Tales of Halloween Ends & Webber International University Football

Since I last wrote, there isn’t too much to write about; I haven’t gone to too many new places or had too many worthwhile experiences unless people want to hear me about getting food from Hardee’s for the first time in a few years so instead I’ll mention a few things on this day that I’ll always have fond memories of-due to childhood and those chilly nights spend trick or treating in the neighborhood. Sigh… yet I know no one wants to hear me act melancholy either so instead, what I saw two weekends ago.

That was when I saw Halloween Ends. Already by that time I heard all the bad buzz and how mad it made most people, although some others did love it. Me, my reaction was more “meh”. Of course this movie would have been better as the middle of a trilogy rather than its conclusion and there still were some dumb moments, it was not a film I loathed. Heck knows there are some actual horrible movies in that franchise.

Two days ago I saw what is likely the only live college football experience this year; as I’ve done in the past it was local lower division football. I went to the campus of Webber International University to see them play against the Virginia University of Lynchburg. I’ve seen Webber before but just recently they opened a small stadium on campus; while it doesn’t have much in the way of seats and those are portable bleachers, at least their games aren’t in random municipal and high school stadiums in the area. VUL, meanwhile, isn’t in any division of the NCAA or NAIA (Webber’s the latter) and instead are something else but their games still count in the standings. VUL hasn’t won any games this season yet all their opponents were much better so the outcome of this was in doubt for me beforehand.

Turns out, it was competitive at first but the Webber Warriors pulled away and ended up defeating the Virginia University of Lynchburg Dragons 38-20; yes, afterwards I heard someone utter the phrase “slaying the dragon”. It was a nice quaint experience in what looked like a nice quaint little town of Babson Park. Admittedly you’d have to drive 5 to 10 miles to do much of anything but I was glad to finally visit the campus. The concessions were either a Kona Ice snow cone truck or a group of people under a tent grilling food & selling Great Value soda.

Last night I went to a Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux for food & drink in what may have been the first time in over a year. I’ll be back sometime in November.

Hurricane Ian, San Diego Padres, Barbarian & Irish 31

I apologize for not putting out one of these when I said I was going to then delaying it until now... but that's minor compared to Hurricane Ian and its aftermath. Thank goodness no one I know was adversely affected by the storm yet there still was flooding and damage done to the Orlando area, let alone the sheer destruction that happened around Fort Myers. I was just in that area 3 months ago so it was sobering to see how catastrophic the damage was. It's only good fortune that once again where I live did not suffer any damage of note. I was down by that and other things as of late, although I'm starting to feel more myself again.

It's just that I haven't had too much to discuss. I went to Walt Disney World once, returned to various restaurants (such as visiting an Uno's on I-Drive mainly because it wasn't busy on a Sunday afternoon; thankfully the food was fine. Another was visiting the Miller's Ale House that just recently opened in Clermont) and did some other things that aren't really worth mentioning yet they were still nice to do despite the typical terrible Florida traffic... instead I'll mention a few things. It's been fun watching sports as of late, whether it's baseball-it's fun seeing the underdogs like the Padres, Phillies & Guardians win big games-or college football in Tennessee defeating Alabama. The NFL, let's not discuss that or how the Chicago Bears are as bad as they've always been for years now.

I did go to Oviedo a few days ago; mainly, it was to use the toll roads while the tolls were still suspended-it wasn't until yesterday that they were reinstated and I'm unsure why they weren't collected for so long after Ian hit. The main place I visited there was a restaurant I only heard of the day before I went there: Irish 31. It's a nice Irish-themed sports bar which has a nice ambiance and good food; I wish it was closer by so future visits won't be more than once in a blue moon. The one movie I'll mention I went and saw theatrically was Barbarian; I heard good things online so the journey was made one night and my knowledge of what it was beforehand was quite minimal. It started off good, but then devolved to utter nonsense and became worse the longer it went on and it revealed what The Big Bad was; what a letdown it was overall. It was bizarre, but not in a fun way like last fall's Malignant was.

This time, I will be back sometime around Halloween and there are a few things on the agenda; real soon I'll be viewing Halloween Ends, something I've heard many bad things about yet I've watched the other two in that trilogy done solely based on the original Halloween...at least the original Halloween will always be a classic.

Coca Cola Dreamworld, Jaws, Shohei Ohtani & Cincinnati Chili

First off, the NFL season has started for most teams today; what I saw of the Chicago Bears game, it was the same old same old for them: a bad offense saved by a quality defensive performance. The game vs. the San Francisco 49ers was also played in pounding rain so I'm sure it wasn't aesthetically pleasing in any way; still, the Bears won 19-10.

I've already had Mountain Dew's newest edition of their Halloween season Voodoo flavor but I'll talk about that next time (which should hopefully be in a few weeks). For now I'll mention Coca Cola's Dreamworld, which is also recent. I heard someone describe that flavor as “Yellow Tic Tacs”, which I'll go with. How that is “the taste of dreams” is unknown by me.

Not too much to discuss now; at least there's two new restaurants to mention, which will be done so at the end. I went and saw Jaws on the big screen. I actually saw it that way once before-like a decade and a half ago-but this time it was via IMAX, so it was in a huge way. The movie's pretty awesome so it was a great experience. To mention an anecdote, long ago mom told me about how when she saw Jaws back when it came out in 1975, it was so popular that at the screening, there were people sitting in the aisle-way; imagine that happening now...

As I am sure people don't want to hear about me going to the new Publix that opened in town-it's small by Publix standards yet at least it had everything I needed-or how I bought a new pair of tan-colored shorts, or how I got a haircut that of course was much-needed, I'll talk about the biggest day I had: traveling to St. Petersburg to view the Tampa Bay Rays play against the Los Angeles Angels. I purchased the tickets in a flash sale a few weeks before the game so it was just a coincidence that it was the day after the owner of the Angels announced he wanted to sell the team. As LA has two of the best players in the game (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani) there is no excuse for them to have an under .500 record yet that's what they've been for a few years... they do need a new owner, in other words. Watching those players was a big reason why I chose that opponent when I had the option of a few different ones.

Tropicana Field is largely the same as it was last year; the game itself was 0-0 until the 8^th inning then suddenly it was a lot of fun up to the 11^th inning, where the Rays won 4-3. Ohtani didn't do anything of note but Trout did hit a home run. I'm glad this was the one game chosen for a live appearance this year. Later in the fall I'll watch a college football game or two live; it's been a lot of fun this season watching the games on TV. The first restaurant to be talked about was in Clearwater before the Rays game. Queen City staple Skyline Chili actually has a few locations in Florida although this was this closest one to me. Cincinnati Chili isn't really chili per se... it's rather a Meditteranean-themed dish where spaghetti noodles are covered by a meat sauce then a huge glob of shredded cheddar cheese-along with beans and/or onions if you wish but of course I didn't have it that way. It was a delicacy I hadn't tasted before; while I do prefer spaghetti w/ marinara sauce, Cincinnati Chili was fine.

I'll close this out by mentioning that the other new restaurant I went to was one that just opened in Orlando. At ICON Park was the Carolina chain Brother Jimmy's BBQ. Their food was also fine, and it had a nice atmosphere. When I hopefully return by the end of the month... nothing's on the agenda yet but I'll stumble into something interesting.

Ford Lobo, Dave's Hot Chicken, E.T., Fall & Orphan: First Kill

Since the last time I've written one of these, a few films on the big screen have been watched, along with other anecdotes. In terms of the Ford Lobo, that's what they call the F-150 in Mexico; they are quite similar although not exact. I mention that as the last time I was at Walt Disney World, I happened to park right behind one. From the license plate bracket, I know that the vehicle traveled from a border town across from the deep south of Texas to Florida-what a long drive.

The one interesting restaurant I tried out for the first time was Dave's Hot Chicken, a California staple... or rather, a small popular chain from out there which has opened up franchises in Florida. One will eventually be in Altamonte Springs but for now I had to go to the eastern part of Orlando-in fact, near UCF-to try it out. The menu is rather bare bones yet it worked for me; the chicken did have heat although it wasn't unbearably so. Two odd things happened on that day:

On the way to the restaurant, I saw a young teen male on a skateboard. Note that it was rainy weather and he had on no protection. That was a problem as he wiped out in front of me! Someone else did stop to check on this person who ended up lying on a patch of grass but I hope “concussion” was the worst injury he suffered rather than something far more serious.

