Living Building, RGQ, Gods of Egypt & Agent Carter S2 Trailers

I came across this architects rendering of this beautiful building covered in greenery. If you know me you know I'm a Hobbit and I love all things nature and greenery. If I couldn't live in a hole in the ground surrounded by grasses and forests I'd want to live in this building.

Here's some more details about the project.. Stefano Boeri, an Italian architect with an affinity for innovative green structures, is set to build a 117m-tall (384ft) apartment tower in Lausanne, Switzerland, that will be the first building in the world to be covered in evergreen trees.

The 36-story green tower, aptly named “La Tour des Cedres” (The Tower of Cedars), will be home to more than 100 trees, 6,000 shrubs and 18,000 plants spread over roughly 3,000 square meters of green space. The plants will protect the apartments inside from harsh winds, dust, and noise pollution, and will offer a more pleasant view of the city.

This tower will be the second project of its kind by Boeri. He previously designed two 112m towers in Milan as well.

So I asked a "Random Geek Question" on Facebook and Twitter. "Is there an age limit to cosplay?" I ask this because as a 45 year old man I feel like when it comes to cosplay I'm on a older side of things. Of course most of the responses were "Of course there is no age limit to cosplaying" which is what I expected. I really don't know why I even asked the question because honestly I don't care what people think of me. I'm not hurting anyone and I'm enjoying doing what I'm doing.

I hadn't heard of this movie before but here's a trailer for a new fantasy action movie called Gods of Egypt. It looks pretty good...

During tonight's amazing Agents of Shield episode (loving this series) they aired a new trailer for Season two of Agent Carter. I LOVED season one of Agent Carter so I'm super excited to see season two and from the trailer it looks to be another amazing season.. can't wait.

Oh and one last thing.. ONE MONTH FROM TONIGHT... STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!!!

Universal Studios Hollywood Annual Pass Price Hike

Today as expected Universal Studios Hollywood has raised their annual pass price. A 2015 annual pass with no blackout dates had cost $139 online, or $159 when purchased at the park. A value pass with blackout dates ran $119. The new annual pass program with blackout dates, announced Monday, will cost California residents $139 for 182 days of access to the theme park, or $199 for 244 days. And there is a pass that can be used 312 days costs $299 and is available to all parkgoers.

Honestly I would pay anything for an annual pass so the price bump didn't bother me. As I said with the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in April everyone expected the price raise. I think what bothers me more is that there is no annual pass with no blackout dates. The "Gold" pass, which is highest you could get has 312 days which is great but alot of the weekends are blacked out, especially during the summer and Christmas Holidays. But I'm cool with that because the fact is I live about a 5 minute drive 20 minute walk to Universal and I plan to go during the week after work to grab dinner at the Three Broom Sticks or walk around Hogmeades sipping on some Butterbeer.

Oh the other change they made from their previous annual pass plans is the previous passes use to be good only for the year.. so regardless of when you purchased your ticket you only had to the end of the year to use it. These new passes are good for 12 months, so if you buy your pass in April (which I plan to) it will be good until the following April.

If you can't tell I"m super excited for this. Of course opening Day and weekend are blacked out for annual pass holder and honestly I'm happy to wait until the Monday after opening to attended The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood... who's gonna join me???

Falling Behind On My Daily Blog

So it's January 1st 2016 but you may have notice I post dated this to November 17th 2015 because I'm about a month and a half behind on blogging. Between the end of a job, working out, and life in general I fell further and further behind.

So in order to catch up before I start my new job on Monday I'm not going to blog about every NerdStrong gym day. Instead I'll do a combined week at NerdStrong Gym. I also will pick and choose what geeky things I will share from Nov/Dec. Hopefully I'll be back on schedule very soon and back to blogging daily.

Thanks to all my loyal readers.. I appreciate each and ever one of you.

Another Star Wars The Force Awakens Commercial

Wow.. nothing on Star Wars The Force Awakens for months and then suddenly.. WHAM!!! Trailers and commercials galore. And what is even better is that they keep releasing new footage with these new trailers but nothing is really a spoiler.. it only gets me even more excited for the movie. Just over a month away... woohoo!!!

