Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

I've been on vacation. I thought I'd blog while I was here, but I haven't. Having too much fun. I'll get back to it on Monday.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm planning to do an article or a few articles on my favorite web sites next week. I'm always surprised to learn that people have never heard of some of the sites I visit almost every day.

So, before I get going, what are your favorite sites?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

You know I'm a huge fan of Netflix.com. I've written about Netflix many times (see my overview).

I've also developed a Google homepage module for Netflix that currently has about 2,500 users. Today I'm releasing version 2 of that module into a beta testing mode. If you're not familiar with the concept of a beta release, it's basically a trial release. The software is generally finished, it works, but it may not be 100% complete. In the case of my Netflix module, I haven't completed any of the help or documentation screens and the setup is still a little rough. However, it is working and it's better than the old version.

You can get more information about it and install it from here. Obviously you'll need a Netflix.com account to get the full use out the module, but you can try the module without an account. I'm not sure why you don't have a Netflix account, though. It's one of the few web/world services that actually makes life simpler. No driving to the rental place only to be disappointed they don't have the movie you want. No late fees. No due dates. Unbelievable selection (including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD). Free trial offer. Rental plans as low as $5.99 a month. It's the only way to rent DVDs. Sign up now!

Remember that my module is still in beta (read more). I need feedback, but I probably won't respond to setup and usage questions right now until I have completed the documentation. Let me know what you think.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After my recent post about ING Direct, Barbara asked a couple of questions:

I also like ING, but I thought there was a couple of days lag between requesting a withdrawal and the actual receipt of funds?

That's a great idea of the mortgage payment earning money for part of the month.

do they calculate on a average daily balance at the end of the month or on a day by day basis?

As for the interest payment, it is compounded continuously. In fact, one cool feature of the account is that it shows you how much interested you have earned so far in the month. That's cool and it's encouraging. When you log in and see that you're actually making money with savings, it makes you want to put more aside.

I didn't mention it in my previous post, but ING Direct also has CD accounts (currently paying 5.25%). When I open my CD there, I'll give you the details.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Many of you know that I have developed several Google modules. I blog about them all the time. Well, today I'm having a little trouble with my Traffic Module. I'm working to resolve the problem, but I wanted to post a note here to let everyone know that I am aware of the problem and I am working on it. Most people are seeing 0 incidents right now and it has been that way for most of the day. I'm going to get it fixed.

If you would like to know more about my Google modules, I suggest reading my series on developing them. Otherwise you can read about things I like: ING Direct, Netflix, the best real estate agent in Phoenix and Pirates of the Caribbean. Or you could download my book.

Or you could just go back to work.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Amazing Stories was a great TV show. In fact, this is one of the first TV shows that I remember feeling any type of anticipation about. Before it went on the air I remember the commercials. They were vague like a teaser trailer, and they worked. By the time the series aired I was ready to be blown away.

I wasn't disappointed. With Steven Spielberg as the director of the show, though, how could it have been bad? I thought the stories were cool and they weren't creepy like The Twilight Zone. These were shows the whole family could like ... and I think we all did.

If you have never heard of Amazing Stories, you should definitely check it out on DVD. If you're not quite ready to commit to buying the DVDs, you can always add them to your Netflix.com queue [click to add].

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

You know I like to blog about the new things I'm doing. So here's another one:

Ok. I'm behind the curve on a lot of stuff. I joined Netflix.com months after I first heard about it. I got my iPod years after they came out. I still don't have HDTV. I'm not an early adopter in all things. I like to know somebody that's been there that I can ask questions.

Here's one I wish I had known about much sooner: ING Direct.
If you haven't heard of ING Direct, you should check it out. In a nutshell, it's a savings account. But it's an amazing savings account. Right now the interest rate on their accounts is 4.35%. For comparison, my credit union pays me 0.92% on my regular savings and 2.37% on my money market account. So 4.35% is a big deal. Not only do they provide a great savings interest rate, but there's no minimum balance, so setup fee ... nothing.

