Jeff the Great Declares: "I'll be Back"

No, the title has nothing to do with my blogging. This is my review of the new movie Terminator Salvation. It has been out for a month now so I guess it's not all that new, but I just went to see it today. For those of you with a short attention span, i thought it was good.

If you are still with me you have obviously not been corrupted by our short attention span digital culture....yet! Before saying more about the movie I must tell you some background. I love the Terminator franchise. It's like my Star Wars. I wait eagerly, for years at a time, for a new installment. My love for Terminator started back in 1990 when I was able to watch a few days of the filming of Terminator 2. Specifically I watched crews shoot the scene where the "bad" terminator drives out of the mall parking garage in a large semi-truck rig, chasing after John Conner who is on a modified dirt bike. Of course, "The" Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was close behind on a Harley of some sort. I was hooked ever since then and even had to go back and watch the first Terminator after I watched Terminator 2 in the theater (I was too young for the original Terminator when it first came out).

So back to present time, sort of. When Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines came out, I rushed to the theater to see it and I LOVED IT. I was in the minority though...reviews were so/so and it didn't set any impressive boxoffice records. At the end of Terminator 3 you just knew that there will be a 4th instalment of the franchise and I've been amped ever since. I waited a few years and read rumors all along the way until Terminator: Salvation came out this year.

I have to admit that my expectations were low. I was still excited about the movie but I had learned that it was going to be a completely different take on the story. For one, it is set in 2018...almost 15 years after the 3rd movie left off. Then, appropriately, it is a war movie. The others were action packed but they did not center around war.

Then came the 'meh' reviews. So called experts and regular folk alike said it wasn't so good. I even read tweets that said things like "that's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back." So I went into the theater today with low expectations.

In the end, it slightly exceeded those low expectations. It was good but not great. As a huge Terminator fan, I was interested in some of the deeper storylines that others may not pick up on. I was constantly rehashing the first 3 movies in my mind and making connections with what I was seeing in this one. I was entertained.

The graphics were great and the action was even better. Lots of larger than life battle scenes with some crazy robots and even few fist fight scenes that didn't dissapoint. Like every other Terminator movie, it ended with a victory for the good guys but also an opening for the next instalment of the franchise.

I do hear that the next film, effectively Terminator 5, will be set in 2011. That makes Terminator Salvation a sequel and a prequel all at the same time. Not sure if the rumors are true, but I like to believe it! I haven't heard anything credible on what the full title will be.

So if you are a Terminator fan, go see it and I think you'll enjoy it. Just don't set your expecations too high and be prepared for a movie done in a totally different style than the first 3.

Happy movie going!

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great Names State Run Media

Jeremiah and I have launched our latest project....its called ThePortlander. The idea is to be a news web site for Portland, by Portlanders. We don't claim to be journalists or professionals, and that's the point. Just simple accounts of the news you care about. No Masters degree's, no overpaid editors. Just user generated news.

We invite anyone to contribute and you can do so in two ways. First option is to submit the news to us and we'll put it into a story and publish it ASAP. The other option is to join us as a regular contributing team member. We'll give you a username/password and you can write stories whenever you'd like. To support the second opportunity, we'll be rolling out a revenue sharing program that will pay you a substantial share of the money earned from ads on your stories.

Come check us out and add the site or certain sections to your RSS reader. The site is also iPhone friendly (including the "submit the news" form). We look forward to seeing you at ThePortlander!

-Jeff the Great

P.S. you can also follow ThePortlander on Facebook and CitySpeek

Jeff the Great Cuts Your Pay

I know the economy is bad and unemployment is higher than its been in decades. Is it so bad though that companies think they can pay half of what people are worth? I mean, don't you still have to pay to get and retain talent?

Case in point: some recent job listings I came across today (no, I'm not looking). The first is a "Financial Modeling/Excel Wizard" at an self proclaimed professional business planning firm. They essentially need someone to build Excel proforma financial statements to help clients raise capital. They'd prefer a CPA or an MBA that had a finance focus.

The pay you ask? Try $30,000 a year. Don't fret, after 90 days they will bless you with a 5% raise if you deserve it! Once last thing, they make it very clear that they will not pay for your parking!

The second job I stumbled upon is a Project Manager for an "established website design" firm. They want you to have strong communication skills, have great organizational skills and to be familiar with internet technologies. Your job will be to make sure that they stay on task, on time and on budget.

They key to this job is that they specifically say "Project management experience is not required" but a 4-year college degree would be nice. I'm serious folks, you can't make this stuff up!

The pay on this one? A whopping $26,000 a year folks.

Do these companies really think they can hire good people for this type of pay? Do they understand that people go to school for an MBA so that they can make more than they did without the degree? Thirty thousand dollars a year is $15 an hour. I've known 18 year old's that make $15 an hour.

Here are the direct links if you'd like to check out the jobs on your own (note, the content probably wont be on Craig's List for long so don't be surprised if the links don't work a week after I write this):

Financial Modeling/Excel Wizard- $30,000/yr
Project Manager- $26,000/yr

Happy job hunting!

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great says "Good Riddance" to Newspapers

As you have probably heard, today was the last day for a print edition of the Seattle P.I. newspaper. Less than a month ago, the Denver Rocky Mountain News shut down for good. With Seattle and Denver being major US cities, I'd say we are entering a new age of news and media.

