Movies and Streaming Video

5.1 VIZIO SmartCast Wireless Sound Bar System: Let Your Media Come to Life #ad

This is a sponsored post; we received compensation from VIZIO, but all opinions are the author’s. Last year, VIZIO sent a 2016 VIZIO SmartCast M-Series Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display for review. We set it up in our bedroom and love it! (Read the review here.) So I was thrilled when VIZIO offered me one of their brand new 36″ 5.1 VIZIO SmartCast Wireless Sound Bar Systems. It is the perfect complement to the display.

Editorials

Cabana Is One of Soon-to-Be-Many Shared Video Apps

Lots of people lament the effect smartphones have had on social interaction. When people today hang out, it’s not uncommon for there to be moments or even minutes of silence as everyone in the group looks at their phones.

Gear Bits

Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’ Trailer Has Me Wondering If it’s August Yet!

There are many reasons to be excited about summer; good weather, more time outside, delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, bbq … but you’d better get your fill before August 18, because that’s when Marvel’s “The Defenders” drops on Netflix!

Reviews

JBL Cinema SB450 Soundbar Delivers Killer Sound for Music, Movies and More

My living room offers a great media experience thanks to a large 4K Vizio display and full surround-sound audio system via Sonos. The bedroom has the 55” Vizio display I reviewed. (Read the review) Thanks to the JBL Cinema SB450 Soundbar, our bedroom offers a great audio experience; this is an impressive audio system, and I am a huge fan.

News & Features

The Circle Is Watching You in the Latest Trailer

If you haven’t yet read Dave Egger’s “The Circle“, I highly recommend it. It’s fantastic, building a world around a company that is part Facebook, part Google, where your privacy is an obstacle to their success. When I heard there was a movie being made, I was partially excited and partially concerned. Based on the trailer, the movie will have even more bite than the book! Yes, that was Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Karen Gillan, Patton Oswalt, and John Boyega, among many others. It’s coming out this April, and I am beyond excited. We already live in a world where…

Editorials

The Trailer for the “Santa Clarita Diet” Shows Why Netflix Wins Streaming

Streaming video is where everyone wants to be, and the newest entry is a modern take on portraying a hungry zombie, desperate to return to its old life and consuming the living as a poor substitute for true life force. Yes, Apple Music is entering the video business. Oh, and Netflix has a cool new show with Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant!

Editorials

Supergirl Soars in Embracing a Beautiful Coming Out Story

Just about every person who identifies as anything other than straight has their “story”. We all have that moment where the niggle in the back of our head, the one said “something is different” finally turned into a full-blown realization. It’s something I’ve personally never seen expressed well in television … until Supergirl.

Editorials

Everyone Should Watch This Video About High Schoolers

At the risk of sounding like click bait, don’t read the rest of this post until you’ve watched the video below.

News & Features

Tablo Makes It Easier to Get Live TV by Using Your Gaming System

If you read my review a few months ago about the Tablo DVR system and were off put about needing to buy extra accessories like antennas, you are in luck as Tablo announced today their Over-The-Air HDTV DVR system is now available for the Xbox One.

News & Features

Cox Contour Flex Starter for $15/Mo Is the Skinny Bundle I’ve Been Waiting For

Yesterday I received a special offer ( CODE AC162FS36U ) from Cox Cable to subscribe to their Contour Flex Starter for $15/month which includes all my local channels plus HBO. This fits my viewing habits almost perfectly.

News & Features

The Movie “Loving” and the Love Story that Made History

The movie Loving caught my eye not only because it’s a love story with a perfect title, but because it is based on the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple in Virginia during the Jim Crow era and the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.

News & Features

Amazon Introduces Updated Fire TV Stick – $39 Includes Voice, Alexa

Amazon just introduced an updated Fire TV Stick which is priced at $39.99 and due for release on October 20, 2016. The new device looks and acts a lot like the old one with the addition of Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant.

News & Features

Take Your Media Everywhere You Go with Plex Cloud

If you haven’t heard of a little company by the name of Plex, you’ve probably been living under a rock. The popular media player and server announced today a service that will make sure you are never without your favorite music, movies, and photos again.

