I had thought that Angie was helping keep my psychoses in check, but tonight she was an enabler.  Kevin, some of this is your fault as well.

There are these ridiculous children’s toys from Hasbro called the “Super Hero Squad” that feature Marvel characters.  In fact, there are toys done in this style for a bunch of licensed characters (Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Marvel, DC, even Doctor Who) and I honestly think they’re great.  My attention was first drawn to them trying to find a birthday present for our nephew (he’s 5!).

I talked with Kevin about them, and it turns out he has some of them.  So, the next time I’m at Target, I see an Iron Fist/Black Costume Spider-Man 2-pack and I pick it up to split with him.  Packed inside is a poster that features a bunch of additional figures from the line, including Havok from the X-Men.  I must have this.

Earlier today, Kevin sends me an e-mail with the subject “Target $13” and the picture to the right attached.

Angie and I just got home from the Target in Oaks, Pennsylvania (about 20 miles from home).  So much for conquering my problems.  At least tiny Spidey seems to approve.

TV has made a comeback in my life, via the Internet.

I have 2 new favorite shows that, since I don’t have pay channels, I’m watching online for free. AMC/FX’s Breaking Bad features Malcolm’s dad, Bryan Cranston, and HBO’s HUNG features Thomas Jane, both actors I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention to til right now. That has far more to do with the acting and just WHAT those two actors are portraying. Let me explain.

Both shows are centered around teachers whose lives are falling apart for different reasons. In HUNG, Thomas Jane is a high school history teacher whose real function at the school is basketball coach. He used to be their star athlete back in the 80s, but now is a divorced father, whose house has burned down, and due to a lapse in insurance payments, he’s got no cash to rebuild. In Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston is a nebbish high school chemistry teacher, who has a son with cerebral palsy, and if that weren’t hard enough, Cranston’s character also apparently has inoperable lung cancer. These two guys’ lives are falling apart, and they need to find ways to make ends meet, so they can hold their heads up high, if only to their families.

I can relate to the life falling apart, and in a few years, I’ll be able to relate to the teaching. But it’s not the misery I’m attracted to, it’s the thing both of these guys are doing to make ends meet for their families.

Bryan Cranston’s Walt White turns to engineering and selling drugs, and Thomas Jane’s Ray Drecker turns to man-whoring, with Jane Adams (a female version of nebbish, to be sure) as his pimp. I’ve watched more HUNG as of this writing, and it’s laugh out loud funny in places, and somewhat touching, seeing a dumb jock like Ray Drecker try to interact with his kids, his ex-wife, and his small but dedicated list of “clients”. Makes me wonder if the teaching thing doesn’t work out, maybe I should investigate being a “happiness consultant”. I don’t have the purported fleshy wherewithal of Ray Drecker, but hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?

Breaking Bad feels like it’s going to be a winner, once I get on the stick with watching all the previous episodes. I’ve had it recommended to me by a few friends in the acting/Comedysportz world, and they know good acting when they see it. The pilot hasn’t disappointed, so I’m sure the rest will be just as quality. I mean, come on, a meth lab set up in a Winnebago? Can’t go wrong with THAT!

Last but not least, you might be wondering how I’m watching these shows, as I don’t have FX or HBO. I won’t help in the delinquency of you upstanding internet citizens. You’ll just have to find the sites (like Hulu, or others) on your own. Unless, of course, you’ve got FX and HBO. Lucky you.

TV has made a comeback in my life, via the Internet. Thank you, Al Gore, for inventing the Internet.

So I should have started this ninety minutes ago. We join the game in progress, it’s the bottom of the 4th. The based are loaded. Shane Victorino is up. Pete is dancing vaguely like a robot. There are two outs. The phils lead 4-3.

It’s also worth noting that tonight is Jewish Heritage Night at Citizen’s Bank Park. We’re being treated to some traditional music every time the Phillies fly out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

Top of the 5th went by quickly with Shane Victorino giving Ben Francisco a lesson in catching fly balls and Blanton pitching out of some trouble.

