Review of The Hunger Games
by admin on May.16, 2012, under MOVIES
As requested by Michelle, I will give my thoughts on the Hunger Games movie. I didn’t see it in the first wave. Life is busy and I heard lots about it. At first I thought I had to see it, but when I heard it was about kids killing each other, I thought I probably couldn’t really take it. My husband saw it and said it was ok. He was wrong. It was great!
Yes, I know that it follows the format of the traditional hero’s tale who is good, meets adversity and overcomes it. Yet, the story has rarely been told so well. I think almost all of the credit goes to the character of Katniss who brings so much depth and passion to the story. One boy and one girl from each of 12 districts in a futuristic world are chosen each year. They are transported to the capital city, trained to fight, and then put into the wilderness to kill each other until only one remains. That one will return home and live. (Actually, I wonder if it’s possible if they could be randomly chosen again the next year if they were still in the age range. One would hope that they would become exempt. I digress…)
Katniss is extraordinary. She is strong, confident and skilled. She volunteers in the place of her little sister who is actually chosen in the draw. She makes the most of every opportunity but is never unkind. She attacks only in self defense and helps her weaker fellow competitors. It is her nature and she is ready to die for her kindness. It’s not a difficult or reflected-upon moral dilemma for her. It comes naturally.
Another version of the film could have been interesting. Imagine Katniss as a character who is talented and good, but with a bit more self-interest. Someone who had to struggle with the question of killing or being killed. But that would have been a different movie.
Perhaps this leads to thoughts of a sequel. The Hunger Games in the film was an annual event. Might it become one for all of us?
Crime on the Katy Trail
by admin on May.14, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
I was very sad to learn this morning that there were three separate armed robberies on the Katy Trail last night. They started before midnight and finished with a 6:30 a.m. jogger this morning when the sun was up and other joggers were around. As I have talked about on this blog before, I love the Katy Trail. It’s one of the best things that Dallas has to offer. It’s also one of the friendliest and safest feeling places around. Let’s hope that something can be done so that feeling doesn’t change. If people have ideas for what we can do to keep the Katy Trail a safe place, please write.
Books for dyslexics
by admin on May.12, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
Hello blog readers,
This is a quick one to let you know about a new series of books coming out for kids with dyslexia or other types of language impairment. The link is:
Check it out.
My first visit to Hiatus Spa in Dallas
by admin on May.10, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
Last weekend I signed up as a Platinum Member at Hiatus Spa in Dallas on Lovers Lane. This spa is different from most others in that you can have a membership and for a flat fee per month, you can select one of their basic treatments (massage, facial, body wrap and a couple other things I think) per month. Today was my first day and I had booked a massage with a therapist named Gina Perez. I chose her because I went online before booking to read spa reviews and kept reading that she was the best. When I first went inside the spa doors, someone brought me a cup of AVEDA tea and I filled in a bit of paperwork for newbies. Then I was taken to the changing room where I got into my white robe and slippers. I still had 10 or 15 minutes to relax in their chill-out zone which really was pretty mellow. I noticed that the woman across from me was wearing big headphones and made a mental note to myself to try that sometime. Maybe I could also use them during the massage so I can choose my own music.
Gina came and got me from the chill-out zone and brought me to my treatment room. It had a heated, adjustable table and draping fabric across the ceiling which gave it all a relaxing atmosphere. Gina was fantastic. She was very down to earth and friendly and made sure I had everything I needed to be comfortable before starting the treatment. Then she gave me an amazing massage and seemed to be just be able to read my mind. Just the right pressure at just the right spot at the right time. Fabulous! At the weekend, I hadn’t been too sure about signing up for a year-long membership before trying the place out, but I’m now pretty sure I made the right decision. I figured I’d try the facial next time around but it will be hard to stay away from Gina for that long!
Abacus in Dallas
by admin on May.09, 2012, under DALLAS RESTAURANTS
Last night I went to Abacus with my husband. I had walked by the place plenty in the past but had never been inside. I knew that it advertised itself as “fine dining” and did sushi, but apart from that, I didn’t know what to expect. The service was good. The room was open and attractive too. We started off with the lobster-scallion shooters because both my husband and the waiter recommended them. For some reason I got it into my head that we had ordered lobster sliders so was surprised when four shot glasses were delivered on a tray. Each glass had a deep-fried ball of what must have been lobster and scallion and then was covered in a sweet and spicy sauce. Something like a deep-fried meatball covered in V-8, but a lot better. Our waiter had referred to it as an “amuse-bouche” and it was exactly that. My bouche was certainly amused and looking forward to more.
A basket of bread was delivered and everything in it was very filling. We tried not to eat too much of it between courses because we wanted to be hungry for our entrees. After all, they were close to $40 each so we didn’t want to waste them. I had ordered the Duo of Duck which was duck breast and a roast leg taco with charred tomato posole stew and mago-jalapeno relish. It sounds great, right? Well, part of it was. The duck breast, although just a few small bites worth, was very good. It didn’t quite have the flavor of a duck you get in a restaurant in France, but the texture was amazing. The stew however, was disappointing. It tasted like something I would have made myself. More specifically, it was as if I had opened a jar of tomato sauce, mixed some canned corn in, and heated it up on the stove. Yes, I could do that, but I couldn’t then sell a few spoonfuls of it for $15. If I could, I would be rich and would be using my abacus to count all of my money! The taco was also miniature and completely forgettable.
In general, I liked the place. The appetizer was fun, the duck was very good and the service was appropriate. Overall though, I don’t think it was very good value. For me, $40 entrees have to be excellent and $20 starters should maybe do a bit more than just amuse. If money were no object, I would probably go back and try some other things on the menu, but I couldn’t really recommend it for a special evening out.
