culturelux
why i own a multi-disc dvd player
don’t ask me how or why this topic arose, but the other day, it came to erica and henri’s mutual attention that i own a multi-disc dvd player.
“why,” henri asked, “would you EVER need a multi-disc player? did you think it would be, like, a movie jukebox or something?”
erica seconded, “is it for lazy people? like, if you want to stay on the couch for four hours at a time instead of two?”
ok, haters, FIRST OF ALL, i bought this player in… 1999? you guys that is like way old technology. the environment should be THANKING ME for still using this dinosaur. plus, in my defense, dvd players back then were still so new and fancy pants! and it was like, why buy a one disc player when you can have one that holds 5 DISCS AT ONE TIME!!!
ok, so it’s like, the SUV of dvd players. i was in college and wanting to feel extravagent. sue me.
and you know what? my dvd player doesn’t even need its age to justify itself, because it serves a Higher Purpose. my machine is no mere dvd player. NEIGH! it is, in fact, a storage unit for My Favorite Movies Of All Time, which is actually one of the most prestigious callings for machines (like, even more than “making phone calls possible” and “toasting bagels.” i am not joking).
basically, i am never more than a few remote clicks away from seeing my favorite people (that i don’t know in real life and that don’t actually exist) and reliving my favorite moments (that didn’t happen to me but rather to fictional characters). whether i’m cleaning my apartment, killing half an hour before girlie night or vegging out for the evening on my couch, my beautiful and stately (with age!) multi-disc dvd player can instantly bring me to my favorite children’s book store in NYC, the most intense dance competition on the streets or to the cheerful counters of dean & deluca.
in honor of the USEFULNESS of my multi-disc dvd player, here are its most loved and cherished discs, along with scenes that, no matter the number of viewings, always demand my full attention:
1. you’ve got mail (DUHHHHHRRRRR)
scene i will never tire of even when i am 80 and deaf and blind: the rooftop killer conversation. i just… wanna work for “the shop around the corner” and hang out with those guys SO BAD!!!
2. step up 2 the streets (again, DUH)
scene i will never tire of, even after step up 45 comes out: the ending dance scene, i.e. THE HOTNESS.
3. pride & prejudice
scene i will never tire of, even when my heart stops beating and i am actually a corpse: “i love, love, LOVE you.” AHHH!
4. random disc of “felicity”
scene i will never tire of, even after scott speedman makes underworld 10: when ben asks felicity to go with him on the road trip!! even after ten years, part of me still goes, “OMG! WHO WILL SHE CHOOSE?!!!”
5. saved
scene i will never tire of, even when i am a lame, wonder bread suburbanite: mandy moore throwing a bible at jena malone.
obvs i’ve got a ton of runners-up for this list, like “pretty in pink,” “sweet home alabama” (no seriously), harry potter 4 and “my so-called life” BUT i’ll stop there because this whole thing brings me to a bigger, more controversial point:
girls tend to watch movies over and over, boys don’t. DISCUSS.
i mean, am i wrong?! henri STILL thinks it’s crazy that i’d actually watch ANY movie more than twice, let alone 50 times (obvs, that is not even an exaggeration when it comes to YGM). and, while i know some dudes that own a ton of dvds, do they really *treasure* them in the same way that girls used to wear down videos of “say anything”?
now that i say that, i could probably list a few guys who have seen “star wars” as many times as i’ve seen YGM. so, maybe it’s not a gender thing, but just a… personality trait?
so, pants world, what do you think? do you have any movies that you would always keep in yr multi-disc dvd player, should you be so EXTREMELY FORTUNATE to own one?!!!
p.s. i just realized that, in spite of its holy purpose, i have never named my dvd player. WHAAAAA?!!!
