The following VHS Tapes are currently for sale at Books From A Rose:

I don’t go to record stores that much anymore thanks to the impossible to resist MP3s. But I ended up having the day off yesterday and decided to hit up Rasputin’s. After an hour and a half I got 5 vhs’ for $5 and a film soundtrack under $2.

Monument Ave, 1998
I was so happy to find this, I had been looking for it the last few weeks at video rental stores to no avail. I watched it last night and thought it was a great movie. It’s directed by the late Ted Demme and stars my XY Attraction Denis Leary. I just finished reading Denis Leary’s book and saw that a lot of his personality and childhood upbringing is identical to the character he plays in this movie and they used his real life family photos too. However in the movie Leary plays a small time car thief in a tight-knit Boston Irish neighborhood where the golden rule is to never snitch.

Money For Nothing, 1993
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie back in 93, I was 8 and it wasn’t appealing to me at the time. I watched it last night as well and thought it was ok. I can watch it because John Cusack looks pretty damn good but if you’re not crushing on John I’d say pass on this one.

Judgement Night, 1993
I know I’m in the minority when it comes to loving this movie, but I do. I watch it On Demand practically every week when nothing good is on. But due to the move I won’t be enjoying the luxury of cable for much longer so it was time to get my own copy.

Lieberstraum, 1991
I haven’t watched this one yet, but I always come across it at video stores. The back cover reads:

An incredibly sexy cast, sensual lighting, cinematography, and an intriguing storyline turn this tale of passion, lust and murder into one the most visually stunning, mentally stimulating, sexually charged films pf the ’90s.

We’ll see, I’m a nerd for new cinematography techniques, and who knows it might be mentally stimulating.

Seven Minutes In Heaven, 1985
Haven’t seen this one either, but I have high hopes for it. It’s a ’80s coming of age tale and it stars Jennifer Connelly, sounds good on paper the screen.

Who’s The Man, 1993
I was excited to find the Who’s The Man soundtrack, I watched this movie religiously back in the day. It’s funny listening to the songs and knowing exactly which part in the movie that song appears. One of my favorite tracks is below.

sadly, my vhs tape was not in 3-D.

slow-motion fighters,
what does the future past hold?
sand and some ray guns.

Made in 1982, and set in 1992 after America was destroyed by a nuclear war, Parasite was billed as “the first futuristic monster movie in 3-D.” From what I remember, there’s a scientist running around a mostly abandoned town with a parasite in his stomach, and another in a weird container. Of course, this container is opened, and the second parasite escapes and wreaks havoc on the lamest gang ever, as well as a landlady that wears too much make up. This movie also features demi moore as a bar wench/lab assistant. According to someone on imdb “Seeing her in her tight shorts made this worth a check.” I think it’s just a really entertaining movie. Laser guns are awesome, ya jerks.

I’m beginning to lose all faith in Comcast and their lists.
Of course, I agree with a lot of the movies that are on the ‘best’ list, but they put the following on the worst list: Jack Frost, The Santa Claus, The Polar Express, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas [non-animated], and Christmas With The Kranks.

Sure, they may not be ‘classics’, but they are far from the worst holiday movies. In fact, I think I watch all of these movies numerous times each year.
Lame Comcast, lame.

To see the whole list of best and worst, click here.

BEM VINDO!
Ao mundo digital.
Gravação de VHS para DVD, onde sua lembrança passa para o mundo digital.

Você pode converter as suas fitas de vídeo VHS, VHS-C para o formato digital, inclusive editando-as (cortando momentos indesejáveis, incluindo fotos e musica). O formato DVD suporta até 3 horas de vídeo com qualidade digital com a grande vantagem de não se deteriorar com o passar do tempo, como acontece com fitas convencionais.

Além disso, as vantagens de converter o VHS para DVD são muitas. Pode-se conseguir um ganho de até 10% na qualidade da imagem e do som do vídeo.

Outra desvantagem do VHS para DVD é com relação à sua durabilidade. Os discos DVD duram por mais de 70 anos e a qualidade de sua imagem é 100% preservada.

Além disso, sua capacidade de armazenamento é bastante superior.

TABELA DE PREÇOS VHS/VHS-C PARA DVD.

30 min. R$ 20,00 – 60 min. R$ 25,00 – 90 min. R$ 30,00 – 120 min. R$ 30,00 – 4hs R$ 30,00 6hs R$30,00

(Acima de 10 fitas temos preços fechado R$ 13,99 un.)

Garantia de qualidade
Nós não garantimos que a qualidade da captura fique semelhante à imagem de um vídeo digital. O conteúdo da fita será o mesmo DVD. Fitas com má conservação fará com que a conversão tenha uma baixa qualidade de som e imagem. Em alguns casos será impossível realizar a captura de vídeo devido o estado da fita. Neste caso será devolvido o VHS e não será cobrado nenhum valor.

Mais informação acesse:
www.gravacaodevhsparadvd.blogspot.com

Thursday September 3rd, 2009

Nando’s action. 8:26pm.

Friday September 4th, 2009

Those crazy Christian pedophiles. Where’s the subtlety?? 2:03pm.

Elm St. 2:04pm.

A very long process…. 7:21pm.

…disrupted without an explanation. Pure horror. 7:40pm.

I finally had a burnt DVD of the above project at 1:29am.

Tuesday September 8th, 2009

Getting ready… 5:46pm.

Thursday September 10th, 2009

Tree concealed by pumpkin soup. 4:25pm.

Saturday September 12th, 2009

All Day I Dream About Subways. 9:58pm.

Scabby feet. 11:41pm.

Monday September 14th, 2009

5:03pm.

Found this near my bin. Vintage VHS. 6:02pm.

Sunday September 20th, 2009

Misplaced door. 7:20pm.

Friday September 25th, 2009

Best way to end the working week. 4:30pm.

Saturday September 26th, 2009

Rain in the tracks of Flinders St. station. Last Train Blues. 1:11am.

On this Thanksgiving Day, as I peruse the sale ads for the perfect Bluray player to shop for on Black Friday, I’d like to take a moment to remember and give thanks for VHS tapes.  And more specifically, the beloved nude scenes from VHS tapes that left an indelible mark in my memory.  I’m well aware that the movies from which these scenes originate have since been transferred to newer, better formats but on what Bluray disc can you fit 3, count them 3! feature-length feature films recorded in EP from HBO in the middle of the night? (Or, before the days of copy-protection dubbed from one VHS deck to another.) Who prefers the crystal-clear picture and sound of DVD to the blurry bliss of a desperately worn-out VHS copy of “Revenge of the Nerds”, with matching sun-faded box art?! And who needs chapter markers? When I was 13, I had every R-rated VHS tape in my collection queued up just seconds from the “good parts” and that served me just fine. So on this Turkey Day, I’d like to pay tribute to fond memories from a different era in home entertainment.  Here are some of my favorite “SCinemax” moments from the VHS years:
The Random knockers from “Airplane!”

Beverly D’Angelo taking a shower in “National Lampoon’s Vacation”

And the gaggle of naked executioners scene from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”

So what are some of your favorite VHS moments?

Michael Jackson’s - Moonwalker (1988) Havent seen this film already?, it’s probably too late for you to enjoy the magic but you should still see it anyway. Rather than featuring one continuous storyline, the film is a collection of short films about Michael, several of which are long-form music videos from the Bad album. While showing clips from his previous works.

 This film is a massive staple in my childhood and probably one of the earliest memories I have of Mike, I remember this being the first video I had and still have, but I use the DVD now to preserve it lol.

It’s sad when I learned of Mikes passing so much of imagery flicked through my head within a matter of seconds that  was implanted by this film as a child. It felt like my whole childhood was ripped out, no more magic, no more fun, all gone. Shattered

However, loving Michael he has left us all his legacy, and this is definitely one thing everyone should see, lord knows my family must be sick of me pumping this film down there throats every school break.

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Author: John Dulaney
Source: articleage.com

