It is very easy to understand why this could possibly be one of the greatest, worst movies ever; the staring role is played by Gary Busey. Now this isn't the somewhat normal Chet Steadman, Gary Busey. This is the 2005, I'm clinically insane Gary Busey, playing a killer gingerbread cookie. This fact alone should be enough of an incentive to rent the movie, but I'll give you a little sneak peak about the awesomeness that is, The Gingerdead Man.

The start of the movie begins with deranged patron Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey) going psycho and opening fire on the Leigh family and killing 3 family members, all except the daughter Sarah and her mother Betty. Millard is eventually captured and sentenced to the electric chair based on Sarah's testimony. His ashes are sent to her mother, and to vow her son's revenge, Millard's mother mixes her son's ashes into a secret gingerbread cookie mix and send it to Betty and Sarah Leigh's Bakery.

The rest of the movie depicts Gary Busey coming to life as a gingerbread man wreaking havoc around the bakery and killing the remaining members of the Leigh family. Now remember, this is the best, WORST movie ever, so watch this movie with that mindset and you'll be thoroughly entertained.

Brent

Posted by Brent at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's time for all you Facebook® addicts to celebrate; Become.com has officially created it's own company page on Facebook®! Login to your personal account and become of a fan of Become.com. Find other fans of our site on Facebook® and discuss all your shopping stories, opinions and advice in our discussion board and interactive wall postings. Now, instead of stalking all your old friends and acquaintances, you can find people with similar shopping interests and get the inside scoop on life here at Become. Check out some pictures from Become.com's 4th birthday party and let us know what you think about our site!

Happy Shopping.







Brent

Posted by Brent at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fresh off their recent release of the ever popular iPhone, Apple laid the smack down on the movie rental business. Apple is set to dominate the movie rental business much like they did with the digital music industry. Apple's iPod made CD's virtually non existent, and CEO Steve Jobs plans to do the same to DVD's by introducing Apple's new online movie rental service. They aren't the first firm to enter the digital movie rental industry, but they seem to have a distinct advantage by leveraging their popular video-capable devices like the iPod and iPhone. I would also say it's safe to assume a dramatic increase in sales with the not-so-popular Apple TV. Apple already has more than 500 movies in their database for purchase, but they see online rentals as the next emerging industry. Major movie labels such as 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony, MGM, Lionsgate, and New Line Cinema have all joined in, so it would seem as if iTunes will have a very impressive collection. As of now, the details their service is as follows:

New releases will be available 30 days after they are released on DVD and can be viewed on your computer, iPod, iPhone, or on a television with the Apple TV device. The charge for new releases will be $3.99 while older films are $2.99. Once you purchase the rental, you will have 30 days to begin watching your movie. Once you begin to view the movie, you will have 24 hours to view the movie as much as you'd like. After 24 hours the movie will erase from your iTunes. As of now about 1,000 films are available. They will also be featuring movies in HD with a starting price of $4.99.

I really like the idea of this service and think it will be very useful to many people. Being able to rent a movie instantaneously is obviously the best feature of their service. However, I feel that their might be a few flaws with Apple's service. First of all, the price for renting movies wasn't too appealing for me. I guess $2.99 for a standard quality movie isn't bad, but I didn't like the price for the HD movies. At 5 bucks a pop, renting movies could become a little pricey. If you look at netflix, you can rent an unlimited amount of movies per month for only $4.99. Depending on how avid of a movie fan you are, this might be a problem. Secondly, having only 24 hours to watch the movie is a terrible idea. Many times people will pause a movie and not be able to get back to it until the next day. This is something I believe Apple will need to change immediately. If they give you 30 days to hold onto the movie, why not a longer time to view it? So those are my thoughts on this. I believe this will be a very popular service and will continue to grow, but Apple needs to tweak some of the minor details. Looks like Apple is on their way to conquering the world.

Brent

Posted by Brent at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The best show currently on television is The Office, featuring Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson & John Krasinski. However, with the ongoing writer's strike, the continuation of this show is in serious jeopardy. It will be a very sad day if the writers and producers of the show decided to discontinue this amazing series. Because of this, I have bought every season of the show on DVD, and I encourage you to do the same. This would make a perfect holiday gift. It's office humor and constant awkward situations are something that everyone can relate to. The actors and actresses are marvelous in their roles and you'll find yourself relating to the characters on a deeper, more personal level. The season that are available now on DVD are:

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

For those of you who are not familiar with the show, I've included some of my favorite scenes for you to enjoy. I really hope you consider investing in these DVD sets that you will watch over and over.

