Great Argus Pheasants, Hopdoddy, Anna, Going Viral & Sociopaths

“Going viral” is a relative term; it happened on Twitter June 14^th as I made a comment concerning the greatness of a particularly wild episode of LivePD. It got 7 retweets, 47 likes and 3 responses-that was by far the most popular thing I had ever said on that platform, and somehow I've been on Twitter for 10 years now. Anyhow, the preceding week had its ups and downs; Monday I did nothing but Tuesday was a bad one. I ate at a hipster burger bar known as Hopdoddy... no I can't explain the name either and I say “hipster” as it originated in Austin, Texas... and the food wasn't bad but the service was-this includes ordering burger & fries but the fries never came so I had to ask for them-so that was a big turn-off and I don't plan on returning there again. Even worse, on the drive there (it's located on I-Drive, at Pointe Orlando), I dealt with a sociopath behind the wheel.

I was almost there and there was a long stoplight to deal with. Soon after that, I honked at a Jeep right in front of me as he was driving real erratic-I don't know if he was high on meth, on his phone, or what... but I immediately then passed him on the right as I needed to turn right on another street in a matter of seconds. Suddenly, this guy flipped out, all over ONE horn honk. He cut me off, tailgated me, deliberately almost hit me a few times... I was in fact frightened by this psycho so when he pulled up right next to me (eyes bugged out and all) I held up my phone and repeatedly yelled, “I'm calling 911!” This guy was a total punk, as he immediately then got away as soon as he could to the point of doing a 180 and going the complete opposite direction. I never did call 911 because of that... although I wouldn't be shocked if someone else did as there were plenty of witnesses to his sociopathic behavior. So yeah, I'd rather forget about Tuesday.

Thursday, I had free time so I went to the Animal Kingdom; that day was far better than Tuesday, even if it was hot and humid out. I went on a few rides, walked around and saw various animals, some up close. The highlight was a few white rhinos up close on the safari ride and some birds that got real up close at that section of the Maharajah Jungle Trek (one of the two areas you walk through and see various animal exhibits) including a Great Argus Pheasant... a very large pheasant it is indeed.

The rest of the week was rather dull; there were more wacky episodes of LivePD and that provided entertainment. Sunday night, I went and saw the movie Anna. That was released to little fanfare as its director Luc Besson had some serious accusations leveled against him (by 9 different women... yeah, it's those kinds of accusations); perhaps I shouldn't support that movie then but unfortunately, there are many bad people in the entertainment world who do bad things so if I boycotted all of those... thing is, the movie is only fine overall (Besson is retreading old ground here) so even though it has some spy thrills and two big action setpieces, if you want to see this it is best to wait for home viewing. Also, the “Anna” might as well be “Annachronistic” as this is set in the mid 80's through 1990 yet such things as modern vehicles are seen in a few shots and there are also flash drives... honest.

When I return a week from today, I do have a few plans, including me finally seeing Toy Story 4.

New Coke, Shaft, Fire Ants & Salem's Fresh Eats

The preceding week was a more entertaining one than usual. Monday and Tuesday weren't too eventful (except for losing power for almost 2 hours late Tuesday night! I wasn't pleased by that although at least it wasn't during the hot muggy day) so I'll mention something that happened to me for the first time: a fire ant bit me. Yes, for a creature so tiny, it does sting like an SOB. It was literally only one of them, which I did not even see before it ended up biting me on my right forearm. Thankfully, after only stinging for a little bit, that sensation went away and it was like that never happened. I am glad I did not stomp on one of their nests or accidentally do something else which caused a swarm of them to attack me as that would be a nightmare; I saw online that cold soap and water would help for bites and at least for A bite, that seemed to do the job.

