Big Hero Six Screener

Still sick and not much going on but I did get another screener today.. this movie I have been wanting to see but secretly was hoping I'd get a screener for it.. and I did, Big Hero Six. I've heard some good things about this movie and I look forward to watching it.

Also the package is very cute, normally they don't put so much effort into the packaging of these DVDs but I have to say Disney went all out for this one.

Goodbye Lydia & Krypton Series

Lydia headed back to Switzerland today. This visit was 19 days about half of her last trip to he US. It's always fun having Lydia as a house guest. She's been to the LA area so often that she no longer needs a tour guide. We do things together and hang out at times but she has such a large group of friends here that I feel like she's more of a roommate then a house guest. I look forward to her return next summer.

Not much in the way of geek news today but I did run across something that I found interesting. There has been rumor of a Superman type Gotham series coming to Syfy. It now seems that it's officially in development.. It's a series that wouldn't have Superman in it but his family line. Here's the supposed synopsis: Years before Superman became a superhero, the House of El was shamed and ostracized. This series follows The Man of Steel’s grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest Super Hero ever known.

If this actually goes forward and makes it to series this would be a must see for me. I'm a HUGE Superman fan and would love to see more about his home world... fingers crossed

TV Time

Ugh!! today I feel like crap.. I did mange to drag myself out of bed and to the couch where I think I will stay my entire day and catch up on some of my TV. I started with Red Band Society, I had five episodes on my Tivo I knew if I'd watch one I'd watch them all and so I did. I'm still really enjoying this series, it's not doing well in the ratings so I don't expect it to last the season but there is still hope.

I also had a back up of Arrow episodes, again I knew if I watched one I'd want to watch them all so I had to wait until I had a chunk of time I could do this.. and now that they are doing a crossover with Flash and Arrow and I'm all caught up on The Flash I have to watch Arrow if I want to stay current on The Flash. Arrow is still a fantastic show, every episode has an OMG moment at the end. Which makes me want to watch the next one asap.

My final TV tonight was Downton Abbey. I'm watching the British schedule as season five doesn't premiere here in the US until January but I had two more episodes to watch before finishing off this season. Downton continues to impress me with all the character development with so many cast members and only lasting under an hour for each episode. Season 5 had lots of twists and turns and a ton of drama. I can't wait for the Christmas special and then season/series 6 sometime next year.

I hate being sick but it does give me the excuse to just sit around and watch TV.

R.I.P. Daisy

Yesterday I got a call from my ex Harry informing me that our little girl Daisy was not doing well and that he had made the tough decision to put her to sleep the next day. But as fate would have it she died later that night at home with Harry holder her.

We got Daisy early into our relationship and she instantly became Harry's dog. When we broke up almost four years ago we both knew that Daisy was going to go to Austria with him so I had to say my goodbye then. I always hoped to have seen her again and her remember me after all these years but that will never happen.

The past few months her health has really deteriorated, to the point that her organs are starting to shut down one at a time. When we got Daisy she was already 5 or 6 (we're not sure as we got her from the pound). We had her together for another 7 or so years and then Harry has had her for another 4 more. So she was well into being a senior at the age of 16 or 17 years old. When we got her from the pound we found out that she was scheduled to be euthanized the next day. So she dodged a bullet and spent the next 12 to 13 years a pretty happy little girl. I'm glad Harry was there with her in her final moments. I did ask him to give her a kiss for me and tell her that I'm loved her. And though I haven't seen her in 3 1/2 years I still cried when he gave me the news as I still think of her as mine and will miss her dearly. R.I.P. Daisy

More Screeners, Table Top & Frozen

First of all I am sick.. I think all the running around with visiting guests the past few weeks has finally done me in. It's time to relax and let my body heal from all the fun :)

I got a bunch of screeners today, first one was Fury, I remember seeing the trailers for this and it looks like a good drama. It has Brad Pitt in it but I'm more interested in seeing Logan Lerman. Next one is Foxcatcher. I know nothing about this one, I have heard alot of Oscar buzz but that's about it for this one. Will have to google it and see what it is about. And the last no is another movie that I have heard nothing about called A Most Violent Year, from the title alone it doesn't sounds like a movie that I'd much enjoy.. but will give it a go.

