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Archive for December 2011 – Page 2

New Game of Thrones 2 Teaser

Dec11

The nerdgasm continues! HBO released another Game of Thrones Season 2 teaser.

Latest Season 2 Trailer (3/18/12) click here!

NOTE: This is the one released on December 11, 2011, if you want the new January 29, 2012 trailer with more footage from the season, click here, an even newer February 24 version here, and the March 10 one here or the March 18 one here.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBrsM_WlfV8&feature=youtu.be]

If you liked this post, follow me at:

My novels: The Darkening Dream and Untimed

or all my Game of Thrones posts or episode reviews:

Season 1: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Season 2: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

Season 3: [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30]

Season 4: [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]

Season 5: [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50]

Season 6: [51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57]

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones – The Houses
  2. More Game of Thrones CGI
  3. Making Game of Thrones
  4. Game of Thrones Season 2 Peek
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 3
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Programs, Television, Television program, World of A Song of Ice and Fire

Diablo 3 Opening Cinematic

Dec11

Today is a double nerdgasm day. Not only did Naughty Dog announce it’s new game, The Last of Us. But–

the Diablo 3 opening cinematic was released. The game itself should be coming in Q1 2012. Ah, so many games, so little time. I haven’t even had the moment(s) to pop in Skyrim. Been too busy packaging The Darkening Dream and editing Untimed.

Related posts:

  1. Video Game Page & Book Status
  2. The edits are all in!
  3. Naughty Dog – A Pedigree Breed
  4. Juggling Brains
  5. Untimed – Two Novels, Check!
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Blizzard Entertainment, Darkening Dream, Diablo 3, Diablo III, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Games, Naughty Dog, Untimed, Video game

New Naughty Dog Franchise – The Last of Us

Dec11

Naughty Dog, the company I founded, has just released the trailer for their new game — and new franchise! This is the first new series since Uncharted launched in 2007. I have to say the new one looks totally awesome because it’s well — post apocalyptic zombie (which I love) — and in true Naughty Dog fashion totally gorgeous. Plus I love spunky heroines. This one, seemingly, but not actually voiced by actress Ellen Page of Juno fame* is totally cute, in a kind of jailbait sort of way.

I can totally see how the kind of intimate hand to hand and gunplay mechanics that Naughty Dog has been perfecting with Nathan Drake would adapt perfectly to this sort of The Road meets Juno world.

So I’m even more excited than I was for Uncharted 3, which is saying a lot!


*NOTE: According to this website, the leads are Miss Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, as given by tweet from someone at Naughty Dog. And @Neil_Druckmann, my friend and the lead designer confirmed via twitter too, so it’s accurate.

Related posts:

  1. Uncharted 3 Reviews Live
  2. Naughty Dog – A Pedigree Breed
  3. Quick Update
By: agavin
Comments (22)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Ellen Page, Miss Ashley Johnson, Nathan Drake, Naughty Dog, Playstation 3, The Last of Us, Troy Baker, Uncharted, Uncharted 3, Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception, Video game

More Mark’s Duck House

Dec11

Restaurant: Mark’s Duck House [1, 2]

Location:  6184 Arlington Blvd # A, Falls Church, VA 22044  703-532-2125

Date: November 30, 2011 & November 25, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Very very good cantonese.

_

Mark’s Duck house is an amazing Cantonese place I go to when I’m home in Washington D.C.. There’s nothing fancy about them other than the food but they make a lot of stuff, and they make it all really well.

Below is the menu to end all menus.

 

Picking from that menu can be a bit of a challenge!

 


We tried to entice my three year-old with this “pasta.” (pan fried noodles with Buddha’s delight) but he declared “that’s not pasta!”


But he did go for this lo-mein with garlic.

1A0A7069
Hot and sour soup. Classic, but delicious.


The hot and sour soup is so good it was almost finished by the time I got the camera pointed at it (in 2011, the above photo is from 2017).


Beer really goes best with Chinese. If you’ve ever had Chinese wine (I have) you know why.


Succulent “Har-gow” (shrimp dumplings).

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The whole peking duck and a glimpse of the green onions and hoisin.
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The pecking duck here is incredible. They make the pancakes for you if you want, but the whole assembly was brought out to the table. I had photos of it the last time I was here.

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Lobster causeway style. Fried with lots and lots of garlic and a little chilies. One of my favorite Chinese lobster preps.

1A0A7094
“Lightly” fried shrimp with the heads still on.


Stir-fried chive-blossoms. It sounds weird but they are incredibly good.

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Baby bok choy with garlic. I don’t love full sizec bok, but these were quite nice actually.


Sizzling beef short ribs with black pepper sauce. These were tasty, but the hard part was getting the meat off the bone with chopsticks and teeth!