What I don't get though is the sadness surrounding these shutdowns. I've read story after story that says we should be sad and unhappy about these changes. That the economy we are facing is to blame and if not that, it must be the owners that are to blame....awful people that don't care about you and me! The Rocky Mountain News even produced a (great) video that I can only presume was meant to make us feel bad for the employees of the now defunct paper.

The reality is that it's not an economic issue or an ownership issue. The real issue is a failure to adapt. The failure to adapt is a failure of the leadership. Traditional newspapers that don't adapt are being slaughtered both on and off the web. People are not reading less news. People are not caring less. There is no lack of news, there is no lack of interesting stories. Companies still advertise, people still want to sell their stuff.

So why should I feel bad because these companies had poor leadership that made poor business decisions? Should I feel sorry for an industry that fought long and hard to ignore new technology and hold onto the past?

In the case of the Seattle P.I., they are going to an online only model. If I were them, instead of saying "woa is me, we have to go to online only, isn't that sad" I'd proclaim that the paper is a leader in the industry. That the paper should be looked at as an example of how to adapt, how to be on the cutting edge.

But no....woa is them.

-Jeff the Great

Jeff the Great Not Impressed by Cinetopia

The Portland metro area has a new movie theater concept that offers what they call a luxury movie experience. The place is called Cinetopia and I've been wanting to check it out since it opened a few years ago. Finally last week, my wife and I decided to make the trek up to Vancouver to give Cinetopia a go. In a few words, we were not impressed.

Cinetopia is essentially a small theater plus a restaurant and wine bar. They offer 8 screens total, in two different types of theaters: grand and living room. Grand theaters are fairly traditional while living room theaters are meant to be a bit more cozy. Those seats that look to be more spaced out from each other plus a carpeted area up near the screen with large throw pillows. The concession stand is similar to what you would expect with the exception of having a gourmet butter bar for your popcorn.

The restaurant is billed as a 4 star joint that features a rather large northwest style menu and white table cloth tables. The wine bar is unique with its high tech, self serve wine dispensing machines. I think they take a special card and works on a 'credit' system for samples or full glasses.

What Jeff the Great liked: The best part of Cinetopia is their movie technology. All movies are shown in digital format and they can support up to 2048p resolution (your HD TV at home is probably 1080). There really is a big difference between a film showing verse digital. The picture was great and there were no flaws. Also, I am no audiophile but I noticed a distinctly better sound experience. The surround seemed so natural and was incredibly crisp and clear.

What Jeff the Great didn't like: Just about everything else. Other than the fine video/audio quality, the place just wasn't done right, in my opinion. Here are my observations and a few suggestions.

A 4 star restaurant in a movie theater, in Vancouver just doesn't make sense. On Thursday night, my wife and I were one of only two parties in the dining room. There is something about an empty restaurant at dinner time that makes you want to go somewhere else. One thing that struck us is that after buying our movie tickets and while making our way into the restaurant, we were stopped by an employee and told that dinner at Cinetopia takes at least and hour and that we shouldn't have dinner if our movie started soon. Umm, what's the point of having a restaurant at a move theater then? Most items on the menu didn't seem to be the kind you could easily take with you into the theater and share. Not to mention the prices! Just about every item was priced $2-$3 more than what I would expect. Their wine menu offered a selection for $12.50 where my wife's restaurant sells the same vintage for under $10.

If I were doing Cinetopia, I'd create a more casual dining experience that allowed customers to get in out and in 20 minutes, if need be. I'd have burgers, sandwiches, salads and sharable appetizers...not much more. Then, a selection of mostly local beer and win; no glass of wine over $10. Essentially, be more like McMenamins...but a bit nicer.

Next is the theater mix. Of their 8 theaters, 5 are 'grand' theaters that really don't offer much beyond a standard cinema. The grand theaters don't allow alcohol, presumably to be family friendly (and in accordance with state law?). According to their web site as of this writing, only 1 flick is being shown in the 3 living room style theaters where beer and wine is allowed. Slumdog Millionaire is being shown in a family friendly grand theater.

If I were Cinetopia, I'd have 5 living room theaters and 3 grand theaters. Then, I'd make the grand theaters 21 & over after a certain time of the night on week days. I'd have wait-staff come in and take beer/wine orders throughout the movie. Even in the living room theaters, I understand that they stop wait-service 10 minutes before the show starts. So after that, you have to walk out to the bar, missing some of the movie. Finally, fit the seats in all theaters with a tray table of some sort. Think school desk or something like that. Make me want to buy food, make it easy!

There were a couple other things, like a terribly inattentive wait staff in the restaurant (yes, even with only 4 customers) and even higher than normal popcorn/soda prices. The men's restroom was pretty grimie and I noticed urinal falling apart. I also found that noise from the grand theaters was filtering into the hallways.

Cinetopia confirmed to me that they are still building their Beaverton location and should open just slightly behind schedule, in early 2010. I can 0nly hope that they read this blog post and take my advice for that one. Otherwise I don't see it being successful. We have too many other entertainment options in the SW suburbs of Portland.

Take my opinion for what its worth (everything),

-Jeff the Great