Home again... no, the other home

I get confused about which place I refer to sometimes as "home." There's my apartment, which is certainly where I live, but then there's Mom's, which was home for a long number of years, and still remains so, to a degree. Anyway... I'm back in my apartment. And though I was having wireless issues, I got them all sorted out and am back on the web with a vengeance! Hooray!

Now I just need to figure out where all my loot goes, and decide with my roomie if our wee little tree looks too sad now to keep up. This one just didn't last as long as last year's -- it's all smooshed and droopy on one side, and still a little wobbly in the pot we put it in (in lieu of a tree stand).

Oh, and I went out a did a little bit of post-Christmas shopping. I just had to get "Serenity." Actually, speaking of movies, I have to relate my adventures last night in a suburban Blockbuster's. First of all, as you know, I love to watch deliberately bad movies with the roomie and MMJ. Last week, we chose "Cry_wolf," which was really quite bad. Not super-intelligent killer sharks bad, but pretty bad. At one point during our screening, I cried out, "You know, there are good movies at the video store. Movies I want to see. Why can't we get those?" Only to be shot down.

So last night, Mom and my sister and I decide we're going to watch a movie. There's nothing on TV, and though it's only 7ish, my sis doesn't feel like going out to the local Blockbluster (a five minute drive away). So I dig through theirold pile of VHS tapes, most of which are of movies and sporting events taped off tv, or few rejects from a library. Slim pickings. So I volunteer to hit the Blockbuster, knowing that the last time I was at (my NYC local) video store, I saw lots of interesting titles on the New Release wall.

Not so much at Blockbuster. Sure, you could get Tommy Lee Jones in "Man of the House," or whatever drivel Ashton Kutcher's put out recently. Heck, "Star Wars" was available, and even "Cry_Wolf." So I call my sister from the store, listing our options... only to have each and every one of them shot down. "Murderball"? Too depressing. Mom won't want to watch a documentary about paralyzed rugby players. "Layer Cake"? She'd never heard of it. She even shot down my beloved "Serenity," which may explain why I had to go buy it today.

So what did we end up? Sigh. "Sahara." With Matthew McConaghey and Penelope Cruz. Now, ok, not the worst thing ever, and Steve Zahn was highly entertaining at times, even as William H. Macy chomped on his role with an air of "I so deserve a better movie." But to pick is up and rent it without irony? Oh man. I felt like I had to explain myself to the video clerk. Like, "No, I don't really want this, but it's just the only thing we could agree on. I'd prefer to watch an art film myself."

And then I remembered I was in suburbia. And couldn't wait to get back home to my apartment, to the corner video store where they don't mind if we ask for the worst action movie they have, or the latest art film. I love New York.