Beard, Matt, Mockingjay & B5

Well I took the plunge and finally shaved down my beard. I was trying to keep it until SDCC at the end of July but the beard got the better of me. I debated on going clean shaven (which I only tend to do during SDCC because I cosplay as a Hobbit) but I think I look better with a hint of a beard so I kept some. I had that beard for almost two months.. it's the longest I have ever grown it. I kind of liked it so it may make a re-appearance at some point.. but for now I'll stick with the shorter version.

I got to chat with my buddy Matt via Skype again. I always look forward to chatting with him. I met Matt through the Guild a few years ago and actually got to meet him in person in April when I was visiting England. He and I just hit off. We only hung out for a few days but from the moment I met him I had this feeling of protection, he felt like a little brother to me and I look forward to each and every Facebook messenger chat and Skype call.

The next Hunger Games movie Mockingjay Pt. 1 has started it's promotional bombardment, they release propaganda posters for each district and this very cool President Snow PSA.

Tonight was TV night with my buddy Robert. We're starting the final Season, Season Five of Babylon 5. We watched the first three episodes before calling it an night.

First up was S5 Ep1 "No Compromises" Captain Lochley arrives just as preparations are underway for Sheridan's swearing in ceremony as the President of the newly formed Interstellar Alliance. Telepaths arrive seeking a sanctuary while they search for a home world.

I'm not sure how I feel about the new commander of B5, I miss Ivanova. The jury is still on on the telepaths. I like Sheridan's thinking, having them on their side but will have to wait and see what happens. I know from a previous episode that there is a coming Telepath war. I really liked G'Kar in this episodes.. I mean he's fantastic in all of them but this one was particular fun.

Then we watched S5 Ep2 "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" During a heart attack, Londo experiences an epiphany and apologizes to G'Kar. Lennier leaves Delenn and Babylon 5.

Londo's redemption episode. I don't know if his character is redeemable as he has done so many bad things the past few years. But I'm glad to see him finally taking responsibly for his actions. I like that he finally said he was sorry to G'Kar.

I hate to see Lennier go but I understand why he had to do it. Delenn obviously loves him, just not in the same way that she loves Sheridan. He's a favorite of mine so I hope he comes back to visit from time to time.

And the final episode of the night S5 Ep3 "The Paragon of Animals" Military crises threaten the ongoing formation of the InterStellar Alliance, but Sheridan asserts its power. A small world plagued by raiders begs the alliance for help. Garibaldi tries forming an intelligence unit of telepaths.

Now I'm really not sure about those telepaths on B5. They pretty much hate all "mundans" non-telepathic people. I was happy to see Lyta back but sad to see the path she might be going down. I was surprised that the raiders wound up being a key member of the Alien Alliance. And once again G'Kar was fantastic with his enthusiasm towards the morality document. And I'm happy to see the Londo and G'Kar have their love/hate relationship back.

Overall a great start to season five, as I mentioned I think the big story this season will be the Telepath War but I don't know when it will start... so I'm just enjoying each episode as the come. 

A Typical Day!!

I always laugh when I get responses to my tweets, blog and Facebook posts saying "Oh you live the life I want to live" or "I wish I had your life". Yes I do some fun things from time to time but that's all you guys see/read about and is normally just a few days out of the month. I don't tweet, blog or Facebook about the other 28 days of the month when I am sitting at home, bored, lonely, frustrated, struggling to motivate myself to be productive. So I have decided to blog about my typical average day so you guys would understand that my life isn't all fun and games that my online persona would lead you to believe.

I wake up around 7am and will lie in bed playing a few games on my phone. I'm out a bed by 7:30 and on my computer checking emails, Facebook and Twitter. I then spend about a half hour going to the various "job" sites looking for a work. 99% of the time there is nothing and frustration sets in.

I then make breakfast and will normally watch TV while I'm eating. Now this is were things can vary. Depending on what's on TV/Tivo recordings I can sit there for a half hour (if I'm lucky) to four/five hours, until lunch time.

If I was lucky and managed to pull myself away from TV I tend to work on blogging (I always seem to be behind) and/or Podcasts. I currently only have two in production (MASH 4077 & Alien Nation). So that is 3 episodes of a month (2 MASH, 1 Alien Nation).

I'm currently blogging about my vacation, I've blogged 9 of the 34 days. Because I try and be as detailed as possible it takes me about an hour or so to do one blog. And by the time I'm done with one I take a break from the computer and usually watch some TV (hopefully don't get stuck watching hours of it).

When I edit podcasts those can take me four to six hours to edit and I normally go through stages with those so I do my initial edit pass, then add audio clips from the discussed episodes and finally a third pass to "sweeten" the audio (add blends and such to make it sound good). I do tend to take breaks between each pass.

I normally will eat lunch anywhere between noon to 2pm. Again I normally watch TV while eating so I do my best to not get sucked into another four to five hour stent.

After lunch I go back to podcasting/blogging until around 6pm when I eat dinner.

