Because how do you NOT try the garlic ice cream?

If there is one thing I can say about my group of friends it is this: we eat DAMN well. We've taken to trying new restaurants and this Sunday was no exception. Ladies and gentlemen, The Stinking Rose!

Our reason for going was twofold.

1) We needed to celebrate Denny's promotion. Blog Shout Out: Congrats Denny!

2) We needed to try this restaurant.

The Stinking Rose is a restaurant dedicated to garlic. I love garlic, so naturally this is a match made in heaven. We had no idea if we'd need reservations and so Mikey called and we got their voicemail which sounded like it was narrated by this guy:

I'm already in love with it (and we didn't need reservations). So Denny, Mikey, Amy, Jackie, Caroline, Daniel and I climb around a table and stare at the menu.

Garlic Wine.

40 Glove of Garlic Chicken.

Surf and Turf (All garlic enhanced, of course).

Garlic Encrusted Baby Back Ribs.

Garlic Rolls.

Garlic Ice Cream.

Holy friggin' crap. This is awesome. Our poor waitress, not only was her name Agnes, but she told us about how she cannot get the smell of garlic out of her hair. Now, I love garlic as much as the next guy, but its not exactly a scent you want for yourself. The price you pay to work with delicious food, I suppose.

We pussed out when it came to the garlic wine, so we made sure we hit up the garlic ice cream. Do NOT- I repeat, DO NOT- get it. The consensus was WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE EATING?!

The surf and turf was delicious (and it was amusing watching Denny and Amy trying to get the crab out of the shell).

And the decor is lots of fun (just not as fun as the garlic hat they make the poor host wear). Will I be back? Sure. It's an event place though- not so much a place you could just.... go.

We all went home and brushed our teeth and took showers. It was coming out of my pores, I swear it.

Definitely hit the place up if you have a taste for garlic (and lets be honest, who doesn't?) and a fun group to smell really bad with.

Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. Reducing meat consumption by 15% (the equivalent of one day a week) lessens the risk of chronic preventable illness and has a strong impact on the environment.

A couple of months ago I saw a tweet from Olivia Wilde (Marissa Cooper's lesbian fling, or if you prefer, Number 13 on House) that mentioned #meatlessmonday. Intrigued, I looked it up. The above sentence is all it took to convince me to give it a try. I've always said I'd be a vegetarian if I didn't like meat so damn much. This was a way for me to at least have some sort of impact- if not the full impact vegetarians have- on the environment (and my health [those of you that know my family history know I'm doomed]). Vegetarians, I respect you...

...and I'm learning what you eat.

What started out as "breakfast for dinner" and "I'll just have a salad," has quickly escalated to spinach-basil pasta with yogurt sauce and homemade lentil burgers with potato salad.

The latter, being last nights meal. Denny, Lauren and I (you see, they have joined me on this endeavor) made these burgers from scratch-



No, that's not the picture from the recipe- that's the picture of my burger. Looks good, right? I'll tack the recipe onto the bottom of this-

After an hour of cooking, the three of us sat down to our burgers and had one of the most fun dinners I can recall having in a while. Maybe it was the wine (it was definitely the wine), but we laughed like it was no bodies business. Meatless Mondays.... bringing friends together since June. Sure, cooking dinner does it, it doesn't have to be meatless but this is a fuckin' adventure people. I made burgers OUT OF BEANS. Invite friends over. Experiment with food. Laugh like its nobodies business. and maybe help out the environment while you're at it.

Anyone have any amazing meatless recipes to send my way? Here's mine-

Lentil Burgers

3 Cups Green Lentils
1 Cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
5 Eggs
1/2 Diced Onion
1 Diced Carrot
1 Diced Tomato
Garlic to Taste
Pepper to Taste
Thyme to Taste
Spinach as Topping
Sliced Tomato as Topping
Ranch Dressing as Topping
Cheese as Topping (We used Mozzarella)

