This week wasn't so exciting but that is alright by me. Monday, I was out and about in the evening doing “things” (and I'll leave it at that); I ended up returning to the Chicago-themed bar and restaurant known as the Friendly Confines to see the Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles. I expected the Bears to lose and guess what, they once again looked piss-poor as they lost. Several players also suffered serious injuries so I was glad I had beer along with my late dinner. I have a feeling wins will be pretty rare for Chicago this season.
Tuesday, I decided to go to a restaurant I had been to before but it was in other states, including way back when there used to be one in Rockford and also in Wichita, Kansas. I went to Cheddar's (the one in Kissimmee) and I wish the experience could have been better. The person who waited on me was just not good at their job. My simple order somehow got screwed up (looking at the bill, it wasn't the kitchen's fault) and she did plenty of things wrong; despite the food still being edible, I think that if I go to the restaurant in the future, it'll be at one of the two other locations around Orlando. At least afterwards I returned to Disney Springs and went in a few stores. I noticed some new eateries are now open so real soon I need to try those out. The day wasn't a total loss, even if I had to deal with more than one incredibly rude person.
After that, the next few days I did nothing (aside from going to Walmart Thursday evening to get some miscellaneous items; that was an experience not out of the ordinary; Friday, I got tasty food from Culver's; I am glad there is one only a few miles from where I live. The pumpkin spice shake I got was a wise choice on my part) so onto Saturday. I could have done one of a few things. I had to do something in Orlando on Saturday morning. Not ideal but I had no choice in the matter. I decided to do something else after I completed my business since I was already in the city.
Recently I was at the AMC Theatres in Altamonte Springs and saw they were constructing a new auditorium but I was not sure of its purpose. Friday night I discovered it was for Dolby Cinema at AMC. Yep, it's another deal most of the chains are doing where they put in giant screens and have fancy sound systems and sometimes real nice seats in an attempt to get more money during a time where American box office is down... especially this year. All of them are nice, although they are not created equal. I heard great things about Dolby Cinema from others so this was something I was looking forward to and I was there the first day they had it open. As an aside, I am lucky in that I live in such a populated area (the central part of Florida) there are many different chains down here. By my count, through the years in Florida I've been between the chains and the independents, probably close to 20 different companies that show movies, and it's probably more than two dozen different theatres I've been at. I definitely appreciate the wide selection, even if there may be an oversaturation through central Florida.
As for the movie I saw, it was The Magnificent Seven remake. It's no 1960 movie by the same name, and it definitely isn't the Akira Kurosawa classic The Seven Samurai; yet, it was still enjoyable for what it was. Dolby Cinema is something worth paying a few bucks extra to enjoy. The sound and picture were great, and the rumbling seat gimmick is at least amusing. Sunday, I was saddened to hear that talented Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez and two other people passed way in a boating accident; he was only 24 and he could have been a star for many years in the future. Arnold Palmer dying was also sad, although that wasn't as unexpected. As the Bears played in the evening, I stayed at home and did nothing. Chicago lost to the Dallas Cowboys 31-17 in a game I won't say anything else about; it was not as close as the score would indicate. Like I said, wins will probably be rare for Chicago this season.
When I return on October 3, I do in fact have some ideas for what I'll be doing in the coming week.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
2001: A Space Odyssey, Blair Witch, ECTO COOLER & Dr. Loki Skylizard
It was in the past week that I heard from elsewhere that there's actually a doctor named Loki Skylizard; I used Google and not only was this true, the name came about because... he was 8 and HIS PARENTS ALLOWED HIM TO CHANGE HIS NAME TO WHATEVER HE WANTED. I swear this is true. Obviously, the smarts required to become a MD did not come from his parents... as for the reason why I have ECTO COOLER capitalized, I finally got to have the 2016 version of it. It was a long time coming. As a kid the Ecto Cooler juicebox was a frequent item in my lunchbox during elementary school, along with a sandwich and a light snack. I'll explain later how I finally was able to drink it again. I know there's controversy over if it was the exact same formula and taste as what it was back in the day (I have no idea; after all, I hadn't drank it in over 20 years). I can say that the 2016 version is good.
