I knew there was a reason I stopped going to see movies in theaters. Tonight I went to see We Are Marshall and had my seat repeatedly bumped and/or kicked. Had an idiot in front of us that used his cell phone for either telling time or looking at text messages no less than 5 times along with insisting on eating all the ice in his cup. And then the theater decided that they weren't going to dim the lights until a good 30 minutes into the movie. If you want us to spend money at the theater, make it a better experience.

When I can be at home and watch HD-DVDs on a 60" screen sitting in a couch, drinking whatever I want without someone kicking my chair, without having to worry about lights, without having idiots with cell phones, and with possibly better audio, why go to the theater?

As for the movie, it was a bit slow for the first hour, featured little game footage but lots of emotion, and was just so-so in my opinion. It wasn't horrible, but it definitely isn't really a movie I need to see again. I'll probably go into more depth at a later date.

URL: We Are Marshall (2006)

Oooh, a new Blogger. We'll see how this works.

Oh yeah, all is working now with the home theater. TV, D-Link MediaLounge, Wii, HD-DVD. It's all perfect.

And there she is...the new home theater system. HTD Level 3 center speaker, Sony 60A2000. Shelf 1: Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player, Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD Cable Box. Shelf 2: Belkin PureAV PF60 Power Regulator with D-Link Media Lounge HD atop, Denon 2307CI Receiver, Nintendo Wii. Watched The Interpreter on HD-DVD tonight. Absolutely gorgeous. Sound was top-notch, picture amazing.

They asked at AVS Forum, here's my reply. My HD-DVDs are stored far, far away from my regular DVDs. Behind glass. Under lock and key. Watched The Interpreter tonight. The bus explosion rocked the house. I love my new system.



URL: how do you store your HD-DVDs?

I'm usually not a fan of anything "Monster" (other than Monster energy drinks). Their cables are vastly overpriced for what you get and they are just able to charge the huge markup due to the name - which the major stores have bought into since the bigger the markup, the more profit for the stores.

However, after trying to thread some 12 AWG speaker wire into my new receiver, I ran into problems. It was just too thick. It could have been done, but just not easily. So I bought some banana clips from Monoprice.com. However, the clips haven't arrived yet (probably will today...I'm just impatient) and they are coupled together - which probably will work, but I didn't want to take the chance (or wait).

So I went to Fry's and checked what they had. They did have a set of four banana clips from another maker, and I did buy those since they were $13 instead of Monster's $20, but they only had one set. So for the front three speakers, I broke down and spent another $10 per speaker to get banana clips from Monster. So after I installed the "cheap" banana speakers for my surround units, I moved on to the new speaker wire (found some great wire in a Navajo color, so it blends with my baseboards - the front towers are not wired into the walls like the surrounds are). I stripped it down and then went about installing the Monster banana clips. And boy, these things are a pleasure to work with.

Whereas the "cheap" (they were of good quality, just a different type) banana clips had you threading the wire through the side and clamping it down, the Monster clips go on as an "end" of sorts so you have wire coming out of the back, rather than the side. You just thread the speaker wire through, fan it out at the end, screw on the connector, and they're ready. Plugging in all the banana clips into my receiver, the Monster clips were extremely easy to connect and you didn't have to worry about wires poking out the sides. So, while pricey, they are well worth every penny and for a 5.1 setup, the $50 you spend on the banana clips will save you hours of frustration when trying to work with the receiver in a tight spot. Plus, you can easily plug them in and unplug them, so if you ever need to move the receiver or speakers, it's very simple.

At first, I balked at the price when I checked BestBuy.com. But then since Fry's had them for the same price, I just bit the bullet and I'm glad I did. As for wires and cables though, Monoprice.com is still the best for high quality cables at a good price. Case in point: 6 foot HDMI cable at Monoprice: $17.93. Monster.com: $250.

URL: Monster Cable: QuickLock™ Gold Banana Connectors For Easy Self Crimping Terminations