Florida

[Drunk Monk]

And the 11th way PPFY could be more like DM which don't involve 215: He could be in the Southeast, not the Northwest.

I'm Coral Springs... minutes away from meeting the original iron monkey, the boxer from shantung - Chen Kuan Tai.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Wow. What makes an Iron Monkey?

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Being DM is too hard. I quit.

[Drunk Monk]

It's outrageuosly hot here...and humid. Luv it.

Ate way too much ginger lobster last night. It's all about food - this is a Hong Kong master crowd, so the banquets are too much. The oranges are really good. No wonder they have them on their license plates out here.

Barely survived the red-eye flight - getting too old for such shenanigans.

Interviewed Chan Koon Tai yesterday - what a great character. He's been in 80+ classic kung fu films, going back to '69 - a personal hero. At 67, he still moves like a mountain lion. Interviewing Chow Keung in a few.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Knock it off.

First you were interviewing Chen Kuan Tai. Now you are interviewing Chan Koon Tai. Which is it? Damn Chinese and their foreign language.

[Drunk Monk]

It's 陳觀泰.

We have the same family name, actually - 陳 is my family name too.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Pogue ma Hon

[Drunk Monk]

The pirate speaks,"Pogue ma Hon"
Would ye like t'try again?

mt053 :butthead:

But back to Chan Koon Tai, it was truly an honor. At 67, he still moves like a mountain lion. He was humble, wise, observant, friendly, open and totally old skool. It was one of the easiest interviews ever because he was so full of stories - I could have talked with him for days. He also smokes like crazy.

Sometimes, my life is like a kung fu movie. Last weekend was a perfect example. And I am grateful of that...very grateful. I just hope I don't spit blood and die at the end.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Don't worry. You'll probably die asleep in your bed. With a throwing star through your heart.

[Drunk Monk]

Note to self: don't give the brotherhood any more throwing stars - ESPECIALLY GREG.

[Drunk Monk]

Chan Goon Tai, Chan Koon Tai, Chan Kuan Tai, Chen Kuan Tai, Gary Chen, Chen Guan Tai, Jackie Chen, Chen Kung Tai, Chen Kwan Tai

His biz card says Chan Koon Tai so I'm sticking with that.

[Drunk Monk]

It was a grand adventure, worthy of Tara's 12th b-day, on all fronts. The trip in was brutal with such an early start - super shuttle insisted on picking us up at 3 AM. We flew out of OAK to SLC, because Mormons love Disneyworld and you can get cheap flights. We were trying to do this as cheaply as possible as we're on a low budget (who isn't nowadays?) and managed to figure out the bus system from the Orlando airport, shaving a $45 taxi ride down to a mere $5. We were situated right off the strip, where tourist nuttiness abounds - about a mile from Universal, but there was a free shuttle and after spending a whole day on the feet, another mile sounds horrendous, especially when it doesn't lead to a ride.

The next morning, we made a bee-line for Universal's Wizarding world of Harry Potter, which is the focal point of the two universal theme parks (which also has the rights to Dr. Seuss, Marvel comics, Jaws, Mummy, Simpsons, and some other assorting franchises, but it's really all about Harry. Especially this weekend. 11/11 was the freaking final DVD/BRD release. Some of the stars attended. Actually, a lot of them - all of Gryffindor house, Harry, Ron, Mr. Weasley, Prof Flitwick (as if anyone cares about him). Actually, if you don't know Potter, this means nothing, but it was a major media event - the Today show was there - the magnitude of Potter is simpl;y astounding. Author JK Rowling is the richest writer ever - when she rolled out Pottermore earlier this month, it had 1 million beta users. There were special tickets for this event with limited meet&greets with the stars $700+ and you only get to meet one star, not of your choosing. It sold out in minutes. That was in July. We didn't know about any of this until last week.

So the park, especially the Potter section, was a mad clusterfk. Just insane. There were 3 interview stages, but they set it up to use the crowd as a backdrop, so you couldn't really see the stars. Stacy saw Ron. We all saw Mr. Weasley and Luna. Of the maybe 2 dozen stars that were allegedly there, that was it. Nevertheless, it was really funny to see everyone donning Potter wear - Hogwarts robes, uniforms, even Luna's wacky lion hat (saw 3 of those). There were a few assorted Marvel hero logos, a lot of Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits - from Cat in the Hat and lame - those Things are the ultimate party crashers, but they were vastly overwhelmed by Potter people. More ginger people than anywhere. The only place in FL where scarves sell like hotcakes. It's only 3 rides, 2 shows, 5 shops and a bar/restaurant, but what can I say? It's awesome. Best theme ride ever. Rode both dragon roller coasters once but my neck said 'no more' after the Chinese fireball ironically, and Stacy isn't into rollercoasters (she did ride one, to her credit), so it was mostly walking Tara to the front of the line and sending her on her merry way, as she loves rollercoasters. It was an exhausting start to an exhausting vacation.

But unbeknownest to dm beforehand, at the Universal City walk (a cluster of tourist trap stores outside the parks) is the official Bob Marley restaurant. DM, of course, demanded to go there for dinner, and the family kindly agreed....
More on that in our next installment.

