Star Wars Episode VII

Episode VII -

Here is a short video I made this morning in response to current affairs - Disney buys Lucasfilm and commits to making more dreadful Star Wars films in the near future.  The dead wampa is once again being flogged.  Turn off the lights and brace yourself for bad photoshopping. (Actually I don't own photoshop - I use an online photo editor at www.pixlr.com

A conversation I had with my friend

A Barthian Encounter

A comic I made detailing my first encounter with Karl in October 2011

Karl and I

French Cinema according to the internet

In a moment of unrestrained procrastination I spent some time looking for Joss Whedon interviews on the awkward subject of the Alien Resurrection script.  I stumbled upon a piece about Alien resurrection written by someone called Big Ross at a website called CC2K. I know nothing about 'Big Ross' or this website, but in the course of skimming his article I noticed a particularly brilliant analysis of French cinema:

'Jeunet was given creative control over what this new alien would look like, and he was adamant that it should not only look more human, but that it should have a mix of male and female genitalia.  Really, this should come as no surprise.  Have you ever seen a French film?  Intellectual dramas with doughy, middle-aged actors and actresses lounging around naked having conversations.  They didn't just finish having sex, they're not about to have sex, they're not even talking about sex.  They just sit on couches smoking and talking politics, or about the economy, or the damned weather while sagging breasts and flaccid penises are on display for all to see for no sensible reason whatsoever.  I concede I'm no expert on French cinema, and this assessment may be overly stereotypical.'

http://www.cc2konline.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1801

Mark Stewart (Paul Simon guitarist) gives a great TEDx talk

Mark Stewart is a remarkable musician.  I recently had the pleasure of seeing Paul Simon at Hyde Park for the 25th anniversary of Graceland.  Paul played the entirety of Graceland with the original line up of African musicians (more or less), but he also played a repertoire of new and old tracks with his regular band.  Mark plays guitars, saxophone and a few other bits and pieces for Paul.  He's such an engaging musician to watch, and his playing is inspiring.  Here he gives a really entertaining talk on using home made instruments. enjoy.

L

oxfam bookshop

The marvelous thing about a good charity shop is that you enter the doors of that eclectic tat merchants with out any comprehension of what goods you will come out with.  Of course, most charity shops sell little of interest unless you like women's clothes.  I do like them, on women.  But for my own browsing, I prefer books.  I particularly like a small Oxfam bookshop on Blatchington Road in Hove.

Last week i popped in and found The Parables of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias (a significant scholar of the twentieth century - even though this book may not be as up to date as Craig Blomberg's, and no doubt more recent ones still, Jeremias is a voice worth hearing on Jesus related issues).  I also found At the Drive-In's incredible album from 2000 - Relationship of Command.  Most albums that generated a nostalgic warmth as I think back to my days as a teenager are quite frankly embarrassing to listen to now.  Relationship of command is one of those albums that is both nostalgic and still remarkably brilliant.

I never expected to find either of these items, but it was a joy-invoking discovery.  It set me back a total of about £4.00, which is quite reasonable.

The question is, why go to some shiny emporium of mass produced nonsense, when you know exactly what sort of low grade dross you will find there?  Go to good charity shops and find treasures.

hmmm

To PHD or not to PHD. That is a question.

Lewis and Josh meet Tim and Eric

Today my good friend Josh (centre with the glasses) and I went to the UK premiere of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie at the Prince Charles Cinema just off from Leicester Sq. London.

The Screening was preceded by a jocular introduction from the wizards themselves, and rounded off with a pretty hilarious Q&A. 

The evening began with me running out for a quick wee just before show time.  It was then that I bumped into Tim Heidecker in the men's room.  Aaaarh! I've just come face to face with a cult-famous wizard and hero.  I panicked throughout the duration of my urination. As I returned to the cinema I realised the lobby had cleared - I was the last one in, but wait - who await me in the corridor? Aaaaaah its Tim and Eric.  I don't know what to do!  I go all awkward and gushy as they start berating me for being late with a standard 'What the F%$£ are you doing?' and a moment of being ushered into the cinema by two living dream weavers. I did what any grown man would do when put on the spot by famous masterminds - I pointed to my willy and tried to explain that I had been for a pee.

