Labour Day in the City

Yay, long weekend!  Yay, holiday Monday!  For those who are my friend on Facebook, you'll know my last holiday Monday in the city was pretty crappy. 

Long story short:  I found a fabled comic book store had moved, and got my first parking ticket for my troubles.

This time, though, I decided to stick to the routes I know, and so my day started at Best Buy, staring at flatscreen TVs and wondering if I'll ever have the savings to buy one.

However, I did have my sights set on a few new Blu-Rays.  First up, I was looking at getting Jaws.  I've only ever seen  half of Jaws.  I always seem to come in in the middle when it's on basic cable.  However, I feel it's one of those films I need to know to strengthen my geek cred.

Jaws' contribution to cinema history has been well-documented.  It established the event picture formula and marketing tactics that are still followed to this day.  It made Steven Spielberg a household name.  But what gets me is the massive fandom that it's built.  So truly, I felt, I should get my hands on it.  And, since it's newly released on Blu-Ray, and at affordable discount bin prices to boot, why not?

Speaking of that fandom, another reason to pick up Jaws is that it contains the fabled documentary The Shark is Still Working.  I've been reading about this film online for a few years.  It's a very comprehensive documentary about the making of Jaws, made completely by diehard fans.  They manage to interview absolutely everyone who was involved in the making of the film.  From director Steven Spielberg to the lowliest extras.  They even interviewed the narrator who did the voice-over for the trailer!  It's been making the film festival circuit for a few years and never had anything close to an official release, but those who have seen it say that it's one of the best "making-of" documentaries ever made.  So, sometime in the future, look for installments of Fishing in the Discount Bin on both Jaws and The Shark is Still Working. 

From there, I went down the road to the craft store Michael's.  I have this friend who recently went vacationing in Scotland.  And she sent me stuff!  Being an Olympics buff, she sent me a souviner poster for London 2012.  And being a railway enthusiast, she sent me a reproduction of this very cool British Railways travel poster.

Naturally, I want to get this fella framed and hanging on my wall.  So I went to Michael's and I went to their frame section.  Now I was diligent enough to measure this poster before leaving home, but I didn't write it down.  So when I was staring down the frames, I couldn't remember if the poster was 11" x 14", or 11" x 17".  So, I went with 11" x 17" because it looked more right.

And then I got it home and darn it, the poster is 11" x 14". 

Right now, I'm debating whether to take the frame back and get a proper one, or make it work.  I mean, at the end, the only thing I'm worried about is 1.5" of space at the top and bottom of the poster that needs to be filled in.  So, to make it work, I'm thinking maybe get some white poster board to put behind it, it'll match nicely with the white border that's already on the poster.  The more I think about that idea, the more I like that idea. 

Anywho, with my frolicking on the north side done, it was off to my favouritest of haunts in Edmonton, West Edmonton Mall.  And of course, on a day like today, that meant dropping off too much money on Blu-Rays at HMV.

I saw a few weeks ago that The Royal Tenenbaums had just hit Blu-Ray, and I kind of wanted to get it.  As I previously blogged, this is one of those films where my memories of seeing it are stronger than memories of the movie itself, so I got it for those reasons.  Besides, it's a Criterion release.  I figure I need more Criterions to add a touch of class to my collection.  They're pricier than regular Blu-Rays, but I was in a real "Why not?" kind of mood today.

Then, as I was browsing the shelves, I stumbled across River of No Return.  You might remember when I did this on Fishing in the Discount Bin.  This is the legendary film that Marilyn Monroe made in Jasper.  It was recently remastered in hi-def and released on Blu-Ray, along with a bunch of other Marilyn Monroe classics, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her passing.   So I saw the Blu-Ray there in HMV for the discount bin price of $15, and thought, "Why not?"  I just watched the opening again.  I've been vacationing in Jasper since I was a baby...the sights in that film are so maddeningly familiar, but I just can't place them. 

And after that, it was just miscellaneous browsing.  Stopped in at Staples to look at a few computer accessories.  For a time now, I've been thinking I've got to get a webcam for my computer.  A lot of my friends are on Skype, a lot of my family is on Skype, and everyone assumes I'm on Skype because that's just what geeks do.  But I don't have a webcam, so I'm not on Skype.  I'm thinking I have to change that. 

But not today because, man, Staples was nuts with all those last-minute back-to-school shoppers. 

But that was my Labour Day.  Time to do some labour now and pay for it!