South Korea taste test

South Korea

 Since North Korea wasn't invited this year (yuk, yuk!) we decided to head over to their friends in the south!

I was very curious to try the kimchi dog with spicy mustard sauce. I've had REAL kimchi before and I wondered if this would taste like garbage kimchi usually does.

It didn't. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the "dumbed" down the flavor A LOT on this one. Though I know it was all for the best because if it was REAL kimchi Disney would have asked them to leave immediately.

That being said, the dog overall was pretty good!

Taste test coming up next!

Mexico (3)

I stood in line to get my picture with Mexican Donald while Mrs Cranky Pants waited at the end of the line to take my picture since she didn't want to do one with Donald.

I wait the entire time in line for a turn, then when we leave she tells me she DIDN'T get the pic!!

So instead of waiting another 20 minutes I decided to take a video of what might have been...(sniff, sniff)

That's all for today folks! C-ya tomorrow!

Mexico (2)

Here's a short clip of the lazy river ride they have there. We skipped it the 2nd trip to Disney World but this time around I had a bit of nostalgia in wanting to ride it again.

Mexico (1)

Had to make a pit stop in Mexico to look around. We didn't eat anything because, meh! It's Mexico! We can have that anytime right?

But if you look in the background you can see the amazing model temple they have in their restaurant. Again, I wouldn't want to eat Mexican while I was there but this place looked nice!

More vids to come later today!

Australia taste test

Australia

Welcome to the land down under!

Here we tried the garlic shrimp with roasted tomatoes, lemon myrtle and rapini.

I have no idea what I just said. It's what it says in the book. But those shrimp were HUGE!

Taste test video forthcoming.

Argentina taste test

Argentina

Our next stop was in beautiful Argentina!

I tried the beef empanada with chimchurri sauce! It was one of the better things I tried that day.

Video taste test coming soon...

Brazil taste test

Brazil

 Our first stop at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival was Brazil!

We had the seared scallop with ragout or tomatoes, peppers and hearts of palm.

Yeah I don't know what the means either but it sounded good so I had to try it.

Video of our taste test is coming up soon...

Lucy update

Hey folks!

Just a quick reminder to let you know that "Lucy" tickets go on sale Feb 14th.

You need to get them quick because there's a lot of interest in it and they're sure to go fast!

You can purchase tickets online here when they become available.

C-ya!

5 MORE things I want from the New onwers of Star Wars

Last year I listed 5 things I want from Disney in expectation of their new Star Wars acquirement. Now I know they haven't really done much with it so far but who can blame them?

But on top of what I said last time, here's a few more things I'd like to see come out from the new owners of the franchise.

 1) Star Wars 1313

I can't believe I'm even talking about this but the Star Wars 1313 game looked pretty cool. Though I never would've played it, I think a novel about the game would've been very interesting indeed. Lucasfilm just abandoned the copyright recently so this is a dead duck as far as they're concerned. But if Disney ever wanted to tell it's story (at least in book form) I'd be reading.

 2) Droids and Ewoks (the complete series on DVD)

I already have a burned copy of these on DVD but I'd love to see an official release of them both as well. Again, this is easy money that Lucas has been sitting on for years so I have no idea why they haven't done this before now.

 3)  Holiday Special on DVD.

I know why this one isn't out. But c'mon, It's such a cult classic why resist bringing out an official release with commentary and (possibly) deleted scenes that were so bad they couldn't even make THIS film!

Can you imagine how much fun it would be to hear Peter Mayhew's drunken commentary about how he never knew why was going on the whole time this was filmed? And that he thought this was the sequel to Star Wars?! Also, some additional footage of the late great Bea Arthur would be welcomed as well. I say GO FOR IT!

 4) Webstrips collection
Back in the good ole days of Hyperspace, they came out with daily comic strips on their site. Depicting either the clone wars, pre-episode 3 lead ins or basically any other stories they could think of.

I kept up with and enjoyed each one, But when Hyperspace was taken down, these comic strips classics vanished from appearance, never to be seen again. Why don't they come out with a collection of the Web Comics made? I'm shocked Dark Horse hasn't done this yet.

Last year Dark Horse released an Omnibus titled "Wild Space" which depicted all the random comic book stories that were out there. Like the UK comics or older Kenner Toys comic books. It was great to see these hard to find gems, However when the much anticipated Wild Space 2 came out, it was just a collection of One-shots that were easily attainable anywhere on the web.

There's been a recent push by fans to have Wild Space 3 feature the old comic strips that were posted online but Dark Horse hasn't responded to the request. I think the reason is they don't have the rights to publish these strips, hence no Omnibus talk about them,

It's a shame, because these strips weren't that bad and a collection of them all in one book would be well worth my money and time to read!

5) Escape from DDig
The Clone Wars novel that was completed, even given cover art as seen above, but NEVER got published. The reason being was that Del Roy's under contract that they can only release "X" amount of books a year over their contract with Lucasfilm. But my question is this; why not release it now?

There's been a "freeze" on the novels thanks to Episode 7 so not many books are being released. Why not do it now when you have nothing else to put out? They've already paid the author for it and now it's just sitting on some editor's computer waiting for someone to press "print"

My guess would be maybe they think it's been too long since the release of the prequel movies that no one will care, But I argue that wouldn't be true. Though Shaak Ti never was a personal favorite of mine I would be interested in reading a story that might tell me more about this unknown extra who was in Episode 3 for a few seconds.


Do I expect any of these things to happen? No, but it's nice to dream ain't it?

Party with the Stewarts

 Last month my good friend Vanessa let me know she was in town and wanted to hang out that weekend so Megan and I did. We had a great time with her and her husband....

,,,French Stewart. 3rd Rock from the Sun....yeah. I know.

Wild right?

Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Hands down the biggest plus on the trip for me when arriving THE WEEK this opened! I've always wanted to be at the Food and Wine festival and fate had us arrive the first day it opened!

It was so AWESOME to try so many foods from so many venues. If we'd had more time I would've stayed longer and tried them all! Starting next week you're going to see videos and pics of all the things we tried while we were there.

It was one of the BEST things about the trip. I loved it all and can't wait to show you soon!!

Picture time!

 Thought I'd take a time out from videos to show you some pics we took while at Epcot. Here's one of a troll grabbing my fanny.

 Chalk this pic up as another adorable photo shoot by yours truly!

 Of course are annual "The Sun is in our eyes, but we're in front of Epcot so we have to take our picture" pic.

I have no idea, where or what I was doing when this picture was taken. I guess Megan saw my A.D.D. kick in and decided to take a picture of me looking at the lantern like a dolt.

Ok, that's all for now. Tootles!

Defcon Z!!!

The new Zombies!!! Expansion has been announced and for the first time ever they're taking it to Kickstarter for everyone to enjoy!

Donations have been pouring in too!! So much that they've now decided to make it a 'stand alone" set instead of an expansion. I very excited to see the outcome and methinks there will be even a card made after your truly, thanks to his generous donation.

What your face on one of the event cards in the deck? Or maybe your own tile?! Go to Kickstarter today and check it out!

Hometown news

One of the great things about living in a small town is when the Olive Garden burns down it makes front page news everywhere.

Megan's been upset since it happened and all I'm wondering is how we're going to use our gift card now that this place is no more. Lol

Maybe there's one in Jackson...

Cranberry Bog

Lot's of stuff was going on in Epcot when we were there. One of them was the Cranberry Bog from Ocean Spray was there showing off how cranberry's are....um...bogged for harvesting.

Though I didn't understand anything the lady was telling me, it may have been the fact that I was day dreaming about swimming around in the bog the whole time she was talking....and I don't even like cranberry's that much!

The Sum of All Thrills

When studying for our trip I came across this ride and was interested in trying out a place where you can design your own virtual roller coaster ride! We got there RIGHT before the line got long too! (perfect timing)

So if the line is short it's worth your time. But if it's a long line....eh...hold off till next time.

