Author / dudeigotsablog

by dudeigotsablog

Detest Bobby Flay. LOVE Bobby’s Burger Palace.

Not gonna lie. I think Bobby Flay is a horrible, arrogant little man and I absolutely relish his losses on Iron Chef America. Yes Bobby, we all know that Southwestern cuisine is your thing but it does not need to be applied to every single dish you concoct! No, I’m not a professional food critic but just the arrogance he oozes through my t.v. does plenty to offend me. Perhaps now you’ll understand just how much it pains me to say that I absolutely love his new restaurant.

My wonderful best friend (lets call her Z) took me out for the day to celebrate my 23rd birthday. One of my gifts besides a scenic tour of a particular area of West Philly that I had never seen before was dinner at Bobby’s Burger Palace on Walnut Street. As soon as you enter the place, the decor has you fascinated. The whole setup is that of a retro diner joint with shiny wooden counter-tops and a color palette consisting of browns and oranges. With the vintage seventies styling with wavy counters, rows of booths and tables, and cookout style dispensers with several different kinds of sauces, it was a pretty chill place to be while still maintaining a bit of class.

It was actually a simple arrangement that somehow felt foreign. While the food is prepared, you get your own drinks (which are served in those plastic ice tea glasses that you know you’ve had at a cookout) and seat yourself. Now for the food! We played it safe and got Palace Classic Burgers (which is just a standard burger with cheese, onion, tomato and lettuce) and added bacon. A burger is not a burger without bacon. I must admit, it was a new experience getting a burger that quickly that wasn’t wrapped in paper and instead was quite attractively arranged on a real plate. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a serious love of burgers and this one was absolutely wonderful. It was a good sized burger but it wasn’t so large that I needed a take-out container afterward. My biggest problem with “Red Robin” is that the burgers are so big that I can’t even wrap my mouth around one let alone finish it in one sitting! The “Palace” burger was just the right size. There was even a special sauce on the bun and one included with the fries which was quite tasty. On top of all this loveliness, you can order beer!!! Or, if you’re feeling especially adventurous, a margarita!

Now, this place isn’t nearly as cheap as fast food and is more on par with places like Chili’s in terms of price. The real problem with this place is how you like your burger cooked. If you’re not a fan of a burger that’s a little pink inside, you may not like this place because, according to Z, even if you do order your burger well done, you may not get it. All in all, I approve of this place and cannot wait to go back! It’s got the service speed of fast food, the laid back feel of a diner but the prices akin to “Red Robin” and the quality of a classy restaurant. Congrats, Bobby Flay. You’ve done something right. It’s so good in fact, that you can almost be forgiven for the name of the place…almost.

by dudeigotsablog

Lets not mince words. They fed me lies about hair as a child.

Being as how this is my blog and all, I feel there is a matter of contention that I would like to take the opportunity to address without being ridiculed for it. After deciding to cease my dealings with the “creamy crack”, I began to research and stumbled upon no less than two dozen natural hair blogs and websites…to begin with. Many testimonials go back to the beginning to talk about their hair journeys and who influenced them as children. In contemplating this same question, I discovered a wealth of resentment. As an impressionable child, my notions of what hair was capable of were heavily influenced by no less than four lying and deceitful entities. What were these entities you ask? Well let’s troll the list, shall we?

4. Comic book characters (Mainly Storm from X-Men): Not only did the female comic book characters have incredible and gravity defying locks, but so did some of the men! Not fair! So I sit there and try to figure out why my hair won’t flow crazily like Storm’s resulting in my obtaining a long white skirt, securing it to my head and pretending it was hair. Whoopi Goldberg had a t-shirt and I had a skirt. Sad, but incredibly true.

3. Christie Dolls: So remember that black friend that Barbie had? Yeah, that was Christie and in my mother’s vain efforts to feminize me, bought me several Christie dolls. Needless to say, they did not make me more girly. In fact, they only succeeded in making me into even more of a tomboy. Sorry Mom. However, a secondary side effect of these dolls was to confuse me even more about what my hair was supposed to look like. I was a light skinned little girl with thick, tightly coiled hair that, even with the repeated abuse of a hot comb, rebelled into an unruly cloud. My parents said they got me the Christie dolls because she looked the most like me when in fact, she looked the least like me. Light with coiled hair versus brown skinned Amazon with thick straight hair. Yeah sure. We look exactly alike. I mean, of course all Barbie derivatives are gross perversions of human anatomy but the hair??? In hind sight, even Beyonce does have a lace front to compete with the hair of those dolls, Barbie OR Christie! My hair never even remotely resembled that of those dolls on its “best” days. Even after my first relaxer, I went back to the dolls to compare and it wasn’t even close. I swear that doll laughed at me. It’s ok because I stuck one of them in the microwave once. Her hair was never the same again…

2. Beyonce: Fabulous as she may be, she lied. She freaking lied to me. Around 1999/2000ish, I was given my first mainstream CD that was all mine: “The Writing’s on the Wall” and I loved it. Once again, there was a side effect: I wanted to look like Beyonce…and her hair. Even later, throughout the scandal, replacement and reformation of Destiny’s Child, I loved Beyonce…and her hair. When she struck out on her own, I decided that hers was the look I wanted eventually. Then, the bombshell! The hair that I had been privy to was, in fact, hers only in the sense that she’d bought it and had a receipt. So the only way to have her hair is not to pray each night for long hair like I had been doing but to go to a store and buy it??? Beyonce was officially by first lesson in the deception that is fake hair. Don’t get me wrong, I find nothing wrong with braids or a good weave but she should have given a disclaimer that her hair was in fact, not hers. Just a little common courtesy was all I wanted.

And now for the grand finale!!! The biggest impact on my follicle delusions:
#1. Disney Princesses: Yeah, I said it. You may remember the Facebook bumper sticker a while ago that shared the same sentiment. As much as I love Ariel and Aurora, Pocahontas, and especially Jasmine, no human being on earth has hair like they do and no little black girl with curly, coiled hair was ever going to either. At least Snow White kept it reasonable with her little shoulder length helmet that was very 1920s in its styling and Belle had books on her brain instead of vanity. So, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t vetch to the animators about having longer locks. It’s probably why she was my favorite Disney princess too! She did lie about her hair! Those other heifers though? Filthy liars. Once again, parents should give their daughters disclaimers and warn them gently that “I love you baby so I won’t lie to you. Your hair will never look like hers.” I feel it would be much more humane that allowing a child to grow up to believe that she too can have unnaturally red hair like Ariel or the glorious crown of Jasmine’s hair. Don’t get me started on Jasmine though because she just makes me mad. From the hair, to the unnatural curves that she has (that I still want) to the huuuuge eyes, she’s probably the reason why so many people are plastic surgery addicts. Thanks a lot Jas…but I digress.

And there you have it. The childhood conditioning for screwy follicle perception. And the ringleader in all this madness: Walt freakin’ Disney!!!

**Reader beware. For the most part, I’m half serious about my post at most but even humor has some basis in reality.**

by dudeigotsablog

The Borgias: Not a replacement for The Tudors.

In theory, “The Borgias” sounds like the perfect replacement for the outstanding series “The Tudors” which ended last year especially when you take into account the fact that Jeremy Irons plays the patriarch of this ambitious and screwy family. Don’t get me wrong, I love Spartacus (I have yet to experience “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” yet but I’m getting there) but sometimes, the blood and orgies get to be too much. Taking into account the plethora of period series produced by the premium channels to fill “The Tudors” void, surely “The Borgias would fill it nicely right? Maybe not.

First off, there was a preponderance of t.v. shows just lined up waiting for the end of Showtime’s juggernaut “The Tudors.” It presented history in a way that was palatable and simultaneously unpredictable. The show melded history with embellished storylines while still staying true to the spirit of King Henry VIII’s time. The audience was given context, good writing, good acting and fantastic costuming and sets. More importantly, although nearly everyone was familiar with the story already, the audience remains engaged from the pilot to the series finale.

The creators of “The Borgias” tried the same thing but it feels like they may have rushed it. They have the costumes and lush scenery down pat and visually, you are sucked into the story. However, between the sub par writing and TERRIBLE wig they’ve befitted Juan Borgia with, it’s easy to lose interest. It seems like the creators took notes from “Tudors” but missed the part about a good script. They took a pretty known dynasty (substitute Tudors for the Borgias), both power hungry families (one a king and one a pope), and both with pretty scandalous sexual escapades (substitute a king with six wives for a pope with 4 children and countless mistresses). Everybody paid attention to the set design and costumes beautifully and the casting is decent (looove Francois Arnaud as Ceasare Borgia and of course Jeremy Irons) but the writing and pacing is really preventing this from being a standout. Its off somehow and I can only hope and pray that the show finds its rhythm in the subsequent episodes.

They had three immediate predecessors to compete with in “The Tudors”, HBO’s “Rome”, and Starz’s “The Pillars of the Earth” miniseries in addition to the current period lineup of Showtime’s own “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”, not to mention competition from the fantasy realm in the new Starz series “Camelot” and the highly anticipated HBO series “Game of Thrones.” There’s a lot of old school treachery on t.v. and I sincerely hope “The Borgias” can prove the show is worthy to be a viable contender for “The Tudors” place. Don’t disappoint me now.

by dudeigotsablog

Being Human: My new love.

There’s been a plethora of vampire and werewolf driven film and television series that have been let loose on poor unsuspecting viewers in the past couple years and much of it hasn’t been all that great. True Blood is the exception for me but that’s more of a guilty pleasure full of gore and nudity that real substance. Being Human provides me with what “The Walking Dead” did for me with zombies: gave me gore and violence with actual human soul and misery. That sounds completely undesirable but with monsters like ghosts, werewolves and vamps, it can be easy to forget that they were once human. Being Human brings vampire and werewolves back to their vicious roots and away from the teenage romantic perversion that they’ve become so recently (thanks to “Twilight”). Thank you Syfy!

Okay so brief summary: A 200 year old (played by sinister sexy Sam Witwer) and a baby werewolf (portrayed by the adorable Sam Huntington) move in together as roommates into a house which is, coincidentally, already inhabited or rather haunted by a ghost (Meaghan Rath). In theory, this combination shouldn’t work at all. This should be cornier than True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and Twilight combined and that’s A LOT of corniness! Being Human also shouldn’t work because it’s based on a preexisting UK series of the same name which means it shouldn’t translate as well in its US reincarnation. It just never works out as well when you try to copy an original especially when from another country. The UK’s language may be English, but they’re still culturally a bit foreign! 🙂

“Being Human” gives you the combination of supernatural elements with great writing and good acting, both of which have been seriously lacking in other supernatural series as of late. These characters are understated in ways that make them accessible and believable. The wolf is goofy, the ghostie is pretty neurotic and the vamp is convincingly conflicted. These characters are likable and likable characters are on the short list of requirements for a successful series. The audience has to care about the main characters enough to come back every week and for the most part, they deliver. Rath as the ghost unable to move on is a little annoying but still likable all the same and Witwer plays the tortured centuries old vampire with much more credibility than his t.v. vamp counterparts. But Huntington’s performance as the goofy and awkward werewolf is wonderful and brings a lightheartedness and vulnerability that makes his plight all the more painful.

What is most interesting about this show for me is that all parties acknowledge that they are monsters and the show emphasizes how truly dangerous a human/monster relationship would be. There are few illusions about their natures and “Being Human” works hard to eradicate the myth that humans, vampires, and werewolves can be chummy with no real consequences. The monster’s point of view has always been the more fascinating idea to me. Who cares what the villagers and the victims feel. What exactly is going through the monster’s mind as he accidentally throws a little girl into a lake (Frankenstein’s monster) or attempts to sever the carotid artery of his love because she just smelled so tasty (Wolfman). Cheers to the creators, actors and writers of “Being Human”. You’ve brought it back to basics and it works!!! But, it’s just the first season so hopefully they’ll keep it up for season 2.

by dudeigotsablog

It’s Happened!!!! A single from Incubus’ new album!!!

There’s something you should know. Incubus is my favorite band and they’ve earned that title after over a decade of creativity and the upcoming release of their seventh album. In fact, they released a single for “If Not Now, When?” today (link down below) called “Adolescents” and I almost puddled myself. Good music that’s highly anticipated has the power to induce a high only rivaled by a stage adrenaline rush. Even a certain illegal herb’s influence is incomparable to that feeling…not that I would know…

As a fan, I’ve gotten my fix and it should last me until the full album is released. As a musician, it’s got a sharp and clean sound with Mike Einziger’s guitar work demonstrating in spades why he is awesome along with his four band mates. It’s very chill and you can hear that this album may reflect some of the experimenting they’ve been doing sing Light Grenades. And of course, Brandon Boyd can do no wrong. However, this track sounds like a continuation of Light Grenades with some of the strange glimmer of Morning View. Already, I’m troubled. In the past, Incubus albums seldom overlap with one another which is part of their appeal. One never expects to hear the same thing twice from these brilliant men and yet, I already hear echos of past works. But then again, maybe I’m just being paranoid. You tell me.

http://adolescents.enjoyincubus.com/

by dudeigotsablog

Allow me to introduce myself…

Random and incoherence are the best adjectives to describe my world and so I’ve created this blog. I like space and geek glasses, piano, fashion, love music, movies and popping bubble wrap. I believe in sadism in small amounts and the tooth fairy. Currently, I’m discovering how much happier my hair makes me when it isn’t stick straight. Spock is my homie. Flaws consist of stubbornness, thinking before speaking and interest in all things slightly off and very sketchy. The Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite films, never miss an episode of Criminal Minds or CSI. Dr. Gregory House is my hero. Janelle Monae is awesome and so are my younger brother’s locs. Am currently working to have a law passed make daily nap time a legal requirement. Enter at your own peril.