Dinner or a Movie?

Dinner and a movie–the common cliché. It’s what a lot of people think of when the word “date” is mentioned. But is that necessarily the way to go? We’ve all heard of the expression, “Tried and true,” but does that really apply to dating? I’m no Dr. Phil, and I’m not trying to lay down the law in dating, but I have my own philosophies and practices I’d like to share:

First, I refrain from taking someone to a movie as a date. I suggest you do the same, too–especially on the first date. The reason is obvious: it’s dark, quiet and, if you don’t know the other person, awkward. If you’re not sure what kind of activities would make a good date, or you are broke, you can’t go wrong with just dinner; everyone likes to eat, and a quiet scenery will give a couple a chance to interact and get to know one another. This is vital for a first date, because you are basically two strangers and need time and communication to breech that comfort zone. 

Keep it simple. The purpose of a date is to get to know one another.

I always try to keep the first date simple. I avoid doing things like hiking or golfing because I’m not sure the other person likes doing those things. Going to a theme park would be extremely difficult to follow on the second date and getting drunk at a bar would be just a horrible idea to establish a first impression. A dinner at a quiet restaurant is the best way to go.

It's not what you're doing on a date, but who you're doing it with.

In reality, the best dates we remember are those we had with people that were fun and engaging–not the dates that were expensive and flamboyant. I like to just be myself. If the other person doesn’t like me in my own colors, the first date is the best time to figure that out.

I also don’t usually buy the girl dinner on the first date. I know that goes against tradition, but at this point I don’t know for sure if there is going to even be a second date. Why would I waste money like that on someone I will never see again? I’m not trying to encourage stuck-up behavior, but that’s just my point of view. I do, however, treat the girl to the second or third dinner, being more confident that I am not wasting my money, or time.

Beer or Wine?

For most of my adult life I have considered myself a beer drinking man–namely, Bud Light (as you may have guessed from my recent critique of the new Bud Light Platinum). Recently, however, I have found myself growing a liking to wine. To say that beer and wine have a lot in common would be like saying Webster Dictionary and Urban Dictionary are one and the same. Let’s make a quick comparison of the two beverages:

Alcohol Content: On average, beer has an alcohol content of 4-6% by volume; whereas, wine usually ranges from 10.7-12.4%. The light beers are usually the beverages around 4% alcohol and the darker beers come in at 5-6%. In wine, it’s a little bit more complex. White wine, as a general rule, has a lower alcohol content than red wine. The alcohol content is also dependent on how dry the wine is (dry means bitter). I personally drink wine for the taste and its contribution to a meal. Thus, I prefer the sweeter, but soberer wines to the drier, difficult to ingest wines. There is one more twist to the alcohol content of wine: ice wine. It is frozen halfway through distilment, not only causing a sweeter than normal taste, but also elevating the alcohol content, which ranks at about 12.4%. If you really want to get crazy, there’s a special red wine, known as Port Wine. At 20%, its alcohol content is comparable to that of liquor.

Flavor: For those of you who have never had beer, you’re not really missing out on a whole lot when it comes to flavor. It’s an acquired taste; and how well it goes down depends on its overall intensity. Darker beers tend to pack more of a punch, and have a bitterer aftertaste. Beer is never really sweet; it goes from weak flavor (light beer) to strong flavor (dark beer). German beers are closest to what would be considered a sweet beer (German beer is pretty awesome). Wine, on the other hand, can be either very sweet and delicious, or extremely dry and often, in my opinion, foul tasting. Chardonnay is a dry, red wine. If you think beer is an acquired taste, have a bottle of cheap chardonnay. White wine, as a general rule, is sweeter than red wine. There are exceptions to this rule, just as there were exceptions to the alcohol content rule. Missouri red wine, for example, is usually very sweet because of the concord grapes used to make it.

