Waiting for Paint to Dry

I'm waiting for some paint to dry. Literally. That's no euphemism about boredom or the tedium of life. I need some paint to dry before I can go on with the painting. So meanwhile here I am conveying all this excitement to you. That and whatever enters my mind.

I got a DVD in the mail yesterday. It's the movie "Prime Gig" (2002) with Vince Vaughn. It's a movie that I hadn't heard of until I caught it on cable a couple of months ago. Imagine that, a Vince Vaughn movie without a ton of advertising. I saw it for sale on Amazon marketplace for 99¢ plus three bucks shipping. What the hell. I ordered it.

One of the reasons I like the movie is its downer of an ending. Usually every movie ending is a happy little thing. Not this one. Even a lot of sad endings have that ray of hope to take the edge off. Not this one. It's also not a real tragic, tear jerker of an ending. There is no "Sophie's Choice". It just has a bit of a hopeless ending. No ray of hope is to be found. But that's okay. To me the movie says that hopelessness is a part of life and we have to deal with it. It's not the end of the world. Anyway, it's one of those movies that's all dialogue. I like 'em that way but most people prefer explosions and gunfights so watch this one at your own risk.

I've been drawing in charcoal lately. I haven't done that since my school days. I bought some Pitt Pressed Charcoal and man is that some good stuff. It's the blackest, densest, sweetest charcoal I've ever used. It flows onto the paper smooth and dark. It's hittin' the spot in a project I'm working on and it's fun to be using some charcoal again. It's even a bit nostalgic. Give it a try.

I read mostly non-fiction these days. Besides comic books that is. I finished Christopher Hitchen's book "God is not Great" which I enjoyed. It's a collection of arguments pointing out how religious BS gets us all into trouble. After that I tried to read some fiction, Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America". Being that it got great reviews (including some NY Times book award) and was historical fiction I thought it would be right up my alley. It wasn't. Seventy pages in I was bored and gave up on it. A disappointment all around. Now i need a new book to read.

I pre-ordered a Halo Special Edition XBox 360 this week. I've been wanting to get a 360 but the whole "red ring of death" thing has kept me away. For those not in the know Microsoft has been having problems with the 360 because they were built poorly. They say it was only one plant in China that was having problems but I read too many horror stories on the internet. This Halo one should be the latest build model and have all the problems worked out of it. Now they come with a three year warranty so I should be okay. It doesn't ship until mid September though. Then I gotta get "All Pro Football".

Now I just have to go out and get a new pair of shoes.