Thursday, September 20, 2007

Good morning good people


So the other day I got an email from a large, big box store, letting me know that they would sell box sets for 40% off. Now, I try my best to shop locally, as I grew up in a small town and always enjoyed the diversity of all the shops and small businesses. In addition, I try to live under the tenets of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and like to buy stuff second-hand when possible, especially to avoid the grips of the blue and yellow hall of horrors some know as Ikea. So when I wanted to buy the great collection that is VIVA PEDRO, I turned to TLA Releasing, who I knew from my prior Netflix obsession as a distributor of great international movies, many with a gay focus. VIVA PEDRO is a collection of 8 of Almodovar's films, including the awesome Law of Desire and Matador, featuring the young Antonio Banderas in some very spicy roles. The interplay of Banderas and the delightful Carmen Maura tops off the excellent ensemble acting present in all of Almodovar's films. My favorite line from La ley del deseo has to be when Maura's [who plays a Male-to-Female transwoman] character chides her brother for sneaking off to the bathroom by himself while they're out partying: "Que pasa, yo tambien soy toxicomana!" [What's up? I'm an addict too!] FYI, Almodovarlandia is the best source for everything Pedro-related, including a Constitution.

I ordered this gem from TLA, but never received it due to being charged twice and then having the entire order canceled. So the sale at Borders was the perfect chance to get it.


Alas, your hero was unable to localize a copy on the island of Manhattan, so was faced with multiple questions. Do I abandon ship and go home empty handed? Should I buy the Tyler Perry boxed set? And then I saw David Attenborough's LIFE OF BIRDS, the avian follow-up to LIFE OF MAMMALS, which got a lot of play last winter in Chicago. Needless to say, its awesome. Sir Attenborough has an amazing, Jeff-Corwin like ability to get right up close to these birds without startling them, and his knowledge is extensive. I was a little down on the computer generated animation at first, but they used it well. Highly recommended.

Click here to see a video of Jeff Corwin himself getting bitten/attacked by an elephant, and community fave Anderson Cooper helps a brother out.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Can we get a review on Viva Pedro yet? I was thinking of using it as a condiment this weekend.