Welcome to Universal Studios

Megan would like to welcome to wonderful Universal Studios! We have tons of videos and pics to show you and it all starts tomorrow!

Good bye to Sea World!

 So we finally say goodbye to one of Megan's "Happy" places.

 Megan had a constant smile on her face the whole time.

 It's tradition we always pose with their photo op Shamu's

 Even the small one.

 As you can see, this is one my favorite times.

I can't decide between these 2 pics which one I like the most!

Away in AZ

By the way, I've been in Arizona the past few weeks working on a project for JP Morgan Chase. It's my first time out here and I finally get to go home next week but I have to admit...90 degree weather in Nov IS nice.

And milk is SO MUCH cheaper here than in Louisiana?! What the frag? I can buy 2 gallons of milk for the same price of one back home!?

Ok, I digress. Have a good week!

December Movie Releases!

Great googley moogley! Is it already time to talk about upcoming movies for December?!

Ok, let's do this!

 47 Ronin

Dang! I love Keanu Reeves and though I hope the movie does well for his sake, I don't see me in theaters watching it. Sorry, it just doesn't strike a chord with me.

 Anchorman 2

Um...YES PLEASE! I'm hoping all the funny clips aren't just in the previews. This is a movie long awaited for. I just hope it pays off.

 Saving Mr Banks

A movie with Walt Disney being played by Tom Hanks....HECK YA!! I'm really looking forward to this story about how Walt got the rights to Mary Poppins. The actual stories pretty good but I wonder if Disney will put themselves in a good light because in reality P.L. Travers WAS NOT happy with Walt after the movie got made and refused to deal with Disney (much less set foot in America) ever again.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of a Legendary Novel

Here we have part 2 of the Hobbit...zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Empire of the Penguins pics

 These were taken from my phone and they don't look that bad.

 You hit the exhibit at the end of the ride and it was really cool...in more ways than one!

 No idea what they keep the temperature at bad it was cold in there!

 It's a very beautiful and open environment where you can see them. I was kinda surprised by that, but wasn't complaining.

 We didn't stay long because of the cold but it was amazing.

 I kept thinking what it was like to swim in freezing water.

 One of my favorite pics.

K, that's all for this week. See ya again with more pics and vids!

Empire of the Penguins (3)

Pics from the exhibit are coming tomorrow!

Empire of the Penguins (2)

Empire of the Penguins (1)

Our last stop was at the Empire of the Penguins. The newest ride/exhibit at Sea World and it was the last thing we did. It was a long line but only because it kept breaking down. But it was worth it in the end.

Antarctica Empire of the Penguin Complete Ride Through POV SeaWorld Orlando

Turtle Trek (4)

That's a wrap for today.

See you tomorrow folks!

Turtle Trek (3)

You can't tell in the videos but these sea turtles were the biggest I've ever seen! It was incredible.

Turtle Trek (2)

Turtle Trek (1)

I love that we got to do new things at Sea World this time around. One of them was the Turtle Trek 3D show. They had a HUGE aquarium to entertain you while you waited in line. These fish were big!

More vids coming later today.

Release the seals (2)

Release the seals (1)

We stopped by to see the seals too.

Another seals video coming soon.

Dolphins in the water

What ever happened to cereal box toys?

Looking back at yesterday's post I started asking myself, "Why don't they put toys and prizes in cereal boxes anymore?"

Back when I was a kid that was THE BEST thing about going with Mom to the grocery store. You always were excited when it came to picking out a cereal. And every kid knew that the toy inside the box mattered A LOT!

 Fruity Pebble's color changing dinosaurs, changed in cold water.

There were times we bought cereals we HATED. Only because there was a nifty toy to play with inside. But today the cereal giants have gotten lazy.

Walking down the isle last week I spotted a box of Golden Grahams that advertised a Star Wars pen inside each box.

I bought it.

I never would've done so if it hadn't have said that on the box. The next morning, I made myself a bowl. Dug into the side of the box (released a man giggle) and pulled out the pen. It's cheap looking, but it works and I love it! I just hate that's not the case any more for others cereals you get.

Garfield bike reflectors

Guess my point is, I miss the toys! I miss the prizes! Bring them back please. Make my adulthood have fond moments every time I visit the grocery store. But this time, I'm wise enough to know that whatever comes in a box of Fruit Loops isn't worth it.

Yuck!!

Top 10 OTHER cereals I wish would come back

A year ago I talked about old cereals that I missed seeing on the shelves. But after a quick Google search one night while bored, I discovered several other boxes of cereal that I'd forgotten about!

So here's a list of additional cereals I wish were still around: (in no order)

 We never saw the movie as kids but for some strange reason, Mom would buy us the cereal. Which actually wasn't that bad! I remember talking with my friends about what the movie was about and knew it had something to do with music because of the musical marshmallow notes that were in my bowl every morning.

 Teddy Grahams were HUGE at one time. I remember always having a box of them around the house at any time! So the obvious choice was made to turn them into a cereal. And we ate them all with milk too! I even recall using actually teddy grahams and putting them in milk as well.

Yeah, I'm a crazy man. I know.

 The perfect option between the two other existing Pebble cereals. Though not my favorite of the 3 I always made sure to tell Mom I wanted some every once in a while so I could test it out.  Though there were better "marshmallow" cereals around, this one tugged at my Pebble loyalty quite often.

 Look real close at the cereal. Banana and berry shaped. Honestly I don't remember the flavor but those shapes brought back a TON of memories. We ate this a lot at the house growing up so it must have been pretty good. If only I could go back time I'd......invest in Apple stock, but I'd be eating a bowl of these while doing it!!

 What can I say? I'm a sucker for anything with a donut on the box. These were sweet tasting goodness that didn't last more than 2 days around our house. We LOVED them! The cereal was the perfect blend of fluffy and crunchy yet never soggy. Whoever created this cereal is now making a life conducting brain surgery I'm sure of it.