My Monday through Thursday wasn't too exciting. Aside from going with someone to a local restaurant in town known as Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill (I've mentioned it before; I just hadn't been there in at least a year) for a tasty meal, things have been quiet. Tuesday was the only real interesting day, and not just for when I was on the road and on a two lane highway someone saw me on a curve and yet pulled out right in front of me and then they actually creeped along real slowly. I thankfully only had to wait seconds to (legally) pass him and I let him know what I thought of his A-hole ways... and he got mad at me! He did not try chasing me (if he would have, he'd get a great look at my brake lights) but there wasn't even anyone behind me so he couldn't wait 5 seconds to go by him... thus, the gesture I gave that cretin was rightfully deserved. What was I going to say... oh yeah, I was on the road so I could return to Cinepolis, this time to see a classic film they were only showing once. I have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey before but the last viewing was years ago. I tell you, it's the sort of movie best experienced in a theatre. The soundtrack, the still great visuals, the scope of everything... it's an excellent motion picture, even if it's on the odd side. If only a larger crowd had shown up to a great opportunity such as this.
Friday, I went and saw Blair Witch. It shouldn't be a surprise to people that during high school, when The Blair Witch Project came out, I heard various comments about it, mainly from “haters”. They weren't any more clever than “The Blair Witch's your mom!” so it wasn't a big deal. Having watched BWP again a few months ago, I appreciate it more now than I did back then. To me it is amazing how it wasn't announced until relatively recently that the movie originally known as The Woods was actually Blair Witch. As an aside, never watch Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. That was a not so bad idea done poorly and the studio that produced it interfered way too much also.
As for Blair Witch, I went to the Cinemark in Lakeland to check it out. That Cinemark is real nice but I hadn't been there in almost a year; it was due to distance and also them being dumb and not having enough people around for concessions during the Back to the Future Marathon they had last October; somehow they must have though it would not be a popular event, when it actually was. Well, this time things were back to normal there. Plus, this was where I got the can of Ecto Cooler. I picked it up after the film. The movie itself.. when I left I was thinking it was fine and I thought the same when I had dinner at the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings, where I had boneless wings with the Music City Fire sauce. It's limited edition and for those that enjoy pretty hot sauces, I imagine you'll dig it. I thought it was good, although I usually stick with the more mild sauces. Anyway, when I got home I realized that Blair Witch was only about average; it has a lot of faults and dumb mistakes.
Saturday and Sunday, I actually stayed in and did nothing. It was fine with me. After all, on Friday I had another case where I had someone pull out right in front of me. Not going out and thus avoiding such things was A-OK with me. The Bears play tonight and also play this upcoming Sunday night so when I return next Monday, I'll be able to talk about two of their games.
My Monday through Thursday wasn't too exciting. Aside from going with someone to a local restaurant in town known as Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill (I've mentioned it before; I just hadn't been there in at least a year) for a tasty meal, things have been quiet. Tuesday was the only real interesting day, and not just for when I was on the road and on a two lane highway someone saw me on a curve and yet pulled out right in front of me and then they actually creeped along real slowly. I thankfully only had to wait seconds to (legally) pass him and I let him know what I thought of his A-hole ways... and he got mad at me! He did not try chasing me (if he would have, he'd get a great look at my brake lights) but there wasn't even anyone behind me so he couldn't wait 5 seconds to go by him... thus, the gesture I gave that cretin was rightfully deserved. What was I going to say... oh yeah, I was on the road so I could return to Cinepolis, this time to see a classic film they were only showing once. I have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey before but the last viewing was years ago. I tell you, it's the sort of movie best experienced in a theatre. The soundtrack, the still great visuals, the scope of everything... it's an excellent motion picture, even if it's on the odd side. If only a larger crowd had shown up to a great opportunity such as this.
Friday, I went and saw Blair Witch. It shouldn't be a surprise to people that during high school, when The Blair Witch Project came out, I heard various comments about it, mainly from “haters”. They weren't any more clever than “The Blair Witch's your mom!” so it wasn't a big deal. Having watched BWP again a few months ago, I appreciate it more now than I did back then. To me it is amazing how it wasn't announced until relatively recently that the movie originally known as The Woods was actually Blair Witch. As an aside, never watch Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. That was a not so bad idea done poorly and the studio that produced it interfered way too much also.
As for Blair Witch, I went to the Cinemark in Lakeland to check it out. That Cinemark is real nice but I hadn't been there in almost a year; it was due to distance and also them being dumb and not having enough people around for concessions during the Back to the Future Marathon they had last October; somehow they must have though it would not be a popular event, when it actually was. Well, this time things were back to normal there. Plus, this was where I got the can of Ecto Cooler. I picked it up after the film. The movie itself.. when I left I was thinking it was fine and I thought the same when I had dinner at the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings, where I had boneless wings with the Music City Fire sauce. It's limited edition and for those that enjoy pretty hot sauces, I imagine you'll dig it. I thought it was good, although I usually stick with the more mild sauces. Anyway, when I got home I realized that Blair Witch was only about average; it has a lot of faults and dumb mistakes.
