An action figure collector's/electronics owner's
best friend. Courtesy of Fry's Electronics.

  Pretty good movie scores today. I've been waiting for Paranormal

Activity 4 to come out, so I got that. Not that great, but I have all of

them. A bit of a tradition. And then I found the Gene Autry Television

Show Season One for a great price. I love Gene Autry very much. And

finally, Chronicle. I don't know much about it, I've just wanted to see it.

The price dropped on the Blu-ray/DVD so now I will.

Good day for movie buying.

I saw this sort of movie award shadow box one day and thought

that it was pretty cool looking. So I bought it hoping that if I ever

had a room dedicated to movie watching I could put it in there.

This is McDonald's. Looks like a nice little place to sit while you
read your newspaper or watch the flat screen television while drinking
your steaming morning coffee or orange juice and eating that Egg
McMuffin. Yeah, that's what I thought too, up until I saw a woman
changing her baby on that table, right where your breakfast is sitting.

Oh dang! Another restaurant post!

"The world looks better through a great cup of coffee."

Unless of course it upsets your stomach, as it does mine.

I have to tell you, Mr. Denny's... I've never been a coffee drinker.

Just Diet Coke. (Another freakin restaurant post.

I need to get out more... and soon.)

 The good old cowboy on top of chair on top of table on top

of indoor balcony one foot on rail balancing trick.

Hot damn.

 In honor of yesterday's post, here is more of my "stuff".

A couple of shelves worth of lotion etc. that I have not used yet.

 During the Christmas season my mom usually makes a couple batches of

Chex Mix. I am sure you're familiar with it. I love the stuff. Tonight I had

some while I watched the movie "Fargo". Insert segue here: The other night

I was listening to this guy on the radio who I like.  He was talking about

something that folks are doing that he found totally lame and uninteresting.

I don't feel the way he does.

It seems that people in eateries are "tweeting" photos of their food to each other

and to their blogs, etc. This is happening to such an extent that the restaurant's

owners are banning the activity as disruptive to the other customer's

dining experiences.

Whatever.

I suppose it is the voyeur/exhibitionist in me, but I really enjoy seeing other folks

"stuff". Maybe not food really, but lots of stuff. I just think it is fun. If I am not

interested? I move on. That's the beauty of it. Huzzah again!

 And in celebration of aforementioned "stuff", here is a picture I took
just a few minutes ago of some "stuff" somewhere on my computer table
that I have not touched in weeks (I think) as evidenced by dust particles.

 The 134 Ventura Freeway at Bob "Thanks For The Memories" Hope

Drive in beautiful (almost) downtown Burbank, California.

 I went to the theater to see Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln". While there I spotted

this standee for the movie "Oz" to be released in theaters soon. I want to see this

one. It's going to be in 3D and it looks like it will be worth seeing it that way.

Anyway, I like these displays that make it possible for a person to become a part

of them for photographs if they want to. A neat trend me thinks.

"Lincoln" was good. I could have waited

for the movie to come out on DVD or Blu-ray, but I am not

disappointed that I saw it in the theater. The damn movie
made me weepy. I did not think that a movie about Abraham
Lincoln would do that. And not for the reason you might be
thinking. Daniel Day Lewis's portrayal had me caring about
Lincoln, the man. I will leave it at that.

Lincoln is definitely not a popcorn movie, but speaking of popcorn...

I think after the last two nights of popcorn eating, I am a little

popcorn'ed out. But mum's the word. I do not want to lose my

Popcorn Club Card. My appetite for popcorn

will be in fine spirit in a day or two.

 On December 26th of last year I posted a picture of a new Nostalgia Electrics

brand popcorn popper in the box. Today we finally had some time to open

it up and make our first batch of (hopefully) awesome movie style popcorn.

As I've said before, I have a popcorn fetish.

 This is the first round of popcorn. Hot out of the kettle.

 Not quite up to movie theater standards, but I think once I tweak my recipe

and learn how to use it a little better I can come closer. It's pretty darn fluffy.

I put salt right into the kettle before it popped, and that works well. I think

it really needs a little butter though, even though the oil is "better flavored".

 After cleaning out the popper I made two fresh batches one right after the
other for my movie viewing. You can see that it doesn't pop very much at
all. Not enough for me anyway. That is two full batches in the container.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in summation... and I feel kind of bad writing this,
but to be completely honest, my first impression is that I probably would
not buy this popper again. It doesn't pop much corn at all. Between preparation
and clean up it's quite a bit of work for the small return. I think that if you have
kids who don't eat a whole lot of popcorn and enjoy having movie nights 
at home, this would be a lot of fun for that. But this IS just my first impression. 
It might change over time.

 This guy was in the car when we bought it and he has been sitting there

for years. I normally would never leave an animal friend in a car or anyplace

that he/she might bake in the sun and freeze in the cold. I have lots of (stuffed)

animals and I take good care of them. But my mom thought that it would

be bad luck to take this guy out of the car (long story), so here he sits.

Actually, we don't have that car anymore, so he is in another one.

I'm going to file this entry under, "Rod Serling".

I ordered my fast food last night and totally had my choice of parking

spots as the place was deserted. Awesome. I like that.

I am there for less than five minutes when a van pulls around and parks

right next to me. And I mean RIGHT next to me.

The guy is so close to me that his wife and four kids have to get out of

the van by way of the driver's side door. They can't even exit out of
the passenger door.

I took this picture as I was leaving. I was parked right to the right of

that person's white van (Or should I say HE was parked right to the LEFT
of ME). I blurred portions of the van because it is a business vehicle with phone
numbers on it. Anyway, I find this a very interesting phenomenon.
I just have to wonder what Mr. White Van was thinking about.
...Just another day.

(I took the pictures with my phone so the picture quality = not that good.)

 A few years ago my son gave me this little book for Christmas. It's

called, "The Brady Bunch Guide to Life". And if The Bradys

can't guide us, NOBODY can. Am I right?

The book is full of life's lessons from each episode of their

famous television show. For example, from the episode "Marcia Gets

Creamed", we learned it is best never to work with a

sibling. Is that not true?

And from "Law and Disorder" we found out that nobody likes a pushy

safety monitor. That little Bobby acted like a real little...  I will

hold my tongue.

But most of all, The Brady Bunch taught us that "You can't just stay inside

all day. You gotta get out and get some of those rays....on a sunshine day."

That is totally bitchen.

 They've almost completed this McDonald's remodeling in
an effort to make it a little more attractive for the community....

 ...but before they can even finish, somebody does their thing all over
the building. It's been covered up but it goes all around the place.
What a shame. I know, it's McDonald's, but c'mon.

This is the kind of stuff I remember come election day. Ya know?

 My son took this picture of a tiger when we went to the circus

many years ago. Cool tail.

 I love the smell of Hoppe's (pronounced hop-eez) No. 9 gun cleaning

solvent almost as much as I love the smell of Bath and Body Works

Vanilla Bean Noel. A lot of folks don't like it, but many more do. I've

been using it for more years than I am going to admit to here and

anytime you smell No. 9 in the air, you know that somebody in the

vicinity is taking good care of their firearm.

 I pass by this boulder on my way home. I actually pass by it on my way

away from home too, but I digress. I named this "Brain Rock" because

that's what it looks like to me. I wonder what other folks have named it.

 Another skull. Yeah, I know... But hey...

A few years ago my son gave a Christmas present to me and attached to

it was this little skull. It's small and unlike any others that I have.

 

 Even though I feel I am the only one nerdy enough to be

doing this, I know I can't be.

When I went to Disneyland in Anaheim in 2003 I bought

a box of popcorn. I loves me some Disneyland Orville R. And of course I

folded up the box, stuck it in my purse, brought it home, scanned it, and

now I'm putting it here. I think this is a sickness, or I have no life, or both.

Both is what I would put my money on. But hey, is it not a cool box?

 Damn hippie cactus. Sitting there all smug like.

 "Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

I have all of the last wave of Neca Robocops, unopened. When I saw this

 "Spring Loaded Holster" version Robocop for a good price today, I bought him and

swore to myself that this was one figure that I was going to open and display in

the cabinet with some of my other opened figures. So I did. A rare day for me, indeed.

When some figures are opened the quality may be less than impressive, even

to the point of arms and legs falling off. But this guy is stout and the colors are

very nice. I'm not disappointed in him at all.

 I closed the theater (12:20 AM) again this morning....

 ...when I went to see Texas Chainsaw 3D. Here are my Real 3D

glasses (I forgot to drop them in the bucket... again!) and my tickets. I received

another free movie ticket from Regal Club points accrued. That floats me ship.

I threw my Mezco Toyz Cinema of Fear Tiny Terrors Leatherface figure in the photo

for fun. I did enjoy the movie. The plot twist was worth seeing and now I'm looking

forward to the next installment. Manipulated again! Hoo-rah!

 Not very impressive, is it?

 I took this lousy (and I do mean lousy) picture some years ago in

San Francisco, California. I took it from our hotel room window

on a sightseeing trip. I like that dome. It just looks old and cool.

~ Huell Howser - 1945-2013 ~

My photo today is dedicated to a most awesome guy by the name of

Huell Howser. Mr. Howser died yesterday. He was a guy who had

television shows over the years that would highlight different places in

California. From beaches to mining operations to orange groves to Yosemite to,

well, you name it. If it was in California, Huell has probably been there with his

camera. He was practically a California institution.

 The thing I love about Huell was that he made EVERYTHING more interesting.

I was turned on to many things that I might have just ignored because of Huell's

personality and enthusiasm. Rest in Peace, Huel. You are so totally gonna be missed.

 You make up your own caption, because I
might embarrass myself with this one.

 Seeking a bit of refuge from the heat under a bridge one day, at the

bottom of The Grapevine in Kern County, California.

 Sometimes I feel like this battery operated candle looks. I would like

to have teeth like that. It'd be awesome.

 Tis my birthday again in a few days and I usually go to the mall by
myself just to see if maybe I can find something special that is perhaps
a bit pricey and that I would not normally buy. But unfortunately common
sense wins out and I don't get anything extravagant. Boo. Anyway, while I was
there yesterday I spotted a train ride furnished with exotic fiberglass animals to
delight the passengers, mostly young. But yes, I was delighted too.

This little incident happened at a thrift store I go to on occasion. I didn't

do it. Aren't you glad you didn't do it? I've never had this big of an OOPS

happen to me. I bet it was loud.

This is another one of my favorite things ever. Back in 2003 when

when I went to Disneyland in Anaheim, at the end of the night I

bought this little Snow White ceramic figurine at the Main Street

Emporium. She's seven inches tall. That day was centered around

a family member's milestone and holds great memories.

 

The picture doesn't do the figure justice.

~ Happy New Year 2013 ~