Image via Wikipedia
Slainte was a disappointment because of the food, but if we had just gone for drinks, it would have been great.

I don't review a lot of bars, because the real appeal is enjoying a beer with my friends. But I have reviewed some -- places with especially great selection or especially bad service, or restaurants whose drinks really impress.

Establishments I've previously reviewed are linked to the appropriate post; in between are some quickie reviews.

Boston Beer Works -- Click to read my previous review.

Cornwall's Restaurant -- Not much of a website, so I'll fill you in. You walk in, and there's a huge bar with a nice draft selection. To your right, a pool hall. To the back, dartboards and a bookshelf crammed with board games. Perfect for chilling with friends.

Crossroads Coffee -- No alcohol, but that doesn't mean you can't hang out over a nice beverage. Click to read my previous review.

Croxley's -- An international beer menu and 10-cent wing nights. The beers can get pricey, so practice moderation and enjoy your chicken.

Derek's -- Click to read my previous review.

Flanigan's Boat House -- Click to read my previous review.

Irish Pub -- No, really, that's the name of the pub. Limited selection of really nice house beers. The everyday menu is not all that remarkable (though there's nothing wrong with it), but their specials are great -- especially the $10 dinners. I got an amazing steak dinner for a Hamilton once!

Kelsey's -- Click to read my previous review.

Kildare's -- A fun experience, but pick your moments; I've been unimpressed with their dinner menu, and on Friday nights it's way too crowded to be fun enough to justify the cover charge. Stopping for a pint between crowds is nice, though, as there are lots of booths and corners for you and your friends to hide in.

Miller's Ale House -- One of Chris's favorites, with good, affordable food; good, affordable drinks; lots of specials; and tons of games on the big-screen TVs. Watch your moments here, too, as different crowds tend to come in waves. Definitely worth learning when the frat boys arrive, whether to attend or avoid.

Old Eagle Tavern -- Within walking distance of my parents' house, it's where I go at the end of an evening with friends. Says Dan: "Great food and beer selection. Reasonable prices. Manayunk atmosphere, Roxborough prices."

Slainte -- Click to read my previous review.

Smokeless Joe's -- Click to read my previous review.

Sunset Grill and Tap -- Click to read my previous review.

Wayne Gretzky's -- Click to read my previous review.


Go forth and drink responsibly -- and have fun!

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Melting Pot

1219 Filbert Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

You should know

So for my bachelorette party, the guys took me out. Yes, the guys: Dan and Brian, plus Dave and Michelle. They said we could go anywhere I wanted, it being my party and all. I figured this would be sufficiently fancy and different, plus it was a good excuse to finally check the place out.

Brian, being Brian, tipped them off that it was an event, so they hooked me up with a little logo'ed teddy bear and a framed group picture. Very cool.

So?

So we had five people, including one with lactose sensitivity (me), one with assorted allergies, and one vegetarian.

We started with drinks; I lost track of what others ordered, but I got a glass of Riesling.

Melting pot meals come in four courses: salad, cheese, entree, and dessert.  Our salads were tasty but not memorable; I don't actually recall what we got.

For our cheese course (and yes, I took a Lactaid before I started), we got two pots of Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue ("fontina, butterkäse, and buttermilk bleu cheese with white wine, scallions, and a hint of sherry," $16 for 1-2 people). They came with apples, bread, veggies. Almost everything was excellent, but it seems I will never like cauliflower. Oh well.

Oddly, even though both pots were supposed to be the same, one tasted far more of the sherry base, while the other one tasted very strongly of blue cheese. That was kind of nice -- it gave us a little variety.

For the entree course, we again got two pots of the same flavored oil, and kept one for meat and the other for veggies. We ordered The Vegetarian ("fresh vegetables, tofu, artichoke hearts, portobello mushrooms and spinach and Gorgonzola ravioli," $17), Land & Sea ("a collection of new york strip, marinated breast of chicken and white shrimp," $23), and The French Quarter ("Cajun seasoned shrimp, filet mignon, breast of chicken and andouille sausage," $22).

With the meals came several types of sauce, some to go on the food before dipping, and some to season the food after dipping. The posed some interesting challenges (such as, "How many layers of tempura can you put on a potato, anyway?").

My only complaint was that in the French Quarter meal, everything was so heavily (and deliciously) seasoned that you couldn't quite tell the chicken form the beef until you cut them open -- whcih is really a concern when you consider that the two meats have different cooking times.

