Best Buy

Product
2011

Note: minor tirade ahead...

Normally I'd be reviewing an actual product, however in the age of big box stores the specialty stores - like record shops, appliance stores, computer and electronic stores  - are disappearing on a daily basis. Since these behemoths like Best Buy, Walmart and Target force our consumer hand I thought I'd chime in on Best Buy itself.

There's a lot to like about Best Buy as we all know. One stop shopping for any number of gadgets is convenient. Notice I didn't say convenient and simple. Over the last year alone I've had numerous experiences at Best Buy where I became livid.

As you well know we've all been pitched the extended warranties or services by every kind of retailer, but Best Buy has taken it to the next level. That's not necessarily what my gripe is about. Said service should have taken the burden of uncertainty out of the picture not add to it.

I bought a new dishwasher and having no truck, van or station wagon I was going to need it delivered. No problem Best Buy can handle that. The choice was to take a day off work and wait for the delivery man or pay $50 to get the "you pick the time" service - or I could wait through 2 weekends because they were booked on the weekends.

A few days later I get a call from the delivery service saying they would be by on Tues at 2PM. But I'll be at work, I said. I told them I thought I'd bought the right to have them come 6PM when it was convenient for me. We can't do that, they said. Hackles up!

The long and short of it - they don't offer that service anymore, but by golly their system took the money and no one batted an eye. Eventually 2 weekends later I got the dishwasher and my account was credited. All was well, but Best Buy had one strike.

Next I bought a new laptop and was of course given the Geek Squad service pitch. No thanks, I said, I can do it myself. So at home I spent hours setting it up, getting the pictures, music, files, programs and games loaded. Finally done I rebooted as required by some of the programs I loaded. The thing came up with a Best Buy app (trying to sell more $#@#% services), but the app would not close and nothing would make it go away and nothing else would run either - the Best Buy app held the computer hostage. Hackles up!!

A call to store had the response of bring it back, we'll give you a new one. Umm, no, I just spent hours setting this one up. Then they said you'll just have to call Geek Squad. Can't you just get one of them on the phone, I asked, they work in the little shop right behind you. Sorry, you have to call the 1-800 number. Reluctantly I did.

1-800-GEEKSQUAD got me a menu and then the most God-awful hold music I've ever heard. Call Center 101 says your hold music should be soothing because the customer MIGHT be irate. By the time the geek answered I was spitting nickels. After lengthy discussion where I suggested I boot into safe-mode and run msconfig and pull it out of the Start-Up tab (if he would just give me the name of the executable). Better yet I said how about I just uninstall the program altogether. He said no - I would void the in-store (short term) bring it back warranty. He said I'd have to bring it back to the store.

In the end the geek squad tech at the store booted the laptop into safe-mode and uninstalled the offending app. It was over in ten minutes, but my rage wasn't.

Recently I went with my father-inlaw to get him a new computer. We picked out a model and were just about close the deal when the pitch for Geek Squad services came up. My father-inlaw said, what would I need that for I've got a geek right here (pointing to me). I said the manufacturer does give it a one year on defective parts, right? The salesmen began to hem and haw - sometimes yes, sometimes no. Hackles up!!!

It's up to the manufacturer whether they'll send a new part, a Geek Squad contract guarantees it. Wait a minute under what circumstances would the manufacturer refuse to replace a hard drive or a power supply or a DVD player or a flipping motherboard if it was bad. He said they won't cover wear and tear. WEAR and TEAR on a computer! This young salesman lost the sale.

We ended up at a different Best Buy and found a salesman who either blew smoke up our asses or determined right away that I knew what I was talking about. He said all the right things and he made the sale. (This was of course after Dell Computers was called and we verified they stood behind their one year warranty without question).

Christmas season is approaching and Best Buy will do great business again. If I walk through their doors it will be because Target or Walmart will not have what I'm looking for.


2 of 5 stars


CW

Matt Nathanson (Live)

Music
2011

Matt Nathanson popped onto the music scene a few years ago with a delightful little ditty called "Come On Get Higher" and has been a favorite on a local radio station in these parts called Cities 97. Matt is, however, far more than a one hit wonder. He's a fine songwriter and a tremendous performer. He is out on tour now supporting his new album called "Modern Love". He's been touring with Maroon 5 and Train this summer as well as headlining his own shows in smaller venues.

We had the chance to see him at the MN State Fair as a warm up act for Maroon 5. He certainly did himself no harm in front of a full house a the State Fair Grandstand. The audience assembled for Maroon 5 was generous and appreciative, but he played only 7 songs. It was a little disappointing to have his set cut so short.

As luck would have it we found that he was headlining a Oct 14th show at Madison Wisconsin's Capitol Theater so we bought tickets a booked a hotel. What a great show!

The concert featured the new album heavily, which was to be expected. Yet, I thought the best, most energetic performances were the handful he did from his breakout album Some Mad Hope. The songs "Wedding Dress" "The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts" "Come On Get Higher" and "All We Are" were pitch perfect.

Matt is also very funny. His show is sprinkled with smart and sometimes racy humor. He could easily do stand up comedy. He had the audience (lots of young women) eating out of his hands. He is known for his comedic skills when he does acoustic sets in very small venues.

My only real disappointment was that he did not play my favorite Matt Nathanson song "Car Crash". Oh well, maybe next time. Oh yes, there will be a next time!