If we take a look at the way the home video technology has progressed over the years, we will be amazed at the extent to which it has changed in such a short period. The VHS (Video Home System) technology brought motion pictures into our living rooms and bedrooms. It was followed by the CDs, VCDs, and SVCDs that were more expensive, but provided excellent quality and utility. This was followed by the DVDs and DVD players that took the market by storm and became the most preferred mode for recording and viewing, dvd, of movies. Most recently however,, dvd, the latest technology that has joined the race is HD DVD (High Definition Digital Video, dvd, Disc), that has much higher storage capacity and enhanced quality attributes, dvd, .
Correspondingly, there has been a similar evolution in the digital data storage and handling industry. This journey started with the floppy, followed by the CDs,, dvd, the laser discs, the DVDs, and then the HD DVDs. Data storage and handling are a field by itself and has grown at a phenomenal rate.
VHS
The first step towards home theater was the Video Home System (VHS), introduced in September 1976. It was developed by JVC along with some licensing agreements with Sony. The VHS is a recording and playing standard for the, dvd, Video Cassette Recorders, well known all over the world as the VCRs. The VHS could record and play back all the analog television signals in existence at the time it was devised. By today’s standards, it is one of the poorest quality video formats. The video recording cassette being, dvd, big, its recording camera was also big and cumbersome. This led to problems, dvd, of handling and transportation.
The VHS-C is the Video Home System-Compact, which is the same in quality as compared, dvd, to the standard VHS,, dvd, that is, half inch size and 240 lines, dvd, of resolution. But as the name suggests, it is more compact and allows for the video camera to be lighter, smaller, and more convenient. The VHS-C has to be placed in a regular VHS sized case to enable it to be, dvd, played on the VHS player. The 8mm VHS tapes are smaller in size and are very convenient to use in recording cameras, but are not compatible with the regular VCRs and cannot be played, dvd, directly on the VCRs.
CD and VCD
The Compact Disc (CD) is an optical disc that is read by a laser. It is a polycarbonate disc designed to store data, music and video formats. These were played on CD players and were of the CD-R and, dvd, CD-RW type in particular. It was designed by Philips and Sony in 1988. In 1993, Matsushita, Philips, Sony, and JVC introduced a CD format that could hold a full- motion video. It was called the Video CD (VCD) or the compact disc digital video and had a standard digital format for storing video on a compact disc. These VCDs could be played on VCD players and computers. A video CD can hold VHS-quality video of 74 minutes and has a CD-quality sound using MPEG-1 compression. The VCDs were very popular in the Asian countries due, dvd, to their affordability factor, but did not get much popularity in the U.S. or Europe.
The low cost, dvd, of media resulted in rampant unauthorized copying of movies and was hence not widely supported by the United States entertainment fraternity. The Super Video CD introduced later using the MPEG-2 compression was of better quality, but its playing time got diminished to 35 minutes. A DVDV or double VCD had also been designed, in which, a regular CD was ‘Over-burned’ to incorporate 100 minutes, dvd, of video.
DVD and HD DVD
The DVDs came into the market in 1997 and were an instant success. This was mainly because of the reason, that even their cheapest version, dvd, was capable of giving a better picture and sound quality than a VHS, and could process information much more effectively than CDs. With a DVD played back on a DVD player, a consumer could have a much better home entertainment experience. DVD players have been designed to play multi region DVDs, and can playback any TV standard like NTSC, PAL or SECAM. The DVD players are compatible with a wide range of media such as CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MP3, DivX, and many more.
Riding on the success of the DVD market, the HD DVD or High Definition DVD was introduced in 2005 and was an adaptation of the existing basic structure of the DVD. The HD DVD has a greater storage capacity and can provide better audio and video quality as compared to a DVD. All this is achievable at a marginal cost increase, mainly because the HD DVD can be manufactured using the existing manufacturing facilities for DVDs. This affordability factor is a great contributor to the success of HD DVDs. The HD DVDs are available in ROM, readable and re-writable formats. The HD DVD players are designed using all the features provided in the DVD players. The HD DVDs are integrated with a state-of-the-art content protection technology which is unique to this medium.
The storage capacity is 15 GB for single layer, 30BG for dual layer, and 45GB for a triple layer HD DVD. Also it uses highly sophisticated compression techniques using, dvd, MPEG-4 for increased capacity. A 15 GB HD DVD can store a full movie and incorporate, dvd, additional features,, dvd, with space to spare. Whereas as 30 GB HD DVD can store three movies of 150 minutes each and provide the high definition quality of playback. These features make HD DVDs a favored medium for storage and viewing of movies. With the widespread support from the entertainment industry leaders and the, dvd, high quality service provided by HD DVDs, they are certainly poised for a highly successful stint.
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Check out this bad boy, which I purchased today 2nd hand on VHS for 99p ($1.62). It’s none other than Disney’s classic animated movie, The Lion King. With an awesome musical soundtrack by Sir Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer. Ideally I’d have liked the DVD, but with copies online going for upwards of £20 ($32.80), I think it’s best I stick with the VHS for now. Thanks for reading.

Star Wars Movie Poster

Today there is only one first run movie theatre chain in the whole of Canada, so even the most successful movies only play for a matter of weeks.

But back in the 1970’s there was still competition among Canadian movie theatres so Star Wars actually played on Canadian movie screens for over a year. When the first Star Wars movie was released I was so caught up in it that I ended up going out to see it in a variety of movie theatres thirteen times during that first year.

I am a huge Star Wars fan.

I bought all the Star Wars merchandise that I could afford. In those days there were no DVDs or downloads. VCRs had just come on the market and they were prohibitively expensive.

So at first those of us who were not indescribably wealthy had to content ourselves with purchasing vinyl record albums that ran at 33 1/3rd rpm on an old fashioned machine called a record player. I bought the music in the form of the John Williams Star Wars soundtrack album, as well as a record called “The Story of Star Wars”, a synopsis of the story narrated by C3PO with audio clips from the film. To this day any time I hear the 20th Century Fox music tag I flash on the “real” Star Wars opening.

And today the George Lucas’s Star Wars empire continues to make money in new ways. I don’t have a problem with that. It is a business after all.

I still love Star Wars, particularly the first one. And this article in no way intends any disrespect. I’m telling you about my connection with Star Wars because the incredible success that Star Wars had makes it a good example. That, and because Star Wars was the very first videotape movie I saw played on a VCR in a private home.

What I really want to do today (besides procrastinate from working on my NaNoWriMo novel) is to look at personal use copying as a copyright infringement issue.

The Copyright Lobby makes no distinction between commercial bootleggers who distribute illegal copies for profit and legal purchasers who seek to make a back-up copy or digital format shift for personal use. Because they insist it is all the same thing, the Copyright Lobby has been pressuring governments the world over in an attempt to criminalize personal use copying.

I think there is a problem with the terminology here because calling both things by the same name is horribly misleading. Both activities involve digital copying, but that is where the similarity ends. Just as apples and oranges are both fruit but they are really not the same at all.

apples and oranges

One thing the Copyright Lobby calls “piracy” would be more accurately called “Bootlegging”. Bootleg music recordings have been around as long as audio recording technology has existed. People have smuggled recording devices into concerts and made copies which they have then sold around the world. There have also been professional bootleggers who have copied recorded music and repackaged it to sell illegally. These activities have resulted in lost revenue for music distributors, and in fact should be illegal.

The other thing the Copyright Lobby calls “piracy” is what I call “Personal use copying”. This covers a much wider range of activities, but the chief defining factor of personal use copying is the fact that this digital copying is not for profit. Rather than resulting in lost revenue for distributors, personal use copying relieves the burden of format shifting from the manufacturer to the consumer. When shared through p2p networks personal use copying serves as a means of promoting these commercial products in the same way that radio and television broadcasts have done under the traditional business model. This type of copying should be legal.

The Copyright Lobby’s effort to criminalize this type of copying simply alienates the customer base. Like DRM or SOC methods, it does absolutely nothing to stem the flow of bootlegging.

When did the idea of ownership change?

It used to be that when you bought something you owned it. You were free to do with it what you liked. Even if it was something covered under copyright law… like a book, you were entitled to read that book as many times as you wanted to.

• You could loan it to a friend.
• You could quote from it in an essay
• You could read it aloud to your blind grandmother.

And at the end of the day it was still your book. Unless you decided you no longer wanted it, at which time you could legally sell it to a used book store.

Now lets look at what’s been happening so far in the information age. Manufacturers of recorded music and movies have their materials covered under copyright. They want us to not make copies for our own personal use, even though we have paid them the price they ask.

Personal use copying is not the same thing as bootlegging for commercial gain.

The Problem

Original Star Wars Betamax videotape

If you purchased Star Wars in the Sony Betamax version back then, you would have found yourself out of luck a few short years later when Sony stopped making Betamax VCRs. When your Betamax machine became inoperable, you could no longer buy a new one, which of course rendered the tape you purchased in good faith unplayable. No one warned the unfortunate consumers that invested in Betamax tapes and Betamax equipment. I never heard of anyone getting refunds from the movie companies. Or the MPAA. Or Sony. Etc.

Star Wars on VHS

But.

Now you can’t. So what do you do if you really loved Star Wars?

