SOLMI

We were happy to have Superhero shown at this year’s Indie Film Jam, part of the larger Florida Music Festival. The screenings were pretty lightly attended, and some of the films shown had questionable entertainment value, but it was fun to get out and see what other people are making.

Even if we were put off by a couple of them.

One thing that we’re real sticklers about is trying to make something that’s going to get somebody to laugh. Or, at the very least, that they won’t hate and wish were immediately over. That’s really not very easy sometimes. So when I see films that are, at best, completely self-serving I wonder why these people want to handicap themselves right off the bat.

I also don’t get why the credits for some films are nearly as long as the films themselves. I can appreciate giving credit where it’s due, so maybe it’s unavoidable for the larger productions. But if you’re the writer, director, producer, star and cinematographer, maybe skip the credit roll altogether. Because nobody cares.

Anyway, that’s my rant. We mostly had a good time and it’s nice that we were given the chance to get something of ours out there. Maybe we’ll look at sending Superhero to other events in the future. or maybe we should just try and get more videos done. That sounds like a good plan to me.

This doesn’t really have to do with SOLMI, but I thought maybe somebody would care anyway. The other day I gathered together some games that I haven’t played in a while (or ever). I wasn’t concerned with their resale value, so I brought them to GameStop; a place that notoriously low-balls customers on trade-in value. I thought I might get a discount on a new game by bringing them in, so I figured what-the-hey.

I’ve been wanting to play Rainbow Six Vegas for a while. Mostly for split-screen co-op. Brian and I had some good times playing Gears of War this way last year. So that’s what I traded my games for. A new copy of Rainbow Six Vegas. The GameStop employee behind the counter was surprisingly good-natured. Especially considering it was 20-minutes until closing. He talked to me about the game while inspecting my trade-in discs for scratches and instruction manuals. When he told me he could give me $20 for the games I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something closer to $5. This brought the cost of Rainbow Six down from $29 to just $11. Not bad.

They actually had a used copy for $27, but I’m not above spending $2 for a guaranteed-to-work, fresh out-of-the-box, “it still smells new” copy. He took care of the transaction, and I went home. When I got there I opened the game commenting to Meagan on how great my GameStop experience had been. Then I flipped over the game and saw a Rorschach-style maze of scratches covering roughly 120% of the surface area of the disc. And one big greasy thumb print.

Not very cool, GameStop. I’ve heard the horror stories about GameStop before. I’m sure most of us have. Employees taking games home, playing them, then selling them as new. Poor customer service, bad customer service, and terrible customer service. But who else buys back games? I couldn’t think of anybody in the Orlando area that would take these off my hands and still give me a discount on a new game, so I went for it. And I probably should have just accepted the consequences.

I considered it, actually. Not taking the game back, or trying to get an actual new copy. I thought that if the game didn’t work then it would just serve as a reminder for why I should never shop at GameStop again. I talked to Brian and Meagan about this and they both immediately told me that was completely insane. And that it comes from being raised Catholic. The whole flagellation thing.

So to avoid that and future emotional issues I decided to take the game back and see if I could get it exchanged for a new one. I actually talk to the same guy that sold me the game a few days ago. He seemed like a nice fellow, but I didn’t totally buy his nearly inaudible declaration of innocence, “Wha, how did that happen?!”.

I should also mention that I was unable to test the game in Brian’s Xbox 360 because it’s broken right now. Again. So he’s shipping it off to Microsoft for repairs. Again.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the 360 is a fantastic gaming and entertainment machine. But would it kill Microsoft to produce something of quality these days? Why is it that every 360 owner I’ve heard from or talked to has shipped in their console once, twice, four times? Why can’t these companies just get it together? How did this turn into a rant about Microsoft? Where is my shirt? Why am I crying?!? OH GOD. WHAT IS THIS FEELING?