Birthdays, Hobbits and Wars.. Oh My!!

Lots of stuff happen today.. so I'm going to split this blog into two parts.. personal stuff and geeky stuff.

Here's some personal stuff. I want to wish my favorite sister-in-law Lora a very Happy Birthday. I know what your saying.. she's my only sister-in-law but that doesn't mean she can't be my favorite :)

Was out of paint so I had to go to Lowes and while there I got the paint but I also got spray paint and wood stain as I have decided to spruce up the front of my house by finishing the sanding and then staining of my front deck and I'm also going to paint the railing black.

When I got home I didn't continue painting since it was later in the day so instead I taped off the trimming on the other side of my house (the last side of the house to paint). I also cleaned out my small garage, still have more to do but got a good start on it. My main project was my front door. I replace the door knob and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

I finished my day by editing my MASH 4077 Podcast, I started late last night and spent only a few hours on it today so I still have a few more hours left of editing.. I should get it done in the next few days.

Now for some geeky stuff. They officially announced the release date for Star Wars Episode VII. Mark your calendars for December 18, 2015. That's a little over two years and one month away. I already have a countdown on my iPhone... I can't wait.

Peter Jackson released his 12th Production Diary. I have enjoy each and everyone of these but they haven't done many for the Desolation of Smaug. For the first movie he did 10 Production Diaries but so far he's only done 2 for this movie. He does promise more to come so will see. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug comes out in just over a month. Check out the latest diary below.

And speaking of The Hobbit, I found out today that some of Wave 2 of The Hobbit action figures have been released. Wave 2 brings us three brand new 6″ figures with Radagast, Azog, and Legolas Greenleaf while the 3.75″ line gets a very cool Mirkwood box set with Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil, Fili, and Kili. Of course I had to get them.. they'll be an early Christmas present to myself.

They are also supposedly 2 packs coming out as well, Beorn and Gandalf & Azog and Thorin Oakenshield. Also some additional 3.75 scale box sets including Thorin Oakenshield Adventure Pack: Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin and Thorin. Bilbo Baggins Burglar Pack: Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Oin and Exclusive Invisible Bilbo. But I haven't seen any of these anywhere... yet. I stopped collecting like I use to but I couldn't resist these awesome action figures.

Thorin Oakenshield Adventure Pack: Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin and Thorin

Bilbo Baggins Burglar Pack: Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Oin and Exclusive 3.75" Invisible Bilbo

- See more at: http://www.collector-actionfigures.com/dash/blog/new-lineup-from-the-hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-revealed/#sthash.6FZR30cn.dpuf

Thorin Oakenshield Adventure Pack: Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin and Thorin

Bilbo Baggins Burglar Pack: Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Oin and Exclusive 3.75" Invisible Bilbo

- See more at: http://www.collector-actionfigures.com/dash/blog/new-lineup-from-the-hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-revealed/#sthash.6FZR30cn.dpuf

Thorin Oakenshield Adventure Pack: Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin and Thorin

Bilbo Baggins Burglar Pack: Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Oin and Exclusive 3.75" Invisible Bilbo

- See more at: http://www.collector-actionfigures.com/dash/blog/new-lineup-from-the-hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-revealed/#sthash.6FZR30cn.dpuf

Painting and Podcasts

Got up at 7am, had a bit of breakfast, checked email and then was outside painting by 8am. It was still windy but I couldn't put it off anymore. I didn't get anything done yesterday and I swore I wouldn't do that again.

It was tough painting in the wind, especially when I'm on my 20 foot ladder on my tip toes trying to reach the underside of the roof with a paint brunch. But I persisted and by 4pm I was done with the first coat of paint on the side of my house (the one Will and I prepped a few days ago). I would have gone another hour until sundown but I had ran out of paint (so far I've used 10 gallons).

So I headed inside and forced myself to edit my next Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast which is due to be released on the 10th. It went fairly well, a spent a total of four hours editing. I also did a bit of prep work on an upcoming MASH 4077 Podcast.

All is all today was a complete 180 from yesterday.. need to have more days like today.

A Day of Rest

Today I was all prepared to paint the side of my house as Will and I prepped it yesterday and got all the trim taped off. Well once again mother nature has something else in mind... Winds.

It was so windy that it was blowing over my ladders, it blew off 1/3 of the paper that Will and I had taped up around the windows... it was pretty bad.

So instead I should have done things around the house, I have some major cleaning that needs to be done. I also have several podcasts that will be due in the coming week so I could edit those.. but what did I do.. nothing. I caught up on some TV that I recorded on my DVR.

I was physically exhausted and since it was so windy outside it gave me the excuse to not paint and just chill for a day. I know I have only one week until my realtor comes over and assess my place and take pictures, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything. I wanted to be lazy so I was lazy.

Of course at the end of the night I'm mad and disappointed in myself but I made a deal with myself to have no more lazy days until after next Tuesday and then I can treat myself to a day at Disneyland.

Painting & Gaming With My Buddy

So I finished painting the front of the house... woohoo!! It took a bit longer then I was hoping as most of my painting has, but it's done and it looks pretty good. Around 1pm I got a message from my buddy Will asking if I needed assistance with painting. Of course I said yes, I could use all the help I can get. He arrived around 2:30pm and got started on taping the trim on the side of the house. By the time night had fallen he and I had gotten all the trim on the side of the house tapped off and ready for painting tomorrow.

Afterwards we headed out to Chipotle for some dinner and then came back to my place and played Injustice: Gods Among Us for the next four hours. That is one of my all time favorite games, since I only have one Xbox controller, we played the single player game. So instead of battling each other we followed the awesome storyline of the game. And Will and I would trade off back and forth between battles.

 It was a good day... got some work done on my house and I got to spend some quality time with my buddy Will. Thanks Will for helping out.

Just Another Lazy Sunday... Not!!!

Today I tackled painting the front of the house. I had worked on the front earlier this year but I used the wrong kind of painters tape and when I went to remove it, it took off the paint as well. There was lots of damage done. So I taped up everything yesterday and today I planned to get the front done.. or at least the first coat. The problem with the front is that there is alot of trim, so it's not as easy as just rolling on the paint. Also my house has a texture on it so you have to do several passes to get the paint in the crevices.

So I spent the entire day from 8am to 5pm painting and by the end I had gotten 90% of the front done. I still had a few touch ups to do as paint would get under the taped off area. But I'm very happy with my progress. I should be able to get that done first thing tomorrow and then work on the right side of my house.

Today Daylight savings ended and we gained an extra hour, which is great for sleeping but it also means it gets dark earlier. So the sun started to set at 5pm cutting my painting time down by an hour or so. I'm not a fan of it getting dark earlier as it make it feel so late and it's only 6pm. I'm sure I'll adjust, just in time for Daylight savings to begin again :)

Time With My Family

Today was all about my family. Between My Gimpy Life S2 shoot and being sick for two weeks I haven't seen my family in a month and a half and if you know me that's a long time. I normally like to go every few weeks. So today my plan was to hang with my family all day.

My brother and sister-in-law were having a small BBQ with friends so I got to join in the festivities. Not only did I get to play with my nephew and niece but also several other young kids of their friends. I played with the four of them for hours on end. It's exhausting running after a 4 year old, two 3 year old's and a 2 year old.  But I loved every minute of it.

During the evening I got to go out with my dad and have a nice dinner at P.F. Changs.  I spent about eight hours with the family and it was a lot of fun. Hopefully it won't be another month and a half before I see them again.

Mid-Life Crisis - 2 Years Later

I was feeling kind of blue lately and was going through my old blog posts when I came across this blog post that I posted 2 years ago today. What's crazy is I could have posted this blog post today and everything in it would be the same. Two years have passed and nothing has changed, how is that possible? I know I feel like I've been treading water for a while now but I really didn't think it was that bad. I need a major change in my life. I'm hoping the house sells quickly and once this is out from under me I can start to rebuild my life.

Mid-Life Crisis Posted on November 1st 2011

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

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

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

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

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

The Book Thief - My Review

With my garage done I focused on the front of my house. There is a lot of trim on the front so I knew it would take me a while to get it all taped off.  And as expected I manged to get everything taped off before I had to leave for some evening plans.

Today I was heading out to Hollywood to see a pre-release screening of a new movie called The Book Thief. My friend Jes was joining me so I stopped by her place in North Hollywood and picked her up. We got to the theater area with a few hours to spare so we looked for a local place to eat dinner. After walking a few blocks in the opposite direction we didn't find anywhere to eat.We then headed back to the theater area and right next store was this bar/restaurant. The prices were decent and it seemed to be the only place around. And it just so happened that food was very tasty.

After dinner we went next door to the theater. The screening was happening at the Saban Theatre. The Saban Theatre is an historic theatre in Beverly Hills, California, formerly known as the Fox Wilshire Theater. It is an Art Deco structure designed by architect S. Charles Lee and is considered a classic Los Angeles landmark. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 2012. The theatre opened as the Fox Wilshire Theatre on September 19, 1930 and for several decades was one of 20th Century Fox's premiere theaters, serving as a movie palace until a 1981 renovation converted it into a stage venue. It is now regularly used as a live performance venue for comedy, music, television, film shoots, screenings, and community intercultural events such as the Paley Television Festival.

Once I walked in I remembered being in this theatre before. And at the time I couldn't remember what I was in there for but it may have been for one of the Paley Festival Events. The theatre is gorgeous from the lobby to the main theatre. PGA (Producer's Guild of America) is currently trying to establish this theater as the "main" theater for all our movie screenings... which would be awesome.

We sat down and after a brief introduction the movie started. I had not heard of The Book Thief before I got the invitation. Here's a brief synopsis of the book. The Book Thief is a novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. Narrated by Death, the book is set in Nazi Germany, a place and time when the narrator notes he was extremely busy. It describes a young girl's relationship with her foster parents, the other residents of their neighborhood, and a Jewish fist-fighter who hides in her home during the escalation of World War II. First published in 2005, the book has won numerous awards and was listed on the The New York Times Best Seller list for over 230 weeks.

Now 20th Century Fox turned it into a movie. The Book Thief tells the story of an extraordinary, spirited young girl sent to live with a foster family in WWII Germany. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting books as she finds them. With the help of her new parents and a secret guest under the stairs, she learns to read and creates a magical world that inspires them all.

Here's my review: This was an amazing movie. If I had one word to describe it, it would be "BEAUTIFUL" The story is heart warming and heart wrenching, and the acting is incredible. I found it very interesting that we are seeing the beginnings World War II through the eyes of the Germans. I can't go into great detail here as I don't want to spoil anything. All I will say is if you get a chance to see this movie, please do so. It's defiantly going to be an Oscar contender. I give The Book Thief a solid A

After the movie there was a Q&A with the author of the book, two producers and the young star of the movie Sofia Nelisse. The panel had some very interesting and entertaining stories about how this movie was made. Sofia was adorable, she's a typical teenager. It was nice way to end the evening.

"Get Fit" Week 13

Well it finally happened I dropped below 200lbs. I have not been below 200 pounds in over eight years. Now the hard part is keeping myself below 200 lbs and continuing to lose weight. My next goal is to try and lose 1 pound every week. I know it will be hard but if I don't set myself goals I don't know if I will push myself as much as I should. My current weight is 198.5.

