Finally, I made the phone call. As expected, AT&T does not allow you to cancel a portion of their services over the phone, so to actually end the U-Verse TV account, had to call during business hours. I have been dragging my feet. This TV show (on re-runs that we could watch via Netflix at an incredibly lower monthly cost) is in the midst of its last season, so we have to wait until we DVR the 2 a.m. showing of that and watch it. Or there’s a new episode of something or another that I can watch days later on Hulu for free that I just must watch four hours after it originally aired.

Yadda, yadda.

It hit me when I was writing “Call AT&T to cancel TV” in my little notebook and I started writing “after this episode airs”. What am I doing? Seriously? That’s how America has been sucked into paying so much money every month for 1000 channels of which maybe just five are the least bit interesting except in those late-night hours where we flip through the other 995 to find something not completely horrible to watch instead of going to bed.

So, as of tomorrow, the service will be terminated. It only took 25 or so days of Lent to start this little sacrificial act.

Related articles

• Study: More TV viewers in U.S. ‘cutting the cord’ (news.cnet.com)
• Estimate: In Two Years, Streaming TV Will Be An $800 Million Business for Netflix and Hulu (techcrunch.com)
• 5 Steps to Cutting the Cord: A Guide to Canceling Cable (gigaom.com)
• Cord Cutters Survival Stories: Bye Bye Cable TV (gigaom.com)
• Cord Cutting Will Slow, But Continue to Grow (gigaom.com)

Last week, we watched Traitor (imdb, amazon.com), a Jeffrey Nachmanoff film featuring Don Cheadle (The Oceans 11 series, Hotel Rwanda).

The film follows the story of Samir Horn, a defected American solider, devout Muslim, as he begins more involved with a terrorist cell planning an attack on the United States and the government agents trying to learn more about his terrorist cell and the impending attack.

Overall, this PG-13 movie provided an entertaining 114 minutes as Samir’s story unfolds and the viewer learns more about him. The film does a fine job in giving enough evidence to leave you confused and wondering if he’s a good guy caught up in something about his head or if he’s really worth the “high-value target” status given to him by the government.

Some of the characters lacked the development that would have set this movie on the top of the mountain, while some of the characters that are well-developed seem unbelievable. The film spends a great deal of time building up the plot pulling you toward the climax; however, the story seems to end far too abruptly after that. With ten more minutes, the unfinished subplots and new questions could be answered easily.

If you’re looking for something to rent on a Friday night and feel like something a bit more serious, try out Traitor.

Tonight, Vanessa and I went to see the latest Mummy movie (she liked the first two, don’t ask about this one) and was struck by the complete lack of people at the theater. No, not just that particular screen showing that particular can’t-believe-we-paid-full-price-for-this film, but the entire cineplex.

There were, maybe, 50 cars in the parking lot at both 7:30 pm when we arrived, and just before 10 pm when we left. I’ve never seen that lot so empty.

I know it is OU weekend, but seriously, don’t people go out to the movies on Friday night?