October 2024 Thrifting Haul

Image Source: https://www.cincinnatigoodwill.org/4-items-to-look-for-at-goodwill/

Thanks to a computer enthusiast and retro computer gaming channel, I’ve taken up “thrifting” over the past few months. The channel is Lazy Game Reviews (LGR), a channel that has been on Youtube long enough that the channel now goes by its initials rather than the original channel name (a common occurrence once a channel seems to become established enough on the platform — i.e., Marques Brownlee becoming MKBHD (short for Marques Keith Brownlee High Definition)). This channel, LGR, sometimes features videos in which the host visits various Goodwill stores in his local area and points out interesting computer, software, and gadget related products for sale in the stores. As a PC and tech aficionado, the host does a great job at highlighting some of the more interesting finds, but he doesn’t actually buy every product that he points out. At the end of the videos, he does a quick rundown of what he did purchase — a few products that he pointed out are in the “haul,” but a good portion of them are ones that he didn’t necessarily choose to spotlight in the video.

As I have become a professor with one of specialities being film, I noticed that LGR often highlights movies (usually DVDs and VHS tapes) in the Goodwill stores, and I thought this would be a great way to increase my film collection in a fairly economical manner. So, over the past year or so, as I donate items to Goodwill, I’ve taken to going into the store (something I’ve never really done before) and looking over the store. At first, I looked for tech items like LGR did in his videos, but my local Goodwill store isn’t really big on tech items — there are always a few, but nothing like the PCs, monitors, keyboards, or “unique” items that LGR seems to find. I find that I tend to gravitate to two sections: 1) films and 2) books. Most of my purchases have been in those two sections. I thought I’d take a moment and highlight some items from my most recent trip after dropping off some items to the local Goodwill.

Note: LGR was affected by the Hurricane Milton (or Helene) and has sizable damage to his house/Youtube studio. He is okay, but quite obviously, his channel is on temporary hiatus as he works with his insurance and contractors to repair the damage to his house. He did lose a portion of his technology collection in the storm, but he, himself, is okay.

Books

Shadow Moon and Shadow Dawn by Chris Claremont and George Lucas — This is a fantasy series that was in the bookstores in the 1990s. I shelved it quite often during my early years at the library, but after about the mid-2000s, I remember this series sitting on the shelf and did not really circulate. My guess is that it isn’t very good — while I like the authors (Claremont wrote some really popular stories in the 80s and 90s X-Men comics and Lucas was the storyteller behind Star Wars and Willow — which is what this series expands upon), I think that this one is probably average, at best. If I don’t like it, then I feel certain that I’ll just donate them to the Chattanooga Public Library (CPL) for their semi-annual book sale. Hopefully, if they aren’t to my taste, someone will find them to theirs.

Game Day Eats by Eddie Jackson and Red Copper Skillet Cooking by Cathy Mitchell — I’m working on expanding my cooking abilities (especially in the realm of grilling). Anytime I find a book that looks like it will allow me to try/add recipes that are simple and don’t require a lot in the way of ingredients and/or prep time, I will probably take a look. A quick skim through both shows that I’m probably going to like Game-Day Eats, but the jury is still out on Red Copper Skillet Cooking. The neat thing about books is that, if they don’t work, I can donate them to the CPL book sale.

The last two books are an odd pairing, but they are Rimrunners by C.J. Cherryh and Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Rimrunners is a science fiction book with a cover that always intrigued me as a teen when I saw it on the shelf at the CPL. I never read it though (which doesn’t bode well for it), but it was there in paperback form so I thought I’d give it a try. Doctor Faustus is one that I might have read already in a college literature class, but as I don’t remember reading it, I thought I might as well pick it up and give it a shot now (again, as an English professor, I should really read all the classics that I’ve never gotten around to so I try to pick up a literature book every time I see one if it is available if I’ve not read it). It has student markings in it on pretty much every page, so the professor who taught it was very thorough. It almost makes me hate to see — not because it marks up the book although that can be very distracting in its own way — but because that’s so much knowledge about the book that’s the student will never ever be able to access again.

*Slight Digression* — Here’s a reason why I’m often down on American culture — this penchant for a “one-and-done” mentality. The class is over, the grade has been earned, so the student sees no more value in the book and gets rid of it. While I’m happy to have it, I would rather whoever took so much time to “annotate” the text would have kept it and referred back to it periodically during their lifetime so as to “refresh” their knowledge — but that’s NOT how Americans tend “to roll.” For context, I’ve kept all my textbooks every since the 2nd year of college and while I don’t get the opportunity to re-read them as I would like, I still have the potential to do so if the need/occasion arises — not something that you can say for the owner of the Doctor Faustus text. */end Slight Digression*

Films/Movies

As I am working on building a film class devoted to Martial Arts (and because the store didn’t have any good Blu-Ray movies that I was interested in or hadn’t seen), I decided to pick up several Martial Arts DVDs that were available.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: Surprisingly, enough I’ve not seen this movie. I expect it to be cringe-worthy but I will check it out nevertheless. I do intend to have a Unit devoted to Women in Martial Arts films, but I doubt that this one will make the cut. Right now, Kill Bill (esp. Vol. 1 and maybe Vol. 2) and much less known movie called Furie are the prime ones for that unit. I would like to find two more movies–preferably featuring Michelle Yeoh (I will already show Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for a different unit). While not nearly as many as there are for male martial artists, there are still some classics to turn (Female led Martial Arts movies) to before Legend of Chun-Li (as I suspect that even a movie like Lady Bloodfight will probably work better for the class than this one), but as I’ve not seen it yet, now is as good of an opportunity as any.

Ong-Bak The Thai Warrior and Ong-Bak 3: The Final Battle: These DVDs are parts 1 and 3 of a trilogy. I’ve seen the entire trilogy and was highly impressed by the action, choreography, and (sometimes) the story. Part 1 has its own story that is complete, while Parts 2 and 3 are interconnected and form a duology of sorts. Parts 2 and 3 have issues from the storytelling perspective, but are enjoyable enough as long as you ignore a central flaw related to the cliffhanger of part 2 and the resolution of the cliffhanger in part 3 (no spoilers). However, I may not have time in the Unit to show and discuss this one (but it is on my first draft of movies — although it might not make the final cut of movies).

SidneyCurrently Working On (As of October 2024)CreativeThe Runner (2023 Revision) (Fantasy Story: 4100 words: 17 Submissions)
Status:  Out  (In — looking for a market)Finalist in the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award ContestFinalist in the LeVar Burton Reads Origins & Encounters Writing ContestDire (2024) (Fantasy Short Story: 4900 words: 3 Submissions)
Status: Out (Out to Publisher)Project Captain (2024)(Science Fiction Short Story): 1st Draft (“Vomit” Draft) (4000 words) Completed. 2nd Draft (“Working” Draft) In-ProgressScholarly Chapter 3 — How Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura Inspired the African American Female Character in Science Fiction
Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Sex and Gender in Star Trek
Status: Published! Out NOW @ Amazon.com (Please consider a purchase to support the authors!)Unnamed Book Chapter
Status:  In-Progress