My Son is Selling Trail's End Popcorn

I'm doing a bit of an experiment here.

My oldest son is in Cub Scouts. Here's a picture of the two of us at Cub Resident Camp this past summer at Cub World, a section of Boxwell Reservation.

The new school year has started, so regular pack and weekly den meetings have started, and that means it's time to sell popcorn.

When I was in Cub Scouts, I went door-to-door peddling my wares. That was 25 years ago, though, and I'd wager to say I'm a bit more paranoid about my son walking around the neighborhood than my parents were about me doing it. So I'm beginning this sale electronically. I've posted a humorous plea on Facebook with a link to Trail's End online ordering. I did the same thing in a mass email at work. I even used Trail's End little email bot to tweet out a standard little notification. Now I'm blogging about it.

I WILL be taking Parker around the neighborhood to do a bit of peddling, because I believe if he wants the rewards, he has to work for them. There's only so much he can do right now, though. That's why I'm helping him like this....because I can.

Click here to be taken to the online ordering site. Any and everything you order will be attributed as a sale by my son. He thanks you, as do I.

There's not a lot to be overwhelmed with. You've got your standard popcorn with a couple of sweeter options. Personally, I'm going to order the Cheese Lover's Collection. It just sounds delicious. Not only will my son be credited for the sale, but 70% of each sale will go back my son's Pack. We're saving up for a trailer to use to haul stuff to-and-from events and camping trips.

If you're not a popcorn lover but still want to help out, you can make a donation and popcorn will be sent to our troops, their families, and various veterans organizations.

I'm also going to put my money where my mouth is. I will match 10% of total purchases (up to $150...I'm a single father of three, so this is a big thing for me) when all is said and done, and that match will all go to popcorn donations for our troops.

I Don't EVEN Know Where to Begin

So, obviously, regular updates of the blog aren't going to happen. Between work being hectic at times and wanting to do nothing but crash once the kids are in bed, I haven't even thought of this thing since the end of June.

I'm going to get back into it, but I'm making no promises as to the frequency of posts, let alone a posting schedule. Hell, September is crazy busy for me. I'll be announcing for two marching band contests, I've got a beer fest to go to (hard life, I know), and a wedding to attend. That might not sound like a lot, but the only free time I ever get is every other weekend and that's not even guaranteed.

I'll TRY to post once a week, but like I said, I make no promises.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of stuff at you. Things I saw, things I liked, things I'm looking forward to, stuff like that.

MOVIES

First off, because it's fresh, is Red State. This is the most un-Kevin Smith Kevin Smith movie I've ever seen, and I've seen Gigli and Jersey Girl. It was a good movie, but man, it was hard to watch, and I wasn't expecting that. The violence is graphic and extremely believable, and that always makes it more difficult to watch. And there was one scene where this little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, the same age as my youngest son, and she was just howling, crying these little kid sobs because of what she had just seen. As a parent, it hit me hard. This wasn't a movie that I enjoyed watching, but I'm not upset that I spent the time to watch it. The acting was good, as was the story, although I'm not really sure it had much of a point. There was no happy ending here, there were no winners, and I don't think there were any good guys. Had I not known Kevin Smith wrote and directed it, I never would have guessed it.



MUSIC

I've got a new jam, homies. It's "Thrift Shop," by Macklemore. I don't know why I listened to this song the first time. Maybe a recommendation somewhere on Reddit? Whatever the reason, I love the song, and I immediately hit up Spotify and listened to all of his stuff that's available on there. This guy is awesome. This is the type of hip hop that I like. Give me more of this guy, Childish Gambino, and the Flobots.

















Now, even with all my new-found love for Macklemore, I can't forget my Scottish rock overlords Biffy Clyro. They dropped a new song, "Stingin' Belle," and the new album will be available for preorder on Sept. 17. If this new song is any indication, the new CD will be as good as if not better than Only Revolutions.



Bleu has a new song out! Here it is!



Seth Timbs and the Hot New Singles has (have?) a little EP out. The songs apparently aren't new, but that doesn't mean they aren't good and totally worth your $3.99.


honeyhoney has moved to Nashville. What are the chances I'll randomly run into Suzanne Santo, enthrall her with wit and chivalry, and we fall madly in love? Probably not all that great, right? Well, a guy can dream.


COMIC BOOKS

I might have mentioned it before, but I'm just getting back into collecting comics. I've never fully left the hobby, keeping up with titles through websites and message boards, but I've started rebuilding my collection in the past year or so. I now have roughly 1/5 the number of comics I had when I first sold them all (just shy of 1,200 as opposed to the 5,600 I used to have). With DC's revamp and Marvel's upcoming "revamp," I'm really streamlining my new purchases. I'm trying to get out of my old habit of sticking with a title in the hopes that it gets better even though I haven't enjoyed it for awhile. The main offenders of that little problem have been Avengers and New Avengers. I love Brian Michael Bendis' writing, but since AVX has begun, these two titles have been shit. Absolute shit. In truth, the whole crossover has been shit. There has been little to no continuity between the main series and the tie-ins. There have been some great moments, sure, but as a whole I'm extremely disappointed in it.

