Parting shot

As I prepare to return to Los Angeles temporarily, I am posting one final item that Sarah would love to spot here in Seoul.

Yes, that's all five seasons of Ally McBeal, starring Calista Flockhart as the skinny neurotic miniskirt suit-clad lesbian lawyer.

In the US and Canada (Region 1), the copyright issues over the myriads of songs used in the show meant that only six episodes of Season 1 were ever released in the DVD format. However, in the rest of the world, the copyright issues are settled, and all five seasons are available in their entirety. These are Region 3 DVDs in NTSC format, good for use in South Korea and Taiwan.

I personally have the Region 2, PAL version of all Ally episodes, imported from the UK. I am able to play them at home in the US, thanks to my code-free DVD player that can also convert PAL to NTSC.

I dunno if Sarah identifies with the show strongly enough to actually bother with code-free DVD players and imported DVD box sets. I have to figure out what the draw of Ally is for Sarah. It can't be the same as for me; in my case, I was drawn to Ally's fashion sense (especially the trademark miniskirt suits), her wild imaginations and hallucinations, and her lesbianism, and I used "Ally McLesbian" as my nickname for years, especially when I was almost as skinny as Calista. I certainly can't put Sarah in miniskirt suits, despite Sarah's own penchant for high hemlines, as Kirsten is supposed to be the suit-obsessed type; Sarah will probably have to either wear minis in a more casual setup, or resort to babydoll dresses and tunics.