Pookon's Ill Cinema - February 2021

Now that I've introduced the idea and laid out the ground rules, I'm not sure what to do with the opening paragraph. I guess I can talk about February. There's not much to this month aside from it being cold outside and there being only 28 days, which gives me 2-3 less days in which to watch movies. I guess when I tally things up at the bottom of the post we'll see if that played a difference in how many movies I was able to watch this month. 

Aside from that the only thing I know is that it snowed a lot this month. So much to the point that I didn't know what to do with it anymore. The only reason that I bring that up is that because my car is parked on a slab next to the garage which is in back of the house along an alley. With little to no yard space and needing to keep the alley open, there is no way to put the snow if it doesn't melt and keeps on accumulating. At some point I gave up on trying to keep a clear path to get my car in and out of the parking spot, so eventually I just gave up and decided not to go anywhere. The only reason that I bring that up is because with no ride and no place to go, I had nothing better to do than to lay back and watch some movies. So that might help the overall numbers. Well, there's nothing left to do but get right into it. Lights, camera, action bitches!

2/01 - Monday

• American Pie 2

2/02 - Tuesday

• The Long Kiss Goodnight
• Groundhog Day
• Groundhog Day (2nd watch of the day)
• Man of the House (1995)

The Long Kiss Goodnight is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Yes, you heard me right. If the movie takes place at Christmas and it is essential to the plot, then it is a Christmas movie. I can't remember if I watched it during the 2020 Christmas season (as I wasn't keeping track), but I sure as hell know I watched and enjoyed the shit out of it today.

With today also being Groundhog Day, one of my annual traditions is to get together with Jenny and Kevin and watch the Bill Murray classic on one of the best holidays of the entire year. I often watch it multiple times on and around this date, which is why it is listed twice. Since Phil Connors keep reliving the same day (*SPOLER ALERT*), I feel like that's a good enough reason to watch it more than once today. Like I needed a reason.

2/03 - Wednesday

• American Wedding
• Kingsman: The Golden Circle

2/04 - Thursday

• American Reunion

2/05 - Friday

• Odd Thomas *

This movie has been on my docket to watch probably since I first heard about it in 2013. I don't know why it took me this long to watch it, but that's kind of the point of this experiment as I'm making a point to watch a handful of "new" movies each month. If you're into ghosts and the paranormal, I suggest giving this a watch. 

2/06 - Saturday

• Just Like Heaven
• Blended *

Blended might have been the worst movie I watched this month and would be a candidate for worst of the year, but I just can't bring myself to put it on either list. And that's because of two things. 1 - I'm a sucker for Adam Sandler. So many of his movies are pretty bad but god damn it do I watch every single one and at least laugh a little bit. And 2 - Terry Crews absolutely steals every scene he is in. I laughed at him more than I do at some entire movies and he singlehandedly saved this movie for me. I would never recommend this or watch it ever again, but I can't say I hated it even though it was terrible.

2/07 - Sunday

• Space Cowboys
• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2/08 - Monday

• Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2/09 - Tuesday

• Shallow Hal
• The Mummy (2017) *

Obviously I watch a lot of movies. You probably knew that about me before I started this blog series. I only say this because these two movies I watched today couldn't be more different in my memory. Shallow Hal is one of those movies that I just adore and would watch if I was flipping through the channels and saw it was on. And there are some scenes in this movie I think about all the time. 

The Mummy (2017) starring Tom Cruise is one of the more forgettable movies I have ever seen. Honestly if not for this list, I don't think I would remember seeing it. It didn't bring anything new to the game (characters, plot, special effects, action sequences, etc.) and was a big disappointment seeing as it was supposed to set up Universal Monsters "Dark Universe" with Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde being the connective tissue. But that kind of fizzled out after just one movie and led to the cancelation of some pretty high profile projects (like The Invisible Man with Johnny Depp, The Bride of Frankenstein with Angelina Jolie and Frankenstein with Javier Bardem). File this one under who cares/don't care. 

2/10 - Wednesday

• Beavis & Butthead Do America
• Back to the Future

Beavis & Butthead Do America is a comedic masterpiece and is in my Top 10 movies of all time. It's not even fair how good this movie is yet I never hear anyone talking about it. I think of some of the lines in this movie almost every week and laugh about how hilarious they are.

2/11 - Thursday

• Clifford
• Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie *

I was watching Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie near the end of my work shift and my Roommate (Mom) walked in on me (came home from work) and all I could think to say was, "It's not what it looks like." That was embarrassing because it was what it looked like. 

2/12 - Friday

• The Wedding Singer
• 50 First Dates
• Happy Death Day
• Happy Death Day 2 U

I enjoyed Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U so much that I had to show them to Jenny and Andy. And Andy was into them so much that he stayed awake for both movies, which is rare as his bedtime is usually around 1030pm even on the weekends. 

2/13 - Saturday

2/14 - Sunday

• Muppet Treasure Island *
• Grosse Pointe Blank
• The Mask
• The Man Who Knew Too Little

I don't know why it took me this long into my life to watch Muppet Treasure Island. The only reason I can think of is that I was 15 years old when it came out and I was too busy trying to be cool, avoiding kid things like the Muppets and doing adult things instead. I was dumb as a teenager. Never try to be like everyone else. Never try to be cool. Just be yourself. That's what's really cool. I know that now.

