Cloud Atlas - My Review

(MAY CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS)

Tonight I went to the Warner Bros studios to see a pre-screening of Cloud Atlas. This is part of my PGA deal. I get screenings DVD's of movies for the PGA awards but I also get lists of dates when I go actually go to a theater and see the movie for free. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to see the movie before it's even out in theaters. This was one of those times.  I'm able to bring one guest with me to these screenings and I asked my buddy Robert to join me.

Never been to the Warner Bros studio screening room, it's not as bad as some theaters but it's not as great at Paramount's large screening room. Anyways I heard about Cloud Atlas maybe a month earlier. My former boss asked if I had ever read the book and that they were making a movie. I have not read the book so I looked up the trailer and was amazed that I had not heard of it earlier. The trailer looked pretty cool. It's a difficult movie to explain but here is a synopsis that I found online:

An epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present, and future as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a savior and a single act of kindness ripples out for centuries to inspire a revolution. It also has a great cast.

• Tom Hanks as Dr. Henry Goose / Isaac Sachs / Dermot Hoggins / Zachry Bailey
• Halle Berry as N'Fera / Jocasta Ayrs / Luisa Rey / Ovid / Meronym
• Jim Broadbent as Vyvyan Ayrs / Timothy Cavendish / Prescient
• Hugo Weaving as Mephi / Bill Smoke / Nurse Noakes / Control / Old Georgie
• Jim Sturgess as Adam Ewing / Lloyd Hooks / Hae-Joo Chang / Adam Bailey
• Doona Bae as Tilda Ewing / Sonmi-451
• Ben Whishaw as Robert Frobisher / Georgette Noakes
• James D'Arcy as Rufus Sixsmith / Nurse James / Archivist / Sloosha
• Zhou Xun as Yoona-939 / Rose Bailey
• Keith David as Kupaka / Joe Napier / Ankor Apis / Prescient
• David Gyasi as Autua / Lester Rey
• Susan Sarandon as Madame Horrox / Ursula / Abbess
• Hugh Grant as Reverend Horrox / Alberto Grimaldi / Seer Rhee / Cannibal

All I knew about this movie is that it takes place at various times and that each main actor plays several roles through out time.

I've always like the idea that we go through multiple lives with the same group of people (souls) around us, were all connected forever. So in one life you can be lovers, in another life you can be best friends and yet another life you could be brothers. This story is similar to that and that appealed to me. So we visit several different times, the nineteenth-century, the thirties, the seventies, present day and the two set in the future. Which one looks to be very futuristic and the other looks to be prehistoric but you find out it's far into the future.

You watch as these stories unravel and you bounce from time to time. Each piece adding a little more to the over all story. It's really cool to see how each of these characters are connected over time. I love how their actions in the past effect their actions in the future or how they mimic each other. I enjoy how some of the characters recognize this connection and comment about it.

The futuristic setting was pretty incredible and the special effects were amazing. I'd say about 80% of the age/altering make up was fantastic. There were a few times when it looked like a mask or that it wasn't the persons real face but then there were times that I didn't recognize the person for who they were. At the end of the movie they show the actors name and then show pictures of all the characters they played. I was amazed by some of them as I had no idea.

This is a movie that you can see again and again and pick up even more details. I don't think the writers try and hide anything it's just that there is so much going on it's difficult to take it all in, with the first viewing.

My favorite stories were the lovers in the 30's, though it was very tragic it had some very beautiful moments.  Jim Broadbent character in present day, he brought the humor to the film. All his stuff were good but when he gets to the senior home.. man that was some hilarious stuff. And finally the futuristic stuff. I loved the action, the love story and the meaning behind it all.

I can't forget the music as it's a big part to several of the stories and the sound track to this film was pretty amazing and I'm sure I'll be buying the CD when it comes out.

Overall I give this movie an A. It's very ambitious with a running time of almost 3 hours (2:44). I didn't once look at my phone to check the time. I was invested in this world and these characters. Every story had some high points and lows. It was blended together so seamlessly and made the experience fantastic.

Sun Stroke and Screenings

Well the plan was to continue painting but once again it was so hot outside. I was actually outside for an hour before I had to come in to cool down. I did manage to get back out there for a half hour before feeling sick. I think I got a little to much sun. I called it a day on painting and spent he next few hours watch TV and trying to stay cool.

I did start feeling a bit better so I tried to work on things inside the house like fixing my ceiling in my living room and various other things around the house.

At 4 I got ready and headed into town. I was going to have dinner with Robert and then we were going to a pre-screening of Cloud Atlas at the Warner Brothers Studios. (Will review in a seperate blog). While at the theater I ran into my buddy Bruce and his friend Gregg (a fellow LOTR fanatic).

