I've made a living not saying nothing at all, in addition to something nice. (Sorry, Mom.) I must report that, while I prefer experiences that lead to glowing recommendations, my recent transaction with DVDSoon.com has left me glowering.

I shopped at this Canadian store due to their low prices - the lowest on many titles, according to dvdpricesearch.com. This low price is due in part to the option for free postage via Canada Post, a process which takes 2-3 weeks. I opted instead to have my two items - Buffy Season Three and The Producers - mailed together in a single USPS parcel. They charged me accordingly, then proceeded to mail the items separately via Canada Post.

My complaints on this matter regularly went unheeded; despite their assurances of 24-48 hour turnaround time on feedback, I often went weeks without hearing anything. Emails as well as voice mail were ignored. When I did hear back from them, it was from various people responding to old complaints and new ones out of order, with one person being the left hand, another being the right, and neither knowing what the other was doing.

Yes, I finally got my items, despite one being lost to the nether of our northern neighbor's mailing system. No, I didn't get refunded the USPS shipping charge I'd elected. No, I will never shop there again. I advise the same to you.

Daredevil update:

I saw Daredevil last night. I'd never read the books, but from seeing the trailers, I wasn't expecting much, so maybe my reaction was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I didn't think Daredevil was a very good movie.

The opening fight scene uses a filming technique I criticized in Blade II, where the camera angle changed much too rapidly for the viewer to know what was happening. Of course, I'm also given the feeling it doesn't matter what's happening, because if it did, then I'd've been seeing it. Likewise, the CGI was overdone. While it was prevalent in Spider-Man, here it just looked fake, as it did in Blade II. The use of guidewires in at least one scene was much too obvious.

Speaking of battles, two scenes in the final battle between Daredevil and Bullseye were taken right from last year's Spider-Man/Green Goblin bouts. Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin was fine, but overall the character had too little screen time to be worthy of being the movie's ultimate villain.

Near the end, heroine Elektra falls under a misconception I cannot explain. I may have missed something, but it seems to me the truth was staring her right in the face, yet the movie plays out as if she didn't see it.

Two gimmicks were laughably obvious and/or flawed: when a reflection of the "Daredevil" insignia was not reversed, as most reflections are; and a computer keyboard with two adjacent, antipodal keys. Very convenient! Other gimmicks/loose ends: I never found out why Daredevil sleeps in a coffin, or what the reporter wanted to talk to Matt Murdock about.

The movie was entertaining, but not because it was very good.

On a related note, The Boston Herald describes Murdock's background as follows: "Murdock was blinded as a child by a toxic splash that left his four other senses heightened. He saw thugs murder his dad…"

Anyone else see the contradiction there?

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Jon Burton, director of Traveller's Tales, who found Gamebits through its review of Haven: Call of the King. I respect his opinion of that title, and appreciate the time he took to share it with me. Hey, didja know the game's coming out for Xbox as well?

Speaking of disappointing titles, I gave a very brief run through Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. I acknowledge that I played only the smallest portion of this game, in a very short time, and can provide only an uninformed opinion as a first impression. But I didn't like it. It's closer to Syphon Filter than Metal Gear Solid, and is not the Xbox killer app I was told to expect. I see no reason why the PS2 and GameCube versions shouldn't be adequate, whatever the disciples of the Xbox's supreme processing power preach. Oh well. As I've always believed, my opinion is only that, and not fact. Good thing, because too many other people would have contrary "facts" about Splinter Cell for me to be right.

Maybe we can try to agree on Skies of Arcadia Legends, which is surprisingly fun. I've must've gotten used to the dark and complex stories abundant in most (Square's) RPGs. Arcadia reminds of earlier works like Final Fantasy II.

Yeah, that's a lot of games I've been playing. What else is there to do when New England buries one in snow?