Smokin' Cheddar BBQ Doritos

Last week a friend of mine told me about these new chips from Doritos. He said that there were a few new flavors out and that he'd seen them in local stores. Well, by the time I got a bag, I found out that, unfortunately, they will be available for a limited time only. Or will they? It seems that Frito Lay is calling on the consumer base to vote on the flavor that they'd like to see as a permanent SKU. I did not try the other flavor of Wild White Nacho yet. If it tastes like what I hope it tastes like, I will definitely be giving that my vote. But what about the Cheddar BBQ ones? Well, they are a nice alternative to the Dorito products out there already. They fit nicely in the product line with the Black Pepperjack and Blazin' Buffalo & Ranch flavors. The taste reminds me a lot of the Frito Lay Honey BBQ Twists. except instead of the crunchy corn taste, you get a slightly less crunch with your corn taste. I love to break Doritos up and sprinkle them in my salads for texture and this will be no exception. I will say this though. Prepare for considerably more BBQ flavor than cheddar. In fact, these are more like a honey barbecue chip than anything. However, if you're a fan of chips and snack stuff, this is one I'd recommend. I'll reserve my vote for the "Fight for the Flavor" campaign until I've tried the other one. If there was no other flavor to compete against, I'd say that these easily belong on the shelf. Just to let you know, it looks like according to message boards online that these are beating the White Nacho in fan feedback. I just wonder who is voting on the official site.

5 Words to Sum It Up: Considerable barbecue flavor. Weak cheddar.

TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

I had the pleasure of taking my wife and son to see this animated feature last night. It was a movie that I expected us to all enjoy on our own individual levels. I figured we'd each take something away from it. Well as it turns out, I was right.

After watching the trailers and looking at the images I've seen online, I was hoping it would have a nice look to it. It does. This is one of the best looking animated features I have ever seen. It looks considerably better than any non-Pixar feature. In fact, I would say it rivals Pixar too. There is a scene about halfway through the movie that takes place in the rain and it looks stunning. I found myself saying "Oh wow, that looks good" on more than one occasion. One of the best things they did was to make the human characters look convincing. They had a unique physique to them. The arms and legs were drawn with a slight over-exaggeration to the shape to give them more curve. The faces of the characters gave them a look that kind of reminds you of The Incredibles. One thing I was particularly happy to see was the eyes looked like they had actual life in them. They did not have the "dead eye" look that plagued The Polar Express. The turtles and Master Splinter looked incredible. They each have a slightly distinct look and build to them. Their respective personalities are very consistent with the previous incarnations of the Ninja Turtles too. This movie looked like it was showing off how advanced the special effects were in some spots. Water, fire, smoke, reflection, lighting, and textures were shown off in some places in an almost "Look how good we can make this seem" fashion. Most times, it's sits back and just seems to blend in. I can only imagine what movies like this will look like 5 years from now.

If you don't already know, The Shredder is not in this movie, but it is strongly hinted that he will be a major part of the next movie. The storyline is pretty cool. In fact, it was better than I expected it to be. 13 monsters from 3,000 years ago running through New York did not sound like something I would enjoy as much as I actually did. I told my wife at one point that they could have made this movie really scary for little kids if they wanted to. The movie has some dark spots in it, but not enough to scare my three year old son. Much more and he would have been a little freaked out. The soundtrack is loud, modern, and really quite fun for an animated movie. There's plenty of action to keep you interested, but not so much that it comes across like a Michael Bay movie. It has plenty of heart, character development, and feel good stuff too. I hope that the Star Wars animated series looks and resembles this movie. Please pay attention 20th Century Fox! I would love to see a Justice League movie done this way too. Forget the live action version, do it this way.