After some criticism for live blogging instead of watching the game, we’ll be back later as we watch the bottom of the 5th.

It’s a good we paid attention, otherwise we’d have missed Jason Werth’s two-run, 421 foot home run. The inning was followed by a little hora action in front of the D’backs’ dugout.

Top 6th went quickly featuring a great catch by Jimmy Rollins. For those keeping track at home, the baseball was in ice cream container 1.

Panamania is runnin’ wild! Solo home run by Carlos Ruiz! Blanton and Rollins each single with no outs. Victorino flies out, pitching change D’backs.

Utley drives in Blanton. Three run home run Ryan Howard! All while we’re on an ice cream run.

Blanton tears through the 7th. Yiddish “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

Blanton picks up his second hit of the game and the Phillies tack on another run in the bottom of the 7th. The inning ends on a Howard fly out preceded by a disturbing shout of “101” by a guy in our row. Pretty sure he couldn’t be heard at the plate. 12-3 Phils.

Blanton makes quick work of the top of the 8th on two pop ups and a strikeout. Tonight’s attendance: C 45,172.

In the bobblehead race, Kevin had Red, Pete had gray… Red takes it. Kevin 1, Pete 0. The drunk people in front of us have let the right fielder for the D’backs, Romero, know that they hate him and that he sucks.

There was NO reason to replace Blanton with Durbin in the ninth. It’s 12-3. Let the guy finish the game.

Many people in the crowd are dumb and think Durbin is Lidge.

Ryan is forcing us all to high five as the D’Backs lose again. Why don’t we play them EVERYDAY?

Living in Philadelphia, it’s easy to become a foodie. We have tons of great restaurants, both of the high-class reservation sort, and the street-vendor type. Almost anything you want, we have. So a belly like mine can be fed pretty easily on whatever I fancy on an afternoon in Philly. But this isn’t about Philly, this is about Washington, D.C. Imagine my surprise to see how much of a foodie town DC is!

I went there this past weekend, courtesy of my sister-in-law, who put us up in a bed-and-breakfast as a birthday present (Mrs. Lydonwrites’ birthday is 2 days after mine). The bed and breakfast was very pretty, and the morning breakfast they provided was simple and good, but didn’t prepare me for the food I found in DC this weekend.

Rosemary’s Thyme

For dinner on Saturday night, my in-laws, wife and I ate at a restaurant called Rosemary’s Thyme. The focus is Mediterranean fare, with fresh fish dishes, as well as Mediterranean staples like humus, pita, baba gannoj and so on. I got an “Adana kebab” along with a Caesar salad. The adana kebab was ground lamb and beef, cooked up together and served over a bed of rice with tzatziki sauce.

I’ve been on a kebab kick since Musikfest in Bethlehem. Ate 2 or 3 from Hogar Crea’s food tent during the `Fest, and I’ve been needing it ever since. Problem? I live in Bensalem, and kebab houses are in painfully short supply here. Not so in DC, as I saw no fewer than 4 places near my sister-in-law’s apartment. So, how did the adana kebab taste?

AWESOME.

Lamb and beef should go together more often, like maybe all the time. And why don’t more restaurants have tzatziki sauce on their menu? Embrace your inner Greek, restauranteurs. I will frequent your establishments more frequently if you add tzatziki sauce to your usual complement of ketchup and mustard.

Julia’s Empanadas

Late night on Friday, when it was just my sister-in-law, wife and myself, we had sangria in the Smithsonian Sculpture garden (where I had a kebab for dinner!), drinks at this pseudo-speakeasy called The Gibson where I had the best alcoholic drink I’ve ever had called the Rites of Spring, and afterward, to stave off the tipsy totters, we needed to find food. We had gone to a place called Tryst, where my sister-in-law likes to telecommute from during her workday, but they wouldn’t let us in, due to a snafu with the BnB having retained my sister-in-law’s license for some paperwork. There were lots of options, but I spied Julia’s from across the street and said, hmmm… I haven’t empanadas in probably 5 years! So we went over.

