The Joshua Yoder Blog

 This past weekend marks a brand new season for Fall Sports. I had not one, not two, but three different football games to go cover for Hometown Sports. The first one was this past Friday as I made my way back to good ole Mount Union High School to hangout and watch some football between them and the Tussey Mountain Titans. It is always good to see some familiar faces like MU Baseball coach Tim Hicks who joined me at the Press Box as well as coach Chuck Hand and Head Coach Jamie Brumbaugh along with many others. I also got to see my cousin Cory who was a graduate of Mount Union and had a nice chat. Of course, I must admit, I was very happy to see the Trojans be healthy this season and pray that it stays that way. You see last year these poor guys got caught with the injury bug and could not finish the season. The Mount Union Trojans though took care of business and came out victorious 42-7. Congrats to them and again praying for them to stay healthy this season. Next up was Sunday ...

 It is crazy to think this game is 10 years old this year. Persona 5 came out back in 2016 being published by Atlus and follows a group known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as they battle against the corruption that have filled into the hearts of people in authority. The story follows a young student who came to the aid of a young woman who was being attacked by a politician. The politician used his influence and framed the young man into being put on probation for a year. This young man would soon gain the power from Igor and his two assistants Caroline and Justine and eventually earn his codename, Joker. This game is considered by many to be not only one of the greatest role-playing games ever, but one of the greatest video games of all time. And understandably so, the gameplay was amazing, I loved the concept, the story, the characters, the music and of course the Personas. Speaking of the concept, I love the whole theme of fighting against corruption in the world. I mean bein...

 Any of you guys ever get the feeling when you watched something, only to re-watch and realize how far a head of its time it was. Well that certainly fits with what I am writing about on my blog today and it is the early 90s classic, Point Break. Point Break stars the always great Keanu Reeves along with the late, great Patrick Swayze (RIP) as Johnny Utah and Bodhi. The film also stars Gary Busey, Lori Petty, and John C. McGinley. The story follows rookie FBI agent, Johnny Utah, a former Quarterback at Ohio State who assists Senior agent Angelo Pappas in investigating a string of bank robberies by a group called the Ex-Presidents. Although they never rob the vault, they only grab the cash from the tellers and left within 90 seconds. Pappas' theory is the criminals are within the surfer community and Utah is tasked to infiltrate and see who could be the Ex-Presidents. He soon becomes friends with Bodhi (Swayze) and his gang of surfers and quickly discovers who they really are and it...

 This past Saturday, Chadman and I decided to check out Bingo Night over at the McVeytown Fire Company building. Chad's friend and member of the Fire company, Doug Boozel had invited us over and so we went in and see how it was going. And it was going quite well when we had arrived tot he building, it was pretty full of people, at least over a 100 people all looking to hit Bingo. This was their first event hosting since the opening of the new Firehouse so I am sure there were plenty of nerves going into it. Can't say I blame though especially trying to raise funds to help keep the company building going and protect those from dangerous fires. There were some raffle ideas being sold a the event one being a Kitchen Aid, another being a Ninja Air Fryer and lastly, a car trailer. There were some cash prizes as well as lottery tickets, purses and wine. Of course, you can not have a Bingo night without some delicious food. There was some chicken, potatoes, vegetables, rolls, applesau...

 Crazy to think that this movie is 30 years and in my humble opinion, still holds up today and it was The Phantom. This movie was based on the comic strip character which was created by Lee Falk all the way back in 1936. The movie stars Billy Zane who plays The Phantom/Kit Walker and is joined by Treat Williams (RIP), Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Remar, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (RIP) among many others. Simon Wincer was the director of the film while the screenwriting was done by Jeffrey Boam who has done such great work like The Lost Boys, Lethal Weapon 2 and 3, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The story follows The Phantom as he learns that the evil Sengh Brotherhood as well as Xander Drax, a power-hungry business man trying to unite three skulls and take over the world. Unfortunately, when the movie was originally released in 1996, it had received a mixed reviews by critics. Which was sad, but at the same time not surprising considering how many of the pulp fiction ...

 This weekend, myself along with my twin Chad were chilling out on the streaming service Tubi and we saw that Nevermore: The Raven Effect was recently added to it. Being pro wrestler fans, we had always wanted to watch this documentary. The only problem was we didn't have it on Amazon, but now it was here and we were going to take full advantage of it. Now again, this film was already a year old, so bare with me on this. Also, anyone that knows me when it comes to professional wrestling, I enjoy more of the actually wrestling part of it, I am not really into the hardcore style. That is with respect to those who do like my twin. With all of that being said, I really did love the Raven character. Growing up as a kid I first saw Raven on WCW and just something about him I could relate to and honestly, I wasn't sure what it was. As I grew older, I soon realized why I did relate to him, I felt like an outsider and didn't fit in anywhere. And watching this movie, I really could n...

