Workout of the Day: WonderCon '17

While the Double Tree is a great place to stay in Anaheim, one thing it lacks in is it's gym. You've got a few pieces of cardio equipment, some stability balls then a cable station with a chin up bar that's too close to the ceiling so you're warned not to use it. But making the best of what was available, I still got in a workout before each day of the show. Sure I'd be walking thousands of steps a day but let's face it, eating on the road and especially at a convention isn't always easy to keep clean. And believe me, it was Carl's Jr. for breakfast everyday, Munchie Mix and Cool Ranch Dorritos in the room along with a Costco sized bottle of Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey with Crabbie's ginger beer then nights out at California Adventure Park's Italian themed Wine Trattoria (hello, lasagna!) and local favorite Lazy Dog Cafe. So I working out needed to be part of my weekend, otherwise I'd just fall asleep on the couch all day! Friday was Chest & Biceps, Legs Saturday and Shoulders & Arms Sunday with supersets like:

Push Ups w/ Cable Flys
Push Ups on Medicine Balls w/ Cable Pullovers
Chins w/ Cable Curls
Face Pulls w/ Cable Preacher Curls
Deadlift w/ Front Squat
Goblet Cable Squat w/ Hip Thrusters
Standing Calf Raise w/ Lunges
Front Press w/ Rear Cable Raises

Some abs or planks and cardio followed each and I felt a lot better about the not great eating choices I'd have to make the rest of the day. And like Jean-Claude Van Damme believes, the only bad workout is the one you don't do, so keep pumping!

Gotta Go! Walt Disney World Orlando

This past November we made a quick trip to Orlando, Florida, home to Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World. I was immediately impressed with the sheer size of the city and the amount of construction going on. Walt was on to something when he started picking up acres upon acres of swamp land back in the 1960's. Apparently Disney owns, designs and built the entire resort which houses something like 30 hotels and owns 24 of them. Unlike Disneyland where you can stay on property or in the resort and simply walk over, at Disney World we took an Uber to a parking lot then a ferry to the gate, no half day, in and out trips for this place. Driving around you see grass and bodies of water everywhere, apparently a swamp is a piece of land with lots of vegetation while ponds are just bodies of water? There's some general signage but you really can't see much of the parks at all from the road. There's four parks total, Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We opted for a Hopper pass and hit up three of the four parks in a single day, phew!

Magic Kingdom is basically like Disneyland with the castle and the main street and your different lands. In a nice touch you can set up your first three Fast Passes online once you buy tickets and there's cool spots like Gaston's Tavern and a Snow White mine car ride. Hollywood Studios houses shows and roller coasters along with one of the last Planet Hollywood's in the world, it's not even a restaurant though, just a gift shop with some 90's era photos of Stallone and life sized Arnold Terminator 2 prop. The Turner Classic Movie ride was a nice throwback to Hollywood but lines were insane for the Aerosmith coaster and Tower of Terror. Epcot has that giant golf ball looking thing and several science attractions along with beautifully designed sections of the world complete with people from those countries to work there. It was Food & Wine Fest time so it was PACKED. Tooling around Orlando was fun, most of our Uber drivers were from New York or Jersey and had just had enough of the cold weather. Target didn't sell hard booze but there was a liquor store next door so it worked out. Nearly every restaurant we went to asked if you wanted to make it a double for $2-3 bucks more, we couldn't afford not to!

All in it would be pretty easy to spend a few days or even a week in town as there was plenty to Disney and Orlando in general we didn't get to see. With so many hotel options prices were considerably less than in Anaheim, California. There's also an interesting trend of seafood offering buffets we didn't get to nosh at so next time it will be lobster-pocalypse.

A Conversation with Kurt Russell

Disney California Adventure's Food and Wine Festival is in full swing. Celebrity chefs, winemakers, brew masters and distillers appear every weekend for seminars. I was originally scheduled to be working on an office project but it got pushed. The first thing that came to mind was that I could now attend A Conversation with Kurt Russell, a 90 minute get-together where the fan favorite actor would discuss his career in movies along with being an apprentice winemaker with line Go Gi. Stage 17 in the Hollywood Back Lot was set up with tables and chairs, linens and silverware. Before long, the Disney Legend took the stage and sat down for a fun, funny and informative 90 minutes. Russell of course, got his start as a child actor and knew Walt Disney. After a stint as a professional baseball player didn't pan out, Russell focused on acting.

Making a name for himself and becoming a $10 million man with the likes of Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Tango & Cash, Backdraft, Tombstone, Stargate and Soldier, Russell seemingly took a hiatus from filmmaking in the late 2000's. Taking bike and wine tours with long time partner Goldie Hawn in France, Russell began to appreciate wine and in 2007 while shooting Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, became interested in making it. Cut to today where Go Gi is a specialty label producing Goldie Chardonnay and Tiger Pinot Noir. We were given a sample of a wine not for sale, that Russell produced one barrel or 20 some cases of, just for his mom. But his mom isn't a lush and ends up giving a lot away. For today's tasting for a couple hundred, his mom parted with 2 cases so our sample was noticeably smaller then the others. While Russell contemplated where to jump in to making wine, a movie poster artist friend challenged him to stop talking about it and just do it. Drafting his sister to run the show, the Russell's are now producing organic and sustainable wine that was served up at The Wine Saloon for 2 years before closing this past week due to a change in building ownership.

