BAJL Day 22: Strange Disneyland Facts

              I am hitting a blogger's block today so I am just going to blog about what I know a lot about, and that is Disney. So here are some interesting facts about Disneyland that hopefully you didn't know before. Hopefully I will have something more substantial to blog about tomorrow. Here we go!

             1.) Cats! Cats! Cats!- there is a sizeable population of feral cats that live inside Disneyland. They were brought in to assist in controlling the rodent population in the park. It must be working as I have seen a few cats roaming the park but never a rat or mouse other than Mickey or Minnie. The cats have been spayed or neutered and immunized and roam freely in the parks. Though they often hide or sleep during the daytime you can often spot them around the backside of the Rivers of America or near Big Thunder Trail. Don't believe me? Below are some photos 

This little one is sleeping next to the train tracks

These two are on the hunt near the Hungry Bear Restaurant

                2.) How you can leave the state of California in under a minute?- simply take the rafts over to Tom Sawyer Island. The Missouri State legislature annexed Tom Sawyer Island in 1956. It was part of a publicity campaign put together by Walt as the Tom Sawyer books take place in the state of Missouri.

                3.) Disney Deaths?- 9 guests and 1 Cast Member have been killed at the park since its opening in 1955. Of those 9 deaths, 7 were caused by the individuals stupidity. The most grisly of the three deaths that were found to be Disney's fault, was the death of a cast member working at the America Sings attraction (which is no longer with us, RIP). The cast member got trapped between a stationary wall and the moving theatre and was crushed to death. Don't believe me? All the incidents have been verified by Snopes at http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.asp


                 4.) Nothing EVER goes to waste- Disneyland is well known for paying homage to former attractions and recycling ideas. Animatronics aren't cheap so when the imagineers went over budget on Splash Mountain they used the leftover animatronics from America Sings to fill up the remainder of the attraction. The most obvious ones are located on the steamboat at the end of the attraction.

                                    Here they are in America Sings
 
                              Here they are in Splash Mountain

               5.) How to stay in Disneyland forever- many people have tried and failed but there are reports of guests scattering ashes of loved ones inside attractions such as The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean. I don't know if any have succeeded in not getting caught but here is a link to prove to you that it has happened and been stopped. Also a video is located below.

 There it is folks! Just a small sampling of the strange and crazy things I know about Disneyland. Hopfully you didn't and I was able to entertain you for a few minutes. Have any Disneyland rumors that you need affirmed or dispelled? Leave them in the comments and I will respond to the best of my knowledge. Have a great day!

 PS- in an earlier post I promised a photo of me in my new glasses once I picked them up. Today I went to pick up my glasses so here is a photo.

  

 