2/15 - Monday

• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

2/16 - Tuesday

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

2/17 - Wednesday

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2/18 - Thursday

• Superman: The Movie
• The Legend of Drunken Master *

2/19 - Friday

• Double Team *

2/20 - Saturday

• Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who! *
• The Peanuts Movie *

I can't say that I was ever a big fan of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. I don't watch the holiday specials (Christmas/Halloween) and I read the comics, just not on a regular basis. This 2015 film wasn't really on my radar but I did intend to watch it some day. And I'm glad that I did because it was such a wholesome, genuinely fun, well done G-rated film that everyone can enjoy. I don't know how else to describe it but to say that it was incredibly refreshing that something like this was made (and made well) in today's world. I would encourage everyone to check out this animated film.

2/21 - Sunday

• John Q

2/22 - Monday

• Big
• Mrs. Doubtfire

2/23 - Tuesday

• Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

2/24 - Wednesday

• Fantastic Four
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

2/25 - Thursday

• Fantastic 4 (2015)
• The Nutty Professor

2/26 - Friday

• The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
• Superman III
• Left Behind (2014 Nicolas Cage) *

2/27 - Saturday

• Left Behind: The Movie (2000 Kirk Cameron) *
• Left Behind II: Tribulation Force *
• Left Behind III: World at War *
• John Wick
• John Wick Chapter 2

I do love me some end of the World/Apocalypse movies, but the Left Behind series? Woof. After watching the Nicolas Cage version first (which was made after these ones), I should have known that it couldn't get any better than that. And was I right. Woof indeed. 

2/28 - Sunday

• Greenland *
• The Quake *

I'm a real sucker for disaster movies. I'll watch any and all of them no matter how good (which is rare) or how bad (which is common) they are. But that's why this last day of February was such a delight. Greenland was a movie I knew I was going to like from when I first saw the preview. I just wasn't going to pay to see it in theaters so I just needed to wait until it arrived on a streaming service. It gave me everything I wanted from an end of the world comet movie.

Last year I watched a Norwegian film from 2015 called The Wave and even though it was subtitled (which is hard for someone like me who has problems paying attention), I thought it was really good. Besides, does the dialogue really matter in a disaster movie? The Quake is a sequel to The Wave and is about an Earthquake instead (although the Wave was caused by an earthquake). If you're into disaster movies and don't mind Norwegians or subtitles, I would say definitely check it out. 

Number of Movies Watched this Month: 56
Most Watched Movie this Month: Groundhog Day (2 times)
Number of New Movies Watched this Month: 15
Best New Movie Watched this Month: The Peanuts Movie
Worst Movie Watched this Month: Left Behind 1-3 (the Kirk Cameron ones)

Number of Movies Watched this Year: 118
Most Watched Movie this Year: Back to the Future (2 times) Groundhog Day (2 times) / Happy Death Day (2 times) / Happy Death Day 2 U (2 times)
Number of New Movies Watched this Year: 33
Best New Movie Watched this Year: The Peanuts Movie
Worst Movie Watched this Year: Left Behind 1-3 (the Kirk Cameron ones)

 - Scott Reck -

pookon.com

twitter.com/pookondotcom

Pookon's Ill Cinema - January 2021

I think I forgot to lay out the ground rules in the first article that I posted. Well I'm not going to go back and edit that one to include them, so I'll just post them here. Movie and documentaries (for the most part) count. TV shows do not, even if the formula is more like a movie (examples of this would be things like The Mandalorian or WandaVision). A documentary counts if it is a stand alone feature length narrative, whereas a multi-episodic formula would not. So keep that in mind for days when I don't watch anything or just watch one movie. Just because it doesn't look like I wasn't watching anything doesn't mean that I wasn't, it just did not qualify for this list. 

Everything during the pandemic is all starting to gel together, but I know at some point I watched every episode of Lost, Seinfeld, Scrubs, Mike Tyson Mysteries, half of Cheers and anything Star Wars and Marvel put out like The Clone Wars cartoon, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If? and Mighty Ducks Game Changers. I'm sure there are some other TV series in there that occupied my time that at this point I cannot remember. Oh, and lest we forget daily viewings of Let's Make a Deal, The Price is Right, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Can't live without my game shows. Once you also start to factor in 162+ (including playoff) baseball games once the Milwaukee Brewers season started, it's a wonder I'm able to watch any movies at all and then sometimes have enough time to watch multiple movies in a day. 

The last time that I checked, there are only 24 hours in a day and one third of that is spent getting ready for sleep, actually sleeping and then getting your shit together after sleep. Which comes to another rule - the movie really just needs to be on in order for me to consider it something I watched. If it is one I am seeing for the first time, I like to devote my full attention to it so I am usually actively paying attention and keep my eyes on the screen (with exceptions of course like checking my phone, looking up casts and trivia on IMDB or fucking around on the internet). But for the movies I have seen many times before, those are usually on in the background as I am working, doing chores and housework or whatever else I do around this joint. So not every movie has me on the couch for the entire run time paying attention to each and every detail. Sometimes it's just on and I'm really doing something else. But since I know the plot, the lines, the characters, etc., I can "watch" it without actually watching it. Does that make sense?

So now that you know the rules, let's get down to the movie watch list. But one last thing in how I am reporting these. I have broken it out by date and listed the movies that I watched. Once of the things I wanted to keep track of is when I watched a new (at least to me) movie, which I have indicated with a * symbol and highlighted in red text. When I feel like it, I'll provide a little commentary or some information about that day or the movies watched on that day. And at the end of the month, I will provide a tally of few noteworthy statistics such as number of movies watched, most watched movie, number of new movies, best new movie and worst movie watched. And I plan on doing this for both the month and the year, which will get pretty interesting as the months roll by. So I guess there is nothing left to do but get into it, so grab some snacks and beverages, settle into your seat, dim the lights and let's watch some movies!

