Diminishing returns, take 2

Over the years, I’ve made some pretty weird trips for an event, but probably not as often or as far as others. I’ve never been compelled to travel hundreds of miles for a music festival (although the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival sounds tempting).
This question came up recently when I saw the announcement for theater screenings of “Razor,” the new “Battlestar Galactica” movie airing later this month on Sci Fi. After my hopes were elevated about seeing the modern incarnation of the sci-fi series on the big screen, they were dashed by the realization that the nearest screening was Walnut Creek in the Bay Area.
Oh and the screening was on a Monday night.
One part of my mind screams, “It’s only a trip to the Bay Area. Get the tickets.”
Sometimes, I indulge that part of my brain (sometimes I indulge it too often). A cooler part of my head prevailed in this case.
In the end, is it worth driving about six hours for a two-hour movie? Considering that it’ll be on TV and available on DVD, I reluctantly said “no” and passed on the offer.

Colts at Chargers: What was that?

I’m not going to make it habit of writing about sports on this supposedly entertainment-oriented blog, but I just watched the Chargers eek out a two-point win over the Colts. Although I’m a Chargers fan, I’m flabbergasted how the San Diego team managed to prevail over Indianapolis.
After watching some of the game, I really think it wasn’t really the Chargers “winning” as it was the Colts “losing.”
The Chargers offense didn’t light up the board too much. The Chargers scored all their points in the first half and most of them came from special teams in the form of punt returns. The Chargers were there to be sure, taking advantage of some opportunities and putting up stops, but it seemed like the Colts were in the driver’s seat.
If Indianapolis was driving, they were lost for much of the first half. The Colts first-half performance wasn’t great — quarterback Payton Manning threw far too many interceptions. He ended up with six for the night.
However, Indy righted course and Manning and the rest of his dinged-up team went on to put up 21 unanswered points. They were a field goal from winning the game, but the kick went wide right.
It was the Colts kicker that missed. Although the Chargers got the ball back, they didn’t reach a first down to put the game away. They had to punt on fourth down and gave the Colts 26 seconds to try and score. The ball was in the Colts’ court before Manning threw his sixth interception as the horn sounded.
From what I saw, the door was wide open for the Colts to win. By the flukiest of flukes, the Chargers were declared the winner.

Bang for your buck: First edition

I’ve seen a lot of things over the past few weeks that I’ve been meaning to write about, but haven’t got around to. So I want to launch my first-ever “Bang for your buck” round-up where I look at things that I’ve done and seen or things that I might want to purchase.
Without further ado:

  • “Flight of the Conchords: Season 1” DVD – I didn’t quite know what to expect when I saw the first commercials for this HBO series, but the show about a lowly rated New Zeland folk band is pretty hilarious. The plots can be very straight-forward — most comedic band use the plot to string along a set of jokes or songs. The true genius is in the band’s songs and videos. The music ranges ballads to rock to pop electronica. It’s a brilliant deal for $20.
  • “Jekyll” — Less impressive was the performance at the Blue Room Theatre last Friday night. The troupe there put on an amusing, if extremely short, take on the classic tale of “Jekyll and Hyde.” It had been a while since I had been to the theater so I enjoyed the live performance and the staging. The music number was fun and the live music was a cool touch.

    The performances were pretty good with the actor playing Hyde doing a convincing job of displaying the wild nature of this classic alter ego. The play did a decent job of showcasing Hyde’s orgy of violence. However, I feel the play could’ve done more to offer a newer take on the classic struggle between a man’s civilization and his wild side. It’s OK at $10 and 45 minutes, but the play would be pushing it if lasted longer or cost more.

  • “Dan in Real Life” – The new romantic comedy starring Steve Carell was a pleasant way to spend an evening, but I don’t know if I would pay the full evening ticket price. Carell plays a widower who happens to write an advice column on parenting. He sometimes has a hard time living up to his advice as he meets a beautiful woman during a family reunion weekend. The catch is that the woman is the currently attached to Carell’s brother, played by Dane Cook. I thought the story held together all right, but it didn’t launch itself into greatness. If I was rating it on a four-star system, I would give a solid 2.5 stars.