Reviews by redstarr

redstarr says "Filmed in annoying style. Not funny. Just dirty and dumb. " about My Secret Girlfriend

redstarr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:18:03 GMT

My Secret Girlfriend is not nearly as funny as the teasers for the show made it look. I expected a silly, raunchy, comedy along the lines of movies like American Pie, Sex Drive, and Road Trip. I figured it was going be a little juvenile but good for a laugh. Nope, definitely not what I expected.

First of all, I didn't expect it to be filmed entirely in sort of a first-person point of view. The show's makers attempt to make the whole show as if the viewer is a character and it's shot from their point of view. It's poorly done. All the actors look into and speak to the camera as if they are speaking to you. "You" keep seeing text messages from "your" friends. In the scenes that take place in a car, all the actors are shot from the side of their heads as if you are riding in the passenger seat. It feels un-natural and forced. I get the idea of the effect they are trying to achieve. But either the concept itself doesn't work, or the way they execute it fails. It...

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redstarr says "Good for cheap, convenient, low-maintance hair care" about TRESemme Multi-Vitamin 2 in 1

redstarr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:15:36 GMT

Tresemme 2 in 1 is fine if you're not demanding a lot out of a shampoo or a conditioner. If you need a specialty shampoo or conditioner for special hair issues, it's not going to really be the best choice. But if you're just looking for a cheap, convenient, 2 in 1 product for normal hair or use other products to serve the specialty functions, it's a great choice.

I originally bought the Tresemme because they sponsored Project Runway (in prior seasons, the newest season's hair product sponsor is Garnier) and I liked the results they got on Runway, so I figured it was worth a try. I tried it and liked it okay. When my husband ran out of his usual shampoo, he gave mine a try, and he liked it even more than I did. He loved the convenience of only needing the one product. For his short, normal texture, manageable, good condition, low-maintance hair, it's a really great product. His hair is clean and shiny and soft.

My hair is super long and curly and frizzy and has issues, so...

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redstarr says "One Step. Youthful and very intense fragrance." about Axe 2 in 1 Shampoo

redstarr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:24:07 GMT

Axe 2 in 1 Shampoo works well and is easy to use. It's nice for my husband to have only one bottle in the shower and to be able to speed up his morning shower routine by only have to wash and rinse once instead of applying and rinsing both a shampoo and a conditioner. The results are good. His hair is very clean and very soft and easy to style after using it.

The smell is quite intense,though. It's strongly scented and the scent sticks around longer than many other shampoos and conditioners. If you like the scent,that's an asset. However, if you're not thrilled with the scent, you're going to be dealing with a pretty heavy dose of it at first, and a light lingering of it even hours later. If my husband showers with it before work at 5 AM, and I put my nose very close to his head after I get off at 6 PM, I can still smell the shampoo a little.

The scent is a very youthful smell. Its scent is very much like the axe body spray scents. It's sort of athletic smelling, but more...

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redstarr says "There's a reason your Dad wore this one!" about Old Spice Cologne

redstarr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:24:54 GMT

Too many younger men overlook Old Spice. They associate it with their dad wearing it or even their grandfather wearing it. But they miss the simple fact that there's a reason their dad's and granddads wore it. It has been a favorite for generations because LADIES LOVE IT!

When I worked in a discount store cosmetics department, just the aroma escaping through the boxes while stocking the Old Spice would have me riled up and ready for romance all afternoon. It's got an almost magnetic quality to it for me, and apparently a lot of other females. If my husband wears it out in the evening, I can count on girls commenting on it.

It's a classic. It's warm and spicy and manly. Old Spice is a fragrance that says mature and suave and sexy and confident. Old Spice says you're not hung up on fancy bottles or pricey labels or catchy commercials. It says you know you're smooth and you know what you like. It's not a boy's cologne, it's a MAN's cologne. If you're the kind...

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redstarr says "Kind of like Antiques Roadshow with reality show elements" about Pawn Stars

redstarr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:18:32 GMT

I thought "How Stupid! Who would watch that?" when I first saw the listing for Pawn Stars on my television guide. I couldn't fathom what would be interesting about watching the day to day goings on of a pawn store. But late one Sunday evening I was bored and kind of hoping for a show that wasn't too interesting so that I would get motivated to wind down and go to sleep. Pawn Stars seemed to fit the bill perfectly. But as it turns out, Pawn Stars is actually a pretty fun show.

The reality show takes place in a Las Vegas pawn shop and the main characters are the shops owners and employees. The store isn't the kind of pawn shop we have in my area where it's mostly pretty everyday stuff like power tools and dvd players and guitars and jewelry. It's not broke people pawning their television for 20 bucks or their wedding ring for 50. It's more interesting, high-end, unique stuff. They buy stuff that's cool and valuable rather than just stuff they can buy for next to nothing...

