New Toy

Before I start, a few things...

First off, hearty and rather belated congratulations to GeekMan and HoBiscuit on their engagement. Where do I send the toaster?

I haven't heard from Musashi since he moved, but I'm assuming the move went well. According to his brief update in his forum, he's still waiting for DSL hookup; hopefully all will go smoothly and he'll be updating soon.

And, if you haven't heard, Pamie (formerly of Squishy fame) is back. Her journal is one of the main reasons I started writing here, and it's good to hear what's going on in her life again.

And, against all better judgement, I've decided to participate in Blogathon 2002. Yeah, I can't get around to updating my site once a week, but I'm planning to park my butt in front of my computer for 24 solid hours and update every 30 minutes. Do me a favor and support this insanity by sponsoring me, would you? My charity is Planned Parenthood. It's tax deductible, for those of you who worry about those things. (I need at least 3 sponsors to play, so I need a little participation here, OK?)

Now that I have the public service annnouncements out of the way, on to today's subject!

It finally happened. I bought a DVD player.

After mulling over whether I should cough up the bucks to listen to bonus commentaries in the privacy of my own home or whether I should just continue to live vicariously through Zappagirl for a bit longer, she made the decision for me by mentioning three key things:

Sony has a teeny tiny new player. Compact is key in my house, since I have the contents of a three bedroom/two bath house crammed into my cozy one bedroom apartment. It fits on the bookshelf next to my stereo, and replaces the non-functioning CD component of my stereo. I can listen to CDs without dragging the boombox into the living room! Joy! Plus the new DVD player is really cute. I can color-coordinate the cover with the rest of my decor, for crying out loud. Just adorable.

Impromptu was re-released in DVD format only. I've been haunting video stores for years in hopes that this movie would come back into print so I could return Rosencrantz's battered copy. Yeah, most people buy action-packed visually intense films for their new DVD player. I buy costume dramas with Hugh Grant and Judy Davis. What of it? (If it matters, I also bought Run Lola Run, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Ben Folds Five: the Complete Sessions at West 54th. Does that make it any better?)

My purchase included a trial subscription to Netflix, which has to be the most ingenious site ever created. Now, through the magic of the internet, I can order movies without having to get dressed and leave the house! I can't movie binge too badly, since I can only have three movies out at a time! (I have a bad habit of renting six movies at a time, then running out of time to watch them. There is almost nothing is more embarrassing than having to bow out of social plans because you haven't finished watching a snoozer like Waking Life. Yeah, sure, you could just return it unwatched, but it's the principle of the thing. You shelled out good money for that piece of crap.) And most importantly, there are no late fees. (As embarrassing as cancelling plans to watch rented crap before the due date is, it pales in comparison to returning a movie that sucked in ways previously unknown to mankind, and having to pay extra because you returned the big steaming pile of poo late. The Crow: City of Angels... 'nuff said.)

Zappagirl (who is the best person ever for making sense of all of the wires and technical stuff) made fun of me the entire night after my purchase because I was so giddy about my new toy. Well, part of the time. I fluctuated between "hee hee hee got a new DVD player hee hee hee" and "oh my, that's going to leave a dent in my checkbook." I'm currently in the giddy stage. I've resolved the money thing; it's my money and if I don't spoil myself, who will?

Knowing that I've borrowed Zappagirl's copy of This is Spinal Tap is helping with the giddiness, too. They go to eleven. Heehee.

So now I'm busy building up my queue at Netflix, and trying to figure out what crackmonkey categorized their movies. Turner and Hooch belongs in Action/Adventure about as much as Showgirls belongs in Drama. (Sorry, they're both comedies in my book, but only one of them was supposed to be funny.) Now's my chance to see all of those movies that, as a movie buff, I should have seen by now. Part of me wants to sit down with all of the AFI lists and start adding movies.

(And yes, Roger Mexico, Apocalypse Now is on the list. Now stop bugging me about it.)

So, having said all this, movie night's at my place. Bring your own Sno-Caps; I'll provide the popcorn.