It was a day off. It was an off day.

     Oh, thank god I have a day off.  Not that I don't like work, but it's just so much time.  The commute, the busy work.  It takes it's toll.  Yesterday did have some good times, though, such as when Petter and Abby and I made fun of Mitch Hedberg for being dead.  It was so funny, joking about whether it would be stand up or propped up comedy and how it was a "new" recording than it would just be a blank CD.      I started reading Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans which is very promising so far.  It's a bunch of humor from McSweeney.  Oh, and there's an update for Freddy and the Scream.  Check it at the official web site or subscribe to it here at .  I guess that's it for now.  Oh, and keep the book recommendations coming.  I read fast.

Survey says:

     Is anyone put there really shocked?

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

These people...

            I’m going to open by saying that some of the dumbest people ever are in Arts High.  Last night there was an event, they had a reading in the store.  I was tipped off by the smiling, vacant girl wearing homemade wings standing outside the store.  She seemed like Angel from "Nash Bridges" but without the redeeming twists of fate and moments of wisdom.  Inside she ran into someone she knew and started screaming and hugging.  Yeah, that's the kind of people I had to deal with.  Preps in leather cowboy hats, girls in matching hipster caps and other people who try to hard.  And I can stomach these people in passing.  I’ve had to.  But then they come up and ask the dumbest questions, pick the most generic "artsy" music, have the most trite conversations ever!  Dear lord.  I wanted to just pick up a "White Mud Freeway" or "Grand Tourism" album and start beating them over the head.  If you’re going to be an elitist then at least pick the really food stuff.

 

            As for personal life, I’m still searching for a fantastic read.  I picked up a copy of "Stranger in a Strange Land".  It’s a classic and I haven't read it.  Maybe I’ll grab "Catch 22".  I know, I should have read it in 7^th grade, so sue me.

I feel the need... the need to read.

            So I just finished a book, The Intern Blues (interrupted by the newest Potter).  It was really good, but ridiculously heavy.  Nonfiction, 3 diaries of medical interns in New York.  Although I did read the Half-Blooded Prince, that was more of a coffee break than an actual book.  I’m asking for recommendations on what to read next.  I’m thinking fiction, not life-threateningly depressing and it doesn’t have to be a new release.  Recommend away.

 

            In other news, I’ve set up .  It’s an LJ group for anyone who is in the book business.  Come, join, and share your terrible customer stories.  I made it because I take notes on the assholes who come in all day long but didn't want this blog to turn into a constant bitch-fest.  So there's that as well.

A post from somewhere not so close to the edge.

            I have a job again.  Took up until now for them to get back to me, but I’m working again.  So once more I am selling books and brewing espresso.  I climb into the indie saddle and ride the caffeinated horse.  This time around I’m working at a different store.  Same chain, though.  I just don’t think I could deal with the management there.  The General Manager is just so… inept.  No more!  This new store is farther, but it seems more laid back and yet more organized.  I hope it’s worth the location.  Today, being my second day, was interesting.  I was in the café nearly the whole time and even had an hour all alone.  It’s been so long since I’ve been trained to professionally sling beans.  But I dealt and it went well.  Met some cool co-workers too, though it seems like everyone is leaving soon.  So, books and coffee.  Thanks for the degree, Pitt.

            In recreational news I’ve been reading a lot.  A book called The Intern Blues.  Most of my friends will already recognize the title from me talking about it.  It’s the diaries of 3 first year medical interns at a New York City hospital program.  And it’s incredible.  The lives these people lead are nuts.  The program is nuts.  The system for getting internships and the internships themselves are insane.  I recommend this even if you’re not into non-fiction.  Its narrative is strong enough to be read as a collection of stories.  But knowing that everything happened, it’s really mind-boggling. 

            I’ve also been watching a bunch of films from Netflix.  Finally got to Read or Die.  Not everything I expected but still well worth the time I spent watching it.  It’s about a nefarious plot to obtain rare Beethoven manuscripts by cloning obscure literary peoples, such as insect specialists and Zen monks, to do the villain's bidding.  The main agent fighting back has the ability to control paper. 

            Gossip?  Not much.  The lady and I have been to exhausted to fight or anything juicy like that.  And most friends are MIA, off schedule or working elsewhere so there hasn’t been much craziness.  Hence the reading and movie bonanza.  In fact, I’ve been getting most of my entertainment from a few select blogs.  And I’m not too ashamed to say that I revel at the fun some people I know are reporting and smirk at some of the problems I see other people causing for themselves.  And am I being blocked by a serial trouble-maker?  Oh, it’s so high-school I could plotz!