They gave a wild introduction to the film, which included sprinting round the cinema high-fiving the audience and invoking a group deep breathing session.  We watched the film - I had seen quite alot of it already (not strictly legally as it came out in America a few months ago and obviously leaked online). I had been pretty disappointed watching it alone on a crappy website - the narrative formula just didn't work for Tim and Eric's type of comedy in the same way that the 11 minute Awesome Show episodes are a wonder to behold.  However, from the opening sequence with Schlaaang incorporated and Jeff Goldblum's cameo as Chef Goldblum, I found the whole thing a lot more entertaining and genuinely funny.  It helps being in a room full of Tim and Eric fans.  

Given that the vast majority of people that I've tried to convince about Awesome Show have failed to appreciate its brilliance, there is very little chance that the already unconverted will find anything enjoyable in Billion Dollar Movie.  The jokes range from excessively vulgar and pretty dark to being entirely ludicrous.  It certainly crosses lines in a way that Awesome Show or Tom goes to the mayor don't.  The tone is a bit more like their Just three boys sketch.  Nevertheless, if you find the world of Tim and Eric one worth inhabiting there is plenty here to find great amusement at.  Even when it isn't laugh out loud it is engagingly moronic.  I've seen people compare Billion Dollar movie to something David Lynch might make (because if anyone makes anything slightly surreal it must be 'Lynchian' Duuuuurgh!) but Tim and Eric are certainly not trying to make thought provoking art house cinema.  The only real Lynch connection is a cameo from the amazing Ray Wise (Leeland Palmer in Twin Peaks).  Billion Dollar movie is meant to be funny and silly, and it is, but I will never watch it with my parents.

After the show Tim and Eric came out and did a Q and A session.  I resisted the urge to join the queue. I can't cope with that much pressure.  Josh joined the back of the line.  I panicked. (please Josh don't say something stupid and get destroyed in public...)  There are certain rules about speaking to famous people, especially professional comedians in public.  Never, ever try and be funny.  Never try and out-funny them. Never try and make the moment about yourself.  Unfortunately a good few people in the line went either for funny quip or major sucking up. Of course they were absolutely destroyed by T and E.  They actually came across as quite mean in their willingness to make people look completely stupid in public, either through flat refusal to answer stupid questions, or by highlighting an unfortunate feature of their questioner.  That said, they answered proper questions seriously and respectfully, but this would be a brief interlude before more berating and making people uncomfortable.  It was pretty great.

Afterwards we all left, a few of us went to the fire exit out back where we were told to wait if we wanted pictures.  5 minutes later T and E showed up.  Amazingly all the people queuing for the later showing with live T and E commentary completely failed to notice that the stars of the film were right next to them.  This was good news because it meant we got to actually meet them, shake hands, exchange a few words and get a photo with them.  They were incredibly friendly, patient and obliging with the fans and got in the spirit of things.  Great job!

L

google book discovery

For those of you frequently confounded by a) the terrible selection of books available at your university library (let alone standard local library - waste of everyone's time  - especially in Brighton's eco-library travesty) b) the fact that the cheapest you can get the book for is from the book depository or some other third party through amazon, and while it is a pretty good price, its still £16 more than natwest can give you right now:

Google books - is it any use? Sort of.  You can find a lot of things on there, even quite obscure stuff.  The problem of course is the limited previews.  There are ways to try and get more out of it - i.e. resetting your browser/ deleting cookies, making sure you are not signed in to a google account when you use it, switching to a different computer etc.  But these are time consuming and inconsistent when you want to dodge the limits.

Solution?

It never crossed my mind until this week... what about using google books through a proxy?  (proxy websites are sites that allow you to access websites while hiding your computers ip address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address) - basically the thing that all computers have that give them a unique identity when you go on the internet.  For a long time people have used proxys to do things like go on facebook at work without getting caught, or to look at dirty things on the internet without being found out.  But what, I asked myself, if you could look at BOOKS without restrictions by using a proxy.

Well I put it to the test, and huzzah! I managed to trawl through a preview of a book on google books without any cap on the page preview.  I'm not entirely sure how this works and I need to spend a bit more time working out what proxy sites work best but it seems to do the trick.  The only downside is it takes a bit longer to load each page  - you can't just scroll down from page to page.  This means its not so good for reading from the site, but if like me you take screen shots of the pages so you can print out whole chapters, this is a massive triumph for studying.

I will post again with a proper guide as to how to do this in the near future.


L

71 minutes of older and wiser Robben Ford

This gig is so ruddy bloody good.  Tone, phrasing, controlled aggression.  Masterful.

49 minutes of vintage Robben Ford

Check out the snazzy jacket on this youthful Robben Ford

Very brief rant

Evangelical churches (in much of my experience - and from what I gather based on other people's accounts) tend to place a high value on the role of the Bible in their weekly activities, whether Sunday preaching, midweek home groups or shipping people off to teaching conferences.  Despite this, I find myself increasingly conscious of the lack of serious engagement with interpretative matters.  In the church's I have been a part of the sermon typically follows a descriptive reading of the text, selectively employing pieces of socio-historical description.  This description is typically interrupted with little points of application, or a slightly longer application at the end of the talk - usually abstracting timeless truths or fairly uninspiring principles from the text that frankly you could have found in any number of interesting non-sacred texts.  The result is that application often seems superficial, and the text still feels  very distant and slightly irrelevant to one's personal experience and Christian identity.

I suspect many ministers (who are typically between 40 and 60) received a good theological training back in the day from evangelical colleges (I can't knock this as I took undergraduate study in just such an institution).  Nevertheless, the methodology employed often comes across as a piecemeal combination of enlightenment historical critical ideology unreflectively wedded to evangelical doctrinal convictions.  There is often the implication that a text has one intrinsic meaning, it's usually deemed to be the plain or obvious meaning to anyone with 'common sense', and all we need to do is use the right tools of careful reading under the guidance of a Tyndale commentary (not to bash these commentaries) and 'bingo!' the right meaning of the text comes out.  There is something to be said for close and careful reading of course, but unfortunately it is 2012, and Foucault, and Derrida, and Iser and Eco and liberation and feminism all happened in the past one hundred years, challenging the fundamental naivety of the quest for authorial intent and the 'plain meaning'.  The climate for interpreting the bible is radically different now - the academy is in something of a fluster and doesn't know how to handle the plurality of possibilities on the table.  Efforts are being made by some to bring together the long segregated realms of biblical studies and theology, and this should be welcomed with open arms by the evangelical community (though a fair amount of the current literature is jargon filled drivel).

I'm not suggesting that those who preach in church need to have a comprehensive understanding of the academic trends of the past century - some of it is of little use at all.  But I do think that for a Christian movement (and a jolly big one) that puts such high emphasis on the bible (too much at times), one would think that a concern for greater sophistication in its interpretation and communication would be on the agenda.  Historical information isn't enough, nor are abstract 'truths', nor are personality driven topics where pop-psychology is loosely draped over a proof text.  Surely preaching is about appropriating the central claims of the gospel - the life transforming message of Jesus Christ's death and ressurection and our reconciliation with God and neighbour - to the lives of regular people today who stand in theological and historical continuity with the people of the book?  If so we need a clearer idea of how exactly Scripture interacts with theology, preaching and ethics, and how the theological lenses of our tradition shape the way we read the text.

These are very broad and unhelpful points of appeal - in due course I hope to refine them. It is always easier to identify problems than it is to present viable solutions.  My main point is that if evangelicals are going to hold up the Bible as the primary mode of God's communication today (where is the Spirit? Who knows..) then surely it can't be a good thing to be 100 years out of touch with the issues that inform biblical interpretation in academic circles.  There is much more to be said on this in due course - I am merely expressing some frustrations.

L

Essays in honour of Max Turner

Last month saw the release of a new volume - The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology, edited by I. H. Marshall, Volker Rabens and Cornelis Bennema.  See the link here for a full list of contributors:

http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/party-in-a-book-on-festscriften-max-turner-and-the-spirit-and-christ-in-the-new-testament-and-christian-theology/

When I was an undergraduate at London School of Theology (2007-10) Max Turner interviewed me when I first applied to study (No pressure!) and I was fortunate enough to be in his classes on the ministry and teaching of Jesus, as well as some sessions on pneumatology.  While there were a number of first class lecturers at LST, Max stood out to myself and many as belonging to some sort of higher order of great thinkers. His lectures were so rich in content, deeply engaging and always very tough. Asides from his academic prowess, he is a thoroughly warm and welcoming man who invests in his students at a personal as well as academic level.  He's also a mean shot with a BB Gun (but that's another story).

