All these comments cry out for a boffo, multi-screen, sense-o-rama sort of response, to wit:
1 Yes, SLO has an arthouse theater that's shabby but not-too-shabby. Originally the unemployment office in the city's Chinatown District (all three buildings of it), a local radio guy converted the building into a multiplex a couple of decades ago. It was recently purchased by the SLO Film Center (who the hell are they?) and they're showing the films that aren't exactly blockbusters mixed in with a bunch of classics. I believe they use film in addition to digital projectors, depending on the movie.
2. Not a fan of experiencing "The Seven Samurai" on anything smaller than a 40"-50" screen (twice that size is much better), if only to pay proper obeisance to Kurosawa and the effort he put in to making the film. One loses the impact of the thundering hooves and the overall sense of justice inherent in this one. You wouldn't watch "The Magnificent Seven on your Apple Watch, would you?
3. I had the first book that included the origin story, but didn't pursue it from there on the assumption that I wouldn't be able to find all of the series and that there are other things I don't need to blow money on that I don't have. I used to be way into comic books but got out of it when they were affordable and something to read, not instruments of investment you'd get graded before sealing them up until it's time to make a house payment or something. I used to be able to buy ECs in okay condition for about $25 each, and early Marvel Golden Age books were $5-10. I was in the biz in the 70s and the best deal I almost made was to trade the entire stock of my table at the 1975 San Diego Comic Con (including some original Howie Chaykin and Bernie Wrightson panels) for a Frank Frazetta oil painting that had been used on a Conan the Barbarian paperback book cover. We were about 10 minutes from the end of the show when some schnook walked up and offered the other vendor about $10k in cash for the piece. So much for my hopes of crashing the big time.
-Eden (I subsequently accepted a position with the Durian Fruit Promotion Commission in Malaysia to expand the popularity of the fruit on an international basis (it could have been intergalactic but for the fact that nobody wanted to risk stinking up a spaceship for eons). I came up with the "Stick to the Durian Mode" campaign for music festivals, along with the "Do It With A Durian" slogan which ran afoul of the copyright laws because Ford Motor Co had already reserved the Durian Name for an upcoming, roundly bulging-shaped SUV)
