Woke up early around 6am, slept horribly but I'm not a good sleeper when I'm not in my own bed. It was cold and I wasn't prepared for the cold weather so my sleeping bag wasn't enough to keep me warm. Regardless I woke up and made my way to the bathroom. A few other people were awake and starting a fire. I grabbed my phone and decided to walk around a bit and grab some photos of the camping area.
Shannon did an amazing job at picking probably the best campsite at Jackson Flats. As I mentioned in my last blog we initially had like 30 people interested in going camping but as the weeks went on more and more backed out until there were just a handful of us left. But we still had this very large campsite (holds at least 40 people). So we had alot of space to spread out but we all pretty much kept out tents right around the picnic and fire pit area.
About an hour after I got up the rest of the gang started to get up. Shannon (the unofficial camp mom) broke out all her gear and started to make breakfast for us. Breakfast was interesting as we only had this small gas burner and some folks were on the Whole 30 diet so they couldn't eat certain things. But Shannon persevered and in the end we all had a great breakfast.
Afterwards we sat around the fire to warm up, the wind had gone (yay) but the cold was still there. Josh put up his mansion of a tent and a group of use went hiking. It was really a nice relaxing kind of day. Naomi's husband Eric showed up about mid day. We drank, ate, hiked and sat around chatting all day long. We made smores, played "I never ever" and laughed alot. We called it a night around midnight.
Today is open gym at NerdStrong and I usually don't go to open gym but since I'm camping this weekend I'm going to be missing Saturday and Sunday's workout so I figured I'd go to open gym. Another thing that was happening at the gym today was that a camera crew was showing up to film for a new TBS online program. Usually six or seven people show up on Friday's open gym.. but today it was a full house, there were people everywhere. The coaches made fun of us saying that we all want to be on camera and for some that is true but for some we wanted to make the gym look good and how would it look if there was only a handful of people working out there. Anyways after the workout they interviewed a few people and I was lucky enough to be one of them. I think it helped that I have the gym's logo tattoo'd on me. It was a good interviews, talked mostly about geeky things and how the gym helped me. Now sure when or if this will air but I'll post it here if it does.
After work I went and picked up my friend Lauren and we headed out to the Jackson Flat campgrounds where we'd be spending the weekend with a few other NerdStrong friends camping. I haven't gone camping in about 15 years so I was really looking forward to this weekend. My friend Shannon and I planned this months ago and at the time we had about 30 people interested and going, but as with most things people started backing out left and right until there were just a handful of us left. But the few of us who are still going plan to have an amazing time. So we got there to the area just as night started to fall, finding the campsite was difficult and I'm so happy that I had someone with me, as several people didn't and they had some scary stories. GPS isn't your friend when it comes to finding camp sites as they tend to take you through back roads (that are actually roads). We were the third group to arrive. Shannon, Leo and Andy were already there. Shortly after us Naomi and Anne arrived and finally Josh. It was cold.. I didn't realize how high we were and though it was low 90's down in the valley it was in the 60's here and it was also really windy which made it fun when we went to set up our tents, but we all managed to get the tents pitched, except for Josh who just crashed in my tent for the night. Afterwards we gathered around the fire pit, built a fire and hung out before calling it a night around midnight.
They released the first Assassins Creeds trailer for the live action movie. I've only played a bit of Assassins Creed but I've watched several friends play so I'm aware of the franchise and I have to say from the trailer to movie looks like it's going to be loads of action.
ABC had their Upfronts so there was lots of news about TV series that have been cancelled and that have been renewed. I'll start with the good news as most of the the new is bad. The Real O'Neals got picked up for a second season. I really enjoyed this new series and I think it's got even better as the season went on.
There is one dark cloud that popped up recently, the actor Noah Galvin who plays the main character Kenny, is gay in real life, and during an interview said some real harsh and kind of bigoted comments towards other gay actors in Hollywood. His comments were real ugly and in turn made me not like him so much. I'm hoping I can look past that when this series comes back from season two.
The other good news is that Supergirl was picked up for a second season but as most suspected CBS moved it to it's sister station CW. This is really good news as ratings are as much of a factor, it also means will get more cross overs with Arrow, Legends and The Flash. I really enjoyed Supergirl, it has a completely different feel then the other three series on CW. I'm hoping this move doesn't change that. I do know that since they are moving to CW that that budget will be less then it was, but Arrow, Legends and Flash all have amazing effects on a CW budget so I'm hoping Supergirl can do the same.
Now for the bad news.. for those who don't know the characters of Bobbi and Hunter from Agent's of Shield left about 2/3'ds through last season. They were being spun off into their own series but unfortunately the pilot for their series called Marvel's Most Wanted was not picked up for a full season. I don't think they'll be able to come back to Shield because of the way they left. I'm kind of bummed that we won't be seeing these characters again as both were alot of fun.
This second one wasn't a big shocker but Galavant wasn't picked up for a season three and to be honest I was shocked when they were picked up for a season two, but don't get me wrong.. I loved Galavant S1 and S2 but I knew our luck had run out.
I think this cancellation was the hardest to hear, but also not a complete shock. They cancelled Marvel's Agent Carter. We got two glorious seasons of Peggy Carter kicking ass. This series is definitely in my top 10 of all time favorite TV series. I love Hayley Atwell and pretty much all the actors in that series. Great season story arches and fantastic chemistry between the characters, especially Carter and Jarvis. I'm bummed that I wasn't be seeing any new Carter on ABC but as soon as this announcement was made a campaign started to get Netflix to pick up the series and if they don't maybe someone else will but if we never get any more Carter at least we have two amazing seasons that I can watch over and over again.
So this wasn't a good day for TV shows that I watch and enjoy. More bad then good, but that's usually how it goes for me as I tend to like the less popular shows.
Five
years ago today I was at the Weston Hotel in Pasadena working on season
five of The Guild. I was there it do interviews for my podcast (Knights
of the Guild) but also to be an extra during a celebrity filled room
party scene. There were very few extras chosen for this but one of those
lucky few was a guy named Christopher Setts. I noticed him the day
before on set, when he was extraing as a con goer but we never chatted.
Today
we were put into a small room together to wait for the start of the
first shot of the day. We chit chatted for a bit and I am enamored, it
quickly became apparent that he was straight but we instantly bonded
over our geeky likes . We spent the day "pretend" talking while we shot
take after take of various scenes. By the end of the night I knew that I
wanted to hang with this guy again.. and luckily for me he was extraing
again the following weekend.
I
knew from the moment I met Chris that we were going to be friends, and
as our friendship grew we got closer and closer and pretty quickly
started calling each other best friends. Chris can drive me absolutely
crazy and he knows exactly which buttons to push and I think he gets a
bit of joy from annoying me but I know when the chips are down or if
need a shoulder to cry on he will always be by my side and I love him
for that.
Ben, Brian, Will
and myself all worked together at Original Productions and would visit
Islands for lunch from time to time.. Now seven years and three days
later from whence the top picture was taken, Ben, Will and I return to
Islands for lunch now that the three of us are back together at Original
Productions, Brian is off with another company and couldn't join us but it's great being back with these guys and at Original Productions. We sat in a different both this time but the original booth that we took the top picture in was free so we jumped in and had the waitress take our photo. It's crazy to think that seven years passed between those photos. Well all look a bit older and wiser.. except for Ben.. he looks exactly the same. Maybe will do another photo in another seven years.
I came across this picture of Captain America in his various suits over the different movies and the question was asked, which one is your favorite. That's tough for me to answer, but I can tell you which one I like the least and that's the first Avengers movies outfit, It's too angled. And the first Winter's Solider one is lacking color (mostly red). But if I had to choose one to mimic (as I'm thinking of cosplaying as Captain America one day) I think I would go with Age of Ultron or Civil War outfits.
And speaking of Captain America and Marvel I watched the second to last episode of Marvel's Agents of Shield and all I have to say is OMG!!! I can't wait until the two hour finale next week. I've loved this series since the beginning and have watched it changed over the season and it continue to blow my mind. The stories, the characters, the acting, the special effects and overall feel of the show is amazing.
I came across this video and thought it was very interesting and informative.. especially if you don't know the Marvel universe that well. It's titled "Revealing Marvel's Movie Master Plan" If you enjoy the Marvel movies give it watch.. I don't think it spoils anything.
Today is Mother's day so I called up my mom to see what her plans were. She usually see's her mom and that's what she was doing. She was with my aunt Joyce and they were heading over to grandmas. They asked if I wanted to join them and I said yes. I headed out to my aunt Rachel's place, where everyone was meeting up.
We then drove to Olive Garden and after a twenty minute wait we were seated. I was great seeing my mom, aunt Joyce and grandma. We had a nice lunch and chatted while we ate. At the end of the lunch I grabbed the bill, I had planned to buy my mom lunch anyways so I just got lunch for everyone. It's Mother's Day and they are all deserving moms.
During the evening I did a bit more work on my Jedi Twi'Lek Lekku, I did another paint pass, since it's latex it tends to absorb the color and when I stretch it across my head to put it on it stretches the paint and cracks it.. gonna have to work on that.
Shannon did an amazing job at picking probably the best campsite at Jackson Flats. As I mentioned in my last blog we initially had like 30 people interested in going camping but as the weeks went on more and more backed out until there were just a handful of us left. But we still had this very large campsite (holds at least 40 people). So we had alot of space to spread out but we all pretty much kept out tents right around the picnic and fire pit area.
About an hour after I got up the rest of the gang started to get up. Shannon (the unofficial camp mom) broke out all her gear and started to make breakfast for us. Breakfast was interesting as we only had this small gas burner and some folks were on the Whole 30 diet so they couldn't eat certain things. But Shannon persevered and in the end we all had a great breakfast.
Afterwards we sat around the fire to warm up, the wind had gone (yay) but the cold was still there. Josh put up his mansion of a tent and a group of use went hiking. It was really a nice relaxing kind of day. Naomi's husband Eric showed up about mid day. We drank, ate, hiked and sat around chatting all day long. We made smores, played "I never ever" and laughed alot. We called it a night around midnight.