LINKS
this exchange between daniel radcliffe and an 11-year-old reporter is pretty much the cutest thing ever. also? she is like, so much more professional than i would’ve been. for example, daniel: “hello!” me: “…. uh… OMGGGGG!!”
speaking of harry potter, WHY DID NO ONE INVITE ME TO THE NY PREMIERE?!!! double decker buses? polyjuice cocktails?! A CAKE SHAPED LIKE A TRAIN THAT BLOWS STEAM?!! yeah, this totally beats the pants off of my 30th birthday party.
squee of the day: DIFFERENT ANIMALS BEING FRIENDS!! it’s a hippo and some puppies!!! you guys!!!!
these chewing gum sculptures are SO AWESOME. and a WAY better surprise than, like, finding gum under yr desk.
speaking of art, i really, really, really wish i could go to this show. and then, like, cuddle with all of the art.
in “step up” news: channing tatum and jenna dewan got married!! i bet their first dance was AMAZING.
Discussion
25 comments for “why i own a multi-disc dvd player”
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I did not know that something like this existed!
Mine would contain (in no particular order):
13 Going on 30
A Few Good Men
You’ve Got Mail
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
A random disk of Friends
Can I just say that I too own a multi-disc DVD player? And it’s GREAT for watching TV shows on DVD, so you can run through episodes w/o leaving the couch. I am lazy, and I love it.
Tim, do you have one of those lazy boys with the cooler hidden in the armrest, too? I would kill for one of those.
Sarah, if only your multi-disc dvd player was also multi-regional. then, my friend, you would have what Miley Cyrus calls “the best of both worlds.”
In my multi-disc (multi-regional! it’s my fantasy!) player, I would always have:
1) The Princess Bride
scene I could watch over and over again? fire pit scene. ooh, or the miracle max scene! ooh, or the wedding scene!
2) Spaced, series 1
scene I could watch over and over? Basically any of them, but esp. when they infiltrate the compound to rescue the dogs. “is Jabba the princess?”
3) The Mighty Boosh, series 1
scene i could watch over and over? the one where Vince befriends the polar bear in Tundra. Or Monkey Hell and mr. susan’s mirror balls.
4) Dirty Dancing. there would be no choosing of scenes; i cannot watch one part without watching the whole thing
5) T2. CLEARLY.
I’ll have you know that Brencho defies the hypothesis you have thrown out there. Every time he has any solo time, he will pop in either Fellowship extended (he watches until Frodo leaves the Shire because Bcho is actually a hobbit) or Harry Potter (usually Prisoner of Azkaban). Seriously without fail. Over and over and over again. I’ll come home and he’ll be lounging on the couch with ice cream quoting along to Bilbo’s birthday speech. But, even so, he doesn’t seem to be watching too intently. He’s always ‘multi-tasking’ – translation – playing the soccer game he’s obsessed with on his computer. Now, I also rewatch movies (not over and over and over like Bcho), but when I do, it is something that no one can interrupt and I need to devote all of my emotions to it. When you see what my top five are, you’ll understand why:
1. Out of Africa
2. English Patient
3. The Little Mermaid
4. Life Aquatic
5. Empire Strikes Back
Ok, so the first ones are the only ones that actually require intense emotional attention, but I can’t stop and start like Brencho. It is a major commitment.
Brencho also rewatches rentals before we have to take them back. I used to do that when I was 7, and it would piss my brother off.
In closing, nothing could blow your 30th bday party out of the water. Not even Harry Potter. I bet if you gave Harry, Ron and Hermione (I know they have real names) the option of not having their pictures taken a million times (er, to be posted on major news networks), play some kickball, and then make themselves sick with corn dogs + carnival rides, they would turn down the premiere like that.
katie, i feel you on the 13 going on 30. i always keep it v. v. close by in case i need a mark ruffalo and/or makeover montage fix… which, clearly, is an everyday necessity.
sally, yr brencho evidence is quite compelling, although i think a lot of guys feel that way about LOTR. harry potter, however… that’s pretty adorable. please tell me that his favorite character is ron. please.
one of my college roommates, julie, felt the same way about “out of africa.” honestly i think it was the only movie she owned. she only watched it a few times, but when it was on, like, a holy stillness filled our room.
