The DVD I should have skipped

12.16.2018

I greatly enjoy my DVD collection. I've been collecting, actually buying, them since 1997, starting with the first Starship Troopers movie. Somewhere along my path of life (I think when I was working in the video store) I decided that if I wanted to watch a movie I would just buy it in case I wanted to watch it more than once. With the advent of video on demand, that's not quite as cost effective as it used to be. Storage space for all these discs takes up room vs keeping everything in the cloud. It's actually easier to just click a button and buy/rent a movie when I want to watch it than the hassle of ordering a disc, waiting for it to ship, then remembering what shelf I put it on when I'm finally in the mood to watch it.

But that's not what this is about.

My man-love for Kevin Smith is well documented, albeit waned a smidge over the past year as I finally got to the point where I'd seen/heard him talk enough that any given topic or snippet I'd seen/heard 75% of it before. This past year I went with Dr Blondie to see Kev at the Ryman, and 75% of what he talked about I'd heard on podcasts, twitter posts, or whatever other random path of information flows between he and I. I expected it. This event was about 3 months after his heart attack that didn't kill him, which he mentioned was being recorded for Showtime.

I like Kevin's Q&A's more than his movies, the man can tell a good tale. If he's released a Q&A on disk, I've got it. The special for Showtime popped up a couple of months ago. I don't have Showtime, but I thought about getting it. In the end, I did not. A few weeks ago Kevin posted, on one of his many information flows between us, that iTunes was going to have his Silent But Deadly special on whatever date he mentioned. I've been cutting back my iTunes purchases, and use in general, but maybe I would start some digital downloading of Kevin?

If iTunes has it, maybe he's releasing a disk? I went to Amazon and there in the available Blu-Ray section is Silent But Deadly! Click, bought, ship it to me, it was only $13!

This next part is connected, trust me: As part of my Alexa Echo/Smart (Special Needs) Home 2018 Initiative, I upgraded my Amazon Music to Unlimited (oooh, snazzy, huh?) account to have what can only be described as "more stuff". I'm still amazed at what is actually available there. 1987 Open Sesame album by Whodini is there. I think I was the only person in Alabama that listened to that when it came out. On cassette. That I bought at Murphy's Mart. That detail isn't relevant other than Amazon streams some eclectic stuff. Remembering this, I searched for Kevin, and they did indeed have Silent But Deadly available for my listening pleasure. As such, I joyously listened!

And I found that the hour that constitutes Silent But Deadly is the first hour that he talked about when he was in Nashville. It makes sense as far as a stand-up/speaker being on tour, but it was a little disappointing. I'd never thought of this being 100% the same. 100% the same of something I'd heard 75% of before. It's not a total wash - I re-listen to Kevin stories all the time, but that makes the expectation of hearing a golden nugget for the first time so much higher.

Now the disk will go in the stack of everything else, and most likely forgotten for a long time. Hearing a story, paying to see it told in person, and then hearing it again when thinking it might be with something new - those stories will stick with you for a while before they'll get a chance to be heard, or seen, again.

Permalink kevin smith movies/tv/dvd