Batson's Blog

The Powerball is insanely high again and there’s still a chance to go get a ticket. In fact, that’s probably what I’ll end up doing today. If I suddenly end this blog or start posting pictures of exotic, foreign beaches, then you’ll know that ticket paid off. In the event I win, this blog post will serve as a guide on how to spend my money. If I don’t, then this ends up being wishful (but fun) thinking. There's quite a few things that I'd take care of first: pay off student loans, make investments for the future, etc. There's the goodwill donations I'd make: giving money to the Wheels to Work program , giving money to my alma matter, giving money to my old high school to keep photography classes going, and giving money to other various, reputable charitable organizations. Friends and family -- that's an obvious one. I'd give them some of the dough as well. That's where the fun begins! First, I’d make a trip to Best Buy, Target, F.Y.E and any...

This week I tracked down Novel Sweets , a cupcake shop that strictly bakes vegan cupcakes. I felt a bit like a detective trying to find a location with their cupcakes. I heard that Eco-licious carried the cupcakes, so I made my way to Commonwealth Ave. It's the first time I'd been there, so I was in for a rude awakening when I tried to park in a parking spot along the street. They only allow backwards, angled parking. They had a sign that diagrammed how this should be done. It did look fairly easy. Nonetheless, I was irked that I had to re-park in the first place and that there was a fine for not parking the proper way, so I ended up leaving my car in the parking lot of a nearby diner. After that mess I stopped into Eco-licious. They were all out of Novel Sweets cupcakes. They did have some healthy Twinkies, vegan Samoas cookies and other treats, but I was there for the cupcakes. The shop worker at Eco-licious told me that Novel Sweets has a stand at 7th Street ...

It's National Chocolate Milkshake Day! You know what that means -- it's time to celebrate accordingly. Although I don't like chocolate in baked goods, chocolate is my first choice when it comes to milkshakes -- not ice cream, just milkshakes. There are several different locations you could go to fill up on a nice chocolate shake. Here a few recommendations to make your choice a little easier: Jack In The Box There may be some bias here because they've given me two chocolate shakes for free at different times. I guess that's what happens when you have a friendly server and you make a late-night stop? Anyway, their prices are reasonable and the Jack In The Box chocolate milkshake is worth a try. It's made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped topping. It comes with a maraschino cherry, but I always tell them to hold that (not a fan of cherry's, myself). Find a Jack In The Box location near you

During a trip to Sam’s Club I saw the most amazing thing: Red Lobster biscuits in a box! They were only about $5 too. It was amaaaazing! I didn't know if the product was available for a temporary amount of time, so I took full advantage. I mean, really, it doesn't get much better than Red Lobster biscuits! I only bought one box, but it makes about 30 biscuits. That's about 4 or 5 small dinner parties. There are three pouches of biscuit mix inside, making it easy to get the same flavoring they have at the restaurant. Thankfully, the directions are easy too. You put the mix in a bowl, add 3/4 of a cup of water, throw in a handful of cheddar cheese, and then roll the dough into little biscuit balls on a cookie sheet. I only got 9 out of that batch, but some were a little larger than others. Once I made the first couple of biscuit balls they were hard to roll together. A large portion of the mix stuck to my hands. While the biscuits were in the oven bakin...

Jenn's Suglarlicious Bakery in Gastonia is the kind of bakery you'll want to stop at if you're looking at a large bakery with fanciful frosting and lots of treats. I'd Googled the bakery to find the address, but I didn't know what to expect when I went in person. Located in Franklin Square, Jenn's is right next to a Subway off of East Franklin Blvd. There's a purple carousel pony placed against the window, which actually gives an idea as to what the cupcakes are like. There were 12 different flavors of cupcakes available. Each cupcake had a different color (or, in some cases, two) of carefully decorated frosting. With pink, purple, turquoise, yellow and orange frosting, the cupcake case almost looked like a rainbow. I've been taken in by colorful, decorative frosting before, though, only to be disappointed by the flavor of the actual cupcake. I probably could have picked more flavors, but I ended up settling on three: the Neapolitan, the Lem...

Jennifer Nettles is going solo. So long to Sugarland and hello to new adventures. When I heard that Nettles was going solo, I was excited. She has great range and a charming twang to her vocals. I always find it funny when a singer, who is pretty much the main singer, or only singer of the group, goes solo – like Gwen Stefani, Rob Thomas, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. They were pretty much singing 85% of the songs they churned out anyway. I assumed we’d be getting some of the same kind of music from Nettles that we got from Sugarland. Now I’m not so sure. Nettles debuted her new song -- "That Girl" -- almost two weeks ago on Good Morning America and it was....different. It’s described as a follow-up, of sorts, to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” It's not the catchiest of songs, but I do like it.

I blogged about Ben Affleck being Batman the other day and why I think it could work. One of the reasons I mentioned was his performance in Daredevil. While some critics and viewers didn’t like the movie, I thought it was decent, if not borderline good. So Batman and Daredevil will both be on Ben Affleck’s list of super hero portrayals. Not too shabby. He’s actually not alone in playing more than one super hero. Affleck joins a short list of actors who have played more than one hero or villain in the Marvel and D.C. universes.