<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403enchanted.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In the animated fairytale land of Andalasia lives Giselle (Amy Adams), a charming young lady who dreams of meeting her own Prince Charming. One day, he finally arrives in the form of Prince Edward (James Marsden), and they expect to live happily ever after until Edward's evil mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), transports Giselle to the worst place she can imagine—New York City! Transformed into flesh and blood, Giselle must make her way in an unfamiliar world where dreams don't always come true. Or do they?
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403legend.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In the year 2012, virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last human survivor in New York City. An outbreak of a lethal virus in 2009 wipes out 99% of the human population, leaving most of the remaining 1% as mutants, with the exception of Neville, who is immune to the virus. Along with his loyal canine, Samantha, Neville hunts for other survivors by day, and in his spare time—which he has lots of—he works on an antidote for the virus utilizing his own blood as the source.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403rookie.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When high-school baseball coach Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) was looking for a way to inspire his perennially losing team to win, he decided to issue a challenge they couldn't refuse. If they made it to the district playoffs, he would try out for a major-league baseball team. Fortunately for Morris, his team fulfilled their part of the bargain, and he went to the tryout in which his fast ball was clocked at 98 mph! It wasn't long before Jim found himself pitching for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as a 35-year-old rookie. The best part of the story is that it actually happened in 1999.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403iceage.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Unlikely heroes Manfred, Sid, Diego, and Scrat join together to return an infant boy to his father before the coming ice age dooms them all. These brave souls, however, are not human. Manny is a wooly mammoth, Sid is a sloth, Diego is a saber-toothed tiger, and Scrat—one of the funniest creatures ever created—is a tiny saber-toothed squirrel who just wants to protect his precious acorn.
The A/V receiver marketplace is a crowded world these days. At one end are low-cost models sold through retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City, while the other end is occupied by upscale brands with upscale prices. (Interestingly, some of these upscale brands are now showing up at the big-box retailers as the average selling price of AVRs increases, due in part to the influence of Blu-ray.)
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403dan.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Newspaper columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell) dispenses advice to families in his column, but his own personal life is in shambles. The widowed father of three girls is afraid of letting go and letting his kids grow up. He's so consumed with their lives that he has no time to live his own.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/403nocountry.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>West Texas local boy Llewelyn Moss (Josh Bolin) stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad while out hunting and discovers a suitcase filled with $2 million in cash. By claiming the money as his own, he becomes the target of Anton Chigur (Javier Bardem), a sociopathic killer with no sense of humor who will kill anyone who gets in the way of reclaiming the money. As Moss flees for his life, local Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) does all he can to interrupt the killing spree that Chigur leaves in his wake.
It is a great time to be a home theater enthusiast. Sure, the format war between rivals HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc has been distracting. But the price of 1080p projectors has fallen from the stratosphere to price levels many can actually afford. Prices of 1080p projectors are now below the $3,000 mark, and we're not talking stripped down bargain units or last year's closeouts either.
There are all types of fanatics in the world; religious fanatics, sports fanatics, Windows fanatics, Apple fanatics, the list goes on and on. But one type of fanatic that I never really understood is the TiVo fanatic. You've probably have met someone who's asked, "Do you have TiVo yet?" or stated that the "TiVo has completely changed my life!"
Evolution is the continual process of change. For electronics manufacturers, evolution is often defined as updating equipment just enough from year to year to make consumers willing to upgrade to the latest and greatest. One could argue that until the advent of HDMI a couple years ago, the evolution of the AVR (Audio/Video Receiver) hadn't featured a compelling reason to upgrade in a while.