Daniel had been to RA Sushi a couple of times and really liked it so he wanted us to go there for lunch. I'd never been to RA before because it's a hip sushi restaurant and I'm definitely a traditional sushi restaurant type of guy. Not to my surprise we were greeted by loud music when we walked in. We sat at the bar and ordered up some sushi: shrimp, snow crab, shiromi [striped bass], and unagi [freshwater eel] nigiri sushi and since I was worried about not getting full I got the "Kiwi Scallop" sashimi (scallops, kiwi, mango sauce, and kiwi-wasabi sauce) instead of scallop nigiri sushi.
My sushi arrived quickly and the shiromi was mild and tasty. I used to avoid shrimp sushi, but once in Japan I had a perfect (lightly poached?) shrimp that reminded me how great shrimp can be. RA's was far from it being rubbery and practically tasteless plus it brought to my attention how bland, bland, bland the sushi rice was. The crab sushi wasn't rubbery, but the crab couldn't hold up against the rice. I left the unagi for last since it's my favorite sushi item and typically even the most mediocre sushi restaurant can pull off. RA's was great: the eel was fatty and crispy around the edges and as an added bonus the oil soaked into the sushi rice giving it some flavor. Two out of four sushi items wasn't great, but at least I finished on a high note.
The "Kiwi Scallop" arrived on a large plate with rows of sliced scallop atop sliced kiwi. I thought the presentation was excellent, but handling soft slices of scallop or kiwi with chopsticks is harder than it sounds. The sweet scallop was good, but I wasn't sure the kiwi was a good match for it and there was a fishiness in the finish that was mildly repulsive. It took me a few bites to figure out that the mango sauce was the source of the fishiness because it had some sort of fish roe in it. I tried my best to avoid the mango sauce, but it was difficult because it was all over the plate. The kiwi-wasabi sauce had its own form of sweetness and a hint of spiciness that was much better with the scallop than the actual slices of kiwi. Needless to say I wouldn't order the "Kiwi Scallop" again.
Daniel got the "Crazy Monkey" roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese, and maybe some other filling), which looked like someone tried to stuff ten pounds of crap into a five pound sushi roll and it exploded. There was slightly rusty avocado covering four large pieces of sushi roll that were sitting in a pool of a brownish-yellowish sauce and random red crunchy bits scattered about the plate. The plating of the "Crazy Monkey" was as terrible as the plating of the "Kiwi Scallop" was good. Daniel insisted I try a piece, which sounded like a bad idea since I think cream cheese has no business as a sushi ingredient. The roll was even worse than I expected because the cream cheese wasn't the only thing wrong with the flavor; the menu said it came with mango sauce, but it tasted like over-ripe banana sauce. It took some effort not to spit the entire thing out, but as large as the piece was there was no way make that inconspicuous so I committed to swallowing it.
I always feel like I've let someone down when they want me to like a place and I don't, but the food at RA was industrial sushi instead of thoughtful food so I didn't feel too guilty this time.
)
Last weekend Lynn and I went to Tucson. Months ago we were supposed to go for her birthday, but I threw my back out so this was the make up trip. Normally we stay in the foothills, but I wanted to stay downtown so I could walk around and take pictures instead of doing the usual nothing. Our stay of choice was the Royal Elizabeth bed and breakfast (b&b). The b&b was pricey to me, but the old house was great and they offered many amenities I appreciated like free water, Coke, and wi-fi. The two guys who run the place are really nice too.
Lynn and I went to lunch at Cafe Poca Cosa and while it was enjoyable it seems our dinner at Salpicon in Chicago took a little of the shine off Poca Cosa. Poca Cosa is one of my all time favorite restaurants, but when we ate at Salpicon I thought they were better in almost every sense. Lynn thought I was nuts at the time, but now she agrees with me.
We walked around after lunch, but lunch was late so it quickly got too dark to take pictures. We spent some time at the b&b and went to Janos for dinner. We had their Ten Terrific Tastes tasting menu, which is a cheaper tasting menu with loads of small items that they offer during the summer for the locals. Some of the food was great and the menu was fun, but it seemed like they didn't really try on the last two courses. The Ten Terrific Tastes is significantly cheaper than Janos' usual tasting menus so I don't hold the low points against them, but I'll probably stick to the regular menu from now on.
