Movie Review: Get Smart- 7/5/08

Review: Do you remember the old Don Adams “Get Smart” t.v. show? Well I do, barely. For a show I watched with my cousins when we were in elementary show I remember only a handful of items from the series. I remember Agent 99, Agent 86, Jaime, The Chief, the Cone of Silence, shoe phone, the opening sequence…and that’s it.

I don’t remember any episodes or plots since it wasn’t remarkable, well that sums up this movie. Steve Carrell pulls off Agent 86 well, with the style of Don Adams I remember. His deadpan humor and determination to b a good secret agent move the film along well. Anne Hatahway is a smart, strong and confident Agent 99, though her character is a big departure from the original series, her character initially dislikes Maxwell Smart and hijinx ensues.

The plot is standard “bomb the world” scenario and the agents are to track evil Russian spies with nuclear weapons. There a slight reveal of a double agent and it was pretty easy to see, like a needle in a Rock. Thre are nods to the original show such as the t.v. show suit, car, cone of silence, brief use of the shoe phone and the motto, “Missed it by that much.”

Overall Get Smart was an interesting diversion with a handful of laughs. I’ve read others call this an action movie with comedy and I see it the other way. The action sequences are over the top implausible, but fits in with th tone of the movie. Nothing too exciting or original, but still charming. Just like the original Get Smart series.

Score: 2.85 out of 5

Golf Review: Wilson Alignment 3000 Putter- 7/3/08

Review: Picked up the Wilson Alignment 3000 putter just over a couple of months ago and have been able to take it on the course twice and practice with it occasionally.

I don’t know how old this putter is and when it ended its production run but the version I have bought had some scrapes and wear on the face and heel of the putter.

The face of the putter is smooth with alignment marks on the top edge and back of the putter. The alignment dot helped me position myself over the ball better since I tend to angle my hits at times and end up topping or smacking the ground behind the ball.

Kind of like the See More putters, there is a dot and lines on the head letting you know if you are over the top, or under the ball at alignment. The weight is pretty hefty, this is old school steel face and shaft. The grip is a tough plain black rubber with Wilson inscribed in white at the front. The white Wilson logo on mine was dirty and I tried to clean it off and ended up taking some of the paint off so I tried to fill it in with some white paint again.

It has been almost two years from when I switched out from using my first blade putter, the one that came with my Top Flite HCT Tour starter package. I wanted to try going back to a blade to see if that would help me from hitting the ground since the mallet tended to make me aim and chop down on the ball causing chunks of grass to fly instead of moving the ball forward. During my first game with the Wilson putter it helped me stand over the ball. The following game though the magic wore off and my putting was in the dumps again.

For the value that you should be able to acquire this putter at I would recommend it just to get you standing over the ball properly then you can stick with it or move back to your other putter.

Score: 3.5 out of 5

Golf Review: Nike Dri-Fit, Sphere Dry and Nike Dri-Fit UV Golf Shirts- 7/2/08

Review: Nike Dri-Fit, Sphere Dry and Nike Dri-Fit UV golf polo shirts. When playing golf and being out in the open environment, you know you have to take care of yourself or you’ll be exposed to the varied conditions of the course. From rain, mud, snow, sun and heat. Since I play in Southern California the main hazards are heat and sun. I’ve picked up a few Nike golf shirts and after starting off with regular polos and sweating through those easily, decide to choose my golf shirts with the moisture-wicking capabilities.

The Nike Dri-Fits play comfortable with some styles feeling like cotton while some are smooth-feeling like nylon or soild blends with the various fabrics and technology used. The Dri-Fits do delete moisture and sweat faster than regular cotton shirts. Where regular polos would be soaked on the chest and lower back for me, at the end of a game with the Nikes the perspiration is either gone or 1/3 as small as the cotton shirts.

The Nikes are prevalent so picking up a new shirt for under $30.00 is easy especially since styles are being introduced seemingly every quarter. I’ve been able to get Dri-Fits for under $20 at some Ross stores. The Dri-Fit UV are suppose to shield your body from harmful UV rays that do happen to get through the garment. I don’t remember seeing how long the UV is suppose to work or what SPF it is, but I haven’t had a burn or anything with the ones I’ve used. The one Sphere Dry shirt I have feels light and reminds me of the thinner Adidas ClimaCool shirts. For the price of the Sphere Drys versus a regular Dri-Fit shirt I don’t know if I noticed anything significant with the little openings cooling me down greatly.

For the good price and wide variety of styles to choose from the Nike Dri-Fit line is a good manufacturer to choose from. The fabrics do dry faster than other “moisture wicking” golf shirts I’ve had and there are just so many styles to choose from based on your mood for game day it’s hard not to like the Dri-Fit selection.

