Showing posts with label off-topic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label off-topic. Show all posts
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Three Days Of Ritual Retail Orgy Gives Me The Right To Rant
Well, retailers opened on Thanksgiving again this year. Hell, the retailer I (still) work for decided to open two hours earlier than last year. The trend is set. Nothing is sacred to Americans anymore. Is Christmas itself next? You've spent weeks buying shit for this day, now go out and spend MORE on this day! Spend more. And more. And more. Spend money on useless shit that you will never, ever need. Spend money on ephemeral, cheaply manufactured junk that will bring relief and shallow fulfillment to your miserable little life for just a few more seconds. Spend until you can't shit another cent out of your wallet. Spend more and more of your hard earned cash until every billionaire in this country can afford to buy his cocaine-addled blonde bimbo of a mistress her own island... or two. Spend. Spend. Spend.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Drifting Dangerously Off Topic
Yeah, yeah. I know that I said when I started The Pharonic Fantasy Theatre that it would be a movie-TV-whatever blog and that I wouldn't talk about my personal life or whatever but you know what? I gotta rant.
As I said in my last post, I'm working retail again (BLARRRRRRRGH) and I pulled a loooooong shift on Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Whatever-The-Hell-It-Holiday-It-Has-Mutated-Into-Now-We-Should-Probably-Just-Call-The-Whole-Time-From-Halloween-To-New-Year's-CONSUMEFEST and it got me thinking. Actually seeing people lined up in front of stores in the cold made me sad for my country and humanity in general. Is snagging a Good Deal on a giant TV set or an iPad so important that you sit outside in the cold in November on Thanksgiving, a holiday where you are SUPPOSED TO BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE? I mean, it's sad that Americans' wages are so low now that they have to wait for one day a year to be able to afford this stuff, but it's even sadder that they think they HAVE to have it in the first place... I mean, TVs... electronic devices... toys... all the big selling items I was running through my check lane during The Time Of Consumption was absolutely non-vital. Look, I know that this is a movie review blog (barely, I know, especially lately) but it's just a bit of fun for me - movies to me are not vital. Food is. Shelter is. A genuine feeling of love and well-being for myself and others is. Even in the realm of entertainment, something like a good book or music is much more important to me than any electronic means of entertainment. How have people come to believe that they need this stuff for their happiness? I would never sit in the cold and the dark to wait to get a movie, or a TV or even a CD or a book, no matter how cheap they would be. It makes one think and reflect in sadness on the modern state of our society.
And I'm not even going to go into the violence that can accompany any of this (thankfully I didn't see any of that).
Well, just my ruminations - I will try to actually review a movie next time. No promises though.
As I said in my last post, I'm working retail again (BLARRRRRRRGH) and I pulled a loooooong shift on Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Whatever-The-Hell-It-Holiday-It-Has-Mutated-Into-Now-We-Should-Probably-Just-Call-The-Whole-Time-From-Halloween-To-New-Year's-CONSUMEFEST and it got me thinking. Actually seeing people lined up in front of stores in the cold made me sad for my country and humanity in general. Is snagging a Good Deal on a giant TV set or an iPad so important that you sit outside in the cold in November on Thanksgiving, a holiday where you are SUPPOSED TO BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE? I mean, it's sad that Americans' wages are so low now that they have to wait for one day a year to be able to afford this stuff, but it's even sadder that they think they HAVE to have it in the first place... I mean, TVs... electronic devices... toys... all the big selling items I was running through my check lane during The Time Of Consumption was absolutely non-vital. Look, I know that this is a movie review blog (barely, I know, especially lately) but it's just a bit of fun for me - movies to me are not vital. Food is. Shelter is. A genuine feeling of love and well-being for myself and others is. Even in the realm of entertainment, something like a good book or music is much more important to me than any electronic means of entertainment. How have people come to believe that they need this stuff for their happiness? I would never sit in the cold and the dark to wait to get a movie, or a TV or even a CD or a book, no matter how cheap they would be. It makes one think and reflect in sadness on the modern state of our society.
And I'm not even going to go into the violence that can accompany any of this (thankfully I didn't see any of that).
Well, just my ruminations - I will try to actually review a movie next time. No promises though.
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