food

#1125: Purple Rain, Purple Sky – Five New Things at the Lake

RECORD STORE TALES #1125: Purple Rain, Purple Sky

“I want to do something new this weekend,” goes the eternal complaint. Even with Lake Huron in front of us, and a lush green paradise all around, sometimes I still moan about doing the same things every weekend.

There is so much you can do, but only a couple days to do it all.  It’s easy to fall into comfortable habits and just…relax.  However, the cottage is too special to just relax.  Surely, I’ve had some of the best sleeps of my life there, but you don’t want to sleep your day away, as easy as it can be.

As always, we started the trip on the front porch.  We always like to listen to music on our night of arrival, as the sun sets.  This time, we chose Prince’s Purple Rain, which I didn’t own last year.  This music was new to the cottage, and it was an absolutely incredible experience.  I danced around the porch to “Computer Blue”, but the sun was setting just as Prince began singing about the “Purple Rain”.  It was a surreal experience hearing Prince sing “Ooo, ooo, ooo,” as the orange and pink clouds slowly let the sun sink beneath the horizon.  It felt like Prince was there in the forest somewhere, just out of sight.

New thing #1 achieved:  “Purple Rain” at sunset.

We always like to experiment with food.  Believe it or not, we have not made homemade burgers at the lake in decades.  Why?  My dad used to hate cooking them, as they’d fall to pieces on the grill.  Not anymore.  Thanks to a tip from my good buddy Thuss, we now are making our own homemade burgers.  The secret:  Freeze them.  Once frozen, those patties stay together and do no break apart.  For our first batch, this was our successful blend:

  • Lean beef (Jen wanted extra lean but I said no)
  • Ground thick cut bacon
  • 1 egg
  • Bread Crumbs
  • Parmesan flakes
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Paprika
  • Chili flakes
  • Minced fresh garlic
  • Minced fresh onion
  • Ketchup
  • Mustard
  • Olive oil

I don’t know how much of that we could actually taste, but it was fun and the result was juicy and perfect.  And then next batch is already in the freezer waiting to be cooked up, with a new set of ingredients including local beef.

New thing #2 achieved:  Perfect homemade burgers on the grill.

But wait, there’s more!  Thanks to a new, deep cast iron frying pan, we also fried our own french fries.  No more oven baked fries, or air fries!  Only the real deal.  They were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and perfect all around.

New thing #3 achieved:  Golden brown french fries.

To quote ZZ Top:  I AM your burger man.

“My charcoal’s getting red hot,
Put your order in my hand,
Won’t you let me show you what I got,
Sizzling in the pan.”

I woke up on the Saturday morning as I often do, bright and early.  It was damp and cold with not a single human to be seen, myself excluded.  It’s a good time to spot wildlife.  There have been bears in the area, but I did not see one.  Instead, I saw a red canid coming up the path from the beach.  A fox?  I had not seen our local fox up there in at least a year.  This animal had the gait of a fox, but not the bushy red and white tail.  This animal had a thin, bony tail, and its frame was larger than a fox.

It was a coyote.  My first coyote sighting, ever.  I’ve heard them at night, but never seen one in the fur before.

New thing #4 achieved:  Coyote sighting!

I knew there was no way I’d be able to grab my phone in time.  I simply watched the confident, unafraid animal stroll down our little dirt road as if he was the only one in the world.

Of course, all of this would pale in comparison to the Aurora Borealis.  I’d never seen the Northern Lights before.  I did my best to describe the experience, but words and pictures do not capture the awe.  It felts as if we were all under a huge electric dome.  It is something I’ll never forget even if I never see it again.  It began suddenly and dimly, before the lights were all you could see anywhere, in every direction.  The lights reflected off the waters, and created beautiful patterns in the ripples.

New thing #5 achieved:  Aurora Borealis

New experiences are not always possible at the lake, nor are they always necessary.  Sometimes it’s enough to just sit on the porch and watch the days go by.  After 52 years of coming to the exact same location, to have so many new sights, sounds and flavours in one weekend was unexpected.

The cottage is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get!

 

Grab A Stack of Scenery! April 25-28 2024 at the cottage [VIDEO]

Visual Supplemental to #1123: To Be Alive Again

Things to watch for:

  • Jex playing air guitar
  • A high kick by Mike
  • A couple Jen cameos
  • Some Arkells tunes
  • Jen’s first time driving an RC car

Wimpy’s to the Rescue!

On Friday night, shortly after Grab A Stack of Rock concluded, the city of Kitchener was hit with a power outage and a surge to match!  Jen and I called it an early night and hit the sheets around 9:30.  We hoped the power would be back later in the night, but no such luck.

I woke shortly after 5:00 AM to discover  that the city’s power was restored, but our building had an electrical issue.  I called the appropriate numbers to report it and hoped for the best.

By 7:00 AM I was restless.  It was too dark to read a book, and all my devices were running out of power.  Even my headlight affixed to my toque!  (Which was a life saver by the way, thanks mom and dad.)  I woke Jen up and we went out in the cold icy rain to charge our devices in the car, and make our way down the street to Wimpy’s diner for some hot food.  Neither of us had a proper meal before the lights went out.

I had the omelette with all the fixings.  Jen had three eggs with four sausage links and a pancake.  It hit the spot.

Upon our return, power had just been restored!  My laptop was charging again and my PC was undamaged from the surge.

My 7.1 receiver unfortunately…it may have bit the dust.  It doesn’t seem to be receiving any signals…or maybe it’s not putting out any.  I’m not sure how to diagnose this thing but I think it’s dead.

But we survived the first big storm of 2024 with determination on our faces and food in our bellies.  Thanks Wimpy’s!

 

#1077: Lunch With Aaron & Son

RECORD STORE TALES #1077: Lunch With Aaron & Son

In the last five years, my world has changed drastically.  We lost Jen’s mom, we’ve lost friends, but on the positive side, we’ve also lost weight!  The world has gone through a transformative pandemic, but one constant is Aaron KMA, a man I have not seen since 2018.  I am happy to report that Aaron is still out there being Aaron – bearing gifts and warmth as always!

We met halfway, at the Elk & Finch in Southampton Ontario.  He brought his son, who I’ve never met before, but has good taste in hamburgers.  We sat down to some amazing food, including the best smoked salmon I’ve ever tasted in my life.  This is it: as good as it gets.

Food aside, I knew Aaron would arrive bearing gifts, and as usual, he did:  Books, CDs, and more.  Let’s have a gander, shall we?  Let’s go through the contents of Aaron’s gift bag bit by bit.

Not pictured, there were four bottle of Iron Maiden’s Trooper beer!  Not pictured because I didn’t think I should pull out liquor of my own at a restaurant.  You understand of course!  You are probably familiar with this acclaimed brew already.  That made up a lot of the weight of the gift bag.  Much of the rest of the weight was taken up by books.  One book specifically.

The big one is The Art of Classic Rock by Paul Brushkin, with foreward by Alice Cooper.  Aaron has showed this off on my show before.  We also have rock magazines (with CDs)!  Other reading:  Gods of the Hammer by Geoff Pevere, the story of Teenage Head.  The “Hammer” in this case is Hamilton Ontario.  Keeping a punk vibe, Aaron also gave me Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk by Sam Sutherland.  Finally, it’s The Story of Tommy which is really gorgeous!

I’m very excited about the music.  I actually didn’t own a copy of Garbage’s self titled debut, until now.  This one is signed by all four members, and lo and behold, it’s dedicated to Mike!  Just a coincidence I assure you but how cool is that?  I now also owned Backwaxed by Anvil, which I was missing until now, and now I also own the Hip side project Stripper’s Union.

I get more and more excited the further we go!

These Hot Wheels are really cool.  I think I need to open them.  The Yellow Submarine (Beatles) is groovy.  The USS Enterprise though…I just enjoy swooshing those ships around.  This Enterprise is NCC-1701 from the 2009 film Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams and starring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk.  (I have to be honest, I prefer Paul Wesley’s Kirk from Strange New Worlds, which I am trying to get Aaron to watch!)  I enjoy these very much, and this is not the first time Aaron has found an appropriate Hot Wheels to gift me.

