Italian Hoagies - Best in the South of Pittsburgh

Whether you call it a sub, hero, hoagie… it all means the same. A delicious sandwich on a long bun filled with meats, cheese, veggies …. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold.

I am a food person, I take pictures of food. I’m weird like that.

I decided since I love Italian Hoagies to embark on a test of who makes the best and who are my favorites.

Now I excluded the local legends like Triangle Bar and Primanti Brothers (Over rated) and I picked the subs I felt were my favorite and took nicely dissected photos s you can get a deep view.

Disclaimer: I live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, so these places are to the south of the city. Some of the restaurants I tried and while good, were not in my top list. Trust me I have tried almost every hoagie in this area.

You may disagree, but if you haven’t tried these places, it’s a must. Perhaps the photos will temp you.

Honorable Mention – Jersey Mike’s

I know it’s unfair they’re a chain, but no food in the world smells better or leaves a great scent in your car. Packed with meats and veggies, they’re made fresh on spot. They aren’t hot, but I am waiting for the day when I can get the Italian cooked like they make the  Cheesesteak.

6 – Loose Moose – Baldwin

This sub packs a bang for your buck. A  super-size sub, heavy on veggies and not thick with meat, but it’s a deal at 13.00. And it’s pretty tasty.

5 – Toss

I love this little sub. The bun is NEVER over done, it has just the right amount of meat veggie balance. Just an amazing little sandwich that is never bad and always good.

4 – Danny’s

I would have ranked them higher but the bun is never consistent. Sometimes it’s too crunchy. But the hoagie is outstanding.  And the dressing .,... excellent.

3 – Donte’s (Brownsville Road)

Look, if you want a good sandwich at a great price, go for lunch. Half hoagie, fries and beverage all for 7.99. I love this place and the people that work there. You know when you eat this sandwich it’s made by people who enjoy making the food. The owners are also awesome.

2 – The Trolley Stop

Oh my God, I have loved this hoagie from the first bite in 2001. And you know what? It hasn’t changed. It is consistently always the same. They have this mayo dressing they put on. Get an extra, you’ll want to dip. The bun is never over done and it’s priced right.

My favorite …..

1 – Nick’s Pizza (Castle Shannon)

The genoa salami pops in your mouth. That makes this hoagie so grand. I was eating one of these hoagies 30 years ago when I went into labor with my twins, but damn it I was gonna finish it. For a span of a few years, when Nick the owner sold this place, the hoagies kind of lost their luster, but they are back. The bun is seasoned and the balance of veggies and meat is perfect. 

Those are my favorites, I’d love to hear about yours.

I think I'll do an egg roll challenge next.

Writers Series One: In Perspective

I’m an author of many books. I do what I love and love what I do and get to do it for a living. Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that I would be paying my bills with my imagination. Now, granted some months are more fruitful than others. Some months it’s bountiful and others dying lemons. But you take the good with the bad. That’s a blog for another day. Today, I write about perspective.

Not perspective as in storytelling, but rather perspective in writing. Nanowrimo has come to a close, the month is up. If you don’t know what that is, it is a yearly challenge to write a novel in 30 days. Or 50k words. I have done this challenge every year since 2004 and hit the mark every year. My best was nine days and my worst time was three minutes to midnight. In my defense, that was a hard year all the way around. I had just gone through a brutal divorce, was raising my infant grandson, working at a nursing home while living in a slanted four room crappy apartment. Writing is/was my escape, and that year was tough to escape anything.

But I finished Nanowrimo and that was the year that taught me that Nanowrimo is my writer’s reset. Some view it as so much of a challenge that they fail to enjoy how charged the creative process can be. When in fact, it gets your writing. It doesn’t matter if you finish, as long as you write. As writers we get into these ‘slumps’, not writer’s block, but rather the drive to write escapes us from daily dribble, to holidays, good times and bad. We pause a day and it turns into a week.

