Land of Oz

Theatres & DVDs

By theatres, I mean theatre movies as opposed to plays and musicals. I just read an article talking about releasing DVDs the same time as the theatre release. Many are calling it the death of the movie theatre business. It may be a part of the death, but I think the death has come from the theatres' own hands earlier.

I watch a lot of movies, but not many of them are in a theatre any more. Think about what a theatre experience is like now. And I don't mean the expected movie treats like sticky floors and the odor of jujubees from the seat next to you. You pay $8 for a ticket and then have to pony up another $10-$15 if you want some popcorn, soda and munchies. (Up in Toronto, the price is nearer $15 for a ticket.) Then after paying up, you have to sit through several commercials. I don't really mind the stuff that is usually shown as slides before the showtime, but I really dislike having to sit through them after curtain time in and amongst the previews.

Then the movie starts. How often have you started a movie that was out-of-focus? Is it really so hard for the projectionist (I'm assuming they still use one - it's probably automated now) to look and see that the focus is off? At least they've brought down the sound - a couple of years ago, I found myself taking ear plugs into the theatre. Now, it's too often that you hear the thundering explosions from the screen next to yours.

Then you have the audience. Come on people, I go to the theatre to watch the movie, not you. There's been a couple of movies in the last year or two where I've walked out and demanded a refund because the audience was so obtrusive. If it were kids I could understand, not like it mind you, but understand. But it's usually older people - I was going to say adults, but that would give the wrong impression. People in their 20s and 30s who think the whole audience is interested in their impressions of the movie. Shut up and sit down!

And on a purely personal note - the potty break. How many times have you missed the bad guy getting his come-uppence while making a dash to the bathroom? Actually, all-in-all, probably the biggest threat to the theatre is large Frescas and the pause button.

2fers: The Movie Experience and The DVD Experience

This Sucks!

2000 GIs Gone

Paying For Other's Stupidity

I read an article today about some idiot in the Keys complaining that he lost all his clothes and stuff along with his Porsche. This cretin decided that the hurricane probably wouldn't be that bad - this for a hurricane that is was the strongest in history - and decided that he didn't have to evacuate.

So you know what that means. That means my insurance will probably be going up to pay for that idiot's lack of common sense. I mean, now really. You're living 5 feet above sea level on a tiny island in the path of what was the strongest hurricane in history. And he stays there. And now he's bitching 'cause he lost his car and clothes. I'll tell you what - they shouldn't pay that nitwit off. All he had to do was hop in his car and drive a few hours with his suitcase in the back and he'd be fine. But now, this IQ-challenged macho man has to stay around and lose his stuff.

Land of the Free?

U.S. Total Population 296 million U.S. Prison Population 2.3 million
China Total Population 1.3 billion China Prison Population 1.5 million

This figures come from King's College in London. I didn't do a personal census to confirm the numbers, but they are still frightening to see. In spite of this our city is having one of its highest murder runs with only a 25% rate of solving the homicides. Last week some 15 year old shot another 15 year old in their high school hallway. I think we've had a total of 22 murders so far that they've counted. This total in a decaying city of around 61,000 people.

That means about 1 out every 100 people in the United States is in jail! Think about that for a minute. If you're at a high school football game with 1000 people in the stands, there's nearly a whole 'nother football team worth of people in jail. For every 50 or 60 cars you pass on the road, there's the equivalent of someone's mom or dad or brother or sister locked up behind bars. Land of the free indeed.

Saturday Shopping

Well, it's been another typical Saturday shopping experience for me. First I stop at an ACO Hardware store. If you haven't been in one, it's kind of a cross between a serious hardware store and a Chinese supplied dollar store. They really don't seem to know what they are trying to be. I wander up and down the hardware aisles looking for either lazy susan style bearing plates or someone to ask where they might have them. I finally find a guy and ask him. At first he says he's not sure, but then he says he's sure they don't because some lady asked for them before and he told her they didn't have any, so they don't have any. (Notice he didn't say they didn't have any or he asked the manager if they had any, just that he said they told here they didn't have any.)

Next stop was Ace Hardware (remember when Connie Stevens sang about the helpful hardware man) and I walk up and down the aisles and see no one (a trend here?) so finally ask at the counter if they have any lazy susan style bearing plates. She didn't know (I figured that) and told me to ask one of the hardware clerks. When I asked where they were, she pointed them out standing alongside one of the shelves. I walk up to them and one guy walks away without a word and when I ask about the bearings another guy says he went to show you where they are (it would've been nice of him to let me know). When I find him, he's wandering the shelves looking for the bearings. I told him I was wandering just fine on my own, but does he know someone who knows if they have them. Finally yet another guy comes around and points them out. They only had one - I needed two or three - so I left. (Like I would've bought one after that mess).