Wasn't a few productive day.. hope I do better tomorrow.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 41

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 #17 - For Want Of A Boot

41st Episode Overall

Directed by Don Weis
Written by Sheldon Keller
Production code K417
Original air date January 12th, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: In this episode Hawkeye will do anything to get a new pair of boots: In order to get Zale to get him some, he must get an appointment for Zale with Futterman, the camp dentist, who will only do it if Henry will give him a pass to Tokyo, and Henry will only grant the pass if Houlihan will get off his back, which she will do only if the guys throw a party for Frank's birthday, with a cake, and Radar will only help get the cake if he gets a date with Nurse Murphy, who will only date someone with a hair dryer, and Klinger won't give up the hair dryer unless he gets a section 8 (and Frank won't sign). Inevitably, the deal falls through, much to the Hawkeye's chagrin.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny

Painting the House - Day Two

Woke up, made pancakes for everyone for breakfast then headed outside around 9:30am. It was another hot day but I did have two helpers with me today so I was hoping we'd at least get the front of the house done (same goal as yesterday). About an hour into painting my buddy Robert joined us, now we would get the front done for sure... so I thought.

By noon everyone was hot and exhausted. We stopped for a lunch break and I took everyone out to Chili's for a nice lunch. Got back around 3pm and started back up. It was miserable outside and we kept having to take breaks inside to cool down and not get heat stroke.

Needless to say we didn't get a whole lot done. Around 5 we all went inside to relax a bit and Robert had had enough and was heading home. Rupert and Aaron soon followed around 5:30. I went back out for another hour until the sunlight was gone. We did make progress but of course not as much as I would like.. I've come to realize that this is going to take two to three weeks to get the entire house and garage done.

After sundown I worked on a few podcasts before watching the latest Once Upon a Time with my bestie Chris. Again another fantastic episode, I loved Snow's outfit and I like this tougher Snow White. Emma was really starting to bother me with the "I'm in charge" attitude but it was nice once she saw her mom in action she realized that she needs to let go and do what Snow says. They did have a great mother daughter moment in Emma's childhood room and looks like a new big bad is coming to Storybrooke. Can't wait for next weeks episode.

So this weekend of painting the house didn't go as planned but I got a good start and will continue to work on it until it is done. I'd like to thank Jen, Rupert, Aaron and Robert for helping out this weekend... you guys are the best. 

Painting the House - Day One

Jen and I got up around 8ish, had some breakfast before going out front and starting this painting adventure. I had put the call out to friends several weeks ago asking for assistance and Jen is the only one to answer. I know folks had other plans but I have to admit I was hoping that more of my friends would come to help out.... oh well Jen and I will tackle this monster paint job.

I had hoped that Jen and I would be able to knock out the front of the house today... I should have known better. It was hot and the front of the house has alot of weird angles and trim. Three hours in and we had barely painted anything. Our arms were tired and we were hot and exhausted.  We took a lunch break and headed to El Pollo Loco.

Got back to the house and jumped back in. Jen had to leave at 3:30pm so I continued solo until the sun went down. I tried my best to get at least one coat of the main color on the wall and I did manage that for 2/3's of the front of the house.

I called it a night when it got so dark that I couldn't see what I was doing anymore. I came inside and worked on organizing all the media (podcasts) that I had recorded over the past few days. During this time my buddies Rupert and Aaron arrived. They were going to stay the night so they could help tomorrow with the painting. 

Needless to say I was very disappointed in the amount of work that I actual got done. With a bit more help I'm hoping to accomplish more tomorrow. I hope to finish at least the front of the house by tomorrow evening... will see.

Interviewing Greg and Red 5 (Podcasting)

Today was another interview day. I booked some time with my super busy friend Greg Aronowitz. We haven't had a good one on one conversation in over a year (can't believe that). Got to his place around noon and decided to go out to lunch. I always enjoy my lunches with Greg, we catch up on each other life but my favorite part when talking to Greg are the amazing stories he has, he's been in the industry for a long time and have worked with so many great artists, like Spielberg and Lucas. I could just sit there all day and listen to him talk.

We had a nice lunch and then headed back to the barnyard (what's Greg's place is called). Set up and then started the recording. I first did a quick interview with him on the work he did with My Gimpy Life for my My Gimpy Life Podcast. He created the book cover that Felicia's is reading in Episode 4.

