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Terrible Movies of 2012

I normally can like most movies and enjoy them to a point, but I can only do that so much and for so many movies. These are those movies of 2012 that I thought and I am sure many others will agree with me, were absolutely terrible.

  • The Cold Light of Day
    • Bruce Willis dies about 10 minutes into the movie and has maybe 2 minutes of screen time. He worked for the CIA, his son did not know and Sigourney Weaver is bad. The actor who plays Bruce’s son has to save his kidnapped family, blah blah blah and does it. I hate spoilers like the next person but I really saved you your time. None of the movies listed below have spoilers like this one, though I should rethink that.
  • End of Watch
    • The previews for this movie looked good. The end result? Not so much. There is really no point to this movie. The ending is almost typical and likely what you knew would happen.
  • John Carter
    • I really wish Taylor Kitsch would have avoided this movie like the plaque. Out of nowhere he was given all these “huge” roles, only for them to be pretty much terrible movies which liklely will not help his career what so ever. At least Battleship was decent enough to watch, I cannot say the same for this movie and “Savages.” He will always be the best in the Friday Night Lights TV series, which is one of the best TV series of all time too.
  • Red Dawn 2012
    • I never cared for the original, it was one of the movies you partially watched here and there when it came on TV. There was never a reason and still is not to have remade this movie. It was worse than the original, and the original was never that great to start with either. This movie had errors with the film everywhere and not just with the plot.

      You may not be familiar with such information such as this movie was filmed in 2009 but put on hold because of MGM going bankrupt. The same goes for the entire movie had to be edited again to change the bad guys from being China to North Korea.

      The ending was horrible as well as what happens to someone about 15 minutes before the ending. The movie is actually pretty short too, shorter than the original movie. Would the movie have been any better if it was not rushed? No. I really do not think so, but they could have at least prepared a better ending and not rushed other scenes. I do not think it would have helped though. This type of movie did not need to be made, there is no reason to ever believe America would be invaded today either.

  • Resident Evil: Extinction
    • I would recommend watching the last minute or so of the movie rather than the entire movie, it will be more enjoyable and then just hope that the next Resident Evil holds up to the final scene of this movie and everything will be okay.
  • Savages
    • This movie ended up quite a disappointment, the few and short actions scenes the movie had were great and action packed but otherwise, it is a very long delayed love movie. The ending scene will likely disappoint you further as well. It may or may not remind you of scene from the final Twilight movie too.
  • Total Recall
    • Another remake that went terribly wrong. This is when you know A-list actors do NOT always make a great movie. I understood the original quite well but this movie just seemed to make me careless as the movie dragged on. I lost interest on what was going on and happening a lot, other than the completely blatant obvious of course.
  • Chernobyl Diaries
    • The first time I saw this trailer, it grabbed my interests and what they had to show us. In the end, they show you absolutely nothing and that after all it was just some type of nuclear mutation to people exposed for a period a time, the worse as the get closer to ground zero. What a disappoint and absolute short waste of time.

Those are most the movies that I can think of that I just think were absolutely terrible for 2012 that I watched. There were some decent movies that I do not find to have been terrible, such as Battleship (not that it was great either though) but just decent or other movies that were somewhat funny like The Watch.

In-between Decision:

  • Dredd
    • I liked Dredd, but I also hated it so easily. It was nothing, nor ever will be, comparable to the original Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd from 1995. I will forever like the original Judge Dredd.

      I did like some aspects of what they did with this movie, but the closed environment ruined what could have made it really better. They did a great job on everything outside of the apartment building and we should have seen more of that. The choice of actors was fine to me, however Karl Urban does and never does sound anything comparable to what Sylvester Stallone sounded like and what I believe Judge Dredd should sound like.

Terrible T-Mobile Support

For the first time for me, I have had one of the worst T-Mobile Support experiences. Which is actually quite bad coming from someone such as myself, since I have always stuck by T-Mobile and supported or recommend them as a customer, even after 11 years or more now. What makes this even more sad, is that it is over the littlest thing you could possibly imagine, a broken charger.

