Space Efficient DVD Storage

As the end of the year approaches, ones thoughts turn to the annual cleaning binge that comes just prior to the start of the year. While I'm not sure I'll be diving in and doing the old spit and polish on everything in my apartment since I already did it several months ago when I rearranged my furniture, there are bits of tidying that need to be taken care of.

The main case in point is our burgeoning DVD collection which had a bit of a burst of fertility over the holiday and outgrew our current storage space. I knew this day would soon be upon me (living in such a small Japanese apartment makes it inevitable) and I wanted to find a way to store some of our nearly 300 disc collection more efficiently. Mainly, I wanted to do somethin about the full-size cases with a single-disc in them. I don't know who decided it'd be a good idea to store one disc in a space large enough for 4 discs, but a bit of a reduction diet was in order if I didn't want my limited shelf space to overflow.

I considered buying slim cases for all the discs but the cost would end up being 100 yen per 3 cases and it'd only save me about half the space. Neither the expense nor the space savings of this solution were particularly attractive. I researched some methods on the web and they mainly involved carefully cutting up the inserts and putting the discs into slim CD cases. While this would be quite space efficient, I didn't want to destroy the inserts in this way because they often have chapter listings on them. Also, slim cases stored on their sides are almost impossible to label such that you can read their contents from a side view and I didn't want to have to riffle through stacks of discs to find the one I wanted.

Clear pockets, CD pockets, and a 36-ring binder (100 yen each at the Daiso).

The search was on for a method that'd preserve the full contents, store in an easy to peruse fashion, and cost as little as possible. After searching the local 100 yen shop for ideas and supplies, I came up with an album method which would cost 300 yen for every 36 discs and would preserve everything. This will give me future flexibility should someone leave about a hundred or so slim cases on my doorstep for free as I'll still have all the paperwork to restore the discs to their original appearance.


I chose a 36-ring binder so there would be uniform and constant support of the weight of the pockets holding 6 DVDs each. Though I think this was the best choice, lining up pockets with the rings was a huge pain in the ass. I interspersed clear document-holding pockets between the discs with the inserts and labeled the spines by genre. I debated alphabetically arranging them, but then I might have to rearrange the entire book every time a new disc arrived. I also think that it'll reduce the amount of searching necessary to find what we want as well as making it more convenient to thumb through and album based on mood.

The garbage bags show the discarded cases from the DVDs I put in albums. You can see how the small stack of albums would be vastly preferable to the huge number of cases if one were moving or paying shipping fees!

I didn't repackage all my DVDs, mind you. Some of them are in packaging which is already space-efficient and others are in special packaging that I wouldn't want to throw away. However, this worked extremely well and cleared up all our storage problems (at least for the time being). If you're cramped for shelf space, this is definitely the way to go if you've got a lot of DVDs.

Deep Discount DVD Supersale

A display for rental of Season 6 episodes of "24". If you wanted to buy Season 6 of "24" in Japan, it'd cost $167 (¥18,648) for the Japanese box set. If you wanted to buy it in the U.S., it'd cost $38.99. (Both are Amazon prices for Amazon Japan and Amazon U.S. respectively.)

In the past, I've recommended Americans and others who are from Region 1 countries who want to buy DVDs consider buying a cheap (about ¥8,000) region-free multi-system DVD player from the Foreign Buyer's Club and purchasing DVDs from the U.S. This idea not only seems to suit foreign people but also Japanese studying English. My husband has a student who has chosen to buy his discs from Amazon U.S. because the prices are so much lower compared to Japan. (See the caption on the picture above for an example price comparison.)

While you can get some cheap DVDs in Japan, they're usually older movies stripped of any of the sort of extras that you find on official releases. Most of the newer ones, and the T.V. show sets in particular, can be very, very expensive. It gives you a good idea of why region codes were set up in the first place. Japan very much would prefer to protect its (Region 2) market of overpriced DVDs by making those from far cheaper Region 1 distributors incompatible with the basic players most Japanese people own.

Last year around this time, Deep Discount DVD held a 20% off sale on all DVDs. This year, they're holding a sale at pretty much the exact same time. It's a very good time to pick up some of the bigger box sets at an appreciable discount or even just a bunch of cheaper movies for a few bucks off. It's also a good time to consider buying some books along with them if you're in the market for cheaper books than you can get via various outlets in Japan. While there is no discount on books, the shipping rate policies at Deep Discount DVD make it far more worthwhile to order from them than Amazon. At Amazon, you are charged postage by the book. At Deep Discount, you are charged according to the total amount of money you spend. Adding in heavier books to an order rapidly shoots up the shipping costs at Amazon but has no effect at Deep Discount as long as you stay under the spending caps. For example, an order totaling up to $249 carries a shipping cost of $17 regardless of whether it is composed of books, DVDs, or CDs. The shipping rates for various size orders can be accessed on the help page under "shipping and delivery" for "International orders".

My husband and I usually allow ourselves a big order of DVDs and books as a Christmas gift to ourselves around this time of year so we put in a huge order the day before yesterday. One thing we noticed was that, if you plan on spending more than $249, it's better to make two separate orders than one to save on shipping as it costs $17 for up to $249 and $40 for over $249.

The sale ends in about a week so you have to get an order going soon. If you want to get the discount, you have to type in the code SUPERSALE in the code box when you view your shopping cart. If you take too long to shop, you'll have to re-apply the code if it vanishes from your total. Bear in mind that shipping costs are applied before the discounted price is applied.

Grey Gardens

"Grey Gardens" is a documentary about an elderly mother and her upper middle-aged daughter. This movie is apparently being made into a musical though this bit of information is unrelated to how I heard of it. I first learned of it as an incidental mention in a non-related post on some web site or another. The reason a movie was made about these two women was that they were relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy and their home was in such disarray that health authorities were threatening to evict them and tear down the house. I'm guessing that any other pair of old ladies in a similar predicament wouldn't have been movie-worthy but it's hard to resist the opportunity to embarrass a famous person with her relatives (even when she has nothing to do with the situation). After all, the press couldn't stay away from Billy Carter while Jimmy was in the White House despite the fact that there was no redeeming news value in covering him.

The documentary about the life of the Beales was made in 1976 and, by that time, the house had been cleaned up to a more sanitary state. It was still run-down and the mother, big Edie, and the daughter, little Edie, were living in a fashion which would be unacceptable for most modern people. Their cats were urinating and defecating in the rooms they slept and ate in. There were raccoons chewing through the restored walls and living in the attic. Little Edie encouraged these animals by feeding them bread and cat food so clearly there was no wish to rid the house of them. Everything was old, dirty and weathered-looking. While both Edies looked clean and adequately groomed, the situation they were living in showed distinct signs of heading down the same path that had brought local authorities to their doorstep and caused local newspapers to write about how Jackie Kennedy's relatives were living in squalor.

"Grey Gardens" isn't so much about the decay of living in a huge country house as much as it is about the relationship and mental state of the two women in the movie and how their lives went from being one of wealth and society to the sorry state they were in at that time. Big Edie married a wealthy man who managed to slowly lose all his money then later divorced her. Little Edie never accepted any of the lucrative proposals from wealthy men that were proffered and chased unrealistic dreams of fame.

The movie shows how these two women spent their days re-hashing the past pointlessly and unproductively and, particularly, how the daughter constantly blamed her mother for trapping her in their country home requiring her care. They are a portrait of a family on an emotional treadmill going around and around about the same things. Their communication never advances their relationship and issues that are no longer relevant are never gotten past. One of the many things a viewer can take away from this movie is that the only one you hurt by hanging on to the past is yourself.

To the outsider, watching them carp or bicker sometimes came across as a little crazy. Sometimes they'd both be talking at the same time along different paths, clearly not heeding one another. At other times, Little Edie would appear to blithely dance and sing around while her mother offered a steady narrative of constructive criticism. The level of intimacy with the home life and discourse of these two women that the viewer has is almost obscene in its proximity. You get the distinct feeling that we are not meant to be watching this sort of interaction between family members and that it's the type of thing that should occur in private between people who know one another only as family members can. Unless you're a hopeless voyeur, you can't help but feel a little guilty for bearing witness to the goings-on.

The interesting thing is that, as incoherent or nutty as these women seemed to be at times, you could see that Big Edie had lived a life she was pleased with and had few regrets about how she lived in either her past or present and that Little Edie, despite all her complaining and bellyaching about wanting to get out of their country home, had a real zest for life. She seemed to cling to unfulfilled dreams because they inspired more passion in her than acting on them (and inevitably failing at them) would have.

After watching the Edies (who are both deceased now), I had to wonder if the normal exchange between any given family which feels so natural and "normal" to them look alien and frightening to outsiders or were these women exceptionally weird? I do know that there are people who sing together as part of their daily life. In fact, I've been known to idly hum or sing to myself when I'm alone. Would I look crazy as I'm vaguely singing to myself if someone played peeping Tom on my life?

Would we all look this crazy and dysfunctional to voyeuristic viewers and is this the root of what reality television programming is attempting to tap into? This documentary felt like one of the earliest forms of reality programming though it does have enough depth to make you think about weightier issues whereas modern reality programming seems designed only to make you think you're better than the people embarrassing themselves for your entertainment.

The main problem with (modern) reality programming is that the compassion of the viewer is unknown. People will carry their psychological needs with them into the picture and immediately start making judgments as a means of elevating themselves in their own estimation. If you watch Grey Gardens, you won't find yourself feeling superior or enjoying schaudenfreude at the downfall of these formerly wealthy and socially well-connected women. You'll find yourself feeling a wide range of emotions but most of all feeling that these two ladies are more real than anyone you ever see on so-called reality T.V.

8 Reasons Why "The Simpsons" Is No Longer Funny

Image pinched from the Wikipedia entry on an especially weak episode of the Simpsons.

It's no secret that the Simpsons has been on a slow decline for quite some time. Despite being a great Simpsons fan, I hadn't been watching since Season 15 and was unaware that the slide had ceased and that they were now bottom feeding on a regular basis.