At 6:30/7pm I go across the street to the park to do my 45 minute to an hour workout/jog/walk.

I get back home around 7:30/8pm and relax on the couch or check emails and such before I Skype chat with my buddy Erik. Erik and I Skype chat nearly every night from 8:30pm to 10pm. We either watch TV together (something we recorded) or catch up on each others lives. It's something I look forward to everyday. Being able to interact with another human being is awesome and it's Erik so it's even more special.

By 10pm I'm tired but I will jump online and finish up a blog or continue editing a podcast until around 11pm

I'm normally in bed by 11pm and I watch an episode of the Simpsons on my ipad before falling asleep around 11:30pm

That's a typical day in the life of Kenny. Of course things may vary. I might not feel motivated all day and just be lazy and watch TV. Or I can be very motivated and productive and do five blog posts and edited a podcast in a day.

So that's what I do 28 days of the month, 336 days a year.

Disneyland & Middle Earth Cake

Today I went to Disneyland with my buddy Brett... his season pass expires this Thursday and he's not sure if or when he'll be able to renew it so he wanted to do one last hurrah. So we arrived around 10am and was there until around 5pm. The place was packed and it was so hot outside. We went to DCA (Disney California Adventure) first for a few hours before heading over to Disneyland. Both parks were crowded as I expected. Though the parks stayed open until 10pm/Midnight we were spent by 5pm and called it a night. Good times were had as usual. It's always nice to take a break from life and spend a day at the happiest place on Earth.

While at Disneyland my friend Josh posted a picture on Facebook that was posted by Thinkgeek. At first I thought it was actually books and though to myself.. wow those are some nice looking Middle Earth books.. I need to get me some, but then I read the title of the pictures and come to find out that it's a cake. An incredibly amazing looking Lord of the Rings / Hobbit cake. I don't know who made it or for what occasion, but they did an FANTASTIC job.

Regardless I don't think I could actually cut into that cake. I had a hard time cutting into my Borg Cube cakes that were made for my commitment ceremony back in 2008.

D&D Adventure Continues...

D&D Pathfinder: Here's what happen in today's session.

So a few days after the destruction of Melzarin’s mansion, the party found themselves invited to the heaviest lunch ever by Naheer Al-Zhameen, reportedly a representative of the Consortium of Gainful Arcanists who might have some word on Melzarin’s cane. The party dined and talked and, eventually, a formal invitation for Dash to join the Consortium was extended. Sensing that the initiation fee was perhaps a bit steep, Naheer offered instead for the party to look into Dark Delights – a nefarious black market of goods and entertainments for the Orthstaden evil elite – in exchange for waving the initiation fee and for the cane, if in fact it had been surrendered to the Consortium. The party agreed and also allowed Sireen, a companion of Naheer’s, to join them and act as his eyes and ears.

They went to a tavern called the Horny Goat near the Trades District to try to glean a little information about Yanick’s Meatworks - the supposed front for Dark Delights - and learned a little. Ginneon bought the bloody apron from a butcher who may or may not have eaten his firstborn child and sauntered up to the gates of Yanick’s to see if he could gain entrance as Neki the Butchomancer. It didn’t work but Ginneon did get an idea of what kind of crowd they were expecting for that night’s festivities and the rest of the party did get a look at the layout thanks for Phlig.

Inspiration struck and the party dressed up as decadent nobles with Ginneon providing most of the disguise duties. They hit Yanick’s and made it inside the gate with the help of something close to the password and a bribe and, soon enough, made it into Yanick’s abattoir.

A magical alarm made to ferret out any goody goods who might try to pass through the cold room gave the party away and a fight ensued. Butchers were properly butchered, ice mephits and golems were cut into shards, and two apprentices at the Meatworks barely survived. The party laid a charm on one of the kids and sent them off with the other to the castle while they descended into the depths.

Yeah, it was all pretty evil. Fresh corpses were for sale and faeries were deboned live and thrown on the grill. There was a fat guy selling forsaken children out of a crate. Powdered unicorn horn, an illicit auction, and captive Halfling fighting for their lives. It was out of control.

What will the party do next?

So ended the session, it was another fantastic game. We went nine rounds of fighting with the Butchers, guards, ice mephits and ice golem (which was by far the hardest thing to kill). We had several characters unconscious and near death several times. And now were in the middle of all this evil and Dash is about to lose control. The frying up of faeries was horrific, but when he saw his brethren being forced to fight to the death that push him over the edge... it's time for justice!!!

I want to thank our DM Dallas who amazes me every session with his imaginative story telling and adventures. Can't wait for the next one.

Dinner with Anne & A Movie in the Park

Today I got to see my friend Anne who I haven't seen in a while. She lives down in San Diego and isn't up here that often so when she was planning a trip up we made sure to set some time aside for us to meet up and have dinner. We tried a local BBQ place that I had never been to. It turned out to be pretty good.  It was great catching up with her. Hopefully it won't be months before we see each other again.

During the evening they were showing a movie in the park... the North Hollywood (or NoHo) park which just happens to be right across the street from my apartment. So of course I had to go. Joining me for this adventure was Jen, Sean, Robert and Cait. They were showing Jurassic Park. It was suppose to start at 7:30 but it was still way to light outside so they pushed it until 8:30pm. They gave out free popcorn, chips and water. They screened the movie on an inflatable movie screen.

My buddy Sean was shooting some PSA's for the city with the new unofficial mascot for North Hollywood, the NoHoBot. Which is this really cheesy looking robot that Sean made but I have to say the kids loved him. He helped pass out popcorn and chips.. it was very amusing.

There were over a hundred folks out there with us, laughing, ew-ing and ah-ing along with the movie. It was a fun experience. Though next time I'll know to dress warmer as the sun goes down so does the temperature.

They plan to do this once a month, I look forward to seeing what the next movie will be and hopefully I can get more friends to join in the fun.

Surprise gifts

The past few days I have gotten several "surprise" gifts in the mail.

First my buddy Erik sent me some really cool stuff. I was talking to him last week about beard oil and how expensive it is for such a small amount. He mentioned that his friend Donna actually make personal hygiene products and that he thinks she might have a kind of beard oil that could work for me. I said that I would look into it but this week a box arrived at my front door and I opened it to find some sandalwood bar & liquid soap, sandalwood beard oil and some peppermint lip balm. There was no note but of course I knew who it was from... Thanks Erik for this awesome gift... BTW I love the beard oil.

The second surprise came from my buddy Ken Todd. He mentioned it to me a week ago that I might be getting something (for a very early birthday present) and he couldn't pass up shipping it early. So today I got that in the mail. It's this amazing and beautiful 20th Anniversary Babylon 5 Visual Companion book.

I haven't finished the series yet so I haven't really looked over the book as I don't want to spoil anything but I can't wait to crack it open and read it from beginning to end. Thanks Ken for always being so generous.

Judging Podcasts & Uploading Vacation Pictures

I spent the day preforming my duties as a judge for the upcoming Geekie Awards. I was a last minute replacement judge last year for the Geekies in the category of Podcasts. This year I am judging Podcasts, Vlogs and Cosplay. There were over 80 entries for these categories. I had done the coplay entries a few weeks ago and I started working on the podcasts/vlogs, but I was far from finishing them all. Since judging has to be done by the end of June it didn't give me much time to finish them all so I set aside part of today to do that.

I have to say there are so many great podcasters out there. I've always thought my podcasts were well done and that I was a fairly competent podcaster but man some of these hosts sounds amazing (great radio voices). The production values are fantastic and the podcast concepts themselves are interesting. I'm definalty going to have to step up my game to compete in the big leagues.

I also spent a big chunk of today uploading vacation photos. I've decided to break the over 5000 photos down into small groups for each particular thing. I currently have photo albums on Facebook for Edinburgh Castle, Sherlock Holmes, and Stonehenge. There are still so many more pictures that I hope to get up on Facebook in the next few weeks. You can click on the links above to see the pixs even if you're not on Facebook.

Spending Time With Family

Took my dad home today, we had a nice time hanging out at my place (mostly TV watching). Before we went back to his place he had plans to have lunch with friends that he hadn't seen since 63'. They were the sisters of his best friend Ronnie who died recently.

Dad asked me to join them, which I was happy to. It was a nice time, the two sisters were very sweet and kind. I got to hear about my dad and how he was back when he was a young teenager. Both ladies have had interesting and exciting lives. I got to hear a bit more about their recently departed brother. It was a nice time.

Afterwards I took dad home and my brother and his family had just gotten back from Vegas so I spent about five hours hanging out with them and playing with my niece and nephew.... It was a good day.

Gay Princes, WWofHP, & Arrow

First I want to wish one of my best friends Chris a very Happy Birthday. I wish you weren't stationed in Montana so we could properly celebrate but I'll be seeing you soon.

My friend Olivia posted about this new children book on my Facebook timeline and I had to check it out. It's called “The Princes and The Treasure". It's the story of undefeated champion Gallant and shy bookworm Earnest and their quest to rescue Princess Elena. Along the way, the princes realize “the greatest treasure in the land” is not what they expected.

Written by a gay man when he wondered 'Why aren’t there any gay princes or lesbian princesses? Why can’t the handsome prince marry another handsome prince? Why can’t a damsel in distress be rescued by a beautiful princess?' So he wrote the story. This is the first of a trilogy that he plans to write. I think I'll pick this up not only for me but for my niece and nephew as well. It's never to early to start teaching them that princes and princess' come in all shapes and sizes and sexual orientations. Here's a link to where you can buy it on AMAZON.

The Wizard World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley announced their opening date. It opens July 8th 2014. That's only a few weeks away. Wish I could go but like with the opening of the original park it will be a few years before I get to attend. But that's okay with me since I tend to avoid the "opening" crowds which I'm sure will be just as crazy as it was for the first WWofHP.