1/01 - Friday

• Back to the Future
• Back to the Future Part II
• Back to the Future Part III

Watching the Back to the Future Trilogy is one of my New Year's traditions. There's something about looking back on your past and trying to fix it so that you have a better future that goes hand in hand with making resolutions. But I don't make New Year's resolutions and instead I just watch my favorite all-time movie trilogy instead. Hell of a way to get the year started.

1/02 - Saturday

• The Final Destination *
• Final Destination 5 *
• Batman Begins
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 *

The Final Destination holds the distinct honor of being my first new movie of 2021. Aside from that, I can't say I remember much about it. 

1/03 - Sunday

• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Returns
• Finding Nemo

1/04 - Monday

• The Avengers
• The Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Captain America: Civil War
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier

1/05 - Tuesday

• Twister
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
• Flatliners (1990) *

I'm not sure how often this will come up, but every now and then I finally get around to watching a movie for the first time that I should have seen a long time ago. Flatliners isn't a great movie, but with the star power behind it (Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts and director Joel Schumacher) I am surprised it took me 31 years to finally see it.

1/06 - Wednesday

• Speed
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Avengers: Endgame

1/07 - Thursday

• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• Speed 2: Cruise Control *

I love Speed. I love Keanu Reeves. Knowing that he didn't come back for the sequel is what probably (pun intended) steered me away from this movie for so long. But it really wasn't that bad. It just wasn't that good. And I can see why he passed on this movie. Maybe I should have too. Keanu 1, Scott 0. 

1/08 - Friday

• Bad Boys
• Bad Boys 2
• Bad Boys for Life *
• I Am Chris Farley

1/09 - Saturday

• How to Train your Dragon: the Hidden World *
• Poseidon (2006) *
• Live Free or Die Hard (unrated)

1/10 - Sunday

• A Good Day to Die Hard *

I was expecting to hate this movie. And I kind of do if you consider this to be a Die Hard movie. But this isn't a Die Hard movie, this is a Bruce Willis movie. Any connection to Die Hard is on name alone (John and Jack McClane) and some minor references to previous films. If I wasn't such a completionist with movie series, I would totally never watch this again. But if I start a series, I usually end the series. Gross.

1/11 - Monday

It's actually kind of difficult to watch a movie every day, and most days I was watching 3 or 4. I never thought about how many days it would take me to have one where I didn't watch a movie, but I guess today I got my answer.

1/12 - Tuesday

• The Muppets (2011)

1/13 - Wednesday

• Armageddon
• The Rock

There aren't a lot of movies I could watch every day. But if they suddenly made it mandatory and I was forced to pick an action movie, Armageddon or The Rock would be my choice.

1/14 - Thursday

• The Muppets Most Wanted
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Transformers

1/15 - Friday

• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon

1/16 - Saturday

• Transformers: Age of Extinction *

I watched the Transformers cartoon as a kid and absolutely loved the toys. I gave the live action movies a shot when they first came out and then kind of bailed after the 3rd one. I guess I used this as an excuse to finally catch up on the rest of the series. They aren't terrible. I've seen worse.

1/17 - Sunday

• Life (1999) *

1/18 - Monday

• Snowpiercer *

1/19 - Tuesday

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Krampus *

1/20 - Wednesday

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Transformers: The Last Knight *

1/21 - Thursday

• Happy Death Day *

Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U were the first true surprise first watches of my movie year. I think these ended up on my radar from the boys at Binge Media (a movie podcast site I've been listening to for years) and I find that their tastes align with mine, so I usually check out anything they recommend. If you're a fan of time loop movies (think Groundhog Day) and time parallel movies (think Back to the Future II), then you might end up liking these ones.

1/22 - Friday

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

1/23 - Saturday

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

1/24 - Sunday

• Happy Death Day 2 U *

If you are going to watch Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U, I would recommend doing so in the same day or as close to each other as possible. Without spoiling anything, the events of the movies tie into each other very well and best to view the 2nd one while the 1st one is freshly on your mind. 

1/25 - Monday

• Josie and the Pussycats

I don't really believe in "guilty pleasures" as most people would describe it. You shouldn't feel bad for liking something. Who cares? I fucking love Josie and the Pussycats and especially my girl Rachael Leigh Cook. One thing about getting older is that I gives less and less fucks about what people think about me and the things I like. If someone is going to judge me based off of a silly movie with a good looking girls and killer soundtrack, then let them. That's not my problem. That's theirs.

1/26 - Tuesday

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Kingsman: The Secret Service

1/27 - Wednesday

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

1/28 - Thursday

• First Kid
• Freaky Friday (2003) *
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

When I talked about A Good Day to Die Hard, I mentioned being a completionist. You didn't see Die Hard, Die Hard 2 or Die Hard with a Vengeance on this list because I watched them in December 2020 (for Christmas), so they don't qualify for this list. I only mention that because on January 19 I started watching the Harry Potter series, which means that eventually I would watch the remaining movies. Pay attention to that fact because it will come back again throughout the year.