What a wonderful idea combining this classic campfire treat into a cereal?! They tasted similar to Golden Grahams and were a huge hit with us as kids. I'm boggled as to why it's not around anymore. I guess marshmallow cereals took a nose dive as our generation grew up and their generation chose... LUCKY CHARMS?! Are you freakin' kidding me?!

We weren't allowed to watch the movie, but when Mom agreed to buy us the cereal it was just as good. Those marshmallow ghost tasted so good that I'd try to eat around them so I could save them for last. The yummiest bites you'll ever taste my friends! And when they later added Slimer marshmallow?! Whoa. Watch. Out.

But "The" marshmallow cereal for me was always with the Krispies. I can't explain it but their marshmallow cereal always tasted the best to me. Years went by before I realized this long time favorite had fallen from the shelves. Anyone who had this cereal knows what I'm talking about. The marshmallows were so chewy!

I can't believe I forgot about this cereal the first time around. Rocky Road was something Mom always let us get and was usually gone in 2 days tops. I even remember the commercials for it too. Characters rocking out, begging you to devour them....sounds kind of sick now that I think of it, but devour them we did!

Some of you won't know this, while others will fall out of their chair when looking at the photo. A cereal with sprinkles. Now why hadn't anyone else thought of that?! And while we're at it, how did they stop making this in the first place?! Did I mention the sprinkles? I remember the cereal being good but pouring out the leftover milk. Face it, besides the chocolate cereals you had was there any of you who drank the leftover milk in the end?

 

Didn't think so.

Megan vs a manta ray

Last time we came here it took her a long time to build up the courage to touch one. How long will it take her this time?

Watch and see.

Dolphin playing peek-a-boo with Megan

I don't know why she loves these things so much...

Antarctica pics

 Dozens of places for photo ops in this exhibit.

 Megan looking "cool"

 THE walrus. (they already let the carpenter off for the evening)

 If I were an action figure we'd call this "Adventure time Matt"

Me vs a polar bear.

After taking this picture Megan just looked at me and said "Matt.....ugh."

Antarctica (4)

Tomorrow I'll show you a few pics of the place too!

Antarctica (3)

Antarctica (2)

Antarctica (1)

We also visited the Antarctica exhibit at Sea World.

Shamu Express (2)

Shamu Express (1)

What Shamu Show wouldn't be complete without taking a kiddie ride on the Shamu Express?

Find out what Megan thought about it later today...

Grumpy(and Grumpier) Old Men

So last week while at Wal-Mart I spotted a gem of a deal. Both Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men in the $5 DVD bin.

I snatched a copy right up and took it home to watch.

If you've never seen them before GO GET IT. It's money well spent! These movies star screen legends Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in what was the last set of "blockbusters" they made together.

To me it ranks at the top for both of them. But the late great Burgess Meredith is the one who constantly steals scenes in both movies. The picture above is my favorite scene of all time and will have you cracking up guaranteed!

I was sad to find out poor Burgess had alzheimers during the last movie and had to be gently coached thru each scene. Amazing because it seemed like he didn't miss a beat!

These movies have it all! A simple story plot, with sentimental and humorous scenes sprinkled throughout the entire film. It was a joy to watch and I'm proud to have as part of my selection!

And for $5, you should make it part of yours too!

Way to go Harrison!

One thing you can't fault Mr. Ford on is honesty. He hates the character Han Solo and has not been hiding that fact over the past few months.

Rumor is that the only way Disney could get him back to play his iconic role once more was not only give him creative control over the character but also pledge to make Indiana Jones 5 by 2016. (I'm not making this up)

Harrison's always loved his Indy flicks and has been dying to get IJ5 rolling for years since the last one. Supposedly it was George's fault because he and Spielburg couldn't come to an agreement over what Dr Jones next McGuffin was going to be.

Ford knows with Lucas on the sidelines now, it may be easier to strike a deal and get a plot written soon. How soon? By 2014 if the rumor's true. And don't think Harrison won't walk off the Episode 7 set if it doesn't!

Good on you sir. Well done! I'll be looking forward to that more than Star Wars.   

Michael Arndt

So last week we were told that Michael Ardnt was taken off Star Wars as a writer and that JJ was replacing him with himself and Lawrence Kasden (who wrote Empire and Jedi)

We were told to be happy about this because it was a great move. Let's think about that for a minute shall we?

First off, something's not adding up. Because when Ardnt WAS the writer the media praised Disney decision. I never heard ONE bad thing about this choice....until Disney removed him. Now we're being told it's a great move. Huh? Why? You told us to be happy with him? Is Disney really fooling everyone into looking the other way?

Obviously, something went down between JJ and Ardnt that JJ didn't like. So for better or worse JJ threw him out and said he'd write it himself. (with Kasden) What made King JJ unhappy I wonder?

Secondly, JJ's a terrible writer when it comes to ending a story. Look at EVERY movie he's written?! I can't think of a single one that he got right at the end?! Now he's in charge of writing Star Wars and I'm supposed to be happy with this? Because if Episode 7 ends with us discovering that Han, Leia and Luke have all been in purgatory this whole time and that the Dark Side is only a smoke monster I'm going to be pissed!

Also, Kasden ALREADY was involved with Star Wars. So I don't know why this is making news again like it's just now breaking. Sure he was involved with Spin-off movies at first but still, what difference does it make?

And finally, the biggest question NO ONE is asking...is there even a script yet?! What the frag? They're telling us this movie will be out summer of 2015 but they don't even have a script yet and it's almost closing in on 2013?!?!

I have a bad feeling about this.

Pics from Shamu

 Again, Meg got some great photos of the show.

Have a good weekend folks!