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?

Gladiator II, Scheels, Kobe’s Steakhouse, Public at the Brickyard & Regurgitation

My apologies for not doing one of these in almost two months. There have been ups and downs since the last time, and not too much has been done. I’ll wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or at least a Happy Holidays) and I will return in a few weeks to discuss the last week of 2024 and the start of 2025.

The biggest event was my return to Kansas for a few days to see one of my sisters & her family. As always, that went fine and it was nice seeing my nephews. Their two cats did provide entertainment just by their being cats. One for certain liked me—twice, she laid down by me on the couch for the purposes of a nap. An afternoon was devoted to lunch at a nice watering hole in Wichita (Public at the Brickyard) which was festively decorated for the holidays, then a place I’d been to before-Nifty’s Nut House-was visited. Another afternoon, the local mall was visited. They had a Scheels, a store I knew of but had never visited; think of Dick’s Sporting Goods & Bass Pro Shops combined, w/ two bowling lanes. It was quite the establishment.

My last night there, Kobe’s Steakhouse was the big meal of the evening. I’d never had a problem there, but given what happened on my flight back, it had to be the source of my food poisoning! The morning I flew back, my stomach was upset even before a quick breakfast at my sister’s house. It escalated at the airport right before boarding began. In short, I felt awful and right as the plane was about to take off… I barfed into the barf bag! In total, puking happened three times (one in the lavatory) and I felt bad for everyone on board. I’ll give credit for Nina the flight attendant and especially Josh-the poor soul who sat right by me-for going above & beyond while I was down & out. As I also fell ill while flying back last December…

Other than that, not too much to write about. I did not attend the annual car show at the Orange County Convention Center for the simple reason that only a few manufacturers were there yet the prices were raised. It’d be a total waste of time & money, so why bother? Thanksgiving was spent (as it has the past several years) in the Fort Myers region. That went swell. One evening I saw Gladiator II; in what’s an unfortunate modern trend, the sequel was in essence a worse version of the first film. II wasn’t horrible but of course the original was far better. Another evening, the Longhorn Steakhouse that’s been open in town the past three months was finally visited.

Another time, dad & me visited my aunt in The Villages and ate at a restaurant. Otherwise, not too much to discuss. Everyone in my family is doing well. While it doesn’t feel exactly like Christmas this year for some reason, I’m still doing alright and more stories will be shared next time.

TRON Lightcycle/Run, Here, The Sunny Pint & Artman County Smokehouse

Here's a bit of a smaller update as I had the time/inclination to write one today. Florida traffic is still as bad as ever but otherwise can't complain about things as of late. One afternoon I picked up someone from the Orlando Sanford Airport and one afternoon had lunch w/ some family members at a hole in the wall BBQ place around The Villages called Artman County Smokehouse; they do serve good food. Another afternoon I was up in Wildwood on my own and ate at another local establishment called The Sunny Pint—they serve decent food.

The highlight was visiting the Magic Kingdom the Monday before Halloween & FINALLY riding TRON Lightcycle/Run, a year and a half after the ride opened. It's not necessary that you've ever seen TRON: Legacy before experiencing the ride. Just note that it has a cool blue aesthetic and cool electronic music (those were the highlights in Legacy; it far surpassed the story, characters, and the de-aging CG at the time that they used to make 2010 Jeff Bridges look like 1982 Jeff Bridges) and you ride stomach-down on unique ride vehicles. Yeah, it's not the longest ride-the most common criticism-but the same can be said about the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Epcot and both are a lot of fun. Due to the ride vehicles, they actually have lockers that you can access w/ your pass or MagicBand to put your items in beforehand. Sadly, it may be a long while before I'm able to get on Tiana's Bayou Adventure but I won't worry about that now. It wasn't that busy at the Magic Kingdom so TRON was ridden twice and it was in fact neat to visit & ride the Haunted Mansion right before Halloween.

One film was seen theatrically. The night of the election-I voted in the afternoon-it was best to go out and not even think of the ballot results as the most important one wouldn't be determined for hours. Thus, Here, the newest movie from Robert Zemeckis. Of course, I have fond memories of his Back to the Future and has some other fine movies but I know his output as of late hasn't been so hot. As I saw only one trailer for it and it is flopping at the box office, a plot explanation is likely needed. It has the wild gimmick of leaving a camera fixed in place the entire time (until literally the final minutes) as a patch of land is looked at through history... mainly since 1900 and mainly focused on the family of Tom Hanks and his wife Robin Wright. They were both de-aged as that technology has improved in the past 15 years so it didn't look quite as phony to see them as they looked in the 1980's. They still sounded like their old selves but that piece of technology to fix this logic flaw apparently isn't around yet.

While it's not without its flaws, it's a nice movie and unlike most modern films, it is not sarcastic or cynical-which is appreciated by me. A shame that the critical opinion is even worse than that of the public opinion. It even addresses the disappointments in life (including death) which probably isn't a shock for a movie made by a senior citizen. Regardless, I don't think it's as bad as you may have heard... if you heard anything at all.

I may not return until sometime in December. At least I know of a few things to write about then—not just my Thanksgiving plans.