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Click on the picture to watch Babylon 5 for free on theWB.com

Have you ever noticed that TV isn’t quite as epic and awesome as it used to be in the 80’s and 90’s? I remember watching Star Trek the Next Generation and then Star Trek Deep Space 9 when it came out. They were totally engrossing shows that made me want to watch every week. Well lately the only shows that I really wanted to see every week include LOST and Battlestar Galactica. But recently I have been looking for another TV show to watch that had a good universe like Star Trek Deep Space 9. I was talking with a friend and he told me to check out Babylon 5. Babylon 5 is a very cool show that has some similarities with Star Trek Deep Space 9. It lasted 5 seasons long and was very enjoyable to watch. The show is free to watch on theWB.com so click here if you want to stream it on your computer. There are commercials on theWB.com but it is a lot less then there are on regular TV. And also the commercials are only 30 seconds long at the breaks. Also you can lower the volume of the commercials, which is good because they are usually pretty loud.

There are a lot of things that I like about Babylon 5. The characters and the story are great. The setting is good too, at least the space station is. The planet that they are near isn’t mentioned very much in the show. The show is about this space station called Babylon 5. It is basically a trade port and a place for ambassadors from different worlds to come together and make decisions on politics, trade and military issues. Babylon 5 is guarded by a couple wings of fighter-craft called Star Furies. The fighter-craft are cool because they are fast and maneuverable and they make the battle scenes of the show more believable. The show has a great plot that revolves around political intrigue but there is lots of action and battle scenes as well. The characters are well developed and each one has his/her own back-story and personality quirks. There is a character called Michael Garibaldi who is the security chief of the station. He is a really cool character because he has flaws and because he has an interesting way of looking at situations. Garibaldi also is portrayed by an excellent actor, Jerry Doyle.

The space station, Babylon 5 itself is about five miles long and has hundreds of thousands of humanoid sentient beings doing business and living their lives every day. The station is owned by Earth Dome which is basically the Earth Government often referred to as “Earth Gov.” In this show Earth is more corrupt than in Star Trek and there is often political problems brewing within Earth Gov. Also the Babylon 5 universe still uses the concept of money, so economics is a big issue in the show. At one point the station has to deal with disgruntled union dock workers and strikes. It makes for interesting episodes and it gives a face to the internal workings of the station.

The space battles and fly-by cut scenes are all done by computer generated images (CGI). Although the ships and battles aren’t as impressive as the ones you see in Star Trek Deep Space 9, the CGI does a good job of getting the story and action across and you will get used to them after a few episodes. Babylon 5 excels in its use of aliens and creatures. There are all sorts of different aliens on the show. Some look like people. Others look like bugs. Other aliens look like they have bone protruding from the back of their heads. And some aliens are made of primarily energy. Overall you will be impressed with the aliens in the show and they breathe life into the station and make it feel large and populated. There are a few primary alien races that have specific ambassadors on the show and they are well acted and all look very different. There is one character in particular called G’Kar. He is a really cool reptilian ambassador who is portrayed by an excellent actor, Andreas Katsulas. G’Kar has many interesting things to say in the show and is always entertaining when on-screen. A lot of wisdom comes out of this character’s mouth.

I loved watching this show late at night on my laptop. It was such a good show that I eventually started getting the disks on Netflix and brought the disks over to a friends house. We had a lot of fun watching the show. But I had a friend recommend that we only watch seasons 1-4. The reason why he told me to do that is because the show was only intended to have 4 seasons. But I found Babylon 5 on theWB.com and I was really happy I did because season 5 although not as exciting as season 3 or 4, was still a great season to watch. And season 5 did a great job of wrapping up the show and giving it a sense of finality.

Another reason why I loved the show Babylon 5 is because it had many links and connections between episodes. Plotlines intertwined quite often and in some episodes you will see something happen that was a result of some other small or insignificant event in a previous episode. So the show really rewards you for watching it consistently and for remembering what happens. Overall this is a great show and since you can watch it at the theWB.com there is no real reason not to check it out. If you like Sci-Fi then this show is a must see. If you liked Star Trek Deep Space 9 you will probably love this show. If you are new to Sci-Fi, Babylon 5 is a good place to start because there is a lot of humor and the characters are good.

-Tyler

Inka Grill – Costa Mesa

260 Bristol Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

(714) 444-4652

HOURS:Mon-Thur 11AM – 9PM / Fri 11AM – 10PM

Sat 11:30AM – 10PM / Sun 11:30AM – 9PM

Do you like spicy food? I like spicy food but I don’t want an ulcer. So when I eat spicy food I make sure to do it every once in a while and not to over-do it. But if you are like me you like it when you get a little burned from time to time. Well, if you are willing to give your taste buds the ride of their life, come to Inka Grill in Costa Mesa!

