NERVE, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 36 min )

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I went to see this on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 1:55 p.m. show in auditorium 5, 3rd row from the front, 8ht column from the left. The price of admission was $8.00. And I bought a $7.05 medium Buttered Popcorn and a $0.65 medium upgrade on a free small Powerade Mountain Berry Blast ( free drink offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review: Vee ( Emma Roberts ) always watches life from the sidelines. Until she accepts a challenge to play an on-line live-or-die Dare game.

The audience liked this movie. Yeah, I liked it, too. Go see this if you like Suspense/Thriller type of movies.

My fear of great heights betrayed me in the Tall Building and Skyscraper Crane scenes as the camera pointed downward. I don't know about you but, when I look down from a great height, my legs go weak and I get a "tickly-weakly" feeling in my groin area ( I wanted to say, Testicles, but---Oops! busted ... ). And my fear didn't discriminate between real height and reel height. I'm just glad that this movie is not in 3-D or, worse, in I-Max 3-D or I would have had a panick attack. Ha, ha, ha. You know, come to think of it, I seriously think that my fear of heights IS the reason why I'm short!


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After watching the movie, I decided to check-out two department stores in the Gateway Plaza Shopping Center. I went to Ross and Marshall's, near the opposite end of the parking lot from the theatre, to see if they sell short-sleeve white Polo shirts with a chest pocket. They do sell such a shirt--but at such exorbitant prices since they're brand name shirts! I wouldn't buy such an expensive shirt just to wear to work. Fashion statement, my butt! They don't pay me to advertise their shirts, do they?

Wal-Mart sells short sleeve white Polo shirts with a chest pocket but they're currently sold-out since their shirt is only $7.99 each. Every week, I would swing by the American Canyon, CA, Wal-Mart Super Center to see if they had restocked their Polo shirts. But they still don't have any at all at this time.

I went to the Sonoma Boulevard MacDonald's Restaurant to have lunch. While there, I went on-line to see if Haband and Blair have white Polo shirts with a chest pocket. They do, but for $11.99 each ( Haband's short-sleeve ) and $24.99 each ( Blair's long-sleeve ), plus shipping and handling. Nope, still too expensive for just one shirt.

My only seeming option was Wal-Mart's $7.99 white Polo Shirt with a chest pocket once they have it back in stock. ( I find shirts with a chest pocket, or two, of more practical use for me. )

But that was before I drove across the street to check-out the shirts at ...

Factory 2-U is now under the ownership of Fallas Department Stores. I don't know when the change in ownership happened. This is a factory outlet-type of store for the budget conscious--and cheapskates such as myself. Ha, ha, ha.

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I saw a bunch of white Polo shirts spread through-out the Men's department. But none of them had a chest pocket. I about resigned myself to settling for a Polo shirt without a chest pocket. Then, I rummaged through a circular shirt rack and--lo and behold! a bunch of size Large and Extra Large white Polo shirts with a chest pocket for $2.99 each---Sweet! I picked 4 size large shirts; but, upon closer examination, I noticed that all 4 of them had a tiny hole in each! Then, I checked the size Extra Large and looked at each one closely. None of them had any hole. I bought four---I hope that they'll eventually shrink to fit! ( Or I could just tell my co-workers that I lost more weight. Ha, ha, ha. )

Starting next week, I will switch my work uniform from all-black to white Polo shirt and Khaki pants. Because I feel that summertime is the perfect time to wear a white Polo shirt and a pair of Khaki pants. And I finally got tired of being mistaken for a theatre employee everytime I go to the theatre dressed in all-black! Ha, ha, ha.

*

JASON BOURNE, PG-13 ( 2 hr & 3 min )

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I went to see this on Thursday, July 28ht, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 10:00 p.m. Advanced Screening in auditorium 8, 6th row from the front, 10th column from the right. The price of admission was $11.50. And I bought a $5.40 Nachos w/ Cheese and a $0.00 ( free on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) at the concessions counter.

