Twofer Tuesday on a Wednesday

Oh yeah, I had every intention of putting up a second post yesterday, but the time just got away from me.  I had that first one up and going before 9:00 and then had the whole day ahead of me to do with as I pleased.

Pretty much all my chores were done and I had no errands to run,  so I decided to go catch a movie--something I hadn't done since last May.

I really wanted to see American Sniper since I'd heard nothing but good things about it. And although I'm not sure, I *think* I may have read the book a couple years ago.  I honestly don't remember. 

What a drag it is getting old.

But since I had the entire day to myself, and it was a Tuesday, I figured I'd make it a twofer and hit two movies...

I drove over to Bell Tower in Ft Myers, and the tractor beam of Grimaldi's was indeed hard to resist.  Yes, Grimaldi's is right across the parking lot from the movie theater. But since I'd made myself a homemade egg McMuffin for breakfast just an hour before, I was able to steer my feet towards the movieplex instead of the pizza parlor.

Big line at the theater on a Tuesday morning.  And oh by the way, this being Ft Myers, I was the youngest person by a good thirty years.  Which reminds me--if I somehow manage to make it past 75 years old or so, I'm totally gonna hang out down here and pick up chicks, because the old women down here outnumber the old men about five to one.  But I digress...

Anyhow, it seemed that most folks had the same idea yesterday--go see American Sniper at the matinee.  They had it playing on three screens, and the one I got into was pretty full, not many empty seats at all.  And yeah--it was a great movie, totally worth all the hype.  Bradley Cooper does an excellent job and it was certainly an Oscar-worthy performance, although I have absolutely no idea who or what he's up against this year.  The thing is, just last week I re-watched Silver Linings Playbook (my brother had never seen it before), and caught myself thinking he (Cooper) is really an excellent actor. 

If you haven't seen the film yet, I'm not here to do a long review or give away any spoilers, but it's a damn good movie, and at times very intense.  And it'd been a long time since I'd been to a movie that got applause at the end, too.  Well worth seeing if you haven't already.

When it ended, people were lined up outside all the way to the front door waiting for the next showing, so the word is out.  Go see it if you get a chance.

I had about forty minutes to kill before my next flick, so after waiting in line behind all the old codgers to use the facilities, I went over to one of the smaller theaters on the other side of the complex to wait for the next movie to start.

My choice for round two was Wild, with Reese Witherspoon.  It's also gotten a lot of hype, at least in my extended and far-reaching circle of hiker friends, because it was based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, her autobiographical tale of trying to get her head right by dropping everything and hiking most of the Pacific Crest Trail.  It was better than I expected and I think it struck a good balance between chick flick and adventure movie (unlike f*cking PEARL HARBOR, but don't get me started on that rant...)

I have to say that I was a little surprised at the nude scenes--of course I'm totally cool with seeing Reese Witherspoon nekkid, but I honestly don't think it really added any value to the story.  It would've been just as good without it, but hey, I guess you gotta sell tickets.   Still a pretty good movie, not so much about hiking as it is about taming your demons, but I really enjoyed it.

After the mini film festival, I texted my bro Tim to meet me for dinner up at a little hole-in-the-wall joint called Jalapenos.  Good Mexican food is *tough* to find here in southwest Florida, but everyone around here says that this is the spot, and it's been on our to-do list for awhile.  Besides, I've been craving a carne asada burrito--I haven't had one in like three years.

It's a small and divey place, so we knew it had to be good.  But there was no carne asada burrito on the menu.  They had a carne asada platter, but said that they could make it a burrito, no problemo at all.  Sold!  It came with rice and beans of course, and while I went with a side order of beef taquitos, Tim had the same thing except with a side of house-made tortilla chips and pico de gallo.

It was all pretty good, although my carne asada burrito wasn't exactly as I'd hoped--they put the lettuce and tomato and such inside, so while I was craving an Alberto's Taco Shop style burrito, it was more like 'combinacion numero ocho' wrapped in a tortilla.  Still pretty damn good, but I think next time I'll just have the carnitas.  On the other hand, we both agreed that the beans were the best damn beans we'd ever had in a Mexican restaurant, anywhere.  Yeah, they were that good.  If we weren't so stuffed (we took half of our meals home in to-go boxes), we would've ordered a couple of pints of beans just to eat with tortillas at home.  I'm not sure how they cooked them, but they were like a magical hybrid of charros and refritos.  So damn tasty.  Tim and I both gave the place an enthusiastic thumbs up, so we'll be going back.

Once we got back home, it was a Moonshiners marathon for a couple of hours before bed.  I don't watch much TV anymore unless it's live sports or Netflix, but somehow I always manage to get sucked in to watching the hillbillies law-dodging shenanigans.

Today, I have no plans at all to go anywhere or do too much.  We're having the neighbors over for dinner tonight, so my contribution is Scottie's roasted-garlic and caramelized-onion mashed potatoes.  They're so good, people want to just eat 'em in a bowl like ice cream.  Tim is making his famous cow-pig-turkey meatloaf (the next step in the evolution of the Turducken!), so tonight's meal shall be epic.

Maybe I'll take a couple of pics.  Since it was Twofer Tuesday and all...

Mikey