Thanksgiving / Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon Day 2

Once again like yesterday I woke up early and surprising not too hung over from the night before. I got up around 8ish and folks were still sleeping. I took a shower and by the time I got ready most of the folk were up and about. I made breakfast for everyone, eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage and oj. While we ate breakfast we watched Galaxy Quest (several in our party had not seen it) and it's become a movie marathon tradition. After the movie and breakfast Leslie had to take off leaving us with 12 party goers.

After the movie everyone got in a quick game of extreme bocce ball. Leo was not feeling so hot so he left leaving us with 11 folks - Me, Jes, Chris, Scott, Aaron, Anthony, Ashphord, Luis, Anne, Nicki and Jen.

We finally sat down to start Lord of the Rings The Two Towers Extended Edition. Again we did the drinking game but since it was early and most of use didn't want to start drinking until later, we would just all yell out "Ring" or "Precious" and not really drink or drink soda or water. At the halfway point we took a break to prepare lunch (BBQ). Jen and Chris headed out to pick up some supplies. Jes BBQ burgers and hot dogs. During this time two more joined us Jennifer and her husband Matthew. I showed them around the house as folks ate lunch. Jen and Chris returned from "shopping" and Chris had a surprise for me. He purchased a set of bocce balls for me. So we now have our own set that we can play anytime.

We started back with The Two Towers second disc. Once that was done we took a break and folks started drinking again. When we started Lord of the Rings The Return of the King Extended Edition the drinking game was back on. Again like before this movie is on two disc so when disc one was over we stopped and took a breather before starting up disc two.

Return of the King finished around 9:30pm and our Lord of the Rings movie marathon was over.. but the party was far from it. We said our good byes to Jen, Anne, Nicki, Jennifer and Matthew. Leaving 7 to party on - Me, Scott, Chris, Ashphord, Anthony, Jes and Luis.

Now the drinking games began. We first did a few round of beer pong, we played teams and it was a blast but at this time it was 11pm and even though I live in a more secluded area I still have neighbors so we moved the party inside and started to play quarters. Well that quickly became a disaster as quarter were flying everyone and I think we started with 14 quarters and ended up with four or five. I'm sure as I cleaning I'm going to be finding those missing quarters. So in the end Chris mentioned a drinking card game called Asshole. And from about midnight to 3am we played Asshole and had a blast. Scott had left about halfway through the games so that left six of use but we played and played until none of us could keep our eyes open. I think Ashphord actually passed out about a half hour before we finished playing.

So the second day comes to an end. Once again I was nice and drunk. Got to play lots of fun games. Got to finally hang out with Jennifer and her husband Matthew. Watched several great movies. Made some very cool memories that I will never forget. Got even closer to this group of people that I just adore and love to dead.. couldn't have asked for a better two days.. and the best thing is we still have one more to go.

You can check out more pictures HERE

 

Thanksgiving / Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon Day 1

Today started early.. got up around 6:30am, was just too excited to sleep. I think I finally got out of bed around 8am and both Jes and Chris were just getting up. We finished up things around the house. Chris ran to the store to pick up some last minute supplies. Once he was back he and Jes started to make deviled eggs while I cleaned up a bit. Chris and I then moved my big TV to the dining room and proceeded to set up my surround sound (which I normally don't have hooked up). We relaxed a bit and around 10:30am Chris and I started to prep the Turkey. It was a 23 pounder, largest turkey that I have ever cooked. It must have been pretty funny for Jes watching Chris and I butter the turkey and prepare it, we make a good team. But by 11am it was ready to go and into the oven it went for five hours.

At this time Aaron, Anthony and Ashphord showed up then Leslie, Nicki and Anne. It was now noon and folks were pretty much just chatting, snacking and we decided to watch Elf. After the movie, Leo showed up with his bocce ball set and the guys wanted to go out and play so the ladies stayed inside and watched Never Been Kiss. More guests arrived Luis, Scott and Jen.

So our party was up to 13 - Me, Chris, Scott, Leslie, Jen, Jes, Anne, Nicki, Aaron, Anthony, Ashphord, Leo and Luis.

Once the movie and bocce ball or as I like to call it extreme bocce ball games were over everyone headed in as it was time for dinner (4pm).

I had come in a little earlier to finish prepping all the side for dinner. Folks brought cranberry sauce, mash potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, and at the request of Chris I made mac and cheese and Ashphord made collard greens. Chris and I carved the turkey and dinner was ready.

Everyone grabbed a plate and attacked the food. As we started our dinner we started to watch Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Rings Extended Edition. Chris started a drinking game and every time we heard "Ring" or "Precious" we had to drink. (he later came to regret starting this game :) ) At the halfway point (these movies are on two discs) we took about a half hour break and checked out the stars on my back porch.

Once we finished FOTR my buddy Chris had brought his beer pong table and set it up to play some games. I actually played my first ever game of beer pong and beat my friend Chris... it was pretty fun.  We took lots of fun pictures (some that will never see the light of day), we started a massage train, did shots, laughed alot, watched Chris walk around in his crushed velvet royal purple blanket... good times were had. Around midnight/1am we called it a night.. I think between drinking all day and the food coma we couldn't keep our eyes open.

So the first day has come to an end. It was pretty awesome. I wanted to give those who didn't have family to celebrate Thanksgiving with a family (of friends) to celebrate with and I think it was a success. I got drunk and had a blast... Fellowship of the Rings is my favorite of the 3 movies so that made it even more special and my friend Jes made actual Lembas bread with fabricated leaves.. these were EPIC!!!

But for me the best part of the day and this weekend is spending time with the people I care about most. This group of friends is unlike any other group of friends that I have every had. And I am so Thankful for each and everyone of them.

You can check out more pictures HERE

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I headed out to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. Joining my dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, aunt, uncle, cousins and grandmother. She lives down in Newport (Balboa Island) so it's a nice trek to get down there. It's always nice hanging out with family. Of course I don't get to see them as much as I would like so when I can it's always special. Had a great Turkey dinner and spent about six hours with them.

Afterwards my buddies Jes and Chris traveled down from northern California for my Thanksgiving / Lord of the Rings movie marathon starting tomorrow. Since the live so far away they traveled down a day earlier and stayed with me. So around 8:30 they showed up and we hung out for a few hours visiting before heading to bed. I'm so excited for this upcoming three day event!!

Planning my Trip to the UK

So I put a call out to all my England and Ireland friends out there in the twitter and facebook world asking if anyone had a couch that I could crash on for a few days while on my 3 week vacation to the UK. My plan is to spend the first two weeks in England and then fly over to Ireland for my remaining week.

I got a few friends offering up couches and spare rooms and I pretty much have mid to southern England covered. Still looking for a place to stay in Scotland. Of course I'm not opposed to a hotel. But since I'm currently jobless and living off of unemployment and savings I'm trying to keep costs down. That brings me to another question that I put out there to all my Twitter and Facebook followers... should I be taking this trip since I'm jobless.  I got about 27 "Got for it!!" and 2 "Stupid idea". Many of them said.. "you only live once". I've never traveled outside the US, I've always been busy with work or other circumstances kept me from traveling. I'm now 41, single and not working. This is the perfect time to travel. I'm tired of being responsible all the time. I've been responsible for as long as I can remember. I want to fulfill a dream of mine and travel to England/Ireland and then eventually to Europe (2013 I hope). I'm not an idiot, I have savings and won't let my mortgage fall. But if I can set aside a few thousand for this trip, I'm going to do it. I may struggle a bit when I get back financially but I'm resourceful and will find a job and earn some money. I'm still hopeful to find a job in January and work until May.. that would be ideal.


I plan on renting a car and driving myself around the country.. figured it would be cheaper then taking trains/buses and such. Also it allows me to travel at my leisure. I'm a bit worried about driving on the wrong side of the road but if I can handle Los Angeles traffic I can handle anything. I checked prices and they aren't too bad. To rent a car in England for two weeks it will cost me 212.16 pounds which is currently $340 dollars. Which isn't bad in my opinion. I would of course have to rent another car in Ireland and figure it would cost about half that for one week. so total car rental is about $500, current plane tickets are about $800 so that's $1300, leaving me $700 for food, gas, hotel (if needed) and spending money. It will be tight but if I plan things out well I can make it stretch.

I hope to book my plane ticket in early December then I can start actually planning the trip. Who I'm staying with, for how long, what I want do while there.. you know all the fun stuff.

I'm extremely excited to actually be doing this. It's awesome to actually fulfill one of your life's dream

Blue markers are where friends live and offer my places to stay.

Parties & Podcasts

It's funny,  I have a love hate relationship with my podcasts. I love doing them but sometimes I hate editing them. Well today was a good day. I got up and was full of energy. I rearrange all my furniture for my upcoming Thanksgiving / Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Since I have about 20 folks coming my TV room is too small to accommodate for everyone so I moved my dining table against the wall and rearrange all my chairs and couches to face the front door where I'll be moving my TV. I did it this way for my Star Wars Marathon and it seemed to go over petty well.

After that I cleaned the kitchen and guest room but still had my master bedroom and master bath but instead I was motivated to edit the next MASH 4077 Podcast which isn't due to be released until Dec. 1st. Now if you follow my blog you know I have struggled with the last two MASH podcasts and edited them on the actual day they were due to be released. So when I got the urge I dropped everything and jumped on them. I actually got it completely done and even started the next Confessions of a Fangirl podcast. Still have to finish that and do a Knights of the Guild podcast before the 1st of December. And I'm waiting for my brother to record our first Alien Nation podcasts. His wife is about to give birth to their daughter (my niece) any day now so he wants to be close and I don't blame him. I live about an hour and a half way from him. She's due any day now so once she has the baby will be able to take a few hours and record a few episodes. I still hope to get the first episode out sometime in December.

My Dream House

I came across this article yesterday and was just amazed by this house. I've seen other houses done in the "hobbit" style but this one is by far the best looking and my favorite. This is truly my dream house. I would totally love to have a house just like this.

Not only is the house amazing but it was built for hardly no money. Of course they did all the work themselves and were carpentars but still it's an amazing looking house.

Here is the link to the original story LINK

I've attached some pixs to this blog but there are more on the site so be sure to check it out.  

Captain America Review

Well I know I'm late to the party but I finally got to see Captain America. I wanted to see this when it was out in the theaters but circumstances kept me from doing so. Well I got it on blu-ray today and sat down immediately to watch and I have to say I absolutely LOVED it!! Great origin story, cool special effects and some very cool action scenes. Chris Evens is perfect for the character of Steve Rogers. They spent the first 1/3 of the movie with a "smaller" Steve and showed how great a person he really is. I loved that character and how he was portrayed. I like the idea of taking someone who is a "good" person and enhancing the good to great. Maybe because I'm short and have dealt with how people treat short people that I identified so much with him. I liked the romance between Steve and Peggy.. it was sweet and genuine... though heartbreaking. Tommy Lee Jones was great as always and of course I can't blog about this movie without mentioning the awesome effects of making Chris Evens look like a 100 pound super skinny guy. I watched the 'extra' on the blu-ray on how they did this and was surprised that they used several techniques. It's a pretty amazing effect. So glad I got this on blu-ray as I can see myself watching this over and over. I was excited for The Avengers but after seeing this I am even more excited.

Visiting Family

Woke up this morning and it felt like I had been hit by a bus. I was sore from head to toe. Who knew standing for 14 hours bent over a table could cause so much wear and tear on your body. I jumped into the shower and tried to sooth my aching muscles.

Today was family day. Had lunch with my Dad and got to visit with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew Kenobi. Every time to see Kenobi I feel like he ages months. He's getting so big and he now knows who I am and calls me Un.. he can't quit get it all out yet (Uncle) but he's working on it. He's adorable and I love him to death. I also got to visit my Lora my sister-in-law how is about 8 1/2 months pregnant with my niece Molly. She is so ready to get this baby out. I always enjoy my visits with the family. And it should growing by in any day now.

Time at the Barnyard

Today I went to Greg Aronowitz's house aka The Barnyard. He is currently working on four different projects and needed some help. So I got up at 8am and headed over there. When I got there they were in the middle of working on stuff for Minecon which is happening in a few days in Las Vegas. The first thing I worked on was a chicken. Minecon is a convention for the game MindCraft. That world is made of little boxes (kind of like 8 bit). So of course my chicken was made up of a ton of little boxes, each needed to be painted. When I finished the chicken I moved on to three sets of chicken feet. All I had to do there was paint them yellow, which took several coats because they were made of metal.

