RAVE - Godzilla

Despite my regular rants against comic book rehashes like - oh, the list is far too long to repeat here - I have a soft spot for zombies, sci-fi, and monsters. As did many of the nerds who applauded the title roll, the first appearance of, and then the actions of this gargantuan but unlikely hero at last night's IMAX 3D showing. Especially when our leathery do-gooder blasted a river of white hot, nuclear breath down the throat of a feisty MUTO (the necessary acronym for a clumsily-named Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism).

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

While light years ahead of previous iterations of this famous rampaging beast - with its stop-start, plasticine animation - this monster was more realistic than any Godzilla I've seen before, although not up to Jurassic Park level.

Despite my pickiness, the fact that the last hour of the movie featured Big G, two MUTOs, and various representatives from our overladen but inevitably insufficiently-armed military laying waste to downtown San Francisco added for this audience in, er, downtown San Francisco a certain je ne sais quaaaaagghh to the whole affair.

The evening was capped when one of the theater's escalators abruptly halted, sending dozens of outward-bound film goers stumbling while one wag shouted "Godzilla" and we all waited for the crash of glass towers and a giant reptilian foot to .........

REVIEW - Verbena

It wasn't exactly a case of "while the cat's away, the mice will play" but Mrs P is in Vegas - slaving away at a Skrillex show - so I had dinner with Amo and Simi at this new-ish place with its hot reputation.

But did it deserve the warmth of that rep? Not exactly. At least the two non-vegetarians out of the three of us thought the place was good-looking but the food was perhaps a bit over-contrived.

Amo and I started with the Roasted button mushrooms, with cauliflower, lovage, and tomato vinegar. Neither of us thought they tasted of much that was write-home-worthy. Simi had the much tastier Sprouted seed bread, with chevre, and beet sauerkraut.

Amo had the Peas creamed in carrot juice, with - wait for it - huitlacoche escabeche. Simi had the Cabbage leaves stuffed with lemon Verbena sausage, manilla clams, pork belly, and trout roe - and the clams and trout roe were the reason I didn't order the same. Instead, I had the Meatballs braised in black mole, with hominy cooked in whey, and kale.

Thanks to the artfully undersized portions, we each scoffed some equally artful desserts.

But for me the menu didn't add up to much.