Best Disneyland Visit Ever!!!

Got up early around 7am, felt pretty good after a night of wine. Both Chris and I were feeling great but hungry so we headed off to Denny's for some yummy breakfast.  We left Denny's around 8:30am and headed down to Disneyland. The drive was pretty uneventful until my buddy Robert texted me and said he had gotten to Disneyland early and it's been evacuated due to some sort of bomb threat and they weren't sure when it would re-open.

We finally got to Disneyland around 10am and sure enough as we went to park the parking attendant informed us that the park was indeed closed and it was unknown if or when they were going to re-open. The did offer free parking but that didn't matter since I have a premium pass. Also the trams were not running so Chris and I decided to walk over to Downtown Disney to meet up with Robert.

Downtown Disney was packed as you can imagine everyone was just waiting around for the parks to open. Rumors were going around the park was expected to be close for 4 to 5 hours. Chris, Robert and I went over to AMC to see what movies were play. We figured we could kill some time there. During this time I got some texts from the fourth in our Quartet, Jen. She actually lives close and walked to the park but was on the other side and there was no way of getting to us at Downtown Disney unless she walked around the entire park.  So she opted to do that so we wanted to wait until she was with us before going to the movies so we decided to walk around a bit. We went to the Lego store and then went in a little closer to the park entrance and there were hundreds and hundreds of people so we decided to turn around and go back to AMC to wait for Jen when we suddenly heard cheering.. they have opened the park and folks started making their way in. We contacted Jen and she was almost to the entrance to Downtown Disney so Chris went back to get her. She also mentioned to me a side walkway that wasn't crowded so Robert and I made our way over there and manage to miss a large group of the masses. About a half hour later we made it into the park and headed over to the lockers to wait for Chris and Jen. About ten minutes after that Chris and Jen were in, we put our stuff in the locker and made our way to the front gates of Disneyland.. it was now 11am so we only lost an hour.

As always when we first got into the park we headed to Star Tour to get a fast pass, but the line was so short that we quickly got in line for the ride itself. After Star Tours we walked over to Indiana Jones ride and had a blast. Both Robert and Chris had never rode the Jungle Cruise so of course we had to do that next. Then we did the Tarzan Tree House which again several of the guys never went up. After the tree house the one ride that Chris wanted to be sure to ride was Pirates of the Caribbean so we did that next. It was kind of funny because Chris has no idea what this ride was like and I said it was this nice little boat ride and he was off guard when we hit the first fall and then all the cool stuff after that.. he really enjoyed it.

After Pirates we were hungry and of course we had to go the Little Red Wagon to get a Corn Dog. Both Jen and Robert had never had one from Disneyland. I'd say it was a success and everyone enjoyed their corn dogs.

We then headed over to Space Mountain to get a fast pass before making our way to Splash Mountain. It was hot.. really hot but it took so long for us to get on the ride that it started to cool down before we even rode it. Of course I got soaked on the ride but even worse then me was Robert who was sitting in front of me. I think he was the wettest of everyone in our boat... we decided to dry off by running around Tom Sawyer's Island.. again Robert and Chris had never been on the island. I have to say this was some of my favorite memories.. from Chris acting a big kid and running all over the place and climbing on things to Jen yelling Vagina Balls into those long communication tubes. We all had so much fun acting like big kids (which we all are). After the Island we went and grabbed some pretzels before getting in line for Big Thunder Mountain. Jen and Chris sat together while Robert and I sat behind them. Jen is so tiny that Chris held on tight so make sure she didn't fall out of the car. Robert and I kept sliding into each other on turns.. it was a blast. After Big Thunder Mountain we took a break to recharge my cell phone and rest our weary feet but the table we needed to sit at for access to the power plug was occupied so we just sat at the next table and rested for a bit.