BAJL Day 21: Spoiler Alert! My Thoughts on The Walking Dead

             
              I just finished season 2 on Netflix and I figured I should give the show a review. For those of you who may be living under a rock The Walking Dead is an extremely popular show on AMC that is based on the comic book of the same name. The show centers around a group of people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse but with the main focus being on a character named Rick. Rick is a police officer who gets shot and goes into a coma. Whilst in said coma the zombies overrun the city. Rick wakes up to a completely different world and has to learn to survive. He joins up with his wife and son and the rest of this group of survivors.
              My biggest complaint with this show is that it constantly kicks its viewers in the balls. Here's an example. In the first episode, Rick gets taken in by a father and son who are trying to survive. The boys mother is a "walker", oh that is what they call the zombies. Every night the dad fires a shot to get the walkers to surround his house in hopes that maybe he will be able to summon the courage to shoot his wife and end her suffering. How awful is that? Not a big enough shot to the balls yet? Well how about this: Rick's wife is currently banging his best friend and former parnter on the force, Shane. Which did I mention Shane left Rick for dead in the hospital to escape the zombie onslaught? Still not enough you say? Here comes another one: Rick is riding a horse through the empty streets of downtown Atlanta when he runs into a herd of walkers who chase him and knock him off his horse. Then the walkers proceed to eat the horse and you, the viewer, have to watch it. What kind of sick people would do that? Where exactly in any zombie lore does it say that zombies eat other things besides just humans? Did i miss something? And these things are just in the first season. ( P.S. 6 episodes is not a season AMC!)
              The nut shots only get larger and unbelievably more severe from there. The Walking Dead is the kind of show that has me starting to wonder why I am watching it. I dislike almost all the characters on the show at this point and hate a couple of them.
              Another thing I don't like about the show is that it seems that every episode attempts to lure you into a false sense of security. Almost like they want you to forget that there are zombies on this show so that they can shock you with them. It doesn't work and in fact, is rather annoying to say the least.
              The second season brings more "ball" breaking. A young girl in the group becomes a walker and Rick has to shoot her in the head. Shane shoots a man in the leg so he will get eaten by walkers, giving him time to escape a group of them. Rick's son gets shot in the chest by a deer hunter. (Said deer hunter, Ottis, is who Shane shoots and leaves behind to become walker food) Rick's wife is pregnant, imagine bringing a child into that bleak world. Shane is still obsessed with Rick's wife and is convinced the baby is his. Many people in the group get killed by walkers including Dale, my favorite character on the show up to this point, Rick goes bad and stabs Shane to death, and the big reveal in the season finale is that the walker virus is carried by the living. You don't have to be bit or scratched by a walker to become one.
              The last two episodes in the second season were particularly tough to watch as many people whom I felt were good in the group get eaten by walkers. But if you want to see some serious zombie killing then watch the first twenty minutes of the last episode of season two. There are more zombie kills in that twenty minutes then there have been so far in the entire series. You get to see zombies get shot, stabbed, stomped, run over, burned, bashed, pitchforked, beaten with shovels, and decapitated. All of that is pretty awesome but it comes with some serious loss as some in the group get torn to shreds and eaten alive by the walkers.
              I will continue to watch simply for the few characters on this show that I want to make it out alive. If there is more action like in the season two finale that wouldn't hurt either. It is hard to get invested in these characters since the show is so willing to kill off characters that I thought were vital to the continuation of the plot. At the end of the second season I disliked the main character in the show, is that good tv? I'm not sure. Do you watch The Walking Dead? What are your reactions/opinions of the show so far? Please no season three spoilers, I haven't watched any of those episodes yet.

 
             

BAJL Day 20: Come On Down! My Trip To The Price Is Right

The sign outside the studio entrance. Can you believe the show has been on for 41 years?

              I would first like to preface this post by saying that I did not get called down to contestants row :(  With that said here is my trip report. The day started for my wife and I at 3:30 in the morning. We woke up to shower and get dressed so we would be ready to meet my best bros Michael and Austin at 4:30 AM. This was done in order to miss any morning commute traffic, which we failed to prevent. LA has to be the only place in the world where you can find traffic on the freeway at 4:30 on a Wednesday morning. A little over an hour later we were in Beverly Hills having breakfast at a Norm's Restaurant near the CBS Studios. After our large breakfast we took Beverly Boulevard to the CBS Studios and parked our car next door at The Grove shopping center.



While waiting outside the studio, I snapped this photo as the sun was starting to come up.

               We then took our place at the back of the line that was already forming outside the studio (There were already thirty people in line). At about 8:30 we were let onto the studio lot where we received our name tag and contestant number (mine was 32). We then had to fill out paperwork including our legal name, social security number, and whether or not we had been on any game show in the past ten years. Also, they asked if we knew anybody who worked for CBS as that would make us inelligible to be on the show.

                                                                     How awesome is this?

Took this photo from The Grove

 

               At around 9:30 we were taken to be photographed individually for the producer's of the show to see us and then have a group photo in front of a green screen. The green screen photo was of us pretending that we won something.

Our green screen photo that we stole off their website. Notice the annoying watermark?

            After the photo we waited in another line to be interviewed by one of the show's producers. This is where you really need to turn on your charm and craziness. The producers are looking for people that will do something crazy if they win because that is what the home viewing audience wants. I guess we weren't wild enough since none of us got called down. After the interview process we went to another waiting area. We had to go throught a metal detector and turn in our cell phones so that is why I have no photos of the inside of the actual studio. For those of you that have never been, the studio is SO TINY! It looks so much bigger on television. There are only about 10-12 rows of seats and about 300 people in the audience per taping. Also, I don't think that the studio set has been changed in the last 41 years, there are these super bright colored drapes hanging from the walls accented by light up hippy flowers.

See what I mean? Without the stage lighting the colors look so much worse.

            In between all the games the cameras would shut off and Drew would just interact with the crowd. This was a lot of fun since he is a real pro when it comes to improv comedy and he had some good zingers when he was talking with the audience. Also, he was mocking prrizes that they were giving away on the show and cracking jokes about sponsors of the show which I thought was very odd. Also, there are a lot of people behind the cameras that you don't see. There were about 4 cameramen on stage as well as a stage manager and my favorite, this young kid who would always tell the audience when to applaud and when to yell out bids for contestants on stage to guess.
            I won't give away any of the show other than that but it was exciting to watch. Even though I didn't get called up it was still a ton of fun to be a part of. If you get a chance I would definitely recommend going. The episode will air March 14th and I'm sure I will be plenty visible in crowd shots since I am a giant wearing a purple striped shirt.
            If you are wanting some tips about going to Price Is Right here they are:

1. Stay at a hotel within walking distance of the studio- aside from your ability to get more sleep you can also save on parking (We had to pay 24 bucks).
2. Wear a brightly colored shirt- almost all the people who got called up were wearing brightly colored/ hand made shirts. If you have something written on your shirt it also gives the producer something to ask you about during the interview which means more time for you to show how wild you are.
3. Be enthusiastic the whole time- during the whole process we were all smiles as they have producers placed into the crowd to see who really is worthy of television time.
4. Go early- half of the adventure is the journey so enjoy as much of it as you can
5. If you don't have a hotel nearby DON'T LEAVE- hang out in Hollywood until later in the night. We left before 3:00 PM and it still took over 2 and a half hours to get back to Anaheim. Once again proving my theory that there is never an off-traffic time in LA.

          Well that is it, my experience about going to The Price Is Right. It was a ton of fun and I would deifinitely go again if I had the chance to. Have you ever been to a taping of a televisions show? If so, what was your experience? Let me know in the comments!

BAJL Day 19: You're Welcome Disney

         With the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney  came the announcement of Star Wars Episode 7. I have drawn upon some extended universe literature to create the plot for the new movie.
          The idea was inspired by a comic book, released by Dark Horse Comics, that is part of the extended universe wherein Emperor Palpatine is reborn in a clone trooper. My idea would be that Emperor Palpatine makes a clone of himself to use as protection and then goes into hiding after Darth Vader kills the clone emperor to ensure the further existence of the Sith. This would explain why it was so easy for Vader to kill the emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi. Oh wait, should I have prefaced that with a spoiler alert? Too late!
        So the movie would focus around Leia and Han's kid and maybe Luke's kid as they learn that the Sith still exists and that they must be the ones to end it. This could allow Fisher, Ford, and Hammil to reprise their roles which would make fans happy. I'm thinking that one of the kids could become the new Sith at the end of the movie.
         Not all that thought out, but there it is. I think it would be an interesting storyline that could be pursued through multiple films since Disney has said they want to continue to release Star Wars films. What do you think? Do you have an original idea for the next film? Leave a comment with your answer.

BAJL Day 18: Challenge Accepted! Donuts, Donuts, Donuts

         **The lawers representing The Dork Life blog must insist that noone attempt to recreate the following challenge.** Recently I attempted a rather daunting food challenge. It was to eat a dozen donuts in one sitting, basically my dinner was going to be this box of donuts. Below is a photo of the dozen donuts.
           I thought this would be simple due to the fact that I LOVE DONUTS! I love all types such as old fashioned donuts, cake donuts, jelly filled donuts, creme filled donuts, donut holes, and even buttermilk donuts. My all time favorite are cake doughnuts with white or neon colored icing and sprinkles. This is probably because those are my mom's favorite as well.
            Side tangent but my love of baked goods in general comes from my mother. We would rather have a cinnamon roll then have candy or even ice cream. I love breads, bagels, cakes, cupcakes, rolls, and biscuits because of her. Mmmmmmmmm bagels and shmear!
             Back to the challenge, it began pretty much as I expected, easily. I cruised through donuts 1-6 but around donut 8 I started feeling ill. I wasn't full, it was more like my body couldn't handle any more sugar or fried doughy goodness. I didn't puke but I did feel sick for the rest of the night. However, it did not make me sick enough to stop me from finishing the rest for breakfast the next day, with some help from my wife.
             I would not advise anyone to try this EVER! I will PROBABLY not attempt this again. I make poor choices so you folks don't have to. Have you ever attempted a food challenge? If so, let me know about it by leaving a comment.
           