It was a pretty enlightening chat that really showed Russell knows what he's doing when it comes to wine, talking about how temperature, wind, dirt and dew affects grapes and how you want a mix of big ones, shriveled ones, etc. As there are 100's of kinds of apples, there are apparently over 50 kinds of pinot noir grapes and Russell found the one he liked to produce Tiger. Originally Russell wanted to name the brand after a line Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday has in Tombstone, "In Vino Veritas", but it was taken. As was Russell Cellar and a host of others. Wanting to name each vintage after a friend or family member, Russell settled on Go Gi as in Go Gee, because he couldn't pronounce his middle name Vogel as a child. As Russell spoke, we tried wine, ate cheese and fruit then dessert. It was a very laid back environment but well run by the staff. Russell kept things light with his patented sense of humor, down to earth attitude, charmed personality and Kurt Russell laugh as he talked about celebrity couples headed towards splits-ville, the simple pleasure of drinking wine over an afternoon and learning about art when he didn't think he liked it. But when he saw Rembrandt and then the "f*cking Mona Lisa", he got it.

90 minutes breezed by and the moderator tried to close up shop but like at Escape From New York, Russell said shoot him questions fast and he'd answer. He talked about working with then 27 year old Elvis as a 10 year old and recalling 2,000 women chasing after the crooner's car. Also that Elvis was a nice guy who approached Russell's actor father Bing, stating he was a fan and asked if he could wear his hat the way Bing did. Russell played catch with Elvis and usually does with his make-up guy on set. But one guy he didn't play catch with was fellow baseball player turned actor Kevin Costner who Russell refrained from commenting on as he had nothing nice to say. But we all knew Costner was a bit of a jerk, didn't we? I asked what first memories came to mind about Tombstone and after a long pause, Russell stated something along the lines of, "you can keep the 20 years after the film, it was that hard to make but I'm very proud of it. And come on, dude, it's a classic."

Russell closed things out explaining that he had just come from the Atlanta set of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 where he was having a great time, speaking highly of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, the cast and was very impressed with writer/director James Gunn who knows what he's doing. He also confirmed that he's playing Peter Quill's dad. When it was all over, Russell stayed and took photos with every attendee, shaking hands and chit chatting. I told him I bought a bottle of Tiger for a dinner party and he smiled and said he drinks it all the time then did the Kurt Russell laugh. It was an awesome day and fantastic experience as it's always cool to see a guy you grew up watching turn out to be a cool f*cking dude.

Wine Guys: Adrian Paul & Kurt Russell

I don't know how it happened but I've been wine tasting twice in the last few weeks. First it was in Malibu at the Wine Safari where you hang out with animals like horses, llamas and a giraffe then at Disney California Adventure Park during their Food and Wine Festival. April continues to be the time to get wine'd up as this Sunday, 4.10 at the Lorimar Winery in Temecula you can learn how to use a sword AND taste wines at Adrian Paul's The Sword Experience. Paul of course was the star of the hit syndicated show Highlander and starred in two feature films as Duncan MacCleod, cousin to Christopher Lambert's Connor. Living through the centuries as an immortal who battles others like him with decapitation as the only way to kill them. With the removal of the head comes the absorption of knowledge set to lightning and rain with a blaring rock soundtrack. For $350 bones, you can train with Paul for 4.5 hours while enjoying breakfast and lunch, a photo with the star and teacher, complimentary wine tasting and a free club membership. If that weren't enough, there's live music afterwards. Paul is taking The Sword Experience on the road, hitting Chicago, Houston, London, Stuttgart and Minneapolis to meet the fans and support his charity, The Peace Fund, which aims to Protect, Educate and Aid Children Everywhere.

Next Saturday, 4.16 at California Adventure Park you can meet movie legend Kurt Russell and hear him discuss his awesome career and passion for wine making. Apparently the star of Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, Tombstone and Tango & Cash fell in love with the fermented drink while shooting Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof in wine country. Since then, the apprentice winemaker has created small batch boutique label Gogi that offers Goldie Chardonnay and Tiger Pinot Noir. I picked up a bottle of Tiger last weekend and can't wait to crack it open with friends on Friday night. For $199 you can kick back with Russell in the advertised informal 90 minute get-together. Through May you can attend demonstrations and meet the likes of Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri.

Gotta Drank! Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival

It's been a busy few weeks where we started with wine tasting and petting zoo in Malibu, hanging in Hollywood for Road House, Downtown for meat and sky high dranks. Then back again for WonderCon and three days of happy hour, Batman V Superman, Silent Rage at The Egyptian and the pop culture show. This weekend we headed down to Anaheim and Disneyland for the month long Food & Wine Festival at California Adventure Park. You see, the lone spot you can drank in Disneyland is the members only Club 33. But at CA Adventure you can grab beer, wine and margaritas almost anywhere. Every weekend of April finds Food Network chefs like Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri, winemakers, beer brewers and whiskey whipper uppers sharing their knowledge and leading workshops. OH and this just in, on Saturday April 15th, you can hang out with actor turned winemaker KURT RUSSELL and hear about his line, Gogi. I'm tied up that weekend otherwise I'd be there kicking it with The Charmed One himself.

Anyhow, there were multiple food and booze stands lining the paths near Cars Land and that Napa Valley inspired area. Cocktail tables were set up and it was pretty busy while being a simple way to make some extra bucks amidst rumors that Disneyland Shanghai is behind schedule and way over budget. For $15 you could sit down and hear from Silverado Vineyards winemaker Jonathan Emmerich. Located in Napa Valley, Silverado is the partial brainchild of Walt Disney's daughter Diane Miller. Starting in 1980, Miller and company started making wine and are now a name amongst names in the business. Emmerich kept things pretty loose as we tasted one white and two reds. Each table was set up with three glasses, a bottle of water and a blank paper mat along with a Disneyland Hotel pen. Several tables were unoccupied and Emmerich told us to grab the extra glasses so the wine wouldn't go to waste. Don't have to tell me twice, yoinks!

