Shopping Bitchy-ness

Warning to Laura: You've may have already read this...

Today on my way home I stopped at the local grocery store to pick up a few things. I had enough items on my list that it wouldn't fit in the basket, but not enough for a regular cart. Just recently, the store added a sort of mini cart. I snag one of those and I realize that I am pushing the "single-pathetic-loser" cart. The cart designed for single people who are not buying enough food to feed any sort of group. The larger carts mock the singles cart. They invite it to parties and try to hook it up with the divorced carts that are hanging out by the back porch 'cuz that's the only place they are allowed to smoke. The larger carts talk about their kids (the baskets) and show pictures of their trips to Disney and talk about how fufilling it is to have baskets because you really discover who you are and what life really means. Then the larger carts complain about how they would love to have just one day where they did whatever they want without having to check first with their spousal cart or find a basket sitter. Oh, to only be able to go to a movie alone, they sigh. Yes, the single's cart. It holds the right amount for one person, but also has a storage shelf on the bottom for that big ass bag of cat food. AAARRRGHHHH!!!!

My life, encapsulated in the form of a shopping cart...without the cat food.

Okay, it's not that bad, but I got on a bit of a roll there.
I decided to change up the page a bit visually. Let me know if you like or don't.

Cruel Summer

I have now come to believe that the entire fate of the summer movie season will be resting on the shoulders of Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix. Well, that one, a few indies and maybe Live Free or Die Hard...or whatever Die Hard 4 is called.

As you can tell by the picture, I went and saw Pirates 3. I could almost end the review right there to be truthful. Here's what I liked. The big battle sequence at the end was fairly impressive (although it was way too long). Seeing Chow Yun Fat in digital projection was pretty sweet.

That's about it.

Sorry gang. The movie is too damn long. The plot is weak. The best part of the flicks, Capt. Jack and his insane humor, seemed to be missing for a good portion of the movie. The balance between funny and serious falls too often on the serious side, but the plot strains under the attempt at creating an emotionally charged movie. The sequence involving Jack being trapped in the purgatory that is Davy Jones' locker could have been trimmed; it just got boring to be honest. The Keith Richards cameo was a lost opportunity.

I just didn't like it. I don't think I feel the amount of disappointment I felt about Spiderman 3, but the disappointment is still there. The movies are based off of a freakin' theme park ride for goodness sake! Mid-way through Pirates 2 we decided to shift to doing Das Boot and we seem to get stuck there.

I did, however, get to see a trailer for The Golden Compass and it looked amazing.

Just a quick FYI, I'm on vacation this week so the blogs may be a bit sparse unless I do something more exciting with my time than take down the curtains and wash them. I am planning on going to see Waitress. Hopefully it will save my faith in cinema.

WATCH IT:

Meatballs is coming to DVD on June 5th and I am completely freakin' excited. Bill Murray is a god. Revisit the days when the coming of age flick was still a bit innocent and pretty damn funny. Plus, there's a fun song to sing.

LISTEN TO IT:

Oasis--Don't Believe The Truth I've been listening to this as I've been typing tonight. I'm currently on the last song "Let There Be Love." I've always been a little perplexed by how much I love Oasis, yet I'm not that much of a Beatles fan. Weird.

Logic Is Elusive at 1 am

Today I was giving Jinn the rundown on the Lost finale and in the midst of explaining why I thought Ben could not possibly be the person in the coffin, I shot down my psuedo theory on Ben being Kate's "him."
Also, right before nodding off, it struck me that perhaps Naomi had the book and photo of Des because her group intercepted the Russian's who were looking for him. Who the hell knows.

My Head Hurts

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING:

IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE SEASON FINALE OF LOST YET AND YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, DON'T READ THIS BLOG ENTRY.

Okay, I think we're amongst friends. WHAT THE HELL? It's 1:15 am and I am still trying to work this out. In my defense, I got home from hanging with some friends around 9pm so I didn't start watching my tape until just after 10.

I guess I'll go through this chronologically--sort of, you'll know what I mean--

Here are some thoughts:

First off, during the credits I got excited because I saw the actor who plays Walt was listed.

The Jack/Juliet smooch was a little weird, especially considering not too long after that Jack tells Kate he loves her. So what's up with the kiss? Has Jack given up on Kate for the time being because he saw her and Sawyer's porno? Or, is he playing nice with Juliet for another reason?