2nd time: I went to see this again on Sunday, July 31st, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 7:30 p.m. show in auditorium 7, 6th row from the front, 8ht column from the left. The price of admission was $8.00.  And I bought a $5.40 Nachos w/ Cheese and a $0.00 ( free on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) at the concessions counter.

The audience liked it. I liked it, somehow. I think that the first 3 movies in this franchise are better than this 4th installment. Go see this if you like the Jason Bourne movies.


Here are some things wrong in this movie: With such a sophisticated anti-hack defense, why is the US still getting hacked by the Chinese, the Russians and the Israelis? I don't think that she stayed around long enough to make sure that the hard drive was completely destroyed by the fire. If you're an ex government spy on the run, and you know that your secret service agency has facial recognition capability, wouldn't it only make sense on your part to alter your appearance by cutting/coloring your hair and altering your facial bone structure, or to change your nose profile and your jaw contour with the use of prosthetics, etc.? Why were the streets not ompletely clogged by protestors so that vehicles could not go through them in a high-speed chase? If Bourne was the sniper's intended target, why didn't he just wait for a few seconds--literally three seconds--to get a clear shot on Bourne? Why did the Dodge Challenger's ( ?) airbags not deploy? The slot machine's pull handle came off too easily. Jason had a few chances to gouge-out the bad guy's eyes but didn't take advantage of the occasion. When he pulled on the bad guy's legs to make him fall, he should have fallen back along with the bad guy, too. When the female agent locked her car using her remote control key fob, why didn't it activate the car's alarm so that Jason wouldn't be able to open its door without triggering it to go off? Why do they always have to play music in a minor key just to tip-off the audience that something bad is about to happen?


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So, as it turned out, the object in the sky last night, Wednesday, July 27th, was the CZ-7 R/B upper stage of the Chinese Long March Rocket burning-up during reentry.

I found this on the Internet.

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The funny thing was ... according to a co-worker, when his mom saw the burning space junk in the air, she panicked and screamed that the UFO aliens were coming!  Ha, ha, ha. ( He better not read this and go to his mom to snitch on me! )

Another co-worker of mine, who is studying computer programming, told me that new computers don't come with CD/DVD players anymore because audio and video are now just streamed through the web. But what about those of us who have DVDs and CDs in their collection who like having the convenience of such a player already built-in in their computers? And what about those of us who would rather not be charged extra for music/song streaming? Watch what happens ... they will reintroduce laptop computers with built-in CD/DVD R/W players sometime soon and charge us extra for a piece of nostalgia!

When I watched this movie the first time around, I fell asleep through some scenes. So, I had to rewatch it. I must be getting too old for this movie-blogging hobby.


*

LIGHTS OUT, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 21 min )

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I went to see this today, Friday, July 29th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 5:00 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 7th row from the front, 8ht column from the right. The price of admission was $8.50. And I bought a $5.40 Nachos w/ Cheese and $0.00 ( free offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) small Powerade Mountain Berry Blast at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Rebecca ( Teresa Palmer ) thought that she had left her personal problem behind when she left home to be on her own. But when she realizes that her little brother ( Gabriel Bateman ) is also suffering from the same evil visitations, she decides to put an end to it, once and for all.

The audience liked this movie. I liked this movie, too. This is a good scary movie for fans of the genre. Go see this movie.

Here's what I didn't like about the movie because it just didn't make any sense at all:  I didn't like the scene at the back of the ambulance where they were drinking bottled water fresh from the refrigerator. The bottles were without labels. Come on! If you can't get a bottled water company to sponsor your movie, you can make up your own bottle labels---It's not that hard to do. Really ....

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I had some minor cough last night which affected my meditation. I took a dose of Nyquil to get rid of it. The medication and my meditation knocked me out for almost 12 hours! I was past noontime when I awakened. I had to check and see whether I was scheduled for work or not. Am I glad I wasn't 'cause I would have been way late showing up for work.