Only downside to this whole thing is that if you wish to go from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley (or vice versa) via the Hogwarts Express you'll need to buy a park to park ticket, so you can get into both parks. And the worst part is that they are not allowing you to go back and forth on the Hogwarts Express. So you either go from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley or Digaon Alley to Hogsmeade. If you wish to go both ways (which I heard are different experiences) then you have to purchase 2 days park to park passes. I think this is ridiculous and hopefully enough people will complain about this that they'll change it by the time I get there.

Spent some of today editing the next MASH 4077 Podcast.

Took a break from editing the podcast and went to watch Arrow with my Dad. He's a huge fan as are many of my friends and since season one is on Netflix I figured I'd watched the pilot and see if it grabbed me or not. Well six episodes later you could say that I'm hooked. I kind of knew I'd like it so I was prepared to watch many episodes tonight. And I could have gone more but had to get back to editing my podcast.

I really like the main character and his bodyguard (now partner). His sister is whiny and waste of space, she's my least favorite.. I hope something happens to her character soon. I like his ex-girlfriend/possible love interest and his best friend but I feel like his best friends is going to turn on him at some point... don't know why.. just a feeling.

Luckily for me I've stayed fairly spoiler free so I really don't know what's going to happen. I hope to have watched all of season 1 and 2 (which is not on netflix yet) before season three starts in the fall. So far it's living up to all the hype!!!

Lego Star Wars, Skyping with a Friend & Visiting Dad

They released another of the Star Wars LEGO movies, it's the fifth installment of the Yoda Chronicles titled "Race for the Holocrons". This is the seventh "special" overall, starting with Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, then Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out and then the beginning of Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, which included "The Phantom Clone", "Menace of the Sith", & "Attack of the Jedi". Then Disney purchased Star Wars and Cartoon Network owned The Yoda Chronicles so they altered the name to Lego Star Wars: The NEW Yoda Chronicles and released the fourth episode "Escape from the Jedi Temple" and finally the fifth episode "Race for the Holocrons" tonight.

That's all that I have heard about but the way the ended the fifth episode of The New Yoda Chronicles you know they are going to be making more. It's a great series. It's all written by the same man Michael Price who does an amazing job at blending humor with the Star Wars world. If you're a Star Wars fan, then these are must sees.

Skyped with my buddy Matt today. I haven't "seen" him since we met up in Cambridge, England and hung out for a few days while I was visiting in April. We've Facebooked text messaged a few times but this was the first time that we were really able to catch up on each others lives.. it was a lot of fun. Need to make it more of a regular thing.

Picked up my dad today. My brother and his family are going to Vegas until Thursday and I didn't want my dad to be alone in the big house so I decided to invited him to stay with me for a few days while they were gone. So I drove down to Riverside to pick him up, we had a nice lunch, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to my place.

This was the first time my dad has seen my new place, he liked it. He had purchased The Lego Movie for my nephew Kenobi so we watched it as my dad hadn't seen it yet. Spent the rest of the evening just hanging out.

LOTR/Hobbit Lego Mini Movies

Came across these very cool Lego shorts. I was searching for something on YouTube and saw a Lord of the Rings one so I watched it, and the next thing I knew I watched everything on their channel. They are produced by Brotherhood Workshop. If you click on the link it takes you to their website with a "coming soon" page but there are links to their Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as their You Tube Channel.

Not only do they do Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, but also Star Wars, among others things. Each episode is only a few minutes long and I love the "quote" at the end of each one. They are all stop animation and watching the behind the scenes video (also available on their channel) you can see how long this process takes, it's pretty awesome. Here's one of my favorite episodes below.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 81

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 & My Gimpy Life Podcast and Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 4, Episode #9 - The Kids

81st Episode Overall
Directed by Alan Alda
Written by Everett Greenbaum & Jim Fritzell
Production code G511
Original air date October 31, 1975

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: The 4077th takes in Nurse Cratty's Korean orphans during a shelling attack, including a pregnant girl with a bullet wound. But Frank accuses one of the orphans of stealing his newly (and dubiously) awarded Purple Heart.

Toys, Friends and Movies

First I want to wish my Dad a very Happy Father's Day.

This morning I went through my closet looking for several action figures that I knew I had and that I must have put into one of my office boxes by mistake. Well I did find the figures but I also found two big boxes of various other action figures. I mean I'm happy I found them but I have no room in their section of the wall to display them. I assumed that I had everything and moved onto the next subject. So now I have the task of trying to rework or squeeze them into the their sections on the wall or put them somewhere else apart from the bulk of the others which will make me crazy as I'm very anal about things like this.

Frustrated I gave up on trying to figure out what I was going to do so instead I took a break and watched a movie. I started with a movie that I had heard of when I saw it's remake called "Delivery Man" last year. The original French-Candidan movie is called Starbuck and came out a year prior to Delivery Man. Here's a quick synopsis: As his lover announces her pregnancy, a fortysomething slacker receives other life-changing news: 142 people, all of them the result of artificial insemination, have filed a class action lawsuit against him, their biological father.