My buddy Anthony should up which I did not expect and later in the day my buddy Chris drove down to work the next three days so he could get in to MineCon. After the chickens I moved on to human arms and those took me the rest of the day to complete. Who have thought drawing out boxes and painting them would be such hard work.

14 hours later I was exhausted, I hated leaving everyone as they had days of work left to do but my body isn't use to standing for 14 hours bend over a table painting. And though it was hard work it was alot of fun hanging out at the Barnyard.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 20

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://MASH4077Podcast.com 

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 1, Episode #20 - The Army-Navy Game
Directed by Gene Reynolds
Written by Sid Dorfman & McLean Stevenson
Production code J322
Original air date February 25, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: On the day of the Army/Navy game, the unit finds itself under enemy attack. In addition to injury and some mild damage, they discover an undetonated bomb in the center of the camp. In order to defuse the bomb the characters are forced to deal with a variety of "joker"s from different branches of the military making suggestions about how to deal with the deadly missile. In a variety of scenes some of the characters act as if this is their last day on earth. Eventually the Navy calls back claiming the bomb belongs to the CIA. Hawkeye and Trapper are sent out to defuse the bomb with Henry reading instructions from a bunker. Due to a mix-up between Henry and Trapper they accidentally set off the bomb. As it turns out, all it does is fire propaganda leaflets into the air. The episode ends with Father Mulcahy winning the football pool, being the only person who bet on the Navy.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds & Al

PGA DVD Screeners

One of the major benefits of being a member of the PGA (Producers Guild of America) is I get screeners of movies towards the end of the year for the award season. They normally start rolling in mid November and last until mid December. So far I have gotten five screeners. Warrior, The Tree of Life, The First Grader, Contagion and Cars 2. I've heard great things about Warrior but I'm not much into MMA, want to see Contagion and Cars 2 and never heard of The First Grader or The Tree of Life. I normally get about 30 screeners so I'm looking forward to seeing what I get next.

The Hunger Games Trailer

So I read all three of these books and I loved book one, book two and 2/3'd of book three so I was looking forward to seeing this movie and WOW.. this trailer did not disappoint.. I even teared up on several scenes.. gonna be an AWESOME movie and hopefully trilogy.

Additions to my Harry Potter Bust Collection

Stopped by the post office today and picked up a package. I knew what it was as I'm expecting only one thing. I recently won several actions on Ebay and manage to snag both Fenrir Gryback & Cedric Diggory for a good price. I'm so happy that I'm getting more and more of these.. soon I'll be able to complete the set.

Catching up on TV

This morning I took Anthony home, did some errands and grabbed some lunch. When I got home I knew I needed to edit the next MASH 4077 Podcast as it's due tomorrow but instead I had hours and hours of TV that I needed to catch up on so guess which one I choose.. yeah I caught up on some TV. The big ones that I really was looking forward to watching was Once Upon A Time, Clone Wars and The Amazing Race. Amazing Race was good as always, Clone Wars was part 3 of a 4 part story about Rex and the Clone troopers and was as always excellent but the one that I loved the most was Once Upon A Time. This series continues to impress and amaze me. This time they brought in Cinderella and her dealings with Mr. Gold aka Rumpelstiltskin... so much fun.

The Weekend

Wow.. what a crazy, fun, extremely busy weekend. But my favorite part of the weekend is I got to spend some time with some of my favorite people. On Saturday we went out to dinner to Denny's but one of my friends (Anthony) didn't show up and we started to worry. Well two hours into our dinner we got a call from our friend him and he informed us that he was in the hospital and was hit by a car. My heart dropped. I mean he rides a motorcycle and we were joking about him ending in up in some ditch and then come to find out he was in some ditch :( He texted me that he might need a ride home and of course I said yes and headed over to the Hospital, joining me we my friend Kim. When we got to the Hospital but they would only allow one of us in there and Kim was kind enough to let me go.

When I got to his room there was a nurse tending to his wounds. He had a HUGE bump on his head (mild concussion) along with several bruises and abrasions. His arm, knee and knuckles were scraped up and he broke several bones in his foot, but other then that he was okay. Nurse told me that he needed to be watched the next 48 hours and also needed to be woken up during the night to make sure everything was okay.

Got him back to my car and said our goodbyes to Kim. As we were heading to his place I asked if he had anyone to watch over him and he said he had roommates but they wouldn't be able to check up on him so I offered for him to stay with me so I can keep an eye on him and that's what we did. Got him home, he showered all the blood off and went to bed around 11pm. I finally feel asleep around midnight and set my alarm to get up at 3am to check on him and then again at 6am as we both needed to be somewhere early on Sunday.

Got up at 3am and checked in on him and he was awake as his hand as hurting. Everything seemed to be okay with him so I went back to bed. Got up at 6am and got ready for the day. Had another crazy, fun and busy day. We found out more about Anthony's accident as he doesn't remember anything. Come to find out that the woman made a u turn in front of him, so it was her fault. But she did stay and called 911.  Afterward the fun day a group of us went out to dinner in Hollywood at Umami Burger... cool place, kind of trendy and very expensive but the burgers were pretty good. Afterwards I dropped off several friends in the Hollywood area and then Anthony and I headed back to my place. He was staying with me again so I can keep an eye on him and I was going to take him home on Monday. One positive from Anthony's weekend stay, at least for me, is I got to know him alot better... and I have to say he's one interesting guy.

Only downside to this weekend was I lost one of my SD cards which had several hundred pictures :( I hate losing pictures.

So it was a fun filled, hospital visiting, yummy dinners and great company kind of weekend.

My "Immortals" Review (Vlog)

Decided to do another video blog for my review of the Immortals

Hanging with Chris

Today my buddy Chris came down from up north and we got to hang out. It was great because normally when he is down here we hang out in a large group of friends but this time we got some one on one time for the first time.

