Joker, Pollo Tropical, Power Outages & The Worst Day Ever?

I will be doing something different; nothing is planned for the rest of the week and as I did something highly out of character on Tuesday due to me losing my cool, I might as well post this a few days early and I'll just go back to a regular posting schedule when I return on Monday, November 4^th.

OK, it is hyperbole to state that Tuesday the 22^nd was the worst day I've ever had, as in the past I've been in a car accident and some things have happened which I've never mentioned in public. However, Tuesday was the worst day I've had in a long while and as there's a lot to say, I'll begin by stating why that was so horrid; it includes me having to do something very uncharacteristic and something that will shock those who know me well. I finally went and saw Joker; superhero movies usually aren't my bag (so is comic book movies in general) but I am familiar with the character from what I've seen both as a child and adult & it mimicking the style of such things as Taxi Driver did interest me.

Traffic there and back was of course bad yet bad things happened throughout the day. For the first time I tried food at Pollo Tropical... and realized I'll never visit the location in Altamonte Springs again as that was a disorganized cluster**** where the food took way too long to make and the staff was full of buffoons. At least the food did taste fine. Now, the movie itself. I was NOT a fan of it at all; blasphemy to many but it was like an idiot trying to do Taxi Driver, the attempts to tie it in with Batman ruined the story and the main plot that resulted in the “shocking” climax... it was so devoid of logic and common sense, I totally rejected the movie and its “edgelord” attitude. I felt this way even before a bad incident happened in the auditorium where I got mad and actually YELLED at people while the movie was playing!

Bad audience experiences have happened to everything but thankfully only a few have been notably terrible; well, this was the worst I've ever experienced. A group of cretins were acting stupid and I never heard anyone tell them to shut their mouths. For some reason, they loudly left the auditorium but did not exit through the door; rather, they were in the hallway by the door where everyone could still hear them loudly talk and as no one was doing anything about it, I actually flipped out and for the first time ever, boldly confronted them. Like I said, actions like this are just things that I do not do; however, I was already rather peeved (to say the least) by a bad movie so I let them know they were being A-holes and among my quotes was, “Do you even care that everyone else can hear you LOUDLY talking?”

Of course, their response was “hurr... durrr...” (I am paraphrasing here) and they mouthed off to me. Regrettably, I could not bow up to them and further this situation; they looked and acted like ogres and as no one was beside me-whether I knew them or not-and they looked exactly like the type who would finish confrontations via physical violence... for the sake of my personal safety, I had to walk away. Naturally they did not leave right after that, and the only explanation I have as to why they did not leave right away: their IQ's had to be in the 80 to 85 range! Throughout the entire time they were in the auditorium, they proudly displayed their lack of intelligence and common sense. For hours afterward, I was full of adrenaline, not to mention the general feeling of anger over such a thing happening.

The cherry on top of the feces sundae that was Tuesday: the day ended when the power went out at home... for FOUR hours. That was simply a brilliant capper to a day I'll be happy to forget. When I do return on Monday, November 4^th... I will talk about what I just finished doing today, which (unfortunately) is another negative experience. However, I don't want Halloween time to be a bitter experience so with any luck, I will also be sharing positive experiences.

Rugby World Cup, .38 Special, Disney Skyliner & Pitiful Football

Monday through Wednesday I really did nothing of note; henceforth, let me talk about some sports that are considered niche in the United States but I have viewed in the past few weeks. Late last month was the Grand Final in the Australian Football League; yeah, I still once in awhile see Australian Rules Football. In hindsight, I am not surprised that Richmond defeated Greater Western Sydney in a massacre (114 to 25) yet I did hope for something more competitive. During this past week I saw a replay of the National Rugby League Grand Final (also in Australia) and it was rugby league; Sydney Roosters defeated Canberra 14-8; while low-scoring, at least it was more competitive. Finally, this month I have seen a few rugby union (they are big differences between that and rugby league... it'd take paragraphs to try and explain to someone who don't know) games as the Rugby World Cup is currently happening in Japan. That huge typhoon canceled a few games but much more importantly, not too many lives were lost and the person I know who actually lives in Japan is fine.

