it rises

Rate everything weekend.

Angels & Demons - Watched Da Vinci Code; didn't like it too much. This is about the same. Kinda drawn out, not too exciting. Too predictable as to who bad guy is. My favorite part is the whole white smoke/black smoke thing that they do when choosing a pope. I first heard of it when the current pontiff (the guy who looks like Darth Sidious and wears Prada shoes) was chosen. That's one cool Catholic tradition - who thought of that? C+

Red Lobster - I hadn't been to Red Lobster for probably a decade. Due to my cholesterol (doctor's office called), I chose to be healthy and had the woodfire-grilled Pacific Snapper with rice pilaf. It's not bad. The cheese biscuit was really good though. I ate three of them - which I know sort of defeats the purpose of the fish and rice. B

Strawberry milk custard @ My Favorite Cafe on Clement - Tasted smooth and warm and comfy. I like the strawberry taste but it's like hot pink-colored, so I feel like I am eating artificial flavoring. The next table had the beef stew lo mein, which looked damn good. B

Gunter's chicken apple sausage omelette - Gunter's is a family restaurant that Charles took us to once. It's kind of an old-fashioned diner, and not in a retro chic way. But it's got solid American food. A.K., Paul, and I went there Sat morning for breakfast. I hadn't seen AK in like forever. He was my best buddy, along with David W., in middle school, but now we see each other maybe once a year, if that much. Anyways, seeing old friend gets an A, but the omelette only gets a B-.

Grey's Anatomy season finale - I was dead tired and fell asleep during the last half hour of this past Thurs' season finale. Thank goodness for the internet. Phew - what a heartbreaking last five minutes. Bus accident victim John Doe turned out to be George, and Izzie was on her way to recovery and then suddenly died (I think). And how sweet was it the way McDreamy and Meredith made their promises to each other on a sticky note? I am putting Grey's Anatomy back on my Tivo season pass, even though I am really hoping they didn't really kill off George and Izzie, especially Izzie. A-

Comcast digital conversion - Now we need these digital converters or digital boxes to watch Comcast cable tv. This was all fine by me til I found out that these digital devices basically render my Tivo machine useless. I hate evil empires. F

Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown - I love these Berkeley hometown guys. I've loved them since Dookie, all the way up to American Idiot. 21st Century Breakdown is wistful, melodic, and defiant and shows Green Day to be the most ambitious and thoughtful snot-nosed punk band there ever was . A-

Coldplay's leftrightleftrightleft live cd - It's free, it's Coldplay, and it reminds me of their great live shows. What more can you ask for? A-

Survivor Tocantins finale - As expected, JT walked away with a million bucks, beating his unworthy opponent Stephen, who, for being an Ivy League grad/corporate consultant, was surprisingly lame in making his case to the jury in the final tribal council; he practically just handed the win over to JT. It was all very anticlimatic. B-

Haruki Murakami's South Of The Border, West Of The Sun - Finished reading this yesterday nite. Again a beautiful novel, full of music, melancholy and mystery. Did it all really happen, or was it hysteria siberiana? Who knows? I am next reading Milan Kundera's Ignorance. A-

The Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus trailer - Omigod. So freaking good. "It rises," a dude says ominously. And Deborah Gibson's line delivery ("We'll get them to kill each other.") is Oscar-worthy. The best part is the very last second. A+