Harry Potter covers and conspiracy theories

Here they are, fresh from Scholastic. The top pic is of the British kid's version, the second is the Brit adult version and at the bottom we have the US version of the wrap around cover. So, it looks like Harry and Voldy go at it in a public area a la Gladiator or Voldy has once again snagged him somewhere and its his followers we see in the back ground. Of course, I could be completely off about this one.

My vacation has been pretty uneventful thus far. I've had the pleasure of crouching in really odd positions in order to clean the floor around my bathroom fixtures. I could sit on my toliet and wash my hands at the same time such is the tightness of space in the room. I took some stuff to Goodwill. Would have taken more, but I didn't grab boxes from work before I left.

As to work, there is some sort of chaos going on there that I am missing. Our lone department manager disappeared suddenly. Word has it the cops came looking for him on a day he wasn't in the store. The latest I've caught wind of is he may have been stealing from the store. Sadly, this is all the intel I have right now. I'm hoping to get some more soon. Now we are down to only 3 managers who can open and close the store. Guess we should have replaced Laura by now, eh?

No good movies have come to town for me to go see and there seems to be an issue with Netflix right now. I sent a dvd back on Mon. and I have yet to get its replacement. But, on Friday I should be going to see The Lookout which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I've heard good things about it and Joseph is a really good actor so I'm excited.

Quick 24 bitch, first off I cheesed and forgot to change the channel on the digital cable so I missed taping Prison Break (arrrghhhh) and missed the first 15 or so minutes of 24. I come in when some guy has been shot and his brother is going to have to meet with the bad guys. Now, here's what irked me off. The brother had some sort of learning disability and seemed to behave like a small child. I was fully prepared to quit watching this show if anything happened to him. Luckily, nothing did, but I thought it was a really lame plot device to use this sort of character for a short, one time appearance. The only reason the guy was special needs was to give Jack the chance to be compassionate to someone and to create tension (as if 3 roaming nukes weren't tension enough). It just seemed like a writing cop out and it annoyed me. I'm sure it has to be difficult to write for such a show, but I really think they could have gotten by with an average joe. I wonder if they wanted to make the character an actual child then decided they'd hear to much shit about it?

Finally, my brackets have been completely destroyed thanks to last weekend. I think I'm rooting for Georgetown now.

No, Josh, no.

Josh, seriously, what the heck are you thinking? Next year was going to be a solid year. You and Greg coming back as juniors. A rough, experience building year would be behind you. You still have things to learn. Remember how much Sheldon Williams improved his junior and senior years. It was an amazing transformation. But, alas, you've decided to leap into the NBA Draft. I hope you don't hire an agent so you can come back to school. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.

Okay, onward to other odds and ends.

The Secret. I'm sure if you watch Oprah you know all about this book. Our CEO noted in his blog a couple of weeks ago that he was going to read the book to see what all the fuss was about. I flipped through the thing and here's my re-cap---don't want to read several self help books? Please enjoy bits and bobs from the authors of such books. Better yet, just read The Power Of Positive Thinking or investigate the concept of the laws of attraction and you've got it.

The bookselling populace that responded to his blog spit out a crazy ass amount of hatred for this book. It was some of the best snark I've ever read. Employees nationwide shared their seething disgust over this lame ass text. Oh, and the dvd is a crock of crap as well. I saw a clip on Best Week Ever and apparently if you constantly think about a bike, carry a picture of a bike around with you at all times and peer at said picture under the covers late at night, one day a moderately creepy elderly man will appear at your door with a bike. Using that logic if I carry a picture of Trent Reznor with me, etc. he should be at my house in no time. Hopefully without the old dude.

One commentor pointed out that the author shares the theory that if you don't want to be fat you should not be around or LOOK AT fat people. I think perhaps that's taking the laws of attraction thing a bit too far kids.

If I remember the Newsweek article correctly, the "author" is a woman who lost her job as a tv marketing executive. She was wandering around a library one day and found some old book that she, essentially, took her ideas from, combined them with the ideas already mentioned and wrapped it up in a Da Vinci Code-esque package.

Many booksellers voiced their concerns about carrying the book and what it did to our image as providers of fine literature. These people have obviously not worked for the company long. We don't really care what the book is like. We have the Paris Hilton autobiography for goodness sakes. If it sells, we will pretty much carry it. Sure it's a sad commentary on society that millions of Oprah's drones will come out for this book, but I atleast they are reading I suppose.

Also on the work front, I'm sure you remember my damaged/defective saga as I have mentioned it before. Our fearless leader FINALLY came back and scanned out the 6-ish boxes of product. The reason--there was a conference call regarding our upcoming inventory and managers were reminded that we aren't allowed to do d/d's the week before the inventory and I'm guessing his memory was jogged. Of course, I'm sure since our inventory isn't until May that we will have another 6 or so weeks worth of boxes stacking up again.

Finally, a quick bitch about 24. So this past Monday's episode featured the return of three characters I'd thought had gone for good. I had no problem with the re-appearance of the pres's sister. But, I can't stand Jack's sister-in-law. Her husband is dead only a few hours and already she's trying to make time with Jack. Granted, her marriage was a scam, but I don't really care for the actress and there doesn't seem to be much chemistry between her and Kiefer so the gooey eyed shit is just annoying.

What really irked me though, was when Jack mentioned that he'd been seeing someone before he went to the Chinese prison (watch the show if you're confused) and he needed to find out what was up with her before he went forward with his life. Annoying chick says, "Oh, do you mean Audrey Raines?"

HOLD THE FRAK ON PEOPLE!! From what we've been told this season, Jack has not spoken to his father or brother for around 9 or so years. His brother's marriage was full of communication problems so even though his brother may have known about Audrey (and he probably did since he was behind all of last season's troubles) I somehow doubt he told his wife. Hearing her just blurt out Audrey's name from nowhere really ticked me off. Granted, we do find out Audrey is supposedly dead (yeah! didn't like the actress or the character very much) so that's a good thing.

I can't remember if it was Jinn or Matt who asked me who I'd have hook up with Jack, but I couldn't come up with anyone really. And do you want to know why? 'Cuz he's mine dammitt. HA HA!!!

WATCH IT:

Mirrormask--scriptwriter Neil Gaiman and director David McKean team up again for this fantasy tale about becoming a teenager, essentially. It's really compelling visually and there is some good humor in it as well. And, it's PG so it's perfect for the family to watch.

LISTEN TO IT:

LCD Soundsystem--"North American Scum" off their new album Sound Of Silver. I just picked this up yesterday and started listening to it while I was running errands. Initially, it reminded me of early Bowie meets Talking Heads meets glam rock.

Chucky Cheese--Dante's hell level 6.5

I went to Chucky Cheese for the first time this past Sat. I also partially shut my hand in a car door the same day. Coincidence? I think not.

"The Cheese" pretty much represents all that is wrong with this world. And the kids love it! Of course. Crappy food and moderately interesting games full of bright colors and flashing bits can be found here. Not to mention "prizes" that make the winnings at the county fairs of my youth seem like treasures of untold wealth. Seriously, I kept looking for a mirror with a Def Leppard logo all over it.

None the less, the kids were occupied for a couple of hours while the adults talked over the din of the surrounding birthday parties and emotionally disturbing show performed by those creepy robot things. More frightening was the video that played featuring some birdlike creature in a mini skirt and go-go boots performing "I Want You To Want Me" with her human band. Shhhhudderrrrrrrr.

The past week has been pretty quiet. One of my peeps was on vacation so it was just two of us in receiving land. That's partially why I haven't blogged in awhile. I was freakin' tired when I got home each night...dammitt. And it's hard enough to try and spout out witty banter when I'm alert. When I'm sleepy it's almost a lost cause.

Couple of quick things:

Saw two cool ass trailers. I got to see my second trailer for The Simpsons movie and it was damn funny. The show has been a bit hit and miss, but I'm thinking the movie will be right on. Also, saw a seriously cool trailer for Day Watch on comingsoon.net. It's the second in a trilogy of Russian films based on a series of novels. Night Watch is one of my favorite movies so I've been waiting for a year or so now to get some sort of peek at it's sequel. I'm sure it won't come around here, but atleast once it's out I can begin the countdown until it's on DVD.

This morning in our pre-opening meeting one of our managers was talking about the new book that Bono from U2 has out. The manager pronounced his name Bo-no like Sonny Bono instead of Bon-o. Rock. Along those same lines, our truck drive pronounced the word algorithm as alpha-rhythm.

Also, heard that our fearless leader once told another manager (who has kids) that having a child is an act of selfishness. Apparently he said the parents choose to have a child, but the child doesn't choose to be born. Such a statement revels in the same sort of logic that guides the comedy stylings of a 5 year old. I told one of our co-workers I'd pay her if she'd just walk up to him and say "Adoption!" then walk away without explaining anything. I can't decide if he's just a goober who has some baggage involving his folks or if he struggles to grasp certain concepts and was confusing "selfish" with "irresponsible." Who can tell? Wonder what his girlfriend who has two kids of her own would say if he uttered this philosophy to her?

