Restaurant Reviews

Mac's Authentic British Fish & Chip Shop 
     503 State St, Santa Barbara, 93101

          Recently opened on State Street, Mac's is a classic British fish and chip shop ran by a young couple directly from England themselves.  With a menu bearing tasty items like Toad-In-The-Hole, meat pies, Scottish Haggis, sausages and mash, and of course fish and chips, as well as a large selection of imported British sodas and beers, it is the most authentic fish and chip shop in town.  The environment is a cozy little shop, featuring a bar counter to people-watch the weirdos of State Street while enjoying a yummy lunch or dinner.  For dessert, they offer a selection of deep-fried British chocolate bars, with the option of a topping of thick fresh cream and Ghirardelli chocolate sauce. 

          With very low-end prices and a true traditional British atmosphere, Mac's fish and chips should definitely be on everyone's mind around lunch time.  Nothing fills a hungry stomach better than battered fish, toad-in-the-hole and a deep fried chocolate bar (tastes so wrong, yet so right....), and the prices are more than reasonable.  The classic newspaper-wrapped chips and warm environment are just perfect for a cozy lunch, and even though service may be slower than other types of fast food restaurants, it's because everything is cooked fresh and brought piping hot to your table.  Next time you're walking down State Street hungry, stop off at Mac's small fish & chip shop.



Chipotle 
     Paseo Nuevo 723 State St, Santa Barbara, 93101
     Storke Plaza 270 Storke Rd, Goleta, 93117

          A burrito place taken to the next level: Chipotle is a fresh - emphasizing both meanings of the word - twist to the bland Mexican fast food establishments we are unfortunately too familiar with.  Inside, there's a step-by-step counter in which staff build your burrito, bowl or tacos specifically how you like them, so you can see exactly what goes into your food.  With a choice of burritos, bowls, soft and hard tacos, salads and kids meals, and tons of fillings like steak, corn, black beans and guacamole, there are heaps of possibilities for lunch and dinner.

          Chipotle is definitely the best fast-food Mexican place in town when it comes to burritos and tacos and bowls.  Their service is speedy, though the lines can get very long around lunch and dinner time, and their ingredients are always very fresh.  The burritos are among the biggest I've ever seen and are really a challenge to eat in a tidy manner, and their bowls are for those who don't wanna make a mess.  Whenever I want a quick meal that's way tastier than average fast-food, I grab a burrito from Chipotle, and rarely ever am I able to finish it. 

Music Reviews

Death of a Bachelor

          Panic! at the Disco is finally releasing their new album: The Death of a Bachelor. The name comes from one of the songs in the album, an early release, along with Hallelujah, Victorious, and most recently, Emperor's New Clothes.  The song "Death of a Bachelor" itself has an undeniably vintage style to it: a Sinatra-esque quality overlaid with electronic beats, creating a great start to an anxiously-awaited album.  According to the vocalist Brendon Urie, it's "Sinatra meets Beyonce", and is definitely his favorite track of the whole album, displaying his prominent feelings about not truly forgetting the past, but choosing to focus instead on the future.  The date of release for the entire album is January 15, 2016, and as their fifth and most-awaited album, many fans worldwide are counting down till this day.

          The songs already released from this album are truly brilliant, and all display a completely different style of music: modern Sinatra (Death of a Bachelor), pop with a hint of gospel (Hallelujah), a party-anthem (Victorious), and a spooky a Halloween-styled song (Emperor's New Clothes).  In their own differences, they are all catchy and show off Brenden Urie's unmatched vocal talent.  I can tell already that this album is gonna be one to remember, and will easily top the charts above all previous Panic! at the Disco albums.

SHADY XV
         
          Last year was Shady Record's 15th year anniversary, and to celebrate, they decided to release a 15th project: SHADY XV.  As a hip hop/rap compilation of multiple artists from Shady Records, and a double album, it was released on November 24 last year featuring a disc of new material from artists like Slaughterhouse, Bad Meets Evil, D12 and Yelawolf and label-founder Eminem.  The second disc is of the label's greatest hits, also featuring former Shady Records members. Two weeks before the album release, Eminem released a rap cypher, SHADY CVXPHER, also featuring Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, to promote the album and their raw freestyling talent, and single "Guts over Fear" featuring Sia, to be used in the movie The Equalizer.

          This album came as a slight disappointment to myself and all Shady fans, also dictated by an exponential fall in copies bought the month after it was released.  The RIAA certified it gold on the chart (50,000 copies sold), inferior to the usual multi-platinum and diamond (10+ million copies sold) previous albums.  The main disappointment that came to most was, for one, the loss of its usual daring originality and excitement.  The rappers are getting older, not as young and cutting edge as they used to be, and are understandably having trouble writing something we haven't heard before. Secondly, the news of a double album was an exciting one, but when fans bought the disc set and realized that half the songs on it were just previous hits, they were rather disappointed.  Granted, there were a number of great tracks, like "Detroit vs. Everybody", "Twisted", and extremely punny "Vegas" and "Shady XV", but not worth buying a hard copy for. 

