(no subject)
My, I'm up early.
I took a trek down to Newbury Comics yesterday, through the Great LiveJournal MeltDown '07TM, and bought a few pretty neat new things.
Firstly, I bought Cocteau Twins' Head Over Heels, which, for anyone who doesn't have it, it's absolutely fucking awesome. I highly suggest you pick it up as soon as you possibly can, because it fucking rocks (Well, it is the Cocteau Twins, so maybe "Rocks" is a strong term, but it's damn good.) I guess, apparently, Robin Gunthrie has released a series of personal re-masterings of a bunch of early Cocteau Twins albums that are being sold in Newbury Comics, in a series entitled "Low Cost Classics". Yeah, they go for about $11 each. So, been meaning to bulk up your Cocteau Twins collection? Now is definitely the time to do it. I'm going back for "Stars and Topsoil" next week.
Speaking of re-issues and re-masters I wasn't aware of, the other album I bought was a Deluxe Edition Re-Issue of Echo and the Bunnymen's debut album, Crocodiles. This is awesome as it completes my collection of "important" Echo and the Bunnymen albums. In addition to the original track listing, the Deluxe Edition also includes a few B-sides of early singles, including "Do it Clean", "Read it in Books" (the B-side to "Pictures on My Wall", made famous by The Teardrop Explodes own version of the song; title shortened to "Books"), and "Simple Stuff". It also includes three "Early Versions" that were previously unreleased of the songs "Villiers Terrace", "Pride", and "Simple Stuff". And lastly, this Deluxe Edition also includes, as the last four tracks, the Shine So Hard EP from way back when the band still had a drum machine (heh). This was an all-live EP that was put out in commemoration of their ex-manager or ex-guitarist... or some shit. I don't remember the full story. But anyway, it's been out of print for about 25 years, and it's got live versions of "Crocodiles", "Zimbo", "All That Jazz", and "Over the Wall".
The best part about this Deluxe Edition is that it cost me $8.99. Yes, $8.99. There were also other Echo CDs that were re-mastered and re-issued, much like this one, if you've been meaning to grab some vintage Echo. They're uber-cheap.
God, it felt so good to be in Newbury Comics yesterday. Not because I enjoy being in a Newbury Comics, but as I was looking around for CDs, for the first time in forever, I found like 5 CDs that I was trying to decide between. That hasn't happened in forever. I remember when I was shopping there weekly (or sometimes biweekly), I had cleaned that fucking place out of anything of remote interest to me. It was kind of scary. Glad the little break I took from it has proved fruitful. The North Attleboro one just doens't have the same kind of selection.
Anyway, in other news, life's been moving along quite nicely, thank you. I've been working a lot. Yes, a lot.
Like today, for example. It's Wednesday, which is normally my day off. And if it were today, you can bet your lucky coins I wouldn't be up at 6:32 in the morning (unless, of course, I hadn't gone to bed yet). But I have been to bed, and the reason I'm up at 6:30 in the morning is because I'm working. At 8am. Until 6pm. On. My. Day. Off.
See, Tonie, who is the wonderful woman (and interestingly enough, the mother of one of the members of the Midnight Creeps) who runs the Gourmet Cheese Department has gone on vacation. So who do they leave in charge in her absence? You guessed it. me. Why me? I don't know. Apparently, there aren't any others available who can do the job as well.
Well, isn't that an interesting turn of events, yes?
I have to admit, while the overtime I'm racking up is *quite* nice, and while it is a lot of fun running my own department (quite by myself, thank you), and while I'll never understand their logic behind this but not complaining altogether, I have to say it's somewhat bittersweet.
See, when I started at Venda, I was started off making the equivalent to what I was making at East Side (which wasn't very much, but more than minimum wage, granted). At first, this was exciting and cool. I later found out that though the owner matched my hourly wage at East Side, that still came up almost a full dollar short of what most people who work at Venda start at. This didn't bother me much at first, honestly, and thought it was rather clever of them, and looked at it as just another thing a small, privately owned company could do that a bigger corporation with a Union and all that may not. Starting a new employee at a lower wage (while still making it seem as though they're getting a wage higher than expected) is actually a good idea if you're not entirely certain how it'll work out with them. I thought this was fair and decided to ride it out. And if you'd remember, when I first started there, I was assured that a raise would be in my future soon, when they saw that I clearly knew what I was doing. Well, as it's become more and more apparent that I'm valuable to them, if for nothing more than someone really good with customers (who also has been in charge of ordering for the deli, who has worked constant overtime hours in the vacation absence of a lot of the managers, who has taken over an entire department they were never properly trained in for a week and a half, I think that raise is about due, personally.
However, I work for the Mafia, and I'm not about to demand money from them. So I'll sit in my quiet frustration and brood about it. With a smile, of course :-)
And... other news.
I saw 1408 the other night with Amy. And while I thoroughly enjoyed it, my final review is to wait until rental to watch it. It's definitely worth the rental price, don't do see it in the theaters.
The movie was captivating for the most part. A very multi-layered storyline (some of it under-developed, granted) with a lot of not totally ridiculous twists (although the entire concept is a bit ridiculous, sure). But the last 20 minutes of the movie was so god-awful, I can't help but say that it's not worth the price of admission. Even if it's just for the ending.
So my advice is to wait the couple of months for it to hit Blockbuster, then rent it and turn it up really loud and pretend you're in the theaters for $3.25, instead of $10.
I took a trek down to Newbury Comics yesterday, through the Great LiveJournal MeltDown '07TM, and bought a few pretty neat new things.
Firstly, I bought Cocteau Twins' Head Over Heels, which, for anyone who doesn't have it, it's absolutely fucking awesome. I highly suggest you pick it up as soon as you possibly can, because it fucking rocks (Well, it is the Cocteau Twins, so maybe "Rocks" is a strong term, but it's damn good.) I guess, apparently, Robin Gunthrie has released a series of personal re-masterings of a bunch of early Cocteau Twins albums that are being sold in Newbury Comics, in a series entitled "Low Cost Classics". Yeah, they go for about $11 each. So, been meaning to bulk up your Cocteau Twins collection? Now is definitely the time to do it. I'm going back for "Stars and Topsoil" next week.
Speaking of re-issues and re-masters I wasn't aware of, the other album I bought was a Deluxe Edition Re-Issue of Echo and the Bunnymen's debut album, Crocodiles. This is awesome as it completes my collection of "important" Echo and the Bunnymen albums. In addition to the original track listing, the Deluxe Edition also includes a few B-sides of early singles, including "Do it Clean", "Read it in Books" (the B-side to "Pictures on My Wall", made famous by The Teardrop Explodes own version of the song; title shortened to "Books"), and "Simple Stuff". It also includes three "Early Versions" that were previously unreleased of the songs "Villiers Terrace", "Pride", and "Simple Stuff". And lastly, this Deluxe Edition also includes, as the last four tracks, the Shine So Hard EP from way back when the band still had a drum machine (heh). This was an all-live EP that was put out in commemoration of their ex-manager or ex-guitarist... or some shit. I don't remember the full story. But anyway, it's been out of print for about 25 years, and it's got live versions of "Crocodiles", "Zimbo", "All That Jazz", and "Over the Wall".
The best part about this Deluxe Edition is that it cost me $8.99. Yes, $8.99. There were also other Echo CDs that were re-mastered and re-issued, much like this one, if you've been meaning to grab some vintage Echo. They're uber-cheap.
God, it felt so good to be in Newbury Comics yesterday. Not because I enjoy being in a Newbury Comics, but as I was looking around for CDs, for the first time in forever, I found like 5 CDs that I was trying to decide between. That hasn't happened in forever. I remember when I was shopping there weekly (or sometimes biweekly), I had cleaned that fucking place out of anything of remote interest to me. It was kind of scary. Glad the little break I took from it has proved fruitful. The North Attleboro one just doens't have the same kind of selection.
Anyway, in other news, life's been moving along quite nicely, thank you. I've been working a lot. Yes, a lot.
Like today, for example. It's Wednesday, which is normally my day off. And if it were today, you can bet your lucky coins I wouldn't be up at 6:32 in the morning (unless, of course, I hadn't gone to bed yet). But I have been to bed, and the reason I'm up at 6:30 in the morning is because I'm working. At 8am. Until 6pm. On. My. Day. Off.
See, Tonie, who is the wonderful woman (and interestingly enough, the mother of one of the members of the Midnight Creeps) who runs the Gourmet Cheese Department has gone on vacation. So who do they leave in charge in her absence? You guessed it. me. Why me? I don't know. Apparently, there aren't any others available who can do the job as well.
Well, isn't that an interesting turn of events, yes?
I have to admit, while the overtime I'm racking up is *quite* nice, and while it is a lot of fun running my own department (quite by myself, thank you), and while I'll never understand their logic behind this but not complaining altogether, I have to say it's somewhat bittersweet.
See, when I started at Venda, I was started off making the equivalent to what I was making at East Side (which wasn't very much, but more than minimum wage, granted). At first, this was exciting and cool. I later found out that though the owner matched my hourly wage at East Side, that still came up almost a full dollar short of what most people who work at Venda start at. This didn't bother me much at first, honestly, and thought it was rather clever of them, and looked at it as just another thing a small, privately owned company could do that a bigger corporation with a Union and all that may not. Starting a new employee at a lower wage (while still making it seem as though they're getting a wage higher than expected) is actually a good idea if you're not entirely certain how it'll work out with them. I thought this was fair and decided to ride it out. And if you'd remember, when I first started there, I was assured that a raise would be in my future soon, when they saw that I clearly knew what I was doing. Well, as it's become more and more apparent that I'm valuable to them, if for nothing more than someone really good with customers (who also has been in charge of ordering for the deli, who has worked constant overtime hours in the vacation absence of a lot of the managers, who has taken over an entire department they were never properly trained in for a week and a half, I think that raise is about due, personally.
However, I work for the Mafia, and I'm not about to demand money from them. So I'll sit in my quiet frustration and brood about it. With a smile, of course :-)
And... other news.
I saw 1408 the other night with Amy. And while I thoroughly enjoyed it, my final review is to wait until rental to watch it. It's definitely worth the rental price, don't do see it in the theaters.
The movie was captivating for the most part. A very multi-layered storyline (some of it under-developed, granted) with a lot of not totally ridiculous twists (although the entire concept is a bit ridiculous, sure). But the last 20 minutes of the movie was so god-awful, I can't help but say that it's not worth the price of admission. Even if it's just for the ending.
So my advice is to wait the couple of months for it to hit Blockbuster, then rent it and turn it up really loud and pretend you're in the theaters for $3.25, instead of $10.