51 Comments

Loved this post! It made me think of so many things…

1. My husband has been collecting Vinegar Syndrome 4Ks which I am now into as well. I love the preservation of “junk” films and B movies. Criterion is great but these lesser known indies are at a real risk of being lost forever.

2. I remember my diligently collecting Disney vhs tapes for us because they’d go back into the vault! Our collection felt special.

3. I miss going to the video store with my mom and brothers. A real ritual.

4. I have my friend’s copy of Cool As Ice waiting to be returned. I’m a bad friend but now I will return it!

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VS is doing great work! I got Red Rock West (a lesser known Nic Cage film) on 4K from their new sub-label Cinématographe and it is BEAUTIFUL.

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Oooooo a Nic Cage I haven’t seen!

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You should only return Cool As Ice after you have it FRAMED.

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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I'm hanging on to ALL of my DVDs! There are so many that are not available on any streaming sites. Even if I don't often watch most of them, I'm glad to know they're there!

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Those are crucial to hang on to! I cherish my copy of “Freaked”.

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I own Doctor Detroit on DVD. I have not watched it, nor do I know when I will, but I am very proud to be one of the, like, two people on earth who own Doctor Detroit on DVD.

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I’ve never even heard of Doctor Detroit, but now I kinda wanna watch it!

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I was spending like $150 a month on Streaming, and I realized that I had become completely indifferent to the media I consumed. And for some reason I can't bring myself to pick a movie when scrolling through streaming services. When I look at a shelf with physical movies it's the exact opposite. It's easy to pick a movie.

This year I cancelled everything. I started listening to vinyl and CDs. I found a thrift store that sells 10 DVDs for a dollar on Fridays. I've bought nearly 1000 DVDs so far along with 50 blue rays and 200 VHS tapes, and still it's much cheaper than streaming. It feels so much better to go out and look through rows of DVDs than to indifferently scroll through streaming services. I am so much happier and our house is so much more alive now compared to before when everyone was just staring at their own phone or tablet.

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Daniel, I’m sorry! I meant to respond to this weeks ago! Good on you for making the switch and being more intentional about your watching habits. I think it’s the intentionality, active vs. passive watching, that we’re losing. I just published a new piece on the economics of physical media- why it’s important to buy physical and support the artists, etc.

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Love your post! I 💯 cherish my VHS/DVD/Blu-ray/CD/Cassette/Vinyl collection!

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Thank you! And good on you, Cato! If only more people valued physical media…

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Thank you, yes, the state of affairs is rather depressing, as more and more new releases are not available on CD. There are so many amazing, clever ways that CD releases are made into true keepsakes, beyond the basic jewel case and insert, which of course costs money the smaller artists and labels don’t have these days, because they’re not making any money selling music anymore!

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I published my own piece on this matter recently and you said it better than me. Totally agree that we should cherish this art and the memories attached to them!

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I wouldn't say that! You made a great argument and we were saying a lot of the same things- just differently. It sounds like we're of a similar age. I liked how you touched on music more. Personally, I've just gotten back into collecting CDs, but I've been collecting vinyl for a while. I firmly believe that what people need more of are active experiences, as opposed to the passive ones streaming offers. I enjoy streaming as much as the next guy, but there has to be a balance, and I think it should tip in favor of physical media.

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I appreciate you taking the time to read it! For sure, going to the effort of putting on a record or reading the liner notes of a CD has intention and makes you really pay attention

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My first year at university included lessons from a dorm mate down the hall who had worked in a record store and had a great collection of LPs and shared his knowledge, including demonstrations of just how durable a format the properly cared for vinyl LP is! I remember being introduced to a number of breakthrough artists listening to his collection and his conversation. I still have most of my LP collection, cds, and dvds (especially after caught broadcasters and streamers censoring Mel Brooks and totally destroying his subversive humor).

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Thanks for sharing that, Robert! Good on you for keeping your collection. I've spent the last ten years or so collecting LPs from relatives, antique stores, and then some new releases from time to time. It's a much more pleasurable way to enjoy music!

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I honestly am not much of a movie or TV show fan, but I relate to this article because I love collecting CDs and vinyl. Going to record stores is one of my favorite ways to spend time outside of my house. Even if I don't buy anything, it's nice to look at the physical media in person. It's even more exciting to get a copy of a new album in person. I don't get that kind of excitement with streaming services and digital downloads. My partner and I love sharing our CD collection. He collected cassettes up until last year when his old car that still played tapes broke, now he does not have any way to play it.

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CDs and vinyl are the way to go! I’m sorry about your partner’s cassette player. I’ve only recently started collecting CDs again and I’ve been able to find some great ones at thrift stores.