Now I'm no wine connoisseur so it all tasted like fruit and whatnot, and was all kind of back of the throat and not very smooth or easy to drink. But I'm not sure how wine is really supposed to taste anyway. Emmerich did share some interesting facts about how watering grapes has changed over the years as once upon a time you'd see the guy next door watering and remember to do the same. Now with the drought and technology, they irrigate using well water per grape vine. He also mentioned that the best time to visit Napa is when the harvest is but it's also like Spring Break where everybody is in town, prices go up and it's hard to get a nice dinner reservation. Instead, come up in February or March when it's empty and relaxing, it's a little cool and you won't get gouged for a room or a meal.

Con-Man: Anaheim VS Los Angeles

Last weekend, Comic-Con International's WonderCon took over the Los Angeles Convention Center. If you're keeping track, WonderCon spent many years in San Francisco at the Moscone Center before construction and schedules pushed WC to Anaheim for 4 years. Anaheim was under the knife this year so WC moved up to Los Angeles. The neighboring J.W. Marriott was the Con hotel and the nearby L.A. Live housed Microsoft Theater was the Hall H or Anaheim Con Center Arena for 2016. While proximity to Hollywood was closer, WonderCon was actually a smaller show than years previous in Anaheim with even less movie and TV panels and guests. Having the show downtown was fun as you have the L.A. Live complex next door with a movie theater and restaurants and lots of cool spots just an Uber ride away. BUT the Staples Center was still in full swing with a basketball or hockey game every night of WonderCon with two on Sunday. That lead to an extra influx of thousands of folks fighting for the same restaurants and surface streets leading to night time hordes and terrible traffic.

There have been rumblings that Comic-Con will leave San Diego in the next few years as they've outgrown the convention center space and hotels are trying to rip off attendees by pre-setting steep prices and some kind of tax deal. SDCC overtakes the 11,000 hotel rooms in the area, accounts for over 60,000 stay nights and brought in a whopping $177 million to the local economy in 2014 alone. Ever the non-profit just putting on the best celebration of the creative arts, CCI has been courted by the likes of Anaheim, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. After WonderCon in Downtown, I can firmly say I vote Anaheim. The great thing about San Diego Comic-Con is that it takes over the ENTIRE downtown area. The baseball stadium, library, local parking lots, the marina, on and on there's things to see and do, many for free without a ticket. But Downtown, Los Angeles is just spread out a little too much so having those pop-ups would be difficult. Parking is already a b*tch, there's half as many hotel rooms then throw in extra sporting events just leads to a less special feeling. Las Vegas in July? Woof. No thanks. Again, things would have to be spread out and mainly held in hotels.

Even though Anaheim is in our backyard and feels less like a vacation, is simply set up to handle crowds. Highways lead directly to Disneyland and the Convention Center with few spots for bottle necking. Even when a big show like WonderCon or Star Wars Celebration is in town, you don't feel the Disneyland crush really at all. There's the Gardenwalk full of restaurants and many more just a short ride away in Orange or Fullerton. There's 13,000 hotel rooms in the area, many just a few blocks from the convention center (that's 200,000 square feet bigger than San Diego) and it's placed at the end of a street so traffic moves in and out pretty easily. WonderCon has already announced it will return to Anaheim in 2017 and for the first time in a while not be held on Easter weekend. Comic-Con has signed a deal to stay in San Diego for 2017 and 2018 so we'll see what happens after.

Disney Daze: The Happiest Hotel on Earth Tour

We've done just about all of the guided tours Disneyland and California Adventure offer while The Happiest Hotel on Earth Tour was complimentary for guests of the resort. There was a small group of us, most from the local Los Angeles area with one from New Orleans. Apparently their spouses were all at the medical convention going on so the tour was a nice activity for them. Starting in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel, you're basically taken around the three towers. Next to Goofy's Kitchen and Steakhouse 55 you watch a video that gives you some interesting history on the hotel as it started off as 100 rooms and was partially funded by ABC who required a weekly program in return. The resort kept growing and growing with a golf course and a marina once part of the magic. One tower became three and 100 rooms has grown into just under 1,000.

Like the park, you notice that each themed tower or land changes in design and decoration. You have tropical plants and bamboo outside the Adventure Tower and the lobby has maquettes from The Jungle Cruise. Over by Frontier Tower you get pine trees and a waterfall with an awesome model of Big Thunder Ranch in the lobby. Our guide Ron joked that it wasn't true to life because not a single figure on the map had a churro in hand. Good one, Ron-Dawg. We got a glimpse of the dark and classy Steakhouse 55 along with a little bit of history as Walt Disney had a huge affinity for classic Hollywood of the 1920's and 30's. His wife was a big fan of tea time so 55 now offers one over the weekend. We were taken into Trader Sam's to check out their "storm" show where lights are dimmed and displays on the wall look like they're getting attacked by nature. Lots of historic tidbits adorns the walls and you hear more about the design of the park including The Lost Weekend where Disney an and artist holed up for 3 days creating a map of the proposed park to present to possible investors. All in it was a nice little bonus for staying in the hotel and I still can't imagine there used to be a functioning marina in the middle.