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I'm not a big breakfast eater, but it was paid for and Royal Elizabeth is supposed to be known for their breakfast so we woke up early just for it. The majority of breakfast was fresh fruit and the guys did a great job making it filling. Lynn wanted to stay in the room and watch football, but I needed to walk off breakfast and taking pictures downtown was a great excuse. I almost finished my roll of film by the time we got hungry for lunch.
The guys at Royal Elizabeth recommended more than a few restaurants that sounded good to me so I had choices. Rio Cafe makes latin influenced food, which fit with my mood, so that's where we ate. The food ranged from decent to excellent so they're not quite on our future "can't miss" list.
It was a short trip, but fun. We didn't hit our favorite wineries, but we're planning on going back to Tucson for our anniversary. We'll probably even stay at Royal Elizabeth again.
Over the years US Air has given me a few reasons to hate them, but recently they've given me yet another one. I wasn't happy when they increased the number of miles necessary to upgrade a one way ticket one class to/from Europe to 30,000, but it wasn't so high that I'd never use the upgrade. This October US Air will be add a stipulation to their Europe upgrades so "only tickets with a total fare (including taxes, facility surcharges and US Airways fees) of $1,200 roundtrip or $600 oneway or higher are eligible for upgrade". Bastards, I've never paid $1,200 for a ticket to Europe so they're only making the upgrade available to those who get screwed on the ticket. I guess I'll have to find something else to do with those miles.
Last Friday me, Ken, and six other people gathered together to enjoy Silver Dragon one last time before they retired. Ken called ahead to reserve a table, his first time ever doing that at Silver Dragon, but we still had to wait 45 minutes for a table. I hate waiting, but they only had two or three tables large enough to accommodate our group so I didn't hold it against them.
Almost everyone had their own favorite dishes so we had a good selection: two orders of potstickers, beef chow mein Hong Kong style, barbecue pork chow fun, scallops in XO sauce, salt and pepper squid, salt and pepper pork chops, Peking beef, hot and sweet chicken, and Chinese broccoli. The potstickers took forever to show up, as they should if they're fresh, and they were worth the wait because they were probably the best potstickers I've ever had at Silver Dragon. The pork filling was good and surrounded by a thin wrapper pan fried crispy. Everyone at the table seemed to want more.
I was looking most forward to the scallops in XO sauce since it was my favorite dish. The scallops were tender and great with the spicy XO sauce, but the dish was made with pea pods because they ran out of green beans so it wasn't quite the same. Ken thought the sauce was weaker than usual. Ken's favorite dish was the beef chow mein Hong Kong style and that was as good as I've ever had it. It was subtle, but the thin crispy noodles with a hint of wok flavor were tasty.
The Peking beef was beef deep fried with a hard batter and served in a sweet sauce. I don't usually like my beef sweet and I didn't care for it this time either, but most people at the table really liked it. The other two deep fried dishes were the salt and pepper squid and the salt and pepper pork chops. The squid was very crispy, but occasionally too salty otherwise it would've been great. The pork chops had a different batter than the squid and were moist and delicious. The only thing I didn't like about the pork chops were the inconspicuous bones that were far too easy to bite into.
The decent chow fun was much better with the barbecue pork. The hot and sweet chicken was the typical deep fried sweet and sour dish, but there wasn't any left at the end of the meal so it must've been decent. The only dish with leftovers was the Chinese broccoli, probably because the sauce was generic.
Silver Dragon was never one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, it took like four visits to find something worth returning for, but there was enough that I liked there that I miss them.
I don't think of Efes Turkish Cuisine when I think vegetarian since it's the meat that draws me there, but when Lynn suggested the coban salatasi [diced tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell peppers, red onions, olive oil, and lemon juice] with feta at Efes when I was in a veggie mood it sounded like a good idea.
I never noticed before this lunch, but it took Lynn a few visits to warm up on the idea of sitting on the cushions and now we never sit at a table. We're addicted to the Turkish tea so we got a pot. The tea was slightly astringent so it needed some sugar to help balance it out.
I love the coban salatasi, but I wanted something crispy to satisfy my normal meat craving. Efes' falafel [deep fried ground chick peas and fava beans] would've been perfect, but Lynn doesn't like them so I went with the rice crisps (rice patties fried in oil) instead. I couldn't remember if I liked them with the cacik [yogurt sauce] they came with so I got the patlican souslu [eggplant, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, and onions in tomato sauce] too.
