I spent part of my day on a quest. Well, the part of my day I didn't spend sleeping, or eating, or...well, those trivialities are unimportant.

Anyway, I have a project for Interpersonal Speech. Big grade thingie, have to put together a good example of interpersonal speech from a movie and analyze it. Kinda cool, really, especially since I lucked out and have no partner (we'll forgive the irony of a solo project in an interpersonal speech class for the moment as it is wholly irrelevant to the topic of this article!), and thus do not have to approve my media selections before them. So, I sat down with the old cranium and tried to pick out a movie that: a) I like; b)few people have seen, and c) has good examples of interpersonal speech. Well, option a rules out chick flicks and Alec Baldwin movies. option b rules out half my library, and option c rules out anything put out by Stallone, Schwarzennegger, or Vin Diesel.

A couple of favorites came to mind. Pick number one was "the Fisher King". Pick number two was "Benny and Joon". Both movies rate highly on my list, both draw blank stares when I describe them to friends, and both have some excellent examples of interpersonal speech. And none of them have Alec Baldwin (damn  that Alec Baldwin! The least talented and somehow most successful of the Baldwin brothers...but again with the digressing).

Sooo, I went out looking for a copy of "the Fisher King" beings as how I already have "Benny and Joon".

WalMart was a blank, as I expected. Their idea of culture is having every single "Ernest" movie in stock. 20,000 copies of Talledega Nights, not one copy of "The Fisher King". No problem. I head on.

The local Hastings was a bit better. I found the desired movie for rental but I don't want it for rental. We need to show a clip from the film in class, and knowing my luck, after I return it from studying it for the project, the one other person in this area who actually watches the film will have it checked out when I need it again. I'll pass on that gamble. Benny and Joon it is.

But I'm not one to waste a good trip to Hastings, and so I dig through the bargain bins. A few movies caught my eye, but...but...but...

Right there in front of me: "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" Leo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, and Johnny Depp all before their primes, and all in one of those great all time performances. Another of my favorites. And only four bucks at that, about the cost of a rental.

I snapped it up. Anyone who knows me knew I would. Along with a nifty "History's Mysteries" sort of book. But then, if I'd have told you about the book, I couldn't have made such a cool title out of it, now could I have?