The Word Of Jeff

When Tribune Media Services called a halt to their foray into hyperlocal blogs, the website I posted to was taken down. But I still retained all the document files of my posts, so I’ve collected them here as an archive.

Please keep in mind that there may be references in the posts to photos or graphics that are not present, since I chose to concentrate on retaining the words that were written.

You may also notice an occasional format error, a strangely phrased group of words or even a rare misspelled word. I kept all those mistakes intact because it reminds me that this was my first professional writing and, while I still have a long way to go, I have also come a long way since those first published words.

So take a little trip down memory lane and enjoy!

Previous MAT Archive

January 1, 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am one tired little Man About Town! I was up until the wee hours of this morning bringing in the New Year and then after a breakfast this morning that included a nice big mimosa made from leftover champagne, I’ve spent the day working around the house.

Last night was a lot of fun, but then celebrating usually is enjoyable,lol. We turned on the TV around 11:45 to watch the ball drop in Times Square on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show and I was torn between happiness at seeing Mr. Clark return after his stroke in early December of 2004 that kept him off last year’s show and sadness at how much damage the stroke had done to the man that many once thought must have drank deeply from the fountain of youth. Sometimes he was difficult to understand and his volume would drop, but you have to admire the man for his courage and apparent hard work in rehabilitating himself to be back on the show he’s hosted for 34 years. That said, if he is still alive next New Year’s Eve it would not surprise me to see Ryan Seacrest take over duties for him full-time.

But the BEST thing about the show was getting to see Mariah Carey. Mmmmm Mmmmmm!

Of course, since the show is aired on ABC, we got to see shots of celebrations at Disneyland and our own Disney World. I’ve been out to Disney for many different celebrations, but never for the New Year’s Eve party. I guess I should think about remedying that situation one of these years. Every park has some kind of special observance going on for New Year’s Eve, but it seems that ABC always shows only the fireworks going off above Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom Park. That’s understandable I guess, since the castle is almost as iconic as Mickey when it comes to Disney.

This morning (late morning, actually) I awoke to face a day of work around the house. The 7 foot Christmas tree had to come down, along with the outdoor lights and the decorations scattered through the foyer, living room and dining room. First, though, I needed to do some New Year’s cleaning of the attic as I’ve been piling things up there for a few years and it was time to toss some stuff out before I put all the holiday decorations back up there.

My garbage man is NOT going to be happy this week!

By the time I got finished with everything, it was late this afternoon. I swear, I think next year I’m going to start doing a table-top tree. Too many decorations, lights and ornaments on full-sized trees. But, I have to admit, they sure look nice in the living room and guests seem to like the real tree; the look, the smell, the very presence. Awwww, I’ll probably stick with the live, full-sized tree next year, but a small, table-top one would be SO much easier.

Now I’m finally relaxing and thinking about the coming year. Tomorrow I’ll write about my thoughts on the New Year.

So, how did you spend your first day of the year?

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 2, 2006

The Year Ahead Part I

The New Year brings with it thoughts of things you’re looking forward to, things you might wish for, and personal goals you may have. I’d like to take a few minutes of your time for the next 3 days to talk about my thoughts on the coming year and hopefully you’ll have some you’d like to share in comments below.

Here’s some things I’m looking forward to in the coming year.

Foremost in my mind right now is my trip to Scotland and England the latter part of April and the beginning of May. It’s funny, I’ve known for a few months that I was going, but it wasn’t until the holidays passed that I began to get really excited about going. Now I’m devouring tour books, writing down possible itineraries, surfing travel websites and online forums like mad and worrying about the plane going down in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the darkness of the night. I’m concentrating on visiting historical locations, art museums, little out of the way towns and pubs and every Scottish distillery I can find. The trip will last 16 days, with the majority of those spent in Scotland and the last 3 in London. I’ll be taking tons of photos and making an equal tonnage of notes for various travel articles I’ll be writing. My laptop, camera, mini cassette recorder and walking shoes are all charged up and ready to go…and so am I!

I’m looking forward to some new movies that are being released this year like “V For Vendetta” in March, “The Da Vinci Code” and “X-Men 3″ in May and “Superman Returns” in June. A couple of others have caught my attention (like “Big Momma’s House 2″…NOT!), but these are the movies that I will see this year unless I am incapacitated or die when the flight goes down in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the darkness of the night.

On TV, I’m looking forward to “24″ and “The Shield”. I love those shows. There’s a whole bunch of new books I’m looking forward to coming out this year, but I don’t know why since I still have a sizeable stack of them sitting in my office waiting for me to read.

Last, but certainly not least, is to spend more time this year with family and friends. I have some of each here in Orlando, across the State of Florida, the U.S. and the world, but thankfully none across the galaxy (that I know of), so I just have to find enough time to cover as many here on Earth as I can, unless I die when the flight goes down in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the darkness of the night. Maybe some of them will come here for the funeral and stay in Stately Man About Town Manor while they visit our numerous theme parks.

Well, that’s all the time I have for today. I hope you’ll share what you’re looking forward to in the coming year with the rest of Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Tomorrow; Things I’m wishing for in the coming year, and Thursday; Personal Goals I have for the coming year.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 3, 2006

The Year Ahead Part II

The New Year brings with it thoughts of things you’re looking forward to, things you might wish for, and personal goals you may have. Yesterday I wrote about some things I’ll be looking forward to this year and for the next 2 days I’d like to talk about my thoughts on the coming year and hopefully you’ll have some of your own that you’d like to share in comments below.

Here’s some things I’m wishing for in the coming year.

World peace…now hand me my crown. Oops, wrong fantasy. And I don’t look good in heels.

Seriously, a workable exit from Iraq would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath for that this year. We’re stuck there for a while (“Thank you, Mr. President”) so I’ll wish instead that no more families lose loved ones over there. I’d like to wish for a President who would not lie to his people as the last two have done (though the previous one’s lies at least did not take us into a baseless invasion, but rather dealt with his personal moral lapse), however we’re stuck with this one for well after this year and even if we weren’t, his replacement would be decidedly less honest with us than he has been.

Seeing FEMA overhauled with knowledgeable leadership and a return to it’s previous cabinet level authority before NEXT year’s hurricane season begins and we’re again pummeled by storms across our state and neighboring states is definitely on my wish list.

While we’re on the subject of hurricanes, I’d wish for more environmentally conscious leadership from the White House to the governor’s mansion to city hall. It’s pretty clear from a scientific viewpoint that global warming, if not increasing the number of hurricanes (that’s still up for debate among some), is definitely increasing the strength of the storms that are forming. That’s not even mentioning all the other attendant disastrous consequences of global warming. Here in our state, leadership has suddenly decided after years of blocking offshore drilling that it’s now time to allow oil rigs off our coasts. We’ve also been warned for years that we are not going to have enough fresh water to sustain the population, yet we keep seeing land developed and paved over every day. I guess I’d better add a wish that those experiments in desalinization of salt water work well, because we’re going to be very thirsty or paying a lot for water if they don’t.

Seeing some of the roads around Orlando that have been and still are under construction finally get completed would be nice, so I’d put that on my wish list. I’m not a civil engineer, but I can’t understand why crews do not simply come in and finish one road completely and then move on to the next, rather than having several partially done roads all over the city and county. For about six months there’s been a stretch of Semoran Boulevard where there are three lanes in each direction, yet only one of those three lanes in each direction has been newly paved. The result has been a road where you feel like you’re driving over a washboard, especially if you’re entering Semoran from a side road, because the single paved lane is raised about 2 inches above the remaining lanes and driving across them is a jolt. I’m not quite clear on why only one lane can be paved for so many months while the others cannot, or why it takes years to finish a project.

In my personal life,I’d wish for continued good health of myself and of family and friends. I’d wish that I would continue to grow and learn in all aspects of my life. I’d wish that at the end of this year I would be a better person than I am now.

As I make all these wishes (and more), I’m reminded of something my mother used to say to me when I was a child who would say, “Mommy I wish…” and I would cite something I wanted to get or know or see. When I would say something like that she would reply with, “Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which you get full first.” It took me a few times of hearing it before I understood that wishing was not always enough; that most of the time you have to take some action to make that wish come true. Taking action means getting involved in some manner, regardless of whether its on a global, national, local or personal level. So I make the wishes above knowing that, in order to hope to see them fulfilled I have to take some kind of action.

So, what kind of wishes do you have for the coming year? I hope you’ll take a few moments to share them with Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Tomorrow; Personal Goals I have for the coming year.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 5, 2006

The Year Ahead Part III

The New Year brings with it thoughts of things you’re looking forward to, things you might wish for, and personal goals you may have.
An unusually massive headache accompanied by nausea kept me away yesterday, but I’m ready to finish “The Year Ahead” series today with thoughts on my personal goals. Some have already shared their goals for the coming year in earlier comments and I hope you’ll join us by commenting below about your goals this year.

Here are some of my personal goals for the coming year.

A major goal of mine is to write more (professionally, NOT letters or e-mails to family and friends, sorry guys, lol) this year. I touched on this a bit in the first installment. One definite plan is to do some travel writing on my trip to Scotland and London later this year (got my tickets this morning, woo hoo!) but since I already live in one of the most popular travel destinations of the world (yes, our very own Orlando), I hope to get the opportunity to write some newspaper travel section columns or travel magazine articles before and/or after the trip overseas.

They say that everyone has a story in them and if that’s true I guess I haven’t found mine yet, at least not a fictional story. I see myself doing more non-fictional writing such as web columns, blogs, movie or book reviews and newspaper or magazine articles than I do composing a novel, but who knows…that may happen someday. Just not this year, I don’t think. But I do look forward to doing more and different kinds of writing this year. Which brings me to my next goal…

Better Time Management. My schedule is pretty full. I know it probably doesn’t seem like that if you only know about the part I write here, but those who know all of the wonders of the Man About Town know I stay busy. Still, if I’m going to meet my first goal I’ve got to figure out a will and a way to manage my time better so I can squeeze more of it out of each day. I’ll admit that sometimes I procrastinate, but it’s not always that particular vice that runs me up against deadlines. Sometimes it’s just life itself with all its little surprises that presents those hurdles I occasionally stumble over. That’s one reason I have been aggressively cleaning my attic, house and office; because less clutter engenders better organization and leads to fewer surprises along with better use of time and resources.

I’d like to go to a major comic book convention this year. I’ve been to MegaCon here in Orlando several times but usually just for one day. I’d like to go to DragonCon (Atlanta, GA), San Diego Comic Con (San Diego, CA) or Wizard World Chicago (Chicago, IL) for the entire convention experience; staying in the convention hotel with the headliners and guests, eating in the restaurants and bars with them, attending the seminars and walking the exhibitor’s floor. And of course…writing about the entire experience, perhaps for an online comic book site.

Attending a writer’s conference is another goal of mine this year. Although I’ve taken journalism courses and creative writing classes, I’d like to expand my learning experience by talking and learning from those who are in the field.

Finally, and this one weaves its way through all the others as well as every area of my life, it would be nice to look back at the end of this year (assuming, of course, that I live the entire year) and feel like I became a better person and that I grew in various ways (except physically…unless it’s by adding muscles). Fortunately, I have lots of excellent role models in my life to emulate and learn from.

Well, that’s some of my personal goals for the year ahead. What are some of yours?

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 6, 2006

Orlando Hosts “Fruity Money” Auction

The Florida United Numismatists are holding their 51st annual coin show and convention in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center this weekend. Over 15,000 dealers and collectors from across the country and around the world are attending, and that’s always great news for our local economy.

But the big news at the convention is the auction of “The Del Monte Note”, a legally printed $20 bill from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with a Del Monte Banana sticker affixed to the front with the official seal and serial number printed on top of the sticker. The bill has been identified as being genuine by the BEP and as originating from their Fort Worth, Texas facility.

Heritage Currency Auctions of America (HCAA) will offer the famed “Del Monte Note” in their upcoming “Signature Auction” at the FUN Convention this weekend.

Dustin Johnston, Director of Auctions for HCAA said “This error note really appears to be more of a publicity stunt by a company’s fruity advertising department than it is a coincidence. The error is referred to as a ‘retained obstruction,’ or a note that was printed with a foreign object on the paper. Most obstructions fall off shortly after printing, leaving a blank area of paper missing the design, but errors with objects that ‘stick’ to the note are very rare. Objects seen on other obstruction errors include a Band-Aid, paper fragments, scotch tape, and wood shavings.”

“What makes this note truly special,” Johnston continued, “is the stage of the printing process at which the sticker affixed itself to the note. United States Currency is essentially printed in three stages: the first printing is the back of the note, the second printing provides the face devices, and the third, final printing includes the Treasury Seal and the serial numbers. When this note was printed at the Fort Worth facility of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, it went through first and second printings before the sticker found its way onto the surface. The sticker’s placement is ideal, as it covers part of the second printing details and is overlaid by part of the Treasury Seal and serial number from the third printing.”

Man About Town has been to the BEP facility in our nation’s capital and from the procedures and protocols I observed while there can be reasonably sure that this “error” was in fact done deliberately, especially given the timing and placement in the printing process. Whether it was a worker removing the sticker from the banana in his lunch and affixing it to the bill as it ran through the presses or a Del Monte employee working as a mole in the BEP, this would seem to be no error at all.

Daniel Wishnatsky, a Phoenix currency collector bought the bill during an auction on eBay in 2003 for $10,100 from an Ohio college student who received it during an ATM transaction. Wishnatsky has stated he believes the bill could fetch two to three times his investment during this latest auction, and he is already partially correct.

Online auctioning and bidding has already taken place and was closed at 10pm Thursday evening with a high bid of over $23,000. The floor auction opened at the FUN Convention today and is to be concluded by tomorrow (Saturday). With such high online bids already in place, it would seem likely that the final price will indeed approach or possibly exceed the $30,000 mark.

The FUN Convention continues on Saturday from 10am to 6:30pm and Sunday from 10am to 3pm at the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive in Hall NB of the North Concourse. Admission is free

Since this auction is taking place here in Orlando and in the Sunshine State of Florida, it’s just too bad the sticker isn’t from an orange.

Catch you her next time.

Man About Town

January 7, 2006

OUC Lights Up My Street

Several nights ago I was out in my front driveway after dark, taking the trash out to the curb, when it suddenly got even darker because the streetlight that sits between my home and my neighbor’s home went out in a blink. I placed the trash by the edge of the driveway and began walking back toward the house and the streetlight flared to life, though somewhat diminished in it’s intensity. By the time I reached my front door the light had been extinguished again.

Over the next couple of nights I would observe the light dying to darkness and then flickering back to a dim life. Each time it would go off, the street in front of my house and the street in front of my neighbor’s houses on each side would be plunged into almost total darkness. I worried about someone coming around the nearby corner and, being enveloped in complete darkness, crashing into a vehicle parked on the street, a mailbox, or worse yet a person walking across the street. Even though I have lights in the front and back of my home, I had concerns about less than honest folks using the cover of darkness for criminal deeds. But, as is common in human nature, I kept thinking, “Some one else will call in and report it.”

Except no one did.

So three nights ago I finally decided if it was going to be reported, I would have to be the one to do so.

The utility provider where I live is “The Reliable One”, OUC. The Orlando Utilities Commission was established by the Florida Legislature in 1923 and has been providing electricity and water to customers in and out of the city limits since that time. This utility provider has a rather unique existence, compared to most others. The usual situation in most municipalities is that either a private company, like area competitor Progress Energy, or a city-owned provider will supply needed utilities. OUC is instead a government entity that is NOT owned by the city but is also NOT a private company. For the most part the arrangement has worked well here in Orlando for the past 83 years.

My personal experience has been that OUC’s electric rates have always been lower than other local providers and their customer service has always been the tops. Following Hurricane Charley in 2004, my electricity was back on within 18 hours of my service loss, while family and friends with other providers waited days and sometimes weeks to get their power restored. When a nearby transformer blew one time, OUC had a crew here within 30 minutes and the electricity was back on within an hour.

OUC is also responsible for all the street lights in the city limits. I thought I would check their website to see if they had a way to report problems with streetlights and, lo and behold!, they have a link right on the front page to a form you can submit online to report pesky streetlight outages, breakage or the flickering that mine was doing each night. I entered all the pertinent information and sent my report off into their servers.

The next morning their was an e-mail waiting in my inbox thanking the Man About Town for reporting the problem and promising that a crew would correct the situation within four business days. Tonight, a day and half after their e-mail, my streetlight is repaired; bright, constant and spreading it’s illumination across the street in front of my home.

Thanks, OUC, for lighting up my street.

If you’re an OUC customer, what’s your experience been with them? Good, like mine, or did things not go as smoothly during your situation? I hope you’ll share your experience with the rest of Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town.
January 9, 2006

OIA Remains Top Airport In State

“Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends. The rest aren’t bad people; they’re just acquaintances.” – Jay Leno

Last week Orlando International Airport released figures which showed that it would, for the second year in a row, be the busiest airport in the state of Florida in terms of passengers and the second-busiest in terms of number of flights. Estimates are that OIA will have seen some 33 million passengers pass through its gates during 2005, up from 31.2 million in 2004, the first year that it surpassed Miami International Airport in number of passengers. MIA is still first in the state for number of flight landings and takeoffs, which were 381,306 according to the FAA.

Since Orlando is the number one destination of domestic travelers and a top destination for international travelers, it should come as no surprise that OIA would have the greatest number of passengers coming through it. Obviously, the majority of those numbers are attributable to tourism, so imagine how much those numbers will increase when we expand our local economy beyond the one trick pony of theme parks. We’re well on the way to that change, which I’ll discuss in detail in future posts.

Personally, I enjoy flying into and out of OIA (here’s a great little history of our airport, if you’re not familiar with it) every chance I get. It’s not far from my home, it’s easy to get in and out of, both the main terminal and satellite terminals are modern and easy to navigate and all around service is usually very good.

In fact, I was looking forward to flying out of OIA when I go to Scotland and London in the Spring, but that won’t be happening. Icelandair announced in November that they would be moving their Orlando operation from OIA to Orlando Sanford International Airport starting March 27, 2006. Now I have to travel some 33 miles to SFB instead of getting to leave from nearby OIA. I’m going to be hating that, especially when I return home.

So, as long as people keep coming here to see Mickey, Shamu and the gang at Universal and we continue to move toward broadening our economic and business base, we should see our own Orlando International Airport continue to rank as number one in the state in number of passengers.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 11, 2006

Blog Buffet

Today, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of information. Help yourself to the blog buffet table spread and graze to your heart’s content.

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who stepped down (or, as some would say, was pushed out) on October 1, 2005, was paid $10.1 MILLION in salary and bonus for his last year as head of The Mouse. Current CEO Robert Iger was not far behind with $9.7 MILLION for his former job as company President and Chief Operating Officer. In the meantime, hourly Disney cast members receive minimal raises and watch insurance coverage costs balloon out of their reach. No wonder their drop in morale has been so obvious to longtime guests of the former “Happiest Place On Earth.”

As icing on the cake, Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs was quoted Tuesday at the Citigroup media conference in Phoenix as stating, “Parks had a great holiday season, we actually set a record (in attendance) at Walt Disney World.” Disney routinely declines to release it’s attendance figures, but industry analysts estimate that 16 MILLION people visited the Magic Kingdom last year. Maybe we should just rename it the “BUSIEST Place On Earth.”

An Orlando radio station program director was arrested in Citrus County and charged with computer pornography and child exploitation on Tuesday. Gary Wheeler, the 48 year old married father of two and program director for XL 106.7 who goes by his on-air name of Adam Cook, was arrested after he went to a park in he town of Hernando, Florida to meet with what he thought was a 14 year old female he had been chatting with on the Internet since May of 2005. Instead, he found out all his sex talk had been with a male Citrus County Deputy Sheriff detective. It will be interesting to hear what Doc and Johnny have to say on their morning show, since station owner Clear Channel refused to comment.

He REALLY IS a Superman! Despite some of the strange (to me) aspects of the story they’re planing to tell, I’m still looking forward to and planning to see the Superman Returns movie due out this Summer. But I really do hope they fix this problem by the time the movie is released. It turns out that actor Brandon Roush, who is portraying the Man of Steel, is ummmmm overly endowed and it shows….a LOT!… in those skin tight briefs. Lots of digital air-brushing is supposed to fix it so moviegoer’s eyes don’t end up staring at his crotch.

During 2005, the top 3 consumer complaints made to the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services department were; violations of “Do Not Call” orders (I need to make one of those myself, I still get marketing calls despite my order), Travel and vacation complaints and Price Gouging

CIRCUS. Tomorrow (Thursday) evening I plan to be at the opening of the circus at the T.D. Waterhouse Arena to see the animal rights activists protesting outside the arena. If you see the Man About Town, say “Hi”

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 13, 2006

Animal Rights Activists Protest Orlando Circus

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” – Mahatma Gandhi

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Orlando last night for its opening show at the T.D. Waterhouse Arena. I haven’t been to a circus since my grandfather took me as a child, but Man About Town wasn’t there last night to see the circus, he was there to see the protest.

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) had scheduled a silent vigil for 6pm at the Amelia Street entrance to the Arena, inviting organization members and any interested citizens to participate and asking participants to wear black. ARFF is, according to their website, “…an organization founded on the principle that animals have the right to live their lives free of exploitation, abuse and harm inflicted upon them by society.” It’s also an amusing yet appropriate acronym, given their cause.

I arrived at the Arena 5:50pm, but since I had no intention of paying the newly raised ($8 as of December 5, 2005) parking fee when I wasn’t attending the actual event, I spent a few minutes driving around looking for an off-premises parking spot. Fortunately I found one on East Colonial in front of Lake Dot and took a leisurely walk around the lake and made my way to the Amelia Street entrance.

Approaching the Arena area, I could hear a circus barker with a megaphone inviting kids to stop by his booth to get a free circus coloring book. As I walked up to Amelia Street, I came up behind approximately a dozen protesters, all dressed in black, silent, lined up along Amelia holding signs for pedestrians and those driving by to see. I asked one of them if there was someone I could talk to about the protest and she directed me to a young man behind a table in the grass surrounded by homemade gravestones that detailed the names and death dates of animals that had died under the care of the circus.

Bryan Wilson, Coordinator for ARFF, was kind enough to speak with me, answer all my questions and share the organization’s three-minute video on the portable display worn by one of the protesters. Bryan was NOT the wild-eyed, disheveled proponent I had half-expected to meet, nor were any of the people I observed conducting the silent, peaceful protest. Bryan was articulate, calm, confident and knowledgeable.

ARFF claims a total membership of approximately 4,000. I asked Bryan how many were there last night and he pointed out the dozen or so holding signs and told me several others were out of our sight in the area handing out flyers. I asked if a fair estimate would be 20-25 and he agreed. Frankly, when I was planning to come out to cover the protest, I thought I would see a larger crowd. However, having been a member of several different organizations over the years, I know how hard it is to get lots of people out for an event, especially if it’s a weekday and/or school night.

Bryan shared with me the stories of some of the unfortunate animals, mostly elephants, who are used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, as well as dozens of other circuses across the country. He pointed out how the animals spend all of the time they are not being trained or performing locked up in cages or, in the case of the elephants, chained by the legs in one spot, forced to stand in their own urine, feces and food. The training videos (taken by undercover activists or turned over by former trainers) show horrible, abusive and painful techniques used to force the animals to perform acts that are not natural behavior for them. Elephants do not stand on pedestals in the jungle or pose with a leg up while a beautiful woman sits on their back. Tigers do not jump through hoops of fire in the wild.

It was sad, even for someone who is ambivalent about the subject like I am, to watch creatures of the earth being treated the way these gentle giants were, just to satisfy someone’s idea of entertainment. I mean, sometimes it’s necessary to do product testing on animals before you do human trials, right? And most kids (or adults, for that matter) would never see animals like lions, tigers, elephants or killer whales in person if it weren’t for zoos or places like Sea World, right? On the other hand, I feel sad when I stop and consider that a mighty, noble creature like a killer whale will spend it’s life in what amounts to a giant pool, never swimming free across the vast open waters of earth’s oceans as they were intended to do, with no fetters on their freedom. I’m not for cruelty to animals, I have a dog and a cat that I love, but is even the care and love I give them a benign sort of confinement? Is it the same as a place like Sea World, just on a smaller scale? To what extent do we draw the line, if at all?

I suppose we must each answer that question for ourselves. I’m glad we live in a society where animal rights activists can openly and peacefully protest the mistreatment of animals in a circus. I’m glad they can present their point of view for others to consider. I’m glad that we each have the freedom make a choice. Maybe that same choice should be granted to all life. I don’t know. It does seem wrong that any creature would have to suffer and live the kind of life that organizations like ARFF say circus animals live.

What do you think? Are there gray areas, or is it black and white, cut and dried? Is there a question, or no question at all? I hope you’ll let Orlando know how you feel by leaving a comment below.

Catch you next time.

Man About Town

January 14, 2006

Restaurant Review: Houlihan’s

After leaving the animal rights protest at the T.D. Waterhouse Centre Thursday night, I drove further east on Colonial Drive in order to meet Cindy and Kay for dinner at a place I’ve been wanting to try for a while, Houlihan’s. I arrived before they did (because they were in the nearby Barnes & Noble Bookstore getting a fix for their reading jones) and found the parking lot almost completely filled. I considered that a good omen.

Houlihan’s has been around for about 34 years, the original having opened on Valentine’s Day 1972. There are currently some 75 of their restaurants in 20 states across the country, but only 2 in Orange County and 1 in nearby Osceola County. They serve a wide variety of dishes including burgers, steaks, chicken, fish, sandwiches, salads, appetizers and desserts along with full bar service.

Cindy and Kay arrived and we ordered an appetizer of Spinach Dip With Cheesy Lavosh, a spinach dip served with crisp lavosh pizzette topped with tomatoes, pepper jack cheese and fresh cilantro. It was an excellent combination and far exceeds any spinach dip usually served with tortilla chips or even the various breads I’ve seen accompany the dip.

After scarfing that down in record time, we were ready for our entrees.

Kay had ordered the Mandarin Grilled Chicken – grilled chicken salad with snow peas, red onions, red bell peppers, wonton strips, oven toasted white and black sesame seeds, peanuts, Mandarin oranges in a tangy-sweet peanut dressing. Cindy chose the Stuffed Chicken Breast – stuffed with garlic-herb cream cheese, breaded and baked until golden brown and the cheese is hot and melted. Served with fresh vegetables and Red Bliss mashed potatoes. I opted for the Chicken Finger Platter – chicken tenderloins fried golden and served with honey mustard, french fries and cole slaw.

Even though it was packed in the restaurant, we received our order in fairly quick fashion. Our server, William, provided excellent customer service to us, in spite of being very, very busy. He was funny, helpful, checked on us throughout the meal and was very personable. If all of Houlihan’s servers follow his example, they’ll have a great staff.