Painting the Garage - Complete

So I finally finished painting my garage. Between being sick and the weather it took much longer then I had expected, but I guess that's always the case. I think it turned out pretty good. I had to keep telling myself that it doesn't need to be perfect as I'm selling it. Of course not all went as planned... when I was done I went to open up the garage door of the smaller section and I guess the paint was stronger then the garage door opener and the garage door opener started to move but he door was painting shut so it did not and the next thing I knew it pulled itself away from the back of the door. So now I have to try and fix that in the next few days. Ugh.. if it's not one thing it's another. But I am happy that I'm done with the painting. Next up I need to finish painting the house. It's already 1/4 done as I painted the back of the house last year and the trim was done recently. Just have to paint the front and the two sides. I need to be done by Nov 12th as that is when my realtor is coming over to take pictures and discuss price. I can't wait until this whole ordeal is over. I will never paint my house by myself again.

Simpsons Couch Gag & Babylon 5

First of all I came across one of the best Simpson Couch gags ever.. it's going to air this Sunday. You can watch it below:

Today was TV night with my buddy Robert. We are continuing our Babylon 5 first time viewing. Today we finished off season 2 with episodes 21 & 22 and started season 3 with episodes 1 & 2.

First up was S2 Ep 21 "Comes The Inquisitor" G'Kar rallies the Narns on the station to uphold the resistance effort against the Centauri. Delenn undergoes a torturous test of her allegiance to Kosh by a bizarre emissary called Sebastian.

This was a hard episode to watch, it's was tough seeing Delenn be tortured by this horrible person for no apparent reason. He was "testing" her but not really asking any questions. He just wanted to see if she would break before dying. I'm glad when Sheridan came to her rescue and both were found to be worthy of this approaching fight. Of course it's revealed that this "Inquisitor" is from Earth's past and he is Jack The Ripper and has been working/punished by the Vorlons for hundreds of years.

I like the fact that Sheridan helped G'Kar who I just feel is getting the raw end of every deal. And I loved Garibaldi's interaction with G'Kar by telling him not to use Babylon 5 to get black marketed weapons but then turns around and gives him a name of a guy who will take care of everything he needs discretely. Garibaldi is such a good guy.

Next was the finale for season 2 Ep 22 "The Fall of Night" Earth reacts to the Centauri's rapid invasion of several worlds — but it's not what Sheridan expected. Amazing revelations are made about the Shadows and the Vorlons.

Wow what a finale. I'm hating the Centauri more and more and Earth allying themselves with them was horrible. Sheridan was amazing in this episode, loved that he went to full on battle mode to save the Narn battleship and destroyed the Centauri battle cruiser. Londo and the rest of the Centauri's need to be kicked off Babylon 5 (but I know this won't happen now, especially with the Earth alliance).

It was great to finally "see" Kosh. It's interesting that he appears differently for each race of aliens and for most he appeared as a recognizable "god like" figure from this history.

I wasn't sad when Keffer died, I mean his character was never fully developed so when it happen I thought "oh well". Of course he was able to get footage of the Shadow creatures ship

I really liked how the episode ended with Ivanova reflecting upon recent events, noting that while Babylon 5's mission as "our last, best hope for peace" seems to have failed, it has instead become something greater: a hope for victory.

Third was the premiere episode of season 3 Ep 1 "Matters of Honor" Marcus Cole comes to Babylon 5 and the crew receive a new ship to use in the coming conflict. David Endawi of Earthforce Special Intelligence arrives on Babylon 5 to investigate the sighting of the Shadow vessel.

Great way to begin season three. Loved the new Vorlon/Minbari ship White Star, I'm sure will be seeing alot more of her in the future. They introduced a new character Marcus who is the new Ranger aboard Babylon 5. They revealed that the PSI Corp on Earth (who is pretty much running the government) is in leagues with The Shadow race. And Londo showed a shred of decently by trying to break off his alignment with Morden (Shadow liaison). Of course it's to late and he's done way to much damage, he's not going to get out of it that easy, nor should he.. he's made his bed now he has to lie with the ultimate evil.

And the final episode of the night was S3 Ep 2 "Convictions" A series of random bombings threaten the station, with one explosion seriously injuring Lennier. Lennier saved Mollari from the explosion and was injured in his place. This affects Mollari deeply. Brother Theo and a group of Monks from Earth arrive on Babylon 5. There are other pilgrimages to Babylon 5 seen in this episode as the news of Kosh's appearance spreads to the religious communities of various civilizations.

Compared to the other three episodes this was a very mild episode. Nothing to do with the approaching War. I've been a fan of Lennier for a while but this episode showed what good person he is. He sacrificed himself to save Londo (I actually yelled at the TV that he should have left Londo to die). But we do get some great moments with Londo and G'Kar stuck in an elevator. G'Kar is hilarious, not wanting to help Londo get them out, he'd rather die but first watch Londo die. I like when G'Kar was telling the Earth official about the mysterious ship and he was right but the Earth official just shrugged it off. There was another scene that I liked.. when the Earth official shows the footage to Sheridan and Delenn and Delenn says she has never seen that ship before. And I turned to Robert and said "wow.. she just lied" (Mimbari's don't lie) but then Robert said "maybe she's never seen the Shadows ship before so technically it's not a lie and sure enough when Sheridan questioned this she said exactly that. I love that this show remembers all the details, even minor ones from past episodes/seasons. I guess that's one of the great benefits of having one writer for the entire series.

Another great TV night with Robert, Babylon 5 is rocking and everyone says season three when crazy things start happening on this show. Been loving it since the first episode.. can't wait to see where it goes next.