1A0A7101
Filet Mignon with black pepper sauce. Very tender and delicious.


Sauteed mixed seafood in a nest.


“Sweet and sour pork.” At the Panda Express and the like they always have those fried pork balls (which I call fried lard balls). This is the ultimate version. Incredibly tasty!

1A0A7093
Ma Po Tofu. Non spicy Cantonese version. Nice texture, but lacked the depth, heat, and mala of the real thing.

We had way way too much food as usual here. Seven people and this could have fed twelve. I rolled on out very satisfied, indeed.

See my previous review of Mark’s Duck House.

Or other ThanksGavin meals!

Related posts:

  1. Mark’s Duck House
  2. Western Smoke House Meats
  3. Food as Art: Sushi House Unico
  4. Zaytinya – East made Easy
  5. More Modern Dim Sum
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese, duck, Duck House, Mark's Duck House, Restaraunt, Restaurant Review, ThanksGavin, Washington D.C

First Pro Review

Dec10

The Darkening Dream just received it’s first pro review, from Kirkus Reviews.

Read it here on the new review page. Highlights include:

 “A vampire novel with actual bite” and “wonderfully twisted sense of humor”

In other writing news, I’m through all the heavy lifting with regard to the Untimed line edits and hope to be done in a day or two! Woot! The book has shrunk 6,000+ words down to 75,000 without loosing any scenes.

Related posts:

  1. Video Game Page & Book Status
  2. The edits are all in!
  3. Villetta Update
  4. Revision Slog – Novel as Algorithm
  5. Website Upgrades Coming
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Darkening Dream
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Indie Reviews, Kirkus review, Kirkus Reviews, The Darkening Dream, Untimed, Vampire, vampires

Book Review: Steve Jobs

Dec09

Title: Steve Jobs

Author: Walter Isaacson

Genre: Biography

Length: 656 pages

Read: Nov 23 – Dec 1, 2011

Summary: Character study, not history.

_

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Apple fanboy. I owned an Apple II+ back in January 1981, a first generation Mac, and countless Apple’s since. As of late 2011 there are no less than five Macs, five iPhones, and two iPads in my house. I use no PCs and even my router is an Airport Extreme! I even owned a Newton and, one summer, used a NeXT as my primary computer!

But there was more to the experience of reading this book than pure fanboydom. As a technologist, programmer, and all-around nerd I lived every detail of the personal computer revolution. So except for the very beginning of this book, set in the late sixties and early seventies (before my coherent time) I remember the launches, products and moments first hand.

This biography is primarily a character study. It seeks by detailing the man’s actions to try and quantify and qualify the traits that made him the iconoclast that he was. The hero of this book is not a particularly likable man or even that rational. He was a fierce demon of passionate opinion, amazing taste, and an extraordinary instance of talent at the intersection of technology and art. Steve was willing to look beyond the baggage of how things have been done and see the way in which people actually approach products in their everyday life. His passion lead him to place the fulfillment of his product vision — from top to bottom — above nearly everything else in his (or those around him’s) lives.

This certainly worked out pretty well for the products, although it did take about twenty years for him to really get his groove on and learn from some of his earlier mistakes and excesses. But he never lightened up. Still, since most of us didn’t have to live with him, but do get to live with his products, hundreds of millions came out winners.

There are tremendous lessons in the book about designing great products. About focus, about integration, about simplicity and usability. About not painting your factories funny colors or shipping with far to little memory or a ridiculously slow optical drive. There is what feels like a very detailed portrait of the personality. The prose is top notch and pulls you along effortlessly without getting in your face. Isaacson certainly had extensive personal access to the man (and his colleagues). It’s a good read.

But for me it was a bit lacking in detail. Mostly I think this came down to length and an emphasis on character. The book isn’t short, but the man’s life — despite ending tragically early — was full. Steve did a lot. A lot. So none of it is nearly as specific as I — with my extreme interest in the subject — would like. You can read this book and really have very little idea what the hell NeXT was doing for 10 years. I do. I used several of them. Wrote some code on them. Followed them from founding through launch and beyond. Shook my head at the product (too slow — too expensive — too incompatible!) and read an entire book just on the topic. So if you want to read this book to understand exactly how Jobs got ousted from Apple, or how he wrangled his way back into its boardroom — it’s there — but the details are compressed. Even things as major as the LaserWriter are given about two sentences in passing. I might go find some books that detail the blow by blows of the product decisions because… well… I guess I care.

Still, I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in products, creativity, technology, or even the psychology of forceful individuals. Likable or not, Steve was the defining idea-man of the computer age.

Read my eulogy for Steve or

Find out about my own books, here.

