4th of July, Gatorland, 4 Rivers Smokehouse, & Luminous: The Symphony of Us

My apologies for doing one of these later than expected. Once again, in less than a week I'll do a separate one of these to talk about the films I've seen theatrically. For now, there aren't any new restaurant experiences to mention, although at least new experiences were had. Honestly, there's only one major detail to note: for 6 days, a sister (the one who lives in Illinois) was down here w/ her beau, a young boy, and an even younger girl. It was a treat having them as guests; hopefully they realized how swell a time I had with them.

I picked them up from the airport in Sanford; before doing so, I stopped at the nearby Daytona Beach to visit their Buc-ee's for the first time in about a year. One drizzle-filled afternoon was spent at Gatorland, the local attraction in Kissimmee which somehow had never been visited by me. I'm glad that was changed; while some of their attractions featured an upcharge, there was still plenty to do without that. Hundreds of gators were present, along with other animals like snakes, tortoises, birds, and even a few capybara. Afterwards, dinner was had at a 4 Rivers Smokehouse, a nice Florida chain that was only visited by me once before.

The longest day was when we went to Epcot-what a LONG day that was where the heat and humidity took a toll on me at one point—after a bit I was fine, don't worry. Everyone had a blast there visiting all those attractions. Is it a surprise that the little girl loved the Frozen ride located in the Norway pavilion? The 9PM lights/fireworks show Luminous: The Symphony of Us was viewed before leaving the park. The children were a big fan of that; it was nice, and I was amused that it constantly lit up my MagicBand+.

Otherwise, not too much else to mention. A few different restaurants were visited for the first time in a while or a long while, a trend that probably will continue this month. As nothing was done on the 4^th of July aside from the yearly tradition of viewing fireworks on TV and people probably don't want to hear about my purchasing of new Nike shoes at an outlet mall in Orlando...

Muppet*Vision 3D, Steamed Shrimp, Samsung Galaxy & Mission: Impossible-Final Reckoning

My apologies for doing one of these later than expected. Truthfully, there wouldn’t have been too much to say otherwise. Last week I went to get a haircut—in fact, it was much-needed. One night I went to Hooters, which may not look great to some even if I say that it was to have their steamed shrimp and there isn’t enough places in the area which offer that or peel and eat shrimp, especially after a local establishment closed more than a year ago.

Last week, a phone upgrade was made; while in the Samsung Galaxy universe, it was NOT a S25 Edge or something similar that costs somewhere around $1,000. What I have is more practical which is still an upgrade over the previous phone. Yesterday I went to Walt Disney World, Hollywood Studios in particular. As announced last year, a Monsters, Inc. land is replacing the Muppets area, including the 3D show Muppet*Vision. As it debuted in 1990 and was the last project Jim Henson worked on before passing away—those are but a few reasons why many aren’t happy it is going away, and they didn’t spend money to try and move it… especially considering the Aerosmith roller coaster will be changed into a Muppets coaster.

General (and deserved) nitpicking of Disney aside-they deserve both scrutiny & scorn for a number of reasons-it was nice to take some photos of the attraction, along with other pictures at Hollywood Studios. It will be closed this upcoming weekend.

It’s more than a week ago but I am still salty-not to mention astonished-how much Mission: Impossible-Final Reckoning let me down. The first is pretty cool, the second and third less so. However, the 4^th through 7^th ranged from very good to great and they became movies I always looked forward to. Aside from that and the recent Planet of the Apes films, there was hardly any blockbuster movies in modern times I could even muster a care about. That’s why I rarely even give them a chance.

Despite mixed reviews, I still had high hopes for Final Reckoning, as I loved the last movie more than most. Well-what I got was the biggest letdown in literal years. It was a movie both bloated and overlong, yet somehow feeling like entire scenes were missing, the editing was so jarring. The story was just bad and underwhelming; aside from two nice sequences, Final Reckoning was a waste of time. I couldn’t believe how badly it missed the mark for me. Without diving into spoilers, there were characters where I had to ask others online who they even were or what their purpose was… others were perplexed as well. So was one character suddenly fallen ill & what happened was literally said in a throwaway line. I won't drone on-even though I could-about one of the dumbest and most pointless character reveals in history, among many other quibbles.

All that said, it wasn’t a movie that was hated, as there were some moments. However, it was far worse than the preceding four pictures. Alas… I’ll return sometime later in June.

Tales of Sith Revenging, Quiet Mays & Rainy Sunday Afternoons

A reason why I haven't done one of these in a month: there hasn't been too much to write about. Sure, time has been spent w/ family-which was nice-I went to Epcot one hot afternoon, and another afternoon was spent at the dentist. However, there's no new restaurant visited or any wacky anecdotes to share. Thus, I'll mention that I'll be back in a few days to talk about more than one theatrical movie (Expectations are still high for the final Mission: Impossible, despite it receiving a mixed reception so far) and perhaps something else interesting to say. Right now it is pouring rain where I am so might as well give a short update.

I did revisit Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith early in May when it was brought back to cinemas. 20 years ago, it was the best of the prequels but that wasn't the highest bar to leap over. The same is true in 2025, although compared to Star Wars in the Disney era, it doesn't look so bad. I have heard that the two seasons of Andor are actually worth seeing but who knows if that'll happen for me. There was still some nostalgia in viewing those characters again, and hearing a great John Williams score in such a setting.

June-at least the final part of the month-should give me plenty to discuss.

Sinners, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, The Princess & the Frog, and Francesco’s Ristorante and Stone Fire Pizza

My apologies for posting this an entire week late. There wasn’t much for me to discuss—at least what I remember or feel like needs to be shared in public. I’ve revisited some places for the first time in years (Blake Shelton’s Ole Red bar/restaurant on International Drive) and one night I went with dad and my aunt to eat at Francesco’s Ristorante and Stone Fire Pizza, a joint near The Villages-they had good food-there isn’t much to discuss.

Thus, now I have time to give my feelings on Sinners. The trailers sold me on the film and unlike the marketing, did not specifically mention the classical monster that was the film’s antagonist. Rave reviews were heard but my expectations were in check. More now than ever, most modern movies aren’t that interesting to me or are just overrated/just plain bad despite general consensus. Thankfully, Sinners not only met but exceeded my expectations.

I was on board the entire time. The 1932 rural Mississippi setting, the twins portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, the supporting characters, the plot, the big action finale, the score, the soundtrack, the new twist on that horror creature which was modern without feeling preachy, the subplots—I loved Sinners. The switch from drama to horror takes a long while but it doesn’t matter when I was so invested. All the main players in the cast impressed-would people be surprised that I hadn’t seen Hailee Steinfeld in anything before-she definitely was a highlight.

I’m glad Sinners is not only a hit among the critics but also moviegoers. This is the sort of big-budget movie I want from Hollywood instead of the nonsense I don’t care about: comic book films, many remakes or sequels or reboots, modern “humor,” agenda-driven filmmaking, etc. It’s a movie I give my highest recommendation to; what a masterpiece from Ryan Coogler.

On a sad note I was saddened that Steve McMichael passed away a few days ago. Of course I remember him playing for the Bears as a kid before he became a WCW wrestler. I saw him wrestle once at a show in Rockford, Illinois, where he beat Stevie Ray. RIP to him.

One last note: one night the 2009 Disney animated film The Princess & the Frog was viewed for the first time. While not perfect, it was still rather entertaining-speaking of quality music in a great setting. The main reason was that soon I was finally going to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is basically a new skin over the old Splash Mountain ride. It is amazing that for decades Disney had a major ride which used characters from a 40’s film they won’t ever release on physical media or streaming—Song of the South has aged horribly since 1946.

Anyhow, it was only a few days later that I unexpectedly had the opportunity to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. My opinion: yeah, it has less of a plot than Splash Mountain (unless you consider “Hey, let’s have a party!” to be a plot) and more than once there are screens displaying images rather than animatronics. That said, the animatronics present still looked nice and a big asset was that I dug the music which played throughout.

I’ll return sometime in May.

