Disneyland and Vampires

So I crashed at Robert's place last night as we are going to Disneyland in the morning and he lives closer. We were up and out around 9am, we made it to Disneyland around 10 and it wasn't to busy. I thought, since it was a Saturday, that it would be busy but the parking structure wasn't that bad. First thing we did was get a corn dog, we didn't eat breakfast and were both hungry.

After the corn dog we headed over to Star Tours to get a fast pass and then rode Astro Blaster for our first ride. The competitive nature comes out in the both of us when we go head to head but Robert won this round.

Next was Space Mountain, we waited about 45 minutes or so, which really in the big picture isn't that bad. It gives Robert and I some time to chat and boy do we have some crazy conversations. I won't go into details but it was a very enlightening and somewhat disgusting conversation :)

It was now time for our fast pass for Star Tours so we rode that next, we got Hoth for our first planet, which I really enjoy, then Leia spoke to us about the rebel spy and for our second stop we got Coruscant, which isn't my favorite but still fun. On our way out we grabbed a churro to enjoy and walked over to Adventure Land. We planned to ride Indiana Jones but the wait was an hour so instead we go a fast pass and made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean. We chose poorly on which line to get into (there are two) so it took a bit longer to get on the ride but still it gave Robert and I time to just hang.

Next was The Haunted Mansion, this ride we literally walked onto, there was hardly any wait time. Like Pirates this ride is just fun to chill and relax. It's great to get off your feet and just have fun.

After the Hunted Mansion we were ready for some lunch, I wanted to try this Mexican restaurant over in Frontier Land which until recently never knew it existed. Robert and I got the same thing, some cheese enchiladas and they were very tasty.

When we were done with lunch we headed back to Indiana Jones as our fast pass time was now but the ride of down and they weren't sure when it would be up again. They said we could use our fast pass any time today when the ride is working again.

If you don't know what a fast pass is, you can get a hour time period on when you can bypass a large chunk of the line. You can only get so many per day and when they first started you had to come between the times listed, but for years now it didn't matter on what time you came as along as it was after the first time listed, but Robert informed me that they have gone back to having to go in-between the times listed.

Since we couldn't get on Indiana Jones and the Matterhorn had the biggest line I'd seen in years we headed over to Disney California Adventures.

First ride we did there was Radiator Springs Racers, we did the single rider line as the regular line can take hours, and the single rider line only 20 minutes. And the cool thing is Robert and I actually got to ride in the same car.. so win win for us.

After Racers we got some soft served ice cream (you can only get it at DCA). We ate while we were in line for Screaming.

Next was Midway Mania and again here is were our competitive nature came into effect again but this time I beat Robert.. woohoo.

We then did Silly Symphony Swings, this isn't one of my normal rides but Robert really enjoys them and I don't mind swinging.

After the swings we did Goofy's Sky School, which is always a lot of fun. Little Mermaid, which is a new favorite of mine at DCA and finally Mater's Tractor Pull, which was my first time on this ride and it's alot of fun.

We headed back over to Disneyland to ride Indiana Jones but when we got there it was broken down again, by this time it was just after 7:30 and we both agreed we had a great time and was ready for some dinner.

I mentioned going to Denny's as I enjoy their buffalo chicken strips, and Robert said we should do Buffalo Wild Wings. I've only been there once and lucky for us there is one near Disneyland, well actually closer to Knott's Berry Farm. Anyways we were there for a few hours and enjoyed several different types of buffalo wings as well as buffalo fries, it was all was very tasty. I even purchase several bottle of the buffalo sauce to use at home.. yum!!

We headed back to Roberts and decided to end the night with some Buffy. We continued our Buffy rewatch/first time. We are in the middle of the final season. Tonight we started with S7 Ep 10 "Bring on the Night" Buffy attempts to rescue Spike from The First. Giles arrives in town with three Potential Slayers and some unnerving news.

A good episode.. this is the first episode that really starts the beginning of the end of the series. Giles returns with, what we know now as "Potential" Slayers. I was never a bit fan of these Potential as I was always to understood that there is born 1 slayer per generation to fight evil. But now there are a ton. I mean I understand that slayers die and they need replacements but this story line never really made since to me. But that doesn't mean it took anything about from the final season and these episodes.. still loved them.

We watched one more episode before calling it a night, S7 Ep 11 "Showtime" Buffy must win back the confidence of Potential Slayers; Anya and Giles seek out an oracle.

Anther good episode, my friend Felicia Day is introduced as one of the potentials which is awesome. Buffy got her ass kicked by the vampire that vampires fear. Poor Spike is being tortured but he still hold out hope that Buffy will save him.  Some of the potential were so whiny but end the end they were all schooled by Buffy and who begins to build this arm against the first evil. This was a really good build up episode.