My NCAA men's basketball brackets have held up pretty well. I've only been seriously screwed over by one team. I was 28-5 for the play-in/first round and 9-7 for the second round. I've got Kansas and North Carolina playing in the final with NC winning it all. It was hard for me to go that route being a Duke fan, but I have to admit NC has a crap load of talent and I think they can beat KS. Guess we'll see. Watch it'll end up being Butler that wins everything (note to Jackie--see, I told you Butler was a good team to root for this year!)

Sorry I was behind in adding to the blog. I'll be on vacation next week so I'll try and do a better job keeping up.

Bill Berry is still groovin

Last night the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony was held in NYC. I didn't realize it was being shown live on VH1Classic until it was half over. Luckily, I was able to tape the R.E.M. segment!! As usual, Michael and Mike did all the talking. Bill stood quietly in the back. Peter was next to him downing his glass of wine. Ahhh, I have missed these four guys together.
They did Begin The Begin (yeah!!!!), Gardening At Night, Man On The Moon (with Eddie Vedder) and the Stooge's I Wanna Be Your Dog (with fellow inductee Patti Smith). It was great to see Bill behind the drums again. His altered career path (he's a farmer now) has done nothing to hamper his ability to play and he looked much like he did back in the day. Maybe just a bit less hair on top, but still it was lovely to see him.

I'm thinking of starting a segment called "two aimless hours" seeing as I do a manager's meeting recap almost every week. Amazing how I can get "material" out of a meeting where I do nothing. This week head uber was talking about a book he read called The Unwritten Laws Of Business. It was originally the unwritten laws of engineering, but it's been re-titled since it's original production in the '40's (I think, I was getting sleepy at this point).
Anywho, we will be going over a couple of the laws each week. Yesterday's discussion was on the idea of getting the job done. Planning and execution are important, as is agressively staying on top of the project at hand (without being annoying if you are having to prod others to complete their part of the task). He wanted examples of times when we'd done well and when we'd screwed up. Someone brought up a recent relay we did. For those of you thankfully not in the know, a relay involves someone at corporate telling us to relocate a section of books. More often than not we are relocating it to the area from where we removed it six months ago. We had a relay where we didn't have enough room for the books. We left almost an entire catagory on carts on the floor for around 3-4 weeks.
This discussion got me thinking. I know I've mentioned the damaged goods that only the lead uber can go through. I know I've also mentioned how we have about 6 weeks worth of stuff boxed up. Those boxes have been sitting in the back corner around 3 (or is it 4 by now) weeks. Hmmmmm.....I was gonna bring it up, but I don't want to be annoying.
He also told us he has highlighted his copy of the book. He says he has written in the margins, going so far as to put names next to the rules he thinks certain people need help with. I have to admit I want to know what my name is next to in this book. I should just grab a copy and go through it to see if I can take a guess myself. Then, I think I will purposely be sure and go as far away from that rule as possible. That, or suddenly start doing exactly what the rule states. I'm not sure which would freak him out more.
WATCH IT:
300--I went and saw it Sat. It's pretty much buff guys in revealing clothes (leather loin cloths pretty much...oh and a cape here and there) fighting. It's cool visually, but a bit short on storyline.
READ IT:
Neverwhere (graphic novel version)--I'm almost done with this lunch time reading selection. Having read the original version years ago, I admit I've forgotten most of it, but I'm enjoying this re-telling none the less.
LISTEN TO IT:
"In This Twilight"--Nine Inch Nails. I'm literally listening to it this very second. It's the slowest song that's been leaked so far from the new album. Trent's voice is very pretty and dreamy in this one, which I don't get to say very often. Go to yearzero.nin.com to check out the video for the first single Survivalism.

GO DUKE!!!!

Creepy

If you're looking for a solid and creepy flick, go check out Zodiac. Be warned though, this puppy is long. I'm talking 2hrs. 40 min. long. But, it is well worth it. David Fincher has given us a detail obsessed look at an investigation that took decades. This is not CSI where you get DNA results back in a couple of minutes and have the case wrapped up in 45. This movie shows just how many steps, and mis-steps, occur in police work.


I enjoyed watching the "old school" methods of investigation. Seriously, at one point the cops are going to try and trace a phone call they might be getting from the Zodiac and the person he will be speaking to is asked to keep him on the line for 15 FREAKIN' MINUTES!! Damn.


Zodiac is not your standard thriller, but it is very much a Fincher film. Everyone is really good, but I especially enjoyed Robert Downy, Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake had just the perfect blend of earnestness and obsession in his performance. He just gets better with every film he does.





On the down side, I saw a trailer for a new movie that I won't name because I don't want anyone to see it. Okay, there are actually two flicks I don't want you to see, but the biggie is an obvious re-make of Rear Window...only it's aimed at a teenage audience, which means not only the possibility of a semi-naked semi-legal girl, but also crappy acting. The second is some horrible looking comedy starring Larry The Cable Guy. I can't believe it got funding. Made me want to cry.





WORK JUNK:


I answered the phone and a girl had me look up three titles. She told me that she'd called other places and no one could get them. She also told me she had specific publishing dates. Bad sign. They were 3 Nancy Drew books and 2 of them had gone out of print. I could order the 3rd, but she needed it right away. I tell her she is probably going to have to try second hand stores or the library. She tells me that there are copies of these books at the Bradley library. Her instructor told the class they could go and read them at the library, but couldn't check them out to take home. Obviously, they need to stay available for everyone to have a chance to get to them.


The chick then tells me she doesn't have 4 or 5 hours to read a Nancy Drew book, and she's really annoyed with her instructor because they have to read 32 Nancy Drew books this semester for the class. She couldn't believe a teacher would assign so much. I pointed out that the number wasn't unheard of if you were an English major. She then tells me it's a Gen Ed course and she's a Psych student.


Here's what I concluded:


Like the nursing students who come in and can't find there textbooks on OBVIOUS AND MARKED SHELVES without the aid of an employee, I don't want to be anywhere near this person's future psych practice.


I'm concerned with her reading skills. Seriously, 4 or 5 HOURS for one shot of the Drew? I know 12 yr. olds that could finish it off in 2 hours tops.


Finally, this girl has had all Gen Ed classes so far, because she obviously hasn't started any of the reading she'll need for her actual degree.





On a sad note, my Duke team lost in the first round of the ACC tourney tonight (but it was in OT and only by 5 points). On an up note, Maryland and UCLA also lost in their tourney games! And Illinois won too!!!!





Finally, once again my sad need for sleep kept me from getting something I wanted. I know I've mentioned NIN a million times. They've got this whole concept album thing going hard core right now. 3 songs have been "leaked" thanks to drives found at concerts in Europe. The latest leak was of the video for the first single, "Survivalism." Last night, I had access to about 4 sites where I could download it. Because I have dial up, it was going to take about 90 min. to do this and I was tired so I figured I'd get it today. Not. So. Much. The links were all down so I'm stuck watching it on YouTube. Damn my aged self! Oh, also on YouTube I saw a not that great video recording of the first live performance of the new song "Beginning Of The End." Even with crap acoustics, it sounded seriously cool. And, if I could make out the blob that was Trent, it appears as though he is once again rockin' the tamborine when they play it. Shake it man.

Here's the cover shot for the new album, out April 17.





Creepy.

Every Day Is Exactly The Same

I know I have sung this song a million times before, but I'm going to run through it again.

There is no such thing as communication in my work place. I didn't feel real great this weekend (and no, the Duke loss to Carolina had nothing to do with it AND it was NOT a flagrant foul thank you very much--EDIT: OKAY, SO MAYBE IT WAS FLAGRANT, IT JUST WASN'T INTENTIONAL). I tried to get to bed early, but I know I didn't fall asleep till around 11 pm. I got up around 5:15 to be sure and get to work on time for the lamest two hours of my life, aka. the managers meeting.

I get to the store a tad late, around 6:57 and there is no one inside the store, but there is atleast one other person who doesn't have keys sitting in their car in the parking lot. A minute or so later, fearless leader arrives. Myself and the music manager get out of our cars and go towards the door. As I'm getting nearer to leader guy, he's giving me the "what are you doing here" look. Which, should really be named the "once again I forgot to tell people we aren't having a meeting" look.

I said, "So, I guess we aren't having a meeting today?"

Him, "Didn't you look at your schedule?"

OKAY! I have to pause for a second.

First: My schedule never changes. Even when I'm on vacation, my schedule is written the same. This sort of explains why I usually don't get paid for my vacation until I point out how someone once again fucked it up. There is no reason for me to look at my schedule.

Second: This is MY fault?! I'm sorry. Last time I checked, in theory, we are supposed to have meetings every week. The major exception is during the holiday season. If we weren't having a meeting would it have been that difficult to tell us at the end of last week's meeting?

I go inside, mad as hell. About 40 steps in, I decide I'm going to go home and go back to bed. We were supposed to be getting a large delivery and my time would be better spent working my normal shift. I tell "him" this and go in back to leave a note for Jinn. As I'm heading out, "he" lets me out the door and says, "I checked the schedule and you were written down for 7 am."

(THAT'S RIGHT YOU WANKER!!!! EVEN WITHOUT LOOKING AT MY SCHEDULE I'M STILL CORRECT!!!!) Apparently, he'd given a manager's schedule to the person who writes everyone else's schedule and she had not noted the difference. So, basically, he's shifting the blame onto another person.

Here's the rub. He's never written my schedule. He writes the schedules for all the key holding managers. I'm not sure about music and cafe. Suddenly, last month, my name appears on his master list and I got a copy of it. This month I got no copy of his schedule so I'm assuming it was a fluke. In theory, the assistant manager who is doing scheduling "writes" my schedule even though all they do is copy and paste it because IT NEVER CHANGES. And, when it does change, it never gets written correctly and I end up having to fix it myself.

Long story long, I went home and slept for a couple hours. Ate some cereal before leaving the house because it was pretty much my lunch time at this point and ended up at work 10 minutes late. Although, I think the ten minutes I wasted this morning makes up for it (this of course doesn't cover the hour wasted in drive time back and forth this a.m.).

WATCH IT:

Robin Hood (BBC America) The story has been jazzed up a bit for a modern audience and the editing got a little artsy craftsy for my taste, but I still enjoyed the premiere episode a ton.

LISTEN TO IT:

NIN-Every Day Is Exactly The Same (duh)

READ IT:

Look At My Striped Shirt: Confessions Of The People You Love To Hate by The Phat Phree

A collection of pseudo essays/diary type entries "written" by the annoying people that exsist in this world. My faves included "We're Just Like Sex and the City," "Being A Cop Makes Me Important," "I Have A Request, Mr. DJ," "My Eighth-Grade Dance: An Open Apology," and my absolute fave "The World Is My Phone Booth!" The ones that came closest to being me were "I Have A Request, Mr. DJ" which pretty much argued that some classic rocks songs should never be played again, "I Have Amazing Taste In Music, " though I think my love for a couple of Madonna cd's rules me out of being that much of a music snob, and "Read My Blog!!," though I'm hoping I don't sound like a lame high schooler and I prefer to actually write out words most of the time.

Speaking of blogging, our CEO name dropped in one of his comment replies the other day. He mentioned he'd met Eddie Vedder a couple of months ago. Oh, and he "only gets to go to London once or twice a year on business." Yeah, sounds like a rough life. How's that stock fraud investigation going by the way?

Work Woes

I have discovered that if I were ever to write a novel I would only number the chapters, not "name" them. I usually struggle with a title for this damn blog. I'd hate to think of how I would do with some real writing.

On to some stories from work:

The picture on the left will mean something only to people who work or have worked at the store.

This past Friday we had two mis-haps involving managers. First, I get a call at 7:30am on Friday. Jinn isn't going to be able to come in to work 'cuz she's sick. She can't get anyone to answer the phone at the store. I take a shower and by the time I'm out and dressed, around 8:10, I get another call because there is still no answer at the store. When I get to work at 9:30, I ask our fearless leader if there was a problem with the phones. He wants to know why I'm asking.

I now know he has yet to realize that Jinn has not shown up for her shift. Feel the love people. Soak it in. Anyway, I tell him about no one answering and I find out that two managers switched shifts and the opening manager "forgot" he was supposed to open. The manager he switched with got calls on her cell phone and she called him to wake him up and remind him. He arrived about an hour later than he should of and had atleast 4 people waiting in the parking lot and atleast 2 people trying to call in sick for the day. The sad bit is this is not the first time this manager has made this mistake. It's happened one other time I know of. This is also the same manager who frequently forgets his keys.

Just last week, our closing receiver turned over the key to the back door to this manager, which is what we are supposed to do. He took it home, didn't bring it back the next day (so, we had to page a manager to the back anytime we wanted to lock or unlock the door), and when he worked the following day left it in his car the entire day and couldn't be bothered to go get it until his shift was over.

To continue with Friday, the closing manager locked an employee in the store. I'm still unclear as to how this happened. I would think the lights suddenly going off would make a person yell out "Wait for me!!," but what do I know. The manager got all the way home and had to turn around to re-secure the store while the employee waited with the cops in the parking lot.

Back to the first manager, I just heard a story today that he left his phone in receiving the other morning. When an employee needs help from a manager, we call their specific phone. Jinn said the phone sat in receiving for 90 min. She thinks it rang about 12 or more times during that time period. Finally, he came back to find the phone. The question is this: were the 12 calls from employees looking for help or were they from the manager trying to find the phone? I'm not sure which is more disturbing.

Okay, it's getting late and I'm getting tired. I'll probably write an Oscar re-cap, maybe...I still need to watch all of it. I had to go to bed early to go to the pointless manager's meeting the following morning.

Stay safe.