Friday, December 31, 2004

in place of one goes another....

Sorry for the late update but I've been mad busy. Christmas was fun. I received a very nice bedding set and a flat-screen TV. However, said television has grey streaks running through its image. So I'll be taking it back for an exchange or to get another flat-screen TV.

I still haven't had time to go see any movies as of yet. But I WILL be seeing The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and Closer sometime this weekend as I get paid today.

I just finished watching Lost In Translation and WOW. Every single wonderful word that's been written about it is so very true. It makes you feel tired, drunk on sake, hopeful, sad, impressed, hungry for sushi, and tinged with longing. Scarlett Johansson is a luminous, radiant, ethereal beauty. I'll post a review in the next fortnight, I promise. And excuse me, Academy, but how the fuck do you give Sean Penn an Oscar for the overpraised piece of shit that Mystic River turned out to be? Talk about much ado about nothing. If Bill Murray doesn't take home Oscar gold this year, I'll be mucho pissed. Or as the 'Genius' Issue of Esquire magazine recently said of Mr. Murray: "WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE THIS MAN AN OSCAR?!"

2005 is slowly approaching and as I look forward I hope that you reading this have a wonderful year. I hope that all of my friends, family, and loved ones will as well. I'd like to write more, read more, become more cultured. My goal is to travel to London before 2006. I'd love nothing more. This is my major plan for the new year and I'll keep you updated on its progress. The year will also mean another lonely annual with no girl on my arm. It stings but I'm not a moper. Less money to spend on gifts and lavish love tokens. It'd still be nice, however, but fate has made up its mind that that is not in the cards for me. So be it.


I had to work from 6-11 tonight. Nothing too taxing and I had fun. Two night shift people are being trained in Assistant Manager positions (different shifts), so I'm having to cover the in-between until they get all situated. Tomorrow I'm working 5-10 and the same on Saturday. Sunday I'm off and hopefully after next week I'll be back to my usual schedule of being off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And for the rare non sequitur, I got a haircut and thus feel thirty pounds lighter.


Today I plan to purchase this:

Battlestar Galactica - The Miniseries

I've heard great things of it and look forward to immersing myself in its storyline. Let's face it, sci-fi as a genre has been severely lacking on television as of late. And all I keep hearing is just how dark and intelligent this is. Also I've never really watched the original '70s series.

Then on Friday, January 14th at 9PM/8C, SCI FI will debut....

Battlestar Galactica

Our friends across the pond have been watching the series on UK's Sky One since October and word of mouth has been increasingly good. Also, pay close attention for a shot of the ship Serenity, from Firefly 10 minutes into the premier episode. Zoic Studios, the visual effects studio that won an Emmy for their work on Firefly, is also doing the work for Battlestar Galactica and threw that in as an in-joke. Zoic will also be doing the effects for the movie Serenity.

So for all things Battlestar Galactica, please visit

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar

Monday, December 20, 2004

this one goes to eleven...

I have new glasses. Those oh-so-trendy black frames that everyone seems to be wearing now. I had to have them refitted today.

Work started out as a decent time but then slowly descended into a bitter clusterfuck, with movies and an irritating overabundance of customers. Look, it's 30 degrees outside. Make some dinner, gather the family, and spend some time together. Don't expect new releases to be in on this pre-holiday week. Plus there's the added bonus of the brats being out of school for almost two weeks.

I recently bought the 1991 novel by Sebastien Japrisot, A Very Long Engagement. It is set during and after the first World War. It's the story of a young woman's search for her fiance, whom she believes might still be alive despite having officially been reported as "killed in the line of duty". Unable to walk since childhood, fearless Mathilde Donnay is undeterred in her quest as she scours the country for information about five wounded French soldiers who were brutally abandoned by their own troops. A Very Long Engagement is a mystery, a love store, and an extraordinary portrait of life in France before and after the War.

A Very Long Engagement is now a major motion picture from Warner Independent Pictures -
http://wip.warnerbros.com

Here's the movie's official website -
http://www.averylongengagement.com

It stars Audrey Tautou from Amelie and is co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of Delicatessen, The City Of Lost Children, and Amelie. I cannot wait to read this book and see the movie. The movie is in very limited release but it's rumored to have Oscar buzz all over it, so we should be getting it after the holidays. I had a coupon from Media Play, so a $14 book became $9.

Lastly, here's the awesome trailer for the movie.

A Very Long Engagement
http://www.apple.com/trailers/warner_independent_pictures/averylongengagement.html

As promised, here are my thoughts on the upcoming 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards...

TV

My choices are denoted with an asterisk - *
The ones I think will win are denoted with a plus sign - +
The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast LIVE Sunday, January 16th at 8PM Eastern on NBC.

Here they are!

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series - Drama


  • Michael Chiklis - The Shield
  • Denis Leary - Rescue Me
  • Julian McMahon - nip/tuck+
  • Ian McShane - Deadwood
  • James Spader - Boston Legal*

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

  • Jason Bateman - Arrested Development*+
  • Zach Braff - Scrubs
  • Larry David - curb your enthusiasm
  • Matt LeBlanc - Joey
  • Tony Shaloub - Monk
  • Charlie Sheen - Two And A Half Men

Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series - Drama

  • Edie Falco - The Sopranos+
  • Jennifer Garner - Alias
  • Mariska Hargitay - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • Christine Lahti - Jack & Bobby*
  • Joely Richardson - nip/tuck

Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series - Musical or Comedy

  • Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives+
  • Teri Hatcher - Desperate Housewives*
  • Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
  • Debra Messing - Will & Grace
  • Sarah Jessica Parker - Sex and the City

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

  • Arrested Development*
  • Desperate Housewives+
  • entourage
  • Sex and the City
  • Will & Grace

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made For Television

  • American Family - Journey of Dreams
  • Iron Jawed Angels*
  • The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
  • The Lion In Winter
  • Something The Lord Made+

Best Performance By An Actress In A Miniseries Or A Motion Picture Made For Television

  • Glenn Close - The Lion In Winter
  • Blythe Danner - Back When We Were Grown Ups
  • Julianna Margulies - The Grid
  • Miranda Richardson - The Lost Prince
  • Hilary Swank - Iron Jawed Angels*+

Best Performance By An Actor In A Miniseries Or A Motion Picture Made For Television

  • Mos Def - Something The Lord Made*
  • Jamie Foxx - Redemption
  • William H. Macy - The Wool Cap
  • Geoffrey Rush - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers+
  • Patrick Stewart - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made For Television

  • Drea De Matteo - The Sopranos
  • Anjelica Huston - Iron Jawed Angels*
  • Nicolette Sheridan - Desperate Housewives+
  • Charlize Theron - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
  • Emily Watson - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made For Television

  • Sean Hayes - Will & Grace
  • Michael Imperioli - The Sopranos+
  • Jeremy Piven - entourage*
  • Oliver Platt - Huff
  • William Shatner - Boston Legal

MOTION PICTURE

Once again my picks are denoted with an asterisk - *

Who I think will win is denoted with a +

I believe Sideways may win in a few surprise categories as the industry buzz is at full-tilt on this one.

It screened at the Savannah Film Festival and is from the writers and director of Citizen Ruth, Election and About Schmidt

Here they are! The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast LIVE at 8PM Eastern Sunday, January 16th on NBC.

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture - Drama

  • Scarlett Johansson - A Love Song For Bobby Long*
  • Nicole Kidman - Birth
  • Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
  • Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby+
  • Uma Thurman - Kill Bill Vol. 2

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

  • Annette Bening - Being Julia
  • Ashley Judd - De Lovely
  • Emmy Rossum - Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of The Opera+
  • Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind*
  • Renee Zellweger - Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy

  • Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind*
  • The Incredibles
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of The Opera
  • Ray+
  • Sideways

Best Director - Motion Picture

  • Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
  • Marc Forster - Finding Neverland
  • Mike Nichols - Closer*
  • Alexander Payne - Sideways+
  • Martin Scorsese - The Aviator

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture -Drama

  • Javier Bardem - The Sea Inside
  • Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda*
  • Johnny Depp - Finding Neverland+
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator
  • Liam Neeson - Kinsey

Best Motion Picture - Drama

  • The Aviator
  • Closer*
  • Finding Neverland+
  • Hotel Rwanda
  • Kinsey
  • Million Dollar Baby

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture -Musical Or Comedy

  • Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind*
  • Jamie Foxx - Ray+
  • Paul Giamatti - Sideways
  • Kevin Kline - De Lovely
  • Kevin Spacey - Beyond The Sea

