Funko Friday: Bane

September 4, 2015September 3, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 1 Comment

I picked up this Funko Pop! Doll that resembles the marble-mouthed villain from The Dark Knight Rises in a shop on the boardwalk in either Ocean City or Wildwood, New Jersey. I got him for about ten bucks, and not long after that, Funko discontinued it, sending its value skywards. I’ve seen him going for as much as $230 on Ebay and Amazon. I’ve been tempted to sell him, but I think I’ll hold onto him for a few more years or until someone gives me an answer I can’t refuse. For toy collectors, the Funko train is a great one to be on, since the Pop! dolls are very inexpensive, and when they are retired, their sale value often goes through the roof, assuming you can overcome whatever sentimental value is attached to the character. Continue reading →

The 21-Day Fix: Final Update and Takeaways

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

As of this past Sunday night, Jenn and I made it to the end of our time on the 21-Day Fix and this will be the final update on our journey. We’ve experienced a great amount of success over a relatively short period of time. We’ve had some truly great meals that we will continue to make in the future, and I quickly became much less of a picky eater. I generally only like onions if they’re battered and deep-fried, and I’ve always harbored an unreasonably disdain for red and green peppers. That all changed with the 21-Day Fix, as both of those vegetables were incorporated into a significant number of the meals that we ate, and I, at best enjoyed them, and at worst simply didn’t mind them. This diet helped me become more open to trying new things, helped me deal with temptation and my usual lack of will power when it comes to food. Continue reading →

Essential Power Ballads, Vol. 1

September 1, 2015September 7, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 1 Comment

Since I love 80’s music, and since I’m also a huge sap, I have decided to start a series for like-minded readers of The No Seatbelt Blog. Welcome to my guide to essential power ballads! Each volume will feature five tearjerkers that are loaded with lyrics of love and heartbreak, loud choruses and louder guitars. If you’re a fan of those songs from the 80’s (and a few stragglers from the first couple years of the 90’s) that made you pull out your lighter (or cell phone, nowadays) and sway while you sing along at the top of your lungs, take a trip down memory lane with me. Volume 1 of Essential Power Ballads begins now… Continue reading →

Understanding In A Car Crash

August 31, 2015September 1, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

I can still feel the impact. I can still taste the powder from the airbag in my mouth. I can still recall sitting there for a moment, stunned, watching the bright green coolant pour out from the underside of my newly-mangled Chevy Cavalier, and out into the middle of the intersection. I still remember throwing my hands up and admitting guilt to the police once they got there, which is something I was later told you should never do, even if it’s true.

Seven years ago this week, I narrowly escaped a collision that could have ended my life, or someone else’s, or that at the very least could have changed either or both forever. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon on Labor Day Weekend, and I was travelling from work to see my girlfriend at the time, at her new apartment. I hadn’t seen the place yet, and that night, I never made it inside. Continue reading →

The Beer List: River Horse Belgian Freeze

August 30, 2015September 2, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

I’ve been a fan or River Horse Brewing for a couple years now, and a few months back, I got to do a tour of the brewery out in Ewing, New Jersey with Jenn and a couple of our friends. The brewery tour was quite extensive and informative, with the guide having walked us through the entire process, from beginning to bottling. It seems that most tours are 5-10 minutes, and then you get right to the drinking (which is all well and good, but I like to get a good look at what goes on beyond the bottle). The first beer I ever had from River Horse was the Belgian Freeze, a 6-pack of which was given to me for Christmas by my brother, along with a hand-picked selection of other brews. I instantly liked it on first try, and luckily I had five more as part of my gift. Continue reading →

Funko Friday: I Am Groot!

August 28, 2015September 2, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 1 Comment

Groot is perhaps the most lovable member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of intergalactic troublemakers who nobody but the most seasoned Marvel comic book geeks had ever heard of before the movie came out. This big, dumb tree, voiced by none other than Vin Diesel in the film, only says “I am Groot!” throughout, with only his buddy Rocket Raccoon being able to understand him, knowing that each time he says it, it means something different. It’s quite entertaining to watch Rocket translate and then respond to the same declaration again and again, and the gag is used just enough to not be annoying. Continue reading →

Your Ass or a (Plot) Hole In the Ground

August 26, 2015September 2, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Everybody’s a critic these days. More specifically, everybody’s a movie critic, and all are self-appointed. As my good friend Chris has said time and time again, “nobody sets out to make a bad movie”. The people who write screenplays and direct major motion pictures are generally smart, and have teams behind them who brainstorm with them, edit and approve the final product. “Plot holes”, as they’re called, are instances in a movie in which something is left unexplained, questions are left without answers, or a logical progression of some sort is glossed over or omitted altogether. The purpose of a movie is to entertain, above all else.

Continue reading →

Ryan Remembers…The Chase

August 25, 2015September 1, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Take a trip back with me to 1994, a time when Charlie Sheen was young, sane, and likable. In The Chase, Sheen plays Jack Hammond, an escaped convict who in a moment of desperation is forced to kidnap the daughter of California’s wealthiest real estate mogul, and lead the Newport Beach police on a high-speed chase as he heads toward Mexico. He stops at a convenience store for gas (to put into the stolen car he’s driving) and cigarettes, and when confronted by two officers, he takes one Miss Natalie Voss (Kristy Swanson) hostage by “candypoint”, shoving a Butterfinger bar into her back, pretending that it’s a gun. He then takes Natalie, the only daughter of real estate tycoon Dalton Voss, to her shiny red BMW and heads for the border, with her in the passenger seat, and a gun cadged from one of the hapless cops who let him get away. Continue reading →

The 21-Day Fix: Week 2 Update

August 24, 2015September 2, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

The second week of The 21-Day Fix has come and gone, and the success continues. I lost another 4.8 pounds, and Jenn lost another 3, bringing our totals to 11 and 9, respectively. This week, I did get in some exercise by taking Stella the dog for some walks around the neighborhood, and with a good three or four hours of yardwork on Saturday. Even with that, I didn’t know what to expect when I stepped back on the scale. You always hear those stories about any given diet, where the person in question loses a good amount of weight the first week, and even when that person continues to do everything “right”, the weight loss drops precipitously or comes to a screeching halt altogether. Continue reading →

The Beer List: Wells Banana Bread

August 23, 2015September 2, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 1 Comment

This dessert beer is one of the best brews that I’ve ever tasted. It was introduced to me a couple Christmases ago by my youngest brother, as part of my gift that year, which was a large bag of select craft bottles from the liquor store where he worked at the time. It smelled and tasted EXACTLY like banana bread, which is, of course, delicious. The beer is brewed with actual fairtrade bananas, so the taste and smell are authentic. The flavors are balanced well enough for you to know that you’re still drinking beer – it’s not beat-you-over-the-head sweet. The ABV on this one is a fairly standard 5.2%, so you can theoretically knock a few back without getting too drunk to really enjoy it. This is one not to be rushed, but rather sipped and savored. Continue reading →