I've been hankering for some good Indian food for quite some time now so I was super excited that my aunts wanted to take me out for dinner at Khana Peena when I visited them this past Monday. Khana Peena is this great restaurant that serves Northern Indian cuisine in three East Bay locations: Solano Ave and Oxfort St (both in Berkeley) and on Rockridge in Oakland. If you're in the area, I highly recommend it. We happened to go to the Solano Ave location.
This was my second time around at Khana Peena and it was just as delicious as the first time I went last year. We started off with vegetable samosas and papadum (a kind of thin lentil wafer/chip). Food is served family style and we had about 6 different main dishes to choose from. The Tandoori Mint Chicken was surprisingly yummy even though it was a bright shade of St. Patrick's Day green. I also enjoyed the Aloo Gobi which was a potato and cauliflower concoction and my favorite from the first time was the Lamb Vindaloo. Of course, everything should be eaten with their most delicious Naan (Indian style bread... kinda tortilla like). They offer their Naan in a myriad of flavors, but I find the plain Naan to be exceptionally awesome for dipping into the sauces of the various dishes. My favorite sauce was probably the one that went with this vegetable dumpling dish. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the dish itself, but believe me... it was scrumptious. The Chicken Korma was probably my second favorite dish of the night. BTW - their Cold Chai is yumm-o! Man, this post is making me hungry!
[not the food we had, but still looks pretty delicious]
Khana Peena may be a bit pricey for my college student budget, but they do have an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for around $9 so I may have to come back again for that. The service there was excellent and feel free to ask your server for recommendations if you're having trouble narrowing down your options. So if you're in the neighborhood and craving something spicy and full of flavor, Khana Peena is the place to go! Just check out their site for the full menu!
But you don't have to take my word for it! ;)
...Didn't have my camera on me so these pictures are all taken from Khana Peena's webpage
After ComicCon on Thursday night July 26, hundreds of fans and I caught a special advance screening of the upcoming action filmShoot 'Em Up. Michael Davis and Clive Owen were on hand to answer questions and give some insight about the film just before the showing.
Action fans will definitely eat up the kinetic film with a constant stream of frenzied shoot-outs with a unique plot going above the synopsis of average action flicks: Clive Owen (star of Sin City and BMW Films: The Hire) stars as a carrot-wielding loner known only as Mr. Smith who gets caught protecting a newborn baby from a cynical hit man Mr. Hertz (the always great Paul Giamattiof Sideways). To take care of the baby, Mr. Smith enlists the help of DQ (the Matrix Reloaded's Monica Bellucci) a prostitute catering to a lactating fetish. The newly-formed, unlikely family must find out why the baby is being chased while constantly running from Mr. Hertz and his endless supply of gunmen.
Beneath the surface is a convoluted and unique story with engaging characters and witty dialog, yet it definitely takes backseat due to the high quality of the action. In fact, writer and director Michael Davis presented the concept to studios and faced constant rejection because of the seemingly shallow plot's face value. But it wasn't until he put together a 17 minute animated reel of key action scenes that the movie was green lit.
Predictability has been the bane of most films of the genre in recent years, but because of the immense creativity of the action scenes, Shoot 'Em Up delivers what most gun-crazy action movie fans have been craving for. In the tradition of the all out gun play of classic John Woo films like Hard Boiled and following in the adrenaline stylized footsteps of films such as Crank and Smokin' Aces, Shoot 'Em Up also adds some of the most unexpected shoot-outs with a consistent flow of fast-paced editing throughout.
The violence, sex, and humor all take extra steps, or rather, GIANT LEAPS to levels that you probably wouldn't expect. Some moments often taken too far to the point of ridiculousness but they're done so extremely well that all disregards of realism are forgiven and appreciated for providing satisfying entertainment value.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS* Without giving too much away but there seems to always be some off-kilter quirk to every situation in the movie. For example the gun fights have some sort of gimmick to add to the fun: a shoot-out during a baby delivery, a shoot-out during a car chase, a sniper shoot-out in a playground, a shoot-out during sex, a shoot-out while skydiving, and a Home Alone-inspired booby trap-filled shoot-out in a gun factory.. just to name A FEW. *SPOILERS END HERE* To top it off the plentiful shoot-outs all end with climactic sight gags sure make its target audience satisfied with a laugh or awe of the absurdity. Each time, I had to pick up my jaw from the bottom of my seat as I contemplated how much each the scene ROCKED.