My hold box currently looks like this:

Batman
Anything having to do with Locke & Key
The Boys
Avengers Assemble
Avengers vs. X-Men (I know, I know)
Avengers
New Avengers
Amazing Spider-Man
Wolverine & the X-Men
X-Factor
Invincible Iron Man
Journey into Mystery
Uncanny X-Force
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
The Shade
Dark Avengers
Spider-Men

The Boys is almost over, and The Shade and Spider-Men are ending this week and next week respectively. Locke & Key begins its final mini-series next month, I believe. Here's what's going to happen when Marvel NOW gets ramped up:

Dropping Avengers Assemble when Bendis leaves, and I'm sticking with Avengers and New Avengers until Bendis wraps them up. I'm sticking with Invincible Iron Man through its demise, and I'm dropping Journey into Mystery when Gillen leaves. I haven no idea if Uncanny X-Force is continuing or not. If it is, I'll stick with it as long as Remender stays on the book, but with him going on to Uncanny Avengers and Captain America, I don't see that happening.

I'm going to be adding All-New X-Men (crossing my fingers that Bendis will be awesome with a book that's new for him) to my pull list, and I'm going to give Uncanny Avengers a try. Truthfully, though, the preview artwork by Cassaday I've seen isn't all that great.

I'm excited about attending the Nashville Horror and Comic Festival next month. I've already got a stack of comics I'm going to get autographed.

TV

This is the best time of the year. New TV season, yay!!! Here's my tentative schedule:

Sunday

7:00 Simpsons

8:00 Dexter, Family Guy, Boardwalk Empire

9:00 666 Park Ave., Walking Dead, Homeland

Monday

7:00 How I Met Your Mother, Bones

8:00 Mob Doctor

9:00 Castle

Tuesday

7:00 Raising Hope

7:30 Ben and Kate

8:00 Happy Endings, Go On, New Girl, White Collar

8:30 The Mindy Project

9:00 Covert Affairs, Sons of Anarchy

Wednesday

7:00 Animal Practice

7:30 Suburgatory

8:00 Modern Family, Supernatural

9:00 Nashville, American Horror Story, Soup

Thursday

7:00 Last Resort, 30 Rock, Big Bang Theory

8:00 Office, Person of Interest

8:30 Parks and Recreation

9:00 Elementary, Archer

9:30 The League

11:00 Childrens Hospital

Friday

7:30 Community

8:00 Fringe

Saturday

8:00 Doctor Who

Right now I'm catching up on Parenthood. I'm almost done with the second season. For me, this is a show I have no desire to watch live or DVR, but I'm loving it on Netflix.

BEER

Right now I'm 24 beers away from getting my plate at The Flying Saucer. Eight more visits. My plan right now is to hit the mark a couple weeks before my birthday. That way, I'll be able to have my plate party and combine it with my birthday, the end of the world (the Mayans were right!) and the Winter Solstice. At least, that's the plan. It all hinges on actually being able to visit the Saucer when I'm supposed to.

This is my mostly complete beer list.

MISCELLANEOUS

I've been introduced to Reddit. No good will come of this.

My kids' old babysitter has a new side business up-and-running. They make covers for daycare sleep mats. They're kind of awesome. Order one now!

Apologies

I didn't update the blog at all this week, did I? Just the food one? Sorry about that. It's been a crazy week. Lots of work, I've discovered reddit, and my ex got remarried. Classy (I'm sure) impromptu ceremony at the courthouse. So I had a lot of shit on my plate. I hope to be in a better place next week.

Here's a gif from Game of Thrones and an awesome song from Biffy Clyro.

What You Should Have Watched #15

Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a strange addiction, but I do tend to go through withdrawal if I don’t watch TV regularly.

To give you an idea of how much TV I WANT to watch versus how much I’m ABLE to watch, check this out: according to my DVR, I have 67 series scheduled to record throughout the year. Of those, 11 are for my kids, but I’ll watch probably half of those (Phineas and Ferb, Ultimate Spider-Man, etc.). Currently, my DVR is 51% full with 95 recordings. Of those 95 recordings, 45 of them belong to my kids. Whereas I delete my shows after I’m done watching them, my kids like to watch their stuff over and over and over, so I keep it up there until I need more space. I haven’t had to delete any of their recordings since switching from Comcast service to AT&T U-Verse.

