Wolf Man, Heart Eyes, Pepsi Wild Cherry and Cream, Dr. Pepper Blackberry & Black Swamp Raspberry Cheesecake

There hasn't been too much going on with me these past few weeks. No new restaurants; instead, I revisited some old ones for the first time in awhile, like McAlister's Deli, Guy Fieri's chicken restaurant or Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant at Universal's CityWalk one night-I hadn't been to CityWalk in months and it was largely the same as last time. I've had some new re-hydration drinks (I never discuss them here but sometimes I sample new ones) like Suerox and Body Armor Flash I.V. As the next time I'll be writing one of these I will have turned FORTY FOUR (!) it's never a bad idea to take better care of my body.

I can say that Pepsi's Wild Cherry and Cream is good, as are Dr. Pepper's Blackberry version. Both are limited edition offerings. Randomly I discovered that Mountain Dew is going to discontinue a few flavors (Major Melon, Spark and Frost Bite. There's also no more Voo Doo flavors for Halloween) but there will be new ones... I've heard a melon flavor from Canada and another will be Dragon Fruit.

Mainly due to its name and label (which featured pink alligators) several days ago from Publix I picked up a limited edition ice cream known as Black Swamp Raspberry Cheesecake. It features “Mackinac chocolatey graham crust and raspberry filled chocolatey cups.” It's a lot... but it's also quite good.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that there was the wild moment where there was no Internet or television in my neighborhood for almost 24 hours... because something overloaded and caused an explosion! It knocked out power to some places, although thankfully not where I live. Just two days ago, the Internet (but not the television) went out for a further nine hours. I was still a little salty about that.

Two theatrical movies were viewed in the past several weeks. Wolf Man got a rather frosty reception. People didn't like that it was a different take on werewolf lore. Me, I thought it was fine; while flawed (and rather dark visually, although that's most modern movies, sadly) it wasn't as horrible as many seemed to think the movie was. In fact, Wolf Man was good to me; I was even fine w/ the design of the title creature.

Heart Eyes was earlier in the week. I was hoping for a fun modern version of a slasher. Instead, the movie was more like a bad parody of a romantic comedy which happened to be in the world of a slasher. Most of the “humor” did not work for me whatsoever and it was full of annoying characters. A shame, as the two lead actors weren't the problem and there were good gory moments... at least what I could see. Once again, it was a too-dark film. Others do like it at least a little more than me, so your mileage may vary.

I'll return sometime in early March, most likely. There will be a few things I know will be discussed.

Se7en, Toyota Century, Crepes, Steve McQueen & David Lynch

Here is the recap of what I’ve done from Wednesday through today. Wednesday, I saw Se7en on an IMAX screen; it was the last showing of the 1995 movie. Believe it or not, before Wednesday I had only seen a few minutes of the film. I don’t love David Fincher movies like most everyone else does. Turns out, Se7en is very good, some nitpicks aside. For those that haven’t seen the movie themselves, the famous (well, now infamous) actor who portrayed the villain was a surprise to me. Business picked up once he appeared and the final 10 to 15 minutes were tremendous.

Thursday, I went to the Mecum auto auction in Kissimmee, as I’ve done for years now. Over 3,000 vehicles are available for sale and the auction now occurs for almost two weeks; it ends on Sunday. It’s always nice to walk around and look at a wide variety of cars… everything from the only-in-Japan Toyota Century (basically, their attempt at a Rolls-Royce, made for businessmen… and probably Yakuza heads too, to be honest) to the race car that Steve McQueen drove in the 1971 movie Le Mans which until now was owned by Jerry Seinfeld for more than 20 years. After I left there, time was spent at a surprisingly busy Disney Springs before heading back home.

Unfortunately… when I was at Mecum I purchased crepes and a Pepsi from a stand and well—my stomach eventually felt bad and you don’t want to know the details! Today I’m exhausted but otherwise feel alright. Don’t ever eat the crepes when you’re there! Also, right after eating the food, Twitter was loaded and the David Lynch news was seen. I haven’t seen Twin Peaks (the show or the movie) and the newest feature film I’ve viewed was 1997’s Lost Highway. His version of Dune had its issues but it wasn’t his fault; otherwise, I rate highly all those odd to bizarre films… even Eraserhead, which at least I can rationalize. It’s a testament to him that he became beloved for making bizarre, surreal, dreamlike film and I’m glad that in recent years I took the chance to see more from him than just Blue Velvet. RIP to him.

I’ll return… well, it should be sometime in February.