Or for my full list of book reviews.

Related posts:

  1. Steve Jobs is Dead :-(
  2. Book Review: The First American
  3. Book Review: Personal Demons
  4. Book Review: Lost It
  5. Book Review: Across the Universe
By: agavin
Comments (11)
Posted in: Books, Technology
Tagged as: Apple, Biography, Book Review, IPad, iPhone, Mac, NeXT, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson

Another Game of Thrones Peek

Dec08

An Icelandic TV station aired this peek at the end of shooting in Iceland for Season 2 of Game of Thrones (the awesome HBO Fantasy series). It even includes a glimpse of Ygritte (one of my favorite characters from the series) around the 6:30 mark.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JkFjvggMouU]

Interesting those volcanic and glacier landscapes. Pretty alien looking, and this is only Iceland, I think GreenLand might be even more foreboding. But certainly this makes a great looking “beyond the wall” — which is a major part of books 2 and 3. I don’t envy them shooting on an Icelandic glacier in December! There’s probably two hours of sunlight up there too.

And also today there is another making of video on HBO’s site, this one about one of my favorite topics, medieval hand to hand combat! Nothing like a good war hammer to the head. Shuts ’em up quickly, does it right.

Related posts:

  1. Game of Thrones Season 2 Peek
  2. Game of Thrones – The Houses
  3. Game of Thrones – Episode 2
  4. Inside Game of Thrones
  5. Game of Thrones – Episode 3
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, HBO, Iceland, Major houses in A Song of Ice and Fire, Television program, Ygritte

Naughty Dog – A Pedigree Breed

Dec08

Computer and Video Games recently ran a piece on the Naughty Dog as a company and its pedigree of great games.

Founded by aspiring game developers Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin back in 1986, the pair knocked together a number of little-known titles on the Apple II and Amiga before changing their company’s name to Naughty Dog. …a four-game deal with Universal Interactive Studios, starting with Way of the Warrior – a Mortal Kombat-style fighting game for 3DO created using footage crudely filmed in an apartment [led to] none other than Crash Bandicoot on PSone.

…

The original Crash Bandicoot was one of the most important games on the original PlayStation. Not only did it give the then faceless platform a much-needed mascot – and one with bags of charm – but it also really showed what this powerful new CD-based console from Sony could do.

…

Naughty Dog, it seems, is as good at dreaming up new blockbuster adventure franchises as Sony is at making consoles. Fast forward to the present era, and although both of its founders have moved on to new ventures, Naughty Dog remains the name on the box of one of the PS3’s biggest exclusive franchises. Uncharted’s unrivaled cinematics and truly breathtaking set-pieces demonstrate a fantastic developer working at the absolute peak of its creative ability.

Click here for the full article

Or here for more on my video game career.

Related posts:

  1. Making Crash Bandicoot – part 1
  2. All Your Base Are Belong to Us
  3. Way of the Warrior – The Lost Interview
  4. Crash Bandicoot – An Outsider’s Perspective (part 8)
  5. Crash Bandicoot as a Startup (part 7)
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Games
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Jason Rubin, Naughty Dog, Video game, Way of the Warrior

Jaleo Bethesda

Dec07

Restaurant: Jaleo [1, 2]

Location: 7271 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. 301.913-0003

Date: November 29, 2011

Cuisine: Spanish Tapas

Rating: Fun Tapas Bar

_

I’ve reviewed a lot of José Andrés restaurants on the blog, seven I think. This is een the second Jaleo.  The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE) and his high end Saam, but also brunch at Trés, lunch at Trés, and to é by José Andrés and Jaleo in Vegas and Zaytinya also in Washington. Back to Jaleo, the restaurant at hand. It’s basically a straight up Spanish Tapas place but with a slightly modernized and enlarged menu.

The menu.

One annoyance of  this particular branch — and not the restaurant’s fault — is the Maryland law against corkage. They have a fine list, but I had brought an amazing Spanish wine 3,000 miles!  Parker gives it 91 points. “The 2008 Termes offers up a sexy perfume of cedar, spice box, violets, incense, espresso, and blackberry. Savory, concentrated, and well-balanced, this flavorful effort will benefit from several years of additional cellaring but can be approached now.”

“Gazpacho de remolacha con queso de cabra y naranjas. Chilled red beet soup with goat cheese and oranges.” I’m a total José Andrés gazpacho whore. I even make it at home home.

This is a different variant, kind of gazpacho meets borsch. It was fantastic. Beety, with that vinegary tang. Delicious.

“Dátiles con tocino ‘como hace todo el mundo. Fried dates wrapped in bacon.” Really how can you beat fried dates wrapped in bacon? Yum yum.