I enjoy almost every type of show except for most reality shows. I say most because one of my favorite shows right now is Drinking Made Easy on HDNet. I also enjoy sitcoms (Community, New Girl, Happy Endings, etc.), cop dramas…with a twist (Castle, Psych, White Collar, etc.), horror (Walking Dead, Supernatural), and even period pieces and fantasy shows (Boardwalk Empire, Spartacus, Game of Thrones).

There are some actors I’ll follow to anything they do. Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and just about anybody who has ever worked with Joss Whedon (although I gave up on Ringer halfway through the first episode). Peter Dinklage won me over with Death at a Funeral (the original) and Threshold. Also, I loves me some pretty ladies.

There are also a few web series that I enjoy. Right now I’ve got a pretty big crush on Felicia Day, and I’m thoroughly enjoying The Guild and The Flog, and I’ll be checking out the shows on “Geek and Sundry” as they appear. I also watch Epic Meal Time every week. One of these days…ONE OF THESE DAYS…I’m going to make one of their dishes.

If you couldn’t tell, I love my DVR. After putting the kids to bed each night and cleaning up from dinner and getting stuff ready for the next day, I only get about an hour or so to watch TV before I fall asleep. I like to watch the sitcoms first; I feel like I accomplish more if I watch three shows instead of just one. Then I’ll move on to the one-hour dramas, focusing on the must-sees: Castle, Fringe, Game of Thrones. Some stuff, no matter how awesome it is, can wait until the entire season has finished. That’s what I did with Justified, Southland, and Alcatraz this season.

As much as I love watching TV, I’m seriously considering doing something drastic. Things at work are getting a bit uncertain, so I’m thinking of cancelling my U-Verse subscription. I’d keep my Internet, I’m not totally crazy, but there are enough options out there that this wouldn’t affect me TOO much. I’ve got a Netflix account, and I’ve got a Wii in the living room and an X-Box in my bedroom (my bedroom TV has a Netflix app, so I’ve got a back-up if something happens to the X-Box), so there’s an option. The downside to that is that there’s a pretty decent delay between the time a season wraps to when it’s available to stream. With my viewing habits of a couple of shows this season, though, I’m apparently becoming a bit more comfortable with that. This would be how I catch my premium cable shows. I’d just have to make sure to stay away from spoilers. I’d also end up getting a Hulu+ subscription, something that can also be streamed through the Wii and X-Box. I had it when it was first available on the X-Box, but it really didn’t offer enough to keep me with it past the free trial. If I don’t have a cable subscription, this is how I’d catch my major network shows. Should I do this, I’d also consider an Amazon Prime account. I’d be able to use it on my X-Box, but not the Wii in the living room.

One thing you should expect from this blog is up-to-the-minute TV news. I might share awesome happenings (like whenever an announcement about the new season of Arrested Development is made), but chances are you’ll be able to find it earlier at an actual entertainment news blog. If you’d like a recommendation, I check Warming Glow daily. It’s got a very sarcastic tone to it, but the writers really care about good television. It’s the first blog I check each day.

As this ends, I just realized that I haven’t given you a taste of what I watch. Here’s a bit of a sampling: Anything by Joss Whedon, anything by Aaron Sorkin, Game of Thrones, Californication, Shameless, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, Castle, Psych, White Collar, Mad Men, Community, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Modern Family, Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23, Happy Endings, Cougar Town, Person of Interest, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Louie, Archer, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Drinking Made Easy, Spartacus, Magic Town.

That’s certainly not everything I watch, but it’s a huge chunk of it.

What You Should Have Read #58

My original idea for this post was to do it as a comic book script. That fell apart after the splash page.

I don’t remember how I got so into comics. I remember a bunch of little things but not that first thing.

When I was little, I had a subscription to the Electric Company magazine, and there were Spider-Man comics in it. That was probably my first exposure to comics, if not superheroes. I remember watching “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” and “Super Friends,” but I don’t know if those came before the magazine.

After I got my first library card and was let loose to explore by myself, I remember running across a few hardback collections of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. These aren’t the awesome hardback collections of today like the various Premiere, Absolute or Omnibus collections the Big Two put out. This was more like and old-school Scholastic release full of hastily thrown together reprints. I read all I could find.

I don’t remember actually owning many comics while I lived in Huntingburg. I had a Star Trek comic, a couple of Transformers issues, and an issue of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. That’s it. It wasn’t until I moved to Jasper after third grade that I was sucked into the hobby.

I blame this on a friend I’ve known since daycare. He collected comics, mostly Iron Man and Amazing Spider-Man I think, and I’d go over to his house and read them. His mom bought me my first trade paperback, a collection of the Batman story “A Death in the Family,” and he gave me my first Spider-Man comic, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #7, because I colored on the cover a bit with a pencil. From there it was just a matter of finding somewhere to buy comics in this little southern Indiana town.