So later that day I stop at Rite Aid to look for some chocolate on sale (chocolate sounds so much more sophisticated than candy). I go to the candy aisle and there's a bright yellow sign on the shelf that says Hershey Nuggets on sale for $2.99, so I pick up a bag. I go to the checkout and put them down and the clerk scans them up at $3.69 - I say no, they're on sale at $2.99 and she says, "no they aren't; you can buy two for $5 but they aren't on sale for $2.99 and haven't been all week." I leave them there, and walk back to the candy aisle and tear the sign off the shelf and bring it back up with me. She compares the sign and the product and admits that they are in fact on sale for $2.99. She rings up the sale and when I give her three dollar bills, she can't make change because the computer isn't happy it was told it was wrong. So I have to wait. She looks at me like I should just leave and be happy I was only charged $2.99. There are at least two people behind me and I found out she used the other cash register to miss-ring another customer. She calls for the manager and he tells her to wait, he's busy. There's no way I'm leaving - if it's only for a stupid penny. She finally finds one and I'm on my way.

Now, honestly, is it only me this stuff happens to? It's not once in a while, it happens regularly. Clueless clerks and mislabeled and mispriced stock in stores. It seem like a quarter of the stuff I pick up in stores doesn't have a price tag and there isn't one on the shelf. And if you ask they point you out to the "handy price scanners installed for customer convenience" which as I've pointed out before are there for the store's convenience - for my convenience, I'd rather a price on the item and a clerk who knows the difference between a hacksaw and a ham hock. Assuming I'm not the only one this stuff happens to, what about the rest of you? Do you not notice, or not care. I don't doubt that 1 out of 4 or 5 times there's a mistake in the price the computer says - don't others notice or if they do, don't they complain about it?

2fers: ACO Hardware and Hacksaws and Ham Hocks

Netflix

If you haven't heard of Netflix (not likely considering the amount of advertising they do) it's a DVD rental service with transactions handled via postal mail. I've been using it since about February and have been surprised at the level of quality they keep. There are different levels that you can signup for. I have the 3 DVD level at $19.07 (including tax) a month. They have other quantities available. What that means is that you can have 3 DVDs at any one time. By having, this means that Netflix doesn't. So if a DVD is in transit, or in your DVD player, it counts against the 3 quantity.

In my experience, the turn around has been very good. Usually 3 or 4 days from when I mail back a DVD to when the next DVD arrives. I've averaged around 14 DVDs a month since I signed up - or about 120 overall. In all of those, I think I've had two that were actually unplayable because of damage and Netflix sent me a new copy immediately upon my report of the damage. You can report damage via the Internet and request an exact replacement if desired.

They claim to have a selection of over 50,000 titles (I haven't counted), and have an adequate search mechanism. You can search by title or actor, but not by year or content (not really anyway) or genre. You set up a queue of films and as you return one, the top one of your queue is sent to you. The queue can be reordered and revised at any time and also shows the DVD's rating and its availability. Only a couple of times has the specific DVD I wanted been not immediately available - I just picked the next on my list. One nice feature are the member's reviews. Sometimes they're useless but often they make the difference of whether I select a DVD or not. I've been warned a couple of times (after the fact mostly) of atrocious DVD conversions which are almost impossible to watch. After a while you begin to know what reviews to pay attention to and which ones to ignore.

I don't watch a lot of new releases or "box office smashes" which gives Netflix a huge advantage over the limited selection at the local rental places. Which at $2 to $4 a DVD would cost me $25 - $50 a month versus $19.07. I'm going through a few TV series right now including the Highlander, Danger UXB: Disc 3, The Andy Griffith Show, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I also watch a lot of older films and foreign films - all of which are hard to find in the local stores (at least our local stores). I give Netflix two thumbs up!

2fers: Netflix and Hong Kong Cinema

Bad Day

It was one of those days again. Two nights ago, the Check Engine Light came on in my car - you know the one - that one that means spend lots of money. I make an appointment with my favorite VW dealer for this morning. I drive in and tell them that the CEL is on and the door lock doesn't work correctly. One and half hours later I get the bill for $80 with the information that the CEL was on (probably because of a leaking valve) and the door lock doesn't work and will you kindly cough up another $500 to fix the problems. The $500 doesn't piss me off half as much as them charging me $80 to tell me that.

