Fixing up the House and Pests

Nothing much happen today.. I continued painting the trim on the side of the house. Did the whole on and off again thing, took an hour to tape it all off (my least favorite part), then break, then painted half of it, then break, then painted other half, then break then second coat and touch up and that was it for painting today. Did I mention it was in the high 90's. But again I'm doing it a little at a time. I'm hoping to have all my window trim done by the end of the week. Then there is a trimming of around the roof and finally the main color going all over the house. Oh then I get to do it again on my garage. But slow and steady wins the race or in my case, newly painted house and garage I'll have.

Living rural I tend to get pests in the house, mostly rats, mice and ants. Luckily I haven't had many rats or mice in a good year or so but I feel like ants are getting worse. Today I got up and there had to be a hundred of them in my kitchen pantry. They ran down the wall across my dining room floor and into my guest bathroom. I quickly grabbed the raid only find out that it was empty (I tend to use it alot). I then grabbed my keys and drove to my local supermarket and purchased a can of way over priced raid. I got home and for the next ten minutes sprayed every inch of my pantry across my hardwood floor in the dining room and into my bathroom. Lucky for me none of the ants got into any of my food, not sure what they were going for... I hate ants, especially as it gets hotter as they tend to move inside the house more.

Speaking of nuisance I have prairie dogs/gophers/ground squirrels (not sure exactly what they are) but they are digging up my yard and between them and the rabbits they're creating so many holes in the ground. The worse part is they are starting to damage my trees and plants. I've spread small animal repellent dirt around the yard but that's not really working. I guess I can go with poison but then with my luck they will all die under my house and it will smell for weeks.... Ugh!!!

I love living out here in the middle of nowhere but I really can't wait to get this place fixed up, on the market and sold!!!

Man of Steel - My Review

Went to the Arclight Sherman Oaks with my buddy Robert to see Man of Steel. I saw it in 2D on opening night.

First let me say I'm a huge fan of Superman, he is my favorite of all the superheros. I really enjoyed Superman back when I was a little kid watching George Reeves in the B&W Adventures of Superman. But fell in love with Superman when Christopher Reeves put on the suit in Superman The Movie back in 78'. After that movie I devoured all things Superman, comics, cartoons, tv series, movies.. anything I could get my hands on. I do admit that I haven't followed the Superman comics in over 20 years.. something I hope to correct in the near future. So I've been looking forward to seeing this movie since they announced the reboot. I am one of the few that enjoyed Superman III and Superman Returns... Superman IV I can take it or leave it.

I've purposely avoided any kind of spoilers for this new incarnation of the Man of Steel. I mean I knew who the actors were and I heard they were trying to make it more "realistic" and I knew Zod was going to be the bad guy.. but that's about it.

So here is my short review (no spoilers)...  I loved the movie, it was everyone I was hoping for. There were a few small issues but the good well out weighted the bad. The action scenes were amazing, the sfx were cool and the actors did a great job in their roles. I don't know why there is a swell of negative reviews coming out all of a sudden, from both critics and friends. But you know what.. I don't care. Haters are gonna hate, and you can't please everyone. All I know is that I loved the movie and can't wait to see it again.. and truthfully to me, that all that matters.... go me :)

Now for a more detail idea of what I really enjoyed and the few things I disliked (SPOILERS ahead).  First what I didn't like since that list is so much smaller.. I didn't like the shaky camera, luckly it wasn't in to much of the movie but I just don't understand why directors go that route. It may look good on a small screen but on a huge movie screen that shaky cam sucks. The other issue I had was the destruction of Smallville and Metropolis. I mean hundreds if not thousands of people had to have died during the battles and attacks. I didn't understand why Superman wouldn't have lead the "bad guys" away from the populaces and battled in a more remote area. I mean I understand why the film makers did what they did because it looked cool having these super strong flying people throwing each through buildings, but if Superman is all about saving humans he helped kill quite a bit of them with destroying buildings... those are really my only two complaints.

Now here's what I loved about the movie. First of all Krypton, how awesome was that. It was so alien and so different then any of the other movies have every represented it. That was a real treat. I enjoyed everything about the opening of this movie.

I really enjoyed Russel Crowe as Jor-El and I'm not a big fan of Mr. Crowe but I really liked him in this. Costner as Jonathan was amazing and was the heart of the movie. His death scene was incredible and heartbreaking.. when he knew he was going to die (from the Tornado) and stopped Clark from saving him with a shake of his head was heartwretching. Clark and Martha had to stand there and watch their love one die.. gives me chills just thinking about it.

I loved Amy Adam's Lois Lane, she was smart and fearless. I really like that she used her investigative reporter instincts and was able to find out that Clark was an alien before he even became Superman. This is a huge departure from the Superman lore, I mean she finds out eventually but not at the beginning.. and I really liked that.

