Do you remember a time when the most prominent Wayans Brother was Keenan Ivory and not Marlon and Shawn. Few do. But he was responsible for both writing and directing (and starring) in this -some would consider- classic comedy from 1988 that became the precursor to the virtually unwatchable today In Living Color. I have been hearing about this film since I was 13 years old from friends, co-workers, video-store clerks, message boards, etc, and yet I’ve never seen it until now. For a film from the late 1980’s it’s definitely a product of its time, and yet it’s aged quite well. Arguably it would have been far funnier for me 15 … 20 (oy) years ago but still there’s plenty of humour that was intentionally written to step outside of the times. Sucka is a satire of 70’s blacksploitation movies, embracing their conventions but playing them for laughs and occasionally stepping out into absurdity, Naked Gun-style. The unfortunate part is Sucka strives to tell it’s cliched story cohesively more than it attempts generating laughs. Most of the comedy holds up, but the attempts at comedy are surprisingly sparse. I was actually expecting a plethora of dud jokes that were either too timely and thus irrelevant or too juvenile to qualify as funny once you’ve graduated high school, but the film is fairly clean. I think Wayans should have studied Zucker-Abrahms-Zucker and Mel Brooks films a little more closely to punch up the screenplay more, really get at the meat of the blacksploitation-exploitation, and work harder for his laughs. His film is full of 70’s screen idols, which leads me to think he was perhaps a little too enamored by the source genre to give it the roasting it deserved.
Release Date: November 6, 2007 Date(s) acquired/borrowed: June 1, 2008
I first posted about Flight of the Conchords last November, quite some time after many people had heard of them, still earlier than most. I’m not as concerned with being *the first* to champion something anymore, I think more than anything what I’m championing should be something I’m willing to continue supporting after the initial rush of first contact has worn off. With Flight of the Conchords, “New Zealand’s no.4 folk-comedy novelty duo” (right behind the no.3 ranked Flight of the Conchords tributed band) my affection for their pithy, dry comedy has only grown, after spending much time on YouTube and receiving their “The Distant Future” ep.
The Kiwis made their way to America by way of the United Kingdom, having had a 6-episode BBC radio series before snagging their own HBO series Stateside. That they are novelty comedy might hinder their longevity if not for the fact that they’re really damn good musicians and their song craftsmanship is tight and catchy. Their HBO show actually moves them beyond just songsmiths and takes them into genuinely fine comedic actors as well.
Talking with Toast today about Battlestar Galactica and he hit the nail right on the head when he said that it’s taken it’s background elements (primarily the religious aspects, but also governmental workings) and dropped them center square, distracting from the majority of the relationship-based drama or even the haute tension of the surviving colonists fleeing complete and utter annihilation at the robotic hands of the cylons. The third episode of this final season had a couple good points: SPOILERS
- the conflict within the Cylon’s camp, demystifying though it is, is actually fairly intriguing… the robots are trying to decided whether they’re human or they’re not, whether they can have beliefs or not, soul or no… it’s an interesting conundrum for them, causing a civil war amongst them. The problem with having this as the most intriguing part of the show is it leaves the human characters in stagnation.
- Cally’s depressive/sleep-deprived state was the perfect way to expose “the four” as Cylons, since she’s obviously delusional and having issues telling truth from her own imagination. But the show dealt with her too quickly, leaving a potentially meaty two or three episode arc cold. I mean what if she started roaming around, rambling about “the four” (or three as it were) being Cylons, would anyone believe her? That would be drama worth exploring. It just seemed utterly truncated and disposed of some quality drama way in favour of…well… Starbuck saying “frak” fourteen times in two sentences (and using it as a coital verb) and some tired yippety-yap about political maneuvering. Tired.
NHL
To tell you the truth, I missed the first 15 minutes of the last BSG episode due to hockey, and missed some chunks of the remaining flipping between the two. I don’t even remember what game it was. We’ve watched a lot of hockey the past week or so. Playoffs rundown!
1)Caps v. Flyers - Caps kicked some Philly buttocks tonight, and we have a game 7 tomorrow. Still thinking Flyers in 7.
2)Reds v. Preds - Wings won it in six, just like I said.