Starbuck is almost shot for shot identical to Delivery Man (I guess that would be vice versa since Starbuck came out first, but you know what I mean). You can read my review of Delivery Man HERE...

Starbuck, like with Delivery Man was fantastic. It was funny, sweet and had so much charm. I didn't know any of the actors but they were all perfect for their roles. I found this movie very heartwarming and it brought me to tears several times. It is in French and there are English subtitles but that didn't take away any of the charm of the movie. I think it actually helped me that I had seen the U.S. remake first because if I missed a subtitle I still knew what was going on. I give Starbuck the same grade as I did Delivery Man.. B+

In the afternoon my friends Dave and Kevin paid me a visit. They were married yesterday (read previous blog post) and are heading back to Florida tomorrow so I was happy that we were able to hang out for a few hours and catch up. I haven't seen these guys in eight years so we had a lot to catch up on. One of our main topics of discussion is the fact that both of these guys are part of the 501st... which is awesome. We hung out and chatted for about 2 hours before they had to get going. Hopefully it won't be another 8 years before I see them again.

After the guys left I continued with my movie watching. Next up was a documentary called We Were Here. Here's a brief synopsis: A deep and reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of this unimaginable crisis.

As expected it was heartwrenching and upsetting. I was brought to tears many times while watching.  All of these poor men were dying and not knowing why. People shunning them, saying they should be separated from the populaces. But with all the heart ache you have the savors, the volunteers and a community who stepped up to support these men in their time a need.

I'm so thankful that I missed this epidemic, I was only 10 when the first cases of AIDS started sprouting in the US. I didn't come out of the closet until 17 years later (age 27) so by then we were well aware of the disease and what caused it. I often wonder what my life would be like if I had come out at 15/16 and was sexually active then.

We Were Here is a very interesting and educational documentary.

My final movie of the night was Christopher and His Kind. Christopher and His Kind is a 2011 BBC television film. In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross,who sings tunelessly in a seedy cabaret club. They and others he meets get put into his stories.

It was interesting seeing Matt Smith in a different role other then The Doctor. When I watched this I didn't realized it was a British TV movie. I enjoyed the story, it was interesting seeing Berlin before Hitler from an outsiders perspective. I enjoyed all the interesting characters that crossed his path. Lots of very cute boys, got to see some skin. The acting was great, I knew Smith had some acting chops from his role on Doctor Who but they really shined here. I give Christopher and His Kind a nice B.

A Wedding

Today I attended the wedding of two of my friends Dave and Kevin. I've known Dave for almost 15 years and I remember when he first started dating Kevin. They moved to Florida over 8 years ago and I have kept in contact via Facebook and email but I haven't seen these guys since then.

Since marriage isn't possible in Florida and their families live here in California they decided to have their wedding at the Burbank Marriot. Luckily for me that's only a 15 minute drive. Once I was there I ran into some old friends Chad, Arthur, Gary and Richie. It was great seeing these guys. We use to hang out on a more regular bases but it's been years since I've seen them and I really miss them.

What was great and different about Dave and Kevin's wedding is that they were having the wedding ceremony in the middle of the dance floor in the reception room. We didn't have to go to two different places. We just took our seats at our assigned table (Chad, Richie, Gary, along with two women and a young girl sat at our table) and the ceremony began.

I was doing well until Dave went to give his vows and he was having a hard time talking because he was crying.. I lost it after that... it was a very emotional moment. Of course Kevin was crying after that and he had to give his vows next. It was a very sweet and simple ceremony.

Family and friends gave speeches, lots of laughs. After that they started to serve dinner. I had the chicken which was very tasty. They did the traditional mom and son first dance. Then the party began. The DJ was very funny but I wasn't a fan of his choice of music as there was to much hip hop for my taste. The younger kids loved it so I guess that's good but he would occasionally play some awesome 80's tunes and the dance floor would be packed. They cut the cake about midway through the dancing.

It was a fun night full of dancing, eating and good friends. Congratulations to Dave and Kevin on tying the knot. You guys are fantastic couple.. I wish you two all the best in your future endeavors. Thank you for inviting me to your special day.

Helping Others

Back in my mid 20's to 30's I did quite a bit of volunteering. I use to volunteer for APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles), Babies with AIDS and Big Brothers of America. I was with APLA for six years, Babies with AIDS about a year and Big Brothers of America for a year.

Recently I've been thinking about getting back into volunteering. I have a big heart and so much love to share. I think it will be good for me to get back out there and help where I can. I'm leaning towards working with special needs children. Something in my heart tells me this is where I need to be.

I also want to get back into the "Big Brother" program. I only did it for a year back in 2006 and had two "little" brothers. My first "little" moved away six months into the program and my second "little" had such bad anxiety/separation issues that we felt it was best if he was pulled from the program. It was hard on me as I lost two "littles" within a year. When I started the program I figured I'd be with one kid until adulthood (of course that was stupid of me to think that, but I did) so I decided to take a break from the program and unfortunately life got in the way and I never went back. But I think it's time to try again.