You go out and buy it again. This time on VHS.

The rest of your life, eh? I know that’s what I thought. Didn’t you?

Did Twentieth Century Fox ever offer to reimburse you for the useless hunk of plastic and tape (that you have now purchased twice for your own use) that is now deteriorating? And suddenly it’s near impossible to buy a new VHS machine because there is yet another new technology– now movies are on DVD. Even if you can find a new VHS machine, we’ve all learned that a VCR will be lucky to last for five years anyway. And of course the VCRs you can find now are far more expensive than DVD players. So what’s a fan to do. Oh right.

You go out and buy Star Wars again on DVD.

Star Wars on DVD

[Of course, this particular example is extra irritating because George Lucas hasn't stopped tinkering with the thing, and since he's vowed to never release the REAL version (the one that actually played in theatres in 1977) on DVD, so I will never have the version I want no matter how many times I've paid for it. *sigh*]

But you’re a fan.

So you go out and buy the movie AGAIN on DVD.

At least you have it in a form that will last.

Now HD is gone too.

Or not.

Because then along came HD DVD.  The media manufacturers were a little surprised that we didn’t all rush out and buy HD machines.

Replacing our entire video library. AGAIN.

Oh… you were one of those suckers who got conned into converting to bought into HD? Ooooops!  Didn’t anyone tell you that the technology you were supposed to back was Blu-Ray?

I could go through the same process to look at the parallels in the music industry: piano rolls, gramophone cylinders, ’78’s, LPs, 8 track tapes, cassette tapes and CDS… all over the course of a single century.

Funny, I have a working gramophone older than I am which will play ’78’s. Yet our modern day electronic equipment will be doing well to work after a decade.

I don’t know about you but I am tired of buying the same movies over and over again.

Copyright is an agreement between the creator/manufacturer and the consumer.

The media distributors have NOT kept their part of the bargain, expecting consumers to pay for the same material over and over again. It should be legal to be able to watch the movie you have purchased in good faith as many times as we want to, for the rest of our lives.

Consumers have not been given any protection by governments the world over.

At the very minimum customers need to be given the right to copy the products they have purchased onto the piece of technology needed to play it.

We believe we own what we have purchased.
They want us to believe that we don’t.

Fortunately our government representatives are in an excellent position to look out for the Canadian consumer interests as they redraft our copyright law for the benefit of Canadians.

family footage makes for handy advertisement. Look out, December 2009.

Time is running out! Only till December 7th will you be able to get a deal on bulk transfering. If you have 5 or more tapes you would like transferred to DVD you’ll get 50% off the regular $20 per tape. Thats only $10 per tape! PLUS I offer rushed pick-ups. Contact me at hunter.molnar@gmail.com to set up a drop off.

via the jealous curator via hollis brown thornton

incredible marker drawings. reminiscing about old cassettes of my own… firehouse anyone?

vh1’s top 100 songs of the 90’s

vh1’s top 100 songs of the 80’s

Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles

Herndon, VA–August 20, 2002– Create A Disc, Inc. today announced a host of new services some a first in the industry targeting owners of home movies recorded on VHS,, dvd, DV, Mini DV, 8mm tape and 8mm film as well as owners of DVDs and CDs. Conservatively there are more than 300 million hours of home video in, dvd, the U, dvd, .S. recorded on tape and more than 4 billion DVDs and CDs will be sold in North America by the end of 2002. The transferring of consumer home videos to DVD market is projected to be in excess of $12 billion. Create A Disc transfers home videos currently recorded on VHS, 8mm film, or almost any other format to DVD complete with menus, chapters, and customized case.

โ€œMany consumers and businesses think that VHS and other tape formats will last forever, but they are wrongโ€ said Michael Thompson, President/CEO and former VP of Verizon Avenue Video Services. Tapes start to degrade from the time it is manufactured. In as little as 12 years or approximately 75 viewings VHS tapes noticeably distorted getting worse over time until there is nothing left to see. Even under ideal conditions. โ€œFamilies record home movies for the purpose of preserving memories such as weddings, children growing up, holidays, graduations and more for generationsโ€, dvd, continued, dvd, Mr. Thompson. โ€œNo one really knows for sure, but DVDs are expected to have a life expectancy of at least 100 years and some claiming as high as 500 years under ideal conditions which maybe a little optimistic. Even if the DVD did last that long finding a functional DVD player would be virtually impossible. I expect for my children, dvd, to eventually convert our home videos saved to DVD to some new format within the next 50 years and their children to do the same. If I provide them with family memories in pristine condition, dvd, which is only possible by transferring VHS to DVD today our, dvd, family memories should last foreverโ€.

