Semiquincentennial 4th of July, Scary Movie, & Meeting Rachael Leigh Cook for a Second Time

As typical for years now, nothing much special was done on the 4^th of July, even if it was America's 250^th anniversary. Someone was dropped off at the airport in the wee hours of the morning but otherwise, the entertainment was watching the fireworks-both on TV and in the neighborhood. Those random neighbors actually shot off some impressive fireworks.

The clear highlight of the month is quite the story... for the first time since before the pandemic, I went to one of those comic con conventions. Little has changed-the vendors & the cosplayers alike. Most of those dressed as anime characters-I still have no idea what show it is. Heck, I might not have heard of that anime, period.

The reason why I attended: way back in 2018 (!) I went to a con to see late 90's/early 2000's starlet Rachael Leigh Cook. Then and now, she mainly does those Hallmark movies. That first time, there was a professional photo opportunity. What I didn't mention when recounting this story at the time: while waiting in line, I basically had a panic attack. I won't delve into details but that first meeting was rather awkward & embarrassing.

Well, I was glad to finally have another opportunity to meet her, and this time not act like a buffoon. Thankfully, that was the case. I was also glad to explain to her why I was such a fool the first time. Ms. Cook remembering me perhaps isn't a surprise-no one out there is quite like me! However, she remembered that first encounter! I was hoping that wouldn't be the case; heck, she even referred to it as “a debacle!” No, I wasn't offended; besides, “debacle” is a great word. It's a relief that this second meeting wasn't a debacle and after 8 years, that wrong was righted. I won't mention all the details of the conversation but yes I was happy to pay to have new photos taken with her. Then & now, she lived up to her reputation as being a very nice celebrity.

I'll conclude this by mentioning that later in this long wild day after the convention, the new Scary Movie was viewed theatrically. Yes, this was a few weeks after release. The negative reviews gave me concern yet I had seen the first two films way back in 2000 and 2001 on the big screen in Illinois. The first one, I unexpectedly knew a pair of people from high school who were also at the screening so I sat with them & we all laughed at the especially vulgar moments, because we were dumb teenagers at the time.

As for the new 2026 Scary Movie, yes it was uneven yet there were still a decent amount of laughs, a few nice subtle background gags, and a clever ending. Thus, I thought this new Scary Movie was fine, which is also what I thought of the first two Scary Movies. I never bothered with 3 through 5 due to the lack of involvement from the Wayans Brothers.

I'll return sometime in the upcoming week.

Crooked Can Brewing Company, Mug Root Beer Floats Vanilla Howler, & Soarin’ Across America

I’ve been putting this off for far too long. In the next week or so I’ll post THREE of these in total, catching up on my July activities. The best and most memorable story will be the second entry, to be posted tomorrow.

In the nearby town of Minneola, the new Crooked Can Brewing Company building opened; it originated in Winter Garden. They are a microbrewery around for years but the building is massive. I went by myself the third day they were open. There were food trucks outside, right by a massive yard which has a splash pad-among other things-making it clear they’d be happy to have families visit. On my own, I purchased food from a food truck. A few days later, I returned there, this time with someone else. A few eateries set up like a food hall are available… well, not all of them are open yet. I’ll be kind and not go into details as the food itself was fine. However, it was supposed to be quick service and wasn’t; the food took like a half hour to be done! Yes, a manager type did warn of “long waits” even before we got in line, but still… Otherwise, I can’t complain about the place.

I’ve had more than one new soda as of late. Mug Root Beer Floats Vanilla Howler is not quite as good as A&W’s Root Beer Float yet I still like it.

This past Monday I returned to EPCOT, chiefly to go on their new version of the Soarin’ ride, which simulates you floating through the air as you visit various sights on a giant screen. It was originally devoted to California scenery then spanned the world. Due to what this year’s anniversary is, the theme was changed again to visiting locations across the United States. This included the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Alaska, and Mount Rushmore. It’s still a fun attraction where the sights are augmented by scents that are pumped in. I can still recommend this attraction, in other words.

To reiterate, I’ll return sometime on Monday.

