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REDEMPTION

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea is one of my favorite dessert shops.  One of my MANY favorite dessert shops.  They change menu constantly.  Nothing is overtly sweet, but everything is presented ever so nicely.

Sweet Fruit Tea (delicious!)

Chestnut Shortcake:  autumn 2026 collaboration with renaissance artists from the Louvre.  This one was Leonardo Da Vinci's Portrait of a Lady.  I don't know if Afternoon Tea needed to pay licensing fee to the Louvre, but I had a delicious cake and some education.  Win-win for me!  That red flower was actually a raspberry shaped like a flower.  The attention to details was amazing!

Chestnut Shortcake

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Mrs. GREEN APPLE x mister Donut

Delicious donut with custard filling. And then! Jam with actual apple pieces inside the custard! What a surprise!

The top two were new limited edition flavors and delicious.  The bottom ones were not new, but still very good!

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

The reviews were good; the box office was good. I had high hopes going into the movie. Then I was disappointed. Was it because I didn’t watch any Marvel shows?

It didn’t look like he had school or job. How did Peter pay rent?

How did Peter Parker know Yelena? They talked as if they knew each other for a while.

Peter made a high tech thing in his dingy apartment after talking to Bruce for five minutes. Peter got the high tech equipment from Iron Man, but it’s been at least four years. How did he get more supplies or upgrades? Again, he didn’t have a job.

Then all the plots didn’t go anywhere. Jean Grey and the bad government villain were not punished for their crimes. MJ and Ned still weren’t Peter’s friends. Bruce went to hospital and we never heard from him again.

Nothing happened in this movie. Unless this was a setup for Doomsday, otherwise this Spider-Man movie was the worst of four movies.

Disney Winnie the Pooh mochi from 7-11

Of course I bought them because they were cute.  Not bad.  I wouldn't buy them again because there were too many other better mochi in 7-11.

One Drop Cafe ワン ドロップ カフェ

one drop cafe is not easy to find. It's tucked in an alleyway above a Korean restaurant.  That alleyway looks abandoned and scary.  It actually took us two tries; first time we got lost and thought we had wandered into forbidden district.

The menu consisted of only three items:  vegan, vegetarian, and pork.  We ordered vegetarian and pork.  The pork dish was more like chicken cordon bleu, but with pork, and I didn't like cheese inside pork.

The vegetarian dish was not bad.  Next time we will try the vegan dish.

Vegetarian

Pork

Restaurant hours

Hoppers (2026)

Am I getting old?  I used to love every PIXAR movie.  This one felt ... dumb.  Everyone was dumb in the story, including the adults.  I couldn't wait for the protagonist to fail spectacularly, then I would be happy.

I am a miserable person 😢

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Simple, easy spy movie.  Exact same formula from director Guy Ritchie with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024).  We know who the good guys were and who the bad guys were.  There was a tiny twist at the end, but nothing serious.  An enjoyable movie without too much at stake.

Let Me In!

A bird outside my bank.  It was there before we arrived; it was there after we left.  About twenty minutes.  Hopefully it got whatever it wanted.

LET ME IN!!!

Ant-Man (2015), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man 1 and Ant-Man 2 were fun.  The stories were easy to follow.  The villains were only average and not memorable, but Ant-Man was a simple, no high-stake superhero so that was acceptable.

Don't think too much of the logistics.  Ant-Man 2 showed the characters towing around a block of building, blew it up and shrank it down anywhere anytime.  As a grownup now, paying utilities, I wondered. Where was the sewage?  How did the piping go?

Ant-Man 3 was a disaster. Even when it was re-running on TV, we turned it off. The biggest problem was Marvel got rid of Ant-Man's sidekicks. Even though they were not the main characters, they were the spirit and the soul to the story. Without them, Ant-Man 3 was lost and went nowhere.

Iron Man (2008)

I didn't know about Iron Man or Marvel when this movie was released.  I finished all the chores on a weekend, and thought, sure, I'd see an action movie.  I went to a third-run theater with a small screen.  Turned out I really enjoy the movie.  Very compact plot, good dialogues, great action.

Re-watched in 2026 after all these years of following Marvel movies.  Now I knew this was the movie that started Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Iron Man was still one of the best Marvel movies.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Catcher Was A Spy (2018)

Since this was based on a true story, and all of us knew that Nazi did not develop an atomic bomb, so we knew about the ending of the movie five minutes in.

At 94 minutes, this movie had some thriller, some gun fight, some sex, and some fun.  It was an ok movie.  I never really liked spy movie because real spy stuff was boring, and I hated 007 James Bond.

⭐⭐⭐

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

The first time I watched this movie, I was confused.  Why Captain America, the patriot, suddenly wanted no government oversight, while Iron Man, the bad boy, wanted to sign the accord?  Of course the ending surprised me the most, since I was not a comic book fan, I did not see it coming.  A great ending to two friends.

