About a month ago we received a free trial offer from Netflix where we could get 3 movies out at a time for 2 weeks, so naturally we signed up for it. We were enjoying it, although if we lived anywhere close to where there is a Blockbuster, we would probably do that one because you can trade them in at the store for a little more instant gratification, but I digress. One of the first movies that I wanted to get was the Liam Neeson movie "Taken" because I had seen the trailer and it looked good to me, even though Kayla doesn't really like thrillers, I had convinced her to watch it with me. You can imagine my excitement when I got the e-mail from Netflix saying that the movie would arrive at my house within a day.
So I go out to the mailbox the next day and sure as a sunrise (not sure that's an actual saying, but I'm using it anyway), there was a DVD in the box and I brought it in without really examining it because it's been over 100 degrees every day for the past week here and I didn't want to stay out for longer than I had to. Now, I must again remind the reader that we were allowed three movies out at a time and the next one on our list was one a DVD that Brenna had picked out to watch (you can probably see where this is heading). For one reason or another, Kayla and I didn't get a chance to watch my thriller that night, and so it came as a little bit of a shock to me to get an e-mail in my inbox the next day from Netflix telling me thank you for returning "Taken." A little confused, I go into the kitchen where we had been keeping all our cinema bounty and took a good look at what I thought was "Taken" only to discover Brenna's Little Einsteins DVD. While Brenna was elated, I was let down to say the least. So seeing that Netflix had received a DVD that we never did, I added it to the list again in hopes that it would arrive before our precious two weeks of free movies was completed.
Fortunately for me, about four days later I got another e-mail from the Netflix people saying that they had shipped "Taken" to our little address here in Karnes City, which made me think that if there was one person assigned to our account, they were probably thinking, "Okay, this movie may be good, but is it really a rent twice in one week good?" To which I would respond in words to unkind to write here, so I'll proceed with my story. We get the DVD in the mail the next day and I examined the envelope in the heat this time to make sure I wasn't going to have to call these people and tell them it's probably a good idea to keep customers by sending what they ordered, but they got it right this time and so I rushed back into the house before the sun could melt off my skin, with plans to watch this movie that night, so that either Kayla didn't have time to lose her nerve, or we had to send the movie back unwatched because our two weeks were running out very quickly.
I put the movie into the DVD player that night, and I should have realized it was not going to be an easy watch when I went to check out the special features and the one trailer listed wouldn't play. (Side note: Why go to the expense of including a special features tab and graphic on a DVD just to have one lousy trailer on it? Seems more cost effective to not put it in there and get my hopes up that there would actually be something interesting there) So we start the movie and everything is good for the first 50 minutes or so, and then the darn thing catches and I can't get it to do anything but stick right on the screen it's on. I can't rewind it, I can't fast forward it, I can't skip to the next chapter, I took it out and tried to clean it off, I did the old NES approach of blowing inside the DVD player, I even tried to go to the main menu and skip ahead two chapters and try to backtrack, and nothing worked. Now, this movie is only about an hour and a half long, so when you get fifty minutes in you're pretty much invested into the story and you want to find out how it's going to end, so the solution Kayla and I came up with was that I would go to our trusty Redbox at the Wal-Mart down the street and get it from there, even though it meant I would have to drive back out to the store the next day to return it.
So I go out there and get the movie (it always amazes me that people take their kids to WM regardless of the time, seven kids under the age of ten at 10:30 at night, moving on...) and get back, get it set to where we were and continue watching. About ten minutes from the end of the film, the same thing starts to happen again; it starts to catch and freeze. So, once I had recovered all the pieces of the remote control that I had chucked across the room I went and took the DVD out of the player, cleaned off a few smudges and finally finished the movie. It was a decent movie to be sure, but after all the hassle I'm not sure that God wanted us to see that movie. Maybe next time, I'll save myself the trouble and listen to Him. One more thing before I let you leave...
While this picture really creeps me out, I can only think how much more creepy it would have been had it been taken in more recent years. At least here, he still looks human. All I really have to say about the passing of the King of Pop is that it disturbs me that so many people in the news coverage have described him as an idol. Makes me kind of think we may be in for a smiting from the Almighty. And while I'm sure that he was totally messed up in the head, he did bring joy to millions of people, and revolutionized pop culture as we know it and not too many other people on the planet can say that. I pray that he knew Jesus before he left, and I pray that his family will find Him through this process.We're begin the long road back to Georgia today to visit family and friends, so I'm sure I'll write more in the coming days, stay tuned!
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