Onto the shirt, which was actually the first item in the bag.  Jeff Woods is legendary in my circles – he is THE Legend of Classic Rock.  Jeff Woods even contributed to the Sausagefest countdowns a number of times.  Aaron, however, isn’t a radio listener and isn’t intimate with the works of Mr. Woods as I am.   Yet Aaron found this shirt, thought of me, and put it in the bag.  I am thrilled.  This is a shirt I would have bought myself anyway!

Finally…

I just loved the Sheik.  I have always loved the Sheik.  He was one of the greatest villains in WWF history.  We talked to Spenny about the Iron Sheik back in May on Grab A Stack of Rock.  And now I have a little loveable stuffed Sheik of my own.   I couldn’t be more happy.  This is the kind of gift that just screams “Mike”.

 

Aaron, it was a delight to hook up again and finally meet your son.  I hope we do something like this again soon.  I could go for some salmon again.  And the coffee was great too.

Three cheers for Aaron!

 

 

#994: An A5 Canada Day

RECORD STORE TALES #994: An A5 Canada Day

From Jen and I here at LeBrain HQ, we hope you had an excellent Canada Day.  For us, we did things a little differently this time, and it turned out aces!

First, I awoke early and began work at 6:00 AM on two separate projects.  Musically:  the hinted-at, overdue Kiss project that I have been working on and must be finished!  This is a collaboration with new contributor Jonathan Lee.  We have taken on the challenge of ranking all 24 Kiss albums, and we (coincidentally!) wrote about 3650 words each.  We were in synch with verbosity, but not rankings!  The final lists will be dropped simultaneously in two posts on July 5, next week!  It was Jonathan who challenged me to take him up on this project and I think you will like what we both came up with.  It took a few hours to format everything right, but by the end of the morning, I had the lists ready to rock.

In conjunction with this, I was seasoning my new cast iron pan.  This had to be done in preparation for our Canada Day dinner’s main course:  a genuine Japanese A5 wagyu steak from the Miyazaki prefecture.  This expensive piece of meat is unlike I have ever cooked before, and I had something of a sleepless, anxious night overthinking it.

By morning, I had a plan.  The wagyu was going in the cast iron pan with some butter, garlic, onions, peppers, portobello mushrooms, and asparagus.  Therefore I needed to season the pan in the oven beforehand, and I spent several hours on that while also working on the Kiss lists.  For never having done it before, I think it turned out pretty well.  Its surface became smoother, and water beaded off.

In the afternoon we headed over to my parents house to use their new barbecue.  You see, having never cooked wagyu before, we decided to bring some backup steaks.  I was going to cook them on the barbecue the normal way, while doing the wagyu in the pan.  Meanwhile, Jen was roasting veggies in the oven with enormous amounts of butter and hand-diced garlic.  The garlic was intense, but to die for.  Her potatoes, carrots and asparagus were amazing.

Timing was everything.  We started at 4:00 PM with the veggies.  By 4:35 the barbecue was warming up for the backup steaks.  Meanwhile, the cast iron pan was warming up in the oven.

Finally, the moment I had been waiting for all week.  The moment that kept me up the previous night.  The moment of truth!  The wagyu was, as all the Youtube videos promised, delicate to the touch.  The fat began melting as soon as I touched it.  Although everyone seems to have different rules about it, I elected to keep the wagyu in the fridge as long as possible to minimise the premature melting of fat.  Then I seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.  In hindsight I could have gone a teeny tiny bit heavier on the salt and pepper, but you can always add that after the fact as well.

The cast iron came out of the oven and onto a hot burner.  Into the pan went a generous amount of butter and my veggies including several cloves of garlic.  A few minutes later, things were smelling wonderful and I flipped the steak – not before touching the handle of the pan with my bare hands though!  Fortunately it had cooled enough that I didn’t burn myself.  These new cooking techniques take some getting used to.  After a couple more minutes I removed the wagyu from the pan, and let it rest.  When sliced, it was somewhere between rare and medium rare, which was what I was aiming for.  Meanwhile our backup steaks were also ready at a perfect medium rare.  It was 5:00 by the time everything was done and rested.

