Solar Eclipses, Wind River, Terminator 2: 3D, Bulk Nation & Cribbage

Here is what I've done since last Monday; on that Monday the 21^st, it was the much-ballyhooed solar eclipse and it would have been interesting to have seen the partial eclipse where I was... except that it was raining at the time. Eh, oh well; I did see total eclipses on TV so it's no biggie. I went out and ended up in Lake Mary. First, I went to Liam Fitzpatrick's Irish Restaurant, which is also a pub; I had my typical meal there and it was tasty. After that I walked to the nearby AmStar Cinemas 12; I only go there once in a blue moon as it's not close by me and getting there requires being on the infamous Interstate 4. They now have those fancy leather recliners retrofitted in, as more and more places are doing nowadays. It's fine but there are fine places closer by me. Oh, and I saw Wind River. As it was written and directed by the dude who wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water (both movies worth seeing) I was hoping I'd dig the film, and I did. If you have seen the two movies I just mentioned and enjoyed them, you will likely enjoy this too.

Tuesday and Wednesday I stayed in and chilled. As it unexpectedly was pouring rain late Wednesday afternoon into the early evening, that turned out to be a good decision on my part. Thursday, I ended up at Disney Springs again. I wasn't expecting to return so soon but it fit my schedule the best and it not being far away was a positive too. First, I returned to D-Luxe Burger for dinner; that went fine. After walking around for a bit, I went to the AMC Theatres; this is the only chain this upcoming week that you can see Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D. Of course I've watched the movie plenty of times in my life and maybe in 2008 or 2009 I got to see it on the big screen, in a beat-up legit film print. It was great watching it that way... a fight almost breaking out because one guy thought he HAD to say various lines of the film along with the character and some people stated how mad this made them... not so great although definitely memorable. Thankfully the audience experience was better this time and there were no issues. A decent amount of people showed up too, which was good. While the film did not need to be in 3D, at least it still looked tremendous and the movie is still incredible. For the record, it was the original theatrical cut that was shown, not the longer version that is also included on all the disk releases of the movie.

Friday, it was another rainy day, so I was happy to stay in. Saturday... no I did not watch “that one boxing fight”; I don't like the sport to begin with and when it's a farcical matchup between an MMA fighter with a tiresome persona and a woman-beating pile of feces... I have no idea why anyone would even be interested in such mismatch or think that the woman-beater wouldn't win in an incredibly boring fashion... or there being a typical clownshow result you only get in boxing. I thought all that beforehand so with how the fight turned out, “yawn” is my reaction. Not seeing a second of it was fine by me. For all I know, the bout was not “on the up and up” anyhow. I did other things instead...

Oh, onto my weekend in particular. Saturday I did go to a store for the first time: Bulk Nation. That central Florida chain opened in town recently. While some items are packaged traditionally, the gimmick is that the store buys many different things in bulk and you put however much you want into a plastic bag... and the cost is based on weight. I got a few items and it was an interesting place. Sunday was dull so let me state something that may be surprising: recently I decided to try out the card game known as cribbage. It may make me sound like “old lady” but at least it's not bridge... I've known of it for years and on a lark I gave it a shot. It's actually interesting and I don't mind playing it once in awhile; cribbage is easy to figure out and I use one of a few apps out there to play it on my phone.

There are other things I could say about the weekend, but I'll bite my tongue. At least Saturday and Sunday still turned out fine for me. When I return on Labor Day, I don't know what I'll be talking about... at least not yet.

The One Time I Had A Day I Don't Even Want To Talk About

Yeah, Saturday the 19th was not a good day for me. I don't even want to go into details. Don't worry, nothing major happened; as typical, it was several little things rolled into a giant ball of... well, feces. It did in fact involve me driving somewhere, and the resultant traffic. The only thing I'll mention about Saturday was me buying some minor items from two stores. I was happy to say at home Saturday night and watch Live PD, and I did nothing on Sunday.

Monday the 14th was the definition of "boring", but Tuesday I returned to Disney Springs. It was the same old same old there. At least I got some exercise from walking around and for only the second time ever, I got food from the poutine stand they have. As before I had the Italian version as the other versions just aren't for my tastes. Wednesday, I went with someone to the Sam's Club in the western part of Orlando. I hadn't been to a Sam's in months. Several items were purchased and that experience was the same as usual. On the way back, that was different. In the past we used to eat at a nearby Logan's Roadhouse. However, that chain isn't doing so well so that location (along with plenty of others across the country) closed down. I was looking at Google Maps to see what was now in the area. I spotted a local restaurant known as Bates New England Seafood & Steakhouse, which is right by the West Oaks Mall. I hadn't been to that mall in years as it practically became a dead mall, although I understand they are not quite on dire straights anymore so in the future I need to return there.

Bates has only been open for like 6 months and I am already not sure how much longer they'll last. For whatever reasons, plenty of businesses in the area don't do well, and usually leave. When me and the other person were there, it was not busy at all; even worse, on the front door there was a sign noting that (to paraphrase), because business was so bad during the lunch hours, they will now not be open for lunch for four days out of the week. A shame, as they have a decent variety of food, and it tasted fine. Thursday, I spent some time in Orlando then returned to the Altamonte area. I first walked around the Altamonte Mall then I got food from a Wingstop. I only go there once in a blue moon and it was time for me to return. Their food, also fine.

As I stayed in on Friday, I'll close this out by saying I hope the upcoming week is better for me.

