I hate the past. To me, the past is something we should learn from but never return to. I have no desire to return to the days where gay and the r-slur were every day jokes and and “Tits or gtfo” was a common reply to women on the internet.
But I love old machines and gizmos. I love gears and levers and buttons. I love things that clunk and whir. Vinage music boxes, Clockwork toys and VHS machines that sound like they’re trying to go into orbit when you rewind a cassette. I’ve always liked old stuff for as long as I can remember.
Is it nostalgia or just autism? Is it something I should be ashamed of?
Oh vhs tapes are for sure worse. But ive got a soft spot for em. I am weird and try to collect pan and scan versions of mocies cause it’s interesting what some guy chose to cut out of the frame. They’re official half assed re edits of popular movies that you cant find on other formats cause theyre objectively worse. But I am fucking weird.
I hope to find the modified-for-television edition of The Matrix someday. The Wachowskis had the cast dub over the swears with things a child would exclaim in 1960s TV.
Keanu cries “Jeepers creepers, that thing is real!?” when they take the bug out. Carrie-Ann Moss mutters “Shucks” before riding away when she sees Neo getting arrested.
I remember that! The security guard saying ‘holy smokes’ when Neo shows he has 50 guns on him and the mouth doesnt match at all
Pan and scan is such an interesting artifact of the standard def era. Most of the movies I watched in the 90s were VHS recordings from when they played on TV, and so I ended up becoming very familiar with the 4:3 version of movies like Jurassic Park and Empire Srikes Back. When I saw Empire Strikes Back in theaters during the re-release in 97, it was a revelation - as a kid, I hadn’t even internalized that I was missing a big chunk of the picture.