Spooktacular finds

It's amazing how quickly time seems to pass these days, one moment it's the middle of October, and the next it's already a week into December. I don't get it, I really don't. 

It doesn't feel like I've been sitting on the stuff in today's post for over seven weeks, but I guess I have. 

So, it was back in October then that I found myself in Knoxville for my monthly (to semi-monthly) trip to McKay's (Heaven on Earth for lovers of all things physical media). The details have already begun to blur, but I do recall that the drive was pretty uneventful (which is a good thing), and that I was treated to the fewest amount of people in the store that I had ever seen. I don't know what I did to deserve that, but it was really nice. If only every time could be like that. Usually it's just waves of people, and at least one screaming child that takes way too long to be dealt with. But there was none of that on this particular occasion. It was so strange to be able to freely walk down any aisle that I wanted without having to squeeze by anyone (the stores only flaw is that the aisles are kind of narrow, even for someone like myself who doesn't take up a lot of space). I'd say that I wish that it could be like that every time, but they'd probably go out of business if it were. And faced with that alternative, I guess the hordes aren't so bad... in small doses that is!

I usually lead off these posts with either the first thing that I put into my basket that day, or the best thing overall; today though I'm starting with the most unexpected get. My favorite book section at McKay's is the paperback TV/Movie tie-ins. Like every other section, there's ebb and flow, but it never seems to get too low. On this particular trip, it was practically overflowing. Kung Fu is one of those shows that I associate with childhood, as I grew up watching the original series in syndication, and then followed Kung Fu: The Legend Continues in real-time. Because of that connection, I couldn't not get this. It's also worth noting that this book was only 90¢.

And from the same section, I hit the V mother lode, finding books # 2,3,4,5,7,8, and 9. After reading, and greatly enjoying the first book a few months back, I was really hoping that they would have more of the series. And with this great run, I could now read at up until at least book #6 (I've been reading them in-between other books and just recently finished #3)

At this point, I pretty much grab every film novelization that I come across, or at least those that I don't already have. They rarely disappoint, and in a lot of cases, are more enjoyable than the actual film itself. I don't if that'll be possible in this case though, as I do enjoy the film quite a bit.

They're not always priced well (my opinion), but when they are, I will also grab any of the Aliens or Predator books that I don't already have. 

All of the DC and Marvel books are in with the TV/Movie tie-in stuff as well. There's usually quite a few of the 90's Marvel books in there, but not so much with the DC. Maybe the occasional Batman book, but that's about it. I didn't even know that there were any JLA books, let alone any that were written by Christopher Golden. This one was priced a little higher than I would've liked, but after noticed CG's name, I had to have it. He's definitely one of the better, if not the best, writers of superhero fiction.

Moving away from the TV/Movie tie-in section...

I'm always happy to find some new Bobby Stine books, although I already had "Blind Date". I thought it sounded familiar, but the cover threw me off because I didn't recognize it. As it turned out, mine had a different cover, hence the confusion. I've since made a list of what I already have, so hopefully this won't happen again. Although, truth be told, since it was less than a buck, I probably still would've bought it just for the different cover.

I've got most of H.G. Wells' stuff, but didn't have this collection; now I do, and it only cost me 25¢ in credit to get it!!!

Despite having collected cards for a huge chunk of my life, I've read very few books about collecting cards. I was slightly hesitant to get this thanks to it's $4 price tag, but I sure am glad that I took the chance, as it was pretty darn good. I especially liked the chapter(s) that covered collecting back before there were price guides; I can't even imagine how much more enjoyable that must've been. I don't want to spoil too much, but to any of my card collecting friends that that see this, and haven't already read it, I would highly recommend you doing so. 

That's it for books, on to the DVD's...

This pack came out of the bargain section ($1.95 or less), and while I already have about half of them on other sets, the other 10 or so films for $1.95 seemed like a pretty good deal.

Their animated series' wasn't in the place that it's been for a while now, which led me briefly to believing that they had somehow gotten rid of it. Turns out, they just moved it upstairs. I pretty much like all of DC's animated Batman stuff, so if the price is right, rarely think twice about picking up one of the newer ones. This was definitely one their more adult-oriented features, but it was still good.

X-Men: The Animated Series is pretty much the epitome of my childhood. The theme song, the animation, the voices, they're all permanently engrained in my brain. The series was released on DVD in five volumes some years ago, and despite having wanted them since, the hefty retail and secondary prices had prevented me from acquiring any until now. I don't know if I can say that my patience finally paid off, or if it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, but either way, I was able to get Volumes 1 & 2 for much cheaper than I had ever seen them...

