comment #1

Rich S. says ...

Don't take this the wrong way, but why, oh why, do you pay retail for DVDs? I can see an occasional impulse purchase of an import or something, but 75-80% at full retail?

After all I first found your column while I was shopping for cheap DVDs on Reel.com.

comment #2

Josh Massey says ...

How many orphans could that have fed?

comment #3

bents75 says ...

You need to invest in a proper media rack Wells. It would drive me nuts having my shit all stacked vertically like that.

As for the expense, I think a more proper question is how many of those 65 movies did you already have on dvd?

I've bought about 25 blu-rays in the last 7 months, virtually none at retail price, but I only owned about 5 of them already and I feel a lot less guilty for it.

comment #4

mccool says ...

given your frequency of spyware/malware/virus issues, there's only one solution .... lay off the uh, er, adult, sites .... especially ones that end in .ru

comment #5

GKLondon says ...

Wells, which Blu Ray have really impressed you? Which ones do you throw in to impress friends? Which ones do you find yourself coming back to?

comment #6

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Every three or four weeks I'll visit youporn.com for 15 or 20 minutes, and that's it. I get disgusted pretty quickly and move on. Quoting again from Erica Jong: "After watching porn for five minutes I want to have sex with someone. After watching it for 15 minutes I never want to have sex again."

comment #7

MrTribeca says ...

bents75, I agree. I had a friend who used to stack his books like that on the floor, rising up to waist level. And he had a lot of books...
Jeff's probably done this to hide the titles of the guilty pleasures that he's slipped in to his collection.

comment #8

Carl LaFong says ...

Glad to see One, Two, Three is still on your self. Still my favorite Wilder flick:
Otto: I will not have my son grow up to be a capitalist.
Scarlet: When he's 18 he can make his mind up whether he wants to be a capitalist or a rich communist.

comment #9

GKLondon says ...

Wait, what question did I ask?

comment #10

Ponderer says ...

I still don't understand why you're paying full price? I just bought the Blu-rays of Repulsion and Last Year at Marienbad for $19.99 at Amazon. Those are like $5 cheaper than the friggin' DVDs. Is the site doing so well that you're literally burning cash now?

My favorite quote about porn came from Milos Forman, when he was asked whether or not the Hustler material turned him on. Paraphrasing, he said something like, "After a certain point, looking at porn just turns into a gynecological exam."

comment #11

joncro says ...

ubuntu!

it works! NO spyware/malware!

and its free!!!!!!!

not joking, it really is the future.

comment #12

Kristopher Tapley says ...

Gotta cut back on that porn, Jeff. Or switch to Mac.

comment #13

Famous Mortimer says ...

A thread called "The Blues" with the Oxford Film Festival badge in the accompanying photo. . . It's the little things.

comment #14

Jeffrey Wells says ...

I have an iMac.

comment #15

bmcintire says ...

By paying retail, I am assuming Jeff means they weren't studio-tossed freebies.

comment #16

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I haven't bought a new DVD since I moved to the States around 18 months ago, given that I couldn't be arsed with collecting Region 1 discs if I ever go home to England again. And I can't say I really miss it. I used to like my collection at home - around 100-150 films or TV shows, I guess - but now with Netflix there's really no need to spend all that cash on something that you might only watch once or twice again.

comment #17

T. S. Idiot says ...

Have added 41 Blus to my collection, totaling over 800, of DVDs in past 9 months. Have never paid retail for these. Haven't paid retail for books or CDs in this century. Wells may need an economic intervention.

comment #18

drbob says ...

"I need to at least recover the data so I have to take the damn thing into a computer repair shop . . ."

"Every three or four weeks I'll visit youporn.com for 15 or 20 minutes, and that's it."

So, what your saying is not only do you look at porn on the computer for which you depend for your entire livelihood, but you also never back-up your hard-drive on said computer. Good god man, wake up to the 21st century.

comment #19

Gordon27 says ...

"a good 75% or 80% of them purchased over the last seven months at full-price retail. "

I don't mean this to be snarky, but why aren't you getting them free from studio publicists and such? I know plenty of people who review DVDs on-line that don't have your following that manage to rarely, if ever, have to pay for discs (usually limited to specific stuff that they want anyway but isn't popular enough for the distributor to want the free reviews).

comment #20

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

That sounds snarky, Gordon.

Just kidding. I was wondering the same thing myself.

comment #21

MeandMyselfandI says ...

If you ever see a pop-up ad on a site that says your computer is infected, always use alt-f4 to close it. Clicking on it, even clicking on the X to close the window can be used to launch an executable to install something on your computer. I also use alt-f4 to close out of suspicious looking web pages if I've been redirected to an ad site.

If you think something weird happened, use a good program like SUPERAntiSpyware and/or Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware to scan your computer BEFORE shutting it down to avoid those startup disasters. A lot of malware needs a reboot to be fully installed, so the key is to delete it before that happens.

comment #22

corey3rd says ...

150 DVDs? that's not a collection - it's self control

comment #23

jmevans says ...

Jeff you really should invest in a macbook pro. 13" variety goes for $1200 at Amazon. No more worrying about spyware and all the crap you'll face with a PC. You own an Imac, you know the benefits of using a mac vs. a PC.

Also I thought "Funny People" was a really flawed film and can't believe you praised it so highly. Everything was a mess once Sandler went to see his ex flame.

Sell that POS Gateway and get a Mac.

comment #24

Dan V. says ...

Blu Ray gives me anxiety. I collect them for the reference quality viewing experience and, if I'm being honest, the tactility of having a copy of Film X in my greasy mitts, While thinking about the gross cost of my purchasing makes my prunehole tighten at what I've collectively spent, I'm happy to pay retail in my efforts to subsidize the film industry...

...but as I collect them, I have a sinking sense of "Laserdiscism"-- constantly looking over my shoulder for the format's impending doom and hearing someone snicker "Sucker".

comment #25

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

MacMacMacMac, it'll make you a better person with a purer heart.

How fuckin' annoying.

comment #26

arnold stang says ...

Jeff,

My wife had the same virus pop up on her computer - and I'm pretty sure she doesn't visit porn sites, but then again... - anyway, I had to take out the hard drive, run it through my laptop with a malware program, and that got rid of the "bug"...to be on the safe side you should install the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program (it's free) to prevent future headaches...

comment #27

Gordon27 says ...

Anybody else remember Jeff twice getting into huge arguments where he swore up and down that he hated porn and had literally only watched any porn at all five times in his life?

comment #28

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Yup, Gord....LOL

Maybe he meant "made porn" only five times in his life?

comment #29

Griff says ...

The Essentials (at least in the accursed PC world):
MalwareBytes
SpywareBlaster
Spybot Search and Destroy.

But, back to the Blues. Which one do you consider the Best?
Best Video Presentation?
Best Audio?
Best Extras?
Best Overall Presentation (Sleeve, disc, etc)?

And what is the Blue you long to have most of all?

comment #30

free games says ...

You need to invest in a proper media rack Wells. It would drive me nuts having my shit all stacked vertically like that.