Pew pew

I can't believe November is over already. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Iron Man 3 and Race

The Iron Man 3 trailer was recently released and it looks fantastic! I can't wait for it's release next May. However, one particular interesting question being raised: Isn't the main villain, who's named The Mandarin, isn't he supposed to be Chinese? Marvel Studios Says Iron Man 3 Villain The Mandarin Isn't Chinese, He's International (MTV News).

Race and casting is a tricky business. There was outcry over casting in the live action Avatar: the Last Airbender movie a few years ago, and some rumblings over Johnny Depp being cast as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie. And while I want to see more choice roles for Asian actors in American cinema, and love to read articles on the topic...all I can keep thinking of is Robert Downey Jr's character in Tropic Thunder which perhaps acts as a very poignant parody:

He's not a Bad Guy

I was extremely pleased by Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, a wonderfully tender and introspective animated tale. Here are my highlights:

• Top-notch voice casting
• Good balance for an "all-age movie", something Pixar's recent movie "Brave" didn't have
• As an older viewer, a healthy dose of nostalgic video game characters: everything from Pac-Man to Street Fighter 2
• For an animated movie, it hits on the more mature themes of identity and self-image
• *sniff*...What? No, I'm not crying during a cartoon...I just have something in my eyes... *sniff* It's so touching, pass the tissues...

I definitely recommend it if you can catch in the theater, or once it comes out on DVD.

Alicia Keys covers Disney's "Gummi Bears" theme song

Seriously, only on Jimmy Fallon could this happen:

Alicia Keys Breaks Hearts With 'Adventures of the Gummi Bears' Cover (MTV Geek)


What a brilliantly quirky piece of promotion Alicia, and kudos to you for reminding me of my addiction to the Disney Afternoon block of cartoons from my childhood. RIP Gummi Bears. Next I want a soulful rendition of the Duck Tales theme song by Hall & Oates...oh wait...

Tuesday's Tunes: Glory in the Highest

Thanksgiving is typically the time I dust off my Christmas playlist, and upload it for the car ride down to my family in NY. Let's ease into the Christmas music season with Glory in the Highest, from Chris Tomlin's Christmas worship album of the same name. It's a song that really works any time of the year, I hope you enjoy it:

Tuesday's Tunes: Midnight City

Today's selection "Midnight City" by M83 is a little more outside of scope of the music I normally listen to, but nonetheless enjoy. The music video itself is reminiscent of the iconic 80's anime film Akira, and M83's music in general made for some great background music during a recent board game session.

A trip to the comic shop with author Junot Diaz

For those who have read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, you undoubtedly noticed author Junot Diaz's peppering of comic book references (whether you understood them or not). As a fellow comic book fan, it was great get a peak behind the scenes and see Diaz geek out in the video below, which I first came across from the Comics Alliance article Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Junot Diaz Discusses His Love Of Comics:


If you are even a casual fan of the medium, I wholeheartedly approve of every comic/graphic novel featured in the article.

An extended taste of the Bay Area

Blog entries haven't come as easy since I've been playing "catch up" with life after being stuck for an extra five days in San Francisco unexpectedly thanks to super storm Sandy. Luckily for us, one of T's close high school friends was kind enough to host us for all but one of our extra days and was an extremely gracious hostess!

We made the most of the trip and got to explore the city and some of the surrounding area during our forced vacation. The weather was gorgeous as well: mid 50's and a little foggy in the morning, but sunny and 70 degrees by noon! This really redeems my last few trips to SF, where I had to drive in an unfamiliar city amidst pouring rain.

Ok, now the part you probably are waiting for: the food. Amongst all the delicious things we ate, we really enjoyed the wealth of coffee options in the Bay Area:

Pour over from "Jane," near our hotel in Japan town.

A cute siphon pot from Blue Bottle Coffee

The Mrs. enjoying some coffee from Philz

Philz Coffee in particular won us over, seeing as how we visited the local chain three times. I brought home a pound of their Tessora beans, and with my trusty french press, have been able to recapture a bit of that coffee heaven at home.

Now onto the food: here's a quick bullet list of highlights of the some of the restaurants we hit up:

Obligatory In-N-Out visit

• O-Toro Sushi - super fresh
• Mission Chinese Food - spicy and full-flavored Chinese food. This is the original, and I heard they opened one in NYC as well.
• Koi Palace - delicious dim sum
• Bi-Rite Creamery - really enjoyed the salted caramel ice cream
• Golden Gate Bakery - for their egg tart
• In-N-Out - double-double animal style, check!
• R&G Lounge - repeat these words after me: "salt and pepper crab"

"Eat me, I'm delicious!"

All in all, it was a really great trip, but the next time I visit the Bay Area, we will hopefully have the opportunity to plan (and pack) accordingly!

Tuesday's Tunes: All the Poor and Powerless

I'm always excited to find a solid contemporary worship album, especially if it has multiple songs that are appropriate to small or medium sized churches. Take that as a critique on the recent Hillsong and Passion albums, which have great inspirational songs to listen to, performance pieces if you will, but don't translate well to a smaller band setting, or are downright unsingable to the average congregant.

Anyhow, I can't recommend enough All Sons & Daughters album Season One, where today's selections "All the Poor and Powerless" come from: