Tag: VHS

14,000 copies of Jerry Maguire to be built into a desert pyramid, because why not

For several years, the online group Everything is Terrible has searched through ephemeral videotapes to find some truly weird art, much like the Found Footage Festival. But they’ve also had an even stranger side project to collect every known VHS copy of the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire. We still don’t really understand why they’ve undertaken … Continue reading “14,000 copies of Jerry Maguire to be built into a desert pyramid, because why not”

For several years, the online group Everything is Terrible has searched through ephemeral videotapes to find some truly weird art, much like the Found Footage Festival. But they’ve also had an even stranger side project to collect every known VHS copy of the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire. We still don’t really understand why they’ve undertaken their project. With over 14,000 tapes collected, EiT has more copies of Jerry Maguire than all of our old VHS collection combined.

To commemorate the film’s twentieth anniversary, Everything is Terrible is building a video store that only has VHS copies of Jerry Maguire as part of an art exhibit in Los Angeles. This isn’t even their final resting place: all proceeds from the show will go towards building a Jerry Maguire pyramid somewhere in the desert.

There’s basically no reason for either video store or the pyramid to exist… except as monuments to late-90s consumer excess. Maybe that’s as good of an excuse as any.

Sadly, we don’t have our own copy to give to the pyramid.

What was the last VHS ever?

Yesterday’s post about Vidiots had us thinking about the VHS format again. Commercial VHSes have been out of print for nearly a decade, and with the last VHS player leaving the factory in July, it’s glory days are clearly behind. Just for fun, this got us asking: what was the last VHS ever? According to … Continue reading “What was the last VHS ever?”

Yesterday’s post about Vidiots had us thinking about the VHS format again. Commercial VHSes have been out of print for nearly a decade, and with the last VHS player leaving the factory in July, it’s glory days are clearly behind. Just for fun, this got us asking: what was the last VHS ever?

According to Inverse, the last commercial VHS ever published was David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, released on March 14, 2016. Others point to an extremely hard-to-find tape of Cars from 2007, but it’s hard to figure out where those came from. Either way, we can safely say the VHS died about ten years ago.

The Inverse article goes on to wonder whether there might be a future market for VHSes in the same way that vinyl records have come back. Basically, there’s not. The formats that replaced the VHS are all far better and more useful. We’re always in the process of keeping our collection available and up-to-date, but we suspect we won’t be purchasing new VHSes in 20 years.

The end of the VHS, and what it means for the library

Well, we’ve been dreading this moment for years now: the VHS is officially obsolete. Funai, the last company that still manufactures VHS players, will end their production at the end of the month. This comes less than a year after Betamax tapes were also discontinued. As of August 1st, the VHS will be a format … Continue reading “The end of the VHS, and what it means for the library”

Well, we’ve been dreading this moment for years now: the VHS is officially obsolete.

Funai, the last company that still manufactures VHS players, will end their production at the end of the month. This comes less than a year after Betamax tapes were also discontinued. As of August 1st, the VHS will be a format permanently in the past; outside of small artisanal efforts (the article we linked to mentions a collector community that might not go down so easily), there will never be any more VHS players than currently exist in the world. That’s all we’ve got.

This won’t have too much of a practical effect for most people who have already replaced their VHS collections, but we worry about what will come of all the VHSes that have never been re-released or preserved. Countless documentaries and ephemera will become unavailable, assuming the tapes last longer than the supply of players.

For a few years now, Media Services has been in the process of preserving our VHS collection to ensure that this problem won’t impact the AU community. We’ve been conducting an extensive audit of our VHSes to see what isn’t available on any other format and whether we’re within the legal grounds to digitize and create our own DVD copy of it. As part of this, we’re also collaborating with other groups on campus like ATV and Athletics to preserve other valuable VHS videos, including old commencement addresses.

We still have a supply of VHS players and staff who know how to fix them, so we’ll be fine in the long run. Let’s take a second to commemorate this inevitable but sad moment for physical media.

Farewell (again?) to Betamax

It’s the end of an era that we thought had already ended. After nearly three decades of stubborn persistence, Sony has finally chosen to discontinue the Betamax videotape. For those who missed out on the 80s, Betamax tapes were the main rival for VHSes before it was clear which videocassette format would be most popular. … Continue reading “Farewell (again?) to Betamax”

It’s the end of an era that we thought had already ended. After nearly three decades of stubborn persistence, Sony has finally chosen to discontinue the Betamax videotape.