It all started with their Twitter support, which many companies have now a days and it is really just the same as phone or FAQ/online support for most companies too. It is pretty much automated and they actually do not want to help you more than they do when you call them. It use to be different in the past, for example Comcast use to have great Twitter support, but the last few years that is non-existent.

It does not seem that T-Mobile wants to strive for customer service anymore. Why do I think this? Well aside from my experience, take a look at these results:

That’s not a good sign at all, and things do not look to be getting better. Especially when you have issues like mine come up, or far much worse issues for people that will up and leave T-Mobile and are not loyal. And speaking of loyalty, I am even questioning mine after this experience which I will be explaining now. Then there are just more, older articles like this one, Has T-Mobile Customer Service Taken A Turn For The Worse? or others that have continue to get written more of late.

What happened with me?

I used the option to upgrade a line of mine with a free and refurbished phone, nothing special either, just a Samsung T159 flip phone. The phone works just fine, but found out the charger actually is broken, closer look at it reveals that 1 of the copper pieces inside of the connector piece is missing.

So I decided to contact T-Mobile via Twitter and they are very much unwilling to help without wasting time and money. They want me to claim buyers remorse, which requires you to send the entire phone back and then order a new one. I am not sure how this would work with my upgrade option and so forth free (I am sure something bad would have happened), then again I do not want to pay shipping either and of course, waste more time without the phone in use, which I am sure would take up to 2 weeks. Maybe if T-Mobile would give me a free month I would actually consider doing this.

The other option would be to use buyers remorse and replace the entire kit by sending that one back and we send another. ^KM

That is it, there is nothing else they can do and have said twice now the following:

I wish we had a more efficient way but currently we do not ^KM.

Yes, thanks for really nothing. Honestly, their Twitter support might as well be automated. When I asked them if I would be able to trade one at a store, this was their response:

They should sell the cables in store too :) ^LG.

Are you serious? That was their response when I asked that and to have you spend more money because they could not even ship you a working charger. You would think that refurbished phones go through additional checks, and that would include the charger as well but I guess not.

That all having been said…

I more than understand this was not the worst support anyone has ever received and that it could have been worse. But at the same time, there is no reason why even people unlike me should have to deal with this lack of support, being told to use “buyer’s remorse” and be without a phone or have to purchase a new charger when you should not have to.

UPDATE: Samsung being awesome reached out to me and already in the process of getting a new charger replacement. I should have just contacted them to begin with. :)

Netflix passes on Terra Nova after FOX cancels the series

I am extremely disappointed that Netflix has decided to pass on Terra Nova after FOX cancelled the series. I would have possibly put some good faith back into Netflix again and resubscribed if they would have saved the show. At least I just cancelled my membership with them this week and this is one of the main reasons why I did so. Which has been happening a lot to Netflix lately because of the how fiasco with them not too long ago, them splitting their service and networks not renewing with them.

It is not all Netflix’s fault though, you also have to blame FOX for actually deciding to cancel it after taking a few months to decide what they were going to do with it. It is really upsetting seeing how it is a great show and people that love the show would love to know what happens next season and so forth till it has ended. Not only that but we all really want to know what the Badlands are, what is there, and how it all came to be.

There is a lot that Fox could have done to cut costs, other shows have either done it or have survived with such ratings. Then there is advertising, for a show to survive you kind of have to advertise the show exists. I only saw a limited amount of advertising of it but at least more than other shows. They could have even gone as far as putting up Terra Nova posters in Museum; unless they did that. I hope some network decides to pick up Terra Nova, it would be nice.

Customer loyalty means nothing to T-Mobile

I really wish that customer loyalty meant at least a little or more to T-Mobile or any other company for that matter. While this post will be directed towards T-Mobile, I already know that 99.8% of other companies out there do not care about customer loyalty either, and most, if not all, should.

