Olive Garden: Cookie-cutter Chain Restaurant or Fabulous Casual Eating Experience?

The chain restaurant gives the average person certain perks. One always knows what to expect when walking into a familiar chain restaurant even if he/she happens to be across country or perhaps even out of the country. The décor is the same. The atmosphere is the same. The food is the same. The uniforms are the same. It’s safe and cozy.

While this can seem monotonous to some, when traveling in a new and different place, it always feels reassuring to find somewhere familiar and comforting. However, some restaurant chains take this overboard and make them so familiar you don’t even have to open your eyes to find the bathroom.

Olive Garden handles the chain restaurant niche very well. Many of their locations have differing floor plans and buildings, although they do keep the same kinds of decorations so it feels like you are still in their domain but just simply in a different wing of the Olive Garden mansion. This effect is also enhanced by the employees who all wear the same uniform but look different and have different personalities.

The menu is one thing that doesn’t change across the different locations. This ensures that you will always have your favorite dish at any Olive Garden you may visit. And since the menu itself is so large, it will still offer a variety of tastes if you are looking for something different.

Olive Garden is the average-Joe's paradise. It offers just the right amount of high class (napkins you actually have to wash and servers with ties) with the right amount of middle class casual (you don’t have to dress up to get in and you can slurp on your pasta an no one will give you a dirty look). And, of course, their creamy sauces and chewy pastas always fill you up and keep you coming back.

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender as an M. Night Shyamalan film

This new movie is inspired by the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon seen on Nickelodeon. While the cartoon focuses more on the character development and their relationships, this movie couldn't do all of that and get the plot in at the same time, despite the fact that they only focused on one book (which I think is the equivalent of the first season from the cartoon). So while the movie was definitely not as funny as the cartoons, it does have many other perks.

The casting was awesome. The actors they got for Aang and Katara are spot on. Aang is a young boy who manages to look wise and experienced at the same time. It reminded me of the princess from The NeverEnding Story. And Katara is just super cute.

Sokka was played by none other than Jasper from the Twilight series. It was really interesting seeing him in a speaking role although he does go more in the background as the movie progresses. He actually looked similar to the cartoon character he was supposed to play but he was a little bit too old and it really showed when him and his sister were standing side by side. Prince Zuko's actor could have never been perfect for me no matter who they chose since his cartoon voice is done by Rufio from Hook. I loved that dude so much that there was no way they could replace him and they couldn't get him because he was too old. :/

All in all, the cast was great.

The special effects of this movie are AWESOME. I've always loved the idea of the four elements, despite the fact that many people feel they are overdone. I just love how they play together and this movie really captures the heart and soul of these elements while embodied by humans. The special effects of the movie take the front seat and it feels just a little bit like the filmmakers were just seeing what they could do with their computer toys- kind of like Avatar did. Yet they keep just enough humanity and dialogue and intrigue that it isn't as bad.

I felt like I was apart of this different world and I enjoyed getting to escape from my own for a little while. It was definitely a well-spent afternoon.

Eclipse

The strongest reason why there are movie giants and creations (because the words "series" or "films" are too inadequate) is their great ability to yank us out of our own real lives into a complete world where things happen, where characters connect and make choices in the face of danger which we can only dream of. We end up spending hours with these fictional people but they become our friends, our sole attention for the time we spend with them. They become our world and it is all we can do to not cry as we say goodbye and part ways. Luckily, the structures of our friendships are such that on a day we are feeling particularly lonely, all we have to do is crack open that book again.

Eclipse finally caught most of the essence from Stephenie Meyer's creation. Us as fans have been waiting for them to get it right and yet while the first two attempts were not short of failures, we still supported and loved them anyway. Now they are getting it. This film was phenomenal in so many indescribable ways. They finally put in more from the other vampires and some of their back stories. They finally gave us an Alice who loves to party and plan and yet who has a mysterious edge to her. They finally gave us action and power that we knew should have been there all along. And Kristen Stewart finally quit biting her lip and acting so unsure of her role, of what strength and love Bella really had.

While the very makeup of a movie dictates that it cannot be completely the same as a novel, and while this one did have its inconsistencies as all novel adoptions into movies do, it was so much closer to what we needed. What we as fans wanted.

In short: this is film was amazing. And I can't help but feel, as a potential creator, dwarfed by this epic story of real people who just happen to not exist.

The bar has been set and it is very high.