Cheap Movies, Great Eats at Elvis Cinemas

When the summer heat sets in, there's no better way to kill an afternoon than in a nice, air-conditioned movie theater. But movie tickets can cost as much as $15 a piece, while popcorn and a soda can quickly push the price to $50 for two. It's one thing if the movie turns out to be great, but dropping $50 on a clunker film can be a pretty depressing experience.

Enter Elvis Cinemas, with theaters in Littleton, Arvada and Denver. Prices are $2.50 before 6PM and $3.50 after 6PM, no matter what film is playing. Sure the movies are on their second run (Now playing: Ghost of Girlfriends Past, Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, among others), and sometimes the prints show a little wear, but the theaters are clean, the staff is friendly and the snack bar is the most inexpensive in town. Check them out at The Elvis Cinema. At these prices it is worth it just to enjoy the air conditioning! Listings are at the Elvis website, and in the Denver Post. Movies usually change on Wednesdays. They also offer kiddie parties, at $12 a head, minimum ten kids, on Saturdays.

Elvis Cinemas Littleton
6014 S. Kipling Pkwy
S.E. Corner of Kipling and Bowles
303-948-9461

Arvada Elvis Cinemas
5157 W. 64th Ave
N.E Corner of 64th and Sheridan
303-426-4122

Elvis Cinemas Tiffany Plaza
7400 E. Hampden Ave.
(South side of Hampden Ave. behind 24 Hr. Fitness)
Denver, CO 80231
303-948-5555

FREE Internet TV Options

Colorado unemployment continues to creep up and the recession/depression remains in full swing. Even if you have a job and discretionary income, you should be circumspect about how you spend your money, right?

Telecom services are pricey and there are always ways to improve your service at a better price point. I believe that having a high-speed cable connection is like a lifeline to the outside world, but cable TV? Now that I have been going without it for several months, I am finding it easy to live without. Too much home shopping and infomercials for me. Too much of the same overall. And I resent paying for networks I don't watch.

Again, cable is pricey. As of January 2008, the average monthly home cable bill was $84.59, up 21 percent from two years earlier, according to the Federal Communications Commission. As we improve and simplify home networking to make Net-connected TVs easier to own, the thought of tapping video on demand through online sources becomes increasingly appealing.

Yes, the quality of the video isn't as sharp and yes, you have to sit at your computer. But it is FREE.

The trend of watching TV on the Internet is catching on, especially with younger consumers. About 72 percent of people ages 18 to 29 have watched a video online, compared to 34 percent of people ages 50 to 64, according to Pew Research Center study.

Among the online options is Hulu.com, http://www.hulu.com/ a joint venture NBC and Fox that officially launched last year and offers free TV shows and movies. Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. — the nation’s largest cable company — runs a similar site called Fancast.com, http://www.fancast.com/

At the same time, YouTube made deals last November to carry full shows in an alliance with CBS and MGM, which is great if you are a fan of a particular show. The TV shows are free but include advertisements that would play before, during, and after the videos. YouTube also offers unique programming...The National Archive, in celebration of its 75th anniversary, has posted 17 videos to YouTube from its audio-visual collection at www.youtube.com/usanationalarchives.

ItTunes offers some television programming for a price. A “season pass” for The Office, for example, costs $35 for 22 half-hour episodes.

Other online options inlcude:

PBS Frontline: Missed that Frontline episode? No worries - you can watch it online. In fact, PBS has quite a few shows that you can watch online - just use this search string in Google to find them: site: http://www.pbs.org/ "watch online" -frontline.

AOL in2tv: free episodes of your favorite classic TV shows, anything from Gilligan's Island to the People's Court

Like Television at http://tesla.liketelevision.com/(public domain cartoons, movies and more)

YouWeb at http://www.youweb.tv/ includes MTV, CNN and ESPN, as well as broadcast tv and radio stations worldwide.

wwITv.com: An " independent guide to online streaming media available on the web." Channels available from all over the world.

Democracy Internet TV: watch TV online via the free Democracy Internet TV viewing platform. Over 600 different channels available.

ChannelChooser: A free online TV portal with hundreds of channels to choose from, all streaming.

BBC: You can watch the BBC news from London online every day of the week, anytime; another way to find BBC online streaming or archived programs is using this search string in Google: site:http://www.bbc.co.uk/ "watch online".

Adult Swim Fix - Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, featuring King of The Hill, Robot Chicken and others.

And of course, we love Netflix The best deal for movie lovers is the $17.99/month three-at-a-time plan. Careful on this one though. We know people who signed up for Netflix, got their three movies, and then kept these same discs for several months, continuing to pay $17.99 for the privilege.

And, of course, your local Denver Public Library branch offers hundreds of movies and documentaries on DVD. We also use the Red Box or DVDPlay rentals at our local MacDonalds and Safeway.

If you really want to watch television on your TV set, you can sign up for Comcast's Economy Video Package in Denver. It consists of the following channels, Basic analog channels, USA, Fox News, A&E, Lifetime, Hallmark, Spike TV, truTV, Cartoon Network, AMC, CNN, Comedy Central, History, TVLand, Animal Planet, BET, E!, Galavision, TV Guide, Disney, Nickelodeon, Food Network, Weather Channel, CSPAN, CSPAN2, and Music Choice Channels. This new package will be available for $39.99 as a stand alone product, or at $29.99 if sold with other Comcast products, such as Internet.

The Denver Library -- A Recession Sanctuary

If you are dead broke in Denver, or anywhere in the metro region, now is the time to rekindle that long-neglected relationship with your local public library branch.

What a killer deal the library is! Free Wi-Fi? Got it. Free computer access and email? Got it. Want to learn Microsoft Xcel? Come on in and join a free class.

Want to research a new career, or considering returning to school? Talk to your librarian. In one visit you can catch up on bestselling books, add some music to your iTunes and rent movies -- all for free.

The great news is that libraries, recently considered fossils in the digital age, are back in business thanks to the recession. Local branches are shining as community gathering places, and they offer a myriad of entertainment, employment and education options.

As a result, parking has become impossible at many Denver-area branches and once inside you have to dodge dozens of Starbucks' slurping patrons foraging the fiction stacks. Check-out lines are long and cluttered with well-heeled patrons. And librarians, who just months ago appeared slack-faced and lonely, now are aglow with the type of upbeat energy that results from feeling needed.

This library Renaissance is being reported online and in print nationwide. In Boston, monthly visits to a free Internet homework tutoring service have doubled from 300 to 600 per month. Library-card requests have increased 27% during the last half of 2008 in San Francisco. The Boise Public Library reported a 61% increase in new library cards in 2008

The sale of books, CDs and DVDs nose-dived in 2008, but people are still able to enjoy reading, listening and watching, thanks to public libraries. Ironically, just as the recession has turned public libraries into happening places, where knowledge and information are democratized, your local government is likely looking to slash staff, hours and services.

With all the foot traffic I'm seeing at my branch, I think it would be wiser to fatten city coffers by opening library food courts or coffee houses.

Nonetheless, Aurora is planning to shutter one library and cut hours at six others as a cost-saving measure. In Boulder, circulation of job-hunting materials is up 14%, yet the library is contemplating a branch closure. Library administrators in Firestone are desperately trying to save a popular summer reading program for kids. In Denver, where the city has a $56 million budget shortfall, libraries were recently forced to shut down for a day as part of a cost-saving employee furlough program.

As an editorial writer at the New York Times recently pointed out, we need to make our politicians aware that public libraries are used more when the economy is down and that they are more important "than keeping a baseball team in New York or building or increasing spending on roads or buildings."

National Library Week is April 12-18. If you have a chance, personally thank your local librarians and shoot an email to your local politicians outlining your support of your community's library system. To support the Denver Public Library, please contact the Denver Public Library Friends Foundation at www.dplfriends.org or call 720-865-2050.