Good Media Hunting, August 30, 2025: Thriftin’ with Brian J.

I mentioned I wanted to step away from the computer yesterday, so I did some second-handing. I hit a garage sale, an estate sale, an antique mall, and a thrift store, which I believe is hitting for the cycle. I’d really wanted a couple of things: Christmas presents for the few people for whom I buy Christmas presents these days, and a loud or out-of-date sports jacket for this year’s Trunk or Treat.

Well, I did find a sports jacket which is not too loud but looks like brown corduroy (which I will louden up with what I wear under it). No gifts, though, so this is not part of the one-for-you-one-for-me protocol which I will use as we get closer to Christmas.

I got some records and videos.

Most of the videos come from the thrift store, and most of the records came from the estate sale.

As for videos, I got:

• The Best of Jack Benny on DVD at the estate sale. It was marked like $8, and it was half price day, so I was willing to pay $4 for the collection since he was George Burns’ best friend after all. But the woman at the register let me have it for $2.
• Casino, the mob movie.
• Hard Cash with Christian Slater and Val Kilmer. Which I’m not sure I’d heard of even though I was a Christian Slater fan back in the day.
• The Mask of Zorro on videocassette. I think we might have it on videocassette. I guess we’ll see.
• Be Big with Laurel and Hardy, I think. The videocassette in the case does not have a label that matches the case. So this is definitely a case of videocassette roulette.
• The Best of Benny Hill. C’mon, man, I’m never likely to see this in the wild ever again. And apparently “old comedy” was the theme of the day.
• A Man Called Sledge, a James Garner western. Videocassettes at the thrift store are marked a quarter each. So I should go check back often. And they degrade less than DVDs do.

As for records, I got:

• Popular Songs in Mandarin Chinese by Poon Sow Keng, a Chinese singer of some reknown. The estate sale was thick with world music for a couple bucks each as you will see.
• It’s My Way by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
• Italy Dances! by Gigi Stok’s Orchestra. Some music for pasta night at Nogglestead.
• Frankie! by Frank Sinatra.
• Jazz Praise by John Mehler and Kenneth Nash.
• In Person by the Four Freshman since I’ve accumulated a number of their records. I left behind a bunch of similar acts like the Four Lads at the thrift store because I don’t need other artists to accumulate.
• Lightly Latin by Perry Como which I guess I already own. I’ll have you know I did pass on some of his records which I knew I owned, thank you.
• White Satin by the George Shearing Quintet. To go along with Black Satin which I bought in 2018 and in 2023. I sure like George Shearing, but he flies under the radar of the current vinyl hipsters. And when they discover him, they will have to pay MY PRICE! Muahahaha!
• Music of India Volume 2 with Ravi Shankar on the sitar.
• The Streets of Tokyo: Tops Pops Song in Japanese by Nippon’s Favorite Record Stars.
• Songs of India with the voices of Utpala Sen and Shyamai Mitra. Because as any grousing I might have done about H1-B abuse indicates, I hate India and its residents.
• Dance Music of India conducted by Timir Baran.
• Julie Budd by Julie Budd, a 1971 soft pop/rock release I will probably listen to once and archive/shift left.
• Right Back Where We Started From by Maxine Nightingale. I think it’s that song which was a hit.
• The Kai Winding Trombones featuring the Axidentals. (not to be confused with The Accidentals from whom I really should order a couple more CDs.

So that’s fifteen LPs and hours upon hours of television and movies to watch. I spent, what, $40 or so including the brown sport jacket. Not bad.

But between this and the book sale last weekend, I have filled the top of the video cabinet fuller than it’s been before. And I thought I had been making progress. Ah, well.

Maybe I should get away from my desk and get to the end of the sofa where I sit to watch the television.

And despite the videos that Facebook teases, I did not buy anything to “flip” online. I get suggestions for videos containing the secrets of people who resell collectibles and clothing that they find at garage and estate sales on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace. And I’m tempted–remember, gentle reader, I did a lot of that at the turn of the century–but then I go to the antique mall and see piles of stuff overpriced which is not moving, and I remember I have two aunts who had antique mall booths who gave it up–and I realize that there are too many people grinding at that now, and the only real winners nowadays are Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, and the owners of the antique malls.