The Ramen Girl (2009) [+] Having moved to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend, Abby (Brittany Murphy) is suddenly there on her own after he breaks up and leaves her. Not knowing any Japanese and not wanting to go back to her parents, Abby is kind of aimless until one night she sees that a Ramen shop is open down the street. A bowl of Ramen changes her outlook on life and soon she demands that Ramen shop owner Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) teach her how to make Ramen. With no language in common he still agrees and proceeds to put Abby through grueling tasks. Turns out he is a master Ramen chef and sees Abby as a way to pass on his tradition... Kind of a low key movie but it works because Brittany Murphy was really charming.

The Dynasty: New England Patriots (2024) [/] Apple TV+ documentary series of ten 30-minute episodes chronicling the Patriots mostly from when Bill Belichick became head coach through to when Tom Brady left the team... I liked the first couple of episodes which was from when Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994, having Bill Parcells as coach for two years then Pete Carroll for two years then Belichick. Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback and quite good then they drafted Tom Brady, Bledsoe got hurt and Brady did enough to supplant him... The rest of the documentary though tends to focus on the controversies more than the football. Spy Gate, Deflate Gate, Bill vs Tom. Not that interesting to me. In the end it was an ok and somewhat interesting documentary from a viewer who is more interested in NFC and West Coast football.

Terminatrix (2013) [-] A very low budget sci-fi film. Fifty years in the future a prototype android, Lia (Samantha Ruston), is sent to wipe the last rebel group led by Cass (Kasey Williams). The rebels capture Lia, Cass talks her into changing sides, and Lia goes on to kill her creator, Dr. Peter Hess (Roberto Lombardi), who made Lia in the image of his murdered wife. Murdered by his first android Genesis (Chris R Notarile)... There's a whole first act that's fairly irrelevant other than to let write Notarile act as Genesis and give Hess a reason to make a female android -- but it's 15 minutes that could have been shortened to one allowing more time for the rest of the film. Huge amount of talking and close up head shots I guess to hide that the locations are just whatever was available and to avoid actors having to move around. CGI is very cheesy with computer graphics for gunshot hits though very quick cuts hides stuff pretty well.

Trader Joe's Seasoned Waffle Cut Fries [/] These are easy to heat. About 20 minutes at 400 degrees turn over halfway through. They are a bit too seasoned for my taste though maybe ok with a dipping sauce of some kind. A bag of 20 oz was four or five small snack-sized servings.