LAST VEGAS

I didn't expect much from this movie. We just wanted some light entertainment and a few laughs. and that's what we got; a VERY few laughs.

It could have been so much funnier because the jokes in the beginning of the movie about aging and Billy's (michael douglas) penchant for young women and his attempts at looking young,  were chuckle worthy. but it fell off the humor wagon soon after that.

The story is simple; 4 childhood friends now all in their 70's or soon to be get together for a bachelor party in Vegas. The friends are Douglas, and De Niro and Morgan Freeman and Klein; all good actors. and they all have their issues associated with  getting older.

The one i liked the most and seemed most believable to me was the part played by Morgan Freeman (who did NOT act wise or stentorian in this film and he did NOT do a narrative voice over - thank god!). He had had a small stroke, was loved by his son and his family but they were too protective of him and he felt like a small child and the vegas party led to a discussion with his son about the freedom he needed to make his own health and life choices.

The most ridiculous one was the "we loved the same woman" theme played out very clumsily between De Niro and Douglas.

We both gave this film a 5.

LAST GAME NIGHT FOR AWHILE

 the start of the potluck feast with Nancy (in the back holding multiple plates), Matt, Jim (with his goofy lovable grin) and Kelly (rabid Ravens fan).

 This is Sara one of the 2 hostesses with the mostest.

 and on the couch is the other hostess, Megan. and Judith is the lady with the frenchified and feisty purple scarf. The cat on the couch has 3 legs; lost one to a barbed wire fence.

 around the joyful gathering we have (starting with bottom left), Carol, Nancy, Matt, me, Kelly, Mary, Jim, Bill and Pat.

 me having my usual size portion of one of Jim's excellent desserts; this time it was a German chocolate cake.

Deadly serious Farkle dice game with feline help.

THE BOOK THIEF

This was a good movie about life  in Germany during Adolf Hitler's reign and it focused on the German citizens and their life with the forced conscription, the philosophical indoctrinations and the bombings which meant long hours in a bomb shelter.


It was also the story of Liesel, a young girl who was foster parented by Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush. When she started living with them, she couldn't read but that changed under the gentle and encouraging guidance of her papa.

It was very well acted and had some great poignant moments but all in all it was an idealized and a tad too 'clean' and spruced up movie. Even the scenes of watching a jew being taken from his home and beaten seemed sanitized and the town though reeking of poverty still seemed like a cute garbage free touristy village. There was a fellow schoolmate of Liesel's who was very much into the hitler beliefs and he bullied both her and her friend but that also seemed not quite real; there wasn't a feeling of tense violence.

However, it was an interesting story and kept me entertained throughout. It was too long and the ending (which took you through the deaths of her foster parents and her life after the Americans rode into town) was too pat and melodramatic in its attempts to be kleenix worthy. We gave it a 7.

FALORA - TUCSON, AZ

The quality of the 'gourmet' and unusual and fusion ?? pizzas served here didn't come close to the one we had at the Heist restaurant. Well, at least the one Bill and I shared.

The restaurant is quite small with maybe 6 tables along the wall and 2 very long wooden benches. At the end of the room was all the wood they use in the ovens but it was  really close to the seating area and stuck out at wierd angles and 2 people that were coming back from the bathroom ran into this set-up. Not sure if they got splintered or not.

They play vinyl records so the music was absolutely wonderful. The service was superb.

You are served olives when you are seated but i think they could have given us more than 9 olives for 4 people.

So the pizza we got was the Arrosto (molly got it too and agreed with my take on it). It had feta cheese, mushrooms (we got these instead of eggplant), potatoes, dates and white truffle oil. It was  not balanced; too much feta cheese and maybe because of the potatoes,  it was very dry. Every so often i would bite down on a date which added some needed flavor diversity and moistness.
and the crust was thin but not crispy enough.

Bill and I also shared a butter pecan salad with butter lettuce, spinach (way too much spinach), apples, fennel (again tasteless; no licorice flavor at all), goat cheese (way too much), toasted pecans and apricot vinaigrette which was so-so.

We've got both pizza and salad left and even if both dishes improved overnight; i won't be going back here. 

THE GOOD EGG - TUCSON, AZ

I will NOT eat here again. I've not been here for way over a year because my eating experiences have been getting worse and worse regarding the food quality and prices. So I must have lulled myself into thinking it improved in my absence and I was so wrong.

It was crowded being Friday and lots of screaming and screeching kids and babies; one would think they had stepped into a nursery.

The service was good as always; that's something admirable that has remained constant.

I had a $9 scramble which consisted of a mounded oval dish with scrambled eggs and a shitload of potatoes with a few onions, a sparse amount of tomatoes, and chewy bacon. This egg melange, as all their food, was so flat and dull; without any kind of seasoning whatsoever; even salt didn't help that much.  This came with an English muffin which was the best thing I had for breakfast and even that wasn't toasted enough.

And then i couldn't resist one of their new menu items; specialty pancakes. so for $7 (though the menu said it was $5) i had a banana presley. This sounded halfway interesting; a buttermilk pancake topped with banana slices and a drizzle of salted peanut butter topped by a sprinkling of dark chocolate chips with a side of bacon.

Oh, it was horrid and would instantly turn anyone into a diabetic with clogged arteries. The pancake was thin without any taste and it was drowning in a pool of liquid peanut butter with sad pathetic slices of brown bananas (5 of 'em) poking their melancholy faces and mewling "what have i done to deserve this fate?" Bad bad entree.

So after spending a king's ransom for an undertoasted English muffin; i vowed never to grace their doorstep again.

HER

This film touched our heads/minds but not our hearts. We rated it a 9 for the thought provoking ideas but only a 6 for the film as entertainment.

Joaquin Phoenix was very good in his role as an emotionally restrained man who befriends an operating system girlfriend named Samantha who is Scarlett Johansson (voice only). He falls in love with her and she encourages him to be more vulnerable and open socially and to be adventurous.

However, as the functions she is able to perform grow (her software evolves with time and practice and interaction with humans) and change, she also wants to broaden herself. This results in the discovery by Theodore (Joaquin) that she is an operating friend to over 800 other humans and loves most of them just as she loves Theodore.

The movie was slow and i just could not connect with any of the characters (amy adams plays a close friend and fellow apartment dweller of Theodore's). They didn't seem believable to me.

The film brought up some ideas that bill and i talked about: can a computer really "feel" (Samantha used all the right emotion words at the right time)?, how will communication between humans be in 10 years with so much of it already being done without any physical closeness?, can you love more than one person the same way?, what is it when talking to another that gives you validation and a sense of worth? is it just the words?

Theodore kept pushing his glasses up on his nose and that was annoying and  by the end of the film i was getting irritated at Samantha's throaty whiskey whisper way of talking.

OUR JANUARY HOUSE

This is the fireplace with a bit of  the kitchen and the bright blue flowered tablecloth. Right behind the kitchen is the Arizona room - a sunny haven. Off to the side of this room is a Freda Kahlo curtain which leads to the laundry.

This house is so far the best and most comfortable and decorated with verve and originality and loads of color and Mexican tiles and pottery. I wish i had taken pictures of the first 2 places. The one we stayed in November and December was just a normal ordinary 2 bedroom and 2 bath east part of town house; nice and quiet but nothing special.

The next one we were in for just 3 nights over New Years and that was a small casita located in an area where there were several other casitas and some duplexes. It had a nice community feel and was also really quiet. in that house, the bedroom was the best room; lots of sun with 2 big windows and a lovely patterned bedspread.

Well, from now on there will be at least one picture of each place we stay (except for nightly motels as we travel cross country).

One thing i've noticed in each place is the greasy and desperately in need of cleaning ovens; even in houses where everything else is spotless. I guess I can understand since when people cook and bake there are spatters and if not wiped up right away, they accumulate. I never thought i was a clean freak but i guess part of me is.

this Jan. house is in a great part of town and very convenient to everything. When we come back to Tucson (unless Steven Seagal is governor) i certainly would include this area in our rental search.

GREEK HOUSE - TUCSON, AZ

Great find! Its in the University district on Speedway between Campbell and Cherry. Mad Mario's was the previous occupant (Italian deli). Now its Greek.

They have new sleek black and silver chairs; all tables. Its not a big restaurant; fairly narrow. A few pictures on the wall. And too loud Greek music. fortunately we were through eating when the Mediterranean rap song came on.

The prices are reasonable and the food is awesome. We each had a gyro sandwich which was filled to the brim with meat and tomatoes and thinly sliced red onions and a few  garlic fries (huh?), parsley, lettuce and yoghurt-garlic sauce. Absolutely yummy. And we shared a Greek salad which was quite big and loaded with kalamata olives, more onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese and covered with creamy feta dressing which was good enough to gulp down as a drink.

Our tummies were really happy.

OH, and a huge plus; the bathroom is at the back of the restaurant so you have to walk through the kitchen and usually when i've had to do that; my steps are tentative because of having to walk over and around and through grease and food splatters and plate debris. Plus i always make it a point to never look at the grill. But at Greek House; it was like walking through another part of the restaurant; everything was clean and neat and safe and organized. I was really impressed.

THE HEIST PIZZA PARLOUR

This restaurant is in the recently vacated spot of Opa a Greek place. They haven't done much redecoration on the inside. So its sort of a generic atmosphere with 2 tv's blaring different sport games and music that was screechingly loud and indecipherable as to lyrics, tune or the sex of the singer (s).

Amazingly in this din, we got a fairly quiet booth. We ordered a raw veggie plate with dip (i thought the price was 2.99 but it was really 7.99; even after I knew the 2 was a 7, it was hard to distinguish a real difference.} The pizza selections were listed in tiny white ink on a black background. even I, the 20 over 20 lady, had trouble reading the choices.

 the veggie plate was huge and everything was crispingly fresh; red and green peppers, celery, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots and the dip was fantabulous. loaded with garlic and pine nuts. we ended up smearing a bit of it on each bite of pizza also. We have leftovers of this plus several pcs. of pizza.

All their pies are 14 inch and though you can make your own, the house specialties are way too exotic to pass up. There was even one with brussel sprouts. We had a honey, dried cherry, prosciutto, arugula and mozzarella cheese. Oh it was soooooooo good. The first several bites had our tongue taste buds completely confused and we were starting to regret our decision but by the 3rd bite we were die hard fans.

We will be back to try another. the one that caught our eye was a roasted chicken, grape, toasted almonds and some other ingredient of dissimilarity.

ROAD TRIP - NEW YEARS DAY HIKE

We started off the new year - 2014 - the year of the road trip extraordinaire - with a hike in Saguaro National Park West. Did a whole bunch of trails with the goal being to get to this windmill, the site of an old homestead.

We usually see no one on our loops in this section of the park but i think because of the holiday, there were several groups including some horse back riders.

It was in the high 60's and absolutely energizing to be out and about in summer gear in Jan. I am blessed.