vids

Couple quick videos for now:

Maria Bamford show, really really funny and poignant. The stuff about the nervous breakdown is for real. Her WTF is a must-listen

This song is so good

it's mayo goddamnit

 Last of the NY pictures.  This is a fried green tomato dish from Diner in W'burg.  The Diner meal was one of the best I had.  It has tarragon mayo, which is also how Shady Lady serves it. Restaurants need to stop saying aioli when they mean mayo.

picture post

Sometimes it gets really tiresome being not very technologically intelligent. Like right now. I had to go through a big rigamarole to get these photos and then they all uploaded willy nilly.  That's why it's so much easier to just post them to face book. Oh well. Photos after the jump!

It just doesn't matter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pHBZmtpYg

I am very happy that this is captured for all time on video. I'm also very happy that my screening of Meatballs inspired the chanting.

sonny

I can't believe I didn't gloat about Gunther's trouncing of the competition in the Bee's tasting panel.  I usually don't forget to gloat about anything. I guess gloating implies that I had something to do with it.  Corti was on the tasting panel!

Verge/Crocker thing tonight! Very cool. 

I fell asleep at 630 last night! I think I was finally catching up on the sleep from NY.  I stayed up for 45 hours the night I flew in. I had to power through the jet lag to pack as much in as I could.

Here now I'll gloat about something I did do, which is interview Sonny Smith from Sonny and the Sunsets. He is a hero of mine.

Inty?

the movie night went well last night. I now think that Meatballs might be the funniest movie of all time all because of one guy named Mr. Bill Murray.  Meatballs really wipes its ass with Wet Hot American Summer when you watch them side by side.  Next movie night I want to do Half Baked and Friday. And I'm going to start it at 7.

Tonight is the open mic comedy at Bows.  Officiall voted best comedy night in the SNR summer issue.

I'm going to be djing at Mike C.s night on july 24th, all dirty south. I'm listening to a lot of it.  Ya know a lot of the Cash Money stuff doesn't hold up that well (and of course that goes double for No Limit). I just discovered that Master P has kids named: Lil Romeo, Cymphonique, Veno, Young V, Tytyana, Italy, Hercy, Inty and Mercy.

hack restaurant

I still can't mail my phone pictures to myself (meaning I have barely tried to figure it out besides messaging Rafter) so none of the eagerly anticipated NY pictures yet. It's annoying that I could just post them to fb but I will hold out. Course I could do that and then save them and then, nah.

So I will now review the new restaurant from the hack crew who brought you burgers and brew and crepeville: el toro bravo, a "mexican" restaurant in downtown davis, which means there are three of these places in a one-block radius. To sum it up: terrible. Fishy dry fish tacos, supposed Niman Ranch steak which was also super dry. Tasteless salsa, beans, and rice. I guess the veggie taco (with eggplant and peppers and stuff) was OK but I wouldn't order it again.

Saw Dave Attell in NY, saw him in Sac too, where he bombed. He phoned it in at the Comedy Cellar. He even kept a NY Post tucked under his arm the whole time. Not as an affectation but just because he was I don't know, putting in a quick ten minutes before he went to take a dump? SPeaking of comedy, does anyone out there love Todd Barry? I love him.

You should follow him on twitter. His website has this funny page: http://www.toddbarry.com/receipt_museum.html

omg, seriously read it and this is good too

http://www.toddbarry.com/quotes.html

this is blowing my mind, how did I not hear that Nic got in the Onion AV Club?

http://www.avclub.com/articles/s-nic-offer-hates-the-house-of-the-rising-sun,97304/

Tonight! Movie night at Bows!

something went wrong

uh, something is wrong where I can't send any of my pictures from my phone to my gmail so no New York pictures yet. And after I spent a while sending them. How annoying.

Tomorrow! Movie night at Bows! I am showing Meatballs at 6 and Wet Hot American Summer at 8.  Also, Mario is djing at Le Twist at Lowbrau. It sucks that whenever someone I like djs there it is so late (like midnight) that I don't go but I think tomorrow I will make an exception. 

share a brew

A couple of days ago in the sweltering evening Scott brought up the idea of Akebono. It was packed because I'm sure cooling sushi sounded good to everyone.  I got this sake which comes in a cute little can that you pour it out of.  It was delicious as all hell.  Also got the classic cold soba dish hiyashi chuka. Very refreshing.

