fresh from the pirates

Over the coming weekend, to soothe what no doubt will be frazzled nerves from unpalatable things on my business agenda this week, I'll be watching and opining on the cache of DVDs I got: The Man from Elysian Fields, Gosford Park, Das Experiment, Opposite of Sex, About Schmidt (sp?) and a couple of others I can't remember - a really mixed bag of old and recent films (I remember wanting to watch Opposite of Sex while Nikki and I were in Seattle in 1998).

I was also shocked to find a copy of Better Luck Tomorrow, which I honestly thought would not be available here this soon. However, the vendor took it back, telling me that the quality was not good enough (how's that for a thought? The pirates exercise quality control.) It was, indeed, a case of better luck tomorrow.

Of course, going through all the available titles is quite a chore and I'm certain I've missed many interesting films. What makes me happy though is that fact that many art films (like Temptress Moon with Gong Li, Happy Together with Leung/Cheung and Samurai with Mifune) are easy to acquire.

Yes, the democratizing power of piracy. I'll pass on the "evils of piracy" angst for now, thanks.