 The older I get, the more I want to look back at some of my favorite things from my youth. As I have researching, I discover that one of my favorite bands how an album which is now 35 years old this year. It is called Blood Suger Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Originally, this album came out in 1991 and many people to this very day, consider it one of their best if not their very best album ever made. In fact, it was named one of the best soundtrack of the 1990s and honestly, I can see why it was. Now I must admit, being born in 1990, I didn't get to hear the album as it happened. I wish I did, but thankfully, I grew up around an older crowd and it was there when I first got to listen to them. And it was AWESOME! In fact, the only other RHCP album that sold more than this one did was Californication which also came in the 90s, 1999 to be exact. Blood Sugar Sex Magik peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and led to what many consider to be the reason for the alternat...

 I remember my dad would always tell him how he is feeling so old because some of the bands he listened to as a kid. I am now starting to get that way myself as I am realizing that a ton of bands that I listen to as a kid are now reaching big milestones. One of those bands is a Christian rock band called Skillet who this year will mark 30 years since their debut album. Although a number of people have played in the band, the current lineup to Skillet are the husband and wife duo of Jonathon Cooper who is the Lead Singer as well as Bass and Korey Cooper who plays rhythm guitar, keyboard and backup vocals. Along with them you got Seth Morrison who is the lead guitarist for the group and of course, you can not go without the drummer and fellow singer Jen Ledger. The group has had such great hits like Comatose, Whispers in the Dark, Monster, Hero, Awake and Alive, Feel Invincible, Looking for Angels, Sick of It. Heck! Their song Legendary was used as an intro to Monday Night Raw. My pe...

WOW! This blog post has certainly been something special to work on because it was something that I have been wanting to do for my family for some time now and at last, it has been completed. Being in such a large family like mine is, we have gone through a lot together in our lives. Recently we lost my Uncle Rick and Uncle Dave as well as my cousin Brett and my Uncle Rocky before that. Rest In Peace to you all! Miss you greatly! 🙏🙏🙏 So my goal was to help bring back some happy memories for my family! The reason I chose to write this was for one, this year marks 40 years since the tragic death of Aunt Jane. And second, honestly, I never got to know her, so I wanted to help get the family together and learn about her. As you see, she had passed away in 1986 while I was born in 1990. And boy! Did I ever learn a lot about her 😁. The common theme throughout my journey into learning about Aunt Jane was that she was such a kind and gentle soul who cared deeply for her family. Here are so...

 This past weekend was quite eventful to say the least for me as well as my family. My older brother Cody along with his lovely wife Christine and two little rugrats named Lukey and Ava came from New York to spend some time with us and join us for the Yoder family Summer reunion over at Greenwood. As always, getting to see my niece and nephew is nerve wrecking for me and my twin. Mainly because we are both extremely socially awkward. Well I must say though, Little Lukey was well behaved for a six year old. Of course he was spending most of his time creating whirlpools lol. And then, Miss Ava was just talking away with us and would be nonstop crawling around the house. Of course, poor Christine wasn't able to get many breaks as Ava just kept crying every time she walked away. Of course, it was great to see my big brother Codeman. Don't really get to see or hear from him much, but when you are a big time video editor for Turner Sports, You got a lot going on 😁. Nonetheless, it w...

 With it being Summer all, I wanted to look back at an old Summer blockbuster movie that amazingly, is now 25 years old. I am talking about the Fast and Furious movie starring Vin Diesel and late Paul Walker and it was originally released in June of 2001. This movie also features Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune, Chad Lindberg, Johnny Strong and Ted Levine. Based on an article written by Ken Li which was about illegal street racing, it soon became a screenplay written by Gary Thompson, David Ayer and Erik Bergquist. The story follows Paul Walker as Undercover Agent Brian O'Conner who is sent to infiltrate a street racing  crew who are under investigation for a series of hijackings and soon finds himself in a very complex friendship with the group leader Dominic Toretto (Diesel). Movies like this was one of the reasons why I became a fan of Vin Diesel. He did an incredible job as Toretto and witnessing the chemistry between him and O'Conner was awesome to watch. ...

 Hello everyone, as you all know, I love to write and tell stories whether it be my poems, short stories, sports, religious/spiritual, etc. But I also like to use my writing to help others who are in need and today is one such blog post. I became friends with the good people of RTC Auctions who promote local auctions here in our little community. Every week when they come to Mattawana, me and my twin always enjoy going to see them and what they have to offer for each auction.  Unfortunately, I had recently discovered that a member of their family had been in a terrible motorcycle accident. His name is Zach Seitz. Sadly, Zach was in-between jobs when it happened and was not insured and the medical bills started to pile up on him and his family. So today, I wanted to help promote a special event that will be happening on July 19th. There will be a Benefit ride for Zach and his family. Whether it be motorcycles, cars and or trucks, all are welcomed to join this ride which will be...