Once rested we went over to Space Mountain to use our fast pass and rode that. Again had a great time.When we were done with Space Mountain I wanted to get a group Star Wars pictures. They have one of those places were they take a picture of you and super impose it over a Star Wars actor. So we found several that had four people, one for each of us and we picked our favorite. Since we had a girl there was one picture of four Jedi (3 males and 1 female) with lightsabers and standing behind Yoda.. so that is the one we choose. Chris went first and was Obi Wan, Jen went second and then me and finally Robert. Robert mentioned that he was a Darth Vader fan so he got a separate one of him with Darth Vader. Both pictures were excellent so we purchased them both.

After the picture we were going to use our fast pass on Star Tours but realized what time it was and that we needed to get over to Disney's California Adventures before it closed. Once there we headed over to Soarin' to get a fast pass but they were all gone.. we then went over to Tower to Terror to get a fast pass but those too were gone so we headed over to ElecTRONica as several in the party wanted to get a "beverage" I didn't feel like drinking so I went over and saved us some seats. Soon Robert, Jen and Chris joined me with their glowing drinks. We chatted for a bit and then headed into Flynn's Arcade to play some games. Robert and I started with air hockey, I then played some pinball before meeting up with everyone else and playing the four person game of Gauntlet.. that was some of the best gaming I've done.. the game was a blast but it was the group of people all working together, yelling and screaming... it was as if we were the only people in that arcade.. good times.

After Flynn's we headed over to Goofy's Flight School and had a blast on that ride.. for something so simple it's always so much fun. We then got another Corn Dog from the Corn Dog Castle but this time we went with a hotlink corn dogs and I have to say though it was super yummy but man was it hot and after a few bites my mouth was on fire.

By this time DCA was closing so we headed back to Disneyland to use our fast pass for Star Tours, once we got off the line was short so we did it again and our very own Robert was the Rebel Spy this time around.  We then headed over to The Hunted Mansion and finally rode Pirates again before calling it a night around midnight.

I have to say this was one of my most favorite times at Disneyland. And of course it was because I was with three INCREDIBLY AWESOME friends. Some of my favorite moments weren't even the rides themselves but the conversations the four of us had. That's one thing I love about Chris, Robert and Jen is how comfortable we are with each other. We may be fairly new friends (under a year) but sometimes you find that person who you just click with as if you've known them your entire life. These are those friends. I couldn't have asked for a better group to go with. I learned some interesting terms from both Chris and Robert that I had never heard of before.. like Dutch Rudder and the Double Dutch Rudder, which is assisted masturbation, without touching the person penis.

Chris is my best bud in the world, he and I just instantly bonded while on set of The Guild and our friendship has just grown stronger. Besides being a sweetheart and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.. he's just plain and simply cool and make you feel awesome when you're around him.

Jen is fantastic, she's more like one of the guys and man some of our conversations that we've had in the past have been EPIC.. if I was straight she would be my ideal girl. Smart, pretty and just incredible to be around.

Now Robert (he's the newest to our group) and I just adore him. He's very loving and warm and makes you feel like you are one of the most important people in the world (and sometimes you just need that). He's another one that I just instantly bonded with when we first met and I know will be friends the rest of our lives.

These are the friends that I've been looking for my entire life. It took me 40 years to find them but it was well worth the wait. I love you guys very much and I can't wait to see what future adventures life has in store for us.

You can see more photos from our trip HERE

Steak, Wine and a Great Friend

My best bud Chris came over tonight, we are hanging this weekend and plan to go to Disneyland tomorrow and since Chris live about 3 hours north of here he decided to crash at my place tonight. Well we wanted to make tonight an event so when we started to plan this out, Chris said we must have steak and wine and watch a good movie. That sounded like a great idea. So he arrived around 7pm and we headed out to find the prefect steak. Our first top was Vons but Chris wasn't impressed with any of their meats so we headed further south to Stater Brothers and he found some nice pieces of Rib Eye and we also grabbed a few bottles of wine, a chilled white and a red. We planned to get the movie "In Time" from the red box but the copies were all rented so we came up with a plan B. On our way out of the store I was ambushed by some girl scouts and they forced me to buy 5 boxes of there disgusting cookies.