Thursday was definitely the most interesting/exciting day for me. I returned to Disney, Epcot in particular. It was nice to experience the Food & Wine Festival again and eat dinner there, but the big draw for me was the new Disney Skyliner gondolas. They opened late last month and not even a week into operation, the whole thing broke down and people were stranded for a few hours; there's not a good look for Disney. Thankfully there were no issues while I was on them. From the Epcot station I went to the end of that line at the Caribbean Beach resort. I then transferred to the line that took you to the Art of Animation and Pop Century Resort; I hadn't been there in ages but both have tremendous theming so it was nice to walk around there for a bit. Back at Epcot, the band performing on this night was .38 Special; I am not sure how cool it makes me to admit I happily listened to all their songs in that 35 minute set, but I'll admit it anyhow.

The rest of the week, the only noteworthy event was picking someone up from the Sanford Airport. After Saturday it should be awhile before I make another airport run. Due to traffic and other factors, I was happy to lay low and relax. The Chicago Bears game against the New Orleans Saints game was on locally so I... well, did not watch all of it; instead I saw small bits and pieces, which was enough for me. The Saints won 36-25, but note that until late the score was 36-10 and the Bears were totally humbled. After what happened last Monday night where the Green Bay Packers won a game against the Lions after some atrocious refereeing, it sort of is a relief that Chicago will be mediocre at best this season as that will make it easier to ignore the NFL in general and not have to watch the New England Patriots (probably) win it all yet again. I'll have better things to do with my time instead.

Next Monday, I am expecting to write about more events as the upcoming week should be at least a little livelier... that's the plan, at least.

The Thing, War, Gemini Man, 4D Experiences & HFR 3D+

The main aspect of the preceding week: viewing some movies theatrically. Monday evening, I went to CityWalk at Universal Studios; it was at the Cinemark, which was an AMC Theatres until September of last year. It largely looked the same as before although the auditoriums were remodeled and now have the “luxury recliners” that have been in vogue for a few years now, and in general are very nice. This Halloween season they have had “Fright Nights”, which is showings of old horror movies; if only 1985's Fright Night would have been one of them. Anyhow, it is a nice lineup of such classics as The Exorcist, Psycho and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Well, on this night I saw The Thing theatrically. I am talking about the movie from John Carpenter starring my (non) relative Kurt Russell. It's a tremendous movie so I was happy to see it that way and plenty of people were in the auditorium; thankfully there were no issues or bad/rude behavior.

Tuesday I did nothing but Wednesday was one of those days which wasn't good overall but did have one positive stretch. I went and saw another movie, this time one from India. Indian movies aren't hard to see in Florida, but picking one is the thing... the fact that all of them are over 2 hours long is the big thing. However, I heard that War was an insane action film in the best of ways, so even though it was 156 minutes in length I went and took a chance on it. Well, it was gleefully absurd so it was a good time... even if there was a screaming child in the audience and the auditorium was freezing cold... I suppose it was at times a 4D experience as part of the movie takes place in the Arctic Circle; but, freezing cold would have been better for The Thing screening. Anyhow, the traffic there and back was full of A-holes behind the wheel and my dinner wasn't as good as expected so other than the movie I'd rather forget about Wednesday.

Oh yeah, I should mention that War was about a super Indian agent who has to go against his mentor after he seemingly went rogue. The movie was amazingly homoerotic, to be perfectly frank here. Thursday I went and saw another movie about a great agent: Gemini Man. For a nerd like me the big draw was not director Ang Lee or even star Will Smith but rather the unique way the movie was shot: a higher than usual frame rate. I could write paragraphs about the whole process but I imagine many don't particularly care plus there are sites which can explain it better than me... the picture is for certain clearer, although the action does move differently so I know people whose brain just rejects high frame rate and it does not work for them. I imagine that is a big problem to HFR becoming a common thing. Anyhow, I saw it in HFR 3D+ (simply, that format in 3D) and on a Dolby Cinema screen, which was huge and had dual laser projection.

The movie itself, it was more about its appearance and the digital creation that was Young Will Smith rather than its story and dialogue, which typically was either OK or pretty bad. That digital creation usually looked fine, although the one time it was fully lit, its appearance was shockingly awful. If you can see it in HFR 3D+, do so: that picture blew me away due to its clarity and it was the best 3D I've ever seen. Aside from that Gemini Man is a rather generic movie which kind of wastes its unique clone premise. I saw this at Disney Springs so Thursday night when I wasn't at the movie I walked around the area, and enjoyed it dressed up for the fall season.