Brent

Posted by Brent at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I loves me some Heroes. Now with the writers strike in full force there is worry that volume 2 (expected to end about halfway through the season) may be the end of Heroes for this year. Which means that we will only be getting 11 episodes of our Heroes goodness this year before having to wait until 2008. So, in preparation for such a disaster I have compiled a handy set of tips to get through the possible Monday nights without a new episode of Heroes:

1) Test to see if you have a super power: Chances are you don't, but it never hurt anyone to try (unless we're talking Claire or Peter's super power, in which case trying might hurt, a lot). Consider staring at a bottle for the hour you would be watching heroes. You'll never make it move, but at least you won't have to think about what you would be missing in a new episode.

2) Read the comics again: One thing that always amazed me about the series is that some of the coolest stuff happens off the air. If you haven't read the comic books then you should really check them out. This break from new episodes will give you a chance to catch up on all the goings on that you missed outside of the show.

3) Read other comic books: There is a reason that everyone loves this show. It brings back memories of our childhood days reading the X-men and other tales of super heroes and incredible people. Why not go back and relive those days for real. Consider heading over to your local comic book store and picking up some new graphic novels. Most comic book store clerks are disturbingly knowledgeable about their work, so you'll have no problem getting all the information you need (and more) about some good comics to start with. (might I suggest Neil Gaimon's 1609 series).

4) Cry: If all else fails, express your distress for your broken Monday night with a good wailing cry. Sure, people will wonder why you're crying over a TV show, but you know better! So let all out, it'll be a great laugh for the rest of us when your roommate films it and puts it on youtube.

Kris

Posted by Kris at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So it's about that time of the year again when family and friends start calling you randomly and sending you emails asking about your holiday wish list. Well, at least with my family it's like this. Throughout the year I always seem to find really cool electronics or toys or equipment that I would love to have, but when the holiday season rolls around, I always seem to draw a blank and can't remember what any of them were, and thus, my list is empty. I'm sure this happens to many people besides myself, including my own family and friends that I'm purchasing gifts for. The only thing worse than having to search countless hours for a gift to buy someone, who doesn't have a list or hasn't given you any ideas, is to surprise them with something they absolutely hate. It's happened to everyone, both on the gift giving side and the receiving end. What I've learned from all of this, is that you can never go wrong with a good DVD. No matter who you are, everyone enjoys the time to relax and watch a good, quality movie. In my quest to help you buy a DVD for that special someone, I have listed my 5 favorite movies off all time. Because I too have trouble buying gifts, I would love to hear your top 5. Here it goes...

1. American History X (1998) - Edward Norton, Edward Furlong

2. Dumb and Dumber (1994) - Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels

3. Blow (2001) - Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz

4. Shawshank Redemption (1994) - Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman

5. 21 Grams (2003) - Sean Penn, Naomi Watts

Others that almost cracked the list would include:
Back to the Future, Dazed and Confused, Memento, Seven, and Die Hard

Comment, critique and post your own listing.

Brent

Posted by Brent at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Boring weekends are never a good thing. Typically the television studios choose the weekends that they know you will be sitting around doing nothing to show the marathon of terrible teen comedies or really bad sci-fi thrillers. I was in such a pickle this weekend before realizing that I was in fact the owner of Comcast On Demand. Not one to venture outside into the terrifying light of the bright orb in the sky, I knew that I must find another form of entertainment. This is when I discovered two glorious things:

1) Godzilla Final Was.
I am a big fan of Godzilla movies. Anyone who tries to tell me that the production value is terrible, the writing is non-existent, and the acting is near high school level is just missing the point. The fact is there is something innately satisfying about the movies that keep me coming back. Well I was under the impression that the Ultimate in Godzilla movies was Godzilla vs. Mechazilla (the one made this decade). That movie seemed to have the highest budget of any Godzilla movies I had seen, and was quite entertaining. This was until I came across Godzilla Final War. This movie is literally the Godzilla movie to end all Godzilla movies. The movie begins with Godzilla getting trapped under the Antarctic by what can only be described as a flying drill of death. As monsters being to attack every city on the planet, a force of mutant humans that were conveniently discovered is formed to do crazy wire fighting with giant monsters while wearing motocross gear. This alone is the premise for a great movie, but then aliens show up. Now there are aliens, monsters, super mutants, and just about every other sci-fi element possible in a movie. Oh and Don Frye. At the end of the 2 hour movie I felt as though I had lived 2 lifetimes, I had to take a nap.

2) Flight of the Conchords
New Zealand is not exactly a place that crosses my mind more than once every 5 years. I think it has been burned into my mind as "the place they filmed the Lord of the Rings." You can imagine my shock when I discovered that they have comedy over there. In fact, the tiny island seems to have bred the funniest comedy duo I have seen in quite some time. The Flight of the Conchords is one of those shows that gets canceled even though it's better than anything else on TV. Sure, I had seen a few advertisements floating around, but I never really considered giving the show a shot. Finally this weekend I was told by a friend to watch Episode one, and had to then watch the entire Season one. The show is pure comedy. The best way I can describe the show is, and I apologize for the butchery I am about to commit, "Arrested Development with Music." It just has the feel of ridiculous people, in ridiculous situations. It's real in a lot of ways, but it also has a certain surreal nature that gives it its charm. The best way to show the brilliance is this:

and

oh and

Kris

Posted by Kris at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Honestly, it goes without saying that television these days is nothing but worthless junk spread out over 99% of the day on 4500 channels. It's gotten to the point where quite often the best thing on TV was made in 1994. Every once in a while a show like Heroes comes along and actually provides us with some entertaining television, but most of the time we get another version of CSI, a new reality show, or Law and Order CAARIWS (Crimes against angry rabbits in white suits) Unit. The main problem is that the studios have no idea what people actually like. Sure, they have a pretty good idea of what people watch, but when it comes to what shows people really enjoy and why they enjoy them, they are clueless. Take for example the new shows on the fall lineup:

ABC - Cavemen (aka 'it's like those funny Geiko commercials, see!), Carpoolers (nothing says hilarious like 3 hours of morning traffic), Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money (...what?), Big Shots, Women's Murder Club (...?),
CBS - The Big Bang Theory (oh euphemism), Cane, Kid Nation, Moonlight, Viva Laughlin! (musical/drama... I'm bashing my head into my desk right now).
CW - Aliens in America (Never been done before!), Reaper, Gossip Girl, Online Nation (It's a show about the internets!), CWNow (lolnews?), Life is Wild (rawr?).
FOX - K-Ville (a village of K-feds? I could only dream.), Back to you, Kitchen Nightmares (a reality show about cooking, how unique), American Band (oh boy, more bad music from reality TV stars), Nashville (MORE bad music from reality TV stars - country edition),
NBC - Bionic Woman (Vroommchahahahahhaa), Life (Always look on the bright side of it).

So that is the network TV schedule. Just by the names alone you can tell that the majority of these shows are going to suck. The returning shows aren't much better. In fact, in the entire network TV lineup only one show is worth watching: Heroes.

And cable isn't much better. Comedy Central brings us new episodes of Futurama and South Park, but they also bring us new episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program, and for that they cannot be forgiven. FX gives us a heaping wad of nothing. HBO decides that they want to stop offering quality TV. SciFi takes a break from playing movies like Megasnake to give us new Battlestar Galactica. Showtime... well, does anyone even watch Showtime? Finally, USA proves that they can in fact show nothing but Law and Order for 23 hours a day.

As I said, American TV studios have no idea what makes entertaining TV. The key word in that statement is "entertaining." We have gotten very good at making flashy, quaint, charming, high-budget, and star studded TV, but we have no idea what makes entertaining TV. Lets look at Japanese television and a show called Ninja Warrior. The concept is simple, take people who've been training for months and put them on a challenging obstacle course. When they win it is a feel good story of triumph, and when they lose we get to chuckle that they just fell in muddy water. We used to do television like this. We were the nation that brought the world American Gladiators, but now we remake it years later as a reality TV show.

Worthless.

Kris

Posted by Kris at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So this weekend I was finally able to go see the movie Superbad, which stares Jonah Hill (Accepted & Knocked Up), Michael Cear (Arrested Development), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. After seeing previews a couple of weeks ago, I honestly didn’t know what to expect out of this movie. I knew the actors in this movie had a reputation for being comedic geniuses, but other than that I hadn’t the slightest idea of a possible storyline.

Let me tell you though, this movie was freaking awesome. The comedic performances from all three main characters, as well as the supporting roles, were amazing. From start to finish, I found myself cracking up at all the wise-crack humor and bizarre situations these high school characters encounter. I also found my new comic hero, McLovin (played by Mintz-Plasse).

The movie starts off with three high school friends on a quest to score a hot chick before they graduate in two weeks. The only problem with their plan is that they aren’t the most socially accepted kids at school. Their best opportunity arises when they are invited to one of the popular girl’s parties, on the condition that they provide everyone with alcohol. Fogell, aka McLovin, comes to the rescue by obtaining a fake ID. From then on, the events and situations they go through will stay with them as they go their own ways to college.

This cast of characters really has something going for them. I personally see them as the next close knit group of actors to continue doing films together, such as what Hollywood has declared, the “frat pack”, which includes actors, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, Steve Carell, and Luke & Owen Wilson. There view on comedy is new and unique, and I expect a lot more great things out of this group. So don’t miss the opportunity to see one of the best comedy’s of the year!

