Cami’s comments about the original Clerks comes from real-life around the time we were first dating in high school. With the resurgence of Clerks II, this seemed like the best opportunity to share it with you.

Our relationship was just starting out, but I was totally about sharing my passion for film with her. We didn’t get Clerks in any of the movie theaters here when it first came out in theaters. But I had become familiar with it by reputation and decided to rent it so that we could watch it together. We sat in her parents basement, watched it all the way to the end and when I asked her "What did you think?" she said "Eh, I don’t really like movies about guys who do nothing."

Okay, so I twisted the quote around a little to fit in with the joke of today’s comic. But the spirit is still the same.

Afterwords, I went home and left the video at Cami’s house asking if she could return it (since she lived closer to the video store and was going to run errands the next day). Before she could return the video, her DAD got a hold of it looking for some kind of entertainment on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Cami came home from her errands and he gave her the old 20 Questions about this boyfriend of hers and what kind of entertainment I’m picking out for her.

My now Father-in-Law never confronted me about it, but Cami told me the story once and it made me pucker, that’s for sure!

The moral of the story? Don’t leave rented copies of Clerks laying around the house for your future Father-in-Law to find! Incidentally, Clerks is the only Kevin Smith movie I don’t own. I mean, I own Clerks: The Animated Series, but I don’t own the original movie that bears it’s name. Oh, and one of Cami’s favorite comedies is Mallrats. Go figure.

Judgemental Father-in-Law’s absent from our shoulders, Cami and I went to see Clerks II this weekend and loved it. I’m glad that it turned out as well as it did. I think the movie had a real capacity to be horrible. Combined with the failure of Jersey Girl, if Kevin Smith couldn’t get Clerks II to sell to audiences, I think it would have put his career as a filmmaker in serious jeopardy.

Is he returning to the well? Sure, but as Smith has freely admitted, these are the kind of stories he’s best adept to tell. Let him tell them!

There were parts of the movie that I felt were very stagey, blocked awkwardly by the actors and very talky. But after a while, it occurred to me how much in love I am with Smith’s sense of dialogue. By the end, the subtle commentaries the film makes about arrested development and "starting your life" in your 30’s kind of hit home for me.

Personally, I never suffered from the same wage-slave malaise as Dante and Randal, but I empathize with their situation. I think all of us are concerned with leaving some kind of legacy in one form or another. But sometimes if you stop to really take stock of what you have, things aren’t that bad.

On a subject related to that of making a mark, I mentioned on friday that copies of my first book "Theater Hopper: Year One" are in stock. If you haven’t ordered on yet, I strongly encourage you to do so soon!

That is all!