When we got home I fired up the BBQ and Chris prepped the steaks and we had our first glass of chilled white wine. Now I have to say I'm not a fan of wine, never really enjoyed the taste. So when I took my first sip it was bad, but then Chris said to take a sip of his red wine and OMG, if white was bad red was horrible and when I took another sip of white it was tasty in comparison.

While Chris was prepping the steaks and began grilling them he was teaching me how to make the perfect steak... very cool information. While the steaks were cooking we tried to stream "In Time" but once again my crappy internet ruined that idea so instead we opted to look over what movies I had and Chris pulled out A Knight's Tale. Now I've seen bits and piece of this movie but never saw the entire thing.. well that was that. Chris insisted that we watch A Knight's Tale.

So the steaks were done, we had another glass of wine and we started to watch A Knight's Tale.

Steaks were EXCELLENT.. one of the best pieces of meat I've ever had.

As the night progressed I steadily got drunker, to the amusement of Chris, who by the way also started to get tipsy. By the end of the night we were both feeling great, I had three glasses of white and one glass of red while Chris had three glasses of white and four glasses of red, needless to say we finished both bottles.

A Knight's Tale was fantastic!!! And for dessert we had some yummy thin mint cookies.

All in all it was one of the best nights I have had in a long time..  we were dudes eating steaks, drinking wine, watching a great movie and enjoying ones company.. couldn't get any better than that.

The Hobbit Behind the Scenes Videos

As many of you know I'm a HUGE Lord of the Rings / Hobbit / J.R.R Tolkien fan.  I love everything to do with Middle Earth. As many of you know Peter Jackson is tackling the prequel books to Lord of the Rings called The Hobbit. He's making two movies from it. First one that comes out Dec. 2012 called The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey and the second that comes out Dec. 2013 is titled The Hobbit - There and Back Again.

Well Mr. Jackson has been releasing these incredible behind the scene mini movies (as I like to call them). They run from 10 to 15 minutes and are chuck full of AWESOME inside information and sneak peeks. Well he just released the sixth one yesterday and it's pretty great. If you haven't seen these and you're a fan of Middle Earth/The Hobbit/LOTR they are a must.

Because I actually work in TV I love seeing all these cool behind the scenes footage. Working on these films would be a dream. Don't get me wrong working these films would be hard word and very exhausting but when you work on something that your passionate about it makes the long hours and hard work not so bad. Every single person on these films from cast to crew look like they are just having a blast.

Here's the latest video.

And if you haven't see the first five videos.. click HERE to check them out.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 27

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://MASH4077Podcast.com

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 2, Episode #3 - Radar's Report

27th Episode Overall

Directed by Jackie Cooper
Written by Sheldon Keller & Laurence Marks
Production code K402
Original air date September 29, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: This episode is told as a voice-over of Radar reading a report as he is typing it. Comically, it includes where he puts punctuation and how he spaces the report. In each scene of the episode, the viewer hears the actual scene as well as the report that Radar is making. An enemy prisoner who is being treated in the OR grabs a scalpel and attacks a nurse and a patient of Trapper's before being subdued by Hawkeye. When Trapper's patient subsequently dies, Trapper is furious at the enemy soldier, and considers killing him by removing his IV; however, Hawkeye talks him down.Hawkeye, meanwhile, has fallen head over heels in love with a new nurse, Lt. Erika Johnson. Although he is temporarily deterred by seeing a wedding ring on her hand, he is happy to discover that the ring is merely a shield against unwanted advances. Hawkeye is prepared to propose to the nurse, but she is not interested in a long-term relationship and is shipped out to Tokyo.

