To all my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
As many of you know, I’m a big fan of the Italian Western genre, and I used to have a series on here called Western Wednesdays which many of you have noticed hasn’t been done in a long, long, time. That is because thanks to a very nice man named Mike Hauss, all my Italian Western write-ups are done for his fantastic self published Digest, called the Spaghetti Western Digest.
Cover Sample with Mike’s Logo (from Rubber Axe webzine)
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to participate in issue #1 as I didn’t get to speak with Mike until the issue was published, but I have been a proud collaborator on Mike’s work since issue #2. It’s a nice varied mix of film reviews, spotlights on specific actors, actresses, writers, directors, composters, etc, special topics, Issue 3’s one article on unmade films is very fascinating. Usually I’m not a self-promotor, but I really enjoy the efforts Mike puts in to make the Digest what it is and all the fabulous writers who contact Mike to make contributions. So many fans of the genre, including me, want to keep this going, so any help we can give Mike to keep the books selling is all worth it to bring the genre to new audiences. While its a book by fans for fans of the Italian Westerns, I believe non-aficionados will find something to enjoy with the Digests as well, so I hope any of the fine people who follow my blog will give them a read at some point. Mike is currently working on getting Issue #5 prepped for release.
Hello to My Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors
There’s a new Film Restoration and Blu Ray Releasing company on the scene from the United Kingdom called Malombra Films, run the fan friendly Elia Ferroli, which will specialize in Italian genre cinema.
Malombra Films Logo (from Facebook)
They have three restoration projects to start with, and their first one is now live on Indiegogo, and it’s for the underseen 1968 Erotic Drama Il Sesso degli Angeli (The Sex of Angels) by Ugo Liberatore. Fans and curious supporters have the option of giving a strict donation, or they can go for one of two perks, which I will leave a link to the fundraiser page to.
So far they’ve gotten three backers, one of which is myself, and which I’m very pleased to be a part of. Even if anyone isn’t interested in the film, please give a small straight donation if you can, small Blu Ray outfits need all the help they can get these days, and I’d really be happy to see Malombra Films get that leg up to get going.
The other restoration projects they have planned next are:
La Strada per Forte Alamo (The Road to Fort Alamo) by Mario Bava
Il Mostro dell’Opera (The Monster of the Opera) by Renato Polselli
Hello to my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
Yesterday some kooky thing happened with my family’s TV and Internet and for 24 hours I couldn’t access WordPress on either my iPhone or laptop. My iPhone’s quite a few years old and I need to update it. I still could’ve used it for WordPress via the family’s data, but I’ve found writing detailed responses to folks on the iPhone’s keyboard causes a lot of spelling errors and rewriting, and I do enjoy giving good responses to what people post.
Just wanted to let everyone know why I was MIA yesterday, and will be going through everything posted yesterday and today on my feed.
For many a movie buff and collector, a VHS, DVD, Blu Ray, and for some even 4Ks, any item in their collection can have a type of sentimental value, whether that be the item was the first one they ever bought themselves with their own money, a release of the first movie they really fell in love with, or was a gift from a family member or friend. For me, the gift part will be the item we’ll be discussing today.
A Golden Treasure
Going Region Free in Blu Ray and DVD has its downs as much as its ups, but even in the downs there is a ray of sunshine that makes the hunt so much more rewarding. Having been late to the boom when Germany’s Koch Media was at the height of their Italo Western releases, I did miss out on some golden items, but others were thankfully and luckily still available, such as their boxsets the ItaloWestern Ezyklopadie Trilogy. Sets 1 and 3 were the easiest to get a hold of, but set 2 proved to be problematic. Partly because the films of Set 2 had very limited to no release from other companies, and partly because the films of sets 1 and 3 had other releases readily available when first published, Koch found one of its items selling out quite faster than the others. It wasn’t too long before disc production on set 2 eased off, and copies were becoming harder to track down. While I was finding copies for some time in the occasional place, they were from 3rd party sellers asking right at, or nearly close to, 120 plus, in US Dollars, for the item.
Finally, after many questions to friends on the SWDb Forum, I finally found a company that still had some new copies of the release for sale, and at a fair price too. The only problem was that the company only shipped to Germany, Austria, and a few other areas in the EU. I finally worked up the courage to ask one of the fine fellas I made friends with on the SWDb Forum, the founder of the site, Sebastian, for help. He was so great and helpful with my request, a fine gentleman through and through. The purchasing and initial shipping out of the item went without a hitch, but it was getting it to the States where we both encountered a surprising adventure.
I won’t go into too many details, but somehow the item ended up in limbo at the customs of Frankfurt for over two months, with myself and Sebastian checking on our respective ends as to what the hold up was. Initially I wasn’t too concerned as COVID and the Pandemic was slowing down both local and international mailing a little, I was more worried about being able to pay Sebastian back for his kindness than anything else as I like paying things forward for any help given to me, and soon felt we were both being stymied by our respective postal people. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the package finally made its way across the ocean and I was able to gladly, and with pleasure, pay Sebastian back, what he had paid for the item and the shipping. That we both made out OK was the best part of the experience, and I’ll certainly ask Sebastian again for his help in the future should I ever need it.
Items come and go to a degree, but Set 2 of the ItaloWestern Enzyklopadie Trilogy will be an item I’ll keep and cherish always thanks to both a good friend, and an interesting, albeit head scratching, shipping experience.
I hope you all enjoyed this fun, and sometimes sentimental sounding, write up.
Hello to my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
It’s not often I get the opportunity to help out a group or company, and I wanted to take this one by the horns. Now as I said in a previous video, I’m a Film and Blu Ray/DVD guy, and not a gamer, but I do enjoy playing Red Dead Redemption 2’s bonus content Red Dead Online, and when I heard RDO’s gaming community are pushing for more content, I had to show my support.
From YouTube
Before in my ‘Game Opinion From a Non-Gamer’ write up, I tried being somewhere in the middle, but after the dismal December Update, (though I do admit I loved being able to earn double cash profit during the Holiday season), and learning just now of the RDO fans hashtag movement, I decided to give their community my support. Granted I myself would prefer just have expansions on the Bounty Hunter Role and being able to rob NPCs who try robbing players over things like owning and selling property, but I’m more than happy to help the RDO fans get some justice and recognition. So, the Rockstar bigwigs: Give the Fans some more Wild West fun!!!!!!!!!
As before, this Blog is still about Films and Blu Rays/DVDs, but I felt this hashtag movement deserved some love.
Hello to all my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
As you can tell by the above image, this little post is for the annual Spagvember Fest promoted the Spaghetti Western Database (the SWDb), where members of the website Forum (of which I’m a proud one) partake in viewing one SW a day from November 1st to November 30th. There’s no strict guideline to approach the event, and folks are encouraged to view as many films as they like, for however many days they like. Hope some people will take interest. Enjoy.
Movie Fan Man: Cinema Connoisseur 