iPhone Wanted

So apparently, AT&T has taken it upon themselves to screw over all of their current customers who would like to upgrade to the new iPhone, charging double the amount of what it would cost a new user...

There goes my plan of getting a new iPhone.

On to plan B...
Would anybody like to sell me their old iPhone? I will pay $200, and you should be able to use that to upgrade to the new 3G phone at no additional cost to you!

Just let me know if you're interested...

Weekend at the Movies...

Uncharacteristically, I actually saw two new releases this week (neither of which I paid for). One I would love to go see again, while the other one I would never recommend to anyone.

Wall*e
As always, Pixar did an incredible job with this movie. Beautiful animation, fun story, awesome characters... A few things I noticed:

• Plot at times reminded me of Idiocracy (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
• The startup sound Wall*e makes just happens to be the Mac startup sound
• Eve was designed based on inspiration from Jonathan Ive, the designer of the iMac and iPod.

Overall, an excellent movie, and one I would gladly go see again, if anyone wants to. I'll even buy my own ticket.

Wanted
Supposed to be a fun, action packed movie based on an organization of assassins and their new recruit. I had many problems with this:

• I didn't mind the absurd car chases and stunts which bent the laws of physics just too look cool...
• I could even overlook the superhero-type powers that masquerade as anxiety attacks in people, but in reality cause your heart to beat at 400 beats/minute while slowing down time.
• I would have even been able to overlook the ability to curve bullets in a circle, had they given any explaination for it at all (they didn't).
• But when your entire plot depends on taking orders from a loom (that's right, a giant weaving machine that makes squares of cloth), well, that's when it starts getting bizarre.

In reality, this was the same type of movie as Shoot 'em Up, only instead of killing people with carrots, they used exploding mice. Maybe worth renting after many shots of tequila, but otherwise, I wouldn't waste your money.

Open Letter to Blockbuster

Dear Blockbuster,

If what we have been told is true, we will definitely be canceling our blockbuster policy...

We have been a blockbuster member for over 4 years now. We were members of your all-you-can rent program when you had it up until we switched to your online program. We have kept some movies past due, but always paid either the $1.25 late fee or the full price (assuming we kept it out too late). We have, in short, been good customers.

Tonight we were refused service by the store in Tucker GA.

They claimed that we had to have a credit or debit card on file to rent movies, even though we haven't had that available to you in several years. I remember a time when a utility bill was all you needed on file. This store refused to help us, and we would up going home empty handed, which, let me tell you, is VERY frustrating.

There is a very good reason we do not want you to have a credit card on file. Years ago we tried that, and quite honestly, it was an awful experience. We would have charges made to our accounts only days after renting movies. When we returned them, we supposedly had them credited back, but the amounts were always different, and there was absolutely no way of telling what we were being charged for and why. We actually found times when our account was charged, and when we asked about it, found that the movie we supposedly purchased was sitting on the store shelf! With no way to track charges and credits, there's no way I am allowing you to access my credit or debit accounts.

Unfortunately, after only a little research online, I have seen that this is not a remote occurrence. Consistently I have seen complaints about blockbuster's charging policies, from being unable to track accounts to being charged for services not rendered, to being not refunded when refunds are due. This is a serious thorn in blockbusters reputation, and something that definitely needs to be cleared up if you want to keep your customers.

As for me? I would like to stay a blockbuster customer, but not without all of these issues that come with these billing headaches. If this is your actual policy, I believe it is an awful and legally questionable path to take, and I will not accept it. If there is another way I can remain a blockbuster customer, I would be glad to hear it. Otherwise, you will lose both my business and my recommendation.

Please respond as soon as you can.

Sincerely,
Kevin Kurz

-----------------------------------

I submitted this letter to Blockbuster corporate last night... When/If I get a response, I will be sure to post it.

Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a case of a company simply not caring. A fix for this would be simple; yet it has been several years, and there are still issues with this process; just google for blockbuster complaints.

Gun Control Bill Signed!

With Perdue's signature, restaurant patrons will be permitted to carry a firearm, but would be barred from drinking while doing so. Violations would be a misdemeanor. Concealed weapons will now be allowed in state — and by extension — local parks. Firearms in purses or under jackets will also be permitted on public transportation.

