Clone Wars - Youngling Storyline

Today they aired the second of what I expect to be a three-part story "Young Jedi" on the Star Wars The Clone Wars. The storyline follows Ahsoka as she mentors 6 younglings who appeared to be young teenagers and their adventures into becoming full padawans. The Padawans are: Petro: a young male human (almost Latin looking). Cocky, good looking, brash, headstrong, brave, the leader. Katooni: a young Tholothian female. Princess Leia archetype, strong, could be leader if needed.  Gungi: a young male Wookiee, very Chewbacca like character wise and proud. Zatt: A young male Nautolan, the nerdy, techy one. Byph: A young male Ithorian, the scaredy cat. And Ganodi: A young female Rodian. Glass is always half empty.

First part of this story aired last Saturday "The Gathering" and I just totally fell in love with these kids and this storyline. I haven't loved a Clone Wars storyline this much since season 3 and the Mortis Trilogy.  There was just something special about these six kids. This morning they aired part two "A Test of Strength" and again I really enjoyed this episode. You got to see more of the personalities of the six younglings. You also got to see Ahsoka (one of my favorite characters from The Clone Wars) kick some butt. I'm really looking forward to how this storyline ends.. huge cliffhanger with this episode.

This trilogy actually was shown at Celebration VI to a young crowd, they cut them all together and called it Young Jedi. Also folks have been speculating that this was an attempt at doing a spin off of the Clone Wars for a younger audience and I can see that with the few episodes we have seen. I don't know if the plan fell through since they aired them in an actual season of the Clone Wars or if they still plan on doing something with these kids once their three episode arc is over.. guess will have to wait and see. I for one would love to see a series about these kids becoming Padawans and then Jedi's. Only downside is The Clone Wars takes place between episodes 2 and 3 and we all know what happens to the younglings/Padawans and Jedi.

Sebastian and Hiking

Today I got to hang out with my buddy Sebastian. We haven't seen each other or hung out since we both got let go from our last job. He was my post pa at the time. So it's been a good few months.

It was great seeing him again after the long hiatus. When he got here was just sat and chatted for an hour before I realized I was straving so we made plans to go to Islands for his Birthday lunch (he had a birthday last month). Lunch was nice as I hadn't had Islands in a while and I so love their cheddar fries and burger.

After Lunch we came back and let our stomach relax. We planned to watch one of the screener that I had but then he suggested watching Lord of the Rings (at least the first one) since he has never seen any of them ( I know.. why are we friends :) But instead of watching movies we opted to go hiking at Vasquez Rocks. We hiked for about and hour before calling it a day (we were also being kicked out as the park closed at 5pm). Got back to my place and he planned to leave at 6 when his girlfriend got off work but she was delayed and he stuck around for another hour or so and we just chatted about everything. It was a really great visit and I hope another two months does pass before we do that again.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep11

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen, get Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 11 - Chains of Love

Directed by Harry Longstreet
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date November 27, 1989

Plot Summary: Newcomer Clara Bow is thought to be a Black Widow Killer, mating with and then murdering sexual partners she meets through a computer dating service. These crimes are revealed to be the work of Ted Healy, a former obsessed lover of hers who can't stand the thought of her being with anyone else. As such, he's lined up his next target, George Francisco, currently involved in a sting operation.

The on again, off again Sikes-Cathy relationship veers off course a bit when he tries to get her to watch some Three Stooges comedy films, and she, like most human females doesn't think they are amusing at all. Complicating his life even further is Tectonese Marvin Gardens, who has taken a bonding drug and fallen in love with him, the same bonding drug that an insecure George wants Susan to ingest.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

BSG: Blood and Chrome

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is a prequel to the reimangined BSG that ran on Syfy a few years ago. Set in the tenth year of the First Cylon War, the story follows William Adama a young pilot with the call sign "Husker." Adama, a new Academy graduate, is assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. He is ordered to escort a young woman, who eventually turns out to have information that carries significant importance to certain Cylon secrets. He is accompanied by Coker Fasjovik. The routine mission eventually turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal part in their story.

