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.
Ingrid Goes West, starring Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid) and Elizabeth Olsen (Taylor) is a dark comedy, rooted in social media.
Social media can drive someone crazy. Post a picture on Instagram, wait for those likes and comments to flood in…or not. Meanwhile, one can see others posting about their “perfect world” or “best friends ever”, and not be included in any of it.
Well, it was enough to make Ingrid snap, after she led herself to believe that her social media friends were her real world friends. Charlotte, who once replied to a comment of Ingrid’s, gets married and doesn’t invite her. So in Wedding Crasher fashion Ingrid barges in, causes a scene, and has to be admitted into a mental hospital. Upon her release, she takes her mother’s inheritance money and heads over to California, to meet her “newest best friend” and mirror her every move.
From stalking her to dognapping, there is no length Ingrid won’t go through to get to know her unknowing Insta friend.
This movie is dark and funny, and following Ingrid’s dive into her made-up friendships can be a fun journey, as this movie gets an 8 out of 10.
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.
Step Sisters is a Netflix original comedy movie about a sorority in despair that needs a little help from their sisters.
I did not know what to expect out of this movie, but it didn’t disappoint, along the lines of Step Up.
The movie focuses on Theta member Jamilah (Megalyn Echikunwoke), who is trying to get into Harvard, without the help of her parents giving their Legacy endorsements. She has a white boyfriend (Matt McGorry, Bennett from OITNB) who is majoring in African-American studies, and her white best friend Beth, played by the whitest girl on TV (Eden Sher from The Middle), who is a part of Sigma Beta Beta (SBB).
After an SBB party goes off the rails, ending up in a viral video, the Dean (Robert Curtis Brown) threatens to pull their charter if they can’t get their act together. He offers his assistant, Jamilah, an endorsement to Harvard in return for cleaning their image up. His suggestion? She should teach them to do that “stepping thingy”, which has always been a “black Greek thing”. Will she be able to get these white girls to step in time for the big competition?
You think white girls can’t struggle? The struggle is real.
Other SBB members include their President, Danielle (Lyndon Smith), Southern belle Libby (Gabe Golightly, from Red Oaks (Seasons 1, 2, or 3), and Amber (Alessandra Torresani).
Hertz thru AAA is the way to book your car, as I’ve said before, but here are a couple of other things I noticed on my recent trip:
I booked my car about 6-7 weeks out, and during the subsequent weeks, the prices fluctuated, even within the AAA discount. Thankfully Hertz lets you “change your reservation” up to two times, so keep a close eye and try to get the best deal you can.
On day 2 of my trip to San Diego I woke up and started driving to SeaWorld. About halfway there I got that dreaded little “low tire pressure” light on my dashboard. I figured it would hold out until I got to a gas station and was able to add some air to my tires…but within two blocks I was thumping along and couldn’t even drive anymore.
I pulled over to the side of the road and called Hertz, asking them for some help. Their answer: We charge for service, even though you just got the car last night.
Thankfully I have AAA and was able to call them. Within 25 minutes I had a tow truck on the scene to help change the tire.
After a quick change, I took the car back to Hertz driving on my doughnut (thankfully located just minutes away from SeaWorld), and they swapped out the car for a new one, at no added costs.
By the way, you should totally check out that trip to SeaWorld, here and here.
Three great games currently grace my phone, for when I’m bored and run out of shows to binge watch.
Homescapes
Homescapes is a simple Match-3 game, similar to the likes of Bejeweled and Candy Crush, and with each level you pass you get a “Star”. Earn enough stars and you can start fixing up your parents’ old house, which is in a state of despair and disarray.
From choosing wall colors, to which table fits best in your kitchen, rebuilding your house will give you purpose to keep playing this fun game.
And unlike some of its competitors, the boards are not repetitive. They continue to add different obstacles to make the levels more difficult, but the other games will do that and give you the same layouts and challenges over and over.
DME Live 2.0 is an airport management game, put out by Domodedovo Airport. That’s right, Moscow’s airport put out a game in which you are the tower manager of the largest airport in Russia/Eastern Europe.
Directing plains to their gates, loading fuel/meals/luggage and people onto the planes, and then taxiing them out to the runway for their next flight.
With your monies from the successful flight, you get to buy perks for your airport, such as auto baggage or fueling services.
Mini Metro is another simulation/management game, this time in the form of the subway. Working with real cities and obstacles (NYC and its rivers, or Osaka and the Shinkansen) you have to deal with.
But there’s a limit to your resources. Only a select number of lines, bridges, trains, and cars are at your disposal, and if a a station gets too crowded, your system comes to a stop (aka: You lose).
Here are some of the trailers I’m watching and looking forward to this year. I already posted for Tomb Raider the last time I posted trailers, but once again the trailer comes out right before I do a post about them!
Tomb Raider
Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft looks like it’s going to be amazing. March 16th couldn’t come quick enough with this kind of action!!
Ocean’s 8
The all-female version of the Ocean movies, that George Clooney made famous, is coming on June 8th. Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and of course an appearance by James Corden, who is doing everything these days.
Ready Player One
This movie has me confused. I’m not sure if it’s going to be really good or really bad…but it has the potential to do one of those. I don’t think it’ll be a “middle ground” movie. Ben Mendelsohn, who is everywhere these days (Bloodline, Star Wars), and Mark Rylance both appear in this one, coming out March 30th.
Black Panther
Marvel introduced us to Black Panther in Civil War, and he is just electric. Now Chadwick Boseman gets to tell us more about the Panther and his home stories on February 16th.
Deadpool 2
We know next to nothing about this movie, and the trailer does not help with information. But Ryan Reynolds has turned this character into a hit and leaves us wanting more and more. Thankfully May 18th will help give us more info!
Red Sparrow
Jennifer Lawrence is overused, and for roles that aren’t right for her. She was great in Joy, but she also shouldn’t be playing an older white woman. Red Sparrow looks like a great movie…but J-Law’s Russian accent leaves her something to work on. This will hit theaters March 2nd.
I was a little late to this game, but I’m glad I finally ventured back into the Call of Duty series.
I’m a fan of realistic shooters, where a headshot will kill someone and I don’t need to worry about a drone lurking around the next corner with a teleporter gun. So when Call of Duty went into the future, I gave it up.
But now CoD: WWII has gone back to the war that made all these games famous: WWII and the D’Day landing on the beaches of Normandy. Josh Duhamel is your group’s leader as you follow the story of Pvt. “Red” Daniels, although you do foray into other roles as the story progresses, through to the taking of the Rhine. And the epilogue is such an intense story that it would be really hard for a human not to be a little moved by it.
The storyline is great, but the focus that they put into these games is Multiplayer and it doesn’t disappoint. The Multiplayer is stable and realistic, and load times are fairly quick. Add to that a “Headquarters” that provides you challenges and contracts to help boost your characters skills and looks.
Aviously 