Shannon presents the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray at the Silicon Valley Auto Show on Saturday, January 12, 2020, at the San Jose Convention Center. Winner of the 2020 MotorTrend Car of The Year award.
Christmas In The Park 2019
Christmas In The Park is an annual tradition in Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA). This event has Christmas displays and trees decorated by students from local schools in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Black Friday 2019 @ Fry’s Electronics
Three months ago my friend and I went to Fry’s Electronics after reading a news article that the Palo Alto store was closing. We visited the Campbell store to find an empty parking lot, barren shelves, few customers and less helpful salesclerks. On Black Friday 2019, we went back to the Campbell store to find cars in the parking lot, less barren shelves, more customers and still less helpful salesclerks. However, all the new inventory is just crap that people don’t need or can buy at Best Buy for less. This is a bad start to the holiday season. Will Fry’s Electronics remain open in 2020?
Will Santa Claus Save Fry’s Electronics on Black Friday?
We are one week away from Black Friday. Is Fry’s Electronics ready for the big holiday season? Are the shelves stocked with new inventory? Are the Black Friday ads announcing great deals? Are the parking lots full of cars? Oh, hell no. In fact, those are the wrong questions. Based on recent reports this week, a better question would be: Will Santa Claus save Fry’s Electronics on Black Friday?
Read more “Will Santa Claus Save Fry’s Electronics on Black Friday?”Eating A McMuffin While Waiting For BART Is Illegal
Police went to the Pleasant Hill BART station, located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, two weeks ago. The initial report was an intoxicated woman causing a disturbance. The responding officer couldn’t find her. But he quickly latched on to a man causing a much more serious disturbance: eating a McMuffin while waiting on the platform. Not surprisingly, the officer was white, the man was black, and the man’s girlfriend recorded video on her cellphone. Was this another example of racial profiling in America or a misunderstanding that became a viral video?
Read more “Eating A McMuffin While Waiting For BART Is Illegal”Watching Avengers Endgame At Pruneyard Cinemas
I wasn’t planning to see Avengers Endgame during opening weekend since tickets were sold out two weeks in advance at many movie theaters in Silicon Valley. While AMC Theaters added more showings around the clock, I wasn’t going to see a sold out showing on Saturday at 4:30AM. A group of friends were seeing the movie at Pruneyard Cinemas in Campbell on Sunday at 6:00PM. One of them dropped out at the last minute and they asked me to join them. This was my first visit to Pruneyard Cinemas, a dine-in movie theater and restaurant that opened over a year ago.
Pruneyard Cinemas occupies the former locations for Pizza My Heart, Camera 7 movie theater, and a bar-and-grill restaurant. When entering the theater lobby, the kitchen doors and ticket kiosks are to the left, and the entrance to the restaurant is to the right. What was Pizza My Heart became the kitchen for the new establishment, and the old box office for Camera 7 became a storage room for the kitchen. The new restaurant is the Cedar Room with a bar along one wall and tables on the other side.
The layout of the theaters was no different than it was under Camera 7 for 15 years and United Artists for 43 years: Theaters 1 and 2 to the right, women and disabled restrooms straight ahead, Theaters 3 through 7 around the corner, men restroom up the stairs, and concession stand to the left. One notable change was the removal of the drop ceiling to reveal the wooden beams of the gable roof and open up the space overhead.
While food and drinks are available at the concession stand and bar, most people wait until they sat down inside the theater to order. The 6:00PM showing of Avengers Endgame was in Theater 2, the second of the two largest theaters. We were let into the theater 20 minutes before the movie started. Being a traditional movie theater, it was long and narrow. Each row had powered recliners with an attached table and cup holder that can swing inward. Unlike the powered recliners in a Dolby theater, these powered recliners can go all the way horizontal, if you like watching a movie between your feet or the first half of Avengers Endgame puts you asleep.
Waiters dressed in all black went down each row to take orders. I can’t say anything about the food since I don’t eat out at the movies and I’m not much of a foodie, but I did order a glass of Coke and a glass of water. My friends did order food and each one got a big plate, which smelled very good from where I was sitting, and they all reassured me that it was great. Most of the food arrived before the house lights dimmed for the trailers. If you’re into watching the trailers before the movie, you might find it distracting with waiters and busboys delivering food until the movie started.
Because this is a traditional movie theater, the screen was darker than the bright Dolby and IMAX screens. Our reserved seating was in the back center, which, in my opinion, was too far away from the screen for me to enjoy the movie. I felt like I was watching Avengers Endgame from the backseat of a car at a drive-in rather than at a dine-in. Food and ticket prices for the Pruneyard Cinemas is in line with other theaters in Silicon Valley, making it an reasonable alternative if you want to eat something better than plain old concession stand food.
Silicon Valley Auto Show 2019
The Silicon Valley Auto Show returns to the San Jose Convention Center in March for this year only and will return in January 2020. Most of the cars on display are brand new 2019 models that are available from dealerships around the San Francisco Bay Area. This 6.5-minute walk-through montage edited from one hour of video.