1/29 - Friday

• Bumblebee *

1/30 - Saturday

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

1/31 - Sunday

• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Yesterday

Number of Movies Watched this Month: 62

Most Watched Movie this Month: N/A

Number of New Movies Watched this Month: 18

Best New Movie Watched this Month: Happy Death Day/Happy Death Day 2 U (Tie)

Worst Movie Watched this Month: Freaky Friday (2003)

Number of Movies Watched this Year: 62

Most Watched Movie this Year: N/A

Number of New Movies Watched this Year: 18

Best New Movie Watched this Year: Happy Death Day/Happy Death Day 2 U (Tie)

Worst Movie Watched this Year: Freaky Friday (2003)

 - Scott Reck -

pookon.com

twitter.com/pookondotcom

Pookon's Ill Cinema - 2021 Movies

I've been a movie fan for my entire life. I do reserve times for other sources of media like music, podcasts and TV, but my go to is to set aside a few hours and get lost in a story that I'm seeing for the first time or have seen a million times before. I have made an attempt to catalog and alphabetize how many movies that I "own", and between DVDs, Blu-rays and burned copies, my library easily exceeds 5,000 movies. With the emergence of streaming services in the past few years I've gotten some pushback from people for holding onto physical media, but my project for 2021 taught me that it was entirely necessary for what I was attempting to undertake - keep track of every single movie that I watched this year. This was a crazy idea but something that has been rumbling around in my skull for quite some time. 

The idea stemmed from a throw-away thought about how often I watch a particular film (like Jurassic Park) instead of watching something new (at least to me) because it seems like I always watch the same handful of movies. People speak in hyperbole all of the time. How often have you said, "Oh, that movie? I've seen it a hundred times." But even though I promise you that I have not seen any one movie a hundred times this year, there are a few of them on this list that I can say without a doubt that I have seen a hundred times or more in my life. And since you can't depend on streaming services for availability or picture and sound quality, my collection comes in handy. Because when I'm in the mood for a certain movie, I want to watch it, not try and figure out where to find it online without paying for it or signing up for every single streaming service. I've got my own god damn video store. I am the Last Blockbuster. 

While I did mention that this idea to track my movie watching has been around for a long time, it really didn't get serious until March of 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic pretty much just changed everything and shut down the World and our lives as we knew it. Because we were supposed to social distance and everything was canceled (like holiday gatherings, concert and music festivals, sporting events, bars, restaurants and movie theaters), I pretty much stayed home and watched movies by myself. While this was nothing new with my life, it just became more apparent how often it happened. And then in April 2020 I was furloughed from work for what turned out to be 6 months. To this day I still cannot tell you what I did with my time when I was off work and couldn't go anywhere or do anything. I should have done a better job of tracking my life back then. But it did give me the push I needed to finally catalog this ridiculous aspect of my life. And when I went back to work and then started working from home, it gave me the opportunity to put on movies in the background while I did my job, which really allowed the list to grow into the monstrosity that it has become.

By the time I decided to do this I settled on a start date of January 1, 2021 so that I would have an entire year's worth of data. In the end it doesn't really matter, but there's something about quantifying things in a time span that the majority of people recognize as significant just seemed like the right thing to do. So be on the lookout for a month by month breakdown of the movies that I watched this year and a little bit of commentary where I deem it appropriate. I'm curious to see the final results, especially the number of total movies I watched, how many new movies I watched and which movies I watched the most number of times. I'm planning on making this an annual thing, so check back often if you care to see how I wasted my precious life minutes in 2021 and beyond. 2022 is looking to be more of the same, so I do plan on keeping track of my movie watching again, but hopefully the conditions in the World won't suck as much and I'll be out living life instead of watching other people live fictional ones on the big and small screen.

- Scott Reck -

pookon.com
twitter.com/pookondotcom

Walk of Life: Episode 3 - Niagara Falls (Thursday May 5, 2016)

Today is March 17, 2018. This episode is from my attempt at another solo podcast called "Walk of Life" that never really took off and is actually from May 5, 2016. That's almost two years ago if you are keeping score at home. But why I am posting this just now? That's because on the primary entity of the Pookon Inc. Empire (www.pookon.com), I just finished posting the pictures and captions for Iceman Celebration Day 2016. Yes, I understand that none of this is relevant anymore because I have changed so much due to the unstoppable passing of time. But even though I am different person now, this episode encapsulates who I was at the time and what I was thinking and feeling on Cinco de Mayo 2016 as I stood atop of the Skylon Tower overlooking Niagara Falls as I was about to enter my 35th year of life. So click below to time jump back into the past and see what life was like at that glorious moment in time.

Direct Link to listen / download: http://pookon.com/music/Walk%20of%20Life%20E3%20-%20Niagara%20Falls.mp3

A more in depth retelling of this tale can be found on at http://www.pookon.com/icd/icd2.html, but let me tell you right here that I had an amazing experience. I love being up high on my tower. From an elevated vantage point, I like to be able to see the World around me. That unique perspective is something that you just cannot get on the ground. It helps you to understand how truly small you are and how big the World is. At 775 feet above Niagara Falls, they say that you can see both the Toronto and Buffalo skylines on a good day. Since I was up there at dusk/night, I concentrated my seeing power on the falls herself. While walking around the observation deck, I talked about the different towers that I have been on (from Rockefeller Center in New York City and the Stratosphere in Las Vegas and someday I hope to do the same thing in Seattle from the Space Needle and Toronto from the CN Tower) and how much I loved being up here. As I walked around this relatively small round space up here (as you can see from the picture on the right), I got a little too deep and introspective on what life means and what we mean to the life around us. Happens. It was Cinco de Mayo and I was drinking backpack booze. None of this makes sense. But why should it?

