the thing about 3d…

So as I mentioned last night, yesterday we went to see Alice in Wonderland and low and behold, it was in 3d.

And I’ve got to admit that I’m just a little confused by the push that 3d has been getting – a healthy bit in the last couple of years, but even more so here in 2010 already. It seems like every other big name movie to hit the screen has a 3d version, kinda like the one we just saw, which simply leads me to wonder … why??? I mean, at least in the last couple of years, a movie in “3d” had maybe ten or fifteen minutes of actual 3d (usually the key action sequence), but Alice was entirely in 3d, which frankly just seemed like too much.

What’s worse – “the latest buzz” from the tech center is that 3d is expected to be the next big thing, a la what comes after HD, but I’m just not seeing it.

First of all, watching two hours of 3d Alice in the theater ended up giving me a nasty headache that ended up lasting most of the night.

Secondly – who wants to sit around their own living room wearing 3d glasses?!

To me, 3d is a gimmick, and until it actually gets interactive (think VR), it always will be. And that’s fine for theme park attractions or even those action-packed movie sequences where I feel like Optimus Prime is kicking ass right all around me, but it just doesn’t have any appeal to me beyond that short-term, gimmicky phase. Besides, although you can definitely argue that 3d technology has gotten considerably better over the years, it still doesn’t bring the impact that, say, high definition brought to our living rooms. I mean, the difference is clear as night and day, to the point where years ago before there was much of any content at all, us early adopters would sit around watching nature documentaries on The Discovery Channel just because it looked absolutely incredible in HD!

I just don’t see that with 3d, though, and I for one certainly won’t be running out to buy a new 3d television anytime soon … if ever. Give me a beautiful-looking flat screen that’s approaching sizes to make my living room feel like my own personal theater and I’d much rather go that route instead. If I want 3d, I’ll go watch Muppet*Vision over at Disney World… 😛

Weekend Update

Went Shopping for an Elliptical…
…and ended up liking one half again what our budget was.

But then again, I suppose that’s the problem with considering all of your options, and not for nothing, but if we’re going to drop a serious wad of money on an exercise machine (again), I’d rather spend a few hundred bucks extra if it helps to ensure that this one doesn’t see the same fate as my last elliptical did and just start blatantly falling apart less than a year into owning the stupid thing! Still making last-minute considerations, but hopefully we’ll have a purchase by the end of the week.

Saw Alice In Wonderland … in 3D
…and it was just as absolutely bizarre as I had kind of expected.

Granted, it still wasn’t a bad movie, per se – it’s just that Tim Burton is an absolute nut job and frankly, I was never really a huge fan of this particular story, anyways. I was a little reluctant going in because I really don’t care for Tim Burton’s overall style – especially The Nightmare Before Christmas, but Sara wanted to see it and there really weren’t any other options for an otherwise rainy Sunday afternoon. Also, watching it in 3d for the entire two hours definitely got to be more than just a bit tedious, but that’s a rant for another post…

Kinda Got Hooked on 30 Rock
…and really, how have we not been watching this show all along?!

So the story goes that Sara started watching this sometime last week when she was playing around with the Netflix streaming on our new Blu-Ray player, and I guess you could say that she kinda liked it, on account of her watching pretty much the entire first season that same night! Well, she had me watch a couple of episodes Sunday night and admittedly, it actually is pretty good. A little quirky, but after watching him in Cop Out, I’ve kinda taken a liking to Tracy Morgan once again, and of course, Alec Baldwin’s just random awkwardness is always good for a laugh. How many seasons do we have to catch up on???

Daily Tweets from Twitter…

  • 11:29 Ooh – Netflix on the Wii! Pretty cool, even though I can already do it via Blu-Ray… (tinyurl.com/ygm4ep9) #
  • 14:11 Awww, Sarah Palin is going out to "help" John McCain campaign for re-election … how cute! #
  • 14:13 I can picture how that one went down… #
  • 14:13 Palin: "Hey Gramps, I’m gonna come help ya real lots! It’ll be just like old times!" #
  • 14:13 McCain: "Oh no, Sarah – you don’t have to do that. I’ll be just fine…" #
  • 14:15 Palin: "Oh nonsense! Moose
    huntin’ season doesn’t start for another three weeks, and I haven’t done an interview about my simple life or…" #
  • 14:16 "…my wholesome, family values as just a normal, rich hockey Mom in like, two days, so I’m ready to go!" #
  • 14:17 McCain: "Are you sure? I mean, we kinda got beat up on the trail last time, on account of your being marginally retarded and all…" #
  • 14:18 Palin: "Oh facts, schmacts! I’m just a regular, hard-working American like all of the voters out there, John! People don’t really care…" #
  • 14:20 Palin: (Dave, can you make sure my dry cleaning gets picked up on your way to the lodge? I don’t want ano
    ther incident like that last time!) #
  • 14:21 Palin: "Sorry about that … just got a little Tea Party down at the Beaver Lodge to talk about freedom and America tonight, you know." #
  • 14:21 McCain: "Yeah, well it’s going to be really busy, so I guess I’ll just talk to you after…" #
  • 14:22 Palin: "Well, I’ll just see *YOU* out there on the campaign trail, my wrinkly, old friend! By the way, what do you think I should wear?" #
  • 14:22 McCain: "…ummmm, errrr, ahhhh…" #
  • 14:23 Palin: "You know what – I’ll just use ‘the card’ like I did l
    ast time. Boy, being in politics sure is tough work, John!" #
  • 14:24 McCain: "Are you sure there isn’t any way that I can talk you out of this, Sarah??? I mean, seriously…" #
  • 14:25 Palin: "Nawww, it’s ok, John – us mavericks have gotta stick together! I’ll just go ahead and meet you in Arizona, then!" #
  • 14:26 McCain: "Fine. Just at least TRY to read some of those books that I sent to you before then???" #
  • 14:27 Palin: "You betcha, John! It’ll be great to fight for America with you again, buddy. Freedom – Out!" #
  • 14:28 Palin: &quot
    ;P.S. Maverick. ;)" #
  • 14:28 McCain: *sigh* "What the fuck have I gotten myself into this time??? #
  • 14:33 *And this concludes today’s episode of our Political Parodies Reenactment Series for this week. We hope you enjoyed this humorous glimpse… #
  • 14:34 …into The Mind of a Maverick. Tune in next week for A Day in the Life of Obama’s Dog and other political zaniness. Also, don’t forget… #
  • 14:35 …that PPRS is funded solely by the generous donations of readers just like you, so do keep those purse strings open while you laugh… #
  • 14:36 …your way into another hi
    larious weekend here on Scott’s Twitter Account. Coming up in the 3 o’clock hour – nothing! – because we’ve… #
  • 14:37 …all got better things to be doing on a Friday afternoon. Stay humorous, Twitter…* #

