JOHN CARPENTER DVD SIGNING - DAVE'S VIDEO OCTOBER '98 by Peter M. Bracke

The director of over 15 films, it is not an overstatement to say that John Carpenter has built a decidely devoted fan following over the years. Having grown up on his films, they have been an important part of my life as a lifelong film buff and student. I still remember the first R-rated film I ever snuck into, The Fog. I was ten years-old and it scared the shit out of me! I loved every minute of it, of course, and since then I've had the opportunity to see all of his films before and after, in the theater or eventually on video.

So I was quite excited upon receiving the news that Mr. Carpenter would be appearing in the Los Angeles area to sign copies of the long-awaited Collector's Edition of The Thing, one of my favorites of all his films. Even better, 10% of the proceeds would be going to a charity of Mr. Carpenter's choice.

The event took place at Dave's Video & Laser Place in Culver City, California (just a few minutes north of Los Angeles), one of the earliest retail outlets devoted solely to laserdisc (and now DVD). In their 16-year history, they have never once sold a VHS tape...pretty impressive! It is great store with racks and racks of laserdiscs and DVDs, and mouth-watering selection of nice and big projection TVs (hint to readers: my birthday is coming up real soon). Anyway, the line soon started to form after I arrived at 4:00pm, 2 hours before the scheduled start time of the event.

While waiting in line, I had the great opportunity to meet some fellow webmasters, Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits (and the most famous DVD man on the web, judging by all the people he knew!) and Keith (aka "Coffee") from The Honest DVD Page, who I also discovered is a fellow ex-Chicagoan. I also had the opportunity to talk with the Dave's Laser staff and manager, and the wait time in line went by in no time (but more on that later).

Mr. Carpenter finally arrived on the spot at 6:00pm, and as I'm not usually a starstruck person, I was a bit surprised that I was actually a tad nervous to meet him. Being a USC film student, which is Mr. Carpenter's alma mater, I had an easy in for a conversation, and I was surprised how geniunely nice and congenial the director was while I blabbered on about my studies, etc. As with all such signing events, your moment with the star in question is mercilessly brief. But he happily signed my two copies of The Thing (one for me and another for one of you), wished me luck, and that was that. But it still will be a fond, if brief, memory.

After the event, I continued to talk with the staff, Bill Hunt and a few others. I also got to meet a couple of readers, and am always flattered when anyone knows who I am (but I'm still holding off on printing a photo of myself...gotta keep that air of mystery). I heard lots of interesting tidbits of information, which I will follow up on (a bit too premature to mention some of it). One of the more interesting stories from the staff concerned Mr. Steven Spielberg, who sent an assistance recently to pick up a DVD player and a copy of every single DVD in the place! Guess the guy isn't hurting for money, and in light of all the talk surrounding a possible DreamWorks commitment to DVD and releases of other titles such as Deep Impact and The Mask Of Zorro, this is interesting timing to say the least.

Well, enjoy the photos, and don't forget to check out this month's new contest to enter to win your own signed copy of The Thing...

Thanks to The Digital Bits for the authorized use of their photos (check out their overview for the complete shots). Also, thanks to the great staff of Dave's Video & Laser Place for staging a terrific, organized and welcoming event. And, of course, thanks to John Carpenter for lending his time and very tired wrist to meet and greet all his fans.

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