Odd Obsession was beautiful and frustrating in all the ways a good video or record store should be. I started going there in the time of the second location, and continued through the third, which didn’t really have the same magic, but was still a great resource. I moved from Chicago before it moved to a fourth.

thank you for this. best piece of writing I’ve read in a while. too bad it is about the demise of a place that is special to me too, though I never spent the kind of time in there that you did. i wish I did.

I worked at an independent video store in high school and while it wasn’t the most challenging or rewarding by any stretch, it’s probably the favorite job I’ve ever had. Whenever I happen to meet someone who worked at a video store, they’ve pretty much said the same thing.

Vulcan Video here in Austin closed a few weeks ago, and it hurts.

I worked at a Blockbuster, and what I can say is that the quality of the selection was dramatically affected by the location and the manager. The one I worked in was in a kind of upper-middle class area of my town, with a lesbian film-buff manager, and it had a surprisingly good “indie” section. It was the kind of…

A lovely reflection on cinephilic obsessions of an era not so very far in our past. In an era where Netflix and other streaming services prevent a huge amount of cinematic history from ever being seen, I was remarking only yesterday how much I miss Kim’s Video. 

Light a candle for Scarecrow Video in Seattle and Movie Madness in Portland. These places are their own kind of cultural treasure.  Hope they survive in some form.  

God, that’s beautiful Ignatiy. I miss video stores so much.

I was living in Oakland when Silver Screen Video closed (in 2015 - a good run), and there is nothing weirder than a video-store closing sale. I got lots of movies on the cheap, including a few that were relatively hard-to-find, but it was impossible to feel good about my entire video-store routine vanishing.

I loved this. It saddens me to see Odd Obsessions come to an end, but I also had that feeling of “this can’t last forever.”

You never had a chance. None of us did.

Well that ruins my day 

Didn’t we all?

It is obviously killing Dan that to his credit he realizes suggesting someone go to a sex worker isn’t really a viable option right now 

I, on the other hand, due to a combination of being busy with work and us both taking care of the kids (especially during the lockdown), find myself with a decreased sexual drive.

Dear Nobody, I read a letter to an advice columnist and couldn’t tell if the LW was male or female. Am I one of those people who doesn’t see gender? You know, like some people don’t see race?

As long as I feel the details in a letter could apply to someone in the audience, I’m not terribly concerned if that letter is actually true.So you can be fairly certain Savage Nobody will respond to your dickful thinking.

Dear Nobody,

LW#1: Get a strap on and have him suck that. If he needs a salty load, save his emissions and then pour those down his throat.

It’s time for Savage Nobody! The warmest, saltiest advice column around!