Thoughts on hoarding (Slightly off topic)
I miss a lot of stuff. My dad accused me of being a hoarder and made me throw out a lot of stuff I’d love to keep. Apparently it’s “the worst thing” a person can be. Things I loved; clothes, CD collection, DVDs. But I really miss the old videos. VHS has so many memories that feel like they’ve vanished. From going to a rental store and renting a film where it’s like going to a petrol station to buying second hand copies of Cronenberg films when I was in my mid teens. Stuff like that meant a great deal. Of course, DVDs took over and now I just download films. Fuck Netflix.
Owning these things meant something. Now I look at what I have here (a fair bit) but it will always feel incomplete. Sure, I might’ve bought things again and again to replace what I’ve already bought before but......I don’t know. When people complain about picture quality on a DVD or Blu-ray (of which I don’t have a player - I just don’t see the point), I just can't believe it. I feel that if they've got the copy and the picture is scratchy and grainy it makes me love it even more. I don't complain about the DVD company for a "shoddy restoration," I feel grateful for seeing something. Almost to the point of feeling that I've really seen something that was excavated from the vaults. Don't get me wrong, seeing something like Wojciech Has' The Hourglass Sanatorium fully restored is something that absolutely needs to be seen. But we need a bit of perspective.
If I have to be asked, what do I prefer, aside from going to see a film at the cinema, I would say VHS. For the simple reason you watch it from start to finish and you're not woken up by the opening titles being replayed over and over like a bad dream. Over a computer is fine enough but you're always aware of the time and that's the worst thing. You're never fully able to lose yourself completely to a film. A film needs it's full attention. Sure it's handy if you need to get something, or go to the toilet, you can pause the film. But nowhere do you skip a chapter on a DVD or something like that. It feels like cheating (even though there are times I've done that with a film.)
I realise that if I ever wanted to have everything I ever had apart from the things I wanted to sell to someone, I would need a lot of space. A room or two with everything filed away in shelves, boxes, chests of drawers and so on. With a TV and laptop to watch them all. That would be the place I'd want if I could ever afford something like that. But I've been brought up to be ashamed of hoarding. To dump everything away in charity shops or car-boot sales. To me, that is the real shame.
Owning these things meant something. Now I look at what I have here (a fair bit) but it will always feel incomplete. Sure, I might’ve bought things again and again to replace what I’ve already bought before but......I don’t know. When people complain about picture quality on a DVD or Blu-ray (of which I don’t have a player - I just don’t see the point), I just can't believe it. I feel that if they've got the copy and the picture is scratchy and grainy it makes me love it even more. I don't complain about the DVD company for a "shoddy restoration," I feel grateful for seeing something. Almost to the point of feeling that I've really seen something that was excavated from the vaults. Don't get me wrong, seeing something like Wojciech Has' The Hourglass Sanatorium fully restored is something that absolutely needs to be seen. But we need a bit of perspective.
If I have to be asked, what do I prefer, aside from going to see a film at the cinema, I would say VHS. For the simple reason you watch it from start to finish and you're not woken up by the opening titles being replayed over and over like a bad dream. Over a computer is fine enough but you're always aware of the time and that's the worst thing. You're never fully able to lose yourself completely to a film. A film needs it's full attention. Sure it's handy if you need to get something, or go to the toilet, you can pause the film. But nowhere do you skip a chapter on a DVD or something like that. It feels like cheating (even though there are times I've done that with a film.)
I realise that if I ever wanted to have everything I ever had apart from the things I wanted to sell to someone, I would need a lot of space. A room or two with everything filed away in shelves, boxes, chests of drawers and so on. With a TV and laptop to watch them all. That would be the place I'd want if I could ever afford something like that. But I've been brought up to be ashamed of hoarding. To dump everything away in charity shops or car-boot sales. To me, that is the real shame.
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