Meeting Mrs Patmore

So I was watching Good Day LA yesterday morning and they had on Lesley Nicol who plays Mrs Patmore on Downton Abbey. She mentioned that she was going to be at the Farmer's Market Cost Plus World Market tomorrow for a food drive for the LA food bank, if you bring 5 can goods you can get an autographed picture. I immediately messaged my buddy Leo to see if she wanted to join me as she is a recent fan of Downton and she agreed to go with me. So this morning she and I went down to World Market about an hour and a half before she was to sign as we didn't know if it would be super crowded or not. When we got there, there was a table in front of the store where we left our can goods. They gave us our line numbers and said to be back a half hour before she was to sign. We were surprised that we got numbers #8 and #9.

We had an hour to kill so we headed over to the Farmers Market to grab some lunch. Once we were done we made our way back to the World Market and got in line which was on the outside of the store. As it got closer to the time the line grew and started to go around the corner. There were several press people taking pictures of us (the fans). Right on time Mrs Nicol arrived and made her way into the store. They took six people at a time and after about 20 minutes Leo and I made our way into the store and got into another line and waited. It looked like friends and employee friends got to jump in front of everyone to get pictures and such.. this would explain why it was taking longer then expect.

The set up was nice, Mrs Nicol stood up on a platform next to a table where she was signing pictures. She was allowing us to take pictures with her and she spent a good five minutes chatting with you. I went up before Leo. I was all giddy smiling from ear to ear as I shook her hand. She was very sweet and soft spoken. She mentioned my awesome T-shirt (I was wearing the Union Jack (British Flag). She asked where I got the shirt and mentioned that she needs to get a flag for her house and we discussed getting one on ebay. We talked a bit about Downton and how much I love her character and how I have already seen season six and was very happy with where they were taking her character. We did a bit more chit chat before taking several pictures and then getting a hug from her and saying goodbye.

After I walked down from the platform my friend Leo with the same giddy grin that I had went up. As I exited the area a guy pulled me aside and asked if I would do a quick interview about meeting her. I don't know who he was with (the store, LA Food Bank or the actress) but I said of course so he asked me a few questions and I answer them as excitingly as I could.

After Leo was done we fanboy/fangirled out a little bit and then went shopping. World Market had some very cool Downton Abbey merchandise as well other cool items. Once we were done talking we headed out and sat in the courtyard and talked about the experience of meeting her. Some how the conversation turned to Harry Potter and I asked if Leo had ever been to Whimsic Alley (a very cool Harry Potter store), she said no so of course I had to take her since it was only a few miles way.

We spent a half hour or so walking around Whimsic Alley checking everything out. Since their lawsuit with the WB they have changed their merchandise a bit and also added abit more British things to their inventory like Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey.

It was a great day.. I'm so happy Leo agreed to go with me as I would not have gone alone and I would have missed out on this great experience... Thanks again Leo for joining me.

NerdStrong Gym - DEX, CON and STR Oh My!!

Combining my workout blog posts for the time being.. I worked out Tuesday (DEX), Wednesday (CON) and Thursday (STR)

Tuesday's DEX callas was a good one. The warm up was just as hard as the actual workouts.

This was a CON class through and through.. look at all those different workouts. This was a tough one but sometimes the tough ones are the most rewarding.

Strength is my least favorite workout days but today's barbell work was Bench Press which is my favorite of the barbell workouts. The Battles were tough and exhausting but over a good workout day.

LARPs The Series S2 Ep7 - My Thoughts

S2 Ep7 "Last Breath" It doesn't matter if you win or lose; it's how you play the game.

This is by far the best episode of LARPs The Series in my opinion. I loved every minute of it. Half of the episode is set in the LARPing world with some amazing fight sequences and the other half is moments after the LARPing session and the complete and total meltdown on the team.

Brittney was ready to sacrifice her character Corillia for the greater good, that was until Will's character Biff came to her rescue which didn't make her happy at all. Will and Brittney's argument escalates when Arthur is brought into it and the three just attack each other. Some brilliant acting was happening during that scene. It's always hard to watch characters that you like argue like that.

There was a very sweet scene between Kat and Evan when she asks him out. Evan's reaction is simply adorable.. that is of course until she slips up and kind of reveals Shane secret that she's been writing about the LARPing group behind everyone's back.

Then there is another amazing scene at the end when Shane confronts Evan and just let's him have it and he just drives away. Again like with the other argumentative scene some brilliant acting was happening. These guys have some acting chops.

The last six episodes have been leading up to this huge blow out and now we have only a few episodes left this season to rebuild this team and make them stronger then ever.. at least that's how I hope it turns out. Can't wait to see how the resolve this episode.

More Screeners & Promo for WWofHP Hollywood

Just when I said I wasn't getting enough screeners I got a ton of them today including Sicarro, 99 Homes, Inside Out and Cinderella.

Universal Studio Hollywood released a promo video for the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood...

Huntsman Trailer, More Star Wars & New Log Books

I had heard they were making a prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, which I enjoyed. That movie has one of the most beautiful and most realized fantasy worlds.. I loved it. This looks like a lot of fun.

Got another screener.. Black Mass. Sceeners seems to be coming in alot slower this year. Hopefully things will start coming in as the month progresses.

As I have mentioned here on my blog.. more and more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage has been released with trailers and commercials. Here's the 6th TV spot and it's focused on the character of Finn... again it doesn't spoil anything and it shows us a bit more of the movie... so excited.

During Pilates tonight at NerdStrong Gym I was able to pick up my new Log Book. They really outdid themselves with this Log Book. Like the gym it's very much fashioned after D&D with a ton of achievements to unlock and goals to hit. I can't wait to get started.

Living Building, RGQ, Gods of Egypt & Agent Carter S2 Trailers

I came across this architects rendering of this beautiful building covered in greenery. If you know me you know I'm a Hobbit and I love all things nature and greenery. If I couldn't live in a hole in the ground surrounded by grasses and forests I'd want to live in this building.

Here's some more details about the project.. Stefano Boeri, an Italian architect with an affinity for innovative green structures, is set to build a 117m-tall (384ft) apartment tower in Lausanne, Switzerland, that will be the first building in the world to be covered in evergreen trees.

The 36-story green tower, aptly named “La Tour des Cedres” (The Tower of Cedars), will be home to more than 100 trees, 6,000 shrubs and 18,000 plants spread over roughly 3,000 square meters of green space. The plants will protect the apartments inside from harsh winds, dust, and noise pollution, and will offer a more pleasant view of the city.

This tower will be the second project of its kind by Boeri. He previously designed two 112m towers in Milan as well.

So I asked a "Random Geek Question" on Facebook and Twitter. "Is there an age limit to cosplay?" I ask this because as a 45 year old man I feel like when it comes to cosplay I'm on a older side of things. Of course most of the responses were "Of course there is no age limit to cosplaying" which is what I expected. I really don't know why I even asked the question because honestly I don't care what people think of me. I'm not hurting anyone and I'm enjoying doing what I'm doing.

I hadn't heard of this movie before but here's a trailer for a new fantasy action movie called Gods of Egypt. It looks pretty good...

During tonight's amazing Agents of Shield episode (loving this series) they aired a new trailer for Season two of Agent Carter. I LOVED season one of Agent Carter so I'm super excited to see season two and from the trailer it looks to be another amazing season.. can't wait.

Oh and one last thing.. ONE MONTH FROM TONIGHT... STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!!!

Universal Studios Hollywood Annual Pass Price Hike

Today as expected Universal Studios Hollywood has raised their annual pass price. A 2015 annual pass with no blackout dates had cost $139 online, or $159 when purchased at the park. A value pass with blackout dates ran $119. The new annual pass program with blackout dates, announced Monday, will cost California residents $139 for 182 days of access to the theme park, or $199 for 244 days. And there is a pass that can be used 312 days costs $299 and is available to all parkgoers.

Honestly I would pay anything for an annual pass so the price bump didn't bother me. As I said with the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in April everyone expected the price raise. I think what bothers me more is that there is no annual pass with no blackout dates. The "Gold" pass, which is highest you could get has 312 days which is great but alot of the weekends are blacked out, especially during the summer and Christmas Holidays. But I'm cool with that because the fact is I live about a 5 minute drive 20 minute walk to Universal and I plan to go during the week after work to grab dinner at the Three Broom Sticks or walk around Hogmeades sipping on some Butterbeer.

Oh the other change they made from their previous annual pass plans is the previous passes use to be good only for the year.. so regardless of when you purchased your ticket you only had to the end of the year to use it. These new passes are good for 12 months, so if you buy your pass in April (which I plan to) it will be good until the following April.

If you can't tell I"m super excited for this. Of course opening Day and weekend are blacked out for annual pass holder and honestly I'm happy to wait until the Monday after opening to attended The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood... who's gonna join me???

Falling Behind On My Daily Blog

So it's January 1st 2016 but you may have notice I post dated this to November 17th 2015 because I'm about a month and a half behind on blogging. Between the end of a job, working out, and life in general I fell further and further behind.

So in order to catch up before I start my new job on Monday I'm not going to blog about every NerdStrong gym day. Instead I'll do a combined week at NerdStrong Gym. I also will pick and choose what geeky things I will share from Nov/Dec. Hopefully I'll be back on schedule very soon and back to blogging daily.

Thanks to all my loyal readers.. I appreciate each and ever one of you.

Another Star Wars The Force Awakens Commercial

Wow.. nothing on Star Wars The Force Awakens for months and then suddenly.. WHAM!!! Trailers and commercials galore. And what is even better is that they keep releasing new footage with these new trailers but nothing is really a spoiler.. it only gets me even more excited for the movie. Just over a month away... woohoo!!!

Xmas Music, Equality for Ireland & More Star Wars Footage

Woohoo... local station KOST 103.5 has started playing Christmas music earlier then usual. I love Christmas music and could listen to it none stop through out the year but then again if I did I don't think it was be as special as it is during the Christmas holiday. Needless to say that my car radio station will be set on KOST from today until the end of the year.

Congratulations to all my LGBT Brothers and Sisters in The Republic of Ireland. They can now marry the ones they love. It's official, today marks the first day that same sex couple can marry in Ireland. It's a beautiful day but I can't wait for the day that this isn't headline news and just the norm.

Today Disney released more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage. Disney XD aired a behind the scenes promo for the upcoming movie.. check it out.

NerdStrong Gym - UberViking

For today's workout we were doing UBERVIKING. Now we've done the Viking workout in the past and it's a tough one but Uberviking is like nothing we've done before.

After a warm up of 9x Wall Squats, 140 Meter Run, 9x Sit Ups, 9x Lunges and 9x PVC Dislocates.

We then jumped into the main workout. We had to start in heats since we only have 5 Row Machines. I was part of the first heat as I really wanted to finish the entire thing so I figured the sooner I started the better chance I had at finishing before the class was over.

I started with a 1000 Meter Row, rowing is not one of my strong points and not a favorite of mine but I trudged though meter by meter. Next was a 460 Meter Run with Gear, this was either a Spear (Barbell), Shield (Weighted Plate), Boulder (Wallball) or Sling Bullets (Steel Bell). I chose a Boulder and I actually enjoy running so this part of the workout was okay for me. We had to run two time around the parking lot to do the full 460 Meters. Next was 100 Tire Strikes, this is fun, you take a Mace and pound a large tire. Once you get into a rhythm it's pretty easy. I then moved on to 100 Slam Balls. This is where it got hard.. doing slam balls isn't bad but doing 100 of them at one time is a killer.. but somehow I got through them and moved on to 100 Gravediggers. This was a new movement for us and we had to take a weighted plate and then squat down and kind of scoop the ground, 50 on each side. You then had to do another 460 Meter Run with Gear (Medicine Ball again) and then get back on the rower and row another 1000 Meters.

I don't know how I did it and as I type this all out I still don't know how I did it but I finished with plenty of time to spare (benefit of going in the first wave). This was one of the hardest workouts we've done.. starting with a 1000 meter row and ending with a 1000 meter row was a killer. 

New MASH 4077 Podcast

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 116, covering S5 Ep 19 "Hanky Panky".

Lt. Carrie Donovan is having marital problems: she received a "Dear Jane" letter. But, she would rather discuss her problems with BJ than Hawkeye. Poor Margaret is very worried because she has not received a letter from Donald. When she learns her fiancé is in the hospital, she is manic, trying to find out what happened to him. BJ spends the night with Donovan and is so guilt ridden he wants to write home and confess his sins.

You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com