Twas The Blog Before Christmas: Christmas Lights, 21st Century Disney and Netflix Christmas Movies

This is it, the final stretch. Santa is double checking his list and making sure his inventory is in check before he zooms out with Rudolph leading the way. Christmas is officially one week away and snow is already falling in certain parts of the world. Surprisingly it’s absolutely freezing here I did not expect it to get so cold so fast but apparently Jack Frost is having a field day this year.

Unlike last year this is going to be the only blog before Christmas as well as the last blog until New Years, yeah I'm taking a leave of absence for a week. So as the last blog before Christmas and the last blog of the year let's leave it off with a bang, right? Actually there isn't too much to discuss on this blog (I’m lying there’s something big to discuss) so instead I have the first of two videos that i’ve been waiting to make all year, the Christmas Lights Extravaganza 2017!

If anyone is a veteran ZAK Entertainment reader you’ll be aware I did a three part video series of travel montages using footage I filmed while out with my family looking at Christmas lights, a tradition we’ve upheld all my life. This year's isn't going to be a part three but the lights are just as awesome as ever. Today part 1 will be up for you guys to watch and this Friday December 22nd part 2 will drop. So without further ado let's get ready to jingle!

Everyone enjoy? I haven't yet mastered the whole keeping my camera to stay focused on the lights. My auto focus wouldn't work very well so I had to switch to manual focus to try and keep it focused on the lights, which isn't easy on this camera. I really enjoy doing these videos so expect this to be a ZAK Entertainment tradition. Stay tuned for Part 2 this Friday! There may be a secret part 3 if we get to go out on another trip but I'm not making any promises.

Moving on I have some massive news to discuss, that is one of the most game changing buyouts the entertainment industry has seen in years. As a lot of you are already aware the Walt Disney Company will be purchasing a majority of 21st Century Fox’s assets including TV properties, Movie properties and more for $52.4 billion in stock.

What does this mean? Disney will acquire 20th Century Fox’s massive film library including a Film Rights to movies as well as intellectual properties held by 20th Century, which means only one thing. Disney/Marvel now has the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four back under it’s belt! Yes in a feat that seemed almost impossible it actually has happened. 20th Century Fox’s studios will also now operate under Disney similar to LucasFilms and Marvel Studios. So does this mean we’ll be seeing a 20th Century Disney? Who knows. 

Disney will also purchase many of Fox’s TV networks as well as properties such as The Simpsons. Yeah remember that episode where The Simpsons predicted Disney buying out Fox? Yeah I don't either but apparently it happened in the episode “Wish You Dish Upon A Star” which first aired on November 8th, 1998. Remember those Disney parodies? Yeah you can now say the Simpsons were making fun of it’s future parent company.

Funny enough this isn't the first time Disney has bought assets from Fox, know what I'm on about? Yes the buyout of Fox Family (Which was something Murdoch bought from CBN anyway) and Saban’s properties was a previous deal made with the two companies

There's quite a lot of other nitty gritty involved in this deal but what does this leave Fox with? Well Murdoch is basically going back to basics, being left with his news corporation and sports networks in which he’ll be spinning off into a separate business.

There is a big but involved in his however, this buyout has not been approved by the United States Department of Antitrust Division and the European Commission. While this deal seems awesome in regards to Marvel it could still fall flat just the same as the AT&T and Time Warner merger did. With a merger of two massive film studios the possibility of this merger actually being approved now teeters on the edge. 

Back to Marvel I'm extremely excited to see the possibility of the Fantastic Four finally being interpreted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The four residents of the Baxter Building have been my long standing favorite heroes in the Marvel universe so it’ll be incredible to see how Marvel reboots the franchise and integrates it into the MCU.

We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds but I can see a lot of good coming out of this buyout despite it being such a disruption in the industry.

Speaking of Disney… Star Wars The Last Jedi has officially launched in theaters, just in time for Christmas! The latest part in the Star Wars saga is here, continuing after the events of The Force Awakens. Rey has now begun training under Luke Skywalker, previously missing and while learning she seems to be discovering something about herself, something dangerous. I haven't seen the movie myself so I can't review it yet but apparently Carrie Fisher was done Justice in this film in her role as Leia. You can watch it now so go grab yourself some tickets and get ready to experience one of the biggest movies of the year!

Christmas is only one week away so you’re probably indulging in holiday classic movies. If you have Netflix you actually have a pretty decent selection of Christmas movies available to watch this year so for this next segment I'm going to list of some of my personal favorite Christmas movies on Netflix that I believe you should watch in this next week.

