Thanksgiving Feast!

Hey all!

Well, Thanksgiving is over and I sure, like me, most of you are still feasting on left over turkey, or chicken, or whatever other meat dishes you had prepared.

And, just like every year, I stuffed myself with so much food that it should be enough to keep me fed for the next few months, Ha!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few pictures of my feast, the food and my family.

As you can see, we had quite a spread of food! Besides the huge turkey, there was a large tray of Mac & Cheese, cooked ham, potato salad, dinner rolls and rice. Looking back at it, it was really a lot of food, but I wasn't complaining.

                               What can I say? Good food must be accompanied by good wine!

                                        We are all gathered around the table and ready to feast!

It was a good day, and we all had a good time catching up on all of our endeavors during the past few months. Life is swell when you are enjoying it with family and/or friends.

Christmas and New Years is right around the corner, so I can't imagine what feasts we'll have prepared. But, I know that it'll be good times no matter what!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Until next time!

A Semester's End and Upcoming Holidays

Hey, All,

It's been a while, and I apologize for my absence. This is strange; I'm apologizing to an audience that I don't know even exists. I might as well just apologize to myself for being away from my own blog, Ha!

Anyway, as November comes to an end I find myself trying to put the finishing touches on my last packet of work for grad school. Most of my work is pretty much complete, but I want to work on a few additional stories and annotations that I may want to include. But, I don't know if I will.

That's the struggle of a student who is trying to reach goals that seem to change every day! I'm sure that I'll make a decision soon on what I will complete, but I'll enjoy the ride during that time.

Thanksgiving is two days away and I'm looking forward to the feast that will be prepared. I'm going to try to assist in the preparation, but I don't know what I'll contribute yet. Either way, being with my family and sharing in the good times is all that matters, and of course the food! Once that is over, Christmas and New Years is right around the corner. It feels like a left followed by a right hook :)

Well, that's all for now. First blu ray and game reviews coming soon! So be on the lookout for that.

Until then.

So I'm Getting Published

A few posts ago I mentioned one of my short stories was rejected for an anthology. Well, I had a strange twist of fate this past weekend, and after a two hour email conversation my story was accepted!

It seemed that a few of the accepted contributors pulled their stories due to a controversy and mine became an immediate back up. I was speechless and a little overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events that finally led to my story's acceptance.

To be honest, I'm still reluctant to acknowledge the fact that it happened. I guess this is what all first time author's feel when they finally get their work published. Ironically the title of the anthology where my story will appear is titled First Time Dead. It is an anthology of zombie stories (^_^) written by authors who were never published before. So, we're all newbies!!

I still feel proud to have been included with a group of new talented author's, and I can't wait to read what they have contributed.

Looking back, I remember the editor's comments upon my initial rejection. My story was well received but the the competition was tough and it didn't make the initial cut. I got lucky that's what it balled down to, but my story had something that allowed it to be reconsidered again. Hopefully one day I can find out what that something was.

Since Saturday I've been calm and subdued. I haven't allowed myself to be overcome with unimaginable blind joy and ecstatic fury. Ha Ha! Today I signed and sent in the contract, so it's real!

From what I read, the reception for this anthology was so great that there are two volumes coming out. I don't know which volume my story will be in, but I'll make sure to put it here once I know. Also, I believe the release date for the anthology will be around February of 2011. Again, more details once I find them out.

I don't know what else to say except stay tuned for more news and post topics. DVD/Blu Ray reviews coming soon and who knows what else is right around the corner.

Thanks all around!
Until next post. 

Stuff Coming This Way!!!

Hey all,

I have some great news and ideas to mention! But, I'll mention most of it in later posts, which will be in the next few days.

I needed to get through some other posts before I move into this new stage of posts that will be appearing on my blog. I think this is the most exciting part of having your own blog; it is the freedom to post whatever you want as long as it is within reason.

I will be talking about some of my hobbies and doing DVD/Blu Ray reviews of select movies, and talking about some of my favorite video games!

And, an important piece of news that will have to wait until later in the week.

Other things will follow so stay tuned. This will be a short one.

Until then!

Humans! a Zombie Board Game.

