When it comes to movies, I consider myself exceptionally open-minded. I really can't say that there are many movies I hate, whereas the biggest self-proclaimed "film buffs" end up hating every movie they see. As you can probably guess, this disclaimer of mine is a feeble attempt to soften the blow of what follows.

As I was leaving the cinema last night, I noticed a few shelves that had cardboard flyers and the like for other movies and various community events. I picked up a few items, figuring that I'd read them today at lunch.

One of those promotional cards was for "The Story of the Weeping Camel." On the back of this card was, without a doubt, one of the most ridiculous, unappealing movie descriptions I've ever read:

"Springtime in the Gobi Desert, South Mongolia. A family of nomads assists in the births of their camel herd. One of the camels has a difficult delivery and when her rare white calf is born she rejects it, refusing it the milk it needs to survive. In accordance with an ancient ritual, the shepherds summon a musician from a far-off village to perform a magical ceremony-the calf's last hope..."

OK, give me a second to collect myself here. Thanks. Now then...

Let's just give the movie the benefit of the doubt, and assume that it's surprisingly excellent. Then WHY oh why describe the plot of the movie like that? Surely somebody could write something better, something that would sound more appealing. Say something like "The emotionally-charged story of the nomads in the deathly planes of the Gobi Desert...one family's tale of survival and ancient mysticism" blah blah blah. Geez, how hard could it be to come up with something better to print on thousands of promo cards?

There are lots of other rants I could say about this, but I'm just too baffled to formulate anything else. But be forewared: the website is unbearable.