Workout of the Day: Disney (Dolph) Daze

On Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00 AM after a full night's sleep and hit the hotel's gym. It's a solid facility, better than the Grand Californians I'd say. Pretty standard hotel gym with dumbbells, a cable machine, yoga mats and balls along with plenty of cardiovascular machines. Apparently everybody else in the resort was on vacation mode as I had the place to myself. There's permanent music you can listen to or put something on the TV's. I opted for tunes and a Shoulders and Arms session:

Arnold Press/Face Pull/Incline Close Grip Push Up
Rear Delt Raise/Incline Zane Curls/Rope Pushdown
Side Raise/Concentration Curl/1-Arm Extension

9 exercises done as one giant circuit repeated 3 times. I threw in 4 sets of standing calf raises along with some front delt work and forearms before hitting the Elliptical for a mile and another on the stationary bike.

Later in the weekend I would come across a new Dolph Lundgren video where he shows you his superset based workout routine along with juice and protein centric diet. Dude is still doing the Damme thing in his 50's so you have no excuse not to get up. The big Swede talks dealing with an abusive father, therapy, Arnold waking him up at night and much more.

Disney Daze: The Hotel

It's Annual Passholder days down at Disneyland and with Long Beach Con a short drive away along with my accountant for taxes, it was time for a weekend on the road. We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel Friday night and checked into the spacious joint that has three towers of rooms along with a convention center onsite. The room was nice with Mickey stuff everywhere, on the carpet, in the bathroom and a pretty cool headboard across the wall that lit up. We had a nice view of the park's nightly fireworks from our window and set out to explore the grounds. 101 Dalmatians was playing in a field near the gym then we walked right into Trader Sam's and snagged a table. Like Kurt Russell, I'm charmed. We'd tried coming to the Tiki bar before but it was slammed. For 7:00 PM on a Friday night it wasn't too bad but got more and more packed as the night went on. We grabbed some whiskey based cocktails and opted for the souvenir mugs that look like barrels. Every time someone orders the namesake drank, a bell is rung, lights are dimmed and it's announced to the crowd. The ambiance is nice with island paraphernalia all over the walls even if there weren't any obvious nods to Kirk Douglas and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea where they come into contact with island cannibals.

Foodwise there's Polynesian tinged sammiches and flatbread with pulled pork along with burgers. There was a medical convention going on so lots of folks with name tags started rolling in vying for a table. We walked around a bit more and had a Disney first, seeing a cat! It's rumored that hundreds of feral felines roam the grounds to take care of rodents but I'd never seen one. This white and brown guy was just chilling on the sidewalk. Back in the room we poured our new favorite concoction, Merlot with Fireball! This is BJ's Brewhouses version of sangria and like a Jameson Mule, is basically black out juice. We watched the fireworks from our window and took in some Disney programming that fills up the first dozen channels. The park was open until midnight and we had every intention of making it there but I totally passed out.

Workout of the Day: Holiday Special

Alright let's take a break from movie and Star Wars talk and focus on ourselves. The holidays mean potlucks, happy hours, eggnog, cookies, dinners and in my case, three days straight of caterer tastings at work. Our apartment gym was redone, removing the Universal Machine in favor of a cable station along with some dumbbells. It's like a hotel gym so can't complain too much although I'll miss the versatility of the Universal as I could do leg press, military, etc. I'm reading Arnold's awesome autobiography and while I have no desire to train twice a day for four hours, you can only be inspired to slam around more weight after reading.

A few workouts from the last couple of weeks:

On the road at Disneyland in the hotel gym I knocked out some Shoulders and Arms with:

Machine Press/Concentration Curls/Triceps Cable Extension
Side DB Laterals/Cable Curls/Lying DB Extensions
I was feeling lazy so only did 4 sets of each tri-set compounded with 15 miles of walking over the weekend at the park and on our tour.

In the new apartment gym with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland's Love and Bullets playing:

DB Swing/Chin/Incline Push Up/Step Up/DB Curls/Dip/Side Raises x 4
When you don't have a full gym, get creative and do calf raises by standing on the edge of a bench or treadmill holding a dumbbell. Or use a nearly discarded metal walker as a dip bar.

Fasted cardio at 5:00 AM helps me get warmed up for these last cold days:

30 minutes of Treadmill/Elliptical/Jump Rope/Shadow Boxing
You could go Zane ab-aerobics style and do a minute at each or progress into some intervals like 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off or 20 work/10 rest, whatever you can do.

Whether you're on the road or enjoying some "me" time this holiday season; breaking a sweat, getting a pump and ridding yourself of stress always comes in handy so keep lifting!

Gotta Eat! Disney Weekend

Since we'd be in the park over the weekend, I went ahead and made reservations at a couple of spots, one to try and one to remember. We'd been to Carthay Circle for drinks and I wasn't impressed, hopefully dinner would be more spectacular and it was. The upstairs restaurant is old school Hollywood with low lighting and lots of dark wood decor. Black and white photos of Walt Disney and the likes of Julie Andrews accepting awards adorned the walls. The place wasn't very big but had several attached private dining rooms all named after prolific streets like Buena Vista and Hyperion. There's special cocktails on the menu to commemorate Disney's 60th anniversary so we started with a couple of Manhattan's that came with diamond shaped ice. I'm not a huge fan of Manhattan's so after struggling through I went back to my staple of an Irish Mule. Food wise it was simple yet high end fare like you'd find at Napa Rose or Club 33. I went with the giant porkchop special and we also tried out the fried biscuits filled with cheese and jalapenos, delicious. Most shocking of all discovering Kurt Russell's Gogi line of wine on the menu going for a cool $110 smackers a bottle. Speaking of dranking, we did a mini Disney pub crawl around the resort after Trader Sam's was packed we opted for Steakhouse 55, walked around downtown Disney, Paradise Pier, more dranks at the Grand Californian and finally at a couple of hotels on our way back to basecamp.

