Comic Book Train Part Two...

Hi again!

So I've now completed the 2nd chunk of the Marvel Movies.  I am now officially caught up with the rest of the world!  Now I'll pretty much watch the 3rd chunk with you all as they come out.

Again - I'm sure you've all seen these movies, but in case not:

*SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!*

So first up was IronMan 3.

I dug it!  I seem to really like the IronMan movies.  I'm such a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. and his character is such a charming asshole and so damn funny!  This movie moved right along.  IronMan getting a bit cocky and starting quite the fight.  It was also nice to see his humanity side dealing with the new issue of anxiety attacks.

The main villain is Guy Pearce!  I love him!  He's one of my favorite actors and he does not disappoint!  There is also a bit where Ben Kinglsey (Did you hear me...Ben Freaking Kinglsey!) plays a terrorist, but you find out he's just an actor.  He is fucking HILARIOUS as the hippie version!  I was dying!  So rad to see  Ben Kingsley play a role like that!

Guy Pearce also worked out for that role!  Hot Damn!  I also want to give props to Don Cheadle as the Iron Patriot - he's badass and I think totally underestimated!  He totally kicks ass even when he's not in the suit!  Oh and his line to Aldrich.. "You breathe fire...ok".  Genius.

There's a kid in the movie played by Ty Simkins whose also noteworthy!  The little smartass kid gave RDJ a run for his money.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper has a moment where she's injected with this weird fire shit was AWESOME!

I'm super disappointed that she doesn't stay that way!!!  Ya ya ya, there's the whole you could explode thing - but they seemed to be able to control it if they really wanted to.  So unfortunately that woman badassary is only temporary.

I also loved all the extra little Ironman that were kicking major ass during the big battle.  It seems they could prove super useful but alas RDJ destroys them all to "wipe the slate clean".  Lame.
He also gets the thingie in his chest removed which made me think Ironman was done but I guess it's the suit not necessarily RDJ.  Oh - and mad props to Jarvis.  I love him too even though he's only a voice.

So Ironman 3.  2 thumbs up!!!

Next up was Thor: A Dark World.

Loved loved it!!!!  So it's starting to be pretty apparent that IronMan and Thor are my faves.  I think part of the reason is the level of humor in the movies.  Again I found myself squealing with delight, caught up in the action sequences and reacting loudly at many events.  I seriously wander what I look like when I watch these.

So this flick basically focuses on this evil pale weird looking dude played by Christopher Eccleston.  There's some red gooey stuff that looks a lot like blood that can apparently destroy a bunch of stuff and turn a human into a crazy red powerful thing.  Sort of like the weird fire shit people got injected with in IronMan.  Anywhoo - this one is much more on the fantasy mythical side so when the 9 Realms (I guess worlds) line up a certain way and this red stuff gets out it's gonna be bad.  Like real bad.

The other part of the plot line is Thor's lady Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman just got infected with the stuff so they have to get it out of her.

Kat Denning has a much bigger role in this flick and I really enjoyed her performance.  She's hilariously dry and fun to watch.

We lose Thor's mom who gets killed by evil pale dude and Thor lets Loki loose to help him kill the guy for revenge on his mom and of course stopping the whole red goo will destroy the 9 worlds thing.  He teams up with his rad posse and Loki and they all go against the Kings (Thors dad - whose kind of a dick) and tackle this battle.  Loki dies in the process - a very noble death but then at the end of the movie the King turns into him.  WTF?!  I'm super confused and somewhat annoyed because do some people die and some people pretend die?  I was really stoked to see Loki die this awesome noble death but now he's back?  What?  Sigh.

There's a rad battle between Thor and evil pale dude that starts on earth and with the help of Jane Foster and her team they fight between worlds.  It's kind of awesome and hilarious and confusing at the same time.  One of my favorite moments was when Thor gets on a Subway.  I was dying.

So again - rad battle scenes.  Fun effects.  Lots of action that got me reacting out loud.  Then this ice monster accidentally gets sent into the Earth world and the very last scene of the movie after the credits is this monster tromping through a parking lot chasing birds like a dog.  Seriously the best thing ever.  I was laughing so hard.

Awww puppy!