Reviews

Assassin HTPC’s Micro Extender Is the Perfect Streaming Solution

Assassin HTPC, one of the top names in the Home Theater PC game, is back in the news with their new Assassin Micro Media Extender. It’s a pint-sized PC that runs on Android that comes preconfigured with Assassin HTPC customized software that’s ready to use straight out of the box. The Assassin Micro retails for $249.99, including lifetime cloud updates.

News & Features

The Best Movie Trailers from San Diego’s Comic Con 2016: Which Movies Will You Want to See?

Comic Con 2016 in San Diego is over, and one of the best things to come out of it (beyond all of the amazing cosplay) are the newest previews for some of the upcoming movies and television shows. I’m probably most excited about Snowden, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Wonder Woman — oh, and King Arthur.

News & Features

Board Up Your Windows, Sharknado 4 Is Coming!

Ah, summer. Long days, warm nights, and storms full of razor sharp teeth…yes, Sharknado is back again! You may recall that the last segment opened with President Mark Cuban, Vice President Anne Coulter, and Ian Ziering fighting sharks at the White House, and ended with David Hasselhoff on the moon and a shark about to land on Tara Reid. If possible, the next segment looks even crazier!

News & Features

Listen to the New Ghostbusters Theme Song Only If You Hate Yourself

Look, I know there’s a lot of drama around the reboot of “Ghostbusters”. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time; the first time I was floor manager at Borders, I ran around telling people “I AM THE KEYMASTER!” But I am beyond excited for the reboot too, because funny people+cool premise+good director=fun movie. But not the theme song. Never the theme song. It’s not that I am deeply attached to the Ray Parker Jr version. I am all for it being modernized. But what illegal substance was the production crew on when they commissioned Fall Out Boy to…

Reviews

Libratone ZIPP MINI Is a Great-Sounding Reboot of One of My Favorite Speakers

The Libratone ZIPP was one of my all-time favorite speakers. It looked great, sounded amazing, and let you customize the look with exchangeable covers. With portable AirPlay it was as close to the perfect speaker for an iOS-user as you could find. Now Libratone has rebooted the ZIPP and they are offering the smaller, and less expensive, Libratone ZIPP MINI. The new Libratone line has a new look. It’s more curvy than before and has a zipper that runs around the circumference of the speaker, rather than running vertically as it did with the original. The ZIPP MINI has an…

News & Features

Drop Everything and Watch this “Orange is the New Black”/”Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

If you have a Netflix subscription and haven’t watched “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Orange is the New Black”, please head off to binge both immediately. We’ll wait here. If you’re back, keep reading, because the tribute video of your dreams was released by Netflix yesterday, where the ladies of Litchfield celebrate the upcoming Kimmy Schmidt season 2 release with “Honey Jar” (a tribute to “Peeno Noir”)

News & Features

The ZAGG Now Cam Frees Your Photography and Videography From Your Phone

ZAGG’s been doing some interesting things as of late. I have a review of their iPhone 6 Speaker Case coming shortly and that’s just the beginning. Their latest creation is the ZAGG Now Cam. This little camera is designed to let you capture video and images without running your smartphone battery down. And that’s just the beginning! The Now Cam is actually three devices in one. It is a Social Video AND a Camera AND a Bluetooth Speaker. All that and it still costs under $130. As ZAGG explains: The Now Cam frees you from the confines of viewing life from behind…

News & Features, Reviews

Powerstick’s Mosaic Powerstream Will Let You Have Expandable Storage

A once successful Kickstarter program, I finally had the opportunity to try out the Powerstick Mosaic Powerstream, and honestly, I have mixed reviews in regards to it. Designed to be a tool to give you more storage, the Mosaic is essentially a wireless external hard drive that will get you through a long flight by allowing you to stream your media directly through the Mosaic. The model I received is the 16gb version which means I didn’t actually stream very much. My only issue with the Powerstick Mosaic is the fact they even have a 16gb version. Now granted, not…