Author: David Yenoki

Roy Choi: Everyone wants the answer. They want us to have the solution.

Everyone wants the answer.  They want us to have the solution.  But we don’t have a solution.  We’re just trying to feed and take care of people.  If we’re not perfect at the beginning, well, fuck it,man.  We’re a year old.  Give it time. – Roy Choi

Sometimes an east coast person will come west and try (food, restaurants, and so forth) and report negatively on it.  Probably missing some context or perhaps from their perspective, accurately depicting their opinions.  Recently Pete Wells of the New York Times gave Roy Choi’s LocoL zero stars.  And while I don’t know what exactly that means out of a general ignorance of the New York Times restaurant reviewing standards, I feel like saying “zero stars” suggests some colossal failure and reflects negatively on the food and experience in general. Continue reading “Roy Choi: Everyone wants the answer. They want us to have the solution.”

Twitter, please verify me

So … there’s this form that you can use to apply for a verified check on twitter.  I’ve wanted to be verified for … years.  One of the things you do is provide a link to a website or something?  Wasn’t quite clear what they were looking for, but here I am, on the website that I have but seldom update whose domain is my name, and hoping that Twitter will indeed verify me.

Link to the form so you can get verified too

On Baseball, the most terrible of all sports

It’s been a very long time I think since I posted anything on this blog.  Probably did something silly and became employed and old and forgot that I have this habit of mansplaining throwing half baked ideas on the internet because either I feel like it needs to happen or I have no other way of expressing myself.

And it’s really been so long that I actually have been fairly submerged in baseball to an astonishing degree.  For a guy who never really cared about athleticism, this new interest in stickball is something that’s been going on for a few years now and it’s kind of isolating because I want to talk about baseball and very few people understand baseball, care about baseball, or able to understand the level of conversation that I am currently operating at.  (Internet baseball troll).

Continue reading “On Baseball, the most terrible of all sports”

NyQuil and automated check out

So … I know that I was not a big fan of the self-checkout movement.  Part of it was my perspective as a courtesy clerk and knowing that if we didn’t need more checkers, my route to promotion was limited.  Also, I don’t really trust people and the part where an employee stands around babysitting customers and machines means that the labor savings may not be as great as one might think.

But also. In the state of California.  You cannot purchase alcohol through self-checkout machines.  I understand this when you think of minors who are buying alcohol.  But I was trying to purchase NyQuil.  And yes, it says on the bottle 10% alcohol.  But I was thinking / hoping that the computer would not think of it as “alcoholic beverage” but “medicine / pharmaceutical” … but alas.  So if you ever find yourself trying to buy a bottle of NyQuil and get into the self-checkout line?  (in California) get out and go to a regular checkout line.

Jimmy Johns and the price of food

Hey so … I’m budgeting?  The question mark is because it’s never something I have executed with discipline.  Sure, I’ve tried to hunt bargains for recreation.  In my travels and through the conversations with out of state friends I have discovered a few restaurants that have been unavailable to me in California.

You know, like In-N-Out was unavailable to everyone else. Continue reading “Jimmy Johns and the price of food”

One thing that Kobo does better than Sony is FOOTNOTES

Okay so I’ve been using the Sony Readers since PRS-500 which predates the touch interface.  I’ve never been happy with how they handled footnotes.  You would be taken out of the text to jump to the footnote probably at the end of the chapter and then you’d have to hit the back button to jump back… Of course if for some reason the footnote paginated … anyways.

My experience with the Kobo Aura and footnotes has been much better.  A small dialogue box pops up with the text of the footnote over the text which I can easily dismiss.  I don’t feel like I’m bouncing back and forth in the book.  I suppose I should include pictures and what not but I’m not going to because I doubt anyone really cares about this sort of thing.  I mean anyone else.

Remembering Ned Vizzini at Skylight Books

Hey. I didn’t say anything because I have issues with public speaking so I like to put words together first so I know that I have words and I’m not just standing around looking like I’m trying to say something or make a point when I’m just trying to think because communication words don’t come easily to me.

Tonight, some people, especially young adult writers came together to remember Ned Vizzini, the talented young adult author who committed suicide right before Christmas last year.  Some selections from his books were read out loud as well as some personal recollections.  Some really nice things were said.  Ned will be remembered as a caring and intelligent guy. Continue reading “Remembering Ned Vizzini at Skylight Books”

Grasshopper Jungle

9781101590065.600x600-75Grasshopper Jungle is a new book by Andrew Smith.  I have previously read books by Andrew Smith such as Winger, Stick, and The Path of Falling Objects.  I’ve been looking forward to this book for several months.  Feels like nearly a year.  A year of John Corey Whaley hyping the book to me.  A year of trying to get my hands on the galley.  An exaggerated year of trying to figure out what the book is about.

And the book comes out on Tuesday.  So soon you will be able to find out.  I finished a free advanced reader’s copy I got from Netgalley so there may have been some changes in the finished copy then what I read.

Things that the book reminded me of:  mid-century science fiction films, Lost, Venture Bros, plus a fairly honest look at teenage boys in the middle of nowhere Iowa.

BEST FILM OF 2014 (That I’ve seen thus far)

Okay so I’ve seen two movies in January thus far* (three if you count Frozen in 3-D).  One was American Hustle which is a 2013 film and in my top five films of 2013.  Funny.  And I have to say I finally understand why people talk about Jennifer Lawrence as an actress.