Today I searched for my name on the Table Top Wall of Kickstarter Names. Wil and company wrote down everyones name who contributed to season three of Table Top. I was one of them and they released a high-resolution picture of said wall. It took me a good 30 minutes of going through the hundreds of names but I finally found mine... it's just above the bottom left shelf.

And I recently came across this short Frozen teaser trailer, I remember seeing bits of this back before Frozen was released. It's pretty cute so I figured I'd share it with you all.

Hanging with Rico

My buddy Rico is in town today. I consider Rico the "father" of podcasting as it was his podcast Treks in Scifi that was one of my first podcasts that I ever listen to as well as participated in. He allowed my friend Jen and I to do a mini podcast that he released in his feed called The Ready Room. It's been many, many years since then and I'd say 10 or so other listeners/Treks in Scifi fans ventured out and became podcasters in their own rights, including me, it's like we are all his offspring.

In all those years Rico and I have never met face to face so when this opportunity came up I jumped at it. He's staying in Ontario which is about a hour drive or me and my back is still not great and my cough is getting worse but I wasn't going to pass this up. We planned to have breakfast and hang out for a few hours before his flight in the afternoon.

When I got there I was informed that his flight was cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow morning. So I seized this opportunity and wanted to show him around LA. We had some breakfast at a local Dennys before heading back to LA (an hour drive). Our first stop was Vasquez Rocks. Rico is a HUGE Star Trek fan, especially of the original series so this was a must see for him. 

Though my back was not the best I still managed to climb a bit with my buddy Rico. We hung out and took pictures for about a half hour. They were filming something there as well, it was a small crew. Before we left both Rico and I took a photo of a scene from the classic episode of TOS with the Gorn standoff. Rico later photoshopped a Gorn in the photo.. they turned out awesome.

Left is Me vs Gorn, Middle is Original Kirk vs Gorn, Right is Rico vs Gorn

After Vasquez Rocks we headed to the Science center to check out the Space Shuttle Endeavour. What's funny is I was here at the beginning of the week with Lisa and Lydia, but when you walk in and see Endeavour for the first time it's still breath taking and it's always fun to bring new people and see them have the same exact reaction of awe.

When then headed to Hollywood to check out Hollywood and Highland as well as the Chinese theater.

We then headed over to Universal Citywalk where we ate some lunch/dinner at Bubba Gump. This is the first time that I've ever gone to a Bubba Gump restaurant. As expected they have a lot of versions of shrimp.

Afterwards I drove him back to his hotel in Ontario and then made my way back home. It was a great day, totally unexpected day but alot of fun. Rico is as awesome as I expected him to be... hopefully will be able to hangout the next time he's in town.

Terminator, Screener & Podcasts

Today Paramount released it's first trailer for Terminator Genisys, It's officially the fifth Terminator movie but I have to say this one looks more like a reboot then a sequel. Arnold is back doing what he does best. I still haven't seen Terminator 4 as I'm not a big Bale fan but I might check it out before watching this new installment which looks pretty awesome.

I got another screener in the mail today.. American Sniper.

I know absolutely nothing about this movie. I did hear that it stars Bradley Cooper and that my brother is super excited to see it. So it must be some sort of military flick.

And finally my brother Michael and I recorded our next two Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast today. These two episodes will cover the fourth of five TV movies "Enemy Within". As always it's a blast recording with my brother. We both have a ton of fun and this one was really fun to review. These episodes will be out on Dec 10th and Jan 10th... so check them out http:AlienNationPodcast.com

Side note.. I'm getting a cough.. I hope it doesn't get worse. Also I tweaked my back today putting away Christmas decorations. It wasn't as bad as my last episode but it's pretty horrible.  

Christmas Decorations & Dragons

Today I finished decorating my house for Christmas.. besides the putting up the tree, I strung up lights, placed garland and Christmas bulbs all around the living room.. looks very festive.

I got another screener today, How to Train Your Dragon 2. I saw the first one and really enjoyed it so much so that when this one came out in theaters I did my best to see it but failed. So I'm really looking forward to watching this movie.

A Knights Tale, Troop Beverly Hills & The Hobbit

Today Lisa heads back home to Ohio, Thanks Lisa for visiting me in Los Angeles I hope you had a blast.

Want to share some Netflix news that I'm super excited about.. today two of my favorite movies (guilty pleasures) are now on Netflix. A Knight's Tale and Troop Beverly Hills. Both of these of classics and I can watch them over and over again. If you've never heard of either of these movies then you must stop what you are doing and watch them now.

A Knights Tale: Inspired by "The Canterbury Tales," as well as the story of Ulrich von Lichtenstein, this is the story of William, a young squire who is determined to change his status. After his master dies suddenly, the squire hits the road with his cohorts Roland and Wat. On the journey, they stumble across an unknown writer, Chaucer. William, lacking a proper pedigree, convinces Chaucer to forge genealogy documents that will pass him off as a knight. With his newly-minted history in hand, the young man sets out to prove himself a worthy knight at the country's jousting competition, and finds romance along the way.

Troop Beverly Hills: Phyllis Nefler, a soon to be divorced Beverly Hills society wife is determined to prove to her husband Freddy and herself that she can finish what she starts out to do. She soon realizes that being a Wilderness Girls' den mother to a troop of Beverly Hills-bred girls is not as easy as buying cookies.

During the evening I had the pleasure of seeing The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with my best bud Robert on the Warner Bros lot. I was so happy to be seeing it again so soon after my first viewing as so much happens that it requires a second and even third viewing to take it all in. I enjoy the movie just as much if not more the second time around. You can check out my spoiler filled review HERE. 

Space Shuttle, Hollywood and LAX

Today Lisa, Lydia and I did more touristy things. First on our list was taking the red line to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour. This is my second time seeing this magnificent ship and it still takes me breath away.

Afterwards we headed to Hollywood to check out Hollywood and Highland, and the Chinese theater and walk of fame. It's always fun going with someone who is really into Hollywood and enjoys seeing the hand and foot prints at the theater. Lisa was one of those people. We walked up and down the walk of fame checking out the hundreds of stars. We grabbed some lunch at a place in Hollywood and Highland.

Our next stop was to be Universal Citywalk but lunch wasn't agreeing with me so I opted out of that adventure. While Lydia and Lisa went to Citywalk I headed home to rest.

Before my evening could end I had to go pick up my buddy Robert and his girlfriend Cait at LAX. Their flight wasn't coming in until around midnight. I tried to take a nap before having to head out but of course it only made me feel worse. I got to the airport about a half hour early and waited in a near by parking lot for them to text them that they have landed. Of course the flight was delayed by a half hour so I picked them just after midnight, got them home around 1am and was in bed by 1:30am for some much needed rest. 

The Hobbit: Battles of the Five Armies - My Review

First.. there will be spoilers, so don't read until you've seen the movie or if you don't care then read away.

So I was fortunate enough to get into one of the very first screenings of the new Hobbit movie and brought my buddy and fellow die hard Middle Earth fanatic Josh along for his birthday.

I have read the books and I have loved the movies. I knew this third and final installment was going to be pretty much all action as that's how the last third of the book is.

Just in case you haven't read the books here is a brief synopsis of this installment:

"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.

Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo's frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.

As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide to unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

Where to start, how about with Gandalf and the battle of Dol Guldar. Last we saw Gandalf he was defeated and caged. The White Council removing Sauron from Dol Guldar is not directly in the book and is only mentioned in hindsight. So I was really looking forward to seeing how this fight was portrayed.. and I have to say it did not disappoint. Lady Galadriel, Elrond and Saurman battling the Nazgul and Sauron was EPIC!!!! My only complaint is that it was to short.. I could have watched another 20 minutes of it.

The burning of Lake Town and the death of Smaug was AMAZING. The scene with Bard and his son on top of the bell tower was gripping. Watching Smaug fly up one last time, then seeing the light in his eyes go out and then crash to the ground was breath taking.. and the best part which isn't in the book is Smaug falling on top of the Master of Laketown killing him.

The entire "madness" of Thorin was well done from beginning to end. They make you dislike him just enough so that you can like him again at the end when he redeems himself.

The standoff between Dwarfs, Elves and Man was tense and very funny at times. I enjoyed Biblo's role in this film. He's not a key player in this fight but he does have a key role.

The battle of the five armies is very well done. First with huge epic battles of orcs, elves and dwarves and then smaller battles with man. Until the end when they become one on one battles with the key characters. The main battle rages on but we are not privy to that. Instead we get these tense private battles that you have been waiting for the entire trilogy.

