Lazy Sunday CCCXLXVI: Universal Studios 2026

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Yours portly got back from a quasi-annual family trip to Universal Studios earlier this week, so naturally I’ve been writing and thinking about that magical wonderland.  Here are some posts from this past week all about it:

This post is also another opportunity to show myself in a goofy hat (disclaimer:  I did not purchase this E.T. hat… but maybe I should have).

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

SubscribeStar Saturday: Epic Universe: Super Mario World

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

My family and I took our annual-ish trip to Universal Studios earlier this week (Dr. Wife, sadly, is still in the depths of residency, so she was unable to join us).  This year’s trip was a bit different from those of yesteryear, however:  we visited Universal’s new park, Epic Universe, on our last day in Orlando.

Epic Universe has been in the works for years, and suffered (I believe) some delays due to The Age of The Virus.  The wait and the delays were worth it—it was truly, as my younger brother put it, the “theme park of the twenty-first century.”

The premise behind Epic Universe is that a central hub of celestial-themed rides and attractions leads to various “universes” or worlds.  Each one is accessed through a portal, and once you’re in one of the worlds, you are in it.  You can’t see the other worlds or the main hub until you leave that specific world.  Instead of areas blending together gradually, they’re distinct little pocket universes.

That separation greatly enhances the immersion.  When we were in Super Mario World—the subject of today’s post—it felt like we were inhabiting the world of Super Mario Brothers.  When we were in Dark Universe, the monster world, it was like being in an old Universal or Hammer horror flick.  The Harry Potter Ministry of Magic was akin to walking the streets of Paris—and so on.

Epic Universe consists of four separate worlds:  Super Mario World; Dark Universe; the Ministry of Magic (Paris); and the Island of Berk, from the How to Train Your Dragon film franchise.  There is also the Celestial Park hub area, which features the park’s signature coaster, Starlight Racers, and a celestial carousel at the center.

Today, I want to dive into the first of these worlds, the world of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, and the rest—Super Mario World.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Phone it in Friday CXXII: YouTube Roundup CLXXXII: House Cleaning

The Portly Politico6 Comments

This week I’m really phoning it in, as the video today is showcasing someone else’s hard work.

My pastor started a cleaning business, Cornerstone Cleaning Solutions.  He specializes in carpet cleaning—and, boy, does he do an amazing job—but  he also does general house cleaning, including my least favorite chore:  dusting.

I had to get my house on the market and it was suffering from seven-odd-years of an overworked man’s routine.  Without a regular feminine presence, the dust had piled  up into thicc (as the kids say) layers.  It was pretty disgraceful, and definitely not fitting for showings.

Yours portly worked overtime for about two weeks to dust and declutter simply to prepare for my pastor to come in and work his magic.  He spent eight hours on his first visit deep cleaning the carpets, dusting, etc.

I’ve hired him to do twice-monthly visits until the house sells (it’s currently under contract, so God Willing, the closing will be soon).  I made this video after his second visit (just three hours compared to the initial one):

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TBT^16: Getting Medieval… with LEGO

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Yours portly has worked to ween himself from his “crippling LEGO habit,” as I called it last year, in large part because it’s just too expensive, and because it’s rare I have huge chunks of quiet alone time during which I’m not trying to get something more productive done.  That said, I have a backlog of awesome sets to build, and I hope to get to those soon.

The set that I think of as the beginning of my “modern” LEGO era is the one detailed in the posts below.  I also think this set represented something of a shift for LEGO itself as a brand with mostly kid sets with a few specialized sets for adults to LEGO truly embracing its adult fans.

It’s pretty clever on their part, and they’re cashing in on the same kind of nostalgia as Nintendo does when it re-releases classic titles on their latest consoles.  There are lots of Millennials who want to build LEGO sets with their kids—and lots of Millennials with no real responsibilities and a modicum of disposable income.

The latter describes yours portly; God Willing, the former will in a few years.  Regardless, I’ll never give up LEGOs, and I’m looking forward to building more sets soon.

With that, here is 13 February 2025’s “TBT^4: Getting Medieval… with LEGO“:

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Guest Post: Sudo Nonym’s “The Man from Historical Accuracy” – Chapter 2

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The English writer Sudo Nonym, a regular over at Free Speech Backlash, sent yours portly a treasure-trove of fiction stories for readers here to enjoy.  Many of these stories have already run at FSB, but Tom, the proprietor over there, is cool about cross-posting and republishing, and I’m never one to say no to intriguing content—especially when someone else has done 90% of the work for me!

Also, he has two eBooks on Amazon (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link at no additional cost to you—TPP)!

But I digress.  Today’s story is the second chapter or part of a longer piece, The Man from Historical Accuracy.  The premise is simple:  a bureaucratic agency, Historical Accuracy, tweaks history to keep things trucking along as they should.

With that, here is Sudo Nonym with Chapter 2 of The Man from Historical Accuracy:

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Superbowl Halftime Show

The Portly Politico6 Comments

After a long day in the parks we got back to our rooms last night and settled in for sub sandwiches and television.  I had forgotten that the Super Bowl was airing last night, but my older brother did not, and he had the game on in our room.  While I rested and unpacked, the game entered halftime, featuring the infamous Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, began to unfold.

By the end of the show—or by the point I stopped watching to get dinner in the other rooms—I was convinced that we needed to grant Puerto Rico its independence (while probably maintaining some naval bases there or the like).  It was the least American halftime show I’ve ever seen.

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Universal Studios

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Yours portly is with his family in Orlando, Florida, at Universal Studios. Dr. Wife, sadly, is not with us; she’s on a difficult hospital in-patient rotation. Residency is the gift thar keeps on giving!

Here’s a picture from last night as the park was shutting down:

More to come.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

SubscribeStar Saturday: Moving, Minnesota, and Music

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After a couple of weekends of failing to post, yours portly is back with three subscriber-only posts only after SubscribeStar.  That makes up for the two missed weekends and offers something fresh for readers.

This week, I have posts on moving, Minnesota, and music:

  • “Moving Pains” – the story of my doomed foray into hiring a professional moving service (and the complaint to the Better Business Bureau that followed).
  • “Mayhem in Minneapolis” – my analysis of the situation in Minneapolis and the needless deaths there (spoiler alert:  if you interfere with law enforcement and attempt to hurt them, it probably won’t end well); it was so incendiary my own brother cancelled his subscription (so you know it’s good).
  • “Rosy Reds” – a preview of a piece for my work-in-progress album Koi Dance, “Rosy Reds” depicts the flitting about of rosy red minnows in our koi pond.

Subscribe for one buck a month and you can read all of these posts—and hundreds more!  It’s so cheap, I think I’m actually turning people away; they must think the low price means the quality stinks.  Or maybe it’s my recent unreliability that keeps potential subscribers at bay.

Of course, you could risk a single dollar to find out!

Happy Saturday!

—TPP