“Your Benefits Assessment Funds at Work”

by Chris and Kris   ⋅   February 24, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

One of my favorite things these days is checking out DVDs from the library. There are no fees, you get to keep them for a week, and you usually find something interesting you’d been meaning to see, but hadn’t had the time. Oh yah, and you can check out roughly 10 films at a time at most libraries.

Now there’s a definite difference in selection depending on the library you visit. For example, the Mountain View Library has a pretty good foreign film section, and roughly 60 - 75% of the Criterion DVD releases. San Jose on the other hand has a lot of TV shows, ranging from the Twilight Zone and Lost, to Kris’s favorite, CSI, as well as mainstream films. Mountain View tends to get some of the more risque films, while San Jose almost always has a censored or rated cut.

The one thing I have noticed is the San Jose library is getting less and less discriminatory in the films it chooses to purchase. Maybe it started with it’s acquisition of the entire Andromeda series on DVD, but these days you see everything from The House of the Dead to Tremors 4 showing up at the library. I know what you’re thinking, “Wait, what? Those are films no sane person would buy!!!” But in fact each film is emblazoned with an almost mocking sticker stating “Your Benefits Assessment Funds at work.”

Here’s a short list of some of the shitty films your tax dollars have purchased:

• Catwoman
• Be Cool
• The House of the Dead
• Stealth
• Anacondas
• The Girl Next Door
• The Dreamers
• The Medallion
• Van Helsing
• White Chicks
• Scary Movie 3
• xXx

Don’t get me wrong, the San Jose Library still has a LOT of cool stuff. It’s one of the only libraries I’ve come across that actually has the Noam Chomsky documentaru Manufacturing Consent, Straw Dogs, Woman in the Dunes (and the writings of Kobo Abe, the author of the book on which the film was based, and one of my favorite writers) and other totally cool flicks. I just wish they’d show some discrimination. But if they’re going to buy total crap, at least don’t remind people of where the funds to purchase them came from.

-Chris Nelson