Terrible Analogies

Last week I order a first edition of Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel, Damned.

I’m a huge Palahnuik fan (it’s an unhealthy obsession), and have first editions of all of his books.  That is, all except for Damned.

Checking out prices online I stumbled across an independent bookseller called Ziesings who had a first edition for sale.  I placed my order, and a few minutes later received the following email from Cindy Ziesing:

Really?  A signed copy?!  ”There’s no way,” I thought.

This past Friday my book arrived, and the good folks at Ziesings were good on their word.  I now own a signed copy of Chuck’s latest!

I have to admit that this is one of the classiest signatures that I've ever seen

Being a big Palahniuk fan this was a huge surprise, and one that I won’t forget.  Many thanks, Cindy!  I really can’t thank you enough!  And thanks for including the limited postcards from Hell.  It’s things like this that makes for a loyal customer.  You can bet that I’ll be visiting your store again.

Yesterday was the second day of my ITIL training, and I noticed something about our instructor that I don’t believe anyone else has picked up on.

It was after lunch when he began to work in referrences from Fight Club into his teachings.

It began subtly at first when he said, “Requesting an icon in cornflower blue isn’t an incident.” Ten minutes later he said, “Impact times Urgency denotes the priority of the issue and could realign your paradigm of perception.”  And at the end of the day as we were answering a series of esoteric questions he said, “Time’s up!  Please pass them forward. These are the type of questions that you’ll see on the test tomorrow. So…was that a near-life experience?”

It’s funny how a movie can work its way into the (sub)consciousness of society, weaving phrases and ideas into that tiny corner of the mind that keeps what we think as important on the tip of our tongue. Perhaps our instructor was just as affected by this movie and I was, and somewhere inside he’s just as disaffected at how benign everyday life can be. It’s obvious that Fight Club was a movie that spoke to him on a level that struck a personal chord inside, its message resonating and manifesting itself in the patterns of his speech.

I mentioned this to the co-workers who were also in the class, asking them if they caught the Fight Club references. Alas, none did. Ah well…

The blur that is the weekend doesn’t linger around long enough to wipe away the stink of the work week, but doing what I could with those fleeting hours that bookmark the drudgery of Monday to Friday I managed to:

Go running at my favorite training trail.  Me and my mutated right foot had a great time running the Ellie Lane trail at Iron Mountain.

Cleaned up the house.  In this picture, Nemesis takes up a defensive position to guard herself against her sworn enemy…the vacuum cleaner.

Started and completed the collected series of Concrete.  If you haven’t read Concrete, I highly suggest that you take a peek.  It’s one of the finest examples of independent comics from back in the day when the word “independent” really meant something.

Started and am now halfway through Chuck Palahniuk’s newest novel, Tell-All.  Man, that Hazie Coogan sure is one possessive, controlling woman.  If you’re an aging movie star, for God’s sake steer clear of her.

Got in a few sessions of running through all of the Cubes.  I geeked out hard on this, but I find it relaxing.

Played a round of Arkham Horror.  My poor investigators never stood a chance againt the onslaught of ancient horrors that infested the good town.  Chalk one up for the bad guys…

Watched a few movies from the collection.  Managed to squeeze in Green Zone (Bourne IV it is not), The Book Of Eli (chock full of post-apocalyptic goodness), and Shutter Island (this movie requires multiple viewings).

And to top it all off…bath time!

And that, my friends, was my weekend.  Hope yours was just as relaxing and enjoyable!

Color me excited,

…

Remember, you are not the contents of your wallet.

Karin and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home on the couch watching the movie Eagle Eye.  Nearly an hour into the movie, when the (blank) reveals to (blank) that his life is (blank, blank, blankety blank…I’m not gonna ruin in for you), this quickly flashed on the screen:

Wow…apparently some of Jerry Shaw’s favorite movies include The Big Lebowski, Donnie Darko, The Usual Suspects, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (you’ve seen this film…right?), Office Space, Full Metal Jacket, and…Fight Club.  Not only was Fight Club listed, they used an image of the first DVD pressing.  Nice touch.

I’m an absolute slave to this film, and if I didn’t mention this sighting I’d have to turn in my Cool Kids Club card, and man…I wouldn’t want to do that.  After all, they serve hot ham-and-cheese sandwiches on Wednesdays for lunch…