Social Junctions: Wine is most famous for its place in upper-class society and romantic dinners. Beer, on the other hand, is most infamous for binge-drinking youth and out of control parties. Though beer’s image may be tainted, there is nothing wrong with drinking a couple brewskies during a football game–wine just wouldn’t feel right.

Health Hazards: Alcohol is a poison, which cannot be metabolized by the body. In order for your body to get rid of it, the liver breaks it down. Not only can it damage and destroy the liver if you excessively drink alcohol, but it can also damage other cells in the body–including brain cells. This is one of the reasons (among several) why binge drinking is strongly discouraged.

Health Benefits: Recent studies suggest drinking one to two 12oz glasses a day of either wine or beer–alcohol namely–can lower your risk of heart disease. Alcohol (in moderation) increases the amount of HDL (good cholesterol) in your blood stream, and also seems to benefit the lining of blood vessels, making them less likely to form clots. No clots means no stroke. I recall the last time I had my cholesterol checked my HDL was low. Little did I know I wasn’t drinking enough beer/wine.

Movie Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

We begin in a dark room illuminated by a single, dim light. An old man crouches behind what appears to be either a desk or a small table. A younger man sits in front and to the left of the desk. Stacks of files and papers surround the old man. The desk is heavily cluttered. Ashtrays over-flow with mashed down cigarettes.

“Trust no one, Jim,” the old man says. “Especially not in the main stream.” In front of him is a chessboard. The pieces have pictures of five faces taped to them. He aligns the pieces at the front of the desk. “There’s a rotten apple, Jim, and we have to find it.”

The five faces are those of top agents in MI6 (the CIA for Great Brittan), also known as the Circus. The old man is Control (John Hurt), and he believes one of these five is a mole for the Russians. This belief has become an obsession. An obsession that Control believes he is at the verge of resolving. He secretly sends Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to Hungry in hopes that the final piece to his troubling puzzle is there.

Unfortunately, the mission Control sends Prideaux on is botched, forcing Control to retire and take his right-hand man, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), with him. The internal investigation is forgotten until Minister Lacon (Simon McBurney) is approached by an AWOL spy about a mole at the top of Circus. Sadly, by this point Control has passed away, and the knowledge he has goes along with him. In desperation, Lacon decides to bring Smiley out of retirement to lead a team to spy on the spies in MI6.

A question lingered in my mind as I watched this film: is it based on a true story? Only after the film was over and the credits began without noting any such real-world events did I realize the answer to my question. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (127 minutes) is set in 1973, at the peak of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and is an impressive portrayal of the same-named novel by John le Carré.

The reason I wondered if it were based on a true story is because of the realism. These appeared to be real agents, in a real organization, following real-world laws of physics. Other spy movies tend to have completely fake and unrealistic plots with the carved-chin cool and confidant heartthrob who is mankind’s only hope for survival. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has no such heartthrob. The majority of the agents portrayed in this film are rather old and those that are young are the agency’s scalp hunters and pawns.

The agency is presented realistically. The women in the film only work secretary positions and are frequently flirted with by the gentlemen in the film. This is a very probable environment in 1973. The dim light and smoky environment give the film a dark atmosphere.

Tinker Tailor Solder Spy is a brilliant orchestration of espionage, betrayal and treason of the highest degree. It also accounts affairs and forbidden love, as well as the twisted emotions that result. This is a world where no one trusts anyone, and tensions are always on edge. Even though this is a spy movie, the plot is very thick. This is one of those movies you have to watch twice in order to fully understand and appreciate. The violence is brutal in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In one scene, a woman gets shot in the head while nursing her infant. In another, a spy witnesses domestic abuse while observing a Russian agent.

The only gripe I would really have is the flashbacks. They occur in this movie without warning. It is very easy to think you’re watching the current time when it is actually from the past. This can throw you off and confuse you while trying to follow the plot. As said earlier, this is a movie you’ll probably need to see twice. But it is definitely worth the second view.

I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of George Smiley by Gary Oldman. The closed off manner of his interactions told of a man who had endured countless years of pain. He only speaks when he has to, and when he does it’s powerful.