Best Foreign Language Film

  • The Chorus (Les Choristes) - France
  • House Of Flying Daggers - China
  • The Motorcycle Diaries - Brazil+
  • The Sea Inside - Spain
  • A Very Long Engagement - France*

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role - Drama

  • Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
  • Laura Linney - Kinsey
  • Virginia Madsen - Sideways+
  • Natalie Portman - Closer*
  • Meryl Streep - The Manchurian Candidate

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role - Drama

  • David Carradine - Kill Bill Vol. 2
  • Thomas Haden Church - Sideways*+
  • Jamie Foxx - Collateral
  • Morgan Freeman - Million Dollar Baby Clive Owen - Closer

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

  • Charlie Kaufman - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
  • John Logan - The Aviator
  • David Magee - Finding Neverland
  • Patrick Marber - Closer*
  • Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor - Sideways+

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

  • Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
  • Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Finding Neverland+
  • Rolfe Kent - Sideways*
  • Howard Shore - The Aviator
  • Hans Zimmer - Spanglish

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

  • "Accidentally In Love" - Shrek 2
  • "Believe" - The Polar Express
  • "Learn To Be Lonely" - Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of The Opera+
  • "Million Voices" - Hotel Rwanda
  • "Old Habits Die Hard" - Alfie*

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

um..it's tuesday...

I'm sorry. The days got away from me. Anyway, where was I?

Let's start from the beginning...



Director Steven Soderbergh (out of sight, Traffic, the insufferable Erin Brockovich) took a cult classic from the '60s, dusted its premise off and ran with it. The result was the cool, breezy, updated Ocean's Eleven. It was almost too cool for its own good, but managed to project an air of suspense and fun in its caper plot. Now, three years later comes Ocean's Twelve. It is dull, unimaginative and there exists no good reason for it to.

Ocean's Twelve

George Clooney reprises his role as master thief Danny Ocean and it's up to him to pay back angry casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia, collecting a paycheck) or face death. So he assembles his motley crew and they set about planning a score in Europe that will give them a big payday and get Benedict off their back. Along for the ride this time is Catherine Zeta-Jones as a former flame of Brad Pitt's character and an Inspector hot on the trail of Ocean and his gang.

If I made that sound exciting, fun, or in any way involving for the viewer I apologize. Save for one scene with Julia Roberts in a hotel room, the film is on autopilot, as we watch these characters mingle in hotel rooms, trains, jail cells, restaurants, and many more places. As a travelogue, it's brilliant. As a film, it's acrid. The "heist", when it does come, is the least suspenseful ever committed to celluloid. Vincent Cassel is totally wasted as a competiting thief and there never seems to be any credible threat to any of the characters. Ocean's Twelve feels threadbare, worn, and reheated several times. The viewer can picture Clooney saddling up to Soderbergh and saying, "Hey, let's take a trip to Europe and film a sequel while we're there!" The script by George Nolfi (Timeline) was initially to be filmed as a totally unrelated movie entitled Honor Among Thieves, but was retooled as a sequel to Ocean's Eleven.

Ocean's Twelve

The movie marks a major misstep for all involved. It splashes its indifference on the screen in broad, unapologetic strokes and expects us to lap it up eagerly. Inferior product is inferior product. With other cinema choices out there and more to come soon (Lemony Snicket's A Serious Of Unfortunate Events, The Aviator, Sideways), please don't let Ocean's Twelve steal your time. It is one of the worst movies of the year.

Yesterday a FedEx Freight truck brought a HUGE yellow crate on a wooden palate. The FedEx driver was adamant that we would not be receiving this unless we helped him bring it in. So the manager and I went outside and he brought it to the rear of the truck. He said to grab the left side of the palate which I did. However, it was not secured to the bottom of this huge yellow crate and he yanked it off of the waist high truck bed. The entire weight of the crate shifted toward me. I tried to back away but the crate fell towards me, breaking my glasses, leaving a friction burn on the right side of my face, and bruising me on the upper left part of my torso. Then today we get a marketing guide book that states that we are *not* to help FedEx Freight drivers unload product. Thanks! I could have used that yesterday. So I am wearing taped glasses and will shortly be receiving new ones, hopefully very soon. And here's the kicker: the damn crate's contents are for a promotion that corporate will be using - we're not participating! Isn't that funny?