Nanowrimo, at least for me, resets me. It focuses me on one story, one thing and that is the book I am writing. It keeps me so focused, I don’t check my books and ranks on Amazon. I don’t get caught up in what other authors are doing on FB that annoy me (Another blog in the series). It puts everything back in perspective when it comes to writing.

It reminds me that writing is what I do. And I am much more productive when I focus on that.

Me, Shawn, and the County PD

 Let me start by saying that I rent a county house. Or rather a county park house. A home located smack dab in the middle of a public county park. I hate telling people I rent a county house because they think it’s subsidized housing or HUD. It’s not. It’s super hard to get a Park house with the county. They are basic homes, simple but expensive. You pay for the land. I basically live in the forest.

Anyhow, one of the perks of living in a county park house is it’s like living in the world’s smallest tourist town. Scores of people come through every day, strangers that litter, act like idiots, yet those of us that live in the ten houses know each other.

We are in a borough, but we aren’t part of that township. We are our own entity. Down to paying utilities to the park. We have our own police force. The  .. county police are our jurisdiction. You get to know them, they know you, they watch you and keep an eye out for your home. I love it.

I love the country police.

I can’t speak for anywhere else, but I can say our Allegheny County South Park police … rock. They are so patient, kind, and no matter what you ask them, they never make you feel like a bother. I bring them cookies. They’re laid back. And most are pretty hot.

They know me. They know I am a filmmaker and writer, that I’m always filming.

And recently I learned they realized how strange I was.

I stopped by the station to ask a question. Again, I wasn’t made to feel like a bother.

The officer said, “You live in the M house, right? You’re the filmmaker.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied.

“We’ve been there a few times.”

“Hmm.”

Won’t get into that.

“You’re the house with the basement,” he said.

“Yes, I have a basement.”

“No … the basement.” Then this handsome, strapping young fellow said, “Did I ever tell you about the time I had to go into your house?”

I was baffled and asked what he meant.

And apparently so was the young trainee officer with him. He was curious as well.

The officer explained that about a year earlier, he was doing his patrol, rode by, saw no cars in the driveway and the front door wide open.

Stop.

I learned that they ride by the house a lot, watch it, make sure all is fine. I think that’s cool. Then again, my house is the only house in that area and about a quarter mile from the station.

He continued, “Yeah, the door was open. I was worried someone had broken in. I went inside. It was clear, but then I went into the basement. It nearly killed me.”

Wait. What? Now, it’s a basement. It’s not dark. It’s well lit, and while my son treats the one corner like his own private storage unit, the rest is pretty clean. Did he go into the secret room (Yes, I have one) and discover my bar?

“Go on,” I said, apprehensively. Waiting for him to say I lived haphazardly. I didn’t expect what I heard.

“I go down the stairs, right?” he said. “Turn the corner, step down and … my heart sunk. I thought, oh my god, this is it. I immediately thought I would never see my kids again.”

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah, because as soon as I stepped into the basement, all I saw was this big guy with long hair, looking like he had a gun. I thought, I’m dead. I don’t even have my weapon pulled. This guy is gonna shoot me.”

At that second I squealed and stifled my laugh. “Oh my God.”

“Dude,’ the young trainee said. “Who was it? What happened?”

The officer replied, “I realized after I freaked out for a second, it was a life size cardboard cut out. She had cardboard cut outs in her basement.”

“Yeah, that was Shawn Michaels the wrestler,” I explained in a rambling manner. “In his hot days. Not that he’s not hot now, but then wow. I love him. He’s my Hal Slagel.”

“Who?” the officer asked.

“Never mind.”

The picture with his post is of the cardboard cut out he saw.

I got a good chuckle out of it, and so did he. He said he never told that story to anyone else but said I was welcome to share it. I’m glad he did and glad he didn’t shoot my life size Shawn Michael’s cardboard cut out.

It was also a good thing it wasn’t a couple years back when I not only had Shawn, but Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Will Smith and Will Farrell’s Alf all down there. Poor officer would have thought he was gonna get ambushed by a weird basement party.

It was fun story. I appreciate the officers in our park. They’re the best.