After Frank mistakes Klinger for Margaret, the two majors decide to get rid of Klinger. They convince Col. Blake to have Klinger undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Dr. Milton Freedman, an Army psychiatrist, interviews Klinger, and tells him that although he believes Klinger to be sane, he is willing to grant him a Section 8 discharge if he will sign a report confirming that he is a transvestite and a homosexual (a report which Freedman notes will follow him into civilian life). Insisting that he is neither ("I'm just crazy!"), Klinger refuses to sign, and Freedman files a report saying that Klinger is sane

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

A Day of Podcasting

Today was all about podcasting. First I had to finish the next episode of my MASH podcast since it was due to be released today. That took about three hours to finish and upload it. Had some issues with the itunes feeds but seemed to work that out.

My brother came over around 11 to record the next few Alien Nation Podcasts. We've been trying to plan this for a month but with his two children, work and wife spare time is hard to come by. But today we did manage to record the next 2 episodes.. good thing since it's due to be released March 10th. The recordings went really well and I think they will turn out great. Having a great time doing this podcast with my brother.

Wondercon, Disneyland & Avengers Oh My!!!

Lots of stuff going today.. I first started with getting my Wondercon application sent out. They extended the post mark date for professionals until March 2nd and I have been going back and forth if I wanted to go. So I sent out the application today and hopefully will hear back within a week if I can get it or not. I should since I qualify for a San Diego Comic Con Professional pass and they are ran by the same company. I plan on cosplaying at a Hobbit like I did at SDCC last year.. need to get some new Hobbit ears but my feet from last year should still work.

Today is Leap Day and Dinseyland opened at 6am and was staying open 24 hours. I had planned to attended but my house is still a mess and I'm so behind on my podcasts and my next MASH podcast is due to be released tomorrow and I haven't even started editing it. So I opted out and instead read tweets all day from friends who did attend. It sounded like great day until around 8pm when folks said the park reach capacity and was super crowded. I'm kind of glad I didn't go now, I'm not good in big crowds and I don't think I could have stayed away for a full 24 hours.

Did some more cleaning.. got everything done with exception to sweeping and cleaning my hardwood floors.. have to do that tomorrow.

A new trailer came out today for Avengers... and I was excited for this movie but after seeing this I'm beyond excited. I'm a huge super hero fan as well as and a huge fan of Joss Wheadon so it's a win win for me.. check out this AWESOME trailer.

And for the majority of my evening I worked on my next MASH podcast. I started around 5 and didn't finish until 1am when I was just too tired finish so I'll have to finish it up tomorrow and post it.

Cleaning House & Shopping

Today I started to clean up my house after the crazy movie marathon weekend. It always takes me a few days to get motivated to clean up things. I didn't finish everything but I got a good start on things. Took three loads of the dishwasher to get all my dishes cleaned.

I also went shopping today.. haven't gone out shopping since Christmas time so it was fun getting out there. My first stop was Michael's for some crafty items, then I stopped by Staples to pick up some printer paper & ink. My third stop was Sports Chalet, I have a $100 gift certificate and went to buy some shoes but instead picked up a cool hat and back brace. I grabbed some Wendy's for lunch/dinner and headed home.

Tried to catch up on some TV.. I have so much on my DVR. But it was a pretty lazy day. I wanted to get some podcasting done but of course I never go around to it.

Facebook Woes & Oscars

Today I spent most of the day on the computer sorting, uploading and tagging the hundred of photos from this past weekend. Facebook has been a pain. I worked on tagging about half the photos and then there was glitch and I lost all my tags.. so I started again and two hours later I hit save and it came up with an error and once again I lost everything.

At this time I gave up and went and watched The Oscars from last night. I did pretty good at not reading or hearing any spoilers on who won. I really enjoyed Billy Crystal as the host. He had some really funny moments. Most of the awards were not a surprise, and I was disappointed with Meryl's win over Viola but I did love the Cirque du Soleil performance.

Once that was over I went back to Facebook and once again tagged all the 200 photos but this time I did 10 photos at a time and would save them.. and though I got errors over and over they worked. So after seven hours of working on those photos I finally got all of them up and posted.