Nosferatu, 7 Up Shirley Temple, Ace Hardware, Mission BBQ & Saucy by KFC

For my first post in 2025, there isn't too much to share, although... I somehow neglected to mention a detail from that ill-fated flight from Wichita back to Orlando last month. I wasn't the person in the worst shape who boarded the flight. There was a slight delay, because a woman who boarded had some sort of medical emergency. She never lost consciousness but she then her family left the flight as she was taken via ambulance to the nearest hospital; I had a window seat so there was a view of her on the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance. Hopefully she was fine; all I can say for certain is that I've been fine health-wise the past month.

Another point I neglected to mention: while in Wichita, one night carryout food was picked up from the Bella Luna Cafe. They had good sandwiches, or as some would call them, “sammies.” I don't, as will be explained later.

Christmas was spent w/ family. The last week of 2024, I helped out more than one person w/ a task, which I was happy to do. To be vague, one afternoon a trip to the local Ace Hardware was needed for double-sided tape. It was my first time at that location. Hilariously, that store and a few others is owned by someone w/ the surname TOOLE. A job he was destined to have!

Otherwise, not too much to mention. Late November when I was in the Fort Myers region, I purchased the Shirley Temple variant of 7 Up at a store. I did not know at the time that it'd be impossible to find near me. It's good but not so spectacular that I'll be up in arms about the matter. One night, me and two others went to the local Mission BBQ spot in town, which just opened recently. As it was my first Mission experience period, it was a relief that the food was good. Oh, and last week I went to Epcot for the afternoon. The hope was that crowds would be down as it was chilly-by Florida standards; wrong. It was still nice to walk about.

I did revisit the Lazy Dog Restaurant in Kissimmee for the first time in like two years for a late lunch. Otherwise, Saucy by KFC is the only new place to mention. It's a new concept from the chain, and it's the first location full-stop; all I knew beforehand was that it was going for “the youth market”, which I am clearly not a part of. Once I got there and saw on the touch-screen menu that they called chicken tenders “tendies” and sandwiches “sammies”... I felt like barfing like on the plane last month! The food itself was good-the peach mango lemonade a highlight-but the easiest description for the place: a ripoff of Raising Cane's. No, really. As the place is almost an hour's drive from me (actual Cane's is closer, along with other chicken joints I like), who knows if a second trip will ever be made.

Finally, the one theatrical experience I had. In the past, the 1922 silent Nosferatu and the 1979 European Nosferatu was tackled. Both were at least very good so the new film was viewed. I was also a fan, although I understand why more than a few in the general public weren't as enthusiastic. It's overtly sexual, after all. However, it was a Gothic horror good time.

I'll return—tomorrow! Yesterday and today have been eventful so might as well post something about it tomorrow evening, right?

Gladiator II, Scheels, Kobe’s Steakhouse, Public at the Brickyard & Regurgitation

My apologies for not doing one of these in almost two months. There have been ups and downs since the last time, and not too much has been done. I’ll wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or at least a Happy Holidays) and I will return in a few weeks to discuss the last week of 2024 and the start of 2025.

The biggest event was my return to Kansas for a few days to see one of my sisters & her family. As always, that went fine and it was nice seeing my nephews. Their two cats did provide entertainment just by their being cats. One for certain liked me—twice, she laid down by me on the couch for the purposes of a nap. An afternoon was devoted to lunch at a nice watering hole in Wichita (Public at the Brickyard) which was festively decorated for the holidays, then a place I’d been to before-Nifty’s Nut House-was visited. Another afternoon, the local mall was visited. They had a Scheels, a store I knew of but had never visited; think of Dick’s Sporting Goods & Bass Pro Shops combined, w/ two bowling lanes. It was quite the establishment.

My last night there, Kobe’s Steakhouse was the big meal of the evening. I’d never had a problem there, but given what happened on my flight back, it had to be the source of my food poisoning! The morning I flew back, my stomach was upset even before a quick breakfast at my sister’s house. It escalated at the airport right before boarding began. In short, I felt awful and right as the plane was about to take off… I barfed into the barf bag! In total, puking happened three times (one in the lavatory) and I felt bad for everyone on board. I’ll give credit for Nina the flight attendant and especially Josh-the poor soul who sat right by me-for going above & beyond while I was down & out. As I also fell ill while flying back last December…

Other than that, not too much to write about. I did not attend the annual car show at the Orange County Convention Center for the simple reason that only a few manufacturers were there yet the prices were raised. It’d be a total waste of time & money, so why bother? Thanksgiving was spent (as it has the past several years) in the Fort Myers region. That went swell. One evening I saw Gladiator II; in what’s an unfortunate modern trend, the sequel was in essence a worse version of the first film. II wasn’t horrible but of course the original was far better. Another evening, the Longhorn Steakhouse that’s been open in town the past three months was finally visited.

