Yes, thanks to the quick action of Personal Support Computers in Santa Monica, I'm back up and running (I hope) and only about $50 poorer for the privilege. So I will be able to keep the reviews coming, after all.

Universal's not giving out screeners, but DVD Talk managed to find an end-run way of snagging the classic Sci Fi film The Andromeda Strain, Robert Wise's unusual and fairly successful attempt to turn two hours of technical exposition into a doomsday thriller. It starts better than it finishes, but there's enough thrills in the show (and some laughs, even) to put it way into the plus category. With a thorough docu. Savant has the inside story on the choked-monkey controversy here as well.

MGM's double bill of the hippy-trippy Psych-Out & The Trip are excellent versions of two very loopy pictures, one that holds up and one that mainly entertains by letting Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper and a very silly-looking Dean Stockwell make fools of themselves. Susan Strasberg keeps her dignity, however. With Roger Corman's priceless description of his LSD experience, courtesy of MGM's docu extras.

Besides a mountain of other titles, the much-desired, hard to find screener of the Ruscico WAR AND PEACE showed up today. It'll be a challenge, but I'll have my daughter, a Russian-literature major, to help me out when the going gets tough, like, as soon as I confuse the first two or three names. Hopefully the computer will also hold out. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson