Brooks Was Here.

A bit of explanation is required for this one, and I'll start here: My all-time favorite film is The Shawshank Redemption. See, I was a huge Stephen King fan through my formative adolescent years (and still am, really). One of my favorite King books was Different Seasons, which comprised four novellas (75% of which became movies). But by far my favorite was Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. So when I heard around 1993 that they were making it into a movie, I was thrilled. I consider myself one of the few who a) knew what the film was about going into it, and b) saw it in its short and lackluster initial theatrical release. Hell, I probably saw it on opening day, I was that thrilled for it. And I was also not at all disappointed. The film was remarkably faithful to the book, for the most part (for instance, they condensed several successive wardens in the book to a single character in the film--which makes sense, really--and Andy and Red didn't look like they were described in the book), and it was just so beautifully executed. I've seen it dozens of times--I'd say I watch it at least once a year, to refill my Shawshank meter--and it just doesn't get old for me. In the intervening 20 years, the film seems to have migrated from critical acclaim (but popular dismissal) to popular acclaim (but critical dismissal). It's the top-rated film on IMDb, so of course it's now de rigeur to write it off as well-made but schlocky, cliched, heavy-handed, sentimental tripe. If you feel that way, okay, I get it. But it's still my favorite. :) The motifs of justice, hope, friendship, and a bit of revenge have always spoken to me, and I figure always will.

So probably last year I realized that the old prison where it was filmed, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, was within striking distance of Detroit, which I now visit twice a year. I considered visiting it on my fall trip last year, but it closes down for tours between September and April, so instead I made sure to schedule this trip for when it would be open, and I also figured I could maybe have time to visit a couple other filming sites in the area as a sort of Shawshank pilgrimage. So that's the background. Shall we?

( Clicky! )

Aaaand that was my adventure last week. No more travel for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid. We were thinking of a family trip in a few weeks to make up for our NYC trip being pushed back, but now I think that's off until some more disposable income arrives. So we'll see.

Thanks for looking, as always!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii(U)!

So I mentioned my desire for a Wii U last week. And when it comes to me and that sort of thing, desire usually turns to reality fairly shortly. :) So I looked around, and apart from used and refurb units (which typically get the stinkeye from me), the very best deal I saw was $250 for the current Super Mario World 3D bundle. Problem was, that deal was at Fry's, which is not a chain with a local presence in these parts. The deal was available online too, of course, but that's apparently the best price that's been offered maybe ever, and it sold out pretty quickly. So I'd sort of resigned myself to waiting for a price that good (or close to it) to appear again before pulling the trigger.

But still, I figured I'd go to Best Buy and see what was what, maybe drool over the demo unit a bit. And while I was there I thought I'd go ahead and join their Gamers Club thingy--it's $30, but it gets you 20% off new games 3 times a year for the next 2 years, which I figured I'd take advantage of if I did get a Wii U soon. So I did that, and while I was checking out, I asked my cashier if they happened to pricematch Fry's even though they aren't a local competitor per se. So she looked in their POS system, which apparently has a list of competitors they will pricematch--and Fry's was on the list. So she said well, they're in here, so yes! So I grabbed a Wii U bundle and a copy of Mario Kart 8 off the shelf, the system honored the pricematch for the Wii U, I used the Gamer's Club 20% off on Mario Kart, and that was that. Score!

So far the girls really like it, and I am reasonably impressed as well. Mario Kart 8 is awesome, of course, and Super Mario World is fun because all 3 girls can play it with me. And the characters can turn into cats, which they naturally love. It also came with NintendoLand, which is a sort of WiiPlay-like collection of minigames designed to show the various ways the controls can be used. There are some fun ones, like a Zelda-based one that uses the Wii remote like a sword, and a Luigi's Mansion sort of game where one player uses the big gamepad with screen to control a ghost who hunts (and is hunted by) the other players using the tv screen. That one especially is a lot of fun. :)

So now we're looking forward to getting the new LEGO Jurassic World game when it comes out in a few weeks, and I'd like to get some of the other LEGO games as well. Okay, all the other LEGO games. :)