Videos are not the only memories that can be saved to DVD. Photos can also be saved to DVD which will preserve family memories for years and can be played on a DVD player connected to a television. Photos too start to fade and deteriorate over time as most of us have seen when looking at photos of our grandparents and great grandparents. Transferring VHS to DVD starts at $29.99 and goes as high as $39.99 which is a bargain compared to others charging as much as $150 for a lower quality transfer.

Create A Disc can also transfer old 8mm and Super 8mm film to DVD at the highest quality possible with no flicker or cropping by digitally capturing each frame individually using specially designed hardware unlike other companies that project the 8mm film onto a screen, dvd, and then record it using a camcorder which introduces distortion, flicker, and poor color.

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Another interesting product/service offered by Create A Disc is its โ€œDisc Warranty Programโ€. The Disc Warranty Program allows consumers and businesses to purchase a policy that repairs and in some cases replace any movie DVD or audio CD owned by a consumer regardless of whether or not the discs are kept in the home or car. For example; a consumer owns 50 DVDs and 100 CDs. For some reason the DVD will not play or starts to skip, freeze frame etcโ€ฆthe consumer would then contact Create A Disc for support., dvd,

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Sid and Chloe

In 1988 one of my favourite films was Sid and Nancy. This amazing film, which explores the punk movement of the late seventies and focuses on the main characters Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon, has mostly been forgotten. In fact I couldn’t even find it on DVD. I had to go to a Video 99 and blow some dust off an old VHS.

A few years ago I was watching a quiz show where they asked if Courtney Love played Nancy in this movie. I laughed because it was such a stupid question. Surprisingly the answer was wrong. But the contestant said yes and won the prize.

I got so mad. “Courtney Love did NOT play Nancy. It was Chloe Webb. What a bunch of idiots?!?!?!”

Sid and Courtney?

Then I convinced my wife to watch it on my birthday this year. She’s afraid of punk rockers and disgusted by their pig-like love of baked beans in this movie. Grody to the max!

As we watched it we laughed at the stupid game show for making such an obvious error. But then something happened. There was this other minor character in the film that kind of looked like Courtney Love – like a teenage Courtney Love. “Is that Courtney Love?”

When the credits finally rolled Courtney Love was the second name listed in order of appearance. Finally the mystery of Nancy was solved. Some research person on a game show must have thought it was Courtney Love playing Nancy and then it was confirmed by her second billing on the credits at the end, because she actually is in the movie, but only a couple of times as a minor character.

I think it is interesting to note that I think that metaphorically Courtney Love (one of my favourite singers of all time) really IS Nancy. She seems to have modelled her look and attitude after Nancy. She was in this movie before she was a household name. She’s lived longer than the real one, and unlike the real Nancy, she has survived and risen above her abusive relationship.

Cheers to the real Nancy!

The real Sid and Nancy?

Nel 1993 un mio amico aveva acquistato un giornaletto, formato fotoromanzo, che si intitolava “STEFY LA CALDA MAESTRA PISCIATELLA” e raccontava da un punto di vista inedito il rapporto professori-genitori durante i colloqui. C’erano due energumeni, uno col taglio da marine biondo ossigenato e l’altro caraibico coi dreadlocks (davvero poco credibili come genitori) che conversavano con questa Stefy, maestra procace con una passione sfrenata per la golden shower. A pagina 1 si presentavano stringendosi la mano, a pagina 3 il nero già le pisciava in gola, senza neanche sapere ancora che voti avesse preso suo figlio. Su un fotoromanzo di 10 pagine l’azione vera era relegata alle ultime 3 o 4 e non tutti gli scatti erano soddisfacenti per il povero lettore.