Well I'll be back later with all of the Golden Globe nominations and my picks and who I think will actually win.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

sunday evening.....

and I hate to admit that I haven't been as productive as I'd have liked this week, at least on the blog.

I returned the Magnavox DVD player. Martin is still here and I cannot bring myself to review it. Maybe later perhaps.

So I'm now off Wednesdays-Fridays. I worked Saturday until 6PM. Let's just say that I was miffed when I got off. The MOD was not doing his job and people were coming in, not being greeted (besides myself doing it). Another worker was on the floor and kept coming behind the counter. I reiterated the importance of staying on the floor. You see, we get "secret shopped" usually the first weekend of every month. Sometimes it's the second. I pray to God we didn't get shopped last night. I got out of there as soon as I could.

I saw Blade Trinity on Wednesday and Ocean's Twelve on Friday. Those reviews follow...

Blade Trinity


Marvel Comics has seen a resurgence these past few years, with their comic book-to-film adaptations of X-Men and X2, the two Spider-Man films and Daredevil to name a few. True, there have been some stumbles along the way (The Punisher, anyone?) but they've managed to do what their competitor DC Comics has recently failed to: create winning, compelling filmed versions of their long-adored tomes by hiring talented writers and directors. Luckily, DC has righted their sinking ships, with director Christopher Nolan (Memento)'s darker and more realistic Batman Begins being released June 17, and Bryan Singer (director of the X-Men movies) prepping a new, faithful-to-its-source Superman movie. Now comes Blade Trinity, the third film in the Blade saga.

Blade Trinity

Writer of all three David S. Goyer (and the upcoming Batman Begins) steps into the director's chair for this film. The half-human/half vampire vampire slayer Blade must deal not just with the undead, but the law as well, as he's set up by the vampires after he mistakenly kills a human. The vampires are lead by Danica Talos (Parker Posey, in a delicious role) and they aspire to resurrect Dracula. Blade needs help and gets it, from Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) and Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds). They name themselves "The Nightstalkers" and are part of a much larger collective of vampire slayers across the nation.

Blade Trinity

The first Blade film was a loud garish blast of a movie, full of nonstop violence and sensory overload visuals. The second was ably directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy) as a Grand Guignol-type comic book splatterfest but in my opinion was undone by its overabundance of CGI and non-interaction with the mortal world. Blade Trinity brings us a barrage of new plot points and speeds through them rather quickly, giving no time for newbies. Wesley Snipes is even more wooden and aloof, and it works as he's given the backseat for The Nightstalkers. Ryan Reynolds steals the movie as Hannibal King and provides the movie's comic relief. I will admit Goyer's direction is very much of the "quick edit" school and more time could have been given to the fight scenes so they weren't so choppy. I liked it more then Blade II but the first remains the best. Blade Trinity felt like a pulpy comic book movie should, in a good way, and was ninety solid minutes of kinetic entertainment.

I'll be back later tonight with my review of Ocean's Twelve. Don't forget the Golden Globe nominations will be announced at 8:30AM Eastern. Hopefully there'll be some excellent nominations. With me being the huge movie geek I am and the weather getting colder, now is the time for intelligent movies and "my Super Bowl", the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

Saturday, December 04, 2004

saturday again...

Well, sugar cookies have been made. They have holiday sprinkles. They taste delicious.

I should honestly be in bed right now. Silly ol' me. I'm actually going to try to wade through the rest of the Firefly box set's commentaries before it gets too late. I'm having buyer's remorse for the Magnavox DVD player and Martin. Don't get me wrong...Martin was an interesting character study but the combo of that film, the new DVD player, and the quick loss of bank in my wallet have proved a bit disconcerting if nothing else. I will post a review of Martin soon, nonetheless. I need to seek out George A. Romero's The Crazies as I've heard that's a much stronger film than Martin. I'll give Martin one thing...it has some creepy moments, and one HELL of an ending.

There are rumors that the new trailer for Batman Begins will debut in front of Ocean's Twelve this Friday, as will a new one for Constantine and possibly a teaser for the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise remake War Of The Worlds. We will soon see.

So yep...I have to work in the morning. I hope the day's not too taxing. Stress can build up quite easily but hopefully tomorrow won't be too crazy. It'll be quite interesting to have the middle of the week off (Wed, Thurs, Fri) instead of the weekend. At least that frees me up to see Blade Trinity on Wednesday. Perhaps this middle of the week off-time will allow me to conserve more energy instead of going full-tilt nonstop all week practically. (Not that I'm unable to work four days in a row...I'm no novice.)