Brent

Posted by Brent at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

You may not remember this, but there was once a time when The Simpsons were actually funny. Yes, that's right. Back before the time of South Park and Family Guy there was actually a few pretty good laughs to be had in the classic animated show. Well, thanks to the release of their new movie, The Simpsons have gone on a campaign to remind the world, "hey, we're here too!"

The first step on their journey involved partnering with the fine providers of week old hot dogs and liquid crack (aka The Slurpee) 7-11. It seems that a select few 7-11's around the country (including the one down the street from this very office) have converted themselves to Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience store of Springfield. Along with this change comes some food that until recently only existed in the show. We're sure that the decision to put a Kwik-E-Mart down the street from us was solely based on Become.com's presence and had nothing to do with Google, so we took it as a personal responsibility to cover the event, and talk about what they have to offer.

The stores are completely converted, down to the paint job and signage, into a Kwik-E-Mart. Since today was the grand opening of the event, the store had people dressed as characters from the show walking around the store pretending to buy things, and standing out in front greeting people who arrive. The store was also decorated with various images from Springfield, and clever sayings that went a long way in reminding me that the show was once very funny. One example is the sign on the Buzz Cola display that reads "3 for the price of 3." I have attached some pictures after the jump to show what it was like (I apologize for the quality, my camera phone skills fail).

The new product offerings were probably the best part of the entire event. They included such gems as Buzz Cola, Krusty-Os, and Slurpees have been renamed Squishees and given names that are themed to the show. The whole thing did have a very Disneyland/fake feel to it and the food is just repackaged versions of standard cereal and cola, but the humor is there. If you're anywhere near the 11 locations of converted 7-11's go check it out: New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.; Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Bladensburg, Md.

If you're not: just live vicariously through my pictures!
Kris

Continue reading "Thank You Come Again: 7-11 become Kwik-E-Mart - We're there, and we have pictures." »

Posted by Kris at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We here at Pocket Change tend to be a fairly happy bunch. Our posts are full of well-wishing and all the happy things. Sure we sometimes find a product or service to be less than stellar, but on the whole we have a very positive outlook. This is in stark contrast with the vast majority of the blogging world which is full of rants raves and all things angry. Therefore in an attempt to bring Pocket Change more in line with those around us, and to get the ire up of our wonderful readers, I will now produce the first of what I hope will be a series of "Pocket Change Picks a Fight." I am sure those who are the targets of these rants will all feel scorned and shamed and not be able to go on as they have before.

Today's Topic: But that's not all...

Shoppers are a very interesting breed. Vast amounts of money change hands every day based on how we act. If we decide to buy more clothes, or more electronics, or more toys, there is a huge boost in the markets for those products. If we decide to hold back our money and put it aside for other things, then "consumer confidence is down" and the stock market drops. We control quite a bit with our hard earned dollars. It is quite possible to say that the Shopping industry as a whole is what drives the fabric of American Society. That is a very big claim to make, but with the amount of money that changes hands every day in this industry it isn't far from the truth.

So why is it that Advertisers think that the shopping public have a collective age of 8 and half. With all of the money and time spent on marketing we still end up with the same advertisements spewed at us over and over again. I'm not sure who these advertisements are fooling, or why there is a belief that these are going to trick people into buying the product or using the service, but their transparency is so bad that it is often painful. Let me list out some of the archetypes so you can see what I'm talking about.

The Radio Conversation:

This one bothers me to no end. Here in the Bay Area we have a jewelry store that loves to do this. In this ad the "owner" of the company (who I believe actually is the CEO) is having a little conversation with someone who wants to buy a wedding ring, or jewelry for herself, or whatever. The whole thing plays out like we just happened to tune into a little conversation that they are having at the store. There are a few things which really bother me about this commercial. First of all, the time it takes to figure out that these people are paid actors is about .5 seconds. Second, why did whoever produced these things feel the need to have the side of the conversation who isn't talking chime in with "uh huh," "ya," "I see." I am almost positive that if the same ad was played with just the "owner" giving us the same information it would have the same results.

Related: The DJ and the Guest.

Oh my. This one actually gets me into a rage when I hear it. Do advertisers think that we forget who we were listening to on the radio? "Hey we're back and we're here with Bob Jackson and he has some great information to tell us about key chains." The"DJ" then goes on to talk about how, "this sounds like a great deal and I'm sure all my listeners will want to take advantage of it, the number is..." No, we don't want to take advantage of it. Why? Because we aren't your listeners. We are people who are upset with you for trying to pretend to be the DJ that you're interrupting in order to waste our time.

Television Commercials in General

I'm being very broad with this one, and I will admit there have been a few quite good ads coming out of TV land (Geico's cavemen commercials for instance). However, TV ads are very often either blatantly insulting to one social group, or so bland and worthless that they may as well have played a black screen for 30 seconds. An example of the first type is the recent ad for Subway (video after the break). They show a young kid playing a Pac-man like game (at least they are up to date). They then ask, "what eating habits are your kids learning."Ok, first of all the video games industry had enough problems to begin with without parents thinking that Pac-man is making their kids have weight problems. Secondly, I don't think the solution to this problem is shoving a sandwich at your kid. TV ads seem to do the best when you look at their good to bad ratio, but when a TV ad is bad it is just plain awful.

Spam, SPAM, SPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAM.

My hatred of spam is nothing new. Everyone hates the 100,000 emails, websites, IMs, and whatever else we get every day to tell us to try the new xyz product to make our lives 10 times better. At this point I think nearly the entire population of the Interwebs knows that clicking on a link in spam is equivalent to tossing your computer out of a 5 story window. Yet, somehow this stuff is making people money. Part of me wants to say that a large portion of this money is spambots clicking other spambots to spam the people who are sending it, thus generating clicks which charge the advertisers. I would love to see the numbers of actual flesh and blood people who click on these links. These are of course the single most deceptive advertisements.

Hey friend,
We spoke the other day and i have a link for you... http://thislinkwillmakeyourcomputergrowwingsandflyaway.com.net.org.ll.rr.qq.tt.vrs
love,
Spambot9000..now with more spam.

Conclusion:

Obviously these things are somewhat profitable, so maybe we truly are this massive horde of sheep who will be lead astray by any wandering scammer. I would like to have some hope in my brothers and sisters in the shopping world. We are better than that right? We are smarter than that? We don't actually say "hey, if I go into that jewelry store I can have a heart to heart with the owner," or "Oh my lord, my kids are learning bad eating habits from Pac-man?" Right?...

Kris

Continue reading "Pocket Change Picks a Fight: But that's not all.." »

Posted by Kris at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

On TiVo's home screen there's always a little item at the bottom exhorting me to "See the new Chevy Testosterone!" or "Learn the secret that been allowing Celine Dion to perform despite having been a formaldehyde-filled corpse since 1998!" or some such marketing tie-in. I've always ignored them, to the point where I hardly see them anymore. But the other day, I actually had to watch. It said "check out the video from MC Lars."

MC Lars? I kind of know that dude, sort of vaguely! What's he doing on my TiVo? Well, I'm still not entirely sure WHY he was on my TiVo, but the video was interesting. It's called Download This Song, and it's all about how the record industry should grow up, quit suing its customers and basically get its head out of 1982. Clever lyrics and a well-produced video, even if the melody makes me want to track down and murder Blink-182.

But the most interesting thing here was that TiVo chose to feature such an anti-corporate song on its front screen. On the one hand, TiVo is all about liberating the consumer from the drudgery of an outdated business model (and charging you a pretty monthly penny for it)--on the other, when you try to do something simple like transfer the video off of the box and onto your iPod, you find yourself encountering the same onerous DRM restrictions that MC Lars is skewering. TiVo has even gotten caught testing a feature that auto-deletes specific shows from consumers boxes after a certain amount of time--kind of like if Sony broke into your house and erased your videotapes.

So what's the deal here? I suspect that this is simply TiVo's lame bureaucratic left hand not knowing what its cool, nerdcore, content-must-be-free right hand is doing, but I'd happily entertain idle speculations of a shift in corporate philosophy, mutiny or robot revolt. (I'll always entertain suggestions of robot revolt. Seriously, people: we need to prepare ourselves.)

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My latest indulgence (non-apparel wise) has been movie rentals. And it’s not from the theatre, TV, Blockbuster, Netflix, bittorrent (which by the way is still completely mystifying), or my friend with the largest collection of burned DVDs known to mankind. No. I am getting my fix at the good ole local Safeway. I put my Netflix subscription on hold after getting extremely frustrated with the wait list for new movies. (Dear Netflix, why was I on the waitlist for a month for “She’s the Man”, even after putting it as my #1 before it came out? Clearly there are a lot more closet Amanda Bynes chick-flick fans than I imagined.) Anyways, with Netflix, it’s always the same old story. Being doomed to a painfully unsure wait for new movies to become available while adding a bunch of random filler movies to watch in the meantime. So on top of paying for a monthly Netflix subscription, I was making visits to the local movie rental shop to get my hands on the new releases and forking over another $4. Anywho, I stumbled across a kiosk on my way out of Safeway a while back, and happily discovered that it rented out new releases at a daily rate. Since I have a tendency to make late night runs to the supermarket for candy and flavored water, a cheap movie is the perfect entertainment fix for an otherwise tame night.

