Rock & Brews, Pacific Rim: Uprising & Being A Gringo

What a rather nondescript week I had. Monday the 19th I did nothing of note. Tuesday was more intriguing, though. I recently found out about a place tailor-made for me. Rock & Brews is a national chain which recently opened two locations around Orlando; both are not that close to me. That is a shame as it was a nice-enough joint. As it is a place which plays rock (usually classic), has a decent variety of bar food and also a decent variety of craft beer... I would have been crestfallen if I wasn't a fan. Thankfully I was, and the pizza I had was tasty. On the way back I happened to pass by what looked like a Hispanic grocery store. I was curious so I stopped & went in. I was correct in my assumption. I hope they did not mind any gringos in there; as I was the only one who was a gringo and I doubt anyone will ever confuse me for a Hispanic... a little awkward yet things were fine. The cashier spoke to me in Spanish so thankfully she only said two pleasantries and the total amount.

Wednesday I went with someone to the local Texas Roadhouse restaurant; I had no complaints there. Thursday I went to Walmart, where I picked up some miscellaneous items and nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Friday and Saturday I did nothing of note as I was just too tired, I had things like college basketball (I was glad Loyola of Chicago made it to the Final Four) and Live PD I could watch, and it'd make more sense to stop at a few places on Sunday and have that be one busy day. Thus, onto Sunday. On that day was Pacific Rim: Uprising. I know plenty of people did not care for the first one and even I can say it has its flaws... I always thought it was very good and a lot of fun. Seeing it again on Blu-ray in the past week confirmed those feelings. It's a sequel and the original director did not return so I was expecting diminishing returns. My opinion on Uprising: it's not awful yet it's not great either. I'll say “meh” and that was me enjoying the action and some of the characters. The story is just really dumb and there was one important character that was pretty awful all around and that sank the movie like an anchor. By this point I already heard negative reviews about the movie so I was prepared.

Before the movie I ate at a Back Yard Burgers. I hadn't been there in years, because its location is not on a path I ever travel so I have to go out of my way to eat there. Their food is fine so I suppose I should have made more of an effort to return there sooner. Alas... when I return a week from today I hope to have more to talk about.

Tomb Raider, BoxLunch & The University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This was another not so exciting week for me, although at least I do have a few things to mention. Monday night the 12^th I ended up at the Altamonte Mall for a bit, where I purchased some nerdy items from BoxLunch; it's a place I've mentioned before. They're owned by the Hot Topic company and they are a more adult version of Hot Topic. They have a lot of different nerdy properties for the hardcore geeks... Disney, anime, Star Wars, Rick & Morty, Stranger Things, etc. Tuesday and Wednesday were dull as dish water so I will mention something I neglected to mention the last time I wrote. When I was at those two women soccer games I had a random celebrity sighting. Those that remember the old NBA, Grant Hill (a pretty good and pretty famous player turned announcer) was in attendance with his kids. It reminds me how years ago I saw another old NBA player (Patrick Ewing) at the local Best Buy.

Thursday night I went and saw Tomb Raider on an IMAX screen, the Cinepolis a little south of me to be exact. I hadn't been there in awhile. It wasn't the smartest audience I have ever sat with but I suppose it could have been worse. I have never played any of the Tomb Raider games yet I have seen the first movie with Angelina Jolie, which I thought was so terrible and insufferable I never bothered with the other one she starred in, The Cradle of Life. The new Tomb Raider is a lot better than that. Overall it's good and while not amazing like the Indiana Jones movies it was obviously inspired by (well, not Crystal Skull but you know what I'm saying), it still was entertaining, with some nice action scenes and I know the games have puzzles, which was incorporated into the film. Alicia Vikander is more than just a pretty face and a good actress, she was swell in the role.

Friday I got food from McDonald's. I am thankful I haven't had to use the touchscreen gimmick they now have at most of their restaurants, although I would have if I had gotten there a few minutes later... there was a clueless family which took forever to do the simple task of making an order and I was so happy I ordered before they did. Oh, and their buttermilk chicken tenders are alright but they pale in comparison to a place like PDQ. In the evening, I only saw part of the UMBC game vs. Virginia; that result was stunning as while they did have a player injured, Virginia was the only consistent team in college basketball this season so them losing as a 1 seed to a 16 seed for the first time ever and they were dominated in the second half... it was legendary in American sports for being so shocking. I am glad I saw what I did. What a wacky tournament it has been in general.

St. Patrick's Day weekend, I did not do much of note. Thus, I'll mention that for a few days in the past week, a sister was down here in Florida; she was here with a friend. It was nice seeing them. I could carp and moan about how I experienced some pretty bad traffic down here but it is a common refrain so I don't want to bring up that talking point yet again. I'll return next week and hopefully I'll have more to talk about.

SheBelieves Cup, Lucky's Market & Drinking Around The World

Note that “drinking around the world” means something that has become popular in recent years, which is whenever Epcot at Walt Disney World has various festivals throughout the year, people now brag about going around the various booths at World Showcase and purchasing alcoholic beverages. That's pretty expensive so I've never done that... plus of course I wouldn't drive home drunk and plus, it is obvious when the obnoxious tools are out that have had too much and can't hold their booze. I bring that up as that's where I was on Friday for their Flower & Garden Festival. It's always nice seeing the scenic sights, along with eating some interesting foods around the World Showcase.

Back to the chronological timeline: Monday and Tuesday I did nothing of note, so I can skip ahead to Wednesday. I attended an interesting event; it was two ladies soccer games. The past few years there has been  a round robin tournament in the United States where the national teams of the U.S., England, France, and Germany play each other. The last two games of the series were in Orlando, at the stadium where the Orlando pro mens and womens teams play at. France beat Germany 3-0 and the United States beat England 1-0, on an own goal, no less. America won the cup, BTW. It was a fine experience there; seeing both games did not cost a lot of money at all and for the most part, the people around me were acceptable. I was greatly amused at how many were not prepared for the Wednesday evening weather. It ended up being jacket temperatures and people can't spend a minute to look at their phones to see what the weather would be? I even overheard someone carping about how “they should have sent out an alert” about the weather? I don't know who “they” would be but of course I was smart enough to know I should have a light jacket, which I did use once the sun went down and the wind picked up.

Thursday I did nothing and Friday was my adventure at Walt Disney World, where I saw a girl who was like 14 wear a “Proud Furry” t-shirt. That was rather unexpected. Saturday I went to the new Lucky's Market in town; that Whole Foods competitor just opened a few days prior. This past fall I went to the one they have on the east side of Orlando and it was nice but the distance meant that was my only time there. Naturally the place was quite busy. I got a few items and I'll have to return there in the upcoming week for dinner one night as they also have a deli and bakery in their stores.

As I did nothing on a rainy Sunday and I don't want to regale people tales of a negative tone or mention how one night I ate something bad and felt terrible for a few hours... I'll be back next Monday and not much is on my schedule as of now.

Marco's Pizza, The Dude, & Many Theatrical Experiences

I say "many" as I saw 6 movies theatrically. Monday the 26th, I went and got food from Marco's Pizza, which has a store not that far from me yet this was my first experience with them. I got their XL cheese pizza for a nice price; the real reason was that I had a coupon for their Cinnasquares, which sounded like food right up my alley. Naturally, they did not have that available when I called so it'll have to be saved for another day. At least the pizza was good. Tuesday through Thursday weren't too exciting, aside from picking up someone at the big airport in Orlando-yes, again-so I'll mention that I saw a film one of those nights: Annihilation. I loved director Alex Garland's last film (Ex-Machina) so I had to see that. I did not love it but the movie is very good, and I enjoyed sci-fi on a “smarter” level where various things are ambiguous.

Friday, I was in Orlando for something and the highlights there: me eating dinner at a Friendly Confines restaurant for the first time in months, going to the Safeway grocery store for a few items, and having beverages at a nearby World of Beer. While at Friendly Confines I saw they had a beer from the South Florida brewery Ormond Brewing Company called THE DUDE, which is a White Russian milk stout. I have my opinions about The Big Lebowski which I won't share here but it seemed like something I should try so I could tell people about it; I don't recall ever having an White Russian drink but this beer was fine. Saturday I did which is now a yearly tradition and that is heading on over to the AMC at Disney Springs to see one of their two movie marathons the two Saturdays before the Academy Awards of the Best Picture nominees. Here are the five movies I saw with a few hundred people:

Dunkirk: I am still meh about the film even if it has some exciting moments.

Darkest Hour: It is rather not truthful when it comes to some big scenes yet I can still say it was pretty good overall; Oldman's performance was great. It playing after Dunkirk was a natural as a large part of this was about them evacuating the troops there.

Call Me by Your Name: It seemed a little overlong at times but it was still very good, a nice romance between two characters that happened to both be men.

The Post: Again, pretty good. Comparisons to Spotlight are obvious and Spotlight was definitely better, but this was helped by having two main actors and a legendary director . The crowd seemed more enthused than I was, applauding some big moments.

Get Out: Somehow I hadn't seen this until now, despite all the attention and praise it got in the past year. Shame on me as it was indeed great. The crowd loved the Rod character (as did I) and they loved the big swerve at the ending.

Sunday, I went to the local World of Beer for a bit. That went fine. I watched Illinois State basketball lose to Loyola of Chicago in their conference's championship game; I can't get angry about it as Loyola was the favorite and they hadn't been in the big NCAA postseason tournament since I was a toddler. As for the Oscars, as usual I watched it on mute; it mostly went as expected when it came to winners; the best in each category did not always win but the Oscars have always been like that. I haven't seen The Shape of Water so I cannot say if it should have won Best Picture or not. I am surprised it did as I know its most controversial scene.

When I return a week from today, not a lot is on the agenda yet.

The Edison, Black Panther, The Room, Raptor & Loquacious Orators

What events I experienced in the past week, my birthday week. Last Monday the 19th I decided to do something for President's Day. My destination was Disney Springs. I walked around and saw what was new. I went to The Edison, which is a new restaurant/bar that has a steampunk theme. I sat at their second floor bar and had a local beer; it is not the cheapest but then again that is what I expected given it's Disney. I wish I wouldn't have had some person pull out right in front of me on a rural road (necessitating my slamming on the brakes, and that person acted indignant with me after I honked at them!) but it's happened before... including that same spot on that road. Vintage Florida, I say.

Tuesday and Wednesday were boring, which was fine with me as I knew Thursday would be a busy day, and it was. I am sure people don't care to hear about my time at Wendy's so I'll move on; I got some sleep Wednesday night before taking both a parent and their friend to the airport. They were on different flights as they went to two different destinations but their flights left only within about a half hour of each other. Thursday the 22nd was also my birthday. I won't disclose my age but I can't believe I am that old either. As for what I did on that day, after I had some more sleep once returning home, I went to the Walt Disney World area, including the Magic Kingdom; it was popular there but that was what I expected. I did have (as someone I know predicted beforehand) both a burger & fries and a foreign beer throughout the day. 

In the evening I was sitting at a bar and as I had dinner there, one middle-aged dude was a loquacious orator... or to put it bluntly, a blabbermouth! He talked without pause for many minutes on end, it was incredible. He talked the ear off of a pal then a little later a couple sat by me and suddenly blabbermouth started talking to the guy, and I am not even sure if they knew each other beforehand. Then there was what he saying... a lot of harebrained talk about the sciences; I wish I had a tape recorder as even if I did not hear all of it, what I caught was incredible. For example, I should have stopped and asked him what he was going on about concerning not believing all of Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion! Blabbermouth also did not have a lot of tact; the people by me were an older gentleman and a younger Hispanic lady. The guy mentioned how they “were friends... for now” and I chuckled. Blabbermouth then said the obvious and brought up them having sex! What a way to spend my birthday.

Friday, I went and saw The Room right in my hometown theatre. Since The Disaster Artist came out I imagine many now know that infamous Tommy Wiseau film; I have seen it before but never theatrically. It was not one of the screenings where Wiseau was there in person; rather it was the same screenings that were shown elsewhere a few months ago that had special features advertising The Disaster Artist. The showing started a half hour late due to incompetence (that's what I call it, despite what the manager came in and explained the issue was; as similar things have happened there to me and people I know in the past... there's a reason why I rarely go there despite it being only a few miles away) yet once it started there were no problems and people laughed at how terrible The Room is, and the movie is as inept  as you've heard. 

Saturday and Sunday were boring; I'll just mention that via circumstances I won't get into, I stumbled upon an energy drink called Raptor. It's from Guatemala! The drink wasn't too shabby. When I return a week from today, I know I have some plans already set in stone I'll be discussing. 

Luge, Restaurant Loudmouths & Hourglass Brewery 820 A.D. Patersbier

This past week was another quiet one for me, although there was the novelty of a parent having another friend down here on vacation, happy to escape the weather of the Midwest. It was nice seeing them as I've literally known then all of my life. Last Monday I had to make another airport run; this time it was Orlando International and I had dinner beforehand in the area; I chose TGI Friday's because it was close by and I hadn't eaten at one in awhile. That was fine and I liked my food, but I could have done without the two incredibly loud people; I could have heard them if they were on the other side of the bar, but as they were closer... I am surprised I did not wreck on this night as several times I was almost sideswiped and I had to use my horn. That is the “fun” of living in Florida.