About this movie, I don't know if I reacted to it because it is a good scary movie or if I reacted subjectively to it. Because I have had four confirmed encounters with "shadow entities" in my life.

The first one was in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines, when I was about 5 years old. My whole family slept in the same huge room that had a door which locked only from the inside. I decided to see if I could stay awake all night---Bad idea. Around midnight, with some stray dogs howling in the distance, the door opened and I saw a short, skinny "man" walk slowly into the room. This "man" was headed toward my parents bed. It stopped in its tracks as it saw the Veronica's Veil image of Jesus Christ at the altar above the headboard of my parents' bed. It stared at the image of Jesus Christ as it slowly moved back and out of the bedroom, with the door closing and locking itself after the "man" had gone away.

This is one of many examples of Veronica's Veil that I found online. My family's Veronica's Veil is somewhat similar to this, but in color. My family's Veronica's Veil cured my father of his alcoholism and cured me of my paralysis. The next time that I vacation in the Philippines, I will try and hunt down the same exact Veil to purchase and keep with me. There should be vendors of such Veils outside of Catholic churches throughout the Philippines. For the life of me, I don't know why the kind of Veil that I am looking for is not sold online ( maybe, I'm not searching hard enough ).

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The second time was in Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, when I was about 10 years old. Outside the second story bedroom that I shared with my brother and sisters was the roof that was above the kitchens and bathrooms of the apartment building where we lived. It was raining lightly. I couldn't sleep because I had a mild fever. Then, the back-side neighbor's dog howled. I heard slow, measured footsteps on the roof. Soon, I saw a young, slender "woman" walk slowly across the 6-unit apartment's lower roof. We occupied the second unit, and the "woman" walked toward the 1st unit. As it walked past the window, it stopped, took a few steps back and peered into my room as if it had noticed me watching it. Of course, I did what little kids would do in such a situation: I covered my head with my blanket! It resumed its walk until it got to the end of the 1st unit. Then, the footsteps ended; and the dog stopped howling. ( My sisters had seen this "woman", too, according to them, on a separate, similar occasion. Our dad slept in our room one lightly-raining night armed with his Colt 1911 handgun but the "woman" was a no-show. )

The third time was in Oakland, California, USA, when I was in my early 20s. It was around noontime when I awakened in a trance. I was sleeping on my belly, with my head turned to the left. When I opened my eyes, I saw a short, skinny "man" outside of my bedroom's rear window looking at me. It ducked away as soon as it noticed that I had seen it. I wanted to go to the window to confront the "man". But I couldn't move my body as I was still in a trance. It took me quite an effort to break my trance. By then, the "man" was already long gone.

The fourth time was here in Vallejo, California, USA, when I was 36 or 37 years old. I rented a room at my sister's house back before I bought my condo. One night, while sleeping on my right side, I was awakened by an uncomfortable feeling of labored breathing. I opened my eyes to the sight of a short, skinny "man" trying to enter my body through my nostrils! I couldn't see its face because it was dark, the source of light shining through the window only coming from the light post outside at the curb. I, once again, was still in the weakening grip of a trance so I couldn't move. I did a "stare-down" contest against this "man". Slowly, it sank down into the floor. I felt enervated as I rolled onto my back in bed. Then, I felt a pair of hands pushing up against my back. I guess that I "squashed" it with my body weight. 'Served it right! Ha, ha, ha.

In 2003, I did a form of meditation that allowed me to have an encounter with the apartment building "woman". I may have put an end to this particular haunting. But I won't know until I go back to Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, to interview the present occupants of that apartment building.

In 2010, my niece in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told me that she saw a shadow entity sitting cross-legged in a chair in her parent's room in broad daylight. She ran out of there frightened for her life. Her description of the shadow entity was the same as mine: Short and skinny. This shadow entity was not scared of my niece but seemed scared of me. I want to get to the bottom of this particular haunting someday and end it for good!


