The Great Sale Has Begun!

Because of a tremendous amount of debt and loss of income(which I will detail later), the arrival of a huge tax bill(Thanks ,AMT) has forced me into that most dread of days for collectors...The Great Sale. I will post about the progress of the sale and the removal of the debt as the days go by. Feel free to check out my auctions on eBay under gr8gnius. I think I will also install a virtual tip jar just to make the debasement complete. More soon.

ITEM:Baadasssss DVD: Even I was not prepared for how good this film was. I am a Mario Van Peeples fan and I would never think that he had film of this depth inside him. Telling the story of his father's creation of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song , the first black independent film , alongside the story of himself and his father is touching and triumphant all at once. This may be the best movie about a movie that I have ever seen. The extras on the DVD are very interesting , especially the documentary, but I would really have liked the original SSBS icluded for direct comparison.4 out of 5

BOOKS- Master of the Senate by Robert Caro. Book 3 in the Lydon Johnson biography delivers just like the first 2 did. This is biography as literature folks. What makes it intense is that we are caught in the drama when we already know how events will turn out. How does he do this? Let's just say that Caro is at least as good a storyteller as his subject. We also get treated to a rip-roaring history of the senate. If history were always taught this way , people would actually vote. The wait will probably be far too long for volume 4 , but it will be incredibly worth it when it arrives.

COMING SOON- reviews of Master of the Senate by Robert Caro, The Transporter and a look at my unhealthy comics obsession.

The Alex Cox DVD Collection- I so want this . This guy is completely original , but I have the same problem as I did with the Oliver Stone collection. Stone's is missing Platoon, Cox's is missing Sid and Nancy. This is tough . I would rather everybody play nice and put everything in one box. The rarity of soemof the Cox films on DVD pretty much makes this a must-have, though.

BULLETPROOF MONK- I went to see it with the kids who enjoyed it .This is an unbelievably average film. Chow Yun Fat still has a pretty thick accent and in noisy scenes ,it can be a struggle. I thought that Sean William Scott did a much better job than could be expected. The one undeniably cool scene is when he is training to an old kung fu movie. Otherwise, it bears no realtion to the comic and is very like The Golden Child in tone. It was okay to see as Easter winded down , but not a must-see by any stretch.

Here is the deal , kids! Whenever I see, read ,listen to or interact in any way with the cultural monolith , I'll talk about it here. You will get everything from my thoughts on new films to what I am reading now. It should be fun. Check back soon for new content!