I found Fisher’s Bookstore nestled in a corner of the square around the court house. In a back corner of the store, past the magazines and paperbacks, there was a comic book spinner rack loaded with four-color goodies. When I started really getting into the hobby, DC was still offering a few titles at $.75, but Marvel had moved all of their books to $1.00. A dollar for a comic. Now I’m paying $3.99 for just about everything I read.

I eventually became friendly with the owner and the few employees, and I learned that the new comics always showed up on Mondays. So every Monday I’d either ride my bike over there or my mom would take me, and I’d spend my allowance and lawn mowing money. If I didn’t have quite enough money for all the adventures I wanted, they’d put them in a stack behind the counter, and I’d buy them when I could. If the stack got too large, I could always count on my parents buying it and giving me the comics for birthday or holiday presents.

When I was 15, the weekend after I got my learner’s permit, we took a family vacation to Chicago so I could go to the Chicago Comic Con.  This was over July 4^th weekend in 1993. I wanted to go because Todd McFarlane was going to be there, and I was a HUGE fan. So the family took a long weekend and drove up to Chicago, and it was awesome. Well, what I can remember was awesome. I think I was just so taken aback by everything that I couldn’t process or contain what I saw. I remember seeing somebody in a giant Badrock (he was probably still called Bedrock then) costume. I bought a bunch of back issues in the dealer hall. My dad and I waited in line for…a half an hour? an hour?...for Todd to show up. While waiting, Stan Lee casually strolled by us. I had his Marvel Universe Series I trading card with me. I showed it to my dad and explained why I was so excited. Eventually a security guard came out and informed all of us that Mr. McFarlane was getting set up and he brought a few friends with him: fellow Image founders Jim Lee, Erik Larsen, and Rob Liefeld. I ended up getting autographs on Savage Dragon #1, Youngblood #1, Uncanny X-Men #248 (jewel of my collection…until I sold it), WildC.A.T.S #1, Amazing Spider-Man #312, and Spawn #1. The best part of this experience was not meeting McFarlane, though. He was kind of a dick. No, it was meeting Rob Liefeld. I’ll throw all sorts of shit his way for being a hack artist, but I’ll never talk bad about his character because he was crazy nice. After signing my Youngblood comic, he offered to do a quick sketch of Bed/Badrock on a backing board. While doing that, he struck up a conversation with my dad, who didn’t know him from Jackson Pollock and was obviously out of his element. It wasn’t a long conversation because the line behind me WAS long, but Liefeld took the time to connect a bit with a fan and dad rather than just signing a book and moving on to the next kid. It meant a lot to me. I still hate his art, though.

I moved to Tennessee, just north of Nashville, in the late summer of ’94. I found a comic book shop (an actual comic book shop, not a bookstore) within days, and I got a job shortly after that. My first paycheck, somewhere slightly north of $50, was completely blown at The Great Escape. They got most of my money for a few months until something strange happened: I started to lose interest.

At this time I was pretty much a Marvel Zombie. I was getting any and everything having to do with Spider-Man and the X-Men. Spin-offs, limited series, guest appearances…everything. Then the clone crap started happening with Spider-Man, and the X-Men were going through the “Phalanx Covenant.” Titles were no longer self-contained, and to me, reading comics was becoming more work and less fun. So I quit.

My time away lasted roughly two years. I don’t know how I learned about it, but the first issue of Kingdom Come hit the stands. I sought it out and ended up buying the rest of the series. I have absolutely no idea what else I started reading. I got back into Spider-Man with the reboot in ’98. I caught the end of the old guard with “Gathering of the Five” and “Final Chapter,” then I started with the new series. I got back into the X-Men with their reboot in ’01. I stuck with Morrison’s New X-Men, but I quickly gave up on Uncanny X-Men. I got in on the Ultimate universe on the ground floor, and I discovered James Robinson’s Starman in ’99 thanks to Alex Ross doing a series of covers. I followed that guy everywhere. I loved his Earth X trilogy, and I’ve never followed an artist since like I followed him. He and Todd McFarlane, they were my guys. Now I follow writers. Brian Michael Bendis. Warren Ellis. Matt Fraction. Jonathan Hickman.

Two of my favorite periods of my “comic book life” both involve me working in a comic book store. The first time was in college. I was a regular at a little shop in Cookeville, a place that was more of a sports collectibles place than a comic book place. The owner was a nice guy, and his mom usually ran the place. I spent a few months working for them a few hours a week organizing their back stock. I got paid cash, but I don’t think I ever actually saw a dime from them. As I was going through their stock, I’d put aside books I wanted, and they let me have whatever I wanted for half off. So basically I got paid in comics. It was awesome.