After that we talked about The Guild season six for the next hour and fifteen. Lot's of cool insight and little known information. After I as done with that I interviewed him for my other podcast Confessions of a Fanboy, he talked his love for Star Wars. This has got to be one of my favorite Confessions and I can't wait to get it out there for all to hear.

Once Greg was done I sat down and interviewed Alynne (Red 5). She was the art director for The Guild season six. We talked for a good hour about all sorts of cool behind the scenes stuff. One of her assistants was at the Barnyard as well and she worked on season six so I did a quick interview with Carrie. After that I went back to Red 5 to interview her about her big love, Disney. This would be another Confessions of a Fangirl. It was another fantastic episode.

So I thought this would be a three hour visit but it turned into a seven hour visit and it was awesome. After the interviews we all just kind of sat around can talked for bit.

Afterwards I headed home and of course got stuck in traffic. I stopped by Lowes around 9pm to pick up paint for the house, as this was going to start tomorrow. I had an idea of what colors I wanted (something similar to what I already have). I had to keep reminding myself that these colors aren't for me, they are to appeal to the new owners. So I got a ton paint and headed home.

A bit after I got home my friend Jen arrived. She was staying the night as she was going to help me tomorrow with painting my house.

It was a very productive podcasting day.. and I got to hang out with one of the coolest guys I know. 

Doctor Who P.S.

**WARNING.. SPOILERS AHEAD **

Came across this and had to share to all my fellow Doctor Who Fans. This was something that looked to be written but never filmed. It's a conclusion to the Ponds storyline. The ending of that episode was very bitter sweet. As the Ponds are ripped away from The Doctor but live a full and happy life in the past. This video goes a bit further.. and man get some tissues .. as this is a tear jerker.. so good.

Minecraft & Podcasts

Dwarf Hall

Today I woke up and and continued where my night ended. I jumped on Minecraft and really fleshed out Hobbiton. I'm really happy with how it's coming along.  I can recall if I mentioned this but Chris and I are re-creating our version of middle earth in Minecraft. Chris has been working on the Land of Men and the Dwarf Halls while I've been digging holes for Hobbiton. It's a ton of fun but very time consuming. 3 hours were gone just like that.

I got an email from Felicia Day who I was suppose to interview tomorrow but something came up and she said I could push it forward to 9am (which doesn't work so well for me) or come in this after noon at 2. So I ended my fun on Minecraft and loaded up my audio equipment and packed it in the jeep. An hour and a half later I was sitting in my car in front of Felicia's house making sure I had brought everything.

Taken during one of The Guild's Xmas Specials

Went to the back of her house to her Geek and Sundry offices where I found her with her boyfriend. We chatted for a few minutes before her boyfriend left leaving us to record. I set up my equipment while Felicia and I chit chatted. I had planned to talk to her about all of season six of The Guild for the companioncasts but after talking forty-five minutes about episode one I knew I wouldn't get through everything. So we opted to talk about just the first episodes and then I'll come back and talk about the remaining episodes at a later date. It was a blast chatting with the creator of The Guild. Got some cool insights into what she was thinking when she was writing this season. We talked for about an hour and 15 when the interview come to a close. What I didn't expect was to sit down and chat with her for another hour about personal stuff.

I would call Felicia a friend, but we don't have that kind of friendship where I could call her up and say.. "let's have lunch" or "let's hang out". But for the first time we actually just hung out and just chatted like friends... it was pretty epic.

Afterwards I said my goodbye and headed back home. Traffic was pretty bad but I was still on cloud nine after my conversation with Felicia. So I didn't mind it at all.

Stopped into town to get some dinner before heading home and crashing and watching some TV before bed.

Another Busy Day

Today was all about podcasts. I put a call out for Fanboys and Fangirls to contact me if they wanted to be on my Confessions of a Fanboy podcast and I actually got about ten responses. So today I set up four interviews via skype, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 6pm.

Spent the morning working on finishing up the section of weed pulling between my house and garage. I've been working on that section for two weeks and it's finally done.  Watched some TV, and surfed the net waiting for 1pm.

My first interview was with BJ about his love of animation. Next was with Bob and his love of The Prisoner, Buffy and Dexter. Third was Jesse talking about Comic Books. All the interviews went well.

Time for a break from interviewing. I had a few errands to run and had to squeeze them in between the interviews. Went to UPS, then CVS to use the coinstar to exchange coins that have been accumulating for years. I wound up having $523 dollars.. how crazy is that. When using these coinstar machines they charge a fee of 9.6% of your total. But they offer gift cards to popular stores and those are fee free. So I opted to spread that money over several gift cards. Amazon, Chili's, CVS and Lowes. I did get about $150 in cash and did pay the 9.6% fee.

