I'd mentioned in the last series of posts (the "Immoral Tales" series, and by the way, thanks for the comments about that) that I was looking forward to seeing some hi-definition Franco soon. Well, here I sit, still waiting, though I admittedly do still have more to literally spew about in my current collection -- a collection that is, at this point in my life (as in this summer), taking much of my time and efforts out of me. I have realized, much to my chagrin, that my one-bedroom apartment is only so big and the constant accumulation of stuff, as exuberantly cool as said stuff might actually be, is not going to fit forever in this pad. I just finished reading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and if I also had a wall that could defy the laws of earthly physics and heed my ever-expanding cinematic collection, I would be indeed a happy man. My wife would argue that I owned over one thousand movies (on various formats). I always disagreed, thinking it was likely half of that at most. When I did switch to the newer Blu-ray format, I became a member of a website, a community of blu-ray enthusiasts (blu-ray.com if you're interested) and on this site you are able to track your blu-ray inventory. It's easy to track if you start right away, because obviously one would start with a handful of films, and grow from there at usually small increments at a time. I was actually quite surprised to see that in only 18 months, and mind you this is including a six-months hiatus on purchasing anything tangible as I was doing an anti-consumerism self-experiment from September 2009 till spring of this year, that my blu-ray collection had somehow multiplied while my back was turned. It went from the beginning handful to nearly three hundred titles. I remember watching Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds in the theatre where during some Sam Jackson narration it's said that the lead character Shoshonna had a collection of 300 films in her cinema. I figured that was a good-sounding number to have tagged to a collection. So, I thought, with the ever-decreasing space in our digs (stupid walls obeying the laws of physics), it might be time to relieve myself of some of the older-format titles. In effect, some of my DVDs.Now before anyone cries "Crazy Person", and to which side of the coin you may cry this I care not so much, I will say I never intended to purge my collection of ALL the DVDs. I figured I'd keep 100 DVD titles, and with 300 hi-def titles, that sounded like a good round number to me, too. And then everything would actually fit on my shelves, to boot, instead of having our apartment look like it's inhabited by some obsessive cinematic artistic schmuck with pretensions of cinematic intelligence, or something as soul-staining as the like, at least. "No, no, I'm too busy to consider placing those titles on actual shelves, who do you think I think I am?" Okay, so that might be a bit of a charcter exaggeration, plus it's super-hot out right now and I'm quite sure I'm developing some form of heat stroke as I'm typing away.
Okay, so I couldn't get it down to 100 DVD, despite my best efforts. But I got it down to 200. Which means I got rid of four-hundred & thirty (plus/minus) DVDs. So, let's take a second to tally here:
Wife's guess: 1,000 movies owned by moi. My own guess, based of having actually bought all of the films (and watched most of them - and a lot of them more than twice) -- 500.
And the actual amount... 200 DVD kept in collection + 430 sold + 258 blu-ray titles =
888.
And yes, I just used the calculator for that. Evidently, the scorching heat affects simple mathematical calculations in my brain as well.
Anyhoo, my current collection is now a much-more simplified 458 titles, and I figure that's a good-sounding number. Of course, this will be fluctuating, but as I buy I also intend to sell. However, I have not yet let go of any of my Franco titles. Or Luis Bunuel, or George Romero, Dario Argento, Michele Sovai, Lamberto Bava or his brilliant father, Stuart Gordon, John Carpenter, and I still have most of my Criterion, Blue Underground, half my original Anchor Bay collection, and you can clearly see by now why it was so tough (impossible, actually) to hold only 100 DVDs. Considering the size/amount of what I'd owned, I think I did pretty well. And whichever way it is you might consider me a Crazy Person (having started the collection in the first place, letting it get out of control, or selling half of it outright), I can say with all sincerity that dumping half of my collection was actually a relief. Trust me, don't start getting possessed by your possessions.
That being said, I'm still on the hunt, the journey, the epic walk to find some hi-def Franco. Hell, I'd love to see one of his films in the theatre, translated or not, I wouldn't actually care. Until then, this little exercise has given me some new-found appreciation for the part of my cinematic collection I've held onto, and I'm more likely now to re-discover gems like "Justine" and "99 Women".
To be posted soon...
-V.
