Pruning the DVD Collection

I've got a reasonably large dvd collection. Probably larger than most people. I own somewhere around 500 dvds. Unfortunately, most of them have been gathering dust. I decided to severely limit my new dvd purchases about a year ago. I have still picked up a couple, but the collection has not grown significantly in the past twelve months. Now it is time to prune.

I have been using Netflix and Netflix instant more and more in the past year and I am sure other streaming or downladable movie solutions will find their way into my house. So, why do I need these racks of dvds gathering dust? I don't. There are some dvds I won't part with. I went through my collection last night and looked most of them up on the SecondSpin.com database to see what they would give me for them. I found 100 titles that I feel reasonably okay about getting rid of. I am far too lazy to list them all individually on ebay, so I prefer to send one box off and get some cash in return. I have used SecondSpin in the past when I sold off all my cds.

So, 100 titles down and my dvd collection is still too big. I can't wait until the time comes when I can pay $1 to watch any movie streamed or something like that. Chances are I will still hold on to some dvds, but the fewer the better.

If  you'd like to see what I have left, my library is online here. Change the 'shelf' to dvds.

Zach16 is worth a look

Check out Zach16.com. It is a pretty good web show so far. Episodes are about three minutes long and worth watching.

Adopt A Character for 2009 Update

I adopted Red Sonja this year and just finished up the first three books in my Red Sonja education. Red Sonja headlined her own book for 22 issues at Marvel in the 70s. These are collected in three volumes. These volumes have gotten pretty terrible reviews on Amazon. Apparently, the digital coloring that was done for the collection was not well received by long-time Sonja fans. I have never seen the originals and I can't imagine I will be tracking them down. Maybe if another version with better art comes out I will buy them again because the stories are wonderful.

These issues were released between 1975 and 1979. I didn't notice the artwork being that horrible while reading the books. Don't let the art complaints keep you from picking these books up. Who knows if there will be another release and tracking the issues down would be a pain. If you are at all interested in Red Sonja, you should read these books. Four out of five stars. Volume 1 - Volume 2 - Volume 3

The Best & Worst Of Last Week - Musical/Music-Related Movie Edition

I was on vacation last week and I spent most of it sitting in this chair. I wasn't feeling great, so I played a shit-ton of Everquest 2 and watched movie after movie via Netflix Instant. Sixteen movies and ten episodes of Dragnet to be somewhat exact. There happened to be six musicals/music-related movies on the list of movies I watched, so I figured I would put together one of my best/worst blog posts.

1. Crossroads (1986) - I haven't seen this movie in a long time and I forgot how excellent it is. I'd always remembered it as a solid film, but this viewing pushed it into five-star status. Aside from the excellent music, there is a fantastic story and terrific acting from everyone involved. A classic movie.

2. Duets (2000) - I am sure many people passed on this movie simply because of the karaoke subject matter. They made a mistake. Duets is a wonderful film with humor, passion, depth, and much more. Oh yeah, and there is also some fun karaoke. Plus, it has got Pig Vomit in it. I can't think of a movie Pig Vomit has made that wasn't worth watching.

3. Enchanted (2007) - My first exposure to this movie was seeing the songs performed on the Oscars broadcast. They seemed pretty drab, but I assumed I would see the movie someday. I am glad that I did. I enjoyed just about every minute and laughed out loud several times. The songs really work amazingly well in the movie. A really fun movie. The second best non-Pixar movie Disney released in the 2000s. Do you know what the best one was?

4. Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) - A well-earned Best Actress Oscar for Sissy Spacek. Spacek does an amazing job acting and singing. Tommy Lee Jones is great too. I have seen this three times now and I am sure I will see it again. A great story. Even if you don't like Country music, you should give this a try.

5. Music Of The Heart (1999) - I can't really remember this movie being released in the theaters. One of Meryl Streep's fifty-four Oscar nominations and she is quite good. The story may be familiar, but this movie is elevated into four star territory by some excellent music.

Most Surprising - Colma: The Musical (2006) - I typically put a worst item sixth on the list, so I dialed up Colma because there was a good chance it would be awful. The Netflix Instant description does this movie no favors. It said something about it being set in a town outside San Francisco with more dead people that living. It could have been really bad or really good. I turned out to be somewhat wonderful. This is about the most low-budget musical around. It makes Once look like Moulin Rouge. But that is part of the charm. These are real people living a real life and they just happen to break into song once in awhile. The songs aren't amazing and the singing isn't brilliant, but that just adds to the wonderfulness.  Definitely not for everyone, but give it a half hour and you might get hooked like I did.

Mark's Box - April 2009

My box was quite full today. But first a quick update on last month's box...

I have read two of the three items I featured last month. Pluto was amazing. It is a wonderful noirish detective story with robots. Definitely worth hunting down. 20th Century Boys started off pretty slowly and I wasn't sure I was going to like it. By the end of volume one, I was loving it. I can't wait for the second volumes of both.

Oh, look! Pluto volume 2 showed up today! I won't be featuring further volumes of things I have already mentioned, but I can't wait to read more Pluto. I also got two further volumes of Black Jack (which is high on my favorite comics of all-time list already) and three Red Sonja books. Now on to the featured titles.

I have been wanting to invest in the Marvel Masterworks books for some time, but I didn't want to shell out the bucks for the sweet hardcovers. I knew once I bought one, I would need to own them all. Thankfully, Marvel has decided to start releasing them in paperback editions. I can afford to buy them all in this format. Marvel Masterworks The X-Men, Volume 1 just arrived. It collects the first ten issues from the 60s written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. Excellent stuff that I have read before, but not in color. Read Marvel's description of the book here.

The blurb for American Jesus sounded really cool. A twelve-year-old boy suddenly discovers he is the returned Jesus Christ. I find out now that a movie is in the works. Should be an interesting read. Check out CBR's story here.

Air: Letters From Lost Countries completes my featured titles this month. The synopsis sounded good, but Neil Gaiman's stamp of approval on the cover is what sold me on this. A stewardess is in love with a mysterious passenger. Her journey to find him leads to various shenanigans. Check out a review of it here.