I do not exist

Yesterday I tried contacting the software vendor whose product we use at my library. Usually I phone them, but this time, weird things happened when I called either of their numbers and I did not get through. Details aren't important, but I found on their website they also have an online chat function. I tried that and it worked, and after we finished the business I'd wanted to consult about, I raised the issue of the problems with the phones.

I can't get over their response, even though it's the one I usually get in such circumstances. They said - and I have it right here on the chat transcript - "We have not been having any problems receiving phone calls." So I put right back, "Yes, you have been having problems receiving phone calls. You've had problems receiving mine. You just didn't know that, because you didn't receive them."

Then they said, "This is the only comment we've received such as yours."

That assumes nobody else just gave up. There's something uniquely belittling about being told you're the only one with this problem as if that somehow mitigates it. So I said, "I feel like I'm being told I do not exist. But I do exist, and this happened."

Then they said they'd check into it, but I didn't want to wait around while that happened. So I thanked them, said we'll see what happens next time, and logged off.

movie tally

Despite quite recently declaring proudly my complete ignorance of the popular culture of the 21st century, I was intrigued by this list of the top films of that century so far. (There's supposed to be 100, but it lists 25.) Well, perhaps many of them are not so popular.

I've seen 12 of these 25, almost exactly half, and I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed 9 of them. (Of the other 3, one I found so boring I turned it off, one I just dislike the lead actor, and one I thought a piece of pretentious crap. But none of those were what I suspect are the two most controversial films on the list, Mulholland Drive and Lost in Translation, both of which impressed me quite a bit. No, the piece of pretentious crap was There Will Be Blood.

But though I liked the nine movies, and think they're good movies, only one or two would I consider as among my own favorite films, and what I consider the best new movie I've seen in this time period, Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, isn't on the 25. I hope it's somewhere else down the full list.