Gay Vs. Geek - Ender's Game Conflict

So I heard of the book series Ender's Game about five years ago. I remember friends suggesting that I read the series as it's supposedly an incredible story and something I would enjoy. When I looked it up online to read more about it I found some articles about the author Orson Scott Card that really turned my stomach. I've never seen a "celebrity" be so blatantly bigoted. Orson Scott Card is a Morman and very anti-gay.  Here are a few of the negative comments he has said in the past.

1990: Card argued that states should keep sodomy laws on the books in order to punish unruly gays–presumably implying that the fear of breaking the law ought to keep most gay men in the closet where they belonged. He advocated the criminalization of homosexuality, arguing, “those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.”
 
2004: He claimed that most homosexuals are the self-loathing victims of child abuse, who became gay “through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse.”

2004: His thoughts on Gay marriage "So if [they] insist on calling what they do "marriage," they are not turning their relationship into what my wife and I have created, because no court has the power to change what their relationship actually is. Instead they are attempting to strike a death blow against the well-earned protected status of our, and every other, real marriage. They steal from me what I treasure most, and gain for themselves nothing at all. They won't be married. They'll just be playing dress-up in their parents' clothes. 

2008: In 2008, Card published his most controversial anti-gay screed yet, in the Mormon Times, where he argued that gay marriage “marks the end of democracy in America,” that homosexuality was a “tragic genetic mixup,” and that allowing courts to redefine marriage was a slippery slope towards total homosexual political rule and the classifying of anyone who disagreed as “mentally ill:”

Card went on to advocate for, literally, a straight people’s insurrection against a pro-gay government:

When government is the enemy of marriage, then the people who are actually creating successful marriages have no choice but to change governments, by whatever means is made possible or necessary… Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down….

2009: He joined the board for anti-gay lobby The National Organization for Marriage, which was created to pass California’s notorious Proposition 8, banning gay marriage.

2012: He supported his home state North Carolina’s constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage by arguing that gay marriage “will be the bludgeon [The Left] use to make sure that it becomes illegal to teach traditional values in the schools.”

But with all that said I have to admit that the series sounds amazing and something that I would totally love and seeing the trailer for the movie continued to peak my interest. So I'm conflicted. Do I let my "gay" side win and not see or read anything about this topic or do I let me "geek" side win and read/listen to the books and see the movie.

Now I do know that I won't be buying his books or audiobooks. I will not contribute any money to this hateful bigoted man but there are "other" means of "acquiring" his audio books, and I don't have to spend a dime. As for the movie it's hard to boycott the movie when they paid for the rights to this story over 10 years ago and OSC hasn't really been involved with the production of the movie. We have been told by the movie company that he is not receiving anything on the back end so buying a ticket for the movie you are not putting money into his pocket. I don't know if I believe that or not, that's why I'd rather see a free screening or get a DVD screener of the movie from the Producer's Guild of America... just to be safe.

So the question, is it okay to listen to the audiobooks and see the movie? Am I betraying my gay community even though I'm not contributing any money to this man?  My answer... No I don't think I'm betraying anyone. I think you need to separate a person's personal beliefs from their works. I'm sure he's not the only "hateful" celebrity around. He just seems to be the most vocal and not care what others think about him. This horrible man has every right to believe what he does. I have been told that there is no anit-gay message in Ender's Game, that you would never know the authors bigoted views from reading the book.

With all that said I think I will try and "acquire" the audiobooks and if I do get the oppurtunity to see a "free" screening of this or get a DVD screener I will watch it.

What are your thoughts.. leave them in comment section below.

Painting Delay & X-Men Trailer

Once again I was up early to paint but once again mother nature was not cooperating. This kind of depressed me for the day. My goal was to finish painting my house by the end of October which is only a few days away and there is no way it will happen. Luckily for me my realtor is out of town the first week of November so we are not getting together until the second week to talk about putting the house up. So I have an additional week to get the painting done but if the weather keeps interfering I'm afraid I'll never get this done.

I did get out of the house today, headed over to my buddy Doug's place to pick up some boxes (as he has recently moved and had some leftover boxes, which I will need in the near future). While I was down there we decided to grab some lunch. We went to Zankou Chicken, it's an Mediterranean food restaurant. It's a favorite of mine but I rarely go as there are none near me but there was one close to Doug's place and come to find out that it's one of his favorites as well. It was alot of fun hanging out with Doug for a few hours.

In Geeky news Bryan Singer released the first trailer for X-Men Days of Future Past. I'm a huge X-Men fan and I've actually enjoyed all the movies that have come out so far so I'm really looking forward to this one. The trailer makes this one look a bit darker. Check it out below.

Painting vs. Weather & TNG Hoodies

So after a none productive (house duties) though busy weekend I wanted to hit the ground running but of course mother nature had something different in mind for me. Woke up at 6:30am and was ready to get to painting at 7am but it was freezing outside (low 40's) but I could have handled that and just bundled up. the worse part was the content 35 mph winds with gusts of 75 mph. There was no way I was going to be getting on ladders or the roof to paint. I figured I'd do stuff in the house and when things cleared up I'd go out then.. well it only got worse and started to rain. By the time it cleared at 5pm, it was still cold and slightly windy, but everything was wet and there was no way of painting on a wet house so I lost today. I did mange to get some things done inside the house which is good.. guess I'll just tackle the painting tomorrow (I hope, the forecast is predicting rain again, so will see).

In Geeky news.. ThinkGeek is now carrying one of the coolest hoodies I've seen in a long time. If you're a Star Trek fan specifically The Next Generation then you're going to want one of these. Star Trek: The Next Generation Uniform Hoodie, Choose from red (Command), blue (Sciences), or gold (Operations. They run $59.99 and are a ThinkGeek exclusive. You can pick one up HERE.This is definitely going on my Christmas list this year. Only problem is which color to get.. I'm thinking Command Red.

