Monday, July 30, 2012

A Gold Medal Blog, Featuring Pinball Wizardry & Hairy Bodyshots

Here's what I've done since this past Monday. There have been some out of the ordinary things that I've been a part of. On the 23rd I ended up not doing much besides watching some TV in the evening. I actually saw the 1000th episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, a show that's been on for almost 20 years now. It was mainly a nostalgia thing and it was nice to see some old faces. However, the show overall wasn't so great; then again, it in general hasn't been so great in YEARS, which is why I haven't regularly watched it in so long. I actually caught the replay at midnight the show Perception. It was more straight-forward but still wacky. It was 80's-themed and a plot point revolved around Tears For Fears. Awesome!

Tuesday, I had a real RACHAELAPALOOZA. I discovered the night before that amongst 4 different channels amongst the Showtime, The Movie Channel, and Encore channels things were timed almost perfectly to where I could watch FOUR Rachael Leigh Cook films in a row for 6 plus hours. I was able to, so I watched all four in a row. Even for me, that was epic and it took some effort to complete the task. Remember, I had been in a movie theatre for over 9 hours watching those Batman films just 5 days previous. Still, at least I had a good time while watching those films... and no, not in a perverted way.

Wednesday, I had free time so I went down to Kissimmee to visit a MovieStop I hadn't visited before. I was there for awhile until I made some purchases. I then went to that Wawa convenience store and this time I had dinner. I got a 6 incher (oh wait that sounds bad... I got a 6 inch hoagie); you order via a touch-screen and in a few minutes you pick up the sandwich. It reminds me of the similar Sheetz, which I had dinner at back in '09 when I went up to the Midwest/Canada. I ate at one in Alliance, Ohio and I thought it was pretty cool. Oh, if only they had Sheetz down here... not to mention the excellent Tim Horton's, which I ate at as often as I could when I was in Ontario and then Michigan. Really, I'd love to go back to Toronto and Ontario and just spend some days vacationing there. One of these days...

As for the traffic all this week... pretty wretched, even for Florida. So much idiocy, so much rudeness, so much ignorance... for example, on this day I was on the Turnpike going to Kissimmee, and out of nowhere a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee blew by me in a really reckless manner. I mean, I wasn't going at the speed limit but this guy had to be going at least 100! And, he was weaving in and out of traffic in such a reckless manner I thought he was going to tip over or crash in some manner. It was that dangerous. I thought about speeding up to try and get his license plate number and call him in, but I did not want to drive like he was driving, and plus I was hoping someone else would do it for me. Jiminy Christmas, though, I've seen the dirt worst in driving this week.

Thursday, all I did was go to Walmart to pick up a few items so let me skip ahead to Friday. In the evening I saw part of the Olympics opening ceremony, and while I did not have the volume up for it (I was doing other things), I imagine even if I did I would have no clue as to what in the hell was going on! It seemed like I needed to be high on drugs to understand any of it. I then took off for... Mako's! This time I would spend the usual amount of time there. There wasn't too much to say about my time there aside from the usual... you know, attractive women all around, dancing on the stage (although this time part of the mirror that makes up the wall of that stage was cracked, and it was repaired with tape; I can only imagine what epic thing caused it to crack), wacky contests, and all that.

There was also dancing on the bar and the two poles that are on the bar; there was nice dancing in particular from a young lady who appeared to be Filipino. She also participated in a hairy bodyshot with a dude celebrating his birthday. There were a few birthdays going on but this guy (usually referred to as Sparky) stood out, including having that Filipino girl do a bodyshot off of his body. Turns out, he was a hairy man, and the MC made many jokes about that. He even referenced the movie Ted; I'll go with that even though I haven't seen the movie and I never will, given the person behind it is behind one of the worst TV shows of all time (Family Guy). Oh, and I should mention that a popular trend there is for the MC to refer to a guy who appears to be unmanly as Twilight; works for me!

