Matingas

Week 49 (2025) – Bugonia and Back to the Movie Theater Review – NYC Tips – End the Year and Social Media Gig

Matingas

I’m going to the movies for the first time in almost a decade. My girlfriend likes to go to the movie theater. I don’t. We’ve been dating for two plus years. And this is my first time going with her.

The last movie I saw in the theaters was Deadpool. Or The Great Wall with Matt Damon.

Both bad movies to end my movie theater streak. Before that, I remember The Hobbit. And at some point, I saw Avatar in the theaters. When I was a kid, I loved going to the movie theater. I collected the tickets. I still have some.

I would take advantage of the 2×1 movie days (Wednesdays in my hometown) and do two or more movies a week. And pretended to be a critic.

But movies became easier with DVDs and now streaming, so the movie theater just lost its glamour. I still don’t care. I would much rather watch a movie at home.

We are watching Bugonia. I’ll write a review soon.

About it all.

My cousin is getting married in New York this weekend. I wrote some tips in an email to my aunt. Those tips apply to everyone. Here are my New York tips:

“Hi Tía,

Ready for New York?
I’m not sure where you are staying, but one of my favorite things in NYC was how good the subway system works. My biggest tip here is that everyone use your Credit/Debit card (or phone) to access. It costs $2.90 per trip. If you exceed 12 trips in a week, every trip is free. So you can use it as much as you want to move around. Joe lives near two stations: one is like a 10-minute walk, the other 7. They are both nice walks.
The Bagel Pub near Joe’s place was a very good bagel.
And because Joe is a resident, he can get tickets to almost any museum at a pay-what-you-want price, so get tickets through him. Museums are huge; you are not going to finish them in one day, so instead, focus on what you want to see.
Be READY to walk a lot.
The easiest way to see the Statue of Liberty is to get the Staten Island Ferry near Battery Park (it’s free). You just ride to Staten Island, it swings near the statue, and then head back on the same ferry.
The Roosevelt Tramway counts towards the metro station (the 12 rides). It’s also a nice ride to see the city.
I don’t think NYC is as expensive as people make it seem. It’s as expensive as any other big city (I felt like Seattle was more expensive). China Town is CHEAP. I had lunch with Nancy for less than $13 for both.
There’s a banana pudding you should try by Magnolia Bakery. It’s on the pricey side. But it was very good, and perhaps you can get inspired by making a similar one.
This is for Tío, my favorite bar was McSorley’s Ale House. It is one of the oldest bars in the US. US presidents and a lot of famous people, including Houdini, visited that bar. Houdini’s handcuffs remain on the foot of the bar near the middle. It remains unchanged. Beers are $6 is cash only. They only serve light or dark, and they are both very good and crushable. They serve them to you in half pints and give you two pints.
That’s all I can think of for now.”
Then I went into Christmas details. I’m going to Houston in two weeks.
These next two weeks are going to be busy.
Last week was very busy.
I had a bachelor party tour this Saturday. It was the last bachelor party tour of the year. It was one of the last tours of the year. I have another tour before I go to Texas, and I had another tour last Friday, but that one got canceled.
I might get more tours. I might get more photoshoots.
I crossed the border twice. I’ve been the social media manager for two restaurants for two months. Sometimes I feel like an impostor, but I know I am doing a good job. Especially for how low I’m charging. The great ones charge so much more. It’s a good job to have. And I can only get better.
The bachelor party was with Asian American guys from San Francisco. It was very similar to all the other bachelor parties. It went great. It was a big group of 12 people. I didn’t get a tip, but I got paid, and that’s more than good enough. I can afford a Christmas present for my girlfriend. I can afford a few Christmas presents for other family members. December is cruising by.
And it will be 2026 soon.
What will 2026 bring?!
The end of this blog… for now.
Blogging will move to Substack. And it will become way less personal and way more informative. More Tijuana. More city. More restaurants and bars. And more books.
The books I planned. The Tijuana Beer Guide 2026.
And more like that.
You get the gist.

Bugonia Review.

Bugonia became one of my favorite alien movies ever. SPOILERS. I’ll try not to. But there might be some.

Spoiler. It’s more like a theater play than a movie, and I enjoyed that. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are brilliant. And Stavros Halkias appears out of nowhere. He is an alright comedian who is getting better little by little and is now an actor. That boy is going to be in a lot of shit soon.

Spoiler. The gore was a bit too much at times and unnecessary, but I guess shock value keeps the audience. It slows down at times, and the gore spikes it up.

It’s a solid 8.7 in my book. I don’t think the girlfriend enjoyed it that much.

Ending will be a hit or miss split for most… I liked it, though I saw it coming.

Going back to the Movie Theater Review.

It’s okay. I would have enjoyed the movie the same or even more if I had watched it at home. Movie theaters have changed for the better, but they still need to do more to convince me to go back. It was a Tuesday 2×1, so it was around $10 for the ticket. I could repeat it again for the girlfriend because she enjoys going.

There are all sorts of food: sushi, burgers, cafe shop stuff, and more. But it’s the fucking movies, of course, we are getting popcorn. That was another $10 for a GIGANTIC tub of cheese Ruffles popcorn. Popcorn is good but not that great. I would have enjoyed regular butter and small side of caramel. The GIGANTIC tub was a mistake. We barely made a dent. We came home with 3/4 of the GIGANTIC tub of popcorn. There is still so much left and I need to eat it before it gets stale.

The seats are great but not excellent. Big and comfortable, but something is missing.

It wasn’t crowded. Less than half of the seats were occupied.

Overall, I’ll do it again. Especially because it pleases the girlfriend and I can pretend I’m a movie critic at the end. It also gets me out of the house.

I still prefer to watch a movie at home or play video games…

TikTok is too sensitive. It’s deleting old videos I did over 2 years ago and giving me strikes for them. Anything that involves alcohol can cause a strike.

I did a video for the restaurant. It was a how-to make a cocktail. It got a strike and a warning.

I might get banned from TikTok for nothing…

Everyone moved to Instagram anyway. I just like the TikTok editor way more.

I did a video about crossing the border with SENTRI. It has 20k+ views on Insta. It has 40k+ on TikTok.

The simplest videos always hit. The complicated ones barely break 1k.

Still growing in numbers on all my social media and across them all. 2026 will bring more of that.

A lot of that.

And more social media stuff.

I feel better after posting the work I did. It looks good. I just always want perfection. Always comparing myself to the best. And I’ll get there. The more gear, the better.

I need a new iPhone, mainly for the video and more work stuff. GoPro is not good for restaurants. It’s great for travel.

This blog post needs a picture.

Selfie with new glasses that my girlfriend’s nephew gave me. They are alright. I like the color, but the lenses are shit.

Next week looks promising. I’m getting a gift from the city, I’ll write about it later. I have a tour with a Polish YouTuber with over 1 million followers (not confirmed). I have a Christmas photoshoot. I have another tour (confirmed). And more social media work.

Then I’m out for Christmas.

Houston to end the year. And 2026 starts.

2026 plans… that will be the last blog.

Thanks for reading.

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