R.I.P VHS

As I sit here, my treasured VHS player and several of my most favourite tapes sit in the foyer entrance of my house. They have been sitting there for a year, maybe more.


My delicious boyfriend keeps begging me to get rid of them. Every once in a while I might say...sure baby, I'll do that this weekend. Then I forget, conveniently.


Letting go just plain sucks, especially when it's something you adore that is neither broken or annoying. It's simply, there.


I grew up on VHS cassettes. I remember when my hands were so tiny, they used to follow the tape in. There were titles like Goonies, The Princess Bride and Willow. Every single tape I owned when I was a kid had to be eventually thrown away because they wore out from use.


I loved the smell of them, the sound they made and even the bulky cases. I can think back to those chunky brown ones you used to get from the video store...oh the memories.


So someone like me, who is insanely in love with movies, is faced with getting rid of the machine which made her this way. How in the hell am I supposed to do that???


I got to thinking about all this, not because I keep seeing that VHS player every time I walk in the door with my favourite tapes stacked up on top, but because of the new Blue Ray v. HD DVD debate. Which side am I taking? Neither right now...I'm waiting to see which one turns out to be the "beta max" of the year 2008.


I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Yes, tv's are bigger now and yes, we need discs with more storage...but why can't the industry agree on one format to rule them all? I think the only people who will suffer in the end are the consumers.

So anyway, back to my beloved VHS. I am clinging onto that thing like I am to my childhood...with two hands, two feet and a maniacal grin. I'd say it's my resolution in '08 to finally move on from those black beauties, but it feels like I'm about to bin my comic book collection. Goodbye forever? Say it ain't so!


Since I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, I'll just say this...perhaps 2008 is my year of letting go, of finally grasping DVD and digital films with the same gusto as I did with VHS. Not that I haven't already...I pride myself in being an early adapter, even if I am afraid of the Blueray/HD fight. It's just that I have to say goodbye to a dear, close friend and I find it so difficult to do so.


Happy New Year everyone! Be safe, drive carefully and do things that count in 2008, to you and others. Bless you for reading my silly words.