I don’t know how Three Trapped Tigers by G. Cabrera Infante got on my books to read list.  It’s not a new book having been published in 1965 in the original Spanish and in 1972 in its English translation.  Maybe it was mentioned in the old Book Review section of the L.A. Times in the review of a different, more recent book as a comparison.  It’s about Cuba and I’ve read a few books that partially or entirely took place in Cuba, most recently Monkey Hunting by Cristina Garcia.  In any case, Three Trapped Tigers had been on my list for several years and I figured I better get it off either by reading it or attempting to read it.  It wasn’t available at the Covina Public Library but it was at the Cal State L.A. library in the original 1971 English translation edition.

I started reading it and the first page just before the prologue appears to be a map of the major streets of Havana, Cuba.  I believe most of the book takes place there during the time just before Castro’s revolution.  But in the first 50 pages it’s hard to get a sense of where the story takes place and what it’s about.  I had read that the book had been compared favorably to the book Ulysses by James Joyce and I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.  The prologue and the first seven chapters, all unlabeled and lacking even numbers, seem to each be written from a different point of view.

The prologue is a long monologue intro by an emcee at a nightclub.  The monologue goes on for one long paragraph introducing dignitaries in the audience, making jokes, and switching between English and Spanish.  Sometimes the Spanish is translated in the next sentence and sometimes it isn’t.  It seems to be more of a random rant than a prepared speech that reacts to the famous people as they are spotted.  It doesn’t reveal much about the emcee.  I’m not sure if he’s a man or she’s a woman and I can only guess he’s a man from the time period and his compliments of the ladies.

The first section is called “Beginners” and the first chapter is a monologue of childhood memories.  The next is a letter from a woman in Havana to a friend in another town whose daughter is in Havana leading a “scandalous” life as a model.  Then there’s another slang-filled rant and then another monologue about sneaking into movie theaters that also touches on the unrest in the street (that eventually leads to the revolution?).  The next chapter is one side of a phone conversation that seems to include a lot of nonsense.  Maybe that’s more realistic.  At one point the caller mentions the name Hermenegildo.  This chapter is followed by the first person account of a man trying to procure a raise.  The account is heavy on reflection.  The next chapter is about a man trying to start a new life but things get strange and dark very quickly.  In fact, the chapter is followed by two pages of black.  By this point I had reached the rule of 50 (page 54 actually) and I just wasn’t getting into the book.  I guess it consists of different voices in Havana during the time period but they all seem dark and disjointed.  There is a lot of cursing and possibly lots of pretentious symbolism and unreliable narrator angles.  I’ll leave this book for the literary scholars and the readers of Joyce and I can now remove it from my booklist.

In October or November of 2009, David Bisbal released his fourth studio album, “Sin Mirar Atras” (“without looking back”, sounds a bit like the Boston song title “Don’t Look Back”).  I’ve been listening to his music since the fall of 2003 when I saw him perform on the televised Latin Grammy Awards back when they were broadcasted on CBS with English commentary.  They moved to a Spanish channel with Spanish commentary in 2005.  When I first saw Bisbal on the 2003 telecast what first struck me was how he appeared on stage by sliding down a transparent slide.  He and the band and dancers (who also took the slide) then launched into his powerful, rollicking song “Llorare las Penas.”  After they finished, host George Lopez said something about only a Latino would be so lazy as to use a slide to reach the stage.  I believe Lopez also mentioned that Bisbal was a top finisher of Spain’s version of American Idol called Operacion Triumfo.

A few days after seeing that telecast I went to a music store, probably Tower at the time, and bought Bisbal’s debut CD “Corazon Latino” that had come out the year before.  It contained three fast intense songs (“Ave Maria”, “Llorare las Penas”, and “Corazon Latino”) and many softer but very soulful ballads including a duet with Spanish singer Chenoa.  I enjoyed it especially the faster songs that were tinged with Flamenco sound.  My wife (girlfriend at the time) enjoyed Bisbal’s Spanish accent especially his pronouncing the “s” sound as “th” such as “corazon” as “corathon”.  Bisbal released a follow-up album in 2004, “Buleria”, that had equal numbers of fast Flamenco-tinged pop songs and soulful ballads.  It alternated between the two and I liked this album even better than the first, especially the title track and “Camino y Ven”.  He performed on the Latin Grammys again that year first performing the song “Oye el Boom” from “Buleria”.  The dancers wore blank t-shirts with the shiny logo “db” on them.  He then performed a ballad as a duet with Jessica Simpson (Jeththica Thimpthon?) where he sang in Spanish and she sang in English.

In November 2004 I saw Bisbal perform at the Avalon in Hollywood.  The concert was supposed to be at the Wiltern on a Saturday but they moved it to the small venue on Friday due to low ticket sales, I believe.  I only found out about the change from the Weekender (or was it called Preview) section of the L.A. Times that came out on Thursdays.  I went to the Avalon and the crowded waiting to get in consisted mostly of young Latina women.  A venue security guard asked me where my date was.  I don’t recall if there was an opening act.  Bisbal had a full band, some with traditional instruments, and two dancers.  He sang well but his backup singers weren’t as strong as on his recordings.  He did one ballad that wasn’t from any of his albums.  One young woman made it up on stage to kiss him on the cheek.  His best performance was “Buleria” during the encore.  While there I got my own black shirt with the “db” logo.

In 2006 Bisbal released his third studio album, “Premonicion”, that was a departure from the Flamenco pop/soulful ballad formula.  Many songs were more serious such as “Que me iba a Decir” and “Aqui y Ahora”.  He tried experimenting with other styles such as spoken word raps and singing some lines in English such as in the song “Calentando Voy”.  There are also songs about serious issues such as “Soldados de Papel” about some countries enlisting children as soldiers.  The Reggaeton song “Torres de Babel” is about past injustices and features other rappers and singers.  Overall the songs were edgier, had more intensity, and showed progressive change.  The album also featured my favorite song so far by Bisbal, the very celebratory “Silencio” (Thilenthio).

In late 2007 or early 2008 my wife downloaded the live and compilation album “Premonicion Live” that included English versions of “Oye el Boom” (“Hear the Boom”), and “Me Derrumba” (“I’m Crumbling”) and a duet with Rihanna, “I Hate that I Love You”.  My wife also downloaded the latest album, “Sin Mirar Atras”, in late 2009.  It’s actually a deluxe version of the album that includes bonus tracks.  Overall, the music is similar to Bisbal’s music before “Premonicion.”  He has returned to his formula, somewhat.  The first track, “Esclavo de tus Besos” (“Ethclavo de tuth Bethoth”), is a fast, upbeat love song that he follows with a soulful ballad, “Mi Princesa” (“Mi Printhetha”) that has acoustic accompaniment.  He speeds things up for the next track, “Dame tu Amor”.  His fast songs don’t have the same level of production as those on his earlier album and that’s actually a nice change.  There aren’t too many background singers pronouncing the “s” as “s” rather than the proper “th”.

Unlike “Buleria” this album doesn’t alternate between fast and slow.  The next song is also fast and has a bit more production.  It’s the celebratory title track “Sin Mirar Atras” (“Thin Mirar Atrath”).  The next song, “Besos de to Boca” (“Bethoth de to Boca”) begins with a jazzy saxophone and has a bit of attitude.  The words make it sound like a sing of praise though the music makes it seem more like a soap opera or telenovela.  The next song, “Si Falta el Aire”, is more referential.  He follows this ballad with the equally reverential-sounding “Suenos Rotos” (“Thuenoth Rototh”) that has some strings accompaniment.  The next song is faster with some traditional strings and guitar.  “Al Andalus” (“Al Andaluth”) has a strong drum beat and I think the title alludes to the region of Andalucia in Spain.

It’s back to soulful ballads for the next song, “Antes o Despues” (“Anteth or Dethpueth”).  He seems to pronounce the “s” sound like “s” when singing the title words but he still sings “corathon.”  The song also has a strong guitar solo.  The next song is the fast and fun sounding “24 Horas” (“24 Horath”) about how his world would end if she isn’t in his arms in 24 hours or something like that.  The next track is the soft ballad “Cuando Hacemos el Amor” (“Cuando Hathemoth el Amor”) that has piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment.  A slightly more rhythmic ballad, “El Ruido”, follows.  He gets very soulful for the chorus.  I think this is the last song for the album proper and that the next two are bonus tracks.  The first is a duet with British teenage singer Pixie Lott who sings her part in English.  “Sufriras” (“Thufirath”) has a fast electronic beat and the title translates to “It will hurt”.  When Bisbal sings the song’s title in the chorus it sounds like he is saying the name of a character of the book Dune, Thufir Hawat.  Pixie Lott won the MTV award for Push artist, beating the band Hockey.

The last track of the CD is another soulful ballad, “Juro Que te Amo”, that’s similar to the third from the last track, “El Ruido”.  With this album, Bisbal has more or less gone back to his bread and butter: Flamenco-tinged pop and soulful ballads.  Unlike the title of the album he has “looked back” and done what originally made him successful.  Or maybe he’s just doing what he wants and not comparing it to what he has done before.  Either way, he still sounds good.  The album is energetic and doesn’t want for air (“falta aire”).  It’s not just noise (“ruido”), nor is it broken dreams (“suenos rotos”), and you could listen to it for 24 hours (“24 Horas”) and you will not hurt (“no sufriras”).  David Bisbal keeps it fun “Anteth o Dethpueth.”

I first heard of Fitz-James O’Brien from the book Dictionary of American Literature by Robert F. Richards that I read in 2008 (see earlier review).  The Dictionary had an interesting and sad description of O’Brien and his work.  It described how he came to the U.S. from Ireland after wasting his 8,000 (pound) inheritance in London and Paris.  After periods of success from his writing and poverty he served in the American Civil War during which he was cited for gallantry.  Unfortunately he was wounded and died from a tetanus infection in 1862 at age 34.  The Dictionary blurb described his stories as “written in the tradition of Poe.”  The most interesting part of the blurb was the one-sentence summary of O’Brien’s most well-known story, “The Diamond Lens”: “a story about an inventor whose powerful microscope enabled him to see a tiny female in a drop of water with whom he fell in love.” (Richards, p. 159)

The whimsical description made me want to check out the story and possibly other stories.  There was nothing by Fitz-James O’Brien at the Covina Public Library but the Cal State L.A. library had The Diamond Lens and Other Stories that contains all the stories by Fitz-James O’Brien.  His name, incidentally, translates to “bastard son of James, grandson of Brien”.  The book contains seven stories, each one 20-60 pages long.  The longer ones, including “The Diamond Lens” have chapters of 8-12 pages each.  The book was never published during O’Brien’s lifetime and the stories originally appeared in magazines.  “The Diamond Lens” originally appeared in Atlantic magazine in January 1858.  This book was first compiled in 1932 and the edition at the Cal State L.A. library was published in 1970.  According to the table of contents, the first story is “The Diamond Lens” and at 47 pages plus a 17-page introduction that mean I only had to read 14-15 pages over the rule of 50 to finish it.  The book is light blue-green in color and has ten illustrations by Ferdinand Huszti Horwath depicting scenes from the stories.

The book begins with an introduction by Gilbert Seldes that gives more biographical information and some discussion of O’Brien’s writing style.  It seems to have been written long after the stories were originally published.  I think the intro was written in 1932 for the first edition of the collection.  It uses one word I didn’t know when discussing “an intellectual gap between the ratiocination of (Poe’s) detectives and the deeper mysteries he declared but did not expound.” (p. 11)  My Random House Dictionary defines “ratiocinate” as “to carry on a process of logical reasoning.”  So Poe’s stories have a gap between what the detectives in the story figure out and the full mystery.  Seldes describes O’Brien as “a Poe in the minor mode.” (p. 10)  Seldes also goes into more detail about O’Brien’s service in the Civil War.  I think the event for which he was cited for gallantry was when he rode ahead of his regiment with General Lande at Bloomery Gap.  The two of them charged a Confederate force and demanded that the rebel commander surrender.  He complied.

The first and title story, “The Diamond Lens” reads fairly quickly.  There’s a little more to it than the Dictionary blurb’s one-sentence summary.  It’s told in the first person by the inventor of the microscope who seems to be an anti-social, obsessive, and somewhat disturbed individual.  The story covers most of his life though it focuses primary on his invention and discovery.  The title comes from his needing a rare diamond to make the microscope.  Though it is about a scientist, the story includes several elements of fantasy.  It also turns out to be darker than whimsical and does not end happily.  The moral seems to be to not get carried away by your obsessions and don’t tamper with the occult.  It is similar to Poe or perhaps that old scary fable “The Monkey’s Paw”.

After finishing the title story I thought I’d try the next one, “The Wondersmith”.  The first page describes a poor dirty street that the unnamed narrator likes because it has “outward character”.  But by the 15th page the story becomes even stranger and darker than “The Diamond Lens”.  I found myself not wanting to know how it ends or even what happens next so I stopped reading at about 21 pages in.  I had past 50 pages and finished nearly 90 pages, but I had enough.  Perhaps there was a reason O’Brien’s works cannot be found at the Covina Public Library.