Loved the Nirvana song playing when Jack was driving to the funeral home. "Scentless Apprentice" if you didn't catch it. Weird that a song "based" on a book (Perfume) which was turned into a movie has now been in a tv show.

Bernard! Dude, LIE!!! You could have told them the gang went to go hide. You didn't have to tell them the true freakin' plan. Thankfully Tom didn't actually shoot the boys.

Hey Alex, meet your mom for the first time. Mom stare lovingly at daughter then suggest the ultimate bonding experience---let's tie up your father!

Hurley, we hurt because we love.

Hurley part 2: the van kicks ass, but where was the music? Did the 8 track get tossed out after the last adventure?

Naomi and Penny--so Penny has a direct link to the island, perhaps Dharma is a part of her father's business dealings? If Naomi wasn't part of Penny's efforts to find Desmond, then why does she have a picture of him in her copy of Catch 22? And, why was the book in a foreign language? Did she pick it up during a prior mission? Or, does Penny just not know the names of everyone working for her trying to find Des? I mean, she had some Russian dudes working on it before. Man, this chick has connections. Also, has she just been sitting around her webcam, or whatever, waiting for someone to receive the signal?

How does Ben know on sight that Naomi is not someone to be trusted, assuming he was telling the truth?

Why didn't Charlie just get out of the room? The blast broke the window and sent the water rushing in, but the whole place was huge and I'm sure he and Des could have gotten those tanks on and swum out of there. Why do only certain people die on this damn island?

Locke is alive!!! And he had a vision of Walt...or someone/something who morphed into Walt. Legs still work and he seems to have held his own against that bullet. Why didn't he tell Jack he saw Walt? Why did he let Jack make the phone call?

And on to the big one--

The flashbacks were actually flashforwards. But...

If they were true flashforwards, then Jack got off the island, but Jack is way fucked up. The chief of surgery says he was a hero a second time--meaning the first was getting atleast some people off the island. Jack mentions his father as though his father was still alive, but was he just really messed up from the drugs and the drinking? Or, as some people theorize, is his father alive? But, if his dad is alive, was he "re-born" on the island? I seem to remember that Jack went Down Under to pick up his father's body--meaning someone declared him dead. If dad was re-born and now at the hospital, then he would need to be found at some point and rescued with the castaways. And, how the hell do you explain that to the hospital staff?

Jack's ex-wife is with child and they are so not speaking to each other. I can't remember if we've seen a flashback that gives us a timeframe for when they broke up. I know we knew it happened, but I'm trying to get events in the right order.

It takes till the end of the episode before we find out that Jack had called Kate. She meets Jack secretly and talks about having to go back to "him." Jack asks why she wasn't at the funeral, and she pretty much tells him she had no reason to go. Who is in the casket? Some of the postings I've read this morning have been leaning towards Ben, Jacob, or Locke, possibly Sawyer. People who have a lot of time and technology have freeze framed and posted pictures of the obit Jack was reading. You can't make everything out, but you do know this person was in LA, it was a man and the name started with Jo and the last name had "antham" as its last letters. It also appears the body was discovered shortly after 4. At first I was leaning toward it being Michael. Kate might still be pissed at him for what he did to her, Jack and Sawyer. But, you'd think she'd understand doing some sort of extreme behavior to save someone you love ('Cuz nothing says I love you mom like toasting your abusive father).

Jack says they weren't supposed to leave and that they have to go back. He also admits that he has been using his "golden pass" to repeatedly fly in the general area of the original crash hoping that the plane he is on will go down. So, the airline must have given them free fare for life to make up for the whole crash incident. The man clearly has developed a death wish along with his nearly manic desire to, presumably, return to the island.

Who is the "him" Kate is talking about? And why the hell isn't she in jail? Did they make some sort of deal with the devil and the "him" is Ben? That could easily drive Jack insane. He purposely spared Ben so that Ben would see he was wrong and that Jack was right...that Jack could save everyone. If they have to work with Ben to get back, that would crush Jack. Is Kate in hiding from the law now or did she get some sort of get out of jail free card when she returned?

OR--could this not be a true flashforward and instead is just a possible end to the story?

