Reboots vs. Remakes: Understanding Movie Lingo

 There's yet another misunderstanding in language that's on the rise at the moment.  Being able to distinguish what movie is a remake or a reboot.  In some cases, people are confused about which is which, and in other cases they seem to be using the words interchangeably, as if they meant the same thing.  But that's the thing - they don't.  So in today's blog, I'm here to set things straight to avoid any further confusion.

REMAKES - When a movie is receiving the remake treatment, it means that it's going to be a new version of what we already have.  In the musical sense, a remake is basically a cover.

For example: The original 1976 movie, "Carrie" starring Sissy Spacek got its remake in the form of the 2013 adaption starring Chloë Grace Moretz.  And that's another key word to look out for - adaption.

Another example: The 1971 original of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder getting its remake in 2005 with Johnny Depp.

It's basically the same film.  Mostly shot for shot, but not in all cases.  It tells the same story, but with a different cast.  The script isn't always word for word, but you get the idea.

REBOOTS - To understand movie reboots, you need to know the dictionary definition of the word:

 

As you can see from the screenshot above, under the list of verbs you can see one that states a reboot as a form of restarting or reviving something.  In other words, it's a completely different thing to what we already have.  A new story.

 

Example: The "Ghostbusters" franchise now has 4 movies in total.  However, only 3 of those are what the movie industry calls "canon" - following a particular series of stories and events to tell an even bigger story.  In this case, "Ghostbusters" from 1984, "Ghostbusters II" from 1989 and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" from 2021 are all a part of the same timeline.  "Afterlife" may be the 4th movie made, but it's basically the third in the story.

 

The 2016 version of "Ghostbusters" - the one with the female cast - is considered a reboot.  It doesn't follow any timelines attached to the previous 2 movies.

 

Another example: The 1995 movie, "Judge Dredd" starring Sylvester Stallone was rebooted in 2012 as "Dredd" and starred Kiwi actor, Karl Urban as the lead role.  "Dredd" is not one of those cheap, unwanted sequels that had a different cast to the original (that's another movie topic for later).  It's a separate story detached from the Stallone version, as if it never happened.  That is how reboots work...it is the law! 😜

MIXING IT UP - In some rare cases, you may have a movie franchise that likes to tell stories that are canon, and yet it doesn't really matter that much about the order in which you watch certain ones.

For example: "The Matrix" franchise now has 4 movies with its recent addition in 2021, "The Matrix Resurrections".  However, there is a 5th title attached - "The Animatrix" (2003).

In this case, you can get away with binge watching the 4 live action movies from the 1999 film to the most recent and not worry too much about "The Animatrix" and at what point you should throw it in there (but if you're going to, I would recommend watching it before the 2021 film).  "The Animatrix" is kind of a stand-alone movie, as it's just a collection of 9 animated short stories in the Matrix universe that help explain some of the origin stories and lore behind it, to give you a better understanding of things.  But in the end, you can get away with not watching it if you didn't want to.

WHEN BECOMES A HOT MESS & CONFUSING - On some occasions, you might get a franchise that likes to use a weird combination of both reboots AND remakes in a strange series of events that mess with your mind.  They don't necessarily have confusion in mind when telling the story, but when the following example does it, it kind of gets a little out of control.

In the case of this example, a part of the confusion is due to its heavy emphasis on time travel.  The possibility of various versions of the future based on past/present events, and the fact they've had a LOT of movies so far, it's easy to get lost in all that information and go, "What?  Where and when does this happen, and how is it relevant to this?  I'm so confused!"

"The Terminator" started off in 1984 as a potential throw-away B-grade 80's sci-fi, but it got so popular that it would become a franchise through its 1991 sequel, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", which was obviously a smash hit.  After its success as one of the greatest sequels of all time, it was unknowingly on its way to becoming a very confusing series of films.

In 2003, people were excited to see that "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" was coming.  Needless to say, it wasn't as great as the first 2 films, but it was entertaining either way.  Also, no Edward Furlong?  There is no other John Connor (apart from the older version in the opening scene to T2).  Then the franchise continued in 2009 with Christian Bale in "Terminator: Salvation".  This one got mixed reviews as it wasn't quite the adaption of the future war we were expecting.  However, it was the release of the next movie that made it all messy...

"Terminator: Genesys" in 2015 came along and started to shake things up by having future versions of the original characters going back in time to as far back as 1984, during the events of the first movie.  This idea alone should be considered a sign that things are about to get out of control when it comes to holding all that information in your head.  What you watched in the first movies was about to get thrown out the window, if not walked upon.  By the end of this reboot within a sequel within an original film (see what I mean?), you're wondering what the heck just happened.  Also, there was a post-credits scene that hinted towards another sequel to follow, but the actual follow-up we got went in a completely different direction...again.

"Terminator: Dark Fate" in 2019 decided to push the reboot button, taking you back to the end of "T2" and basically removing the existence of "T3" and beyond at this point.  Therefore, making this franchise have both remakes and reboots as one big, happy and massively dysfunctional family.

CONCLUSION

So, a summary of what is and what isn't a reboot/remake.

A remake is a retelling of the same story from either a different or the same perspective, but with different cast members.

A reboot is a completely new story altogether as if the originals never happened.

So, next time you discuss movie franchises, look further into whether or not the story of the newer films fit with the older ones.  That way you should be able to tell what's what and how you should watch them if you wish to binge them at any point.  In short, "remake" and "reboot" are NOT the same thing, ladies and gentlemen.  Knowing this will make discussions run a lot smoother and be easier to understand.

FOOTNOTE

If you want my advice on the order in which to binge watch the movies I've mentioned above, here's an overview:

"Ghostbusters" - 1984, 1989, 2021 (you can get away with not watching the 2016 reboot - I hear it was bad anyway).

"The Matrix" - 1999, "Reloaded", "Revolutions", "Resurrections" ("Animatrix" can go anywhere before "Resurrections").

"Terminator" - Timeline #1: 1984, "T2", "T3", "Salvation"; Timeline #2: 1984, "T2", "Dark Fate" (I wouldn't even bother with "Genesys").

As for remakes and original versions, it doesn't matter what order to watch them.  They're the same story anyway.

The Unfriended

If you've been using social media long enough, you have most likely experienced this.  You have a connection with someone you met in either real life or online.  Things go well for so many years.  You see their posts in your news feed once in a while.  Then at some point, without really thinking about it at first, you realise that you haven't heard from them for some time.  Concerned for your friend's well-being, you decide to look at their profile to see if they're OK.  To your surprise - depending on their account settings - you see they have indeed shared posts in recent days/hours, but only ones set for public viewing.  Then moments later, you realise as your eyes move towards a particular area of their profile page (it may differ depending on which social media platform you're on), the truth is staring at you in the face - the "Add Friend" button has returned.

 

By this time you begin to hear Take That playing in your head.  "Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it.  I just want you back for good."

But your mind also very soon starts to think about how offended you are that someone you thought was fairly close (in some cases) would decide to ditch you without saying why.  You begin to contemplate some of the most recent posts you shared and whether it may have triggered something.  In the end, you're never really sure if that's what happened though, because you don't know when they decided to unfriend you in the first place.  If it was a post you shared, it could've been days, weeks or even months ago, and I know you're not going to spend the next few hours going back on the posts you shared that far back, just for the sake of figuring out what went wrong.  So, you're now left with a choice between 2 options:

1. Confront them.  Send a message to them in private.  It's not like you can comment on their posts anyway (some profiles may have public posts, but the ability to comment can be limiting if it's for friends only).  Now, this option could go either way.  On the optimistic side, you might actually come to an understanding of what happened.  And who knows?  You might actually convince them to reconnect with you.  Maybe it was a misunderstanding on their part and they made a decision without thinking about it, or even talking to you about it in the first place.  In which case, it's on them.  Communication is a very important part of a friendship, people.  Start talking!  But on the pessimistic side, however, it could open a very messy can of worms.  Maybe there was a big issue there somewhere, and instead of resolving it, it makes things worse.  It's not very common that it goes in this direction though.  If anything negative were to happen as a result of your approach, the worst that could happen is that you don't get a response - or maybe they decide to block you (if their profile seems to have disappeared at this point, this is a sign that they've gone that far).

2. Let it slide.  In a lot of cases, sometimes it's probably for the best that you let it remain a mystery and leave them alone.  If you've taken the time to weigh the pros and cons of confronting them, you may have come to this decision for the sake of not coming across as pushy and demanding.  If you know your friends well enough, you may be able to name a few who might read too much into things, and if those friends have unfriended you, you probably agree that they might react that way.  So, the best thing to do in this case is to just step back.  You never know, they might (and that's a big might) decide to send you a friend request in the future.  Maybe they just needed to cool off for a bit?  We don't know everything our friends are going through, no matter how much they may post online.  Social media has a reputation of people who overshare, but believe it or not, those who are notorious of this behaviour do still have their own secrets.

You're probably wondering why I'm talking about this subject.  Why does it matter to me so much?  It's simple.  I've been at the receiving end of the dreaded unfriending without warning.  More than once.

I'm not going to be outing anyone here, but I am hoping that if those who have unfriended me for whatever reason sees this post, maybe it'll get them to think about their actions.  To make sure that they know it's them if they do see this blog post, I will share a few experiences of my own regarding this topic.  Experiences that are somewhat unique to those people.  They were there at the other end of the conversation, so they should know if what I'm about to share is to do with them or not, even though I'm making them anonymous.

Case #1

This person was somebody I met in my final year of high school.  I was in my final year, they were in their first.  It was an interesting introduction.  Long story short, we found we had a mutual love for the TV series, "The Young Ones".  After I left high school, we reconnected a few years later through a now defunct website called OldFriends.co.nz.  We interacted via e-mail from time to time for years to follow, until we discovered social media, gradually joining a number of them until we found Facebook and Instagram.

Fast forward to sometime in the past couple years or so.  There was something I wanted to share with them that I thought they might like (probably something Young Ones related), only to find that their Facebook profile had seemingly vanished.  However, I did notice their Instagram page was still there, so I decided to send them a private message, simply stating that I hadn't seen them on FB in a while.  Moments later, it seemed that my ability to message them had also gone AWOL.  Soon after this, her husband - whom I had also been connected with on FB - sent me a message through FB Messenger.

Long story short, the reason for her removing our connection and eventual blocking was because she misinterpreted my actions on FB.  Those actions?  Liking a lot of her posts/photos she shared.  She thought I was doing it a lot in a short space of time.  In reality, I only like a post I enjoy if it pops up in my news feed.  I don't go to people's profiles and "like bomb" their notifications.  That's not how I do things.  If I were on the receiving end of someone who actually does that, I'd get annoyed too.  So, why would I go ahead and do what I wouldn't wish to receive?  The truth is that I only ever liked her posts as they appeared in my news feed.  It's not my fault if many of them came up within a short space of time.  Maybe she shouldn't have posted so much?  Either way, she misread this as me being a FB stalker, which is bollocks.  We were connected with each other for a little more than 20 years(!!!) before this happened.  Why would I start behaving like that all of a sudden?  And to top it off, why didn't she just talk to me about it instead of triggering the need to get her husband to speak for her?  I repeat what I said earlier - communication is important!

Because of all of this, I ended up blocking her husband after trying to get my side of the story through to them.  So, thanks to her misinterpretation and poor decision making, I lost 2 friends that day.  The thing I hate the most about it though is that I can't look at her name or school photo in the yearbook we share without getting a little angry.  It seems this particular situation offended me deeply, like I had been betrayed or something, and all because of a little misunderstanding that could've been resolved if she had just talked to me in a civil manner.  If you want my interpretation of this, all it shows is that she may have some insecurities of her own to deal with, and if you're the person I'm talking about (based on the unique details I've shared), I'd take that into consideration before you end up taking it out on another innocent bystander.

Case #2

This one won't be as detailed as the previous one, I promise.  If anything, that one was the big kahuna of all the unfriending situations I've experienced in recent years.  The next one won't be as big a case.

I met this person at a small gathering I went to sometime in 2019, not too long before the pandemic hit.  This event was with some people I was already a friend of by this time, and they had some people attending that I hadn't met before.  So, a connection with potential new friends was possible.  And that's what happened.  This one person in particular was someone I teamed up with while playing a particular game (it was a dinner and board games kind of event).  Thinking they seemed like a fun person, I decided to add them on FB after I went home.

Jump forward to the first few weeks/months of NZ first going into lockdown in 2020.  At some point I discovered that they had unfriended me after only a few months.  I decided to approach them in private, using a polite manner, etc, asking if I had said something wrong.  Their answer was something along the lines of them "not knowing me very well".  So I decided to be nice about it and left the conversation with a response like, "I understand.  Perhaps another time in the future."  Deep down, however, my mind was screaming at them - "Well, isn't Facebook one of the ways to get to know somebody better, especially during a lockdown?"  I still stand by those words 2 years later.  If you can't connect in person, how else are you going to get to know someone other than social media?

Case #3 & #4

Because this blog has gone for so long, I'm going to end on 2 former friends that know each other (online only).  I'll try and keep this one short.

In my early days of having my own personal Internet connection (when I moved into my own home in the year 2000), I met both of these people in a now defunct chatroom called Excite (a.k.a. VP or Virtual Places).  The first (Case #3) was a girl from Melbourne, Australia, and they introduced me to the second (Case #4), a girl from the US state of Indiana.  These would be my first 2 online friends that I would never meet in person, and the only 2 to stay connected with me for close to 2 decades.

The fall of Case #1's friendship with me wasn't actually a discovery like the others in this blog entry.  This fallout took place as a result of political differences (seriously, people, don't let politics get in the way of your livelihood).  I don't know the full details, but they seemed to have taken it all too personally about what was going on between NZ and Australia in the first few months of the lockdown in 2020.  There were a few posts I shared about what the NZ government was doing, etc, but at one point, Case #1 commented on it in a way that seemed like it could trigger a political argument.  If not with me, one of my other friends, maybe.  I don't like these arguments, so in an attempt to prevent it from starting a flame war in the comments of one of my posts and endless notifications (which can be annoying, by the way), I removed her comment altogether.  I'm not sure how many times I did this, but it can't be any more than 2 occasions.  It might have been just the once, but I don't remember that far back.  Either way, this led to her sending me a rather fired-up message in private about it.  Not being in the mood to respond to a message of that nature at the time, I deleted it from my end of the Messenger conversation instead.  I'm not sure if she knew or not, but it wasn't long after this that she unfriended and blocked me.

All of that took place only a few months before we were to acknowledge the fact that our friendship was approaching the 20-year mark.  The fact that she let politics destroy the bond that we had offended me quite deeply.  So, if this story is about you and you can see this, you need to grow up.  Why let the governmental system make such an impact on your friendships like that?  What my government does has nothing to do with me as a person.  Get over yourself!

As for Case #4, this was completely out of the blue.  Our friendship lasted longer than Case #3 (obviously), but in the past year or so she decided to vanish also.  No blocking though, just the lack of connection.  It sucks because we do have some good memories.  In fact, we share a musical collaboration together.  So, if you are also out there reading this, I'm not going to make the first move this time, like I have done with others in the past.  I would like to know what made you decide to do that, but I'm not going to do that on social media.  If you see this, you know how to get hold of me in private.

So yeah, I'll wrap this up now.  I think we can all agree that there's too much misunderstanding in this world, and lack of communication is one of the key reasons why it's happening on such a large scale.

Duckman's final thought - start talking.  I will use the title of my latest n-Somnia EP as a word of advice: "Stop Fighting, Start Writing".

April Fool's Day 2022 - The Review

 Everywhere you go, there's always somebody who wants to be a comedian.  Therefore, every year on April 1st, they all come together for one purpose - to make people laugh.  Sure, there are those who do pranks for the sake of humiliation - whether it's to put shame upon others or to cause pain - but those people aren't funny.  It's the ones that make something funny who should be celebrated, and if it's good enough to fool people (at least until 12pm that same day), then they've earned some extra points.  But overall, if you can laugh at it for a long time after the event, you've struck comedy gold.

Below is a list of posts I have hand-picked from Facebook that I think are among the best I've seen in years.  People (or in this case, companies and organisations) have been extra creative and clever in 2022, so I felt that they deserve some recognition.  So without further delay, here are some screenshots (and a few of my own thoughts):

 

1. TVNZ on Demand / The Bachelor

We all know about the TV series, "The Bachelor".  The show watched by women who hate men that see multiple women at once, despite the fact that the show is exactly that (don't ask me why - must be a girl thing).  But, can you imagine "The Chase" / "Beat the Chasers" host, Bradley Walsh being the star of the show, and not the host?  Neither can I.

 

 

In addition to this, they temporarily changed their page logo to...

 

 

2. The Australian Food Shop

 

 Ever wondered what Vegemite tastes like as a drink?  No, neither have I.

 

 

 

3. SAFE.org.nz

 

Why buy the cow, am I right?

 

 

 

4. Reading Cinemas (The Palms)

 

Don't expect this to be fully widescreen.

 

 

 

 

5. Pizza Hut

 

If it's chicken pepperoni, I'm sold.

 

 

 

6. NZ Police

 

Our police force has a bit of a reputation on social media for some witty posts from time to time, so April Fool's Day is definitely a time for them to shine.

 

 

 

 7. Night 'n Day

From the chain of convenience stores comes a fake product to challenge the Australian Food Shop's entry mentioned earlier.

 

 

 

 

8.  Mt. Smart Stadium

The only entry in this list from a performance venue, this one definitely had some thought put into it.

 

 

 

 

9. McDonald's

 

This would be sooooo gross.

 

 

 

 

 

 10. Hornby - Greater Hornby Residents Association Inc.

 

FYI, the suburb of Hornby is not in the countryside. 

 

 

 

11. Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa

 

Apparently, this one fooled quite a number of people.  Not me though.

 

 

 

 

12. Gregg's Sauces

 

Not sure if this one really counts as a prank as it appears to be more of a question.  Either way, it's not your average post from Gregg's.

 

 

 

 

13. Golden Sun Jalapeño Peppers

This one fooled a few people as well.  Such comments as "What's the point?", for example.  If this were real, they'd probably use capsicum.  Just saying.

 

 

 

14. Goat Simulator

 

Even video game developers got into it this year.  Can you imagine this being real?

 

 

 

 

15. FMG

 

Rural insurance company, FMG popped up in my news feed in the form of a sponsored post.  This time suggesting the use of leashes on sheep.  This is probably the most Kiwi one of the bunch.

 

 

 

16. Cookie Time

 

This one is probably cashing in on a post we saw within the last few months, suggesting that McDonald's in China were selling coriander ice cream sundaes.  Either way, it's a no from me, dawg.  Thank goodness this is fake.

 

 

 

17. Christchurch Casino

 

FYI, people outside of NZ, this is not legit Kiwi cuisine.  It's not only fake, but an abomination.  But since we're on the subject, kiwifruit or pineapple on pizza?  It's not as bad now that I've put it out there, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

18. Burger King 

Similar to the McDonald's post.  In fact, the posts were a few hours apart.  Makes you wonder if the people at BK saw the Macca's one and had to scramble for ideas.  Since we're asking questions (re: #17), would you want to try these ones or the McDonald's one (Mac sauce)?

 

 

 

 

19. Briscoes

 

Even the Briscoes Lady got involved.  Ned Flanders would've been devastated if he saw this one!

 

 

 

20. Beef and Lamb New Zealand 

The prank in this one was more about the cooking instructions, with the joke being that most people seem to like their meat anywhere between rare and medium well done.  They seem to hate on anyone who like it well done or well and truly dead.  If you're asking, I personally like it between medium well and well done (the pink gone, but still juicy).

 

 

 

 

21. Armadillos Restaurants

You know what?  I actually like this idea.

22. Wattie's

You'll always be a Kiwi / Weet-Bix kid if you love our Wattie's sauce & beans.

 

 

 

 

23. Vogel's

 

Local bread company, Vogel's suggested that we try their take on the traditional dessert (bread & butter pudding).

 

 

 

24. The Hub Hornby

The final entry on this list is an obviously fake energy-saving technique by local shopping centre, The Hub Hornby, using a new form of hydroelectricity through the use of toilets.  I tell you what though, and I speak from my experience as a mall slave...I mean cleaner (and no, not at the Hub, by the way) - the number of times the urinals flush automatically throughout the day, you probably could generate some power.  It's just a shame that they take power to automatically flush.  So yeah, this was an obvious fake.

 

 

I hope you've enjoyed this year's entries for April Fool's Day as much as I have witnessed it.  This was actually kind of fun, so I may end up doing this again next year, depending on the contestants out there.

 

Bring on April Fool's Day 2023!

My House, My Castle

Something a little different for this blog entry.  I've been thinking a lot about the places I've lived over the past 40 years (41 in less than a month), so I figured I might share a little about each one.  In fact, I might even rate them to see which was the best and worst accommodation I've resided.  The end results may (not) shock you (if you know me personally).

Note: I will not be mentioning the places I've stayed in between entries #2 & #3 as they were meant to be temporary anyway.  My name was never on the lease for those 2 places, so they don't count.

#1 - Linwood (1981 to 1993).

As I go into this one, I may mention some exact addresses of blocks of flats I lived in, but not the number of which I was in (e.g. Living at number 30 <insert street name here> instead of 30a <street name>).  But when it comes to houses, I will either give you the street name or just the suburb.  In the case of this first entry, I will simply state that I lived in Linwood.  The reason is because I loved this house so much, I like to think that 'maybe' I might be able to move back into it sometime in the future.  Not a realistic approach considering the current housing market - and, not to mention, my income - but you never know what the future may bring, right?  So, with that said, let's get started.

I lived at the Linwood address from the time I left Christchurch Women's Hospital after birth right up to around July 1993, only just after the halfway mark of my last year at Woolston Primary School.  That's a little over 12 years of my life (about 12.25, to be precise).  There are so many memories to come out of that house, several blog entries would need to cover them all.  And I have to say, most of them were positive on my part.  That house, along with the surrounding neighbourhood, are still cherished by me to this day.  I've been in the area a number of times in recent years, mainly for nostalgic and research purposes (I was planning on having a picnic for my 40th birthday at the local park back in 2021, but that was relocated due to the lack of public toilet facilities).

Truth is, if I'd known earlier just how much I'd miss this house, I probably wouldn't have left.  However, I was 12 at the time, so that wouldn't have been possible.

From an adult's point of view, this 3-bedroom house would actually be ideal for my current situation.  One of the main reasons I could see myself going back there, if I could.  It's not just about the nostalgia trips!  I won't go into great detail about it, but we kind of need the room at the moment, and a house like this would be perfect.  It's also in a quiet neighbourhood, away from the noisy traffic, and from what I could tell the last time I was in the area, the people currently living there seem quiet too.

My rating for the Linwood house - 10/10.  You can't beat that - and nothing else will.  So, where to next?

#2 - Major Hornbrook Road, Mount Pleasant (1993 to 1999).

By the time we left Linwood, it was just my parents and I.  The reason we left isn't entirely clear to me, but I do have some ideas (which I won't be sharing here).  But we decided to move up onto the Port Hills, particularly around the Ferrymead/Heathcote region.  As you cross the bridge that leads to the turn-off towards Ferrymead Heritage Park, you see a road that goes up St. Andrew's Hill.  Eventually, you come to Major Hornbrook Road, along which was a house that we moved into, only 2 doors down from Mount Pleasant School.  This would be where I spent the entirety of my high school years, plus about a year or so on top of that.

I can say this much about the house on here because a few years after the quakes in 2011, that house has since been demolished and replaced by a new home.  It is the only house I'd lived in that no longer exists.

The old house was a 2-storey building with an odd feature - the front door was a part of the upper level.  As you would go up the driveway, you would see a tall stairwell along the front of the complex leading to the door.  Also, you saw a small door at the front of the lower level, which was actually a storage cupboard.  I don't know how many did, but I'm sure anyone who came to see us first time probably knocked on that door and wondered why we couldn't hear them.  In their defense, that was a pretty dumb design on the architect's part.  In hindsight, we probably should've put a sign on that door...

In the lower level of the house was the laundry, 2 bedrooms, a cupboard and a small room that was used for crafts, a wine cellar, whatever.  I don't actually know.  It was dark, cold and kind of creepy with the big hole leading to underneath the house (the hole was eventually blocked off).  Everything else was upstairs - the main hallways (yes, 2 - it used to be split into 2 units/flats), a bedroom and bathroom in the front, a lounge that led to the metal spiral staircase that went downstairs, a small dining area at the end of the hallway connected to the kitchen, another lounge along with a bedroom and bathroom at the back, and the 2 toilets off the kitchen/dining area (not an ideal location) - side-by-side.  And, of course, the house was surrounded by many areas for gardening.

Overall, the house was ideal for a medium+ size family, and good for people who like nature (gardening) and great views from the hill.  As for the view, a lot of people have a nice view of the city from up the hills.  We, however, had a view of New Brighton and McCormick's Bay.  I would often break out the binoculars and watch the cars drive over the causeway (sounds boring when I put it that way).

This house had its fair share of great memories, but it also had some negative ones too.  It was, of course, the last house we lived in before my dad left us for the US (another story for later, if I feel like it).

My rating for the house would probably be 7.5 out of 10.  Would I live there again, if it was still standing?  No.  That house represented an era that didn't end so well.  Besides, as nice of a house as it was, I don't like how close the toilets were to the kitchen (this will be a common problem in future residences, by the way).

#3 - Colombo Street, Beckenham (1999 to 2000).

This would be my last residence where I lived with immediate family members.  By this time, it was just my mother and I.  Dad had already split from the country, only to briefly visit me 5 years later during the one and only time he'd do so...  Anyway, moving on.

As you would expect, being on the city's main road wasn't exactly quiet during the day or on late night Friday/Saturday (remember the "Colombo Run"?).  But with that aside, it was quite a nice place.

This places is a unit that's part of 3 others, with a courtyard in the middle (part of the driveway) that led to the 4 garages and front doors of each one.  We were right on the street.  Each unit being 2-storeys high with the laundry (with its own toilet), lounge and kitchen all on the ground floor, while the bathroom, another toilet, 2 bedrooms and a study were all upstairs.  The master bedroom had the added feature of a balcony outside double-doors, which can be seen from the street.  It was actually quite nice, despite the location.  If anything, the location was probably its main setback, if not the only one.  Being a unit among 3 others, you'd expect to be connected to the others and put up with the noise coming from them.  However, this wasn't the case as the only physical connections to the other units were the garages.  Great for storing cars, other belongings and soundproofing.

I'd rate this place a 9/10.  Points off for the local noise levels.  Great place to live in, and the toilets were distant from the kitchen.

#4 - Whitmore Street, Richmond (Christchurch, not the town near Nelson) (2000 to 2001).

My first flat after gaining my independence.  Ideal for a first-timer, which I just happened to be at the time.  A simple layout:

One bedroom, a lounge/dining area, kitchen/laundry, and bathroom/toilet.  You read that correctly.  The kitchen and laundry were in the same area.  There's no room anywhere else in this flat to put your washing machine and/or dryer.  It was placed along the opposite wall to the kitchen sink and oven.  I'm not even joking.

It was a great flat for entertaining guests.  However, I seldom invited anyone to come over while I was there.  The reason being that I was a bit nervous about having noise control called on me or something ridiculous like that.  Which is why I never offered to use it as a place for my band at the time (Driftwood) to do rehearsals there.  In hindsight, I'm sure a group of 2 guitarists & 1 bassist would've been perfectly fine there (we had no drummer).

The rating for this flat is probably 7.  Not the greatest place, but it's definitely not the worst.  I couldn't live there again now though.  It's just too small.  Also...the toilet's too close to the kitchen.

#5 - Maxwell Street, Riccarton (2001 to 2002).

The first flat that involved a flatmate (the American version is roommate).  My good friend you'll probably read a lot about in these blogs, Forbes was my first flatmate.  I had a 1-year lease at the Whitmore Street flat, but I didn't live there for the full 12 months (September to August).  The only reason I got away with that is because the landlord of that property owned this one.  So, it was a straight transfer.  Forbes and I lived here for roughly 15 months from about August 2001 to around November 2002.

It wasn't too bad.  A good amount of room, etc.  Loved the lounge and kitchen space.  Probably the best features, to be honest.  Although, I did like the built-in desk in my bedroom.  The main setbacks though were:

• Way too close to the other flats - My bedroom was right next to the back flat's lounge (and Forbes' room was next to their kitchen), and the walls were thin.  You heard almost everything...  (no comment).  The flat upstairs from ours wasn't much better as I could hear them walking around sometimes.  Our lounge was connected to the front flat's first bedroom, but we didn't hear them (thankfully).
• It is right across the road from Westfield - Maxwell Street may not be a main road, but it might as well be since the carpark entrance is right there in front of where we were.  I do, however, have the benefit of not having worked there (yet) while we were living at this flat.  If we had, I think I'd probably dislike this flat even more today.
• The toilet is too close to the kitchen - Told you you'd be seeing this often.

Overall, I'd rate this place a 6.  Even though it had its issues, it's still not the worst I've experienced.  It's just a shame about the location and how close together everything is.

#6 - 281 Riccarton Road (2002 to 2012).

Upon leaving Maxwell Street, I sought independence again.  I guess as far back as then, I must've realised that I had a bit of an introvert side to me.  Forbes is a good friend.  We parted flats on good terms.  Just so you know.

With the help of Housing NZ, I moved into a complex a few doors down from the Antonio Hall (which has in recent years been gutted with fire on 2 separate and equally suspicious occasions).  Those of you who have driven down Riccarton Road have probably seen a residential area slightly off the street with 3 tall green buildings, each of which are 3-storeys high.  Well, I was in one of the flats in one of those 3 buildings.  As I said before, I won't reveal what number I was in, but yeah.  This would be my place of residence for the next decade.  Yeah, that's right.  I was in that place for 10 years.

While that may sound impressive, the living situation, however, was not.  There are 3 different size flats in those buildings.  The largest being a few bedrooms in size, the second being slightly smaller (maybe 1 or 2 bedrooms?), and the smallest - a bedsit (basically, everything in one room, except the toilet/shower).  I bet you can guess which one I ended up with.

Of course it was the bedsit.  A lounge/bedroom/kitchen with a toilet/shower room to the side of the laundry area, which is basically the front door area as well.  Nothing to it, really.  Not that great either.  A person like me that has a surprising amount of belongings for one person is not suited for such a cramped space.  So you're probably wondering, why the heck was I there for 10 years?  I have 7 words for you - "Don't ask me, I don't know either!"  Well, it was probably a money issue, actually.  When I lived here (for the first 9 years anyway), the income I had (unemployed and employed) had an impact on the rent I was paying.  The unemployment benefit I received at the time meant that I was only paying about $33 per week, but when I got a job down the road at the mall, I was earning more and therefore paid more rent as a result.  As for the 10th year living there, Aliesha and I got married, and the money situation would change again - to a point where Housing NZ said we earned too much for it to be adjusted and decided to charge us retail price - a price that, by the way, is way too high for a tiny bedsit like this one.  Apart from its size, it's probably one of the reasons we tried to leave as soon as possible.  Didn't know it would take a year to do it though, but when we did, we did it as fast as possible.  We didn't want anything to do with the place once we'd gone.

The rating, as you'd expect, is a low one.  I give this location a 3.5.  While it's suitable for a single person, it's still not ideal.  Maybe if the person doesn't own a lot and doesn't mind noisy neighbours, being in Riccarton and all kinds of other nonsense the area has to offer.  You wanted to know which place had the lowest rating.  Well, here it is.

At least the toilet was a tolerable distance from the kitchen.

#7 - Hornby (2012 to present).

For obvious reasons, I won't be going into a heavy amount of details about this one since I still live here.  All I can say is that it's near some main roads, which can be noisy.  Apart from being close to surrounding flats, the traffic is probably my main issue here.  Otherwise, it's not a bad little place.  It has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, a lounge, kitchen, laundry and toilet (and yes, it's a little close to the kitchen for comfort).  I think that should do it for details.  Don't want any stalkers knocking at the door.  I don't even like having salespeople stop by (thankfully, the pandemic has slowed that problem down).

I'd rate this place about a 7.5 to an 8.  I've enjoyed married life here, and will continue to at the next place we move to, naturally.

So, there you have it.  A very brief history of the houses/flats I've lived in.  I can go into detail of some of the experiences I've had in each one, but obviously, this blog entry is very long without those stories, so maybe another day?  I'm sure you'll be looking forward to what's to come in future.

The Future of My Music

I've made some interesting rediscoveries recently.  While doing a spot of tidying around my home (it happens, don't laugh), I found one of my old briefcases that contained some paperwork from projects I have been involved with in the past, including the likes of Kingrow and Ducksel Comedy.  Some of these findings aren't on the official websites yet, so I'll take this brief moment to announce that you will most definitely be seeing some of these released in due time.  It'll still be a while as I have a lot to type into the computer (you know, digital preservation and all that jazz).  However, that's not what I'm focusing on in this blog entry...

Among my findings earlier was a bundle of old documents and paper scraps held together by paperclips, all with various writings to do with music ideas I've had since (brace yourselves) the first few years I started writing!  If you know my music history well, those first few years were when I was involved in a little project with Forbes called Swede.  These works, however, are not a part of the infamous "lyric book" we put together, but are other ideas from around that time that were written or printed on dot matrix printer paper, of all things (remember those noisy machines?).  At some point in the near future, I will be going through what I've already typed into the computer to see what paperwork needs to be digitized or destroyed (a lot of these papers aren't in the best condition, but you can still read what's written on them).  Once that's out of the way, I will see what I need to do with them (and have less clutter around the place as an added bonus).  I would be lying if I said there wasn't anything of worth from back then that I could use in future projects.  As amateur as some of the songs were in my early days, some were/are actually pretty good.  Most, if not all, would need a major update to be more suitable to what I would write now, so there is that.

But wait, there's more.

It wasn't just lyric and title ideas that I found among these papers.  I found a lot of them had ideas for music chords/notes and sequences.  Ideas for possible riffs, etc, because the guitar was my first love when it comes to playing an instrument.  I wasn't always a digital musician.  n-Somnia is actually the 5th major music project I've been involved with (Swede was 1st, Supertrip 2nd, Driftwood 3rd and Kerfü was 4th).  As I was sifting through the pile of riff ideas, it dawned on me that I "probably" have enough ideas on paper to have written a huge chunk of any future release I put out.

I can't remember how much I've said online about it, but after I have celebrated n-Somnia's 20th anniversary in a few months, I plan on making the follow-up releases stand out more than what I've put out before.  n-Somnia beyond 2022 will be a very different project indeed.  I've got at least 3 or 4 different style projects in mind, and by that I mean genre changes.  Sure, there will still be a digital element in all of them, but each one will be unique by comparison to everything n-Somnia has released over the last 2 decades.  Tidying my home and finding these writings, I think, has heavily contributed towards this.  The ideas for my future releases were already there, but the rediscovery had made it very clear that this is the direction I'll be heading with the next phase.  The first few years of the third decade will be very interesting!

Before anyone asks - regarding the guitar being my first instrumental love interest - I will say that there is always room for comebacks, and the signs are there.  As someone from my church said years ago, "God allows U-turns."  So yes, I am working on going back to my roots.  n-Somnia will soon be heard in a way the project hasn't been heard before.  I have flirted with guitar samples in a few digital tracks from time to time (e.g. n-Somnia's "Surfing Down the Drain" and Kingrow's "Jam"), but I think it's about time the riffs were my own.

Excited?  You should be. 😉

In closing, in case you were wondering about the 20th anniversary release, "Eliminator" is still being released (along side of an updated version of my 2011 release, "The Early Years") on June 1st.  Also, an important detail, the remix collaboration I announced almost a year ago has been extended to May.  The reason being the fact that there haven't been many applicants at this time.  That doesn't mean there aren't any though, so you will definitely be hearing a remix or 2 of the song by someone other than me!  If you wish to join those who are already taking part, get in quick because 2 months can actually go pretty fast.

To get involved in remixing "Eliminator", download the compressed WinRAR file here and have a play around with the audio samples.  You can send your finished work to me at this e-mail address by April 30th! 😁

I Claim This Territory...

I don't think I'll ever understand what goes on in the mind of a cat or dog when it comes to marking their territory through the use of urine.  It makes no sense to me as to why you would want to pee on something to make it yours.  I find the very thought of it rather off-putting, which is kind of the opposite of what they're trying to achieve.  Think about it.  If I were to pee on something, I'm more likely to want nothing to do with it.

So yeah...

Girl, You Know it's True

 We all should know the story by now.  The late 80's/early 90's pop duo, Milli Vanilli, getting caught out in mid-concert as people discovered, to their surprise, that they lip synced their own songs, only to later reveal that the voices on their albums were completely different singers altogether.  It was groundbreaking news at the time, and sadly, they lost the trust of the fans and the music industry during the backlash.  They even tried to redeem themselves by recording an album with their actual voices, and while it wasn't too bad, the damage had already been done and it was basically over already.

 In a post-MV world, Fabrice "Fab" Morvan would actually pursue a real singing career, and do a pretty good job of it (but nothing big enough to put him back in the global arena), but sadly for his former partner-in-crime, Robert "Rob" Pilatus didn't have a very pleasant life following the backlash, involving substance abuse, crime, and eventually an accidental overdose that led to his death in 1998, which was (as far as I know) a result of the guilt he felt about what happened with Milli Vanilli.

So, why am I bringing this up?  We all know this.  There's got to be a point...

I bring it up because I feel there's a lot of hypocrisy in the music industry, especially today.  The incident in 1989 that led to Milli Vanilli's decline was indeed a shock, but ever since then I have noticed that in 2022, there have been a lot of similar practices that are still happening, and yet nobody is speaking up against it.  Why?  Because it seems to be the way things are these days.

Music TV shows - Think "Top of the Pops" or musical guest appearances on talk shows.  In some cases, the instruments may be live, but the vocals...  There's a backing track involved (most of the time).  We've seen videos on YouTube about music fails on live TV.  For example: Ashlee Simpson on the set of "Saturday Night Live" (look it up).  Honestly, you could pick almost any pop singer from the past 20 years and they're probably guilty of faking it while they make it (another good example is Britney Spears, but I won't go there).

So, what's my point?  The point is that Milli Vanilli were mocked and treated, sort of, like a scapegoat to the point of near-crucifixion, destroying their career in the process...and yet, everyone else that does the same thing (on stage) is still around?  Where is the justice in that?  From my perspective, it looks like this...  "Milli Vanilli didn't sing!?  How DARE they!?  BURN THEM!!!" ...  Almost a decade later, Rob passes away.  Some time after that... "You know what?  It's not a bad idea, this lip sync thing.  Let's keep it going".

Do you think it's fair on Milli Vanilli that they got the treatment they received when these other "artists" are basically doing the same thing and getting away with it?  Shame on them.  One of the MV members died because of all of this, for goodness sake.  Show some respect, man.

So, how do we resolve this issue?  Simple.  Play your own instruments and use your own voice without relying on pre-recorded backing tracks when you're on stage.  If you can't hold a note while performing in front of people, then what are you doing there?  I would never mime or lip sync on stage, unless it was an actual lip sync competition.  You've proven you can play the song in-studio, now take your skills to the next level.  You won't increase them without the experience.

I haven't played music on stage since I was with Supertrip.  My last gig was in December 1998, and I miss doing that sort of thing.  The reason I've never had a gig as n-Somnia is because it's not music I've made, necessarily.  It's a combination of loops and samples I've found here and there that I've mixed together to create something new, and from time to time, I might include something that I have personally made from scratch.  If I were to go on stage with n-Somnia's music today, it would mainly be me up there with a set of speakers and an iPod, sitting on a chair with sunglasses on.  Not much of a show when you think of it this way.  That's why, when I do make my eventual return to the performance stage, it will be in a live band with real instruments, and the vocalist's microphone will actually be switched on.  Because THAT is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen.

It's like being a chef.  You don't fake it until you bake it.  Food for thought.

Another Milestone Approaches

In the coming months, it will have been 20 years since I officially launched my solo music project, n-Somnia.  The year was 2002.  I had already put my foot in the door of digital music composition 3 years prior with a song called "Red Alert", which was made with the help of my friend, Darren Roverts.  Since then, I had started creating loops and samples that I planned on using for future tracks to follow.  Unfortunately, and kind of embarrassingly, very few of those loops/samples have been used towards full length tracks and most are still waiting their turn more than 2 decades later.  But at least they're there, I suppose.

Along comes March 2002 and I am heading off to start a new music course that was run by my hold high school, Linwood College (formerly Linwood High).  I'd already studied audio engineering for 6 months back in 1999 (close to half a year before "Red Alert" was finished), so I went in with a bit of knowledge already.  It probably made up for the fact that I started a month later than everyone else (I discovered the course's existence after it had started, I think - very thankful they still let me join).

During this time, I had some pretty bad habits caused by activities in my personal life.  Some of which I will probably cover in another blog.  In this case, I developed an out-of-sync body clock due to chatting to an online friend from the UK overnight (during the day for them), so by the time I had to go to course, I was already awake.  So, I found myself going there for half days sometimes because I was so tired by lunchtime, I'd end up going home to bed.  It wasn't always a good thing for my course work, as you'd imagine, but on a few occasions I surprised myself.  One of which led to the creation of a song that would launch a new project.

So, the deal was I had an assignment that required me using audio software called ACID Pro 3.0 to create 2 songs.  Could be using samples and loops, maybe recording your own song with instruments, whatever you liked.  All you needed was to do it using this computer program.  Seems simple enough.  I opted for the loops & samples route, of course.  Now, I had put off getting the assignment done straight away, and my sleeping habits partially contributed towards the delay.  That is until one day I decided to have a go at one of the 2 songs, despite the fact I was feeling quite drowsy at this point.  After so many minutes of playing around with some loops, putting them together, etc, I found that I was starting to create something that sounded pretty good.  Eventually, I finished what would become the first version of a song called "Eliminator".  It was quite inspiring to have created this song while in my sleep-deprived state.  Which is why within days/weeks of this event, when I discovered some fliers in the classroom about dealing with insomnia, I was drawn towards the word in a different way.  At home, I had (or still have) a CD-ROM full of installation files for various audio software that I was taught to use on my first audio engineering course.  Among these is a program called n-Track Studio.  I remembered this when I looked at the word "insomnia" and thought it would look good if I spelled it like the audio software.  So, from that moment on, the project now known as n-Somnia had a name.

To cap it off with the assignment, I still had a second track to finish.  Not surprisingly, I didn't start it until the day it was due to be handed in.  So, the second song (called "Electronica") was actually a bit of a rush job.  In the end, it still sounded good, so I was happy.  My tutor seemed to like what he heard, based on the marks I got for the assignment a few days later.

So, that is how my solo project was launched.  Since then, I took my digital music compositions home with me (including a huge catalog of loops and samples from the course's computer network - cheeky me).  From there, I continued to do what I did at course and it led to something bigger than expected.  In fact, later that year in November, I created a song called "Robot Lover From Mars", which would (in December) reach the #1 slot on one of the charts on one of the music websites I joined earlier in the year.  Not a bad start.  The rest of the story, however, is one for another day.

To conclude this blog entry, I wanted to put out a reminder to those who are already aware.  For quite some time now, I've been reaching out to the public about taking part in remixing my song, "Eliminator".  Initially, I set the deadline date for the beginning of March 2022 - less than 2 weeks from now.  However, to my knowledge, only one person is actually taking time to put something together for me (thanks, Tim!).  With that in mind, I'm contemplating whether I should extend the deadline for the public or leave it as is (let me know in the comments).  This remix collaboration will lead to a release I've scheduled for June, so if I extend it, it might be up until May.  We'll see.  As for the release itself, it will contain every version of "Eliminator" available to me at the time, from the first version to all remixes (my own included).  It will be a great way to celebrate 20 years since it was first made.

If you're interested in taking part in the remix collaboration, you can download the files here (needs WinRAR or similar to open the compressed file).  Also, let me know you're doing this so I don't release it without your contribution!

In addition to the "Eliminator" release, I will be re-releasing a compilation I put out in 2011 called "The Early Years".  Originally, it was more like an EP and contained no remixes at all.  This time, it will feature every track I created between 1999 and 2004, including the ones I moved over to my other project, Kingrow (that's another story for later).  This compilation will be available at the same time as "Eliminator".

Exciting!

Commercial Breakdown

Over the past decade or so, I've been involved in a bit of a nostalgia movement on YouTube.  Unfortunately, I wasn't the one who started it all, but I feel that I've been doing a service for my fellow peers and their own by providing material for the cause.

For me personally, it began with simply looking through my collection of VHS tapes.  Not only for the main subject written on the sticky label of the cassette, but also for any evidence of old TV commercials that may have been preserved on these tapes for as long as they have been.  Of course, going back to when these videos were initially recorded from the TV, there were times where we deliberately didn't want the commercial breaks so we could have uninterrupted movies or TV shows (besides, it allowed you to fit more at the end of each one until the tape ran out of space).  But it was always a treat when a commercial break was left in.  Either it was a mistake or it was a recording that was made while you went away to do something else, whether it was recorded manually or preset (some old VCR's had the ability to set a timer for when you wanted something recorded, which wasn't always 100% accurate - if a TV show came on early or later than scheduled, it might screw up your recording plans).  As you would find these breaks that were left in, you would be taken back to that particular time when the video was recorded.  Didn't matter if the movie or series you were taping was released earlier or at the same time as the recording.  Each of these commercials represented the time it was recorded (unless the sponsor in question reused one of their timeless ads from way back).

Since YouTube was pretty much reaching its peak somewhere around the time I started getting involved with the nostalgia movement (at least in the video department), I saw it as an opportunity to try and make digital copies of these TV commercials and upload them as soon as possible (VHS tapes only last so long before they're too corrupt for anyone's use).  It started off slow for me.  My first video capture device was the EasyCap.  A USB device with RCA plugs attached that would connect your VCR to the computer and record what was on it via the use of the provided recording software.  It wasn't the best choice of device, I admit now, but it got my foot in the door at least.  I have since graduated to much better methods of VHS preservation.  In this case, I currently use a DVR.  The way I do it can be quite lengthy at times, so I often need to reserve several hours when I do my search for classic commercials.  It starts with having my VCR linked to the DVR.  From there, I record what's on the tape to the machine itself.  After which, I burn the content onto a DVD-RW disc, then I take it to my computer to copy it onto the hard drive.  Then comes the process of using my video editing software to trim the video where necessary to create a collection of video clips ranging from about 15 seconds to a minute, depending on the ad.  Sometimes I might find some music, an entire episode of a series or something else that's longer than a minute that I may consider for my YouTube channel, but the main focus is on the ads.  Once these steps are done, I then go through the uploading phase...and then it's done.  I then sit and wait to see what the viewer response will be.  How many views?  Are there any likes?  How about the comments section?  It can be quite fun (unless some spam bot or some idiot comes along, of course - they're no fun at all).

My second YouTube channel - Nostalgia Duck (my first channel is for Stuffed Duck Productions) - has been uploading such content for about 10 years now (that's what my oldest upload tells me).  To this day, I've been quite busy preparing more videos to put online for the sake of giving people positive flashbacks.  Not much different to the purpose of my old radio show on Plains FM.  To give you an idea of what I've got in store as I type this blog, I currently have about 21 files that are unedited and adding up to about 19.5 GB of drive space - and that's just the videos I've already made digital.  As for the remaining VHS tapes, I've got an entire shelf to go through yet!  So, I won't be retiring this project anytime soon.

On that note, I must get back to doing what I need to do.  My lack of blogging for the past few days shows that I've been quite busy lately.  But that won't become a habit.  In the meantime, feel free to go to my Nostalgia Duck channel on YouTube to view what I've added to the archive so far.  Enjoy!

Trying Stuff

I'm a foodie.  There's not much else I can add to that statement.  I have a palate that welcomes a large variety of different types of food (and drink), and it's quite fun having one.  Sure, these days I have limited myself to certain things as I get older and either can't eat particular items, or I'm just trying to look after myself.  But from time to time, I'm keen on having a few naughty items to see if they're good.

I wasn't always like this though.  Growing up, I shunned a lot of foods that were rather important.  When I was the right age to make my own eating decisions, I pretty much filtered out vegetables, etc, altogether.  When I would go to Subway in my teens, I used to get the Seafood Sensation (which I've discovered while researching for this blog, that apparently, it has been discontinued from their menu), and as I would have the "sandwich artist" (cringeworthy title, by the way) make my sub, it would end up being white bread, seafood mix (which was basically surimi), cheese...and that's it.  Did I get my money's worth?  No.  Was it their fault?  Also no.  Did I care?  Definitely no.  I was happy with what I got, and if it wasn't filling enough, I'd ask for extra seafood to make it go further.  It didn't end there.  At McDonald's, I used to have my Filet-O-Fish without tartar sauce (well, actually I still do - I hate that sauce - it's the pickle), my Cheeseburgers and Quarter Pounders without onion and pickle, McChicken with extra cheese and without lettuce or mayonnaise.  I was (or am) a strange person.  So, what changed since then?  Simple - my darling wife.

When Aliesha and I were dating, we went to our friend, Adelle's house when she still lived with her parents.  There was a group dinner planned while Adelle's parents were out for the evening.  The ladies that attended decided to cook a special meal for all the guys that came along.  When it came to dishing up and serving, I noticed ingredients on my plate that I hadn't been eating at this point of my life - eggs...

Flashback to when I was either 5 or 6.  When I was at school one day, one of the girls in my class told me that there was a chicken in my stomach (she probably saw me eating an egg or something - I can't remember).  For some reason, this made me feel kind of ill and it put me off eggs, basically for the next 20 or so years...until this night out at Adelle's house.

Back to the dinner.  I saw the eggs on my plate.  Deep inside, I wanted to say that I don't eat them, but at the same time I didn't want to be rude.  So, I ate them anyway.  And you know what?  I actually enjoyed them.  It was this moment in time where it got me thinking that, maybe, some of these things I've been neglecting all those years aren't so bad after all.  Therefore, I was willing to try some of them to see if I felt any different as an adult.  Long story short, I'm still testing the waters with some food items, but I can conclude that most of what I've gone back to has become welcome in my fridge and/or freezer.  But you can keep your brussel sprouts and mushrooms though.  Screw those ones and the harvester they came in from.

Keeping with my taste testing, I found myself becoming inspired sometime in the late 2000's, while watching an Internet series called "Brad Tries...", which is a part of the network (Stoned Gremlin Productions) that brought us the Cinema Snob.  In this series, Brad Jones taste tests some quirky, weird and often funny food and drink items (as well as ones that aren't as quirky) and, depending on what it is, it sometimes led to funny reactions.  This made me want to do a similar series, so by the end of 2010, with the help of Aliesha and our friend, Gary, we started making one called "Trying Stuff".  This series would last up until the end of 2012 (an unofficial ending anyway - we still haven't tried a particular item on camera yet, with the hopes of making that our final episode).

You can view the entire series of "Trying Stuff" on my website at this link right here!

As a result of my foodie/drinky (is that a thing?) adventures, I've managed to pick up a bit of a collection of bottles and packaging over the years.  I may have to take a photo of everything that's accumulated, but right now it's not an easy task (long story), so that one will have to wait for another day.

In conclusion, if you think there's anything out there you think I should try sometime, let me know in the comments section and I will have a look into it. 👍