DVD's

DVD’s are everywhere in China. On every street corner sits an old man with a “China bag” full of DVD’s. He offers you a newspaper to sit on as you go through his stack. Being able to watch the latest movies for 60 cents is great fun but certain details remind you that the DVD’s aren’t exactly the best quality. While watching Pixar’s Cars (a great film, I might add), the sound of the movie was cut and an announcement came on: “Will Mr. or Mrs. Bowden please come to the concession stand? Your child is at the front.” The DVD had been made with a home video camera set up in an American movie theatre.

My favorite part of looking at street DVD’s is reading the back covers. Whoever is putting the covers together on their computer clearly has a long way to go with English. For example, the back of one cover reads: “Underworld: Evolution may not be a new breed of woe, but it’s hard to drum up the enthusiasm to call it anything more than a hybrid of unnecessary and average.” Wow, that makes me want to buy that movie. Another reads, “Unfortunately, beyond the aesthetics and the premise, a scanner darkly just stagnates.”

Maybe I just need to buy better movies. :)