I have to say that I'm surprised that they only killed off those that are killed in the book. I was certain that Tauriel was going to get killed since she was a completely made up character just for the movies. But instead she survived to morn the loss of  her beloved Kili.. and those scenes are pretty heart wrenching.

The ending was much shorter then the book but it was fun and exactly the same as the book with the very end tying everything back to the beginning of Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf arrives at Bilbo's house.

Overall the three Hobbit movies are pretty amazing but if I had to choose I'd still chose the three Lord of the Rings movies to be more superior but that's because the Lord of the Rings story (in my opinion) is a better story. I can't wait to spend a weekend watching all six of these movies back to back to back to back to back to back.

Christmas Time & Hobbity Traffic Woes

Today was all about relaxing.. at least the first half of it. I've been on the go the past few days so I spent the majority of the day getting out Christmas decorations and setting up my tree. What made this extra fun was that I wasn't doing it alone. Both Lisa and Lydia (who hasn't decorated a tree in years) got to help me. It look us about an hour but by the end the tree looks beautiful. I still plan on putting up lights around the living room but my place already looks very Christmasy.

Later in the day my buddy Josh was coming over as we were going to see a special sneak preview of the third and final Hobbit movie The Battle of the Five Armies. I'm super excited for this!!!!

It's Josh's birthday today so I had planned to take him to dinner before the movie and then enjoy the movie. Well nothing went as planned. He was suppose to arrive at my place no later then 4, he showed up around 4:45. It was also pouring outside so he had to change clothes (he rides a motorcycle) so we didn't leave my place until about 5:15. The movie started at 7 and we had to get there by 6 to get decent seats and guarantee that we get in (as the overbook these screenings). In good weather it takes about 45 minutes to get to the theater from my place but it's pouring outside so I figured we'd be cutting it close and there was no way we'd be able to do dinner beforehand... btw I was starving.

We head out and as I expected traffic was horrible. We get to our freeway exit and it's closed, we get to the next exit and it's closed. I start to worry that something is going on in Hollywood. We get to the third exit (going further and further way from the theater) and it's open. It takes forever to get off as everyone else is trying to get off the freeway. As we turn right to backtrack a few miles I noticed that Hollywood Blvd is closed off and they are making traffic go left and right on Franklin. I flip a u turn and head down three more lights before I see Hollywood open so I could cross it. I make it to Sunset and figured we're good, the theater is on Sunset and though there is traffic, it's moving.

Well we go a few blocks and find out that Sunset is closed as well. This is were panic sets in. We have a 20 minutes to get to the theater by 6 and traffic is being detoured left and right. Josh manages to download Wazes on his phone and he maps out an alternate route to get around the traffic. This route takes us even further away from the where we need to go and I'm just hoping we get there before the room is full and there are still two seats for us and I don't care if they are together or not. I figured there was no way we'd get there by 6. Wazes had us going down alleys and back streets but surprisingly we managed to get to the theater just after 6 and the even better part is that they weren't making us wait outside in the rain and we were able to go right into the theater.

After a crazy hour of traffic and rain we still managed to get to the theater on time and get some pretty good seats. As for the movie.. if you know me, you know I loved it. But I'll give a more detailed/spoilery review in my next post. Oh by the way.. the Hollywood Christmas Parade was the reason for all the road closures. And we did go to Denny's for some much needed dinner after the screening.

Man Fabric, Clockwork Couture & the TARDIS

Was up early today as Lisa wanted to visit the Garment district in downtown Los Angeles. I have been to a few of the districts like Jewelry & Flower but never the Garment/Fashion district so I enlisted my friend Jes, who goes down there many times a month. As I said we were up early and on the redline (subway). Once in downtown we had to walk about 20 minutes or so to get to the district. Once there Lisa was in heaven. And I have to admit I never seen so many different kinds so fabric and colors. We spent several hours walking around checking out Jes' favorite stores. I even managed to find a "fun" print that I purchased a few yards of so I could make a pillow case out of. It was a fun experience.

Afterwards Lisa, Lydia, Jes and I met up with Dallas and had lunch in NoHo. Jes headed home while the others went to a local "thrift" store, but it's not like your regular thrift store. This store sales clothes that were used in movies and TV. It's called "That's a Wrap". This was my first time here and I have to say the clothes were nice but were still a bit pricey. I don't think any of use purchased anything. While there Lisa's friend Amy joined us.

