Killing Time in an Airport

This morning I find myself waiting for my son and his family's flight to arrive from Columbus, Ohio. I am here with my wife so at least I am not alone, which makes waiting a little easier. We have a lot of fog today and so flights are delayed coming in. So how can you pass the time at an airport waiting? That is a question I am sure a lot of people will be asking as they travel this Holiday season.

The airport in Salt Lake does not have a lot to keep you entertained outside of security. Once through security there are a lot of different shops and restaurants, including a Lego store which has a lot of different activities to keep one entertained. The only problem is that all of those little pieces are very easy to lose if you are not careful. So I'll pass on that activity for now. The real question is how to get through security if you are not flying. The easy solution is to purchase a fully refundable plane ticket for later in the day. Once you get through security, just cancel it and your money will be back on your credit card before you leave the airport. It is a trick I have used more than once.

Another thing to keep yourself entertained is to catch up on your e-mail. That is what my wife is doing right now. You do have to be careful with the free airport WiFi as it can be very easy for a hacker to steal your e-mail password. You may be better off using your phone as a hotspot and using it instead. Then there is my favorite, using a virtual private network or VPN that hides your network connection. I have a VPN for work and use it whenever I connect to the free airport WiFi. My e-mail only took me a few minutes this morning and so what should I do for the next hour?

I could watch a movie but it is too early in the day to start watching a movie. Perhaps if it is closer to the evening I would appreciate that more. I know my grandkids don't care what time of the day it is, they are always down for watching a movie. I'm sure that is what they are doing on the plane right now.

Last year for Christmas my wife got me a kindle electronic reader. I recently loaded up a new book on it and will probably pull that out shortly. Until then I've written in my blog, something else that helps pass the time. I could also annoy my wife. Maybe I should go get myself a breakfast burrito instead.

Movie Review: Gran Turismo

Last night I went and saw an early showing of the new movie from Sony Pictures called Gran Turismo. Now before diving into the review it is only fair that I mention that I spent 11 years at Sony PlayStation which created the video game of the same name and forms the basis for the story of the movie. I currently work for Sony and work directly with Sony Pictures and Sony PlayStation. In other words, I am not an impartial reviewer. That being said, I did not enjoy the Uncharted movie and think most movies derived from video games don't meet expectations. Given that preface, here is my review.

Working for Sony has given me a lot of behind-the-scenes look at Gran Turismo. There have been several virtual meetings where the creators of the movie have shared the journey from the concept of the film through the entire movie-making process. This had me excited to see the finished product even though I have only played about 10 to 20 hours of various versions of the game. Let me correct that, it is not a game, it is a driving simulator.

Several years ago GT Academy was created to take the best drivers of Gran Turismo and see how they would do on a real race track in actual races. The movie is based on that story and how one of those drivers fared. Whenever the creators needed details for the movie, they went back to the true story and incorporated what really happened. This means there are a lot of very accurate details in the movie that are often sensationalized in other based-on-a-true-story films. At the end of the movie they even point out that Jann, the person the story is based on served as the stunt driver for the film.

I found the story interesting and compelling. My wife went to the movie simply to spend time with me yet at the end said that she really enjoyed it. It is always a win when your spouse enjoys the same movie you do. As we pulled into the driveway we both remarked that it had a similar feel to Ford vs. Ferrari. If you enjoyed that movie, you will enjoy Gran Turismo.

My wife and I are fans of David Harbour from his role in Stranger Things as well as Orlando Bloom from the original Pirates of the Caribbean. Both do an excellent job of playing less-than-perfect characters and add to the authenticity of the story. The race tracks throughout the world make excellent supporting cast members as well.

I wish I could say that Sony gave me free tickets to the film or that I could expense the cost. Nope, I paid full price and all of the associated service fees and spent $36 total for 2 people to see the film. I will probably go see it again in the theaters one more time before I add it to my personal film library.

Hopefully the review is somewhat helpful if you are thinking about seeing Gran Turismo. Watching the film made think about playing the game again. Perhaps that is what I will do tonight.

A Video Game for my Daughter

Both of my sons love to play video games and so it has been a bit of a challenge to find a game that my 17-year-old daughter would want to play. A little while ago there was a charity drive at work where we could donate $5 to a local cause and then receive three random, yet unopened video games. The titles were from a number of different studios and I found myself with some interesting games. One was a basketball sports game that I gave away to someone on a plane. Another was a popular arcade game that my boys decided to keep. The third game was one that I thought my daughter would like: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian from Disney Interactive Studios.

For some reason, my youngest son opened the packaging and gave it a shot. My daughter was so mad at him that she didn't ever bother to play the game. As I was home this Christmas break, I sat down with my daughter and played it with her. The game has been out since 2008 and includes a lot of different scenes from the movie. My daughter loves the Narnia movies and so that immediately held her interest to at least give the game a shot.

Prince Caspian is one of the few games I own that can be played in 1080i and the higher resolution allows for a lot of details in the game. There is an opening scene with a stain-glassed window that is really vivid. The game is also fun in that it can be played with one or two players on the same console. Ideally there should be two people playing at the same time, but one person works fine.

The game follows the movie where there are a number of characters working together for a common goal. You have to work with other creatures, such as giants, to accomplish your objectives. Sometimes you are trying to solve a puzzle while other times you are fighting with the bad guys. At one point in the game, we didn't know what we needed to do and were getting bored of killing the enemy. I wanted to get some help from the Internet and hit the "Start" button. That paused the game, but also gave a list of objectives. Once we understood what we were supposed to do, it became easy to complete the task.

My daughter and I played for about 3 hours and had a great time. It was a lot more entertaining than watching the movie (I preferred the other two Narnia movies). The game is rated T because of violence. It wasn't too graphic, but you do run around killing people. As it is from Disney, it is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, XBox 360, PC, Wii, and Nintendo DS. I would recommend it to any father wanting to spend some quality time with his children.