colleges

Fiske Guide to Colleges 2010, 26E
$22.99
Fiske gives an overview of hundreds of colleges using the same format for each school. The scores, quality of life, seriousness of each school ratings are very helpful. The only confusing part is comparing what a particular school's primary majors are with the listing of what schools have great programs in each major--somewhat contradictory.

U.S. News Ultimate College Guide 2010, 7E (Us News Ultimate College Guide)
$29.99
This is definitively the best college guide on the market. Ranks the school by academics, by financial expense, by retention ratio, by major, by state.... it's all in there. Should you buy just one college guide , that would be the one !

College Snuggie- University of Florida - Gators
$19.99
I purchased this item for a Christmas present for my son-in-law. I'm able to buy local universities Snuggies at stores in my area but could not find one for the Gators! It arrived quickly and is brand new in the box. I didn't open it since it is a gift but am totally satisfied with the entire transaction. I hope he enjoys and uses the Snuggie since he just moved to our PA cold weather and snow from sunny FL! Thanks for offering this product!

College Road Trip
$19.99
Saying that I wanted this to be good is kind of stupid because, well, just look at it, but really, I expected it to at least be `three star' worthy. I mean, it has Raven-Symone in it, and she is quite hilarious, even if her shtick is pure corn. Besides, it also has Martin Lawrence, and while I never found him as engaging as everyone else, he has a knack for making me laugh. So, it should be cutesy and forgettable, but above all else cute; right?

Eh, not really.

Melanie wants to go to Georgetown to study law and hopefully go to Tokyo, but her overprotective father James doesn't even want her to go to the supermarket, let alone another country. When his plans to send her to Northwestern (a college only forty miles away from home) get squashed by a surprise Georgetown interview, James decides to accompany his daughter on her drive to the college, hoping to persuade her along the way to ditch her dreams and pursue his. Instead, they fight and makeup then fight and makeup. Add to obvious, a slew of scenes involving more obviousness and you have (obviously) a clich���d family film; but, where a lot of films layer predictability with chemistry, charm and humor, `College Road Trip' fails.

Raven is funny at times, but her approach to comedy, while delightful in half-hour doses, gets tiring after a while; and Lawrence, who seems to be trying to emulate De Niro's `well meaning jerk' from `Meet the Parents', is just awkward. They don't really come together like they should (and Lawrence is NO De Niro).

The gags grow old really fast (the first time we saw the pig my wife said to me "this is going to get old quick" and she was right) and the `father/daughter bonding' element just feels like a regurgitated plot point with not fresh individuality. In fact, a lot of the film comes across like a poor-mans version of highlights from OTHER films. I actually thought that Donny Osmand was funny for a hot second and then, well, he wasn't anymore. The whole thing just seemed really lazy and uninspired. I have seen a lot of these teeny-bop brand family films, and some of them are quite entertaining and endearing and memorable. `College Road Trip' is not one of those films.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the ridiculousness that was that slow motion `it's so sad to finally be going to college and have my daddy there happy for me' scene that comes at the end...roll my eyes retarded (it was like 5 minutes long!)

I'm not sure why so many seem to love this movie, but maybe the reviewers are really young (that's not meant as an insult, just an observation). I can see that, since the humor here seems to be targeted at the 5-10 crowd, which baffles me since it was one of those movies that seemed to be thrust in the `tween' department. I can't think of a single person over the age of 9 that is going to find this movie remotely funny.