3)Pens v. Sens - A four game sweep, as predicted, but then even Squawkers McCaw new that and he’s my stepson’s animatronic parrot (wha?)
4)Flames v. Sharks - sharks live in water where fires don’t stay lit. Game 7 tomorrow night and I’m hopeful Calgary can pull it off but the Sharks are a damn fine team, while Calgary is horrendously erratic all season. My updated prediction of 7 games still stands (because it’s all about me and what I think)
5)Habs v. Bruins - I was way off about this saying Montreal in 5, it was Montreal in 7 but with a very difficult 5 and 6.
6)Rangers v. Devils - I was off on this, saying NY over NJ in 7, but it was actually done in 6.
7)Avs v. Wild - I wasn’t even right about the winner in this one… I said Minnesota in 6 when it was actually Colorado, which does actually make me happier.
8)Stars v. Ducks - Again I was expecting the Ducks in 7 but more than happy for the Stars to take it to Jughead (Pronger), Bertuzzi, and Weinermeyer in 6.
I can’t even talk about round 2 until tomorrow is over. Here’s what I hope for in terms of match-ups with predictions:
Habs vs Rangers - NYR 6 games
Pens vs Caps - Pens 5 games
Red Wings vs Flames (fire on fire, yes!) - Wings in 7
Avs vs. Stars - Stars in 7
If I’m going to just hazard a highly speculative guess based on team gumption alone, I’m going to say Stars and Rangers in the Final.
LOST
… is back this Thursday at 10pm. Yesss… and according to Wikipedia:
“6 post-strike hours airing beginning April 24 in the United States. This includes a 3-hour finale airing in three parts entitled “There’s No Place Like Home.” The first part will air on Thursday, May 15 10 pm ET, and parts 2 and 3 will air in a 2-hour special airing on May 29, from 9-11 pm ET.”
Dexter
Another thanks to Toast for the save on season one, episode 12. It was a doozy. Also, Toasty, thanks for the season 2 AVIs which are playing on the awesome new DVD player just fine. Season 2 is shaping up to be much more intriguing than season 1, with Dexter’s body-drop off getting discovered, and his relationship with Rita becoming somewhat… strained. Dexter going to group therapy is an interesting way of exploring his tendencies, and his discovering that he actually has emotions (but really not knowing what to do with them or how to handle him is a nice piece of the puzzle). Had a brief conversation with my mother about the show yesterday and she couldn’t get into it because she couldn’t cheer for a character who is such a monster, which is I think the point I was hoping they’d hit harder in the first season, but are actually tackling nicely now. The fact that Dexter’s now the both celebrated and reviled “Bay Harbor Butcher” allows them to explore the celebration of his brutality, and the revulsion it should cause.
The Andromeda Strain
One of the best “what if” sci-fi movies ever made has been remade into a 4-hour mini-series starring Benjamin Bratt and some other people for A&E (which is, coincidentally, where I saw the film version of The Andromeda Strain for the first time back in the mid-1990s. I still feel really really bad for liking the movie though because they did a bad thing to a monkey in it which breaks me up every time I see it. Hopefully the monkeys are safe in the mini.
The website says the show will air on US Labor Day weekend (May 25th and June 1st, I think, or maybe May 25th and May 26th?). If you miss it, that’s okay, it’s going straight to DVD, to be released on June 3rd. It’s a pretty neat experiment A&E’s trying out, to see if they can bankroll bigger productions, get some word-of-mouth through the TV broadcast and drive sales into the DVD.
Hotflash - on the food moratorium since last report, I’ve been, well, in the not-so-good. I’ve eaten a few french fries and I’ve eaten Swiss Chalet (coincidentally both of those were at the same time, although the french fries were mistakenly brought instead of my potatoes, which were later brought at no charge but… you know… temptation + weak will = fatty). I even had a burger, but it was free, so does that count? I’ve been drinking a lot… well, not a lot, but a lot for me. About two drinks a week. Those drinks, often, have been rye and ginger ale, meaning I’ve been drinking pop, but only ginger ale, so that’s kind of okay right? Maybe not. I blame my sister who left us with a dearth of alcohol before she moved out to BC. I’ve nipped into some salad dressing about three times, and the occasional bit of mayonnaise (well, it’s Miracle Whip Light, which is only marginally less worse). Potato chips have gotten the better of me and enter my diet once every two weeks or so, but I’ve found Old Dutch’s low-salt Rip-L-Chips which have half the sodium content of regular chips, which is, you know, almost better. I have, though, discovered that cheesies (almost all types) have trans fats so they’re off the list. Trans fats only enter my system unawares, so I’ll say yes, I’ve partaken but not intentionally so. Also having trans fats: Ice Cream. I did not know that, but there you go. Avoided! There was an incident with macaroni and cheese that has officially put me off it (thank you). Otherwise, I’m getting healthier, eating more fruits and veg than ever before, although I can unequivocally say that my red meat intake is pretty high right now and that I should really, really watch that.
