Anniversary and meal thoughts

Thanks, friends, for the anniversary wishes. Janice and I have been together for 21 years and married for 16, so we’ve joked that our marriage is old enough to legally drive, and our relationship is old enough to drink alcohol! Time flies when you’re having fun!

To celebrate, we went out to dinner at Fuji. The Japanese steakhouse has become a favorite of families in Needham, Massachusetts. I’m glad that children are getting a chance to try sushi or tender beef from the hibachi, but I’m surprised that the moderately pricey meals are so popular.

Earlier in the week, I had lunch with co-workers at Papa Razzi in Newton Lower Falls. The food was good, but service could have been better. Janice and I also took advantage of a warm spell to walk to Acropolis, a Greek restaurant that opened in town last week.

Although we already have Farm Grill in nearby Newton, I was pleased with Acropolis‘ friendly service; falafel, pita, and rice and spinach appetizers; and kebab entrees. Our desserts were also noteworthy — excellent flaky moussaka and creamy Greek-style yogurt with honey.

Our favorite food shows on television include Phantom Gourmet (on in the background as I type this), TV Diner, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We’ve drifted away from Good Eats, Iron Chef, and Ultimate Recipe Showdown, and I haven’t had time for the amusing Bitchin’ Kitchen.

The Food Network has been focusing on competitions rather than cuisine in prime time, so I prefer some shows on the Cooking Channel or Travel Channel, such as Man vs. Food and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. None of these can keep up with the BBC/PBS satire of Posh Nosh.

Since Janice’s new commute by train gets her home later than me, I’ve been making dinners for the first time in years, and those who know me may be surprised that we haven’t had pasta every night. While I’m not yet at the point of experimenting with “molecular gastronomy,” I do hope to prepare quick, healthy, and tasty meals. Janice’s French toast this morning showed who’s still the better cook!

Rango review and chocolate

On Saturday, 12 March 2011, I screened the computer-animated movie Rango with Janice, Thomas K.Y., Sara F. & Josh C., and their friend Robin. As with the previous weekend’s viewing of Megamind, we were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the comedic Western more than we expected to.

Rango, the first animated feature from George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, successfully pairs the conventions of the Western with the most scraggly anthropomorphic animals I’ve seen.

As a fan of Watership Down, Redwall, and Mouse Guard, I’m pleased that director Gore Verbinski balanced modern grit, slapstick, and sympathetic characters. As with other cartoons, Rango‘s script and soundtrack include numerous allusions to other movies, from the obvious The Magnificent Seven and Blazing Saddles to the more offbeat Apocalypse Now and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The celebrity voice cast acquits itself well, with Johnny Depp channeling Robin Williams and Capt. Jack Sparrow as the eponymous lizard Rango, Isla Fisher as tough gal Beans, Spider-Man 2‘s Alfred Molina as armadillo Roadkill, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘s Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake.

Rango‘s supporting cast is also strong, including Ned Beatty, Abigail Breslin, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Timothy Olyphant, and Ray Winstone. The plot is pretty standard, with former pet Rango finding his calling as sheriff of a desert town called Dirt that’s oppressed by various bad guys. The animation is state of the art, both realistic and cartoony.

Overall, I’d give Rango, which is rated PG for violence, a B+, 8 out of 10, or three stars. That puts it roughly on par with The Illusionist and Megamind. The next movie I hope to see in the theater is Zach Snyder’s hyperstylized Sucker Punch.

After the movie, we went to the Met Burger Bar at Legacy Place in Dedham, Massachusetts. The food and conversation were good, but service was a little slow, and the dining room was noisy. We’ll have to try more restaurants at that outdoors shopping mall.

Although I didn’t make it to the Pax East game convention with Ken G. this past weekend, I did pick up my comic book subscription, among other things, in Norwood, Mass. Janice and also I enjoyed the annual “Death by Chocolate” charity event, which was better organized than last year’s and still tasty.

Catching up — Megamind

This past weekend, I met fellow blogger Thomas K.Y. and role-player Josh C. at Thomas’ condominium in Lexington, Massachusetts. We watched Megamind on DVD. I liked the superhero movie more than I expected.

Although it’s part of a recent glut of computer-animated comedies focusing on villains turned heroes — including the Shrek franchise, Igor, and Despicable Me — Megamind respectfully spoofs comic book conventions and has a sharp script. The film has numerous allusions to its inspiration but still feels fresh, reminding me of one of my favorite Pixar works, The Incredibles.

