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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 18, 2018 10:35:19 GMT -5
Blockbuster Video Netflix killed Blockbuster and according to my understanding, my Blockbuster store closed its doors in 2010 because Netflix invaded our area in 2009 and expanding rapidly. By time 2012-13 rolled around it's died and I considered Blockbuster to be a most recent thing to go RETRO so quickly and back in March 2010 and I totally forgot to return The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World DVD and because I was so busy in the month of February, it was Valentine Day, My Birthday, and spent some time in Vancouver B.C. for a week and I tried to return this DVD in the early part of March of 2010 and the store was closed for good.  They even posted a sign - if you have unreturned DVD or TAPE ... forget about returning it and keep the DVD as our compliments. I was stunned when I saw that notice and took home that DVD and by the way - I still have that DVD as a reminder of the closing of Blockbuster VIDEO.  So, after reading that post ... I threw away my Membership Card and found out more details of why Blockbuster was closing its doors because NETFILX killed BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO. I rented over 300 Videos at Blockbuster and gave them weekly business for a good part of 3 years and when I retired from work - I stopped renting videos and went to a different directions borrowing DVD's from friends and all that. Anyway, it's sad to see this thing no longer exists and now there are fewer than 10 Blockbuster left and ... Three of the handful of remaining Blockbuster locations are in Alaska, where long winters and slow WiFi help keep a couple of stores open. I have a friend of mine seen one in Alaska and they are doing good business there and it's booming and sales continues to do well in Alaska. Netflix mortally wounded Blockbuster; but, Redbox killed it. The convenience of Redbox kiosks pretty much swiped what audience was left for Blockbuster. Also, the stores themselves share a big responsibility. Service varied greatly between stores and there was a lot of immature management. I swore them off after I received phone calls about an unreturned video, that I had dropped off in the return slot, inside the store. I went into the store, verified that the movie I rented was sitting on the shelf and demanded to speak to the manager, after I was getting nowhere with a clerk. The manager was "too busy" to come and speak to me. I cancelled my membership, on the spot and told them never to contact me again and never set foot in one of their store, from then on. Quite frankly, I never cared for the selection in the bulk of the stores I ever went into. There was usually at least one competitor in the area that had a vastly better selection of films. Also, Blockbuster got caught up in a scandal over censorship of some of the films they carried. I have no problem with age restriction and parental approval for R-rated movies; but, I have a huge issue with censoring said films. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 18, 2018 10:40:56 GMT -5
I used to have puffy stickers of DC Comics characters back in probably about the late 70's, but I couldn't find any online images that matched what I had. So, instead, I'll just show one of the Mego action figures I used to have.  Thanks to my grandparents, I had the Batman with removable cowl, who looked vaguely like Adam West, underneath. They also gave me Robin, to go with him. I got Superman, for my Birthday; but, at some point, the elastic that held the arms in the torso broke, causing them to dangle from the body. I couldn't believe the arms weren't bolted onto the torso, like other action figures. I later got a Captain America, though I hated the fact his boots were wrong (same red plastic boots that Superman had, instead of buccaneer boots). Last one I ever got was an Aqualad, from the Teen Titans release. I had a couple of their Planet of the Apes figures: Dr Zaius and a gorilla soldier. A friend of mine had the Star Trek main figures (Kirk, Spock and McCoy). He also had the Mego Batcave and Enterprise playset. Best I had was the Batmobile (which was really awkward to get the figures into). |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2018 10:49:28 GMT -5
codystarbuck ... I've got to go ... What's Redbox? ... Never heard of it.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 18, 2018 11:27:29 GMT -5
codystarbuck ... I've got to go ... What's Redbox? ... Never heard of it. They are kiosks located outside stores, such as Walmart and Walgreens, which are a sort of dvd vending machine. They have a selection of movies available on them, for you to rent. The machine dispenses the video and you then return it to the machine, within 25 days, or else you are charged the purchase price and own it. The convenience of these machines severely cut into Blockbuster's revenue, as you could get the new movies from them, without a membership and without having to rent during store hours. They also cut into Netflix' business, since you didn't wait for the movie to arrive in the mail (before the streaming portion was more widely used). Redbox was what really killed Blockbuster, as far as the casual renter. They had the same new releases as the average Blockbuster and were more likely to have them in stock. Netflix cut into their revenue with both convenience and variety, as Blockbuster was only as good as the selection in the local store (which varied widely, in my experience). As an added factor, Redbox machines are the size of a soda vending machine and were attractive to multiple retailers; so, Redblox could blanket an area, without the need for sizeable real estate.  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 18, 2018 11:33:56 GMT -5
I seldom used Blockbuster. When I lived in Boise and Salt Lake there were always local video stores that were better, so Blockbuster was the very last resort. I don't remember where I got videos when I was in law school. But after moving here, there wasn't a Blockbuster anyway. We did have a Hollywood Video here for quite a while. Now all that's left is Redbox and the selection in them is not what I want. I honestly do miss video stores. Even with multiple streaming services there are a lot of times I want to watch a specific movie and it just isn't there. There is still one old school video store in Boise. I worked there for about two years when I was in college. Glad to see they're still hanging on. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2018 11:50:39 GMT -5
codystarbuck ... I've got to go ... What's Redbox? ... Never heard of it. They are kiosks located outside stores, such as Walmart and Walgreens, which are a sort of dvd vending machine. They have a selection of movies available on them, for you to rent. The machine dispenses the video and you then return it to the machine, within 25 days, or else you are charged the purchase price and own it. The convenience of these machines severely cut into Blockbuster's revenue, as you could get the new movies from them, without a membership and without having to rent during store hours. They also cut into Netflix' business, since you didn't wait for the movie to arrive in the mail (before the streaming portion was more widely used). Redbox was what really killed Blockbuster, as far as the casual renter. They had the same new releases as the average Blockbuster and were more likely to have them in stock. Netflix cut into their revenue with both convenience and variety, as Blockbuster was only as good as the selection in the local store (which varied widely, in my experience). As an added factor, Redbox machines are the size of a soda vending machine and were attractive to multiple retailers; so, Redblox could blanket an area, without the need for sizeable real estate. Thanks for this info. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Apr 18, 2018 13:25:56 GMT -5
Between Netflix streaming, Netflix DVD service and Redbox, I cannot remember the last time I went to the theater or bought a movie. These three services garner 99% of my movie/tv show viewing money.
