Let's Play a Game

I found this game several years ago, on a blog that no longer exists. Well, it exists, but it's owned by someone entirely different and written in another language, so I won't be reading it any time soon.  At least I got this game.

It's called One Degree of Separation. It's fun, but only if you play along.

Here's how it works:

• The first person (in this case me because this is my blog) picks an actor or an actress.
• The second person (1st commenter) names a movie that actor has been in.
• The next person names another actor from that movie.
• and then the next person names another movie that the 2nd actor has appeared in.

Actor, movie, actor, movie, actor, and so on. This can go on and on. (Unfortunately, that song is going through my head now. Extra points if you can guess which song I mean; I'm sure my kids know)

A note: Using IMDB is not considered cheating, but do try to come up with your own first. Grab your popcorn and play along!

First actor: Bradley Cooper

Do You Have an Award Winning Movie in You?

Are you getting tired of your current profession? If this is the case, you should take steps to put yourself on a better career path. There is no reason that you should spend the rest of your life doing a job that you are not excited about. So what will your new job be? There are certainly many things you can try your hand at. Are you a big movie fan? With the Oscars coming up, you may be thinking about channeling your enthusiasm for movies into a new career as a screenwriter. There are many reasons why this could be a great career change for you.

Consider all of these things:

1. You will finally be able to be your own boss.
   Being a professional screenwriter gives you an enormous amount of personal freedom that most other jobs will not be able to match. You will determine how much you work and when you will do your writing. You will no longer have a boss looking over your shoulder for 40 hours each week. The ability to take control of their own destiny is something that most people desire. However, very few of them will ever realize this dream. You will control your own destiny if you work as a screenwriter.
2. You will have a job that allows you to be creative.
   There are far too many people who are stuck working at jobs that do not challenge them at all. They are very repetitive and boring. Writing screenplays for a living will get your creative juices flowing. You can think up stories about any subject that interests you. You might even be interested in writing an adapted screenplay of a novel that you read in the past. It is completely up to you.
3. You will have more free time.
   Having to go to a full-time job means that you do not have a lot of personal time. Becoming a screenwriter will definitely free up your schedule. You will no longer need to get up at the crack of dawn and sit in rush hour traffic every day. You can use this extra free time to travel or spend more time with your family. You will have a much more leisurely lifestyle than you had before.
4. The money is very good.
   You will find that screenwriters make a very nice living. You will not be disappointed with your pay if you sell a screenplay.

Who knows - maybe the next Oscar-winning movie will come from your imagination!

Review: Andrea Bocelli's Cinema

Andrea Bocelli is the biggest selling living classical music artist. His albums have sold over 80 million copies! Andrea even recently sang for Pope Francis on his trip to the U.S.

I'm not sure where I've been, but I have not been listening to any of Andrea Bocelli's music.  Until now.  Thanks to One2One Network, I have had a chance to listen to his new album Cinema.  The album, Bocelli's first new studio recording in two years, will be released on October 23 by Verve Records.  It includes a collection of interpretations of songs from classic movies like West Side Story, The Godfather and Gladiator.

Bocelli said the following:

With the album Cinema, I’m fulfilling a wish that I’ve harboured for decades. I’ve never made a secret of my dream of bringing to life a recording project associated with soundtracks, as I truly believe that it’s an exceptional artistic treasure trove.

It’s an area that has always fascinated me: the scores written for films are very free and potentially very creative. A vast grassland where the composer can roam as he pleases, whatever his inspiration, where he can experiment without having to submit to the norms of the classical song (based on the sequence requiring two strophes, one short instrumental passage, one strophe, one short instrumental passage), or to a theme that is necessarily the conventional one, relating to love.

If films are a “dream factory”, the music that supports them embraces these dreams and heightens all of the magic and emotional vitality. My invitation, my token is for these immortal “classics” to merge with the experiences, with the most precious memories, with the emotions of every listener, to become the inimitable soundtrack to their life.