For dessert, we got The Original ("this original recipe features our signature milk chocolate complimented with a swirl of crunchy peanut butter") (amazing on bananas!) and one Pure Chocolate ("dark chocolate, melted for the most pure of all chocolate fondues." Both $16)

The chocolate fondues came with Dippers ("fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, tasty marshmallows, pound cake and brownies for you to dip into any of our decadent chocolate fondue creations"). There  was easily something for everyone.

Rating

Tasty but a bit pricey
We technically didn't order enough food for five people, and we still had leftovers -- if you're going with a group, that's a decent option. Either way, definitely save it for a special occasion, but give it a try.

The rest of the Internet

Sabah Karimi at Associated Content explains what to expect at the restaurant.
The Wikipedia page.
Patricia Schaefer at FranchiseTrade discusses the restaurant from a business perspective.
Jenna Brucoli at Jenna Sais Quois posts some great pictures of Melting Pot food.
Online and logged in reviews the restaurant.
The Beeze at The Beeze's Tales from the Fish House enjoyed good food but suffered bad service.

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Image via Wikipedia

It's tasty and inexpensive. They even have vegetarian options. But maybe split the fries with your dining partner(s).

Cover of Up (Single Disc Widescreen)

So Dan really wanted to see Up, and I'll admit, I did too, so it didn't take much convincing.

[Confidential to Dan: I still owe you that drink...]

So?

So naturally, the two of them grow up, get married, and plan on traveling the world and/or having a whole mess of kids. But real life taps out their vacation fund (a broken leg, a leaky roof) and halts their family plans (a very subtle, heart-wrenching suggestion that Ellie miscarried had me going "This is a kids' movie?!"). So the two of them find surrogate family and surrogate adventure working at the local zoo, she in the bird house and he at the balloon cart.

And just when they've finally saved up enough for Carl to buy two tickets to Venezuela... Ellie takes sick and passes away. Carl finds solace in the house that he and Ellie lovingly refurbished and furnished with photographs, keepsakes, and a sweetly aspirational shrine to Paradise Falls, and settles into a sad, but comfortable, widowerhood spent good-naturedly telling the kids to get off his lawn -- particularly overly-enthusiastic Russell, a Wilderness Explorer (think Boy Scout without the copyright and trademark issues) who wants nothing more than to help Carl across the street, earn the last merit badge needed for his promotion to "Senior Wilderness Explorer" and maybe -- just maybe -- impress his absentee dad.

Then, the city tries to buy and demolish his house so that they can build on the block. Carl is having none of that.

This may be Pixar, but it's still Disney, so we know where it's going from here, at least in terms of Carl and Russell.

Anyway, blah, blah, Carl escapes by tying an insane number of helium balloons to his house, Russell stows aboard, they meet a talking dog, you've seen the commercials. The adventure is amazing, don't get me wrong, but it's so good largely because the writers make us really care about Carl, Russell, et al. Add some hysterical dialog courtesy of the talking dogs, and a really spectacular old-man fight, and you've got what *may* be the movie of the summer.

It's early yet, I know, so let's see if anything coming up can jump the high bar.

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Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008, online only

You should know

Most of what I heard about this initially was from people raving about it on Twitter the first day it went public. Of course, at first I couldn't get the site to work; opening night, it overloaded. High demand.

I did manage to see the whole thing straight through more than once, and also shared it with my parents, Chris, Brian, and Dan. It somehow didn't occur to me to review it until a few weeks ago, and real life and Iron Man got in the way.

So?

Dr. Horrible is a small-time supervillain about to make his big break. He's working on perfecting his freeze ray, and in between fantasizes about Penny, a regular at his laundromat.

When he finally gets word from Bad Horse, "The Thoroughbred of Sin" and head of the Evil League of Evil, that his application to the League is under serious consideration, Dr. Horrible sets out to steal the Wonderflonium ("Do Not Bounce") he needs to finish his freeze ray. His heist succeeds only because his nemesis, Captain Hammer, "Corporate Tool," gets distracted... by Penny.

The bad Doctor's objectives: perfect the ray, defeat the Captain, impress the Big Bad, and get the girl. Can he do it?

By the way, this is a musical, and if you're prone to catching earworms, beware -- the songs are extremely catchy!

It also may not be appropriate for younger children or more conservative workplaces. There are some mild but blatant sexual references, plus implied and shown violence, including one sympathetic character suggesting another kill a child.

