Thursday, 25 April 2002: Perhaps I am in the minority here... we shall see. I am a movie purist. I like to watch movies unedited and in widescreen. For me, that is the primary reason why I invested in DVD. Almost all DVDs are produced in widescreen and that is the way they should be viewed. After all, this was how the director originally made the film, right? It was presented at a theatre in widescreen, why not watch it on your TV the same way? So what if your TV screen isn't necessarily made to watch movies like this? I can deal with the little black bars. So should the rest of the world, dammit.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because of the damned rat. You know who I'm talking about... Mickey Mouse and his parent company Walt Disney and their home video branch Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE). They announced that due to pressure from the "popular majority of their viewers" (i.e. what we widescreen proponents call "soccer moms" because they know no better, they like what they like, they spread their belief system to all other unknowing buffoons, and their minds will never change) have complained about the black bars on the top and bottom of their TVs. Hate to break it to you, ladies, but this is how DVDs have always been, well before you went out and discovered that there was something better than VHS. Now, Buena Vista has announced they are caving in to the soccer moms and will release some (not all) of their future DVDs in full frame only. One of these movies is going to be The Muppets Christmas Carol. I love that flick. However, I already own in on VHS and I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD so I could get the widescreen version of it. So you can imagine how pissed off I was to learn of BVHE's plan. There is no purpose in purchasing the flick on DVD now. I don't care about special features other than deleted/extended scenes and alternate endings (neither of which a Muppets movie is likely to have). Does that mean I won't buy the DVD release? You're damn right I won't. I've e-mailed BVHE complaining about this as have hundreds of other people so I've been told. And I also signed an online petition about the matter. If you are interested in following suit (because who knows where it will end now that Soccer Moms are starting to get their way), you can e-mail BVHE or sign the petition. Please do so soon, the future of widescreen DVD may be at stake.

Wednesday, 24 April 2002: As most of the world knows, the pseudo-idyllic image of Catholic priests is being ruined by the child-trouncing preferences of several men of the cloth within our otherwise great country. Well, the big conference between all the U.S. Cardinals and the Pope ended today and I've gotta say that I'm disappointed with the results. All the news agencies are reporting that the results of the negotiations on what to do with pedophilic priests came just short of a "zero-tolerance policy." Well, why the hell (oops) shouldn't they institute a zero-tolerance policy? Is it really necessary to give a priest a second chance after copping a kiddie feel? "Oh sure, so you felt up little Jimmy, we'll go ahead and let you lead your parish to the land of great rewards anyway." Jeezus (oops again), why are priests overlooked by the legal system like this? Shouldn't they be subject to the same laws as the everyman? Bust them down a notch or two and throw them in the general prison populace with a slick bar of soap and let them get a taste of what it's like to be the violated instead of the violator (I can just imagine Bogs from The Shawshank Redemption turning to a priest in a shower and saying "I can be a friend to you, father"). If I were Catholic, and I'm not, I would be very pissed at the church right now for what otherwise seems like a lack of action taken against these sick bastards and consider changing my religious affiliation. Soapbox dismounted. Sorry I didn't warn you ahead of time.

Tuesday, 23 April 2002: Be proud of me. I know my checkbook and credit cards are. Last night at midnight marked the start of the Star Wars Episode II marketing bonanza. Yep, all the toys went on sale. Action figures... Legos... books... puzzles... games... you name it. Hell, they even went so far as to remarket the classic game Stratego with a SW theme. I never thought that I would see a tied-in Stratego. Well, the reason you should be proud of me is because I did not -- I repeat, did not -- go to WalMart, Toys r Us, Meijer, or any other 24-hour store for the start of the feeding frenzy. I will admit that I did stop by WalMart this morning on my way to work. And, while I did find two Lego sets and a book that interested me, I did not buy anything. The figures do look a bit better that any of the old SW toys, but they still just don't really interest me like they once did. Oh, well. I guess we all grow up sometime. Nahhh.

Monday, 22 April 2002: Wow, you wanna talk about getting no respect? Try wearing Layne Staley's shoes for a day. That is, if they're not rotted out. You may have heard that the heroin-addled Staley, lead singer (or should I say "former lead singer") of the grunge band Alice in Chains, was found dead over the weekend. It really doesn't surprise me that he's dead, considering his rampant drug use. His body had started to decompose because it had been lying around so long and they needed to do some major work to uncover the body's identity. This morning on the radio, they announced that coroners believe his body was decomposing for nearly two weeks. Can you believe that?!? Two friggin' weeks! Does he have no friends? Do his bandmates not give a damn about him? What about his manager or agent? Jeez. That's really gotta suck. More details as they become available...