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That Sound You Hear? » The Lower East Side Of Life by Eric Heatherly
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Big News » Nintendo introduced its new Game Boy Micro today. It's roughly the size of an iPod Mini. Hell, that's still too big. I say it should be no larger than a wrist watch. Who wants to take up valuable pocket space when you could wear an entire game system on your arm? Who's with me?

Now, today's story...

I would venture to guess that I first got my library card around 1990 or 1991. Since that time, I can't recall ever really using it. Until today.

You've heard of Jason right? He's the guy who watches 7th Heaven and later balks at the notion by complaining in the form of not one but two comments on my blog. Oh yes, that is him. And I am narrowly related to him. We share common parents.

So just when you thought he couldn't possibly get any dumber, he does something semi-brilliant. I tack on the "semi-" because it took him longer than it should have to tell me that in this new library that was built a block away from our house, they have an entire section dedicated to DVD movies and TV shows. Well clearly, this captured my interest.

He told me about this for the first time last week before I left for my trip to North Carolina. But I never really believed him. An entire section dedicated to modern films and television series? In a public library? Come on.

This afternoon, we took a trip over there so that I could see for myself. And behold, it was all true. Rows and rows of DVD shelves stood before me with movies and shows I could borrow absolutely free. Goodbye Blockbuster, see ya later Brett and your Hollywood Video (sorry, man). Screw the shelling out of four clams for a DVD rental, my public library has all of these things and more free of charge. Yes, indeed.

And not only were there DVDs available to me, but honest to god modern music. An entire section of country CDs to choose from. Which I did, by the way.

Now once I'd gotten past the ecstasy of having free entertainment media at my disposal, I began to wonder whether I had really been within the walls of a library. Does that not sound like a video store to you? Sure, there were more books than movies, but one must wonder.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll be the last to complain. Rest assured I'll be making frequent visits throughout the summer. Just today I picked up a pair of DVDs and a trio of CDs. Part of the first season of Six Feet Under (I know, at a public library, can you believe it?) and the first four episodes of Millennium.

I've got a week and then I believe I'll be picking up some new ones. By the way, Millennium sucked. A lot. So I'm glad I got to find that out without spending any money.

Gotta love the library.

Musical Exodus: So here's the thing, the server I'm using to hold the 30-second music clips I post everyday isn't, you know, limitless. I only have so much space there so starting this week I'll be removing songs in the archives this week. If you're really dying to hear one at some point in the future, just e-mail me.