Kind of wonderful

Today is just... overflowing. There is too much going on here at work, and I'm counting the minutes until I can leave.

A TV crew has been shooting a pilot here all day. All I know about it is that it's called Cubs and it's about rival cub reporters hoping to break that big story. There are lights and electrical cords and big black screens all over the sales floor, and it's nearly impossible to move around and get to anything. Add to that the fact that it's not only Tuesday (a big lay-down day for new titles) but also the first Tuesday of the month (the biggest lay-down day of any given month), the exterior of the building is in the process of being painted, the parking lot is being resurfaced, the store manager is out of town, and a class of 30 schoolchildren showed up to visit the store this morning, and you can see that things are hectic around here. I knew it was going to be a crowded day when the store controller rushed by me, muttering, "We should have asked for more money." I did what work I could on the sales floor early on, then retreated to my desk upstairs to do some work with my upcoming releases schedule.

The only cool thing about all the disruption is that Eric Stoltz is starring in this little endeavor, and he is currently sitting in our events area chatting with some cast and crew members. In general, I do not find redhaired men especially attractive, but I have always thought Eric Stoltz is quite the looker, and he's only gotten better with age: right now his hair is on the longish side, and with his glasses and wardrobe, he has that rumpled, professorial look I find irresistible. I loved him in Anaconda, where he had the good sense to get bitten by a spider and lapse into a coma for 75% of the movie. He was outstanding in an episode of Law & Order: SVU as a priest barely controlling his pedophilic urges. But he was best of all in Some Kind of Wonderful, in which he shared one of the hottest screen kisses of all time with Mary Stuart Masterson -- not the climactic clinch, mind you, but the "practice on me, your best friend" kiss in an earlier scene. Hot! Even though I'm itching to blow this joint, it will be a little hard to bid adieu to Eric; maybe he'll be back for tomorrow's filming.