Xmas Music, Equality for Ireland & More Star Wars Footage

Woohoo... local station KOST 103.5 has started playing Christmas music earlier then usual. I love Christmas music and could listen to it none stop through out the year but then again if I did I don't think it was be as special as it is during the Christmas holiday. Needless to say that my car radio station will be set on KOST from today until the end of the year.

Congratulations to all my LGBT Brothers and Sisters in The Republic of Ireland. They can now marry the ones they love. It's official, today marks the first day that same sex couple can marry in Ireland. It's a beautiful day but I can't wait for the day that this isn't headline news and just the norm.

Today Disney released more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage. Disney XD aired a behind the scenes promo for the upcoming movie.. check it out.

NerdStrong Gym - UberViking

For today's workout we were doing UBERVIKING. Now we've done the Viking workout in the past and it's a tough one but Uberviking is like nothing we've done before.

After a warm up of 9x Wall Squats, 140 Meter Run, 9x Sit Ups, 9x Lunges and 9x PVC Dislocates.

We then jumped into the main workout. We had to start in heats since we only have 5 Row Machines. I was part of the first heat as I really wanted to finish the entire thing so I figured the sooner I started the better chance I had at finishing before the class was over.

I started with a 1000 Meter Row, rowing is not one of my strong points and not a favorite of mine but I trudged though meter by meter. Next was a 460 Meter Run with Gear, this was either a Spear (Barbell), Shield (Weighted Plate), Boulder (Wallball) or Sling Bullets (Steel Bell). I chose a Boulder and I actually enjoy running so this part of the workout was okay for me. We had to run two time around the parking lot to do the full 460 Meters. Next was 100 Tire Strikes, this is fun, you take a Mace and pound a large tire. Once you get into a rhythm it's pretty easy. I then moved on to 100 Slam Balls. This is where it got hard.. doing slam balls isn't bad but doing 100 of them at one time is a killer.. but somehow I got through them and moved on to 100 Gravediggers. This was a new movement for us and we had to take a weighted plate and then squat down and kind of scoop the ground, 50 on each side. You then had to do another 460 Meter Run with Gear (Medicine Ball again) and then get back on the rower and row another 1000 Meters.

I don't know how I did it and as I type this all out I still don't know how I did it but I finished with plenty of time to spare (benefit of going in the first wave). This was one of the hardest workouts we've done.. starting with a 1000 meter row and ending with a 1000 meter row was a killer. 

New MASH 4077 Podcast

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 116, covering S5 Ep 19 "Hanky Panky".

Lt. Carrie Donovan is having marital problems: she received a "Dear Jane" letter. But, she would rather discuss her problems with BJ than Hawkeye. Poor Margaret is very worried because she has not received a letter from Donald. When she learns her fiancé is in the hospital, she is manic, trying to find out what happened to him. BJ spends the night with Donovan and is so guilt ridden he wants to write home and confess his sins.

You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

NerdStrong Gym - Mini Boss Battle

Today is Saturday so that means the Boss Fight. Today we take on the Mini-Boss.

We started with what they called a "Warm Up" but it was more of a mini-workout. 2 Rounds of 5x Pole Squats, 10x Air Squats, 10x Jump Squats 5x Hop Knee Touch then Banded Lunge with Overhead, Banded Pass Thrus, Banded Pull Aparts, Banded Good Mornings and finally Banded Tricep Stretches.

For the Quest we did a TABATA (:20 seconds of work, :10 seconds of rest) x8 Hi-Planking.

And after all that we finally get to our Mini-Boss battle. We started with a 230 Meter Run with Body (Sandbag), then 10 rounds of 10x Goblets Squats, 9x Kettlebell Sit Ups, 8x Explosive Push Ups, 7x Kettlebell Reverse Lunges, 6x Face Peelers, 5x Wall Balls. Then we did another 230 Meter Run with Body.

It was a tough workout and I know I didn't finish it but I can't recall how far I got (been over a month since I did this workout) but I did get pretty far. I have a few more Saturdays to build up to the Big Boss again at the end of the month. My goal is to be able to do the entire thing within the allotted time.

Thanks coaches for another amazing workout.

SW TFA 60 Sec. Trailer & Minion Screener

Another TV spot for Star Wars The Force Awakens and yes it has new footage.. this time it's a 60 second spot and seeing these spots just gets me even more excited for the movie.

