Bigger and Better

I was talking with a friend of mine last night about the amazing new purchases I made this weekend that added 14 new DVDs to my collection. (That's right, 14. Thank you, Blockbuster.) I started ranting (go figure) about how I was going to be so pissed off when they started making something over than DVDs because I refuse to start my collection over (again-- remember VHSs?). His response was, "Um, hello, BluRays."


Okay, I don't know if you know me very well, or even if you know me at all, but I'm a traditionalist in some respects. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's my philosophy. Anyway.


BluRays. Who gives a crap. It's basically a DVD that looks better on a High Def. TV, which, by the way, I do not own. Why do I need a flat screen television when the two I own work perfectly fine? Seriously, I think it is just a ploy for companies to make us want something BIGGER and BETTER. I own a gazillion VHS tapes, and I am NOT ASHAMED TO ADMIT IT. My entire Disney collection is on VHS, and I own TWO, count 'em TWO, VHS players. My children will watch Disney on VHS just like I did. I will not wait for them to come out of the "vault" that does not even exist.


There is no reason I need to feel like I am in the middle of the movie I'm watching. I watch a lot of action movies, so I seriously do not think I need to feel like I am in the middle of a gun fight between Angelina Jolie and whatever dude she is trying to kill one minute and trying to sleep with the next (which, by the way, get a new agent, Angelina, because you are seriously stuck in a rut). There is absolutely no need to go and spend hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars on a new TV when the ones I own work perfectly fine.


The same goes for DVDs.


Even if DVD players go off the market (which I do not see anytime soon, considering I can still buy a VHS player), I can continue to play my DVDs in a BluRay player. That that, my friend said, "Well, you can't play BluRays in a DVD player." Who honestly gives a crap? I do not own a BluRay disc, so why do I care if I can't play them in a DVD player?


Soon enough, scientists will start cloning the actors and shipping them off to houses to re-enact the entire movie for us while we sit on our couches anyway, so what is the damn point?


Why are we always conditioned to want something more, something bigger, something better? Take the new Apple 4G phone, for example. Apple comes out with a new iPhone every single year. They market the hell out of it, and people stand in line for hours trying to get it. It is a phone, not the answer to world hunger. Plus, there is always a problem with it. That is what happens when companies fight to out-do themselves over and over again... you end up with a sub-par product that you will have more trouble returning or troubleshooting that you did standing in line for hours to buy.


Dishwashers is another thing. I never grew up with a dishwasher, and I never intend to have a dishwasher. A few reasons: 1) I see so many commercials about how this product leaves residue and that produce does not actually get the dishes clean (ew, gross), and 2) Why do I need a dishwasher when I have perfect capability of washing the dishes myself? The way I see it is if I wash them myself, then I KNOW they are clean! Why run them through the dishwasher when, in the end, I'll probably just have to hand-wash them again anyway.


Hey, before you know it, your iPhone will be able to wash your dishes for you, anyway.


Moral of the story is this: society instills this need within us that we never quite have it good enough, and I do not think that is any way to live. We don't have the best TV, so we go out and buy a High Def. TV. We do not have the best, most technologically-advanced phone, so we stand in line for a device that could rule the world. We don't own the newest kind of movie product, so we spend $25 on buying a BluRay movie we already own on DVD, and of course, the $150 dollars on the player to play said BluRay movie. But remember, BluRay movies don't do anything unless you have the High Def. TV, so now we're back to square one. It's absolutely ridiculous.


What happened to the time when we were perfectly content with indoor plumbing? No, we just HAD to have the brushed chrome fixtures and the rain shower head and the jacuzzi hot tub that doubles as a hurricane barrack. We are never satisfied with anything less than the best, and I am getting rather sick of it! Be happy that you have two hands to wash dishes with, and be happy that you have electricity to power your television, and be happy that you have a phone that does nothing but make emergency phone calls.


I hope I never see the day where we never have to get out of bed in order to live a healthy, happy life.