Random Thoughts

I got my first credit card right after high school, and I was so excited, it had a crappy limit, but at least I could afford to have a few things for my dorm. I had a store card before, but my first major credit card was a Discover card. These days money’s not so tight, I am married now, and I don’t really use credit cards much anymore (I’m in debt enough owning a home, I don’t need a credit card company breathing down my neck). Lately, people that call into my job have been complaining about Discover card and their horrible customer service. Today, I got a little taste of my own.

I don’t have a $ 20,000 limit or anything, but there is a LOT of room (comparatively) on my card. I got a message today from the woman who was working the comic book stand in the lobby of the movie theater where I saw Spider-man on Friday. She said my credit card had declined. I’m thinking are you crazy? The shirt was $16, type it in again. But she says it was declined, so, I call Discover. I get this guy appropriately named Dick, he says I owe them $90.96 from last month and they decline everyone who is past due no matter what.

First let me start by saying, if I had received the bill, I would have paid the bill, but I only use my Discover card when I go to Sam’s Club and I don’t even remember going there recently (turns out it was on March 16th, yeah I remember that, wouldn’t you?). Second, the alleged bill was due May 5th; it’s not like it was weeks over due, it was barely days over due. Enough “past due” that they already accessed a late fee of $15, but they can’t spot me $16 for a t-shirt? They know where I live. I own the house, it’s not like I’m going anywhere. Even so, I’m not past due thousands of dollars and trying to buy a car with the damn card, I allegedly owe $90 and I haven’t even seen the bill. But to make matters worse, Dick, as he is so aptly named, suggests I go to www.discovercard.com and set myself a reminder e-mail so I don’t forget to pay again. He is lucky there was a telephone and theoretically thousands of miles between us because if we’d been face to face, he’d have swallowed that receiver. Set myself a reminder? How ’bout you remind yourself to bill me or the psychos at the Post Office to deliver it? I pay my bills on time every month and that counts for nothing; they just “dick” you around because they can.

Screw Discover card, who needs them anyway? They should worry about getting accepted in more stores before they worry about declining long time customer’s purchases. Writing this blog just makes me hope the old addage is true: the average satisfied customer will tell 5 people, the average dissatisfied customer will tell 20 people or more. You guys already know and once I tell my co-workers I’m above average for once. At least one good thing came out of this nonsense.

The icing on the cake of this whole debacle is, when I actually go to www.discovercard.com, I view my statement and decide to fill out the on line customer service form. Can’t hurt, right? Wrong. I type the whole thing out and hit submit, and I get an error message that says I was inactive for too long and they logged me out for my protection. Inactive? I was typing a tirade. My fingers were moving a mile a minute. Never fear, I was expecting to get screwed, and I’m not stupid, so I copied it before I sent it. This time, I win.

First things first, $114 million!!! Even though that is a sickeningly large amount of money and ordinarily I would be angry at how much studios spend on films, and how much we get charged to see them, and how grotesque the studios are for expecting to make so much money; but today, I am just going to say, congratulations to Tobey Maguire and Spider-man-oh yeah, and to all those undeserving hollywood fat cat execs who are rolling in the dough today. Now, on with the show…

I hate to beat a dead horse, but my weather pixie has really lost her mind. I know what you’re going to say, if it bothers you that much, then take it off your site. I would, but it is too funny. Today she is wearing a sundress with a little sweater over it which is actually perfect for today’s weather, but she was still wearing her crop top last Friday and Saturday when I couldn’t even go outside without my leather trench coat. The forecast says it is supposed to be warm and partially sunny and now she puts on clothes? She knows when it is night time, and when it is raining, she even knows the temperature outside, so how come she can’t wear clothes to match it? I guess it is just one of life’s little mysteries. At least I have a reason to check my own site every day; I can’t wait to see what she is wearing. At this rate, she will be sporting a parka in July or maybe she’ll get so hot, she’ll skip clothes all together. Now that would be something to tune in for!

P.S. Since I’m beating a dead horse already, I might as well throw this one in free of charge…My friend and I were supposed to go see Riding in Cars with Boys a while back, but we never did. She has been telling me I have to see it, so I finally rented it this weekend because my husband wasn’t home and I knew he definitely didn’t want to see it. I wish I hadn’t. It got great reviews, but it sucked! The acting wasn’t bad, but the interesting part of the story wasn’t even discussed. They never told you how the main character got to New York much less how she became a published author. They just bore you with the bs of how her life changed, and the worst part is, you don’t even care because her character is completely unlikable. If you didn’t already fall prey to this movie, steer clear. It blows major chunks. Until tomorrow…

P.P.S. Tina the Troubled Teen actually changed what she had to say! She is supposed to have a new saying every day, but she hasn’t had anything new to say since I adopted her, now suddenly she speaks, go figure!

After all the “hype” (as my husband LOVES to call it) surrounding Spider-man, I was almost afraid to see it, excited, but afraid. I got to work Friday and one of my co-workers said she was thinking of going now not because of me talking about it all the time, but because one of the local radio disc jockeys on her favorite morning show said it was the best movie he ever saw. I said, oh please, come on now, I am sure it’s good, but the best movie ever? Be reasonable! Mind you, I am the woman who almost took off work yesterday just to celebrate the opening. I was elated when we got off work early and I could FINALLY head off to see it.

I get to the theater, deal with the rude guy who cut in front of me, get my free opening day limited edition comic book, go the bathroom, and then search out my seat. I arrived early because I wanted the perfect seat, and I got it. To my astonishment, no one sat directly in front of me even though the theatre was jammed full. The movie started and everyone cheered. The opening credits seemed eternal. Finally there he was, my little geek Tobey Maguire! He was, in a word, amazing (no pun intended)!

I have read multiple reviews of the film both yesterday and today, some of them I wonder if they saw the same film as me. One guy said Tobey’s voice sounded funny coming from Spider-man and his boyish tone was annoying. Isn’t that the idea? Hello, Peter Parker is an angst ridden teenager. He went on to say Tobey didn’t do enough to age Spider-man from a boy to a man. Isn’t that supposed to take place in the next two films as he actually does age and grow? I think these statements are totally unfair. Tobey Maguire was born to play Spider-man; he completely captivated me. I can’t say it enough, he was amazing. He has a depth I have never seen before and his quiet nature is so honest and true there isn’t a single one of his characters I have ever doubted. He becomes each and every one of them and I believe him every time. There are very few actors with this remarkable gift. He is truly one in a million. Can you tell I love him?

If you don’t believe me, take it from the crowd I watched the movie with. Never in my life have I attended a film that not only contained spontaneous eruptions of applause, but also received a standing ovation when it was over. I work in a theatre and you don’t even see many of those for a remarkable live performance. One more thing, I didn’t attend this showing in a quiet little suburb, I was downtown with an urban teenage crowd who clearly appreciated this movie as well they should have.

I have to give special credit to James Franco who I have loved since the first day I saw him and who I had the great fortune to meet very briefly in New Orleans this past February. I didn’t believe it was possible for me to dislike him; I am infatuated with him. How could I not like him? But he pulled it off; he made me see his dark side, the part that will lead him to take his father’s place as the Green Goblin someday (let’s hope in one of the next two films). If you don’t know this amazing young man’s work, do yourself a favor, check out Freaks and Geeks, The James Dean Story (which he won a Golden Globe for), or his upcoming movie Sonny (directed by Nicolas Cage and filmed on location in you guessed it, New Orleans).

As always, Kirsten Dunst was completely convincing as Mary Jane, and the final scene left me breathless. She transformed beautifully and brought her character full circle. She had just the right mix of damsel in distress and independent young woman, I am so thankful she has signed on for the next two pictures as well. She has a radiance on screen that is unmatched by any other actress I have seen. Don’t believe me? Check The Cat’s Meow in theatre’s now, or rent The Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola. You will see what I mean.

I would be remiss if I summed this up without mentioning Willem Dafoe, who like Tobey Maguire has received his fair share of unnecessary critism for his portrayal. One guy claimed he was a second rate Jack Nicholson as The Joker from Batman. I guess both guys did have a balloon scene, but apart from that I don’t see it. Maybe Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, at least they both had split personalities? At any rate, I thought he did a great job as the villian. I liked his portrayal of Norman Osborn better than the Green Goblin but I think that had a little more to do with who I was rooting for, and a little less to do with his acting. You couldn’t have asked for a better cast and I hope even the diehard fans will agree with me on that; although, I am sure they will find something not to like. Some of the more brass reviewers certainly did, but I haven’t seen a grade lower than a B which should tell you something, at least this blockbuster has something besides hype behind it, genuine actors who make the story seem real.