It also has an ending that's pretty controversial, but ultimately unsurprising in context.

I genuinely enjoyed this serial, and pretty much everyone I've shown it to has gotten a kick out of it. If the premise I've outlined sounds interesting, you'll probably enjoy it.

Rating

Check it out
In fact, if you enjoy it, consider watching it more than once. It's extremely heavy on tiny details and blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes, so the laughs don't fade because you catch something new each time.

The rest of the Internet

Beware of spoilers
Follow Dr. Horrible on Twitter for news and updates, or become a fan on Facebook.
The Wikipedia and IMDb pages.

The official fan site.
Lifehacker interviews Felicia Day, while Wired interviews Joss Whedon.
Entertainment Weekly has scoop from Comic-Con.
The Dr. Horrible/feminist controversy, summed up nicely (read as many of the comments as you can stand).
And now: Buy the DVD!

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

California Pizza Kitchen

4040 City Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19131

You should know

Dan and I had plans to go out after I got out of work.  He suggested we try out the new California Pizza in Plymouth Meeting.  I pointed out that there is also a new California Pizza Kitchen on City Ave. which is much closer to my train station, if he wanted to save some gas.  He agreed.

So?

I was not starving, so I opted to get an appetizer instead of an entree.  Dan got one of the personal pizzas.

I ordered avocado club egg rolls ("A fusion of East and West with fresh avocado, chicken, tomato, Monterey Jack cheese and applewood smoked bacon, wrapped in a crispy wonton roll. Served with ranchito sauce and our herb ranch dressing.")  I got fresh lemonade to drink.  Dan got Jamaican Jerk Chicken pizza  ("Grilled Jamaican Jerk spiced chicken breast with our spicy sweet Caribbean sauce, Mozzarella cheese, applewood smoked bacon, mild onions, roasted red & yellow peppers and green onions.") with a Diet Coke.

My food was excellent.  They gave me one too few rolls, but the waitress was out a few minutes later with the final one (I think I saw one hit the floor shortly before I was served, which would explain it...).   Dan was also very pleased with his food.

However, as I was leaving, I was hit by a wave of pretty bad indigestion.  The heaviness of my meal combined with the acidity of my beverage just did me in.  Two Tums and half a can of ginger ale later, I felt fine.

Rating

Go... if you have an iron stomach
The food really was delicious, and Dan had no ill effects.  If rich, spicy, acidic, or cheesy foods bother you at all, you may want to give it a pass; otherwise, enjoy!

Image via Wikipedia

Wanted

So?

Rating

Image via Wikipedia

Anansi Boys

By Neil Gaiman, 2005, borrowed from Dan

You should know

I'd read American Gods a while back -- not long after Anansi Boys came out, in fact. I enjoyed it.

Dan reads a lot -- he's easily as bad as I am, just not in all the same genres -- and if I mention a book I'd like to read that he already owns, he'll just throw up the trunk of his car and let me have at it. I'm sure it looks quite suspicious to passers-by.

So?

It's actually pretty impressive how Gaiman manages to write two books with such different characters, who have such different adventures, with such a different tone to the stories, and yet there's absolutely no doubt that these two novels take place in the same "universe."

My feelings about Anansi Boys are mixed, though. I found myself caring much more about Fat Charlie than I ever did about Shadow, maybe because Fat Charlie has exposition. At the same time, I didn't find the action as compelling. Anansi Boys was a bit more goofy than American Gods. I feel like it had a bit of Pratchett's influence, while the earlier book seemed to be more creepy, comic-book--Gaiman.

The plot is pretty basic. Fat Charlie Nancy's father dies, and at the funeral Fat Charlie learns that a) he has a brother, and b) their father is actually Anansi, a trickster-god and the ruler of all stories. Spider, the brother, is powerful and irresponsible, a sharp contrast to Fat Charlie's overly-conscientious, easily-embarrassed personality. Before too long, we find out why, and the reunion of the two brothers leads to a better life for both of them. As these things tend to do. In the meantime, there's witchcraft, animal gods, a murder case, and a subterranean conversation among the deceased.

Rating

Read it if...
...You enjoyed American Gods, you like Gaiman's work, or you're intrigued by the idea of pagan gods singing karaoke in Florida. I know I am.

The rest of the Internet

The Wikipedia page.
The LibraryThing page.
A review from the Onion AV Club.
Bonnie at BlogCritics reviews the book.
Jennifer Reese at Entertainment Weekly was less impressed.