They also announced that the new Star Wars movie will run 2 hours and 15 minutes. Honestly I would love to see an even longer version but I realize that Disney wants to get as many showings in per day which means more money.. it's sad but true.

I started a another group on Facebook for my gym NerdStrong. This one is called Be NerdStrong and it's for non-members who are interested in joining the gym and want to get more information. Here you can chat with coaches and ask as many questions as you like pertaining to fitness and the gym. Give us a follow on Facebook HERE.

One last thing I got a screener for the movie Minions. I'm a big fan of the Despicable Me franchise and I did go to a PGA screening last month and enjoyed the film. Not my favorite story but it did have Sandra Bullock as the main villain so that was fun.

LARPs The Series S2 Ep 6 - My Thoughts

S02E06 - Charisma "It's more fun when you play nicely with others."

Not a lot of LARPing in this episode but some great character building stuff. We see Kat and Brittney get mugged and Brittney go all Ninja on the dude and the after math of that fight. We see Kat and Evans' "relationship" escalate when Kat seduces the map away from Evan's character. That was fun to see. The scenes with Shane and her boss are always fun as well as Will and his boss, who's just plain crazy. We see the continued downward spiral of Arthur and his Bard character. And we see some of the Steampunk characters from last week show up, including the one that Arthur killed. 

This was a nice solid addition to season two, they are definitely building things up and things are going to hit the fan soon... can't wait!!!

Check out the episode below...

NerdStrong Gym - Bear Complex

Strength Day... We started with a nice warm up of 150 Meter Row, 10x Walk Quad, 10x Knee to Chest, Leg Swings F/B/S and then 10x Good Mornings.

For Proficiency we did 8x Heavy Goblet Squats, 10x Bulgarian Split Squat (off Bench), 10x Seated Spine Rotations (on bench). We've done goblet squats before but never heavy goblet squats. And the other two workouts were brand new.

The Quest is are main workout which consisted of a Bear (Barbell) Complex. I'm not a fan of the Bear Complex which is a Deadlift, into a Hang Clean into a Front Squat into a Push Press into a Back Squat, then a small push press to get the weight back over your head and to the ground. That is one rep and we had to do 3 reps at one time. We rested 2 to 3 minutes and then did it again and again for 15 to 20 minutes.

Next was the Battle which was 3 rounds of :30 seconds of Lying Toe Touch, :30 second of Leg Levers, :30 seconds of Scissor Kicks, :30 seconds of Armless Sit Ups and then :30 seconds of rest before doing it all over again.

And because we had some time left over we did some Planking.

It was a tough workout but then I wouldn't have expected anything else. I may be exhausted after the workout but it only takes a five to ten minutes to recoup, which is fantastic.

Veterans Day, Lunch with a Friend & Pilates

Happy Birthday Mom (I know you don't read my blog but I had to wish you a Happy Birthday. I love you very much).

I also want to Thank all the men and women who served and are still serving in our Military. I want to give an extra shout out to some of my friends who served or are currently serving, you guys rock!! Christopher Setts, Leonor Dutcher, Kody Lambert, Dallas Bloom, David Sharp, Andrew Avalos, Pete Foltz, & Ivy Hefler-Ochocki.

I had lunch with my buddy Kevin today, it's always fun getting to hang out with him outside the gym. Hopefully we can do it more often.

And after two weeks of not being able to go.. I finally got to attend another Pilates class at NerdStrong Gym. I'm really enjoying Pilates, for me it's a great way to release stress after a crazy day of work. It's also a great core workout and helps with your flexibility.  

NerdStrong Gym - Escape From Shelob

Today we did one of my favorite workouts.. not because of the actual workout but because of the theme.. Escape from Shelob.

We started with a 10 to 12 minute build which included 4x Perfect Stretch, 6x Lunge, 8x Sit Ups and 10x Ring Rows. We then moved outside for the Proficiency portion of the workout. We started with Agility Bear Crawl then Ran around the parking lot (230 Meters) then Plate Hop. First pass we did 1 foot at a time, second pass we did two feet at a time, third time was Stepping Backwards and then the fourth was Hop Over Each Plate) then 10x Air Squats and do it again and again and again (4 rounds).