We then headed over to my friend Donna's store Clockwork Couture. It's a steampunk inspired type store and it's pretty awesome. If you're a fan of the Guild, Donna and Clockwork Couture is the place that supplied us with all the steampunk items and clothes for Season five. Besides the steampunk stuff they also have a TARDIS and a Dalek from Doctor Who that you can take pictures with. It was a fun visit.

Afterwards Lisa headed off to Griffith Observatory with her friend Amy while the rest of us went home to crash. Another fun but tiring day.

Whimsic Alley, Tar Pits, Beach and More

Today I played tour guide for me friend Lisa who is visiting from Ohio. First place we went was Whimsic Alley, if you don't know what this is, it's a Harry Potter store in Los Angeles. It's set up like Diagon Alley with individual "stores" within the larger store. It's a must visit if your a Harry Potter fan. Today was even extra special as it's "Black Friday" and they were having some major discounts on their Robes, Scarves, Ties, Vests and so much more. Lisa was fortunate and found some house robes at 75% off but I wanted to get some Hufflepuff robes but alas they did not have my size in stock so no new robes for me.

Afterwards we headed to the La Brea Tar Pits, we walked around and saw the sights for a half hour or so. We then drove through Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive on our way to Santa Monica. We spent several hours walking on the beach and pier.

We headed back into Hollywood and down the Sunset strip before going over the hills into Studio City to visit Greg Aronowitz's Barnyard Studios. We spent an hour chatting with Greg and checking out off the cool things at his place. We then hit three industry/craft stores (Namies, Kit Kraft, Carter Sexon) before having dinner at Pitfire Grill and then calling it a night.

It was a long day of walking and sightseeing but it was loads of fun showing these places to Lisa and Lydia. Tomorrow we have more sight seeing stuff to do.

Star Wars Teaser Trailer

Disney released a teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII). I thought the teaser did exactly what it was suppose to do.. tease us. It made me excited to see a new Star Wars film and I can't wait to see more footage as it's released. Of course the internet has gone crazy and the haters are flooding Twitter and Facebook with negative comments, it's disheartening. From the rolling droid to the new/old light saber to not seeing the "legendary" characters (Han, Leia and Luke) people are bashing it left and right.

Now before anyone gets up on their high horse and says that everyone has their right to their opinion let me say I agree with you, but I might add, when it's constructive. Most of these haters complain just to complain. This is 88 seconds of a movie that just finished shooting a few weeks ago and won't be out for another a year and a month. It's seven quick clips that tell us nothing about the story, the characters or pretty much anything. But they did introduce us (visually) to the three main lead characters of the trilogy.

Would I have liked to see more.. oh heck yeah.. and I know I will in due time.

STAR WARS FOREVER!!!

Happy Thanksgiving & Boxtrolls Review

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm spending this Thanksgiving at my brother's house with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece. As well as my dad and several of my brother's friends, Lora's family and my friends Lydia and Lisa. There were a total of about 18 people here for dinner.

I was doing the bulk of the cooking for Thanksgiving dinner with the help of my sister-in-law Lora. Everything went fairly well, besides the juices over flowing and causing the oven to smoke moments before everyone was going to arrive. But with the help of my brother the crisis was adverted and everyone seemed to love the dinner. Many went back for seconds, which is always a good thing. My main goal for the meal was to serve everything hot, that's always the tough part when making such a large dinner with many items. But from everyones positive reactions I'd say we did a pretty good job.

Afterwards a group of us sat around and watched one of my screeners The Boxtrolls. I had never seen this but from the previews it looks cute. Here's a quick synopsis: A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children's novel 'Here Be Monsters' by Alan Snow.

Overall I enjoyed it, it didn't thrill me as other animated shows have but it was entertaining. For me I loved the stylized look of it as it was done "old school" stop animation. The story was good and I enjoyed the characters. Would I buy this on blu-ray? Probably not.. I have seen it and I will watch it again with folks who want to watch it but it's not something I can watch over and over again. I give The Boxtrolls a solid B-

Disneyland & Minions

Today I went to Disneyland to hang out with Lisa and Lydia who started their Disney adventure yesterday. Today is also Lydia's birthday and I wanted to celebrate this special day with her at the happiest place on Earth.

