My love-hate (mostly love) relationship with redbox.
I probably visit a redbox at least once a week, and depending on the season it can be several times a week. You just can’t beat the convenience and price that they offer, which really makes me wonder what their impact has been on rental stores like Blockbuster. I have probably only been to a Blockbuster two or three times in the last year since I started using redbox. It’s usually after driving up to one of their locations, seeing a line of 8-10 people, and deciding that it’s worth the extra $3.50 to not wait in line.
I rented a movie at the redbox tonight and despite how much I like their service, I was reminded of a couple of frustrations that I commonly have when using them. There are a few things that I really wish they would change/improve with their kiosks and website.
- Add a return slot on the side of the machine that allows people to drop their movies off without standing in the rental line. I realize that this would require some re-engineering of the kiosks, but it would be so worth it.
- Maybe create dual station kiosks for high-traffic locations. This would obviously also require some re-engineering, but I think it would also make sense.
- PLEASE create a mobile version of the website (ideally at m.redbox.com) that can be easily and quickly accessed using a phone. It’s a joke trying to use it on my Treo.
I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of these things, and maybe the folks over at redbox are already working on such improvements. I really like using their service, and I’m happy that they appear to be succeeding. I’m just hoping that they will adapt to their popularity by enhancing the capabilities of their website, and release 2nd generation kiosks that move the lines a lot faster.
Who wants a body massage? I do!
I think I slept funny last night, because my shoulder and neck are killing me. I don’t think my wife is strong enough to work this knot out. Where’s Roadblock when I need him?
Logitech VX Nano - This mouse rocks!
So my mouse broke today, and I was going nuts using the dumb touch pad on my laptop. I ran over to Best Buy to get a new one, but was having difficulty finding a wireless mouse that had a back button and wasn’t the size of a brick. Both Logitech and Microsoft had some neat little wireless mice, but they only had 3 buttons. I finally broke down and grabbed a Blue Shirt to see if they could help me. After telling the kid what I wanted, he immediately recommended a Logitech VX Nano.
The coolest thing about it is that the receiver is tiny! It is smaller than a nickel is round and only sticks out about 1/3 of an inch from your USB port. This allows you to leave it plugged in all of the time, rather than take it out every time you throw your laptop in a bag.
Here are some of the other great features it comes with:
- 5 button mouse as well as a multi-direction scroll wheel.
- Small, but not too small.
- Nice weight and balance.
- Nifty little cushioned case.
- Batteries ARE included.
It’s a little weird that I’m this excited about a mouse, but it’s awesome!
Memorial Day - Freedom isn’t free.
I’d just like to say thank you to all of our troops and veterans out there that are currently serving, or have served in defending this great country. Regardless of anyone’s standing on the war, the economy or politics, this is still the best country in the world. The freedom and prosperity that we enjoy here in the U.S. has been unparalleled by any other, and we should not forget that it was bought with the blood of our veterans. It is days like today, that we should all take a break from worrying about gas prices, the recession and who might be our next President, and appreciate all of the wonderful things we have. Our freedom in particular.
Cloverfield (3 of 5 stars)
We rented Cloverfield last night. It was pretty decent. I understand now why people were getting sick in the theaters. The cinematography (if you want to call it that) was pretty crazy. It was all filmed from the perspective of a hand-held camcorder, and kinda felt like The Blair Witch Project in NY city. There were a few times in the first half-hour that we actually had to pause the movie and just shut our eyes to give them a rest. After that it either got better, or we got used to it, because it didn’t seem so bad.
The story itself was interesting. It’s basically about this 350 foot monster that stumbles into Manhattan, and wreaks havoc on the city. There are some (not a lot, but some) cool shot of the thing crashing through buildings and stepping on military tanks. They do a good job of keeping the suspense high throughout the movie, and the shaky camera definitely adds to this. I wish they had shown more of the monster, because the scenes where they did show it were pretty cool. The monster drops “parasites” off of it’s body, which look pretty small when they do, but in reality they are about the size of a small person or big dog. These scenes were really intense, and I wish they had done more with those as well.
I think I probably enjoyed watching the bonus features on the DVD the most. It allows you to see pictures of the monster and a number of the special effects scenes without the jerky camera movement and at a much slower pace. There are also some interesting insights they give you about the monster and where it comes from.
Overall I thought this was an interesting and worthwhile movie. I just felt like it left you wishing you could see more. Who knows, maybe that was a brilliant move on the Director/Producer’s part.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2* of 5 stars)
Let me start by admitting that I have a pretty bad habit of setting my expectations too high with certain movies. Especially those that I’ve been anticipating for a while. I tried pretty hard not to do that with this movie, and I think that I went into it with a pretty open mind. Nevertheless, I have some very mixed feelings about this movie.
*** WARNING!!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!! ***
Overall it felt like a classic Indiana Jones movie. My wife and I just finished watching the original three movies this week, and it was nice to see that they preserved the classic feel of those movies. There was lots of action and adventure, as Indy and friends romp through jungles and ruins, as well as quite a few scenes that take place in the US. The traditional campy humor was present, as was the traditional ridiculously unrealistic escapes from near death experiences. Remember them riding the inflatable raft down from the airplane in Temple of Doom? There is a scene in this one that I’m sure the Mythbusters guys won’t waste their time on… This episode plays out like the original films, and for those of you that liked those, you will likely enjoy this movie as well.