In some ways I have felt that Max is a bit of an unsung hero of NT scholarship.  He is not as well published and widely known as some of the contributors to this celebratory volume.  I would imagine few, for example, have not at some point encountered Gordon Fee's massive book on the Spirit (God's empowering presence) in the course of NT studies or theology.  Max's mighty book 'Power from on hight - Spirit in Luke Acts' is perhaps not so well known, and I rarely see his more accessible volume 'The Holy Spirit and Spiritual gifts' made reference to.  This is, quite frankly, a disaster.  I've not read the former, but his undergraduate pitched book HSSG is so blindingly brilliant I think any student or pastor should buy it immediately and read and re-read it.  Max's writing is dense - each sentence requires considerable effort to fully appreciate, yet it is never victim of poor writing.  Rich in content and remarkably lucid and un-pretentious.  The content of HSSG is highly compelling - it offers a thoroughly considered position on pneumatology in the NT and with respect to the work of the Spirit today.  Not only should it be read for its content, but also as an example of how to write a good book.  I'm very easily irritated by poor writing - as I currently chew through the mass of recent literature on the theological interpretation of Scripture (which incidentally Max has published on) I find myself confronted again and again by poor writing - incoherent sentences, no clear point or train of thought, gaping holes in arguments, terrible to non-existent referencing and the theological equivalent of management-speak (jargon that sounds awfully good but has no obvious relationship to real life or concrete solutions).  Max's writing struck me as an undergraduate and remains a sterling example of how to write well.

Despite having said that Max is not so widely read as say, Don Carson, he is a constant presence in NT reference volumes, journals, and essay volumes.  Some of his more recent contributions have been directed towards the problem of bridging New Testament Studies and Theology (see his volume 'Between Two Horizons' co-ed. with Joel Green).  This is a crucial and current discussion and I for one am jolly glad voices as sound as Max's are involved in furthering the cause (especially as a bunch of the literature isn't very good, as already mentioned).

Anyway - I look forward to getting this new volume and working through the essays from an amazing list of contributors.  It was on amazon for over £30 and seems to have disappeared.  I imagine it won't come cheap, but you ultimately get what you pay for.

L

Essays

When I have a bit of time in the near future I'm going to start posting some theological essays that I've written over the course of my MA.  I'm going to edit them from the versions submitted.  I will check again for typos and abbreviate them slightly to make them a bit more accessible.  These are of course not published essays so I highly recommend that no one mines them for information for their own work.  But perhaps some people will be interested in the topics.

L

CEX online. Great Job!

A small update to my earlier post about buying films online:

In the earlier post I noted that I've had mixed success ordering from the CEX website, but this week I saw that they had Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! Season 1 on DVD for £5.  I couldn't resist giving it a go - this is not an easy disc to find and I love Tim and Eric's masterpiece.  Amazon were offering it for just under £10 excluding postage.  So I ordered the DVD on Wednesday evening from CEX with the standard £2.50 postage.  They sent a confirmation email Thursday morning (before 10am) that it had been shipped.  It arrived Friday morning.  Wow.  I watched a bunch of episodes today, the disc is perfect.  CEX win!  If you are an amazon or play devotee, I suggest always checking the CEX site just in case you can find it cheaper and get it faster.

Hooray!

L

my little blu-ray collection

Left to right:  Dune, Confessions, Alien Anthology, Jurassic Park Trilogy, Mad MAx 2, Bridge on the River Kwai, Sherlock (BBC) series 1 and 2, Inception, Fifth Element, Scott Pilgrim, Dark City, Watchmen (dir. cut), Double Indemnity, Midnight in Paris, Manhattan, The Fall, Speed Racer, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, North by Northwest, Zodiac, Terminator 2, Gladiator, Casino Royale, 8 1/2 (criterion), Seven Samurai (criterion).

I reserve blu-ray buying for films that long for optimum image quality.  I've been mostly very impressed so far - Terminator 2 was a bit of a let down, as were Alien 3 and Resurrection, Dune is reasonable but I'm not even sure if I like the film.  Alien is probably the standout. Speed Racer is nice as well, and it only cost about £1.50.


L

Dissertation

Today I begin serious work on my MA dissertation. Its only a cool 15000 words, so no major headaches I hope.  I will be looking at the Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS) movement, which is being spearheaded by the likes of Kevin Vanhoozer and Stephen Fowl.  I'll try and detail some of my findings on the blog.

L

A note on DVD and blu-ray regions.

You might have noticed that on the back of your DVD cases they say 'Region 2' if you live in the UK. For Blu-rays they might say Region B for UK.  Due to licensing and publishing complexities around the world we still have to suffer the fact that many films are locked to a certain 'region' thus rendering them incompatible with a dvd or blu-ray player from another country.  This is surely no big deal, because you can get everything you want in the UK right?  NEIN!

So you want to watch Dark City (1990's cult sci fi noir) on blu-ray?  Well the UK region B is out of print and will set you back too many coins.  But its still available for under $10 in the US on a region A locked blu- ray.  Or you want that elusive Marx Brothers collection that sells for up to £100 in the UK, but the USA boxset can be picked up for $18 on Amazon.com.  Or what about those masterful Criterion collection dvds and blu-rays that are region locked for North America.  This is a real pain in the  rumpus.