The Lion King, Ellen's Energy Adventure & Psychedelic Tri-Foam

I had some interesting moments in the past week. Monday the 7th, in the early evening I returned to a place I hadn't been to in awhile, Winter Garden Village. I got a random item from Best Buy then as I had time to kill I went to the Old Navy next door. As they had a surplus of a green and blue plaid shirt, I decided to do them a solid by purchasing the shirt; I am that kind of guy. Finally, as somehow the back of my ride was covered with spots of mud, it was time to get some gas then use that gas station's car wash. As I was going somewhere relatively far the next day, it was a good idea to do this. That Speedway gas station car wash used a clear coat and psychedelic tri foam; when it rained the next day on my way to Tampa and back, I was able to see fine even when it rained. I am sure I will use that particular car wash again in the future.

I was in Tampa because I wanted to do something different, and I saw a pair of movies at AMC Veterans 24, where I hadn't been before. Before that I spent time at the Citrus Park Mall, where I had been at only one time before. It's a nice-enough place. I ate dinner at a Grimaldi's Pizza, which is thin-crust pizza. It tasted fine. I killed time at a Cold Stone Creamery before making it to Veterans. First, I saw The Lion King; yes. Some AMC locations will play older Disney animated movies (mainly from the 21st century) the rest of the year. The Lion King was something I saw on the big screen way back when it came out in the summer of 1994. I still think it's a great film, thankfully. After that, I watched a new Korean movie known as The Battleship Island. It's not a must-see like some movies from the country in the past two decades are (examples include I Saw The Devil, The Good The Bad The Weird and Train to Busan) yet I still enjoyed it for what it was... an embellished story based on the real life occupation of Korea by Japan during the last days of World War II. It thankfully was not a brutal watch like some Korean films are, although there are still gruesome moments and there is both violence & carnage. The small crowd was mostly Korean (naturally) and some of them were emotional during the final 10 minutes. Hopefully in the future I can see films like that more often theatrically. 

Wednesday, I went with someone to a restaurant we hadn't been to in awhile: Cracker Barrel. Our food was tasty. Thursday, I went to Walt Disney World (Epcot in particular) because I knew it was less busy than the other parks. I had to renew my annual pass. That went fine, and unlike usual, I only stayed in the front part of the park as I went on a few rides, including the about to be closed Ellen's Energy Adventure at the Universe of Energy. Way back when I was a kid that ride used to be a charmingly quaint thing involving an info dump about energy along with a dark ride aspect where you are back in the time of dinosaurs. They managed to keep that with a new ride in '96 involving Ellen DeGeneres having a dream where she's on Jeopardy and it's all about energy and she's against her college roommate, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bill Nye the Science Guy helps her out. The whole thing is silly but at least it is educational and you get to sit for 45 minutes through the whole thing, which is nice in the summer. I hadn't been on it in at least a decade, and I have no idea how popular it has been in recent years. It will be replaced by a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. I'll miss the “good old days” when Epcot was high on the nerd scale with their Future World attractions but I realize that doesn't sell many tickets anymore.

Friday and Sunday I did nothing but Saturday I went to the local Publix to get their famed sandwiches for me and someone I know. I had no problem with the sandwiches but even on what was like a 5 mile round trip at most, there was problems with traffic and no shortage of clueless buffoons, people who I will presume possess low IQ's. It's a constant problem and Saturday wasn't the only time I had that issue by any means. Hopefully that will not be as bad in the upcoming week, where not a lot is planned... yet.

Dunkirk, Atomic Blonde, Purple Squirrel & New Phone, Who Dis?

Yes, I am quoting a meme here but this past Friday I did get a new phone. It is a basic smartphone (a Samsung Galaxy although it's not an S8) and yet it's OK as I was happy to get an upgrade; as for “purple squirrel”, while I don't recall where I first saw the term, it's a phrase used in the job world... a candidate that somehow meets all the qualifications for a job is as rare as a purple squirrel, and the term does make me chuckle.

Thankfully this past week was somewhat interesting. Last Monday night, at sort of the last minute I decided to finally see Dunkirk, even though if it wasn't for Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight then I would not like any of the Christopher Nolan movies I've seen; I haven't seen them all but the ones I've seen, almost all I was meh on at best. Yes, I don't like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, or Inception. All his films have major flaws and I don't know why critics, film fans and the general public loves him. It'd be fantastic if I could say that I enjoyed Dunkirk as much as most other people do but... I hated the way the story was done so despite it looking and sounding nice (even with an obtrusive score) I can only say it was about average overall.

I did nothing on Tuesday but Wednesday, I ended up in Orlando for something. After that task was completed, I spent time in the area, which included going to the Rocket Fizz store to not only pick up some soda, but also some obscure/foreign candy that is otherwise pretty difficult to find. I had to drive through some pounding rain but I survived. No surprise that even then there'd still be too many people on the road with no headlights on... it's the law in all the states to have it on when you're using your wipers, you bozos! Thursday, I got a haircut at SportClips, as I really needed one. Friday, the only other thing I did besides getting the new phone is watching Live PD, a show I mentioned a few months ago once I started watching it. The Friday night edition (8/4) had an epic 25 minute police chase which was insane and somehow the perp did not crash into anyone and he spun himself out. That was the nuttiest thing I've seen on the show for sure.

Saturday, I went to the Cinemark in Orlando, at the location known years ago as the Festival Bay Mall and then known as Artegon, before Artegon shut down out of nowhere early this year. I hadn't been to that area in like 9 to 10 months. I saw Atomic Blonde. I heard some mixed opinions but I was hoping I'd love it because the plot sounds like something made for me. I agree that the actual spy story isn't spectacular and yet I still liked it quite a bit. It ticked off a number of boxes so it was like the movie was made for me... from the incredible action to the 80's aesthetic, the great period soundtrack and the Cold War setting, at times the movie was seemingly made for me. I am glad it was not a disappointment. Sunday, I stayed at home and relaxed.

When I return a week from today, I should have a few things to talk about.