Sunday was boring so the rest of this will be devoted to Saturday. On that day I went to Gamewarp, a convention located in a convention center in a random hotel on International Drive; sure, I try to usually avoid I-Drive as if it has an STD, but it was worth it on this day. Gamewarp is a deal (the second annual this year; I just heard about it earlier in the summer) where you play one flat fee and you get a wristband, and after that you get to play as much old/newish arcade games and pinball tables as you want. There was a large variety and while it was busy there I still was able to play most of what I wanted to play. The arcade games included Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition and Tekken 5. The pinball tables include the '89 Batman, Last Action Hero, Lethal Weapon 3, Jurassic Park, a table based on The Who musical Tommy, and a wacky giant table known as Hercules, where the ball isn't the usual little steel one but rather a big ping pong-like ball but even bigger. That one isn't too good except for the novelty.

While I was there I met up with the hosts of a pair of podcasts (look up BMFcast and No Quarters podcast on Google); they live a few hours away and I've written comments on their sites and even sent in e-mails in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect from those gentlemen but they proved to be rather friendly; I even went out to dinner with them. It was the local Chili's but it was within walking distance of Gamewarp so that was why it was chosen. I do appreciate their kindness and overall I had a real good time there. Next year I am going to go there for more than one day; I imagine the other days won't be as busy.

I am already pretty sure that when I post my next blog a week from today, that one won't be as exciting as this one. The upcoming week is looking to be rather boring; however, I know I'll stumble into a few things to write about.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Batman, Wawa, Tomaters, & In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Here is a recap of what I've done since I last posted my blog on Monday. I'll explain at the end why I am posting this a little later than usual. After I posted the last blog I went to the Sweetbay supermarket to pick up a few items. That went fine, although I did slightly get rained on as I packed everything into the vehicle, and even in that short journey I experienced some idiotic traffic on the highway, and I can't really blame it on the rain as if I was Milli Vanilli.

However, I can blame it on the rain a la Milli Vanilli for the traffic I experienced on Tuesday, when I went back to Sand Lake Road and I was able to do what I wanted to do this past Friday, which was to visit Pinkberry and then Barnes & Noble to look in their DVD section. I did end up getting some items for cheap from B&N and then at Pinkberry I got some peanut butter and some chocolate items were included; it was pretty damn good as you'd imagine. The traffic there and back, though... highly terrible. As I've said probably 100 plus times by now, typical Florida drivers plus rain equals a lot of problems. They just cant handle that darn “sky water”... what rampant stupidity I had to deal with and I will leave it at that.

As an aside, this past Saturday when I was out and about I saw TWO Ferrari's. The first one was in my town of Clermont when I was at a light and saw someone pass by driving a silver Ferrari convertible. I believe it was an F430. The other was as I left Mako's. There was in valet parking a red Ferrari I believe was an F458. Both cars looked really nice. Also as an aside, the show Perception this past Monday, still rather entertaining. Rachael Leigh Cook did not do any giant leaps this time which made me sad but oh well.

Wednesday I decided to chill at home as Thursday would be such a busy day. Thursday, I was planning on going to a gas station/store that just opened in Orlando the day before, the Northeast staple known as Wawa. Then, I'd head to Altamonte Springs in order to watch on an IMAX screen (even if it was a faux-IMAX screen that is noticeably smaller than the original IMAX screens out there) Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and then debuting at midnight The Dark Knight Rises. The Wawa trip went fine, stupid traffic aside. It was jam-packed there so I definitely was not going to try and get any of their hoagies, which is a big draw. Instead I got a fountain drink (I was able to make a Cherry Pepsi with added vanilla; good stuff).

I spent some time in the Altamonte Mall and had dinner there before heading on over next door to the AMC Theatre and their IMAX screen to watch all three movies. I still strongly dislike Batman Begins for a variety of reasons and don't quite understand why so many love it. However, The Dark Knight is great entertainment even if it's dopey and doesn't make much sense at times. As for The Dark Knight Rises, it was similar to Begins in a variety of ways and that did not make me happy. There are some cool moments, sure, but also some ones that I did not care too much for. It's not awful but I still felt a little let down by it, as pretty cool as Bane turned out to be. I thought it did not need to be 164 minutes either.

