Wednesday, February 19, 2014

There's An App For That

Drew and I have a rather extensive movie collection, over 300 different movies and TV series box sets.

There are several problems that come with having that many DVDs:
1. You forget which movies you have. 
2. You can never find which movie you're looking for. 
3. They take up so much space, you have to dedicate an entire closet to housing them. 

In this post, I'm going to tackle the first problem and part of the second. 

After moving into our new house and trying to find a suitable place to store this monstrous collection, I went in search for ways to organize and store everything. Drew and I talked about a written list (too much trouble), a spreadsheet (not portable enough), and even having him create some sort database specifically for our needs. We decided a database would be the best fit, but I just new there had to be one that someone had already created. What's the point of him spending hours of programming, if someone else had already done it for him. So I did some searching online and in the Apple App Store and came across this beauty. 


The My Movies for iPhone Pro app was only $5.99 and seemed to have all the features I was looking for. They also make a free version that will hold up to 50 movies. I downloaded the free version first to try it out, then upgraded to the full version. 

I'm in love with this app. Let me run through some of my favorite things about it and some descriptions of how each feature works. 

The Ease of Uploading
To upload a movie to your collection, you have two options: scan the barcode or type in the title. I think you even have the ability to scan multiple bar does at once, but I didn't test this feature.  

The barcode scanning feature works great, and I only had to type in movies who's barcodes were obstructed either by a sticker or a mark (I used to buy a lot of movies from my local rental store). 

Viewing Screen 
The app gives you several options for viewing. 

Tile view:  
You even have the option of a white, gray, or wooden background. 

List view:



Horizontal view:
In this view, you can shake your phone, and it will randomly select a movie.  Great for when you can't decide what to watch. 

Searching for Movie
The app gives you many different ways to search for a specific title. 

You can click a letter on the right sidebar to jump to that titles that begin with that letter, or click on the search box on the top and type in a title. 

I use this feature a lot when trying to figure out if we have a movie. The other day I was watching Legally Blonde on TV and couldn't remember if we owned it or not. A quick check in the app let me know I didn't. (Someone please tell me why I do not own this movie!!) 


Here's an example of a successful search. I was looking for Bad Grandpa. 


Searching by Actor
In the mood for a Heath Ledger movie? (I've been in love with him since I saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You in middle school. I cried when he died.) Now you don't have to remember every movie you have with him in it. My Movies will tell you. 

Just click on "Persons" at the bottom. Again, you'll have the option of scrolling through the list or typing in a name. When I clicked Heath's name, it pulled this up. 


The My Movies database is linked to IMDB.com, so you can all kinds of info. 

If you scroll to the bottom, you can see which titles you have that list him as one of the actors. 


(No that's not an error. We have two copies if The Dark Knight.) 

Categorizing Movies
You even have the option of putting your movies into categories. So far, I've only set up a category for Christmas movies, but I plan to add more. 

Just click the funnel at the top of the screen, and you're taken to the filters screen. 


When I select "Christmas Movies," I'm taken to a list of every movie I have in that list. 


Before we had to always scan our shelves of movies and try to pick them all out. We always ended up finding some we missed. 

More Filters Than You Ever Knew You Needed 
In addition to custom categories, you can also filter by several different things. 



Looking at the "Genre" option, there is every genre under the sun. It lists everything, whether you have them or not. 

(In case you're wondering, my "Adult" genre is empty.)

If I click "Comedy," I'm taken to a list of movies that are listed in the genre. 

Some movies are listed in more than one genre. For example, 10 Things I Hate About You is listed as comedy and romance. 

I see the options to search my "Type" useful, since you can search between blu-rays and regular DVDs. There's even a "3D" option so you can pick the perfect movie to impress your friends with when you want to show off your spankin' new 3D TV (please tell me we aren't the only ones).   You could also search by "Release Date" and select a start and end date of 1/1/1980 - 12/31/1989 to search out all those awesome 80's movies everyone loves. 

Other Features
This app has a ridiculous amount of options. Some of the minor features to note are:

You have an option to input a location for each movie. For instance, you could write "top shelf" or "basket 1" to each movie I the location. Drew says he likes being able to search the shelves. I prefer to know exactly where my movies are. 

If you can't find a movie in their database, email them, and they will add it for you. They actually prefer you to do this, rather than adding the title on your own. 

You can view the newest releases and trailers for several movies. To do this, you select the correct link at the bottom and select your country. The US isn't an option for trailers, but I just sent my for the UK. I haven't used either of these features, but having the option seems nice. 

You also have the option to email your list of movies as a .csv or .txt file or create a PDF file. This is great for sharing. 

And the best thing about the app? Your entire collection is stored in their database, so even if you have an error with your app, your collection is safe. I already had to do this once. When I was adding all my movies, some of them weren't showing up. I deleted then reinstalled them app, and they all appeared when I longed back in. 

If you can't tell, I'm will about this app. It's awesome, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to keep a record of your movie collection 


Monday, February 17, 2014

Date Night Jar





This year, Drew and I decided to keep it pretty low-key for Valentine's Day.  When I asked him what he wanted, he said an iTunes gift card.  Super romantic, huh?  Since I almost always "make" Drew something for holidays, I wanted to come up with something sweet to counter the generic gift he requested.  In comes the Date Jar.


Like most couples, we sometimes get in a rut when it comes to dates.  We go eat at the same restaurants, then rent a movie, but it's nice to break out of the (Red) box every now and then.  Hobby Lobby had everything I needed to make this super cute, personalized gift.


Supplies:
Glass Jar
Artist Trading Cards (I bought two packs that had 15 cards each.)
Pens
Scrapbook Sticker(s) - I searched through this sections for an hour before I found the "perfect" sticker.


How To:
I began by separating the cards.  I knew I wanted to include more and less expensive date ideas, so I used the cards with phrases written on them to make the distinction.  I then folded each card in half, wrote the date suggestions on the bottom section, and popped it into the jar.  When I had written the last card, I applied the sticker.  I thought the sticker "Memory in the Making" was a perfect fit.


Some of the dates I came up with were:
-feed the ducks at Ballard Park
-try a restaurant we've never tried before
-board game night
-Drew cooks dinner
-trip to the Memphis Zoo
-trip to Graceland


Pretty simple project, right?  Drew really liked it, although he says he can see us picking through the date ideas instead of just doing whatever we pick first.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, especially since I got this amazing gift:


How was your Valentine's Day?  Did you make any love-inspired crafts?