For those who missed out on the 80s, Betamax tapes were the main rival for VHSes before it was clear which videocassette format would be most popular. Betamax tapes had some clear benefits – compact size and higher image quality – but VHSes cost less to produce and attracted more publishers. (As legend tells, adult entertainment helped drive the sale of VHS machines more than Hollywood movies.) Although Betamax tapes lost the battle, they continued to find use as a recording format for professional film production. But it’s unclear why Sony was still manufacturing them… or who was using them.

With the advent of streaming platforms that now almost universally work in browsers and on nearly an electronic device, it seems that we’ll never have another “format war” as intense as what Betamax wrought. Device manufacturers and publishers will always fight over who gets the most popular content, but there’s no longer a question of whether one of two whole mediums will become the global standard.

As anyone still setting on their pricey Betamax collection can attest, that’s for the best.

Mysterious Hellraiser VHS terrorizes London

Well, this is moderately terrifying: London appears to be cursed by some sort of lo-fi demon. Some time in 2011, a VHS copy of Clive Barker’s 1987 horror opus Hellraiser appeared on top of a specific bus stop on Old Kent Road. As documented by Time Out London, that VHS has been lingering there for … Continue reading “Mysterious Hellraiser VHS terrorizes London”

Well, this is moderately terrifying: London appears to be cursed by some sort of lo-fi demon. Some time in 2011, a VHS copy of Clive Barker’s 1987 horror opus Hellraiser appeared on top of a specific bus stop on Old Kent Road. As documented by Time Out London, that VHS has been lingering there for the past four years, occasionally disappearing and resurfacing shortly after. At some point, two Hellraiser tapes appeared at once. No matter how often the local council takes the tape away, another one invariably springs up in its place.

This is probably the work of one or more dedicated pranksmen, but we choose to believe in some sort of localized portal to hell and a demon with a sense of humor. Also, we’re slowly going mad from the heat outside, and this was too entertaining not to share. As far as we know, we don’t own Hellraiser on either DVD or VHS.. but we should check again just in case one mysteriously appeared.

Remembering Professor Emeritus Arnost Lustig

Read one of the many recent articles on Arnost Lustig:Prague Post, NY Daily News, ABC News, Variety The following Memorandum was sent to the AU Community by Phyllis Peres, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs yesterday, March 2, 2011. I regret to inform you of the death of Arnost Lustig, professor emeritus of literature, who passed … Continue reading “Remembering Professor Emeritus Arnost Lustig”

Read one of the many recent articles on Arnost Lustig:
Prague Post, NY Daily News, ABC News, Variety

The following Memorandum was sent to the AU Community by Phyllis Peres, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs yesterday, March 2, 2011.

I regret to inform you of the death of Arnost Lustig, professor emeritus of literature, who passed away on February 26, 2011, in Prague, after a long illness. He was 84.

Arnost was a renowned Czech Jewish author whose novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays drew on his experiences as the survivor of three concentration camps. Set against a backdrop of genocide and pain, his writing was filled with moments of morality and humanity. He refashioned his story of survival in “Darkness Casts No Shadow,” a largely autobiographical tale. “I met so many very beautiful people during those years and most of them died,” he once said. “The only way to bring them back to life is to write about them. This is my responsibility.” Despite his past, he was known for his optimism. “If a man ceases to feel life is a miracle,” he said by way of explanation, “he kills himself.”

His most renowned books are A Prayer for Katerina Horowitzowa (published and nominated for a National Book Award in 1974), Dita Saxová (1962)), Night and Hope (1957), and Lovely Green Eyes (2004). Dita Saxová and Night and Hope have been filmed in Czechoslovakia. He won wide acclaim for his work. He was twice awarded the National Jewish Book Award and in 1994, he received a literary award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for exceptional accomplishment. In 2009, he was among the finalists for the Man Booker International Prize and was awarded the prestigious Czech Franz Kafka Prize the year before. He also was one of three writers who received an Emmy award for the script of the PBS film “The Precious Legacy,” about treasures of Judaica stolen by Nazis for the planned “Museum of an Extinct Race.” He was honored for his contributions to Czech culture on his 80th birthday in 2006. In 2008, he became the eighth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize.