We then moved on to the main workout. We had to do 5 rounds of 40x Jumping Jacks, 30x Bicycles, 20x Goblet Squats, 10x Push Ups, and 5x Burpees. In between these rounds we had to go outside and grab a sandbag (Frodo) and carry him to the next cone and then walk lunge back to the gym. If you made it to the final round you had to go get Frodo from the fifth cone and then lunge walk back with him. 

It was grueling workout but enjoyable. I always love being Sam and helping Mr. Frodo. And if you notice on the right side of the board you'll see a count of how to pronounce the word Shelob... Love my gym.

Finding Dory Trailer & Star Wars Rebels

Disney released a Finding Dory trailer. I really enjoyed Finding Nemo and Dory was one of my favorite characters so I'm really looking forward to Finding Dory.

Today I watched a fantastic episode of Star Wars Rebels, S2 Ep 6 "Brothers of the Broken Horn" Ezra receives a distress signal from Vizago's ship. Ezra and Chopper decides to see what has happened. When Ezra and Chopper arrives at the ship, they find out that the ship has been taken over by Hondo Ohnaka. They finds out that Vizago is captured inside the ship and Ezra helps him get it back.

We see the return of a loved character from The Clone Wars cartoon Hondo. I wasn't a huge fan of this character but as the series went on and his character grew he became much more compelling. If I remember correctly the last time we see him he is trying to kill a ship of Younglings so he's not the nicest of guys. But in this series he's older and crazier then ever and I just adored him. I loved his interaction with Ezra, they made a great duo. This entire episode was all about these two (and chopper) it was funny and had a bit of action in it. I really enjoyed this episode and I hope we see Hondo again in a future episode.

NerdStrong Gym - DEX Day!!

DEX workouts are always a good selection of various workouts to work the entire body. Today's workout was no exception.

We started with the Build, 230 Meter Run, Shoulder Rolls, Tricep Stretch and Calf/HamString Pole Stretch.

Next was the Proficiency part of the workout where we did Shin Box and Shin Box with Hip Extension work.

For the Quest we spent 15 minutes and had to do Half Turkish Get Ups (x5 on each side). I actually like doing Turkish Get Ups (at least the version we do at the gym).

The Battle was next and we had to do 4 minute rounds of :30 seconds of work  and :30 seconds of rest. Diamond Push Ups, Russian Twists, Jump Squats and Hollow Holds and for our :30 seconds of rest we had to do Superman (which really isn't a rest)

Luckily we got a minute between rounds to actually rest as these workouts got harder and harder as we did them.

For the finisher we got to choose between 3:00 minutes of Jump Rope or 140 Meter Relay Race. I voted for the Relay Race but the majority voted for Jumping Rope so we did 3 minutes of jump rope to finish off the workout.

Awesome Starbuck Drive Thur (ASL) & A New Flask

I came across this video and it brought tears to my eyes. I think every fast food place should have this type of drive thru. Kuddos to Starbucks to doing this for the deaf community.  

And I got a new flask today, not sure why I did as I'm not a big drinker but I like the idea of having a flask just in case I need a quick nip to brighten my mood. 

I filled it up with my favorite new spirit Fireball Whiskey. I don't know if I'll ever drink from it but it now has a new home in my bag and will travel with me where ever I might go.

SW TFA TV Spot & Table Read for a Friends Script

Today Disney released it's first TV spot for Star Wars The Force Awakens. I'm not one for spoilers but so far what they have released hasn't really been spoilery and has really got me excited for the movie. This TV spot has new footage but again doesn't spoil anything and I didn't think I could be more excited... but I am... can't wait!!!

Headed back to NerdStrong around noon but not to workout, instead a group of us were doing a table read for a fellow member and friend Adam's script.

He requested assistance a few weeks ago and about 20 or so people volunteered to help him out so with permission from the owners we used NerdStrong for the table read. If you don't know what a table read is, it's when the cast sits around a table and does a dry read of the script. I volunteered to be one of the readers and asked that I have a very small part as I'm not an actor but I am trying to put myself out there more.

When Adam handed me the script he said "well I know you wanted a small part... but...". I flipped though it and noticed that I had quite a bit of dialogue. My heart started to race and I could feel the "fear of public speaking" starting to set in but I told myself that I was among friends and they all knew I wasn't an actor so that thought kind of calmed me down, but I was still nervous.

Once everyone was there and settled Adam went through all the characters and gave us some description of who they are and what they are doing. After Adam explained my character I understood why he gave it to me as I was a perfect fit. I'd say I was the fourth or fifth character with the most lines.

Of course I can't go into detail about the script but it's pretty fantastic. We read through it once and then started to give our feedback. We talked for over an hour and made suggestions on changes or plot points and I think Adam really appreciated everyone's input.

I actually surprised myself with my performance and was happy that I got the larger role. It was a fun experience and I hope we get to do it again real soon. Thanks Adam for including me in the fun.

NerdStrong Gym - All the Eights (BSG)

Today's Sunday themed workout is titled All the Eights (ala Battlestar Galatica).

We started with a run, some pass thrus, figure 8's and good mornings before preparing ourselves for the Eights.

First up was our 8 Minute Proficiency/Stretching. We started with 2 minutes of Hamstring Wall Stretch (both sides) and then 2 minutes of Couch Stretch (both sides). Couch stretch seem to be the worst kind of stretching we do at the gym. Unless you're extremely flexible it's not the easiest position to get into.

Next was Boomers Burden which consisted of an 8 Minute Ladder of Sandbag; Sprawl, Deadlift, Clean, Front Squat and Press. We started with one of each, then two, then three up to eight and then went back down the ladder back to 1. The first few weren't bad but once you hit the peak of the ladder it got a lot harder to continue.

We moved on to Athena's  Ascension and did an 8 minute AMRAP (As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible). We started with a 140 Meter Run, then 10x Toes to Bar (or Knee Ups), 10x WallBalls and then 10x Kettlebell Swings. I kept a pretty good pace the entire time and managed to do 4 1/2 rounds of this workout.

After our mandatory 3 minute rest we moved on to "Hard Eight" Again this was an AMRAP and we had to do 20x Scissor Kicks, 20x Kettlebell Glute Bridges, 20x Sit Ups and 50x Jumping Jacks. I can't remember the exact amount of rounds that I did but I was exhusted by then but I know I did at least 3 rounds.. maybe 4.

It was a pretty grueling workout today.

NerdStrong Brunch & Dub Smash Just Rewards

After the tough boss fight several of us from NerdStrong went to Harvest Moon Kitchen & Marketplace for brunch. I had never been to this place but everyone said that they had really good breakfast. When we got there fellow NerdStronger Lauren was there. She did not come to the workout and was just having breakfast on her own so she joined us. While we chatted and bantered back and forth I found out that Ty is leaving us. He's moving to New York for a new adventure. Of course this made me sad as Ty is a really funny and sweet guy.. and he's pretty easy on the eyes (looks like a very fit Daniel Radcliffe). He's doing the Thor workout the past 10 weeks so we haven't really seen him around the gym and just as he's coming back to regular classes he's leaving us.  It was nice being able to hang out with these guys and gals outside the gym. Something I hope we do more often.

I've posted here about he Dub Smash war between Team Carter (Agent Carter) and Team Shield (Agents of the SHIELD). And I mentioned that Team Carter came from behind to win the battle.. well the video was released of their reward.. take a look. I loved that these people raised so much money and looked like they were having a blast.. hopefully a new battle will begin soon.

NerdStrong Gym - Big Bad Boss Monster

Today is the first Saturday of the Month so that means was start a new boss and the first battle is the Big Boss Monster. This Boss Battle has a 40 minute time cap.

We started with a 230 Meter Run with Body (Sandbag), then back inside the Gym and do 100x Goblet Squats, :90 Second Plank, 90x Kettlebell Sit Ups, :90 Second Plank,80x Explosive Push Ups, :90 Second Plank, 70x Kettlebell Reverse Lunges, :90 Second Plank, 60x Kettlebell FacePeelers, :90 Second Plank, 50x Wall Balls and then to finish is off a :90 Second Plank.

So instead of the running between workouts there is planking this time around. This is a chipper workout which means you just chip away at the workout little by little until you run out of time. I knew that there was no way I was going to finish this workout but I as hoping to at least make it to Reverse Lunges and I'm happy to say that I actually made it halfway through Kettlebell FacePeelers. I did have to do a step down for Kettlebell Sit Ups as when I went to sit up with the kettlebell I felt it in my lower back so I dropped the weight and just did regular sit ups.

I'm happy with my results and by the time we do this workout again at the end of the month I hope I go even further.