When you are up on top of the World (or as far as someone like me can go on a restricted budget), you get to marvel at the surroundings. That's when you realize that for some people the sky's the limit and for others the limit is the sky. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but for May 5th and 6th I was willing to live outside of my means and celebrate like there was no tomorrow. I hope to live a long and fruitful life, but one of these days today will be my last. And I hope that when that day does come, my final day on this planet will be something spectacular. I understand that not every day can be the greatest day ever. But if I try hard enough and rage until the wheels fall off, there's a chance that it won't have to be. 

- pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
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Whiskey & Whatever - C is for Cookie Video

Last week I shared the song "C is for Cookie" that Kevin and I created (as the band Whiskey & Whatever) while we were camping. This just kind of happened while we were jamming out to some Tom Petty and it just took off and became its' own monster. And a Cookie Monster at that. Well this weekend I had a little downtime and an idea to put together some video clips to play behind this song. The results of which truly embody the spirit of our band, our childhood icons and what happens when you combine Whiskey & Whatever. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did singing the song and putting this together. But if you don't, I really don't mind. Because C is also for complacent. And that's good enough for me.

- pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
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Whiskey & Whatever - C is for Cookie (ft. Jenny Reck)

While camping at Mirror Lake State Park near the Wisconsin Dells, we played songs around the fire. After finishing Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How it Feels" we created a song using Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" as a guideline. What happened that night was another on the spot creation to add to Whiskey & Whatever's staple of musical works.

This is one of many reasons why I set out the recording device every time we sit around and make music. Kevin and I (and any of the one of the multitude of friends and family that join us) can come up with these musical wonders at any given moment. I'd rather have thousands of recorded hours of music with a few minutes worth posting than not have a recording of the good stuff when it happens. I just hope that you enjoy these songs and that you get to be there in person the next time something like this comes together. 

 - pookon - 

http://www.pookon.com/
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Walk of Life: Episode 2 - Fox Point (Monday April 25, 2016)

When I started this podcast a week ago I knew that today was going to be a day to record another episode. I was kind of looking forward to it and not at the same time. I knew that on Monday April 25, I would be a mess of emotions and there was no telling how this would benefit or detriment an audio recording. Even though the results are mixed, it is still important that I captured my feelings at this time because today was 5 years to the day that my younger brother Timmy passed away at the age of 24. It's been a very long 5 years, but at the same time I feel like it was just yesterday because the wounds and emotions feel so fresh. I feel like if I keep typing then I will just be rehashing everything I say in this episode, so click below to listen to find out what I was feeling on that day:

Direct Link to listen / download: http://pookon.com/music/walk%20of%20life%20ep2%20apr25.mp3

Timmy was the best friend I could ever have and it hurts me so much to know that I have to spend the rest of my life without him. I think about him every single day because that is one more day since he was (physically) in my life. I hate to have negative thoughts and let them hamper me from enjoying my life, but I can't help but think about how much life would be so much better if he was still here. I'm thankful for every opportunity that I have gotten in the past 5 years and I certainly have enjoyed every single adventure that I have been on. But I will always play the "what if" card no matter how many times I tell myself not to. That's how important he was to me and how much of an influence that he had on my life and on me as a person. Life is hard. It throws a lot of things at you that you really are never ready for. But you just gotta keep on going dealing with them and moving forward. You gotta keep on walking. On that's what this podcast is really all about. Today was hard. But tomorrow things may get better. Who knows what will happen in a few weeks? But I know that I will be here to to provide yet another snapshot on my life during this walk of life.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
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Walk of Life: Episode 1 - Mark Travel (Friday April 15, 2016)

Welcome to another foray into podcasting. While "Burnin' Down the Podcast" from The Daily Burner is on hiatus, I figure it's time to get my spoken thoughts out there again. My last solo podcast "The Drive to Stay Alive" went for about 25 episodes from October 2012 to March of 2014. And while I certainly will go back to that Podcast in the future, I decided that the "Walk of Life" could be kind of an offshoot of that (which was recorded in my car during my morning and evening commute to work) but tailored to my current situation. I now live about 5 minutes away from work, so recording during my commute wouldn't give me enough time to talk. But I do take a half hour walk during my lunch break, which gives me more than enough time to snapshot a moment in my life. While each "The Drive to Stay Alive" episode was around 50 minutes long, I'm going to try to keep these around 10-20 minutes. Just long enough to get my point across and get my thoughts out there. Episode 1 is 15 minutes long and basically gives an introduction as to what I'm trying to do here. Check it out by clicking below:

Direct Link: http://pookon.com/music/walk%20of%20life%20ep1%20apr15.mp3

So that's basically it. I'm not premeditating these episodes or writing down future topics for discussion. I'm just going to hit record when I have an idea and see what happens. That means each walk/episode should be fresh and spontaneous (not to mention topical). I'm excited to see what happens, but more than that I am eager to talk out my feelings and ideas and get them on the record. I don't know where this idea will take me or how long it will last, but the important thing is that I'm still trying. And still walking. And I'll keep on doing that until I'm no longer able to.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out Month 3 - Day 31 (Sunday January 24)

As you can see by the date this was posted, I haven't written anything on this blog or about this Even It Out challenge since December 5th. I apologize for that. But I didn't really have anything to say and by the time the month came to a close, I didn't want to report on the results. I started out December at 350 pounds. I finished the month at 356 pounds. If you've been following along, this would be the first time that I gained weight during this experiment. And not only that, but I gained a lot of weight. I was consistently losing 1-2 pounds and feeling better every day. So what happened? Everything was going great until the holidays. I set up my schedule of eating every other day so that the eating days landed on some holiday parties, Christmas Eve and on my Star Wars Marathon on the 18th (when I watched Episodes 1-6 in preparation for seeing The Force Awakens on Saturday the 19th). As soon as Christmas approached, the wheels fell off and I failed to put them back on.