By this time it was super late so I decided to crash as Robert's house again and head home early in the morning. It was an awesome day of Best buds, Disney magic and Buffy kick ass.. couldn't get any better then that.

Much Ado About Nothing - My Review

So I didn't plan on seeing this movie in the theater. I mean I'm a big Joss Whedon fan and a love Shakespeare but I figured this movie would be just as good on blu-ray on my 60 inch TV and since I'm out of work I shouldn't be spending money on a theater ticket. Well my friend Anne posted a link to an event at the Arclight Hollywood, it was a screening of this movie and then a panel afterwards that would include Joss himself.

Next thing I knew I was clicking on the link, selecting my seat and purchasing the ticket. At the time this was the only showing but a week or so ago they added a bunch more including one at the Dome with a panel afterwards. Some friends returned their tickets and got tickets for the later showing.. I stuck with my original plan. Joining me though we were sitting far apart from each other. Jes, Jen, Anne and Nicki... and to my surprise my friend Amy.

So I had my popcorn and soda and I was ready for the movie. A few days ago I saw something that said this movie was in black and white, and then today before I headed out my friend Thomas mentioned that it's all done in Shakespeare's original language. So I kind of knew what to expect when it started.

As I mentioned I enjoy Shakespeare but I've never read Much Ado About Nothing. So I had no idea what the story was or anything that was going to happen. It took a good ten to fifteen minutes to get use to the language but afterwards you start to understand the story it was like second nature. I really enjoyed the movie. I mean I'm a huge Whedonite and most of the cast were from previous Whedon projects so that made it extra fun. This was shot in only 12 days at Joss' house. This was like a pet project for Joss.

The acting is incredible. I don't know how these guys remember such long and very complicated speeches.. they were just amazing. I love the way it was shot, I'm not a big fan of B&W but this worked. It was strange at first to hear the "old" language set in a modern setting with cell phones and such. It was a very entertaining movie and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. I give it a solid B+

Afterwards there was a panel, joining Joss were actors from the movie. Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg and Tom Lenk (come to find out that the Dome screening had four more actors join in). The panel was a blast, it was great hearing how this project came together, how the actors had been doing Shakespeare for fun at Joss' house... I guess Joss had parties all the time and they did this just for fun. It was great hearing everyone's love of Shakespeare and how they have all wanted to do Shakespeare. Clark Gregg had a fun story of how he was suppose to do a play and had to decline being in the movie but the play was delayed two weeks and that normally that isn't enough time to do a movie but for this movie it was so he got to do it.

All in all it was a fun, entertaining evening.

Goonies, Podcasts, Workout and Bees

28 years ago today I was a young man (14/15) watching what would be one of my all time favorite movies. I remember wishing I had a group of friends like The Goonies and we'd go off on these crazy adventures. Of course that never happened but I did see The Goonies six or seven times in the theater, got the book, soundtrack and anything else I could find. When I drove up north in 2010 I had to drive through Astoria, Orgeon (that's where the story takes place).

This movie is still one of my all time favorites and they did a fantastic 25th anniversary blu-ray release a few years ago, they even created a Goonies board game with it.. I can't wait to see what they do for the 30th in a few years.  Happy 28 years Goonies.. and remember Goonies Never Say Die!!!

Today I worked on my next Alien Nation podcast, again I've been struggling with motivation (future blog post to come), but I did manage to put in a few hours of work. Still have a few more hours to finish but I'm well on my way. 

I continued with my workout: 15 minutes of cardio on the elliptical,
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs),  3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs), 3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs), 3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs), 3 sets of 10 on the bicep curl (45 lbs)

Not my pix, but it's what it looked like

As I was walking outside to the garage a heard this loud buzzing sound I looked around and bout five feet above my head was a swarm of bees. Now I've seen swarms of bees in movies and on TV but it doesn't prepare you for when you actually see and hear them. The buzzing is deafening, there had to be at least a few hundred. I remember thinking to myself.. don't move, just be still and they will go away. I mean swarms of bees are known to kill people. It was tough trying to stay still as my legs were like jello and it took everything I had to just wait patiently as the passed by. It was one of the scariest moments in my life.

I went and saw Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing at the Arclight in Hollywood, I'm going to post a seperate review blog for that.

After the movie I went and grabbed some In-N-Out with Dallas, Jes and Jen before heading over to my buddy Robert's place where I was crashing for the night as we were going to hang out at Disneyland tomorrow.

Twitter, Dinner and Superman

I created some new business cards for my production company... Geekyfanoy Productions. Now that I have my new logo I wanted to get some new cards made. I tried various templates but I think this is my favorite. It's simple, easy to read and to the point.. just what a business card should be. What do you guys think?

I've been on twitter almost since the beginning and I've slowly built my following. I'm currently at 2459. It helps that I'm a podcaster and worked for The Guild as alot of my followers are from there. I guess they find what I say interesting as my followers continue to grow but at a much slower pace these days. I remember when I hit 1000, then 1500 and finally 2000. I was so excited. To think that I have over 2000 people who want to read my dribble about my life and geeky things... it's pretty awesome. Will I hit 2500 by the end of the year.. who knows all I know is I enjoy interacting with my followers and I hope to continue to entertain and talk geek for many years to come.

Tonight I had dinner with my buddy Christopher. I've known Christopher for over 10 years now, it's crazy how times flies. We went to Islands and had a delicious dinner while catching up on each others lives.

When I got home from dinner I still had to do my workout.. I was procratinating all day and now it's 9pm and I'm tired but I still have to get my cardio done. So I jump on the elliptical for 30 minutes. It wasn't as bad as I thought.. at least once I got going.

I ended the night watching Henry Cavill who is playing Superman in Man of Steel on Leno. Not only is this guy gorgeous, British but he's a geek. He was telling Leno how he reacted when he got the part. He was playing WOW and was raiding.. so when the phone rang he ignored it because you can't pause an MMO and he didn't want to leave his fellow guild defenseless. When it finished ringing he looked down and saw that he had a missed call from Zack Snyder (the director of Man of Steel). He was sure he blew it, he quickly called them back and the rest is history.. but I mean come on.. how awesome is that story.. he's perfect Superman.

I can't wait, it's only a week away and I've gone on "radio" silence for all things Man of Steel. No more featurettes, no more trailers, commercials or anything else that shows anything about Man of Steel. I want to go into this movie without seeing half of it on TV. This is one of my top three movies to see this year.. Star Trek was first, this is second and The Hobbit 2 later this year is third. Man of Steel is going to be EPIC!!!!!

Buffy Season Seven...continues

I ended my Wednesday like I have done the past few months.. at my buddy Robert's place watching Buffy. We are about a third of the way through the seventh and final season. First up was Ep 7 "Conversations with Dead People" Several Scooby members have separate encounters with dead loved one with warnings.

I really enjoyed this episode. I mean it didn't really didn't make a whole lot of sense but was still alot of fun and very freaky. Poor Dawn was put through the ringer. It was great to see Jonathan Woodward (Before Firefly) playing a vampire and having a fantastic conversation with Buffy. In the end we find out it was the big bad playing with all their minds. Though Dawn is still a bit weary of her mother's warning about Buffy. It was sad to see Jonathan die, I totally forgot that happened.

Next up we watched Ep 8 "Sleeper" Buffy probes a series of grisly murders that may be the work of Spike.

Another good episode. A continuation from the previous episode. Spike is being controlled by this new big bad and is killing again. We saw girls being killed all over the world.. now we are back with the watchers and they are also being killed.. Giles finds one dying as an axe comes down about to hit him when the screen goes black... dun dun dun...

And our final episode of the night was Ep 9 "Never Leave Me" The Scooby Gang begins to realize the magnitude of their peril. The Summers' home gains two captives: Spike and Andrew.

Again a continuation of the previous two episodes.. not alot of stand alone episodes in this season. It's like one long story arc. Some humor with Xander and Anya playing good cop/bad cop with Andrew. Lot's of setting up for the second half of the final season. At the end Spike is kidnapped and his blood is drained to open of the "hellmouth" and unleash the "first" evil. We also get a hint that something is up with Principle Wood.. now of course I know what it is and I can't wait until it's revealed.

Only three episodes tonight.. we got off to a later start with some techy issues and we also chatted a bit beforehand. Overall three solid episodes and well on our way to the explosive conclusion to the Buffy series.

Working Out, Superman & Love

I didn't get alot of productive work done today.. I didn't get any podcast work done or anything done around the house. I did manage to work out which was nice, this is my third day in a row working out.. Today was a full work out like Monday

Today's Workout:

15 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

I really don't understand BMI (Body Mass Index). There are calculators online and all you do is enter your weight and height and it gives you your number. Well my BMI is 36.2 which according to their scale puts me in the obese category.  Now I know I'm over weight, but I've never considered myself obese. I'm short and stocky and the BMI calculation doesn't really take that into account. All it knows is I'm 5'3" and 208 lbs. According to the BMI chart I would need to be 140 lbs to just be below the limit of being "normal". I can't tell you the last time I was 140 lbs. it was back in junior high. It's discouraging to hear that you are obese.. when you're really not.

