Missed the Saturday dance. Heard they crowded the floor...
- Duke Ellington, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
This is the fourth week that Daphne and I have been teaching from home, and it's Char's third week of online learning. Charlotte attends Girl Scout Zoom meetings, and she has drum lessons online as well. Suffice to say, the Monsons don't get out that much.
Not that there is all that much for me to do; we play it pretty safe. If I'm not at home, then I'm either at the grocery store, the gas station, or Goodwill. This means I haven't been blogging much. I can tell that my writing chops are getting rusty, but lately I haven't wanted to practice by writing about our home-life (insert Groundhog Day cliche here). But since I like thrift store finds, I thought that would be a fun post to write. So, here comes show and tell...
Used DVD players still dominate the electronics shelves, and it's much more uncommon to spot a Blu-ray player. That's why I was excited to see this Sony BDP-S470 for $8.99. I tested it with a movie at the store, and seemed to work, so I took it home. The included remote control was the tipping point. If a player does not have a remote, walk away. You can't get by without one, and an official remote will cost you more than the player. I can usually find manuals for these online for free, so that's also a bonus.
I connected the Sony to our TV with a HDMI cord. The TV indicated that there was no HDMI signal. I thought, Shoot, I guess that's why it was 9 bucks.
Before giving up, I tried connecting the player with a yellow RCA cable. I could now see the menu. The picture was poor, but I could navigate the setup screen with the remote. I reset the Sony to its factory settings, and then changed the output to HDMI. That worked! Fun!
The Sony doesn't have Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, so I connected it to our modem using a LAN cable. I used the player's menu to "check for updates" and was surprised that not only was there an update, the Sony accepted it.
The Sony played "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" without a hiccup. The only thing you have to be prepared for is the long loading times with these older Blu-ray players. "Cloudy" took over a minute to boot-up.
Partner the Sony with this Lord of the Rings trilogy set for $2.49 (no artwork, but the discs are clean), and you have a cheap night on the town in the living room.
That was so much fun, I brought home another Sony (with a remote!) that was even cheaper.
The Urbandale Goodwill is accepting returns on defective electronics. You have three days to bring an item back if you keep the price tag and the receipt intact.
Necessity does not play a factor here. I
did not need another Blu-ray player. But a working Blu-ray player for less that 5 bucks is too good of a deal to pass up. I used the previous process with this Sony BDP-S360, and it works well, too.
Both Sonys have a RCA video line out, so that means I can now connect a Blu-ray to our garage theater projector. Last Christmas was t-shirt weather, so watching a movie in the garage this year is not an impossibility.
Holiday classics: the discs in all three of these sets are spotless and appear to be brand new. Makes me wonder why they were donated.
These three movies are self-inflicted wounds. I knew Char would think they're fun. High School Musical was the last film we watched in the garage during our Thanksgiving break. She really liked it. I'll probably twist the knife and pick up HSM2 and 3.
Speaking of knives (or hooks), my
I Know What You Did Last Summer collection is coming together nicely. I'm a sucker for 90's horror, even if the movie isn't very good.
I often complain about the poor vinyl selection at thrift stores. In a normal year, if I wanted a new record, I'd visit my favorite record store. This is not a normal year, and it is now uncomfortable to browse through record bins with someone standing right next to you. I buy from ZZZ Records online to support their business, but I dig through thrift store crates to see what I can find in the wild.
I bought these two jazz guitar LPs for 25 cents each.
The records were owned by a gentleman named Carl (his name is on scrawled on both), and Carl either A) didn't know how to take care of vinyl, or B) just enjoyed the music and played the crap out of his records. I like to think the right answer is "B". If either of these records were in decent shape they would be worth a bit, but sadly they are really beat up. I listen to them anyway. Of the two,
Tal Farlow only slightly pulls ahead of
Billy Bauer because of his cover art.
Here's another 25 cent record, but this one is in much better condition.
Our Man Flint was created during the first 007 craze, and its soundtrack is lounge-cool. Today I read a comment on the IMDB that the guitar work on this soundtrack inspired Wall of Voodoo's cover of "
Ring of Fire." I bought that exact Wall of Voodoo 12" single last week from discogs... weird.
This
Brothers Johnson cover is
sweet, and I was pumped to see what kind of disco funk was lurking inside.
But the wrong LP tumbled out.
I checked the stacks for The Time's correct sleeve, but had no luck. I bought this record anyway. You can see that the LP was produced by "Morris Day & Jamie Starr." Jamie Starr is one of the many
pseudonyms used by Prince, and he has his fingerprints all over this release. "Get it Up," "Cool," and "The Stick" are all fun, funky tracks. Sometimes you just have to make the most out of what you find.
This makes me consider how slim pickings are one of the benefits of shopping for thrift records. I'll give any record that looks half-way decent a chance. I often end up enjoying music that I would normally have passed on at a record store. This BTO album is a great example. Just the bass line and the guitar riff on the title track of Not Fragile are worth the price of admission. 
The same goes for this double LP from Rare Earth. Do I really want to spend 24 minutes listening to a live jam of "
Get Ready?" Yes, I do. In fact, I have. More than once. I am now a Rare Earth fan.
Here's another double LP with live tracks on it. The vinyl is really nice shape which is amazing since there are small bite marks on the top of the sleeve and one back corner has been chewed off. My guess is that the culprit was a house cat. It looks like the damage Earl would cause.
I could cut off the damaged area and pretend that an overzealous store clerk did that back in 1975 when they put this on the sales rack.
Not every LP I buy is a winner. Some get cleaned, played, and eventually returned. You can't hit a home run every time.
I had magazine subscriptions to Stereo Review and Hot Rod when I was in high school. Both publications were filled with very expensive toys. Yes, I said "toys." In the end of the day, that is what exotic cars and top of the line stereo systems are. Don't get me wrong. I'm not judging. I like toys.
Anyway, one of the fancy brands in Stereo Review was Denon. So when I spotted a Denon DVD player I did a double-take. I looked up the model number on my phone, and the DVD-910 had some really good reviews. I gave the clerk $9 and went home.
I'll confess that the 910 did not come with a remote. I broke my own "no remote" rule. In my defense, the front of the 910 has enough buttons that you don't even need a remote if you are willing to get up and walk across the room to press a button. Plus, it's a Denon!
No, I didn't need this DVD player, but I really wanted to see how well the Denon would play CDs. On-line reviews bragged about the 910's ability to play audio discs. I had my doubts. Can one player really read digital 0s and 1s better than another?
To my ears, the answer is yes. It's not a night and day difference, but it's like getting an eye prescription updated. Every thing looks (sounds) clearer. One reviewer stated that the 910 shuts off all video related circuitry and focuses on only the audio when a CD is played. He stated that was a "very Denon" thing to do. I have no idea if that is true, but I have had fun playing CDs lately, and I don't care if that's not as "cool" as playing vinyl. The CDs sound great.
I was able to get my universal remote to work with the Denon, but I broke down and bought the correct remote from eBay. It cost more than the 910, but not by much.
Time to go downstairs and listen to Nirvana's "Nevermind" on CD. Like The Cars'
first album, Nirvana could have almost called this "Greatest
Hits."
Goodwill charged me $2.49 for this CD. If I wanted to listen to the original LP, then I would have to pay a bit more than that on Discogs:
See? CDs aren't so bad.
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