S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G

The greatest time of the month is upon us - Payday! A little retail therapy never goes amiss, so the last couple of lunchtimes has seen me wander into town at lunchtime to follow my senses and see if anything appeals. Yesterday I finally got round to picking up the new Douglas Coupland novel JPod, under the recommendation of Mr Juxta. Now, normally me and the works of Coupland do not get on. I find him a little too straining, constantly trying to be cool just for the sake of it (a problem I also have with Bret Easton Ellis, but meh...). However, I found his previous dive into the world of geekdom - "Microserfs" - was splendid stuff, and I've been told that JPod is of a similar ilk. Looking forward to it. Didn't pick up the limited edition version - even though I wanted it - as there was no way I could justify spending twice the money the regular one costs just so I could get a random little toy Qube fellow. I have more than enough tat all about the house, thankyouverymuch.

Also - finally! - got round to buying the "Clerks X" 3-DVD set. Only had it on video, and that's been worn to skinny ribbons after weekly viewings since pretty much the beginning of time. Seriously, if you've never seen it - GO BUY IT NOW. It's 100% The Greatest Film Ever Made. Even just reading the script is arse-quakingly funny, and the boxset I got today has *everything*. Alternate cut of the film, documentaries, out-takes, music videos... bloomin' loads. I'll probably spend a whole weekend watching the thing, if I ever get a free one again.

Last but certainly not least; my final purchase was Death Cab for Cutie's fine album "Transatlaticism". I bought their latest offering ("Plans") on the strength of hearing one track in a random record shop in Brighton a few months back, insisting to my friend Jo that "once in a while you must take a chance on something you find immediately beauitiful". While she scoffed, I am pleased to report that Plans was beyond wonderful and is often played loudly here at Idle Towers. However, The American was aghast that I'd not even heard "Transatlanticism", and demanded I get it as soon as possible following her recent visit. Hell, I didn't even know that DCfC was basically The Postal Service (I can often fall woefully behind the times in music, but soon catch up). Anyway, I heeded her advice, and will post impressions on it soon. If it's half as good as the other one - and The American insists it blows "Plans" out of the water - it'll be fully aces.

So there you go, three different media, and all great. I'm brilliant at shopping, me.