Slow-cooked BBQ Brisket and friends

Before I get on to topics in the new year, I need to disgorge some old year items that have been waiting around.

Christmas itself was quiet, and we stuck to our go-to-the-movies/eat-Asian-food tradition. We got ourselves a couple of new Wii games (Sports Resort and Super Mario Brothers). Sports is more enjoyable, and my favorite game is Frisbee golf right now. I would like to appreciate table tennis more, but our TV is too small to handle the split screen in 2 player mode.

Being the Golden Globe nomination season, we saw a bunch of movies toward the end of the year. Among them were Precious, Up in the Air, and Avatar 3D. Precious was bleak but uplifting, and had a realness about it that gave it its power, rather than being emotionally manipulative. Up in the Air was a hope tease but had a great script and great acting. Avatar was visually stunning but sort of dumb (what would you expect from James Cameron).

Before leaving for our NYE vacation we got to cat sit a couple of new furry friends for a few days. They are very cute and friendly, but they move much too fast for photos. However we have many photos of our own guys enjoying the holidays here:

For NYE we met up with my parents and Texas relatives for a couple of days in colonial Williamsburg. I LOVED this place as a kid and I was very excited to see it again. Of course everything seemed much smaller this time, and being winter it was pretty cold and the gardens were not pretty. But with the gray skies and fog you felt like you were transported back in time in a Brigadoon kind of way. Plus, this time around I appreciated the history lectures from the tour guides much more. I'm looking for a fun to read American Revolution history book if anyone has recommendations.

(these swords and hundreds more, and LOADS of guns, decorate the walls in the governor's palace-more pics)

After Williamsburg, Dave and I spent the weekend in Charlottesville, trying our best to be tourists in the bitter cold. Dave was very excited about finding items with my name on them everywhere. Fortunately we had a very nice hotel room, because the morning of our departure I became violently ill and we had to stay an extra day.

On that note, here is some excellent food I made earlier last month:

Slow-cooker BBQ Brisket

1 whole brisket, trimmed of fat
1 cup chicken or beef broth
bay leaf

BBQ sauce ingredients:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp dried basil
fresh ground pepper (about 1/4 tsp)
(liquid smoke and cayenne pepper would be nice additions that were not available to me at the time)

1. Brown the meat on all sides.

2. Pour the broth in the cooker and place the bay leaf and brisket in it (you might have to cut your meat in 1/2 if you have a small cooker).

3. Mix the sauce ingredients and pour on top of the meat, leaving a nice thick coating.

4. Add some cut up potatoes on top if desired (they absorb sauce and taste rather yummy).

5. Cook for 6-8 hours on Low until the smell is driving you mad with desire, and the meat is pull-apart tender.

6. Bribe your mate with BBQ to get him eating sauteed kale on the side.

For The Birds

My inlaws, Paul and Hilary, came to visit last weekend. Paul loves birds so we thought the National Aviary on the North Side of Pittsburgh would be the ideal entertainment for him.

On the way in we saw this guy:


I wouldn't have thought that a two-toed sloth could be considered cute (or an ideal resident for an aviary).

Then we were treated to these majestic creatures:


Some of the birds were clearly not interested in being on display:

Let us out!

In the big main room there were a lot of bird calls, but they were hard to see with all the vegetation. Fortunately this one wanted to be the center of attention:


We were about to head out to the car when Dave noticed a sign leading to another area. That was where we found the flamingos and other tropical birds, which ended up being the best part of the aviary. There we witnessed an argument between two pelicans and a couple of very screechy yellow birds (I think they were conures).

Catchup

For my birthday on November 7th we really hadn't settled on anything special to do, so I proposed going to the monthly Friday evening gallery hop, called Unblurred here in Pittsburgh. Dave ended up working late and I was tired, so instead we decided to go to Ma Provence, a romantic-looking French bistro right in our neighborhood.

The restaurant is very cozy and the service was nice, the food was good if a little uneven in flavor. Dave's Mignons de Porc au Raisin et Bacon was wonderful but the weekly special steak dish was nothing special. We also had butternut squash soup which was also very yummy, and the charcuteries plate which was so-so as the pate was very cold and stiff. For dessert we had a slice of apple tart which was nicely presented but nothing special.

