Rdogge,

Hey, this is what this is here for. As one who has posted here more than most, I have had my fair share of vents.

I have one right now....

Get a post asking if I am interested in certain titles.... I think we all got that.. and I agree to a deal.

He agreed to it but then says, after I ask to send first, I am told "I might have a deal for X title" but "maybe in a few days I can do it."

Screw that shiznit! I was willing to trade for a title I haven't even thought about owning because it wasn't even one I ever had an interest.... but though "Hey, why not? Something new."

Well... I am not mad that I didn't get the movie, just disappointed that a deal was made, then off.. and then I see the same movie listed in an offer well after it was offered to me.

Man, I should learn not to deal with playcentric.

They sent me two dvds that are the canadian editions that are full screen!!!

What up wit dat?

hello - what i dislike the most is no "Want List" its kind of hard to counter-offer. also when you say your intersted in something off their Trade List, they usually pick your most expensive dvds and when you say no or ask for a "Want List" they says thanks for the offer or maybe some other time!

Playcentric,.. they love sending the Canadian versions. I still have a sealed Scream from them.... which is the French/English version. It wasn't the one I even wanted. I didn't feel like paying the shipping to send it back so I kept it.

Long live Pan Scan..lol..jk of course.

Wow - I have to be away for almost 2 weeks and look at this nifty thread y'all started! I really needed to see some funny stuff and darned if you folks aren't providing it

About my being gone and potentially becoming a bad new gold trader - it couldn't be helped. Some yutz who was driving while talking on a cell phone plowed into my seventeen year old cousin's car. She's still not conscious and if she doesn't come out of it this week, the doctors want her to go into long term care. Her mother (my aunt) is freaked and so I have been making long drives to deal with the situation (namely helping her decide on a facility which I hope we don't end up using and which she is too distraught to do rationally on her own).

Moral of the story: Please please think twice before you use a cell phone and drive. Get voice mail with your cell.

Anyway I'm catching up and making sure everyone has their goodies and their feedback from me. I still don't have all my goodies from everyone and have contacted those of you via email. The oldest incomplete trade is only 3 weeks old and I don't see any point in getting hyper until it's been a full month. Besides my perspective is colored by the accident and getting huffy over a missing DVD seems petty and trivial.

The observations about certain gold traders being difficult to deal with, about bigskillet (Jay) being a stud and about lopsided trades have really amused me.

wow, has it been the month of tragedies or what? Besides yourself Infinite, there have been 2 other people on the forum that have told me about horror stories that have happened in their personal lives.
Best wishes to all of them and hope everything works out.

Thanks pan...I'm keeping my hopes up that she'll come out okay. I'll post here whatever the outcome is.

Infinite, we try! And here is another story for ya....

My journey to FYE and Suncoast!!!

Okay, after my interview today I decided since I had some time to kill I would stop in the King Of Prussia Mall and see what was what. I go to Suncoast first.... and I couldn't believe those prices! Just in case anyone goes in there and actually buys something (I used to.. shame on me.. but it was actually bargins at the time) I found an Armageddon CC for only.... drum roll please..... 49.95! I couldn't help but laugh. Even funnier was when I walked into FYE.

I found in FYE, The Great Outdoors for 25 bucks! The Arrival two pack for 30 bucks and a bunch of Superbits for around 27-30 bucks! I was actually laughing in the store. Oh, and found and nice copy of Leon The Professional for only, 28 bucks!

Electronics Boutique had some used DVDS that cost more there used than some brand new. Anyone want Collateral Damage for 21.99 used? Anyone? Blade for 15 used?? Come on folks.. these prices SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have no pity for anyone that decides to go to these stores and purchase DVDS for those prices. If you do so, don't complain about it.

Gee Bill we must not shop in the same fye's

I found an OOP Help! and an OOP! Magical Mystery Tour at retail (ie $24.99 and $19.99 respectively) just this past weekend. Before you all ask they're for a friend and fellow Beatle maniac (I don't even own copies myself). Granted that's retail but that's better than ebay or amazon or half (which I think should be called twice.com now that they let sellers list things above their original retail prices - that's what ebaY 'buy it now'and ebaY stores are for

rant on
Does the post office not inform people that
for 1.29-1.53, you can send 1 dvd via first class mail. I understand sending media mail for larger trades but 1 dvd, there's not much price difference. rant off

I finally have some good news.

My cousin finally woke up very early this morning (like 4:30 or so). Her speech was slurry but she made sense to the night nurse on duty so maybe maybe things won't be as bad as the doctors initially thought. She will definitely need all kinds of therapy (especially physical therapy to relearn how to walk - one of her legs was badly broken) but things are now so much more hopeful than they were last week. For those of you who thought positive thoughts and sent good wishes many many thanks. This still doesn't excuse any of you from driving and cell phone chatting though - think about what could happen to you or someone else before you dial or answer.

Great news!

Infinite, very good news, man!
Being Canadian, on a related subject, I hope Jason Priestly - yes, that Canadian guy ex of the funny zip code show - makes it through all right. The things that I've heard about him here in Toronto where he was living for the last year or so was that he was a totally cool guy and very friendly. For those of u not knowing, he got himself into a heavy duty racing accident on the weekend in LA, went into a wall at 240mph.
ouch.
P.S. on an unrelated note, anyone else here at the forum spend as much money as me on dvd's and not even being able to watch the first 3 or 4? It's an obsession and a damn expensive one too! I'm trying to rationalize it, I quit smoking 5 months ago and thought I needed some other activity to channel my efforts into instead so I picked up dvd collecting. I literally am spending $300 - 400. Cdn. a month on it and I have an ungodly pile of dvd's on my computer desk. Me wife keeps telling me to do something with them and I keep saying yeah, yeah.
what to do?

Well, has anyone been dumb enough, besides myself to spend over 8 dollars on 5 envelopes? Here is the story.

I go to Kmart to see if they finally have the envelopes I use to send the dvds out in.... no such luck. So I go to the drugstore across the street and what do I see??? The envelopes I need but not in the usualy 5 pack that I get them at Kmart for about 2.79. The price for ONE envelope is $1.69. Of course being in the bind that I am in, I needed those envelopes to send dvds out. So yes, the bleach and the 5 enveolpes I bought came to over 10 dollars!! 10 dollars people!

The way I see it is, even though they are being send first class... consider them priority for the price I paid!

Or, this could be God getting back at me for ripping off Kmart as much as I have. I love their misprices... a case of oil (normally 29 bucks), the best you can get, each bottle was almost 5 dollars... I got the case for less than 5 dollars! So, I guess we are even.

Still pisses me off though... I hate Eckard!!! <--name of drugstore in case you didn't know.

It wasn't in LA, it was in Tennessee and he hit the wall going 180.

Bill

hey, Bill, you're right about Tennessee but our papers reported that it was 240 mph. Us Canadians are such exaggerators, eh, aren't we?

pan & Bill thanks for the support - I will be going to see my cousin this weekend.

Bill do you ever buy your postal supplies online in bulk - I know occasionally you run out of envelopes etc at a bad time but what about getting your packing material that way? Besides Kmart needs a little $$$ from you to stay in business (they lose money on me mostly when they have their clothing clearances - that's when I get my cheap shorts, T-shirts, and jeans for work and for around the house). I have gotten a few DVDs from them cheap though - thanks for the tip. I should talk about snapping up misprices though because Borders misprices are my vice - I can't resist a cheap Criterion disc, especially when it's a Hitchcock.

I recycle padded envelopes where I can to save $$$. I've often thought we should have a contest where DVD Talk traders send around the same envelope to each other and see how many times it could be used and how many places it could go before it's just unfit to send out again

Pan congrats on giving up smoking. Maybe you should buy or build a shelf for all those DVDs (mine are piled up too, I'm still trying to figure out the best cheap way to store them myself)

On a more DVD trading related thread, what kinds of DVDs does everyone collect -- in other words, do you specialize in a few types of DVDs or do you just buy whatever strikes your fancy?

Take me - I tend to rent the newest latest titles and buy to keep 'catalog' titles like the AFI 100 Years 100 Movies titles, 70s and 80s sci-fi, mystery and suspense stuff, Hitchcocks, Kubricks, Barry Levinson, John Waters, Robert Altman, several 80s movies (buying and preserving my celluloid childhood) classic silent films, TV series and one of everytitle containing Vincent D'Onofrio. To me Lord of The Rings is a 'rent me', Star Wars A New Hope a 'must own'. I've been mostly disappointed with movies ofthe last 2 or 3 years, the big exceptions being Amelie, Gosford Park and Bandits (bought 'em all after rentals). The newest release I have seen is 'Lord Of The Rings' and my latest purchase is a 4 DVD documentary set - the Unknown Jimmy Durante, Marx Brothers, Peter Sellers & Jonathan Winters.

I'm just curious as to how random I am in my tastes.

Also on Criterions - are you trying to 'collect the whole set', do you buy a few subsets (like say all the Kurosawa films or Hitchcocks) or do you put your money elsewhere? There are maybe 15 or so left on my want list and I own 15 of them. I feel like I should rent them before I jump on the quest to own them all bandwagon. I have bought all the Monty Python related, all the Hitchcocks (save Spellbound which isn't out yet) and a few Kurosawas but not much else 'cause I'm clueless.

