Category: Tampa Bay

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

We enjoyed Hasan Minhaj’s new comedy show, The King’s Jester

Anitra and I caught Hasan Minhaj’s new show, The King’s Jester, last night at the Straz Center. Long story short: He’s still on top of his funny story-telling game, and still able to weave the hilarious, harrowing, and heartbreaking into a single, beautiful thread.

There were two shows in Tampa last night: one at 7:00 (the one we caught) and a second at 10:00. These were the second and third shows of the tour — the first one was on Friday in Miami — and it had all the energy of a brand new venture. There are still tickets for this afternoon’s show in Orlando at 5:30.

It may help if you know a little bit about the story  where he spoke at the Time 100 gala in 2019 about how he called out Jared Kushner to speak to his buddy Prince Mohammed bin Salman “MBS” Al Saud (the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, with whom Kushner chats via WhatsApp) to free Loujain al-Hathloul, an activist imprison for championing women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia:

If you want to find out how one joke got him into comedy — and how another almost got him out of it — you should catch this show. I don’t want to give away too much, but if you’re a fan of his Netflix show, Patriot Act, you’ll learn its secret origin in its show.

If you’re concerned about these shows being possible superspreader events, you may be pleased to know that:

  • You need proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to be admitted.
  • You need to wear a mask to attend the show (and no food or drink is allowed inside the auditorium.
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Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay deal of the day: “Limited edition” life-size Spider-Man statue ($1,500)

To help promote the DVD release of the 2002 Spider-Man film (the one with Tobey Maguire as the titular character), Blockbuster commissioned a few thousand “limited edition” life-size statues for their stores. You can find a number of these status on eBay and various online reseller forums, and one’s just popped up in the Tampa Bay Facebook Marketplace — it’s selling for $1,500.

Here’s the copy from the posting on Facebook Marketplace:

Life-size Spiderman statue, Blockbuster Limited addition with base. Only 3200 made!
Has some damage to one foot and a few scrapes but other wise good condition.

Here’s a close-up of that foot damage:

Aside from that, it’s got the wear and tear you’d expect from a display at a once-busy store and twenty years’ passage of time.

As with any “collectible”, it has “certificates of authenticity” — they’re on the statue’s base:

Interested? Contact the seller on their Facebook Marketplace listing!

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Anitra and I read “Where the WIld Things Are” on “Storytime with Daniel Tiger”

Tap to view at full size.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, Anitra and I spent part of one Sunday morning at the Glazer Children’s Museum (where Anitra is on the board) recording a reading of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story Where the Wild Things Are to Daniel Tiger of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood fame, who now has his own show, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

The video’s ready now, and you can either watch it on the Storytime with Daniel Tiger section of the museum’s site, or check it out below. Enjoy!

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Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Deal of the Day

Tap to view the Gucci-ness at full size.

If you’re really insecure and think that having a “Gucci” console table in your living room will improve your life — or maybe you’re filming an indie remake of Scarface, in which case this is the perfect prop for Tony Montana’s office — you might be interested in this $55 console table that’s on sale right now at Tampa Furniture Outlet at Busch and 50th.

For more details, check out this Facebook Marketplace listing.

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Food It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Great Moroccan food at Le Casa Bistro

Frites, chicken tagine, bread, and lamb tagine.
Our meal at Le Casa Bistro, minus the appetizer. Tap to view at full size.

Last Friday, before going to the Tampa Theatre to see the film about Anthony Bourdain, Roadrunner, Anitra and I decided to do what Bourdain encouraged: We went to a newly-opened restaurant to try some food that we normally don’t get to eat. We went to Le Casa Bistro, located half a block away from the theatre at the corner of Franklin and Polk streets.

Chicken tagine
Chicken tagine. Tap to view at full size.

Le Casa’s specialty is Moroccan cuisine, and they have a very nice selection of tagines (pronounced “ta-ZHEEN”), which are slow-cooked stews that get their name from the traditional ceramic or clay dish in which they’re cooked. You typically serve them from the tagine they’re cooked in.

We started with zalouk, a cooked eggplant and tomato salad served with points of pita, which was an excellent appetizer. For our mains, we shared the chicken tagine, which is garnished with preserved lemons and olives, and the lamb tagine, whose garnish was hard-boiled eggs and prunes. These are rich, saucy dishes, and we scooped up the sauce with the frites and bread that they provided along with our dishes.

Lamb tagine
Lamb tagine. Tap to view at full size.

The service was incredibly friendly and helpful — one of the owners even came out to chat with us. We’re definitely coming back then next time we catch a film at the Tampa Theatre, a show at the Straz, or an event at one of the nearby museums.

We need to check it out on a Thursday, when they’ve got a live DJ and belly dancing, which should be pretty interesting.

Le Casa Bistro is located in the Element Tampa building at 802 N. Franklin St., at the corner of Franklin and Polk. Go check it out before everyone else “discovers” it!

In case you’re wondering: The folks at Le Casa Bistro have no idea who I am and most certainly didn’t pay for an endorsement. I’m just a fan who wants to see them stick around.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Reading a children’s book to Daniel Tiger

Even though the Glazer Children’s Museum isn’t open on Sunday morning (it opens at noon), I was there with Anitra this morning to record a video where we read Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are…

…to this young gentleman: Daniel Tiger…

star of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which is based on the Neighborhood of Make-Believe from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Anitra’s on the Museum’s board, which is how we got the opportunity to sit with Daniel and read a book to him. The video of us reading Where the Wild Things Are will eventually end up under “Storytime with Daniel Tiger” in the GCM @ Home section of the Glazer Children’s Museum site. Here’s an example of one of these storytimes:

I’ll let you know when our video gets posted!

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Tampa Bay The Current Situation

In case you hadn’t heard…

Congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on their second Stanley Cup win in a row!

Between making it to the World Series, winning the Super Bowl and back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, our teams have earned the area the title of “Champa Bay”. 

I’ll close this post with my favorite meme from the playoffs. Congrats to Andrei Vasilevskiy on winning the Conn Smythe Trophy!