Also...the world of evil dude is called Svartalfheim.  Um what?  How the hell do you pronounce that?

Also - the introduction of Benicio del Toro as something called The Collector?  What in the actual fuck was that scene?  It was so weird and he was so weird and the really sunburned chick made me think about Galaxy Quest.  I guess this is where you comic book folks know what's going on and us non comic book folks are sitting there like this:

But  - this flick - rad.  Loved it.  I love Thor.  I love the humor.  Awesome!

Ok - just watched Captain America - The Winter Soldier.

I liked this one much more than the 1st Captain America.  Our main dude is still our all American hero but now we go into the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised by something called Hydro.  So basically government corrupting stuff.  I would say the scariest part about this is - um hello - totally real I'm sure.  Our government scares the shit out of me and knowing what they could do...lordy lordy and I'm probably now "flagged" or "marked" for typing this.  But I was probably flagged a long time ago since I'm such a peace loving hippie.  Anyway - Winter Soldier.

So we have the whole trust issue.  I wailed when I thought they killed off Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) but no silly Jami - they can't kill off the coolest mother fucker out there.  Seriously.  I don't think anyone in the world is cooler than Samuel Jackson.

Seriously.  He's the shiz-nit.  His chase/car scene that he ACTUALLY ESCAPED FROM was fucking awesome!

So now we have our team that's going against everything they thought was right.  Nick, Black Widow, Captain and this new superhero they introduce who is totally rad!  Falcon!

I think I finally maybe getting a bit of geek-dom in my blood!  I get really really excited when a new superhero is introduced!!

The battle scenes rule.  Lots of fun explosions and car chases and humanly impossible things being made to look possible!

I'm thrilled The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) actually has more screen time here.  I'm a little disappointed in the lack of bad ass gals.  She is fucking awesome as usual.

I loved the moment that you thought the council woman chick was a badass but it turned out to be Black Widow in disguise.  I kind of wished it really was the council woman...

There's this other gal that's sort of introduced that I like but I'm told she's just a hero, not a super hero.  I thought her name was Kate but I guess it's actually Sharon Carter and she kicked some major ass in this movie.

My favorite part of the movie though is the introduction of our "Winter Soldier" who is - low and behold - Bucky!  Stephen Rogers buddy that we thought fell off a train and died in Captain America 1.  Nope - he's back as a victim of an evil organization (another government?) that brain washed him and turned him into an assassin.  He has flashes of memory so there's hope for him yet, but he's rad and I have a huge crush on him.  He's also the Mad Hatter from Once Upon a Time (There's the Jami Geek showing) and I loved him then!  Now he's this pumped up bad ass villian.  I mean look:

And with makeup!  Hello sexy goth boy!

And of course shirtless...

Seriously.  Hot damn.  Stan Sebastian - call me!

Ok...back on track here.  Our badass little group of course kicks ass and stops the freaky giant air craft carrier thingies from killing millions of people that they've decided should die.  (Um...scary!!!) and have gone their separate ways.  There were a lot of SHIELD folks that were actually still good and not corrupted, so it was a civil war of sorts.  My only questions is - where the hell were the other Avengers?  I mean we had this epic battle of them teaming up together to fight those piranha looking alien things...how come there was no help here?

Our after credits scene gives us a glimpse into Avengers 2 with the introduction of I think it's Quicksilver?  And the witchy chick.  Then we get another sneak peek of Bucky - now sort of good again because his memories are returning (I mean he did save Cap America from drowning) looking at the pic of himself from the past.  So - there's hope for him yet!  And hopefully more to see his yummy-ness!

Captain America 2 - thumbs up!  Totally fun movie!


Guardians of the Galaxy.

Ok - first of all I didn't really see how it tied into the rest, but then I kinda did.  The weird character of Benicio del Toro as The Collector is in this one.  He's still weird as fuck and I don't understand that story line.

Chris Pratt is hot.  I love him.  But who doesn't.

I mean COME ON!

 I dug this one.  It was fun and full of humor which of course I love even more.  I enjoyed how Chris Pratt's character wanted so bad to be "StarLord" and his portrayal of pretty much a kid trying really hard to be cool.  He totally is though!

