Kitsch

Today was a day I had been dreading. For the past few months I have been working as a sales representative at a credit card processing company. I had a terrific manager, wonderful co-workers and I hated to resign. Unfortunately, the pressure of 100% commission, in an economy that makes straight commission jobs difficult, I had to find a better position. On Saturday I accepted a position at a health club. My position will be to try to secure new members. Although this position is still heavy commission, it does have a base salary, plus I can walk to work, and enjoy free gym membership. All in all, I will be in a better situation.

I did have a very nice weekend. After a pretty stressful week,, Allie and I decided we wanted a night out. We met up with some friends in Evanston, and went to a nice steak restaurant named Pete Miller's. We are friends with a host, and he hooked us up with great seats. They are known for their live jazz; and they most definitely did not disappoint. After blowing my entertainment budget for the week, I decided that I would not spend any more money this weekend. I did end up going back to the Art Institute to see the rest of the exhibits. It is in my top three art museums I have ever seen. Their miniature room collection is amazing.

Since I last wrote, I have watched a lot of movies - some good, some bad. Here is the recap:

Law Abiding Citizen: The critics panned this movie, but I really liked it. It is pretty violent, but also really interesting. I give it a B+.

The Crazies: This movie came out on Friday. It is the same type of zombie movie as all the others. A virus hits a small community and makes them all turn into zombies. Although Jim, Sarah, and Allie all enjoyed it. I thought it was remarkably banal and lacked any creativity. It was more gross than anything else. I give it a D-.

Zombieland: I thought a good fix after watching a trite zombie movie, would be to watch a spoof of a zombie movie. I give this movie a B-/C+. It had its funny moments. Woody Harrelson was excellent. Bill Murray's cameo was hysterical. However, the movie was kind of ridiculous - not in a good way.

Ghost: This movie came out 20 year ago and is a classic. Starring a young Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, and Patrick Swayze, I had heard that Ghost was really good but I had never seen it. It is definitely a chick-flick, and kind of cheesy but still a really well acted, well written movie. I give it an A-/B+.

Extract: I pretty much love anything that Jason Bateman does. Extract is no exception. With great performances by Kristen Wiig, and J.K. Simmons, I thought this movie was quite funny. At times it was slow, but all in all, it was worth the $1.00 rental charge at Redbox. I give it a B.

Surrogates: Not great but certainly not awful. This sci-fi film starring Bruce Willis was actually better than I expected. It is not going to win any awards, but is worth renting. I give it a C+/B-.

1. I had never heard of the "singer" Justin Bieber until this weekend. Unbelievably bad pop music. He is the worst thing to happen to pop music in years.

2. I am not sure if it is because I am a loyal Minnesotan, or if I just really enjoy the taste, but when it comes to coffee shops, I will always be a Caribou Coffee guy. Based primarily on nostalgia, some of my favorite memories in high school were of meeting friends for laughter and conversation while enjoying a chai tea, smoothie, turtle mocha, or hot chocolate at Caribou. Unfortunately, due to a lack of discretionary income by its customers, Caribou's business model has struggled the past three years. Needless to say, I am very excited and interested in the new Caribou. In the next year, Caribou is going to revamp their whole image from the folksy, cabin feel to a new chic, modern feel. Although this might turn off people like me, I can understand the marketing staff to try something new to see if it can bring business up.