The Misadventures of Merlin Jones was one of my favorites as a kid. It has mind-reading, hypnotism, and a chimpanzee. What else could one want? It's one of those zany selections offered by Disney in the 1960s, starring Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello (both were big favorites for Disney movies in those days).

The movie is basically two different stories. In the first story, or misadventure, Merlin Jones is exploring why there has been a rise in local traffic violations. Sadly, he doesn't realize that he is the cause, because he conducts experiments while driving. When he is wearing his experimental helmet and gets zapped with electricity, he somehow receives the power to read thoughts. Eavesdropping on the local judge at a restaurant, he believes the judge is plotting a murder, when he's actually writing a murder mystery novel.

In the second story, Merlin is studying the power of hypnosis in college, and gets carried away. When he ends up in front of the judge because he's causing more trouble, the judge is interested in his studies and agrees to be hypnotized. Unfortunately, the judge doesn't remember his actions while under hypnosis and blames everything on Merlin the next day.

I know it all sounds corny, and it is. Watching it as an adult, I realized that the movie is very basic and its plot basically revolves on funny stunts. But it's entertaining, creative, and Tommy Kirk is an enjoyable lead character, even though sometimes Merlin just needs to be slapped into reality. Norman Grabowski also provides a great foe for Merlin, as the goofy jock who is somehow in charge of the lab chimpanzee, and does everything he can to get Merlin in more trouble. While not as entertaining as it was in childhood, the movie stood the test of time for me, and I'll look forward to showing it to my own kids one day.

BBC NEWS | Business | EBay to ban negative seller views

Critics of the changes argue that by taking away a seller's right to complain about a problem buyer they will have very little recourse for action when a sale goes wrong.

And they complain that by still allowing buyers to leave dissenting comments about sellers, eBay has skewed the whole trading process.

Between this and the recently announced fee changes I would have to say I am done selling merchandise on eBay. Let me get this straight guys; someone buying your stuff can complain about you but if they rip you off you can't complain about them and let the eBay community know about it? That's ridiculous. Yes, you can still complain to the eBay folks but that isn't nearly enough. There are no immediate repercussions for bad buyers. When I was selling something I could at least get a good idea of who I was dealing with by reading the buyer's feedback comments. I could also set my auction so that it wouldn't allow buyers with a certain amount of negative feedback to bid on the item. While eBay might see this as protecting the buyers, they're leaving their sellers out in the cold.

AMC Theatres - Best Picture Showcase

Select AMC theaters are having a Best Picture Showcase on Saturday, February 23rd. For thirty bucks you get to see Michael Clayton, Atonment, Juno, There Will Be Blood, and No Country for Old Men with an endless supply of popcorn to boot. I'm halfway tempted to do this since I haven't even seen Michael Clayton and Atonement. It looks like the total running time of the films will be 12 hours and 25 minutes. Having once sat in a theater for 26 hours, I can say that this would be child's play. Who's with me?

Metroblogging Seattle: Blarch Badness: Round 1, Day 2

Our friend Jake over at 8bitJoystick
is in the running for a blog award from Seattle Metroblogs. If you have a couple seconds to spare, head over and cast your vote. Also, in case you are living under a rock, it's Super Tuesday, so get out and vote if you haven't yet.

Hi there,

Well, it's been a long and non-relaxing weekend, although we did get some rest here and there. Friday night Ric picked up the keys and spent the evening measuring the new place to figure out which room will be our office and which will be our bedroom. Seems like the downstairs room is the only one configured well enough to suit our bedroom set, so there you have it. I was busy going to the opera that night with my sister. The university performed The Merry Wives of Windsor. It was a very good production, although I was tired, and three hours can wear on a person after a while.

Saturday we got up and went to the new place to make a shopping list. We went to Lowe's and bought tens of outlet and switch plate covers, toilet seat covers, locks for outside storage, towel holders, air filters, and contact paper. We rented a carpet cleaner too, and headed back to the condo. Both our families came to check out the new place. My mom and sister stayed and we all worked on cleaning and lining drawers with contact paper. We all went out to eat at Red Robin, then spent more time working until we were all tired.

I was so tired on Saturday night. We were supposed to go to early service at church the next day to see Liz and Emily, but we decided to sleep instead and go to the later service. After lunch, we headed back to the condo to check out paint swatches in the daylight and choose colors. We went back to Lowe's and filled a whole cart with paint cans and painting supplies. But, since we didn't have water service yet, we couldn't start the fun. I spent the afternoon working on more contact paper application while Ric caught up on laundry at his folks' place. I joined them all for a bit of rest and dinner, and then Ric and I went back and ripped out all of the terrible wall-paper-covered wood paneling in the living room.

A pretty productive weekend, if I do say so myself. Up this week: more of the same!