Two things that will probably not take that long to discuss. One, Resident Evil 5 comes out next week, and I'm pretty pumped. However, there's one thing kind of about the game that I already don't like, and that's the fact that people are actually wondering if the game is racist because it features a white man, Chris Redfield, previously seen as a white man in several other RE games, shooting black zombie folks in Africa. So the premise of this discussion is it's a white man killing black people so it's racist. And here's the reason it's not. The game features a previously established white man and places him in Africa. Would it make sense for Chris Redfield to all of a sudden be a black man so he could non-racistly shoot black zombies? Or would it make more sense for him to be in the only small, remote African village full of white people so he could non-racistly shoot white people? Answer: it wouldn't make sense either way. In reality, he's a fake computer animated image on a screen shooting other fake computer animated images on a screen. And I actually have kind of a deeper problem with the racism debate in this game. How come in a 50 Cent videogame he can run around shooting all the white people he wants, and nobody thinks twice, but when a white videogame character shoots black videogame characters IN AFRICA, it's racist? How come whenever white people do anything to anyone of another race, it's racist, but when shit gets done to white people, it's justice or revenge or okay? Fuck that shit.

Two, I just want to thank Circuit City for going out of business, because now that giant shithole of a store Best Buy is free to do whatever the fuck it wants with stocking merchandise, providing customer service, and having sales. It has no competition anymore, which means that the "wonderful selection" (read: never having anything, ever) and "great customer service" (read: drooling morons standing around slapping their own faces and saying 'duh') you've come to expect at Best Buy are already going right down the tubes. It took me a week and five Best Buy stores to find the new Neko Case album that was FEATURED IN THEIR OWN GOD DAMNED AD!

The first time I went into a Best Buy, I was informed that they didn't carry that CD. The second time I went into a Best Buy, I looked at their computer that shows their inventory, which said the store had 10 copies. After looking in the normal places (the 'C' section of the CDs and the endcap that features their new and on sale CDs), I made the mistake of asking an employee if there's anywhere else it could be, and his answer was "If it's not on the shelf, we don't have it." But what about the 10 copies it says you have? 10 seems like a lot of copies of a CD to be nonexistent. But no, no help there. Why Best Buy employs people to wander around and be fuckwits I have no idea. They need one moron at the cash register to ask me if I want a $4 replacement plan on my $7 CD, and that's it. I can wander around aimlessly and not know where anything is by myself, I don't need a jackass in a blue shirt to lead me. That taught me my lesson, so the rest of the times I just went in, looked for myself for a couple of seconds, and left.

I'd love to support my local independent shop, but it's even more worthless than Best Buy. The Finest was a great record store when I moved here, and now two of their three locations have closed, and this Fort Collins shop is looking pretty sad. Weird little indie people shuffle around behind the desk while customers ask if they have anything, which they really don't. A lot of terrible old records nobody wants, but not much new. And what is new is 16.99 per CD. That's FYE prices, for Christ's sake.

I finally did find the Neko Case CD, after driving all the way to Denver. There is nothing good about Best Buy, from the guy whose job is to stand in front of the door saying disingenuous hellos to all the people who walk in to the people at the register who seem like they would rather be hanging themselves than working there. So thanks, Circuit City, for leaving us with this one option. You were always even worse on selection and service and price than Best Buy, but at least you gave them cause to try a little bit. Now who even cares? Thank God for the internet. I know where I'll be doing all my electronics shopping for the rest of my life.