This series was announced back in 2010, back then it was unclear where this series would air. At first it sounded like it would be a web series, then they announced it would be a 2 hour backdoor pilot, which meant there was a possibility that Syfy would pick this up and air it on TV.  Then we heard nothing for a long time. Finally a few weeks ago news popped up that it was a ten 12 minute episode web series that would premiere online at Machinima.com. It's also going to air on Syfy in February right before they release a special extended edition on blu ray and DVD. So there are lots of ways to enjoy this series.

I was super excited to see this new series as the trailer really looked amazing. They actually released the first two episodes today which you can see below. I think this is going to be a great web series and I'm actually bummed that Syfy didn't pick this series up for a TV. Blood and Chrome feels so much more like Battlestar Galactica then Caprica ever did. The effects are amazing, I love the idea of getting to know Adama when he was younger. I love the old school look of the Vipers, Cylon raiders and Cylons. It's only been two episodes but I'm hooked.. can't wait for the rest of the series and I'll be watching it again on Syfy when it airs in Feb and buying on blu ray.. this is a great addition the Battlestar Universe.

Recording with my Brother

Today was all about Alien Nation podcast. Spent the morning prepping show notes and such waiting for my brother to arrive around 3pm. We planned to record three podcasts, Nov, Dec. and Jan episodes. In fact November's episode is due to be released tomorrow at midnight.. so we were cutting it close this time.

When Mike got here we jumped right in and watched episode 11 Chains of Love. It's one of my all time favorites of Alien Nation and Mike really enjoy it as well so this was going to be a fun conversation. And I was not disappointed.. we laughed so much that we kept making mistakes and having to do things over. It was a ton of fun.

It took us a few hours to get it done which was a bit longer then I was hoping for. So we opted to only do two podcasts today and then he would come back in a few weeks to do two more. My brother has a family, wife and kids and has lots of things to juggle. So I normally can get him every other month for about six hours.

So we sat down to watch episode 12 The Red Room. This one is one of my least favorites. And about a half hour into the show Mike looked at me and said.. OMG what are we going to talk about .. nothing has happened. But then the last half hour was pretty great and then suddenly stops. 

We thought the conversation on this episode would be really short, I also was unable to find any behind the scenes information so I figured this will be the shortest episode we have done so far. But in the end we actually had a pretty good conversation about this episode. Still not my favorite episode but it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

It was another fun recording day.. I have a great time doing the podcast with my brother. This is probably my least listened to podcast, I mean Alien Nation is 20 years old and didn't have a huge following then.. but Mike and I would do it if there was only 1 listener, it's a just a great time.

My Hobbit Ticket Adventure

Well I came up with this great idea of getting a group of friends together for the premiere of the Hobbit movie in December. I created a facebook event and invited a bunch friends. The nice guy I am I offered to get tickets for those who were coming so we could all sit together (this theater has assigned seating). Out of the 23 people who said they were coming, 16 of them took me up on that offer. So I was up early and online waiting for 9am to come (that's when the tickets actual went on sale).

9am came and went and still nothing. Tickets were up on Fandango but unfortunately you can't buy this theaters tickets on Fandango (again it's assigned seating). So I hung out online for another hour or so and the Arclight finally put up their tickets. There are several different types of showings. There is the regular 2D version and then the version that Peter Jackson filmed the movie in and feels it should be seen, 3D HFR (48 fps). I was hoping to get something around 8:30 but there was only a 2D version of the movie playing then and the prices were screwed up so if you purchased them they would charge you the 3D prices. But on the upside the 7:30 showing which was in 3D HFR were also priced wrong but where about 4 dollars cheaper. Most of the folks didn't care if we saw the film in 2D or 3D and I'm not one to watch films in 3D unless they were created that way.. like this film. So I opted for the 7:30pm time and the current price was still cheaper. I could only buy 10 tickets at a time so I opted to do 8 and 8 in two different rows. As I was finishing my first 8 tickets the site realized it's mistake and cancelled my transaction before it was done. So I wound up with no seats.

My second attempt.. I was still debating on which version to see, though I wanted to see the 3D HFR version and was willing to pay the extra money I know some would not want to pay the extra money. So I went to the facebook event and asked what others thought. Didn't get many responses.