Score: 3.75 out of 5.

Golf Review: TaylorMade Rescue Mid Hybrids- 6/30/08


Review: The Taylor Made Rescue Mid hybrids that I have are the second set of hybrids that I have had. At first I was using the clone hybrids from Pinemeadow and then decided to upgrade. I chose the Taylor Made Rescue Mid since the price at the time (2006) was decent since Taylor Made just released the more update Dual Rescue hybrids.

I currently play the 3 and 4 hybrids with regular flex, steel shafts and I do have to say that they are outstanding clubs for the price. When hit they project a nice steel click and fly decently. I am able to hit the 3 hybrid around 165 yards and the 4 hybrid at 145 yards. The clubs do show some slight ballooning and even with the 3 hybrid tend to pop up in the air easily. This is great when not a strong hitter, not that good for trying to blast a long shot from under a tree.

The grips are nice standard Taylor Made sleek and smooth style. The hybrids come with an easy to pull on and off cover with a detachable chain to call out the club number. You can routinely find these clubs brand new for under $90.00 these days, even lower for used version since it is now a couple generations old with the Rescue Dual and now the Burner hybrids proliferating the market.
These clubs provide a lot of forgiveness for me and am able to drive the ball further compared to when I hit long irons such as a Callaway 3-iron, Dunlop SST 5-iron and maybe even my new Ben Hogan Edge CFT (haven’t hit it yet) 3-iron.

CLUB
LEFT-HANDED
LOFT
LIE
HEAD VOLUME
CLUB LENGTH
SWING WEIGHT
GRAPHITE
2

No
16°
59°
105cc
41″
D3
3
Yes
19°
59.5°
107cc
40.5″
D3
4
Yes
22°
60°
110cc
40″
D3
5
No
25°
60.5°
113cc
39.5″
D3


Score: 4 out of 5

Golf Course Review: UPDATED David L. Baker Golf Course, Fountain Valley, CA Golf Course- 6/28/07


Review: David L. Baker Golf Course in Fountain Valley, CA. Game played on Saturday 6/28/08. Played a game at David Baker around 10:00 a.m. and the course was pretty light on golfers. I have never seen David Baker so sparse especially on a Saturday. I’ve seen the course backed up 3-4 teams deep, even during the So. Cal fires last year when the air was smoke-tinged and the course still had back-ups. Don’t know if the heat warnings earlier this week scared players off or people cutting back due to the economy, but we were able to complete the course in under 3.5 hours. We could’ve finished in about 3 hours but we did encounter a slight slowdown due to some five-somes on the course reading the greens pretty slowly.

The course fairways finally had some green color to it, still brown in some areas but betting then I’ve seen it in a year. After the first few holes the greens are fast and smooth, only on the first front nines are their outstanding divots and patchy colors.

The sprinkled ponds on the course took four golf balls from me that day, water color ranged from the normal green tinge to some weird looking brown murkiness. If you can still get on the course without traffic, then the $27.00 cost is reasonable. We did see around the early afternoon a group of three golf carts playing the first hole that looked like a golf class starting play that significantly causes a back-up on the course, so pick your tee time wisely.

Score: 3.25 out of 5

Golf Review: Youth Nike Golf Clubs and Stand Bag- 6/23/08

Review: Nike Golf sells a line of off-the-rack golf clubs and equipment for kids. I just went to the Nike.com site and I couldn’t find a set description so they may be tweaking it still, a British site though as some item features.

For the aspiring young golfer, Nike offers sets of equipment based on their height. You can choose between Par Red, Birdie Blue, and Eagle Silver- tagged equipment for little tykes up to tweens. I will be reviewing the Blue color equipment since based on the color range only certain clubs are offered. The taller you are the more clubs to choose from.

The Nike kids driver (blue) looks like the previous 2004 adult Ignite driver, comes with graphite Nike shaft and steel club face. The driver has a nice pop and I’ve seen it pop balls around 125 yards, I do believe that the club should have a larger face since the version here is very shallow. The shaft also is very stiff and I wish Nike offered a more flexible version, why do kids with low swing speeds get stiff flex?

The hybrid club is approx. a 3- iron club and along with the mid iron and pitching wedge come with graphite, regular flex shafts. The hybrid is nicely weighted and offers good distance. The two irons offered in the Blue set are decent, though distance is not as long or forgiving as the prior clubs. An offering of a sand or lob wedge would have been nice to help out kids launch into the air balls from a deep bunker.