I’ve been to Inka Grill twice now and both times I’ve loved the food. I went there for dinner yesterday and I had a blast. The meal started when I ordered some water and I was brought some french bread. Seems normal right? French bread and water…you can get that almost anywhere. NOPE! There’s a twist. I looked to the right side of my table and what did I find? Some crazy pastel green sauce called Gringo Killer! This stuff is delicious on your bread. I poured some of it on my bread plate and dipped the bread and I was in heaven. The Gringo Killer sauce is creamy and spicy and it has a perfect spicy aftertaste. It is not jalapeno style spicy. Nor is it hot chili pepper spicy. Double-nor is it wasabi  spicy. No, Gringo Killer is a special kind of spicy that at first stimulates your taste buds with a crisp spicy. Then it soothes your tongue with it’s creaminess. And finally kicks you again with spice with its aftertaste! It’s just bread but it tastes great and it is a killer way to start your dinner.

I shared 2 entrees with my friend so we could try two different things. Also he brought a coupon for buy one entree get the other one half-off that he found in some magazine or something. So we were pretty stoked that we were going to save some bucks. Especially because the dishes here cost from $11-$19 and they are worth every penny. We got one pasta entree and one rice and meat entree. The pasta dish was called Spinach Basil Spaghetti. It had slightly creamy pasta with green sauce that was mildly spicy. The basil and spinach flavor was very good. The pasta was cooked perfectly and had the right kind of tenderness. The cool part about the Spinach Basil Spaghetti is that it is topped with lightly breaded chicken breasts. You have the option of having it topped with pan seared Top round steak instead, but this time I went with the chicken, and boy was I glad I did. The chicken was thin and wide and was perfectly breaded. The flavor of the chicken mixed extremely well with the pasta spiciness. I found myself lathering the chicken in the pasta sauce. If you order this item you might want to share it with a friend or be prepared to bring some of it home, because it is a lot of pasta to have in one sitting.

Now the delicious Chimbotanos with beef and vegetables was one of the best food decisions I have ever made. The rice was well prepared and not to wet or dry, just moist enough to go well with the beef. The beef was mixed with some green beans and it was amazing. The beef was tender, but not quite as tender as the chicken in the other dish. And that was ok because the beef was cut into bite size strips that were easy to chew. The sauce for the beef and vegetables was spicy but not overpowering and when I mixed a bite with the rice it was great. A great part of the Chimbotanos was that it had Andean organic potatoes that were made into a type of potato stew-like concoction. The potatoes were brownish-white and they had a very unique flavor that were way better than mashed potatoes or a baked potato. It was like having a thick potato stew with medium sized to small chunks of potato in it. And a thin brown sauce kept it all together.

Inka Grill was amazing and I am going to definitely visit this restaurant again. I had such a good meal that I am probably going to venture into other dishes and find out what they taste like. Their lamb stew sounds interesting. Just take note that there are a lot of spicy seasoning s and flavors in their dishes. So if you have allergies or ulcers you might want to pick a different place to eat. But if you are in good health and like a little spice in your life, then Inka Grill is the way to go!

Bluefin Fine Japanese Cuisine

Blue Fin Fine Japanese Cuisine

7952 East Pacific Coast Highway

Crystal Cove Promenade

Newport Beach, CA 92657

OPEN: 7 days a week

HOURS … LUNCH: 11:30AM – 2PM  / DINNER: 5:30PM – 10:PM

Japanese food is something that is abundant in Southern California. It seems that almost everywhere you go, you see a Japanese Sushi Bar or restaurant. But finding one with fresh fish, excellent service, and an interesting and excellent menu is hard to come by. That’s why I love Blue Fin, they do Sushi and Japanese Cuisine with skill and style. One appetizer that you need to try if you are ever in the area is their Miso Cod. This Miso Cod is cooked and it is slightly sweet and a little buttery. The piece of fish isn’t huge because it’s only an appetizer. Each bite is tender and the fish flakes in your mouth and melts a bit before you chew it. The Miso Cod is so good it’s like having a perfectly cooked piece of fish that tastes exactly how your taste buds desired.