 

A wagyu steak is a sharing steak.  It is simply too rich to eat like a normal steak.  I served up some portions for each of us, and we delighted in eat bite.  Some went with carrots – Jen’s favourite combination.  I enjoyed the wagyu with the portobello mushrooms, or a clove of garlic.  Because it is so rich, we tended to pair it with other things on the plate.  The cast iron did a nice job of creating a beautiful caramelizing on the vegetables.  The wagyu had a great sear.  The pan also cleaned up easily afterwards.  No stick.  I must have seasoned it right?

We barely touched the backup steaks (they will go into another meal) and we finished just over half of the wagyu.  This is what I expected.  I wonder what that wagyu will become tomorrow?  A stir fry, most likely.  Wagyu stir fry.  Looking forward to it — and many more meals with my new cast iron pan.

Having enjoyed wagyu at one of the best steakhouses in Toronto, my own steak stacked up well.  I would rank them just about equally.  Theirs had more seasoning, but our side dishes surpassed theirs by far.  Miles.  No comparison.  Our sides were incredible.  Modesty?  This is me being modest!  And all told, our meal was about a third of the price of the steakhouse.  With  more steak and more leftovers.  Jen and I both worked hard Canada Day, and it paid off.  Best meal we ever made, and we did it as a team!  She picked up all the meat, veggies, and even the pan.  We timed everything perfectly.  It went so well that we determined we don’t need backup steaks next time.

With the Kiss project, Stranger Things, and a massive dinner taking up my time, it was the end of the Canada Day before I realized, “Hey, I haven’t listened to any Canadian music today”.  So my friends, here’s some Max the Axe.  Turn it up.

#776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long [Reblog]

Today is our anniversary!  In this throwback post from 2019, enjoy some wicked looking steaks.

RECORD STORE TALES #776: (Wag)yu Shook Me All Night Long

For highway driving, nothing quite hits the spot like AC/DC.  It feels right.  Who Made Who works as a quickie “greatest hits” selection for a quick spin down Highway 401.  Mrs. LeBrain and I were heading to the GTA to celebrate 11 years as a married couple.  We rocked to “You Shook Me All Night Long” on the dance floor that night, and we were returning to the very same location once more.

Highway 401 is in a perpetual state of construction, but good music helps take the edge off.  This was my first drive that way in the new vehicle, and also the first with my latest gadget, a nifty dash cam that is sure to provide lots of content for my YouTube channel in the coming months.

Sorry, quick tangent:  Phil Rudd is the “man”, but Simon Wright doesn’t get enough credit for his time on the AC/DC drum stool.  AC/DC isn’t an easy beat to get the feel for, and every AC/DC drummer has their own approach.  The 1980s were a period of hard-hitters and Simon Wright was the perfect drummer for that era.  His precision is absolute on “Who Made Who” and it just sounds right.  Compare the original to Chris Slade’s interpretation on AC/DC Live.  That’s all I have to say about that.

We arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon and I settled into the jacuzzi pretty quickly.  I wanted to do a funny gangsta style photo in the hot tub with me holding a couple of American dollar bills.  I was thinking about when Floyd Mayweather threw the $1s at Conor McGregor.  And holy shit did Facebook react.

“Dude you look like if Kuato from Total Recall was successfully removed from his twin, grew up, lived a long and depressing life and got really excited when someone gave him 2 bucks to sh!t in the local YMCA jacuzzi.”

Two things:  Yes, I had pants on.  And yes, that “gang sign” is the Vulcan salute.  Relax.  Let a man enjoy his jacuzzi, publicly on social media like damn 20 year old.  Are you not entertained?!

