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.

Orlando Storm, Fuze, Dr. Pepper Creamy Coconut, The Construction Zone Restaurant, & Good Town Buffet

Thankfully, I am caught up now. To begin, I’ll mention that one evening, I went with my father to a local seafood buffet that’s where the old Red Lobster was located: Good Town Buffet served decent food; yes, there was enough for me and my “particular” tastes. Another afternoon, I drove down to the Sunset Walk area (in the western part of Kissimmee) to visit a local establishment w/ a unique gimmick: The Construction Zone Restaurant. The theming was decent and the food was pretty good. If only the service had been even half as good as the theming or the food…

This past week, I saw a British crime drama film on the big screen, titled Fuze. It featured some recognizable names, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Worthington. It began as a bomb squad dismantling a World War II bomb while concurrently, thieves are robbing a bank in the era. After the first act, the movie turned into something else and while not as interesting as Act 1, overall I can say the movie is fine… frequent F-bombs aside. On a completely different topic, another new soda I tried was Dr. Pepper Creamy Coconut; I was unsure beforehand but the taste was actually pretty good.

Finally, I’ll mention that 8 days ago I went to see the Orlando Storm (of the United Football League, a.k.a. the spring league where The Rock is one of the owners) play against the St. Louis Battlehawks. Their home games are at the soccer stadium of Orlando City SC; it’s a nice stadium I’m always happy to visit. The first half, Orlando looked poor so the crowd was mostly moribund. Second half, Orlando played much better & despite the enthusiasm of the audience, still lost 25-17. Not only did I purchase a Storm shirt, they were handing out free white Storm shirts.

It won’t be weeks before I return.

Rick Springfield, Ebisu Orlando, Golden Tempo, Swig, & Mr. Pibb Punchin’ Peach

This weekend is the time for me to finally catch up; the last post will be tomorrow. I am in fact posting this right after viewing the Kentucky Derby. As mentioned in the past, my late mother loved horses so the Triple Crown was a big deal to her. Golden Tempo winning was a surprise winner but it was an exciting win and it’s cool that a female trainer won for the first time.

I’m glad to have tried some new sodas, such as Coca-Cola Cherry Float, Mr. Pibb Punchin’ Peach & Mr. Pibb Thrillin’ Vanilla; I enjoy them all although there are other new sodas I have that haven’t been tried yet-old sodas need to be consumed first. One new variant is Mountain Dew’s dirty soda… speaking of that, a Swig location has been located only a few miles away from me for months yet only recently did I finally try them. Their pineapple version of Sprite was pretty good so a return trip is in the cards.

One early evening I went to an Ebisu in Orlando, close by the Florida Mall. Ebisu is a chain that offers “high-quality Asian goods,” meaning various foods/drinks/games/novelty items. While I was amused it was in an obvious former Walgreen’s, I’m glad the building found a new use & yes, I did purchase random food & drink. It’s another establishment that will be visited again.

Another exciting day was spent at EPCOT, to partake in their annual Flower & Garden Festival. The sights were as grand as ever; however, the highlight was a surprise. During their festivals they always hold 35-minute concerts in an open-air pavilion thrice a day; I’ve seen everyone from .38 Special, Christopher Cross and the Village People to Boyz II Men, Hanson and Chubby Checker. I was not expecting Rick Springfield to draw the biggest crowds or the most attention out of those acts, but color me surprised. To his credit, despite turning 80 in only a few years, he still put on a quality show, interacting w/ the crowd, looking & sounding good. To use an extreme example, Vince Neil now is sad & embarrassingly bad. Thankfully, Springfield delighted the crowd; you don’t need to guess what song was played during the finale.

To reiterate, I’ll return sometime tomorrow.

Project Hail Mary, Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

It’s been too long since I’ve made a post; I’ll end up posting two more of these in the upcoming days. Talking about the quartet of theatrical experiences I’ve had in the past month will be the quickest and easiest to do.

Project Hail Mary was seen at Disney Springs on a 70mm film print instead of digital like what is in every cinema now. I won’t get into the nerdy reasons why film buffs prefer 70mm reels but that’s a unique experience that had to happen-not many places around the world even had that version of the movie. My thoughts: I wish there would have been less “humor” and those attempts at “humor” would have been funnier.

That said, my opinion is still a positive one. The movie did a lot right & made me wish there’d be more big films like this now. The focus on science, the optimism, the interesting score, a soundtrack full of songs that aren’t the same you hear in 100 other motion pictures, Rocky the alien brought to life (mostly) by puppetry… yes, please. I know some cinephiles would have preferred a stone-cold sober 70’s style science-focused sci-fi movie… that would have been great, but for me, for a film directed by directors I don’t care for and based on a novel which looks insufferable (at least judging by admittedly cherry-picked examples of cringe-worthy passages), I don’t regret the viewing even if most people love the movie more than I did… and I preferred the author’s other movie adaptation, 2016’s The Martian.

Kiki’s Delivery Service is the 1989 anime film from Studio Ghibli that hadn’t been seen before. For a middle-aged guy like me, a story about a 13-year-old witch out on her own for the first time (except for her talking black cat) running a courier service was surprisingly charming, an easy film to watch due to its low-key style.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was like the previous film: nothing revolutionary but nothing that offended me either, much of the humor was acceptable, pretty animation, etc. I never even played any of the Super Mario Galaxy games but that was irrelevant. Plus, I was able to see the movie in 3D; that added to my enjoyment, as did the blatant nostalgia baiting by the references to the Mario games of the 80’s and 90’s.

Last week, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was brought to cinemas as it is now 40 years old. As that wasn’t seen since I was a kid literally decades ago, that was another opportunity that couldn’t be turned down. As it’s a John Hughes movie set & filmed in Chicago, of course there was nostalgia but thankfully the movie is still funny and hasn’t aged poorly. Ferris wasn’t intolerable despite his antics due to him genuinely caring about his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron. The memorable moments, the dialogue, the supporting characters (Jeffrey Jones is unfortunately a bad person IRL but his Principal Rooney was a great foil due to his performance), the period score and soundtrack… I was happy to have seen the movie theatrically.

I’ll return sometime in the next few days.

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.