The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass
By Philip Pullman, 1997 and 2000, paperback

You should know
I've read The Golden Compass and seen the movie. I borrowed the single-volume trilogy from Dan.

So?
The Subtle Knife opens with Will, a boy from a different universe than Lyra, trying to protect his not-entirely-there mother from some intruders into their home. After accidentally killing one of these men, Will leaves his mother in the safekeeping of a friendly neighbor before accidentally finding an alternate world - where he meets Lyra.

Where Lyra is special because of her rare ability to read the alethiometer, Will is chosen by a knife to be its bearer, enabling him to cut the fabric between universes, allowing Will to see Lyra's world, and the two of them to visit new worlds together.

While in Will's world, the two meet Mary Malone, a physicist and former nun who is studying Dust, the strange particle that runs the alethiometer and clings to adults while eschewing children, and which has driven Lyra's parents to the point of obsession.

By The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will have their mission: to reach the underworld and rescue their deceased loved ones. Meanwhile, Mary is spending time in yet another universe, making friends among a society of wheeled quadrupeds. She manages to craft an tool - the titular spyglass - that enables her to see Dust, and thus to save her friends from a Dust-related plague that is killing off their most important crop.

If you read the above paragraph, you'll notice I said "by" The Amber Spyglass, not "in" The Amber Spyglass. While The Golden Compass stands very well on its own (though the second and third books fill in quite a few gaps in the plot), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass flow together, reading more like a single story than two parts of a whole.

Overall, I found the second and third parts of the trilogy to be much darker, and much more in-depth, than the first - but less charming. The Golden Compass might pass as a children's book - barely - but the trilogy as a whole does not. I always advise parents to read the book and make the call (some kids can handle this stuff, but I have no idea if yours can), but my general advice is to maybe wait a few years between giving them book one and following up with book two.

Rating
Read it...
...But if you haven't read The Golden Compass yet, just spring for the trilogy and read them all at once.

The rest of the Internet
Warning: Possible Spoilers
Pullman displays his illustrations from the chapter headings of the books.
His Dark Materials, an unofficial fansite.
Nick Gevers at infinity plus reviews The Subtle Knife.
Rachel Pastan at Salon is amazed the The Subtle Knife is marketed to children.
Need help? SparkNotes will walk you through the trilogy.
The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, and the His Dark Materials Trilogy on LibraryThing.
Michael Dirda at washingtonpost.com reviews The Amber Spyglass in the context of the trilogy as a whole.
Polly Shulman at Salon.com found herself far less disappointed with The Amber Spyglass than she expected to be.
David K. Kyle at The Candid Truth reviews The Amber Spyglass, and engages in a very interesting debate about the theological implications in his comments section.
Thomas M. Wagner at SFReviews.net considers The Amber Spyglass to be a worthy conclusion to the trilogy.

Awesome link of the week
Ryan Bliss at Digital Blasphemy is an artist who makes wallpaper for your desktop. His designs feature planets, seascapes, pools of water... all created using his imagination and his computer. I currently have Cloud Canyon on my desktop at work, and people keep asking me where I took that picture. Heh.

Most of the images at Digital Blasphemy are only available to paid members (this is how he makes a living, after all), but there's a constantly rotating selection of free content available as well. I'm perfectly happy with the free pieces, myself, but I've been toying with the idea of joining up -- look through the gallery and see if you're tempted, too.

Sometimes I borrow books or videos from friends. Sometimes friends borrow books or videos from me. Sometimes, this borrowing is intended, but then gets forgotten by the next time we hang out.

If there is some item you'd like to borrow from me, or that you think I should read or see and would like to lend to me, and I know you in real life, let me know.

And if people would like to borrow from one another, I'm willing to help and catalog, but I do not vouch for anyone. Lend/borrow at your own risk.

I owe:
Transformers to Dan.
The Year of Living Biblically to Paul

I am owed:
The True Story of the Rolling Stones by Chris's Dad

I would like to borrow:
Nothing at this time

Cloverfield
2008, in theaters

You should know
My instinct is to say that I’m a big fan of J. J. Abrams, but the truth is, I never really watched Felicity or Alias, and I’m still a fan of Lost, though Abrams has long since moved on to other projects. I’ll dabble in his viral marketing, but I never lose the sense that it’s just a commercial – and if I’m going to take the time to go Online and watch commercials, the Mac vs PC series tends to be more entertaining.

