Hanging With the Irishman

Today my buddy Thomas (who's visiting from Ireland) and I hung out all day.

First thing we did was head out to Best Buy to get him his new SIM card for his phone so it could be used here in the US. After Best Buy we headed out to pick him up some clothes. His luggage was delayed and has yet to arrived at his hotel so the airline offered to buy him some clothes in the meantime. So we went to the Burbank mall as one of Thomas' favorite places is American Eagle.

We walked around the entire mall for a few hours checking out different stores and trying to find him some nice clothes. I was like his personal shopper/mother. He'd go into a dressing room and try on something and then come out and show me and I'd critique it. If he needed different size or color I'd run back and grab it for him. I told him that every straight guy needs a gay buddy to go shopping with. I had a blast.

Around 2pm we walked over to Taco Bell as he had never had it before and wanted to give it a go. He got the seven layer burrito and a double decker taco... I think he enjoyed it.

Afterwards we headed back to the mall and American Eagle and made our finale decision and picked up some clothes. He wound up getting a few shirts and these really cool red "skinny" jeans. The jeans caught both our eyes at the same time but I think I might have influenced him a bit to get them. They look great on him.

He had a few bucks left so we headed to Target to get a geeky shirt and socks. Here again I may have influenced him a bit. He had this Captain America shirt (which I loved) but he normally wears a large but I suggested he wear a medium and when he put it on it was pretty tight and you could see his had a rockin' body, so he got the medium.

Thomas is very modest and both these red jeans and skin tight shirts are not his norm. But he looks amazing in them and these aren't you're everyday walk around town clothes.. these are your night clothes while walking around SDCC.

We then headed back to my place and met up with Lydia. The three of us walked to The Habit to grab a burger for dinner before heading over to the North Hollywood Park where they were showing another "movie in the park" this time it was Back to the Future. We got there about a minute after the movie had started and sat in the back. It wasn't the best spot as we had people in chairs in front of us but we did mange to see the screen with only a few obstructions. Next time I know to get there an hour early to get a closer spot. But it was a fun evening.

Had a great day hanging with my favorite Irishman.. get to hang with him again tomorrow for D&D.. woohoo!!

Random Saturday Morning Question

So I Tweeted / Facebooked a Random Saturday Morning Question; What's your biggest pet peeve?

Here are the response I got on Facebook. 

• Ken Todd -  People who don't/can't park between the lines. Maybe not my biggest pet peeve but it's the only one that comes to mind.

•  Nathan Tamayo - Talking at the theater.

•  Ann Smith - Someone kicking my seat on a plane or at the movies!

• Jennifer Luchsinger - People who eat or chew too loudly.

• Lorelai K. Perrin - Some one who sits in my booth for over 2 hours, is extremely nice, and doesn't leave a tip. *grumble grumble*

• Scott Hough - Stupidity or ignorance of simple things. For a work example (billing for a phone company), how hard is it to understand that you still owe money even if you never receive your bill or your bill goes to the wrong address. Or that your services will be shut off if you don't pay. Also, it just annoys me when people aren't intelligent enough to understand simple things such as hot things will burn you.. I've seriously met people recently that don't understand simple things like that. I can understand if someone has a disability, but come on. Sorry, I'll get off my rantybox... I'm just saddened at how dumb this country is getting. No wonder we're made fun of by other countries.

• Erlend Aakre - misuse of the words literally and ironic 

Here are some response from Twitter.

mashfan0678 @Geekyfanboy People who change stations/or songs during the middle of song!

mrfatelurk @Geekyfanboy random questions

tamarcurry @Geekyfanboy people being dismissive of someone’s feelings.

Gerard2327 @Geekyfanboy Improper grammar when writing. If I'm meeting someone, then my pet peeve would be the limp lettuce handshake.

For me my biggest pet peeve is being referred to as a "girl" (ie You go girl) or "girlfriend". Yes I am gay but that doesn't make me woman. I never understood why gay men use that slang in the first place. Also people scrapping their teeth against their fork/spoon as they pull it out of their mouth... ughh makes me cringe. 

