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I know, I know, this is so stupid and I’m actually not a big fan of the show but damn, this made me laugh uncontrollably this morning. and I’m definitely overdue for some laughs…

now, don’t deny it. I see you laughing!

Netflix officially confirmed today that they’ll be sending out streaming discs in the spring for those interested in streaming movies via their Nintendo Wii game system. Since I’m a Netflix member (and a Wii owner), I’m looking forward to the new service. I haven’t tried streaming Netflix movies on my laptop since watching movies that way seems tedious to me. But since the Wii is connected to the family room flatscreen, I’ll definitely give streaming a try. I’ve seen my kids watch “Nintendo Week” on the Nintendo Channel via the Wii and from what I’ve seen, the quality of the streaming video isn’t that bad. I guess the big test for Netflix is their ability to offer a broad range of titles for streaming including new releases.

So, if you’re a Netflix subscriber and want to stream movies on the Wii, be sure to sign up for a streaming disc as soon as you can. There’s no telling how much demand there’ll be for the Wii streaming discs but I think it’s best to just go ahead and get your name on the list anyway.

We took the kids to Carowinds over the weekend. We opted to do the park during the fall since it’s less crowded and the weather is nice and cool. And it turned out great – no long lines and no sweating profusely under a blazing hot sun. Here’s my quick sum-up of what we experienced during our visit to the amusement park.

The Good
- Carowinds had an october special that discounted the adult ticket prices by almost 50%. awesome!

- Afterburn is a great coaster. Nighthawk made me disoriented. and the “Drop Tower” almost made the wife pee her pants.

- the younger set LOVED Danny Phantom’s Flyers. I think they rode that particular ride the most out of all the rides. but it’s a bit scary to think about the amount of wear and tear the riders must have on these cables that hold the individual carts. if a cable goes snap, that rider is a goner! yikes!

- found an ultra clean men’s bathroom in the park. it’s located at the far end of the park near the Jukebox Diner. some of the other bathrooms were a bit dingy and old. but for some reason, the bathroom near the Diner was clean and almost looked brand-new.

- the kids give thumbs up to the following: Flying Dutchman’s Revenge, Fairly Odd Coaster, Rugrants Runaway Reptar, Hurler, Carolina Cobra, Vortex, Afterburn and Danny Phantom’s Flyers

The Bad
- they have a go-cart track and a bungee/flying contraption thing-y but they both cost extra. harumph. they should be included with admission if you ask me!

-the following were pretty darn lame: Scooby-Doo’s Haunted Mansion, the Dora the Explorer train ride, the LazyTown Sporticopters.

- the “age factor” reared its ugly head again. man, I can’t keep up with my oldest son any more. He was having a blast riding all the thrill rides and after the fourth or fifth coaster, I was pretty much done for the day. ouch.

- most of the newer steel coasters were too short for my tastes. since it wasn’t crowded, we had the opportunity to re-ride ‘em multiple times if we wanted to. but man, if I had to stand in long lines for some of those coasters, I’d feel gypped afterwards.

- ugh, the food/refreshment prices are high. yeah, it’s pretty standard for amusement parks but still, feeding the family put the hurt on my wallet. ouch.

- the park closes at 5:30pm in the fall.

The Ugly
- what in the world possessed me to eat their BBQ pork sandwich for lunch? ugh. bad choice. it felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach for the rest of the afternoon. avoid the BBQ at all costs!

- I’m guessing Carowinds is still in a “transitional phase”. From what I understand, Paramount is no longer running the park. The park is now with the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. All the Paramount movie references are gone and the rides now have generic names like “Hurler”, “Afterburn” and “Vortex”. Surprisingly, the Nicktoons portion (the lil’ kids section) of the park is still around. but for how long? who knows. This might be the last year we’ll get to see the Nickelodeon characters in the park. sadly, most of the attractions in Carowinds are in need of a facelift. lots of rides showing their age. lots of faded colors and we saw a couple rides malfunction during our visit. yikes. hopefully things will improve with the new owners.
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a colleague of mine recently got back from a visit to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg and shared an interesting tip. Apparently they’re running a little known promotion called the “Summer Reading Program” which allows any student 18 years or younger to present their library card at the ticket window to receive 25% off single-day admissions for the student and up to 5 guests. I’m not sure if it works for any other Busch Gardens park but it’s confirmed to work for BG Williamsburg as well as Water Country USA. This is the best discount that I’ve seen for BGW right now and it will most definitely help with the cost of taking the whole family there. According to the email that my colleague received from customer service, the promotion is good until November 1, 2009.
Thought I’d share that lil’ tidbit with you all. See ya in line for “The Griffon”!
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The Griffon

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anyone else looking forward to a new season of ABC’s Wipeout? oh the pain, the agony, and those darn big balls.

Come on, admit it! you know you all love it when those athletically challenged contestants go splat!

It has been interesting to watch Adam Sandler become this “bankable” movie star over the years but the question in MY mind is – “for how much longer?” I mean, most of his movies feel like retreads of either his previous work or blatant derivative hackjobs of other more successful rom-coms. His latest (out on DVD) is titled Bedtime Stories. Sandler plays “Skeeter Bronson” a handyman at a hotel that was once his father’s. It’s interesting what his father says near the beginning – “Your fun is only limited by your imagination.” Ironically, “Bedtime Stories” is lacking in the IMAGINATION department and so in turn is our enjoyment in watching it. The storyline is the typical Sandler, as The Loser, redeems himself and gets the girl bit that we’ve all seen before. And the talents of actors like Jonathan Pryce, Guy Pearce and Russell Brand are all wasted here with paper-thin characters. what a dissappointment. It’s good to see Keri Russell and Lucy Lawless in the flick but again, they didn’t get to do much here. I DO have to say that Courtney Cox (who plays Skeeter’s sister) is NOT aging well. Me thinks someone went a little overboard with botox injections to her face because half of her face did NOT move over the entire course of the movie. yikes! don’t get too close, cameraman! please! I’m not sure why Disney got involved with this forgettable film because it’s really not even worth a rental.

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This season’s episodes of the Office have been pretty hit or miss but last night’s installment (Heavy Competition) was probably one of my favorites of the year. Michael Scott has been “unbearable” lately with his new company underway but the writer for this particular episode decided to make Michael and Dwight a bit “sillier” which helped lighten things up in this story arc. The opening bit (Cheese Puffs) was comedy gold in my opinion. Oh and the scene where Dwight could hear Michael talking to Mr. Schofield was genius! – “Are you saying you invented paper!?!?!?!!!!!” classic!

watch the Cheese Puffs scene here:

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