Return of the Chicken Bowl

I broke down today and went to Chipotle for a chicken bowl. I haven't had Chipotle in probably eight or nine months due to the health scares. What really terrified me was an article I read in Bloomberg Businessweek about a healthy guy who was in his early 30s. He did P90X and was in great physical shape, yet his kidneys nearly failed after eating a Chipotle chicken bowl. Oy! That story (on top of all of the other Chipotle-related illnesses I kept reading about), kept me away from my beloved chicken bowl for months...until today. I just had the bowl less than an hour ago, so there's still time for illness to set in, but I feel okay so far. My sister was in New York last week and she told me she ate at a Chipotle there and felt fine, so I decided it was time for me also to take the plunge. Even though I ate Chipotle today, I doubt wonder if I'll ever eat at the restaurant with the frequency I did in the past. I remember going there weekly when I lived in New York. There was a Chipotle in the lobby of the building where I worked and I ate there probably once a week. I suspect those days are over, but I'm willing to try and slowly get myself back on the Chipotle wagon.

Conjuring and Compton

I saw two movies over the weekend: one at the theater and one on DVD.

My theater movie was The Conjuring 2. I saw the first Conjuring and thought it was okay, so I went to see the sequel. It was okay also. A little long, but pretty good. The plot was your typical demon possession/exorcism story line, but what I found interesting was the relationship between Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). Patrick and Vera make such an great on-screen couple and whenever they weren't in the movie, I found myself wishing they were. (Watching possessed British kids in run around a dirty row house got old after a while.) I'm still waiting for a scary movie that's truly scary. The last movie I saw that really scared me was The Ring. Yes, The Ring. Creepy. I saw the Japanese version, Ringu, also. The Japanese make some strange scary movies. Check out Audition if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.

My DVD movie was Straight Outta Compton. I didn't see this one when it was in the theaters, but I kept hearing it was good. Gangster rap music isn't my thing either, but I enjoyed the movie. It was a little too long and a sanitized version of the story of NWA, but a lot of the old-school music in the film was great. The story of how Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy E came together made for a pretty good movie. I thought some of the raps in the movie were hilarious, particularly Ice Cube's angry song "No Vaseline." Anyone who can rap about Kunta Kinte and then throw in a line that says "I got a whip for ya, Toby" gets kudos from me. Toby? Really? I'm sure that line went over the heads of kids who saw the movie and didn't get the whole Roots reference.

Summer Sickness

Having a cold is terrible at any time of the year, but it's particularly annoying when you're sick in the summertime, as I am right now. I don't think I had a cold all winter, but I've been down all week with various ailments: sore throat, draining sinuses, congestion. And the sad thing is it's beautiful outside, but I'm so sluggish and congested that I really can't enjoy the weather. So, I've been indoors watching a lot of television. Coverage of the Brexit vote has been all over the news here. You'd think the election happened in the US rather than the UK with the amount of press I've seen. I won't even claim to understand what the crux of that situation is about, but I will say this. Once again the media seemed to have been wrong in their predictions of how the vote would come out. That goes to show you can't always trust the polls and the pundits.

Moving on, I've been watching my guilty pleasure show "Million Dollar Listing New York (MDLNY)" via On Demand and I'm caught up now. This show is so ridiculous for so many reasons. (Do these agents do anything other than throw parties and go out for dinner and/or drinks? I don't think so!) When I watch MDLNY, I have to laugh because I wouldn't let any of these jokers sell me a dog house let alone real estate over $1 million. (Okay, maybe I'd let Fredrik because he seems the most competent of the three, but I'd have to think seriously about it.) Ryan just strikes me as a thirsty actor who's auditioning for a movie role. (And what's up with the lack of socks? Unprofessional!) And Luis? Luis is a hot mess. Someone on a blog I read described him as a "walking Almodovar movie." That sounds about right. I don't know what kind of internal demons he's struggling with, but he needs to get that shit under control.

Haters of Change

Iowa state representative Steve King doesn't want Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill because he doesn't like change. He prefers the white guys (Hamilton, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin) on his currency because that's what he's accustomed to. Some nut job running for some political position in Tennessee is using the slogan "Make America White Again" in his campaign materials. (Was America ever white? I don't think so.) In any case, what King and the Tennessee idiot want is not to have to see or deal with people who aren't white. The Tennessee guy said he longed for the days of "Leave It to Beaver." Those days are over and, God willing, they aren't coming back. I've said before that a lot of the people who loved "Mad Men" liked the idea of white guys running everything while racial minorities and women existed on the periphery. I was a "Mad Men" fan myself, but not because I longed for the 60s to return. (Hell, I wasn't even born in the 1960s!) I liked "Mad Men" because I thought the show was entertaining in its absurdity and I liked Jon Hamm. I get nostalgic for the past also, but not the bad parts of it. I don't long for the days of segregation and all-white TV shows like "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Andy Griffith Show." (I do miss the terribly politically incorrect cartoons of my youth. I'm sorry [not really], but that stuff was funny.)

Race Against the Hate

Since moving to Evanston nearly three years ago, I've participated in the yearly Race Against the Hate. I don't exactly "race" against the hate. I do a brisk "walk" against the hate. Whether you run, jog, trot. or walk, it's a great event that supports a worthy cause. The weather has also been great each year that I've participated.

Chi-Town Fail

I saw on the local news that the Chicago City Council is trying to regulate Uber and Lyft drivers by making them get a chauffeur's license (for a fee), be fingerprinted, etc. like a regular cab driver. I saw a councilman on the news today defending this move saying it's to protect the citizens of the city. I wonder if he's the same guy who was given a sizable contribution by the taxi lobby. In any case, this move is just another way for Chicago to shoot itself in the foot (pun intended) because if Uber and Lyft drivers are forced to adhere to these regulations, both companies say they'll pull out of the city entirely. Chicago doesn't need to lose any businesses right now. Hell, the city needs all the business it can get!

Many people have come to depend on Uber and Lyft to provide rides in places where local cabs won't. I have issues with gig economy jobs like Uber not providing benefits to their employees, but I don't fault these companies for providing services that consumers want and need. Anyone who's lived in an underserved area knows that getting a cab can sometimes be a problem. Hell, you don't even have to be in an underserved area. Cabs in Manhattan won't even take you to Brooklyn even though they're supposed to. So in comes ride services like Uber and Lyft to fill that gap. Cab companies have been behind the curve with the technological advancements companies like Uber and Lyft are utilizing and it's no surprise that those cab companies are being left in the dust. So if that cab driver doesn't want to drive you to the Bronx or Chicago's South Side? Screw that guy. Book a ride with someone who will drive you.

Endless Loop

As we continue to mourn the victims of the Orlando massacre (because, really, that's what it was), I have to shake my head at the non-stop coverage on the cable news networks. I know whenever a tragedy like this occurs, the cable news networks go into near hysteria and work to dig up any bit of news they can use and run in an endless loop because the 24-hour news cycle never stops. Oh, here's a guy who talked to the shooter once at Burger King. Let's interview him! Here's a lady who spoke to lived next door to the shooter's wife five years ago. Let's interview her! I understand the need to get information out to the public, but when does the quest for legitimate information turn into ridiculousness in the quest for ratings?