Friday through Sunday the only things I did was either go into town for food or relax at home. One night was Domino's Pizza, because there was a coupon in the mail for a large pizza and bread bites; to be frank, it was a deal which was more about quantity than quality. The next time, I'll talk about the sporting event I saw some games of on TV as of late... and other things, which are not set in stone as of now.

Pretzel Bacon King, Dollar General Market, Airport Treks & Sizzling Hot Takes

I have to start this out by talking about the weekend first, for an important reason. Saturday's plans went by the wayside, although it may be for the better considering that I left the house at Sunday morning at 3 AM (!) to drop someone off at the airport in Sanford. More on that in a bit. There was a local pro wrestling show right in the city I live in; it was only about a 15 minute drive to the building so it sounded like a nice deal; besides, I was invited on Facebook to attend. Well... back in the day when I used to go to these sorts of shows all the time, events starting late were unfortunately commonplace. Times are different now, I have far less tolerance for such things as the doors not even being open at 8PM when the show was supposed to start at 8PM... and I did not know anyone else in the crowd milling about outside, so... I left and went home, which at least was a short drive.

I know people will get mad at this but I have to be transparent here. Hopefully it won't be like what happened around 5 years ago or so, when another event did the same thing and was going to start real late so I just left... I got called either a liar or incompetent by someone who claimed “Why no, the show did not start that late!”, which was patently false. Pro wrestling these days... it has devolved for a variety of reasons so that's why I don't watch modern wrestling at all as how it used to be done was MUCH more entertaining. Anyhow, the trip to the airport went fine and on the way back I stopped at a Denny's, which was less zany than expected for the wee hours of Saturday night. Sunday I did not watch the Chicago Bears game that was in London. Now, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is brand new and looks nice at least from description and photos, but I am glad I did not bother due to the now-common unwatchability of the National Football League (this includes an atrocious call, and it went in favor of the Bears and I can admit it was hot garbage) & oh yeah, somehow Chicago lost to the much inferior Oakland Raiders.

Now back to chronology: the preceding week had some different sorts of events, along with familiar ones. Monday, I went and got a haircut; I know I say this all the time but it was much-needed. Tuesday, I went to Lakeland to visit more than one place, although the one I'll mention is The Brass Tap, located at Lakeside Village. I've literally parked next to the place plenty of times yet this was my first time inside the joint. I've been to a Brass Tap in Orlando before so I knew what it was all about. I had craft beer as I saw parts of the baseball Wild Card game where Milwaukee blew it late and lost to the Washington Nationals. The one brew I'll bring up is the pale ale with the awkward name Toppling Goliath XHOPS-Onyx; Toppling Goliath is an Iowa brewery and that drink had a strong fruity taste although that was fine by me. Before that I stopped at a Dollar General Market, as I had never been to one before and it was literally on my way to Lakeland. It is a grocery store and a standard one, except that the prices are pretty good, although the selection is naturally not as great as in a Publix or Winn-Dixie. I was in the rural Polk City so no surprise at the sight of a teen girl (w/ her mom) walking around the store barefoot!

Wednesday I saw the other Wild Card game at home, where the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Oakland Athletics; I am glad they are doing well even if fans don't usually show up at Tropicana Field. Before that, I had the Pretzel Bacon King burger at Burger King. By modern BK standards that burger was fine, although the chain is not as good as they used to be, to be frank. They also had mozzarella sticks and yeah, don't get those as they are laughable compared to the ones you can find at many chain restaurants. In addition, a Mensa member ordered food after me at the counter and yet when order 90 was announced and the bag was on the counter, this jackass never looked at his receipt or even the receipt taped to the bag and instead start pawing in the bag before he realized his stupidity... Florida, everybody.

The only other event worth mentioning is that I actually had to make ANOTHER airport run, on Thursday; that was unexpected yet I was happy to do this task. When I return next Monday... I know that several theatrical films will be discussed.

