Coca-Cola Y3000, Stetson Hatters, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, A Haunting in Venice & EPCOT

It was time to do one of these again; in part, it was because last time (due to discussing a few deaths) I neglected to mention a few details I should have. Thus, I have a lot to say but at least now I will be caught up. To speak chronologically, I visited EPCOT last month chiefly to use my new MagicBand. It works and at least lights up when you're admitted, but one of the few uses for MagicBand+ is scanning it by some gold statues which subsequently plays a small snippet of audio... except that I learned from others that you have to wave your wrist around like a buffoon for it to even register! Perhaps that's why there aren't more uses for a MagicBand+ yet... Also last month I went to a new restaurant in Kissimmee called Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar. There needed to be more people working at the bar itself but otherwise I can't complain about the joint.

Now, onto my September. The most interesting event of that month so far was my attending a live football game. It was in DeLand to see the Stetson Hatters play against the Webber Wildcats. I'd seen Stetson play before... albeit the last time was way back in 2017. Since then their municipal stadium that they share with the city's high school had been renovated and for certain it is an improvement. The first half was dominated by Stetson yet in the second Webber played better (or maybe it was also that Stetson played worse) so the final score was 38-28. In hindsight I should have returned there much sooner.
 

I haven't visited any new restaurants this month, although at least I went to one or two I hadn't been to in months. As for movies, I saw some theatrically. The Equalizer 3 was a good time; I've liked all three in the franchise even if none of them were even 4 star films, let alone 5. At least they were all fun. The same goes for all the Kenneth Branagh Hercule Poirot movies. A Haunting in Venice was perhaps the best of the three as it was a darker more introspective tale; in the trailers they played up the horror elements, which were only a small part of what was otherwise a standard mystery tale. The Nun II was a fun time; I liked the first more than most, in large part due to its strong Gothic vibes. The sequel doesn't have as strong vibes although at least the scares were better. It became nonsense, but fun nonsense.

Finally, I tried two limited edition sodas that came out a few days ago. It is now a tradition for Mountain Dew to release a VooDEW flavor around Halloween. This time around the company announced the flavor is tied to a specific candy. Having tried it and reading scuttlebutt elsewhere, it's not a candy I necessarily tie to trick or treating but maybe I'm mistaken; at least it tastes fine. The same goes for Coca-Cola Y3000. As with their other flavors this year, it is rather out of left field tastes; as for the bizarre name, it is tied to AI, of all things. The flavor was “co-created with AI”, which could mean a lot of things. I know the artwork on the can was created w/ AI; that's controversial now but I'd rather not open that can of worms.

Anyhow, I'll return sometime in October. Not much is on the agenda... yet.

Terry Funk, Bray Wyatt, Jimmy Buffett, The Last Voyage of the Demeter & Colbie's Southern Kissed Chicken

During this Labor Day weekend, I have to discuss some deaths but at the end will be some more positivity. Sadly, last night I heard that someone from my old hometown-who happened to be in my high school class and I chatted with before-passed away; that was a shock.

As for pro wrestling, there have been quite a few old personalities who have passed away in recent times. However, Bray Wyatt was a stunner; he was only 36. What little I saw of him I just never got his persona and his Fiend character was something I loathed. That said, he had several young children so it was still awful. Terry Funk, he is beloved in wrestling and many say he was their all-time favorite. I got to see him AND briefly chat with him in 2003. I still lived in Illinois at the time but was in Florida on vacation. I attended an MLW show in Orlando where he wrestled another legend, Abdullah the Butcher. I bought a shirt and took a picture with him; I need to find the latter as I want to post that on social media. Him passing away in his late 70's wasn't an eye-opener as he had been ill for awhile. Jimmy Buffett, that did surprise as who knew he was sick? I only know some songs but he knew how to make money via branding and I do like his Margaritaville restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, a new one was tried last weekend. In the Northeast they have a few places known as Colbie's Southern Kissed Chicken; one in Kissimmee was opened a little while ago yet it's in an inconvenient spot for me so that explains the delay. It is rated as less than 4 out of 5 on Google and I would have preferred the music in there not to be so loud. That said, I'm not sure why the rating isn't that high as the food actually was pretty tasty.

