My new internet store!!!

Big news, folks--I've started an online store. I'm planning to sell collectibles (mostly comic books, coins, stamps, etc.). I've already put one comic up for sale there. Check it out at http://jeremyotto.icareerkit.com!

coming soon to a blog near you--a movie review!

My friend Jeff who is a movie expert has recently seen (unfortunately for him) the movie "Resident Evil: Extinction". He wrote a hilarious review of it that I will be posting soon. Stay tuned!

Cult of the Sell Phone

I am sad to report that my wife and I will soon be joining the cult of the sell--oops, I mean cell--phones. She has conviced me that it would be better to switch from using a house phone to a cell so people can get in touch with us easier. Somehow, the idea of having a cell produces images of things like a ball and chain or an albatross hanging from one's neck. On the plus side, I won't have to worry about missing any important calls. The negative side is I will have to worry about not missing the unimportant ones. Oh well--like anything else in life--it's a tradeoff. And if you believe that one, I've got a bridge to cell you.

An interesting conversation

I had an interesting conversation with the elderly lady who owns the health food store in Champaign that I shop at regularly. Actually, it was more interesting the first time she told it, slightly less so today since it was approximately the ten millionth time. But what's amusing is each time she tells this little story it's just a little bit different.
She told me about how one day she was surprised to see a 2 dollar fee on her monthly bank statement which said "paper charge". She called up the bank manager and asked what it was all about, and the bank manager said that it was to cover the price of printing the monthly bank statements on paper and then he asked her "don't you have online?". She sternly replied, "No, I don't, and I never intend to!". The next month, her monthly bank statement showed a credit for 2 dollars, which she is sure was because she complained about the paper charge. But along with that monthly statement the bank had included in the same envelope was a flyer warning about the dangers of identity theft. Which was doubly ironic considering that A: it was printed on paper, yet they were charging her a 2 dollar paper fee, and B: because it was warning about a danger which presumably would be increased by having your personal information available online.
Hmmm...kinda makes you think, doesn't it?

Mouse = Toast

I've got some good news and bad news, readers. The good news? That electronic trap (the one that cost more than a Playstation 3) finally caught the pest. The bad news? My significant other said I had to throw the trap out with the beast inside it as well! Somehow the idea of using the trap didn't appeal to her. Oh well, at least the critter can rest in its little four inch coffin and have a proper burial.

House of M

Two days ago, my wife discovered a mouse--oops, I mean an "M". So we rushed to Walmart and got the latest electronic trap, which cost about $20, and a two pack of the cheaper kind--you know, the plastic cylinders you wind up and lock into place. After putting peanut butter and cheese in the traps, I set them in what I thought would be strategic places (in other words, close to where Bomina spotted the tiny beast) and thought the pest would be eliminated. Turns out I may have been wrong. Two days later, the traps still sit there untouched. And Bomina's strategy didn't work.
You see, when I first said the "M" word (_ouse) Bomina responded "Don't say that! It might hear you." (I am not making this up.) So I tried my best not to laugh, and played along. Never understimate the power of small rodents. After all, even the walls have ears.
Perhaps we were too late, and the fact that I said the "M" word alerted the critter to our attempts to slay it. Or maybe it has a sixth sense and can even read our minds. Whatever the case, it proved to be very elusive indeed. I welcome any advice on how to get rid of the dreaded--dare I say it--"M"!

A movie review of "The Darjeeling Limited"

I recently went to see "The Darjeeling Limited", a comedy/drama starring Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, and Jason Schwartzman. Unfortunately, a better title for this trainwreck might have been "The Boredfeeling Unlimited". The story is about three brothers who get together for a vacation in India, and decide to visit their mother who is a nun there. Most of the film is set on a train.
To be honest, the only reason I thought the film would be any good was because Owen Wilson was in it. But he is too restrained, and lacks the spontanaeity and wildness that he is known for and that made his roles in films like "You, Me and Dupree" and "The Wedding Crashers" so funny. He doesn't seem to be having any fun. Brody is equally bland, and Schwartzman at least gets to have fun playing a kind of parody of Tom Cruise: not quite as handsome as Cruise, but otherwise very similar (cool, suave personality, short stature, dark haired, big nose, etc.).
Unfortunately the movie is too offbeat for its own good, trying to find humor in the interactions of the three main characters with each other and with the local Indian people. It's clear that the director Wes Anderson was trying to find humor in the juxtaposition of Wilson the "wild and crazy" one and Brody the "voice of reason". But like I said, Wilson was not wild and crazy enough to be amusing. Cameos by Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston add very little to the storyline, and by the time the movie is over, you may be thinking one of two things: "Wow, either that was a really deep movie and I just didn't get it, or it was a really terrible, pretentious and boring movie." I'm betting that possiblity number two is closer to the truth.