In a large pot, boil lentils until soft. They're going to need to be blended or food processed, so make sure they're not hard. Drain the water and put the lentils, eggs, salt, garlic, pepper and thyme into the food processor. NOTE: We tried using a blender and were only moderately successful. Might be because my blender is crap. Might be because a food processor works better. Anyways, we ended up blending/forking/spooning the lentil eggs mix until it had the consistency of a hummus. There were still some whole lentils for sure, but they made for a great texture. Place in a large mixing bowl and add the onions, carrots and tomatoes. NOTE: We didn't use the tomatoes last night. This is something I'm adding to the recipe because I think it would make the burgers a little bit juicier. I could be completely wrong on this.... Moving right along- mix that up and then slowly mix in your bread crumbs until the mixture is of a consistency that you can form patties out of. Make your patties (ours were too big... err on the smaller side) and then place in a frying pan with oil. We seasoned each side with a garlic/herb seasoning. Cook 7 minutes on each side until brown on both sides.

Place on a bun and garnish with spinach, tomato, ranch, and cheese. Serve with wine (duh.)

Enjoy.

Tommy Curry @ The Pig n' Whistle and the Great Apartment Hunt of 2010

This weekend started out at 8PM at the Pig n' Whistle on Hollywood Blvd. My friend Tommy Curry (check him out here).

After a wonderfully folksy set, a few drinks and plenty of back and forth with the enthusiastic audience of about 25, Tommy played his last song (which was featured in his sister's short film) and called it a night.

Mikey and I, however, did not.

To Fiesta we went where we ran into a friend of Mikey's and his friends.

Cut to it being 4 in the morning and I'm finally pulling myself into bed. It was an epic night of too many drinks (I blame you, Jeremy! Sweet Tea Vodka is the death of me).

And then there was the pizza, networking, and hanging out in an apartment talking.

I'd be remiss if I didn't share this story though: Jeremy and I are walking to my car and are stopped by two teenagers (1 male, 1 female). The conversation went something like this:

Teenage Boy: Can we ask you kind of a weird question?

Jeremy: Sure.

Teenage Boy: How much would you pay my friend or I to blow you?

Marcus: Nothing.

Teenage Girl: Okay, what if it wasn't us. How much would you pay someone?

Marcus: Nothing.

Jeremy: I don't know.

Teenage Girl: We asked that other guy over there and he said 60 bucks.

Jeremy: We wouldn't.

And with that we walked away. Did we just get solicited by prostitutes? Because I think we did....

I pulled myself out of bed Saturday morning to begin

The Great Apartment Hunt of 2010.

Here's some pictures of what we found.

Notable highlights:

-Mr. Bess, an elderly landlord who lectured Denny and I on the trouble with America today (it was credit cards)

-A landlord who described the tenants of her building as "kids that belong on a TV show"

-Denny starving

-Passing the Fat Burger on Santa Monica 17 times

-Running around LA with Denny

-The apartment that smelt like cat pee

And this gem, the potential future home of Denny and I....

and that was just Friday and Saturday....

I may be poor, I may be black, I may be ugly, but dammit- I'm here.

If you ever want to trap yourself in a long conversation that you can't get out of, ask me about me about The Color Purple.

After reading it Freshman year in college, it quickly became my favorite book. Since then, I read it every year (whenever I can get the book back in my possession - it being my favorite, I loan it out a lot to share the experience).

So of course, I've seen the movie and of course I wanted to see the musical. The moment the banners were hung outside the Pantages on Hollywood and Vine, I knew I'd be forking over the money (33 bucks! Not even that bad) to see how the book translated to the stage.



So real quick, for those of you that don't know the story - The Color Purple is the story of Celie, a poor illiterate black woman who was twice impregnated by her father, and sold off to another black man to care for his children. After completely abandoning her faith in God, Celie finds strength in the women around her to accept her role in life. Deep shit, right?

Not in this musical. That caught me off guard. The material is treated almost like a comedy and it was jarring. I had so many tonal expectations for the piece, thinking I was about to watch the African-American equivalent to a Les Mis, or a Phantom. I was anticipating dark and moody- instead, I got a lively & Gospel-y musical. It threw me completely off. It wasn't the Color Purple that I knew, loved and expected.



The first black woman to come into Celie's life is Sophia (we saw the actress who originated the role on Broadway-got a Tony nomination) and from the moment she marches on the stage she's a comedic role. She was an excellent comedic actress, but again, not what I expected.

