What does the library do with Blu-ray discs?

When they buy a 2-for-1 item that includes DVD and Blu-ray, they do the smart thing and just send them both out. (If they’re using DVD-style packaging. Blu-ray packages are repackaged.)

I don’t see any reason to collect Blu-ray-only titles. Do you?

Shitty Hollywood entertainment the library bought too much of

Too much of, I repeat. It’s not like I’m saying they shouldn’t have bought any copies of these Hollywood entertainment DVD products. But in a moment we’ll just do a quick comparison, mmkay?

• Fred Claus (135 copies)
• Imagine That, whatever it is (100)
• Bride Wars (142)
• Yes Man (191)
• Swing Vote (98)
• Confessions of a Shopaholic (162)
• And yes, ladies and gentlemen, Beverly Hills Chihuahua (129)

Now let’s take a look at extremely culturally important Canadian dramatic feature films. True, most of them are crashing bores even to the film snobs and auteurs who claim to like them, but if you can’t get these things from the library, where the hell else are you going to get them? (I’ll be coming back to that one too, mmkay?)

• Adoration (25 copies on order)
• Bon Cop, Bad Cop (★★★; 62)
• Cairo Time (28 on order)
• Nurse, Fighter, Boy (22)
• How She Move (72)
• Polytechnique (21)

Top Tens

In fact, of the 2009 TIFF Top Ten, only Cairo Time and Polytechnique are collected by the library. From the 2008 list, only these are in TPL’s ranks:

• Before Tomorrow (21)
• Heaven on Earth from queen of crashing bores Deepa Mehta (unknown quantity)
• Mémoire des anges (also unknown)
• Lost Song (24)
• Pontypool, which wasn’t terrible (23)

I found exactly one Canadian film that broke past the magic threshold of a hundred copies: One Week at 104.

But hey, they’ve got the soundtrack to Maman est chez le coiffeur. I found a couple of cases like this, actually. It’s like we’re too good to drive down Queen St. in the movie, but can grit our teeth and put up with the mud splashed onto us by its soundtrack.

What about the only fun Canadian movie of the last ten years, Hard Core Logo?

One copy on VHS. Same for the only enjoyable Atom Egoyan picture, The Sweet Hereafter.

TV shows on DVD

A nice thing to have. TPL is replete with reruns of Cheers, Mary Tyler Moore, Sex and the City for guys who don’t like their balls, JAG for guys who do, and a list of other colonial cultural products. If you’re a TV snob, they’ve got Breaking Bad and Mad Men. (In that vein, compare and contrast Babylon 5, which they’ve got, and BSG, which they ain’t.)

There’s Da Vinci’s Inquest from the previous century, Corner Gas, Robson Arms, and even Trailer Park Boys, but no Flashpoint or Being Erica (though you can borrow the latter’s soundtrack). I view Canadian TV on DVD as much less of a failure of collection.

But when it comes to Canadian feature films, the Rogers store in the Beach has a wider selection. I’m sorry, but I’ve got issues with that.