Dan had seen Cloverfield and loved it; Chris saw it and wasn’t especially impressed – and some of his friends absolutely hated it. Since my taste in movies doesn’t precisely match either of theirs, I had no idea with whom I’d agree.

I’m a member of AMC’s MovieWatcher program, and I had received a free movie pass that expired the day I saw this movie. Dan was eager to see it again, so he joined me.

By the way, I’ve been very disappointed with the bathrooms at this particular theater lately. They can do better; I’ve seen it.

So?
So… it’s a monster movie. What did you really expect?

All right, so it’s a monster movie told from a fairly interesting perspective. Normally, you see the monster from the monster’s eye-level, or from the perspective of the scientists who accidentally created it and must stop it, or from the government/military figures who must stop it without killing more people, or from the one environmentalist who wants to save and protect the monster until it eats his girlfriend.

I think. I’m not exactly a monster movie aficionado, and it’s been a few years since I’ve watched Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Anyway. This movie is literally from the perspective of the man on the street. Hud is tasked with documenting his friend Rob’s going-away party, and takes the camera with him as he and his fellow party-goers run for their lives – the video, he reasons correctly, will be part of the historical record of the monster attack.

The dynamics of the film constantly shift as the varying personalities work their way through assorted stages of grief. Shock, anger, denial, and really terrible jokes all make an appearance. There’s also a love story that seems pretty tacked on – OK, sure, Beth provides Rob with motivation and a reason to stay alive, but I don’t believe she’s that good a person. After all, she brings a date to Rob’s party just to make him jealous (it works), but once the monster attacks, she doesn’t even seem to care if her escort is dead or alive. You’d think maybe a tiny bit of guilt would rise up…

Yes, I know, of all the places to have trouble suspending disbelief, it’s a strange choice. I don’t care.

Now, the camerawork. It did not nauseate me as it did some moviegoers (one of Chris's friends was hit with a migraine), but then I usually only suffer motion sickness when something else bothered my health first, and motion aggravated it. As if you wanted to know that.

The movie did, however, bother my eyes. It had been a long day, my contact lenses were on the dry side, and any time the screen went out of focus, my horribly myopic eyes tried to compensate the way they do every other waking moment. But you can’t bring out-of-focus film into focus with your eyes alone, so I walked out with tired eyes.

A bit of advice
If you’re going with people who’ve seen the film, particularly those who then proceed to get really enthusiastic with the viral marketing, make sure they know when to keep their mouths shut.

And if you’re the enthusiastic fan, note well: saying that a favorite review mentions that:

“Just about the time you start wishing that a monster would attack the city and start killing these people, a monster attacks the city and starts killing these people.”

...is funny. Saying it right before the monster attacks ruins the suspense and takes away from the effect – that is, it steals from your companions the very joy you felt when you first saw it. That’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to you, either, because now they won’t be nearly as enthusiastic as you are.

Rating
Avoid it if…
…You have young kids with you (there’s quite a bit of gore and a lot of cursing), you’re prone to motion-sickness, or you just plain don’t like monster movies. Otherwise, check it out. Although if you decided to wait for the DVD, I wouldn’t blame you.

Maybe the special features will reveal secrets otherwise found only in the viral marketing.

The rest of the Internet
Beware of spoilers.

The IMDb page.
Decent, though not incredible, reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.
The Wikipedia page.
1-18-08 Project Cloverfield follows Cloverfield and other Abrams-related news.
Ty Burr at the Boston Globe rates the film highly: the shallowness makes the plot holes go down more easily, he reasons.
Robin Rowe at SciFiMovie.com rates the film highly.
Stephanie Zacharik at Salon, by contrast, rates the movie very poorly.
Russell Goldman at ABC News reports on Cloverfield-related motion sickness (and, along with his editors, gets extra credit for using "Nauseated" instead of "Nauseous.")
Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net enthusiastically predicts that Cloverfield will be remembered as a classic.
Roger Ebert ejoyed the film but had some trouble suspending disbelief.
Manohla Dargis at the New York Times was not impressed.
A Cloverfield sequel seems inevitable.
According to Gabriel Mckee at Religion Dispatches, Cloverfield's monster provides cosmic punishment for the sin of self-absorption.

