Just got back from seeing this amazing movie for the first, of which will hopefully, be several times.  I am going to find it difficult to describe just how good this movie was.  I've been describing the overall thought of this as Titanic - we all know what happens at the end without having seen the movie.  In this case, instead of an unsinkable ship sinking, we will watch as the plans to the Death Star are stolen.  Well in a way similar to how I was wowed by Titanic, I was wowed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

I just got done reading a couple reviews to see if other people out there are holding this movie in the same high esteem I am - and wow are the reviews mixed.  My thought is you either have people that are true Star Wars fans - and loved this one-off, or you have some millennial who doesn't really "get" the whole Star Wars story and thinks Ep. VII was a good installment.

The reviews that made me think to throw out my own opinion, essentially had good things to say only about the humor of K-2SO.  Rolling Stone and The Chicago Tribune specifically, both completely missed the mark on their reviews.   Gives me horrible flashbacks to Jar Jar - oh God.  See the movie - see if you think that was really the first and only thing you'd mention if someone asked you about it.  K-2SO added to the movie in ways his predecessors C-3PO and R2-D2 added to their movies.  And that's it - added.  He didn't distract me with forced jokes and quips.  The main story was the prevailing theme throughout and it was ....just amazing!

As I said, for all true Star Wars fans, it was a story we already knew at a high level.  But Garreth Edwards and his crew did an impressive job of taking the basic story and filling in the gaps fantastically.  After the letdown of Ep. VII, I was relived to know that it is actually possible to continue telling the story I loved so much as a kid.  There was no need to force a strong female lead or African American character on the audience..  All the characters were there to tell the Star Wars story - not to make a name for themselves and their acting (in)ability.

 I hate spoiler reviews and it's so new that I don't want to accidentally ruin anything for anyone.  Wait...who am I kidding...no one actually reads this blog.  In any case, should you happen upon this post, and you're someone who truly "gets" Star Wars, GO SEE IT.  You will not be disappointed....PERIOD!

The Force be with you....always.

A message inspired by Sylvester Stallone - Keep Moving Forward

Today is Election Day. An especially historic day to say the least. Keeping my comments above the line, after today we will either see the first female president in the 200+ year history of the country, or we will have thumbed our noses to the establishment. Get out and vote.....and make America great again!

Fall Fest 2016 Zipline Action

Had to do it.

I think what irritates me more than any of the actual substance (or lack thereof) in the first Presidential debate of 2016, is the way a moderator can be so blatantly in favor of one of the two participants.  I decided to write down my thoughts on the subject....my kids would tease me for using the word "write" when I'm typing them on my computer.  Anyway, let's get to the first irritation.  I take the following citations from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/19-wtf-moments-from-the-first-presidential-debate-w442029.  I am not advocating this site - just landed there from a Google search.

On the contents [of] Trump’s tax returns

Clinton: "You've got to ask yourself, why won't he release his tax returns? And I think there may be a couple of reasons. First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he's not as charitable as he claims to be.Third, we don't know all of his business dealings, but we have been told through investigative reporting that he owes about $650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he's paid nothing in federal taxes, because the only years that anybody's ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license, and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax."
Trump: "That makes me smart."
Clinton: "So if he's paid zero, that means zero for troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health. And I think probably he's not all that enthusiastic about having the rest of our country see what the real reasons are, because it must be something really important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide.”

Addressing her points one by one...

1> Who knows.  I can't speculate how rich he is or isn't.  

2> I don't care frankly.  The underlying message I hear from this one is - because he's rich he should be giving a lot to charity.  I mean after all, isn't that what the Dems always push for?  Raise the taxes on the rich - they should pay their fair share?  What exactly is their fair share?  A percent is a percent.  To me that's fair share.  

Assume for a minute we live in a small community on a deserted island and our most valuable natural resource is coconuts.  We use them for food, clothing, hydration, suntan lotion, trading with neighboring islands, all sorts of things.  There are actually plenty of coconuts to go around .... the only problem is that the coconut trees are all on the far side of the island - about 2 miles away.  So several times a week, a bunch of our fellow island dwellers make the arduous trip to the other side of the island to gather coconuts.  Each trip yields only about 4 or 5 coconuts per person.  They sell some of their harvest to the other islanders and thus our economy is formed.

After a few years of this, one particularly smart guy had an idea - rather than make this difficult trip time and time again, only bringing back a few coconuts at a time, he decides to start planting some of the coconuts he gathers.  A few years go by and his idea has blossomed into a nice little coconut farm in his corner of the island and he's producing far more coconuts than any one person can bring back from the other side of the island.  Recognizing the struggle faced by his community to keep up with the demand for coconuts, he sells off a portion of his harvest, at a reasonable cost.  Even after selling some of what he doesn't use, he still finds himself with an ever increasing inventory of coconuts so he decides he can afford to give a few to people who are too sick or too old to gather their own.  

He is applauded by many of his neighbors.  They admire his innovative thought process and they too begin to plant coconuts on their patch of the island.  Unfortunately, some inhabitants get discouraged and cry foul - "it's not fair - why should those people have more coconuts than me!  They should have to share with me.....that's the fair thing to do!"  

And behold - the seeds of democracy are sewn on this hypothetical island.  Can you guess which people will be Democrats and which will be Republicans?  Hillary, and her party, would rather play Robin Hood and simply give to people than inspire people to come up with ideas and work for themselves which, as on the island, leads to a better society as a whole.

OLYMPIC GLORY (Manny Mendes) Performs at the Allentown Fair - 9/2/2016

My previous video was flagged for a copyright violation due to a certain background song that was played during the show.  The video has been trimmed to not contain the song.  All you missed was the diver, Manny Mendes, climbing up the ladder.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS FIREWORKS GRAND FINALE as seen from Coronado Springs -...

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS FIREWORKS as seen from Coronado Springs - 8/23/2016

SEVEN DWARFS MINE TRAIN - "You Lied to Me!" - 8/18/2016 Magic Kingdom Or...

Hockey Fights MS - Bethlehem, PA 2016 - Sunbury's Finest Game 1 victory.

Got off to a good start with a 3-1 victory.  This is the insurance goal we scored late in the 3rd period.

Hockey Fights MS - Bethlehem 2016

Tonight I played my first game with Sunbury's Finest...a team from....Sunbury, PA.  So far they seem like a good group of guys.  We won 3-1 over The Orange Team.  Extra fun for me because JT and Dylan came along to watch.  I got lost in my thoughts when I first looked over and saw them sitting on the bleachers.  I remember when they would be standing there yelling "Hi Daddy!  Hi Daddy!".  That was probably a good 6-7 years ago.  Now they're all grown up - mostly - and it just made me glad to see them there.  Thanks guys, it means more to me than you know right now.

And thanks Diane for taking some videos that I can shamelessly plug.  You can check them out here

Musikfest 2016

Not sure if anyone is even reading this blog anymore (or if anyone EVER read it) but I'm on a YouTube kick lately so I wanted to share out my newest playlist containing some videos from our trip to Musikfest this past Monday night.  We decided to stop and watch one of the street performances, "Her Majesty's Secret Circus".  Without further ado ......