4 of 5 stars

CW

The Ides of March

Movie
2011

First let me note that this movie featured fine performances by top tier talent. George Clooney played the Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate with just the right calmness and grace of someone in the game at that level. Phillip Seymor Hoffman was once again simply outstanding as was Paul Giamatti playing rival campaign managers. These two in particular, have they ever given a bad performance? What can you say about Ryan Gosling, he was just great.

Here comes the however, however, the script, the story, was run of the mill political intrigue, absolutely nothing new. It only solidified what all of us already know - politics is soulless and cut throat.

The story was completely predictable - in fact my wife whispered in my ear every plot twist as if it was a freight train barreling across the Great Plains. Even the moralizing speeches that Governor Morris (Clooney) sprinkled throughout might as well have been the same speeches given by Michael Douglas in "The American President" back in '95. "You know how we fight terrorism?" he asks. "We stop buying their product, their product is oil. Stop buying oil!" Umm, OK, what you gonna put in those big SUV's and that campaign bus you're driving all over the country Governor? This was just one of the nauseating boiler plate liberal quips - and there were a lot more.

The young intern played by Evan Rachel Wood was a bit of a cliche. She's a fine young actor, but the role, the role the whole movie pivots on, was weak. A 20 year old daughter of a political family caught up in the idealism of a hope and change campaign and all she could think to do with herself was spread her legs.

I'm not saying The Ides of March wasn't a good movie or that it wasn't well done, it was, both... I'm saying it was nothing new, we learn absolutely nothing. In the end you have to wonder how everyone involved with such things doesn't end up truly despising themselves.

3 of 5 stars

CW

Chaos Theory

Movie
2008

Retro-Review

I was striking out in the new release section at Blockbuster (you remember Blockbuster, right) so I wandered into the main section looking for something, anything to bring home. I happened across a lonely DVD with Ryan Reynolds picture on it called Chaos Theory. I like Reynolds so I grabbed it thinking it might not suck and then completely forgot about it. I ended up taking it back to Blockbuster unwatched. Sometime later - same scenario - found me looking at the same DVD and thought, what the heck, I may even watch it this time. I did. What started as a movie pick out of sheer boredom turned out to be one of my favorite movies of all time - and no one has heard of it.

Chaos Theory peers into the life of an obsessively organized time efficiency expert whose life is thrown into pure chaos by a single act of misguided love by his wife. He is forced to examine the deeper meaning of love and forgiveness.

The movie begins with a wedding scene where Frank (Reynolds) catches his future son-in-law sneaking out the back and makes him stop long enough to hear his story about what it means to love.

The story takes us back to the day Frank and Susan get together and then fast forwards to a point in time when Frank is a successful time efficiency expert whose life and clock is ruled by his ever present index cards. His wife mistakenly moves the clock behind 10 minutes to give him a little breathing room and break his rigidity, but of course this sets off a series of cascading events as he misses the ferry boat that was take him into the city for his lecture on time management.

From this point Frank's life gets turned upside down as he learns things that would bring into question everything he thought he knew about his beautifully organized life. What sounds like a tragedy is downright hilarious. Reynolds does a great job transforming a character whose rigid devotion to the clock becomes a unpredictable rebel.

The role of Susan played by Emily Mortimer is convincingly angry/sad and contrite as the story evolves. Frank's best friend Buddy Endrow (Stuart Townsend) is motivated by his life long yearning for Susan as he moves in to try to pick up the pieces of Frank's abandoned life.

In the end the story is touching and lovely - and hilarious. I loved this movie.

The soundtrack is also really good, floating passively under well placed scenes of emotion and revelation. Several of the songs played by a group called the Damnwells fill-in the transformational scenes beautifully. The songs "Graceless" and "Tonight and Forever" will stick with you long after the final credits.

I'm not sure how or why this movie was missed. Ryan Reynolds had already been a well known movie star and should have given this fun and touching movie some credibility. Well, now you know - check it out!


5 of 5 stars


CW

New Girl

TV Show (comedy)
2011

New Girl is a new series that started in September 2011. I've caught two episodes and so far I'm luke warm... I have always been a fan of Zooey Deschanel as a movie star. I thought she was just perfect in her role in the "500 Days of Summer" a few years ago, as she was in the stylized remake of the Wizard of Oz called the "Tin Man". It's fitting that she had a role in a movie called "Flakes" in 2007 since that's exactly what her character is in the New Girl.

There is weird and off putting that's weird, and then there's weird and off putting that's also sweet. The New Girl is the former. Deschanel plays goofy but adorable Jess, a 20 something woman just off a bad break up who finds herself rooming with 3 single guys. She's awkward, vulnerable and completely honest. She's the type that says whatever comes to her mind no matter the situation, no matter the appropriateness. Jess is balanced by her drop-dead gorgeous friend Cece who is wise in the way of the world and men. She seems bound to protect Jess from herself and her roommates.

The show is billed as a comedy about the sexual politics of men and women, but then which show isn't, really? Let's hope it's clever and not just cheap and ultimately meaningless.

Like many new shows, particularly comedies, it may take a while for the show to find it's groove. They can either go for goofy/weird or goofy/sweet - Deschanel can do either. Nick, Schmidt an Winston, the supporting characters will take some time to grow as well. The supporting cast can make a so-so comedy into a smash - consider Joey on "Friends" the only reason to watch that show, or Frank Burns from the original cast of "Mash" and, of course, Niles Crane from "Frasier".

I'll probably give this show a few more looks and we'll see if it finds it's legs. I personally like situation comedies and cop dramas and so forth and would like to see more of them and less reality shows. I just can't get into talent shows, big losers or housewives of anywhere. Here's hoping New Girl works out well.

2 of 5 stars

CW