And now, a post for while I wait for that 11Mb file to upload. See, I’m actually writing all three (or more, if this takes long enough or I think of something else to say) of these posts in a text editor so I can do other things with my internet access (ie: uploading those darned MP3s) and write at length if I want without worrying about losing too much (I save frequently… which reminds me…).
Anyway, I was in Phoenix Monday night/Tuesday all day, and watched Kill Bill Volume 1 (which I most thoroughly enjoyed, btw) AND rented (courtecy of my loving sister, Angela, thanks again!) The Matrix Reloaded and watched all (yes, literally ALL) the special features… and, while we let the movie iteself run from beginning to end, I don’t think any one of us (myself, my father (who started it in the first place) or my brother (who came home from school about 40 minutes before the ‘end’)) actually “watched” the whole thing. Although my dad was watching some of it in slow motion, and zoomed in… even scenes that were already in slow motion and/or close-ups. Hey, whatever gives him the enjoys, as his father would say. Overall, the “special features” weren’t particularly special… especially for a big Matrix fan… except for the documentary about the making of the freeway scene, which gave me more information than I had … but still disappointed by not giving the depth I wanted. And now I’m back in Pine.
I DID get that book, by the way. It had been waiting for me since Saturday, but since the office is only open M-F, they couldn’t have given it to me then, since it needed to be hand-delivered, I guess. There was a problem/non-problem with it, though. See, when I went to Amazon.com to look up Oscar Wilde, to see about ordering The Picture of Dorian Gray and/or De Profundis, I found that for about the same as JUST getting those two works, I could have my choice of two editions that claimed to have the ‘complete works’ of Oscar Wilde. One was The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (available for $10.45, used and in good condition) and the other was The Complete Illustrated Works of Oscar Wilde (available for $6.99, used and in good condition). I read through the descriptions of both books and it looked like they were both long enough and sized to be ‘complete works’, and figured saving $3 and getting the original illustrations along with the complete works was a turn of luck, so that’s what I ordered. That’s what the emails I received said was being sent to me “The Complete Illustrated Works of Oscar Wilde”.
What arrived today was “The Complete Illustrated Stories, Plays and Poems of Oscar Wilde.” It has all his stories, plays, poems, and the one novel he wrote, The Picture of Dorian Gray. It does not contain any of his essays or letters (De Profundis is a letter, nearly 200 pages long, which he wrote while in prison). It is not the ‘complete works of Oscar Wilde’. BUT, I went back and looked at the Amazon.com page for the product I ordered (following the link from the confirmation email, to be sure I was looking at the right item), and while the title I’d thought I was purchasing was there, the ISBN matched the one on my book and the official ‘description’ was verbatim from the back of the book I received, though the cover image they display is different. I looked at their return policy for Amazon Marketplace sales and … well, it says that if I was shipped something that was different from what I ordered, they’re supposed to exchange it (I pay shipping both ways, of course) or offer me a refund (which is much more complicated than a regular Amazon.com refund, and may take over a week to even be acknowledged before they try to process it), depending on what was wrong… but … it has the ISBN of the book I ordered, so is it the right book or the wrong one?
I submitted a ‘change of title’ to the book, with the title carefully copied from the book in my hands, so that future visitors will know what they’re ordering. I also sent a long email to the general Amazon.com customer service people explaining the whole thing, and that I really, really want to have the real, and actually ‘complete’ works of Oscar Wilde, and asking what I need to do to get it, asking whether I was even allowed to send back this book I’ve received to try to exchange it or WHAT. SO, we’ll see how THAT goes. Hopefully it will all be worked out peachy-keen and I’ll eventually get my hands on what I thought I was ordering… or some content-equivalent.
I’m getting tired, but this upload is taking forever. Silly dial-up. I think I’ll go take a nap, setting an alarm for half an hour from now, and see if it’s done then. I’ll let you know. …***/// \\\***… Yep, there is goes. Now, to post these three posts. And then go back to bed, where my mind was just beginning to calm down. Quiet down. Down, down, down…