Our portions were large enough that none of us could finish our meals and we all had to get our leftovers to go for later snacks or meals. We had not one complaint about the food and if possible, I’m sure we would have eaten all of it while at the table because it was so good. We were just too stuffed to do so.

We visited the Houlihan’s at 2600 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando (between Bumby and Primrose) and there is a location at 9150 International Drive (407.363.0043) and one in Kissimmee at 8520 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway (407.809.0900). I can highly recommend the East Colonial location and plan to return to for more good food in the near future.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 18, 2006

Bob Morris At Orlando Public Library
Many years ago (when I was just a wee fella), I would read Bob Morris’ columns in the Orlando Sentinel and his “Sundays at Bob’s” page in the Sunday edition supplement known as Florida Magazine. His pieces were usually the first thing I would turn to in the paper, even before the comics’ page. Then, in early 1994, he was suddenly gone, a victim of the usual management/worker conflict that insures it will be the worker leaving and not the management. And I missed Bob. I missed his words and I was so mad that he was gone that for about 2 years I refused to read his replacement’s column. I wondered what had happened to him until last May when I read this article.

So, when I heard he was going to be speaking, cooking (yes, cooking), and signing his 2 latest novels at the downtown branch of the Orlando Public Library this past Saturday, I knew I HAD to be there. In the weeks prior to his scheduled appearance, I was talking it up to everyone I knew and it turned out that Kay and Glen were also very interested in seeing and hearing Mr. Morris, so Saturday morning the three of us jumped in the Man About Town-mobile and cruised downtown. We arrived in the lobby of the library at 9:10 (because I wanted to be sure and be there early) and found 2 people already sitting in front of the small stage where he would be speaking. The three of us went our separate ways to look at books throughout the library and then returned at 9:30 to take our seats in the second row.

About 10 minutes later the creator of the Queen Kumquat Sashay, an annual parade that used to be held in Orlando for people who would not be allowed to take part in any “sanctioned” parade, arrived with all the fixin’s for his homemade conch fritters and a box full of books. I heard him before I saw him, talking with library staff about circling the building looking for a parking space because of the street closures that day for the Martin Luther King Day Parade. Whenever I’m meeting a “celebrity” or “famous” person for the first time, I always wonder if they will be arrogant, cool and distant or warm and friendly. Bob is the warm and friendly type. He approached the 20 or so of us already waiting and greeted us, thanked us for coming and engaged us in small talk while he began setting up his portable kitchen for the conch fritter cooking. He was casually dressed in loafers (no socks, of course), comfortable, well-worn jeans, and a long-sleeve button down shirt covered by a long-sleeve pullover sweater.

At 10:00am one of the library staff members took to the small stage and introduced Bob (to a crowd that had grown to about 50) while he was dropping dollops of batter-covered conch into hot oil to fry, probably causing the strangest aroma in the library since Friday night’s homeless population left at closing. As he cooked, Bob talked about his life after the Sentinel and what led him into writing novels instead of newspaper columns and magazine articles.

His first novel (in a loosely planned series that are all based in the Caribbean) “Bahamarama”, was published in November of 2004 and was just released in paperback. The story is a murder mystery involving what will be a recurring character, Zack Chasteen, a former strong safety for the Miami Dolphins who has just served 2 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Chasteen’s plans for a quiet holiday in the Bahamas with his girlfriend are interrupted by murder most foul, Cuban thugs and a mystery he must solve. Dave Barry calls it “Marvelous”, The Miami Herald describes it as “Cinematic” (could there be a movie in the future?) and Florida’s own Carl Hiassen says it’s “sly, smart, cheerfully twisted, and very funny.”

When asked during the question and answer period about how he decided to use the Caribbean as a backdrop, Morris said, “For years I was going to these places for my articles on traveling and I thought there ought to be a way to mine them for fiction.” He added that a lot of what he writes in the novels comes from personal experiences or people on the islands themselves.

“Jamaica Me Dead”, his second novel in the series, was just released in October of 2005 and again features Chasteen as he tries to find out why someone wants to kill the Jamaican owner of Libido, a chain of anything-goes Caribbean resorts. Zack finds himself at odds with the head of Caribbean money-launderers and Jamaican politics. The book jacket proudly proclaims “Suspenseful, laugh out loud funny and with larger-than-life characters, Jamaica Me Dead is Bob Morris at his wicked best.”

While most of the crowd munched on the conch fritters he was passing out (I didn’t because conch just reminds me of a huge oyster, which just reminds me of snot…sorry Bob), Morris explained that his upcoming third novel was supposed to be titled “Cancun Kills” but that he is going with a different story titled “Bermuda Schwartz”, which conjures up all kinds of comic situations. That book is due out in October of this year. He also mentioned that he’s planning on writing a second series based in Florida and featuring a female lead. But don’t worry Zack Chasteen fans, Morris says, “I’ll do the Caribbean series as long as I can think up cool titles and then come up with 80,000 words to go with it.”

That’s classic Bob Morris.

After the talk and conch fritters, we moved up to the library’s new remodeled bookstore on the third floor and I bought both of his current novels, which he was kind enough to make out to “Da Man About Town” and we all got to chat with him for a few more minutes as he signed our books. Glen and Kay bought one of each to share. I’m hoping to start reading “Bahamarama” later this week, leapfrogging it over the stack of books I have waiting to be read.

If you ever get the opportunity to meet Bob Morris, you should definitely do so. I think you’ll find it as enjoyable experience as we did.

Catch you here next time, mon.

Man About Town

January 18, 2006

SCW Wrestling First Strike 2006

Saturday night big time wrestling came to Orlando. Ok, not real big time wrestling, not like WWE or TNA, but wrestling nonetheless so I called Dave and we agreed to go watch the gladiators of the squared circle put in their show.

Southern Championship Wrestling held First Strike 2006 at the American Legion Hall Post number 19 on Lee Road with a full card of action and the added bonus of Living Legend Larry Zbyszko and the First Lady of Wrestling, Missy Hyatt. I arrived before Dave and bought my ticket then went in and saved a seat for him. After Dave arrived we looked around for a couple of friends of ours who used to wrestle, Magnificent Mike Fury and Nasty Nick Justice, but we didn’t see them around.

The matches were pretty good for the most part; moves and timing of a majority of the workers were better than average and most of them looked like they were comfortable in the ring. A common problem for all the guys was the proximity of the drop ceiling to the top rope of the wrestling ring.

Here’s the results of the card:

Green Light District (Jason Sensation and Marcus Money) defeated Jaison Moore and CJ Connors.

SCW Cruiserweight champion “Mr. 630″ Jerrelle Clark defeated Legion “Freakin’” Cage (w/Gina Marie).

Violence Club members Jason Hexx, Ryze and Victor Creed defeated The Freak Foundation (Dagon Briggs and OG Scarface) with Tower.

“The Underground King” Slyck Wagner Brown defeated “The Shooter” Vordell Walker.

“Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko (with Missy Hyatt) defeated Rip Malibu.

SCW Heavyweight champion “Mr. Piledriver” Scott Davis (with his manager “Gorgeous” Gary Garvin) defeated “Independent Sensation” Chasyn Rance.

Overall, it was an enjoyable evening. If you like professional wrestling and get a chance to see a show that SCW puts on, you should take advantage of the opportunity. SCW holds their next show on March 4, 2006 in Debary. Check their web site for updates on the exact location and card.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 23, 2006

Annual FX Show This Weekend
Looks to be a busy weekend for the Man About Town, but then they usually are. O-town has lots of things going on all around town, with something for everyone, but here’s what I’ll be doing.

I’ll start off Friday night at the downtown branch of the Orlando Public Library for the second annual free Travel Forecast presented by the Society of American Travel Writers in connection with the 11th annual Institute for Travel Writing & Photography at 7pm. I attended last year’s event which featured Arthur Frommer and found it enlightening and enjoyable. This year’s guest is Veronica Stoddart, Leisure Travel Editor of USA Today, founding editor of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine and travel editor of Americas magazine. Following her presentation there will be a panel discussion with several faculty members from the Institute for Travel Writing & Photography and if it’s anything like last year, there will be lots and lots of questions from people looking for travel tips and from aspiring travel writers.

Saturday morning I’m picking up Michelle and we’re going to the Florida eXtravaganza, better known as the FX show, being held Friday night, Saturday and Sunday out at the Central Florida Fairgrounds. In addition to more comic books, games and toys than you can shake a lightsaber at, this thing is bursting at the seams with special guests from TV, movies, comic book companies, even professional wrestling!

Without a doubt, the headliners are Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk, both of “Firefly/Serenity” fame, but other guests include actors from the Harry Potter movies, a Happy Days cast reunion, Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, Peter Mayhew who portrayed Chewbaca in the Star Wars’ films and David Carradine, lately of “Kill Bill” fame, along with dozens of other guests.

Oh, “The Hotties” (and these AIN’T donuts, bub) will be there as well.

We might also go to the “FX Rocks” party being held Saturday night at Hard Rock Live, if we’re not completely worn out…and maybe even if we are.

Tickets are priced as follows:

FULL ACCESS PASS (Fri, Sat & Sun) Includes: admission to the Friday night preview, 1 hour early buyer privileges on Saturday (No Early Bird on Sunday) as well as regular hour admission for $35.00.

SATURDAY TWO DAY PASS Includes regular hour admission on both Saturday and Sunday for $20.00.

SATURDAY SINGLE DAY PASS Includes regular hour admission on Saturday only for $14.00.

SUNDAY SINGLE DAY PASS Includes regular hour admission on Sunday only for $8.00.

Free admission to the FX Rocks party at Hard Rock Live is included in the price of each ticket!

Sunday morning I’m going out to the Mouse House with some friends. I might, MIGHT check out Expedition Everest, if I happen to lose my mind between now and then. Ok, seriously it’s not that big of a drop, only 144 feet and the fastest it gets is 65 mph, which is how fast I drive if I’m out for a leisurely ride. If I have time I may swing over to Animal Kingdom and check it out.

So what are your plans for the weekend? If you’re at any of the above events, I hope you’ll look me up.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 24, 2006

Flu Season in Orlando

“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while Nature effects the cure.” – Voltaire

The flu bug seems to really be hitting the Central Florida population hard. When I was at my doctor’s office last week for my physical, the waiting room was full of flu sufferers looking for some relief. My friend Denise was sick from last Thursday until yesterday, and is still recuperating, though she was able to return to her job today after being out since Thursday afternoon. My friend Rebecca got sick yesterday and has barely been able to keep anything down while running a high fever. She missed work today and when I talked to her a few minutes ago she told me she’d be staying home Wednesday as well. My advice to both her and Denise was, “Get completely well before trying to go back to work.”

There’s two reasons I say that:

1. There’s no point in returning to work too quickly and then relapsing and missing even more work because you weren’t completely well enough and needed more rest and recuperation.

2. No one who works with you wants to get sick with what you had, so do them all the courtesy of not returning to work until the “bug” has gotten out of your system so they don’t have to worry about coming down with what you had.

Since I come in contact with lots of different people throughout most of my day, I’m careful to do several things to minimize my chances of contracting a cold or flu or virus from someone else. Some of the things I do are proven and some are not, but they all tend to help me feel that I’m protecting myself, and positive thinking IS one of the factors in staying well.

Here are things I do to stave off colds and flu:
1. Every morning I take a quality multi-vitamin called Mega-Men from GNC. Although I try to make sure I eat well and get enough rest, my schedule doesn’t always permit those luxuries, so I supplement my diet with a multi-vitamin crafted especially for men.

2. Wash my hands often. No less an authority than the Centers for Disease Control recommend hand washing as the single most important thing you can do to prevent illness. I wash mine several times a day when I can. I don’t work them over like a surgeon would before an operation, but I am careful to wash them thoroughly and completely. I then use the paper towel I’ve dried my hands with to open the bathroom door (if I’m in a public washroom) before throwing it into the waste receptacle because I’ve seen too many guys use the bathroom and then just walk out without washing. I used to think this disgusting action was limited to practice by men, but my female friends have informed me that there are plenty of women who also fail to wash before leaving the restroom. If I can’t wash with soap and water, I use Purell hand sanitizer in their place.

3. Use anti-bacterial wipes. I try not to overdo using these things so that the little bacterial bastards won’t mutate into some resistant superbug, but I do like to make use of them to keep surfaces clean that sick people might come into contact with. I don’t know if other grocery stores do this or not because I only shop at Publix, but I really appreciate and make use of the handy containers of anti-bacterial wipes they attach to the walls near the grocery cart corral so you can wipe down the cart handle before using it.

4. Reduce personal stress. This is probably the most difficult for me, but I make a conscious effort to reduce stress in my life for my own emotional well-being and for my body’s well-being. The connection between physical and/or emotional stress and illness is common knowledge, so anything that can be done to bolster the body’s defenses is going to be helpful.

Have you noticed a lot of flu sufferers lately, or have you yourself been one of them? What kinds of things do you do to keep from coming down with the flu or a cold? I hope you’ll share your thoughts with Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 25, 2006

Canines, Carriages & Code Enforcement
Here’s several “tidbits” from around town.
Dogs At Work

Would you work longer hours if you could take your dog to work? How about working for less money in exchange for having Fido curl up at your feet under your desk? According to an online survey conducted by Dogster, an online dog forum, and Simply Hired, a job search engine, two thirds of the respondents said they would be willing to put in more hours if their dog was at work with them, and one third would take a 5 percent cut in pay for that particular job benefit. The article on CNNMoney also stated that applicants looking for a job on Simply Hired could search for dog-friendly employers on the site, but when I went sniffing for a canine-accepting corporation in Orlando I couldn’t find any. Are their any employers here in O-town who will let their employees bring their dog to the office or work site?

ARRF Sues Orlando Over Horse-Drawn Carriages

While we’re on the subject of animals in Orlando, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) filed a lawsuit against the City of Orlando this past Monday charging that the city improperly passed an emergency ordinance that would increase the number of horse-drawn carriage permits issued in the downtown area. ARFF, as you may recall, was in Orlando a couple of weeks ago to protest the treatment of animals at the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus show held at the T.D. Waterhouse Centre. ARFF argues that the horse-drawn carriages are a safety concern, for both the animals and people, and that the horses are subjected to conditions that cause suffering and injuries. Past actions by ARFF have resulted in bans on carriage horses in a number of Florida cities, including Palm Beach, Hollywood, Key West, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Treasure Island, and Panama City Beach. Will Orlando be next?
Seminole County To Remove Illegal Signs

This coming Saturday, between 8am and 1pm, Seminole County Code Enforcement Officers will sweep through Orlando’s county neighbor to the north removing illegal signs. Signs on utility poles will be the focus of the sweep. It would be nice to see Orange County and/or the City of Orlando do the same thing, and perhaps add those cheap signs that seem to be planted in the ground all over the sides of roads to the list. Especially during election season when candidates and their supporters practically smother the grass with signs and then leave them to fall apart in the weather and litter the ground. But we all know THAT will never happen.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 26, 2006

The Mouse Is Roaring

Let’s face it, Disney and Orlando are practically synonymous and have been for over 3 decades, ever since Walt took this sleepy orange grove town and turned it into the number one vacation destination.

So when the Mouse roars, those of us in O-town have little choice but to notice…and Mickey’s been quite boisterous lately. First, early in the week, it was the news that Disney had purchased superstar animation studio Pixar for $7.4 BILLION! That’s a LOT of cheese! But then again, the media giant that Disney has become could well afford it. There’s also been a lot of debate on both sides about how this deal will shake out. Most people who have admired Pixar fear that its freewheeling, creative spirit will be straitjacketed by the Mouse’s corporate constrictions that are only concerned with the bottom line. Others hope that the “thing” that makes Pixar what it is will help restore the sense of wonder that Disney Studios and Theme Parks used to embody. As with most things in life, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Time will tell.

Second, while we’re talking about wonder, this week Cruise Critic revealed that the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder cruise ships were in the top 10 picks in its Cruisers’ Choice Poll for best cruise ships. I took my first (and so far only) cruise on the Disney Magic to the Caribbean a few years back and, though I have no other cruise experiences to compare it to, it was a fantastic experience. My cruise partner and I had an outer cabin with a balcony on the port (or is it starboard? I can never keep them straight, but she loved the sound of the ocean coming through the balcony door) side of the ship, indulged in fabulous meals, were captivated by entertaining stage shows every evening, and appreciated the fact that, even though it was a family cruise, the Magic possessed 3 guest pools and one of them was adults only. That 4 day/3 night cruise was one of the most relaxing “vacations” I have ever had! Here’s how the polling results turned out:

Top 10 Ships Overall

1. Radisson Seven Seas Mariner
2. Disney Magic
3. Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas
4. MSC Opera
5. Norwegian Jewel
6. Tahitian Princess
7. Disney Wonder
8. Sea Princess
9. Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas
10. Celebrity Constellation

I’m looking forward to the day when I can take a longer cruise, perhaps an Alaskan trip since I’ve already done the island one. I think the glaciers would be a magnificent sight to see.

Third, the Mouse announced that, after a conspicuous absence last year, they will be returning with a Super Bowl commercial this year featuring a new “I’m going to Disney World!” star…along with some old ones. And this won’t be the usual on TV only production either. Plans are to project the part of the commercial that features former Super Bowl Superstars (as well as other major sports stars in their respective sports’ championship games) proclaiming their next destination onto the sides of a downtown Detroit skyscraper during the evening hours of the extended Super Bowl weekend. The retrospective portion of the commercial will also feature a sneak peek of the player chosen this year to utter some of the most famous lines of script ever.

So the great and powerful Mouse has quite a bit going on in its house lately. What are your thoughts?

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 28, 2006

Second Annual Travel Forecast

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind” – Seneca

Friday night I went to the Second Annual Travel Forecast presented by the Society of American Travel Writers in connection with the 11th annual Institute for Travel Writing & Photography at the Orlando Public Library Downtown Branch. Since I’m hoping to do some writing about my trip to Scotland in May, I thought it would be helpful to pick up any tidbits of advice that might be offered during the course of the featured speaker’s address and the Institute’s faculty panel Q & A that followed.

The guest speaker was Veronica Stoddart, Leisure Travel Editor of USA Today for the past 7 years, founding editor of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine and travel editor of Americas magazine. Ms. Stoddart began by pointing out that one of the 5 best jobs in travel is the job of travel writer and that the travel and tourism industry is booming, surpassing pre-9/11 levels. Domestic travel is up 3.5 percent and 81 percent of that travel is considered “leisure” travel, as opposed to “business” travel. Unfortunately, international arrivals are down some 6 percent and the United States is now ranked fourth as a destination by world travelers, falling behind France, China and Spain. Passport applications among Americans are up some 25 percent (I’m one of those, since I’m applying for my very first passport for my trip in May) indicating an increase in American interest in traveling abroad, but it may also reflect the recently passed law known as The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. That legislation requires that by January 1, 2008, travelers to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Panama, Mexico and Canada have a passport or other secure, accepted document to enter or re-enter the United States.

Ms. Stoddart also passed on some “Top” ratings in various categories:

Top U.S. Destinations

1. Hawaii
2. Las Vegas
3. Philadelphia
4. Alaska

Top Cities with Most Visitors

1. New York City
2. Orlando
3. Las Vegas
4. Washington, DC

Top International Destinations

1. China (1.8 million U.S. visitors in 2004)
2. India
3. Spain
4. Croatia (known as the “New Riviera”)

Top Bargains

1. Peru
2. Argentina

Top Eco-Tour Destinations

1. Guatemala
2. Panama

Top “Off Beat” Destinations

1. Libya
2. Bulgaria

Top 10 Travel Trends for 2006

1. Luxury Travel
2. Historical & Cultural Trips
3. Wellness Vacations
4. Adventure Travel (becoming safer and “softer” for aging baby boomers)
5. Exotic Travel (Antarctica, Galapagos Islands)
6. Family & Friends Travel (family reunions, multi-generational trips)
7. Celebration Travel (birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette parties, anniversaries)
8. Women Only Travel
9. Cruising (62 new cruise ships built in the past 5 years)
10. Religious Travel (pilgrimages, Holy Land tours)

Following her address, Ms. Stoddart joined the Institute’s faculty on the panel for questions from audience members. Faculty present included Tom Brosnahan, John W Byram, Lee Foster, Herb Hiller, M. Timothy O’Keefe and Bruce Whipperman. All of the faculty members took part in answering a multitude of excellent questions for almost an hour, aided by the moderating of Darlyn Finch, a local writer and, as Herb Hiller put it, “network master” behind Sunscribbles website.

The presentation was excellent; full of pertinent information for both the possible traveler and for the possible travel writer, one of which I will definitely be, and the other I will hopefully be in the near future. I’m also hoping to possibly attend next year’s Institute for Travel Writing & Photography session in order to get the full impact and benefit of the courses. I didn’t attend this year because 1) It snuck up on me by moving up on the calendar, last year it was in May and 2) Can’t really afford it since I’m saving everything I can for the Scotland trip. But as I said, hopefully next year…

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 29, 2006

President’s State of the Union Address Protest Planned

“The State of the Union address was tonight. A little fun fact: Historians say that most presidents have begun their State of the Union address by saying ‘The state of the union is strong.’ … However President Bush started his speech a little differently. He said ‘the State of the Union is strongtastic’ and then he wandered away, but they got him back.” – Conan O’Brien following a previous State of the Union Address

This Tuesday night, January 31st at 9pm Eastern Time, the President of the United States will perform the annual ritual known as the State of the Union Address. I haven’t watched a single one of this president’s 5 previous addresses because I don’t have an hour to waste listening to a man who says he’s a leader lie to the people he is supposed to represent. As the old joke goes, “If his lips are moving, he’s lying.”

I really liked what blogger Mark Evanier wrote in today’s posting,

“…it would be a nice gesture of respect to the country if he announced that he’s going to deliver all the funding that was promised to the states devastated by Hurricane Katrina, if he’d pledge to turn over all the records of Jack Abramoff’s dealings with the White House, if he’d admit that his revamp of the Medicare prescription drug plan has been an utter disaster that needs drastic repair, if he’d forget his silly notion of medical savings plans that will only destroy health care further, if he’d promise that all our troops fighting overseas will immediately get body armor and better medical care, if he’d clearly define what has to be achieved before most of them can be brought home, and if he’d fire everyone in his administration who has proven to be incompetent.”

It would be nice, but it won’t happen so I won’t be watching this one either, opting instead to get the main points of his prevarications distilled in later reports online where they’re not accompanied by his smarmy facial expressions and mangling of words or phrases.

Some folks, though, will be doing more than just ignoring his address, acting instead to loudly protest in gatherings around the country during the broadcast. The World Can’t Wait organization is organizing protests in 64 (so far) cities across the country, including right here in Orlando! In the spirit of the belief that, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend”, WCW is calling on all who oppose this president, “We welcome any individuals and groups who agree that the Bush Regime should be driven out, whatever their political party affiliation or lack thereof. We reach out to people who have been fooled by Bush, and to those who have been most seriously affected by the outrages inflicted by the Bush Regime.”
In large cities and town squares across the country, we will rally one hour before Bush’s address. At 9:00pm, let the world hear us as we symbolically drown out Bush’s lies-bring your own noise-drums, pots and pans, musical instruments-your voice. Let taxi horns blare and church bells ring as we bring out own state of the union message: BUSH STEP DOWN!

The Orlando area rally will be taking place at the corner of Orange Avenue and South Street in front of City Hall at 8pm followed by a march down South Street to the studio location of ABC network’s affiliate WFTV, channel 9, to coincide with the 9pm State of the Union Address. If you’re interested in participating, you can e-mail orlando@worldcantwait.org for more information.

Realistically, WCW’s goal of driving the president out of office is not very likely. But perhaps a vocal and noisy protest will let this administration and any other politicians know that the American people are not accepting of what we’ve put up with over the past 6 years and that they should heed that sea change of dissatisfaction.

And if you absolutely must watch the address, at least do yourself a favor and play the State of the Union Drinking Game during the speech…it will make it so much more bearable.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
January 30, 2006

FX Show In Orlando

This past weekend the FX (Florida eXtravaganza) show was held out at the Florida Fairgrounds on West Colonial Drive. This is the 17th year the show has been held here in Orlando and every year the event is bigger than any of the previous ones. The FX show truly is an extravaganza, combining six different “geeky” areas of interest, Toy & Collectible Show, Comic Book Convention, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fair, Festival ‘O’ Horror, Doll & Bear Expo and Anime & Gaming Events, all in a single weekend of weirdness (though I wouldn’t say that to the two huge tattooed and leather-clad bikers I saw discussing the re-sale possibilities of a beanie baby).

I picked Michelle up at 9:15 Saturday morning and we were off to the show, thinking that since she only lives about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds we would be early for the 10am opening. We failed to take into consideration that half of Florida (it seemed) was jammed up around the entrance to the parking lot. This event draws BIG! But the line for tickets moved fairly quick and soon we were inside.

The Exposition Halls at the fairgrounds are like huge warehouses, and it seemed that every available space was either filled with exhibitors or with people trying to get to the exhibitor’s booths. The place was packed with the widest variety of collectible product and collecting people possible. There were comic books, toys, autographed photos, DVD’s, vintage metal character lunch boxes, 50 year old LIFE magazines, 40 year old TV GUIDES, old movie posters, science fiction memorabilia, die cast models, old model making kits, unopened collectible PEZ dispensers, T-shirts, capes, gaming daggers, swords & shields, baseball cards and much, much more, as well as guests from the fields of TV, movies, books and comic books signing autographs.

We made an initial lap around the perimeter and then through the rows and aisles in the middle, looking over the wares of each exhibitor and pausing at the ones that were of particular interest to us individually (I REALLY wanted the life-sized Underdog statue) before walking back through the entire exhibit hall again so I could pick up a few items and we both could get pictures of the various guests in attendance.

Below are some of the pictures of guests that I was able to get:

Michelle and I were standing near the are where two of the actors from the Harry Potter movies were going to be signing when all of the sudden the girls in line started screaming. We turned around to see Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) and Devon Murray (Harry Potter’s fellow Gryffindor ‘Seamus Finnegan’ in all four current “Harry Potter” films) being led in by their handlers. No offense to Devon, but it was obvious the girls were exercising their vocal chords for Stanislav.

George Romero’s signing area was near the entrance when we came in. Romero is, of course, best known for “Night of the Living Dead” (and the sequels) though his career is still in full swing as he is currently in pre-production for film adaptations of the Steven King novels “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” and “From a Buick 8.” Michelle happened to be standing nearby when a fan handed Romero a pirated DVD of one of his movies to autograph and heard Romero give the fan a quiet, polite yet forceful tongue-lashing about the audacity of bringing him a pirated version of his movie to autograph.

Here is David Carradine as he caps his pen after signing a fan’s sword. Yes, sword. Most recently known for his role as “Bill” in “Kill Bill: Vol 1″ and “Kill Bill: Vol 2″ as well as the television show “Kung Fu,” in which he played ‘Kwai Chang Caine’ in 1972, Carradine did not seem to be quite awake during the time I saw him, though he was friendly and polite.

