Video Rental | Ep #17

Listen now

Be kind and rewind with us back to the days of big VHS boxes, browsing shelves, and stolen Blockbuster pens. Don't forget to adjust your tracking.  

Show Notes: 

00:00 Let's rent a video
01:00 Summer rental
04:18 The side-step move
05:38 Top-loaders
08:50 Blockbusted

11:20 Horror movie VHS covers

13:00 The apparati

15:10 Designed to rewind

17:37 Interlude: The Aquabats: "Video Nite!" 

18:29 Game console rental: the biggest clamshell ever

19:56 Sega CD

21:20 DVD killed the video star Star Video

24:00 Behind the counter

29:15 Interlude: Randall and the Ruse (Clerks)

30:35 Browsing vs. streaming

44:25 Interlude: The Onion News Network: Blockbuster Video Living Museum

49:56 Redbox

54:23 Tracking: the enduring enigma

Subscribe to The Hourchive RSS Feed | View in iTunes

Video Rental | Ep #17

Arcades | Ep #01

Listen now 

Armed with a pocketful of quarters and nostalgia, we prowl through the ruins of Aladdin's Castle and contract Pac-Man fever in our quest to recall the glory days of the video arcade. Side-ponytails, cheese fries, and Revolution X are among the relics of questionable value we uncover along the way. 

Show Notes:
00:45 Early arcade memories (the Dogpatch / Training ground / redemption centers / Revolution X)
09:50 Arcade etiquette (co-op vs...versus? / stranger danger / Hypercolor jerk)
15:03 The dream (John Woo-style / there’s always a girl / performance anxiety / klutz on skates / a shared moment / to the victor go the cheese fries / “Oh, they have games here...”)
26:25 Interlude: “Lots of people are playing ‘em.”
26:45 Arcadar (the search / “I put a pin in that place.”)
29:50 It’s not the games, it’s the atmosphere (darkness / “just a bunch of dirty kids” / neon / vaguely post-apocalyptic / zones / a cacophony of noise)
33:10 It’s gotta be loud (arcade music / a certain type of song / the Lilith Fair arcade / Lisa Loeb in a coin belt)
36:05 Interlude: “Pac-Man Fever”
37:00 Peripherals (loitering / cheese products / laser tag: the seed of nemeses / bumper cars / VR)
42:38 The downfall
45:00 It can never be what it was (retro arcades / 1984 / “the card is the worst.” / Dave & Busters: too legit / Chuck E. Cheese: what happened?)

Show Links:
The Dogpatch 
Revolution X 
Collecovision: “This is the arcade experience” 
Lilith Fair
“Pac-Man Fever”
1984
Dave & Busters
Chuck E. Cheese

Related links:
Google Map of Classic U.S. Arcades
The Arcade Ambiance Project
Why kids like arcades (Aladdin’s Castle, 1990)
Arcade Nation

Subscribe to The Hourchive RSS Feed | View in iTunes

Ep. 01: Arcades