Xbox, Abbey, Reba & Cookies

Today I woke up feeling the best I have felt in a while.. still not 100% but getting there. Spent most of the day watching TV.  My buddy Chris mentioned that I should play some Xbox and my friend Jen left a few games for me to play so I popped in LEGO Star Wars II and spent about two hours running around trying to figure out how to open doors and pull levers. It was fun but video games really aren't a favorite of mine when I'm playing them alone.

A few days ago I found out there was a Downton Abbey special called Downton Abbey: Behind the Drama and of course I had to find it.. which I did and I watch it and as you expected I loved it. It was interesting to hear from the creator, cast and crew of this hit TV show.

I also watched Reba McEntire's new comedy Malibu Country. I'm a huge Reba fan, love her music and her previous TV show called Reba. This is very much different from that series but it's just as funny. And a plus playing Reba's mom in a comedian icon who I have loved forever Lily Tomlin and she is hilarious as usual. I'm really looking forward to adding this new series to my weekly TV viewing.

Was feeling better toward the evening and was in the mode for something sweet. With all my marathons folks have left plenty of baking items at my house.. I figured I would have enough to make something. I went with peanut butter cookies as they are one of my favorites. I found a recipe online and went to check and see if I had everything and sure enough I did.  This would be the first time I have ever made cookies from scratch and after and hour I have to say they turned out pretty good. Would have liked a bit more peanut butter taste but they were good enough for me to each four of them right away.

Downton Abbey Christmas & The IT Crowd

Still not feeling great but I did do some cleaning around the house.. I can't stand sitting on my butt when I have so much work to do.

For TV I watched Downton Abbey Christmas special and The IT Crowd.

I didn't even know about the Christmas special until I was looking at Wiki and noticed it after season two. I immediately had to find it to watch. This was the longest episode to date with a running time of 99 minutes. It picks up right where season two ended and I have to say it was incredible. This special felt more like season one did then two. The War now over the show got back to what it does best.. human drama. Everything about this special was.... well special. I think the Christmas theme added to me loving this even more as Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

I know I gush over Downton Abbey but honestly it's one of the best drama's out there.

(Spoilers) A big part of this episode was the Mr. Bates trial. You feel so bad for Bates and Anna, especially when he's convicted and sentence to be hung. I'm so happy they resolved the Mary and Sir Richards storyline which lead to the happy ending of Mary and Matthew finally coming together. I enjoyed the Daisy storyline, poor Daisy was always getting the shaft and she finally stood up for herself, looking forward to seeing where her story goes. And of course there is Thomas, if I do have a complaint about the show it's Thomas. I understand why they need this kind of character but honestly why would the family take him back after they know that he steals from them. I'm happy to see Miss O'Brian trying to separate herself from him. Don't get me wrong she's a horrible person but he just makes her worse. Maggie Smith is one of the best characters on the show. Every episode she makes me laugh, I can see why she won an Emmy for this role... just love her.  (End Spoilers)

Now I must wait for Season 3, it's currently finishing it's run over in the UK, so hopefully the US will get it soon, or I'll have to find it by other means. I'm also planning on purchasing the DVD's for Season 1 & 2, and 3 when it comes out..  I can watch this show over and over and never be bored.

After Downton I continued with The IT Crowd. My buddy Jen introduced me to this series a while ago and we watched season one together. I watched a few episode of season two a few months later but I haven't been back to it since. So tonight I finished off my night with watching the rest of season 2 and half of season 3.

Such a funny show, of course Moss is my favorite but Roy is a close second. I wish they would just stay with those characters. I'm not a fan of the stand alone Jen stories.. I like her best when she interacts with the two guys and I hate the owner of the company.. I could do without him completely. 

I still have half of season of 3 and season 4 before my IT goodness runs out. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

My Gimpy Life Podcast Episode 7

Download from Itunes ow.ly/eYv9G or Listen, get direct download mygimpylifepodcast.com

Show Notes:

Now that My Gimpy Life season one series has come to an end. There will be no more companioncasts, but that doesn't mean the podcast is over... far from it.

