DC TV... So Good!!!

Legends of Tomorrow released a new poster for their upcoming season. I have to say that I have been really impressed with DC TV. They currently have Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Gotham and iZombie with the addition of Legends of Tomorrow.

I came late to Arrow, after season two but quickly fell in love with it and binge watched those two seasons over a months time. With The Flash I started with the premiere two years ago and have loved every minute of it since. I think it's probably my favorite of the current DC shows. The Arrow/Flash Crossover have been amazing.. this last one was incredible.

The latest DCTV show that I'm watching is Supergirl, though it's only been a handful of episodes I've really been enjoying the development of the characters and unfolding of the story and can't wait to see where all goes.

I watched season one of Gotham and enjoyed it for the most part but when season two started I Tivo'd them and soon has six on my Tivo and no real interest to watch so I deleted them. I may try and catch up over the summer but from what I'm hearing season two has been really dark and not that great. As for iZombie it looked good and something I would watch but with so much other TV to watch I never got around to watching it. Like with Gotham it's on my list to watch over the summer (during the TV lull).

DC TV have several other shows in development with Legends of Tomorrow premiering in January.. now this is a series I'm really looking forward to.. big Brandon Routh fan

Real Hobbit Holes & Batman v Superman Trailer

So I came across this article about "real" Hobbit Holes... well it's a do-it-yourself prefabricated modular micro-house but when it's all said and done they very much look like Hobbit Holes. They are from a company called Green Magic Homes.

Here's how they explain their homes; Green Magic Homes is a prefabricated modular building system, with structural elements in FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymer), which contains pieces carefully designed to generate multiple possibilities of spaces, access, lighting, ventilation and connection. The modules that make up the geometry are optimized in its measures to be sent in containers around the world.

Check out their video.

I honestly would consider buying one of these. I can see me buying a plot of land somewhere in a forest with a bunch of friends (or solo) and building a community of these house and living happily ever after in my Hobbit Hole. Of course I would have to do some major downsizing but as I get older I realize that I don't need all the things I have and would love to live a much simpler life. Will it ever happen.. who knows but I hope so. And if I do ever buy a house again I can see me going this route. For more info and pictures check out their website. http://greenmagichomes.com/main.php

A few days ago WB released a scene from the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Well today they released a full on trailer and it's AMAZING. Unlike the Star Wars trailers they show quite a but and reveal a few spoilers for the movie. Some fans are very upset saying things like "Well now I've seen the entire movie" or "why did they show us so much". For me it just got me even more pumped for the movie... can't wait for next summer.

WWofHP & A New Sewing Machine

Universal announced that they will have a bit announcement on Dec. 8th about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood. I love that they announce that they will be announcing.. it's like a teaser trailer for a teaser trailer. I assume they are going to be announcing the opening The Wizarding World here in Hollywood. We know it's in Spring but haven't gotten a specific date.. guess we will have to wait a few more day before getting official word.. I can't wait!!!

Today I got my sewing machine, I've wanted a sewing machine for years now, ever since I started cosplaying I liked the idea that I would make my own costumes. Of course I haven't been on a sewing machine since 1989 and my first year of collage but I'm willing to learn. I got this great "black Friday" deal on this machine from Amazon.. only paid $70 and I couldn't pass it up. Now I just need to take some lessons or watch a few you tube videos. I'll start simple, I have a handful of very geeky fabric that I would like to make pillows our of so that is where I plan to start. Hopefully within time I'll be creating awesome cosplay outfits.. here's hoping.

New MASH 4077 Podcast

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 117, covering S5 Ep 20 "Hepatitis"

Father Mulcahy comes down with infectious hepatitis, and Hawkeye has to give the whole camp antibiotics, whilst dealing with a psychosomatic back pain. Meanwhile, B.J. has to perform a very difficult operation.

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

Supergirl Full Season, Rebels S3 & Batman V Superman Clip

Today CBS ordered the back 9 episodes for Supergirl giving it a full season. This is great news as I'm really enjoying Supergirl. It's so different from the other DC's shows Arrow, Gotham and The Flash. There is a lot more humor in Supergirl. I think each episode builds upon the other in regards to story and Supergirls growth. I like that she is flawed and just learning how to control her powers. She's not a great hand to hand fighter but we see episodes where her step sister is trainer her how to fight better. They are having "bad guys of the week" but also laying ground work for an ongoing threat. Not a fan of the Jimmy/Kara/Wyn love triangle but they seems to be pulling back from that for the time being having Jimmy's girlfriend (Lois Lane's sister) come back into the picture. They have only aired a few episode so far but I'm really looking forward to seeing where they take this series.