Most people would not recognize this gentleman, even if they had seen all four of the “Star Wars” movies he was in. That’s because Peter Mayhew portrayed Chewbaca the Wookie, a hair-covered character with a slight resemblance to Bigfoot. Mayhew in person reminded me of an even taller version of Howard Stern.

Without a doubt, this woman could kick your butt! Cynthia Rothrock is known as the “Queen of Martial Arts films” and with good reason. She has appeared in over 30 domestic and international “action” movies, and he action isn’t acting. From 1981-1985 she was the undefeated World Karate Champion in both Kata and weapons competition, beating both men and women for the title, and is one of only a very select few to be inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame. Getting beat up by a woman this beautiful isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

From the beauty above to this “beast”, Sid Haig is one of the best bad guys in the business of TV and movies. Haig made his film debut 46 years ago in 1960 and has since been in numerous TV roles and appeared in movies as “Hays” in “Foxy Brown,” “Judge” in “Jackie Brown” and “Jay” in “Kill Bill: Volume 2.” His most well-known role is that of “Captain Spaulding” in the film “House of 1000 Corpses” and again in “The Devil’s Rejects.” He’s a baaaaaaadddddd man!

Of course the big draw, especially for Michelle, was the appearance of Alan Tudyk and Summer Glau, co-stars of the “Firefly” TV series and the film version “Serenity” which we saw together with Rhonda a few months ago. Michelle is a huge fan. I am too, but there are degrees of fanaticism and Michelle’s exceeds mine in this area. She is not alone, as the lines to get autographs from these two were exceptionally long and the entire area where they were sitting was crowded with fans. Organizers were forced to put up hastily erected makeshift walls and station extra staff members for security to maintain order. Summer is even cuter in person than she is on the screen (I’m sure the ladies were saying the same thing about Alan) and both were friendly and accommodating to all the fans.

There was also a “Happy Days” reunion with Erin Moran, Donny Most, Anson Williams and Cindy Williams; from “Three’s Company, Priscilla Barnes and Joyce DeWitt; from “Family Affair”, Kathy Garver and Johnnie Whitaker (though I found it odd that, despite being on the same TV series, they were seated in totally separate areas, while all the other “same show” guests sat next to each other. Is there some dirt to be dished on their relationship?); Robert Englund from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies and the “V” TV series; Jimmy “The Mouth of the South” Hart of pro wrestling fame; and Jerry Robinson, creator of Robin the Boy Wonder, The Joker and others as well as being a comic book legend.

If you missed this year’s show you should make plans now for next January’s event. And if you can’t wait, well there’s always next months upcoming MegaCon, which I’ll be at also.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

January 31, 2006

Park Wars – Revenge of the Seuss

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” – Walt Disney

In the battles of the theme parks that we in Orlando get to observe in close-up every day, Universal Orlando just delivered a kick in the teeth to their major competitor, Walt Disney World. In a promotion that went “live” this past Monday, Universal Orlando is offering one kid’s ticket (3-9) FREE for every 2-Day/2-Park Adult ticket purchased online at the regular price of $99.95 plus tax. Plus, ticket buyers will also receive 3 additional days of admission FREE! A family of 2 adults and 2 children under 9 years of age can enjoy 5 days admission to both parks for about $200, or about $10 each for the 4 of them per day. Try doing that at Disney World!

In fact, that kick may actually be placed just a little bit lower. Children are Disney’s bread and butter guest, especially at the Magic Kingdom, where the entire experience is geared to children in that age bracket. Disney has built its brand on children’s entertainment and catered to that particular demographic because they know children have a great deal of influence in where mom and dad go for vacation. But if mom and dad are sitting down and working out the family vacation budget and see that they can save a great deal of money with this deal, then Universal may have more accurately delivered a kick right between Mickey’s little hairy rodent legs.

Last year Disney marketing conceived of a brand new ticket pricing structure that was designed with one goal in mind; keep the guest on property and in Disney parks for all, or at least the majority, of the guest’s stay in Orlando. Yes, the pricing offered a good deal, in particular to those who purchased multi-day passes, but the main point of that pricing promotion was to keep people at the Mouse House and discourage them from going to any other theme parks or attractions in the area. It was, by all professional accounts, an excellent and well-thought out strategy that apparently worked out well since Disney’s four Orlando-area theme parks saw attendance rise by 5 percent to 6.5 percent last year.

But now, Universal may have rendered that pricing structure obsolete by offering parents a way to please their kids (Universal, while not centered on attractions for that age group DOES have attractions that appeal to kids that age) and save on their vacation costs at the same time. In addition, parents in the age bracket that would normally have children in that target age group are usually more interested in the other types of entertainment that Universal offers, as opposed to the ones at Disney. It’s pretty well known that Universal is an “edgier” brand of entertainment than that of Disney’s vaunted “family” brand.

So, what do you think? Does Universal’s offer hold more appeal than a Disney visit, under this pricing structure? If you have children in the targeted age bracket, will you be more inclined to save the money and go to Universal? I hope you’ll share your thoughts with Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

February 5, 2006

The Doctor Is In
Hot, cold. Hot, cold. Hot, colder. The weather in the central Florida area lately has been crazy. I’m not a doctor and don’t even play one on TV, but I wonder if the wild temperature/humidity swings contribute in any way to the rampant rise in colds and or flu cases in Orlando and surrounding communities. Any practicing physicians who want to chime in and verify or debunk that question are welcome to do so.

Anyway, whenever I have a few free moments, I’ve been working on my itinerary for the Scotland trip in May. Weather will be comparable to our recent cold/cool temperatures and I’m told, will be very windy, so I guess I can look at our weather as “in training” conditions for my trip. Brrrr!

Speaking of the Scotland trip; I’ve been looking into ways to share the trip as it takes place with both photos and words, as well as possibly an online calendar, to allow friends and family to keep track of where I am, what I’m doing and when I’m doing it. I could use my Flickr account to share pictures, but I’d prefer to leave that exclusively for Man About Town pictures dealing with Orlando (and I desperately need to add a LOT of pictures I have to that album). I could also just open a new Flickr account for the trip, but I’ve been looking at some other services as well including PhotoSite (I don’t care for their album templates), OurPictures (not enough uploads allowable on the free version), HeyPix (which has been closed to new registrations since last April while they upgrade) and WebShots. I could also start a separate trip blog at Blogger and use Picasa (both of which are components of Google) to upload photos directly into the Blogger blog, which would combine at least two of the parts I’m looking for into one. For the calendaring, I’ve been thinking of using Yahoo’s Calendar.

If anyone has suggestions of good services/applications they could recommend, I’d love to hear about them.

On a completely different subject, the last place I would want to be is in the hospital. I’ve never liked being in them, even just to visit some other poor soul who is trapped inside due to illness or surgery. BUT, if I were going to HAVE to be a patient in a hospital, I’d want it to be Florida Hospital Celebration Health where all patients will have Internet access as well as being able to check e-mail and set up their own personal care page during their stay. I love how computing and web technology have permeated our everyday lives.

This week will pretty busy with not one but two sneak preview movies to view and a travel writing class, so far, to attend. Tentative plans will fill the rest of the days and nights this week, but right now I’m holding Saturday open as a “do nothing” day just for mental health reasons. We’ll see if it remains empty or not.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 6, 2006

Orange County Community Bike Festival

“Hi, my name is Man About Town, and I’m a biker slacker.”

“Hi Man About Town.”

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem. I have a perfectly good bicycle hanging in my storage shed and I have not ridden that bike in about 2 years. There, I feel better already.

I have been ragging on myself for a while now to get the bike out of the shed and ride it around the neighborhood, but I haven’t done it yet. I tell myself I especially need to ride it NOW, to get my legs in good enough shape to trek across the hills and mountains of Scotland. Yet still it hangs in the shed.

But I may have found a way to kickstart myself back into riding.

On Saturday, February 18th Orange County and the Orange County Parks & Recreation Department will hold the inaugural Orange County Community Bike Festival at Downey Park from 10am until 3pm. The festival will promote bike safety and bicycling as a healthy lifestyle and form of exercise, as well as featuring FREE food, fun activities and interactive programs throughout the day.

Here’s a list of the special activities, exhibitions and programs being held:
Free T-shirts for the first 500 attendees and hundreds of other give-a-ways

Pro-BMX rider and X-Games gold medalist Allan Cooke will give a BMX demonstration

Raffle prizes: Walt Disney World theme park tickets, Universal Studios theme park tickets, Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill gift cards, and many more

Bicycle Rodeo for elementary and middle school-aged children sponsored by the Florida Bicycle Association and Children’s Safety Village

Adult Bike Excellence program sponsored by MetroPlan Orlando

Juried Bicycle Fine Art Show

Antique Bicycle show

Bicycle Decorating Contest for kids

Story telling and songs sponsored by Orange County Library System

History of Bikes in Central Florida exhibit sponsored by Orange County History Center

Bike Tact Unit demonstration provided by Orange County Sheriff’s office

Orange County’s “the Club” membership/give-a-ways

Orange County Department of Health

Kiddie Korner: bounce house, clown, children’s bike decorating contest
The Community Bike Festival is FREE and Downey Park is located at 10107 Flowers Avenue (corner of E. Colonial Drive and Dean Road) in Union Park. Bring your own bike down and have fun, enjoy some food and take part in the festivities centered around the healthy lifestyle of bicycling.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

February 7, 2006

Sneak Preview – “Imagine Me & You”

When is a “Sneak Preview” NOT a “Sneak Preview”? When it’s been out in limited release, and your area is not one of the limited release areas. That’s the case with “Imagine Me & You”, which was released in Canada at the Toronto Film Festival in September of last year and had a limited release in the U.S. on January 27th of this year.

But for the Orlando area this was indeed a sneak preview as we were not included in the limited release. Sometimes it seems we NEVER are and that probably owes to our lack of any real cultural and arts depth in our fair city, but that’s a subject for another time.

I purposely avoided doing any checking on this movie beforehand, so all that my companion for the evening, Amber, and I knew was that it was billed as a “romantic comedy.” There are times when I find it preferable to view a movie “cold”, with no preconceived ideas or impressions about the story or performers, and this sneak preview afforded the opportunity to do just that for this movie.

Amber and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and arrived at the Premiere Cinema in Fashion Square Mall about 45 minutes before the show time. The line was not really too bad and in fact there were only about 30 people in front of us. Within a couple of minutes management opened the doors to the theater and we found ourselves a couple of decent seats, chatting until the movie began. We got off to a bad start when the movie started and the film immediately twisted in the projector and they had to shut the projector down and re-thread the film. It was a harbinger of further projector ills.

“Imagine You & Me” is indeed a romantic comedy, but with a twist. I don’t feel bad revealing the twist because (1) it’s revealed in the first 5 minutes of the movie and (2) as I discovered in researching the movie afterward, it’s revealed on the movie’s poster. Suffice it to say this is not your father’s (or your mother’s) romantic comedy. It’s the story of a girl named Rachel (Piper Perabo) who is getting married to her long-time fiancée Heck (Matthew Goode). At the wedding ceremony, Rachel locks eyes with the florist who supplied the flowers for the wedding Luce (Lena Headey) and finds she has just experienced love at first sight. The remainder of the movie is spent dealing with that startling revelation in funny, touching and sometimes poignant ways.

Overall, I liked the movie and found it to be enjoyable. I seem to have a weak spot for British romantic comedies, though I have to admit it usually takes me 5 to 10 minutes to get used to their accents enough that I can understand what the heck they are saying. Regardless of my own shortcomings in that respect, each of the actors and actresses gave solid performances of the script which was, in my opinion, very realistic in it’s handling of the subject matter and its portrayal of how people within that kind of situation would react.

That said, there were also plenty of what now seem to be the requisite “cliché” characters; the outwardly goofy yet inwardly strong father, the harpie-like wife/mother, the cute-kid little sister and the devil-may-care yet intensely loyal best friend. Of these four, newcomer Boo Jackson is the standout as Rachel’s ever-inquisitive but loving kid sister “H”. I wish they had done more with her, but there is only so much screen time available.

Now, remember that harbinger I mentioned above? The movie progressed along fine with no other glitches until just as the climactic, happy reunion and kiss was taking place. Then, the film broke completely and we were faced with a blank screen. No one was really upset (though I did stand up, faced the projection window and loudly called out “You’re a bunch of wankers!”, which drew a lot of laughs) because we all thought we’d just miss the credits. It turns out there was a whole “Where are they now” section showing how each character’s life progressed, which we missed. That section might have helped with a few questions I had about things that just seemed to have been dropped in the main part of the movie.

Amber and I agreed it was a fun, cute, entertaining 90 minutes of movie; not one we would necessarily want to spend a full ticket price to see, but certainly worth a matinee ticket or a $3.99 PPV on cable. I’m wondering if the studio knows that as well, because I can’t find it opening within 50 miles of Orlando over the next 10 days.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

February 9, 2006

Florida Hazardous Weather Awareness Week

If there’s one thing we know about in Orlando and Central Florida, especially after 2004 and considering that we are the lightning capitol of the United States, it’s hazardous weather. Next week, from February 12th through the 18th is Florida Hazardous Weather Awareness Week, with special public emphasis on separate hazards during each Monday-Friday weekday. The week of awareness is designed to inform residents and visitors about the risks of local hazardous weather and to provide preparedness tips. From sudden storms and lightning to wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes, it’s vital that citizens be prepared for power outages, downed trees and damage to homes, businesses and roadways.

Here’s a list of which hazardous weather occurrence will be in the spotlight on each day of the week:

Monday, February 13, 2006 – Lightning

As mentioned above, our state is the lightning capitol of the United States. Since recording keeping began in 1959, Florida has averaged 47 lightning related injuries per year and 9 deaths from lightning strikes. Here are some hints to help you avoid becoming one of those statistics:

Avoid open high ground and isolated large trees.

Avoid water (swimming pools, lakes and rivers), beaches and boats.

Seek shelter inside a building or an automobile, but not a convertible or a golf cart.

Stay away from doors, windows, and metal objects such as pipes or faucets.

Stay off the telephone and away from electrical devices.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 – Marine Hazards and Rip Currents

With water on three sides of our state and innumerable lakes, rivers and inland waterways, Florida is a boater’s paradise. But danger lurks below the surface (and sometimes above) of those bodies of water that a little preparedness will help to mitigate. More than a dozen boating deaths or injuries have been caused by Florida weather in the last three years. Check this day out to become aware of what steps can be taken to be safe while boating.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 – Tornadoes and Thunderstorms Statewide Tornado Drill

In the Sunshine State, tornadoes strike all too often and can be extremely devastating. Preparation and practice can add to tornado safety. In that spirit, there will be a Statewide Tornado Drill on Wednesday morning at approximately 9:10 a.m., when the national weather service will issue and practice a tornado warning. The warning will be broadcast on NOAA weather radio as a “weekly test” message. By 9:30 a.m., an all clear message will be issued. All schools (public and private), businesses and residents are encouraged to participate in order to practice and plan for severe weather.

NOTE: If actual severe weather threatens Florida, the drill will be postponed until Friday, February 17th.
Thursday, February 16, 2006 – Hurricanes and Flooding

In just 3 ½ short months, the 2006 Hurricane Season will officially begin. Forecasts are for warmer Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico waters, resulting in greater numbers of storms that are larger in size and stronger in force. Odds are that global warming contributes to the rising water temperature, but you’ll never get the Bush Administration to acknowledge that probability. We also get copious amounts of rainfall throughout the late spring and into the summer, resulting in flooding throughout the area. Now is the time to begin preparing, so check out this day for lots of tips and ideas about getting ready for our annual inundation, both from the skies and from the oceans.

Friday, February 17, 2006 – Temperature Extremes and Wildfires

Florida’s nickname is The Sunshine State and it’s an appropriate one given our abundance of warm temperatures and almost constant sunshine. But there are times when those temperatures are dangerously hot, causing problems as minor as sunburn or as serious as sunstroke and dehydration. Conversely, as we’ve seen the past few days, Florida can also experience extremely cold and even freezing temperatures, especially here in the central and interior areas of the state. Lower humidity and scarcity of rainfall also make us susceptible to danger from wildfires. Be aware of these dangers on Friday and look into utilizing the suggestions given to help make it easier to deal with temperature extremes and wildfire dangers.

Florida Hazardous Weather Awareness Week is your opportunity to plan, prepare and practice so you’ll be ready to deal with whatever Mother Nature sends our way. If could save your life or the life of a loved one.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

February 10, 2006

Sneak Preview – “Firewall”

“I’m going to find my dog!” – Harrison Ford’s character Jack Stanfield

That quote above, though not on the level of (say it with a heavy Austrian accent for me) “I’ll be back!” is my favorite line from Harrison Ford’s latest movie, “Firewall” which opens nationwide today. Michelle was kind enough to invite me along to see the sneak preview with her this past Tuesday night.

We arrived at the Winter Park Regal Theater at about 7pm for the 7:30 showing and got to go right in after being ‘wanded by security looking for recording devices. Unfortunately the only available seats were in the THIRD ROW, but we did get some neat movie posters to make up for the sore necks we would have in 2 hours.

Ford plays Jack Stanfield, head of computer security for a bank that is in the process of being bought by a larger banking conglomerate. After being confronted by a bill collector in the lobby of the bank’s office for $95,000.00 in gambling debts, Stanfield discovers he’s had his identity stolen. He doesn’t know it yet, but his next 2 days are going to be even worse. A group of high tech thieves have targeted software genius Stanfield as the way to steal $100 million from the bank using his knowledge to transfer the money into offshore accounts. They hold Stanfield’s wife and 2 children hostage in his Gates-like lakeside home, using high-tech gadgets of their own to monitor both the house and Stanfield when he returns to his office. Of course Stanfield’s goal is to stop the theft and save his family.

Overall I liked this movie (I know it’s gotten lukewarm to bad reviews elsewhere) even though it was pretty formulaic. Formula plotting is ok if it’s handled right, plus I’ve always enjoyed Ford’s performances, though admittedly he is getting a little long in the tooth to be playing “action hero” roles (I’m still scratching my head over next year’s planned Indiana Jones movie). But this movie worked well on a lot of different levels. The beauty of this particular role for Ford is that the hero is smart; a problem solver who must now solve the ultimate problem of rescuing his family and stopping the theft. His character must, for the most part, use his brain rather than brawn. Other than a small fight and the movie’s climatic battle, Ford’s character must rely on his wits in thwarting the thieves and getting his family back. Honestly, a couple of times I thought I was watching “MacGyver” on the big screen.

Paul Bettany is creepily cold and methodical as the main villain (I can’t wait to see him as Silas in The Da Vinci Code this summer) who masterminds the entire elaborate plot which makes it look like Stanfield is the thief and worse. Mary Lynn Rajskub plays Stanfield’s plucky secretary and almost reprises the same type of role as she does on the Fox hit series “24″, where she aids super-agent Jack Bauer. I say almost because Rajskub does tone down the acid-tongue that characterizes her “24″ Chloe O’Brian character in this role, but she’s still got the “don’t mess with me” attitude. Virginia Madsen is as beautiful as ever and plays Stanfield’s wife with strength and grace.

A couple of things didn’t click for me. Early on in the movie Ford utters his one line of computer security techno-babble in the entire film and doesn’t come off sounding believable at all. I’m sorry but it just sounded like he was reading it off the computer monitor in front of him. Thank goodness they didn’t give him any more lines like that. Secondly, at one point he’s sitting in his bank office and tries to send an e-mail asking for help, but before he can send it the letters he typed disappear and a message warning him not to try that again replaces them. Now I know that e-mail resides on separate servers and they may or may not be as protected as the money part of the bank’s servers, but I’m thinking if you can do something like that you probably don’t need the computer security guy. It just messed with the suspension of reality too much.

That aside, the movie was good and I enjoyed it despite the sore neck from gazing upward at a 30 degree angle for 2 hours. I’d definitely pay to see this movie, and probably will since someone I know wants to go see it with me. If you’re looking for a good, thinking man’s action movie, this would be a good choice.

Oh, and that quote I opened with? Believe it or not, it’s important to the story, so if you go keep an eye on that dog.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

February 11, 2006

A Conversation With Bob Friel

Writers, wannabe writers like yours truly and the general public all had the opportunity last Thursday night to sit down with a major magazine editor and pick his brain about this business of writing.

The Florida Writers Association’s Orlando chapter hosted Bob Friel, Editor-in-Chief of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine at a roundtable discussion and Q & A meeting for 2 hours this past week at the First Congregational Church in Winter Park. Mr. Friel has been EIC of Caribbean Travel & Life for the past 4 years and during his tenure in that role the magazine’s newsstand sales have outsold Conde Nast Traveler, Islands, National Geographic Traveler and Budget Travel.

I arrived a little late and members of the audience were introducing themselves and listing any writing accomplishments they had done or writings they were working on at the moment. Then Mr. Friel stood and gave us all a short history of his life and how he came to be an accomplished writer and editor. After receiving his degree in Marine Biology from the University of Miami, he spent some time in the islands as a scuba diver, underwater photographer and dive instructor, then went on to become a writer as well as a producer and director for Dateline and other TV shows.

Friel then took the time to answer the many questions that audience members had on subjects ranging from finding a good agent to traveling, but most of the questions centered on submitting freelance travel articles to editors. The couple of questions I had (since I’m hoping to write some pieces following my upcoming travels to Scotland and London, though not, of course, to CT&L) were answered in the course of other participant’s requests for information. But in addition, I picked up quite a few pointers that I hope to put to good use when I do make those queries and submissions to editors.

It was a well-spent evening and I know that all of us were grateful to Mr. Friel for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak to us and graciously answer our questions. The Florida Writers Association will be holding an Orlando Writers Conference later this month and I’ll be posting more details about that next week, so keep an eye out if you have an interest in attending.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Time
February 13, 2006

Girl Scout Cookies On Sale

Outside of Christmas, this is probably my favorite time of year. That’s because Girl Scout Cookies are on sale!

Saturday, which was supposed to be my “do nothing day”, I spent about 4 hours running various errands in the rain that fell on our fair city. Fortunately, part of that errand-running was done inside the Fashion Square Mall where it was dry. I had just left Coliseum of Comics (the absolute BEST comic book retailer chain in the Central Florida area) on the second level of the mall after looking for a specific comic for a very special person. They didn’t have the item I was looking for (and, as it turns out, no one would because it was a digital comic and not a printed book) and I was feeling a little bummed. I rode the escalator down to the first level where it ends by the fountain and as I stepped off the last moving stair I found myself looking upon one of the most beautiful sights a human being can lay eyes upon; several tables stacked high and full of Girl Scout Cookies. That bummed feeling left me faster than it takes me to consume a sleeve of Thin Mints, which is pretty fast (and yet I still retain my manly physique, imagine that).

After drooling over the entire selection of available varieties of cookies, I exercised an enormous amount of self-control and purchased one (1) box of Thin Mints, my all-time favorite. You may think I am joking about the self-control, but there was a time when I would buy a case of those Thin Mints, plop them in the freezer and eat a sleeve a night for dessert. Those Girl Scouts used to squeal in delight (or fear, I never was quite sure which it was) when they would see me coming because they knew an easy mark when they saw one.

Anyway, I try to practice all things in moderation these days, so I purchased just the one box. And I’ve been good; so far I’ve only eaten one sleeve in 3 different sittings. But now I’m starting to sweat because I know when I open that last sleeve, I’m heading down the road of no Thin Mints. And that’s a lonely road.

So I contacted Barbara King, Product Sales Director for the local Citrus Council of Girl Scouts and she kindly informed me that Girl Scouts would be out in front of businesses selling cookies until Saturday, March 4, 2006. I’m breathing a little easier now, even without the paper bag.

Seriously folks, selling cookies is an important part of the Girl Scout experience, both from a traditional and practical point of view. Through the cookie sales, girl scouts learn some integral skills such as setting and working toward goals, managing money, salesmanship and working as part of a team. Customers get a great-tasting, quality product and at the same time help support their local girl scout groups. According to the national website, all the proceeds go to fund scouting activities in the local community. In other words, the money you spend here, stays here.

So when you’re out and about the next few weekends, look for the tables full of Girl Scout Cookies and pick up a box or two or three. If I remember correctly, the girls are always out in front of the Publix in my neighborhood. I hope they don’t squeal too loudly this time.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 15, 2006

Orlando Places Third in Small Business Study

“The chief business of the American people is business.” – Calvin Coolidge

If you live in or near Orlando you know we have an economy that is driven by theme parks and tourism. But a recent study by Bizjournals.com also shows that Orlando ranks third in the nation as a metropolitan area that is booming with small business. What’s more, Florida has three cities in the top 10 across the country.

Here are the top 10 best metropolitan areas for small businesses as ranked by the study:

1. Miami
2. Las Vegas
3. Orlando
4. Minneapolis-St. Paul
5. Seattle
6. Denver
7. Providence
8. San Diego
9. Jacksonville
10.New York City

According to the Small Business Administration, the 25.5 million small businesses in America generate more than half of our gross domestic product, account for 26 percent of America’s exporters, employ more than half of the private sector work force and create 80 percent of all the net new jobs in the U.S.

One of my best friends started his own videotape duplication business about 8 years ago. He’s been successful enough to expand into other areas of interest to him and that original business progressed through CD duplication and now into DVD duplication. Cindy has been working hard on her candle making business and though she still has to maintain her “day job”, she might just break even this year and show a profit next year. My lawyer friend George took a chance and left the comfort of government employ to start up a private practice with some friends of his and now they have a thriving law office.

For those of us who live in O-town, the conditions are excellent for small businesses. Maybe you’ll be the next entrepreneur to open a small business in our city and push us even higher in the rankings for the next study.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 17, 2006

National Random Acts of Kindness Day

February 20, 2006

Book Review – “Bahamarama”

You may recall a little over a month ago I went to the downtown branch of the Orlando Public Library to meet and listen to Bob Morris, our own local celebrity author who used to write a column for The Orlando Sentinel and went on to write and serve as editor for several travel magazines. While there I bought both his novels (his first forays into fictional writing) to read and I finally got finished with the first, “Bahamarama.”

And I don’t say “finally” like it was a difficult book to read; quite the contrary, the story and pacing made it a book I did not want to put down. For me it has been a matter of time and a schedule so full that I haven’t even had time to put up the 2006 calendar I received as a Christmas gift yet. No joke, it’s sitting in a corner of my living room with the plastic skinwrap still around it and here it is almost the end of February. So my “pleasure reading” time has been relegated to bedtime, where I crawl into bed, open the book and read for maybe 10 minutes before my eyes rebel by closing and I place the bookmark where I left off and turn off the nightstand lamp.