The bread service was unusual. The server would come by and offer you a slice every now and then. The bread was awesome, but it was a bit odd to serve it in this way. I suppose it was to make sure that the fresh and warm bread would come straight out of the oven and onto your plate.

Since the 7th was very quiet, I decided that we had to go down to the Strip on Saturday morning to breakfast at the locally famous greasy spoon, DeLuca's, shop with the crowds at the various shops, and check out the farmer's market.

DeLuca's was jammed at 8:15am so we breakfasted in another cafe just a block up the street that had yummy French toast. I wish I could remember the name of the place. Just a few doors down was a chocolate shop with novelty chocolates and chocolates from around the world. I settled on a bacon-chocolate bar, and a 100% cocoa bar.

Mmmmmm, choclate and bacon together at last!

We also stopped a lot of other stores, but there was only so much shopping I could handle and it was very cold out. On the way back to the car we stopped by the farmer's market, which was a sad little affair in a tiny parking lot next to a bar, and no one was shopping there--nothing like the crowded overflowing bounty of the Mountain View farmers market, but I suppose this is how it goes in late fall around here.

Here are some pictures of the cats acting cute:



It's been snowing off and on all week. Here's the view from our front porch:

Faux Hawk

The flea stuff I put on the cats makes them look like they've been gelled and spiked.

Things have been pretty quiet around here for awhile. I guess that means we're all settled in. Here are some more Mr M pics from the last few days:


The best thing about Mr M is that he loves to snuggle. He doesn't care if your arm or leg is in the spot where he wants to be, he'll just sit on top of it.


Or if you want to share more of his space he's happy to oblige.


Last week I started my regular volunteer work at the East End Food Co-op. I shelved boxes of cereal and milk substitutes for 2 hours Wednesday morning. I've never heard of most of the cereals, and I was stunned by the array of soy, almond, and even hemp milks available. It earns me a 10% discount on my purchases there, and it gets me out of the house in the morning.

Saturday morning Dave and I went down to the South Side for breakfast at Tom's Diner. My frittata was awesome, but the hash browns were barely warmed, and Dave's "super cinnamon" French toast platter was cold and disappointing. The service was brusque, and the prices make it hard to justify a return visit.

Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood reminds me of the Short North in Columbus, OH. Bars, cafes, restaurants, tattoo shops, music stores, imports, arts and antiques line both sides of the street for several blocks.

We're also cat sitting for the next-door neighbors this week. Contrary to their personalities when they're tethered outside, Puck is very friendly and greets us at the door, but Oden is shy and nervous.

We've been to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and while the music was good the movie was completely forgettable. We also saw Ghost Town, and yeah the ads looked incredibly stupid, but this is actually a good movie because Ricky Gervais is hilarious and the plot takes some interesting turns.

Te Quiero Barcelona

Friday it was too hot to cook so I drove over to CMU to pick up Dave and we walked over to Joe Mama's in Oakland. It doesn't look like much on the outside so we did not have great expectations, but the menu was much more extensive than I imagined, and we were both pleased with our meals (Dave had the gnocchi and I had the Crispy Chicken Milanese).

The sauces were tasty and the portions were generous. The salad was weak (served us a big bowl with a tiny amount of salad, dressing on the side in the Pittsburgh fashion), but the waitress offered to bring us more with no prompting when we finished the first bowl. The only really bad part of the meal was the 1/2 lb. meatball which was not very hot and kinda too dense and chewy. The weekend brunch menu looks good so I think we'll be back for that.

Question for you Pittsburghers: Is dressing on the side a Pittsburgh thing? Even when I request it tossed in I still get it on the side, usually in a plastic container.

Saturday we breakfasted at Kazansky's, but I think this was the last chance we're giving them. The weak french toast ensures that Dave will not want to come back, but the bagel, lox, and eggs breakfast was great.