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redstarr says "Great service. Good food, but pricey for chain restaurant" about Red Lobster - Fort Smith, AR

redstarr — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:48:51 GMT

Red Lobster has good food and top-notch service, but is a bit pricier than I'd expect for a chain restaurant and has few non-seafood menu options.

I hadn't been to Red Lobster in a few years since I'm not nuts about seafood, but my sister had never tried lobster before, so my husband and I took her out for her birthday meal. We chose Red Lobster with the thought that she could get lobster tail there as an add-on to another entree that she was sure to like. That way, just in case she didn't like lobster at all, she would still be able to enjoy the other entree (and my hubby would eat the lobster tail instead of it going to waste).

I'm pretty sure they'd remodeled since the last time I was there. The new decor was very nice. I didn't like the unpleasant fishy smell as soon as you entered,though. Yes, I know the smell of seafood is a bit expected at a fish restaurant, but I've been to others where it was not nearly so noticeable. At our table, however, the smell wasn't so...

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redstarr says "Best Dollars to Quality Vodka Value. Best Bargain Mixing Vodka." about Pinnacle Vodka

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:56:00 GMT

Pinnacle Vodka is the best dollars to quality vodka value out there. For an inexpensive mixing vodka, you can't beat it. It's smooth and light. It's very much modeled after the French super-premium vodkas in style. It's that Grey Goose, almost flavorless, super-soft style.

If you're a fan of Grey Goose looking for a cheaper alternative, Pinnacle is by far going to be the best choice. I tried the two head to head and could taste a slight difference between the Pinnacle and the Grey Goose when I sipped it straight, most of my guests couldn't tell them apart. When we tried both vodkas mixed with orange juice or with cranberry juice, even I couldn't tell them apart.

Around here, it usually costs around 12 dollars for a 750 ml bottle and 22 dollars for the half gallon bottle. That's a few bucks less than brands like Smirnoff or Skyy and only a couple of bucks more than sub-premium brands like Popov and almost a third of the price of super-premiums like Grey Goose or Ciroc....

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redstarr says "Fun game, especially for Beatles fans" about Rock Band - The Beatles Rock Band

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:27:59 GMT

The Beatles Rock Band video game is really fun, especially if you're a Beatles fan. However, I don't think you'd need to be a huge Beatles fan to enjoy it. My husband isn't really into The Beatles, but enjoyed the game anyway. It offers some fun twists on the original Rock Band games.

It allows you to play in some configurations that weren't available in the other games. You can have up to 3 singers all at once singing in harmonies. You can also play and sing at the same time,too.

You can't dress up and create custom characters like in other versions. You play as the Beatles.

The difficulty of some of the songs, even on the hard and expert level, wasn't as hard as it is on some of the tracks on the other games. But it was difficult enough to be fun and some of the variations provided for an extra challenge. Like if the guitar or drums seemed to be a breeze even on expert, you could try it playing and trying to sing at the same time to keep the challenge up. The vocals...

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redstarr says "Overly sweet. Artificial tasting. Anything but luxurious." about 808 808 Luxury Fused Spirits

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:47:34 GMT

The new 808 Luxury Fused Spirit drinks sound appealing, but fall way short of their packaging's promises. They aren't "luxurious" at all. The package makes them look like a hip fun youthful club-type drink for at home enjoyment. It has sort of an upscale urban design, like something you could envision a rapper drinking. The ingredients listed include things like cognac, premium vodka, fruit liqueurs, caffeine and guarana. I expected sort of Red Bull meets Grey Goose with a splash of Alize. What is in the bottle is more like Kool Aid with too much sugar in it mixed with Red Bull mixed with cheap artificial fruit flavors mixed with rot gut vodka.

I should have known when the label listed the cognac component as "French Cognac" that it wasn't made for people that know anything about premium liquor. All Cognac is from the Cognac region of France, otherwise it's just brandy. But then I figured that maybe they were trying to appeal to a market that isn't your typical liquor...

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redstarr says "Fun if you're a guitar enthusiast, especially if you love Gibson" about Gibson Beale Street Showcase

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:51:32 GMT

The Gibson Beale Street Showcase is really interesting if you're into guitars. I'm a musician and my husband plays a Gibson and adores them. It was fascinating to tour the factory and see them being made. I didn't realize just how much loving care and hand work went into making each Gibson guitar. I guessed that in this modern age most of the work was done by robots and machines and they would be very much a mass-produced item. Still, I wanted to see them being made. I love television shows like "How It's Made". It's somehow mesmerizing for me to watch everyday items being manufactured. Turns out the Gibson factory, while it does use some modern machinery, is a lot more like a craftsman's work shop than a factory pumping out thousands of units per hour.

The tour is a little less than an hour long and costs ten dollars per person. We got a discount coupon online for buy one admission get one half off through the city of Memphis's travel site. I'm kind of surprised...

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redstarr says "Very nice zoo. Lots of animals. Lots of fun. " about Memphis Zoo

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:24:15 GMT

The Memphis Zoo is a great zoo. It has a really wide variety of animals and is well kept and nice and neat and fun. The zoo features all the animals you typically expect at a major zoo plus some of the less common ones. I love zoos, so to see an animal I haven't seen before is a big surprise for me. The Memphis zoo had several animals I'd never seen in a zoo before. They had two panda bears, a slow loris, and an aardvark which were all new sights for me.

One of the most unusual and interesting parts of the zoo was the special area set up for viewing nocturnal animals. They are kept in the dark with minimal lighting (sort of a black light set up). They are sometimes a bit hard to spot, but you get to see them much better and being more active than in any other zoo I've seen. A couple of the animals in there were at other zoos I'd been to, but I could never see them doing anything but being curled up in their nests since it was daytime. It was really interesting to see them...

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redstarr says "Works pretty well, but is messy." about As Seen On TV Original PedEgg

redstarr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:41:39 GMT

The ped egg works pretty well for filing dry skin off your feet like it shows in the commercial, but it isn't neat like it shows. The skin shavings don't stay neatly inside the egg. It even mentions on the package that because it's so tidy you can use it anywhere. I certainly wouldn't recommend that. It gets skin dust everywhere. I use it with a towel under my foot to try to contain the mess.

The ped egg is really very much like a regular foot file in the way it works. It has a flat metal surface with openings that look like a little cheese grater. You rub the file against the skin and slough it away revealing the softer skin underneath. The advantage of the ped egg over the standard foot file on a handle is the shape. It is more comfortable to grasp and easier to use.

It doesn't hurt your feet at all, no matter how hard you scrub. I like it better than my pumice stone in that respect. The pumice stone can be a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but the ped egg feels...

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redstarr says "Great book site. Supports literacy programs." about better world books

redstarr — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:27:48 GMT

Better World Books is a great site for buying books, especially used books. They have great deals and cheap shipping and at the same time donate a portion of the proceeds from each book you buy to charity literacy programs around the world.

Their books come from book drives they hold, primarily on college campuses and at libraries, and from their buy-back program. I didn't try the buy-back program, but it looks easy and like a good deal. Apparently, you can just enter the books you'd like to send them and they pay you for them and all you have to do is print their shipping label and send them . They pay the postage, you don't have to. The site shows what they'll pay for each book. On a lot of the books I have that I browsed the buy-back price for, it looked like a great deal. Easy money for unwanted books. They also accept books that they aren't paying for at that time,too, as a donation, and the books will be donated to literacy programs or librarys or sold with a portion...

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redstarr says "Good cheap anti-aging cream. " about Equate Advanced Firming and Anti-Wrinkle

redstarr — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:47:38 GMT

I had my 30th birthday a few months ago, and decided that it was time to start using an anti-aging cream as a preventative measure. I'm not too wrinkly for my age yet, a few fine lines here and there maybe, but overall still not looking too bad. I figured that I'm not getting any younger, so I should start an anti-aging skin regiment now before it's too late. Maybe if I get a jump on wrinkles now I will be able to delay resorting to the heavy duty expensive serums and surgery and untill further down the road.

I realized that no one ever tells you what anti-aging serum to use. None of your friends ever discuss it. You certainly can't ask anyone you know about anti-wrinkle cream. The info out there is pretty much only coming from the companys that are trying to sell you products. The only honest woman to woman info I'd ever gotten on a wrinkle cream was that I could remember my mom using Oil of Olay when she was the age I am now and I was a little girl(but I can't use that because...

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redstarr says "Works as well as regular windex, plus kills germs" about Windex Antibacterial Multi Surface Spray Cleaner

redstarr — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:22:36 GMT

Windex Antibacterial multisurface spray cleaner cleans glass as well as regular Windex, but since it's a disinfectant it can be used for cleaning countertops and such,too. I used to use the regular blue Windex at my store to clean the glass doors and use 409 or Clorox spray cleaner to clean the door handles, counter tops, shelves, and such. But now, I use the Windex Antibacterial for all those light surface cleaning jobs.

Windex Antibacterial isn't a heavy duty cleanser. It's not an industrial degreaser. It's not for things that are filthy. It's for quick wipe with a paper towel stuff rather than scrub with a brush stuff. It's meant for everyday jobs and it does those terrificly.

It smells good,too. It is lemony. Much nicer smelling than original blue Windex or 409.

Windex Antibacterial has totally replaced 409 and other light-duty spray disinfectant cleaners for me. I highly recommend it.