*

HILLARY'S AMERICA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 47 min )

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I went to see this today, Wednesday, July 27th, 2016, in Napa, CA, at the CENTURY NAPA VALLEY AND XD, for the 4:30 p.m. show in auditorium in auditorium 8, 4th row from the front, 8ht column from the left. The price of admission was $8.75. And I bought a $5.40 Nachos with Cheese to accompany my $0.00 ( free offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) small Lemonade purchase at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review: In this political documentary from Dinesh D'Souza, Hillary's intentions for the US, and the World, are analyzed.

The audience of about 6 to 8 people liked this movie. I liked this movie, too. It's eye-opening. If you want to know what the Democratic Party is all about, you need to see this movie.

This movie is a good accompaniment to 2016: OBAMA'S AMERICA ( if you haven't read my extensive review on this movie, go and read it ).

Speaking of the "Obama" movie which was shown before the 2012 presidential election, and which caused my computer to get infected by a ransom virus, I wonder if the same thing will happen this year because I posted this blog on the "Hillary" movie? Hmm ....

When a scene showed a symphony orchestra playing while a choir sang the National Anthem, the elderly white gentleman seated in the 3rd row, 9th column, stood up and walked to the right-side aisle and put his right hand over his heart for the duration of the anthem. He is from the old-school of Patriots--probably a war vet, too! I didn't want to look behind me to see whether or not the other senior citizen patrons ( they were all old--older than I am by just a few years! LOL ) stood up to pay their respect to the anthem. I felt embarrassed and rationalized to myself that I should remain impartial since I, as Cine-Man, am just an objective observer; but, boy! did I ever sink low in my seat to avoid further notice.

Dinesh D'Souza, as part of his community service, had to teach English to a class of immigrants. At the end of the movie, he posed the question, "How do you know when you've become an American Citizen?" His answer was, "When you've become a Republican."  By extension, Yes, I'm now a full-fledged American Citizen! God Bless America.

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After work, I went to the Vallejo Main Post Office to pick-up a week's worth of mail since the mailbox center at my condo has not been replaced yet.

On my way home to drop-off the mail and to fetch my cellphone ( which I forgot to take to work with me ), I drove on Georgia Street to see if they were doing a film shoot for the Selena Gomez TV movie. No, there was no film shoot today. I guess that was a good thing because it was VERY warm today.

I then drove on over to the American Canyon, CA, Wal-Mart Super Center to return the defective ONN Personal CD Player for my money back. And I planned on using the money to go and see this movie.

I wrote this blog at the MacDonald's Restaurant in Napa, just a block away from the cineplex.

This is the Napa, CA, MacDonald's Restaurant that I went to after seeing this movie. My Hyundai Accent's left quarter window tint and rear window tint both need replacement. I'll get around to having the window tints replaced someday.

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Just as I left the place, as I was driving to the intersection, I saw a ball of light in the sky at approximately 9:38 p.m. I observed what I thought at first was a meteor. But it moved slowly in the night sky. I reasoned that it was just a police helicopter looking for a fugitive and thought nothing else of it.

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This is not the movie itself, but for your viewing pleasure--or shock/disbelief:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BUUy1C0_4g


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For this week that just ended, my movie blog site got 638 hits from Russia alone! Thanks, to my Russian readers. This is the most hits that my blog site has ever gotten in any one week from any one country.

To Russia, with Thanks!

*

STAR TREK BEYOND, PG-13 ( 2 hr & 2 min )

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where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Thursday, July 21st, 2016
show: 10:30 p.m. 2-D
costs: $11.50 Ticket + $6.80 Lite Bites = $18.30
auditorium: 7
seat: 5th row from the front, 8ht column from the left

2nd time

I picked this because I like how Jaylah ( Sofia Boutella ) looks. She's one hot alien species! 

