Movie Pre-Review: Pin (1988)

-My post also on AC

A Life Sized Doll is Brought to Life? Or is Pin Just a Creation of an Over Active Imagination?

I simply adore Netflix streaming live videos. I recently added an old horror movie titled Pin. Now normally a movie with such a ridiculous title would be a movie I'd not bother to see, however after reading the quick synopsis of the film, I realized Pin was about a ventriloquist dummy. I had to see it, nothing makes me giggle more than old 80's horror films featuring dolls, dummy's, or in Pins case, an anatomically correct human scale model of a doctors see through mannequin.

Thats exactly what Pin is see. Yep, he has a name and everything. Pin is a doctors anatomically correct mannequin. His skin is see through, so he can be used for teachings about muscles tissues, etc, etc. All in all the prop is pretty creepy looking, and even more so creepy because the doctor who owns Pin actually gives Pin a voice by using his ventriloquist skills.

The doctor's son however centers his whole world around Pin, so much so that in his adult years Pin decides to start talking to him. Naturally the guy is just moving his mouth and giving Pin a voice, just the way his father had.

When the doctor dies, Pin is brought into the home, where big brother develops an over the top creepy obsession with Pin, so much so that he clothes him, paints him so he is no longer see through, and he even sits him at the dinner table.

Basically it's a screwball psychotic young man with schizophrenia who thinks Pin is real. Little sis though knows better, but she accepts her brother for who he is, and refuses to lock him up in an institution.

All is well in the household till little sis decides that its time to start dating. Pin does not like her boyfriend though, uh-oh!!!

Without ruining what happens in Pin, I will say that I did actually enjoy the movie. Although the plot is a bit off, its still one that you can follow, and one that is actually not as bad as it may sound. If you can sit through a Chucky flick and enjoy it, than you will find enjoyment in Pin.

Overall Recommendation:

Pin gets 2 thumbs up from me. I enjoyed it, and probably would watch it again one day. It is not meant for children as there are some scenes involving sex. However no nudity is shown, its basically the sexual idea behind some of the scenes.

At any rate, 80's horror fans, enjoy the find. Its a good flick I have never known about until now, and I must say it's a decent flick.

You can watch a trailer of the movie here:


The video is available to Netflix members as well who make use of their streaming videos.

Review of Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill Smoker

Double-Grill Charcoal
-Post also on AC

Recently a relative of mine was ranting and raving about how wonderful his smoker was. How it slow smoked a ham to a delightful flavor unlike anything he had ever had before.

I was intrigued, even more so when he told me he got a smoker on sale at Walmart for only $20.00. After taking a look at this legendary smoker of his, and liking the appearance of it, and the rave review about it, I had to have one.

Unfortunately when we went to buy our smoker, the lowest price we could find on a smoker was the Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill, which was priced at close to $40.00. We wanted it though; we had plans to smoke a small 8 pound turkey to test it out before Thanksgiving. This should not be an issue though because the Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill is said to hold up to 50 pounds of food!

The Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill unfortunately did not come with the legs in the box. We had to drive back to Walmart to return it for another one. The second Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill came dented, so we had to find yet another one. At this point my heart was feeling pretty heavy. I had a hunch that the smoker was going to suck, considering how many times we had to exchange it.

After finally obtaining a full Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill, with all of the parts it took my boyfriend about 45 minutes to fully set the smoker up.

Inside it had 2 racks for placing food on, a charcoal bowl, and a water bowl. There is also a small hatch door that you can open to add water, and charcoal or wood chips as you are smoking your food.

We added different spices to our water to give it some flavoring, and we added some hickory flavored pre-soaked wood chips, and charcoal to the Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill.

The first annoyance was the non-stop adding of charcoal. We luckily thought ahead and bought an 18 pound bag of charcoal. The instructions said we would only need 9 pounds of charcoal, but that was not the case. We consistently had to add coals to the smoker in order to keep the fire going.

Later on we discovered that we could have used oak wood for longer burning, and a higher heat setting.

As it was though it took forever for the turkey to fully smoke. We placed the 8 pound turkey in at around 5pm, and it was not fully done till 11:30pm. All in all about 7 hours of smoking.

The corn which we smoked came out relatively good, but honestly it was nothing worth raving about. The same goes for the turkey. It was good, but lost its entire turkey flavoring, and had an overpowering hickory smoked flavoring to it. The meat however was fantastic and very tender.

All in all the Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill works, it just takes a really, really long time to do the job. I would definitely recommend it though because it was cheaper than the rest, and worked as described. If you do decide to buy it, I recommend you buy a lot of charcoal, because a small 9 pound bag will not cut it especially if you are smoking something more than 4 pounds in weight.