Backrooms, The Furious, Spaceballs, Cape Verde, & Doctor Congo

I did promise to do another one of these by the end of June... as I have nothing better to do tonight, here you go.

Not much has gone on in the past few weeks; various restaurants were revisited. It was everything from Jack in the Box and Slim Chickens (w/ the latter, their chicken bits aren't as good as their chicken tenders) to Huey Magoo's, a local chain which just opened a new location... a few miles from where I live! That will be quite handy. One evening I did visit Universal CityWalk; it was during one of the hottest days of the year so far. They did have a nice setup celebrating the World Cup, where they even broadcast the games on a large screen... the Spanish version, as that's the only one they have rights to show.

A trio of films were viewed. The first was Backrooms, as that along w/ Obsession was the surprise hit of 2026 so far. Note that I never watched any of the original YouTube shorts until right before leaving to see it. Unfortunately, Backrooms was another modern movie I despised on a fundamental level. The story itself was rotten, and so were the performances. I was never scared, unless it was at how bad the therapist was at her job. What awful characters I couldn't possibly care less about. The third act became David Lynch if David Lynch had zero talent and they thought attempting an explanation of that insanity was a wise idea... it wasn't. I hated that as much as I did Masters of the Universe, no exaggeration.

Unfortunately, The Furious was disappointing, if thankfully not bad. It's a martial arts extravaganza from the Far East which had memorable moments yet was no 2011's The Raid by any regards. The story had four acts (as many Hollywood movies now do, regrettably) and that fourth act soured me on the rest. That's when things became stupid and characters which were indestructible before (as if they were a member of the Justice League or Avengers, or their super-villain counterparts) REALLY became so and it was just too much. A shame, as the fighting was fun, if overly choreographed at times. Yet, like w/ Masters and Backrooms, most enjoyed it far more than I did. Alas...

Just on Sunday, I went to a local cinema-a smaller chain-as they paid tribute to the 100^th birthday of Mel Brooks. It was Spaceballs, a favorite since childhood. Thankfully, the movie's still awesome. Next year they will release a sequel; if nothing else, Rick Moranis returning will be great.

I'll mention one final thing: the World Cup has been mainly background entertainment yet has provided some excitement so far. Germany already out is unfortunate as that's part of my heritage, but... beforehand, the idea of expanding the field from 32 to 48 teams is one I poo-poo'ed. Now, it resulted in nice stories, including Cape Verde and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (identified in graphics as DR Congo, explaining my lame pun) reaching the round of 32, where the eliminations start happening. I'm sure Argentina will beat Cape Verde and England-the other main part of my heritage-will beat the former Zaire tomorrow, but they were nice underdog stories nonetheless.

I'll return sometime in the first half of July. Nothing special will be done on the 4^th of July but there should still be enough activities to discuss.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, Star Wars: Millennium Falcon-Smuggler’s Run, Mountain Dew White Out & Waymo

There have been some ups and downs as of late but there have been some nice moments. One unexpected delight was finally seeing a Waymo vehicle in Orlando. For those not in the know, it’s a rideshare service using white Jaguar SUV’s which has quite the gimmick: the vehicle has various gizmos on the exterior because it’s self-autonomous, meaning there’s no human driving it! Those cars have been in the news for mainly the wrong reasons as of late but it drove fine as the car was by me at we both stopped at a red light on the busy John Young Parkway.

I finally was able to sample the Dirty Mountain Dew, made with a cream flavor; it tastes how you’d expect. I also had the return of their White Out flavor, gone since 2019 and only available in an 18-pack with Code Red and Voltage. It still tastes good as well.

One day I returned to Walt Disney World, Hollywood Studios in particular. Millennium Falcon-Smuggler’s Run has a new version of the ride that’s now tied to The Mandalorian & Grogu. The user also has an influence on the second half of the ride-no spoilers as to what I’m referring to. The ride is still fun. I went to some other rides but the main reason for the trip: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets. The ride itself isn’t changed aside from decorations, and the same goes for the ride queue inside the building. I admit that the old Muppet*Vision 3D attraction used more of the Muppets but the theming is still good and like w/ Falcon, the ride is still a good time.

Hopefully, by the end of June I’ll post something new.

