JohnA lifeBlog

Hey guys,

I updated my online Delicious Library website. Mostly just some new Blu-Ray discs, as well as several new games.

Take a look!

It’s official: Redbox welcomes Blu-ray with open arms

After checking online, there was no evidence that there were actually any Blu-Ray discs in my local kiosk.

Undaunted by the epic fail that is the Redbox web site, I went to the store. As I swiped my credit card, I was rewarded with two Blu-Ray discs actually present in the kiosk. Naturally, I rented them both. The movies were Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Jumper.

Watching Journey right now, and it seems pretty good. The picture quality is awesome, and it’s not that bad of a movie. I’ve heard crappy thoughts about Jumper, so we’ll see what happens next.

Anyway, I was shocked to see that there were actually Blu-Ray titles available in this crappy ass-backwards town.

Apparently the Redbox team didn’t get the latest survey that showed 99% of Merced area respondents thought Blu-Ray was some kind of new-age window ornament. Their loss is my gain. If they keep stocking Blu-Ray, I’ll keep renting.

Hola!

I updated my Delicious Library. Feel free to check it out, and if’n you’re local, ask to borrow something!

Yay Netflix

What bothers me most is that Netflix completely ignores the fact that I live about 50 miles from my “Local Netflix Hub”, yet my movies never show as received until 2 or 3 days pass.

Anyway, I can’t wait for my STUPENDOUS $2 REBATE!!! Woohoo! That’s like almost 2 things off the Taco Bell value menu!

I wrote this letter to the gang at The Consumerist tonight:

Ok, so tonight, I went to the movies, and was confronted again by some low-level worker asking for ID when making a credit card purchase. I explained to the employee that the card was signed, and that was all that was necessary.

Suffice it to say that the employee and her not-legal-to-drink “manager” both said that I could not make the purchase without providing ID. I refused, and went into my movie leaving the overpriced popcorn and soda behind.

When I got home from the movies, I dutifully called the 800 number on the back of my MasterCard, and explained the situation to the rep on the other end. I asked that I be notified via mail that the merchant was indeed contacted about this issue, at which time I was placed on hold.

About 10 minutes later, a “supervisor” came on the phone, and I again explained the situation. She replied that it was their policy that they “preferred that merchants asked for photo ID”. I repiled that contractually, that was not the case. I further explained that since identity theft is so rampant, I refuse to show my ID unless legally required. She put me on hold, and then came back that her supervisor said the same thing, that it was a good thing(tm) that I wasn’t allowed to make my purchase without providing photo id.

Exasperated, I told the agent that I felt like I was having the same conversation I had at the movie theater verbatim, and that she should talk to her HR representative for proper training.

So, Consumerist friends, how on earth do we get these people to understand the very basic contracts that define the relationships between merchant and processor? How do we communicate to these people that we won’t risk identity theft to buy an overpriced bag of popcorn.

I’m off to fill out the MasterCard form on their website, but again, I feel defeated.

Any advice?

John

The bottom line is that merchants are REQUIRED to accept valid, signed cards regardless of the availability of photo ID. To those who say that it is for my protection, I would reply that since I am protected automatically from any invalid charges, it certainly is NOT for my protection.

Let’s see what MasterCard says. Oh, and consumerist.com won’t reply, it’s like writing an e-mail into a black hole.

Click to Play

I plan on forwarding this blog post to an unhealthily large number of people who demonstrate the spirit of this clip.

So, I am late to this party, but here goes.

If you are a fan of the art of movie making then you have no choice but to watch Richard Donner’s version of Superman II frame by frame. If you own the LaserDisc version of that print, go you! I own that set of discs, but don’t have a working player right now.

Richard is a genius among geniuses, and he was written off because he wouldn’t simply stamp the changes dictated by the studio in the lame attempt to achieve greater profits. He worked day and night to define Batman as a conflicted hero. This is not something easily ignored.

I rented this cut on Blu-Ray, and while I can definately tell which shots are production, and which are not, I enjoyed the end product far more than what was released into theaters.

Richard Donner’s cut is the natural sequel to the original Superman film. Donner was never given a chance to develop the ultimate villain. Instead we’re stuck with “people” like Lex Luthor. There was a world to investigate from this corpus…

Instead, the writers chose to extend the legend beyond their initial encounter. Art works best when it has some imagination to work with.

Delicious Monster has released version 2.0 of their fantastic Library application. I recently upgraded to the release, and they didn’t fix any of the bugs I reported. Sigh. Anyway, here is my updated Library. Remember that I don’t catalog my standard DVDs, only HD-DVD / Blu-Ray, as well as all of my games.

JohnA’s Delicious Library

The app is much more responsive than most of the betas. Check it out!

Here is another video I love.. Jack Black makes me smile to the extreme!

So, I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to beta test Delicious Library 2.0. The best feature so far is the HTML export. To show you how cool it is, take a look at my abbreviated gallery. I only included High-Def and Games in this gallery, but you get the idea:

JohnA’s Delicious Library

So far, I am impressed with the new version… the Delicious gang has done a great job!