The one film I saw theatrically was The Last Voyage of the Demeter. The film definitely had some flaws & did not need to be a hair under 2 hours long. That said, it had a nice atmosphere, was Gothic at times & there were some decent scares. September, I'll go to a few theatrical movies; otherwise there isn't much on my agenda... yet.

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, Talk to Me, Meg 2: The Trench & Cake

Due to the weather down here this summer (after starting off mild, this summer has been even hotter than normal), there is not too much to discuss this time. A few restaurants & other eateries have been visited for the first time in awhile; this includes Bruster's Real Ice Cream-always a treat-and one day when I picked up someone from the Orlando-Sanford airport, I was briefly in Daytona Beach to visit Buc-ee's and have lunch at a Larry's Giant Subs; it's a shame they haven't had an Orlando location in years as it's a place I still like eating at. Speaking of food, something I've done a few time in '23: make myself a cake. I'm no gourmet but if I knew it was surprisingly easy to make something that tastes fine even if I mixed it all together... it's something I should have tried much sooner.

Otherwise, I'll mention the films I've seen theatrically. First was Talk to Me, a horror film from Australia I had no knowledge of until it received buzz like a week before it came out. Honestly, most of the heavily-hyped genre efforts in the past decade I sometimes avoid, as the ones I have seen just come off as haughty and pretentious, which I don't love. Most are massively overrated, which sometimes means “atrocious.” Talk to Me wasn't atrocious; at the same time, it was yet another modern horror movie all about grief and loss. That's a tiresome cliché by now. Plus, the movie lost me with its entire premise, as it's way too absurd to believe. Heck, there is even a subplot over the lead girl having lost her mother; you'd think that would get a reaction out of me... but nope.

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem was due to nostalgia. For a few years as a kid, I was a big Turtles fan & loved the cartoon. I even saw the first two movies theatrically. However, after that I wasn't such a fan any longer. The animation style and the score/soundtrack was the highlight. It's a shame that the story is incredibly tired in 2023 as it has many tropes done many times by now. Far worse is that this has “modern humor”, which to me is another term for “unfunny humor.” If you love rambling BS, characters talking over each other, awkwardness and modern references, then this is for you! As it's not for me, it's a movie I was disappointed in.

Finally, Meg 2: The Trench. I saw the first one sitting right by an awesome family that included a dad who treated the movie like it was an MCU premiere. The crowd I saw this with I didn't love as much... yet I have to admit that a surprising amount did throw away their trash as they left so I can't get TOO miffed. Also, The Meg was something that Mom actually was a fan of-more than me, to be honest; she saw it theatrically once then saw it at home a few times. Hopefully she would have liked the sequel. My opinion: it is utter nonsense and kind of dumb; yet, it was dumb fun which at least wasn't pretentious and has action setpieces I can laugh with... or perhaps at. It was also watched in 3D, which only added a layer of fun as some gags were meant for that format.

I'll be back sometime in a few weeks; who knows when for certain. I should hopefully have more colorful tales to share.

UFO's, The Mongolorian, X & MagicBand+

To catch up and mention what else has happened in July, let me mention one event I should have brought up last time: the night that I was in Kissimmee at Joe's Crab Shack w/ that peculiar bartender, this was after I spent some time at the Mecum Auto Auctions event on the East side of town. It wasn't their big January event w/ several thousand vehicles but they've started doing a smaller July event that still has at least 1,000 vehicles so it it worth visiting. No vehicles that are worth seven figures but there still were some nice ones.

There's only a few new events to mention. Before that, I'll mention that July 25^th was a melancholy day; it doesn't seem like that it's been 3 years since Mom passed away on that date, but it's true. I dealt w/ that the best I could. As for me mentioning a UFO... for a few hours last Sunday I technically saw an object in the sky whose origins were unknown to me. It was a light flying slowly, then suddenly a big plume of smoke came out of the craft. It wasn't until a few hours later and I searched Google correctly that I knew what that object was: one of Elon Musk's rockets! I had no clue one of those would be launched Sunday night soon after the sun set; no comment on Musk himself, although Twitter changing its name to X makes me wonder if my theory of Musk buying Twitter to ruin it is a theory that has merit...

Anyhow, two days before that I was in Orlando; I visited a few places then ended up at a new restaurant: The Mongolorian. It was a place that had a long-delayed opening; so long that it was obvious the name came from when The Mandalorian was more popular than it was now. Yes, they serve Asian food; it's not like BD's Mongolian Grill, a place in Lakeland I've visited before. Instead, you order at a touchscreen and wait a bit before it's served to you. The dish I had was fine; none of the dishes were named after anything related to Star Wars. That's a wise idea, as Disney is still rather litigious.

Speaking of Disney, a few days ago I was at the Animal Kingdom. Besides not having been there in awhile, the chief purpose of the visit was to get a MagicBand+ to replace the old regular MagicBand I've had for a few years. The only reason for the upgrade is that what I had was literally starting to fall apart. That one featured Darth Vader; this time there was a far larger selection and it wasn't an easy choice. Ultimately, what I purchased was a gray + which celebrated 100 years of Disney. It featured Mickey & Minnie Mouse in suits... along with Chip & Dale, randomly. It also features an Art Deco design, which is pretty neat to me. + bands are ones you have to charge up as it has increased functionality, although most of it won't be of much use to me, to be frank. Maybe in the future there will be more—but who knows, with all the turmoil Disney in general has dealt w/ in recent years.

I may be back as soon as in about a week; if nothing else, a few movies would be discussed.

The Dial of Destiny, Dead Reckoning Part One, Mountain Dew Baja Blast & Jojo's Shake Bar

Since the last time a few weeks ago, there isn't too much to write about, but I'll manage. In terms of restaurants, most of the ones I went to were me returning to them for the first time in awhile. This includes the Texas Roadhouse and a Joe's Crab Shack, the latter of which was a location new to me in Kissimmee. That place had shrimp that was alright and the bartender was a little weird. That said, it was still an experience that wasn't bad (there WERE ones that were bad, but I won't talk about those) so no complaints.

Two places that were new: yesterday I went to the East side of Orlando to try out the Aussie Grill. That is a quick service place run by Outback so nothing too terribly fancy, yet the food was good. Earlier in the month, I one day went to Pointe Orlando-a place barren compared to what it used to be years ago-as it had a joint known as Jojo's Shake Bar. Get this: it has an 80's and 90's theme (including for some reason showing cartoons of 1980's British cartoon Danger Mouse) so the music was from early 80's through early 2000's; I was more than happy to hear that as I had a shake and-get this-a burger & fries. It was all good so I was happy to visit a place seemingly designed to appeal to me.

Speaking of good, a few weeks ago I purchased some Baja Blast, which is a summer tradition as I always get some when they offer it for a limited time. The two new flavors this year are Passionfruit & Guava. Curious, yet I do like both. Otherwise, things have been on the quiet side. The 4^th of July went fine and I actually saw random people shoot off fireworks near home so that served as entertainment. A few days ago I got a haircut; hold on to your hats but it was NOT needed. Rather, it was because I was e-mailed a coupon for a few dollars off and it expired today. Thus, let me close on the two movies I saw.

Late last month was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The original trilogy was a childhood favorite and I was actually taken to The Last Crusade by Mom as an 8 year old in '89. I think highly of that trilogy... Kingdom of the Crystal Skull less so. Yet, Crystal Skull doesn't look so bad in comparison to Dial of Destiny. It made Indy look like an old grumpy fool which wasn't what I wanted, the lead girl was rather insufferable, and the “adventure” was rather blah aside from the opening segment where Harrison Ford was de-aged. That was the only time it even felt like a proper movie. Admittedly, the movie took a risk in the final act; in recent years, risks that big just don't happen in big blockbusters. Unfortunately, it was just bonkers, really dumb and I couldn't even enjoy such lunacy. Then again, I had no expectations so I wasn't enraged by the end product... just disappointed.

In contrast, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was a blast. The last few movies in that franchise I've really enjoyed but this may have been the most fun. While the action wasn't as incredible as in Fallout, it was still a blast. The story, it was the best (IMO) due to how modern it felt. Part Two-coming out a year from now-may drop the ball and really let me down, but that bridge will be crossed then. I loved it so much, the movie has been watched twice by me already, both on giant screens where the spectacle stood out. Tom Cruise as a person I don't love—him as a movie star is a different story. As I don't watch comic book movies or TV shows, this was my first time experiencing Hayley Atwell... what a fool I am for not seeing anything w/ her before! Yes, her physical beauty is appealing but it was the performance that was the highlight of the entire movie.

I should be back sometime in early August.

