Great Argus Pheasants, Hopdoddy, Anna, Going Viral & Sociopaths

“Going viral” is a relative term; it happened on Twitter June 14^th as I made a comment concerning the greatness of a particularly wild episode of LivePD. It got 7 retweets, 47 likes and 3 responses-that was by far the most popular thing I had ever said on that platform, and somehow I've been on Twitter for 10 years now. Anyhow, the preceding week had its ups and downs; Monday I did nothing but Tuesday was a bad one. I ate at a hipster burger bar known as Hopdoddy... no I can't explain the name either and I say “hipster” as it originated in Austin, Texas... and the food wasn't bad but the service was-this includes ordering burger & fries but the fries never came so I had to ask for them-so that was a big turn-off and I don't plan on returning there again. Even worse, on the drive there (it's located on I-Drive, at Pointe Orlando), I dealt with a sociopath behind the wheel.

I was almost there and there was a long stoplight to deal with. Soon after that, I honked at a Jeep right in front of me as he was driving real erratic-I don't know if he was high on meth, on his phone, or what... but I immediately then passed him on the right as I needed to turn right on another street in a matter of seconds. Suddenly, this guy flipped out, all over ONE horn honk. He cut me off, tailgated me, deliberately almost hit me a few times... I was in fact frightened by this psycho so when he pulled up right next to me (eyes bugged out and all) I held up my phone and repeatedly yelled, “I'm calling 911!” This guy was a total punk, as he immediately then got away as soon as he could to the point of doing a 180 and going the complete opposite direction. I never did call 911 because of that... although I wouldn't be shocked if someone else did as there were plenty of witnesses to his sociopathic behavior. So yeah, I'd rather forget about Tuesday.

Thursday, I had free time so I went to the Animal Kingdom; that day was far better than Tuesday, even if it was hot and humid out. I went on a few rides, walked around and saw various animals, some up close. The highlight was a few white rhinos up close on the safari ride and some birds that got real up close at that section of the Maharajah Jungle Trek (one of the two areas you walk through and see various animal exhibits) including a Great Argus Pheasant... a very large pheasant it is indeed.

The rest of the week was rather dull; there were more wacky episodes of LivePD and that provided entertainment. Sunday night, I went and saw the movie Anna. That was released to little fanfare as its director Luc Besson had some serious accusations leveled against him (by 9 different women... yeah, it's those kinds of accusations); perhaps I shouldn't support that movie then but unfortunately, there are many bad people in the entertainment world who do bad things so if I boycotted all of those... thing is, the movie is only fine overall (Besson is retreading old ground here) so even though it has some spy thrills and two big action setpieces, if you want to see this it is best to wait for home viewing. Also, the “Anna” might as well be “Annachronistic” as this is set in the mid 80's through 1990 yet such things as modern vehicles are seen in a few shots and there are also flash drives... honest.

When I return a week from today, I do have a few plans, including me finally seeing Toy Story 4.

New Coke, Shaft, Fire Ants & Salem's Fresh Eats

The preceding week was a more entertaining one than usual. Monday and Tuesday weren't too eventful (except for losing power for almost 2 hours late Tuesday night! I wasn't pleased by that although at least it wasn't during the hot muggy day) so I'll mention something that happened to me for the first time: a fire ant bit me. Yes, for a creature so tiny, it does sting like an SOB. It was literally only one of them, which I did not even see before it ended up biting me on my right forearm. Thankfully, after only stinging for a little bit, that sensation went away and it was like that never happened. I am glad I did not stomp on one of their nests or accidentally do something else which caused a swarm of them to attack me as that would be a nightmare; I saw online that cold soap and water would help for bites and at least for A bite, that seemed to do the job.

Wednesday, I went with someone to a restaurant I went to late last fall, Saltgrass Steak House. Back last year, I visited their location on Vineland in Orlando; Wednesday, it was their second location on I-Drive, at the building that formerly housed Brick House Tavern & Tap, which was a decent place I ate at a few times. It's not like that joint just opened so I presumed they would have their act together... I was mistaken. The service wasn't great (that includes the food taking forever to come out, and it wasn't too busy at the time) & my burger was more burnt than medium-well-at least the person I was with had a better time and they loved what they ordered. The Texas theme there was great so I will say that for now people should go to the one on Vineland and maybe in the future the I-Drive one will be better.

Also on Wednesday I received via Fed-Ex what I ordered a few weeks ago: the Stranger Things promotion that Coca-Cola is doing. Yeah, it's overpriced yet I wanted to be guaranteed to have New Coke, as even living near Orlando it'd be unlikely to stumble upon a pop-on vending machine briefly offering it this summer. At least the packaging was nice and those two small bottles of Coca-Cola and Coke Zero looked neat... the New Coke was the one I was interested in. I put one can in the fridge to consume on Thursday. That's what I did and... meh. Note that I like consuming all sorts of caffeinated sodas and I don't have a particular favorite, aside from avoiding most of the generics as generic cola usually is mediocre at best. I don't remember having New Coke when I was a kid as I was 4 when it first came out and I am sure my parents weren't fans of it so whether it was New Coke or the rebranded Coke II in the 90's, it was never purchased.

Having it in 2019, I was not a fan of its taste. I get why some don't care for Coca-Cola's unique properties and the tang it has; to me that's never been an issue and New Coke not only seemed like a worse version of Pepsi, it also came across as a lousy generic soda. I understand why some would like it-it is not for me. I'll save that second can to drink sometime down the line, even if that is weeks away from now. Friday I did nothing and the same goes for Sunday (except for wishing my dad a Happy Father's Day) so let me talk about Saturday. I went and saw Shaft, the new version. In the past I have seen the 1971 original a few times but never the sequels. Friday night was the 2000 movie of the same name, which I wasn't a fan of although I found out on Saturday night that it's better than Shaft 2019.

Before that I ate at a small fast food chain new to me called Salem's Fresh Eats-their offerings include seafood, subs, gyros and chicken. My meal was fine so I will have to visit them again in the future-their closest location is in Lakeland. As for Shaft 2019, I was not a fan. First off, the movie was a comedy, and one not too funny to me. Samuel L. Jackson (Shaft II) suddenly has an adult son (Shaft III) and the movie was made by old men in Hollywood woefully out of touch as all this did was crap on millennials and how they are “soft” and love such things as respecting women, coconut water, texting, are anti-gun, and use terms like “cis-gender”. III is made out to be a wuss because this is how he leads his life, while his incredible crude dad is awesome for being politically incorrect; it's an awful buddy pairing sort of movie, and Richard Roundtree doesn't even show up until deep in the final act. This was also incredible crude and vulgar; between that and this not having memorable villains, original music or action... I was not a fan. For what it's worth, the rest of the crowd at the screening seemed to love this.

It has rained all of June, which is fine except for dealing with Florida drivers in wet weather-yes, still amazingly clueless. Saturday had some heavy rain so no surprise I saw the aftermath of a few wrecks and of course some people still drove like A-holes despite the conditions. Hopefully I don't have to deal with any of that in the upcoming week.

Andy's Frozen Custard, Dr. Pepper Dark Berry, Brightburn & Mountain Dew Liberty Brew

Last Monday I did nothing at all except having a meal at a local Chili's-that went fine. Tuesday was different-yes, I had to make yet another airport journey. After dropping someone off at the Sanford airport, on the way back I went to a Big Lots where I purchased some items (including movies; the highlight there was eight Blumhouse horror movies on DVD for only 10 bucks. This includes Get Out, the first three Purge movies, and Split. No way could I turn down such a deal) and I also stopped at place new to me, Andy's Frozen Custard. I had a creation named after James Brown as it seemed like a cool thing to do; while decidedly unhealthy, it was also very good. 

Wednesday night, I went to a movie theatre that recently opened in Kissimmee, right by the new Margaritaville resort. A few years ago I went to Tampa and a Studio Movie Grill to see Train to Busan, a great Korean zombie movie set on a train. Unfortunately that whole day was rotten, including that screening. That place had some rude/dumb employees, assumed too much for anyone who had never been there before and there were some awful people at the screening. I hadn't been there since but hoped for better at this new location. At least the employees were friendly and the place looked snazzy... but just getting to your auditorium was a giant hassle, as unlike everywhere else the ticket-takers don't scan tickets from your phone and you have to do it yourself, only it doesn't work properly, then no one knew if my auditorium was ready... not the best first impression. At least the food was as good as the one in Tampa.

The film I saw was Brightburn. While not fully living up to its great premise and having some rather dumb characters, at least it was entertaining and had some rather gruesome moments. I was the only person at the screening so I truly felt like a VIP.  Thursday and Friday there is nothing to report so I will mention now two new limited edition sodas that came out. The first was Dr. Pepper Dark Berry, which I heard about on YouTube and it was good. The second I stumbled upon at a store: Mountain Dew Liberty Brew. It has FIFTY different flavors! What a wacky idea... it might as well be one flavor, “bomb pop”; I heard it described as that popsicle and it is not the worst description. Again, I'll say that is good.

Saturday I went to the Florida Mall to purchase some clothing items that I needed. Also, in the early evening some people who live near me were having an outdoor soiree and the music they played was not only DISCO, but mostly deep cut tracks to where I had to use the SoundHound app to ID what they were-I was impressed. Sunday was... the airport! Again I went to the one in Sanford, but before that was me having food & a drink at an Ale House, where I saw some sports-including the big hockey game-before making it to the airport. While a rainy day, I had no issues there.

When I return a week from today... I have no plans as of yet but as always I'll stumble into something.

Old Town Road, Godzilla, Sunset Walk & New Grills

No, by “new grills” I don't mean I am like Paul Wall and I have grillz in my mouth! I'll explain at the end. The preceding week I had wasn't too terribly interesting until the weekend. I did have a plan or two but things changed so for the most part I was low-key. The main thing I'll mention is that on Tuesday, I had free time so I ended up at a BJ's Restaurants & Brewhouse as I hadn't been to one in awhile. They have tasty food and my time there went fine. The drive there and back was at times hairy but that is typical, really. It was actually nice not being stressed out over traffic for a few days. Thus, let me mention a song that has been mega over for awhile now but just heard last month.

I knew there was a controversy over a tune called Old Town Road, by Lil Nas X... specifically, that it was taken off the country charts. Finally having heard it-both the original and the remix with Billy Ray Cyrus, how it is a country song? It's a lame rap ditty with my “favorite” device, Autotune! As I've said before, I am happy now to ignore modern pop music, with only a few exceptions.

Anyhow, the only other things of note happened during the weekend so let's get to that. Saturday I finally went and saw the new Godzilla. In the past I've watched a decent amount of the old Japanese Toho movies; I hate the '98 American one but the 2014 version was pretty cool, even if yeah there should have been at least a little more Godzilla. I had already heard this latest edition was quite different, and it was. It became a dumb modern summer blockbuster, which typically is something I avoid as they are just stupid. However, it was also inspired by some of the Godzilla films of the past, including villain motivations and honestly, the villains might as well have been aliens... and could have been but never were identified as such. The plot of King of the Monsters is outlandish... but, some of the Japanese films had such things as time travel, cyborgs, aliens that are actually apes, and humanoids that live underwater named Seatopians... so in comparison King of the Monsters is not as peculiar.

After the film I went to Sunset Walk, the new area by the new Margaritaville Resort in Kissimmee. I picked out BurgerFi as I hadn't been to one in awhile and I did have some good food. Sunday, I helped a parent put together a new grill; their old one became dirty and rusty so it was time for a new one and it was cheaper to buy one and assemble it yourself, so I helped them out with that... as it was a two person job. That job was completed w/ no complications. When I return a week from today... of course I know of a few things I will be discussing.

Daytona Beach, Clayton Kershaw, Sloppy Joe's & Game Of Thrones

What a week I had-it involved more time on the road than usual. Last Monday I did nothing but Tuesday was quite the eventful day. On Tuesday I returned to Tropicana Field to see the Tampa Bay Rays play against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Besides it being an interleague matchup and the Dodgers rarely playing in Tampa Bay, the two teams are among the best in baseball, for entirely different reasons. Plus, I knew there were some changes to Tropicana Field and I was intrigued. The actual game was pretty entertaining; a decent-sized crowd-by Tampa Bay standards-showed up, although of course a good amount of the attendance was Dodgers fans. LA won 7-3 in a game with a lot of hits and strikeouts. Clayton Kershaw was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and while he's only pretty good now instead of great, he was tremendous against the Rays. A moment that looked bad at the time was when another LA pitcher (Pedro Baez) had the ball hit right back at him and LOUDLY bounced off his knee, but when I got home I saw the news it was only a contusion.

As for the new Tropicana Field, it has some new added areas, including a big change and more of a variety in food options. There is also a gaming room where I played a Rambo arcade game, of all things. Unfortunately, I do have a complaint; the park is now cash-free. You either use your card or exchange some cash for gift cards. I imagine more places will be like this in the near-future but for a place which has always had trouble drawing fans... this could be a problem. The fact that there are multiple different ways to order food (it depends on where you order it from) and unless it's something like ice cream from a small stand or a beverage from one of the bars it is done via an incredibly unresponsive touchscreen... it did not leave a good first impression. Ordering a ticket and paying for parking beforehand was easy as I just had to present my phone on those occasions... yet the horrid traffic there and back and not feeling 100% on this day meant it was a Tuesday of ups and downs. At least I enjoyed the game, if not some of the fans I had to be around.

I quickly recovered from that brief spell and the rest of the week up to the weekend wasn't that thrilling. I'll just mention that on Thursday I went with someone to the local Steak N Shake; aside from the restaurant apparently having its temperature at 50 degrees I had a fine meal. On the way back, though... the entrance on the main drag to the neighborhood I live in was blocked because of-shock of shocks-a car accident. Two vehicles smashed into each other pretty good-I did see a stretcher as I drove by, so that wasn't good. The only other things of note happened on Saturday, so let me mention what I did due to the fact that-again-I had to make airport runs.

I dropped someone off in the early afternoon then in the early evening I returned to that airport to pick up someone else. To me it was more logical not to return home for a few hours and instead do something else. That something else was “go to Daytona Beach”; unlike my past few visits there, I actually went to the beach-it's been years since I have been on one and taken a dip in some salty water. Naturally it was busy on this holiday weekend yet I still found cheap parking and on the way to the beach I went by a shopping plaza; in it was a Sloppy Joe's; yes, the famous Key West hangout has another location in Daytona Beach. I had a tasty lunch there which did include a tropical drink. The beach itself was nice and I was happy to experience that again after all this time. The rest of the day went fine, although I could have done without all the reckless people on the road; it was like being back in South Florida with how many people were flying by me and zooming through busy traffic going way over the speed limit. I was starting to fear that I'd have to deal with the aftermath of a crash but I was lucky this time.

By the way, to reveal more about myself... I don't watch much in the way of fictional television. I mean, the fact that I've even seen Stranger Things is somewhat surprising to me. Thus, I've never watched an episode of Game of Thrones; I don't subscribe to HBO and never thought of streaming it or purchasing season box sets. I won't even laugh at how badly the show ended as I know plenty of die-hard fans and I feel bad this happened only because the donkeys that run the show wanted to be done with it and wrapped it up as quickly and as dumbly as possible. It'd be nice if they never worked in the industry again... but things like this suddenly don't make me want to watch more fictional television, that is for sure.

Anyway, when I return next Monday... I have some ideas for what I'll be doing.

Funko Pops, Elton John, Captain Planet, Darkwing Duck, Mario Kart & Other Megacon Adventures

Yes, I did more than just visit the big comic con in Orlando... but it will comprise much of what I'll talk about this time. Last Monday I did nothing of note; Tuesday was a different story. I went to The Loop outdoor mall to see a movie. Before that I had dinner there. My first choice was busy so I instead went to Johnny Rockets, a place I hadn't been to in many years. I always thought their food was fine so there was no excuse for me not going there more often. The food was tasty; after that I saw... Batman & Robin! A few days before this I streamed Batman Forever, which I saw theatrically back in '95. That was more garish than I had remembered. B&R I had seen before but only via rental. It was so absurd seeing such a bad movie on the big screen 22 years after it came out, I couldn't turn down that opportunity. Indeed that was as bad as I had remembered, although hilariously so. You can't help but laugh at how badly they missed the mark there. I mean, the movie was even more incompetent than the guy who was the cashier at the concession stand... and that guy was pretty clueless.

Wednesday and Thursday, nothing occurred... this is because Friday would have a lot for me to talk about. The past several years whenever Megacon would take place, I go on Friday as the tickets are cheaper and the crowds are not as large. It's always been good times with all the geeky items available for sale and all the cosplay outfits. This time around, not as many comic vendors were around... they were seemingly all replaced by vendors who sold Funko Pops. I know some who HATE those figurines and plenty who love them... I just don't care about them either way. I did not spend too much while I was there... the main purchase was a Godzilla T-shirt, after all. The costumes were largely what you'd expect: Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, and whatnot. I was amused that various 80's slasher villains were around along with Darkwing Duck, Captain Planet, two guys as Mario Kart characters (and they had makeshift karts around their waists), some guy as 1996 Shawn Michaels and another as NWO Macho Man Randy Savage, which greatly amused me. In a timely reference, a legend went as Elton John in his sparkly faux LA Dodgers outfit he wore in Dodger Stadium and as seen in the Rocketman trailer.

Unlike the last con I went to last summer, I did not meet or interact with any celebrities. At least this meant that unlike last time, I did not act like a buffoon around any celebrities that I happen to swoon over! The main highlight for guests was the cast of Back to the Future, including Michael J. Fox. Of course Fox and Christopher Lloyd were among the most popular celebrities on this day. Not in the special area for famous faces but in regular booths were Nichelle Nichols and TAIMAK. Yes, the lead of The Last Dragon, which is one of the most 80's films I've ever seen. It was an exhausting yet fun time on Friday. I am not sure why the standard wristband system was replaced by lanyards that you are given where you have to get online to log in so that you can be scanned in AND out of the comic con... maybe that's just me but it seems like a giant hassle and way too much effort in replacing a system that seemed to work fine beforehand.

Saturday I got some rest at home; there was the horse race, which at least was less controversial but the rider falling off his stead was pretty funny. Sunday was the third John Wick movie. The first one was great and the second I wasn't really a fan of... its action was tremendous but the story was aggravating and quite frankly, not a lot of fun. As the third continued the story set up in the second movie, I'll be frank and say my expectations weren't too high. Regrettably, I really did not like the third one and that is even with some great (if trying way too hard) action scenes. I HATED the story of the film for a number of reasons... there are logic issues and most importantly to me, I realized the John Wickiverse is pretty miserable-I mean, the world is not one where I'd love to live in. You have a bunch of miserable, unpleasant characters and people get into loud fights and somehow the general public does not notice... I know most will be aghast that I don't love the movie but this is just my honest opinion.

When I return on Memorial Day, I know of a few things I'll be discussing.

Lovebugs, Batman Returns, Arooga's & Hole In The Wall Bars

This past week... not spectacular. I tried to have the best time I could but fate seemed to conspire against me. Monday the 6^th I went and saw Batman Returns; the previous Saturday I viewed the '89 Batman at Disney Springs-this time it was at a smaller chain which I'll be too nice to and not publicly name. I've been there before and quibbles could be made about some things. This time it was more serious... besides a cashier who had tremendous difficulty because I gave him cash (yes, I still try to pay cash at places when I can; I am retro like that) the movie presentation started a half hour late, which I was none too happy about. The fact that as a kid I was not a fan of the film and I still don't love it did not help; it was not something I hated as the production design was tremendous-it's just that superhero films aren't for me, as I've uttered before.

Tuesday I did nothing but Wednesday I went to a Walmart to pick up some items. Them not having enough employees to check out at the traditional cash register (as I don't like using self check out and I couldn't use that anyhow as I needed to put money on a gift card) then the employee having a heck of a time putting money onto said gift card-this is one reason why the week as a whole could have been better... it was just embarrassing as there was a big line behind me. At least I found the Berry limited edition flavor of Pepsi and that is also good.

Thursday I returned to Disney Springs, this time eating at a place literally called Hole in the Wall; it's a bar attached to the Irish joint Raglan Road. I ate once in the restaurant, years ago, and the food was good. This time I ate outside at the bar and along with a Harp beer I got... of course I got my “almost always” of a burger and fries! That was good, even with it not being the cheapest meal and also the lovebugs flying around. I have not mentioned those in years as it's been a long while since they were out in droves like they are now. Each May and September you can find those bizarre critters flying all around Florida; there are urban legends about them being created in Florida so they could eat mosquitoes but that is poppycock... they are all around the Gulf Coast, so I've heard. They do eat decaying plants so I can't say they are totally pointless, but they smash against your car and it's a real hassle trying to remove those remnants as they really stick on there. As if the traffic I've experienced as of late wasn't atrocious enough (and believe me it's never been worse; it seems like drivers get stupider and stupider and do the most befuddling things) there is the hope that you don't run into a swarm of lovebugs.

Anyway, for Friday I was thinking of going on an adventure and be on the road for a good amount of time in order to experience new things and talk about them here. I then realized that once again I should be old and sensible again as later this month I know I'll be on the road to visit various places, so it'd be more logical to stay in Orlando and try out new places... which is what I did. This time it was an oddly-named sportsbar known as Arooga's. From viewing their website, they started in Pennsylvania and also have some restaurants in the Northeast... & the one Florida location presumably because a lot of people from the Northeast retire down here. Once I got waited on, things went fine and the food was decent-enough, I suppose. Before that I stopped at a Total Wine & More for some booze.

The weekend I did nothing at all except have a nice Mother's Day with my mom; I know, awwww. Friday when I was on the road, I had to take a detour as there was what I later found out was a massive accident where not only did a semi truck tip over on its side, but at least seven vehicles were involved, one was on fire, and there were fatalities. I hope “someone was on their 'smart' phone” was not the cause of that havoc but I have a feeling that was a cause, along with “driving way too fast”, as both things happen frequently down here, believe me. Not being on the road this weekend was a blessed relief.

When I return a week from today, I know a few things I'll be discussing and unless there is complete madness, this upcoming week should be an improvement over the one I just had.