All posts by Kev Brock

I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.
Random/off topic posts

So I’m all done with Netflix for good this time… now I’m on Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max!

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So I officially cancelled Netflix yesterday afternoon… I think I’m done with Netflix for good this time around. Simply ’cause they keep raising the prices and I have a feeling Netflix is gonna raise the price again later this year, don’t be surprised. I find it amazing that people keep Netflix even though they raise their price, really? Pretty soon, Netflix will be costing $20 a month and it’s just not worth it anymore. Plus, I don’t watch Netflix all that much anyway. I’ve seen most of the movies on there and most of their original films are pretty much garbage. I only kept Netflix ’cause of “The Walking Dead” pretty much but there are other ways I can watch the final season.

I’m thinking of collecting the “Walking Dead” series on BluRay anyway ’cause I love the show. I’ll probably wait for the BluRay release on “Walking Dead – Season 11”.

Anyhow, since I dropped Netflix, I’m now on Amazon Prime Video using someone else’s account in the house so I can start my own profile. Prime Video is way better than Netflix so that’s a keeper. They have better selections of shows and movies.

Also through Hulu, I went ahead and got the HBO Max add on so yesterday I figured out how to get the standalone HBO Max on my smart TV so now I’m on HBO Max. That’s another reason why I dropped Netflix so I can swap it with HBO Max and my god, HBO Max is definitely way better! They have way cooler selections of TV shows and movies.

Now I’m on HBO Max, I can finally finish the rest of “The Sopranos” since I only saw the first four seasons and I’ll be able to catch up with 5 & 6 real soon. That’s the first show I’ll watch on there.

Once again, I never wanted HBO Max but I had to get it ’cause of those Batman spinoff shows coming and the Game of Thrones spinoff show, “House of the Dragons” ’cause I want to see that too. I’ll also be able to watch “The Peacemaker” show with Cena ’cause I want to see that too. I’ll watch that one after the “Sopranos”.

There are other HBO shows I want to see on there too like “True Detective”, “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Wire” ’cause I’ve never seen those shows so I threw those on my watchlist.

On HBO Max there are a bunch of new releases on there that I haven’t seen yet and I’ve already watched “Cry Macho” with Clint Eastwood on there and it was really good loved it.

I’ve also watched a few older movies on HBO Max like “The Hitcher” an old thriller with Rutger Hauer and “Collateral” a thriller with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx and loved both of those too.

HBO Max is way cool. I got Disney Plus for Marvel movies/TV shows and got HBO Max for DC.

Who needs that leftist trash Netflix, right? Another reason I don’t like that service ’cause it’s gotten too political bias lately.

I use 6 different streaming services now: Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney Plus, Peacock and the totally free “Pluto TV”. So I’m good. I watch the other ones more than Netflix anyways. Netflix sucks now. I’m on Peacock ’cause WWE is there, that’s the only reason I got that.

Some of you may ask, how do I watch all these different streaming? Well I somehow watch through all of them. I switch it up. One week, I’ll watch through Hulu, next week after, I’ll watch through Peacock… I’ll switch back and forth week after week. I’ll find time to watch through each one but one at time.

I don’t like cable TV. I do my TV watching through streaming services, plus streaming is more affordable than cable if you think about it.

Kev

movies

Does this mean that the Die Hard franchise is dead???

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So far, Bruce Willis made 5 “Die Hard” films in the franchise. A 6th Die Hard, it’s been trying to get into development for a long while and doing some reading on it, it’s still struggling to get made so it was dead anyways? I’m not sure what’s going on with “Die Hard 6” but the original idea was that Bruce wanted it to be the final one to close out that franchise. It’s looking like a cancelled project due to all the setbacks and due to the poor reviews Die Hard 5 got.

I saw all the Die Hard movies. Although, I would say that the first two were the best ones… yeah, I thought “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” was freakin’ awesome but the first one will always be a masterpiece. The first one was incredible, greatest action flick of all time… I did like “Die Hard 3: with a Vengeance” (the one he did with Sam Jackson).

