Out of the Wilderness

“Smile” movie, left me frowning – no spoilers

I was excited enough about the movie Smile that I wrote about it a few weeks ago. After all, the trailer is great. A few days ago I purchased my ticket and got comfy in the great lounge chairs in the theater. The preview trailers before the feature presentation seemed to take too long and I normally like watching the previews. The lights dimmed and the movie started. I won’t give anything away regarding the plot. I had no idea it was a psychological thriller. That’s probably my least favorite genre.

It’s the kind of movie that will show a dramatic, horrific scene that you can hardly believe is happening, then the main character blinks (or wakes up) and everything was a dream or hallucination. I HAAAAAATE THAT. In my mind, this type of horror is a cop-out. It throws out the rules of horror. There were also predictable jump scares and by the end of the movie I found myself laughing when I should’ve been scared. The word “formula” comes to mind. Everything was formulaic.

Disappointing.

I guess it’s worth watching if you’re into mind games and false realities. I was just hoping for more “real” thrills instead of the hallucination stuff. And I wanted more scary smiles. For a movie with that as a title, smiles were few and far between.

Have you seen this movie yet? If so, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

New photography portfolio is up on SmugMug!

Hello there! I’ve enjoyed so much taking photos in the last 12 months since I got a new Sony camera. One of the first photos with this camera was taken while I sat around a fire on a cold wintery day in Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, I’ve taken the camera almost everywhere I go and my favorite subject is probably wildlife. I’ve been posting photos for sale on FineArtAmerica (see portfolio here) and I’ll continue to do that… but… exciting news that I’ll now have all of the entire portfolios of images on SmugMug! The switch seems to make sense as I started storing my images on SmugMug a few months ago.

With that said, I’m happy to include a link to each portfolio (or click here for the main site) below. These images can be used for greetings cards, wall art, and a few other framed-typed prints. Continue to use FineArtAmerica for prints on pillows, mugs, ornaments, and anything not framed-art related. Thanks for checking out my photos!

Sunsets and Astrophotography

Buildings, Structures, Signs

Thanks for checking out my work. I love doing it so I hope you love what comes from it!

-Out of the Wilderness

favorite vegan burgers?

I’ve enjoyed a vegan diet for many years now, with only a few exceptions for specific reasons. In my years of meatless existence, I’ve come across a few brands of vegan burgers, or veggie burgers, that I’m going to list below. I had the idea for this post recently when I cooked up a couple of vegan burgers from a brand I’m not very familiar with yet. For this dinner, toppings I used were Daiya dairy free cheese, vegan mayo, and ketchup, with a side of Hidden Valley vegan ranch dressing. I know those condiments might hide the flavor of the burger but I must say, it was delicious. The brand of burger is Dr. Praeger’s. They make a few different flavors of burgers, I went with black bean quinoa.

And now I will rank my favorite vegan burgers from the five brands I’ve tried.

Beyond Burger. This one tastes most like a normal beef burger. It’s also hefty, but the downside is that I’m thirsty afterwards. Too much salt.
Sweet Earth. It’s hard to find this brand but their teriyaki burger is amazing. Highlight recommend this one.
Dr. Praeger’s. Great flavor and not as much sodium. A little on the small side for each patty but still, delicious.
Morning Star. Nothing to be excited about.
Impossible Burger. All the excitement of not eating meat, but without the flavor or enjoyment. Just blah.

Have you tried these brands? Is there another meatless burger brand I should be trying? Comment below, thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

I almost had a date in Tulsa

Hello! Thanks for clicking on my post today. A couple things you should know before continuing: 1. I’m single. 2. I have been traveling in a travel trailer on and off this year.

Ok, that’s a preface for my experience in Oklahoma recently. I had been camping around the southwest (you can read about all that here) and one of the final stops was in Tulsa where I was to go to a concert then begin the journey back to Florida. Along the way I was making myself available on random dating apps and that deserves a little bit of explanation, too.

Why?

To be totally honest, an out-of-town date is almost completely pointless given the fact that I value quantity time, not just quality. But it is what it is… or it was what it was? Even if it’s just a new friend, there’s value in that I suppose. So I connected with someone and we planned to meet the day of the concert. We’d find a fun place to have a first date (short, so we’d both have a way out if it wasn’t going well). But a couple hours before we were to meet up, I got a message that basically cancelled the date. We exchanged one or two more messages the following day and poof, she was gone. I guess she’s a lot like me… dates sound good in theory but when it’s time to actually do it, she’s like, “Nah, I’m good.”

I had a feeling she would cancel so I was bracing myself for it anyway. I just wish she was a little more transparent. If you change your mind, tell me. There’s no need to make up an excuse. I’m a big boy, I can handle the truth!

Jack Nicholson You Cant Handle The Truth GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

An out-of-town date is kind of pointless, like I said earlier. We need to live relatively close by. It just makes sense. That’s why I wasn’t totally devastated she cancelled. But it would’ve been nice to be social for a couple hours.

Do you have any dating stories where the other person cancelled on you? Have you cancelled a date because your heart wasn’t in it? I’ve been on both sides so I can understand how plans can fall through in a hurry.

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness

What’s the music in the new DoorDash ads? The answer’s here!

DoorDash has a series of new ads showing the wide array of items they can have delivered to you. A few are included below and if you watch, you’ll catch on that they use the same song as a tag at the end of each commercial…

Would you believe this song is over 50 years old? It’s true! From 1965, the instrumental song is “Mae” by Herb Alpert. A version with English lyrics was recorded and released that same year by Ella Fitzgerald. Here are those two versions…

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness

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