monkey!

June 1, 2008

Shop, dine and enjoy the local

As we grow up and become useful people in society we go out for dinner, see movies, and party. We do it in all sorts of venues and locations. We shop at the large Walmart, the Zellers, go see movies at the large Empire Cinema, and so on.

But many cities have a not-so-hidden culture that just shines with awesome.

A huge part of our society is drilled to shop for food at the big stores. Walmart in many cities now carries food of many varieties as well as pretty much everything else. We have several large super market chains in my (somewhat) small city of 200,000 people. Don’t get me wrong; Shopping at these stores is not wrong, infact I do it all the time but there is so much out there that many people do not use!

I’m talking about local farmers markets, small european deli’s, coffee shops and so on. Of course, these stores are fine as many in my area have been around for years so bringing in the cash is no problem. However, what I’ve found is for the extra “hassle” of traveling to another deli or market for other goods I need is very much worth it! Perhaps it is my Polish/European bias but I simply find deli from my local European deli much, much more enjoyable (and usually somewhat cheaper) then big chain stores.

In many cities, you will also find your more smaller, independent theaters. These theaters generally play great movies from Festivals like Sundance, Toronto, and many more that simply did not make it into the larger chained theaters. Although I do enjoy many movies that have made it into the mainstream, you are missing out on a good chunk of really amazing movies and acting. (Some of these movies, like Little Miss Sunshine make it big as well!)

It doesn’t stop there. Where have I found my coolest furniture, and neatest gifts, kitchen accessories and oh so much more? Well you guessed it, small independent stores in my area that specialize in getting neat stuff from all around the world!

Basically, my point is: If you have not taken a deeper look at your city and tried to see what it has to offer then get out there. Park your car or other mobile unit downtown or uptown and begin exploring! Many flourishing and growing cities have a downtown that is either very nice, or being renovated right at this moment. Besides, it makes a great date! Go explore, find out what’s new, and get some ice-cream that isn’t from Baskin Robbins

November 21, 2007

Beowulf is marketing gone terribly wrong

Last night I saw Beowulf, the nearly-realistic 3d movie based on the epic poem. Coming into this movie, I was very pumped. When I saw the first trailer for Beowulf I was pretty intrigued, I couldn’t even tell if the movie was in CG, or my eyes were just deceiving me, turns out the movie is entirely in CG, which was pretty darn impressive as many scenes it was very hard to tell if it was real, or fake.

However, despite the amazing quality of the CG work, I could not get past the massive amount of disappointment I had for this movie as the credits rolled.

The problem for me was the trailers; They were full of hardcore, pump-me-up music, lots of action, and some good quality screaming from Beowulf himself, I came into the theater fully expecting nearly 2 hours of awesome.

What did I get instead? A very well done 3d movie, with a lot of lulls, a terrible score, hilariously bad dialogue (”There have been many a brave soldier come to taste my husband’s mead. “), and not as much action as the trailer seemingly promised me.

The movie honestly had a lot of dialogue and there were many scenes where it was deathly quiet, mainly during character dialogue. No music in the background, just pure silence, I could actually hear the crackling of the projections at times.

Don’t get me wrong, Beowulf was a decent movie, but I came into it expecting so much more because that’s what the marketing had promised me. Tons of action, lots of screaming, and some destruction!

If every scene in Beowulf consisted of the following:

- 10-15 minute long epic battle that is very well executed -

Beowulf: “Tonight will be different! I am the ripper, the tearer, the slasher. I am the teeth in the darkness! The talons in the night! My name is strength! And lust! And power! I AM BEOWULF!“

- Demon dies, rinse and repeat formula for another hour -

Then I would have enjoyed it, because that’s what the trailer promised me.

October 7, 2007

Joost is now 1.0: How it’s become an enjoyable TV replacement

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