tony

A Swingin' Christmas
$11.96
The Count Basie Orchestra and the ensemble musical arrangements on this album are spot on. You can hear the energy in the big band instrumentals and the intimacy of the jazz ensemble. If only this album were an instrumental.

Unfortunately, the vocals by Tony Bennett are almost painful to listen to. The clipping of notes, the speaking of phrases, and "improv" are all too apparent as he struggles to deliver the vocals with any grace and authority. Twenty years ago, this would have been a fantastic holiday album. Today it's an extreme disappointment.

The better alternatives would be to buy Christmas albums from Frank, Sammy, Dean, Ella, and Tony in their prime.

Tony Hawk: Ride Skateboard Bundle
$119.99
Spent an hour last night trying to get the board to calibrate. Moved furniture to make sure it had a clear 4ft space around the board. It still would not calibrate. Got mad a Tony Hawk's voice telling me this would be the "easiest thing I'd do all day". Called Activision's help line, it is only open M-F 8-5pm. Tried again this morning - moved the Wii and the sensor and could not get it to work for anything. Maybe I got a bad game or a bad board - but at this point I don't want it.

Tony Hawk: Ride Skateboard Bundle
$119.99
My wife and I saw this in the store and thought it sounded like fun. Took it home, and the first board wouldn't calibrate. After an exchange, the second board got through the calibration, and started training.

The idea is great. Even the plans for the controls seem decent. Unfortunately, the board fails completely. It either registers moves you didn't try to do, or fails to register the moves that you did. While you can pull off some cool tricks, usually they're by chance and not at all what you intended. Even getting through the tutorial is difficult, if not impossible, as on my board, at least, the "flick tricks" don't register. Doing google searches shows that I'm not the only one having this problem.

We ended up skipping the flick trick part of the tutorial, and playing through. Things got better at that point, and we had some fun doing the initial challenges, races, and trick competitions. However, as the challenges get tougher, the failure of the board to register what you're doing becomes increasingly frustrating.

In all, it provided a couple hours of enjoyment, but definitely not worth the $120 pricetag.

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, 8-Ounce Shakers (Pack of 12)
$28.08
This is the best spice. Great on everything. Not as easily available in the northeast. I use it as a secret in many dishes. MMM