“Bahamarama” introduces us to the book’s central character (as well as that of the second novel, “Jamaica Me Dead”) Zack Chasteen, a former strong safety for the Miami Dolphins who is just getting out of the Federal Penitentiary in the panhandle after serving 2 years for a crime he did not commit. Everyone but his girlfriend and closest friends still think he is guilty of the crime, his boat was seized by the government and auctioned off and it looks like he is going to have to sell the house that his been in his family for generations to have some money while he looks for a job. But his first plan is to join his girlfriend in the Bahamas where she is on a photo shoot for the magazine she publishes. Before he can meet up with her, his girlfriend is kidnapped and held for ransom and her ex-boyfriend is murdered, forcing Zack to enlist the aid of his best friend and a local police inspector as he attempts to solve the murder mystery and rescue his girlfriend before the kidnappers kill her. The icing on the cake is that the criminals who originally got him in trouble with the law are chasing him down as well, claiming he has something of theirs that they want back.

The story is fast-paced and loaded with action, mystery and a colorful cast of characters that bring excitement and diversity to every page of the book. One of the best things is that Morris, being a native Floridian, brings a certain realism and knowledge to the story that other natives (like myself) or even long-time residents of our fair state can appreciate and relate to when reading. And as a frequent visitor to the Caribbean, he can authoritatively write about that setting in his stories as well.

With breakneck speed and pacing, Morris takes us on a rollercoaster ride of a story as we try to solve the murder mystery along with Chasteen and wonder if he’ll rescue his girlfriend in time or ever clear his name. If you haven’t read it yet, this is a great book to take to the beach this summer, where you can soak up the sun, sand and sea atmosphere of the story while doing the same thing in reality.

“Bahamarama” is out in paperback now and available at local bookstores as well as online.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 21, 2006

Shakespeare Playfest 2006 – “Wedding Times Ten”

The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival closed out their Playfest 2006 this past Sunday. Playfest is a 12 day party of various plays, readings, workshops, panels and master classes. Thanks to the generosity of Glen and Kay, I was able to use their season pass while they were out of town to go to a reading of the “Wedding Times Ten” play on Sunday afternoon in the Margeson Theater.

Readings are a sort of preview of the play without scenery, blocking, props, etc. In fact, the performers simply sit at a table together facing the audience until their character’s cue and then they stand and read their scripts, which are sitting on music stands in front of them. Cast members use voice inflection along with minimal body movements and gestures to establish their character’s role. Below is a list of informational points about readings that the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival posted in the facility:

1. A public reading of a play with scripts.
2. The focus of this part of the process is on the playwright’s work and the scripts.
3. There will be minimal blocking; most readings will be done with actors sitting or standing on stage reading from scripts that have been placed on music stands in front of them.
4. Actors may play multiple roles.
5. Stage directions will be read by an additional performer or by the stage manager.
6. Each reading will have a minimum of three rehearsals which last ten to twelve hours.
7. Each reading will have two performances during Playfest.
8. The playwright may choose to try out alternate endings or to move scenes around, even during performances.

There were nine performers from the CarMar Productions Corporation of Gainesville, Florida for this reading with two of them taking on the smaller multiple roles, one of which was a dog. There were about 40 of us in the audience, including the playwright.

“Wedding Times Ten” is described in the program as an “Upside down comedy about a middle sister’s decision to celebrate the tenth wedding of her little sister at her household, bringing about mayhem and conflict among family and pets” by Carlos F. Asse The play is about the tenth (yes TENTH, shades of Zsa Zsa Gabor!) wedding of Trish, the youngest of three sisters, who in an attempt to start her life anew has changed her name to Moon Beam (I used to know a Moon Beam a few years ago, so that brought a smile to my face). Her middle sister, Millie is hosting the wedding in the home she shares with her husband Joseph and the reunion of other family members including the oldest sister, their mother, their widowed stepmother and Moon Beam’s first husband Lenny, causes all kinds of turmoil before showing that their strong family ties can withstand all the upheaval.

The reading started at noon, had a 10 minute intermission at 1pm and then ended at 2:20. There was a talk back scheduled afterward with the playwright and the cast members, but I could not stay for it due to another pressing appointment. I wish I could have remained so I could, at the very least, see if the impressions of the other audience members mirrored my own.

I enjoyed the first hour and the early part of the second, which were marked by funny and painfully realistic dialogue, but then it started to fall apart, particularly around the time that all 3 sisters began what amounted to a badly scripted monologue. After a few minutes all my ears heard was “Blah blah blah blah” and I fought the urge to nod off. Overall, most of the cast members were strong in their performances, particularly Jennifer Pritchett who played Millie, the middle sister and Chip Morris who portrayed her husband Joseph. The weakest performance (of the main cast) by far was Sara Morsey who played oldest sister Michelle. I also give big props to the prop dog, a lhasa apso dog statue.

Readings like this are a good chance for the playwright to see how the performance might go and to get helpful feedback from the audience, sometimes resulting in a reworking of the play before it is performed. I think with some tweaking and re-scripting, “Wedding Times Ten” could be a funny, touching and completely enjoyable play that would please audience members.

You may have missed the Playfest for this year, but there’s always next year. If you can’t wait, the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival is also now performing “Robinson Crusoe” which I’m thinking I’d really like to see before it closes on March 19th, if I get the chance. That’s followed by “Julius Caesar” running from April 12-May 7, 2006.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 22, 2006

MegaCon 2006 – Comic Books, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s Superman!”

MegaCon returns to the Orange County Convention Center for its 2006 event this Friday, February 24th through Sunday, February 26th. This convention features 110,000 square feet of comic books, toys, collectibles, gaming events, science fiction and comic book industry guests, autograph signings, panel discussions and contests. If you enjoy (or used to enjoy) comic books, science fiction such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Crusade, fantasy such as the Harry Potter movies and Angel TV series, anime or even just want to get some pop culture celebrity’s autograph, then MegaCon 2006 is THE place to be this weekend!

Comic Book Guests

Guest of Honor – George Perez

In the world of comic book artists, there are few who are more talented, prolific and well-loved as local (he lives in Sanford) illustrator George Perez. He’s been bringing comic books to life visually for 31 years; drawing such smash hits as The New Teen Titans, Avengers, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, JLA/Avengers and many, many more. He is a fan-favorite who is always friendly, cordial and easy-going in person with his admirers. I once brought him a very early black & white tabloid style book that he illustrated to autograph that I had found in a $1 bin and he remarked that it was a work very few collectors seemed to know about and thanked me for asking him to autograph it. Although every book of his that I have is already autographed by him, I’m looking forward to seeing him again this year.

Sal Buscema

Younger brother of the late, great John Buscema, Sal is a fantastic artist in his own right. My favorite works of his are the ones where he worked with inker Sam Grainger, especially his Avengers’ run in the late 60′s and early 70′s. Sal is graciously drawing one free headshot of choice for each convention attendee. I’m trying to decide if I’ll go with a Marvel or DC character.

Other Comic Guests

Amanda Conner (JSA featuring Power Girl, Vampirella, Birds of Prey)
Chuck Dixon (Team Zero, The Iron Ghost).
Steve Epting (Captain America)
Greg Land (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Phoenix: Endsong)
Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men, Ultimates)
Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex, Hawkman, Punisher)
Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men)
Brian Pulido (Lady Death)
Billy Tucci (Shi)
Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern, X-Men)

And many, many more.
Media Guests

John Schneider

He was just killed off as Clark Kent’s father Jonathan Kent on the hit TV series, “Smallville”, but actor John Schneider will be alive and well at MegaCon this year. Whether you’re an old-timer who remembers him as Bo Duke on “The Dukes of Hazard” or a young fan of his current work, you’ll enjoy getting to meet, talk with and get an autograph from John Schneider.

Marina Sirtis

I admit it, I fell in love with Counselor Troi, the Star Trek:The Next Generation counselor aboard the starship Enterprise as portrayed by the lovely Marina Sirtis. Two prized possessions in my office are autographed pictures of Marina Sirtis the actress and Counselor Troi, the character she played. She is always gracious and beautiful, which makes standing in the long line to get her autograph worth every second.

Other Media Guests

Tony Amendola (Angel, Star Trek: Voyager)
Julie Benz (Buffy, Angel, Spielberg’s Taken)
Jason Carter (Babylon 5)
Mira Furlan (Lost, Babylon 5)
Cirroc Lofton (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley in Harry Potter)
Tracy Scoggins (Babylon 5, Crusade)
Jamie Yeates (Marcus Flint in Harry Potter)

And many, many more.

As mentioned earlier, there will also be anime, panel discussions, gaming events, an artist’s alley, dealer tables, costume contests and much, much more. And if you want to get an early jump on the festivities, plan on attending the 1st Annual Mega Night at Universal’s Islands of Adventure on Thursday night from 6 to 11pm. You’ll have exclusive access to Marvel Super Hero Island from 9pm to 11pm, and you’ll find yourself rubbing shoulders or sharing rides with celebrity guests like:

Arne Starr from Star Trek, Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings
Mira Furlan from Lost and Babylon 5
Tracy Scoggins from Babylon 5 and Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman
Jason Carter from Babylon 5
Jimmy Palmiotti – Comic Book Artist/Writer
Amanda Conner – Comic Book Artist/Writer

PLUS get a FREE collectible comic book in Marvel Super Hero Island. Tickets are just $34.95 at the gate.

MegaCon 2006 is being held at the Orange County Convention Center, 9800 International Drive, this Friday, February 24th from 1pm to 7pm, Saturday, February 25th from 10am to 6pm and Sunday, February 26th from 10am to 5pm, with much of the programming such as gaming, anime, movies and some panel discussions remaining open until 11:30pm. Due to prior commitments the Man About Town will only get to be there Sunday, but if you can attend all 3 days of the convention you should do so as it’s an experience you’ll never forget. Anyone who attends and wants to post updates is welcome to do so in the comments below. I’ll be posting about my day on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 24, 2006

Fiddler’s Green Guinness Tasting

“He was a wise man who invented beer.”- Plato

I would add “And a wiser man who drinks beer”, LOL, in moderation of course. Wednesday night, Michelle invited Rhonda, Cindy and I to join her at the Guinness Beer Tasting that was held at Fiddler’s Green in Winter Park.

Fiddler’s Green is a nice little authentic (according to Cindy who has been to Ireland a few times) Irish Pub on Fairbanks near downtown Winter Park. This was the first time any of us had been to the Green, so I don’t know if it would normally be as busy as it was if it weren’t for the Guinness tasting. We found the absolute last parking space at the far end of the lot, and when we left a couple of hours later, people had parked their cars along the entrance driveway.

The crowd seemed to be an even mixture of students from nearby Rollins College and middle-aged folks enjoying a meal and/or the Guinness. Cindy and Michelle both ordered the Hen In A Pot while Rhonda and I both ordered the Leinster Cheeseburger. Cindy declared her dish to be excellent, though Michelle felt like hers had too much of a “flour” taste. Rhonda and I both found our burgers to be cooked as ordered, tasty (even without condiments) and topped with delicious cheddar cheese, fresh lettuce and a thick slice of juicy red tomato. Michelle and I had walked over to the room where the tasting was being held and returned to have glasses of beer with our meal while Cindy and Rhonda had water with lemon. I am sorry to say that while the food and the Guinness were delicious, the service, particularly that of our food server, was lacking any Irish authenticity. Not much friendliness and not much attention to us during the meal.

I’m also sorry to say that the organization of the tasting itself left something to be desired. I’m guessing that they did not expect such a large turnout, since it was being held in the smallest of the pub’s 4 dining rooms. We never heard anyone discuss the history of the beer and when we asked the person who was registering us what might happen we were just told to walk around and enjoy the free beer, which we did but still… there was also supposed to be a raffle (I still have my ticket in the complimentary lanyard they gave us), but they must have held the drawing after we left.

But the shortcomings were balanced out by the tasty food, the authentic decor and atmosphere (except for the guy doing trivia questions in the front room) and the chance to spend time with Michelle before she moves back to Wisconsin, and with Rhonda whom I don’t get to see very often.

And as Homer would say, “Mmmmmm… beer.”

Fiddler’s Green is located at 544 West Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park and they are open Monday through Saturday 11:30 am until 2am and on Sunday from 11am until midnight. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4pm until 7pm. They have a wide variety of domestic and Irish beers on tap, and authentic Irish dishes are served daily.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 27, 2006

Orlando Writer’s Conference

Saturday, the Florida Writer’s Association held it’s Orlando Writer’s Conference at the Maitland Art Center. The event was an all-day “mini conference” of intensive workshops for both published and aspiring writers, as well as a book fair and signing for the published authors who wished to participate. I thought it would be a good chance for me to learn some helpful aspects of the business and the craft and my friend Rebecca, who is also a writer, thought she would enjoy it also, so we spent our Saturday learning all that we could.

The conference opened at 9:30am with registration for those who had not signed up beforehand (like myself) and offered coffee and donuts for those who had not procrastinated. There was an opening introduction by the conference chairman and then we were all addressed by Kate McKean, a book agent of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management, a writer’s agency in New York City. For the next hour or so we “newbies” (and some of the more experienced writers as well, it looked like) soaked up all the helpful information Ms. McKean shared with us. Although I have no aspirations of writing a book, I felt a lot of what she had to say might be helpful for magazine and freelance writing as well.

That was followed by an hour of poetry reading by a writer and poet. Rebecca enjoyed it tremendously…I’ll just say I should have left the hall and amused myself elsewhere for an hour.

Then before we knew it, it was time for the catered lunch. Rebecca and I took our plates and went and sat at a picnic table in the park area on the art center’s grounds, then spent a few minutes browsing the book fair which was held in the gazebo. When we were done there was still a little time before the conference resumed, so I took several photos of the center and the surrounding grounds. I’ll post those on the Man About Town Flickr Page soon.

The afternoon part consisted of 2 simultaneous tracks. It was an easy decision to skip the writing for children workshops since I hate the little buggers and have no intention of composing words for them. Ok, I don’t hate them but I don’t see children’s books in my future either. Instead I went to the Writing Coach, Freelance Writing, Publishing and Short Story workshops, all of which were very good. Again, a lot was geared to book writing, but would be helpful in my area of interest as well.

Before we knew it (though my butt was almost numb from all the sitting) the workshops were over and it was time for the keynote speaker, Tim Dorsey. Tim is a Florida mystery novelist who has published 7 books about a lovable Florida serial killer…lovable because he kills the jerks of the state. I said I’d like to have that job. Tim is a former newspaper reporter and editor with a sharp wit and a great sense of humor. Afterward, Tim was doing a book sale and signing and though I have a stack of reading material staring me in the face as I write this, I bought the first novel about this lovable serial killer because it sounded like an excellent story and series.

The Florida Writer’s Association is holding it’s statewide conference in Orlando as well this year, out at the Disney Coronado in late November for three days. I’m going to look over the program and see if I might find it interesting and helpful.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
February 28, 2006
MegaCon 2006 – Sunday Superheroes Part 1

“Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, so I must wear a disguise that will strike terror into their hearts!” – Bruce Wayne before donning the costume that would make him The Batman
I don’t think you will find a more diverse group of people (other than, perhaps, the United Nations) in one place than at a comic book, sci-fi, fantasy gathering like MegaCon, which wrapped up it’s annual 3-day convention at the Orlando Convention Center this past Sunday. I usually like to go to the Saturday events as they are (most of the time) more varied and interesting than Friday’s or Sunday’s, but this year I had the Writer’s Conference to attend on Saturday, so Sunday it was.

By the time I parked the Man About Town-mobile ($10!!) and stepped through the Convention Center doors, it was 9:30am, 30 minutes before the scheduled 10am kick off of festivities in the Western Concourse of the center. By fortunate chance, the Photo Marketing Association International was opening their convention on Sunday in the adjacent hall, so as I was walking through on my way to MegaCon I was able to pick up a nice selection of photography and image management publications that they were giving away in the lobby area. Sweet!

There was a line of approximately 300 people waiting for the doors to open to MegaCon when I walked by on my way to the ticket booth ($22, I didn’t think that was bad) and rather than stand in that line I walked around and scouted out the rooms that various panels and workshops would be held in so I would be able to get to them in a hurry. I knew from past experience that once they open the doors, the line evaporates in about 2 minutes and that held true on Sunday.

I walked through the doors of the main hall at 10:03am. My SOP is to start on the right outer aisle and just walk through the rows and rows of booths until I get to the left outer aisle, doing an overview of what is where so that later I can come back to specific dealer tables, artist signings, celebrity signings, etc. Since I had to be at a panel at 10:40, I knew I had roughly 30 minutes to make my “initial rounds” in the main hall, which wasn’t a problem because at that point there were only about 500 people in the entire hall. (Officials told me later that attendance was up by 15 percent this year and that almost 24,000 different people attended over the 3 day event)

When they announced that John Schneider was signing autographs, I walked over to that area intending to just take a few pictures of him, but I suddenly recalled that Cindy has mentioned that she liked him on “Smallville” so I called and asked her if she would like an autographed picture from him. After she finished hyperventilating she said she would like that very much, so I got in the relatively short line and waited. Most celebrities will sit behind a table to sign and will come out from behind the table if you want (or have paid) for a photo. John Schneider was standing in front of the table, shaking hands, hugging and bending over to sign his color photos. The guy is in great shape! He’s in his mid-40′s and is trim and muscular, with his hair a little darker than it was in the Jonathan Kent role, making him look much younger. I had my new digital voice recorder with me that I bought a couple of weeks ago for taking notes in Scotland, so while he was signing the photo for Cindy I asked him if it would be too much of an imposition to say something to Cindy as well. He assured me it was not and even admired my new toy before recording a nice message to Cindy which she loved when she heard it.
Walking away I was going to take a picture of something and my rechargeable batteries were dead. Not a problem, I had a spare set in my camera bag. Unfortunately, they too were dead and I was contemplating how much less fun the convention would be if I couldn’t take pictures, but standing in line for the autograph made me late for the panel I wanted to get to by 10:40, so I didn’t have a lot of time to agonize over it.

I power-walked over to the room where the Captain America panel featuring Sal Buscema, Mike Perkins and Steve Epting was taking place and they were holding a discussion among themselves and the fans regarding Cap. Sal Buscema was an artist on the book many years ago (he’s retired now and Perkins and Epting are current artists on the Captain America books). There were about 60 of us in the room with them and we spent about an hour discussing the character, stories, writers and artists through the 65 years the character has been in existence.

The next panel I wanted to go to didn’t start for 30 minutes, so instead of returning to the main hall and browsing, I went in search of batteries. My first stop was guest services, which normally sold batteries but only had a 2-pack of AAA’s and I needed 4 AA’s. However, the gentleman at guest services advised me that the FedEx/Kinko’s around the corner from guest services would have batteries for sale. I turned the corner, walked about 20 steps and sure enough, there was a fully stocked, partly staffed FedEx/Kinko’s right there in the convention center. You could make copies, collate and bind reports, ship anything to anywhere and…buy batteries. I was one happy photographer and hopefully this will remind me to always check my batteries before heading out.

There’s entirely too much for one post, so I hope you’ll come back for Part 2 of MegaCon 2006 Sunday Superheroes.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 1, 2006

MegaCon 2006 – Sunday Superheroes Part 2

Pictures from MegaCon 2006 are up on my Flickr page (or you can click on my Flickr Badge over there on the left).

Many people think that MegaCon is just a convention of comic book reading freaks, but I assure you there are all kinds of freaks that attend. I say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Though I no longer buy comic books per se, I do buy the graphic novels or collected works; usually in hardback, but occasionally I’ll pick up a good softcover edition. MegaCon, though, is more than comic book reading nerds. The convention also includes sci-fi/fantasy, which I love, horror, which I enjoy, gaming, which I’ve never taken the time to get into and anime, of which I’ve never been a fan. My thanks, by the way to LadyRavnos316 for leaving a comment on picture #25 in my MegaCon collection on Flickr identifying the anime costumed characters I was unfamiliar with when I posted the picture.

After getting my new batteries and putting them in my camera, I was ready for the next panel which was a gathering of some of the stars of Babylon 5. Present were the beautiful Tracy Scoggins, who portrayed Captain Elizabeth Lochley, the dashing Jason Carter who played Ranger Marcus Cole, and the enigmatic Mira Furlan who was the charming Ambassador Delenn (and who currently is seen as Dannielle Rousseau on the hit TV series “Lost”).

Miss Scoggins was late arriving because one of Orlando’s finest taxi drivers took her to the wrong convention center and Mr Carter was even later, but without explanation. Once they all arrived though, we had an excellent Q&A session about their work on the series as well as what they are all up to at present. All the panel members were gracious and entertaining and funny, but especially so was Tracy Scoggins who is obviously not just another pretty face. More than once she had the audience in stitches with her humor and wit.

When that panel was over I went to the Joss Whedon Costume Contest, which had been blocked out as a two hour event. However, only seven people were taking part in the contest so it was over and done with in twenty five minutes. Pictures from it are on the Flickr page.

With some time to spare before the next panel, I went back into the main hall and took some pictures of some of my favorite artists as well as some of the fans who had dressed up as their favorite characters. I ran into Superman (two of them!), Supergirl, Green Lantern, Batman, Black Cat and others though sadly I did not see some of my other favorites like Wonder Woman, Captain America or Spider-Man in the crowd. I’m told they were there on Friday and Saturday.

Then I went to the last panel I was attending that day, “Two Actors in the House” with actress Julie Benz, best known for her role as Darla on “Buffy” and “Angel”, and her husband, actor and voice talent John Kassir, who is known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper on the former HBO series “Tales from the Crypt”. These two were absolutely delightful with John the obvious funny one (he started out as a stand-up comedian) and Julie the gracious and sweet one. They even kept answering the weird guy’s questions, the one who was sitting on the second row and continued to ask long drawn out questions of the type that made William Shatner shout “Get a life!!” on the infamous SNL Star Trek skit many moons ago. I know they’re actors, so they obviously could fool people, but I really got the impression that they are deeply in love with one another and really have their heads screwed on right about life. It was very refreshing.

When that panel was over I went back to the main hall again to do some last minute looking around and take some final pictures. I walked over to the media section and took a few of Marina Sirtis while she was signing autographs and got one of Sal Buscema drawing a sketch, which made me happy since I didn’t have batteries to take any during the panel he was at earlier. I was also able to get some shots of other artist’s whose work I enjoy, including Adam Hughes, Greg Land and George Perez.

All in all, it was an enjoyable Sunday and I’m glad I didn’t decide to skip MegaCon altogether since I couldn’t go on Saturday. I’m already looking forward to MegaCon 2007!

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 2, 2006

Politics In Orlando – Better Than A Theme Park

Orlando is a very entertaining town. If you think the admission price to any of our numerous theme parks is too high, you can always watch the local political scene and be just as amused.

Congressman Tom Feeney

Congressman Tom Feeney, representing Florida’s district 24 which includes Orlando, has recently filed federal legislation to create catastrophe savings accounts. The bill would allow homeowners to put away up to $2,000 per year in tax free money, up to a maximum of $15,000, in order to have a catastrophe savings fund to draw upon in the event of a home-damaging disaster. The bill would help by allowing homeowners to accumulate money, tax-free, to cover deductible expenses, uninsured losses and structural upgrades to mitigate damage from future storms.

Feeney’s bill drew praise from the State of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher who stated, “These accounts are a common-sense approach to encourage preparedness and personal responsibility and give Floridians the incentive they need to financially prepare for catastrophes.” but then this is the same Tom Gallagher who decided a few years ago that homeowners across the state should subsidize the insurance coverage of those who built their homes across the hurricane-prone coastline and then couldn’t get insurance coverage from traditional homeowners insurance companies. So now I pay an extra $200 or so for my insurance premium to cover people who live in much nicer homes they foolishly built on eroding coastlines that are in the paths of hurricanes each year!

Here’s what I’m wondering; if you can’t get people to put away $2,000 per year for their own retirement through an IRA or 401k plan, what makes you think you’ll be able to get people to put away that same amount of money as a hedge against a “possible” disaster? I can guarantee you it won’t be the poor or middle class who will participate, it will be the rich who will have tax-free money to build additions, make improvements, or use as a down payment on a better home (that would qualify as a “structural upgrades to mitigate damage from future storms.”) who will take advantage of this law. The poor and middle class will still rely on government agencies like FEMA or volunteer organizations like the Red Cross to provide housing, rent money, money for personal property loss, etc. So who does this bill benefit? As usual, those who need it least.

Orlando Commissioner Ernest Page

Well, make that former Orlando Commissioner Ernest Page. Page was suspended from office and charged with bribery and improperly using his official influence on Wednesday. Both are felony counts and if Page is convicted, on either or both, it could put him in jail for a long time. The charges center around a phone call and e-mail Page sent to a Tampa development group warning them that unless his development group was included in the project, then the City of Orlando would not allow the project to take place. Page made those statements during a time when he was serving as temporary mayor because Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was himself out of office due to charges that had been brought against him.

Unlike Buddy Dyer, who turned himself in at the Orange County Jail last year following his indictment (which he was later cleared of before even going to trial) and smiled for all the cameras as he was being fingerprinted and processed, Page skulked over to Lake County to turn himself in and avoid the media that was awaiting his arrival at the Orange County Jail. Page’s attorney Mark Nejame stated, “We wanted to avoid the media chaos of the Orange County Jail and not give anybody the satisfaction of watching him being showcased like some prized animal.”

Interesting analogy, his use of the term “prized animal”. Is that what his attorney was likening Page to; an animal? I don’t think I’d care for my attorney making that kind of comparison about me.

Regardless of whether Page is guilty or innocent, a crook or a fall guy, one thing was shown beyond a shadow of a doubt; when you compare how Buddy Dyer handled his booking with how Ernest Page handled his, it’s clear to see Buddy has balls and Ernest is a eunuch.

What do you think?

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 7, 2006

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

“It’s Nahtazu!!” – Former Animal Kingdom ad campaign

This past Saturday I spent all of the morning and most of the afternoon strolling around and enjoying the shows of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. While not my favorite Disney park (that distinction goes to EPCOT), Animal Kingdom is the most relaxing of the Mouse’s theme parks. Something about the entire atmosphere of the outdoors and the wild animals is very soothing.

As soon as the park opened at 9am I made my way over to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the very first performance of “The Festival of the Lion King” show. This is a very enjoyable “theater in the round” experience combining Disney’s famous audio-animatronic creations in the form of characters from The Lion King, costumed characters from the same movie and live performers singing, dancing and executing all kinds of acrobatic stunts in a 30 minute show that is loved by kids and adults alike.

I left there and walked over to Discovery Island, home of the park’s centerpiece, The Tree of Life, where I was just in time for the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” show which takes place in the root system beneath the huge tree. “Tough” is a 3-D interactive show that is similar to EPCOT’s “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and features characters from “A Bug’s Life”. I’ve always found it odd that this show, which attempts to instill in children a respect for all living things, including insects, is also one of the scariest to younger children. One little boy next to me spent the first two minutes screaming so loudly and continuously that I thought his head was going to explode before his mom finally took him out of the theater.

