Papa's Pizza of Robinson North Carolina

On my last trip through the mountainous areas of Western North Carolina, I tried to stop at Papa's, for their buffet. Sometimes it's good to pile up on some salad to balance the whole diet, but at the time they were closed. So I tried again this next time, and their salad bar was pretty weak. Oh well. Their pizza was pretty good, though. It had a ratio of 3cr/2ce/2ch. Their crust reminded me of Cici's pizza. It had a thin skin of chewiness with a soft, but sometimes undercooked center. The flavor was there, but the dough was stretched sloppily, and sometimes dough. So I give their crust a 2 out of 5. Papa's has good sauce, better than Cici's. It's thick and tasty without any weirdness. It gets a 3 out of 5. For overall quality, they get a 3 out of 5. Their pizza did its job, satisfying the craving for 'za, but there was nothing remarkable about it. For style, they get a 3 out of 5. I like the option of a buffet, but if the salad is bogus like it was, then there's no real point in getting anything besides a mediocre, cheap pie. The restaurant itself was a pretty chill place to jump in and get a quick, delicious lunch. That's right, I said delicious. With a score of 55%, I would never turn my nose up at Papa's delicious pizza.

Between Worlds (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I respect Cage's inclination toward weird and artsy films. Between Worlds is one of those, sort of. It is, but not very much until I'd already decided the movie wasn't very good and that there wasn't much that could save it. I think writer/director/producer Maria Pulera felt the same way. She got halfway through her supernatural thriller and realized it was lame, and thought she could save it by making it as weird as possible, deliberately taking cues for style from Twin Peaks.

In Between Worlds, Cage plays another Joe, a down-on-his-luck trucker with a tragic past. By chance, he finds an innocent woman, Julie, getting strangled in a gas station bathroom. The catch is Julie wanted to be strangled. Getting close to death allows her into the 'other' world, where she can revive her comatose daughter.

So Joe strangles Julie too, but the magic at play goes wrong and bad stuff happens to everyone. The story is more interesting when told in a few sentences than when stretched out over an hour and a half of bad movie. I should have known this movie would be bad when I saw, for no reason at all, a close up of the gas station attendant's butt crack, a shot I found analogous to the quality of this film.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. It Could Happen to You
29. 8mm
30. Between Worlds
31. Ghost Rider
32. The Humanity Bureau
33. Next
34. The Weather Man
35. 211
36. The Croods

The Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft

This is a scary book about a guy who visits an ill-reputed town of fish people who live forever. If you like well-described monsters coming to get a well non-described narrator (you?), then this is probably going to be your thing. And I say go for it. Lovecraft stories never disappoint.

Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates

As you know, my older sister got my The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates for Christmas a couple years ago, so I wanted to return the favor. Wonderland is about a guy who has a messed up adolescence, and copes with it by becoming a top brain surgeon. In the early 70s it must have been some perfect mesh of literature, edge, and pulp. In the year 2021, it's a fine book. Nothing revolutionary, but you know, good for an Oates Completionist, or anyone who needs a reminder of how good writing is done.

Joe (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Joe is like a super hero film, but our hero isn't super at all. He has no powers aside from the fact that he's a boss among the crew of outlaws who work with him, poisoning trees so the lumberjacks don't have to get their hands dirty. Still, Joe has to do the right thing, and all the while, doing the right thing keeps getting more dangerous.

While many of Cage's heroic roles haven't aged well, Joe gives us a very modern, immersive experience. It is gloomy and emotional, for those of us who don't naturally feel emotional over the events in films like Ghost Rider. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Joe without feeling disturbed.

So I guess you get more bang for your buck with this one. It's not for everyone, and maybe not for watching more than once. Maybe this is the kind of film all those edgy, 90s directors wanted to make, but couldn't. Instead they kept themselves from going too far. Though I guess the makers of Joe intended to go as far as possible.

However, they knew what it takes to make a good film. Even the worst of lives have their best days. And it is the best of films that remind us of how those good times felt. In addition to the talents of Cage, we get star performances all around, bringing the villains and the demons all too close to our own realities.

Despite Joe's goodness, I can only dish out so much love to the format of a hero story. Amid Joe's challenges along the arch of his story, none of the characters go through any satisfying, internal changes, leaving us with a lack of dimension. But gosh, I'm probably expecting too much.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. It Could Happen to You
29. 8mm
30. Ghost Rider
31. The Humanity Bureau
32. Next
33. The Weather Man
34. 211
35. The Croods

Butch's Grillacatessen & Eatzeria of Bloomington Indiana

I like to call it Butch's, known for having one of the most extensive menus I've ever seen. But I think the only thing they do really well is make pizza.. In a tiny town with tons of 'za, I think Butch's gets us the closest to New York. Their ratio is 1.5cr/1ce/1.5ch.

While they don't get as thin or as light as you might at first hope, their crust is quite delicious and easy to scarf. It gets a 4 out of 5. Their sauce gets a 5 out of 5. It doesn't step out much, and doesn't need to. It's made with the good tomatoes.

For Overall Quality, they get a 4. For Style, they get a 3. While they succeed at making great pizza and serve knots, their knots aren't very good, and their pizza is only a passing substitute for what it's trying for. I'd give them a 2 if their menu didn't offer tons of side options. So, Butch's ends with an 80%.

Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine

This is my third Goosebumps book, and I have to say I am a fan of the series, enjoying this one those most so far. Did you ever have nightmares as a kid? Sure, maybe we all did. R.L. Stine knew, and he made those nightmares come true with Night of the Living Dummy. It kind of makes me want to name my next (fictional) son Mr. Wood.

Of the twin sisters, one is a great ventriloquist, and the other sister wants a dummy of her own. They are the type of twins who compete over everything, opening the way for their dummies to cause all kinds of dangerous trouble.

Thinner by Richard Bachman

For my horror month, I was going to instead read The Running Man, but I found this one on paperback, and you've already been informed about my spending time outside with the sun limiting my ebook hours. Thinner was a good read, though. In Stephen King (Richard Bachman) fashion, our hero gets a curse and it keeps getting worse. I told myself I'd be surprised if they made a movie of this, and I was surprised to find out it had been done. I don't really expect it to be good, so I don't intend to be disappointed unless all of the characters are lacking in the severe New England accent which I affect to all of King's characters.

But. Should you read Thinner? Sure. It's scary; not as scary as Misery, but still a lot of fun.