Not a Review - Comments on what I want for entertainment

With the blackouts of CBS stations on Time Warner Cable and the rumors of Apple and Google deals with content providers for a new type of television, I thought I would break from the usual review format here to give some commentary. Primarily, I want to outline what I would want (in a perfect world) out of TV.

First off, I think the old model of channels bundled from Cable providers for $20 - $150/month with loads of commercials is just not fair to the consumers. The cable companies make money from the advertising and monthly fees and then have to share that with the content providers (if the show is made by someone else). This means that we consumers are basically having the pay two fees to watch a show: our cable bill and with our time for the commercials (or more of a cable bill for a DVR so that you can record and skip the commercials). Where is the benefit to us the viewers?

Second off, the alternatives to the old model are not perfect either. You can go even older with an antenna and picking up limited channels over the airwaves without a direct cost to the provider, but the offerings are limited and you still have commercials. Or you can cut off the cable and do what we have for the last two years and watch on-demand programs through Netflix (or if you prefer, Hulu or Amazon), buy individual shows on DVD or through season passes on iTunes and/or just wait for the DVDs to be released a year later and have them shipped from Netflix. Here you either have limited options, are at the mercy of the deals the on-demand sources have made with content providers or have to wait sometimes a year to see shows (often being spoiled long before then). The one thing these options get right is that you are paying only for what you want to see (not a billion channels you never watch).

Another way the older content providers and cable companies are getting things wrong is with their online offerings. Last season I tried to watch Revolution online at NBC.com - the show as fine, but the experience of watching it on the website sucked. The show would stop 2/3 of the way through an episode. To get it restarted I would have to watch the last commercial break again. Ugh. Now NBC (and this isn't just them, but they are providing the best examples these days) has the rights to all the Premier League matches from the UK, which they are offering on-line through their NBC Sports Live website or their new App. Great, watch any match all season long wherever you like. IF, if you have a cable subscription that includes NBC Sports (I think). You see, when you try to view something you have to log into your cable provider and see if you have the channel. If you don't they tell you, Sorry you can't view this content - go upgrade your cable subscription. I don't have cable and I certainly don't want to pay $60 a month to get the package that includes the sports channel!

What is the solution? Well, the rumored Apple model may be the best way, depending on cost and advertising. The rumor is that Apple is trying to sign deals with the content providers (the show producers and distributors) to have channel Apps that may be available through a subscription fee. I would be all for that. HBO GO for a $5 - $10 a month? Sold. NBC Sports Live to allow me to see English Premier League games at $5 - $10 a month? Probably do that too. Also still be able to buy individual show packages through iTunes and Amazon and get them the next day without commercials? Great. The only catch here would be commercials. See, if I am paying directly for the content - even through a subscription fee monthly, then the commercials better be in the app out of my way or non-existent. I don't want to pay and then have to wait through commercials to watch what I have subscribed or paid to. I am okay if you want to tack a commercial on to the end of a show and allowing me to exit if I don't want to watch the commercial, but putting it up front (hey, yeah, I am looking at you YouTube) or throughout the show (current online model from most channels) is just annoying and unnecessary.

So there it is. Make a set-top box or integrated TV that has the ability to provide season passes to shows or subscription based channel apps at a reasonable price (and reasonable isn't $30 a month). Or just have everyone sell their episodes the day after they air over cable - I'll gladly pay to see them the next day without commercials (not a year later, HBO - still haven't bought a single episode of Game of Thrones, because after a year of waiting I just get the discs from Netflix by the time they are out). Stop the advertising and high costs of cable for channels I (and no one else) will ever care about. The channels that have compelling content (or the producers/distributors with good shows) will thrive and we will get more of that. Those that aren't good will wither or adapt. Either way we will get what we want to see at a more reasonable price. Hopefully someone will get on this before I am too old to enjoy it. I'll try to get back to a regular review next time. Have a Mick Happy day.

Plants vs. Zombies HD (iOS) Review

With the release last week of Plants vs. Zombies 2 on iOS, I thought I would put out some thoughts about the original Plants vs. Zombies (PvZ) from PopCap (maker of many awesome games). The wildly successful PvZ is a tower defense game where you protect your house (and brain) from wave after wave of zombies using plants. The game has been released on virtually every platform you can imagine since its original Windows/OS X release in 2009.