It was getting close to lunch time, so I strolled over to DinoLand U.S.A. to eat at Restaurantosaurus, the McDonald’s presence (does anyone else find it ironic that a park dedicated to animals features a restaurant known for it’s food offerings made from animals? I mean, they don’t serve mice for lunch in the Magic Kingdom…) in the park. The truth is, if all the McDonald’s restaurants served hamburgers like the ones they serve in Animal Kingdom, I’d probably eat there a lot more. The patties are bigger, thicker, juicier and tastier than the regular ones you get on Big Macs or even Quarter Pounders, plus you can “dress” it yourself with as many different condiments and toppings as you wish. And for the non-carnivores they offer vegetarian dishes.

To walk off my meal I hiked back to “Africa” to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari, but when I arrived there was a 45 minute wait so I skipped that (I usually prefer to go on it early in the morning anyway, when the animals on the savannah are more active) and instead strolled though the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Walking though the forest you’re surrounded by birds, fish, gorillas, hippos and lush jungle flora. The gorillas are usually reticent to even face the people traipsing by, much less do anything that might cause “oooohs” and “ahhhhs”. This fellow kept hiding behind a tree, but finally came out when everyone left the area.

Staying in “Africa” I rode the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch and to enjoy Habitat Habit, Conservation Station and Affection Section. There are lots of great lectures and presentations about sharing this world with animals and kids will enjoy getting to pet and brush sheep, goats, cows, llamas and donkeys in the petting yard. The Wildlife Express Train ride also gives you an opportunity to see a little of the backstage magic behind Animal Kingdom.

It was getting to be mid-afternoon and my feet and legs were tired, but before I left the park I wanted to at least walk by the newest attraction in the park, Expedition Everest- The Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, which is enjoying a soft opening and allowing guests a “sneak preview” before the grand opening in April. I’m not a big fan of rollercoasters (and the screams emanating from the ride didn’t do a thing to entice me to start enjoying them), so I didn’t go on the ride. But Disney describes it as a “…high-altitude, high-speed train adventure. Nail-biting hairpin turns hurl you forward toward the peak and then, just when you think it couldn’t get more thrilling – backward!” All this and you have to beware the Yeti! I’m told that if you like rollercoasters, you’ll love this one.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is currently open from 9am until 5pm daily. Those hours can and do change, so check online or call (407) WDW-MAGIC (939-6244)to be sure. Parking will set you back $8 and remember, “It’s Nahtazu!!”

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 8, 2006

Interstate 4 in Orlando

Fortunately, I don’t have more than the occasional need to drive on Interstate 4, especially through the downtown and north of Orlando portions of the road. I say “fortunately” because I have driven it (slowly during “rush” hour) in the past on a regular basis and of course I still see the daily backups on TV traffic reports, so I know how much of a mess it can be, particularly during morning and evening commutes.

But this past Sunday I had to drive from Orlando to Deltona and back in the early afternoon. Rather than drive up 17-92, I decided I-4 would probably not be packed with vehicles on a Sunday afternoon. I was right..sort of. Traffic wasn’t bumper to bumper, but it was pretty busy and actually started slowing down and backing up just as I got off at the Deltona exit. By the way, here’s a great site about construction on I-4 and this one will tell you all about the new exit numbers.

I got on I-4 from the East-West Expressway interchange near downtown Orlando. For some reason vehicles were backed up in the exit lane from the East-West to I-4. I’m not sure what the cause of the delay was because there were no stalled motorists or accidents in sight. Maybe everyone in front of me was just slowing down to admire the Orlando skyline on our right.

Here’s the first thing I noticed as I merged onto I-4; NO ONE drives the posted speed limit of 50 MPH through downtown Orlando. No one. I tried to maintain a speed of 50-55 MPH and was almost run over several times by drivers going at least 70 MPH. But as I drove out of the lower speed area of downtown Orlando I discovered everyone just increased their speed accordingly. If it was posted at 55 MPH, people were going 75 MPH and further north (east?) where it rises to 65MPH people were going 80-85.

The next thing I noticed was the large number of motorcycles. Of course Bike Week kicked into gear the day before, so I should not have been surprised. Still, I didn’t expect to see so many in the Orlando area; I expected that most would be hanging out in Daytona. I was sort of right about that as well, since it looked like most of the bikers I saw were heading to Daytona. They too were blowing past me at 80-85 MPH (most without helmets) and I remember thinking, “If there’s an accident, you’ll be just a smear on the asphalt”. Last year there were 8 Bike Week deaths. There have already been 5 deaths so far this year and we still have 5 more days left in the annual gathering.

Finally, in the hour and 45 minutes and 90-something miles I spent on Interstate 4, I never saw one law enforcement officer. When people were zipping past me at 80 MPH I kept thinking, “They’ll be pulled over for speeding, reckless driving and flying without a license somewhere up ahead.” But guess what? No one was ever pulled over because there were no police out there to pull them over. Imagine that!

So, that was my most recent I-4 experience. With any luck, it will be a while before I have another. If you have an Interstate experience you’d like to share, good or bad, please leave a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 9, 2006

Orlando Area Bits And Pieces

Man, I came home this afternoon to find that the monitor for my office desktop had died. Good thing I have this trusty laptop. Plus, now I have a good excuse to buy a flat panel monitor, lol.
Animal Kingdom Lodge Admitted to Green Lodging Program

A couple of days ago I posted about my visit on Saturday to Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. The park has an absolutely fantastic hotel known, fittingly, as the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Though I’ve never stayed a night in the Lodge, I’ve toured it, had a couple of meals in Boma’s and, thanks to the kindness of friends, stood on the balcony of their room overlooking the Kudu Trail. It’s pretty amazing to see giraffes walk past your third floor balcony, not twenty feet away from you. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection admitted Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge into the Florida Green Lodging Program this past Monday, making it the sixth Disney hotel (Coronado Springs Resort, Boardwalk Resort, Port Orleans Resort, Pop Century Resort and Caribbean Beach Resort are the other five) to join the program. The Florida Green Lodging Program is for hotels and motels that meet the criteria and guidelines of conserving natural resources and preventing pollution. So far, thirteen places of lodging in the state have been awarded the necessary certificate for admittance, and another fourteen are currently under review. You can find out more about the details at the Green Lodging website.

St. Cloud Goes Wireless

Earlier this week, the city of St. Cloud became the first in the entire country to provide every resident and business with 100 percent free citywide, high-speed wireless Internet access as a public service. That means that all 28,000 residents, businesses within the city, even visitors can access the Internet at broadband speeds completely free of charge if they have wireless accessibility on their computers, laptops or handhelds. Estimates are that it will save the average household some $450, since they won’t have to pay an ISP for broadband connectivity. Here in Orlando it averages about $50 per month, so the savings would be closer to $600 per year if the choice was made to give up paid access. However, that choice won’t ever be available for Orlando because last June the Governor signed into effect a law that prohibits municipalities from offering free broadband Internet access if there are competing private services.
Ellen Comes to Orlando and Universal Studios

The Ellen DeGeneres Show is coming to Orlando and Universal Studios to tape some shows and you can be part of the studio audience. The show tapings will be done on the 1,000 seat Lagoon Stage at Universal City Walk on Friday, March 31st and Saturday, April 1st. You can see Ellen by signing up here. The shows will air beginning on April 3rd.

OIA Wins Customer Service Award

Trade magazine Airport Revenue News has recognized Orlando International Airport as the “Airport with Best Customer Service Airport-wide.” Readers of the magazine nominated OIA, which was the busiest airport in the state with 34.1 million passengers in 2005, and the magazine then sent judges to the top nominated airports for final decisions. That’s a pretty neat trick; to be one of the busiest airports as well as offering the best customer service. Hats off to OIA!

And finally, several of my reciprocal links have been updated. Thanks to The English Guy for his patience as he’s been blogrolling this site for several weeks already, and both Luminasworld and Blog of a Mother have new links to their blogs. Go visit all of the links and tell them Man About Town sent you.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

March 16, 2006

St. Patrick’s Day in O-Town

First, if you have tried to get to Man About Town through The Orlando Sentinel entertainment page feed over the past few days, you may have noticed that they no longer post the feed or link directly here through the feed. You can still get here by using the “FindLocal” link on the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar, but there’s no longer a feed linking to here.

I am in the dark about it as much as anyone. I’ve asked folks at Tribune Media Services if they know about it, but haven’t received an answer. My assumption is that the Sentinel is concentrating on promoting their own staff member’s blogs and that resulted in Man About Town being pushed off, but again that’s just my guess and I have not been told anything definitive. I’m sure it is going to reduce the traffic here considerably, so if you enjoy what you read I hope you’ll pass it along to friends and family. If anyone’s interested in contacting the Sentinel and expressing your unhappiness with the feed removal, you can do that online here. Just remember to be cordial and polite.

Now, tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. O-town has lots of things you can do and places you can go to celebrate this traditional Irish holiday. Check out the websites of these places for information on St. Patrick’s Day celebration specials.

Raglan Road – Authentic Irish Pub at Downtown Disney

Kitty O’Shea’s Irish Pub – Lake Buena Vista

Fiddler’s Green – Genuine Irish Pub in Winter Park

Pat O’Brien’s – Universal City Walk

St Patrick’s Day Block Party – Wall Street Plaza Downtown Orlando

Plus, just about any non-Irish restaurant or bar will be joining in the Celtic observation (Shamrock Shake, anyone?) so you can enjoy the green celebration just about anywhere. Wear some green and “be” Irish for a day!

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

March 18, 2006

Orange County Landfill

I mentioned a few days ago that my CRT monitor had died, but that it gave me the chance to get my first flat panel monitor. This past Monday, after doing some online research and some actual hands-on checking of different flat panel models (color, picture, controls, etc.) I finally found one that matched what I had been looking for in features and price.

In conjunction with that, I finally decided that it was time to get rid of the several broken monitors and computers that I have accumulated over the years. In the past, when a monitor or computer broke, I would put it in a corner of my office with the intention of disposing of it by recycling. But I kept putting off actually doing that and over the past few years I eventually ended up with 6 broken monitors and 3 computers. I salvaged hard drives, video cards, sound cards, network cards, etc. from all of them, but each had parts that were not salvageable and needed to be properly disposed of by recycling them so as not to damage the environment. Fortunately for me, the Orange County Solid Waste Department has a hazardous waste and electronics recycling drop off point out at the County Landfill.

I loaded the 6 monitors and 3 computer cases with various parts still in them into the back of the pickup truck this morning and drove out to the County Landfill Site on Young Pine Road in East Orange County. Let me tell you, that is quite an operation out there. On the way in I passed a literal mountain of household garbage that was simultaneously being covered by feasting birds and by front end loaders that were burying parts of the garbage under dirt.

Trying to follow the signs I thought I was lost when I didn’t see the hazardous waste section and stopped to ask a guy who was picking up, of all things, trash in front of a building. He did not speak very clear English and I don’t think he understood English very well and he told me to “turn around” while making circular motions with his arms. Doubtfully I did so, but when I had driven a short distance back the way I came, a county truck was approaching and I asked the driver and he directed me back where I had originally been going and as it turns out I just had not gone far enough. The guy was picking up trash was gone, or I would have had a few words, whether he understood them or not, with him.

When I pulled into the hazardous waste section two nice gentlemen directed me to a certain area where I parked and got out to assist them in unloading the monitors and computers. When they looked into the truck bed they hesitated; county rules state that they may only accept items from households, they told me, and the limit was 2 computer items. I explained these were all from my household, I had just accumulated them over the years. They finally agreed to take them all (thanks guys!) and I helped them unload the truck. For a few moments I was afraid they were going to make me come back several times with only 2 items each time.

So if you live in Orange County and you have some electronic equipment to dispose of by recycling, the Orange County Solid Waste Department will be glad to accept your hazardous items, just be sure to limit it to 1 or 2 items.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

March 19, 2006

Bogus “Infested Mulch” E-mail

Last Thursday, knowing how much I LOVE to mulch my flower beds and non-landscaped areas around my home, Cindy sent me an e-mail that was making the rounds regarding termite infested mulch coming out of the New Orleans, Louisiana area following hurricane Katrina. It’s a known fact that New Orleans, in particular, has suffered with a heavy infestation of the Formosan termite for the past 4 decades. The e-mail warned that trees infested with the termites were blown over, made into mulch, and that the mulch was now on its way to “big box” home centers across the country at dirt cheap prices. So buyers were to beware if they did not want to introduce the little wood chewers into their own home. Here’s the e-mail:

Subject:Mulch – Be careful when buying

Please read and be careful in purchasing mulch…

If you use mulch around your house be very careful about buying mulch this year. After the hurricane in New Orleans many trees were blown over. These trees were then turned into mulch and the state is trying to get rid of tons and tons of this mulch to any state or company who will come and haul it away. So it will be showing up in Home Depot and Lowes at dirt cheap prices with one huge problem; Formosan Termites will be the bonus in many of those bags. New Orleans is one of the few areas in the country where the Formosan Termites has gotten a strong hold and most of the trees blown down were already badly infested with those termites. Now we may have the worst case of transporting a problem to all parts of the country that we have ever had. These termites can eat a house in no time at all and we have no good control against them, so tell your friends that own homes to avoid cheap mulch and know were it came from.

Here’s the link:

http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/en/environment/insects/Termites/formosan_termites/

I admit, that while I as a rule check out claims of this type before forwarding them on to friends or family, this time I did not. It seemed perfectly logical to me. Plus, with the warnings about vehicles from Louisiana damaged by floods showing up around the country, I thought it fell right in line with that kind of situation. But that is where most of these kinds of “urban legend” style e-mails get their credibility; by containing some small amount of truth, even if it’s not strictly applicable to the subject of the e-mail. Yes, there were Formosan termites in the trees of New Orleans and yes, those trees were mulched. That much is true. And the e-mail links to a perfectly valid webpage belonging to the LSU Agricultural Center.

But, as this article and this one point out, the mulch from Louisiana has all been quarantined. Far from asking other states and/or companies to remove the mulch, Louisiana has forbidden that mulch from leaving the state without first being heavily treated and approved. In addition, stores like Home Depot and Lowes are not buying mulch from the New Orleans area and both retailers only purchase mulch that has been certified by the Mulch & Soil Council, a Manassas, Virginia based trade organization.

And that website they reference? As I pointed out above, it IS a legitimate and official part of the LSU Agricultural Center. However, if you read the webpage carefully, you’ll find nothing that is indicative of the “threat” that is contained in the e-mail. There are undisputed facts regarding the infestation and the dangers of allowing such infested wood products out of the area, but nothing that validates the claims made about the product being available across the country at bargain prices because the state is trying to get rid of all the mulch.

Fortunately, I only forwarded it to one person; my good friend who is also an excellent gardener. I’ve already apologized and let him know that the e-mail was not true and he can safely buy mulch, at whatever price, without worrying about introducing termites into his home.

And now, if you’ve received that e-mail from someone, you know too.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 23, 2006

Orlando Gets A Medical School!

Shortly after 5pm today, the State’s Board of Governors voted to approve the establishment of a medical school at the University of Central Florida. I have to tell you, though I hoped for the approval, I really had serious doubts that it would get the go-ahead. My personal opinion is that this event and the subsequent opening of the medical school will be a positive turning point for the city of Orlando and the entire Central Florida area.

UCF President John Hitt had already taken steps to raise funds ($100 million in pledges and matching state funds) as well as securing an excellent location for the medical school in anticipation of the Board’s approval. The Tavistock Group has pledged 50 acres of land at Lake Nona for the placement of the medical school. Lake Nona is near Orlando International Airport and has hundreds of undeveloped acres available for the kind of bio-medical labs and testing centers that will naturally grow out of the medical school. This is the kind of development that will benefit the region for decades in so many different ways.

Economically, this will be the “broadening” factor that our area has needed for quite some time. Anyone who was here after 9/11 knows that our one-horse economy of tourism took a very bad hit. Theme park attendance dropped, hotel reservations plummeted and tax revenue gained from tourists disappeared. We watched unemployment soar and wondered if tourism would ever rise to the levels it had been before the terrorist attacks. Fortunately they have, but we all know that another incident like 9/11 or even a quarantine because of avian flu will mean a repeat of that economic disaster. A consultant’s study shows that the medical school will add approximately 6,500 jobs, increase tax revenues by $81 million and generate $1.4 billion in increased revenue. UCF’s medical school and its natural outgrowth of ancillary businesses and agencies will not only raise our economy, but it will also add balance to that economy. I think it says quite a bit when the largest theme park in the area, Walt Disney World, recognizes the need enough to pledge $1 million to the proposed medical school.

Culturally, I believe we will see a welcome growth in the arts. An increase of highly educated employees (doctors, professors, engineers, etc) will necessitate more and more cultural events because they will be demanded by those moving into the area.

Education, it is hoped, would improve also. Those educated employees will want their children to enjoy a quality education. Some, of course, will opt to place their children in private schools but not all and even those that do will still help the public school system. Tax revenue increases will, hopefully, allow public schools to hire more teachers, purchase better equipment and build more modern school facilities as well as offer more varied curriculums and quality after-school programs.

This is an exciting announcement and an important time for Orlando. Projections are that the medical school may be able to begin accepting students as early as the fall of 2008. A few years after that, the first graduates could be stepping out of those doors and working in the world of medicine.

But what do you think? Is this medical school something you see as a positive for the area, or do you think it won’t be worth the time, effort and money? I hope you’ll leave a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
March 27, 2006

A Day In The Life Around Town Part I

A couple of days ago I drove to a government facility and after presenting my credentials to the federal security officer and being cleared to proceed through the gate, the officer said, “Mr. Man About Town, do you know your back tire is almost flat?”

I didn’t.

Even worse, when I parked and opened the trunk I discovered my spare (one of those silly “donut” tires) was also flat. Fortunately for me, my friend Denise was available to take me and my donut to a nearby gas station so I could fill it with air (75 cents!), return to my car and replace the flat tire with the now-filled donut. She would have done it for nothing, but I treated her to lunch to show my gratitude.

Today was a day full of errands to run and the very first one was to either get that flat tire repaired or buy 2 new ones.

So, by 6:45am I was parked in front of the Tire Kingdom on South Semoran Boulevard by the airport, waiting for them to open at 7am. I was trying to be first in line, but an even earlier bird was already there when I arrived. I’ve been patronizing this location for several years and have bought various tires for various vehicles during that time. I like going there because I always feel like I’m being treated fairly by the staff.

Today was no exception.

After taking care of Mr. “I’ve got to get there first”, they wrote up a work order for my tire and I walked back to the customer lounge to sit and read “Triggerfish Twist”, the novel by Florida author Tim Dorsey, who spoke at the Florida Writer’s Conference in February. I should be finished with it (it’s a pretty fast read) in a couple of days and I’ll write a review of it soon after.

I had inspected the tire myself when I changed it, but could find no hole, damage to the sidewall or leakage around the valve stem, so I pretty much expected they would tell me whatever was wrong with the tire was unrepairable and I would have to buy a replacement. But around 8:10am I was told my car was ready. Turns out I ran over something (nail, piece of metal, etc.) that pierced my tire and then fell out, leaving a hole. They patched it and I was good to go. I was glad because I’m trying to not spend money before my trip to Scotland in 4 1/2 weeks.

Then I jumped on the Beach Line Expressway to head across town to see my friend Kirk, who had asked if I could stop by and help him with a program that was similar to one I used to be quite familiar with. Kirk lives near Universal Studios and I thought I would get there faster on the Expressway than I would by taking Sand Lake Road. Hah! The Beach Line was clogged to a standstill at the first toll booth and a little less than that at the second, but I eventually made it to his house. I was able to offer a small amount of assistance, but since it has been at least 6 years since I used that particular program, I had forgotten a lot of the commands. In spite of my near-uselessness, Kirk gave me a fantastic gift. He had been going through some old things of his and he came across a solid brass belt buckle shaped like the stylized Superman “S” symbol. “I thought of you as soon as I saw it” he said, and then he graciously gave it to me for my collection.

We’d been working on the problem program for a couple of hours and finally decided there was not much more we could do at that point. I was going to continue running my various errands, but Kirk said he was going to pick up his wife Laura for lunch and since Cindy works in the same office I called her and asked if she would like to go to lunch with us. Kirk and I drove to their office in Celebration, picked them up and went to lunch at the Logan’s Roadhouse on 192. The food and service were both excellent, and we spent an enjoyable hour visiting and eating.

This is turning out longer than I expected, so I’ll finish it up tomorrow and tell you about what I found in my Post Office box.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town.
March 28, 2006

A Day In The Life Around Town Part II

After dropping Laura and Cindy off back at their office around 1pm, Kirk and I went our separate ways as well so I could finish some errands. My plan when I awoke in the morning had been to have my list of “things to do” done by this time so I could take care of a few things in my office at home, but when you have the chance to spend some time with good friends, I believe you should certainly avail yourself of that opportunity.

My first stop was the Post Office to check my P.O. Box. I’ve used a Post Office Box for mail delivery for several years in order to receive mail for my businesses and to insure the secure delivery of mail. If I’m out of town I don’t have to worry about having my mail held for my return and I don’t have to be concerned that some joker will steal my mail out of my home mailbox. Plus I can pick up my mail 24/7.

When I opened the box I found the usual assortment of bills, magazines, and “special offers” which are nothing more than the equivalent of snail mail spam and one very special piece of mail. Yes, my passport arrived! In 4 1/2 weeks I’ll be waking up in Alba. No, not Jessica Alba (though she is the 3rd sexiest woman in the world, according to FHM). Alba is the Gaelic name for Scotland, birthplace of golf and a certain Star Trek engineer.

Next, I needed to go to Lowe’s to pick up some supplies for the yard because of what I got this past Saturday (more on that tomorrow). I needed some potting soil, some plant food and a new backyard hose…I thought. Last year I bought one of those “no-kink” hoses for the backyard and that was the biggest waste of money since Katharine Harris recounted our hanging chads and declared Bush the President. That worthless piece of junk (the hose, not Harris) never performed as promised and over the past couple of months had sprung leaks up and down it’s length. When I came home with a new hose and proceeded to remove the “no-kink” hose from the faucet in the backyard so I could trash it, I discovered my old hose hiding behind a storage bin. So I took the brand new hose and stored it in the shed so it will be available if I ever have a “hose” emergency.

Lastly, I needed to restock the larder at the homestead so I stopped in at Publix. Hands down, in my opinion, the best grocery store around. There are 2 Publix stores near me, almost equidistant north and west from my home. I enjoy shopping at either one of them. When I first moved to Orlando I tried other grocery stores but they just can’t compare. One that I went to always had the most awful smell, one made me physically ill almost every time I tried to shop in it, and others were so dirty and/or crowded it was like shopping in the Wal-Mart (I’ll drive the extra few miles to go to Target) near lake Frederica.

Orlando is a great town with just about anything you need within easy driving distance. Including home, which is where I finally returned to late in the afternoon. Even the Man About Town likes to be at home sometimes.

Catch you here tomorrow.

Man About Town

March 29, 2006

Leu Gardens Annual Spring Plant Sale

I happen to enjoy looking at colorful flowers and plants growing in my yard and I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit that. The problem is my enjoyment does not extend to actually knowing much of anything about the flowers, plants and trees.

In fact, I’m pretty much plant-life challenged when it comes to anything but the basest knowledge of trees, flowers, bushes, etc. around me. When I go camping I keep an eye out for poison ivy; when I plant a tree or bush I know to put water and plant food in the hole before placing the plant in it (thanks dad); and I know that they occasionally need to be watered, preferably before the dead, dried up leaves begin to fall off of them. But that’s about it. I have rose bushes in my yard, but I have no idea what kind of roses they are. I have some trees, but I can never keep it straight as far as which are oak, which are pine and which are whatever else they might be. There are colorful flowers blooming around my yard and I love looking at them, but please don’t ask me what they are because I don’t know.

But I know people who do.

Saturday Leu Gardens held their Annual Spring Plant Sale. Kay and Glen were there for a few hours helping The Historical Rose Society man their booth and they always provide good, solid, accurate information on roses. I dragged Cindy along because she knows horticulture too and I brought my little cart to make moving my purchases around a little easier.

The Annual Spring Plant Sale is more than the commerce of crocus. In addition to a multitude of vendors there are plenty of opportunities to get advice on gardening techniques, native plants, soil preparation…just about anything that has to do with the earth and plant life.

Want plants to attract butterflies? They’ve got those. Want plants you can eat? Step right over here. Want plants that are natural repellants to many destructive insects? They have some of those around the corner. You can get plants that love full sun, partial sun or no sun (for all you vampires out there). You can buy tiny little plants in pots that you can carry in your palm, or full grown trees with their roots wrapped and ready to load on your flatbed tractor-trailer.

After a few hours of walking around the grounds of Leu gardens, I trekked out with a cart containing a rose bush, a couple of medium-sized flowering bushes and several smaller plants and flowers, along with a bit of a sunburn. I came home and planted most of them that afternoon. The rest I will plant during the week.

They all look very nice and I’m glad I got them. They make the yard look very pleasant, colorful and attractive.

Just don’t ask me what they are.

More photos from this year’s Annual Spring Plant Sale are at this link.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

March 30, 2006

Radio Shack Closes Orlando Stores

Last week Radio Shack announced they would be closing 480 stores nationwide this year after sales plummeted 62 percent during the last quarter. This announcement came on the heels of last month’s announcement of President and CEO David Edmondson’s resignation following the disclosure that Edmondson had fabricated parts of his resume.

Here in Orlando, Radio Shack has revealed it will close 7 of the 58 stores that are in the greater Orlando area because they are underperforming.

The 7 locations in Orlando that will be closing are:

205 Crockett Blvd.

914 Lee Road

1848 Ridgewood Ave.

600 S.W. 10th St.

1462 W. Granola Blvd.

2164 S. Chickasaw Trail

51 Alafaya Woods Blvd.

There is a Radio Shack about 2 miles away from my home and it is not one of the locations that will be closing, so I guess that for now it has sufficient sales to keep it open. That kind of surprises me because whenever I walk past it I never notice many customers. It’s rare that I even go inside (maybe 5 times in a decade of living near it) and there are a lot of different reasons for that. I was just in there about 2 months ago looking for a voltage converter to take with me to Scotland and England (NEXT MONTH!) and didn’t find one.

That’s one of the reasons I seldom even bother to look for something in Radio Shack; they usually don’t have it. I think that these days they are more of a place for people to buy consumer electronic equipment like cables, connectors, switches and so forth than they are to buy actual products. I very rarely have a need for something like that but I’m sure kids working on their school science projects do well when they need rheostats, thingamabobs and doohickeys.

I’ve also never gotten very good customer service from them. My experience has been that the employees are not very helpful, and that’s not just at the store near me but at other locations too. I went into one near where my mom lives looking for a splitter and when I asked about it the clerk stayed behind the counter and said “They’re over there” and pointed to a wall full of little components. I finally found the splitter on my own.