Hotflash! - I missed all but the last 10 minutes of the second episode of this season’s Battlestar Galactica… and you know, I didn’t really care much. Didn’t look like I missed anything important. We’ll see how episode 3 goes.
Hotflash!! - To tell the truth, I missed BSG because of playoffs hockey. I’ve discovered the joy of having two games running on two different channels concurrently. Every time there’s a stop in play on one, I just flip to the other… unless TSN happens to delay their broadcast because of golf (golf? Yeah, it’s the Masters, but come on, man, this is playoffs hockey!). I’m a monster. That said, I get burnt out on hockey after about 5 hours so most Western division games I don’t finish watching.
1) Caps v. Flyers — tied 1 game a piece. Still looking pretty splotchy, but I now think the Flyers are looking more cohesive and team-like than the Caps.
2) Red Wings v. Preds — Detroit leads 2 games to 1, but the Preds are giving them a show. Still looks like Wings in 5 or 6 games.
3) Pens v. Sens — Pittsburgh up 3 games to nil. Expect the sweep to conclude tomorrow as predicted. And yes, I’ve been screaming “The Gonch!” a lot.
4) Flames v. Sharks — Calgary surprised everyone with a crawl-from-behind victory in game 3 to lead the series 2 - 1, but the Sharks aren’t going belly up any time soon. We may actually see a Calgary upset, but It’s looking more and more like a 7 game series.
5) Canadiens v. Bruins — though down 2 games to 1, the Bruins are showing signs of life. I still expect it to end in 5 games though. And that hit on Chara from game 1: hilarious
6) Rangers v. Devils — Okay, I lied. I’m way into this series. Not that I want to see the Rangers (currently up 2 games to 1) win, but more that I want to see the Devil lose. There are some great rivalries in the NHL, from Gretzky and Lemieux to Crosby and Ovechkin, but I think Brodeur and Avery is easily the biggest freakshow.
7) Avs v. Wild — I’ve chosen on the side of Colorado, but Minnesota is up 2 - 1 in the series, and despite the Avs pluck, I still don’t think they’re going to make it past 6.
8) Stars v. Ducks — Another match-up I didn’t really think I’d give a damn about, but it’s been sheer joy watching Dallas trounce the (ugh) defending Cup champions 2 games to nil. Surprising, Stars, keep it up.
HOTFLASH!!!! — starting next week, I’m going to try a little schedule with BNY. Mondays will be TV/TVonDVD day, Tuesdays will be Music day, Thursdays will be Movies day, and Friday will be comics day. Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays will be free days to post whatever or not post at all. I’ll try this out but don’t look for it to stick.
HOTFLESH — I’ve caved and I’ve Booked myself in the Face. I hope you’re happy. I’m already regretting it, and I’m just not sure I understand it yet, nor that I have/want to devote much time to it… but good to see some-y’all.
PotFlush! — Aden and I learned on Sunday that, tragically, my Review of Dexter season 1 was incomplete. We were renting the DVDs from the local franchise video outlet, and each of the first two discs contained four episodes, while the third only had three. The fourth disc was labelled “Special Features” so we figured episode 11’s ending to be the cliffhanger. We were wrong… the 12th and final episode was on disc four. Moops. Shit. Season 2 lies in wait.
MOBRUSH!! — I mentioned before that I was running my first RPG campaign this month, and that did actually happen this past Sunday. It’s the first part of a highly adventurous 8-part story that required a hell of a lot of planning. It took a good three weeks to get the structure of it all together, plotting out each chapter, devising the player component and their opposition, and creating a timeline for the overarching story structure. I spent some time training in my GM role and helping our newest player to get comfortable with what we do. I’ve really put a lot of thought into this (at least ten pages worth of notes to start), but I found myself quite unprepared on Saturday for the next-day’s event, scrambling to review the Player Characters, notify the players of any changes needing to be made, and then revise the Non-Player Characters to make them formidable opponents. Then the scripting chores for the first issue were undertaken and with about an hour to spare, I was ready. Nervous as hell, but ready.
The game took a while to get started but once I got into the groove of it, I found it pretty easy. I had some assistance in helping the players to figure out their powers and everyone around the table was having fun with their characters, the concept and each other. Lots of suggestions going on, lots of teamwork and no attitude to speak of. The player’s actions threw off my planning but good, yet I managed to fudge the structure just enough that it worked just as well, if not better than planned. It was over rather quickly for one of our games (about 3 hours long, 90 minutes shorter than common) but it felt like a full event, and everyone seemed pretty satisfied, including myself.
With one part of the 8-segment story out of the way, I’m feeling a bit of relief, in my GM performance, the players’ reactions, and the story itself. It’s come off pretty smoothly, all things considered. I have part 2 in two weeks to plan for, and I’m pretty jazzed to get there.
POTLATCHES — for my birthday I forced Aden to buy me Kids in the Hall tickets at Massey Hall (June 5th). I’m happy, dammit! Onion AV Club interviews the lads (and, I noticed, the guys from Mythbusters too), cooldown
Viewed: purchased (gift card) Release Date: March 25, 2008 Date(s) acquired/borrowed: March 26, 2008
Killface is a skull-faced, demonic-looking behemoth of a man(?) lacking any sort of wardrobe or genitalia. He’s invented the Annihilatrix, a giant engine that, when activated, will propel the Earth right into the sun. Unfortunately for Killface, he’s run out of money and his project’s come to a grinding halt. So, Killface hires a marketing firm to help him market himself and either get investors or blackmail the planet into giving him the money.
Xander Crews, having survived the tragic murder of his parents, is a bored playboy and the head of a mega-empire worth billions. Or it was worth billions, until Xander decided to invest all the company’s money into making action figures of his heroic altar ego, Awesome-X. Unfortunately, he knows his action figures won’t sell until he has a villain, and Awesome-X just defeated the last villain in town.
Viewed: DVD rental Release Date: August 21, 2007 Date(s) acquired/borrowed: March 1 (disc 1), March 4 (disc 2), March 29 (disc 3)
I remember first seeing Dexter on a moving billboard at Yonge and Bloor in late summer 2006, having only heard little tidbits about this Showtime thriller (or so I thought) about a serial killer of serial killers. I suppose it was because I saw it at nighttime and the electronic billboards sometimes don’t balance their colours and brightnesses very well, but it looked like a grim and intense show. I was intrigued but knew I would have to wait for DVD. A few months later, Toast started watching it and telling me about it, and somehow it didn’t sound nearly as nihilistic as I had though. I was expecting more of an “American Psycho” but Toast didn’t give me that impression at all.
The DVD came out about a year after I first saw an ad for the show (and having been relatively inundated with Dexter ads on the sides of busses and whatnot), and shortly thereafter people started telling me I needed to watch this show. It’s not that I was any less eager to see it, just that, well, marriage and moving and getting settled and shooting my own tv show and the like kind of pushed it aside. But the wife and I caved this month and started renting (no buy DVD!) from our local media baron video store (which I’d rather not visit but my options are limited).
Source (purchased/given/ borrowed/the wife’s): purchased Date Acquired/Borrowed: June 27, 2002 Original Review:All I can say is goddamn this series is good. Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: I always describe this series to people as the West Wing meets James Bond, but that’s just the easy way to pique peoples’ interests, because there’s really nothing like this show. I first heard of The Sandbaggers via an essay in the back of the first issue of Greg Rucka’s comic book series Queen & Country, wherein he noted that he took direct inspiration for Q&C from this series. After embracing that comic book wholeheartedly, I knew I needed to see that series, and for over a year it remained on my “must-have” DVD list.
One day, unemployed and trolling slowly through HMV killing time, I came across the first volume set of this series. Three discs, seven episodes, and about $50 (which I likely couldn’t afford), it was like striking gold. I don’t know if I continued shopping, but I clutched onto that BFS Video collection like an old lady clutches her purse when punks cross her path at the mall… nobody would take it from me. According to my blog, I watched all seven episodes in one sitting, and had my mind absolutely blown. Ever since, I’ve held this series aloft at the top of my “best TV show ever” list, and I’ve yet to see the show that can dethrone it.
Re-Review: Best. Series. Ever. I’m not being hyperbolic, I mean that. This is in my opinion the best TV show ever made. By the time I came to it, The Sandbaggers was already 14 years old, and usually after time has passed the potency of a TV show begins to leak. The fact that this series is still so immeasurably strong, intelligent, and captivating is a testament to it’s brilliance. It’s an ITV series with usual British production standards, which means it doesn’t look like a million dollars, but at the same time, that works it its favour. The bare-bones office settings, the dingy remote shoots, the unglamourous wardrobes and hairstyles… it’s all exemplary of how non-James-Bondian real-world espionage is.
Source (purchased/given/ borrowed/the wife’s): borrowed Date Acquired/Borrowed: May 2006 Original Review: n/a Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: In the year 2000, what was once (and sometimes still is) referred to as “the future”, a young lad who looked a lot like me only, you know, younger and less bearded, was experimenting with revolutionary software called “Napster”. Using a deathly slow dial-up internet connection, the young man would search and retrieve .wav and .mp3 files from this new file-share technology and burn unusual mixed CDs for his friends of these found sounds. One mixed disc was of a certain wintery/Christmassy theme, and having just been informed of the brilliant Jonathan Richman song “Abominable Snowman in the Market” by his best friend and his best friend’s brother, he searched and found that song. Then he tried searching for “Yeti” with no results, followed by “Bigfoot” and “Sasquatch”. The latter led this handsome fellow to download a track called “Sasquatch” by a band called Tenacious D. After downloading, this clean shaven kid gave it a listen, and marvelled at its absurdity:
“There were some scientists/ trying to figure out the sasquatch riddle/ and they figured out it was the missing link./ “In search of …Sasquatch”/ that was a kick-ass “In Search Of…”/ with Leonard Nemoy/ kickin’ out the jams/ haiiii”
He listened and enjoyed on repeat a dozen times, thinking something was missing, however… a visual component perhaps, and thought to hisself (perhaps aloud), “I must have more”. And he downloaded more in all his handsomeness, coming across “Tribute” and “With Karate I’ll Kick Your Ass” and “Rocketsauce” and “Kyle Took A Bullet For Me” and “Kyle Quit The Band” and “Lee” and “Double Team”. It’s when this charming twenty-something kid heard that last one that he remembered hearing it before, on a Saturday Night Live performance (Season 23, hosted by Matthew Broderick, 05/02/1998) and didn’t like it much then. 2 years older, suddenly gave him wisdom and perspective and he could see that it was not true arrogance on the part of the performers, but faux arrogance masking insecurity. Or something.
We’re selling comics, dvds and cds soon, Aden and I are. I will have a spreadsheet available of all items and prices (o.b.o), and Graig’slist will be hitting Craigslist and GeeBay around the same time… maybe… if I figure this whole internets resale thing out.
**ITEM**
I had a hamburger and fries and a vodka-laced beverage last night…and it was good. Breaking my own self-imposed rules makes me such the rebel, no?
**ITEM**
Apparently my RSS feed is a bit tankered, as the new installation of Moveable Type with all it’s weird Java interfacedness isn’t working up to snuff. It’s causing headaches as comments and trackbacks are locked out, pinging’s right off, and yup, the “convert line breaks” doesn’t work properly. So previous posts you’re probably seeing as one grand Kerouac-ian lump-o-text, but now, with this very post and the power of html encoding, you should see paragraphs (oh, the novelty of it all).
**ITEM**
Now that I’m not buying new music, I’m still able to get my fix of sounds-I’ve-never-heard thanks to CBC Radio 3 live streams and podcasts, and Vancouver’s newest DJ GAK (mp3s available on-site or you can tune in live Mondays 10:30 - Midnight eastern or 7:30 - 9 pacific on CITR).
