My Gimpy Life Shoot: Day 1

Today is the first shoot day of My Gimpy Life Season Two. I've been with My Gimpy Life since the beginning. When Teal first came up with the idea for this webseries she asked me if I wanted to be part of it and I of course said yes. I offered my services as a podcaster and said I would love to do a CompanionCast for the webseries. This is similar to my popular Knights of the Guild, which is a CompanionCast for the webseries The Guild.

So were back for season two and I planned to be on set everyday doing interviews with cast and crew members. We're shooting four episodes in five days. Day one we were in Pasadena at a local coffee house. Teal was there of course as well as returning cast member Brent (who plays her roommate). We also were joined by several new cast members, Russell and Carlos.

Carlos was hilarious and a pleasure to interview for the podcast. Russell who is also one of the co-executive producers of this season was fantastic. We interviewed for a good 30 minutes, this is his first "significant" acting role and he nailed it.

Sometimes you meet people and you just have this feeling that you were meant to be friends, Russell and I just clicked.

It was a great shoot, we had this incredible craft service person Michelle who made us feel like we were on this high budget production. Even with one incident that could have shut down the shoot for the weekend, everyone remained calm, resolved the issue and moved on. I have to say this was one of  the smoothest shoots I've ever been on.  I'm looking forward to day two.

Ups & Downs of Home Ownership

So today the winds have finally died down and I planned to use my new paint sprayer and move one step closer to finishing my house painting. I first read all the user guides as this was the first time I was ever using a paint sprayer and I wanted to make sure I as doing it correctly. It all seemed simple enough so I did as directed and filled up the cup with paint and headed out to the garage. I decided to start with the back of the garage just in case this didn't go so well and I'm very thankful that I did.

As I was spraying the paint, it came out in like specks. Some places it was super thick and some it didn't cover at all. I figured I'll just have to do several passes to cover everything. But after several passes it looked like I was texturing the wall. I actually had to take a paint roller and go over the entire thing to smooth it out, and remove the excess paint. As I'm doing this I'm thinking to myself that this was a waste of time. I'm now doing double the work to get this painted and I fill like I waste a ton of paint.

About thirty minutes into the job the paint sprayer got clogged and that was the end of my painting day. It took me about an hour or so to pull everything apart and clean it out. I spent more time cleaning the sprayer then actually using it to paint. It could be that I got a "cheap" sprayer (it was $100), as there were a range of prices from $69 to $350. But this experience didn't turn out like I was hoping and so I'm going to go back to just hand painting my house, which of course means it's going to take me even longer :(

But even though the painting was a disaster I did manage to fix my irrigation system and it cost me very little money. I had called the company who installed it and the customer service person told me what she thought the problem was but after I got off the phone I checked what she had mentioned and it looked fine so I dug deeper into the website and read a bit more and then went out to the device and played around with it. I found this secret compartment that contained a 9 volt battery so I replaced it and viola it's working again. Months ago when it stopped working I figured it was just the battery but when I checked the device it had a power source and plugged into the wall so I figured that's where it was getting it's power but for some reason they battery was an intricate part of the system.

I was mad at myself for not deviling deeper into the problem months ago.. could have saved myself 3 months of watering my property by hand everyday. But I'm just happy that's one problem that I don't have to deal with again.

I also filled in a hole on the top of my roof. I noticed it a few weeks ago when I was up there painting. It looks like a bird (assuming my menacing wood pecker) made a hole right through the roof shingle. So I purchased a patching kit and some cocking asphalt to fill it up. This was probably the easiest of the house problem to fix. Took me about ten minutes and it was sealed and good to go.

I have set my goal for getting my house up on the market. I don't care if it's completely done or not it's going up come November 1st. I hope to at least have the outside of the house painting done. The deck and the minor inside stuff I can do in time but I need to sell this house ASAP.

Podcasting Team

Today I recorded six new episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast. Unfortunately one of the co-hosts (Al) wasn't able to make it so it was just two of us (Meds and I) for four of the episodes. I did manage to get a third person (Don) to help us out on a few. He is a listener and fan of the podcast. He made a donation to the podcast which gave him the opportunity to co-host with us.  As always it's alot of fun, but with two hosts and not three we did manage to get through these podcasts alot quicker.

But Al was missed, he's the humor of the show, his back and forth banter with Meds is priceless. I'm not saying that the shows we recorded without him are going to be bad or not funny but he does bring alot of that to the show. You realized that the three of us make the prefect team.. maybe that's why our MASH podcast is getting more and more popular as time goes on.

Random Geek Question: Fav. LOTR Character

I asked another Random Geek Question today on Twitter and Facebook. Who's your favorite character from Lord of the Ring/Hobbit, book and movies? Are they same? Different?

I don't know if I just posted this at a bad time (the weekend) or folks don't like Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit. I'm thinking it was the timing but I only got three responses.

Carysabel74 tweeted... Team Gimli here. Lady Eowyn, Samwise, Merry and Pippin. Same in book and movie.

hjkuzcotopia tweeted...  Aragorn and Arwen.

jkeats tweeted... don't know if he's my favorite but I liked movie Aragorn better than book Aragorn. He felt more fleshed out as a character

And I just noticed that it didn't post to my Facebook page so that too might explain why not many people answered. Maybe I'll re-post this question during the week and see if I can get more responses. 

Anyways... For me it's Samwise, loved him in the book and loved him in the movies. I identify with Sam the most, to me he is the true hero of the Lord of the Rings story.

Let me know who is your favorite below...

Podcasting With My Brother

Today my brother and I record more of our Alien Nation podcast. Last month my brother wasn't able to make it so my buddy Doug stepped in to help me out and was great but there is something about the chemistry I have with my brother.. it's pretty awesome. We recorded the next two episodes (Oct and Nov).