The dealer is about 16 miles away and I have to take Interstate 75 to get there. I've always heard that men are the most aggressive drivers, but I don't believe that for a minute. There are more than enough females who fit that profile now. I'm alledgedly doing 75 mph down the highway passing some slower cars and some hulking SUV camps on my back bumper. And who's driving? Some women with her ear stuck in her cellphone. I'm never surprised about the multiple vehicle crashed on freeways. You should look at I-75 in the summer - bumper to bumper heading north on Fridays and south on Sundays. One gets it and a dozen follow. There is often less than one car length between the two idiots heading for their weekend holiday pushing 80 mph and not even Jeff Gordon could react to a problem there.

And of course you have the 70 year-old gramma and grandpa in their 1998 Buick doing 60 mph while doing 75 puts you in the slow lane; the unshaven Moe Macho in his 1983 rust bucket F-150 with one arm hanging out the window, the other lighting his cigarette while his dog looks on in utter stupidity; the sportsman in his 2005 shiny F-350 pulling two personal water craft (noisy and obnoxious water craft at that) doing 85; and the three semi-trucks abreast that take 14 miles to pass each other at 68 mph while miles of other cars fume in the exhaust.

So, after all that, the parts are on order and I get to drive it all over again next week.

Dream Car

Do you have a dream car? Not one that you'd drive to work each day, or use for quick runs to Home Depot, but one that'd sit in the garage waiting for cool fall days and dry roads? It probably wouldn't be one you'd count on to not break down or have good mileage or cheap replacement parts. It wouldn't necessarily be expensive or cheap for that matter - price shouldn't pay a part in a dream car. I suppose it doesn't even matter how available it is. I suppose it could be a wild one-of-a-kind custom by Ed Roth or perhaps a staid and elegant sedan by August and Fred Duesenberg.

In my case, it's not so special or even rare from what I can gather. My car would be a 1969 Jaguar XKE FHC in British racing green. I've seen Jaguars in those years listed from about $10,000 to $40,000 and really, $40,000 is not that bad. You can spend that much of some gas guzzling pickup truck these days. I think the swoopy lines of the this car have never been equaled. Sure, there's quarter-million dollar Ferraris and Lamborghinis, which I'll admit have their appeal, but not to the extent of the Jaguar. And the new Jags - you might as well be driving a Ford.

Nope, give me a 1969 XKE FHC blasting down some twisty country road with golden leaved trees swaying in the wind and a cool fall sun dodging grey clouds scudding across the sky. The London Philharmonic playing Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries would be blasting from the radio and all would be well with the world.

Stop Lights

OK, this has been a strange weekend for traffic lights. This has lasted all of Saturday and today. I've been hitting mostly green lights all weekend. Yes, I still hit the occasional red, but it's been really rare. There's been a few times this weekend when my trip was entirely in the green. I couldn't believe it. And I didn't have to slow way down, or gun it and beat yellows either. Just my normal rate of speed.

There's one intersection, Court crossing Congress, where I almost never hit it green. It is really strange how often I hit it green. Maybe one out of a dozen or so times, I might hit it green. What is odd, is that Court seems to be the busier street, yet I always hit it with a red light and have to wait for a lot of non-existent traffic on Congress - but not this weekend. I've hit it green every time. Maybe four or five times this weekend. I've been really surprised. I don't know why, but I'm happy while it lasts.

BTW, if you're the biddie who was driving 5 mph under the speed limit in front of me for four blocks and then blew the stale yellow with me fuming behind you, I hope your car radio gets stuck on a rap station with the volume up high!

Churches

If you read here with any regularity, you'll know I'm not all that fond of churches and organized religions. And it doesn't matter which religions, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, whatever, they all give me a pain. Here's a reason why...

Saginaw is taking a major hit in employment - and this in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Delphi, a big ex-GM auto supplier has just gone bankrupt and will probably cut wages and pensions by 50% or more. In Saturday's local newspaper - The Saginaw News, the main headline was "Unions stagger ahead" with two subheads underneath. One was "More competition, shifting sentiments dealing heavy blows" and the one that pissed me off, "Churches fear collection plates will take hits." Note that it wasn't "Churches make plans to help unemployed" or "Churches worry about how their parishioners will survive" or "Churches focused on helping shocked Delphi members", no it was the bottom line. The second paragraph of the story talked about how "The outcome could affect the bottom line drastically at churches throughout mid-Michigan..." Yes, I know that this is the paper's editorial viewpoint being reported, but still - the church is worried about its money. I guess it's kind of hard to pay off all those abuse suits when you lose your main income.

2fers: The Saginaw News and Saginaw Channel 5 TV News

Paying for Other's Stupidity

I've been looked at askance after saying that while I did feel sorry for the victims of Katrina (and Rita, and Andrew, et al), my sympathy was limited. It's not like a hurricane isn't expected, or even a very rare event in certain areas. While I do feel sorry, I also wonder what made them build there in the first place. I do realize that many people there are victims of circumstances. Many of them don't have the fiscal or mental resources to get themselves out of harm's way. However, those folks aren't the one who are costing us a lot of money. Look at the below clip from the Washington Post

Dauphin Island is one of the most vulnerable barrier islands in the nation. Since 1979, it has been struck by six hurricanes and has lost nearly 500 expensive vacation homes and rental properties. Yet owners keep building back, trying to elevate their homes out of harm's way. And the island has received more than $21 million in federal flood payments to help spur redevelopment.

Dauphin Island has a population of about 1,300, of whom 95.8% are white folks (2000 census). It's not hard to guess that probably every single person on the island has lost their house at least once. The feds have paid $42,000 out for each person on that island. I'm guessing that most, if not all of the houses, have been mashed by Katrina and Rita this summer as well. Those folks, in their vacation homes, are the ones who make a farce out of the disaster relief complaints. Since 1979 they've been hit by six hurricanes and pounded by one this summer - how many of those folks do you think won't be rebuilding after Uncle Sam sends them a check?

While I'm a firm believer in government help, there are limits. Do the folks making $6 an hour and living in some rundown rattrap in New Orleans get a government handout - most likely yes. They need a hand. Do the folks how have continued to come back to ground zero after six hurricanes get a handout - most likely no. People need to take responsibility for their own actions. If you slip walking on the ice in the winter - don't sue the store - realize that ice forms when it's cold and be careful. If you get lung cancer from smoking the last 30 years, don't sue the tobacco companies - realize that sucking smoke from burning leaves into your lungs is stupid, and if you haven't quit yet, you don't deserve to have some company pay for your problems. If you get shot by a .357 magnum, don't blame the gun company, blame the asshole who shot you. On the other hand, if the .357 magnum blows up in your hand because of faulty metallurgy - then sue the gun company. If your cigarettes were laced with arsenic from an industrial accident and you smoke them - sue the tobacco company.

Cat Trapping

Now that I have your attention -- actually I am trapping cats. And so is my neighbor across the street and coincidently enough, there was another guy in town in last week's paper who was doing the same. I can't say it's too cool to trap the cats. The problem is that there are so many of them. In the last few weeks, the neighbor caught 4 cats and 2 opossums, I caught 3 cats and 2 opossums, and the guy in the paper caught over 6 cats.

I tried to put off catching them, since I kind of like cats, but there's just too many. A few weeks ago we came home after dark and there were 5 cats sitting on our driveway looking like we were intruders. A week or so after that I happened to look at a vacant lot behind my house and it looked like a miniature Serengheti travelogue. There were about 4 cats sitting in the deep grass looking like a pride of lions looking for dinner.

The 'possum I got the other day had some kind of nasty growth on its chin and sat there shaking and hissing. That one I took to the shelter. Actually all the cats we've caught have ended up at the shelter. Most are quite feisty - not to mention just plain anti-social. The one I caught today was so violent I had to wear gloves even though it was in a live-caught cage. It hissed and scratched and ran around like nuts. I'd hate to see some young kid trying to pet that cat.

So, how about taking care of your cats? Instead of running around complaining how people are mistreating the loose feral strays running around, how about keeping your pets under control? There's at least three houses in the near vicinity that keep cat food out on their porch for strays. We had two cats running around this month getting ready to drop a litter - litters of kittens that in all probability will starve or fall prey to some of the dogs that people don't keep care of.

Black Eyes

Man, is that creepy. What is it with the black eyes? Yes, I know I should be concentrating on her judicial skills, oops, that's right, she's never been a judge, but I just can't get around the black eyes. It's creepy enough on some 20 year-old singer or actress, but I think Ms. Harriet Miers is a bit too mature to pull it off. She looks like a raccoon with a squint.

The Rich Get Even Richer

Well, it's happened again. Not that it's any big surprise really, but it's still very annoying. One of the local cornerstones of Michigan industry, Delphi, has gone bankrupt. Honestly, it shouldn't be a big surprise to many people. GM, who once owned it, is following the SUV path down the road to ruin. GM is losing money and now with Delphi, they've just added about $12 billion more of debt.

The worker peons are really getting the shaft - current estimates show that pay will be cut by more than half - from $25 to $10 an hour. Pensions will be cut down (again in many case by half) and existing pensions will probably be foisted off on the government - meaning you and I will be paying the pensions that GM promised. But what is really annoying is that upper management is getting their severance packages increased by 50%. Yep - the same folks who managed the company into bankruptcy are getting bigger pay packages so they won't leave!

Unfortunately, in today's world, money is everything. While my pay hasn't dropped in any way like Delphi's has, I am making less now than I did when I started my current job five years ago. And I'm supposed to be a good worker - not some screw up, or so the evaluations keep saying. It's not only me, it's everyone - workers that is. Management also got upgraded severance packages in our company during bankruptcy. I never in my worse nightmares growing up would have thought that the longer and better I worked for a company, the less I would be making.

2fers: GM and Delphi

Missing Jobs

Have you noticed lately how many jobs have disappeared, but the job isn't really gone? Think about jobs like bank tellers, gas station attendants and grocery store checkout people. Not to mention telephone operators, DJs and toll booth attendants. The jobs are going, but not the work. Now you're doing the job they used to do, but you aren't getting paid for it.

Think about it. You stop at an ATM to get money to use when you fill up your car at the local gas station and to pay for groceries in the scan-it-yourself checkout aisle. You might have gotten there via a toll road that used a video camera to view your license plate before sending you a bill. And while driving down the toll road, you probably listened to your IPod that you programmed for music after you called home on your cell phone to find out what to buy for take out which you're eating instead of sitting down in a restaurant having a waiter bring out the food to you.

And don't forget that on the way home, you don't need to pick up a DVD at the store, because there will be one waiting for you in your mailbox - along with the sweater, latest best-seller, and Stanley ratchet screwdriver that you bought over the Internet for home delivery. And if all this makes you a little bit sick, just login into WebMD for some self-diagnosis.

Road Repairs

A couple months ago the local community had their main road "fixed." I use quotes, because the fixing, to me anyway, left a lot to be desired. They laid down some tar and covered it with loose stone, leaving the packing to traffic. It's lumpy and rough. There are places where people skidded (accidently or otherwise) and left gouges in the road. While I didn't hear too many complaints about this road, in the past there's routinely been a lot of complaints of broken windows and bodypaint chips from flying rocks. They don't block traffic from all the loose stuff, on the contrary, the count on traffic to pack it down.

Well, this week they're digging up a major portion of it to install something. There's a couple blocks of single traffic with about a block long stretch with holes you could literally drive a car into. I have no idea what they're putting in (or taking out for that matter) but couldn't they have done that a month ago before they "fixed" the road?

One other thing is that one entrance to the parking lot for our company leads into the single lane portion with no signs or anything warning about what is going on. The first night this was going on, I ended up pulling into a single lane against the traffic flow. I'm real glad they have wide shoulder on that part of the road. All in all, another example of good urban planning.

300

How about that 3 times 10, the square root of 90,000, 62.5 times 4.8, anyway you look at it, it's my 300th entry. That's kind of cool for me. I never thought I'd last that long. I picked a few entries from my early days - June 28 was entry number 1 - just to show that I'm still pretty much talking about the same stuff I've always done. Topics like; crappy businesses and the occasional good one; what people do that annoys to me to no end; the government and its outrages; holidays and other odds and ends.

Looking back on it, nothing much has changed. Lowes still has workers who don't know a nail file from a bastard file, cars still drive by with overamped stereos rattling their lousy sheet metal, cats still roam our neighborhood, and the neighbors from hell - albiet slightly mellowed still live next door. Well, let's see if I can waste another 300 entries in the months to come. If you're one of the fantastic few who have been reading, thanks, and if you one of the moral majority who haven't who cares.

Saturday, June 28, 2003
NOISE!!!! It is really getting to me. 2003_06_01_past.html

Sunday, August 24, 2003
Here's a good lead-in to another of my pet peeves. I was at Lowes today

Saturday, August 02, 2003
Does this have Orwellian overones or what - "Office of Homeland Security"

Saturday, November 22, 2003
ahhhhhWhat the hell is wrong with you people?! Today as I was leaving my house there were two cute little kittens huddled on my back

Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Veterans Day

Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Ho - Ho - fiddlesticks.... Am I the only one who really hates the Christmas holiday season?

Thursday, January 29, 2004
Snow! Hokey smoke Rocky - it's been snowing!

Sunday, January 25, 2004
Tractor Supply Co

Saturday, January 10, 2004
Neighbors from hell. Yep - I got them.