Random Geek Question and Lucy

So I asked Twitter and Facebook another Random Geek Question. This time it was "What is your favorite Joss Whedon project?"

Here is what I got from Twitter:

@piratescribe  Firefly. Hands down :)

@Ruvio  Dr. Horrible. I mean drama, romance, musical, soliloquy's, NPH, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion Fuggedubaahhdit

@Josh_TolkienFan dammit! So difficult to choose!!! Gun to my head—I’ll say Firefly.

From Facebook:

Erik Nelson I gotta go with Buffy, even with newer great stuff.

Matthew Luchsinger Angel season 5.

Lorelai K. Perrin Buffy (the movie), Buffy, especially Once More With Feeling, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, Firefly/Serenity, Smile Time...honestly everything that man has ever touched is my favorite (trying not to sound like a crazy fan girl...I just really appreciate his art.)

Amy Chickenlips McGee Teplow Buffy forever.

Ginger Potter Buffy, Firefly, Toy Story

Michael Roach Dr. Horrible, then Buffy

Marsia Powers 1. Buffy (Angele is a part of Buffy-verse IMO) 2. Avengers/SHIELD 3. Dr Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog 4. Cabin in the Woods tied with Much Ado 

Jennifer Luchsinger EVERYTHING

Alissa Sheleng Firefly/Serenity, Avengers, Dr. Horrible, and SHIELD.

Sebastiaan Van Dijk Buffy, Firefly, Dr. Horrible. Hon. Mention for Twister and Titan A.E.

Aaron Trahan Firefly/Serenity, Angel, Buffy and Agents of Shield. But with more Agents of Shield it will move up.

Hannah Brown Buffy. But I like everything else too.

So it looks like Buffy and Firefly are the top choices. For me it's a tough call but I think I would have to go with Firefly. Buffy was fantastic but there are seven seasons and episodes were hit and misses.. With Firefly it was only 14 episodes and in my opinion all 14 are must see episodes.

Recently I was watching something about summer movies and saw a clip of Scarlett Johansson in New York were she waves her hands and time stops. I thought to myself.. what the heck is that from. Then I saw something about her new movie Lucy so I checked out the trailer and OMG how did I not know about this. I mean the trailer was released back in April when I was in England but still. This movie looks AMAZING and I can't wait to check it out. If you haven't seen the trailer.. check it out below.

The Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum Project

I just heard about this Kickstarter program and it only has 60 hours left and still need over $25,000 to hit their goal. It's called the Hollywood Science Fiction Museum. Here is a brief description of their project from this Kickstarter page - New Starship Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Enterprise-D Bridge Restoration, with board members including the greatest talents in science fiction, presents THE HOLLYWOOD SCIENCE FICTION MUSEUM. This will be the first museum in the world to exclusively show the history of sci-fi films, TV, art and literature through props, sets and costumes, as well as show advancements in space travel and teach Real Science through Science Fiction. It will be an interactive museum with fully immersive environments and touch screens that will incorporate old and new footage from actors, filmmakers and NASA astronauts and scientists, and will present both the fact and fiction of sci-fi. This will eventually teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) based education in a fun new way to all ages. The museum will include exhibits from: Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, 2001, Alien, Metropolis, Thunderbirds, Firefly, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Blake's 7, Ghostbusters, Farscape, The Time Machine, Godzilla, X-Men, Avengers, Superman, Planet of the Apes, Back to the Future, Day the Earth Stood Still, V, Batman, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, as well as Fantasy like Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth, Legend, Munsters, Herbie the Love Bug, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dark Crystal, Game of Thrones, Anime like Akira and Speed Racer, and anything else we can fit within our walls.

This Kickstarter is to acquire the funds to develop our 2015 Hollywood Sci Fi Museum, which will be smaller than the future museum, but still significant and unique. They want to show that something like this in Hollywood could work. If all goes as planned, the permanent one will be built and open by 2018.

You can go to their website HollywoodSciFi.org for pictures and footage of what they have planned. It's a very ambitious project but if it turns out like they plan it's going to be one of the most amazing places for sci fi and fantasy fans.

(Edit... since I'm late on blogging the Kickstarter is down to 3 hours but I'm happy to say they reached their goal.) You can see there Kickstarter page HERE. I'm happy that I donated and will be a small part this is amazing project.

You can check out a video explaining the project.

Babylon 5 S4 Comes To An End

Tonight my buddy Robert and I finished off Season Four of Babylon 5. We only had two episodes to watch tonight so we started with Ep21 "Rising Star".

Here's a brief synopsis: Marcus reaches Babylon 5 and uses the Alien Healing Device to save Ivanova's life and dies in the process. Delenn launches the Interstellar Alliance; Sheridan is forced to resign from EarthForce to receive amnesty for himself and the rest of his staff. The Alliance is announced in a press conference at Earthgov's headquarters in Geneva, with a dramatic flyover by the entire White Star fleet. In later negotiations with Earth concerning its membership in the Interstellar Alliance, it is revealed that Sheridan has been elected as its first President.

