Preserving cinematic history, one DVD at a time.
I can be calm.
I can be rational.
I can be…
“Dear Sweet Lord! Is that Howard the Duck??!!!?!?”
Spoiler alert: It was.
Face it.
I may write about sports on a daily basis, but movies have almost always been my one true obsession.
Fifteen years of video store life, of being paid to watch films, and I’d still be doing it if the world hadn’t shifted around me.
Once we lived in a world where David got screening copies of movies every single day and enough free cinematic-related swag to choke a horse.
T-shirts for Apollo 13 and The Stupids! A River Wild bomber jacket!! Boxes of Forrest Gump chocolates!!!
And now, we inhabit the darkest timeline, where Walmart sells record players(!) in 2024(!!) to underage hipsters but has removed the $5 DVD bin from the middle of the store in Oak Harbor.
But we fight on!
I was sliding through life with just five DVDs in my duplex, watching streaming, and then, thanks to one generous CHS basketball coach, suddenly the door on my addiction was cracked back open.
Since I have to go zero MPH or 1,000 MPH — it’s just my way — bam, a couple of months later, I’m pushing 3,000 DVDs.
Which means when I drive Whidbey Island, I’m always scanning the side of the road for free bookcases now.
And haunting the thrift stores of three towns, always looking for that sweet, sweet hit.
An unopened nine-pack of Alfred Hitchcock films for a couple bucks??
A pristine set of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries for what amount to spare change??
A two-disc anniversary edition of Forbidden Planet, with Leslie Nielsen in his straight guy prime, before he became the king of deadpan comedy with Airplane and The Naked Gun movies???
A dusty box of DVDs featuring fairly obscure Avant-garde films??
We have liftoff (and muted screaming inside my head as I try and stay calm on the outside).
My small home has become a refuge for these DVDs being rejected by the world at large — a forever home where they can come and have a water view of Penn Cove, not fearful of ending up in a landfill.
I’ve already had to decide that no, I don’t have the room to save VHS tapes.
Maybe if I had a warehouse, and not a duplex…
At some point I’ll probably have to be realistic and cut down to one copy of any particular title, and not do what I’m doing now, which is to preserve any DVD that comes my way.
I may love A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger rockin’ out in the world of jousting, but I don’t really need six copies of it.
But six different people have donated a copy to me, so, for now, sanctuary!
I’m being (semi) responsible here. No hoarding. No piles of DVDs on the floor.
It’s all on shelves, strictly alphabetized from Abba: Gold to Zoolander.
Whenever I add another title, be it a thrift store find, a garage sale rescue, or a donation from someone accepting it’s 2024 and the world has changed, it takes me back to my Videoville days.
The mystery of opening a box of donated DVDs from a Wolf Mom and finding … An American Werewolf in London … The Goonies … HOWARD THE FREAKIN’ DUCK!!!
The hunt in the wild, skulking in thrift shops and at garage sales and unearthing Support Your Local Gunfighter or Cry-Baby or Have Gun, Will Travel or The Last Starfighter!
There’s a vast world of DVDs out there.
Some are Chinatown or L.A. Confidential.
Some are … The Brady Bunch in the White House or Monster Mutt.
All deserve a safe haven in a world gone wild. The work goes on.
A small smidge of my revived obsession. So many DVDs still left to save…
Have DVDs (or a bookcase or two) you want to send on to David’s retirement home for movies? 165 Sherman in Coupeville is your destination.
Coupeville Sports 