Movie with Will & Ben; Rudyard's; Midlake @ the Proletariat, Rudyard's again, and GRAB; Thai and Clerk's II; Lady in the Water
7/19
Since I was stuck at home, I was glad when Will called about doing something. Only in the end, it turned out that he was going to be hanging out at Ben's place, which was in my complex.
We watched the very... um... poorly adapted Bulletproof Monk, which I can only imagine worked better as a comic book.
7/20
Cindy's a big Rudyard's fan, so we went for beer...
7/21
Denton-based Midlake was playing an early show at the Proletariat, so Cindy and I met Dan and Kristin up there to catch the show. Their adventurous indie rock showed definite potential, but I ahven't gotten around to really exploring them further. I was very surprised, though, to see the place completely packed.
Afterwards, we went to Rudyard's (again) for some dinner. I stuck to appetizers, and went with the "nuts and bolts", which I had always wanted to try. I got my choice of several fried veggies (and other fried thingies), and I went with fried mushrooms, cheese, zuchini, and eggplant.
What I learned was that it was too much fried food for any one man. I made some crack about being able to do this since I had just been to the cardiologist. With some help, we put it all away.
The time came for a change of venue, so we went to check out GRAB, where there was more drinking, pool, and (gasp!) a little dancing, which was roundly criticized by Cindy. That's why I never do it, baby.
7/22
Since I was carless and couldn't go out to Susan and Jerry's, I decided to spend the afternoon with Cindy. We started out going to the Taj MaSpec's downtown. Cindy wanted to start a liquor cabinet, so we picked out some standards for her (vodka, rum, whiskey). I picked up some barware I had been wanting since seeing the bar episode of "Good Eats". I picked up a Boston shaker (the shaker itself with no strainer or lid; just use a pint glass as a lid and open slightly to strain), a muddler (good for julips and mojitos), and a great little jigger/pony. I picked up some beer, too, and we browsed the food selection.
We came back, had some drinks, and then decided to go for Thai at the Original Morningside Thai Restaurant. Sadly, we didn't realize it was BYOB. The restaurant was in a house. It was about 7:00 or so, but the place wasn't crowded at all, and in fact was maybe a little too quiet.
We started with the cheese spring rolls, which were good but had too much (read: any) onion. Next up was Tom Ka Gai, which was good, but I suppose hard to mess up, and then a red curry with beef. Everything was good, but nothing particularly unique or compelling. But I've felt simliarly about lots of other Thai restaurants in the village, and this one, somehow, is probably my favorite so far.
I'm not sure what other morningside Thai restaurants there are, but it's good to know we were at the original.
Afterwards, Cindy and I had settled on seeing Clerks II. I suppose I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but it really didn't add much to the original, except a new happy ending, which necessitated first destroying the original's happy ending.
I can't figure out if Kevin Smith just doesn't have it anymore, or if I've grown past enjoying his particular brand of dick and fart jokes, but something just wasn't working.
Also, watching conversations about "ass to mouth" with one's girlfriend can be awkward.
7/23
Cindy was up for seeing Clerks II but not Lady in the Water; Will was the opposite way, so he and I went to see Shyamalan's latest. We started by making a few trips to Double Dave's pizza buffet, and then played some arcade games before the movie.
The movie itself was probably the least interesting of M.'s that I've seen. There was no really mystery or no twist (or if there was, it was too obvious to be surprising). I didn't really see the point to creating an extremely simple mythology. The camera work, as usual, was great, and there were some reasonably funny character moments, although the characters were a little flat.
The film critic character, however, was a complete straw man, and was in the film only to server M.'s ego. That one left a bad taste in my mouth.
Since I was stuck at home, I was glad when Will called about doing something. Only in the end, it turned out that he was going to be hanging out at Ben's place, which was in my complex.
We watched the very... um... poorly adapted Bulletproof Monk, which I can only imagine worked better as a comic book.
7/20
Cindy's a big Rudyard's fan, so we went for beer...
7/21
Denton-based Midlake was playing an early show at the Proletariat, so Cindy and I met Dan and Kristin up there to catch the show. Their adventurous indie rock showed definite potential, but I ahven't gotten around to really exploring them further. I was very surprised, though, to see the place completely packed.
Afterwards, we went to Rudyard's (again) for some dinner. I stuck to appetizers, and went with the "nuts and bolts", which I had always wanted to try. I got my choice of several fried veggies (and other fried thingies), and I went with fried mushrooms, cheese, zuchini, and eggplant.
What I learned was that it was too much fried food for any one man. I made some crack about being able to do this since I had just been to the cardiologist. With some help, we put it all away.
The time came for a change of venue, so we went to check out GRAB, where there was more drinking, pool, and (gasp!) a little dancing, which was roundly criticized by Cindy. That's why I never do it, baby.
7/22
Since I was carless and couldn't go out to Susan and Jerry's, I decided to spend the afternoon with Cindy. We started out going to the Taj MaSpec's downtown. Cindy wanted to start a liquor cabinet, so we picked out some standards for her (vodka, rum, whiskey). I picked up some barware I had been wanting since seeing the bar episode of "Good Eats". I picked up a Boston shaker (the shaker itself with no strainer or lid; just use a pint glass as a lid and open slightly to strain), a muddler (good for julips and mojitos), and a great little jigger/pony. I picked up some beer, too, and we browsed the food selection.
We came back, had some drinks, and then decided to go for Thai at the Original Morningside Thai Restaurant. Sadly, we didn't realize it was BYOB. The restaurant was in a house. It was about 7:00 or so, but the place wasn't crowded at all, and in fact was maybe a little too quiet.
We started with the cheese spring rolls, which were good but had too much (read: any) onion. Next up was Tom Ka Gai, which was good, but I suppose hard to mess up, and then a red curry with beef. Everything was good, but nothing particularly unique or compelling. But I've felt simliarly about lots of other Thai restaurants in the village, and this one, somehow, is probably my favorite so far.
I'm not sure what other morningside Thai restaurants there are, but it's good to know we were at the original.
Afterwards, Cindy and I had settled on seeing Clerks II. I suppose I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but it really didn't add much to the original, except a new happy ending, which necessitated first destroying the original's happy ending.
I can't figure out if Kevin Smith just doesn't have it anymore, or if I've grown past enjoying his particular brand of dick and fart jokes, but something just wasn't working.
Also, watching conversations about "ass to mouth" with one's girlfriend can be awkward.
7/23
Cindy was up for seeing Clerks II but not Lady in the Water; Will was the opposite way, so he and I went to see Shyamalan's latest. We started by making a few trips to Double Dave's pizza buffet, and then played some arcade games before the movie.
The movie itself was probably the least interesting of M.'s that I've seen. There was no really mystery or no twist (or if there was, it was too obvious to be surprising). I didn't really see the point to creating an extremely simple mythology. The camera work, as usual, was great, and there were some reasonably funny character moments, although the characters were a little flat.
The film critic character, however, was a complete straw man, and was in the film only to server M.'s ego. That one left a bad taste in my mouth.
Labels: bars, cocktails, concerts, movies, restaurants, shopping
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 11:14 AM
