...with a wooden stick, and knowing he can't touch me. It is the only time I feel powerful." I generally do not like tradition. Growing up and still living in the southern United States, I know how much traditions matter to people. To me, traditions seem to be sort of an antithesis to progress. If we don't change things, nothing can move forward. This is why I've done my best to not participate in as many traditions as possible (much to the annoyance of my parents, my ex-girlfriends, my ex-teachers, etc...). However, I must admit that for the past few months, I have begun what seems to be a tradition. Every Sunday morning I wake up, throw on some clothes, and drive to the local Blockbuster Video (the one on Cottage Hill Rd. to be exact). I then rent a crummy new release I have no interest in ever seeing. I go home, then I watch it. I'm not sure why I do this, but I do it. And I enjoy it. In fact, I even wake up on Sunday mornings very excited about it. Sometimes it turns out alright (15 Minutes was okay), but then, sometimes it turns out, well, pretty much how I expected it to (Scary Movie 2, Rush Hour 2, The Glass House). This week's however, might just take the cake for the worst. Summer Catch incorporates everything bad about romantic-sport-comedies, and takes it about three levels worse. It's got the wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance, the cruel and controlling father(s), the wacky friends that seem to feel left out when the 'hero' makes new friends, the rivalries with the teammates, that last game, that last inning, the girl is leaving town, etc... I have a whole new confidence in life today. This actually happens quite often, but I always lose that confidence in a matter of days. Sometimes, something very special comes along to lift my spirits back up, something that makes me feel the world is mine for the taking. Summer Catch has become the newest inspiration. If somebody (WB in this case) is willing to put up several MILLION dollars to make that rubbish, then surely, anything is possible. A movie this bad, this poorly written, this badly acted, this terribly unfunny, can be made, then anything is possible. Anyone can do anything. Just remember that. Kieran's story about the kid in primary school reminded me of one of the worst feelings I've ever had. When I was in third grade, a boy named Shane Hale was something of the bully of the class. He annoyed me and many others terribly. His mother died in a car wreck when we were in third grade. I felt bad for him, because I could never imagine my mother dying at the time. He was picking on a friend of mine, making fun of him for some reason. I can't remember what. This made me upset, so I turned to him, and said "well, at least his mother's alive." It took me a long time to get over saying that. I don't know what I was thinking. I never apologized either, although I wish I would have. Moving on to more belle and sebastian-y things, I had an idea to be totally disregarded. Now that there is a heavely body (turning the list into some sort of Wim Wenders film) pining for Ms. Cambell, I think that MISS (not Mrs.) House and the banchory crew should start selling dates with members of the band. I am sure there are plenty of people willing to pay ungodly amounts for an evening with Ms. Cambell, Mr. Murdoch, Ms. Martin, Mr. Jackson, Beans, and the rest of the lot. They are sitting on a gold mine. It's time to stop thinking about ethics and music, and start thinking profit. Anyhow, I had originally planned on writing a diatribe about how much I love baseball, but I'm not going to do that now. I've gone on for far too long. I must apologize, but I really felt like typing. My online diary is not working, so I had to do it somewhere. Okay. I'm not proofreading this. I like to live dangerously. Sometimes. -Matt P.S. The only reason Scary Movie 2 was not the worst is because I could not help but chuckle at Andy Richter playing Mystikal's "Shake it Fast" or "Shake your Ass" on the piano at a dinner party. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. 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