Ben Rector "Songs That Duke Wrote"

Chances are if you are reading this, you're already one of Ben Rector's biggest fans or his fiance... So since you've already heard of Ben and probably know all the details about him, we really just wanted to say on the record that we think his new album is lovely. Wonderful. Tasteful. To Die For. Basically, we can't get enough of Ben Rector's "Songs That Duke Wrote." Do we have our favorites? You might ask.... We do indeed.

Rebekah's Top 3: Early Morning Riser, The Kill, and Thank God I Miss You
Lucas' Top 3: Need you Tonight, When She Comes Around, Untitled

Ben, keep doing whatever you are doing to produce those adorable love songs with that sultry pop voice of yours. Keep turning every musical note you touch into gold. -Lucas

We also would love to make a shout out to our most avid blog supporter, Hillary Swanton, who just happens to also be the future Mrs. Rector. We think you are really really great.

Little Bread Company (aka. Block St. Bakery)

First of all, let us start by putting your mind at ease and saying that it isn't closed, this is just the only picture we could find... Block street, which is right off Dickson, has a quaint bakery/restaurant called the Little Bread Company. The atmosphere is very layed back, trendy and comfortable. Definitely a fun place to just go sit and talk or get a quick bite to eat. If you happen to stop in early in the day, you might be lucky enough to encounter some of Fayetteville's most hippie, granola, and just generally awesome residents. Block Street Bakery, as it is also known, has tons of charm and character. After several visits, we've come to the conclusion that their breakfast and dinner (which is a brand new addition!) are fantastic, while the lunch menu is a little lacking. An employee said of their new dinner menu, "We've got the best pizza this side of the Mississippi."Lucas, while he can't vouch for the surrounding area, agrees that it is possibly the best pizza in Fayetteville. He recommends the Hawaiian pizza. Rebekah also agrees that the pizza is delicious, plus, you can buy it by the slice, which always makes life easier. Her favorite part of the entire restaurant, however, is the outside patio and courtyard.
We give the Little Bread Company:
10 for atmosphere
8 for food quality
9 for food presentation
8 for cleanliness

Favorite Music of the Summer

Lucas' Top 5 Albums of the Summer:

1. Coldplay- Death and All His Friends

2. Adele- 19

3. Band of Horses- Cease to Begin

4. Milosh- iii (stolen... comes out in October)

5. M83- Saturdays= Youth

Rebekah's Top 5

1. Band of Horses- Cease to Begin                             

2. Sleeping At Last- Keep No Score

3. Kate Nash- Made of Bricks

4. Mates of State- Re-Arrange Us

5. Adele-19

Our Favorite Album Soon to Come:

BEN RECTOR'S DUAL EPs.

 

RIP Mordours

Due to our terrible review, Mordours is no longer in business. We will miss only your boxes. 

Sincerely, Your Critics. 

Son of Rambow

British kids. 80's. Enough said. 

 This is one of those movies you can watch all the time, no matter your mood or the company you're with. It will make you laugh a lot and leave you feeling good about life and friendships. In this movie, the school bully manipulates the imaginative, sheltered, quaker kid into becoming his film-making accomplice/stunt man. However, their partnership quickly becomes a friendship that is impossible not to love. At times these friends feel like throwing in the towel but fate and destiny always seem to bring them back together. All we're trying to say is that this movie is on the top of our list. We LOVED it and we want all of you avid blog readers to love it too.  5 stars. Yes, 5 (it's a first for us).  

P.S. When we say it is an 80's movie, we don't mean that it was made in the 80's, we mean that the movie takes place in the 80's (big difference). 

Mordours Pizza

Oh goodness. There is much to be said about Mordours, but sadly not a lot of positives... in a word: Awkward. Let's start with the location. I'm sure (if you live in Fayetteville), you've driven past the classy establishment called Seductions... what the H. If you don't live in Fayetteville, Seductions is a trashy lingerie store that, when driven passed, results in some sort of comment or joke. So since it gets noticed by us, we also happened to notice the awkward pizza place sharing the same building. And that's how Mordours made its grand entrance into our lives. We decided (mostly with lots of laughing) to go try it out the other night... this is what happened. We walked in (as we passed a group heading into the lingerie store and Lucas' eyes were locked on the ground) a little confused, managed to find a worker and order a pizza. Then we were given our luke-warm canned beverages and found a table (which was tough...). Immediately after seating ourselves, we noticed that NO ONE was talking. There were 3 other parties there and 2 workers and complete silence. Awkward. So we continued to whisper and snicker until our pizza came. We would LOVE to tell you that Mordours is the best kept pizza secret in Fayetteville (we really were rooting for the under dog), but sadly this is not the case. It was just mediocre and since the restaurant didn't have any other redeeming qualities... it lost. There's really not much else to be said except to throw in the incredible entertainment we found in the random, solo boy sitting behind us, playing his gameboy and bobbing his head profusely to the music the whole time we were there. Awesome. And... AWKWARD.