After CVS I did indeed to go Lowes to pick up painting supplies for this weekend painting of the outside of my house. After Lowes I stopped by Costco gas (it's the cheapest gas I could find) filled up my tank, then went to an ATM to deposit a check, then to the post office to drop of a letter and finally Taco Bell to pick up some dinner.

Got home around 6:15 and had about a half hour to eat before my next interview with Steve about Lost Girl. After this interview we talked for an additional 2 hours. We've actually been online friends for several years, he's a huge supporter of many of my podcasts and we never actually talked so this was our first time and alot of fun.

After talking to him I did what I have done the past week or so.. jumped on Minecraft and play for 2 to 3 hours.. so addictive.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep 10

Download from itunes bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen, get Direct Download 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 10 - The Game

Directed by David Carson
Written by Craig Van Sickle & Steven Long Mitchell
Original air date November 20, 1989

Plot Summary: During the Day of Decent, George is confronted with his past as a slave on the spaceship, when it appears that an old Russian Roulette style game he was once forced to play has returned. Will George take revenge for his brother, who died being hit by a bolt of salt water while playing the game on the ship.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

My Typical Day

My Daily Routine:

Wake up
Checked my email/twitter/facebook
Do some Yard Work
Checked my email/twitter/facebook
Watch TV
Checked my email/twitter/facebook 
Work on Podcasts
Checked my email/twitter/facebook 
Try and work out
Checked my email/twitter/facebook 
Minecraft
Checked my email/twitter/facebook 
Bedtime

Working Out, TV, Lunch, Podcast & Minecraft

Started today with working out, this was a full work out.. half hour on the elliptical and half hour working with weights. I haven't worked out in months and I hope this is the start of a routine. Only time will tell.

Did more yard work and tried to stay productive. I watched a bit of TV, still have a ton of it recorded on my DVR.

Had lunch plans with Dallas, this was my first one on one visit. I picked him up from his place and headed to the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Well first we planned to go to Islands in Encino but when we got there it was gone. Guess it's been a while since I've been there.. so we then opted for P.F. Chang's which was at the galleria.

Had a nice lunch with Dallas and got to know each other a little better. Afterwards we to a local store called Urban Home and checked out furniture, not sure why.. didn't plan to buy anything but it's always fun. Afterwards Dallas opted to walk home to get some exercise and I headed back up to my place.

Once back home and edited the next Confessions of a Fanboy, this time with fangirl Jen. Got that edited, converted and uploaded in about three hours.

Spent the rest of the night playing Minecraft.. roughly 3 hours until finally going to bed about midnight.

Please Consider Making a Donation

I love doing podcasts, maybe that's why I currently have five running and one in the works. Unfortunately at this time you can't really make any money off of podcasting so everything comes out of pocket to pay for URL, websites, equipment and such. Times have been rough for me lately, work wise and I'm finding it harder and harder to continue to support all these podcasts. I don't want to stop doing these as it's something that I'm very passionate about. So I'm turning to my listeners for some help.

I know times are hard for everyone right now but if you enjoy any of my Geekyfanboy Productions Podcasts "Knights of the Guild", "My Gimpy Life Podcast", "Confessions  of a Fanboy Podcast", "MASH 4077 Podcast" and "Alien Nation The Newcomer Podcast" please consider making a donation to help support these podcasts. If all my listeners donated a dollar a month I would have plenty of funds to continue running all these podcasts. So if it's $1 to $100 dollars it's all very much appreciated. I made it nice and easy (if you use Paypal).. all you have to do is click on the donate button and it will take you directly to my donation page.  Thank you for all the love and support I have gotten over the years with my podcasts. I truly have the best listeners/friends around and I hope to continue doing this for many years to come.

 

Confessions of a Fanboy #10

Download from Itunes: ow.ly/el9Kq or listen, get direct download ow.ly/el9Kr

It's time for the next installment of Confessions of a Fangirl... with Jen Ramirez. We discuss her fandom for Punk Rock Music.

Short Bio: Jen is 30 years old. Lover of music (particularly punk), gaming, and general geeky things. Currently, she's an I.T. technician. She still works at the same company she started working for as a File Clerk when she was 19.

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 my guest Jen can be found at @hxofficemonkey

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

Hope you enjoy,
Kenny

A Fun Sunday Hanging with Jen

Today started off where last night ended... more Minecraft. I was waiting for me friend Jen to arrive. She had planned to hang with me today. I only got about a half hour of play in before she arrived. I said goodbye to Chris and hello to Jen.. We talked for a bit, Jen and my conversations are never boring. For some reason she and I can talk about anything and be brutally honest and not be embarrassed. That's something that I have always loved about your relationship.

The conversation turned to Chris and my secret project which she is a part of and the creative juices started to flow.  For the next few hours we discussed "things" about the project. She had some great input and insight.

Around 1pm we took a break and went to El Pollo Loco to eat some lunch. Once back we skyped chatted with Chris and the three of us brainstormed about the secret project (I can't wait until i can share this with everyone). We spent a few hours going over things.

Jen came to visit but she was also answering the "request for help" with my house. So she and I went out back and pulled weeds for a half hour. She realized my frustration, after you spend a half hour out there on your hands and knees and your tired then you look back at what you did and it looks as though you've barely done anything. 

We came inside for a break and we sat down to record a Confessions of a Fanboy/girl. It was an interesting conversation because she is a fangirl of punk rock music. I should have the podcast edited and uploaded early this week. After the podcast we planned to go back out to the yard and finish pulling weeds in this section of property but instead we talked for the next two hours. We talked about everything and it was fantastic. Around 7:30pm I was getting hungry so I made some spaghetti for dinner. Jen wasn't hungry so I ate while we watched LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. She loved it. It was now a little after 8 and she was going to call it a night and head back home to Anaheim. I appreciate her driving all the way up here to help me out.

After she left I watched Once Upon A Time S2 Episode 2 with my bestie Chris. Wow what an amazing episode. This series continues to amaze me and it is by far my favorite new series on TV right now. So it was a great ending to a fantastic day.

Thanks Jen for visiting today, for great conversations, for helping with the yard work, for your contribution to our "secret project", for recording a Confessions podcast with me and of course for your friendship, which means the world to me.

The Ups & Downs of Saturday

Today my buddy Adam was coming over for the weekend to work. Many find my place a retreat from the world and he really needed to focus. I spent the morning cleaning up the house. I've been cleaning all week long but this was dusting, vacuuming and such. Around 10:30 I got a text from him letting me know that he wasn't feeling so hot and was going to rest and not be up today. I was bummed as I was looking forward to hanging with him but understood his situation. Later in the day I texted him and asked if he was going to come up on Sunday and he said that once he felt better he actually got into a groove and thought it would be better to just stay home.

So with Adam not coming over, I took a break for household duties and watched four episodes of Lost Girl. I have 10 eps from Season Two on my DVR. Once you start watching it's so hard to stop. I did manage to pull myself away after four. Which leaves six to go.

I got an email from my friend America asking for me to participate in "something". I can't officially announce it yet but when I can you know I will. I of course said yes as it sounds super fun. So stay tuned for more information on that.

I tweeted and facebooked a request for more guests for my Confessions of a Fanboy podcast. I really let this podcast fall by the waste side. So today I decided to step it up and put the request out there. I'll set up interview skype calls this week and get a backlog of guests recordings so I can go back to releasing an episode a month. 

Was suppose to go to dinner with my buddy Christopher and his sister, unfortunately his sister got food poisoning a few days ago and still wasn't feeling to hot so it was cancelled... which left my night open and my buddy Chris filled it with 3 and a half hours of Minecraft (that game is so addictive).

I wasn't as productive today as I would have liked to have been and I think being alone for the week (since I'm jobless) started me down that "funk" path I was in when I was out of work for nine months. I really need to not go down that road again. Wasn't a happy place and I don't wish to visit it again. I can say by the end of the night and having played Minecraft with Chris my spirits were lifted and I did go bed feeling better. Let's hope I stop the funk before it starts.

My Podcasts

So I took a break from all my household chores and wanted to see how much time I have put into my podcasts. Some are going strong, some have stalled a bit and some haven't even gotten started.

Podcast #1 - Knights of the Guild Podcast was started on February 15th 2009. I've released 120 Podcasts, Companioncasts, mincasts and microcasts. Last one released on August 12, 2012. Releasing new episodes has kind of been a bit sporadic.. yeah I'm a bit behind on this one. I have gone back and forth on weather or not I should continue this one. I was on the set of season six and do plan to do companioncasts for that season but still need to get quite a few interviews from the cast before those can happen. Unlike S4 and S5 these companioncasts will not be out a day or two after the episodes. I'm thinking I'll start releasing them sometime in November. After season six companioncasts are over I'll reassess the podcast and see if it has any more life left in it. Though it has had big numbers in the past, up to 40,000 downloads in a month the listening audience has dwindled down to about 3000 a month (which btw is still a pretty good number). So I'm not sure what the future hold for this podcast.. guess that kind of depends on what happens to The Guild after Season six.. only time will tell.