My only complaint about these sets, and it's a very minor one, is with the artwork that's used on the covers, especially on V2. That is not the same style of art that was used in the series, and I'm not sure they did that. If it was to try and appeal to the younger crowd with more modern artwork, they're probably gonna be really disappointed that show didn't look like that -- and if you were trying to appeal to the older crowd, aka the ones who watched the show way back when, then why wouldn't you use the same style of animation that was used in the show? Like I said though, it's a minor complaint, I just don't understand it, that's all.

Not a bad haul, if I don't say so myself. As is often the case, I hit the the Book Cellar and the thrift store that's right next to it on my way home. The Book Cellar didn't yield anything that I couldn't live without, nor did the thrift store. I did however find one thing on the free table that's by one of the doors at the thrift store.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the film, I did used to own it on video. I hadn't seen it for a while, so I thought I'd treat this freebie like a rental, in that I'd watch it, and then drop it off on the table the next time I was there (which I've since done). This movie has a lot of problems, but the last act is still pretty good. I'd really like to read the book someday, as I suspect that it's gonna be much better than it's big-screen adaptation.

I wasn't in the mood to do the drive, so I skipped McKay's during November, but was there again just a couple of days ago. Knowing that I was so far behind in posting about October's trip, I had thought that I wouldn't do a recap if I didn't find very much this month. Unfortunately (for you), I brought home more than a few things, and in an effort to get caught up, will probably be doing another one of these sometime in the next few weeks. 

Sun days are fun days

With gas prices slowly coming down ($3.21 as of this writing), and no longer fluctuating wildly from day to day, I've been able to resume my monthly trips to Knoxville. Trying to find days to go hasn't been all that easy though, somebody like me should not be this busy. Nevertheless, I was able to get out on what was supposed to be a rainy day about two weeks ago. The weather people were a tad off and instead of rain it was around 90° and very sunny. I'd like to know how those people can consistently be so wrong, and yet never be fired? It seems like it's almost a running gag at this point. But I digress, as I'm sure you didn't come here for weather talk, no, you came to some things of the stuff variety.

Anybody that knows anything about me, knows that if I'm going to Knoxville, my primary reason for doing so is to go to McKay's (nerd heaven); and this time was no different than any other...

I've talked about my love for V a few times over the years, and while I'm sure that nostalgia plays a huge part in that love, it's still love, and I can watch the original series today and still get just as much enjoyment out of it today as I did back whenever I first saw it. One thing I haven't seen before though, is the novelization for the series. There were three copies, all in the exact same condition. I would've preferred a slightly nicer copy, but for 90¢ a reader will do.

I know from past posts that nobody cares about Christopher Pike or Predator, hence the group photo. I will say though that this Pike book is a bit of a rarity, in that I had never even heard of it before. Given my interest in his books when I was a kid/teen, I didn't think that were any that I wasn't familiar with by title or cover image. It appears too that this book is more sci-fi than horror, which is kind of interesting for him as well. The Predator book #3 in the original AVP trilogy, and is an upgrade to my beater copy.

I've wanted to read this for a long time now, but had just never come across a cheap copy out in the wild prior to this. In case anyone wonders what I consider to be "cheap" for a book like this, it was $1.25. And as an extra added bonus, I found two things tucked inside the book, one of which (spoiler) will be featured in the next post.

The bargain DVD/Blu-Ray section ($1.95 or less) was loaded with all kinds of different stuff this time, and while most of it wasn't for me, I still enjoyed looking through everything a lot more than I had the last couple of times I've been there. This is the second month in a row that I've come across one of Alpha's old Light's Out releases, which I'm all about. I'm hoping that this means that we've reached the point where no one else cares about such things anymore, and I can now get the rest of the discs that I still need on the cheap. Everyone else can have their Netflix and Hulu shows, I want these!

