Chez Wisbon

03/20/2013

Today's review: David A. Smith - specifically the design of John Mayer's new album artwork. There's not too much I can say here, other than this video blew me away. It's a great representative of one of the best hand-crafted sign artists out there and it shows all of the steps for making an intricate glass sign and some amazing gold leaf work. Also has some great new music off of John Mayer's new album - I'm sure I'll be reviewing that some time down the road. If you're into art yourself AT ALL or just into seeing amazing things people can create - check this video out. You won't be disappointed. 10/10

David A. Smith is a traditional sign-writer/designer specialising in high-quality ornamental hand-crafted reverse glass signs and decorative silvered and gilded…

03/05/2013

Today's review: "Silver Linings Playbook" I saw this movie last night and was really impressed. I wasn't really sure what to expect - the very first preview I saw dealt a lot with football, and then it looked more like a romantic comedy. It doesn't really deal with football apart from the fact that it takes place in Philly and they're all hard core Eagles fans. But it's not necessarily a romantic comedy. It's an intelligent movie about dealing with hardships and heart breaks, and finding someone that you can work through both with. The characters in the movie are really well developed and the actors do an amazing job bringing them to life on the screen so that you really care about them during the movie. The movie goes back and forth between awkward funny, intense, and feel good scenes and definitely keeps you on your toes right through the end. Check it out, it's a good one. 8.5/10

02/28/2013

Today's review: gofundme.com. First off, let me say that I don't have a problem with kickstarter or pledgemusic. Kickstarter you have to have a legitimate project and there's some great things out there to be a part of. Pledge music is a great way for a struggling band in today's music economy to get some extra cash to put together a tour or an album. But this site is basically the equivalent of walking up to your friends and saying - "Hey, you're my friend, can I have 20 bucks? I want to buy a new car, but don't have any money." I saw people raising money for a study abroad trip, for a vacation to Italy, and to buy a house. I think that takes some gall to be like, "Hey, I want to go to Italy, but don't have money - give me some? You won't get anything back, but maybe you'll feel good about helping a broke college student see some sites and get drunk on a beach in a foreign country." LAME. 2/10

"One of the BEST ways to raise money online" Get your crowdfunding website FREE! Online fundraising for medical expenses, volunteer trips, sports & more!

02/19/2013

Today's review: Post-it Notes. Overall these are nice little conveniences that allow you to be reminded of things or to write little passive aggressive notes to roommates or spouses. The thing I am bothered with is the new post-it notes that have glue on alternating top and bottom (north and south) sides. When writing notes, you have to rotate the pad 180 degrees or half your notes will be upside down. Also when picking up the stack, it will "accordion" out and make a mess, unless you grab the exact bottom piece of the stack. There is nothing to be gained by this alteration, and I am not a fan. I don't think I will be buying the Post-it notes brand again. 3/10

02/15/2013

Today's review: Brandon Sanderson's "The Mistborn Trilogy". A set of three fantasy novels that are...awesome. It's tough to do a review - basically it's about a group of rebels who live in this dystopian society that is ruled over by a god-like Lord Ruler and they decide try and over throw the empire. The thing that sets the world that Sanderson has created is the special powers that the heroes and the villains have. It sounds weird trying to explain it, so I won't. What I will say is that the first book starts fast right away and is full of action and the trilogy doesn't let you go until the epilogue. There's awesome action sequences, political theory, morality, and even theology addressed throughout the trilogy. Read it. It's really, really good. 9.9/10

02/14/2013

Today's Review: Thai fresh, Austin. Great place! It's a thai restaurant, a coffee bar, a cooking school, and a music venue. We went there for dinner on a Sunday night and it wasn't too crowded, but there were definitely people there. I ordered the pad thai with pork and my friends ordered curry - green and yellow. All the food was delicious! They had a large selection of wines and 6 different beers on tap - all local Austin microbrews. We sat down and there was a 4 piece instrumental band playing - drums, bass, electric guitar, and steel guitar - really good stuff. It's located off the beaten path in this really cool neighborhood in South Austin. If you live in Austin, definitely check it out - and if you're visiting there, it's definitely worth convincing your friends to go there. 9/10

We are a family owned restaurant, cooking school, and Thai market all in one. Thai Fresh is committed to bringing you authentic Thai meals that are made with fresh local ingredients. All of our meats are raised within Texas and free of antibiotics and hormones. We use Buddy’s natural chicken and Dew...

02/07/2013

Game night at Chez Wisbon tonight! And sticking with that theme today's review will be on the board game "Pandemic". It's a great cooperative board game for 2-4 people. It's cooperative in the sense that you all either win and save the world from horrible disease outbreaks - or you all lose and the whole world dies. There's different degrees on difficulty based on if you're a new player or not, and it's actually fairly hard to win at the top difficulty level. Another good thing is that it doesn't take too long to play (about 45 minutes) and less if you lose - so you can have time to play again and hopefully find a cure for all of these viruses! If you're into fun games and you've got a group you can play with - check it out - you'll dig it! 8.5/10

02/06/2013

Today's review: Assassins Creed 3.
I don't have a lot of time to just sit around and play video games. The free time I do have I would rather spend hanging out with friends, playing cards or board games, or going out doing trivia or checking out live music. A video game has to be pretty incredible to get me to sit down and play for awhile. Assassin's Creed 3 is such a game. The graphics and sound are AMAZING. The control of the character is fluid and easy to get the hang of. The story line is epic and detailed, and the world is huge and incredibly detailed. From listening in on conversations in pubs to hunting man-eating bears in the frontier, you think they couldn't add anything more to this game. But then you get a ship and start doing missions on the high seas!!!! That could be an entire game in itself - so much fun! Anyway, not being a hardcore gamer it pretty much blows my mind when I see what gaming companies are coming up with. If you enjoy video games, and haven't played this one yet, I highly suggest it. 9.5/10

02/05/2013

Today's review: Red Guitar Old Vine Tempranillo Garnacha. First off, let me say that I enjoy more of a full bodied dry red wine, rather than a sweet red. Also, I really liked the label, and it was decently priced (around $9) so I bought it. Not a big fan. A really sweet wine with a lot of immediate fruit flavor. The flavor also doesn't stick around on the palate for very long - which I guess might be a good thing since the flavor isn't all that great. Anyway, I guess the gist of this review is that I got fooled by a label, and now I'm passing that on to you. 4/10

01/31/2013

Game night tonight at Chez! We're going to start tonight at 8:00, since your host has to put in an appearance at Pateros Creek Trivia (practice for Geek Bowl!!!) but it'll start to get raucous after 8:00 so make sure you're prepared for some fun! Bring some beer or wine or something!

01/31/2013

Today's review: Fox's show The Mob Doctor. I wonder what TV producer thinks they're smarter - the one who sees something working and decides to do EXACTLY the same thing, but wait, in a different city!!! (eg CSI...) OR the one who sees two successful shows and thinks that if we mesh them together we'll have a doubly successful show! This last scenario is where "Mob Doctor" comes in. Someone was like "wow, all these doctor shows are really putting up some numbers, and everybody liked the Sopranos, so... how about we do a show with a doctor and the mob! And call it... "Mob Doctor, M.D." - no wait, drop the M.D., people might not think we're serious." Think it sounds kind of stupid? Well, yeah - it's not a good show. I give it a 3/10.

01/29/2013

Today's review: Internet Explorer ad campaign. Brilliant. Last summer I remember them having ads on TV full of crazy fast moving things, explosions, cars, graphics - and I thought - "wow, that's a lot of stuff" but it didn't make me even think about heading back to Internet Explorer (background - I use Chrome. I own stock in Google. I am biased.) But this ad - coming from a child of the 90's (at least my 9 - 19 years) - is perfect. It first admits that Internet Explorer has been left by the wayside the past ten years - which is hard for a company to admit - and reconnects us by using all the other things we used to think were cool and have moved away from. The ad campaign is so good in fact that I visited the new Internet Explorer website (browseryoulovedtohate.com) and actually did some more research! That's impressive. I may even download it for my ipad. So props to you, Ad-men of Microsoft. You've hit a homerun over the Green Monster when the rest of the world is playing Tee-ball for overweight six year olds. I give it a 10/10

You grew up. So did we. Reconnect with the new Internet Explorer. Visit http://www.browseryoulovedtohate.com for more.