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where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Saturday, July 23rd, 2016
show: 11:50 a.m. 3-D ( Extra Dollar Off First Show Matinee )
costs: $11.00 Ticket + $6.05 small Buttered Popcorn + $2.20 small Powerade Mountain Berry Blast ( $2.00-off Drink Offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) = $19.25
auditorium: 10
seat: 4th row from the front, 7th column from the left

3rd time:

I chose this poster in honor of Anton Yelchin. 

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where: EDWARDS FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfield, CA
when: Monday, July 25th, 2016
show: 10:45 p.m. I-Max 3-D
costs: $8.00 Ticket ( I received a movie-watcher discount on my movie-watcher reward card ) + $5.29 33.81 oz ( 1 litre ) Dasani Water + $1.00 1.5 oz ( 42.52 grams ) Squirrel Brand Italian Black Truffle Almonds ( that I bought at Grocery Outlet and smuggled-in ) + $1.40 1.5 oz ( 42.52 grams ) Krave Beef Jerky Chili Lime Flavor ( that I bought at Big Lots! and smuggled-in ) = $15.69
auditorium:  12
seat:  5th row from the front, 6th seat from the right

synopsis/overview:  The crew of the USS Enterprise is lured into unknown territory where they face a threat from an alien species that wants to destroy the interplanetary federation.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) Beloved artifact; 2.) Captain's log; 3.) Bedside manners; 4.) Yorktown Base; 5.) "It's definitely you"; 6.) Distress call; 7.) Surprise attack; 8.) Abronath; 9.) "They're taking the crew"; 10.) "You knew we'd be attacked"; 11.) Horsesh*t/Doodad; 12.) Insignia; 13.) Artifact's origin; 14.) House; 15.) "He's been watching us this whole time"; 16.) "Not every ..."; 17.) "This strength of unity which has kept you alive ..."; 18.) "A new Vulcan"; 19.) "Good nose for danger"; 20.) Rock; 21.) "He likes that seat"; 22.) Camouflage; 23.) "Because I don't want it to be just my fault"; 24.) "Well, at least I won't die alone"; 25.) "At Death's door and he's quoting Shakespeare"; 26.) Tracking device; 27.) "You cannot go there"; 28.) Diversion; 29.) "Let her go"; 30.) "You take my house and you make it fly"; 31.) Terminal velocity; 32.) Swarm behavior; 33.) "He's gonna love this"; 34.) Very High Frequency; 35.) "Is that classical music"; 36.) "My house is breaking"; 37.) "It's him"; 38.) Gravitational slipstream; 39.) "What would I be without you, Spock ( Zachary Quinto ); 40.) "Vice Admirals don't fly, do they"; 41.) Old group photograph; 42.) Birthday surprise; 43.) Acceptance letter; and 44.) In Loving Memory Of Leonard Nimoy and For Anton Yelchin dedications during the Ending Credits.

audience reaction: The audience liked it but didn't give it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

2nd audience reaction: The audience liked it and gave it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

3rd audience reaction:  I was the only one in the auditorium for this particular show. A couple of girls did come in to watch this, but they left before the movie ended. And I left before the Rihanna song began!  LOL

recommendation: I liked this movie. Go see this movie if you're a Star Trek Fan.

