LOTR - Fellowship of the Ring - 10 Year Anniversary

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Can't believe it's been 10 years already. I remember going to the midnight showing of Fellowship and just being in awe. I saw the movie 3 times during the opening week and a few more times before it left the theaters. Fellowship is my favorite movie of the trilogy, I felt it was more of a buddy film then an action/battle movie like the other two. This entire trilogy is in my top ten of all time favorite movies and I'm really excited to The Hobbit.

War Horse - Review

Today my buddy Andrew and I went out to lunch and then came back to my house to watch War Horse. This movie doesn't come out until Christmas Day. So it's kind of nice to get a sneak preview of it.

So before I saw this movie all I knew is that it was directed by Steven Spielberg and I did see a preview with Immortals and it look pretty good.

I was expecting this hard core war movie and since Spielberg was directing it, I thought it was going to be incrediable. Well it's a good movie, beautifully shot, directed and acted. The story is super light. Lots of war and killing going on but no blood, it's definately PG. It's sad at times but from what folks were telling me I was expecting to be balling. I did cry a few times but nothing like I thought I would. I love the idea of following the war through the eyes of a horse. You get to see the British side of things, then the innocent side and finally the German side. It bugged me that everyone spoke English (but I understand why they did that).. and come to find out that this movie is based on a British children's novel, which makes so much sense. I'm glad I saw it and I think if I watch it again I will enjoy it even more since I know where the source material comes from.

I give War Horse a 7 out of 10.

Christmas in Eureka

Tonight one of my favorite TV series, Eureka air it's Christmas episode and all I have to say is WOW!! I had heard that parts of it were going to be animated but I had no idea of the extent of it. It went from 3D, to 2D to claymation and finally ended with anime. The story was fun, silly and touching. This episode had nothing to do with the current storyline and it really didn't need to. It was a just fun story and I can see this becoming a annual viewing. It also made me realize how much I miss seeing new episodes of Eureka and that I'm very thankful that we have at least 13 more episodes before the series ends.

Death, Christmas & Friends

Woke up this morning to some very sad news. Harry Morgan who is best known for his role as Colonel Potter on MASH died at the age of 96 today. Potter is and will always be my favorite MASH character and his death really hit me hard. Can't be sad though as he had a very successful and wonderful life. I'll be doing a special tribute episode of my MASH podcast for him in the next week or so.

Got three more DVD screeners, Kung Fu Panda 2 (which I really wanted to see so I'm happy I got it), Puss in Boots (Another movie I really wanted to see in the theater but never did) and Decedents (which I never heard of but found out it's a George Clooney flick).

I finished one of my homemade Christmas gifts. I made nine of them and really wish I made more but I guess they are very special gifts and they should only be given to those really close to me. I'm very happy with them, every time I make them I tweak them just a bit and I think I finally have them exactly how I want them... I'll talk about them more after Christmas as many of my friends read my blog and some of those will be getting this gift, which I will call "The Box".

Got to talk to my good buddy Thomas from Ireland. It's been a while since we chatted and I got to spend a good half-hour chatting with him. He's one person I'm looking forward to hanging out with when I go on my trip to England/Ireland in May.

And to end my night I got to hang out with my buddy Will. We grabbed some dinner at Pitfire and then headed back to his place to watch a movie. I had brought all my screeners and he choose Super 8. I had seen it in the theater but was happy to see it again and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it the first time but I really enjoyed it the second time. After the movie he showed me this new game Skyrim. I've heard so much about it and since I don't play I don't know much about it. I created a character and played for about 30 minutes before realizing it was already after 1am. By the way I suck at playing. I had a hard time moving my head and walk/running at the same time. Will said you get use to it but it was pretty comical watching me play the same. I did enjoy creating my character, I was amazed at how detailed you can make your character.