Sunday was a big day as we started with the Holiday Time tour, a 3 hour excursion highlighting all of the great Christmas decorations and history. Highlights included learning that one of the 60 foot trees caught on fire and was replaced over night, there's a candle lit menorah in one of Main Street's windows, a little knowledge of candy canes as well as walk on access to Jingle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World. We ended by having front row seats for the parade complete with hot chocolate and gingerbread men and seeing special guest Dick Van Dyke riding dirty along with dancers from local schools and themed floats with Mickey, Santa Claus, Woody and the like. We had reservations over at Big Thunder Ranch for some all you can eat ribs and chicken as the joint is one of the many attractions closing down soon to make way for Star Wars land. It's a fun set up with live entertainment and country music, buckets of meat, baked beans, cornbread and cornslaw along with drinks served in Mason jars. That Damme hot chocolate and gingerbread cookie filled me up though so we only mowed down two buckets of barbecued chicken and ribs. Fare thee well, Big Thunder Ranch! BBQ in peace.

Disney Weekend: Star Wars Edition

 
To celebrate an early Christmas, we trekked down to Anaheim for a weekend of Disney and Star Wars shenanigans. The place was already pretty jammed on Friday night but I was excited to check out the Star Wars themed makeover "Season of the Force" in Tomorrowland. Space Mountain is now Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours contains new footage inspired by The Force Awakens, part of Innoventions is now the Launch Bay with toys, costumes, models and more while you can get themed burgers from the Galactic Grill along with BB-8 and Chewbacca souvenir mugs. Captain EO recently ended its resurgent run and has been replaced with a SW clip show from the previous 6 films and ending with an Awakens trailer. They say Disney stands to make $5 billion bucks alone from The Force Awakens in merchandising and ticket sales so that $4 billion price tag is looking like a giant bargain already. Hyperspace Mountain was cool as you flew around in the dark of space while Imperial Stardestroyers, Tie Fighters and X-Wings duked it out around you. It was a little chilly this weekend so the fast moving attraction was freezing! Star Tours added a message from new character Fin (that annoying kid from Attack the Block, don't suck, kid!) and a new sequence where you're flying around wreckage in the desert and run into the Millennium Falcon. If you're on the hunt for a BB-8 sipper, don't waste your time at the drink cart, just go into Pizza Planet Port Place and grab one. Storm Troopers were walking around the park and Cast Members were using lightsabers to direct traffic, it's great to see such excitement and enthusiasm and Disney is making a killing.

Disney Daze: Halloween Happiest Haunts

 
Earlier this week we trekked down to Anaheim to partake in Disneyland's wildly popular Happiest Haunts Tour. When I say wildly popular I mean that I had to call at 7:00 AM a month in advance otherwise it sells out in 15 minutes. DL already does a Halloween themed series for locals, Mickey's Trick or Treat something or other where you get a separate ticket to go around the park and collect candy. Ticket holders are limited each night and the park closes early so it's a fun experience we've checked out a couple times and come home with way too much candy we never eat. Happiest Haunts is billed as a three hour tour and we had two guides, your usual Disneyland one who told you about old attractions and park info while the other was a representative from Haunted Mansion who gave you the straight dope on where Halloween customs came from. This was probably the biggest tour we've been on in the park as our group reached 20 members. The park was pretty crowded so that made it a little more difficult to hear in the ol'd ear piece. The tour is solid if not as exclusive as Walk in Walt's Footsteps or eye opening as Cultivating the Magic. It scores by giving you a couple of treats (dipped marshmallow pop and sugar cookie) and getting you onto five rides (Ghost Mountain, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and The Matterhorn). On the Disney side I learned that the Kirk Douglas classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had an attraction in the 60's, when it was dismantled, the organ went to the Mansion (which I knew). Apparently the giant squid was there though! Kirk! Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is the only opening day attraction in the park and we were shown a small pond by The Matterhorn has been site to many a closed down rides. All in the tour came in at under three hours and you get a Haunted Mansion Death Certificate along with a pin. You're not invited to stay in the park to enjoy the Trick or Treat party, in fact, you're escorted out!

Disney Daze

Halloween is in full effect at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim with the 3 hour Happiest Haunts tour being sold out 15 minutes after going on sale and Mickey's Halloween Party and trick or treating taking over the park several nights a week. With Disneyland closing at 7:00 PM Friday, the crowd invaded California Adventure Park so we decided not to head over. Saturday we supported the House of Mouse by taking in touted # 1 show The Lion King, an expanded version of the 1993 mega hit starring James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jeremy Irons. Playing a limited engagement at Costa Mesa's beautiful Segerstrom Center for the Arts across from giant mall Southcoast Plaza, the 90 minute movie was expanded to a 2 hour and 40 minute show that sees elaborate costumes, moving sets, song and dance. I can't say I'm the biggest appreciator of live theatre but you had to admire the effort. The venue was quite large and the cast, crew and orchestra put on quite a show. There were bars on each floor where you could pre-order a drink for intermission even though you couldn't take them to your seats, random...