The Post 48HFP Funky Blog

I’m in a funk, and as a writer the best way for me to get over it is to write it out. So here I am. It’s been a while since I stepped on a ranting soapbox, so here I go.

Maybe I’m in a horrible place because I still am not recovered from lack of sleep, or the fact that my right shoulder is in so much pain from being in one position for eight hours while I removed multitudes of clicks, clips, and blips in an audio track. Maybe it’s a combination of everything.

Bottom line is … I failed. I failed as a writer, filmmaker and team leader. Most of all, I failed myself.

It was the second time in my decade and a half of 48 HFP that I woke up the next day asking myself, what was I thinking? I’ll tell you what it was. I was thinking of making my team happy. Trying to please everyone. Truth is you can’t please everyone especially when in a 48 hour film competition.

The last time it happened, our team was heckled and booed in shame. It was then, as well, I didn’t follow my gut.

We made the wrong film that year. We made the wrong film this weekend.

Period. Not that the film this year is bad, it’s not, it’s just not what it should be. And that’s disappointing.

Before ten pm I had written two comedic scripts. Neither idea was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. I understand they probably didn’t think the ideas were funny, but any filmmaker knows, funny doesn’t translate well on paper. It can’t show the shots, or expressions.

If I’m being honest I wasn’t thrilled about ANY idea I came up with, but I am blessed with a  knack that once on set I can make anything funny.

In previous years no one saw the script until I sent it out, nor did they know my ideas. I should have said what I have said in previous years, “This is what we are doing. I understand you don’t like it or feel it, but can you bring the performance, if not … I’ll get someone else.”

Instead, I wrote a third script. A serious theme. I know that’s what they wanted. But newsflash, I do comedy best. Funny books, funny movies. I don’t do serious well. Last year was a fluke.

The story I wrote was good, but it needed more time and attention than a 48 hour shoot can give.

Maybe I should have offered up those other two scripts to another team. They were done before I bet anyone else had written anything.

But okay, we’re doing 'serious'. Everyone was happy. That was sign one.

Sign two … we got a very late start because of traffic and the loud landscapers. It then took 35 minutes to set a camera (Wasn’t mine), and I couldn’t get the first shot I wanted because the area was too narrow for a tripod, actors, the camera man and boom person. The black magic was  far too heavy and big to be handheld.

Right there, when 90 minutes post start time had passed and I hadn’t called ‘action’, I should have scrapped it and did comedy.

Lighten the mood. But we trudged ahead. Each change of scene requiring yet another 35 minute delay to set the camera. Unknown to my team (Now they do) I timed it. Three hours and thirty-four minutes were spent adjusting camera settings.

Ya know … many make fun of my Canons G30s, both of which east cost me over 1200 brand new. But never once have they taken 35 minutes to set up, never once were they too big or heavy to get the craziest shot, and never once did they deliver a bad, blurry or dark shot. If the shot was bad it was on me.

This year though ….Although EVERYONE worked hard, if it hadn’t been for the superior performance of my cast, I probably wouldn’t have submitted the film.

It was plagued with eighty percent useless footage and audio that … hell, I don’t know what happened.

I blame myself for everything technical.

I should have taken the headphones and listened to the audio.  I should have trusted my eyes instead of the camera’s display, I should have double checked and triple checked the camera person after I yelled ‘action’. It’s not the cameraman or the audio person's fault. It was me.

I’m the team leader.

See, that’s issue with it.

A leader is supposed to consider what’s best to represent the team, not always what makes everyone happy.

If the president’s administration convinces to make a decision and it turns out great, then the entire administration is smiled upon. But if the decision turns out bad, everyone blames the president, because ultimately it’s his final decision.

Same goes with team film making.

If I relent to the wishes of a team member and it turns out good, then the team looks brilliant. If I relent and the project falls … no one remembers the team players, they look at the leader and say ‘what was she thinking’

And the cast and crew will watch it and be polite, then say, “well … maybe if this or that …”

Whatever.

