When in doubt, eat where the Greeks eat.

Last Sunday my boyfriend and I went to the Santorini Taverna for brunch. We were a bit skeptical since it was out in Eden Prairie, but it was AMAZING! It is the best brunch buffet in the Twin Cities area, hands down! This is another venture by the famed Minneapolis Nicklow Brothers. First off, when I go to ethnic restaurants, I am completely reassured when people of that nationality are actually eating there. In the case of Santorini, there were Greek families everywhere. So, you know their food has to be authentic and delicious. The buffet was the largest I've ever seen. The first table was salads and breads. They had more than 15 different kinds of meat, veggie, and pasta salads. The second table was your warm breakfast foods, like bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, lamb (because it's Greek), Belgium waffles, and a prime roast carving station. They had vegetarian eggs Benedict, which I wasn't sure if I'd like because I'm a meat-lovin' girl, but it was tasty! The third table (and my boyfriend's favorite) was the dessert table, complete with ice cream, baklava, and a chocolate fountain. Holy food coma! Make sure you're hungry when you go because it's hard to pass on trying all the enticing food the put in front of you!

Would the real Banksy please stand up?

Yesterday afternoon before the Oscars, I watch one of the documentary nominees, "Exit Through the Gift Shop." I've always has a secret obsession with street art, so it was interesting to see the behind-the-scenes action covered for the first time. While the film profiled several U.S. artists, the main focus was on mystery U.K. artist Banksy. I have loved his work for years and the mystery surrounding him just makes it even more interesting. The movie starts out following the original filmer, Thierry. For a while Thierry is loved by the street artists for his passion and helpfulness. Banksy wants to help Thierry make a film about street art, so he even takes him under his wing. However, when Banksy finally sees Thierry's finished product and realizes this guy is not a film maker and his final output is horrendous. Banksy then recommends maybe Thierry tries his own hand at street art (so Banksy can take over the movie), which quickly spins out of control with Theirry's alter ego, Mr. Brain Wash. I loved all of the interviews with Banksy. He's completely honest with all of his thoughts and feelings. So brilliant! I wonder how Theirry's wife didn't divorce him through all this. I can't believe his art ended up fetching such high prices, although I bet he now has problems finding people to work for him. And I love the final note, that Banksy will never again help with a documentary on street art. The hype surrounding this last night at the Oscar's is that if "Exit Through the Gift Shop" won, Banksy would reveal himself. I kinda doubted he would, but the film lost to "Inside Job," so I guess we'll never know!

Oscar wrap-up

Well, awards season is coming to an end. The Oscars were last night and my predictions were pretty close. The only category I was surprised by was "Best Director," which ended up going to Tom Hooper of "The King's Speech." It was widely assumed that this award would go to David Fincher for "The Social Network." Runner-up as favorite director was Darren Aronofsky for "Black Swan." Other than that, most awards went to the category favorites and the choices were very close to those who took home SAGs and Golden Globes this season. As for the actually show, it was pretty boring this year. Host James Franco looked stoned most of the time and seemed to give up caring halfway through. Anne Hatheway, the other host, looked nervous half the time and ended giggling like a 14-year old whenever she ran out of things to say. They should have given her more singing and performing numbers,  as that's what she excels at, not emceeing. The fashion was not hugely exciting. Helen Bonham Carter did not get nearly as kooky as she usually does. All of my favorites were the purple and blue dresses (pictures below).

After a long week, I'm looking forward to Caturday....

Cool promotion on Facebook

As advertising is my chosen profession, I try to throw in a blog entry whenever I see something I think is well executed. Tons of companies have been utilizing social media in the last few years and a lot of those dollars go to Facebook, which is not surprising. The biggest successes come from campaigns that go viral. This morning I noticed everyone on my wall liking the NBC show, "America's Next Great Restaurant." Now, I've been seeing previews for it and it looks like an interesting show, but why the sudden interest? Turns out they are running a clever promotion on Facebook that gets people to "Like" the show's page, watch a video, and get a coupon. Getting consumers to do all three of those activities in one go is every advertiser's dream. It's a co-promotion with NBC and Chipotle and in the end, you get a BOGO deal to Chipotle. Very cool! Check it out here: http://apps.facebook.com/videocoupon/

It may be a kid's movie, but I love...

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It came out almost two years ago but I watched it again last night for pretty much the fourth time and I still love it. The first time I saw it in theaters was in 3D and the spectacle of giant food flying toward me was awesome! The movie makes me laugh out loud multiple viewing times later. It had so many witty and clever comments tucked in almost every dialog. Visually, it's stunning. The colors they use are so vivid, like the scene with the golden Jello castle against the fuchsia sunset. All of the characters are so well developed. I love the uni-browed father, who can't tell his son how much he loves his without fishing metaphors. The cop father and his little boy Cal are hilarious! And my favorite is Steve the Monkey, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. Can NPH do no wrong? Plus, I'm probably a little biased since this was one of my favorite books growing up. The movie is a great translation of it and even adds more character and life into it!

Broder's Pasta Bar Review

Broder's is a great little Italian restaurant over on 50th and Penn in South Minneapolis. They make all of their pasta by hand and use a lot of seasonal/local ingredients. Everything is cooked to order, so it all tastes very fresh. For appetizers, we tried a pizza with pear and tomato. Pear on a pizza sounds odd, but it actually tastes quite good! We also got their roasted garlic bulbs, which were soft and delicious. You really can't got wrong with giant garlic cloves. For salads, we sampled their Caesar, which was good but nothing to write home about, and their winter caprese salad. Their caprese salad was very unique because they served the mozzarella and tomato along a variety of root veggies, like potatoes, parsnips, carrots and turnips. For the entree course, I tried portions of the crab lasagna and the lobster pasta. My favorite was the pasta with lobster, squash, and truffle cream. It was creamy and peppery perfection. The crab lasagna was good and had a little spice kick to it, which I appreciated. My only complaint was that they left a bit of the exoskeleton on the crab by accident, which is never a good crunch to get. For dessert I had some bites of their tiramisu, which was a well-balanced blend of cream and espresso. The interior of the restaurant is a clean, simple, and warm as their food. And of course the wine list is nothing to scoff at. If you want good pasta, this is the place to go!

NEW ATMOSPHERE!!

Anyone who knows me knows Atmosphere has been one of my favorite artists since I was 16. I see them in concert at least twice a year. I think Slug's one of the best lyricists in the hip hop world. He's very honest and real in all of his songs, has something for just about every mood, and touts the Minnesota pride. Ant drops amazing beats and shows off his versatility in every album. Their new album, "The Family Sign," is their 7th official studio album, although they've done a ton of shorter LPs, leak-able tracks, and a lots of other tunes in an "unofficial" capacity. "The Family Sign" will be released April 12th, 2011 but you can preview it online and The Current has been playing some of it. From what I've heard so far, this is a very mature album for Slug and Ant, who aren't always the most mature of men (for which we love them for). Many of the lyrics on the new album seem to deal with themes of overcoming loss of love, family, and friends. It's about the love that's loyal and stays with you. Through this whole evolution, I feel like I'm growing up right along side them. 

Atmosphere will be doing a promotional "Family" tour to promote the new album with Blueprint (who's also releasing new tunes), Grieves, Sab The Artist, and DJ Abilities.

Obsession of the Morning

This morning I went online to my shopping addiction, Rue La La, and the designer boutique of the day is one of my all-time favorite designers, Robert Rodriguez. I'm totally loving a couple of his more sparkly pieces from this season!

CD Release: Sims' "Bad Time Zoo"

Last Saturday night I went to the Fine Line for Sims' new CD Release. Sims is part of the popular Minneapolis hip hop group, Doomtree, who I'm a huge fan of. Everyone in Doomtree has a solo act outside of the group, and while all are pretty good, Sims is my favorite by far. It's probably because I have a huge soft spot for liberal-leaning politically-fueled rhymes. His new CD is "Bad Time Zoo"and so far I love what I've heard. My favorite track is "One Dimensional Man," which calls out liberals who are really just phoning it in as they think they should instead of really trying to make a difference. Lazerbeak is back on the CD with Sims, creating those heavy beats he's known for and excels at. The show itself was great. It was like a deconstruction of Doomtree, with everyone pulling out their solo acts leading up to Sims. Their support for him is undeniable. It's so nice to see a group where egos are in check and everyone supports and promotes each other. That's a rare thing to find in hip hop these days.