Sure, Spider-man was a little goofy in places, but it was timely, not dated, it has a little something for everyone, but best of all, it never forgot what it was, a comic book-an escape for the reader, or in this case the viewer, not a reflection of reality, just pure fun. And as I sat in that movie theater watching, I couldn’t help but think, this is the greatest movie I have ever seen!! I guess I owe that radio guy an apology, huh?

Ordinarily, I am not a very happy camper and when my job decided I couldn’t take my vacation as scheduled, I was pissed. Today I thought I would take a moment to be positive for a change and let you all know how great Southwest was to me. Ok, for starters, they’re cheap, which is tops on my list. To be honest, it IS a little annoying to have to wait in line for a boarding pass, but the trade off is worth it. Plus, there are no annoying asses in 1st class; everyone is equal at Southwest. The best thing about Southwest though is their remarkable willingness to trade my tickets to another day without question or charge. How refreshing to deal with a company that will actually help you and not punish you for something outside of your control. Anyway, props to Southwest, and if you are ever in need of cheap airline tickets and you don’t mind standing in line, may I suggest you fly Southwest.

P.S. Their food sucks, so bring your own snacks! Unless of course you like 6 peanuts and 3 raisins. Did I say AND? I meant OR.

In other news, The Basement Butcher isn’t just shut down, he’s also locked-up and facing charges. Good Riddance. Also, My weather pixie has now officially freaked out. Oh well. Lastly, be sure and tune in tomorrow for my views on Spider-man; I’ve been waiting months to write about it and I can’t wait. I warn you though, I might be positive tomorrow as well which is really scary considering how negative I usually am. Until then…

Here in C-town, we have an investigative reporter working for one of our local television stations. I have very little use for this guy or his so called stories, usually, I just hate him. Last night, he did an undercover special report about this man who sells meat out of the trunk of his car (or van, depending on how much product he has to hock). This man allegedly sells to private citizens as well as local bars and restaurants. He was shown dropping meat on the ground, driving around with it for hours at a time in an unrefridgerated vehicle, and cutting and packaging the meat in the dirty basement of his home. Once, they even followed him all the way to Erie, PA selling his tainted meat along the way. Apparently, he has been doing this for over 20 years under the radar of the USDA. Now, they are launching an investigation to shut him and others like him down, not because it is against the law, but because this news reporter had the meat tested and it was positive for the potentially lethal bacteria, Listeria. DUH! I think it is great to shut him down, but what I want to know is, who the hell is buying meat out of the back of someone’s car? What person or business would actually think beef, chicken, pork and shrimp from some guy’s car was ok, especially since he was selling it so incredibly cheap (considerably less than wholesale). I know, I know, a bargain is a bargain, but meat? Every other week, someone somewhere is on the news getting sick from improperly handled meat, and people are buying it out of cars? What? I know stupidness abounds, but come on, hot meat? Think people, a bargain isn’t a bargain if you die or end up with hundreds of dollars in medical bills! I can’t believe they have to put this on the news to warn people, shouldn’t common sense apply here? My first reaction is you reap what you sow, good riddance, but that doesn’t help the restaurant patrons and little children who have no idea a moron purchased and prepared their food. The silent victims are the ones I feel sorry for, the rest will get what they deserve and hopefully, so will the “basement butcher.” May he eat what he sells!

As long as I live, I will never get the horrific images of September 11th out of my mind. I will not forget the fear and the anger I felt, that we felt. I am glad the motion picture industry has decided to leave images of the Twin Towers in upcoming movies. I had been greatly disturbed by the rush to remove all evidence of them in their glory from store shelves, movies and videos. I want to see them and to never forget. We owe it to the people who died. Their only “mistake” (if you can call it that) was going to work that day. Certainly our country has changed much over the last 71/2 months, but not enough.

I can’t help but think of the episode of Nova I watched last evening. The program was excellent. It was on why the Towers fell. It was fascinating to hear how experts figured it out. There is incredible sadness among them as they described it. But, two things stick out in my mind: 1-Hindsight is 20/20. Certainly we can say now what could have or might have been done to prevent this collapse, but the fact remains that no one ever could have imagined anyone would run an airplane loaded with fuel into those buildings or any buildings on purpose. Even if an airplane had hit the Tower accidentally, it wouldn’t have been going as fast on impact or been loaded with so much fuel. 2-This one really gets to me. Why do they keep showing those poor people dangling from the building, just hanging there suspended in death or worse, terror? Those people had families. Even if you can’t see their faces, certainly you know the shape of your loved one, particularly if you saw what they wore to work. I am all for the continued investigation and for the tributes, but I objected to these pictures in the days following September 11th and I am sickened by them now. Show what you must, but respect the lives of those who died so pointlessly; give the husbands, mothers, sisters, brothers…HEROES the dignity they deserve.

I promised my friend I would wait until after Spider-man opened to talk about it here, but I have to mention a few things that happened on E!’s coverage of last night’s premiere in Westwood, CA. I have been looking forward to this movie for over a year, and finally it is here; and who does E! put on the red carpet doing the interviews and introductions? The original plastic anchors, those Ken and Barbie dolls, Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber, the one, the only team for incompetent journalism (if you can call it that), Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner! These two morons yuck it up nightly on E! News Daily, and trust me, they suck there too, but last night they were pathetic.

At one point they were interviewing Stan Lee, the famed creator of Spider-man and executive producer of the new movie, and Jules starts asking him if the movie is what he invisioned for Spider-man when he drew it. He looks at her for a second, takes a pause, and then says, well, actually I didn’t draw it, I wrote it. Hey Jules, stick to Wild on E! where you need boobs not brains for sucess, interviews are not the place for you. Steve Kmetko wasn’t much better calling Bill Paxton’s father Joe not John. Before you say, simple mistake, who knows actor’s father’s names? John Paxton is in this film, Bill was only there to support him. The dynamic duo barely got Matthew Perry to talk to them, embarrased his little sister, forgot to answer their own trivia question when they interviewed one of my favorite actors, James Franco, kept getting stonewalled by celebrities who were sick of them asking the same old questions, and worst of all they couldn’t make up their mind (I use that singularly and loosely) about whether there was only going to be one sequel or two. You thought Joan and Melissa Rivers were bad, at least they are trying to be funny even if they aren’t succeeding.

In case you missed it , I will run down a few of my favorite highlights from the red carpet. Will Smith’s son, Trey, was clearly unimpressed by their whitty banter; he was seen yawning while they asked his dad stupid questions. LeAnn Rimes’ husband, Dean Sheremet, told Steve and Jules he was “wearing Spider-man underwear”. Later, Steve asked LeAnn and Dean if they were out to show their support for the Spider-man film and Dean responded with the following zinger, “I’m not supporting Spider-man nearly as much as he’s supporting me”. Priceless. Then, the usually dry and somewhat annoying Cliff Robertson made my night by telling Jules, “You look better with clothes on” which completely floored her and she quickly added, “He’s talking about Wild on E!“. It serves her right, early she mis-punctuated a sentence directed at Stan Lee by saying, “I don’t want to DATE you…………………………but how long have you been trying to bring Spider-man to the big screen? Damn those teleprompters! Where’s Mary Hart when you need her. This show definitely could have used a good seizure!

I hate morning radio shows; I can’t stand all the mindless talking. I never listen to them even though my co-workers have an obvious addiction to one of them. Anyway, this morning my alarm is set to radio and it keeps going off (I hit the snooze button a good 10 times before I go anywhere).

Paul McCartney is coming to town and his show is sold out (big surprise), and every radio station in town has a promotion going for its listeners exclusive chance to win great seats. Today’s promotion was karaoke, 7 o’clock in the morning karaoke! Not only should there be a law forbidding karaoke, you should be shot on site for suggesting it be done in the morning. But wait…this picture gets worse…at least if it was real karaoke, they wouldn’t be singing acapella. Contestants could choose any Beatles, Wings, or McCartney duet they wanted (thankfully no one chose “Say Say Say”) for a chance at the tickets. As an added bonus, if you stopped by the station’s broadcast studio to sing your ditty, you got an automatic 10 whopping chances to win.