The episode that will be released on Nov 10th will be for the final episode of the TV series as Alien Nation only lasted one season. But the podcast won't be over, luckily we got 5 additional TV movies, the theatrical release (the film that started it all) and a handful of comic books (6 mini series) and novels (7). We plane on doing a podcast for each one of these things, so the series might be over but we are far from ending this podcast.

But we  did talk about it and we know this podcast will end at some point in the future, I'm thinking mid 2015, early 2016 and when this happens we are planning to do a podcast the awesome alien invasion series V. It's one of our favorite childhood TV mini series and series. It was also revived a few years ago and we got another few seasons out of it. There are also about 15 novels and a 19 issue comic book series. So there is at the very least 5 years worth of podcasts (if we do one a month). We might even start that one sooner then later and do both Alien Nation and V together... who knows.

Needless to say the podcasting team of Michael and Kenny is far from over.

Random Geek Question: Favorite Captain

So I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter. I asked if you're a Star Trek fan, Who is your favorite Captain.

I have to say I was a bit surprised by the results. I knew Janeway, Sisco and Archer wouldn't get many votes but I really thought Kirk and Picard would be neck and neck. Well they weren't, one of these guys ran away with it. And that person was Captain Jean Luc Picard, he by far was the favorite. I got about 23 replies on Twitter and 2 on Facebook and I would say 75% of you said Picard, with 24% for Kirk and less then 1% for Janeway, Archer, Sisco and even Captain Jellico (who has to be my least favorite Captain of all of Trek).

Most of those who voted for Kirk didn't say he was the best but that he was the first Captain that they saw on Trek and there was a sentimental connection to him.

For Picard I got comments like... 

@BittenUsagi -  Picard. He was the perfect mix of calm & collected and badass. And sexy. Rawr. Lol.

@Autumnbuck - Picard for his strength of character and fidelity to his personal code

@dougluberts  Picard. Kirk was too much of a '60s/Cold War-type leading man (like 007.) Picard's values and character are more modern.

As for my favorite that's tough as I'm a huge Janeway fan but I do love Picard and if push came to shove I would have to pick Picard but Janeway a very close second.

Who is your favorite Star Trek Captain and why.. leave you comments down below.

"Get Fit" Week 9

So it's been a tough week all around. I was getting two workouts a day on the elliptical of at least 20 to 25 minutes each. This week I barely did 15 minutes once a day and I have no excuse.. it's just me being lazy. I also didn't eat that well, with my birthday surprise party on Friday evening and hanging out with friends on Saturday I just made poor choices when eating out. I have eaten out four times this week (Taco Bell, El Pollo Loco, Islands and Green Peas) and I'm really trying to limit that to only once a week.

I really feel like a broke record, I know what I'm eating is bad, I have an internal conversation/argument with myself every time I'm about to eat something that I know I shouldn't, and it only stops me 50% of the time. I knew this was going to be tough so I try and not beat myself down about it but I'm nine weeks in and I was hoping to be under 200lbs by now.

I weighted myself this morning like I do every Friday morning and I came in at 200lbs. I didn't lose any weight but on a positive note I didn't gain any wait.. feels pretty much like a wasted week.

But I'm once again going to try and reign in my "bad" eating habits and try to do at least 30 to 45 minutes of cardio/elliptical a day.  Let's hope next Friday has better result then today.

Moving Abroad

The past few years I have been toying with the idea of moving abroad. I think most of the time it's just a wishful thinking kind of thing.. but today I really had the urge to move. The though of me living in England or Ireland felt right. I was born and raised in Southern California, I'm 43 years old and I have never lived anywhere else. Once I sell the house I will have nothing tying me down here. The only hard part would be leaving my friends (you know who you are) and family (especially my niece and nephew). But I wouldn't want to live abroad forever. I was thinking of moving for a year or so just to experience a different lifestyle.

I think this is the perfect time in my life to do something like this. I've been feeling lost as of late and need some direction in life and I think this is it. Of course I need to sell the house, find a job and save up some money beforehand, so it's not like I'm going to be moving tomorrow but if I can get my life back in order I think I'll really look into making this happen. I'm gonna do a lot of research before I pick up everything and move half way around the world.

I do plan to vacation in England/Ireland in 2014. I'm going for a month and I think that will give me enough time to really get to know the place and determine if I want to live there or not.

It may never happen, life's funny and you never know which way fate will twist it but don't be surprise if you see a blog post in the near future titled "I'm Moving to England".

IT Finale, S.H.I.E.L.D Ep 2 & Best Man Down Review

Forgot to blog about this a few days ago so I figured I'd throw it in today's blog. A couple of days ago they aired the final episode of The IT Crowd. The IT Crowd is a British sitcom set in the London offices of the fictional Reynholm Industries, the show revolves around the three staff members of its IT department: a geeky genius named Maurice Moss, the workshy Roy Trenneman, and Jen Barber, the department head/Relationship Manager, who knows nothing about IT.

The series ran from 2006 to 2010 (4 seasons/series containing 6 episodes each). It ended back in 2010 and we thought that was going to be it. Well a few months back we got word that after a 3 year absence they were going to do a special "final" episode and it finally airing on September 27th in the UK. I of course not being in the UK had to find "other" means of locating the special as they have not announced if it's going to ever air here in the US.

I acquired it a few days ago and couldn't wait to watch it. I've seen it twice now and I really enjoyed it. It was funny, sweet and had lots of nods to previous episodes (the internet) and even some familiar faces like Richmond. I didn't even mind the "boss" in this episode.. normally he's the weakest part of the story in my opinion. It was great seeing these guys again after a 3 year hiatus and they are still as awkward and crazy funny as ever.

I'm glad they had the oppurtunity to officially "finish" the show and finish it well. Moss turning off the light at the very end was very poignant and a fitting end to this series.

I also watched the second episode of Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This has to be one of my most anticipated series along with Once Upon a Time. I loved the first episode and I couldn't wait for the second and I have to say they did not disappoint. Lot's of character building (the team is still trying to figure out how they all fit together). Lot's of action, which is always great and a lot of what I like to call "Joss" humor.

I really enjoy Coulson as a character and Simmons and Fits (still don't know if they are more like brother/sister or husband/wife relationship, but I'm leaning more towards brother and sister. But there is one character that I'm really enjoying and can't wait to hear more of her back story and that's Ming Na's character Melinda May. She is a major bad ass and we really don't know much about her, all we know is she is a hard core agent who asked to be taken out of the field for some reason which I'm sure will find out one day. She really reminds me of Black Widow who I really enjoyed in the movie.

As I'm doing this blog a few days later then the actual day of the blog I have already seen the ratings for the second episode and I have so say I'm disappointed. I mean the premiere episode did okay ratings but the second one dropped something like 20% which isn't good. I have heard people complain about the series but I really don't have a clue what they are complaining about. I love it and I hope it does better or at least holds up in the ratings so we can get a full season and hopefully many more afterwards.

During the evening instead of TV night with my best bud Robert we went out to dinner at Islands and then to a PGA pre-screening of a Justin Long's new movie called Best Man Down. Quick synopsis, A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony. What they find out is that they didn't really know who their friend was.

I have liked Justin Long ever since he did Galaxy Quest so when I read the description of this movie I thought it was going to be a light comedy. Well it was really a Dramady. There were some funny moments but it really was more of a drama. As you learn about this "best man" and the life he was leading you slowly put the piece of the puzzle together until the very end were it's all laid out for you and you get that... oh that's why he did this.. or now I understand why he did that. This movie had alot of sweet moments mixed in with some very tense and emotional moments. I only cried at the end when the mom said a line about her son (the one who died). That she was afraid that he would never find someone to love and that in return would never be loved.. Oh that just broke my heart and the tears started to flow.

It's not a crazy action packed movie, it's a nice simple story about love, compassion and surviving life. I give Best Man Down a nice solid B+

Hobbit Trailer & Playing Injustice: Gods Among Us

Peter Jackson released a new trailer for part 2 of the Hobbit series, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. I know this is a shocker but the more I see of this the more excited I am for it. This was a full trailer and jam packed with lots of goodies. My favorite comes towards the end when Smaug speaks. Besides seeing what Smaug looks like which we got in the last trailer everyone wanted to know what he would sound like and we got that in this trailer and it's perfect. Benedict Cumberbatch is going the voice of Smaug so we knew it would be good but oh man they nailed it (at least in my opinion, which all that matters on this blog). It's only a few months away, but until then check out the awesome trailer for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.

During the evening I went to hang out with my friends Jen and Will. Will made some very tasty chili for dinner and the three of us played my new Xbox game (that Will got me for my birthday) Injustice: Gods Among Us. If you don't know what this game is.. it's a fighting game based upon the fictional universe of DC Comics. We had a blast, it's only a two player game but the third player would play the winner of each round and none of us really dominated so we all got to play quite a bit. We played until about 12:30am but we could have played all night if these guys didn't have to work the next morning.

I just read the wiki page for this game and there is a really good storyline in it. So far we've only seen a little bit. What I like about this game is you could play the story that they have planned or you could just fight each other and have no ties to the story what so ever. I think for what we did the just fight was best as for the storyline it looks to be a single player game. I do plan to actually play out the storyline.

This is just a small portion of the plot.. you can read the rest HERE.

In an alternate reality, the Joker has tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane and their unborn son and destroying Metropolis with a nuclear explosion. In retaliation, Superman murders the Joker and quickly loses his moral compass. He establishes a new world order as the High Councilor. A war ensues between the forces of Superman's Regime and those allied with Batman's Insurgency. Five years into the war, the Insurgency discovers the Justice League's universe where the Joker's plan did not succeed and transports several of its super heroes (Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern, with Batman and the Joker being caught up in the transfer by accident) to their world in order to help them defeat the Regime. Batman and the Joker are confronted by the Regime in a dystopian-like Metropolis, but Batman uses his gear to help them both escape and go their separate ways.

TV Reviews: Mom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine & We Are Men

Today I watched some more new TV series and I am going to give you my thoughts on them. First up was Mom, From hit-maker Chuck Lorre comes his next big comedy‐an irreverent and outrageous take on true family love‐and dysfunction. Newly sober single mom Christy struggles to raise two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls. Testing her sobriety is her formerly estranged mother, now back in Christy's life and eager to share passive-aggressive insights into her daughter's many mistakes.

The reason I actually even wanted to watch this series was because of Allison Janney, who I loved from The West Wing. But it also stars Anna Faris who I find very funny. I've seen two episodes so far and it's funny, it's not "must see" funny but I laughed out loud several times during the show. It's not a role I could ever imagine Allison doing as I'm use to seeing her in the more serious drama roles but she is funny. If times gets restricted this series would probably fall to the waste side but for now I'll continue to watch and laugh at Mom.

Another new comedy that I watched is called Brooklyn Nine-Nine, this series is an ensemble comedy about what happens when a talented, but carefree, detective and his diverse group of colleagues get a new captain with a lot to prove.

It stars Adam Samberg who is hilarious in Saturday Night Live. I missed the pilot as I wasn't really that interested in this but I do watch Dads and this series airs after and my DVR captured a few minutes of the first episode and it caught my attention so I recorded the next episode and just watched it. It's funny but like with most comedies this TV season, it's not a "must see" TV for me. I'll continue to watch but if I need to drop any TV this year this would go first.