As for my time there, sure it was a long 9 hours spent mainly in one big auditorium but it was for the most part fine. That was pretty full and as I got out and walked around in the breaks they had between the movies I saw there was an epic amount of people there lined up waiting to see the new one at 12:01 AM; I presume they had to use many of their screens to accommodate everyone. Yep, there was some cosplaying going on with people dressed up as various characters from the Batman comics. The only incident of note is that during The Dark Knight someone got escorted out by a cop (!) I have no idea why but various people applauded when this happened so he must have been a major pain in the ass somehow.

As for what happened in Aurora Colorado I feel awful about it, as I do when anything like this happens. I mean, last month there was a shooting in a Toronto mall and that was “yikes' as I remember passing by it while walking around when I was there back in '09. So far it seems like aside from the awful people acting awful about this (making jokes about the situation and even praising the shooter) people in general seemingly haven't overreacted to this-at least yet-and the movie studios have been reacting level-headed concerning this too.

Saturday, the evening was spent watching the UFC, first on Facebook and FX then the actual pay per view. A lot of what happened before the pay per view was a lot of fun. Aside from the first bout on the pay per view (where the fighters were wacky, and not just because they came out to the original version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and then the original Rockin' Robin), the rest of the fights were either disappointing or downright poor. I tell you, some of those fights were pretty bad. Talk about ending on a sour note. At least my time at Buffalo Wild Wings was fine and not too eventful. The cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon was nice!

Sunday, it was a day I stayed in. I was fine with that as early this morning I had to go drop off someone I know real early in the morning at a local airport. I drove back, relaxed for a bit, and then went on over to the small sleepy town of Webster; for the first time ever I visited their huge flea market, which is only open on Mondays from the crack of dawn until the early afternoon. I walked around and the only items I ended up getting were food-related; not a big shock to me. I got some boiled peanuts but I actually picked up some healthy food too. I got some green grapes and some bananas (b-a-n-a-n-a-s) for cheap. Also, I got to hear a good old boy look at some tomatoes and ask, “How much are yer tomaters?” It's true. I am not making fun of him for being a redneck; for all I know he's a fine dude. I just laughed at his vernacular, and sometimes Florida does remind me of a 5 minute comedy bit from Jeff Foxworthy or Larry The Cable Guy.

I'll be back same bat locations, same bat day.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Josie Pussycat, & The Final Countdown

Here's what I've done in the past week. It featured various things that I did expect, and some I did not.

Monday the 9th was rather dull. I did not do too much, but at 10 PM I did something I rarely have done in the past 10 years or so... watch a fictional TV show. Honest, it's been that long. If I watch something on TV it's pretty much non-fiction. However, I decided to check out the program known as Perception. Sure, part of it ^may^ have to do with it starring Rachael Leigh Cook but the point is, I saw this show about how a college professor who has schizophrenia (played by Will from another show I never watched, Will & Grace; what I saw of it... no) and solves crimes with his FBI agent pal (Cook); it's wacky but still entertaining.

I mean, the highlight wasn't even a random minor character-a college girl-taking off her shirt and getting to see a busty broad in her bra, but rather Rachael (her character's name is Kate Moretti but to steal a phrase from a forum, her character name should be Special Agent Josie Pussycat) catching a fat bad guy by jumping off the second story fire escape and flying like she was Superfly Jimmy Snuka and landing right on him; his blubber must have been great padding as she was 100 percent after that 20 some odd foot leap. I laughed uproariously. What a tremendous show. Speaking of tremendous, before I saw that show for the first time I saw the movie Josie & The Pussycats for the first time. Wow. What a wacky and strange film that is rather loud and garish, bright and colorful that is actually a satire that rips such things as consumerism, subliminal messages and how manufactured pop music is. I loved it! And no not just because the three leads are hot and play hot rocker girls. It's usually pretty funny.

