I tried to avoid it as long as I could.

People (expats that is) kept saying, "Have you been to the good DVD store near KFC? They have a lot of cheap DVDs in English there."  Then they would show me the latest treasures they had unearthed there…the latest and greatest Hollywood movies (some of which I knew could not be on DVD yet in the States.)

I knew if I ever set foot in this store I would see all the movies I could potentially purchase for a mere pittance (by my American standards, anyway.) I didn’t want to go there because I knew that would be a slippery slope for me…

First, I could see myself just browsing…then I would find a movie that was mildly interesting, then perhaps another, and another, and another.  (We were enrolled in Netfix a few months before we came here and were watching a constant rotation of movies.)  After the mildly painful process of getting rid of so many movies and CDs in the U.S.,  I would suddenly be back at square one…collecting again!

I knew this to be true and yet I went to the movie store this past week.  Contrary to all my best paranoia, I stepped inside and started browsing.  And what was one of the first movies I came across…

Wallace & Gromit – Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

I knew I was doomed at that point.  I don’t really know where these movies come from (althought I can guess) and it’s probably better that I don’t know.  They look legitimate (DVD-9 and ironically with all the piracy warnings intact.)  The quality is sometimes questionable and you never know what you’re going to get (my friends kept buying Batman Begins in various languages, i.e. German, Russian, Chinese) but for a dollar, it’s usually worth the risk.  And it kind of feels like home when you can watch a newer movie in your own language.  With all the mafan we’ve gone through, I can justify it (for now, anyway).

It’s also nice that we have the projector, too.  Makes it feel a bit like Mountlake 9.  There’s not much to do here in terms of going out on "dates" either, so a home theater is nice alternative.

So, as I predicted, the  (hopefully) small collection has begun.  For around $8.00 we got the following movies…

   
• Wallace & Gromit – Curse of the Were-Rabbit (someone was really being a comedian with the subtitles on this one!  We’re talking R-rated stuff…I turned them off.)
   

   

• Batman Begins (in English!)

   

• Kingdom of Heaven

   

• O Brother Where Art Thou

   

• A Bug’s Life

   

• Cinderella

   

• 3 Disney Cartoons

If any of you would like to pop in for a movie some time you are more than welcome to…but you might have to squint a little.  I just ask that you bring some good heavy-butter microwave popcorn with you, unless you prefer strawberry flavored.  We have plenty of that.