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A Thumbs Down to AA

My Dad, Emily and I header out to Orange County, CA today to be with our family out there after our Uncle Vic passed away. He had a heart attack a few weeks ago, but the passing was still a bit sudden because many of us were expecting a recovery. When our family first heard the news, we all naturally tried to get flights out of our hometowns as soon as possible, so none of us really coordinated. My Dad & sister booked first on AA. I was fortunate (at the time) to get on the same exact itinerary on American Airlines to John Wayne Airport (SNA). Uncle Albert took a flight to LAX via Virgin Atlantic. Cindy booked about a day later, but was able to get the same schedule as her father. Uncle Mariano flew out of Philippines a day earlier and was scheduled to arrive a bit earlier.

Our flight was scheduled to arrive mid-afternoon, plenty of time to check-in to our hotel, get settled in and visit the grieving Auntie Clarita. When we first arrived in Laguardia, the schedule was looking good. Flight 313 to Chicago was cancelled and all passengers were moved to a flight an hour earlier. That didn't do anything for our final arrival time, but it meant less of a rush to get to our connecting flight. We got there on time and made it to our gate with plenty of time to eat a meal an make a few phone calls. Things were still good as we boarded the plane, but we got a sense that something was wrong when we were sitting in a closed cabin for 30 minutes. The finally announced that there was a problem... the control panel was missing a bushing (a silicone or rubber piece used to stabilize 2 or more hard components). The estimated time of repair was 30 minutes. After that time, they made a second announcement that they were unable to get the missing part and had to take the plane out of service. We quickly called the 800 number to rebook the flight. There were 2 options at the time:

1. 3pm flight to LAX
2. 5pm flight to John Wayne w/ Dallas connection

Though the LAX flight was better for our schedule because it was where the rest of the family was headed, we couldn't take it because AA wouldn't send our checked-in baggage to that location. So we were stuck with the much later flight (arrival @ 10pm). The agent at the booking desk was able to help us a little bit. She actually put us on a later, but direct flight to SNA in order to get the arrival time down by an hour. It was pretty obvious that there was no real mechanical problem on the original plane. They were just making a head count at first and when the total was lower than some limit, they decided to take the plane offline to save money. The issue with the bushing was fabricated. I've heard that AA does this kind of thing a lot and many passengers aboard mentioned that they've had a similar experience before. Other clues were:

1. Ground crew was emptying the check-ins before the announcements
2. The plane had no problems arriving
3. How could they be so ill prepared to not have spare parts readily available? A missing bushing is also easily MacGyvered.

So we eventually made it. Because of our late arrival, Uncle Mariano had time to get to LA first, pick up Uncle Albert & Cindy and then drive to Santa Ana for us. Cancelling an entire flight should've at least warranted some kind of bonus for all of the passengers... especially since we saved the airline money by not flying out a whole plane. AA offered nothing... not even a free meal! Also noteworthy is the overall friendliness of the staff was not as good as other airlines I've been on. They didn't do anything particularly bad, but it was just the was they talked and answered questions that evoked a feeling of rudeness. We were already stressed and anxious to be with and comfort our family. AA did nothing to help. From now on, I will certainly pay attention to airlines while shopping and never fly AA again!

What a long day... a 29-hour one to be exact!

Chinese New Year 4707

It's Chinese New Year weekend and it occurs earlier this year (actually 1/26). Our family dinner was a few days earlier because we wanted to do it on a Saturday so there would be no rush to go home and get ready for work the next day.


I mentioned last year that I felt weird celebrating holidays early, but I guess it's OK this time. It'll just feel like it's lasting longer. I had a fun time with my family tonight. Tomorrow, I'm going to do some cleaning and visit friends. I took Monday off to observe the actual date of the Lunar New Year. The parade in Flushing will be next Saturday... something to look forward to next weekend.

Death Race

Story: 6
Action: 8
Acting: 7
FX: 8
Durability: 7

The plot for Death Race was simple. There's a racing circuit involving prisoners and over time, it has become the most popular sports program on cable/internet. When one of the stars dies on the track, the warden needs to replace him to keep the myth alive. So she gets Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) in jail by killing his wife and framing him for the murder. I did enjoy the twist in the end though. The hero prevailed in the end, but it's a bit of a surprise how he does it. I won't give that away.

I wasn't actually interested in the movie for the story though. I just wanted to see battle-ready versions of the cars. I love Mustangs. To give you an idea of how much... I watch Knight Rider, which is terrible, just for the nice shots of the GT500KR! Death Race featured the same car too, but it was armored up and fitted with guns. As an artist, I enjoy seeing original interpretations of an already well-designed car. Each car in this movie kept its own defining characteristics, but are customized to fit the theme of the movie.

I thought Death Race was entertaining as the explosions and automotive stunts carried the movie. But the simple storyline makes me think that this would've made a much better video game than a movie. I also wish there were more vehicle shots (like they did in Gone in 60 Seconds.

DVDeals 1/18 - 1/24

DVD Tuesday
It's back to DVD Tuesday again, so the Sunday thing was just because of the holidays. I also skipped the last 2 weeks because there was nothing interesting being released. This Tuesday we have Max Payne and Saw V being released. Circuit City listed the lowest price for the regular ($14.99) and special ($22.99) editions.

