Transformers: Less Than Meets the Eye! (thanks Paul!)
There were so many things wrong with this film. Fight scenes that look like someone chucked a stick of dynamite into a scrap heap. Chase scenes that go from noon to night in a matter of seconds. Cringe-worthy dialog like 'There's only one person who can decrypt this data!' Lucky for her that genius was found in the ghetto... Oh, and the most painful scene, watching giant robots from a super-advanced civilization trying to 'hide' behind a quaint suburban house while the main character and his mom have a heartfelt conversation about "Sam's happy time."
I think I died a little on the inside.
Despite all that, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is on the way. You might have more time to brace for the next wave of stupidity though. Filming may have stopped because LaBeouf injured his hand somehow.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Fish Heads!
I heard this song all the time on Doctor Demento when I was kid, but I never knew there was a video. Good thing I never saw the video as a kid, it probably would have freaked me the hell out!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
So do all mobile phone plans boil down to 'Bend over and enjoy it?'
So last Thursday I got a call from Sprint, and they said I was eligible for a phone upgrade. That seemed like good timing since I had been in the local Sprint store, and online looking at a newer model of my current phone, which is a Treo 650p. The new phone normally goes for about $500, but if I signed a new two year plan they'd knock off $200, and there was a rebate for $100 which would bring my cost down to $200. I decided it was worth it since I would get access to the faster EVDO network with the new phone, and it would be a new phone! I asked the lady several times if I could keep my current plan, with all its options, and still be eligible for the rebate. She assured me I could, and even put me on hold to check with their rebate department, before confirming it. I pretty much assumed she was clueless, or full of shit, or both. The reps in the Sprint store, and the Sprint website both say you have to have a $25 data plan to be eligible for the rebate, and my current data plan was only $10. I figured I'd have a $25 data plan (with lots of features I'd never use) added when I activated the phone, and drop it down to a $15 plan after I got the rebate. In the end I figured adding $5 to my data plan was worth it since I'd be on the faster data network.
Well when I got home from work Monday night, there was a package from Sprint sitting on the front doorstep. It had been a long day at work, so I figured I'd deal with it the next day.
Tuesday when I got home from work I called Spring to activate the new phone, and hilarity ensued. I explained to the rep with the British accent that I wanted to activate the new phone with my existing plan, but add a $25 data package. She countered with one of the wonderful new Sprint Unlimited plans that would have quadrupled my monthly bill. I declined and again explained that I wanted to keep my existing plan but add the $25 data package for purposes of the rebate. After that sunk in, she tried adding a $25 data package to my existing plan, but 'the system' wouldn't let her. It turns out the $25 plan includes things like GPS navigation that the new phone doesn't support so she couldn't add it. She put me on hold to check with the rebate department to see if there was anything they could do. Ten minutes later she returned and said that the best she could do was add the $15 data package, which would not qualify me for the $100 rebate. Then she asked what I wanted to do. Well Jay was serving dinner at that point so I said I'd probably just return the phone, and hung up.
After dinner I looked at the options for keeping the new phone. I could add the $15 data plan, which would effectively raise my monthly bill $5 (since the old data plan was $10) but then I wouldn't be eligible for the $100 rebate. I also found a more reasonable plan on the Sprint web site that would make me eligible for the rebate, but my monthly bill would go up $20. Oh, and with either option I'd be locked into another two year commitment.
In the end I decided that my current phone has served me faithfully and until Sprint could come up with some better incentives, I'd just keep it. So I called Sprint back and told them I'd be returning the phone. I asked several times, and was assured several times, that no changes had been made to my existing plan. Fortunately the Brit I'd been speaking to previously had already set the necessary wheels in motion. So that's the end of the story.
Yeah, right...
A couple hours pass and I receive an e-mail from Sprint saying some changes have been made to my plan. Oh hell. They apparently added, then removed some arbitrary data plan that I don't remember discussing, but they also removed my existing data plan, and my text message plan. So I call Sprint for the third time that night and explained to the woman with the southern accent that they needed to re-add the features that had been removed from my mobile plan. She apologized for the error, there was some clacking of a keyboard from her end, and more assurances that the rightful order of things had been restored. At this point it was late, so I headed off to bed.
Cue Wednesday morning. I get into the office, check my personal e-mail, and find a message from Sprint saying changes have been made to my plan. Okay, not completely unexpected, but when I read the e-mail I saw that they had re-added the original text message plan, and a more expensive data plan.