I wanted to post this up after I placed my review of The Walking Dead, but things change and I am now finally putting it up.

Anyway, back a Zombithon I had some friends over and our intention was to spend the day watching movies from my zombie collection. As it turned out one of my friends suggested playing a zombie board game he had seen. It was a great idea to compliment the whole theme of our little (and long overdue) get together.

My friend went down to Forbidden Planet around 14th street in Manhattan to purchase the game, but instead came back with the alternative "Humans!" game. The original game he set out to buy was called (not surprisingly) "Zombies!"

The difference - In "Zombies!" your objective is to kill as many zombies where as in "Humans!" the goal is to infect as many humans.

                            My friends, Dan(left) and Jose(right) as we prepare for massive consumption.

As I mentioned before the goal is to capture ten humans to win the game. The layout is constructed by individual tile pieces. Each player draws a random tile and places it in any way he or she desires. You can have a layout with loops, straights, dead ends, its all up to the player's discretion.

Most of the tiles have building information and how many human characters are present on that tile.

Each player picks a particular type of zombie from five or six different types by drawing a random card. The card has specific details concerning the number of move counts, attack requirements and special moves. During each turn, the players take tiles and determine the layout. The player then tries to capture and infect humans while the other player(s) try to intervene by arming the humans with weapons, changing the placement of humans, adding field effects that alter the game play via cards.

The actual capturing, infecting and even battle damage is determined by meeting certain requirements by dice roll. The game is very intuitive as it takes into account many possible situations and conditions that could happen during a zombie attack. Just battling and taking damage is an adventure that is as random as the dice rolling box cars.

 
This game was truly a lot of fun and very competitive. My friends and I spent a few hours bash talking and plotting out each others downfall! Well, Most of that time was spent familiarizing ourselves with the mechanics and game play, but once that was cleared it was a fun afternoon.

Dan may look like he's eating Reese's pieces, but he is actually counting "do over" chips.

Jose is carefully watching as the playing field takes shape!











Creative minds coming together to out do each other. What a blast! Zombithon was well over due, and I am glad that I finally decided to host it again this year.

                                                       Even Nemesis came by to watch!

There I am deep in concentration before I make my next move. Well not really, I'm just chillin' and watching the game play out!

Yes sir, it was a great day and we had a lot of fun. As always being among good long-time friends is a great way to enjoy a memorable day of jokes, TV shows and games.

Thanks Guys!

Until next time.

Links to actual game play footage below! Go to my Youtube page for more.

Freschetta Pizza!

So I ate a Freschetta Pizza the other day, and I must say that it was quite good. I love pizza, and who doesn't, but I'm usually picky about what kind frozen pizza I eat. I usually tend to stick with a certain brand because they are either cheap or well made.

I'm the type that is willing to try new things once to see if they are worthy of being added to my list of preferred purchasable products, and I must say that it is a new welcomed choice. I have to thank my Sis for introducing me to this frozen delight!

Of course, I still prefer to just buy freshly made slices at the corner pizzeria, but Freschetta does make a nice alternative when you don't want to head or settle for Dominoes.

On the box it says that the crust will rise after it is baked. They are not kidding! When done it was almost twice its own size. I had the pepperoni version, so it had an extra meaty taste.

Total time to bake was about 30 to 40 minutes. It preheated my oven to 400 degrees and placed the medium sized pie in, and after 20 to 25 minutes - presto! It was done.

At first the crust got so thick in the oven that I thought it looked like one of those pasta bread bowls from Dominoes. It's a decent size and the cheese and pepperoni were tasty, so I can't complain. Well, it is hot coming right out of the oven, so give it some time to cool or you'll burn your mouth.

Until next time!

Radiator, Where's the Heat?

This is really a two part rant. Most of you out there know or will know what I'm talking about, but read on anyway! It could provide you with a sense of comfort to know that you are not alone, or at least give you a laugh.

I meant to rant about the lack of heat in my building that happens at night from time to time. Why at night? I can't say. Maybe the super thinks that he'll save money by keeping it off at night?