Wednesday, I went with someone to a restaurant I went to late last fall, Saltgrass Steak House. Back last year, I visited their location on Vineland in Orlando; Wednesday, it was their second location on I-Drive, at the building that formerly housed Brick House Tavern & Tap, which was a decent place I ate at a few times. It's not like that joint just opened so I presumed they would have their act together... I was mistaken. The service wasn't great (that includes the food taking forever to come out, and it wasn't too busy at the time) & my burger was more burnt than medium-well-at least the person I was with had a better time and they loved what they ordered. The Texas theme there was great so I will say that for now people should go to the one on Vineland and maybe in the future the I-Drive one will be better.

Also on Wednesday I received via Fed-Ex what I ordered a few weeks ago: the Stranger Things promotion that Coca-Cola is doing. Yeah, it's overpriced yet I wanted to be guaranteed to have New Coke, as even living near Orlando it'd be unlikely to stumble upon a pop-on vending machine briefly offering it this summer. At least the packaging was nice and those two small bottles of Coca-Cola and Coke Zero looked neat... the New Coke was the one I was interested in. I put one can in the fridge to consume on Thursday. That's what I did and... meh. Note that I like consuming all sorts of caffeinated sodas and I don't have a particular favorite, aside from avoiding most of the generics as generic cola usually is mediocre at best. I don't remember having New Coke when I was a kid as I was 4 when it first came out and I am sure my parents weren't fans of it so whether it was New Coke or the rebranded Coke II in the 90's, it was never purchased.

Having it in 2019, I was not a fan of its taste. I get why some don't care for Coca-Cola's unique properties and the tang it has; to me that's never been an issue and New Coke not only seemed like a worse version of Pepsi, it also came across as a lousy generic soda. I understand why some would like it-it is not for me. I'll save that second can to drink sometime down the line, even if that is weeks away from now. Friday I did nothing and the same goes for Sunday (except for wishing my dad a Happy Father's Day) so let me talk about Saturday. I went and saw Shaft, the new version. In the past I have seen the 1971 original a few times but never the sequels. Friday night was the 2000 movie of the same name, which I wasn't a fan of although I found out on Saturday night that it's better than Shaft 2019.

Before that I ate at a small fast food chain new to me called Salem's Fresh Eats-their offerings include seafood, subs, gyros and chicken. My meal was fine so I will have to visit them again in the future-their closest location is in Lakeland. As for Shaft 2019, I was not a fan. First off, the movie was a comedy, and one not too funny to me. Samuel L. Jackson (Shaft II) suddenly has an adult son (Shaft III) and the movie was made by old men in Hollywood woefully out of touch as all this did was crap on millennials and how they are “soft” and love such things as respecting women, coconut water, texting, are anti-gun, and use terms like “cis-gender”. III is made out to be a wuss because this is how he leads his life, while his incredible crude dad is awesome for being politically incorrect; it's an awful buddy pairing sort of movie, and Richard Roundtree doesn't even show up until deep in the final act. This was also incredible crude and vulgar; between that and this not having memorable villains, original music or action... I was not a fan. For what it's worth, the rest of the crowd at the screening seemed to love this.

It has rained all of June, which is fine except for dealing with Florida drivers in wet weather-yes, still amazingly clueless. Saturday had some heavy rain so no surprise I saw the aftermath of a few wrecks and of course some people still drove like A-holes despite the conditions. Hopefully I don't have to deal with any of that in the upcoming week.

Andy's Frozen Custard, Dr. Pepper Dark Berry, Brightburn & Mountain Dew Liberty Brew

Last Monday I did nothing at all except having a meal at a local Chili's-that went fine. Tuesday was different-yes, I had to make yet another airport journey. After dropping someone off at the Sanford airport, on the way back I went to a Big Lots where I purchased some items (including movies; the highlight there was eight Blumhouse horror movies on DVD for only 10 bucks. This includes Get Out, the first three Purge movies, and Split. No way could I turn down such a deal) and I also stopped at place new to me, Andy's Frozen Custard. I had a creation named after James Brown as it seemed like a cool thing to do; while decidedly unhealthy, it was also very good. 