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redstarr says "Works great. Smells great. Better for the environment." about Clorox GreenWorks

redstarr — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:27:28 GMT

Greenworks Dilutable Cleaner works great for mopping floors. I bought some to use it on the stoneware type tile floors of my store. It does a great job and lasts a while. A splash or two is plenty in three or four gallons of water to mop.

The smell is terrific, dominantly lemon, but with notes of mint and maybe even a hint of coconut. The smell is the perfect amount for in the store, enough to smell clean and fresh, but not so much to be distracting or overpowering. It doesn't smell chemical at all and the smell fades fairly quickly.

I like that it's made with the environment in mind. It is made with natural safe ingredients and not tested on animals. The Sierra Club even gave it their seal of approval, so I feel pretty happy about how green they are. Greenworks isn't just using some flashy environmentally responsible words on the label.

It's price is in line with other similar dilutable cleansers like Lysol, Pinesol, Fabulouso, and such.

I do wish that it was...

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redstarr says "Smells nice, but not like I expected. Works okay but pricey." about Febreze Air Freshener

redstarr — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:02:01 GMT

I love Febreze's fabric sprays, so when I saw that they'd started making air freshner spray I was totally excited. Febreze is the best new laundry product to come out in generations, so I figured the air freshner would be revolutionary and awesome,too. Not so much. It's not bad. Just not as amazing as I'd hoped.

First of all, the scent that I bought smells nice, but not at all like I thought it would. The name of the fragrance is "Moroccan Bazaar" and the bottle has a sort of brownish color and pictures of a bunch of little piles of spices on the front. I expected a very warm,spicey, middle-eastern inspired type scent. It smells sort of berry and floral with a little spice, a lot like your typical airfreshner and nothing that evokes any sort of Moroccan anything. It smells good, just nothing like it leads you to believe it's going to.

The bottle is sort of a space age shape, but it performs exactly like your traditional spray air freshner.

The scent is fairly strong...

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redstarr says "Really fragrant,super long lasting,and safer than lit candles" about Scentsy Wickless Candle Warmer

redstarr — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:38:38 GMT

The Scentsy wickless candle warmer is really neat. My mother bought one from a friend who's a Scentsy seller (they have independent sellers like Avon, or Tupperware, and such). I loved it so much in her house that she bought me one for Christmas. I use mine often.

The Scentsy has a light bulb in the bottom part of the burner, then you put a piece of the fragranced wax in the top bowl part of the container. The bulb heats it up and melts the wax to activate and diffuse the scent. It works and looks a bit like an oil burner diffuser. But it's not as messy as an oil burner, there's never any smoke or charring, and the wax never dries up leaving you with an empty burner cooking away. Plus, there's no flame to deal with since it's electric.

The scent is super strong. Like even stronger than most scented candles or spray air freshners. Especially when the wax cake is new. Eventually, over time, the wax chunk will lose its smell and you'll want to replace it with another...

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redstarr says "My favorite Zinfandel. Light, but interesting. Versatile. " about Tulip Hill Zinfandel, zinfandel

redstarr — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:30:43 GMT

Tulip Hill Zinfandel is my favorite zinfandel and one of my favorite wines. It's light and approachable, but not bland. It's not as much of a heavy fruit-bomb or overy spicy as many other California zins. It's still got plenty of the lush fruit and spice you expect from a Zin, but doesn't feel the need to hit you over the head with it. It's fruit forward, but doesn't even hint at sweetness. It's just big enough to be interesting, but not big enough to sacrifice it's status as a versatile daily drinker. It's good with a broad range of foods and good by itself,too. Tulip Hill is smooth, low on tannins, and well-balanced. It's not a super-bargain wine, but it's still affordable enough that it doesn't require an occasion to open a bottle. It runs between 12 and 19 bucks most places. If you're a red lover looking to try something new, hosting a party where you want an interesting crowd-pleasing red, or looking for a wine to pair with a wide range of foods, I recommend...

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redstarr says "Cool concept, but challenges could be a bit more realistic." about Chopped

redstarr — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:09:59 GMT

Chopped is a show with a cool concept, but would be better if it were a bit more realistic. Four chef contestants are presented with baskets with several ingredients in it and have to use at least some of every ingredient in the basket to create a dish in a limited time. They may use other ingredients out of the show's stocked fridge and pantry in addition to the basket contents, but must use at least a little of each thing in the basket in the final product. The first round is the appetizer round, where they have to use the surprise ingredients to make an appetizer. After the first round, all of the dishes are judged by the panel of judges and the contestant with the dish the judges liked least is sent home. The second round is the main dish round, and the procedure is the same. The remaining two contestants go on the final round, the dessert round. The prize for the winner is 10,000 dollars.

The problem with the show is that the baskets aren't very realistic. It would...

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