Gear Reviews

Nokia Lumia 520

          A couple of years ago I bought a Nokia Lumia 520: a gem released in 2013 running Windows, and is Windows 8.1 compatible. With 124 grams of sheer power this phone can push the limits of mobile technology. With a 4 inch display and a super-sensitive touchscreen that reads long nails and through gloves, it's the best of it's time. It comes with mix and match cover-shells in blue, white, red, and yellow, and an impressive 5 megapixel rear camera, and an 8GB expandable memory. The 1GHz Dual Core Processor is one of the best of it's time and is built with the latest Microsoft technology.

          In my opinion, this phone is great, when you take into consideration the year it was released.  But for 2015, the camera is very temperamental and only takes good pictures in the best light conditions, and is missing the front camera and flash that is a necessity in this day and age. The phone is proportionally thicker and heavier than most phones of it's size and of 4 inch display, and has the tendency to glitch and lag more frequently than most as well. On the flip side, the powerful touchscreen is incredibly impressive, and functions perfectly through even the thickest gloves, and the removable shells are fun to change around as you please.  Windows 8.1 functions well on this phone and creates a whole new level of productivity.  I wouldn't recommend this phone - I would recommend a more recent Nokia Lumia like the beautiful 1020 - but for it's time, it's very powerful little device.

Babolat Strike Tour 

          At 27 inches and 12 ounces, the Babolat Strike Tour is a powerful ad sophisticated racket, and takes your game to the next level. Its graphite composition, dense string pattern and head-light balance gives it a unique and very solid feel as the user is able to manipulate the ball with ease.  Its unusually small head of 98 square inches and thin frame allow for improved volley control and a truly amazing serving experience.

          This racket is like none other I've ever played with. Its unique composition with a small head and dense string pattern allow for increased control and very powerful strokes.  Many who use this racket including myself are in agreement that the Strike Tour's solid feel is truly different than any other, even when used without a shock absorber, and has potential to bring the user's game to a higher level when used properly.  The only downfalls to this deadly weapon is that the smaller head can be difficult to adjust to when used after a racket with a bigger head, and its solid feel can be damaging to those with older elbows.  I strongly urge any experienced tennis player to consider this racket when shopping for a new one.

Movie Reviews

Mad Max - Fury Road

         Set in a not-so-far post-apocalyptic future in which gasoline is as precious as gold and water is among diamonds, Furiosa - driver of the massive gasoline rig for a tyrannical ruler Immortal Joe - takes the risk of smuggling the ruler's five wives to the so-called Green Place. They attract the attention of Immortal Joe, who sends a massive party of war boys after them, across Fury Road, in their homemade war vehicles.  Along the way, Furiosa befriends sickly war-boy Nux, and his so called "blood bag": apocalypse-scarred Max.  

         This movie is magnificent. From the first scene to the last, there is plenty of spectacular action, vehicular and human. Taking into consideration that 75% of it is action, a thrilling story line is also thoroughly maintained.  Each of the characters are extremely original to the full definition of the word, and makes The Avengers seem like colourful pansies.  Max (Tom Hardy), shows great remorse and emotion even through his limited dialog, and Furiosa (Charlize Theron) depicts one that is eternally hurt and sand-hardened better than anyone possibly could.  The vehicles themselves in this movie are magnificent: rusting car remains attached to bigger cars, equipped with scrap metal spikes and accessories, and each with a unique steering wheel. Barreling through a eternally dry, orange dessert, director George Miller has created a masterpiece.   



Frozen 

          Elsa (Idina Menzel), a previously-concealed princess (of course, it's Disney) and secret Ice Queen, runs away from the constrains of society to hides away her unique powers, causing an eternal winter upon Arendelle.  Her naive sister Anna (Kristen Bell) and extreme mountaineer Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and reindeer sidekick go on an adventure through the frozen mountains to find Elsa and break her icy spell, later befriending a comical snowman (Idina Menzel).  Along the way, Kristoff formulates feelings for Anna, but in the end, it's a warm hug from her sister and not a true love's kiss that saves Anna and Arendelle.

          Disney has done it again.  This movie sounds all jolly and happy and in the end everyone is saved and the beloved family is reunited. Yaaaaaay.  But for someone who isn't Disney tolerant like me, it's was too joyful and lighthearted for the situation.  Even though the songs are catchy (actually too catchy to the point of extremely irritating) and the animation is visually appealing and comedy (though very immature) is present, this movie didn't do it for me, and many of my peers.  And the ending was far from substantial.  As cliche as it is, a Disney movie isn't complete without the guy getting the girl and saving the day, whereas the guy didn't get the girl and the ignorant sister saved the day instead.  On the other side, the animation was very visually appealing, but like most Disney movies, all of the characters are too unrealistically flawless to the point of it being mildly annoying. I acknowledge that some people truly adored this movie, but I wasn't sold by it.