Moving, Movies & Muppets

Woke up around 6am today and couldn't go back to sleep so I blogged for a bit. Today I'm helping my buddy Robert move from Mar Vista to North Hollywood. He is the ninth "Geek Mob" member move within a miles radius of the group. Super excited that my best friend will be living about 10 minute walk from me.

Doug came over around 9:30am as we were carpooling over to Robert's place. Traffic was horrible and we arrived at Robert at 10:30am. Robert has been moving stuff over to his new place for a few weeks so he only had the big things that he couldn't move by himself. Helping Robert out today was Doug, Tamar, Cait and me. It took us maybe an hour if that to load up the uhaul before heading to his new place in NoHo.

Jes joined us here to help unload. This took a bit more time as there are a bunch of stairs and some of his items were large and heavy. But we got it done with very little drama. He ordered some pizzas for lunch and we ate. He and Tamar had to return the Uhaul to the Santa Monica area so Doug, Jes, Cait and I went to our local comic book store "Blast Off" for Free Comic Book Day (FCBD).

I found two of the three comic books that I wanted to pick up. The one that was out by the time I got there was Mouse Guard but also included a story about Labyrinth and Farscape (and those are the ones I really wanted to read). I put it out there on the nets to see if any of my friend had come across this book and could get it for me and my friend Scarlett out in Texas texted me that she had an extra copy and would ship it to me.. how awesome is she!! Thanks Scarlett.

I also watched a few more gay-themed movies. The first on was Struck by Lightening. Here's a synopsis; Struck by Lightning is a 2012 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written by and starring Chris Colfer (Glee), also based on his novel. After high school senior Carson Phillips is struck by lightning and killed in his high-school parking lot, he recounts the way he blackmailed his classmates into contributing to his literary magazine.

This was an okay movie, nothing special. I honestly don't know why it's listed under the Gay and Lesbian category as it's really has nothing to do with that other then the guy who wrote it and the main actor is gay in real life. It's a very dark comedy as the main character dies at the beginning and the movie is told through flashbacks. The acting is fine and I did enjoy some of the relationships of the character but overall it wasn't a favorite of mine. I won't be buying this on blu-ray and I don't care to watch it again. I give Struck by Lightening a C+

And the second movie I watched was called Mulligans. Here's a brief synopsis; Tyler Davidson  invites his college buddy Chase home for summer break on Prospect Lake. The Davidson Family appears practically perfect in every way to Chase, who begins to envy the close-knit family that he never had. After continued attempts by Tyler to set up Chase with local women, Chase comes out as gay. The family attempts to support Chase, and Tyler's father Nathan, in particular, begins to spend substantial time with him. Soon Nathan begins to realize that long-suppressed feelings toward men are resurfacing, and he has become attracted to Chase. These attractions turn in to an all-out affair, which is soon witnessed by Nathan's wife Stacey. Once in the open, Nathan and Chase try to come to terms with the effect of their actions on others, and Nathan attempts to keep his family together. Nathan ultimately decides to leave Stacey, Tyler, and their daughter at the family's summer home, while he drives off to re-evaluate his life alone for an uncertain amount of time.

I enjoyed this movie much more then the one I watched previously. I like the acting, the story and the setting. Like with the other movie that I really liked "What Happens Next" I could identify with the "father" who is just not starting to explore who he really is. I think it gave a realistic portrayal of what would happen to a family if the dad came out after 20 years of marriage. This was always my fear in my early 20's.. I push down my homosexual feelings for many years until one day I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't want what happens in this movie to happen to me.

My only complaint about this movie was the quick resolution to the best friends storyline. I like how they resolved it but I think it just happened way to fast. I don't know if I would buy this on blu-ray but I do know I will watch it again. I give Mulligans a solid B+

During the evening I had a beer with my buddy Erik via Skype as we continued watching Jim Henson's Creature Shop competition. This is a competition series featuring ten aspiring creature creators competing to out-imagine one another in a series of challenges where they will build everything from mechanical characters to whimsical beasts, bringing high-end inanimate creature designs to life. The contestants compete for a prize worth up to $100,000 including the opportunity for the job of a lifetime - a contract working at the world-renowned Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. I'm really enjoying this series so far but I figured I would since I'm a huge fan of another of Syfy's reality competition show Faceoff. I have a blast watching both Faceoff and Jim Henson's Creature Shop Competition with Erik as we Skype with each other and talk about the shows during commercials. It was a nice way to end my evening.