Barnes & (Not So) Noble

So, my parents came to visit this weekend and I actually offered to make lunch (what?!). It all went very well. It was actually a joy to have them here (No, I'm not on medication). No fighting. No "suggestions." No "accidental" snooping. No drama. It was great, yet somewhat alien.

After they left, I was in such an upbeat mood I decided to take myself out to dinner and shopping...RETAIL (I must've been in a good mood!). What-the-heck was in those chicken enchiladas anyway?!

So, I went to eat at some little dive near my house (everything around here has the word "Grill", "Skillet" or a combination of the both, in the title). It's a fairly new place and it was nice. The employees were really nice and it had that small town atmosphere that I enjoy.

Afterwards, I head over to Barnes & Noble, which I haven't been to since my last post about them. I love browsing around the store, but I generally avoid it like the plague because it's so infested with the mochachino crowd, especially on weekends. Plus, I always have the urge to strangle the freeloaders sitting around reading the books like they're at the fuckin' library. But I digress.

I browsed the magazine section and picked up a copy of the latest issue of Details, with Vin Diesel on the cover. ROWR! He looks good. Apparently there are multiple covers available. I opted for the one where he's wearing a white shirt and black tie (shown). YUM.

I finally see a copy of the short story on which the movie Brokeback Mountain is based. I've been looking for it since before the movie was even released, assuming it would be at the grocery store with the rest of the movie tie-in paperbacks for lesser films like King Kong, Daredevil, etc. No such luck. So, here it is, a whopping 1/32 inches thick. Eh, that's okay, just means it can't be that expensive. How much is it? $10? For a book the size of a pamphlet with an inflated ego? That's retarded. I'll pass.

Then after checking out the "bargain" area, I hit a few more sections before going to check out the DVD/CD area in the back of the store.

Before I go any further, let me preface this by saying I do 95% of my shopping for music/books/movies online. This is mainly because: [A] I don't want to deal with driving somewhere only to find that they don't have the item in stock, don't carry it, or deal with an empty-headed employee whose idea of great cinema is whatever's playing at the theater right now. And [B] 99% of the time, I can get it considerably cheaper online, used or otherwise.

So, I head into No Man's Land and begin looking around at the DVD titles. Ooh, they have the new Johnny Cash movie, Walk the Line, and it's a mere $29!! WTF? Heh, that must be a pricing error. Let's see what else they have. Ooh, Johnny Knoxville, but I already own that DVD (The Dukes of Hazzard). What the hell, let's see how much they are selling it for...$29! That's TWICE as much as they're being sold everywhere else! Three times if you wait 3 weeks and buy them used at Hollywood Video. Whoever is pricing these things is on some serious crack... I continue to look around. ALL the goddamn DVDs, with the exception of the "bargain" DVDs, are thirty fuckin' DOLLARS! (and you don't even wanna know how much they want for DVD boxsets! Loan applications are at the entrance.) The bargain DVDs being $10...that you can buy for $5 at the grocery store. Goddamn. How does this place stay in business? Who shops here? People with a history of head injuries?

So, avoiding the DVDs like the plague, I head over to the CDs, which are actually priced relatively normally. I have to admit though, I have a hard time paying nearly $20 for a CD anymore, though. I guess Half.com has spoiled me. And even though I enjoy the occasional download from Limewire, I'm one of those people who'd rather actually own the CD, case et al.

Against my better judgement, but fearing I may not be able to find them anywhere else, I purchase 3 CDs. Still mentally grumbling over how much I spent on CDs, I had the foresight (for once) to check Half.com for the titles BEFORE opening them...on the off chance that they might be cheaper there. So, I get home, type in the titles of the 3 CDs I bought. Here's what I found:

• CD 1- B&N Price: $22.98 (double disk) Half.com Price: $8.00
• CD 2- B&N Price: $17.99 • Half.com Price: $6.00
• CD 3- B&N Price: $16.99 • Half.com Price: $4.95

I'll give you three guesses where I'm going tomorrow. Receipt in hand.