Hello,

I was doing some shopping at the local hardware store yesterday and decided to stop by the Big Lots next door to see if they had some discount hand tools. Anyway, it turns out the store also sold DVDs and software (who knew?) and there were some steals to be had. Owing to the fact that they're an overstock retailer, I think selection can vary greatly among locations. Nonetheless, at the local one I went to on Saturday, I purchased the following:

Michelangelo Antonioni's "The Passanger" for USD $3
Aki Kaurismaki's "The Man without a Past" for USD $2
Wolfgang Becker's "Good-bye Lenin" for USD $2

The DVDs appear new--ones that were "previously viewed" or "previously enjoyed" displayed a conspicuous sticker on the front of the box--and the upper limit for discs seems to be $4 for movies like "Syriana," "The Squid and the Whale," "Sin City," and so on.

Not all the movies were mainstream or arthouse, though I did notice a preponderance of Sony titles. There also seemed to be a lot of incomplete anime collections, children's films on VHS, and 20-50 genre movie packs (eg, "detective movies" or "vampire films.") It's an odd potpourri: lots of direct-to-video releases besides things like two-disc special editions of Christopher Nolan's "Memento" (for $3!) and the two-disc Superbit "Charlie's Angels" (also $3!) Almost like a flea market/swap meet or yard sale selection. Just alerting other Mobians to the deal--I know the DVD format might be phased out soon but I didn't think you could purchase three pretty good movies for just $7 plus tax this early into the Blu-ray transition. Worth a stop if you have an extra ten dollars in your wallet that's looking to be spent.

I just bought a new Sony DVD/VCR combo player and put it in storage to await the day (hopefully a long way off) when every other DVD player and VCR I have break down. It's sitting in the storage closet next to a used-but-still-working 20-inch Cathode Ray Tube TV set and a brand-new unused 13-inch TV/VCR combo, also stored away so I can always have something to watch tapes on. I also have a new unused Sony Walkman (AM/FM/cassette player) sitting in a drawer in the bedroom awaiting the day my current model (which I'm listening to right now) needs replacing.

(Hmmm...what else do I need to stock up on? Portable CD players, 'cuz i-Pods are making them obsolete and I need to have something to play my CDs on in the years ahead. What else? Oh yeah, another couple of code-free DVD players so I can continue to watch Shaw Bros. movies and J-pop concerts well into my retirement years. :D )

Unfortunately, I wasn't so far-sighted when it came to all the Multimate and Word files contained on 5-&-1/4-inch floppy diskettes used in my first computer. But that's another story. :P