Once I arrived at Dave's, I ate the food outside as it was too noisy inside; what a sound I was “treated” to close behind me: a boy who was like 8 years old barfed right in front of a door to Five Guys, which was next door! I don't know why he didn't go inside Five Guys to use the bathroom or even a trash can in there... that did not ruin my meal, which was rather tasty.

The three films I saw theatrically as of late:

E.T.: That played on IMAX screens; it was great to see in such a huge way. Yes the movie was a childhood favorite and I still think it's great now.

Fall: It was a movie I only saw one teaser trailer for and that's it. It's about two daredevils (who also happen to be young ladies) who climb a 2000 foot TV tower about to be torn down. Of course things go wrong and they get stuck up there. It's rather absurd and there are some bad plot decisions made; it's a shame as the two leads are pretty good in the role and it was interesting how the movie was about grief & confronting it. Speaking of absurd...

Orphan: First Kill: The entire premise of this is absurd if you've seen the original film and know what the sequel is about. I shouldn't have been surprised that they went the bizarre wacky campy role yet it still did. Many probably will scoff at it although the end product was so weird I was entertained. The original Orphan definitely is better and should be watched if you're a horror fan.

I'll be back at the very end of the month as I have a few plans in mind.

Marshmello's Limited Edition Coca-Cola, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Nope & Rock Bottom

Since the last time I did one of these, I do have a few events to recap. First off, yesterday I had a new beverage from Coca-Cola named after EDM DJ Marshmello. His music is fine when it comes to the electronic dance genre, but he's still a Canadian dude who wears a giant helmet which looks like a marshmallow. The flavor isn't marshmallow (that's instead Coca-Cola Starlight); instead it's strawberry and watermelon which is... odd yet it isn't terrible.

Late last month I had to make a run to the airport so I decided to make the short jaunt to Daytona Beach; after a trip to Buc-ees I ate for only the second time ever at the unfortunately-named Rock Bottom restaurant chain. They do have tasty food. The only other restaurant to mention was when I was in The Villages one evening and I was part of a small group that went to Augustine's 1812 House; it was fine Italian food.

I saw a pair of movies on the big screen and talk about a contrast. For the first time in several years I went to the arthouse joint in the Orlando area known as the Enzian to view David Lynch's 1997 movie Lost Highway. The other Lynch movies I've seen I managed to enjoy but I was worried that this would be too bizarre for me. Thankfully it wasn't strange to the point of being incomprehensible or insufferable. There are a few explanations as to what happened which don't require too much thought; this late night journey was a good one for me.

A few days later I saw Nope; the one time Get Out was experienced, I did enjoy that... Us not so much. Nope was even worse for me: characters I couldn't stand, a movie that felt like 230 instead of 130 minutes, a laughably bad climax where me and some others scoffed at the same time, and a waste of what was from description a nice premise. The fact that I had to use Wikipedia to figure out why there was a subplot involving a killer chimpanzee and how that possibly related to the main story: not good. Why many people think Nope is great: beats me.

A few days ago I returned to Walt Disney World (Hollywood Studios in particular) and FINALLY after the ride having been opened back in December 2019, I was able to go on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It's quite the impressive technical achievement with all that the ride entails. Without going into spoilers, the first part requires you to stand and walk around for a bit, yet it is great immersive theming. After that is the now-common Disney ride trope of “the ride is in a vehicle that moves around a flat floor without being on a track” but it was still fun. No disappointment here after waiting all that time.

I will return by the end of August.

Tales of Elvis, Fort Myers & Many Restaurant Reviews

 To mention the elephant in the room right away, July 25^th is the day that Mom passed away, two years ago already. I will be doing things today (which I’ll talk about next time, which will be sometime in the first half of August) which will at least distract me and I won’t be feeling mopey all day.

Since the last time, I’ve gone to a variety of restaurants. Some were places I visited for the first time in many months or even years (the Lava Lounge connected to the Rainforest Café at Disney Springs, the local establishment Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill, and even Subway… which is still as average as I remembered it) and others were new. I’ll mention those now:

One night was spent at Boston Lobster Feast, a buffet that has several locations but we were at the ones in Kissimmee. I have no idea if 65 dollars is a fair price for all you can eat seafood or not; they also had a limited regular menu which is what we ordered off of. At least for me, it was fine… I guess…

The next day was 4 Rivers Smokehouse, which I know for certain was a decent quick service BBQ place.

Another night was a return to Celebration Town Tavern, a fine seafood establishment. One night I’ll be there on my own as it’s always neat to walk around Celebration.

