Mountain Dew Summer Freeze, Return of the Jedi, the Big New Yorker Pizza & Sodough Square

At the end of April, there are several things to mention. One surprise was that this past Monday I was at a Walmart and unexpectedly saw that Mountain Dew had a limited edition flavor which just premiered that day. Summer Freeze has the flavor of those red white and blue pops we all had as kids. Yes, it did make me feel fine...

On another day time was spent in Orlando. Besides visiting the Publix at College Park (which has a retro exterior; the interior is normal... and cramped) there was Sodough Square, a Detroit style pizza joint named for its neighborhood which I heard about on social media. That style of pizza is fine; it was better than experiencing it frozen or from Pizza Hut, which happened in the past. Speaking of Pizza Hut—a few months ago I randomly saw a 1999 ad on YouTube for the Big New Yorker Pizza, something I only barely remembered. Thus, I had to have it when they brought it back for a limited time this year. In fact, I've had it twice I liked it so much. Don't worry, I still like Chicago-style pizza too...

The only other details I'll mention now is that I saw a pair of movies on the big screen. First was The Pope's Exorcist. It helped going in that I already knew how silly and over the top the film was. It definitely was silly and was mostly what you would expect from an exorcism/possessed motion picture. That said, it was a hoot, due to the overarching plot and Russell Crowe as the title character. Even more recent was Return of the Jedi; I couldn't turn that down, even if it was the “special edition” with added nonsense such as CG which only serves as a detriment. Despite that, it was still awesome to see it that way. In the 90's when I was a kid the original trilogy was at home on VHS so all three were watched at least a few times; those are nice memories to think of again. While Star Wars in recent years is something I'm definitely not a fan of, thank heavens that the original trilogy is timeless.

As for May, there are only a few ideas as to what I could be doing.

The Apollo Theatre, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. & The Super Mario Bros. Movie

It wasn't necessarily the idea to do one of these today. However, any plans for this random Sunday went awry; for the past several days, there's been intermittent minor pain in my right heel when I walk. I must be getting old; besides that happening to me, I can't explain how it first happened! This all turned out for the best—this afternoon I had an important phone call which was best taken at home.

I'll start with the sad news first. What shocking news it was that The Apollo Theatre in my old hometown of Belvidere would have its roof collapse during bad storms one night and unfortunately led to injury and even death. As a kid that place was driven by many times although my only time in there (once it was reopened as a venue) was an independent wrestling show in November of 2003, of all things. Seeing the photos of the devastation, it also reminded me of how little has changed downtown since I was a kid. As long as I can remember, Sam's Pizza and Lung Fung's Chinese Restaurant have been institutions so I'm happy to see they both are still in business.

Not too much has happened in the past few weeks; the restaurants I've visited were ones I've gone to before although typically not in a long while. This includes the Celebration Town Tavern, Dave's Hot Chicken and Cracker Barrel; the latter had food which wasn't as good as usual which is a shame as at least the service was quite good. Otherwise, there's been the viewing of various sports on television, whether it be football, NCAA basketball (last month I never could have imaged that one of the teams I saw live-San Diego State-would make it all the way to the finals before losing to Connecticut) or the start of the baseball season where there are some big rule changes and I'm undecided if all of them I approve of... yet.

To close this out-I may be back in a few weeks-I'll mention two recent theatrical experiences. Late last month was 2003's Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. That was a Fathom Event presented nationwide. While not even my favorite Godzilla movie of that era, it was still a good time, especially considering it was a first time watch. The other was The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Speaking of my childhood, those games were definitely played although the last one was in the 90's. There was still enough for me that I knew and while the plot was incredibly safe, that doesn't mean it was bad. In fact, the film was more entertaining and amusing than expected. It's perfect for kids and most adults shouldn't mind.