A weekend of weak movies

I watched a couple movies this weekend and unfortunately was not wowed by any of them. Here's my rundown of reviews.

First up is "Red." I actually had high hopes for this one. It features a star-studded cast, with Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Morgan Freeman. It was a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical." Well, I think the nomination was a bit of a stretch. The movie was light-hearted. It had funny moments. Overall the plot was pretty predictable. Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker worked way better as a couple than I thought they would. I'm glad they went with MLP and not some 20-somthing "it" girl. The best part of the movie by far was Helen Mirren. She's a bad-ass. I love that woman.

The second movie on the queue this weekend was "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" Once again, this also had a Golden Globe nomination this year (Michael Douglas for Best Support Actor). I'm seriously starting to worry about the Globes. I had recently re-watched the first "Wall Street" movie to prepare for this one, which is a great movie. Of course there was a cameo by Charlie Sheen in this sequel. Michael Douglas was good in it but Gordon Gekko wasn't as big of a role int his one as I thought it would be, given the hype. Shia LaBeouf was the main lead. He and Carey Mulligan's character were clearly in their mid-20's, yet super successful, living in a multi-million dollar condo in NYC, and Shia was getting bonus checks for $1.5MM. Yeah, that would have been a bit more believable with someone a bit older. The main plot of the movie was an issue between Shia and Josh Brolin's character. Josh Brolin was pretty good in this movie. He should have received more recognition.

Last but not least is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long, long time, "MacGruber."I know I'm not in this movie's target demo, but my boyfriend is, and he even concurred that this movie was awful. It was gross. It wasn't funny. It was more just disturbing that it was ever green-lit by a studio to be made. I wan't to know why this wasn't up for Razzies! Kristen Wiig, you are too funny to be making movies like this. And Ryan Phillippe, what happened to your career? Better question, Val Kilmer, what happened to your career?? Please find a treadmill ASAP and get off the crazy train. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

My rant on American Apparel

Over lunch today, I went shopping at the store American Apparel. Now, I already knew I was not a huge fan of the store based on my one prior experience with it. A couple Christmases ago I needed sparkly blue tights. Now, that's not a common thing to sell but a friend of mine told me American Apparel sold funky colored tights year around. Excited, as I lived just around the corner from one, I ran over to check out the selection, saw a beautiful pair of blue, glittery tights, grabbed them, and headed to the register. Silly me, not pausing to look at the price of the tights, but I mean, they were tights! How much could they really be? $35. Plus tax.

So, back to the story at hand, I only went to American Apparel because they went on Groupon and I thought, hey, maybe I'll like them more with a Groupon because they'll be more affordable. Ha. How wrong I was. Here are a list of my main grievances:

1. Things are still ridiculously expensive. It's hipster clothing. Aren't real hipsters suppose to like shopping at Goodwill? Isn't capitalizing on hipsters a slight oxymoron? And it's simple items. How is one piece of fabric, twisted and shaped in some way, amounting to so much money?

2. They plaster their store with "Made In America" signs, yet make their ad campaigns all risque and avant garde (aka child pornography). Then when they get in trouble in America, they point fingers at all the risque ads in Europe and say, "we're not as scandalous as that, why can't America just accept we're pushing the boundaries?" Do hipsters even care about being patriotic anyway? Do they make sparkly American flags? Well, guess what hipsters, American Apparel's CEO is Canadian.

3. The CEO. His name is Dov Charney. He looks like a Chester Molester if I ever saw one (see pic below). He's been the subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits. While none were ever proven, when you make payoffs of $1.3MM to these girls, you don't come off as looking innocent....