Tuesday, me and someone I know went to Denny's; it was close by and we wanted to check out their limited edition menu where they offer up some items from across America; it's what they did last year too. The service wasn't the best but hey the food was good so that got a thumbs up from me.

Wednesday I went to Barnes & Noble to look for some items. I did make a purchase there and unfortunately as I was about to check out, a stream of nincompoops came streaming in and they overwhelmed the poor cashier with their stupidity; after they cleared out, I was finally able to cash out and I went to World Market as I hadn't been there in so long. I got some obscure sodas and I found the elusive aussie-style green apple licorice I mentioned a few weeks ago. That was a pleasant surprise.

Thursday was dull so I'll mention one quick thing: in the newest edition of the most interesting spam e-mail I've gotten as of late, I got one entitled: “Be In Full Control Of Ejaculation” and all it said in the body was, “all the chicks will be lining up to lie with you!” I know, gross. Then, another day I got one with the subject line, “So hard you can break an egg”. I have a pretty good idea what that was referring to so I did not need to read said e-mail.

Friday... I don't believe in such things as curses or jinxes or any of that nonsense but if you do, you could say that Friday the 13th ended up biting me in the ass. I was going to go out and about in the evening, but first I would stop at Pinkberry and then at the nearby Barnes & Noble before heading on over there. Problem is, while I was driving to Pinkberry... the right front headlight burned out! In September of '08 the left one did that, and then just in May the left one did it again; I was NOT happy about the situation... still, I got what I wanted from Pinkberry, which was once again their strawberry flavor, which was at least tasty and made me not as upset with the whole situation. Of course, there was some horrendous traffic on the way there and back, but I'll spare you those details.

Saturday... that was a big day. I got the headlight fixed, and I also got the car serviced at the same time, as it was overdue for that. I went back home for a bit before driving to Sanford. There was a wrestling show in the city but I mainly went there to see someone who would also be there, and for a good reason. I don't know how much that person wants me to say about the situation but it would be the last time I would be seeing them for awhile. No, it's not a lady friend. Rather, it was a guy who I've known for quite awhile and I wasn't going to miss that moment. It turns out, a wrestler and a ring announcer are also moving away soon; I hear that all of them are moving for pretty good and logical reasons; still, it makes me feel melancholy. Still, I am sure all will end up being fine. I certainly know what it's like to move away. It's sad but eventually you'll get used to your new surroundings.

Before the show, I ended up eating at a place just for its food... Hooters! Oh, and the girls there weren't too bad either. I sat at the bar, had my almost usual of a burger and fries and also a hard cider. The lady working the bar, let's just say she was qualified to be an employee at that joint. She even admitted the obvious to another customer, that her assets were enhanced.

The show itself was quite entertaining. It's been too long since I've even been at a wrestling show. There was some quality action on display. Some things left me puzzled and I think something went wrong with a new commissioner made his debut and he did something to rebuff one of the most hated heels in the company and for some reason the heel gets cheered and I doubt that was the plan... still, it was great to see some people for the last time in who knows how long. By the way, the theme music of one of the wrestlers on this night was The Final Countdown. Other wrestlers have used it and it's always awesome, as it is an all-time great song, even if it's in a cheesetastic sense.

To make me feel not as sad about things, I ended up at good old Mako's. I did not spend as much time there as usual but it was still a good time. I'll try to make it back there sometime later in the month where I can spend a little more time. It was largely the same old same old there, which is a good thing. Drunk women shaking their T&A all about, wacky games being played, beer bongs being used, spankings with paddles, and other surprises I probably shouldn't give away like this.

There isn't too much to say aside from the usual taking place, although it seemed like one of the ladies there changed since the last time I saw her. I mean, a physical change; maybe she had a chest cold or something as she looked congested... anyway, it was amusing to watch the drunk people act all wacky, and I shouldn't have laughed but I did when I saw some rather heavyset people attempt to bump and grind on each other. They were all hot and sweaty and yeah, what a look. For some reason, while walking there I noticed that some people were dressed up in wacky outfits. I have no explanation as to why. I presume that is why I saw a cute young lady wear a Navy-inspired outfit of a black and white dress striped dress and the appropriate hat. That dame had a boyfriend so it was not like I was able to compliment her on her cool duds.