Review of The Fragrance Collection, Pine & Cedar Soy Based Candle, by Glade

Glade is impressing me more and more with each passing day. Glade used to be a well known name brand company that sold home fragrances in the form of wall plugs, gel plugs, gel sticks, and so on. However as well known as they were, they sort of took a seat on the back burner ever since Febreze moved in to town.

Glade realized quickly they needed to upgrade the look of their packages, and upgrade their collection of products, and by golly they have done it, and Febreze is taking the seat on the back burner now, because Glade is making a huge come back due to their extensive collection of new products, and fabulous scent choices.

One of their newest collections is the Fragrance Collection of soy based candles. I fell in love with their soy based candles a few months ago when I was sent one for free for a product test evaluation.

I liked the product test so much that whenever I see Glade's soy based candles, I try to pick one up.

My most recent find was a delicious holiday scent called Pine & Cedar.

In the store I opened the tin lid, and took in the delicious uplifting fragrance that this candle had to offer. To say it was good is an understatement, because this candle was fantastic.

It smelled like a pine forest, with a beautiful icy uplifting undertone of cedar. It reminded me so much of the winter holiday that I couldn't leave the store without buying it.

I was confident that the scent I was inhaling in the store would be the same fresh pine scent the candle would disperse when lit. None of Glade's soy candle have disappointed me, so I expected the same from Pine & Cedar.

At Home:

I didn't waste any time, as soon as I got home, I lit the candle and waited for it to do its magic. It did not take long at all for the scent to begin to trickle all throughout my room. The fresh pine scent was powerful, and the light undertone of cedar was also noted. Combined the room was flooded with the sweet, sweet fragrance of a winter wonderland, and I love it.

Overall Feelings and Recommendation:

Glade's Fragrance Collection, Soy Based Candle: Pine & Cedar is a true winter winner. If you love wintry smells, and especially have a love for fresh pine scents than this candle will not disappoint. For only $8.99, its a buy you won't regret.

Review of Glades Fresh Pine & Cedar Reed Diffuser

My review also on AC. I own all rights

I fell in love with Glade's newest Fragrance Collection, especially their Fresh Pine & Cedar Soy Candle. The candle smelled like a Christmas tree, and it was addicting, powerful, and set a nice winter mood in the home. When I came across their Fragrance Collection Reed Diffuser in the Pine & Cedar scent, I did not even hesitate. I scooped it up, and just assumed that it would work wonders, just like the soy candle had.

Glades Fresh Pine & Cedar Reed Diffuser came to $8.99 at my local Target and was a pretty small diffuser compared to my most recent Yankee Candle diffusers. I was willing to overlook its smaller size though, because I thought it would work just as powerful as the sister soy candle.

I was dead wrong, what a complete and utter disappointment this diffuser was.

Packaging:

The diffuser comes in a standard green package, which is actually pretty bland compared to other Glade products. The Fragrance Collection by Glade though has a blander overall look than other Glade products, which is not a big deal, its meant to give it that bland all natural look. I guess natural is bland because most all natural products come in these bland packages. Yawn!

Anyhow, with that aside, the diffuser came with the essentials that any diffuser would. You have a bottle of fragrance diffuser oil, reeds to stick into the bottle, and a cute wooden topper to give the diffuser a nice look for the home. The wood top is unnecessary, but its there to make things look good.

My Use:

When I got home I was excited to set the Pine & Cedar diffuser up in the living room. Prior to this diffuser I had a Yankee Diffuser in there that kept the room smelling like fresh cut Christmas trees, up until the stupid cat knocked the entire thing over.

I figured that the Glade Pine & Cedar Diffuser would make up for the loss, with its fresh realistic Christmas tree fragrance.

When I opened the bottle, I had confidence that the diffuser would work well. It had a powerful pine scent that I loved. I stuck in the rods, and let it do its work.

A few hours after re-entering the room, I noticed that there was...uhm...nothing! Not a single note of pine, nothing at all. I walked up to the diffuser and inhaled. I could smell the pine scent up close and personal, but backing up just a little, and the scent was not detectable at all.

I decided to flip the rods upside down, and let the wetter side hang out of the bottle. I figured the reeds were just taking too long to saturate. Perhaps in the morning the room would smell like Christmas trees.

Unfortunately the next day things were exactly the same. The pine scent not detectable, and the rods were saturated by then, and still nothing.

Overall:

It has now been 6 days since I placed the Glade Pine & Cedar Reed Diffuser into the room, and it has been 6 days since that the room smells exactly the same. Like nothing.

All in all, I find the diffuser to be a waste of $9.00. Save your money, and buy a Yankee Diffuser. Yankee Diffusers have been the only diffusers I have used so far that actually work, and work well. From now on I will just stick with what works.

Get these instead: