The First Disc | How Movie Collecting Became Personal

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[00:00:26] If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Before all these algorithms decided what we should watch, and before that pesky buffering wheel popped up on your Netflix account, there was a shelf, a case, a cover you can see, you can feel.

[00:00:50] And for most of us, there was that one movie, the first disc we bought. And for many, that's how the addiction started. This is The Physical Cut, where films live beyond the stream. And today, I'm going to take you back to the beginning.

[00:01:24] Today, I'm going to take you on a small walk through memory lane. I want to speak a little bit about my first time. Not that one first time. I've had many first times. But my first time buying a movie with my own money, with my allowance.

[00:01:42] I remember perfectly the film and how it happened. And that was in 1998. And it was the VHS for screen, the first part. I rented that film so many times from the same video store that at one point, the owner told me, why don't you just buy it?

[00:02:07] I didn't know where to buy films. I knew where to rent them. I knew the libraries had films. I knew Blockbuster. I had my own Blockbuster card. But I didn't know where to buy films. Even in Blockbuster, I was just renting. I was not buying because they were overly expensive.

[00:02:23] They were like $30 for VHS. And I also knew a Toys R Us having these large price tags on films, on VHS, that I didn't know where to buy films. I knew they would sell films at Blockbuster, but I couldn't afford them. I could barely afford renting at Blockbuster as a kid.

[00:02:49] And that was the only place that I knew of. And I never seen the VHS for screen there on sale. I was always exposed to horror. So it wasn't like my parents wouldn't let me rent or see or buy horror. It's just as a kid in an allowance, a $20 allowance a week. And it's kind of difficult to just walk into Blockbuster and buy a $40 VHS.

[00:03:16] So he told me, the owner of the store told me, I'll sell it to you. And I told him I'm like, for how much? So he said that the VHS, when he bought it, because it is licensed to be allowed to rent, it cost him $90. I told him I can't pay $90 for VHS. What he did, he put it aside. He put a copy of Scream aside.

[00:03:45] And he just told me to pay him little by little. It took me about three weeks of allowance and borrowing money from my mother to be able to afford that VHS. I did. I bought it. I overpaid for it, clearly. But again, I didn't know where to buy it. I did not know where I could go walk in and buy

[00:04:12] this movie that I've loved so much for weeks now that I've been renting over and over and over up to the point that the guy is just trying to sell it to me so he can get rid of it, I guess. I mean, I was about to burn it. My VHS would stop and rewind and play again by itself. So I didn't have to get up. I would just sit there and watch the movie over and over to the point that I knew every line, every gasp, every scream of the film.

[00:04:39] Sadly, I don't own that VHS anymore. I wish I did. It was one of the first prints. And it does suck. It had the cover that I've been trying to find for a while now that is overpriced. And sadly, rebuying the movie, I believe I bought it last year for a good price.

[00:05:04] It was about 25 bucks on eBay, but it wasn't the same feeling. I assure you that it was not the same feeling. I was buying it because I missed having it because it's my favorite film. I buy multiple copies of my favorite films. It's a VHS. I have a VHS player. I have not played it. It does not look good on a 4K TV. I do have a CRT TV in the movie room, but I haven't played it.

[00:05:32] But again, I bought it more for me. I bought it because it used to bring me joy having that film in my house, in my room, playing it over and over. And obviously like now with the resurgence of VHS, sometimes it's a little hard to try to find some of your favorites, especially as a collector because of the overpriced that I feel like they're trying to rip us off at this point. And I don't want

[00:06:01] to get into an argument about that. Just recently, I'm just going to take a tangent here. Just recently, one of my Instagram friends called up a movie store to ask about a price of one of his favorite films on VHS. And they were asking $150 for that. One that is offensive. No, no one should be asking

[00:06:26] $150 for a VHS. That one is not even signed by the director or the actors. It's used. It's not brand new. It's used. And again, that's just a way to gouge us as collectors. That's why I searched for years because I was not going to pay more than $30. And I know we pay more than $30 for a lot of new releases, a lot of 4K. Yes, I know we overspend a lot, but I know that I've seen this cheaper.

