Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Pleasant Surprises

We celebrated Rochelle Lewis' birthday after work today at a Pub/Restaurant in Santa Monica called "Father's Office." It's a quirky place. The owner clearly has strong opinions which he expresses through their operations. You order what they have to offer off of the menu -- no substitutions or changes allowed. Absolutely no Budweiser products are served (I don't know what the issue is there.) Diet Coke is available by the bottle, but there's no ice in the entire place. Their specialty is hamburgers -- with onions and cheese and lots of arrugula -- and you are expected to enjoy it! And don't even ask for ketchup to go with the fries that come in tiny little shopping carts.

I don't agree with many of the owners' choices, but I totally get his Control Freak attitude and respect his right to run his establishment exactly as he sees fit.

And judging by the crowd squeezing into the place on a Tuesday night -- so do lots of other folks.

Afterwards I headed over to The Grove to see "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" but it was sold out by the time I got there. So instead I saw the excellent "Cinderella Man." It's a great boxing movie about a man and his wife trying to live their life with dignity during the Great Depression.

Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger are predictably great in it, but Paul "Pop, Pop, Bang" Giamatti completely steals the movie while channeling Burgess Meredith as the gritty boxing coach.

Coming out of the theater I saw them lining up for the midnight show of "Batman Begins." From the buzz, it sure looks like that's going to be a big hit.

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