The story line of Gamora was pretty predictable but I still enjoyed it.  Dave Bautista as Drax was awesome.  I loved how literal he was and how he ended being super noble.  My favorite of course though which is probably most folks favorite was Groot and Rocket.  I want a pet Groot.  Seriously.  He was adorable!

And then he does this rad little light show!

And I actually totally teared up when he was dying and Rocket the Raccoon - a fucking Racoon - is holding his head and telling him not to do it.  I cried.  I seriously cried.

It was really great watching the group of thugs all come together and be the now Guardians of the Galaxy while they fought off the big evil villain guy who looked like an adult emo reject.  I totally cheered when Chris Pratt said "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy Bitch!" 

So yes - the bad guys turned good and conquered dude.  The characters were fun and I was totally on board!

Finally!!!!!  My Avengers #2 came in the mail in my little red Netflix envelope!  FINALLY!

The main unfortunate part for me was trying to remember what had happened in the last one.  I get a bit confused with the different movies and then the Avengers all together.  Why are they not always together.  Like a job?  At one point I text Renee asking "Where's Falcon?"  I couldn't remember if he died or what.  She text back - he was in the Captain America movie...he's not an Avenger yet...but text me when the movie is over.  Ha!  There he was!

So - Avengers 2.  Apparently RDJ and Bruce Banner want to do something with that glowy wand thing that Loki had, to make an uber computer thingie that will be able to protect the world.  Sadly this non science brain girl got a bit lost.  I assume this is where the huge sci-fi folks are getting boners.  I'm sitting there like

The lights battled each other - (Jarvis and this new Ultron thing) and now we have this Ultron villain that's not really a person but kind of is but I don't know.  Best part though - It was James fucking Spader!  I love him!  He is such a quirky cool actor and one of my favorite guys to see play a bad guy.  What was even more awesome was you never saw him you just heard him!  There was a robot thingie there for a bit that had the rad James Spader movements but hearing his voice as the big bad was freaking awesome.  Such a fantastic villain!

I of course enjoyed all the crazy cool battle scenes.  I love how the Avenger work so well as a team!  It's like Captain America hurls the magic shield at Black Widow and she kicks it into an evil robot then Thor whacks his magic hammer at it sending it flying back to the Captain.  I mean talk about teamwork!

I got a bit lost with the romance part....I thought Black Widow and Hackeye were an item - but now she's goo goo for Hulk?  Although I do love that she can un green him.

Kinda cute

And Hawkeye has a whole family?!  That was a trip.

We also get introduced to two other characters.  Quicksilver played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who I love!!!  He's Kickass!!!!  I was seriously waiting for him to run out like this...

And Elizabeth Olson (There's another Olson!?) as Scarlett Witch.

Can I just tell you how excited I am that there is another girl superhero!!???  Now - they of course aren't good guys at 1st, but you learn the story of how their parents were killed by a Stark bomb and they are seeking revenge.  Fair.  They do see the error or their ways and quickly join the good side.  I am curious though to see how witchy gal fairs with RDJ in future episodes.  I was heartbroken when Quicksilver was killed off!  Very nobly though - saving Hawkeye and a little boy.  I'm so bummed though!  Because again - um hottie - and funny - and dammit.

But who knows.  Loki came back.  Maybe he can!  Witchy gal broke my heart too.  I guess they're twins and her reaction when he was killed (she felt it of course) was heart breaking.  So sad.  But she's an Avenger now!

So our heroes aren't fairing too well against this badass James Spader thing and it really looking like they're going to lose when a giant chuck of the earth rises up and is pretty much going to come crashing back down into earth thus destroying it.  No pressure.  Then guess what -

Super Jarvis appears!!!

Again.  I'm a bit confused on what the hell he actually is, but he's pretty bad ass!  It's also Paul Bettany who I love and have been enjoying him as the voice of Jarvis but now he's a dude...thing...whatever.  But hey!!  Neat!

So with the Avengers now having the help of Scarlett Witch and Super Jarvis - oh and Nick Fury pops back up with Maria and crew (Apparently they are rebuilding after the corrupt mess from Avengers 1) they can take out the bad guy.

I'd like to throw props to Maria too.  She's not a superhero but she's pretty bad ass.  Again - girl power!