I also watched We Are Men, this series is about four single guys living in a short-term apartment complex who unexpectedly find camaraderie over their many missteps in love. Carter, the youngest and most recent addition to the group, moved in after being ditched at the altar mid-ceremony, and is now eager to re-enter the dating scene and get on with his life with some guidance from his "band of brothers": Frank Russo, a successful middle-aged clothing manufacturer and four-time divorcée who still fancies himself a ladies man; Gil Bartis, a small business owner who was caught having the world's worst affair; and Stuart Weber, a speedo-wearing OB/GYN who's hiding his assets until his second divorce is settled. Armed with a hot tub, pool-side barbeque and plenty of questionable advice, these losers in the marriage department take Carter under their wing to impart their own brand of wisdom about the opposite sex.

I wanted to watch this one because it stars Jerry O'Connell but I have to say I wasn't impressed with the pilot. I liked all the male bonding and all the bros stuff but I didn't think it was funny. As with most new series I'll give them three or four episodes before I decide to drop it or not.. but as of right now the jury is still out on We Are Men.

Geeky Tattoos

I've always liked tattoos and knew that I was going to get one, one of these days. My problem was that I couldn't pick what I wanted on my body for the rest of my life. In my 30's I decided I was going to combine four of my loves into one tattoo. That sounds good in theory but in practicality that wasn't a good idea as the tattoo would have to be huge to see all the details. So instead I opted for one tattoo each for my four loves, which are Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. So at age 40 I got my first tattoo and loved it. Subsequently every year after I have gotten another one. 40 was Harry Potter, 41 was Star Wars, 42 was Lord of the Rings and now that I'm 43 it's time for another one which will be Star Trek.

I thought that would be it, I'd have those four and call it quits but I haven't even gotten my fourth one yet and I'm planning a fifth, sixth, seventh and possibly eighth tattoo.

I'm a huge Firefly fan so I thought about getting a Firefly tattoo. I'm also a big Superman fan, always have been, so Superman is on my list and recently I saw a special on E.T. and it brought back such great memories when I was kid that I decided I want an E.T. tattoo as well.

My buddy Robert and I have been talking about getting a "matching" tattoo that represents our geeky friendship. We might go with something Firefly so that would take care of two tattoos for me in one go but I'm willing to get an eighth one if we decide to not go with a Firefly themed one.

Getting tattoos is like a drug, you become addicted to them. They are pieces of art that you carry around with you. They represent who you are as a person (at least they do for me). I don't know if I'll be getting all these planned tattoos or not, all I know is I love being a geek and seeing it represented on my body everyday is AWESOME!!!!

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 63

Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or Listen, get direct download from our main website 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 & special guest listener co-host Ryan Patrick discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 3, Episode #15 - Bombed

63rd Episode Overall
Directed by Hy Averback
Written by Jim Fritzell & Everett Greenbaum
Production code B320
Original air date January 7, 1975

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: While Radar tries to stop the camp from being shelled by their own artillery, Frank finds a wounded enemy soldier wired to explode, Margaret and Trapper get stuck in a supply shed and Henry and Father Mulcahy get blown up in the latrine.

Wonder Women & Doctor Who

Here's a mixed blog post today.. some geeky things, some personal things.

First up geeky.. if you haven't seen this yet my friend Rileah Vanderbilt is playing Wonder Woman in this short teaser concept trailer. Other friends America Young and Clare Grant are also in this short. Rainfall films wanted to prove that Wonder Woman can be done right for either TV or movie and I think they nailed it. I love the look of Wonder Woman, the style of that world. I like that they showed us her in "our" world and her homeworld. The effect were amazing and the fighting scenes were well made. Check it out for yourself.. you won't be disappointed.

 

I've been wanting to continue to paint the outside of my house but we've had gusty winds the past week and using a paint sprayer in a wind storm isn't smart but today I went out and painted by hand with a roller and brush. I only lasted a half hour before I had to come in and get out of the heat. I did go back out later in the evening for another hour or so to finish up what I started earlier. Still have lots to go but I'm hoping the winds die down so I can rent that paint sprayer. 

My best friend Chris texted me that he was about to get on his plane for his deployment overseas. It's going to rough not seeing him for six months. I mean it was hard enough when he was re-stationed to Montana but at least I was able to visit him and he could visit me. Him being overseas makes that impossible. Luckily he's not going into a combat area but still nowhere is truly safe over there. All we can do is keep happy thoughts and wish him well. Once he's settled in he'll be giving me his address so I can send him some care packages (which I'm really looking forward to). Hopefully six months will fly by and he'll be back with us in no time. 

I spent a good chunk of the day watching some Doctor Who specials. I've been recording them since the beginning of the year. Each one focus' on a certain Doctor. They started with the first doctor in January, second doctor in February and so on. I have recorded the first nine doctors so far. They haven't aired the 10th or 11th yet. Each one has interviews with Doctor Who actors and creators, some from the actual time period that's being covered. They created these in honor of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

I wasn't the biggest Doctor Who fan, I had seen episodes here and there from the Tom Baker (fourth doctor) era, but really didn't get into it until it was rebooted with the 9th doctor Christopher Eccleston. 

I really enjoyed this retrospectives. I learned alot about each doctor and their companions.They even had episodes from that doctor that aired after the special. I didn't watch the episodes as I hate watching things out of order but I hope to one day go back and start at the beginning of Who. 

Best Friends & Neverland

I finally got to talk (over the phone) to my best friend Chris. He's being deployed overseas and has been extremely busy getting ready. Since Chris and I met a few years ago we have talked/texted/Skyped/Messaged each other almost everyday but the past two weeks we've only "texted/messaged" a few times and I've been really missing him. But today we actually got on the phone and talked for over an hour and 15 minutes.. it was AWESOME.

