The trailers were suspenseful, enticing, exciting. Promises of amazing special effects — yet another but better version of my beloved NYC being exploded, torn down, bombed, attacked by a giant, unseen monster. Though little detail was available, just the special effects whore in me felt like Cloverfield would rocket to the top of my favorites list.

After seeing this disaster (of a) film all I can say with all confidence that I got more enjoyment and entertainment out of the Tom Cruise pyscho-Scientologist on crack videos than Cloverfield, and those videos were free on Google, not $11.50 a person. Yes, the special effects were amazing. Yes, they came up with new and exciting ways to show Manhattan being destroyed. That’s pretty much where it ends.

No plot to speak of. The plot you could discern was dumb, made no sense, and served only to showcase the special effects. Without really any spoilers — because really, there’s nothing to spoil — the only thing you’re really doing is watching some people you don’t care about navigate the special effects. Other than brief glances at a cool looking monster, you’re told nothing about what it is, where it came from, what happens to it after the small bit of film you’ve seen. Most all of the movie is filmed in that Blair Witch Project style of “reality” jumpy/jerky camera, which has apparently been causing the same bouts of motion sickness in theaters. We had to dodge at least one pile of vomit on our way out of the theater. The name doesn’t even make sense. IMDB trivia says its name comes from the name of the street on which the production company is located. Um, what?

The whole mess is a serious self-indulgent piece of crap that will probably make a lot of money due to clever marketing as opposed to quality movie making. But of course, that’s what our society is about these days. Form over substance. A few clever CGI guys make up a scary looking monster, and all of a sudden it’s a blockbuster movie. It’s sad more than anything else, really. Save your money, or better yet, go see I Am Legend. The special effects may not be as flashy, but they’re cooler and better, and there’s a gripping plot to go along with them.

Tags: Cloverfield, I Am Legend

You’ll be able to do that, too, because it’s not just the prices that make this site different, but the quality of the items.  Being as familiar as I am with costume jewelry, you really can see just from the photos that there are some beautiful pieces.  For example, these glass rings.  I own two very similar rings that I paid $6 each for.  These are $18 per dozen.  You do the math (because I can’t, really).

So get to it, you entrepreneurs out there!

Tags: Wholesale Jewelry

We were recently issued Blackberry Curves at work.  For me, this replaced the model I was issued in 1990-something, and old, good for virtually nothing piece of crap that couldn’t browse the web or make a phone call.  I’d stopped using the thing years ago, and instead had my work email all set up to forward to my Treo.  One device, all my stuff, no problemo.

But with all the hoopla surrounding this newest Blackberry and the number of people I’ve heard rave about it, I figured if someone wants to hand me one for nothing, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. After two weeks with this thing, I’m convinced that anyone who has love for it clearly has never owned or used a Treo. 

Right out of the box, the lack of a touch screen is a gflat out killer for me.  Perhaps it’s just what I’m used to, but it’s incredibly frustrating not to be able to just touch what you want.  The scroll ball in the middle is uncomfortable, too small, and not as accurate as one would like.  The camera function isn’t all that bad, but there’s no way to get the photos off the thing other than to email them to yourself — it doesn’t sync up your camera to your desktop.  At least not the way this was configured by the Firm.

As for sortware, the phone came with a zillion pre-inistalled IMing programs — everything from AIM to ICQ — but not much else.  There’s the email feature, the phone, and a web browser.  I can do all that on my Treo.  All that plus add any of the thousands of programs out there that help me calculate tips, map out directions, and look up any business or home phone and address information.  All that plus tons of games of my own choice, not one stupid lame-ass 1982 version of breakout that is impossible to play given the scroll ball’s many failings.

I suppose I might like the thing better if certain of the programs and features were not disabled by the above-mentioned gift horse.  Still, the lack of good third party programs would piss me off.  The counter-intuitive navigation buttons are frustrating.  The whole thing just doesn’t do it for me.  Get a Treo instead, you won’t be sorry.

Tags: Blackberry Curve, Treo

So now I was reading about discount dental plans. Rather than deal with insurance crap, you pay a fee, become a member, and have access to all manner of dental procedures at discounts from 10-60%. Sort of like a Costco of tooth care. The website itself helps you compare prices and dentists to find what you need. There’s no paperwork, no uncertainty about whether something is covered. It’s all right there up front for you to make an informed decision.  There’s also like 100,000 dentists to choose from.  That ought to be enough for even the pickiest customer.

Again, here at Hey You! today, we’re all about saving you money at a time when people generally wind up strappef after the holiday gift-giving season.  And now we’re helping you out once again, after eating all those Christmas cookies, you can save on your annual cleaning.  Aren’t we helpful?

Tags: Discount Dental Plans

Hey You! Shoppers Rule No. 10 is quite simple. If you at all can, wait until after the holidays to make purchases. The after holiday sales will save you insane amounts of money — some I’ve seen are up to 80% off original prices. Sure, it totally sucks that retailers take advantage of the holiday season, but that’s their job, and I suppose we can’t fault people for wanting to make a living. But we sure can screw them if we save up our purchasing for after the holidays.

As a Jew, this is easy for me, I have very few gifts to purchase (Chanukkah gifts just go to the kids, and as I don’t have any of my own yet, it’s one per customer). If you can’t get around it that way, perhaps exchange small tokens for the holidays and little home made coupons to purchase the big stuff when it goes on sale two days later. Or is that blasphemous? I hope not.

There is, however, one drawback to this plan. Selection. The selection of items may very well be more limited or depleted than pre-holiday shopping. Especially if we’re talking toys and other specialty items. But please, that Wii you couldn’t get because they choked up supply to raise the price, will be more than available the day after Christmas. And cheaper no doubt.

I know this is all very practical sounding — perhaps even humbuggish. Still, if you’re strapped for cash, it’s not a bad way around the problem.

Tags: Holiday Sales