We went to the Fair in the Park over at Mellon Park. It was the usual arts and crafts village of tiny white tents, just like a smaller Castro Street Mountain View art and wine fest with the same pottery, photos, hippie skirts, and jewelry. The thing that made it pleasurable was the musical performance, Cellofourte, which we are so glad we got to hear while strolling around the aisles of tie-dye scarves and hand-woven tea cozies.

We stopped for lunch at Point Brugges where we have been to dinner before. It was very busy so we understood that it would take some time to get seating, but once we were seated it took 30 minutes to get water. The food was good and we'll be back, but the service was very sloooooow.

Not willing to take any more risks, we went to dinner at Alladin's. We just can't go wrong there.

Afterwards we saw "Vicky Christina Barcelona" at the little theater on Murray. It was enjoyable but not very thought provoking or memorable. The acting was odd and stilted most of the time, but Penelope Cruz stole the show as the crazy murderous ex-wife.

Of course it wouldn't be a Woody Allen film without some annoying song running through the whole show. Thankfully there were plenty of beautiful classical guitar songs throughout the movie, but the "te quiero Barcelona" line from the annoying song is the one stuck in my head today.

Well that's the stuff that happens around here. Today is a boring day of chores and errands. I'm making chicken broth and planning the week's dinner menus. Soon I will start the laundry and nag Dave into vacuuming.

Carlos Times

Friday, August 8
Carlos (renowned coin flipper, and editor of The Carlos Times) arrived in the evening. The three of us got dinner at the Murray Ave Grill and then filled Carlos with ice cream at Bruster's, which turned out to be a great find.

Carlos made good on his threat to bring Virg some NY memorabilia.

Mr. Moustache closes his eyes and muses that Carlos is simultaneously
half alive and half made of Coke.

Saturday, August 9
A day of ill. Virg made sure Carlos had the full midwestern experience by stuffing him with Bob Evan's breakfast food in West Mifflin. Then we drove up the Mt Washington lookout to stand above the Pittsburgh skyline, and headed home. Afterward, Carlos and I went for a long walk around our neighborhood, CMU and Shadyside, making sure to stop for the obligatory Coke to keep Carlos running at peak efficiency. Then we all attempted to finish off an extra large pizza at Aiello's and found room for dessert at Aladdin's. We also taught Carlos to play Big Two, which he insisted on playing for the rest of his visit.

Sunday, August 10
Began the day with coffee and muffins at the nearby 61C Cafe. Then Virg took us to the Andy Warhol museum. We had heard from people here that it's so much more than a museum, that there's so much to do there. Wrong. It was your standard art museum. If you're willing to stretch the meaning of the word "art" to include the works we saw there.

Carlos was deeply moved by this painting.

We then introduced Carlos and ourselves to another essential Pittsburgh experience--hot dogs at The Original Hot Dog Shop near Pitt. Supposed to be the most incredible hot dogs. Wrong. They were hot dogs. Nothing original about them. And the place was hot and dirty.

Greasy french fries. How original.

Having filled him with hot dogs, pancakes, coke, and ice cream, we sent Carlos on his merry way back to the futures that awaited him in NY.

In the evening we ate healthier at Rock Bottom and then watched Shaun Of The Dead on DVD. It was entertaining, but no Hot Fuzz.

Ravi Comes To Town

Last weekend, August 2-4, Ravi came to visit us, so we attempted to do our best to show him around our new hometown which we barely knew ourselves.

Shortly after Rav arrived Saturday afternoon, we walked down the street to one of our favorite Thai places, Sweet Basil, for lunch. Unfortunately they do not have the lunch specials available on the weekend. Still, the food was great there!

Afterward we attempted to drive up Mt Washington, but we did not carefully plan our trip, so we wound up driving all the way AROUND Mt Washington before figuring out the route to the top of the Dusquesne incline.



Then we drove over to downtown and over to Oakland. We parked at CMU and walked over to the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt. First we took the elevator to the top floor to see the view, but we were disappointed to learn that the larger windows out of which great views are sure to be had were closed off in rooms that were locked for the weekend.

Then we went down to the 3rd floor and visited some of the international rooms. These rooms were apparently decorated by different groups of various nationalities living in Pittsburgh at the time the Cathedral was built. These were an interesting curiosity but nothing to get too excited about. Before leaving the building, we stopped at the 1st floor to get a look at the beautiful soaring arches in the grand hall, and Ravi found some thrones for us to act like royalty in.