When TV show seasons first started being added to the bargain section, it was just stuff like ER, Friends, and Seinfeld, which were not created for the likes of me. I was interested in them when they were new, and am even less so now. Over the last few years though, the quality of shows has gotten better, but for the most part are still things I have no interest in, even for a buck. Even so, I was kind of surprised to see the kinds of shows in there this time, especially all of the newer stuff, The Walking Dead, Weeds, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc. They're still not for me, but given their popularity, I don't expect to find multiple seasons of them for under two bucks apiece. I wasn't looking to get any of The Simpsons on DVD, but for 95¢, I couldn't resist getting one of their better seasons. And I haven't seen an episode of Murphy Brown since probably the late 90's, can't say that I've thought about it since then either, but my mom and I used to watch it when I was a kid, so I guess at this point I've got a bit of nostalgia for it. Hopefully the show holds up.

Is anyone familiar with Lord Peter Wimsey? I'm guessing not, but am still curious. I have been wanting this set for many years now, but was always too cheap to shell out the necessary amount of bucks to get it. This was not from the bargain section btw, instead it was rare splurge on my part. If I didn't have a lot of trade-in credit, I wouldn't have got it, but since it was cheaper than all of the online prices, I decided to go for it. One should treat themselves from time to time.

That was it for McKay's. Not the biggest of hauls, but I found a couple of much wanted things, so it was worth the trip.

Since it was still early, and I wasn't going anywhere else in Knoxville, I decided to hit a few places in Crossville on the way home.

First up was the thrift store, Hilltoppers, which is a place I only go to maybe 2-3 times a year, as there isn't usually a lot there for me.

Their book section at this store is a hot mess. They have the space to separate everything into categories, but instead it's all just jumbled together. Very difficult to look through like that. I just did a cursory run through, and while I'm guessing that this isn't going to be Bobby Stine's definitive biography, it was hard to pass up for 33¢ (pb's are 3/$1).

Why didn't I already own The Evil Dead? I don't know, your guess is as good as mine. I do now though, so all is right with the world.

And that was it from there. Not much, but also not bad for ten minutes or less of my time spent looking.

From there it was off to the Book Cellar, which having just been there two weeks previously, I wasn't expecting to find much; I was wrong.

I remember hearing David Grann being interviewed on, I believe, OPB radio, before this books release some years ago. I was already fairly familiar Col. Fawcett's story, but this new work sounded like something that I'd still want to read anyway. I never buy books when they come out (too expensive), so I knew that it might be awhile before I got to read it, but I didn't think that it would be this long! This is what happens when you can't remember anything. Oh well, better late than never.

Normally I would stay away from something with this kind of staining, but I so rarely come across these old Hitchcock Anthologies that I bit the bullet and paid a buck for it. 

Somebody seems to have brought in a bunch of movie/TV books at some point during the previous two weeks, because that section was loaded with new blood. I was able to pick up a couple of old gossipy books, as well as a couple of....

... old trivia books. 

That was a couple of bucks well spent, or in my case, a couple of bucks in credit well spent. I'm glad I stopped in again, sometimes it's nice to be wrong.

And last but not least, the Paws thrift store. Paws is the place that benefits the local animal shelter. Given where the money goes, I should try to buy from them more often, but they just open so darn late; I'm never around there by the time they do. In fact, I haven't been there in a couple of years now, and in that time they've moved to a bigger building about a block down from where they used to be. The layout of the building is a bit wonky, but they've got a lot more room to put stuff out now.

They've got a pretty big area for media stuff now, and had quite a bit of it too. The first thing that caught my eye were the couple of milk crates full of records. With most things vinyl being red hot these days, I never hold out any hope of finding anything at thrift stores, but always still look anyways. I thought I had heard this album before, but apparently I hadn't. This wasn't the Ventures best album, but for a buck it was still plenty worth it.

This is pretty standard thrift store fare as far as records go, as it's one of those genres that isn't red hot with the influenced masses. Thankfully I'm immune to such things. Depending on who's performing the numbers, these albums can be very hit or miss, and I will only occasionally take a chance on them. I did here, and it paid off. I would highly recommend this record if you should ever come across a copy at your local thrift store.

To say that "Suddenly" was a big album for Billy Ocean would be a massive understatement. Without looking, I'm pretty sure that it made into the top 10 (U.S. charts) back in '84, and I don't think that he ever had an album go higher here in the States. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though. I was surprised to find that I had never heard this one in it's entirety, but once again, it was well worth a buck. This record will be getting many replays.

And thus ends yet another "look at all of the stuff I got" post. The drive to Knoxville is starting to get to me a bit, so I think that I'll be skipping McKay's this month, and probably won't be going anywhere else of note, so this should be the last post of it's kind for a month or two. This won't necessarily be a bad thing either, as I've got plenty of other things that I've been trying to get to on here...