100221 • Thrift Store Finds

The Ernie Pyle book below was made in 1944… and it is like brand new. White pages, no issues whatsoever! Almost as unbelievable is that I don’t have it already!

America 1908 is interesting as it shows what the USA was like right before the war, which is important to know.

Images Of War • Artwork from the war. There is a lot of this in books, but I have few books about it.

Warrior is one of those books I see every once in a while, and wanted when it was new. Finally found one at a cheap price! A nice romp of photos and text, not heavy reading but very interesting, visually.

300 • Finally, I get to experience the book that one of my favorite movies was based on. I read Frank Miller’s take on Batman back in high school, so I’m familiar with the visual style. What I didn’t understand about the movie for years, is that it is from the point of view of the narrator, telling the story. It isn’t actually supposed to be historically accurate.

Not much to say here, although the Songs Of WWI is a nice two-disc volume that has the original recordings… I read about these songs all the time so it will be a nice reference.

Voices of Time is a nice disc, and the Living Stereo of Van Cliburn is of course something I won’t turn down, especially with the Prokofiev 3.

092521 • Thrift Store Finds

History of Western Europe • This is a great find, being in good shape and printed in 1903. Always interesting to read out-of-date history!

Thunderbolt • Memoirs are never a bad buy (unless it is someone who is unscrupulous, such as this book by a mobster I read a long time ago… by the second chapter it was obvious he was just making everything up. It was crazy.)

Why The Germans Lose At War • Interesting analysis of the skilled people in the German military/political scene, and the wildly unskilled people in the German military/political scene.

Mathew B. Brady’s Civil War • Amazing how old these photographs are, and we are very lucky to have them. Sure would be interesting if photography had developed earlier and we could have seen the War of 1812 or Revolutionary War. This is a great book though.

Three Movies

Nobody • From the writer of John Wick. Has to be good then, right? It was! Bob Odenkirk does a great job, the action scenes are great, and it’s a nice start to a good movie franchise! I did read that this is set in the John Wick universe, and they’ll have hints to that in the next movie.

Unhinged • Look at how similar the movie poster is to Nobody! Doesn’t matter, this is still a good movie. There are a few moments in this that really caught me off guard. The first ten minutes or so is very slow, but once it gets going, the movie runs at full speed for the rest of the film. Russell Crowe does great as a road rage instigator… one should watch this movie simply to add to the reasons never to honk one’s horn!

To Hell and Gone • This was one of those low-budget movies that I picked just for the fun of it. I have a lot of these that I never get to because so many turn out to be a waste of time. But this one wasn’t. Even with a low budget, it looks great and kept my interest. I’m always thinking “what would I do, could I do that?” when watching movies like this.

Old Mask / New Mask

Finally got my new Defender mask to replace my old Sportmask. The Sportmask was second-hand, didn’t cost much and has lasted a very long time. However this new one fits better and doesn’t have all of the battle damage. It’s been a long time coming, but the weakest aspect of my goaltending gear has finally been dealt with! The Defender is a custom mask and is definitely not a thrifty bargain like the Sportmask was as it cost as much as my leg pads did, but it is a long-term commitment and I’ll definitely be getting my money’s worth out of it!

Just waiting to get my custom pants, leg pads and glove back from being repaired and refurbished and I should be good to go for a few years!

091821 • Thrift Store Finds

Rome • Season 1 & 2 • I haven’t watched this since it came out fifteen years ago… and I picked this up, which is both seasons… for $1.50! The discs are in perfect shape and so far I’m several discs in. What a deal! Also, it’s in a sort of book form, with the discs easy to access, without even really opening the ‘book’ up. Great packaging.

Eyewitness Auschwitz: A very raw, first-hand account of being in Auschwitz.

Fulcrum: Escaping the Soviet Empire. That’s what people don’t understand about Communism/Socialism: They wall you in, you have to escape it.

Fatal Voyage: I have several books on the USS Indianapolis now. Sounds like such a sad story.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II: I have other books by this editor, and of the same kind… they are big books! Interesting to just look through, and a handy reference when reading my other books. Amazing that a book this big can be had for next to nothing. This was one of those really neat bargain priced books that would be sold at Waldenbooks or Barnes & Noble. They used to have a really nice amount of great books at decent prices, for new books that is. Now, there is no Waldenbooks and Barnes & Noble only has a fraction of the Bargain Book section that they used to have. So sad. Every time I see one of the bargain price stickers on a book, it makes me think of the time I spent agonizing of which books to buy because they were all so good and all so cheap (not compared to thrift prices, but I didn’t hit the thrifts back then).

Nothing too shocking here: The Zemlinsky Symphonies is totally new to me. The Beethoven Overtures is a nice collection but not totally new to me. The Britten: Spring Symphony is new to me, and the disc and case are like new even though it is a 1997 release!

I have listened to almost all of these already, the Debussy / Ravel album has been the best so far, along with the Faure: Requiem.