 The Nike putter is the one color length that did not match up with the user. The steel shaft and half-circle mallet design in the Blue color was very short so the putter length had to be moved up to the Silver color selection, while a bit longer than needed, it at least wasn’t as extreme as the short length of the blue. Putter comes with a soft polymer-like insert. Nice feel, though some grass chips do sometimes get caught in the edges where the insert in the face and body of the club meet.

Last but not least the golf bag, this one was also chosen to be the Silver instead of blue tag since the Silver offered more room. The bag is very light, comes with dual shoulder Izzo strap system and four pockets and four club dividers.

These clubs were previously picked up over a year ago during the yearly golf clearance at Target stores so some items like the bag was purchased for $15 compared to the usual $40-$50. Sports Authority stores also sell this line along with Nike kids golf shoes, golf towels, kids golf balls and gloves. Some of the club appearance have been changed in the current product line, the putter sold now looks more like the adult Ignite line with the triangular shape.

For an off-the-rack kids golf equipment and decent price the Nike line is a fine choice. The selection is nice is that you can buy just a few items (putter and iron) just to see if you kids likes the sport instead of have to plunk down a lot more buying a full array of equipment like the Callaway, Ping, Cobra, or La Jolla packages.

Score: 3.25 out of 5

Goodwill Store: Color Tag Sale- Week of 6/20/08

Goodwill Color Tag Sale for the week of 6/20/08: Blue items and Pink tag merchandise.

It looks like Goodwill Stores in Orange County, CA came to their senses and ended their short-lasting test of only having the color tag 50% off sale from Sundays through Thursdays.

For some reason they instituted several weeks ago that they would not offer the usual 50% off color tags on Fridays and Saturdays, i don’t know if the bright reason for that was those days were their high traffic days and that they could bring more cash flow by not discounting items on those days. Well I’m guessing that that trick did not happen since in the stores I went to when they had the limited days, store traffic died down and these are stores that you do not go to splurge but to save money.

Thankfully it looks like the Goodwill stores came to their senses and brought back the color tag discount throughout the week with the sale items starting on Friday and switching at the end of Thursday. It was a rumor I overheard last weekend, I wish they announced it since there was a dvd set that had this weeks colors that I was waiting on to get discounted, but alas it was gone on Saturday.

A big yay for bringing in the old promotion back. I’m also hoping they’re keeping the two-color discount together with one general color item 50% off any item (clothing, books, movies, accessories, electronics, etc.) and a second color just for merchandise. I think it will help drive additional sales if customers can expect to buy more items instead of waiting until a particular item’s color is chosen.

I do have a suggestion for Goodwill which I think can bring it some additional revenue as well as make some shopping bargain hunters happy, offer discount code coupon books. For example for $10.00 a customer will receive a Goodwill store booklet with coupon discounts good for 50% any one color item, 25% off blue color clothing, 15% orange tagged books, etc. Buyers would buy this so they can buy on the spot an item they’d like to purchase at a discount and not have to wait, Goodwill can make some extra cash by selling a routine item for goods that may sit around for long periods (increased cash flow).

I’d also like to note that the San Diego Goodwill stores have a different pricing and merchandise strategy from Orange County stores. The one Mr. Monster visited in North County had hand labeled color tags, but the store did not have discounts based on the color (maybe it’s only on certain sale days). The store was a lot smaller, but the selection of goods had more retail store clothing that had tags still attached such as Dockers, Banana Republic, etc. that were not the usual Target store overstock/return merchandise.

I wonder of the San Diego branches get donated items from mall/retail stores directly since I saw some with tags from Marshalls and TJ Max. The store even had a section on the clothing racks labeled New Items for the women’s side, I guess so you don’t have to spend too much time looking through for recently stocked items.

Golf Review: Nike Dri-Fit Golf Gloves- 6/21/08

Review: I have been using the Nike Dri-Fit golf gloves for the last couple of years on and off. For the price they sell around $10.00. These are synthetic gloves and have held up longer than some other name brand gloves I have used in the past.

I did choose this Nike version since I was looking for black golf gloves and the Nike Dri-Fits were the most readily available at a good low price. They also come in a nice vented hard plastic case which helps keep them in shape instead of throwing them crumpled into the side pockets of your golf bag.

I have regulated this version of the glove to mostly practice and driving range so it’s been going on almost a year for me. The last version I used during play laster about six months before rips appeared. This one I use for practice and sometimes play, the only wear showing up is that the synthetic leather around the thumbs and wrist area are rubbing off and exposing the lycra fabric.

The fit is good for a ML and breathes well without any major discomfort notice. Plus since this is a black colored version, dirt and stains are hard to notice. Major pluses for the glove holder.

Score: 3.5 out of 5