From what I can tell, they can do this because it's all online. There are no branches anywhere, so they keep their costs down. You sign up online. After that you can transfer money between your regular bank checking account and your ING Direct account at any time. You can also set up automatic transfers.

I set up my account to pull 1/4 of my mortgage payment from my checking account each week. Then, just before the end of the month, I have it set up to automatically put my full mortgage payment back into my checking account so the money's always there. This accomplishes 3 things: first, since I have no spending self control, this method ensures that I can always make my house payment. Second, I earn interest on my house payment all month long. Third, there are 52 weeks in a year but only 12 months, so each year I save an extra house payment.

In this age when everyone is doing online banking of some sort, ING Direct just makes sense.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

You know how I feel about Revenge of the Sith, so you shouldn't be surprised to know how happy I am that Pirates has taken another record from that movie.

Over the past weekend, Pirates brought in another $62 million dollars to bring the total revenue to $258 mil. That beats Sith's previous 10-day record by $22 million. It has also taken the record for fastest movie to $200 million. See the full story here.

I'm going to see Pirates again this week. How many times will you see Pirates in the theater?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been blogging for over six months now and I've done about 400 posts but I don't think I've ever mentioned my wife's web site one time. Oops.

Well, the time has come to plug HopeToAdopt.com. This site was my wife's idea and it has been a great service and the vehicle by which many great friendships have been created. HopeToAdopt.com was built out of an idea that my wife had just after we finalized the adoption of our daughter. It's been going strong since then.

HopeToAdopt.com is not a catch-all adoption information site like so many others. Its focus is primarily on the adoptive parents. We built it to provide a matching service. Basically families who are considering adoption or who are in the process of adoption can build an online profile at HopeToAdopt.com that can be used to "get the word out" about themselves and their desire to adopt. We also provide an online community for support and general information.

Our children (both adopted) have been the greatest blessing of our lives. We just wanted to give something back. My wife spends a lot of time supporting the site and the people who visit it. If you know someone who is considering adoption, tell them about HopeToAdopt.com.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

There have been so many new movies lately that I haven't had a chance to discuss any DVD releases for some time. In fact, I've been so busy with new movies that I've lost track of what's new and how long some DVDs have even been out.

This past weekend I finally saw Glory Road. I'm not sure how long it's been on DVD, but I received it from Netflix.com last week. You may remember my review of Friday Night Lights. I hated Friday Night Lights because I was expecting a movie like Glory Road. I'm not a huge sports fan, so if I watch a sports movie I'm looking for something powerful and inspiring like Miracle or Remember the Titans.

Glory Road was the movie I was hoping it would be. It's an inspiring story done very well. If you haven't seen it, pick it up at Amazon or put it in your Netflix.com queue. (If you don't have Netflix you should sign up). Glory Road is the kind of movie that makes you feel better for having watched it. 1.75π.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I was driving to Chipotle last night taking my regular route. However, when I got to the corner of Elliot and Power (where I would normally take a left) there was construction and a new No Left Turn sign. I looked around and saw that there was no oncoming traffic and I was simply too lazy to turn right and do a U-turn later or go straight and do the same, so I turned left.

The car behind me turned right. Then the SUV behind that car turned left also. I felt good knowing I wasn't the only person turning left. Until that SUV began flashing blue and red.

I haven't been pulled over for fourteen years, so I'm a little rusty on the whole thing. But after reviewing the conversation with the police officer, I realized that there is no right answer to the question, "Do you know why I pulled you over?"

If I had chosen to say "Yes," I would have been implying that not only did I know but that I had brazenly acted outside of the law for whatever reason -- and I would have been admitting guilt (which of course I was guilty). Of course if I say "No" then I look like I'm a complete moron. I chose a somewhat halfhearted "No" with a confused look and some blabbering about the construction. I was then verbally berated for my stupidity (which I deserved) but I was let go with a warning.

So. The big huge sign with the line through the big huge left turn symbol clearly means no left turn. You can be sure I won't be doing that again.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow!