True to his status as a truly international artist, Andrea has recorded songs in five different languages (Italian, French, Spanish, English and Sicilian) and has partnered with global superstar Ariana Grande on the heart wrenching duet E Piu Ti Penso from Once Upon A Time in America/ Malena and Nicole Scherzinger on the epic musical anthem Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from Evita.

Here is the entire track listing:

1. Maria (From West Side Story)
2. La chanson de Lara (From Dr. Zhivago)
3. Moon River (From Breakfast At Tiffany's)
4. E più ti penso (From Once Upon A Time In America/Malèna) duet with Ariana Grande
5. Be My Love (From The Toast Of New Orleans)
6. The Music Of The Night (From The Phantom Of The Opera)
7. Brucia la terra (From The Godfather)
8. Por Una Cabeza (From Scent Of A Woman)
9. No Llores Por Mi Argentina (From Evita) duet with Nicole Scherzinger
10. L'amore è una cosa meravigliosa (From Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing)
11. Mi mancherai (From Il Postino/The Postman)
12. Cheek To Cheek (From Top Hat) duet with Veronica Berti
13. Sorridi amore vai (From Life Is Beautiful/La vita è bella)
14. Historia De Amor (From Love Story)
15. Ol' Man River (From Showboat)
16. Nelle tue mani (Now We Are Free) (From Gladiator)

I'm sure some of those are familiar to you, and you'll love hearing Andrea Bocelli's amazing voice on them.  I will admit that, not only have I not been familiar with Bocelli's music, but I was not familiar with many of these songs, either.  It didn't matter though.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the entire album.  I did enjoy the songs I was most familiar with most - Maria and The Music of the Night, to name a couple.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to come to love all of the songs on the album, the more I listen.  I'm loving the music (I'm loving the guitar on Brucia La Terra.) and especially Andrea Bocelli's voice on each and every song.  This man can seriously sing!  (I know, you probably could have told me that already)  But seriously - just WOW! 

Grab your own copy of Andrea Bocelli's Cinema now.  It's available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon right now. Also be sure to look for Andrea Bocelli: Cinema, which will make its initial airing as the final presentation of PBS’ Fall Arts Festival, and is set to air nationwide across hundreds of PBS stations on November 27. The concert event will be personally arranged for Bocelli’s extraordinary voice by musical director, David Foster. I'm marking my calendar now!

Now let me get back to listening to Cinema by Andrea Bocelli.  After which, I will probably check out some more of his music on YouTube.

I participated in the Andrea Bocelli “Cinema” album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided an album to review but all opinions are my own.  #Cinema #O2O

Related articles

• Ariana Grande and Nicole Scherzinger are on Andrea Bocelli's new album
• Andrea Bocelli Recruits Stars For New Album

Watch Finding Kind on IndieFlix through May 31 (Giveaway)

In February 2009, two young women, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson joined forces.  Having both been affected by female bullying throughout their youth, they decided to create change by giving females a platform to speak out about this universal experience. What began as an idea for a documentary about girl-against-girl bullying, ultimately became Kind Campaign, an internationally recognized movement, documentary, and school assembly program based on the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl “crime.”

photo from findingkind.com

If you've got daughters in middle school or high school, you will want to sit down and watch this with them.  I apologize for the short notice.  I've been procrastinating again.  You, however, will need to get right on this.  You have until May 31st to watch Finding Kind, a peer to peer documentary about girl bullying on Indieflix. 

Don't have a subscription to Indieflix?  That's OK.  They gave me a trial subscription to check it out, and they will give 10 readers a two-month trial subscription too!  (no credit card info required)

About IndieFlix

• IndieFlix is a community of independent filmmakers and fans. Through its membership-based streaming service, IndieFlix helps filmmakers translate artistic vision into commercial success, and gives film lovers access to high quality independent films not otherwise available. IndieFlix’s mission is to champion filmmakers, rethink traditional approaches to distribution, and celebrate the artistry and impact of independent film.
• Co-founded by filmmaker Scilla Andreen, CEO of IndieFlix

Entering is easy - tell me why you want to watch this movie and/or visit Indieflix, browse through the movies and let me know which movie you're most interested in watching.  Be sure I have your email so I can send your code.  Giveaway ends May 31, so be sure to enter soon - and that is the last day to watch Finding Kind.  First 10 comments win!