In this episode I sit down with Director and SFX maker Greg Aronowitz and talk about the making of the book cover " Blind Desire" for Episode 4 

I play audio comments from viewers Jane Hash and Dr. Ravi Malhotra.

thanks & enjoy,
Kenny

Editing Podcasts

Spend the day sick once again.. watched some TV here and there.. just stuff on my DVR that's been there for a long time. Tried to do stuff around the house but once again realized that it wasn't a good idea. I wish this cold/fever just knock me on my butt and run it's course instead of just lingering around... ugg!!

I did manage to pull myself away from TV later in the day and work on my next My Gimpy Life podcast #7. I didn't have much but I did have an interview with Greg Aronwitz as well as a few audio comments from fans.. so I recorded my intro and outro and spent the next several hours editing a pretty good podcast.  I really tried around 10pm so I didn't get to finish everything but I plan on posting it first thing tomorrow morning... hope you guys enjoy it.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 42

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/ get 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 #18 - Operation Noselift

42nd Episode Overall

Directed by Hy Averback
Written by Paul Richards, Erik Tarloff
Production code K418
Original air date January 19th, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Private Danny Baker has a big problem, and it's attached to his face. After he is caught trying to AWOL, Hawkeye calls in his friend Major Stanley "Stosh" Robbins, a plastic surgeon to help the private. When Frank and Margaret catch wind of the unauthorized operation, it is up to Hawkeye, Trapper, and Radar to prevent the majors from getting in the way.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny

Fly You Fools!!!

This is by far one of the most ingenious advertising campaigns for an airline that I've ever seen.

I Hate Being Sick

No Happy Halloween for me.. I've been sick several days and I'm not feeling any better... well that's not true, I'm feeling better then I did a few days ago but not by much. I hate being sick and this is the kind of sick that's not horrible so I'm not knocked out on my butt. It's the kind of sick where you just don't have the energy to do anything. You just feel blah... That's not good when I have so much stuff to do around the house. I actually try and do stuff but then start to get really dizzy and realize that I'm pushing myself to hard. So I opted to just sit in my recliner and catch up on some TV.

I watched Downton Abbey season one a few days ago and I have been dying to watch season two.. so that's what I did. It's set a few years after season 1 and WWI has begun. A very different feel to the show for season two. Lots of growth for the characters and of course tons of drama. But that's what I love about this show. It's not your over the top (soap operey) drama, it's true, real and so emotional drama.

(Spoilers) My favorites Anna and Mr. Bates are finally together if only for a short time before he's arrested. The ass Thomas is back, and yeah he's still an ass but everything isn't coming up roses for him. He purposely gets shot in the hand to get out of the army. They do show a softer side of him in the hospital but then he goes to Downton and the old evil Thomas re-appears. Poor William dies and causes conflict with Daisy, who is just so adorable. They continue the whole Mary and Matthew, will they won't they get together until the end where Matthew tells Mary they are both cursed and will never be together. So much good stuff.. I can't wait to see where the stories go.

Disney Buys Lucasfilm

Today was not a good to be traveling and visiting family.. While I was having lunch with my Dad my phone started to go berserk with tweets and facebook postings. First one I read was Breaking News tweet.. "Disney Buys Lucasfilm"... I was pretty shocked. I told my dad and he said.. oh that explains your phone going crazy. As I read through the tweets and facebook posts I started to see comments about Disney making Star Wars Episode VII and my heart soared.

I was six/seven when the first Star Wars came out. I remember seeing it many times in the drive in with my family. It made me the geek that I am today. It's the reason I love science fiction and fantasy. I remember having to wait a few years for Empire Strikes Back and then a few more years for Revenge, I mean Return of the Jedi.

I remember when George said this was the middle trilogy and that he'd be making the first three and then the last three for a total of nine movies to complete the Star Wars Story... I was super excited. Time passed and nothing was being made.. I figured that these three movies were going to be it and I was cool with that as I totally love these movies.

