Pimping (#3)

I have been involved in amassing huge piles (both in boxes and tubes) of movie posters for a little over ten years, I'm guessing. It's arduous and thankless work and you people show me so little love that I feel I should abandon all public outlets and just roll around in all this paper all by my thrilled and naked lonesome. But, what are movies if not a great reason to be social? And what kind of representative of this glorious hobby would I be if I just stayed in and read and listened to records and never had to step in the bullshit outside my door? Actually, I can't even answer my own question because that's starting to sound real nice.

But then the computer here often offers just enough 'social' as some misanthropes need or just enough as we can stand, at times. And it can be really rewarding! After a short stint of collecting (I immediately involved myself in forums and mailing lists which continue to this day) I stumbled upon one collector who really made me notice what was going on. It's hard enough falling into debt and never buying anything that wasn't once under some dirty marquee while attempting to maintain some sort of 'normal' life that when I was first faced with 'foreign' paper, I just flat decided I'd only venture there when the title was 'country of origin' or just too much of a favourite (and/or too gorgeous) to be ignored.





But that all changed when my friend Armin started posting shots of his Japanese movie posters. Being a fan of Japanese films to begin with, it wasn't hard to fall head over heels with the incredible colour and design work that seemed so much (and more) above all others. This isn't to say that the French and Italians (probably my two other favourites) don't have superb illustrators and such but there was just something about the Japanese paper that did it for me. And that was the beginning.





Since then, I have come to possess around 125 pieces of film history from that wonderful country! And while they weren't all directly from my friend, he is the reason they are here and he has sourced some real treasures for me on his regular trips east. My most recent piece that Armin found for me (the first copy was in very 'used' condition) is this sublime piece from the terrific 'Face of Another'.




And I am here to tell you now that if you have any interest in this type of thing, you are totally directed to his site and to his brand new (sorta) blog! If you see anything or seek anything, you could never find a better poster ally. And he has excellent taste in music!