My Zombie Life Pt.1

Went to my friend Greg Aronowitz's place The Barnyard to be an extra in a Zombie short that he was creating with my friend Kim Evey, It's called Zombie 360. I got there around 3:30pm for a 4pm call time. I sat around about a half hour with other extras when they brought over some "base" paint and asked if we could get started on painting ourselves.

So I started with some green and added a bit of yellow and purple and was about fifteen minutes into it when they asked us to stop as some of us were going to be chosen for prosthetic. I was fortunately one of them. Greg picked out a prosthetic that he thought would work for me and then I was asked to go wash my face as they needed it to be completely clean to put on the prosthetic. After washing my face I went and sat back down with the extras for about fifteen minutes but soon my name was called and I headed to one of the make up artists so he could glue the prosthetic onto my face.

Now I have been an extra many times but never have I had to wear a prosthetic on my face and I was excited for this opportunity. He first tested my skin to make sure I wasn't allergic to the latex or glue. Afterwards he placed the prosthetic over my face and made a few cuts here and there so it would fit better before getting out the glue and gluing the prosthetic down.

It's an interesting feeling having something glued down to your face. Of course as soon as it's on you want to itch but can't. But luckily the feeling passes. After he glued it on to my face we waited a few minutes to let it dry. I did find out that the glue that they used was super strong as they didn't want to have to re-apply during the actual shooting. The only way to really get this off it to use a chemical that will break down the glue.

Once it was dry he asked me to make faces and move my face around to see if any of the ends would raise up. There were a few spots so he applied more glue. He then placed "bondo" around the edges to make them seamless. I've used bondo before with my Hobbit ears. Anyways after that he was done, the prosthetic was on and I was ready for full make up.

Before moving on to full make up I went to wardrobe and handed over some jeans and a shirt for them to "zombified". They tore, ripped and dirtied up my clothes before giving them back to me. 

I headed into Greg's house where they were actually doing make up and waited. I waited for about three hours as there were only two make artists and then down to one working on Zombie make up. Greg came in from time to time to work on of the more high profile people in this film like Grant Imahara. Also the main cast members were coming in and getting their make up done. Pushing out make up back.

Eventually everyone was done and they got to the extras. As the make up started she really was having a hard time trying to figure out what kind of zombie I would be.. and for about 20 minutes she tried various looks when suddenly you could see the light bulb go off above her head and wham.. Zombie Kenny came to life. 45 minutes later I was done.. The end results were amazing. I love the look she gave to me.

While I was getting made up, America Young (stunt coordinator) came to me and said that I had been chosen to be one of the Zombies to take down the last human (Marissa Cuevas). Woohoo!!

Once they were done with my make up it was about 9pm and time for dinner. We were suppose to start shooting around 9pm but the Zombie make up was taking alot longer then expected.. there were over 55 zombies and about half were high profile, meaning they had to have really good make up. The other background zombies were self painted with some help from the make up artists.

As midnight approached they were still working on making up the zombies. I had been in my prosthetic since 5pm and full make up since 9pm. My face was starting to itch and I found out that the make up doesn't really come off by just touching it so I was able to kind of put pressure on the prosthetic which would kind of relive the itch under it.

The waiting continues as the clock strikes midnight...

Diet Soda Success, Disney Paintings & Transformers

I did it... I have gone seven days without drinking a single diet soda or any soda for that matter. It was rough, as I normally drink 2 to 3 diet sodas a day (especially when I'm home). But I stuck it out and didn't give in to temptation. Now this doesn't mean I'm going to stop drinking diet soda, but I have decided that I will not have any diet soda/soda in the house. I'll only drink it on occasions when I go out to eat. Who knows maybe one day I'll give it up completely but for now I'm happy to do a major cut down of my daily intake.

I came across these on Facebook and thought they were amazing. Check out the artists other "real life" Disney paintings HERE.

