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Following are 6 random benefits of watching movies on your computer:

1. Ability to start or stop the movie at any time
2. Cheaper
3. No advertisements
4. You can do other things on the computer while watching a movie
5. You can relax at home and do other things at home while watching a movie at the computer
6. You save time by not driving or walking to a theatre

Drawbacks of watching movies on a computer instead of in a movie theatre

Similar to benefits, following are 6 random drawbacks to watching movies on your computer:

1. You are limited to staying around your computer
2. Almost no interaction with others
3. No trailers
4. You become less active
5. You miss the movie environment that the movie theatre offers you, like seating, surrounding enclosure, viewing screen size, sound, etc
6. Compared to going to a movie theatre, staying at home can still give you stress or not set you free of the boring environment you may be around, including your computer itself

I prefer movie theatres to computers, when it comes to watching movies

I watch a lot of movies, and I prefer watching movies in a movie theatre. Usually, the only exception to that is when I have seen all the movies at the theatre or when it is past midnight and there are no more open movie theatres that I can go to that very night. In such exceptions, I watch some movie I have downloaded or rented on my computer.

So, do you prefer watching movies on the computer or offline?

As for the “Regal Cinemas” picture above, I took it in Garden Grove, Orange County on March 16th, 2006, because I found the fused light for the number “6” in th sign very interesting. You can see a bigger version of that picture titled “Regal Cinemas lights out on # 6” on my Eyeography site.

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All other theatres around you had no lines, yet you chose to watch the movie at this theatre, even though this theatre wasn’t the biggest one around. If you would have gotten into the first night show, you should have still cried simply because you were grown up and you waited all day in line for “Snakes on a Plane” at a theatre that was no different than the surrounding theatres which did in fact have absolutely no lines.

While you cried, I went and saw the move which started 30 minutes after the showtime that you missed. I offered you my place in the line because you were literally crying, and I could watch that movie anywhere else with ease. You looked at me with heart broken eyes and walked away, making everyone wonder if we were a couple. You probably wanted that very first show only, and a show 30 minutes after the first show for that movie in the country was too late in your mind to be considered an achievement.

You made me realize that in the future, I can also try focusing on taking pictures of people who cry over movie lines, instead of trying to help them.

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I decided to take my car to Walmart Tire & Lube Express Services the same week to see what they had to say about it. I didn’t tell the Walmart associate anything about the recommendations that Honda service center had said to be critical. I had the option of touring Walmart itself while my car was being checked. I decided to sit right in the empty parking area in front of their “auto” center, which is almost always located in the back of majority of the Walmart locations. Emily was on the phone with me, and we talked while my car was being fixed. After checking the car for about 30 minutes, a Walmart associate called my name and told me that my car needed two new things; a new battery and a new air filter, and these were critical. Nothing else needed emergency repairs or replacements other than the air coolant which could be replaced some several hundred miles later if I wanted to wait. The total cost would be around $145, plus tax, and would take less than 45 minutes.

I was confused; both companies were tell me contradicting things within a very short period of time. During that time span I hadn’t driven much either. I decided to just wait a bit and check things at another mechanic later on, since my car was running smooth still. Since then, I drove several thousand miles, and thus it was time for another oil change last Sunday. I went to Jiffy Lube, which was located right next to a big car wash. I waited for about 4 minutes in a small waiting room while the oil was being changed for my car when one of the mechanics came in. She told me “The air filter needs changing also. Would you like to do it now?” I asked about the price, and told her to go ahead. She then came in again after about 10 minutes and told me that if I needed a car wash, I could get a discount next door at the car wash, or she could vacuum the seats and clean the windows instead. I decided to hold off the car wash for now, and went ahead with the vacuum option and put all the things in the trunk, and went back to the lounge.

After about another 6 or 7 minutes, she came back in and told me that the fan belt needed changing also. I asked about the price, and it was about $150. I asked her if it was critical; she and another mechanic behind her told me that it wasn’t. I asked if they can check the car and tell me if anything other than the oil change and the air filter was critical and needed immediate changing. They checked and gave me a list of recommendations totaling about $380, none of them being critical, and consisting of all the belts, gearbox “cleaning” and transmission fluid. I told them I will come back later and do those changes either later this week or next month. They told me I can come until the end of this month to get a $52 discount on those recommendations if I go ahead with all of them. I thanked them, and went on my way. May be ignoring all these recommendations is a good idea, or may be going ahead with any of the set of recommendations at one of these places will fix everything that might be wrong with the car and actually save me from the day when the car might stop working. May be I really need all of these changes, or may be each of these companies is playing a game and simply labeling anything that is “used”, and still working well, as being “critical.” If only the transportation system in OC was as good as Chicago, New York or San Francisco, I would rarely drive my car.