The site was down another hour before they got the prices fixed and were selling tickets again. Seats were going fast and I needed 16 close together. With little help from the group, I went with 7:30 3D version again and the seats that I selected prior, but the transaction was cancelled were taken.. not sure if it was because of my transaction or what but I couldn't get those. I went with a row behind it and selected 10 seats this time. Got to the end put in my credit card info and the card was declined. Come to find out that the last transaction did go through and now this same card was getting another transaction of a large amount of money and the froze my credit card.

Now I don't know if you have purchased tickets online before but you have a timer of how long they will hold those seats before releasing them and my time was almost over. I quickly went to my wallet for my back up credit card, an AMEX and it wasn't there. So I start to panic as my card was missing and I don't use that card often and can't for the life of me remember when I used it last. Needless to say my time expired and my transaction was cancelled and I had to start all over again.

My third attempt .. the seat were being snapped up quickly.. the ones I had in attempt two were gone so it pushed us even further back in the theater. Got to the end of the transaction and pulled out my third credit card which is for emergencies only and I've never charged anything to it... Success!!! I got 10 seats. I quickly moved to grab six more in the next row before they were taken.

My fourth attempt.. got the six seats in front of the first ten. All was well, I went to check out and my credit card that I just used for the 10 tickets was declined, to many high cost transaction within a few minutes.. they froze the card.

I'm in an all out panic mode.. I got 10 seats.. still need 6 more and seats were filling up fast. I went to my last resort, my debt card... I never use my debt card for online purchases but this was an emergency.. I had no choice..

My fifth attempt..several of the seats that I gotten in attempt four were taken so I found six more seats all together slightly to the right of the group of ten seats. I went to finish my transaction and use my debt card and got them.

After four hours online and five attempts I manage to buy 16 seats in two rows so the we can all sit together for the Hobbit premiere.  It was crazy but well worth it as it's going to be an awesome bunch of friends to watch this movie with... I so can't wait!!!!

Election Day & Lunch with a Friend

Election Day... woke up around 8am, did my morning routine and at 9am I headed over to my neighbors place to vote. I was a bit worried about the presidential vote this year. I really didn't want Mitt Romney to win and from all the polls it was an extremely tight race.

I've voted at this polling place the past three years (ever since I've lived out in Agua Dulce) and I have to say I have never seen this place so busy. I actually had to wait in line. I had already marked the voters guide that was sent to me last week so it took no time for me to fill out my ballet.

After voting I came back home and got ready to work out when my bestie Chris got online and we started to chat. He asked if I wanted hang out with him on Minecraft and since it's been a few days since we hung out I forgone my workout (pushed it till later) and played a few hours of Minecraft.

Around 11:30 he had to get ready for work and I had to get ready for a Bro lunch date. I was having lunch down in Noho with one of my oldest and dearest friends Chris or not to confuse him with all the other Chris' I have in my life will call him Quilty (his last name). Quilty and I met on the set of The Dating Game back in 95/96 and have remained close over the past 16 years. I watched him get married and become a father twice. We see each other maybe three or four times a year if we're lucky. So our get together are always fantastic. We were having lunch at one of our favorite places Shakey's . We had a great time hanging for a few hours catching up on each other's lives. We vowed to hang out at least once a month.. now we just have to stick to it.

I got home around 3pm and had planned to work out but I made the mistake of turning on the TV and they had election updates as polls were about to close on the east coast. I spent the next six hours glued to my computer and TV watching election results. I'd cheer when a state would go blue and boo with it went red. I expected this election to run well into the morning as all polls kept saying how close the two running mates were. Well that didn't happen.. around 8 to 8:30pm NBC (who I was watching) called it for Obama as soon as Ohio went blue. There were still the west coast states to count but if they went as expected blue then Obama would win. I tried to wait for this to happen but then Virgina went blue and Florida was heading that way. There was no way Romney would win and finally around 10ish he conceded to Obama and Obama gave another fantastic speech and I could breath again.

I may not agree with all of Obama's policy's but the one major difference between Democrats and Republican. Being a gay man Democrats treat me as a human being with rights and feelings. Republicans see me as an abomination with no rights (before you yell at me I know not all Republicans feel that way, but the ones running for pres and vp do).