We did some shopping.  Because, like an idiot, I forgot to bring a nice pair of shoes for dinner, I had to get a new pair just for this one night.  Then we met up with Jen’s best friend Lara for lunch.  Did some more shopping.  I wanted to go to stores that we don’t have at home.  There isn’t much of that, just the same old chains.  We did hit one up cool store, where I bought something called “Jean Guy”, but we couldn’t find any cool music or toy stores.  At least I got my shoes!

So where were we headed?  In ’08 when we got married it was the Pavilion Royale, but now it is a high end restaurant called 17 Steakhouse & Bar.  It’s very different on the inside, but recognizable.  There was the dance floor, where I once spun to “You Shook Me All Night Long”.  But we chose 17 for more than sentimental reasons.  The main draw was the real Japanese A5 wagyu.  And that’s what this chapter is really about.

I’ve never had real wagyu in my life and American wagyu was not going to do it.  You only live once.  Carpe diem.  Go big or go home.  It’s only money.  All that bullshit.  I’d done my research, I knew what I was getting my wallet into.  I’d been planning it over a year.

We started with a simple but delicious field green salad, with incredible goat cheese.  The smoothest goat cheese I’ve ever tasted.  Only when we finished the salads did they began firing our steaks.  None of that “here comes your main dish before you’ve finished your starter” nonsense.  Jennifer chose the US prime T-bone, medium rare, and let me tell you, that alone could have been the best steak I’ve ever tasted.  It was 25 oz, so more than enough to share.  So tender!  With cripsy, tasty fat.

Jen’s steak could easily have been the most tender I’ve ever tried, if not for my Japanese A5 wagyu.  Market price was $30 per oz.  I chose an 8 oz striploin, medium rare.  You should always get a wagyu steak cooked to medium rare.  I was electric with tense anticipation.  The steaks arrived, cooked precisely to order.

I gently cut a thin slice, which came off like butter.  There was a lovely char on the outside, a crisp splash of flat, and then the most tender meat you can imagine.  It was seasoned simply and perfectly, the saltiness enhancing that beefy umami.  On the tongue, it was like butter with only the slightest sensation of a meaty texture.  I probably didn’t even have to chew.

It’s a very rich piece of meat, far more than I anticipated.  I’d estimate that I finished about 3/4 of my meal, leaving a $60 chunk of wagyu in my takeout bag.  And that chunk of leftover wagyu was the best lunch I ever had the following day.

For sides, we ordered the fingerling potatoes roasted in duck fat and thyme, the asparagus with hollandaise, and the scalloped potatoes au gratin.  Of those three, the asparagus was the clear winner, with the potatoes au gratin in second place.  Only I liked the fingerling potatoes; Jen didn’t care for them, leaving her batting average with any form of duck to be zero.

We had an incredible dessert of cheesecake, Crème brûlée and whipped cream which was supernaturally good. Everything was.

Having had probably the most expensive steak I’ll ever buy, was it worth it? If you are a steak lover, then yes, it is worth it.  And I love steaks.  A little goes a long way, but every steak lover should try real Japanese wagyu once.  It’s unlike anything I’ve had before and it is easily categorised as a true delicacy.  Having said that, should we return to 17 Steakhouse in a year, I don’t know that I would order it again, and that is only because there are other interesting features on their menu that I would like to try.  The 36 oz tomahawk would be a sight to behold, though I couldn’t eat it all myself.  I would also like to try the Porterhouse, the lobster bisque, and beef tartare.

Yes, the wagyu was worth it, and I can still taste and feel its texture on my palette.  It won’t be for everyone except in small doses.  They have a 4 oz minimum order, and I suggest that may the perfect size to experiment with.

17 Steakhouse & Bar gets 5/5, and so does the wagyu. 

We started with AC/DC so we’ll finish with AC/DC.  Who made wagyu?  17 Steakhouse did, and it was hell’s bells!  I couldn’t wait to sink the pink steak in my mouth.  It’ll shake your foundations just like it shook mine.  It’s a little bit of a ride on, down the 401, but worth the drive.  Hell ain’t a bad place to be(ef)!*  For those about to rock, I wagyu.

* Courtesy 1537

REVIEW: Marillion – Unplugged at the Walls (1999)

On the 25th of June 1998 a strange thing happened.