4. The sizes. So, this store says nothing about being a store for junior sizes. I'm a size 8-10. I'm a healthy woman. I work out. I enjoy eating food. I have boobs. I fit into nothing under an XL in this store. Can you only be a hipster if you're are skinny?

5. The actual clothes are bizarre. There's a lot of lyrca and spandex. There's a lot of leotards. There's a lot of color patterns that look like they were stolen off a figure skater in 1980. I have yet to see anyone on the streets actually wearing a spandex leotard. There are a couple t-shirt dresses that look normal when they're on the hanger. As soon as you put one of these seemingly normal garment on, they decide to cling to your body in the oddest places.

Mainly, I just feel really bad for anyone who decides to work at American Apparel. They got in big trouble when their employee dress code book was released. There's a funny article on Gawker where AA employees can share their stories, which is quite hilarious to read: http://gawker.com/#!5564171/life-at-american-apparel-the-employees-speak I hear you AA employees, I feel your pain. I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch for two days in college. They told me my red-streaked hair didn't look natural and I'd need to dye it. And I'd need to take out my minuscule nose piercing sparkle. Yet somehow the girls with the oompa loompa orange tans and bleach blond hair looked natural? Needless to say, that was my shortest career. Get out, get out while you can.

Whew, this rant has tuckered me out. I'm going to go eat a cookie and have a glass of wine. And think about how wonderful it is that I don't actually fit into American Apparel clothing. Thank god.

Waiting for Caturday....

Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Last night I watched the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World." My boyfriend was a little hesitant to watch it with me because it looked "weird." Well, he wasn't too far off the mark, it was definitely different. I usually like more avant garde movies. I watch a lot of movies and I need things out of the norm to not get bored with a lot of today's "movie blockbusters." It's got a lot of bigger names in it, like Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick, Chris Evans, and Jason Schwartzman. My favorite character, the cynical gay roomate, was played by the underrated Kieren Culkin. The visual effects of this movie tried hard to dazzle, as they attempted to make real life into an old-school Nintendo game. It had it's funny moments too. But this movie did not need to be two hours long. By the end, it was just dragging and you just wanted it to be over. And I loved Michael Cera in "Arrested Development," but in all the movies he makes these days, his performances tend to fall a bit flat.

Kitty love

It was a rough Wednesday and a friend sent me the following link:

http://lovemeow.com/2010/02/lynx-and-persian-cat-best-buddies/ This totally made me "awww" out-loud (how could it not!). So to everyone who could use a little pick-me-up, here's more proof that love is everywhere and doesn't discriminate <3

Lunch at the News Room

Today I went to lunch at the News Room, on Nicollet Ave in downtown Minneapolis. This is one of my favorite places to grab lunch in downtown. In the summer they have a large patio outside on Nicollet, where some of the best people watching happens. The ambiance of the inside is great. There are different rooms centering around different editorial genres. The bar is in a huge wooden ship with a mermaid, which looks cool although I'm not sure what it has to do with newspaper. Their food is delicious. I would recommend a salad if you go. They have a list of unique salads that are always huge and flavorful. My favorite is the calamari salad, but the cobb, lobster, and Greek are also wonderful. It's also a great place to go for happy hour. They have food and drink specials. I like their hummus appetizer.

A fancy steak dinner.... in the suburbs

Last night I went to Valentine's Day dinner with the boyfriend. We've been pretty much every restaurant in the city, so we trekked out to Maple Grove to eat at Pittsburgh Blue. Pittsburgh Blue is owned by Parasole, a restaurant holding company that also owns Mozza Mia, il Gato, Manny's, Burger Jones, Chino Latino, Cafeteria, Muffletta, Salut, and Good Earth. The menu was slightly similar to Manny's. The food was delicious. We started out with the lump crab cakes, served with a corn relish and spicy mustard aoili. For an entree, we split the 16oz cut of the rock salt crusted prime rib, which came with bearnaise, au jus, and horseradish sauce. The meat was super think and juicy. My only complaint is that at least 2 oz were solid fat. For the ala carte side items we got the asparagus with hollandaise, the grown-up mac and cheese, and the bleu cheese hashbrowns. The asparagus stalks were thick, juicy, and seasoned perfectly. The prices were what you'd expect, and the ambiance was like any typical steak joint. It was good, but it didn't really stand out from all your other upscale steak joints. 