Superman is an alien, it's not really addressed in previous movies but here was one of the main storylines. How would the humans react to finding out that we are not alone in the universe.

I love that Clark had to learn how to control his powers when he was young. There is a very touching moment when Clark's vision and hearing starts to go super and he freaks out. Martha Kent (Diana Lane, who was fantastic) comes and talks him down. Also when he's older he had to learn to fly.. he starts by jumping really far and finally is able to stay up and flies.

I really like how the movie is structured, I mean after the opening on Krypton and his ship crashed on Earth we see an older Clark working on a fishing boat, he's kind of a drifter. And they tell his childhood through flash backs.. that was very well done.

I love the new suit.. the missing red underwear
didn't bother me as much as the missing S on his cape.  I did like how the S meant hope on his world. I love that the suit was alien and from Krypton as well. I mean all of the Kryptonian outfits were awesome.

I liked the sfx when they battled.. at first it looked kind of cartoony but then again super strong and super fast being would move like that. 

I liked the final moments in the battle of Superman Vs Zod. I like how Zod said he was born to take care of Krypton, that's all he's ever known. Kind of makes him not a "bad guy" just a guy trying to save his people.. of course it's at the cost of the human race.

Of course the final moment in that battle where Superman has to chose between "the human race" and killing Zod. You can see the torture he is going through. He's meant to save people not kill and when he gives that scream of frustration and snaps Zod's neck is just amazing.

I was wondering if reporter Clark Kent was going to make an appearance and sure enough the final scene we have Clark Kent being introduced to Lois Lane and the Daily Planet.. so good.

Oh and I almost forgot... Henry Cavill was amazing as Superman and man is he HOT.. and his body is AMAZING!!!!!

I give Man of Steel a solid A

Painting, Workout & Superman

After the "fail" that was yesterday I was determined to get more done today. So I was up at 8am and outside taping up the trim on the back of my house. It was already hot in the high 80's so my plan to to work for an hour and then go inside for a half hour to rest and cool done. I did this for about five hours and managed to finish painting all the trim on the back of the house. I said I was going to take baby steps so I'm very happy with what I got accomplished today.

I moved on to working out. I had limited time as I was going out to dinner and seeing Man of Steel with my buddy Robert so I couldn't do Vasquez today. Instead I with weights and my elliptical in my garage. 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 20 on the front leg press (45 lbs), 3 sets of bicep curls  lbs), 3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs). It was a good workout.

Afterwards I showered and then headed into town. I was meeting Robert at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. We grabbed some dinner at P.F. Changs before heading to the theater for Man of Steel. I won't go into great detail or spoil anything here ( I plan to do a separate spoiler filled blog next). All I will say here is that I loved the movie... can't wait to see it again. Robert also enjoyed it.

We said our goodbyes and I got home around 11:30pm and called it a night.

Hobbit Figure Exclusive & Shadow Dancing

So today "the lazy monster" got the better of me. I did manage to clean the house a bit, but didn't paint like I had planned or edit any podcasts. I did workout, got a very nice 35 minute carido hike at Vasquez Rocks in but didn't do the weights like I had planned.

I came across two things that I wanted to share with you all. First of all the San Diego Comic Con Exclusive, The Bridge Direct have revealed the final look of their 2013 Comic-Con Exclusive figure! As you may remember, last year they did a 6″ Invisible Bilbo Baggins figure, as he would look while wearing the Ring. And I picked up three of them... Well, this year they are bringing to fans a 7″ version of one of the coolest looking characters from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Azog the Defiler. Azog comes with multiple switch out parts, in order to create him as we see him from ‘The Battle of Azanulbizar’, still with his left arm and holding King Thror’s head. You can also have him as we see him a little later in the film, no longer having his left arm but with that gruesome metal object in its place. Azog will be limited to 2600 pieces world-wide, so he’s sure to go quickly. So if you’re at Comic-Con this year make sure you stop by the Weta/The Bridge Direct booth 3513B!

The second things I wanted to share was a performance by a group of Hungarian artists called "Attraction" The preformed on this years Britain's Got Talent. This blew my mind and brought me to tears. This is their initial audition performance, they made it to the semi finals and performed another amazing piece of work and then again at the finale where they did a great tribute to England and they won 2013's Britain's Got Talent.. you can see all the performances on You Tube.. they are truly incredible.

Taking Control of My Life

Today I'm turning over a new leaf.. I'm tired of the woe is me Kenny. Yes things aren't going that well in my life but complaining about them doesn't change anything. I'm the only who can make those changes so it's time to kick myself in the ass and get moving forward again.