Tim Allen is forever in my heart as the voice behind Buzz Lightyear but he’s also pretty well known for being Santa Claus in The Santa Clause movie series. Tim Allen plays Scott Calvin, a father of one who’s life is turned upside down when he accidentally causes a man in a Santa suit to fall of their roof Christmas night. In a crazy turn of events Scott ends up having to take the place of the man, who is revealed to be the real Santa and become Santa himself, to his own disbelief.

I absolutely adore this series of films, especially the first movie. It doesn't have the greatest reviews in the world but it’s a Christmas thrill ride from start to finish. I don't find the second and third movies as great as the first but they too are filled with laughter and Christmas spirit. You can also purchase this movie on iTunes as well as the other two by clicking the link below.

Next up is something more on the green side, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I’ve discussed Jim Carrey a few months ago and I have to admit I love his version of The Grinch just slightly better then the original animation (And even the book itself). This movie takes the basic story of The Grinch and fleshes it out, giving a backstory to The Grinch and making you realize he’s not such a bad guy after all. Of course Jim Carrey brings his humor to the table as well, which leads to some hilarity as well as a funny dig at his own director, Ron Howard. Jim Carrey actually manages to turn a pretty unlikable character into a funny and actually almost relatable character while still keeping that Christmas hating grump attitude. I believe I reviewed this movie last year but I have nothing but praise for this movie. It's one of my favorites that I loved watching every year as I grew up.

Switching over to animation Netflix has, like always the three Mickey Mouse Christmas specials. The first one is of course Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas which is made up of three classic original stories that tell some worthwhile morals as well as providing Christmas joy to any Disney kid, or me who gets really nostalgic when watching this.

Then there’s Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas which is a 2004 sequel to the previously mentioned movie. Until I watched this on Netflix I actually had no idea this movie even existed but it’s just as magical as the first movie and the CGI is actually pretty good for 2004.

Finally out of the three Mickey movies is Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. House of Mouse is one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, bringing together cameos of all the Disney animated characters as well as playing old Disney Cartoons. Well this special plays a bunch of old Christmas animations as well as the infamous Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol which originally released in 1983.

Next up is White Christmas, which is a Christmas classic by all means. Starring Bing Crosby, Phil Davis, Rosemary Clooney (The more famous Aunt of George Clooney), Dean Jagger, Danny Kaye, Mary Wickes and Anne Whitfield. This Christmas Musical movie stars a singing and dancing duo played by Bing and Danny who team up with a sister act played by Rosemary and Vera-Ellen to perform a Christmas show to show a rural inn in Vermont from going broke. This movie is sweet, sentimental and just plain fun and it really has aged well over the years. Bing Crosby brings his amazing singing talents to the table with his White Christmas song that has become a worldwide classic of a song as well as the best version despite not being the original cover of the song.

Finally there’s two animated movies which I discovered last year and immediately watched again this year. Santa’s Apprentice and The Magic Snowflake.

Santa’s Apprentice features Santa Claus nearing retirement. He is forced to find out of a pool of a million children an apprentice to take over as the new Santa. Some of the requirements are however that the kid had to be named Nicholas, be an orphan and have a pure heart. These two movies follow Nicholas as he copes with what’s happening in his new life as well as Santa coping with his eventual retirement and this movie is beautifully animated to boot.

All of these movies are available to watch on Netflix so check these movies out over the next week as you await Santa to visit on the eve of Christmas.

For now I’m going to head out, you’ll see me again Friday for part 2 but until the next blog I bid you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Please enjoy yourself but also stay safe during this next week. This is the end of the blog for this year and while I had to make some changes to the blog schedule this year was amazing regardless, we discussed a lot this year so let’s hope we got even more to discuss next year. Actually I have a large backlog that stems back to earlier on this year so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next year!

Merry Christmas!

Welcoming Christmas with the "Alita: Battle Angel" Movie Trailer and a Sweet Art Supply Set

It’s officially three weeks till Christmas! By now Santa Claus has gathered most if not all of the toys he’s giving out the night of the 25th but for you Santa helpers don't wait to long to make your Christmas gift purchases.

With three weeks left my house is looking like a Christmas wonderland, as it does on every year of this time. Yes we’ve done our Christmas decorating and while the decorations we use are the same nostalgic pieces we always arrange them in a way that sets that year apart from the rest.

From the classic ceramics settled along the fireplace to the garland around each corridor the halls are definitely decked, although not with boughs of holly of sorts. We do however have a new addition, this sweet White Christmas table top tree. 

Don’t get me wrong I love big trees but there’s just something about a table top Christmas tree that feels more humble. The white needles while not natural just seem more suitable for this winter season which might I say we’ve surprisingly been seeing breeze through.

Here I am under the impression it's going to be a warm winter when if at the snap of a finger the cold has hit us down here like a truck. It’s not below freezing but we are teetering on the edge of it and I have to admit I'm a lot more used to the hot, humid and sweaty weather then I am the bitter and nippy cold.

Anyway I had possibly the strangest yet the most awesome encounter the other day. It's not every day I get to meet someone I follow online but one of my favorite Youtubers and Vloggers as well as being an avid RV traveler happened to cross paths with me in a Home Depot no less. Eric Jacobs, known as Nomadic Fanatic on Youtube was this man and yeah it was probably the most unexpected thing to ever happen to me in this past year of blogging. Sadly we didn't get much time to talk and I didn't get to meet Jax the Cat but I did happen to get his business card as proof that I actually met him.

For those not aware Eric basically travels America as a full time RVer with his slightly oversized yet lovable cat Jax. The sights they’ve seen are absolutely incredible and make myself eager to get out and travel myself. (This isn’t easy to do, trust me.) He posts videos of his adventures on his YouTube channel: . His recent videos are of Alabama so for those who haven't had to chance to check out the state of Bama then go check out his recent videos!

So back to the topics at hand I got a brand new movie trailer to discuss and this one is of a movie I didn't expect but it looks really awesome, while looking like food for my SciFi movie hunger.

Spawning from an awesome 1990s Japanese manga by the name of Gunnm, written by Yukito Kishiro comes the newest James Cameron movie by the name of Alita: Battle Angel and oh boy this is another one of those movies that have been in production for over two decades now. Yeah James Cameron has had this movie in the works for a long time now, being a huge fan of the manga this can be easily described as a passion project for him. Well finally we’ve got a trailer for this movie that you can check out right here.

That was simply put awesome, the cyberpunk/post apocalyptic setting, the main character, Mahershala Ali and the incredible animation makes this definitely on my must watch list for 2018. I am not too familiar with the manga, although I'm eager to read them now, but this movie will be based on the first four books of the original manga.

Alita is a cyborg discovered in a garbage heap by Cybernetic Doctor Daisuke Ido and to his surprise Alita has absolutely no memory. She does however have a knack for combat which sets her down the path of being a Hunter-Warrior, taken down other cyborgs of a more criminal nature in the futuristic city of Scrapyard (Fitting name, apparently)

I am actually super excited for this movie but even more excited to check out the source material as well. I know all of you are probably groaning as it's another manga/anime based movie but give it a chance, James Cameron is absolutely passionate about the source material so unlike Dragonball Evolution this movie might be great. I also have heard people complain about the eyes of the main character but that didn't seem to bug me when watching the trailer. Who says Cyborg girls had to have normal eyes? Well anyway I can't wait to check this movie out next year when it releases July 20th, 2018.

Next up we got the first trailer for the new season of Jessica Jones! Jessica Jones became my favorite character besides Luke Cage when watching Marvel’s Defenders a few months ago so I'm eager to see where they take the sarcastic yet kick butt hero (Who probably Knits as well knowing her awesome actress) in this new season. You can check out this trailer below!

Jessica Jones is BACK! With her agency up and running again she's tying up loose ends as well as getting into new trouble as well as dealing with her past that still seems to linger around. While this was a short trailer this is really all you need to get hyped for the new season (Don’t worry they’ll flood us with unnecessary trailers regardless) so get ready to see some kick ass Jessica Jones March 8th on Netflix.

Speaking of Netflix as a quick reminder the new season of The Crown is now on Netflix! This new series continues the reigning chapters of Queen Elizabeth II’s life with the same stars that made the first season so memorable so for those with Netflix be sure to check it out!

Well that's about it for this blog, or it should be but I had a spur of the moment thing happen that involves me purchasing something. Yeah I spent money on myself again but this deal was absolutely irresistible. I’ve really come to love art in all of it’s many medias, I’ve not done a whole lot and most of it involved Aeris Eclipse in some shape or form but I can say that creating art will be something i’ll keep in my life. So with that commitment in mind I bought myself this 120 piece multi media art set.

Oh boy this is one beauty of a box. At first glance you would assume this to be some secret agency briefcase and I guess you could call it that because of how much is inside of this box. This Artist Loft Art Set actually only cost me 20 dollars despite it’s usual 70 dollar price tag so I really did snag one really good deal from Michael’s and it almost completely slipped my point of view. My Mum had actually discovered the one day sale that was happening so of course I Dove out as quick as I could and snagged the last one on the shelf.

Opening this baby up you can see a wide selection of color pencils and watercolor pencils, the latter I've come to love after the past few months. Think this is it? Oh no, not by a long shot. See those fabric tabs? Yeah pulling this up will reveal the magic underneath.

This isn't just a Acrylic or watercolor set no this has 10 Acrylic Paints, 12 Watercolor paints and 12 oil paints as well as oil pastels. Also included are brushes, pallets and some other cool bits that really makes this an awesome set. What finishes this off with a bang is the booklet that comes with the set. This booklet is absolutely perfect for a beginner like myself as it holds tips on how to draw, color theory and how to use the four mediums included in this set. So for someone like me, who’s barely gotten used to Watercolor this was the icing on the cake. It actually goes quite in depth on oil painting, a medium I've always been too nervous to try yet have always had a love for oil paintings.

While this set is not going to be 20$ anymore I would still recommend this set to any artist who wants to expand their mediums and learn new ones. This would make quite the Christmas gift so check out your local Michael’s (If you have one) or anyone else who sells Artist Loft supplies.

For now I'm heading off once again, thanks everyone for reading the blog for this week! Don't stress out over Christmas too much and enjoy the rest of your week!

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next week!

DC Crisis on Marvel's Infinity War (I Also Finally Cast On a Sock)

We’re officially in December! Jingle Bells are ringing all around, it’s the Holiday Season! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, National Brownie Day, National Oatmeal Muffin Day (Yeah this is real apparently) or Christmas it’s the season for giving and the season for some really nostalgic Christmas specials on TV. It’s also the season for the annual CW Superhero Crossover and you better believe that this year’s will blow the doors off every previous year’s crossover, hands down.

Dubbed “Crisis on Earth-X” this 4 episode miniseries pits the Arrowverse against a world full of Nazis. Yeah apparently on Earth-X the Nazis won World War II and took over the world with a familiar face at the helm. This world has its own lot of Metahumans and Vigilantes but these guys are not the friendly faces we see saving the world on Earth-1.

The crossover kicks off with the prelude to Iris and Barry’s wedding, about time right? With The Thinker gone quiet for now the speedster couple send off invitations to their various metahuman and arrow shooting friends, although a couple of people seem to be missing from the invitation such as Diggle, what gives with that? Anyway the invitation even reaches Supergirl and Alex who seem to be having relationship problems (I haven’t been watching Supergirl) and want to use this trip as an excuse to get away from their own problems, at least for a little while. I loved the fact that the metahumans were actually in a fight while trying to RSVP thought that was funny.

I don’t know why I expected the Wedding to actually happen though; this is The Flash we’re on about. Yeah the marriage almost happened until a bunch of Nazis burst through the doors with an evil Kryptonian known as “Overgirl” at the helm.

With the Wedding ruined the entire Arrowverse is now pitted against these new villains, and one familiar villain. Yeah if you’ve seen the Episodes then you’ll know that these villains are evil versions of the Earth 1 heroes with Oliver Queen as the Fuhrer. So with this you would expect an evil Flash right? Well we got an Evil Flash, just not Evil Barry.

My jaw dropped at the big reveal of this world’s Flash when under that mask was the familiar face of Harrison Wells, or as he’s known by his real name, Eobard Thawne. Thawne is back! Not just any Thawne this actually is the same Eobard Thawne from Season 1 of The Flash and Season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow believe it or not. How many times has this man escaped death? It’s incredible to see Tom Cavanaugh playing this role again, a role in what was probably my favorite in Season 1 of The Flash, making that particular season amazing. I have to say it was hard to understand why Eobard was even a part of this plot, maybe he just wanted to screw with Barry again but whatever the case is this crossover proves that Thawne is back and that we may be seeing him again very soon. Reverse Flash VS The Thinker? Wonder who would outsmart the other.

This is the largest gathering of Superheroes on the TV screen yet (Not counting the animations) and by far it’s probably one of my favorite storylines to come out of the Arrowverse. This 4 episode series is suspenseful, drama filled and actually really heart wrenching when it comes to the sad departure of one of Arrowverse’s longest running characters. You really get anxious to see the next Episode in this series as it really drags you in with cliffhangers around every corner, luckily these episodes were only split up between two days so the wait wasn’t so excruciating. I am a little disappointed in the lack of most of the Legends throughout the crossover and some of Team Arrow. Actually a certain stretchy guy was missing too, which sucks as this would have been a great way to break Elongated Man into the Superhero fold and would have led to some hilarity as he interacted with the Legends, Team Arrow and Supergirl. Not even Martian Manhunter made an appearance this time around. (Is he even in Supergirl anymore?) The writers could of went all out and brought in every Superhero from the Arrowverse but I guess for the sake of not over swamping the show they kept a few out, maybe next year we’ll actually get all of the heroes together for the largest gathering to date.

Anyway without spoiling much else this miniseries is a must watch for DC Comic fans and you can check it out on Hulu and the CW TV app right now! Just go to the App Store either Google Play, Microsoft Store or iTunes on your smart device and search for The CW. Will Barry and Iris finally get married?

Speaking of Smart Devices we actually got ourselves a Samsung Ultra HD 4k Television a week ago and to my surprise this TV really does have some incredible quality, although the App Store is severely lacking. (No CW App on there, sorry guys) This TV makes our Video Games such as the Wii U look absolutely incredible with this TV’s quality enhancer feature. We have had to turn off a few features here and there, such as the auto motion which caused jittering on our older movies and one weird frame refresh rate. There’s also this automatic room light sensor which didn’t work in our Living Room and instead made the screen go way too dark.

The odd features besides the point this TV is pretty great and has some powerful sound compared to our last set. I can’t wait to get a Nintendo Switch and see how incredible that console looks on this TV, which I’m hoping is sooner rather than later but hey I just paid out for a new computer give me a bit on the Switch.

So what do you guys love more than DC? Marvel? Then I got some incredible news for you and myself! The wait is over, the hype has been fulfilled, the Avengers: Infinity War trailer is here! Oh yes we’re finally getting this trailer after months of leaks, illegal recordings from Comic Con and weird theories and you can check it out below!

The trailer starts off with a classic quote from Nick Fury aka Samuel L Jackson with a couple of short clips of the various heroes in their split off locations and a… Humanized Vision? Not sure what that’s all about but we also get to see that Spider-Man ACTUALLY has Spidey Senses! At least I’m assuming that’s why his hair is standing on its end. The narration is soon taken over by Thanos who’s conquest for the infinity stones pits him against the Avengers who have to put their differences to the side to come together one last time against the greatest threat they have ever faced. This movie is going to be jam packed with every single Hero to grace the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I am beyond hyped for this movie, and a little concerned about the future of the Marvel Universe, obviously this movie and Avengers 4 aren’t “The End” per se as we have confirmation of movies that are planned to release after Avengers 4 but how many iconic heroes are we going to see meet their end in this movie? Chris Evans, aka Captain America for one has hinted at his departure from the movie series and I have a feeling Robert Downey Jr isn’t sticking around either. Will there be a reboot of sorts with those parts being replaced or will we see new heroes take up the mantles of all our favorite heroes? Bucky could always take over the role as Captain America like he did in the comics.

Anyway this movie is coming out May the 4^th of next year so get ready for part 1 of an incredible finale of the Infinity Stones saga!

Before I wrap up for today I actually forgot to mention one particular day that is happening. If you’re reading this on Monday it’s actually National Sock Day believe it or not. I haven’t done much knitting over the past few months to much of your disappointment and while I could apologize all day long I’m going to make up for it today with the casting on of a new project, one that I actually need to finish due to lack of this particular item, a pair of socks!

This will be my third pair of socks I’ve knitted since picking up knitting back in September of last year. The yarn is the normal 90% Wool 10% Nylon but I’m not actually sure of the colorway or brand right now so I’ll have to get back to you on that later.

I’ve got a couple of rows knitted already so hopefully this won’t take me months on end to finish, I mean my first pair of socks didn’t take me that long. (My second pair did.) I’m using my trusty 2.75 MM CiaoGao needles (Which I reviewed in this blog here: ) which should mean this socks won’t be as gigantic as my first pair of socks, but no guarantees. Admittedly I got frustrated with this sock at first, maybe it’s because I’m rusty or maybe it’s just because I hate casting on socks. Don’t get me wrong I love knitting socks but I really hate casting them on and getting things joined. The whole process is annoying but it’s way beyond worth it once you get to the third row, beyond that point Socks are really fun to knit.

That’s about it for now however, I still have a dishcloth to finish and I’m actually doing a duo blanket knitting project with my Mum so you’ll be seeing some more knitting from me in the near future.

For now however I’m leaving you guys for the day, I managed to keep this blog under 2,000 words for once which is incredible but mostly due to the point I haven’t really had much time to write anything these past few weeks. Yeah I’m swamped again but it’s really my own fault for not organizing my time better. Anyway have a Happy Holidays everyone!

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next week!

“There was an idea…”