Megamind also features a strong cast, including Will Ferrell as the self-absorbed titular alien, Brad Pitt as Superman knockoff Metro Man, and Tina Fey as intrepid reporter Roxanne. The supporting cast also has fun, with David Cross as fishy sidekick Minion, Ben Stiller as museum curator/alter ego Bernard, and Jonah Hill as protégé gone wrong Hal Stewart/Titan. I wasn’t distracted by the celebrity voices, but it helped that I watched the film long after any promotional hype.

Unlike the “uncanny valley” of Robert Zemeckis’ animation, the cartoony yet realistic style of Megamind and movies like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, How to Train Your Dragon and Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga’Hoole doesn’t bother me. Megamind‘s action scenes were well-choreographed, and we’ve come a long way from the original Tron or ReBoot (whose complete series is finally available on DVD).

I’d give Megamind, which is rated PG for language and violence, a solid B+, 8 out of 10, or three stars. Although I’m still a fan of “traditional,” 2-D animation, I do enjoy the best of the new wave, even if I haven’t yet seen Toy Story 3 or Tangled. I hope to screen the anthropomorphic animals in Western comedy Rango this coming weekend.

After lunch at Watch City Brewing Co. on Waltham’s Moody Street, Thomas, Josh, and I watched Alien vs. Ninja, which is just as silly a “B” movie as the title suggests. Janice and I also ate at regular haunts Comella’s, Acapulco’s, and Wild Willy’s this past weekend.

Holiday update 2007

: Holiday 2007

As I prepare to move my blog from MySpace and Yahoo, here’ s a look back at one of my first posts (note that some of the links may be broken):

Friends, I hope that your holidays have been happy thus far. Instead of sending out the usual annual update letter, I hope that people are reading this blog.

The week before Christmas was busy, even though Janice and I had finished most of our gift shopping. Working on two issues simultaneously to get most of this week off kept CW‘s copy desk humming. On Saturday, 22 December 2007, we went to the local dump and post office, and I got my car inspected (which went more quickly and was cheaper than the previous week’s repairs).

We also had a Chinese-American buffet lunch at the Hunan New Taste, stopped by the Walpole Mall and the Big Y supermarket, and picked up my subscription at the New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts.

On Sunday, we stayed in because of the latest snowfall and caught up on television. What are your favorite holiday specials? Mine include classics such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and various versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Janice’s include A Garfield Christmas, Bill ‘n’ Opus: A Wish for Wings That Work, and Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas.

Of course, numerous Rankin-Bass cartoons and stop-motion specials have marked the holiday for generations, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. More recently, we have A Muppet Family Christmas and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Robbie the Reindeer, and Shrek the Halls.

I also had a quip-filled City of Heroes (CoH) virtual session with David I.S. and company, and Janice baked in preparation for seeing her folks. We plan to have a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve, since we’ll both be working that day.

We drove to Upstate New York on Monday, Dec. 24, first to Janice’s parents’ home. Like my parents, Marvin and Linda M. live atop a hill on five acres in the country. Unlike my family, they have numerous pets and a steep, icy driveway. Janice’s middle sister Shelly was already there with her husband Melvin W. and children Rebecca, Laura, and David.

I checked out photographs of friends on teenager Becky’s Clie handheld device, played chess with tween Laura, and played pool with 9-year-old David and his father. Shelly told us about her missionary work in inner-city Utica, and after a tasty lasagne dinner, we drove down to Janice’s youngest sister’s home, where we were staying.

We joined Melinda and Gary L. and their children Amanda and Joshua for Christmas Eve. I helped keep the kids occupied while the other adults finished wrapping a pile of presents. Amanda demonstrated her recent violin lessons, and I talked with 6-year-old Josh about various superheroes. Their cat Chocolate kept us company as we slept.

On Christmas morning, unwrapping continued, as the Manwillers and Wrights reconvened at the Lewis home, which has the most open space. Among other things, we got DVDs and an electric snow shovel. We had a ham luncheon, followed by Laura and 8-year-old Amanda playing with animal toys and David and Joshua playing with action figures and videogames. Becky is old enough to participate in most adult conversations.

Thanks to Gary’s PlayStation 2 and Xbox, I played an off-road racing videogame with Melvin, as well as Justice League Heroes with Josh. Although I don’t have the money or time to add console systems to my crowded tabletop (pen-and-paper, dice-and-pizza) role-playing, teleconferencing, and CoH PC gaming schedule, it was nice to try them out once in a while. Josh also demonstrated Spider-Man and Star Wars Lego II for us. (Lego Batman and Indiana Jones games are coming!)

