archy

Civilization in decline
WARNING: The following post contains geezer grousing and may not be suitable for readers under thirty.

The other day I was looking over some recent DVD releases. I'm not sure why; clever wife and haven't converted to DVD yet. But I found myself with DVDs in front of my face, so I looked them. Universal has oened up its vaults to release all of their classic monster movies from the thirties. They've packaged them in attactive sets of three or four movies with documentary extras according to monster. They seem to have done a very nice job. Then their marketing department slapped a sticker on the front of each one that reads "Unleash the Original Films That Inspired 'Van Helsing.'" They think the only way people will watch classic movies is if they associate them with one of the worst blockbusters of last year. I had the same reaction when I saw "East of Eden" marketed as a selection of Opra's Bookclub. Woo-hoo, I thought, this could be Steinbeck's big career break! We're doomed.