DJ smiller is gonna be at Lowbrau tonight. They have moved the speakers and it now sounds great and is audible at a pleasant level inside.  Come share a beer.

video of the day

I linked Cody's new blog at right. Check it out.

brilliant!

I have my best ideas on the way to work (no, not on the can) because it's 25 minutes and I'm highly caffeinated and I listen to music and space out.  Many of these ideas are lost to the ether as I walk from my car to my office. Who knows how many cool things I could have done.  Anyway, the idea I had this morning is to review Jimboy's for my next review!! I am so smart.  It is a legit review because the ONLY thing I have ever eaten from there is french fries, bean tacos and veggie burritos.  I think I started going there when I was still vegetarian and then never branched out.

 

There's a sweet rope swing at Sutter's Landing if you walk to the right for a bit.  Try it out before the rangers cut it down.  I can't believe I wasn't too chicken to do it. The Blue Dream helped.

a lame

I am kind of a lame because I didn't go see see Scouse Gits at the Press or a really big trap DJ at Assembly  I had a grueling chop-bustin 90 minute meeting yesterday. My chops were the ones getting busted.  It probably would have been good for me to go out and blow off some steam. 

How do rappers have so much money considering the state of the modern music biz? Or are they all lying? How can Gucci Mane have like 5 Bentleys or whatever when he has a million mixtapes and probably hardly anyone buys his real albums.  It's not like rappers are known for making money on touring or anything.  Even underground rappers with only mixtapes out are claiming to be super rich so that can't be true.  I don't expect them to rap about being broke or anything but maybe just don't mention it.

Katie got bandz

Scouse Gits tonight at Mike C.'s birthday at Press.  I kept forgetting what band it was and thought it was some band I had never heard of.  By the way, I learned some rap sland "bandz" it's like rubber bands around money.  Like "Bandz a maker her dance" the Juicy J song and "Katie got bandz" a mediocre Chicago rapper.

I love this song! The first time I listened I thought it was boring but it's so stoney

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-tQrZ6ZAIU

I saw Before Midnight last night. Mixed feelings.  I loved the other ones because they were so romantic and here the romance is gone.  But it's real-feeling.  But Julie Delpy does come off as crazy and unreasonable.  But she is one of the most natural actresses I've ever seen, and so  luminous.  And lots of food for thought after.  Tantalizing hints of their life in the last ten years.  Hmmm....

need a suggestion

I'm not exactly on the cutting edge with this, but man that Kendrick Lamar album is genius.  When was the last time someone released a rap album that was great all the way through? 10 years?

We ate at OneSpeed last night for the first time in at least a year.  It's such a neighborhood type place and it's not our hood, but I wish it was near us.  They have an app that's a take on the classic vitelo tonnato: crostini topped with roasted pork loin, tuna mayo and chopped egg. Awesome.  Then I had a white bean and shrimp salad with a lot of thyme and it was just OK because the beans were too firm and the shrimp wasn't really that sweet or flavorful.  Scott got a pizza special with I think soppresata and piquillo peppers and sheep's milk cheese and maybe some other stuff.  The blend of toppings was superb even though the crust can't touch Masullo's.  It was well-salted though.  Much heavier pizza than Masullo's of course, which are pretty much the lightest possible.  And they have Berryess IPA on draught, which is consistently tasty.

What restaurant should I review next? This upcoming one is South Indian.

I'm hosting a movie night at Bows on July 9th.  Meatballs at 6 pm and Wet Hot American Summer at 8.  Gabe is supposed to make a meatball special and I'm hoping there will be a special on Sac Treats, like 2 for 4 or something.  It's really casual and I'm sure a lot of people will want to hang on the patio or just watch parts or whatever. This clip is one of the funniest things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TogGxzlfhM

doves: round 2

We have our second round of doves nesting outside our back door.  Poor mom and pop are taking turns keeping the eggs warm in the rain.  It's hard out there for a dove.

