Keep an Eye on the Kid!

This past weekend, my young granddaughter was over at our house and asked me if she could use my iPad to play an app. Of course she could, I told her. A cute and free app? Why not? Hey, they take just minutes to download, they’re entertaining and even educational in some cases, and they can […]

Video Game King of the Hill

Let me start out by asking you a quick question: How much would you suffer to get your name printed in a record book somewhere? I mean, this is the day and age of the Internet where any average Tom, Dick or Harry can get their name, opinions and picture pinned up on some virtual […]

Drawing With an Extra D

If you’ve read any of my little blogs in the past, you’ve likely seen me pontificate, or, OK, babble on about my blasé feelings for high-tech fads or heavily marketed whiz-bangs that eat up our time and money. Yeah, you can keep your 24/7 minutia-focused tweets and 3-D movies for all I care. Give me […]

IV Not Included

w00t! Gamers, there’s some totally EPIC news!!!! For all you ballers, beasts and even nubes who sometimes pause your game to slam a little sugared nourishment—or pause your two-handed nourishment-slamming to get back to the game—there’s a brand new reason to get pumped. Mountain Dew is putting out a breakfast drink. Ding! Hey, we all […]

Does Hollywood Hate Your Granny?

Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve reviewed two movies that focused on the elderly: Amour and Quartet. And while plenty has already been said on this very blog about Amour (and I definitely don’t want to beat a dead, er, euthanized horse) I want to talk briefly about the huge difference between this pair of […]

Bringing Out Your Hidden Hyde

In the dingier recesses of our minds, there are parts of us that we probably wouldn’t want everyone around us to see. You know, those embarrassing little foolish thoughts or momentary guilty obsessions and temptations that bounce around in our ever active brains. Unfortunately, in our bright new shiny world those drooling and slavering sides […]

The Book Is Dead, Long Live the Book

On my nightstand at home I have a yard-thick Autobiography of Mark Twain, a light-reading young adult novel, a bound collection of mystery yarns and a car magazine. Now, why am I giving you this useless info that you never requested? Well, it’s to testify to the fact that I like to read. And I […]

Game Goods: Bob Hoose’s Year-End Picks

Games, games, games. We’re all into playing games … of one type or another, anyway. And even though some folks will openly claim sports, politics or emotional manipulation as their play du choix, many will readily point to video games as the thing they do when they’ve got some extra time on their hands. And […]

Wii U, Mii 2

OK, so that headline is Wii-lly bad. In fact, the whole Wii, Mii and U thing has always felt a bit cute and kitschy to me. But I guess we’ve got it better than France. Over there they’re stuck calling it the Nintendo “Yes.” Ba-dump-chingggg. The newest Nintendo console, the Wii U, has hit the […]

Two and a Half Men Star Cries Foul

If you’ve read any of our reviews of CBS’ long-running sitcom Two and a Half Men, then you likely know that Plugged In hasn’t necessarily thought of the edgy comedy as, uh, classic family-room fare. Well, it turns out that we’re not the only ones with reservations. Even the show’s stars have been turning up […]