Movie Ratings

When I am browsing through movies, I don't only like to see what they are rated, I like to see why they are rated what they are. You'd be surprised sometimes with what you find. Sure there's the usual "For violence, mild peril, and some innuendo," but every once in a while they have other reasons for the rating. Like:

Quirky situations - Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Some double-entendres - Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat

Swashbuckling action - Shrek the Third

Intense depiction of very bad weather - Twister

Non-stop creature action violence - Van Helsing

Keep your eyes peeled, and I'm sure you'll find some good ones.

Native American

When you hear the words "Native American" what do you think?  Maybe a dark-skinned, black-haired person with a feather in his hair, like the guy in the photo.  That is such a stereotype.

Well, guess what?  I know a Native American with light skin and red hair who wears cardinals hats.  Me.

Yes, I am a Native American.  100%, actually.  I was born in America, and if I'm not Native American what am I?  I rest my case.

Sign Wavers

We've all seen them, and we can't avoid them: sign wavers. They stand on street corners all over the nation spinning, twirling, and in all other ways waving their signs around to try to get your business.

How effective are they? I don't know, but they haven't convinced me to shop anywhere, and if anything have deterred me.

I don't know that there is much job security for a sign waver in these economically hard times we are going through. It seems like they would be so easily replaced by, you know, a pole or something.

That would be a hard one to take wouldn't it? You show up to work and your boss lays you off, and when you ask why he doesn't say its downsizing or that you've been doing a bad job, but he just realized he could buy a $5 post to hold up the sign and have the same effect.

...poor sign wavers...

Wedding Tickets

What if instead of wedding announcements, you sent out wedding tickets? That way you wouldn't have to worry about wedding crashers.

I showed Laura this example of what our tickets could look like...we didn't end up going with it in the end.

Observations

A couple final observations from 2008.

For some reason, when waiters pour water, they always pour out of the side of the pitcher, and not from the spout. A lot of the time some water spills on the table.

When I tried to find nail clippers at the store, I couldn't find them near all of the other personal hygiene items. You would think they would be next to the shaving cream or the tooth brushes, but no. I was finally informed that they were next to all of the women's nail care stuff, which was surrounded by other female-only items like lipstick and makeup. I almost didn't want to go over there to get them. There are certain parts of the store that I just prefer to avoid.

Since it's the beginning of a new year, let me know what your favorite post was from last year. Maybe I can do more like that...