You Take The Good With The Bad

Today was my nephew Kenobi's 3rd birthday party, his actual birthday was a few weeks ago. My brother and sister-in-law went all out and was having a big party. I got there a few hours early to hang out with my family and to help set up.

My brother rented this huge blow up water slide. Kenobi loves the water and he totally loved this. Of course as soon as it was ready I got in to cool down my feet and soon I heard Kenobi say.. Unk.. Unk and lifting his arms telling me he wanted to get in. We changed him into his swim trunks and started to slid. We were having a blast until our 15 or so slid and I snagged my left hand ring finger on the side of the slide as I was going down and hear a pop.. at first I thought I broke it but then realized that I dislocated it, it was twisted and when I went to bend it, it bent at an angle.

I quickly iced it down which didn't really help as the base of my finger and knuckle area quickly swelled up. After icing it for an hour or so I asked my brother if he had any kind of medical tape so I could tape the bad finger to the finger next to it. My brother just moved and couldn't find anything. So I asked my Dad and he had some gauze tubing stuff so I used that and then used packing tape. My friend Timmy suggested putting something ridge in there to keep me from bending it.. so we ventured into the garage and after a bit of digging we found a paint stirrer.. so we through that in there before taping it all up. It may have looked funny but it did the trick. It kept me from hitting it and being in pain.

I spent the rest of the party watching my nephew play in the water. I wasn't in pain but a bit of discomfort. One of my favorite moments was when a friend of the family gave Kenobi this animatronic dinosaur.. this thing was AWESOME.. I would love to have one of these thing. Kenobi's reaction was priceless..

I left around 6pm. Dropped off my buddy Timmy at his place, grabbed a burrito from my favorite Mexican place Miguel Jr's and then drove home. I took some Advil to help with swelling. I got various advice from wrapping it, which I did to going to emergency and having xrays done. I didn't feel it was that bad but will see how I feel tomorrow.

Not As Planned

Well today didn't go quite as planned. My buddy Sebastian and his girlfriend Amanda came over yesterday (read yesterday's blog), we were going to continue to log my toy collection but first we were going to go on a hike at Vasquez Rocks. We got up, ate breakfast and started to get ready when Sebastian got extremely sick and was out (not literally) for half the day.

We cancelled our hike and inventorying my toys. Instead we hung out at my place and just chilled. He was feeling a bit better around two so we headed out to Chill's for a celebratory lunch, for my new job. We got back and they headed home.

I spent the rest of the day blogging and working on podcasts.

So the day didn't go as planned but it was fun none the less just hanging with friends.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 33

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen, direct download http://bit.ly/eXCRxT

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 2, Episode #9 - Dear Dad...Three
33nd Episode Overall

Directed by Don Weis
Written by Larry Gelbart & Laurence Marks
Production code K409
Original air date November 10, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye's latest letter home recounts the doctors' VERY delicate operation on a soldier who has a live grenade shot into his body; racist patient Condon's demand that he be given the "right" type of blood; Henry's receipt of a home movie from his family; and the tension that erupts during the monthly staff meeting.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

Organizing my Toys

Today my buddy Sebastian and his girlfriend Amanda came over, they are planning a two day hang out at my place. Sebastian and I are really into Star Trek and a few weeks ago I showed him some of my collection of action figures and ships and such. I mentioned that I really would love to organize and inventory my entire collection. He was excited to help so we planned this two day event.

I have about 40 plastic containers, extra large to medium size that contain my entire collection of geeky goodness. We grabbed four of the medium size totes and got to work. We had a process, I would take them out and dust/clean them, I'd pass them to Amanda who would take a picture of them and then pass them to Sebastian who would enter all the information in the excel spreed sheet that I created. We did this over and over for about an hour before we finished our first box.

We took a break and had lunch then did another box and another and finally our fourth box. After our fourth we were done. It doesn't sound like much we we logged about a hundred figures in those boxes.

We knew it would take more then two days to get everything logged.. well at the speed were going it's going to take about 10 days of doing four or five boxes a day. So this will be an on going process.. but it's going to be so great when it's complete and I have a complete listing of my collectibles.

After this I made some spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and we chatted for a bit. 

We moved on to a movie, none of us had seen Despicable Me. I got a screener but never watched it. I heard it was good and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was a sweet story and of course I loved Agnes the little girl who just loved Unicorns (He's sooooo fluffy!!!!)

We finished the night with a viewing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Neither Amanda nor Sebastian had seen this movie and really wanted to see it..

We finally went to bed around 1:30am and after watching a Simpsons episode I fell asleep around 2am.

I Got A Job!!!!!

Today while I organized my toy collection I got call, well actually missed a call from a person I interviewed with a few weeks back. When I noticed the message a few hours later I took a listen and he said to call him back ASAP as he might have a job for me. I then noticed that I got an email from the woman who I interviewed with as well asking me to call her ASAP. So I called the guy and let him a message and then called the woman. She was on the other line and said she would like to make me an offer on the position that I interviewed for and was denied a few weeks back.. I was surprised but happy. This is the job that, after the interview, I swore I was going to get.. we all just clicked. So I was shocked when I got the call and they decided to go with someone else.

