You may be aware that Borders has a promotion wherein if you buy 3 DVD's you get a fourth for free. Perhaps it's time once again to clear out some inventory. Well, I wandered into a Borders over the weekend (mainly for the coffee) and discovered, set before me on display, a DVD I had been waiting for the arrival of: "The Fog of War."

Naturally, it occurred to me that I could get "The Fog of War" for free if only I bought three other DVD's. The difficulty was that "Fog" at $23.99 was a premium priced item. (Why this is the case, I don't know. Probably just to take advantage of my enthusiasm over the release.) So, in order to get it for free, I had to buy items of the same or greater value: Akira Kurasawa's "Ran" The Masterworks Edition, "Unforgiven" Special Edition and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" Special Edition. And so I succeeded in getting "The Fog of War" for free, and helping Borders clear out some inventory.

And now for some incoherent rambling:

I think the first time I saw "Unforgiven" I was in Champaign-Urbana and the movie was being shown on laser disc. (Remember laser discs? They were the size of vinyl records.) Someone said then that he had never met a woman who liked that movie. I'm always dubious of such claims, but the women in attendance were entirely disinterested.

Anyway, you should see "The Fog of War." And see "Ran" if you haven't. Hey, who doesn't love a 2 1/2 hr Japanese feudal epic?

(More discussion on "The Fog of War" at some later point.)