Very interesting topic of discussion. I agree in finding girls tend to rewatch movies more often. Most of the guys I know would rewatch Star Wars or Monty Python and stuff. I would love to find a guy that rewatches romantic comedies over and over..I don’t think they exist, but would be entertaining if they did.
Man the list of stuff I would rewatch can go on forever.
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall – I seriously might have already watched it 50 times since I recently bought it.
- Clueless – I just can’t get sick of it.
- Friday Night Lights season 1- Ok so I have only seen each episode 3 times..but I know I will be able to watch it over and over
- Sex and the City – It never gets old.
- Who am I kidding Any Romantic Comedy. I admitt I have an addiction.
- And I agree with Step Up 2 – I WILL BE ABLE TO DANCE LIKE THAT ONE DAY!
I just want to know what there is left after you have seen a movie 10 times, especially a romantic comedy… is it feeding a low lying unquenched desire in your life for pure love and happiness?
Dudes seem to be able to play a video game one billion times, that is their thing. Ladies can watch movies forever and ever amen. What makes this possible?
Guys definitely watch movies multiple times. Maybe not 50 times, and definitely a different group of films than the ones the ladies may obsess over. But most guys I know have seen some or all of these movies between 3 and 15 times:
Big Lebowski
Office Space
Old School
Fight Club
As you stated, Star Wars and its se/prequels.
Probably others. Like, some guys have a fetish for something like Lethal Weapon or Rocky.
Matt totally rewatches and treasures movies as much as I do, which is probably the number one most compatible thing about the two of us.
My multi-disc player would have:
Clueless. Favorite scene to rewatch: when Cher and Josh eat carrot sticks and watch Ren and Stimpy SQUEE.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. (props to Erica G for those 2, definitely on my list) Favorite scene to rewatch: Jason Segel singing the Dracula musical song in the bar for the first time and Mila’s all: “???!!!!”
Dagon. Favorite scene to watch: “FUCK Dagon!” “Yes!”
Princess Bride. Favorite scene to rewatch: BOO! BOO! RUBBISH! FILTH! SLIME! MUCK! BOO! BOO! BOOOOOO! Or the rhyming scene.
Tombstone. Favorite scene to rewatch: too many! When Wyatt slaps Billy Bob and taunts him to skin that smoke wagon, when Wyatt first starts to avenge Morgan and goes after the Cowboys all wild-eyed and fiery, any scene where Doc is playing poker, talking shit and coughing up blood. “Maybe poker’s just not your game. I know! Let’s have a spelling contest!”
Hellboy. Favorite scene to rewatch: when Hellboy’s on the roof moaning about Liz to that kid who gives the best love advice and shares his cookies.
The Fugitive. Favorite scene to rewatch: when Dr. Richard Kimble breaks into the hospital room, steals that old man’s sandwich and clothes, shaves his beard, sews up his wound and then strolls out past a cop, cool as you please.
A Few Good Men. Favorite scene to rewatch: when Tom first meets Jack and he’s all “I eat breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans who are trained to KILL me. So don’t think for one SECOND that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me NERVOUS.”
The Bourne Series. Favorite scene to rewatch: in Identity, when Jason totally wails on those cops in about 5 seconds all with this look on his face like “HOW THE HELL AM I DOING THIS?!” Also when he washes Franka’s hair HUM. IN. A.
The Matrix. Favorite scene to rewatch, which I’ve seen far more times than the movie in its entirety: first training fight between Morpheus and Neo.
Whatever disc of Smallville we’re currently cycling through. Favorite scene: that one time they say “Clark.”
Okay, so I’ve got the most enormous imaginary multi-disc player ever.
