Never once in the 35-1/2 years in my existence have I ever deliberately gone shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, let alone pre-plan my precise early morning consumer offensive on the local retail establishments. I normally park my kiester on the couch and watch football, and laugh at those who battle other zealous shoppers for parking spaces, shopping carts, and the newest hippest 'must-have' gifties for the holiday season.

So what gives? Am I getting soft in my old age? Some bizarre chemical imbalance?

I should be so lucky. No ladies and gents, my motivation to go to bed far too early tonight in order to get up far too early tomorrow to shop is quite simple, now that I reflect upon things.

DVD's. Digital Video Discs. These are my Achilles heel. You see, I am obsessed with movies. OBSESSED. Two years ago I would have given you many reasons why VHS tapes were superior to DVD's. My viewpoint dramatically changed when my curmudgeonly self actually watched 'Easy Rider' on DVD at my buddy's house.

Easy Rider is one of the best movies ever made, if not the best. Great music, wonderful imagery, talented young actors, and of course the whole counter-culture vibe going on. It is one thing to watch this movie on VHS, and entirely another thing to watch it on DVD. The DVD offers up some priceless commentary by Dennis Hopper, which adds so much more meaning to the movie. Who would have ever guessed that during the shooting of this great movie the cast and crew went through (i.e. smoked) an entire kilogram of marijuana? Enquiring movie minds want to know priceless facts such as this.

I am unabashedly and unapologetically addicted to DVD movies. And all the great sales tomorrow on many of my desired DVD's is what will be motivating my to break my long-standing tradition of not shopping the day after Thanksgiving.

Accordingly, I will arise tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m., take a shower, and then hit the road. If all goes well, I will be home by 10 a.m. fully loaded down with oodles and oodles of movies, and then I will go into seclusion for the next three days while I watch them all and commit to memory the bonus features and commentary.

Happy Holidays to one and all! And to all a good night!