So I waited for this call, it sounded like she was going to call me as soon as she got off the other line. Two hours pass and still nothing, then I get a call and it's the guy that I left the message with, he says that the post supervisor job that I interviewed with has opened up again, I won't go into details but I told him that I already contacted "the woman" and I'm waiting for her to call me back with an offer. He gave me the low down on what he's looking for and it sounded once again that I'd be a perfect match. He said he would talk with this woman and she would call me back. So I wait.. and wait until around 7pm I get a call from this woman and she makes me an offer. It's not what I asked for or what I was making at MTV but it's close and I'm very happy to accept it... so I officially got the job.

I start on Monday, it's located in the Santa Monica area (that's a bummer, but doable), the gig last 10 weeks with the possibility of going over a bit. Not my longest gig, but it's 10 weeks of work that I wouldn't have and the money is good so I can save up again. The company is called High Noon Entertainment, they produce shows such as Cake Boss for TLC, VH1’s Tough Love, TLC's Next Great Baker, TLC’s Kitchen Boss, and The Weather Channel's  Hurricane Hunters.

The show that I'll be working on is called Guinness World Records Gone Wild, it's a new series for TruTV.

So I'm very excited to be getting back to work. I hope with this new company once this show is over that I have impressed them enough that they will want to keep me around for their next show. I'm sure once I start working I'll be blogging how things are going.. so stay tuned.

Also what made this night even better is that my best friend Chris called me from Montana while at work to congratulate me. He was almost as excited as me.. this is why I love him so much.

Confessions of a Fanboy #9

It's time for the next installment of Confessions of a Fanboy... with Thomas Needham. We discuss his fandom.. Xena: Warrior Princess

(Thomas' Bio to come)

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. And our guest Thomas can be found at @tomihawk

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



Theater Preformance Promo:

• Geeks.. The Musical !!!

Podcast Promo's Played during this Podcast:

• Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast
• Tuning into Sci fi TV

Confessions of a Fanboy is a Geekyfanboy Production  and has a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved

Editing Podcasts

I spent the day on and off editing my next MASH 4077 Podcast, I'd work on the podcast for a half hour then go watch an hour or so of recorded TV then work on the podcast again. This went on all day until finally I finished the podcast around 1am. I love getting these things done a few days before they are suppose to be released.

Sebastian, Starships & Steaks

Since I wasn't able to really hang out with my buddy Sebastian yesterday I went down to Burbank to hang out with him for a few hours today. I had a ton of stuff to do; podcasts, yard work, job search but I wanted to see him for a few hours.. well those few hours turned into a seven hour visit... it crazy how time flies when you're having fun.

One thing that Sebastian and I share is the ability to talk about any and everything. He and I are so very different in so many ways but we do share a love for Trek, which is why we really became friends, but then we meet and there is this chemistry between us that allows us to instantly share everything with each other, no matter how private or personal. Anyways got to his place around 11am and we hung out and chatted, then headed to lunch at Outback Steak House, Sebastian didn't have the best experience but I was happy with the my food.

After lunch we headed back to his place and the mailman was there with a large box that Sebastian was dying to get. He was like a kid at Christmas, he couldn't wait to open it. What he got was a Star Trek Enterprise D light up replica.. it was pretty awesome and he was so excited about getting it. He opened the package, and admired (played) with it for the next hour and then we talked Trek for the rest of the day.

I finally left around 5pm and got home around 7pm, by this time I couldn't do any yard work but I did manage to work on the next MASH 4077 podcast episode. Also I tried to do a skype chat, google hangout, and Facebook video chat with my bestie Chris but my internet is so slow that it wouldn't work properly so finally I just gave him a call on the phone and we chatted for a little over an hour. I miss seeing him. We text or chat online via IM almost everyday but it's so different when you get to actually communicate verbally or even better in person. I love talking to him but it also reminds me of how much I am missing him. Regardless it was a fantastic way to end this fun day.

Dinner with a Long Lost Friend

Today I had dinner with my buddy Christopher, Christopher and I have been friends for many, many years but recently for whatever reason we haven't talked or hung out for over nine months. No real reason for not hanging, we didn't have a disagreement, we just stopped talking. Anyways we finally made plans to have dinner at Islands. It was great seeing him and catching up. Both of us have had many changes in our lives since we chatted last. We kind of knew the going ons of each other since we are facebook and twitter friends so we would see each others info but it was great finally sitting down and just chatting. We hung out at Islands for over three hours (kind of felt bad for the waiter).

And as we called it a night we swore that we wouldn't let another nine months pass before we saw each other again. We're both extremely busy but our friendship is something worth making time for.

After hanging with Christopher I was near my buddy Sebastian's place so I thought I would stop by and say hi. When I got there he was actually heading out to pick up his girlfriend so I only got to see him for a few minutes.

It was a fun night

I Love Star Wars

They just released the trailer for Season 5 of Star Wars The Clone Wars. I've loved every episode of this series. Yes there are some that are mind blowing episodes and some that are just okay, but it's new Star Wars every week.. you can't ask for better.

Can't wait for this upcoming season

Gamer Girl, Country Boy - Behind the Scenes

Felicia released her new music video that she did with Jason Charles Miller today, called Gamer Girl, Country Boy. I mentioned this shoot a few months back on my blog but couldn't say much... now I can. They shot all of Felicia's rockband stuff in my living room as well as all the outside on the dirt road stuff on my property.

I was excited when Sean Becker (the director) asked me if he could use my place. He previously asked if he could shoot a new Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour at my place (which we actually shot the following weekend). Of course I said yes and was excited to hear this new song. I'm a huge country music fan and I've enjoy Jason's previous songs. I also love Felicia's Guild songs so this was a win win for me. Sean also asked me to find two girls to play in Felicia's band and I got my bestie Jen and my former co-host of Knights of the Guild Podcast Jenni to join us.

The day started early, they had shot all of Jason's stuff yesterday and today was Jason and Felicia's outdoor stuff with the truck and then of course Felicia's rockband group. It was just a handful of crew. They scouted where they were going to shoot outside. I have lots of property and it's fairly recluse but you can see houses in the background and they were trying to avoid it. They picked a spot just off the main road to my place at the top of my property. They shot all of the outdoor stuff during the day. It was hot, very hot and poor pale Felicia had to stay under umbrellas to keep from burning. They shoot from about 10am to 3pm before heading inside to do the rockband sequence. They chose my living room to shoot in. It has the nice fireplace and the wall colors worked for them.

We had to move some furniture around to accommodate for the cameras but once that and lighting was done they were ready to shoot. They did the entire song with everyone playing four or five times then they did close ups of Felicia a few times and then a close up of Jen on drums once. Jason joined in and I mentioned that I could teach them to line dance if they wanted to and then Sean said "why don't you line dance in the background".. it will be so random and awesome. Of course I love line dancing and I never miss an opportunity to get into one of Felicia's shows :) So I lined dance for a few different takes and I think in the end the video turned out pretty great. I loved the song when I first heard it and after hearing over and over again on set I still love it.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep 6

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen/Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 6 - The First Cigar

Directed by John McPherson
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date October 23th, 1989

Plot Summary: Struggling to pay a debt of $2,400 to the IRS, George finds himself having to go to a successful Newcomer businesswoman Betsy Ross for a loan. Ross, who claims to be impressed with the progress that George, one of their own, has made on this planet, is happy to help, and, in addition, insists she can get for him information about dealers of the hightly addictive narcotic "Jack", termed "the crack of the 90's" Sikes doesn't trust Ross, but George refuses to accept his argument until it becomes clear that Ross is actually an Oversser trying to corner the Jack market for herself. Hope you enjoy it, Kenny & Michael

Friends, Aliens & Succubus

Busy day today.. my buddy Aaron texted me and wanted to see if I wanted to do lunch and a movie. He wanted to see the new "Alien" movie Prometheus. I not a huge fan of the Alien series but I do enjoy the movie and this one being a "prequel" and the previews looking pretty good I agreed to join him.

He got to my house around 11am and we headed out to Islands to grab some lunch before the movie at 1:30pm. We were seeing it at a local theater in 3D IMAX (or as I like to call it, Faux MAX) since it's not a true IMAX theater. Anyways we had a great lunch and I got to hang out with a good friend. I've been in a funk the past few days and it was great getting to hang with a friend and talk.

After lunch we made our way to the theater, got our tickets and got in line for a few minutes before they let us in to the theater itself.

Prometheus was a very entertaining movie, it was a OMG that was AWESOME kind of movie but I really enjoyed it. I loved all the nods to the original Alien movie (so much so that I now want to go back and watch the original Alien movie). The story was cool and the effect were pretty awesome. I liked the characters and the acting was strong. There were some inconsistency in the storytelling but it didn't detract me from story on a whole. I still enjoyed Snow White and the Huntsman, that I saw last week, more then Prometheus but I'm glad I saw it in the theater and I think it's a nice addition to the Alien series.

After the movie Arron came back to my place for a half hour before heading into LA. I was going to try and work on some podcasts but that didn't happen and early in the day before Aaron got there I started to watch the eight episode of Lost Girl that I had on my DVR. So for the rest of the night I finished off what I have recorded, so I'm currently all caught with Lost Girl and ready for new episodes. I really love these series.. I already did a blog on Lost Girl but now that I've seen all of season one and the beginning of season two this series continue to impress and entertain me.

Nice Guy 101

So I know this may come as a shocker to some of you but I'm a "Nice Guy". I use to hate being called that but a few years ago I decided to own it. I am a nice guy, I can't change who I am and I shouldn't be ashamed of it. You know the saying Nice Guys finish last, well it's a very true statement but I wouldn't want to be any other way.

I like being a nice guy, I like that people know that they can rely on me. Yes I may not achieve huge success or wealth because I'm unwilling to be cut throat.. and yes I have been taken advantage of from time to time but that just goes along with being a good person. 

Why am I telling you guys about this because I decided to start posting #NiceGuy101 tweets on twitter. They are just little sayings or things that I live by, being a nice guy.

Here's an example... this is the first one that I tweeted;

Send a friend a text and say hi, it only takes a second but can brighten their entire day. #NiceGuy101

I plan on tweeting one or two of these every few days.. I got lots of "nice guy" things to share.

Life is Funny

This post is going to be just some random thoughts going on in my head at this very moment... 

The past few days I've been feeling blah, no job, no money, no partner and after having to ask for financial help (see my last blog) I've haven't been feeling so well. I don't know if my depression is the cause of it but I haven't been physically feeling well either... so much so that I've only worked out two days this week. It kind of a catch 22, I don't feel well so I don't workout, and because I don't work out I get upset with myself which contributes to my depression which in turns makes me sick... it's  vicious cycle.

