Carmine's Pie House of Jacksonville, FL
The fact is, I've always been a fan of Carmine's, since I first visited them in 2012. Their deep dish isn't just a regular deep dish. It's a stuffed deep dish, with a layer of dough, a hefty layer of cheese, another layer of dough, and a lake of sauce. No joke, my 10" pie probably had 3 pounds of cheese on it, giving this pizza a ratio of 3cr/5ce/5ch.
Their dough gets a 4 out of 5. It's a little bready, but otherwise heavenly. There's nothing like a dough saturated in cheese melt. Speaking of which, look at the pull I got when dishing my first slice.
Carmine's sauce gets a 5 out of 5. It's delightful, with slow-roasted, quality tomatoes and fresh basil. All you need, really.
For style, I give Carmine's a 4 out of 5. I didn't get a picture of the front of the store, which isn't super important. The value was awesome and all that, but place was really trying to get me to buy one of their crafty beers. I understand. Beer sales have higher profit margins, yielding better tips for their servers (who do always have an easy job with me). My lady got $5 for bringing me a water and then bringing me a pizza. The extra hip vibe just didn't appeal to me, or make me feel especially Cozy with such a cozy, wonderful dish.
That being said, Carmine's get a 5/5 for quality. My pizza was wonderful and I will definitely be going back. With an overall score of 90%, I think you should definitely go too.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Between two Fires is kind of a dark, fairy tale adventure. You could call it fantasy, but its magic is more of the spiritual kind. Taking place in the plague years, a rough-and-tumble brigand goes on a quest to deliver an angelic little girl to a place of sanctuary.
The little girl turns out to be some kind of prophet, and our brigand has to become a hero of sorts because all kinds of dangerous evil stuff is around, between the fires of hell and the pyres of plague. I found it all kind of boring, but I've had my fill of the questing monomyths and chosen ones. So I guess I wasn't ready for this one.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture by Harold Goldberg
I think I found this in a list of books for Game Designers, on good old Goodreads or something. It's somewhat of an entertaining memoir on the impact of video game culture from the stationary Pong to our current state of mobility. Each chapter is dedicated to new milestones in the scene: arcades, home consoles, mmos, and such.
As someone who's generally interested in this topic, I already knew most of the presented information from Youtube, however I didn't know that Tetris was made in a public library that allowed smoking. Yes, it was a fun read about exciting times.
The Old Way (feat. Nicolas Cage)
The Old Way is a Classic Cage Revenge Film, with a twist or two. This time it's a western, and it's a reasonably achieved western. Like any good western, it's dark and the good guys are also pretty bad. Outlaws if you will. Colton Braggs (played by Cage) is especially famous for being the most vicious, violent, despicable of mercenary killers. With that, we get a little revenge on top of revenge, as Colton has many enemies. However, he has a very special daughter. A precociouss type of Mary Sue. A cute, smart, dutiful daughter can be the exact weakness our guy needs. We are also shown quickly that he very much adores his wife. She is very important to Colton in his later, settled-down life. Alas, the settled down life doesn't last long. It's nice to have that big theater-sounding banjo and fiddle score to fit the heavy and light moments. Again, those light moments don't last long.
Cage lets his rage out and goes a little crazy, which is an expected treat that's not always delivered. While surprises were intended for this film, no such surprises were delivered. I guess director Brett Donowho just wanted to try his hand at a western, which he did just fine. MmmmHmmm. The pacing and vibe are all there. It's a fine movie. Not Mighty Fine.
- Raising Arizona
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
- Leaving Las Vegas
- Red Rock West
- Adaptation
- Pig
- Birdy
- Wild at Heart
- Renfield
- Joe
- National Treasure
- Guarding Tess
- Snake Eyes
- Mandy
- Dog Eat Dog
- Color Out of Space
- Mom and Dad
- World Trade Center
- Peggy Sue Got Married
- The Rock
- Zandalee
- Prisoners of the Ghostland
- City of Angels
- Willy's Wonderland
- Jiu Jitsu
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin
- Bangkok Dangerous
- Drive Angry
- Army of One
- Lord of War
- Gone in 60 Seconds
- Matchstick Men
- Vampire's Kiss
- Con Air
- Face/Off
- Outcast
- Trapped in Paradise
- The Boy in Blue
- Honeymoon in Vegas
- Deadfall
- Amos and Andrew
- Moonstruck
- Tokarev
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
-
The Old Way
- Knowing
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
- Bringing Out the Dead
- The Family Man
- Stolen
- Season of the Witch
- It Could Happen to You
- The Wicker Man
- Inconceivable
- 8mm
- The Frozen Ground
- Left Behind
- A Score to Settle
- Pay the Ghost
- Primal
- Dying of the Light
- Grand Isle
- Looking Glass
- Arsenal
- Between Worlds
- Ghost Rider
- Trespass
- The Humanity Bureau
- Next
- The Weather Man
- 211
- Fire Birds
- The Croods
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
A couple years and a couple movies after I read and adored Dune by Frank Herbert, it was time to go ahead and read the sequel. While it's as touching, gripping, or magical as the original, Dune Messiah gives us more of a philosophical scifi in space opera set mainly on planet Arrakis.
Paul sure as heck becomes the emperor, but he finds it hard to be as good of a man as he had wanted. I imagine it is hard to be a good god, with all the enemies of Good out there. Trusty Stilgar is still around, maybe more important than ever. But what about our beloved heroes who didn't make it to the end of Dune? Will any of them come back to life and make our beloved messianic family feel Weird? I guess you'll have to read it.
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Taking place a good twenty or thirty years after the events of The Shining, I bet Stephen King knew this sequel was going to made into a movie. It stars Danny, the kid with the Shine, and has guest appearances from Wendy, Dick Halloran, and Tony (who may still live in Danny's mouth).
This story focuses less on the horror aspect of things and more on the supernatural, with Shining villains and good kids to save. While a different kind of experience, I'd still suggest this to anyone who's a King fan.
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
From our two lords of cyberpunk, we are brought something collectively made and different. The Difference Engine is considered an essential in the forming of Steampunk as a subgenre. It was written collectively through the mail, as the two writers Mailed floppy disks to each other from Texas to British Columbia. It sounds crazy, doesn't it?
Instead of a regular novel, we got a collection of stories centering on a theme of analog computers, and the Babbage Machine. Instead of getting high tech low lifes in an imagined future, we get those types of characters in a less-imagined victorian setting. While it's not my favorite thing from either writer, I consider the book as successful experiment in form and genre.
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell
I probably talk about privilege too much in these book reports. Oh well. Some segments of This book give the term a whole new meaning, expounding on the experience of its writer who dedicated months of his life to doing cocaine while playing Grand Theft Auto, and doing nothing else. So it is a very singular experience we get to peak into. Moreso, this book is about the impact games can have on your life and on our culture as a whole. It's worth reading for anyone who is a serious gamer and wonders if they are letting life pass them by.
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