Saturday, July 09, 2011

Well this girl came up to me - she says she's new in town. But the crew been said they seen her around.


Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Somehow up until last weekend I had gone my entire life without ever going to New Orleans. Now I’m pretty sure the only way to enter New Orleans is after a dozen or two chargrilled oysters from Drago’s in Metairie. The stops in New Orleans included Acme Oyster House which there was already a line at when it opened at 11 am and it’s easy to understand why. It took me about 8 hours to get unstuffed from that and get ready for Scott Boswell’s Stella! Just wow. I can now say I’ve eaten something out of a hollowed out eggshell and the fact that it had lobster and caviar in it did not suck. The best tomato salad I’ve ever had. I could easily eat a few pounds of the spicy asian chili prawns. My dad can vouch for the duck five ways and the bananas foster. Great stuff.
I went down to the Treme area looking for Kim Dickens, but she must have been in New York. On the way I did find Louis Armstrong Park which was interesting. Half of it was open while the other half was behind fences and barriers as apparently former Mayor Ray Nagin screwed up its restoration. It’s a big park with only one entrance open and it was just me and the ducks inside. Well Louis Armstrong was inside too and he ain’t going anywhere as you can see. I had to hop a couple of barriers to get the pic, but it was worth risking trespassing at a national park. Surreal.
We also hit Richard Blais’ Flip Burger in Atlanta which was strong except they were out of sweet potato tater tots. It was late so I’ll excuse the eh-ness sides of fried pickles and vodka battered onion rings. No, eh whatsoever in my tuna tartare burger and yes, it tasted a thousand times better than it looked. I’m not a sweets person, but damn that captain crunch and peanut butter milkshake sounded good.


--Good luck to Yao in whatever he decides to do in the future. I was always a Yao guy. Just some damn bad luck. You'll never meet a guy more universally and genuinely liked by the media than Yao. No matter what the Rockets record was he was crushed by media all the time and was always gracious and usually pretty damn funny. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get into the Hall of Fame. Yeah, it would be based on a lot of criteria above what he did in the NBA, but going by who the Basketball Hall of Fame has put in in the past I think Yao deserves the honor.

--How the next season of Top Chef can go to San Antonio, Austin and Dallas while not visiting our fair city is beyond me.

--The second season of Men of a Certain Age is in the books and it better get a third. This show is harder to sell to someone to watch it than any show I’ve liked in recent memory. It’s so subtle, yet funny, but not a comedy. It’s not dark, but not outright depressing, but certainly not sunshiney. It’s just a solid show that portrays the ups and downs of three guys, their families and extended families. All of the highs, lows and those bittersweet in-betweens that the show mostly resides in. Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula give looks that say more than a thousand words could. Ray Romano gives looks that say more than 5-10 words could, but that’s okay. There wouldn’t be a show without his involvement. If you are so inclined (and you should be) you can watch every episode here.

--Charlie Sheen Roast. Ashton Kutcher’s Two and a Half Men debut.
What are Things Danny Won’t Be Watching Monday, September 19th

--David Hasselhoff as a former porn star on Sons of Anarchy? Yeah, that’s about right.

--Because Dexter is trying to have a cast as large as an NFL pregame show, Brea Grant is joining the fun. Brea was the real fast chick on Heroes...not that anyone was watching by the time she joined that cast.

--If you’re keeping score at home Zookeeper has somehow climbed to 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. Or to put it another way the awful-looking Green Lantern still managed to pull a 26%.

--Your city might have a violence problem if you have to require restaurants to have a security guard on the property if you have fewer than 20 seats and stay open after 9 PM. This city would be Newark.

--Nice, short breakdown from NYMag.com of the did’s and wish-they-didn’ts of each season of Weeds. I miss “Little Boxes.”


--The headline tells you all you need to know about the story really.
Local Woman Envisions Mobile Breastfeeding Truck.” Local meaning Pittsburgh.

--California. Florida. I think you can figure out which state has a prison serving up vegan meals to vegan prisoners and which state had a TSA agent trying to steal a passenger’s iPad by stuffing it down his pants. Don’t ever change. Either of you.

--Justin D. should have gone home last week on Food Network Star, but either Justin wasn’t long for the show. Scariest quote: “Guy’s the guy we all want to emulate.” I liked when Penny said she was “done with the drama” as she was being overly dramatic. Nice. The self-proclaimed sandwich king Jeff has an awful amount of idiot energy that could carry him far. Susie is starting to find her groove and I think she can take it home as long as she doesn’t get tossed in with a team of morons on the way to the finale.

--Treme ended its second season and I wish HBO On Demand would save me the trouble of fast-forwarding and just offer Janette Desautel’s scenes. Treme could also offer up its secret NYC to New Orleans speed of light shuttle.


--What can I say I love the Game of Thrones theme song? I just started the third book, "A Storm of Swords", after wrapping up the second over the weekend. I know a handful of people who started reading the books during the series or after the series. I don’t know anyone who isn’t tearing through it. It was supposed to be my summer of Six Feet Under, but it’s turned into a summer "Song of Ice and Fire" and that’s fine by me.


--I didn’t see the David Haye/Wladimir Klitschko fight and apparently I was the better for it. I was pulling for Haye just because he would bring a little attention to the sport. Yeah, he brought attention to it on Saturday, just for all the wrong reasons. Oh well.
Last week's debacle doesn't mean you shouldn't tune in Saturday night to both HBO and Showtime's cards. Paul Williams makes his comeback from the early knockout he suffered against Sergio Martinez. Grudge fight on Showtime between undefeated Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon. People who know these things are thinking possible fight of the year.

--AV Club and the LA Times with great interviews with Louis C.K. The latter interview is interesting with all the lense talk and the visual atmosphere he tries to give the show. I love it when Pamela Adlon is on like this week. I also love when Louis talks finances with his accountant. I also love how his kids are getting more run this season. In short, I love Louie.
Significantly cheaper than the house Louis was looking at is this 2,800 square foot replica of the house from Up.

--I’m liking Wilfred though now I feel compelled to play laser pointer with my dog.

--A land where marijuana medical dispensaries outnumber Starbucks stores? Can there be such a place? Yes. It is known as Denver.

--Don’t you hate it when you go through all the trouble of building a homemade electric chair for your estranged wife only to have her get up out of the chair before you can flip the switch? So does Andrew Castle.

--I haven’t watched much of the Astros this season and yet somehow I’ve been witness to all four Carlos Lee triples.

--Nice little “what to expect” from aol.tv on this season of Curb which starts Sunday night on Home Box Office (just felt like typing it out).


Questions, comments or if you’re not hot, but pretty bothered…

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:16 PM

    What no love for the best ufc card of the year? For shame

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was out of town so didn't see it. Definitely my loss.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.