For the most part the stellar cast is top notch in this type of film. Clive Owen is perfectly cast as the typical suave bad ass and unlikely hero. As Mr. Smith, Owen comes off as a natural whether it comes to spitting one-liners while unfazed at the face of adversary, snapping witty remarks throughout, or shooting, flipping, and sliding acrobatically during the action scenes. If it will teach a lesson to those that need lessons taught, this character will draw every line to accomplish it. You'll love Mr. Smith if you hate to see drivers that don't signal or parents that beat their kids in public. He reacts to things in ways everyone has wanted to but had the sense to not do them!
Monica Bellucci's portrayal of DQ is excellent in bringing warmth to the character. Peppered by her exotic Italian looks and accent, the chemistry between her and the British accented Owen is exciting and convincing. With DQ you genuinely care about what happens to the character because of the humanity she shows trying to take care of the newborn Oliver and trying to care for the even Mr. Smith herself.
With such strong protagonists you would need an conversely evil adversary and thats where Paul Giamatti steals the show. His character, Mr. Hertz, provides most of the dark humor and is such an evil bastard you'll actually grow to love him due to Giamatti's excellent portrayal. As he matches wits with Mr. Smith, Mr. Hertz in turn matches gun prowess whether he wields a sniper rifle or his signature Desert Eagle with a custom fingerprint identifier, all while being annoyed constantly from the cell phone calls of his wife. The cynical yet humanized villain is immensely fun to watch much in the vein of great cinematic bad guys like Gary Oldman's portrayal of the crazed cop Stansfeld in Leon: The Professional.
Strange to say but the real star of the movie is the vision-enhancing orange vegetable, the carrot! Never in a film have carrots been so important, so hilarious, or so awesome! When Mr. Smith takes bites off of a carrot in a calm after the storm the stock of adrenaline that viewers have gained will inspire them to stock up on carotene. In fact, after the premiere the audience was treated to fresh carrots! Lets just say after this movie you'll never guess how bad ass eating carrots can be.
Along with the plentiful homages to Hong Kong cinema greats like John Woo and spaghetti westerns, there are many allusions to Clive Owen's trademark of driving Beemers in films, such as his stints in BMW Films as well as a hitman in Bourne Identity. There even is a nod to Owen's potential as a previous successor to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond that fans will definitely eat up as this film comes as perfect example of what he would've been like as the next Bond.
After watching this movie with fellow action aficionados it was unanimous that our socks had been knocked off. Also worth mentioning was the very vocal and energetic Comic Con audience laughing, cheering, and giving ovation to every awesome scene (and were scenes of awesomeness plentiful!).
As far as for who the film is for, just watch the trailer. Its definitely a movie that gives so much fan service to action film fans that anyone out of that circle can instantly dismiss the film as typical action fare or even as a 'bad movie'. Not so when you put into account how clever and how deep both action, style, and plot go with Shoot 'Em Up. However its very rare that a film had the whole audience's blood pumping NONSTOP throughout. Not to say that the film is perfect, but as an action film you'll definitely come out satisfied. Even during the pauses, the direction, art direction, and cinematography is so sharp and stylized that it keeps the intrigue going. Each metal and electronica song in the soundtrack paint and frame the action perfectly. I don't think I've seen better use of Motorhead's Ace of Spades or Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart in a film. Some films "cut to the chase" but the whole entire film is THE chase.
Movies are supposed to entertain and Shoot 'Em Up goes above and beyond to meet that expectation. I applaud Michael Davis in both having the immense passion for his story and the efforts he put into directing such a sharp, exciting movie. Each and every scene will had me sitting in my chair in disbelief wondering why the heck I haven't been this much entertained. I can't say I've had this much DAMN FUN watching a movie in a long time! As I told my friend that I was going to post a review here, he told me I should write this article as a one word review: AWESOME. There's no better way to put it!
