Amazing Children's Book & Video

I came across this short video called "The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived" Here's a quick synopsis: Cedric grew up poor and honest on a pumpkin farm, and dreamt of becoming a knight. One day he showed his courage by tricking a would-be carriage thief, and earned the chance to make his dream come true! After years of training, Cedric set off to find an adventure of his own by battling a fire-breathing dragon to save a prince and a princess. However, it was after the adventure that Cedric revealed that he'd like to marry the prince, and not the princess. 

The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived is a modern fairytale which sets out to prove that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is choose for yourself how your fairytale ends!

I instantly feel in love with this story. I did a ton of research to find out more info about it and unfortunately there really isn't much out there. I do know that it's based on a book written by Daniel Errico and after an hour of searching online with no luck, found out that it's only available in a digital format.. which is a bummer.

In my research I found another "animated" (it's more like still images from the book) version of the book that was released a few years ago on Viemo when the book actually came out, you can watch that video HERE.

The video below was just released on Hulu and it's a slightly more animated version with the same narration as the vimeo version. Needless to say I'd love to have this book (an actual book) so I could read it to my niece and nephew. It would be great if it was in school libraries to show young kids that love is love. One thing I loved about the story is the fact that Cedric wants to marry the Prince and no one bats an eye about it, it's completely "normal"... as it should be.

I wish I had books like these when I was a kid, would have made my childhood so much easier, well maybe not easier but I wouldn't have felt so alone. I know this is just a children's book but it touched my heart and I will forever be thankful for finding it.

BTW.. best part of the book is at the end after the Princess says she wants to marry Cedric.. his response is...

"Princess, you are kind and I am glad that we are friends
But now I must be brave and say that isn’t how it ends
There’s someone else I love and I believe we’re meant to be
I’d like to wed the prince if he does feel the same for me."

Makes me tear up everytime I read it. Please take the eight minutes to watch this amazing video and story and share it with everyone, especially if they have young children.

Well I can't get the video to embed so just follow THIS link.

Matt's B-day, Twitter Surprise & The Passing of a Legend

So today I opted out of going to Open Gym at NerdStrong. My body was telling me to take a rest and this time I listened to it.

I do have a few things I'd like to blog about.. first it's my buddy Matt's birthday today. Matt is my mate from England who visited recently. He's just a youngling in his early 20's but he is one of the sweetest guys I know and deserves all the happiness he can find. I've said this in the past but he's like a little brother to me and I so appreciate his friendship. Happy Birthday Matt..

I got a surprise today.. author Daniel Errico, who wrote my new favorite "gay themed" fairytale called The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived followed me back on Twitter... woot, woot!! Maybe he'll read my blog about his book. You can check out my original blog post about this amazing book HERE. 

Yesterday I heard the sad news that Christopher Lee had passed away. Though it wasn't unexpected as he was in his 90's it was never the less sad. He was truly an amazing actor and human being. I've seen alot of people posting things about Mr. Lee and his life but Peter Jackson had the best ulogy (IMO) and I'd like to share it with you all. I especially like the final line.

Sir Christopher Lee

It is with tremendous sadness that I learnt of the passing of Sir Christopher Lee. He was 93 years old, had not been in his usual good health for some time, but his spirit remained, as always, indomitable.

Christopher spoke seven languages; he was in every sense, a man of the world; well versed in art, politics, literature, history and science. He was scholar, a singer, an extraordinary raconteur and of course, a marvelous actor. One of my favourite things to do whenever I came to London would be to visit with Christopher and Gitte where he would regale me for hours with stories about his extraordinary life. I loved to listen to them and he loved to tell them - they were made all the more compelling because they were true - stories from his time with the SAS, through the Second World War, to the Hammer Horror years and later, his work with Tim Burton - of which he was enormously proud.

I was lucky enough to work with Chris on five films all told and it never ceased to be a thrill to see him on set. I remember him saying on my 40th Birthday (he was 80 at the time), “You’re half the man I am”.  Being half the man Christopher Lee is, is more than I could ever hope for. He was a true gentleman, in an era that no longer values gentleman.

I grew up loving Christopher Lee movies. For most of my life I was enthralled by the great iconic roles he not only created - but continued to own decades later. But somewhere along the way Christopher Lee suddenly, and magically, dissolved away and he became my friend, Chris.  And I loved Chris even more.

There will never be another Christopher Lee. He has a unique place in the history of cinema and in the hearts of millions of fans around the world.

The world will be a lesser place without him in it.

My deepest sympathies to Gitte and to his family and friends.

Rest in peace, Chris.

An icon of cinema has passed into legend.

Sci Fi Commercial, Superman Tee & A New Dating Site

I came across this cool video and thought to myself.. wow this looks amazing. Is this a TV series or a new movie because I can't wait to see it.. but then at the end everything changes and you realize it's a commercial... I was beyond bummed. I mean it had a touch of Fantasy and a huge amount of sci fi and it looked incredible.. well done to Canal+, well done.

I got this awesome new T-shirt today from Tee Fury. When I saw the design it was an insta-buy. If you know me you know I LOVE Superman and especially the Christopher Reeves era.. I've been trying to not spend money but sometimes you just have to do it and this was one of those times.

I did debate on which color to get it in as it came in three.. navy blue, darker grey and chocolate brown. I knew I didn't want blue and I went back and forth with the grey as the image popped more but I ultimately decided on brown as I think it suited the picture better and brown is my second favorite color (Green is my first). Anyways I'm very happy with the final results.

Now for some personal stuff... the author Daniel Errico of that children's book that I adore "The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived" contacted me on Twitter to thank me for the support and said that he checked out my blog and read up on me a bit and thought I sounded "kickass". We direct tweeted back and forth seven or eight times, discussing his book and various other topics. It's always fun when someone you admire contacts you out of the blue to thank you for your support.

And even more personal news.. I signed up for the dating site "Our Time" It's a dating site for the more mature person 50+ (even though I'm only 44, soon to be 45 I figured I'd find a better man on this site). I actually signed up about a year ago but only had the free service which really meant you couldn't do anything. I kept getting emails saying, you have six new flirts or you have seven new messages but of course since I didn't pay I couldn't check them out. Now that I had over 100 messages and a large amount of flirts I figured I'd pay for a month and see if anything of these guys were worth getting to know. First of all let me say that if you're going to put a picture up on your profile you should at least try and put a good one up. Some of these guys profile pixs are horrible. And I'm not talking about their looks I'm talking about the lighting, the angle and the blurriness.

So I perused all the messages and flirts that I got. I just deleted the ones that were over a month old and only looked at the recent ones. Of those guys about half were not my type and a quarter were cute but when I read their bios (if they bothered to file one out) we had nothing in common. The few that were cute and we had a bit in common I sent messages to but none of them seemed geeky enough for me. I seem to be a rarity on that site.. maybe this clientele is just to old for me. I have the service for a month and I'll keep looking but so far this dating site isn't doing so well.