You know how the phenomenon: You hear about something, and suddenly you see it everywhere. In my case, it’s a little more specific; if I decide to buy something, it’ll suddenly arrive at my door. It’s got to the point where I spend all my time thinking about things I might want to purchase, but never make it to the “Proceed to Checkout” phase, because … well, what if it’s on its way to me right now?

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the morning obsessing over the UK Blu-ray release of Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist”, which I still haven’t seen and feel as though I should. Was it worth ordering the disc as an import, since the Canadian distributor, E1, isn’t likely to make a BD edition available? I mean, I bought that multi-region player for just such an occasion, didn’t I?

I got the damn thing in my cart before second-guessing myself; the release date of January 10, 2010 just seemed too far off, and the news of IFC’s deal with Criterion means that when “Antichrist” does come to disc in the US, there’ll be a BD edition of it there. Plus, there’s always the chance that the film would open in Canada first, and I might see it and not like it. (I run pretty hot and cold on Von Trier, after all.)

So I balked. Didn’t order the disc. And then, just an hour or so later, E1’s theatrical division sent out a notice that “Antichrist” will be opening in Toronto on November 13th. So that’s taken care of.

As cow is my witness, I don’t know what this means. Is the universe catering to my every whim? Should I spend all my time debating whether to buy stuff, the better to make it come to me? And how far does this influence extend? Could I have made that interview with William Shatner flow more smoothly if I’d just thought intensely about it beforehand?

… nah, probably not. But I’m going to take an hour or so this afternoon and really, really concentrate on things going well when I upgrade to Windows 7 later this week. You have to pick your moments.