The coban salatasi was the usual diced veggie goodness. The rice crisps were crispy and mildly spiced, but very good on their own and excellent with the cacik. Lynn liked the rice crisps with the patlican souslu, but I didn't. I forgot that the patlican souslu isn't a favorite of mine because it's a cooked vegetable dish served cold (not usually a good combination in my mind). The dish was also oily, but for some reason it was pretty good with pita. I probably ate more of it than I ever have before.
I was short of time so we got an order of baklava to go. When I saw the baklava I thought it looked a little dark and tasting it confirmed that it was overdone. I was really disappointed that they chose to let that baklava out the door instead of throwing it out (as it should've been). That'll probably keep me from ordering baklava again at Efes.
Lunch was satisfying even if it did end on a negative note. I guess I'll have to remember Efes the next time I'm in a veggie mood.
[The last time I wrote about Efes Turkish Cuisine.]
Howard Seftel recently wrote that Silver Dragon will be closing this Saturday so Ken and I are getting a group together to eat there this Friday night at 7:30. I don't get to eat at Silver Dragon very often because of their location and the fact that Lynn only tolerates the place, but I'd feel terrible if I missed one last taste of the scallops in XO sauce or the salt and pepper squid.
Chinese food is best with plenty of others to share so let me know if you're interested in joining us.
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Yesterday Lynn and I got back from our weekend trip to Chicago for my birthday. It was our first time visiting the city and we both dug it. We didn't do much sightseeing other than walking around downtown, but the trip was worth it for the two dinners we ate. Moto was innovative and playful with food better than food that unusual probably has any right to be. Salpicon made well prepared non-Tex Mex/taqueria style Mexican food that I've been wishing for in Phoenix. Needless to say Lynn and I want to spend a week wandering and eating around Chicago.
This has probably been the longest I've ever not written about food. Of course I have my reasons, none of which anybody wants to hear instead of me going on about how much I liked Hana Japanese Eatery.
A couple of weekends ago we had our fantasy football draft. I studied harder for it more than most final exams I've taken and I think it paid off. I'm thinking my team will be placing in the top four this year (although Week 1 is going to be sketchy).
Just before the draft I accidentally found a new serious camera to want. A while ago I decided that my serious camera would be the Canon EOS 5D since it's the only relatively affordable full frame digital camera around and it takes the closest thing I've ever seen to perfect pictures (high resolution, accurate color, and lack of noise). Then I found out the Epson R-D1s existed. It's a digital rangefinder so it's the antithesis of modern digital cameras; no zoom lenses and it only has manual focus and manual exposure settings. The resolution isn't great, but the pictures are clean except that wide angle lenses tend to vignette. Despite all that I find the camera intriguing, and it's smaller than an SLR (a huge plus for me), so I've spent a lot of time researching which lenses would result in the type of pictures I like taking.
More recently I got moderate food poisoning. That's all that needs to be said about that.
I can't imagine that this dry spell will go on for much longer, but I honestly have no idea since I never intended to take a week off, much less more than a month.
It's the start of the NFL preseason so that means it's also time to start thinking about fantasy football! My fantasy football league is back for its third straight year and our draft is in two weeks. I feel somewhat prepared for the draft for a change so maybe my team will finally finish better than sixth. Wish me luck.
Today is officially the kid's first birthday. It's felt longer to me and shorter to Lynn.
A couple of weeks ago I meant to write that the kid's been walking around. I hoped I might have another milestone to write about by then, but the only thing he might've learned since then is how to stick his finger up his nose.
Believe it or not there was a reason I wasn't writing much these last couple of weeks; I'd been obsessing over finding a small point and shoot digital camera to replace my Canon Powershot G5. I still like my G5, but it's too bulky for me to carry around unless I have a jacket or backpack with me. After spending over a year with fully manual film cameras and other cameras that have fallen out of fashion (Polaroids) it was time to look for something digital. I wanted something an inch or less thick with a wide angle lens (28mm or less), some manual controls, and that takes natural looking pictures.