Awesome link of the week
Television Without Pity has been around for some years now, but ever since it was bought by Bravo, the good folks at TWoP have had more resources and have been branching in new directions. Whereas the site used to only do full recaps of a certain number of dramas and reality shows, they've added "Weecaps" of shows they might not otherwise have done: sitcoms, for instance, or shows they used to recap, dropped, and then decided to pick back up in abbreviated form.

In the last few weeks, they've also added a few great video series. I'm loving The Week Without Pity, which outlines the week's highs and lows. No Prior Knowlege also has potential, but the whole premise is that the host hasn't seen the shows he's describing -- and yet he admits to having seen the first three seasons of Lost, the show he's currently describing in a multi-episode arc. It's only the third week!

The fora are actually very well-kept and intelligent as well, which we all know is something of a rarity on the Internet. So go, check it out, read some recaps, and enjoy!

The Golden Compass
2007, in theaters

You should know
Ok, I actually have read this one. I’ve only read the first book in the trilogy, but I plan on borrowing the rest from Dan one of these days.

When we saw the movie, Dan had not read the book yet. He went out and bought the trilogy soon after.

I’m also currently re-reading the book for my book club. We’ll be talking about the spiritual/religious messages and the controversy. I’m looking forward to it.

So?
While the story was definitely watered down from the original text, it was fairly close, at least in spirit. I didn’t have much of a problem with the cuts and changes that were chosen for time constraints (although the movies is only 113 minutes long, not quite two hours). Iorek Byrnison is toned down a bit, Serafina Pekkala’s role is shortchanged, and the revelation of Lyra’s parentage is handled very differently than in the book, but otherwise, I was satisfied. That said, the movie ended a bit before the book did, although not on an inappropriate note.

To review the plot: Lyra, an orphan girl living at a major university in Oxford in a universe where people’s souls are housed in familiars called daemons, is thrust into a dangerous plot when she catches a university official trying to poison her uncle, Lord Asrael. Soon after, she’s taken in (in both senses of the phrase) by the lovely, if suspicious, Mrs. Coulter, at which point she finally gets a taste of the danger and adventure to come. Children are being kidnapped, daemons are in danger, and Lyra comes into the possession of an alethiometer, the titular golden compass that tells her the truth about anything she asks of it. Airships, polar bears, Texans… I think I covered most of this in my review of the book.

Rating
Check it out
If you enjoyed the book but aren’t a stickler for perfect transcription, if you like a good fantasy movie, or if you have older kids (it’s a bit intense for little ones), go for it. But don’t expect heavy-handed Catholic bashing a la the controversy.

The rest of the Internet
Warning: possible spoilers
At the official move site, you can play with an alethiometer or create your own daemon.
The Wikipedia pages for the film and the book.
The IMDb page.
Snopes confirms the root of the controversy.
The reviews are not great at Rotten Tomatoes.
Peter T. Chattaway at Christianity Today seemed to like the movie well enough, though he considers the religious themes potentially problematic. The article includes some interesting discussion questions.
Stephanie Zacharek at Salon did not like the movie at all.
Songshards liked the movie more than the book.
John at Come to Find Out liked the movie, but loved the book.
Chris Kohler at Underwire thinks the movie should have been longer and darker.

Awesome link of the week
Now, those who know me might not guess that I’d pick a blog about World War I. But those who know me really well won’t be too surprised by this one. It's all about letters.

Pte Harry Lamin would be 120 this year. He served in the First World War as a member of the British Army, and over the course of the war wrote many letters home. The letters he sent to his brother and sister were saved, and his grandson, Bill, has taken to posting transcriptions of the letters 90 years to the day from when they were written. Since Harry’s family never knew when (or if) another letter was coming, neither do the readers (although Bill occasionally will give readers a heads-up if he has reason to believe the delay is due to a bundle of letters being lost, rather than a disaster). He has also compiled reader comments and his responses to many of them, as well as transcriptions of the battalion’s war diaries to add historical context.

Bill Lamin will not reveal Harry’s fate -- and since Harry left a young son at home when he went to war, Bill’s existence is not a clue. I’m hoping we’ll get to read some nice, happy letters either this November 11 or next June.

Image via WikipediaGhost Tour of Philadelphia
Tickets available at:
Gift Shop next to Omni Hotel
401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
until tour time
Independence Visitor Center
6th & Market Streets
until 5:00 pm
Online
Tour departs from:
Signers Garden
5th & Chestnut Streets

You should know
Dan and I had been talking about ghosts for years. He very much wants to spend the night at Leverington Cemetary that is supposed to be extremely haunted; I’m not quite up for getting arrested.

