It was nice to get out for a bit

Me trying to get out and do something fun this summer, at least to this point, has not been working out very well. Last week the stars decided to align though, on my birthday no less, and I was able to spend the better part of the morning/early afternoon in Knoxville; and more specifically, at McKay's.

It's been many months since I was last there, and given some of my newer interests (thanks to all of the genealogical research that I've been doing), I had a lot more than normal that I wanted to look for. 

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot for me on this particular day, but I did find a few things (which is always better than none), and since I haven't done one of these kinds of posts in a while, I'm gonna pad it out with some older purchases at the end.

Since they add continually add it to it throughout the day, I always check the free bins before I go in, and then again when I'm leaving. The store hasn't sold VHS tapes since I've been going there, but people must still bring them in from time to time (and then don't want them back after being told that videos aren't accepted), because I have seen a few in the free bins, but I had never seen a group like this in there before. And considering that the store had been open for over an hour before I got there, I'm amazed that these, and the Power Rangers video that I didn't grab, were still there.

The Adventures of Batman & Robin wasn't as good as Batman: The Animated Series, but it was similar enough to still be pretty good. I already tried the Riddler tape, it was in very sad shape, and has since been tossed. Remembering these episodes, that would've been the better of the two.

Despite their ultra modern looking covers, both of these feature a compilation of episodes from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which I can't believe still hasn't been released on DVD or Blu-Ray. As an extra added bonus, both tapes include an episode from the original cartoon, which I haven't seen too many episodes from over the years.

Back to the 90's animated series, this one being in a period box though. I really liked this series during it's original run, but hadn't seen any full episodes since it ended. What a treat it was to watch a few again (both of these tapes worked great); now I want more! As an aside this box had an old McKay's sticker on the front, which is kind of neat, and will be left on.

On to the purchases...

One of my favorite sections is the 'Misc. World History', and both of my books this time came from it. This is a fairly chunky book, and was priced very right (for me) at $2. I started reading this the other day and am enjoying it quite a bit; though it is a bit dense.

At well over 800 pages, this one's pretty chunk too. I really like these kind of speculations, and probably would've bought this one online much sooner had I known that it existed. I don't think that I could've gotten online for $1.50 though, so I guess it's a good thing that I hadn't been aware of it. I don't know if anyone else cares about such things, but just in case, here's a bonus sample of some of the essays:

That was it for books, everything else was DVD's...

For 95¢ I was able to upgrade the video I've had of this for decades to DVD. The only one left to upgrade now is #3. How does everyone feel about the Die Hard franchise? Personally, I enjoy 1-4 quite a bit (#5 doesn't exist in my world). My favorites in order would probably shock some (and possibly break the Twitter), and even though no one asked, they'd go 4, 3, 1, 2. I always enjoyed #3 the most (this despite my not being a fan of Sam Jackson), that is until #4 came out.

I've watched V once a year for decades now, and even though my copy was recorded from the Sci-Fi channel back in the 90's, the many viewings have not degraded the tape in the least. That being said, I have wanted to upgrade it for a while now, and for $2.95 I was finally able to do so.

My final purchase of the day was a mini-splurge on my part. It's hard to tell from the photos, but this set was still sealed. It was also cheaper than the going rate on eBay. Of the great detective series', Poirot is the one that I own the least from. I'm trying to change that though.

Like I said at the beginning, I didn't get much, but it was still really nice to get out and do something that wasn't work related. It was even nicer to be able to go out and do something mildly fun on my birthday, as I can't even recall the last time that I did; I know that I at least hadn't done so in the previous seven birthdays that I've had since moving to Tennessee.

Seeing as how that was kind of a short post, and knowing that I've had some other purchases to show from an afternoon spent hitting up a bunch of places in Crossville a couple of months ago, I figured I might as well finally get to those as well. I thought that this afternoon out might've been from April or May, but the photo folder on my computer says that it was created on 2-21-23. Geez, this year is going quick!

Despite my not realizing just how long ago all of this stuff is from, I do remember the day fairly well -- or at least I remember getting the stuff fairly well. These first couple of books were from the Book Cellar. Every time I think that there can't possibly be any more Alfred Hitchcock collections out there that I don't already own, I find another! This one was really good.

I just finished reading this one a couple of weeks ago, it too was really good. It ended up going in a completely different direction than I had thought it would. And I was talking about V a bit ago, I now know what inspired that series. This was written in 1953 (if I remember correctly), and it's first two chapters are basically how V starts out. They couldn't be more different from each other after that though.

This book ended up being a terrible disappointment. I had really high hopes for it, but struggled mightily to even get past like the 40th page. The copy I bought did have this wonderful inscription though:

I hope that Brandon is dead, otherwise he's a colossal heel for getting rid of this (and the book sucking would not be a good enough reason for parting with it).