So all is well.  It looks like the Avengers SHIELD or Hydro or something or other is back on track.  They have a new facility and new Avengers to train!  I just loved the ending when Black Widow and Captain were ready to train the newbies!  Which are Don Cheadle, Super Jarvis, Witchy chick and low and behold - Falcon!

So yay!!!

The secret little surprise ending threw me for a loop.  Some big gold and purple guy was like - "I'll do it myself!"  Huh?  Renee informs me this is Thanos.  Huh?

So I'm officially caught up!  I will now continue to watch the Marvel movies in order with the rest of you all!  I think Antman is next?

I have enjoyed my little journey into the comic world and feel like I can now contribute to some of the convo!  Shall I tackle DC next?  I believe I'm supposed to watch the latest Supermans/Batmans?  Will Suicide Squad be attached to that?  Should I care about the Xmen, Four folks and Green people?  Yikes....getting overwhelmed again.

OMG!!!!  There's so many of them!

Knotts Haunt and showing some support...

Jay treated a big ol group of us to Knotts Haunt this year.  The only downfall - we went on a Saturday.  NEVER AGAIN.  It was the 1st night of the season it was sold out.  35 thousand people!!!!  Lordy.

But of course we still had a blast and are super appreciate to Jay for the treat!

I arrived with this carload:

These bitches

So cute!

We put our name in for dinner at TGIF's.  The rest of the gang arrived shortly after.  This year's crew was Petey, Alex (new this year!), Taylor, The Dormans, Jameson and his lady Keely (also new this year!), Marky, Jay's sister Kim (another newbie), myself and of course Jay.  Super fun group!

We had dinner, got our adorable little Halloween bags from Jay and headed in.  The bonus gift in our bags this year were bracelets or rings that blinked bright red, blue or green.  This came in super handy when we were trying to maneuver through the crowds and not lose each other.

Alex sandwich

 My favorite 2 mazes were the Voodoo one and the Paranormal one.  They were the 1st two we hit.  The Voodoo one had a great Skeleton Key room (We had the key rooms as well as front of line!).  The gal picked one of us - it ended up being Taylor who was "marked".  The actress was wonderful and it was a fun experience.  This was also the only maze I got a scare in!

Marked Taylor

The Paranormal one was super fun and a bit interactive.  You also apparently choose right or left and they're different!  My only disappointment was I would have liked to go back in this one and do the other side, but we never made it back.  Everything else was fine, but I wasn't super impressed this year.  I was really irritated when the later mazes we went on were lack monsters.  It's like the cast went on break and there were no reliefs.  Universal seems to be much more on top of that.  So that was a real bummer and I especially felt bad for the people that had GA and stood in lines that whole time to only get screwed because the monsters were "on break" or something.

The Hanging was hilariously fun and offensive as always.  Although I had no idea who the gal they "hung" was.  We played some games - I of course won!  I got myself a really adorable Muertos Fox then won Jay a round ball like fuzzy bat.  Jameson knocked me off my throne and won a Muertos Owl.  Kim was also a hoot to have with us this time.  She was as screamer!  Loved it!

We had an absolute blast, but the crowds did put a damper on things.  It was difficult to get from point A to point B.  Some of the lines were too long, even with front of line.  We missed the Elvira show.  It was work.  But everyone was in good spirits and we had a great time!  Thank you thank you as always to Jay!!

One of the best parts of the evening was catching up with this girl!

Ex-Roomies!

The next day a family friend holds this really great fundraiser at her Hair Salon.  It's the Jill Foundation.  Barbara started this in memory of a friend and fellow hair stylist and started this organization.  They do this event every year and offer $20 haircuts that all goes to the foundation.  They also have a bunch of raffle prizes and goodies to purchase.  I was planning on getting a cut but we were so tired.  So we swung by and bought some raffle tickets.  Mom won three baskets!  They had a photo booth too so of course -

We're awesome

Then last night I went to another event for an organization called Meoowz Rescue.  They had an event at Chapter One. In Santa Ana.  It was a bingo night and all proceeds went to the rescue!  Um - an event at a yummy restaurant supporting kittens?!  In!