Jack makes the call even though John says it's not supposed to happen this way. The guy on the other end of the line sounds friendly enough and it sounds like first thing next season atleast someone is getting off the island. We "know" from Des's premonition that Claire and her baby get off the island in a helicopter, and Des seemed to think that the two of them were going to safety. John just sort of slinks off for whatever reason. Des is still in the underwater facility, but he has tanks so he can get back to the surface. Plus, he has to tell someone that Naomi doesn't seem to work for Penny. The rest of the gang is on the beach--with Juliet. Is this going to be a problem? Jack will probably just radio Hurley and tell them help is on the way. And what about the Others going to the temple? Why did they have to go there?

It seems to me that if the end of the series really is that Jack goes bonkers and he and Kate have a strained relationship at best, that would not give a person reason to watch for 3 more years. One theory floating around is that season 4 doesn't take place on the island. That it instead involves everyone trying to get back to the island because home now really sucks. That just sounds weird to me. I'm sticking with my idea that the flashforwards are just an example of what might happen and that Jack will have the chance to change these events. (OH, and if everyone is getting off the island right away, why bother with setting up the whole Jin might die 'cuz she's preggers thing?)

I'm sure I'm way off somewhere. Tired now. Going to bed. Discuss at your leisure.

blah

WARNING: IF YOU'RE A GUY YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP OVER MOST OF TONIGHT'S ENTRY. IT'S RATHER GIRLY AND SORTA PMS-Y. SORRY.

I've been feeling very old the last few days. I don't know if I've been living in denial for the last couple of years, but ever since my birthday in Feb. I seem to notice pain and the aging process more. I get home and my feet hurt, sometimes my legs and arms hurt. I'm usually scratched up and have paper/cardboard cuts on my fingers.

This weekend I went to a child's birthday party and a graduation party (in the midst of inventory prep of course). It took forever to find something to wear. I know I've put on some weight in the last month or so. I haven't been eating very well as far as lunches go. I haven't done too bad at home, but I just got tired of the same freakin' chicken salad everyday. Anyway, I went through about 4 shirts that fit fine two summers ago, but now are of the sort that you can wear standing up. You know, they are fine when you are upright, but sit down and the freak show that is your middle section (or for me my barrel-esque chest---thanks dad---and my middle and my lower gut) suddenly balloons and you are frak out of luck. My jeans have been okay, so it's mostly right in the middle. Long story long, I just felt crappy which I'm sure didn't make me the best company this weekend.

GENTLEMEN, YOU MAY RETURN AT THIS POINT:

Okay, enough of that. Inventory was okay. The people that do the counting seemed less forlorn this year. One of them was actually our bug guy a couple of years ago. Things seemed to go by without incident. Well, if you don't count music guy (mentioned in the Lynyrd Skynyrd entry) who walked around with his headphones on most of the time apparently attempting to contact, as Kathy said, "the mothership." I got home around 2:50am.

Watched the 400th Simpsons this morning when I got up and I gotta say they did a great job with their homage to 24. Hell, they did a better 24 episode than 24 has done the last few weeks. Speaking of 24, tonight's finale was sorta not that exciting. Not much happened in the first hour and the big action stuff was done by 30 past in the second hour. You got the sense that everyone on the show was just glad to wrap this one up. I read a blurb recently where the producers said they didn't have a clear path for this year and they realized it about half way through, hence alot of similarities to things they've done before. They are hoping to move the action to somewhere other than L.A., but that will cost money so they don't know if it will happen. I'm sure I will still check it out next Jan.

WATCH IT:

Futurama--reruns on Cartoon Network, new eps coming to Comedy Central in '08. Matt Groening's other cartoon that is at least as good as The Simpsons, if not better. Very smart and really heartfelt--not many adult cartoons have made me cry.

LISTEN TO IT:

Minutes To Midnight-Linkin Park---okay, for some of you this may ruin my music cred in your eyes, but I like this band. Their new cd was produced by Rick Rubin and you can tell it. To me, Rubin records a band in a very clean, but not sterile manner. He strips away pretense and just leaves the band to fend for themselves. I know one of the members did a side project last year and his rap stuff is barely around on this album so I wonder how much he worked on this record. Instead, you have more of a true rock album (rather than a rock/rap/electronic hybrid) featuring the lead singer's voice. It is still Linkin Park, but I don't think Jay-Z will be snagging samples from this cd anytime soon and that isn't a bad thing.

up all night for no good reason

Charlie is still alive, for now. Why the hell he started yelling when he got inside the underwater facility, I don't know. So he's alive, Claire's baby is probably going to choke on the ring Charlie left in his crib. The kid is getting grabby and the damn thing is shiny--that spells trouble in my book. The episode felt like it was biding time until this week's big finale. And it damn well better be flippin' huge. On a completely pointless side, I did notice Jack's hair is starting to grow out more which is a good thing. Stupid I know, but I don't have time to freeze frame through the entire ep to find hidden people so I'll enjoy this instead.

Inventory is tonight and I spent about 6 1/2 at the store yesterday getting ready. I felt quite sore when I was done, but the process should go smoothly because of what we were able to get done earlier in the week. Our fearless leader asked me about half way through the day if working on Sat. was going to send me into overtime. He didn't ask how things were going. He didn't ask if I needed any assistance. No, the big concern is me getting paid too much money. I told him I was fine because I'd taken Wed. off during the week to make sure my hours were okay. Good to see he can read a schedule.

I have a graduation party to go to on my way to work tonight. I was going to try and hit two, but I'm not sure I'll have the opportunity to do so. It seems just a bit weird to know people I've been around since they were little are now old enough to go to a real prison when they commit a crime. Screw that juvy stuff.

Okay, this is short and a bit boring, but I'm tired. Think I'll take a nap before I have to go in to the store. 24 update pending--explosions on an oil rig, possible Chloe in pain, Jack will surely be angsty---let's hope it ends on a strong note.

Music Snobs

First off, Happy 42nd Birthday to Mr. Trent Reznor. His birthday is the 17th and he is either in Australia or en route to Japan so I guess that rules out the surprise party here. Oh well.

I have today off since I will be working the entire flippin' weekend thanks to inventory. Have I mentioned how much I hate inventory yet?

Here are a couple of quick things:

Last week, I went into the breakroom to get a drink. Two of the folks that work in our music department were also there. The guy seems to radiate "slacker music snob." Now, I've talked to him very briefly a couple of times and he's an okay guy. Anyway, he'd brought in his "baby," a guitar his dad bought him for X-mas. The music chick starts ooing and ahhhing over it. Without prompting, he pulls out the guitar and starts playing.

In these situations, I usually react one of two ways. I either stand by somewhat impressed or I want to take the guitar and smash it like John Belushi does in Animal House. He plays for several moments, so to be silly I call out "Freebird!!!!" And, do you know what happened?

NOTHING!!! I got absolutely no damn reaction. Are these people humorless? Are they beyond a beloved Lynyrd Skynyrd reference that many concert goers and music lovers understand and enjoy? Seriously, I yelled out "Freebird" when I went and saw Sting and he was trolling for requests (he played Roxanne instead, bastard). These people have no soul.

Got an update on the UFO story from several posts ago. It happened during the day at Northwoods mall. One of our regulars says he saw two orange lights move quickly in the sky down towards the lot then they suddenly stopped, shot off in opposite directions and vanished. He says there were other people in the lot near him who saw it too. Weird.

WATCH IT:

Lost is starting to wrap up. I think Jackie and I talked about the last episode for about 30 or so minutes the other day. Is Charlie going to die tonight? And how did Ben and Rousseau (sp) hook up? Really looking forward to next weeks 2 hour ep. It better be damn good since that's all we will have till Feb. of next year!

LISTEN TO IT:

Nine Inch Nails--"The Good Soldier" Celebrate the birth of lovely Trent by enjoying this groove filled track from the latest cd.

READ IT:

Still reading Fair and Balanced My Ass and loving every second of it. I am currently on the chapter describing how John Gibson is the whitest man in America.

Short and...short

Clue #1 that you need more to do in your life--you have the local state's attorney website bookmarked so you can check to see if a former co-worker has been indicted yet.
Last Gilmore Girls Tues. night. The show was great for the first 6 seasons, but this last one has been hit or miss. It'll still go off without truely jumping the shark though, which is an accomplishment.
Speaking of--The Simpsons 400th episode is Sun. They are actually running 2 ep's back to back. Kiefer Sutherland is on #399 playing Jack Bauer. I saw a clip when Kiefer was on Leno a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty funny. Saw the huge ass Simpson family on the couch display for the new movie at the theater this weekend. Some kid got his mom to take a picture of him sitting next to Homer. Was a wee bit jealous. Tried to figure out how to get it into my car with no luck.

28 Weeks Later Spiderman 3 will still be boring

Yesterday I went and saw both 28 Weeks Later and Spiderman 3. Here's the scoop.

28 Weeks Later:

Sequel to 28 Days Later, which is one of my favorite films. I think I saw it 4 times in the theaters, maybe 5. I was excited about the sequel because it was going to be directed by the guy who did Intacto, which I really liked. Plus, the director was hand chosen by the director of the original. So far so good.

Sadly, the film turns out to be a bit of a let down. It started out well enough. One of my fave actors (another plus) Robert Carlyle plays a survivor who is hiding out in a cottage with his wife and 4 others. They are quietly eating dinner in a dark room lit only by candles. A loud banging comes from the door and they can hear a young boy on the other side begging to be let in. They rip away the planks securing the door and let him in. He's being followed by a crap load of "infected" and all hell breaks loose. Robert ends up abandoning his wife to the ickies and is the only one who gets out alive. The scene is really creepy and intense and had me feeling good for how the rest of the film was gonna go.

SPOLIER ALERT

The films ends up being a bunch of horror moments tossed together without giving us time to feel any sort of connection with the characters. Robert's character is reunited with his son and daughter who were away on a school trip during the outbreak. He doesn't tell them the whole story about their mom's death because he's ashamed. Not long after, we find out Mom survived. She apparently has a gene mutation that makes her a carrier for the Rage virus, but not a true infected. Because the virus is spread through bodily fluids and Robert doesn't know his wife is a carrier, when he kisses her he goes all rage-y pretty quickly. Meet your new "bad" guy.

Here's where the film seems to lose itself. I could sort of work with the idea that maybe Robert's character held onto a part of himself and would recognize his family. That didn't happen in the original, but I'm willing to let a virus spread from a carrier be a slightly different thing. What I didn't like was Robert's constant persual of the kids. Seriously, it was like seeing Jason or Michael Meyers in this flick. The kids were running all over the place with the help of a couple of adults. They had no knowable plan for where they were going. Yet, bam, everytime we needed some sort of new threat, there was dad! Arrghhhh.

Oh, I was also a bit annoyed that the infected seemed to survive a napalm-esque firebombing of the streets of London and a chemical weapons attack. But, ya smack 'em in the head hard enough they are freakin' toast.

There were enjoyable gore moments and the actors were all fine in their roles. Robert's performance really sells the opening sequence. But the movie just didn't seem to have it's own identity or voice--quite literally, as they used a ton of music from the original, which the first time I heard it brought back a fond chill, but then it just got tiresome.

Still, I think I liked 28 Weeks Later better than Spiderman 3.

Oh, Spiderman, what the hell happened? 2 1/2 hours and nothing really seems to happen. Sure there are plenty of action sequences and many sad looks, but nothing actually happens.

SPOLIER TIME AGAIN

Don't get me wrong, I love Sam Raimi. I love Tobey Maguire. I am not such a hard core fan of the Spiderman comic that I can't allow some creative storytelling. But come on people. You know the whole initial emotional crux of the first movie? The big moment that sent Peter full on into his quest to be Spiderman? Guess what--didn't happen like that 'cuz we need a plot for the third movie. Oh, but we can't let the bad guy be a truely bad guy so we make him a thief who stole to get money for his sick kid.

Then we have MJ making her Broadway debut, she gets slammed in reviews and is upset that Peter doesn't seem to understand how she feels. And she's mad that he tries to tell her he understands by using references to his experience as Spiderman, which just horks her off.

We have three bad guys, Sandman, New Goblin and Venom. Sandman is the thief, New Goblin is Harry (who has a brief bit of amnesia and a horrid dancing scene with MJ), and Venom is new guy Eddie Brock. The movie is all over the place. Spidey fights Goblin (in a pretty cool sequence). Goblin gets boo-boo, thinks Pete is his friend again, has a hallucination about his dad, remembers everything then ruins Pete's life by making MJ break up with him.

Convoluted enough for you yet?

Wait! There's more. Sandman and Spidey fight. Sandy kicks Spidey's rear until Spidey gets all black suited and becomes an asshole. See, there was this meteor that fell to Earth. Black ooze came out and attached itself to Pete's scooter and snuck it's way into the apartment then it hid in the shadows (I think for a couple of days) until there was a storm and it could dramatically attach itself to Pete and make him Spiderman The Dick.

The Black Spiderman was supposed to be a metaphor showing how too much ego can infect a person. Spiderman is all about metaphor, yet this just became an excuse for Peter to walk down the street like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, brush his bangs in front of his face (which to be honest, was working for me), and then dance provocatively with Gwen Stacy in front of MJ at her new job (she is a singing waitress at a Jazz Club---ughhhh). Now, I will say this for Tobey. He can dance, those years of yoga have made him quite flexible. Had I seen this sequence and the Travolta walk sequence seperate from the film and seperate from each other I would have laughed at the walk (in a good way) and been intrigued by the manipulative nature of the dance.

But, because the film never seems to find the right balance between humor and drama, the first scene felt completely out of place and the second could have been cut down a bit to be more effective.

There was no reason for Gwen Stacy to be in this movie.

The big finale finds Spidey having to ask Goblin for help to save MJ. Pete and Harry make up and Harry gets to redeem himself. Spidey/Pete forgives Sandman for accidently killing his uncle and Venom gets blown up even though Pete tried to save Eddie from the goo. Oh, and MJ and Pete make up too.

They should have skipped the Sandman and Gwen storylines and just stuck with Harry and Venom. Having Harry threaten MJ with Pete's death was enough to get her to break up with him which was enough for him to give in to the powers of the dark Spidey suit. Maybe just Venom at the end wouldn't have been enough of a bad guy for Spidey to need help fighting, but Venom could have been given more attention and thus made a bigger bad guy. I don't know, maybe none of what I've brought up would have mattered.

The score was also disappointing. Danny Elfman didn't work on this one and you can tell. The music for the second Harry/Pete confrontation just seemed too cartoon-y for what we were supposed to be feeling emotionally. And there were a couple of other musical mis-steps as well.

Now I'll tell you what I did like:

Newspaper boss JJ's riff with his secretary over the taking of his blood pressure pills.

Bruce Campbell's cameo.

The second fight between Harry and Pete, as far as the action goes that is.

Tobey's bangs and his dancing. Oh, and the shower scene (what can I say, I'm a chick).

Damn, that's about 30 minutes worth of stuff. No wonder this film felt like it went on forever.

I can't think of what comes out this weekend so it looks like Pirates 3 is going to be the next big one to check out. I'm going to say a little prayer before going in to the theater.

Lost quickie

I saw something online yesterday, but didn't get the chance to check it out till tonight. Apparently, someone was sitting in the shack with Ben and Locke. If you are a complete dork, you could go through frame by frame and spot a guy sitting in the chair that Ben was talking to when all hell broke loose.
The still picture I saw made Jacob look like Locke with a bad rug on his head. The one Lost site I went to had tons of comments talking about Jacob being an evil version of Locke or that the smokey thing manifests itself as something people will recognize--other people, familiar people, etc. Beats the hell out of me. Something is definitely not quite right.
Have to quickly mention that last night's ep of The Office was one of their best. It was freakin' great to see Pam stand up for herself. Jenna Fischer plays Pam so well; she really deserves to be recognized for all her talent in this role.

puppies are cute

HA! Gotta ya! Puppies are, in fact, cute. But, that statement has nothing to do with the subject of this blog.

First, Lost. What the fa...? So, Ben is Carrie now? For a bit, I thought he has multiple personality disorder (and could ya blame the guy--dad's birthday greeting of "this is the day you killed your mother" doesn't really scream out Hallmark does it). But when crap started flying around, I began to have Sissy Spacek flashbacks. And if Locke is dead I will be sooooo annoyed. He is one of my favorite characters. I felt very confused after the episode ended, but I'm looking forward to the big two hour finale in a couple of weeks. Jack flashback groovieness and hopefully, the start of an Others ass kickin'. One more bit, the guy who recruited Juliet must have found the fountain of youth if he's the same guy who was talking to Ben as a kid. I need some clarification on this point.

At work, the preparation, or lack thereof, for inventory continues. Last year, when I was still responsible for damaged/defective markdowns, I had to complete them the Mon. before inventory. We weren't allowed to do d/d's after that point until inventory had been completed. Now, since we shifted that responsibility to the store manager and we no longer have actual paperwork to fill out, I'm not sure if this is still the case. None the less, I have 4 full boxes of crap, plus what's on the cart that needs to be gone through or else I have to find somewhere for it to go. I left sir mix a lot a note asking him to please do this task. Originally the note said "you MUST do this by the 14th" and ended with "if you don't it will suck." I re-wrote the note, but nothing has happened yet.

Sir Mix has also re-started a policy that we aren't allowed to read at the info desk or at the cash registers. In a small way, this idea seems to make sense. Especially when you are a head cashier and a line is forming and your co-worker asks you to come help and you tell them just a sec while you finish the page you are on. (And some managers want to move this person up in the food chain.) But, when no one is around and you've completed all the little piddly tasks, it's nice to be able to flip through a magazine or book now and again.

Here's the less than logical bit. Sir Mix did say it was okay to be milling about in front of the info desk and browse books that are on a table or stop and look at books while walking the aisles. Sir's "logic" is that customers will see you reading and think, "Gosh, that employee is expanding their knowledge of the book product they sell." The reality, I think, is the customer will think, that employee is dicking around and probably won't want to help me. Or, if they are perusing Penthouse Letters XXIV (which is so much better than XXIII), they will think, ewww I don't want this person near me.

I suppose I could be wrong though.

I got nothing people...

No real title today and no real purpose behind the picture. This is a shot of Athens that I took. The last night we were there a few of us went to the top of that big ass hill. There is a functioning church and a bar up there. I spent my last bit of money on the lift to the top and had to bum cash for the taxi ride home. Oops. One of the ladies that went with us was nice enough to buy me a soda at the bar.

I forgot to mention that last week a customer came in and claimed he'd seen a UFO at a local mall parking lot. I still need to get the details of the story, but considering some of the people that shop at our place I wasn't surprised to hear someone had made such a claim.

Our big inventory is coming up and I am not looking forward to working that night. The only place I think you can find a more depressing group of people would be at the DMV. I see these old ladies up till the crack of dawn counting books and I think, holy crud, that's me in about 30 years. Assuming Wendy's doesn't pan out of course.

24 has turned into plot convenience playhouse. I was hoping Jack's sister in law was gonna get popped, but no such luck. The actress has two facial expressions and they are both annoying. Speaking of annoying, Lost is going to stretch out their final 48 episodes over 3 seasons. 16 eps a year. And, I believe they are going to do a 24 and start their run in the winter to have it go straight through without breaks. So, we'll get 4 months of shows then have to wait 8 months for new ones. Why not just do a true 24 and give us 24 eps each year for two years? Is this a ploy to sell 3 dvd sets instead of 2? A blogger on this tv page I check out asked if the dvd's would be 33% cheaper since we'd be getting 33% fewer episodes. Valid question.

Okay, I'm tired and I want to check and see if Steve Nash got his nose gashed again.

You Say It's Your Birthday...

Today I spent about 4 or so hours with 10 children between the ages of 3 and 12. No, I was not banished to some prison full of child laborers. I was at a birthday party. 9 of these children were boys. I'm not sure I need to actually tell you anything else.

I spent a decent amount of time yelling out phrases like:

Please stop throwing (insert the following at the correct times--rocks, dirt, cherries, your younger brother).

Let's check with your mother before doing that.

At what point did wandering off into the brush seem like a good idea?

Hey! Stop that! (good for almost any situation)

Where did (kid's name here) go?

Obi-Wan is my favorite because Ewan McGregor is cute, that's why!

The day was spent in one of two places. Inside eating or outside burning off the sugar rush. The kids weren't too horrible. They were just mostly boys and the inherent testosterone frenzy often created moments of shoving, hitting and tackling. Not to mention a couple of instances of using one of the younger kids to create a distraction so the rest could go running off like madmen. I don't know how elementary school teachers do it every day.

I'm being a good friend and not going to see Spiderman 3 until my movie buddies are able to find a sitter. We made an attempt for Friday nite, but it was a no go. Now, I may be doing the two in one day option this Sat. as 28 Weeks Later comes out on the 11th. Mmmmm...zombies...and British accents...yeah.