Unfortunately he had gotten very sad news in the morning so we talked about that for a bit before talking about what's been going on in our lives the past few weeks. We don't know how things will be once he is overseas so this might be the last time I get to talk to him for six months (at least over the phone) so we made every minute count. It was great to hear his voice and catch up.

After talking to Chris I moved onto TV. Tonight Once Upon a Time season 3 was to premiere. But first they aired a really cool recap show called "Journey To Neverland"

After the recap I got to watch Ep 1 of Season 3, if you're a regular reader of my blog you know I love Once Upon A Time and I have been really looking forward to this. (SPOILERS) The episode started with Henry being born in the prison. I liked the lights flickering and going out at the moment of Henry's birthday (Magic). My heart broke when Emma refused to even look at baby Henry. We then go to Hook's ship with our main casts arriving in Neverland.

There were some fun moments in this episode like when Neal is talking to Mulan about "our world" and how there is a movie about her. Or Hook making a snide remark about Rumpelstiltskin changing clothes all the time. And Regina making a comment to Snow about fixing everything with “rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers”.

Once Rumple was back in Neverland you could see The Dark One reemerging. We find out that he has had dealings with Peter Pan before.

It was good to see the Enchanted Forrest and Aurora, Prince Phillip, Mulan and Robin Hood (played by a different actor then last season). I hope we get to see Storybrooke soon. 

Emma's got more spunk than ever and the take charge mentality suits her. She rally's the team together when things seem to be falling apart. She also had my favorite line in the episode "The way we succeed in getting Henry back, is just by being who we are, a Hero, a Villain, a Pirate. It doesn't matter which as we are going to need all these skills weather we can stomach them or not."

I enjoyed the mermaids, I like that they are "evil" or at least the attackers.

I liked Henry and the lost boy he was running with until the twist which I didn't see coming. The lost boy was actually Peter Pan. I like that he's very different from the original. He's the mastermind behind this entire plan. He wants Henry's heart as Henry is a true believer.

I was happy that they killed off Greg and Tamara. I never really liked these characters. Greg gets his "soul" ripped out by that black shadow thing and Tamara is shot by a arrow but you find out she doesn't die. Rumple find her and heals her only to rip her heart out and kill her.... so good.

I really enjoyed this episode and I can't wait for episode 2... so happy Once Upon A Time is back!!!

Breakfast, Movies, TV & Roller Derby

I don't sleep well when I'm not in my own bed, so I was up around 7am after going to bed around 2:30am. I laid there for another hour or so before I actually got up. Those that had crashed the night before were all waking up... except Barbara... man that girl can sleep through anything.

Once we were up a few of us headed out to breakfast. Joining me, was Robert, Cait, Rupert, Donna and Aaron. We went to a local diner called NoHo Diner. We enjoyed a much needed breakfast, this place has some of the best breakfast in North Hollywood.

Once we were done we headed back to Will's but he was still sleeping. We said our goodbyes and headed out. I was going back to Robert's as we had plans tonight.

Once back at his place, Cait, Robert and I watched "This is the End". We had never seen it and all wanted to when it was in the theater. Here's a brief synopsis of the story: All Jay Baruchel expected coming to LA was a fun time with Seth Rogen with all the wild partying to have both by themselves and at James Franco's housewarming party. Suddenly, the Rapture hits and the Biblical Apocalypse has begun. Now, Jay and Seth are desperately sheltering in James' house for rescue along with a few other friends. Together, they must band together to attempt to survive the end of the world, only for Jay to find that they are all too dumb and superficial to do it until they discover the only way out.

My review; It was pretty much what I expected. A bit to raunchy at times, extremely stupid at times but also very funny and heartwarming. One of my favorite parts was seeing all the stars during the party scene at the beginning. Of course 95% of them die when the apocalypse begins. And as you can guess one of my favorite scene was with Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies. I liked that they figured out how to get into heaven. Franco sacrificing himself for his friend and being taken up to heaven but of course he has to taunt the bad guys with the finger and foul language and the light disappears and he drops back to Earth only to be eaten by the bad guys. The end when Jay was being taken and Seth was going to sacrifice himself to save Jay had me tear up a little bit. It just reminded me of what you would do for your very best friend.

Overall it was an okay movie, it's not something I need to buy or will watch over and over again. For what it was, it was entertaining and I give it a solid B.

After the movie Cait took a nap as Robert and I went out to Taco Bell for some lunch. Once back we watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot, as Robert had not seen it yet and this was going to be my third time in a week. I didn't care as I really enjoyed the pilot episode and it was fun watching with Robert.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. we continued our first time viewing of Babylon 5. We watched Season 2, episode 13 "Hunter, Prey" A fugitive doctor on the run from the Earth Alliance is on Babylon 5, but when Captain Sheridan learns the reasons why, the race is on to find him before Earthforce Security can seize him.

I really enjoyed this episode, we didn't see many of the alien main characters in this episode. We find out that Sheridan is more involved with this "special" group then we first thought. He's actively working against the Earth government, which made me happy as we know they are not on the up and up. I liked the pairing of Garibaldi and Doctor Franklin. We see some movement with Sheridan's relationship with Kosh. Hopefully will find out more info about Kosh and who he and his people are. Over all it was a very entertaining episode.

It was now time to head out, Robert, Cait and I went over to Tamar's place and waited for Cici. Tamar has the most adorable little doggie Max. Once Cici joined us we were off to dinner at a local restaurant called Green Peas. 

Once done with dinner we headed to down town Los Angeles for some roller derby. I had never been to a roller derby but have seen it on TV and movies before. I was super excited to be going. This is an all female banked track roller derby event put on by the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. Tonight's team were Sirens vs Fight Crew. I knew nothing about the rules when it started but after a few rounds I started to understand what was happening and really started getting into the game. It was a blast and something I can see doing again in the near future.

After roller derby we headed back to Robert's place, I got in my car and came home for a much needed good night sleep.