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The Bargain Hunter

Toy Story – Special Edition Blu-Ray / DVD Combo – $22.99
Toy Story 2 – Special Edition Blu-Ray / DVD Combo – $22.99
———————————————————-
Subtotal – $45.98

Target Combo Discount – Buy 2, Save $10 = -$10
Coupon – DVD —> Blu-Ray Upgrade (Toy Story) = -$10
Coupon – DVD —> Blu-Ray Upgrade (Toy Story 2) = -$10

New Price – $15.98 ($7.99 each)

Each movie contains a voucher worth up to $8.50 to see Toy Story 3 when it gets released in June.

Final Price = -$1.02

Logic: We’re no doubt going to go see Toy Story 3 when it hits theaters anyways, so basically from my perspective we bought our tickets three months in advance and Disney & Target gave us Blu-Ray copies of the first two movies for free!

🙂

One Final Note: Rumor had it that this could’ve been pushed even farther by taking a copy of the weekly Toys ‘R Us flier to Target and asking them to price-match the $16.99 / each sale offer. I didn’t bother with this because I didn’t have the flier handy and didn’t feel like driving all the way across town with the off-chance of Target not offering their own discount in return, but I did read accounts online of people doing exactly that and subsequently paying $3.98 at the register instead of $15.98!

Still, I can’t complain…

Daily Tweets from Twitter…

  • 09:25 @ThatKevinSmith Are you kidding?! That KLSX show (Not That Bad!) with @BrianLynch, @JayMewes, and @edgarwright was hilarious! #
  • 09:26 @ThatKevinSmith It’s still one of my favorites to go back and revisit, like the first Evening With… recordings. #
  • 09:35 Wool socks. (tinyurl.com/ycchgna) #WorstGiftEver #
  • 09:37 Close second – a box full of bricks, although technically that was supposed to be a "joke." I was 7, and did not laugh. #WorstGiftEver #
  • 15:58 How many people wo
    uld seriously still choose service DOGS if they knew that MONKEYS were also an option?! (tinyurl.com/3jnl6s) #
  • 19:47 I always feel like kind of a manly Mary Poppins when it’s raining and my umbrella pops out of the car before me. #

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And while we’re already talking about movies…

Sara and I used to go to the theater all the time, however not for nothing, but a little thing called nursing school really kicked the crap out of that little pasttime of ours! Fortunately, though, our schedules have finally started syncing up a little more as of late, so we’ve been slipping away at two hour intervals more and more.

Here’s a quick review of everything that I can remember from our recent theatrical renaissance…

She’s Out of My League
Absolutely hilarious – by far one of my top 5 favorite comedies in the last couple of years. Go. Watch. Now.

Valentine’s Day
Not great, but not horrible. Guys, you’ll live if your S.O. insists on your taking her to see this one…

Cop Out
Surprisingly funny – it’s got a unique mix of actors, but it was fun to watch and it looks like it was probably fun to make.

When In Rome
Probably the cheesiest out of this entire list, but … well … yeah – that’s about it. Least favorite of this list.

It’s Complicated
Awkward funny, but Alec Baldwin seems to be the king of that lately. Not bad.

Sherlock Holmes
Although I was hoping for a Wild Wild West-style “action movie” that was more comedy/slapstick than action, but Robert Downey, Jr. definitely made the lead role enjoyable. Curious to see if they’ll taking advantage of the huge gaping hole that they left open for a sequel at the end, though…

And a few more that I’m looking forward to here in the near future:

Daily Tweets from Twitter…

  • 10:57 Kinda looking forward to the world ending today at 11:15am when the President signs the health care bill … a half day at work sounds nice. #
  • 12:35 twitpic.com/1agekg – You know what this auto ad needs?! More hippo!!! #
  • 13:27 Waiting for Verizon to reply via e-mail to justify being rude to my wife on the phone yesterday… #verizon #badservice #
  • 13:28 Is arguing over $50 of shady data and roaming charges worth losing a long-time customer??? #verizon #badservice #
  • 17:49 @greggagliardi You should totally do it! Today is the first
    day of the rest of your cashew-eating life!!! #
  • 18:14 So which is worse – accidentally shooting your mouth off or accidentally shooting somebody in the face with a hunting rifle? #vicepresidents #

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