USC 05

October 15, 2005 marked a clear turning point in my life.  I woke up that morning with moderate expectations.  I was a totally jaded senior, though curiously excited for the unusually important football game that day.  My girlfriend at the time had a visitor in town and we killed much of a handle of Evan Williams in my single bedroom dorm room.  The remainder went into my flask.  Feeling, needless to say, quite drunk, we made our way to the stadium.  The atmosphere at that point was unforgettable.  What followed was by far the most exciting sporting event I've ever seen live.  I was obliterated, feeling the Notre Dame spirit more than I have before or since.  As everyone knows, the end of the game did not fare well and I felt more viscerally sad than I have then or since.  Greatly influenced by my drunken state, but still feeling truly horrible, I hid my face in my Notre Dame hat as alumni walked by outside of Zahm.  Dinner at NDH was a morgue.  I spent that surreal early evening lying in my girlfriend's futon, not aware by the day, time, or year, totally overwhelmed.  I was torn that night.  My girlfriend got me to go out to a small party at a friend's house and I despondently drank gin and tonic.  It's kind of weird to say I've exposed myself to experiencing more emotions since then, but it's true.

A friend once wrote a poem that went kind of like this

"Look, but don't touch.

Touch, but don't feel.

Feel, but don't taste.

Taste, but don't enjoy.

Enjoy, but not after 2 A.M."

- G.G.S.

Moving to Chicago for the Summer

Ok, so tomorrow I'm headed to Chicago for the summer.  I feel that there's no better way to get ready for this massive move than watching a bunch of movies that take place, at least in part, in Chicago.  You know, in order to build up huge expectations that cannot help but be dashed in reality.  Here's what was on my list:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: shows off Chicago better than any other movie I've seen

Weird Science: actually makes me kind of excited to one day live in Chicago suburbs

Risky Business: In Chicago, at least they have really sympathetic call girls.  Also, I now want to buy a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers.

Sixteen Candles: This film never really resonated with me like other Hughes films, but it's still pure gold.

The Breakfast Club: Yes, I have visited the high school in this movie.

Rookie of the Year: Despite my hatred for all things Cub, this movie is a reminder of a time when they were truly pathetic, not just a let-down in the clutch.

Home Alone: An all time Christmas classic, higher than Miracle on 34th Street in my book for Chicago Christmas movies.

The Blues Brothers

She's Having a Baby: Hughes' shift away from teen comedies is regrettable, but this is still a good film.  Perhaps it is best that he left his excellent record in that sub-genre alone.

Ordinary People

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: The best Chicago holiday-themed movie.

National Lampoon's Vacation: Another verfied classic.  Even though the family only begins in Chicago, this movie, the major theme is: wherever you go, there you are.

Something might strike you about this list.  Chicago, apparently, was huge in the movies in the late-70s to early-90s era.  Much, but not all, of this can  be attributed to John Hughes.  I am an avowed John Hughes fanatic, which probably accounts for my affinity toward both the 80s and Chicago.  Risky Business has striking similarities to many films in the Hughes oeuvre, and you could easily see Rookie of the Year fitting in with the later Hughes family-friendly films.  The others are fairly solid films, too.  Nothing like taking the edge off of a major life-changing week than warming up to some classic movies.  Very comforting, indeed.

I also intend to continue blogging as frequently as time and creativity permit.

I know I'm the last person in the world to see Juno, so I'll keep this short

I hated Juno. I was completely uncharmed by Ellen Page. I hated how it included every marginally overrated indie movie star on the planet (which now includes Page). The super-cute pun-zingers (e.g., "Phuket, Thailand") in the film's first fifteen minutes alone made me puke, the rest elicited other graphic bodily functions last described in the mid-90s. I also found the moral overtones a bit unsettling. The entire thing really just enriched my enjoyment of Gilmore Girls, which is wittier, and Me and You and Everyone We Know, which is simultaneously more cynical and touching. Somehow, I knew I should have followed my initial instinct and watched Blade Runner tonight.

On the plus side - Sean from Degrassi's cameo.

Star Trek: The Sexed Generation

Let's face it: making stupid sex jokes is fun.  Making stupid sex jokes about a typically pristinely rational and sober show like Star Trek: TNG is even more fun, especially when somebody makes a 10-minute long compilation of awkward scenes juxtaposed for maximum hilarity.

High points:

- Most Geordi parts, particularly "21 centimeters."

- Riker's "wah-wah-wah."

- "Transfer helm controls to manual."

- Pie in the face... obviously.

So this clip slows down greatly after about seven minutes... but it's seven minutes well-spent.  This is also maybe the dorikes thing I've ever linked.

- Wesley's timid exploration

Sodas, Pt. 2

- GuS Grapefruit Soda

Like the other GuS soda I tried, I was quite pleased with the clean crisp taste due to its sparing use of cane sugar, as opposed to an overwhelming use of HFCS.  However, I felt that this particular soda did not have a strong enough grapefruit flavor.  I realize that the flavors are meant to be subtle, but this soda tasted more like grapefruit-flavored water than grapefruit soda.  I'm not willing to give up on GuS entirely, and I expect that further excursions into Grown Up Soda territory will prove fruitful, but I would not recommend this particular flavor.