Since it was a hot day, we could not leave the area without an ice cream from Dave and Andy's. Then we walked over to CMU campus where Rav got to see Dave's office, and we got to laugh at the brand name of the toilet stall door latches: Hiney Hiders.

All of this walking around made us very hungry so we walked over to Rose Tea Cafe for dinner. Rav introduced us to the heavenly Sa-Cha sauce (GARLIC!), and our meals here were excellent as always.

The next morning we had Sunday brunch at Harris Grill.



The tatooed chain smoking crowd we saw there last time we brunched was nowhere to be found. In fact the place was completely empty at 10:30 am. I had a steak and eggs platter, Rav had the frittata, and Dave had the blueberry pancakes. The coffee and Bloody Marys were excellent, and the bacon was awesome! Apparently they have "Bacon Tuesdays" where you get baskets of bacon for $1 during happy hour. I think we'll be back.

After such a heavy meal we thought the virtuous thing would be to take a walk in the park. We hadn't been to Frick Park yet, so with a vague sense of direction we headed toward the East and found a paved trail with a par course where we could demonstrate feats of strength and agility.



After awhile we headed into the woods for the shade and found ourselves utterly confused by the signs. After a bit of guesswork and pure luck we found our way out of the woods and in a neighborhood we'd never seen before. Having no idea where we were we let the angle of the sun be our guide and hoped we would come across a familiar street sign sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Along the way we cam across some boys selling lemonade, juice, and water from a TV tray table on the sidewalk. They were too cute to pass up so Rav and I bought drinks, and though we told them not to spend the money on video games, the boys were evasive in a way that indicated that was the motivation behind the enterprise.

Once we found our way home we were beat so we sat around the porch playing cards until we got hungry enough for dinner. For dinner we drove back over to Oakland and ate at the Union Grill. Dave had been there during his CMU interview, but it was new to me and Rav. The turkey Devonshire sandwich was billed as World Famous on the menu, so Rav could not pass it up. It was just white bread, tomato slices, turkey, and bacon smothered in cheddar cheese. I'm not sure what this sandwich is famous for, but rest assured that I will not be ordering it any time ever. That evening back at home we enjoyed some more porch sitting and games with a pitcher of Pina Colada.

The next day I had to work and then go to a doctor's appt over lunch, so Rav and Dave amused themselves and had lunch at Smallman St Deli with a friend of Rav's from school. After lunch Rav had to go back to NYC, and so ended our lovely visit.

Enduring The Dark Knight

This blog has clearly become unstuck in time, because Virg is blogging about stuff from a couple days ago, while I'm still 3 weeks behind...

[Imagine some squiggly effects here and harp-playing to signify our journey back in time.]

Wednesday, July 16
Ate dinner at a Thai place in Shadyside called Typhoon, which featured mediocre food at monster prices. We could only afford a few appetizers before going home hungry.

Thursday, July 17
Filed my I-9 with CMU, so now I am "in the system." [The word "system" should echo for a bit.]

Friday, July 18
Not knowing anyone in Pittsburgh, we made our first effort to meet "friends of friends" by getting together with another work-from-home Oracle tech writer and his wife at the Double-Wide Grill in the South Side. We had a pretty good time with them, and the food was good, too. At one point we were talking about the Dark Knight movie we'd be seeing the next morning, and they said their 10-year-old was begging to see it. Having read a little about it, I warned that it didn't seem like a good movie for kids...

Saturday, July 19
Caught a 10am showing of the Dark Knight, and Virg and I left the theater feeling we had been beaten down for 2.5 hours. The movie gave Virg a headache (like its predecessor), and cast a dark shadow over the rest of our weekend. Contributing to this feeling were the movie's two strongest elements: Heath Ledger and the movie score.

I'll begin this post as a standard non-revealing movie review. Then I'll warn you when I'm about to spoil the movie by picking apart the ending and its message.

Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was creepy and horrific to watch. He was an unpredictable psychopath. And what made him so scary was that there was nothing cartoonish about the performance. He made you believe that this was truly a real human being with an extremely twisted mind. I agree with many who feel that Ledger's Oscar-worthy performance has earned his Joker a place among cinema's greatest villains. Don't send your 10-year-old to see him. How this movie pulled off a PG-13 rating is beyond me.

The movie score was dark and unrelenting, and where necessary, supported the Joker with musical elements of an equally perverse and unpredictably violent nature. But for the most part, the score is Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's bigger, darker, and more tragic take on the beautiful work they began in Batman Begins. Their romantic and pounding music has been looping in my head for the past few weeks now, and I can't get enough of it.

There's no debate about Ledger or the music. The rest of the movie has been harder to wrap my mind around. My first impression was that it wasn't as rich as Batman Begins, and was far more chaotic. The movie tries to follow a lot of characters. Often it seems pretty rushed and muddled. And there was a lot of stuff that seemed pretty stupid in the last 45 minutes--particularly the ferry predicament and the rapid and pointless decline of Two-Face. And I didn't find the ending very satisfying.

Harvey Dent learns of the bat signal.
[stolen from thedarkknight.warnerbros.com]

But here's the thing. The Dark Knight is now listed on IMDB as the #1 movie of all time. And the movie really sticks with you. So, is it a smart summer action movie, or is it a sometimes flawed attempt at something much bigger? It took several days of searching the Internet to find an intelligent discussion of the movie, but I found it in a comment posted on The Washington Independent from user drvictordavishj. His look at the movie elevates the Dark Knight to something much smarter and even politically relevant. He begins by writing, "... I would argue that the film is not necessarily all that pro-Batman."

And suddenly all the things that Batman does that seemed out-of-character for a superhero are completely explained away. He's not supposed to be a hero. You're not supposed to feel good about Batman's actions in the movie. That's what makes him a dark knight.

If you haven't seen the Dark Knight, stop reading now and skip to my account of the next day, which has a very good bit about ice cream. But then please go see the movie, because I'm dying to discuss it.

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

I'll begin spoiling the movie with the ferry scene. First of all, there's something very stupid going on here. The people of Gotham are placed in a "social experiment" where the rules of the game are given to them by the Joker--the character who has told us that "the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules." And true to his creed, the Joker has repeatedly lied to us. He tells Batman where he can find Rachel and Dent, but lies about who is at which address. He scares the people of Gotham into leaving the city without using the bridges and tunnels, apparently just so that he can trick them into taking the ferries he has rigged for his social experiment. Yet after all that, the people of Gotham continue to take him at his word regarding the rules of that experiment, and worse yet, the movie assumes that we in the audience will, too. This time, it turns out the Joker is not lying to us. But just a little while later, the movie assumes we'll believe his lie when he dresses his hostages up in the masks of his henchmen.

By the way, the Joker isn't the only one who lies to us in the movie, as drvictordavishj points out. Batman authors the biggest of these lies at the end of the movie, but Alfred also lies by burning Rachel's note, and Gordon lies to his own family by faking his death. Yes, these are all noble lies, but are we meant to applaud them, or to see them as tragic necessities? And even Harvey Dent lied to us when he told us he was Batman. Was he heroic, or was this perhaps the end of his heroism?

But back to the ferry. At first, I thought it was pretty lame that no one in Gotham was willing to save themselves by detonating the other ferry. Are we supposed to believe that Gotham is good after all? But after reading drvictordavishj's post, it's clear that the people of Gotham are not heroic. It would have been heroic to vote against detonating the other ferry, but that's not what they did. They voted to destroy it. They were just too gutless to fulfill that vote by taking the necessary action. They knew they needed to act outside the law, but were too weak to be vigilantes.