Many people who have visited this topic far earlier and far more often than I have talked about where they believe the show has gone wrong. A lot of the decline can be laid at the feet of the writers and Ian Maxtone-Graham whose involvement in the show seems to have signaled the show's decline. However, the Simpsons was rarely conventionally funny and in fact they often made things funny in the same way that Monty Python does; that is, through well-timed repetition, great line delivery and funny juxtaposition of various normally conventional lines.

The main problems I've noticed are as follows:

1. The voice actors aren't working together and it shows.

In the commentary on the DVDs that have been already released, the show's creators and writers have mentioned on more than one occasion that the voice actors no longer do "table reads". A table read is where all of the actors sit around a table together and read through the script. This not only allowed them the equivalent of a live actor's rehearsal so they could fine tune their timing and line delivery but it also allowed jokes to be refined and comical ad libs to be included.

These days, all of the actors can record their lines remotely and then the pieces can be edited together. As of late, this is crystal clear in the way the lines are delivered. In particular, I've noticed that energy levels and emotional infusion between lines delivered by different actors are not matching. It seems especially noticeable with Julie Kavner's lines for Marge Simpson. This messes with the "punch" of the lines. I believe it's also partially responsible for unfunny jokes running on far too long because the pacing isn't obvious from what is written on the page nor from the pieces being cobbled together in editing.

I'm not sure how long it has been since table reads were regularly done. It's possible they stopped a long time ago and there's been a slow decay in the rhythm of line delivery through time. I believe this is likely the single biggest factor in the show's decline and it's unlikely to ever change as the voice actors all have other work they are doing and probably find it impractical to work together physically now.

2. Too many meta-references.

In the past, the meta references the Simpsons made tended to be appropriate within the context of the show and less obviously self-referential. Mainly, such jokes included references to Fox as a network. Such jokes occurred several times a season but it seems these days they can occur as often as several times per episode and some are lame repetitions of meta jokes that have already been overdone. In particular, there are references to the Simpsons fame or merchandising, animation or animators, and the show's inconsistency with things like Homer and Marge's jobs.

Meta-references can be considered a wink and a nod to the audience but it looses its impact if it occurs too often. If you worked with a co-worker who was constantly making the same comment and winking at you, how long would it take before it'd cease to be amusing?

3. Too narrowly-known parody references.

In early Simpsons episodes, classic movies or well-known cultural references were parodied such as Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" or Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane." Recent references included a White Stripes video that was re-created with Bart. It made no sense and wasn't the least bit funny. These sorts of references are done to showcase the guest voices (who increasingly appear to be there because of the personal interests of the writers or show runners and not because the audience may find their appearance of interest) rather than to add humor to the show. This is a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Narrow references only work when you explain them to the audience so they know what's going on. In the past, the Simpsons went out of its way to explain certain references (particularly music-based ones), such as the Homerpalooza episode. Now, they're too lazy or indifferent to frame the references for those who aren't experienced with their source. Parody only works when most of your audience knows the reference and when it's done well. The Simpsons has been failing more frequently on both of these fronts.

4. Interchangeable characters.

The Simpsons is a cartoon and you can expect some flexibility in how the characters are portrayed. Initially, Homer was used as the all-purpose character who was smart or stupid, a great or terrible father, hopelessly out of shape or athletic, etc. This back and forth for Homer was bad enough but acceptable for one character to give the show some flexibility in story lines but this sort of inconsistency bled over into Bart who has been both untalented and talented musically, obedient and disobedient, famous and unknown, and both a child and a man (doing adult jobs).

The next in line to be afflicted with serious character issues was Marge who started off as a wonderfully diligent and caring mother who was capable and moral and now sees more than her share of neglectful behavior toward her kids and immoral behavior. The last character to be corrupted is Lisa who has become increasingly shallow and morally labile when the story calls for it though her character has remained largely intact relative to the others.

The problem with this lack of character integrity is that the viewer loses all ability to relate to the characters in even the most minimal fashion and it guts the emotional impact which in turn undermines the humor. If, for instance, Ralph Wiggum is passive and dumb most of the time but on rare occasions says something oddly aggressive or smart, it's funny. If he says such things too often, the impact is lost and the comments are no longer funny.

One of the reasons humor is difficult to convey cross-culturally is that viewers from one culture can't relate to those from another. It is essential that the viewer identify with and empathize with characters for the comedy to work. When the characters become interchangeable, they cease to have a concrete personality you can find a foothold with emotionally.

5. Too gross, scatological, juvenile and tasteless.

In general, it seems that the Simpsons are siphoning their content from the same wells of death, desperation, violence, and childishness. These wells are obvious, deep and broad but uninteresting. The best stories of the past were dug up from personal experiences that the writers had in real life which they adapted for use in the Simpsons. Now, it seems anything goes. Perhaps this means they need new writers with fresh experiences to draw from after so many years or that the show runners are content to allow the quality to lapse because they're profitable even with a half-assed show.

