The Gawking Dead
It’s not often you see a 3-foot-6 zombie, particularly one that knocks on your door. But that’s what happened to me Wednesday night, groaning not for brains, but for individually-wrapped Twix bars. The zombie in question was tastefully done, as far as zombies go—no dangling eyeballs or flapping skin or anything. The whitish pallor of […]
Movie Monday: Paranormal Activity 4
So, I found this eerie video footage of some guy counting the box office receipts for the weekend. I’d show it to you, but it’s really way too scary to put it on the Internet for everyone to see. But here’s essentially what happens: He’s in this darkened office, surrounded by stacks and stacks of […]
Where Google Keeps Its Stuff (and Yours, Too)
I have seen the inside of Google—the very symbol of technological omnipotence—and it looks like a cross between an Orwellian preschool and the Death Star. I know, I know. Hard to believe. I was expecting something different. A little … fluffier, perhaps. Turns out, all of Google’s “cloud” technology doesn’t reside in clouds at all, […]
Movie Monday: Taken 2 Takes Two
Five—count ’em, five—national releases trundled out to theaters this week, but none of them could take down Liam Neeson. Then again, if they’d seen Taken 2, maybe they were just too scared to try. Taken 2 held onto its earnings crown by virtue of an estimated $22.5 million weekend. The thriller has already sprinted past […]
Marriage: It’s All About the Pyrotechnics
My wife likes movies with big explosions. And boy, am I glad. It’s not because I like big, pyrotechnic-heavy movies myself (though I kinda do). It’s not because I’m allergic to chick flicks (because I watch enough of them on the job, thank you very much). It’s because our marriage may be healthier because my […]
Movie Monday: Taken 2
We’re all about lessons here at Plugged In, especially if those lessons have something to do with spirituality or morality or how to make your family, um, more familial. But not every lesson we learn has a spiritual or ethical component. Sometimes our lessons take a more pragmatic hue: never watch Here Comes Honey Boo […]
Movie Monday: Hotel Transylvania
Halloween may be a month away, but some animated movie monsters managed to sneak out early, ring the box office doorbell and collect an estimated $43 million worth of treats. Hotel Transylvania’s weekend take wasn’t just enough to buy about 200 million fun-size Butterfinger bars (give or take); it gave Dracula et al a box-office […]
Bam! Life Lessons From Costumed Crimefighters
If you’ve been reading Plugged In for a while, you might’ve noticed that I write a lot about superheroes. I don’t know why, really. Adam Holz and Bob Smithouser had (and probably have, knowing their hoarding instincts) scads of superhero comics, whereas the only superheroish thing I owned as a kid was a towel and […]
Movie Monday: It’s a Toss-Up
So, who won the weekend box office crown? Was it End of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal’s gritty, profane action movie? Could it be fright-flick du jour House at the End of the Street? What about Trouble With the Curve, Clint Eastwood’s touching (but language-filled) tale of baseball and family? Yes! Or no. Truth is, all of […]
Did Lincoln Really Sound Whiny?
I’m a bit of a history geek. For much of this year, when I’ve not been watching movies or reviewing television shows, I’ve been reading history books—presidential biographies, to be specific. And of all the movies that I’m looking forward to seeing come Oscar season, Lincoln, directed by Stephen Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as […]
