Archive for month: December, 2016

I don’t think many of us will be sad to see 2016 left behind. For some reason we measure things by an arbitrary number on a calendar and put meaning and value onto those things that fall within the assigned perimeters. It’s not like any series of unfortunate events will stop at the turn of the 2017 clock. Everyone is going to die at some point. Except Kirk Douglas. He’s 100! And Olivia DeHavilland. She’s also 100! And that guy who eats organic foods they advertise in the chicken shop on the Drive – 179 Years Old Man!

“Death has forgotten me and now I have lost all hope to die!”

But in terms of this short essay, let’s just say that 2016 wasn’t the best year in the recorded history of the human race. The bummer list is long as many cherished celebrities passed: Carrie Fisher, George Michael, David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Mrs. Brady. Yet Dick Chaney, Bill Cosby and Ted Nugent continue to live! Where’s the justice in that?!  The crisis in Syria worsened as refugees flooded the globe and xenophobia became front and centre in many places. Even more celebrities died: Anton Yelchin, Alan Rickman, Fidel Castro (he’s a celebrity, right). Donald Trump is going to be the next president of the U.S. (still swishing that sentence around in my mouth). And still more famous people shuffled off this mortal coil: Abe Vigoda (although I think everyone thought he died years ago), George Kennedy, and Schneider from One Day at a Time (there are tons more. Just watch the Oscars In Memoriam for the full list).

RIP sweet prince.

On the store front it was a good and bad year. Good that we’re still here able to provide you with the finest in home movie entertainment. Bad when a disgruntled former employee launched a lawsuit against Black Dog with the intention of shutting us down. It was complicated and stupid and dragged on for over nine months until we were able to settle out of court. It was a stressful, ridiculous time as I didn’t know if this was going to sink us or not. But then we had a stroke of good luck as we acquired a large collection of incredible films which we put together for a couple of amazing sales. The profits helped us immensely with all the legal crap. We really could have used that money for better purposes but, whatever, it was sort of worth it as this person is no longer with us much to everyone’s approval and rejoicing. That trash has been taken out. We’ve had a number of setbacks over the years – the great fire of 2004, the Canada Line construction that dragged on for years, the passing of our good friend, John, and the general ravages of the internet age. Add this one to the pile. But we’ve managed to fight through everything and still stay afloat. You can’t keep a good dog down!

So what does 2017 hold for your favourite video shop? I have no idea but my main goal is to be writing another one of these missives a year from now. I am super grateful to be able to still be doing this in these crazy times and I owe a huge debt to all of you lovely folk who continue to get out of your homes and trundle on down to our shops. Without you, we are nothing. I hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday filled with family, friends, cold and hot drinks and some great flicks. Cheers to you all!

Shop local. That’s all I have to say. Well that and a few more words about shopping local. I know that it’s easy to sit back, make a few clicks and have some poor schmuck in an Amazon warehouse somewhere in the wilds of New Jersey lurch on down the isle and grab your  designer bread gloves or your flavoured wallpaper to ship to your home. Some more adventurous types might even make it of the house only to trot on down to a Walmart or Winners or some big box nightmare in the hopes of saving a few bucks on some alarmingly inexpensive items. But is it really worth it?  Most of the cheap stuff at these places is cheap for a reason – it’s made overseas by underpaid, sometimes tortured, women and children – and it inevitably falls apart faster than Donald Trump’s presidency (here’s hoping anyways). Is the best that we can do? Where’s the value?

Really a thing!

It was just after 10pm when Tim’s LSD kicked in.

You know where there is value? In supporting your local neighbourhood shops and services. Imagine walking down the Drive or the Cambie Village and having most of the stores boarded up or having them replaced by a money mart type of hell-hole or pizza by the slice joints? How depressing would that be? Part of what makes living in these hoods amazing is the variety of fine little stores and restaurants and services. The more folks that don’t support these local haunts, the lesser the quality of life becomes for everyone. I mean, really, wouldn’t you rather support some small independent place where you get to know the staff, enjoy the atmosphere and experience or would you rather give your hard earned dollars to giant soulless corporation that dons’t give a rats ass about anyone but their shareholders?

All CEO’s look like this, right?

Here at your local video store we aren’t still doing this because it’s going to make us filthy rich! Far from it. We’re still doing this because we love what we do and believe in the importance of still having this collection of films available to all of you. And it’s because of you fine folks who continue to support us that we are still here. Obviously I understand what’s going on in this increasingly online world but it seems to me that things might be moving a little too fast. In the last 5 years or so we’ve gone from a proliferation of great stores  – Videomatica, They Live, Happy Bats, Limelight, Independent Flicks, Applause – to just us. That’s insane. To me it’s a cultural thing that’s been lost and nothing of substance has come along to replace it.  Netflix is fine for their original programming but they are abysmal in their film selection. Torrent sites are of dubious quality and are being shut-down left and right. Apple and Shaw on Demand and their ilk have, outside of expensive new releases, nothing to offer. I just don’t get it. Are we supposed to just settle for the content that they say we can watch? Have we become so lazy and accustomed to convenience that it just comes down to the fact that we don’t want to leave the house? Bullshit! That’s what I say. It makes me sad and more than a little angry that we’re now on the endangered species list. The way I see it is there is room for all of us to exist. All it would take is just one or two visits to Black Dog a month from all you amazing movie lovers to help us continue to provide to you the best of what cinema has to offer.

A passerby observes the video store in it’s natural habitat…

And I’m not here just yaking at you about supporting Black Dog, but also all the fabulous little joints the dot our landscape. There are so many great shops up and down the hubs of this city – record shops, bookstores, clothing and stuff, restaurants, the list goes on – that need your support, especially at this time of year that’s is so crucial to so many businesses. Would you rather help pay for another helicopter landing pad on the CEO of Amazon’s yacht or would you rather support the people and their families that contribute to making this great grey world a little brighter?

“Think we can squeeze one more on there?” says, Money C. McYachtington

So if you want to support a place that offers great service, an amazing collection of films that you’re not going to find anywhere else in town (or online for that matter), chat with our wonderful, knowledgable staff and go home with something great, drop in anytime (well, when we’re open)! Or if you want to settle for mediocrity and give your dough to some fat cat millionaires who don’t give two fucks about you, then by all means please do so. But just think about the end result of all of that. And this doesn’t stop at our door, check out all the other fabulous shops, not just in the hoods already mentioned, but wherever you live. You’ll be glad that you did.