5 Words to Sum it Up: Anticipating more Turtles like this!

Grand Central

Came across a really cool bit of technology today. There's a new program out called Grand Central that will have you using your phone(s) in a whole new way. The premise is simple. Get a FREE phone number using your area code. Set it up so that whenveer anybody calls the new number, it forwards to your home, cell, work, etc. In fact, you can have it so that anytime someone calls the new number, it rings all of your lines at once. No more having people call you at a different number after work or on the weekends. There are tons of cool features besides that. You can filter calls by number. You can set MP3's as ringback songs for people to listen to while they wait for you to answer. You can save all the voice mails on their server for up to 30 days for FREE. From there, you can save the message as an MP3 to your desktop. You can set personalized greetings for people based on groups. You can set a message for people that goes "The person you are calling is not in service". Perfect for telemarketers or bill collectors! Add their number to the block list or give them the impression that they have the wrong number. When a call comes in, you are given 4 options. 1) Accept the call, 2) reject the call, 3) listen in as they leave voice mail 4) answer and start recording the conversation. That last two are the coolest features, of course. Your caller hears the ring tone, then the voice mail prompt. You get to listen real time to them leaving a message. Decide at the last second that you wanna talk to them? Push the '*' button and take the call. You can always push the 4 and record the conversation. These messages are store online so that you can save them as MP3's. A really cool feature is the ability to take the message you receive and embed it into your website for people to listen to! How crazy and impractical is that?!? A really handy feature is the ability to import your address book into the site from Outlook. GRANDCENTRAL.COM is the website. Get your own number right now! Feel free to call me at my number 24 hours a day (330) 748-5688

5 Words to Sum It Up: Fun, Free, Feature Rich Goodness

Sunkist Cherry Limeade

It's been a while since I had any type of Sunkist drinks. I used to love them as a child, but as I got older, I began to gravitate away from them. I saw the Cherry Limeade version today at my local grocery store. They were on sale for 2 for $1.19 so I grabbed one. It's not like I was dying to try it, but I figured for the price, I might as well give it a shot. Let's just say this. I will not be getting any other Sunkist flavors for quite some time. Why? Is it that good? No. It's bad enough that to keep me from the rest of their product line. For starters, it did not have the strong "pop" taste that I remember Sunkist having. It did not seem as carbonated as the standard orange flavor. There was more cherry than lime flavor to this drink, which didn't surprise me considering the bottle was all red and the drink itself was tinted red. I did not expect much lime flavor and I did not get much lime flavor. Overall, the drink has a very high sugar flavor to it. Looking at the label, it makes sense. One 20 oz. drink accounts for 25% of your daily intake. It leaves a slight aftertaste too. The thing with the aftertaste is that it is doesn't resemble the drink. It's almost an unrelated flavor. Weird. The drink makes me think back to when I was a kid and mixing stuff up with Kool-Aid. In this case, it's 1 part water, 2 parts sugar, 1 part generic cherry candy flavor.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Will not drink this again.

300

I went to see 300 last Saturday night with my wife. I remember being hooked on this movie from the first trailer. I remember thinking "Wow that movies looks really interesting!" There was some trepidation at first though. Had I already seen all of the money shots? I've left far too many movies feeling let down because I saw all of the coolest effects or funny scenes. Comedies are notorious for this. I hate watching a movie and knowing exactly what the funniest lines are gonna be or which part is gonna be scary. Another tactic is slowing down the action or changing the speed of a fight scene to heighten the mood. Was this the case for 300 though? Not at all. This movie was almost 100% visual orgasm. We knew from the commercials what the premise was gonna be. A war of 300 Spartans versus the Persian army of a million men. What else was there?

Within minutes the audience knows why there's gonna be a war. The voiceover was used to great effect in this movie. Not used too often and just long enough to give you vital information. This is not a movie that is trying to give you a history lesson. A casual observer knows that it's a movie based off a graphic novel which was itself based off of the historical events. How does it fare as a comic movie then? It does very well. You could practically take any random moment from the movie and frame it as art cells. The last movie to pull this off, in my opinion, was The Matrix. It's been eight years since I walked out of a movie and thought, "Wow, I just saw something revolutionary!" Now in the defense of Star Wars and perhaps Lord of the Rings, I knew more or less how the movies were made and what to expect. I had no idea what I was getting into with this one. I've never read anything by Frank Miller, but after this I would really like to get into his stuff. From all indications online, this was very faithful to his work. My understanding is that his next adaptation will be The Watchmen. I better catch up on it before it shows up in my theater!