House Shopping in Dallas
by admin on May.06, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
When I was in Europe and looking at real estate for sale in the DFW area, I had a vision that my family would live in an enormous 5-bedroom home that was brand new, had a huge yard, a luxurious pool area and walk-in closets. Now I know better. Those places that I was looking at on the map seemed to close to the center of Dallas when Google mapping from thousands of miles away. It’s quite different now that I know more about the locations of things, the state of the roads and the traffic. Our first visits to houses truly were impressive and we couldn’t quite believe our luck. The homes were new, gorgeous, had high ceilings and decent sized swimming pools, not to mention more rooms than we knew what to do with. This was in Grand Prairie, which didn’t seem like a very long haul at all to my daughter’s school in Dallas. Maybe 15 miles. Roads are good in the US, right? And everything is bigger in Texas, even the highways, right?
Luckily we didn’t buy one of those houses and now we know what direction traffic flows in the morning. Now we know that we could have given ourselves over an hour’s commute just to drop our child off at school. But now we also know that we need to live close to that school and that doesn’t come cheap. We still want the pool and we want at least three bedrooms. The big problem is that we don’t want it to look like it just came out of the 1970s with its huge, orange brick fireplace that takes up an entire wall. We have been looking for a few months now and have seen some real monstrosities. This weekend we visited three open houses and we finally decided that maybe we should take a break from looking and just stay in our rental for a bit longer. The house we’re renting now is a real oddity and turning on the garbage disposal makes all the lights upstairs flicker, but it’s very reasonably priced and we have a pool a minute’s walk away that noone else ever seems to use. I’m sure I’ll keep looking at realtor.com just in case that perfect place comes up, but it’s time to take a break.
Pump it Up in Dallas – Birthday Party Hell
by admin on May.06, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
Pump it Up surely has an evil genius at the helm. With the business plan that addicts kids faster than narcotics clicked with Robert Downey Jr., those inflatable bouncy castles keep kids coming back for more, and more, and still more. It’s true that I haven’t lived in Dallas that long but I think I have already been to nearly a dozen birthday parties at the various Pump it Ups that run through the DFW area. The kids seem to love it. They bounce and they bounce. Then they go to another room where they bounce some more. Then they enter the birthday room where they get pizza and cake and then get sent home. The entire process takes exactly two hours. The problem as far as I’m concerned is that there is nowhere for parents to go and nothing for them to do for those two hours. That means that you as a parent are stuck in an inflatable version of hell, forced to stand around between these bouncy toys watching your child’s head go up and down thousands of times while you listen to lots of other parents say whatever they can think of to pass the time. At the end you pitch in to pass out juice boxes and then finally receive a sugared-up child who loudly dissects their goodie bag in the back seat of your car. I hate it, but I only wish that I had thought of it myself.
More on Dallas singer Josh Goode
by admin on May.02, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
Hello Dallas Life Blog followers. On my recent post I told you about the fabulous singer and guitarist that I randomly heard playing and loved. I posted his Myspace link but since then, the singer has kindly contacted me himself to tell me that there’s a better place to check out his work:
www.reverbnation.com/joshgoode
You really want to hear him live to hear him sing Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” and a lot more.
Sangria and Josh Goode: a great Sunday morning combination
by admin on Apr.30, 2012, under DALLAS RESTAURANTS
Last week my family and I were out at Villa-O and discovered a great singer and guitarist. We talked to him between his sets and found out that he plays at Sangria on Cole Avenue in Dallas every Sunday from 12:30 so on Sunday, we went out with about 20 friends to hear him again and check out the Sangria brunch. It turns out that all the ingredients for the best brunch in Dallas were there. $1 sangrias and $1 mimosas were both very much appreciated. Then Josh started singing and was just as good as he was when we heard him last week. He was singing covers and was really “up to the minute” with a great repertory of songs that made everyone want to sing along (although we restrained ourselves). Josh Goode has a gorgeous voice but what’s possibly even more impressive are his guitar skills. I’m hoping that next time I see him perform that there might be a guitar solo in there somewhere that showcases what he can do.
I looked him up online last night and found he has a page on myspace where you can listen to a few of his original songs.
So far I have listened to Desire Led The Way and thought it was great. I’ll probably check the other two out today. I should also mention that the brunch menu at Sangria was great and I had some of the best Eggs Benedict ever. I will definitely return to Sangria in Dallas to relive this experience.
My top 10 reasons not to exercise today
by admin on Apr.27, 2012, under OTHER DALLAS PLACES
Today I have the whole day off. Actually, I finished a big project yesterday and am just not going in today. It’s 9:45 a.m. right now and I’m telling myself that I really should go and get some exercise. I could go to my gym, I could go swimming, I could jog, etc. For every idea I have, I have an equal reaction in the opposite direction, just like the old law of physics states. Here are the top ones:
1. I don’t want to drive 15 minutes each way to my gym.
2. I already had a shower and don’t want to take another one.
3. I need to pack up too much stuff to go swimming and then would have to do laundry afterwards.
4. I hate jogging. I may never jog again for the rest of my life.
5. It’s Dallas and it’s already hot outside this morning.
6. There aren’t sidewalks in my neighborhood that would let me go for a speedwalk.
7. I’ll be going to the gym tomorrow anyway. That’s good enough.
8. It’s just going to take too big a chunk out of my one free day.
9. This is a good chance to see a movie and I still haven’t seen the Hunger Games.
10. I can’t find a tenth one. This is a good sign. Let’s see how this turns out.