I met up with him down in Hollywood and we went for lunch/dinner at The Counter, it's a build your own burger place. After that we walked to the Harry Potter store, Whimsic Alley and looked around for a bit. We then drove to The Grove and saw the movie Immortals (I'll do a review in my next blog). After the movie we hung out at the Grove and walked around the Farmer's Market and finally we drove over to Meltdown Comics before heading back to where he was staying for the night.

It was a fun visit, Chris is in the military and unfortunately is being relocated to the Midwest come February so I'm trying to hang out with him as much as possible as when he is gone, it's going to be very difficult not seeing him every few weeks. So today was a prefect day!!

Lunch with a Friend

Today I drove down to my old job (MTV) to have lunch with a former co-worker of mine Brian. We bonded early in my MTV gig and would try and grab lunch at least once a week. We got to know each other pretty well and really come to enjoy one's company. As with most of my jobs I always tend to really connect with one or two people who I always stay in touch with and become friends when being co-workers comes to an end.. well Brian is that co-worker.

So I hadn't seen Brian since my gig ended at MTV and we were finally able to get our schedule synced and do lunch again. It was great seeing him, we caught up on each other life's and spent the next few hours just chatting.  It was a really nice lunch and hopefully it won't be another month and a half before we hang out again.

On my way home I stopped by The Barnyard (Greg Aronowitz's) place to pick up some props from Season 5 of The Guild for my Kickstarter rewards. Greg was in a meeting but Red 5 was happy to show me the stuff. Now I just need to finish packing up everything and ship them off.

My "Adventures of Tintin" Review (Vlog)

Thought I would do things a little differently and record my blog/review of Tintin. Gonna try and do this more often.

Confessions of a Fanboy #4

Download from Itunes: http://ow.ly/6lgMr or listen, get direct download http://ow.ly/6lgMs

Hey all you Fanboys and Fangirls, it's time for another installment of Confessions of a Fanboy.

On today's episode we have the Confession of a Fanboy, Charles Piner. Here's a quick bio on Charles. "What to say about myself?  Well, from the earliest days of seeing Empire Strikes Back as a young kid, watching Star Wars for the first time on betamax, getting my first job at a comic book store, or even today breaking into the wonderful world of cosplay, I've always been a geek.  Sure, Star Wars is my number one geek out, but I have such a broad and eclectic taste for anything geeky it would take hours to talk about it all!  You can always find out more about me by visiting my blog at www.mastercharles.wordpress.com, or at my twitter @cpinerthegeek."

If you want to confess your fanboy or fangirl-ism to me send me an email at ConfessionsofaFanboy@gmail.com

You can also follow the podcast on Twitter @FanboyPodcast, or follow the Host Kenny @Geekyfanboy.

Please go to our podcast page on Facebook and "Like" us.. just click HERE

Thanks,
Kenny

Knights of the Guild Ep 36

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast or listen, get direct download at http://bit.ly/2CrYxk 

Today’s show features:

• * Knights of the Guild opening theme composed by Brian Arnold with Tweex Music  http://tweexmusic.com
• * Guild News
• * What the Cast is Up too
• * Cast member Teal Sherer (Venom) joins me as a co-host and we catch up on her life
• * Guild Trivia
• * Behind the Scenes with Teal Sherer as she discusses Game Stop from Season 3
• * Questions for guest host Teal Sherer
• * Listener Feedback
• * Thank you and goodbyes
• * Special treat: Jeff Lewis singing Rock Lobster

Thank you again for all your support, I do this podcast because I am a fan myself and love taking other fans behind the scenes of this great webseries.

~Kenny~

Podcasting Mojo is Back!!!

Got up today and had a ton of energy, I was determined to get some podcasts done as well as get to the post office to get some of these kickstarter rewards sent out finally. So I did my typical morning thing by jumping on the computer and checking email, twitter, facebook and other things online. Had some breakfast and started working on my newly revamped Knights of the Guild podcast episode 36. I was on a roll and spent 4 solid hours working on it and no realizing that the hours were flying by. Around 2:30 I realized I was hungry, so I grabbed 45 poster tubes and headed out for some lunch at El Pollo Loco and then hit the post office on my way home. 2 1/2 hours later I was back home and jumped back on editing Knights of the Guild.

About 8pm I took a break and had a quick dinner and got back to podcasting. I spent the next hour or so editing my next Confessions of a Fanboy podcast before finishing up my next Knights of the Guild podcast. Will be posting this KOTG #36 tomorrow morning and then finishing my next Confessions and getting that posted either later that night or the next day.

It felt great getting these podcast done, beside finishing the next KOTG, and almost finishing the next Confessions of a Fanboy I strung out the next MASH 4077 Podcast and did notes for my upcoming and new podcast Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast.  So I would say I got my podcasting mojo back and it was fantastic!!!

Lazy Sunday

Wow.. where did this day go? Tried to motivate myself to work on some podcasts and that didn't happen to instead I did some house cleaning. I love having a clean house, it's surprising how dirty one person can make a house. I spent a few hours cleaning the inside of the house and then spent a half hour walking around the outside of the house picking up debris that the winds brought over.

Surfed the internet for a bit but the big thing tonight that I was looking forward to was watching the 3rd episode of Once Upon A Time. I've been loving this series and tonight's episode was just as great as the first two. In episode 2 we got to see the back story of the Evil Queen and I love that she showed that does have a heart but in the end revenge is more powerful then the love she had for her father. In episode 3 I love the chemistry between the actors who portray Snow and Charming, even in the real world they are connected. I enjoyed getting to see Snow White's back story a bit and her first encounter with Prince Charming (as she names him). Other great news about this series is that the rating are holding.. and it was picked up for a full season.. so we are going to at least get one full season of Once Upon A Time.

Can't wait to see more of this fantastic fairy tale / fantasy series.

Grimm

So I finally took some time to watch the premiere and second episode of NBC's new series Grimm. If you don't know what Grimm is here's a short synopsis:

Set in present-day Portland, Oregon, the series puts a new twist on the stories of the Brothers Grimm in which a homicide detective learns that he is a descendant of a group of hunters known as "Grimms", who fight to keep humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world. Upon learning of his destiny, he has to protect every living soul from the sinister storybook characters that have infiltrated the real world.