Susan Ivanova is offered the command of a Warlock class destroyer. Garibaldi wins back his girlfriend Lise Hampton-Edgars. Delenn and Sheridan get married on a White Star and return to Babylon 5. G'Kar uses his artificial eye to view the proceedings in Sheridan and Delenn's bedroom.

This episode was pretty much what I had expected. It was a "wrap up" episode. Susan is devastated that Marcus sacrificed himself for her and that she never reciprocated his love. It also looks like she is leaving Babylon 5 as she got her own command.

Sheridan is "forced" to resign from Earth Force but then what was a surprise to me was the forming of the new Alien Alliance and them naming Sheridan as President.. I did not see that coming. I love that Delenn and Sheridan finally got married and are now official a couple.

I wasn't a fan of Garibaldi getting back together with his Ex.. was never a fan of hers in the first place.  I really liked the comradery of G'Kar and Londo, reminded me of their relationship in the first season.

And now the final episode of season four of Babylon 4, Ep22 "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars".

Here's a brief synopsis: This episode takes place after the events of the rest of the series. It shows the long-term effect of the Interstellar Alliance from the point of view of one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, and one million years after the founding of the Alliance.

I couldn't figure out what this last episode was going to be because the second to last episode did a great job at wrapping up everything. I know when they went into making the final episode they thought that the series was going to be cancelled but before the episode aired then were picked up for one more season by TNT so the original "final" episode was pulled and saved for the end of season five and this new one was produced and replaced as the final episode of season four.

It's an interesting look at how history remembers events. I think my favorite of the four time periods was when we visited 1000 years later with the monks. The Earth is devastated and slowly rebuilding itself. And at the end of this segment you find out that the main monk is a Ranger.. that was awesome. And then 1 million years later we see the destruction of the Earth as it's sun goes nova and we see Human evolve into energy and live in encounter suits almost identical to the Vorlons... another cool moment.

Season four was AMAZING.. I know alot of people say it was their favorite and I can agree, though I really did enjoy season three. I don't know what's coming next for season five. I do know that when they thought season four was going to be the end they took season five and combined it with season four and finished off the five year story that he wanted to tell. So season five should be interesting. After season five we have five or six TV movies to watch as well. Lots more B5 to enjoy.

Muppet Babies, Gummi Bears & X-Men

Today I worked on going through more of the toy bins and trying to figure out where I'm going to put all this stuff. I know I'll be selling about a 1/3 of my collection and I'm cool with that but there are still some things that I'd like to keep and display.

My buddy John came by to visit and check out my new place. We got to talking about animated/cartoons that we love, he's a HUGE Looney Tunes fan. It got me thinking about Muppet Babies and Gummi Bears from the late 80's and X-Men The Animated Series that aired on Fox Kids back in the early 90's.

Those are three of my all time favorite animated series. So I decided to see if they were on DVD. I had checked in the past but haven't looked in a while and sure enough neither Muppet Babies nor X-Men were on DVD. There are some episodes of Muppet Babies on VHS but that's it. It does look like they released Vol 1 (seasons 1-3) of Gummi Bears on DVD back in 2006,. but never released Vol 2 with (seasons 4-6).

So I turned to the internets to see if I could "find" them in other formats and sure enough I found all three entire series in digital form, which I downloaded. X-Men looks and sounds good. The Muppet Babies looks okay but the audio isn't the best and Gummi Bears audio and video are pretty bad. Of course I'd rather have them all on officially released DVD/Blu-ray but until that time comes I'll just enjoy the versions that I have.

Visiting E3

Today I went to E3, this was my first time going to this exhibition. I work in the entertainment industry but have never worked in gaming or with games (though I did work on a game show). My buddy Will had a friend with Disney Interactive who was able to get me a pass this year and it was much appreciated.

If you don't know what E3 is here is a brief description: E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is an annual trade show for the video game industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The event takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA.

I took the subway to the LA convention center, once there I went to three different badge pick up places as I kept being sent to another one as they kept saying I was "Media" and that I could only get it at a certain place. Finally the third place walked me back to the second place and got me my pass.

I joined my buddy Robert (who attends E3 yearly, since he works in the Gaming industry). We started in the south building and while walking through the lobby there is this huge display for the new game called Destiny. But I was more interested in the posters for a new Gauntlet. I love this game and even have an arcade version of it. I had no idea that they were revamping it and releasing an updated version. So as soon as Robert and I met up we headed to the WB section to check it out.  OMG it's AWESOME!!! It should be out in the fall and available on STEAM. Watch the trailer below and you'll agree at how awesome it's going to be.

After that we walked around the floor and checked out the upcoming stuff from Disney Interactive, Capcom, EA, Bethesda, Sega and a ton more. I'm not a huge gamer so alot of the stuff I wasn't really interested in but it was cool non-the-less. We visited the indie section and the Video Game History Museum before heading out to lunch.

