When I was, oh, ten or eleven years old, DVD first begun gaining prominence. But it was a long way off from total domination, and I still remember how wary I was of the new technology. Sure enough, I eventually became endeared to the format, and for the following 13 years I scarcely touched a VHS tape.
That all changed tonight. I picked up a 3 pack of blank VHs at the corner store (yes, they still have them there. Probably 'cause I live in an old people neighborhood). And I'm in the middle of 2 & 1/2 hours of VHS recording right now.
Two things inspired me to get back in the VHS game, each on opposite ends of the TV specturm: one on the lowest level of local public access, and the other on a unique high-end cable channel (which we just happen to randomly get, conveniently enough).
The first is Unsealed: Alien Files, a show that airs, flanked by infomercials, on the local network that took over years ago when the WB ceased to exist (The CW occupying UPN's slot at #22). It's not just the best and creepeist alien show currently airing, it's the only top-notch paranormal doc show that's been on in half a decade or more. It's beyond obvious a show like this will never be out on DVD or iTunes. And since I missed my chance so many years ago to capture the previous paranormal classics like Beyond Bizarre and Real Scary Stories, for future Halloween viewings I need to have Unsealed in my video repetoire.
The other is Palladia, a video music channel better than MTV or VH1 ever has been, even when they were great in the 1990s. A Viacom network (like VH1 and MTV), it reairs great music content from its sister stations like MTV Unplugged and VH1 Storytellers (often full versions *not* shown on their original networks!), but it also airs literally dozens of concerts you can't legally acquire anywhere else. It plays all the biggest festivals (Bonnaroo, Isle of Wight, Download, etc. etc.) and an almost ironically ideal mix of my two favorite genres, pretty much everything the channel plays is either classic rock or modern pop!
It's a fucking amazing station and I couldn't let it sit idly by any longer. After catching a badass Tom Petty set at some festival or another, and discovering that it isn't and will never, ever be released on DVD, I knew I had to get some tapes and record some of this amazing material. Sure enough, right after Unsealed tonight (conveniently not playing at the same time), Palladia is airing highlights from a festival from 2009 featuring... Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and TAYLOR SWIFT. What a stroke of luck that I even have this channel.
Long story short, I'll probably have to go out and buy more VHS tapes in a couple of days. Three isn't going to last very long. And if I was so inclined, I could even record the movies from On Demand. The current stock includes such excellent films as Liam Neeson's 1998 non-musical Les Miserables, Mammoth featuring Michelle Williams and written/directed by Lukas Moodysson of Fucking Amal, and the much acclaimed horror-romance Let Me In featuring Chloe Moretz.
No comments:
Post a Comment