Solutions?

For DVD's you can go and buy a multi-region dvd player for £30-40 off amazon.  Before you do that, google search region hacks for your current dvd player. Many existing dvd players have simple combination codes that can be punched on the remote, unlocking the region lock on the dvd player.  Its straight forward and involves no tampering with the hardware.  A world of American dvds is now available to you!

Blu-Ray is another beast.  If you want a multi-region blu-ray player your looking at £180-200.  Ouch. Unlike DVD players, most blu-ray players don't have region free hacks.  I bought a philips blu-ray player for about £60 and found this to be the case. I could unlock it for DVD but not for blu-ray.  This is really annoying as there are a number of region A blu-rays that for absurd reasons we haven't got in the UK.  As well as the aforementioned criterion discs, take for example Woody Allen's midnight in Paris - a recent film with gorgeous cinematography. DVD only release in the UK.  This is absurd.  What can one do?  Well - here's what I did - I got a cheap (under £40) blu-ray player made by technika from my brother in law.  He bought it in tescos a couple of years ago.  This Technika BRSS10 isn't made anymore - they were quickly stopped (I wonder why) but you can find them on ebay pretty cheap.  Why advocate a crappy and cheap blu-ray player?  Well it turns out that this model has a blu-ray region hack!  Not only can you unlock the dvd, you can punch in a code and change the blu-ray region as often as you like.  This must have been a shoddy factory procedure without sufficient steps taken to protect the player from hacks, but it shows that sometimes it can be done with cheap units.  I now have a nice selection of Region A blurays that play fine on my player (midnight in paris looks amazing).  The downside is that this player has started to play up a little bit recently, however, if it packed up I would try and track another one down as its so much cheaper than a big brand multi region player.  Here's the hack:

Switch on open tray press "set-up" on remote enter 9113 An additional configure menu will come up on the left hand side of the screen that allows you to change the dvd region to any or region free. Below that it lets you set the Bluray region to A, B or C.

L.

Buying films part 2 - Online

Hark! I return to the topic of purchasing films.  This time I fix my gaze on the world of online shopping and offer some thoughts.

At this point in history the high street is increasingly obsolete with respect to media like films and music.  The reality is big online suppliers like amazon and play can offer pretty much everything that has ever been committed to disc and they can do it at the lowest possible price by cutting out the middle man.  The convenience of ordering something to your door, with an assortment of postage options, helpful browsing and search tools, and low prices makes online shopping an attractive option.  But is it without its problems? I'll have a look at the main places that I will consider getting films from online and remark on their strengths and weaknesses.

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon is frankly enormous (and many people have ethical objections to them - I'm not clued up enough to really know, but I imagine they are monsters like most other big businesses).  With the exception of out of print titles, you can get pretty much anything through amazon.  If you can think of it, you will be able to get it either from amazon or from a third party seller who sells through amazon marketplace.  I buy the majority of my films from amazon marketplace sellers - typically good communication, products as described and prompt delivery.  Look for the seller's feedback rating - if they are a big seller (thousands of sales) look for a number over 97% positive - you can never guarantee that everyone will have total success but more do than not.  If it is a seller with minimal experience, i.e. a handful of sales and a rating lower than 100% you would probably do well to avoid them or at least investigate their feedback a bit further.  Zoverstocks are a particularly popular marketplace seller who usually have the lowest price.  Amazon is by far the best place to get blu-ray that I am aware of - I recently picked up Inception blu-ray and dvd combo brand new for £6.00, and a used mint-condition scott pilgrim vs the world blu ray for about £2 plus the standard £1.26 postage.  Great.  On a couple of occasions I've had issues with marketplace sellers who have emailed a few days after the purchase to say they don't actually have the item in stock - this is annoying but I've never lost my money or had to pursue claims.  If you want out of print items you might not find the best price on Amazon, but its worth looking - typically out of print stuff is used and you do see a reasonable price once in a while (Third Man criterion collection blu-ray for £79 last week - I didn't buy it because its still way too much for one film).  Another benefit of amazon is if you have an account you can also order from other international amazon stores.  I have done this successfully with amazon.com (america) and amazon.ca (canada) - I haven't tried the others.  Don't bother getting it sent to you though - Amazon.ca's estimated shipping time on a blu-ray was 30-40 weeks!!  However, if you have relatives or friends in those countries, you can use their address as a shipping address and then pay standard domestic shipping rates.  Then ask them nicely and they might post it to you in the UK as a gift so you avoid custom's charges.  Its definitely worth looking at Amazon.ca because Canada has a unique range of lovely blu-ray steelbooks.  Amazon.com is also the best place to get Criterion blu-ray and dvd.  But remember - you need a multi region blu-ray/dvd player (more on this later).

Play.com/ HMV.com

These two sites are very similar in price and content - its worth checking both as sometimes one has a better price than the other.  Until recently they both had a standard free shipping on products (quite slow though - sometimes 1-2 weeks.  I believe play have now added extra shipping options.  Both of these are big warehouse suppliers like amazon.  Play also has its version of amazon marketplace called playtrade - I tried this once at Christmas to get the STar Wars sage on blu-ray.  A guy was offering it for £40.  It turned out he offered it for £40 for about 40 people and it also turned out he didn't have 40 copies of it - weird scam.  A lot of ranty complaints from buyers later and a ranty email to play and I got my money back from the guy.  It was an odd experience, but I decided to avoid playtrade as it was such a poor first experience.  I think amazon is generally better than both play and hmv if you are looking for something specific or more eccentric.  IF you are after mainstream and box sets then check these sites because they are always running a so-called 'sale'  (its not really a sale, its just a marketing ploy)  nevertheless you can get mainstream tat pretty cheap.  Honestly I rarely buy from these places but they are safe and useful.  Having said that play.com are flogging their own steelbook blu-rays that no one else has, so I pre-ordered their special steelbook of The Raid (brilliant film) due out in september.  If you like glossy steelbooks do check play out.  I also found the Japanese film 'confessions' on blu ray over at hmv.com for under £10 with free delivery - at the time this was cheaper than amazon and play.  I don't think these sites are particularly good for blu-ray - amazon is better because of the marketplace.  By all means check these sites out but don't be sucked into their large banners screaming 'sale ends midnight' etc.. They always have some kind of sale on and most of the products don't vary in price that much.  My one regret is that play.com were selling the 8 disc Marx brothers box set for a while for £7.99.  Yes that is an outrageously good price.  I deliberated buying it for ages, and thought I'd get it some other time as it would likely remain cheap.  It didn't.   Needless to say its now over £17 on play and amazon.  Rubbish!  You can't always predict these things, but after a while you start to get a sense of what something is worth when you've seen it appear on enough websites for a while. 

Zavvi.com/ thehut.com

These sites are basically the same and I think under the same umbrella.  Some of you will remember when Zavvi briefly took over the failed Virgin megastores in our high streets.  There was a short stint of their oppressive green logo facing off against HMV before they also folded.  Now they exist on the internet as an fantastic example of the powers of darkness.  If you google search something like problem with zavvi or the hut you will find unending accounts of people being ripped off by these sites.  The two major recurring complaints are 1) damaged goods (i.e broken cases, boxes that look like they've been kicked to your front door (think the beginning of Ace Venture Pet Detective)).  And 2) Items not in stock and a slew of misleading emails.  I attempted to buy from Zavvi once, and never again.  I was fell prey to problem 2.  I tried to order Watchmen 2 disc directors cut on blu-ray.  This was in their sale for about £7.50 which is a pretty good price for a blu-ray that I suspect might disappear in time (as did the ultimate cut).  The directors cut is a better, longer film and has much nicer box art than the single disc edition - so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Smooth transaction - great.  No shipping confirmation for days, and days, and days.  Eventually (9 days I think) I get an e-mail saying that zavvi were delayed on dispatches because they were moving into a bigger warehouse and that the blu-ray was awaiting stock picking.  Not great.  A couple more days pass and I get another automated email saying it hadn't been dispatched because they were having problems with their supplier.  After googling and learning about the travesty that is zavvi and how so many other people have been fobbed off with the same automated emails I wrote a ranty message to zavvi basically demanding a quick resolution or my money back.  I don't mind being given a reason and having to wait, but being given two contradictory reasons for the problem is an open announcement that they are lying in at least one of those messages.  I cancelled the sale and days later got a personal e-mail from zavvi offering a pseudo-apology that i had had a disappointing experience with them. Urgh.  They have a reputation for advertising things - especially in their 'sales' and just not having them in stock.  This seems so clearly absurd.  How can they possibly function without having a web team that updates website info as and when items sell out?  Avoid.