I can't wait for Man of Steel next week.. but before then you gotta check out this very cool article about the past 75 years of Superman's suit. It was a fun read and interesting to see how the suit has changed over the years. You can read the full article HERE

I really enjoy some of Syfy's reality/game shows like Faceoff and Total Blackout.. well they have a new one that just started this week called Exit.

In each nail-biting episode, four teams of two contestants will battle to escape a series of four mind-bending and seemingly diabolical rooms, each more challenging than the last. The winning team must beat the clock while solving rapid-fire brain games and navigating a bevy of terrifyingly entertaining puzzles in order to be the only team to truly exit and win the $10,000 prize.

I loved this new series.. I'm bummed that season one is only six episodes but I can't wait for the next one. This show is intense, full of pop-culture goodies and just plain and simply fun to watch. Check it out it if you can... you won't be disappointed.

I put a call out there for help with my next Tattoo.. this time it's going to be on my left calf and be Star Trek themed.. I'm looking for an artist friend who can bring my idea to life. Watched this very sweet video online today that I wanted to share with you all.. it is the story of a gay couple who've been together for over 50 years.. such a sweet story.

Watched this very sweet video online today that I wanted to share with you all.. it is the story of a gay couple who've been together for over 50 years.. such a sweet story. We need marriage equality.

Hiking Vasquez

As part of my new workout regime I'm trying to go hiking at Vasquez Rock at least twice a week. It's only a few miles away from my house and not working (at the moment) and being cooped up in the house all day long, it's good to get outside and get some fresh air.  Only issue I have to deal with is the heat. Luckily it was only 75 outside so it wasn't too hot.

The good thing about hiking during the week is that there are very few people around.. you pretty much have the entire part to yourself.. wish is nice.

It was a good hike, a little bit of climbing but mostly just traversing rocky terrain. I was out there for about an hour. I got a really good cardio workout.

Podcasts, Working Out & TV

I was somewhat production today.. after spending an hour watching reactions on you tube to last night's Game of Thrones episode. I don't even watch the series (yet) but I do know what happens so it wasn't really spoilery but it was fun watching folks go from being stun, to crying, to screaming to being angry and to swearing off the series... good stuff.

In the afternoon I jumped on Skype with my friend Teal to record a quick mini podcast for "My Gimpy Life" podcast. She currently has a kickstarter for the second season and I wanted to get a podcast out for the last 10 day push. So we got the recoding done and then chatted for another 20 minutes or so. Afterwards I took an hour to edit the podcast and got it posted and available for download.

So I'm starting to work out again.. my current weight is 208

Today's Workout:

10 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
2 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)
1 set of 100 jumping rope

I really do want to take better care of myself. I would love to get below 200 before my 43rd birthday in September.

Syfy's Defience is back.. they took last week off because of the holiday but today it was back. Again this series doesn't blow my socks off but it's constantly entertaining and makes me want to come back each week for a new episode. They are defiantly building up the storyline with the on going mystery but still have fun entertaining stand alone stories.

I also started watching The Fosters, a new series on ABC Family about a multi-ethnic family mix of foster and biological kids who are being raised by two moms. I saw a preview at the theater when I went to go see Star Trek Into Darkness and made a note to make sure I DVR'd it. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to continue watching.. I'll record them and if time permits I'll continue to watch.

Overall it was a fairly productive day!!

Dungeon and Dragons - Pathfinder

Today is our fourth D&D Pathfinder session. Playing today was Will, Robert, Kenny, Dallas, Brett, Josh, Jen, Jes, Aaron and Rupert... also Matt joined us mid-way through.

Today session was a bit more action packed then the last session. We fought some dogs and their handlers as well as some zombie like brainwashed townsfolk. We ended the night walking into a chamber full of skeletons that just came to life.. dun dun dun...

My character Dash didn't have much luck with his magic spells but did manage to use his quarterstaff quite effectively. Our group was split up for a time which makes things a bit chaotic, but eventually we all came back together for the bigger battles. This time around we really kicked some butt.

Some folks didn't seem to be interested in playing and were being more social so it was difficult at times to hear Dallas (the game master). I think this is due to the fact that we have a very large group and it takes awhile for your turn to come back around. Plus we all love hanging out with each other so we tend to talk when we are together.

Overall it was another fun and entertaining game play. Dallas once again took us on a fun adventure and the way we left things I think our next session is going to start off with a bang... can't wait.