The List: #205- Massachusetts (5/50)

 Got to spend some of spooky season last year in a really spooky town. State number 5 was Massachusetts!

So, one of the only good things that came out of my Italy trip last year was, I got a little bit of credit for plans tickets. I had just enough to cover a round trip ticket to Boston, Massachusetts. Sarah, out friend Beth, and myself decided to go! 

So, we went to some great sites of the start of American history. Like the Boston Tea Party museum. This is also a big walking town, so we walked like 9-10 miles the first day. So, it was a lot, but we got to see so much of the city. 

They also have a great map of all of the historic sites in Boston, all you have to do is follow the red brick road.... not kidding it's really a red brick road! 

Since we went in October, we decided that we were going to go and see Salem, Mass! 

We got to see the Witch Museum, took a walking tour of the history of the Witch Trials, and other historical moments in Salem. I really loved that we got to see so many sites from the movie Hocus Pocus and found out that there was a history of the TV show Bewitched here as well. 

I really loved exploring a new part of the US and I am excited to one day go back and visit another state. 

The List: #205- Florida (4/50)

 Let's take a trip to the beach! State four is Florida!

So, we did something a little different to Christmas in 2025, we went to the beach! Now, I am really not a beach person, I have gotten better, but I do find the beach a bit boring. However, I had a pretty good time the last few times I have been to the beach. 

So, we went to St George Island, Florida. That last time I was here was in 2010 when one of my older brother's got married. Needless to say it's been a while. 

Now, we didn't get the chance to see both of my older brothers, but I did get to see one of them, my SIL, and my oldest Niece and Nephew. Now, as much as I want to share my family pic I am not going to, but I will show you where I ended up most of the time.

This is Tugger. This is my older brother's dog, this is the last trip he got to make to the beach. He passed away a few weeks ago, so I was glad I got to see him. He has been in their family since my Nephew was less than 10 (he is in his early 20s now), so he has been around for a while. 

He and I got to be couch potatoes together. 

Anyways, we had a love Christmas together, maybe next time we will get all of my siblings there, but we will see. 

The List: #205- Arizona (3/50)

 Well, here come state three!

So, like I said when we were talking about Nevada, the second day that we were in Vegas we went out of state, to Arizona! 

We found a wonderful bus tour that took us to see the Hover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It picked us up from our hotel, and took us to the the Las Vegas sign (not originally on the itinerary but we didn't plan on seeing it at all cause of time. So, it was a nice little God wink for me). 

The Hoover Dam was a quick, and fun first stop. we got to take all of the dam pictures, and make all of the dam jokes.

We got to eat a wonderful breakfast at a local place, and got to drive through Joshua Tree National Park. We then got to the Grand Canyon!

I have to say that it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever gotten to see! 

The List: #205- Nevada (2/50)

 State two on the tour around the country is Nevada!

So, how in the world did I end up here? 

That would be thanks to my wonderful roommate, Sarah! She suggested, sometime last year, that I should go see The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Vegas. I told her that I had no one to go with, and she said she would go with me. So, we booked tickets, and off we went to VEGAS BABY!

Ok, I promise I won't say that again. However, I am in THE place that Frank Sinatra helped to build! I got to walk in his footsteps to this sign behind me in the picture here. I got to were the Rat Pack used to perform! It's was such a cool experience! 

This first day we were there, we got off the plane, and walked for eleven miles! Not kidding, everything hurt. The second day we went out of the state (more on that later), and the third day we walked the strip, and then we were in the Sphere to watch the Greatest movie ever made!

The Venetian still had their decor for the movie releasing, and I was so excited to be there! 

Now, I loved seeing the movie, I am still mad that they took away 30 minutes of the movie, but it was a great experience! I am so that that Sarah Suggested we go!

The List: #205- Tennessee (1/50)

 So, of course we are going to start with were I live, the great state of Tennessee!

I love my home state! There is, truly, no place in the world that I would rather live. I surrounded by mountains and all of the outdoor activities, and all the of the wonderful theater that I could see. I have a great church, great family, and great groups of friends that make living here ever better. I have been active in volunteering, site seeing, and exploring my hometown and other cities around here. 

While I could go on and on of the list of things I have done in the last year, like with how many times I have been to the Tennessee Theatre. I have decided to choose a different activity, that I drove out of my city for, last July. 

Last year, and I have mentioned a few times in the last little bit, SUCKED! There wasn't I was much interested in doing anything, seeing anyone or going anywhere. I was a little bit broken, a WHOLE lot of depressed, and really felt like I wasn't allowed to have fun anymore. That is until July 11,  2025. 

I had other plans that day, and I was hoping they would work out, but I knew deep down they weren't going to. I have to thank God for His divine intervention because the timing could not have worked out better. The week before July 11th, I didn't know what I as going to do if these plans fell through. Then I was watching WWE and saw that Smackdown was going to be live at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville that very same day. Now, I didn't want to cancel that plans that I had, but decided if the other person canceled, than I wouldn't be upset and just go to WWE instead. 