spoiler alert! When the USS Enterprise traveled in warp drive, space particles enveloped it like candle fumes would in a car's wind tunnel aerodynamic test. But this shouldn't be since a car in such a test is stationary and the turbulence it creates would soon collapse; space particles, however, wouldn't collapse as easily when a spaceship cuts through them at warp speed in the vacuum of space! The space particles would just scatter away. Or ... I could be wrong And The Space Particles Would Quickly Readjust Their Orientation In Outer Space To Compensate For The Disturbance In The Space/Time Continuum. And what was that I learned in Theoretical Physics, that the closer you get to traveling at Light Speed the more you accumulate Mass and the slower you end up traveling ...? ( Or something like that. ) When Capt. Kirk ( Chris Pine ) was fighting a bad guy while the USS Enterprise was free-falling and spinning out of control, he and the bad guy were both slipping, sliding and tumbling BUT ... the crew in the bridge just sat/stood around like everything was A-Okay! Why couldn't the bad guys out on patrol in the forest hear people running behind them? I don't know why the bad guy leader derided the Starship Enterprise crew's sense of unity when he and his troops looked pretty unified to me! Okay, I've said this before, Outer Space is One Big Vacuum. If your spaceship's hull or your artificial "planet's" shield is compromised or you are thrown into Outer Space without a spacesuit on, you will expand like a balloon until you explode! Have you ever had your "appendage" ( ahem! ) caught inside of a vacuum cleaner's hose? Well, your "appendage" expanded, didn't it? It's kind of like that in the vacuum of Outer Space. Of course, you'll just keep on expanding until you explode. Ha, ha, ha. How was the badly-injured Spock able to maintain a hold on Capt. Kirk to keep him from falling to his death?

fyi: I have a co-worker, Patrick, who has a friend whose relative worked for Paramount Pictures. Patrick's friend told him that if he ever found himself in Los Angeles, CA, to call him up so that he could arrange a job interview for him with Paramount Pictures, the studio that made STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Patrick passed the job interview. He met Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, etc. But his soon-to-be-ex wife didn't want him to work for the show! Too bad.

'You know how they say that since Outer Space is a vacuum there is no sound because there is nothing for the sound to travel through? But, the thought just occurred to me that, in the space battle where thousands of space ships were destroyed which left such a considerably-sized debris field, there would be a temporary mode of transmission for the explosive sounds in that localized area in Outer Space.

Thank God that they played Rihanna's song, Sledgehammer, after the dedication to Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin were over because you really wouldn't want to have to sit there and listen to it especially after you've seen its bad music video!

word of advice: You should not face a common enemy alone by your own self.

tidbits:  My new Memorex CD player is a piece of crap! It stops, about every other time that I use it, approximately 5 to 10 minutes too soon, whenever I would play a meditation CD with two 33-minute tracks on it--I had to meditate to one particular track 3 times because it took a 3rd try for the CD to play through properly. At first I thought that the player was just eating-up the AA batteries' "juices" too fast. So, I switched to using an AC adapter. But the premature shut-off continued. I will have to return it to Rite-Aid for an exchange. I'll exchange it for their Craig CD Boombox which I hope is a better quality one.

So, anyway, I went to the American Canyon, CA, Wal-Mart Super Center last night, Friday the 22nd, to buy a different CD player and to buy a USB flash drive. Wal-Mart has its own brand of CD player, the ONN CD player for $22.88 plus $1.83 tax. I tried it as soon as I got home---It's Even More Of A Piece Of Crap than the Memorex CD Player! As soon as I turned it on, a loud static noise almost pierced my eardrums! I had to fiddle around with the "Play" and "Pause" buttons to get the noise to stop and to get the CD playing. And there was a faint background Static and Ticking noise which cycled on and off that I thought was because of the cheap earphones that it came with. I switched to using one of my headphones yet the problem persisted. And it made that same loud static noise after the track ended. I am very particular about my CD Sound Meditations and demand a good, if not excellent, performance from my CD player and head-/earphones! Friday night, I wasted almost three hours' worth of brain entrainment CD sound meditation time! I will have to return this piece of crap to Wal-Mart either on Monday or on Wednesday right after work.

2nd tidbits:  After seeing this 3-D movie version, I walked across the parking lot to look around inside of the Office Depot. I wanted to know if they sold CD players and I wanted to see if they have a hard drive eraser. And I also wanted to check-out the computers they have on sale. 

I found out that their USB flash drives are cheaper than the ones at Wal-Mart, that they don't sell CD players, that they have good prices on computers ( I accidentally triggered the alarm on one of them because I tilted it back to see if it has a CD/DVD player--I quietly walked away embarrassed ), and that they still sell electronic typewriters ( they have a Brother Electronic Typewriter for $165.99 ) that I'm very interested in buying. Too bad that they don't sell a manual typewriter ( mine was stolen when someone broke into my storage unit back in 1997 ).

