Take a good look at me

Tell me do you like what you see?

Do you think you can

Do you think you can do me?

So I was at Best Buy the other day, buying a couple of DVDs with a gift card from Xmas that I came across. I stumbled upon this Halo 2 Preview Pack they’re selling there, a box with an XBox controller and a Halo 2 non-playable demo disc, and some Best Buy coupons for $9.99. “Heck,” I said to myself, “even if it’s a cheap controller and a non-playable sucky demo, it’s probably still worth $10.”

Here’s the thing: it’s not. The “nonplayable demo” isn’t even really a demo — it’s a DVD. And the controller is so awful, just holding it in my hands makes me feel like a loser. And the coupons are all for XBox titles from two years ago. So yeah, I got ripped off by Best Buy.

I spent a little time yesterday mourning the loss of my old hot dog stand, from back when I lived at the Camel Clutch — which is also going away. Sim and Sue’s (I never met Sue) nourished and sustained me for a year, and I think I can blame at least part of my post-college increase in stature on those fries. Oh, those fries. I haven’t yet found a new stand with the charm of Sim and Sue’s , and I don’t think I ever will.

And the Camel Clutch, well, I’ll miss it too. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Burdick.

I just caught myself screaming at the television. I was watching ST:TNG, and someone ripped some of the “flesh” off Data’s face, revealing his insides, which look like a (relatively friendly, compared to say, a Terminator) squishy circuit board with lots of blinking lights. Here’s what I screamed: “Why are there blinking lights under his skin?! No one can see those lights!” How can I have been watching Star Trek for all these years and never noticed this? I knew I had to post to my web log immediately.

Living in Chicago, in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, I fear for my straight Protestant white culture every time I go to my favorite gay taqueria and am served chilaquiles by a drag queen. When I see things on the internet like this, it just sends chills down my spine.