Red vs Blue

 I used to watch this back in the day. I stopped after season 5. 

A few months ago I heard the 19th and final season came out this year. 

I had no idea the series was still running 20 years after its creation! So I decided to try watching ALL of the seasons. 

I only made it to season 5. 

The show is hilarious and the first 4 seasons are virtually perfect. The humor is excellent and though season 5 let's the "storyline" get in the way of more silly moments of the two teams goofing off, it still finishes strong and overall is a great story arc. 

I tried watching season 6 and it appears from this moment on, the series tries to take itself more serious and making a "cinematic" dramady out of the series which loses the main ingrediant of what made it so special in the first place. It never took itself serious. 

Trying to build a story with little humor, buries the fun of watching. I felt like I was being forced to watch someone play a video game and make up their own story along the way. I was bored and didn't make it to the halfway point of season 6 to realize this series wasn't for me. 

Again, I love the first 5 seasons. The story ends and you can walk away never having to wondeer what happened to your favorite goofballs in a world galaxies away. 

But believe me...if you watch even further, you'll find out they became miserable attention-seeking characters that tried to take themselves serious when all fans wanted was something to laugh about. 

Too bad.  

Cherry RC

 At long last I got to try this flavor after years of searching for it. And I found it by total accident. 

It was at my local Family Dollar. $6 for 18 pack. Such a good deal that I almost bought 2 cases but decided to try it first. I'm glad I did. 

It's good. But just cherry flavored RC, nothing more special than that. I'm happy to have tried it, but after this I'll go back to drinking the regular brand I think. 

RC Berries and Cream

 Had no idea Dollar General had exclusive sodas in its stores. I knew they had Jolt for a short time and I didn't even know. Well the same goes for this little flavor. 

It's pretty tasty, comes in a tall can and sells for $1! I wish RC would make a bigger push mainstream and go up against these other sodas. I truly believe RC could increase its market share if an effort were made. 

I don't know if it's still in stores but I can tell you I loved it when I bought a few last month. 

Good stuff! Here's to hoping they have more exclusive flavors in the meantime!

Krystal burgers

 I'm the only one in my family that loves them and I don't care. They're excellent! We had them when we were kids growing up in Ms. But in La, they don't have any spots so I only get them on those rare occasions I visit the state. 

Little sliders aren't much but tasty enough to grab a bag when I'm passing through. Any leftovers when I get home I like to spice up with extra pickles, mustard and a few different sauces I have around the kitchen. These puppies are delish!! Just wish we had a place closer to us I could ge them more often!

Snack Review III

 Yep.

I tried it. 

Couldn't help myself. 

On sip of the coke and I was good. Taste like Oreos mixed with diabetes. Thankfully, my kids finished off the rest. 

Although when it came to the cookies....after one bite they never finished them. 

Yes. Disgusting. Taste like molasses mixed with peppermint. Really strange flavor. 

"A" for effort "D" for delivery. 

These will NEVER be coming back. So if you want to try them, get it now. 

Or come by my house...I still have a few cookies left. 

Snack review II

 In my quest to find something that taste like my favorite dessert I found these. 

I love pop tarts even though my kids hate them. I tried it....meh. You can taste the flavor but after the first pack, I found myself wanting the actually pie instead. 

I'm just happy to find something that's not "pumpkin spice" which is the most popular flavor this time of year. 

Snack Review

 Was really excited about these when I picked them up. But for the life of me I couldn't taste the difference between these and the regular flavor. Honestly....tasted the exact same. 

Even passed them around to all my co-workers and they felt the same way too. 

What a dud!

Classic commercial

 

State flag

 Was driving through Mississppi recently and thought about how much I hate the new flag. It doesn't have an identity or even look like a State Flag. It even looks ugly. 

Now I'm an old man who grew up with the old flag so I'm very sentimental I know, but it just looks better to me. I bought one years ago when I moved away and still have it to this day. I also have a flag pole with an american flag which has seen better days and needs to be replaced, so maybe I'll replace it with my old stat flag? 

Have a good weekend folks!

500 Days of Summer (re-view)

 I saw this years ago when it first came out but haven't seen it since. My nephew wanted to watch it one night so we put it on. 

So good. 

Fun story of a man trying to get over an ex-girlfriend. It has one of the best scenes in movie history showing what he felt like the day after they slept together. Hilarious. 

It's a forgotten classic that I get to appreciate once again and I'm thankful for that. I need to go back through my mind and try to remember other gems from my past that deserve a re-watch like this one. 

Well worth your time, whether you've seen it before or not!

NLCS here we come!

 ONE.

MORE.

WEEK.

OF.

BASEBALL.

LET'S GOOOOOOOO METS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wicked Litte Letters (review)

 This movie could have been great. 

The acting is good. The look of it is great. The true story behind it all, basically writes itself as its based off a true story about the police looking for someone who was writing dirty letters to people in town, in hope her neighbor got arrested for it. 

The true story is worth checking out....the movie, isn't. It misses the obvious comedy such a story would present. If everyone is offended by the letters (which they were in real life) the movie degrades that by showing everyone uses such language in town, they just don't like to see it in writing? It made no sense. 

The movie didn't have to be so crass. But instead, it was and its a shame because this could have been great. 

Dang. Pass. Not worth your time. 

The Instigators (movie review)

 Wow. This movie looks good in the previews but is one of the worst movies I've seen all year. Not funny. VERY boring. This was pitched to Apple+ on the cast of actors only. There was NO story or plot and the movie dragged the entire time. In fact, after 7 minutes in I was ready to give up but my sister wanted to watch the whole movie so we did. 

Complete waste of time. Ugh! Utter trash!

Ranking the Carcasonne Expansions (16)

 Windrosen

Starter tile, whenever you place another matching tile in the same direction you get 3 points. Pull the blue one you get 3 points plus you can change the direction for future tiles. Neat expansion but with only 6 tiles it goes largely ignored in the game when played. I love this expansion but wish it had more tiles associated to it. If it did, this would be a much better expansion. 

Wonders of Humanity

Place 2 meeples for each player on the 10 point space. First one there grabs the meeples and chooses a wonder that can be placed on the board instead of pulling a regular tile. Each wonder gains you difference points in the game. They're HUGE tiles too! The rest of the players meeples move 5 points down the board until the next player gets there and so on and so forth. Wonderful expansion. I don't play with it all the time because I think people would get into the habit of choosing the same wonder over and over but I do recommend it. A lot of fun!

That's all for now, though I do have MORE expansions on the way and will probably address those at a later time once I've played them more. I love this game more and more each time I play. And though I don't plan on getting all the expensive Spiel Promos, I do plan on getting all the other expansions I can get for the game!

Salem's Lot 2024 (Review)

 I was so excited to see this new version of the novel but it ended up being a disappointment. 

The boy lead is PERFECT. Meaning, nothing he does goes wrong or IS wrong. He knows everything, he's the best at fighting, an expert escape artist and instant wiz on everything vampire. AND he doesn't fear them at all! Yep....just like every American kid in 1975 I'm sure. 

It's pathetic watching people go through the generic motions of what beats a vampire. Making a cross out of tongue pressers is something that apparently works. And you don't even have to believe in the cross. In fact, these people no nothing of God but are somehow able to call on him by quoting the Lord's Prayer and He answers them. 

Also, if you ever get bit, here's the cure; A rabies shot with a makeshift cross laying on your chest..... I wish I was joking about that. 

Even the iconic scenes from the original film are bungled here.  

So disappointing because the look of the film is good. But without the heart...it's a pointless waste of time. 

Ranking the Carcasonne Expansions (15)

 Tollkeepers

Place these toll booths to gasin points for every building located on a road tile one completed and 2 points for any meeples on it. Then, flip it over and place on another uncompleted road and score 2 points for each road building. It's an ok expansion. I love the importance they place on building roads but most times people forget they even have a toll booth and choose not to place one on the board in the first place. For that reason, I don't play with it as often as I'd like. 

Tunnels

Whenever these tiles are played, players may place their tokens and connect roads from one tunnel to the next, increasing points to their road. Any expansion making roads more valuable is welcome in my games. But there's so few of these tiles that it seems you place your tokens out quick and then the expansion means nothing going forward. I don't mind adding it to my games but I wish it came with more tiles and tokens to make the game more relevant as it went on. 