Podcast #2 - MASH 4077 Podcast was started on February 3, 2011. I've released 45 episodes so far, 40 regular episodes and 5 Swampcast episodes. This is co-hosted by my buddies Al and Meds. This podcast comes out on the 1st and 15th of every month like clockwork. The audience for this podcast continues to grow as MASH fans find out that there is a podcast for their favorite TV show. We went from 200 downloads a month when we first started to 4000 - 6000 downloads a month now.  There is no end in site for this podcast. I very much enjoy recording this one with my co-hosts and the listeners seemed to be really enjoying it. We are doing one episode per podcast twice a month. There are 251 episodes of MASH, if we continue to release 2 month we still have about 8.7 years of podcasts ahead of us. This is a keeper.

Podcast #3 - Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast was started on August 8th, 2011. I've released 10 episodes so far. I wanted to start this podcast for the "every" fanboy/girl. A place for them to talk about their love for one particular thing, geeky, sporty, music. The audience for this podcast has been small and I expect will continue to be small. I can get as low as 70 downloads a month to 400 downloads in a month, but the average is about 200 a month. This is more my fun podcast, were I can geek out with fellow fanboys/fangirls. The last Confessions was released on June 14th, 2012. There isn't a lack of Fanboys or Fangirls to interview.. it's more a lack of time for me to sit down and record podcasts with these folks. I've really let this one go. When I started this podcast I figured I could release an episode once a month but the release schedule has been quite sporadic, but hopefully I'll be able to get back on track again with this podcast. I really do enjoy doing this one. And edit wise it's the easiest to edit. Stay tuned for more Confessions of a Fanboy/girl.

Podcast #4 - Alien Nation The Newcomer Podcast was started on January 9, 2012. I've released 10 episodes so far. My co-host is my brother Michael. This podcast comes out once a month on the 10th of every month (or close to it). Both my brother and I are huge fans of Alien Nation and I've been wanting to do a podcast with my brother for a while so this choice of topic seemed natural, especially since there aren't any other Alien Nation podcasts out there.This podcast has struggled to find an audience. We started out with very low numbers and it's has steadily gotten bigger. We're currently up to about 250 downloads a month, at this point I was hoping for more but as long as we continue to grow I'm happy. I enjoy doing this podcast with my brother.. we always have a ton of fun. We record one episode per podcast. This series only lasted one season (22 episodes) and had 5 TV movies along with a dozen novels and comic books. We plan on reviewing everything and figure we have a good three years or so for this podcast.

Podcast #5 - My Gimpy Life Podcast was started on July 17, 2012. I've released 8 episodes so far, including regular podcasts, companioncasts, & promo. I started this podcast for my friend Teal and her new webseries with the same title My Gimpy Life. When I first started all I had planned to do was companioncasts for each episode and maybe a intro podcast and a season wrap podcast. But after talking to Teal we agree to try and release a podcast a month, in hopes that there will be a season two and I can continue to do companioncasts for those as well. Will see where this podcast goes. Right now I'm just having some fun with my friend Teal.

Podcast #6 - The Geek Roundtable Podcast has not launched yet. This started as Epic Geek Out Podcast with a different co-host back in October of 2010. It now has a new name, a new co-host Charles and a slightly tweaked format. This is the podcast that I've been wanting to do since I started podcasting. All my podcasts are for very "specific " topics and I've always wanted to do a more "general" geek podcast and this is it.  It's been six months since Charles and I revived this idea and still no podcast. The way this podcast is structured makes it difficult to just record with Charles.. we plan to do a roundtable on geeky topic which means we have 2 to 3 additional guest hosts. Trying to get everyone's schedule to line up has been difficult. But I am determined to get this podcast off the ground before the end of the year.

Needless to say that this hobby has turned into a full time job.. just wish it paid better :) I'd love to be a full time podcaster and make a living at it but at this moment in time that's just not possible. Who knows may one day it will happen. Thank you to all who download and listen to my various podcasts. I appreciate all the love and support I get from each and everyone of you.

BTS Pixs & Minecraft Scare

Finally had a free moment to post some pictures from past events. I posted a bunch of pictures that I took while on set of Season 1 of My Gimpy Life. I was on set half the days and got some good BTS stuff. You can check them out HERE.  I also posted some pictures from a shoot that was done at my house. Gamer Girl, Country Boy music video. That was a lot of fun and you can see some BTS pictures HERE. Still have a bunch of photos from my time on the set of The Guild S2 - S6 that I'll be posting at some point.