“Ensalada rusa. The ultimate Spanish tapa, a salad of potatoes, imported conserved tuna and mayonnaise.” The Spanish love potato salad.

“Aceitunas rellenas de anchoas y pimientos del piquillo. House-made stuffed olives with anchovies and roasted piquillo peppers.” This is another classic, and these are a really good implementation.

“Jamón Ibérico de bellota Fermin. Cured ham from the legendary, acorn-fed, black-footed Ibérico pigs of Spain and miscellaneous other Spanish meats like chorizo.”

“Pan con tomate. Toasted slices of rustic bread brushed with fresh tomato with Pasamontes farmhouse Manchego.” Basically Spanish bruschetta.

“Salpicón de cangrejo. Jumbo lump crabmeat with cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower and Sherry dressing.” While Spanish in flavors I suspect this a bit of a nod to the Eastern shore. Big lumps of crabmeat too.

“Pan de recapte con anchoa. Traditional Catalan bread with peppers, tomatoes and salt-cured Spanish anchovies.” I really wanted Fresh Spanish anchovies, marinated (Anchovies en Boccerones) but they didn’t have them. These weren’t a bad substitute.

“Espinacas a la catalana. Sautéed spinach, pine nuts, raisins and apples.”

“Vieiras con romesco y mojo verde. Seared scallops with romesco sauce and mojo verde.”

“Lomo de buey. Grilled hanger steak with piquillo peppers.”

“Arroz con costillas de cerdo Ibérico de bellota. Made with the famous Ibérico de bellota pork ribs.”

“Arroz Mediterraneo. Made with porcini mushrooms, mixed vegetables, green and black olives and thyme.”

The dessert menu.

“A classic Spanish custard with creme and oranges.”

“Dark chocolate mousse with sponge cake and hazzelnut ice cream.”

“Various fruit sorbets.”

“Vanilla ice cream and grapefruit sorbet.”

“Chocolate ice cream.”

Jaleo is like a good Tapas place in Spain but a little slicker, with perhaps more consistant quality. And they don’t have fresh anchovies! It is also a little (actually more than a little) more expensive than a typical Spanish tapas place in Spain. But considering the scarcity of good tapas places in America… worth it.

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Jaleo by José Andrés
  2. Quick Eats – Bar Pinxto
  3. Zaytinya – East made Easy
  4. é by José Andrés
  5. Saam – José Andrés Squared
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bazaar, Bethesda, Dessert, Gazpacho, Jaleo, José Andrés, Maryland, Paella, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Spanish Food, Tapas, ThanksGavin, Washington DC, Wine, Zaytinya

Guest Interview – The Gaia Wars

Dec06

I’m experimenting by allowing a guest post/interview by a fellow author. The novel, The Gaia Wars eBook edition has dropped to just 99 cents this week. So not much to lose by checking it out.

— Andy

 

About the book!

About The Gaia Wars: DEADLY SECRETS have been buried in the Cascade mountain wilderness for centuries. Hidden. Out of sight and out of mind. Until today… Warren Wilkes, age 13, doesn’t like what a greedy housing developer has done to his peaceful mountain community, so he vandalizes the developer’s property, flees into the wild, and stumbles upon an ancient human skeleton revealed by torrential rain. More than old bones have been exposed, however, and the curious artifact Warren finds makes him question his own identity, and his connection to an ancient terror. A terror destined to rise again and annihilate all that Warren loves. He must fight or see his whole world destroyed. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About Battle for Cascadia: When Warren Wilkes, age 13, stumbles upon a mysterious relic deep in the Cascade Mountains, wonder reigns. Brimming with secrets and sentient energy, the relic leads Warren to a fantastic chamber, and to shocking revelations about his identity. Now wonder has turned to dread. A forgotten terror—a demon that knows Warren better than he knows himself—has risen again and is assembling an army; gathering power with a singularly evil goal in mind: to capture and enslave the wild spirit of the Earth itself. As war erupts and the planet slips into chaos, Warren embraces his destiny and finds help where he least expects it. Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About the Author: Kenneth G. Bennett is the author of the Young Adult novels The Gaia Wars and Battle for Cascadia (the second book of The Gaia Wars), as well as the forthcoming Exodus 2018, a paranormal thriller set in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. A wilderness enthusiast who loves backpacking, skiing and kayaking, Ken enjoys novels that explore the relationship between humans and the wild. He lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son. Visit him on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

 

Let’s get to know Kenneth better through a Q&A…

Where did you find the inspiration for this novel?

The idea began with an article I read about The Gaia Hypothesis. This hypothesis, proposed by NASA scientist James Lovelock, says, in brief: “all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth make up a single, self-regulating entity.” In other words, the Earth itself is a living thing. A vast, “super-organism.”