The first three contestants I heard were so bad, I almost called up and sang “Hey Jude” to put them out of their misery. Finally I could take it no more (ok truth be told, I had to go to work), so I turned off the radio and headed off to my oh so exciting day at the office. But I can’t help thinking I should write my congressman and demand morning karaoke and more specifically Beatles karaoke of any kind should be outlawed all together. I mean, tell the truth, has anyone out there ever seen a good karaoke performance or for that matter, a decent cover of a Beatles classic (that is if you are old enough to understand this sentence). Come on now, everybody sing it with me, ” Hey Jude…”

See what I mean?

P.S. Thank god my weather pixie is finally wearing some clothes. She’s been in a crop top for three days and it has barely been over 50. At least today she has a sensible coat on, since it is barely expected to hit 40. This just proves the theory that all girls, even computerized girls, are slaves to fashion. Maybe she just can’t bring herself to accept that it is almost May and there still no end of winter in sight (not here in the land of darkness and gray anyway).

So, I’m in Wal-mart today, and I actually make it to the checkout despite the vast multitude of morons in my way. I am almost home free; 8 items or less, and I’m out the door. Instead, there is this guy with his cart parked diagonally, half in the customer service lane, half in mine. He’s chatting it up with the girl behind the counter; so I say, “Excuse me, are you in line?”. He says, “Yeah” and proceeds to run over my toe on his way to the cashier. He leaves his cart in the line, checks out, makes his payment, and then stands there blocking the aisle. {FYI, I am a price watcher; stores are always overcharging for stuff on their scanners, and I like to watch my purchases scan, so I can make sure I’m not getting screwed.} Since he won’t move his cart and go home, I try to push it forward so I can see the display. Suddenly, a lightbulb goes off in his brain and he decides to move, but not out the door, he decides he’ll take the cart back over to the greeter by the front door. He flips the cart around and runs into my hip. He says nothing; no sorry, no oops, no kiss my ass, no nothing. So I say, “Asshole”. Unbelievably, the girl at the counter says to me, “You know that is the owner of this store, don’t you? Did he do something to you?” I’m like, “Yeah, he ran over my foot, and he just drove his cart into my hip”. She repeats, “He’s the owner of this store”. I’m thinking, excuse me, does that help? A.) Still an asshole. B.) Probably ought to think about being nicer to his customers. What I actually say is, “Well, that really doesn’t inspire me to shop here”. Then, I finished my purchase and left.

I am not going to bother telling you to boycot Wal-mart because let’s face it, I need their cheap crap and so do the rest of you, but I had to say something. I mean who acts like that, and worse, who says, gee I am sorry that guy is a dick, but don’t worry, he is an owner, in a pathetic attempt to make me feel better? Next time, just say, “What an ass, can you believe that guy?”. Trust me, I wouldn’t have known he was an owner, and I never would have passed this story on if you had.

P.S. Not that any of you live in C-town, but if you do, think twice before visiting your friendly neighboorhood North Olmsted Wal-mart.

World renowned screw-up Marcia Clark is the new “legal expert” for Entertainment Tonight’s coverage of the Robert Blake story. Since when is she an expert on anything besides being hideously ugly? Last I checked, her 15 minutes of fame were over. Now she is gravy-training Robert Blake to get back into the limelight. She has nothing to add to this story. She is just a bitter old crone whose takes include sarcastic monologues to the camera on how she “really believes the story Robert Blake is telling.” Even her sarcasm sucks; I don’t like the guy and I want him set free in the hopes he will go postal on her ass. Did ET forget the American viewers of the “greatest show on earth” hated Marcia Clark. She lost her case because she wanted to try it in the media, and let’s face it, Johnny Cochran kicked her ass (with a little help from those idiots in the L.A. Police Department). Now the District Attorney’s office is trying to live that down and put on a case that is not a media circus and there she is dragging it back down to her level. She is not even associated with the current district attorney’s office or this case and still she is trying sell what little integrity she has left to parlay this case into her next book deal. Hey Marcia, people’s lives are not a game. Regardless of whether Robert Blake is guilty, a woman is still dead. A murder victim and her family deserve justice and your ignorant tirades on tabloid television won’t help them get that. If you don’t have any respect for yourself or the legal system, at least try to have respect for the victim’s family and the American people. Get off the gravy train and crawl back under the rock you came from; we are sick of you.