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Cafe Giulia is still closed for the holidays, so the Snook and I decided to try Bar Mattino (which is right across the street, but somehow we’ve never visited). It was fantastic! Huge portions of food with a good-looking and extensive menu. I had poached eggs with bacon, rosti, and toast, while the Snook went with the French toast, bacon, and bananas. We’ll be going back.

Observations on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:

• This game is FUN. I really like swinging the sword and killing the bad guys. The Snook is addicted to the whirlwind boomerage, which we just found tonight. There seems to be a good mix of stuff you have to puzzle out along with stuff you just have to attack.
• This game is LOOOONG. According to Wikipedia, the first testers took 70 hours to get through the game. So far we’ve played five hours. We’re less than 10% through. (And we’re probably going even slower than the testers. I like to cut down the grass looking for coins.)
• This game can be FRUSTRATING. The Snook and I are playing it tag-team style, which does have certain advantages. Often when one of us gets stuck and hands off, the other person seems to solve the puzzle/defeat the boss quickly. It’s also a big relationship trial though. Tonight Snookums had an epic battle against a possessed baboon who was jumping from pillar to pillar and throwing boomerangs at him while giant Venus flytraps kept popping out of the ground, and I was going nuts watching while he ran ’round and ’round trying to bash the monkey’s column without getting killed. (I know that sounds ridiculous, but at the time it was LIFE AND DEATH.) It’s the eternal Amazing Race Roadblock conflict, with the partner on the sidelines trying to be supportive while also yelling a lot and thinking they could do better. We survived, but only barely. God knows what it’ll be like when we’re fifty hours into this thing…

(In other Wii news, I’ve nearly made it to Pro in tennis. I can only play every few days though, because it kills my shoulder.)

The Prestige
Last weekend the Snook and I finally caught a showing of The Prestige. I’d seen glowing reviews from both Andrew and Kevin, but thankfully I managed to avoid the temptation to spoil myself. And yeah, it’s definitely a film that you should see cold. We really enjoyed it! While we both figured out Angier’s trick pretty quickly, I didn’t work out Borden’s at all. (The Snook claims he did.) Afterwards I went back to read the reviews, and I was intrigued by Kevin’s reference to a “deliriously creepy” ending to the original book that was missing from the film. So I headed to Kinokuniya on Tuesday to pick up a copy. I was surprised at how different it was from the movie. Most of the big plot points are still there, but the structure and effect are completely different. I thought it gave a much better insight into the character of the two magicians, and I came away feeling much more ambivalent over who was the hero and who was the villain. (I think the movie suffers a little bit in this regard because of Hugh Jackman’s star power; you can’t help but think of him as the “main” character.) And the ending? SO FREAKING CREEPY. I read it last night at, like, 1 a.m. and then it took me ages to get to sleep. (Thanks for that, Kev!) I do have a few questions about that ending though. Needless to say, DON’T READ ANY FURTHER if you have any intention of reading the book. (Or seeing the movie, though it doesn’t really have much to do with it.)Okay, so WraithAngier was going to go through the machine and aim himself at DeadAngier. He was hoping it would either kill him or bring him back to life. What actually happened? Is the super creepy still-alive Angier at the end actually the CombinedAngier (somehow given eternal life) or is it just WraithAngier, who never bonded with DeadAngier (and somehow has eternal life)?

Beyond that – okay, so the descendent of Angier threw the little boy into the machine and he “died”. How did the “prestige materials” end up in the tomb? Did somebody carry him in there? And where did the living little boy end up? Was the machine still calibrated to send him into Angier’s coffin? Doesn’t that mean the little boy ended up in the freaking tomb? And wouldn’t you think he’d remember that?

Lastly – the business with the index card is ridiculous, right? They make a point of saying that it’s the same handwriting as all the others’ (i.e. Angier’s). So how did UndeadAngier know who the hell the kid was to write the card? Did his descendants come down there and tell him? Did they KNOW that their undead grandpa was still hanging around the family tomb? And where did he get a goddamn pen?

So many plot holes… yet still, SO FREAKING SCARY.

First we had a female member of the Irish Guard… and then the first female Speaker of the House… and now there’s going to be a female Beefeater. Neat! You know, I tried to break down a gender wall once. Back in college when I worked at Coachmen, I was all fired up to be the first woman forklift-driver (simply because the guy in charge said I couldn’t). And then my Dad pointed out that I was making a hell of a lot more per hour sitting in front of a computer than I would be driving a forklift in a freezing warehouse. That’s when I decided that breaking through glass floorboards isn’t as fun as glass ceilings.

Today the Snook and I finally watched Heroes and discovered what the fuss is all about. We’re only at episode four though, so don’t spoil it!

Thanks to Max, the Snook and I are now debating the ethics of foie gras (as defended by Jeffrey Steingarten). We’re definitely in the “eat it in small portions” camp. Hey, I’ve got friends who are vegans and pescavores, and I admire them all… but I’m an omnivore, and meat is so good. (The Snook prepared a chateaubriand this week that made me weak in the knees.) Of course, if Sakai-san ever sat a dish down in front of me with an inch-thick slab of foie gras on top, I’d be ALL OVER IT.

Kevin pointed me towards some great new images from The Golden Compass. Sam Elliot made me swoon with the most glorious ‘tache ever. Nicole Kidman looks absolutely stunning as Mrs. Coulter. (I can’t wait to see her dæmon.) I’m still disappointed that Terence Stamp isn’t playing Lord Asriel, but Daniel Craig looks spiffing in his period getup. (He does, however, sport my least favorite facial hair ever: the beard that grows right up to the bottom lip, all the way across.) The newcomer playing Lyra looks great and gets to sport some adorable knitwear. I predict the knitters are going to be all over her her Gyptian hat (Dude, is that, like, fifty-ply?) and this strangely adorable bonnet.

Jaywalker Sock Pattern. Bookmarking because I think that might be a good one for my Vesper sock yarn…