Movies of the weekend

I didn't have time to make it to the movie theater this weekend, but we had a couple good Netflix rentals worth reviewing. The first one we watch was "Defiance," a WWII movie starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber. It's a true story about two Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. They join forces with Russian resistance fighters and build a secret village in the forest as a safe haven for Jews to hide. The premise was certainly interesting enough, but the movie was slow-going. The tone gets a little preachy and there are some metaphoric scenes with a "hero" on a white horse that were a little too over-obvious for me. Daniel Craig's acting was a little flat for me. I thought the true star of the movie was the less peaceful of two brothers, Schreiber.

The second movie we watched was the animated "How to Train Your Dragon." I loved this movie!! It's up for the "Best Animated" Oscar this year but unfortunately will probably not win since it's up against "Toy Story 3" (which is also nominated for "Best Picture"). While I liked "Toy Story 3," I like this movie even more. It was adorable, clever, and heartwarming. It's the tale of a Viking boy who doesn't fit in with the village or get the approval of his Viking king father because of his quirky and peaceful ways. One of the things that made this movie so great was that they gave the main dragon characteristics of pet dogs and cats. The boy would smile at the dragon, only to have it mimic an imitation back, just like some dogs do. It's pouncing was very similar to my cat's body language. I would definitely recommend seeing this one and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it get's the Oscar win it deserves.

Robyn: Concert Review

Last night I went to see Robyn at First Ave. Many of you probably recognize this Swedish pop stars name from her hits from the 90s (ala "Show Me Love") but her new album "Body Talk" made a lot of the Top Albums of 2010 lists. It was released in three parts, and when pieced together, it makes the perfect dance anthem album. My favorite song is probably "Dancing On My Own." I was a little nervous because she canceled all of her shows before this in Chicago due to illness, but luckily must have recovered in time for her Minneapolis show. On stage, her look was funky, she danced like a maniac the entire show, and the stage featured giant spinning pinwheels. It was high energy and a total blast. I would go see her again in a heartbeat.

O hai, is it almost Caturday?

Whisky Park requires a lot of whiskey....

Last night I went to happy hour at Whisky Park (on 5th in Downtown Minneapolis), a newer bar that replaced The Lodge last spring. First off, it looks remarkably like the Lodge inside. I'm pretty sure the wooden wall paneling is leftover from the Lodge days and probably reeks of booze. They say they are going for a "small town feel," but I don't think they've actually ever been to a small town bar. The happy hour specials are good (2 for 1 "you call its" from 5-8p) and they have nightly specials. However, the place is just disorganized. Our server was horribly slow, no one working there knew the specials, and it took 30-45 minutes to get our food which is ridiculous because it was not busy! The food was nothing special and over priced (a large plate of nachos was $11.50!) I'm sorry Whisky Park, but you need to get your shit together. And FYI, one of the two words in your name is misspelled. I left when we were informed that it was 18+ night. Cripes, I'm too old for that. I'm taking bets on how much longer Whisky Park stays open....

Movie review: From Paris With Love

Last night I watched "From Paris With Love." I love Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I know he's probably an epically drunk, slightly racist, douchebag in real life but I love his film and television choices (the Tudors, Match Point). The premise of this movie is that Rhys Meyer's character works for the US ambassador in France and has to help visiting top spy Wax (played by John Travolta) stop a terrorist attack. Here's the things about this movie. I think it's meant to be a serious, shoot 'em up, action movie. However, my boyfriend and I found ourselves laughing up a storm. John Travolta's character is so over-the-top "bad ass" that it's unbelievable and hilarious. His one-liners but CSI to shame. He even snuck in a homage to "Pulp Fiction" with the mention of a Royale with cheese! I haven't liked Travolta this much in anything probably since Pulp Fiction. So even though it's probably not intended to be a funny movie, I say see it for the laughs.