So stock up on your carrots and mark your calendars on September 7th!
Last Friday, carmeL and I had a chance to go see the new Harry Potter movie - Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix - which hit US theaters on July 11th. Since I hadn't read the book and carmeL had, we decided to do a joint review of our IMAX 3D movie experience.
Dumbledore's Army
We arrived about an hour early (carmeL insisted so we could get decent seats.) Being in San Francisco, it was with [good] fortune that we end up in line in front of a homeless(?) guy. I can't say for sure if he was homeless, but he certainly smelled like one... or ten. Maybe even twenty. To make matters worse, the previous showing experienced some technical difficulties so we nearly lost our lunch waiting in line for over an hour in front of this guy. He eventually got kicked out of the theater and our IMAX 3D experience ended up being 3D for only the last 20 minutes of the movie. Guess they weren't able to work out all the kinks from the previous showing, but at least it was still in IMAX.
Fighting off the baddies
Anyway, I thought the movie was great! It was neat to see the actors grow so much since the previous four films, not just physically but in their acting prowess as well. I enjoyed the dark overtones of the story; plots are so much more enjoyable when you see characters overcome a struggle. The action sequences were great too, especially when the 3D was working. I don't want to give away too much because you guys should see it for yourself. It'll be a good $10 well spent, $15 if you see it in IMAX.
The Ministry of Magic
Now for carmeL's review...
I have to agree with rye-uhn-air-ick for the most part. I know that turning a 870pg novel into a 2h18m movie was no easy task for the screenwriters and director, David Yates. However, I feel that they kept the gist of the story to keep the movies in sync with the novels' storyline. I'm in the process of re-reading all six books in anticipation of the 7th's release, so it's been awhile since I've read Order of the Phoenix. The only complaint I have of the movie is that some parts felt choppy, like something was missing, but I think that's because I knew what had been left out. At least, rye-uhn-air-ick didn't seem to think so as much as me.
Giving lessons in self-defense [against the Dark Arts]
As a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter series, I am very excited with how the film turned out and it's made me even more excited about the coming release of the 7th, and final, book in the series - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I encourage fans of the book and/or movies to go out and watch it. The extra money for the IMAX 3D experience is well worth it, even if the 3D effects aren't working. And if our review isn't enough to entice you to watch, then maybe this movie trailer will be:
On June 1st and June 2nd, Kurt Halsey Frederiksen had two days of fan meeting and greeting at Gallery 1988 for his solo art show "a subtle existence, all the meanings in our moments shared." He previously was unable to make an appearance on the show opening due to an eye ailment (good to see him doing well, no pun intended) but rescheduled this LA appearance for his much appreciative fans. I made it up to LA for the Saturday afternoon signing to meet Kurt Halsey! Kurt's fans were just as ecstatic as I was to meet their hero as he signed work, traded smiles, and sketched on little post-it notes. I'm grateful to have the chance meet Kurt - his artistic talent is only exceeded by his friendliness. We had a little chat and I let him know how much I appreciate his unique art.
He signed the hand-embossed Flowers print (limited out of 50) available at the gallery.
He was also nice enough to sketch me, faux-hawk, chin-hairs, and all! To have your favorite artist create a rendition of you is awesome beyond words!
My parents, fellow rabid collectors and also Kurt Halsey fans after exposing them to his work, got some mementos of their own:
Umbrella, Picnic Table/ Swings, andConstant Consistency postcards, available at the gallery. Plus a really cool bird sketch!
He even had "Swingsets and Park Kisses" fliers just like the one that makes up his collage Untitled (Concert Posters)!
Stay tuned for more:a video of Kurt Halsey's drawing the aforementioned sketch of yours truly and 35mm photos as soon as they're developed!