They opened a Goodwill in Crossville last September or October, despite there already being four other thrift stores within a mile radius of it. I've been there a few times since, and haven't really been all that impressed thus far. I'm pretty sure that most of the inventory is being brought in from elsewhere (people in that area are very loyal to the pre-existing non-corporate thrift stores), and it's gotta be one of the smallest Goodwill's out there (it's in an old Rite-Aid). I haven't bought much from it yet, but on this day back in February I did find two DVD's (and a puzzle that'll be shown when it gets finished). In all of my years of looking through video's and DVD's at places, I had never once come across High Noon in any format. I had seen it a bunch of times on TCM back when I had cable/satellite, but it was cool to finally be able to get a physical copy of it.

There are a lot of John Wayne collections out there on DVD, but this was one of the nicer ones that I had come across. All of the pictures were cleaned up, and the sound has been brought up as well.

Up until the corona got going, the Dollar Tree that's closest to me had been a good source for cheap books, but has now kind of been the shits for the last few years. The store in Crossville is fairly large as far as DT's go, but for reasons that I can't put my finger on, I really don't like it, and therefor almost never go in. The only reason I went in on this particular day was because my mom had asked me to look for something (which I don't recall finding). I don't know about you, but when I think of Dollar Tree, I don't think of "Hamlet", and yet, they had a big 'ol pile of Hamlet's that day. In fact, this was the only thing I bought there. It felt kind of weird going through the checkout out Dollar Tree with just a copy of "Hamlet" in hand. I had never read the book before, but ended up enjoying it quite a bit more than I thought I would. I really like the way this edition was laid out too.

I don't think that they've officially come out and said it or anything, but judging by the ever dwindling selection, I'm pretty sure that the Hilltoppers thrift store is trying to cut out VHS from their inventory; which is one of the reasons why I rarely ever go in there anymore. To my surprise though, I actually found two pretty solid tapes while there that day.

I never watched Sesame Street when I was a kid, but did like all things Muppets. I've also heard/seen a bunch of Jim Henson interviews over the years, and am generally a fan of him as a person too. This video was a good overview of his career, but like most things of this nature, it could've been longer.

I hadn't seen this picture since probably '95 or '96, so I was a tad bit excited to find a copy of it; which by the way is yet another one that I don't think that I've come across, on any format, in the wild before. I'd be lying if I said that it was one of my favorite films, but it has held up better than I had expected.

Well, I guess I'm now all caught up on my physical media purchases since February(!). I don't know when I'll get back to McKay's again, but it's looking like I'll have a morning to spend in Crossville later this week, and am planning on hitting up at least a few of the places mentioned in this post. I suppose if I hit the motherlode, they'll be another recap in the very near future. If only a couple of items are found though, I'll probably just photograph them and save 'em for another time when I find myself needing some filler again.

Happier days

Never having to drive very far, the recent rise in fuel prices hasn't affected me nearly as much as it has some others. Sure, I've had to stop making my monthly trips to Knoxville, and unless the prices start coming down some, I won't be taking any of the other trips around the state that I had been planning during the summer; but in the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of my world. I still have things that I can do locally, and at home. Heck, there's always something that needs to be done around the house.

My last trip to Knoxville, and more specifically, McKay's (heaven for lovers of all things physical media), was back at beginning of February. And while I have been jonesing to get back, gas was at $3.65 as of yesterday, and that's still way too much for me to be galavanting off to Knoxville again anytime soon. It does stink, but again, I'll live. Speaking of that last visit though, I never did get around to recapping my haul, so...

I haven't been making a lot of purchases this year, and wasn't really doing so towards the end of last year either. I've noticed though, that when I do buy something as of late, it's almost always nostalgia based. Growing up the way I did, I am often nostalgic for things that came before me, as is the case with Happy Days. I wasn't alive when it was new, but spent many a year watching the reruns on Nick at Nite. It would seem that I'm now longing for those days spent watching Nick at Nite. Also, the book was only 10¢ (as were the next couple), so it didn't require much of decision as to whether or not I should get it.

Now we're in my era. Anybody remember Chip? Not Quite Human, or it's sequel, Not Quite Human II? I still have the tape that my mom recorded the premiere of the first film on, as well as the commercially released videos of both films. Looking back, robot boys were strangely in during the 1980's. I guess robot girls were a thing too, Deadly Friend... anybody?

At 9 years old, I was the perfect age for Eerie, Indiana when it made it's 1991 television debut. I, like a lot of other kids, absolutely loved the show, and was saddened that it only lasted one season. I was 15 by the time they started releasing the books in 1997, and despite still watching the reruns in syndication, I was not comfortable going into a bookstore and being seen buying a "little kid" book. Such things don't bother me in the least anymore, and was more than happy to be seen shelling out ten whole cents on this particular book.