Sushi lunches in Minneapolis

Sometimes the only affordable way to get your sushi fix is to going during the lunch hours, when many sushi places have deals. This weekend I tried the lunches at both Wasabi (downtown on Washington Ave) and Tiger Sushi (Uptown on Lyndale). Wasabi had a great deal where you got miso soup and either 2 maki rolls for $9 or three for $11. The list of rolls available for this special were fairly basic, but the spicy tuna was good and salmon and avocado was available on the list. Overall, a pretty good deal on price but don't expect amazing tasting sushi. Tiger Sushi's lunch special in terms of sushi was discounted nigiri and sashimi. The only maki specials were discounts on the $20 rolls. While the sushi tasted good, and the fish was fresh, $50-$60 for a sushi lunch isn't a special in my book. I still think one of the best sushi happy hours in town is Mt. Fuji (See earlier review).

O hai, it's almost Caturday!

Easy A: The new Mean Girls? Not quite.

Last night I watched the movie "Easy A." I was looking forward to seeing it, as I keep hearing it's the new "Mean Girls" and lead actress Emma Stone was up for a Golden Globe for it. It was a cute, funny, lighthearted teen film, and while I love the homage to John Hughes movies in it, "Easy A" is not anything close to one of them. It's not even the new "Mean Girls." Emma Stone is super cute in it and I can see the similarities between her and Lindsey Lohan (red hair), I really hope she stays on her career path and doesn't end up like the Lohan. Penn Badgley was also cute in it, but I have a biased love for anyone in Gossip Girl. The movie was has it laughs, my favorite parts having to do with her quirky parents played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. Amanda Bynes annoyed me a the super-Christian girl. I wish they had gone more the way for Mandy Moore in "Saved." Overall, it's definitely worth the rental but don't go in with too high of expectations.

FINALLY! New music from The Streets

If there's one thing I love more than local Rhymesayers hip hop, it's foreign hip hop. Hip hop from abroad is just so much more relate-able to me. One of my favorite groups is The Streets, from the U.K. They haven't released any new music since their last album, "Everything Is Borrowed,' which was released in 2008. Before that, they released albums in 2002, 2004, and 2006. Well, they just released their fifth album, but rumors are this may be their last. A lot of people don't like the new album, "Computers and Blues," but I think it captures what Mike Skinner does best, catchy hooks and humorous lyrics that aren't deep until you really start to think about them. I think he's able to create hip hop for any mood. When i was in college, the carefree lyrics of "Original Pirate Material" was what I was looking for. When I went through a breakup, "Everything Is Borrowed" went perfect with my mood. His evolution has been interesting. It would have been nice to see what came next. To stream The Street "Computers and Blues," for free: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/feb/03/streets-computers-blues-album-stream I've only had a chance to listen all the way through once, but I really like the "OMG" track. Very relevant to the times!

Toy Story 3 in review

Last night I watched the Pixar film "Toy Story 3." I've always been a fan of the "Toy Story" movies and was looking forward to this one. How often do you find a movie with multiple sequels where the third is just as good as the first (Godfather is the only one that comes to mind)? "Toy Story 3" is not only nomination for an Oscar in the "Best Animated Feature Film" category, but also the "Best Picture" overall category. Now, I don't think it's going to win against favorites like "Black Swan" or "The Social Network," but the movie was adorable. It made me wish I still played with toys. There were jokes meant for children, with a few adult jokes subtly snuck in. New toy characters were introduced. I have to say my favorite new addition to the cast was Ken and his dreamhouse filled with outfits for every occasion. I wish all children's movies were this clever, lovable, and filled with substance. Definitely a must-see for people of any age!

A homage to shoes

My favorite shopping site, Rue La La, had a Casadei shoe boutique on sale today. Even on sale (some of these shoes retail for $1,300), they were out of my price range. But that doesn't mean I can't admire their beautiful sparkly-ness and aspire to one day owning a pair. Gorgeous!