Ad Astra, The Shining, Florida Tech Football & Unleaded 88

The previous week had some ups & downs but at least there were some cool experiences. Monday the 23rd I only partially paid attention as the Chicago Bears beat a bad inept team in the Washington Redskins. Tuesday, I went and saw Ad Astra, and on an IMAX screen. Remember, I still use the AMC A-List app and it is great being able to have IMAX and Dolby Cinema screenings covered in one flat monthly fee. I understand why the average movie fan wasn't necessarily blown away by the movie as it is methodically paced and is actually a personal story involving father and son. To me, I never found it boring like many apparently did and both the visuals and score were great, so no complaints from me and I am glad I saw it that way. Dinner was had at a nearby Backyard Burgers, a place which makes decent food and I should frequent more often. The next interesting day was Thursday, when I saw another movie on the big screen: The Shining.

This was actually the third time that was seen theatrically by me; this time it was “4K remastered”, as later in the year that will be released on 4K UHD, for those that are familiar with the format that is superior to Blu-ray. Yeah, it did look and sound great; it was a national release on that night and also tomorrow night, the 1st. It drew a large crowd to the Altamonte Springs AMC, and I think many enjoyed it... I've experienced negative reactions to other revival screenings of other Kubrick movies, as I've talked about in the past. I did not say anything when I overheard someone respond “it's alright” when a third person asked them what they thought of this first time experience for them. The Shining is pretty incredible so it is unfortunate they did not love it more; it will also be unfortunate if its sequel Doctor Sleep is not a good film. We'll find out in early November... it would be unfair to expect it to be a masterpiece like The Shining is, but if it's at least good then I will not be crestfallen.

I'll skip ahead to the weekend and that happened to be the most exciting time of the preceding week. Overall the weekend wasn't the best, although I'll still try to be positive about it. I mean, at least I got to go to Florida Tech in Melbourne to see them play a Division II football game against conference rivals West Georgia. They play in a high school stadium, but that sometimes happens in this level of college football. I was there once before (in 2014, where they lost to Delta State; that was only the second year Florida Tech football has been a thing) and I do wish that the experience at the stadium was more customer friendly, like making it clear where general parking was... or which sections constituted general admission seating, for that matter. 

All that said, I ignored the loud/dopey people at the game and Florida Tech easily beat West Georgia 44-10. I won't even get into the bad experience on the way to Melbourne where I honked at a reckless driver and they got mad because they were stupid... and figuratively tried to bow up to me but they were ignored by me. Also, after the game I got some food & drinks at the Cumberland Farms-never go to the one on 1000 W New Haven Avenue... instead, go to the one on 4440 W New Haven Avenue, take my word for it and I wish that chain had a location in my town like they used to. Before the game I stopped at a local gas station in Palm Bay and filled up the gas tank with Unleaded 88; believe it or not, E15 gasoline got rebranded under that new name. Sunday, I did not go out to see the Bears play against the Minnesota Vikings... I just didn't care to. Despite their QB getting hurt early, Chicago was still able to win 16-6. Another reason for me to stay in: I had laptop issues. It took some time but they were successfully fixed; in addition, I decided it made sense to get around to tasks I had been putting off for too long, such as defragmenting the hard drive.

When I return next week... I do have a few things on the agenda.

Rambo: Last Blood, Smash Mouth, Sam's Club & Unexpected Car Shows

Things happened this preceding week which were unexpected. I mean, Tuesday the 17^th I had nothing planned but due to circumstances I had free time so I returned to Walt Disney World, Epcot in particular. Their annual Food & Wine Festival began a few weeks ago and I fancied a look around to see what was new. Largely it's the same as usual; one obvious change (besides all the construction going on in the park, and their decision to take out the giant fountain: lame) was that the building in the Canada section of World Showcase that used to house the 360 degree short film... that is now being used as a center to purchase various varieties of cider, which I did have some. The band playing there on this day in 3 mini concerts a day was Smash Mouth. That made me feel old, as I remember when they were popular... in my high school days.

