There was a 3-hour ‘friends and family’ sale that FS was holding nationally on Sunday night, and it was totally worth dragging my weary ass to. Not only did I get to hang with some of these little guys at the adjacent shop, but we got visual confirmation that the DVD was sold out at yet another location. Sweet.
Oh yeah…and I bought some shit. 😛
Holy-day prezzies were the call of the hour, but “10% below wholesale” is the shopping equivalent of getting me wasted on sambuca and asking if I’m into being ‘a tad exhibitionist’, so I couldn’t help but grab myself a few inspirational goodies, and share news of the loot with you fine voyeuristic folks:
– THE DARK CRYSTAL (Collector’s Edition): The Henson benchmark? I have friends who would say otherwise…but they’re idiots. Beautiful Art and powerful Myth for all who witness. The perfect thing for a gloomy Sunday afternoon with the curtains drawn and the cocoa brewing…and I can’t wait to hear the Skeksis in Surround!
– SOUL CALIBUR II (Gamecube): Oh yeah, you can rest assured I played this ad nauseum when it first came out, but I was too cheap to actually buy my own copy – I’d just ‘borrow’ it from Drew until he’d figure out my angle 🙂 But at only 20 bucks to hang with Kilik and master Cube-exclusive Link all over again? Damn skippy I’m shelling out for that business!
– THE TRAGICALLY HIP (‘Hipeponymous’): And here’s the real reason why I’m making this post. The Hip, as they’re affectionately known, is my country’s greatest band. Not only did they help to define rock for a generation of hosers…they chiselled out what it means to be CANADIAN. A bluesy, folky, twangy, and completely rockin’ ensemble of amazingly talented musicians, with Frontman Gord Downie the prism for poetry of the highest magnitude – waxing physical, political, historical, and metaphysical all at once – his pained and orgasmic vocals set for the heart of the Sun.
I was itching for this ‘best of’ collection to come out, ’cause it ain’t your average cash grab by a long shot. A tall ‘n’ lean gold-etched black hardcover with four plump discs sandwiching a meaty book of original sketches and poetry ain’t bad for 40 bones…but what’s ON those discs is easily worth three figures:
To start, there’s every ‘favorite’ song from the lads imaginable, as rated by billboard listings AND national fan voting (37 tunes on two CDs!). Then there’s a DVD with EVERY weird and uniquely Canuckian music video they’ve ever done(that’s 23, for those who like to keep count), along with a Meeting-People-is-Easy style show doc and some more animated art/poem pieces. And finally, ANOTHER DVD with a freakin’ 24-song balls-out concert at the Air Canada Center in 5.1 with the Hip faithful packed shoulder to shoulder in screaming adulation. Man!!!!
It’s a flippin’ CRIME that The Hip aren’t bigger beyond our borders. They’ve tried, and garnered a loyal and loving cult base in Europe and beyond – but where the Barnakeds are fuzzy pug puppies that widdle themselves for your amusement, and Bryan Adams is the aging golden retriever you love to toss the tennis ball for, the boys from Kingston, ON are more like a pack of howling wolves that remind you how fierce the world beyond our doors really is…
…and how much we miss it that way.