Now this is one of two Fairytale / Fantasy TV series on this fall. The other being Once Upon a Time, which I totally love.  This series couldn't be further apart from Once. This is dark, gritty, intense and scary at times. I really enjoyed the first episode even though in an early preview they tell the entire story in five minutes and shows everything, but it was still fun watching this cop learn who he is and what he now has to do with the rest of his life. I really like the "good" werewolf, he adds some comedy to this very dark story. The second episode was just as fun, gory and intense.

Though I love Once Upon a Time, I have a hard time understanding how they are going to continue this story for seasons to come.. But with Grimm it's a cop show with an element of fairy tales which can go on forever, but with that said I hope it's not a monster of the week kind of series. I guess will have to wait and see. I look forward to seeing where this series goes.

Vasquez Rocks

Today was a lull between rainy days so I took advantage of it and went for hike at Vasquez Rocks. It was beautiful outside but cold which makes for the perfect hiking weather.  I also wanted to try out my new 360 Panoramic app on my iPad 2. It's a pretty sweet program as you just hold up your iPad and it snaps pictures as you move it from side to side so you get there incredible 360 views.

The hike was great, I had a ton of energy (not sure where it came from), but I hiked all over the place and grabbed a few 360 pictures along the way. Think I might try and do a hike there several times a week.. it's a great workout. Here are some of my 360 pictures.

The first one is from the ground level looking up at the iconic Vasquez Rocks. http://360.io/2bCTrS

This one is looking from one of the peaks down to the ground. http://360.io/wNmuX5

Here's another one I took while hiking. http://360.io/Chcjvm & http://360.io/8RqePh

And the final one is from the highest peak at Vasquez Rock, which I have always wanted to climb but never did.. until today.  http://360.io/5kRcPp

If anyone ever wants to join me for a hike at Vasquez Rocks drop me a line, I only live 2 miles away.

Where Does the Day Go

Wow.. when you're out of work the day just seems to fly by. I get up in the morning and have such huge plans for the day. Gonna do this and gonna do that but by the time the day is over and it's time for bed I look back and ask myself  "What the heck did I do today". 

I've been out of work now for a little over a month and you figure I would get so much stuff done but I haven't. I have a lot of things half started but not complete. My garage is half cleaned and almost done. My podcasts are half recorded/edited but not completely done. My house is half cleaned but not fully cleaned. I have closet I want to organize and yard work that need to get done and I want to re-finish my back deck. So much stuff to do and I feel like I do nothing by days end. Maybe I need to buy a big wipe board and make a list of everything that I need to get done and hang it in my office so I see it everyday.

When you're not working you get lazy and though I love TV I really need to limit the amount I watch on a daily bases. I think that is where alot of my time is spent.. just trying to catch up on TV.  I hate the feeling when I got back to work and look back at my time off and realize I could have done so much more. So I'm making a pledge right now to all my blog readers.. I will get things done, I will watch less TV and focus on getting all the jobs completed and getting my life back in order.

Friendship is a Two Way Street

I don't know the author of this quote that I got from Facebook, but it really struck a cord with me. Now you can read this quote many ways, could be talking about a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend but I read it as a good friend. So I figured I'd blog about my thoughts on this.

First the Quote:

"If someone wants to be a part of your life, they'll make an effort to be in it. So don't bother reserving a space in your heart for someone who doesn't make an effort to stay."

I've been on the receiving end of alot of loop sided friendship over the years, where I would give 90% and they would give 10%. I would call, email or text them to try and keep in touch with very little effort on their part. Eventually I would give up and lose them as a friend. To me life is all about friendship and the relationships that your form along the way. Finding good friends is hard enough but friendship shouldn't be work. I understand that people get busy and you might not be able to see them as you once did, but with today's technologies it takes only a few seconds to text someone saying "been super busy but wanted to say hi" or "thinking about you, let's hang soon". It's so simple yet it's so hard for some to do. If my friendship with you is not worth a few seconds of your day then like the quote says I shouldn't be holding a spot in my heart for you. I have been hurt so many times by friends who I think are "good" friends but they really only want something from me and when they get it our friendship withers away.

Maybe it's me, maybe I expect to much from my friendships, all I ask is that they put in the same amount of effort I put into our friendship. I've always wanted that small group of friends, like on the TV show Friends. Six or seven folks who just hang out all the time... I've never had that and in today's society it may be unrealistic since peoples lives seem to be so busy now a days. But I guess I'm a dreamer as I still hoping to find that group of friends.

But friendships have changed over the years with social media and the internet. I have so many great "close" friends online whom I've never met (or met once or twice). And with those friends it seems like I talk to them almost everyday and they are closer to me then most of my "real life" friends. But online friends, as great as they are, can not be there for you when you need a hug or want to just hang out and watch TV. There is a limit to those kinds of friendships, not that it takes away any importance to them, but they are different.


I currently have some of the best friendships I have had in my entire life. Unfortunately I still don't have that small group of friends to hang out with on a weekly bases but I'm getting closer. I love each and everyone of my friends, from those that I communicate online with every once in a while to those I spend time with hanging out and enjoying ones company. Friendship is what makes the world go round and I'm just enjoying the ride.

Rewards & Dinner

Today I worked on getting together all the rewards for my Knights of the Guild Kickstarter project from a few months back. When folks donated we promised them rewards in return, ie poster, buttons and such. Now I have 60+ people that I need to ship rewards too. I have manage to get most of the rewards (still waiting to get the screen used props from Greg Aronowitz) but other then that I have everything else. It's just a matter of figuring out the best way to ship all these things. If you made a donation to my Kickstarter you should be getting your rewards in the next few week.. fingers crossed :)

Tonight I headed down the downtown Los Angeles as my buddy Mike was in town for a blogging and social media convention. Mike and I have been friends for years but never managed to have more then a 10 minute visit as the only times we see each other are at cons and both of us are normally very busy. So when he said he was going to be in town and wanted to grab some dinner I jumped at it. Since it was a Wednesday and in downtown LA I didn't want to drive as I knew traffic was going to be bad so instead I drove to the North Hollywood Metro (subway) station. That's only a 40 minute drive for me. I ride the subway very rarely but I did my research ahead of time to find out what exit I had to get off that was closest to where we were going to eat.

