Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Madness of Leonard, Part 6
Last night, I decided I wanted to rent a movie. Having just seen Elizabeth I on HBO, I was on a British monarch kick and went to rent The Madness of King George. I hadn't seen it yet, but I had heard many a great thing about it.
I went down to the local Bloodblister Video. I wasn't sure whether it was in comedy or drama. I checked drama. It wasn't there. I checked comedy. Not there either. I thought maybe they shelved it under "King George" so I checked the K's in comedy and drama. Not there.
Normally, I would have just asked, but the place was crowded, which was strange for a sunny Monday night in May, and I decided to not wait in line to see if they had it. The shelves were all out of order, so I looked up and down the areas between "K" and "M." Still no luck. Finally, the line cleared and asked the girl behind the counter. She had never heard of it and I had to repeat the name. She told me that they didn't carry it.
Having spent some time managing my own video store in the past, I understand not having a title. Things break, people don't return things, they get lost. You get a title when it comes out on video, hang on to a few copies after it leaves the New Releases, and sell off the rest. If they break or are lost, often they aren't replaced.
However, Bloodblister is slightly different, at least in my neighborhood. You see, they have been phasing out their VHS stock for a while now. In this particular store, you can't rent any VHS tapes at all. So, pretty much any movie made before 1998 had to be re-ordered on DVD specifically to fill their catalog (non-new release) shelves.
I don't expect them to carry every movie. I also don't expect them to carry every Oscar-nominated movie (King George had 4 nominations and 1 win). However, I do expect them to exercise some common sense. While looking at the titles between K and M on the comedy shelf, I saw they had a copy of Leonard, Part 6. This was shocking to me. This wasn't a holdover from back in the day when it was a new release. No, someone in the Bloodblister hierarchy thought that this was a good title to put on their shelves. They went out of their way to re-order the damn thing on DVD for their stores.
I don't want to come off as being snobby here. "Oh, they didn't have my snooty British monarchy drama, but they had Leonard, Part 6. However shall I go on?" Nothing like that. It's just that it was Leonard, Part 6. LEONARD, PART 6!
If I was looking for, say, The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape, but only found Leonard, Part 6, I would still be ticked.
I went down to the local Bloodblister Video. I wasn't sure whether it was in comedy or drama. I checked drama. It wasn't there. I checked comedy. Not there either. I thought maybe they shelved it under "King George" so I checked the K's in comedy and drama. Not there.
Normally, I would have just asked, but the place was crowded, which was strange for a sunny Monday night in May, and I decided to not wait in line to see if they had it. The shelves were all out of order, so I looked up and down the areas between "K" and "M." Still no luck. Finally, the line cleared and asked the girl behind the counter. She had never heard of it and I had to repeat the name. She told me that they didn't carry it.
Having spent some time managing my own video store in the past, I understand not having a title. Things break, people don't return things, they get lost. You get a title when it comes out on video, hang on to a few copies after it leaves the New Releases, and sell off the rest. If they break or are lost, often they aren't replaced.
However, Bloodblister is slightly different, at least in my neighborhood. You see, they have been phasing out their VHS stock for a while now. In this particular store, you can't rent any VHS tapes at all. So, pretty much any movie made before 1998 had to be re-ordered on DVD specifically to fill their catalog (non-new release) shelves.
I don't expect them to carry every movie. I also don't expect them to carry every Oscar-nominated movie (King George had 4 nominations and 1 win). However, I do expect them to exercise some common sense. While looking at the titles between K and M on the comedy shelf, I saw they had a copy of Leonard, Part 6. This was shocking to me. This wasn't a holdover from back in the day when it was a new release. No, someone in the Bloodblister hierarchy thought that this was a good title to put on their shelves. They went out of their way to re-order the damn thing on DVD for their stores.
I don't want to come off as being snobby here. "Oh, they didn't have my snooty British monarchy drama, but they had Leonard, Part 6. However shall I go on?" Nothing like that. It's just that it was Leonard, Part 6. LEONARD, PART 6!
If I was looking for, say, The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape, but only found Leonard, Part 6, I would still be ticked.
