Copies of "Witness for the Prosecution"? I was already overconfident in thinking that there might be even one copy at the Stevenson Ranch Circuit City. But, as it turns out, I was also overconfident in thinking that there might be all four volumes of "Futurama" there, waiting for me.
Instead, I found a Chuck Norris movie. I don't remember the title. I also spotted Seinfeld: Season 9, Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 9, Grey's Anatomy: Season 4, about seven copies of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," along with a stray copy or two sitting among the CDs that couldn't be sold, and what felt to me like miles and miles of empty shelves, too long and disappointing to walk, yet I did it four times on the off chance that I might have missed something, that what I wanted was perhaps sitting behind another DVD case. I looked behind some of the DVD cases on my third go round. Nothing. Yet there were other customers walking past me holding stacks of DVDs. Some of what they were holding, such as "Catch and Release," starring Jennifer Garner, made me think that they were buying just to buy. "Oh my god, look! A total bargain! I have to buy this. I want that feeling of having bought something at a severely discounted price. I can't live a day without that feeling."
Yes, I'm a little bitter. But Mom was right: They get all the good stuff out of the way before total liquidation, and what remains is what discerning movie buffs and music fans would never buy. Being a discerning movie buff, I wasn't interested in any of what they had. There was "Air Force One," but in fullscreen and I don't go for that. Had there been a copy of "The Hunt for Red October," I might have bought that, despite spending nearly a week with it for a review for Screen It (parent-oriented review, so all details about violence, profanity, and blood and gore are required in list form in different categories), but I really enjoyed it, especially that level of intelligence in a suspense film.
However, there were some good things about spending time at Circuit City not at all finding what I originally wanted. I read the back of a triple-disc pack of "Psycho II," "Psycho III," and "Psycho IV," and now I'm curious about them (Netflix for the first two, VHS copy from the library for the third), and I got new headphones. It was quite apparent I needed new ones because the black fabric over one of the ears had fallen to the side and in order to wear them comfortably, I had to stretch the fabric over that ear and put them on while holding down that bit of fabric so it would stay. Obviously new ones were necessary.
I found them, stereo headphones, they work well and with thicker fabric over the ears as opposed to the thinner ones before (now thrown out), I can turn the volume up on the computer a bit more and it won't be too loud. It's the only reliable item you can get there that you won't get stuck with, since they don't accept returns now. $9.99 at 30% off comes to about $6.99 plus tax, so I did ok with these. And I don't have to again go through the ritual described above. That reason alone is worth it.
I'll just hope for "The Noel Coward Collection" to eventually come down in price on Amazon, and....wait! $6.20 for "California Suite" on Deep Discount (http://www.deepdiscount.com/) instead of $9.95 on Amazon, with free shipping from Deep Discount instead of the price paid for shipping for orders under $25 on Amazon? With how large my wishlist is becoming, I may have to switch my allegiance. On some DVDs at least.