WATCH IT:

Shortbus--rented this over the weekend and I really enjoyed it, even though I thought it lost some steam towards the end. The big controversy over this flick stemmed from it being one of the first mainstream American films where the actors are having real sex as opposed to "acting" sex. In truth, there are only a couple of times where you have a view that let's you know people are really doing it. Otherwise most of the straight folk sex looks the same and the gay sex resembles an episode of Queer As Folk with more full frontal and participation and less dancing to techno. I will say the moment involving the singing of the National Anthem had me cracking up. Ultimately the movie is about connecting with people. In this case, most of the people seem to connect or disconnect via sex (or something like sex). I thought the film was entertaining and some of the sex was pretty humorous. But, if you don't want to see the penises (or is that penisi?) of about 7 different guys you may want to skip this one.

LISTEN TO IT:

Duran Duran--Ordinary World. Seriously, this somewhat recent tune from DD gives us fans everything we want. A lovely melody, a little melancholy, Simon's fabbo voice and a sing along chorus with a build toward the end of the song. I gave in to an impulse and picked up a DD greatest hits cd and spent about a week listening to it.

READ IT:

Wired magazine--there's a great article in the latest issue about the CIA's covert operation to get six Americans out of Iran at the start of the '79 hostage crisis. The folks were able to get out of the embassy and make their way to the Canadian embassy, but needed professional help to get out of the country. It's a great story and we owe the Canadians. Did you know Canada called a special secret meeting of Parliment to give permission for the Canadian government to create real passports using fake identities to give to the 6 people trying to escape? Canada had last called such a session during WW2!

Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School

Today was a bad luck sort of day so I opted for a picture of two of my favorite things. Bunnies and Gromit. When I went and saw Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit in theaters (that's right...you heard me), I literally exclaimed "bunnies!" when the rabbits first appeared. Love the bunnies.

Here was my day:

Delayed at post office so opted to not fill up my car so I wouldn't be late to work.

Stuck behind slo-mo driver so I zigged when I normally zag and I got stopped by a train for about 8 min.

While driving to work noticed that gas had gone up from the $2.99 where I live to $3.19. FUCK ME!! Praying will not get shafted by pricing at home.

Arrive at work about 5 or so minutes late and discover a series of sheets on my desk that need to be completed by noon. It is 11:05-ish at this point. These sheets are a part of our loss prevention self audit which is done every quarter. We know we have to do them. Someone in the building knows when they are due. Almost everytime, the sheets don't get handed out till the day they are due even though we've had around 3 months to complete these freakin' things. I opt to fake my way through it somewhat as I feel the following--1) I really don't care and 2) it would normally take a couple of hours to complete it and I've got less than one so I'm not checking every tiny detail. The form finally changed this time around. Last quarter it had a question on it referring to a task that is no longer being done as of last June. We are so on top of things in this company! One question was completely foreign to me as I didn't even recognize what the form in question was and where it could be found.

Thought I'd be leaving around 3pm because we were only getting in 52 boxes. Sent Jinn home around 12:30. Got a call around 1:40 saying our truck broke down and they have no idea when it will be arriving. It got in around 4:45. I don't blame our driver at all. It just sucks that I'd gotten all excited about heading out with a half day. Instead, I left around 5:30 or so and atleast got home in time for Ugly Betty.

Only other bright spot, found a gas station on the way home that was still at $2.99. Whew.

WATCH IT:

Lost--FINALLY! Holy snot last night's episode rocked. I can say that I guessed it was going to be Sawyer offing John's dad last week. I have a witness. Josh H's acting was possibly the best I've seen this year. The look on his face when John told him he knew about his parents was heartbreaking. Whoosh.

The Road To Guantanamo--a docu-drama about 3 British guys originally who sort of stumbled into Afghanistan only to be picked up and labeled Talaban (sp) then end up spending around 3 years in Guantanamo. The real life guys do interviews which lead into actors portraying them and what happened to them. Not one of the USA's prouder moments, but compelling viewing.

LISTEN TO IT:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club--Need Some Air from Baby 81. The cd just came out and this was a stand-out track. The band has gone from Jesus and Mary Chain-ish rock to something more alt-country and now to blues influenced rock. Love them no matter what they are doing.