Well, wouldn't you know it? That plans got canceled the night before, like almost totally last minute. So, I woke up on the Friday and bought me a ticket, front row on the balcony across from the entrance! 

This was the night the Jellyroll was live in the ring. It set up his tag team fight with him and THE Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul at Summer Slam. I got to see Jey and Jimmy Uso, LA Night, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, and Trish Stratus! 

It was the first time since since my awful Italy trip that I felt like there was hope on feeling better. I was very blessed that the rational side of my brain was good and reminded me that things were going to get better, but this was the first thing that made me feel like I was going to get better. I got to yell, boo, cheer, celebrate, and be pissed off for over two ours, with several thousand other people. I got to be in the room where everyone was booing Logan Paul, and that was a crazy energy to be around! 

I am so thankful that I got the chance to go on this adventure last year, and WWE is going to be in my own back yard here in a few weeks, and I can not wait to go again! 

Did it still take months to heal? Yes! Am I still healing? Yes! Was WWE a very big part of that? Yes! The reason being, I had a place that I could safely place my anger. Every single time in the last year the Logan Paul has shown his face, I have YELLED at my tv! I was allowed to be frustrated and mad at a man I have never met, because he is doing his job very well by playing a great heel! 

Like I said, I could praise Tennessee in many, many ways, and in all of that things I have gotten to do here. However, this was the first sign of life I found in myself last year and I felt like it needs it's moment in the sun. 

So, I may do another post about something more "Tennessee" related later this year, but for now, WWE gong the three count for the win this time. 

The List: #205 - Go to all 50 States

 So we have a new thing to cross off from "The List" but it comes with it own sub-list. 

So #205 is to go to all 50 states. Since every state will require it's own blog post, the titles are going to be weird. I decided to do this last year, and I have been to a few states last year, but there are going to be a few rules. 

1. I must do an activity in whatever state that I am in. I don't have to stay the night, but I need to go to the state for a reason. It does not need to be somethin that the state is known for,  just have to do an activity there.

2. Though I have been to several states already, I am going to try and "start over". An example of this is I was in Oklahoma when I was a very small child and I don't remember it. I was also in New York last year when I flew to Italy, but I never left the airport, so that doesn't count either. So, we are going to start from like 2025 and go from there. 

3. Washington D.C., though not a state, will be counted as part of this. 

So, I think that is all. Now to play a little bit of catch up. 

Brian Tyler Takeover: Partition

 We get a historical fiction for the first time this challenge! 

Partition is a 2007 movie about the time when India was divided between by religious views. Muslims and secular India were separated. When the partition happened, thousands of Muslims fled to the news boarders of the perspective counties in order to flee from persecution. Gian, a former soldier who only wants peace and is dealing with his own guilt, finds a woman, Naseem, hiding after refugee she was traveling with where attacked, and killed. Instead of attacking, like she expected, Gian takes her back to his home to protect her from those that would want to kill her. While in his car, Gian, with the help of friends, start looking to see if her family survived and where they might be living. This information takes years to find, and during that time Gian and Naseem fall in love, much to the chagrin of the other people in the village. They soon marry, and get word that her family is alive, and makes the trip to visit them. The only problem is, once they find out who she married, her family will not let her go. Gian now must try to reunite him family that most people don't think should exists in the first place. 

I have never heard of this movie before, and I am very glad that I watched it. I love historical fiction because I get to learn about things I never knew about while also following well written characters of the period. 

This is the movie Brian Tyler becomes Brian Tyler. there was so much of this film that made me think of his work in Thor: The Dark World. This is the movie that make me realized that Mr. Tyler has a wonderful talent to write music for characters in the situations, not just the place or situation as a whole. There was some feel of what music from India would include, but also his use of strings in this film made my heart ache along with the characters. This is start what I already know Brian Tyler to be 

Brian Tyler Takeover: The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift

 No this movie comes with an unexpected movie watching challenge. So, Brian Tyler has done several of the Fast and Furious movies in the franchise. Since I will be watching a good deal of them for this challenge, I figured that I need to know what the heck is actually happening, so I decided that I will be watching all of the movie in the franchise this year. Now, for the sake of my own sanity, I will not be writing around all of the movies, just the one that Mr. Tyler has composed for. So, let's talk about this first one he composed for, from 2006, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.

 Sean is a high schooler who is always getting in trouble, and has finally come to the end of the line with his mom. He cause a catastrophic amount of damage while street racing, and now his is being shipped off to his Military Father while he is serving in Tokyo. There is learns about drift racing and gets himself into more trouble then he thought possible. Now he has a massive amount to debt to clear, along with keeping the peace with his peers. 

