From the Would You Like A Light With That? department.

Chicago's Daily Southtown published an article on Thursday, pointing out the hottest consumer fad in this increasingly technological age... The drive-up window. Drive through banks, drive through pharmacies, and now... Drive through tobacco stores. The manager of Cigarette Outlet (located at 58th & Harlem, just in case you happen to be driving by while reading this and want to pick me up a pack of smokes... I'm just too busy to walk down the block to get one) pointed out the convenience of having a drive-through window and said, "What's the point of coming in?"

I have a better question. What's the point of driving to the store to get a pack of cigarettes in Chicago, when you have to walk no farther than 4 blocks from any particular point in the city to find a store that sells them?

Did we make fattest city in America yet? Where's the drive-through gym?

(Daily Southtown)

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Little Miss Sunshine DVD Rental from Red Box

Item Purchased: Little Miss Sunshine DVD Rental from Red Box
Location Purchased: Red Box / Walgreens / 111 S. Halsted St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $1.00 + tax

Review: I may review the film, Little Miss Sunshine, in the near future (short story: I enjoyed it... It's worth a view). For now, I'd like to briefly address the phenomenon of DVD rental vending machines.

I'm sure, at first, you will all miss the friendly minimum-wage paid employee at your local video rental store with his infinite wisdom regarding the cinematic oeuvre of such visionary auteurs such as Master P and Carrot Top. The good news? You no longer have to sift through those unique independent films and silly movies where the actors don't even speak English. Instead, Redbox offers a selection of about forty movies that have recently been profiled in such illuminating periodicals as Celebrity Hairstyles and Cellulite of the Rich and Famous.

All sarcasm aside, these machines offer an inexpensive movie rental option, with a few titles that aren't complete crap, but with the increasing availability of video on demand and without the selection of your corner video store, Netflix or even a Blockbuster, I can't see these things surviving much past the introductory stage.

RedBox DVD kiosks do offer two positive features, however. First of all, you don't need a membership. The system operates on credit cards only. Pick your movie, swipe your card and out pops your movie. You have twenty-four hours to return the movie or else another dollar will be charged to your card. After twenty five days, if you have not returned your DVD, it is yours to keep. The second plus is the option to return the movie to any RedBox DVD kiosk across the country.

A fairly good option as a cure to last-minute boredom, RedBox would be a great addition to airports. As it stands, the bulk of RedBox's distribution has been focused on placement in McDonald's restaurants and drug store chains like Walgreens. Great as a novelty, I think I would grow bored with the limited selection RedBox offers and would rather make the extra trip to my local video store or wait for my next Intelliflix/Netflix queue to ship.

Maybe I'm being myopic, but I don't think the wave of video entertainment future lies in vending machines.

Rating: 2.75 / 5

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