Several restaurants have been located on a corner in downtown Clermont yet until recently I had never been to any of them. Now, it is a southern cuisine place known as The Southern on 8^th. Even with my “particular” tastes there was still something for me to eat.

Earlier in the month, I spent the weekend in Fort Myers. I’ll just say it was to help someone out, which I was able to do and I was happy to do so. Saturday night me and some others ate at Mel’s Diner… no, not the restaurant from the old TV show Alice but rather it’s a small chain in that part of the world. The food was tasty. The next day some time was spent at Sanibel Island, a very lovely place full of charm. Dinner was at George & Wendy’s Seafood Grille; for a place that was the first one found which wasn’t busy, it was a pleasant surprise.

There wasn’t much else I did in July, at least as of now or is important enough to mention. The next few weeks I do hope to do more despite how oppressively hot it is now; I can’t complain as everyone is experiencing sweltering heat right now. There will be at least one theatrical experience, a few new restaurants, and a return to Walt Disney World.

I’ll close this out by talking about the one theatrical experience I had: Elvis. It’s a movie I heard mixed reviews on but Elvis the person was definitely fascinating and I dug his music so it was worth a shot. Believe it or not it was my first Baz Luhrmann movie in full; I know people around my age would be horrified but in the late 90’s I saw parts of his Romeo & Juliet and that was enough for me. He definitely is still flashy and over the top; overall I’ll say the movie was good. At times the editing was exhausting yet Austin Butler was great as the lead. Tom Hanks, though… I don’t know what was going on there; I’m not even certain if the real Col. Tom Parker spoke with an exaggerated Dutch accent or not. It was a bizarre performance, I know that for certain.

Like I said, my return will be in the front half of August sometime.

Top Gun: Maverick, Lightyear, The Northman, Jurassic World Dominion and RRR

 As promised the last time, here are the movies I’ve seen on the big screen since the middle of February, when I saw Blacklight… which was worse than the typical random Liam Neeson doing action as an old man film.

I saw the 50^th anniversary screening of The Godfather and while that’s been watched a decent amount of times by me before-including theatrically-it is always a joy to check it out on the big screen.

The Outfit: It’s a 1950’s tale involving gangsters and a tailor I wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for the trailer I saw theatrically. It was a pretty good time-despite its flaws and how it should have really left out the final plot twist-as Mark Rylance was great as the lead.

RRR: It’s an Indian movie and while I’ve watched a few of those before-all of which were bonkers-this went to another level. It was a THREE hour extravaganza which probably got a wide release because it has some names familiar to “The West” (Ray Stevenson & Alison Doody) and thus that’s how it managed to break out into a cult hit (now on Netflix) when others before it hadn’t. Also, it DID present perhaps the most bombastic motion picture I’ve ever experienced as everything was over the top, including the plot and the numerous action scenes.

The Northman: I get why many were nonplussed by it and even I thought it was pretentious a little too often… even then it was an interesting Viking saga I enjoyed watching.

Top Gun: Maverick: Even if more than once I wish it wasn’t such a “modern Hollywood movie” that felt like it needed moments of misplaced/unfunny humor, at least this wasn’t pretentious and it was a lot of fun. Speaking of pretentious:

Everything Everywhere All at Once: Many people apparently love this and its apparent popularity among the mainstream is absolutely baffling to me. As unpopular as it is to say online, I hated this movie, all its pretentions, vulgar 13 year old boy humor (if you love buttplugs and other sex toys…), nonsense plot and trite comments about getting along with your family… honestly, I’ve heard multiple people say they think this is among the greatest movies of all time! It was a movie I waited a few months to see theatrically as there was a chance I would not like its absurdist Adult Swim humor… but how angry it made me was a genuine surprise. Perhaps more than any other film ever, I’ll never understand its popularity or how I am such an outlier compared to “the popular opinion” of it.

Jurassic World Dominion: On a lighter note, this movie was a dumb mess like the other two Jurassic World movies yet I did note loathe it like I did those so “lousy” is at least better than “aggravated.”

Lightyear: It pales in comparison to the first three Toy Story movies but at least is better than 4. Lightyear was a fine generic animated action film and that’s about it.

I’m not really sure what I’ll see theatrically the rest of the year but hopefully there will be some gems. I should be back in a week or so.