The screenplay, written by Bridget O’Conner and Peter Straughan, is skillfully crafted. O’Conner actually passed away from cancer before the movie went into production. A dedication is made to her at the end of the film, before the credits. The director, Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) does an outstanding job of bringing the smoke-clouded and checker-walled world of the Circus to life.

“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is rated R (due to violence, language and sexuality).

The Taste of Platinum

The bright, blue bottle is eye-catching. The name is intriguing. Introduced a week before the Super Bowl by Anheuser-Bush, Bud Light Platinum is hardly light. It has the smooth texture of Bud Light, but has the alcohol content of something much stronger. Bud Light Platinum is 6% alcohol by volume, as opposed to regular Bud Light, which is 4.2%. This is a very rich alcohol content for a “light” beer, considering usually dark beers only range in the 6% area. Anheuser-Busch’s very own Budweiser just has 5%.

If your beer of choice is Bud Light, when you take your first sip of Bud Light Platinum you’ll notice its flavor is pretty similar to Bud Light. But it’s just not the same. If Bud Light isn’t your favorite beverage, then hopefully you can appreciate when I say Bud Light Platinum is like a light beer on steroids. Heavy steroids.

In my opinion, it makes Bud Light taste watered down in comparison. When compared to the tastes of Bud Light and Budweiser, I’d have to place it in the middle. It is very smooth like Bud Light, strong like Budweiser, but doesn’t have that rough aftertaste of Budweiser, either. It does have a bit of an aftertaste, but that’s mostly due to the high alcohol content.

Just like its taste, Bud Light Platinum’s calorie content (137 per 12oz bottle) is somewhere in the middle when compared to Bud Light and Budweiser. Bud Light has 110 calories per 12oz bottle and Budweiser has 145.

The word Platinum suggests a prestige product, and so does its price. On average, Bud Light Platinum costs about a dollar more than other Anheuser-Busch beers when purchased in a six-pack. Is it worth the extra money? I think on special occasions it is. After I had 3 beers of Bud Light Platinum I felt like I usually did after 4 and a half Bud Lights. Therefore, the higher alcohol content will ensure you get your money’s worth.

The Book of Eli

 The camera guides the viewer through a barely standing forest, with the sun illuminating smoky air. Torched by an intense fire, all that remains are black trees, which constantly shed what appears to be either ashes or leaves. The only life forms present are starving and ravaged. This post-apocalyptic world is where we find Eli (Denzel Washington), one of the few survivors of a long forgotten world who, with machete in hand, is prepared for anything and ready to do anything to protect himself and his cargo from the horrors of this torn and twisted world.

As we follow Eli through a desert-like terrain spattered with missile craters and half destroyed cars and demolished roads, it almost seems as if he is traversing through the ruins of a large city, if not a massive junkyard. You can’t help but realize a sense of lost hope as you watch Eli wander across this dead planet and encounter corpses of the unfortunate.

The movie soon moves to violence as Eli is ambushed by a group of rogue “outlanders,” desperate to survive in this cruel world. It becomes apparent that Eli is not the man to mess with when he takes on the entire clan and kills them with ease. Eli proves not to hesitate to do what he must to make his way west, where, for some reason, he believes there is something for him and his book–his very motive for survival.

Having run out of subsidence, Eli’s search for water brings him to an outpost in the middle of nothing which is run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who is eager to expand his territories through manipulating the hopeless minds of the post-apocalyptic peoples through inspiration brought from a special book–a book only Eli has possession of.

From here, the conflict escalates as Carnegie tries to get Eli’s precious book and Eli refuses all advances. When a local girl, Solara (Mila Kunis), attaches herself to Eli he reluctantly has to look out for her, too.

The directors, twins Allen and Albert Hughes work brilliantly together to give the film more of an eerie feel. Eli is captivating as a distrusting religious man, mellowed down from years of solitude. Carnegie is the perfect villain for this movie, both engaging and viscous; he is limitless on what he’ll do to get what he wants. Solara is the sweetheart with good intentions but at first only causes Eli grief.

