Pizza and McDonalds

This could be the best tasting thing ever or the grossest. I vote grossest...

Celebrity Look-a-like: Baby Edition

Chris Farley's been knockin' women up from the grave! Lol amirite?

Cultural differences

Needing to kill time during a layover in Tokyo, I got to sample how McDonald's caters to Japanese tastes. The menu had most of the the trademark items such as the Big Mac, the hamburger and cheeseburger, the McChicken and the Chicken McNuggets. Among the local offerings were Teriyaki burgers, a bacon, lettuce and tomato burger and a pork burger. The one thing that really caught my eye was a picture for the Ebi Filet-O, in which a portion of the sandwich was cut away to reveal shrimp inside the crispy golden fried patty. Since something like this would never see the light of day in the U.S., I was obliged to try it. Unlike the pork sandwich, I did notice the Ebi Filet-O was among the higher priced items on the menu so it probably falls into one of their premium sandwiches, another compelling reason to give it a taste. While the innards have a very nondescript pink appearance, along the lines of an undercooked chicken patty, it's actually quite tasty. I couldn't figure out if the yellow sauce was supposed to be mustard or something else, but it certainly helped with the flavor. Above all else, it tasted like shrimp and I guess that's the important part here. Not to mention that the fries tasted the just like American fries, i.e. good. I'm still not sure what a woman checking out clothes on the wrapper has to do with shrimp sandwiches...

Shameless plug

Oh look, my cousin's in the news...

In Rainbows

I spent the day listening the new Radiohead album while moseying around downtown San Francisco, and the one word that sums up my feelings on In Rainbows is: refreshing.

After OK Computer, I’ve found the band’s subsequent releases to be inconsistent, with only a handful of memorable tracks scattered amidst electronically orchestrated noise. Kid A was a bold step in a new direction, but Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief were more disappointing than anything. I eagerly anticipated all three of those albums only to come away less impressed each time. With that in mind, my expectations were tempered for In Rainbows. I was going to give it a listen anyway, in spite of exuberant recommendations, simply because Radiohead’s one of those bands I just have to listen to whenever they put out something new.

I could say having low expectations for In Rainbows made it easier to come away impressed, and I’m sure that played a part, but I think Radiohead put together a truly great album and their most complete work since OK. It strikes a balance between their trademark ethereal sound and rocking out with the three-guitar attack. The best part about it is that I can just leave the whole album on repeat and let it play through for a few hours. Every now and then I notice something good, whether it’s a beat, riff, bass line etc., and then I slip away into just enjoying the music again. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to do that with a Radiohead album and it may be another several years until they repeat that feat. But from now on it won’t matter, because I know they’ll come through eventually.

Jesus in the flesh

...and he ended up playing rugby for France of all things.