Website of the Week: Shaving Grace Barbers

This week's website is a little different because it's not really about the website. It's about the service that this company offers. Shaving Grace Barbers are pretty much what they sound like - barbers. However, they are also a sort of men's spa. Besides offering the very rare straight-razor shave, they also offer massages, hair waxing (both eyebrow and chest/back), manicures and pedicures. Everything is geared toward men, even the decor. There are dart boards, televisions with various sports playing, a pool table and they even sell cigars. I bought a shave and a haircut package for my husband for Christmas a few years ago and he loved it. There are two locations in Exton, PA - one in the Main Street shopping center by the Exton Mall and one in the Eagleview Towne Center. If you are a man, give it a try. If you are a women, this would make a perfect gift for the man in your life.

Music review: Donald & Daisy Duck - Bicycle Built For Two

donalddaisy.gif Artist: Donald Duck and Daisy Duck Album: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse soundtrack Release date: 10/3/06

Lyrics: (Spoken parts are bold) Donald: Hiya, Daisy! Daisy: Hello there, Donald. Donald: Would you like to go for a bicycle ride? Daisy: A bicycle ride? Why sure. Donald: Daisy, Daisy Give me your answer do (Daisy: What is it?) I'm half crazy All for the love of you (Daisy: Oh, Donald) It won't be a stylish marriage (Daisy: It won't?) I can't afford a carriage (Daisy: But you promised) But you'll look sweet Upon the seat Of a bicycle built for two Daisy: Well, a bicycle built for two is better than a bicycle built for one anyway Donald: You said it! Daisy: Now I have a question for you Donald Donald: OK Daisy: Donald, Donald Give me your answer do (Donald: OK) I'm half crazy All for the love of you (Donald: Awww) It won't be a stylish marriage (Donald: What?!) You can't afford a carriage (Donald quacks incoherently) But you'll look sweet Upon the seat Of a bicycle for two

Together: Yes you'll look sweet Upon the seat Of a bicycle built for two

Daisy: Oh, Donald

About the song: For those of you without kids, here's the rundown on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy and Pluto all hang out at the technologically advanced Clubhouse. Each episode has the gang solving problems with the help of "Mouseketools" - four different objects that will solve one of four puzzles in the episode. The opening and ending theme songs are sung by They Might Be Giants. The rest of the soundtrack is filled with songs by various Disney characters.

Bicycle Built For Two is a good song for young children since it has simple lyrics. However, that makes it fairly annoying for parents since it just repeats the chorus of the song. That usually means that parents will hear the kids singing it over and over and over. There are a couple of good songs on the soundtrack but this is not one of them.

Game review: Turbo Subs

Turbo Subs is a time management game where Rebecca and Robert from Turbo Pizza decide to open a sandwich shop. This time the shop is in New York City and is located on a train. The game plays much like every other time management restaurant game. You make food and serve it to customers. However, the restaurant is laid out a bit differently. Instead of having straight counters, these ones are in a circle. It makes it a little more difficult to click on the actual customers since now they stand sort of behind each other. Also, it's a little annoying that some of the food takes so long to make. The customers can request a toasted sandwich but then they start getting angry when the sandwich takes longer to make.

Overall, it's not a difficult game. Though it's not particularly interesting either. There isn't anything that sets it apart from any other time management restaurant game. A good game but not a great game.

Movie review: Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds 3D

Yesterday, I took my daughter to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert movie. For those of you that don't follow the Hannah Montana news, this tour is the biggest ticket of the year. Some sites are claiming it is bigger than The Police reunion tour. Tickets are selling out within seconds and scalpers are taking in a cool $500+ from parents who weren't able to buy them from legitimate sources. So Disney decided that they would film a couple of the live concerts and release it for one week in February as a 3D theatrical movie. Tickets for the movie? $15 a piece. Overall, the movie was not bad. None of the songs offend my ears and, actually, some of the songs are really quite good. People just write them off because they come from a Disney channel show.

The movie started off with some backstage scenes. It was basically a "how the tour got started" type of mini-documentary. Then the concert started with Hannah Montana (which would be Miley Cyrus in a blonde wig) singing a couple of songs. There was a lot of dancing and running around. It was obvious she was having fun on stage. In between the songs, there was more of the behind-the-scenes stuff with Miley talking about some of the mistakes on tour (in one song, she's carried by four male dancers...in one show, they dropped her) or working on dance moves. It was nice to see what goes on backstage but I felt it really detracted from the concert. People go to see Hannah/Miley sing, not to see how long it takes her (and her assistants) to do a costume change. It takes away the magical feel of a concert.

After Hannah sang, she brought out the Jonas Brothers to sing "Party With Us" before she left to change into Miley. While she was changing, the Jonas Brothers sang two songs. Unfortunately, they picked the two worst Jonas Brothers songs to put in the movie. It was also a little difficult to understand what they were singing because the instrumentals were turned up too high. Luckily, the boys told us the name of each song before they sang it. I don't know that the audience would have been able to identify it otherwise.

Finally, Miley came out to sing. In my opinion, the Miley songs are much better than the Hannah songs. Even the dancing was livelier. Again, there were problems with the vocals being too low to be understood. You would have thought that the sound guy would have picked up on this by now. More backstage documentary pieces told us why she wrote some songs and how her mother helps her out on tour. The concert ended with Miley and a pre-recorded Hannah singing "Best of Both Worlds" together.

Luckily, my daughter really enjoyed the concert movie. It was her opinion I wanted. The concert isn't really geared for us parents. It's for the kids. However, I still think it would have been better if they left out the documentary parts. The Hannah/Miley fanbase is mostly made up of younger kids - ages 4-10 or so. I'm not sure that they are particularly interested in watching Miley rehearse or see her hiding under the stage before an entrance. I also think it might have been better if they had just filmed one concert instead of filming multiple performances then splicing them together to make it look like it was one performance. If you pay attention, you can see props moving around the stage without being touched or the number of guitar picks in a microphone stand changing mid-song. Again, it's nothing big. It's just one of many little things that takes you out of the concert experience.

So, if you or your kids are a Hannah/Miley fan, you would enjoy the movie. But if you are looking to see the movie in place of going to the concert, it just won't work. Maybe, one day, those of us who aren't willing to shell out a couple hundred dollars for a children's concert will be able to have our kids experience an actual concert.

Game review: Blood Ties

In Blood Ties, you are recruited to help private investigator Vicki Nelson solve some unusual missing persons cases. This is accomplished by finding clues around town. There isn't anything particularly amazing about the game. It's a fairly typical hidden object game. Some of the locations are interesting because they look a bit more life-like than in other hidden object games. I really wish there was more for me to talk about though. I did enjoy playing the game but not any more than I enjoyed playing the Dream Date series or Mystery Case Files.

Website of the Week: TheatreAlliance.org

Most people don't know that I was a Theatre Arts major in college. While I haven't been active in the theatre community in a really long time, I do enjoy watching performances. The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia is a wonderful site for anyone interested in the stage. Besides listing all of the current and upcoming performances in the Philadelphia area, the site also maintains a list of open theatrical jobs. Whether you enjoy performing on-stage, backstage or just watching from the audience, this really is a great resource.

Music review: Blind Melon - No Rain

blindmelon.jpgArtist: Blind Melon Members: Shannon Hoon (vocals), Brad Smith (bass), Rogers Stevens (guitar), Christopher Thorn (guitar), Glen Graham (drums) Album: Blind Melon Release date: 9/22/92 Video link: Via YouTube

Lyrics: All I can say is that my life is pretty plain I like watchin' the puddles gather rain And all I can do is just pour some tea for two and speak my point of view But it's not sane, It's not sane

I just want some one to say to me I'll always be there when you wake Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today So stay with me and I'll have it made

And I don't understand why I sleep all day And I start to complain that there's no rain And all I can do is read a book to stay awake And it rips my life away, but it's a great escape escape......escape......escape......

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain ya don't like my point of view ya think I'm insane Its not sane......it's not sane.

About the song: Most people know this song from the infamous Bee Girl video. There's nothing particularly wonderful about No Rain other than having a catchy tune. I have to admit that Blind Melon is one of those bands that make me wonder what they could have been if they weren't involved with drugs. Would they have been more successful? Supposedly the band didn't start using until they started touring for the Blind Melon album. While it's too late for them now (beyond their current reunion with a new singer, which just isn't the same), I wish I could have known what would have been if things were different.

Game review: Greek Goddesses of Solitaire

Hades has kidnapped all of the Greek Goddesses. In order to save them, you must beat the God of the Underworld in various games of solitaire. I have to say that the game pretty much delivers what you would expect. Each goddess has a different variation of solitaire that you need to beat in order to rescue her from Hades. In between some of the levels, Hades tries to trick you with a card game. He shows you a card, mixes up all the cards and you need to pick the correct card. It's not particularly difficult.

Overall, the game is dull. It's fairly easy to beat Hades in each card game and when you do save the goddesses, you don't receive any sort of reward. This might be a nice change of pace if you play a lot of solitaire games but it's not something you'll be playing very often.