Wednesday night, I went to a movie theatre that recently opened in Kissimmee, right by the new Margaritaville resort. A few years ago I went to Tampa and a Studio Movie Grill to see Train to Busan, a great Korean zombie movie set on a train. Unfortunately that whole day was rotten, including that screening. That place had some rude/dumb employees, assumed too much for anyone who had never been there before and there were some awful people at the screening. I hadn't been there since but hoped for better at this new location. At least the employees were friendly and the place looked snazzy... but just getting to your auditorium was a giant hassle, as unlike everywhere else the ticket-takers don't scan tickets from your phone and you have to do it yourself, only it doesn't work properly, then no one knew if my auditorium was ready... not the best first impression. At least the food was as good as the one in Tampa.

The film I saw was Brightburn. While not fully living up to its great premise and having some rather dumb characters, at least it was entertaining and had some rather gruesome moments. I was the only person at the screening so I truly felt like a VIP.  Thursday and Friday there is nothing to report so I will mention now two new limited edition sodas that came out. The first was Dr. Pepper Dark Berry, which I heard about on YouTube and it was good. The second I stumbled upon at a store: Mountain Dew Liberty Brew. It has FIFTY different flavors! What a wacky idea... it might as well be one flavor, “bomb pop”; I heard it described as that popsicle and it is not the worst description. Again, I'll say that is good.

Saturday I went to the Florida Mall to purchase some clothing items that I needed. Also, in the early evening some people who live near me were having an outdoor soiree and the music they played was not only DISCO, but mostly deep cut tracks to where I had to use the SoundHound app to ID what they were-I was impressed. Sunday was... the airport! Again I went to the one in Sanford, but before that was me having food & a drink at an Ale House, where I saw some sports-including the big hockey game-before making it to the airport. While a rainy day, I had no issues there.

When I return a week from today... I have no plans as of yet but as always I'll stumble into something.

Old Town Road, Godzilla, Sunset Walk & New Grills

No, by “new grills” I don't mean I am like Paul Wall and I have grillz in my mouth! I'll explain at the end. The preceding week I had wasn't too terribly interesting until the weekend. I did have a plan or two but things changed so for the most part I was low-key. The main thing I'll mention is that on Tuesday, I had free time so I ended up at a BJ's Restaurants & Brewhouse as I hadn't been to one in awhile. They have tasty food and my time there went fine. The drive there and back was at times hairy but that is typical, really. It was actually nice not being stressed out over traffic for a few days. Thus, let me mention a song that has been mega over for awhile now but just heard last month.

I knew there was a controversy over a tune called Old Town Road, by Lil Nas X... specifically, that it was taken off the country charts. Finally having heard it-both the original and the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus, how it is a country song? It's a lame rap ditty with my “favorite” device, Autotune! As I've said before, I am happy now to ignore modern pop music, with only a few exceptions.

Anyhow, the only other things of note happened during the weekend so let's get to that. Saturday I finally went and saw the new Godzilla. In the past I've watched a decent amount of the old Japanese Toho movies; I hate the '98 American one but the 2014 version was pretty cool, even if yeah there should have been at least a little more Godzilla. I had already heard this latest edition was quite different, and it was. It became a dumb modern summer blockbuster, which typically is something I avoid as they are just stupid. However, it was also inspired by some of the Godzilla films of the past, including villain motivations and honestly, the villains might as well have been aliens... and could have been but never were identified as such. The plot of King of the Monsters is outlandish... but, some of the Japanese films had such things as time travel, cyborgs, aliens that are actually apes, and humanoids that live underwater named Seatopians... so in comparison King of the Monsters is not as peculiar.

After the film I went to Sunset Walk, the new area by the new Margaritaville Resort in Kissimmee. I picked out BurgerFi as I hadn't been to one in awhile and I did have some good food. Sunday, I helped a parent put together a new grill; their old one became dirty and rusty so it was time for a new one and it was cheaper to buy one and assemble it yourself, so I helped them out with that... as it was a two person job. That job was completed w/ no complications. When I return a week from today... of course I know of a few things I will be discussing.