Circuit City Deals
- Underworld/Underworld: Evolution Double Feature for $14.99
- Mortal Kombat/Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Double Feature for $4.99
- Tomb Raider for $4.99
- Doom for $4.99
- Saw I-IV for $4.99 each

Target Deals
- Underworld for $6.50
- Family Guy: Seasons 1-6 for $18.99 each
- What Women Want for $6.50
- Never Back Down for $10.00

Armondo's Italian Restaurant

Location: 74-27 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, NY
Cuisine: Italian
Hours: SUN-THU (12pm-11pm); FRI-SAT (12pm-12am)
Phone: (718) 898-0113
Website: www.armondositalianrestaurant.com
Prices: $31/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 9
Value: 5
Environment: 7

Frequency: Unique

It was the coldest day of the Winter so far, but most of us made it to the monthly dinner. Armondo's was a nice place to be after running a block over from the train station. It had a nice warm atmosphere typical of Italian restaurants. They did a great job of laying things out in such a small space. The seats were a bit tight, but there was still plenty of walking space between tables.

The service was great. They had 2 waiters tend to our table of 8, making sure drinks were always filled and asking if everything was OK. The owner (I think) made it a point to thank every guest on their way out.

The only thing I would knock this place on is the prices of their specials. Those were $30+ and were just slight variations of some of their standard dishes. Every restaurant does that, so nothing out of the ordinary here... just something to look out for. The other items are somewhat OK, but I've had cheaper (and better) in Manhattan. Their pastas are around $12-15 and their meat dishes about $20.

For more details on the food, please check out the Picasa album. I didn't take as many photos as I usually do because I forgot to charge the camera and it was also too cold outside for a group shot.

MoMA

My Computer Art classmate from SCAD, Marco came to NYC from Germany on a business trip... his first in about 8 years! After a busy week, it was nice to be able to spend the day with him catching up on old times and the past few years. He was conveniently located in the Hampton Inn, literally next door to my apartment. We spent the day in the Midtown area because he wanted to check out one of the museums and an Apple store. The Museum of Modern Art was just a few avenues over and the Fifth Avenue Apple Store a few streets up from the museum. Most of the day was spent in MoMA. We were there from about 10:30am-3:30pm. Many of the works brought back memories of the art history classes we had. For more details on the works we saw, check out the Picasa album for detailed comments.

Note: Some of the comments in the Picasa album were from MoMA's descriptions. The more personal sounding ones were written by me.

Related: Museum of Modern Art, Pipilotti Rist, Fifth Avenue Apple Store

Rocky Balboa

Story: 8
Action: 6
Acting: 7
FX: 7
Durability: 7
Special Features: 8

I saw this one back when it was in the theater. When I first heard about it, I was surprised that it was going to be about Rocky entering the ring again. I thought a Rocky movie being released today would be about him as a teacher and training a new guy that's supposed to step into his shoes. It was partly inspired by the George Foreman comeback, so it's still realistic in that sense.

The story begins several years after Rocky V. Rocky is long retired, Adrian passed away of cancer and Robert (Rocky Jr.) is grown up and working at an office. Initially, I didn't like the idea of the movie starting out with Adrian dead, but the rationale made sense. If she was still around for this finale, the storyline would be a repeat of Rocky V. The title character needed a new challenge... an internal battle to get over his repressed emotions. So I liked the storyline overall. It did a good job of connecting with the previous 5 movies as well as closing out the saga. Rocky Balboa also had 2 other storylines running alongside the main character's struggles that needed to be closed out. Robert was in the shadow of his father and the opposing boxer, Mason Dixon had to prove himself as a worthy champ. The movie did an excellent job of resolving all 3 of these. The plot never really involved a villain, which made it more powerful (because that would've been the easy way out).

Rocky Balboa didn't have the same amount of action as the previous 5 movies, but that's understandable. The story concentrated on drama rather than action. The last fight was shot very well though... better than any other Rocky final scene because it mimicked actual boxing techniques and angles. It wasn't shot for a movie like the previous ones. The choreography was also more realistic. The older movies had too much offense, no defense and no footwork.

The special effects were not bad. I didn't really expect any in a movie like this, but I give them credit for making the final match look and sound intense. They also did a pretty good job with the 3-D models in the computer match between Rocky & Mason Dixon.

For a non-FX type movie, I thought the special features on the DVD were very good. Most of them deal with the making of the movie and the storyline. My favorite was Sylvester Stallone's commentary. He spoke for nearly the entire length of the movie since there was so much about Rocky he could reflect on. The character has become such a huge American hero that it even eclipses his real life personality. Some commentaries just have a bunch of actors watching the movie, cracking jokes and getting off topic, but this was one of the best ones I heard. The deleted scenes were also pretty good, highlighted by an alternate ending. Stallone also mentioned that he's working on a director's cut that will use some of the deleted scenes.

New Year's Weekend

Last night, we joined the Yeos and capped off the holiday season with dinner at Perlas ng Silangan. At Emily's Birthday, they had mentioned that they wanted to try out the place after reading my review on this blog. So we planned for this weekend, not wanting to meet up for a greasy, almost 100% carnivorous meal after the Christmas feasts on the previous week. Please click on the photos in the slideshow for more detailed descriptions of the dishes.


After dinner, we headed to Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim's place for dessert. We planned for an early dinner at 6 so we could have a lot of time to chat and catch up over tea & coffee.

So that closes the 2008-2009 Holiday Season with a bang. The diet starts tomorrow... until Chinese New Year at the end of the month!

Related: Emily's Birthday, Perlas ng Silangan (original review), Perlas (official site)

New Year's Day

After Christmas Day, there were no New Year's plans for the family, but luckily Cindy and Wil pulled together something last minute for New Year's Day and everyone was available too!

Idhrin-eden 'elir 2009!