Again, let me reiterate, the CAST saved the film. I can watch the film a hundred times, they can watch it a hundred times, it won’t make it any better.

They worked hard and they are given something far less than they expected.

And to be honest, I really don’t want to hear about the mistakes in the film. I wanted them to have something they could be proud of not embarrassed by.

I’m tired, I lost three days or writing and I am pissed at myself for not standing my ground and following my gut and doing what I as a filmmaker do best.

I don’t do this for awards, I do this to entertain. I don’t do this for others to acknowledge me as a filmmaker and say ‘wow, what a brilliant emotional film.’ I wanna hear, “Oh my god, I couldn’t stop laughing.’

That is an award to me and NEVER have I felt this way after turning in a funny movie, production mistakes or not.

Granted I will pick myself up and make another movie. A funny one. We will laugh during production and post. It may not look like Breathe did, but I can promise …. People will smile. They’ll laugh and in this day and age that is so important.

For now, I step off my soapbox, tuck away this year’s 48 as yet, another learning experience, I thought I was done having at this point in my career.

 

Racing with the 48 Hour Film Project

 

My fifteenth year.

This year will mark the Crystal anniversary of my participation in the 48 Hour Film Project. One would have thought I’d given up by now. I thought about it, but 48HFP is as much of a yearly addiction for me as pickle juice, bourbon and HoHos during the National Novel Writing Month.

I remember in 2018, a young cameraman posted he was looking for a team. After a lengthy FB message exchange over days (Him interviewing me BTW), and a few days of him ghosting me, he declined because he wanted to work with a serious team.

Wait. What?

Ironically that ended up being the year we lost all our footage and the 48 became the 24 when we had to do a second movie.

Anyhow … that exchange and, of course, coming up on a milestone, got me to thinking.

I took the 48 HFP very seriously, however, I realized, no one really took me seriously. At least it seemed that way to me.

Why?

Because for 11 out of fourteen years, we made the audience laugh. Then again, it could have something to do with the one year we tried to be serious and dropped the ball. We were literally booed, heckled and publicly humiliated on social media.

It was so bad, I thought of never doing 48 again. Even though the producer shut that sh*t down, the damage was done.

If that sort of behavior is that of ‘serious’ teams, well, then, I’d rather not be serious. That behavior isn’t what 48 is about.

It’s about making the impossible possible, and yes, at the expense of cutting corners.

My mindset has always been I was going to make a movie that people remembered and do something new. I never go into competition with the mindset I’m entering to win. Maybe that’s why I never won ‘Best Film’. But I have won because I finished the project every year.

I was late one time and it wasn’t because the film wasn’t finished, it was because I sat on the Liberty Bridge for 35 minutes because The Dark Knight Production shut it down. For the record, I refused to see that movie … ever. Yeah, I’m still bitter.

So on this eve of my fifteenth, which is just days away, I thought I’d reflect on  a few things and asked myself if I had to name the three biggest mistakes I have made, what would they be? I came up with these.

 

ONE - SKELETON IDEAS

Technically, thinking of things isn’t really rule-breaking, I mean, how do you stop the creative mind from blasting out an occasional, “Dude, if we pull this, we should do …’ But one of the things I have seen teams come up with a skeleton idea. That is an idea that can be molded in any genre and the character/prop/line can be dropped in. (BTW most of us can spot this within 45 seconds of your film) Anyhow in 2008, I was brought on as a writer for a team. The team wanted one writer … cool. But that wasn’t the case. They needed someone to pen the script.

They had multitudes of meetings beforehand to discuss "ideas", things that could fit multiple genres. When the time came, they told me what to write. I brought up the ethic of it, and they didn’t see it as cheating as long as the ‘script wasn’t written’. We didn’t win anything that year. It made sense to me. Anyhow, the problem with these type of ideas is you get so pigeon holed into doing it, you force it to work a genre and the other required elements. Plus, seriously, it really takes away from the fun and in my opinion … is cheating.

