Cuba de Ayer

broderic on August 18, 2012

Just got back from an early dinner at Cuba de Ayer in Laurel. Cuban food takes me back to my days at the U. I also wore my new University of Miami cap with the old style ‘M’ script. I was like a young kid again.

I had the bistec with black beans and rice and friend plantains. Yum. I miss black beans and rice. Theirs made me smile it was good.

What’s weird about Cuban food is that some of it really is like Filippino food. The bistec I had? Just like my mom’s bistec! There was picadillo on the menu. It’s like my mom’s except that it comes with raisins and olives. There’s pork chops and there’s lechon just like my mom’s. I guess that’s why I like Cuban food; it’s Filippino style!

Hofbräuhaus

broderic on August 15, 2012

Hofbrauhaus

It was just a big cafeteria serving beer, sausage, and pretzels, very big pretzels.

The Bourne Legacy

broderic on August 15, 2012

You never knew that there were so many secret super soldier programs in the US military industrial complex until you see The Bourne Legacy. Every branch of the service has their own not to mention the 3 letter agencies. Jason Bourne was just a tip of the iceberg; there’s plenty more where he came from. Just go down the block. You’ll find another.

The Bourne Legacy is all about Jason Bourne, and what he means to all the super soldier programs that have not been revealed. It takes place alongside the final two films of the previous trilogy as the secret of Treadstone/Black Briar is revealed. It means that Jeremy Renner’s super soldier program is compromised, and it’s showrunners, Ed Norton and Stacy Keach, have to shut it down before it, too, is brought before a Senate committee. They’ll shut it down by killing everything associated with it, as if you didn’t know. Never work on a secret super soldier program or be a secret super soldier, because they’ll terminate your contract with extreme prejudice.

Renner, in my opinion, is the perfect next Bourne. Every time I see him, I expect something drastic to happen, something bad. He’s always on edge. You know something bad was coming. Something like a heat seeking missile! Boom! There goes the super soldiers!

And they also had to eliminate the other workers, too. What a job. So Rachel Weisz had to run like Lola; and her story arc was similar. Is there a chance that she’ll make it through the next Bourne movie alive? Repeat. At least we know that they’ll have a decent life in the PI.

3 of 5 stars.

Meat Seller

broderic on August 5, 2012

Meat

They eat a lot of meat in Germany.

I ate a lot of meat in Germany. I wish I didn’t. I could’ve used a salad or two. At least the pizza at Thursday’s lunch was something different.

Bread

broderic on August 5, 2012

Bread

I could go for a pretzel right now.

Picture is of the selection of pretzel bread available to you as you wander around Munich, Germany. What’s missing is the sandwiches that could be made with said bread. Schnitzel. Some ham. Some turkey. In America, we have wraps. In Germany, they wrap a pretzel around it.

I could go for a pretzel…

The Dark Knight Rises

broderic on July 31, 2012

You know how much I hated the previous installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, so it should come as a surprise that I found The Dark Knight Rises more palatable. Maybe I’m getting use to Nolan?

The main difference between the two Dark Knight films is that this one is actually as comic booky as could be. There’s a guy with a mask that talks funny, and it ain’t Darth Vader. There’s all kinds of comic book action: Batman gets his back broken! Then there’s all kinds of comic book plots like the back stabbing (literally!) twist in the end. Of course, I never read any Batman books so it all came as a surprise to me.

In the end though, it was decent but The Avengers kicks its ass.

3 of 5 stars.

The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya

broderic on July 30, 2012

This past weekend was the big anime convention in Baltimore, Otakon. One of their guests was the infamous Aya Hirano. She’s the voice actress for Haruhi Suzumiya. While there is no word about a third season of Haruhi, we still got the light novels. The latest light novel, The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Now the light novels in this series have followed a pattern after the first installment. There are two books of short stories followed by one book with a feature length story. The last feature length book, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, was the best so far. It featured Yuki in moe mode. The Intrigues comes a close second, and it featured Mikuru Asahina the moe maid of the SOS Brigade. While she could never beat out Yuki, Mikuru is so moe that you just got to love her like Kyon does.

The Intrigues follows Kyon as he finally goes back to save himself as he had done in Disappearance. Then he comes back to meet a version of Mikuru from eight days in the future sent back to the past by his future self. The bulk of the book involves adventures with eight day future Mikuru. Why did Kyon send her back from the future? And how does any of this have to do with the older, future, curvier Mikuru? Read the book as it was a great read.

This book added depth to the Haruhi universe. It expands the cast with the addition of an opposing faction against each of the SOS Brigade members. There’s a faction of time travelers who oppose Mikuru’s group. There’s a faction of ESPers that oppose Itsuki’s Agency. There’s another sentient alien being — Yuki watch out! It plays as a set up for the latter novels and makes the setting greater.

I sped through this book on my trip to Germany. I finished it up early in the week and I regret not having reread it again immediately. I even read it after having a few litres of beer!

After reading this installment of Haruhi, I wish to see another season of the anime. It would be awesome to get the rest of the short stories filled out, then we can get another Haruhi movie from this book. Please, please, please Kyo-ani, more Haruhi anime.