2007-10-23 - 7:46 a.m. "They've been painting all their lives," he said. "They paint each other." The local branch of my big video franchise went out of business. Although I belong to Netflix, and my library often has good vids, the thought of not being able to rent--the apocalyptic vision of having less then 4 DVDs sitting atop my player at any given time--sent me fleeing into the night to find a new membership. Several blocks away, I found a fine establishment called Mark's Video, a tiny shop run by a cute Russian guy in a soccer jersey. Half the videos are Russian, and aside from separating the russkie stuff from the regular (and cordoning off the Adult section), there is absolutely no filing system at all. Comedies mingle with action movies, nothing is in alphabetical order. The walls seem to close in on you as you stand there looking, and if another patron comes in, you're instantly in each other's way. I like it. It's the sort of context where snap decisions are preferable, and the placement of the merchandise influences decisions. One feels a weird intimacy with the movies, as if, yes, You, Me & Dupree must be alright, because here it is by my left hip. The nudges at Emusic really, really want people to download the new Sunset Rubdown album. They are pushing it hard. I listened to all the tracks and was somehow unmoved by their exuberant artlessness, but I do like "For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)," which is a slightly more thoughtful track. So this month I spent the remainder of my downloads on Slanted and Enchanted, an album that I'd purchased shortly after its original release, on vinyl. Within about a week, before I'd really gotten a chance to absorb it, I left it on top of my car, got in the car and drove away, and the record became, in fact, fairly slanted, if not enchanted, on the pavement. And for some reason, all these years, I had this psychological resistance to ever replacing it, til now. I know not of this "baseball" of which you Americans speak so fondly, but I always appreciate a little Seuss-play thoughts? (32 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact