Back in the 2002-04 range, I worked 30-ish hours per week at the record store in Glenbrook Square and another 30-ish at the Wooden Nickel store on North Anthony Boulevard. I still sometimes dream that I’m working at the North Anthony store on a Sunday, content as I’ve ever been. It’s my favorite place in Fort Wayne.
These days that magical store is run by former Whatzup music critic Colin McCallister. While I wouldn’t call Colin a close friend, he’s someone I’ve kept an eye on for years and have spoken to off and on about film and music. A great guy, as far as I can tell.
Not long ago, I learned that Wooden Nickel and Whatzup are not the only things McCallister and I have in common. Colin is also a massive cinephile with a large DVD and Blu-ray collection. There are not a whole lot of movie collectors left out there, so I felt the urge to send him a batch of questions focused on his life as a movie fanatic. Nerd-on-nerd.
He responded to my too-obvious prompts with just under 5,000 words of perfectly written, very generous text. From that whopper of an exchange, I’ve peeled away some very enjoyable nuggets, but first, a little more about McAllister …
Born and raised in Fort Wayne (a true Wayniac!), he is a 32-year-old PFW grad who loves film and music so much that it’s a lifestyle. I get it. Trust me.
“Some of my earliest memories involve gazing obsessively at album art from Columbia House catalogs, and watching music videos and various shows on MTV,” McCallister told me. “So even from the very start, I was getting a strong dose of both sound and vision.”
Columbia House and MTV. Sounds familiar.
With people like Colin who are extremely passionate about both film and music, I always wonder if they favor one or the other.
“Film and music are equally important to me, and it’s also accurate to say that the two mediums compete greatly for my weekly budget set aside for entertainment,” he said.
Again, I get it, Colin.
After years spent using his allowance money on CDs and DVDs at Mega Replay and Wooden Nickel, McCallister eventually got into collecting vinyl and movies. Currently his collection, which he carefully documents using Discogs and spreadsheets (familiar), is at about 1,500 records and 1,500 movies.
“For certain titles whose artwork I like, I have those facing outwards on the shelf so I can gaze upon them whenever, and even beholding the spectacle of my film collection as a whole is enough to just look at on its own endlessly, which I sometimes do,” he said.
But alas, I’m running out of room in this week’s column; a shame, considering how much more goodness McCallister sent my way. Before we wrap up this week’s uber nerdy column, here are a few more highlights from his responses.
He’s doesn’t really get into rom-coms or sports, but, like me, has a long, deep relationship with the Criterion Collection.
McCallister isn’t much of a movie theater guy, but does have an 86-inch television running through a high-end audio system.
His top five filmmakers are David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick, John Waters, and David Fincher. His top give films are Eraserhead, Pulp Fiction (his desert island film), A Clockwork Orange, Se7en, and Crumb, which he describes as “the best documentary ever, as far as I’m concerned.”
And, to close, while he doesn’t really like awards shows, he believes The Banshees of Inisherin “deserves as much recognition as possible, especially Best Screenplay.”
Could not agree more.
