I’ve always loved movies. I’ve been buying them since my early 20s—so it’s been a little over 20 years now. DVD, then Blu-ray, then 4K.
Back then it wasn’t “collecting.” It was just me buying movies I liked. But once streaming took over, the label changed. Now it’s like, “Oh, that’s your hobby. You’re a movie collector.” It got weird.
Prices went up. More collector’s editions. More boutique labels. And honestly, I used to think steelbooks were stupid. I was like, bro… just watch the movie. Why do I need a steel box?
Now I own a bunch of steelbooks, digipaks, all that. And it’s cool—but I’m starting to realize it doesn’t matter that much. It’s about the movie.
Example: I bought Alien in 4K, but I already owned the Alien Anthology on Blu-ray. I threw the Blu-ray on yesterday—looked good, sounded good, menus were cool, extras were there. Then I put in the 4K: different menus, fewer extras, same audio, a little better picture—but not night-and-day.
And I started thinking: once I press play, am I really going to care about the incremental sharpness? Or the slight color bump? Not really.
So I’m stepping back from upgrading just to upgrade. If the Blu-ray looks good, it looks good. I don’t need the 4K—especially if I’m losing extras.
I used to buy like five movies a week. Now I’m down to one or two a month. Sometimes zero. I’d rather rent, or go to the theater.
And I’ve been going to the theater more because I want to get out of the house. Watching movies at home is dope, but at a certain point it can get too reclusive for me.
So yeah—my interest didn’t die. It just got cleaner.
Question: What hobby have you refined over time—less “more,” more “meaning”?
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