If this movie teaches us anything, it teaches us the true power of ignorance, as well as the power of hope. This movie shows us the consequences of our mistakes before we make them, and perhaps we can learn from our mistakes before they happen.

Pringles for Breakfast?

Everyone's familiar with the salty snack that, "Once you pop, you can’t stop." It was announced that Kellogg has decided to buy Pringles from Procter & Gamble for $2.7 billion. According to BBC News (2012), Pringles are sold in more than 140 countries and generate annual sales of $1.5 billion. It’s safe to say Kellogg will get its money back in two or so years.
 

Why the sale? Originally P&G wanted to sale Pringles to Diamond Foods but the deal never went through because Diamond had problems with its accounts. How I interpret this is that P&G has been trying to sale Pringles for a while. P&G is a billion dollar company but when you look at all the products it offers (Crest, Olay, Mr. Clean, etc.), Pringles doesn’t really fit in anywhere. Because Pringles is the only brand geared toward food, it makes sense for P&G to trim it off their business tree. One brand is hardly enough to justify the investments required for marketing to that particular niche.

Kellogg, a company most famous for its breakfast foods, will be adding a new niche–lunch snacks. I am very interested in seeing where this procurement will lead. Will Kellogg expand on its new marketing area? Or will it stay like it is: 37 different kinds of breakfast foods, and Pringles?

Jersey Shore Part II

Last week I took you into a world few people haven't heard of: Jersey Shore. It's synonymous with summer, east coast, clubbing and alcohol. I wanted to review Jersey Shore because I really am not familiar with it, myself. Since it first aired I was quick to judge it but I never gave it a fair chance. After watching two episodes, my opinion hasn’t really changed.

This is a world of summer fun–of alcohol and sex. It’s a world where it’s not what you know, but how you look. The people here couldn’t care less what’s on the inside if you’re outside isn’t suntanned crispy and your abs aren’t playgirl material. Lawyers and doctors don’t stand a chance.

In the first episode Nicole (Snookie) got belligerently wasted, rubbed up on the male house guests and passed out–missing the house’s quality bonding time. Being the awkward stranger (everybody lost respect for her after her behavior), she is compelled to leave Jersey Shore and go back to where everyone “treats [her] like a princess.”

Moral of the story: upon the first night of being with new people in an unfamiliar area don’t drink excessively, kiss up on strangers and pass out.

In the second episode we find the house guests doing their first day of work at the T-Shirt store. Angelina greets this new job with protest. She reflects, “When I think of Jersey Shore I think of a playground.” Of course you shouldn’t be bothered with a job while partying it up in Jersey Shore. God forbid you have to contribute to society in any way while here. She was very devastated to find out Dan (the store owner and their landlord) expected her to work more than once a week. “I feel like this job is beneath me,” she complains. She remarks, “I’m a bartender,” as if bartending is a real step-up from sales. When referring to her job back home, she says, “I do…like, you know, great things.” As we all know, nothing is greater than pouring two different kinds of beverages into a cup and handing it to a customer for an exaggerated tip. Spending eight to nine hours of a day at this shop is overwhelming for her. This only demonstrates that she’s never had a real job in her life.

When the group does go out at night it is nothing less than epic. They go to the craziest clubs and nobody is off-limits. Jenni (Jwow) fools around with Pauly D and Sammi makes out with Ronnie. As previously stated, Jwow, the “praying mantis,” has a boyfriend back home, thus, what she does with Pauly D is probably disliked by her man. Sammi’s and Ronnie’s interaction wouldn’t be too eye-catching if Sammi hadn’t already been talking to Mike (The Situation). “The Situation just never fails,” Mike says, in reference to his competition to winning Sammi over. This of course is a major blow to his ego, because he doesn’t exactly succeed in this situation.