80's and 90's anime is still about the only obscure genre that I cannot get a lot of through these three services.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2018 13:34:03 GMT -5
Between Netflix streaming, Netflix DVD service and Redbox, I cannot remember the last time I went to the theater or bought a movie. These three services garner 99% of my movie/tv show viewing money. 80's and 90's anime is still about the only obscure genre that I cannot get a lot of through these three services. I have Starz and Encore and I have a dear friend that have Netflix streaming and HBO and I've helped him with cost of HBO and that's pretty much my way of viewing movies and combined that with Retroplex, TCM, and Sundance Channels ... I rarely go to theatres anymore. My next stop at the theatres will be seeing Incredibles 2 and that's in June. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Apr 18, 2018 14:05:38 GMT -5
Between Netflix streaming, Netflix DVD service and Redbox, I cannot remember the last time I went to the theater or bought a movie. These three services garner 99% of my movie/tv show viewing money. 80's and 90's anime is still about the only obscure genre that I cannot get a lot of through these three services. I have Starz and Encore and I have a dear friend that have Netflix streaming and HBO and I've helped him with cost of HBO and that's pretty much my way of viewing movies and combined that with Retroplex, TCM, and Sundance Channels ... I rarely go to theatres anymore. My next stop at the theatres will be seeing Incredibles 2 and that's in June. I may try and see that, and/or take my boys. That was one of their favorite movies growing up. My oldest (14) has been to many movies at the theater with a friend and his mother, so I know he can still through movies. My youngest (11) like me prefers the comforts of home over the big screen to watch something. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 18, 2018 14:20:55 GMT -5
I used to have puffy stickers of DC Comics characters back in probably about the late 70's, but I couldn't find any online images that matched what I had. So, instead, I'll just show one of the Mego action figures I used to have. Thanks to my grandparents, I had the Batman with removable cowl, who looked vaguely like Adam West, underneath. They also gave me Robin, to go with him. I got Superman, for my Birthday; but, at some point, the elastic that held the arms in the torso broke, causing them to dangle from the body. I couldn't believe the arms weren't bolted onto the torso, like other action figures. I later got a Captain America, though I hated the fact his boots were wrong (same red plastic boots that Superman had, instead of buccaneer boots). Last one I ever got was an Aqualad, from the Teen Titans release. I had a couple of their Planet of the Apes figures: Dr Zaius and a gorilla soldier. A friend of mine had the Star Trek main figures (Kirk, Spock and McCoy). He also had the Mego Batcave and Enterprise playset. Best I had was the Batmobile (which was really awkward to get the figures into). I mostly had DC, and some Marvel figures, but I do remember having Dr Zaius also. No vehicles or playsets, though.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2018 13:45:32 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2018 13:47:57 GMT -5
Retro Ads - Photoshopped
Part 2 of 2Let's have a little fun today Members and Guests!  
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2018 4:59:22 GMT -5
Vinyl RecordsI'm not an expert on this stuff and my favorite type of records that I had when I was teenager was single songs 45 rpm records in vinyl were my favorite because you can get one song per side - 2 songs per record and that's the beauty of these records and you can actually organized your collection better and make it easier to play your favorite songs.  45 RPM RECORDS - MY FAVORITE TYPE Here's one record - The Happy Song by Otis Redding and this format is very attractive for me in terms of organizing my collection and that's the beauty of it.  They are usually play on a turntable type like this one below you!  According to this fascinating video clip - there are 10 different types of records and I really enjoyed watching this clip a moment ago. Different Sizes and Types of Records  In the late 50's my brothers (all 4 of us) ... had two portable record players similar to the one pictured below ... this is the best (not accurate) of the player that we had back then.  In the 70's ... one of my older brother got himself a Marantz 6300 Turntable for his own personal use and ...  He still have this record player and its still works beautifully!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on Apr 21, 2018 9:27:17 GMT -5
I'm not an expert on this stuff and my favorite type of records that I had when I was teenager was single songs 45 rpm records in vinyl were my favorite because you can get one song per side - 2 songs per record and that's the beauty of these records and you can actually organized your collection better and make it easier to play your favorite songs. There's definitely a succinct beauty to the humble 45rpm single that an LP just doesn't have. I do love longer albums, of course, and spend much more time listening to them than 45s, but a 7" single is like a quick sugar rush of pop magic -- three and a half minutes per side (or less) of pop confectionary. Wonderful! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2018 11:50:41 GMT -5
Vintage Baseball Cards
Part 1 of 2 1959 Mickey Mantle Card  Babe Ruth Card - Unknown Year  1948 Babe Ruth Card  60's Sandy Koufax Card  Topps Hank Aaron Card - One of my favorites ...  1955 Topps Roberto Clemente Rookie Card ...
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