There are very few small cameras with anything less than a 38mm zoom because it's harder to make a wide angle lens than telephoto so I didn't have many choices. Canon, my digital camera manufacturer of choice, currently only makes one small camera that has a wide angle lens, but it doesn't have manual controls and the pictures are the worst I've seen from any Canon camera. Panasonic is cutting out a niche for themselves with several 28mm cameras. Unfortunately the DMC-LX2 is the only one with partial manual controls. It has tasty features like a unique widescreen aspect (16:9) and the ability to change it to 4:3 or 3:2 and optical image stabilization, but its heavy handed noise reduction above ISO 100 and its overly contrasty/sharpened images hurt my eyes. The issue that irritates me the most though is that it only has a wide angle lens at its 16:9 ratio. Panasonic has fixed that issue with their most recent cameras, but they haven't released a DMC-LX3 yet.
I was ready to give up on the wide angle and just settle for any small camera that took good pictures when I found that Ricoh also makes plenty of 28mm compact cameras. Their Caplio GX100 sounds like a near perfect camera for me because it has a 24mm lens, optical image stabilization, full manual controls, a high resolution 2.5" lcd panel, a slightly larger than typical CCD (which supposedly improves noise and dynamic range), and the ability to change between 4:3, 3:2, and 1:1 aspect ratios. Most importantly I like the way its pictures look. The camera doesn't produce the cleanest pictures I've ever seen, but its noise looks like film grain, which appeals to this film loving guy. The camera should be arriving later this week so I can't wait to start taking pictures with it. In the meantime I can get back writing. Hopefully.
One day Lynn and I met Greg at Papa Razzini's for lunch since he ate there once before and liked it.
There were several appetizers on their menu that looked good to me, but we recently had excellent fried ravioli at Affinito's Bistro so I got an order of the sausage fried ravioli to compare. The crispy ravioli were small with very little cheese in the filling so the sausage dominated the flavor. I liked the fried ravioli more than Lynn did, but we both thought Affinito's was better. The accompanying marinara sauce was sprinkled with a lot of red chile flakes in it which made it unusual and too spicy for Lynn.
There were several pastas and sandwiches that looked good to me so I chose the Italiano (ham, genoa salami, provolone, and vinaigrette) sandwich just to see if it would be a good substitute for McGurkee's Sicilian. The sandwiches came with a choice of fries or side salad and I was in the mood for a salad, but our waiter said their beer battered fries were great so I got both. The salad was lettuce and cheese, but it was nice to have the option. There were four slices of ham on the sandwich they weren't separated so they formed a sort of ham brick which didn't do the sandwich any favors. All the right ingredients were there, but the execution was only ok. The waiter was right about fries, which were thin, crispy, and well seasoned.
Lynn had the Godfather (roast beef, mozzarella, and garlic on garlic bread) sandwich and it was much better than mine. It wasn't complicated, just garlicky, which suited me. Lynn didn't like it as much as I did until she tried it the next day. Greg got clams in a white sauce that he said were very good.
Normally I don't eat dessert at lunch, but I'm still looking for a killer cannoli so I tried Papa Razzini's. The cannoli was crispy with a slightly better filling than Affinito's, but it didn't have a great sauce to go with it like Affinito's. It was good enough to get again, but I'd probably try their other desserts first.
I liked Lynn's Godfather enough to want to get one for myself so we met Greg at Papa Razzini's for lunch again. There were still a couple of appetizers I wanted to try so we got an order of the sauteed spinach and garlic. The spinach was indeed sauteed and heavy on the garlic. It was tasty if you like spinach and garlic.
Both Greg and I had a Godfather with fries. The fries were once again crispy and damn tasty. I was worried that I'd like the Godfather better when it was Lynn's sandwich instead of mine (it happens), but I still thought it was a great sandwich. Greg even agreed.
Lynn got the penne in vodka cream sauce with prosciutto, which was something I wanted to try because I love vodka cream sauce. I hated Papa Razzini's though because it had a heavy black olive flavor that I couldn't stand. I was worried that the prosciutto wouldn't taste good in the sauce because I think pork tastes weird when cooked in tomato sauce, but it wasn't a problem because I couldn't taste the prosciutto. Lynn liked the sauce, but she noticed that the pasta was slightly overcooked so she wasn't completely happy with the dish.
I'm lucky Lynn got the Godfather the first time we visited Papa Razzini's because that sandwich will keep me returning even if I don't like anything else on the menu. Hopefully I find something that I like as much, but I'm not worried about it.
We were starving and it was after nine on a Saturday night in Anthem, a locale I'm a complete stranger to, so I was ready to resort to fast food, but Lynn wanted to take a quick once around to see if there was anything better. We spotted Affinito's Bistro, which sounded better than a Big Mac even if chances were that they were mediocre (since Phoenix is full of mediocre Italian food).
When we walked in there was a guy singing in the corner. We thought it must've been karaoke night, but it only took until the next song to figure out he was the night's entertainment. The hostess sat us as far from the singer as possible and brought over a high chair without us even asking. That was thoughtful.
Neither of us were in the mood to be disappointed by entrees so we ordered a bunch of appetizers (calamari, grilled shrimp, fried ravioli, and bruschetta) and a caesar salad. The caesar salad was basic, but not bad. The calamari was crispy with tender squid, but what distinguished it from most others was that we could really taste the squid (in a good way). We were impressed. The only thing I didn't like about the calamari was the tentacles because that extra little squid flavor made them a little fishy. The grilled shrimp were perfectly cooked and had an excellent, unexpectedly spicy flavor that made it our favorite appetizer. It came with a tasty cocktail sauce and grilled red peppers that I didn't think added anything to the dish, but Lynn really liked them.
The fried ravioli were filled with cheese, sausage, and red bell peppers. They were crispy and tasted like pizza. A very good pizza. I thought they were excellent with or without marinara sauce, but Lynn wasn't crazy about them. The bruschetta was the worst item we had; the bread was soggy and the tomatoes were kind of mealy making me think the bruschetta were assembled far ahead of time. Lynn commented that despite its problems Affinito's bruschetta was still better than Miele's.
I wasn't planning on getting dessert, but when our waitress said the "c" word (cannoli) I couldn't resist. They were three mini cannoli served with a caramel sauce and some sort of white sauce. The cannoli shell was still crispy so it seemed the cannoli were assembled more recently than the bruschetta. Normally I don't like mini cannoli because it throws off the shell to filling balance, but these were decent enough. I was finished with the dessert after only finishing half a cannoli, but then I got a taste of it with the white sauce. It had a unique flavor I couldn't quite place (like baking spices) that totally made the cannoli and had us scooping up every bit of it we could with the cannoli.
I didn't have high expectations for Affinito's, but if I did they would've come very close to meeting them and if I find myself in Anthem again I won't hesitate to stop by for another visit.
)
The last couple of weeks have been productive for the kid because he's learned how to look under things, give kisses, and clap. I can't wait until he learns that falling off of things hurts.
I've been trying to find something I like at Lee's Sandwiches (Chandler, AZ) that isn't a baked item since they offer other things so the last time I was there I picked up a lychee smoothie. I didn't find it too sweet like their strawberry smoothie, but the lychee perfuminess was a little too strong for me. It looks like I'll just have to be satisfied with their kick ass baguettes and croissants.
I've tried quite a few things at La Purisima Bakery (Glendale, AZ), but still occassionally find new things that look interesting. One such item was a flaky pastry that looked like a cream cheese filled strudel. The pastry was crispy and buttery with just the right amount of sweetness and just enough filling to compliment the pastry. I liked it enough that it'll be one of my regular items.
I hadn't been to Ma'i Island Grill (Tempe, AZ) since they moved across the street from their old location so I was due. I got a combination Hawaiian barbecue plate with chicken and short ribs to reacquaint myself with their food. The chicken was tender and tasty on its own, but it was also great with a shot of sriracha. The short ribs were good too, but they were fatty and could've been grilled better. That was pretty much the way I remembered the barbecue so they're still consistent.
Rigatony's (Chandler, AZ) now has fried tortellini on their menu. I thought it would be a bad version of the fried ravioli, but wanted to try it anyway. The tortellini were more chewy than crispy, but tasty with the two sauces that came with it. Also worth mentioning is that Rigatony's has a special summer seafood menu that looks pretty good. Hopefully I'll get around to trying it soon.
Green chile burros enchilada style always sound completely wrong to me because red chile and green chile clashes, but people seem to like it at Rito's Mexican Food (Phoenix, AZ) so I tried it once. I love the green chile at Rito's, but enchilada sauce was a good way to ruin it.
When most other Mexican food doesn't sound good to me the shrimp in garlic sauce at San Carlos Bay (Phoenix, AZ) always sounds good. The last time I was there for the shrimp they gave me a cup of clam soup to start. The broth was light with finely diced vegetables, and very good, but the clams tasted like lake bottom to me (which is what clams almost always taste like to me). I love soup so I hope they keep giving it out.