 In an other blog post, I had written about celebrating 30 years of the film Space Jam, well today, I wanted to look back on another fun thing I did as a kid and that was playing the video game of the same name which also came out along with the movie it was based on. Space Jam the game, was created by Acclaim and was released for the Sega Saturn and Playstation. It was 3 on 3 basketball 2D game where you can choose to play for the TuneSquad or Monstars. There were some cool mini-games through it all as well including being Daffy Duck trying to find Jordan's uniform while trying to avoid the family dog Charles. You also get to play as Bugs who is trying to find water bottles that contain Michael's secret stuff (Water) 😂. What I love the most about this game is just how simple of a game it was. Me, Chad and Codeman would play this game for hours. Plus big brother Codeman is a major Michael Jordan fan during the youth in the 90s. This game used the same engine as NBA Jam Extreme...

 It has been a long time coming, but this past weekend I finally got to finish a replay of one of my personal favorite video games ever, Jade Empire. For those of you who do not know, Jade Empire was created by Bioware and was published by Microsoft Game Studios back in 2005 on the original XBOX. The game was inspired by Chinese mythology and it follows a spirit monk who is the last of his kind. The main character along with his allies, are on a quest to rescue his Master from evil forces as well as save the Water Dragon. One of my favorite features in the game is the moral system that has been put in place throughout the game where you get to make choices whether it be for good (Open Palm) or for evil (Closed Fist). Each choice you make during the game will heavily impact where the story will go where you will either become a hero to the people or become the very evil you sought out to destroy. At the begin of the game, you get to choose between a male or female protagonist before...

 Everybody get up its time to slam now, we got the real jam going down, welcome to the Space Jam, here 's your chance do your dance with the Space Jam. Oh man I absolutely love it when this song comes on especially during my childhood. Much like the Power Rangers movie that I had written about last year, this movie was just as fun. It is called Space Jam! Space Jam follows the adventures of Michael Jordan who was retired from basketball and was now playing baseball before literally being dragged into the world of Looney Tunes who request his help as they are at risk being turned to slaves by Mr. Swackhammer and his Nerdlucks who run an amusement park called Moron Mountain. At first, the Looney Tunes think they have the upper hand because the Nerdlucks are small in height, so they challenged them to a basketball game. However, the Nerdlucks ended up stealing the talent from NBA players, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Shawn Bradley and Muggsy Bogues and become giant m...

 This past weekend, myself along with my twin brother Chad decided to go down and check out the third annual Agape Festival over at the Agape Farm in Shirleysburg. For those who may not know, the Agape Festival is a four day event that began on Thursday June 25 and ended on Sunday June 28. The Agape Festival is looking to build on what was once Creation and help those build strong relationships with Jesus Christ as well as building strong fellowship with one another. Much like the previous two years, Agape Fest brought in a ton of local Christian artists as well as speakers to help spread the word of God and provide plenty of entertainment. There were plenty of fun events happening as well like wagon rides, barrel train rides, a cornhole tournament, volleyball, gaga ball, hiking and much more. Chad and I decided to go down during the Friday event due to our good buddy Hayden Snook was going to be performing. As we arrived, we were greeted by some friendly people who helped us find ...

 One of the reasons why I became a fan of the Command and Conquer series, is because it not just had one amazing gaming series, but it had two and in today's blog post, I want to talk about the original Command and Conquer: Red Alert game which is thirty years old. Unlike the mainline series of Command and Conquer, Red Alert is an alternate historical timeline video game based on time travel. The plot for this real-time strategy game follows Albert Einstein where in 1946, travels through time, all the way back to 1924 and meets with a young Adolf Hitler who has been released from prison. The two have a brief conversation before shaking hands which ended up killing Hitler, preventing him from adding power and changing the timeline in hopes for a better future. Unfortunately, World War II still happens, but it is between the Allies and the Soviet Union. The Allies and the Soviets are the two rival factions that the player can choose from and each having their own ending depending on ...

 This past Saturday evening, myself along with my twin brother Chad decided to head down to little McVeytown for a fun night of food and music. This event has been something Chad and I have been looking forward to. Living in a small town as McVeytown, there isn't much to do, so to see that there was going to be an event like this, certainly got us excited. Kind of a nice and breezy day to as we headed down town. As we arrived, we got to see a number of people already there as well as plenty of food options. One of those food selections was getting to have some cookies and cream pancakes from Brooke Knable's Pretty Little Pancakes. Which were fantastic by the way! Of course, I had to have some pizza as well lol.  While we were there, we bumped into some of our other friends like the Sunderlands, Alan Clark from the McVeytown Museum, our cousin Ashley along with her husband Matt who were there to create a time capsule. We even got to see and hangout with Ms. Deb Himes, who curre...

