For those of you who have tearfully witnessed a blockbuster invade your neighborhood and gobble up the local video store (even Quentin Tarantino’s L.A. alma mater, Video Archives, shut down a few years ago), rest assured that there is a beacon of indie light still shining in Seattle, home of the coolest video store in America: Scarecrow Video (www.scarecrow.com). Boasting 45,000 different titles—including some 9,000 foreign films—Scarecrow also has PAL-compatible VCRs for all those spiffy Euro rentals, and a cine-savvy staff of 35. It has genre selections galore: from silent films and sexploitation to Hong Kong action and film noir (not to mention the staff favorite “Vengeful Acts of a Wrathful God” section, which includes foreboding yarns like The Poseidon Adventure). “We are the ultimate movie-nerd store, and that’s our prerogative, that’s our drive,” manager Norman Hill says. “People go to Blockbuster for The Perfect Storm. They come to us when they want Jean Genet’s The Maids, because we’re one of five video stores in the country that has a legal, nonbootleg copy.” Scarecrow has drawn in such acclaimed directors as John Woo, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, and Nicolas Roeg to give presentations of their work. Other celebrity drop-ins include Gus Van Sant, Winona Ryder, and Courtney Love. And despite plans to expand, the folks at Scarecrow swear they’ll never depart from their quirky, indie roots. “Our primary focus,” co-owner John Dauphiny says, “is to not ruin what we have.”