Lone Locust Productions

Day: June 25, 2006

  • California Pizza Kitchen

    06-23-06_1910

    I could spend a lot of time making fun of the menu at California Pizza Kitchen. I have long maintained (and continue to stand by) my opinion that it was created to serve pizza to people who don’t really like pizza.

    Or, perhaps most of the menu is just pretentious crap?

    However, I’m not going to do that today, because, if you get past all the Thai noodles, gorgonzola, pears and lightly shaved kiwi skins, they can make a credible pizza, although few and far between on their menu.

    I don’t go there often because it’s too busy and too pretentious, but we were in the neighborhood and I knew I hadn’t properly reviewed their “standard” pepperoni pizza.

    So with that plan in my mind, I was promptly seduced into trying a new “specialty” pizza – the Pepperoni Pomodoro. The Pepperoni Pomodoro pizza is a neopolitan pizza described as, “Our Italian Pomodoro sauce with pepperoni, Mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh Mozzarella cheeses. Topped with fresh herbs.”

    At first I resisted, mostly because I honestly didn’t know what a pomodoro sauce was and I was afraid it might be made with asparagus, pears and avocados, but when I ordered a “normal” pepperoni pizza, the waiter suggested the pomodoro and it gave me the opportunity to ask what it was. Answer: a slightly chunky tomato sauce. It was a $1 more, but I decided to go for it.

    Irene, on the other hand, avoided pizza and had a dish of Thai Curry Noodles, which she really thought was good. She skipped pizza because they no longer serve the Peking Duck Pizza (I wish I were, but I’m not joking) and that’s what she was looking forward to.

    On to the pizza. The Pepperoni Pomodoro pizza has a nice, thin crust, followed by a layer of “chunky” pomodoro sauce, followed by a lot of cheese, pepperoni and finally some greenish sprinkles.

    The problems started right away. The thin crust was charred on the outer edge, so much so that carbonized crust kept coming off on my hands, leaving black marks that eventually ended up on my clothes, face and arms. Despite that, the crust was raw – an impressive accomplishment, but not of the good kind.

    The pomodoro sauce was nothing special and the fresh cheeses were… well, have you ever eaten mozzarella cheese right out of the package? It has a completely different flavor from cooked mozzarella – or, actually, it hasn’t much flavor at all. Much of the cheese on my pizza had the “raw” mozzarella flavor. The pepperoni was OK and the green sprinkles were just some ordinary Italian spices.

    All in all, I wasn’t happy with the pizza.

    While we were still eating, the manager cam over to a nearby table and apologized to them – their Pepperoni Pomodoro had been burned in the oven and they were cooking a new one. Sounds like they haven’t gotten the hang of making these just yet.

    In any case, until I get back and have a “normal” pepperoni pizza, I’m going to reserve final judgement on California Pizza Kitchen.

    Pepperoni Pomodoro, 11″, $10.99 or $0.12 (0.116) per square inch.

    California Pizza Kitchen
    Biltmore Fashion Park
    2400 E. Camelback Rd.
    Phoenix, AZ 85016
    Phone: (602) 553-8382

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  • Sailing with Long John Silver

    06-25-06_1136
    06-25-06_1118

    Nothing much to report on this one, but we went to Long John Silver’s for lunch today and, not only did we have really fresh fish and chicken, but James decided he was going to use a fork to feed himself.

    You can also see Michelle her modeling her pirate hat.

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  • Farty G?

    05-18-06_1944

    Somebody at Ikea must know what they are doing before they name these products!

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  • Costco Employee of the Month

    06-20-06_1143

    This picture is from lunchtime the other day. John must have been doing something right in the wardrobe department because he was mistaken for a Costco employee and asked for assistance not once, but twice!


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  • Bad Wolf – Bad Writing

    I didn’t write reviews for last season’s Doctor Who episodes, but there was one thing that’s been bugging me.

    This year, as mentioned, Russell T. Davies has been trying to pummel us senseless with the constant and absurdly out-of-place Torchwood references. Last season we got Bad Wolfed to death.

    In virtually every episode, the phrase “Bad Wolf” showed up. I can’t even remember all them, but here are just some samples:

    Unquiet Dead: The psychic girl says Rose has seen, “The Bad Wolf” (when clearly Rose hasn’t)
    Aliens of London: Bad Wolf spray painted on TARDIS by miscreant youth
    Dalek: The Bad Guy’s helicopter is called “Bad Wolf” (note, Doctor and Rose never actually know that or hear the reference to it.
    The Long Game: Network TV Station called “Bad Wolf”
    Boom Town: Nuclear Reactor named “Bad Wolf”, in Welsh
    Bad Wolf: Corporation called Bad Wolf,
    Parting of the Ways: Playground chalk writing says Bad Wolf.

    So, what’s the Bad Wolf? If you follow the episode it is finally revealed that “Bad Wolf” is the warning that Rose, with the help of the time vortex, sends back in time to warn herself and the Doctor about the Daleks.