More good TV news.. Disney XD picked up Star Wars Rebels for a season 3. They are only eight or so episodes into season 2 and it really is a no brainer to renew the series, especially since they work on a season one year in advance. I'm sure we have at least a few more seasons of Rebels to enjoy in the coming years. I was a HUGE Clone Wars fan and was very sad that it was unceremoniously cancelled (causality of Disney purchase), they they quickly announced a new series called Rebels would be released. The first season was good but I was such of fan of Clone Wars and these two series are very different so it took me a while to warm up to the series but the end of season one and the first half of season two (that has aired) has been amazing. I'm really enjoying the stories and the character arcs.. I think it helps that they brought on my favorite character from The Clone Wars (Ahsoka Tano). She's not a regular character but pops in from time to time. Can't wait to see where they take season 2, still have alot of episodes left to air.

The last thing I wanted to share with you guys is a "sneak peek" at the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They scene is tense and extremely difficult to understand out of context of the movie. But with that said I'm still very excited for this movie and I can't wait until next summer for it's release.

Do You Want To Build A Snowman

Spent my day making Christmas presents for my friends. I've been making these Snowman for over 12 years now.. I actually received one back in 2002 and loved it so much that I reversed engineered it to figure out how it was made. I improved upon it over the years so each years edition is slightly different. What I like is that no snowman is alike so my friends are getting something unique and one of a kind, plus it's hand made and from the heart.. so that's good too. Over the years I think I've made a few hundred of these snowmen and I'm sure I'll be make more of them in the future.

They are easy to make.. you just need a few supplies, White socks, rubber bands, orange felt (for the carrot nose), brown pipecleaners (for the arms, this is new to this edition, I use to use real twigs but they would break often). Googly eyes, Something for the smile (I used very tiny buttons and also black sequences that looked like coal). Various ribbon for the scarf and hate band and then fluff ball or something similar for the buttons down the front. And the most important part rice (uncooked). The only tool you really need is a hot glue gun and glue.

You start by filling up the sock with the uncooked rice. For a 9-11 size sock I use about 1 1/2 cups of rice and then you put a rubber band around and to tighten it off (that's the lower part of the body), then add another cup of rice and rubber band that off to create the center part of the body. Then add 2/3's cup of rice for the top part aka head of the snowman.

So now you have the three separate sections, you should have about four to five inches of sock still, that's for the top hat. Once you have your three sections you will hot glue them together. It's important that you make sure your snowman looks well shaped and proportionate before gluing.

Next you hot glue the eyes on, then cut carrot shaped noses from the orange felt and glue them on. Add three to four buttons for the mouth. Next you'll place three fluff ball down the front of the snowman. Then you'll wrap a piece of ribbon around the neck of the snowman and glue it into place. Take a pipe cleaner and cut it in half, form the hands of the snowman and then hot glue them under the ribbon scarf.

The final part of the snowman is to create his/her top hat. You do this by flipping the remaining part of the sock inside out and forming it into a hat shape. You flip the end of the sock up to create the brim. Once you have your hat created you glue it down. The final thing you have to do is measure a piece of ribbon around the brim of the hat, cut it and hot glue it down.

That's it.. you now can create a snowman of your very own... Merry Christmas

More Sceeners & Shannara Chronicles Opening

Got three more sceeners today, Brooklyn, Legend and Love & Mercy. Only one I really want to see from this bunch is Brooklyn. It looks like a really sweet love story.

MTV released the opening sequence to their new TV series The Shannara Chronicles. It doesn't give anything away. I'm really looking forward to this new series.

NerdStrong Gym - My Week

This week I worked out Saturday (CON), Sunday (TEAM), Tuesday (DEX), and Wednesday (CON).

Saturday's workout was taking on the 20-Something Big Boss Monster. 

We started with 2 laps around the parking lot while holding a weight of some sort. Then 2 rounds of 50x Goblet Squats, :60 second Plank, 45x Kettlebell Sit Up, :60 second Plank, 40x Explosive Push Ups, :60 second Plank, 35x Kettlebell Reverse Lunges, :60 second Plank, 30x Facepeelers, :60 second Plank, 25x Wall Balls and finally another two laps around the parking lot for a weighted run.

I didn't finish it but I got further then before and I think I'm ready to take on the big bad boss monster next week.

Sunday's Team workout was in honor of Thanksgiving and titled Tur-Duc-Kin. This was a fun "Team" workout. We worked in teams of three and while one person ran 460 meters around the parking lot (two laps) the other person would choose workouts from Group 1 and the other would choose workouts from group 2. The purpose of this workout is to create the heaviest Turduckin. My teammates were Jess and Ryan and we managed to created a 525 lbs Turduckin.. we kicked some ass.