I went to church on Christmas morning and I fully intended to go the entire day without eating (as I had on every odd day this month). But then I ate some snacks around lunch time and it all went downhill from there. I figured that I could use Christmas as a cheat day and then I could get back on target. I should have known better. The whole reason I did this challenge is that I know I can't handle moderation. Once I get a taste I don't want to stop. I want the whole thing. Then after eating it all I sit around feeling sick wondering what happened. By the time I weighed myself on January 1st, to no surprise I had gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. The Holidays can be a real bitch for so many reasons. 

This is why people make New Year's Resolutions. They usually involve giving up something or losing weight. I'm guilty of falling victim to this ploy and setting unachievable goals. That's why I didn't set any this year and also why I decided to end this Even It Out challenge. While I can't argue with the results when I was sticking to the plan, I know that I did make some mistakes along the way. It's now the end of January and I weigh the same that I did at the end of December. While this could be construed as a bad thing, this means that I've been able to maintain my weight without having to give up eating every other day. I definitely need to keep on losing weight and become a healthier person, but I was going about it all wrong. What good does it do to give up eating on an even or odd day if I eat like shit on the days when I can eat? That does even it out. Instead of say consuming like 2,500 calories in a day, I would consume 0 in one day and 5,000 in the other. So it's all the same in the end. I didn't pay attention to what I was eating and how much I was eating, which is why this approach ultimately does not work.

But it did garner some positive results. I have lost like 10-15 pounds and kept if off (for the most part). I have figured out yet another way that doesn't work for me. That means the only way to being healthy is eating right and exercising. Who would've thought? This sucks. I thought that I could come up with a magic solution that would produce incredible results, but it turns out that the tried and true method still works the best. I guess there's nothing left to do but pay close attention to the food I am putting in my body and make sure to get plenty of exercise. Damn it.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out Month 3 - Day 1 (Tuesday December 1)

I started this month at 350 pounds, so I decided to keep this gravy train going for yet another month. Mmmmmm... Oh, what I wouldn't do for a gravy train right about now. Could you imagine if one of those made an unscheduled stop in your town? You'd run out of the house with multiple helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes or a million other things that are improved by a slathering helping of gravy. Popsicles? Better with gravy. Cotton candy? Why would you choose between blue and pink when you can have one that is basted in delicious gravy?  What goes best with gravy? Well a side dish of gravy of course! Can you tell that I'm hungry? What turned you on to that? This kind of thing happens when you decide to continue this little experiment for a 3rd month. I'm so messed up that I can't even think straight. At this point, I'm still not convinced that this is a good idea. While it is certainly true that I have lost 20 pounds as a direct result of this experiment, this whole idea is starting to seem a wee bit ludicrous. This is on par with an eating disorder and people who starve themselves and go to extreme ends in order to achieve their goals. They need to stop and think about the consequences of their actions. But has it gone too far? Is it too late to turn back?

At this point I think that I understand why people make poor and unhealthy decisions. I've gone too far to turn back now. It may be wrong. It may be damaging. It may be so many things. But it's addictive. It gives me power. It makes me feel something. I never used to be hungry. I used to just eat because I didn't know what else to do with my time. Now I feel the hunger festering inside of me and I have to deny it. When I say no to those demons I feel like I can conquer just about anything that stands in my way. Wielding that kind of power is incredibly dangerous. No one man should be that. But judging by my current weight, I am not one man. In fact, I am two. That means I should be able to do this, right? Easier said than done.

Making a complete life change is probably the most difficult thing there is. I can't begin to explain how this challenge goes against everything that I have ever done and everything that I know. From the outset it was destined to fail. What kind of lunatic does something this insane? It's madness I tell ya. MADNESS! So don't be alarmed if this gravy train goes completely off the rails and floods the valley with turkey, beef or country gravy goodness flowing from the overfilled containers.  That kind of thing tends to happen from time to time, so I apologize if you are smothered in that delicious gravy. You are so lucky. Right now, I would switch places with you in a heartbeat. A stalled, palpitating heartbeat caused by an over-consumption of gravy. But dear God - it was worth it.

 - pookon - 

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out Month 2 - Day 30 (November 30)

At the beginning of November, I weighed 358 pounds. I'm happy to say that by the end of this month, I'm down to 350 pounds. That's pretty incredible to me considering that this month contains my favorite eating day of the year - Thanksgiving. I was actually able to control myself for the most part and I only fixed up one plate of food (albeit an oval plate) and didn't take any leftovers home. That's a first for me because I usually overdo it and end up in a food coma that keeps me in that state longer than Elaine Esposito. By the time I wake up, I only feel regret and stomach pains. But this year was different. This time around I was conscious of my decisions and didn't go overboard like the men unable to occupy a lifeboat on the ill fated voyage of the Titanic. What? Too soon? It's never too soon. Especially to make important life decisions that people aren't fully supportive of or ready to understand. Well this is my struggle, not theirs. They need to do what they need to do and I need to do what I need to do.