I also remember seeing 4 and 5 in theater when they first came out and hated both of those. Probably ’cause of bad writing, too much CGI… I thought it was the CGI that ruined it.

Given with the latest news of Bruce about that disease, it’s looking like the Die Hard franchise is dead for good ’cause they can’t go on without John McClane.

I would have liked the last Die Hard movie to be an all-out violent action movie like the first two were and I want McClane swearing his head off.

I think they should kill this franchise but they probably won’t. If they reboot then that would be silly. Only Bruce as McClane is “Die Hard”, that role belongs to him and him only.

From what I read Disney owns the Die Hard franchise now since they own 20th Century Fox. I’m okay with a “spinoff” or a “prequel”, though, just don’t reboot it.

We’ll see what goes on.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Not trying to be a guitar god but wanna get better and improve as a player…

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A lot lately I’ve been so focused on guitar playing more. Other than going to the gym 4 days a week, guitar playing is one thing I do every day. I’ve grown so tired of playing basic stuff all the time… like basic open chords and bar chords. Now I finally want to expand my guitar chops and try to take it way to the next level.

Right now, I’ve been trying to figure out how to play chords up and down the neck, all over. Be able to play lead fills in between chords and all that stuff. I wanna be like those guitar players where your right hand is flying all over the fretboard. Yeah, I kind of do want to learn how to shred but I want to be able to play more rhythmically too.

I’m trying to be more complex at rhythm playing too. Still studying timing and rhythm. Practicing along with a metronome. I want to be able to play faster… be able to hold longer notes and play more syncopated/off-beat rhythms. I’m learning all of it too. Trying to study the road maps of the guitar so I can be able to play chords and scales all over.

When you’re playing chords, you don’t necessarily have to play the full chords… partial chords are pretty cool and I’ve bene messing around with partial chords like triads and double stops.

When I’m learning cover songs, I’m learning to practice more in time and even starting to learn the guitar solos of songs more.

I’m trying to work on my ear training and improvisation skills too. I’m always learning.

The goal is, I want to be able to make more complex and difficult songs. Kind of tired of writing easy originals and want to branch out. Become a better songwriter. I want to try and make my guitar playing a little more different and take people by surprise, hopefully. Try and mature as a songwriter and guitar player.

If you want to get better and improve, practice and patience is key. Been playing for a little over 20 years now and I still feel like I got a lot of work and learning to do.

Kev

TV

HBO Max never wanted it but gonna get it, I think…

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Truthfully, I never wanted to get HBO Max streaming service. After seeing “The Batman” in theater and hearing about Matt Reeves talking about having two other Batman spinoff series for HBO Max like “The Penguin” show and “Arkham Asylum”, I think I’m gonna get HBO Max this week. Plus there are other good stuff coming like the “House of the Dragon” Game of THrones spinoff show and there’s an IT prequel series coming and that “Batgirl” movie is coming there too. So with all this, I think I’m gonna get HBO Max after all.

I already signed up for the HBO Max add on through Hulu since I’m a Hulu subscriber… but I wondered if you signed up for HBO Max as a Hulu premium add on, you could use the regular HBO APP with the Hulu login and I just found out that you can do that! So I’m gonna get HBO Max for my Smart TV using the Hulu provider this week. I’m gonna figure all this out soon but not right away ’cause I won’t be streaming movies/TV shows much this week ’cause it’s Wrestlemania week so I’m gonna be watching a lot of wrestling this week.

The HBO Max stuff is gonna be next week. I’ll figure out how to get into the HBO Max app with my Hulu login ’cause they let you do that.