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone. Seth wrote a nice entry about my book yesterday and then Dan followed up on his blog. This morning I checked my stats and found that the book has been downloaded over 1,000 times already.

That's phenomenal! Thank you to everyone. I've already received a great deal of positive and helpful email. Please keep it coming.

If you would like to link directly to my book for download, please link to http://www.blakeschwendiman.com/blook/agency_delta.php or you can link to my original post about it here. This helps me to track downloads and allows me to add a cool counter to my site which is now in the "Read Online" section of the right-hand column.

Thanks again!

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I have several friends that are huge toy collectors (the people themselves aren't huge, but their interest in collecting is huge, for the most part). They're mostly Star Wars toy collectors, but they do also follow the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. Because of my interaction, I see a lot of collectibles and every once in a while I think I'll buy something. I haven't yet.

I was just looking at WickedCoolStuff.com and found some pretty cool stuff: Superman Returns
and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Or how about a Pirates of the Caribbean iPod Cover?

So, do you collect anything?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Jeff sent me this link to let me know that it's Harrison Ford's birthday. Normally I'm not going to blog about every Tom, Luke and Hairy that has a birthday, but Harrison Ford is different. He's a major character (or the major character) in three movie franchises: Star Wars, Indiana Jones and some of the Jack Ryan movies.

He's played an amazingly diverse range of characters from the nutball in Mosquito Coast to the physically/mentally disabled man in Regarding Henry to the android hunter in Blade Runner. Harrison Ford is 64 today.

You can get a sense of the scope of his work at Amazon: Harrison Ford.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have received numerous requests for a downloadable copy of The Agency Delta, so I've finally gotten to it. You can download, print (optional) and read the PDF version of The Agency Delta by downloading this file.

You may be wondering what in the world I'm doing by giving away an electronic version of my novel. There's a big part of me that's wondering the same thing. However, this is a new world with new marketing rules and new distribution models. I don't pretend to understand them all, but I do know that all the old rules no longer apply. Getting a book published the traditional way is tough and with nearly 200,000 new titles last year alone, there's an overwhelming choice for the reader already. So, I'm making your choice easier by lowering the barriers to entry. My book is free.

I'm putting this full-length novel online and encouraging you to read it, send it to your friends, blog about it, distribute it on your blogs, etc. and we'll all see what happens. Maybe nothing. But maybe ... something. In fact after weighing the pros and cons of doing this, I can't find any actual downside.

I wrote The Agency Delta because I had a story. Now I want people to read it. I think it's a great story. Now tell me what you think.

Download The Agency Delta.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been waiting to post this entry for a couple of months now. Back in March I received this email:

On behalf of the Google Personalized Homepage Team, I want to congratulate you for being named one of our Top 10 Homepage API Developers. We have been looking closely at usage stats of the modules that have been submitted to us and your modules have been among the very most used modules in our Directory. Congratulations!

So today I just happened to find this directory: Top Google Gadget Developers. It looks like they changed the concept a bit, but it works for me.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Seth rates the air conditioner as the most important invention in the past 100 years. For Phoenix this is unquestionably true.

Last night the overnight low temperature was 91°. There's no question in my mind about the importance of air conditioning -- otherwise we wouldn't have nearly 4 million people living here.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yay! Finally a movie this summer that really lived up to my expectations! Without being negative about Superman Returns or X-Men 3, Pirates is finally a movie that is dead-on.

This movie is darker than the first and it feels like the middle movie of a trilogy. Remember Empire Strikes Back? Remember how you felt at the end of the movie when Han Solo was being loaded onto Boba Fett's ship and Luke just had his hand replaced? It was a little sad, but you knew they'd be back and things would get better. Dead Man's Chest is like that.

The creatures and effects were incredible. The acting and casting was again fantastic and the whole movie moved and kept me engaged. It was so much fun. We took my 8-year-old daughter and my 3-year-old son. My son fell asleep at the beginning of the movie (he always does), but woke up and enjoyed the end of the movie. My daughter loved the whole thing and hasn't stopped talking about it. Don't take your kids just because I took mine, though. It might be too scary for some kids.

