Not Even a Good Rental Movie ... By Any Means

"The Watch" ... What a hunk of crapola.

I have been known to rent movies that are, by and large, plain old bad.
Not Baaadd ... or Wow! That was so bad! ... No I like those movies that take a bit to enjoy.
Ask my better half ... and you will find out that I lean toward movies that are poorly directed, poorly acted and grossly over hyped.

I went into this thinking that "The Watch" could be one of those movies I could enjoy.

How wrong I was.

The perpetrators ...
Ben Stiller ... a bit funny, some good acting chops.
Vince Vaughn ... another of those actors that can pull off some visual humor.
Jonah Hill ... Liked him in "Moneyball."
Richard Ayoade ... who is this guy?  Oh well, he is just trying to make a name for himself alongside some known actors ... I get it.

The victim ...
Me and anyone else that casts their eyes upon this steaming pile of offal that some elephant dropped from under his tail right before he slurped up that next trunkful of water ... no wait, the offal reference is too nice for this waste of studio money and about 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back.  No, this movie is a drip of pee down the side of a hot, sun-exposed urinal that just makes a stain against the porcelain as it dries.

This was one of those rare movies that I had to stop.  Not because I wanted to ... oh no ...  I HAD to stop it to prevent myself from losing IQ Points!

My advice to anyone thinking about renting this is that it is a block of time that can be better spent picking ones nose with a straight razor or arguing the finer points of belly button lint deposition methods.

Ciao,
Darrell

Roughaging It

My lunch partner bailed on me today ... even AFTER we scheduled our get together. A few calls, some text messages later all is copacetic and rescheduled for another day.

Even though I am going solo today, I am having a hankering for roughage.

Sometimes demands of my body determine the culinary choices for me. Today, I am cursed to keep it simple and savory.  Too much BBQ and Chicken Wings this week are having not-so-good effects on my dietary needs ... today my body is screaming for veggies.

I ambled down the street and ended up at Jason's Deli.

It was here that I decided to scour the old GI tract with their Chicken Club Salad.

I barely sat down when my salad arrived. I got a small quantity of Ranch dressing to glop on it ... I spread it around and began to toss it at the table ... mmmmmm.

I find that salads are inherently hard to critique.  What I also I find is that it is hard, very hard to screw up fresh veggies that have been cleaned and prepared correctly.

With that in mind, let me focus on the proteins dispersed in this bed of crunchiness.

Chicken, as the name implies, is the focal meat in my lunch.

I love chicken, but today's helping was a touch overdone... it seemed almost an afterthought to use it in a salad ... the breast was clearly destined for their superb chicken salad mix used on their deli-licious sandwiches.

No, what made this dish tasty was the bacon and avocado.

Little strips of porcine goodness interlaced with the creaminess of the ripe, ever-so-slightly firm slices of fruit made a lot of forkfuls all that more enjoyable.

Hints of the herbs used to season the chicken poked around my mouth from time to time just daring me to try and identify them. Basil ... Thyme ... Sage. All of these come to mind now that I think of it.

When it is all said and done, my Chicken Club Salad satisfied my hunger ... visually and internally.

This Jason's Deli is just off of Westheimer across the street from Beck's Prime.  www.jasonsdeli.com

My salad was $7.99. A somewhat decent value, but this can be had from home for a LOT less if you are willing to put in the effort.

Ciao!
Darrell