Spent a few hours cleaning up the house (living room, TV room, Kitchen and dining room). I love having a clean house and with just me living here it should be easier to keep clean.

Had to run some errands and grab some lunch. While I was out I stopped by Vasquez Rocks and did a 45 cardio hike (this is my third day in a row and I'm loving it). While on the hike I found a stick on the ground that I thought would make a really cool wizard wand. All I have to do is sand it down a bit and then stain it a dark walnut color. It think it will be a cool addition to my wand collection.

When I got home I started working on my house. I'm starting with the back of the house. I removed old painters tape that's been there for almost six months. Took some doing but after 2 hours of battling the tape I got it all off and ready to be re-taped and painted. I'm gonna start painting tomorrow. I'm going to do small sections at a time, trying to take on to much at once is very overwhelming. I figure in time doing bit by bit it will all get done.

I spent the rest of the evening until about 11:30pm editing my next episode of MASH 4077 Podcast.

So all in all not a bad day, there were many times when I felt the laziness come upon me but I fought it off and continue to be productive. I know it's not like turning off a switch so it will take time but I'm determined get my life back in order one step at a time.

Treading Water...

I'm not sure what's going on lately in my life. I feel like I'm going through the motions everyday. I wake up, jump online, talk with friends, look for work, workout, yard work, watch TV, edit podcast, write my script, eat, and sleep. Day in and day out it's the same thing. There are days when I wake up and I'm full of energy and I have this grand plan to get so much done and then by the end of the day I feel like crap because somehow the entire day has passed by and I didn't do a single thing planned. I don't know what it is.. I lack structure... I just feel like I'm lost in life at the moment.

This isn't recent stuff.. I've felt this way for a few years now. I'm not saying I'm depressed all the time but I do fight bouts of depression from time to time. I know I blog about hanging out with friends and going to Disneyland and Magic Mountain and my life seems like an endless joy ride but it's really isn't. I spend the majority of my days alone at home trying to stay motivated long enough to get something done around house, to workout, to edit podcasts, to write my script.

I have friends tell me all the time.. well it seems like you're always having fun, partying or going to amusement parks, unfortunately that's not true.. When I tweet or post a blog you only hear about all the fun stuff so it seems like I'm always having fun.

I feel like my life is lacking direction for the first time in 40 years. I've always known what I wanted out of life, a great job, family, a partner, travel and all the other typical things folks want out of life but then something changes and everything seems to fall apart.

I'm single after 10 years, with no prospects of finding someone else or even the need to find anyone else. I'm jobless and have only worked 5 months out of the last 24 months and currently I'm not wanting to get back into my line of work. So naturally you ask what do you want to do. That's not an easy question as I've been in my current career for over 18 years and when I'm working I make pretty good money. I won't be able to find a job that will start me off even close to that. So I would need to start back on the bottom and I don't know if I can "financially" do that.

With every passing year the idea of having a family dwindles. That was until a few months ago when I made a vow to adopt at least one "older" child by the time I was 45. I am determined to be a father. Of course I will have to have a steady job and make enough money to support a family.

I haven't done nearly as much traveling as I would like. I've been to about 20 or so states and down in Mexico but I've never been abroad which has always been a dream of mine. I've even considered moving to England for a year just for a change of pace.

My most immediate issue beside finding a job is selling my house. My ex and I purchased this together almost four years ago and though there is no legal obligation for me to sell the house and give him a portion of the money, morally I would not screw him over like that. So my main priority is fixing up the house and putting it on the market which I have been extremely lazy about doing as of late. I need to kick myself in the ass and get it down so it's one less financial burden to have.

I don't know what it is but it's time for a change. Friends give me advise and I so appreciate it but it's really up to me to make the changes, to take back control of my life and start moving forward.. I'm tired of just treading water.

It's time for a new chapter in my life and I'm the only one who can make it happen... so let's do it!!!

Hobbities & Hanging with Friends

Today Warner Bros released the first trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

It runs just over 2 minutes and it's AWESOME!!!! I'm so pumped for this sequel, it's one of three movies that I can't wait to see this year (Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel being the other two). I've must have watched this at least 20 times in a matter of a few hours. :)

Continued with my workout, today I went to Vasquez Rock's again for my cardio workout. Didn't last as long as I did yesterday as it was super hot out still.. but I did manage to hike for a good 30 minutes. Afterwards I came back home and worked with my weights. 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 bicep curl (45 lbs).