Got on the train right away as there was one waiting for me when I got down there. Took about 15 minutes and I was downtown (would have taken me over an hour in traffic to get there). I got off at Persian Square and went right for a few blocks (which I have to say were very ghetto). It was dark and I normally don't mind walking through a more "seedy" part of town but there were alot of homeless and less then nice looking folks just hanging around the sidewalk. Well I got about two blocks from the subway and realized I must be going the wrong direction as the street I was expected didn't show up as it should have. So I turned around and walked back through the same homeless and sketchy looking people back to the subway and then went left from there. It was like night and day. A block away there were young couples dressed to the nines, woman jogging alone, business suit men and women walking around. I found the street I was looking for and about ten minute later I was at my location.

We had dinner at Bonaventure Brewing Co. at the Westin. It was great to see Mike, we chatted non stop for hours and really got to know each other better. He's one of those friends that you feel like you have known forever and can talk open and honest about everything. It was a really good visit. His friend Danielle joined us later in the evening and we enjoyed each others company. Around 10pm I said my goodbye and headed back to the subway (this time I went to a different station). Had to wait about 10 minute for a train. Got back to my jeep around 10:30 and home a little after 11pm.  It was a good night.

I'm just so tired...

:: getting on soapbox::

I'm so tired of defending my lifestyle to everyone. How is it anyones business how I live my life. I'm not hurting a single person, I'm a law abiding citizen, pay my taxes and am just trying to live the best life I've been given. I'm tried of being treated as a second class citizen, I'm tried of the name calling, I'm sick of people constantly trying to take my civil liberates away from me. I'm tired of racist, bigoted, conservative assholes opening there mouths and spewing hate all over the place all under the guise of religion. I'm just so tired of it all.

::getting off soapbox::

Mid-Life Crisis

Okay so October is over and as many of you may have noticed via my blog, facebook or twitter that I've been out of sorts lately. I think I'm going through some sort of mid life crisis. I've had some great highs this past month like the times spent with some of the best friends a guy could ever ask for and then there are have been some super lows like when I'm home alone for a weekend struggling to motivate myself to do anything. I've had friends ask if I'm depressed and suicidal. I admit I have been depressed from time to time but I don't think I would call it clinical depression. As for suicidal, defiantly not, I have never once in my life consider that.. so no worries there. Some have suggested that I see a professional, now I'm not opposed to the idea but I'd really like to try and work this out for myself before taking that step.

I am extremely lonely, even though I have some of the best friends that I have ever had in my entire life, I'm still feel alone. After hanging out with them and feeling on top of the world, I come home to this big house empty house in the middle of no where. I really think this is all fallout from the break up. Having someone in your life everyday for 8 years then nothing is going to take some getting use to. I felt as if I had gotten over Harry and was moving on with my life, but I guess deep down I'm still struggling with the loneliness.

I feel as thought I've hit a crossroads in life and I have to make some big decisions. I'm 41 (halfway though my life), jobless (really not sure if I want to go back into Post Production), and single (after an 8 relationship). Where do I go from here, what do I want to do with the next 40 years of my life. I need to really look at my life and figure out what direction I want to go.

I mean when I was younger and I though about my life at 40 this is not what I had in mind. I saw myself, as many of us do. With a loving partner of many years, 1 or 2 kids, a house and a satisfying job and right now I have the least important one of them all, a house.

I'm going to take this month (November) and really work out what my next steps will be to help me reach my future goal of partner, family, and satisfying career. I'm sure things won't just click into place, it's going to be a struggle but I'm hopeful that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 19

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://MASH4077Podcast.com 

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 1, Episode #19 - The Longjohn Flap

Plot Summary: In the middle of a cold snap, Hawkeye receives a pair of longjohns from home. Hawkeye gives them to an ill Trapper out of sympathy and Trapper loses them to Radar in a poker game. The longjohns proceed to pass through the hands of almost everyone in the camp: Radar gives them to the cook in exchange for a whole lamb roast with mint jelly, and the cook bribes Frank with them to avoid being demoted because of the unsanitary conditions of the kitchen. Frank gives the longjohns to an intimidating Margaret as a sign of devotion to her, before Klinger steals the longjohns from Margaret's tent. A remorseful Klinger then gives the longjohns to Father Mulcahy, who in turn gives them to Henry (but not until after he spends the night wearing them). Henry claims he will return the longjohns to their rightful owner, but gets caught putting them on by Hawkeye and Trapper. Henry rebuffs Hawkeye's demand that the longjohns be returned, but later gives them back to Hawkeye in gratitude for saving his life via an appendectomy.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds & Al

© Geekyfanboy Productions

Halloween

Woke up this morning in Bryan's hotel room, didn't get the best night sleep as the hotel was pretty loud (being near a main street and me being a light sleeper). Bryan and I kind of laid there in bed, chatted and enjoyed ones company. We then got up around 9am and got ready for the day. I took him out to breakfast at Denny's and then drove him over to Disneyland as he was doing his third and final day there.  I thought about hanging out with him all day today but really needed to get home to do two podcasts that are due tomorrow.

Traffic wasn't that bad driving home in the morning.. got home around 11am and pretty much did nothing all day long. There were several Halloween parties that I was invited to but I just couldn't get motivated to do anything. I kind of regret not spending the day with Bryan again as yesterday was so much fun and how often is he in town... but I didn't :(

The day started off great as I got to spend it with my buddy Bryan but ended kind of crappy as I didn't get any podcasting done, didn't go to any parties and regret not hanging with Bryan at Disneyland all day.  

Disneyland & Medieval Times

Though I didn't go to bed until 3am this morning and was so drunk, I had made plans to join my buddy Bryan at Disneyland, who was visiting from Michigan. So I got up at 7am and actually felt pretty good. I was tired and had a bit of a hangover but for the amount of alcohol I drank and the little sleep I got I think I was doing pretty good. Luckily I stayed in Long Beach so getting to Disneyland didn't take me too long. I got there around 9am and made plans to hook up with my buddy in the front of the park. Bryan and I are online friends, we've been chatting for a few years and really get along online so I was very excited to finally actual meet him face to face.

You know it's always funny when you first meet a person that you only know for online. Bryan and I have only communicated over facebook chat, we've never verbally talked or did video chats. I knew what he looked like from his pictures so when I walked into the park I saw him walking over to me. Now I'm a hugger, always have been but some people don't like to be touched so I opted for the one are "straight" guy hug and said hello. Come to find out he's okay with actual hugs :)

Our bond was instant, there are some people that you meet and they are nice and you'll call them a friend but then there are those who from the moment you meet it's as though you've been friends all your life. That's what it was like meeting Bryan face to face.

First thing he wanted to do was show me a "birthday" gift that he wanted to get for me so we walked over to Tomorrow Land and to the Star Wars store area. There is a place where they take your picture and place it in a Star Wars scene. He wanted to buy one of those for me for my birthday. I've always liked those but never had gotten one. I was excited and of course I wanted him to be part of the picture so I looked for a two person picture and found the perfect one... and it turned out GREAT!!!  ----->

Next we rode a few rides and chatted about life. He and I talk TV or movies most of the time online so it was nice to actually talk about our personal lives and get to know each other better. We headed over to California Adventures to go to the Aladdin live stage play. I love Aladdin so I was super excited to see this and it didn't disappoint.. That play will be a must watch every time I go to Disney.

We grabbed some lunch and watched the Star Wars Jedi Training, and continued to enjoy ones company. I talked Bryan into doing Autopia as he can't drive due to a medical condition and I figured it would be fun as you kind of drive those cars though they are on a track. I was behind him and got to watch him attempt to drive.. it was pretty funny.

Around 4:30pm we headed over to Medieval Times for dinner and show. This is something that I have been wanting to do since I was young but never did. Bryan is huge into Medieval Times and was excited to share this experience with me. He went all out and got lots of extras, like a picture of us in costume fighting the dragons.. that was fun. We got prime seating and some flags. It was everything I expected and more and I'm so happy that I got to share the experience with him. Good food, great company and a fantastic show. Can't wait to do it again one day.

After Medieval Times we headed back to Disneyland and spend a few more hours there before they closed. We did a few rides and I was excited to be able to take Bryan to ElecTronica as he's a Tron fan and we thought we weren't going to be able to make it, but we got the California Adventures 10 minutes before they closed.

At 11pm both parks were closed and Bryan was kind enough to offer for me to crash at his hotel room as I was so tired after all the excitement of Saturday and now a fun filled day on Sunday. So I said yes. Not sure what time we both went to bed but we spent a few more hours chatting.. it was great.

I had such a FANTASTIC time hanging with Bryan, I have to admit I'm a bit smitten with him but as with most of the great guys I know.. he's straight as well. Oh well, he's going to make some woman very happy some day. Can't wait to hang out with you again Bryan.. hope it's soon. Thanks for everything.

Long Beach Comic & Horror Convention

Today I went to the Long Beach Convention Center where they were holding the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con. The Guild was going to attend on Saturday of the two day event so me and a bunch of Guildies decided to make it a group activity.

The day started off with Brian, Greg and Sean giving a location tour of Season 5, since alot of it was shot at the Long Beach Convention Center. After the tour we had a viewing of Season 5 (cut down to 45 minutes). It was fun watching the season all strung together though there were some huge gaps and scenes completely taken out for time.. but all in all it was a fun watch.

A handful of us went down to the show floor where all the dealers are. We walked around the floor looking at different folks in costumes and checking out the dealers that were there. We found our friends Team Unicorn and their booth and decided to hang out there and chat for bit.

At 1pm The Guild cast (Vince, Amy, Robin and Felicia, along with crew Greg, Sean and Kim) did a panel. It was a 45 minute Q&A session and after a slow started it really got moving. The cast and crew were funny as always. Once that was over a few of us agreed to meet back here at 2:30 to go to lunch. So I headed out with Chris to his hotel room and then we hit the floor again.

At 2:30 about 17 of us gathered at our meeting place for lunch. We headed across the street to Islands and Chris used is charm to get us a table in about 10 minutes which wasn't bad since we had 17 people. They placed us at 3 tables all within the same area. Lunch was a riot.. I got a strawberry margarita and I'm a light weight so I was feeling pretty good.. even had one of my infamous giggle feast.

After lunch we went over to the Jones Soda truck. We were told they were giving out The Guild Jones soda bottles. When I got there several of my friend told Will about my experiences with my previous Jones Soda orders and he gave me a full set (6 sodas) all in perfect condition for free. Jones Soda is a pretty amazing company and have one of the best customer services I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

We then headed back to the con to meet up with the other Guildie Extras at 5pm. The gathering started off slow but soon folks were mingling and when Amy, Robin, Sean, Brian and Greg showed up folks got really excited. This lasted to about 8pm and then the party moved to a local bar where we had some dinner and a few more drink. We then went to an bowling alley/ arcade and played a few games before heading back to Chris' hotel for an after party.

Now this is were the real fun began. Since the room was so small we only could invite a few folks to join us. I was drunk but not so much so that I wouldn't remember the night. I was having a blast and I didn't want to forget everything. The party last until about 3am where I and several others crashed were we could in Chris' room.

This day started off fun and just got better and better as it went. Thanks to Chris, Luis, Jes, Jen, Anne, Scott, Rupert, Aaron, Anthony, Ashphord and new friends Nikki and Megan for making this an AWESOME time.

Dinner with Friends

Tonight I had dinner with some friends. This was the couple I was suppose to have dinner with last week but totally forgot about it. John and Moises are some great guys and I love hanging out with them. We got to spend about 3 hours eating delicious food (Moises is a great cook) and having some fun conversation (mostly movie and tv related) since we're all geeks.  I use to do TV night every week when I lived closer and these guys always showed up... I miss tv nights.  It was great seeing them and hopefully it won't be months before I see them again.

Podcasting Rut!!

Well I've been trying to motive myself to getting some podcasts done that are due very soon but nothing really seems to be working. I don't know what it is but editing podcasts hasn't been that fun lately and I need to figure out why. I have a MASH 4077 due as well as a revamped Knights of the Guild but I haven't even started those yet. I have 30+ people on my Confessions of a Fanboy waiting list to be interviewed and I have four that have already been interviewed and all I need to do edit them and get them out. I'm also still in the middle of prepping notes for my new Alien Nation podcast. 

I need to get the KOTG and MASH ones done by Nov 1st and I'm hoping to kick myself in the butt and get moving on the other in early November. I need to get out of this podcasting rut.

Disneyland Again

Yep.. went to Disneyland to joined friends Al and Joyce and once again today I will be doing the same. I  enjoy Disneyland but I just want to hang out with Al and Joyce who live in Arizona and I don't get to see them very often. Good thing is they are huge Disney fanatics so why not hang out with two awesome people in one of the happiest places on Earth.

It was another fun filled day walking around the parks enjoying ones company and the rides. I actually talked Al into riding Mickey's Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel) and to ride in the moving cabs. We were paired with 2 young and very tiny girls so with Al and I weighting substantial more we were a bit lopsided and every time we swung our way we would turn the cab sideways and the girls would scream and grab the siding so they wouldn't fall towards us.  It was a lot of fun but  I kind of feel bad asking Al to do the ride because afterwards he needed a few hours to recover.

We hung out until 6pm then I was meeting up with another friend from Arizona who just happen to be visiting SoCal and the parks at the same time. So I met up with my buddy Aaron who I meet on the set of The Guild. Yeah he actually drove out from Arizona for season four and five to be an extra. Anyways we had a nice dinner at The Rain Forest Cafe, then walked around Downtown Disney for a bit before meeting back up with Al and Joyce where I said my goodbyes to all of them and then headed home.

I haven't been home in three days so I was happy to get back to my own bed... but I had a fantastic 3 days, two of them at Disneyland and one with my Mom. Was very happy that I was able to spend two days with Al and Joyce and at least have dinner with Aaron.

I love having my annual pass, you experience the parks in an entirely different way.

Hanging with Mom

Since I was down at Disneyland yesterday and going back tomorrow I figured instead of going home (hour and a half drive) I would stay at my mom's (20 minute drive) and then spend the day with her. I haven't hung out like that with my mom for as long as I can remember.

Got up at 8am and of course my mom and chuck (step dad) were already up and waiting for me to go to breakfast. The three of use did breakfast and then headed back to the house. While chatting mom asked me if I wanted to get a manicure and pedicure as she needed to get her nails filled in. I have always wanted to get a mani & pedi but never have so of course I said "yes!!". We headed over to her local nail place (where she has been going for over 10 years). The ladies were all very nice and got to work on me straight away. One did my finger nails while another worked on my feet. The poor pedicure woman really has to work extra hard as my feet have 40 years of wear and tear on them. But about an hour later they were done and my finger nails looked fantastic and my feet never felt so good. They end the session with  a 15 minute neck and shoulder massage. It was a pretty great experience and I can see me getting those every once in a while.

After the mani and pedi my mom and I headed out for lunch and do to a bit of shopping. I needed to get a hoodie as I was cold at Disneyland last night and I knew I would be cold again tomorrow night and I wasn't willing to pay $60 - $75 for a hoodie (at Disney). I did manage to get a pretty cool orange hoodie from Target for only $10.

After that we headed back to my moms where we hung out and I taught her a few things about her new iPad 2. She wanted to get one so she could talk to my nephew, her grandson. So we got that up and running but my mom is not computer savvy at all so will see how long she remembers.

Then the three of us (Chuck, Mom and I) went out to dinner. Once dinner was over we chatted for a bit until about 9pm then I went up stairs to my room to watch a bit of TV. I have to get up early tomorrow to get to Disneyland so I called it an evening around 10:30pm

It was a fun day filled with new experiences.

Disneyland

My friends Al and Joyce are down from Arizona celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary and of course they are celebrating at their favorite place on Earth, Disneyland. They invited me to join them so I went down today. Had a rough start to the day as I was running late, then fighting the woodpecker, then when I left my house I noticed that I had a flat tire. I fixed it and was on my way and right before I got to the freeway I realized I left my medicine at home (which I needed as I didn't plan on come home for three days). So finally an hour behind my original schedule I made my way down to Disneyland.

Luckily there was very little traffic and I got to Disney in an hour and 15 minutes. I hooked up with Al and Joyce and spent a magical day at Disneyland. We focused on mostly Disneyland, but headed over to California Adventures to have dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Joyce had made reservations for us. It's a nice restaurant and had some great food but is fairly expensive.

Part of our dinner reservations were tickets for preferred "area" to the "World of Color". That's one of the water shows at the park. I had never seen it so I was really looking forward to it. After some crazy times trying to find a decent area to watch we settled into a good area and the show began. WOW!!! this show did not disappoint and it brought me to tears. If you don't know what it is, they project video on huge walls of water that kind of dance to the music being played. That was a great way to end my Disney adventure. If you get a chance to watch the show.. take it. I can't wait to see it again.

After Disney I headed to my Mom's who lives in Newport Beach as I was going to spend the day with her tomorrow and then return to Disneyland the following day.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time is a new TV series on ABC that I have been looking forward to for months since I read the description of this series.
 
~ On the wedding day of Snow White and Prince Charming, the Evil Queen arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings, except for her. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy, Geppetto and Pinocchio fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. On the day Snow White gives birth to her daughter, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is mortally wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible".

In present day Boston, Emma Swan lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsperson and bounty hunter. After blowing out a candle on a cupcake for her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten year old boy, Henry, who identifies himself as her son, whom she had given up for adoption as a teenager. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in not-so-quaint Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales he has, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, who is really Jiminy Cricket, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke (shown to be 8:15 on the Towns Clock) and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adopted mother, the town Mayor, who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again.
First of all it's a fantasy and there aren't many fantasies on TV these days. Second it deals with Fairy Tales which I love so I have been super excited for this forever. Then we started to see trailers and previews and my excitement grew. ~

Well tonight it premiered and I fell head over heels in love with it. I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the mix of fantasy and real world. I loved, loved, loved the costumes in the Fairytale world. The special effects were pretty good and I liked the story. The scenery was beautiful (fairytale land) and it made me cry several times. I mean it's only the first episode but they set up the story pretty good all within the first episode. I immediately watched it again, which I hadn't done with a TV series in a long time. And on my second viewing I loved it even more and I know I'll be watching it a few more times before episode 2 on Sunday.

This is must see TV for me and I'm hoping it does well in the ratings so we see there this adventure goes. If you love fantasy, whimsical, great characters and a fun story then check out Once Upon A Time on ABC, Sundays at 8pm