Not As Seen On TV

I'll admit it, I watch those infomercials for kitchen appliances on TV. Though I would never phone-in and order anything, I was really excited when I saw the Magic Bullet in my Lexis-Nexis catalogue.

In law school, Lexis and Westlaw compete against one another and offer students incentives to use their legal research services. The most common incentive are points, which can be accumulated for prizes which are actually good. A few months ago, I used some of my Westlaw Points to buy this spiffy Samsonite bag.

When I realized that I had enough points to buy the Magic Bullet, I was a point and click away from ordering it until I saw that it had only gotten 3 out of 5 stars based on 300 reviews. Red flag.

Now I think most kitchen appliances on TV are a waste. Seriously, is it that hard to make a quesadilla? And who really vacuum seals their food? But the Magic Bullet just seemed different. I hate chopping and I was intrigued with a little device that could chop onions without tears. I love smoothies, but pulling out a whole blender for just one person seemed silly. I always wanted a food processor but it seemed like a waste for me to buy a big bulky one during the transient stage of my life. The Magic Bullet just seemed like it would live up to its name, solving all my culinary problems. Wrong.

Based on reading the reviews, it seems like the Magic Bullet is only good for smoothies, and the motor usually dies in a year or less. Seeing as how 6 months of smoothies doesn't seem to be worth 5,000 of my Lexis Points, I guess I'll just hold off and buy something good. I'm never trusting informercials again unless George Foreman is in it.