Ash, The Alto Knights, The Amateur, Princess Mononoke & Black Mirror

Yep, this will be another two-parter; the second will be posted sometime in the upcoming week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Here, what's been viewed theatrically will be discussed, along with yet another unpopular opinion I have: my befuddlement over why people like Black Mirror.

One night I saw two films in a row. First was Ash, a low-budget sci-fi effort which still looked rather good for its budget. The director was The Flying Lotus, a synth musician who had only done avant-garde films that I never even bothered with. Thankfully, Ash was rather traditional aside from some nightmare imagery. The story isn't the most complex yet the movie was still interesting and the sort of thing I was happy to support. The most famous names in the cast were Eiza Gonzalez as the lead, Aaron Paul, and Iko Uwais of The Raid movies fame.

The Alto Knights was sadly a boring, flat version of a gangster movie where for some reason, Robert De Niro played both the lead protagonist and the lead antagonist; yes, two different characters played by Bobby, for reasons that seemed to only be “it's a gimmick.” There were nice period songs from the 40's and 50's but otherwise, no surprise that not many other people went & saw the movie theatrically.

Princess Mononoke is a famous anime movie from Studio Ghibli in Japan that I saw on the big screen years ago. This time the viewing experience was on an IMAX screen. The movie is still excellent. Just a few days ago, I viewed The Amateur. The main reason was to compare it to the original. Yes, there was an original The Amateur movie, from 1981 that even film fans didn't know about. Turns out, the two share only a few things in common. The original (it and the remake are both fine, for different reasons) stars John Savage of The Deer Hunter fame; the most famous face in the cast was Christopher Plummer. The movie has a slow 70's style, which was fine with me.

The remake of course has a more modern pace and is slick; while not a must-see, at least most of the modern movie tropes that turn me off from modern movies are thankfully not present. It's a decent effort which is not a must-see yet isn't terrible either. What IS terrible: I now am subscribed to Netflix again, at least for the next few weeks. I viewed The Electric State, which was even worse than I imagined. Now there is an atrocious modern movie usually avoided by me.

Aside from their special interactive episode Bandersnatch-which was fun mainly due to its interactivity, I had never seen an episode of Black Mirror. All I knew was that it was a harsh take on the horrors of technology. Some negative reviews from presumed reliable sources were why I never gave it a shot despite how beloved it is by millions out there... but finally that changed. I chose White Christmas, mainly due to its high ratings. Well, perhaps that was a mistake as it was another special and an anthology of three different stories plus a wraparound.

Except from the first segment, I hated it! The tone and the stories as a whole were just not enjoyable whatsoever and in fact was agony to get through. If that represents the series as a whole, thank goodness I never bothered to begin with. Perhaps one day a traditional episode will be tried; however, I was so turned off by last night's experience, that won't be happening anytime soon.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Lena's Seafood, Coca-Cola Orange Cream, Blue Spring State Park, Angelina's Diner & Orlando Colon

My apologies for posting this hours later than planned; this weekend was best described as “blah” and best left forgotten.

Yes, there's plenty for me to mention today so let's get going immediately. Around my birthday (February 22^nd; I am now 44!) one night was spent w/ family, which was nice. The big day itself, the evening was spent at a wrestling show, around 7 miles south of where I live, at the Showcase of Citrus. Yes, it was outdoors when the temperature was perhaps not even 60 degrees. That was OK; some real nitpicks could be made and I would have in the old days where I had a page for reviewing wrestling shows, which was a real source of drama but let's not dwell on that. What I'm saying is that no nitpicks will be made and thankfully it was not like modern wrestling where everything is overly choreographed and comes off as fake, not to mention a real overkill of everything. The main event featured Orlando Colon, i.e. Epico Colon for those that watched WWE from 2011 through 2019... which I certainly did not.