On Sunday it was off to Disneyland to make use of our Annual Passes. It was surprisingly crowded but we were taking a tour so we'd be in good shape. This is our 3rd or 4th tour at Disneyland after learning about Walt Disney himself, getting the lowdown on California Adventure Park and the general Welcome look around. Tours are an awesome way to experience the park as not only do you learn a lot, get hard to see looks behind the scenes and a special pin but best of all you get on several rides without waiting! Today it was Cultivating the Magic aka checking out all the plants in the park. Disney's magic is in the details and horticulture is a big part of it. With nearly 200 employees taking care of the plants, it's amazing some of the things you walk by not realizing how much time and effort goes in to maintaining. Some eye opening developments for me were learning about the vast types and numbers of plants used throughout the park like decades old trees lining Main Street or a Chinese redwood over in Adventureland. Or how the fences and walkways change between lands. At one point it was pointed out that stalks of corn were growing near Tomorrowland while the Jungle Cruise's lush rainforest is all irrigated and an Energy Star winner meaning that Disney isn't wasting a lot of money or resources to keep up appearances. Rides we were able to walk on to were The Jungle Cruise, where we got our own boat, the Haunted Mansion (bypassing the huge line) and those little boats over at Storybook Land. It was a brisk two hour tour and our guide was great. We were recognized by another tour guide so I guess that makes us regulars huh? See ya next week for the Happiest Haunts 3 hour extravaganza!

Gotta Eat! Junk Gold

It was a short holiday weekend down to Orange County where we'd be taking in The Lion King stage show as well as a tour at ol' Disneyland. The OC Auto Show was in full effect so our standard Anaheim hang outs The Double Tree and Red Lion were booked up. We opted for The Double Tree in Orange a few miles down the 5 since they had a shuttle to the park and were right next to The Outlets of Orange, formerly The Block. I used to live and work down here so it was a bit of a time warp seeing Best Buy, Wendy's, Krispy Kreme and Friday's from our hotel window. It was a nice

spot and pretty quiet up on the 11th floor. As usual we over packed weekend supplies that included chips, bars and chocolate while we picked up some delicious Seagram's 7 Apple Orchard whiskey along with some Munchie Mix, pork rinds and Combo's. While I've been doing the 8 hour window eating thing, it was time to kick back because it's not everyday I can walk to a Wendy's. They've been advertising $4 meals where you get a Jr. burger, chicken nuggets, fries and a drink. Apparently fast food joints have moved away from the dollar menu and embraced small meals like KFC's Five Dollar Fill Up, Jack in the Box's $6 Night Meal or McDonald's Double Cheeseburger and Fries for $2.50. I went old school and grabbed a Classic Double (in my youth it would have been a Classic Triple), fries, chocolate Frosty and chicken nuggets. It was all Damme tasty. It's funny to see people forecasting the death of struggling top dog McDonald's but a little research shows that they posted roughly $5 billion in profit last year. Not made, but PROFITED off near $36 billion in revenue. You know who is second behind them? Starbucks with $12 billion in revenue. I think they'll be ok...

Gotta See! Disneyland & California Adventure Park

Another weekend, another theme park. This time it was back to our usual stomping grounds of Disneyland and California Adventure Park in my former residence of Anaheim. It's been real frigging hot in Los Angeles lately and Friday night was not shaping up to be any less sticky and sweaty even though temperatures were allegedly on their way down. We already secured a room for Saturday night after Long Beach Con and to hit the park and see visiting friends Sunday. Doing a quick search, a room would be even cheaper for Friday so we decided to chug some SURGE and hit the road. The Red Lion is usually our home base for Disney or shows as it's close to the park and Convention Center, is reasonably priced plus you get a fridge and microwave in the room. Disneyland was open until midnight so after a quick Seagram's and Ginger Beers, we hoofed over to the park just in time to see the nightly fireworks. The joint was pretty packed around Main Street and apparently there was a near stampede/trampling episode by The Haunted Mansion. Come on people, it's the same ride that's been there for decades with some Halloween decorations. Is that really worth bodily injury? What is this, Wal-Mart?! Do better. We managed to do Single Rider line for Indiana Jones where you waited completely in beautiful air conditioned cave and The Matterhorn before taking in the crazy electric parade and then hitting up Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. The parade was pretty intense with lots of lights and dancing from the casts of Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and more. Can't wait to see some Marvel peeps included at some point.

 
On Sunday we headed back and it was hot hot hot! But when everybody else is also sweating buckets, you don't feel so self conscious about being a hot man, like Sean Connery. Hitting California Adventure Park first, we grabbed a Fast Pass for Soaring Over California because the queue would be inside in the cold. It's always good to get on some kind of small ride right away to keep yourself mentally sane rather than waiting in some huge line and getting demoralized. So it was off to The Little Mermaid ride, those flying Zepplin things, Silly Symphony Swings and Goofy's Flying School all in a couple of hours. It was recently announced that the Aladdin Stage Show Musical Spectacular is going to be replaced by a Frozen themed dealy so we checked it out one last time. I hadn't seen the show since the mid-2000's but it holds up great with terrific production value, flying carpet and the scene stealing Genie. Back in 2005 it was very Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as that was popular on TV while in 2015 you got Arnold Schwarzenegger, Deflate-gate, Ben Affleck, Batman and other current topics as the butt of jokes. We hadn't eaten all day and figured on getting some All-You-Can-Eat BBQ at Big Thunder Ranch before it goes bye-bye to make room for Star Wars Land but it was a little too stuffy out for such a heavy meal. Instead we sat in some more AC over at The Plaza Inn for some fried chicken and Cobb Salad goodness. Taking a break at the Golden Horseshoe for ice cream, we randomly got to view their fun old west style theater act with singing cowboys, piano player and audience participation. Makes you wonder how a 50 something year old man who can sing, dance and act ends up working at Disneyland. Is there a casting agency for that?

