Forgive me in advance for my crappy camera quality.
It is that time in the month when every "influencer" blast their followers in the face with all the stuff they bought in the month. Well, I like to think of myself as the Jeffree Star of records and as such, a haul would only be the right thing to do.
Anyways, this month marks kind of a new milestone on my analogue media formats collection. Earlier this year, I wrote about how I started collecting cassete tapes and would only be fair if I started collecting the only the only format from my childhood left: VHS.
It may sound weird for the rest of the millenials out there who only know Netflix, but back in the days we watched movies on tapes. I know I sound like a baby boomer (or older) but I was lucky enough to be born on the last years of VHS and it is very magical. However, my old VCR broke, but was good enough to at least clean tapes, so I kept it and bought a new one.
The "new" model I got is a 7 head Hi-Fi Gradiente HT-GSV870C. This mouthful, much for my surprise, works like heaven. It plays tape with such sharpness (in modern TV) and quality that I was honestly very impress. Another good point about it is that the colors are very vibrant and vivid. It was a really good deal.
Here are some of my new VHS.
The first VHS I was able to pick represents my pure childhood. Xuxa is someone who I mention quite a bit. In fact, she was my first idol and gay diva. She built a very consistent career and managed to become one of the most successful singers in Latin America, breaking the record of the best selling album of 1988 - a fact that got her a space on the Guinness Book.
This is Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 2 (Xuxa Only for Children 2), from 2001. It was originally sold in a pack containing VHS and CD. Basically, this is a visual album. So it's safe to say she invented it way before Beyoncé made this a thing. There are 12 volumes of this series, but the first 6 ones are the best. After that, it got a little saturated.
Not only that, I was able to find her movie from the same year, Xuxa e os Duendes (Xuxa and the Leprechauns), a kids movie about love and ecology. Very educative! And not only that, it features some of Brazil's iconic stars, Ana Maria Braga and Luciana Gimenez (who had an affair and a son with Mick Jagger), who are well established TV personalities and meme stars. Brazil's culture is very one-of-a-kind!
This movie also stars Angelica, one of the three top children singers from the 90s (the other two were Xuxa, of course, and Eliana). The media created a feud between them to see who were the most popular among kids. But in reality they were good friends and actually made money out of this "feud".
This movie also stars Angelica, one of the three top children singers from the 90s (the other two were Xuxa, of course, and Eliana). The media created a feud between them to see who were the most popular among kids. But in reality they were good friends and actually made money out of this "feud".
The next items are some of the Hollywood's greatest. Yes, my friends, I've got this super rare Titanic VHS and a Singin' in the Rain DVD. I was very lucky to put my hand on one of those Titanic pack, specially because they're worth a fortune online and I paid only $3 on a near mint edition.
Let's get into some 50's feeling, because I finally found my favorite soundtrack all time: Grease! I believe this was one of the first musicals I've watched and I feel in love with it immediately. The songs are amazing and the story actually brings some relevant topics, such as gender roles and teenage pregnancy. Sorry not sorry, High School Musical...
The other item is a Rebel Without a Cause VHS. James Dean at his best! It was really a surprise to find this tape, but I am really glad I did, because this is one of my favorite vintage movies. By the way, this is a movie that I have on both DVD and VHS.
Moving on, a collection of movies in black and white. This is apart of a bigger collection, I believe they were sold as fascicles, but, unfortunately, there were only those available. Nevertheless, I can only imagine how iconic the rest of the volumes are. The 1939 version of the Wuthering Heights, starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberlon and the 1930 The Blue Angel, starring the lesbian legend herself, Marlene Dietrich.
Unfortunately, my tape of the Wuthering Heigts is unreversably broken, so I can't really play it. Even so, it is an amazing relic to keep.
Next up, a young Julia Roberts starring on Dying Young. This VHS is part of the 'Selections', from 20th Century Fox. According to the trailer at the beginning of the tape, it was a selection of classic movies that were sold for 10 dollars or less.
Speaking of legends, here are are the young Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep on 'While You Were Sleeping' and 'The Bridges Of Madison County'. By the way, can I just say that even though Warner tried to put all the attention on Clint Eastwood and sometimes not mentioning Meryl Streep, she was the absolute scene stealer!
I am not gonna lie that I don't really care for those next movies, but I decided to give them a change anyways. Dangerous Liaisons and the 1995 version of Sabrina. In my opinion, no one but Audrey Hepburn can play Sabrina, but since I've never watched this version, I gave it a shot.
Let's have one more stop in Brazil gay culture before we go on to the last part of this haul. This next two itens are 7' singles of brazilian booty queen and the biggest meme star in the world: Gretchen! And yes, dear foreign friends, she was on the Katy Perry music video for Swish Swish. These are the 1979 and 1981 singles of Freak Le Boom Boom and Melô do Piripiri.