Drove home and ended my night like I do most nights with an episode of The Simpson and finally went to bed around 3am.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood

Yep.. there have been rumors about they doing another Harry Potter theme park since the one in Orlando has been a HUGE success. Rumors had it coming to Los Angeles but Universal Studios here in Hollywood is so small and people weren't sure where they would put it. Well it was officially announced today that yes indeed they were adding the Wizarding World to the current Universal Studios in Hollywood.

Here's part of the official press release:

Hollywood, CA (Dec. 6, 2011) – Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Parks and Resorts today announced a partnership to bring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – the enormously popular themed entertainment environment which debuted in Orlando in June 2010 – to Universal Studios Hollywood.

The two companies also announced their plans to significantly expand The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood will be as impressive as what has been created in Orlando – and is expected to transform tourism in Los Angeles for decades to come. It will be a fully immersive environment for the entire family that brings the stories of Harry Potter to life and is faithful to the visual landscape of the films, including a majestic Hogwarts castle to serve as the centerpiece of the themed environment. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood will be created with the same commitment to authenticity and the same level of talent and resources as its Orlando counterpart.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort opened in June 2010 and immediately captured global attention. It is a spectacularly themed land that includes Hogwarts castle, Hogsmeade and multiple themed attractions. Specific details of its expansion will be announced over time.

“The announcement of our partnership with Universal to bring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Hollywood and expand what already exists in Orlando is probably the best holiday gift we could give to the legions of Harry Potter fans worldwide,” said Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. “Everyone involved with these projects is committed to continuing the enchantment of J.K. Rowling’s masterful books as they were brought to life on screen in our eight films and dedicated to extending the magic of the experience for generations of fans to come.”

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is an entirely new level of themed entertainment that brings the stories of Harry Potter to life in incredible ways,” said Tom Williams, Chairman and CEO, Universal Parks and Resorts. “We are thrilled to be able to share this experience with our guests in Hollywood. And we are thrilled to take what has been created in Orlando to even greater levels.”

I'm so excited for this and honestly when it does open and if I'm still living in the area I'm going to try and get a job there.. how cool would it be to go to work at Hogsmeade/Hogwarts everyday.

Image courtesy of Hypable.com

There are no details about where it's going to go other then in the existing park.. but rumors are flying that they are going to get rid of the Gibson Amphitheatre and use that area and the land behind it... guess will have to wait and see. They also didn't give any details about what they are going to build for the park.. will it be Hogsmeade like in Orlando or maybe they'll do Diagon Alley and Gringots Bank. Guess will just have to wait and see.. but I for one am very excited!!!

I Think It's Monday

Being out of work really screws with your sense of time. I really don't have a clue what day of the week most days are. I'll either see something on TV that reminds me of the day or I actually have to look it up on my calendar. Well today is Monday and I'm still sick. But of course I'm not sick enough to try and get things done. It's only a few weeks before Christmas and I still have a ton of shopping to do and some of those folks I have to ship their presents to them. So I took some dayquil in hopes that I could survive out of the house for a few hours.

And I did pretty good. I did manage to go to Target and get pretty much everything I went out for. Grabbed some lunch at El Pollo and then crashed when I got back home. After a few hours of TV and rest I worked on my second homemade Christmas gift. I worked on those for about three hours and got alot of it done, which makes me happy. A few more things and those will be done.. now for my other Christmas gift those are more detailed and take a lot longer to complete.. but I'm working on it.

I did a bit podcast editing, but not nearly as much as I wanted to do. And speaking of podcasts I checked out my podcast reviews on itunes for my Knights of the Guild podcast and saw that I got a 3 star review and when I went to read it, this person complemented the podcast but then at the end of the review wrote this "Kenny comes off a bit snobbish & into himself because he's involved in the production of the show."I guess that's why he gave me 3 stars out of 5. Out of the 70 reviews all but three are 4 or 5 stars and are positive. I have 1 two star and 2 three stars. And a previous review said that "Kenny likes to name drop, like he's a big shot".

You know 98% positive is great and I know there are haters out there who can't help but hate.. that's what they do. So it doesn't bother me when I get these negative reviews but it's still surprising when it happens because it rarely does.