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The storyline revolves around Inspector Wing [Jackie], whose entire team of officers is killed brutally in front of him, while he is given a chance to play a few small games with the gang to see if he can save them. When he fails, he feels that the entire thing is his fault. These killings aren’t just normal shots or murders like in Shanghai Noon where someone gets shot one minute, Jackie is sad, then the next minute he is mad, and then the comedy and stunts come within seconds. No, this movie sticks to keeping Jackie depressed and sad throughout the movie, and the tone of the movie never leaves the actual tension that builds from the start of the movie. He goes into a deep depression, drinking as if he were in Drunken Master. He gets “rescued” by a supposed “rookie” Inspector Fung [played well by Nicholas Tse] to come back to his senses, stop blaming himself and find the gang to bring them to justice. Of course, the gang is very intelligent and very talented, and things don’t go easy for Jackie and Tse, but they keep on trying. That is the simple brief version of the story line and the movie. There is more story telling and plot build up in the movie than the action itself, which keeps you hooked to the movie throughout. This movie has a well balanced police “politics” going on in the movie. Unlike Jackie’s other “Police Story” movies, there is not much direct interaction in politics and policies between Jackie and the other police force in the movie. Nicholas Tse acts as the main “negotiator” between Jackie and the other officers, doing everything he can to make sure he helps Jackie come back to his feet.

While movies in Japan are focusing now on remaking the superb Samurai movies to bring back the Samurai concept of honor into the cinemas and Chinese cinema has been focusing a lot on the different Dynasty’s in its history for sometime now to focus its beautiful romantic movies [both action and drama] on, Hong Kong is blending the traditional movies guidelines with better and unique story lines and greater action and horror. It is no surprise that in the recent times all these three cinema “houses” have produced some very fantastic movies in the genres they have focused on. New Police Story is no different; it brings a cop movie into the new world with very good directing and acting, and non-traditional twists combined with traditional storyline.

This movie will show a different side of Jackie Chan in the movies; the side in which he is more depressed and sad than he is either mad or being funny. There are many dangerous stunts in the movie, and occasionally we see the humor in this movie brought in by Nicholas Tse in a very convincing manner, which does actually make you laugh. Since the main focus of the movie is the story, this movie is more of a very good drama than just another movie with kicks and punches. It is not apparent why movie studios in America have not given Jackie the chance to be in movies such as this one, and why they keep on pushing him to be either a servant in Around the World in 80 days or someone who has to star in a movie and never have any relationship with anyone while his co-workers and friends do. In fact, this movie keeps part of the focus on the love of his life also, up to the later half of the movie where the whole focus shifts on this. The ending of the movie is superb and well done. So far, the movie is only available on DVD with I personally don’t want to reveal all the details. If you can get your hands on a DVD directly from Hong Kong with English subtitles [subtitles are always better than translation, at the moment], that would be perfect. I am not sure when this movie will come to America, or whether it will even come to theatres or go directly to the video stores. All in all, this is one of the movies that tells you how talented Jackie Chan is, and also tells you how good the movie industry in Hong Kong is at combining a bit of humor into great storyline and very good action. After you see this movie and see Jackie acting in a non-traditional role, you will wonder whether he is also a master in other things than just entertaining kids with humor and stunts, and this movie will show you that he is, and he always has been.

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Although Jackie Chan brings humor and freshness to the movie, the overall movie depended on him doing his regular stunts [some in this movie] and his fighting skills to keep the movie going. From the amount of work done, you could very well think Jackie was Fogg and Steven Coogan [playing Fogg] was the valet. Some of my friends [some of the same bunch as before] kept saying throughout the movie that it sucked, and that they wanted to see The Day After Tomorrow. We went and saw that movie [second time for me]. They preferred it to Jackie Chan’s new flick, though we were all cracking up over some guys who couldn’t stop laughing like crazy when they saw Americans crossing over the Mexican border into Mexico. One of the guys who was about to die laughing said “Yeah right, no hablo espaneol! Not in a hundred years!” while laughing at the same time, sounding something like a monkey eating bananas and yelling at the same time. One of the guys around me yelled “RACIST” while laughing at the same time, which made sure no one laughed again over the border issue. It was hilarious and weird at the same time.

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