I know what it means, but what does it mean?

My favorite part of the schoolyear is the purchasing of new books time. Not just because I get to buy me some books and look at how great they look on my various shelves, but because, without exception, afer I do the big order on amazon or half.com for the bulk of my new books, there always seems to be one more book added to the courselist at the last minute. This "extra" book affords me the chance to justify buying myself a movie from my wishlist, in order to qualify for free shipping. Now, we can debate the wisdom of spending $10-14 dollars in order to save $4.83 in shipping, but I'd prefer to live in denial and keep building my collection.

So, the winner for this fall, with the sudden need to purchase the essay compilation Essentials of Christian Theology, is Nicole Holofcener's most recent film Friends with Money. It was one of my top four of 2006, but it had been so long since I'd seen it, I got it last week from the Seattle Library to confirm my feelings before purchasing. And again, I was blown away by the insight and subtle realities of human interraction the film portrays. And even though it's a film that makes you feel sorry for rich, white people, if you think about it, that's pretty impressive. This film kind of rips my heart in a good, sardonic, sad but ultimately hopeful way, and lately, that's my favorite kind of story to be immersed in.

Well, the other best part of buying books/movies, is the placing of a new DVD in its rightful spot on my DVD shelf. Since I organize my DVDs by distribution company, I always notice copyright info and stuff. Well, as I nudged "Friends With Money" between my other Sony Pictures Classics releases "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Persuasion", I noticed some very non-sequitor text on the bottom of the box which reads:

"2006 Sony Pictures Clasics, Inc. for the Universe excluding Australia/NZ and Scandinavia (but including Iceland). All rights reserved."

I like knowing that my movie is meant for the whole Universe, but that aussies, kiwis, and flinginbjorgens can't watch it. So glad to see Iceland finally be included in something, though. I love Iceland!

(previous free shipping movie purchase winners include: Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, Sideways by Alexander Payne and The Remains of the Day by James Ivory)