Memories Of The VCR/VHS Tapes

It's been a long time since I last did a blog, but I'm back now. Which is good because I haven't done a blog since late December.

Today's edition is a note-worthy one. It's one of my all-time favorite invention, one that brought me so much joy and so many memories: the VCR.

I remember the day we got it. My older brother and I got this for Christmas of '96 along with four VHS tapes: The Big Green, Toy Story, Independence Day, and The Mask.

I love the VCR for how simple it looked. You had the box, and in front there was a flap in which you used to slide the VHS in. There was a clock in front of it, which was good to keep the time, but even better for recording--as that made it easier when programming your VCR to record a show. The buttons were: play, rewind, fast-forward, and record.

The movies either came in a cheap-looking slip cover, or they came in one of those heavy-duty plastic boxes--most of which were for the Disney movies. I preferred the Disney ones as they not only looked better, but they were also more likely to protect your tape if it were to fall--as opposed to the more common one, which I wouldn't trust.

The movies were often just the feature with some previews before it--the way it would look like in a Theater. But sometimes you had VHS tapes with bonus features of sorts. The Scooby-Doo VHS tapes had a few cartoons at the end such as Dexter's Laboratory, Quick Draw McGraw, etc.

I had a lot of fun with the VHS tapes, but I had the most fun with the blank ones that were used for recording live TV. The concept blew my mind. You could record live TV while you sleep, or while you're spending time with the family, or while you're off doing something else entirely. The concept was amazing for me back then and I still remember them fondly.

I remember recording TV shows such as Samurai Pizza Cats, WWF Smackdown!, The Wacky World Of Tex Avery, and Jackie Chan Adventures.

Recording TV shows/Movies gave me great memories, and it also gave the VCR more of a shelf-life for me. I never got bored of it. In fact, the reason I don't have it anymore is because it just stopped working. I was so disappointed by it, and I still am to this day. Why? Because I loved my VCR, and I loved the whole thing for how simple and fun it was. It gave me so many great memories.