And drats I didn't get around to watching Lost In Translation this weekend. Another time, this week perhaps. And I without a doubt will be viewing, very soon, the remaining items that are currently housed on TiVo...

Veronica Mars - Tuesdays at 9PM on UPN.


Desperate Housewives - Sundays at 10PM on ABC


Frankenstein


As I've previously stated, Frankenstein aired on USA back in October. Well, I'm tired. Have a great week and I'll be back later with more.

Friday, December 03, 2004

the friday post...

George A. Romero's Martin

I just picked up George A. Romero's 1977 horror film Martin on DVD for $10.99 at Best Buy. The word around the campfire is that this is a brilliantly disturbing horror film with nightmarish imagery, one of the best horror films of the '70s, and one of the best vampire movies of all time. I WILL post a review of this, mark my words. Then I plan to watch and review Lost In Translation.

I also got a $47 Magnavox DVD player. So I'm on the precipice of being broke. Hopefully I can use my connections to see Blade Trinity this Wednesday as my new schedule has me off on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays instead of Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I'm going to try to save the remaining dollars for Closer if at all possible.

Hopefully this review of Blade Trinity is correct:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000730866


Oh, the doctor's visit went swimmingly. I have a hydrocele. Curious what that is? Google it. WebMD it. Quite interesting, eh?

I did get some inserts for my sneakers. My feet already feel more comfortable.

Firefly..I finished it and have started listening to the commentary on the first episode. I can't wait for Serenity to come out on September 30th.

Here's the teaser poster for Batman Begins. It looks like The Dark Knight just may be getting back to his roots...

Click here to visit the official Batman Begins website

Batman Begins - In Theatres June 17th


Thursday, December 02, 2004

One more thing...

My ULTIMATE goal this weekend (as I am off the next three days), however, is to finally watch...


Lost In Translation


Lost In Translation

I bought this DVD the day it came out, back in February of this year, and still haven't watched it yet. Silly, crazy me. I'm quite looking forward to it. I also have all of the so-far aired episodes of Desperate Housewives and Veronica Mars to wade through this weekend. And I plan to!

Happy birthday to me!...

Art by Sam Brown; Visit his website at http://www.explodingdog.com


Art by Sam Brown; Visit his website at http://www.explodingdog.com


Well I'm twenty-three now. I hope the rest of the year and the next finds myself, my family and friends, and anyone who may perouse this blog well.

I've been having headaches recently, along with various other aches and pains and it seems like this morning before work, while I was showering, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I blinked and all of a sudden I was sitting in the tub, water spraying on my face. However I didn't hurt my back or my head. I wasn't in any pain. I noticed a slight bruise on my right leg but other than that, nothing apparent. So in other words, I blacked out in the shower, I guess. This is just another lovely addition to the odd asortment of maladies I've been facing for the past few months. I believe I need new glasses (hopefully the reason I've been having headaches and my left eye twitching off and on now and then) and either insoles in my shoes or new shoes because our work only has carpet slapped onto a hard floor. This said floor is what I think has caused my left ankle to hurt when I walk on it from time to time. Not daily but every once and again. So long story short my ass will be seeing a doctor tomorrow. I'm through joshing and joking around. I want myself fixed up nice and proper so that I can return to my regular, healthy cynical, sarcastic, witty video store clerk self.

So we've started DVD trading at work. It's an ingenious concept...depending on your outlook. I've still got $31 and some change on my account. You get $5 store credit for every DVD you trade in. They must be in mint condition and in their original packaging. I've picked up The Manchurian Candidate (1962) for $7.99, Alex Proyas's excellent sci-fi noir Dark City and tomorrow I'll be picking up something a customer traded in today: the short-lived live action adaptation of The Tick that ran on FOX for barely a minute. We get paid Friday and I hope it's a nice sized check. I hope my time-and-a-half from Thanksgiving helps out at least a bit.

