Benbuster

I few weeks ago I convinced Ben we no longer needed his DVD player that he has been toting around since March of 2000. We've since acquired a 5 disc CD/DVD player and a Blu-ray player. I'm always bothered by the amount of cords smashed behind our TV set, feeling like at any moment they could spark and start a fire. So with that in mind I was trying to get rid of one device and one cord. 

Ben was quite fond of the DVD player always looking past it's faults... the paused function no longer worked, the batteries in the remote would always fall out (because the back was missing), and the DVD drawer would open and close so erratically it was like a game trying to put a DVD in it.

Ben can tell me practically the exact day he got the player. His family was living in a hotel while their house was being repaired from major water damage. He finally saved up enough money and walked from the hotel (about 2 miles) to Ultimate Electronics and picked up a DVD player. Ben had been waiting to dive into the world of "special features" and wide screen films for quite sometime. He would spend afternoons in Media Play reading the backs of DVD's memorizing all the director commentaries, deleted scenes, and making-of featurettes he eventually wanted to watch. He recalls he spent over $200 on the player, immediately walked back to the hotel, hooked it up and watched The Sixth Sense along with all it's special features.

I wasn't going to post the silly photo I took of Ben with his first DVD player, but this afternoon we were home and Ben was reading me an article about the future of Blockbuster. He started to reminisce of the exciting Friday evenings spent pulling up to Blockbuster, running in, hoping they had the newest releases, going through the 'recently returned bins', driving to different locations in hopes getting the movie he wanted. Ben remembers the first time he was ever in a Blockbuster. He was out running errands with his dad and asked if they could go see what the store was all about. To Ben's delight his dad signed up for a membership and he was allowed to rent The Empire Strikes Back. Weekends were never the same for Ben.

I know I've posted countless times about Ben's love for movies... he got his degree in loving movies! Movies really are a daily part of his life. I love that about him, I feel it makes him a very interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes strange (in a good way) person to talk to. Ha! He said, if 2011 Ben told 1989 Ben, that one day the Blockbuster's that dotted his city would all be gone he would never believe it. That being said Ben and I have definitely contributed to their downfall. Our hearts belong to Netflix... for now... but I wonder if in 10-20-ish years Ben will be reading me an article about the downfall of Netflix and we'll be unplugging our Blu-ray player making room for something new?