Another time, dad & me visited my aunt in The Villages and ate at a restaurant. Otherwise, not too much to discuss. Everyone in my family is doing well. While it doesn’t feel exactly like Christmas this year for some reason, I’m still doing alright and more stories will be shared next time.

TRON Lightcycle/Run, Here, The Sunny Pint & Artman County Smokehouse

Here's a bit of a smaller update as I had the time/inclination to write one today. Florida traffic is still as bad as ever but otherwise can't complain about things as of late. One afternoon I picked up someone from the Orlando Sanford Airport and one afternoon had lunch w/ some family members at a hole in the wall BBQ place around The Villages called Artman County Smokehouse; they do serve good food. Another afternoon I was up in Wildwood on my own and ate at another local establishment called The Sunny Pint—they serve decent food.

The highlight was visiting the Magic Kingdom the Monday before Halloween & FINALLY riding TRON Lightcycle/Run, a year and a half after the ride opened. It's not necessary that you've ever seen TRON: Legacy before experiencing the ride. Just note that it has a cool blue aesthetic and cool electronic music (those were the highlights in Legacy; it far surpassed the story, characters, and the de-aging CG at the time that they used to make 2010 Jeff Bridges look like 1982 Jeff Bridges) and you ride stomach-down on unique ride vehicles. Yeah, it's not the longest ride-the most common criticism-but the same can be said about the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Epcot and both are a lot of fun. Due to the ride vehicles, they actually have lockers that you can access w/ your pass or MagicBand to put your items in beforehand. Sadly, it may be a long while before I'm able to get on Tiana's Bayou Adventure but I won't worry about that now. It wasn't that busy at the Magic Kingdom so TRON was ridden twice and it was in fact neat to visit & ride the Haunted Mansion right before Halloween.

One film was seen theatrically. The night of the election-I voted in the afternoon-it was best to go out and not even think of the ballot results as the most important one wouldn't be determined for hours. Thus, Here, the newest movie from Robert Zemeckis. Of course, I have fond memories of his Back to the Future and has some other fine movies but I know his output as of late hasn't been so hot. As I saw only one trailer for it and it is flopping at the box office, a plot explanation is likely needed. It has the wild gimmick of leaving a camera fixed in place the entire time (until literally the final minutes) as a patch of land is looked at through history... mainly since 1900 and mainly focused on the family of Tom Hanks and his wife Robin Wright. They were both de-aged as that technology has improved in the past 15 years so it didn't look quite as phony to see them as they looked in the 1980's. They still sounded like their old selves but that piece of technology to fix this logic flaw apparently isn't around yet.

While it's not without its flaws, it's a nice movie and unlike most modern films, it is not sarcastic or cynical-which is appreciated by me. A shame that the critical opinion is even worse than that of the public opinion. It even addresses the disappointments in life (including death) which probably isn't a shock for a movie made by a senior citizen. Regardless, I don't think it's as bad as you may have heard... if you heard anything at all.

I may not return until sometime in December. At least I know of a few things to write about then—not just my Thanksgiving plans.

Hurricane Milton, Megalopolis, Miz Kathi's Cotillion Southern Cafe & Mr. McMahon

I'm happy to have created that bit of alliteration. The most important topic to mention is how I survived Hurricane Milton. Indeed it was a worse than usual storm and the brunt of it wasn't even experienced in Clermont. I know various people in & around Tampa, where they did receive the brunt of Milton. Tropicana Field's roof was literally shredded apart and some I knew didn't have power for a few days. Minor damage experienced where I was was indeed that, minor. What luck on my part that nothing major has ever happened from hurricanes to me in the 20 (!) years I've been down here... and more than once, the eye of the storm passed over. It was a relief to survive Milton relatively unscathed. Who knows when or even if the Tampa Bay Rays will return to Tropicana Field next season but that's minor in the grand scheme of things.

By the way, those that listen to esoteric podcasts... if anyone listens to Between the Sheets (an inside look at pro wrestling history) and heard my name... yes, it was me who requested on Patreon them covering a week in 2007. That will drop sometime tomorrow. No, I'm not on the show itself!

Only one film was seen theatrically by me in the past several weeks: Megalopolis. I haven't seen much Francis Ford Coppola since his 70's heyday, but as he (mostly) fell off badly after Apocalypse Now that's probably for the best. I HATED Megalopolis. The story itself was ridiculous; the execution of it is best described as “arthouse, avant-garde nonsense” and I rarely am down for such antics. It was just baffling and was not an enjoyable experience.