I saw Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit and it’s not awful.  It’s the best film of 2014* (of 2014 releases that I’ve seen thus far).  It’s also the worst film of 2014* (of 2014 releases that I’ve seen thus far).  Premise was way too familiar.

  1. Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit

2013 Films in Review

This sounds excessive:  I saw 44 films this year.  Or rather, I made a list of films from 2013 I saw this year.  This isn’t including the films from other years I saw this year, with the notable exception of Jurassic Park 3-D which I saw in the theatre and I feel the 3-D was a significant change.  Some people disagree.  I didn’t include The Day of the Doctor although I did see it in a movie theatre.

1. Twelve Years a Slave  – this was a vividly painful film based on true events.  People should see it at least once. I have no plans on ever seeing it again.

2.  From Up on Poppy Hill – An animated film written by Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro.

3. Frozen – A computer animated film from Disney, featuring Broadway singing talent.

4. Monsters University – The latest Pixar animated film, prequel to Monsters, Inc.

5.  Pacific Rim – Man fights giant monsters in giant robots.  Boom!

6.  Jurassic Park (3D) – God creates dinosaurs.  God destroys dinosaurs, god creates man. Man creates dinosaurs, dinosaurs eat man…

7.  Saving Mr. Banks –  Walt Disney tries really hard to convince the author of Mary Poppins to be okay with her father and selling out.

8.  The Book Thief – A little girl in Nazi Germany learns how to read.

9.  Dallas Buyers Club – An unlikely hero for the early AIDS movement does everything he can to find medication that will help him survive.

10.  The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, tells the story of the designer of the Mitsubishi Zero fighter.

11.  Star Trek:  Into Darkness (3D) – You think you are safe.  Benedict Cumberbatch is going to wreck your life.

12. The World’s End – Let’s go out drinking but it seems like the people back home have been replaced with well behaved robots.  FIGHT!

13.  The Way, Way Back – This kid suffers through a really bad vacation.  But has a decent time working at a water park.

14.  The Kings of Summer – Some boys run off into the woods to live alone by their own rules.

15.  Philomena – A little old lady goes on a quest to try and find the son she was deprived by evil nuns.

16.  Now You See Me – An elaborate heist film using magic and slight of hand.

17.  The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire – Watch Peeta’s chin.

18.  The Hobbit:  Desolation of Smaug – Highframe rate 3D is weird to watch.  Also, it ends abruptly and the writing could be stronger.  The film really exists as a technology testbed.

19.  42 – Jackie Robinson becomes a Dodger and inspires everyone to be a better person.  Oh, and he’s a great baseball player too.

20.  August:  Osage County – Meryl Streep is on a bunch of pills and is super mean to her family.

21.  Percy Jackson:  Sea of Monsters – They gave me free popcorn and soda.  Also, a much better film than the one that came before it, almost restored the series to something resembling the books.  I enjoyed it.

22.  Elysium – Not as good as District 9 but I like stories where rich people live up in space.  Hoping for a decent Battle Angel Alita eventually.

23.  Blackfish – Orca have feelings.  Torturing orca is mean.

24.  Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen did Streetcar Named Desire

25.  World War Z – The book was better

26.  Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings – A super campy filipino gay zombie film.

27.  Starbuck – Surprise, you’re a father. To several hundred kids.

28.  Ender’s Game – The book was better

29.  Sapphires – Light fluff based on history.  A group of aboriginal girls go off to Vietnam to sing for the troops.

30.  Oz the Great and Powerful – Big fluff prequel to The Wizard of Oz.  Visually big, tepid plot.

31.  Thor:  The Dark World – I like Thor.  But I think he was more Thor in the first Thor.  Wasn’t awful, just didn’t have the same charm.

32.  Man of Steel – If you don’t like the whoosh of watching Superman fly, then you might be super freaking bored.

33.  Geography Club – This film probably should be ranked higher.  I’m over my hatred of Kevin Land, just had to read more of the books for that redemption.  I can safely recommend this for guys who think the boys in the trailer are cute.  In fact, I probably should revise this ranking.  Don’t have enough time to do it today though.

34.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone – I remember the gag, but I don’t remember anything that makes me want to see this movie again.

35.  We’re the Millers – All I can see is the allergic reaction to the insect bite on the young lad’s scrotum.

36.  The Angel’s Share – Wasn’t bad.

37.  Beautiful Creatures – Could have been worse.

38.  The Spectacular Now – Why do people like this movie?  Bad things happen without consequence and that offends my sense of justice.

39.  Planes – I spent money on this.  That offends me.

40.  The Wolverine – I wish this movie had a plot twist and wasn’t so flipping predictable.

41.  The Lone Ranger – I wanted to like this movie, but they lost me in the big train sequence.

42.  Iron Man 3 (3D) – THIS MOVIE NEEDS MORE IRON MAN SUITS. Said nobody.

43.  Warm Bodies – This movie suffered from the attention brought to it from the author of the book.  Also, it’s just Romeo and Juliet with zombies.  But it’s not an awful film.

44.  The Mortal Instruments:  City of Bones – Did this film have any redeeming value?  Oh right, the annoying irish boy from Misfits.

45.  The Host – Hated this movie and I fell asleep in it.  Apparently didn’t sleep enough.