RIP Old Man

[VIDEO] The death of the "Old Man" from Pawn Stars is actually old news since he died in June. Did a brief tribute to him on my twitter. I'm a fan of that History channel program it's very entertaining with negotiations over historic and culturally relevant pieces.

And the cranky Old Man is as much part of the show as his son Rick Harrison's vanity - which isn't about his good looks BTW. I find the Old Man quite earthy and old school and most of the time even if I'm not in his orbit get where he's coming from on some things. I enjoy his quips and knows how to keep the two generations under him in line.

I saw the program put together in light of his death Rick and Big Hoss speaks of him. Then we also have Chumlee who was another foil to the Old Man. I got a sense of who the man was and now we won't see him again. I might be scared to be in business with him, but he's a business partner I wish I had. Though with that recent episode I got more of a sense of who he was outside of the cameras of the TV program.

And yes we got to see representatives comment on Mr. Harrison particularly executives from the owner of History - which is owned by A & E networks. I thought it was corny but hey Pawn Stars has proven to be a successful show that TV viewers want to see. We'd better see the network pay tribute.

RIP to the "Old Man" Richard Benjamin Harrison!

Semaphore rail signals

[VIDEO] Thanks to YouTube I know far more about the semaphore signals along a stretch of the Amtrak Southwest Chief route (Glorieta/Raton Pass). These are likely the last of them on any railroad in America - or for those of you who are nitpicky the United States.

This type of railroad signal is what I was referring to with regards to Jim Zimmerlin's video I had shared with you on Friday. If I had my own miniature railway - I titled that post "Big Model Trains" - I would like to have semaphore signals!

Big model trains!

[VIDEO] If I got myself some land anywhere and enough of a lot do something like this I'd like to. Build my own railroad and spent my free time riding around on it using sets like the ones you see above.

Jim Zimmerlin is a man who not only like cruises, he also likes model trains. He owns G-scale model trains and he takes us to the Bitter Creek Western Railroad in San Luis Obispo County in California. It's a very cool video and a very cool layout you see here.

I wonder what they do for railroad signals, because I wouldn't mind installing those old fashioned semaphore signals on such a railroad.

Business Insider: 21 simple ways to earn passive income

One of those 21 ways is something that I'm doing here which is using Google Ads, and of course I should see which one of the other ways works for me. I'd have to see about writing a book, doing a YouTube tutorial or even using referral links.

Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker

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[VIDEO] Within the DC Comics Extended Universe the Joker made his first appearance in 2016's Suicide Squad. It was cool to see Jared Leto play the role however I recognize how he just didn't fit in that film. He was there for his comic ally Harley Quinn - who was at first a creature of Batman: The Animated Series. Beyond that he was there so that we could see the Joker in that very young DCEU.

While this film reportedly isn't intended to be part of the DCEU, however, it's interesting that they got Joaquin Phoenix in the iconic role of the Joker. Joker has been played by such actors as Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamil (voice on Batman: The Animated Series), and of course more acclaimed by Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight). And Phoenix is a great actor so I can only imagine his own take on Batman's most dangerous foe.

Thanks to this video from John Campea we learn more about this future project.

Remember that YouTuber on the Southwest Chief

[VIDEO] I posted earlier this month as he records his vacation in May to Los Angeles. Now he has a part two were he travels along the Pacific Ocean coast to go up through the Pacific Northwest via Amtrak's Coast Starlight. Then in another video to be posted at a later time he leaves the Pacific Northwest I think he says from Portland, Oregon via Amtrak's Empire Builder.

You might have seen this trip to Chicago on another video I showed on this blog from another YouTuber.

I look forward to a future trip to the Pacific Northwest on the Empire Builder and perhaps at another time a future trip along California Pacific Coast on Amtrak. Perhaps I should accept donations for that to record that for your benefit. :P

I have never seen the "Montreal Screwjob"

This is what I'm going to be talking about in this post [VIDEO]

This happened almost 21 years ago and I wish that with my subscription to the WWE Network I had watched this exactly 20 years later. That is what this before I watched last year's Survivor Series which featured mainly Raw vs. SmackDown Live talent. It wasn't a bad PPV and one of the first ones I watched since before subscribing to the WWE's streaming network that I had never before ordered a PPV.

Anyway since I admitted in another post that I never saw Mankind vs. Undertaker "Hell in a Cell" at King of the Ring 1998. I've heard about it and seen clips of it especially what you saw in that other post of Mankind (Mick Foley) being thrown off the top of the cell it was groundbreaking and special. Certainly very dangerous to Foley taking mainly two high-risk bumps! With this PPV there were other matches of note Ken Shamrock was that year's King of the Ring defeating The Rock by tap-out and then the main event a "First Blood" match between Kane and Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship.

Too bad that with the Survivor Series 1997 I hardly know anything else about the card without looking it up. And without watching the PPV before starting this post, most of those matches don't capture my attention. Lucky for you, this is one PPV I will watch for you all. Especially for the one thing fans know from this PPV which you see in vid above!

Below another vid I mentioned the "Bret screwed Bret" interview with Vince McMahon. This is the capstone for the year in the World Wrestling Federation. Little did I know watching Raw during the course of the year that the creative direction of this product was about to change and drastically. [VIDEO]

Here's one drastic creative change, I can't believe Vince McMahon used to be the one who called most of the matches in WWE. He used to be the play-by-play man when in reality he was the owner. The he transitioned to the evil owner of the WWE, he became that character. The Montreal Screwjob is probably a unplanned consequence where eventually Vince McMahon would become Mr. McMahon. And of course as stated, this event would be both mimicked and referenced in pro-wrestling for years to come!

I will discuss more when I watch the PPV finally after over 20 years.

A YouTuber travels on the Southwest Chief

[VIDEO] A few posts discussed my 2016 trip on Amtrak's Southwest Chief to Los Angeles. A YouTuber named youtuuba documents his recent trip this year to Los Angeles via the Southwest Chief. This is almost a 3 hr video.

As I type this post out what I've seen is from him taking Metra into Union Station and then Amtrak pulling off from Union through the western suburbs intro rural western Illinois and then across the Mississippi River into Iowa. Whatever else you see well if you have the interest you will see for yourself, I'm just going to watch the rest of this later.

You can still check out my Railcam page to see two stations along the Southwest Chief La Plata, Missouri & Flagstaff, Arizona.

BTW, I hope you all are enjoying your 4th of July holiday.

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