Restaurant Review: Pine Lake Pizzeria

We are very fortunate to live so close to a good, quality, locally-owned, pizzeria - Pine Lake Pizza. We have been ordering pizzas from Pine Lake Pizza for as long as we have lived here. We have tried the national chains (Papa John's, Domino's, etc) and have tried the local chains (Garlic Jim's)... and the stuff we get from there is good enough, but Pine Lake Pizza is better. It's not the best pizza ever, but it's the best pizza that can be delivered to our home.

My personal favorites are the "non-traditional" gourmet combinations: the alfredo chicken pizza, the "Polynesian" (which is basically a Hawaiian but with BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce), the BBQ Chicken pizza, and the Margerita. Actually, I haven't had one of the gourmet selections that I didn't like.

Movie Review: Stranger Than Fiction

Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations, and remarkably few words. And his wristwatch said even less. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would brush each of his thirty-two teeth seventy-six times. Thirty-eight times back and forth, thirty-eight times up and down. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would tie his tie in a single Windsor knot instead of the double, thereby saving up to forty-three seconds. His wristwatch thought the single Windsor made his neck look fat, but said nothing.

So begins Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman. It is a very intriguing and entertaining film... part comedy, part drama, part romance, and part fairy-tale. And don't let the casting of Will Ferrell fool you. He turns in a nice dramatic performance (and perhaps is trying to turn away from his previous slapstick roles a la Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey).

Harold Crick is an IRS agent that leads a very perfunctory (and compulsive) existence... that is, until he starts hearing a voice in his head that narrates his life "only with a better vocabulary". After the narration foretells Harold's own death, Harold enlists the help of a psychologist who recommends medication... or a visit to the local university English literature professor (played by Dustin Hoffman). He chooses the latter.

Meanwhile, Harold is auditing a local baker/socialist/anarchist (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and can't stop "o-ogling" her. The relationship creaks awkwardly along while Harold continues his visits with Professor Hoffman in an attempt to figure out what current author is narrating his life. Eventually, Harold figures out the identity and confronts the author (Emma Thompson) begging her not to conclude the novel with his death... but it's too late, she has already concluded the novel as she has all of her novels previously published - with the main character's demise.

Harold does not read the ending immediately, but instead allows Professor Hoffman to read it. The professor declares that the ending is a "masterpiece" and cannot be changed. He's "sorry" he says. What follows is Crick's dilemna of forseeing his own death and the realization that he must go through with it.

If it sounds corny, it really isn't. It is intelligently done... it's not emotional, but just very quiet and pensive. The presentation allows you to meditate with Ferrell's character about what he must do. But I won't spoil the ending. Go see it for yourself. It's a good film and will make you smile.

(modified Mon Jun 25 16:30:40 PDT 2007 // fixed grammar)