So here is what I thought was wrong with the movie:
First off, WTF is up with the aliens? This is Indiana Jones, not the X-Files (That comes out in July) for cryin’ out loud! I was buying the concept at first. After all, every Indy movie has had some level of religious or paranormal oriented plot, but they just took it way too far. It was one thing to suggest that the ancient South American civilization was visited and influenced by aliens (AvP anyone?), and that the skull was related to those aliens. I could have handled that. But the scene with the alien skeletons merging into a living one and how it looms over the bad chick at the end made me wonder when Merrill from Signs was going to show up and hit it with a bat. Then it pretty much lost all credibility for me when the flying saucer comes crashing out of the ground and flies away… I must again offer up a serious Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
My other complaints are minor in comparison:
- Shia LaBeouf’s character was a total Fonz wannabe. I was getting ready for him to do “the honk” during one of the scenes that he was in danger.
- They made it too obvious, and rushed the fact, that Shia’s character was Indy’s son.
- The Mac character’s “I’m good, now I’m bad, now I’m good again, just kidding I am actually bad” game was retarded.
- There was not a good enough “skin crawling” scene. The ants just didn’t cut it compared to the snakes, and bugs and rats from the first three movies. They did such a great job in the original films making the viewer thoroughly uncomfortable watching those scenes, and unless you have a major ant phobia I guess, I just didn’t sense the crowd writhing in their seats during this one.
- There wasn’t the classic romance and sexual tension that the originals had either. I’m willing to let this one slide, since Harrison Ford is pretty much a senior citizen and should probably have been using a walker to get around instead of swinging with his whip. It would have probably been creepy anyway…
- The Russians are not nearly as cool of bad guys as the Nazis were in the first and third movies, and they do a bad job justifying how a large group of KGB with thick Russian accents are somehow freely running around in the US during the height of the Cold War…
- Overall the movie just felt like a half-done patchwork of the first three movies.
So now that I’ve written this out, I’d have to say that I was officially disappointed. I’ll definitely see it again, and I’m sure that I’ll like it more the next time since I am more likely to appreciate it for what it is, rather than what it was not. With all of this said, it’s still a fun movie and worth seeing. It was just disappointing that after all of these years, they couldn’t have done a better job with this one, or I apparently didn’t do a good enough job psyching myself down for it…
Whatever!
One of my employees just said “whatever” to me… and it reminded me of this. LOL!
I wish I was in Brainerd…
This weekend the Glacier Lakes Quattro Club is running an event up at the Brainerd International Raceway. Since buying my A6, I’ve been part of the Audi Club of North America, which automatically put me on their mailing list. Besides the numerous e-mail announcements I’ve received, I was also invited by a friend (Byron of Zoix.com) who is an instructor up there, as well as a new customer of ours (Anderson Motorsport) which has been heavily involved in these events over the years. I’m really regretting not going right now… My schedule has been a bit insane lately, so to take a full weekend away for this just wasn’t in the cards. It sounds like it would have been a total blast though.
The full day of track time tomorrow would have been amazing. I’ve had my car up around 125 mph (shhh don’t tell) a few times since I bought it last year, but never for more than a few seconds on the Cedar bridge. Apparently there is a straightaway that is over a mile long on the track that goes into a banked curve. You can pretty much hit the thing as fast as you can handle, which I’ve heard can be easily in excess of 150 mph. And to further rub salt in the wound, I guess that they are reworking the track this year and eliminating the straightaway in favor of more track, so this is one of the last events that a person could experience it… QQ
Check out the video below of this guy in an S4 tearing it up!
Thumb Wars, possibly the funniest thing ever put to film…
Ok, so I’m a total sci-fi nerd, and a big Star Wars fan. I was recently reminded of this movie/show that came out back around the time Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released. It originally aired on TV, which I taped, and since have bought the DVD. We’ve watched it and laughed so many times, I can’t even count anymore. There are so many stupid one-liners in this movie, that we have come to say on an almost daily basis. It’s actually quite remarkable how much of an impact this show has had on my family’s life. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. You can actually watch it for free on YouTube.com, or click on the movie below.
Wrath of the Lich King release date?
So for those of you who don’t know me, I’m pretty much a raging WoW (World of Warcraft) addict. I’ve been offline for the past few months because I’ve been grinding RL (real life) instead. However, I still pine for my favorite game ever, and watch from a distance to see what is going on. So anyway, I recently received an e-mail from GameSpot with the following “most popular games” chart in it. I was surprised to see that they were showing a release date of 11/03/08 for Wrath of the Lich King! So far, Blizzard has not announced an official release date for the second expansion of this phenomenally popular MMORPG, but I can’t help but hope that this was an inadvertent slip by the GS folks. It’s probably just wishful thinking, but it’s fun to speculate.