But why at night? Why not during the day? Does he figure that people don't need heat at night because they are asleep? I don't know. I just think it's really annoying to wake up in the morning to a freezing room. Your whole body is shivering from sleeping in that ice cave and then to walk around like that is frustrating. The bed sheets that you reach for to comfort and warm you are ice cold, and all you can do in the most extreme cases is roll up into the fetal position and try to sleep that way.

Bare with me, I meant to talk about this here a couple of days ago, but I started getting the first symptoms of my cold back then. I wouldn't be surprised if it was because I slept that night in the cold!

                                                                 Ye old heat provider.

Man, I get really angry when things like this happen during the winter. There are times that just want to kick the crap out of that radiator, but I know that it isn't its fault.

But, you know what I hate more than no heat? You guys and gals out there should know what comes next - pretty obvious! IT'S NO "DAMN" HOT WATER!

How can a building not have hot water for its tenants in the morning or during the day? It's unthinkable; it makes me want to scream! This one happens quite often in my building as far as I could tell, and it got to the point that I thought the super was being a real asshole. I just couldn't explain why there were so many times that the hot water would stop running. And, during the winter, it's imperative that we use use hot water.

I don't know about you, but showering in cold water during winter is a definite NO WAY! I have had to resort to jumping into cold water because I had no another alternative. I've boiled water, yes, but when you are running late then you have to bite your tongue and deal with it. AND, I DON"T CARE HOW TOUGH you think you are after that. It's still not fun, or pleasant or a walk in the park.

Okay that's that! Enough of me bitching. Stay tuned because new post materials coming soon!

I Feel a Cold Coming...

In reality I should say that I have a cold. It hit me quite suddenly like a ninja attack from out of the shadows, Ha! Anyway, I had all the symptoms: sneezing, running nose and a light achy throat.

Oh, and did I mention the coughing?

If I didn't, well yeah! I had that too! It was quite a miserable day and a half to say the least. And, I still don't know how I'll wake up tomorrow. Between drinking lots of fluids and taking Nyquil, I have to say that I am surviving this attack on my body.

It is a slow process as most of you know, and it can be very taxing on your patience! Believe me, sneezing every two minutes, and either drying or blowing your nose every time you feel that trickle in you nose -- IS ANNOYING!

And embarrassing.

However, not all is lost. It is quite amazing what you can do when you are running on 50%. Well, actually, there's nothing you can do because you're sick! But, I did try something interesting today. I made ramen soup for dinner. I used the instant ramen noodles from the packets and some creative additives that I had at home to brew my first homemade Ramen dish.

It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was still a courageous attempt! My first try at making a broth for the soup was a disappointment, but luckily the ground beef and Vienna sausages I added gave it an extra filling taste.

I've been experimenting a lot with cooking food this past week; it's a trail and error learning process. Maybe I'll talk a little more about my cooking exploits in another post.

Well, I venture ahead to complete recovery.
Until then - take care of yourself, and don't get sick!   

Columbus Park, Chinatown - NYC

I thought I would put up some pictures that I took when I was in Columbus Park a few weeks ago. NYC's Chinatown is always busy with activity. On the morning that I went, many restaurants and shops were just getting ready to open up for the day.

I was there to meet my Kung Fu teacher and some other students for a day of outdoor extra-curricular practice. In the end, I was the only one there along with my Sifu, but I got a chance to go over a few things. So, it wasn't time wasted!

                                                On my way to Columbus Park, Chinatown.

I think Columbus Park is filled with people at all hours of the day!

I got there at about 9 in the morning, and there were quite a few people there already.

The mid-section of the park is actually divided into two parts.

Here is the soccer field section. The local soccer club kids are here practicing or playing a match.

And, this is the basketball section. Every Sunday morning when I came here to meet up with my other training brothers/sisters this part would be occupied by martial arts practitioners from all backgrounds.

It is a very popular practice location because it is a large wide open area.

                                               A look down Canal street on a bright Sunday.

Well, that's all I have from that day. It was a pleasant morning in Chinatown, and I sent an hour or two wondering around. There's really so much to see around Chinatown, but hardly enough time to see it all because most of the major attractions are in Canal.

Unless you know what you're looking for and know where to find it, you can spend an entire afternoon here and not really find much. But, that's the whole point of exploring!

Until the next post!

Contest and Short Story Submissions

Howdy!