Okay, first of all, the multi-disc player: Yes, it’s cool to have many, many titles available at the touch of a button. And maybe, just maybe, in 1999 that would have made sense to extremely lazy people who actually find it to be a burden to change the actual disc rather than waiting for the dinosaur to creak around, load the next disc, and then let you see that Step Up 0: No Step Yet is actually in disc 3’s slot, not disc 2. BUT it is no longer 1999, and we all have the equivalent of a multi-disc (and multi-region) player. It is called a computer, and you can buy large hard drives for very cheap now and you can hold EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER WANTED TO SEE on them. And selecting different clips and different movies and whatever you want takes even fewer clicks.
Now as for guys not re-watching. For starters, yes, we can play a video game a billion times. That makes sense, because when you play a video game you’re progressing from level to level, or interacting with other people online, and something different happens every single time you play it. After the 30th viewing of You’ve Got Mail, you’ve gotta figure that you’ve run out of small new details to notice, and unless you have a Choose Your Own Adventure version of it it’s never gonna change.
But yeah, there are some types of movies that I can watch repeatedly. Comedies with quotable lines hold up better to me, especially the kind with no plot and really just a lot of disjointed scenes.
However, I can kind of understand the repeat viewing thing a little bit, because there are certain movies that are worth watching just for that feeling of living in the movie that you get. Specifically, I’m thinking of good James Bond films, and how you can leave the theater after one of those and then driving down the highway feels all bad ass as you listen to the Propellerheads. That, to me, explains why formulaic plots and rehashing the same story over and over again can be successful.
But I still don’t understand how you can watch the SAME movie over and over again, because each and every viewing to me just gets me further and further away from being able to really feel it. Watching a favorite, treasured film every three years or so is about all I can handle. More than that and the story and emotions fizzle down into set pieces, screenplays, and actors.
Of course, the other reason I don’t like to rewatch old things that frequently, even to just have on in the background, is because I’m constantly aware of how many awesome things there are that I haven’t seen, and I know I only have a limited amount of time on earth to see them. Every time I rewatch something, I’m wasting precious hours that could be spent discovering the next Awesome Thing, and that makes rewatching kind of terrifying…
Sarah, for the record, Out of Africa continued to be the only movie I owned for many years. In fact, for the last 6 years, I held on to it even though I did not have a VCR. I just gave it away when we were packing to move last month. Sad, sad clown. I do still have the soundtrack, though.
julie, i love you. so much. and also there is *hope* cos… YOU COULD GET THE MOVIE ON DVD!!!!! i know it’s crazy talk but hey, take yr passion and make it happen.
also, can i ask, what is the deal with “a few good men”? i am in no way passing judgment (glass houses, rocks, YGM, etc.) but i’m frankly curious.
hmm. maybe i’ll ask one of you ladies to pantstribute a post about it…
I forgot! Tommy Boy! Scrooged!
OK, I also have a 6-disc DVD player, but in 1999 you used it for CDs! You can shuffle six (6) CDs and listen to music. But I also got it to play MP3s, so I can shuffle 500 hours of music of MP3-filled DVDs.
Also, it has all 3 back to the futures and three Ben Stiller Show DVDs in it, ’cause now they have iPods, I hear.
For me some of the Few Good Men draw is because it is one of the movies I remember watching with my dad a lot when I was younger. It is also one of the movies we quote back and forth to each other. That and Karate Kid.
And Meredith-I love that scene too!
Dude, up here in the Harney house in Grapevine, we are all about the multi-disc DVD player.
My movies:
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Terminator 2
3. Rocky
4. The Godfather
5. Aliens
Henri, I can see your argument about repeat viewing but I just don’t buy it. I love repeat viewing. Good movies demand it!
I never mentioned the guys not rewatching thing. I think it depends; my list of movies, although a reliable indicator of five of my favourite movies of all time, do not reflect the five movies I think are the best I’ve ever seen.
Whether it’s on in the background or I’m rewatching in the middle of a slow day or drinking and watching or getting a friend (who has somehow never seen something awesome) to watch it, I rewatch movies in a very “geeky” way. I do it to geek out. So really, it’s only happening in a pretty specific context.
I’m definitely more likely to re-watch movies than Dan…also more likely to re-read books. And even if I don’t end up rereading them, I like to keep books that I’ve enjoyed or that have meant something to me, while he would rather sell them to a used book store or give them away. The less stuff we accumulate, the better, etc. With movies, I agree, but books…oh, that’s another story!
So my five movies are all movies that I have at one time owned (on VHS) and used to watch over and over…but now they are gone. It’s been four years since we stopped owning movies, and I actually don’t miss my favorites as much as I first thought I would. I can always get one of them from Netflix whenever I want…but I never do! I guess I know them so well I can almost watch them in my head and that’s enough.
Anyway, they are, in no particular order:
1. Casablanca…need I give a reason? My vote for the best movie ever.
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail…funniest movie ever. NI!!
3. Pretty Woman…it just makes me happy.
4. Greencard…same.
5. The Godfather, Part II…totally the best of the trilogy, and since I figure the whole trilogy wouldn’t fit on one DVD I had to choose one.
Craig likes to watch movies over and over again…especially if they are on TV. If I have the DVD and it’s on TV, I don’t watch it. He does. Weird.
I am proud to say that I’ve introduced Craig to a world of movies he would have never watched (and he liked), including but not limited to:
Napoleon Dynamite
All the Harry Potter movies
How to lose a guy in 10 days (ha! He thought this movie was hilarious!)
Can you believe he didn’t watch ANY of the HP movies?!? Now, he can barely stand it that we have not seen the newest yet!
I have always purchased the DVDs of movies that I really enjoy. Ones that I know I will want to watch again. I have recently though gotten to the point where I buy them but don’t get around to really rewatch them. I have about 40 DVDs I have yet to open. Just sitting on the shelf. But as for ones I could watch over and over again. The Fall, The Goonies, Any Superman, Any Star Wars, The X-Files, Smallville, Arrested Development. The only thing about the multi disc player is how they now put material on both sides of the disc so it probably is more difficult to do TV shows with it.
wow. A lot of people commented here. I do not have time to read all of them because I am busy watching Eternal Sunshine for the 500th time in my multi disc DVD player. @JoshKatz though, yup, fight club too.
So I brought up this blog post at dinner tonight with my parents and sister. They had a tough time keeping it to one multi-disc player.
Mom suggested that since they will soon be retirees, that they may have multiple houses, therefore she gets more than one player.
There was also a discussion of separate players for TV shows, movies, and pre and post 1985 favorites.
The funniest moment of the night though was when we asked dad what his would be. His first two:
Bring it On
Legally Blonde
Thank you Posh for this fabulous blog. You are influencing dinner table conversation far and wide.
katie, yr dad is not only awesome, he is also totally RIGHT. “bring it on” is definitely on my reserves list, which is why it was one of the first movies i selected for the alamo girlie night series. i never ever EVER thought i’d want to be a cheerleader until i saw that movie.
influencing dinner conversations, huh? wow, is this what the president feels like? WHERE’S MY AIR FORCE ONE?
i think my mega dvd player would have…
-Almost Famous
-Imaginary Heroes
-Amelie
-Shakespeare in Love
-Grizzly Man
and as for rewatching movies–i never rewatched until i suddenly got really into movies my freshman year of college. well that, and “Shakespeare In Love” was the first R movie I was allowed to see, so I watched it about 10 times. so maybe it’s a character trait that you either develop or not over time? neither of my parents have this tendency to rewatch things.
[...] first of all, CINEMAPOCALPYSE!!! (btw that word takes me forever to type. i have to sound it out like the painter dude on sesame street). this was basically an all night movie extravaganza, featuring a premiere of “inglorious basterds” with quentin tarantino and eli roth in attendance. as with previous alamo all night events, i didn’t make it to the end. in fact, i only lasted for two movies, which pretty much ruins any film geek cred i might have had. ha ha JUST KIDDING! like i ever HAD any film geek cred. i mean, have you SEEN the movies in my dvd player? [...]