Ok, it did have one redeeming quality-- the to-go boxes were "the bomb dot com" (from Lucas). But really they were the coolest.

Under The Same Moon

Hola, como estas? Mi llamo Lucas. Cuantos anios tienes? End of Lucas' spanish knowledge.

First of all, we want to give credit where credit is due and that is to Hillary Swanton and Ben Rector, who referred us to this fine film. However, they did fail to mention that it was not in English... small detail. We forgive them. Under the Same Moon is about a nine year old boy named Carlitos whose mom is living in the U.S. trying to gain citizenship so that he can come live with her. Carlitos lives with his grandmother (his only living relative in Mexico) and when she dies he decides to wait no longer and make the journey to America on his own. His journey is full of trials and hard times but Carlitos' love for his mother drives him to persevere. Carlitos' joy for life and love for the people he encounters is truly inspiring and will leave you teary eyed... well maybe. Rebekah cried 3 different times, Lucas failed to tear up once. Nonetheless, we thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone. 4 stars.

(Speed reading classes are recommended before hand! - Lucas)

(Don't let him deter you, you quickly forget about the subtitles! -Rebekah)

Mermaids "Diner Dash"

 If you've ever driven past Mermaids on College, you may have mistaken it for one of the many gentlemen's club lining that road, BUT let us be the ones to tell you, it is not. It's actually a pretty nice restaurant, though the walls are covered with a slightly terrifying mermaid mural. However, that's beside the point because our suggestion doesn't even require stepping inside the actual restaurant. Mermaids has a "To Go" place located around the corner from Blockbuster on College. It's on a side street and it's easy to miss, so keep your eyes peeled! It has a variety of individual dinner portions with microwave/oven instructions for a quick and easy (yet satisfying) dish. It's open until 7pm (at least on the day we went) and it's fairly inexpensive! Perfect for a fun dinner date at home without the hassle of cooking or going out. 

 Restaurant Atmosphere- non-existent

 Food Quality- 7 

 Food Presentation- 7

 Cleanliness- not applicable 

Click to see menu

For Your Consideration

From the director that brought you Best In Show and Waiting F0r Guffman comes another dry-humored hit. For Your Consideration is about the production of a low-budget film and its cast who catches wind of a possible Oscar nomination, throwing the cast into a frenzy. Similar to the ones before it, the mood has to be right in order to fully enjoy the humor of  this film (however, if you find yourself in that place, it's hilarious). This movie wasn't our favorite, but it's worth renting. 3 1/2 stars.

By the way, this entire review was typed by Lucas's left hand and Rebekah's right hand... it took a while, but was really amusing. 

Stardust

In this mythical tale, a young man goes on a daring adventure into another world to bring back a star for the woman he (thinks he) loves and instead finds true love along the way. This is a truly exciting and fun-filled story that will make you both gasp in surprise and burst out into laughter seconds later. There is a tad bit of dark scary magic, so if you rent this with small children, there may be tears and bad dreams. However, we both enjoyed it tremendously and found it to be a great date movie. We give it two thumbs up. (Sidenote: Robert Deniro's character is hilarious. -Rebekah)

Martian Child

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS! (Say it like a martian its a lot more fun -Lucas). In this heart-warming story, a Sci-fi writer and widower played by John Cusack decides to take a giant step and adopt a little boy... who thinks he's from Mars. With his weight-belt around his waist (to fight against gravity) and a constant layer of sunscreen on his face (to ward off the sun), this little Martian child will creep his way into your heart. It's a very family-friendly movie (it's rated PG), but just as enjoyable, if not more so, for the older crowd (because we are, of course, the older crowd...). Five stars, go rent it today.  

Soul

What is Soul, you're wondering. Soul is a restaurant located at the intersection of Joyce and Crossover, next to Tropical Smoothie. This up-scale restaurant has a really fun, nice atmosphere. With candlelight and classy, yet trendy decor, you'll lose yourself in conversation. Needless to say, it's a GREAT date place (if you just got payed -Lucas). 

Cleanliness- 10

Food Quality- 8

Food Presentation- 9

Restaurant Atmosphere- 10

Service- 9

Sweet Land

Sweet Land is the tale of a young mail-order bride from Germany coming to America to meet her husband. However, because her arrival takes place right after WWI, the community is opposed to their union. If you're in the mood for a thriller, definitely not the movie for you. BUT this movie has a really cute, slow-building relationship and you get a glimpse of early 20th century America. We give it 3 stars (that's out of 5, by the way). 

Cafe Rue Orleans

If you begin to salivate at the thought of signature cajun dishes, then you are in luck, because Cafe Rue Orleans does it right! (By the way, we've never been to New Orleans... but it seemed legit)

The atmosphere is great-- quiet, good jazz music in the background, and it's got a fun lofty feeling as it overlooks College Ave. Good date place.  

  

   Cleanliness- 8

   Food Quality- 7

   Food Presentation- 8

   Restaurant Atmosphere- 7