Blue Tip Billiards of Bloomington Indiana

My hopes for this one weren't super high. In fact, the guy on the phone was somewhat surprised that I wanted to order a pizza for pick-up. But I guess the local delivery services do work with this place, a decent pool hall with a snack bar. Aside from the pizza, none of their other menu items sounded worth getting, though I was curious about the difference between their nachos and their chips with queso.

Onto the pizza. It has a ratio of 3cr/2ce/4ch. Their crust gets a 3 out of 5. It's a lot like Noble Roman's gas station pizza. Somewhat dense, with a nice chew, nice flavor, and a tiny bit of crusty grease soaked into the bottom. And I assume this is some variety of gas station pizza, perhaps Hunt Brothers, since the sauce isn't as good as I remember from Noble Roman's. Still I give Blue Tip's sauce a 3 out of 5. It's somewhat thin for my taste, but still good. I ordered a side of red sauce to get a fuller experience, but ended up with nacho cheese there. No big deal.

For overall quality, Blue Tip's pizza gets a Bloomington 5 out of 5. With all the cheese, it was a bit of a mess to eat. The bottom also could have gotten more cook. Otherwise, I have zero complaints. I really like this kind of pizza, even if it is frozen from some factory. And if I'm wrong and they do make their own dough, please let me know. Otherwise I'm giving them a 1 for style. It's not fancy but done right, which is good. Only you can probably get this exact pizza in many places. And that's fair. People go to Blue Tip to play pool, and they eat and drink for comfort while they engage in the establishment's main activity.

With a final score of 60%, I say you should definitely try the pizza if you happen to already be in this exact location.

Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny

Remember when I mentioned the hefty mystery building in Guns of Avalon? I wrote that book report after reading this one. One of Corwin's brothers is mysteriously killed, and most of his subjects expect he did it. So he assembles all of his remaining siblings and talk about everything that's happened so far and what it probably means, using the device of this mystery to better explain everything to us readers.

It's interesting, seeing how the princes and princesses of Amber are all godly beings in our shadow worlds, but this is a book in which nothing really happens. There's a lot of talking, and telling of past stories, new to us, in which exciting things happen. There are even some stabbings and murder-plotting, a refreshing take on a fantasy novel. But it did bore me a little, despite its lack of everything I dislike in a fantasy novel.

Kill Chain (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Here's another noir crime film where Cage plays the badass of badasses. There are no good guys, just a bunch of criminals and crooked cops killing each other as planned. The fun thing about this kind of movie is, while the arcs aren't especially strong, us viewers can never predict what's going to happen. And since Cage's character is smart and has made a few honorable sacrifices, we're disposed to root for him.

The aesthetic and direction are also especially good with this one. So if you're especially into violent noir stuff, stabbing vixens, or Nick Cage, I think you'll like this film. While it doesn't have a ton to offer, I don't think any part of it was bad. In fact I found it equally timely and entertaining. So far, my favorite Cage film of 2019.

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

34. Kill Chain

35. Deadfall
36. Amos and Andrew
37. Moonstruck
38. Tokarev
39. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
40. Knowing
41. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
42. Bringing Out the Dead
43. The Family Man
44. Stolen
45. It Could Happen to You
46. 8mm
47. The Frozen Ground
48. Left Behind
49. A Score to Settle
50. Pay the Ghost
51. Primal
52. Grand Isle
53. Looking Glass
54. Arsenal
55. Between Worlds
56. Ghost Rider
57. Trespass
58. The Humanity Bureau
59. Next
60. The Weather Man
61. 211
62. Fire Birds
63. The Croods

Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny

Since I had such a good thing with the first of Zelazny's anything-goes Amber novels, I decided to finally check this one out. After all the duds I powered through last year, followed by the delicious rain of William Gibson, I decided to follow my bliss instead of punishing myself with challenges.

Guns of Avalon is the 2nd in a long series following the story of Corwin, prince of Amber. Amber is the only real world, from which all of our worlds, mere shadows, are modeled. Corwin, the rightful heir to Amber, and much of a god anywhere else, is determined to claim his thrown from Eric, one of his eight brothers.

After having his eyes burned out and imprisoned, Corwin heals himself and escapes into a chalk drawing on his prison wall. From there, he sets about finding guns that will work in Amber. Friends are made, brothers are made suspicious, and love interests are objectified. This was published in 1972, after all. But despite all, we get to experience the building of a hefty mystery. Will Corwin claim his throne, even if it means to weaken his beloved Amber against an even greater, more evil foe? I guess I shouldn't tell.

Things happen more slowly here than in the first book, but it's not altogether a bad thing. It just means that less happened in this book than in Nine Princess in Amber, which is fine when compared to anything else. I only hope Zelazny didn't chase this artistic direction to write a book in which nothing happens.

Azzip (pizza) of Bloomington Indiana

It's pronounced Ay-Zip, and I'm happy to finally patronize this fresh regional chain. Located in the mall, it's kind of like a Subway. You can pick one of a few varieties of crust, like the zip, the big zip, the square zip, and the gluten free style, then you choose your sauce and toppings. Everyone gets their own pizza, however they like it. Each Zip comes with one meat and unlimited veggies. And the monthly special is a Crab Rangoon pizza. While I think a plain cheese is the measure of quality, Crab Rangoon Pizza sounds good! Either way, I couldn't pass up some free toppings on half my pizza.

The ratio for my Big Zip was 2cr/2ce/2ch. Their crust gets a 1 out of 5. I don't mind that the crusts are pre-stretched. The texture is chewy, flexible, and a little crispy on the handles. But there's no flavor. It's like they added baking soda to compensate for yeast and sugar, and kneaded their dough to the extreme. The only time I caught some flavor in the crust, it was more like a saltine than a pizza. And I looked around at all the other customers happily enjoying their Zips, and couldn't help but wonder why they weren't talking about this weird crust. Next time I'll try the Square Zip, which looks more like a pan pizza.

Oh well. Their sauce gets a 4 out of 5. It's adequately thick and smooth, delicious. A good pomodoro sauce. For overall quality, they get a Bloomington 4. Aside from the crust, there was nothing really wrong with the pizza. It could've used more time in the oven, but I like how fast they were able to churn out this food.

For style, I have to give Azzip a 5 out of 5. You order at a counter, and can get your own soda refills. Nobody needs to come to your table. There are also beers on tap for people who like those, and a hot sauce/seasoning station. Their pizza dust is delicious, for whatever's in it. Garlic salt and stuff. Azzip does fast food right, except for their weird crust. So their final score is a 70%. They say flavor favors the bold, but I that can't always be the case. Either way, if you want to try something new and cool, check out Azzip.

All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson

You might have been wondering, When's PJ going to update his blog? The answer is now, well, this post is being written on March 10th. I have in fact already read a lot of books this year, and I had a habit of getting my reports written on the first Thursday of every month. Then I decided to mix it up and kind of fell off. I don't know if you can relate. If I don't pursue an activity religiously, I tend forget about it.

But with this Bridge trilogy, I chugged through it and finished this third book in a single day. It was that good. In this resolving story, we return to the autonomous civilization of San Francisco. Everything comes together with the most severe and exhilirating consequences. It makes you wonder. Are we all heroes, or are we all not heroes, merely hanging around while technology drags us through all our deepest terrors?

A Score to Settle (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In this turd from 2019, Cage plays a young mob enforcer who takes, for a hefty fee, takes the fall for a murder commited by his boss. 19 years later, Cage's character (Frank Carver) is released from jail, but he's dying of some disease. Frank's son, all grown-up and financially supported by the mob, picks him up and they make up for lost time. Sound Familiar?

Frank and son get along okay, but eventually the son gets his shot at a pitifully contrived monologue about how his Frank's a hypocrite and not much of a father. Fair enough, seeing how after spending a lot of money on his suits, hotels, whores, and hotels, Frank's main objective is to get revenge on his old boss. The money wasn't enough. After all, he missed seeing his son grow-up, and now he's dying. The stakes are low.

All the while Cage is getting into violent trouble and suffering with us thorugh some blurry, low framerate spells of his sickness, which he is going to die from. I can't spoil the story, but some people have a wooden happy ending and others don't. Cage gets to have a freak-out, which he might as well, since he was presumably intended to carry this entire Saturn Film. Every other actor in this film blows their one and only shot to be in a real movie.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Pig
6. Birdy
7. Wild at Heart
8. Joe
9. National Treasure
10. Guarding Tess
11. Snake Eyes
12. Dog Eat Dog
13. Color Out of Space
14. Mom and Dad
15. World Trade Center
16. Peggy Sue Got Married
17. Zandalee
18. Prisoners of the Ghostland
19. City of Angels
20. Willy's Wonderland
21. Captain Corelli's Mandolin
22. Bangkok Dangerous
23. Drive Angry
24. Army of One
25. Lord of War
26. Gone in 60 Seconds
27. Matchstick Men
28. Vampire's Kiss
29. Con Air
30. Face/Off
31. Trapped in Paradise
32. The Boy in Blue
33. Honeymoon in Vegas
34. Deadfall
35. Amos and Andrew
36. Moonstruck
37. Tokarev
38. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
39. Knowing
40. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
41. Bringing Out the Dead
42. The Family Man
43. Stolen
44. It Could Happen to You
45. 8mm
46. The Frozen Ground
47. Left Behind

48. A Score to Settle

49. Pay the Ghost
50. Primal
51. Grand Isle
52. Looking Glass
53. Arsenal
54. Between Worlds
55. Ghost Rider
56. Trespass
57. The Humanity Bureau
58. Next
59. The Weather Man
60. 211
61. Fire Birds
62. The Croods