Yesterday being our anniversary, we wanted to watch a “romantic” movie, and I was just hoping for something that wouldn’t make me lose my lunch. So, we had Netflix send us Before Sunrise, a movie by interesting director Richard Linklater. It got consistently good marks from many movie critics, including many whom I hold in high esteem such as Roger Ebert. Unfortunately, I can’t echo their raves. First and foremost, the movie was just plain boring. I don’t have a problem with slow movies, or even movies with very little dialogue. This movie is neither slow, nor lacking in dialog — it’s just dull. The film consists entirely of a series of long conversations between an American man (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman (Julie Delpy) who meet on a train to Vienna. Hawke and Delpy both turn in fantastic performances with the material given, but it’s the material that drags this film down. Ultimately this film consists of two disaffected twentysomethings trying to impress each other by shamelessly bloviating on an endless stream of pseudo-intellectual topics. They touch to the depths of their painfully shallow souls the nature of reincarnation, relationships, the battles between men and women…pretty much the same drivel you’ll find discussed over lattes wherever bored, overintellectualized youth hang out. I get enough of that overhearing their conversations in real life — I don’t need to sit through two hours of it in a movie.

Went to Logos last night to catch the Crosstown Shootout and knock back a few beers. We were meeting some friends who live up north of town, so it seemed like a good spot to meet about halfway. Having never been there, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but it always shows up somewhere in the “Best Sport Bars” lists that crop up on the internet. It’s a little hard to find at night as the sign isn’t particularly well lit, but after slamming on the brakes and swerving into the parking lot, we were there.

Walking in the door, I turned the corner and looked in on a rectangular bar flanked with 3 giant projection screens and TV’s everywhere. Heaven. We sat in a small area adjacent to the bar filled with a dozen or so comfortable booths and began to peruse the menu. The table tent on our table advertised a Sam Adams draft special: 22oz for $2.25. I figured you can’t beat that with a stick, so I ordered one up. The 22oz beers come in tall, frosty glasses — the next best thing to a tall, frosty mug. Since we’d eaten dinner earlier in the evening, we decided to try a few appetizers. From the menu, we ordered the nachos and chicken wings. The nachos came out mounded up on a giant platter topped with ground beef, cheese, jalapenos, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, chili, and black olives. And yes, they tasted as good as they sound. The wings were moderately sized, which pleases me. I think giant wings mess up the meat/bone/crispy skin ratio. These were fried until crispy and tossed in a traditional buffalo wing sauce, just the way they should be. Looking over the rest of the menu, they seem to have a wide selection of typical bar food type sandwiches at extremely reasonable prices, and a happy hour featuring half price appetizers and 30 cent wings.

Service was attentive, if occasionally a little slow. But considering that it was a big sports night and the place was hopping, I’d have to call the service quite good. Overall, this is my kind of place — a small neighborhood sports bar with good, cheap food and a friendly crowd of regulars. We’ll definitely be back.

Logos Sports Bar & Grill
8954 Blue Ash Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45242