B J'S

Because the restaurant we (me and Jean) wanted to eat at for lunch was closed we ended up at this corporate steel maven of cuisine; very claim-jumperish. I ate at a BJ's when one first opened way back in Portland and it was like entering a world of artifice and phoniness and overpriced cutesy named food. and they haven't changed in the ensuing years.

The place was ice cold. I swear they had the air conditioner on. The only people who were not wearing coats were the waitresses and the young testosterone-laden adolescents. There were lots of empty tables yet the gal at the front pulpit took our name and said we should wait by the sign (about 2 feet away) and then she immediately came over to us and said that our table was ready.!! huh???

fortunately the food was quite tasty. Jean and i shared avocado egg rolls; rich and filling (though just like Chinese i was hungry again within minutes) with an excellent spicy clear dipping sauce. and we also shared chicken potstickers which were served with another great sauce which i could have drunk since it was room temperature which was 15 degrees warmer than the restaurant.

Jean also ordered an oatmeal cookie which I - with great forbearance and self-pity and fortitude did not share with her - (i'm still trying to lose the weight i gained during our summer vacation.). It was baked in a mini-pie tin and was more like a small cobbler.

So this lunch will be my last foray into BJ's because in spite of the good tasting food, the place is not physically comfortable, the atmosphere is plastic and the prices are inflated. I can't think of anything else those initials could stand for except ------- you got it!

CHINA-THAI

This is our favorite Thai restaurant. I'm not sure why they also serve Chinese food. There are enough Chinese restaurants in town where you can order insipid beige toned bland dishes of squirmy noodles; In contrast to the fiery exuberance and colorful Thai dishes.

The service has always been prompt, efficient and friendly. The bathroom is just ok; it certainly is big enough and there is always lots of towels and soap and toilet paper but it could be decorated a bit. The restaurant itself is subdued-looking but with some nice pictures and wall hangings.

We shared a chicken curry dish and a chicken entree with lots of ginger and vegetables. I was feeling flu-like during the evening so wanted to load my system up with the healing warmth of ginger. Their chicken is plentiful and always tender and only white meat. Each dish came with lots of rice and was $9.

THE NEXT 3 DAYS

I rated this movie a 2 and Bill gave it a 7. Can this marriage be saved?

Russell Crowe is convinced of his wife's innocence in the murder of her boss and because all legal avenues have been exhausted, he hatches this plan to escape her from jail. Many nonsensical and totally unbelievable things then ensue - acted at a high school musical production level.

There is never any explanation of the murder or the motive. Elizabeth Banks who plays the murderess is so put - together even after 3 years in prison and when she is visited in jail (oh, sometimes they are allowed passionate embraces and french kissing and other times the guards growl fiercely when they go to touch hands across the table.) she is always curled and made-up and sunny.

Crowe performs some murders on his own in order to get money for the life they will lead on the run. The cops are complete idiots and rival the Keystone Kops for sheer bungle-idity. and yet at the end of the movie, a detective crouches down in the parking lot where the murder took place and finds the evidence that the wife had been talking about ever since her arrest. Being a true crime aficionado and a realist, the police and lawyers and judges do NOT investigate crimes on their own in order to prove their own prior stupidity and legal error.

Brian Dennehy is Crowe's dad and I thought he was supposed to have had a stroke because his face never moved and he had 4 words of dialogue. The music was obtrusive and non-musical.

Crowe's idea to get her out of the prison building was to steal into a medlab van and change her lab values in her medical file. (she just happens to be a diabetic on insulin.) And he put her into ketoacidosis; a medical emergency. However, as the prison people are putting her on a stretcher and putting her in an ambulance she has never looked so good!! Makeup intact, rosy cheeks, coherent, dry skin, hair fluffed, not vomiting; looked like she was on her way to a garden party. but the lab values were so bad - she should have been unconscious and in dire physical straits.

I think the title of the movie more accurately illustrates the length of time i felt i spent in the theater watching this loser of a movie.