Archive for the ‘Tid Bits & News’ Category

So early last week, I managed to buy some IMAX tickets to see The Dark Knight Sunday evening at 7pm.  And boy o boy was it a good idea to buy those tickets so early, as the whole weekend quickly sold out.

And not only did the 7pm showtime sell out, Nashvillians and the like starting showing up for the show in question at like 5pm to stand in that all-too-familiar IMAX line.  When it finally came time to enter the theater, the security guard was a little too much on the eager side and almost took out a member of my party who was trying to get inside.

But it was all worth it in the end.  The Dark Knight lived up to any expectations with a solid plot, well-written script and beautifully preformed acting by boh Christian Bale and the late & talented Heath Ledger.  Compare this film to the George Clooney Batman’s and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any fault in the much-less-hokey Knight.

The Dark Knight itself blazed through the weekend with a record-setting $155.3 million, putting Spider-Man in the dust as the best opening weekend ever on the records.

So, you tell me, what did you think of the newest Batman film?

Okay, who else is guilty of falling prey to the hype about the 3G iPhone?  I don’t mean that the hype doesn’t hold some place in reality, but reports of how long some of those folks stood in the Mac line at Green Hills Mall is a little astounding.

I myself took to Hickory Hollow Mall’s AT&T store, thinking the line would be shorter & hopefully the staff prepared for the event.  Well, I was 18th in line when I arrived at 7am & by the time 10:30am rolled around, only three people left the store with a working 3G iPhone in sweaty little hands.

So, what gives?  Did good old Stevsies think we weren’t gonna make it out last Friday & to just not worry about adding a few more supportive servers to iTunes?  And, sorry to be the soapboxer this morning, why on earth wasn’t AT&T more prepared for the big day?  Did they just not get the memo?  I mean, it was like they had never seen a 3G iPhone before, never opened the box & familiarized themselves with the programs and inner workings of the phone. 

But maybe I just visited the wrong store.  What were your experiences this weekend over the 3G iPhone?

With the price of gas rising this summer as well as the temperature, which means high electric bills, are you going broke?

We can’t do a European vacation this year due to the failing dollar, we can’t go on a long road trip due to gas prices & the fear that Al Gore will come kill us all, and now we can’t even do anything at all because of expensive electric bills.  Is there a happier side to this coin?

It looks like the only positive benefits to this situation is getting to know Nashville better, and I mean the FREE Nashville.  So, what I’m doing this summer is finding out all about the freebees like Movies In the Park or checking out the local state parks.

Is this situation even effecting you & what are you doing about it, Nashville?

Dillards has become the most recent retailer to flee Antioch’s Hickory Hollow Mall.  The company announced that they will be closing the doors come August due to crime in the Antioch area as well as competition.

The Hickory Hollow Mall has already lost the well-known retailers J.C.Penney and Hallmark and now Dillards is following suit, with Linens ‘n Things closing as well later this year.

Which brings me to my questions, how often do you go to the Antioch mall?  And do you feel safe going there?

According to a new Tennessean article, Tennessee’s four largest cities rank embarrassingly high as the nation’s worst carbon emitters.  Largely due to recently developed urban sprawl and cheap electricity, Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga and Memphis are all guilty of too much emission.

Sadly, Nashville’s negative footprint is ranked sixth worst on the Brookings Institution’s list of carbon emitters.  Nashville is ranked so high because of our reliance on personal vehicles rather than a standard mass transit. 

So, let’s open this up, what are you doing to reduce carbon emissions in Nashville?  What can we do as a community-wide effort?

Okay, let’s see about swapping yesterday’s Memorial Day weather for today’s.  Or, better yet, let’s get those bosses to agree that we need today off as well.

Soggy cookouts & dripping wet dogs are what made my Memorial Day Monday.  I think it’s illegal in 12 different states to cook your Memorial Day turkeydog using something other than an outdoor grill. 

So, tell me about your day, how did you spend your rainy Memorial Day?

This Monday is two parts really, surviving the week after Steeplechase & surviving the day after Mother’s Day.

Let’s start with the horse racing, many of you said you were not only attending but attending the before & after parties as well on Saturday, so it may be that you sorry lot didn’t even make it to a Mother’s Day lunch at Macaroni Grill.

And then there’s those of you who are either patting yourself on the back for a Mother’s Day well-received, or those that are fearful of calling the day after.  It’s a delicate act, the day after Mother’s Day call, which, after today, I will be all the more familiar with.

So, tell me, which one were you this weekend?

I was perusing the net the other day when I was thrown by all that Google Street View has accomplished in the Nashville area.  Being one of the first large Southern cities to get the honor of Street View, I was more than tickled when I saw that even my neighborhood over here at Nipper’s Corner got snapped.

And from the looks of it, you guys are just as excited as I am.  Nashville Is Talking’s Christian even found himself on his bike off Louisiana. 

Has your neighborhood been Googled yet?

So what?  Are you gonna chastise me just because I may or may not have babies on the brain?

I happened upon an interesting article in the Tennessean this morning & I couldn’t resist posting about it.  Have you ever wondered what folks are naming their babies these days, particularly locally?  Well, wonder no more.  While the Tennessean listed the top 25 names, I’m always a sucker for a top ten list. 

Here they are, The Top Ten Tennessee Baby Names (girl first, then boy): 

1 Madison / William
2 Emma / Jacob
3 Emily / Ethan
4 Addison / James
5 Abigail / Joshua
6 Hannah / Christopher
7 Ava / Jackson
8 Elizabeth / Michael
9 Chloe / Noah
10 Isabella / Andrew (tie) / Elijah (tie)

Wow, we’re keeping it kinda bland in TN this year in regards to baby names.  What about a Tallulah or two?

So, go on & reveal it, what did you name your young uns or what are you fav baby names?

So I was in the Nolensville Road Kroger this weekend, pretending that I was an out-of-towner, so I could see if Southern manners are really out the window.  My report?  It’s true, there are no more cordialities.

Truthfully, it seems like no one remembers the words, “Excuse me,” even when they or their screaming, running children ram you with their overloaded, precarious shopping cart and you stand there, looking at the adult straight in the eyes, waiting for those magical words, that for some reason, seem to make the bruising all better, but it never, ever comes and you’re left standing there with a pitiful look, knowing at long last that Southern hospitality is dead.  RIP.

And it’s not just at the Nolensville Road Kroger store where I have noticed an absence of this so-called cordialness we are somewhat known for, it’s not found anywhere these days, and most assuredly not in you car on the road. 

But you tell me, is Southern hospitality dead?