Thanks Robert for making this a pretty awesome two days.

Birthday Surprise!!!!

Tonight I headed over to my buddy Robert's place as we were going to a stage show out in North Hollywood. Got to his place a bit early so we watched an episode of Babylon 5  from S2 Episode 12 "Acts of Sacrifice" Here's a brief description... The escalating Narn-Centauri War begins to have strong repercussions for Babylon 5 as G'Kar asks Sheridan for Earth Force help in the war, and a diplomatic dilemma with the Lumati spells trouble for Ivanova.

A really good episode, my heart just broke for G'Kar and once again my dislike for Londo grew. I figured fights would start happening between the Narn and the Centauri aboard Babylon 5. The Centauri people are just horrible. I didn't feel any pity when the Narn caught the "Centauri ring leader" and killed him. I liked that G'Kar had to fight the "leader" of the Narn group to regain his influence over them. The whole Ivanova story line was hilarious, her "sex" with the Lumati was just to much.. both Robert and I couldn't stop laughing. Over all not much happen with the main story arc (Shadow Wars) but lots with the Narn-Centauri war. And Londo redeemed himself a bit when he didn't press any charges to the Narn who killed the Centauri ring leader... Continuing to love this series.

We then headed out to North Hollywood, we had to stop by our friend Will's place to pick up the tickets as there was an issue with getting tickets online so Will went to the box office and got us our tickets.

Got to Wills and went up the stairs, knocked on his door and was greeted by a loud roar of SURPRISE!!!! and a slew of confetti from "party poppers".  The "stage show" that Robert had invited me to was all a ruse to get me to Will's for a surprise birthday party.

They had a make your own taco/burrito bar, alcohol and fun music. We ate, drank and danced the night away. Since I was not driving I was finally able to partake in some shots. Over a four hour period I did 5 shots of Butterscotch Schnapps and another 5 shots of Fireball Whiskey. Surprisingly I wasn't drunk, I was feeling great but not drunk. Towards the end of the night, I'd say 1am I wasn't feeling so hot so I sat out on the porch by myself for an hour or so. The party finally wind down around 2am and I crashed on the couch and was asleep by 2:30am

I had the best time, Thanks to Will and Robert for putting this all together and to all those who attended. Brett, Jen, Jes, Dallas, Donna, Rupert, Aaron, Cait, Tamar, Babara and Becca. It was a blast.

The Crazy Ones & The Michael J. Fox Show - My Review

Today I watched 2 more new TV series. The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show.

First up was The Crazy Ones, Here's a description of the series... Academy Award winner Robin Williams returns to series television in this single-camera workplace comedy about a larger-than-life advertising genius whose unorthodox methods and unpredictable behavior would get him fired... if he weren't the boss. Simon Roberts is the head of a powerful agency, with the biggest clients and brands in the world, but even more important to him is having his daughter Sydney (Sarah Michelle Gellar) by his side. As his partner, Sydney is Simon's exact opposite - focused, organized and eager to make a name for herself, but also too busy parenting her father, which she'd resent if he wasn't so brilliant at what he does. Joining them in the firm are the dashing and talented Zach; art director Andrew, who's as hard-working as he is neurotic; and the beautiful and deceptively smart assistant Lauren. With his team and his daughter behind him, Simon continues to set the advertising world on fire, and it looks like they are definitely buying what these crazy ones are selling.

I wanted to see this one because it has Robin Williams, who I just love and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy in one of my all time favorite TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Overall it was a good show. It had it's laughs, Robin Williams is playing his typical Robin Williams crazy person. I liked the interaction between the two. One thing I really enjoyed about this series is it had heart, it wasn't just your slapstick jokes. Not only was it funny at times but at the core it's about this father and daughter team. They didn't knock it out of the park for me like with other comedy pilots like The Big Bang Theory but I do plan on coming back again and seeing how the story progresses.

The other new TV series that I watched was The Michael J. Fox Show. I'm a huge Michael J. Fox fan, I grew with him on Family Ties and loved him on Spin City. He's amazing in all his movies including my favorite Back to the Future trilogy. So I was really looking forward to this one. Here's a description of the series.... Look who's making the news again! One of NY's most beloved news anchors, Mike Henry (Michael J. Fox), put his career on hold to spend more time with his family and focus on his health after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. But now five years later, with the kids busy growing up and Mike growing restless, it just might be time for him to get back to work. Having never wanted Mike to leave in the first place, his old boss Harris Green (Wendell Pierce) jumped at the chance to get him back on TV. The trick, as it's always been, was to make Mike think it was his idea. After several - okay, many - failed attempts, Mike's family, anxious to see him out of the house, finally succeeded in getting him to "run into" Green. Now their plan is in motion. He'll be back to juggling home, family and career, just like the old days - only better.

I really enjoyed this series. They had two back to back episodes so we got the pilot and episode two. The biggest thing for me about this series was seeing Michale J. Fox back on TV. It could have been total crap and I would have still loved it because it was MJ Fox. Luckily the series is very funny and sweet. Of course he makes fun of himself as does his family, but they do it in such a loving way. The show really isn't about a guy with Parkinson's, if I remember correctly they never mention what illness he has, it's just a father dealing with his family, work and his illness. This will continue to be a "must" see for me every Thursday.

Out of the two series I would say I enjoyed The Michael J. Fox Show more then The Crazy Ones but rating wise The Crazy Ones is doing better but that might be because it comes on right after The Big Bang Theory which is CBS's highest rated comedy. I hope both shows make it a full season.

"Get Fit" Week 8

So it's been two months (8 weeks) since I started this new "Get Fit" attitude to losing weight and bettering my health. There were a few hiccups along the way with my elliptical breaking, going up and down in weight but with my new elliptical and my new NutriBullet I think I'm finally getting back on track.