Since Transformers 4 is out in theaters FX was doing a Transformers marathon airing all three of the previous movies. If you read my Transformers 4 blog a few days ago you'd know that I had never seen part 3 "Darkside of the Moon", so I recorded it and watched it today. I'm not going to review it. I'm just going to say that it felt like all of the other Transformers movies. The story went on for way to long. The film could have used some major editing. But the effects were amazing, I really liked the characters, both humans and transformers. I now know what "big battle" they were talking about in Transformers 4. And like with all the other movies. I'm glad I saw them and find them very entertaining.. the perfect popcorn movie.

Superhero Flasks, Star Trek and Who

My friend Amy tweeted about these awesome flasks. Now I'm not a huge drinker but I'd still like to have a few of these... if I had to choose just one I think I would pick Superman as he is my favorite superhero. Which one is your favorite? You can check out the rest HERE.

Now if you know me you know I love Star Trek. I've seen every TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT  episode, as well as all the movies but I don't think I've seen all of the original Star Trek episodes. I know I've seen alot of them, especially when I was little as they aired them in syndication all the time. I don't have a clue how many of the episodes I have actually seen of the series.

So when I saw that they had these on Netflix I figured I'd give them a go. I watched the pilot episode which of course had an entirely different cast (other then Spock). I then watched the first few episodes of season one and though some of the effects and acting is a bit cheesy I really enjoyed them. So much so that I'm planning on continuing my watching of TOS. I may try and review episodes on this blog from time to time. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading those.

And finally... BBC America announced the premiere date of Doctor Who season eight. You can watch the video below... can't wait!!

 

Once Upon A Time Season 3

So I finished watching Once Upon A Time season three 2 hour finale. Here are my thoughts on the second half of season three. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with this second half as the end of the first half really felt like the perfect end to the series. I was surprised that we picked up one year later and everyone is back in Storybrooke with no memory and Emma and Henry were happily living their lives in New York. Then everything changes with the arrival of Hook. At first it felt like a redo. I mean we spent two and a half seasons trying to break this curse, which they do. Only to be cursed again and start all over. But as the series continued it gave us bits and piece of information and finally towards the end we find out that it was Snow White and Charming who actually re-enacted the curse to get back to Emma and unfortunately the Wicked Witch found out and added the memory lose as part of the curse.

I also liked the way that they brought back Rumple. I mean I knew he wasn't going to be dead forever but I didn't expect Neal to die for him. That was a heartbreaking scene and brought me to tears. I enjoyed all the back stories of the characters and the missing year stories. I really thought this season really connected the dots well.. reminded me more of season one, which I loved.

They finally break the curse again and this time it's Regina who breaks its with her love for Henry. I have to say I really like what they have done with Regina, she's trying so hard to not be evil and finally succeeding... well that was until the season finale... boo!!

With two hours left of the season I thought when Emma and Hook went back time that, that was going to be the set up for the next season but I'm happy to say that it wasn't. They finished the entire story within those two episodes. And of course Emma saves a woman who Regina was going to kill and since she was suppose to die in the past they figure if they bring her to the future all will be well. Yeah it didn't quite work out that way and poor Regina is the one what get's burned as the woman they brought back was Maid Marion, Robin Hoods wife and Robin Hood and Regina were finally becoming a couple (as it was predicted that they were each other's true love). Well now that's over and Regina is pissed!!

The final scene of the season was a bottle opening up and blue liquid pouring out and forming into a women that we all know as she was part of one of the biggest movies last year, Frozen. We then see Else walking away from the camera and that's the end. The Ice Queen is in Storybrooke and Evil Regina looks to be coming back.

Over all I really enjoyed Season three. It was broken into two part, the Peter Pan quest in part one and the Wicked Witch in part two. Both were enjoyable but I think I enjoyed the Wicked Witch storyline batter then Pan.. other then the end.. the ending of Pan was amazing.

Can't wait for Season Four!!!

Paramount, Screening and Transformers 4

Started my day with breakfast with my buddy Dallas. I picked him up around 8:30 and we headed to Denny's. Afterwards we went into Hollywood and to the Paramount Studio lot for a PGA (Producer's Guild of America) screening of Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Paramount has one of the best screening rooms in town so when I read that the screening was going to be there I was super excited. We got to Paramount around 10am and drove up to the main gate. We gave them our ID's and they checked us off the list and explained where to park.

After parking we made our way to the theater. I love walking onto studio lots, it's awesome to think about all the film and TV history associated with the lot. So many amazing movies and TV shows have been filmed here at Paramount. As we were approaching the theater there were men building a Bumble Bee Transformer outside.

We got in line, fairly close to the front. We stood there for about 45 minutes and the line grew. We were finally let in and found out that the screening was in 3D and Paramount has those super high techy 3D glasses with little batteries in them. The last movie I saw in this theater was Tin Tin and it also was in 3D so I knew we were in for a treat.

We found some prime seats and chatted for about 20 minutes or so before they started the movie.

I have seen Transformers 1 & 2 but never got around to seeing 3. I wasn't sure if that would have any effect of me understanding 4. But I figured it was Transformers and that series is not known for it's amazing storytelling. I also knew that it was a new cast taking the reigns. And I'm happy to say you really don't have to see 2 or 3 to watch 4. They kept referring to a "great battle" in Chicago, which I assumed was from movie 3 but that's about it.

Here's my thoughts on the new Transformers... it's a Transformers movie and if you have seen 1, 2 or 3 then you know what to expect. It's all about the eye candy and this movie has plenty. I would say that there is more "story" then crazy action scenes, especially at the beginning. But towards the end it's nothing but action and fight scenes.

As with the second movie and I heard the third movie. This movie could have used some editing down. It runs about 2 hours and 50 minutes and at times it feels like it.

I enjoyed the ride, I liked Mark Walberg and Stanley Tucci's characters. The story was good and the action scenes were great. I remember watching the first movie and being so confused on who was fighting who but with this movie there aren't many Transformers left and the ones who are left look fairly different so the fight scenes were easier to follow.

If you enjoyed the other Transformers movies then you'll enjoy this one. I give Transformers: Age of Extinction a solid B.

When we got out of the movie the full size Bumble Bee was up and folks were taking pictures with him so Dallas and I joined in and grabbed a few shots of us with the giant Transformer. After the movie we headed over to Astro Burgers for lunch.

Vacation Blogging and OUAT

Spent half the day blogging about my vacation, I'm currently up to Day 14 of 34. So I'm not even half way there. These are taking alot longer to write then I had originally expected.
 
But it is a lot of fun remembering all the details of the trip and going through my thousands of pictures looking for just the right ones for the post. I hope to have is all blogged and done by the end of July. I figured if I can get a few day everyday it shouldn't take me that long.

Spent the other half of the day catching up on more Once Upon A Time. I watched five more episodes today. That leaves me just the 2 hour finale to watch. As I mentioned in a previous blog post I plan on doing a full review of season three once I finish watch the season, which I'm hoping to do tomorrow.

Other then those two things it was a pretty uneventful day.

Podcasts and Fairytales

I spent half of the day working on podcasts. First I finished editing my next MASH 4077 Podcast episode 82 which will be released July 1st. I think this is one of my favorite episodes. There are some podcast episodes that I think are good but something about them is just a bit off. This is not one of them... the conversation just flowed and the clips fit in perfectly for what we were talking about. Looking forward to releasing this one.

I also did the first edit pass on the next Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast. My brother and I have finished season one and are now going through the TV movies. We're splitting each TV movie into two podcasts and today I worked on part two of our Dark Horizon episode. Hopefully I'll finish it in the next few days as it's due to be released on July 10th.

Spent my evening watching Once Upon A Time. I have 10 episodes recorded on my Tivo from last season so today I watched three of them. It's still one of my favorite series on network TV. I'll do a full review of the season once I finish watching the remaining 7 episodes.

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.