Today I did something I vowed I'd never do again - I went shopping at the Walmart in Quincy. I haven't been there in at least 7-8 years, but I just didn't feel like driving to Dorchester to Target when Walmart is literally about a 5-minute drive from our house, no highways or traffic involved. But, despite its convenience, it was a mistake to go there.
I've occasionally pondered why I prefer Target to Walmart. They both are based on the same idea - rock bottom prices, big warehouse atmosphere, a little bit of everything you could possibly need in your life. Jim used to joke that one of the reasons that shopping at Walmart was crazy was the checkout lines - because inevitably, you'd get behind the person who was purchasing a sofa and a bag of potato chips.
Anyway, I have reaffirmed my dislike of Walmart (at least the one in Quincy) and understand why I prefer Target over Walmart. At Walmart, you walk in, and half the merchandise is on the floor. None of it is organized, and you can't find anything. For example, I was looking at baby clothes. The size listed on the hanger was almost always not the size of the article of clothing. The hanger would say "4T" but the onesie was actually a size 3/6 months. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the clothes were displayed - random clothes were hung up on random racks, all mixed in together, all different prices despite the price sign at the top of each rack.
Additionally, although Walmart has a little of everything, that doesn't mean that it has a good selection of the things you want. For example, I was looking for a board game suitable for a 5-year-old today. They had two appropriate choices, both games she already has. And these two choices were in different aisles, so I had to hunt through about 5 aisles of toys in order to find these two games.
I should say that these aren't problems that I only encountered today. I recall that the last time Jim and I were in Walmart was to shop for school supplies when I started law school (OK, so that gives you an idea about how long it's been since we've been there!). It looked like a tornado had hit the store. In fact, I recall leaving the cart in mid-aisle and running out of the store with Jim. We just couldn't take it any more.
At Target, everything is relatively clean and always on the shelf. I've never had a problem where clothing was mis-sized or otherwise mis-marked. Target has a remarkable selection. For example, there is a whole wall in the back of the store with board games, organized according to the appropriate age for the game. There is a section for board games, and a section for card games. Plus, I sort of think that things might be slightly cheaper at Target, although maybe I was just dreaming.
I don't get it. You could make the argument that you get what you pay for, and that Walmart's lack of organization, sloppiness, and general chaos is the price you pay in return for a cut on the price of the product. Except that Target's prices are just as low (I think), and the whole shopping experience is so much better.
I'm writing this all down now, so that I don't forget next time. Hopefully my memory will be fresh, at least for another 10 years or so! :)
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Playgrounds and other people's kids and movies
Today Annie and I went to the mall, because I needed to pick up a couple of things for the weekend. The mall has a pretty nifty play area. Annie was enthralled. I think she mostly liked watching the bigger kids. Here she is, playing with one of the toys there:
But then this sort of shocking thing happened. Annie was standing up and holding onto one of the benches. Most of the older kids would either ignore her or try to talk to her a little, or sort of quietly play near her. But out of the blue, this little boy, not all that much bigger than Annie but much steadier on his feet, walks up to her, grabs her face, and then pushes her over. She was very startled and started crying. The other child had absolutely no reaction! And when I came over and told him that it wasn't nice to push over little babies, he just stared at me with an empty expression. His parent was no where to be found.
This is at least the third time that this has happened over the last 6 months or so (the other two times were at a playgroup a few months ago). The other child's parents invariably either don't care or think it's cute. I'm pretty shocked. I would be totally angry and embarrassed if Annie ever did that to another kid. It seems to me that it's never too early to teach your child to be gentle with others.
In other news, I saw Sex and the City 2 last night at this new cinema in Dedham. It was the first movie I'd seen in the theaters since Annie was born. The movie was disappointing. Really, they should've just stuck to the TV series instead of these painful movies that just emphasize how old all the actors are getting and how there's nothing left of a plot in their story. It was pretty sad. However, the cinematography was quite nice, there were at least 100 different costume changes during the movie, and there were some interesting cameo appearances, such as Liza Minelli.