In a show I recently saw, Michelle Kwan uses her skates to cut up a judge's chest when he scores her badly. This was supposedly a "hotdogging" maneuver. In another episode, two gangsters have an exchange where one asks the other if he's still married to his sister and he says he's not because she's been dead for two years. Ned Flanders makes an incredibly violent biblical movie which is not only gross but also out of character for Ned. Mr. Burns is in a car crash and his lungs are his airbag which he sucks back in. In an episode which visits 8 years in the future, professor Frink's skeleton is seen hanging in his home to indicate that he committed suicide and his body was left here. All of this is just a little too black outside of a Halloween episode.

In general, it seems the Simpsons is starting to confuse itself with South Park. This sort of nonsense only works about 1/5 of the time on South Park and it works almost not at all on the Simpsons.

6. Repeated story-lines from earlier episodes of the Simpsons and Futurama.

Homer's antics allowed him to dance and show off as a baseball mascot in a very early episode. In season 16, Homer's antics allow him to become a teacher of showboating behavior for various sports figures. Bart traps homer on April Fool's with a beer. Bart traps Barney with a beer to get him hit in the face with a watermelon. Too many of the more recent episodes are vaguely familiar.

7. Heavy-handed social and political commentary.

The aforementioned biblical movie made by Ned Flanders was an obvious reference to Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. Homer joins the army and we're treated to a great amount of Iraq war commentary. Springfield glacier melts and the guide tells us that the official stance is that global warming doesn't exist as Lisa points out that the glacier is now sludge. While I almost always agree with the Simpsons writers' politics, I don't find it amusing when these sentiments are waved in front of my face like a screaming banner. Such things are far funnier and more effective when they are subtle and represent rushed, lazy or hack writing.

8. Too many jokes at the characters' expense which are sad instead of funny.

Fat jokes on a show like the Simpsons are an easy way to try and get a laugh since so many characters are rotund. When Homer is gearing up to take a shot at Flanders's pool table and says, "they don't call me Springfield Fats just because I'm morbidly obese," it's a funny fat joke. When police chief Wiggum, in reference to how he's not a good cop, says his badge is covered because his fat grew over it, it's just sad. When a character as oblivious to his faults as Homer makes a comment about his shortcomings (odor, weight, hair), it's funny because he's speaking with misplaced confidence. When Wiggum does it because he's feeling bad about himself, it's pathetic.

I believe this sort of "humor" started with Gil and has been expanded to other characters. The writers need to understand that it's not funny to kick someone when they're down on themselves or others are making fun of them unless the character has the confidence not to care or the zeal to fight back. I guess children who are 10 or younger who have parents that never taught them that mocking others is cruel may find it amusing.

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A reasonable question to ask is why I continue to watch (even belatedly) if I don't think the show is funny (or even enjoyable) anymore. The answer is that I want to believe it can be funny again and am not quite ready to give up on it yet.

Going Wireless

My husband and I have lived in the Stone Age of networking for awhile now and it was only a failing (wired) router that pushed me to finally make a move to wireless. Part of the reason I resisted going wireless is that I'd heard that the signal strength was inconsistent or weak and the connection would drop out at not infrequent intervals. My guess is those sorts of problems are in the past now that wireless is far past being bleeding edge technology.

We'd been using a venerable basic Linksys 4-port router for quite some time but over the past 6 months, it had picked up the bad habit of dropping the connection at random intervals. While we figured it had developed a problem assigning local IP addresses, we weren't sure and decided quite some time ago to replace it with a router that would allow us to have the option of using a wireless connection.

I chose a router which was very similar to my old one because I was already familiar with the interface and Linksys has pretty good quality products. It didn't hurt that it was also relatively cheap (about $50 from Amazon U.S.). The only problem is that you cannot have electronic items shipped to Japan from Amazon U.S. and this particular model wasn't available at any of my usual haunts in Japan so we had to wait for my husband's trip to the U.S. to order it so he could carry it back.

Unfortunately, there was a problem. My husband didn't check the contents of the software and paperwork packets and I found that the disc had been badly damaged when it was shipped. Given my past experience with my router, I wasn't really too worried about configuring it without a set-up disc except for the fact that the back of the disc's sleeve says in big bold letters "Run CD First" (as you can see above). If that weren't enough to give me second thoughts about configuring the router manually, the router's Ethernet ports were taped over with a bright orange piece of tape shouting "RUN CD FIRST".

I started to wonder if Linksys knew better than me. Otherwise, why would they bother with all the warnings? Well, they bother because manufacturer's these days are designing their products for the same type of customer who needs several warnings on the cup of coffee they buy such as, "CAUTION: contents are hot","do not re-use disposable cup", "contents of coffee may contain coffee beans - do not consume if you are allergic to coffee" and "do not eat lid" . In other words, they assume the purchaser would probably lose in a battle of wits with a doorknob.

All those warnings are to prevent thousands of people who probably require Velcro on their shoes because the act tying a shoe is too great a mental challenge from just plugging in random cables and thinking the magic network fairy will tap her wand and make it work. In fact, there's a little troubleshooting guide which has some typical questions including something to the effect of 'I plugged my telephone cord into the router and I can't connect to the internet'. The Linksys answer booklet gently says, 'you can't dial-up using this router.'

To be honest, I don't have an issue with the fact that some people don't know about computers or how they work. In fact, I support anyone's desire not to learn something they have little to no interest in. I start to have the problem when all the things you buy have to be designed to accommodate those who can't be troubled to either read a manual or hire someone who is willing to read one to set-up their computer so they start plugging in random cables hoping for the best.

In the end, I threw caution to the wind (well, not exactly, I only did so after my friend, Shawn (who is insane but knows a bit about networking), and my sister, Sharon (who is sane and knows a lot about networking), reassured me that both of them felt there'd be no problem) and just did what I was inclined to do and manually configure it all. The only glitch was that I couldn't find the MAC address for my husband's notebook as it's not printed conveniently on the back of it (like my husband's more accommodating Palm T|X) and couldn't locate the right tab on the Linksys web-based configuration interface to scan for it. My sister managed to help me out though and now things are running smoothly. In fact, they are now better than smooth as my husband's notebook is running faster on wireless than wired. Previously, he used to top out around 600 kbps but now is getting a little over 1 Mbps on downloads (with other computers on the network also running). I'm not sure why that should be but he's pleased regardless.

Keeping Occupied

When I mentioned to one of my students that my husband would be in the U.S. for a week while I remained in Japan, she said she thought I'd be lonely (true) and invited me over to her place so I could find some company. Even if I were inclined to hang out with my students while my husband is away, I couldn't because I'm loaded down with extra work this week. During the week he's gone, I've got to:

• correct 136 4-page homework reports
• conduct 14 hours of telephone lessons
• teach 9 hours of private lessons in my apartment
• re-writing and proofreading (mostly re-writing) a medical research abstract for a doctor
  

So, I'm keeping plenty busy while my husband is away but it's not really all that entertaining though it is sufficiently profitable that 4 weeks of this type of extra work is paying for my husband's trip. During the time that I spend correcting the reports with their monotonous content, I like to do something else in order to distract me from reading about the same thing for the 4000th time. When I worked at the office and had coworkers in the vicinity, I could conduct full-scale conversations while simultaneously doing my work. Unfortunately, the Japanese didn't appreciate this so I ended up having to listen to music to help cope with the repetitive nature of the work.

While working at home, I'm rather better off on this front because no one is around to tell me what I can and can't do for amusement while reading the same conversations about the weather, buying a suit or Mr. Sato's family for the umpteenth time. When I have this work, I tend to watch T.V. but I can't really watch anything engrossing or that requires a lot of attention because I can only half pay attention to what is on the television while correcting homework.

It's at times like this that I dig out my box of 50 Historic Classics DVDs. This set has a bunch of old movies for about $16.50. I'm a fan of old movies anyway and there's something oddly comforting about watching these types of old movies. They are the sort that would only be played late at night or early in the afternoon on local television stations that are network affiliates trying to fill time between network programming.

In the set, there are 12 discs and all but one have 4 "movies" each (the last one has 5) on double-sided discs though a few of them are "Studio One" T.V. shows. Most of the movies are relatively average fare and all of them reflect the movie-making abilities of their times. None of them are cinematic marvels but some of them are well-acted, well-written and have compelling stories.

They can be roughly broken down into several types - biblical stories (mostly Italian-made and dubbed in English), westerns, classics (e.g, Scrooge, Cyrano de Bergerac), and stories about famous politicians. The historical content of some of the movies is pretty questionable but that's not really a problem since I'm not looking for an educatin. I just finished the 7th disc and so far have only found two movies so unbearable that I couldn't finish watching them, even when all they were doing was droning on in the background while I worked.

I think that these types of movies are more attractive to me because they're the sorts I used to watch back home when I stayed at my grandparent's place. They were the kinds of movies that my grandfather would have on the black and white television (he refused to watch color) while I stayed over. It could explain why I find them comforting, particularly while my husband is gone. Perhaps they take me back to how secure and happy I felt when I was a kid staying with my grandparents. It's funny the associations we form with experiences and emotions that allow us to find comfort (or distress) in the oddest things.

Crush

Promotional shot of Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster from the Jeeves & Wooster television series. I'm not sure who to credit for it as it was likely distributed by the BBC when the series was made.

One of my students has a crush on Hugh Laurie. She hasn't said that exactly but she has all the signs of being infatuated with a famous actor. In her last several lessons, she's mentioned that she loves "House" and asked me personal questions about Hugh Laurie. She was very happy to hear that he was in the ballpark of her age (44 - he's nearly 48). She also borrowed "Black Adder" DVDs from a relative of hers and I asked her if she liked the show or if she simply liked Hugh Laurie. She said the latter.

I do wonder if she's keen on him or keen on his character on "House". I wonder if she'd have become as interested in him had she seen him in the first show I had ever seen him in, "Jeeves & Wooster". In "House", he plays an abrasive but highly intelligent doctor with a stylishly stubbled face. In "Jeeves & Wooster", he plays a kind-spirited yet rather dim-witted rich gentleman and spends a lot of his time on screen looking puzzled with mouth agape.


Promotional shot of Hugh Laurie as King George from Black Adder III (or Black Adder the Third). He also appeared regularly as Lt. George in Black Adder IV (or Black Adder Goes Forth). Once more, I'm not sure who to credit for it as it was probably distributed by the BBC when the series was made.

Similarly, the second show in which I encountered Hugh Laurie, Black Adder, also featured him as a clueless prince. In fact, I so associated him with playing dumb guys with a British accent that his portrayal in "House" came as an extreme shock. I primarily saw him as a comedic actor who specialized in playing ebullient half-wits.

One thing that became clear after seeing him in "House" is that he has joined the ranks of comedic actors who have shown they are capable of doing dramatic roles very well (like Robin Williams) though I'm not sure he's made the transition in my mind from a goofy-looking fellow to crush-worthy heartthrob. ;-)

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Incidentally, if you're a fan of light-hearted, farcical humor set in a kinder era, I heartily recommend Jeeves & Wooster. The choice of words alone can be quite funny sometimes and the series has the distinct advantage of being utterly lacking in mean-spiritedness though I'm not sure everyone would enjoy the style or the setting (the 1920's-1930's)

If you're a fan of British humor and don't mind if it's a bit on the nasty side (but is extremely funny and witty), then give Black Adder a go. If you do watch Black Adder, you'll see that "House" has included an inside joke referencing the oft-uttered line "I have a cunning plan" when Dr. Cameron said, "you'd better come up with a cunning plan..."

Supremely Spiffy M*A*S*H collection

inner box

I posted about ordering the M*A*S*H complete collection (11 seasons plus the original movie) from Deep Discount DVD and the box arrived several days ago. I had seen a few shots of the set on various web sites but never any that were large enough to give me a real sense of what it was like.


If you click on the small pictures here to see larger ones, you can see that the box is unusual in that it's covered in the sort of textured cover (resembling canvas) that old-fashioned 3-ring binders were covered in when I was in high school (which was about 25 years ago). I don't know if they even make these sorts of binders anymore since plastic is much slicker-looking and probably cheaper to produce. The cool thing about the design is that it'll resemble the psuedo-military tent-look all the more as it takes on wear. There's also a pressed board "clipboard" on the inside flap which holds a booklet listing the contents of the discs and has some photos and information on the show. This faux clipboard is more solid than the pressed board bookshelves I buy at Japanese furniture shops. :-p

Since I study design as a hobby, I really appreciate the care that went into putting this together. It looks great and matches the style of the show. It's relatively compact for the quantity of discs (36) and feels pretty solid compared to other huge "all season" collections. For instance, the 7-season box for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"is a compact design marvel but fairly flimsy. The discs' plastic holders come detached from their flimsy cardboard holders. Still, the Buffy "Chosen Collection" is the same height as a standard CD case so it fits in my DVD cabinet and the M*A*S*H collection is too tall and will have to be stored elsewhere.

homemade pocket protection

The discs themselves are stored in cardboard fold-out sleeves. This is the only point at which the design of the case shows flaws. The discs are tightly held in the pockets and when you pull them out, they get scratched. The first one I pulled out got two very long and nasty-looking scratches down half of one side and the disc played with problems. I'm going to try to prevent this from happening again and put each disc in a plastic holder with a thin cloth backing (as you can see above). I folded up and taped down the bottom of each holder so they are "rounded" at the bottom and fit more easily into the tight cardboard slots.

Getting the discs out without scratching them in order to put them in the sleeves required me to gently pull out the edge of the cardboard as far as possible before removing the disc in each case. Even though I tried to be careful, I still managed to tear one of the pockets.

I don't feel obliged to mention the content itself because most people either don't care or have already seen the T.V. series. However, the movie is another story. I had only seen it once before and that was a very long time ago when I was too young to understand a lot of the humor. My memory was that it was relatively depressing for a comedy.

I watched the movie first in order to have a point of comparison as I watched the series and was struck by how episodic it is. It really is more like a series of T.V. episodes placed end-to-end. This is a point that is mentioned in an interview with Robert Altman on the disc. He said the use of the speaker in the movie (which was also used in the T.V. show) was invented to tie the episodes together. He also said that Korea is never overtly referred to in the movie because he wanted it to be unclear whether or not this was about Vietnam or Korea. By making it vague, he could make a movie that would have been considered subversive if it were about Vietnam.

The movie isn't nearly as good as the T.V. show, mainly because the characters don't have the same charm and some of the "episodes" don't stand very well on their own. The final sequence is about a football game between units and it fails to be funny most of the time. It could be that so much of the movie was dissected to make stories for the earlier seasons of M*A*S*H that it seems recycled.

An Extremely Deep Discount

Deep Discount DVD is holding a 20% off sale which I believe ends on November 18. In order to take advantage of the sale, you have to enter a promotional code on check-out. If you shop carefully, this can really add up to a huge price cut over Amazon or other DVD outlets.

I'd been on the fence about buying MASH for quite some time because I felt the seasons were a bit too expensive on a per season basis. I also tend to prefer to buy complete sets rather than individual seasons of shows which I would like to have every season of. The added bonuses to being patient and waiting in this regard is that I get all the added extras they toss in to persuade people who already bought a show season by season buy the box set and I get each season more cheaply.