If I had to pick an overall personal favorite for 2006, this would be it and I expect that not to change. But last year I would have bet money that Batman Begins was going to be my overall favorite and I ended up picking Narnia as my favorite for the year, so there may be a surprise in the next six months. 2π

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was just perusing Amazon looking for DVD specials and I just came across this gem: He-Man & She-Ra - A Christmas Special.

I mentioned it to my brothers and they point out that they're pretty sure that Skeletor doesn't believe in Christmas. Well, I suppose I'll have to get the movie to find out! I hope at least one of my readers has seen this movie. That would be funnier than the fact that it was made in the first place.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you don't live in or around Phoenix, read this instead.

My friend runs DineSmart.com here in town. Well, they're running an exclusive members-only promotion, but since I'm a member, I've got permission to mention the special here.

DineSmart.com just introduced a new subscription model called DineSmart Premium, where you can get $150 in restaurant gift certificates per year, for $49.95, or $10 in restaurant gift certificates per month, for $4.95. To launch the new service, they are giving a half price discount, so you can get $150 in gift certs for $25. It isn't mentioned on the dinesmart.com homepage anywhere, but you can get the discount here. The deal is valid until this Friday, July 14.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I like Tuesdays. Tuesday is the day that the new DVDs come out. Here's a quick list of DVD releases today (mostly TV shows to DVD):

• 30 Days
• Astro Boy: Greatest Astro Adventures
• Basic Instinct 2 (Unrated)
• Basic Instinct 2 (Rated)
• Blackbeard: Terror at Sea
• The Black Swan
• Bridezillas: The Complete First Season
• Bridezillas: The Complete Second Season
• The Ellen Show: The Complete Series
• ER: The Complete Fifth Season
• The Garden
• Grand Prix: 40th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition
• Grilled
• I Dream of Jeannie The Complete Second Season
• Martha's Guests: Master Chefs
• Masters of Horror: Homecoming
• Patlabor 2 The Movie Limited Collector's Edition
• Patlabor 2 The Movie
• Perry Mason: Season 1 Volume 1
• Reno 911! The Complete Third Season
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Volume 2
• Weeds: Season One
• Basic Instinct 2 (Blu-Ray)
• Enter the Dragon (HD-DVD)
• The Dukes of Hazzard (HD-DVD)
• Pitch Black (HD-DVD)
• Friday Night Lights (HD-DVD)

To see all 272 DVD releases for this week, click here.

BTW, I'm starting to get excited about going high def on my DVD collection. There are more and more titles available in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My brother called me yesterday to find out why I hadn't blogged about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yet. It's unfortunately simple. I haven't seen it yet.

We're going to see it today. In anticipation of that, we watched the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl last night. I've watched this movie at least a dozen times -- probably more, but I never watched through the end credits until last night. You all probably know this, but I didn't: there's a little scene after the end credits. You should watch it.

If you don't own the first one (unlikely as it's the #2 DVD at Amazon), you should rent it again. Put it in your Netflix.com automatically by clicking here. That way you can see the post-credits scene before you go to see Dead Man's Chest.

Naturally I'll let you know about the movie tomorrow. So far, I've only heard good reports. And since it has smashed all box office records already, I suppose that it will be worth seeing.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 06:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is a milepost in this blog. I just uploaded the last chapter of my book.

If you're a new reader, you may not even know why I started this blog. In a nutshell I started blogging to market my book to an agent or publisher. So far I've had a few leads, but it's not going anywhere. I have had a few ideas recently that I'm excited to explore, but for now I'm going to take a little break related to the book. Within the week I'll probably upload a PDF version of the full book if you're interested.

Just FYI if you haven't read any part of The Agency Delta: It's available online for free (no registration). Click here to learn why you should read it. Click here to learn how to read it. Click here to learn why I want you to read it.

As an aside to this news, I do have to say that my blog has taken on a life of its own. I just finished my first series, I have an amazing audience and phenomenal traffic. I've made some great new friends online and I've learned so much. I'm still looking to find a market for my book, but it's not the only thing I'm doing here any more.