(* sigh *)
So I call Sprint again and try explaining to the woman with the Indian (dot not feather) accent that the $15 plan that was added, was not the $10 plan I started with.
This confused her.
I tried explaining that I wanted my plan returned to the state it was in before the whole fiasco started.
She still didn't understand why I didn't want the $15 plan.
I explained to her that it cost $5 more that the plan I previously had.
She remained confused.
She tried to explain that the $15 plan had all the features of the $10 plan. I explained again how fifteen was greater than ten.
She said I could send picture mail with the $15 plan.
I said I didn't care, and she finally relented. Then she told me she wasn't able to restore my old data plan, but she'd transfer me to someone who could. Fan-$#@&ing-tastic.
This time I explain the situation to a woman with no accent. She's momentarily confused because she works in the cancellation department, but quickly goes on to say that she will be able to help me. After some more clacking on a keyboard, she announces that my old data plan has been re-added, but now it only costs $8! Score! I went over my plan with her, line by line, and it sounds like everything was finally back the way it should be!
I should probably check again to see that they're still not trying to snare me with another two year agreement.
Well when I got home from work Monday night, there was a package from Sprint sitting on the front doorstep. It had been a long day at work, so I figured I'd deal with it the next day.
Tuesday when I got home from work I called Spring to activate the new phone, and hilarity ensued. I explained to the rep with the British accent that I wanted to activate the new phone with my existing plan, but add a $25 data package. She countered with one of the wonderful new Sprint Unlimited plans that would have quadrupled my monthly bill. I declined and again explained that I wanted to keep my existing plan but add the $25 data package for purposes of the rebate. After that sunk in, she tried adding a $25 data package to my existing plan, but 'the system' wouldn't let her. It turns out the $25 plan includes things like GPS navigation that the new phone doesn't support so she couldn't add it. She put me on hold to check with the rebate department to see if there was anything they could do. Ten minutes later she returned and said that the best she could do was add the $15 data package, which would not qualify me for the $100 rebate. Then she asked what I wanted to do. Well Jay was serving dinner at that point so I said I'd probably just return the phone, and hung up.
After dinner I looked at the options for keeping the new phone. I could add the $15 data plan, which would effectively raise my monthly bill $5 (since the old data plan was $10) but then I wouldn't be eligible for the $100 rebate. I also found a more reasonable plan on the Sprint web site that would make me eligible for the rebate, but my monthly bill would go up $20. Oh, and with either option I'd be locked into another two year commitment.
In the end I decided that my current phone has served me faithfully and until Sprint could come up with some better incentives, I'd just keep it. So I called Sprint back and told them I'd be returning the phone. I asked several times, and was assured several times, that no changes had been made to my existing plan. Fortunately the Brit I'd been speaking to previously had already set the necessary wheels in motion. So that's the end of the story.
Yeah, right...
A couple hours pass and I receive an e-mail from Sprint saying some changes have been made to my plan. Oh hell. They apparently added, then removed some arbitrary data plan that I don't remember discussing, but they also removed my existing data plan, and my text message plan. So I call Sprint for the third time that night and explained to the woman with the southern accent that they needed to re-add the features that had been removed from my mobile plan. She apologized for the error, there was some clacking of a keyboard from her end, and more assurances that the rightful order of things had been restored. At this point it was late, so I headed off to bed.
Cue Wednesday morning. I get into the office, check my personal e-mail, and find a message from Sprint saying changes have been made to my plan. Okay, not completely unexpected, but when I read the e-mail I saw that they had re-added the original text message plan, and a more expensive data plan.
(* sigh *)
So I call Sprint again and try explaining to the woman with the Indian (dot not feather) accent that the $15 plan that was added, was not the $10 plan I started with.
This confused her.
I tried explaining that I wanted my plan returned to the state it was in before the whole fiasco started.
She still didn't understand why I didn't want the $15 plan.
I explained to her that it cost $5 more that the plan I previously had.
She remained confused.
She tried to explain that the $15 plan had all the features of the $10 plan. I explained again how fifteen was greater than ten.
She said I could send picture mail with the $15 plan.
I said I didn't care, and she finally relented. Then she told me she wasn't able to restore my old data plan, but she'd transfer me to someone who could. Fan-$#@&ing-tastic.