During the evening I had dinner plans with my buddy Will. We were meeting up at Pitfire Grill in North Hollywood. We got there, ordered our food and when we went to sit down we noticed that a friend of ours and my former KOTG co-host Jenni was there. She was waiting for a friend for dinner as well and was early so she joined us for about 20 minutes. We all caught up on each others lives then her friend arrived and we parted ways. Will and I continued to have a nice dinner, got to talk about the latest going on's in our lives. Will also helped me realize something about my life and motivation which I hope will help me in the future. Time to get my butt in gear and get things back on track.

Afterwards we headed back to his place (he lives close by). We planned to watch some Star Trek Deep Space Nine. We watched the pilot episode a few weeks ago at my place and we said we would continue to watch DS9 together so at this rate it's going to take us 20 years. :)

When we got to his place his roommate Jen, another good friend of mine (in fact they meet through me) was home and joined us. We watched season one episode 2 of Deep Space Nine. We planned to watch other episode but Will had a few voice over auditions that he wanted to do before he was too tired so he went upstairs to his studio to do that while I hung out with Jen and chatted. About an hour later Will re-joined us and by this time it was already 11:30pm.

The three of us debated on watching another episode but instead we talked for the next hour and a half. I got to see Jen's room since I have not been over to their place since she moved in. Jen is really into Portal and had several guns.. I have to say that they are pretty epic and would love to own one.

It's now 1am and these guys need to be up at 7am for work and I have at least a 45 minute drive home so we said our goodnights and I headed home.

Neil, The Tonys and The Geekie Awards

Watched the Tony's today. I've never been into the Tony Awards until Neil Patrick started hosting. And honestly I don't really pay attention to the actual awards being given out.. I'm more into the performances between the awards...I can't get enough of those. For this one we got to see Cinderella, Matelda, Bring it On, Motown, A Christmas Story, Annie, Pippin, Kinky Boots and Phantom of the Opera.

Living here in LA you don't get to see alot of theater but I have seen some plays and musicals in my time and have loved them. Watching the Tony's you actually get to see scenes from many different plays/musicals currently on Broadway and it just makes me want to see the whole thing. Live theater is so magical.

But what really impressed me with this years Tony's was Neil Patrick Harris. This is his fourth time hosting and I have loved everyone of them but his opening number this year was AMAZING!!! Best opening number not only for the Tony's but for all awards shows.. he is truly an amazing artist. (Check out the video below if it's still there.. CBS is having them taken down from you tube)

For my workout/cardio I went on a hike at Vasquez Rocks for about 50 minutes. It was later in the day and was a nice cool 80f outside. When I got home I wanted to do my weight training workout but never got motivated enough to go out to the garage (how said is that). So instead I'll be doing my weight training on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday instead of my usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I'm going to try and go to Vasquez every day this week for my cardio workout. It's so much nicer then doing the elliptical in my garage. 

Also today the Geekie Awards announced the winners of the individual sub categories as well as the nominees of the main categories. Those awards will be given out at the actual event in August... you can read more HERE. Tickets are also on sale for the event if you're wanting to go.. it's going to be a fun time. Buy now and you can get a discount.. You can check out the different tickets levels HERE.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep17

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation Listen on Stitcher Radio http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/32281/episodes 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 17 - Real Men

Directed by John McPherson
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date February 19th 1990

Plot Summary:
Matt and George investigate the use of male newcomer hormone at a local gym. Matt's friend visit from Detroit and takes an interest in the Newcomers. Albert plans George's baby shower, while George contemplates paternity leave.
Hope you enjoy it,

Kenny & Michael

Twitter Friends & Podcasts

Woke up at Robert's and just hung out talking for an hour before hitting the road at around 9am. Today I was hanging out with my twitter friend Scarlet. She and I became friends on Twitter a few years ago, we were both big Guild fans as well as huge Harry Potter fans.

She drove up from Texas to visit family out in Palmdale and asked if I wanted to join her for lunch today. We were meeting at a Pizza place out in Lancaster. I got there just before noon. She and her family were also pulling up.

You would think it would be awkward meeting someone for the first time but I've meet several "twitter" friends and it's like you've known each other forever. It doesn't even cross your mind that this is the first time that you are meeting this person. I also got to meet her husband, older son and niece as well. More of her friends joined us and we were soon a large group. I pretty much talked to Scarlett and her husband the entire time. It was great getting to know them a bit better. Of course I was her only friend who was truly a geek so we geeked out a bit over The Guild and Harry Potter. Lucky for Scarlett her husband is a geek by association :)

It was a lot of fun, I spent about 4 hours there chatting it up. We've made some tentative plans to visit Vasquez Rocks as well as Whimsic Alley this week before they head home. Hopefully schedules will work out.

Afterward I headed home and continued to work on my next Alien Nation podcast. Today is the ninth and it's due to be released on the 10th. So I spent the rest of the evening finishing that up. I think it turned out pretty good. It will be posted tomorrow morning.