Thanks to the following blogs/blog authors for their support, insight and encouragement (and links!): http://rob.orangejack.com/, http://www.copyblogger.com/, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/, http://www.problogger.net/, http://www.fixyourtodolist.com/blog/ and http://sistersnoopy.blogspot.com/.

It's a great community!

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I opened the fridge this morning to get the milk, I happened to notice this message on the top of my jar of Claussen pickles: "Great with Sandwiches".

I can't help the way my brain works, but immediately I had to ask myself why that message is on my pickles. Who got paid to add that helpful bit of advice to the blank area on the lid of the pickles? Who is that message for? Who doesn't know that dill pickles go well with sandwiches? Who needs a serving suggestion for pickles at all? So, an animated short appears in my brain.

In the first story we find ourselves standing in the pickles and condiments aisle of our neighborhood grocery. Behind us and to the left stand two older shoppers glancing around in wonder. The first leans over and picks up a jar of Claussen Kosher Dills and reads aloud, "Kosher Dill Halves... Curious. Sounds interesting. I wonder what these are." The second shopper leans in, interested. "Pickles," the second shopper says aloud. "Never heard of them." The first shopper turns the bottle around curiously and says, "I'd sure like to get some, but I have no idea what to expect. If only I had some idea..." The first shopper trails off. Then just at the moment the jar is about to return to the shelf, lightning strikes. "Look!" cries the second shopper, "a serving suggestion!" "Great with Sandwiches!" they both exclaim as they excitedly place the jar in their cart and move on toward the deli aisle.

Do we really need to be told what pickles go well with? Or that we should squeeze the tube from the bottom for best results?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As the web has evolved, there have always been new opportunities introduced to those who could find a way to turn technology into something else. E-Commerce was not the original intent of the Internet. Online advertising wasn't its purpose either. But with each new person coming online, more and more ideas were generated. As the Internet shifts to something more collaborative -- and more personalized, new opportunities are being created.

Hopefully I've given you something to think about in this series and I really do hope that you can take that thought and evolve it into something that helps you to reach your goals. Don't let the technologies get in your way. If you think you have an idea but you don't know how to build it, there is someone out there who does. If you don't know where to look, contact me and I'll help you get going in the right direction.

Good luck and hopefully I'll soon see something of yours on my Google homepage or Pageflakes site soon!

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is day 7 in my series: New ways of driving traffic to your site or blog. [Read Day 1]

Possibly the greatest advantage of using a Google Module to drive traffic to your website is that the marketing is already done for you. Once you have tested your module and you're happy that it's working, simply submit it to be considered for inclusion in the directory. Once approved, you'll see an immediate increase in your web site traffic and if your module is one that will convert users into customers, you'll see that effect right away also. Pageflakes and Windows Live both have their own submission process which works essentially the same way.

Also, you can list your module at googlemodules.com. This is an open listing site for all Google modules. There is no approval process. This can be a good way to get some initial interest for your module before the Google approval occurs.

You should obviously mention your module or gadget on your blog, your personal web site and wherever else you frequently visit (obviously don't spam -- I'll be watching). You can create a Squidoo lens for your module or for the subject surrounding your module like I did.

Most important though is that your module should reference back to your site or blog or whatever you are trying to support (and to your other modules if appropriate). It should provide links that allow users to make suggestions, give feedback and you should be prepared to make updates based on those suggestions and feedback. Like anything else on the web, you're potentially building a community when you release a module, so make sure that you're committed to it and are ready to spend some time with it.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What's better than Chipotle? Free Chipotle!

If you live in the Phoenix area, take a backpack to Chipotle between July 13th and July 16th to get a free bol, burrito, tacos or salad!

The backpacks will be distributed to kids in the valley who need them. For details, visit this page.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Laura asked me whether I liked the Christopher Reeves Superman better than the Brandon Routh Superman. I'm not sure what she is talking about. I was looking at Lois Lane the whole time. Not the old Lois Lane, the new Lois Lane.

I'll have to see the movie again to actually answer the question.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't know a lot about it, but eBay has banned Google Checkout as a payment system.

This seems like a bad idea to me. I would think that any company would look for ways to work with Google. Not just because Google is Google and they provide a ton of search traffic that lands at eBay, but also because Google is Google and they just might build a better, cheaper, faster auction site.

It would look better.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As promised, I have developed a gadget that illustrates a real-world example of what I'm talking about. Within this post (you may need to visit my site if you're using a feed reader or aggregator to see the gadget) is a gadget that displays an RSS feed from del.icio.us containing links to all the posts related to this series.

So what, you say. I could have just added the links manually and accomplished the same thing, right? Well, in this case I've done much more than that. With this gadget, I can display an RSS feed on any web page anywhere -- and it's live. It will update whenever the feed is updated. So when I change my del.icio.us bookmarks to include more links, they'll show up here too!

This method could be used to display a blogroll, links to other blogs you develop, your favorite links, or any other feed you can think of. I decided to use del.icio.us because they already provide a way for me to keep track of my favorite stuff and they have an RSS feed creator built in. All I do is add a link to my account, set the proper tags and then it just works. You can see my blogseries links here. Additionally, if you like this series, you can click on the "Add This to My Site" link to get the code to put this series on your site. Note: it's not available today, but I'll finish it up as part of this series.

So, if you have been following this series along, you'll see that this gadget accomplishes everything I've been talking about. First, it's a gadget that provides some useful functionality that is valuable to you and your site visitors. Second, it is a gadget that invites itself to be shared. If you have a feed to share with the world, you can use this gadget to display it on your site and it will invite others to place your feed on their site. Third, this gadget is configurable. It uses CSS stylesheets so you can change the look of it and it allows for other customizations such as title display and number of items to show.

In a few days, you'll be able to use EZFeed (that's what I'm calling this gadget) on your site, but more importantly I hope you're seeing what you can do to use the viral nature of the web to advertise for you and help you spread the word about your site or blog. There's a lot more out there than simply search engines and paid advertising.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Congratulations are in order for Darren Rouse and his wife. Darren writes ProBlogger, one of my favs -- but congratulations to him and his wife on something truly important: a child.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 06:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, I suppose the title of this post should be "New Classic Movies" but from my perspective anything from my youth that is still worth seeing is what I call a classic.

One of the reasons I love Netflix.com is that I can still rent the classics. Just last week Raiders of the Lost Ark showed up in my mailbox. I'm actually not quite sure why I don't own it, but I don't. I sat down and watched it one evening last week and loved it again. It's just a great movie.

If you haven't seen it for a while (or ever -- if that's possible), you should definitely add Raiders of the Lost Ark to your Netflix.com queue. (Click here to add it now!)

I'll probably have more to say in upcoming weeks about the movies that I consider to be the classics, but I'm interested in your thoughts. What new classics do you recommend?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll be relaxing until Wednesday, so don't expect much until then. I'll get back to my series Wednesday morning.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm fortunate to have today and tomorrow off work as holidays, so I took my family to see Superman Returns this morning. I've been a little worried about this movie because I've always been a Superman fan and this movie could have ruined everything.

I'm happy to say that it didn't. I don't want to wreck the movie for those of you who still plan to see it, so let me just say that I had a lot of fun. The movie was longer than I was expecting (well over two hours), but it had a lot of story to tell in that time. I liked the actors and actresses chosen for this Superman movie better than in previous Superman movies and I thought that the story was just better.

I still contend that developing a nearly omnipotent character makes writing a believable conflict very tough. Superman Returns gives us a more believable and smarter Lex Luthor, so we have a tie back to the originals with less hokiness than before.

I definitely liked Superman Returns, but I'm sure now that Jack Sparrow et al will steal the summer movie scene. Go see Superman Returns while it's still in the theaters. The visuals are great and you'll wish you had seen them on the big screen if you wait for the DVD. 1.75π.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)