            Oh, and I nearly forgot.  I entered (by way of much parental prodding) a short fiction contest from Moment magazine.  If you don’t know the publication, ask your Jewish friends or their parents.  The results aren’t out until October so I will not be holding my breath until then.

Lots of stuff. As in items.

            Well, I have gone to media heaven.  It started with a Netflix account.  This thing is great, aside from the waiting for things to go through the mail.  I got fed up with Blockbuster not having a copy of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera in stock.  I have the rewards things so if I get a new release I get a non-new release free.  Well, the only other movie I wanted was another new release (Primer).  So I was starting to feel a bit boned.  So I said screw that and a few days later got a Netflix account as a present.  Now I get movies delivered to my door and I get a new one as soon as I finish copying them and sending them back.  I mean…  Yeah, that’s pretty much it. 

Step two of media heaven happened about a week later.  Clarissa, Pete & Pete and Danger Mouse came in the mail!  You know what that means?  It means that I just need to copy Ren And Stimpy and burn Are You Afraid of The Dark.  Then: SNICK party at my place.  And it will rock.  I think I might even be able to get a hold of an episode of Roundhouse.  If anyone can help me with Roundhouse, let me know.  Elusive early 90’s bastard child of sketch comedy and cheesy choreography, I call on thee!

The final, and possibly most impressive, step of mission media heaven is Star Wars.  I have episodes 4-6 on DVD.  And not the way Lucas wants me to.  I have (with complete file system transfer) the Definitive Edition Laserdisc rips.  We’re talking no shrinking, full menu carry over, chapter breaks, commentary track and THX sound.  And not the Special Editions.  The original theatrical releases.  Han shoots first, Jabba doesn’t show up at the Mos Eisley Space Port and the Yub-Yub song is there in all its glory at the end of Jedi!

I know a lot of people out there will probably want copies because, honestly, I don’t think anyone out there would prefer the “special editions”.  Do you?  Nah.  I won’t sell them because that’s all super-illegal and kind of dick.  But what would be ruder is to not share them either.  If you want a set, drop a line. 

             I haven’t been planted in front of the TV for weeks, though.  I’ve seen some daylight.  Went to AC, breaking about even.  I saw Batman Begins on IMAX there, though that‘s back in front of a screen I guess.  A really big screen though!  I also went to a Renaissance Fair and ran into my friend Natalie at a diner afterwards.  Why are they called Renaissance Fairs?  They’re based around the dark ages so their timing is way off.  And some of those sword sellers are the most desperate, socially inept and undersexed wankers you’ll ever meet.  Honestly, someone should show up and reveal the secret that being a clingy, off colour-joke cracking, BO wafting hairy man with knives doesn’t make you an ideal choice as a friend or mate.  So, so creepy.

Monkey on my back.

            Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated.  And it’s once again marked by a movie.  This time it was Batman Begins.  Good movie, I recommend it.  Then compare it to Burton and realize how narrow-minded Timmy B really is, how he doesn’t actually direct the spirit of a project but forces himself into whatever script he’s producing.  Sometimes this works (Edward Scissorhands, A Nightmare Before Christmas) and sometimes it doesn’t (Mars Attacks, Batman Returns except for the Catwoman scenes, Planet of the Apes).  And that’s that.

            Next, new host and new strip for Freddy and The Scream.  Here's the site, or friend it to have the updates streamed to you in blog form at .  Which brings me to my next section.

            I’ve been incredibly uncreative of late.  No writing, scripting, drawing or thinking for the most part.  Well, I’ve started reading again and it’s helping a little.  So wish me luck with that.  The only thing worse than writer’s block is lack of drive so you don’t even care.  But I found my notebooks and my comic scripts.  I think I may sit down and try to finish my movie script; that should let me write without having to come up with new plots. 

            I’ve had so many little rants but I lose them before I get them down.  Shows what’s important, eh?  Oh, but speaking of rants: Stuff Your Face.  The place in NB.  There was this guy sitting at another table spewing words at his comrade as loud as a drunkard.  The first key phrase to cross the room and perch upon my ears: “Yeah, Christianity is the way to be.”  He then went on, mentioning that he was bathed in the blood of Christ and therefore clean of sin.  He also casually mention that while trying to keep things “light, nice and easy,” he managed to tell his Jew boss that he was going to hell.  I think I’m losing me temper with humanity.  Honestly, the next time something like that happens I’m just going to ask him if he’s dunk and if not to shut the hell up.  Or maybe just poll the room and see if anyone is as sick of fucked up speeches as I am.

            On that note, it’s off to 12 Monkeys, for a minor mind fuck and then bed.