BAJL Day 17: 5 Movies I Will Be Showing My Son

              I cannot wait for my kid to be old enough to watch movies with me so I can share my favorite childhood films with him. Hopefully he will love them as much as I do.

     1.) Flight of the Navigator- this was probably my favorite movie when I was a child. This movie features terrible 80's acting, a fantastically catchy soundtrack, and Pee-Wee Herman as the voice of an alien. What more can a kid want from a movie?
     2.) The Goonies- I discovered this film later in childhood and it has become probably my favorite movie of all time. I have seen it hundreds of times and have memorized the majority of the dialogue. I have seen it so many times that I now notice bloopers in the film from its poor editing.

     3.) Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure- my dad used to rent this one on a regular basis when my mom would be out at church functions for my sister and I to watch. I love this movie so much. This is Keanu Reeves finest work as an actor. You get to learn history and laugh your butt off at the same time. How awesome is that?

     4.) Pee-Wee's Big Adventure- I don't have this on dvd yet but it is a must see for any kid. This is another one that my dad would watch with my sister and I repeatedly. This is childish humor for dads and sons to share together. "I know you are but what am I?" "And knitting, and knitting, and knitting, and knitting, AND KNITTING!!!"

     5.) Peter Pan- this was my favorite Disney animated movie when I was a kid. I used to dress up like an Indian and dance around the living room. I wanted to be one of the lost boys so badly. I will also be showing the kid Hook because it is also awesome.


     What were your favorite childhood movies? Let me know in the comments.

BAJL Day 15: Practicing For Fatherhood: Learning Patience

         In July of 2012 my then girlfriend, now wife, Alex brought something home that would change my life forever. She had gone out with her girlfriends to see Magic Mike and it was almost one o'clock in the morning when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and there was Alex, holding a kitten. He had been abandoned near the movie theatre and Alex decided to bring him home.
         He was tiny, incredibly underweight, and covered in fleas. We bathed him in the kitchen sink and then wrapped him up in a towel. The next day I had to bathe him again as he still had fleas on his belly. He needed to be bottle fed as he was only a few weeks old at this point. We thought he was a she and named him Minnie. After taking him to the vet and finding he was a boy I got to name him and I chose to call him Louie.
          I have never been a cat person. In fact, I would often chase away stray cats, make fun of people for having cats, and claim that cats don't love their owners. Slowly that little guy got under my skin and into my heart. He is now part of our family. He may not be overly cuddly like a dog is, but he has his moments.
          People say that pets don't really prepare you for a child, but I say nay. Having Louie has taught me that I have a level of patience that I didn't know existed in my psyche. I am not a long-suffering kind of guy. Thanks to my dad's genes, I have an incredibly short temper at this stage in my life and I was afraid of what I was going to do to this cat if he ever crossed me. That was quickly put to the test as he loves to wake me up while sleeping. Those who know me at all know that I wake up ready to punch someone in the face(yes, I am that cranky when I wake up). However, instead of hitting Louie or throwing him off the bed I began to rub his head and ears. Is this my paternal instinct?
          Last night was when I really felt that I will be able to handle being a dad. Louie had just used his litter box but had some doo doo stuck to his foot. He walked out of the litter box and flung it all over the bathroom floor. Instead of getting mad and yelling about it, I simply picked him up off the floor and turned the faucet on to wash his poopy foot. Things were going fine at first but then he flipped out. He thought I was trying to bathe him and fought back. He began trying to climb over my shoulder to get away from the sink. In the process of doing so he scratched up my chest and back, punctured the skin on my back, and one of his claws pierced my nipple. Yet, I still did not get mad despite the facts that I was in pain and my shirt had been ruined with huge punture holes. I dried his foot off with a towel and then cleaned the poop off the floor.
           What had happened to me? My love for this childlike little creature had changed me in a way I had not foreseen. He continues to challenge me and teach me patience. Even as I write this blog on my phone he is all up in my face trying to knock the phone out of my hands.
         For those of you about to say "children are much different than animals" I know that. But, they are kind of similar in that both are unable to feed themselves, you have to clean up their pee and poop, and both want your attention when it is REALLY inconvenient for you. I didn't think that I would be able to deal with my child. Now, I have a little more confidence.
       How has your pet enriched your life? Let me know by leaving a comment.