Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Consumption Junction


I'm back. I have a summer cold, so I'm not feeling great and was not in the mood to blog yesterday. Everything tastes like cotton balls, you know? But the headache and sinus pain has subsided.

One of the things I had to do in Rhode Island was get a new cell phone. My old phone had horrible reception and did not work in my apartment at all. I didn't really mind this, since sometimes I like going off the map and being unreachable but it drove my father absolutely insane. He finally said the magic words, "Get a new phone. I'm begging you. I'll pay for it." Ding ding!

We went to the Cingular store and I told the greasy salesman, "I need a new phone that actually will allow me to make and receive phone calls. I don't care about games, texting, camera, video, whatever, just give me the phone with the best reception". The phone the salesman told me had the best reception in the whole store was a Nokia that also happens to be a Camera phone. We bought it. Although I have yet to read the manual (it is long and there are lots of diagrams and there is no witty dialogue!) I have figured out how to take low-quality grainy photos of my world and email them to myself. For example, here is a photo of my desk. Enjoy. And yes, the phone works everywhere I have tried it, including my apartment. So now if you call me and I don't pick up, it means that I am avoiding you.

It other consumer news I had this plan that once I moved into my apartment I would save up to buy a TV and get cable. My adventures dog- and house-sitting gave me access to cable for about five days and this is the conclusion I came to: television is crap. How many reality shows about Kathy Griffin do I really need to see? Answer: zero. So, I've decided not to get a TV. Instead, I think I'll join Netflix. Then I can rent all the great TV shows on DVD and unlimited movies, play them on my laptop and avoid paying for cable and the late fees I've been racking up at Video Edge, which is still the greatest Video Store ever. Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with Netflix? Any reccomendations on what I should rent first?

As far as what my brain is consuming, I'm reading Jonathan Ames' Wake Up, Sir! and I totally love it. The hero is Alan Blair, a young, neurotic alcoholic writer who is bewildered by the fact that he can't seem to stop drinking. He's supposed to be working on what is sure to be a horrible novel but his time is mostly taken up obsessing about his blood sugar and homosexuals. In short, Blair is the kind of guy you could meet in any given bar on any given night in Brooklyn with one exception: he has taken the money he received from a slip and fall settlement and hired himeself a personal Valet named Jeeves, who he proceeds to drag from his Aunt and Uncle's house in Montclair, NJ to an artists' colony in upstate New York. If this doesn't sound like a hilarious set up to you, then we are running in very different circles.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...
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jesse said...

Netflix is fantastic, although my mom tells me it's unkind to independent video stores. I would highly recommend:
All the Real Girls
You Can Count on Me
Ordinary People

Cupcake said...

Loved You Can Count on Me, there's a great scene where the mom and little boy are fighting over the pancakes. I think I get Ordinary People confused with Terms of Endearment. Haven't seen Ordinary People.

jesse said...

Terms of Endearment is saccharine poop, Ordinary People is a heart-rending powerhouse drama. That's the major difference.
Don't forget All the Real Girls or you'll give yourself short shrift.
-"Please to vist my golfblog. It is mostly about golf."

fakies said...

Netflix is pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. Wait, was Crown Royal before or after sliced bread? Anyhow, Netflix has nearly everything you could want to see. Pretty quick turnaround, almost always in stock, reasonable rates. I figure I can get about 6 or 7 movies a month, but I live in the middle of nowhere. If you are close to a distribution center, it's an even better deal.

Linda said...

I've been a Netflix member since 2002, I love it!!! For 20 bucks a month I rent 10-12 films a month, that's a deal!!! Their film inventory is awesome, they've got almost everything. I canceled my cable to avoid crap TV, and rent the stuff I like. They have everything, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Entourage, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Hogans Heros, even mini series like Angels in America. It's fun to watch the TV series one episode after the other without waiting a week for the next episode, there's usually 3 or 4 episodes per disk. And no commercials!!! They even have exclusive release films sometimes which is kind of cool. They usually have some kind of new member promotion and their website is super user-friendly and NO late fees. Give it a shot, you can cancel any time if you don't like it. Enjoy!!!

Unknown said...

I hate TV, too, and just recently joined Blockbuster's online service because it was cheaper than Netflix. HOWEVER, I got an e-mail today that they are raising their prices. That figures. I'm going to switch to Netflix now. That's sure to put Blockbuster out of business.

Anonymous said...

I actually haven't read Wake Up, Sir! yet. I loved The Extra Man, you have to read that. I read What Not to Love first, which has my personal fav story "I Shat My Pants in the South of France."
Interesting trivia: My dad introduced me to both Jonathan Ames and David Sedaris. And, no, he is not an aging gay hipster.

Cupcake said...

I was reading Wake Up, Sir! yesterday when I came across the greatest passage about pubic lice in literature. I actually laughed aloud on the Q Train. (The Q is a very unfunny Train).

Cupcake said...

Bride- oh dear, you do have issues.