A family friend was down here for almost a week, as they've done for the past several years now. It is always nice seeing them; one Friday was an epic day as several locations were visited. Blue Spring State Park was first; it is a scenic location even without the manatees that congregate during the winter months to the warm water. However, they were present and it was a thrill to see a number of them out in the wild. Then, onto Daytona Beach to connect with A1A, the highway right beside the beach; we were on it right up to St. Augustine, with a stop in Ormond Beach at a random local eatery known as Angelina's Diner. Someone wanted to eat at a diner so that was the first one spotted. Fortunately, that establishment had great food.

In St. Augustine, the old downtown area was visited, along with the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It was a masonry fort built by the Spanish in the late 17^th century; there are people and signs which explained the great history of the fort and how it was occupied by different peoples throughout the centuries. On the way back, a rural seafood dive to the east of Silver Springs was visited; Lena's Seafood was visited by my dad before and while it is a popular place which is like most restaurants post-COVID in lacking enough staffing, otherwise does make tasty food and has the benefit of presenting quite the cross-section of white people, including individuals covered w/ tattoos.

Otherwise, some days have been better than others yet overall I can't complain. When I can drink new drinks like Coca-Cola Orange Cream & Sunkist's Blood Orange Raspberry and both “are bangers” (to speak like “the kids”) that sometimes is enough to satisfy me. Some places and restaurants have been visited for the first time in ages; this includes a Red Robin. One was not that far from me but the lease ended and the dissolution between the chain and the building was a rather messy one. Thankfully-at least where I visited-they still have decent food.

Not too much else for me to say—at least I don't recall needing to mention anything interesting. Oh, one day there was a tornado that landed in an Orlando suburb but that wasn't anywhere near me. Sometime in April, I will return.

Conclave, Mickey 17, Black Bag, & Airing My Grievances

As sometimes happens, this will be a two-parter, the second half coming around this time tomorrow. I will mention the negative experiences I’ve had then the trio of theatrical pictures I’ve seen since the last time, one of which I didn’t really like.

On the 7^th of this month, the plan for the evening was to visit the food trucks that are in downtown Clermont, an activity that’s been done on several occasions previously. Now, parking has always been an issue and it’s only become worse as of late. On the evening of the 7^th, what I discovered was that some mental giant made the problem worse—I could write for paragraphs about it but I’ll be brief instead. This included requiring to pay to park in certain areas! What, now I need to get there a long time before the event stars to assure that a spot less than a mile away could be had for free? I said, “to heck with that!” (only, the phrase was stronger than that) and went to a fast food place instead for dinner. As nice as the downtown of my city is, this and other reasons are why I rarely visit it… there isn’t the mood to visit that area again anytime soon.

To air another grievance, recently I returned to a Dave’s Hot Chicken for the first time in months. Don’t visit the location in Altamonte Springs, which I’ve been to before. Perhaps never again! The service was bad and somehow, they found a way to create a bad chocolate milkshake! I didn’t know such a thing was possible; if it has way too much syrup, then it will be no good.

On a lighter note, two of the three films on the big screen I really enjoyed. Conclave is wacky because the format was of a political drama that you’d see in the 70’s, but the subject was “Cardinals feuding with each other over the election of a new Pope.” The plot was full of dialogue but that was no problem with me. The story becomes far-fetched by the end but I was still invested. Thus, it was a movie I highly recommend.

Black Bag is a spy thriller which is not about James Bond antics or action scenes. Rather, it’s another movie centered around dialogue; spy Michael Fassbender thinks that his spy wife Cate Blanchett is involved in something nefarious-that is a problem as they actually have a strong marriage. Naturally, the truth is quite a bit more complicated than that. The movie felt mature & retro, was nicely-acted and had an awesome jazzy score. Henceforth, it’s another film I recommend.

Unfortunately, Mickey 17 was one I didn’t care for; many do, but I didn’t. Bong Joon Ho is hit or miss with me. His Korean movies The Host and especially Parasite are well worth seeing, IMO. However, his Snowpiercer was a shrill, irritating, obvious satire about how bad capitalism is, a constant refrain from the director. Sadly, Mickey 17 was also a shrill, irritating, obvious satire about how bad capitalism is. The fact that the focus turned out to be on (far left) Mark Ruffalo doing an OBVIOUS Trump impersonation was unfortunate. I won’t state my political opinions here; what I can say is that especially now, it’d be nice to forget about politics and all the turmoil while watching a film. Instead, it seems like Hollywood likes making divisive movies in recent years; I do get why “the right” has some complaints about that.