Wednesday I did nothing but Thursday I went with someone to a Sam's Club in Orlando. That went about the same as usual for my sojourns to that building... including erratic traffic there and back, unfortunately. Gas was also purchased using that person's Sam's card; on the way back dinner was at at an Ale House and that also went about the same as usual, with the food being fine. Friday was a different story. The plan before Tuesday night was for that day to have one thing for me to talk about... so imagine my surprise when on Tuesday night I saw a random yet ubiquitous Facebook advertisement which stated that the Central Florida International Auto Show-which I've gone to most years since 2005 or so, and always the day after Thanksgiving-is suddenly not during Thanksgiving weekend anymore but instead started... Friday, September the 20^th. I was blindsided as I had heard nothing about the change beforehand. I would have been rather unhappy if I did not discover this until after the fact... so once, a targeted Facebook ad was actually useful.

Thus, I went there one afternoon and naturally it wasn't as busy as it would be during an extended holiday weekend; I imagine there were reasons why this change was made... at least for me I did not mind having less people around as I looked at all the 2019 or 2020 models. One happy difference was that some manufacters made a rare appearance at this show, such as BMW, Mini, Jaguar, Land Rover, and... Aston Martin. AM has beautiful cars so it was tremendous getting to see them in person. I posted various photos from the event on my Instagram page, in case anyone was curious.

The only other event from the past week worth mentioning: going to see Rambo: Last Blood. I've viewed all the previous entries on multiple occasions in the past and all are enjoyable in their own ways... First Blood: Part Two is a lot of fun in being over the top 80's excess and grand action like how they used to make them. Last Blood, I understand the criticisms... I mean, it is a trashy exploitation movie and John Rambo here doesn't seem exactly like the character of old. That said, I saw it with a big crowd who loved what they were seeing and it did aid me in having a great time with the film. The third act: wow.

When I return next Monday, I do have a few ideas as to what I'll be discussing then.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, IT: Chapter Two & Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Chapter Two

Thankfully the preceding week wasn't too bad. The first interesting moment was on Tuesday when I had the chance to see IT: Chapter Two. It being almost 3 hours long did give me pause and I still think it shouldn't have been that length. Overall, the movie is fine; the first one is better but I am glad the sequel wasn't bad, which very well could have happened. It was viewed at Disney Springs so while I was there I also had some food; the highlight there was getting a churro from a new stand... yep it was pretty tasty and it comes in like 10 different flavors to boot.

Thursday I had free time so I went and renewed my annual pass at Walt Disney World; I won't toot my horn too loudly about that so instead I'll mention what I did after I renewed it at Hollywood Studios... I went in Hollywood Studios and I knew from the official Disney World app that the preceding week wasn't too busy there. I never thought that 2 weeks after opening, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge would only have an average attendance, to the point that the lines at the one ride in the land (Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run) would only be 35 to 45 minutes long and if you use the singer rider line the wait is a lot shorter. I mean, in a few hours I got to go on it three times and like the first time back in late August, it was tremendous being on an accurate mock-up of the ship that I have known for much of my life as I saw the original Star Wars films a decent amount of times since I was a kid. I understand not everyone loves the ride itself... I think it's neat and the interactive nature means that there's good reason to go on it multiple times. Turns out that fourth time was the charm in having me and five strangers do not terribly on the ride and get a score that was not poor. I went on a few other rides and it was good times.

Friday and Saturday I did nothing; as I had plans for Sunday this arrangement made sense for me. I went to the east side of Orlando to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture theatrically via Fathom Events. I know not many like it as it's weird and cerebral & tries to be like 2001; me, I never disliked the movie, and it was something I saw when I was a kid via VHS. It was neat experiencing it on the big screen because it has great visuals along with a tremendous soundtrack. After that I ate at a nearby Wahlburgers; I've never watched that phony “reality” TV show about the chain but I've eaten at the downtown Orlando location a few times, although the last occasion had to be several years ago. My time at their east Orlando restaurant went fine and they do make good food. Of course, the traffic on the 408 wasn't good and featured too many drivers driving too fast but unless it's late at night that is always the case. No, I did not watch the Chicago Bears game, even if they did beat the Denver Broncos. The Bears were real lucky to win the game and I discovered earlier today that they were aided by a horrible call. I am still totally “meh” on the National Football League and the whole Antonio Brown thing is yet another gigantic turn-off.

Anyhow, the upcoming week I do have a few plans in mind, including a movie I hope is a blast.