Then I re-watched the movie, after growing old and more wisdom, I realized Captain America was not a patriot to the United States.  He was loyal to humanity.  That was why he refused to sign the accord.  Iron Man, on the other hand, was eaten by guilt of the destruction he had made throughout the years.  So he agreed to a set of rules that would reign superheroes in.

Wow, this movie was deep!

The first time, I was simply cheering for Captain America saving his bromance buddy Bucky.  The second watch, I did not agree with Captain America saving Bucky at all cost by any means necessary.

Goodness.  What would I think if I watched this movie the third time in another ten years?

Young Washington (2026)

What better way to celebrate America's 250th birthday by seeing a movie about the founding father?  It wasn't as propaganda-y as I had thought.  I liked the movie focused on one small segment of his life.  That made the plot manageable.  I learned some things about George Washington's early life.  Apparently he wanted to be an officer but was rejected.  So becoming an enlisted soldier wasn't even plausible for him?  How egotistical. However, the whole movie was about Washington learning his mistakes and kept bettering himself.  That was all we could ask for ourselves, right?

The cameras shook too much.  Watching it on a big screen wasn't an enjoyable experience.

I heard they were planning sequels.  Hopefully they made enough money to fix the camera problem.

⭐⭐⭐

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!!

Happy July 4th!  Here's to next 250!

The Uncle Sam

Proud Birdie Parents!

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 12 JUNE 2026:  A Mommy Bird decided to use our planter in the side yard as her nest!  It was a large ceramic planter full of weeds.  She chose the location probably due to its seclusion. We didn't notice until there were three eggs! We were so happy! However, we were worried because the planter was on the ground.  That might not be the safest since house cats roamed this neighborhood.  We knew at least one cat came to check us out when we moved in.  Hopefully the nest was well-hidden.

Do You See What I See

Look Closer

UPDATED 18 JUNE 2026:  The nest looked cozy and well-constructed.  We tried to stay away because we didn't want to spook the parents.  When we looked again, four eggs!  Mommy and Daddy got busy! Can't wait to see them hatched!

UPDATED 21 JUNE 2026:  After observing from a distance for a few days, we grew concerned.  We saw only one bird sitting on top of the eggs. We assumed that was the Mommy Bird.  She would leave the nest for a long period of time; we assumed to get food and water.  Where was Daddy Bird?  Was she suddenly a single parent after four eggs?  She was very jitterish.  We wish we could get a closer look at her and find out what species she was, research her habit and maybe help out a little.  Cats roamed in this neighborhood.  It wasn't safe leaving the eggs in a planter only two feet above the ground.

UPDATED 25 JUNE 2026:  When we went to sleep, everything was peaceful.  We woke up to find the nest destroyed and strewn about the yard!  The Mommy Bird was nowhere to be seen!!  Eggs were gone!!!  No feather; no dead body; no broken eggshell.  WHAT HAPPENED!?  Did she move?  She looked too small to carry all four eggs away by herself. Did cats eat her and the eggs?  We didn't see any signs of struggle, except the broken nest.  We were devastated.  Five lives disappeared overnight.  We didn't even hear any screeching.  Even if we did, we probably couldn't help.  Nature was brutal!!!!

😢😭

Masters of the Universe (2026)

This was a stupidly entertaining movie great for a Saturday afternoon when all chores were finished.  Two hours and twenty minutes was too long because some jokes could be cut, but overall I enjoyed it.  I was concerned the main guy would be stuffy and wooden, but not really.  He was able to provide some laughter and some tears.  I appreciated him working hard.

However, Skeletor was the best.  He was such a lame Shakespearean actor villain.  Math Teacher said that was on-point with the original cartoon.

The main theme music was over-used.  But then again, for a silly toy turned cartoon turned movie, I didn't expect much.  If it was free I would watch this movie again.

🌟🌟🌟

Twisters (2024)

Math Teacher watched this on the airplane.  His review:  He could not stand the stupid people chasing twisters while making stupid mistakes. After awhile he started rooting for the twisters.  After ten minutes, he turned it off even though it was a free movie!

My Review:  I didn't even watch the movie.  I saw the trailer.  Everyone looked like they needed to go to school for another twenty years, then they were worthy of carrying briefcases for the REAL meteorologists.

American Fiction (2023)

The trailer led Math Teacher to believe this was a comedy and a satire; he highly recommended it.  We individually watched it while in the airplane.

My Review:  No~ this was a learning movie.  There were a few chuckles, but basically it made me think and reflect.

Math Teacher's Review:  The protagonist was a teacher; so was Math Teacher.  The protagonist had difficulty with students; so did Math Teacher.  Math Teacher had to skip several minutes of the movie because the plot hit too close to home.  At the end, he concurred this was not a comedy at all; it was a movie to make people do soul-searching.