overidon.com Central Database for Overidon Omnimedia

Hachi

Richard Gere does a phenomenal job in the touching film, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. He plays the part of a Professor of music in an east coast University. The story is about a dog named, “Hachi” who is from Japan. He ends up getting lost in the East Coast, USA. And Richard Gere’s character, “Parker” finds him and takes care of him. It seems like any old, man loves dog story but there is an important twist. Hachi loves Parker so much that he goes to great lengths to wait for him as he returns from the train station. Hachi waits at the station every day for over a year and Parker and Hachi have a great life together. But when Parker unexpectedly dies while teaching a music class, he never comes home through the train station. But Hachi faithfully waits for Parker every day for 10 years. His love for Parker never waivers and he waits for him for the rest of his life. Hachi becomes so well known to the community that they even write about him in the newspaper. The local merchants take care of him as best as they can, but Hachi lives alone somewhere in the city. Even though Hachi gets to be very old, he still waits for Parker at the train station.

This movie is actually based on a true story. Hachi was a dog in Japan with a similar situation. And the people of the town loved Hachi so much that they created a bronze statue of him in his honor.

The reason why I say that Hachi will steal your heart is because I watched this movie and I cried. It isn’t about the dog being adorable and it isn’t about the great music. It is about the sheer tremendous amount of love and devotion that is presented in the film. Richard Gere is very convincing in his love for the dog and the dog actor that plays Hachi is unforgettable. It is heart wrenching to see Hachi when he is older. That really twisted my emotions and made me cry a lot. If you love animals at all you need to see this movie. And especially if you have ever owned a dog then this is a must-see.

It was never released in the USA in the theaters but it was released in the theaters in Japan. Almost all the reviews I’ve read for Hachi: A Dog’s Tale are extremely positive or else maximum highest rating. I’ve read at least 20 reviews of people saying they cried watching this movie. This includes men and women.

A great thing about this movie is that it is only about 95 minutes long. So they present the subject matter of the movie extremely efficiently and artistically without turning it into a long epic.

Click here to purchase “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” from Amazon.com.

-Tyler

Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie

I just ate a Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie at the Starbucks in Corona del Mar. It was really fresh and I couldn’t stop myself from eating the entire thing in about four bites. Starbucks and whoever makes their food outdid themselves on this desert item. The flavor of the chocolate is sweet and fudgey and a little bit cakey at the same time. This is a brownie worth celebrating. It isn’t quite as moist as the Chocolate Overload Cake from Jack in the Box. But it doesn’t need to be that moist because it isn’t a cake. It is a brownie and brownies tend to be a little bit more solid than cakes. This is true unless you are talking about Texas Sheet Cake, that kind of desert is very moist indeed. But the key thing that makes Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie so decadent, is the divine consistency of the brownie texture. It both breaks apart in your mouth in elegant chunks, and it doesn’t crumble. But make sure that you get a fresh one of these brownies! I’ve had Double Chocolate Brownies that had been hanging out over a day or so and they were really hard and not delicious. So you might want to ask your barista nicely if they are new brownies. If they don’t know how long they’ve been there, then a safer bet might be the Cheese Danish. Those are also winners.

One thing to note with the Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie is that the Chocolate Chunk pieces in it are slightly waxy. I am not a big fan of waxy chocolate, but they still taste good. But you can easily tell the the chunk pieces are waxier than the main part of the brownie. This was the case even in my extremely fresh Brownie that I ate today. So just know that going into it.

The Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie has 410 calories per brownie. That is a pretty hefty amount of calories to ingest in just a couple minutes, but the taste is well worth it. And there are 24 grams of fat in the brownie. So if you are looking for health food you might want to try something else. If you want to learn more about the Nutritional Information for the Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie then click HERE.

My brownie experience today opened my mind and now I’m feeling adventurous and I want to try even more snacks. I think the Chocolate Overload Cake from yesterday got me in a chocolate mood.

I paired the Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie with a Venti Whole Milk Latte and it tasted great. The bitterness and milkyness of the latte balanced the sweetness of the brownie very well. I’m actually still drinking the latte right now. It is smooth and relaxing.

-Tyler