The Joshua Yoder Blog

 The other day myself and Chad decided to go for a little walk around McVeytown and we ended up walking our normal route. But this time was a little different, as we arrived at the library where we usually begin our walk. However, we noticed that there were plenty of people directing traffic, which is rare in our small town. Curious, Chad and I started our walk and realized that there was something going on at the United Methodist Church. We took a lap around the town before deciding to go and investigate. Turns out, there was a special event going on at the church and it was called Fresh Express. Fresh Express is a non-profit that bring food to those in need. They had a wide variety of different foods, strawberries, veggies among many others. According to the people who were working there, all you have to do is sign up and come through the drive-thru where volunteers are standing by to hand over some free food. It is an interesting concept and I think it is really amazing to see p...

 This past Monday, my twin brother Chad and I decided to go to one of our personal favorite places to go when times get depressing for us, and it is the Big Valley Antique Center in Reedsville.  It has been one of those places that we have been going to since we were kids and always enjoyed it. That Monday was no different as I wanted to get out of the house and honestly we both needed to let out some steam because we both were getting a little bit crazy. So we ended up going over and enjoyed ourselves. I will say however, we don't get to go there too often, but when do, the building itself only seems to get and have more stuff in it. And there were plenty of amazing stuff in there throughout the store whether it be antiques, books, beautiful little statues, old school CDs, DVDs, toys, paintings, signed sports jerseys and cards, etc. But the one thing my twin and I always look forward to seeing is the comic books. And Big Valley Antiques certainly had no shortage of them, whic...

 It is crazy to think that this amazing poem is now 180 years old. But hey, it just goes to show us how good this poem is. On January 29th, 1845, the Raven was published in a newspaper called the New York Evening Mirror and it soon became his most popular poem. As I was doing the research for this blog post, I learned that critics are divided when it comes to its literary legacy but is still considered to be one of the greatest poems of all time. The Raven follows an unnamed narrator on a dreary night in December who sits reading a "forgotten lore" by the fireplace as a way to forget about the death of his love Lenore. Suddenly a raven would appear before him and the only thing it says is nevermore. Many people believe that the forgotten lore which was mentioned in the poem was the narrator could possibly be reading a book based on the occult and/or black magic. In fact, some studies suggest that it was similar to a short story that Poe had written called Ligeia was also used...

 Well, I think it is time to talk about something that I have been wanting to do for a while now. Which is to host my own podcast show. And after being scared to do it for so long, I decided to not let fear get to me and go through with it and create the Joshua Yoder show. I know real creative with the name lol. Part of the reason as to why I am creating this show was because I wanted to help create a positive place where people can just talk about anything. But more importantly, grow together and also to provide a platform for other people to tell their stories but to also help promote things and show others that there are people out there trying to build up communities through their work whether it be businesses, sports or creative outlets. I want to be able to help out in anyway I can. Things I would love to talk about on the show will involve several different things really, music, writing, sports, movies, comic books, etc. I am a fan of a lot of things but I am willing to talk...

 Well everyone, the big game is finally set, week and week, many teams came into the season dreaming about hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Sadly, there can only be one team that will be able to achieve that dream.  It will either be, the Philadelphia Eagles, who are looking to win another Super Bowl title since 2017 after a complete thrashing of NFC East rivals Washington 55-23 in the NFC Conference championship game. Or will it be the Kansas City Chiefs who are chasing history as they are looking to win three straight Super Bowls. The Chiefs are coming off a victory over the Bills 32-29 in the AFC title game. I must say, this will be a very interesting game to say the least because I myself do not have a favorite pro team, I just love football. And to be perfectly honest with all of you, it really doesn't matter to me who wins this coming Super Bowl. Personally I think it be cool for the Kansas City Chiefs to win three straight, I have a ton of respect for people like Andy Reid...

In my humble opinion, this was a very underrated animated series that really shaped my love for anime during the early 2000s and it was called Code Lyoko. Code Lyoko came out in 2003 and lasted until 2007 completing four seasons and nearly had 100 episodes. Code Lyoko was created by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo and it follows a group of teenagers who travel to a virtual world called Lyoko to wage war against an artificial intelligence known as X.A.N.A., who threatens the Earth with his ability to access the real world and cause havoc for our heroes to stop. The plot follows Jeremy Belpois, a young prodigy attending a boarding school at Kadic Academy, discovers a quantum supercomputer in an abandoned factory near his school. Upon activating it, he meets an AI girl named Aelita trapped inside of it. He also wakens an evil AI X.A.N.A. who is trying to eliminate anyone who is aware of the supercomputer's existence so it can be free to conquer Earth and destroy all humanity. Jeremy a...

These last few days have been quite hectic to say the least because I have been struggling a lot mentally and it has been affecting my writing which is why I thought about today's topic, writer's block. To anybody who loves to write whether it be novels, short stories, poems, blogs or all of the above, we all have our moments where nothing seems to be clicking and it can be seriously frustrating. Now some of those things that cause these issues vary, sometimes they are a single little problem, sometimes they are multiple problems coming out you all at once. Which the latter has been my issues lately. For a few days now, I have been struggling mentally to get some writing done, whether it be for Hometown Sports, my blog here, my poems and even the books I hope to publish someday have been tough to get going. There is a ton of reasons why I haven't really been able to get going recently and I really want to explore some of the biggest issues that I am dealing with. For one, I...

 You want to talk about a movie having an impact on someone, this film certainly did for me as a kid and even more so as an adult. And I am talking about the Hunchback of Notre Dame which first came out in 1996 on Disney. The movie is loosely based on the 1831 novel that was originally written by a French writer named Victor Hugo.  The film was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale and stars Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, Paul Kandel, Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, Mary Wickes and David Orgen Stiers. When it first originally came out, it was considered by many because of how dark and mature themes were used throughout the film. Such themes like genocide, lust, infanticide and antiziganism. To be perfectly honest with you, I was surprised that I was even allowed to watch it as a kid. But at the same time, I am very thankful that I did. And I will explain a little bit later. The story follows Quasimodo (Hulce) a 20 year old who is deformed with a hunchback...

 Oh man I am extremely excited to be talking about this one guys. The Punisher is another one of my personal favorite comic book characters ever. Since making his debut in the Amazing Spider-Man comic book back in 1974 where he was originally depicted as an assassin and adversary to the web head, the Punisher has been tearing it up ever since. The story for the Punisher is about a man named Frank Castle, a former US Marine who lost his family to the Mob due to them witnessing a murder committed by them. Since then, the Punisher has waged a one man war on crime and is willing to go any lengths to accomplish his mission. And he is not picky in his choices of evil criminals that he wants to kill. If you are a criminal that has committed something terrible, you bet your backside that Castle will hunt you down and finish you off. His obsession of avenging his family and being an end to crime has been something that I find endearing but also concerning. Although I really enjoy the charac...

 Earlier today, my twin brother Chad and I found an old Clint Eastwood movie from 40 years ago called the Pale Rider on Tubi. The Pale Rider is a western film that stars Eastwood who also just happens to be the producer as well as the director of this movie. The story follows a group of miners who are living in California who are independent prospectors seeking for gold are being harassed by coal baron Coy LaHood and his thugs so that he can have all the gold for himself. However, standing in his way is Hull Barret who is courting Sarah Wheeler and is caring for her teenage daughter Megan. After a vicious attack by LaHood that destroyed their property as well as Megan's dog. Megan becomes desperate and looks for divine intervention. After her plea, a mysterious stranger known only as Preacher (Eastwood) appears on a pale horse and enters into Carbon Canyon. From there on things start to get to change for the people of Carbon Canyon. This film was created with a budget of 6.9 millio...