ONE B – SKELETON LOCATION

The same can be said for locations. Find several and don’t set your sights on one really cool location. You end up forcing the story to fit the location. The audience sees and feels that.

TOO AMBITIOUS

We all have visions of grandeur when it comes to our films. But when you only have a limited time, that can be a hinder. Look at your idea … is it ambitious. Will it take too much post production time and side work. One year I spent sixteen hours in post in one position doing special effects. We won special effects, but still …. Erg.

 There are some genres you don’t have a choice, like Musical and Science Fiction. They require those extra steps. But keep it simple and remember this advice, it was the best advice I have ever gotten, ‘Write for the shoot and shoot for the edit’.

LEARN YOUR STUFF

It took me until 2012 to learn this, but as a team leader there should be no aspect of filming you don’t know or can’t do. Writing, filming, editing, music … you, as a leader should be able to do any role required. Even if you don’t do it well, you need to know it.  You never know. The editor may walk out, your sound may be crappy and you don’t’ have countless hours trying to find the best royalty free music selection, because let’s face it … music sets the tone.

I learned this the hard way when I discovered our 2011 editor was editing for another team as well and did theirs first. Yes, he finished ours on time but it was unnerving and came down to the last minute. Never again, I said. Even if I had to use Windows Movie Maker, I’d make sure our film was done hours before drop off.

LASTLY … COMEDY

I know I said three, but this isn’t a mistake I made. It’s what I have done right. I have heard way too many people say, ‘Try not to do comedy’. So let me say this, there is nothing wrong with making a funny film. Again, I repeated. NOTHING WRONG WITH FUNNY. Despite what people say.

Comedy doesn’t win? Bull. Over half the winning films I have seen were comedies and did you know a 48HFP comedy won an award at CANNES in 2016. Not to mention, on set and in post you continuously laugh. I have never had a freak out moment or anxiety when filming comedy.

The ability to make people laugh takes as much talent, if not more, as it does to make them cry or think. It’s a craft and an art and to hear the audience laugh is an amazing reward.

After all these years, I learned … that people remember the things that made them laugh.

If you are participating this year, be safe, good luck … and most of all … have fun. It’s not about winning it’s about making a film.

In Search of Greg Kinnear

 

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking. “Stop with this strange behavior and write”

I will, I do, but first … Greg Kinnear.

He’s always been around. And no, for the record I didn’t just discover the works of actor Greg Kinnear. I remember seeing him in Dear God and thinking, ‘Wow, how awesome is this guy?’ Although I was a fan, I never really set out to conquer his catalog.

Until now.

Call it covid quarantine boredom or obsession, whatever the case I am finding myself watching his movies and only his movies. Well, that is until Kong vs Godzilla comes out.

Okay to be honest, I can’t blame it on my recent quarantine.

My obsession reignited when I saw him in the remake of The Stand. He played Glen Bateman and I have watched each episode three times. I loved the remake, I know I am the minority.

When it was over, I found myself needing to watch more Greg Kinnear. I know, that sounds weird, right? I never claimed to be normal.

Since my quest, I have rewatched, As Good as it Gets, Heaven is for Read (2x) and We Were Soldiers.

For the first time I watched, Stuck on You, Strange but True, Mystery Men, Last Song and  now my new and ABSOLUTE FAVORITE so far, Ghost Town. I’ll probably watch that again.

I know this blog seems weird and blogs serve like a diary, you can look back and see what you were doing or thinking at the time.

You’re probably asking, “why Greg Kinnear”. Well, he’s great but …. Look, if you’re like me and you want to watch something, you can spend as much time looking through Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc as you do watching the movie.

Picking one actor or actress narrows down your search. Try it, whether it be Greg Kinnear or someone else, you’ll spend a lot less time searching than before.

Off to decided which Kinnear movie to watch next.

The Midnight Sky - A Review and End explained (SPOILERS)

 

The bottom of this review contains spoilers and will be accurately marked so you can stop if you haven’t watched The Midnight Sky.

 

It took me two days to watch The Midnight Sky, not because I hated it but because I was watching it with my granddaughter and ten minutes in she said, “Okay, please, enough.”

The ease in which I switched the movie told me it didn’t have my interest either. Yet, I was determined to watch the newly acclaimed movie from Netflix. Directed by George Clooney.

The story was good, it was really good, but it could have been great. Maybe I’ll rewatch it.

The story focuses on two sets. One on the spaceship Aether, one on earth.

Clooney plays a scientist and he is believable. Unlike the movie Geo Storm where Gerard Butler played a scientist and that just pushed my suspension of belief way too far.

In The Midnight Sky an unknown cataclysmic has rendered earth uninhabitable. Clooney, a terminally ill man stays in the arctic where the air is still safe to warn in coming spacecraft not to land. Decades earlier his character discovered K-23 an earth like and possibly livable planet.

Story two is the Aether and the crew. They are returning from K-23, making their way home to deliver the good news. “Yay! We have a new place to colonize.” The crew is likeable and a great cast. The tone and look is a total contrast to earth. They have been gone two years and haven’t a clue what’s going on.

Clooney is trying to reach them unsuccessfully, he isn’t real diligent until he discovers a little girl was left behind when everyone left the arctic. He now has to trek hundreds of miles to a weather station where he knows the radio works.

As I mentioned the story itself is really good. It mixes flashbacks of Clooney’s character’s life, pretty early on letting us know he chooses career over love and at the end of the world regrets it. Maybe ….he doesn’t care about much, but now .. this girl gets to his heart.

There are tense, anxious action moments but the pacing is off because of bad editing.

One of the things that make a good film editor isn’t just the ability to cut scenes together flawlessly, or catch inconsistencies, it is the ability to know what can go and what must stay.

Just because you spent a ton on a set or it looks beautiful doesn’t mean it needs to be in there, especially if it creates a really long sequence and takes away from the tension. Many of beautiful scenes end on the cutting room floor or rather recycle bin. If it doesn’t move the story, take it out.

There’s a scene in particular, this is not spoilery, that they leave the ship to make a repair (You know like every other spaceship movie) that scene is like 8 minutes too long. It took away from the point. The runtime of TMS is two hours, I think it could have been tight at One hour forty.

It has the feel of ‘On the Beach’ only with some hope. I recommend it if you want a movie you can eat a meal while watching. This one affords the ability to glance down at your plate without missing anything.

 

Now … SPOILERS… ending explained.

 

Through the flashbacks, we learn that Clooney has a child with the woman he loved, a little girl he never acknowledged. He chooses a career over love and family and his regrets being alone manifest.

He regrets never meeting the daughter or helping her.

It was pretty obvious from the get go that the little girl, Iris, wasn’t real. That she was a figment of Clooney’s imagination. Certain scenes she isn’t there and not on camera while she should be. Where the filmmakers error is showing the little girls POV when they are outside of a plane crash. Iris is not real so how is she seeing anything. Clooney is inside the plane and has no way of ‘imagining’ what she is doing.

BUT ….weaved with the flashbacks, the second you know he has a daughter, you figure out this imaginary girl is the daughter he never acknowledged, so he is, in his own way being the guidance he never was.

However he actually is. For real.

Once they make it to the weather station he connects with the Aether and Sully (Female) communication specialist. He tells her and the crew about earth and how to solve their problem to get back to space and to K-23. He is their guidance.

She thanks him and when she finds out his name she praises him. Tells him how he was the reason she got into NASA, that her mother was his colleague. And that’s when we learn, her name is Iris and she is his daughter.

Clooney’s character realizes this and gets some resolution. He wasn’t helping the girl get to the weather station to warn Aether. He was getting to the weather station to warn his little girl.

I’m pretty good at picking things up and I did not pick up any clues. But looking back at the progression of Clooney’s story, it was all there. I’ll need to watch the spaceship scenes again to see if they hinted that Clooney was her father. They probably did, but unlike the long tedious outside the spaceship scene, it ended up cut.