Saturday and Sunday, I actually stayed in and did nothing. It was fine with me. After all, on Friday I had another case where I had someone pull out right in front of me. Not going out and thus avoiding such things was A-OK with me. The Bears play tonight and also play this upcoming Sunday night so when I return next Monday, I'll be able to talk about two of their games.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Morgan, The Chicago Bears & The Nottingham Creampie
For those that don't know... a “creampie” does not refer to any sort of pastry dish! Instead it refers to something too vulgar for me to say here. “The Nottingham Creampie” was the title of a spam e-mail I got recently. That was one of the cleaner e-mail titles I have received as of late.
Monday and Wednesday were boring days so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. It wasn't the original plan but I ended up going to two different spots. I first ended up at the Mall at Millenia as it had been awhile. A few things were different but otherwise it was the same old same old. It included me window-gazing at the section for millionaires; that's what I call the area which has stores from the likes of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Rolex, Armani, Versace, etc. After that I returned to the rustic bar/restaurant known as Twin Peaks. I actually hadn't been there in about 2 months so I figured it was a good place to have dinner at. I was correct. I always enjoyed their food so I had a pretty good dinner plus something ice cold to wash it down. In addition, for the first time in like 4 months I saw a certain employee there. I mentioned her back in late April where she got pretty angry at the kitchen for them screwing up my dinner order and I'll always appreciate that. She also seems like a very nice person too. I was happy to see her again.
Thursday, I returned to the Cinepolis movie theatre, mainly so I could get a ticket for a classic movie they are showing this upcoming Tuesday night; the next time I post I'll talk all about that. They do that reserved seating garbage I do not care for but seemingly a lot of people are fans of, so that's why I got a nice seat while I could. I also saw a movie there that early evening. I mainly saw Morgan because I felt bad it has done so badly at the box office. The movie is average but with the people involved it should have been better. The similar movie from last year known as Ex-Machina is a lot better. I give my highest recommendations for Ex-Machina, as a matter of fact.
Friday I did nothing and Saturday, I had a “prior commitment” I won't deep dive into except to say that it's nothing bad. That thing did prevent me from meeting up with some people I know (I know this group from the days way back when I attended local wrestling shows in Florida); we hadn't seen each other in a few years. Hopefully pretty soon it'll work out where we can meet again. Then again, I could barely make the prior commitment; I am not quite sure what I ate on Friday but something gave me food poisoning and trust me, you don't want me to go into detail here. Instead, let me mention that I did not see this night's UFC pay per view, which from what I understand was a good call on my part. Former pro wrestler CM Punk (a guy I literally saw wrestle plenty of times before he went to the WWE) did about as well in his MMA debut as you'd expect, meaning “not well at all”. I was happy that Illinois State University upset Northwestern University in football in a bowling shoe ugly game; Northwestern is in a division above ISU so it was a big win for ISU. In the evening I did see parts of the special game on TV between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. It was in a small but famous racetrack and the circumstances were to where it was such a hot ticket, both fanbases had a white-hot desire to see it and they shattered all football attendance records and there were almost 157,000 people in Bristol Motor Speedway. If I lived anywhere near Bristol, Tennessee I would have been there but as I live in lame Florida...
Onto September 11. I am flabbergasted it happened 15 years ago. To think that I found out about it in 2001 back in college when I had the TV on to see what the weather would be before I went to a morning class. Anyway, it was the first game of the season for the Chicago Bears as they played at the Houston Texans. Houston was definitely the better team so I was expecting them to win. Still, I returned to Twin Peaks to see the game and all the others going on at the same time. That certain employee wasn't there but it's OK as the women who work there are pretty much always nice so it was definitely not an issue. The Bears did not look so bad in the first half; the second half, they stunk the field up and Houston won the game. On the way there and back... the traffic was pretty horrendous. I mean, I encountered a few people who I swore must have been impaired somehow. I had to not exactly follow all the traffic laws to get away from them but honestly, it felt like the right thing to do when you're so fearful of them causing you to get in a wreck, probably with them. Yes, this is the “fun” of living in a state like Florida.
When I return a week from today, I do have a few ideas of what I'll be discussing.
Monday and Wednesday were boring days so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. It wasn't the original plan but I ended up going to two different spots. I first ended up at the Mall at Millenia as it had been awhile. A few things were different but otherwise it was the same old same old. It included me window-gazing at the section for millionaires; that's what I call the area which has stores from the likes of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Rolex, Armani, Versace, etc. After that I returned to the rustic bar/restaurant known as Twin Peaks. I actually hadn't been there in about 2 months so I figured it was a good place to have dinner at. I was correct. I always enjoyed their food so I had a pretty good dinner plus something ice cold to wash it down. In addition, for the first time in like 4 months I saw a certain employee there. I mentioned her back in late April where she got pretty angry at the kitchen for them screwing up my dinner order and I'll always appreciate that. She also seems like a very nice person too. I was happy to see her again.
Thursday, I returned to the Cinepolis movie theatre, mainly so I could get a ticket for a classic movie they are showing this upcoming Tuesday night; the next time I post I'll talk all about that. They do that reserved seating garbage I do not care for but seemingly a lot of people are fans of, so that's why I got a nice seat while I could. I also saw a movie there that early evening. I mainly saw Morgan because I felt bad it has done so badly at the box office. The movie is average but with the people involved it should have been better. The similar movie from last year known as Ex-Machina is a lot better. I give my highest recommendations for Ex-Machina, as a matter of fact.
Friday I did nothing and Saturday, I had a “prior commitment” I won't deep dive into except to say that it's nothing bad. That thing did prevent me from meeting up with some people I know (I know this group from the days way back when I attended local wrestling shows in Florida); we hadn't seen each other in a few years. Hopefully pretty soon it'll work out where we can meet again. Then again, I could barely make the prior commitment; I am not quite sure what I ate on Friday but something gave me food poisoning and trust me, you don't want me to go into detail here. Instead, let me mention that I did not see this night's UFC pay per view, which from what I understand was a good call on my part. Former pro wrestler CM Punk (a guy I literally saw wrestle plenty of times before he went to the WWE) did about as well in his MMA debut as you'd expect, meaning “not well at all”. I was happy that Illinois State University upset Northwestern University in football in a bowling shoe ugly game; Northwestern is in a division above ISU so it was a big win for ISU. In the evening I did see parts of the special game on TV between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. It was in a small but famous racetrack and the circumstances were to where it was such a hot ticket, both fanbases had a white-hot desire to see it and they shattered all football attendance records and there were almost 157,000 people in Bristol Motor Speedway. If I lived anywhere near Bristol, Tennessee I would have been there but as I live in lame Florida...
Onto September 11. I am flabbergasted it happened 15 years ago. To think that I found out about it in 2001 back in college when I had the TV on to see what the weather would be before I went to a morning class. Anyway, it was the first game of the season for the Chicago Bears as they played at the Houston Texans. Houston was definitely the better team so I was expecting them to win. Still, I returned to Twin Peaks to see the game and all the others going on at the same time. That certain employee wasn't there but it's OK as the women who work there are pretty much always nice so it was definitely not an issue. The Bears did not look so bad in the first half; the second half, they stunk the field up and Houston won the game. On the way there and back... the traffic was pretty horrendous. I mean, I encountered a few people who I swore must have been impaired somehow. I had to not exactly follow all the traffic laws to get away from them but honestly, it felt like the right thing to do when you're so fearful of them causing you to get in a wreck, probably with them. Yes, this is the “fun” of living in a state like Florida.
When I return a week from today, I do have a few ideas of what I'll be discussing.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Hurricane Hermine, Don't Breathe, Blazing Saddles & Lewd Street Names
This past week turned out better than expected. Monday the 29th, I did not do anything. The only thing I'll say is that I was saddened to hear about Gene Wilder passing away. Of course I've seen some of his movies before, including as a kid. Tuesday I did not do anything either so onto Wednesday. On that day I finally used the free pass I got from Epic Theatres back last December when I saw The Force Awakens for the first time and right as the opening crawl began, some young guy apparently had a seizure then had a major league freakout before he finally calmed down. Due to all that, everyone in the crowd got a free pass and it was just now that I returned there and used it. I got to see Don't Breathe for free. A lot of people loved it but me, I thought it was disappointing. The story was crap and the blind villain comes across as Daredevil too often in what he is able to do despite being blind. Then again, I wasn't a big fan of the director's previous film-the Evil Dead remake-so perhaps my reaction was to be expected.
Thursday, the only thing I did was get a much-needed haircut. The weather cooperated enough to where only it was a little bit rainy as I drove the few miles to the barber. What became Hurricane Hermine was predicted to bring really bad weather to the region but thankfully it turned North so while plenty of rain was received and it was windy at times, overall it was not too bad here. I did feel bad for those who were hit hard. Friday was another one of those days where there is nothing to report, so onto an interesting weekend.
Saturday, I decided to attend a college football game, as a new season is starting up. I saw Stetson play back in 2014 but it was an away game. Finally, on this night I saw a game at Stetson; while I wish that they would have made it clearer where you are supposed to park then once you get in the stadium where people are supposed to sit, otherwise I have little complaint with seeing an event there. Stetson played against Sacred Heart University and despite SHU being in Connecticut, a surprising number of their supporters showed up to the game. I've seen only a handful of football games in person in Florida and all the other ones were either not competitive or were poorly played; thankfully this was intriguing the entire time. Sacred Heart won 18-14, but I expected SHU to win by more than 4 points so I can't complain. Maybe they'll be halfway decent this year. I wasn't sure about the weather up there, but there was no drops of rain to be felt. There were plenty of sweat drops from me, though; it was never not humid.
I drove there and back via a rural back way; I couldn't avoid rude people on the highway, although that's what I expected. On the way, I passed by a short road with quite the name: CUMMER ROAD. No further comment is needed.
Sunday, I went to Disney Springs, despite it being rainy from the time I left home to the time I returned home. It was because something different was showing at their AMC Theatres. Saturday and Sunday they showed Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory then Blazing Saddles. I went there to see the latter. I have watched the movie a handful of times in my life, including once on the big screen back in 2013. I wanted to see it again for obvious reasons and so did a lot of other people; they showed it in their largest auditorium that does not have an ETX screen, and the over 500 seat auditorium was definitely more than half full. It was nice to see a funny movie that way. I was concerned when a young couple w/ an infant girl that was like 6 months old showed up and sat close to me; thankfully that tyke hardly made any noise at all. To think that she and some elementary school kids at other recent screenings acted better than those asshats at that screening for the South Korean movie Train to Busan acted a few weeks ago.
When I come back a week from today, I do have a few ideas of what I'll be talking about.
Thursday, the only thing I did was get a much-needed haircut. The weather cooperated enough to where only it was a little bit rainy as I drove the few miles to the barber. What became Hurricane Hermine was predicted to bring really bad weather to the region but thankfully it turned North so while plenty of rain was received and it was windy at times, overall it was not too bad here. I did feel bad for those who were hit hard. Friday was another one of those days where there is nothing to report, so onto an interesting weekend.
Saturday, I decided to attend a college football game, as a new season is starting up. I saw Stetson play back in 2014 but it was an away game. Finally, on this night I saw a game at Stetson; while I wish that they would have made it clearer where you are supposed to park then once you get in the stadium where people are supposed to sit, otherwise I have little complaint with seeing an event there. Stetson played against Sacred Heart University and despite SHU being in Connecticut, a surprising number of their supporters showed up to the game. I've seen only a handful of football games in person in Florida and all the other ones were either not competitive or were poorly played; thankfully this was intriguing the entire time. Sacred Heart won 18-14, but I expected SHU to win by more than 4 points so I can't complain. Maybe they'll be halfway decent this year. I wasn't sure about the weather up there, but there was no drops of rain to be felt. There were plenty of sweat drops from me, though; it was never not humid.
I drove there and back via a rural back way; I couldn't avoid rude people on the highway, although that's what I expected. On the way, I passed by a short road with quite the name: CUMMER ROAD. No further comment is needed.
Sunday, I went to Disney Springs, despite it being rainy from the time I left home to the time I returned home. It was because something different was showing at their AMC Theatres. Saturday and Sunday they showed Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory then Blazing Saddles. I went there to see the latter. I have watched the movie a handful of times in my life, including once on the big screen back in 2013. I wanted to see it again for obvious reasons and so did a lot of other people; they showed it in their largest auditorium that does not have an ETX screen, and the over 500 seat auditorium was definitely more than half full. It was nice to see a funny movie that way. I was concerned when a young couple w/ an infant girl that was like 6 months old showed up and sat close to me; thankfully that tyke hardly made any noise at all. To think that she and some elementary school kids at other recent screenings acted better than those asshats at that screening for the South Korean movie Train to Busan acted a few weeks ago.
When I come back a week from today, I do have a few ideas of what I'll be talking about.
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