- Stewart's Root Beer

Like the Black Cherry offering, I found the Stewart's Root Beer to be too sweet and syrupy.  I was hoping for a bit more bite in my root beer, yet this soda offered only sweetness.  It isn't bad, and it has more spice than, say, an A&W or store brand root beer, but it is not as good as IBC, in my book.

- Stewart's Cream Soda

I don't really know how I feel about this one.  Like the other Stewart's, and I hate to sound like a broken record, I disliked the syrupy feel on the tongue.  However, this soda was not as offensive as the Black Cherry and I would drink it if offered.

That's all the soda I've drank recently.  I'm interested in tasting some other GuS flavors, the Stewart's Key Lime, which one of my friends recommended to me, and perhaps some other root beers.  In particular, Old Dominion Brewing Co., a local micro-brew, makes root beer and I'd like to try that.  I still don't know for sure what motivated this odd impulse, but there it is.

Indian Food of Fairfax County

Bombay Bistro; 3570 Chain Bridge Rd.

This is one of my choice meat-serving Indian restaurants in Fairfax County.  The tandoori chicken here is particularly good, as at a lot of other places, it can easily get tough.  There are few surprises to be found here, but everything is pretty solid.  The design is quite nice, and there are fabric tablecloths and napkins, which is a nice touch.

Jaipur; 9401 Lee Hwy

Jaipur is the Indian restaurant that I'm most likely to go to with my family.  The buffet is a little expensive, but still a pretty good value.  Good curries and solid desserts are highlights.  Like Bombay Bistro, there is nothing really special, and you can usually find the same dishes at the buffet every single time, but they're solid stand-by's.

Minerva; 10364 Lee Hwy

You feel like you're eating at a cafeteria at Minerva, so that's negative points right off the bat.  However, the food makes up for it.  Again, very little separates Minerva from any other meat-serving restaurant, but the couple of times I ate there, I felt that perhaps the ingredients were fresher than many other buffets.  

Saravana Palace; 11725 Lee Hwy

This is my preferred Indian restaurant in Fairfax county.  It is south Indian, so that means it is vegetarian.  There are particular techniques to enjoying things like the rasam, chat, sambar, idly, and dosas, so you should figure out the right way to enjoy these things before going.  The flavors are mostly bright, fresh, and light.  Highly recommended.

Woodlands; 4078 Jermantown Rd.

The people who run Saravana split off from Woodlands.  Woodlands is also a very good restaurant in the same style as Saravana, but gets negative points for being next to a K-Mart in an awkward location and not being quite as clean inside as Saravana.

Soda Review!

I don't really know why, but today I somehow bought eight bottles of soda.  I'll be drinking them in the next few days and sharing my thoughts.

- GuS Dry Lemon

This was an interesting looking soda that intrigued me with their different flavors.  I bought the lemon and grapefruit varieties.  I like that it's made with cane sugar and that you can see little pieces of lemon floating around on the bottom.  The taste is quite good, although I was hoping for something a bit more tart than this soda actually is.  Apparently, the special lemons they use are a little sweeter than your average lemon, so that probably explains the taste difference.  I'd like to compare this to Pelligrino Limonata, but I couldn't get my hands on a can at the store.

- Stewart's Black Cherry

This was kind of sickly sweet.  It uses HFCS, and even though I used to think there wasn't a difference, I can definitely feel the more syrupy texture.  Also, it is much sweeter than the soda I drank with cane sugar, but I don't know how much of that is due to the comparitvely less sweet nature of a dry lemon soda than a black cherry soda.  Anyway, this tastes pretty similar to Cherry Coke.  I didn't really like this one and didn't finish it.

- Stewart's Ginger Beer

This ginger ale is really powerful.  The spice is incredibly strong, and will make your nostrils act up.  That's a good thing.  Again, though, the soda is a little sweet for my taste.  Better than the black cherry, but still not something I'd drink every day.  Clearly better than your average Canada Dry or whatever, though.  I'd be really interested in trying the GuS ginger ale with less sweetness and cane sugar.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the most emotionally demanding, devastating, and fulfilling film that I've seen in a very long time. I won't reduce the power of this film to a synopsis, but suffice to say, it is equally worthy as 2007's other great films and definitely required viewing.

The eye is a dominant theme, and each woman character has spectacularly sympathetic eyes.  Peering into these eyes from the camera's first-person perspective, you can see the pain, frustration, hope and understanding in such a subtle performance. Schnabel knows this too; his evocative Velvet Underground track says so.

The humanity of main character, his utter futility, his previous nature, makes for a more whole image of the fate of somebody who is "locked-in."  Tuesdays with Morrie or Requiem for a Dream engage in either Oprah-approved sap or graphic, cacophonous scare tactics.  This film, in an elegant and, most importantly, realistic and credible manner, strikes through my hardened armor and illuminates the value of life.  Can't believe I said that.