Tonight Kim and I went out to the AMC Theater at the Mall of America in Bloomington to see Wristcutters: A Love Story via free tickets that we received after going to see Music Within.

I want to first talk about the Mall of America for a second before I get into the movie itself. There was some sort of crazy ass commotion going on down on the first floor with KDWB making little girls scream — loudly which caused the escalators to be shut off and blocked by numerous over-zealous Mall of America security officers. This, in turn, jammed the main elevators and required us to find alternate means to arrive at the fourth floor to access the AMC Theater.

After going passed the dismal and empty “bar scene” that once thrived on the fourth floor, we passed Hooters and saw a large sign with a lazy arrow pointing the way to a hidden hallway leading to the theater. After traversing the snaking passageways, we found that we could have easily made our way to the theater if we had paid enough attention and entered from the third floor at the food court — I guess we need to go to the Mall of America more often?

We walked towards the ticket counter with our over-sized voucher in hand and were diverted to two computer terminals to watch a video clip of an upcoming movie so that I could offer my comments on it.

“Sure, a few minutes of my time? No problem!”
“Ohh, a phone number? That’s a problem.”
“No, I don’t want to give you a work number either, sorry and good luck.”

After being directed by the ticket agent inside we stopped for overpriced bottles of water and a hot dog for Kim. While Kim later suggested that this was a fantastic example of what a hot dog should be, I took a small nibble and whole-heartedly disagreed. A $4 hot dog should taste more like heaven and not like a soggy bun with a piece of processed meat in the middle. Such is life.

The man standing guard in front of the hallway leading to half of the screens at the nearly empty facility jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said, “Number 9,” and we were off. As soon as I walked inside, I noticed the absolutely fucking disgusting state that the chairs were in. Honestly, if this trip hadn’t been free, I would have marched back out to the counter, gotten my money back and left. Who the fuck do they think they are telling people to pay $9+ to see a movie in a fucking shit hole?

After sitting down, I realized that the theater configuration was not slanting enough and that the woman’s enlarged head seated directly in front of us would likely be a problem. I spent the rest of the evening shifting with her as she fucked with her two out-dated and over-sized cell phones that were almost as annoying as the fucking douchebag at the opposite end of our row who, after being told to turn it off or put it on silent, still had it ring during the middle of the movie.

So far so good, right?

The movie started and I just didn’t get it. I mean, I have seen some fucking crazy ass movies in my day, but this one was just fucking strange.

Basic premise is that people who kill themselves end up in some sort of alternate reality where it’s desolate, no one smiles, and you really have little to no purpose in life. The main character spends quite a bit of time being in love with his ex-girlfriend (who he killed himself over) who ends up killing herself. He meets up with a couple of other people and they set out looking for this ex. Once he finds her though, he realizes he has fallen in love with a hitchhiker they picked up months before. In the end, both of them end up being brought back to life and the movie ends with them smiling at each other in their hospital beds.

Kim thought it was great but I thought it was just “blah.”

It will only be showing for a limited time at the Lagoon in Minneapolis and I certainly don’t recommend that anyone rush out and see it as it’s really not worth your time.

We have tickets to yet another freebie on November 8th but the name escapes me at this time. Hopefully that one will at least be somewhere in the middle of the last two movies we’ve seen for free, I really doubt I could hack another one like Wristcutters: A Love Story. YMMV.

Tonight Kim and I met up with world famous Dodgeballers Tim and Meredith for dinner at Tandoor in Bloomington, MN.

We have been looking to get together for dinner ever since Tim’s birthday party at Famous Dave’s in Woodbury, MN but we’ve never been able to get the schedules to work out.

Earlier this week Tim asked if we could get together possibly this Friday. With nearly a week’s notice, I figured we could get something set in stone for once. He asked if we could meet somewhere between us and wanting to check out a place I had never been to, I did some Google searching for something different in Bloomington.

Immediately after hitting “search” I found the winner: Tandoor over near 35W and 494. With 27 reviews listed on Google giving it an overall of 5 stars. I did some more digging and found that even most vegans (who don’t even like real food) were giving it a decent review!

I asked Tim and Meredith if they were cool w/that location and they were all over it. We planned for Friday at 7pm and I spent the week drooling over the idea of some good Indian food. Mmmm.

Kim and I arrived at about twenty to seven and walked quickly across the frozen parking lot towards the door. Kim immediately took cover inside while I tried to snap a decent photo of the sign.

I wasn’t immediately impressed with the location. A typical strip mall in Bloomington, tucked off American Boulevard behind a Wendy’s and next to a Red Lobster (bleh).

After walking inside, I changed my mind. The restaurant was nicely decorated and warm. Great artwork on the walls, nice table dressings, and we were quickly seated.

Tim and Meredith showed up soon after and we began to order. Meredith was the most comfortable with the menu and Tim was simply looking for spicy chicken and rice which he quickly located. Kim went with the Shrimp Madras and I nabbed their Lamb Platter.

Kim’s Shrimp Madras was listed as “a specialty from the backwaters of south India, Tender shrimp cooked in a coconut curry sauce” which comes “highly recommended” on their website. My lamb platter included “Tandoori Chicken & Lamb Curry, mixed vegetables, rice, Nan, Chutney, Dahi Raita, Papadam, & Dal (spiced lentils)” I don’t remember exactly what Tim ordered but Meredith ordered the lamb platter as well.

The lamb platter was *fantastic*. The chicken was perfect, the lamb was great although if someone didn’t tell you it was lamb you wouldn’t have known what it was, and the sides were very very tasty. Kim and I had sampled some vegetarian Indian food at Manu and Padma’s Wedding in California and I had tried some before in Woodbury at the India Palace buffet but I never sat down to a full dinner with it.

I was extremely impressed with my food. Kim, not so much, but that’s very much mimicked our reactions to the now closed Daria’s Mediterranean Deli and Cafe in Apple Valley.

I’d go back but I would guess that if we do another evening with Tim and Meredith, it wouldn’t be at Tandoor — by Kim’s request :(

Check out Tim’s writeup on Tandoor here.

See all the pictures from today here (mobile).

Kimmy and I took Buddy down to the Minnesota River bottoms in Bloomington to find an awesome newly placed old-school cache named Coleman Lake Cache.

After finding the cache we crossed over Nine Mile Creek on a well made raft and walked another mile or so through the dense woods. While both Buddy and Kimmy picked up some wood tick travelers I, amazingly enough, stayed free of them.

See all the photos from today here and here (mobile pics).