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So I finally got around to watching Zombieland, and I must say my expectations weren’t all that high.  But to be honest, they weren’t that low either.  

When the movie was in theaters, I had seen some commercials, and I was interested in what appeared to be a movie about fighting zombies at an amusement park.  In fact, when I re-read that thought, a movie about fighting zombies at an amusement park still sounds awesome to me.  They even decided to use the same actor from the movie Adventureland, and to tell you the truth, if Adventureland had zombies, I would’ve liked it a lot better.  Plus, Woody Harrelson was in the commercials looking like a zombie-fighting baddass, so that was a huge bonus too. 

For one reason or another I didn’t get around to seeing it at the theater even though it was the highest grossing zombie movie ever, but the other day we had some friends over and decided to rent it from the Redbox down the street.  Long story short, I liked the movie.  I liked that it had fun with itself.  It didn’t take itself seriously.  As someone who enjoys the zombie mythos, and someone who believes that yes, you can make a bad zombie movie, this is the first zombie movie I can remember that really made me laugh and smile.  

Sure, Shaun of the Dead was funny, but that was British humor.  I enjoy British humor from time to time, but…this is Woody Harrelson and zombies! That idea is hilarious. In my opinion I put Woody Harrelson’s character of Tallahassee in Zombieland up there with Shuan from Shaun of the Dead and Ash from Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. 

I know right now it seems like we’re inundated with zombie fiction, but it’s good to see that a fun little gem like Zombieland can pop up in the midst of it all. If you haven’t seen it, and you like funny zombie fiction, Woody Harrelson, and a surprisingly intelligent look at living in the world after a zombie apocalypse, then check it out.  It’s definitely worth a dollar rental at the Redbox. 

And if you liked Zombieland, you’d probably like any of Max Brook’s books like The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Last time I checked, there was a World War Z movie in the works. And if you’re looking for more awesome zombie fiction after you’ve seen every zombie movie, check out a comic written by Robert Kirkman called The Walking Dead. There are a bunch of collected graphic novels out, and AMC recently picked it up to make a TV show which I’m hoping will be good. 

Oh! I just looked on IMDB, and it appears there is a Zombieland 2 in the works.  Nice.

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Ladies and gentlemen, today is Groundhog Day.  It really snuck up on me this year.  I usually try to watch the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, but I don’t think I’m going to get to it this year, unless it’s on TV tonight.  Oh, Hey!  After a quick internet search, it looks like it’s on Bravo tonight at 5:00 pm Central Time.  I’ll be setting the DVR for that.  (Thank you AT&T U-Verse Web Remote Access.)

At any rate, I think this movie is fantastic, and I always look forward to February 2 to remind me to watch it again.  It probably goes back to my previous post that asserted that every movie speaks to everyone differently depending on the time, place, and circumstances in which you first saw it, but this movie really hits on something that speaks to me and it’s tough to pinpoint.

Maybe it’s the main character who has a cold exterior but deep down finds a loving heart.  Maybe it’s the juxtaposition of the city life versus the small town life.  Maybe it’s the underlying tones of having a monotonous job.  Or maybe it’s that Andie MacDowell is completely gorgeous and mesmerizing throughout the movie.

Whatever it is that keeps drawing me back to this movie, I recommend you try to watch it this week, if for no other reason than to, ironically, relive the fun of reliving the same day over and over again. (Bravo is also showing it on the 3^rd, and 5^th of the month – check your local listings.)

According to the press releases, Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow today which means 6 more weeks of winter.  So it looks like we’ll be reliving these cold-weather days everyday for a little while longer.  All the more reason to stay in and watch a good movie.

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Yesterday I was in a store, and a friendly employee asked me if I needed any help.  I kindly asked him if his store carried a certain item I was looking for, and he politely told me, “No, we don’t carry that in the store, but I can order it for you and have it delivered here.”

“Really? Can it be delivered in the next ten minutes, because I could’ve gone online and ordered it myself.  Heck, I have an iPhone, I could order it right now. No I don’t need you to use the Internet for me. Why don’t I just buy it myself?”

Okay, so that wasn’t my real reply, but the more I thought about this conversation after I left, the more appalled I became.  Seriously, if you don’t carry the items that I want in your store, then what is going to cause me to actually go to your store in the future?

I feel like book stores were the first to enact this customer service tactic, but I’ve recently seen it in other types of entertainment stores, clothing stores, and department stores.

If I have the urge to go to a store to buy a DVD, Blu-Ray, Book, or Video Game, I actually want it to be there for me to purchase.  Sometimes I want to actually hold an item and inspect it before buying it.

Now stores are making it harder and harder for me to buy from them and easier and easier to buy from Amazon.com and other online retailers.  And the funny thing is, Amazon.com is usually cheaper anyway, but the consumer in me is still set on running in to a Barnes & Noble or Borders if I have some time to kill.

I bet you’re probably thinking, “But Brian, if you let the store order it and send it to their location, then you don’t have to pay shipping.”

Oh, I’ve thought of that, but if I ship it to the store for free, I still have to use gas and spend time to drive back up to the store, and I still have to pay sales tax, (which is 8.25% where I live in Texas).  Plus, most of the items on Amazon.com are around 30% off, no sales tax is charged, and if it’s over $25 for your order, the shipping is free.

“Fine.  Why don’t you just use Amazon.com,” you ask?

Well, I’ve already mentioned that I like to pop into stores when I have some time to kill, and I also like to inspect things before purchase.  But I also like to search for particular items, and I tend to go on these item-quests after the item I’m searching for is out of stock.

For instance, I fell in love with the movie Almost Famous about three or four years after it was released.  My good friend owned a copy of the Director’s Edition Bootleg Cut DVD, and I, being the person who does not settle for the generic DVD release, also wanted the Director’s Bootleg Cut.  Unfortunately, by the time I came around to this movie, the Bootleg Cut of the DVD was sold out and out of print.  It is currently back in print, but at the time, the DVD was going for three or four times it’s MSRP by resellers.

I went into many a Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, and Barnes & Noble hoping they might have it.  In these instances, the employees would offer to order it for me, and then they would find that it wasn’t available in their system.  No kidding?  Like I hadn’t already known that from using my own Googling skills.

I suppose from their point of view, they could wonder why some idiot like me didn’t call ahead to the store to see if they had it.  But that’s beside the point.  Even if I did call ahead for an item that was not out of print, they wouldn’t have it anyway, and they’d ask me if I wanted them to order it, and once again, they would be in the wrong.

So I guess the moral of the story is that if you know what you want, it’s probably best to buy it online.  If you want to discover something new, going to the store and inspecting items might turn you on to something interesting.  But with an abundance of customers reviews, suggestions, and recommendations, you can discover some pretty awesome stuff without ever going to a store and letting someone else order it for you.

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