Arnost was born in Prague in 1926. As a Jewish boy in Czechoslovakia during World War II, he was sent in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp from where he was later transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, followed by time in the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1945 he escaped from a train carrying him to the Dachau concentration camp when the engine was mistakenly destroyed by an American fighter-bomber. He returned to Prague in time to take part in the May 1945 anti-Nazi uprising. After the war, he studied journalism at Charles University in Prague and then worked for a number of years at Radio Prague, where he covered the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

He worked as a journalist in Israel at the time of its War of Independence where he met his future wife, Vera, who at the time was a volunteer with the Haganah. Also an author, Vera wrote of her family’s fate during the Holocaust in a collection of poems. Arnost was one of the major critics of the Communist regime in June 1967 at the 4th Writers Conference and gave up his membership in the Communist Party after the 1967 Middle East war to protest his government’s breaking of relations with Israel. However, following the Soviet-led invasion that ended the Prague Spring in 1968, he and his family left the country, first to Israel, then Yugoslavia and later in 1970 to the United States. He joined the faculty in the Department of Literature at American University in 1973 and taught there until his retirement in 2003, when he returned to live full time in Prague. He was given an apartment in the Prague Castle by then President Vaclav Havel.

Lustig is survived by a son, Josef, and a daughter, Eva.

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The following films involving Arnost Lustig can be found here in Media Services:

Fighter – DVD 493

Diamonds of the Night = Démanty Noci – DVD 7396

Dita Saxova – VHS 447

Precious Legacy – VHS 6898

In the spirit of the Sundance Film Festival, here’s a great post about past year films…

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2011/01/17/greatest-sundance-hits-must-see-indie-classics/ Here’s a collection of films that have played at the Sundance Film Festival…

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2011/01/17/greatest-sundance-hits-must-see-indie-classics/

Here’s a collection of films that have played at the Sundance Film Festival…

Tim Robbins & James Gandolfini Join The HBO Movie ‘Cinema Verite’

Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini are set to co-star opposite Diane Lane in HBO Films’ Cinema Verite. The movie, written by David Seltzer, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. The series by Oscar-winning doc filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond centered on Santa Barbara couple … Continue reading “Tim Robbins & James Gandolfini Join The HBO Movie ‘Cinema Verite’”

Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini are set to co-star opposite Diane Lane in HBO Films’ Cinema Verite. The movie, written by David Seltzer, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. The series by Oscar-winning doc filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond centered on Santa Barbara couple Pat Loud (Lane) and Bill Loud (Robbins), who split up during the filming, and their children, the eldest of whom, son Lance, became TV’s first openly gay character. For the rest of the story, click here.
Media Services owns the follow-up film to “An American Family,” called “American Family Revisited” (VHS 2641) and the very funny Albert Brooks’ spoof, “Real Life” (VHS 4876 or DVD 6108). Unfortunately, the original “An American Family” 12 part series has not been released on VHS or DVD. Rest assured, Media Services will purchase it once it does.

Classic Movies Not on DVD

We’ve created a big wiki of classic, cult, guilty pleasure, and otherwise favorite films (700+ titles) that have yet to make it to DVD in the US. Take a look and feel welcome to add titles that we’ve missed. Among the titles on this list, here’s a sampling of what we have on VHS and … Continue reading “Classic Movies Not on DVD”

We’ve created a big wiki of classic, cult, guilty pleasure, and otherwise favorite films (700+ titles) that have yet to make it to DVD in the US. Take a look and feel welcome to add titles that we’ve missed.

Among the titles on this list, here’s a sampling of what we have on VHS and are recommended viewing:

African Queen VHS 112
Alsino and the Condor VHS 6216
Antonio das Mortes VHS 568
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez VHS 375
Blue Dahlia VHS 3075
A Brief History of Time VHS 4999
Brighton Rock VHS 6798
Celine and Julie Go Boating VHS 4482
Cul-de-sac VHS 3004
David Holzman’s Diary VHS 3584
The Glass Key VHS 4555
Homicide VHS 5092
India Song VHS 3703
Ironweed VHS 1954
Johnny Guitar VHS 5268
Lonely Are the Brave VHS 1630
Ministry of Fear VHS 5226
Paisan VHS 2731
Streetwise VHS 205
Underworld USA VHS 4589

Classics Not On DVD Wiki