Cloverfield Movie Review

I'm not intending to write a spoiler, but if you're like me where watching a trailer can be too much info, just stop reading. It's OK.

Alright, with that over with, on to my thoughts. Well, Jessi and I saw Cloverfield last night with a friend. My first observation was about the demographics inside the theater. I don't think there was anyone older than 30 and Jessi was one of three or four girls out of 100ish - and they all sat alone with another guy. After the movie, I think the right people saw it: There is a lot of shaking, action, not much dialog, and is over just as fast as it starts. I'm sure it'll make a perfect video game someday.

The biggest deal was the end. I won't say there was ZERO closure, but let's just say I left wanting more of an explanation. The first person narrative is cool, but it's obvious there's a back story going on and we don't learn any of it. If you're OK with that, enjoy. Think of it this way, the movie is about the characters and their struggles - NOT about the events taking place. In that sense, the movie ended really well. Unfortunately, we've all gotten used to movies like Titanic which is obviously about a single couple, but the movie goes above and beyond to explain everything else.

Jessi did have a good idea once we got out. She suggested they make a sequel picking up where the film ended and treating it like a "normal" movie. In other words, explain everything. From a business standpoint I loved this idea. They have a bunch of people asking questions and looking for a resolution. If they can put a cool twist on the story, I think they could easily make a lot of money again, and make everyone happy. AND make a lot more money.

Oh, just in case you have seen the movie and are looking for just a little more closure, J. J. Abrams has a blog about it. I specifically like his cloverfield production notes, but the whole site helps to fill in the story. See, that wasn't too bad of a spoiler.

A New Project

I've began dabbling in a new project. A friend at work, who's stated 2008 goal is to "own a patent", approached me with a web application idea after a few minutes of joking around with "wouldn't it be cool if..." statements. Now, I can't tell you too much, because A) we might patented it and B) I'd have to kill you, but here's the basic idea:

We're both avid Google Reader users with many (many!) feeds which produce upwards of 200 posts a day. Sometimes I'm not sure how I actually get anything done. As a result of all of these feeds, our reader ends up with two types of junk. The first type are stories we just don't care about. The second are repeat stories. There are alternatives out there that semi-fix these problems, but no definitive solution to fix both problems. Our guess is that over time readers will become more main stream AND more and more people will have the same problem we have.

So, instead of sitting around waiting for an existing reader to solve these problems, we're going to try our hand at our own. It probably won't be as slick as Google Reader, but we're sure it'll be fun trying to come up with a creative solution. By the way, if you happen to know of another program that solves this problem, give me a shout out because I really don't need to invent this wheel again.

Chloraseptic

I have many things to be thankful for, and today, in the wee hours of the morning, I am thankful for Chloraseptic Soar Throat Spray. Yep, I got bitten by the bug yesterday and pulled out my usual arsenal of symptom fighting heroes. I'm not a doctor, so I won't make any recommendations on how to treat a cold, but I use Dimetapp and Robitussin as a nice combo. Those seem to work for me, which I like. I also usually carry with me a bottle of Chloraseptic Spray to numb the throat pain while the other meds do their thing. Unfortunately though, I was out of Chloraseptic Spray, but had plans to get them the next morning.

At 12:30 I was tired of tossing and turning, the cause of which was my sore throat. I did the usual debate: stay in bed and live with the pain or actually wake up and fix the problem. I'm sure we've all had this internal discussion with going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Inevitably, I decided to make the trip to WinCo and buy some Chloraseptic spray. Good thing they're open 24 hours. I'm sure the person at the checkout stand knew exactly what was happening, since I also took this opportunity to stock up on my other favorite medicines and tissues.

On the drive home, I bubbled with excitement because I knew relief was only a couple sprays away. At one point I couldn't wait any longer and grabbed the bottle. I was driving (I'll admit it), so it took a while to get the wrapper off, which just prolonged my excitement. With all the wrapping gone, I smiled and released a laugh in the air - I was about to win. I cocked my hand and opened wide. One pump, two pump - air. Three pump, four pump - air again. Then, with the next pumps I felt the cool liquid land on the back of my throat. It had a burning, yet cool sensation. It's much like a deep tissue massage or stretching early in the morning. It's a good kind of pain that you kind of always wish there was more of. I swallowed and a refreshing tingle ran all the way down my spin. My discomfort was gone and now I can go to sleep.