The official numbers are out and Star Trek Into Darkness made $70,165,559. Which is quite a bit lower than they expected it to make, but that is good news for Daniel Robison since he was the lowest guess with $75,000,000, and thus the winner of the contest. I will get the CD shipped to him shortly.
What Type of TV Should You Buy?
There are a lot of TV choices to choose from, and people have asked me what type of TV they should buy so here is my handy guide.
LCD
People seem to think there is a difference between LCD and LED, but the only difference is that LED adds a backlight to give you a better contrast ratio, and make it easier to view in light rooms, but as far as picture quality goes there isn’t a difference for the most part, so if you have a dark room and there is a good deal on a LCD it is not a bad choice. These make great monitors because you are up close to them and you do not need the back light, but the sharp pixels mean you get great font display.
Edge Lit LED
Edge lit LED is just as it sounds. It shoots the light from the sides of the TV to brighten it. What is nice about edge lit is that it makes the TV much thinner, but what you have to look out for is the ‘halo’ effect. If you are watching dark films or TV it can sometimes look like there is ring around your TV, but that is just the back light beaming in and not being uniform. Gamers like LEDs because they have sharp pixels, but since they are further back from them they like the brighter screen.
Back/Grid Lit LED
Back Lit and Grid Lit are the same thing, and they shoot the light from the back of the TV to give you a more uniform light and color, so that is better, but your TV will be thicker to provide the space for the lights.
Plasma
Plasma has made a comeback in the last couple of years, and that is because you get the best true picture out of a plasma, and they also don’t have the ‘soap opera effect’ where it makes you movies look a little too real. That is because of the way that they make their pixels, but they usually have glass screens so they have refection issues, and they are not as bright as an LED so the room needs to be a little darker. For the same reason they do not have the ‘soap opera effect’ is also the same reason they do not make good monitors, since the pixels are not as sharp.
3D/4K/UHD
For now, I would say that 3D is a gimmick and only get it if your TV comes with it. Do not seek it out. The same goes for 4K/UHD. The extra resolution is great but there is nothing made for the 4K spec to watch.
So What to Buy
It depends on what you want. Are you going to hook your computer up to it and use it as a monitor? Probably an LCD. You going to play a lot of video games? Probably an LED, but I would get a back lit one. You want the best picture for your movies and sports? Probably a Plasma, but all TVs have gotten much better so usually you will get one and be happy with it.
Star Trek / Daft Punk Contest!
*Update*
The contest entry period has ended. This will be updated again on Tuesday when the official numbers come out
*End Update*
I have two things I love coming out this weekend, a new Star Trek movie, and a new Daft Punk album, so I thought I would combine the two in a contest. It is very easy, all you have to do is guess the three day weekend North American total for Star Trek Into Darkness this weekend by Friday at 10AM Pacific Standard Time US. The one that is closest wins.
They bumped up the launch of Star Trek to tomorrow, but I am going to use the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday totals for the contest. I will not be using the studio estimates, but the official results that come out Tuesday which also happens to be the day that Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories comes out.
If you would like to enter, all you have to do is share this post using one of the buttons below, so I can see you did it, and then leave a comment on this post with how much you think Star Trek is going to make this weekend. If you win I will use the email address from your comment to get your shipping info, but don’t worry your email address will not be viewable to the public, and if you are a first time commenter or are just using a different email address from the last time you commented it will go to moderation for me to approve, so it may not show up right away.
I will count all entries in the moderation queue and approved as long as they are posted by Friday 10AM Pacific. Due to shipping and me not knowing when Daft Punk’s album is coming out all over the world, this is for the USA only. You cannot guess the same number as another person. If two people guess the same number but cannot see each other because they are in the moderation queue then I will count the person that got that number in first, and then email the second person and ask for a new number.
Thanks for playing and good luck!
Blog Post #100!
This is the 100th post on my blog, and I would like to thank all of you that have read my reviews and rants about whatever I could think of. It has been a lot of fun, and I thought for sure I would have given up by now, but I am still going.
If you were to actually to go through and count my posts you would find that there are a couple more than 100 posts, but that is because there are a couple of posts just to say that I didn’t have anything to say that day, so I just didn’t count them, and if you did count them all then you are a crazy person.
I would like to thank you all for the interest in my book. A lot of people downloaded it, but I have not heard from that many, so if you have anything to say good or bad please let me know, but the reviews I have gotten so far have been positive other then the fact it still needs quite a bit of red ink.
If there is anything you would like me to review or talk about please let me know, and one again thank you to the 331 of you that have checked out my site.
How Are Doritos Locos Tacos?
So I finally broke down and had a Doritos Locos Taco, and it was better then I expected. They must tone down the Doritos flavoring so you can taste the other ingredients. I was worried that the Cool Ranch wouldn’t taste good with all the taco stuff, but I was quite happy to find out that it works quite well.
If you are looking for something a little different, then having a taco made out of a flavored chip is kind of fun. I don’t know if I will get them all the time I am there, but they are definitely added to my list of possibilities.