Mmm-kay

So I've been haunting Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com to try to get tickets for HP:OotP and today I get all excited 'cause at last AMC Mercado has a show time that appears to allow for ticket purchasing (7:00 pm on Friday the 13th). However while the little words say "Buy tickets" the 7:00 time isn't highlighted in blue so you can't buy anything yet. However, it would appear that every other single movie theater in the Bay Area has tickets available for purchase for multiple showings except this one.

As I see it there are 3 choices:

1. Contact Mercado and say "WTF?" if I can get an actual person on the line.

2. Pick another theater close by that everyone can agree on and buy the damn tickets already.

3. Keep watching AMC and snag tickets as soon as they do become available.

Thoughts? Opinions? Here are the current theaters all of which, except for Mercado and Shoreline (which isn't even listing times yet), are available for purchase right now:


AMC Cupertino Square - 12:15pm, 3:30pm, 7:00pm, 10:15pm

AMC Mercado - 7:00pm

AMC Saratoga - 10:45am, 2:00pm, 5:15pm, 8:30pm, 11:40pm

Camera - 1:00pm, 2:20pm, 4:00pm, 5:15pm, 7:00pm, 8:10pm, 9:55pm

Camera - 11:30am, 1:00pm, 2:20pm, 4:00pm, 5:15pm, 7:00pm, 8:10pm, 9:55pm

AMC Eastridge - 10:30am, 11:15am, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm, 10:30pm, 11:30pm

Los Gatos Cinema - 3:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:25pm

Winchester 22 - 1:00
4:10
7:20
10:30
Century 20 Great Mall - 12:30
* 3:45
* 7:00
* 10:15

WTF?

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

-Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 6/21/07

Well clearly not, I mean obviously his office is technically an entity within the Guild of Calamitous Intent. I thought everyone knew that... But wouldn't it be kind of neat if we had the sort of press who would follow up that kind of a statement with a question like, oh I dunno', "Then what branch of government does your office fall under exactly?"

And Ezra Klein's review of Michael Moore's latest film, "Sicko", has me chomping at the bit to see it. One of the most telling moments in the review that jumped out at me was this:

Moore next visits a retired friend of theirs who suffered a recent golf injury. Moore and the friend begin talking through the Canadian health system, and Moore asks why he should have to pay for the man's bad luck and choices. "Because I'd do the same for you," replies the man. Later on, Moore's interlocutor reveals that he's a Conservative. Moore gapes at him. "Is that bad?" Asks the man. "No, just confusing," replies Moore.

Can you imagine living in a country where your neighbor would, quite happily, help pay for your health care? How about where a perfect stranger would? Can you even conceive of a system where people would see it as their civic duty to make sure nobody goes without an exam, splint or biopsy? Now can you please explain to me why the majority of people in this country seem to see this as a bad thing? Good god...

Klein continues:

Every story, every tale, every vignette asks the same question: "Who are we?" Who are we that our fellow citizens have to decide which fingers they'll pay to get reattached? Who are we that our hospitals push the ill and indigent into cabs, and drop them off, disoriented and clad in a paper-thin gown, on skid row? Who are we that we let insurers deny coverage to our neighbors because they are too tall, or have too many seasonal allergies? Who are we that we don't guarantee paid sick leave, or vacations, or child care, leaving that all instead to the whims of employers? And most of all, who are we to have let national pride blind us to these better alternatives, and let moneyed interests and powerful lobbies construct a country that best serves their needs rather than ours?

Why indeed.

(no subject)

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who fesses up to a complete terror of amusement park rides, though I don't do so nearly as hilariously as Kungfu Monkey:

Oh, how they mocked. But my momentary cowardice still allowed me to retain a shred of dignity, and so was worth indulging. Because if I'd gotten on that ride, my friends would have actually heard me scream. Like a little girl. Like a little girl who just woke up because somebody licked her foot. Like a little girl who just woke up because somebody licked her foot, and then when she turns on the light there's an evil clown sitting in the middle of her bedroom, eating her pony.

There's no comebacks from the clown-pony scream. ( Rest of the brilliance behind the cut, warning, don't drink anything while reading or you may ruin a perfectly good keyboard/monitor: )

He then reads about an amusement park accident that caused a girl to lose her feet and writes:

-- I need to inform you that blogging may be slow for a bit, as I will be under my bed, in a fetal position. For a while.

The queasiness of my irrational fear's sudden gripping return is leavened somewhat by the "ah-ha" of "I KNEW it", but it's a hollow moment. A bit like your irrational fear of zombies being validated by the appearance of actual zombies at your window.

I have a very similar reaction every time a plane crashes, sadly.

On a happier note, you must also check out his fangasm on this week's Doctor Who, "Utopia", 'cause it's a lot of fun. Spoilers for the eps in comments, though.

(no subject)

If I were still living on the east coast I would already have tickets to see the Broadway production of Xanadu. And I can say flat out that I will see it if it comes anywhere near California. This movie is one of the few I can quote almost verbatim from memory and can sing every single song from, yes even the ELO ones. Hell I thought I was a Muse when I was growing up, complete with ribboned barretts and leg warmers (though I never could roller skate to save my life). I was obsessed with Greek mythology as a kid, thanks to my dad's equal level of obsession in great part. I mean he made my sister and I wooden canopy beds carved in exquisite detail with images and words from mythology. I went to sleep at night reading stories over and over by moonlight and envied the hell out of the bed he'd made for himself and my mom. The headboard was Mount Olympus with all of the gods displayed. It was, in a word, magnificent.

I've never managed to shake off that obsession with mythology, and I couldn't help loving an 80's movie that, in it's own campy way, paid tribute to it.

I currently own both the movie and the soundtrack and as soon as a Broadway soundtrack is available that'll be mine too.

Sure it could suck, but James Wolcott loved it, and I trust his taste:

It was like taking Ecstasy in Broadway ticket form.

Our love glinted and radiated and swirled like the reflections of the mirrored disco ball that crowned the climax of the show's pagan revels.