I believe that ghosts could exist, but I have never experienced one. Nor, by all accounts, do I much wish to. But hey, I’m a sucker for a good story.

So?
First of all, there is very little parking in Center City on a Friday night. Fortunately, the 9 bus goes right to the site. Unfortunately, we didn’t take the 9 bus. Parking cost us over $20.

Buying tickets was interesting, because there were two ghost tours selling tickets right next to each other. I don’t know anything, good or bad, about the other tour, but keep the one you want in mind so you don’t find yourself on the wrong one. Also, leave yourself time to eat – we spent almost as much time looking for non-sit-down food as we would have had we say down. There’s plenty or restaurants or bars around if you have the time, though.

Perhaps most importantly, the weather was about perfect – cool enough for autumn, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable.

The tour started in Signers Park, where tour guides dressed in black pseudo-Victorian garb held lanterns with real, lit candles. Our guide, Katie, started taking us around the city, to sites like Independence Hall, Washington Square, and St. Peter’s Cemetery, telling us stories about the various ghosts said to haunt the sites and how they fit into Philadelphia history. Yellow fever, dysentery, mass graves, murders, fires… and Ben Franklin refusing to leave. Hey, this is Philadelphia – Franklin is everywhere.

It seemed that different tour guides had different sets of stories. At times, I eavesdropped on another group, and their story was completely different from the one being told to ours. Does this mean the stories are fake… or that the sites are so haunted that the guides have their choice of tales? Well, that’s really not my call.

Ultimately, Dan and I agreed that the tour was well worth the $15 ticket – but not the total cost of ticket plus parking.

Rating
Go… by bus
We took an earlier tour, and there were a handful of kids who were well behaved and far from terrified. For a juicier tour, the later show might be in order.

The rest of the Internet
Cher Mayn Chan at 34th Street Culture speaks highly of the tour.

Awesome link of the week
Sluggy Freelance is a popular 10-year-old comic. Don't bother starting with today's and knowing what's going on, though; you're better off going back to the beginning and watching Pete Abrams's style evolve over the last decade. Make sure you have a weekend with no plans cleared away; I wasted a ton of time going through the archives when I was first introduced, and that was about six years ago.

Also, if you're into the comic to the point where you want to flesh out that conspiracy theory, or you just want some intelligent, civil discourse, check out the forums at The Sluggite Zone. Spammers and trolls are dispatched with quickly, and coherent posting is the norm. L33t, along with certain hot-button issues, is forbidden, and language is kept to PG-13 (the rule is: if Pete used it in a comic, it's OK).

Full disclosure: I'm a moderator on the boards myself. See if you can figure out which one!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007, in theaters
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
By J.K. Rowling, 2007

You should know
First of all, my apologies for the lateness, but considering I'm reviewing both, I think you understand why. I actually went to the midnight release at my local Barnes and Noble with Dan Friday night, where he picked up his copy; Saturday Brian picked up his copy and then we saw the movie. They both told me I could read it when they were done – and they both had their copies swiped by their younger siblings. I got the book Tuesday night, finished it Wednesday, and now, here I am. I’ve been keeping up with the fallout, and then recovering from a mild case of Potter Burnout (Harry Potter and the Burnout of Fandom?). But I’m back.

Also, please be aware. While I will not be spoiling Deathly Hallows, there may be spoilers for the first six books – and since Order of the Phoenix is based on the book, the movie might be slightly spoiled. Please take this seriously, and do not flame me if you learn something that happened four books ago.

So?
Let’s start with the movie, as it takes place earlier chronologically and, hey, I saw it before I read the book.

First of all, it was a brilliant (and completely atypical) blend of skill and luck that got us into our seats just as the previews started. Lots of kids’ epics coming up, by the way.

When the movie opens, Harry is being emo at a playground, which I suppose is more theatrical than Harry being sullen in the bushes as he is in the book.

And since the Harry Potter series has been put to rest, let me reveal some rejected book titles as I go (…ok, I’m lying. These are all mine).

(Harry Potter and the Bangs of Angst?)