I’m really gonna ditch Netflix, I think simply ’cause they keep raising the prices and Netflix is now the most expensive streaming service so I’m gonna get rid of it this week I think. Get rid of Netflix and swap it with HBO Max. I don’t watch Netflix that much anyways ’cause there’s mostly garbage on it. There’s only a few shows that I like to watch on it like “The Walking Dead” and “Cobra Kai”. I’ve debated a long time on whether or not I should keep Netflix but I’m gonna get rid of it, I think. I’m all caught up with “The Walking Dead”, just gotta wait for the final season and there are other ways to watch the final season.

I’ll figure something out. I love watching TV shows and movies still but I do the TV watching at night mostly. It’s not good to binge watch during the day ’cause I like to do other things like going to the gym, playing my guitar, etc.

Kev

Celebrity news, movies

Bruce Willis quitting acting due to getting diagnosed with aphasia… sucks but prayers to him…

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More shocking news… it’s looking like iconic action star, Bruce Willis is getting forced to retire from acting due to getting diagnosed with aphasia. Aphasia is a condition that robs you the ability to communicate. Meaning you won’t be able to speak well and won’t be able to understand others.

I’m sure Bruce is fine now and “aphasia” is kind of starting to kick in a little bit but he’s probably gonna get way worse sometime later on. Some of you may ask, is “aphasia” treatable? For some you can recover from it but it’s mostly permanent from what I read so it’s looking like Bruce’s acting career is gonna be done for good.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bruce-willis-diagnosed-aphasia-stepping-away-acting

While it’s sad news, Bruce had a great career run. The movie “Die Hard” was his breakthrough role, the very first one, the film that made him a box office megastar. He was an actor before that film ’cause he had several other film roles before that one and he got his start in the TV show “Moonlighting”.

After that film, he went on to star in even more box office blockbusters like “Look Who’s Talking”, “Hudson Hawk”, “Death Becomes Her”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Armageddon”, “The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable”, “12 Monkeys”, “The Fifth Element”, “The Last Boy Scout”, “The Jackal”, “Mercury Rising”, “Sin City”, “The Expendables” etc.

Over the past several years, it seems Bruce stopped doing blockbuster movies and just doing mostly straight to VOD movies ’cause he’s got a bunch of those too through Netflix and Hulu or where ever else you stream movies.

I’m sure he’s got more Straight to VOD movies coming even though he’s quitting and after they get released, that’s it.

Being an actor requires being able to speak and understand others so he can’t act if he’s gonna get this disease, ya know?

This sucks. Most Hollywood actors are terrible but there’s a few good movie stars left and Bruce is one of them. I’ve always been a fan of his. Speaking of Bruce, I’ve been re-watching a lot of his old movies lately. He’s a phenomenal talent too. He wasn’t just an action star, he tried every genre and was good at it.

This sucks but I wish him well. He was another actor who loved acting and saw it as a passion which is why he kept working film after film nonstop. Now it’s looking like he won’t be able to do it anymore.

Be well, McClane and prayers!

Kev

WWE news

Triple H in WWE forced to retire from in-ring wrestling for good… in other words, he’s done…

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In more shocking news, this week Triple H who is a professional wrestler in the WWE announced that he is retired from in-ring “wrestling”. He was forced to retire from wrestling after a health scare that he had. He hung up the wrestling boots after having dangerous heart problems, surgery and dealing with viral pneumonia.

So if you’re hoping that Triple H will have some matches left in him, sorry, never happening. He’ll never have “one last” match, none of it.

Triple H had a really good career run, though. He accomplished everything anyway. 14 time champ, wrestled every wrestler you can think of and he had matches against pretty much all the legends that includes Sting, Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wwe-triple-h-never-wrestle-again-health-scare

Triple H may no longer be allowed to wrestle anymore but he’s still a part of the business in some way. He’s currently serving as executive vice president, Global Talent Strategy & Development in WWE. He’s still working for Vince.

Triple H started the NXT brand with WWE legend Dusty Rhodes but Triple H ran that brand all by himself when Dusty passed on. Now Triple H doesn’t run NXT anymore.

I’ve always been a Triple H fan, never been a hater.

