Other computer's rendering again so i've got 5 minutes to give you all a quick consumer report...oooohhhhhh how very 'Which' :)

To begin with i'll point out that I buy *a lot* of DVD's and that the vast majority of these are imported from either Japan or America...the reasons for this are:
1 - Some of the stuff I want is never going to get an official release over here.
2 - They come out far sooner than the UK releases.
3 - They normally have more features or are better versions of the film.
4 - They're normally cheaper.

So, now that we've established that I import a lot of DVD's lets move onto where I get them from...I buy all my stuff online of course and i've used a fair few places since I first had my player chipped...DV-Depot, Amazon, Play, PlayUSA, J-List, CD-Wow, YesAsia, DDDHouse etc...all relatively good, some with great prices, some with stupid shipping costs (especially the Japanese ones!)...now there's one company i've known about for years but have never used...discemporium.com...and I've recently had the misfortune to order something from them, now i'm not saying "don't under any circumstances use this company"...no no no that would be foolish (and potentially litigous!) but rest assured that *I* will certainly never use them again...allow me to explain why.

As practically everyone will have noticed Kill Bill got it's DVD release a short while ago...and as anyone who's seen it (that's everyone then) will know there's a section of the big fight scene at the end that's in black & white, this was done because squeamish censors felt it was "too violent" in glorious colour and that the B&W version toned it down enough for our delicate sensibilities, now *obviously* the DVD release also has this section in B&W...apart from one :)...the Japanese version...which is totally uncut and has that fight scene in all of it's wonderful bloody splendour (Huzzah!)...now needless to say this version was the one I wanted, no, NEEDED ;) and I set about finding somewhere I could order it from...after a thorough worldwide search I eventually pre-ordered it from discemporium as I knew they'd been around for ages, they offered free shipping and the price was relatively ok...now then the release date was the 14th of April (2 days before the UK release) and that's when I expected the parcel to arrive...the 14th came...and went...no parcel, I had a look on their site to see if there were any shipping updates and noticed that they'd sneakily changed the release date to the 16th, mildly irritated I thought 'oh well at least i'll get the best version on release day'...the 16th comes...and goes...guess what? still no parcel...showing remarkable restraint in the face of unprecedentedly harsh circumstances I reasoned that it'll probably arrive on Monday...it didn't...it was at this point that I started to get tetchy...I gave them another day and on Wednesday morning phoned their office and was gifted to a "conversation" with a chap whose grasp of the English language bordered on the Cro-Magnon...we spoke for a short while (well, when I say that I mean that I spoke...he grunted at me monosyllabically) and I was told that it'd been delayed and it "may" be with me on Friday, but more than likely Monday...at this point I believe I was about to spontaneously combust from suppressed rage but, what with me being English and all, I said "oh ok then, that's fine" (then I slammed the phone down and grumbled some choice insults at the receiver)...I waited, bad temperedly, until Friday...again nothing...Monday comes, and goes, with nary a parcel in sight...I decide to check the site again to see if there's been any updates about the delays...nothing...but I noticed that they'd now changed the release date *again* to the 24th which, whilst being very sneaky, was still shit as by this point it was the 27th...barely managing to contain my incandescent fury (good eh :)) I called their friendly office cretin again and was told it'd be with me Thursday, needless to say I gave him some choice acerbic comments which fully communicated my abject fury at their horrendous service! I think it went something like '*sigh* oh ok then' see that sigh? speaks bloody volumes that does...volumes I tell you! Anyway, guess what? Thursday? does it arrive? does it fuck!...Friday? nope...when does it *finally* arrive? today!...21 days after it was originally meant to be here...i'm, needless to say, less than amused!

But it's not the delivery problems that's made me never want to deal with them again...it's the communication, or lack thereof...at no point did they even say they were having problems getting stock...I got no 'order delayed' emails, in fact after i'd given them the money they made no effort to contact me whatsoever...which, to me, conveys a whole image of 'once you've paid and we've got your money you're on your own...we don't give a fuck about you'...so then, i'm just off to call out a hit on cro-magnon boy...hope any of you who import DVD's found this useful ;)