Kurt Halsey Fredericksen 's solo art show "a subtle existence, all the meanings in our moments shared," is currently being showcased at LA's Gallery 1988 until June 15. Lined within the gallery walls are almost 50 "untitled" paintings, drawings, and collages that cleverly depict the heartfelt sensitivities of relationships. Kurt Halsey's endearing work has developed a following with his unique character illustrations and ideas relevant to anyone who has loved and lost.
I made it out to LA this last Saturday and the gallery was my first stop, just before going on a Melrose vinyl toy hunt! Some favorites: Untitled (Big Yellow Snow) Untitled (Never Enough Kisses) and Untitled (Triple Post-It Notes) Untitled (Big Pimpin') Untitled (Concert Posters) Untitled (Lake) Untitled (Evergreen Miles) Untitled (mini orange firefly) and (mini green firefly) Untitled (Constant Consistency) Untitled (Night Bat) Untitled (Cute Chicks) and Untitled (Airport Sketch) Untitled (Hug Behind)
Unfortunately, Kurt Halsey was unable to make the opening reception for his show (see G1988's blog). To compensate to his adoring fans, he will be having a meet and greet this Friday June 1st from 6 to 9pm and on Saturday June 2nd from 12 to 3pm! Kurt promises presents- I'm there! Speaking of presents, Guitar Player and Flowers are available as prints, Umbrella as a poster, and a half-dozen of them are available as collectible postcards (I got Picnic Table/Swings)! Click here to see the rest of Kurt Halsey's work in my photo album!
After the "I Am 8 Bit" exhibit, we were in search for a refresher. We stumbled upon M Cafe de Chaya. Don't let the ultra chic exterior, suave name, (or being that it is on Melrose Ave) intimidate you. The entire staff was wonderful -- very charming and hospitable. They feature a Macrobiotic Menu. All items are prepared fresh daily without any refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat, or poultry. Not only is the food healthy, it looked really yummy, and it tasted good! Janus Saint got Sushi rolls made with Organic brown rice while I got the Black Sesame Gelato. No dairy, No eggs, No refine sugar, and it was way tasty!
This past Sunday Juligie, MURSE1, and I checked out the Vinyl Toy Network Spring 2007 show at the Pasadena Convention Center. It was 3000 square feet of great artists and vendors exhibiting some of the latest and greatest toys.
Chris Lee's new figure from The Urbanites - Mellow complete with jello! There's always room for jello!
Some great figures from the imagination of Dave Pressler. I love the detail and creative styles - I could relate a lot to these little guys!
Brian Castleforte displayed some of his wonderfully stylized NiceBunny paper toys. They're free to download and make at NiceBunny.com. courtesy of butweloveyou.com Also check out his monstrously cool But We Love You 'plush toys from outer space.' The ice cold Gozz is my favorite!
Shane Geil wasn't pulling any humorous subtlety punches with the VTN show premiere of his 11 inch sperm plush! He also featured some his yummy looking rotisserie chicken plush in the same containers that you get real ones in!
Michelle Valigura's Pistol Pedro plush - probably the last 2 of 13 ever made exclusively for the show! courtesy of vinylpulse.com Amanda Visell, Michelle's partner in crime in the girls productions offered another exclusive to the show. Amanda created The Dragon Scout Set which was limited to 25 pieces and consists of a wood sculpture and print. Mr. Dragon, I think you're supposed to just eat the cookies, not the girls! The good guys at Munky King were happy to pose with Michelle's works: a Switcheroo Robot Girl and the Pistol Pedro plush! We picked up a couple of vinyl toys including three figures that were given away to the first 100 people (then to us by a very generous collector!): a Kaching Brands Mokoten Harajuku girl, Toy2R Qee collection series 1 Chopper Bear, and Gimix Vice Do's and Dont's Becky! We also snatched up a ToyFul Hello Kitty x Rody vinyl bobble, Kozik Mongers Herman, Touma KnuckleBear, Nanospore series 1 Gunther (this one was a rare variant!), and some Red Magic CiBoys!
[not the food we had, but still looks pretty delicious]
Last Friday, 