It's been a few days since my last post. I apologize for that. It's been a little busy with life's random acts and situations. You know what I mean; we have to take care of ourselves first before anything else.

Anyway, I submitted a short story to a zombie anthology about two months ago, and I recently received my rejection letter from them. Ahhh. I shot and I missed, Ha! However, it wasn't all bad. From the explanation I received, my entry seemed to be a potential contender, but the stiffer competition forced it out of contention.

A nice piece of criticism from the editor was that he wanted my main character to be "more bad ass". It's true that I wrote about a female lead whose moral sense of obligation during a particular situation forced her to be pro-active; however, it seemed that I should've made her more so.

Either way, I was glad to know that it was well received and a likely candidate.

On to other news, I've been entering AMC's The Walking Dead "Be A Zombie" contest. This is the second week that I have entered, and I hope to win a walk-on role as a zombie on the show. Wish me luck!

This weekend's episode was also really good! Moral/social integrity, the human condition, and inventive forms of zombie camouflage, I love it!

Well, that's it for now, but I'll be back soon!
Until then

The Walking Dead - Afterthoughts

Well, it's been two days since I saw the premier of The Walking Dead. I needed time to readjust myself back into reality, Ha! Anyway, I'll start off by saying that I was very pleased with the presentation of this comic to TV adaptation.

Being a huge fan of the genre, my critical eye was watchful for certain elements that are essential to keep these bad boys in line. So, saying I was pleased, says a lot!

To begin with, I admit (1) that I only read the first issue, and that was only recently; (2) my other pre-view thought was that I had my reservations about this show. On top of that, the previews for this show were everywhere that I was getting annoyed, to the point that I was telling myself, "This had better be good!" And believe me when I say that I wasn't the only one who thought that. My troop who came over to watch it with me, you know who you are!

Now I know that advertising is good, but every five minutes, and on just about every cable channel is too much!

Enough of my negative views.

The Walking Dead started out very much like the comic itself, depicting the journey that Rick Grimes (main character) takes to find his family during the apocalypse. As I mentioned before, since I only read the first issue I knew that there was a lot of character development that I was not aware of. Thankfully, the writers foresaw this and in developing/adapting the comic for TV, added extra moments/scenes of character development to flesh these characters out from the beginning.

What I enjoy the most about zombie movies (serious ones) is the sense of human mental suffering, not just the physical struggle to survive. Psychologically speaking, what is going on in the minds of our heroes as he or she travels north or south in search of safety. The first episode gave us plenty of this element. There were genuine moments where you felt the impact and fear at the visuals that were shown. This is, of course, the handy work of director Frank Darabont who used his visionary creativity to bring this world forward from its simple pages, and make it come alive.

My favorite scene took place the minute Rick entered Atlanta. The swarm that chased and almost killed him was beautifully done. It was the one moment not capture enough in zombie films, the urban aftermath. I even feel that an urban war scene in a zombie movie would be the biggest attention grabber. Just imagine soldiers, tanks, and bombs leveling city blocks as the hordes of undead continue to march forward!

The special make-up effects were another impressive touch, adding to the realistic appeal of the show. The reason why was because legendary SFX artist Greg Nicotero was on board. For Those who don't know, Greg Nicotero worked with another legendary SFX artist - Tom Savini on George Romero's Survival of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and going back to Day of the Dead (original). Greg has an extensive job resume of films he has done SFX for, so check them out in IMDB.

I was excited and curious to see what kind of work Greg was going to do on The Walking Dead. I was really impressed by the legless female zombie in the park!

My friends and I enjoyed the hour and a half premier on Sunday, and look forward to the rest the series. I'm still debating whether or not to read through the comic, or just watch the TV series. In the end, I'll probably just watch the show, and allow myself to be surprised by the journey as it unfolds.

I even entered the contest to win a walk-on roll as a zombie in one of the future episodes! This contest will continue to happen weekly toward the end of each newly aired episode. You know I will enter! So, cross my fingers.

Looking back, I have nothing negative to say about The Walking Dead (TV series). There is enough psychological drama and powerful emotional drive to keep the series appealing for me. So, I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Until next time - shamble onward!