Once lunch was over to went to the West Hall Exhibits where the big 3 were at. We first did Ninendo, Robert played a few games. We then walked over to Sony and then Microsoft. While at Microsoft we demo'd a game called Project Spark. It's not only an awesome game but it's a world builder. So you can build the game environment before you play the game. Check out this cool video

Robert also played the new Alien game before we headed back to the South Exhibit to play the demo of Gauntlet. I wanted to play the Wizard but Robert took that character leaving me with Elf. Though I sucked at Elf it was still alot of fun and I can't wait to get this game and play with friends.

I left around 5:30pm and headed home. E3 runs three days but I think I was able to check out everything and try what I wanted to try in just the one day. It was alot of fun and I enjoyed myself at E3. It would be fun to make this a yearly thing.

Podcasting Issues & Release

Spent the morning/afternoon emailing Podbean back and forth trying to figure out why I couldn't create a new podcast for my Alien Nation cast. After a few hours it was determined that the issue was my computer and not their website. Now I have to figure out what the deal is and why my computer won't work with podbean.

I was able to upload the podcast I just needed to find a way to post it, so I used my iPad. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but I managed to type out some show notes and attach an audio file to them. It is now available on itunes and other podcast catching apps and devices. It's not a pretty post but it's up and folks can listen, which is the most important part of a podcast.

Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast Episode 24

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation Listen on Stitcher Radio http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/32281/episodes or Listen/ Get Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

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

Today we cover the first of five TV movies: Dark Horizon pt. 1

Directed by Kenneth Johnson
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date October 25th 1994

Plot Summary: George and Matt continue to investigate the virus killing newcomers, which takes a very personal turn for them. A scout from the newcomers' home world is sent to Earth to determine the condition of their slaves. He decides not only will they take their slaves back, but he begins planning to enslave the human population as well. While the Francisco's face medical and spiritual challenges. Matt makes a decision regarding his personal life and chooses between Lorraine and Cathy.

Star Wars, Gunman and Podcasts

EA announced Star Wars Battlefront 3 and released this "behind the scenes" video today. Now I've never played Battlefront 1 or 2 but I've seen people play them and they look amazing. But what was strange is when I started to watch this video, tears started welling up in my eyes. It made me realize how much Star Wars has effected my life. I mean I knew I loved it and it's what made me the geek I am today but just hearing the main theme song and the narrator talk about their love of Star Wars tugged on the heartstrings. Here's the video that was released.

This afternoon... just a few blocks away ended a high speed chase, the man got out of his car with his rifle/gun and ran down the street. It sounded like a warzone outside as there were helicopters swirling above and sirens in the streets. They informed all of us to stay inside, about a half hour into it the guy barricaded himself into a house and begun a four and a half hour stand off. Luckily for me I have a freeway (170) in between me and the gunman so I wasn't really worried but there are several school in the area and they were on lock down. It was tense for a while but fortunately they shot in some tear gas and the man came out and surrender. Of course it took another four hours to clear the area, they closed down the freeway and it was crazy for a while. I was happy that I didn't have to go anywhere and could hold up in my apartment. But even happier that no one was hurt or killed.

Spent the evening editing the next Alien Nation Podcast. It's due to be released tonight at midnight and of course I wanted until the last second to edit it. I spent about four hours uploading and editing the cast. I got it done just before midnight and went to upload and build the web page for it but ran into some issues.

Podbean, my host sever was having issues. It wasn't allowing me to post a new episodes. I tried for about an half hour before giving up. I figured I can try tomorrow, as long as I can get the podcast posted on the 10th I'll stay on schedule.

68th Tony Awards

Was up early, couldn't sleep so I decided to watch the Tony's from last night. Now I haven't been a big fan of the Tony's and really only started watching last year due to Neil Patrick Harris hosting. But what I found is that, for me, the best part of the Tony's are the scenes from current plays we get to see. Alot of these Broadway/Off Broadway shows will never make it to the west coast and I haven't been to New York in over 15 years. So these scenes that are performed allow me to get a little taste of the theater. Hugh Jackman was great as host, I still enjoy Neil Patrick Harris hosting skills better but Jackman was fun. I especially enjoyed the opening and him hopping the entire time. The fact that it was a four minute, no cuts scene. I love that he acknowledged the camera who did it all walking backwards.

Alot of great plays this year and performances like Aladdin and Les Miserables but two really stood out me. The first one I knew I'd love just because Neil Patrick Harris is staring in it and that's Hedwig and the Angry Inch (btw Neil won for best performance and the show won for best revival musical). Also if you noticed their performance was the only one to get a standing ovation. Here's the Tony performance.

The second performance was actually my favorite of the night and I had never even heard of the play (btw it won best musical for the night) A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. It sounds like it's a very dark comedy but I just loved this performance and if the rest of the play is like this.. it's full of win. Check out the Tony performance below.

Just Another Ordinary Day

Nothing special to blog about, I did stuff around the house.. blogged a bit and watched the last 9 episodes of Freaks and Geeks. You can see my blog review for that HERE.

I even looked up some geeky things that happen today but there really wasn't anything that I wanted to share with you all.

Guess it's just a lazy Sunday.