My name is Chuck, and I am a collector.

My name is Chuck, and I am a collector.

Collecting what doesn’t really matter that much. In my life, I have had a lot of collections:

• Keychains
• Baseball Cards
• Zippo Lighters
• Computer Parts
• Pens
• Posters
• Comic Books
• Magic the Gathering Cards

The list goes on, but this post isn’t about the list. Hopefully, this post will serve as an introduction to who I am, what you can expect to see from me here.

I am a collector, and I am a completist. I have to see things through from beginning to end. At one point in time, I had read every single one of R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps series. This was when the series was into its 40th or 50th book.

There are some things that I think I would really enjoy, but the collections are so large, I am afraid to go near them. The only comic books I venture to read are ones that have a limited run length, like Preacher. Everywhere I turn lately, I see people talking about how great Dr. Who is. I would love to check it out, but there is no way I would ever be satisfied picking it up in the middle of the show. I would have to start at the beginning. Not just the beginning of the current run, either. I would have to start at the very beginning, with the original doctor. And if I liked it, I would have to watch it all. When I say I “have to”, it is more like the way a person with OCD would say they “have to” wash their hands, than like how an over-enthusiastic diner might say you “have to” try some of their food.

Now, if I don’t much care for something and I have already started it, I can put it down and walk away. When I watched The Wire, for instance, I couldn’t help but compare it to The Shield which I like a lot more. After the first season and a half, I stopped watching. Of course, I realized well before 1/2 way through the second season that it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I kept watching for a while, anyway. And if I do like something, get out of my way. I read the first Dresden Files book a couple years ago, and liked it, but somehow managed to prevent myself from reading the second one until January of 2009. Four months later I had caught up in the series of (then) 11 books.

I had seen two or three episodes of the first season of Arrested Development when it aired, and I knew that I would enjoy the show. Since I had not seen the first episode yet, I waited until the DVDs came out. When the season released on DVD, I bought it and I watched it. In one sitting. I sat down and did nothing but watch 22 episodes of that show. Not counting food or bathroom breaks, I didn’t leave the couch until I saw the whole thing.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am insane. My hope is that by writing about some of these things, I can at least say that my time wasn’t wasted. I plan to post reviews here at The Modern Day Pirates. The majority of these reviews will be of complete series of TV shows or books. Just in this post, I have mentioned The Shield (TV), The Dresden Files (Books), and Preacher (Comics), all of which I hope to review here, as whole entities. The biggest attraction of The Dresden Files is the character development. That doesn’t happen in just one book. It is continually happening throughout the whole series. To review just one of the books at a time would miss out on all of that. The fact that a lot of past media is still available to us in this glorious age of music downloads, TV on DVD, and Netflix means that I will be able to point you, dear reader, to something you may not have seen before, but that definiatley shouldn’t be missed.

If you are at all interested in seeing a list of TV shows, of which I have seen every episode, check out what I’m calling my TV CV over at my personal blog.