this last weekend has been a movie weekend, or more accurately a dvd weekend. i picked up blue velvet as it's finally been released here in taiwan on dvd. it's been a long time since i've seen this film, but it still has the ability to freak me out. dennis hopper is so psycho in it, how can you not love it? unfortunately, the disc had a problem, so towards the end of the movie it became literally unwatchable. so we had to return it. the boss seemed to think all the discs of the first run may have this problem. i'm going to buy it somewhere else and see if i have better luck.

on top of picking up blue velvet i hit a discount store and picked up more dvds. they have dvds for 69 nt(about 2 u.s. dollars). most of these are of dubious quality, most being full frame and often dubbed from videotape. however, i don't think they are illegal bootlegs but fall into the public domain here. i picked up the mouse that roared, laura, the ghost and mrs. muir, and sayonara.

so far i've watched the mouse that roared and the ghost and mrs. muir. the mouse that roared is a peter sellers comedy in which he plays multiple roles. i can't imagine a film like this being made today that made fun of americans in this way or even with the anti-nuclear/war message of the film. especially considering how paranoid hollywood is of any film that might have an opinion on politics these days. of course a british produciton can probably get away with these things easier.

the ghost and mrs. muir is what i think of as a rainy day film. it's the kind of film i like to lay on the couch and watch on dreary rainy day. some days there is nothing more satisfying than laying on the couch and taking in a film from before you were born. and after all, don't we all wish to live in a cottage on the seashore with a ghost?

sayonara i picked up because this is where that song comes from and also miyoshi umeki is in it. she was a japanese lounge singer in the 50s, but she's probably most well known in the west for her role as the maid on the courtship of eddie's father.