Another thing that bothered me at first, but I've since made peace with, I think. First, the Joker seeks to steal money and to charge the mob for his work. Then he burns his money anyway. And, first, the Joker tells us he wants to kill Batman. Then suddenly he's so strongly in favor of Batman's presence in the city that he decides not to kill Batman and even aims to have a man killed just for threatening to reveal Batman's identity. This inconsistency bugged me, but then I realized that inconsistency is the heart of the Joker's character. As he says, he is "an agent of chaos." He'll kill for sport, but then next time he'll spare a life just for the sport of it, too. Alfred has the key to the Joker's twisted mind when he says that "some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

Maybe the Joker knows what Alfred has figured out--that Batman created the circumstances that allowed the Joker to come to power, that the Joker needs Batman, and that without the Joker, there would be no need for Batman. As Alfred tells Bruce, "You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them [the mob], you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand."

On to the ending. IMDB'S Dark Knight page includes fragments of the movie's final dialogue:

BATMAN: Sometimes, truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.
...
GORDON: We'll have to hunt you.
BATMAN: You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me, you'll set the dogs on me. But that's what has to happen.
...
GORDON: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now ... and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector ... a dark knight.

I didn't understand the difference between the hero we deserve and the hero we need, but I was sure it was the key to the movie. drvictordavishj explains it as follows:

"The key is the way Gordon draws a contrast between Dent 'the hero we need' versus the Dark Knight 'the hero we deserve.' Nolan [the writer and director] is saying that we need a law-abiding idealist, but that we don’t deserve him. He’s not saying it’s good to have a president who’s a wire-tapping torturer, merely that we don’t deserve any better. Nolan is ultimately saying that strong societies don’t tolerate Dark Knights. If we do, it’s only because we lack confidence in the institutions and values that we’ve inherited. After all, with all his gifts, Bruce Wayne could have easily been Harvey Dent, but because he lacks confidence in legitimate institutions and his moral inheritance, he’s not the philanthopist and healer that his father was. He’s the sign of a sick society.... This movie is about the tragedy of the White Knight, not the vindication of the Dark Knight. Nolan has already decided what Bruce Wayne really is."

You can find drvictordavishj's full comment and its context at:
http://washingtonindependent.com/view/batmans-dark-knight#comment_26224

And so it took the dark knight, the hero Gotham deserved, to lie to them that Harvey Dent had remained steadfast as their white knight, the hero they needed. As Alfred says to Bruce, "Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it. But that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice."

The movie questions what right Batman has to operate outside the law, and why others can't do so as well. But it's not clear what the movie's answer is. Maybe he has the right simply because he's willing to do what no one else can. But then why don't those people who imitate Batman have that right, too? Because they're too weak to survive in that role? Or maybe Batman has this right because the corrupt city of Gotham has in some sense surrendered that right to him, through their failing institutions. Or maybe Batman doesn't have that right at all.

The good cop / bad cop routine? Not exactly. [stolen from thedarkknight.warnerbros.com]

In one of the most powerful scenes of the movie, the imprisoned Joker at last finds himself face-to-face with Batman. And in spite of his grim situation, there's no question that the Joker still has the upper hand, that he's still pushing Batman. Here's a snippet of the dialogue from the scene (from IMDB):

JOKER: You have all these rules and you think they'll save you.
...
BATMAN: I have one rule.
JOKER: Then that's the rule you'll have to break to know the truth.
BATMAN: Which is?
JOKER: The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. And tonight you're gonna break your one rule.

I didn't know what the one rule was in the theater, but the Internet tells me it's that Batman will not willfully bring about a person's death. It's debatable how true he's been to that creed until this point in the movie. But the more interesting question is whether the Joker's prediction is right. Does Batman go on to break that one rule? Maybe the Joker thinks he can bring about so much chaos as to force Batman to choose to kill the Joker himself. I was certainly rooting for Batman to kill the Joker. That seemed like the only way he could save Gotham, especially when even its prison fails to hold the Joker. If that's what the Joker was hoping for, then Batman is victorious. As the Joker says at the end of the movie, "You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun."

Does Batman break his rule when Two-Face is killed? I doubt it, but I look forward to getting a closer look the next time I see the movie. Perhaps the most interesting question is: who wins in the end? Does Batman win because he is incorruptible, because he finds he can endure, because he does make the choices that no one else can? Or does the Joker win, because he has corrupted and destroyed Gotham's white knight, leaving Bruce Wayne unable to retire as Gotham's dark knight?