Back to the movie. What else was there? How about Gerard Butler's Leonidus? Awesome. I was slightly afraid that I was not going to like his character a great deal. I thought that I was not going to be able to get behind this character. Again, a misconception on my part. There was a lot more going on with him than I expected. The music was also great. It really seemed to go well with the action. Typically I will find something in a movie that just sticks out really bad. Fortunately, this time there was nothing that seemed to bother me. I liked the fact that this cast was all relative unknown actors. There are a few guys where you might say "Hey I know that guy. He was in..." It's not enough to distract you though. The movie has more depth than one would imagine. Considering this movie is based off a graphic novel drawn in one and two dimensions, there is far more character development that you'd expect.

The action is what will bring most people to see this movie. It's also what will most likely bring people back to see it a second or third time. I loved the fact that there was nothing that was implied. You get to see everything you want in the battles. Cool characters, crazy violence, blood, and plenty of tension. Slow motion and unique camera angles are used perfectly here. The slow motion is essential. It's the only way you can catch all the action going on. One guy flips an enemy over his shield and the guy behind him comes up and slices said enemy up. You really get a sense of the teamwork and strategies used by the Spartans. Also done well is the tone, color scheme, grit, grain, and overall feel. The water feels cold and the rocks seem sharp. I felt bad for the Spartans at the end of the first day. It was great to see the honor in the fighting. There were no sneak attacks or flanks done in the middle of the night. They left it on the field. Go to bed and meet again in the morning. Perfect! I'd go on about other little things but it's not essential to this review. I watched the trailer online again last night to see how it played and it really got me excited to see it again. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie that I wanted to go back to so badly. Seeing a movie that felt this way makes me wonder what it was like for my parents to have seen Star Wars 30 years ago. It's got mass appeal. Even my wife wants to go back. We're looking for excuses to go see it again.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Best Cinematic Experience in Years.

Nestea Enviga

I'm gonna review two of these at once. The first one I had was the "Berry" flavored tea. I purchased a 6 pack of the cans at Target for $5.99 last week. The first thing I realized was that the cans were not as big as I expected. The pictures and other print advertisements had me believing that the cans were the bigger 16 oz size that is very common in most energy drinks. Not the case. These are 12 ounce cans that are as big around as a Red Bull, only taller. Of course, the first thing I do is smell it when I opened it. Not too strong, however being that it is a "tea", I wouldn't expect much more than this. The flavor is nice. Kinda reminds me of specialty drink that you would get at a coffee shop or bookstore. There is very little aftertaste. I would liken this to an energy drink, which fits right in where Coca Cola wants this. I don't picture myself buying these one at a time at the store, especially if they end up around $1.50 or so. I'd rather get an energy drink or something else that I haven't tried. For a dollar, however, this is a good pickup. About a week after going through the Berry, I picked up a 6 pack of Peach from Target on sale for $5.50. Overall, I like the peach considerably more. Now, being that I am partial to peach flavored stuff, I will back up the statement with reasons. The second I opened it, I noticed it had a much stronger aroma to it. The taste is even stronger. This is something I would consider buying again individually. Would be great to have in the summer evenings when sitting out on the porch or stoop.

There has been some discussion as to whether or not you will actually burn calories from drinking it or not. Does it raise metabolism? Does it give me energy? Well, it gives me a little boost. Not great. I haven't had one of these with a meal. Instead, I usually have it about an hour or two after lunch with pretzels or a light snack. It doesn't matter to me what the studies about these drinks show. Everyone reacts differently to caffeine or taurine. These drinks do have a lot of caffeine. About 100 mg a can puts it up there with coffee drinks. One of the things I like best about Enviga is found on the back. Five total calories a can and the first ingredient is carbonated water. Aspartame is also listed as ingredient, but not high up. I don't worry too much about the effects of aspartame or Splenda. I don't have a high intake of either one of these. The one major ingredient I try to shy away from is high fructose corn syrup and it is nowhere to be found. if aspartame scares you, stay away from this one.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Nice hybrid drink. Good flavors.

Heroes (So Far)

Finally an episode that didn’t disappoint for me for an entire hour!

Let me start with some background. I have watched Heroes every week. I was fascinated with the commercials last summer and couldn’t wait to see what the deal was come fall. After the first two episodes I was hearing that this was the best show on television. It was already up on the levels of “Lost”. After two shows!? Maybe it was me. Maybe I was expecting just a little too much out of it. Maybe I started watching the show too deeply from the pilot. After another two or three episodes I began to grow tired a few things. To me, Mohinder is probably the most worthless character on the show, and quite possibly prime-time TV. Right behind him is Niki.