Ukriane

Just a promo tile they made to support the country. They stated that you can "make you own rules" but I just keep it as a regular tile and add it to the base game. Nothing special. 

Watchtowers

Surround these tiles to gain the points indicated on the watchtower. I love the idea but rarely are these surrounded and when they are, they rarely yeild big points which is why most people just ignore them when they come out. A shame, because I like the idea, I just wish there were more points allocated to completing them. That way there would be more interest in them when they came out. 

Almost done folks! See you next week for the wrap up!

WHAAAAA???

 What. A. Game. 

I've lost my voice. 

Simply Incredible. 

Almost makes me want to believe.....but we face the Phillies next, so I'll stayed reserved. 

LET'S GO METS!!!!

Ranking the Carcasonne Expansions (14)

 Signposts

When scoring these tiles you get an extra point if the road follows the direction of the arrow from the previous tile. Just another way to score more points on roads which I like. I use this one a lot in my games but don't think any of the others have figures out a good way to score big points on these yet so my group largely ignores these tiles which is sad. I think they have a lot more potential than most people give them credit for. 

Spiel Dochi

Just 2 promo tiles that if they weren't so cheap I wouldn't bother getting. 

The Phantom

By far one of the most popular mini-expansions in my gaming group. This allows you to place your meeple in the same road or city as another player. Leading to lots of poitn sharing (or gaining) opportunities. What a simple expansion to place in the game that changes it on epic levels. A must in every game we play!

The River

Start tiles that everyone loves but I think is overated. Sure it adds more places to begin but isn't really that special. I'll play with it from time to time but it doesn't live up to the hype you hear from everyone else as being a "must" for expansions. 

Ranking the Carcasonne Expansions (13)

 

The Plague

This was one of the last expansions I got when I was collecting a bunch of them. Every time I tile is placed you put plague tokens out from each previous tile. When it hits another player, they must remove their meeple. I love this expansion because each one of the tiles are tempting to place a meeple by or on it. You run the risk of being removed. Last time we played with this one, I got every tile! That will never happen again. Another expansion I would play every so often. 

The Robbers

When you pull this tile, place your robber meeple next to someone on the score track and steal their next score. I love this mini-expansion because it makes other players look for low scoring opportunities so they won't lose big points to the robber. but while they're focused on that, you're still trying to get those bigger points. Love it. A keeper!

The School

A starting tile when whoever finishes the first roads gets the "teacher" which a colored pawn not being played in the game. Afterward, whenever one of the roads are scored, they get the points and pass the teacher to the next player. You continue to go around until all roads to the starting tile are filled. This expansion is "meh". Everyone makes sure to keep the roads short so the player who holds the teacher doesn't get big points. The teacher could play tiles for others, extending the road for bigger points but that never happens in the games we've played. Not the best mini-expansion Carcassonne has. 

Siege

When played next to a city or road, if that tile doesn't score at the end of the game, you get ZERO points. I like the idea but there's only 6 tiles in the expansion and most times people make sure to finish the project before the end of the game so they don't get screwed. I love this expansion but it rarely pays off in the end. It needs more tiles in my opinion. 

Ranking the Carcasonne Expansions (12)

 The Maze

Just a promo tile that's a four way road. Nothing special but something I usually shuffle into all the games with play for fun. 

The Messangers

Each player get a messanger character they place on the scoretrack. Instead of scoring they can split the points to move their messanger up the track. Every 5th space they can collect a scroll which gives them a one time ability in the game. I find this one interesting as well and use it in games every so often. I once collected every scroll and ended up dominating the game because I had all these special abilities and ran away with the score. So if played, you should never ignore it. Good expansion. 

Monastaries

Similiar with Japanese Buildings, I've played with both expansions in the game, making any meeple available to occupy the buildings. This cuases a significant shortage in meeples, which really made the game interesting. I was able to score a TON because others had meeples tied up in these buildings. However, I came in last because they were still able to stock up points by laying the tiles in a way that would add to their final score. Fun expansion. Though I wouldn't play with it in every game. 

Peasants Revolt

When played next to a road/city that player loses 4 vp when scoring the tile OR before a tile is played they can lay their meeple down only losing 2 points instead. I love this expansion. 2/4 points isn't going to decide the game (in most cases) and it certainly adds more flavor to the games I've played in the past. Solid expansion.