I love this idea! And when I first read about it I wondered how it might be woven into a novel. In my imagination, and in conversations with friends, I took the Gaia Hypothesis one step further. “What if Gaia (the Earth) is not simply alive,” I asked, “but also sentient?” It occurred to me that a lot of so-called primitive cultures believed this very thing. Understood it in their bones.

Then I was backpacking with my son Eli (age 9 at the time). After a few days in the wilderness, feeling more connected to the land, perhaps, I started to tell Eli the story of The Gaia Wars. He loved it. It took me about a year to write the book and refine it.

Warren Wilkes is quite the unexpected hero. Tell us about him. Is he someone you’ve met before, or is he completely fictional?

My son and his friends are all pretty outdoorsy kids. They’ve backpacked and skied and kayaked and climbed since they were really little, so Warren (a sort of feral, wilderness boy) is probably a composite of the kids I see every day.

This story’s setting is incredibly vivid. How did the Cascade Mountains influence your writing? Do you believe you could have told the same story in a different setting, or would it have been missing something otherwise?

North Cascades National Park is one of my favorite places on the planet, and I go there often. It’s easy to find inspiration in the ancient forests and high-alpine meadows of that region. I’ve also been heavily influenced by Olympic National Park, and by wild areas in Alaska, where I spent much of my childhood. The landscapes in the book contain elements of all of those places.

The Mendari aliens and their organic droids, the Fabrinels, mix-up the story in a way nothing else could have (not even the irksome Mr. Finley). How did you go about creating these other races and defining their culture and behavior?

The Mendari are fantastically advanced, technologically, but suffer from a civilization-wide melancholy. They have every device and contraption imaginable, but in the process of acquiring all this stuff, they’ve nearly destroyed their lovely planet and suffocated their own wild souls. They venture to Earth out of desperation, and with newfound humility, hoping to regain the wisdom they lost millennia ago. The Mendari race is basically the Human race in a few hundred years—if we don’t get our act together in terms of taking care of our planet.

Gaia, or Onatah, is the living embodiment of the Earth Mother. Without giving anything away, tell the readers how she fits into the story.

Gaia, the Earth Mother, represents the wild soul of the planet. She’s the wellspring of all life; the source of the DNA that animates everything from bacteria to redwood trees to homo sapiens. But we humans have reached the point where we think maybe we don’t need to be connected to this wild soul any longer. We see ourselves as separate from the natural world. I think this kind of hubris is a huge mistake, and that’s reflected in the story.

How much research did you have to do in order to learn about the Denelai people’s folklore and nature rituals? How did you find this information?

I love to learn about Native American culture, modern and ancient, and have read a lot about what North America was like prior to European contact. I’m steeped in that history, but the Denelai culture is entirely a product of my imagination—not based on any one people or tribe.

Your cast of characters has very interesting names—ones I suspect were not chosen arbitrarily. Please tell us how you came up with the names for Ina, Mirra, Uhlgoth, and the others.

I greatly admire the name-inventing abilities of authors such as Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, Ursula K. LeGuin and (of course) J.R.R. Tolkien. I worked really hard to come up with names that fit the various characters in The Gaia Wars.

You leave The Gaia Wars off on a very big cliff-hanger. What made you decide to take this gutsy literary move—channeling Warren, are you?

The Gaia Wars ends at what felt to me like a natural stopping point (or at least a “pausing” point)–A slight break in the action before all hell breaks loose in Battle for Cascadia.

Battle for Cascadia picks up where the first book leaves off. What can we expect from the sequel? Are there any major ways in which the style or plot line is different than The Gaia Wars?

Battle for Cascadia is a direct and immediate continuation of The Gaia Wars. Many of the storylines begun in Gaia draw to a conclusion in Battle—but not all of them! There are a lot of mysteries left to unravel in those rugged North Cascade canyons.

You’re going to give us more Warren Wilkes, right?! Please tell us you’re planning a third book in the series, and if you can, give us some clues about what happens next.

Absolutely! Warren and company find themselves in a very dangerous place and in very perilous circumstances at the conclusion of Battle. There’s a whole lot of story left to tell.

 

Check out the book here on Amazon!

By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Books
Tagged as: E-book, Fiction, Gaia, Gaia Hypothesis, guest post, Novel, Pacific Northwest

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1

Dec05

Title: Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1

Director/Stars: Kristen Stewart (Actor), Robert Pattinson (Actor), Bill Condon (Director)

Genre: Fantasy

Watched: December 3, 2011

Summary: Cringe, Laugh, or Barf

_

Besides the shameless grab at our wallets (splitting the movie into two parts) BDP1 is certainly the most cringeworthy episode yet. First of all, from a structural point of view, the first half has no conflict. Therefore no plot.