Negli anni della mia adolescenza poi, per quanto riguardava il fronte audiovisivo, dovevi anzitutto prelevare i VHS dal distributore automatico del tuo videonoleggio di fiducia, facendo i conti con lo scomodo effetto collaterale rappresentato dalla TESSERA FAMILIARE: questo significava che in qualsiasi momento un qualsiasi esponente del tuo nucleo familiare avrebbe potuto visionare la lista dei film noleggiati. E cosa avrebbe detto tua madre scoprendo che tra “Mamma ho perso l’aereo” e “Chi ha incastrato Roger Rabbit” qualcuno aveva noleggiato “Un pistone dentro al culo” ? Inoltre scegliere un film porno solo da locandina e titolo a volte era frustrante: in base a cosa avresti potuto scegliere tra “TRE PORCONE SU UN BILIARDO” e il suo sequel, se non sulla vecchia legge cinematografica che vuole i primi episodi sempre migliori dei secondi?

Ma le cose stavano per cambiare grazie a Internet, che avrebbe avuto sul mondo della pornografia un impatto devastante. Molti di noi – non quelli che al liceo erano considerati “FICHISSIMI” si intende – prima di cominciare col sesso vero e proprio avevano già messo da parte una discreta esperienza voyeuristica grazie allo strumento internettiano. Pensiamo al giovane virgulto vergine e insicuro di oggi: si presenta ai nastri di partenza con ore e ore alle spalle di materiale audiovisivo, conosce a memoria tutte le posizioni possibili, sa perfettamente quali sono le zone erogene e che effetto fa stimolarle. Sa che le donne – a volte – schizzano un liquido trasparente urlando come ossesse, che la misura media di un pene è di 25 centimetri (e questo nella stragrande maggioranza dei casi lo turba non poco) e la durata media di un coito è 45 minuti netti.

Dopodichè, si schianta contro la realtà.

I film porno non raccontano la verità eppure non ho mai visto nei titoli di testa un messaggio tranquillizzante tipo “SI AVVERTONO I GENTILI SPETTATORI CHE IL PENE DI LEXINGTON STEEL E’ AMPIAMENTE AL DI SOPRA DELLA LUNGHEZZA MEDIA. SI PREGA QUINDI DI NON CIMENTARSI IN INUTILI E CONTROPRODUCENTI PARAGONI”.

Per non parlare delle donne: le attrici porno urlano di piacere estatico mentre vengono stimolate zone NON EROGENE. Perché questo non viene specificato? Perché non visualizzare una scritta lampeggiante rossa con su scritto “JADA FIRE STA FINGENDO” ?

Quel senso di inadeguatezza che a volte ci attanaglia dunque è semplicemente la forma che il cervello dà all’asimmetria tra il nostro immaginario – fatto di Rocchi Siffredi superdotati instancabili che fottono a ripetizioni regine dello squirting – e la realtà.

Credetemi: l’ansia da prestazione non è altro che un’invenzione dell’industria pornografica.

Proprio come l’ANUS FRUITSHAKE.

There was a time during the explosion of the VHS markets that humanities sensitive sensibilities were at risk. Luckliy there were champions of censorship to protect us, at least in the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_nasty

The whole mess started with the irritating obscene publications act which attempted to bar, ban or destroy anything deemed “obscene”, this grew to cover pornography and erotica in the late 70’s. Unfortunately, in the early 80’s, home video boomed and the flood gates of lurid and shocking budget horror were opened.

In the early 80’s, police searches and seizures grew at an alarming rate and were often discretionary and random when it came to the material they decided to remove and attempt to prosecute. This led to the creation of the “list of video nasties” which were essentially sure things, movies that has already been prosecuted under the obscenities act before.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Video nasty” was a term coined in the United Kingdom in the 1980s that originally applied to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticized for their violent content by various religious organizations, in the press and by commentators such as Mary Whitehouse.

The furore created by the moral crusade against video nasties led to the introduction of the UK’s Video Recordings Act 1984 which imposed a stricter code of censorship on videos than was required for cinema release. Several major studio productions ended up being banned on video, falling afoul of legislation that was designed to control the distribution of video nasties.

There is currently no legislation in force, owing to a legislative mistake in 1984. It is anticipated that the system described will continue on a voluntary basis, and the legal structure will be enacted in November 2009.

The videos were generally horror or had enough horrific elements to get many knickers in a twist. There were only 39 films actually prosecuted under these ridiculous nanny acts and required severe edits, almost as many films were never successfully prosecuted at all.

In the end, they just managed to push some otherwise unremarkable films, some mediocre films and some gore favorites into infamy and made sure they will remain cult favorites for many generations instead of fading into obscurity.

Thank you United Kingdom.