A Few Reviews

I must be in a critical mood, because I feel like writing reviews of things I've done in the past 24 hours.

I had lunch in China Town yesterday at The Dumpling House. It had excellent reviews on Yelp so I figured it must be decent. The food was extremely cheap, and tasty. We fed five people for under $20. The atmosphere was average: Clean, simple, and bustling. There are a few tables for seating, but there is also a park nearby, so I imagine you could do take away and go there. I would absolutely go back there, and recommend it to others.
The Debs Rating: * * * * Four Stars

After lunch I stopped by Ferrara in Little Italy for some gilato. I'll be honest, the pistachio gilato wasn't very good. The chocolate was decent, but I'm not convinced that this is the best gilato in all of New York City. Ferarra's cannoli's, however, were to die for. I am seriously obsessed with them. The prices at Ferrara are pretty uppity. The gilato was $4 for a small and the canoli's were $3.50 each. I would go back for the canoli's!

The Debs Rating: * * * Three Stars


Out of laziness, I have been frequenting my local Starbucks in the morning before work. Yesterday I tried their blueberry muffin. It tasted good, but wasn't filling at all. In fact, I was hungry again after only half an hour or so. Today I sampled their walnut bran muffin. It was dry and crumbly. The walnut sugar stuff on the top was good, but it left my throat feeling dry. It was, however, more filling than the blueberry muffin. Overall, these Starbucks muffins have nothing on the muffins at Blue Sky Bakery in Park Slope Brooklyn.
I also sampled the new vivanno shake. I got the chocolate banana with a shot of espresso. It has a pretty bland taste, which I think might be due to the banana. It also has the aftertaste of a weight loss shake--I think they just dumped some slim fast in there.

The Debs Rating:

Blueberry Muffin: ** Two Stars
Bran Muffin:* One Star
Vivanno:* One Star

NYC Sound Tracks

As far as new media and multimedia productions go, this new series put out by MSG is great. The topic is an easy one explore, and the structure of the show has been done before, but the stories of these musicians are rich.

Big News in the Sports World

According to a reliable news source there is big news in the sports world. As an aspiring sportswriter, I only wish I had thought of this story, its true brilliance.

DALLAS—Billionaire Mark Cuban, tired of the opposition he has encountered from NBA management in his role as owner of the Dallas Mavericks and frustrated with opposition from the MLB owners' association in his attempt to buy the Chicago Cubs, liquidated almost all his personal wealth and holdings and purchased the entirety of sports for an undisclosed but undoubtedly large sum on Monday. ...more


(This story is linked from the Onion, which in my opinion, is one of the finest news sources out there, fo' real)

Tonnie's Crazy Lunch Hour

It was a typical Wednesday for Tonnie. She had no idea where she wanted get lunch and was delighted when her co-worker Debs suggested the two grab lunch together. After much debate and deliberation of where to go, they decided on the "B.K. Lounge" a.k.a. Burger King.

Tonnie followed Debs who mulled over a clump of German tourists in the lobby of the Empire State Building. On their way out of the building Tonnie pointed out a woman with an odd choice of clothing: a backless shirt with a clear bra-strap displayed across the middle. Odd really. This sight prompted them to discuss the finer merits of bra's. Who should wear them, who shouldn't, and also, how they should be worn (not clear and not with a backless shirt that's for sure).
After zig-zagging through an ocean of Asian tourists on 33rd street, Tonnie followed Debs into Burger King. Apparently the new manager at the B.K. Lounge decided it would be a good idea to switch the food ordering station with the food pickup station. The result: a massive swarm of confused Burger King customers wandering from line to line.

Tonnie and Debs finally figured out where the food ordering line was and they stood in it. They each ordered chicken nuggets and french fries. Because of the new "brilliant" line design Tonnie and Debs had to walk around the entire restaurant to get over to the food pick up spot.

Tonnie noticed something, or someone rather, waiting for her food, which was breaking every rule of human decorum. There was a woman in line who had placed her lemonade icee in her cleavage. The medium icee was actually just sitting there, inbetween her...umm well, you get the idea. It was appalling to say the least. Even in a trailer park, sitting on the lazy boy and watching the home-shopping network next to her mullet bearing husband, this is never acceptable. Ever. Mother's don't need to teach their daughters that placing an icee in their cleavage for is a bad idea, because it is common sense. Well, apparently not.

Tonnie and Debs grabbed their B.K. crown shaped nuggets and retreated back to the Empire State Building. As they crossed 33rd street a band of pumpkin-pant wearing minstrels meandered past. They had the entire authentic garb, right from the pages of a Shakespeare play: Forrest green tights, pumpkin pants, velvet capes, and floppy hats. New York City is never dull.

Dancing

This video is apparently all the rage online. It really is delightful, and made me laugh. I can't believe how much this guy has traveled. Tell me what you think about it.

The Last of the Mohicans

This weekend I watched my first movie on the below list of "must see flix": The Last of the Mohicans. We watched the movie in honor of Kyle's birthday--happy birthday Kyle!

I have to admit that I was a bit sleepy, so at times, the slow, quiet, and dark scenes in this movie were difficult to stay awake through. But I made it to the end film pretty much awake.

Overall, I was impressed with the soundtrack, and Daniel Day Lewis's epic performance. Despite the number of uneventful slow scenes, the overall story line was good, and the climax scene was great. Also, the storyline between Cora and Hawkeye was sweet.

I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Summer Flix

I am quickly realizing how many great movies I have never seen. So, I am compiling my summer move Must See list.

• Batman Begins*
• Ferris Beuller's Day Off
• Collateral
• Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc
• Indiana Jones: and the last crusade
• Indiana Jones: the temple of doom
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• The Last of the Mohicans*
• Schindlers List
• Citizen Kane
• Casablanca
• Fight Club
• Die Hard
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Hot Fuzz
• Pulp Fiction
• Momento**
  

I will update this list soon. Feel free to add your 2 cents.

*Films that have been viewed since this list was compiled
**Added on the recommendation of Ruth Moon.