Club Cool

Word to the wise if you ever go down to Disney for vacation. THIS is the place you want to go to if you're at Epcot.

FREE DRINKS! You can sample different colas from around the world at no charge! A sure way to lower you budget when at Disney World. We stopped here about 3 times during our visit. My favorite was a Ginger Ale from Germany I think.

There was a nasty melon drink from Japan that got one sip from me before a spewed the rest out onto the floor. Overall though I'd go back to try any other flavors they give you. It was interesting to see what the rest of the world drinks.

When Caleb met Prissy

I'm not even sure Megan's ever posted this before so I'm doing it now since their wedding is right around the corner.

Here's little moron and Pris the day he proposed to her. Someone in the mall snapped the photo just in time and sent it to them. I like how Pricilla has this look that says "Oh man, he did it in public...how am I going to get out of this?!"

Anyway, just thought it was something nice to share for today.

Greenlight!

Hey folks, guess what? After an entire year of hanging out in "development hell" my "Lucy" script was finally given the green light to be the next dinner theatre show by Murder is Served!

I'm so happy it's finally going to happen and you can find out more details at their website www.murder-isserved.net

I'll be keeping you updated on the blog too as we get closer to performing the show. CeJay's agreed to make his directorial debut and I'm honored to have him on board. In fact, most of the original cast will also be in it too which makes me so thankful for everyone's support!

I know we're going to have a great show, I can't wait to see how it all turns out in the end! 

More Star Wars problems

Yikes! Are you hearing what I'm hearing about the upcoming Episode 7?!

It seems the real reason Arndt left was a disagreement over the script between himself and JJ. Abrams gave him the boot and took over script duties. But with NO ONE announced as cast for this film it tells me they're STILL not done with a script. 

The newest rumor is that now the main characters from the original trilogy (Luke, Leia and Han) will be the leads of the movie instead of just supporting characters...and that's not sitting well with a few movie critics.

Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher haven't been the lead character in a movie for decades and even a few years back, both acknowledged they had trouble remembering so many lines and we all know how sad we felt to see Harrison Ford gallivanting around in his Indy's duds once again only to see how far his star has fallen.

Don't get me wrong. I'm FOR this cast to work but even through the most rose colored glasses I can find, I still have worries about this film.

If you remember my Indy 5 review years ago on the blog, I said that even though it was good to see Harrison Ford back as Indiana Jones  the movie bummed me out as a whole because I'd rather have remembered Dr Jones valiantly riding off into the sunset at the end of "The Last Crusade" rather than old and decrepit in "Crystal Skull"

In other news that'll make you coocoo for coco puffs, the big rumor on the Boba Fett spin-off film is that they're going to change your favorite bounty hunters origin from the prequel. Yep, that's right! Even continuity in the films will mean nothing as we sink to the level of Star Trek and start writing whatever garbage people feel like! It's no secret Lawrence Kasdan HATED the prequel movies, especially Boba's origin so it wouldn't surprise me if he did decide to change it.

Again, I have a bad feeling about this.

Finding Nemo

Don't be fooled, her favorite fish is not Nemo....it's Flounder.

(Epcot) Finding Nemo Ride POV at Epcot Disney's WDW Florida

Mission to Mars

Her quote from last year is still my favorite but I'm proud of her this year. She didn't complain of being sick after riding it.

Personally, I love this ride. It feels so realistic!

Walking for one

Here's a video of how Megan would walk in front of me. She steps to each side so that it's impossible to walk beside her. She kept doing it and I was laughing cause I KNEW I had to get this on tape!

I'll show you what ride it was for later today.

Test Track (3)

After the ride, just scan the card you used to design your car and it pops up in a race car video game for you to play against others!

They've really done some nice improvements on the ride, I was impressed at how creative they got with the pre and post time que's around the ride!

Ok, that's all the videos today. More coming tomorrow!

Test Track (2)

Now at Test Track, you can design your own car to your own specifications! How cool is that? But wait till later this afternoon and I'll show you more!

Test Track (1)

Our next ride was the other popular one at Epcot, Test Track.

This one was a special surprise because they'd changed it from the last time we'd been there. It's a whole lot more interactive than it used to be. I'll post more videos through out today to show you what I'm talking about!

Soarin'

The best thing about this clip happened before the camera was turned on. Megan didn't want to be on camera after every ride so she decided it was time for me to be in front of the camera. But after this clip, that idea was dropped for the rest of the day. LOL

Disney: Day 1

The first time we went to Disney World, we visited Hollywood Studios. The 2nd time we started out at Animal Kingdome and this time it was Epcot!

Though I doubt Megan would allow us to visit Magic Kingdome first for a change it would be neat if we started out each trip differently.

Oh well.

A day long remembered...

Got it.

Also found out that the Kindle version of some of the Star Wars books also came out with little extra as well and I four them too.

The biggest surprise was that I didn't know the collectors edition of the video game Old Republic also came out with a short called "The Journal of Gnost-Dural" which I picked up from EBay for a bargain.

Once that comes in I'll have read it all! Finding "Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd" really motivated me this week! Now I have to sit and wait for Darth Maul "Lockdown" to come out.

Febuary movie preview

Well it looks like this month there are only 2 movies trying to grab on to your wallet. Let's take a look at them both.

 Robocop

The only BIGGER waste of time would be to rent the re-make of Total Recall instead. This vomited revamp of a classic 80's movie will not only be forgotten by the end of the year but also be the butt of many jokes to come. (just wait and see) And though they get Samuel Jackson and Micheal Keaton to hoc it the fans, it won't be enough to fool me into seeing this movie as anything other than a dud!

The Monument's Men

Usually, I'd pass at this, but then I see Bill Murray's in it and I think "Maybe I'll get it on rental." Is it worth the price of admission to the moving picture show? Meh, maybe. But I think I can hold off till it's at Redbox and enjoy it all the more then.

Any other Box Office flops for next month I've failed to notice? Let me know...

Early Easter

So last week I was walking around a store when I found a huge basket of cadberry eggs for sale. This early?! Easter stuff out in January.... that's how desperate retailers are these days to get your money.

Amazing.

Guilty

A Rod fought the decision and got the hammer brought on him in the effect of full season plus the post season. Ouch!

Well it serves that liar right. I hope he goes down with Pete Rose as the most shameful player in the game!

Duke of Earl...sammich

Before we left Downtown Disney we decided to eat before we left. We didn't know where to go but decided to stop at this sandwich stop for a bite. I'll be honest, it was one of the best places we went to that week and that's NOT my hunger talking!

Megan agrees, if we could've come back later that week we would have. That had a lot of great items on the menu to choose from.

Maybe next time!

The Importance of the Star Wars Expanded Universe

As the powers that be, determine what should be considered "Official" SW cannon and what should not, I'd like to present my arguement on letting the entire thing stay within the SW Universe.

First off, as long as JJ Abrams doesn't mind Chewbacca missing from the sequels he can have all the originals show up, have their adventure and STILL not have to mention anything about what's been going on in their lives since ROTJ. In books the characters are the exact age the stars are right now. Nothing further has been done with their story for years now so he can even fill the blanks from the past 2 years if he wanted to change any current settings the Expanded Universe had already set. (such as Governments and adversaries) It's practically a clean slate for him already!?

Secondly, this would only strenghthen the series as a whole for all fans therefore not leaving the EU faithful (who've spent hundreds of dollars and invested thousands of hours enjoying EU content) out in the cold like a red-headed step child.

Remember, Star Wars was DEAD in 1990. After 87' nothing Star Wars related was coming out. Marvel had stopped printing the comics, the Ewoks and Droids cartoons were over. Only a lone RPG company called West End Games were left fanning the dying embers of Star Wars content.

Then in 1991 their came the franchise's first spark.

Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" novel not only surprised everyone by shooting straight to #1 on the New York Times Best Seller's List but it also shocked the pants off Lucasfilm, who'd thought the genre dead and had only ordered 3 books be made with no more after that.

It ignited the desire in the hearts of every Star Wars fan of how much they loved those classic characters from the childhood and is still held in reverence by most fans to this day. But what most of those fans don't understand is that the series got better as time went on. The books "grew up" with it's audience and started telling darker tales with more realistic endings because in life, not everyone lives happily ever after. And over 30 years of the EU it's been a beautiful arc to watch grow into the mature story it is today.

We've gone from silly berry wines and clones called "Luuke" to the Vong and Lost Tribes of Sith and I've loved every minute of it.

Will Lucasfilm now cast away that which brought it back into the public limelight and made them into the mighty franchise they are today? I hope so because it would be a shame if the didn't. And no tale of "redemption" will ever come closer than to have the outcast of the EU be welcomed into the hallowed halls of "Cannon" which the Star Wars universe can provide.

Here's to hoping! 

Downtown Disney (6)

Is that not good looking or what?!

I should have bought it. Oh well.

Have a good weekend folks!

Downtown Disney (5)

Megan kept talking about how she was going to buy some Mickey Ears this time around since she hasn't on both previous trips.

Well she never did that week either, but here's a pair she was leaning toward getting at first.

Come back later today to see which hat I tried on...

Yes, yes a million times YES!

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Disney has just assigned a group that will be combining the Star War Expanded Universe as OFFICIAL CANNON with the movies!!

It's too early to know what all this means and nothing has been announced as to what's going on but this gives me great hope as a Star Wars fan who has been fighting for the authors since day 1 of the Disney takeover. To destroy over 30 years of excellent EU material would be a disservice to all those who contributed into making Star Wars so extremely important to me today. I hope the people in the Group will take careful consideration on that when making their final decision.

If they keep the books and comics intact I'll have no problem fully endorsing their movies. In my opinion this would be the best step Disney could take. It would totally revolutionize the Star Wars industry!

Think about it, this is a smart move for Disney. If they make all the books cannon all they have to do in Episode 7 is start showing these characters from the novels and get everyone saying "What's their background?" They could revitalize the EU market and make millions! (and you know how much Hollywood loves the almighty dollar) This also serves as a big "Thank You" for the fans like me who have spent their lives growing up and loving these stories.

There's no telling when they will make everything official but with the 2 biggest supporters of EU in Leland Chen and Pablo Hildgado being on the group and hand picked by Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy, I see this as very good news.

Here's to hoping my dream comes true for the Star Wars EU!

Downtown Disney (4)

The funny thing about this is that I was kidding with Megan the whole trip down that if she ever saw this in stores she'd freak out...turns out I was right.

Star Wars Nerd Triumphant!!

Ok, this matters to absolutely NO ONE but me but I just had to talk about it anyway.

I FOUND THE STAR WARS SHORT "Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's taken me years and I thought I'd never read on actual copy since it NEVER was released in print but I FOUND it and read it for the first time tonight!

When Megan asked why I was jumping and running around the house for joy, I let her know what I'd found...and she quickly went back to reading her Facebook page regretting the fact that she's stuck with a Star Wars nerd of a husband for life.  

This was one of only 2 Star Wars "expanded universe" stories I've never read and now there's only one left to go!

This one's the hardest because it was only released in the 2009 Star Wars Fan Club Membership kit and it was the ONLY year I wasn't a member. (I have no idea how that happened) Anyway, I've look all over for it and just can't find it anywhere.

The sad thing is it's probably gathering dust in some fanboy's closet at his Mom's house without a clue as how much it would mean to me!

Oh well, at least I found this gem after 3 long years of searching. Maybe someday I'll find the other.

G'night!

Downtown Disney (3)

More tomorrow!

Downtown Disney (2)

Our next stop took us back to the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I'm always amazed at the new works of art they have every year.

One more video to come later today...

End of an era

After a great BCS Championship game I tip my hat to Florida State who played well and deserved the win.

As the saying goes you can't win them all but dang did we come close! I'm not ashamed of the way we played because we weren't embarrassed like Norte Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas were during their BCS Championship games and we weren't favored to win, which means we didn't get upset unlike Oregon (and again) Ohio State did. We went out there and gave it all we had and that's all you can ask for.

Overall the SEC won 9 of the 16 BCS Championships, that's over 4 times more than the Big 12 or ACC, and 9 times better than all the others. In fact, all the other conferences combined couldn't equal what we've done in College Football for almost 20 years. If that doesn't speak volumes about the mini-NFL SEC I don't know what will.

I'm proud of my Plainsmen for going out there every week as the underdog and playing till the final second. No one had us ranked for the first 6 weeks of the season. And no one picked us to win against Miss State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama or Missouri. They said we'd finish 2nd to last in the SEC and even I picked Auburn to go 9-3 at best.

But the Tigers kept winning and I the polls let us remain at #2. A final sign of respect.

Now everyone's jumping on the Florida State bandwagon and I don't blame them. The played a brilliant game. Though we held them to record lows for the season they did the one thing I thought no one could do... stop Treo Mason. Holding him to 200 yards for the game was an incredible achievement and I give credit where credits due.

So goodbye flawed BCS system, next year it's the playoffs and instead of seeing one SEC team in there I'll now get to see two! I look forward to another 16 wonderful years of always being the best. A

Though Auburn didn't make it this year, I'm thankful they went this far in the first place.

So we'll see you next year, War Eagle!

Downtown Disney (1)

Before we actually went to Disney World, we stopped at Downtown Disney one night to wet our appetite!

I love Megan's face at the end of this video. In fact, this whole week, watch her reactions and TELL ME you wouldn't want her with you on your next trip to Disney.

Today is the day!

What do you say we go out and win us an 8th Championship in a row tonight?

WAR EAGLE!!!!!

12th Day of Christmas!!

Today is the last day of Xmas, so for the last time I'd like to wish everyone the Merriest of Christmas' and a Happy New Year!!

Disney Preview

Next week we begin our videos and pics from Disney! Here's a sneak peek at which place we're going to first!

See you Monday!

Woody Woodpecker roller coaster

On our last day at Universal Studios Megan let me go to the kiddie section and ride the Woody Woodpecker coaster.

We had so much fun we rode it 3 times. I can't explain why but it was the perfect ending to our day at Universal.

That's all the videos and pics I have from that day kids! I know it's been a while getting these out but I've been very busy over the holidays. Now that they're almost thru I'll have time to dive right into our massive Disney World part of the trip.

Have a good weekend folks!

Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster (HD On-Ride) Universal Studios Florida

2014 Resolutions

So 2014 is now here and I need to come up with some good resolutions. I didn't quite make my ones from last year since I was 5 pounds short of losing my goal weight so I guess finishing that one up is a no brainer to add this year but what else can I say?

1) Make "Elves" happen? I didn't get a lot of help from anyone this year, causing my show to crash and burn last year so for this year I'm ready to fight the odds again by campaigning my play earlier and stronger again this year. I already have my dinner theatre in the works of getting performed now all I have to do is concentrate on getting this off the ground next.

2) Make a Star Wars Expanded Universe channel on YouTube. I goal I've been thinking about doing already since there seems to be NO clear cut authority on the subject of Star Wars fiction out there, I may as well try to be the first one eh?

3) Find a new hobby. Since the Star Wars books are drying up (due to the upcoming release of the new film) and I don't draw comics anymore I need to come up with a few new hobbies to keep me busy during my down time. Hmmm...maybe write some more Star Wars fiction?

So there's my list so far for this year. Any resolutions for you in 2014? Do tell!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2014....it's ON!!