http://www.viewpoints.com/aboutme/redstarr Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:25:23 GMT Reviews by redstarr http://www.viewpoints.com/Oikos-Oikos-Greek-Yogurt-review-c18c0 Oikos Greek Yogurt is awesome yogurt.  The flavor is terrific.  I like the blueberry (fruit on the bottom) and the vanilla flavored ones for breakfast and snacks.  My husband says the honey flavored is the best (I haven't tried it, I don't eat honey.).  We've also used the plain unflavored one for making greek spread/dip for pita bread similar to tzatziki.  It was simple and terrific.  We just added greek seasoning and diced cucumber to the Oikos yogurt.  — Being Greek style yogurt, it is a bit different in flavor and texture than standard yogurts like Yoplait and Dannon and such.  It's not as runny and wet.  It's thicker.  A smooth, almost custard type consistency.  Closer to a moist, whipped cream cheese than a pudding.  The taste is a bit fuller,too.  A little more cream cheese like.  More distinctively dairy flavored.  — Oikos Yogurt is fat free.  I love when something yummy is... Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:25:23 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Oikos-Oikos-Greek-Yogurt-review-c18c0 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Hancock-review-7c962 Hancock was okay, but nothing Super.  There was a freshness in places, especially in the beginning of the movie, that was great.  A lot of super hero movies have fairly cookie cutter characters and a fairly cookie cutter plot.  Hancock varied from traditional superhero template.  First and foremost, there was no Supervillian nemesis for Hancock to fight.  His battle was more with his own personality,public image, and past.  Also, a flawed superhero was pretty fresh.  And the world noticing things like collateral damage was fresh and interesting.  In most superhero movies, the super heros can trash the city fighting super villians and rescuing citizens and no one seems to care about the property damages incurred in the process. — However, I felt like Hancock had tons of holes.  There were  a lot of places where it felt like swaths of plot and character development were missing.  There were several places where it seemed... Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:14:21 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Hancock-review-7c962 redstarr 3 http://www.viewpoints.com/Furrs-Buffett-Fort-Smith-AR-review-f9604 Furr's Buffet opened in my town yesterday, and as a big fan of buffets, I rushed down to check it out on opening day.  I really expected it to be your pretty standard buffet, in line with Golden Corral, Ryan's, Western Sizzlin', etc.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  It was similar to those, but better.  The food was REALLY good.  Not just good for all you can eat, but GOOD.  And there were LOTS of choices.  Tons of salad bar type items, fruits and fruit salads, breads, meat dishes, main dishes,side dishes, and desserts.  I couldn't even manage to sample everything that I wanted in one visit there were so many options.  The service was fast and friendly.  Even with the waitresses all being on their first day, the service was good.  The prices were very much in line with other buffet chains.  I think it was like 8.99 for dinner for adults.  A great value.  I will definitely be... Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:53:29 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Furrs-Buffett-Fort-Smith-AR-review-f9604 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/You-Dont-Mess-With-the-Zohan-review-ddfb0 After a couple of lackluster departures from the silly kind of comedy that Adam Sandler is famous for, he was back on track in "Zohan".  There's no heavy emotional drama, no smart social commentary or anything, just good old dirty jokes and silliness.  It's not believable in any way shape or form and isn't meant to be. It's got a wee bit of "lets all get along" sentiment, but just touches on it, not at all heavy handed with it.   It's the kind of thing you just give your brain the night off and laugh along.  It's very funny in the way you expect Adam Sandler to be funny.  It's a bit dirtier than some of his earlier work, a lot of sex and nudity type humor, but it suits his juvenile giggles generating style.  If you liked "The WaterBoy", you'll like "Zohan". —... Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:37:41 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/You-Dont-Mess-With-the-Zohan-review-ddfb0 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Netflix-review-3b20 Netflix is a great easy video rental system for busy folks like me.  My life is a bit hectic, and while I have time to watch a movie from time to time, I don't always have time to go to the store, pick it out, watch it, and make sure it gets back on time.  With Netflix, I can just add movies to my list on their website whenever I have a minute (like at work even!  How convenient!) or when it comes to mind something I want to see, and they will be shipped right to my front door, when I get done watching them, I can just toss them back in the envelope, and then they will ship the next ones from my list when those arrive.  — They have a choice of plans, from one movie at a time to 4 movies at a time.  I have the three movies at a time plan (since the most time I have to watch movies is on the weekend, so at once I have one for Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night).  And I usually average three movies a week.  You could watch more movies... Fri, 30 May 2008 20:00:04 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Netflix-review-3b20 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/MTV-Games-Rock-Band-review-2de01 Rockband is a really fun game.  When I first heard about it, I figured it would be fun, but not for me.  My husband and I are both real-life musicians, so we thought the Guitar Hero games would be fun, turns out they were for him, but I just couldn't get the hang of them.  They were just too hard for me to enjoy.  I figured Rockband would end up the same way, fun for him, but I'd just get bored sitting around while he played.  Then I played the demo at the electronics store and was hooked immediately.  I just bought the whole system for myself.  — The really cool additions that Rockband has over Guitar Hero are the drums and the microphone.  The drums are AWESOME!  Super fun to play.  They feel a lot like a real drum kit.  You use real drumsticks.  There's a foot pedal on the floor like would be used as a kick drum pedal or high hat pedal.  There's four drum pads that would be like a snare, toms, and crash... Fri, 30 May 2008 17:24:33 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/MTV-Games-Rock-Band-review-2de01 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/ripple-org-review-fb774 Ripple.org is a great free way to give a little bit to charity every day at absolutely no cost.  There's four buttons you can click and each one will donate a little bit of money to a charity.  The water button gives enough to provide six days clean water for an impoverished person through a donation to Wateraid.  The food button gives a donation toward food for the hungry through Oxfam.  The education button gives a donation that covers two days of schooling for a student in East Timor through the Oaktree Foundation.  The money button helps finance micro-loans to the poor through the Grameen Foundation. — The way the site works is that every time you click, an ad is displayed for a sponsor (for the last couple of weeks it's been for Sony Erikson mobile phones).  The revenue generated by viewing of the ad is how the money is raised that is donated. — Ripple also offers a search engine (powered by google) that donates to those charities every... Fri, 30 May 2008 16:24:30 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/ripple-org-review-fb774 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Cosmic-Cavern-Berryville-AR-review-ac8c1 Cosmic Cavern in Berryville, Arkansas (just a few miles in the country past Eureka Springs) is a cool looking cave.  You get to see lots and lots of beautiful and interesting cave formations very closely.   — The cave is very natural, but has some modern conveniences like stairs and electric lighting.  The tours are lead by VERY knowledgeable and friendly guides.   The formations were really stunning.  The cave is primarily made of onyx, so there were tons of beautiful white "soda straw" stilactites, some stalagmites, and other cave formations.  There are two "bottomless" cave lakes, one of which is stocked with rainbow trout that the guide feeds so that they come to the top.  I wasn't as impressed with a bottomless lake as I thought I'd be, I guess maybe I'm just hard to please.  It seemed a bit like any other pond to me looks wise.  There are bats and blind salamanders that reportedly live in the... Tue, 20 May 2008 00:18:26 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Cosmic-Cavern-Berryville-AR-review-ac8c1 redstarr 3 http://www.viewpoints.com/Turpentine-Creek-Wildlife-Refuge-Eureka-Springs-review-73e00 Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is a great place to see lots of big cats up close.  There's lots and lots of cats, predominantly tigers, some cougars, bobcats, lions, and other big wildcats.  There's also a handful of other animals like a monkey, a badger, bears, etc.  But it's really all about the the cats. — Turpentine Creek is a rescue facility.  They take in big cats that have been seized by the authoritys or abused or abandoned or otherwise in need of being taken in, get them healthy if they need to be treated, and display them. Admission fees help to pay to take care of the cats.  They're not a for-profit animal show.  They don't raise or purchase the animals.  They don't teach them tricks or anything.  It's a non-profit, almost educational experience. — Lots of the cats are housed in big cages where you can see them really up close.  You get to really look at them in detail.  I've seen tons of cats on the... Mon, 19 May 2008 23:52:15 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Turpentine-Creek-Wildlife-Refuge-Eureka-Springs-review-73e00 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/New-Delhi-Cafe-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-f3ce0 The New Delhi Cafe in Eureka Springs is fabulous.  It offers American fare like burgers, sandwiches, etc, but what we had that was the real attraction was the Indian buffet.  They offer like 4 vegetarian dishes and a meat dish and 2 soups and rice and flat bread.  It was exceptionally good.  I adore Indian food and this was absolutely wonderful.  It is all made fresh and from the owner's family recipes.  — There is an outdoor patio with live music.  They serve beer and wine.  The service was really really friendly.  The price was very very good.  The two of us had the buffet and drinks for less than 25 dollars with tax included before the tip. — I highly recommend the New Delhi Cafe. —... Mon, 19 May 2008 22:38:59 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/New-Delhi-Cafe-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-f3ce0 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Chelseas-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-c05b2 Chelsea's has outstanding food and loads of local flavor.  