.

Pete, Nicks friend has gotten wrapped up in the wrong crowd. Owing Annie, the school’s delinquent, money he becomes a target when Annie is turned into the police for a jewel theft. Despite being innocent, Pete thinks only of himself and names Nick as the person who turned him in. Thinking that Nick is supposed to be on a flight to London he thinks he friend will be safe from her wrath.

[......The Review about an invisible boy near death ...]

Superbad Movie Review

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:36:43 GMT

Director: Greg Mottola
Staring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Just how much trouble can three underage teenagers get into with their hormones raging when they go on a quest for beer? Well luckily for us lots.

Seth and Evan have been friends since the age of eight. Now in their final year of high school they find that they are forced to go to different colleges since Seth could not get into Dartmoth. Being the social rejects that they are, getting invited to Jules party is in their minds the last chance they will get if they want to get lucky with a drunk co-ed. The problem is they have to supply the alcohol and their fate rests with a fake id with the name McLovin.

[......The Review about a boys being bad ...]