Overall this is a fair review of LowBrau and I know the owners agree and are going to use the criticism constructively HOWEVER, the passage sort of dinging them that Green Flash Rayon Verte and Duchess de Bourgogne don't GO TOGETHER is effing ridic.  Who ever said that two beers you order at the same time are obligated to go together? That's kind of not a thing any more than you would open two bottles of wine and expect them to go together.  His point is that the servers aren't that helpful, but I don't know what I would say about beers that go together and I can't believe that even without guidance that he would try to pair a sausage with a really sweet beer like the Duchess.  So gross!  Sours maybe pair with cheese or something and that's about it. The dude writes a beer column.

wedding!

I officated AM and KC's wedding on Saturday and the whole thing was a blast.  I managed to work Star Trek and Channing Tatum references into the ceremony and to do a dramatic reading from my review of the defunct restaurant Chicken and Pizza Love Letter. I was happy to make them happy and add some laughter to the ceremony.  It was awesome and no hangover! Yay for me.  I stuck to Coors Light most of the night.

sunglasses on a hotdog? now I've seen everything!

I preferred the old Morant's cards, but this "cool guy" hotdog makes me laugh every time I see it.  That's why it's on my work bulletin board to remind me to "hang in there".  They also have magnets!

The wedding approacheth.  Working on writing the ceremony. Almost done. Not nervous yet but I know I will be.  I like public speaking but there is always that first few minutes of nerves and then I'm like "this is awesome, everyone is listening to me!"

LowBrau changed the DJ setup to by the front doors, which is just back to how they used to have it and it sounds wayyyyy better.  Scott and Roger's set last night was the most enjoyable yet, and unless they are hosting an event there, Tuesdays at that time are not crowded.

Mantles Pitchfork review out today!  I recomment you listen to "Hello"

juice! juice! juice!

Curse you, Rick Ele! You got me thinking about Apatzingan enchiladas, with their delicious tartness and light amount of cheese (cotija?) inside.  We went out there and turns out on Tuesday it randomly closes at 3?@ WTF? It doesn't do this any other day.  We had enchiladas on the brain, not tacos, so we dithered about where to eat.  I had been to Caballo Blanco once over ten years ago, and I thought, why not?  They had flour tortilla chips, just like I remembered which are meh. Ketchup-y salsa just like its sister restaurant, the terrible El Novillero.  I saw the prices and then remembered Bugambilias exists, but we had already eaten a couple of chips and it was too late. If I'm going to pay 13 bucks for a big plate of Mexican-American style food, I would just get the chile verde at Tres Hermanas which I think is the bomb.  I got a chile relleno and chicken enchilada.  The enchilada was ok, but the chili relleno was giant and puffy with too much tasteless breading.  At least I have lunch leftover.

Has anyone ever had a fresh chile relleno in Sac? Like one that's fresh-fried and puffy? I don't understand why every single restaurant obviously nukes them.  I've made them and you steam and stuff the chiles first so all you have to do is dip them and fry them.  It's no more trouble than any other dish.  My mom once made shrimp-stuffed ones during shrimp season in Mazatlan and they were fucking delicious.

I juiced kale for the first time, due to a podcast I listened to about L.A.'s juicing obsession.  A few drips of juice came out from a bundle of dino cale and then I threw in some parsley we had sitting around, too and then a bunch of carrots, beets, cucumber and apple. It was good, but I kind of don't get the juicing thing because aren't you just discarding every bit of fiber? Seems wasteful.  It's a vitamin thing, right?

9 years

This is not trolling for comments at all, but it may be time to shut this thing down on the 9th anniversary.  Facebook supplanted it for everyone which makes total sense.  Lately I've been saving ideas to post on facebook or duplicating things.  All the holdouts have been joining and smiller has to be next.  Hits have gone down and my ideas have run pretty dry.  Looks like we are about to start another cycle of luxury lofts and condo dreams and it's just depressing and my ranting does nothing whatsoever.  It feels like it's just limping along and I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of it.  So, maybe there's about a month left. I want to have a farewell party kinda.