Tell me what yours is below in the comment section.

10 Years of SDCC & Chicken Pot Pie

Today I realized that this will be my 10th year in a row going to San Diego Comic Con. I started back in 2004 and have gone every year since. I've seen some major changes at con, starting with the price. I remember when it was only $75 for a four day pass now that will cost you $200. I also remember when the crowds swelled to over 40,000 and now they reach 130,000.

When I first attended I would do panels, autographs and such. Now I hang with friends and cosplay. Lines are just to crazy to see panels or get autographs. But I have to say that the past four years of just hanging with friends and cosplaying have been some of my favorite years at SDCC.

I tell myself at the end of every con that this will be my last, that I need a break but as tickets go on sale for next years I'm first online and acquiring mine :)

Today my favorite Irishman Thomas is in town, he's come to LA a few days early for Comic Con. Lydia and I picked him up from his hotel and headed out to dinner. Lydia has wanted to try a Chicken Pot Pie (she's never had one), and I couldn't think of a better place to get one then Marie Callender's. Come to find out that Thomas had never had one either so they both were going to experience pot pies together.

A funny thing happened while the waitress was bringing us our drinks, the bottom of the glass holding my diet soda broke off and soda fell to the table and splashed everyone. Thomas would have been drenched but he moved so fast and managed to avoid the majority of the soda. And luckily he did as the airline lost his luggage and he only had what he was wearing.

Anyways we all got Chicken Pot Pies and enjoyed them. Afterwards the waitress came over and said because the soda incident that they wanted to give each of us a piece of pie for free. So Thomas enjoyed a coconut cream, Lydia got lemon meringue and I got strawberry, and all three were extremely tasty.

Afterwards we dropped off Thomas as he was exhausted from his travels and Lydia and I headed back home.

Thank You

Just a quick thank you to Eva Chan who became a patron of mine and is helping with my Geekyfanboy Productions... Thanks Eva.

I also want to thank my buddy Ken Todd, who also donated a very generous amount to help support my Geekyfanboy Productions.

If you enjoy my online content; blogs, podcasts, etc.. please consider becoming a patron of mine. http://www.patreon.com/geekyfanboy

SDCC, Cosplaying & Comikaze Con

San Diego Comic Con is just a week away. I've been up a down about this con. I enjoy going just to hang out with friends (some I only see at cons), but the past few years my big thing has been cosplaying. I love doing it and it's just so much fun. But since I've been jobless for over a year I haven't had the funds to really put together any new cosplay costumes. I had planned to do a LOTR/Hobbit Dwarf as well as my favorite Hobbit, Samwise Gamgee. But that's not going to happen.. at least not this year.

Now I still have my "Frodo" Hobbit cosplay but the feet have been well used and I don't know if they will hold up for another SDCC. I've tried to get new feet made the past few years but because of circumstances this hasn't happened. So this year it's not looking like I'm going to be able to cosplay which is really bumming me out.

In other con news I was approved for a professional badge for Comikaze Con in Los Angeles this November. I went to Comikaze a few years back and had a blast and found out last year that they were doing "pro" badges and applied.

Thank goodness for professional badges as I wouldn't be going to any con if they didn't offer these badges for free.

Podcast, Tattoos, Arrow & Fun Videos

Released a new episode of my MASH 4077 podcast today. It's Ep. 83, covering S4 Ep13 "Dear Peggy" Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or Listen, get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

I came across these amazing Simpsons tattoo sleeves that someone got done and it reignited the itch for a new tattoo that's I've had for a while now. I have gotten one with every birthday starting with my 40th. So at 40 I got my Harry Potter tattoo, at 41 I got my Star Wars/R2D2 tattoo and at 42 I got my Lord of the Rings tattoo.

