George Bailey and the Insect In My Camera

So for a few days there was a water bug that had somehow found it's way into one my security camera domes. It was trapped there. It was was trying desperately to crawl out but to no avail. My girls, who could not have cared less for the unlucky creature, just left it there.

In the meantime, I have been taking calls and receiving emails from various groups that I owe money to: the bank, the mall, vendors and collection departments. It's the end of the year for me, the last chance to make some money but now I have to face the fact that it is not going to happen. Poor sales from November did not allow me to purchase needed for this month as well as paying some of the loans and other debt. Also, the public schools did not get out until yesterday, the Friday before Christmas. Last year, the schools broke the week before, so it was busy the week before Christmas last year. Then you have the higher price of gas and customers just just spending less in general. I don't give a shit what George Bush and others are saying that the economy is just fine because that does not reflect what's going on the ground.

As a kid I used to watch Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra's Holiday Classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". I used to love that movie and I had a thing for Donna Reed. And now, here at I am, at the age of 39 and now I feel like Jimmy Stewart's George' Bailey. That "silly old fool" Uncle Billy has screwed the pooch by losing the money and now George is royally ass-fucked at Christmas time. I feel for you George because so am I. Time and money are running out, my phone and email inbox are blowing up with people demanding payments. It's had to take sometimes and when I see my peers, who's hard work has paid off, and they are enjoying their rewards, it only makes me feel worse because I see no silver lining or resolution to my problems. But unlike George, I don't have Clarence, the angel, or good townsfolk to save me from from my troubles. It's Christmas today, so there is some respite but soon more calls and bad news will come and I will to try to deal with it somehow.

Anyway, about the damn bug...so I am sitting at my desk in the back room watching the cameras and I see the bug struggling, kicking it's many legs, then stopping to rest , then giving it another and then repeating the process. This poor bastard bug had been doing this for the two days I wasn't here. I identified myself with the poor creature and I couldn't understand why the girls wouldn't just take it out and set it free, so that's exactly what I did. I took the latter, climbed up to the camera, and took off the dome and there it was...the tiny waterbug that looked liked a monster on the camera, lying in it's own waste...at least that's what I thought it was. I then walked outside the store and dumped it into the planter. What a relief it must have been...now I can only imagine...

Merry Christmas.
the Guero

Christmas Bliss, Employee Rifts, My Mind Drifts...

but it barely feels like it for the Guero. The last two weeks have been have been hectic...trying to get the proper inventory into the stores, dealing with slow sales, and employee grumblings. I had an employee incident that spun wildly out of control that I wish I could have handled better but honestly, I just didn't have the time and when I tried to make it better, it completely blew back into my face. The past 2 1/2 years, I have tried to keep my store drama-free but lately it's been like a damn novela in here.

The Guero's mother flew down from San Francisco. She was here for about 5 days and I think I spent about 6 hours with her. She pretty much just stayed in our house the entire time, doing nothing but watching TV and cooking for us. I feel really bad but these stores take all our time. So she left yesterday and took my son with her. This is the second year in a row that we won't get to spend Christmas with our son. It's sad but I know it's better for him up there as there is no family or friends here and we would have nothing to do and then we have to be right back in the stores the following day.

And to top it off, I've have a nasty cold. My head feels like it's going to explode...

Movie Review: No Country For Old Men

(warning-spoiler alert)
The Coen brothers, are arguably, the greatest film makers around. Even their "worst" movies are great in my mind. Ok, maybe I'm biased but I actually enjoyed both "The Ladykillers" and "Intolerable Cruelty", even though I felt the ending fell apart miserably with the latter. Actually, that may be the biggest flaw I find with the Coen brothers' films...their endings. Some times they seem rushed, thrown together at the last minute just to get it over with to create an "ending". But after watching "No Country For Old Men", I have come to realise that the weak ending is a mark of their great film making.

The Coen brothers' latest is based on a novel by Cormack McCarthy, who's novel "The Road" I just read recently. The story, set in the Texas/Mexico border area circa 1980, centers on three characters: Lewellyn Moss(Josh Brolin), a hunter who finds $2 million from drug deal gone south; Anton Chigurh(superbly played by Javier Bardem), the psychopath hired to recover the money; and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), the world-weary sheriff trying to figure it all out and help Moss and his young wife Carla Jean(Kelly MacDonald).

"No Country" allows the Coens to further delve into familiar subject matter...crimes gone horribly, horribly wrong and the greed that fuels them. There's really not that much dialog in the film as the Coens', along with trusty cinematographer, Roger Deakins, are quite adept at manipulating the audience with camera angles and movement. The dialog that's there is just as intense as their camera angles, whether it's Chigurh's short and stoic lines or Sheriff Bell's thoughtful commentaries, both are equally effective in conveying one's disturbing evilness, and the other's heavy-hearted humanity.

The story after while, settles into what seems a typical cat and mouse drama, in which the shrewd and resourceful Moss, is able to evade and fend off the methodical, Chigurh who Javier Bardem's excellently portrays as a true human monster, a cinematic villain who's actually scary. After a while, however things don't exactly go as expected and some audience members may not like it. I've heard many people complain about the ending and I admit, I thought to myself that I might be disappointed.

I think...and this is purely, my own opinion, that the Coen brother's don't do good Hollywood endings because they don't like them or don't believe in them...because in reality there are no endings. In this world, good doesn't always win over evil and bad things happen to good people. Everyone someday will have to face that fact and none of us are special enough that we won't. That is what I took from the film.

Well who really knows? I am no film expert, just a huge fan of these guys. The great thing about their films is that they are so layered and textured that I can watch them over and over again and come away with something new. I will definitely see this one again...and again. By any standards, this is an amazing achievement - for it's writing, it's acting and directing.