When I initially searched Amazon, I was delighted to see they listed it for about $140. A day later, it had jumped up to about $170 on Amazon and I was disappointed as that was over the threshold that I wanted to pay. Fortunately, in response to a sale message from Deep Discount DVD, my husband looked into the set's price on DDD and they had it for $140. Coupled with the sale discount, the price dropped down to $111 which is as good a deal as one can hope for.

I also found some other movies for a little over $4 after the discount. These weren't stellar movies but some science fiction that I like enough to watch now and then (like the original Stargate movie in its "ultimate edition" form). If you're a movie collector, it's a good time to go through the DDD catalog and fill in gaps very cheaply. I tend to choose a genre from the side bar then list movies by price from lowest to highest and scan up to a certain price range.

If you're interested in taking advantage of the sale and don't get DDD's "spams" (which as I said before, are actually worth getting), let me know and I'll pass on the discount code to you.

Origin of DDD Sale DVDs

Previously, I recommended that anyone who buys DVDs sign up for Deep Discount DVD's (DDD) promotional e-mail messages so they can catch the sales. My second shipment from a recent order provided some insight into what motivates those sales. One of my boxes came with a Wal-Mart price sticker on it. So, I'm guessing that the sales are offered when DDD gets a load of titles that didn't sell well enough at stores or were overstocked. This also explains why their regular prices are generally on par with Amazon's. They're only super cheap when they're part of one of these returns.

On a side note, I thought Wal-Mart was supposed to be pretty cheap but $26.64 for a season of 3rd Rock doesn't seem particularly cheap, especially when Amazon sells it for $21.99. I've never been to a Wal-Mart in the U.S. and the way in which Wal-Mart does business in Japan is a completely different model. They work through a controlling interest in Seiyu which offers only sporadic discounts rather than "everyday low prices" as they do in the U.S. However, given what I've read about Wal-Mart's treatment of employees, I'd do my level best to avoid patronizing them.

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" is coming

September 19 is 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'. This is the only invented holiday which I heartily endorse. This is partially because it wasn't invented by a candy, flower or greeting card company but it's also because I think we should all be encouraged to spend at least one day a year acting goofy and talking funny.

There are several official web sites for 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' but the most official-looking one is here. While they are pushing a book, they also link to pictures of people observing the day.

If I were in the U.S., and had access to a variety of friends who could understand the concept, I'd definitely hold a party complete with homemade grog and sea chanties. I'm pretty sure, however, that the Japanese couldn't talk like a pirate if they tried. It's hard enough for them to speak English. The best I can do, therefore, is to get into the spirit of things and enjoy a piratey atmosphere at home.

To that end, I offer you my artwork of Skull from PvP as a pirate for your desktop. A small piece of it is at the top of this entry but a screen-size one can be downloaded here.

I also heartily recommend playing any incarnation of Monkey Island that you can get your hands on. This is a LucasArts adventure game for both PC and Mac that was inspired by the Pirates of the Carribbean attraction before the wildly popular movies came out. The flavor of the games is similar to that of the movies. In fact, there are some identical scenes in each (such as the dog with the prison cell key).

You can learn more about the games from two very good fan sites: The Legend of Monkey Island and World of Monkey Island. You'll have to search around a bit to find the games though, particularly the older ones. Aspyr ported Escape From Monkey Island to the Mac. PC users can get it from LucasArts. I'm not sure if the first few games, which were distributed on floppy, can be purchased anywhere anymore but there may be, ahem, some way of getting them for resourceful types. I replayed MI 1 and MI 2 over the last 4 days and they're still fun. I started MI 3 last night and plan on soldiering on to MI 4.

One of the most obvious ways to get in the spirit of things is to watch pirate movies. While the Johnny Depp movies are fine, for a real old salty dog experience, you have to turn to Robert Newton's hammy performances as Long John Silver. You can go with Treasure Island but for a full dose, his 1955 Adventures of Long John Silver television series which is available as part of a large and cheap collection of pirate movies is definitely the bee's knees.

At the very least, on September 19, try to wear a puffy shirt. ;-)

Deep Discount DVD

This morning I received the first of what will be 3 shipments from a mail order DVD house called Deep Discount DVD. Whether you're in Japan or in the U.S., this is a place you'll want to look into for purchasing Region 1 DVDs at sometimes unbeatable prices.

Deep Discount DVD on average runs a bit cheaper than Amazon though the prices will vary from title to title. The point at which it really shines is when it offers sales and titles you're interested in happen to be on offer. Since I'm a particular fan of boxed sets of T.V. series, I didn't hesitate to take advantage of their "buy one, get one free" campaign.

For the pictured series, I paid between $9-$14 per box set. That's a per season price and nothing is going to beat that short of piracy. The cool thing is that they were offering 3 series I like in this particular campaign and I got 10 seasons for $122 (including airmail shipping to Japan). Previously, my husband and I were able to pick up "All in the Family" for $7 per season.

My sister has been buying from DDD for quite some time and has never had any problems with them so they appear to be quite reliable despite the bargain house appearance of their web site. If you're interested in building a collection, the best thing to do is sign up to receive their sales information via e-mail and check out what they've got at extra low prices. Yes, I'm actually recommending you receive this particular company's spam.

As an aside, the box I received was wrapped with some tape from the United States postal service that I've never seen before (pictured below).