Also three states approved gay marriages for the first time. Woohooo Thanks Washington, Maine and Maryland. We're up to 9 states and D.C. I know it's only 9 of 50 but it's a start, baby steps.. one day this topic will be a thing of the past and being gay will be as normal as being straight. I hope to live to see the day.

Workout. Yardwork, E.T. and Once

Back to feeling good, still not 100% but good enough to workout and do some yard work outside. I'm really struggling with getting back into my workout routine. Last week I worked out only two days, but then again I did get sick so that may have had something to do with it. Today I did 45 minutes on the elliptical.. I hope to continue to workout the rest of this week.

I also spent an hour or so cleaning up outside. With all the painting going on I have laid plastic and paper all over to place to protect my decks but with all the high winds the past few days everything is all over the place.. there are painting supplies, chairs, plastic and paper from one end of my property to the other.. so I spent an hour going around and cleaning things up.

I had a fairly heavy lunch and after that I felt very lethargic and pretty much watched TV the rest of the day. I recently purchased E.T. on blu ray (30th Anniversary) so I watched all of the extra behind the scenes materials.. they had lots of pretty great behind the scenes footage. Lots of interviews with cast member (done in 2002, for the 20th anniversary edition DVD) I love when directors think ahead and take a ton of behind the scenes footage. I mean when they shot E.T. behind the scenes material wasn't the norm to accompany the movie when it was released on VHS. But folks like Speilberg and Lucas were ahead of their times.

I also recently purchased Once Upon A Time season one blu ray so I decided to check out all the cool behind the scenes stuff they had on those discs. Not as extensive as E.T. but they had some pretty good segments. Hopefully with season two will get a bit more BTS footage. I did enjoy the few deleted scenes.. those are always fun to see.

Watched a bit of recorded TV and that as my Monday. Hopefully I'll get motivated to get back out there and paint some more.

Wreck-it-Ralph with Friends

Today I woke up and felt pretty good.. I'd say I'm about 90% better which is good since I have plans to go out and have lunch with some friends and then go see Wreck-it-Ralph at the Arclight.

Lunch was planned for 11:30am so I left my place around 10:30ish and got to the Sherman Oaks Galleria around 11:15am. Made my way to The Cheesecake Factory where we were having lunch. Some folks were already there so I said my hello's. We had a party of 13 so it took them a while to seat us. But we also had a few folks who were running a bit behind. Joining us for lunch was Dallas (how organized the who thing), Matt, Jessica, Aaron, Rupert, Michele, Anthony and Robin. Joining us late was Kevin and Patrick.

It was a nice lunch but because there were so many of us it took a while to get the order in, get the food and then the checks. Our movie started at 1:15 and we got our checks around 1:10. Lucky for us we had our preassigned seats so we could get there at the last minute and not worry about where to sit.

We made our way into the theater and a few other folks who didn't join us for lunch were in the theater, Scott, Mazin, Nicki, Crystal, Jeremy, and Jennifer. Dallas planned this well and we all got to sit together. Now for the movie.

From the previews this movie looked like a lot of fun, so I was looking forward to it. And I have to say it didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed this movie, the story had so much heart in it. I cried during several scenes, which isn't that unusual but still a good sign. The animation was really well done. I liked the movement of the "older" game characters (more 8 bit) to the new high definition characters. Ralph is just so damn likable, you feel for him. He's just a guy who is extremely lonely, all he wants are friends.

Another fun aspect of this movie are all the awesome video game characters. Now I'm not a big video game player but I did play arcade video games when I was younger and alot of the characters were from those games. This is a movie you can watch again and again and pick up more of the hidden items.  I give Wreck-it-Ralph a B+

It was great seeing this movie with about 16 friends, I think that's one of the largest groups of friends that I've seen a movie with. Afterwards a few of us went out to the courtyard area and sat around for another hour and just hung out and chatted.

Got home from the movies and jumped online and played Minecraft with my bestie Chris for a few hours before making dinner and watching the latest episode of Once Upon a Time.. once again with my bestie Chris. 

It was a pretty great day today.