The WalMart Experience

First off, you have to understand that I consider Wal-Mart to be the devil one of the leading causes to the downfall of our economy. With that said, my friends, Alex and Jennifer, and I were in the car on the way to Austin, TX (for Maker Faire) when Jennifer remembered that she forgot their toiletries. Alex got flustered about not having his Toni&Guy hair gel and Jennifer politely apologized. I figure it's nothing to get terribly upset about. But then Alex pulled out their "tom-tom" (which is a cool little GPS device) and searched for a CVS pharmacy nearby the house we were staying in. When we finally reached our exit off the interstate I offered to just go to Wal-Mart since it's right there and we knew it would be open anyways.

So we go in and I can't believe I'm actually in the dreaded place. With it's larger than life size and prices so low you hardly believe your eyes. I proceed to use the restroom. Don't wash my hands. Pick up some anti-bacterial hand wipes. Then head to the check out line.

Here's where the whole experience happened.

As I'm standing in line this Indian man approaches me from behind. I just assume he wants to check out, but he's standing unusually close to me. As I turn to see what it's all about he ask me if I'm a student here. "No" I replied. (For whatever reason I lied to him.) And he says "Oh, so where do you work?" I told him I work for a company in Dallas and that I like my job. All the while he has this sort of nervous habit of shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He smiles a lot too.  When I finally asked what he does, he told me "Do you know amazon.com?" "Yeah" I replied. "Well I have a web company similar to that" he says. I said that's cool. And then he was saying how I must enjoy my job a lot making six figures and all. I told him I don't make that much, but I'm still happy with my pay.

He never comes out and says what he wants from me. He never asks if I want more information about his business. He never offers me a business card. Nothing. All I got from him was random questions about what I did for a living and a seemingly friendly conversation. In the end I walked away not knowing very much about my encounter with the Indian guy from Virginia.

-stay creative-

The Darjeeling Limited

My wife and I went to see The Darjeeling Limited tonight. For those who aren't familiar, it's the new film by Wes Anderson. (For more info click here.)

I've been waiting for a year now to see this film. Ever since The Life Aquatic was released on DVD I had been checking IMDB to see what his next film was going to be. Then when the first images leaked on the web I was so excited. But none of that compares to watching the full frame motion picture tonight.

The Darjeeling Limited is, to me, the most humorous film Wes Anderson has made to date. But that's possibly due to casting Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, and Jason Schwartzman as lead characters. But don't let all the humor distract you from the ever growing beauty of the film. Their is still that wonderful center frame camera angle that Wes Anderson has turned in to an art form. And the plot of brotherhood and the need for one another is true to life and honest.

I know in a week, in a month, in a year I will look back on these words and they still won't explain the way I feel about this film. It's something to be seen and savored like a fine wine.

Go rent Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. You will not be dissapointed.