Then in the 90's we got word that George was making episodes I, II and III and I was super excited. We were getting more Star Wars. The down side was that he mentioned that he would not be making the final three movies episodes VII, VIII, IX. So what was going to be an nine part story arch turned into a six part story arch and I was cool with that.

Then the three movies came out and fans either loved or hated the prequels. I loved them.. all of them and I enjoyed all the new characters, yes even Jar Jar.

Now when the news broke about Disney buying Lucasfilm and making more Star Wars movie, some of my online "friends" freaked out and were appalled and said this is the death of Star Wars... Kind of got the same reaction when the prequels came out and folks kept saying "Lucas rapped their childhood".  I say.. WHATEVER to them. I hate when people say they hate something and nothing has been seen or done yet. The mere fact that Disney owns Star Wars they feel it's going to be bad. How stupid do you have to be.

First of all I love Disney and everything they do. Disney purchased The Muppets and brought them back into the limelight and made them successful again. Disney purchased Marvel and we got all the cool super heroes movies that escalated into the best movie of the summer The Avengers. Disney folks are not stupid, they are not going to change Star Wars. Disney knows what the fans like and won't change things if they are working.

I love the idea of Disney taking over, I think this is the best thing that could have happened to Lucasfilms and Star Wars. They are going to be using treatments that Lucas wrote for episodes VII, VIII, and IX many years ago. Lucas is still staying on as an consultant, I mean it is his world.

I really liked this tweet from Kevin Smith  "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was told there'd be nine STAR WARS movies. 35 years later, the last 3 are finally happening!"

Honestly I didn't think we'd see this within the lifetime of Lucas.. glad I was wrong. I can't wait until 2015 when we get Star Wars Episode VII. I know I'll be in line hours, if not days before it starts. And I already know I'm going to love it because it's Star Wars.

Visting Family & Friends

Today I was up early and off to visit my family. I try and visit them every two weeks but with crazy gas prices, them living 80+ miles away and my jeep getting horrible gas mileage I have changed it to every 3 weeks.

I left my house at 10:30am and got there around 12:15pm. My sister-in-law, niece and nephew had just left to run an errand. So Dad and I headed out for some lunch. I had planned to go to my favorite Chinese place but as I was driving I remembered that it was Tuesday and the restaurant was closed on Tuesdays.. so we stopped off at El Pollo Loco instead.

Had a nice lunch with Dad then took him to Stater Bros so he could go grocery shopping. Once we got back to his place Lora and the kids were back so I spent some time playing with Kenobi. This was also the first time that Molly didn't scream bloody murder at the sight of me.. so I'm making progress. I mean she still didn't want anything to do with me but it's a start. Brother came home so I got to spend an hour or so hanging with him as well. It was a good family visit.

I left around 4pm to drive a bit north to my buddies Josh's place. I haven't seen Josh in over a month and normally when I visit family I like to visit him as well since he lives out this way. Got to Josh's around 4:45pm, we hung out and talked for a few hours, caught up on each others lives.

We then headed out to dinner at a place we went to a few months ago that both of us really enjoyed, Carino's Italian Restaurant. It was a nice dinner. Once back at his place we watched the first episode of Downton Abbey (yes I intrigued him with all my tweets a few days ago). He was instantly hooked and I knew if I started watching more I wouldn't leave for hours. We moved on to an episode of Spaced, we are almost through season 2. Around 10pm we said goodbyes and I headed home and was in bed by 11:45pm. It was a great day spent with family and friends.

Oh and the big news that broke... well I'll cover that in a separate blog post :)

First Viewing of Downton Abbey

Woke up not feeling so great, but knew I had to continue to push myself to get some stuff done. I did manage to get an hour and  45 minutes of painting done before grabbing some lunch and watching some TV. I recently acquired a few seasons of a show that has been getting alot of buzz the past year or so, Downton Abbey.

I really don't know much about it but alot of my friends on and off line love it so I figured I'd give it a go.  All I have to say is WOW!!!

Here are my tweets as I was watching:

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 2:35pm via Twitter for iPhone

Watching my first episode of Downton Abbey. S1 Ep 1 Let's see what all this hype is about :)

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 2:48pm via Twitter for iPhone

Ten minutes in and I'm already loving it. #DowntonAbbey

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 3:42pm via Twitter for iPhone

Downtown Abbey is FANTASTIC.. Moving on to episode 2 of season 1

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 4:31pm via Twitter for iPhone

Downton Abbey is so good and I'm only on Episode 2, not getting anything else done today.. I'm addicted. #DowntonAbbey

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 6:16pm via Twitter for iPhone

Moving on to episode 5 of season 1, yeah this day is lost :) #DowntonAbbey

Geekyfanboy Oct 29, 8:33pm via Twitter for iPhone

Now time for the season one finale of Downton Abbey. Watched all 7 episodes in one sitting.. So good

Thus the day was over. It was only 9:30pm when I finished and it took all my strength to not start watching season two as I knew I wouldn't stop and would be up for another 8 hours. So I'm saving that season for another day.

Downton Abbey lived up to and exceeded the hype in my opinion. It's pure drama, no elements of science fiction or fantasy. It's a history piece, the acting is superb, the characters are so well defined right off the bat. I never hated characters such as I did with O'Brian and Thomas. I loved Bates and Anna. There are so many characters and they are all fantastic and interesting. I would say it's a British soap opera but that seems to do it dis justice. It's not an over the top melodrama. It's just incredible... There was never a dull moment. It was fascinating to see the two different dichotomies in the house (upper class and lower class) and how they intermingled. 

British royalty has always interested me and I love this period in time for it's architecture and clothing, men were always so dashing and ladies so beautiful. 

This series truly is a masterpiece and I can't wait to watch Season 2 and see where these peoples lives are taken.

Searching for Motivation

Once again my "out of work" funk is beginning to rear it's ugly head. I hate feeling this way, as it's not like I have nothing to do while I am out of work. On the contrary I have so much do between prepping the house to be sold, podcasts and catching up on TV that should keep me busy 24/7.

But instead of getting stuff done I'm finding that I'm having to motivate myself to get little things done and it's tough. What is crazy is I know that the funk is coming, I know the laziness is coming and I know that I'll regret not getting all this stuff done while I had the time off (as I will be getting a job again hopefully soon).  It's the same pattern that I've fallen into the past few years. So you think that would be motivation enough to get things done.. but it's not. :(

Now I haven't been feeling 100% for a few weeks (physically) so that could be playing a part is my laziness and over all frump. I have a chronic condition that I don't talk about here, it causes some major pain and uncomfortableness everyday. The past 10 years it's been particularly bad and flairs up from time to time and it's hard to be motivated and get things done when your in pain.

Yesterday on Saturday I painted for 2 1/2 hours, which I'm very happy about. I took a break to eat some lunch and while on my lunch I like to try and catch up on a TV show. My intent was to go back out and do a few more hours of painting but that never happened. I pretty much stayed inside and worked on my websites and various other things on the net and watched a bit of TV. I assured myself that I would get more painting done tomorrow (Sunday).

Well Sunday happened and once again I went outside and painted for about 1 1/2 hours before coming inside to rest and once again I didn't go back outside to paint more. Instead I worked on the next Knights of the Guild podcast. I missed a month last month (which I hate doing) and October is almost over and I didn't want to miss another month so I took the time today to record, edit and post Knights of the guild episode #44.

And to end Sunday I had my online bro-date with my bestie Chris for our Once Upon a Time viewing. And as always it was fun watching this new episode with Chris and Once Upon a Time continues to be my favorite TV series on right now.

In the end the weekend wasn't a complete waste.. I did manage to get 4 hours of painting done and released a podcast... could have been worse. I really need to stop this funk before it takes hold fully.

Knights of the Guild Ep 44

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast or listen, get direct download at http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

Show Notes:

 

I talk Season 6 and CompanionCasts
Tink Comic Book Review by Eric Hargus
On set of "I'm The One That's Cool" music video, I interview Sandeep, Robin, Vince and lead make up artist Kim Graczyk

 

Enjoy, ~Kenny~