Terrible Analogies

Thanks to some forward-thinking geniuses at work I was glued to my monitor for nearly two hours today parsing through hex files to try and unlock a few “urgent” legacy databases.  This goes to show that you don’t fire somebody before obtaining the passwords they use to secure company files.

I’m beat.  I think I’ll relax tonight and watch Avatar on blu-ray.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this picture of Steve Martin ironing a kitten:

Happy Friday, everyone!

If you haven’t picked up your copy of Lord Of The Rings on blu-ray, what the heck are you waiting for?  Yeah, yeah, I know…”no EE, no sale.”  But when do you honestly expect the extended versions to be released?  And if you’re willing to pass up on the theatrical versions, then you have more self control than I.

As my greedy, sweaty hands ripped into the soft plastic skin of this box set, I couldn’t help but notice the following MPAA ratings on the back of the box:

Hmmm…what’s the difference between “Scary Images” and “Frightening Images”.  I would think that there’s enough of a difference between the two to distinguish “Scary” and “Frightening”.

Utilizing the vast, unbridled power of the tubernets, I see that Webster defines “scared” as:

Thrown into or being in a state of fear, fright, or panic

And “frightened” as:

1 : to make afraid : terrify
2 : to drive or force by frightening

These two definitions seem to define the same thing, so why does the MPAA differentiate between the two?  Is this simply busy work?  A way to justify their existence?

Of course there’s always the option that I’m making too big of a deal about this trivial matter.

*meh*

I drove over to the local mall during lunch today, and as soon as I hit the parking lot I knew I had made a terrible mistake. As expected the traffic in the parking lot was bad, but that anticipated nightmare was compounded by the ingeniously positioned four-way stop near the entrance that, for whatever reason, people simply can not handle. When encountering such an obstacle it seems as if most people lose their minds and find it impossible to properly negotiate their way through.

Once past the intersection I had to find a parking spot. Thinking I’d be smart, I headed to the usually deserted upper deck of the parking structure, but was disheartened to discover that I wasn’t the only one taking this tact. It was so crowded that even the handi-capable people were parking up here and slowly ambling their way down the steep arterial decline that spills them to heart the mall.

Twenty minutes later I finally succeeded in locating a spot between a BMW with a fraternity sticker on the rear window, and what appeard to be a monster truck jacked up on steroids with mud flaps emblazoned with silhouettes of naked angel & devil women (what’s up with these anyway? Why do I see them all over nowadays?).

What happened next, as far as I can recall, was a blurry haze of frenzied shoppers, aggressive kiosk owners, dirty/greasy smells from the food court, overpriced crap far out of my budget, people standing in the middle of the aisles talking on their cell phones (are you idiots not aware of your surroundings?), hastily thrown together pop-up stores, cat calendars, near-subliminal advertising passively seeping through the overhead speakers, faded holiday decorations recycled from years past hanging in storefront windows, and an aching feeling in my bones that I’m simply being taking for another overhyped holiday joyride ride again.

And it seems, for yet another year, that I’m complaining about this.  Pitiful…

Forgive me…I just had to vent.  I think I’ll crack open a beer and settle down to a viewing of Inglorious Basterds.  That should cheer me up and set me right.

Sneaking away from work for a bit this afternoon, I found myself down at Fry’s wandering aimlessly through their blu-rays isles.  As luck would have it, I managed to find a copy of The Nightmare Before Christmas for $20 (a sharp decline in their normal asking price of $35), and was quickly making my way towared the registers with said movie tucked safely under my arm when this caught my eye:

The very first thing that crossed my mind was, “Geez…Winona Ryder has really let herself go…”

I was on my way to Fry’s to pick up The Last Starfighter on blu-ray when I happened upon this intrepid soul at a stop light:

Dig all the rearview mirrors, “MOD FLYR” license plate, and even the two reverse facing mirrors on back.  The first thing that ran though my mind when I saw this was “Ace Face!”, but alas, this American Mod is sporting a pony tail, which is most “unmodish” (did I just make up a word there?).

And so, much like Joker and his conflicting messages about war, I’m unable to figure out what this guy is trying to convey.  And no, I don’t think he has the “duality of man” on his mind, much as I’d like to think he does.

Regardless, +1 for the cool scooter.