Sunday, I stayed at home and relaxed. As for this upcoming week, I already have a few things lined up; Thursday is going to be a LONG day as I'll be seeing all three Batman movies that Chris Nolan has done, including the debut Dark Knight Rises, on an IMAX screen. That should hopefully be good. Then, Saturday night I'll be watching a UFC pay per view at a local watering hole. So I know I'll have a good amount to write about for a week from today.

Monday, July 9, 2012

The 4th of July, Lewd Spam E-Mail, & MMA Disappointment

Here's what I've done for the first week of July. Monday, I decided to get a haircut, as I needed one. There was zero wait for me to get one, which is even shorter than it usually is at what is almost always a pretty quiet place. Speaking of that, I stepped in and heard a bunch of yelling children and then saw them and to be honest I wasn't thrilled. Thankfully they all left soon after the haircut started and it otherwise went by with nary a problem.

Tuesday, I had free time so in the afternoon I went to the local Best Buy to pick up some DVD's and that's what I indeed did. I could have done without the bratty kids and the loathsome adults who treated the normal-acting kids there like crap but I won't rant about that. I am just happy I found what I wanted. One of the items I got was something that finally came to DVD after way too long of a wait... No Holds Barred! Yes, the old Hulk Hogan movie from 1989. Earlier in the year I saw it via unethical ways and it was my first viewing in 20 years. The movie is pretty terrible but it's still entertaining.

Wednesday through Friday were rather dull. Not much to say there. I laid low and was cool. I mean, I stayed inside so that I could stay cool. It was hot down here; not quite as bad as what most of the country got but still unpleasant. I didn't even do anything on th 4th of July. I had an All-American dinner of my “almost always” of a burger and fries but I did not go out anywhere to see any fireworks. It makes me look like a cranky old man but I didn't feel like doing it. Hey, I saw fireworks after that baseball game last month so that was good-enough for me.

Here's another case of me finding some spam e-mail, and this time it was rather lewd. It was from a sender known as Penis Growth Promo! Tremendous. I'll also mention that when I was out and about, I experienced some wretched traffic. I won't go into specifics but I saw bad driving, reckless driving, people going way too fast... it was quite frustrating. Another one I got had the all-time great subject line of “Humungous Bouncing Boobies”, which I am a fan of...

Saturday, that's where the excitement happened. I was busy for much of the day. First, I went up to the AMC Theatres at the Altamonte Mall; this was to pick up tickets for the Dark Knight trilogy; yeah, the night The Dark Knight Rises comes out they are showing the first two Nolan Batman movies on the big screen and I'll check it out. I think that Batman Begins is crap (loathsome characters and 75% of the dialogue seems like it's just EPIC PROCLAMATIONS; annoying) while The Dark Knight was awesome, at least at the time but I hope it holds up. I have no idea how Dark Knight Rises will be but I have reservations as to how good it will be.

After that I went to the flea market in Sanford; I've been there a few times before and it's a giant place where you can find a lot of items. It is roofed but open-air; despite fans all over you can guess what it was like to walk around on a hot day. I was sweating like I was James Best in Rolling Thunder.. or to use an example more will known, like Al Pacino on the bus in the opening minutes of Scarface. The main reason to go there was to get a new Playstation 2 controller as I've only had one the entire time I've had a PS2, which was 7 ½ years now and it finally got wonky as of late. I did find one and I got some other items which aren't worth mentioning.

I returned back and I chilled at home and then I got ready and I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings to partake in the huge UFC show that was shown on pay per view. I had real high expectations for it as the main event was something almost two years in the making and the rest of the card looked promising. It ended up being pretty busy there, no surprise. Of course, there were some real loathsome and aggravating loudmouths who I wanted to throw my Pabst Blue Ribbon beer on in order to get them to shut up. Then there was the show itself. What a disaster. Between the 11 fights spread out on Facebook, FX and then the pay per view, the first six went to decision and by and large they were boring decisions, there were bizarre quick finishes, one fighter acted like a real a-hole after his fight... and then there was what happened in the main event. I won't spoil it in case anyone is reading this and hasn't seen the fight yet but will soon; I was unhappy with how some things went down and how things happened when they shouldn't have been allowed... it left a bad taste in my mouth even if the last 3 fights were at least entertaining. I probably stormed out of there power-walking as if I was Mr. McMahon! I was not happy with how it turned out.

I got back home and made myself a mixed drink. It must have been too powerful as I did not stay up for too long after that. I then woke up pretty early (for me) and I did not feel good for part of today. I'll spare you the gory details but this wasn't the best Sunday for me. I did eventually feel well-enough to go out and about and I used one of two coupons I got from someone to go to Planet Smoothie and get something for my poor throat, and it did the job... as much of a double entendre as it sounds.

I'll be back a week from today. Jack Crap is on the schedule so far but I'll stumble into some sort of adventure, I am sure.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Robotic Lumberjacks, Debby Does Florida, & Jay Leno Taking Drugs

Unfortunately this is going to be another short blog. I decided to be boring this past week as I know the upcoming week is going to be good stuff, with a giant UFC pay per view on Saturday, among other things.

Here's what I've done since last Monday. On the 25th, I was watching a program on Spike TV known as World's Wildest Police Videos. It was a late 90's show on Fox and reruns have been shown for years on a variety of networks. This summer it returned and that made me happy as the show is wildly entertaining. In an episode they showed on this night, a thief was shown trying to break through glass with a small axe, and the awesome narrator used the phrase “robotic lumberjack”, and that made me laugh and laugh.

In terms of the weather, Monday it was windy and rainy and Tuesday it was mainly windy; thankfully on Wednesday the weather returned to normal and it's been fine since then. Debby Does Florida! And yes, I have actually seen Debby Does Dallas; don't worry, I won't continue discussing my viewing of 70's porn, except that I've seen some others...

Tuesday, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items. It was as exciting as it sounds. Wednesday, I went with someone to dinner out on the town... OK so it was the local Outback in Clermont, but we hadn't been there in awhile. The food ended up being fine but the service wasn't too great; it took forever for it to come out and that was upsetting. We sat in the bar area so the sports channels were on and that provided entertainment; however, I could have done without the loud oafs who were around.

Thursday, I went to Winter Garden Village. I browsed around Barnes & Noble for a bit then I walked on over to the nearby Planet Smoothie to try the second flavor of their limited edition three lemonade flavors. It was good stuff. Later in the month I'll have the third flavor.

Friday, I was boring so I'll mention that on Saturday I went to get gas and I washed the old Mazda in their car wash. Then I went to Target to pick up a birthday card for someone. And Sunday was pretty dull, although someone in my close family had a birthday so I got a card from them. I thought that was a better use of my time than going to some wrestling shows that were in the Tampa area and probably were pretty good but these days, I don't really care about wrestling like I used to back in the day; it's me, not them! There are other things for me to worry about in my life, you know. At least I saved gas money and as the Mazda has over 85,000 miles on it, not using it too often isn't the worst idea. It's amazing that this week FIVE years ago I got that vehicle. It totally does not seem like it was that long ago.

Yeah, that's about it! I apologize for being so damn boring. Like I said, the next blog I do should be more entertaining. Today is the last day I'll be using Netflix for awhile; I enjoyed it the free month I had in May and the paid month in June as I've seen a variety of obscure movies and also started watching some films from the babe known as Rachael Leigh Cook. And yes I do know that a week from today she's going to be in a new TNT show known as Perception and I will be checking her... I mean that out.

Oh, and in terms of interesting spam e-mail, as of late I've gotten a few from an account known as “Fucbook” and just last night I got one with quite the unique title: “Jay Leno found taking drugs”! Jay Leno? Did they literally pick his name out of a hat?