Looking for Alaska by John Green

I don't know how I ended up on this book, probably from a list of things that are highly rated. That was before I knew it was a movie, and that John Gren was such a famous writer of cutting Young Adult literature. That's okay, though. I guess I don't have young adult stuff. Part of me feels like a loser if I get into stuff for kids that was made after I became and adult. Maybe I've seen too many creeps trying to get in with the youngsters. 

This book is about teenagers who go to a private boarding school in the south, where they smoke cigarettes and plan famous pranks. When tragedy befalls our little friends, they do what they can to dig deeper into the whole thing. That's about all I can say without spoiling it. Maybe you've already seen the movie. I'm going to have to see it too, but I probably won't be telling people how much better the book is. Not because the book is bad. It's actually really good. You understand. 

Coach's Pizza of Tallahassee Florida

Coach's is my kind of place. They house counter service, self-serve drinks, and a table of coloring books and supplies. Their pizza had a ratio of 4cr5ce5ch.

Their dough gets a 3 out of 5. It was somewhat pretzel-like, lacking the yeasty sweetness you'd expect from a pizza dough. It was also somewhat dense, which is an understandable choice. With so much cheese and sauce, you want something that will hold together. It's definitely not the buttery, pie-like thing you'll get in a classic chicago deep dish.

Coach's sauce also gets a 4 out of 5, only because I didnt like it as much as Carmine's which got a 5. It was sweeter, which compensated for the dough, also containing more of the dried herbs which isn't so bad. The main flavor I could discern other than tomato was 'italian seasoning. It was great, though.

For style, I give Coach's a 5 out of 5. It's my kind of cozy place, with well worn booths and no frills or attempts to be hip. Well, it has sports stuff on the walls and sports on the tv which is much better than the News.

Coach's gets a 5 out of 5 for overall quality, with a final score of 85%. Will I be back? Probably. I guess it depends on whether or not I've had Carmine's the day before.

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

If you are literate and goth, you'd probably read this one. I didn't know at the time of reading that there was a movie based on this, or that there was a prequel tv series. Now I know and I've seen all of the first and part of the latter. 

All of the gothic tropes are here. A spooky mansion, kids with a chilly aesthetic, an unloving mother, possible incest, attics, and horrific punishment on our poor, innocent Dollenganger children. They really go through it, and you get to be a fly on the wall for the whole show. Read it if you want some goth cred, or just like this kind of thing. 

Rouge by Mona Awad

This is a pretty fun, gripping thing. Rouge is about a woman whose beautiful, glamorous mother dies in an accident. While settling the accounts of the passing, our hero discovers a skin care cult to answer the mysteries of our dearly departed and give our protagonist the skin she's always wanted. But at what price? I'm not sure you want to know. It's pretty scary. 

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.

1. Raising Arizona
2. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
3. Leaving Las Vegas
4. Red Rock West
5. Adaptation
6. Pig
7. Birdy
8. Wild at Heart
9. Renfield
10. Joe
11. National Treasure
12. Guarding Tess
13. Snake Eyes
14. Mandy
15. Dog Eat Dog
16. Color Out of Space
17. Mom and Dad
18. World Trade Center
19. Peggy Sue Got Married
20. The Rock
21. Zandalee
22. Prisoners of the Ghostland
23. City of Angels
24. Willy's Wonderland
25. Jiu Jitsu
26. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
27. Bangkok Dangerous
28. Drive Angry
29. Army of One
30. Lord of War
31. Gone in 60 Seconds
32. Matchstick Men
33. Vampire's Kiss
34. Con Air
35. Face/Off
36. Outcast
37. Trapped in Paradise
38. The Boy in Blue
39. Honeymoon in Vegas
40. Deadfall
41. Amos and Andrew
42. Moonstruck
43. Tokarev
44. The Sorcerer's Apprentice

45. The Old Way

46. Knowing
47. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
48. Bringing Out the Dead
49. The Family Man
50. Stolen
51. Season of the Witch
52. It Could Happen to You
53. The Wicker Man
54. Inconceivable
55. 8mm
56. The Frozen Ground
57. Left Behind
58. A Score to Settle
59. Pay the Ghost
60. Primal
61. Dying of the Light
62. Grand Isle
63. Looking Glass
64. Arsenal
65. Between Worlds
66. Ghost Rider
67. Trespass
68. The Humanity Bureau
69. Next
70. The Weather Man
71. 211
72. Fire Birds
73. The Croods