Love this girl!

Not winning cards.  Sigh.

Robin and I had a great time!  We got some delicious appetizers, wine and played Bingo!  All in support of kitties!!  We didn't win though!  Lord I get so competitive!!!!

So busy fun girl I am lately!

Loving every second!

Last Meal Prep for a few weeks...

So we're taking a mini hiatus from Meal Prep since Terri and I just have a bit too much going on the next couple of weeks - but I needed to post about our last prep a couple weeks ago.

Both of us had has late nights the night before but were still up and rearing to go.  Not the best idea.  This was probably one of the hardest preps we've done.  It was hot (STILL!) we were exhausted and Terri had made a bit of a financial error she was worried about.  So -

Terri wanted to give fish another try.  But she had a dry dock place she wanted to purchase the fish.  Not realizing how much fresh halibut apparently costs from a dry dock (Did you people know this?!)  She dropped $67!!  She broke this news to me that morning and I about fell out of the chair.  She went ahead and still bought it.  I blame the shock numbing her.  Here's what $67 of halibut looks like:

Fucking nuts right?!  Terri had picked a recipe and was super nervous about it - I mean who wouldn't be.  You don't want to screw something up you just spent that much money on.  The recipe called for capers which I normally don't care for but was totally willing to eat whatever she wanted to make.  So - this girl - my bestie - did what Terri does best - ROCKED IT!

She studied, read and re-read the recipe.  We prepped pretty much everything else first.  Then she tacked it.  She was quite nervous.  I was no help and just watched in fascination and admiration.

You got this!

Um - let me tell you - the damn fish came out AMAZING!  But, come on, are you surprised?  This girl may have missed her calling as a chef.  She's a great cook and this fish was outstanding!! Even the capers!

So f-ing good!

It flaked perfectly when you took a bite.  I ate my 1st one that night (I just couldn't wait!) then my 2nd one the next day and it was still just as delicious.  The recipe she used you can find here.  Great job T!!!  Sooooo yummy!!!  She won't be dropping that amount of $$$ on fish again, but we've got a damn good recipe!  I was also super stoked to have fish in our prep!

After a very long, frustrating and exhausting hot day we were ready to prep!

Time to separate!

The halibut was the best new dish this week.  We also tried a new Sweet Potato Recipe.  We didn't do rounds, just pieces (we were so tired) but future note - we'd cook it a little longer than it says too.  They would have been better a bit crispy.  All the rest we've done previously - pesto zucchini noodles, boxed couscous, boiled chicken that was shredded with a seasoning, honey garlic chicken, soy sauce green beans and mashed cauliflower.  And of course we're still sticking to our fruit for smoothies and grapes/hard boiled egg snacks.

We'll be back at it in November!

Haunted Hayride 2015...

Haunt number 3 for the season - LA Haunted Hayride!

Only Taylor was able to join from the usual crew, but we also had a new addition - Miss Jody!  I bought her a ticket for her birthday presie this year.  So stoked she could join us!

Jody is here this year!

We got a bit of a later start and hit gnarly traffic so we didn't have time to do dinner beforehand which I usually like to do.  Ah well.  This did land us there much earlier though and we got in line before they actually opened the doors.  I have to say - going early is such a great time to go!  We didn't do VIP or anything, so we were the lowly General Admission peeps.  But getting there early was rad.  We parked right up front and didn't wait really for anything!

Since we were all starving, we hit the Grub Shack the moment they opened the doors.  Jo & Taylor each got sausages which they didn't rave too much about.  I promptly inhaled a hamburger which I'm sure was good but I devoured it.  We also all got ourselves these really nifty metal water bottles!  Only $6!  While we were waiting for food this guy was messing with us and loved Taylor's T-Shirt!

Our friend for the evening

I also got a nice spooky shot of my Hayride Buddies!

Sppooookkkkyyyyy

I was of course still hungry after the burger so I got myself some Pumpkin Fritters - so good!!!!

We then hit up the Hayride!

Waiting in our cage to hop on the Hayride!

Singing decapitated heads

I really liked my new water bottle

The theme this year was The Boogeyman and they did quite well with it I thought.  They were supposed to have stepped it up a bit due to getting a contract with Shark Tank, but I didn't notice much except new scanners for your bracelets.  But it was still cool - I just actually liked previous years better.

They pulled a cover over you as we rode up the hill - I think it was supposed to symbolize being under a bed (Taylor pointed that out).  We stopped at various locations and saw different renditions of the Boogeyman stories from all over the world.  I really enjoyed the one that had these spooky group of dancers.  They were all in formal attire and did a really beautiful dance number, then of course came at us.  Not super scary but the visual of them all standing there as we pulled away was really cool!  There was also a scene that was similar to The Purge.  A bunch of girls in really creepy masks and baseball bats.  Loved the giggles and laughter from the girls.  I also really dug the homage to the Zodiac Killer.  It was actually a little scene watching a young couple get murdered.  This Hayride definitely seemed really fun to be an actor in.  These folks def got to do some acting!  The finale was cool but the strobe light was too distracting.  I wish I could have seen that one better.

After the Hayride they of course guide you through the merch tent where Jody and Taylor stocked up.  I actually really loved the paintings.  It reminded me of one of our Madame Guignols where Mel painted a bunch of Circus stuff.

I wonder if they would notice me running out with this thing

We then hit up the Trick or Treat Experience.  It was really neat!  You went through in really small groups.  Maybe about 5 or 6 of us.  We were told to move to the next door when we hear the doorbell sound.  My only complaint was that the time in between doorbells was a little too fast.  We couldn't get to the next doors quick enough and it sort of messed up some of the scenes, but not too bad!  At each door (We hit maybe 8 of them?) an actor would come out and do a minute or so scene to us.  It was really clever!  One guy just yelled at us to go away, one had a guy stabbing someone in the background, another was a really creepy ghost monster thing beckoning us to come in, another was a drunk lady wanting to give us booze, and many others.  I really dug it!  Very theatrical!

Next up was the Haunted House Maze thing.  Again - this was really theatrical!  You walked in - maybe in a group of 10 or so.  We started out with a spooky lady doing a giant Ouija Board bit.  Jody was given a lantern and we then had to make our way through the maze, stopping periodically for actors to do different scenes.  It reminded me a bit of Delusion.  I'm really enjoying these more theatrical experiences rather then just walking through a maze and having monsters jump out at you.  I was telling my friends I think I would really like to actually work in one of these!  It would be a lot of fun to do more of a play like thing.  Very neat!

We then stopped in the fun little photo area and took a few pictures of course.

Mmmmmm meat grinder

Gross dude

Jody got in trouble

No Blood Drums this year dammit, but they had a really neat house set up.

I believe it did some sort of light show along with the surrounding pumpkins when the Hayride Line got long, but we didn't see it since we went right in.

The creepy carousel was there again, but didn't go backwards like before.  They also had the little theatre folks again having audience re-enact horror movies but we didn't stay for that.

I love all the pumpkins everywhere!

We hit the "In Between" maze on the way out.  I had to leave this maze 2 years ago (didn't even attempt last year) because it's just a dark maze with a constant strobe and it gets me sick.  But I thought maybe this year was different since it was a clown theme and you actually wear a clown mask to go through it.  Nope.  It was the same damn thing.  I tried to just close my eyes and have Taylor guide me through but I was getting really dizzy.  Taylor found an emergency exit and sent me through.  Dammit.  I don't know why strobes bother me so much now.  I can handle it for a second but any longer and I'm out.  Ugh.  So bummer there.  The hay and dirt were also starting to get to me and now I was a Sneezy McSneezerson.  Tip - be prepared to sneeze.  It's quite dusty and of course lots of hay around.  I also recommend wearing pants because you sit in hay for the hayride and it can get itchy.

By the time we headed out it was around 9pm and the lines were huge!  Parking was full and someone was super stoked when I pulled out of a front spot.  So yes - tips to anyone going - get there right when it opens!

We had a great time as always and I really did enjoy the theatrics of this event.  No good scares for me, but Jody is a fun one to go with!  She was shrieking and squealing the whole time.  Loved it!  Props to the Hayride for heading more in a theatrical direction, just get rid of that lame In Between Maze! ha ha!

Yay for Halloweenie Fun!!!!