review

A kid’s hobbies have the impermanence of pretty much everything in childhood, and largely people let them go as they grow up.  Nostalgia may draw a person back, without a full understanding of what they were missing, or why a hobby means to themselves.    During a rough spot late in life — an affair and a divorce — Simon Garfield sold his stamp collection.  Not the stamp collection he had started in his childhood, though; the £42,500 collection he had mostly acquired during adulthood.  In his book, The Error World, the errors and decisions that led to divorce are touched on only briefly; the stamp collection, however, is his real story.

Like most children, myself included, stamp collecting is an early hobby, rarely resulting in a collection of significant merit, but a pastime taken up just for fun.  Garfield’s collection grew like most young hobbyists, by tearing corners off his parents’ mail, stopping in at post office to see what’s new, and accepting gifts from well-meaning relatives.   As he began to devote more of his effort to his collection, Garfield began to seek out postage errors, those stamps that have a production mistake of some sort, from a mispunched perforation to a missing color.   While his collection wasn’t his only pastime as a kid, in retrospect he saw how his stamp collection connected with his life: how a particularly rare stamp missing the Post Office Tower wasn’t just an error, but a memory of a childhood friend who was afraid of the building; the stories he has of his uncle in Israel, also a philatelist, are more valuable than the stamps he received as gifts from that uncle; story-books of stamp thieves stuck with him longer than the stamp collection itself.    Garfield’s book winds together these events of his life through his personal history of collecting, discovering and revealing that the unattainable satisfaction of a complete collection will cannot be attained, that desire will always surpass a person’s capacity to acquire, and once you’ve gotten all that you can — what do you do with it?

Author Simon Garfield

As you might guess, postage stamps figure prominently in the book.  This will definitely be a turn-off to casual readers.  Garfield falls into the trap that several parts of his book address:  it can be useless to explain the detail and art of a collection that, frankly, a non-collector is just unable to see.    Stamp collectors will have the most sympathy for the plight of Garfield’s life and those around him, but even the average collector will understand the common features of a person working on their collecting opus. People with deeper pockets will always get the better objects.  Those you love really don’t know just how much your hobby costs.  Accepting the blank or patronizing response of someone who just doesn’t understand.  Knowing that somewhere, out there, is the one thing that will surpass anything else in the collection…but you probably won’t ever own it.   Garfield’s book does weigh heavily on these melancholy aspects of collecting, clearly colored by his divorce and the stories of the deaths of his parents and brother, all before Garfield was 25.   In that remembrance of loss and desire for more, Garfield reveals some of the deep aspects of collecting, those primal, carnal drives that make collecting something far more personal than the task of pasting pieces of paper into a folder.

The Error World
Simon Garfield
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN13: 978-0-15-101396-8
$24.00 hardcover

Founded 85 years ago, The Magazine Antiques is a monthly publication for connoisseurs of fine arts and antiques. I subscribed to the magazine a little over a year ago based on the topics and articles covered by the magazine, and my only disappointment has been the shortness of the articles. I have, however, found the articles to be thorough and well-researched — the writers tend to do a good enough job that I’d like to read more about the various topics, ranging from Masonic collectibles to colonial primitives to fine oil paintings. Because I tend to collect more epehemera and fewer decorative items, I often learn something new in every magazine. I must admit, I’m not exactly the magazine’s target audience. Primarily based on the advertisements, I’d wager the magazine isn’t focusing on a generalist readership consisting of antique dealers, casual collectors, or obsessives like me. The Magazine Antique is for the collector of high end antiques, those who decorate their walls with fine art and furnish their various rooms with fine furniture from past eras. Although I live a bit off the beaten path, I still appreciate The Magazines Antique’s calendars and travel recommendations, just in case they happen to reference something within driving distance of my home. These informational sections aren’t purely purchase-related — the calendar includes museum events as well, lending more towards their intended readers to be true enjoyers of antiques, rather than price-focused collectible investors.

As with all modern magazines, advertisements do dominate the content of each issue. The advertising content, however, is more reminiscent of that in a fashion magazine: the ads are full color and place all their weight on the photograph and one or two lines of text, rather than a hard sell. Nearly every page is full of photos, complimenting text when appropriate. Flipping through an issue is like browsing a museum catalog or paging through the plates from an old art book. The amount of advertising can make it difficult to casually flip to the articles, but I must admit the ads are not boring.

What sets apart The Magazine Antiques from a more rote antiques magazine is that this magazine tends to focus on collecting from the artistic lifestyle viewpoint. The readers of TMA include their love of antiques throughout their days, using antiques to decorate their walls, hold them up when they sit down, feature prominently in the design of their homes, and influence how they plan their vacations. The magazine balances this well with the historical and cultural values of the antiques, rolling the collection value and the aesthetic value into one. You can subscribe to The Magazine Antiques at their website and read some of the magazine’s columns. The website also has more calendar information than appears in the magazine, along with some other informational sections.

It was less than a year ago that I excitedly expounded on the second season of The Muppet Show being released on DVD, so it’s with that same enthusiasm that I bring you the third season of the Muppets Show. With a total of five seasons ever filmed, we’re over halfway towards having a complete collection of almost everything Muppets – and with the plentiful DVD extras, this goal is more possible than ever.

This DVD set contains 24 episodes, as have the previous releases. By the third season, the Muppets had really hit a unique rhythm and were attracting a huge variety of guests from the entertainment world. While every episode has at least a half-dozen memorable moments, not even counting the truly awesome Swedish Chef and Muppet Labs scenes, this season also holds some of the most well-known episodes, featuring Alice Cooper, Danny Kaye, and the legendary Harry Belafonte episode, which is a spiritual experience in itself. This might be a ridiculous thing to say of puppets, but I find it to be absolutely true.

There’s such a vibrant innocence to the show, and it’s never more clear than during Belafonte’s ‘Turn the World Around’ musical number. It needs to be seen. The Henson folks worked very closely with Belafonte on almost all of the content of the episode, all the way down to Muppet design – making sure that none of the African Mask Muppets would upset any religious or cultural sensibilities.

Some of my personal favorite guests include Leo Sayer and Roger Miller. Sayer’s spasmodic overacting makes him seem like he IS one of the Muppets, and while it’s pretty cringe-inducing, you settle into it by the end of the episode and you can probably base a drinking game on how many times Sayer can flailingly change his emotions in any given moment. Mime doesn’t work when your mouth is moving, Leo.

I admit that I’m too young to know who most of these people are without hearing their notable songs or seeing them in action, since all of the names come right out of the 1970s, but Roger Miller was one that I recognized by voice alone. In his episode, the entire cast comes down with Cluckitis and begins transforming into chickens. While he is spared from catching the epidemic, I had become a fan of Miller from his role as The Rooster in Disney’s 1973 production of Robin Hood (which is my favorite animated Disney movie of all time), so he got to be fowl after all.

Other guests on the 4-disc set include Jean Stapleton, Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Sylvester Stallone, Liberace and Gilda Radner, among many others. Of course, any TV-on-DVD set is only as good as its extras, and this set has some gems.

‘Muppets on Puppets’ is an hour long, black and white feature originally filmed in 1969, and is an extended exploration of puppets and puppetry by none other than Jim Henson, with assistance by Frank Oz and his puppet-making team. In relatively simple terms, Henson interacts with a bunch of puppets and talks about puppets from around the world, how they’re operated, how to make them, and how to put on a puppet show. It’s a rare opportunity to see Jim Henson as himself, operating his Muppets, and also pointing out to Rowlf that he is indeed a puppet, which only slightly shatters his world. Given how elaborately the Muppets are operated and have had a world seamlessly structured around them, it’s strange to see the humans who stick their arms up the Muppets’ guts. Just like the actors who performed alongside the Muppets, I forget that they’re not real – which is Henson’s real masterstroke. The whole feature is like watching an oldschool arts and crafts TV program, and it’s worth the price of the DVD set alone.

Additionally, there’s a 15-minute featurette called ‘A Company of Players’, which is a current-day conversation with the Muppet team about how some of the Muppets came about and the working relationship of all of the players. Finally, there’s 6 or 7 minutes of Purina commercials from the 60s that star Rowlf and another dog Muppet. As a huge fan of retro commercials, I approve.

And the whole thing is fuzzy. Yes, fuzzy. You can rub against it and it feels nice. It’s exceptional viewing, without exception, and I have many a soft summer afternoon planned with this playing. You should too.

While watching the amazing Indiana Jones trilogy, I’ve realized that Indiana Jones and myself have a lot in common. We’re both part-time teachers, we’re both accidental lotharios, and we’re both collectors. Unfortunately for me, the similarities end there. While Indy’s weapon of choice is a well-aimed bullwhip, mine tends to be a well-timed barb in a blog somewhere. One of these things will save your life. I’ll let you figure out which is which.

With ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘ coming out in just a few days, the nerd-world (or ‘nerld’, as I’ve come to call it) has gone Indy crazy. I admit, the fervor was so infectious that I found myself scooping up Indiana Jones action figures this weekend without even remembering the details of the films. Plus, who can resist ANY action figure of either Harrison Ford or Jonathan Rhys-Davies? Not me, sir. Not even if the likenesses are barely there.

To herald the arrival of the new Indy film, Paramount is re-releasing the original IJ trilogy in a handsome boxed set, including 1981’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark‘, 1984’s ‘Temple of Doom‘ and 1989’s ‘Last Crusade‘, all presented in Widescreen format and packaged in three space-saving slim cases. For a DVD collector, space is a premium. Those Xena : Warrior Princess sets are huge, and very necessary, because I’m a lonely guy, and Amazons are comforting.

This set, ‘The Adventure Collection’, comes with a handful of new DVD extras. All three come with unique introductions by George Lucas & Steven Spielberg, and all three include the exact same trailer for the upcoming ‘Crystal Skull’, and the same LEGO Indiana Jones video game trailer & playable demo (which is playable on PCs only, and unsuitable for my Mac). These repetitious extras could have been dropped for some deleted scenes, or at least segments of the documentaries included with the 2003 boxed set, which are absent here. It’s all about the vintage, behind-the-scenes stuff, folks. How else are we going to live vicariously?

What we DO get are all-new mini-documentaries, two of which are special effects demonstrations – my favorite. There’s a reconstruction of the ‘melting face’ scene in ROTLA, as well as original construction footage, and a whole segment about the creepy animals used in the Trilogy, from snakes to bugs to rats, explaining (of course) that most of them are completely harmless, but a bit skeevy nonetheless. We’ve seen the actors talk a million times – show me the animal handlers and guys who make jello faces that explode! That’s exactly why I watch Mythbusters, and that’s what I love about these extras.

We’re also given one set of storyboards for each film, which is like the comic that the art team draws out to map out the film – another thing that’s easy to relate to and appreciate, but probably isn’t for everyone. There are photo galleries and sketches and models used for each film, and a mini-documentary about the wide range of exotic locations used throughout. Did you know that ROTLA was filmed in the exact same place in Tunisia as Star Wars : A New Hope’s Tattooine scenes? That’s a true story. Of course, we also have the cast reminiscences, contextualized by the arrival of the new film. I’m skipping these for now, because I want my Crystal Skull experience to be spoiler-free.

I can’t say that I ever appreciated the trilogy as much as it deserved, but I’ve now become an avid fan. It’s pretty astounding how often Raiders is referenced in pop culture, from melting faces in Scrubs to about a million scenes in Family Guy, most episodes of Duck Tales, and even a notable ‘Bart steals Homer’s penny jar’ scene in The Simpsons. Anyone who’s ever run from a huge boulder, or grabbed something from under a quickly descending door, or been chopped to bits by a plane propellor. It’s all there. There’s also the inherent appeal of the dual-personality thing that pervades so many superhero comics – Indy’s an awkward, regular guy when he’s not wearing the hat, but he’s one heck of a hero when he’s got it on.

I’m primed for the new movie with all scales of action figures, a fair knowledge of the films, and a sincere hope that George Lucas won’t stupid it up with quippy lines and butt jokes. You know, pull an Episode One. The set is due out in about a week, on May 13th, and if you don’t already have ‘em, it’s a pretty iconic addition to your movie collection.