 1995 was the arrival of one of the most controversial video game franchises of all time and was another one I really playing a lot as a kid which looking back on it, I am very surprised that I was even allowed to play this game lol. Twisted Metal can only be described as a demolition derby. OF DEATH! With vehicles loaded up with rockets, machine guns, you name it, they use it. The common plot of Twisted Metal is that drivers from all different walks of life receive a message from a man named Calypso who is the host of the Twisted Metal tournament which happens once a year. And the winner of the tournament will be granted a wish which ultimately becomes a be careful what you wish for because it usually ends up not go the way you think it will. There also have been plenty of let's just say unique characters throughout the series, of course you got to start with arguably the biggest character in the whole franchise, which is Marcus Kane aka Needles, the driver of the legendary ice cr...

 WOW! This game is 25 years old and it certainly left a mark on the video game industry and in my own personal life as well. The Sims was created by industry legend Will Wright and it first came out in early 2000. The Sims is basically a life/social stimulation type of game where you get to create your own personal family or random characters and put them in these virtual towns. You can basically be and do anything you want in this game. You can either get live in a pre-constructed house or build one of your own. You get to send your Sims out into the real world so to speak and meet other characters whether it be online or characters from within the game itself. You got to get a job, pay the bills, buy food to keep your Sims full, you got to have them do other simple things like, getting them clean like showering and having them sleep in beds so they don't tire out. It is the closest to the perfect example of how real life is how it is actually suppose to work. And honestly, at the...

 Last night, I decided to go back and watch some awesome James Bond movies and on the menu for the night, I went and watched Goldeneye which was one of the first Bond films I had ever watched. Crazy to think that this movie is now 30 years old. Originally this movie came out in 1995 and featured the debut of Pierce Brosnan as the legendary 007 himself, James Bond. The film follows Bond and fellow MI6 agent Alec Trevelyan, attempt to infiltrate a Soviet Union chemical weapons plant called Arkangel. Sadly, the mission goes a little wrong as Trevelyan is captured and supposedly killed forcing Bond to escape and destroy the site. Nine years later, the Soviet Union is no more and Bond is now assigned to stopping a group called the Janus Crime Syndicate who has possession of a Nuclear electromagnetic pulse space-based weapon "Goldeneye" from destroying the world. First off, this movie rules. Second, Brosnan did a fantastic job playing the role of James Bond. In my humble opinion, h...

 Now, I know what you are all thinking right now. How could it possibly be a Christmas party in January? Well unfortunately the wonderful people of Kountry Kitchen were unable to have a Christmas party last year due to being quite busy. But decided to celebrate it today. You may also be wondering, what is the Kountry Kitchen? Well it is a lovely little diner where I am from and it is also the work place on my twin brother Chad. Chadman has been associated with them for many years now and they have helped him out in a lot of ways. My twin and I struggle with connecting with people throughout our lives but, these guys have always been there to support my twin. So when Chad had asked me to come along with him to the party, I was happy to go and support him. And honestly, Chad looked extremely happy to be there throughout the night. There was plenty of fun Christmas theme games being played, I got to sit down and chat it up with several of Chad's co-workers. But the best part of the ni...

 Just the other day, my family and I were watching the Cleveland Browns play against the Baltimore Ravens which the Ravens smoked the Browns 35-10. But that is not what I really wanted to talk about as you see, during the game itself I had realized that it is 2025 now. Which means that thirty years ago the original Cleveland Browns had relocated to Baltimore. I remember watching the NFL Films documentary about that season with Cleveland. I was only five years old when it happened and it was crazy to see the reaction people had for this event shall we say because the original Browns team started in Cleveland back in 1944 and was apart of the All-American Football Conference in 1946 before joining the NFL in 1950. For 51 years this team had been apart of the city of Cleveland winning numerous championships under legendary football coach Paul Brown. But then 1995 rolled around and I remember watching the documentary and seeing how the players reacted to it and saw how they struggled t...

 With it being the month of January, it is time to honor one of the greatest writers in history. Edgar Allan Poe, who was born on the 19th of this month which would have been his 216th birthday.  Poe is known for his stories to have a very dark tone that features mystery as well as macabre. He is also considered to be one of the central figures of storytellers during the Romanticism and Gothic fiction era in America. He is generally named the creator of the detective fiction genre and many also claim that he is a major contributor of the emergence of science fiction. Another fun fact about Poe, he was also the first known American author to be able to live on writing alone. Sadly though, Poe is also remembered for being a tragic figure and doing the research of his life for my blog, I can understand why. Poe lived a tough life right from the very start of his life beginning with his father abandoning him and the rest of his family and not long after that, he then lost his moth...

 It has been a while since I wrote about pro wrestling, and today I thought about writing about All Japan Pro Wrestling. But even more so, its founder Giant Baba who the wrestling world lost back in 1999 (Rest In Peace). What made me decide to write about this blog post, was a youtube channel called Kim Justice's Wrestling Road who had done a little documentary about Baba and it really inspired me. To be honest, from what I hear about him from varies of wrestlers who worked with Baba, all of which say the same thing, he was a very honorable man and I would have loved to have met him and see him wrestle back in his heyday.  All Japan was formed back in 1972 after the fall of the JWA and it quickly formed a rivalry New Japan Pro Wrestling which also debuted in 1972 by rival and former tag partner Antonio Inoki. From 1972 all the way to his death in 1999, All Japan was one of the top wrestling promotions in the whole world. Some of my personal favorite wrestlers came out of that ...

 I am super excited about today's post because it is about one of my personal favorite comic book characters and his name is Daredevil. Interesting to know that this character is only a year younger than my parents lol.  Sorry mom, sorry dad 😆. In April of 1964 Daredevil burst upon the scene and has been around ever since. Daredevil was created by writer Stan Lee and was drawn by Bill Everett. (RIP to both men and thank you for creating such an incredible character.) The story is about Matt Murdock who is from a working class Irish-American family living in a crime ridden Hell's Kitchen, New York. At a young age, Murdock's life is changed forever after saving a man from an oncoming truck carrying chemicals. Which caused him to lose his sight completely. Matt is raised by a single father named Jack who is a boxer trying to give his now blind son a better life than he had it. Sadly, Jack is lately killed by mobsters for refusing to throw a boxing match that he was competing ...

 Hey everybody! Today I wanted to do something a little bit different for my blog. One of the things I wanted to do with my blog was to not only let some personal feelings about myself. But also to help promote things and in today's blog, I did a little interview with my sister-in-law Christine Miroddi-Yoder who is the owner of Foodology Feeding Therapy.  I would like to say thank you to Christine for taking the time to answer my questions and I do hope you all will enjoy my little interview with her. JY: What was the inspiration behind doing this project? CM: I wanted to teach parents that Mindset is an important piece of eating. A lot of people think kids should just put food in their mouth and eat it, but eating is more complicated than that. What you say and how you act around food affects how kids respond at mealtimes. So this book is hopefully teaching parents what to do, not do and say and not say around mealtimes.   JY: What were some of the challenges c...

 Crazy to think that this incredible actor is no longer with us and it has nearly been 35 years since the passing of Vincent Price back in 1993. Now in fairness, I only remember seeing Mr. Price perform in a few things like the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, Edwards Scissorhands and also he was the narrator in the music video for Michael Jackson's song Thriller. Also I didn't even realize that he was in the Ten Commandments movie too. But as I started researching him, I discovered that he had such a big time career in movies. Now it is no secret that I do enjoy a good gothic horror story and Price certainly fits that bill. Having been in plenty of movies and television shows, primary in the role of a Villain, and great one at that. Of course Vincent Price was waaayyy a head of my time. So I am very limited in what I was able to find. And what I did find, was amazing. Researching his career, I saw that he was featured in films based on one of my favorite writers as well as many other ...