The first day comes out to $1.61 (except Mondays, which are 50 cents cheaper), and every day after that is 99 cents. Not bad, unless it takes you over 3 days to return your movie. No membership is required. It only accepts credit cards. For every day that you have it out, it simply deducts 99 cents from your account. Your first movie rental from the kiosk is free.

In the past couple of weeks, I have seen: Devil Wears Prada (again), Tallageda Nights, Step Up (worse then you’d think), Click, Superman Returns, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Little Miss Sunshine is next.

Now, if you do not live close to a movie kiosk, this is probably not a good deal. This is a pretty handy service for people who want to watch the newest movies in a day or two. It’s all about instant gratification.

Sherry

P.S. TechCrunch notes a pretty sweet new deal from Blockbuster. I'm definitely going to give it a go.

Posted by Sherry at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I figured out pretty quick in college that selling books back to the bookstore was for suckers--they gave about 15 cents on the dollar. And as much as I didn't need most of them, I was loathe to lose so much money. Besides, I figured shelves full of books later in life would fool people into thinking I was smart. Then--BAM! I hit them with a hammer and steal their kidneys.

But what if I could turn those books that I didn't care about into books that I did? Sure, I could buy books, but that's expensive. Bookmooch has that solved. You list the books you have that you're willing to part with, and you seek out books in other people's collections that you'd like to have. There's a point system (you get a tenth of a point for each book you list, one point for each book you send off, and each book someone sends you costs a point) and all it costs is shipping between you and the person who wants the book.

It's so simple. I've listed 80 books (it's easy--they use Amazon's catalog for book data, so you just need to enter a list of ISBNs*), shipped out 4, and have 3 on the way. The great part is how cheap it actually is. Between buying the padded mailer at the post office and shipping it at the Media rate (a special rate that's pretty much just for books), each book I ship out only costs me about $2.50. And each of those represents a book that I can pick out later that I actually want to own.

The site feels pretty new and there are definitely some rough edges to iron out, but it's pretty straightforward and the selection is decent (although biased towards collections like mine, it seems; for obvious reasons recent bestsellers are harder to come by.)

Bookmooch is really a pretty neat concept: a democracy of books. Each book is worth another book. You could send out the paperback of Jeff Foxworthy Scratches Himself and Tells You About It and it would entitle you to request a nicely bound copy of The Complete Unabridged Proust/Weight Training Kit. It's one of the best recent examples I've seen of harnessing the power of the Internet to create more efficient markets. Money doesn't even enter into the equation--why should it? You have a book, someone else wants that book, and you'll get another book in return for giving it to them. Brilliant.

Aram

*That's the unique number that each book is assigned when it's published. Clearly marked; way easier to type than the title.

Posted by Aram at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

For some odd unidentifiable reason, whenever I see websites that allow users to create and order custom products that are otherwise hard to make, I feel wholesome inside and generally good about life. Services on the internet allow users to create highly customized products that would have sounded ridiculous before. I mean, who (among the average, non-ridiculously-rich consumers) would have previously thought about getting a sweatshirt printed with their family photograph on it? But sites like zazzle or customInk can create apparel and other assorted items with any user-produced image or text on it. That, to me, truly spells out self-expression and power to the individual. I don’t have to have a favorite designer to wear. I can be my own favorite designer.

I was eagerly looking around for the next big thing in customized products when I stumbled upon blurb. blurb can create a professional-looking book for you, from pictures, documents, your blog or any personal spark of creativity that you submit to them. You get your own bookstore-quality book, with classic hardcover, custom jacket and professional quality printing. Once you’ve published your work, blurb is also a space to sell and exhibit your work, be it a portfolio of the photography or art you have created, or a book of personal insights drawn from your life experience. But does the whole thing cost a lot, and can an average user afford it? Yes! And here’s where I got that wholesome, uplifting feeling again. You can create your book for as little as $30 a piece for up to 40 pages, and $80 for up to 440 pages. Just personally, I’ve always felt that custom-made items also make great gifts for those you love, and something like this would be awesome with the holiday season coming up.

Looking at different books made by users of the site made me think of YouTube, and its inspiring tagline, “Broadcast Yourself”. The “publish yourself” extension to the user-generated content paradigm, which blurb is offering, is truly a powerful concept, and one that I think many consumers would gladly welcome and appreciate. It has gotten me really excited and thinking about the possibilities of what I can get printed in book form for myself. Maybe, all of Pocket Change will soon be a book...

Mustafa

Posted by Mustafa at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week I am feeling a bit nostalgic. Maybe it’s because of Ben’s post featuring Goodnight Moon, one of my favorite classic children’s books, or maybe it’s because my niece has officially stepped into the wonderful world of third grade. Oh the third grade--the year of multiplication and division, fractions, and computer games like The Oregon Trail (although my childhood memories look a little more like this) and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.