Princes, Podcasts and D&D

Today I watched a new reality show called Secret Princes, this is the second season but I didn't watch the first season. If you've never heard of the show it chronicles the adventures of four members of international nobility as they leave their countries to live, work and look for love in America. In addition, to guarantee that they are loved for their true selves and not due to their wealth or status, they go undercover as ordinary locals. Last season they were in Atlanta, Georgia and this season they are in Austin, Texas.

I'm not a big reality person (thought most of my career in the entertainment industry had me working on reality shows) but this one peaked my interest. I remember seeing previews of the last season and never did see it so I made sure I set me DVR to record this season.

The first episode was as I expected, they introduced the four "Princes". Prince Alexander of Russia - Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. Prince Lorenzo de'Medici of Italy - Heir to the famous Medicic dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. Lord James Rennell of Rodd - 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany - Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old.

My favorite of the four would be Oliver as he's a total geek, like hard core. My least favorite is Lorenzo as he seems very snobbish. I know he's a prince and use to being pampered but he seems to be the only one who is having a hard time adjusting to living in a crappy house with very little money.  I look forward to watching the rest of the season (only a total of five episodes). It's not must see TV for me but it is a guilty pleasure and some of the guys are very cute and they all have amazing accents :) .

In other geek news, they announced the Podcast Award nominations. I was only promoting my MASH 4077 Podcast for a nomination but unfortunately my podcast was not nominated. Oh well maybe next year.

Today was another D&D session. We had a full house today. Today session was rough in a good way. We manage to get two of our party members out of a rat infested hole, took a little longer then expected and things didn't go exactly to plan but in the end we succeeded. We finally made it to the great oak tree, in order to get the potion that we needed (our original mission) we had to do something for them and head back to the ruins in which we just came from. We had to kill all the of renegade wolf clan.

This battle took forever and 2/3d's of our party were unconscious by the end of it. I really thought we were going to lose three or four of the players this session, but we didn't. Dash manage to survive until the last ten minutes of the battle before going unconscious.

We made our way back to the great oak and got the potion. We now have to head back to where we began this mission. Of course we're on day 6 of a 12 day adventure so I'm sure it won't be a hop, skip and a jump to get back.. plenty of danger is ahead.

We got done a bit early and a few of us hung out for a few hours and chatted. My buddy Will and I wanted to arm wrestle the last time we were hanging out but forgot, so we thought we would give it a go now. We're pretty matched in strength as we held each other for a while but I had longer endurance and was able to wait until he tired and finally won. We then tried with our left arms and I had a moment of concentration lapse and he got the best of me and won. It was a fun evening hanging with friends.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Meet the royals:
Prince Alexander of Russia – Direct descendent of the Romanoff dynasty; also known as Francis Mathew; 35 years old. He has had a successful career as a photographer and currently lives in Kent, England. He enjoys keeping fit, rock climbing and reading.
Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici of Italy – Heir to the famous Medici dynasty; 37 years old; both Polish and Italian royal bloodlines. His family has a selection of beautiful homes filled with priceless antiques and numerous staff. He spends his time working with several charities and is pursuing his political career. Lorenzo has a passion for cooking and never has any assistance in the kitchen.
Lord James Rennell of Rodd – 4th Baron Rennell, United Kingdom; 35 years old; inherited the title in 2006 from his uncle. James is a senior marketing and publicity expert, and partying is second nature to this blue-eyed bachelor. He enjoys playing tennis, squash, skiing and surfing.
The Honourable Oliver Plunkett of Dunsany – Heir to the Barony of Dunsany; Republic of Ireland; 28 years old. He lives in the 900 year old Dunsany castle that is filled with priceless antiques and runs his own computer game company. Oliver enjoys socializing in members-only social clubs, playing croquet and skiing.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/starr-raving/exclusive-meet-the-dorky-royals-of-secret-princes#FE0BmfuRMEIrlSFK.99

Whedonopolis Halloween Charity Event

Today I attended the Whedonopolis Halloween Charity Event out in Hollywood. This is the 6th year they have done this and the last time I went was it's 2nd year. This event had grown over the years as the first year it was a special screening of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and the latest season of The Guild. This year they went all out and planned an all day event. Starting at 1pm with Serenity, then Cabin in the Woods, Husbands first part of Season 3, The Guild Season Six and finally Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. And they had some special guest speakers in between the screenings.

Being out of work and poor I figured I would have to miss this year, though it sounded like a blast. But my buddy Steven from Canada sent me a paypal birthday gift and it was enough to cover the price of the full day ticket... woohoo.. thanks Steven.

There was a group of friends going as well to the all day event and some were coming just for the last half which was Husbands, The Guild and Dr. Horrible.

I got to the event around 12:15pm and my friends Jessica, Cait and Robert were already there so I jumped in line with them. This was the first time they were pulling off such a huge event so we knew things wouldn't go as planned but I have to say Marsia and her team did an incredible job. They started a half hour later then planned and there was a snag with the food trucks but overall it was a great experience.

They gave us our "line" place holder numbers. So instead of having to get in line each time we had numbers and I fortunately had 5 so I was very close to the front of the line each time. They gave us a "goodie" bag with lots of props for the Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, which we would use later in the evening. 

The theater was about a third full when we started the viewing of Serenity. I love this movie and it's always great to see it on the big screen, and speaking of the screen it's not huge, it's about half the size of a regular movie screen but still a lot larger then my 60" TV. Watching Serenity again really made me miss Firefly and I think I'll be doing a rewatch very soon.