Why is there not some type of loyalty program or something similar to existing customers that have been around for say more than 6+ or 8+ years at T-Mobile? I have personally been a loyal customer of theirs; since I have always loved T-Mobile for that matter too, for over 8 years now. I have I never been with another carrier, and I hope to never especially the death star AT&T. Which I am glad they pulled out of the merger! :)

I am a huge tech geek I guess you would say. I normally happen to pick a phone that will last me more than 2 years not just because of the horrible decisions cell phone companies make for a customer to only be able to upgrade your phone every 2 years with contract renewals. However, in my case, a newer and better phone has since come out that I absolutely want but do not necessary need per say. That phone is the Samsung Galaxy S2 and on T-Mobile it is called the “Hercules.”

I would honestly love to see some type of loyalty program exist to where maybe you could upgrade your phone, with a renewal contract, every year once you have been with them for an x amount of years that they would decide rather it be 4, 6, or even over 8 in my case. Could this program have other perks? Sure, why not, I mean you are showing a company that you are indeed loyal to them already, would it be that hard to offer you more than they would a newer customer? I know some people might say, they are just a company, what makes them feel they have to reward you for your loyalty? I am sure anyone could argue back and forth on this all day, but in the end all that should really matter to them is that you are giving them your money rather than you giving another carrier money instead of them.

Every time I see a great new deal for T-Mobile, it is almost always just for new customers more than half the time, and the other half of the time for existing customers you can only get it if you are eligible for an upgrade. This is just wrong and should not be the case for long time customers. I do understand why in its current state but also 2 years is just a long time in today’s world.

The phone I currently have is the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and I bought it Day-1 at the T-Mobile store on July 15th, 2010. I absolutely love this phone, the problem? No official updates, period. There also seems to be none coming out out the foreseeable either. Before this phone I bought the T-Mobile G1 about a month after its release and used it up until the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant.

But with that said on no official updates, you can still get the latest Android version (or almost latest sometimes) over at the XDA Developers forums because of the great community of developers working together to still bring us updates for all our Vibrant phones. There are some developers right now, one in particular by neobuddy, already providing a Android 4.0 rom (ICS Passion) to the Vibrant. It is still a work in progress and while I have not personally tested it yet, has had for the most part great feedback from the community. I am waiting for another release or two post 8.0 until I flash mine but at the moment, it seems like it is really stable to use now.

I just wish there were plans to bring an official update to our Vibrant. Now why will they not provide an update? Simple answer, because T-Mobile considers it an ancient phone, so why provide an update when they longer support or sell it. They would rather you pay, likely more money too, to get the latest and greatest phone instead. They make money that way.

I still want the Samsung Galaxy S II (S2) “Hercules” branded T-Mobile phone though, even when I do get Android 4.0 on my Vibrant because of the latest hardware inside of it such as the 8.0 MP camera, flash, front facing camera, screen size, and so forth inside of it.

Do you feel as if T-Mobile should have some type of loyalty program? If so, why? What would you love to see them offer in such a program?

Update 12/13/2011: Samsung has stated that we will not be getting Android 4.0 on any Galaxy S phone because of TouchWiz as well as the Galaxy Tab. Source: CNET and other many sites.

Another disappointing Bears season

Well after today’s disappointing loss to the Broncos; or rather Team Tebow depending on how you want to look at it, there goes the rest of the season for us Bears fans. We should have easily won this game 10-7 if it was not for Marion Barber’s fucking screw up in the 4th quarter running too close to the sideline for the Bronco’s to push him out of bounds to stop the clock. Then he further cost us the game in overtime when a Bronco player force fumbled the ball on him while he was carrying it to what could have been some great yardage.

It all started to go downhill for the Bears after we lost Cutler and especially when we lost Knox due to their injuries. We were having a pretty good season when Cutler was playing great along with Knox and others while we had a 5 win streak going until the injuries to them.

Hanie has not been able to play as great as the Bears team and us fans have hoped for. Though do not let it sound like this is all Hanie’s fault, because it is not just his. Plus you need to know, as most do already, this is his first time playing with exception to the last game in the 2011 season and starting in the NFL. He did not have enough time to prepare for this and I wish we would have had another Quarterback to fall on and use. If you want to blame anyone, as most do, I would probably start with the coaches such as Lovie Smith and Mike Martz.

Well anyways, as always a Bears fan, I can only hope that the 2012-13 season will be much better for us.