A group of like-minded people arrived at England’s sea and airports and made their way to a small town on the Welsh border.  The came from Brazil, Mexico, North America, Australia, Japan, Israel, Germany, Holland and Spain.

They came to have dinner.

…they also came to see a band.

 

MARILLION – Unplugged at the Walls (1999 Racket Records – Racket 10)

What’s your favourite acoustic album?

We all know the big “unplugged” performances, but between the cracks fell the web-only release Unplugged at the Walls by Marillion.  Only available via their website, this remarkable album was recorded while Marillion were working on their 10th record Radiation back in 1998.

While recording in Oswestry, Marillion struck a deal with the “best restaurant in town”, the Walls.  Now independent, every penny counted.  In exchange for free meals, Marillion agreed to play some acoustic sets at the Walls.  The idea grew and people came from all over the world to hear new songs and tunes that had never been played acoustically before.  They stripped down and re-arranged songs, added some surprises, and the result is one of the best Marillion live albums ever made.  Out of over 100!

Sampling tracks from the five Hogarth-era albums, no oldies were to be found.  Plenty of singles though:  “Easter”, “Alone Again in the Lap of Luxury”, “Hooks in You”, “Eighty Days”, and “Beautiful” which opens the set.

While Marillion have always been top-notch musicians, in an unplugged setting such as this, Steve Hogarth is the standout performer.  Whether whispering or letting it all out, Hogarth is never less than spellbinding.  He is always in complete command, with every ear on him.

The highlights are many, but Marillion’s version of Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” may surpass the original.  That’s all because of Hogarth.  Nobody can touch him.  He gets more intense as the song builds.  When he sings “I could blow through the ceiling,” you truly believe it.  The track is so good that they eventually used it as the B-side to “These Chains”.

“Abraham, Martin and John” (Marvin Gaye) is a track Marillion have since released on other live albums, but this gentle version is fantastic.  This one sports some beautifully warm electric guitar tones courtesy of Steve Rothery.  Marillion also cover “Blackbird” (The Beatles, but you knew that) and do a damn respectable job of it.  Instead of birds chirping, you get the sound of diners cheering!

The new songs premiered that night were the already-acoustic “Now She’ll Never Know”, and “The Answering Machine” which, over the years, has been popular both electrically and acoustically.  “Now She’ll Never Know” is the quietest song of the night.  “Answering Machine” meanwhile is one of the most upbeat.

They also tackled the surf-rocker “Cannibal Surf Babe” which did just fine unplugged and stripped to the basics.  “The Space” received a completely new, jazzy arrangement.  They played this version many times over the year, but it’s a bit of a slog compared to the rest.  The closer “Eighty Days” is jaunty and receives a massive response from the crowd, as does “Gazpacho”.  Appropriately enough, the Walls had gazpacho on their menu that night.

Speaking of which, the menu is included as part of the booklet.  It does indeed sound like the best restaurant in town!  “Salad of black pasta with marinated seafood and prawns.”  Wow!

This album was reissued in 2018, giving everybody a chance to get one.  You should.

5/5 stars

 

#807: Freestylin’ 3 – V.I.P.-stylin’ (plus vote results)

GETTING MORE TALE #807: Freestylin’ 3 – V.I.P.-stylin’

As a family tradition, any time there is a new Star Wars saga film, my sister and I have to take my mom and dad out to see it.  My dad won’t go see movies very often.  After all, he did make a scene at Lord of the Rings.  He just doesn’t like going, and doesn’t enjoy sitting still for two hours watching just one thing.

But we got him out to Rise of Skywalker, and to make it a treat for everyone, my mom decided she wanted to do the V.I.P. experience.  This V.I.P. stuff was new to my dad and I as well.

There are a number of things to talk about with this experience, so get a warm coffee and let’s go.

We went to a noon matinee.  Nobody ever seems to go to movies at noon on a weekend; it’s the perfect time.  I was told that the V.I.P. section had a full menu of food and service right to your seat, so I skipped lunch that day intending to make the movie theater my lunch.  I was not disappointed.