 Recently, the New York Knicks have ended their streak of not winning the NBA championship until the 2026 season where they would ultimately defeat the San Antonio Spurs to win their first title since 1973. Congrats to the Knicks! Now with that being said, seeing this reminded me that this year marks 40 years since the Boston Celtics won their 16th NBA title back in 1986 where they defeated the Houston Rockets in six games. To many fans of basketball, this team is consider the greatest team of all time. Although I was not alive to see them play at the time, getting to hear stories from my father, along with many others who were there watching them at the time, including some documentaries I have watched about the team, I can honestly see why people believe it. I am list of talent on the roster as well as the coaches and of course, the late great Red Auerbach. The Head Coach at the time was KC Jones, who was apart of the original Celtic dynasty in the 1960s. Then you had all-time gr...

 It is time for me to move on from the idea of true love, for that passion for me has been long gone. A dream I once had hoped to be true, will never see the light of dawn. For it's very essence has been pulled out of my being. The hurt has been too much for me as my mind and my soul can not agree on what I am seeing. My confidence when it comes to women, is at an all time low. It soars into the darkness, like a raven or a crow. The idea of love has become a burden to my soul. And now, it is time for me to find a new goal. As much as I wish it could be something I could achieve. As much as I want to believe, it is time for me to stand up and leave. Yet why is my desires still there for me to contend? Why can it just come to an end? It is tough enough for me to make a friend. My heart is too broken for it to mend. My goal now is to move forward and overcome my mental state. I do not wish for my brain to be full of anger and hate. If I could find true love, it would be great. However...

 30 years ago, the Persona series made its debut into the video game world and as I looked back onto the series, I soon realized that one of the most popular games of the the Persona series, Persona 3 is now 20 years old. Persona 3 came in 2006 for the Playstation 2 in Japan in 2006 and then in 2007 for North America. It was developed by Atlus and it was the fourth installment of the Persona series. The player assumes the role of a high student who had transferred to Gekkoukan High School and meets the members of the S.E.E.S. (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad) who investigate an anomaly known as the Dark Hour and do battle with monsters called Shadows using a physical manifestation of their psyche aka Personas. Joining the protagonist, are Yukari Takeba, the popular girl, Junpei Iori, the class clown and best friend, Akihiko Sanada, the captain of the boxing team, Mitsuru Kirijo, the class president, Fuuka Yamagishi, the shy girl, Algis, the female android, Ken Amada, an...

 After years of hard work, the Mifflin County Dream Center has finally been realized. Today marks the Grand Opening of the Dream Center which has been a very long time coming. The first time that I had ever heard of the Dream Center was when I worked for the local paper here in Mifflin County and was asked to meet with Chad Curry who was creating the Dream Center in Burnham.  I had knew of Chad for many years mainly because we both went to Lewistown Area High School together. Although he was a couple years ahead of me. The only thing I know about him was he was in the military and when I met him, he opened up a lot to me about his struggles and why bringing the Dream Center meant so much to him and honestly, I was excited to see it happen. Unfortunately, it took a bit longer for the Dream Center to be completed, but nonetheless, it is here. I am very excited about it because there will be a place for people who have struggled with addiction, hunger and financial struggles and ...

 This past weekend was an interesting one for me because I had a surprise guest deep inside my mind and it was a pretty blue jay. I find it interesting that a blue jay started to appear in my head when I was feeling extremely frustrated with myself and really everything. Even more interesting, I felt so calming and peaceful during that time and decided to investigate and learn more about the blue jay and why it has become a fixture in my mind. During my research I learned about the spiritual meaning behind seeing a blue jay and the results surprised me. For starters, the blue jay symbolizes truth, fearlessness and clear communication as these birds are known for being bold and loud calls. Many people believe that blue jays are messengers from beyond telling us to speak our minds, trust ourselves and care for those we hold dear. In fact, there are four things I discovered about seeing a blue jay and I would like to discuss about them. Number One. Finding my voice, according to this ...

The older I become, the more I have been looking back on some of my favorite things from my childhood and being more appreciative of them. And in today's blog post, I wanted to celebrate one of those favorite moments. In fact, today marks thirty years since its debut of one of my personal favorite shows to watch as a kid and it was called Kratt's Creatures. Kratt's Creatures debut in 1996 on the PBS channel and it only lasted for one season. It certainly was a heck of a season. The show was created by the Kratt Brothers along with Leo Eaton and it helped introduce us young kids at the time to learn about the wildlife and all kinds of amazing creatures all around the world. This was the first time that I was introduced to the Kratt Brothers Martin and Chris along with their friends Allison and Ttark and together their showcase different animals and different habitats. Since then I have been a major fan of the Kratt Brothers and have watched a number of their shows even to th...