Julia’s is a chain throughout DC, and I can understand they’re popular. Quick, cheap and so flavorful, empanadas are way better than hot pockets, and all 3 I ate were awesome. This one is a Saltena, with chicken, olive, onion and spices:

I actually had that AFTER the Chilean empanada (beef? turkey? something good!) and the strawberry and cream-cheese empanada I ate for the dinner special. Man alive, SO good! Hot Pockets should transition to empanadas and call it a day. They’d get me back as a customer. Here’s another shot of Julia’s:

Fado

I know this one is sort of cheating, as there is a Fado in Philly, where the menu is the same. I’ve eaten at the Fado in Philly (Trinity Steak Boxty, represent!), but on Sunday, my mother in law requested we eat some “good old American food”… and we ended up in Fado in DC’s Chinatown. I certainly wasn’t complaining.

My in-laws got burgers, my wife, a chicken sandwich, and my SIL got a corned beef sandwich. Me, though? I decided I needed to get something IRISH if we were eating in Fado, so I got Bangers and Mash, which I’d never had before, but which re-reading James Joyce and Roddy Doyle always make me wish I’d tried. Wish no longer, friends, as I have eaten Bangers and Mash, and have seen the face of God.

At least a God made of mild pork sausages cooked just right, Colcannon mashed potatoes, and peas in a delicious onion gravy! It looks something like this, only the presentation was much nicer at Fado.

(picture from Jennieworld Today!)

Conclusion

I wanted to move to DC after the food I ate there this weekend. But then I think my wife would miss me, and honestly, I’d miss her, too. The compromise? Eat at Fado downtown more, and possibly make regular visits at Istanbul Kebab House in Levittown. Though THAT I still have to try… but seriously, it’s KEBABS! What could go wrong?

Keep eating, everyone!

-Lydoneats

Ponyo is the latest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki to be released in the United States. As is typical of his films, Ponyo is more wildly imaginative and fantasy based than to which American audiences may be acustomed.

The story is basically about a magical fish with a human face who is found and be friended by five-year old Sosuke. The fish who comes to be known as Ponyo is the child of a human named Fujimoto, who has abandoned our world to live under water and protect the sea, and a powerful ocean spirit called Granmammare.

Ponyo, a child grappling with magical abilities that she is too young to comprehend or control, wills herself to become human so she can be with Sosuke whom she now loves. However, the use of such powerful magic has put the entire earth at risk in the pocess. Ponyo’s use of such strong magic has caused the seas to come alive and the powerful tides have pulled the moon onto a collision course with the earth.

Ponyo inhabits a world where no one questions two five-year olds driving a boat without adult supervision on a quest to find and potentially save Sosuke’s mother. Heck, it’s a world where Sosuke’s mother can leave the two children behind and believe they’ll be ok and we as an audience just roll with it.

The characters are well developed particularly Fujimoto as the stern but protective father of Ponyo and Sosuke’s lonely and burdened mother.

I particularly enjoyed the level of madness to the ideas that saturate the film, which reminded me of a story that could have been crafted by Grant Morrison. There are many laugh out loud moments and the animation is fantastic. I also found the orchestral music to be an interesting throwback to old Disney films.

The audience I saw the film with were mostly in their 20s, however, the few kids in the audience seemed to really enjoy the film’s humor and spectacle. I personally don’t believe parents will find too much to complain about in Ponyo in terms of content, though they may be mystified by the insanity of some elements of the story.

The film’s biggest flaw in my opinion is the ending. Now I understand how odd it seems as an adult to complain about the ending to a movie about a five-year old, but I found that after how great the rest of the film was, the ending felt sudden and anticlimactic. The story indicates that Sosuke must undergo a dangerous test to save both the world and Ponyo. However, the nature of that test is never as clear as it should have been.

Regardless, Ponyo is an exciting and entertaining ride even if the ultimate destination is a little disappointing.