We went to Pho Super Bowl with Mom and Dad (my parents-in-law) and our sister and brother-in-law on Tuesday, December 22, 2009.  Mom first heard about Pho Super Bowl from her niece (our cousin).  She also saw that it got good reviews on yelp.com.  She then tried it herself with some friends.  To get there from the house we drove north on Ramona, followed it to where it became Mission Drive, and then turned left on Main Street.  That intersection is a bit confusing because the east-west street is named Main Street to the left (west) and Las Tunas Ave. to the right (east).  We then turned left into a shopping center with a big sign for Pho Super Bowl.

Pho is pronounced “fuh” and is Vietnamese rice noodle soup.  Pho Super Bowl is a small to medium-sized restaurant with yellow walls and framed photos of scenes from Vietnam on them.  They seated us at a table for eight and gave us menus.  We learned from them that the “Super Bowl” in the restaurant’s name referred to one of the two sizes of bowls of pho that could be ordered and not to the NFL championship game.  The other size that can be ordered is Regular.  Every menu item has a corresponding number and there are two pages of all the different phos.  However, there didn’t seem to be much variation among them.  Most contained steak either rare flank or well-down flank, and/or brisket.  They also had chicken, pork and vegetarian pho.  The menu had many items beside pho.  There were sections for appetizers, rice dishes, vermicelli dishes, and on the back page were listed drinks and desserts including many teas and some sundaes.

We placed our orders by telling the waiter the numbers corresponding to each choice.  On our table were carols with utensils: forks, spoons, deep plastic soup spoons, and chopsticks.  They brought us our drinks first.  I ordered the soybean milk so I could compare it to the soy milk that I often drink.  It tasted like it came right from the beans and didn’t have any added sweeteners or flavors.  That doesn’t mean it tasted better than soy milk, though.  But it quenched my thirst.  They also brought the pot of tea that Dad had ordered for us.  Next they brought our appetizer of two orders of egg rolls.  They were medium size and came with garnish of rice noodles, shredded carrots, and lettuce.  There were some small bowls of sweet clear sauce for dipping.  The egg rolls were crunchy and flavorful but also very hot in temperature.  The first one I bit into burned my mouth.

They then brought our entrees.  Each one looked like a lot of food.  Even my regular bowl of pho didn’t look much small than another’s super bowl.  They also brought plates of vegetables to add to our pho such as bean sprouts.  I added a few but I guess I was supposed to let them cook a bit because they tasted too raw.  I was too hungry to wait.  The pho broth had a lot of flavor and was slightly sweet.  I’d only had pho once or twice before.  I think the last time was as a lunch special at Garland Café.  At Pho Super Bowl I got the number 14: pho with well-done flank steak and golden brisket.  The meat was in strips among the rice noodles and flavored by the pho broth.  Some strips of meat had quite a bit of fat.  I ate most of the broth before trying the noodles so it wouldn’t be too messy but I still got some oily drops on my shirt.

Mom enjoyed her pork chop with rice.  It looked flattened tender and she said it tasted good, not too salty.  My wife thought her Cornish game hen was OK but not as good as when Mom makes it.  She also felt that the butter rice that came with the hen didn’t taste particularly buttery.  As we finished our entrees the waiter gave us complimentary tapioca pudding for dessert.  It was made with coconut milk and tasted OK.  I still suffered from some digestive irritation that kept me awake through the night and made the next day a struggle.  I can’t think what could have caused it.  It didn’t feel like I had dairy.  Perhaps it was the soybean milk, the raw bean sprouts, or the tapioca pudding?  In any case, when it comes to Super Bowls, I’ll stick with the NFL championship game.

In 2009 the Swedish “Hair Metal” band Europe came out with a new album, “Last Look at Eden”.  I’ve been following them off and on for over 20 years.  They went on hiatus between 1993 and 1999 when they re-formed to play The Final Countdown at a concert on the eve of the year 2000.  Since then they’ve released studio albums in 2004, 2006, and their latest in 2009.  I’ve never seen them live unless you count their live almost acoustic webcast in January 2008.  (see earlier review)  They haven’t toured the U.S. since 2004 when I wasn’t following them as closely.  I think I heard that the tour wasn’t very successful and they’ve spent most of their time touring Europe (the continent) with some occasional concerts in Japan and South America.  In 2009 they played over 10 venues in Germany alone.  Looks like I’ll have to go somewhere like that to actually see them live.

Obtaining this latest album wasn’t very easy either.  Their website, www.europetheband.com, said that the album was going to be released sometime around September 15, 2009.  But when that day came around it was only released in a few select countries and was only available to order as an import on websites such as amazon.com.  Import versions can cost twice as much or more than domestic releases.  I think this one cost around $27.  The website cdnow.com was selling the album to be released in England (and possibly Asia) for only around $14.95 but it wouldn’t be made available until September 28, 2009.  I decided I could wait until then.

After two weeks I placed the order online and it took less than a week to arrive.  It seemed like the websites were selling different versions of the album, each with a different color trim on the CD case.  The one I got has a white cardboard case with orange-brown trim.  I had seen the cover of the album on the band’s website before it came out.  It’s the cross section of an apple sliced in halve from top to bottom surrounded by spikes on its skin.  The back shows more of the apple’s spiky exterior.  I’m guessing the apple represents either the Garden of Eden or the forbidden fruit of that garden.  The spikes mean that the fruit is now forbidden or that the garden is now off limits to us as if this cross section is our “last look.”  Anyway the symbolism, or my interpretation of it, may be a bit clumsy, but I still think it’s a great album cover because I like to eat apples.  You can make just about anything with them.  The album cover also includes the band’s name in their classic logo both on the front and side.

The CD consists of ten tracks plus a short prelude at the beginning and two live bonus tracks at the end.  It’s a very rock-oriented album that emphasizes their harder and faster sound more than their soulful side, though there are a couple of soulful tracks.  It begins with an orchestral prelude by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra that sounds a bit like a soundtrack or maybe a Mahler symphony.  It goes right into the first official track after about 50 seconds.  That song, the title track “Last Look at Eden” has a loud, hard, and anthemic beginning.  The lead singer, Joey Tempest, isn’t kidding when he sings, “and I won’t be quiet.”  The orchestral accompaniment continues throughout the song with heavy emphasis on the strings along with John Norum’s lead guitar.  Like most Europe songs it’s not easy to tell exactly what the song is about.  I think it’s a call to change the world or help solve the environmental problems.  It’s either take action now or take one “last look at Eden.”  Perhaps they believe the world now will be “Eden” compared to what it will become.  The theme is similar to their earlier big hit “The Final Countdown” without the science fiction overtones.

They lose the orchestra and overall political correct message for the next song, “Gonna get Ready”, but the loud fast rockin’ sound continues.  The theme is simply the title “get ready” though it’s not clear what to get ready for.  Just don’t hesitate, don’t fear, and try your best.  The theme changes for the next track, “Catch that Plane” that urges “my baby” to catch and plane and get back here presumably to work out some relationship problems.  Yeah, it’s a bit more selfish than getting ready or taking a last look at Eden.  But it’s just as rockin’.

They slow down for the next song, “New Love in Town”, that showcases Mic Michaeli’s keyboard playing along with Norum’s guitar and Tempest’s vocals.  The song seems to celebrate the beginning of a first love.  This is interesting because the book I just reviewed, How to Talk to Girls by Alec Greven explicitly states not to celebrate in front of the girl when you get together with her.  That’s probably why the video for “New Love in Town” has the band performing the song in an airplane hangar with no audience.  Then again, the song doesn’t always clearly refer to romantic love.  The chorus mentions how “you turned it around” and the bridges includes the profound lines “Everyone I met has made me what I am today/ Every choice I made has led me here today.”  I guess that’s how profoundly the new love has affected.  And the girl doesn’t want to hear about any of this.

They return to the fast rockin’ sound for “The Beast” that’s about going wild or possibly reacting to a situation (“We’re having more fun than we deserve.”)  The song has a bit of attitude with lines such as “we don’t show up, we arrive” and “we gotta live before we’re back to dust.”  The tone is urgent and only slows down for a short bridge.  The next song is only slightly slower, just as rockin’, and has a lot of attitude.  “Mojito Girl” is a about a party girl who’s the love with the voice singing the song (“can be the sweetest thing”).  The song gets self-referential with the line “Hey, let’s get out of this second verse.”  I wonder how the love of someone that “lost her halo a long time ago” and uses a mojito to “kill what’s left of her modesty” will be “the sweetest thing”.  This isn’t one of their better songs and reminds me a little of “Girl from Lebanon” from the 1991 album “Prisoners in Paradise.”

The next song is better.  It emphasizes Michaeli’s keyboards over Norum’s rockin’ guitar and has more of the anthemic song quality that I’ve enjoyed from their earlier songs.  The subject of “No Stone Unturned” is not clear.  It almost seems religious in nature (“Believe and you shall arrive.”)  It’s back to rockin’ guitar for the next song, “Only Young Twice”.  It seems to be about missed opportunities and the fleeting passage of youth, though it never really explains what is meant by only being young twice.  Is it like the James Bond film, You only Live Twice?  In any case twice young doesn’t seem to be enough.

They continue rocking with the next song “U Devil U” that’s actually a song of compliments.  They seem to have a thing for the wild and bad.  The song doesn’t measure up to their last devil song, “Devil Sings the Blues” from their 2006 album “Secret Society”.  They follow their latest devil song with “Run with the Angels.”  Are they paired to emphasize the religious dichotomy?  The song seems to be a pledge to be true to someone who “runs with the angel.”  It’s just as loud and rockin’ as the preceding “Devil” song.  Maybe they’re not all just about being bad.  The last track of the official album set, “In My Time” slows things down and sounds like a sad song with its haunting acoustic guitar.  But the lyrics indicate some joy.  It’s another pledge to be true as in “Run with the Angels” only more subdued.  Norum still has an electric guitar solo.  The song reminds me of “Settle for Love”, the subdued song that ends their 2004 comeback album “Start from the Dark”.

The official album tracks are followed by two live bonus tracks and the first of the two is fast becoming an old favorite of ours.  It’s the very rockin’ “Yesterday’s News” performed live in Paris in 2005.  We originally heard the song on their greatest hits CD “Europe 1982-1992” and it’s an outtake from their 1991 album “Prisoners in Paridise” making it 19 years old.  But its quality has held up and it is better than many songs on the “Eden” album.  The song has a slightly humorous chorus line: “I’m so down I’m reading Yesterday’s News.”  We find it even more humorous because my wife showed me an ad in one of her magazines for a brand of kitty litter called “Yesterday’s News.”  The next bonus track is a more recent song that’s just as rockin’: “Wake up Call” from “Start from the Dark”.  Midway through the song Tempest shouts, “Look out, Tokyo!”

Overall “Last Look at Eden” is pretty good but doesn’t quite measure up to the other two albums recently released by Europe.  It doesn’t quite have the standout anthemic emotional song that “Hero” is for “Start from the Dark”.  “Eden” attempt to have standouts with the title track and “New Love in Town.”  The musical quality of “Eden” also doesn’t match the more layered sound of the songs on “Secret Society”.  The music is simpler and the themes are less universal and altruistic.  But “Eden” still makes a good edition to their catalog.  The may not quite “Ride with the Angels” but they still rock like a “Beast”.  Let’s hope this isn’t the “Last Look . . .” at their music, that America stops thinking of them as “Yesterday’s News”, and they “Catch that Plane” that brings them on a U.S. Tour.

We got this book as a Christmas gift for our nephew who would turn 13 during the following year (2010).  My wife originally heard about the book.  The author, Alec Greven, was only 8 or 9 when he wrote it a couple of years ago.  It was originally an assignment for school that his teacher thought was so good she suggested trying to have it published.  It went on to become a best seller and Greven appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show or one of those daytime talk shows.  The reviews on Amazon.com were generally favorable and many of the negative reviewers seemed like they were just jealous of Greven.

The book is very short: less than 50 pages.  It is roughly square-shaped and comes in an attractive red cover.  The back says that the book can be helpful to all boys ages 8-80.  Inside, the book has only 4-5 lines of text per page along with illustrations done by someone other than the author.  They’re usually of little boys or girls.  The book has 4-6 chapters covering different aspects of talking to girls including crushes, making a good impression, and giving gifts.  I read the book on evening about a week or two before Christmas and it only took me 15 minutes to finish it.  Since the book was to be a gift I couldn’t keep it with me and reference it while writing this review.

The book is about how to talk to girls who boys “like” as opposed to girls they just want to get to know as friends.  Greven writes that boys should not start seriously dating until middle school or even high school.  Still, he isn’t writing about just being friends.  At one point he says to focus on just one girl.  Personally, I think it’s better to just focus on friendships with both girls and boys at that age and that’s how I think I felt when I was that age.  There’s less pressure.  Greven mentions early on that his research is from his own experiences in elementary school.

Greven’s advice struck me as being very simple, based on some disputable generalizations, and presented a bit haphazardly.  Though it’s organized into chapters there is some repetition of ideas such as “Don’t be a show-off.”  There are many caveats such as “Don’t act wild unless you like a wild girl.”  Much of the book is common sense such as don’t act too desperate, don’t be the class clown, and begin conversations with “hi” followed by questions such as “did you see the episode of (TV show).”  Missing from the book is the equally common advice “be yourself”.  Perhaps even Greven thought this was too obvious, or perhaps he doesn’t think it’s good advice.

Greven seems to categorize girls into groups: pretty girls, wild girls, talkative girls, and “regular” girls.  The best girls in his view seem to be the regular girls who he soon says can also be considered “pretty.”  I’m not sure it’s a good idea to categorize too much.  Something I learned from my own experiences is that girls and women are all different individuals and what you learn about someone doesn’t always apply to someone else.  Still, Greven is only eight when writing this and seems to feel that some superficial categorization is helpful.  I guess a boy doesn’t have much more to go by when meeting a girl for the first time.  That she appears pretty may indicate that she’s overly concerned about her appearance and therefore high-maintenance, though I’ve met pretty girls and women who were also very nice.

The book does contain some good advice.  Crushes often don’t work out and it is better to just move on than to brood over them.  Girls don’t like it when boys publically celebrate getting together with them.  It’s better to celebrate privately and not go bragging to friends.  Greven writes that the average “relationship” between a boy and a girl in elementary school only lasts 30 days.  Some pages have a tip at the bottom of the page that sometimes repeats an earlier point.  The illustrations are cute with many featuring a blond boy who is possibly a caricature of Greven.  They portray the different points written on each page such as giving gifts and the consequences of going after many girls at once.

How to Talk to Girls is pretty good for a book written by an 8-year-old.  I don’t believe, as some Amazon reviewers contend, that it was written by an adult ghostwriter, though I’m sure it went through adult and possibly child editors.  It is good advice for kids in elementary, middle, and high school.  Adult males can benefit a little from the book, though I think they would have to be completely clueless if they didn’t know most of the things already.  I hope Greven’s early success leads to a long successful future and doesn’t ruin him with unreasonable expectations.  From his book he seems fairly well grounded.  I heard that he has written 2-3 other books: How to Talk to Mom, How to Talk to Dad, How to talk to Santa, and that he’s currently working on How to Talk to Grandparents.  (Actual order may differ.)

We hope our nephew likes the book.  His parents and the other relatives had fun watching him open the present.  We also got him the book Hatchet that I had recently read and enjoyed (see earlier review).  That’s a book I would have wanted to read at ages 12-13.  I’m not sure I can say the same about How to Talk to Girls.  As I mentioned in its review, Hatchet is listed as a manly book on the Art of Manliness website.  It probably won’t help as much with talking to girls.

When we first moved to Azusa near Covina we noticed that there was a Ralphs market on the west side of Citrus Avenue just south of Puente Street.  It was one of the closest supermarkets to us and we went there many times.  They had a good selection of stock such as beef stock or chicken stock.  But we also noticed that whenever we went there, it was fairly devoid of other customers.  There is a large Ralphs a few miles away in San Dimas.  In spring 2008 we heard that the Citrus Avenue Ralphs was closing.  They had a going-out-of-business sale lasting about a month.  We got some spices at greatly reduced prices, though their expiration dates were earlier than usual, some within the year.  After the Ralphs finally closed in May 2008, the building remained empty for a while.  They replaced the Ralphs sign along Citrus Avenue with a blank sign.

In late summer or early fall 2009 we saw signs that said a King Ranch Market was moving into the space vacated by Ralphs.  I hadn’t heard of King Ranch Market before though I had heard of other ranch markets such as 99 Ranch Market and others local ones named after the street or neighborhood.  At one of my former workplaces my coworkers at the time and I used to get lunch from a local ranch market.  They had good tacos made with corn tortillas and beef.  This new King Ranch Market in Covina opened in mid-November 2009.  I think they’re a small chain market.  According to their website they have locations in Nevada.  Their mascot is a colorful cartoon lion.

After King Ranch Market opened we starting thinking about when we could visit.  It was hard to find time given our schedules, weekend chores, and tendency to always have something going on during the weekends and even during the week.  Finally, on Saturday, November 28 we got an opportunity.  We had done our food shopping for the week but when we started gathering together the ingredients to make dinner we realized we neglected to get bay leaves needed for the recipe.  Since it was still a bit early for dinner we decided to try getting them at King Ranch Market.  It didn’t take long to get there and when we did we noticed that they served many hot prepared foods in the part of the store that used to be the bakery in the old Ralphs.  They also had baked goods in the aisle nearby including cookies and pan dulce.  With all their prepared foods and tables for dining in we could come there for a meal sometime.  While there we noticed their large selection of meats and sausages, the largest slabs of chicharron we had ever seen, their extensive aisles of both regular and ethnic food, and their produce section with apples for under $1 per pound.  We found the bay leaves and several other things.  They had six different kinds of apple soda including our favorite, Sidral Mundet.  We purchased three including two-liter bottles of Sidral Mundet and Sidral Aga.  The other three kinds we didn’t get were made with HFCS.  We also got some Caprice shampoo (champu?).

We figured we could go to King Ranch Market for dinner during the week because they’re close by, they have an interesting selection of prepared foods, and they’re relatively inexpensive.  We had originally planned to go on Thursday, December 10 but we heard it was going to rain so we went on Tuesday, December 8 instead.  We left home before 7 pm and as we drove through downtown Covina we saw something interesting on the marquee for the Covina Center for the Performing Arts.  Usually we see announcements for current and upcoming shows such as the recent announcement for a Christmas show and an Elvis-themed show in January.  But this time it looked like they were having technical difficulties.  All that appeared on the north side of the marquee was a MS Windows “New Folder” icon and, on the south side, an arrow pointing to a computer mouse.  Well, now we know that the marquee is controlled by a Windows computer.

It always felt oddly familiar and unfamiliar to park at King Ranch Market.  There were many other people there also ordering prepared foods, though they had carts and ordered their food to go.  We examined everything they had: both in a display case with signs next to the actual menu items and a more organized menu above and behind the counter.  There were so many things to choose from: carnitas, pork ribs, large pork bellies, beef tripe, traditional tamales wrapped in yellow corn husks, larger Central American tamales wrapped in green leaves, beef in red sauce, beef empanadas, pupusas, half chicken meals, fried plantains, chili rellenos, pozole by the bowl.  I’m sure I’m missing some things.  The menus also listed food made to order: many different types of tacos made with small corn tortillas; and tortas or sandwiches made with Mexican bolillo bread.  The tortas could be made with crispy chicken (torta de pollo), pork, ham, breaded steak, head cheese, and avocado.  There was also the torta Cubano that contained multiple fillings.  After spending a long time thinking over all the choices we placed our orders at 7:15 pm.  We paid at the register near the display case and our total was only around $12.