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Thank you, such writings make me happy feeling that I am not a weirdo nerd who still collects DVDs, Blu-rays, cd's, records and tapes.

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You’re not alone! You’re ahead of the curve.

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Christopher Nolan waxing poetic about tenets… I see what you did there.

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FINALLY someone caught that! Good on you, George.

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I watched a VHS for the first time in at least 15-years recently

“Robin Hood: Prince of thieves”

It felt like magic.

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Watching a VHS on an old CRT tv is the closest thing we have to time travel

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Great article! You aren’t wrong about the difficulty of getting friends to watch just about anything. I was telling a friend of mine about a few fantastic shows on Apple TV that I thought he’d like (Slow Horses, Severance, & For All Mankind) and he said, “Let me stop you there. I’m never going to watch any of that because I’m never getting Apple TV.” That’s that, I guess. Love the guy but he can be such a dummy sometimes. Don’t even get me started on the Watership Down fiasco I went through with him…

The other thing you said that struck me is how, if you have physical media, they can’t take it away from you or just make it disappear. You are 100% correct. For example, I was a big Final Space (Olan Rogers’ underrated cartoon sci-fi dramedy) fan, but I didn’t think to buy the physical media because it was streaming on multiple sites. Long story short, the corporate overlords who controlled the show not only cancelled it, they effectively erased it from existence. Why did Warner Bros (the same folks who killed the completed Batgirl movie before it was released) murder and then disappear the ongoing adventures of Gary Goodspeed?

A tax write off.

They removed art from the universe to save a little money. I don’t know about you, but that concept makes me sick. Also, do you know how few shows/films have a lead named Gary?!? Because I do and it was already a tiny number before this abominable act. It isn’t just fictional Garys that are disappearing either- Garys, as a people, are slowly vanishing from the earth (but that’s best discussed in a different comment).

They produced physical media for Final Space seasons 1 & 2, but 3 was digital only. The physical media that is available, is nearly impossible to find. All I have left from that show is my memories.

And my Mooncake. (Note: I wrote this on my iPad and it isn’t giving me the regular Substack options. I’ll add Mooncake’s pic if I can. If I can’t, Mooncake is a cute and cuddly little green orb of an alien, with big eyes, a ready smile, and a tendency to say “Chookity!” Mooncake also happens to be a planet killer.)

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Gary, this is the best comment I've read thus far on Substack. I'm very familiar with Final Space. I remember watching in real time as Olan premiered the short pilot on his YT channel. I believe it was originally called "Gary Space". Damn shame it was cancelled. Did you follow the Kickstarter campaign and subsequent pilot he released for Godspeed? I think it's supposed to be a spiritual successor to Final Space.

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Nooooooo!

I just spent three hours writing a reply to you. It was almost complete (I had entered the polishing stage) when a friend of mine finally replied to a text I sent him hours ago. The volume on my phone was way up, I was half-asleep, and the text sound (a Robin Hood-like horn) startled me awake. My hands jerked and… I was looking at the Substack alerts page.

My beautiful, witty, hilarious, reference-filled comment was gone.

I want to cry. I’m going to try to recreate it, but it will never be as great as the one that was lost.

And that is why I should always write my comments in a note first and then copy and paste them into Substack. Idiot!

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Damn your friend and the horse he rode in on!

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I can’t recreate my lost comment, there’s just too much going on with me right now. To sum up, here are the notes I took trying to recreate it:

Wow! I suspected I was capable of writing a decent comment once in a while, but no one has ever said I was “the best” before. Appreciate the ego boost.

Note 1) That was False modesty. I know I’m great at this. Am I the best there ever was or will be? Let posterity be the judge of that.

Note 2) I have to be honest- that last part (in the first note) wasn’t genuine sentiment. I’m simply the best… commenter. Better than all the rest… of the commenters. Better than anyone… that comments. Anyone you’ve ever met… commenting.

Note 3) Just kidding. I like to kid around and I also like to use paraphrased Tina Turner lyrics when I’m doing so.

Note 4) Speaking of Tina Turner, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome features an underrated acting performance by her and is an all-time great post-apocalyptic classic.

For those of you who haven’t seen it before because you’re either too lazy, too elitist, or hadn’t been born when it was released, please go watch it now. While I wait, here are some quotes from it:

“But how the world turns. One day, cock of the walk. Next, a feather duster.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... Dyin' time's here.”

“I ain't Captain Walker. I'm the guy who carries Mr. Dead in his pocket.”

“Who run Bartertown?”

“Who's the bunny?”

“Listen all! This is the truth of it. Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring. And that was damn near the death of us all. Look at us now! Busted up, and everyone talking about hard rain! But we've learned, by the dust of them all... Bartertown learned. Now, when men get to fighting, it happens here! And it finishes here! Two men enter; one man leaves.”

Back to main topic

With Final Space being effectively sent into the Phantom Zone (could they perhaps resurrect the show with an alternate universe, multi-studio, mixed-media, crossover event?!?) I didn’t keep up with any of its post-murder and/or disappearance developments. I was overwhelmingly depressed by its complete destruction.

I recently found out that Olan Rogers is selling the Final Space graphic novel. It recaps the three seasons of the show and then wraps up the story. Exciting!

There are two varieties: color and B/W. They sell for $125 for an extremely limited time (there are single digit days left to buy the B/W edition). Due to draconian licensing restrictions from Warner (Olan Rogers can’t use a publishing house, sell anywhere other than his site, or fund the project via Kickstarter) copies of this will be limited to one printing only. So it’s verrry limited. Rare, you might say.

I’m trying to convince myself to buy one or both editions (as investments, of course), but I’ve been off work for a long time. The smart move would be to pay bills or buy food.

Lucky for me, I’m not smart.

Nice to hear from someone who knows and loves the show.

BTW, reading this (or anything I write) is like talking to me. Digressions within digressions and I sometimes make it back to the main point.

https://finalspaceends.com

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I started reading your reply last night and I just now finished. Don’t tempt me with ultra-rare comics. That’s my kryptonite! That and rare, out-of-print movies will keep me perpetually poor.

Gary, I picture you as a recurring character in the sitcom of this newsletter. One that the audience is happy to see, and the episodes always receive high ratings. Thanks for contributing!

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I wholly agree with this idea!

The great thing in the modern world about physical media is the intentionality. When you open up a DVD and take it out of the case, you are doing one thing, and only that thing. It's sort of like going out to the theatre (which is its own kind of lost experience these days). There is no possibility of getting caught up on some pretty things in a menu and losing your original intentions into the blender like happens so often on streaming. It's going to be one movie, and only that movie, because you've already put in the effort to get it off the shelf. You wouldn't want to get up again to change your mind would you?

I've only crossed the tracks onto the physical media team in the last few years, and I'm also an ultra-broke college student, so my movie collection numbers in the double digits. I probably haven't even put $1000 into it, but even I can look over at my shelf and feel proud of the work I've done to put those things there, and be glad that those things are always going to be there. I remember when I bought my favourite movie (the new Invisible Man), my friends all called me a fool, because it was on Netflix at the time. When it left Netflix, those same friends were poking me for reactions, and were confounded by my cluelessness. I didn't even know it'd left, because every time I wanted to watch my favourite movie, I just pulled it off the shelf.

That's what physical media can do for you. It will always exist, and cannot be taken from you. As long as you have a way to play it, you can watch it. You don't have to deal with the shady 'ownership rights' grift that the companies play these days, where you 'buy' something on Apple TV (or any service), only for it to disappear off the service. You don't have to deal with mountains of ads trying to pull your eyeballs in other directions. It's just one thing, and I wholly agree that the modern world needs more time spent doing one thing.

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Robbie, were you born in this century? If so, I’m even more impressed that you’re beating the drum for physical media. Good on you!

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Thank you very much!

You're correct. I was born in the 2000s, but that doesn't change the fact that I dig physical media. I've been hit with a deluge of advertising that abandoning it is the way to go, but I've never bought it.

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I have a decent physical collection of my favorite things, many of which are hard to find elsewhere. One of the bonuses for this is that I can plug my player into my capture card to do a live let's draw/let's chat where I show people movies and shows they may never have seen before.

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That’s really cool!

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Thanks! If you do this, be sure to turn off VOD recording, or the service you're streaming to may issue a copyright strike. Live one-time showings with commentary are permissible, and the same rules apply to live readings of written works.

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I don't have any way to play DVDs, VHS, or CDs anymore, which kind of bums me out. I used to listen to albums all the way through and get really immersed in the artwork. Everything feels a little more disposable now.

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It totally does! I don’t play video games, but Xbox and PS systems are capable of playing dvds, Blu-rays, and cds. Used dvd players are usually plentiful and cheap at thrift stores and you can also find a lot of great dvds and cds there.

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Jeez, I didn't know Guava Island had been wiped out. It's quite lovely, but now when I talk about it I might as well be spreading myths!

Thanks for keeping the signal alive for physical media.

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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Spreading myths exactly! What a great way to put it. Thank you for fighting the good fight as well!

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