The theater was an interesting concept - it has large seats, little tables that pull out from the seats, and a dinner menu. They serve the food during the movie. It had some pitfalls - like how they take your order while the movie is going on, and sort of block your view. And the service wasn't stellar. But it's kind of a nice concept. It's a brand new building, replacing the old Dedham Showcase Cinemas, which, from what I heard, was pretty ghetto.
I saw a preview for "Eat, Pray, Love," the movie. I read the book a couple of years ago, and just finished reading the author's second book. Both books were OK - the first was better than the second. It's funny that Julia Roberts is going to play the main character (who is also the author - the book was a true story, memoir type thing), and Javier Bardem is playing the love interest. Not a bad choice in actors.
Time to try being productive and getting things done before Annie wakes up from the nap!
This is at least the third time that this has happened over the last 6 months or so (the other two times were at a playgroup a few months ago). The other child's parents invariably either don't care or think it's cute. I'm pretty shocked. I would be totally angry and embarrassed if Annie ever did that to another kid. It seems to me that it's never too early to teach your child to be gentle with others.
In other news, I saw Sex and the City 2 last night at this new cinema in Dedham. It was the first movie I'd seen in the theaters since Annie was born. The movie was disappointing. Really, they should've just stuck to the TV series instead of these painful movies that just emphasize how old all the actors are getting and how there's nothing left of a plot in their story. It was pretty sad. However, the cinematography was quite nice, there were at least 100 different costume changes during the movie, and there were some interesting cameo appearances, such as Liza Minelli.
The theater was an interesting concept - it has large seats, little tables that pull out from the seats, and a dinner menu. They serve the food during the movie. It had some pitfalls - like how they take your order while the movie is going on, and sort of block your view. And the service wasn't stellar. But it's kind of a nice concept. It's a brand new building, replacing the old Dedham Showcase Cinemas, which, from what I heard, was pretty ghetto.
I saw a preview for "Eat, Pray, Love," the movie. I read the book a couple of years ago, and just finished reading the author's second book. Both books were OK - the first was better than the second. It's funny that Julia Roberts is going to play the main character (who is also the author - the book was a true story, memoir type thing), and Javier Bardem is playing the love interest. Not a bad choice in actors.
Time to try being productive and getting things done before Annie wakes up from the nap!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Love in the Time of Cholera
We saw the movie, Love in the Time of Cholera, last night on DVD. I had read the book and was curious to see the movie. The movie was just as tedious as the book, unfortunately.
It's basically about a man and a woman, Florentino and Fermina, who fall in love when they are teenagers through letters (they only meet a couple of times). Fermina's father doesn't like Florentino because he's not upper class, and Fermina eventually loses interest in him. Florentino never loses interest in Fermina, for over fifty years. Fermina marries pompous Dr. Urbino instead, and when he dies, years later, Florentino comes to her after the wake. They are now both in their 70's. He tells her that he's never forgotten her, wants to be with her even now, etc. etc. I won't spoil the ending.
While the book started out well, and I was impressed with the quality of the writing, I lost interest in it when I began to dislike the characters. Florentino seems to be nothing more than a stalker. He also turns into a womanizer who sleeps with his fourteen-year-old ward (He was entrusted to be her guardian, but instead, he picked her up from school breaks to seduce her - yuck!). Fermina is just boring. I just didn't care what happened to them, so the book grew very tedious for me.
The book began with an intriguing story about Dr. Urbino, whose friend, Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, is found dead. It turns out that it's a suicide, and that Saint-Amour had made a pact with himself that he would kill himself when he turned 60 because he did not want to grow old. He leaves a long letter for Dr. Urbino, which explains about various scandals in his life, including the existence of a scandalous love affair.
I was intrigued by the letter and the story behind Saint-Amour. I figured that the author would come back to this story and connect it with the rest of the book. But it never happened, and I still don't understand the point of starting the story this way. We never hear about Saint-Amour again.
The movie had some serious problems. One big problem was how it dealt with age progression. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, the actress who played Fermina, could not play an old woman. They slapped on some makeup, and she still looked like she was 25. Javier Bardem, who played Florentino, was not much better. They tried to shuffle around, like they thought old people would do, and it just didn't work. Mezzogiorno was not very convincing as a 17-year-old either.
Another annoying part of the movie was the fact that they all spoke with Spanish accents, since the movie took place in Colombia. (And actually, Mezzogiorno had an Italian accent). I hate movies that do this. Either do the movie in Spanish with subtitles, or have the people speak English fluently and natively. They would've spoken Spanish fluently and natively, without a foreign accent. I suppose you could argue that they did the accents to emphasize that the movie took place in a foreign country. But that's stupid. There was no question that the movie happened in Colombia, because it was such an important component of the story. And for Mezzogiorno, she needs to either speak with a Spanish accent, or no accent at all.
And while I won't spoil the ending, I will say that I thought it was dumb. Before we got to the ending, JK2 asked me if it was a happy ending or a sad ending. I said that that depends on whether you like the characters. :)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of the book, has gotten rave reviews from everyone, especially in Latin America. I understand that he's a hero in Colombia, but I'm not convinced about him yet. I want to read 100 Years of Solitude before I make my judgment.
It's basically about a man and a woman, Florentino and Fermina, who fall in love when they are teenagers through letters (they only meet a couple of times). Fermina's father doesn't like Florentino because he's not upper class, and Fermina eventually loses interest in him. Florentino never loses interest in Fermina, for over fifty years. Fermina marries pompous Dr. Urbino instead, and when he dies, years later, Florentino comes to her after the wake. They are now both in their 70's. He tells her that he's never forgotten her, wants to be with her even now, etc. etc. I won't spoil the ending.
While the book started out well, and I was impressed with the quality of the writing, I lost interest in it when I began to dislike the characters. Florentino seems to be nothing more than a stalker. He also turns into a womanizer who sleeps with his fourteen-year-old ward (He was entrusted to be her guardian, but instead, he picked her up from school breaks to seduce her - yuck!). Fermina is just boring. I just didn't care what happened to them, so the book grew very tedious for me.
The book began with an intriguing story about Dr. Urbino, whose friend, Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, is found dead. It turns out that it's a suicide, and that Saint-Amour had made a pact with himself that he would kill himself when he turned 60 because he did not want to grow old. He leaves a long letter for Dr. Urbino, which explains about various scandals in his life, including the existence of a scandalous love affair.
I was intrigued by the letter and the story behind Saint-Amour. I figured that the author would come back to this story and connect it with the rest of the book. But it never happened, and I still don't understand the point of starting the story this way. We never hear about Saint-Amour again.
The movie had some serious problems. One big problem was how it dealt with age progression. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, the actress who played Fermina, could not play an old woman. They slapped on some makeup, and she still looked like she was 25. Javier Bardem, who played Florentino, was not much better. They tried to shuffle around, like they thought old people would do, and it just didn't work. Mezzogiorno was not very convincing as a 17-year-old either.
Another annoying part of the movie was the fact that they all spoke with Spanish accents, since the movie took place in Colombia. (And actually, Mezzogiorno had an Italian accent). I hate movies that do this. Either do the movie in Spanish with subtitles, or have the people speak English fluently and natively. They would've spoken Spanish fluently and natively, without a foreign accent. I suppose you could argue that they did the accents to emphasize that the movie took place in a foreign country. But that's stupid. There was no question that the movie happened in Colombia, because it was such an important component of the story. And for Mezzogiorno, she needs to either speak with a Spanish accent, or no accent at all.
And while I won't spoil the ending, I will say that I thought it was dumb. Before we got to the ending, JK2 asked me if it was a happy ending or a sad ending. I said that that depends on whether you like the characters. :)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of the book, has gotten rave reviews from everyone, especially in Latin America. I understand that he's a hero in Colombia, but I'm not convinced about him yet. I want to read 100 Years of Solitude before I make my judgment.
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