I'm interested to hear what others think.

ha, ha, that's rich. How many envelopes have u recieved that have 4 or 5 address labels, one on top of the other? I got one envelope from one trader - or was it 7? - that had literally 2 rolls of packing tape holding it together! None of the original envelope was left and it friggin' looked like a steamer trunk with labels from every country in the world!
What a larff! I wanted to shove myself in the envelope and see what Tunisia was like this time of year. Who? What, me, Mr. Post Person? Gee, I must have dozed off and fallen into the envelope. So, do I go parcel post?

Hmm, the first big fact I want to state is that I spend far too much money and even time obtaining dvd's. I have so many dvd's piled up at home that only now am I beginning to realize that I may never have the time to see them all in this lifetime. Unlike infini, I don't rent as often and rely on reviews of movies, word of mouth or just interest in the star or director of a title to incite me to buy/trade for a title. I should be renting more often, obviously, but have reasoned that I can trade first, watch the movie, and then trade again if necessary for a "keeper" title. I have been hit by the Criterion bug but do not go to extremes to get a Criterion title unless I know it's a goodie. Many times I've had the opportunity to pick up For All Mankind CC and The Rock CC, but will not because I have 0 interest in seeing either title again or in the case of For All Mankind for the first time. I dont' feel the need to get all the numbers in the Criterion set.
Also everyone has films that they will return to more often than others in their collection, ie. personal faves that remind them of good times, people, or just get a good feeling from. These are what I call my O'D discs (OverDose), films that I will return to to either watch all or just certain scenes to either show off my system or just to enjoy all over again.
Here's my list, in kinda order of preference:
1) Die Hard (and none of the lame sequels!)
2) Terminator (when Arnie didn't need to act, a portent for things to come)
3) Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan (" No, Kirk, I've done far worse than kill you: I've hurt you, and I wish to keep on hurting you.....")
4) Unforgiven (Damn, when Clint was good, he was really good!)
5) Stir Crazy ( I miss Gene and Richard together)
6) National Lampoon's Xmas Vacation (whoever doubted that Chevy Chase was not a comedic force to be reckoned should check this out and the first Vacation film - what a riot!)
Anyone else have a list?? Post it, mon!

I can't believe it! I type all of what I did and it didn't post! ARGH!!!

In a nutshell, I said I take anything and everything.... ahh screw it... what I said before was much better and I can't remember it word for word so just to hell with it!

Pretty much I am waiting for these movies below to be released and until then I will sit here quietly and behave like a 5 year old with a bad case of chickenpocks!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your cousin! I personally see no reason in the world to EVER drive using a cell phone. I don't even turn mine on in the car, as I won't answer it anyway. Driving is serious, and needs a person's complete focus.

On the DVD front. . .my tastes run primarily to indie/arthouse/foreign type of films. Because they are often not readily available for rental (and none of the mail order rental places works well or is available to Hawaii), I find I have to purchase them if I want to see them. I've gotten to the point I HATE renting anyway, as I don't like that "ticking clock" pressure. So this has become an enormously expensive hobby, as foreign/indie films tend to cost more than your mainstream titles.

I'm not a Criterion collector and only keep the ones where I genuinely really like the film. Criterion or not, many of them aren't to my tastes.

Matching up trades has become rather difficult over time, as I've acquired most of the older titles I need. It's hard to find anyone with titles from my want list, and on top of that, to have something they want! I didn't think my want list is that obscure, but perhaps it is.

Wow, my prayers are with your cousin. How stupid people can be when driving never ceases to shock me.

I don't really have a set type of DVD I like to buy, just ones that interest me. Though right now I seem to be buying more classic films though (especially horror ones) but I love action, drama, foreign, indie, horror, sci-fi, romance, comedies... basically anything with that will entertain me!

Infinite, that is terrific news! I hope she will continue to improve. On a somewhat related note, when I was a child (around 10 or 12), I have been in cars driven by drunk drivers on at least two separate ocassions. (The drivers were boyfriends of a close relative whom I visited ocassionally.) Let me tell you. It is not fun. It's scary as hell. And it changes the way you think about driving in later life. Fortunately, none of us got into an accident; but after the second or third time it happened I never went back to visit again.

Generally, I rent DVDs. Like rkndkn, the only exceptions to this rule are foreign films, especially Asian films. I find that European films are more readily available for rent than Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc.

I've a relatively small DVD collection (compared to most folks here, I guess) -- around 60 or so, half of which are foreign films. Like some folks here, I don't really have a set type of DVDs. Most of the DVDs I have in my collection are in the drama genre, and are films that I enjoy and merits repeat viewings. I've no interest in watching many of the Criterion titles. I've seen quite a few Criterion DVDs and did not find them to my liking. The only Criterion I do like is "Hearts & Minds," which I think is a fantastic documentary.

Hey look who is #99