Tuesday I did nothing and Thursday I went somewhere to get fast food (Culver's, to be exact); Wednesday, the parent and friend decided-even with it being St. Valentine's Day-to go to Carrabba's for dinner. It was jam-packed but thankfully there was seating outside and that's where the three of us sat. That went well and we liked our food. Friday we went to another restaurant; this time I had the choice & I decided on a local establishment so it'd be new for the parent's friend. It was Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill, which has a few locations in Central Florida. It was another busy place; plenty of senior citizens were around. Again, everyone enjoyed their meals.

As an aside, I continued to watch some Olympics events via streaming. It was better than NBC's coverage; note that even though it's on their websites the online streams are done by the Olympics themselves, with their own commentary. Luge & skeleton were among the events I saw and they provided nice entertainment. As others have said, the streaming version of the Women's Super G skiing event was far better and far less ineptly handled than what NBC showed. As another aside, I did not see one second of the NBA All-Star Game but I did hear Fergie's rendition of the National Anthem... after my ears stopped bleeding, I was befuddled why someone chose her, a person who hasn't been relevant in years and at least according to me, has never been a good singer at all and I've never liked any song she's sung on.

Sunday was another day with nothing to report, so I'll mention what I did on Saturday. I returned to the local World of Beer for a late lunch. That went without incident, although I could have done without one employee there being rather annoying, and also pretty loud. Maybe it was just me... I had two beers from breweries local to this part of Florida: Hidden Springs Nitro Dreamsicle (a Berliner Weisse) and Hourglass Brewery 820 A.D. Patersbier. It wasn't until the night before that I had even heard of Patersbier; it is from Belgium and is a dark golden color and is a lighter ale sort of thing. Both beers were fine and I was happy to drink both locally and styles that are more obscure.

This upcoming week should hopefully be more interesting; after all, my birthday will be celebrated during that timespan.

Phantom Thread, Nacho Fries, Winter Olympics & Insomnia Cookies

This past week I was thinking of doing some things but due to circumstances beyond my control, this was a mostly quiet week. Something good unexpectedly happened to someone I know and sometime in the future I'll go more in depth on what I am referring to. Monday, nothing was done; Tuesday, I saw Phantom Thread. It's not my favorite movie from P.T. Anderson or Daniel Day-Lewis, but it's still very good to great. Some may find it “boring” but I didn't, not at all. 

Wednesday evening, I went to Taco Bell for the first time in a long time. There are many food options that are not too far from me and with them, it's more about cheap food than outstanding quality; the price I know is why they are pretty popular, especially among “the youth”. They have many options and it's easy to mix & match, so that is appealing to me and I should at least go there once in awhile. One of the things I purchased were the nacho fries, which were fine. I definitely did not go there because I was swayed by the terrible ads Taco Bell did to advertise them. Thursday I did nothing and Friday afternoon I went to the local store to pick up some food items.

Friday evening, as I had free time and wanted to do something a little different, I went to downtown Orlando; yep. The last time I was there to have drinks, the night started off well then because of reasons, things went South. This time I returned to the wacky place known as Frosty's Christmastime Lounge and while there were no highs, there were no lows either. I had drinks and people-watched. Thankfully there were some examples of “white people dancing”, which is usually good for a chuckle. The real highlight of the night was when I was walking to the vehicle to go back home. I noticed there was a brand new Insomnia Cookies. Sometimes I am “hip” and I have heard strong praise for that chain before. They are obvious in who they target... their locations are either downtown or on college campuses, and they are open and even deliver until the wee hours of the morning. I had two cookies and they were quite delicious.

The weekend was more boring for me; there's nothing too noteworthy of being discussed, except that I did watch some of the Winter Olympics on TV. Whenever either Olympics is on I watch some of it. NBC's television coverage isn't always great, but at least I can't complain too much about the streaming option on their website, where you sign up via your cable provider and you can watch live or via replay all the different events from beginning to end. In 2016 I saw various bits and pieces of such niche sports like archery and handball, because that's me. That'll give me some entertainment while it's going on.

Unless more unexpected events occur, this upcoming week should be more exciting.