DVD Maniac

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was watching a TV special about collecting. And said TV special said that there's only one form of collecting that leads to a diagnosable psychological disorder: book collecting. Book collecting can lead to what the professionals call "bibliomania," which is a flat-out obsession with books. Bibliomaniacs have been known to do things like break into libraries and make off with the books.

But, after watching that, I wonder if there are other variations like that. For example...can someone be a DVD-maniac?

I often wonder if I suffer from some form of DVD mania. When I first bought my DVD player, 6 years ago this month, I went nuts buying DVDs. You know how, at HMV, they have those cards? Buy 10, get the 11th free? Yeah, i got the card for the DVDs. Filled up one in a week. The free disc I got was the 2-disc mega-ultimate edition of The Sound of Music. What can I say? It's tradition in my family to watch it every Christmas. Getting it for free on DVD seemed logical. I watched it just two weeks ago during the holidays. Shut up.

Anyway, back in those days, it was quite common for me to blow a whole paycheque on DVDs. And, I know, if I don't watch myself, I could quite easily revert to that.

In my current home of Athabasca, I only tend to get down to Edmonton at least once a month. And, each time I do, I wind up blowing at least $100 on DVDs. I know. I"m horrible. At least I still have enough to buy groceries and pay the rent and all that stuff.

I just came back from Edmonton. On this trip out, I bought the 2-disc mega-ultimate edition of Superman Returns (was holding back on that one in case someone felt like giving me a DVD for Christmas). That was the primary goal of this mission...but then, I started sifting through HMV's "2 for $30" bin. Out of that, I grabbed Fantastic Four and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...two DVDs I wanted for Christmas last year but didn't get. And then, as I wandered through West Edmonton Mall, I stopped in at Zellar's and got The Simpsons: Kiss and Tell. This DVD contains 4 episodes of The Simpsons, focusing on the love between Homer and Marge. What possessed me to buy that? One of those 4 episodes is the "Weird Al" Yankovic one.

And my DVD collection continues to grow. Next time I'm in Zeller's, I'll have to buy another bookcase. The one I have is just about full.

I don't think I'm a full-blown DVD maniac, though. I mean, I haven't plotted any big movie rental store heists or anything like that. At the very least, I'm not as a bad as a friend of mine.

It was Y2K. I was down visiting an old college buddy in Camrose. The Camrose Wal-Mart had just opened up, and it was the biggest thing to hit the Rose City since they dammed that creek to make Mirror Lake.

I was hanging out with my buddy, and there, on his coffee table, was the brand-new DVD release of the Mel Gibson historical epic, Braveheart. It was one of the bigger DVD releases of the day.

Me>> Dude! You got Braveheart!
Him>> Yeah! Isn't that great? I went into Wal-Mart on opening day, and some stock clerk messed up and put it out on the shelf! I got it a week before anyone else!
Me>> But, dude, that was all three months ago. Why is it still in its shrink wrap?
Him>> Oh, well, I just haven't had time to watch it yet.

Last time I saw him about a year ago, it was still in its original shrink wrap. Unopened. 6 years it sat, unopened and unwatched.

Well, i can tell you, that all my DVDs are open and watched. I don't collect for the sake of having.

Well, except for those Pokemon movies. Gotta catch 'em all, after all.