We went upstairs to the V.I.P. area where I was stunned by a cool looking lounge/bar/restaurant setup.  I suddenly felt under-dressed in my khakis and “Pickle Rick” T-shirt.

The seats in the V.I.P. theater are like individual recliners.  They were so incredibly comfortable that I just plopped right down, and didn’t move for the next two or three hours.  Who doesn’t shift around in an uncomfortable and too small movie seat?  The V.I.P. section eliminates that.  The serving staff (all friendly and helpful) got our drink orders right away.  My mom ordered wine.  Once we decided on food, we just paid by debit.  Well, my dad paid for me — apparently it was his treat.  We split a pizza with olives, tomatoes and feta cheese, and my mom ordered Hawaiian, finishing half.  My sister and her mainman Drew had beer, chicken wings and popcorn, and the wings smelled amazing.

“This is the best pizza I’ve ever had,” I said incredulously.  Who goes to a movie theater and says that?  I love pizza, folks.  I’ve never been to Italy, or even New York or Chicago, but I’ve eaten a lot of pizza.  That was a good one, right there.  I’m not saying “best in the world” or anything like that, but certainly “best in my limited Canadian experience.”  I’m saying that unless you’re from Naples or New York, you’re going to like the pizza.

We arrived early when the theater had just opened up so we’d have plenty of time to finish our lunch.  (We sat through the same boring trailers as last time, so I’ll warn you now:  there’s a new Harrison Ford version of Call of the Wild coming out with a CG dog and it looks utter shite.  I cannae understand why they used a fake looking CG dog.)  The lights stayed on until the trailers were over and the movie rolled, because I don’t think you want to be working your way through pulled-pork tacos or calamari in the dark.

On went the 3D glasses.  Since I’ve already reviewed the movie I’ll just talk about a few things that we didn’t discuss before.  The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t need to be seen in 3D.  While I enjoy it, I find things look less sharp in 3D, and there were few scenes that really jumped in 3D.  For The Rise of Skywalker, it’s not necessary like it is for, say, Avatar.

My father did say if they ever have a theatrical re-release for Lord of the Rings in 3D, he’d go out to see a movie again.  Make it happen, Peter Jackson.

He really enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker.  “That was the best movie I ever saw!” he said at the end.  I’m sure that’s the rush of coming out of a theater.  I don’t think The Rise of Skywalker will really replace The Lives of a Bengal Lancer or Beau Geste for him in the long term.  The point is, he liked it.  And he didn’t like The Last Jedi very much at all.

In our post-movie discussions, I pointed out that J.J. Abrams seemed to stick it to Rian Johnson a bit.  Luke Skywalker says “I was wrong,” in regards to his decisions seen in The Last Jedi.  “I felt like it was J.J. saying The Last Jedi was wrong,” I told my sister who agreed.

One of the guys at work complained to me that The Rise of Skywalker is too similar to Return of the Jedi, in the sense that the state of the galaxy is returned similar to the way things were at the conclusion of that earlier film.  “Of course,” I explained.  “That was always going to be the case.  The sequel trilogy was never planned like Lucas makes it sound.  It was always tacked on.  Return of the Jedi was his intended conclusion.”  It tied up two threads that he originally set up for a sequel trilogy, which is the search for the Emperor, and the search for Luke’s sister.  Instead of saving those for the three sequel movies, Lucas concluded the saga in Return of the Jedi.  Period.  Oh sure, Lucas had story ideas for a sequel trilogy featuring midichlorians and a proto-Rey named Kira.  Rey and the Midichlorians of Doom, I call it.  So let’s all cool our jets a bit when talking about the sequel trilogy.  We all played with Star Wars toys as kids.  We all had our own ideas for a sequel trilogy.  J.J. came up with a decent one, and while I am sure there is better fanfic out there, I’ll remind you that in the early 90s there was also far better fanfic depicting the prequels, too.  Because we never thought we’d get those either.  My own ideas for the prequels had Vader turning evil in Episode II, falling into a volcano then.  By Episode III he was already in the armor, hunting Obi-Wan and the Jedi.  To me this would explain why Obi-Wan immediately recognized Vader in his armor in Episode IV – he had encountered it before.  And my prequel series would have been better than George’s, just like your sequel trilogy would be better than J.J.’s.  We all think that.

Funny enough, the sequel trilogy ends the same way as Lucas’ original concept for Episode IX.  The hero slays the Emperor.  That’s how he envisioned it when he sketched outlines for nine films in the late 70s.  His midichlorian trilogy idea with Rey/Kira was something he concocted later, after Return of the Jedi already ended the saga.  Like it or not, that’s the sequence of events.

I will say that The Rise of Skywalker, like many Star Wars movies, was better the second time.  There are cameos and clues to pick up on, not to mention that incredible John Williams score.  The triumphant anthems during the final space battle really bring a tear to the eye.

Exiting the V.I.P. theater, we chatted with the manager a bit.  Apparently you can just saddle up in the restaurant area for dinner if you just want a nice movie theater pizza, or sit at the bar.  She said they have special super-hot pizza ovens there which helps explain why mine was so good.

This experience was an early new year highlight.  Usually I walk out of a theater with a sore neck, sore back, or both.  I admit I did have sort of a mild headache behind my eyes; this happens sometimes with 3D movies.  Or it could be that I only had five hours’ sleep.  Don’t know; just sayin’.  The point is, I want to do it again sooner rather than later.

One problem.  There’s absolutely nothing coming out that I want to spend that kind of money seeing.  Nothing.  Oh sure, the new Bond looks badass and Daniel Craig is cool, but I can never follow the twisted plots of those movies.

So I don’t know when I’ll be doing this again.  If James Cameron comes out with Avatar 2 anytime soon, I bet I could drag my dad out for that one!

 

 

UPDATE!

VHS Archives vote results!

You guys chose DAVID LEE ROTH for the next instalment of VHS Archives!  Your wish is my command.  One third of you wanted Roth, which is a good one from 1988, the Skyscraper tour.  The interview is by Steve Anthony.  I’ll post that one next in the coming days!

I do want to comment on a couple things and maybe scold you readers a little bit.

Nobody voted for Kane Roberts and Alice Cooper.  For shame!  That is one of the best in my entire collection.  Two very, very funny guys there, like a comedy team.  Sample quote.

“Alice has an incredible presence on stage, and he gives me some of those presents every once in a while.”

Come on, that’s funny stuff!

And technically nobody voted for Paul Stanley either, because that’s my vote and it only got one.  Shame!  Dan Gallagher did that whole interview in Gene’s makeup, and then Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum also sat in.

Roth is next on the VHS Archives, thanks for voting!

#786: R.I.P. The (Flying) Spatula

“It is with sadness that we announce that as of October 27, 2019, The Spatula Diner will be closing its doors.”

 

Sadness?  For the staff, surely.  For us, it’s more like mixed emotions.  Yes, the Sausagefest crew has enjoyed breakfast there for almost two decades.  We hadn’t planned on returning in 2020 even before the closure.  A shrunken menu and poor service made up our minds for us.  Our favourite meal was the breakfast monstrosity known as the Flesherton Fillup.  Under new management, it ceased to exist.  Remember when Uncle Meat had this conversation in July with the server?

“When did you get rid of the Flesherton Fillup?” he asked.

“Oh, we haven’t had that in a long time,” she responded.

“We were here last year and you had it then, I’m just surprised,” said Meat.

Condescendingly she answered, “Isn’t a year a long time?”

Relatively, but when you’re in a location like Flesherton Ontario where the business is seasonal, expect to be asked that question more than once.

Admittedly, we could have been…more considerate as customers.  We could have called in advance to let them know they were about to be slammed by 30 hungry, sweaty guys.  I would have preferred to do it that way, but was shot down every time!

Goodbye, Flying Spatula.  Many a good steak-n-eggs and Flesherton Fillups were enjoyed there.  But your time had come and parting isn’t always such sweet sorrow.