**ITEM**
The Ricky Gervais-fuelled, HBO/BBC produced Extras is airing from square one on the Comedy Network, starting last night (yeah, I know it’s been on DVD for ages). Rating: Uncomfortably hilarious. Because Extras is a full half hour show, it runs longer with commercials added in the mix. As such Comedy Network has to fill in about 20 minutes of time and has turned to Adult Swim’s 12-minute monstrosity Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. Rating: Bewildering. The show is not conventionally funny, but instead so beyond irreverent that you just have to stare in awe. Aden was stunned after a few minutes, unable to formulate words to describe it. The creators of the already peculiar Tom Goes To The Mayor un-cartoon have topped themselves, with the help once again of Mr. Show’s Bob Odenkirk, and Walk Hard’s John C. Reilly (”I’m not ready…”).
**ITEM**
Aden received Battle of the Planets DVDs on loan from a co-worker, but they shall not be reviewed, because, quite frankly, there’s no way in hell we’re going to make it through watching all 16 episodes without either being drunk or wedging the corner edge of a table into our foreheads. The basic idea behind the show is it’s a Japanese cartoon (or “anime” as all the kids call it) that was transported to America in the late 1970’s, only Japan’s cultural take on cartoons in that era were much different than the ol’ USA’s, and what was teenaged entertainment was made kid-friendly. Each episode was butchered to remove any real violence, any suggestion of death, or, quite frankly, logical storytelling. I wonder if any of the episodes retain even the basic plot of their Japanese counterpart? Instead, a little robot creature, 7-Zark-7 has been inserted into the cartoon, mainly through a voice over to either explain what’s happening or to clarify to the kids that all the bad guys evacuated their exploded ship safely, were collected and are now behind bars. The Japanese Gatchaman tamed into Battle of the Planets by the same crew from the Superfriends (shared voice actors and similar musical accompaniment) is a bizarre experience; there’s a curious similarity to how Space Ghost: Coast To Coast or Sealab: 2021 would re-use old animation for twisted new purposes, but here it’s lacking creativity and moreover diminishing the original animation. Wikipedia details some of the big differences between the original and butchered remakes.
Taking a look at upcoming TV on DVD releases, here are some things that piqued my interest yet won’t be entering my DVD collection any time soon: Tin Man - a re-envisioning of the Wizard of Oz, starring Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, and Richard Dreyfuss. I think I’ve heard good things about it, but I don’t really remember. Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job - the first live-action original Adult Swim programme is an utter mind trip… maybe not even funny, but an assault on the brain like those seizure inducing Japanese programmes. 5 Days - an HBO/BBC co-production, like a melding of 24 with whatever that child abduction show is… it’s five episodes each spanning one 24-hour period on various days during a missing person’s case. Sounds quite intriguing. John From Cincinnati - may not be WKRP, but Toasty really liked this show. Starlost - now, most sci-fi television from the 1970’s remains unwatchable, but this series, spearheaded by ingenious and notorious cranky old man Harlan Ellison *might* actually be worth looking at… even though it is Canadian. Robot Chicken: Star Wars - watched it on youTube months ago and was rather disappointed not to find it in the Season 2 set… it smells of a cash grab, especially for $15 bucks.
Since it’s during the BNY I won’t be getting this anyway, and seeing as I already have some (very crappy) copies of the show on DVD I shouldn’t buy it anyway, but there’s a new box set of Father Ted on the horizon and yes, I want it…
Alas…
Now, here’s the thing I was wondering… if I pre-buy something that doesn’t come out until 2008 can I still pick it up when it comes out. Also, if say I paid for a run of comics in advance, is that cheating.
The answer: yes.
Damn.
I’m making my own rules an disappointing myself. The thought came to me yesterday as I was trolling through HMV resisting the purchase of some 2 for $10 DVDs (mainly because I could only find one, The Omega Man, which I actually wanted) and balking at the $45 price tag on the Aquaman cartoon, when I noticed The Transformers movie came out this week (I honestly loved it) and want to own it, but don’t want to pay $25 for it (or $30 for the special edition) when I know it will be on the $2/30 pile in 6 months. So, if I put the $15 away now instead of buying the more expensive $30 version, and buy it when it’s cheaper, is it still cheating? It’s not the same as what I pose above, but it just spun out into those questions.