The Phoenix location of Takamatsu was the one I used to frequent before moving to Chandler and spending my time at the equally excellent Chandler location. One night Lynn and I were at DJ's house in Phoenix and Takamatsu sounded perfect for dinner.
Dinner with a round of sushi: a tuna roll for DJ, a Philly roll (salmon and cream cheese [bleh]) for Lynn, spicy lobster gunkan maki, and unagi [freshwater eel] nigiri sushi for me. I didn't try any of the rolls, but Lynn and DJ were both happy with them. The unagi was a little more than a mouthful with a slightly odd eel sauce, but excellent with its crispy skin. The unagi alone makes me want to return to the Phoenix Takamatsu. The spicy lobster was better than I thought it would be; the spicy sauce tasted like a combination of mayonnaise and cocktail sauce, which was quite good with the lobster. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fish roe, which gave the sushi a fishy finish.
We grilled kalbi [short ribs] and pork belly at our table. The kalbi was lightly marinated, and I prefer a stronger marinade, but the well marbled meat was excellent. The pork belly was unmarinated, but it was accompanied by salt and pepper in oil to give it some flavor. The pork belly was good, but the kalbi was the definite winner. There were eight side dishes for our barbecue: kim chi, shredded pickled daikon, fish cakes, seaweed, bean sprouts, pickled zucchini, whole tiny dried fish, and tofu. My favorites were the fish cakes, sweet pickled zucchini, and simple bean sprouts with sesame oil. The kim chi wasn't especially fermented, but quite sour and spicy. The dried fish were very chewy and fishy.
I like the marinades better at the Chandler Takamatsu, but the sushi and the excellent short ribs at the Phoenix location make them worthwhile.
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Last weekend Lynn, the kid, and I went camping in Flagstaff. We did it a little differently than normal because we were going to camp at Lockett Meadow instead of our favorite camp ground. There are only 17 camp sites at Lockett Meadow so I picked Lynn up from work (4:30 in the morning) and we headed straight to Flagstaff so got there early enough to ensure we actually got a spot. Traffic was easy that early and we got to Lockett Meadow around 7 in the morning.
There were maybe two camp sites available. We pulled into a spot and I wanted to leave as soon as I saw the hundreds of flies around the camp ground. I really wanted to hike the inner basin trail so I decided to ignore the flies, but five minutes of dealing with flies swarming our tent as we were setting it up was too much for me so we left.
We went back to our favorite camp ground and I was amazed how much better I felt setting up the tent without dealing with flies. We were ready to sleep after we got camp set up because we had both been up through the night. We maybe slept an hour before the tent got too hot. I read a book for a while, but as the sun rose and the shade disappeared it too hot for that too.
We brought food because we didn't want to make the drive into Lockett Meadow more than once, but I was dieing for some air conditioning so we headed into Flagstaff for lunch. We looked for My Thai Kitchen, but they were out of business so we headed to Little Thai Kitchen instead. The food at Little Thai Kitchen had fallen off the last time we were there, but they were back to their old form this time and lunch was very good. We both wanted larger portions though.
We killed as much time as we could in Flagstaff before heading back to our camp site. We all went hiking (Lynn had the baby strapped to her back because I was carrying my camera backpack), but Lynn had to return to camp because the kid wasn't happy with the insects that bothered him when I stopped to take pictures. Later we made dinner, but we had to make everything on a camp stove due to fire restrictions. The steaks just weren't the same.
The next morning I got to hike and take pictures on my own, which was great, and Lynn made breakfast when I got back. We had the option of staying an extra day, but neither of us wanted to deal with the midday heat again.
Camping was fun, after 5 in the afternoon, but it was too much work getting there early. I much prefer my system for getting there late and going into town for distractions and food.
I haven't written anything lately because I've been too busy eating well, camping, taking care of the kid, celebrating DJ's birthday, researching small point and shoot cameras, playing board games, taking pictures I'm not happy with, and generally spending far too much time on flickr so you'll just have to make due with a video for the time being.
This video is the closing credits for the anime FLCL (aka Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly) featuring "Ride on Shooting Star" by The Pillows. I love the song because it's upbeat with a hint of sadness that appeals to my depressed side. The closing credits are very well choreographed too. My favorite part is the stop action of the Vespa because it makes me want to do something silly like that.
