Chuck Norris, Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float, Coca-Cola Cherry Float, Jack in the Box, & Tommy

Hearing that Chuck Norris passed away this morning was a surprise; perhaps I should have inferred from the amount of publicity his hospitalization in Hawaii garnered yesterday that he was in grave condition. I never saw much of Walker: Texas Ranger or even paid attention to the memes from 20 years ago but as an adult I saw some of his entertaining B-movies from the 70’s and 80’s so his death is a bummer.

The past few weeks, I have done a few interesting things. At a store in the Florida Mall I’d been to before that offers usually international food & drink, they also had a can of Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float, a beverage only sold in limited areas across the United States-not in Florida. I now wish they had it in Florida. I also dig Coca-Cola’s Cherry Float, recently released.

I did return to a few different restaurants for the first time in awhile-such as Uno’s Pizzeria or at Joe’s Crab Shack to have some shrimp. The most exciting place I went to was a Jack in the Box-yes, they have one in the Orlando suburb of Longwood; the chain hadn’t been in the state in something like 30 years. It was still popular when I went there one afternoon. The food is indeed tasty; it’ll be awhile but another location for Jack will be… the town I live in, Clermont! That’ll be handy.

Speaking of Clermont, a Sprout’s Farmers Market opened literally a few minutes’ drive from where I live; the store’s been visited more than once already. Mix in an afternoon that included me walking around a nature preserve for a bit, and another one where I went to a new Walmart in The Villages area that is “next generation”, which basically was “wider aisles” and “they had a sushi bar” … I’ve been doing fine as of late. The World Baseball Classic was fun this year, and the first full day of the NCAA Tournament in basketball was as entertaining as typical.

On Wednesday evening I went to the IMAX screen at the AMC in Altamonte Springs to see an old movie that only had two showings. I was surprised that 1975’s Tommy (based on the rock opera album from The Who) had IMAX showings; while I’d never even seen the film before-or heard most of the songs on the album-I was expecting a weird movie as I’d seen a few other movies from late British director Ken Russell… no relation. Indeed, the movie was weird yet had plenty of subtext, was colorful, and had great music. The film drew a largely older crowd, most of whom reacted enthusiastically once the end credits finished.

It likely won’t be until April that I return.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, Psycho Killer, Undertone, and Cow & Cheese

Today felt like the day for me to mention the last few films I’ve viewed on the big screen, along with the local establishment I ate at before one of the movies. Elvis Presley in Concert is a film which was Elvis in the 70’s, mainly on but sometimes off-stage and featuring plenty of unearthed footage. Despite being directed by Baz Luhrmann-I was mixed on his 2022 Elvis movie-after the opening the rest of Concert did not feature many of his worst instincts.

It was a great experience; the music, the visuals, the crowd… the movie was solid evidence why I’m happy to ignore modern music when it does not compare to someone like Elvis. The best experience was afterwards; a lady a bit younger than me was dressed in 50’s clothing & wore a SWEET black satin Elvis jacket. Afterwards, a group of grey-haired women were talking to the lady and they happily discussed everything Elvis, at least from what little I overheard. It was a tremendous experience seeing multiple generations and a crowd of people featuring different races come together to celebrate one icon.

One night I saw Psycho Killer; it was after hearing the bad reviews-I was curious. “Qu'est-ce que c'est?” is my reaction! The first two acts weren’t great but was not terrible either. Killer was simply a dopey picture w/ a killer who had a dumb fake voice that was still watchable. Then, the final act happened; the story went in a bizarre direction that was also bad; what a huge misstep. Before anyone asks, no, the Talking Heads song doesn’t appear, either in original form or an insufferable modern cover.

This past Monday, I saw an early screening of Undertone, an A24 horror film releasing officially tonight. Now, I don’t love the movies that A24 produce or simply release like most cinephiles… however, some are worthwhile. Thankfully, Undertone did not have the typical A24 pretension. I knew that Undertone focused on sound first & foremost, which intrigued. What I didn’t know: not only is it a movie set in one location, the only character you see speaking on camera is a young lady who is a podcaster… nor that she lived with a bedridden mother who is comatose and near death. Despite being reminded of what happened to my late mother 6 years ago, I made it through the movie alright. I do understand why the character’s mom remained in the house-hospice isn’t inexpensive.

As for my thoughts, re: Undertone… the movie did a lot right. The movie’s methodical pacing was fine w/ me. The lead actress did a nice job, I liked the subtle moments, and I even recognized the ambiguity throughout, especially the final act. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat with me; nice idea, but it didn’t work out. Still, I’ll say that the movie was good overall.

As for the crowd at this screening, despite my fears, they actually were behaved and reacted to certain moments as you’d expect. However, once the end credits began, an experience new to me happened. Many people laughed… not just for a few seconds-I mean, uproariously laughed, for more than 30 seconds straight! They did not like how Undertone concluded, and they made it clear. Their reaction was far funnier than if they booed or catcalled the screen. I did hear some negative comments as I left the AMC but I’ll never forget the long, sustained laughter in disbelief.

Before the Elvis film, I was in Maitland to try a local establishment I found out from some website or account. Befitting its name, Cow & Cheese only offers a few items but the smashburger I had accompanied by seasoned fries were both tasty. Tasty to my ears was the Sirius radio station they had on consisting of 90’s and early 2000’s hip-hop. I won’t be able to visit that often as Maitland isn’t that close by yet I was still happy to support such a place.

My return should be sometime in the next few days.