CEX (uk.webuy.com)

You might have seen CEX (computer exchange I think?) on your high street.  It is like a well organised cash convertors that deals exclusively in film, video games and tech (ipods etc). The stores have that distinct smell of stolen goods/ front for illegal activity about them, but to the best of my knowledge they are better than your average dodgy retailer -they've existed since the 80s I think and expanded, finding their way into the grotty part of most high streets.  I'm familiar with Brighton and Watford's stores and they are always busy, so must be doing something right.  The stores have never struck me as being particularly worthwhile, but the website is almost great!  The success of CEX is that you can search or browse and they will tell you if they have the item in stock and in which store.  Punch in blade runner for example and it will tell me that they have the dvd in camden, ashford, etc...  They also seem to have a central supply which offers most of what they have for online purchase.  The selection is much more random than amazon as it depends on whatever tat people have exchanged in their stores for drug money, but it is worth looking.  I've ordered things twice from the website - and here's where it goes a bit rubbish. Having failed to buy watchmen from amazon and zavvi I finally found it on CEX site for about £8.  The purchase was smooth because....they take PAYPAL - brilliant.  However, they charge £2.50 delivery on a film (compare this with amazon's £1.26 standard on marketplace sellers).  The dispatch happened within 12 hours of purchase - with an email notifying me - nice.  The blu-ray arrived after a few days.  I thought at £2.50 it was too slow - should have been first class really.  I open it and to my dismay they've sent the wrong version - they've sent the two disc standard edition (not the directors cut).  ARGH!  This is my third attempt to buy this film online! Whhhyy!  However, I open up the case to find the directors cut disc plus second disc inside in as new condition.  What the heck is going on?  So I got the right film in the wrong box!  I was pretty irritated at this as I really like the artwork for the directors cut box, and this kills any resale value.  Nevertheless, by this point I had stopped caring enough and didn't send it back.  I didn't fancy the complication of trying to explain to some poor CEX worker that I wanted those discs but a different box that they probably didn't have.  I gave up and watched the deranged near-masterpiece that is watchmen director's cut (the owl ship sex scene is still horribly awkward, and some of the violence unnecessary but the film is unlike anything else).  My second attempt to buy from CEX was for the now out of print 2004 Marx Brothers collection (green box with their later films).  The region 2 version of this box set goes for obscene prices on ebay and amazon (£50-100), so when I saw it on the CEX site for £8 I dove in and bought it immediately.  I knew something was up when I didn't get the prompt dispatch email as I had with watchmen.  In fact about 5 days passed and I finally got the 'I'm afraid we don't seem to have this in stock' e-mail.  Really? It seems awfully like someone caught on to the fact that this box set was worth a whole lot more money than they were selling it for and subsequently cancelled my sale.  This happened to me on ebay with the same marx brothers box set - a guy selling it only to email me and say 'I went to get it to send it to you, only to realise my sister had given it to my brother in law and I didn't know'. But this was the only thing he had listed on ebay!  What person lists something for sale on ebay that they don't actually have, and haven't bothered to check prior to listing! Sneaks.  It seems plausible that some one hastily lists something, not realising its potential value as an out of print or rare item, and then decides to cancel the purchase because they know they could sell it for more.  I might just be unlucky with the Marx brothers, but I like my theory.  If someone does this there's pretty much nothing you can do. I was disappointed with CEX as I was hoping they might become a regular place to order from.  I'm prepared to try again if I see a good purchase on there as they have been great with payments through paypal and refunding me for the marx brothers cock up.  Fingers crossed...

I've run out of steam - I still have to talk about ebay, but it will have to wait.

A Labour Dandy's tips for buying films part 1

This entry marks the beginning of a blank slate and a new epoch of blog history, and for that reason I will address a topic close to my heart that is thoroughly trivial:

How to find and buy films.

Am I jesting? Surely we all know how to walk into our local retailer of entertainments and hand over our hard earned coins for a bag of goods?! Yes of course, anyone can head down to hmv and pick up a copy of  the Hangover II and a terrible Roland Emmerich film on 2 for £10, but good film buying involves more effort and patience.  Hopefully this will become clear as you read through my tips.

Part 1: Traditional Shops


The Highstreet:
I do most of my film buying on the internet. I am well aware that many people despise amazon and the big online retailers for killing business.  At the moment I am not against online shopping because it is financially advantageous and I am unconvinced that it is more ethically suspect than high street retail.  As far as our pursuit of film goes, a little needs to be said.  First of all, in these hard times, high street stores selling films have pretty much all disappeared.  There was a time when Our Price existed, as did Virgin (later Zavvi), music zone and a bunch of other chains.  These all folded leaving HMV and Blockbuster - both of which are struggling and downsizing considerably.