Family Visits, Clearwater Beach, Coca Cola Ultimate, Extraction 2 & The Flash

On this lazy Sunday afternoon, there is enough for me to share my activities in the past week plus. In the most interesting few days I've had in several months, one of my sisters and her beau came down here for a few days. I picked them up at the St. Pete/Clearwater airport (after killing some time at the International Plaza shopping center in Tampa) on Saturday the 17^th and from there headed on over to Clearwater Beach. Mainly due to its location right on the beach, a late lunch was had at Palm Pavilion Beachside Grill & Bar, attached to the hotel of the same name.

The shrimp was on the salty side and it took a few minutes to receive the check but by 2023 restaurant standards, it was still a good time w/ a great view. After all, two nights later the family went out to a local restaurant and while my food was tasty, otherwise it was a rotten experience so bad that it turned everyone off. They flew back on the 21^st but on the 20^th, time was spent at Walt Disney World, from the morning to the early evening. Three of the parks were visited and while busier than what we would have all liked, it at least wasn't boiling hot as it usually is in June (after not much of a winter, there's been some milder than usual days this month) & overall, it was a lot of fun having them down here. For the first time in probably two years I was on Disney's Skyliner cabs, which was neat. Sometime in July I'll return to WDW on my own.

Otherwise, not too much else to mention. Recently I purchased Coca Cola's new limited edition flavor, Ultimate; it's based on the League of Legends videogame. Apparently, “Laffy Taffy” is what you're supposed to think when thoughts drift towards that game; that flavor profile was stolen from someone else but that is not an inaccurate description of Ultimate's flavor. Anyhow, I do have two movie recommendations to make, both on Netflix. Extraction 2 is as much fun as the first and even at three hours, the Arnold documentary-yes, about Schwarzenegger-was great. As for a film I don't recommend...

Last Thursday evening I went and saw The Flash; that is despite my distaste of how Warner Brothers Discovery have operated this year, my tremendous disinterest in superhero movies AND what a gigantic creep star Ezra Miller is. Yet I was sold a bill of goods by a YouTube reviewer who overhyped the film. Yes, it was neat seeing Michael Keaton as Old Man Batman but the story squandered the multiverse concept (expect for a great cameo literally years in the making) and had AWFUL humor. The most effective scene involved the lead character and his mom; the plot is that he wants to go back in time to save her-I understand the feeling-and a moment at the end did “get me in the feels”. Otherwise, there was no need for me to have that theatrical experience. Then again, this upcoming week I'll be checking out the new Indiana Jones and that is something I fear will actually be bad.

My return will be sometime next month.

Kandahar, Sisu, Orlando Wetlands Park, The Iron Sheik & Milk: The House of Cereal

Catching up, I first have to mention that it was sad to hear that pro wrestler The Iron Sheik passed away last week; what a fascinating life he had (if quite sad at times) and I actually got to meet him once at a wrestling show like 15 or so years ago... he was one of a few legends present for an autograph signing so somewhere I have an autographed photo of him.

I've only seen two movies theatrically since late April; Sisu was insufferable and was not as fun as you'd expect from the premise of “a Finnish dude kills many Nazi villains in Lapland during World War II” but at least Kandahar was fine... even if it was a movie filmed in Saudi Arabia so I had to figuratively hold my nose while watching it. The rest of the summer, there's a few films I plan on checking out theatrically; that includes the new Indiana Jones, which I am incredibly wary of but I really hope that is not as dreadful as it could be.

One day last month I went on over east of Orlando to the Orlando Wetlands Park; it was a place I discovered in a Facebook ad. It's a pleasant scenic area which not only has a wide variety of animals to see (birds, turtles, and alligators) but there is a new boardwalk which goes over part of the marshland which presents great views of wildlife. It was a neat thing to do once... as was this past Saturday returning to the Dezerland complex in Orlando. Yesterday I got a Groupon for usage later in the summer, and that will be at The Pinball Palace; however, the novelty place I ate at on Saturday was the amusingly named Milk: The House of Cereal. That is one of those cereal bars that have started becoming hip; you pay a few bucks for a bowl of cereal and milk; I had lemon frosted Cheerios. That was a first-time try and those were pretty good.

Otherwise, nothing important to mention about life the past month and a half or so. I'll be back in a few weeks and I know there will be more to discuss.