See you in October for the Halloween Tour! Oh and did you know that Oswald is a rabbit? I didn't.

Summer Cinema: Tomorrowland

Ah Memorial Day, where we pay our respects to those who serve this great country and many of us get to kick back an extra day. It wasn't one for the cinema history books though as Disney's latest epic based on an attraction, Tomorrowland, opened with a 4-Day gross of just over $40 million. That puts it at # 22 on the all time list of Memorial Day openings. Reviews and word of mouth have been mixed so the less than stellar opening makes it perfect fodder for unnecessary and unreasonable negativity. I for one enjoyed the flick for the most part, it has some terrific ideas, solid production values and an excellent cast. The themes of hope, positive thinking and learning aren't exactly a bad thing either. It does drag in a few spots and reminded me of movies like The Rocketeer, The Terminator and Conspiracy Theory at parts. Brad Bird, director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Rataouille and Mission: Impossible 4 helms a script by genre whipping boy Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus), Jeffrey Chernov and himself.

Tomorrowland is basically the story of smart and spunky Casey (Britt Robertson) as she's recruited by the wide eyed and robotic mini T-1000 Athena (Raffey Cassidy) to help save the world. Athena works out of Tomorrowland, an alternate dimension type place where the best and brightest work to change the world. Years ago, a young smart kid named Frank Walker discovered that the world was at risk and subsequently exiled. He grows up to be George Clooney, playing a grouch. Athena believes Casey can build upon Walker's theories and possibly save the planet. Tomorrowland ruler Nix (Hugh Laurie) doesn't really want to hear about it though as he's given up on humanity and is safe in his little bubble. Alternate worlds, new technology, smiling robots, vaporizing ray guns, gadgets, jet packs, Eiffel Tower, rocket ships, Star Wars and Iron Giant product placement ensues.

While I try not to listen or read into pre-release hype, the word on Tomorrowland wasn't good. But like the much maligned Prometheus before it, while watching it, I kept wondering when it was going to get bad. Overall I enjoyed the film, there's some nice philosophy and ideas of exploration and a positive theme. Kind of like a less technical, more fantastic Interstellar.  The humor works and there's a surprising amount of violence in the film with robots getting their heads ripped off, hit by trucks and whatnot. Humans get vaporized and there's a cartoony quality to all of the mayhem which seemed borderline inappropriate given it's PG rating. Performances were fine all around with Clooney's early scenes smacking of wise-ass Robert Downey, Jr. Some of the set pieces and imagery reminded me of other movies and a segment of Athena rescuing Casey is like a Kyle Reese/T-1000 from The Terminator update. I was surprised she didn't say, "Come with me if you want to live"! Plus that creepy kid from Looper (Pierce Gagon), Tim McGraw (I feel like he's getting roles Billy Bob Thorton should be) and Keegan-Michael Key (just saw him in Pitch Perfect 2, wonder if Peele is getting jelly) show up as well.

It does drag a bit and you wonder when Clooney is going to show up after the first act. But Bird is a an excellent director and stages action, drama, laughs and shocks with ease. There's some great dialog at the end with Nix discussing mankind being given all the facts that the world is dying but doing nothing to stop it and only being interested in money. There's also a hilarious question about how the world can be suffering from starvation and obesity epidemics at the same time. The world is strange, brah.

Gotta Drank! Downtown

With a friend from out of state visiting this weekend, we descended upon downtown Los Angeles to show him around.  There's beautiful architecture on every street, like the turquoise Eastern Building that was used in Predator 2!  He got to sit in random traffic like a Los Angeles native as we chugged along the 10 freeway towards the convention center in our super charged Uber.  Just a week ago, a huge blaze tore through an under construction apartment complex, shutting down the 110 freeway and melting signs.  Luckily, no injuries or deaths have been reported so far.  Explaining that downtown is on the fast up and up thanks to projects like L.A. Live and gentrification through hipsters, it's sad to know that Los Angeles has the last true Skid Row in America.  Now you'll have fancy apartments and coffee shops right next to some of the most derelict parts of the city.

Our first stop of the night was Beelman's Pub, a super cool and chill gastropub that had lots of crazy crap on the walls like album sleeves and a Wonka Golden Ticket.  The bar served up house cocktails like Moscow Mules complete with copper cups so you know we had to have those.  The Mules were excellent, light and effervescent with a ginger kick from the syrup instead of beer and a piece of it candied thrown in. Food was hit and miss, the meat and cheese board was uber fancy but not exactly overflowing with eats while the steak and fries were absolutely delicious.  A jukebox offered up classic rock and pop albums including What's the Story? Morning Glory from OASIS.  It must not have been turned on though as our songs never came on while others repeated so I'm guessing a radio or iPod was at work.  Great spot though and we'll be back.