You are certainly meant to feel that the Joker has corrupted Harvey Dent, but I felt this transformation was too quick and implausible. And although the Joker was certainly responsible for Dent's physical condition, it's not clear that he really brought about Dent's transformation in character. The Joker's speech to Dent in the hospital is great writing, but it's hard to believe that it convinces Dent to turn on Batman and Gordon, when Dent should be blaming the Joker himself. I would have preferred if Dent was corrupted into operating outside the law to destroy the Joker, because his going after Batman and Gordon is just stupid.

After seeing the movie, I read a number of reviews that argued the movie should have ended 45 minutes earlier, with the Joker's speech to Dent and the image of him walking away from the exploding hospital in triumph. I admit there was probably a great ending there. Other people argued that including Harvey Dent made the movie too cluttered. Removing Harvey Dent would certainly leave us with a great summer movie, but it would also strip it of the richer questions of what it means to be heroic.

Early in the film, Dent tells Bruce Wayne that "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." The line struck me as a non sequitur introduced just to seem prophetic later, but I'm looking forward to watching the scene again. What does it mean? Does it mean that Dent believes no one can endure in the role of hero forever, that eventually any hero must sink to the ways of the villains? If so, Dent seems to acknowledge that he can't be triumphant in the role of hero--that it will take something less heroic in order to triumph. In the end, Batman endures, and perhaps triumphs, but not as a hero, for clearly he has sunk to the ways of the villains--in every way but one.

--- END OF SPOILER ---

Ok. I promise no more about Batman.


Sunday, July 20
Trying to break out of our foul post-Batman moods, we forced ourselves out into the oppressive heat, beginning our outing by trying the tiny lunches at the non-air-conditioned Kiva Han cafe on Craig Street in Oakland. Then we went across to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (just days before I could have gotten my CMU discount). The highlight of the museum is definitely it's dinosaur exhibit. Not only do they have full skeletons for lots of dinosaurs, they've got them posed as if they're interacting among dirt and trees, or flying over your head. It doesn't have that sterile museum feeling, so it's really very cool. Also, it's literally very cool in the exhibit, so bring a jacket, no matter how hot it is outside.

"Dinosaurs In Their Time"
[stolen from a November 2007 article on www.happynews.com]

Next we ran down the street in the rain to get ice cream at Dave and Andy's near U. Pitt. I enjoyed some delicious cookies & cream with kahlua frozen yogurt, so glad to have finally found frozen yogurt in Pittsburgh.

Where's The Chocolate?

Yesterday evening we toured the Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh's largest public greenhouse. They were having some kind of exhibit having to do with chocolate, but what we discovered is that they had ridiculous displays of plastic flamingos and signage telling you how much fun the birds were having in the chocolate spa.

We ate in the Phipps cafe which was pretty good except I made the mistake of ordering the chocolate salad. It sounded like a neat idea, but it was not a very good combo with spinach, chocolate and dried cherry croutons, balsamic vinegar, bleu cheese, and pineapple chunks (was supposed to be strawberries but they were out).

We saw some pretty interesting plants, including a chocolate bean tree, coffee trees, and lots of cool orchids (I didn't know vanilla beans came from an orchid!).

There were also several pieces of Dale Chihuly glass on display.

At the end of the tour we were given two small pieces of chocolate from the exhibit sponsors: Dove and Trello Cioccolato (made right here in Pittsburgh!). The Trello was very good!

Higher Learning

Having had no idea what we were looking at when we tried exploring Carnegie Mellon University on our own, Virg and I decided to go on the official admissions campus tour together. So, on Tuesday, June 24th, the two of us, along with a dozen high school kids and their parents, were given a tour of the various oddities on the CMU campus.

I'll be working in Wean Hall, the big concrete box on the right. The tower in the background is the Cathedral of Learning at the nearby University of Pittsburgh.

Virg can't wait to go to college.

Virg eats some pretty decent Indian food at the University Center.