Not really sure what's going on with me...  just feeling low the past few days. Missing friends, feeling extremely lonely (meaning companionship, not friendship). I have some of the best friends in the world who care for me very much but I don't have that special someone who will share the remainder of my life with. Going through tough times is always easier when you have someone you love by your side. I have no one, I'm completely alone in dealing with my problems.

I was complaining about being lonely to my buddy Sebastian and he asked me "Well are you doing anything about it?" And you know what...  I'm not, I'm not on any dating sites, I don't go out to bars or clubs so I don't know what I expect if I don't put a little effort into it. I am extremely lonely but do not feel motivated to start dating again. It's been over a year since Harry and I broke up and ten months since he left for Austria and though I am lonely I don't know if I'm ready for a relationship. If I'm honest with myself I just need someone to "play around" with.. kind of like a F*ck Buddy. Just someone to have fun with, not commitment, just someone to enjoy ones company with. Unfortunately for me most of my male friends are straight and the ones that aren't are in relationships.

Aw well I hope I can snap out of this funk soon.. I don't like being in it and I have so much stuff to do while I'm not working.. I feel like I've wasted months of free time to get some of my projects done.  Wish me luck!!

Asking for Help

Well the day has come.. I had to ask for financial assistance from my Mom and Step Dad. I've never asked for anything from anyone since I was 15, I've always been self reliant and doing this is just killing me. But after eight months of not working it takes of toll on your savings. If I didn't own this house, it would be a different story, but I don't want to lose my house so I swallowed my pride and made the call.

Being freelance I've always been good at saving up for the lean times and this time was no different.. only problem is, I'm normally out of work for 2 to 3 months which my savings can handle but eight months in a row is just too much time off. 

Don't get wrong I'm very thankful that I have this option I know alot of people out there don't. But it so hard for me to accept help. I'm a 40+ year old man, I should be able to take care of my own debt and the fact that it has come to this is just devastating me.

I use to live paycheck to paycheck in my 20's but was fortunate enough to be debt free by my late 20's and into my 30's. Then I meet Harry and got into a bit a debt again and a few years ago we manage to get out of debt so I'm debt free once again (yay!!). So I've grown accustom to not worrying about money. When I go out with friends I would occasionally buy dinner for everyone or when I go grocery shopping I don't worry what the final bill will be.. well now I need to worry about those things and it's tough because I haven't worried about those things for so long. But today having to ask my mom for money was a wake up call. I now know that I can't be spending money like I did in the past (at least not until I find a job).

It's going to be tough because I'll be making some sacrifices but it's what I need to do to stay on my feet until I find another job.

Vasquez, Voting & Vampires

Had a good day today. Got up and was sore from working out last night. But that's the norm for me when I start working out again. First thing I did was try and catch up on some blogging. I fall a few days behind so every couple of days I sit down for an hour and wrack my brain to try and remember the past few days events (tweeter & facebook helps). So I did that for an hour, then I prepared packages for my MASH podcast for winners of our latest trivia (they won a MASH 4077 Podcast Tshirt) so I had to get those ready for post, also I got several donations for KOTG so I have to prepare to send these guys some autographed pictures as a thank you for their donations. So everything is ready for post (which I will go to tomorrow).

Since I was sore and knew I wouldn't be doing any upper body workout I decided to go for a hike at Vasquez Rocks to get in my 30 minutes of cardio. But before that I wanted to stop by my voting place and vote (I've voted in every election since I was 18). That took me a few minutes and then I was on my way to Vasquez. It was a beautiful day, warm but breezy. I didn't really have a plan, I just started walking. I've been to Vasquez so many times now that I know alot of the paths and how to get back to parking from pretty much anywhere in the park. It was a great way to get my cardio in and not be stuck in my garage on an elliptical. Gonna try and do this more often.

After Vasquez I went out to El Pollo Loco to grab some lunch (I'm trying to limit myself to eating out to twice a week). And then I came home. I cleaned up the house (I hate having a dirty house) and blogged a bit more.

Around 5pm I headed out to my buddies Robert's place. Since we finished Firefly/Serenity last week we picked a new TV series to watch. It's a rewatch for me but a first time for Robert. This time we choose Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I have loved this series since it first aired in 97 and I wanted to share this great series with Robert.

So we had some dinner and sat down to watch the first three episodes, Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest and Witch. It's so much fun to rewatch this series. It's especially fun to see these characters so young and so different from where they end up at the end of the series. It's going to take us well over a year to finish all seven seasons but it's going to be an awesome ride.

After that I headed home, surfed around a bit.. and went to bed.

Star Trek & Friends

This evening I went over to my buddies Sebastian's place to hang with him and his girlfriend. We got some pizza and sat down to watch a movie. Sebastian suggested that we watch Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier. I had mentioned a week prior that I had never seen this movie. I've seen bits and pieces but never sat down to watch the entire thing. So he popped on a DVD and for the next two hours I got to watch some new Trek (well new to me).

I've heard many people say how this was the worst of the original movies so I went into it with very low expectations and I have to say that it was alright. It's not my favorite original cast movie but I thought it was entertaining. There were some fun scenes and there were some extremely stupid scenes. The writing wasn't the greatest but there was some great acting. I'm glad I finally got to see it.. now all I need to do is watch Star Trek The Motion Picture (which I techncally saw at a drive in as a kid) but I feel asleep and haven't seen it since.

Starting to Work Out... Again

Today I decide to start working out again. The past few years I have started then gotten sick for several weeks/months and stopped and then struggled to start again. That happen to me earlier this year where I worked out for months, lost 18 pounds and was feeling great. Then I got sick, stopped and never went back.

So I've decided to try once again.. let's hope I can stick to it this time.

Every Monday I weight myself, this morning I was 205, I set my June Goal to get below 200 by the end of June. It's going to take working out and eating right to reach that goal. I really don't have a problem working out.. I enjoy it, my biggest issue is the food, eating properly. It's always been my biggest issue and I have still not be able to conquer it. I know things won't change over night but I'm going to have to find a way to eat better or all this working out will be for not.

Today's Workout (easing myself back into it)

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical

3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Snow White and the Huntsman (my review)

Got to see this movie today.. first here's a quick synopsis; The enchanting Snow White (Kristen Stewart) joins forces with the fierce Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who was recruited by the diabolical Queen (Charlize Theron) to kill the fair beauty, and together they fight to rid their kingdom of evil in this bold new take on the fairy-tale classic. Obsessed with being the fairest woman in the land, the Queen learns that Snow White will soon surpass her in beauty, and seeks to achieve immortality by consuming the young girl's heart. But the Huntsman is the only one capable of braving the dark forest to seek out Snow White. Threatened with death should he refuse to follow his order, the Huntsman finds Snow White, and begins training her for the arduous battle ahead.

(Spoiler ahead)

I loved this movie, it was fun, beautifully shot, visually stunning, cool special effects and overall very entertaining. I'm not a Kristen Stewart hater so I thought she did a good job as Snow, Chris Hemsworth is always great in playing the strong hero but my favorite was Charlize Theron as the evil queen. Whenever she was on screen all attention went to her. She was fantastic.

My favorite part of the movie is when they go to Fairyland, it's so beautiful and I loved seeing all the enchanted creatures. I really liked their take on the "fairy". I miss really good fantasy movies, Lord of the Rings was the last one that I adored and I can't wait for The Hobbit. I would have loved to see them do a bit more in this "Fairyland".

I really liked the Dwarfs, each one had it's own personality. My buddy Robert turned to me and said "I thought there were seven dwarfs but I keep counting eight." and of course one of the dwarfs kind of has this thing with Snow and you just totally adore him.. so of course something is going to happen to him, and it does toward the end of that scene. He sacrifices himself and takes an arrow to save Snow. It's the only time I teared up during the movie.. so sad... but now there are only seven dwarfs.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie again. I give Snow White and the Huntsman an A+ for visuals, B+ for story, B+ for acting and an A- overall.

Hanging with the Bros

When I got up around 7:30 the ladies had already left. Robert and Rupert were chatting in the living room. I made some sausage, toast and eggs for breakfast and we sat down to figure out what our plan was for today. We decided to watch a movie, after the guys scoured through my DVD/Bluray collection we decided to watch Adventures in Babysitting. This is one of my favorite movies from the 80's.

After the movie we headed out to my back porch to just relax in the hot sun. We chatted for about an hour before we realized that we were getting red so we headed back inside.

For lunch we headed out to Chilli's, man I love their boneless buffalo wings. Robert was the good one of the group by having soup and salad while Rupert had this huge burger and I had, of course, boneless buffalo wings with fries.

After lunch we headed back to my place and as I was getting in my jeep I felt this sting on my back. I wasn't sure but I think I sat on a bee and it stung me. Sure enough when I got home and I got out of the jeep there was a bee sitting in my chair. Luckily it only hurt for a short time and I'm very happy that I'm not allergic to them as that would have been bad since I was driving.

Once home we hung out for an hour as we plan to go see Snow White and the Huntsman. Robert really didn't want to see it but was being a nice guy as he knew I really wanted to see this movie.

We got to the movies, found our seats and waited for the movie to start. I loved the movie. I'm going to do a separate blog with my quick review.

After the movie we headed back to my place and Robert packed up his stuff and headed home. Rupert and I hung out for a few more hours watching TV and stuff. Jes, finally got home from the shoot and decided to crash one more night at my place because it was late and she lives six hours from me. Around 11ish Rupert said he's good byes and headed home while Jes and I called it a night and went to bed.

It was another fun and relaxing day with friends.

Games, Lembas Bread & Friends

This weekend plans were so last minute. I considered opening this weekend up to all my friends and having a mini marathon/party but decided against that and thought it might be nice to just have the three/four guests and have a "chill" weekend. I made no plans, well other then food (what we were going to eat). So Jes and I got up early around 8ish and went to Denny's for breakfast. We then stopped by Vons to pick up some supplies for the Lembas Bread that we were making later in the day. While we were out my buddy Robert texted me that he was on his way up.

Jes and I got home and started to play Yatezee on my ipad when Robert arrived around 11am. He joined in for a few games until we switched over to Cards Against Humanity. If you don't know about CAH, it started off as a Kickstarter program and was fully funded and is not a huge hit card game.

Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Here's a description from it's website (BTW this game is completely sold out already). Unlike most of the party games you've played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends. The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card.

And man most the white cards are just horrible, which makes this game one of the best games I've played in a long time. Jes, Robert and I played for a few hours before Rupert joined us and we moved to the dining table. We then continued to play through the entire deck of cards, stopping only once to have lunch. We played for hours and it was some of the funnest moments the four of us have ever had.

Around 4pm we finally finished the entire deck and it was time to make Lembas Bread. Jes had made this for my Lord of the Rings marathon last year and it was a hit. So when she said she was coming over for the weekend and that we should make some I was all for it.

Robert and Rupert sat in the kitchen and watched as Jes and I prepared the bread. It was a lot of fun baking with Jes. We had the bread dough finished within a few minutes and then I watched Jes cut out the first batch and I did the second. Ten minutes later the bread was cooked and ready to be consumed. I had Mallorn Leaf that Jes had created for the previous bread so we wrapped a few up for friends.

After we cooked, the three of them Rupert, Robert and Jes (who slept & was on her phone) went into the TV room to watch the Kings game, while I went into my office to catch up on my blogging. Occasionally Robert or Jes would come in my office to hang during commercials. I didn't have to watch the game to know how the team was doing.

I also started dinner, we were having Lasagna and garlic bread. By the time dinner was done my fourth guest was done shooting and on her way over to my place. Kimi arrived just as we were finishing dinner and about to play Clue.

We ended the night with a few games a Clue before calling it a night around 11ish. That's fairly early for this group but the ladies had to be up at 5am for a shoot on Sunday.

So it was a fun, relaxing day hanging with friends.. couldn't ask for a better day.

Visiting Family

This morning was a great morning, had my best friend hanging with me, I made some pancakes for breakfast, we watched some TV, talked and finished our visit with playing some Wii (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows pt. 1). He had to get home and I had to go visit family today so we said our goodbyes around 1ish.. it was an FANTASTIC 26 hours.

I went to visit my dad and we went out of lunch. My brother and his family (including my Dad) are in my middle of moving so half of the family is at the old place and half is at the new place. After having lunch we headed over to the new house to see my sister-in-law Lora and my niece and nephew. I really wanted to see my nephew Kenobi as it's his third birthday today (though we are having a big party in three weeks). I hope him a pre-birthday party gift. I played a little baseball with him. What I didn't know is my Dad had plans to play poker. It took me two and a half hours to get down to their place (traffic was horrible) and then I only got to spent about an hour with them before I had to get my Dad back to the old house so he could catch is ride to the poker game.

Though it was cut short I did enjoy my time with my family. It's always nice getting to see them every few weeks.

Drove home and waited for my friend Jes to arrive. She was driving from up north to come visit me for the weekend and to do a shoot for Nerd Machine on Sunday. Another friend Kimi is also doing the shoot but she's doing it on Saturday and Sunday and will be crashing at my place Saturday night. Also my buddy Rupert and Robert didn't have any plans this weekend and asked if they could hang so this weekend had turned into a mini get together of some of the members of the Geek Mob.

Jes arrived around 10ish and we hung out until midnight chatting. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Lord of the Rings Games

Two new Lord of the Rings games were announced with trailers at E3 today.. The Lego game looks fun as all of the Lego games are a blast.. but the trailer for LOTR: Guardians of Middle Earth looks EPIC!!! it looks like a cross between street fighter and LOTR. I mean the game looks like a lot of fun but I'd rather see more of the cinematic trailers.. they are pretty awesome.

Here's the Lego Trailer...

Here's the Guardians of Middle Earth trailer...

Pic a Day in May (All)

If you've been following me you know I took a picture every day in May. I have a lot of fun with these. Some came to my easily and some took some effort to come up with. I tried to do more then just take a picture of me. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'm sure I'll be doing this again since I had so much fun with this. Here's all 31 of them.

Magic Mountain with Josh

My bestie Josh texted me yesterday and said that he was free on Thursday and part of Friday and if I wanted to hang out. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to hang out with him as I adore him and we see each other not very often. Magic Mountain popped into my head and I mentioned that I had a discounted ticket and he could get in for $25 bucks but it expires at the end of May (which is today). I then found another coupon for a free entry on a weekend but again it ended today... so the plan was set. He would come over and we'd do Magic Mountain.

He had planned to get here around 10am since the park opened at 10:30am but was running a big late so he didn't get here until a bit after 11am which meant we got to the park around Noon. The park was open until 8pm and we planned on staying the entire time. It's been a few years since he had been so Six Flags so there were several new roller coasters that he had never ridden, so I was excited.. I love going to theme parks with newbies.

We we got to the park we ran into our buddy Doug who works there.. that was fun.

Our first ride was Tatsu, it's one of my favorites and Josh had never been on it. The light wasn't bad and they had misters, oh BTW did I mention it was boiling outside. Anyways like I said they had misters but we were standing under tarts and it kept the sun off but kind of baked us. The mist had it very humid and we were sweating. A guy in front of us actually got a bloody nose. We stood in line for about 20 minutes before riding. Josh loved it. This ride as one of the coolest and scariest back loop ever.. so much fun.

After that we were hungry and went to get some lunch. I had chicken strips while Josh had a chicken sandwich. And with my discount instead of pay a cray amount of money for this food it was only slightly crazy.

After lunch we went to get in line for X2, a friend of Josh's said he really needed to do this one and that it was her favorite so he was looking forward to it. I have to say this is the shortest line for X that I have ever been in. We were in line for about half a hour before riding.. and again Josh loved it. X is probably my favorite ride at Six Flags.

Next up is Viper, this use to be one of the best roller coaster but now it's just old and very shaky. Still fun for what it is but the newer coasters are so much smoother.

Went over the hill and noticed that they got rid of Deja Vu and Cyclone and released it was a Falling Skies themed roller coaster called Apocalypse. So Josh and I road it for the first time. It's a wooden roller coaster so it very shaky but it fast and fun.