Now, I will say that the first Fast movie I have ever seen was Fast X. I watched it like a dozen times in the theater because I hated my apartment and it was the only movie worth going to in order to escape where I was living. I also found the movie really fun, and and great popcorn movie. Since I did like it so much, and finding out Brian Tyle did the music, made me want to watch the rest of the films. So, I like that I have an excuse to do so. 

Now, I have to say, that after watching the other two, I have no idea what happening. Like we had two movies that seemed to follow one person, and plot, to have everything just be thrown out the window, and the only thing connecting the three movies is Vin Diesel's camo at the end of the film. However, since I have seen the tenth movie, I know Han is alive, and somehow part of Dom's crew at some point. Which makes less sense cause Han is a high school teenager, so how in the world did he roll with Dom back in the day? So, I hope I get some real answers and not just a "drink the cool-aid and shut up" situation. 

Mr. Tyler's music is starting to shine! This is the first time that I feel like he composed for characters in situations and not just "this is how you compose an action scene". Since I know what coming for the music in the Tenth movie, I can't wait to see if there any any connections of music with the characters as the movies go on. 

Brian Tyler Takeover: Annapolis

 So, I thought we were onto some good movies, and 2006's Annapolis was not what I was thinking it was going to be. 

James Franco stars at Jake Huard, a young man whose goal is to join the military academy. When he does get the chance of a lifetime to join, he is excited but finds that it's not fully what he expected. 

Now, this is not the worst movie, but name was it lost in it's own lessons. It's the usual troupe of "someone who doesn't belong here defies the odd and proves everyone wrong" but with one big "oops". The "oops" is that the start of the movie they make a big deal that Huard is good a boxing, and that how he likes to solve conflicts for the most part. It's like two thirds of the way through the movie before they introduce the fact that there is a huge boxing competition at the end of the year. It's a mess of movie to be honest.

Mr. Tyler music also got caught up in a little lack of creativity in this movie, and I don't think it's his fault. The problem with military movies is that there is ALWAYS a lot of military style marching snares in the music. This is no exception, however, there wasn't nearly as much snare drum as most military movie provide. So, I was thankful that he did not fall fully into the troupe. Hopefully, the next movie we can not be pigeon holed into a troupe.  

Brian Tyler Takeover: the Greatest Game Ever Played

 Finally! Finally, a movie the delivers the start of what Brian Tyler's music can do, and it's actually a good movie! From 2005, The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Shia LeBeouf stars at Francis Ouimet in this Disney Biopic. Francis grew up loving golf, but was never really allowed to play, since only gentleman that are part of the golf club can really play. He did caddie for most of these gentleman since he lives across the street from The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. However, during the 1913 US Open, the club decides to let an amateur enter the competition. Francis is given the chance to enter, and become the first amateur to win the US Open. 

This movie has all of the earmark of a classis Disney biopic The only real critique I have for the film is there are some very weird editing choices that were made that, had they not been allowed to happen, would have made it a near perfect film. The story was interesting and tense enough to keep you attention but also not so heavy with the drama that makes you eyes roll. For someone who is not interested in golf, I think that the tension felt in this movie is how a golf game should be reflected to those who do enjoy golf. 

Mr. Tyler is finally here! I still can't tell you why I feel a connection with this man's compositions, but this is the first time I feel like I have really heard a Brian Tyler score since we have started. There have been plenty of bits a pieces of him here and there, but this is the first time I felt like he arrived! I'm very much excited for what is next!

Brian Tyler Takeover: Paparazzi

 We are back to a terrible movie from 2004, Paparazzi.

I'm not going to spend much time here. New big time actor gets mad at the paparazzi for taking his picture. The paparazzi are mob like and start like chasing the actor and causes a wreck that nearly kills his wife and kid. The actor goes on a killing spree of the revenge against the men.

Look this movie was so bad that I barley paid attention to it. I doubt the if this was Mr. Tyler's best work (thank goodness its not) it would have improved anything. 

Brian Tyler Takeover: The Final Cut

 This movie from 2004 is one that shocked me that I haven't heard or seen before, and it has Robin Williams in it! The Final Cut. 

The future is here in this movie! Robin Williams is what is known as a "cutter" for people who have an implanted memory storage in their head. All visual and audio of their lives are recorded. The purpose is to be able to reflect at the end of the persons life and cutter is the one who watches their lives and put together the best part of the lives. This is done and shown to friends and family at the 'Remembery". When a big wig at the corporation that makes the implants dies, everyone wants to get their hands on the unedited version of his life so the true plots of these devices are implanted. Williams character takes great pride in being the best cutter of the business, until he finds out that his parents had an implant installed into him at birth. Now, not only does he carry all the memories of his own life, but of all those whose lives he has reviewed. Which makes him the biggest target. 

Now, I can totally understand why this movie is a little under the radar, but really it's closer to what the world is coming to than a lot of other movies out there. 

Brian Tyler's composition for this film was subtle but, I think it was more over shadowed by the movie.