2013 Merrel "World Travelers"...

2013 Merrel "World Travelers"...

Bought new in 2013, two pair, $200.00.

First pair resoled with Vibram soles one year in for $60.00. Polished bi-monthly (30-40 minutes buffing) and buffed for 2 minutes daily in between. Minor repairs at 5 years in.

Second pair pictured below after 30 minutes with polish and buffing cloth after one year of wear, not quite ready for a resole. The Vibram soles are in the box (another$50.00 & probly $10-20.00 labor), with the previous pair, still in wearable condition as backup.

I expect to get about four-five more years on this pair, so at least 2023. Possibly a couple of years more than that.

The laces are hand-waxed, about $7.00 for two pair, and I get about a year out of a pair, maybe 18 months. I have three pairs on standby and just installed these.

Rough math:

$200.00 shoes

$100.00 soles

$80.00 labor over 12 years

$14.00 shoe laces

-----------

$394.00 plus about 300 hours polishing & buffing.

How many pairs of running shoes do people usually go through in ten years, I wonder. I bet it's around twenty at $100.00 + per pair... 

$2000.00 maybe, not counting landfill costs?

10/10

Zombieland: Double Tap

Soooo fun! Very clever, tons of Easter eggs, and a total hoot. 8/10, and if you're an Elvis fan, 9.5/10 .

Forever My Girl...

Forever My Girl...

Beautiful People. Beautiful music. Beautiful child. Plot as formulated as Elvis movie number 30. I enjoyed it immensely, but had to stuff my intellect in a small cigar box to roll with it. Perfect country romance novel on film. The two biggest problems I had with it were the "win back," and for goodness sake, get the leading man some CPR lessons, Y'all!! Bring roses, chocolate, and wine, and leave the real world checked at the ticket booth. 6/10

PS: These new cheap thermal paper / laser printer / receipt paper movie tickets the theaters are printing these days have zero class, and are not suitable for movie review photos. Your theater tickets suck, theater operators!! 0/10 (See my earlier reviews for examples of REAL movie ticket stubs)

Murder On The Orient Express...

Murder On The Orient Express...

Based on the Agatha Christie classic detective novel, this movie is total eye-candy in terms of cinematography and costume. Your eyes wilk feast on the richness of scenery and setting throughout.

The acting is quite good. The only spot I had trouble with believability was with Michelle Pfeiffer playing a grieving mother and grandmother - though her scenes as a man-hunting widow were very well-acted. With a cast like this, it was wonderful that there was such teamwork.

The story moves more slowly than the pacing of modern films, and in that regard it's a throwback to an earlier era, and can seem a bit draggy to modern viewers used to the non-stop action of today's films and "internet time."

All-in-all, it was quite enjoyable.

7/10, and pass the tea.

Dan

Ativa "Domino" 2000 mah power bank

I haven't used it yet for phone charging.

Took a couple of hours to fully charge.

Small and compact.

Charging cable is maybe one foot long.

To turn on/off the flashlight, rapidly double-click the power button.

Charge via the micro-USB port.

Discharge via full-size USB port.

Logan...

Totally awesome. Shocking. Powerful. Tough & tender. 9/10 on the Popcorn-worthy scale.

Star Trek Beyond...

I totally loved it. As my wife said, "They got their interpersonal banter back." To be honest, I think that the new crew has stepped it up to top-notch specifically because this movie not only pay homage to the original cast and crew, but it also memorializes BOTH Leonard Nimoy and Antonin Yelchin, both of whom have worked with this crew in real life. This is not lost on anyone, not Trekkers, Trekkies, or those who made this film. The film has a great plot with a cool twist at the end. Additionally, they were able to recapture the innate sense of goodness, hope, campy humor, and serious social discussion that were a part of the original series, STNG, and the original movies. I haven't loved a Star Trek movie quite this much since they pulled whales out of time and took them into space before putting them back where they belong. 10/10 Oh, the poster? I won a tee shirt in a pre-screening trivia contest by correctly answering "Iowa" to the question "In which State was Captain James Tiberius Kirk born?" Me being me, and the tee shirt being only an XL, not a 2XLT, I traded it for one of the very-limited-edition Carmike Cinemas promo posters tossed into the crowd and caught by a young lady two rows down from us. Of course my lovely wife helped with the negotiations, and everyone went home both happy and thrilled.