But the most aggravating practice is the one that really pushed me away from buying anything from Radio Shack years ago and that is requiring a phone number to complete a sale. I don’t even know if they still do it because I haven’t actually purchased anything from them since the time the clerk insisted she needed my phone number or she could not sell me the item I was purchasing. Despite my statement that I did not wish to give Radio Shack my phone number and there was no way that she really needed my number to complete the sale, she refused, saying the register would not process the sale without it. I left the 100 foot roll of coaxial cable lying on the counter and walked out. Since then, except for the visit last month, I only go inside to price things, not to buy. I’ve never found anything to actually be cheaper than I can purchase elsewhere, so I’ve never had to worry about buying anything from them.

Still, there obviously are people who like Radio Shack and if that works for them I say “Fine”. But since they’re having to close so many stores, it looks like there’s just not as many of those people as there used to be.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

March 31, 2006

Weekend Happenings

Ok, having been “spanked” by Carmen in the comments section for not mentioning the Leu Gardens Annual Spring Plant Sale BEFORE it took place, I thought I should mention this weekend’s 17th Annual Spring Fiesta in the Park at Lake Eola.

Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 5pm, approximately 200 artists and crafters will display their works around beautiful Lake Eola. Juried awards will be granted in several categories and all works are available for sale. In addition there will be lots of food and drink, music and an exclusive kids area to help keep the little ones entertained as well.

Although I probably won’t be attending this year’s event, I have been to several in the past and can tell you that if you go you will have a great time. You’ll see some beautiful works of art, enjoy some good food and have fun just relaxing or dancing to the variety of musicians and musical groups performing.

A similar event will be happening on the same days and at the same times in beautiful downtown Celebration on Market Street when the Celebration Spring Art Festival takes place. 120 artists from across the country in a variety of genres will display their work for judging and for sale. Free activities for the children, food and music will add to the enjoyment of the occasion.

If you’re in the mood for a different kind of art, the Central Florida Mineral, Gem & Bead Show will be taking place out at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5 pm each day. Admission is $4.00. Jewelry, beads, minerals, gems and even fossils will be available for purchase. Rock on.

Meanwhile, I’ll be spending a few hours in beautiful Lake Alfred, Florida on Saturday. I’m being taken down there without knowing for sure what I’ll be doing, but if I can I’ll be writing up the event soon.

Sunday night is the Wrestlemania 22 party at Casa de Man About Town. Here’s the card:
WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H

World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio

Mr. McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels (No Holds Barred Match)

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Undertaker vs. Mark Henry (Casket Match)

Edge vs. Mick Foley (Hardcore Match)

United States Champion Chris Benoit vs. JBL

World Tag Team Champions Kane & Big Show vs. Chris Masters & Carlito

Women’s Champion Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James

Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell

Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle (Playboy Pillow Fight)

It will be a night of beer, pizza and half-naked men oiled up and grappling with each other under hot lights. It’s not the Parliament House, it’s Wrestlemania 22.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 1, 2006

Book Review – Triggerfish Twist

Before I get into the book review, did anyone have April Fool’s Day pranks pulled on them? I had one really, really good one pulled on me by Jeremy and Nicole. I can’t go into what it was, but it was a good one that pulled me in completely. Congrats guys!

While reading up on the history of April Fool’s Day I could not help but take note of the way it is observed in Scotland, since in exactly 4 weeks I’ll be sitting in a metal tube full of explosive liquid and a couple of hundred other fools at an altitude of 40,000 feet going 500 miles per hour in the middle of the night en route to that storied land.

“In Scotland, for example, April Fool’s Day is actually celebrated for two days. The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body. It is called Taily Day. The origin of the “kick me” sign can be traced to this observance.”

Ah well, I’m glad then that I’ll be arriving a month after that particular observation.

This past February I attended my first Orlando Writer’s Conference up in Maitland where the featured keynote speaker was Tim Dorsey, a former newspaper reporter and editor who has written eight novels featuring his principle protagonist, Serge Storms, a light-hearted but obsessive serial killer who limits his murders to the same kinds of bad guys we’d all like to “off” once in while. Mr. Dorsey was so funny during his speech that I had to see if his writing was comparable, so I purchased “Triggerfish Twist” from him that evening. Due to having a stack of books in waiting, I did not get to start reading this one until last week.

In “Triggerfish Twist” mild-mannered Jim Davenport, a corporate efficiency consultant, is moved with his wife and children by his company from the Midwest to beautiful, balmy Tampa, Florida and a house on a typical residential grid street named Triggerfish Lane. I thought my neighborhood was weird, but this one has it beat all to pieces. There’s the redneck little league coach across the street who has some real control issues and a rabid pit bull; the house full of college students who do nothing but stay drunk and/or high; Rastafarians who don’t smoke dope; pizza deliverymen who race through the neighborhood; 4 spunky old ladies known as the E-Team (all their first names begin with the letter “E”; an old man who pretends to be the rich head of a large corporation that likes to take test-drives in Rolls-Royces and Ferraris; a speed-snorting landlord who took an infomercial real-estate course and is intent on running any normal homeowners out of the neighborhood by filling his rental houses with the strangest people he can find; and of course, the newest tenants in the neighborhood, Serge Storms and his stripper girlfriend Sharon plus Serge’s coke-addicted crony, Coleman.

Within 320 pages, Dorsey weaves a seemingly complicated tale of multiple threads into a cohesive yet wild ride of a story. Jim loses his job shortly after arriving and accidentally kills a member of the notorious McGraw Brothers Gang. Jim is cleared by the police, but not by the other brothers who are intent on revenge. Jim is also being stalked by a former bank employee who was “downsized” because of a consulting report that wasn’t written by Jim, but has his name on it nonetheless. In the meantime Serge, who has an obsessive knowledge of Florida lore and trivia, poses as a college professor for a semester (even being invited to be the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony) just for fun and systematically, but with a dash of fun and style, murders a whole host of bad people. By the time the climatic finale arrives the laughs and the body count are piled up higher than the SunTrust Center building in downtown Orlando

I know what you’re thinking; a funny serial killer? I had my doubts too before reading but Dorsey does pull it off with a style that is part crazy, part outlandish, part unbelievable and all funny. That being said, Dorsey’s style is like the chocolate dessert I sampled today…much too rich for constant consumption. I liked the story and found it enjoyable and entertaining, but I’ll wait a while before reading another of his books. Otherwise I think I’d make myself sick in a hurry.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 5, 2006

April Is Bursting Out All Over

What a conflicting week so far! There are things I want to write about (like my excursion this past Saturday and some news items involving Orlando, Central Florida and the state) but I have either been busy with other things that cannot wait (like tax preparation) or am in desperate need of a silly thing called sleep. On top of that, I have been trying to prepare for my trip overseas at the end of the month.

Anyway, here’s some activities coming up in the greater Orlando area that you might be interested in.

First Friday – Sultry Spring Series

First Friday concerts at The Mall at Millenia return this Friday, April 7th with the Sultry Spring Series and it moves back outdoors to enjoy the great weather we’ve been experiencing. The concert Series kicks off with Miss Jacqueline Jones and the Jacqueline Jones Band outside the mall’s main entrance. If you’ve never heard Miss Jones, you are in for a treat! If you’ve had the pleasure of one of her performances, then you already know that she’s a great entertainer. She’s a talented singer, dancer and actress who has performed in venues like Atlantic City and Las Vegas, as well as frequent performances here locally. Her music style is a rich mixture of jazz, blues, rhythm and contemporary arrangements that is sure to (if past experience is any indicator) have you swaying, moving and dancing along as she sings.
Food and cocktails are in abundance from The Blue Martini, The Cheesecake Factory, Brio Tuscan Grille, McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, California Pizza Kitchen, Johnny Rockets and Panera Bread. I’ve sampled fare from each one at previous First Friday events (except McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant because I’m not a seafood lover) and the food is delicious. In addition, models from The Maile School will be highlighting great spring fashions that you can, of course, purchase from stores in the mall.

First Friday – Sultry Spring Series begins this Friday, April 7th at 5:30pm outside the main entrance to The Mall at Millenia and ends at 8:30pm. The Mall is located at 4200 Conroy Road, Orlando and can be conveniently accessed from an I-4 interchange at Conroy Road (Exit 78). In addition to plentiful (5,500), free parking spaces around the Mall, convenient valet parking is also available. Daily shopping hours are Monday through Saturday from 10:00am until 9:00pm, and Sunday, Noon until 7:00pm, with many Mall restaurants open through midnight. You can phone the Mall for further information at 407-363-3555.
Poinciana Musical festival and Craft Fair

This Saturday, April 8th from 10am to 4pm, The Poinciana Ladies Club is holding its annual Musical festival and Craft Fair on the grounds of the Poinciana Community Center Complex. Crafters and artisans will be displaying and selling their works (Lumina’s World will be one of the participants) and entertainment will feature local school bands, chorus groups and other musical talent on the large outdoor stage. Admission is free.
Sunday Eola Market and The Orlando Lindy Exchange

This Sunday the weekly Sunday Eola Market will be open from 9am to 3pm with dozens of craft, food and produce vendors. The Market is located in the south Eola area of Lake Eola Park and every week you can find handmade crafts, produce and food at excellent prices. This week, The Orlando Lindy Exchange will be appear at the Market with bands and DJ’s who will play swing, big band and jump blues on the sidewalk adjacent to the market. So head on down, get some great buys at the Market and dance to the music.
And later this month, the The 2006 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival kicks off with the Flower Power Concert Series with shows through June 11th. This is one of my favorite events every year because of the musical artists that appear throughout the Festival. I know Michelle is planning on being there for the first concert of the series featuring Nelson, and I am making my plans to be there for the second concert of the series featuring The Buckinghams, the group I wrote about last year. And unfortunately I’ll miss several of my favorites because I’ll be in Scotland and London. Anyway, for those planning ahead, here is the schedule of groups appearing throughout the Festival (subject to change):

Nelson
April 21-24

The Buckinghams
April 25-27

Gary Puckett
April 28-May 1

Grass Roots Featuring Rob Grill
May 2-4

Paul Revere and The Raiders
May 5-8

The Association
May 9-11

Davy Jones
May 12-15

The Tokens
May 16-18

BJ Thomas
May 19-22

Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals
May 23-25

The Guess Who
May 26-29

Tony Orlando in Concert
May 30-31, June 1

Arlo Guthrie
June 2-5

The Turtles Featuring Flo and Eddie
June 6 & 7

Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone
June 8-11

Spring and Summer are getting in gear and Orlando always has a multitude of things to do.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 6, 2006

The Barn, The Stable and The Backporch – Lake Alfred

LATE BREAKING NEWS! The Man About Town blog feed is back on The Sentinel Entertainment webpage. Thanks to all my little Man About Townamaniacs who wrote, called and picketed to have the feed returned. It’s a little smaller, but it’s there. Thanks again!!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

Saturday morning some family members “kidnapped” me for an excursion to an unknown (to me) destination. All I had been told was that it would take about 5 hours of my time, I should dress casual and the hint was dropped that it might be in or near the town of Lake Alfred in Polk County.

So at 10am they pulled up in my driveway, loaded me into their car, slipped a black hood over my head (ok, not really with the hood) and off we went. While curious as to where we would be going and what we would be doing, I also found it interesting in that, since I did not know where or what, I could not develop any preconceived ideas about the trip or what we would be doing. In a way, it was liberating.

That’s because most of the time I research a destination or activity before I ever visit the location or take part in the activity, and I’m reviewing and preparing in my mind before I ever actually arrive or begin. On this outing, everything was “first impression” fresh and I enjoyed the sensation.

We drove south (well west, actually) on Interstate 4 and then down a county road for a few miles until we reached a crossroads of sorts and the sprawling retail/restaurant/antique conglomerate known as The Barn Antiques, The Stable Gifts & The Backporch Restaurant.

We started in The Barn, a huge “L” shaped portion of the complex filled with antique furniture, books, glassware, tools, metalworks and art. The furniture is separated i n different rooms and sections by it’s composition. For instance, all the antique Pinewood furniture is in on area, all the Oak is in another, all the Mahogany in another and so on. Glassware, metalware, books, art etc. are displayed on or with the various kinds of furniture. I don’t usually frequent antique shops, but it was like looking back on history to see the furniture that was handmade with care and with the intent that it last, the art that was created, the workmanship in the glass and metal pieces…all of it made me feel an admiration for a time so far gone.

Next, it was on to The Stable Gifts, which was several small interconnected buildings that were filled literally to the ceilings with every kind of gift you could want to give. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it appeared as if a bomb had gone off and exploded millions of varieties of gifts big, small and in between all over the walls, floors, ceilings and display cases.

It was time for lunch and we almost got pulled off to the outdoor garden shop first but cooler heads (and hungrier stomachs) prevailed and we stepped into The Backporch Restaurant. There are 2 interior dining rooms and one on the actual covered back porch outdoors. The menu is simple soups, sandwiches, salads, drinks and desserts. You find a seat, fill out a little tick sheet menu with your table’s number on it, turn it in, get your own beverage and shortly the server will deliver your table’s order in a wooden picnic basket. Everything is in disposable dishes, plates, bowls and cups. We chose a table in the second interior dining room which had a view of the outdoor back porch and the pond beyond.

I walked out and took some pictures of the pond and of the snapper turtles and striped bass fighting over bread that a little girl was tossing off of a dock. She was having a lot of fun making the fish and turtles dart around to where she threw the bread and I enjoyed watching her have fun and the fish and turtles while they were feeding.

Finally, it was on to the outdoor garden shop. After walking around the various displays several times I ended up coming home with some flowers, plants and some outdoor decorations, compliments of some generous family members. Thank you guys very much.

If you want to go visit this wonderful place in Lake Alfred, you’ll need to go soon. The complex closes up completely from the last Saturday in May through the first Saturday in October. The stores are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm and The Backporch Restaurant is open those same days from 11am to 3pm. It’s located on County Road 557 in Lake Alfred, about 3 miles south of Interstate 4. From Orlando the drive is approximately one hour and I heartily recommend visiting and spending a few hours.

More pictures are posted on the Man About Town Flickr page.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 11, 2006

Soreback Mountin’

I’m not quite sure what I did or when I did it, but Saturday morning I awoke with a lot of pain in my lower left back. I hobbled around for a while trying to work it out, but to no avail. Unfortunately, I could not lounge about for long as I had Man About Town duties to perform.

First it was down to Poinciana to check out the Poinciana Ladies Club Musical Festival and Craft Fair and say “hi” to Cindy of Lumina’s World, who had a booth and was selling her candle and incense wares. I had not been to Poinciana before (other than driving past it the Saturday before on the way back from Lake Alfred) and was surprised to learn it was the home of Solivita, the housing development that used to be advertised by the late Robert Urich. After I saw the sign, I could not get that jingle they used to sing in the TV commercials out of my head.

Sad to say the event did not have a good turnout. Cindy told me later that she only did $25 in sales and that she saw lots of vendors and exhibitors leaving early when they realized how sparse the turnout was. While I was there I heard someone with a guitar on stage sing a few songs, watched a dance troupe do several routines and listened to a DJ play some music. I was thinking that they may have been able to have a greater turnout if they had been able to use a couple of more professional musical performers to draw people.

After that I went home to lie down for a while, hoping my back pain would ease up. It did, as long as I was lying down. Standing, sitting or walking proved to be uncomfortable, with the level of discomfort increasing the longer I engaged in any of those activities.

Still, I had promised I would drop by a small party that was being held at George and Caroline’s and since I wasn’t completely crippled I went in spite of the pain. I tried a new beer that I cannot remember the name of but which was very, very good. However, I limited myself to one bottle at the beginning of the visit because I knew I was going to go home and take a muscle relaxer and some pain medication for my back. Several of us (George, Caroline, Cindy, Carsten and myself) played a board game they had bought called “Balderdash” which is something like “Trivial Pursuit” except you need an imagination and an ability to bluff instead of useless knowledge. It’s a fun game if you like to think and/or be outlandish, which makes it perfect for barrister George, lol. But seriously we all had fun with it. I only stayed about 2 hours and then went home and back to lying down after taking my gooooood meds.

Spent almost all of Sunday lying on the couch or in bed, the only good part being that I finished reading a bunch of magazines that had been piling up and started reading Bob Morris’ latest book, “Jamaica Me Dead” which I picked up at his book signing at the Orlando Downtown Library a few months back. It’s pretty good so far, and it seems like it will be a “quick read” so hopefully I’ll be reviewing it soon.

Tomorrow: Getting Ready For Scotland.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 12, 2006

Orlando to Scotland

Even though it seems like I should be completely done with preparing for my trip to Scotland (I’ve been getting ready for this trip for months now) and in reality I am almost done (I’d better be since my departure is only 16 days away) there were still a few things I needed to buy or arrange.

So mid-morning Monday, pain in my back or not, I headed out into the wilds of O-town. First stop was the Circuit City on East Colonial near Fashion Square Mall. Although I am taking a digital still camera and an SLR 35mm camera to photograph as much of Scotland and London as I can, I also wanted to videotape quite a bit as well. My trip made the perfect excuse for me to move from an analog video camera to one of the palm-sized digital video cameras so I can create a DVD or two of my travels. I had been looking around for a while, trying to combine features with an affordable price so that I would have a good “starter” camera. I finally settled on this one and Circuit City had it on sale. I picked up an extra battery as well so that I would have plenty of power in between return trips to my lodging each evening. I’ve played with my new toy a little already trying to make sure I’m familiar with it, so I won’t be stumbling around once I’m ready to actually film something I’ll want to keep, and I think I’m going to like it. At least until I upgrade to that Sony model I’ve been eyeballing.

I had skipped breakfast and my stomach was starting to growl, so I thought I’d grab some lunch at the China Jade Buffet Mongolian off of Colonial on Herndon, next to the old AMC theater that now serves as a church. The last time I was there was a few years back with Stewart, whom I haven’t seen in a while. I remember enjoying our lunch very much, unfortunately I can’t say the same about my most recent visit. My tastes in Chinese food are pretty simple; some sweet and sour chicken, some pork fried rice and an eggroll. Most places can get those dishes right without a lot of effort, even in a buffet setting. Sadly, the breading on the chicken was cooked almost to a hard shell while the chicken inside was dry and the sweet and sour sauce was watery. The pork fried rice was also dry but with the added feature of being pretty much tasteless. The eggroll was the only item that was close to what it should have been. I ate two.

Then it was over to the AAA office on Colonial near Orlando Executive Airport to get my International Driving Permit. An IDP is not required in Scotland or England, but one of the tour books I was reading suggested that police might view it as a courtesy to their country if you had one. I’m thinking since it will be my first time driving in a car with the steering wheel on the “wrong” side of the car down the “wrong” side of the road, I can use all the international courtesy points I can get. $20 ($10 for the permit and $10 for the photo) and you’re all set. I just wish the IDP booklet wasn’t wider than my passport case. I can’t figure out why they do that.

So I’m mostly ready for the trip. My checked luggage is about half packed and I have almost everything I’m going to need, I just need to finish packing it all up. I haven’t packed my carry-on yet, but I know what’s going in that. Amber has agreed to “house-sit” for me and take care of the plant and animal life around mi casa.

Here’s where you can help me out. I’m going to blog my trip and I’ve been looking at different sites that are available for that purpose. It’s much easier to use a site that is already set up with what you want as opposed to creating your own. I’ve narrowed it down to two different sites/services and I’d appreciate your input (since you’ll be the ones looking at it every day (I hope). If you would be so kind as to spend a few minutes looking over each of the sites below and then sharing with me your preference, I would be very grateful.

First up is TravelBlog. I like their layout, their navigation, the way they display photos, easy captioning of those photos, etc. The mechanics of uploading and posting are easy to master and use. Readers can subscribe to a feed of the blog and be notified by e-mail or RSS when a new entry is posted and you can comment on entries, just like you can on this blog.

The second site is TravelPod. I’m not as thrilled with their layout, but they offer all of the features that the one above does PLUS the ability to upload video and audio podcasts. That means instead of just reading what I’ve done, you can listen if I upload an audio file, or you can watch a small video clip (provided I learn how to do that) and make the experience even better.

So, like I said, if you would be kind enough to look over each of these services and place your vote for the one you like best, that would be great. I’m kind of “on the fence” about which one to choose, so your input will be very helpful.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 18, 2006

Early Mornings in Orlando

The past two mornings I have been out and about town a little earlier than normal. Not by choice, mind you, because I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. But sometimes circumstances make us move outside our comfort zone.

Monday was, of course, Tax Day. I admit that this year I was slow in preparing my tax return, mostly because I was pretty sure I would be paying rather than receiving a refund. When I finally finished my return Saturday night, it turned out I was still getting a refund, although a very, very small one. I reviewed the return Sunday and it was still a small refund (darn it!). Normally I file electronically, but I could not see paying to do so when my refund was not much more than the cost of filing electronically itself. So I decided I would just mail the return the old-fashioned way.

The only drawback to that is that I knew that post offices around Orlando would be jammed with last-minute filers (what’s wrong with those people, anyway?) and I did not want to wait in long lines or fight the crowds. Fortunately, the post office by the Orlando International Airport on Tradeport Drive opens at 6am, so I dragged myself out of bed and pulled into their parking lot at 6:05am. Unbelievably, Channel 13 News already had a remote truck and crew there broadcasting from the walkway near the entrance, their bright lights illuminating the entire front entry. I walked by, studiously avoiding even looking in their direction, in the hopes that it would discourage them from asking me a question on camera. It worked. Inside, there were already 4 people waiting in line inside at the counter. I could almost feel sorry for the lone clerk on duty, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.

By 6:20am I was walking back out the door to the parking lot, happy and satisfied (though sleepy) that I would not have to be standing in a long line later in the day. The news crew was sitting in their truck, apparently between remote shots since they left the lights and equipment sitting in place. You know, if it had been Mary Nguyen from Channel 9 news, I would have babbled on camera all morning just to stand next to her.

This morning was even earlier. Cindy had a 7am flight to Los Angeles, California and I made the mistake (USE STRIKETHROUGH) had the honor of volunteering to take her to the airport. We arrived, parked my car and stepped into the main terminal at 5:25am. The line for security was almost non-existent, so we walked down to the food court and got some breakfast from Chick-Fil-A. I won’t do that again. The biscuit was so dry it was like eating dust. We were doing our people-watching thing (an airport is a great place to just sit and watch people of all types) through half-lidded eyes when Cindy walked over to look at the security line at 5:45am. She came running back to the table, saying we had to go get in line NOW because it was unbelievably long. In just 20 minutes time the non-existent line had grown to 4 lines that were three-quarters of the way out into the terminal. Fortunately, it was moving fast and by 6:10am I had stayed in line with her for as long as they would let me and I bid her a safe and happy flight.

Driving away from OIA in the pre-dawn darkness, thinking back on the past two mornings and all the fun activities I engaged in, there was but one thought in my mind:

“Tomorrow, I’m sleeping in.”

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 19, 2006

Marla Weech Returns to Orlando Airwaves

This past Monday morning was a happy day at the Man About Town domicile and it’s all because of the glorious return of Marla Weech to my living room. Ok, not just MY living room (darn it), but to the living rooms of anyone in the Central Florida viewing area who tunes to WKMG-Channel 6 for their dose of morning news.

I rarely watch Channel 6 for local news. My top choice is ABC/WFTV Channel 9, followed by Central Florida News 13, then NBC/WESH Channel 2 and finally CBS/WKMG-Channel 6. I prefer Channel 9’s news coverage and style (though I have a natural dislike of Marti Salt just by virtue of the fact that she replaced Marla) to the other local stations’ news broadcasts. In fact, the only reason Channel 13 is even number two on my list is because of their “always on” status and the fact that they tend to re-run a broadcast over and over for several hours so you’re sure to catch up on news within a few minutes. Otherwise, Channel 9 is always my top choice for local news.

But Monday, Channel 6’s morning news broadcast vaulted to my number one position with the return of Magnificent Marla, and she looked fantastic! You may recall my post last September when Marla left WRDQ and how unhappy I was at the time. That despair turned to joy Monday morning when I saw her smiling face looking at me (me! Just me!) from my television set.

As happy as I am to see Ms. Weech back on local scene following her departure as news anchor from Channel 9’s sister station WRDQ-Channel 27 and the end of her 6 month non-compete clause, the circumstances of her return are tinged with sadness. She’s filling the co-anchor seat (with Jacquie Sosa) vacated by Mark McEwen, who suffered a stroke late last year. McEwen is expected to make a full recovery, so right now the assignment for Marla is termed “temporary”, but station management has indicated they’d like to keep her around even after McEwen’s return.

I hope they do.

Here’s a quick update: last week I mentioned a new beer I tried while over at George and Caroline’s for a party, but at the time I couldn’t recall the name. Caroline e-mailed me to let me know the name of the beer is Stella Artois, an import from Belgium that is a lot easier to take than that other Belgium import, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Thanks Caroline! I think I’ve mentioned this before, but in case I haven’t; Caroline holds a special place in my heart because she was the one who suggested “Man About Town” for the name of this blog. A good thing, otherwise I’d be nameless.
Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
April 20, 2006

Free Ticket to Universal Studios

Last week, Universal Studios announced another promotional push (the first was the “Children 9 and under get in free” deal announced in January and which is still in effect) to shore up sagging attendance at the park, which is down 11 percent from last year. But this promotion is aimed squarely at residents of the Sunshine State and the Man About Town was fortunate enough to have received one in his mailbox this past Monday.

Universal is sending out mailers containing one FREE ticket for one day of admission to both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and a voucher for up to six more people to get in at the discounted rate of $35 each when they accompany the person with the free ticket. The normal price of a one-day, two-park pass to Universal Studios is $63 for Florida residents, a hefty savings of approximately 45 percent.

When I heard about it last week I thought, “Well, I won’t be lucky enough to get one of those mailings” and I put it out of my mind. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my mailbox and found a mailer addressed to me. Unlike the January promotion, which I can’t use because I have no children under the age of 9 to get in for free, this is one I can take advantage of and enjoy. Universal is counting on the natural inclination of people to share the theme park experience with others in order to get guests to make use of the 6 person voucher and the discounted price. While I definitely enjoy a visit with friends or family, I can also enjoy it solo without a problem. However, I already have one person who has said they want to go and I’m expecting some more to do the same when they find out I have the discounted voucher.

But this is also an excellent marketing shot because it is aimed at Floridians, a demographic that is, at the most, within a 4-5 hour drive of Universal Studios. Plus, with gas bumping up around the $3 a gallon price, a nearby attraction that saves you money in travel combined with the free ticket and discounted vouchers make this a win-win for the park and the guest.