This is as close to Goosebumps as you can get, without it actually being a Goosebumps. I was already too old for the Bumps when Bobby Stine started putting them out, and wouldn't have been caught dead buying on at the time. Thankfully, I've been able to catch up with them, and their knockoff's, in my later years.

Despite it's many flaws, I would call myself a fan of the film, Phantoms. I've suspected for years though that it probably differed some from the source material, but not until now was I able to see just how much it differed from the book. Aside from the basic premise, and a few of the character names, the two share very little in common. After finally reading it, I can see that they couldn't have ever made this story, as is, into a film, but geez, I do not understand how Dean Koontz was able to butcher his own work so badly, just to be able to get it up on the big screen. Actually, scratch that, I do understand... $$$$$$

Feel free to roll your eyes, but things like cryptids and UFO's were a huge part of my childhood, and strangely, have been making a strong resurgence in recent years. What can I say, I like woo woo!

It seems funny to me that I could never find the Forever Knight books when they were new, and now 25 years later, and nearly 2,500 miles away, I'm finding them left and right. Better late than never, I suppose. 

I rarely bring it up, if only because so few other people are interested in the subject, but I am a longtime fan of old radio programs, and just old radio happenings in general. I could tell you multiple stories of pre-teen me trying to get friends to listen to one of my cassettes of, say, Lights Out, and how well those many attempts didn't go. It wasn't always the easiest being the only kid who liked such things. I don't expect this book to provide much, if any, new info, but it seems to have quite a few photos that I've never seen before, which was enough to warrant my splurging to meet it's $3 price tag. This was my big ticket item for the day, such as it was.

I've talked many times (on the old blog) about the ever continuing decline of quality pictures in the Bargain DVD section ($1.95 or less). There's still thousands of DVD's and Blu-Ray's to look through, but it seems like every time I go there the selection just keeps getting worse and worse. I'd say that a good 60-70% of the movies are now just all of that straight-to-DVD crap that comes from the Dollar Tree. I know why McKay's takes it, because they can pay people 10¢ for them, slap a $1 price tag on it, then make a pretty decent profit when someone other than myself inevitably buys it. Because of the now poor selection, I rarely spend much time going through this stuff, I just sort of scan and walk, and if something jumps outs, I'll pick it up and take a look. Twenty minutes of scanning produced all of one DVD this time, albeit a pretty good one. I bought this primarily for Room Service, as it's one of my favorite Marx Brothers pictures, which I somehow didn't already have it.

That wraps up that trip. I was really hoping to find a few "new" CD's from the CD bargain section, but was unfortunate enough to get up there (they're upstairs) just at the exact same time as an older guy was setting up shop (he brought a folding stool with him). Normally this wouldn't be an issue, as the section is large enough for multiple people to be looking at the same time, but almost as soon as this guy sat down, he started coughing... a lot! He didn't seem to be in any distress, like a "help, I'm dying" sort of thing, he was just coughing, and coughing, and coughing some more. I might've been able to tough out the sound of him trying to bring up a lung, but then he started making weird noises with his throat; noises that started to make my stomach turn. Needless to stay, I didn't stick around for very long after that. I just went back downstairs to the books, and occasionally looked up to confirm that he was still there, which he still was even as I was leaving. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

As is often the case, what with it being on the way home and all, I stopped in at the Book Cellar, and the Threads of Hope thrift store that's right next to it.

History will always be a popular subject with me, but the older I get, the less I care about emperors, famous battles, and other similarly well-trod topics; instead choosing to learn as much as I can about how just regular folks went about their daily lives. I especially like reading about people who were off the beaten path, and this book definitely fit that bill. If you're into such things, I'd highly recommend this one.

I continue to have great luck finding old Scholastic books at the Book Cellar, and with a date of 1969, I'm pretty sure that this is the oldest one I've found so far. Without looking it up, I can't say that I know when Scholastic began, but it sure would be neat to find a cheap book from their first year. And now that I'm thinking about it, it'd be kind of cool to find a book from each year of it's existence, or at least up to 2000, I don't really care about much after that.

Those two were definitely worth stopping for. The thrift store would pay off as well...

This place always has puzzles, enough that I can usually find at least one of interest; obviously I found two this time. I will cover both of these on here a little bit more after they've been completed.

There's no synopsis on the back for me to show, but as implied by the title, this book allegedly covers all things 1950's. I've read a few of this fellows baseball books, but have yet to read a non-sports offering from him.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, hopefully I'll be able to do it again sometime soon.