I was just thinking that it’s been too long since I’ve seen a good Science Fiction movie but this certainly looks like it will be one to check out. It’s directed by Neil Bloomkamp who already did a great job with District 9 and was in line to do the Halo movie before that project fell apart.
Watch this show!
HBO’s Rome is in my opinion THE BEST historical drama series ever created. Released in 2005 Rome’s success really created the model that shows such as A Game of Thrones, The Tudors, Vikings, Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Camelot have attempted to imitate. These shows are known for their no holds barred approach to portraying blood, gore, sex, violence and nudity. That’s all dandy but “R Rated” content isn’t enough on its own to make a television show a hit. The characters, acting and of course the story also need to be great which is where Rome really shines.
Watch out!
Once upon a time, back before e-books and the self-publishing trend really took off I used to make my decisions on which book to purchase largely based on customer reviews from Amazon.com. Nowadays however, many of the “reviews” posted on amazon are actually paid for and sometimes even written by the author.
It’s an all too common tactic which I believe should be punishable by a large fine at the very least however largely seems to go ignored by Amazon and unnoticed by many online shoppers. The fake review business got so lucrative that the New York Times did a story on how one man made $28 000 per month writing fake book reviews online. This is because positive reviews are incredibly important to book sales and can make the difference between success and failure for a budding author.
We consumers are the unsuspecting victims of this shady tactic. Here’s the scenario that plays out all too often: Browsing Amazon you see a book has an average rating of 4.5/5 so you go ahead and buy it. As you start to read it you realize the grammar is awful and it reads more like amateur fan fiction than a published and well-reviewed work. You go online and post your own real review of the book but it is drowned out in a sea of 4 and 5 star reviews calling the book a “masterpiece”.
Here’s a couple examples of real reviews by consumers who have been taken in by this fraudulent marketing tactic:
Alright so this has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time. Living in Canada over the past decade or so the “big 3” wireless providers (Rogers, Bell and Telus) have all historically tried their best to force customers onto outrageous three year contracts which you can’t get out of without paying a large fee.
Luckily this has begun to change as more competition has entered the market. Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile have launched over the past few years to provide consumers with alternatives to three year contracts. However, these networks are new, relatively small and the service is not always that great unfortunately. To compete with these new providers the big three have begun to offer cheaper, non-contract alternatives through their lower cost subsidiaries (Koodo, Fido and Virgin).
Unfortunately many consumers are still lured in to signing a 3 year contract by the promise of cheap, carrier subsidized phones. The go wide-eyed at that $99 price tag next to the brand new iPhone 5 and jump to sign on the dotted line committing themselves to another three years of overpriced service. Consumers need to step back for a minute and just do the math: you may be saving $500 up front on your phone but you will be paying an extra $20 or so per month over 36 months over deals you can find elsewhere so the bottom line is that you are losing that extra $220. After all, these companies exist to make a profit.
In the United States 2 year contracts are the norm which is much more reasonable and in line with the average life of a smartphone. Trying to keep the same phone for a full three years makes it much more likely that you will have to send your phone in for repair or end up dealing with technical issues and reduced battery life.
If carriers see their customers are no longer willing to sign up for term contracts then they will be forced to offer better non-contract options. So please step back and think about it before you commit yourself to another three years with your current provider!
/Rant
Just a quick post to say sorry for the long silence, I`ve been sick plus dealing with some job stuff. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…
