Lucky

I touched on this subject in an earlier post but now I have to tell the full story:
Her in town where I moved in October I walk everywhere. And everyday that I leave the house I find money on the ground.

My whole life I've looked down while walking. Part of it is fear of tripping; part of it is shyness. I've gotten better over the years and I try to have a more confident posture, but my gaze is still usually directed at the ground.

Now, my walking style is starting to pay off, and handsomely too.

I'll always find at least a penny. A lot of times I'll find a nickle or dime too. I like days where I end up with, say, 16 cents to drop in my washed-out salsa jar. I'm not the type to check coin return slots in vending machines and whatnot but there were a couple times where I found a lone quarter on or on the ground in front of a pay phone that I was about to use.

There was a night a couple months ago where I found 2 or 3 one dollar bills on the road alongside the curb while I was walking to the supermarket. Last week my friend and I were leaving a Wendy's dining room and I could see that there was some kind of bill on the ground outside right in front of the entrance. I called out, "Dollar on the ground. It's mine", and then rushed through both doors so that anyone approaching from the parking lot couldn't beat me to it.

Even though my parents are Catholic my friends are always calling me a Jew (actually they're always calling me a dirty Jew or a filthy Jew). It's my nose, my cheapness, and the way I've always got an eye out for money. They're right, but sometimes I even surprise myself. Earlier this morning I was walking back from the drug store and deleting some of the texts that were cluttering my Inbox and Outbox when I glanced at a small pice of paper that was frozen into a snowbank along the sidewalk. It was dirty, faded, folded into 8ths and half covered in snow but somehow I spotted it: a one dollar bill.

Sorry, my friends are sleeping and I had to tell somebody. But that's exciting, right?

My Bloody Valentine 3-D

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

I'm glad that I went to see this instead of the new Friday the 13th. I'm not much into modern horror movies- they're all about pain and new, gorier ways to chop people up- the last one I saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, really turned me off. It's just too upsetting for me. That's why I've avoided the Saw movies and Hostel and Rob Zombie's movies. And I think Friday would be just like those.

Though some scenes were too much, mostly MBV was done in the style of an 80's slasher. It was more fun, there was some suspense, and the 3-D was impressive.

Almost the entire film was neat to look at- especially the ariel shots of the bridge leading to Harmony and the mines. Hopefully more movies will be made this way over the next couple years; there's a lot that could be done.

What bothered me the most (aside from the shovel scene and the Tom Atkins porch scene) was when the wife was closing up the supermarket and she and the other girl heard a noise. What with everything going on they should've just left- especially since they were right by the front doors. I know it's stupid to complain about horror movie characters doing stupid things but I can't help myself.

The 3-D glasses cost 3.50. That bothered me a little too. Also, before the movie started there was an announcement saying to throw the glasses in the recycling bin afterwards. Why, so people don't carry them out and hand theirs to people waiting in the ticket line and saving them three and a half bucks?

Anyway, I'd recommend My Bloody Valentine to anyone.

Mission Statement

It probably started earlier, but around 1997 I noticed that every business or group, no matter how small, had to have a mission statement- a few sentences or one long sentence that stated that group's goals.

To me it always seemed too formal, too "7 Habits" (someday soon I'm going to finally read that book, the original). Still I'm going to try to outline, briefly, the purpose of this blog.

I think it was sometime last year, Final Girl put up a link to Entertainment Weekly's list of 10 Greatest Horror Movies. She mentioned the same thing that I liked about there list: Along with each movie they put up a picture from the film, and in just about every case they used an image that wasn't the usual movie still that you might expect.

I like that.

And that's what I try to do here.

You might notice for the Aimee Mann post last month I used a picture that was a composite of the Smilers artwork and for the Body of Evidence review I used a "Dita" photo from the "Erotica" video.

I'm trying to show, not just my favorite images, but some rarely-seen pictures that you might not normally come across.

I have some more that I'll be rolling out over the next month. Stay tuned (Shattered Glass review coming soon too).

Big Weekend

There's a lot to look forward to over the next few days, especially this coming weekend.

My friend is working Friday, so Saturday we're gonna try to do a double feature: My Bloody Valentine 3-D and Friday the 13th.

Plus I have a few more Season 4 episodes of The West Wing to watch- then there'll be my definitive WW post.

Tomorrow I'm going to start working on a series of new oil paintings. I'm very excited and still I'm dreading the clean-up. It's such a pain and I don't think I have any paint thinner.

Any day now my review of Shattered Glass will be up. I've been promising that for a while. The wait is almost over.

Plus, don't forget: I can solve all your problems. Ask RJ. Come to RJ, let me make everything all better.

Ask RJ

One day when I was a kid I discovered the advice columns in my local newspaper and got hooked on them.

They were a big thing back then- Ann and Abby were still lucid and alive, plus our paper ran Dr. Ruth too.

For years now my dream has been to have my own advice column. Now I'm going to do it. Ask RJ is officially open for business. I always know the right thing to do plus I have a wealth of experience and information. Got a question? Ask RJ! Is it OK to wear white after Labor Day? Nope. What is Madonna's full name and birthdate? Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, August 16 1958. How many Ethiopians can you fit in a Ford Escort? All of them.

Ask RJ

End of an era

Tonight I walked to the neighbohood store for cigarettes and got a sad surprise.

I walked up to the register, cash in hand, and asked for a pack of my favorite cheap cigarettes (usually I smoke Camel Filters or Marlboro Mediums, but when cash is low- which it usually is- I get Doral Lights; like Camels, they're made by RJ Reynolds and they're almost like CFs, just 70 cents less); the kid behind the counter hesitated for a moment, then turned to get them while saying that they were going to stop making that brand soon and there were only a couple packs left.

Right away I felt a little sad. Dorals aren't something I would've normally tried but my mom used to smoke them so I'd given them a shot years before. Now she smokes Basics and when I told her the news she didn't really care, "I don't smoke those anymore".

I guess I'm getting all emotional for no good reason.

In the winter months

In the winter months it's great to have something to look forward to, no matter how small or low-key. It's cold and windy and dark outside and even if you want to venture out of the house there's not much going on anywhere. So it's good to find fun wherever you can.

For me it's my upcoming West Wing marathon. I'm planning on 11 episodes tomorrow and the other 11 on Sunday. But I'm not going to be watching them. I'm going to do some paintings, both watercolor and oil. I do watercolors regularly but it's a big deal when I pull out the oils.

Oil painting is so much fun and I do it pretty well but the set-up and the clean-up are a fucking pain. Otherwise I'd do it all the time.

My problem lately (actually, for the past year, but especially lately) is that I've been taking a lot in- books, movies, TV, ect, but I haven't been creating much. It's all off-balance.

This weekend will set everything right.