chapotraphouse

I really hope I’m not being a boomer and remembering the past with rose-colored glasses, but there really was something to that weekend ritual of picking out movies at the video store versus just picking whatever from a streaming service. Of course, having all those options available now is incredible too, so not better just different.

Man, I loved the video store so much I actually ended up working at one for a few years.

Had a boss that robbed the place blind, on inventory days while the rest of us were scanning everything in the store, he just sat at the counter up front and manually entered all the UPC numbers of stuff he'd stolen.

We randomly got a copy of Attack of the Clones that was dubbed in Italian, despite a near complete absence of ethnic Italians in the area, and we would play it all the time because it made the film into a literal "space opera." The film was much better when you couldn't understand the wooden dialog delivered in stilted performances.

They didn't have enough keys for every shift leader to get one, so I was taught how to jimmy open a lock with a credit card instead for when I had to open the store.

But of course, the real benefit was the rentals, watched so many director commentaries on DVDs because that was just the coolest thing. I still miss commentaries with streaming stuff these days.