No, that isn't my own small collection...
That's a starting image for the number of DVDs I think anyone should have before claiming a decent collection. After all, in the US alone, 44,000 films had been made as of 2012. So a modest collection would surely contain more than just one or two hundred. If we throw in collectible films from other countries round the globe, possibly our number might come closer to...1000?
Ridiculously incomplete and yet we have only so much money...space...and time. When I started to build my collection this year, it didn't take me long to see the very real risk I ran of collectoholism. Man, I wanted everything! I wanted not only the great stuff but every little oddity that I'd even vaguely thought I should have a look at--films or TV shows:
I put the blocks to this crazy urge when I had a dozen DVDs I knew I'd never watch again. In fact, rewatchability became my first criterion. And from it came the others that still guide me in my quest. Any DVD I buy must meet one or more of these guidelines:
1) It is something I know I can rewatch with increasing pleasure.
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2) It is an acclaimed masterpiece that bears further study and belongs in any serious collection.
3) It is a film that was butchered by the studio in its original release--but is now available in the great director's cut.
4) It is the sort of film I don't usually watch--but which I know deserves a try.
5) It is a film/TV show that was important to me long ago.
And so it goes. May I grow in turn as my collection grows.
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