[00:06:55] And because of the resurgence of VHS that a lot of people, Gen Z, all these people are trying to collect and hoard, the prices are skyrocketing. And to find this for a good price, and it didn't bring me joy. That's the first time that I was actually saving my allowance to be able to buy this and finally have my own copy of Scream in my hand. But at the end of the day, it is a joy that is, I am

[00:07:23] able to reown this film. Did it start my collecting habit? I wouldn't necessarily put it that way. I was already an avid watcher of films. I'd be in the movie theater almost every day. I would cut class and just go to the movie theater. I graduated somehow, probably mercy. But my whole room would be

[00:07:51] covered in movie posters. I would go to the movie theaters. I would go to Blockbuster and even small home videos. I'm like, can I have your posters when you no longer need them? And I would always have a movie, whether it was rented or was able to get my hands on, playing in my room just over and over and over, usually when it was a new release. And I kind of felt like it was my own little movie

[00:08:18] theater. You would walk through the hallways with all the posters, this point coming soon, and was playing. So it ignited more of an interest on cinema than on collecting. I feel like my collecting habits didn't really start. I believe my second VHS was A Bug's Life. So I probably had about one or two

[00:08:42] VHS in my possession. Other than that, I really don't recall really starting a collecting habit of VHS. I started when I got my hands on the DVD for Bedazzle 2001, Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. That was another movie that I would watch nonstop. I lost it somehow. I had it in my collection in

[00:09:11] Puerto Rico. And recently they brought me a few DVDs that I had in my collection. Some of them had this rock. Some of them played like they were brand new. And thank God Boogie Nights was one of the ones that played like it was brand new and it still looks brand new because I will not be paying more money to buy the DVD for Boogie Nights, especially that special edition that I have. But when I opened the case for

[00:09:37] Bedazzle, the original purchase I had made in 2001, the disc was missing. The receipt was there. Somehow the receipt lived, but the movie was not. I'm questioning myself on my who would have been able to take this disc out of here and just leave the box, take the disc, leave the box. I'm like, no, there's no possible way that this just goes on missing. So it's probably on one of the DVDs or

[00:10:02] Blu-rays that I have over there in my house in Puerto Rico. But that is what started my collecting habit. When we moved on to DVDs, I remember going to Video Avenue, you know, as if it was a Black Friday sale. I would be the only person in line at 10.50 a.m. to buy the new releases on Tuesday. In 2006,

[00:10:27] I was in line to buy Memoirs of a Geisha. I was in line to buy Good Night and Good Luck. I avoided the line of one person to buy Crash, but I was still buying religiously. I was still buying religiously every Tuesday, almost every release that came out. I followed the Oscars religiously as

[00:10:52] well. So anything that was Oscar nominated, Oscar bait or Oscar winner would be day one purchase for me, except Crash. But my collecting habits evolved obviously throughout the years. When we got into Blu-rays, it changed. I didn't upgrade much of what I had. I still kept my DVD collection. When I moved,

[00:11:16] I lost a lot of it. Sometimes moving is the hardest part of being a collector. And some people, especially those who have moved from one state to another, know how difficult it is to take care and protect those films when you're moving. And even though my collecting habits have evolved, there's still an emotional attachment to having that first disc that ignited the flame

[00:11:46] and collecting. That one I remember buying at Kmart. I believe it was for about $20, almost $31. I had the receipt there somewhere inside the box. And I remember putting that on layaway because I couldn't afford it because it was either I would pay the $20 allowance that I had or try to pay it little by little because Kmart was pretty expensive when it came to films. That's why I did most of my

[00:12:15] purchases at Walmart, but they didn't have it at Walmart. It took me about two weeks because there was also some films that were coming out in movie theaters that I wanted to watch. So I was trying to be very careful with where I put my money. So I just put it on layaway with $7. And I think I had three more payments of about $7 to $10 to pay off the movie. Obviously,

[00:12:41] it brought me pleasure because again, that is something I did for myself. I managed my allowance to be able to survive school. But that's when back in the day, a soda was $0.50. I believe there were $0.50. I don't drink soda, but you know what I mean. So it was easier to survive on a dollar a day in school than it is now. Now as collectors, we have to sometimes decide whether to pay a mortgage,

[00:13:11] a car or your healthcare before buying a movie. You just make sure you have those credit cards covered before you buy a movie. I've spoken to a few collectors who are highly in debt because of collecting. And that is something that also modified or changed the way that I collect today. I was buying

[00:13:38] every criterion when I started collecting criterion. I had some criterions I didn't even know were criterions. And then when I started collecting a little bit more, and I wouldn't even say collected. I just feel more like hoarding than collect. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to

[00:14:07] Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. I was buying criterions nonstop, in and out of sale. And I had to stop. I said to myself,

[00:14:34] I can't keep doing this. I would only buy criterions during criterion sales at Barnes & Noble, or that flash sale they do, which I really don't take advantage of. But my collecting habits changed so much throughout the year set. Now I'm more picky on what I buy. I do upgrade a lot of films, but they have to meet the criteria of whether they're one of my favorite films or not.

[00:15:02] Right now, with all these special editions, sometimes I have to choose which one, which cover brings me more joy than just buying all of them. Sometimes I just forego one release, just so I can buy another, especially when it's the same title. Then you have sometimes boutique labels that are putting out the same title. And then I'm like, is there anything special about it besides a nice cover?

[00:15:32] And if it's my favorite film, I'll buy it point blank. But if it's a film that I just kind of sort of like, does it have anything special? I don't really watch a lot of special features in films. So that is really not something that sells me on a new release, but it is nice to have. It's not something that I demand. I'd rather have a good quality

[00:15:57] transfer, restoration, especially when it comes to the sound, when it comes to obviously the picture. And sometimes we get the same transfer as the regular release that really doesn't make it worth it for me. And right now we are having a lot of new releases that are just straight to Blu-ray, no 4k whatsoever. And I'm fine with that. As long as I like the movie, as long as it looks good,

[00:16:24] sounds good. Then as we know, Universal tends to upgrade things later on. So I'll just probably wait until the year after that Universal is going to release the 4k. And I stopped double dipping because again, the situation of collecting financially is not the same as before, because

[00:16:49] at the end it's kind of funny how one piece of plastic can turn into an entire wall of shelves. And I've been trying to avoid becoming a hoarder. I'm trying to walk that fine line by curating my collection and trying to build it to reflect me, not to reflect what other people are telling me to buy.

[00:17:16] I overcame FOMO after seeing stacks of movies all over my room that don't reflect who I am. That some of them I watched, I'm like, how is this even out there? I sold them. I got rid of them. I donated them. They didn't reflect who I was. They didn't reflect who I am. And I have to remind myself why I started collecting in the first place, why I bought the VHS of screen. Why did I buy

[00:17:45] the DVD for Bedassel? Why did I rebuy the DVD for Bedassel throughout the new case, kept the old case? It was more because of emotional attachment to that memory, to what started my collecting habits. And as a collector, that's one thing we really have to keep in mind. We have to go back to

[00:18:10] our first time, how it felt, how it impacted us. The joy that we took from buying that movie, the joy that still brings us when we buy a movie. I think that now it's not just about collecting,

[00:18:33] for me. It's about building a memory of where I bought this film. I like to travel and I like to visit stores, movie stores. When I travel, I try to hunt them down because sometimes they're a little bit hard to find. But when I do, I go in not expecting anything. And sometimes I come out with

[00:19:00] treasures. One best examples. I went to Barcelona and the first thing I saw, this is a sign from God. The first thing I saw walking down the street with our luggage was a movie store. The name was in Catalan. I only know what the name meant, but I was like, what store is this? It has movie posters, but the name is not movie related. And then I looked through the window and I was like,

[00:19:28] yeah, no, this is a movie store. Mentally, I took a picture and I'm very good taking mental pictures. When I travel, I can find my way through a new city within an hour. And I pinpointed that in my mental Google map. And I said, we're going to get to the room. We're going to drop our shit. We're going to go back out and our money, my money is going to go into this small store.

[00:19:54] I am dropping bank. We go back. The store was closed, but the day after I did drop bank though, and I didn't know what I was going to find. I been searching for the Exorcist 4K, the Bible release, the one that looks like a Bible. I was looking for it. Sadly, I didn't buy it because it was a little expensive, but I did find tons of Pedro Almodovar films, almost the entire collection on Blu-ray.

[00:20:24] And I bought all of them. I think I arrived at Madrid with a bag just full of films from that store alone that I had no reason to buy anything else in Madrid. I did, but I had no reason to buy anything else in Madrid. But I was so excited because on Amazon, I have them all on Amazon watch lists and they're about $30. They're all imported. I found them for 10 euros. That was

[00:20:51] so exciting to me. I didn't have to pay Amazon prices and I found them at an independent movie store. It really fulfilled me. It really did bring me joy. I keep, obviously I'm keeping them. I'm a Pedro Almodovar fan. And that brought me joy. I had to choose between buying the Bible for the Exorcist or buying all the Pedro Almodovar films and a bunch of other Spanish films that I

[00:21:16] found that I'm like, I want to not just buy what I like, but I also want to expand my knowledge of this country that I visit so much now. And I feel like collecting movies didn't just become collecting a movie. It also became a way for me to expand my knowledge on these countries

[00:21:42] of where I'm buying these films. The same way that I do when I travel and I ask the bookseller, tell me about books on politics in your country. It's the same thing that I do now when I'm buying movies in a foreign country. Sell me some of the movies that your country made. Thankfully, a lot of them are horror and some of them are making their way here to the U.S. And that is great

[00:22:07] because over here in the U.S. I would have to pay $30 for it to have a Severin release. And I bought it over there for 10 pounds. I bought it over there for 10 euros. Yes, you need a region free Blu-ray player. It brought me joy finding these little treasures as I travel. And it also

[00:22:28] brings me pleasure when I find a copy of a favorite film going back to Scream. I found Scream in Spain and it brought me great excitement to just buy it because I'm like, this was my favorite film. And now I'm finding it with a different cover in a different country. The same way that I collect different Stephen King covers and different covers for Wuthering Heights and different covers for Jane

[00:22:54] Ayer, I also collect different covers for Scream. And when I find those little treasures, when I travel, that not just creates a memory, but it also reminds me of like, this is why I love collecting. This is why I love collecting what I love, which is not just films, but when it's films

[00:23:16] that I love and I find them out there in the wild, that's hands down a must purchase. I could go a day without eating a croqueta in Madrid if I find a new edition, a new cover for a film that I love. Or just one of their national treasure films. Not the Nicolas Cage movie, I just meant like

[00:23:41] their national treasure, like a movie that the country loves so much. I'm like, you know what? I'll give it a try. It's part of the collecting experience, trying things, checking out movies you never thought you would. If you don't like it, again, trade it. But just make sure that what you are buying brings you joy as a collector. Don't don't overspend. Don't think that you have to own

[00:24:08] every film that's out there because when you're not, there are films that have been lost forever. So you're never going to get your hands on every film that's out there. Impossible. But one thing is to curate. And your collection is never going to look like someone else's collection either. Every collection should feel different. I want to walk into another collector's house and

[00:24:33] feel like, wow, I know who this person is. I know these films. They're not my favorite films. They're films that I've seen. They're films that I didn't like. But this person loves these films. This person's collection reflects who they are. And I've taken time to do that with my own collection. I want people to go into my movie room and be like, oh, so you're a weirdo. I'm like, yes. Oh, so you like Pennywise? Yes. Oh, so you like Scream? Obviously.

[00:25:01] You have this sense of enjoyment when somebody actually gets to know you by your films. I could sit down with some of my friends and they're not going to enjoy the films that I have in my movie collection. But I don't care because I see them maybe once or never. They're still my best friends. They love me because I'm weird. They love me because they're my friend. And they don't judge me for the movies that I buy. Because again, that is my collection.

[00:25:30] And a lot of us are straying away from that, from collecting what we like and collecting what a YouTuber is telling us to buy that didn't even buy themselves, by the way, in some cases. So again, just make sure. Go back to that first time and remind yourself why you started collecting in the beginning. Remind yourself the enjoyment of finding a film. Because doing a massive order

[00:25:59] on vinegar syndrome, spending $240 and only like in one of the 10 films you bought, that's that collecting. That's hoarding. I wanted to create this episode for you guys to get to know me a little bit before we jumped into other topics in later episodes. And I hope I give you a little bit of an insight of

[00:26:23] how I collect. I hope you get to know me a little bit better from this episode. And please DM me on Instagram. Tell me this is my favorite film. I am probably going to judge. I love when people tell me their favorite films and why I should watch it and why they love it. Because that is a one-on-one

[00:26:45] conversation that is letting me know who you are as a person, why you collect. So just slide into my DMs. Tell me what film I have to watch. Tell me how you started collecting. Tell me how you collect. Let me get to know you. I'm letting you get to know me through this episode, but I want to get to know

[00:27:06] you. So hit me up on Instagram at K-R-L-O-Z-R-U-B-E-N 2.0, Carlos Rubin 2.0, and tell me more about you. And I will see you guys next time. This has been The Physical Cut.

[00:27:44] You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free, and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast,

[00:28:13] this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com.