Restaurant Review: The Black Sheep

Jv10X & I popped into the new Black Sheep Irish Pub in Niantic after an extensive tour of the Book Barn: sold some books, bought some books, had the Jim Miller Experience at Book Barn Downtown. (Note: Jim always plays better music than the main Book Barn does.)

The Black Sheep is very....pub-y....with nice white walls, brick wall, molded ceiling, burgundy and gold textiles and dark wood with an adult atmosphere. It's roomy and cozy at the same time.

I was please to see that they carry some nice beers (and Newcastle, hands down my fave) but I was a little distressed that the menu was largely meat and bivalves - but after all, it is a pub, so what the hell was I thinking? And the staff seemed to be very....nervous...so that was a little strange. But they were nice.

I ended up ordering the field greens salad with grilled shrimp, and Jv10X gave a stab at the burger. The salad was huge and really tasty, and Bernie declared his burger to be really good. (I kind of wonder if my salad was so big because they probably don't get a lot of salad-eatin' folk in there, but I'm not complaining!) I definitely would like to stop there again to try an actual dish on their menu- the wild mushroom ravioli look fab as do the crabcakes.

Wolverine. Indian Food. Paul Brockett Roadshow Band.

....that's what my very deserving mom was treated to for Mother's Day.

Oh, is it exams week already?

(Me, addressing the students):

“Sorry to interrupt, but did anyone park outside the Library? Campus Safety just popped in to ask everyone to move-“

(Student interrupts, screaming):

“Just gimme a sec! I’m gonna move it! They already told me four times! God, they need to CHILL!”

(Me, not saying any of the 4 gazillion sarcastic rejoinders that have leapt to mind):

“Well, alright then….just so you know, when they actually come in to tell us, it means you’re about to be ticketed or towed….”

(Student, still screaming):

“Fine! Whatever!”

Wolverine- The Movie

My sister and I had a rare date to see a movie - we were going to see Crank 2, but when we arrived at the theater, pretty much only Wolverine (or "X-Men 4") was playing- so of course we just had to go see it. I think it was really well done, fairly faithful to the comics, but they added some other hoohah that included origins of other mutants as well- even, so, it worked. 

Liev Schreiber was amazingly evil and creepy, and Hugh Jackman was terrific and....gosh, yummy and nekkid. This is a pretty violent movie- definitely not for the kids and we were kind of amazed it didn't get an R rating. (I bet a full-frontal of Mr. Jackman would have done that, though, because we all know sex is bad, but violence is ok...)  

The actions scenes were fantastic and intense! The theater we were in was super loud, and really enhanced those scenes! The photography was a bit odd, but not distractingly so- the beginning sequence with the credits was gorgeous, but there were some odd shots that made everyone look a little too bronze and shiny and then some shots that looked like they were made-for-TV-movie planned. But it was still great. There was a lot of potential-spin-off/sequel-to-come bits that happened at the end of the movie, which makes it not really stand on its own.

Warning- potential spoiler alert! 

I do have a few beefs though: Logan's wife is Emma Frost's sister? That was a little desperate, but I like that Logan's wife did get a juicier role than in the comics.   

Admittedly, Gambit is one of my least favorite characters, but the kid who played him (Taylor Kitsch) sucked in that bland, Vanilla-Pudding/Ben Affleck kind of suckiness. There was nothing interesting or compelling about him, he was outclassed (even by Will. I. Am.) and didn't Gambit have a French accent? Well, not this one, apparently.  

I also felt the immense amount of info we're given as part of the origins of other mutants was too much too near to the end of the movie. All in all, I will most likely go see it again (actually, I kind of have to as I promised to see it with two other people) and I think I may have a different take on it the second time around- I did have to explain things to my sister, plus I thought this would flow with the previous three X-Men movies, but it didn't.

3.5 crowns out of 5, with Mr. Jackman's buns earning 5 crowns out of 5.