Gravy for days. That is a World that I want to live in. Of course one may argue that since I live in America and come from a middle class family, I already live in a World where that is a reality. At any given moment, I can go to the nearest convenience store and purchase enough gravy to keep me satisfied until the next time I can go out and get more gravy. While one may call this "living the dream", I call this being caught in an endless loop to which there is no escape. I can have whatever I want whenever I want. How do you say no to that? How do you stop yourself from taking advantage of this situation? If I turn my back on everything I've ever known, I feel like I'm doing a disservice to myself. That is why I have to keep this experiment going in order to retrain myself into a different way of thinking and a complete lifestyle change. This isn't going to be easy and this change isn't going to happen overnight. This is about erasing 34 years of learned behavior and completely starting over. This sort of thing has already proved to be quite difficult and I don't see it getting any easier. But nothing worth having isn't worth working for. I've been working for some time now and I'll be damned if I'm going to let myself fail now. 

2 months down in this experiment and everything seems to be going OK. While this is certainly not ideal and I don't expect you to understand it, I need to do what works for me. And this works. Whether you agree with it or not, this is undeniably working. I don't intend to stick to this plan forever, but I'm at least going to keep this gravy train going for another month. So that's my plan. And for time being, I'm sticking to it. It's up to you if you want to come along for the ride.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out Month 2 - Day 17 (Tuesday November 17)

I know that it's been what seems like a long time since I last posted in here. That's because there isn't really much to say. I have a couple of updates to provide and also to let you know that I am continuing this challenge for another month. In fact, I believe that I just committed to doing this challenge throughout the entire Winter. Because of that, I'm only going to post periodic updates when I actually have something to say. There's no sense in wasting any more of your time if you came here for the most important question - is this experiment working? Well, at my last check on Nov 16th, I clocked in at 352 pounds, which means that I have lost 6 pounds since Nov 1st and a total of 17 pounds since beginning this challenge. That's 17 pounds in 6 weeks for those keeping track at home. So of course I'm going to keep this going. But that's not to say that I'm not going to make some changes today and in the future in order to keep this train rolling right along on track. If you know me, then you know how much I want to derail this train. It would be one hell of show. But not until I'm ready to end it all. I'm not there pal. Not even close. Life is just beginning for me.

I mentioned in the last post from Oct 31 that there was so much wrong that I did over the final 3 weeks of the month. I'm doing my best to stay away from the things that led me to only lose 1 pound a week during that time period. Apparently it is working because I'm up to 3 pounds lost per week. Besides a few very minor infractions, I have respected the Gremlin Rule (no food after midnight). I've been eating healthier, but the alcohol/beverage intake is still through the roof. This isn't helping me one bit, but I realize that this problem isn't going to be easily resolved in the foreseeable future. I can't possibly take that out of the picture right now because I'm taking away one of the things I love the most - food. If I would have to pick something as my favorite, I think I would have to say food is at the top of my list. Nothing in this World makes me happier, which is probably how I became the beast that I am today. I still have yet to find something that can replace that love, but I feel like I'm getting close.

That's because I have found my new obsession - a TV show called "Make It or Break It" that ran on ABC Family from 2009 - 2012. It's about a group of teenage gymnasts training for the Olympics in Boulder, CO. Now before you call the authorities, I'll have you know that all of these girls are above 18. But it wasn't the girls in tight clothes doing stretches and incredible athletic feats that keeps me watching (although I'll sadly admit that's what drew me to the show). It's the teenage girl drama that I can't get enough of, especially from my girl Lauren (the one in the orange in the picture on the right). If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I've been jabbering on nonstop about Lauren and how I'm caught up in her destructive drama that barrels in like a hurricane and obliterates everything in her path. Hurricane Lauren. Lord help us all. I absolutely love teenage drama (and love teenage girl drama even more). I get addicted to shows like this on ABC Family, Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel. I have problems. But like last month when I was too busy moving and watching the MLB Playoffs to think about eating, this has been my distraction this month. I could go on and on and on about how much I am loving this show and the teenage girl drama, but I don't want to be any creepier than I already am. Moving on.

There are two more things that I want to mention before starting season 2 of "Make It or Break It" - during the month of November I decided to switch it up and only eat on even days and I joined a "Biggest Loser" competition at work. The decision to go with even days was made about midway through October when I extended this plan into November. Why change it? Because Thanksgiving lands on Thursday, November 26. I'm all about this challenge, but I'll be damned if I'm going to sit and stare at a smorgasbord of food and not eat a single morsel of it (for those new to this challenge, in the month of October, I only ate on odd days). I'll do my best to not go overboard, but that's kind of hard to not do when sailing on the gravy boat. 

At work they are doing a 16 week "Biggest Loser" challenge and you have to pay $1 for every week. There are 25 people doing it (for a total of $400) and at the end of the challenge, the top 3 people with the most weight loss share the pot (something like 60%/30%/10%). You weigh in every Thursday and for every pound you gain, you have to pay a penalty $1. That weekly money then goes to the weekly biggest loser. While the monetary incentive is nice, I decided to join this just to show everyone that I could do this. I doubt that I will win any of the the weekly challenges because aside from the first week loss of 9 pounds, I've been steadily losing a few pounds per week. For me this isn't about the money or the title of champion. This is about a long term goal to be healthier. I might have a shot at the end prize if I stick to the plan and make improvements along the way, but we'll worry about that at the end of February. For now, I'm going to go with what is working and stay on target. I just have to take it day by day. Baby steps. That's really the only way that this goal can be achieved.  

