Rio - A Fun Family Movie

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Update 4/11/14: Rio 2 has been released today. To prepare for the film, Amazon has great prices on Rio. Rio (Blu-ray/ DVD Combo + Digital Copy) and Rio (DVD) is $8.

After hearing about Angry Birds for a few months, back in January I finally installed Angry Birds on my  Android phone. My daughter discovered my playing it and fell in love. So I bought it for her iPod Touch. Well, she quickly became an Angry Birds addict, sometimes she would wake me up in the morning talking about her Angry Birds dream or asking to play.

Needless to say, we were very excited when we heard about the Angry Birds movie. The anticipation built when the Angry Birds Rio game was introduced. She kept asking me when it was coming out and if it would be before she was getting her tonsils out. Fortunately the movie came out the weekend before she got her tonsils out, so we got to see it on opening Saturday.

We made a great movie time choice, 2:20p, since our theater had some special events in conjunction with the Rio release. They had tropical birds from a bird sanctuary there when we arrived. For a donation, you would receive a tail feather from one of the birds. I am hoping that they had fallen out and were not plucked. They were also doing face painting and had coloring sheets available. We had not known of these special events so we did not arrive early enough to participate. After our movie, the birds were gone, but they were still face painting, so my daughter was thrilled to get the Rio logo painted on her cheek.

We really enjoyed the movie. We saw the 3D version which was nice, but I don't think it was necessary. The main character in the movie is Blu, a rare blue macaw who has been living in Minnesota as pet of Linda after being captured as a baby in the rain forest. We learn that there is only one other blue macaw, Jewel, and that Linda must accompany Blu to Rio de Janeiro so that Blu and Jewel can be bred. There is an immediate conflict between domesticated Blu who cannot fly and Jewel who has lived in the wild and wishes to return to the wild. The story follows Blu and Jewel as they are repeatedly captured and escape. There is also a side story with Linda and Tulio from the bird sanctuary.

I was really impressed with the vocal performances, especially Jesse Eisenberg as Blu. There were frequent laughs in the movie. It was able to hold the attention of all three of us. I was a little concerned when they talked about breeding Blu and Jewel whether it would be appropriate for a 5 year old, but I did not find it inappropriate.

My daughter said that she liked this movie a lot better than Hop which she had seen the previous weekend with my parents.

We will definitely be purchasing this movie when it comes out on DVD. We may even go see it again as my husband and father were unable to join us.

Time for the Smart Phone Leap - An Open Letter to AT&T & Verizon

I have decided I am ready to take the smart phone plunge. I have been holding out for a Verizon iPhone, however with my current phone acting up, I don't think I can wait much longer.

I have had a cell phone since 1995. At that time, I was living in Delaware, attending college, and purchased a Bell Atlantic Wireless Phone. I remember paying a whopping $19.99 for a plan that included free nights and weekends and something like 100 anytime minutes. Of course, that was before the days of national plans and I selected Bell Atlantic because they had the largest region encompassing Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. My then-fiance (now husband) also purchased the same plan at the same time. We have been with them as they morphed to Bell Atlantic NYNEX, and then to Verizon as I moved to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and now Michigan. After 15 years, I have been relatively happy with the reception and customer service I have received. My parents, sister, and brother as well as several friends across several states are also Verizon customers so free Verizon mobile to mobile minutes compromise about one third of our usage. Subtracting out phone calls between my husband and I (because we would both switch), this is about 250 additional minutes a month. Staying with Verizon is a no-brainer EXCEPT they don't have the iPhone.

We have become an Apple household. My husband is on his second MacBook Pro for work, and last year we bought a MacBook Pro for home use. My husband purchased a first generation iPod Touch and was so happy with it that he bought me a second generation for Christmas 2008. Last year, we received a free iPod Touch with the purchase of our laptop, so my husband upgraded to the second generation and my 4.5 year old inherited the first generation. We all love our iPod Touches and use them for games, movies, music, mail, calendar, and more.  For this reason, an iPhone is a no-brainer EXCEPT they aren't on Verizon.

So, I need someone to sell me on a Verizon smart phone that will replace ALL the functions of my iPod Touch without requiring a major time or money reinvestment to transfer my music (from CDs) and movies purchased in iTunes. I get a lot of recommendations for a Droid phone, however everyone I have talked to who previously had an iPod Touch still uses that for movies and music. My goal is to have a single device.

Alternatively, I need to find a way to inexpensively acquire additional minutes for AT&T either on my wireless or by upgrading my home phone. I have a barebones, 100 local calls per month plan with no long distance through AT&T. I also have DSL through AT&T, so additional bundle savings may make this a reasonable alternative.

So AT&T make me your best offer for 700 Family Share minutes & the 2GB iPhone data plan with local phone and High Speed Elite Internet service. And I hope the 3G service is more reliable than my DSL. I am already incurring extra costs for the data service, and don't want to increase my basic phone

Or Verizon, recommend your best smart phone that will replace my cell phone and iPod Touch.

Do you have a smart phone, which one? Who is your carrier?