I'm not sure what the motivation was for this type of tape or warning. Has there been an increase in the number of stolen parcels or mailbox vandalizing in the U.S.?

It reminds me of something that one of my British coworkers said of an incident in a post office in England that he worked at part-time during the holiday season. He said that the plumbing got clogged up and that, upon investigation, they discovered it was stuffed up with parcel wrapping. Apparently, employees were taking packages into the bathroom, tearing them open, flushing the wrapping and stealing the contents. When I told him this was a serious crime in the U.S., he was somewhat surprised.

Watching Region-free

Back before DVD standards were settled upon, my husband and I had to make a decision about what region code we were going to accumulate a collection under. Since we ultimately plan to reside in the United States, we chose to purchase only Region 1 encoded DVDs. This also was better for us because discs from the U.S. are cheaper than those in Japan and often titles are released earlier or exclusively there.

Having made that choice, we bought a rather expensive region-free player from the states by mail order. This was back in "the old days" before many shops in Akihabara carried players that could easily be set to be region-free or were region-free out of the box. That venerable machine, a Pioneer, went to DVD heaven earlier this year.

Rather than toddle off to Akihabara to secure a successor, we decided to opt for the rather cheap one that the FBC was offering. The main benefit of doing this was we were guaranteed the ability to download an English manual and a diagram of all the remote's functions translated into English. While I've gotten pretty good at stumbling my way through everything from Japanese computer manuals to utility bills (with the help of my husband), I'd rather that the more complicated functions of an audio-visual device were there for me in English if I have that option.


For 8,730 yen, it's been a pretty good deal. It works as well as any DVD player. That is to say, it can be idiosyncratic about some discs but plays 95% of them without problems. It also plays MP3's, DVD-RWs, and other discs which our old player could be a bit fussy about. The circular display on the right has a kaleidoscope function where it cycles through various colors while it displays the time on the disc. If that weren't all dandy enough, the unit has a small footprint (Dimensions: W25 x H6.2 x D25.5cm) which is rather helpful for those of us in small apartments.

images copyright of the Foreign Buyer's Club

Rome

"frow him to the froor vewy wough-wy, centuwion"

I don't watch much Japanese T.V. unless you count snippets on YouTube posted by Japan Probe. Part of the reason for this is that the type of entertainment on Japanese T.V. doesn't interest me much and the other reason is my Japanese is embarrassingly bad.

I do watch Japanese cable T.V. when I can find a station that's not showing Korean dramas, Aly McBeal, old crime dramas, or bad movies. However, I seem to have an uncanny ability to think about watching T.V. about 10-15 minutes before the hour when Japanese networks are running commercials between shows. For those who are in the U.S., a lot of Japanese cable channels show no commercials at all during programs and just run them repeatedly between shows.

So, I buy a lot of DVDs. I'm always on the hunt for good viewing material and I'm a particular fan of historical dramas. Fortunately, I stumbled across "Rome", a miniseries jointly produced by HBO and the BBC. Season 1 is now out on DVD and well worth spending some time watching. There are 12 episodes that span the time from Julius Caesar's struggle to make himself emperor to his death. However, unlike most of these types of dramas, the center of the series is not Caesar though his story is the backbone of season 1. The machinations of his relatives, enemies, and allies and the part they played in his demise form the meat of the show. We also get to follow the lives of two soldiers, Titus and Lucius. They are meant to portray the "everyman" of Roman society but are often ensnared in loftier situations through unfortunate happenstance.

"Do you think that sheppardess would like to do it doggie-style?"
(Titus and Lucius)

It is the way in which the series shows us the daily lives of Romans where it deviates from the usual Roman epic. Some of it is pretty brutal and quite graphic. In fact, it's rather hard not to notice the softcore porn aspects of some of the sex scenes. Since "Rome" was co-produced by HBO, it's not surprising that they've chosen to take advantage of their cable-based freedom when it comes to showing nudity. Titus in particular seems to display a voracious appetite for women and speaks quite crudely of their anatomy on several occasions. The series is not for the prudish or easily-offended.

Aside from the more titillating aspects, there are numerous plots woven and unravelled in a soapishly delicious way, character development (espeically for Lucius) and a real feel for what it may have been like to live in Rome around 40 BC. Background characters, such as the town crier, show personality in their limited roles and you develop an affinity for them, as if they were acquaintances in a town you actually lived in.

The series does a very good job of making the history behind Caesar's downfall clear and understandable without being boring or tedious. This is the first time I've seen a portrayal of Caesar's life show us how someone who was a conquering hero and generally seemed to act in the interests of the people could have been seen as such a great tyrant by his political opponents.

It's also good for what it avoids. While many movies have spent most of their screen time savoring Caesar's relationship with Cleopatra, we barely see more than a kiss and a resulting offspring. We're spared the cliche of Cleopatra being unrolled from a carpet at Caesar's feet and "et tu brute" is never uttered.

The series can be purchased from Amazon for about $62. If you wait awhile, the price will likely go down but it is well worth that price given the quality of the production and the compelling story.

all images from "Rome" are the copyright of HBO and the BBC