Masters of the Universe, Obsession, The Mandalorian and Grogu, & HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA

It’s time for me to catch up; tomorrow I’ll post something else which will be the non-movie events I’ve dealt with as of late. The three movies will be mentioned chronologically in the order they were watched.

The Mandalorian and Grogu was checked out not because I saw all of the streaming show-rather, only the first season was watched-but because I have seen all the other theatrical live-action movies in the franchise & it’s been almost 6 ½ years. Well, it wasn’t as rancid as The Last Jedi & The Rise of Skywalker but my opinion is that much of it was mediocre, felt like glorified episodes of the show, and subscribed to some modern movie-making sins, such as “dim picture” and “overly explanatory dialogue.” That said, I wasn’t mad as the film wasn’t bad and there were some fun moments.

Thursday the 4^th I saw a pair of movies during a long day that wasn’t great due to no major reasons but rather many little reasons. That did not impact why I really didn’t like Obsession or Masters of the Universe. The former, I watched it despite my aversion to much “modern horror” in the 21^st century that’s beloved by the cinephiles. The fact that the mainstream crowds started to see Obsession and the movie still is doing well at movie theaters (on two days, it made more money than The Mandalorian and Grogu & even yesterday made the most money out of any film in American cinemas!) finally made me curious.

I hate to be “that guy” but it’s yet another modern horror that’d beloved in many circles yet in my eyes is in the category of being mediocre or worse. The general idea was great-I hated the execution, the plot, the characters, how it was “scary,” etc. I was quite disappointed. Also, don’t watch the movie if you love cats; more than most examples, gross things happen to a poor little cat. Why people are going bonkers & are obsessed over Obsession, it’s puzzling. I guess my tastes really are that different from most others… I can say that lead girl Inde Navarrette did a swell job.

Even more baffling that it’s received so much praise is the new Masters of the Universe. The trailers gave me pause and I don’t really remember watching the cartoon when I was real little-the only reason I bothered is a fond memory: as a 6-year-old, my late mother took me and my two younger sisters to see the 1987 Masters of the Universe, starring Dolph Lundgren and due to budget issues, much of it took place on Earth. Yeah it’s flawed… I still have fond memories and at least they took the movie serious and Frank Langella as Skeletor did not phone it in and delivered profound dialogue rather well.

This new Masters of the Universe, I HATED the movie. If you love the silliest MCU movies where EVERYTHING is a joke and nothing is serious, you’ll love it. Me, I hated every second as the movie was a “comedy” first except that I literally never laughed once as it’s stupid “modern humor” that’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. They made fun of the franchise, character names & all. I know Masters started as action figures turned cartoon but this direction they went to be “postmodern” and “full of cringe” and “embarrassing” is among the worst of the many sins of modern cinema.

The movie is a flop at the box office yet at least online there’s been many positive opinions. That is incomprehensible to me but I’ll be happy to ignore what’s popular now if it’s of no interest to me no matter if it’s baffling to most others. As for the infamous Jared Leto & his big role in the movie, he wasn’t even bad w/ his performance so that wasn’t the issue. I have no idea why I haven’t seen anyone else mention either the fact that a key fight in the climax had zero resolution or why something so goofy did not have a stronger, more obvious mention of the old HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA meme, based on the cartoon & using a cover of the 4 Non Blondes song What’s Up.

What a weird day Thursday was; after Masters, I stopped at a gas station convenience store where the clerk told me that a guy I immediately pegged as creepy (and I’ll never be mainstream in any regards but wow did they guy give off the worst vibes) was actually a creep. After he left, she told me that this was his EIGHTH time in the store during her shift! I hope he was trespassed; he has to be mentally ill but for the store’s sake I hope he was banned. On a lighter note, while in the lobby for Obsession, many people were cosplaying for the finale of a show I only know by name: The Amazing Digital Circus. You can imagine how bewildering it was to see bizarre outfits with zero context as to what they were referencing. Of course, I did at least laugh at those bizarre outfits, including someone I’ll described as “Michael Jackson dressed as Sgt. Pepper!”

Tomorrow, I’ll write something more positive as I have some nice stories to share.

Mortal Kombat II, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, & DalMoros Fresh Pasta to Go

Today, I will discuss a movie, a day at the Magic Kingdom, & a good random food court eatery. As a kid I pumped a few quarters into an arcade machine to play Mortal Kombat, although it wasn’t until adulthood that some of the console games were played. The 2021 Mortal Kombat was flawed yet fine—the 2026 sequel is better. Karl Urban as Johnny Cage was a highlight and the story was better—there’s more than just a tournament, although it’s great that there was one in the sequel. Mix in some OOT gruesome fatalities that are a hallmark of the franchise, and I had a pretty good time.

A few days ago, I returned to the Magic Kingdom; the big reason why: two rides were closed for awhile to be refurbished but reopened a few weeks ago. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is a ride where you have blasters in a moving vehicle & shoot at targets. Now, the targets are larger, the blasters aren’t stuck to the vehicle, and most importantly, it is much clearer to the rider when you’ve successfully hit a target. This is probably why I had by far my highest score: almost 400,000! The upgrade was worthwhile.

In an increasing trend for all the rides at WDW, them being shutdown for “issues” was common, whether it be old or new attractions. I didn’t ride many other rides on this day & in fact, there was doubt whether Big Thunder Mountain Railroad would open again after it being inoperable most of the time I was there. Finally, after eating food nearby, looking at the park’s app revealed they reopened—me and some random people walked rather briskly to the ride. It’s still a fun outdoor roller coaster; the changes were more subtle & the biggest upgrade was a new track. The ride is smoother so again, a good upgrade. When exiting the ride, the line was much longer so I was quite lucky.

Besides a trip to World Market for the first time in years (they’ve expanded their food & drinks selection, so I should have returned sooner), a few evenings ago I was at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando & ate at DalMoros Fresh Pasta to Go. They have a few random locations both in Florida and Massachusetts. Some praise was given by random accounts online-yeah, those aren’t always trustworthy although in this case, they did offer good food. There’s a number of different pastas, sauces, and toppings to choose from, all served in a takeout box resembling one you receive from Chinese restaurants. I was able to get two meals out of it, so no complaints.

I’ll return sometime later in May.

Tampa Bay Rays, Lovebugs, Napoleon Solo & Fanta Crimson Sour Cherry

I’ll make another post sometime on Sunday, but I had the free time to post this now, after viewing Napoleon Solo win the Preakness Stakes horse race a little earlier in the day.

On May the fourth, I returned to Tropicana Field for the first time in two years to see the Tampa Bay Rays play. November of ’24-after that MLB season was completed-a hurricane went over St. Petersburg and because the team hates Tropicana Field & did not want to do better upkeep of the building, the roof was torn off the domed stadium. I still think that was nonsense & certainly did at the time; that’s why the journey was never made to see them play last year in a minor league stadium in Tampa.

I did decide to return to the stadium on the 4^th; aside from the new roof, the building looks largely the same. Yeah, I saw the viral video that someone took of a stadium pillar shaking-I’d like to think it is AI nonsense but who knows… I can say that when it was pouring rain for a few minutes on that night, a few droplets of water fell on me from the roof! Yes, the brand-new roof. I’m miffed about that also.

Alas, I otherwise had a fun time as Tampa Bay defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 5-1. There were 10 hits each by the teams, a failed stolen base attempt, and my first time seeing the new ABS system used live; that’s where a player can challenge an umpire’s call and computer magic immediately confirms or overrules the call. A unique twist is that because of the date, the team had Star Wars Night, including official cosplayers who walked around. The day was a good time.

This is despite driving through swarms of lovebugs on the way to the Tampa Bay region. I haven’t mentioned them in years, but that’s because it’s been years since there have been such an influx of these bizarre creatures that only appear each May and September. For whatever reason, they’ve really proliferated in Florida now… and I understand, other Gulf Coast regions, especially also in Texas. I was hoping they’d be gone for good, but alas.

One last note: after purchasing that soda earlier in the year, I was finally able to try Fanta’s Crimson Sour Cherry. My verdict: pretty good, the cherry flavor not too sour.