Now I had planned for a Star Trek tattoo for my 43rd (which passed last September) and I had my friend Matthew design this really awesome image and I was going to go with that but then my friend Greg Aronowitz mentioned that he wanted to take a crack at designing something for me so I figured I'd give it a go. Well Greg has been super busy and though he has said he started on something I really don't think I'm going to see anything in the near future. So I'm going to go with my buddy Matt's design which, as I mentioned, is awesome. I hope to get it just after comic con and then I'll plan for another one for my 44th birthday this September.

Today I spent quite a few hours watching more of Season One of Arrow. I knew if I was going to start that I couldn't just do one or two episodes. I actually watched episodes seven to eleven. I'm almost halfway though season one. I could of course have watched more but I did want to get some things done today.

I'm still loving this series, with every episode it gets better and better. I'm told that season two is really good, so I'm looking forward to watching that season as well. I'm really hoping to watch season one and two before season three starts this fall. I'd love to be up to date with this series so I can discuss it with friends when new episodes air.

There are two videos I want to share with you guys.. first one is R2D2 and other astro-droids dancing to Michael Jackson music.. two of my favorite things.. couldn't get any better.

 

And here's a trailer for Disney's new movie called Big Hero 6. Just from this preview it looks to be another hit!!

A Day At Disneyland

Today Lydia and I went to Disneyland, we got there around 9:30am and stayed until around 10pm. The weather was strange as the temps roughly stayed between high 70's in the early morning to the high 80's during the day. It rained several times and was cloudy at times. But none of that took away any of the fun of Disneyland and Disney California Adventures.

We did both parks several times... we started at DCA and about mid day went over to Disneyland until the evening and then went back to DCA. It was a fun day.

We to go check out the Guardians of the Galaxy sneak preview. They replaced Captain EO (Temporary) with this sneak peek. It starts off with what I assume is the opening of the movie. Not that we didn't know this from the trailers but there is a ton of comedy in this movie... at least there was in the opening sequence.. along with a ton of action and cool sfx. After the five minute open it then turned into your regular trailer showing clips from throughout the movie.

I was already excited to see this movie, but like the Maleficent sneak peek I saw a few months back, this made me even more excited for this movie. August can't get here soon enough!!!

Geeks Inherit the Box Office in 2013

I wanted to see how many movies out of the top 25 last year were actually "geek" related. Being a geek has been making it's way into mainstream for many years now, one place where it's most evident would be at the movies. Out of the Top 25 movies in 2013, 19 of them were Science Fiction, Fantasy, Animated and/or Horror (all geek topics). Why do you think that is? What's the appeal. I mean I know why I love those movies but it got me thinking about the general public. Do those movies have the same effect/meaning for non-geeks as they do with life long geeks? Do all humans have a bit a geek in them and now that it's "okay" to be a geek they are letting their geek flag fly? Will it last or is it just a phase? What are your thoughts?? Leave me a comment below or on Twitter/Facebook

Box Office Mojo is the top site for getting information about box office sales for movies, both here and abroad. You can check out their website HERE. I captured a picture from their site and placed red dots next to the movies I felt were geek related...

SDCC, Doctor Who & MASH Podcast

The final day of San Diego Comic Con schedule programing has been released and I don't think there is a single thing I want to see on Sunday. So that will be my day to walk around the floors, taking pictures of cosplayers and maybe even cosplay myself. If you want to check out all four days of programming you can HERE.

They released the first official full length trailer for the up coming season of Doctor Who. I've been looking forward to seeing this season as we get a new Doctor and that's always an exciting time for a Whovian. Check out the trailer below.

 

I recorded six new episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast. We had all three hosts back together again (Al was absent last time). 

And what normally would take us about three hours to record we got all six episodes recorded in just over 1 hour and 15 minutes. We're like a well oiled machine now. I mean we've done over 90+ episodes over the past three years so it's pretty much like clockwork for us now. Now I just have to edit them up and prepare them to be released over the next few months. Thanks Meds and Al for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk MASH with me.