Review Round-Up

First of all, a hearty congrats to Nikolay Davydenko on winning the Sony Ericsson Open today and beating Andy Roddick and Rafa Nadal along the way (sorry, Lady Lorelei).

Okay so, I've been accumulating several reviews that I've been wanting to share with y'all, and I thought I'd just put them in one post:

1) First and foremost, I'd like to introduce you to TWIST water, a new all natural flavored water with only 10 calories per serving and no preservatives. As you may know, my tennis nickname is "Twisty", so of course, I really dig the name of this product. But in addition to the cute name and company motto ("As in life, chill for best results."), I really like the variety of exotic flavors that this water comes in (mango acai, pomegranate blueberry, and mandarin white tea to name a few). All of my friends who have tried TWIST agree that the subtle flavors are delicious and refreshing. My favorite flavor BY FAR is the organic West Indies Lime, and although I wish it didn't have the 2 grams of sugar (aka organic agave nectar) per serving in it, I'm seriously on the hunt for more of it (maybe 'cause it reminds me of a healthy water version of a Cuba Libre?). TWIST is sold at select Ralphs and Whole Foods, so keep your eye out for it. I recommend it, and YES, it's LADY HOOLIGAN APPROVED!

2) Last week, Bill and I finally got back to our movie-going and saw STOP-LOSS (starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Overall, it was a decent flick. THE PROS: (obviously) the eye-candy, Ryan and Joseph's impressive performances, fellow tennis playa Timothy Olyphant is in it, and the general awareness-raising on the horrendous stop-loss policy of the U.S. military. THE CONS: not understanding Abbie's Texan accent, some music-video-style direction (well, it's a MTV Films co-production after all), some general cheeziness and (for me, not Bill) not enough perspective on the Middle-Eastern view on the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

3) Recently, some folks from work and I had lunch at a cute and casual sidewalk cafe called PRANA (located on the corner La Cienega and Melrose Place, adjacent to its sister restaurant/club, Republic). It's open for breakfast and lunch, and the food is delicious. In addition to yummy soups and paninis, they have Cap'n Crunch coated deep-fried brioche french toast! I really recommend this place because the food is so much better and about the same price than most of those crowded and somewhat overrated cafes on 3rd Street (e.g. TOAST).

4) Finally, back on the movie tip (yes, I still use 90's hip-hop lingo), Bill, Lady Stacy and I saw LEATHERHEADS today. As you may know, I'm a big John Krasinski (from "The Office") fan. So, I only wanted to see this because of him, and Bill and Lady Stacy both dig George Clooney. But, although it was lovely to see John Krasinki smiling on the big screen, I thought the movie was kind of boring, hokey and slightly lame. So, if you want to see it at all, perhaps just rent it?