Another great item for lunch at Blue Fin would be their Assorted Sushi Lunch Special. It costs about $20 and you get Nigiri Sushi. (Nigiri Sushi is hand formed sushi with rice and topped with usually fish or eel or shrimp) The Lunch Special also comes with 1 roll of Maki Sushi which is your choice of Spicy Tuna Roll or else California Roll. Their Assorted Lunch Special is usually very fresh and it tastes good. I have never had a bad Lunch Special there. It comes with a small House Salad which is delicious. The salad is mostly mixed greens that are not the usual run of the mill salad greens that you get at restaurants. They taste great and fresh. But the best part of the salad is the superb salad dressing. It is made of onions and soy sauce and some other ingredients and it tastes very distinct and fresh and clean. The dressing is so good I always ask for extra dressing. The Assorted Sushi Lunch Special also comes  with their smooth flavored Miso Soup. The Miso Soup comes the perfect temperature and it also is served in a fun bowl with lid. It’s always fun to open the Miso Soup bowl and getting the warm soup. There is the traditional small tofu pieces in the soup as well as tender pieces of seaweed. The consistency of the soup is textured with small pieces of miso and the broth is slightly watery so the flavor is not overwhelming. The order in which you get the 3 items are: First the Miso Soup, then the Small House Salad, and finally the Assorted Sushi.

I always top off my meal at Blue Fin with some green tea ice cream. They give a scoop of ice cream with a strawberry slice and they top the scoop and strawberry with sprinkles of powdered sugar.

The overall price of lunch at Blue Fin get get pretty expensive, especially if you get the Miso Cod and a large house salad and an iced tea and ice cream for desert. Expect to spend at least $25-$35 per person for lunch. But if you have the money and you want some tasty Japanese Food then I truly recommend Blue Fin!

-Tyler

Visit Golden China's Website

Golden China  (Culver City) Mandarin & Szechuan Cuisine

9018 Venice Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

(310)559-0116

HOURS: Open Daily 11AM – 10PM

I was in LA with my friend and we went on an adventure. We checked out Venice Beach and that was fun. But then we got hungry, so I drove around and then we saw Golden China. At first glance at the exterior I noticed that it wasn’t a very impressive facade of a restaurant nestled inside a Culver City Strip Mall. But we were hungry and we both liked the idea of Chinese Food so we entered. Man am I glad I went inside because Golden China had a fun Chinese interior and excellent food. We were there on a Friday for dinner around 6PM and it wasn’t very busy and we were seated immediately. The decor was what you might expect from a nice sit down Chinese Restaurant and the seats were comfortable. The waiter came around quickly and took my drink order of water and brought it quickly. The water didn’t taste that great. It was kind of “hard” tasting. But I drank it anyway because it was free.

I then took a look at the menu. It was expansive and there were specials as well as entrees. I was impressed by their selection. Check out their big menu by clicking here and selecting menu from the side interface. They also have a separate vegetarian menu.

So I ordered their Beef with Broccoli a la carte. While my order was cooking I looked at their animal Chinese Zodiac information. I guess I’m the year of the Monkey so I’m supposed to be intelligent but easily confused. I don’t really like being insulted by my place mat but whatever. I took it in stride as something I should watch out for. Maybe I try and compensate for my easy confusion by how I ask for directions all the time instead of trying to figure out where to go on my own. Regardless, it feels good to be connected to at least an animal that is kind of human-ish.

When my Beef with Broccoli arrived I was IMPRESSED! It was a huge amount of Beef with Broccoli for $9.95! It was like a mountain of Beef with Broccoli! I was super hungry so I jumped in with a smile. The sauce was super good. It tasted medium-thick and it had a pleasant aftertaste that didn’t linger. The sauce tasted great on my white rice and I mixed the two with pleasure. The beef was SUPERB, it was tender and tasted great with the sauce and it had an interesting texture that tore easily. The broccoli was almost as good as the meat and it was the perfect tenderness and each piece was medium sized and so I didn’t have to cut them I just munched ’em!I ate the whole giant entree by myself and had no regrets.

Good news! I didn’t just try the Beef with Broccoli! My friend ordered the Egg Foo Young special and it was GOOD! The Egg Foo Young was fried and had a really yummy sauce. It tasted like a gravy actually. The Egg Foo Young was heavier than my Beef with Broccoli so be prepared to take some home or share it with the family if you buy it…or take some home.

Eating at Golden China in Culver City was a smart idea and an excellent experience. The waiter was friendly and he brought our orders with proper timing. And the food was great! What else can you ask for? I recommend Golden China to anyone who likes Chinese food and if you are a fan of Beef with Broccoli you NEED to visit this restaurant! Delicious!

-Tyler