80's Sci Fi & Fantasy Movie Marathon - Sunday

I got very little sleep last night.. went to bed around 2:30am but actually stayed up and chatted the Josh, Nicole, Robert, Will and Scott who were crashing in my room as well. We mostly talked about balls and how there were 10 of them in the room tonight and how there were only two boobs..Will then sung in the tune of Surf City (2 girls for every boy) 5 balls for every boob and we all lost it, especially me. I had a giggle fit which in turned made people laugh even more which made me laugh even more... it was a vicious circle.. but a great way to end the night. I didn't fall asleep until around 4am and was up at 7:30am. No one was up yet but I finally got out of bed around 8:30 and slowly made my way out to the kitchen trying not to stumble on bodies lying all over the place. I quietly started to clear off the stove and surrounding areas so I could start breakfast.

Soon more people were waking up and by 9am I figured it was time for everyone to get up so I didn't care if I was making noise or not. We made 24 eggs, 30 pieces of bacon, 28 pieces sausages, 15 pancakes, 3 pounds of potatoes/hash browns and a gallon of orange juice. And that still wasn't enough food for everyone. I actually went back and made another dozen eggs and sausages.  While we ate breakfast we started our fifth movie The Dark Crystal. Some folks loved it, others ::cough:: Chris, did not.

After the movie we decided to head out to Vasquez Rocks for a good hike. Our hikes normally last 2 to 2 1/2 hours. We had a huge group, 19 people. And I knew we had different levels of physical ability and not everyone would be able to keep up or go the same places as others. Since I was the host I felt obligated so hike with the "slower" crowd. I was hoping that everyone would hike together but that didn't happen and soon enough we were split into several different groups and I was not a happy hiker. I can say without of doubt that this hike was probably my worse hike with this group. I felt very abandon and apart from the group which gave me a really bad attitude. Luckily I was with my best bud Josh, his girlfriend Nicole and my good friend Jen so all was not lost. We took a nice slow and steady course to our destination. We meet back up with half of the other group who split into two again. We finally made it to our destination and re-grouped and got a few group photos. We decided to head back to the cars but once again instead of all of use traveling back together the more "advanced" group decided to go their own way.. again sour Kenny had appeared. Don't get me wrong I had a great time with my group, but the purpose of hiking with friends is actually hiking with friends. But my group climbed this steep hill before running into a guy with two horses, Chester and Scooby. We stopped and he allowed us to pet the horses. It was actually a nice hike back as we just walked in groups and chatted.

About fifteen minutes later the "advanced" group made it back to the cars and we headed back to my place. I was in a foul mood now and was really trying to not let the hike ruin this fantastic weekend. BTW I hate myself for allowing me to get so upset over something so stupid. But I guess the years of feeling like an outsider came back to me during that hike, when I once again felt very much like an outsider.

We tried to figure out where we were going to have lunch since we had to many people for Islands. We finally decided on Baja Fresh. We got there and grouped a bunch of tables together, ordered our food and had a fun lunch. I sat across from my new friend Robert and got to know him a little better, which was great. After lunch several folks went next door to Cold Stone for some ice cream. We also had to say goodbye to several of the ladies. Jes had to drive back up north, Kim has to take off and Jen had to take Olivia to LAX. So we said our goodbyes and headed back to my place.

Once back the remaining guests sat down to watch our sixth and final film Willow. Willow is one of my all time favorite fantasy movies and it seemed that everyone really enjoyed it.  Once the movie was over slowly everyone said their goodbyes and gave hugs all around until it was just Josh, Nicole and I. We sat around chatting until around 9:30pm then those two left, thus ending an incredible 80's Scifi and Fantasy Movie Marathon Weekend.

The day started out great, then got a little bumpy during the hike, but ended on a great note. I know that I will not have another large party like this. There were just to many people and me being a people pleaser it's to much work to make sure everyone is having fun, were in as I don't have any fun. But I think it was another successful movie marathon weekend. Thank you everyone who attended. I would list everyone's name as I've done in the past but I know I would miss someone so I'll leave it at "you know who you are". Can't wait for the next one Jurassic Park Movie Marathon in March.

You can see a few hundred pictures HERE