While I was a tourist in Eureka Springs and Chelsea's served me well, it's a real local place that the people that live and work in Eureka frequent, rather than a place that's aimed at catering to tourist traffic.  It's got a nice casual little bar with a lot of the creative laid-back local Eureka flair.  They have live music in the bar at night on the weekends.  They have a full bar and a wide range of beers. — The cafe food is fantastic.  You can eat in the cafe that's upstairs completely separate from the bar, or on the little balcony patio, or have the food delivered to anywhere in town (we drank in the bar one night, and had food delivered to our hotel room on another day).  The food we had was superb.  Just stunning.  We had a greek appetizer platter and an Gyro pizza.  The Gyro meat was delicious.  Some of the best I've ever had, and I'm an Gyro connoiseur. ... Mon, 19 May 2008 22:23:54 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Chelseas-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-c05b2 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Bavarian-Inn-Restaurant-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-ec721 The Bavarian Inn restaurant offers delicious German cuisine.  The food is freshly made and tastes fabulous.  I had the Jager Schnitzel ( pork with a creamy brown gravy made with wild mushrooms the proprietor imports personally by hand from Bohemia, and roast potatoes, carrots,and peas).  My husband had the half of a Roast Duck in duck gravy served with red cabbage and potatoes.  He also had the cream of sauerkraut soup.  We also had the German Chocolate cake.  Everything tasted great. — The service was exceptionally good.  The staff is friendly, skilled, knowledgeable, and helpful.  — The prices, while not cheap, are good in comparison with what you get.  The entrees range from 10 to 25 dollars each.  Our whole ticket, appetizers, drinks, entrees, and a shared dessert, came to under 50 dollars including tax before the tip.  — It's authentic German cuisine, a handful of American style items are offered (a couple... Mon, 19 May 2008 21:28:51 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Bavarian-Inn-Restaurant-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-ec721 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Booneslick-Lodge-Jane-MO-Jane-MO-review-d64b5 The Booneslick Lodge in Jane, MO (right over the Missouri Line from Arkansas) is a great economy hotel.  It's perfect for short term business, or just staying a night or two while in route to someplace else.  It is inexpensive, we paid 65 dollars a night for 2 adults in a king-sized bed room.  The rooms were very clean, comfy, fairly new, and about what you'd expect for the price.  They had an in-room safe, a mini-fridge and microwave, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, television, dining table and chairs, bathtub with shower,dresser, television, and king sized bed.  — The stand-out feature of Booneslick Lodge was the free breakfast.  It was really much nicer than I expected for a motel in that price range.  It offered waffles, oatmeal, toast, biscuits and gravy, cereal, fruit, coffee, juices, milk, and tea. The desk staff was very nice.  — While I wouldn't recommend it as a destination hotel, the kind of place... Mon, 19 May 2008 20:39:40 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Booneslick-Lodge-Jane-MO-Jane-MO-review-d64b5 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Bavarian-Inn-Eureka-Springs-AR-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-ee762 The Bavarian Inn in Eureka Springs is a great hotel for a relaxing romantic get-away. They offer three different levels of room quality, master suites, double jacuzzi rooms, and regular rooms. We stayed our first night in the master suite and our second night in one of the double jacuzzi rooms. (We didn't make reservations ahead of time, so we ended up staying in the master suite the first night because it was all that was available, but it turns out it was fabulous and we're glad we did.) — The master suite is gigantic. It's more spacious than many apartments. The most striking feature,though, is the the heart-shaped jacuzzi for two. I originally thought that it was a bit silly, cheesy even, but turns out, it's not just kitsch. The heart shape is really extra comfortable for two people. My hubby is a very big fella (6'9" and 350lbs), so we don't always fit comfortably even in spas built for two, but in the heart shaped one, we had room to spare. It was ultra comfortable. The... Mon, 19 May 2008 20:10:08 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Bavarian-Inn-Eureka-Springs-AR-Eureka-Springs-AR-review-ee762 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Kiva-org-review-cb851 Kiva is a cool new approach to doing something good.  It's not like most charity where once you give, the charity uses your money, or gives it away to people who need it, and then it's gone.  With Kiva, you loan the money to a specific borrower of your choosing, and then it's repaid back to you when they repay the loan.  You can choose to reloan the money to someone else, or to keep the cash.  — It's a great way to help entrepreneurs in less fortunate places help make money to improve their lives and could end up not even costing you anything at all.  While the rate of non-payment on the loans is unbelievably low (in the low single digits percentage wise, I'm thinking it's like 3% with most of that related to the recent war in Kenya where people can't pay because of the violence), the loans are not guaranteed, so you do run a risk of not getting your money back.  So I don't advise investing money that you can't afford to lose.  You can plan to... Thu, 01 May 2008 21:42:20 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Kiva-org-review-cb851 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Xbox-360-Lost-Via-Domus-review-9c400 Lost:Via Domus is a fun video game if you're a fan of Lost on television.  It's made more for Lost fans than for video gamers, I think.  It's very easy to play as far as the game play itself, not a lot of complicated button pushing and controls to learn.  Since I'm not very good at (or interested in) the majority of video games because they're difficult to control and play, that was a big plus for me.  A lot of the game is thinking puzzle oriented.  It's not terribly difficult,though.  Yes, some of the puzzles will keep you thinking for a while, and some of the puzzles where you had to connect wires with fuses in specific ways even almost stumped my husband who's an electrical engineer, but most of it wasn't like that.  Most of it was pretty do-able.  Just challenging enough to be fun, but not challenging enough to be frustrating. — And the game is aimed at non-gamers in game play time,too.  It's not a long game.  I probably... Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:25:30 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Xbox-360-Lost-Via-Domus-review-9c400 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Ed-Walkers-Fort-Smith-AR-review-b2a04 Ed Walker's Drive-In is a Fort Smith institution.  It's been around forever, since at least the 50's, and there's a reason for it.  — The food is delicious.  Especially the french dip sandwich (a fresh roast beef sandwich with au jus dipping sauce made by hand at the restaurant).  The burgers are good,too, including the gigantic burger that weighs like six pounds.  The huge burger is good, and a novelty item you'll never forget, and the kids will get a big kick out of,too.   It can easily feed 3 or 4 hungry people.  You most certainly couldn't eat it by yourself, and would be unlikely to be able to finish it with just two people.  — They serve a lovely selection of beers, over 30, including domestic, imported, and microbrew selections, some on tap, some in bottles.  — The decor is 1950's style.  Some of it is original to the diner, but a recent rennovatation removed a lot of the older stuff like the original... Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:43:00 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Ed-Walkers-Fort-Smith-AR-review-b2a04 redstarr 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/emusic-review-a5c71 I was not happy with emusic at all.  My little brother got an mp3 player as a gift, and it came with a certificate for 50 free downloads from emusic.  First of all, the certificate was a bit misleading, as in the small print (and when you get to the website), you find out that it's not really just free downloads with no strings attached.  It is free trial month that you have to sign up for the service and then cancel before the next month to not be charged.    It should have just been honest and said that part up front, instead of trying to make it sound like freebies.  If it had been for me, I would have stopped right there and never given emusic the time of day, but my little brother is only 10 years old, so rather than try and explain the situation and why I wasn't going to load 50 songs on his new player that night like I promised, I just decided to go ahead and sign up and give it a try.  — I use itunes primarily at home for filling my... Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:11:41 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/emusic-review-a5c71 redstarr 1 http://www.viewpoints.com/Idiocracy-review-0baf1 Idiocracy is one of my all-time favorite movies.  It's a very smart comedy.  It's the kind of movie that really sticks with you.  The premise of the movie is that an average joe, a guy chosen particularly for being absolutely average in intelligence, and a prostitute (chosen for the same reason) are test subjects in an Army experiment that is supposed to put them in hibernation for  a year.  The experiment goes wrong and they wake up 500 years in the future instead.  As a result of smarter people reproducing at a much slower rate than dumber people,  people have become a society of idiots and the test subject from the present day is now the smartest man in the world.  The movie has some great insights and makes some deep points while managing to still be hilarious.  I highly recommend this... Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:42:44 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Idiocracy-review-0baf1 redstarr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Cricket-review-17a14 I love Cricket cell service.  It's completely hassle free.  I don't have to think about running out of minutes and what times are free or calling circles or what areas are free or what network people are on or anything like that.  I don't have to be locked in to a contract commitment.  I can call anyone, anywhere, any time for one pre-set fee that I pay every month.  If I want out,I'm not stuck with a contract cancellation fee.  There's no worrying about how many times people call or how many texts I receive.  I just pay every month and don't have to think. I don't have to fill out a ton of paper work and go through a bunch of credit checks and take on a commitment and such.  It's more like buying a loaf of bread than buying a house.  I like that.  I like being able to just have the service be plain and simple. No negotiations. No red tape.  No fine print. ... Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:45:47 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Cricket-review-17a14 redstarr 5