The three of us had a blast, the park was packed being the day before Thanksgiving but we did manage to do both Disneyland and Disney California Adventures. It was fun to experience the parks through Lisa's eye as she had never been here before. It was a long day of walking around but we ended our day by watching the Aladdin stage play (which is always amazing). As I said that ended my day but not theirs. They were staying at a local hotel so they went back to Disneyland while I made my way out to my brother's house were I'd be spending Thanksgiving tomorrow.

One geek thing I want to share with you guys.. I had no idea they were even making this movie so this trailer came as a complete surprise but I have say I love it!!

Dinosaurs, Mario Bros, Sherlock & Screeners

Today both of my house guests Lydia and Lisa were off to Disneyland (I'll be joining them tomorrow). So spent the day working on podcasts and watching more of my recorded TV. But there are several cool geeky pictures and videos that I wanted to share with you all.

First up is the release of the trailer for the next Jurassic Park movie called Jurassic World. It looks pretty cool and I have to say it reminds me more of the original and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not a watcher of Dancing With the Stars but this routine really caught my eye. It's pretty awesome.

BBC released a picture from the next Sherlock Christmas special in 2015. It's a long way off but I'm liking their old school look.

And today I received two more sceeners. First one was The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I have heard good things about and the other one was Boyhood and all I really know about this movie is that it was shot over 12 years with the same actors. I look forward to watching both of these movies.

Another Visitor

Well my friend Lydia is visiting for a few weeks from Switzerland and today my friend Lisa arrived from Ohio and has never been to Los Angeles so I'll be playing tour guide this week.

The real tour will begin tomorrow but we just had enough daylight left to go hang out at Vasquez Rocks. Lisa is a big geek like me and on her "must see" list was the famous Vasquez Rocks. When we got there the winds were blowing hard but we did our best to climb and not getting blown off.

Afterward we headed out for a late lunch / early dinner at Sizzler become heading back to my place to hang.

Day of Rest

Today was a lazy Sunday, I didn't really plan anything today. Lydia was off with friends so I have the place to myself so I just chilled and caught up on ton of TV that I haven't been able to watch while working. It's nice to take some time off from the "real" world and just relax and enjoy some make believe worlds.

Playing Minecraft

Today I got to spend a few hours playing some Minecraft with my buddies Chris, Robert and Brett. This was truly a special occasion as the four of us rarely have our schedules line up. It was tons of fun as we went on a little adventure across the lands looking for chickens. I learned how to build a boat and sail over water. I ventured out on my own and got lost several times but always seemed to managed to find the team again, which is a big deal as I am horrible at directions when it comes to that game. Overall it was fantastic game play and I hope we get to play together again real soon.

Last Day, Strange Magic, Hobbit Song & Screeners

So I have a house guest staying with me for the next few weeks. My friend Lydia is visiting from Switzerland. She arrived late last night and will be here until the second week of December.

It's the last day on this five week gig. It's strange for me as being a post production supervisor the bulk of my job happens at the beginning and the end of a show. Since I'm being released about a month before the pilot is done it's strange that I'm not going to be around to really do the bulk of my job and make sure everything is to network spec. But it is what it is, and they are out of money so I am being released from the gig. I enjoyed my time on this pilot and enjoyed everyone I worked with. Hopefully the EP or Line Producer moves on to another show and needs a post super and think of me.. but until then I'm on the look out for another post supervisor position if anyone hears of anything. 

I want to share a few videos that I came across... the first one is the trailer of a new George Lucas movie called Strange Magic. Looks like my kind of movie.

The next video was released by Peter Jackson and it's the final song for the third and final Hobbit movie The Battle of the Five Armies. It's also a good message to all the fans. I love it.

And finally I got some new screeners today...

Boxtrolls, which I'm really looking forward to seeing. Whiplash, which I heard is pretty good and The Theory of Everything, which I saw a sneak preview of and really enjoyed it. They might be coming in very slowly but I'm glad the screening season has begun.

I'm still expecting at least another 20 or so screeners to come in before the end of December.

My First 30 Days

Thirty days ago I was diagnosed as pre-diabetes, my sugar levels were 6.4 and to be officially diabetic your sugar levels need to be 6.5 and above... so I have come as close to being diabetic without being official. So I had to make some changes... some major changes.

I have 90 days before I have to go back and be re-tested in hopes that my numbers have gone done. So I broke it down into three stages. The first 30 days would be getting into a routine with working out and begin the change to my diet. The middle 30 days I would increase my working out from a half hour to a full hour of cardio and continue to work on my diet and start to include veggies. And then the final 30 days will be the same hour long cardio work out and hopefully have a new outlook when it comes to eating.

So as I mentioned I've hit the 30 day mark today and I'm happy to say that I have completed my goal of doing 30 to 45 minutes of cardio every single day (for 30 days). I walk/jog every morning around the NoHo park. I've integrated it into my morning routine, I get up and the first thing I do is put on my sweats and head out the door.

The food aspect of my first 30 days has been tougher. I've have done fairly well with my "GI" sugar intake but I haven't done that well with my fat and calorie intake. I have lost 6 pounds in this first 30 days which I know is okay but I'm disappointed as I was hoping to lose at least 10. In this first 30 days I've cut back my diet soda intake to only a few cans a week (I was doing 3 cans a day). I also have cut out potatoes (I've only had french fries 3 times in the past 30 days). Also my pasta and bread are now whole wheat. I've given up rice, and if I do eat it (twice this month) it's been brown.

So I've had my ups and downs the past 30 days... but let's hope I continue to improve my diet in the next 30.

Screener, States I've Visited and a New Roller Coaster

This screener season has gotten off to a very slow start, so far I've only gotten 2 screeners but today I got my third "Get On Up". At first I had no idea what this movie was but after checking it out online I realized I do remember hearing about this. It's the James Brown biopic. I can't saw it's high on my list to watch but you never know I may give it a go.

So after the bad news we got about marriage equality in the 6th circuit today was the opposite. A Montana judge has ruled in favor of the freedom to marry for same-sex. So now all Montanans will soon be able to enjoy the pleasure of marrying the one they love.

Saw this on Facebook, it's a map that you can mark all the states you have been to. As you can see from the map that I've pretty much covered the Pacific Northwest and the New England States. AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, HI, ID, MA, MD, MT, NJ, NV, NY, OR, RI, UT, VA, WA, WY. My buddy Matt mentioned in my comments section "So basically you hate the Midwest?" and I replied with "Well I am a gay man.. So the Midwest kind of doesn't like me". I don't think I've purposely have avoided these states, it's just the other states were more of a priority. I do hope to one day to visit every state.

And one last thing I want to share with you guys is this amazing video of an upcoming roller coaster being built in Florida.. it's said to be the tallest. It looks amazing and I'd ride if for sure if I ever make my way over to FL again. 

Christmas Music

I love Christmas and Christmas music and I always anticipate when KOST (a local radio station) starts playing Christmas music a few days after Thanksgiving. Well today I remembered that Pandora has a Christmas channel and I was a bit stressed here at work so I decided to plug in my headphones and listen to some Christmas music.

It was like an instant hug, I was smiling from ear to ear and all warm inside. It's crazy how music can do that to you. I was trying to be sneaky while listening as I didn't want anyone to bitch or complain that it's too early for Christmas music which I have heard many times already this year. But my whistling and humming along to the song kind of gave me away.

Oh well.. I don't care what people say or think. I love Christmas music and I can listen to it whenever and where ever I want.

Final Work Week, Homemade Chili & Warming the Heart

So I start my final week on this CNN Pilot, five weeks has kind of just flown by (ok 4 weeks as the fifth is just starting). I'm currently on the look out for another gig so if anyone hears of a post production supervisor position opening up please let me know.

Today for lunch I got to enjoy the chili I made overnight. I've been wanting to use my crock pot more and while talking to Erik last week he mentioned making home made chili so I asked for his recipe. I picked up all the ingredients a few days ago and was looking forward to making it. I prepared it last night and dumped it in the crock pot around 10:30pm and figured it would be ready by the time I got up and sure enough it was.

Before my walk in the morning I wanted to do a taste test and after four big spoonfuls I determined it was a success. I also did everything in my power to not have chili for breakfast. So I brought some to work and got to enjoy it at lunch. I have to say that I'm very happy with the final results. It's more on the mild side which Erik knows I'm a wimp with it comes to super spicy. I do think next time I will add more beans but overall it was a great recipe... Thanks Erik!!!  It also makes a very large pot so I'll be eating chili on and off this entire week.. woohoo

I want to share a video with you.. these kinds of videos always brings me to tears but it does the heart good... enjoy.