So Harry and his cousin Dudley are doing their things at the playground – Dudley terrorizing small children, Harry moping about life with the Dursleys (Harry Potter and the Obnoxious Relatives?). The day is interrupted by Dementors, which come very close to killing Dudley, but Harry’s a good guy, so he saves his tormentor’s life. This, of course, is why it’s so hard to vanquish villains – heroes tend to keep saving them

Harry’s underage, so the Ministry of Magic puts him on trial for using magic outside school, giving Harry his first run-in with the Ministry’s policy of interference, which comes to a head as Delores Umbridge, Ministry Goon, becomes the new Defense Against Dark Arts professor (Harry Potter and My Brother’s Seventh-Grade English Teacher?).

Since Harry lives to star in two more books, it’s hardly a spoiler to tell you that, well, he lives to star in two more books. But someone else doesn’t, and if you haven’t read the book, let me tell you that when Order of the Phoenix first came out, the death was considered a huge spoiler ( Harry Potter and the Spoilers of Nonsensewordia?).

The movie had the expected awesome effects, and told the story well enough; again, cutting such a thick book into a watchable movie requires the loss of some subplots. Ron's adventures on the Quidditch field were eliminated, Hermione’s interest in House-Elf rights continues to be ignored, and Fred and George’s major act of defiance is played off as merely two trouble-makers making yet more trouble. None of these things are deal breakers, but their lack did remind me that as long as the movie was, the book is even more so (Harry Potter and the Thorough Edit?).

Overall, though, I enjoyed the movie. Harry’s complicated romance with Cho, Luna’s charming brand of flightiness, and the beginning of Neville coming into his own are all done very well. Umbridge was perfect (Ok, so she wasn’t all that toad-like; the spirit was captured perfectly, though).

But really, the movie got lost in the excitement of the release of Deathly Hallows.

They say you can tell comedies from tragedies because comedies end with weddings and tragedies end with funerals. Deathly Hallows begins with one of each. I’m sure if you’re even remotely familiar with the Harry Potter universe, you know exactly who these ceremonies were for, but in the interest of keeping things spoiler-free, I won’t reveal it to the three of you who don’t know (hi, Chris!).

So Harry, Ron, and Hermione take off on their world-saving scavenger hunt, and it’s no spoiler to tell you that Harry gets angsty, Ron and Hermione fight, people die, and at least one person is Not What S/He Appears. Plus, we learn more about wizarding history as we see Dumbledore, Snape, and Lily before they were the world-changing figures Harry knows them to be (Harry Potter and the Flashback of Destiny?).

I think that for the most part, the book made for a good end to the series. I think the middle section could have gone more quickly, either in terms of action or length, and while I didn’t despise the epilogue, I think it tied up loose ends that didn’t really need it, while leaving others hanging that I was genuinely curious about. There are some really interesting parallels drawn between characters, and the epilogue ignores them completely. Then again, I’m a former English major, not a twelve-year-old, so I suppose what I’m looking for doesn’t necessarily need to exist. That said, I hope Rowling considers things like that when and if she delves into adult literature (no, not Adult literature; we’ll leave that to the fanfiction [note: this link is filtered for only g-rated fic, so it’s safe for work {assuming it’s safe for human consumption in the first place (I like parentheticals)}]).

Rating
Begin at the beginning
Definitely check these out, but make sure you start from scratch. Coming in halfway means you risk losing references. Don’t see Order of the Phoenix unless you’ve either read the book or seen the first four films, and definitely don’t read Deathly Hallows until you’ve read the first six books. And hey, by the time you catch up, it’ll be off the wait list at the library.

The rest of the Internet
Beware of spoilers...
The Order of the Phoenix IMDb page and Wikipedia pages for film and book.
Critics at Rotten Tomatoes found it decent.
Mugglenet breaks down some fun facts about the movies.
Rolling Stone's movie review.
Nice word in Salon's review.
Roger Ebert seemed to have mixed feelings about the movie.
Bittersweet reactions to the film at NPR.
A good reaction from a non-fan at Independent Country.
Order of the Phoenix is better in film form, according to Moomin Light.
Matt at [sic] reviews the movie.
Jeff at MovieHawk reviews the movie and the book.
MSNBC rounds up reader reactions.
Daniel Radcliffe offers his reactions to Entertainment Weekly, where Stephen King weighs in as well.
Rowling's website.
Reviews from The New York Times, the Times Online, and Scotland on Sunday (which has at least one slightly erroneous spoiler).
Nina at Underside, John at Hogwarts Professor, Vicky at rejesus, Kari at Through a Glass, Darkly, and Peter T. Chattaway at Canadian Christianity all reflect on religion in the books.