My rekindled interest in collecting laserdiscs

Weirdest thing. Here it is, it's almost 2009, and my interest in
collecting laserdiscs is rekindled. I'm having trouble justifying why
exactly, but I am enjoying watching all the unwatched titles in my
newly expanded collection and acquiring additional LDs from such
sources as the excellent laserdiscvault.com site and the occasionally
half.com or Amazon used seller.

In 11 years I've acquired about 1,800 DVDs, along with 50 or so Blu-
rays over the past year. LD acquisition was slower, taking me from
1989 to 1998 to reach 300 titles on the big discs.

But then my LD collection jumped to more than 800 recently when I
acquired an LD collection of more than 500 discs. I'm watching them on
a Mitsubishi 7057 LD player I got from Kurtis, and the good ones look
quite good projected on a 100 inch screen. No, not as good as DVD and
not anywhere approaching my high-def sources, but good enough to enjoy
a film. Sound is great.

So I've been watching these LDs quite a bit. Great westerns with Jimmy
Stewart, John Wayne, etc. Lots of live-action Disney flicks (to enjoy
with my kid) that I never got on DVD. Well done modern Shakespearean
movies like Hamlet (damn, it's got rot!) and Richard III. Informative
documentaries like For All Mankind.

Most everything is out on DVD, of course, but the thing is I got a
large collection at a cheap price and so I am enjoying it. Makes
perfect sense and easy enough to justify.

What I can't explain is why I'm buying more LDs, including LDs of
titles I already own on DVD. This week brought Criterion LDs of
Casablanca, Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as
well as the CAV LD release of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Got 'em
all on DVD already and will surely buy the Blu-ray of Casablanca. (I
wish Universal would get moving and put out Forbidden Planet on Blu-
ray since they released it on HD-DVD already.) But I'm glad to have
these LDs.

Makes no sense I know, but I've got the storage space, the playback
equipment, the modest amount of money needed and the desire to own
these LDs and more. The covers are beautiful and the big shiny discs
are a joy to be handling again. It's thrilling to see the big flat
pizza boxes coming in the mail so many years after my final Ken Cranes
order.

Oh, well. Can't really justify it with economics or practicality. So I
am just going to enjoy myself.

I think that's the way to do it.

I've acquired more than 200 LaserDiscs this year, thanks to
transactions with people who didn't want to keep theirs anymore, & I
could hardly be happier. (If I had MUSE equipment, that would about
do it.) I also picked up a couple of BDs, although I haven't got a
player yet. Certainly, for me, my LD library is a source of
enjoyment. That's entertainment value, mostly, of course, but the
attractive packaging, the (sometimes fantastic) inserts, & even the
occasional picture disc just add to that. As a Japanese animation
fan, I use mine to stage a show of "classic, overlooked, & justly
obscure" anime at a large convention which is held nearby. Also,
since I like to make compilation CDs of the music, having the PCM
tracks already there makes things so much the better.

--publius--


On Dec 3, 3:22 pm, thevideojun... DeleteThis @comcast.net wrote:
> Weirdest thing. Here it is, it's almost 2009, and my interest in
> collecting laserdiscs is rekindled. I'm having trouble justifying why
> exactly, but I am enjoying watching all the unwatched titles in my
> newly expanded collection and acquiring additional LDs from such
> sources as the excellent laserdiscvault.com site and the occasionally
> half.com or Amazon used seller.

(snip)

> Makes no sense I know, but I've got the storage space, the playback
> equipment, the modest amount of money needed and the desire to own
> these LDs and more. The covers are beautiful and the big shiny discs
> are a joy to be handling again. It's thrilling to see the big flat
> pizza boxes coming in the mail so many years after my final Ken Cranes
> order.
>
> Oh, well. Can't really justify it with economics or practicality. So I
> am just going to enjoy myself.