Tuesday's DEX workout was titled Ms Marvel.. it has lots of Jump Roping, Active Hanging, Planking, Push Ups, Superman, Sit Ups and Farmer's Carry. It was a tough but fun workout.

Wednesday's CON workout was lots of running and rowing and to finish it off we did a 5 minute Plank.  I actually lasted 3 minutes which is the longest I've every planked at one time. I think my favorite part of the workout was the 140 Meter Team Run Relay. I really like doing team activities together and I'm not a bad runner to it was win win for me.

As always it was a pretty fantastic week for workouts at NerdStrong Gym. Thanks to coach Andrew and all of the amazing coaches there.

It's Christmas Time

After the hike I came home and started to unpack all my Christmas decorations. Now that Thanksgiving is over and it's officially Christmas time I am going to decorate my apartment and put up my Christmas Tree.

Christmas is my favorite time a year and I love decorating my place. I started by putting up the tree. I've done live trees my entire childhood so when I started buying trees on my own I did live trees. That was until about six years ago when I came across a really nice looking fake tree. I was tired of having to clean up all the pines of a live tree as well as the idea of killing a tree for decoration every year.

I've collected some great and very geeky tree decorations (harry potter, star wars & star trek) over the years. I think my favorite find was my light up Yoda topper for the top of the tree.. it's pretty fantastic. I think the tree turned out great. I then added garland and bulbs over books cases and tables. I usually have small colored lights in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling but I opted not to do it this year.

Overall I'm very happy with the tree and decorations.. now I can enjoy the Christmas Holidays.

Hiking Eaton Canyon Falls

Since we didn't have gym yesterday or today due to the Thanksgiving holiday, my buddy Adam put together hike up in the hills of Pasadena. Joining for the was Adam, of course, Pooja, Lauren, and Adam's friends Kip and Gleen, which I just happened to know as well from game night I use to attend many many years ago (small world). Our main hike was to Eaton Canyon Falls, which is a fairly easy hike. So to make things a bit more difficult we hike up the  hills on a trail less traveled. It was a difficult hike as the trail pretty much went straight up, but the views from the top were amazing. Once we got to the top we made our way down the trail that most people used, it's a slow and steady incline or in our case going down.. a decline.

Once back at the main trail we made our way to the water fall. It required walking through flowing water and over large boulders. This was actually my favorite part of the hike. It was a popular trail so there was loads of people on it. But at the end of it is the small waterfall.. but a waterfall none the less. We sat on the rocks and snacked for a bit enjoying the ambiance. Once done we made our way back to the cars.

It was a great hike, it was beautiful outside, and the temps were just right. The company was great and we had some fairly in-depth geeky conversations.

After the hike Lauren and I grabbed some lunch at Rally's, before I dropped her off at her place and headed home.  Thanks Adam for organizing this fun adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving

Spent Thanksgiving with my brother's family as I have done in past years. This year as the kids are getting older (4 & 6) they wanted to help in preparing the turkey so I explained how you had to take out the giblets and neck and how to prepare it for the oven, they got a kick out of it. After we put the turkey in we played game, watched movies and just hung out until dinner time. Unlike previous Thanksgiving it was only my brother's family, Dad and myself for dinner.

We ate around 3pm and everything was fantastic. Around 5 my brother and sister-in-law went out for Black Friday so I got to watch the kiddos for a few hours before Lora's sister Wendy got there to watch them the remainder of the night. The highlight of my night was my niece Molly asking me to brush and braid her hair, she's such a sweetie. Overall it was another great Thanksgiving for the Mittleiders.

Captain America Trailer, Dawson's Creek Rewatch & More Star Wars

They released the first Captain America: Civil War trailer and it looks amazing. It's going to be difficult to watch these people who were once friends fight each other. But with that said I will always be #TeamCaptain

Was flipping through the channels and came across the series finale of Dawson's Creek. Of course I had to watch the entire thing.

I was a HUGE Dawson's Creek fan and have been wanting to do a rewatch of the entire series for a few years now. After watching the finale it reminded me why I want to do the rewatch. I don't know when I'll find the time but I'm thinking I'll do an episode or two a week.. it will take me a year to watch all six seaons but it's such a great a series and worthy of a rewatch.. anyone want to join me in the rewatch?

They also released another TV spot for Star Wars The Force Awakens. This one is more Kylo focused at the beginning. There is even more additional unseen footage but as they have done with the other trailers and TV spots.. nothing has been spoilery.

