Friday Fragments

making the world a better place one fragment at a time

♣ Every Friday when I pick up my Popeyes lunch on the way home, I drive through downtown Herndon. On one particular street corner, there's always some poor schmuck in a Statue of Liberty outfit advertising some sort of accounting firm or somesuch. His understudy is an un-costumed fat guy in a lawn chair sitting next to a sign advertising a furniture liquidation sale. It's such a high class town.

♣ Liquidation sales seem to be quite the racket these days, especially considering that it's always the exact same store going out of business. It's not a bad business model if you think about it -- get some crappy goods, mark them up 300%, discount them 50% for the Everything Must Go! Sale, then sell what you can without warranty or return options. Final step, close down your shop, reopen it next month, and profit!

♣ Another good way to profit is to sell seasons of TV shows or movie sequels on DVD, and then repackage them in a SPECIAL EDITION so all the hardcore fans have to rebuy them for the special features. Yes, I will buy the final season of Alias so my collection is complete. No, I will not pay $200 to buy all five seasons in a special "Rambaldi" box with an extra deleted scene and a hidden easter egg.

♣ The cover of the Alias - Fifth Season DVD could quite possibly be the worst cover in the history of covers. The design looks like they sat a three year old down in front of Photoshop and the picture of Jennifer Garner looks like she just consumed a large quantity of past-expiration red meat and isn't quite sure whether she's going to honk or not.

♣ This is a good month for TV Shows on DVD though. The most recent seasons of LOST, Arrested Development, and Veronica Mars are all coming out during the next few weeks. I'm also intrigued by the FOX show, Prison Break. Anyone have any non-spoilerish opinions about it?

♣ I don't even know why I have cable anymore, since almost every show I watch is watched on DVD. If more networks start putting their shows online immediately after they air, I should cancel my cable and spend that extra $540 a year on something else completely superfluous yet fun, like a motorcycle!

♣ Can't you picture me tooling down the Fairfax County Parkway at seventy miles an hour on my hog with the wind blowing through my hair? I thought so.

♣ This weekend, I've got another healthy lineup of work and errands, with a Poker Night on Saturday and a Dinner For Parents Night on Sunday. The Java class I'm organizing starts soon as well so I'll probably want to do a little legwork for it. My summer weekends are pretty tame, but that's just fine by me. Exciting people don't get as much rest!

♣ Have a great weekend!