Now that he’s done in the ring, he could be WWE Hall of Fame bound anytime now… maybe not this year but next year maybe. Believe it or not, Triple H isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Yes, Triple H is in the Hall of Fame as the group D-Generation X but he isn’t in there as a solo performer… yet.

It’s crazy, ya know? WWE is getting short on legends and icons ’cause so many either died or retired.

I’m also looking forward to watching Wrestlemania next weekend.

Kev

Celebrity/musician deaths, music

Taylor Hawkins, drummer of the Foo Fighters passes away…

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Like everyone else, I too was pretty shocked to wake up to everyone in social media saying that Taylor Hawkins the longtime drummer of the Foo Fighters died.

I feel kind of bad for Dave Grohl, ya know? He had so many musician friends that were pretty close to him that has passed on and now you can add Taylor Hawkins to the list. Yes, I woke up to the news that Taylor passed and I agree he’s definitely the GOAT rock drummer of all time.

Anyway, Taylor is not just a drummer, he’s also a singer himself and he also plays some guitar as well.

What I love about Taylor is that he is loved by so many other musicians in the music industry ’cause you see Taylor in pics with a lot of big name musicians. Why? It’s because mutual respect. Everybody respects Taylor’s drumming talent and Taylor respects them back. Taylor is not only a great drummer, he’s also a great guy on and off the stage. On the stage when he’s performing, he’s smiling throughout the whole thing and he definitely likes to make himself look like he’s having a blast. Off the stage, he’s just a nice guy to everyone he talks to. He’s friendly with other musicians in the industry for sure. He’s one to never have an ego, always humble.

I’ve been a Foo Fighters fan since the first album. I’ve been there since the beginning although I still don’t have all of their studio albums and I’ve only got 6 of them. They have a total of 10 albums. I just gotta get there first three… I’ve heard them before but I gotta get them again. I also need to get there newest album “Medicine at Midnight” which I will get soon. I also want to see their “Studio 666” movie but I’ll buy the BluRay when that film comes out.

I’m definitely bummed out about Taylor’s passing like most ’cause he was a great one. He was only 50 too, too young. I don’t want to speculate on what happened but I’m sure we’ll all know what happened to him real soon.

Dave’s been through so much and now he’s gotta deal with this. The question is this, will the Foo Fighters carry on as a band? It’s not yet known but I would think the show needs to go on and Dave probably will continue on ’cause he knows that’s probably what Taylor would have wanted.

Rest in peace, Taylor and thanks for the great drumming.

Kev

movies

Matt Reeves drops this deleted scene of “The Batman” of Batman meeting the Joker in Arkham Asylum out of nowhere…

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Yesterday, Matt Reeves dropped that deleted scene in the video above. In it, shows Batman meeting the Joker at Arkham Asylum.

I read an interview with Matt Reeves that even though he liked that scene very much, it couldn’t be in the movie for whatever reason. Matt reveals that there is another deleted Joker scene before this one that he plans on releasing soon.

Will the Joker become the main villain for Batman 2 or 3? As of this point, Matt is not sure. He doesn’t know yet so keep in mind that’s not a “yes” or a “no” so that also means “never say never”.

The Joker scenes didn’t really need to be in the movie ’cause there was an already established relationship between the Batman and the Joker… that means, the two already knew each other long before this movie.

In my opinion, I think Keoghan’s Joker is really cool, though. I think it’s more frightening than the earlier Joker’s in the past.

I agree that Joker has been over done but Matt shouldn’t ignore Joker completely though. Ya know what would be cool? Since these movies were meant to be a new introduction of the Rogues Gallery villains, how about having Keoghan’s Joker team up with the other villains Catwoman, Penguin and Riddler to try and destroy Batman and Gotham altogether. We haven’t had a Batman movie like that yet where all the villains team up kind of like in the old 1966 Batman show. Maybe that’s where this new Batman trilogy is kind of going… have all the villains team up and go against Batman.