Otherwise, the past few weeks have been relatively quiet. When the food trucks were in downtown Clermont on the 4^th, a trip was made down there & among other delicacies, a warm soft Amish pretzel was had; now that was divine. I also saw the 6 part Mr. McMahon documentary on Netflix. As someone who follows such things quite closely despite not watching the modern product (especially the WWE) in YEARS, of course I know or would have heard what was half-truths, mostly right, downright fabrications, etc. It's naturally more for the casuals although it was nice to hear Vince McMahon (figuratively) expose himself w/ his own words and make himself look like a total weirdo. The rare footage/photos was also a plus.

To end this on a positive note, one late afternoon/evening was spent w/ family. Dinner was had at Miz Kathi's Cotillion Southern Cafe, a small quaint place in Wildwood full of charm. They are most famed for their pastries but just from their dinner I know it's a great place I'd be happy to visit in the future. I'll do another one of these sometime in November.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Oreo, Southeastern Fire Football & Primark

Now I am finally caught up to the randomness of my life and what I've done as of late. Recently, I viewed Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. In fact, the original was viewed by me both as an adult and a kid; it's always remained enjoyable. The entire era where Tim Burton has made bad movies-it's entirely been avoided by me, as hearsay was enough for me to stay away. There was skepticism as to if the sequel would be like most of the bad, needless, creatively lazy sequels/reboots/whatever of recent years. Of course the original is better but Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice was still pretty good. While not all the humor hit nor were all the weird new ideas successful, some of them did work and it was REALLY appreciated by me that the movie wasn't full of fan-service, fell into the modern tropes or had the title character act politically correct. Instead, it felt in the spirit of the OG property and thank goodness it wasn't “safe.” Even the musical choices I approved of-it was different from the Harry Belafonte heard in 1988. By the way, the limited edition Haunted Apple from Fanta—it has a mixed reception yet the flavor is good to me.

As a random aside, the new Oreo flavor for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was tried. The regular Zero Sugar was never tried before, mind you... nor will I ever try that! There are good reasons why I don't drink diet or zero sugar sodas—the taste is like sewer water, to borrow a phrase. Sorry, even w/ the taste of Oreo, it was not a taste preferable to me.

Recently I drove to the Florida Mall where the new Primark store was visited. I have it on good authority that their location at the Sawgrass Mills Mall near Miami is huge & has a great selection. The Orlando location of this famous Irish chain is small, has a bad layout and the selection was rather poor. What a massive disappointment. Otherwise, no new places have been visited as of late that weren't mentioned recently. This includes restaurants... although for the first time in at least 15 years, I ate at the California Pizza Kitchen restaurant at the Mall at Millenia. They've been open as long as I can remember and their food is fine, so might as well go there, right? The quality of their food hasn't changed, thankfully.

A few days ago, I went to the AMC at Disney Springs to see The Killer's Game, a film starring Dave Bautista, some other people from Marvel movies, various B-movie actors and even Ben Kingsley. It was Great Value Guy Ritchie, Tarantino and John Wick stuck in a blender; nothing more needs to be said about it.

Finally, I'll mention that last Saturday I went to Lakeland to see an NAIA football team play—the Southeastern Fire. I've been there before to see games as they have a nice stadium which is great compared to some other teams on the same or similar level who typically play in random municipal stadiums. Albeit, those previous two games were in 2015 (against a college which would soon then close its doors) and 2018, so my return was long-overdue. This time it was against Reinhardt, located north of Atlanta. It was a muggy night and during the game, there were flashes of lightning in the distance. Suddenly those came closer... yes, there was a delay, which ended up lasting two hours. No, I did not stick around to the end. The delay began late in the 3^rd quarter w/ Southeastern leading 21-10. Plus, the heavens opened up and it started pouring; waiting around in the car for an indeterminate amount of time wasn't going to happen. I saw enough where it was a satisfying experience at the stadium. There have been changes in college football in recent years—to an old goat like me, most aren't for the better but plenty can argue about that. While this also applies to NAIA football it's not to the same degree so I can view those games without feeling conflicted.

On the way back I did stop at a Harvey's Supermarket; they are owned by Winn-Dixie so the products are the same. As I left, a couple best described as “derelict” were arguing w/ each other to an uncomfortable degree. They were ignored the best that I could and thank heavens they paid no heed to me.

My return will be sometime in October.