I Walk in the Garden of K-Mart and Bite the Apple...

Well, it's the end of a four day weekend... they always go by so fast. It was a nice chance to relax and do some fun stuff. We got a chance to see some good movies too... most notably, Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix (who plays Cash) and Reese Witherspoon (who plays June Carter Cash). I'll preface this mini-review with this statement: I never was a big Johnny Cash fan, and knew little about him before seeing this film. I was still intrigued to see it... and I am really, really glad I did. I think it's safe to say that it sparked enough of an interest in me now that I am becoming a fan of his music. The film encapsulates Cash's early career, and takes the audience through his journey of success, addiction, family and love life. It's very entertaining, and the two and a half hours of it fly by. I almost wish it had been longer.

As far as the film goes, my prediction (and an obvious one) is that we will see Oscar nominations for this film for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Soundtrack. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon pull off amazing performances, and sing their own music. And they're good. Really, really good. Go see this film... don't make excuses.

The only bad thing about this movie was that some retarded girl threw up in the theater, and we were treated to a nice strong stench of puke until the ushers came and doused it with some powder and spray. We all got free soda coupons afterwards though...

We also watched Garden State, which I bought on DVD on Friday. It was written and directed by Zach Braff, who is best known for his role as the main character, J.D., in the NBC hit series Scrubs. It is a quirky and humorous film, with an intriguing storyline to boot. Without going into too much depth, it's the story of a guy who goes back home for his mother's funeral... and faces his past and himself, with the help of a girl (Natalie Portman). They both pull off very likeable performances, and really pull you into the film.

We also went to K-Mart on Saturday morning for the "K Days" Hot Wheels collector's event. My wife actually WANTED to go... so we trekked out there in the morning, and got to be a part of it. It works like this: they get a bunch of new cases (at this location, 88) of Hot Wheels... containing new cars, including 6 exclusive repaints available only at this even. The rare, sought-after treasure hunt cars ("T-Hunts") are mixed in, at a ratio of about 1 in 7 cases, or about 15% of the store stock (I have read reports though in some areas that they got 100+ cases, and not a single T-Hunt.) Everyone in attendance gets a raffle ticket, then they draw numbers, 4 at a time. Those 4 people go up to the table, each get a sealed case, and then get 5 minutes to open the cases and pick out 5 cars. The rest of the case goes to the side, which no one else can go through until the very end when they dump them into bins. Once everyone has gone, and if there are still cases, they do another round. We did two full rounds, plus part of a third. My wife got drawn twice, and I got drawn three times. On the first pick of the first round, my wife got called up, and due to some coaching beforehand (no one is allowed to "help" the people opening the cases), she did very good - and got a T-Hunt! (Our only one of the day).

We ended up spending 4 hours at K-Mart on Saturday (we got there an hour early, and the drawing took forever...), but we both had fun. I was happy that she was interested in experiencing the event with me (it was my first time at one of these things), and she had fun doing it too. Aside of spending 4 hours in a K-Mart, it was pretty fun.

We also did our Christmas shopping for each other... and bought each other our gifts. However, we aren't exchanging them until Christmas. Dammit. It especially sucks, because we both know what our gift is...

I got my wife an XM radio unit for her car (and it hooks into an optional home boombox)... and the other part of her gift was a remote car starter (which she did actually get already, as it was installed on Saturday).

As for me... well, I know I had wanted an iPod Nano... as they are really neat and small and cool. Then I saw one of the new iPods when one of the guys I used to work with got one... and I instantly fell in love. I didn't know if I could pull off getting one for Christmas... but I did! So now, sitting in my wife's closet, is my new black 60Gb iPod... and I want it right this instant. This is going to be the longest month EVER.

...I already installed iTunes, and have been organizing my music for readiness to load.

...and that includes a lot of Johnny Cash songs.