People are tired of the Joker but that character is an important foe of Batman. That’s why he’s all over the place. Batman wouldn’t have become so iconic if it wasn’t for the Joker, think about it right? Joker has been all over the comics and graphic novels for decades.

I’m loving Matt’s take on the Batman and there’s probably gonna be a 2 and 3. I’m the biggest Batman superfan you’ll ever see. Love the character and the stories so much. My Batman graphic novel collection is starting to get pretty big too (I have about 23 Batman graphic novels on my bookshelf) and I have some Batman comics as well.

Kev

movies

Nicolas Cage finally explains why he went from being a blockbuster big screen star to an indie straight to video actor, simply because Hollywood wasn’t interested in him anymore???

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Nicolas Cage did an interview with GQ magazine and in it has a very interesting piece on why Nic Cage went from being a blockbuster megastar to an indie straight to video actor very quickly. Cage says in the interview that the calls stopped coming in all of a sudden. It’s just that big time Hollywood stopped sending him scripts and calls for whatever reason.

When Nic Cage was a big screen actor he did so many hit movies that made big bucks… movies like “The Rock”, “Face/Off”, “8mm”, “Snake Eyes”, “Con Air”, “Moonstruck”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”, “National Treasure”, etc. were some of the biggest movies he done.

Now he’s done lots of indie VOD movies… well, Nic Cage had to keep working somehow right? Acting is what he does ’cause he loves it so much. It’s a passion of his so he kept doing all these VOD movies not caring whether they were good or not. He did them ’cause he had to keep working and to get himself out of debt ’cause even a guy like Nic was in financial trouble. It was the movie he did, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” that helped him get out of debt.

What got him in debt? Was the dinosaur skull? No… it’s because he bought real estate, trying to help his elderly mother and things like that.

https://decider.com/2022/03/22/nicolas-cage-discusses-doing-straight-to-vod-movies-to-pay-off-his-debt/

I hate most celebrities and Hollywood people like most but there’s a few good ones left and Nic Cage is one of them. Nic is an interesting guy and after reading his GQ interview which you can find online, makes me respect him even more.

I’m a Nic Cage fan and I try to watch a lot of his movies as much as possible. I’ve seen a lot of his blockbuster films and a lot of his VOD stuff. Not all of his movies are good, though and even Nic admits that too.

He does say however, that he’s going to be more selective and picky and make every movie like if it’s his last. Meaning he wants all of his upcoming movies to be really good, he’s no longer going to be random when it comes to picking scripts. He’s going to be more picky and choosy from now on.

Now I really want to see that movie, “Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” which I plan on buying the BluRay to that movie sometime in the future.

Kev

music

Love how Dolly Parton pulls out of the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame ’cause she felt she’s not “rock n’ roll”, way to go Dolly!

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Dolly Parton pulls out of the “Rock N” Roll” Hall of Fame nomination ’cause she’s worried that her voting could be split and divided ’cause of that. She was flattered at first but now she pulled out of the nomination for good.

She feels she’s not worthy and doesn’t earn the right to get a Hall of Fame induction.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/dolly-parton-2022-rock-hall-withdraw

The thing is, Dolly sees herself as a strictly country artist… she never saw herself as “rock n’ roll” but I’ll be honest that her hit song “9 to 5” is kind of a rock song a little bit… it’s more of a pop/rock song than anything, though. Because of all this, it inspired her to make her first “rock n’ roll” album sometime in the future which should be interesting.

I’ve been trying to get into Dolly Parton music ’cause I have two albums by her: “Hello, I’m Dolly” and “Jolene” and they’re both amazing records. I love ’em. I plan on getting more of her music though.

I love Dolly even more now ’cause she’s trying to teach the “Rock Hall” a music lesson which is awesome and she’s ballsy to do that.

She’s one of the biggest names in country music and I don’t think she realizes how iconic she is. Gotta love how honest and humble she is. There’s no “ego” in her at all.

Kev