A few years later, after I got married but before my first son was born, I worked at the main location of The Great Escape in Nashville. I basically did the same thing, but there was a LOT more stock. I went through and organized the new purchases, I’d restock the new comics, and sometimes help out with the CDs and movies. I got an employee discount, so that was nice, but the store was a lot bigger and a little less personal. Still, it was a fun experience and I met and worked with some great people.

A few months before my son was born, I quit for the second time. This was supposed to be more permanent, though. I actually got rid of my entire collection. The autographs. My Starman collection. My Earth X limited edition hardcover with slipcase signed by Alex Ross. For a bit I did some trading and bartering, getting into trade paperbacks and hardcover collections (it’s how I met Derek Fridolfs), but I ended up getting rid of those, too. With a baby on the way, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford this hobby, and I would no longer have the time or the space to devote to it. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, but it was worth it. The little money that I got through eBay sales helped. Not a lot, but a bit.

A few years ago I started up again. I’m sloooooooooowly building my collection back up. It’s fun to be doing this again, though, and now my oldest son has shown an interest. Right now he’s more interested in Pokemon than comic books, but I’ll him a few issues here and there, and he’ll pour over them. I’ve given him a Marvel Universe Encyclopedia that he’s been reading, and he loves watching “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” and “Ultimate Spider-Man” on Disney XD.

I’m currently reading:

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Avengers
• The Avengers vs. the X-Men
• Brilliant
• Locke & Key: Clockworks
• The New Avengers
• Secret (I’m going to give this a few issues)
• Shade
• Ultimate Spider-Man
• Uncanny X-Force (on the bubble)
• Wolverine and the X-Men
• X-Factor

I’m planning on picking up Earth 2 when it starts, and I’ve got high hopes for it. I’ve loved everything James Robinson has done when he’s been allowed to work on DC’s Golden Age characters. I’m probably going to drop the Avengers stuff when Bendis leaves the books. I’m going to use the extra dinero to get a bit more invested in books that I’ve been following but not regularly buying (Invincible Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Journey into Mystery) while continuing to rebuild my back issue collection. I’ve heard awesome things about Scott Snyder’s Batman, so I plan on checking that out, too.

I love this hobby, and I’m thrilled that (at least one of) my kids are showing an interest. I hope that my love will come through in the posts, in both positive and negative reactions to comics and what’s happening in the industry.

What You Should Have Heard #91

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to Muppets, Sesame Street and Alvin and the Chipmunk records on a Fisher-Price record player. My first “real” record? Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It was in my Easter basket when I was in…first grade? Shortly after that I got a small radio/cassette tape player. The radio was always set to 96WSTO out of Evansville, and my tapes were primarily by Huey Lewis & the News and Weird Al. My mom had her own collection, though, and through it I was introduced to The Eagles, The Police, and Billy Joel. I was in middle school, I think, before I saved up enough money to buy my own CD player boom box. I can’t remember exactly which CD was my first purchase, but I’ve got it narrowed down to three: Harry Connick, Jr.’s She, Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Vols. I & II, or Queen’s Greatest Hits (1992 U.S. edition with the red cover). I’ve only just recently abandoned CDs in favor of mp3s on my phone.

I love having music on my phone. I’ve got a premium Spotify subscription so I can listen to tons of music on my phone, on my netbook at home, and on my PC at work. It’s awesome, and it has almost all the music I love listening to on it. It’s also a great way for me to preview albums and new artists before giving them what little money I can spare.

I started playing the saxophone in sixth grade, and from there I learned to appreciate jazz, blues and various forms of instrumental music. I’ll admit that I don’t listen to much of that anymore, but every now and then I’ll come across a piece that just grabs me, and it just won’t let me go. Band was such a huge part of my life growing up, and I’m positive that I would be a totally different person now had I not been playing music in middle school, high school, and college.

One thing I love doing that allows me to relive my youth a bit is announcing at two local marching band competitions, the Hendersonville Golden Invitational and the Blue Devil Marching Invitational. I get to see a lot of area high school marching bands, I get to hang out a bit with friends who I see once a year, and I get to remember why I loved being in band so much.

Despite my appreciation of various types of music, I’ll always be a rock ‘n’ roll guy. Hard rock. Indie rock. Metal. Alternative. Nu-metal. Classic rock. Southern rock. I love it in almost all its forms. I like strong beats and fast tempos. I like a hard-driving song that gets my blood pumping. Occasionally I like to scream. I’ll even take the occasional ballad.

