![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/326\/2013\/11\/video.jpg\" "\\"video\\"")
<\/a>If you ask my wife, she\u2019ll tell you I\u2019m a very nostalgic person. I only just recently threw out an old pair of ripped up boxers she\u2019d given me a decade ago when we were dating that said \u201cToo Hot to Handle\u201d along the elastic band right above cute little pictures of chili peppers. Years later, on the day we moved out of our first house as a married couple \u2013 a rental property that lacked proper heating and turned into a sauna during the summer \u2013 I walked through the empty rooms and emotionally reminisced about our twenty whole months in its cramped, uncomfortable quarters. So, you can imagine that when I learned last week that Blockbuster Video was officially closing for good<\/a> \u2013 a place I haven\u2019t even been to in years \u2013 it felt like a chunk of my childhood was dying along with it.<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re twenty or younger, the loss of video rental stores<\/a> probably doesn\u2019t hold any significant weight to your upbringing. Those of a certain age, however, will easily (and fondly) recall numerous trips to the local Blockbuster Video (or whatever major video store chain dominated your neighborhood). For me, it was a Friday ritual. I\u2019d get home from school and my mom or dad would drive me to the store where I\u2019d pull the little yellow tag perched atop the cover of the movie I wanted to rent and run it up to the front counter. Sometimes I\u2019d search the various genres in order to figure out what I wanted to watch that weekend. Other times, I went in with a fixed purpose.<\/p>\n On one Friday in the fall of 1989, Tim Burton\u2019s Batman<\/em> had just been released to videocassette (yes, kids, with actual film in it<\/a>) and I begged my parents to take me to the video store as soon as school ended. When we arrived, I saw, to my horror, that several of my friends were already there. Anyone who routinely rented movies in the 80s and 90s knows that video stores only had so many copies in stock. I immediately saw that none of the Batman <\/em>covers on the shelf contained a rental tag. Even worse, one of my classmates, who\u2019d arrived only a few minutes before me, was holding one \u2013 its shiny, yellowey goodness protruding from his chubby little fingers \u2013 the last <\/em>available rental copy, he pointed out to me with maniacal glee.<\/p>\n I felt my nine-year-old jealousy swell. Back then, I lacked a little quality called perspective (though, it could certainly be said I still lack it today, but that\u2019s a conversation for another day). I inwardly raged at those who\u2019d gotten to the store before me as I noticed a cardboard stand near the front of the store with lifesize cutouts of Michael Keaton\u2019s Batman and Jack Nicholson\u2019s Joker<\/a>, and a large display box containing dozens of copies of the movie for sale in between the two characters. I picked up one of the thick video copies and held it gently in my fingers. I shook it slightly and felt the small film reels rattle within. I ached to take it home and watch my favorite superhero in action, though a dull sadness spread through my belly as I accepted the reality that I\u2019d have to wait another week. A moment later, my mom took the video from my hand, placed it on the counter, and paid for it. Back in the 80s, most people didn\u2019t buy many movies. We rented from video stores and recorded our favorite films on TV using \u2013 yes, kids \u2013 big blank videocassettes. What my mom was doing actually produced some stares from others waiting in line. I was stunned. So was my chubby little friend. He would have to return his copy a couple days later. I would get to watch mine over and over until the day I died (or so my young brain rationalized). I picked up the bag containing the video I now owned and left the store with a Veruca Salt-like smug on my face.<\/p>\n When I hit college in the late 90s, video stores were still in high demand, even as movie formatting was making the transition from videocassette to DVD. My friends and I rented movies all the time from the Blockbuster down the street\u2026even during weekdays; something my parents never allowed me to do as a kid. And just like when I was a kid, I often ran into other friends browsing the sections. Our brief exchanges always allowed us to talk about our favorite films and point out our recommendations to each other.<\/p>\n Make no mistake, I\u2019m not at all saying the move from video stores to digital media is a bad thing (unlike the way I absolutely do <\/em>when I hear about library and bookstore closures<\/a>). It\u2019s ultra convenient to have almost anything you\u2019d like to watch at the click of a button. And because everything\u2019s online, it offers infinitely more choices than we had available to us within the four walls of a neighborhood video store. One thing the rise of Netflix, Hulu, and iTunes have done, though, is make me extra lazy. Just the other day, I really wanted to watch a particular movie but didn\u2019t want to get up to pull the DVD from my living room shelf, remove it from its case, and stoop down to put it into the DVD player. So, I checked to see if it was available for streaming on Netflix and when I saw it wasn\u2019t, I scoffed and streamed an old episode of 30 Rock<\/em> instead. Such are the times in which we live\u2026<\/p>\n Few things are permanent in this lifetime and video stores are just the latest cultural phenomenon to have seen its time and place pass us by. It makes me laugh when I see my two-year-old daughter\u2019s eyes scan back and forth as I scroll through her favorite Netflix films, all readily available to her at a moment\u2019s notice. It\u2019s crazy to think about how she\u2019ll never set foot in a video store. But no matter the era, to complain is human and I look forward to hearing her 21st century grievances in another decade or so. I\u2019ve already got my response worked out: \u201cWhen I was young, we had to GO TO THE STORE<\/em> to get movies. And they were in giant rectangular boxes! And we had to wind them up or face possible fees and annoyed looks! And then, a couple days later, we had to RETURN THEM<\/em>!!!\u201d<\/p>\n And then, by her facial reaction alone, she\u2019ll officially let me know that I\u2019m an old man.<\/p>\n Alan Atchison<\/a> is <\/em>a Contributing Writer to The Rogue. He is a Senior Publications Editor at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (University of Pennsylvania), where he also earned a Masters of Liberal Arts in Creative Writing. He lives in Philadelphia, PA with his wife and two daughters. Follow him on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you ask my wife, she\u2019ll tell you I\u2019m a very nostalgic person. I only just recently threw out an old pair of ripped up boxers she\u2019d given me a decade ago when we were dating that said \u201cToo Hot to Handle\u201d along the elastic band right above cute little pictures of chili peppers. Years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1635,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,277,6,8],"tags":[413,82,411,1016,1013,415,416,410,408,409,414,412],"class_list":["post-2572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-geek-entertainment","category-movies","category-tech-stuff","tag-30-rock","tag-batman","tag-blockbuster-video","tag-geek-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-hulu","tag-itunes","tag-jack-nicholson","tag-joker","tag-michael-keaton","tag-netflix","tag-tim-burton"],"yoast_head":"\n