I think either my DVD player or my television is going out. I'm getting fading every once and again. So I think when I come into some extra spending $$$, I'll get a small flatscreen and a decent name brand DVD player that won't break the bank. Here's a helpful hint consumers...don't buy Goldstar, Apex, or any of those brand names you've never heard of yet the player's priced so attractively. Nine times out of ten they'll break sooner than you think. I can't count the number of times a customer's come in complaining about how their DVD won't play and when pressed on the issue, it's usually one of the off-brand DVD players they've got (unless the DVD's scratched...or they're playing it on a PlayStation 2)

I am also quite irate that Mike Nichols' new movie Closer is not going to be released here this weekend. However our fair city will be receiving the Nicole Kidman starrer Birth and director Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries. It's about a young Che Guevara and his trek through Mexico with a friend while he was in his twenties. The film, released by Focus Features, is produced by Robert Redford. So I may check out one of those this weekend. I will be staying far, far away from Alexander. Perhaps a rental is in the offing for that particular title.

Blade Trinity opens this Wednesday and to say I'm so there is quite the understatement. Hopefully writer/director David S. Goyer brings this trilogy to a fitful and excellent conclusion.

And now it's time for Bitch Fest 2004. This morning's topic? Why people with no lives! Now I have a semblance of one, it's true. I possess a truly frightful amount of movie knowledge and am the most knowledgeable person on our staff at work. I love movies. I adore watching trailers and enjoying the cinema and all its offers. I love watching a great movie on DVD and appreciating its warmth and enjoyment. Recently I watched The Adventures Of Robin Hood, the 2-Disc Special Edition. I've had this sucker for a while now and finally got around to watching it. It's a masterful piece of work, a triumph of art direction, score, set design, acting (Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland are simply masterful and Basil Rathbone cuts a devilish and quite debonair swath as the enemy), and heart.

But....

There is simply no way that I would be at a video store at 9:30 in the morning to rent a movie! NO WAY! People, the movie's not going to evaporate! Every morning people are at the door waiting for us to open, I hate greeting them. Call me crazy but those first few people get my dander up. It's like, 'You can't wait an hour or so?!' Maybe I am crazy but so be it. Case in point: When Universal Pictures releases the film version of the television series Firefly, Serenity, I will be buying that. I don't need to rush out like thar's gold in them thar hills! Even for comedies like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story... (street date 12/07) I don't need to be at a video store first thing in the morning! Have some coffee, catch some breakfast, but don't act like we're giving away money.

Another fun facet is to watch said individuals when they see us in the store before opening and they don't bother to read what time we do open (It's 10AM, by the way). The customer in this situation performs what I like to call "The Arm Jerk". They will grab the door handle and YANK on it with all of their might. It appears to be hard enough to yank their arm out of the socket.

Hey cell phones can be fun! Sure they can be a rather nice old time! Until you're being processed at a place of business and a clerk is waiting on you! I'm sure you yap away like that when the teller gives you money at your bank, right? Because who cares if she shorts you $20, am I right? We make sure to notate on their account which cell phone customers are unresponsive during transactions. That way when they come back in complaining of late fees, we can explain what happened. When I worked at another video store, a girl came in, talking on her cell phone. It was near the holidays and she purchased $100 in gift cards. I was off the next day and one of the assistant managers told me that she'd come back the next day and said, "Um, I'm sorry, I was busy talking on my phone and I only meant to get $50 in gift cards." The AM politely told her that we couldn't do anything about that. So in conclusion people...PUT THE DAMN PHONE DOWN! "What do you want for dinner? Okay I'll pick it up. Am I busy? No, I'm just getting a movie." Yeah, and you're pissing me off in the process. Leave some of that conversation for when you get home or is the atmosphere there too tense to try to initiate any talk at all? Sorry for the rant but it had to be addressed. I've got a million more. You tend to rack up millions of stories in almost four-and-a-half years of video store service. I'm telling you I need to write a book.

I'm on the last episode of Firefly. It's bittersweet, really. After that I plan to indulge myself in all of the yummy bonus feature goodness: cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes, an Easter egg, and then rewatch them all again over and over and over until Serenity comes out September 30th.

Well, I'm headed for bed. Off to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien that TiVo graciously grabbed for me and Firefly. Anyone see Tom Brokaw's last newscast tonight? What an excellent pro that man is. I'll miss him in the anchor chair, that's for sure. Brian Williams seems to be a great guy and he'll no doubt do well in the spot. Anyone that's seen him on Conan's show knows he's not just some pampered and preened talking head. At least on there, he comes off pretty sharp and funny.

Nite all!