The Emoji Movie was rated by many as the worst movie of 2017, and some made it out to be even worse than that. It scored a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes.
But despite all that I still wanted to watch it. And while not the best movie, it wasn’t as terrible as I was led to believe.
Every emoji has its one purpose and job in life. Some are simply poop, a calendar, a cookie, or an ice cream cone. But when you are a face, you need to keep up appearances, and always show the face you are built for.
Our main character Gene (T.J. Miller) is “meh”, but has a lot of trouble sticking to it. He laughs, he cries, he feels regular emotions and can’t hold back from showing them.
When Gene gets chosen to join the emoji list, he malfunctions and shows a slew of emotions, and gets scheduled for deletion from the emoji world. As he escapes deletion he meets up with Hi-5 (James Corden) and they head to the Wallpaper to try and find a hacker named Jailbreak (Anna Faris) for reprogramming, to help make him the emoji he is supposed to be. In the wallpaper they travel thru apps, from Facebook to WeChat, and Candy Crush to Just Dance.
The list of celebrties voicing in this movie is long, including: Patrick Stewart (poop), Christina Aguilera, Rachael Ray, Sofia Vergara, Sean Hayes, and Jeff Ross (the Roastmaster General as an Internet Troll).
Despite Corden trying his hardest to keep it entertaining, this movie does disappoint, and can barely eke out a 5 out of 10.
Well, yesterday, February 12th, NYC officially launched on their website, and in anticipation of it I signed up a few weeks ago, and so far have not been disappointed.
The website does well at giving small stories and keeping you up to date on the going-ons of your teams, but I think they really hit it out of the park on their longform stories, or what they refer to as Ink.
My favorite has been from a reporter, Scott Wheeler, who spent a three-game, three-day, road trip with the ECHL’s Brampton Beast, traveling by bus during the NorthEast’s bomb cyclone. If this article showed up in Sports Illustrated it would take up 10+ pages.
BTW, if you sign up through this link to read the article, you will get 25% off!!
Another good read is the Ken Rosenthal article on Rich Dauer, the Houston Astros first base coach, who almost died during the Astros World Series victory parade. The race to save his life, amid the unkowning crowds celebration, and the luck of doctors.
Once again, if you sign up through this link to read the article, you will get 25% off!!
As for the New York section, they have gone all out and scooped up some of the best NY has to offer. Some of the people joining the team:
Marc Carig (Newsday) and Lindsey Adler (Deadspin) will be covering the Yankees and Mets
Shayna Goldman covering the Rangers – And she dropped a heavy #s article focusing on Brady Skjei for her first piece (LINK HERE)
I’m not gonna lie. Coming up with something to write about every day is not easy. Sometimes I end up with a really bad post…and sometimes I filibuster, like this post here.
But when I look back and realize that I’ve been writing one of these every single day since May 5th, 2014. That’s almost four years. And more than 900 posts.
And throughout it all, I’ve tried to keep close tabs on my reviews, in the menus above, and can you imagine if someone would actually read all those reviews? And there are a lot of them:
Books = 15+
Movies = 55+
Music = 15+
Tech = 15+
Travels = 40+
TV Shows = 110+
Video Games = 25+
Clearly, I favor TV shows, with over a hundred different shows and seasons covered, almost as many as books, movies, music, and video games combined.
I don’t really know why I take the time to write these…it’s not like anyone reads them…it’s more like I feel like I’ve committed myself to something, and I want to continue to see it thru.
Not like there’s anything else going on for me to do.
People are pretty particular about their coffee. Some people like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, some people like Nescafe or Sanka, and other people need that perfect pour over.
But making that cup of pour over coffee can be a hassle. You need to have the special cup to drip the coffee through, need a fresh filter to line your cup, and of course you need the fresh grounds on hand.
But what if you could have it all, in a disposable, easy to transport, little cardboard pouch. And that’s just what Dripkit is.
A perfect cup of coffee anytime, anywhere.
No grinding or measuring needed. Just rip off the seal tab, place the pouch over your cup, and add hot water.
Their website, Dripkit.coffee, went live yesterday, and you can order them now, in boxes of 10. This initial batch of coffee is from Guatemala, and then roasted and packaged in Brooklyn.
My co-workers, who are coffee snobs, devoured my initial 10-pack, and yup…I’ve already gone and ordered my second pack.
Everyone knows PayPal. Everyone knows Venmo. Apple Pay. Google Wallet. But does everyone know Zelle?
Transferring money digitally has become a way of life, especially for millennials, and why wouldn’t it be? It’s much easier to click a few buttons and send your friend $5, then to take the money out of your wallet, and then have to go to an ATM to refill the wallet.
But the banks aren’t such a fan of PayPal and Venmo. Why should PayPal be allowed to make money off your money transfer? Why should Venmo make 3% on all your Credit Card transactions? And if you want to quickly withdraw money from Venmo…you can have it in 1-3 days, for a fee of course.
A lot of banks have had internal transfers for years. Chase QuickPay. Citi PopMoney. But finally, the banks have all gotten on the same page and put up a front against the outsiders making money.
And that answer is Zelle. Zelle allows you immediate transfers of money within the network, with real-time cash transactions, at no fee to any of the users.
You just need to be part of the evergrowing network. And that network is pretty substantial, including Chase Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo, among others.
And transferring money is as simple as putting in the person’s email address or phone number, regardless their bank, and voila, your money will quickly disappear…or the request will go thru for that person to send you that long owed IOU.
For years I’ve been using the ESPN app to get notifications on all my teams. From top stories to score updates, the app was always there with the data I needed.
But it was during MLS Decision Day last season that I started to realize the app wasn’t cutting it anymore. As I waited for notifications on how the other teams were doing, the guy next to me kept getting the information minutes before I did. When I asked him what app he was using, he told me theScore.
But after that I didn’t think of it again, until the last few weeks, when the ESPN app stopped giving me all updates for the events. Games would go from 0-0 to 2-0, without any updates in between. So I decided it was time to cut ties with ESPN and move on over to theScore.
theScore was very simple to set up, and from Day 1 it is proving to be better than ESPN:
Updates very quickly after they happen in game
A live feed of news stories, pulled from Twitter and the likes, with videos. And unlike the ESPN app, there are no ads before the videos, since they are coming off social media
A cleaner interface for managing your notifications from each sport and event
I can’t believe it’s been a year since the last #BellLetsTalk day, and despite being a Canadian initiative, I have a closer connection to the cause each year.
Bell Canada, the phone company of the Canadians, is donating 5 cents today for every Tweet using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag or watches their video (below). It’s the 8th year that they are doing this movement, and while I think it’s only a drop in the bucket in terms of awareness, every single way to reach out to people is important.
At the bottom of this post, I have all the ways you can get Bell to give money to the cause today.
Bell is working on the Canadian front, and they have donated over $86M to this point, since starting the campaign in 2010. They have four pillars that they focus on:
Anti-Stigma – Leading the charge to overcome the stigma attached to suffering from mental illnesses #EndTheSitgma
Care & Access – Money going to hospitals and universities that help provide support where needed
Research
Workplace Health – Adopting the voluntary Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace
There is a multitude of ways that you can do simple tasks that lead to Bell donating more to the cause, and not costing you anything:
Text Messages — For every text by Bell Canada, Bell Alliant, and Bell MTS customers
Calls — Every call made by Bell Canada, Bell Alliant, and Bell MTS customers
Twitter — Watching the video above or using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag
Instagram — Watch the Bell Let’s Talk Day video
Facebook — Watch the video or use the Bell Facebook Frame
Snapchat — Use the Bell filter
As of this posting, there are already over 5 Million impressions.
Some books stand out on their own, and others are good because of the series they are a part of. But the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child is one mold in which different cookies keep getting cut out of.
Midnight Line is the 22nd book in the series, and fits pefectly along the mold…let me explain the main parts of a Jack Reacher book: It’ll be in 1st or 3rd person, that doesn’t change it; Reacher will head into a new town, as he makes his lonely journey throughout America; He will stumble into some sort of murder, mystery, confusion, that will leave him wanting to know more, because he’s a curious guy; There will be a girl, who he will find cute and want to bed; And of course, Jack will bash some heads in, usually with his bare hands.
But despite everything being so clear cut, Lee Child still manages to make these books super enjoyable, wanting you to take the journey and find out exactly how Reacher will get things done this time.
This time Jack has stumbled upon a West Point ring in a pawn shop, and he knows that no one would willingly give theirs up. This leads him on a search of its owner and finds an investigator looking for her as well as her twin sister. And let’s not forget the laundromat owner who is just aching for a ride in the commercial sized dryer.
I always give ratings to my reviews…but it’s sometimes harder on books…but I’ll give this an 8 out of 10.
The 60th Grammys are on January 28th this year, the week BEFORE the Super Bowl, so as not to compete with the Olympics in February, and it will be from Madison Square Garden in NYC, the first time out of Los Angeles since 2003.
The event will also honor Jay-Z and Alicia Keys (among others), and will be hosted by James Corden who is everywhere these days.
As I like to do, here are my extremely wrong Grammy picks, based on who I would vote for if they were stupid enough to give me a vote…
I have only done categories in which I know enough of the music to choose from:
Record of the Year — Despacito by Luis Fonsi feat. Justin Bieber — I can’t stand this song, but it is the best of the worst…Although I would love to see a Childish Gambino upset win!
The nominees this year are a heavy mix, thanks to online voting, and to me this is a weak group…but mostly because it’s not my type of music.
Album of the Year — 4:44 by Jay-Z — Jay is getting honored this year, and he may walk away with this honor as well.
I hope that Lorde doesn’t win this…or much of anything this year.
Song of the Year — Issues by Julia Michaels — She is the underrated artist of the year, and her one fight for me would be 1-800-273-8255 by Alessia Cara.
Best New Artist — Alessia Cara — I have been a huge fan of hers since Here in 2015, and while Julia Michaels, SZA, and Khalid all had huge years, I hope Alessia walks away with the hardware.
Best Pop Solo Performance — Praying by Kesha — This category has five legitimate contenders, but that high note that Kesha hits (you know which one I’m talking about) will power her through.
Pink’s What About Us, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You, Lady Gaga’s Million Reasons, and Kelly Clarkson’s Love So Soft round out the amazing category.
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — Stay by Zedd and Alessia — There’s something about the Pop category this year that is just super strong. Imagine Dragon’s Thunder, Chainsmokers’ Something Just Like This, Despacito, and even Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man make the choice here hard.
Except for my love of Alessia’s voice…
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album — In Full Swing by Seth MacFarlane — Come on Seth!! Bring one home for Family Guy!
Best Pop Vocal Album — Rainbow by Kesha — ÷ by Ed Sheeran was my leading favorite for a really long time, until I listened to Rainbow again this week and reminded myself how good it was. Ed’s album came out 12 months ago, and it has worn out just a little. All the nominees were great this year, as Imagine Dragons, Lady Gaga, and Coldplay round out the group.
Best Rock Performance — The Promise by Chris Cornell — Chris or Leonard Cohen should win this in memory of their passings…but it’ll likely go to the Foo Fighters.
Best Country Solo Performance — Tin Man by Miranda Lambert — Yet another super strong category, as Chris Stapleton (Either Way), Maren Morris (I Could Use A Love Song), and Sam Hunt (Body Like a Back Road) all have a shot too.
Not that I have anything against Alison Krauss.
Best Country Duo/Group Performance — It Ain’t My Fault by Brothers Osborne — Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band, and Midland are all nominated, but a repeat of the CMAs should be in order here.
Best Country Song — Better Man by Taylor Swift — Tay Tay needs to win something after all…
Best Country Album — From A Room: Volume 1 by Chris Stapleton — CMA repeat is expected here.
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media — Moana: The Songs — La La Land is somehow still in the running, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Hidden Figures, and Baby Driver are all in play here as well.
About a year ago I talked about the coming of Xbox Game Pass, and they seem to have had a fairly successful launch.
And despite the price tag (only $10/month) I haven’t bought it yet, always saying that there weren’t any real games that I was interested in…and the ones I was interested in were all games I had already purchased when they were new months/years ago. But I think the appeal is still there for people with kids, who get bored of games really quickly and this gives them access to 100+ to cycle thru.
Microsoft made an announcement this week though that completely changes the game (pun intended), and will make everyone run out to get this subscription.
New Microsoft games will be made available on Day 1 for all Games Pass members, starting in March of this year.
The first game on that list is Sea of Thieves, but it won’t end there and will include some big name games including Crackdown 3, Halo, Forza, and Gears of War.
For starters, I think anyone would be foolish to buy any of those games anymore, as the cost of one game pays for half a year of the Pass.
Also, while I haven’t played Halo in years, I’m a lot more likely to play them when they are “free”, and I’ve always enjoyed the Forza series.
I never played Crackdown 2, but actually have a good story about me beating Crackdown 100%…or almost did.
I was at the 98% mark when my Xbox 360 got the infamous red ring of death…and when I got my replacement box, there was no way I was going to start from 0% again and work my way up…never played the game again.
Aviously 