Birthday Lunch with John

Got some more screeners today.. Bridge of Spies, Steve Jobs and Jurassic World. I've seen Jurassic World and enjoyed it and I've heard good things about Bridge of Spies (with Tom Hanks) and Steve Jobs so I look forward to watching those.

During lunch today I took my buddy John out for his birthday. He's a big pizza guy so he suggested that we go to Pieology (it's a create your own pizza place). Never been before and I really enjoyed it, it's cool that you can make a pizza anyway you like.

I always enjoy hanging out with John. We workout together from time to time but you really can't socialize so getting some one on one time is pretty awesome. John is one of those people that you meet and it feels like you've known each other for years. Our lives couldn't be more opposite but personality wise I think we're more alike and of course we are both super geeky (okay I may be a bit more). Anyways.. Happy Birthday Buddy.. hope you had a fantastic birthday.

C3PO Waze, River Song, Legends, Galavant & Carter Returns

Waze released a C3PO direction voice for it's app so of course I had to download it. It's pretty awesome but it is kind of awkward having him call you master all the time. Not sure how long they will have it available but for now C3PO and his counterpart R2D2 will direct me to my destinations.

Got some more screeners today.. they seems to be rolling in now. This round I got The Walk, Trumbo and Beasts of No Nation. None of them are must sees for me but I'll give him a go at some point.

BBC announced that River Song will be returning to Doctor Who for the 2015 Christmas Special. I love River and her story in Doctor Who so I'm really looking forward to this.

DC released a new trailer for Legends of Tomorrow. The more I see of this series the more excited I got. DC has made some amazing TV (Arrow, Flash, & Supergirl) so I'm expecting great things from this series.

Also ABC released a trailer for season two of Galavant. When I first watched S1 of this series I was in love. It's so different then anything else on TV these days. It was only eight episode and I'll admit that not all of them were winners but people loved it and I'm happy to say they are coming back with a brand new, even longer season... can't wait.

And I think this is the series I am looking forward to the most.. the return of Agent Carter. I LOVED season one and was beyond excited to hear that it was picked up for season two..

Death of a Companion

So I watched last nights Doctor Who episode tonight, S9 Ep 10 "Face the Raven". The Doctor and Clara are called back to earth when Rigsy discovers a strange tattoo on the back of his neck that appears to be counting down to zero. Their investigation leads them to a hidden street in the middle of London, the discovery that Rigsy has been issued a death sentence, and one of them facing the choice of having to make the ultimate sacrifice; to face the Raven!

I've been enjoying this past season of Doctor Who, much more then the previous one. I knew that Jenna Coleman was going to leave the show at the end of the year so when things went down the way they did I knew this was it. It's difficult to watch a companion leave the show but this one is heart breaking as she did this to herself. Clara got to comfortable with the status quo, the duo had been in so many scraps but always managed to escape but this time she went to far and had to pay the price.

When she walks out to the street saying under her breath.. "Let me be brave.. let me be brace" my heart broke and the tears rolled down my face. I wasn't a big fan of Clara when she was teamed up with Matt Smith's Doctor but I adore her as the companion of Peter Capaldi's Doctor, so this was very difficult to watch.

I still think Donna Nobles departure from the series was the worst but Clara dying the way she did was pretty close.

Other highlights from this episodes.. Clara's final speech to the Doctor was amazing and very touching. The Doctor's rage towards Me was bone chilling and the final scene of the TARDIS made into a tribute for Clara.

We still have a two more episodes before the series is over, I know Clara is still going to show up as I have seen photos of Jenna in a waitress outfit but I have no idea in what context those are from.. guess will have to wait and see.

 ~ R.I.P. Clara Oswald ~

Meeting Mrs Patmore

So I was watching Good Day LA yesterday morning and they had on Lesley Nicol who plays Mrs Patmore on Downton Abbey. She mentioned that she was going to be at the Farmer's Market Cost Plus World Market tomorrow for a food drive for the LA food bank, if you bring 5 can goods you can get an autographed picture. I immediately messaged my buddy Leo to see if she wanted to join me as she is a recent fan of Downton and she agreed to go with me. So this morning she and I went down to World Market about an hour and a half before she was to sign as we didn't know if it would be super crowded or not. When we got there, there was a table in front of the store where we left our can goods. They gave us our line numbers and said to be back a half hour before she was to sign. We were surprised that we got numbers #8 and #9.

We had an hour to kill so we headed over to the Farmers Market to grab some lunch. Once we were done we made our way back to the World Market and got in line which was on the outside of the store. As it got closer to the time the line grew and started to go around the corner. There were several press people taking pictures of us (the fans). Right on time Mrs Nicol arrived and made her way into the store. They took six people at a time and after about 20 minutes Leo and I made our way into the store and got into another line and waited. It looked like friends and employee friends got to jump in front of everyone to get pictures and such.. this would explain why it was taking longer then expect.

The set up was nice, Mrs Nicol stood up on a platform next to a table where she was signing pictures. She was allowing us to take pictures with her and she spent a good five minutes chatting with you. I went up before Leo. I was all giddy smiling from ear to ear as I shook her hand. She was very sweet and soft spoken. She mentioned my awesome T-shirt (I was wearing the Union Jack (British Flag). She asked where I got the shirt and mentioned that she needs to get a flag for her house and we discussed getting one on ebay. We talked a bit about Downton and how much I love her character and how I have already seen season six and was very happy with where they were taking her character. We did a bit more chit chat before taking several pictures and then getting a hug from her and saying goodbye.

After I walked down from the platform my friend Leo with the same giddy grin that I had went up. As I exited the area a guy pulled me aside and asked if I would do a quick interview about meeting her. I don't know who he was with (the store, LA Food Bank or the actress) but I said of course so he asked me a few questions and I answer them as excitingly as I could.

After Leo was done we fanboy/fangirled out a little bit and then went shopping. World Market had some very cool Downton Abbey merchandise as well other cool items. Once we were done talking we headed out and sat in the courtyard and talked about the experience of meeting her. Some how the conversation turned to Harry Potter and I asked if Leo had ever been to Whimsic Alley (a very cool Harry Potter store), she said no so of course I had to take her since it was only a few miles way.

We spent a half hour or so walking around Whimsic Alley checking everything out. Since their lawsuit with the WB they have changed their merchandise a bit and also added abit more British things to their inventory like Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey.

It was a great day.. I'm so happy Leo agreed to go with me as I would not have gone alone and I would have missed out on this great experience... Thanks again Leo for joining me.

NerdStrong Gym - DEX, CON and STR Oh My!!

Combining my workout blog posts for the time being.. I worked out Tuesday (DEX), Wednesday (CON) and Thursday (STR)

Tuesday's DEX callas was a good one. The warm up was just as hard as the actual workouts.

This was a CON class through and through.. look at all those different workouts. This was a tough one but sometimes the tough ones are the most rewarding.

Strength is my least favorite workout days but today's barbell work was Bench Press which is my favorite of the barbell workouts. The Battles were tough and exhausting but over a good workout day.

LARPs The Series S2 Ep7 - My Thoughts

S2 Ep7 "Last Breath" It doesn't matter if you win or lose; it's how you play the game.

This is by far the best episode of LARPs The Series in my opinion. I loved every minute of it. Half of the episode is set in the LARPing world with some amazing fight sequences and the other half is moments after the LARPing session and the complete and total meltdown on the team.

Brittney was ready to sacrifice her character Corillia for the greater good, that was until Will's character Biff came to her rescue which didn't make her happy at all. Will and Brittney's argument escalates when Arthur is brought into it and the three just attack each other. Some brilliant acting was happening during that scene. It's always hard to watch characters that you like argue like that.

There was a very sweet scene between Kat and Evan when she asks him out. Evan's reaction is simply adorable.. that is of course until she slips up and kind of reveals Shane secret that she's been writing about the LARPing group behind everyone's back.

Then there is another amazing scene at the end when Shane confronts Evan and just let's him have it and he just drives away. Again like with the other argumentative scene some brilliant acting was happening. These guys have some acting chops.

The last six episodes have been leading up to this huge blow out and now we have only a few episodes left this season to rebuild this team and make them stronger then ever.. at least that's how I hope it turns out. Can't wait to see how the resolve this episode.

More Screeners & Promo for WWofHP Hollywood

Just when I said I wasn't getting enough screeners I got a ton of them today including Sicarro, 99 Homes, Inside Out and Cinderella.

Universal Studio Hollywood released a promo video for the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood...

Huntsman Trailer, More Star Wars & New Log Books

I had heard they were making a prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, which I enjoyed. That movie has one of the most beautiful and most realized fantasy worlds.. I loved it. This looks like a lot of fun.

Got another screener.. Black Mass. Sceeners seems to be coming in alot slower this year. Hopefully things will start coming in as the month progresses.

As I have mentioned here on my blog.. more and more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage has been released with trailers and commercials. Here's the 6th TV spot and it's focused on the character of Finn... again it doesn't spoil anything and it shows us a bit more of the movie... so excited.

During Pilates tonight at NerdStrong Gym I was able to pick up my new Log Book. They really outdid themselves with this Log Book. Like the gym it's very much fashioned after D&D with a ton of achievements to unlock and goals to hit. I can't wait to get started.