another weekend of lounging/sloth here in camp cape breton...and it has begun to snow...goody, something to bitch and whine about again. I don't think it is supposed to amount to much though.

I am knitting an afghan for the resident teenager, and had to run out to get more yarn at the trusty Wal-Mart today...I had forgotten that it is now March Break...the mall was a ZOO. Thankfully, not many at the checkouts yet as I was out there early...they were still browsing, so I was out in a flash.

Stopped by to get a couple of movies at our new movie store and am struck by how LONG it takes them to check you out at the movie store. There was only one person ahead of me, and you would THINK that I could be through and out the door in 3-5 minutes. NOT. Try 10 minutes. And they were only renting 2 games and a movie. This movie store is new though, and I guess I should cut them some slack, but each and every time I go in, it takes forever to check out. They have computers too, but they have certainly not sped up the process in any way. I get much faster service at the local convenience store's movie checkout. The new movie store is a Movie Gallery and the first large store to come to Port Hawkesbury that I know of. It is much like a Blockbuster, which is GRAND! Up until now we have only had a tiny movie store which rented one or two copies of new releases, and a convenience store that rented the same. Neither held old movies, or much of a selection. Oh, and the gas station up the road rented about 50 movies. So now I am happy, except for the wait. I have rented two for tonight:

Runaway Jury
A businessman is gunned down in a vicious office attack, leaving behind a grieving wife and child. Is the murderer solely responsible for his actions or does the gun industry bear some of the blame? What would your verdict be? Would ten million dollars change your mind? Based on the John Grisham bestseller, Runaway Jury stars John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman as the principles in a cat-and-mouse game played on two levels. Rankin Fitch (Hackman) has been hired by the gun industry for his expertise in jury selection, tampering and intimidation. Nick Easter (Cusack) and the mysterious Marlee (Weisz) conspire to ransom the verdict; Easter from inside the jury while Marlee negotiates with Fitch and plaintiff attorney Wendell Rohr (Hoffman) on the outside. To avoid being discovered, Nick and Marlee must stay a step ahead, as their agenda is revealed to be more than money. Briefly featuring fine actors such as Luis Guzman and Jeremy Piven, the film chooses plot over character development. So much is packed into its 127 minutes, Runaway Jury sometimes feels like a runaway train.

and

Laurel Canyon

Writer/director Lisa Cholodenko follows up her much-acclaimed 1997 debut High Art with this examination of a young couple seduced into a hedonistic, left-coast lifestyle. Taking its title from its central locale, Laurel Canyon focuses on a pair of upper-middle class lovebirds from the East Coast who relocate to Los Angeles. Freshly minted from Harvard, Sam (Christian Bale) and Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are eager to continue their medical studies out West, but they need some lodging while they hunt for a home. Enter Jane (Frances McDormand), Sam's estranged, Age-of-Aquarius mom, who's more than willing to put the couple up in her lavish digs. Jane is a successful record producer whose latest charge -- both in the studio and in her bedroom -- is Ian (Alessandro Nivola), a brazen, libidinous twentysomething Brit-rocker. As Sam and Alex settle in at Jane's, they gradually lose their straight-and-narrow approach to life and begin to experiment. Alex takes to Ian and Jane, while Sam is wooed by co-worker Sara (Natascha McElhone). Laurel Canyon features a score by Shudder to Think's Craig Wedren; the music for Ian's band was provided by Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous and indie-rockers Folk Implosion. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Lets hope they are worth the wait...