It took about 15 minutes for them to make our orders and it looked like the employees taking the orders were also the ones making them.  They had to prepare at least one other order before ours.  We waited at the high tables near the counter and when they were ready I think an employee just called out that two tortas were ready.  They came on one tray and I grabbed some extra napkins from a box near the cash register.  We then went to sit at the table of more traditional height that was a bit farther away from the counter than the high tables.  I’m glad I got the napkins because our tortas were very messy.  They had toasted the bolillo bread so it was crunchy on the outside.  I had the crispy chicken torta though it was a bit of a misnomer since the chicken was grilled rather than fried to a crisp. But it was still very good and tasted like it was soaked in a tangy, spicy marinade.  There was lots of mayo and guacamole in the torta.  I had told them to hold the sour cream and they complied, though initially I thought the mayo was sour cream.  It contained a slice of tomato and large chunks of spicy jalapeno pepper.  There was spicy salsa that included chunks of carrot.  It was a great combination of flavors, though it would sometimes fall apart.  They had cut it in half and I liked it better than the torta from Super Tortas.

My wife had the torta Cubana that was made with a toasted bolillo and contained breaded steak, ham, pork, head cheese, avocado, cheese, and salsa with carrot.  She enjoyed it very much and it didn’t seem as messy as mine.  Maybe she was just more careful.  The tortas amounted to a lot of food and we didn’t need any dessert or anything else.  Except a sink; I wanted to wash my hands before we left but they didn’t seem to have a public restroom.  Other than that, we were completely satisfied as we drove home.  

I tried doing some food shopping at King Ranch Market on the following Saturday, December 12.  I found everything I needed except the kielbasa sausage.  The only kielbasa they had was Hillshire Farms brand that had MSG.  Their other cooked sausages only came in boxes of 2.5 pounds, much more than we needed.  I ended up just getting Farmer John brand Polish sausage at Fresh & Easy.  King Ranch Market was very crowded that day and I noticed that their shopping carts were wider and longer than those at most other stores.  It was raining hard outside.  When I left I noticed people waiting outside the store with all their shopping bags.  I thought they may have been waiting for the rain to subside but later my wife mentioned that King Ranch offers shuttle service and they may have been waiting for that.  King Ranch had only been open for two months and we had already been there three times.

On Thursday, December 3, 2009 we went to dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant in San Gabriel with our parents (my in-laws), sister, and brother-in-law.  My wife had bought for a few dollars a gift certificate from restaurant.com that gave $25 off a bill of $50 or more.  We had studied the menu online and had actually known of Fisherman’s Wharf for over a year.  It opened around the same time as a similar restaurant in the same commercial complex, Captain Crab.  We had first seen Captain Crab while riding the 487 MTA bus from Downtown L.A. to Mom and Dad’s.  Not long after seeing it we read a review in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that covered both Captain Crab and Fisherman’s Wharf.  They both serve crab, shrimp, and crayfish steamed and marinated in big plastic bags.  The difference between them is that Fisherman’s Wharf serves many other dishes that don’t require messy shelling to eat.  We went to Captain Crab for my birthday (actually the day after my birthday) in 2008 and enjoyed it (see earlier review).  But while Captain Crab’s menu is only a single sheet of paper, Fisherman’s Wharf’s menu goes on for several pages.

We went to dinner fairly late on that Thursday.  I know it was after 7:30 pm, closer to L.A. Dinner time than to Covina dinner time.  When we got to the commercial complex on Valley Blvd a mile or so east of New Ave, the street level parking lot was full.  In the middle of the lot was a ramp going down to underground parking.  The first level below also looked full but the next was completely empty.  We parked there and took the stairs back up.  When we opened the door at the top of the staircase we weren’t sure where we were exactly.  It turned out we were to the west and a bit south of the main commercial complex.  We soon found our way to the restaurant that was further inside the complex and not as visible from Valley Blvd as Captain Crab.  It had lit signs both in English that said “Fisherman’s Wharf” and Asian characters.

The interior of the restaurant was very large and had a pervading nautical theme with ship’s rigging ropes separating the sections, wooden picnic-style tables, miniature barrels with “Fisherman’s Wharf” logo on them to use as seats, and even a poster for the movie Jaws.  There were at least two flatscreen TV’s both showing the NBA Nuggets-Heat game, the latter team coached by the Filipino-American coach Eric Spoelstra.  Over speakers they played the Holiday music on KOST 103.1.  We were seated right away and they gave us menus that were even more extensive than the ones posted online.  They had more sections such as Jasmine’s Favorites and Fried Specialties in addition to appetizers, soups/salads, Bay State favorites that included the cooked crab and shrimp shell-your-own options, pastas, and beverages.  Two of the Bay State favorites, the crab and shrimp, could be ordered cooked with lemon pepper, Cajun-style, fried, or with garlic butter.  On the front of the menu was a limited-time deal where if your order was $25 or more you could get 1-2 pounds of crab or shrimp for $1 per pound.  This was much lower than the regular price of $7-$9 per pound.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get that deal because we used our $25 gift certificate.  The dessert section included a waffle option we hadn’t seen before.  The beverage section was a list of Asian teas, mostly green teas.  Like the online one, the menu had a little cartoon fisherman next to each of the recommended orders.

Our orders came fairly quickly.  First came the pound of lemon-pepper shrimp in a plastic bag.  The shrimp were large and tasted very fresh.  They actually didn’t require much shelling and the lemon pepper sauce was very good in its own right.  Later our brother-in-law got some more sauce to have with his and our sister’s rice and other dishes.  Next came our individual entrees.  Our brother-in-law got the shrimp risotto that our server recommended.  Our sister got the orange roughy that I believe had a cartoon fisherman next to it on the menu.  Mom got the shrimp fruit salad that included honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, apples, and kiwi in addition to the shrimp.  She felt that the kiwi was a bit sour and that the shrimp wasn’t as fresh as the lemon pepper shrimp we had ordered.

My wife enjoyed her curried fish cutlet with rice.  The fish was in two large pieces that were breaded, fried, and coated in green curry sauce.  In addition to rice it came with cooked vegetables including broccoli, carrots, and zucchini.  It was a lot of food.  My beef and onion rice was also from the “Jasmine’s Favorites” section of the menu.  It looked very impressive.  The beef was in strips mixed with the onion and green (spring?) onion.  The white rice was arranged in a circular mound and had a fried egg on top.  My wife thought the dish looked like the Lomo Saltado she had at Dos Burritos in September 2009.  But the beef in my dish wasn’t like that in Lomo Saltado.  It was spicy and had a strong flavor of ginger.  It was still very good and also a lot of food.

After we finished eating we went to check out the back section of the restaurant.  It was a large room decorated very differently from the main restaurant.  Part of it seemed like a dance floor.  It had sleek modern furniture in white and other primary colors.  They kept it dark inside with colored lights shining on the walls.  One wall had outlines of buildings depicted on it.  At least one of the “buildings” had what looked like a small prop balcony sticking out from the wall.  Along another side were rooms for singing karaoke.  They had black and white zebra pattern on the walls and one of them had a giant armchair that made anyone who sat on it look like a kid.  I speculate that it was big enough for basketball player Yao Ming.  We learned from a sign on the wall that this room was called the DNA Lounge.

Even with the $25 gift certificate, the bill including tax and tip came out to just over $50.  But the culinary and overall experiences were worth it.  We took the elevator back to our cars.  It was right outside the restaurant and went to the northwest corner of the underground parking.  Fisherman’s Wharf seems to have something for everyone: freshly cooked crab and shrimp, both surf and turf Asian dishes, pastas, nautical-themed restaurant and trendy modern lounge, karaoke and oversized armchair included.

We saw the film Ramona and Beezus on Sunday, July 25, 2010 at the Rave movie theatres at the Town Square shopping destination in Las Vegas.  This was the second film we saw in theatres in two days after seeing Inception at the Brenden theatres the day before (see earlier review).  We went to Las Vegas to see a Keane concert on the preceding Friday, eat at some restaurants, and take a vacation (see later reviews).  My wife had read the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary as a child and also saw and enjoyed the 1980s Ramona TV series starring Sarah Polley as Ramona.  I hadn't read the books but had heard of them.  I guess I thought they were for girls.  I did read at least one book by Beverly Cleary, though.  In the fifth grade I participated in the Battle of the Books competition where teams of three answer questions about books from a book list.  One book on the list was Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary.  Much later, at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in 2007, my wife, her sister, and I saw Sarah Polley discuss her new film Away From Her.  My wife's sister got to say some words to Sarah Polley, complimenting her much earlier performance as Ramona.  Polley said she was a fan of the Ramona books and gave our sister her autograph.

I had looked up theatres showing Ramona and Beezus and the locations and times were more limited than other major motion pictures.  This surprised me because the move came out for wide release on July 23. We had originally planned to see the film at the same place we saw Inception, the Brenden Theatres at the Palms.  But for variety we decided to go to the Rave Theatres.  They are located at the Las Vegas Town Square, a shopping destination similar to Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga and The Shoppes at Chino Hills.  After going to mass at Guardian Angel Cathedral, we drove to the 15 freeway, took it south and exited at Russell Avenue.  We then turned right onto Las Vegas Boulevard.  We passed where the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign is located in the median.  There's a place for cars to pull over and people to take photos in front of the sign.  The Town Square was located on the west (right) side of the road just past the airport grounds on the left and between Sunset Road and Loop Road.  It has three parking garages and parking lots in front and back.  We turned right from Las Vegas Boulevard onto Town Square Blvd., drove through the interior streets and ended up parking at the back south lot fairly close to the Rave Theatres building.

We walked around the Town Square looking for a place to eat lunch.  There were several bars, most of them on the second floor of buildings, and a Churrascaria called Texas de Brazil that only offered a Prix Fixe menu.  We ended up eating at Tommy Bahamas (see later review).  In the middle of the Town Square they have a small park with a footbridge over a clear pond.

After lunch we found the Rave Theatres that are in the second level of the building farthest west.  We had never been to the Rave brand of theatres before since they didn't have any in L.A. that we knew of.  The Rave Theaters building is fairly prominent with a festive blue, red, and green color scheme.  The main sign actually says "Rave Motion Pictures".  We climbed the stairs to the second level, bought our $8 matinee tickets for the 1:50 showing at the outdoor counter, and entered.  Like Brenden the day before, Rave charges matinee prices for all showings before 6 PM.  The theatre showing Ramona and Beezus seemed very small.  It had stadium seating and a sign just inside the door said it had a capacity of 105.  The theatre filled up nearly completely, mostly with young girls and their parents.  I did notice a group of older women in one of the closer rows.  Perhaps they read the original editions of Cleary's books that came out in the 1950s and 1960s.  The screen and motion ads they played were similar to the ones we saw at the Terra 6 theatre when we saw Toy Story 3 on June 28.  They were put on by the same company, Screenvision.  We again saw the ad for the mobile phone preview of Inception.  There was also one for K12.com, an online public school.

At 1:50 the previews began.  The first was for the animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, the first of three previews to show a rodent.  The next was for another animated film, Rango, with Johnny Depp providing the voice of the title chameleon and this time the film had a talking rodent character.  Next was Nanny McPhee Returns with Emma Thompson in the title role and Maggie Gyllenhaal in a supporting role.  The next preview was a modern day retelling of Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black.  The last preview, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader featured another talking rodent character.

After the previews, the feature presentation began.  I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it but I ended up liking it very much.  It stars newcomer Joey King as 9-year-old Ramona and Selena Gomez as Beezus.  The supporting cast includes John Corbett, Bridget Moynahan, Ginnifer Goodwin, Sandra Oh, and Josh Duhamel.  This makes the second time Sandra Oh has been cast with an actress who played Ramona.  She was in the 1999 film Guinevere that starred Sarah Polley.  Josh Duhamel also starred in the TV show Las Vegas.  Selena Gomez also sings.  She and her band, the Scene released a song for the movie, "Live Like there's no Tomorrow", that my wife downloaded after we saw the movie.  The actors all do a great job, especially King and Gomez.  They seem like real sisters.

The film takes place on the real Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon, the same setting as the Ramona books.  It also seems to take place during the time period of the books since there are no references to modern popular technologies such as smart phones, e-mail, social networks, the Internet, and texting.  It's actually hard to pinpoint the exact time period, though music from the 1980s is referenced as the period when some of the adults were in high school.  But the time period really doesn't matter since the situations are timeless.  Many are also hilarious, and, at times, heartwarming.  My wife cried at parts and I nearly did.  The characters are all very likeable, though imperfect and there are no real villains.  The plot is told in small vignettes some of which are connected and all are settled by the end.  There's much we could relate to including job instability and a character mentioning Alaska.  I've also lived in Oregon and have heard of Grant High School that Beezus attends.

I actually liked this film better than Inception, the film we had seen the day before.  Ramona and Beezus was rated G rather than PG-13 but still had many complex elements.  It easily could have but did not get cheesy or have too many cliches.  Everything seemed fresh and real rather than recycled plots from Cleary's books.  My wife was reminded of many things such as the cat's name and Ramona's baby sister Roberta.

The audience enjoyed the movie and all the little children were fairly well behaved.  Only once did one of them sneak up behind me and tap me on the head.  Ramona and Beezus is a film about and for both adults and children.

We saw the film Inception on Saturday, July 24, 2010 at the Brenden movie theatre at the Palms hotel and casino in Las Vegas, NV.  We had driven to Vegas the day before and attended a Keane concert at the House of Blues Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, eaten at several restaurants, and we would see another movie at a different theatre the next day (see future reviews).  Before going to Vegas I looked up what theatres were near our parents' condo where we would stay.  All theatres were showing Inception at many different times.  It had come out the previous weekend.  We decided to go to the Brenden theatre because we didn't have that brand of theatre in the L.A. area and I had also never been to the Palms.  It was built in 2001 and owned by the Maloof brothers who also own the Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team.  It's not on Las Vegas Boulevard (a.k.a. "The Strip"), but further west on Flamingo.  After having a big brunch at Hash House a Go Go (see later review), we drove to the Palms and parked in the west parking garage.

We arrived at the Palms well before the next showing of Inception at 4:30 PM.  We had just missed the prior showing.  They were also showing it in 3D Imax format for around $15 per ticket.  But we just wanted to see the matinee showing in the regular format for $7.75 per ticket.  Matinee tickets were available for showings before 6 PM.  In our spare time we walked around the Palms a bit.  They have a very good New Mexican restaurant called Gardunos where my wife had eaten when she visited the Palms for the first time many years before.  Their menu listed fajitas (chicken, steak, and shrimp), a chicken stir-fry that sounded good, and sopaipillas.   We thought about eating there the next day, but ultimately didn't because we went to a different theatre.  Near the Brenden Theatres at Palms there's a food court that has a counter for Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, the company that puts on the famous hot dog eating contest on Coney Island, NYC on the Fourth of July.  At the food court Nathan's they served their famous hot dogs for $3.95 along with several other items including hot dog nuggets.

The Brenden Theatres are at the west end of the casino to the right after entering the main entrance and just passed the food court.  Above and across from the indoor ticket counter is a large neon sign that shines "Brenden" in red letters and "Theatres" in blue.  The ceiling above is an oval-shaped model of a night sky with many twinkling stars.  We bought our tickets and entered the theatres proper.  Just inside on the floor in front of the concession stand is the Brenden Theatres version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, only cleaner since it's indoors.  It had stars for Michael Jackson, Dennis Hopper, Nicholas Cage, Shaquille O'Neal, Hugh Hefner, Toni Braxton, Joseph Jackson and Family, and the Maloof Brothers.  Usually there was a special message to or about the recipient below the star from Jeremy Brenden.  We followed the hall to the right of the concession stand and found theatre #9 showing Inception.  The number for each theatre was in large red font on a shiny silver disco ball.

We were glad to find that theatre # 9 had stadium seating as I believe they all did.  The seats were red with high backs and armrests with cup holders.  It wasn't very crowded initially but did mostly fill up by the time the film started.  The screen showed still ads for the Palms, local business such as Pole Position go carts and a gun range that gave patrons the opportunity to fire automatic weapons.  There were also ads for Brenden theatres in other locations such as Vacaville, CA and Modesto, CA.  At 4:30 PM the recurring still ads ended and the show began with an animated ad for Brenden theatres.  Next came the previews: The Town starring Ben Affleck, The American starring George Clooney, the Paul Rudd/Steve Carell comedy Dinner for Schmucks that my wife learned from our brother-in-law was a remake of a French film, Wall Street: Money Never Dies, Tron Legacy that comes out in December, and finally, the road comedy Due Date with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.  The Tron sequel looked the most interesting because of its "throwback" status.

Next came the feature presentation.  Earlier we had learned that it was directed by Christopher Nolan who had previously directed Momento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight.  He also wrote Inception and my wife read that he had originally come up with the idea when he was a teenager.  I had seen the DVD's of Momento and Insomnia and enjoyed them.  I had also seen parts of the two Batman films.  Inception stars Leonard DiCaprio and the main cast includes several other established stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Tom Berenger, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine.  The poster also listed Tom Hardy though I hadn't heard of him.  The posters also seemed to give some of the main characters their own titles: the Extractor, the Point Man, the Forger, the Architect, the Tourist, etc.  We had seen the previews available on mobile phones as an ad before seeing the movie Toy Story on June 28.  It looked surreal.

The film does involve some outside reality concepts that are interesting.  Most are explained, though not right away.  Not everything is explained, but just enough for the viewer to follow.  The film is fairly action-packed from the beginning and doesn't let up much.  That's a good thing because it's a fairly long movie at two and a half hours.  The fast pace makes it seem a bit shorter.  However I also found all the action to be a bit exhausting by the end.  All these things happening so quickly and all at once nearly gave me a headache.  By then I did get bit lost and had to think about it later to figure it all out.  There's a bit of humor, but mostly, everyone is serious.

The actors did well in their roles.  DiCaprio brought his usual charming intensity.  I wonder if he could ever just play a laid back goofball.  Well, not this time, it's another charismatic leading man.  But the others still held their own opposite him especially Tom Hardy and Ellen Page.  The characters' relationships to each other were complex and it was hard to tell whether they were friends or just forced to work together.  Cillian Murphy seemed like a completely different person from the scheming villain in Batman Begins.  Pete Postlethwaite had a cameo.

Overall, I couldn't get into the film completely.  Some concepts seemed just a little bit far-fetched and difficult to take seriously.  Despite the A-list cast and acting, the primary focus was DiCaprio's character, Dominic Cobb.  I was never sure about the motivations of the others on his team.  Some things we could relate to included a scene that looked like it was filled in Downtown L.A., possibly on Hope Street or Wilshire Blvd.  It hadd Famima!! in the shot.  The characters also refer to a type of limbo.  A while back, my wife and her sister obtained an autograph from Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  They've also seen Johnny Marr live and he helped compose the music for Inception.  Finally, the film was fairly free of computers, e-mail, smart phones, texting, social networks, and other popular technologies, just like our Vegas vacation.

After the movie ended we couldn't help joking about it and relating it to our own lives.  I'm glad we didn't spend the $15 for the 3D Imax.