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Friday when I got home the Roku player I ordered had arrived. I had been eagerly awaiting its delivery for several days and the anticipation wasn’t a let down at all.

For those that don’t know, the Roku player is a small box that is about the size of a CD case and about 2 inches tall and is used for streaming movies from your Netflix account. The player itself connects to the tv (it comes with HD connections including digital audio, HDMI and component as well as the standard definition connections) and displays a linear list of movies that show up as the dvd cover of the movie. You can navigate through the list, click on one and see the description, running time, etc. You can watch or resume where you left off and rate the movie from the player itself. The video is amazing. You would expect that there would be some rebuffering or choppy video but there isn’t. I couldn’t tell that I wasn’t watching a physical DVD, the experience was that good.

One pleasant surprise was that the unit comes with built in Wifi. I had bought a Linksys gaming adapter so I could get Internet connectivity to the XBOX and the Roku player but it turned out that I didn’t need it for the Roku player.

The only thing I would change would be adding the ability to add items to your queue from the player interface. Otherwise you have to have previously added them through the Netflix website. It really isn’t a big deal but it would be handy I’m sure. All in all, this little gadget is probably the best gadget of the year in my opinion. It’s that good.

Having never seen the original series I didn’t have a lot of expectations for the movie. I knew the general theme and what the movie was about however. The plot revolves around Maxwell Smart (played by Steve Carell) who works as an analyst at Control, a U.S. spy agency that was supposed to have closed after KAOS was defeated. However, KAOS is far from being dead. KAOS penetrates Control and steals the names of all their field agents, and they then begin to kill Control agents around the world. The Chief (played by Alan Arkin) promotes Maxwell Smart, designates him Agent 86, and partners him with Agent 99 (played by the ever lovely Anne Hathaway).

As the movie unfolds you find out that Smart has always wanted to be a field agent and wanted to be partnered with the best, Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson, I must admit I like the Rock’s movies. There, I said it.). Smart is given a little training and some spy-tech gadgets to help him do his job. Then he and Agent 99 uncover information of where Siegfried (played by Terence Stamp), the sinister head of KAOS is located, and they go after him to stop him from taking over the world.

I really enjoyed the film. They thew in some cameo appearances by some well know actors (I won’t say who so as not to spoil it) and some original cast members from the tv show. I thought about giving the film 3.5 stars but it missed it by that much :)

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Over the past year or so I’ve started a Sunday ritual. I usually cook a nice dinner and try a new bottle of wine with it. Lately I can’t seem to find anything new that I like. This evening I decided to try a bottle of Black Swan Merlot from Australia. Along with it I made a Ribeye that had marinated in Jack Daniels Mesquite marinate over night, baked beans and a Caesar salad.

The food portion of the dinner was very good. The Merlot was not. I tend to like sweeter wines and this one was much to bold and strong. The bad part is I also have a bottle of Black Swan Shiraz in the wine refrigerator. I’m not looking forward to that one nearly as much now. I think next Sunday I might go with a chicken course and a bottle of white wine for a change. I think I’ve just about had my feel of reds for a while. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?

It really pains me to admit that I bought something from Wal-mart. My hatred for that store runs deep. A couple weeks ago a guy at work mentioned that they had an amazing deal on a Samsung 42″ plasma and I couldn’t pass it up. It’s hard to tell from the picture but it’s about twice the size of the old I had in there. It’s taking some getting use to but really, you can’t ever have a tv that’s too big :)

Many of the celebrities and dress conscious people wear great shirts and cool t-shirts which we normally do not find in our nearby apparel shops. That is primarily because they buy it out from exclusive and specialized designers and T-shirt companies like www.localcelebrity.com. These people have been into the business of designing exclusive and contemporary design T-shirts at affordable prices which are part of celebrity fashion.

They keep adding new designs and fashions and quite a few of them are limited editions, regularly. These new design additions are listed out separately in their website under Mo Fresh Mondays. Recently they have added 90s t-shirts fun collections for both men and women. They are planning for a special 20% off sale on July 4th and the promo codes are given in their website. Their T-shirts are available in select outlets in many cities and also can be easily purchased online at the click of a button.

The price range is quite attractive and designs are looking wonderful, and includes nature / fun / politics / movies / hollywood / life etc. The website is absolutely user friendly , and men and women collections are listed out separately and the entire range of T-shirts is listed out in few pages, making the selection job an easy and enjoyable one.

Over the long weekend I made a couple trips to the movies. The first one I saw was WALL-E. I usually love the animated Pixar films and this one was no exception. The animation was great and, as an added bonus, it featured another Pixar short before the main feature called “Presto“. It was every bit as good as the short before Ratatouille.

The plot: After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

It was hard not to notice the theme running through the main storyline. It was something along the lines of, humans are fat, wasteful and lead purely consumer driven lives that will eventually destroy the Earth. It was interesting to see this sub-theme running through an animated movie. I’m curious to see if anyone else picked up on it. Overall I enjoyed the film and would recommend watching it.

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Halloween is a great occasion to get together with friends and family. Wearing a really scary dress on the Halloween day is more fun than just a ritual. Looking for the scariest dress available in the market can get very serious since it is important to wear the most distinct and scariest dress for the occasion. If you are looking online to buy Costumes then there is someone at incostume.com to help you right away . They have great variety of couples and Kids Costumes . I am sure you will like the huge collection and would love to buy your Halloween costumes from their website.

Every so often I check the movie listings at Village 8 since they run foreign films every so often. This morning, while taking a look at the weekend listings, I saw that Priceless is showing starting Friday night. This is one of my favorite Audrey Tautou movies of all time and one that I bought and reviewed a while back.

I’ve never been to these theaters even though I lived about a half mile from them for close to 4 years. I’m really excited to get to see this one on the big screen!

Looking for a perfect place to have a vacation with your friends and family this summer? Plan to have a magnificent vacation time at Wildwood, New Jersey this July. There are lot of Things to do in New Jersey. There is an upcoming Radio Disney Summer Concert Series that will be held at Wildwood in July at Morey’s Piers for free. This is one of the exciting Wildwood events.

You will certainly enjoy your New Jersey vacation with this free concert. Your favorite Top Radio Disney artist will be there. The following are the calendar of events; on July 7th, 14th and 21st are Magic Mondays live shows usually start at 1pm and 4pm. The finale of the event will be held on the 26th of July. When you show off your official finale ticket you will have amusement discounts. You will enjoy your stay at one of the Cape May hotels.

Do not miss this as it is one of the reasons why Morey’s Piers is the best place for your New Jersey vacation. Treat yourself, friends, and loved us this summer. You certainly will have a wonderful and memorable time together. It will be a lot of fun and exciting.

Lately I’ve spent a little time catching up on movies that I have missed. The most recent was National Treasure 2. The plot from IMDB:

When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Bens great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincolns death. Determined to prove his ancestors innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America. This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations but to the trail of the worlds most treasured secrets.

Much like the first movie, this one is entertaining from start to finish which makes the 2 hour run time go by very fast. As most squeals go, this one wasn’t a good as the original. Some of the clues and adventures they undertake to find the treasure seem a little over the top and unbelievable. But, perhaps that is part of the allure of the movie. At any rate, I enjoyed watching and would recommend seeing it.

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