We then had a short break before starting Cabin in the Woods. Again the theater was pretty empty. This was only my second time watching this movie. I enjoyed it when I saw it when it was released but I'm not a huge horror fan so I never watched it again. But it was still very enjoyable and so Joss Whedon.

It was now our dinner break and as I mentioned earlier there was a mix up with the food trucks so they were not showing up. Instead the event planners purchased a ton of pizzas and we were able to buy some slices for dinner. It wasn't ideal for everyone but it worked and was better then having nothing but snack foods all day.

Before we started screening of Husbands S3 we had a special guest come to stage and talk for a bit. Georges Jeanty who is a Comic Book Artist, he worked on Buffy Season 8 & 9 and did some work for The Guild comic book. But he was here tonight to talk about the upcoming Serenity comic book. It was a very interesting behind the scenes creating a comic book. He had some great stories and some great info about the Serenity comic book that wasn't out there yet. I so can't wait for this mini series.

After George there was a real short break before we started viewing Husbands S3. Now the theater was started to fill up. I knew folks were coming more for The Guild and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along blog.

But first we had a screening of Husbands. I had seen Husbands Season 1 but not season 2 it didn't really matter. I thought we were seeing the entire season but we only watched the first half of the season and was told if we wanted to see the rest go to the CW website.

Next was The Guild season six but before we started watching Felicia Day and Vince Caso came on stage and talked for a bit. It was great seeing these guys again. I haven't seen them in a while. Felicia was dressed in a Steampunk Robin Hood outfit that was pretty awesome. After the two of them banter for a few minutes they started the Guild season six. I have to admit that season six, in my opinion wasn't one of my favorites but after seeing it all together as one piece I enjoyed it much more then when it first aired in pieces.

After the Guild there was another break and they started to set up chairs on the stage. They had several guests come up, Kim Evey, Greg Benson, Vince Caso, Brian Kameoka, Georges Jeanty, Juliet Landau and Camden Toy. They talked about independent movies and webseries, the entertainment industry, fandom and fans and various other interesting things. And the fact that four of the panel guests were my friends was pretty awesome.

We then took another break and during this time I was able to catch up with Vince, Kim, Greg and Brian for a few minutes, and I got them to sign my Guild yearbook.

It was finally time for what most of the people were here for.. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. We first watched a short video of how to use the props during the screening. We had a penny, curtains, bubbles, piece of shrubbery, a horse head and various other things. I have seen Dr. Horrible several times on the big screen but this was the first time I did the interactive version.

It was a blast, there is nothing better then sitting in a room full of excited people, singing along to the movie, blowing bubbles  and letting their geek flags fly. It was pretty EPIC!!!

After the screening it was time for the drawing. They have been selling tickets all day long $1 and $5 tickets for some cool prizes. I purchased 5 of the $1 tickets. They gave away about 50 or so items but alas I didn't win anything, but my friends did.. yay!!

It was an amazing event and I can't wait to do it again next year. Thanks to Robert, Cait, Jessica, Aaron T, Matt, Melissa, Aaron M, Sarah, Anne, Nicki and Doug for sharing this experience with me.

Painting and Podcasts

The painting continued today. Like yesterday I put in a long eight hours with only a few breaks in between. My goal was to finish the garage but alas I got 90% done before the sun started to set and I had to stop. I'm busy this weekend so I'm hoping to finish the garage on Monday and then start taping off the house trim and get the house painted next week.

I swear I'm getting painters elbow (kind of like tennis elbow). Towards the end of today's painting adventure I started to get sharp pain in my elbow area of my right arm. :(

While I was painting I managed to get a good amount of paint on my hand and the thought came to me; "I'll take a cool artsy kind of picture of my white paint splattered hand" and as I was thinking this 'The white hand of Saruman' popped into my head so of course I had to actually paint the palm of my hand and then slap it across my face like a Uruk Hai from Lord of the Rings movies. This is what happens after eight hours of painting.

During the evening I got started on editing the next MASH 4077 podcast. It's due on the 1st of November and I wanted to get a few hours under my belt before I called it night. By the time I went to bed I did manage to get my first pass done. Will have to come back to it at a later date and do my second and third pass before it will be ready to be uploaded.  I hope to get this podcast done by this weekend.

"Get Fit" Week 12

Well it's been three month and I'm not doing as well as I was hoping but I was super sick last week and I haven't fully recovered this week. I haven't started working out as I didn't want to put any wear and tear on my body and cause me to get sick again. It was bad enough with painting and I think I may have pushed myself to far then. But with all that said I was trying to eat a bit better so I wouldn't gain any weight since I'm not working out. Well I guess it worked as I weighted myself this morning and I came in at 200 lbs once again. So that's a lose of 0 but a gain of 0.

I'm hoping to get back into my routine and start losing weight again. I've only lost 10lbs in the last 3 months. That's only 3.3 lbs per month, I was really hoping for 5 lbs a month. I know I sound like a broke record but I'm still struggling with my eating, I just don't know how to get around that. Also I think the fact that I have been stuck at 200 lbs the past five weeks really has effected my motivation. I feel like even when I'm eating better and working out I'm not losing I'm just maintaining and it gets frustrating.

But I gotta check my chin up, I'm still down 10 lbs I just need that extra push to get me below that 200 mark. Maybe next week... fingers crossed.

Painting, Minions and Captain America

Today was all about painting the garage. I never would have guessed that it would take me so long to paint my house and garage. I have so much more respect for people who actually do this for a living. I paint for a few hours before my arm is killing me and I need to take a break. Even with painting for eight hours I only managed to do three sides of the garage. And that's just one pass, I'm sure everything is going to need a second coat. I'm hoping to get the garage done by tomorrow night.. but I'm not holding my breath.

In geeky news.. I came across this really cool video. I am a huge fan of the Minions from Despicable Me movies. So when I saw this I was surprised as I had never seen it before. So I investigated a bit more and found out that this is a "short" called "Puppy" and it's going to be on the soon to be released Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-ray (December 10th). This leaked out and has shown up on You Tube several times but keeps getting taken down. I managed to get a copy of it so if you want to check it out.. watch below.. it's extremely cute and I totally love it.

They also released a trailer for Captain America 2 - The Winter Soldier.  Captain is my favorite of the Avengers so I'm really looking forward to this movie. Loved the trailer, looks like this movie is going to go a bit darker then the previous ones. I can't wait to see it... well I'll have to wait until the Summer of 2014, but until then check out the trailer below.

Babylon 5 Viewing Continues

Today's blog is all about Babylon 5 as today is Wednesday and that means TV night with my bestie Robert. We are continuing our first time viewing of B5. Tonight we watched from Season 2, Episodes 17 - 20

First up was S2 Ep 17 "Knives" He see strange visions, dreams strange dreams. Gradually, John Sheridan understands he's become host to an alien lifeform. Meanwhile, a friend of Londo Mollari reveals he is being singled out for treason and is seeking help to defeat the accusation.

I enjoyed this episode, we got to see the softer side of Londo. I miss that Londo. It was horrible that he had to kill his best friend, but he did it knowing that his friend had to die (sacrifice himself) so his family could survive. The Sheridan story was okay, I figured out what was going on about half way through the episode. I think the Londo story was much better and had more of an impart on me then the Sheridan story.

Then we watched S2 Ep 18 "Confessions and Lamentations" The disease: drafa. The motality rate: 100%. While Franklin seeks a cure and Delenn and Lennier risk their well-beings among the race most threatened by the illness - the Markab - other staton residents make the race a scapegoat.

Wow.. this was a dark episode. It was well done and I was suprirsed by the ending. I mean I expected the Doctor to find a "cure" but did not expect it to be "too late" and have every Markab be dead on the station, home planet and colonies.. millions and millions dead. This episode completley wiped out an entire race of beings.

Also this episode had the most blatant "hints" that Sheridan and Delenn like each other. I'm really like Delenn and Lennier's characters. They are true humanitarians, even risking their own lives.

The third episode of the night was S2 Ep 19 "Divided Loyalties" Lyta Alexander returns to the station, convinced there is a traitor on board, Ivanova makes a startling revelation.

Yay... Lyta is back. I always wondered why she never made it from the pilot to series (but I've read the bts of that situation) so it's good to see her back. What a shocker of an episode. First with Ivanova's revelation that she is a latent telepath. I knew something was up with her from the beginning as she's always hated telepaths because of her mother and what they did, but I always felt there was something more.

At the beginning of this episode I really thought Ivanova and Talia were going to hook up and become lovers. But instead they wind up making Talia a sleeper agent. Of all the characters I'm glad it was her as we really haven't gotten to know her that well. She's only been the focus of a few episodes. I don't know if this is it for her character or if will see her in future episodes.. guess I'll have to wait and see. Overall it was a very enjoyable episode.

And the final episode of the night was S2 Ep 20 "The Long Twilight Struggle" A final bloody battle determines the outcome of the Centauri/Narn conflict — and signals an even greater threat to all civilization.

What a way to end our night... WOW!!! My heart broke for G'Kar and my hatred towards Londo grew. Even with Londo having his doubts he still went through with everything and was just horrible at the counsel meeting. It's crazy that I loved Londo and hated G'Kar at the beginning of this series and now I love G'Kar and hate Londo. This is where the Alliance is formed and the battle looks like it's about to begin.

Four fantastic episodes tonight.. I'm so excited that I'm finally taking the time and watching is amazing series. It's something that I've been wanting to do for a while now. And to make it even more special I'm watching it and sharing this experience with one of my best friends in the world. Can't get any better then that.

House Stuff & SHIELD Ep 5

Was up around 6:30am and ready to paint, unfortunately it was foggy outside so I couldn't get started right away. It cleared around 8am and I started painting the garage. About mid day I ran out of paint and had to head to Lowes for another 5 gallon bucket. I hope this will be enough to finish up everything.

Besides the painting which I did every other hour, had to take breaks every now and then I started to clean out my garage. I have so much crap and I mean crap, stuff that was left over from the previous owners of the house. I'm going to try and get rid of as much stuff as I can. When I move I know I'll be downsizing and I will defiantly not have room for all my stuff. Even with getting rid of stuff  I'm thinking I'm going to have to rent a storage unit for my overflow.

The crazy thing about selling the house is that I don't know how long it will take. I mean it could sell withing a month of putting it up or it could take a year or more to sell. All I know is once it's sold the average paperwork time takes about 30 days, some can take 60 days but I need to be ready to go and a moments notice.

I tend to keep everything, because you never know when you might need that thing but I can't have that mindset these days. I have to ask myself if I used said item with in the past year then I can keep it but if not it has to go, either trash or good will. 

Speaking of the whole house thing I checked out my property on Zillow. Zillow is an online real estate database. It's a pretty cool website but what I like about it is that it has what they call Zestimate which is an estimate of what your house is worth. It's debatable weather it's very accurate or not but I checked out my property and was pleasantly surprised that they have my house priced $100,000 over what we paid for it. That got me super excited to sell. I did go back to the day we purchased the house in 2009 to see what Zillow said it was worth, the zestimate was $40,000 more then what we paid for the house. So even if the house is $50,000 more then what we paid I'd be extremely happy. I have an appointment with my realtor in November and she'll do the more accurate research and come up with an appropriate price for the house. I really can't wait to sell this house and be done with this whole thing. I mean I'll miss the house but not the headache and worry about it.

And on a geeky note.. I watched the fifth episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here's a synopsis: Chan Ho Yin is a Hong Kong street magician who dreams of becoming something more. He reveals his secret pyrokinetic ability to Raina, the titular "girl in the flower dress", who kidnaps him and then promises him fame in exchange for running a few tests on his powers. S.H.I.E.L.D. team attempts to trace his whereabouts but finds that it was the Rising Tide who leaked the information that lead to his capture and the blame falls to Skye. They head to Austin, Texas where it is revealed that Skye has a relationship with said hacker Miles. They are both led back to the Bus in handcuffs while the team flies to Hong Kong to rescue Chan. Chan discovers his captors that are associated with Project Centipede are injecting him with Extremis which increases the strength of his flame powers and he becomes Scorch. However, Raina turns on Chan and orders his blood platelets to be harvested for further experimentation by Project Centipede. Scorch kills Agent Quan, attacks Coulson and May, and incinerates Dr. Debbie while Raina escapes. Skye is later harshly questioned by Coulson and she tearfully reveals that the reason she is with the team and worked for Rising Tide is to find her missing parents who were connected to S.H.I.E.L.D. in some way. Coulson pledges to help her. In the final scene, Raina visits a mysterious man in prison to discuss the outcome of the experiment and asks him to contact the "Clairvoyant".

Like with the first four episodes I loved this episode. I like that this is really a continuation of the first episode with Centipede. I like that we got more back info on Skye and what she's up to (at least we think she's telling the truth). Still loving Ming Na's character Melinda May, she is by far my favorite character followed by Coulson of course and then Fitz and Simmons. Still not a fan of Ward or Skye but not disliking them either. This was the first person "Scorch" who actually had natural super powers and wasn't manufactured, too bad he had to die. The special effects were pretty awesome for a TV series and were on par with previous episodes. It was great seeing "the doctor" from episode one and watching her get incinerated. I liked the new "bad" girl (Raina) I'm sure this won't be the last we see her.  Can't wait for Episode six, only downside is we have to wait two weeks for a new episode. Luckily for me I have all five episodes on my DVR and will likely do a mini marathon one day next week... woohoo.

Paint Prep & Birthday Wishes (Markus)

Today I spent almost the entire day taping up the trim of my garage, preparing it for painting which I was hoping to get started today but it took me so long to do the taping off of everything that I ran out of time and couldn't paint. At least the place is ready to go so tomorrow I should get a good amount of it done.

I want to wish my buddy Markus a very Happy Birthday today. He's one of those people that enters your life and you just know you were meant to be good friends, there's an instant bond. But unlike many of my other good friends Markus lives in England. I've never met him in person, we became friends because he was a listener of my Knights of the Guild podcast. He use to send me comments about the podcast and we soon struck up a online friendship. We've talked a few times on skype but we communicate mostly via Facebook chat texting. It's pretty amazing that you can have this instant rapport with someone you've only talked and text to online. Our friendship means the world to me and one of these days will actually meet in person and there is only one word to describe that day... EPIC!!! Happy Birthday Buddy, I hope you had a good one.

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle

I just watched one of my most comprehensive looks at superheros, comic books and the entire fandom and pop culture. I learned so many amazing facts and information about this entire industry. They had a star studded cast of interviewees including Stan Lee and Lynda Carter. This has to be one of the best documentary I have ever seen. It's three incredible hours of geeky goodness. It's available for downlond on itunes or on the PBS website on DVD and Bluray. I purchased it right away.. this is definitely something I want to have in my library. Seriously if you're a geek and love comic book and/or superheroes you must pick up this documentary.. you will not be disappointed.

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle. It's a 3 part documentary... here's a brief description: SUPERHEROES: A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE is the first documentary to examine the dawn of the comic book genre and its powerful legacy, as well as the evolution of the characters who leapt from the pages over the last 75 years and their ongoing worldwide cultural impact. It chronicles how these “disposable diversions” were subject to intense government scrutiny for their influence on American children and how they were created in large part by the children of immigrants whose fierce loyalty to a new homeland laid the foundation for a multi-billion-dollar industry that is an influential part of our national identity.

Part One “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” (1938 - 1958)

During the Depression, the popularity of dozens of superhero characters opens the door for a new generation of artists and writers. World War II creates a patriotic fervor for star-spangled adventurers to represent the American spirit at war and on the home front, but in the 1950s, superheroes are caught in the fire of government scrutiny and regulation. When the thrilling “Adventures of Superman” is broadcast on the new medium of television, America’s first and greatest superhero leads the entire comic book industry to renewed strength.

Part Two “Great Power, Great Responsibility” (1959 - 1977)

A new breed of superhero emerges in the 1960s, inspired by the age of atomic energy and space travel and, in turn, inspiring artists of the time. The pop art movement draws heavily on comic books, with superhero images appearing in the works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Civil rights in America and other social issues make their way onto the page as black superheroes emerge with powerhouses such as the Black Panther and Luke Cage. The pages of “Green Lantern/Green Arrow” address social issues in their relevant storylines, and comic books are forced to confront the reality of an increasingly complex world.

Part Three “A Hero Can Be Anyone” (1978 - Present)

This episode captures the enthusiasm for superheroes as they are embraced in all forms of media and by all demographics, beginning with the historic “Superman” movie featuring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. In 1986, Batman is overhauled as The Dark Knight to reflect the nocturnal underside of his character, and Watchmen brings new sophistication to comic book narratives, illuminating a violent and politicized world. In the burgeoning new millennium, superheroes have taken over popular culture with feature films, television shows and video games complementing a new generation of web-based comics that bring superhero adventures to every corner of the world.