As for Mickey 17, despite the best efforts of Robert Pattison and supporting character Anamaria Vartolomei (who showed up for like 20 minutes and seemed like a pivotal role… only for her to vanish completely until the ending), the movie started off fine then became worse and worse into a truly awful final 20 or 30 minutes before end credits. It committed many modern movie sins, from “constant F-bombs” to “not knowing when to end.” Unfortunate. No one seems to know why some dude was in a PIGEON costume for a few scenes, not even the movie’s supporters!

Fortunately, when I return tomorrow, plenty of positive moments will be discussed, from my birthday to a day trip done with Dad and a family friend to St. Augustine.

Wolf Man, Heart Eyes, Pepsi Wild Cherry and Cream, Dr. Pepper Blackberry & Black Swamp Raspberry Cheesecake

There hasn't been too much going on with me these past few weeks. No new restaurants; instead, I revisited some old ones for the first time in awhile, like McAlister's Deli, Guy Fieri's chicken restaurant or Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant at Universal's CityWalk one night-I hadn't been to CityWalk in months and it was largely the same as last time. I've had some new re-hydration drinks (I never discuss them here but sometimes I sample new ones) like Suerox and Body Armor Flash I.V. As the next time I'll be writing one of these I will have turned FORTY FOUR (!) it's never a bad idea to take better care of my body.

I can say that Pepsi's Wild Cherry and Cream is good, as are Dr. Pepper's Blackberry version. Both are limited edition offerings. Randomly I discovered that Mountain Dew is going to discontinue a few flavors (Major Melon, Spark and Frost Bite. There's also no more Voo Doo flavors for Halloween) but there will be new ones... I've heard a melon flavor from Canada and another will be Dragon Fruit.

Mainly due to its name and label (which featured pink alligators) several days ago from Publix I picked up a limited edition ice cream known as Black Swamp Raspberry Cheesecake. It features “Mackinac chocolatey graham crust and raspberry filled chocolatey cups.” It's a lot... but it's also quite good.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that there was the wild moment where there was no Internet or television in my neighborhood for almost 24 hours... because something overloaded and caused an explosion! It knocked out power to some places, although thankfully not where I live. Just two days ago, the Internet (but not the television) went out for a further nine hours. I was still a little salty about that.

Two theatrical movies were viewed in the past several weeks. Wolf Man got a rather frosty reception. People didn't like that it was a different take on werewolf lore. Me, I thought it was fine; while flawed (and rather dark visually, although that's most modern movies, sadly) it wasn't as horrible as many seemed to think the movie was. In fact, Wolf Man was good to me; I was even fine w/ the design of the title creature.

Heart Eyes was earlier in the week. I was hoping for a fun modern version of a slasher. Instead, the movie was more like a bad parody of a romantic comedy which happened to be in the world of a slasher. Most of the “humor” did not work for me whatsoever and it was full of annoying characters. A shame, as the two lead actors weren't the problem and there were good gory moments... at least what I could see. Once again, it was a too-dark film. Others do like it at least a little more than me, so your mileage may vary.

I'll return sometime in early March, most likely. There will be a few things I know will be discussed.

Se7en, Toyota Century, Crepes, Steve McQueen & David Lynch

Here is the recap of what I’ve done from Wednesday through today. Wednesday, I saw Se7en on an IMAX screen; it was the last showing of the 1995 movie. Believe it or not, before Wednesday I had only seen a few minutes of the film. I don’t love David Fincher movies like most everyone else does. Turns out, Se7en is very good, some nitpicks aside. For those that haven’t seen the movie themselves, the famous (well, now infamous) actor who portrayed the villain was a surprise to me. Business picked up once he appeared and the final 10 to 15 minutes were tremendous.