Put a tweet out there for some help with fixing up my house. Got a few people to help me out. The big weekend is Oct 13/14 as I'll be painting my house. I did manage to get one person to agree to help.. Thanks Rupert. Hope others can join in to make the job go by much faster.

Continued to go out and work on my yard. First attempt lasted about 20 minutes and my second attempt lasted 30 minutes. Still working on the space in between my house and garage and it's really starting to look good. Still got lots to go.

Finished my night off with 3 1/2 hours of Minecraft with my buddy Chris. Not a fan of the monster mode as I have mentioned in previous blogs but tonight it was super creepy. Chris called it a night around 11pm (12am his time) but I wanted to put in another hour or so. I actually sealed myself up in my "hobbit" hole that I am creating and went down to my deepest room when suddenly this long black shimmery thing was hiding in corner.. scared me half to death. I quickly ran upstairs to my top room and sealed the entire room off. That was the end of my Minecraft play for the night. 

Living alone in the middle of nowhere where it's pitch black and quiet as can be and just having the life scared out of you doesn't make for a pleasant evening of sleep.

Yard Work, TV, Minecraft & Buffy

Project "Sell My House" continues once again with Yard work first thing in the morning. Luckily for me it's cooling down so when I do go out it's a bit cooler. Today we actually had a nice breeze so I was able to be a bit more yard work done today then yesterday. I have almost every weed pulled from between my house and the garage. I also used my newly stringed weed wacker to take out the weeds on the left side of my drive way. Still lots to go but I'm making progress.

Continue to take breaks and try and catch up on some of my recorded TV. I also did a few hours on Minecraft with my bestie Chris. I play on his server and today we moved to another part of the world and started completely over. We also have monster mode on.. not a big fan of that. I enjoy the game for the building of things.. not the fighting of monsters.

I replaced the toilet seat in my guest bathroom. It's now the proper size. Can mark that off my list of things to do.

And for the evening I drove out to Mar Vista to hang out with my buddy Robert. It's our Buffy Rewatch night. We first picked up some Taco Bell for dinner.. then continued our Buffy viewing. We are still on Season 2 and started with  "Passion". That's one of the best of Season 2, in my opinion. Next was "Killed by Death" which was okay, then we watched  "I Only Have Eyes For You", a good episode and what is crazy one of the guest stars in this episode actually responded to my tweet.. .pretty awesome. And finally to finish off the night we watched "Go Fish". Not a favorite of mine but not horrible. So that ended our Buffy and Bros night.

Didn't stay the night like I normally do as I'm not working in town and traffic would be much easier at night then in the morning.. so we said our goodbyes and I headed home.

Yard Work, TV and a BroDate with Will

Project " Sell My House" continues.. woke up this morning and managed to get a half hour of  yard work in and finished cleaning my kitchen. I tired really hard to be productive all day yesterday. I avoided the TV the entire day. Today I wasn't so lucky. I have a ton of TV recorded on my DVR so today I decided to take a break from being productive and watch some of my recorded TV.

Around 5pm I headed out to Lowes to pick up a replacement toilet seat (I mentioned this a few months ago that I purchased the wrong size for my guest room). Well now that I'm selling the house I wanted to get the proper size so I did. I also picked up some replacement string for my weed whacker. But the main reason that I left the house was to head out and have dinner with my buddy Will.

I haven't seen him since my birthday weekend as he's been super busy with his job but he did manage to pull himself away for a few hours and meet me at Gordan Biersch for dinner. We had a great dinner.. lasted almost 3 hours. We talked about everything under the sun. He even slapped me across the face, twice, in the middle of the restaurant (long story). It was a great night. We finally said our goodbyes around 11:30pm.. I headed home and he headed back to work. That boy works to hard sometimes. But it was a great visit and I can't wait to hang with him again soon... love you buddy.

Selling My House

Some of you may know that I'm planning on selling my house. Harry and I purchased it three year ago and made it our dream house. Harry put down a large down payment and I'm unable to payout his portion of it so I have to sell it.

Harry and I broke up over a year and a half ago but I had to wait three years before I could sell the house because of contract restrictions. Anyways the three years are up and it's time to sell so I can give Harry back his money.

I love this house and it has so many great memories but it is far from friends and family and though I do like being isolated I get lonely alot. The internet is crap out here and I can't wait until I can get high speed again (and netflix).. it's been far too long.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done before I can put the house up for sale. I mean I can sale it as is but I want to maximize every dollar and get the best price possible and if that means I have to put a few dollars in to make it look nicer then so be it. I plan to paint the outside of the house, there is lots of chipped paint. I plan to sand down the back porch and re-stain it. My buddy Chris already took down the decrepit railing. The 2 1/2 arches of land is the toughest part. There are overgrown weeds everywhere and it's a constant battle to keep everything in check.