This time I explain the situation to a woman with no accent. She's momentarily confused because she works in the cancellation department, but quickly goes on to say that she will be able to help me. After some more clacking on a keyboard, she announces that my old data plan has been re-added, but now it only costs $8! Score! I went over my plan with her, line by line, and it sounds like everything was finally back the way it should be!
I should probably check again to see that they're still not trying to snare me with another two year agreement.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
BSG Lolcats
If you need a BSG fix, and you like Lolcats check out these links. Thanks to my friend Ryan.
http://puntabulous.com/2008/04/11/battlestar-galactica-lol-cats/
http://puntabulous.com/2008/04/25/battlestar-galactica-lol-cats-redux/
http://puntabulous.com/2008/05/09/battlestar-galactica-lol-cats-three-for-all/
http://puntabulous.com/2008/
http://puntabulous.com/2008/
http://puntabulous.com/2008/
Monday, July 14, 2008
Chicago! Day 2
Well, our second day started off with breakfast at a Swedish restaurant by Kevin and Les' apartment. Les wouldn't be joining us because he had to work for the next couple days. After breakfast we headed back downtown to get started! 
We picked up Go-Cards which got us into all the major attractions, and even let us jump to the front of the line in a few places. Money well spent! It rained periodically through the day but we were usually inside, or on the trolley for the worst of it. We jumped on the Gray Line which was a trolley-looking thing that made a loop through Chicago with a driver narrating. The first place we jumped off was the Sears tower. When you're 103 stories above Chicago you get a hell of a view!
Then we got back down to street level and jumped on the trolley. After driving around for a little while the driver pointed out the beginning of Route 66. For some reason I thought it started further east, but that shows what I know! We jumped off the trolley to get a couple pictures of the Route 66 sign. After jumping on the trolley again we headed out to Adler Planetarium and took some great shots of the city before heading over to Navy Pier.
We got tickets for the next architectural boat tour.
If you're ever in Chicago, and you have any interest in architecture, take this tour! It probably helped that we had a great tour guide, Briggett. She was really outgoing, very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about her job! Unfortunately the batteries for both the cameras died on the boat tour...
It was probably around three in the afternoon so we got something to eat at a little food court on Navy Pier. Next we took a ride on the ferris wheel, and walked around the pier before jumping back on the last trolley of the day.
The trolley dropped us back downtown and we took a quick stroll through Millennium park. There were a couple cool things to see in the park like the giant silver bean, and what I can only describe as a wading fountain. The fountain is on one edge of the park, with two pillars on either side of it and the water is only about an inch deep. The cool thing about the pillars was the displays built into them. Sometimes they would display water cascading over rocks, and water would be running down the face of the pillars, and the other picture was a woman who would 'spit' water out of the pillar!
After the park we were ready to call it a day, so we headed back to Kevin and Les' apartment, and had some leftover pizza.
We got tickets for the next architectural boat tour.
It was probably around three in the afternoon so we got something to eat at a little food court on Navy Pier. Next we took a ride on the ferris wheel, and walked around the pier before jumping back on the last trolley of the day.
The trolley dropped us back downtown and we took a quick stroll through Millennium park. There were a couple cool things to see in the park like the giant silver bean, and what I can only describe as a wading fountain. The fountain is on one edge of the park, with two pillars on either side of it and the water is only about an inch deep. The cool thing about the pillars was the displays built into them. Sometimes they would display water cascading over rocks, and water would be running down the face of the pillars, and the other picture was a woman who would 'spit' water out of the pillar!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
4th of July
Well this year for the fourth of July we went out to Mel and Dave's. Some of the usual people were there including Sue, Carla, Brain and Ben. We probably got there around 2:30pm and spent a lot of time chatting. Brain and I discussed the last couple seasons of Doctor Who, and Torchwood. There was also some speculation on what was going to happen on the season finale. Dinner was BBQ beef followed by some quality time with fireworks on the deck before Dave started the main show. Dave's display has put municipal shows to shame in the past! I guess that's what happens when you drive to Wisconsin and spend so much money on fireworks that they assume you're another dealer! When Dave's show was over we lit some more fireworks on the deck. Is wrong that people were lighting Japanese lanterns while "Turning Japanese" was playing in the background? Eventually Jay started yawning, so we headed home for the night, but Jay insisted on Driving the Prius home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