In addition to possibly pulling in people that rarely or never visit Universal, the park knows that chances are anyone, even the person using the free ticket, is going to purchase, food, drinks and souvenirs while visiting. Those of us who frequent the area theme parks already know how much those prices are marked up for profit.

The offer has a limited availability and is only valid through June 26, 2006, which means I’ll be using it soon after my return from Scotland and London. The last time I was at Universal was in October for Halloween Horror Nights, so I’m due for another visit soon and this will work out nicely schedule-wise and of course, money-wise.

I’m interested in learning if any of you received the free ticket and vouchers too. If you did, I hope you’ll leave a comment below letting us know.

If you didn’t get the mailing and you’re interested in going to Universal Studios, leave a comment. So far I have 5 open spots (you’ll have to pay your own $35, of course) and if other friends and family don’t want to go then maybe you can join me when I make my trip.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

April 23, 2006

Nelson in Concert

This past Friday kicked off the annual EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. An integral part of the Festival each year is the Flower Power Concert Series that features musicians from the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s performing their hit songs. You can check out the entire concert schedule at this post.

Amber and I went out Friday to hear Nelson, the twin brother sons of the late Ricky Nelson, who were the lead off performers of the concert series, and to enjoy a little of the Flower Festival, some food and EPCOT itself. We arrived at 5:00pm, just 45 minutes before the first performance was scheduled. We took some pictures of the shaped topiary figures recalling great Disney characters like Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Stitch, Bambi and Thumper (I loved the rabbit the very first time I saw him as a child), Lady and the Tramp, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and many, many others.

It was starting to rain when we arrived, but fortunately we had brought our umbrellas. We made our way through Future World and halfway around the World Showcase to the America Gardens Theater where they would be performing. VIP seating was in effect and we weren’t VIP’s so we didn’t get to sit under the covered section of the theater. We were fortunate enough to get to the first row of seats in the uncovered section and close to the middle, which made it easier shooting photos of the concert. Amber held the umbrella over us despite the sometimes hard rain and gusts of wind that threatened to pull it out of her grasp. She kept me and more importantly my camera dry.

Nelson appeared on stage right on time. Matthew and Gunnar look very different these days, compared to the look they sported when they had their number one hits back in the early 90′s. Then it was very long white blonde hair down to their backs. Today Gunnar’s is very short and Matthew’s is just long enough to give him the tousled look. And I believe the reason they get invited to the Flower Power Concert Series is that these days they perform a lot of their late father’s hit songs.

They opened with “Stood Up”, a number two hit from their father in 1958, went into “Waitin’ in School” and then after introducing the band members did a great version of “Poor Little Fool”, followed by “Travelin’ Man” and then my favorite Ricky Nelson song “Hello Mary Lou”. Finally they asked the audience if they wanted to hear one of their songs and after a rousing response they gave us a fantastic extended performance of their 1990 hit “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection”. As a show-closer they covered their dad’s best-selling song of all time, “Garden Party” from 1972.

And then like that, the show was over. These performances are only 30-45 minutes in length, since they do 3 of them a day. We toyed with the idea of eating dinner at The Liberty Inn across from the theater and catching the 7pm performance, but the restaurant was way too crowded. Instead we took the ferry back to the entrance of the World Showcase and walked back to find that the Fountain View Cafe was closed and the Electric Umbrella has a huge line of people outside waiting to get in. We walked on over to The Land Pavilion to see how long the wait was for Soarin’ (80 minutes!) and decided to just eat at Seasons inside The Land.

The wait was still 80 minutes when we got done eating so we just left, walked around the art and rose showcase area taking pictures and finally left EPCOT around 7:45pm.

If you like flowers, plants or Oldies music, you should make plans to go to the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival and Flower Power Concert Series sometime before the program ends on June 11th.

I should have the best of the photos posted to Flickr soon.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

April 24, 2006

Happy First Anniversary

Today, April 24, 2006, is a very ostentatious day here at Casa de Man About Town. It was one year ago, on April 24, 2005, that the very first Man About Town Blog appeared on the World Wide Web for all the people of earth (and any extra-terrestrials who might be monitoring with a more benign intention than the NSA) to read and interact with, should they choose.

In the interest of reviewing this day a year ago, I dragged out the musty old digital file and blew the dust off before carefully opening the bits and bytes of that first post. I was curious if I had even come close to accomplishing what I had written regarding my intentions for this blog when it began a year ago. After a few sneezes and self-directed “Gesundheits!” this is what I read:

Blogs are, by their very nature, personal creations that reflect the views, attitudes and experiences of the person posting to them. In that regard this blog will be no different; I’ll be writing about topics, events, entertainment, restaurants, etc. from my point of view. But, I also want to engage you, the citizens of Orlando and surrounding areas, in this blog as well. Agree? Disagree? Have a better idea or an opposing point of view? Want to share an experience that was different than mine? Have a place you’d like to recommend? Whatever category you fall into, I want to hear from you.

As to the “style” of writing for this blog, well that usually depends on the subject matter. Sometimes it will be deadly serious, sometimes it will be humorous, sometimes it will be irreverent, sometimes it will be sarcastic. Mostly I plan for it to be fun, for me and for you.

Hmmm, well I think I’ve done that. I’ve discussed issues occasionally, written about events, either upcoming or ones I’ve taken part in, reviewed some fine (and not so fine) restaurants, described entertainment (musical, stage, comedy, movies) and entertainment venues, and discoursed on rather mundane and everyday matters. I know I’ve had fun writing, you’ll be the ultimate judge as to whether you’ve had fun reading.

And I’m happy to say that in a year of comments on various posts, you’ve covered the gamut of agreeing, disagreeing, having better ideas or opposing points of views and that not once in that year has it been necessary to delete anyone’s comment. In one of my previous lives someone said, “Everyone can teach you something, even if it’s only what NOT to do” and I’ve seen that truth borne out in some of the comments that were posted, but I’m proud to point out that I’ve never stooped so low as to deny someone the opportunity to express themselves in a civil manner, no matter how much we may disagree on a given subject. In discussions with my late grandfather when we would come to a point of disagreement, or if I was just saying something foolish in my youthful way of thinking, he would say to me, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” That missive, often mistakenly attributed to Voltaire when in actuality it is more a summation of Voltaire’s philosophy, impressed me and stuck with me. It is one of the many things I fondly remember about my grandfather. I’ve always tried to live by it.

So here we are, a year later, blowing out the candles on the cake and remembering what it was like in the beginning of this part of the journey. I recall how I thought someone was playing a joke on me when they asked if I was interested in writing for them and getting paid for it! After they convinced me they were serious, I wondered if this would last more than 3 months, while at the same time hoping it would last at least a year. On July 24, 2005 that wonder was ended and today that hope is filled.

To those of you who have been on this ride since the beginning, thank you for sticking around to see what happens. To those who joined at some point later, thanks for looking in and deciding to join the fun. I hope everyone will hang on to see, with me, what comes next.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town.

April 25, 2006

I-Drive, Uno’s and Ben & Jerry’s

I’m trying to make sure I see some friends I haven’t seen in a while, just in case my plane goes down on the upcoming trip (only THREE days away!).

So tonight I grabbed Cindy and we met our friends Kirk & Laura and Laura’s parents, Russell & Royda who are visiting from Michigan, at Uno’s on International Drive. I’ll say this for our beloved I-Drive; If you can’t find it on I-Drive, you don’t need it. What used to be a street of mostly hotels and some restaurants is now chock full of stores of every type, tons of restaurants offering every kind of food, mini-attractions like Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, WonderWorks and various places offering mini-golf, go-cart racing and skateboarding.

I noticed the former FAO Schwarz Toy store at Pointe Orlando is now The Capital Grille, an eatery I’ll definitely have to try when I return from my trip.

We met up at 6:30 and ordered our food. It was good to see our Michigan friends, since the last time we spent time together was in December. Everyone was looking good, especially Kirk who was sporting his new eyewear which gave him a definite “Bono” look. We talked about everything under the sun for about an hour and a half, long after we had finished off our food. I always enjoy going to Uno’s and having my favorite dish, the individual sized four-cheese pizza. It’s always cooked just right (even the crust which somehow manages to be flaky and crispy), has the tastiest combination of cheeses and is spiced just right. Our server was Sarah and she was excellent. It was slow enough that even the manager dropped by to see how we were. I’m joking about that last part; every time I go to any Uno’s, the manager stops by. They’re very good about that.

For dessert, we went down International Drive to Hawaiian Rumble Adventure Golf. This mini-golf center has two 18-hole courses plus a gift shop, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store and a bar. It was the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Store we were interested in as today was “Free Cone or Cup Day” at participating stores around the country. I got Phish Food (which is number 7 in the top 10 list) in a waffle cone. Man is that stuff good!

We sat on the outdoor patio enjoying our ice cream and talking about the upcoming hurricane season and tax-free holiday for hurricane supplies and the dangers of coastal housing. I’ll be covering a couple of those topics in future posts.

It was a great evening spent with friends and I’ll be doing it again Wednesday night with ZenGrrl, who is back in town for a few days. I’m going to help her grade some of her late mother’s comic books that she plans to sell on eBay.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town.

May 2, 2006

Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge Fundraiser

When it comes to helping wildlife that has been injured, abused, abandoned or disabled, there is an organization in East Orlando that practices the “4 R’s” of

Rescue

Raise

Rehabilitate and

Release

some 1,500 to 2,000 times a year. Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge was founded approximately 25 years ago by Carmen Shaw, Curator and is the largest wildlife refuge in the Central Florida area. The goal of the refuge is to rehabilitate injured or orphaned animals for release back into the wild and they take all “critters” except common household pets like cats and dogs. An average year will see some 1,500 to 2,000 different animals come through their gated sanctuary and be returned to the animal’s normal environment. Though their goal is to release all the animals that come to them back to the wild, there are some that, for various reasons, will have no choice but to live out their lives under the care of the Refuge’s dedicated staff of volunteers.

Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge exists solely with the help of those volunteers and with the generous donations of animal lovers who have loyally supported the Refuge with financial and material donations. In an effort to help bolster those needed donations, supporters are again sponsoring the Annual Earth Day and baby Critter Shower this Saturday, May 6th for 3pm to 8pm.

There will be activities for children, food, raffle prizes and much, much more and admission is totally FREE!

Donations are the lifeblood of the Refuge, both monetary and of needed items. Donations are tax deductible. Here is a partial list of items that are needed: Clean used towels, sheets, blankets, T-shirts, heating pads, stuffed animals, bleach, dish detergent, paper towels, bird seed, dry or canned dog or cat food, raisins, cracked corn, pet carriers, cages, hand tools, yard tools, jarred baby food, 45+ gallon trash bags and gallon sized Ziploc bags. You can also help by purchasing some of the Refuge’s clothing items and of course more than anything else, monetary donations will greatly help them to provide medicines and medical equipment needed by injured or mistreated wildlife.

The Back To Nature Wildlife Refuge is located at 18515 East Colonial Drive in Orlando, about 5 miles from the 408 Expressway overpass on the left (North) side of East Colonial Drive next to Maxim Crane. The Refuge is open 7 days a week from 9am to 4pm except for New Year’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas when it is closed for those holidays. Admission is free, but donations are always welcome and guided tours for groups of 10 or more are available for a requested donation of $3.00 per person. The Refuge makes special appearances at various venues (invite them to your next event). For more information about the 14th Annual Earth Day and baby Critter Shower or any of the Refuge events, call 407.568.5138.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
May 5, 2006

Downtown O-Town to Get Free Wi-Fi

After discontinuing a limited (3 square blocks or so) free Wi-fi service last June because of dismal usage, the City of Orlando is preparing to launch free Wi-fi again by the end of the year, but this time in a larger 9 square mile area and with the option to pay for higher speeds than are available with the free version.

Sometime this month, installation will begin of the hardware needed throughout the area bordered by Gore and Princeton Street and Summerlin Avenue and Westmoreland Drive. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2006. For residents in that area, as well as visitors, this means free Internet access 24/7, whether you’re in your downtown condo, the lobby of a office building or out in Eola Park enjoying the fresh air.

However, the free Wi-Fi will not be at broadband speeds. Officials are vague about the speed of the free service portion (“at least two times faster than dial-up”) and even moreso (they’re not releasing any figures yet at all) about what the price will be for the true broadband service. From my experience, dial-up speed is abysmal, so the free access the city will be offering will at least be half as abysmal.

Fortunately there are still restaurants, bookstores and coffee shops with free broadband access available. And, if you’re the type to go this route, there are even personal (and some business), unsecured high-speed signals around the downtown area that you can piggy-back onto. The last time I was down at Lake Eola with my laptop I scanned what was available just out of curiosity. I counted 23 unsecured signals broadcasting just in the area near Central and Washington. There were business and personal signals, and this was on a Sunday.

Twice as fast as dial-up is better than nothing and better than dial-up, but I hope that the city reconsiders and ups the free speed some more or at least keeps the price for broadband speed at a reasonable rate.
Mickey Gets a Makeover

Everyone else is getting makeovers these days, so I guess it’s inevitable that the venerable Disney icon, Mickey Mouse would also undergo a change.

Because of a new cartoon series produced by the Disney Channel, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Daisy will all get a “new” look thanks to computer animation with a 3-D effect. The CGI will allow the characters to look “more real” with the biggest change being that, for Mickey and Minnie, no matter which way they turn their ears will look round.

This isn’t the first change for the Mouse. When he was first created by Walt Disney in 1928 he was black and white, looked more akin to a rat than a mouse, and was known not as Mickey Mouse but as Steamboat Willie. Through the years he’s had that name change and his looks have softened and become more friendly looking to children and adults. Even those afraid of mice have no fear of walking up and shaking Mickey’s paw…I mean gloved hand.

So congrats to the Mouse on his new look. Just watch out for any 3-D cheese, buddy.
May 25, 2006

Movie Review – The DaVinci Code

Man About Town is back in town after 14 days in Scotland and 4 days in London and though I had a great time jet-setting around the world, it was nice to be back in O-town and in my own home.

Now, if you’re a regular reader you know that I was anticipating the opening of “The DaVinci Code” theatrical version of Dan Brown’s runaway best seller (60 million copies sold in the past 3 years), although I had some trepidation about the main premise being watered down due to the studio caving in to protests from Catholics.

In fact, I was so looking forward to the movie that, because it has been 3 years since I read the book, I bought the paperback version that just came out to take with me and read during my travels through the UK so I would be refreshed on all the details of the story before watching the movie version.

That may have been a mistake.

Friday night, Amber, Rachel, Amy, Cindy and I met at the Cinemark at Festival Bay for the 7pm showing. I was expecting a long line so we arrived to buy our tickets at 6:15, but the girl at the ticket window told us they still had 348 unsold seats for the 7pm show and when I looked inside there were only a dozen people lined up in front of the theater door. Since we had a little extra time we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the A & W/Long John Silver’s combo restaurant about 100 feet away from the theater inside the mall.

We returned about 6:40 to find no one in line so we went in and were able to get good middle seats about 3 rows up. There weren’t more than 25 people in seats, but I thoroughly expected that to change by the time 7pm rolled around. However by the time the film started the theater was still less than half full. and I began wondering if either the protests or the bad reviews that came out Friday morning OR a combination of the 2 were keeping people from attending opening night.

After the lights went down completely following the previews, I settled into my seat, ready to enjoy an excellent movie.

That was not to be.

I was truly disappointed with the movie’s execution (no pun intended) of the story. The pacing was, unlike the novel, slow and ponderous. That’s not good in a 90 or 100 minute movie and it’s even worse in a 2 1/2 hour behemoth like this that seems to drag on and on, even when you know (or think you know) the ending.

Performances were lacking in almost all aspects with the exception of Paul Bettany’s dead-on portrayal of Silas, the homicidal albino monk and any scene that Ian McKellen inhabited. Even though Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors, he just did not bring out the Robert Langdon personality I found in the novel. After thinking about it, I recalled that a great deal of WHO RObert Langdon is in the novel is accomplished by narrative means, both in unspoken thoughts of Langdon and in expositional narrative. Ron Howard seems not to have addressed either instance in what he put forth on the screen and Tom Hanks did not bring any of it to his performance.

All in all, for me, it was a pretty forgettable movie. Bland, boring, and lacking any qualities that would make it a movie I would ever care to see again. Aside from the excitement of seeing scenes shot in London (like The Temple Church with its Templar Knight effigies lying on the floor) where I had just been 5 days earlier, this was 150 minutes of “ho hum” movie watching.

It has been pointed out to me that people who had not read the book (like Amber) or who had not read it since it came out 3 years ago (like Cindy) seemed to enjoy the movie much more than those who were more familiar with the story. I suppose there may be something to that theory, but I don’t think that is the case with me personally. Yes, as Cindy complained after I whispered about a difference between the book and movie for the 10th time, I was very aware of those differences. But I am also very aware that movies are always different from the books they are based upon and am prepared for that when I view such a production. My displeasure was based on more than changes that were made to make parts of the story work better on the screen.

Because it had a built-in audience due to the popularity of the novel (and possibly because the Catholic church’s call for a boycott gained it additional attention), the movie opened to a more than respectable first weekend box office of $77 million (I’m going to assume my half full theater was an anomaly) to clinch the number one ranking. But with the less than flattering reviews combined with unhappy word of mouth reviews I seriously doubt it will be much higher than 4 or 3 this coming weekend.

Did you see the movie? If so, what did you think of it? Let Orlando know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

May 26, 2006

Memorial Day Weekend Activities

If you’re not leaving town for the long Memorial Day weekend, there are plenty of events and activities going on in O-town to keep you busy until Monday night.

X-Men: The Last Stand

This third and presumably last mutant movie based on the Marvel Comics supergroup opens today. The basic plot premise is that a cure is developed for the mutant gene and sides are taken in the mutant community over whether to remain unique but distrusted or be “cured” and become “normal”. You can see the obvious parallels in the real world as far as race and sexual preferences are concerned. I enjoyed the first movie and liked the second one even more, but those were both under the able directorship of Bryan Singer, who jumped ship on this third movie to go direct what will probably be the 2006 Summer blockbuster when it opens June 30th, Superman Returns. X-Men: The Last Stand is instead directed by Brett Ratner whose previous notable credits include the “Rush Hour” franchise of films and “Red Dragon”. Still, with a cast of regulars like Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Famke Jansen, Halle Berry and Anna Paquin and new additions like Kelsey Grammar, it’s probably very difficult to go wrong enough to derail the juggernaut of X-Men success. Expect to see this movie knock “The DaVinci Code” out of the top spot it opened at last weekend.

Zellwood Sweet Corn Festival

The 33rd Annual Zellwood Sweet Corn Festival opens at 11am today and the fun doesn’t stop until 10pm Saturday night at the festival grounds in Zellwood. This popular annual event will feature arts and crafts, carnival rides for all ages, and, as usual, all of the Zellwood Sweet Corn you can buy and eat. There will be a corn-eating contest, a corn-shucking contest, motorcycle show and many more activities during the 2-day event. Live entertainment features performances by recording artists Terri Clark, Neal McCoy and Jim Van Fleet. Tickets are $25 at the gate for adults with children under 12 getting in free when accompanied by a paying adult. Parking is also free. Yee Haw!!

15th Annual Orlando International Fringe Festival

If you’re in the mood for a cultural instead of corn festival, then the 15th Annual Orlando International Fringe Festival, which continues through Monday, May 29th, is the place for you. My one regret about my recent trip to Edinburgh, Scotland was that it didn’t coincide with the opening of the Fringe Festival there, which had it’s origin in that city over 50 years ago and continues to this day. It would have been a real kick to attend the event that inspired O-town’s own fabulous Fringe Festival. Details about upcoming performances, show, activities and events along with admission prices (some events are FREE!) can be found here.

13th Annual Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

If corn and cultural festivals aren’t your cup of tea, then perhaps the 13th Annual Epcot Flower & Garden Festival will fill the bill. In addition to beautiful flowers and gardening workshops, live entertainment by legendary musicians continues until the end of the festival on June 11th with the Flower Power concerts at the America Gardens Theatre at 5:45, 7:00 and 8:15pm each day. Admission to the concerts is included with regular Epcot admission. Here’s the entertainment line-up for the remainder of the festival:

May 26-29 — The Guess Who
May 30-June 1 — Tony Orlando in Concert
June 2-5 — Arlo Guthrie
June 6-7 — The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddie
June 8-11 — Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone

Star Wars Weekends

Not far from EPCOT are the Disney-MGM Studios where Star Wars Weekends are being observed through June 11th. If you’re a Star Wars fan (and even if you’re not) this is a great chance to see some of your favorite actors, behind the scenes professionals and more fellow-fans than you can shake a lightsaber at during the remaining 3 weekends of festivities and guest appearances. Admission to the events is included with regular Disney-MGM Studios admission. Here’s the line-up for the rest of the celebration:

May 26-28, 2006

Jake Lloyd — young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Matt Wood — voice of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the Supervising Sound Editor for Skywalker Sound

June 2-4, 2006

Jay Laga’aia — Captain Typho, Senator Amidala’s head of security in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

June 9-11, 2006

Jeremy Bulloch — Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy
Temuera Morrison — Jango Fett, the dangerous bounty hunter in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Toxic Audio

Their catchphrase is “Exploring the Boundaries of the Human Voice” and that is something this á cappella 5-member theatrical mixed vocal band has been doing since their debut at the 1998 Orlando International Fringe Festival. Toxic Audio combines popular and original songs, musical improvisation, and comedic sound effects in their high energy performances without the use of a single musical instrument. They are returning to O-town with performances tonight and Saturday night at CityJazz at Universal CityWalk. There are two shows scheduled each night at 7:30pm & 9:30pm. Tickets are $19 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster or through Guest Services at CityWalk.

Plus there are plenty of other things happening over the weekend like the Jazz Jams Uptown, American Idol Bo Bice at Hard Rock Live and Sanford’s Memorial Day Parade & Remembrance Ceremony.

On Monday, if you do nothing else, just take a moment to stop and remember the men and women who have given their lives in service to America. They deserve our honor and respect for the sacrifice they and their families have made.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, be safe, drive carefully and enjoy the holiday.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

May 27, 2006

FREE Summer Movies

It’s not even June yet and the temperatures here in Central Florida are already bumping up close to 90 degrees each day. It would be nice to get out of the house, if you had someplace to go that was air conditioned. Plus, the kids are out of school now and if you’re a stay-at-home parent it would be great to have something they could do that was both out of the heat and entertaining.

Two movie chains, Regal Cinemas and AMC Theaters, are offering free movies for kids and adults over the summer and though none of the movies are first-run there are still some very entertaining films showing at theaters all across Central Florida. Regal Cinemas are offering movies on selected Tuesdays and Wednesdays and AMC Theaters are doing the same thing on select Wednesdays.

Here are the Regal Cinemas in the area that are participating in the Free Family Film Festival and the dates and titles of the movies they are offering at 10am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays:

The Loop Stadium 16
3232 N. John Young Parkway
Kissimmee, Florida
407-343-0405

06/06-06/07
Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (G)
Shrek 2 (PG)

06/13-06/14
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (G)
Madagascar (PG)

06/20-06/21
Rugrats In Paris The Movie (G)
Kicking & Screaming (PG)

06/27-06/28
Wallace & Gromit (G)
Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events (PG)

07/04-07/05
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
Spongebob Squarepants (PG)

07/11-07/12
Polar Express (G)
Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (PG)

07/18-07/19
Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Yours, Mine & Ours (PG)

07/25-07/26
Babe: Pig In The City (G)
Robots (PG)

08/01-08/02
March Of The Penguins (G)
Shrek (PG)

Waterford Stadium 20
541 North Alafaya Trail
Orlando, Florida
407-207-9110

06/06-06/07
Rugrats In Paris The Movie (G)
Yours, Mine & Ours (PG)

06/13-06/14
Wallace & Gromit (G)
Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (PG)

06/20-06/21
Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Kicking & Screaming (PG)

06/27-06/28
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (G)
Spongebob Squarepants (PG)

07/04-07/05
Babe: Pig In The City (G)
Shrek (PG)

07/11-07/12
Polar Express (G)
Shrek 2 (PG)

07/18-07/19
March Of The Penguins (G)
Madagascar (PG)

07/25-07/26
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
Robots (PG)

08/01-08/02
Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (G)
Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events (PG)
Oviedo Stadium 22
1500 Oviedo Marketplace Blvd
Oviedo, Florida

06/06-06/07
Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (G)
Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events (PG)

06/13-06/14
Rugrats In Paris The Movie (G)
Yours, Mine & Ours (PG)

06/20-06/21
Wallace & Gromit (G)
Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (PG)

06/27-06/28
Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Kicking & Screaming (PG)

07/04-07/05
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (G)
Spongebob Squarepants (PG)

07/11-07/12
Babe: Pig In The City (G)
Shrek (PG)

07/18-07/19
Polar Express (G)
Shrek 2 (PG)

07/25-07/26
March Of The Penguins (G)
Madagascar (PG)

08/01-08/02
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
Robots (PG)
Winter Park Stadium 20
510 North Orlando Ave
Winter Park, Florida
407-628-0035

06/06-06/07
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
Robots (PG)

06/13-06/14
Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (G)
Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events (PG)

06/20-06/21
Rugrats In Paris The Movie (G)
Yours, Mine & Ours (PG)

06/27-06/28
Wallace & Gromit (G)
Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (PG)

07/04-07/05
Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Kicking & Screaming (PG)

07/11-07/12
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (G)
Spongebob Squarepants (PG)

07/18-07/19
Babe: Pig In The City (G)
Shrek (PG)

07/25-07/26
Polar Express (G)
Shrek 2 (PG)

08/01-08/02
March Of The Penguins (G)
Madagascar (PG)

Wekiva Riverwalk 8
2141 North Semoran Blvd
Apopka. Florida
407-884-8080

06/06-06/07
Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (G)
Shrek 2 (PG)

06/13-06/14
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (G)
Madagascar (PG)

06/20-06/21
Rugrats In Paris The Movie (G)
Kicking & Screaming (PG)

06/27-06/28
Wallace & Gromit (G)
Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events (PG)

07/04-07/05
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
Spongebob Squarepants (PG)

07/11-07/12
Polar Express (G)
Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story (PG)

07/18-07/19
Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Yours, Mine & Ours (PG)

07/25-07/26
Babe: Pig In The City (G)
Robots (PG)

08/01-08/02
March Of The Penguins (G)
Shrek (PG)
Here are the AMC Theaters in the area that are participating in the Summer MovieCamp and the dates and titles of the movies they are offering at 10:30am on Wednesdays:

Pleasure Island 24
1500 Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Located in Downtown Disney
407-827-1308

Wed, Jun. 21, 2006 10:30 AM
Madagascar – PG

Wed, Jun. 28, 2006 10:30 AM
Shark Tale – PG

Wed, Jul. 05, 2006 10:30 AM
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – PG

Wed, Jul. 12, 2006 10:30 AM
March of the Penguins – G

Wed, Jul. 19, 2006 10:30 AM
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The – PG

Wed, Jul. 26, 2006 10:30 AM
Shrek 2 – PG

Wed, Aug. 02, 2006 10:30 AM
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed – PG

Wed, Aug. 09, 2006 10:30 AM
Racing Stripes – PG
West Oaks 14
9415 West Colonial Dr.
Ocoee, Florida
West Oaks Mall, Hwy 50 W.
407-290-1265

Wed, Jun. 21, 2006 10:30 AM
Madagascar – PG

Wed, Jun. 28, 2006 10:30 AM
Shark Tale – PG

Wed, Jul. 05, 2006 10:30 AM
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – PG

Wed, Jul. 12, 2006 10:30 AM
March of the Penguins – G

Wed, Jul. 19, 2006 10:30 AM
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The – PG

Wed, Jul. 26, 2006 10:30 AM
Shrek 2 – PG

Wed, Aug. 02, 2006 10:30 AM
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed – PG

Wed, Aug. 09, 2006 10:30 AM
Racing Stripes – PG
There’s a couple in there I’d like to see again myself. If there’s not a theater near you, perhaps a group of folks could get together and carpool to the nearest theater; stay-at-home parents or friends who want to sit in an air-conditioned building and watch an enjoyable movie together.

