Dick
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 22, 1999
- Messages
- 9,937
- Real Name
- Rick
I buy three or four DVD's per week using cash or check. That is probably a low figure for many movie collectors, but it's all I can afford. But, then, if I want a Kubrick or Hitchcock box set, I use a credit card and end up repaying the debt for months. And having accounts at Best Buy and Circuit City and Wal Mart is not good for me. Do I watch all of these movies? Of course not, nor do I get around to listening to all commentaries and sampling all extra features. I am a COLLECTOR. I obsessively hoard. If the item is on the shelf, and I own it and have instant access to it 24 hours a day, that is often enough to satisfy me, even if I ultimately NEVER WATCH THE MOVIE ON DVD AT ALL! I used to be a record collector (the vinyl variety). When I had half of a given artist's output on LP, I searched high and low to fill in the gaps in my collection, and might play the albums when I found them...once...before relegating them to one of many shelves. Is this a means of showing off? Do I want my neighbors to be mightily impressed that I have a far more extensive collection of something than others on the block? For me, this is not about besting the Joneses.
I want to impress MYSELF. I might have ended up hunting down all buffalo head nickels ever made or every cancelled stamp from Ethiopia had I acquired different interests, but instead I search stores and dot.coms for a left-over copy of SEVEN SAMURAI with a four-minute restoration demo still intact, since bidding on one at eBay would cost me a whole week's DVD budget. Collecting is a sickness, really, no matter what the item(s) being accumulated. But it's so damn much FUN, and what an indescribable feeling to walk through the door with a bag full of brand new movies! I will happily spend a half hour removing shrink wrap and security stickers, re-aligning the artwork so that it's straight beneath the plastic on the keep case and the spine is just so, and pop each disc in the player only long enough to see that the aspect ratio is correct, the colors are true, and the sound is awesome. Then I push "eject," replace the disc in the case, and spend another half hour sliding rows and rows of DVD's around on the shelves to make room for the new ones in perfect alphabetical order. Yes, I can part with stuff. I weed out DVD's I know I won't watch...but the point is I BOUGHT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE KNOWING THAT, and just had to own them for a while. We're talking analyst's couch time. So, the moment of truth...how many more like me are out there, considering taking out a second mortgage in order to add another several hundred DVD's to a collection, even titles that will never be watched? I'll lie down and await your responses. The doctor is in.
I want to impress MYSELF. I might have ended up hunting down all buffalo head nickels ever made or every cancelled stamp from Ethiopia had I acquired different interests, but instead I search stores and dot.coms for a left-over copy of SEVEN SAMURAI with a four-minute restoration demo still intact, since bidding on one at eBay would cost me a whole week's DVD budget. Collecting is a sickness, really, no matter what the item(s) being accumulated. But it's so damn much FUN, and what an indescribable feeling to walk through the door with a bag full of brand new movies! I will happily spend a half hour removing shrink wrap and security stickers, re-aligning the artwork so that it's straight beneath the plastic on the keep case and the spine is just so, and pop each disc in the player only long enough to see that the aspect ratio is correct, the colors are true, and the sound is awesome. Then I push "eject," replace the disc in the case, and spend another half hour sliding rows and rows of DVD's around on the shelves to make room for the new ones in perfect alphabetical order. Yes, I can part with stuff. I weed out DVD's I know I won't watch...but the point is I BOUGHT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE KNOWING THAT, and just had to own them for a while. We're talking analyst's couch time. So, the moment of truth...how many more like me are out there, considering taking out a second mortgage in order to add another several hundred DVD's to a collection, even titles that will never be watched? I'll lie down and await your responses. The doctor is in.
