Until next time...

I can't believe that I started this blog twelve years ago, TODAY!

February 26th, 2008.

Time certainly does fly.

I started it mainly so I could post about my trip to Australia and New Zealand in 2008 and to try to keep in communication with friends along the way. I had forgotten that I was gone for almost two months on that journey.

That is the longest vacation I've ever taken.

I need to win the lotto so I can do another one sometime.

After that trip, I was so used to writing something every day, that I just decided to continue posting during the week, just to do something entertaining at least once a day.

I've really enjoyed doing it over the years and hope that anyone who came to visit enjoyed it too. All these years later, I think it's probably just a couple of my friends who pop in once in a while to check in, which I've always appreciated.



But, with Facebook now a part of most of our daily lives, posting updates on trips, life events, photos and the like seem to be easier to do there and more people probably see them.

So, after twelve years....I've decided to take a break from updating this blog.

It just seems like the right time.

If I ever pick it up in the future, I'll definitely let folks know on the Facebooks.

For those of you who have checked in, THANK YOU for taking the time to do it.



I reread the posts from that first big trip this week and they made me smile and laugh often, especially the comments that people made along the way.

You can read my first post here and, if you want to read them in order, just click on the Newer Post link on the left side of the bottom of each post.

I've chosen a few of my favorite posts during the trip and thought I'd link to them here, if anyone just wants some highlights and a smile:

Kathy Griffin on the flight to Australia
A screaming "Nana" and a couple that took me on an unexpected trip
When my old landlord, Frank, passed away during my trip
Meeting a lovely older woman in rain pants in New Zealand
The message from my suffering house plants back in California during my trip
The hang gliders in Queenstown, New Zealand
The mountains of New Zealand
Taking a steamer
A trip through a Fjord
Queenstown pics
Wellington 
Meeting Ruth
What the world thinks of the United States
My trip to Hobbiton
The creepy dolls of New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand
The island of Rarotonga
Island People
My last day of the trip
First Trip to Florence, Italy
Trip to Berlin, Germany
My hometown of Tipp City, Ohio



You can also access any post from any year by clicking on the year listed on the upper right side of any page and it'll open links to each month, which opens links to each post during that month.

Well, thanks again to anyone who followed along over the years. I wish you all the best and I do still believe that life really is too short to go to bed early.

Enjoy it.

Ken

Run

A new trailer and a featurette were released today for the upcoming A Quiet Place 2...



I can't wait to see this when it comes out on March 20th.

Free Will

A new trailer for the upcoming third season of Westworld was released today...



It's looking really good.

I'm going to have to get HBO again before it starts to air on March 15th.

The Red Pill

The Matrix 4 is filming now...exciting!

Ja'net DuBois

Sad news today...

Just over two months after she wowed the crowd at ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in The Family & Good Times, Ja’net DuBois passed away suddenly today. She was 74.

Known for making some of the greatest entrances in sitcom history week after week as neighbor Willona Woods on the Esther Rollie, John Amos, Jimmie Walker and Janet Jackson-led Good Times. 

Back in December of last year, DuBois joined Walker and co-star Bern Nadette Stanis for an appearance on the latest live retelling of one of Norman Lear’s classic TV shows – and she stole the star studded show with pure pizzazz. 

Going on to win two Emmys later in life for her vocal work on Eddie Murphy’s animated series The PJs, DuBois also co-wrote and sang the iconic “Movin’ on Up” theme song from The Jeffersons that opened each episode of that Lear produced series from 1975 to 1985. Though the show originally ran from 1974 to 1975 on CBS, the 133 episodes of the inner-city Chicago set Good Times is still seen on TV Land in repeats in 2020.

She was great on that show and her theme song to The Jeffersons will certainly be remembered for many years to come.

She will be missed.

Dear Diary

The first trailer for the upcoming Netflix series I'm Not Okay With This was released today...



It actually looks pretty entertaining. I may have to give this a lookey-loo when it becomes available on February 26th.

Really Dark Knight

The first test footage of Robert Pattinson as Batman in the upcoming The Batman movie (currently filming) was revealed today...


The Batman - Camera Test from Matt Reeves on Vimeo.

It looks like it was filmed in a very dark cave, but he looks Batman-ish.

So, there's that.

The Batman is set to open on June 21st, 2021

True Story

Golden Gal

Wonder Woman 1984 makes the cover of the upcoming Entertainment Weekly magazine, with some additional pics and additional info from the movie.





O.M.G!!

As you can tell, I'm a "little" bit excited for the movie opening June 4th.

Just a skosh.

Better than Cats

The first pic of Kristen Wiig as Cheetah (the villain) in the new Wonder Woman 1984 movie appeared online over the weekend.

It'll be interesting to see other pics of her character as they start to release more images and posters from the movie as it approaches its opening on June 4th.

I can't wait!

True Story

Kirk Douglas

 Very sad news today...

Kirk Douglas, an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age and star of such films as Spartacus, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Bad and the Beautiful and Champion has died. He was 103. 

A three-time Academy Award nominee and recipient of an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1996, Douglas will be remembered for a prolific career in which he appeared in close to 100 movies and delivered numerous defining performances. 

As well as his titular role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 historical epic Spartacus, in which he played the leader of a slave revolt against the Roman republic, his leading turns included fierce defense attorney Major Steve Garrett in Gottfried Reinhardt’s Town Without Pity, ambitious and devious journalist Chuck Tatum in Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, and Colonel Dax in Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war story Paths of Glory. Douglas was well noted in the biz for his fiery personality. 

The actor once claimed he was “the most disliked actor in Hollywood” because of his aggressive nature, though he also was highly regarded for his sense of humor. 

Alongside Michael, Douglas had three other boys: the producers Joel and Peter, and the actor and stand-up comedian Eric, who died from an accidental drug overdose in 2004. The elder Douglas was married to the actress Diana Webster from 1943-51, having Michael and Joel, and then the producer and philanthropist Anne Buydens from 1954 until his death.

He had a very long and successful career and lived to be 103.

That's quite a life.

He will be missed.