Easter, Love Lies Bleeding, Mountain Dew Baja Point Break Punch, Potbelly Sandwich Works & Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

On this Easter Sunday, I had the time to do one of these. Not too much to share during this update, but despite some ups and downs, nothing too negative to mention and I really shouldn't complain, all things considered. My Easter was & will be spent at home, relaxing. Some baseball has been watched since the full season began a few days ago. As for March, I visited some restaurants for the first time in awhile; new to the area was Potbelly Sandwich Works, a chain popular in the Midwest. They have decent sandwiches.

The one new to me location was The Legacy Restaurant at Nancy Lopez Country Club, up in The Villages. A relative was visiting so me and various people went to that relatively nice place for dinner. It was good food. Otherwise, March was a quiet month where not a lot happened. That is OK after how hectic February was at times. I did try the two new limited edition sodas from Mountain Dew (Point Break and Laguna Lemonade), which are both quite refreshing. Other than that... the rest will be me discussing some random movies I saw theatrically.

Love Lies Bleeding was that rather peculiar romantic movie featuring Kristen Stewart, the buff Katy O'Brian and a hilarious-looking Ed Harris. It was rather odd (and set in 1989) but despite some odd fetishistic moments and an ending out of nowhere which almost lost me until the final scene allowed me to rationalize what it meant... it was something I enjoyed.

A few nights ago I saw a little horror movie designed for a niche audience... which I happened to be a part of. Late Night with the Devil was a found footage thing where the gimmick was that the viewers saw a faux 70's late night talk show where a possessed teenage girl was a guest—of course she eventually caused havoc. It did look and feel the part, but most importantly for me, a key character was right up my alley: someone obviously modeled on the late magician turned renowned skeptic James Randi, who debunked pseudoscience. As I know that lore pretty well and so did the filmmakers, they greatly targeted my esoteric tastes. Unfortunately, some people online had a massive overreaction and got upset that the movie used THREE AI images which were interstitials on the program. Yes the filmmakers shouldn't have done it as otherwise the world that humans created was authentic. At the same time, the calls for boycotts or bootlegging the movie (no, really) was way overblown and even now is just preposterous that they freaked out over something so minor. The film is great, but I'm not the most objective here.

Finally, I went to a place I hadn't visited in years (the CMX Plaza Cinema Cafe in downtown Orlando) to check out Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Some were curious so I felt obliged to. Afterlife was fine, although too dependent on nostalgia for the first movie. Frozen Empire was at least different and not as nostalgic. Still, it was overstuffed w/ plot & characters and as I think too often w/ modern movies, the humor did not always land. Overall, though, the movie was fine. Plenty of lousy modern movies are out there, so I'm happy when a movie does enough well to just be fine. As for the Plaza Cinema Cafe... there's no reason for me to return. The service was only OK; that doesn't even include the giant pile of spilled popcorn in my auditorium from a previous screening that no one bothered to clean up. It wasn't a surprise that I was the only one at this screening.

I'll return sometime in April. The month will be busier, I am pretty confident in thinking that.

Dune: Part Two, Summer House on the Lake, Fatburger, Coca Cola Spiced & Daddy's Chicken Shack

My March may be relatively dull; at least February was quite eventful. First off, I was able to see Dune: Part Two last night. I've never read the novels but the David Lynch version from the 80's is fine and Part One from 2021 I really enjoyed. Well, Part Two is even better, a misgiving or two about the plot aside. Viewing it on a giant screen is preferable, if possible. The spectacle, the acting, the mature plot, the characters, the action, the destruction, the score... it's all great.

Several restaurants new to me were visited. Via reading an article concerning Jack in the Box coming to the area (one day), the people who will manage that also brought in a chain new to me: the memorably-named Daddy's Chicken Shack. It was a quick service place in Lake Mary which makes fine food. I won't be able to visit often but at least it was not a letdown. Way down on the southern tip of Celebration (visited on a night where I went to Old Town for a bit) was Fatburger; long ago they had one in Clearwater for a short amount of time before going away. Not my favorite burger yet overall the food was still fine & in the future I'll try one of their shakes. Speaking of beverages, the new limited edition Coca Cola Spiced is out; “spiced raspberry” is at least traditional compared to their outside the box flavors they've had in recent years, and is pretty decent.

Before I go-likely only to return late in the month-I'll mention the new restaurant at Disney Springs: Summer House on the Lake, right by the AMC. It has “California” food, meaning “pasta and a few other items.” It looked nice, has decent service, the price isn't too bad by Disney standards and I actually went there twice: once on my own and the other w/ some other people. Both times I liked the food; the portions are a tad small but otherwise I can't complain.

Salt Shack, Alien Swirling Saucers, Madame Web, Citrus Tower & My Birthday

I'll post a continuation of this the next day. Yes, plenty will have to be mentioned, mostly due to having both family and a family friend down here the latter half of February, the friend longer than the family. Fun was had, although it was for certain exhausting. One detail that was reinforced: too many restaurants have fallen off due to the pandemic. I'm referring to both the food and the service. Those places won't be mentioned by me out of the kindness of my heart.

Another detail that isn't a deal-breaker but is still unfortunate: the decision to have your restaurant play LOUD music for no good reason. This includes places like Raising Cane's (they opened a new location in the western half of Kissimmee) and Salt Shack, a new joint in Clermont which I knew nothing about as I'd never been to their original location in Tampa before. That is a shame as Cane's always has tasty chicken and Salt Shack had seafood that everyone enjoyed... that's where I chose to eat for my birthday. I'm now... well, let's just say “old!” Tomorrow, I'll mention several other restaurants which are worthy of compliments—or to use a phrase I understand is “popular” among “the youth”, deserve their flowers.

It was nice having that sister (the one who still lives in Illinois) down here with her beau and two young children. My niece is two so all she can call me is “Baa!” but it is adorable. With them, one morning in Clermont was visiting the Citrus Tower (my first time there since shortly after I moved down here) which offers nice views but little else, especially for the price it is at now and a breakfast restaurant known as Cheeser's Palace, which wasn't as good as most people proclaim it to be. An even more fun day was at Hollywood Studios; of course the kids loved such rides as the Alien Swirling Saucers and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. No one loved the now too-common issue of various attractions breaking down at Walt Disney World—alas. The Genie+ app and the general cost of Disney has rankled everyone, including at least one popular video on YouTube I saw several weeks ago.

Yes, last weekend I used my AMC A-List app to see the “masterpiece” that was Madame Web. It wasn't because I care about comic book movies-I don't-but rather plenty was already consumed by me concerning how bad the movie was. Turns out, it WAS quite bad, although amusingly so. What I plan on seeing soon should be MUCH better than that, although it is likely that will be discussed late March.