The next woman is the sexual Shug Avery. Holy hell, this woman was my absolute favorite. The more I think about the musical, the more I love this actress/this character/this part. My favorite from the book, Shug is to sex what Sophia is to brute strength. Shug is also the one who opens Celie's eyes to what God really is.

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."



With Shug Avery, the musical got right, what the movie got wrong. It kept the lesbian undertones. It's a tough sell. It was abandoned in the movie (and noticeably so). Celie has been abused by men, so naturally she opts to stay away from them. To keep herself closed off. She meets Shug, the epitome of sex (something she doesn't know) and immediately falls for her. It's part of her journey in accepting herself.

And the play hit it spot on. Their relationship is raw, and difficult. When Shug leaves (spoiler!) it hurts.

Fantasia shone as Celie. She completely embodied the role (and quite physically) and where I normally can't stand her voice (blasphemous? maybe) it worked perfectly for the down trodden character of Celie. And she can act! Boy, can she act. Her "I'm Here" is powerful. She absolutely brings down the house in act two. Brings it down, then builds it right back up again.



I abandoned my tonal expectations in act two and saw the musical for what it was. A celebration. A celebration of life and being here. It acknowledged the bad - but you can't live in it. It really made me take another look at the entire adaptation process and I can say this much: They got it right. It's not the book, but it shouldn't be. I know that now. It's hard because I'm so close to the book, but the themes came across and that's what's important.

If the book has my heart, this musical has my soul.

"I may be poor, I may be black, I may be ugly, but dammit- I'm here."

I'm none of those. (Okay- I'm one of those, maybe 2) But no matter who you are, there is always a time where you see nothing but your faults. You see nothing but the bad. When this happens, as The Color Purple reminds us, you've got to just accept yourself and remember that you're here.

And I am.

SBIFF: Booze and Waiting for Forever-Day Two Recap

BOOZE

We got up Sunday afternoon with these intentions: Mimosa Brunch, CRAZY HEART (with Jeff Bridges Q&A) and MIDDLE MEN.

We soon realized that we weren't going to make it to both movies, due to an overlapping time situation, so we let go of MIDDLE MEN, opting instead to try and hit CRAZY HEART. But, a late start and too good a time at Sharkeez resulted in us missing our movie.

We were too late for brunch, so we got lunch- and while we did have solid food, I would be amiss to not call this lunch "liquid."

A margarita, fajita and several sips of these shared bucket drinks later and I am shitty. I wasn't alone in this though. We had such a good time (the ten of us that ended up at lunch) sitting around talking and drinking and eating that we gladly missed the time to get in line for CRAZY HEART. We had a back up option: WAITING FOR FOREVER.

WAITING FOR FOREVER didn't start for another couple of hours after lunch, so Sarah and Denny and I wandered State Street. We ended up in Sephora, where Sarah needed to buy make-up and Denny and I drunkenly tried on all of the colognes. We smelt terrible.

WAITING FOR FOREVER

We got into WAITING FOR FOREVER and aside from knowing it was a romantic dramedy, we knew nothing else.

WAITING FOR FOREVER is the story of a juggler who follows his childhood love around as she moves from city to city.

"Being in a place where I know I might see you is better than knowing I'll never see you."

When the time comes for him to tell her how he feels, a multitude of obstacles pop up for him to overcome.

I loved it.

Sure it had some cliche dramedy moments (dying parents, unrequited love, quirky character traits) but it was such a solid story with such great, defined characters that it didn't matter. Tom Sturridge is a phenomenal actor - look for him to explode onto the scene. His subtlety is spot on, his charm is infectious. He perfectly embodies the lovesick nomad of Will Donner.

Bilson is loveable enough, although clearly the weakest player in the film. Richard Jenkins and Blythe Danner capture any scene they're in. As Bilson's parents - I found myself wishing for more of them. Their storyline comes to an abrupt end and frankly, I wanted more.

One thing noticeably great about this film was the cinematography. It was a gorgeous film to look at. Denny and I both noticed it. The lighting and framing is beautiful.

All in all, this is, as another festivaler put it, a cute movie. They don't make simple cute movies like this anymore. Worth seeing it - assuming it gets distribution. None of these stars are big enough to carry this movie into theaters. Is the charming character and cute story enough to give a distributor the confidence to release it? I hope so. It was the best of the three films I saw at the festival.

SBIFF: Chloe and 8 - Day One Recap

CHLOE

The first movie we (Denny, Sarah and I) saw was CHLOE, starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried as Chloe. Getting in was hectic, we had a great spot in line, but when we got in it was already near full. We saw the movie from the third row - it just made it that much more gnar.

CHLOE is a sexual thriller. Think FATAL ATTRACTION - but hotter, so much hotter. Amanda Seyfried stars as a high class call girl whose yet to make a human connection. Julianne Moore plays a wife who suspects her distant husband is cheating on her and hires Chloe to find out. Chloe reports back to Moore, unexpectedly causing Moore to feel closer to her husband. Scared by the closeness, Moore tries to end things with terrifying results.

Well- that's what the movie would like you to believe. It is good, don't get me wrong - but leaves very little to the imagination (both sexually and in plot).

Subtlety is dead in CHLOE, hitting the audience in the face with clues (a.k.a. close-ups that the filmmakers are afraid you'd miss otherwise). Beats happen quickly, speeding through moments that should be slower, moments that need more tension, more build up, and more exploration.

Moments could have been pulled from a porn, just a warning.

The consensus among us was that we wanted to see certain moments explored more.

It's intense though, and the ending is wonderfully satisfying. Moore is gorgeous, and Seyfried has yet another versatile role. She's electrifying and proves, yet again, that she can act. Both have great dramatic moments, but I wanted more!

Should you go? Yeah. Worth seeing.

8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION

A documentary about Mormon involvement in the passing of Proposition 8. It was introduced by husbands who snuck in before prop 8 passed. Lucky them.

I went in thinking I wouldn't learn anything I didn't know. I went in thinking that it would recap everything I knew, but be great for those who are less informed about the current civil rights issue.

I was wrong. This movie went deep- tapped into a ton of shit I didn't know. It's wonderfully informative (skewed, of course - but every point made if valid.) I don't want to reveal anything, because I want you all to see it (the film got distribution) but I'll give you this fact: 22 million dollars came from the Mormons. Mostly from Utah (to pass a California Prop).

8 isn't the best made documentary- don't get me wrong, but everyone should see it to understand how the fuck prop 8 passed.

See it for the facts. Remember it for the emotion. It's strength is in the quality of information presented, and the connection it forces you to have with the victims of Prop. 8.

At the end of my day, the better film. I'm a little bit passionate about this issue, so a blog about that will come soon.

Happy Festivaling! More tomorrow...

A Weekend in LA [with an under-ager]

So, this past weekend (yes, I realize it's Friday already) I somehow rolled the lucky dice. An entire weekend off of work AND Denny was in town.

Friday: Errands, and lots of them. RKO let me have the afternoon off because they've been working me like a slave.

Then I went to the LACMA with Nora and Matty. Got to see some Warhol and Lichtenstein, so I was happy. The rest wasn't as good as I'd hoped- but it was nice.

Then, picked up Denny at union station. We got beer at Ralph's and chilled in (since under agers are NOT allowed to drink in fun public places, like bars.) Watched The Savages, which I recommend, if only to see Laura Linney say "Big. Red. Pillow." and see Philip Bosco smear shit on the wall.

Saturday: Met my parents for breakfast. They love Denny and would absolutely drive to LA to see him. Oh yeah, I'm here too. Where did we go? Where do you think... Griddle Cafe for giant ass pancakes. I'll never know another breakfast. Then we went to a Verizon store where my dad proceeded to yell at the employees for a good thirty minutes, but all ended well. I got my new baby. I'm like a grown up or something. Then we ventured over to Santa Monica. I hadn't been to the beach all summer. Changed that! It was fantastic. Santa Monica beach was followed by Santa Monica promenade. Good food. Spent too much money on clothes and food and movies. saw Away We Go again. Another recommendation, if only to see an uncomfortable oral sex scene and Allison Janney act crazy [crazier?] Night ends with a wandering up and down Hollywood Blvd. We got invited into a limo. We passed.

Sunday: Lacei joined us! We walked around the Farmer's Market and Hollywood Blvd. Ate amazing salads at Tender Greens, Stared at graffiti [art?] and went to the Grammy Museum.

It was a packed weekend, but definitely a break I needed.