so today is the coheed and cambria concert. i heard about lead singer claudio sanchez doing a signing at the local comic book store, and i decided it would be worth checking out. i’m not one of those sycophantic fans who has to be around famous people all the time, but i really admire this guy and i just wanted to see him up close.

we drove by at 11:30am to see if anyone was outside the store and no one was there. we went to pj’s to get some lunch and then headed back to find about 30 people in line. we parked and got in line. the comic book store people handed out water and we chit-chatted with a few people in line. the guy standing next to me said “wake up” was the song played at his wedding. i said that that’s the song we’re probably going to have at our wedding, too. it felt good to be around other insane people like me.

finally, after sweating and waiting for almost an hour, we got into the store and waited patiently for people with stacks of graphic novels and album covers to be signed. we got up to the front and i put my good apollo graphic novel down on the table for claudio to sign and then i asked if i could get a photo. he said “yes” and i had dan, my photographer, snap a shot. when i went around the table to sit down, i forgot that i had the water bottle in my back pocket. i sat down and heard this crunch that could have been mistaken for a fart.

it was a great experience.

how great is this movie? it was like 2.5 hours of pure exhilaration. it twisted, it turned, and it was jam-packed with realism.

what i noticed throughout, was how the joker was becoming an arch villain. he was basically taking over and stealing the show. and i truly believe that if heath ledger hadn’t died, joker would have had a significant part in the next movie as well. so not only was it sad that heath died, it’s also pretty sad that the character of the joker probably died with him. i mean, would it really be worth going and trying to find a new actor?

i really want to see it again in the imax experience. i remember seeing batman begins in imax and it was glorious.

go see it at once if you haven’t already.

i’m not proud of what i’m about to tell you. in fact, i’m downright embarrassed that i could have gone against my principles and deliberately made a deal with the devil. yes, you guessed it, i started a blockbuster online subscription. it feels really good to finally come out and say it, and yet i’m completely mortified that i’ve sunk this low.

it all started when netflix sent me an e-mail stating they were getting rid of profiles. while this doesn’t seem like earth-shattering news, i was a little peeved that they just decided to eliminate this feature with barely even an explanation. so i thought it would be a good time to look into other dvd rental services. among them, i found that blockbuster had the best potential for a netflix replacement.

i’ve always been a firm blockbuster basher. ever since i had to deal with consistently retarded customer service reps, i made it my mission to hate them with a vengeance. when i decided to try their online service, i approached the decision with much caution. what sealed the deal was the two-week free trial and the fact that i would most likely not have to deal with in-store csrs.

flash forward three weeks and i’m back to hating blockbuster with a passion like no other. gaining this vital knowledge has helped me understand that netflix could pretty much take a shit in an envelope, send it to me through the mail, and it would still be a far better service.

when you sign up for the two-week trial, you can choose any service plan. i chose the two-out plan. after a couple days, i decided to upgrade to three-out. since i’m not paying for it, i should get the most movies allowed and since any plan was allowed under the free trial, i didn’t think it would be a big deal. well, they charged my card and i basically got a 5-day free trial.

this last week, they sent the wrong disc in the correct envelope for the movie i wanted. i reported it, sent the disc back, and they shipped the right disc. today, i get an e-mail saying they’ve received a “non-blockbuster disc.” yeah, no shit, i told you that it would be coming. the e-mail goes on to say that they are sending the incorrect disc back out to me so that i can replace it with the right disc (the disc i don’t have and never did have). so i call customer service and explain the situation and he says i should write a note on the disc that i received the wrong disc originally. (essentially, what he is saying is that if i don’t write the note, i will get another e-mail stating that they received an incorrect disc.)

i mean, that is just amazing to me. the sheer stupidity of their system is unparalleled. to top all this off, it takes two days through the mail for them to send and receive movies and their service is more expensive.

i gave them a fair and balanced chance to correct all those years they persecuted my soul, but they are the pathetic company i always knew them to be. they are very much worth the current value of their stock ($2.41).

it’s been much too long, so how’s about an update?

logic class is done. on to philosophy 101. still eeking my way through biology online. i just don’t care to know this much about dna, genes, and evolution. i think for my next science requirement, i’ll take a class about north american wildlife. it seems like the right thing to do.

if all goes well, i’ll be graduating next may with an associate degree. then on to the big guns at the university.

things to look forward to in the immediate future:
7/18 - the dark f-ing knight
7/21 - wolf parade
7/28 - coheed