    Didn’t anyone ever notice that, as warning go, it sucked? How about this message: “The Daleks aren’t dead!” or, if we insist on the notion she was sending the corporation’s name as a warning about them, how about: “Bad Wolf Corporation are Daleks!” Why send herself a message that she knows she won’t understand? Or indeed, why send it to places where she’ll never even hear it? It’s just idiotic.

    Clearly that wasn’t the original idea for Bad Wolf. We know that there were long negotiations to get the Daleks in the series and it seemed at one point that it wouldn’t happen. Perhaps there was some other ending, something that really did involve a wolf? The werewolf from “Tooth & Claw” perhaps?

    We may never know until Russell T. Davies writes his memoirs.

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  • Doctor Who – Army of Ghosts Trailer – Observations

    The trailer for Army of Ghosts at the end of Fear Her is worth a little speculation.

    Basically, we see the Doctor captured by Torchwood and their meddling bringing Cybermen to Earth for an invasion. Along the way we also see an “army of ghosts.”

    What’s important are some of the less obvious things. It’s no surprise, but we briefly see Mickey, Jackie and Rose’s father standing behind the Doctor, clearly demonstrating that these are the Cybermen from the alternate universe and that Mickey is coming home. Perhaps the alternate Earth wasn’t named Earth, perhaps it was named Mondas – Earth’s “twin planet” from The Tenth Planet.

    Rose clearly states that this is her last story to tell, and we’re given a replay of Satan’s words about her dying in battle. A lot of people jumped on that statement during the Satan Pit. I tend to agree with the Doctor, he lied. Why? Because if he could see the future, he knew he would die at Rose’s hands and never escape. That’s the problem with writing characters who can see the future, and it often trips up writers who don’t consider it thoroughly.

    Does Rose die? If so, how can she tell us it is the last story she’ll tell. My guess is that it is Jackie’s death coming, not Rose’s, and that Rose, Mickey and her father will ultimately have some reason to stay together and leave the Doctor – but that’s pure speculation.

    If you’ve been watching “Totally Doctor Who” you might have noticed in the animation at the beginning of the show the Cybermen are blasting away with arm mounted guns, none of which are seen in Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel. In the trailer for Army of Ghosts Cybermen both with and without arm weapons are clearly shown.

    Finally, of course, the trailer clearly reveals a Dalek weapon blasting both humans and Cybermen. (No Daleks are shown, though) We also see the Doctor carrying a weapon-like pack that has what appears to be a Dalek sucker-arm on it.

    This is the second time the Daleks have come back from non-existence. It’s time to restore the Time Lords and, most importantly, the Master.

    It looks like it might be an exciting season finale, I just hope Russell T. Davies didn’t write it – but I’m sure that he did. 🙁

    I still wonder why imdb.com at one point was listing Terry Molloy as Davros in this final two-parter?

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  • Doctor Who – Fear Her – Review

    Fear Her
    by Matthew Graham

    I had wondered how they ever managed to afford the obviously hyper-expensive Impossible Planet/Satan Pit episodes (especially after spending all the money on the horse in The Girl in the Fireplace) and this episode helps answer that question: This and the previous Love & Monsters were two cheapo episodes.

    That’s not necessarily a bad thing, at least not in the case of Fear Her.

    The Doctor and Rose arrive in the near future to see the opening of the London Olympic games, but they arrive just one week after an alien arrives and possesses a young girl living on an ordinary street.

    The alien gives her the power to capture people into some form of limbo by drawing them. As a negative side effect, it also allows her to create living things from drawings – the monsters in her dreams.

    Ultimately the Doctor and the TARDIS are drawn into the other world and Rose is left to save the day. Fitting, I suppose that she gets one last chance to shine as a companion before “the end” of her time aboard the TARDIS.

    It was a lightweight episode, but the pacing and acting were good. My main complaints dealt with the fact that although the Doctor got to talk and reason with the alien, he never bothered to offer to help it back to its family and the terribly corny ending where the Doctor must carry the Olympic Torch to the stadium and light the flame. (Was the torch made of wood? Did that constitute this episode’s Torchwood reference?)

    My favorite moment in the episode was where the Doctor finally gives a bit of legitimacy to his relationship with his very first companion, Susan, who always called him “grandfather.” In an offhand comment to Rose (that really throws her for a loop) he states, “I was a father, once.” Once again, Rose realizes how little she really knows or understands about the Doctor.

    The very end of the episode is also a little heavy-handed, with the Doctor “sensing” that a storm is coming, foreshadowing the Cybermen/Dalek war in the next episode.

    I’m always amused by how writers have to try to work around things. In this episode, set at the beginning of the summer Olympic Games, the air outside on location is clearly very cold and everyone’s breath is obvious. When they arrives, the Doctor points out something is making it cold, and it later revealed to be the alien’s pod absorbing the heat; however, after the alien has gone home, everybody still appears to be freezing on that summer night.

    The trailer for the next episode was significant enough to give it an entry of its own.

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