The game is played with your house on the left of the screen and zombies approaching from the right along lanes in your front lawn. Using sunlight points picked up by tapping on a sunburst icon on screen, you can buy plants for your yard that each have their own unique ability. A sunflower to add more sunlight, pea shooters to fire at and kill zombies, potato mines that explore on contact with a zombie, etc. The right mix of plants will keep you safe (and if you need to you can also use your lawn mower to clear a lane once).

The great thing about PvZ is its accessibility with easy touch screen controls and quick to learn gameplay. It is simple in concept, but ramps the complexity with new and more varied zombies and lots of different plants. You will have zombies who call other zombies to join them in attacking your house, pole vaulter zombies who move toward your house faster than other zombies, etc. The graphics are cute and a great counter point to body parts falling off zombies as you shoot at them.

PvZ also turns the typical tower defense game by using lanes in the yard to direct zombies toward your house rather than a single track or two that you place towers along to defeat the enemy. Probably the highest complement I can give PvZ is that it has completely sucked my wife in. She enjoys hidden object, match 3, mahjong and solitaire games, but has loved PvZ to the point where it is currently her go-to game. She was interested enough in it that she downloaded PvZ 2 the morning after it released - this is practically a first in our house. All for someone who would look at me quizzically if I said PvZ was a tower defense game. Next I am going to see if I can get her interested in Tiny Heroes.

Easy to learn, increasingly complex game play in a graphically appealing package. This is a classic and available on any platform you might want to try it on. You should have played PvZ by now, but if you haven't or you have someone in your household who plays games but has never tried tower defense games, go get PvZ or PvZ 2 - or play online for free here. Plants vs. Zombies gets 5 Mick Happies. Now, I am off to protect my brains (what's left of them).

Grown Ups 2 Review

Last night the whole family went out to the movies. We don't usually get out to the theatre, mainly because the movie-going experience is often so poor. Luckily, there is a playhouse near us that runs new movies and we were 3 out of about 12 people at the show. Great seats, no lines and only $8.50 a person. Why we went also had to do with the movie playing, Grown Ups 2.

We loved Grown Ups when it came out in 2010 and own a digital copy we rewatch on occasion. It is the story of 5 friends (played by Adam Sandler, Chris Jock, Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider) getting together with their families to say goodbye to their basketball coach and reconnect with their youth. Laughs and hilarity ensue. Grown Ups was billed as a slapstick comedy and delivered on that well.

Some of our '80s favorites all in one backyard

Grown Ups 2 takes place after Lenny (Sandler) has moved his family from Hollywood back to his home town and shows the events of the last day of school before Summer break. The day is spent with four of the friends (Rock, James, Sandler and Spade) doing various insane things they are probably too old for and enjoying being together again.

Nothing wrong with a good ol' tire roll

Grown Ups 2, which has been panned by critics, is silly, outrageous and over the top. However, it is fun and provides laugh-out-loud comedy. At one point, my wife couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard. We all had a good time and probably the best comment (again from my wife) after the movie was, "They should just keep making these and stream them right to my house, I'll watch them." There really isn't any major tensions in the movie, they are all lightened by the antics and humor. It is just a family, partially gross-out, coming-of-age, reconnecting with your youth comedy and, if you can suspend your disbelief and aren't expecting a take-itself-seriously type movie, Grown Ups 2 is well worth your time.

Wait, is that Shaquille O'Neal?

One of our favorite characters is Kurt Mackenzie's (Rock) son Ronnie played by Kaleo Elam. Ronnie is cute and fun and scrappy and steals most of the scenes he is in. Taylor Lautner is also in the film, playing a college frat boy who is one of the main antagonists for Sandler and crew. Grown Ups 2 has plenty of innuendo, fart jokes (including the burp-snart) and too tight clothing shots (on men and women) but delivers exactly what it advertises: silly humor that is fun without being serious. A popcorn movie worth seeing. I give Grown Ups 2 four Mick Happies. We will see it again and again in the coming years when we need a fun laugh.

The official movie trailer