Blockbuster is primarily for rentals but usually sells alot of ex-rental titles fairly cheap as well as chart and pre-owned.  I find the selection is usually limited to recent titles, the prices are fair but nothing special, and Blockbuster is notorious for renting out badly scratched discs, so I don't feel confident about buying ex-rental stuff there.  I did, however, recently by the French film 'Of God's and Men' (Excellent film) as a pre-owned title.  I had never heard of the movie, it looked interesting and was £5.  I felt pretty satisfied with that, though having watched it I'd really like to see the blu-ray.

HMV is interesting. Having worked there for a while I know a little about what goes on and its not overly inspiring.   HMV stores vary in quality dramatically.  The best ones that I know of are the London store near covent garden, and also the little London Victoria train station store (its tiny but the shelves are rammed full).  Brighton store is big but I can rarely find anything I want in there.  For along time HMV have run a 2 for £10 (or £7 each) DVD offer.  This is mainly on new-ish titles that are in mass circulation.  If you are after common thrift this is fine but uninteresting.  They also have pink stickered sale films - the sale aspect is a myth.  HMV always has some kind of so-called 'sale' on, but really its just a cycle of the same products getting different promotion to coincide with different holidays etc.. The back catalogue in HMV is usually very patchy and overpriced.  Its really for people who only shop for films at Christmas as presents for unsuspecting relatives.  Positives - Where HMV occasionally trumps other avenues is with box sets.  Every once in a while a particular boxset (lost, heroes, the wire) will get a special run at a much reduced price.  Sometimes only for a week, or until it sells out, then back to full price.  When this happens it can be a genuinely good deal, but you have to look out for it.  I snapped up 24 the complete 8 seasons plus redemption for £50 which was pretty good, at the time it was selling for £70-100 on amazon.  I also got the incredible Alien blu-ray anthology (6 disc edition) for £17 in HMV,  This was cheaper than anywhere online had sold it at the time, and still in my mind the benchmark for Blu-ray and dvd box sets.  Blu ray in hmv is disappointing. Typically few good offers, the back catalogue is overpriced and the selection is not great.  For a while they did 2 for £15 which was not bad. I picked up Zodiac and Bridge on he River Kwai in this offer as they are both great films and great blu-rays and the online price plus postage was no cheaper.

Supermarkets:
Tesco is alright for getting popular releases but a pretty weak selection.  My local Sainsbury has proved pretty good for finding films in the last year - they stock all the chart stuff at chart prices, but also a very eccentric selection of cheap dvds sometimes starting at £2.  I picked up Fight club for £2, Che parts 1 and 2 for £4 and quite often they have classics - I bought citizen kane, a touch of evil, marathon man, midnight cowboy and some others.  These were £3 each which is pretty darn acceptable for classic films.  They also keep selling weird things like The Shadow staring Alec Baldwin, and Darkman with Liam Neeson.  I don't know who the buyer is for Sainsbury's but he has brilliantly strange taste for a major supermarket.  There is a massive Asda in watford which has an overwhelming selection of low priced DVDs and a decent wall of blu-rays.  Not bad in a walmart kind of way.

Independent retailers:
I'd like to rate them and say that I get all my films from quirky stores staffed by movie buffs.  The reality is I find these stores to be way to expensive with a poor selection and very few have made the jump to blu-ray.  I'll always have a browse but can't part with £10 for a single dvd.  Having said that, on a recent trip to Whitstable I stumbled upon an independent rental store with a small for sale section where I found the 50s classic b-move 'Them' about giant ants for £6.99 new.  This film is out of print and going for £20 new on amazon.  So little gems do appear occasionally.  I imagine that some people like to use the knowledge of the people running these stores to start a loving friendship, and to gain new insights.  I don't like that kind of thing.

Fopp in covent garden:
Fopp was an indie chain with shops over the country. When I moved to Brighton in 2005 there was a fopp. It was great for music and pretty good for film.  Fopp went bust. Dang. However, highstreet swines HMV swooped in and bought it up, enabling fopp to still exist in a few key locations under the HMV umbrella, but still essentially doing its own thing.  Fopp in covent garden (although nearer to leicester sq. tube station) is pretty great.  They have a a constantly changing selection of £3 movies ranging from cult, indie, foreign, to mainstream.  Its great for a browse and is very hard not to leave with something.  If you have a specific film you are after there is no gurantee that they will have it, I think fopp works better for a leisurely browse.  Don't go with people who will try and rush you.  The blu-ray selection is still quite limited and a bit pricey, hopefully this will change with time but I doubt it.

Next time - online buying!