So it's Friday and like every Friday for the past eight weeks I weight myself first thing in the morning. Last week I was at 202 and I was hoping to get down to 200 today and sure enough my scale said 199, I was ecstatic, but wanted to double check before I got to excited, so I got off and got on again and this time it said 200. I figured I'd try a third time thinking that I'd either get 199 or 200, well it was 199.5. So I erred on the larger number and officially say that I weighted in at 200 pounds. Down another 2 pounds and a total of 10 pounds loss in two months. That's five pounds a month, which isn't great but it's also not horrible. I've come to realization that this is going to be a slow process for me. I have to be patient and vigilance and keep the downward motion going. Let's hope I can get below 200 by next Friday. I haven't been below 200 in years... fingers crossed.

Minions, Firefly & Starships

I came across a few geeky topics today that I wanted to share with you all. First up a is a shirt from ShirtPunch, if you don't know what Shirtpunch is it's a 24 hours $10 tee website. I've been really trying to resist buying any shirts. Though they are only $10 they can add up pretty quickly. But when I saw this one and it combined two of my favorite things I couldn't resist and had to purchase it. It combined Minions from Despicable Me and The Big Bang Theory. And a plus it wasn't a black shirt. I try and avoid black shirts unless I can't live without it.

Sample Page 1 (click to enlarge)

Even more exciting news.. I reported this news last month but there is a bit information about the upcoming Firefly comic book series. According to Comic Book Resources, Dark Horse Comics is launching a "Firefly" comic book series called "Serenity" that will take place after the events of the 2005 movie. Better yet, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" artist Georges Jeanty will be behind the comic.

Sample Page 2 (click to enlarge)

The writer of the comic book series has not been announced yet, but for now fans can tide themselves over for the anticipated release with a first-look at the story's art, courtesy of CBR.

The new "Serenity" comic book series will begin with Mal and his group recouperating from their attack on the Alliance. CBR writes, "With River Tam in the co-pilot chair and a very pregnant Zoe reeling from the death of her husband, Wash, Mal is finding himself and his ship in greater danger than ever."

And the last thing I wanted to share was this AWESOME poster someone created with a comparison of scifi/fantasy ships (yes I know not all of them are there), but there are plenty of them from movies, TV and video games. I've seen many posters like this but not one so extensive. You can check out the full size version HERE. Just click on the image on that page and get the full 3985 x 4442 version. It's pretty amazing.

Lots of cool geeky things to check out!!

Are you excited for the new Firefly comic book as much as I am? Leave your comments below.

Random Geek Questions x 2

Today I asked two Random Geek Questions. First one was "What is your favorite Disney movie and why?"  I got a wide range of answers, I wasn't specific on what "Disney" I as talking about. When I talk Disney I normally mean animated cartoons, from the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Princess Frog. But Disney encompasses so much more. They have their live action movies, they purchased Pixar, Marvel and Lucas Film and have so many more amazing movies from them, so when I started to get answers they were all over the board.

Some folks picked classic Disney animated movies, some choose Marvel movies like The Avengers and I even had someone choose Star Wars Episode VII which isn't even out yet. It was interesting to see everyone chooses.. it just goes to show me that I need to be more specific in my requests and that Disney is well loved by everyone.

As for my favorite Disney movie it would have to Beauty and the Beast. I love the animation, the story.. I'm a suck for the hopeless romantic.
 

My second Random Geek Question was "Remakes are big business.. what movie would you like to see remade today and why?"

This question was like throwing a match onto gasoline. I got a handful of answers but this question started a debate on the lack of creativity in Hollywood. There were lots of arguments going back and forth. I stayed out of it online since I work in Hollywood but this is my blog so I'll give you my thoughts on the topic.

I'm not a huge fan of remakes.. but I understand why they are made. Hollywood is a business, yes it's job is to entertain but it's main job is to make money. Movies cost millions and millions of dollars to make. There is no guarantee that it will be liked and watched. Remakes have a built in audience, a built in fanbase.

Now most remakes aren't a word for word remake. So I like to think of them as re-imagined instead of remakes. Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. You can take an old classic sci fi / fantasy movie and with today's tech make it look amazing. And I'm not suggesting CGI is better then "actual" models.

I can't imagine them remaking a classic like Star Wars but if they do it's not going to diminish my love for the original movies/story. Look at Star Trek, they rebooted/re-imagined the series with the same characters and personalities but slightly different. I still love the original universe but I'm enjoying what they are doing in this "new" universe. 

They have re-imagined Superman and Batman many times. Spiderman was barely a few years old when they "re-booted" that series. Am I upset that they did this.. no as these re-imagined movies have been pretty amazing and have done big bucks a the box office. It does go to show you that these "Remakes", "Re-Boots", or "Re-Imagined" movies work and that means they will keep making them.

My philosophy has always been if you don't like something then don't watch it... it's that simple.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Webseries & Babylon 5

I found a companion series for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. called "Declassified". Of course this is only the first episode so there isn't much content but what they say they will be including in each episode sounds pretty good. I look forward to watching each week. Here's Episode 1

Besides the awesome companion series today is Wednesday so that means TV night with my best bud Robert. We are continuing our first time viewing of Babylon 5. Tonight we watched Season 2 Episodes 7 - 11.

First up for the night is S2 Ep 7 "Soul Mates" Visitors to the station include Londo's three wives and Talia's ex-husband. Delenn has a bad hair day.

I liked this episode, it really didn't deal with any of the overall story arc. This was "fun" episode, a filler episode. Londo's wives storyline was my favorite. I liked seeing how different his three wives are. One is harsh and to the point, one is power hungry and will do or say anything to get what she wants and the third is young, beautiful and drawn to powerful, even ones that are not her husband. In the end Londo has to choose one wife to keep and two to kick to he curb. And of course he picked the wife I liked best, the hard nose, tell it like is wife. She asks him why he picked her as she will never love him and barely tolerate him and he says... "at least I know where I stand with you" and walks away. The camera pans to her face and you can see that she actually has feelings for
him.

We then watched S2 Ep 8 "A Race Through Dark Places" Bester has Talia investigate an "underground railroad" of telepaths escaping the Psi-corp.

This was a good episode, this one dealt with they Psi-corp which I know are going to be a larger part of the story at some point. It seems, though we don't know forsure" that they are in control of the Earth government. This was a good Talin story, is she or isn't she good/bad/working for Psi-corp. In the end I'm glad she turned her back on them and tricked Bester. This story is far from over.. can't wait to see more of it unfold. I also liked the sparks that were flying between Captain Sheridan and Delenn, possible relationship between these two.. guess I'll have to wait and see.

Third episode of the night was S2 Ep 9 "The Coming of Shadow" The Centauri emperor visits the station, leading G'Kar to attempt to assassinate him. Lord Refa and Londo conspire to expand their power on Centauri Prime.

I really enjoyed this episode as it kind of ties in with the main story arc. I have to say I'm really not liking Londo, he continues to go down this very dark path. He alone starts a new war between the Narn and the Centauri. I'm actually liking G'Kar more. I was not a fan of him at the beginning as I thought he was "the bad guy" but he's more of a victim. I mean his plan to assassinate the Centauri emperor was not good, but it was understandable and when the emperor sent a message of apology to G'Kar through the doctor, G'Kar took it to heart and really began to heal until Londo pulled his stunt and started the new war.

Our fourth episode was S2 Ep 10 "GROPOS" A task force of ground troops led by Dr. Franklin's father is assembled at B5, leading to some friction.

This was an enjoyable episode, again more of a filler episode. We got more background story for the doctor. We meet a few new characters who interact with our main cast but of course by the end they are all dead, which was very sad as one of them "Dodger" would have been a cool reoccurring character to Garibaldi. 

And our final episode of the evening was S2 Ep 11 "All Alone In The Night" Sheridan is kidnapped onto an alien ship, Delenn pays for her actions and General Hague makes an unofficial visit to the station.

Again this was just a filler episode but a good one. When this alien race (who looked very much like aliens that we think as alien, big eyes, big bald heads) is discovered instead of surrendering, they jettison their prisoners into space... that was harsh. Luckily for us the Captain and a Narn prisoner were able to make it to an escape pod before they destroyed the ship. Delenn is thrown off the Grey Counsel which I expected but they keep her on as Ambassador to B5, which again I expected.

Overall some really good episodes but not a lot of progress in the over all story arc. Lots of character building, that one of the things I am loving about Babylon 5.

New Series: Dads, S.H.I.E.L.D. & Fangasm

Super excited for the new TV season, there are several really cool sounding scifi/fantasy series coming out.  Ones that I'm really looking forward to are Almost Human, Reign, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fangasm, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and The Tomorrow People. Other non-genre shows I'm looking forward to seeing are, We Are Men, Dads, Michael J. Fox Show and The Crazy One.

So far I've only seen Dads, which premiered last week and tonight Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fangasm premiered.

Dads is a 30 minute comedy with Seth Green. Here's a short synopsis: Two successful guys in their 30's have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them.

Seth is really the only reason why I am watching it and he is by far my favorite character. I'm not head over heals in love with it but it's enjoyable. I'll continue to watch for now.

Fangasm on Syfy is a six-part docuseries that celebrates the incredibly unique, often misunderstood, and infinitely fascinating fan girl and fan boy culture. The show follows seven pop culture-obsessed fans (whose passions range from comic books and collectibles to science fiction and fantasy) living together in an LA apartment complex and working together at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. The seven must contend with each others over sized personalities and conflicting fandom as they vie for an opportunity to work within Lee's organization. Because when different passions come together, you get a real big bang.

Well I've only seen the first episode and I'm always a bit leery with it come to series like this as you don't know if they are going to make fun of "geeks" or really show them as they truly are. I have to say so far so good. They have a wide range of socially awkward geeks. Some of the things they say makes me cringe but it's true to life. I have some friends who are just like these guys on the show. I hope they continue to embrace the difference in geekyness, I mean you can poke fun at us, as we poke fun at ourselves as long as it's all done in good taste. This first episode had me in tears at the end..  I look forward to watching the entire 6 part series.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Agent Phil Coulson puts together a small team of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) agents to handle strange new cases. Each case will test the team in cooperation and ingenuity as they try to work together figuring out newly emerging superhuman individuals in the world.

This is probably one of my most anticipated new series that I have been waiting for. I'm a huge fan of all the Marvels movies and I've always been a HUGE fan of Joss Whedon. I actually know/are friends with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, I've been to there house to interview Maurissa.

(SPOILERS) This series picks up pretty right after the events of Avengers. And I have to say it did not disappoint. I loved every minute of this pilot. The humor is so Joss, the action/fight scenes were amazing and the sfx were great for a TV budget. I loved that Cobie Smulders was back as Maria Hill, even if it's just s guest spot. I liked seeing Ron Glass back on a Whedon show. I like how they explained Coulson's return but then have that scene between Hill and the Doctor (Ron Glass' character) about how he doesn't know and Hill says he can never know. I'm sure will get into more on that but I'm looking forward to seeing where that goes. I liked Fit and Sim, the none combat, more scientific team. I liked their chemistry.. now sure if they are more brother, sister or husband, wife. Got some more unknown history with Ming Nan's character.. she's bad ass and can kick butt. So many great characters, I can't wait to see where this series goes. This series lived up to and surpassed all the hype, which believe me is difficult to do.

I'll continue to blog my thoughts on these and the other series when they premiere.