Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

SPOILER WARNING! Don't read if you haven't already seen the movie!

By popular demand, I'll now do a quick review of the latest installment of the Indiana Jones saga. This movie has received mixed reviews. The general film-going public and critics received it fairly positively, and its box office performance was more than respectable, but the internet community has been pretty hard on the further adventure of the rawest archaelogist ever.

I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but I see some validity in the gripes, if not in the ferocity in which they're voiced.

Many complaints started a few seconds into the movie when the CGI prairie dog emerged from the Paramount-logo-faded molehill. Is this a complaint against the concept or the use of CGI? I'm not sure, but I understood that the scene was a pre-emptive in-joke against many of the very fanboy types who now slag the film. As someone who eagerly awaited the film enough to follow the internet banter leading up to it, I know that the old logo-fades-into-a-mountain was one of the overly quoted must-haves for the movie, as if the film-makers didn't understand their own tradition.

Next, the setting: The 50's replace the 30's, and this is emphasized over and over again in the first part of the movie in ways that are much less subtle than in the previous films. Perhaps this was a little gratuitous, and in some ways detracts from the timelessness of the series, but at the same time, it serves the story in an important way.

As the climax of the introductory event displays very clearly, this is truly a new era. The supernatural powers of the Ark, the Shankara Stones, and the Grail are no longer relevant in a world where man has attained greater power through science in the form of a nuclear bomb. As Indy's unlikely escape from a test blast proves, this type of adventurer is out of place in this setting, and when he emerges from the lead lined fridge, he steps foot into a very unfamiliar territory.

The unfamiliar realm opens up even more when the finale leads Indy and his crew to come face to face with a very different kind of otherworldly power than he had faced before. The inclusion of an alien-based artifact was in many ways the logical next step for the film, from a thematic standpoint (escalation of technological power) and the mood of the movie (50's extraterrestrial fascination). Ultimately, I would have liked to see a little bit less of the alien, to leave a little more mystery, and the UFO could have looked a bit more organic, but otherwise I could handle the change in direction.

The often maligned Shia LeBoeuf performed well, with a great reaction line ("Oh, it's just a...thing) although his Tarzan scene is the only other place I wish the film-makers would have used a bit more discretion. However, Desiree's observation that since Mutt was Indy's son, swinging was in his blood, was enough for me to give the sequence a pass.

Yes, there were a few other instances of oversights in plot construction, but truly there were as many in the original trilogy as well. I won't list them here, but they are real. We accepted them then as a younger, less skeptical film audience, and there is no reason we can't accept them now in the name of harmless entertainment.

That being said, I rate this film about on par with Temple of Doom (they are the most similar in pacing and characterization) and therefore at the lower end of the Indiana Jones spectrum. However, still worthy to bear the name, and a lot of fun to watch if the audience takes themselves no more seriously than did the film-makers.

I Have a Culinary Boner

The Top Chef reunion show featured a shirt that Des will have to start wearing in the kitchen, courtesy of her fan favorite chef, Andrew the Spazz.

It was funny when Lisa mentioned that people were giving her dirty looks on the street. Probably nothing new, just the first she noticed it.

So there's going to be a teen top chef next. Not sure if I'll bother watching what happens for that. There's enough mac n' cheese and hot dogs in the grown-up version.

Says Des: "What are we going to do Wednesday nights now?"

Also, rumor has it that Top Chef 5 will be in New York. Hopefully rumor is wrong and Phila has a chance!

Off topic: Our tomatoes, by request.




Next time: I'll review Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, also by request.

"Don't take that squash away from me, and leave me with that broccoli..."

We grew broccoli! And we already harvested it! And ate it!


Here's the broccoli less than 2 weeks ago when we first noticed the head.


Watch it grow!






After we harvested it.



The final product - chicken and broccoli stir fry.

Bruno (we call him Broccoli sometimes)

We also have teeny tomatoes, strawberries, and bell peppers. Yum!

The last one

The Top Chef season finale was really kind of low key compared to previous seasons. No live cut in for the results. No reunion. Really not much hype throughout the episode, and the challenge itself just kind of slid by without much real drama. Maybe this had to do with the relatively minor personalities left standing, or maybe as I've hypothesized before, the show just isn't what it once was. (Kind of like this blog.)

Nowhere near the euphoria of Hung's great victory of last season.

Richard was putting on a clinic in mad-scientist cooking for the celebrity guest chefs, including Eric Ripert, who is opening a new restaurant, 10 Arts, in Center City Philadelphia.

But, he said it himself, he choked. No where near his best showing. I'm a little disappointed, but on the other hand, it could have went way worse.

"My menu is really going to reflect my personality." - Lisa. You would think that meant her menu would feature dogshit, armpit hair, and grease, but it really looked like she was going to win for a minute. I'm sure 96% of Top Chef viewers were ready to puke.

So Stephanie wins (Jess Sum's favorite) and at least saves the show from the indignity of having Lisa represent the pinnacle of Top Chef. Unfortunately, since they always bring back finalists in later season episodes, we probably haven't seen the last of her.