you'll come for the sammiches, stay for the previewed DVDs

At lunch time I popped in to Foodstop to obtain some midday comestibles and they had this big tub of previewed DVDs for $5 a pop. So OF COURSE I had to buy some. I restrained myself and bought just 2 of 'em. Hey, that IS restraint for me. (I mean this weekend I went looking for one CD --The Lovin' Spoonful's Greatest Hits and wound up w/ that and 3 more -- Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits, Led Zeppelin II, & the soundtrack for "O Brother Where Art Thou?" so, y'know, as you can see there self-restraint doesn't come naturally to me). I ended up buying: Altoid Mango Sours, 1 Liter of Diet Coke, curly/spicy fries, Silent Hill, Stay , & a turkey-cucumber sammich on wheat.



While the verdict is still pending for the 2 movies, I can attest that Altoid Mango Sours are utterly stupendous. If you like mango, you will like Altoid Mango Sours. I know that sounds trite and somewhat idiotic, but that is the chief asset of these little candies--they taste exactly like the fruit they are supposed to (after a initial shock of sourness). I mean, I like cherry flavored candies, or strawberry flavored, but not much of it really tastes like the real thing does it? I would say that's true about most fruit flavored candy.... banana Runts for instance..I don't know what they taste like but it's not banana. But the Altoids folks (Callard & Bowser, if my Altoids tin is to be believed) have really nailed the mango flavor. Phenomenal.



I watched the premier of The Riches last night. I've always liked Minnie Driver so I kinda watched it in support of her getting work, FINALLY. Of course, she has had work, but she hasn't had a starring film role that I can think of since 2000 or thereabouts. This is not counting straight-to-video fare (which, in terms of career indicators, does not count for all that much). So a lead role on an FX (especially with FX putting out notably higher qual stuff for the past 5yrs) drama is a big score for her. The whole conning their way into the upper crust premise is the basis of the show, but I find myself more intrigued by the unexpected "refugees- from-a-bizarro-Irish-gypsy-cult" subplot. I guess they're Irish Travelers, I should say. I had used "gypsy" generally speaking, not to be confused with Gypsy gypsies, as in Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I guess "gypsy " is considered an offensive term....although when I hear the word it just immediately evokes thoughts of Stevie Nicks & that Fleetwood Mac song...and I cannot conceive of how being associated with Stevie Nicks would upset anybody. But anyhow... back to The Riches ....one of my first impressions (upon hearing the cast list...before viewing the pilot) was that Minnie Driver & Eddie Izzard would be a weird couple. I was wondering how that would play out, and was thinking it would be interesting to see Eddie play a straight guy. Well, y'know , come to find out (I did a spot of IMDB digging this a.m.) and according to all reports, he IS straight. No wondering he portrayed it with such surprising conviction. Hey, y'know, I'm a chick that casually tosses off uncouth terms like "gypsy" so I guess it logically follows that I would presume that ALL tranvestites are gay. Rather, narrow-minded of me in retrospect, I think. But you've got to cut me some slack...I didn't grow up in the most metropolitan / diverse region of the world...and I do aspire to be more open-minded than I naturally am...

I kind of dug The Riches -- thought Minnie & Eddie were individually compelling as well as poignant as a couple. I don't know if I liked it so much that will fully fill the Monday night void destined to be in my heart until April 23rd, but I did like it. I will tune in next Monday.