We did Gold Rush next which is one of the parks first roller coaster and is always fun for a nice simple ride.

We skipped The Riddler, as Josh is not a fan of the stand up coasters. So instead we headed to Green Lantern ride. This is a vertical roller coaster. I first rode this a few months back when Chris and I went and it's a fun ride. Towards the end of the ride as the car was pulling into the station our car continued to roll for another three times.. they actually had to manual stop the car... crazy ride.

Then we rode Batman The Ride, this has always been a favorite of mine. Next we Scream before we took a break and ate again. 

We did the classic Colossus before heading over to one of the smoothest and fast coaster Goliath. We got all the way up to the front when the ride broke down for about 15 minutes.

After Goliath we did another classic park ride Revolution (had the first loop), before ending out night with another ride on Tatsu. When we got off Tatsu we had seven minutes before the part closed so we ran up the stairs to Ninja and managed to get on the last car to run for the night.

Our fun fill day is over.. we had a fantastic time. We rode all but one of the major roller coasters. It was hot but manageable. We had loads of fun.. beside being at a theme park I got to spend the entire day with my best friend.. couldn't ask for anything more.

We got home around 9pm and Josh wasn't sure if he was going to stay or head home but after a sun draining day he opted to stay the night. So I made some dinner and we watched some TV before calling it a night and going to bed.

Pic A Day In May 30 & 31

So I only had two days left for my picture a day in May event. I was talking to my buddy Sebastian about trying to come up with an idea for Day 30.. he suggested that I take my reflection in a spoon or something.. I liked the idea but instead of a spoon I decided to do it in my bathroom mirror but I opened the medicine cabinet and viola there were multiple Kenny's.

For my final picture I knew I was going to go with a bow tie and a wave goodbye. So I found my bow tie from my prom (yes I still have my cumber bun and bow tie). I liked the shirtless look and I even did a foe hawk that you can't see in the picture. And that became my final picture for May.

KOTG is Back!!

Download from itunes bit.ly/KotGCast or Listen and Direct Download bit.ly/2CrYxk

After a four months hiatus I have decided to revive my Knights of the Guild podcast. I got a little burnt out on this podcast after doing season five companioncasts. I lost a host and changed the format hoping this would peak my interest in this show but it didn't. I started up other podcasts and found what I as missing in KOTG so it just sat there. I still have quite a few interviews saved up from Season Five as well as a companioncast for The Guild's newest video "I'm the One That's Cool"

I thought about just letting it go, maybe do one more podcast with Jenni and inform everyone that this would be the last. But being away from it for so long has really made me miss it. I'm still a huge diehard Guild fan, always will be. I've gathered quite a following because of The Guild and have meet some of my best friends because of it..  so I couldn't let it go. I'm slowly picking the reigns back up. I worked all day on Episode 40. It's not following any format from a previous show. Because the webseries The Guild is in limbo between Season Five and a possible Season Six there isn't much going on so each show will be different or very similar to the previous one, depending on what I have to share with you guys. There will be lots of interviews (previously recorded) as well as new ones (I hope).

Like I said I spent the day working on Episode 40 which is all about Kristin our Costume Designer / Wardrobe. She had so much information to share that I had to cut the interview into two. So part two of Kristin's interview will be in episode 41.

I'm not going to set a date for when new episodes will be released. I'm hoping to get at least two a month out. And again I can change my mind tomorrow about the format and release schedule. I'm trying to have a much less structured format for this show.. will see how it goes... let me know what you think.

A Fun Day

Today was a jammed packed with fun kind of day. My friend Sebastian and his girlfriend Amanda came over last night to have a "get out of the city and relax day". So I got up around 8ish and made some breakfast for everyone. We hung out and chatted for a few hours before sitting down to watch Beauty and Beast on Bluray. I've had this movie ever since it came out on bluray but never watched it. It was pretty great and I loved the extra song/scene (Human Again).

After that Sebastian and I headed out to my garage to check out my toy collection, specifically my Star Trek toys as he is a HUGE Star Trek fan. We spent the next hour or so reliving his childhood because he actually played with these Star Trek toys that I had just purchased and kept in their packaging. It was fun showing him things that he knew about but never saw in person or played with over 15 years ago. We got through about 2/3'ds of my toys before we got hungry. We did agree that we were going to get together in the next few weeks and really catalogue and organize all my toys (something I've been wanting to do for years) So that should be fun to really see what I own and how much it's all worth.

For lunch we decided to go to Applebees in Palmdale and since it was such a beautiful day I decided to take my top off of my Jeep (something I haven't done in a while). And Sebastian is thinking of getting a Jeep (yeah I tried to talk him out of it ) So I let him drive up and back. He loved it and it just reinforced his idea of getting one for himself. Had a nice lunch before coming home and trying to watch Wall E since both Sebastian and Amanda had never seen it. We only got about 20 minutes in before the heat and food started to take hold and both became sleepy. So we opted to go to a walk to wake up.

It was a nice quick walk (Sebastian has a bad knee that started to act up), when we got back it was around 6pm and they started to pack up and load up their car. Their relaxing day with me had come to an end. It was loads of fun, I love hosting friends who want to just come up to my place and relax. We both benefit from it. They get away from the city and I get some company.. it's a win win :)

After they left it dawned on me that I had plans with Robert to watch Serenity, it's our final viewing of our Firefly/Serenity marathon. I was suppose to be there at 7:30 but got off a bit later at 6:30 so I arrived around 7:45, which isn't that bad.. figured I'd be there by 8.

