During this period of COVID-19 social distancing I have been working from home, where among my main duties I take care of library payroll and compose edited versions of my book reviews for inclusion in the library system’s catalogue. Other activities I enjoy, such as going to the Y, going to the Scrabble Club, and anything else that involves socializing in groups has not been possible. Since my wrist injury over a month ago I have not been able to cycle. (It was me that was damaged during my accident, not my bike.) In these times when I am alone I have been reading, as my blog reviews can certainly attest to. I have also spent an inordinate amount of time in front of my television catching up on shows that I have had stored on my PVR for months. I do not recall the exact number of unwatched programs I had but I believe there were over sixty. At first I got caught up on the small backlog of regular shows I watch, then took care of old episodes of “Saturday Night Live” next. The largest chunk of unwatched shows were from the CNN series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. I watched every episode of that show in its later run but did not see the early episodes. On several occasions since Bourdain’s death CNN has been airing old episodes in weekend-long binges. My PVR tapes them all but I had not had the time to watch them until now. After Bourdain I caught up and watched some documentaries and a few TV movies I had taped–three of them being Christmas movies–until I was left with nothing still unwatched. My PVR vault did not go down to zero, however, as I decided to keep the horror that is the nightmarish Christmas movie called simply Santa Claus, produced in Mexico in 1959. I will certainly play this for guests (as well as watch it again) over Christmas this year. When I was left with merely that single movie stored on my PVR, I genuinely was thrilled to see “My Recordings” read “1 of 1”.
With nothing left in my PVR cache I was left with my own DVD collection to finally get down to watching. I am just as negligent in making time to watch the DVD’s I buy as I am in reading the books that I acquire. Yes, I certainly do read my books, but the readers of this blog know that it sometimes takes decades to get around to some of them. (Look at the Beatles book purge for recent examples of that.) To wait close to forty years after I buy a book before I read it goes way beyond procrastination.
So when do I (or did I) think I’d ever get around to watching those DVD’s? When I retired? I didn’t have to wait that long with social distancing on top of a broken wrist. I started with watching the DVD’s that I purchased or otherwise acquired which I had no intention of keeping. It was a way of clearing out valuable shelf space. I was a pretty good judge of what I felt I would not want to keep. There was only one example where I had second thoughts and removed a DVD from my giveaway pile.
I will use this post to list all the DVD and VHS movies and documentaries I have watched since mid-March that were not taped from TV. There is no chronological order. The DVD’s I am no longer keeping are listed first; the ones I am keeping are listed after that. This will be a progressive list and I will update it with every new movie I watch listed in red after this post goes live. I don’t know when I will stop adding to the list, but it will probably be after life and work return to “normal”. Every title has a hyperlink.
DVD’s or VHS tapes I watched and am not keeping (some are from the library):
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations collection 5 part 2
The Aviator
Bean: The Movie
Bigger Stronger Faster*
Black Cat, White Cat (Crna mačka, beli mačor)
Catch-22
Coronation St. Family Albums: The Baldwins, Battersbys and Duckworths
Coronation St.: Ken & Me
Crossroads
The Elvis Files
Everlasting Gloria!
Factotum
Flesh
Get Christie Love!
The Grand Tour: Legendary Resorts of the World: Monaco / Palm Beach
Great Moments of the Twentieth Century 1964-1970: Protest & Progress
Great Moments of the Twentieth Century 1990-2000: The Global Community
Heat
Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter’s Story
Highlights: Pet Shop Boys on tour. MCMLXXXIX
Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted
An Introduction to Scientology
Jarhead
Johnny English
Malta & Gozo: Traditions, Arts & Crafts
Martin & Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour (The collection I watched is the DVD featured in the hyperlink.)
Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour
Mr. Bean’s Holiday
The Norse: An Arctic Mystery
Paul McCartney in Red Square
Pet Shop Boys Performance
Port Credit: Mississauga’s Village on the Lake
The September Issue
slumdog millionaire
Survival Island: The Animal Cities of South Georgia
That’s Entertainment
Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon sotilas from 2017)
The Visions of Diana Ross
The Witness
The World’s Greatest Artists Sing Lennon: A Tribute
DVD’s or VHS tapes I watched and am keeping:
Abwärts
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Amélie
The Beatles – The First U.S. Visit
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best of Mr. Bean volume 2
The Birds
A Chef in Love (შეყვარებული კულინარის 1001 რეცეპტი)
Ciao Manhattan
Cleopatra
The Concert for Bangla Desh
Discover Benares Historic House
djúpið
Factory Girl
The Flower Girl (꽃파는 처녀)
The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Beatles
Gigli
Glen or Glenda
glitter
Goddess of Love
The Good Earth
Greed (239-minute version)
Greed (133-minute version)
The Hours and Times
I Love Lucy: The Classics–Volume 2
I Love Lucy: The Classics–Volume 3
I Love Lucy: The Classics–Volume 6
In the Shadow of the Moon
Ishtar
Jeopardy! An Inside Look at America’s Favorite Quiz Show
John & Yoko: The Bed In
John Lennon – Live in New York City
Lapin kullan kimallus
Life of Pi
Movin’ With Nancy
Mysterious Islands: Forgotten Tales of the Great Lakes
9|11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition
Our Saga: The Creation of a City
outrageous!
pahat pojat
Paul McCartney In The World Tonight
Paul McCartney Movin’ On
Paul McCartney: Put it There
The Paul McCartney Special
Peace Choir: Give Peace a Chance
R.E.M. Parallel
R.E.M. Succumbs
R.E.M. This Film is On
Red Garters
Repentance (მონანიება)
Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band
River of Steel: The Building of the New York City Subway
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
Rukajärven tie
Saturday Night Live: the best of Saturday TV Funhouse
Showgirls
Songs for Drella
Spirituals in Concert
Streets of Fire
Talvisota
Tuntematon sotilas from 1955
Tuntematon sotilas from 1985
the velvet underground: Velvet Redux-Live MCMXCIII
Vestlige Afkroge (Western Outposts)
Westward Bound (Vesturfarar)
The Wild Angels
Wings
Wo war die Mauer? Auf Entdeckungsflug mit dem Hubschrauber
Women in Revolt
Wordplay
Yoko Ono: Then & Now