Archive for the 'Review' Category

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Anime Briefs – Even More Spring ’13

Published on May 4, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

Even more shows I’ve watched, and there are some pretty good ones still!

Aiura: Cute high school girls doing cute things. The little one gets mistaken for an elementary school student, then there’s the wacky one, and the subdued level headed foil.

root – yes, it’s that genre, but it’s only got three girls! Regardless, it’s great fun and well done. Nice art, nice designs, nice animation, an amusing OP that’s obsessed with crabs, and Steve Jobs. It’s too bad that at one minute, it takes up 25% of the episode! Way too short, wraps up a gag and makes you feel like it’s just getting started and then it ends!

risu – it’s amazing how little they get into each episode, but how much that little works.  The backgrounds are probably the best of anything I’ve watched this season so far.  The character art reminds me of the Ichigo Mashimaro TV animation (not the manga), though I don’t think it’s any of the same people involved.  It’s simple and wonderful, like last season’s Yama no Susume but better.  Time ot go eat some crab…  A-

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Beer Is Good – Sierra Nevada 2013 Bigfoot Ale

Published on April 28, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. 2 Comments

Had to go on the ride, not a big fan the last time I tried this. Pours a cloudy dark amber, fairly strong head that goes away fast. Strong bitter of hops, and aroma, but not as floral as I’d expected. A pretty strong mouthfeel. Bitter persists for a long time. Not an easy drinking beer, or barley wine as the label says. We’ll see how it goes as it warms up, since taking sips seems to be the way I can take this. Surprisingly don’t detect the alcohol too much, but it does pack punch. I wish it had more roasted and nuttiness, but I’m actually not hating it this time. Could it be a mood thing? It’s not my favorite either though.

2.5 out of 4 squirrel stomping monkeys.

Anime Briefs – More Spring ’13

Published on April 24, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

Continuing the briefs on the new crop of anime, there is some amusement to be had this season.

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Anime Briefs – Spring ’13

Published on April 18, 2013 in anime, Culture and Review by taro. Closed

The spring anime season is underway, with many shows streaming on their second episodes already so here’s some initial thoughts on them, roughly in the order they showed up. There seems to be a glut of giant robots this time around, whee. There have been a couple quite entertaining shows too though.

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Beer Is Good – Widmer Columbia Common Spring Ale

Published on April 13, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

Pours a medium amber, small head that dissipates quickly. Crisp and fairly dry flavor, moderate bitter that stays throughout and keeps a fairly astringent feel in mouth that lingers. A pretty good food beer. On it’s own, while nothing objectionable, it doesn’t have a whole lot of complexity to make it interesting.

2.5 out of 4 common monkeys.

Shaloha

Published on April 11, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. 1 Comment

Had a service call to W&M Burgers and their lot was full with delivery trucks so I ended up parking on the side street that goes by St. Louis Drive In. Walking back and in the small collection of shops on the corner across from St. Louis this shop Shaloha caught my eye. Signage indicated Middle eastern cuisine, I was intrigued. The two other customer eating were of that region so I took it as a good sign. I had lunch waiting back at the office but conveniently I needed to suppliment it. Decided to get a side order of falafel, not having had any before. While I waited, dude assembling the food gave me a sample of their pita with a generous dab of hummus. Good stuff, the pita is fresh made on premise, a great balance of chewyness and fluffyness. It’s their signature item. The falafel was pretty good, these deep fried chickpea balls were actually pretty light on flavor, needed the dipping sauce provided. Nice texture of crunch on outside, and a hearty, almost meatball like texture inside. This place will definitely need furthur exploration and try of their main entrees!

Beer Is Good – Becks Saphire

Published on April 6, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

Don’t let the black bottle fool you, pours a medium light yellow, medium head. Fairly strong hop bitter and touch of skunkyness. The bitter and strong carbonation gives a feel of dryness, but there is actually a moderately heavy mouthfeel. I can’t say I really like this beer. I’ll drink it, but it wouldn’t be a choice I would make to buy it again.

2 out of 4 sapphiry monkeys.

Battle of the Action Cams

Published on March 7, 2013 in Gear and Review by taro. Closed

Having used both the Sony and GoPro over our Hokkaido trip, I now have some more thoughts on these two cameras and how they stack up against each other. GoPro feature set wise wins. Their WiFi remote is very useful, much more than linking up a smartphone. How often in -10C with winds blasting enough to almost knock you over and snow swirling in your face are you going to dig out your smartphone, take off your gloves in order to use the phone, wait for the app to sync, then browse through it to change settings or start the camera. The GoPro allows full access to all functions while in the waterproof case, although in use the only setting I changed in the field was the inverted setting. The Sony once it was in case only has the start/stop button, which ended up being fine. And it’s a nice big button that makes it glove friendly.

But the Sony has only one tiny impossible to see record indicator LED on the back, I could never see it in the field. The start tone is too soft, again impossible to hear through layers of neckwarmer, helmet ear muff, blasting snow and wind.

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Beer Is Good – Sam Adams Maple Pecan Porter

Published on March 6, 2013 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

Part of the current Spring Thaw variety pack. I’ve already reviewed the Alpine Spring, which is one of my current faves. This one is a porter and pours moderate heavy head, an extremely dark brown, almost black. There’s a definite dark roast, and yet it does not taste burnt. The bitter is also moderated by its fairly strong maple sweetness. You also definitely get the nuttyness from the pecan, but can’t readily identify it. I’m generally not a fan of beers with heavy sweetness, but it works pretty good here, and surprisingly the mouth feel is not very heavy or syrupy. However this isn’t a chugging beer.

I give it a 3 out of 4 porterly monkeys.

Beer is Good – Yebisu Kaorihanayagu (Joel Robuchon)

Published on February 26, 2013 in Culture, Food, Review and Travel by risu. Closed

I can forgive Yebisu from teaming up with a Frenchman instead of a German for a collaboration beer, since this is so wonderful. I didn’t really read the full version that carefully on their website, but using French barley from the Champagne region and premium New Zealand hops from the wine producing Nelson region, Yebisu with brewmaster Joel Robuchon aimed to produce a “champagne of beers”. The heavier carbonation definitely evokes champagne, but if you didn’t know all the backstory, all you would think is that this is a rich, full-flavored beer with a bitter bent. The decoction is strong, so the medium-dark malt color and flavor definitely comes through. The hops are more on the bittering side, but there is still a hint of flowery. There is nothing defining whether this is an ale or lager, but I’d venture a guess that it’s a lager.

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