You might hear the media bash this new law over the next few days, weeks, or months. In reality, this is just one step closer to individual safety. As pointed out many times before, by writers better than myself, this law does not affect criminals. A mugger or rapist won't care if a law says he can or cannot carry a gun on MARTA. However, now, a concerned citizen can. What will the criminals do when they realize there's a much greater chance they could loose their life now if they try to mug someone on MARTA?

If I were a criminal, I'd find safer ground. It's not worth the chance that someone will pull their concealed weapon and shoot you between the eyes...

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/05/14/bills_0515.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

A whole new light...

So yesterday, Bob Barr announced he would be running for the Presidency under the Libertarian party. I don't know how much pull he is going to have, but I wonder if this will lead people to realize that this is no longer a two party race... Quite honestly, I'm surprised we haven't seen more people step up and challenge the chosen contenders. I mean, right now, your choices are Hillary, Obama, and McCain, and, not to piss anyone off, but in all seriousness, these are all bad choices. With Barr throwing his hat into the running, I wonder how many others will do the same before November? I just hope we don't get in a situation like they had in California many years ago, with 100+ candidates running...

Blogger widget? No Way!

In other news, I just got a blogger widget to go on my OS X dashboard, so posting to this site should be just that much easier!

Hopefully, this will mean a significant increase in posts for the future!

On Christians and Hypocrasy

The only way to regain our footing is to remind ourselves - and others - that an authentic Christian is simply someone who has made the decision to believe in Jesus as his forgiver and then attempt to follow him as his leader. But nowhere in this series of events is perfection or sinlessness. Rather, there is simply the intentional effort and sincere desire to recognize God as, well, God.

And then we must convey that to the world. Authentically. I am reminded of the words of the great nineteenth-century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who wrote in a personal letter,

Attack me, I do this myself, but attak me rather than the path I follow and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side!

from the book unchristian, page 66

Things you learn every day...

So I was trying to make some VERY fake money for a party one of my friends is having, and of course, the first thing I did was to download an image of money to use as a template. To my surprise, when I open it in Adobe Photoshop, I get the following message:


Now, is this something that was added to this file, or is Photoshop so incredibly smart that it can automatically spot a dollar bill?
Either way, it was a very interesting message that I've never seen before...

script frenzy

For those of you who don't know, last November I spent every night writing, with the goal of writing an entire novel within one month. The result? I know can say that I have officially written a novel, albeit a poorly written one. This was all part of an effort fondly known as Nanowrimo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month.

Well, the organization behind nanowrimo.com also encourages everyone to write a script or screenplay, and, as before, the goal is to finish a rough draft in one month. Therefore, I have put on my thinking cap, and am hard at work trying to come up with a suitable plot for a script. I will probably write for the screen, rather than the stage, but either way, it should be fun.

If you would like to join me, or if you already have signed up, my name, on both nanowrimo.com and scriptfrenzy.com, is redarmadillo; feel free to add me as your friend!

Maybe once the month is over, I will post the screenplay for comments.

Obama

I don't know why, but the guy just scares me. Maybe it's because he's too smooth, too likable. Maybe it's because he's a lead candidate in a presidential election, and yet he became a Senator only two years ago.
So I went to his website. And then I realized what it was that scared me about him.
All of his programs are just so... grandiose. If he gets elected, there will be no more wars, homeless, poor, needy... America will become a Utopia. And it looks good. It sounds good. But then I began to notice certain words spring up.

• Invest.
• Provide.
• Double.
• Create.
• Increase.
• Raise.
• Credit.
• Expand.
• Develop.

All of these words are specifically tied to money and programs (if you don't believe me, visit his website and look under 'Poverty'). My question is simple: Where is that money going to come from? All of his investing, his increasing, his expanding... it has to come from somewhere, right?
Unfortunately, this is the problem. To support all of these programs, Obama will raise taxes on the 'filthy-rich', he will increase payroll taxes on everyone, including the middle class, and he will cut our economy off at the knees.
This is not the way to help this country grow.
In reality, if this method of thinking continues, why work at all? It would be much easier to let the government take care of you than to work your butt off, just to have it taken away...