Let’s get my major gripes out of the way with the show. Down the road when I talk about the show, this will help you understand my content or lack thereof with certain episodes, characters, storylines, etc. To help, I have put together a few bullet points and questions I have regarding the show.

How much time is really passing for these characters? I know that early in the season we were given little snippets in conversations about when things will happen in the future. The problem is, sometimes the show feels like hours have passed when apparently it has been days. And conversely, days have passed when it feels like weeks. Tell me how Isaac can paint these pictures so quickly? We cut away from him for a little bit and then his entire studio is filled with new stuff. First of all, I have been playing with paint lately myself and I know already that you gotta let it dry somewhat before adding another layer. How long was Peter in Texas? When is Mohinder actually working on his project? All I see is guy running around talking about this research he’s doing. We never see it. According to the official Heroes website last week “Suresh tells Sylar that he's working on a way to inhibit the mutation that causes special abilities.” WHEN HAS HE BEEN DOING THIS?

How is it that Hiro’s dad is going to come all the way across the world to find him and then, after what seems like an hour two, be convinced to have his daughter run the business instead? The whole thing felt like it was setup to insert George Takei into the show as a nod to Star Trek and geekdom. What kind of therapist is gonna sit in a cell with Niki after seeing her dismantle guards and break night sticks? Clean up the writing a little bit.

What is the general direction of the show? Is it about people struggling with their powers/gifts? Is it to find out why they have these powers? Is it to “fight the bad guys” out there? Is there an end goal in sight?

Why do we keep seeing new characters when the originals aren’t developed well enough yet? Granted, some of these throwaways are there to help further the development of main characters. The problem is, we as an audience don’t know how much of ourselves to invest in said new person. Are they here for the duration? Are they gonna be dead by the end of this episode? Not enough development brings me to the next point…

OK! I GET IT! Niki is conflicted with herself! Hiro needs to find his sword! Ando doesn’t know if he is supposed to be tagging along and feels out of place! Claire doesn’t trust her dad! Peter needs to find someone to help him! He’s been having these terrible dreams about blowing up the city. Do you know how I know? He’s told everyone he’s come in contact with. Stop beating the horse. Move on. You are not developing anything. Up until “Company Man” last night, the show felt no further ahead than it did before the break.

Pick the tagline and stay with it. I don’t care if it goes all season long and I have to hear it 1,000 times. For crying out loud, we’ve already heard the crap about the cheerleader for 15 weeks. “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World”. “Are You on the List?” “Someone Will Fly, Someone Will Die”. Here’s one I just came up with while writing this article. Tell me what you think… “Shit or Get Off the Pot”…

I’ve never watched a show where I was able to predict dialogue quite like in this show. Either A) I have the talent needed to write for a Golden Globe caliber show, or B) The show is robbing a lot of people of a better show. There have been countless times this season where I have sighed or looked at my wife and said “Are you kidding me?” Written like a soap opera at times, this show borders on cliché far too many times for the cutting edge show it’s supposed to be.

Stop with the half-assed attempt to be sneaky. It’s too obvious. Like we didn’t see Micah coming out with some power(s). Right. Like we didn’t see Claire’s dad not being the seedy character he’s played all season. Right. Mark my words. Nathan Petrelli is a much bigger character than we believe him to be and it’s not because he’s Claire’s dad. Look at the promo picture up above. He’s at the forefront. You see Micah on there too? These things are called clues. Why would they bother putting him on there in the first place? Special power. Hmm. Who else is up there? Simone. Like I didn't see her coming back to life next week. Right.

So last night’s episode was actually good. Best one of the season in my opinion. What worked? First, it stuck with a few characters and that was it. Ding! It furthered the current storyline while giving the viewers some much needed backstory. Ding! It introduced characters and we knew whether or not to care for them. The ending was a nice surprise. Music, dialogue, and the idea of “What is gonna happen next?” actually have me excited to see next week’s show. I don’t feel as obligated to watch anymore. What else is working for the show right now? How about the “real” hidden stuff. Like the symbol on the book Mohinder’s dad wrote. It’s EVERYWHERE. Look for it. Here’s a quick rundown of some places to check.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Better Make Their Minds Up