I drove across the street to look around inside of the Best Buy Electronics Store. Unlike at Office Depot, this store's computers are more expensive and, for the life of me, I Don't Think That I Saw Any Of Their Laptop Computers With A CD/DVD Player!

But they have a CD player, the Insignia CD Player with Headphones ( not earphones ), on sale for $24.99 plus $2.15 tax. I bought one and will test it out tonight when I get home.

On my way back to my car, I found a penny, a nickel and a dime in the parking lot. I picked them up and said to myself, Thank you, Lord, for this token of abundance.

I guess that name-brand companies don't make CD players anymore. All the ones that I bought are either cheap store brands or cheap no-names all made in China. I will have to check online and see if Amazon or some other site sells Sony Walkman CD Players.

I went to the MacDonald's Restaurant on Sonoma Boulevard to have a late lunch. I was there for about 3 hours checking up stuff on my Facebook page,  going through my e-mails and starting this blog. It was a much cooler weather outside when I finally decided to leave. 

I was at the local Indian buffet restaurant, the Taj Grill, a few days ago where I inquired about Ladoo, the sweet Indian delicacy. The waiter told me that it was sold at an Indian bazaar on the corner of Highway 37 and Sonoma Boulevard. 

I decided to check out the bazaar after I left MacDonald's. I asked the store clerk where they keep their Ladoos. They keep it ( Bundi Ladoo ) in the refrigerated section and sell it for $7.00. I walked around the store to see what else they sold. And I found out two other kinds of Ladoo displayed on a table and priced for less. Of course, they weren't fresh. But I'll try them some day.

The Indian Bazaar is to the left of center in this photo. You can see my blue Hyundai Accent in the middle of the background.

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A few doors away from the bazaar is an Indian eatery that specializes in vegetarian dishes and sweet delicacies. I tried their $3.99 Vegetable Biryani  with their $1.99 Mango Drink. My meal came with a side of cold Yogurt Soup (?). It was a good meal. And I ate the most amount of rice at this meal than at any other time in the last 2 years or so. And I absentmindedly asked if they serve Chicken Biryani, forgetting the fact that IT IS a vegetarian restaurant.  Ha, ha, ha.

And here's the Indian vegetarian eatery.

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I bought 3 kinds of sweet delicacies ( a dried melon and two kinds of sweetened cheese balls ). They have other kinds, too, including Ladoo and Gulab Jamon, all for $0.75 each. 

When I got home, I used my new Insignia Personal CD Player to do a 33-minute brain entrainment Chakra Sound Meditation and two sessions of a 70-minute brain entrainment Shaman Sound Meditation. This Insignia CD Player is much better than the Memorex and Onn CD players! But I don't like the headphones that it came with because it is the type that cradles the back of your neck instead of resting at the top of your head. I switched the headphones with my old standby headphones. Since I do my meditations lying down because of my bad back, I prefer to use headphones with sponge cushions instead of vinyl ear cups--sponge cushions don't make a noise if you turn your head. And sponge-cushioned headphones are perfect for brain entrainment sound meditations. I am not a fan of earphones/earbuds because they can get uncomfortable in the ears and they're bad for your sense of hearing.

I found personal CD players for sale online. But brand new Sony Walkmans are priced anywhere from $250.00 to $300.00--what a mark-up! I am not buying a Sony Walkman for that price since I already had 2 Sony Walkmans conk-out on me. I'll stick to buying CD players in the $20.00 to $50.00 price range. And if this Insignia Personal CD Player lives up to my expectations, I will buy another two or more as standbys.

Yes, I thought of buying a Bose CD Player but I really don't want to pay top price for an obsolete device especially since it will just become defective a few years from now.

Why don't I just use mp3 brain entrainment sound meditations? The answer is simple. Such compressed data formats affect the music's sound fidelity---So I was told by someone years ago; and I am not arguing with that since I am not a Sound Engineer.


3rd tidbits: The Craig CD Boom Box that I got as an even exchange for the Memorex Personal CD Player doesn't come with a headphone jack at all!  Argh .... I will just have to donate it to charity after all since I cannot use it. I have to have a CD player with a headphone jack to use with my meditation CDs.

On a brighter note, I am beginning to think that the Insignia Personal CD Player which I bought at Best Buy Electronics Store may just be up to the task, after all. I'll give it a solid week of 173 minutes ( almost 3 hours ) of run time per day before I make a final decision on whether or not to buy more of this kind as back-up CD players for the foreseeable future.

One of my co-workers, Patrick ( the one that I mentioned earlier ), made fun of me when he heard that I was going to Vacaville, CA, after work, to look for a brand new CD player for my meditation CDs. He laughed when I mentioned that I spent hundreds of dollars on my meditation CDs ( actually, I've spent more than $3,000.oo [!] on such CDs through the years ). He said that I should just meditate the old-fashioned way. Well, what "mister-know-it-all" apparently doesn't know is that it takes DECADES of Patient Meditation at a minimum of 8 hr/day to become proficient at meditation! No one has that kind of patience and time in this Day and Age. With brainwave frequency entrainment meditation, all you have to do is press a button and, a few minutes later, you're synchronized in the right meditative brainwave frequency. But I'll let him discover that much later in his life since he's a "mister know-nothing" when it comes to meditation.

After work today, Monday, July 25th, I decided to go to the Vacaville, CA, Big Lots! discount store to see if they have any CD player for sale. It was around 6:35 p.m. when I headed-off for Vacaville. The trip was just a shade over 29 miles ( 46.67 km ) away. I browsed around the sales floor at Big Lots! as I haven't been there in well over a year ( I think ). They do have the Sylvania CD Boom Box for sale .... And it was exactly like the Craig CD Boom Box: No Headphone Jack. Of course, at only $20.00 each, it is $10.00 cheaper than the Craig. But, still, I cannot use a boom box for my meditation sessions.

I just bought a $1.40 small ( 1.5 oz./42.52 grams ) bag of Krave Beef Jerky, Lime Flavored, and a $1.50 small ( 8.0 oz./226.80 grams ) bag of Amport Foods roasted/salted Sunflower Kernels at Big Lots!

I took this picture on my way back to my car.

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And I headed back to Fairfield to wait for the 10:45 p.m. show of STAR TREK BEYOND, in I-Max 3-D, at the Burger King Restaurant at 1475 Holiday Lane, which is just across the freeway from the cineplex. They have free Wi-Fi at Burger King; and I wanted to check it out. They had a promotional food offer: Mac Cheetos--the key word being, "Had." The promotion ended last week, so I was told. Dang it! I never got to try it. Heck, I never even heard of their promotion until I walked up to the counter where I saw a big promotional poster for it above and behind the cashier. Anyway, I just ordered their "5 for $4.00 Special." I had it with a Powerade Zero Lime fountain drink. ( I only ate the chocolate parts of the cookie and I didn't eat the hamburger bun. )

This is the Burger King where I was just at. I was in a hurry and didn't get a good shot of it. Although I could have taken a better shot earlier, before I entered this place, when the sun was still out. But I guess that I was just too hungry to think properly. Ha, ha, ha.

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The Burger King Wi-Fi is somewhat slow, forces you to watch an interactive ad each time you log-in, and I think that it has a time limit of just 30 (?) minutes, as opposed to MacDonald's time limit of 2 hours and Starbucks' time limit of w-a-y ... l-o-n-g-e-r ... t-h-a-n ... 2 ... h-o-u-r-s! And don't even get me started on Jack In The Box's free Wi-Fi ( it doesn't let me log-in to my movie blog site because my site is "flagged" for its adult content since I also blog about Rated R movies--the idiots )!



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