In any case, thinking of childhood always brings me such fond memories about all the games and books I loved as a child. Legos were a big hit in my house, as well as Tangram Puzzles and R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, but the one thing that always stood out for me was the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. These interactive children’s books were cleverly written so that the reader would assume the role of the main character by determining how the plot would unfold. For example, if you chose to follow the spies into the abandoned warehouse, you would turn to page 4; if you listened to the stool pigeon and headed for the piers, you would instead turn to page 52--the story could turn out in any number of ways.

With a bit of research I’ve discovered that a company called Lean Forward Media has began producing a DVD TV game version of my beloved Choose Your Own Adventure books, beginning with The Abominable Snowman. I am tempted to get myself my niece a copy of the interactive movie, but part of me thinks that using a remote control to determine whether I’ve triumphed over giant squids by choosing to dive into the underwater cavern is not as satisfying as flipping through the pages of an actual book--skillfully cheating by using my finger as a placeholder in case the ending I chose was not to my liking. Call me old fashioned.

Jill

Posted by Jill at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I need a new music service. I am not planning on renewing my Musicmatch subscription once the year is up. The player is pretty slick looking and I like being able to listen to music at work, but I find it a bit confusing to use, slow (!!!), and the music selection for On Demand feels really limited at times. Plus, I still can’t figure out how to alphabetize my playlist. Where is it? I swear I’m not dumb.

I also don’t understand why songs are displayed as being available for On Demand subscribers, but will only play for those who upgrade to Plus. If I pay for OnDemand and am browsing in the OnDemand section, and a song appears to be available for me, it shouldn’t add it, pretend like it’s going to play, and then give me the “upgrade to plus now!” message. Not cool. I miss Napster. I would without hesitation pay a subscription fee for the ability to browse and download (or even just listen to) songs from random people’s libraries. I like how iTunes lets you listen to other people’s libraries, but they have to be on the same network as you--which for me is no one but myself. Luckily I’ve found that a lot of artists put up popular/recent songs on MySpace for free. For example:

• Bossy--Kelis
• Chasing Cars--Snow Patrol
• Crazy--Gnarls Barkley
• Aaliyah

Free, legal, and no software to download. Other than that, does anyone have a favorite music-download/streaming service?

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I went and saw The Devil Wears Prada last weekend, and was pleasantly surprised. It didn’t suck as badly as the book did, and the fashion was awesome for the most part, despite what some of the critics had led me to believe. It’s true, the fashion in the movie doesn’t show some of the more “in-the-know” fashion darlings, as pointed out by The New York Times.

Yes, the outfits are a bit over the top and a little excessive at times--I’m referring to some of Meryl’s Streep’s character’s furs and bags (honestly, I imagined her looking more sleek and elegant.) I don’t think the fashion in this movie was meant to be risky or particularly controversial. I don’t think most people have a real appreciation for the more offbeat outfits from Marni, Chloe, or Marc Jacobs. And I think that’s fine--wonderful actually. I personally love Marni; when I look at Consuela Castiglioni’s designs, I admire the way she cuts and drapes clothing, the way she fuses color combinations and unusual textures, and her unusually quirky aesthetic perspective. It doesn’t evoke the same reaction in me as say, Chanel, which embodies luxury and glamour and richness.

I love how the fashion in the movie was meant to appeal to more then just people in the fashion industry. It embodies how many of us, very much rooted in a slightly less glitzy life, can safely fantasize about and romanticize fashion. In the end, it’s just a fun movie with lots of eye candy, human and material.

I was non-stop salivating over Anna Hathaway’s outfits* (post-makeover) and how she could actually pull them off. In the wise words of Fashion Addict Diary, “…you have to respect people who look good in Chanel. Not everyone does, you know...”

* I wish I could find a screenshot of one of my favorite outfits from the movie…the newsboy cap, short sleeved black sweater, white blouse, loads of chains...fabulous.

Sherry

Random tidbit: interview with Tim Gunn for any Project Runway fans.

Posted by Sherry at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I hate driving (see my bio to know why). So when I traded my 15 minute commute job for a 40 minute trip, I decided I needed a way to make the time pass without freaking out in freeway traffic. The solution: books on CD. It’s been a while since anyone read me a story so I was concerned that I’d have a hard time concentrating. However, after 3 months of listening, I’ve discovered a whole new world of books that I’d never considered before. My first book, 1776, by David McCullough was the perfect listen as I drove home in the Bay Area’s winter of 2006 torrential rains. If our Revolutionary War soldiers could plod through battlefields streaking the snow red with their bloody bare feet, then I could surely cope with crawling traffic in my heated mobile cocoon. More recently, I moved on to some recorded mysteries like my first Richard North Patterson thriller, Honeymoon.

I’m tempted to sign up for Simply Audiobooks where for $9.95/month and up, I can have the latest bestsellers sent to me, like Netflix. It sounds like a great deal but the public library is a better one--it’s still free. And, because my local library has limited offerings, I’ve been forced to discover new genres like Chick Lit and History that I wouldn’t ordinarily read. Most libraries also allow you to request books on CD that aren’t in stock and reserve them for a small fee. So, traffic roll on: I’m catching up on my reading.

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always cursed myself for not heeding my father’s advice of learning a new language while still young enough that my brain was like a sponge ready to absorb anything it came into contact with. Now that I am past the supposed optimal age of language learning and busy with trying to balance my day-to-day activities, I am finding it difficult to remember the basics--like where I left my keys or if I put on deodorant--let alone a whole language.

With Earworms Musical Brain Trainers, an innovative new product that layers general foreign conversational phrases over pleasant instrumental tracks, language learning is made both simple and enjoyable. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the soothing melodies just like you were listening to your favorite tunes on your mp3 player or radio. The courses are offered in a two volume series for Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and Chinese with German, Portuguese, and Japanese coming soon.

Earworms mbt© is great for all ages and even the linguistically handicapped. With just a couple of listens, you will be saying sprechen sie Deutsch? in no time!

Jill

Posted by Jill at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pandora + MySpace = Best Idea Ever. Too bad it doesn’t exist yet. Pandora has been my favorite site for discovering new music for quite a while now. It’s free, high-quality streaming radio that uses the Music Genome Project to match songs to your preferences (you like songs with horns, you like crunchy guitars, you don't like falsetto vocals...) and adapts to your feedback. It has led me to purchase a remarkable number of CDs from artists I had never heard of before. And I LOVE that the site accepts unsigned bands and constantly promotes good music in their blog.

A while ago, I came up with an idea that MySpace should have something similar to Pandora—a streaming player that uses the music from their MySpace artist profiles. Perhaps it could even link up with Pandora and splice in music from the Music Genome Project. It would be the perfect way to browse the site—just put in some information about your preferences and you’re off. Maybe you could narrow it by location, and listen only to bands with a gig in your area that night.

I really wanted to see this idea in action, so I tried to contact the guys over at Pure Volume. Pure Volume is similar to MySpace, but more intensely focused on music—and rock in particular. Well, I never got to tell them the idea, but it turns out they were already doing it (almost). Their My Music Player just launched last week.

I was initially very excited about this, but unfortunately, it turns out that Pure Volume’s business model prevents this player from ever being any good. The player will only randomly jump to artists that pay Pure Volume an annual fee to upgrade to Pro status (it's the same with the “Pure Picks” on their homepage). Reminds me a bit of payola—and Pure Volume doesn’t make this relationship clear to the average listener. I had to hit their "random profile jump" button at the bottom of profile pages 10 times before concluding that I’d never be taken to an artist without Pro status.

While Pure Volume does have a lot of bands paying the fee, it’s far below the threshold of the number of bands they would need to qualify this player as a music discovery tool. I also have some philosophical issues with the whole idea of suppressing music unless the artists cough up a fee.

So no thanks, Pure Volume. As a listener, I’ll be sticking with Pandora.com. As a musician, my free, untainted MySpace account drives more volume anyway.

I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that the two sites will marry soon enough.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently got new subscriptions to W, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Elle. I had originally planned on ordering them either by signing up through those annoying little subscriptions cards tucked in every magazine or through Amazon.

That is, until I did a little research and saw that people were getting yearly subscriptions for $3-8 through magazine discount sites instead of the traditional $15+ range. My biggest hesitation with those sites were: what if I didn’t get my subscription or the merchants were scammers? How do you know which ones are credible, which ones are scams, and which will give you half decent customer service? I decided to avoid the hassle, and ended up ordering Elle from Amazon and began the long wait for the first issue to arrive (I ordered in November, and the projected date was for April. Wow.)

In the meantime, someone on a forum recommended a seller on eBay with great feedback and a solid refund policy. I canceled my Amazon order and bought W, Vanity Fair, and Elle from her. She threw in Wired as a bonus. Each yearly subscription was less then $5 (including shipping), and they all came pretty quickly. If you want a magazine subscription, eBay definitely has the lowest prices and you’ll get some protection through eBay/PayPal if anything goes wrong.

(Mother’s Day is rapidly approaching, and even if you have the perfect gift all picked out, you can always pick up something extra for your mom, like a subscription to Oprah or Real Simple or whatever she is interested in)

Sherry

Posted by Sherry at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (197) | TrackBacks (0)