Walking to our next stop, we noticed a lot of people dressed in Santa outfits, must have been a theme party going on somewhere or some weird, downtown theme night like Dapper Day at Disneyland.  We walked past Pershing Square where ice skating was set up and palm trees were glowing red, blue, yellow and green.  Hidden away in a random building is Perch, billed as an intimate and non-pretentious lounge with a French bistro inspiration.  Taking an elevator up to the 13th floor to transfer, we opted to take the stairs, bypassing the lounge and heading straight to the roof where you get a solid, 15th floor view of the city.  You know I'm a sucker for drinks with a view but 15 floors?  Come on, I'm used to being on the 30th.  Being a little lower is nice though, you see more details around the city, the people on the ice skating, etc.  It was time for another Moscow Mule but sans copper cup sadly.  Very tasty though.  It wasn't too crowded and there were fire pits every few feet but the breeze up there was still a touch chilly.  Good times and I'll be sure to take any out of town visitors there to check out the view.

From there we walked around a bit, picking up supplies like Carl's Jr. and I couldn't help but be a little surprised at how rundown much of downtown looks.  There were people out and about, young and old, doing well and not so much so it wasn't a safety issue per se, just a lot of old establishments never given an facelift or deep cleaning.  I could only think of 1984's The Terminator when Kyle Reese (Ya know, The Biehn?) arrives and fights with bums and police on the grimy, gray streets of downtown that still look pretty much the same.

Cue the synth and Nike Vandals...

Gotta Drank! Carthay Circle Restaurant @ Disney California Adventure Park

For whatever reason, you can't drink at Disneyland but you can imbibe across the way at California Adventure Park.  While renewing our annual passes (allegedly Southern California members number 1 million and Disney has opted to postpone sale of new memberships of that level) we wandered into Carthay Circle Restaurant to check out their open seating lounge.  Reservations can be made for their upstairs portion but we just figured on grabbing a drank and some appetizers.  Named and modeled after the picturesque theater on Buena Vista street where Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in 1937, the inside of Carthay is very classy and low key with that homey, golden sheen of the pulpy 30's.  The drink menu is actually quite large with plenty of wines, beers and spirits available and even Walt's signature drink, The Scotch Mist (Scotch over crushed ice with lemon peel, like a boss!), there for your tasting.  I opted for The Derby which was simply Bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey.  A simple yet smooth concoction that packed a bit of a punch in the back of your throat.  Our server was overly kind like most are at sit down joints inside either park and our food and drinks didn't take much time at all to arrive.  While our dranks were just fine and not overly expensive, the food was a bit of a pricey letdown.  We went for Deviled Eggs, Vietnamese style Beef Tacos and a Spicy Chicken Roll.  Our first selection was delectable but the Tacos and Roll were just overly salty and didn't leave me clamoring for more.  In fact, I could have went for a burger and fries after to actually satiate my appetite.   

You can even take a tour!

Rando Calrissian: Weekly Round Up

Welcome to Rando Calrissian, a smorgasbord of things randomly interesting that I came across this week.  Where else will you find blurbs about Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, BeyondFest and Friday the 13th?  Exactly.

- Tim Allen and Tom Hanks to star in Disney's
"Jungle Cruise"? 
Not sure how I missed this announcement back in 2011 but apparently Disney wanted to follow the "ride into a movie" successes of Pirates of the Caribbean and make a live action feature film based on the popular attraction that transports you back to the 1930's as you travel the exotic and dangerous Mekong, African Congo, Nile and Amazon rivers.  Opened in 1955, the 7-minute ride employs animatronic versions of tigers, gorillas, elephants and African tribesman in various scenarios.  Allen and Hanks have already teamed up multiple times for the award winning, tear jerking, massive money making Toy Story trilogy and TV specials as animated heroes Buzz Lightyear and Woody the Cowboy.  Shrek's Roger S.H. Schulman was hired to write a script to be produced by The Fighter's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.  It's been pretty quiet on the development front, I wonder if the lackluster performance of The Haunted Mansion slowed things down?  Anyways, I've always wondered when Allen and Hanks would team up in a live action flick so here's hoping it comes together.

- BeyondFest's Christian Parkes joins Alamo Drafthouse
Parkes is a friend and mentor to Dammaged Goods so I'm very excited to see his recent hard earned and well deserved success in creating and curating Los Angeles' BeyondFest, the world film festival that hosted Goblin, Clive Barker, Richard Donner, Joe Dante and more during their inaugural event.  Parkes will act as Chief Brand Officer to the Austin based Drafthouse empire that runs cinemas, film production and distribution, festivals and poster printing to form one cohesive vision for the fast growing company.  Starting at Puma then moving to Nike, Levi's, Myspace and Nasty Gal, Parkes has plenty of marketing savvy to help Alamo knock it up a notch.  While at Levi's, Parkes help shepherd the Rolling Roadshow, a nationwide tour of free outdoor 35mm film screenings that took place at locations used in the movies.  Fans watched Rocky from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, took in Robocop at the finale's rundown Industrial Complex in Michigan and rocked out with The Blues Brothers at Chicago's Joliet Prison during the month long slate.

- It's Friday the 13th AND a Full Moon
For office dwellers, Friday is the best day of the week but in some circles it's considered unlucky as is the number 13 so when a Friday falls on a 13th, roll yourself in four leaf clovers cause shit's coming down.  12 is considered the gold standard of completeness as there's that many months in a year, hours on a clock, deities of Olympus, Apostles of JC, signs of the Zodiac and years in the Buddhist cycle! In the past, 13 has been deemed irregular and goes against the rule.  Superstitions can run so deep that some buildings omit labeling a 13th floor in elevators.  As for the Full Moon, I dunno, something about the earth, moon and sun are in alignment but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth so the sunlit part is facing us.  From werewolves to serial killers, lunar phases have been fodder for explaining surges in mental instability as well as affecting the ocean tide.  Our next scheduled Full Moon and Friday the 13th won't happen again until August of 2049.