We ordered pizza and wings and began Serenity. It so much fun watching this movie with a newbie. He gasped, laughed and was piss off with Joss in all the right places. It was a great way to end our Firefly/Serenity marathon. Next up for Robert and I .. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Seven seasons of Awesome.. with 144 episodes and we watch 3 a week it will take us 48 weeks to watch them all... so that's 11 months.. it's gonna be fun.

Pic a Day in May #28 & #29

Well this is slowly coming to an end. I've had a blast taking pictures of my every day in May. Here are the latest two. One on the left is for May 28th and the one on the right is for May 29th. The 28th as a last minute one. It was towards the end of the day and I had no idea what I was going to do for the picture, I was thinking back if I had done anything with Harry Potter and noticed that I didn't. So I grabbed my Quaffle and took off my shirt to share how much I love Harry Potter.

For the 29th I had lots of different choices. Friends Sebastian and Amanda were here I could have taken one with them, I was also going to my buddies Roberts to watch Serenity and could have taken one there, but as I was driving through my little town with my jeep top down and it was so beautiful outside I decided to take one of just me in my jeep crusing along. I took several to try and get a better background but since  I was late and I didn't have time to stop and compose the picture you get what you get.

An Outsider on the Inside

I've always been an outsider and never really part of any group. Not to say I don't get along with everyone. In high school I could mingle with the jocks or the tough crowd or nerds but I wasn't part of any of their cliques. As I got older I would become part of a group but only be on the fringe of that group so if I wasn't around they wouldn't think of me when they did things together.

It's how it's been for my entire life. Well that all changed a year ago when I meet a group of people volunteering to be extras for The Guild season five. Within the 150 extras a small group of us, about 6 or so really hit it off. One of those people was Chris, whom I now consider one of my best friends. When the filming was over and we all parted ways, several of these friends live pretty far away and in order to see them I created this movie marathon day. I would have these folks who came from a long distance, stay a weekend and we would watch a certain group of movies. It started with Indiana Jones and grew from there. I didn't intend for these to be a regular thing or for them to even be an entire weekend. But since folks came from so far away it didn't make sense to have them drive down for one day (some of their commutes was up to 6 hours) so instead those few, who came long distances, would just crash at my place and leave in the morning. Well that lead to everyone staying over and instead of leaving in the morning we planned events like watching more movies and hiking on Sundays and thus the current movie marathon weekend was born.

 

Why am I telling you this story.. because I went from being an outsider to all the groups that I associated with to being the center of this group (The Geek Mob), the person in charge, the one that, if without, this group would not exist. It's a strange feeling not only being inside the inner circle but to actually be the "leader" of the inner circle. I've never had this and it's harder then it looks from an "outsiders" view. Our small group of friends grew as the movie marathons continued. I would invite other friends who were not part of the guild of extras as well as other guild extras that I really didn't know but seemed nice. Soon our group of 6 or so, grew to over 35.

There were now layers to this group. You have the inner circle, those are friends who became some of the most important people in my life. Then you have the layer just outside the inner circle, I like to call it the outer inner circle, these are close friends who's friendship I cherish. And finally the outer circle (which is normally where I am), these are those friends who you enjoy hanging out with but don't see outside these events.

It's strange because after being an outsider for so long I now understand these layers and why they exist. No one likes to be on the outside looking in. No one likes to not feel like they are part of the group. But it's impossible to have everyone in the inner circle. Sometimes it's personalities, those who I consider inside my inner circle have very similar personalities to me, we like the same things, we have the same temperament and just click. It's tough because I know what it's like on the outside and wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone.

But there are levels to friendships, you have best friends, close friends, friends and acquaintances. Those are similar to the circles of our group. Not everyone can be my best friend.

I never thought in a million years that I would be the starting point of a group, but it's happened and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

SuperHeroes and Shawarma

Today I drove out to Van Nuys to hang out with a bunch of Guildies. Brian organized a viewing of Avengers and then out to lunch/dinner for some Shawarma.

This was my second viewing of Avengers and I was really wanting to see this again since I saw it opening weekend. About 15 people showed up, I knew about half of them. We said in the two center rows and chatted a bit before the previews started.

As you know from my previous blog about Avengers I love this movie. It's the perfect "superhero" type movie and it was just and great the second time around.

Picture a Day in May #27

After the movie the majority of us when down into Sherman Oaks to Pita City to grab some lunch/dinner. Now if you've seen Avengers then you should know what Shawarma is.. and if you live in the North America and stayed until the very end of Avengers you actually got to see some Shawarma. Now for those who don't know what it is.. it's a meat (chicken, beef or lamb) with spices and cooked a certain way. It's severed in a wrap or in a pita.

Not everyone got a Shawarma but since we just got done seeing Avengers and the whole point of going to Pita City was to get a Shawarma I got a chicken one and it was pretty good.

Several folks who didn't go to the movie joined us for dinner. After dinner we walked over to Cold Stone and some got ice cream as the rest of us just stood outside and talked for a few hours. The party started to break up around 9pm and we said our goodbyes and made our way home.

It was so much fun seeing Avengers and then eating Shawarma with a bunch of guildies.. I'm so happy that I went.