What exactly does “exclusive” mean?

My definition: something available to only a select few people or for a limited time or in a limited place. In my view, the movie theater world would use the word “exclusive” when the film was only playing at one location in the city.  So I found it rather befuddling when I saw this tag line:

It’s playing exclusively at 15 theaters? How is that exclusive?
 

But then I looked around and I saw more use.  This is how I would use the term.  “Exclusive Engagement.”  Meaning y’all have to go to Cinema 21 if you live in Portland and want to see the movie this week.
 
Then there was this “limited engagement” crap. Seven movie theaters is not a limited engagement.

Here’s the dictionary.com definition:

ex·clu·sive

  [ik-skloo-siv, -ziv]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

not admitting of something else; incompatible: mutually exclusive plans of action.
2.

omitting from consideration or account (often followed by of): a profit of ten percent, exclusive of taxes.
3.

limited to the object or objects designated: exclusive attention to business.
4.

shutting out all others from a part or share: an exclusive right to film the novel.
5.

fashionable; stylish: to patronize only the most exclusive designers.

Based on this definition, I think that Cinema 21 has it right and the other people need better tag writers.

Paperwork!!!!

Oh beginning of school, you torture me.  This corner of my desk was clear just twenty minutes before.  But then all the families walked into school and handed in their massive paperwork packets and I’m back on the paperwork bandwagon.  Back-to-school paperwork keeps me busy through October.
 
And yet there are still things to do that aren’t paperwork.  This is why I wrote all my September essays over the summer.
 

Why I don’t watch the Olympics


Things I like about the Olympics:
Weird sports get their every-four-year moment in the sun.
It’s really cool, all those athletes coming together to compete.
I read somewhere that there is a lot of sex happening in the Olympic Village, given that there are a lot of people in peak physical condition who, once their events are over, spend time hooking up with other people in peak physical condition.  I find this fact delightful, and the reward an excellent payoff for all that boring training.

Things I absolutely cannot stand about the Olympics:

  • News organizations’ weird need to package every single athlete into a “top story line”
  • The annoying fixation on how many medals the US is going to win.
  • The “horrible anguish” the announcers launch into when someone who was thought to win gold “only” wins a silver medal.  They won a medal at the Olympics!  That’s a very cool thing, man.
  • The asinine commentary in general.
  • The fact that the events I want to watch are surrounded by 42,000 commercials, idiotic commentary, “heartwarming” stories, and events I could care less about.

Sadly, the things I cannot stand about the Olympics outweigh the things I like about them.  So I will not be watching the Olympics this year, but I send well wishes to all, especially that woman from Bulgaria who isn’t even going to place in the finals, but is going to have a lot of sex with a lot of different guys.  Well done, lady!

Sand in the City

I joined Mom and Aunt Carol for breakfast at Mother’s and then we headed over to check out Sand in the City.  It was, frankly, underwhelming.  There were nine sand sculptures, a paltry amount, I thought, and I was not impressed by most of the scupture.  Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high?

Here’s an example.  The slogan is “branching out to help others” but the branches are not going out, they are going in.  It just didn’t work for me.
 

Kid’s on the block being sculpted into a block?  Eh.
 
I enjoyed the pun here, but look at all the blank space.
 
And this didn’t even look fully formed.
 
There was a Voodoo Donut on the Octopus, which I appreciated.
 
This display had the best detail from shrimp on the barbie to…
 
…an intricately sculpted welcome mat.

At this point my camera warned me I was running out of battery and as we had Sunday Parkways yet to do, I decided to stop taking pictures of mostly unimpressive sand sculpture.