Category Archives: reviews

Reviews / feedback / comments on books, movies, television, technology, food, etc. (These might be short snippets and not long reviews)

The Perfect Score – Review

So a few weeks ago I noticed I was getting Showtime, I assumed it was a free preview weekend or something so I TiVo’d (taped) a few shows. One of those shows happened to be The Perfect Score, about a group of kids who decide to steal the answers to the SAT, tonight I got around to watching this one. It wasn’t until I was watching it for a few that I realized I had done that post about the SAT gizmo earlier today (duh!).

So the movie was fun, if you saw the preview it’s pretty much what you’d expect with a few “dream/fantasy” sequences about the planned crime itself. They really ripped on the the whole standardization pigeonholing concept of the whole test and the scoring and how your whole life can be based on this number. The one line that I liked was something like, “They tell us to be individuals our whole life and then stick us all in the same room to take the same test to determine the rest of our lives” (that’s very paraphrased).

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TiVo will change the way you watch TV!

TivoaniI love my TiVo!!! I’ve seen other digital recorders but this is so easy to use with it’s excellent interface. I think it’s a great product. You can watch stuff when you want or start a show late and catch up to it by fast forwarding through the commercials. If you’re just watching TV live you can pause it or even rewind. It’s got season passes, wish lists, automatic suggestions (based on what you want), fast forward at 1 minute per second, on screen directory, you can schedule shows via the web and all sorts of other stuff. They have got to save shows to DVD. If you hook it up to your home network (you do have a home network, don’t you?) you can play MP3s and view photos that are on a computer somewhere else. You can share shows between TiVos in your house (if you have more than one). It really is a great tool to have for your TV watching (even if you don’t watch a lot).

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Scene It? New Editions – Review

SceneitboardSo I know I’ve mentioned Scene It? several times before. I’m going to plug it again? Why you ask? Because I’ve seen a few new editions and some old ones released differently. Personally, I own the Junior, TV and regular refill pack (the board is the same for them all). I’ve bought at least a half-dozen of these as gifts (maybe a dozen).

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Have you seen “The Spaghetti Harvest”?

SpaghettiSo when I was a kid the local movie theater, in lieu of cartoons, would show short documentary type shows. These 3-7 minute shorts might be on skatboarding, mountian climbing or any old thing (some were new, some were old). The one I’ll always remember is about the annual Swiss Spaghetti Harvest, they show how they harvest the spaghetti trees and lay it out to dry. You can watch a low quality version (in RealPlayer) and you’ll get the idea of it.

Update: I noticed the direct link (click the image) was broken. So I’m moving this back up towards the top so you can take a gander if you missed it the first time.

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Firefly – Serenity

So the SciFi channel started rerunning Firefly and the preview for the Serenity movie (the movie sequel) looks so great I thought I’d try the series again (I think I tried one episode originally and it didn’t take), but I think they (whatever network dropped it) originally ran them out of order. This was part one of the two part pilot (which was never run as the pilot, I’m not even 100% sure it was ever run they actually ran it as the last episode). I really enjoyed it! I think I might pick up the DVD and catch up in higher picture quality and the missing three episodes. And I really don’t need another Friday show; Stargate, Atlantis, Numbers, Monk, and Battlestar Galactica is already more than I watch the rest of the week combined!

Blondfire (formerly known as Astaire)

BlondfireIf you recall I was talking about the band Astaire (that opened for Ivy) last month. They had to stop using the name Astaire and changed it to Blondfire. (Why? The Estate of Fred Astaire complained). The important thing is that they just released a new $3.96 four song EP (only at the iTunes store) it’s got three tracks not on their first EP (only $4.49). I’m liking it so far. It says it’s live but you’d never know it. The track titled “L-L-Love” is on both EPs and the Monster In Law soundtrack (although this version is live).

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Avril was excellent!

Avril LavigneSo the Avril Lavigne concert was great! She was at the DTE Music Theatre (Pine Knob) and I mangaged to get some great seats (row E). It was one of the better concerts I’ve seen in a while. All the screaming enthusiastic fans reallly help to get you going. I don’t know how tall she is, but she can’t be much over 4’10“ (150 cm) and she’s constantly bopping around all over the stage. She literally skipped around in circles during the parts when she didn’t sing. She played all the songs I wanted and I think she played every other song I knew. She played for over two hours! Some just singing, some guitar, piano and the drums. It was really great.

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War of the Worlds – Review

WaroftheworldsaniWow!!! I was highly entertained. I did walk in with low expectations but still it was non-stop action and the effects were incredible!!! The plot was a little a lot thin: bad weekend Dad trying to outrun the destruction to save and bond with his kids at the same time. You can see the trailers at the Quicktime site. There’s an official web site but it’s way too busy (slow) with flash animations to be of any use.

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