Of course I put it out there in the tweeter and facebook world that I got this negative review and all my wonderful friends came to my rescue with kind comments and encouragement.. Thanks guys.

The Misadventures of Kenny Changing a Flat Tire

Well I went out to my jeep to grab some dinner tonight and noticed that my back tire is going flat. I first considered trying to try to drive to the local gas station to fill it up, temperately. As I don't have much luck when changing tires. But I know it's bad to drive on a flat and I can see the nail sticking out of the tire so I opted to change it. Now at this time I don't know if my spare if good or not. I've had so many flat tired in the past year I can't remember... but I take a chance.

I grab my lug nut wrench and start to loosen the lug nuts before I start to jack the jeep up. Since it happened at home and my drive way is dirt and gravel I have two large slabs of concrete that I like to put under the jack so the jack doesn't collapse like it has in the past. I jacked the car up and there were no issues.. I started to unscrew the nuts.. one done, two done, three done, four done.. things are going well until I get to the fifth nut. Unlike the other four this one is tough to get off. I keep telling myself lefty loosie, tighty righty, just so I knew I was doing it the right way. I struggled to unscrew that nut for about 10 minutes and after about five rotations..wham.. it fell off. I pulled the tire off and examined the lugs and noticed that my fifth one was shiny and jagged. I checked the wrench and sure enough the nut and part of the lug broke off and now were jammed in the wrench. This is my only lug nut wrench so I had to get those bits out before I could proceed. So I opted to go to my garage to find something that I could try and pry the jammed nut out with it. I first tried a pair of pliers with no luck. I then grabbed a chisel and it had a sharp edge that I might be able to slip in and pry them apart. Only problem is that the chisel is still in it's packaging when we purchased it. So I attempt to open it and do so but in the process I slice my thumb open. For a little cut bleed a lot. I quickly grabbed a paper towel to stop the blood from getting all over the place. And another 10 minutes of almost slicing more digits off I manged to get the nut out of the lug nut wrench.

So my flat tire is off. All my tools are working properly and now I attempted to take off my spare tire (still don't know if it's good). There was only one issue, my spare tire has a lock nut on it. Because it's attached to my back door (I have a Jeep Wrangler if you didn't know). So I had to find the "key". I searched my glove box where it's normally at and of course it's not there. I search all throughout my car and I can't find it. I then remember that some things will sometimes fall back behind the glove box and into the dash of my car so I remover the glove box and shove my hand into the dark space feeling around for the lug nut key.. success.. I found it and as I pull my hand out I run it across something sharp and it tears about an half of inch of skin off my other hand... and I'm bleeding again.

I pull off the spare and it seems to be okay (know with luck today I really expected it to be flat as well). I replace the spare, this time with only four of the five nuts. (which should be okay) and I put the flat back on the back of my jeep and hopefully will get that repaired soon. I lowered the car and the tire looks great. Took about an hour to change and sliced two hands open but I did get the tired changed and the jeep didn't fall on me.. so I think it was a success.

Green Lantern - Review

So I finally was able to sit down and watch Green Lantern. I wanted to see this when it came out during the summer but those were crazy times and I wasn't able to. Well I recently got it on blu ray for only $9.99 and watched it today. Quick review.. I LOVED IT!!!

I so don't understand why so many folks disliked it so much. I did watch the Extended Edition, so I don't know how different it is from the theatrical version. But I really enjoyed it. I thought it was entertaining, the special effects were fantastic, the acting was good and I thought it was a good origin story for Hal Jordan's Green Lantern. I heard so many bad things about the actress Blake Lively but I thought she did a pretty good job. I mean it wasn't that big of a part but when she was on screen it was fine. I really am trying to figure out why folks didn't like so much. Oh well all that really matters is that I enjoyed it and really I did.. can't wait for part two.

I watched all the Blu Ray extras and they were all very interesting and entertaining.

I give Green Lantern 8 out of 10