Adventures in thrift shopping...
Feb. 7th, 2007 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badatapologiesI have a superpower. Just the one. I cannot leap tall buildings or make flames shoot out of my nipples* or do anything else that would get me on "Heroes". However, if you blindfold me and set me loose in a thrift store, I will find something rare and cool and possibly valuable for under a dollar in five minutes or less. It's a gift, but it's also a curse: I'll bet when you pack to move, you don't have multiple large boxes in categories like "telephones" or "toasters" or "bakelite radios" or "cameras" or "waffle irons" or "Star Wars toys". I have television sets from every decade since 1948. I own three Betamaxes. I've got a hundred four-track tapes. Do you even know what a four-track tape is? I have three 60-gallon tubs that are packed solid with Legos. I can't even lift 'em. Good news is maybe I could build a human-size house out of the legos?
The lesson here is that I don't thrift shop much these days. Cash flow is not ideal and object-containment capacity is not optimal. But I had some appointments today and I decided to reward myself by spending a couple of bucks.
Result? Three sealed Game Theory LPs (including Lolita Nation).
And?
A complete tabloid insert from the July 15, 1955 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Announcing the opening day at Disneyland. With original full-color concept art, ample written descriptions of rides, themed areas and attractions, and a personal message from ol' Walt himself. On fragile 52-year old newsprint, but intact. I can't even find a reference to its existence online, let alone any pictures.
Net total for the tabloid and the albums together? $3.75.
If I could only find things that were valuable that I didn't want to keep, I could make a fortune. But I suppose that would be wrong. With great thrift-shopping power comes great thrift-shopping responsibility.
I'll scan the Disneyland pages--carefully--as soon as technology permits. It definitely brightened my day.
____
*optional sport package. as shown, $32,500. your mileage may vary. professional blogger on closed course. do not attempt.
The lesson here is that I don't thrift shop much these days. Cash flow is not ideal and object-containment capacity is not optimal. But I had some appointments today and I decided to reward myself by spending a couple of bucks.
Result? Three sealed Game Theory LPs (including Lolita Nation).
And?
A complete tabloid insert from the July 15, 1955 issue of the Los Angeles Times. Announcing the opening day at Disneyland. With original full-color concept art, ample written descriptions of rides, themed areas and attractions, and a personal message from ol' Walt himself. On fragile 52-year old newsprint, but intact. I can't even find a reference to its existence online, let alone any pictures.
Net total for the tabloid and the albums together? $3.75.
If I could only find things that were valuable that I didn't want to keep, I could make a fortune. But I suppose that would be wrong. With great thrift-shopping power comes great thrift-shopping responsibility.
I'll scan the Disneyland pages--carefully--as soon as technology permits. It definitely brightened my day.
____
*optional sport package. as shown, $32,500. your mileage may vary. professional blogger on closed course. do not attempt.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 12:12 pm (UTC)Discredited Media
Date: 2007-02-07 03:50 pm (UTC)Next, I HAVE to get a Beta machine myself, as I've got 300 Betamax tapes in a trunk (going back to November, 1977 - The Sting, ABC Sunday Night Movie, Edited for Television, with all the commercials) that I've been schlepping around for years.
4-track tapes? You mean reel-to-reel? I've got an old Sony 4-track reel-to-teel machine. Needs repair.
Then I need to fix my 10 Super-8mm projectors and the 1960s Magnavox hi-fi stereo console. Yeah, this is all gonna happen someday . . .
Re: Discredited Media
Date: 2007-02-09 11:51 am (UTC)4-track tapes were the technological precursor to 8-track tapes, and to the untrained eye they look more or less identical (they're basically the same technology and shells as the "carts" used in radio until digital formats made them obsolete). 4-tracks hold less music, and are generally really old (pre-1967, usually)... I used to buy every one I saw, just on principle. Beatles, Stones, Doors, Box Tops, Love, Lawrence Welk, you name it, I've got 'em.
I have a few reel-to-reels too, but I never did have a reel-to-reel machine that worked. Don't even get me started on my 8-track collection. Or my CED videodiscs. Or wax cylinders and 78s. Or Atari/Colecovision/Intellivision/Odyssey-2 cartridges. If it's old obsolete junk, I probably have enough of it to cause a spinal injury lifting it.
Re: Discredited Media
Date: 2007-02-09 03:27 pm (UTC)But I have been lugging around my Colecovision for years, despite not having the little box that allows you to connect it to a TV set, as well as a load of Colecovision and Atari 2600 games, and the adapter that allows you to play Atari games on Colecovision (which I was lucky to get in that brief time before Atari forced them to get rid of it).
Why do we hold on to these things?
Re: Discredited Media
Date: 2007-02-11 01:27 pm (UTC)The CED things are made of some kind of extremely dense Dark Matter. I deeply regret my decision to buy one. I regret even more my decision to buy about 200 of 'em. I have two players, too. Insanity.
I love the 78s, though. I was raised by my great-grandma, so I have a real affinity for older music.
Why do we hang on to these things? I wish I knew. A connection to the past? A fascination with history? Misplaced desire to have things now that we couldn't have then? Slobbering psychosis? I think I'll have some of each, thanks. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-10 08:20 am (UTC)scott miller rocks my socks
Date: 2007-02-07 02:23 pm (UTC)whoa.
(granted, it's not that rare on vinyl -- forest found a copy on CD for $3 a while ago and later learned he could practically pay his rent if he sold it on ebay. STILL.)
Re: scott miller rocks my socks
Date: 2007-02-07 05:23 pm (UTC)Re: scott miller rocks my socks
Date: 2007-02-07 08:10 pm (UTC)LN's continued out-of-print-ness is one of the many things that justifies P2P sharing. (that and the lack of availability of emitt rhodes's records.)
caitie: what other GT albums did you get?
Re: scott miller rocks my socks
Date: 2007-02-09 12:06 pm (UTC)If Forest's CD copy of LN accidentally got burned to a CD-R, and that CD-R accidentally got mailed to my current address, I can almost guarantee the RIAA would not be notified. I should just convert the vinyl to digital but my turntable stylus needs replaced before I would even consider putting an unplayed copy of Lolita Nation to the test.
Re: scott miller rocks my socks
Date: 2007-02-15 09:46 pm (UTC)i hope your birthday was mildly happy. i dusted off the old tesla coil and attempted to send mr. bowie to you. did it work?
no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 12:14 pm (UTC)Most of the plentiful Trek goodies I have are things I've kept from childhood or received as gifts, but every now and again I do find something good at thrift stores.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 11:50 pm (UTC)Before you go thriftshopping next time, let me give you a list of things I'm looking for.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 12:32 pm (UTC)Seriously, if you have anything in particular you're looking for, let me know. I have a pretty good track record with those things, and I take pride in putting arcane goodies into the hands of people who can properly appreciate them. I'm practically the "Touched By An Angel" of thrift store junk.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 05:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 04:55 pm (UTC)Hey, I sent you an email this morning to your aol account (from your LJ profile), hoping that is a current address?
T.L.
Классный блог!
Date: 2012-02-02 11:36 pm (UTC)Благодарю за инфу
Date: 2012-02-18 03:26 pm (UTC)