Farewell Fanvibe

Normally I would not even write a post or even announce that I am leaving some sort of site, especially some new site that has only barely even been popular nor around long. But I felt as if I really needed to write such a post.

If you have not heard of Fanvibe, which I guarantee 99.9% of you have not, then just to give you a brief information on them, they are a sport check-in service. This is exactly like how Foursquare and Gowalla are, expect you do not have to be at the game to check-in.

I have been using them for the last few months, I was excited to keep using them still too since the NFL was just starting up it’s regular season and their pre-season had been going on. Prior, I was waiting for it to start as well as the NBA season later on. But up until this past week, that will never happen again. If I had the time, I would actually start my own service as such, and do what Fanvibe did wrong as well as alienate their users. It is too bad I have no time for that at this moment.

They changed something this week that was incredibly stupid of them, which I am sure Art Chang had most to do with this change. They normally have questions during a specific game for an extra XX amount of points. Not a crazy amount, until this week, they changed it to the thousands. One of these questions even led to 9,000 points for you, if answered correctly. Now remember, you must be actively viewing this game to even catch these questions and answer them in a specific time. I did not get to participate in this, nor was there any type of announcement or notice in their (shitty, annoying) daily newsletter either.

But the reason I left because of this, is because they changed nothing else at all on the site in relation to points. If you are going to make such a changes to the points then you need to adjust the points given everywhere else as well so people that are not able to catch the change and/or participate at that time have a chance as well to play the game fairly and earn such a high amount of points too. Be it by new ways of earning points (not going to give out suggestions) or making properly picked games 1,000 points instead of 10 points to whatever you need to do.

I ended up also getting into long arguing discussions with them, what is quite sad and shows how much of a poor team they were to begin with. I do not see this website lasting long while continuing the way they are.

Gowalla going nowhere, fast

This will be a short post because I could rant on Gowalla, its staff and decisions all day long. Gowalla is going nowhere, fast. Here is just a brief reason as to why.

Earlier today Gowalla tweeted the following: (which are exact copies from FourSquare’s features)

More fun: you can now add notes & recommendations to spots in your trips, plus create twice as many trips as before!less than a minute ago via webGowalla
gowalla

Now, I do not care about the above features, nor will I probably ever use them. However, back on March 17th, 2010 Gowalla tweeted (and shortly later deleted) the following tweet. Which when they first tweeted this, I laughed to Michael about because 2 weeks is more like 6 months to Gowalla when it comes to anything on the Android phone. Gowalla puts their priority into the iPhone and fails hard with the Android. However, just recently, Android passed iPhone users. Will anything change though because of that? No.

Anyhow, like I said already, there is a lot I can write about Gowalla and will save that for another time. But if Gowalla wants to succeed, they need to start making such easy features more wildly available and ready right away, not months later. It took Gowalla way too long to produce a working Gowalla app, after many failed promises it finally arrived and was dreadful. The mobile site was much better than the first initial releases (before beta). Finally they have a working app for the past 2 months but it lacks many features and design issues that the iPhone clearly does not have.

Gowalla is ok with you cheating

Yes, you heard the title right. Gowalla is more than okay with you cheating, not only you but your friends as well, for items. They also allow Street Team Elite Member(s) to cheat as well without any consequences against them.

One of these cheaters is Ryan Graves aka “jonessodarally” on Twitter, Gowalla, and MySpace. He also just happens to be part of the Street Team Elite for Gowalla. A few months ago Ryan Graves openly admitted on Twitter that he was using the Geolocation hacks to check-in at numerous, countless spots that to this day were never removed as check-ins and further more, action, even as a Street Team Elite Member, was never taken on him for doing so.

So this is where Gowalla is more than okay, with you cheating its system and grabbing those items you really want to vault.

Jonathan Carroll of Gowalla tried to reach out on Twitter about the current problem going on but as typical companies, Gowalla just being another one of those, never even responded to the email he was sent after he asked for one. Nice job. Source: Jonathan Carroll’s Tweet on April 12th @ 11:56 AM CST.

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