It’s not that nothing happens. We have a lovely wedding video and then a fully censored honeymoon. But plot requires conflict, and the only two bits of that we have here are a brief Jacob/Edward chest thumping and Edward’s steadfast foot dragging at the notion of banging his wife more than once. This section of the film is pure wish fulfillment again. The perfect wedding, the perfect honeymoon. Plus a few bruises and one unwanted demonic pregnancy.

But the second half is perhaps even worse. Here we have manufactured wolf/vamp conflict that really no one cares about and a bit of a minor quandary for Bella and Jacob. Edward (and pretty much everyone else in the film) just does their thing. The inciting incident occurs at the midpoint. And the entire movie, BTW, lacks a villain. Unless you count the very weak antagonism of Jacob’s pack leader Sam. Yeah, no villain.

I’m not sure what the second half is. Special effects allow Bella a credible impersonation of a pregnant concentration camp inmate. Edward frets. Jacob does a lot of running back and forth in the woods listening to the CGI call of the wild. The birth was disturbing, but also felt censored.

Kristen Stewart, however, does a pretty impressive job with this role. Even more than the previous films this one focused on her. We have long, long shots just of her face — like walking up the isle — and she manages to bring Bella’s character to life. I’m not sure I want Bella to be alive, but it’s actually a really solid acting job considering the script. Oh, and she’s looking even better in this film (first half). Bikinis in Brazil are better than jeans and hoodies in Forks. Way better than the Twiggy-supreme look.

Love the claw prints!

Let’s see, can we list some of the more amusing moments: Edward breaking the marriage bed. His cheesy confession to having killed in the “old days” — except wait — it was only molesters, rapists, and murderers. He’s just too pure for any genuine vampire feasting. The way the Brazilian house keeper is magically an expert on vampire babies, even though none of the vampires know anything about them. The wolf voiceover argument and growl fest. That one really takes the cake. The Volturi camp at the end of the movie. And so, so many more.

I was enjoying myself during the film. I laughed a lot. A real lot. But it was “at” not “with.”

And it’s worth checking out this Cracked magazine review of the whole series too.

Read my Twilight review or New Moon or Eclipse or BDP2.

For more Film reviews, click here.

Or discover my own paranormal novels.

Related posts:

  1. Twilight Saga: Eclipse
  2. Twilight Saga: New Moon
  3. Book and Movie Review: Twilight
  4. Movie Review: Adventureland
  5. Truly Deeply Sick and Twisted
By: agavin
Comments (11)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: Bella Swan, Bill Condon, Breaking Dawn, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Twilight, Twilight Saga, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Twilight Saga: New Moon

Video Game Page & Book Status

Dec04

I deployed a new video game topic page yesterday. This was a good chunk of work. I use a modified iThemes Builder child theme and so continued to use their custom layout and variable widget systems to build out a special page to replace the older, uglier, video games page. First though, I had to hack into the code and modify the way in which the sharing icons and related posts were being inserted. WordPress plugins often have automatic insertion into the end of the content, but as soon as you start getting a more sophisticated layout with more than one “content” on the same page that starts to be problematic. I had to turn it off and insert it manually into the right templates.

Then I spent an entire day exploring ways to implement different grids of magazine style excerpts for particular types of posts on particular pages. I ended up writing the code myself, but using Builder’s extension system to inject into the layout’s I wanted. I got it working for this page, but I’m only about 90% satisfied. There are still some mysteries. Like how to convince CSS to extend each entry down to the height of the tallest one on a line. I align them with “vertical-align: top”, but I don’t know how to match up the bottoms. I’d also like to improve the handling of the thumbnail photos and I need to figure out how to generalize my extension so I can use it on different pages. That being said, I still think it’s better looking than the old page.

Check out the new page here and let me know what you think.

With regard to my books, busy busy. I’m waiting on a second sketch for my new, professional cover for The Darkening Dream. That should come any day. I’ve pretty much finished up the interior artwork, but I’m not ready to post it just yet — soon. I’ve been working through proofs of the interior book design as well, which is looking great.

I also got back the full line edit of Untimed yesterday. Two of my editors, Renni Browne and Shannon Roberts did a simultaneous full line edit. This is on top of four drafts of higher level discussions. Getting 320 pages of line edit back is a lot to digest in one sitting! Look at the example page to the right. That’s just one page worth of edits. I have to go over them all and decide what to keep, what not, and how to rework anything suggested by the comments. But it’s worth it. Books need editing. It’s essential to have more than one set of eyes on them. And, ultimately, it’s still my book — I decide what stays and what goes.

This will keep me busy for a week or two. Haha.

More about my writing here.

Related posts:

  1. So you want to be a video game programmer? – part 5 – The Method
  2. So you want to be a video game programmer? – part 3 – Getting Started
  3. So you want to be a video game programmer? – part 1 – Why
  4. So you want to be a video game programmer? – part 2 – Specs
  5. New Book Pages
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Darkening Dream, Technology, Untimed
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, blog, CSS, Editing, game, Line Editing, The Darkening Dream, Untimed, Video game, Website, WordPress

Villetta Update

Dec03

I made a bunch of updates to the excellent (but overpriced) Brentwood Italian, Villetta. This includes another meal worth of dishes.

Read the full review here.

I’m working on a bunch more website upgrades which I should have out in a day or three — plus, producing darkening dream elements — plus the edits for Untimed are supposed to come back today. That will mean an entire novel worth of line edits to process!

Related posts:

  1. Villetta – More Italian in Brentwood?
  2. Quick Update
  3. The edits are all in!
  4. Done Again, Hopefully
  5. Quick Update
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tagged as: Brentwood, Villetta

2Amys Neapolitan Pizzeria

Dec02

Restaurant: 2Amys Neapolitan Pizzeria

Location: 3715 Macomb St NW. Washington, DC 20016. (202) 885-5700

Date: November 29, 2011

Cuisine: Neapolitan Pizzeria

Rating: Really authentic Neapolitan Pizza

_

My brother spent the whole week talking up this Neapolitan style pizza joint just over the border into DC.


They have a classic big wood fired pizza oven.


A sleek front room.


And a backroom bar.


The menu.


A delicious but simple arugula salad.


Fried salt cod fritters. Vaguely like crab cakes, but fishier. Still, very good examples of these.


The classic cheese pizza. The dough here was really really good. Neapolitan flour and slow fermentation for sure. This was a pizza dough good enough to munch through all the remaining crust.


“Santa Brigida Tomato, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, arugula.”


“Calabrese Tomato, onions, anchovy, fresh mozzarella, parsley, olives.” A classic anchovy pizza. Strong salty flavors, but still really good.


The margarita plus pepperoni.


“Ripieno Extra Ricotta, grana, salami, prosciutto, pancetta, tomato.” Full of cheesy meaty goodness inside.


In the front is the “Puttanesca Tomato sauce, rapini, fresh mozzarella, garlic, anchovy, hot pepper.” An interesting combination of bitter and salty.


Fresh ground pepper.


Dessert, although we were too stuffed to order any.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For 50+ meals in Italy.

Or to see my own Ultimate Pizzas, click here!

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  2. Eating San Donato – Pizzeria Pretorio
  3. Eating Santa Margherita – Pizzeria Santa Lucia
  4. Gjelina Scores Again
  5. Ultimate Pizza – Day 3
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2Amys, 2Amys Neapolitan Pizzeria, Anchovy, Italian cuisine, Mozzarella, Neapolitan Pizzeria, Pizza, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, ThanksGavin, Tomato, Tomato sauce, Washington DC

Zaytinya – East made Easy

Dec01

Restaurant: Zaytinya

Location: 701 9th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001. 202.638.0800

Date: November 27, 2011

Cuisine: Greek/Turkish/Lebanese

Rating: Great flavors!

_

Zaytinya, which means “olive oil” in Turkish is part of José Andrés’ little culinary empire — which started first here in Washington D.C. and then spread to various other outpsts in the country including LA and vegas.

I’m a bit of a Jose Andres groupie as not only have I reviewed The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE) and his high end Saam, but also brunch at Trés, lunch at Trés, and to é by José Andrés and Jaleo in Vegas.

For those who don’t know, José Andrés is perhaps America’s leading practitioner of  my favorite culinary style: Spanish Molecular Gastronomy. This school of cooking, a radical interpretation of the preparation of food, was begun at El Bulli outside of Barcellona. Andrés cooked and studied there with master chef Ferran Adrià. I first encountered Andrés’s cooking in Washington DC at Cafe Atlantico, and it’s own restaurant within a restaurant, Minibar.

Zaytinya, however, is neither Spanish or particularly molecular. It focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine of Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. These are all former Ottoman zones and despite their political animosity toward each other share much in common — foodwise.


The modern frontage on 9th street in Washington.


The space inside is clean and white.


The geometric white shapes are reminiscent of Greek architecture.


The menu.


We ordered this “ASHTA. traditional Lebanese-style French toast, bananas, orange blossom honey” for our son. It was more like Pane Dulce I’ve had at other Andres restaurants crossed with Tres Leches cake. He devoured it.


They have this light poofy bread.


The classic roasted eggplant dish: “BABA GHANNOUGE. fire-roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon, garlic.” This was a very bright tasty variant with pomegranate seeds.


And one of my all time favorites: “TZATZIKI. Greek yogurt with diced cucumbers, dill.” This wasn’t nearly as garlicky as in Greece and Turkey, but was more akin to the Lebanese variant. It did have a nice thick Greek yoghurt consistency and a pleasant crunch from the cucumber.


“BEET SALATA. crimson and yellow beets, shaved fennel, upland cress, spiced walnuts.” I doubt this was exactly a traditional dish (even if the ingredients are) but it’s pretty much obligatory on modern menus.

“BANTIJAN BIL LABAN. crispy eggplant, roasted garlic-yogurt sauce.” This was a nice treatment of eggplant — in no small part because it was seriously fried! This was a very crispy coating with hot eggplant inside.

“SPANAKOPITA. house-made phyllo, spinach, feta cheese.” Not your typical version of this dish which is usually triangular in shape. The insides were similar enough though, so more a cheese and spinach taquito than a puff pastry!

“ROASTED CAULIFLOWER. sultans, caper berries, pine nuts.” This is a brighter less fried version of this traditional Lebanese dish (you can see the original here). Good stuff though.


My son got his second order of “French toast.”


Which he polished off in about two minutes.

“GARIDES ME ANITHO. sautéed shrimp, dill, shallots, mustard, lemon juice.” This was a pretty awesome variant on Andres’ normal “Gambas Pil Pil” (photos here in this Jaleo review).

FRIED SQUID. crispy squid, garlic-yogurt sauce.” Nicely done classic calimari.


And a zesty garlic sauce for dipping.

“STRIPED BASS PLAKI. tomato, fresh chickpeas, onion, mint.” This is a local fish, but the prep is very Eastern med. Strong flavors of tomato.

“AGLAIA KREMEZI STYLE CRAB CAKES. mini jumbo lump crab cakes, roasted garlic yogurt.” They can pretend this is Eastern Med — but no, it’s all Eastern Shore. Still, no one was complaining. These little patties were essentially crab imperial balls lightly fried on the griddle. There was a light taragon flavor too.

“KEFTEDES KAPAMA. beef and lamb meatballs, feta cheese, rustic tomato sauce, cinnamon, allspice.” Tasty meatballs in classic Eastern style. Similar to typical “spicy kefta” preparations.

“ADANA KEBAB. skewered ground lamb, house-made harissa, grilled tomatoes, sumac, onions.” Typical ground lamb kabob. This wasn’t my absolute favorite dish here. It was a bit salty and the grill flavor too strong. Not that it was bad by any means.

“URFA BIFTEK. grilled sirloin, Urfa pepper, cumin, heirloom lettuces, caramelized sesame.” And this was even saltier, although the meat did have a lot of flavor.

“LOUKANIKO ME AGINARES. grilled Greek pork sausage, marinated artichokes.” The sausage was good and I liked the onion and pepper (pimento in Spanish) salad on top.


The dessert menu.

A nice chewy cup of Turkish coffee, semi-sweet.


“Turkish delight. Walnut Ice Cream, yogurt mousse, orange caramel sauce.” This was very yummy, but from the name I hoped for something closer to real Turkish delight — which is a favorite of mine, particularly the rosewater flavor.


A trio of very good homemade ice creams (my three year-old loved them). Walnut, apple, and pear. The fruit flavors were very bright and pure.


“Greek yogurt and apricots.” Very yummy. The thick yogurt paired very nicely with the sweet fruit. In Greece they eat the purest variant of this: very very sour and thick goat yogurt with drizzled honey.


Another fruit and yogurt/ice cream blend. Can’t go wrong with berries and cream.


More of the large and modern space.

Overall, Zaytinya was pretty fantastic. It’s neither totally traditional or ultra modern, but instead what one might call a modernized or modestly updated classic. Most of the dishes have their roots in traditional Eastern Med dishes, and they retain — even emphasize — those bright flavors. The form of them is a lighter and slightly more playful, adapted to American tastes. In any case, highly successful.

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

I’ve also reviewed: The Bazaar (REVIEW HERE) and the high end Saam, brunch at Trés, lunch at Trés, and to é by José Andrés and Jaleo in Vegas.

Related posts:

  1. Peace in the Middle East? – Mezze
  2. Saam – José Andrés Squared
  3. Son of Saam – Actually more Bazaar
  4. Trés – Brunché Fantastique
  5. Trés – Lunch Fantastique
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, El Bulli, Ferran Adrià, French Toast, Greece, José Andrés, Restaraunt, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, ThanksGavin, turkey, Tzatziki, Washington DC, Zaytinya
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