Bruce Springsteen and The Great Dictator

23 August 2020

Spotted on a bumper sticker:

“Live your life with the enthusiasm of Bruce Springsteen counting to 4.”

Amen to that!

I was one of the first kids on the block to have an Amazon Echo. Recently, it's started a new behavior. When Amazon packages are delivered, the top ring glows yellow. (I had to ask Alexa what was going on to find out why it was glowing to begin with.)

So, I asked, “Alexa, what are my notifications?”

Alexa responded, “From Amazon Shopping, The Great Dictator has arrived.”

It was funny to hear that. The Great Dictator has arrived. Like some world leader rang the doorbell of stately Matt Manor and the butler informed me...

Well, anyway, in this case, it's a Blu-ray of Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece.

During the European leg of the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour in 2018, U2 showed a clip of the final speech on the stage's giant floor-spanning screen. One thing leads to another and the movie appeared once again on my radar this past week. So, I went for the Blu-ray — the first physical disc I've purchased in quite a while. But, it's a Criterion title, so there are some worthwhile supplemental features to explore as time permits.

But, that yellow glow around the top ring turned out to be only the beginning of a new round of notifications.

Having Alexa notify me of a package delivery was sorta nice. But I already received text messages and emails from Amazon, UPS, USPS, etc.

Then it started asking me to provide feedback on items purchased.

The Great Dictator Criterion Collection Blu-ray cover

That's when I had to draw the line. I had been enjoying our relatively "silent" partnership, so it was time to look into what was going on with the notifications.

Turns out there's a whole slew of options — apparently new, since they just started being active on the Echo — that can be adjusted within the Amazon account.

Alexa notification options