April Movie Reivew

Right before the month kicks off let's see if there's anything worth going to the theater to see!

 Hardcore Henry

Aimed at young'uns who love playing first person shooter games. Hollywood REALLY wants their box office money and some idiot was able to convince them, this movie was a good idea.

It's not. It looks like one big headache on screen. PASS!

 The Huntsmen

It has Thor in it. I see nothing else of value here.

Women will go see. Men won't.

Another PASS at the theater.

Jungle Book

This one actually looks good. Not interesting enough for me to give it a shot but it may do well a the box office considering the lack of competition out there this month. May be worth renting on Redbox. Beyond that...looks like another month of staying at home.

Thanks Hollywood!

Diet Results

As I told you earlier this year, I went on a diet. Well, after losing 25 solid pounds I'm off of it and back to my slim self once again!

It was the easiest diet I ever did and I plan to keep that weight off as I move forward in 2016.

Check one New Year's Resolution off the list for me!

Star Wars: The Final Frontier

As I shared in an earlier post this week, Troy Denning was gracious enough to tell me what all they had planned left for the EU before it's cancellation by Disney. It was a very in depth and satisfying conversation which made the entire trip there and back, well worth it.

I'm wondering what else there is out there for me? I don't think there's anymore unpublished stories out there left to have and now that I know the rest I have to ask myself "Where to now?"

Do the fans take over? Writing the series on their own while the status of more "Legends" stories hangs in limbo? Or do I slowly move in to other things?

I have to admit, I've really had a great time exploring board games and other such hobbies. Walking away from the "new" Star Wars has been a blessing in and of itself!

Anyway, time will tell what will happen. But if this is truly it for the Expanded Universe, then I've found my happy ending right here.

Cadbury season is open!

Ok, so Easter is gone but the cadbury 1/2 off season is ON!!

My brother and I always have a competition where we send our wives out to gather us as many cadbury eggs as they think we'll want. But the secret? There IS no limit. And whatever they bring us back our response is always "That was all?"

I had so many last year, I ate off of them for a month! But it's never enough! I love these things! ooey-gooey goodness needs to GET IN MY MOUTH!!

Best Holiday candy. Hands down. Nothing comes close. Have a suggestion of what's better? Don't bother leaving a comment.

You're wrong.

And if you say "peeps".....then I'm going to have to ask you to stop reading this blog.

Pensacon Videos (3)

K folks, that's all for today. Have a good weekend!

Pensacon Videos (2)

They had some amazing fan made props there too!

Pensacon Videos (1)

Today I thought I'd show you some video footage we took from the Con.

More to come throughout the day!

Pensacon Trip (4)

 On our last day there we went to an arcade place. Look how but that claw machine is!!

 They had everything here. I have to admit, it was way cooler than I thought it would be. I was impressed and will definitely be going back this summer. 

At the putt-putt course there was a huge Volcano. I read it erupts during play from time to time but I guess they shut it off the Saturday we were there. 

This was a nice course and just another reason for why we'll be coming back again! By the way, I won both games there. Further proving that though I'm constantly defeated in Gulf Shores at putt-putt, I can't be beat anywhere else!

What IS it about Gulf Shore anyway?!

Ok folks, that's all the pics from the trip. See you tomorrow!

Pensacon Trip (3)

 So let's talk about the outside because it wasn't pretty. The con was overcrowded this year. WAY overcrowded. The staff was not prepared, suffered several delays and NEVER opened up anything on it's scheduled time! I have to say, it was just as bad as a Dallas Comic Con run by Ben Stevens. Horrid!

 But it was all worth it just to meet Troy Dennig for the first time. Amazing author and all around great guy! We spoke for about 20 minutes about the Star Wars EU and he even shared with me their plan for future novels before it's cancellation. It's too late to write an update to my article for the book, but now that I have the answers I'm looking for, it's almost put it at ease knowing a little more than the average fan.

But all that's for another time.

Look! A bird!

More pics coming tomorrow!

Pensacon Trip (2)

 Pensacon was fun on the inside (I'll talk about the outside tomorrow)

 There were lots of photo opportunities and I took advantage of each one!

 Seriously good props from the 501st booth!

Megan and her BFF R2-D2. (she didn't even know who the 2 droids were behind her, though thinking back on it, I totally should have gotten my OWN picture with them!!

If I could've stolen anything from this comic con....just saying....

More tomorrow!

Pensacon Trip (1)

Last month I went to Pensacon. Here's a few of the pics from my trip!

 Megan said she'd buy it for me...even after I tried it on. However, looking at the price tag, I thought of 200 rea$son$ why I wasn't going to get it at all.

 Though you can't see it, there was a pretty cool Space Ghost costume behind me that I should have bought.

My one regret was not getting this Snoopy jar. We had it when we were kids and I passed it up thinking for sure Mom still had it in one of her cabinets.

Turns out, it busted years ago and she doesn't have it anymore. Dang! Well if it's still there when I go back in August, I'll be sure to pick it up. Mom used to stuff candy in it all the time! Nothing but good memories and happiness flows out of that jar for me!

Ok, more pics coming tomorrow!

Fun Fact Friday

Ah the Iron Maiden torture device. An instrument that killed exactly how many people back in the day?

The answer is zero.

Yep, it's fake. Made up years ago by museums to attract visitors. I'm not joking. Look it up. Google or go old school and dig through your parents old set of Encyclopedia's.

Man, those Encyclopedia's were fun too.....and real....unlike this....bummer, I know.

Have a great weekend folks!

Happy St Patty's Day!

I hope you have as much fun as this guy!

I loved this cartoon as a kid!

Vintage Chuck E Cheese (Part II)

 There were a lot of things fun at the old Chuck E Cheese's that didn't include the pizza!

 The robot stage shows were always fun for us as kids. The lights would go dim, the red curtain pulled back. You placed down your pizza and waited excitingly to see what they were going to sing and say next! Although I don't quite remember but I think there were 2 or 3 different shows they would do before repeating and we sat through all of them until they were done. Afterwards it was time to dive head first into a big pool of balls!

....I think that came out wrong.

 There were also side shows in other rooms if you didn't want to go to the main hall. I remember both of these very well. The King would sing Elvis songs. (obviously) and would always "Thank the crowd very much" after each set.

Next were the Beagles. I rip off of the Beetles, who sang songs and made an occasional joke. I never sat in any of these rooms to eat pizza (because back in the day it was blasphemy not to sit in the presence of the almighty Chuck) but I do remember occasionally checking in to see what shows they'd be doing at the time.

Do you have any memories of ye olde Chuck Esquire Cheese? Do tell...

Vintage Chuck E Cheese

Time to reminisce over the old Chuck E Cheese pizza places from back in the day!

 Sure they still have them around today but (to me) they're not as fun as they used to be. I mean, just look at all this fun prizes you used to be able to get!

 Not many people remember, Ole Chuck used to come with a cigar in his mouth. I still have a toy from that era. It was before the whole "smoking is bad and shouldn't be advertised from a friendly Rat selling us pizza" era. Ahh, the good old days...

 This is where my love of Skee Ball came from. I LOVED playing this game more than any other when I was a kid. (not too shabby at it either!)

 I remember one of the prizes we won was these stuffed animals. And they were better quality back in the day than you think! Not the cheap weird feeling stuffed animals you find at a carnival, these were stuffed with cotton. We had too of them. Looking at it now, the dang things are ugly as sin but back in the day, they were incredible to us!

K, more memories coming tomorrow!

Fun Fact Friday

Ah the Viking hat. Nothing quite like it right?

Except just one thing...vikings never had horns on the helmets.

In the 1800's composer named Richard Wagner put horns on the helmet for his Opera to give it a more dramatic effect and the modern day myth still lives on to this day!

Unless you're watching the History Channel series "Vikings" then you already knew that.

Have a great weekend folks!

Remember Magnetix?!

The sticker/magnet you placed on a pre-drawn background and...then changed the picture again until you...changed it again and then you...never wondered why you were so enarmored with it in the first place?

Yeah, that was me. I used to LOVE these things as a kid though I couldn't explain to you why. They literally were a lame idea that briefly caught on in the 80's and entertained me as a child. And though I still have fond memories of them as a child, I'm not about to revisit that part of my childhood again.

I want to keep those memories happy...not pointless.

Another hobby

Now I'm in to collecting vintage board games. I don't know what it is about them but I think they're super cool and very inventive back in the day.

There's so many out there that I hear about every day and never knew about as a kid. It's a fun hobby to have at the moment and eventually I know I'll get all the interesting ones and move on to something else but for now....fun stuff!

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for reviews on my vintage games in April! (gotta play them all first to see what they're about!

Pop Up Pinball

After months of starring at it on Ebay, I finally bit the bullet and bought it this tie around. And I love it!

Sure it's only worth a few plays every now and then but $20 I think was a fair price for what I got. The game is complete, works fine and I've had a lot of fun with it.

But I seriously need to stay away from Ebay so this doesn't happen again!

Fractured Fairy Tales ( Remember these?)

Fun Fact Friday

Remember these posts I used to make? Well I'm bringing them back for a short time with some brand new fun historical facts! (yeah for my college degree!)

Everyone knows Napoleon Bonaparte was short...or was he?

He was actually 5'7 in an age where 5'5 was the average height. So where did this rumor come from?

The English.

You see in French measurements he was 5'2. Which is the same as our 5'7 measurements. But the English started a rumor he WAS actually 5'2 to mock the would-be conqueror and quell the fear of his onslaught throughout Europe.

Looks like it worked too, because the common person on the street still believes it to this day!

Have a great weekend folks!

The Flop (rewrite)

The comedy I wrote nearly 2 years ago is delayed AGAIN. But this time it's my fault. I have to travel for business up north and won't be available this month to perform the show.

Strauss Theatre kindly moved the date back to June which should end up working for everyone. I'm also thankful because it gave me the chance to give the script a minor overhaul. I added 5 extra pages of dialogue and polished a few scenes making the overall product much sleeker.

I love this script. I'm excited about the show and I can't wait to start on it.

Now if only I can get a move on over that next script...

M&Ms Little League Commercial (1985)

Classic Doublemint Gum Commercial (1985)