After all that walking, Virg was tired enough to try out getting home on Pittsburgh's bus system. I still haven't been on a bus here, but it looks like the bus lines will be incredibly convenient for getting between home and CMU (although very confusingly numbered). Anyway, I had arranged to meet with a co-worker to work out my teaching schedule and set up my accounts. It's looking pretty final that I'll be teaching 3 sections of CMU's CS2 course, which is almost exactly what I was teaching in AP Comp Sci AB. Regarding accounts, it turned out there was nothing I could set up until I'm officially on payroll in September.

Some other highlights of the week:

• Wednesday: finding a great desk for Virg at IKEA
• Thursday: getting caught in a giant lightning storm as we attempted to leave the hardware store
• Friday: meeting a former student of mine at CMU and getting lunch at nearby Lulu's (Asian noodles)

Home Life

Saturday, June 21st, on the day after the Ducky Tour, Virg and I drove to an area of Pittsburgh called Shadyside. The main street there is called Walnut Street, and it's about as close as we've found to something like Palo Alto's University Ave.

Shadyside's Walnut St., as stolen from Wikipedia

There we grabbed sandwiches at the Pittsburgh Deli Company (one of our guidebook's first let-downs), walked around a lot, looked through stores, and stopped for coffee. The highlight for Virg was a cute store called Kawaii Gifts, with the largest collection we'd ever seen of Hello Kitty and other weird Japanese collectibles. Virg will be redecorating our home to look like the insides of that store at an approx. rate of two silly items per store visit.

Capping off an enjoyable, work-free day, we enjoyed a good dinner at the Point Brugges Cafe and went back out for some phenomenal chocolate cake at the Gullifty's Restaurant near our home.

The next day it was time to get serious about settling in, and Virg was in heaven on her first trip to Pittsburgh's Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. We had an excellent brunch at Harris Grill, unpacked a lot, and then Virg treated me to our first home-cooked meal in Pittsburgh--some yummy stir-fry. And the next day she cooked an even yummier steak-and-mushrooms meal.

That was Monday, and therefore Virg's first official day of working from home. We're slowly making the blue room in the back of the upstairs into Virg's office, and I've since moved my desk/computer set-up down to the dining room.

Virg gets to know her new co-workers.

Backyard Tourists

We spent our first week in Pittsburgh cooped up in our little area of Squirrel Hill, waiting for deliveries, spending a fortune at the hardware store, and hiding from the constant barrage of severe lightning storms (seriously, God hates Pittsburgh). But on the day after our belongings arrived, we were finally ready to get out and see Pittsburgh as it was meant to be seen--in duck form.

Yes, we took a Just Ducky Tour--20 little kids and us packed in a brightly painted combination bus/boat amphibious vehicle. The tour was led by two very entertaining comedic tourist guides, whose job it is to point out everything stupid about Pittsburgh, and to prompt you to call out "quack quack quack" at irritated people on the sidewalks.

The Ducky Tour begins across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, so I was pretty psyched that we'd have to cross it in boat form. Alas, we crossed rivers four times over the course of the tour, and always by driving across a bridge. But we did get to cruise on the water at 5 mph on the Ohio River, not far from the football stadium.

Virg quacks enthusiastically as she cruises around Pittsburgh in boat form.

It was actually an excellent, entertaining, and comprehensive tour, in spite of the little kids and quacking. Virg snapped about a thousand pictures, so we'll soon post images of Pittsburgh from every possible angle. A highlight: early in the tour, Virg raised her hand that we were from out-of-town, and I had to remind her that she's actually "from Pittsburgh."

outpacing the green Ducky Tour boat around The Point

Afterward, we ate a good lunch at the Houlihan's in Station Square, next to wear the Ducky Tours leave. Then we decided to check out the nearby Monongahela Incline--a pair of very steep railway tracks that each take a single carload of people up and down Mount Washington--the big hill across the Monongahela River from downtown.

The Monongahela Incline

The Incline itself was kind of lame, but the view from the top was spectacular.

Virg loves her Pittsburgh.


Dave looks wistfully toward CMU.

We walked the mile from there to the top of Pittsburgh's other Incline, found nothing there, and retraced our steps to get back home.

Near the Duquesne Incline, a billboard blocks my favorite view of the city.

The true measure of the success of this outing is that we have since been completely unmotivated to do anything else touristy.