I still think, even though I’ll be saving more money if I do that, that it’s still a temptation to buying in the new year when I’m not supposed to. It’s still a cheat. And essentially if I’m not willing to pay the $30 now, will I actually still be eager to spend $15 in a year, and will it eventually wind up cheaper by 2009? Hmmm….
So, I have appx. $190 DVD dollars left… here’s what’s a possible vie for my attention:
The aforementioned Adventures of Aquaman cartoon - oh I know it’ll be bad, but how bad exactly? (Just released Appx. $45) Metalocalypse - an Adult Swim cartoon I haven’t seen but it’s done by Home Movies’ Brendan Small, so I’m curious (Just released - about $33)
- The Best of the Colbert Report vol.1 - although it’s the sort of stuff that is of a timely nature so it may not have much longevity (Release date: Nov.6 - about $16… probably wind up on the 2/$30 shelf upon release)
- Sesame Street Old School, Vol. 2 (1975-1979) - everyone is enjoying the hell out of season one, so this is a definite purchase (Release date: Nov.6 - appx. $33 on Amazon)
- Lost Season 3 - I did actually catch all of this season as it aired, but with the long delay before season 4, it might be nice to revisit (Release Dec.11 - appx. $55)
-Day Watch - (Released October 30, about $30) or Day Watch/Night Watch 2-disc set for $32 (two bucks more for the first movie!)
-Ratatouille - (Released Nov.6, appx $25)
-Transformers - (Just released - appx $25)
- Superbad - (Dec.6 - appx $28)
What I won’t be buying
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 5 - Released Jan.29
UPDATE - Saturday, Oct. 27
Purchased 4 items off the 2/$30 rack - total $68.40
Thus my remaining amount is: $123.22
A few weeks ago I mentioned the big Amazon sale on various Warner Brothers and my wrestling with buying $252 worth of Babylon 5 DVDs. In the end I decided to pass (or rather, offered myself the option of buying them or spending a generous $250 on DVDs for the end of the year).
Well, I’ve finally bit into that two-fiddy, with the purchase of The IT Crowd - Season 2 and How To Start Your Own Country, both from the UK for play on my region-free player. It takes a $58.38 chunk out of my $250, which is mostly reasonable, especially considering how much I love the first season of the IT Crowd and how much I enjoy Danny Wallace’s books.
$191.62 remaining.
Amazon.ca currently has a fairly alluring sale on Warner Brothers products right now, including the entire Batman Animated, Superman Animated, Teen Titans, Justice League, and others. What’s got my blood rushing is the +50% off on all the Babylon 5 titles. I’ve figured it out and seasons 1-5 plus the movies box set would come to a total of $252 (appx) plus taxes. As tempting as it is, I can’t really justify it. I loved Babylon 5 when I was watching it daily on Space during my university days and wound up taping most of season 1 through 4 (which still reside in my parents basement). The show was the first I’d ever seen with such tightly wound continuity, and the political intrigue and espionage were enthralling, certainly more than I typically expected from sci-fi at that time.
But, still, how much will I enjoy it today, and when will I have time to watch it. It’s a lot of TV to plow through, and seeing as how Adrienne is definitely not interested in it, it’ll be even harder to find the time to watch it. But I’ve been wanting to revisit the show for years (I never did catch the 5th season although I saw the Crusade spin-off series which, despite Gary Cole taking lead, wasn’t all that intriguing. By the time the subsequent movies came along I was so far removed from the show I didn’t bother to watch them.
Perhaps I’ll recover my tapes from home and give them a spin again. If the intrigue is still there then maybe I’ll buy or rent or borrow the DVDs for a cleaner viewing experience. But for now I think I’ll have to let them pass… or sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.
To make my decision a little easier, I’m telling myself that I have a $252 (plus tax) DVD budget remaining for this year. This means, obviously, if I splurge on the B5 DVDs, I’m starting my DVD buy nothing year 3 full months early! But since that’s highly unlikely (I already see Ratatouille and Lost Season 3 on DVD in December which are vying for my dollars, as well as Aquaman in October and of course my random HMV 2/$20 or 2/$30 splurges…
Something else to keep track of …