If you know about other chains or independent theaters that are offering a similar program over the summer, please let O-town know by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

May 28, 2006

Movie Review – X-Men: The Last Stand
I mentioned in my review of “The DaVinci Code” earlier this week that the movie had a built-in audience, which helped it have a good opening weekend (despite lukewarm to bad reviews from critics). “X-Men: The Last Stand” finds itself in the same position; the previous two X-Men films have been crowd pleasers and high grossing projects for the studio, which virtually guarantees the same for this outing of “x”-traordinary superheroes. In fact the movie has already had an amazing (though not record-breaking) opening 24 hour gross of $44 million!

Saturday afternoon Cindy and I (I had to make it up to her for talking during the last movie we went to) went to the Premiere Cinema at Fashion Square Mall to catch the 12:30pm showing of Professor X and his merry mutant misfits. On a side note, this multiplex cinema isn’t that old and already the theater we were in smelled of an unpleasant odor, as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a few days I would have thought being in a mall and being a newer operation that management and staff would be more attentive to keeping the theaters in better condition.

We got our seats about 15 minutes before show time and by the time the previews started the theater was about 3/4 full. I watched with trepidation as a group of noisy pre-teens came in and got seats, but thankfully they were quiet during the movie.

The major story plot is that 10 years earlier the head of a major pharmaceutical corporation discovered that his teenage son was a mutant and now in present-day comic-book land his company has developed and released the “permanent cure” for the mutant gene. This cure causes a division within the mutant community between those who embrace it and those who do not, with Professor Xavier and Magneto (who I WISH would get a helmet like the one in the comic books and lose that silly looking one he continues to wear) representing each opposing faction. This would have been more than enough subject matter to work with for the length of the movie, but unfortunately the decision was made to also conclude the quasi-”Dark Phoenix” (though I don’t believe I ever heard her actually referred to that way in the movie) saga that was begun in the last movie. If you’ve read the comic books that were used as a very loose basis for that storyline, then you know that there was a whole heck of a lot more involved than we ever see in the movie treatment. Personally I would have preferred to see that presented as an entire movie all on its own. As it was, there was just way too much to try and cover adequately and fairly in the less than 2 hours of screen time this film was allotted.

That criticism and the somewhat choppy progress of the story aside, I enjoyed this movie almost as much as the previous two films. There is no lack of action, which is (or should be) a hallmark of any superhero comic book and/or movie. Characters pretty much stayed true to what we’ve known about them from the comic books and the prior films, though this is not really a character driven movie. I was very glad to finally see the inclusion of Beast (portrayed fabulously by Kelsey Grammer, even using the “Oh my stars and garters” line that the comic-cook character is famous for) and Angel, thus bringing all the original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and Beast) together in one movie.

Fun moments in the movie include cameos by Stan “The Man” Lee, the former editor and publisher of Marvel Comics, and Chris Claremont, who penned the original “Dark Phoenix” storyline two decades ago in the comic book (back when there was just ONE X-Men comic book instead of a dozen) during the “young Jean Grey’s neighborhood” scenes. All that was missing was for artist John Byrne, who illustrated those same “Dark Phoenix” comics. to appear as well.

Also interesting to watch was the opening scene depicting Professor X and Magneto some 2 decades earlier visiting the home of a young Jean Grey. Both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were “de-aged” by a digital process that removed the wrinkles, gray hair and saggy skin so that they both appeared 20 years younger. Stewart actually looked like Captain Picard from the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was fascinating to watch because the scene was filmed and then the digital process was applied and in the finished version I could not detect the effect, as you can with some special CGI.

Finally, if you go to see the movie (and I hope you do) let me give you a tip that I fortunately read about in a forum posting before attending; STAY UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE CREDITS AT THE END OF THE FILM. There is a short 30 second scene which will answer one question from the story and may portend things to come. That’s all I’ll say so as not to spoil it, but be sure to stay.

Have you seen the film or plan to see the film? Let O-town know what you thought or why you’ll go see it by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town.
May 30, 2006

Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday

The season is almost upon us, and I’m not talking the Holiday season.

Thursday, June 1st, is the official start of the 2006 Hurricane Season, and midnight of that same date will be the last opportunity to purchase hurricane supplies (no, not beer and liquor) without having to pay Florida State Sales Tax. It’s not a huge savings, but 6.5% is still 6.5% and if you’re fortunate enough to catch some things on sale then you’ve reduced the price even more.

Most of my supplies are in a container in my attic and are in good shape. I did buy two more battery-powered lanterns, some fresh replacement batteries and a few other odds and ends, but I really didn’t need much. I’m still thinking about getting a NOAA weather radio and possibly a new ice chest, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I know, I know, I need to do so quickly.

I was with a group of people this morning and an impromptu survey was taken asking who had taken advantage of the sales tax break and the opportunity to buy supplies early before the shelves are stripped. Only 40% of those present had done so, and these were people who have gone through hurricanes in Florida over (at least) the previous 2 years, including Charlie here in Central Florida.

So, if you’re one of those who has not yet taken advantage of the sales tax holiday, here’s a quick reminder of which hurricane supplies are free of Florida State Sales Tax through midnight Thursday:
* Flashlights and portable, self-powered light sources – $20 or less
* Portable radios, two-way radios and weather-band radios – for $50 or less
* Flexible waterproof sheeting (tarps) – $50 or less
* Gas or diesel fuel containers – $25 or less
* Batteries – $30 or less
* Non-electrical food storage coolers – $30 or less
* Portable generators – $1,000 or less
* Carbon monoxide detectors – $75 or less
* Storm shutter devices – $200 or less
* Cell phone batteries – $60 or less

Now, while you’re thinking about it, go stock up on the items you’ll need so that when a storm is bearing down on us you won’t be standing in line trying to get the last few packs of batteries or flashlights. You’ll be ahead of the crowd and you won’t have to pay state sales tax.

Tomorrow: Personal Preparedness for Hurricane Season

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

May 31, 2006

Personal Preparedness for Hurricane Season

Girl Scouts have a long-standing motto; “Be Prepared”. If there’s one state that should heed that advice it’s Florida and after the way we got pummeled by Charley 2 years ago it’s good advice for O-town as well.

And it’s excellent advice for each and every one of us too. Florida has a great state emergency management department and our local counties’ emergency management departments are some of the best in operation. But it’s up to each one of us to be responsible for ourselves during an emergency or disaster. Being prepared with the necessary personal items and emergency supplies can spell the difference between comfort or discomfort and perhaps even death if needed medications are not available.

Here’s a list of what a minimal personal emergency supply kit should contain, according to FEMA’s website.

A Disaster Supply Kit should contain the following:

* Water – at least 1 gallon daily per person for 3 to 7 days
* Food – at least enough for 3 to 7 days Non-perishable packaged or canned food / juices, foods for infants or the elderly, snack foods, non-electric can opener, cooking utensils / fuel, paper plates, plastic utensils
* Blankets / Pillows and other bedding items
* Clothing – seasonal, rain gear, sturdy shoes
* Medical supplies – first aid kit, medicines, prescription drugs
* Special Items – for infants and the elderly
* Toiletries – hygiene items
* Moisture wipes
* Flashlight – extra batteries
* Radio – battery-operated and NOAA weather radio
* Cash – (Banks and ATMs may not be open or available for extended periods.)
* Important documents – in a waterproof container Insurance, medical records, bank account numbers, social security card, other
* Keys
* Toys, books and games
* Tools – keep a set with you during the storm
* Vehicle fuel tanks filled
* Pet care items Proper identification, immunization records, ample supply of food and water, a carrier or cage, medications, muzzle and leash

Maintain the Disaster Supply Kit so that it can be used either at home or at another location if an evacuation becomes necessary.

At home: The disaster supply kit should contain essential food, water, and supplies for at least three days. Keep the kit in a designated place and have it ready in case you have to leave your home quickly. Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept. Additionally, consider having supplies for sheltering for up to two weeks.

At work: The kit should be in one container, and ready to “grab and go” in case you are evacuated from your workplace. Make sure you have food and water in the kit. Also, be sure to have comfortable walking shoes at your workplace in case an evacuation requires walking long distances.

In the car: In case you are stranded, keep a kit of emergency supplies in your car. This kit should contain food, water, first aid supplies, flares, jumper cables, and seasonal supplies.

Back when Charley was approaching O-town in August of 2004, I had most of the items above gathered together in a storage tub and bag at home. Even though I didn’t evacuate, everything was together in case I needed to throw it into the car and book. It was nice to know I had sufficient supplies if I had been without electricity for longer than the 18 hours it was out in my neighborhood or if I had been forced to go to an evacuation center.

Predictions are that we face the possibility of another very active season of hurricanes this year. If one strikes Orlando, will you be prepared?

Catch you here next time.

Man about Town.
June 12, 2006

4 of the Top 10

In planning for my trip to Scotland and London earlier this year I made extensive use of the TripAdvisor website to gather information about where to go, what to see and when to be there, as well as getting to read informative reader reviews by everyday, ordinary folks like myself. I’m already doing the same for my planned trip to Paris next Spring by making use of TripAvisor’s numerous contributions from readers who have already been where I am going. The website gets more than 20 million visits every month, if that gives you idea of how popular its services and information are to travelers.

Last week, after surveying and gathering data from a portion of those millions of travelers, TripAdvisor announced the Top 10 list of the most popular destinations/attractions in the United States for 2006. It’s probably no surprise that Disney World ranks as the number one attraction, but Orlando also has three other attractions in the Top 10; Universal Studios at the number 2 spot, Discovery Cove at number 3 and EPCOT at number 7. This heavy concentration of popular attractions in our fair city makes Orlando THE city that is uppermost in people’s minds to visit in the United States.

Here’s the Top 10 attractions in their ranked order:

1. Walt Disney World, Orlando
2. Universal Studios Orlando
3. Discovery Cove, Orlando
4. South Beach, Miami
5. Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif.
6. Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas
7. Epcot Center, Orlando
8. Grand Canyon, Arizona
9. Hana Highway, Maui, Hawaii
10. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta
Speaking of number 7 EPCOT, I was there this past Saturday morning with some family members and was surprised to find it was not overly crowded (of course the hazy, smoke-filled air from the early morning wildfire on nearby Highway 192 might have kept some folks in their homes or hotel rooms) and our wait for most rides we went on was “very short” to “none”. The heat was pretty intense and uncomfortable, so we tried to spend as much time as possible indoors, which isn’t all that difficult while in the Future World section of the park.

I was disappointed yet again to see that there was a 40 minute wait for “Soarin’” at The Land” pavilion. One day either the wait will be minimal or I will have more time to stand in line and will finally get to go on this ride. The “Turtle Talk” program at “The Living Seas” pavilion featuring “Crush” from the “Finding Nemo” animated movie was a blast. They apparently utilize a hidden camera so that the “voice artist” can see and hear audience members and then respond with appropriate replies, allowing for some interesting interaction with the animated character on screen, OR they have one heck of an “intelligent” interactive program running this attraction! Kids loved it and so did most of the adults I saw. Duuuuude!!

Next Saturday I’ll be using my free ticket to go to the number 2 attraction on the list, Universal Studios, with family and friends which should also be a lot of fun.

Catch you here next time.

Man about Town.
June 13, 2006

Alberto Comes and Goes

The earliest named tropical storm in 40 years will have nothing more than that distinction to its credit in the record books. Alberto, the first of the 2006 hurricane season, was nothing more than a strong rain storm by the time it made landfall in a place no one ever heard of called Adams Beach, just about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee. The earliest on record, by the way, is Hurricane Alma, which in 1966 hit the Florida Panhandle on June 9th.

But this little storm served as an excellent “warm-up” for state and federal emergency management agencies who have prepared for a harsh hurricane season. Shelters were opened, evacuations were ordered, supplies of food and water were standing by and everyone was able to have a (not so) dry run of seeing how all the pieces would fall together for emergency management agencies, without having to deal with the devastation that a major hurricane would have brought with it. That would be especially true for FEMA, which is seeking to change the public’s perception of the federal agency after last year’s experience with Katrina. Newly appointed director R. David Paulison wants to show that changes he has instituted will result in faster, more coordinated responses by the agency, and Alberto may well provide that opportunity in a more controlled environment.

Here in O-town, Alberto was nothing more than the extensive soaking that we were in need of to help hold down the threat of recent wildfires. It was the good kind of rainstorm; mostly rain and very little lightning to spark further fires. Now if people in our fair city would just learn how to safely drive in the rain….

Anyway, Florida has had its first landfall of a named tropical storm for this season. Although the forecasters say it won’t be so, let’s hope all the rest are just as minimal as Alberto. That would be nice for a change. But the one thing residents and visitors should NOT do is allow this early easy showing to make them less vigilant and careful about approaching hurricanes.

When storm winds reach 39 mph (34 knots), tropical cyclones are given names. In 1979 a six year rotating list of Atlantic storm names was adopted – alternating between male and female hurricane names. Storm names are used to facilitate geographic referencing, for warning services, for legal issues, and to reduce confusion when two or more tropical cyclones occur at the same time.

The names assigned for the upcoming 2006 hurricane season are:

Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William
Is your name, or the name of anyone you know, on the list for this year? I know 3 people with names on this list; Chris, Kirk and Michael.

Catch you here next time.

Man about Town.
June 14, 2006

Orlando Sweathogs

Summer officially begins next Wednesday, June 21st. Already, in these waning days of Spring, we have had daily temperatures in the low 90′s with high humidity and heat indexes that make it feel like you’re walking through water and it’s in the high 100′s. In Orlando that means if you step outside the confines of an air-conditioned building or vehicle for more than 30 seconds, you’re going to sweat!

Today, Old Spice named the top 100 sweatiest cities in America and they ranked O-Town as the 13th sweatiest city in the United States. 13th! That’s pathetic!! When I look at the top 12, I can hardly believe that any of them beat us out by being sweatier than we are. I’ve seen the wet oval circles in the underarms of shirts and blouses of men and women throughout the city. It’s not a pretty sight. Foreheads full of beads of sweat popping out make you want to run for the nearest air-conditioned refuge you can find in order to escape the gross vision. Shaking hands with someone whose hands are wet with perspiration leaves you trying to inconspicuously wipe your hand on your pants legs. I’ve worked outdoors in Orlando and I’ve worked indoors in Orlando; I’ll take indoors any day of the week.

Here are the top 15:

1. Phoenix, AZ
2. Las Vegas, NV
3. Tucson, AZ
4. Dallas, TX
5. Corpus Cristi, TX
6. San Antonio, TX
7. Austin, TX
8. Shreveport, LA
9. Houston, TX
10. Waco, TX
11. Miami, FL
12. New Orleans, LA
13. Orlando, FL
14. Tampa, FL
15. West Palm Beach, FL

Now I’ve been in Miami, West Palm Beach, and Tampa; they all enjoy high temperatures and humidity, like Orlando does, but they have the benefit of cooling ocean or gulf breezes that we lack here in land-locked O-Town. I would venture to guess that Corpus Christi has that same saving grace since they sit right on the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The only time I’ve been in Houston is for a connecting flight and I never left the airport, so I can’t comment on that city. I’ve never been to Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Tucson but you always hear that doctors send people to those places for the benefit of their “dry heat” meaning they have no humidity to speak of, unlike our fair city.

Old Spice tells us, “The Sweatiest Cities ranking is based on the average U.S. male/female height/weight, and the average high temperature for 2005 in each of the cities during June, July and August. The sweat level was analyzed based on the assumption that the individual was walking for one hour.” so it’s a pretty sure bet they didn’t send people to each of the cities to actually experience the weather in person. I think their results might be different if they did.

To deal with the summer heat Old Spice lists some things to help battle the effects:

Water – Drink plenty of fluids, at least eight to 10 glasses of water per day.

Choose Cotton – Wear clothing that breathes easier, such as cotton. Avoid materials that encourage perspiration, such as polyester and
nylon, as well as dark colors.

Replace Salt and Minerals – Sweating removes salt and minerals from the body. If participating in a strenuous activity where you
anticipate heavy perspiration, drink fruit juices and sports beverages to replace the lost minerals.

I would add this advice from the Man About Town; stay indoors with the air-conditioning set to a nice cool 72 degrees while you sip your favorite ice cold beverage.

How do you feel about Orlando being named 13th Sweatiest City in the United States? Do we deserve a higher ranking, or have you been to sweatier cities? If so, it would be great to have you leave a comment below and let Orlando know what you think.

Catch you here next time,

Man About Town
June 22, 2006

Driving Mr. Daisy

Last month, a 30 year old attorney who just happens to be the son of Orlando City Commissioner Daisy Lynum was stopped at 1am by an Orlando Police Department officer for driving with a broken headlight. Juan Lynum, who is black, was pulled over by a white officer and immediately, according to his own words, made the assumption that he was a victim of racial profiling. The reason for that leap of illogic, Mr. Daisy stated, was his own experience and the well-known history of racial profiling by officers. Mr. Daisy (who we’ll take pains to remind you is 30 years old and a practicing attorney) states he grabbed his cell phone and called his mother. His mother in turn called OPD Chief of Police Mike McCoy who called a supervisor on duty and asked him to look into the stop. In the meantime, Ms. Daisy, seemingly not satisfied with the Chief’s actions, also called the Liaison Officer assigned to the City Council who then contacted the officer on the scene. Subsequently, Mr. Daisy was not issued a citation at the scene and was released. A citation was issued later by mail. In a statement to the Orlando Sentinel, Miss Daisy stated “I just didn’t want some white boy shooting my son or tasing him.” In later reactions to Chief McCoy’s letter requesting some cooperation and understanding and the Fraternal Order of Police Union’s request for an apology (both of which she refused) as well as the groundswell of public opinion regarding the incident, Miss Daisy made the statement, “It wasn’t meant to inflame. That is how I talk, and I don’t plan to change.”

Today Mr. Daisy further alleged that he was a victim of racial profiling by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in 2001. In that case, as this one, it was an equipment issue because the tag did not match the rental car, due to a switch by the rental car company. His response, in his own words, was to step out of the vehicle and “in a reprimanding tone advised the deputy ‘I am Commissioner Daisy Lynum’s son and you have absolutely no reason for pulling me over.’” As it turned, as in last month’s case, there was definitely a reason to pull him over. Again, his assumption was that he was being racially profiled and his reaction was to use his mother to get out of the ticket.

There are some questions that come to mind;

Why did Mr. Daisy automatically assume he was a victim of racial profiling? I would submit to you that Mr. Daisy practiced his own version of racial profiling in these situations. To make the leap that a white officer or deputy stopping a black driver for an equipment problem (or any infraction) equates to racial profiling is absurd. Is he saying that if a black OPD officer or black OCSO deputy had stopped him it would have been no problem to him? If so, then it becomes pretty clear who the racist is in this equation. If not, then his argument is rendered useless.

Why was the officer on the scene encouraged to release Mr. Daisy without issuing a citation? Well, we all know the answer to that question and it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with position. When a commissioner calls the chief, it’s all about being cut some slack because of who you are, not what color you are. Mr. Daisy should have just counted his unwarranted blessing of having a mother who is an elected official and skipped the histrionics about the stop being racially motivated.

Why did Miss Daisy feel that it is perfectly fine for her to refer to an officer of the law as “some white boy”? If a white male elected official referred to a black male as “some black boy” or even “some boy”, Miss Daisy would have been up in arms and rightly so. And I would have been right there with her. The terminology, especially in the South, carries a history and tradition that forward thinking individuals attempt to eradicate by refusing to use. But she makes her own racist feelings known (and shows that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree) when she makes such a statement, refuses to retract it and apologize for it and instead attempts to defend it by saying, “That is how I talk…”

Why is this vast, cross-agency racial profiling practice not being investigated? Surely if the OPD and the OSCO were making a practice of racially profiling the citizens of Orlando and Orange County, the FDLE, the City Council, the County Commissioners and citizens of all races would be storming the gates, calling for investigations and demanding the removal of supervisors and officers engaged in such heinous behavior. That is not to say that isolated incidents do not occur because we know they do and they are dealt with. But to intimate that, because your son was pulled over for an improper tag and a broken headlight, both major law enforcement agencies in the area are engaging in racial profiling, is at best disingenuous of Miss Daisy and at worst slanderous and libelous to both agencies. If, as Miss Daisy states in her Orlando Sentinel interview, this is a practice so widespread that it is identified in the African-American community as “DWB” (Driving While Black) why has she not initiated a full scale investigation? Would it not be incumbent upon her as an elected official to make sure that such a practice was halted and investigated? After all, it his her duty to represent her constituents and if they truly felt they were being targeted by entire agencies, they would expect her to be their voice in changing this supposed profiling. That hasn’t happened and the reason is simple, there is no such cross-agency profiling.

Finally, why did a grown, professional man feel the need to call his mommy at 1am? Was Mr. Daisy truly “afraid” and “fearful”, so much so that, instead of phoning a fellow attorney for legal representation, he had to go crying to his mommy? I don’t know Mr. Daisy, but out in the streets that kind of behavior would label him a “wuss” in the kindest term. However, it would seem to be pretty apparent, from both this incident and the one in 2001, that his reasoning was much more self-serving. He uses the fact that he is Miss Daisy’s son to get out of scrapes with the law and obtain special treatment. Since he is also currently running for an elected office (County Commission), you have to ask yourself if that sort of behavior will continue as he pursues his duties should he be elected. Will he expect special treatment because he was elected to office? That’s hardly the kind of attitude we want in people we elect to office.

Here’s the bottom line; racism is wrong, racial profiling is wrong. Our standard for judging anyone should be by their behavior and actions, for those are the true measure of a person. Mr.Daisy and his mom Miss Daisy, have shown us their true measure.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town
June 30, 2006

Another Tragic Death at Disney

Thursday morning another tragic death occurred at Walt Disney World when 12 year old Michael Russell died while or shortly after riding the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney-MGM Studios. Young Michael’s passing brings the number of people who have died during or shortly after experiencing one of Disney’s attractions in the past 18 months to seven.

I cannot even begin to imagine the grief that the Russell family must be experiencing at this time. That grief and despair must be heightened (as well as shared among the other six families who lost loved ones) by the thought that this tragedy occurred during a trip designed to make your children or family members smile and create memories of joy at “the happiest place on earth.”

Like most of you, I’m sure, I extend my deepest sympathy to the family during this time of great loss. It’s difficult to imagine a deeper pain than that caused by the loss of a child.

This horrific string of seven deaths at Disney World in the past year and a half has caused many to ask, “What is going on at Disney?” If you’ve read my blog before you know I have groused about what I see as a “tarnishing” of Disney’s image regarding such things as; overflowing trash receptacles, maintenance and construction performed during the day in view of guests, less than pristine restrooms and a lack of attention to details of image and service by some cast members I have encountered or observed. I am a Disney fan, but I’ve never given them a free pass.

It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that if these deaths are occurring at Disney, there must be something wrong at Disney. After all, no one is dying on rides at Universal Studios or Sea World, so something must be wrong at Disney…right?

Well, let’s look at the facts.

In every single one of the previous six occurrences mentioned above, cause of death was traced to an either previously unknown or ignored medical condition. From a rare congenital heart defect to a pre-existing heart condition to previously diagnosed severe hypertension and a heart-attacking virus, the causes were all medical. There was no malfunction of a ride, no mechanical issues (other than the well-known roughness of the Mission: Space ride), no proven negligence on Disney’s part (though they are being sued in one case for “not providing medical attention quickly enough” after the incident) and not even any cases where the death occurred because of a guest’s actions, such as the incident at Cypress Gardens last year where the young man escaped his restraints and fell out of the roller coaster car to the ground.

Each of the rides have multiple signs posted that advise guests with certain known conditions to avoid the ride experience. For instance, a person with a known heart condition or a known problem with severe high blood pressure, should not get on those rides. They even list things such as back conditions, neck problems and motion-sickness as reasons to skip particular rides. When warnings and advisories are posted and guests ignore them, then the guest bears the responsibility of that action.

If a guest has an unknown condition, rides these particular attractions and dies because of their hidden condition, does Disney bear the responsibility of that death? Other than the case where they are being sued for not providing medical attention quickly enough, which could be a possible cause (depending on medical testimony), Disney would bear no more fault in that tragic death than the decedent or their family. In other words, none. How could anyone be responsible for an “unknown” medical condition? That death could have happened at any time; sliding into home plate during a softball game, swimming laps in the pool or any activity that would raise stress levels and trigger the condition.

So to those who ask, “What is wrong with Disney?” I say, in these matters at least, nothing. Statistically, Disney entertains more people than Universal Studios and Sea World combined. All things being equal it follows that, statistically, more incidents such as these will occur at Disney than they do at other parks. The recent rash of such incidents would seem, to me, to simply be the statistical aggregate of the odds catching up to them in a short time frame.

Still, it would be smart of Disney to decide to ignore the 1989 Florida law that exempts theme parks with more than 1,000 employees (which includes Universal and Busch Gardens) from regular state safety inspections. A lot of the public’s concern (real or imagined) comes from the fear that, in policing themselves, theme parks would fail to shut down a ride for safety reasons in order not to lose revenue. Ignoring the obvious ridiculousness of such a fear because of the negative impact such a failure would have on revenue anyway if it were discovered, that is what is sometimes perceived when it is mentioned that no such inspections are mandated. Disney could erase that perception by opening their rides to state safety inspections and showing that, as noted above, their rides have not been the cause of these tragic deaths.

What do you think? I’d love for you to share your thoughts with Orlando by leaving a comment below.

Catch you here next time.

Man About Town

Postscript: Earlier this afternoon, the Orange County Medical Examiner determined that young Michael had a congenital heart defect. Again, my deepest sympathy to the Russell family.

Man About Town Archives July 1 to July 31, 2006