As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves -- goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

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I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

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More hamburger news: Consumer Reports says In N Out better than . . .

I don't want to take anything away from the June 30, 2011 Consumer Reports report that In-N-Out is better than a McDonald's -- but it does solicit a kind of, "okay so what else is new" response.

In case that's not enough to rock your world: Chipotle, according to Consumer Reports readers, is better than Taco Bell. Sherlock Holmes step aside.

Here are snippets from Consumer Reports:

"With high marks for food, service, value and speed, In-N-Out Burger topped the burger chart in Consumer Reports' first-ever major ratings of fast food restaurants. McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's all ranked lower."

"Consumer Reports readers made over 98,000 visits to 53 fast food chains, and found that Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s and Taco Bell offered uninspiring food and so-so service. While In-N-Out Burger was the top-ranked burger chain, other restaurants also did well in their categories."

"Chick-fil-A topped KFC and all other chicken chains, with high scores for food, value, speed, and the politeness of its staff."

"Chipotle Mexican Grill beat out 8 other Mexican food chains, including Taco Bell."

Here are the Consumer Reports' top fast food restaurants for overall value, my comments in parentheses: 

• In-N-Out Burger .... (have never been, can't wait to try 7th Street's)
• Chipotle Mexican Grill ....(food always lukewarm when served . . . which I do not like)
• Chick-fil-A .... (too many smiling white people. .. makes me nervous.)
• Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza .... (have never been but wouldn't go anywhere named Take N Bake)

For fast food restaurant enthusiasts, of which I am one (if I might be serious for a moment), the report is pretty interesting: Consumer Reports.

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Movie Tavern at West 7th

I made my first Movie Tavern on West 7th visitation yesterday.

X-Men.

I probably would not have gone except that I was accompanying two of my sons, one of whom is home for the summer, and the other leaving soon to work in Azirona. And I like comic book themed movies.

The following are the pluses and minuses of the afternoon.

Movie Tavern, plus:
1. Great seats with mini-tables for your food.
2. Great service. Lots of wait staff, quick and unassuming service. Our waiter was more uncaring than unassuming, but more on that later.
3. Great location.
4. Good matinee price and serve-yourself, no line tickets. I like that.
5. Reasonable food prices compared to other movie theaters.

Movie Tavern, minus
1. Small screen. After the Rave theater's huge screen, it's not so much disappointing, as underwhelming for this kind of movie.
2. The food. I can't speak to all the food but the chips and queso are god-awful. I'm not sure if the yellow liquid they serve should be called queso. It's really bad. I have heard reports that the other menu items are bad as well.

X-Men, plus.
1. The Wolverine cameo where he tells Magneto and Dr X, "to go xxxx yourselves," when an attempt was made to recruit him into mutant service. That was his only line, the only memorable line of the movie, and the only scene worth seeing.

X-Men, minus.
1. Who cares about the antics of spare teenage mutants? I sure don't. A girl with mini-wings who can fly and shoot fire spitballs? Most of the movie was spent developing the characters of mutants no one cares about. And the dialogue? "Mutant and proud?" Magneto getting all tongue-tied and teary-eyed after moving a metal satellite tower?

2. This is the worst comic book movie since Daredevil, my favorite comic book hero, by the way. There was not one funny line in the whole movie except for Wolverine's, and there was no drama until the last fifteen minutes. The first hour and a half is spent watching weirdo teenage ninja mutants and b-roll of Kennedy-era, Spy vs. Spy war games with Soviet characters that were approaching campy. At one point I though I was watching a satire of Austin Powers satirizing James Bond. Seriously. It was that bad.

X-Men, plus.
I was with two of my sons at a movie theater laughing, making fun of each other, and cutting-up, which included my promise to order the queso and chips by saying kwee-so and cheeps in stead kay-so and chips. I did and the waiter didn't blink, smirk, or even look disdainfully at me; something we all found very amusing, until son-one said that he, the bored waiter, was going to spit in my drink, which worried me until I discovered that the food deliverers are different than the food-order takers.

The word, "winnnninnng" was used several times in the course of the afternoon, with some good laugh effect. We did make it through the day without any bathroom humor (John), but over-large breast humor was invoked at the appropriate moments. All of this said to prove my sister's dictum that most males never get past age fifteen in the maturation process.

Meg, we proved you right once again. I had a great afternoon.

Movie Tavern at West 7th

Agree or disagree on X-Men or the Movie Tavern?

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A few thoughts from Target. And hangers, the plastic white ones.

We had just finished an enjoyable meal at Pei Wei on Montgomery and Marian said, "I wouldn't mind stopping by Target," to which I replied as I normally do, "no problem."

It was 125 this summer night so instead of waiting and reading in the car, again as I normally do, I attended.

After a few minutes in-Target-aisle the wife noticed the life forces draining from my face and decided to part ways abandoning me to the only aisle I understand at Target, the cereal aisle. Five minutes walking Target aisles and I am hating life, ten minutes the life force is almost gone, and after fifteen minutes you need one of those two-handed emergency-room shockers to revive me.

Getting near that end and at yellow warning stage I returned to the homing point of mega-marts, the check out lines, with a couple boxes of cereal hoping to see Marian, which I did, carrying two bunches of white hangers, a dozen per bunch.

Like much of what I say, none of this is necessarily that interesting but not one month before she had bought two big boxes of those same white hangers, about 100 of them.

"More hangers?" I gingerly inquired. "Yes, I have a few things needing them," said she, and I wisely left it there.

But I was puzzled, (a) because we had just bought 100 and (b) because I have never bought a hanger in my life.

Ever.

I have some good ones from a suit or sports jacket I purchased, and some workhorses like the kind the cleaners give you. Why do I need more? I'm certainly not going to pay for matching hangers. I like the non-matching free ones.

Then again, I prefer hooks to hang my clothes on. Door nobs work well, too, as do chair backs, and doors that are open . . . none of which need to be purchased at Target.

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Where am I?

I stole this from Gwin Grogan Grimes of Artisan Baking Company. I should have known the answer but I didn't.