Like everybody, I’m sure, some groups I like tend to be fly-by-night fancies that I listen to for a couple of weeks and then forget about. But there are some groups that stand the test of time in my ears. There are some performers who will get my hard-earned money before I ever hear a chord from a new album. In no particular order, those are:

·         Foo Fighters

·         Ben Folds

·         Self/Matt Mahaffey

·         Seth Timbs and his various projects

·         Biffy Clyro

·         Bleu

·         Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer

I don’t go to concerts as often as I’d like. I’m trying to be a bit better about that, though. Let’s see if I can remember who I’ve seen:

• Foo Fighters/Biffy Clyro/Motorhead
• Paramore
• Better Than Ezra/Cowboy Mouth
• Gavin DeGraw/Maroon 5
• Hootie and the Blowfish/Edwin McCain
• Everclear/Tracy Bonham/7 Year Bitch/Spacehog --->
• Weezer/No Doubt
• 311/Goldfinger
• Self/Fluid Ounces/Features/The Katies (all numerous times)
• Cracker

I’m going to see honeyhoney in a couple of weeks, and I’m really excited about it. I’ll write up a review about it if I’m able to think about Suzanne Santo without drifting off into wonderful daydreams. And maybe I’ll say something about James Morrison, who they’re opening for, but I doubt it.


BIG BIG BIG REMINDER: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Seen #21

There’s not a lot I can say about movies. I’m not what you’d call a cinephile. I mean, I’m no Michael Bolton. I like certain actors and actresses, but I don’t necessarily see everything they do. I don’t follow directors from film to film. I don’t break down movies and analyze deeper meanings and themes.

I want one thing and one thing only from a movie: to be entertained. This is doubly important if I’m actually going to see one in a theater. I want to walk out of the theater and say, “Yes, I totally got my money’s worth from this movie. It was totally worth my time to find a babysitter, expend gas to drive to the theater, buy a ticket and overpriced concessions, and sit still for an hour and a half (or longer!) while this story played out in front of me.”

So I don’t go to the movies much. I prefer watching in the comfort of my home. I can lie in my bed or on the couch. I can pause it and go to the bathroom. I can turn it off if I don’t like it.

If I do go to the movies, except for a few exceptions (you know who you are), I’d rather go alone. Unless you’re on a date or you’re doing stuff before or after the movie with someone, I’ve never understood the fun in meeting someone at the theater, watching a movie, and then going your separate ways. I’ll only do that if the person I’m with is a like-minded individual who will occasionally go all “MST3K” on the flick with me or won’t mind if I do it. If you’re sitting next to me, I’ll talk to you. I’ll point out stupid things, cool things, or possible up-coming things.

As opposed to my TV viewing habits, where I’ll watch just about any genre that catches my eye, with movies I stick to comedies and action flicks. I’m a huge comic book fan, so the recent run of comic-based movies has been great! Out of the last three movies I saw in the theater, two were based on comic books (Thor and Captain America), and the next one I’m going to see will be a comic book movie (The Avengers).

When I review a movie, don’t expect it to be something timely. It will very rarely be a movie that’s still in theaters. Hell, it probably won’t even be a movie that was JUST released on DVD. I’ll be getting most of my movies from Netflix, Hulu +, and Amazon Prime. If HBO allowed online subscriptions without the formality of going through a cable provider, that’d be another avenue, but they don’t, so screw ‘em.

Here’s what I’ve liked in the past. It might shed some light on what types of movies I might be reviewing in the future.

Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, The Game, Friends with Benefits, Horrible Bosses, Bridesmaids, The Princess Bride, Hudson Hawk, Thor, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, X-Men 2, Toy Story 3, The Cabin in the Woods, Event Horizon, Tangled, Live Free or Die Hard, the Harry Potter series, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

                                                                                                                          

Like I said, the next movie I’m going to see is The Avengers. I’ll be seeing it Friday afternoon in all of its IMAX 3D glory. Hopefully my mind won’t be too blown so I’ll able to do a review of it. Spoilers: it’ll probably be a positive review.


BIG BIG BIG REMINDER: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!

I couldn't in good conscience...

...pass up a deal like this. I'm trying to make this a kick-ass summer for my kids. My daughter and oldest son are registered for an awesome summer program. I got a Nashville Zoo membership so we can hit that up every few weeks or so. Don't tell my youngest son, but I got him a little backyard kiddie pool for his birthday, something he's been wanting for quite a while now.

So today this deal from SweetJack pops up in my email inbox. This place is about halfway between my house and my parents' house, and the kids have always wanted to go. With this deal (and by using the promo code "social12" when checking out), I was able to get five tickets (gotta get one for Aunt Katie!) for $26.40. That, my friends, is a deal. So I'm putting this out there for people with kids who have shown any interests in dinosaurs.

SweetJack: 53% Off Tickets to Dinosaur World ($12.75 value for $6)

Update! Yay!

The blog is coming back. 

I don’t know when, exactly…

...hopefully the first full week of May, but it is coming back. While it will pretty much be the same, I’m going to be tweaking it a bit. This is going to turn into a blog focused on doing the things I love on a budget.

So what the hell does that mean?

It means that I’ll only review comics that I buy, not ones I flip through or read in the store. It means that I’ll probably be making substitutes to the recipes I make, especially the Rachel Ray stuff. It means I’ll tell you where I find awesome music for free (legally) or on the cheap. The last time I paid “full price” for an album was last year when the Foo Fighters put out Wasting Light (totally worth it). Ditto for movies.

The first week will probably consist of getting-to-know-me posts. My likes and dislikes within the various topics about which I’ll be posting.

Here’s what I’m anticipating the schedule to look like:

•          Mondays = Food and Drink. I still do my best cooking on Sunday nights, so Mondays will still be a review of the previous night’s cocktail and cooking. I’m (hopefully) about to jump back into the dating world again, so there might also be quick write-ups on awesome date-type places that can be visited on a budget. The drinky-drink stuff, though, will be less focused on budget and more on taste. I’m a bit of a beer snob, but I try not to be overly snobby about it. If given the choice I will almost always choose any type of beer over a massive domestic like Budweiser, Coors, Miller, etc. I will never judge you for drinking what you drink, though. The same goes with liquor. I’ve discovered that the better tasting spirits are usually the more expensive ones, but I will try and point out good values for good booze if I come across it.
•          Tuesdays = Movies. I’m going to do my best to watch one movie a week. Between Netflix, Red Box and U-Verse, this should not be a problem. Don’t expect timely reviews of stuff out in theaters, though. Well, when Avengers comes out you can, but I don’t do movies in the theater much anymore because it’s just so damn expensive. But there is the whole dating thing, so I probably WILL be going to more movies. We’ll see.
•          Wednesdays = Music. I’ve got friends with a wide variety of musical tastes, and I’m discovering new (at least to me) music through them all the time. My routine seems to be:

1.      Find new music

2.      Listen to one song over and over on Youtube

3.      Find the group on Spotify and add their catalog to a playlist

4.      Weed out the songs I don’t like

5.      If I like everything, buy a CD immediately

6.      If I don’t like the whole thing but still enjoy the group’s music for the most part, wait until I can find a deal on the CD

•          Thursdays = Comic Books. I have significantly whittled down my comic book purchase list. I’m almost embarrassed that it primarily consists of Brian Michael Bendis books. I really dig just about everything he does, though, and budgetary issues have forced me to take a look at what I’m REALLY enjoying on a consistently monthly basis. Right now I’m reading:

1.      The Amazing Spider-Man

2.      The Avengers

3.      The Avengers vs. the X-Men

4.      Brilliant

5.      Locke & Key: Clockworks

6.      The New Avengers

7.      Road Rage (on the bubble)

8.      Secret (I’m going to give this a few issues)

9.      Shade

10.  Ultimate Spider-Man

11.  Uncanny X-Force (on the bubble)

12.  Wolverine and the X-Men

13.  X-Factor

Eight years ago I sold my almost 6,000 issue comic book collection. I had been collecting comics for the better part of 20 years, and I had a collection that I was extremely proud of. But I was about to be a first-time father, and I knew that I would not have the time, the room, or the money to continue this love. So I sold or traded the whole shebang. I sold my autographed comics. I traded runs for trade paperbacks and hardcover collections. Then I sold those. I’m sure what little I made on my collection helped out the family a bit in the short run, but it was the second-saddest/hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Over the past couple of years, though, I got back into the hobby in a big way. I’ve had to cut back again because I was buying WAY too much. But, in an effort to attempt to rebuild my collection, I’m also going to be buying at least two back issues each week, more if there’s stuff on sale or I had a slow week of new issues.

•          Fridays = TV. I watch a TON of TV. It seems like I’m never freeing up any space on my DVR, but I’m going to attempt to do a better job of watching shows the week they air, if not the day. Also, thanks to Netflix, I’m going to attempt to catch up on shows I passed on the first time around.

·         Also, plan to get funny/awesome videos, just like before. I figure I’ll post them as I see them rather than wait until one massive post.

So that’s the deal. I’ve missed blogging. Things are starting to change again in my personal life, and I always like to think that THIS is the time when I’ll start writing again, when I’ll finally finish that book. It never happens, but it’s nice to dream. But I always use the blog as an excuse to keep up with my writing even when I’m not writing.

If you’ve actually enjoyed the blog in the past and aren’t just one of my friends who I’ve bullied into reading it every now and then, please share it with your friends and bully them into reading it. And I’ll always remind you, if you would be so kind, please click on an ad or two. I get real cash-money from Google if the clicks happen on a somewhat regular basis. Seriously. Last year Google money helped me buy Christmas presents for my kiddos.

I've also got Twitter and Pinterest (yes, I'm a straight guy with a Pinterest account, now shut up) accounts, so feel free to follow me, and I'll probably end up following you. Not in a weird way...at least not so you'll notice.

Blog Update

If you're one of the handful of people who check this blog on a somewhat regular basis (Hi, Mom!), you may have noticed a slight change before everything just stopped.

I'm too busy. Work is absolutely hellacious right now, and even though all three of the kids are now potty trained (well, daytime potty trained at least), it's still hard being a single parent of three kiddos. I can't put the kids on the back burner and I can't let work suffer, so that leaves the blog.

I don't want this to fade into obscurity, but I can't do the cooking stuff, the comic book stuff, the music stuff, and the occasional tv/movie stuff on a regular basis. The random video stuff, though, that I can still do. So for the time being, enjoy awesome videos.

I'll let you know when I'm getting back to the other stuff.

I hope you're not as sad as Christopher Walken was when I told him. Dude just moped around for hours.

Insanity Day #2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

So I skipped a day. It’s probably going to happen quite a bit. Last night I had to take all the kids with me to an appointment that ran late, and by the time they were all in bed it was 8:45 and I was exhausted. So no workout.

Today, though, I was looking forward to it…until I finished the warm up and was already sweating buckets. I think the thing that’s going to keep me from getting bored with this is the fact that I’m not doing the exact same thing every day. The last time I was doing a regular workout (seven years ago?) I was doing Tae Bo, and it was the same damn thing every morning. I got so sick of Billy Blank (is that his name? Ah, I don’t really care) and his minions that I just gave up. This switches it up every night, though, so that shouldn’t happen.

Now, I made it through the plyometric cardio circuit, but I won’t lie and say I didn’t take a LOT of extra rests. It was brutal. It was encouraging, though, to see the minions here taking breaks too. I didn’t feel as bad.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do Day 3 tomorrow, but I’ve got a bit of a busy night planned. Nothing fun, just grocery shopping since my Saturday is fully booked. But if I don’t get to it tomorrow night, it’ll be Monday before I get back into it. See? Lots of skipped days. But doing SOMETHING has got to be better than doing nothing, right?

Breakfast: Wasn’t hungry and couldn’t even force myself to eat something.

Morning Snack: Special K chocolate/peanut butter protein meal bar

Lunch: We had a lunch lecture at work, so food from Jason’s Deli was provided. I had half of a club sandwich, a tiny bag of plain Lays potato chips, half a brownie.

Afternoon Snack: None. Lunch was big enough.

Dinner: Leftover grilled chicken in a pita pocket with some shredded mozzarella sprinkled over it. A bit of cottage cheese after the workout.

Drinks: One cup of coffee in the morning, Coke at lunch, water the rest of the day.

Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!

Insanity Day #1: The Final Redux

9/13/11

Yes! I will do this tonight! My son’s Cub Scouts meeting should have no bearing on my being able to work out when the kids go to bed.

Breakfast: Nothing again. I’ve never been a good breakfast eater.

Morning Snack: Special K chocolate/peanut butter protein meal bar

Lunch: Lenny’s Club Sub…don’t judge me.

Afternoon Snack: None. Lunch was big enough.

Dinner: Steamed veggies with some grilled pita. A spoonful of cottage cheese. Also had a drink of my son’s blended root beer float from Sonic (just one, promise) after Cub Scouts.

Drinks: One cup of coffee in the morning, Coke at lunch, water the rest of the day.

I’m assuming that once I start this more regularly that my will power against going out for lunch will be stronger. I hope that’s not a flawed assumption.

So, YAY! I did it. And also…OH HOLY CRAP MY LEGS FEEL LIKE LEAD! I knew I was out of shape, but damn. Here are my stats for the first fit test. I’m unsure of how embarrassed I should be about this. I’m not using the fitness extras in the video as guidepoints. Take the measurements with a grain of salt or two. I had to do them myself, and I wasn’t exactly sure WHERE to measure everything.

• Switch Kicks = 76
• Power Jacks = 24
• Power Knees = 54
• Power Jumps = 16
• Globe Jumps = 4
• Suicide Jumps = 7 (by this point my legs were EXTREMELY heavy)
• Push-Up Jacks = 6 (pecks started to hurt…a lot)
• Low Plank Obliques = 16
• Weight = 174 lbs. (home scale, which I don’t trust all that much)
• BMI = ?
• Body Fat % = ?
• Neck = 15 in.
• Chest = 39.5 in.
• Waist = 36 in. (yet this size in pants is way too big for me)
• Hips = 37.5 in.
• Right Thigh = 22.5 in.
• Left Thigh = 22.5 in.
• Right Calf = 15 in.
• Left Calf = 15 in.
• Right Bicep = 12.5 in.
• Left Bicep = 12.5 in.
• Right Forearm = 9.5 in.
• Left Forearm = 9.5 in.

I’m not looking forward to tomorrow.

Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!