Tax-Free Free Weekend

This weekend in Texas is what's known as tax free weekend. Certain items, mostly clothes and shoes and other 'back to school' items can be bought without paying the 8.25% sales tax. I guess this might be helpful if you have children who needs lots of stuff for going back to school, but for the childless and mall-phobic, such as myself, it means DON'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR A MALL! I passed the outlet stores in Allen yesterday on my way home from the movies, and there was a line of cars all the way up the exit ramp back on to the highway. I can't even imagine what Stonebriar Mall in Frisco has been like this weekend. Not to mention that they just got an IKEA store in Frisco, which I understand has been really snarling traffic. Not that I need an excuse to stay away from Frisco. There's something about that place that kind of creeps me out...

The movie that I saw yesterday was War of the Worlds. I can envision the phone call that got the ball for this movie rolling:
Steven Spielberg (SS): Hello?
Big Shot Movie Executive (BSME): Hi Steven, it's me _____. Listen babe, do you think maybe you can do a terrorism allegory where lots of stuff blows up real good? Only don't make it as crappy as 'The Village'...And can you throw in a cute kid?
SS: Well, you know, I've been looking for a project to do with Tom Cruise...
BSME: Great, we'll throw in a 'tension between a father and son' angle, that's a requirement in all of his movies, right?
SS: Yep.
BSME: The check is in the mail...

Seriously, though, I thought this was a pretty good movie, although it doesn't really break much new ground. You can definitely view it through a prism of drawing a parallel between the aliens and terrorists, but it doesn't have to be taken that way. If you do view it that way, though, it makes me wonder how the ending is interpreted...