Besides those three huge things I have a few paint touch ups inside and need to give the inside a really good cleaning. I hope to take the month of October off (now that I'm out of work) and focus on doing all these fixes so I can list the property starting sometime in November.

I know that this property is unique and will take some special people to want it. I'm not kidding myself I know it could be a matter of days or years before I sell the place. Once it is sold I plan to move back to the valley area.. depending on how much we get for the house I may buy myself a townhouse.

So starting today I begin project "Sell My House". I did about two hours of yard work and to be honest it doesn't look like I did much,  but I noticed the difference. It was so hot outside (over 100) that two hours almost killed me. So I moved inside and did a bit of cleaning around house.

Once I got bored with cleaning I worked on several podcasts and played Minecraft for about 3 hours. I haven't played in a few months but man that game just sucks you in and the time flies when your in that world.

I'll keep everyone updated on my progress and if you are local and would like to help me out, I would really appreciate it. If you do want to help contact me and I'll let you know when a good time would be. Not only will you get my appreciation but I'll feed you lunch and/or dinner... can't pass that up.

My Gimpy Life Podcast #6

Download from iTunes ow.ly/e8Buw or Listen, get direct download from mygimpylifepodcast.com

Now that My Gimpy Life season one series has come to an end. There will be no more companioncasts, but that doesn't mean the podcast is over... far from it.

Teal and I recorded a podcast about a month ago and I've been so busy that I haven't had time to edited it.. so I spent three hours today doing so and here it is.

This is the first of many episodes where I sit down with the creator Teal Sherer as we talk about her thoughts on the overall season. Teal also answers some questions for Gimpy fans. We love to hear your thought in future podcasts or if you have any questions for Teal. Please email me an audio comment or written email to MyGimpyLifePodcast@gmail.com

thanks & enjoy,
Kenny

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode #40

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 2, Episode #16 - Henry in Love
40th Episode Overall
Directed by Don Weis
Written by Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks
Production code K416
Original air date January 5, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Henry returns from a week in Tokyo, to announce that he is in love with a 20-year old girl called Nancy Sue Parker. She arrives for the weekend, and Henry shows her off. Nancy comes on to Hawkeye while Henry is in surgery. Henry is reminded of his wife back home when Radar places a call for him, and he realises it's his wife he loves.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny

Podcasts and TV

Today was all about Podcasting and Catching up on TV. First thing I did this morning was watch MASH S2 episodes 17 to 22. I was recording the next six episodes of my MASH podcast and I had yet to watch the episodes. I mean I've seen all the episodes but it's nice to watch them a few days before to refresh your memory. So I did four episodes before I took a break and watched the mid season finale of Doctor Who. I was going to watch it with my bestie Chris. We both held off watching it until we both had time to watch together, though I'm in Cali and he's in Montana.. we make it work.

This was the last episode that would feature the Ponds as his companions. We've known since this season began that they were leaving in this episode. But we didn't know what to expect. Were they going to kill them off or have them just forget or what. I have to say I was not disappointed. I also cried like a baby several times, especially at the very end. It was a very bitter sweet ending for the Ponds.

After Who I watched the premiere of Star Wars The Clone Wars season five. It was a good start to the season. I didn't think it was an OMG amazing episode but it was good. I'm looking forward to my weekly dose of Star Wars for the next few months.

Then I finished watching the remaining two episodes of MASH right before I jumped online to record a further six episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast. Meds and Al, my co-hosts joined me and though we had some major skype issues I think the shows turned out pretty well. It's going to take some creative editing but that's not uncommon for this podcast.

After I finished the podcasts I ran out to grab a bite to eat. When I got back I watched some more TV. This time I watched an episode of Hot Set. It's a new Syfy competition show with production designers. My friends Greg Aronowitz and Red 5 were featured as one of the competitors and they actually won $10,000. Besides Greg being my friend his set/concept was leaps and bounds better then his competitor. It's a fun show.. I'll continue to watch.

And finally it was time for the second season premiere of Once Upon A Time. This IS my favorite tv show on right now. I watched it with my bestie Chris since we use to watch it together before he moved to Montana. So now we watch it together and text back and forth. And like with Who it was a blast watching it with him. We'd texted each other with questions or OMG or reactions to what just happen. It's amazing how close you can feel to someone when you're watching the same thing 1000 miles apart. Loved, loved, loved the opening of season two. Interesting twist and I can't wait to see how this season plays out.

So it was a full day of podcasting and TV.. good times where had.