2006-07-18

jducoeur: (Default)
2006-07-18 10:22 pm

Wanna video?

So here we go -- one of the hardest parts of the move and divest process. It's time to get rid of the videotapes.

As most of you know, we've been accumulating videotapes for 20 years. It wasn't anything terribly organized -- we just followed a principle of, "Videotape is so cheap, we might as well keep it." So we simply kept everything that we timeshifted, and over those years, the tapes stacked up. At this point, we have around 1200 videotapes recorded off the air. And I can't come up with a good reason to keep more than a handful of them.

So -- we're about to start throwing them out. Before we do so, though, I wanted to make the offer to give them to anyone who wants them. It's an enormous collection, only modestly organized, and it's mostly EP quality recorded off the air -- not exactly HDTV. But it includes the complete runs of most good (and many bad) science fiction TV shows of the past two decades, and the better ones are recorded at SP. It also includes a couple thousand movies, ranging from the great to the truly awful.

I'll be frank: we're not willing to deal with delivering this stuff -- if you want something, you're going to have to come get it. But if there's something you're looking for (say, the complete DS9, or Nowhere Man, or even the original SP copies of Babylon 5), and are willing to come and take it off our hands, it's up for first come, first serve. Anything *not* requested in the next week or so is subject to getting chucked in the trash...
jducoeur: (Default)
2006-07-18 10:22 pm

Wanna video?

So here we go -- one of the hardest parts of the move and divest process. It's time to get rid of the videotapes.

As most of you know, we've been accumulating videotapes for 20 years. It wasn't anything terribly organized -- we just followed a principle of, "Videotape is so cheap, we might as well keep it." So we simply kept everything that we timeshifted, and over those years, the tapes stacked up. At this point, we have around 1200 videotapes recorded off the air. And I can't come up with a good reason to keep more than a handful of them.

So -- we're about to start throwing them out. Before we do so, though, I wanted to make the offer to give them to anyone who wants them. It's an enormous collection, only modestly organized, and it's mostly EP quality recorded off the air -- not exactly HDTV. But it includes the complete runs of most good (and many bad) science fiction TV shows of the past two decades, and the better ones are recorded at SP. It also includes a couple thousand movies, ranging from the great to the truly awful.

I'll be frank: we're not willing to deal with delivering this stuff -- if you want something, you're going to have to come get it. But if there's something you're looking for (say, the complete DS9, or Nowhere Man, or even the original SP copies of Babylon 5), and are willing to come and take it off our hands, it's up for first come, first serve. Anything *not* requested in the next week or so is subject to getting chucked in the trash...
jducoeur: (Default)
2006-07-18 10:56 pm

Then there's the weird stuff...

Along the way, while disposing of the videotapes, I'm transcribing to DVD anything that I think is at all interesting that isn't easily available on DVD. Note that that's "interesting", not necessarily "good".

Every time I think that I remember how truly strange Prospero's Books is, I watch a little of it again and am proven wrong. Utterly impenetrable -- artistry carried through to its completely ridiculous extreme. Fascinating in very small quantities, but I've never even come close to sitting through this hybrid of Shakespeare and performance art...
jducoeur: (Default)
2006-07-18 10:56 pm

Then there's the weird stuff...

Along the way, while disposing of the videotapes, I'm transcribing to DVD anything that I think is at all interesting that isn't easily available on DVD. Note that that's "interesting", not necessarily "good".

Every time I think that I remember how truly strange Prospero's Books is, I watch a little of it again and am proven wrong. Utterly impenetrable -- artistry carried through to its completely ridiculous extreme. Fascinating in very small quantities, but I've never even come close to sitting through this hybrid of Shakespeare and performance art...