Thursday, I went to the Mecum auto auction in Kissimmee, as I’ve done for years now. Over 3,000 vehicles are available for sale and the auction now occurs for almost two weeks; it ends on Sunday. It’s always nice to walk around and look at a wide variety of cars… everything from the only-in-Japan Toyota Century (basically, their attempt at a Rolls-Royce, made for businessmen… and probably Yakuza heads too, to be honest) to the race car that Steve McQueen drove in the 1971 movie Le Mans which until now was owned by Jerry Seinfeld for more than 20 years. After I left there, time was spent at a surprisingly busy Disney Springs before heading back home.

Unfortunately… when I was at Mecum I purchased crepes and a Pepsi from a stand and well—my stomach eventually felt bad and you don’t want to know the details! Today I’m exhausted but otherwise feel alright. Don’t ever eat the crepes when you’re there! Also, right after eating the food, Twitter was loaded and the David Lynch news was seen. I haven’t seen Twin Peaks (the show or the movie) and the newest feature film I’ve viewed was 1997’s Lost Highway. His version of Dune had its issues but it wasn’t his fault; otherwise, I rate highly all those odd to bizarre films… even Eraserhead, which at least I can rationalize. It’s a testament to him that he became beloved for making bizarre, surreal, dreamlike film and I’m glad that in recent years I took the chance to see more from him than just Blue Velvet. RIP to him.

I’ll return… well, it should be sometime in February.

Nosferatu, 7 Up Shirley Temple, Ace Hardware, Mission BBQ & Saucy by KFC

For my first post in 2025, there isn't too much to share, although... I somehow neglected to mention a detail from that ill-fated flight from Wichita back to Orlando last month. I wasn't the person in the worst shape who boarded the flight. There was a slight delay, because a woman who boarded had some sort of medical emergency. She never lost consciousness but she then her family left the flight as she was taken via ambulance to the nearest hospital; I had a window seat so there was a view of her on the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance. Hopefully she was fine; all I can say for certain is that I've been fine health-wise the past month.

Another point I neglected to mention: while in Wichita, one night carryout food was picked up from the Bella Luna Cafe. They had good sandwiches, or as some would call them, “sammies.” I don't, as will be explained later.

Christmas was spent w/ family. The last week of 2024, I helped out more than one person w/ a task, which I was happy to do. To be vague, one afternoon a trip to the local Ace Hardware was needed for double-sided tape. It was my first time at that location. Hilariously, that store and a few others is owned by someone w/ the surname TOOLE. A job he was destined to have!

Otherwise, not too much to mention. Late November when I was in the Fort Myers region, I purchased the Shirley Temple variant of 7 Up at a store. I did not know at the time that it'd be impossible to find near me. It's good but not so spectacular that I'll be up in arms about the matter. One night, me and two others went to the local Mission BBQ spot in town, which just opened recently. As it was my first Mission experience period, it was a relief that the food was good. Oh, and last week I went to Epcot for the afternoon. The hope was that crowds would be down as it was chilly-by Florida standards; wrong. It was still nice to walk about.

I did revisit the Lazy Dog Restaurant in Kissimmee for the first time in like two years for a late lunch. Otherwise, Saucy by KFC is the only new place to mention. It's a new concept from the chain, and it's the first location full-stop; all I knew beforehand was that it was going for “the youth market”, which I am clearly not a part of. Once I got there and saw on the touch-screen menu that they called chicken tenders “tendies” and sandwiches “sammies”... I felt like barfing like on the plane last month! The food itself was good-the peach mango lemonade a highlight-but the easiest description for the place: a ripoff of Raising Cane's. No, really. As the place is almost an hour's drive from me (actual Cane's is closer, along with other chicken joints I like), who knows if a second trip will ever be made.

Finally, the one theatrical experience I had. In the past, the 1922 silent Nosferatu and the 1979 European Nosferatu was tackled. Both were at least very good so the new film was viewed. I was also a fan, although I understand why more than a few in the general public weren't as enthusiastic. It's overtly sexual, after all. However, it was a Gothic horror good time.

I'll return—tomorrow! Yesterday and today have been eventful so might as well post something about it tomorrow evening, right?