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out - Day 31 (Saturday October 31)

So the month is come and gone and I'm left here trying to figure out if this challenge was beneficial in any way. Just to recap, during the month of October, I only ate on odd days in an attempt to even it out and reduce my calorie intake. Here is what went right - I did only eat on odd days. So in that sense, I successfully completed this challenge. I also ended up losing a total of 11 pounds over the 31 days. That's a good thing. I'm not going to overlook that or downplay that in any way because for a person of my size, losing weight is an absolute must. I have to be a healthier person and make changes in my diet and exercise routine in order to elongate my life. I set a goal and stuck to it. I proved to myself that I could do something as long as I put my mind to it. I learned a lot about myself and my body and how much food you really need in order to survive. When I did get a chance to eat, I wanted to eat real food and things like snacks, candy and fast food were not appetizing to me. That stuff really has no place in your food consumption (but I'll be the first to tell you that it is incredibly delicious). So I can hang my hat on a couple of things. 

But here's what went wrong. For the first week, I did a good job of only eating when I was hungry (once again, on odd days only). During the second week, something bad happened. On those odd days (when I could eat), I started binge eating and eating snacks, candy and other non-essential food items. I was stuffing my face with anything within arms reach. It was a horrible sight to behold. That's one of the reasons why I lost 9 pounds in the first week and then only two pounds over the remaining 3 weeks. Also during that second week, I started treating days like calendar days and not as the time between when you wake up and when you go to bed. The difference is this - take for example October 18th. Since it was an even day, I didn't eat. But then that night at midnight, I ate because the calendar said it was now the 19th. I was in clear violation of one of the big rules that I put in place when I first started this challenge - The Gremlin Rule (no food after midnight). That was supposed to safeguard me during this challenge and ignoring it ended up replicating the demon inside of me.

I previously talked about how I was busy this month moving out of my place. This worked for and against me. While it gave me something to do instead of eating, it caused me to gorge on some food items with the whole "can't take it with you" mentality. I had some food items that I didn't want to move because of lack of space at my new place (The Mothership). So I either ate poorly or ate too much of some items because I didn't want to pack or transport them. If I hadn't been moving, I might not have acted that way. That could have resulted in the minimal weight loss. But I can't really put that all into the wrong category because moving helped me to stay active by walking things out to the car, going up and down stairs and lifting heavy objects. Without the move, I doubt that I would have done as much exercise. 

And while diet/calorie reduction is the most important step of weight loss, regular exercise to burn calories certainly plays a very big roll as well. I probably did a lot of other things wrong, but there is only one more that I will point out. My alcohol consumption was through the roof during this challenge. My goal was to not eat on even days. I told you that I achieved that goal. But I didn't say that I wouldn't consumer calories. Sometimes you forget how many calories, sugar, sodium, carbs, etc. are in booze, beer and the multitude of mixers that go with them. Even on days that I wasn't eating, I still took in my fair share (but probably more than my fair share) of calories. That didn't help in trying to lose weight because I didn't stay true to the plan of every other day. Apparently I found a loophole. I know I drink too much. It's kind of my thing. It's not to deal with problems and I don't consider myself a true addict, but it's definitely a problem that cannot be ignored. It became more apparent during this month because without the food to help soak it up, it took very little to get me drunk. The "normal" pour that I usually do is enough to knock out a baby elephant. So there is still a lot of work to do.

At the end of the day I'll take away two things. This kind of diet does indeed work for me because of my addictive personality. I do better without having something than doing it in moderation. I'm all or none and until I can figure out how to properly balance everything out, I need to keep doing this in order to be healthier. In fact, I've decided to keep this going in November but with a couple of changes (look for that in an upcoming blog post). The other thing that I learned is how little food a body needs to survive and how much I eat because it is available or if I am bored. I need to figure out a way to resist boredom and temptation and I'll be alright. I've never had self-control because I've always had enough money and any food you want, any time, is available (this is America after all). Once I learn to say no to those things, I will be a better (and healthier) person.

I didn't write as much as I would have preferred, but that's OK because I was too busy living or die tryin'. Yeah. Right. But once my internet got cut off in the first week of the month, it became more difficult to sit down and blog about this challenge. Talk about your first world problems, right? But all of that will change in November because I'll be continuing the challenge with a lot more stability in my life. I don't know now if that will make it easier or more difficult. You'll just have to stay tuned to see what happens as I attempt to Even it Out.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman

Even It Out - Day 18 (Sunday October 18)

Something happened today. I woke up this morning and I didn't know what else to do. Normally I would eat breakfast or lunch on a Sunday (depending on what time I wake up). But today was an even day and I couldn't eat anything. But I needed to do something. After all, boredom is the first step towards relapse. This is what led to me looking like a cancer patient. What? You expected me to have a little more tact? Try drinking all morning on an empty stomach and try to not be offensive. I'd say that I'm sorry, but I don't mean it right now. Drunken Iceman is a true asshole. But if you need visual proof of what this little misstep did to me, simply scroll down to see what happened. If you didn't already know, let me state for the record that I have problems. There's a lot of things about me you don't know anything about. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner. A rebel.

I don't know where else to go with this one. I shaved my head and beard because I was bored. When you have reached the point of no return, you can't go back. I'm a little more than halfway into this monthly challenge, so I have no choice but to soldier on. I figure since I've gone this far, I might as well keep on going, right? So excuse me if things start to get weird. Wait, start to get weird? They've already been weird. Where the hell have you been pal? Christ if I know. I often try to go on a quest to find myself, but my spirit animal (a smug ass dolphin), always leads me in the wrong direction. Punk ass bitch. I don't even know why I subscribe to that method of thinking. I have a level head. I'm educated. I don't make foolhardy decisions. So why do I allow the asshole of the sea to take me to these places? I don't know. I have problems. He has problems. We all have problems. Deal with it.

 - pookon -

http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman