It started a few years ago when I first became an Amazon Prime member to get free 2-day shipping on almost everything the site sells. At first I did it just because the $80 yearly cost was going to be less than the total shipping cots of my Christmas gift purchases, but I’ve renewed every year since.

No matter what product I need, I look to Amazon first to see if I can get it shipped via UPS 2-day free of charge via my Prime membership.

The next thing that happened was digital music. Amazon has made a nearly flawless experience to order and download digital music and have it instantly show up in my iTunes account – easily synced to my iPod and iPhone. It’s less expensive than buying through iTunes, and the files you download are MP3s instead of iTunes’ restricted files.

Last week, I received my Kindle 2 – Amazon’s digital book reader device. I can now buy a book for under $10 and have it ready to read in my hands just seconds later.

I had heard people say that they read much more now that they own a Kindle, and that they would never go back to reading books. As a paper-lover, I wasn’t sure. But now that I have one, I can see very easily where they’re coming from. The ease of finding, buying, and reading with the Kindle is unlike anything I’ve experienced yet in this digital world.

For Christmas, Mandi and I got ourselves a Roku box and a Netflix account. We can now watch thousands of movies on-demand from Netflix, although many of the titles are older ones. Then, last week, a little surprise awaited us… Amazon is now delivering movies directly to Roku boxes across the world.

So in addition to watching our Netflix movies instantly, we now have access to a complete library of new releases for digital rental through Amazon.

Free shipping on almost any product, all of my music, all of my books and magazines, all of my music, and almost all of my movie rentals… all through Amazon.

If they ever go under, I don’t know how I would survive. Sad, but true.

The new flick brings in different stars to the mix. Topher Grace looks like he plays a photographer, and I heard possibly a bad guy. Thomas Hayden Church plays Sandman – cool. And Bryce Dallas Howard plays Gwen Stacy who may compete for Spidey’s love.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be seeing it. 6/4/2007.

Upon returning, I’ll almost immediately be leaving again for Chippewa. Friday I’ll be seeing my old Chiropractor – my back has been out for weeks… a reoccurring injury from months ago. I should’ve been seeing someone for a long time now, years in fact, but I just haven’t. Saturday morning is my late Grandfather’s estate auction. My brother, sister and I will be there to try and make it a little easier on my mom. That afternoon, his house is being auctioned also… kind of sad.

On a real side note… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been playing non-stop on HBO lately. I can’t stop watching it! I saw it in the theater and liked it (I was in love with the book when I was young) – but the more I watch it, the better it gets. It holds very true to the book, unlike the 70’s version (80’s maybe?). Anyway, check it out if you haven’t yet.

See you all in about 9 days.

One more bit of background… I read the book 2 years ago, loved it, and engulfed myself with other shows, movies, and books regarding the theories expressed in The Da Vinci Code. I had very vivid memories of scenes from the book, vague recollection of deep details, but a real good understanding of the theories expressed.

So, off to the theatre…

Right off the bat, you start to notice differences in scenes from the Book to the Movie… when Langdon is first told of the murder of André Vernet, he’s signing books after a speech rather than being startled in his hotel room. No biggie…

The scenes within the Louvre were close to being painted straight from my memory… it was eerie. Sophie, played by French actress Audrey Tautou, was perfect in my opinion – even though it took about 20 minutes to get used to her strong accent. Or, maybe it just took her several weeks of shooting to get a handle on her English for the film…

I can see some people have trouble with the in-depth dialogue and sometimes confusing topics discussed through the middle of the film, but from what I can tell – everyone I’ve talked to who didn’t read the book had no trouble figuring out the story and what was happening – although I’m sure they’d pick up even more if they read the book or watched the film again. This was a big mark-down from the critics – saying that the movie’s dialouge was long and confusing. It seems the average moviegoer is far more intelligent than a movie critic.

As far as the Christian bashing element of the movie/book, watching the movie for me reconfirmed that people are morons. If you believe in something, that’s great – but why would you A) not have an open mind about something someone else believes MIGHT be true, or B) be afraid that a movie is going to change your view of your beliefs? Maybe your faith isn’t as strong as you thought.

It’s a movie for Pete’s sake – but not for Christ’s sake. ;)
Just because a lot of what’s in the book/movie is backed with actual fact-supported theories, doesn’t mean it’s really true. :|

The debate about this topic will likely go on for eternity, but why that means that alternate sides of a story should be never be told are so far beyond me, I can’t even come close to figuring it out… except for maybe the Vatican really does have so much pull that they even have some power over movie critics, newspaper writers, and other media outlets. I guess that would back up the theory that the Church just wants things to be left alone the way they decided things should be… back in the 300’s.

I’m giving this movie 3.5/4 stars… it’s about the best movie adaptation they could’ve done with such an intricate storyline. Tom Hanks was just okay in my opinion, new-comer Audrey Tautou was great, Ian McKellen was so fun to watch, and the main reason why the movie was great was the same reason the book was great… it expands your mind and makes you think about things in a way that most people never do. I think that’s probably a common theme behind all great pieces of media. At least it should be.

So, the Badgers took Marquette and bent them over their knee… smacked ‘em and said, “How ya like that, Slut?!” I hate the Marquette Gold -en Eagles. It was great to see Wes Mathews Jr. get booed – on several occasions. He got cheered too – when he missed shots and committed fouls. “I don’t wanna play at Wisconsin and be in my daddy’s shadow…” Shut up, Bitch. Now you’re gonna be on a losing team for 4 years. Deal with it.

Can you tell I’m on my 10th day of not smoking? I don’t have time for idiots anymore. I have detox to worry about.

Saw Narnia on Friday night. I have to say… my expectations were too high. I read the book when I was probably 12, and remember it being great… but it really doesn’t hold up to a 27 year old. The graphics are great… and it was fun seeing all the characters truly realistic on the screen. But the problem is the story. The greatest storyline of The Chronicles is the story behind Narnia, the lamp post… it’s history. And the first edition of the series doesn’t touch a whole lot on any of it except for the fact that Narnia’s had 100 years of winter without Christmas and there’s some sort of prophecy that 4 humans are going to help save Narnia.

Is it worth seeing? Sure, but don’t go in expecting to be blown away by dialogue and a great storyline. The story is for a younger, more starry-eyed crowd… not for bitter old men… ;)

I have a wardrobe full of clean, wrinkled clothes that need ironing… any takers?

Another Badger game tonight… beating on UNC-Wilmington along with some Chinese food should put me to sleep by 10.

Good night.