Then, once you've watched the movie, be sure to come back and let me know what you thought of it.

Related articles

• IndieFlix Subscription Giveaway - 10 Winners!
• IndieFlix Featuring "Finding Kind"

Mother’s Day Movie Giveaway

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12th and what better way to celebrate than spending quality time with your family and watching one of your favorite classic films?  Or, even better, one of mom's favorite films. Watching a classic flick together is the perfect opportunity to catch up and share family stories. You might even learn something you never knew about your mom!

Use this app for some conversation starters to get you started. You can also play the Guess-the-Scene Game for some fun or select your mood and let quotes and images from film express how you’re feeling!


Giveaway:
To celebrate Mom, Warner Brothers has offered to give one of these Blu-ray titles to one lucky reader! (Prize will be chosen randomly from the titles below!)

• A Star is Born (1976) (Blu-ray)
• Cabaret (1972) (Blu-ray)

To enter just leave me a comment sharing your favorite romance or musical flick from when you were a kid. That's fun and easy, right?

Get additional entries by tweeting this giveaway or sharing on facebook (once per day).  Be sure to leave another comment each time you share, with a link to your tweet or status.

Giveaway is open to U.S. addresses (NO P.O. Boxes), and entries must be received by 11:59pm on Mother's Day May 12, 2013.  Good Luck!

File This Under "It Figures"

We finally went to see The Avengers on Monday.  It was really good!  We paid full matinee price - for reserved seats - and saw it on the UltraScreen.  The first couple weeks they were only showing the 3D version on the UltraScreen, so that's why we waited.  That, and being busy.  But anyway, we saw it and really enjoyed it - but if we'd waited just a couple days we could have gone for $5!  Yep, this week The Avengers is one of the Spotlight Movies - $5 on Wednesday and Thursday.  It figures.

Cory recently picked up Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray - for $10 each with a free ticket from each to see Prometheus when it comes out, which is a good deal.  But, he's been wanting the whole Alien Anthology [on Blu-ray] for a while now - and today Amazon put it on sale for $29.99 - for all 4 Alien movies and 2 discs of extras.  But since he just bought the first two movies, we don't really need to spend another $30 for the other two - even if we do get all those extra features.  It figures.

And Cory got a new (to him) car last week.  Sunday he went to visit friends in Illinois.  He'd barely left their house to drive home, and he hit a deer.  He's driven my van for ages and never hit a deer or anything else (except that poor mailbox, but we'll not talk about that now) and he just barely gets his own car, and some deer decides to commit suicide by standing in the road.  It figures! 

Cory is OK.  There's nothing he could have done - just a random incident involving nighttime, a car coming the opposite direction, and a deer that decided to cross the road at right that time.  He flipped his brights back on and there it was - no time to do anything but brake, but not enough time to stop enough to miss it.  It's just a bit frustrating to have his pretty car all crumpled up - right after he got it.  Thankfully we've got a friend who fixes things like this, and he's going to get her all pretty again.  And, most importantly - Cory did not get hurt!

Three Movie Tickets in My Pocket

This does not normally happen, but I've seen three movies in the last couple days.  Three movies in the theater, that is - I'm not counting any movies we may have watched at home.

Tuesday night Cory and I attended a pre-screening of Man On a Ledge, which opens January 27.  Yay for free passes!  It's certainly a good way to fill up a theater on a weeknight.  For reference - if you get free passes to a movie like this, show up early.  The movie was at 7pm, and we got there about 5:20 and were behind about 8 people in line.  It wasn't long until that line curled all around the theater's entryway and into the lobby, and they started taking the passes, exchanging them for tickets, and directing us to the theater where they were showing the movie shortly after 6pm.  Too far back in the line could mean bad seats or no seats at all.  We got good ones!

We really enjoyed the movie.  It's about an escaped convict ex-cop who climbs out onto a hotel ledge declaring that he's prepared to die - yeah, probably not a good risk for guaranteed issue life insurance -but as the movie continues we find out he's not really planning to commit suicide, but what is he really up to?  There are enough twists, turns, and laughs to keep you entertained until the end.

The second movie we saw was The Muppets.  Cory and I went yesterday morning/afternoon, and we loved it!  We laughed out loud throughout the whole movie.  It was just so much fun.  Also, I really really need to figure out how to Travel by Map!

Then last night Jeffrey, Cory, and I went and saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - again.  We went and saw it on the Ultra Screen when it first came out and probably wouldn't have gone to see it again, but we had passes - from buying some $8 BluRays - so we had to use them....  We really enjoyed it both times!  I think it's better than the first one.  Of course, we might just have to watch that one again soon just to see...  I'm also thinking that I really need to read some Sherlock Holmes!

How many movies did you see this week?

Where to Go for Free Downloads

If you've got teenagers, I bet they know exactly where to download free music, games, videos and more.  I know my kids do, but I've never really looked into it.  Until now.

I've been checking out this site called general-files.com.  You type in the name of something you're looking for and get a whole list of options to choose from.  General-files.com is like a huge file search engine to help you find all the free files available on the Internet.  If you're looking to download free music, movies or games, it looks like a really good place to start.  They pull together files from all the different file sharing sites on the internet - 4shared.com, rapidshare.com, mediafire.com, and a whole list of others - some I've heard of and some I haven't.  The beauty of it is that you don't have to know about or visit all those different sites and search for what you're looking for.  You can just search in this one place.   You can also refine your searches by choosing to only search within some of those file sharing sites, choosing to search Everything or limiting the type and size of the files you want.

They've got a new option called general-catalog.com which is supposed to make searching for those free downloads even easier.  It's designed to be more intuitive and visual so that it's easier to use.  Instead of just a file name like you get at general-files.com, you also get a description of what the file is and even an image of what you're getting.  They have about 2 million categorized files together with user-written description articles.  Since the General Files site indexes more than 235 million files, they have a ways to go to get them all into the free downloads directory at general-catalog.com, but I think it's going to be a lot easier to find the files you're looking for using the catalog site.  At least for me.  You can also see which files are popular and what other people are looking at and downloading, which is kind of fun and also can be really helpful in deciding which file is the right one.  Users are encouraged to rate the files, report any problems and just generally help improve the experience for everyone.  If you're like me, you worry a bit about downloading anything, so I like to know what other people think first.

To download from either of these sites, you should download and install their free download software called General Downloader.  It supports downloading from direct links and from many of the file-hosting websites.  You can search directly from the application and download from many of these sites without being bogged down in the endless captchas, popups, and other obstacles they apparently like to put in your way.  Use it to download files from general-files.com or general-catalog.com.  Use it as a hotfile no captcha downloader.  It's free for everyone and integrates into all the popular browsers. 

How many free files will I download?  I don't know, but I like knowing where to look if I want to.

Movie List 2011 (January-April)

I've really been falling down on the "Movie of the Week" thing, so I thought I'd just list all the movies we've gone to see so far this year.

• 1/9/11 - Tron 3D (Liked the movie, hate 3D)
• 1/13/11 - The Tourist (Really enjoyed this one.  Johnny Depp is great)
• 1/19/11 - The Fighter (So good!  Christian Bale is amazing in this movie)
• 1/26/11 - Country Strong (I enjoyed it, but Jeffrey not so much)
• 2/2/11 - True Grit (Jeffrey liked it.  I wasn't impressed)
• 2/9/11 - No Strings Attached (just for fun)
• 2/16/11 - The King's Speech (Awesome. Amazing. So good.  See this movie if you haven't already, and again if you have.)
• 3/9/11 - Unknown (Good movie.  Kept us guessing)
• 3/23/11 - The Adjustment Bureau (Not what I expected, but really good and makes you think)
• 4/6/11 - The Lincoln Lawyer (Good movie.  Now I want to read the books)
• 4/13/11 - Limitless (Kind of odd, but we enjoyed it.  It'll make you think)

That wasn't too bad.  Maybe I should stick to one-line movie reviews from now on.   Book reviews, movie reviews, anabolic halo reviews, theater reviews - they'd all be quick, easy and painless if I just stick to one line.  What do you think?

I've Seen These Oscar Winning Movies

We usually watch the Oscars, and we usually haven't seen most of the movies that are nominated.  Sometimes we've never even heard of them until they get nominated. It makes it really hard to have any idea or even really care who actually wins. Which begs the question why do we even bother watching? Yep, good question. Hooray for Hollywood and all that, I guess.

This year, we actually had seen quite a few of the movies, and that got me to wondering how many of the Best Picture winners have I actually seen?  So I copied this list from oscars.org - not going all the way back, but just since the year I was born - to see exactly how many of them I've seen, and because I know you're dying to know, whether I liked them or not.

RED = Yes, I've seen it, but I really can't remember whether I liked it or not or I really didn't care that much.  RED BOLD text = I liked it. 

2010 - "The King's Speech"
2009 - “The Hurt Locker” (it's on my DVR waiting to be watched)
2008 - “Slumdog Millionaire”
2007 - “No Country for Old Men”
2006 - “The Departed”
2005 - “Crash”
2004 - “Million Dollar Baby”
2003 - “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
2002 - “Chicago”
2001 - “A Beautiful Mind”
2000 - “Gladiator”
1999 - “American Beauty”
1998 - “Shakespeare in Love”
1997 - “Titanic”
1996 - “The English Patient”
1995 - “Braveheart”
1994 - “Forrest Gump”
1993 - “Schindler’s List”
1992 - “Unforgiven”
1991 - “The Silence of the Lambs”
1990 - “Dances with Wolves”
1989 - “Driving Miss Daisy”
1988 - “Rain Man”
1987 - “The Last Emperor”
1986 - “Platoon”
1985 - “Out of Africa”
1984 - “Amadeus”
1983 - “Terms of Endearment”
1982 - “Gandhi”
1981 - “Chariots of Fire”
1980 - “Ordinary People”
1979 - “Kramer vs. Kramer”
1978 - “The Deer Hunter”
1977 - “Annie Hall”
1976 - “Rocky”
1975 - “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest”
1974 - “The Godfather Part II”
1973 - “The Sting”
1972 - “The Godfather”
1971 - “The French Connection”
1970 - “Patton”
1969 - “Midnight Cowboy”

1968 - “Oliver!”
1967 - “In the Heat of the Night”
1966 - “A Man for All Seasons”
1965 - “The Sound of Music”

There are quite a few that I still haven't seen.  I suppose I could always track down the DVDs . . .


How about you?  How many Oscar winning movies have you seen in your lifetime?

Getting Out of the House

I've noticed some people have this need to get out of the house.  They talk about this thing called 'Cabin Fever' that seems to affect them negatively if they don't get out and do something on a regular basis.  Me, I don't understand that.  Getting out of the house doesn't really hold any attraction for me.  In fact, I'll pretty much avoid going anywhere unless I absolutely have to go.

It's not like I can't get out, and once I do, it's really not so bad, and I even enjoy myself.  I'm not going to throw the deadbolt lock and shut myself away from the world forever.  It's usually just the thought of going out and the effort it seems to actually get ready and go.  It just seems so much easier to stay home.  My husband likes to go out and do things, so I'm trying to be better about going out.  It helps if I have some warning, because springing it on me at the last minute, like 'let's go out to dinner' just doesn't work.  It's still easier to stay home and cook - and the food is usually better and definitely cheaper.  But if he gives me time to think about it, I can adjust.  Sometimes.  We have been going out and seeing movies the last several weeks with out Spotlight Movie Club $5 coupons - and since those are on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I can plan ahead.

When I need to go out for something like grocery shopping, I like to accomplish as much as possible, like go to every store possible and get everything we could possibly need so that I don't have to do it again for a while.  The idea of going out for just one or two things just doesn't seem worth it.  If I couldn't have Jeffrey stop by the store to pick things up on his way home, we'd just do without  - because we don't need it badly enough for me to make a special trip.  Of course, now they're saying that combining your trips is a good way to save money, so I guess that's not all bad.

Tonight - I'm just staying home.

Related articles by Zemanta

• $5 Movies (alwaysbcmom.com)

iNetVideo - Entertainment for Less

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo. All opinions are 100% mine.

Everyone who knows me knows how I love a good deal.  I can't believe I've never heard of iNetVideo before.  They've been offering a wide range of movies on DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray, Video Games and Music CDs for Less, since 1999.  I know there are other sites that sell movies and music online, but why pay full price when you don't have to, right?  At iNetVideo, they have all kinds of entertainment, for better prices than I've seen elsewhere.

Looking around the site, some of the deals that caught my eye are the DVD boxsets for $13.88, music CDs for $5, and blu-ray movies for $13.99.  I thought it was good to get DVDs for $13.99, unless they're the older not-so-popular movies you can get at Wal-mart for $5.  It looks like iNetVideo has some of those, too - though I found quite a few movies I wouldn't mind having just on the first page!  They're also a lot easier to look through than those messy bins in Wal-mart.

Check it out and see if you can find some deals on your entertainment needs wants.  If you're like me and don't have a Blu-ray player yet, you'll want to enter the monthly Blu-ray player giveaway, too.  Also be sure to visit the iNetVideo blog for movie giveaways, fun entertainment articles, and more.

$5 Movies

Jeffrey, Cory and I went to see Iron Man 2 this weekend.  We went Sunday evening, early enough to still get matinee price.  I guess it's been a while since we've been out to see a movie, or we just weren't paying close attention to the ticket price.  It costs $7.50 to see a matinee now!

Last summer I signed up for the Marcus Theatres Spotlight movie club.  Every week, they choose 4 movies to spotlight and send out a coupon.  With the coupon,  admission to any of those movies is only $5, any time on Wednesday and Thursday.  It's not always convenient to go to a movie in the middle of the week, and these are movies that have been out for a little while, but $5 is a pretty good deal. 

Jeffrey and I saw several movies last summer and then just didn't have time to take advantage of them all winter.  Now that school's almost over and summer's almost here, I think we'll have to start seeing some $5 movies again.  If you've got a Marcus Theatre in your area, be sure to check out the Spotlight movie club.

Does Movie Theater Popcorn Have to Be So Bad?

Image by Kaptain Kobold via Flickr

Did you hear on the news this morning about all the fat in movie theater popcorn? No wonder I always feel sick after I eat it! Of course the fact that we always buy the large and get the free refill, and I always seem to eat most of it myself has absolutely nothing to do with it. Why is it that I just can't stop eating that stuff until the bucket is empty?

I'm just trying to figure out why they think they need to add all that fat. On its own, popcorn is a healthy, whole grain, low-fat snack. It's all the oil they pop it in and then the butter (or butter flavoring) that is drizzled on top. I never get added butter because that's just too greasy, but apparently the popcorn is about as bad for you even without it. The news report said that some of the theater chains tried selling air popped popcorn, but the customers didn't like it. I personally love air pop, but I know a lot of people don't, and I'm pretty sure the theater had to know that too. Of course the customers weren't going to buy it - well, except for me if I'd known.

But anyway, customers weren't buying the air popped stuff, so they went back to using lots of oil and fat. After all, they tried, right? But my question is - isn't there somewhere we can meet in the middle? Use less oil, don't cut it out altogether. And for the theaters that give free refills - if they're like the theaters we go to, free refills are only available on the largest popcorn size. So, to get our money's worth, we usually buy the large combo - a large popcorn and two large sodas. How about making 1 free refill available no matter what size you buy? If people start out with a smaller size, even if they get the refill, the end result is less popcorn. Oh, and did I say use less oil?

Luckily going to the movies is just a once in a while thing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Popcorn - The Good, The Bad, and The VERY BAD (fooducate.com)
• America's Favorite Movie Snacks Get Two Thumbs Down (abcnews.go.com)

Of Movies and Mayhem

Cory's birthday is next Wednesday. He'll be 17, and while I think it is wrong that my baby is turning 17, that's not the point. The new Harry Potter movie opens on Wednesday, too - with a midnight showing on Tuesday night, and Cory wanted to go to that show. We said he could go, if he could figure out how to get there and get home. And then Beth volunteered to take him and his friends. We have 7 tickets for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince next week - for Cory and 4 of his friends and for Beth and Tim.

Then, yesterday I found out that I won two passes to an advance screening at 7:30 Monday night - from the Ellen Show and CBS 58. I figured since the kids were already going, that Jeffrey and I could use those passes, but Cory thinks I should take him because he's the one who told me to enter the giveaway. Jeffrey doesn't think he'll be able to make it because he's going to have company at work on Monday and will probably have to work late, so it looks like Cory and I will be seeing the movie Monday night. And Beth's not happy about it and she's threatening not to drive all the kids to the midnight showing on Tuesday night. Like one thing has anything to do with the other.

I'm too old to be going to a midnight movie, but we already have tickets, she already said she'd drive - and talking to this girl is pointless. Logic does not enter into it. Commitment means nothing. Arghhh!

Kellogg's is Taking me to the Movies

Well, not exactly, but I did get certificates for 4 movie admissions. They're running a promotion right now where you have to buy 10 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, Keebler cookies, Sunshine crackers, any combination, and you get 2 free movie passes. So Cory and I went to the store twice yesterday. At the first store we got:

• 8 boxes of cereal
• 1 pkg Keebler cookies
• 1 box Cheez-it crackers

On sale 4/$10, cost after coupons - $9.12 = $.91/pkg - plus the code for the 2 free movie tickets. (cashier forgot to ring one up so they gave it to me free)

I had some really great coupons I found on the Kellogg's website, plus some other coupon sites, and I printed as many as they would let me, and the store doubled 5 of them, saving me $10 right there. I didn't have coupons for the crackers or cookies, but I had a $1 coupon for each box of cereal.

At the second store we got:

• 7 boxes of cereal
• 2 boxes of poptarts
  
• 1 pkg Keebler cookies
• (plus an extra box of Cheez-its because Cory wanted it, but I'm not including it in this total)
  

Again, on sale 4/$10, cost after coupons - $12.79 = $1.28/pkg - plus the code for the 2 free movie tickets. I didn't get a free box this time, and my PopTarts coupon was $1 off of 2 instead of 1, so the cost was a little higher. avg cost per = $1.10.

I got 2 certificates for 2 free movie tickets!! Altogether, 20 boxes of cereal, crackers, Pop Tarts, and cookies and 4 free movie tickets for $21.91!

Today I entered my codes and got my eMovie Cash which can be redeemed for ONE (x4) admission ticket (up to $12.00), for any showing of any movie, at any of the participating theaters. Cory cut all the Star Trek tokens off the boxes so he can get his free Star Trek shirt, too. I think he expects me to fill out the form, though.

We won't be needing cereal any time soon, that's for sure!

Cory Can Convert His Own Movies

After converting 5 of Cory's movies so he can put them on his Zune, I figured out how to get the program onto his computer - even though he missed the Giveaway of the Day. So, I downloaded the program and converted a movie using the program on Cory's computer. Now, on my computer, if the movie is 2 hours long, it takes 2 hours to convert it to MP4, but on Cory's computer it is a lot faster. The first one took about 45 minutes for a movie that was a little over 2 hours long.

Needless to say (but saying it anyway) - movies will be converted on Cory's computer from now on. They're his movies for his Zune anyway, so why should I have to spend so much time doing it?

This software is going to be very useful. You know how many of the movies you buy now come with a digital copy? Well, when we bought The Dark Knight, Jeffrey bought the 2-disc version with the digital copy. And Cory couldn't get it to work with his Zune. Somebody explain why a Microsoft music player cannot play the Microsoft .wmv files. Anyway, we basically spent extra money to get a digital version of a movie that no-one can use, or that is only playable on the computer and not on the portable device we bought it for. Now we'll just create our own digital copies.

Not Accomplishing Much

I've got a headache today, and Beth woke up with a sore throat yesterday and doesn't feel good today either. So, we're sitting around watching movies and really not accomplishing anything. First we watched Freedom Writers and now we're watching The Devil Wears Prada.

I feel like I should be doing something, besides including this link for cerebral palsy* in a blog post, but I just can't seem to muster the energy. I did install the printshop 23 (free after rebate!) on my computer, and I'm supposed to be putting together a flyer for candy bar sales, but I haven't gotten past installing the software and opening a layout. At this rate, I'll have those boxes of candy bars in my basement forever.

*Update 7/2/12 - link has now been removed because I received not one but two emails in one day telling me that the link must be removed.  I guess they mean it, and even though I don't really have any way of knowing if the person asking me to remove the link has any right to request the link be removed, this is a really old post, so it's not like I'm required to keep the link up anymore...

Also, I did have those boxes of candy bars in my basement forever.  Well, for a very long time anyway.

Rebates & Movies

Jeffrey and I went and bought TurboTax today, along with a bunch of other software that will be free after rebate. I have a hard time resisting free stuff. Have you noticed? We got several different Internet security titles, a PDF converter, PrintShop 23, and some other stuff. I will have to spend a bit of time reading over rebates and making sure everything adds up, and then putting stuff together to mail, but it's all worth it in the end, right?

It will have to wait until at least tomorrow, though. Right now we're watching Ocean's Thirteen. We talked about going to a movie since we were out, but decided to come home and watch some I got from the library instead. We could have watched them on the big screen, so it would sort of been like going to a movie. I could even have made some popcorn, but instead we're just watching on the television - the one on the tv stand in the living room. It's probably too cold to go down in the basement anyway. That's our story, and we're stickin' to it.

Movies at Home

We really enjoy watching movies. Sometimes, when a new movie comes out, we go see it in the theater, but mostly we watch movies at home. The kids watch a lot of movies on their computers, but on the weekends we usually end up watching at least one movie together as a family. Sometimes we go downstairs to the basement and watch movies on the big screen - we've got a projector and screen down there. Other times we just stay upstairs and watch them on the TV. I usually have to pop some popcorn first, because movies and popcorn just seem to go together, at least for me.

We either buy DVDs or borrow them from the library. Of course, if we get them from the library, it usually takes a while to get them because there is almost always a huge waiting list. And sometimes I forget to get on the waiting list. For instance, I'll see a movie advertised and think I'd really like to see that, and then by the time it comes out on DVD, I'll have forgotten about it. I keep meaning to make a list.

Here's a movie I'm adding to the list - All Roads Lead Home The Movie. I was wondering if I had missed it in theaters because I watched the trailer and thought it looked like a movie we'd really enjoy, but I don't remember ever hearing about it before. It looks like it was only in limited theaters and nowhere around here, so we wouldn't have had the chance to go see it. It does come out on DVD January 13th, so we'll be able to watch it then. It's close enough that I should remember to put it on my list of movies to see, too.

Watch the trailer and see if this doesn't sound like something your family would like:



I figure if the trailer made me cry and laugh out loud, then the movie ought to be pretty good. It looks like one of those movies that leaves you feeling good, after first overcoming some obstacles. We always seem to like those.