[Drunk Monk]

So after a day of dodging rabid Potter fans (which includes a disproportionate amount of ginger people), Things 1 & 2, and some really pathetic super hero wannabees, we escaped Universal to the City Walk, which is like Downtown Disney. Universal in FL is at war w/Disney, which lies only ten miles south. Crazy that two major theme parks could exist that close, but such is Orlando. Universal tries it's best to be like Disney, but instead of investing in 'magic' and 'dreams', it's all about the express ticket (which is an extra $40). Nevertheless, we sampled some of the other attractions at Universal. The Seuss land was weak, mostly because you could do so much more with Seuss and they missed. The Marvel portion was also weak - it had the monster rides, but the characters were lame (we saw a very mediocre Green Goblin). There were two abstract sections - one that was supposed to be about Sindbad, which had an amusing live show, and another which was supposed to be like Atlantis or something - I could quite make that one out and think they should convert it to the Chamber of Secrets because it would be so easy to do. In fact, both of those sections are close to Potter, and should just be converted because that's where the bank is now. Disney reacted to Universal by setting up one of its parks to be Hollywood. It's just too incestuously close down there.

Anyway, the Bob Marley Restaurant - see <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.universalorlando.com/Restaurants/CityWalk/Bob-Marley-Tribute-Freedom.aspx">http://www.universalorlando.com/Restaur ... eedom.aspx</a><!-- m -->

I recall hearing Rita's announcement about it when it opened. It's near the Hard Rock and Buffet's Margaritaville. I was sorely unimpressed, mostly because the food wasn't too Jamaican. There were only two dishes that were veg - veg patties, which were more like spinach pasties, and and ital pepper, which wasn't very ital. Neither was particularly JA. No ackee and salt fish. No rice & peas. Didn't try the jerk because there weren't ital options. T's Jammacaroni and cheese was way to velveta. JA has some fine cuisine and I was hoping for something more authentic, some real ital food, but Rita sold the name and not the menu. The memorabilia was all mediocre, a few rare pics, but mostly ones I've seen before, a shirt which I assume was Bob's but there was no placard and it may have just been an African-ish shirt. There weren't any decent souvenirs that were specific to the restaurant, just beer mugs, so I didn't bother. It's not like I need any more Marley stuff anyway (although I would have gone for a good lid). The vid was all of Rita, Ziggy and the Melody Makers and Jr. Gong. At one point, some young black wannabe gangsta types came in, looked at the vid, which was of Damien, and started going off about how it was Bob. I had to correct them. I just couldn't stand their ignorance. We didn't stay for the reggae band. I was glad to have went but wouldn't go back.

Next installment - the experimental prototype community of tomorrow.

[Drunk Monk]

We debated about going to Disneyworld and decided that Epcot (experimental prototype community of tomorrow) would be more suitable because it was slightly educational in that 'it's a small world' sort of way. As it turned out, we went during the International Wine and Food Festival - not nearly as mobbed as HP7P2 DVD release, but a drunken mess of gluttony. Never have I seen so many drunks at Disney, not puke-in-garbage-cans/show-your-boobs drunk, but there were drinking tours with checklist t-shirts made for the occasion, sampling the beers from each country. Believe it or not, I did not imbibe at all, despite Stacy's continual reminder to go back to England to get a Guinness. She even indulged in a glass of wine, with cheese, baguette and eclair. I did get a Guinness hat with a built-in bottle opener in the brim - just couldn't resist that. AFTER ALL, WHY BOTHER GOING TO IRELAND WHEN YOU CAN JUST VISIT EPCOT?

The country displays were rather disappointing. Canada had an almost funny circle-screen with Martin Short. Norway had a weird ride that went from animatronic Vikings to oil rigs to a movie of the same. Japan had a 3-woman taiko show, which was enjoyable, as well as a nice display of ancient myth to modern manga/anime - the tengu was particularly good. China had a good acrobatics show, a crystal-ball contact juggler (which isn't in the least bit Chinese), an amazing 2-man acrobatic team, and some cute diabolo girls. Tara really liked the panda store, which was really big old Chinatown store, but with decent stuff. Mexico's boat tour made no sense - Donald Duck running amuck in Mexico? The America animatronic exhibit sucked - totally whitewashed - and seeing that we missed our boat ride because they started closing rides early. All the drunken people and the baby prams through us off and we didn't get to do a lot of the stuff we would have liked to do. There was this Kim Possible scavenger hunt game where you got a cell phone and were given missions. We did one and it was amusing, but you didn't get any sort of prize for your effort. Still, it was cool when our photo appeared on the phone, taken by a secret camera. We toyed with the idea of taking a characteristic photo in each country and then faking an around-the-world trip on facebook.

Near the Land, after Tara and I had gone to get some dinner, some women screamed on a path right in front of us as I stepped on a thick twig. Actually, the twig was a 3-foot live grass snake. Freaked us all out. I can still feel it under my shoe. Yuck.

Did I mention our hotel had a hot tub? 'Twas a godsend for the aching heels.

Next - to the moon.

[The Queen]

Funny how we never connect on these Disney trips. I'm flying out there next Tuesday (annual Thanksgiving trip to Mom's).