I telephoned my family in Virginia, but I still missed being with my parents, brother Peter, sister-in-law Kelly, and nieces Ava and Lili. I hope to see them sometime in spring of 2008. But first, we’ll be at Dexter V.H.’s latest wedding in New York City in just over a week!

We returned to the Boston area on Wednesday afternoon after taking out the Lewises and Janice’s mother to lunch at Applebee’s. On Thursday, I caught up on e-mail and prepared for various games, including last night’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Holy Steel” teleconferencing team and tomorrow’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: the Broken Chains” holiday makeup fantasy session. I’ve got to work today.

Of course, no year’s end blog post would be complete without a set of “best of” lists. IGN.com has a pretty good rundown of movies, genre television, and comics, but here’s my abbreviated version for 2007:

–Favorite movies: Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Ratatouille

–Favorite SFTV shows: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Doctor Who, and Pushing Daisies (Fellow blogger Ken G. has also noted the untimely demise of the underrated time-travel drama Journeyman, but at least Pushing Daisies and Reaper got picked up.)

–Favorite comic books: Captain America, Detective Comics, and The Spirit

–Favorite musical singles (and videos): “Gone Gone Gone” (Robert Plant and Alison Kraus), “Rehab” (Amy Winehouse), “Umbrella” (Rihanna)

–Favorite RPG releases: D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed.: Ultimate Power, A Practical Guide to Monsters (Dungeons & Dragons 3.5/4e), D20 Star Wars: Saga Edition

What were your faves? I look forward to blogging about such entertainment and more in the coming year, and may it bring good health and prosperity for all!

5 August 2010: Chicago family reunion

On Wednesday, 28 July 2010, Janice and I took a JetBlue Airways flight from Boston’s Logan Airport to Chicago O’Hare to visit part of my mother’s side of the family. We rented a car and drove to the Marriott Northwest before grabbing dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. The dry-spiced boneless Buffalo chicken tenders were particularly good.

The next morning, Janice and I drove to the Barrington station of the Metra (commuter rail), which we took into the city. When I helped out at BriForum in June, I noted how Chicago’s urban density reminded me favorably of my hometown of New York, just as San Francisco is a bit like Boston. Unfortunately, the sprawl around Chicago, in which good arable land is being turned into subdivisions and strip malls, reminded us of Northern Virginia.

Janice and I walked through “the Loop,” Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods, and we saw the giant bean sculpture at Millennium Park. We also enjoyed the galleries and café at the Art Institute before heading back out to the suburbs, stopping at a Graham Crackers, a comic book shop, on the way.

My younger brother Peter, his wife Kelly, and their children arrived from Virginia that evening. We went to my cousin Cristina‘s home for dinner, meeting her husband Arnold and their daughters Marjorie and Meg, plus Marjorie’s boyfriend Joe. For the first time, Janice, Kelly, and the girls got to partake of a Filipino feast, including Pancit Molo (a variation on wonton soup), not prepared by my mother. It was great to reconnect with some family members after more than two decades!

The next morning, Peter and I picked up our parents, who had been delayed by bad weather. Although plans to go into town had to be postponed, we rejoined the Tan family for lunch. For dinner, we dined at Le TiTi de Paris, a fancy French restaurant. I had steak stuffed with prosciutto and cheese.

On Saturday, July 31, we drove to the Navy Pier, whose attractions included a carousel, a Ferris wheel, jugglers, a stained-glass exhibit, and a large food court. I had a proper Chicago hot dog. By now, you’ve probably noticed that, like most families, eating is a major activity during any reunion. We took a river cruise focusing on the city’s diverse and historic skyline, followed by deep-dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s. Marjorie proved to be indispensable in getting us around.

On Sunday, Janice and I returned to Boston after just scraping the surface of the things to see and do in Chicago. We mowed the lawn, bought groceries, and began catching up on e-mails and recorded television. Our travel done for now, we’ve gotten back to work.

As you may have seen from other posts, my role-playing games have also kept me busy. The Sunday night Pathfinder teleconferencing team has started a new adventuring party in my long-running “Vanished Lands” homebrew fantasy setting, and the Monday night local face-to-face group is gearing up for my “Vortex” space opera campaign. I’ll try to blog more about them, comic books, and other stuff soon!