A special thank you to Tom Nicholson for sharing the following…

A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost.

I replied I am not sure. It fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it, it fed the people who make the tires, it fed the people who made the components that went into it, it fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires, it fed people in Decatur IL. at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore.

It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families.

BUT... I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed.

That is the difference between Capitalism and welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets, and give them dignity for their skills.

When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self-worth.

Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value.

Socialism is taking your money against your will and shoving something down your throat that you never asked for.

I’ve decided I can’t be politically correct anymore. (I never was, actually)

Our founding Fathers poured the solid foundation for our liberty. Upkeep is our job.

—CC—

And now my favorite story of the week…..

The Yellow Light

The light turned yellow, just in front of him.

He did the right thing and stopped at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman behind him was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door.

She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, ‘’I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, giving the guy in front of you the finger and cursing at him.

I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally ......I assumed you had stolen the car.’’

—CC—

Guess what is making a comeback….Vinyl Records! Samuel Kim writes….

Listeners’ desires for a unique musical experience have spawned a “vinyl revival.”

In 2021, 19.2 million vinyls have been sold so far, outpacing CD sales. Between 2013 and 2020, vinyl sales have increased threefold. And from 2019 to 2020 alone, sales soared by a whopping 46%.

So, what makes vinyl records so special? Some argue that studios are trying to maintain artists’ connection to their fans during the pandemic by unveiling collectible items, including vinyl records.

“In these unprecedented times, it is the labels’ and artists’ continued focus on the fan connection via collectible, bespoke offerings … that are converting new generations into vinyl fans and the never-ending reason for vinyl’s ascendance,” executive and vinyl strategist Billy Field told CNBC.

There’s also the argument that vinyl simply sounds better. Sure, there may be a few seconds of crackling before the disc is put on the platter. But you’d always know that these would be followed by the high-pitched, passionate lyrics of, for example, “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

“I think this is what people like about it: It pins very closely to the way that human beings hear music organically,” sound mastering engineer Adam Gonsalves said in a 2014 interview.

But most importantly, vinyl offers listeners a nostalgic experience. “There is something romantic about records, something satisfying about opening the album jacket, seeing the fantastic artwork, and studying the liner notes while listening to the album,” explained Charlie Randall, the CEO of McIntosh Labs, to The Manual.

Vinyl records provide aficionados with a physical alternative to digital files. Instead of instantly downloading the latest hits, interested buyers must find old records at their local bookstore. And listeners need to put the needle on the record instead of pressing “play.”

With so much of our time already spent in the virtual space, vinyls are becoming a compelling, grounded alternative.

I still have a record player and a large collection of records from the “good old days.” At least once a week I pick out an album and listen to it. It seems now that the new generation is enjoying another item from another era. As a former disc jockey, I believe there is nothing like listening to a vinyl record.

—CC—

Not only do I still have a record player and records, I still have a VHS player and a large number of VHS tapes. And I am not the only one…..

When Nicole Wiegand wants to relax, she reaches back to 1987.

Most evenings, Ms. Wiegand, a 37-year-old owner of an art store in Philadelphia, browses her extensive video collection, pops one into a VCR and waits for the hum of white noise. She’s even set up a box outside her shop where people can pick up or drop off tapes.

“I loved the video store, loved it,” she says. “I’d pick a movie off the cover art alone…and that opened me up to so many things.”

While the pandemic supercharged streaming, a few people decided to swim against the current and go back to the familiar format of VHS. It isn’t the easiest of hobbies. VCR players haven’t been in production within the last five years and using the player on a current smart TV requires an expensive customized setup of several devices. Looking for a recent film on VHS format? It’s likely you’ll only find films from the 1980s and 90s, direct-to-VHS specials and home videos.

That hasn’t stopped diehards. A small community of VHS fanatics has sprung up around the country, trading tapes and tips on how to watch. Much of it is organized around small boxes where people can drop off or pick-up tapes. The “Free Blockbuster ” boxes started in Los Angeles and spread. There are VHS tape trading events and auctions.

In the late 1990s, Hollywood studios began selling films on DVDs and VHS rentals lost their grip on home viewings. Blu-ray took over in the early 2000s. By 2010 Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection.

To try to re-create a bit of the video-store experience, Brian Morrison started Free Blockbuster in 2019. The group turns former newspaper boxes into free little libraries of movies. VHS die-hards hope the effort encourages the exchange of home entertainment with strangers in their neighborhood.

A film fan who worked at various video stores throughout his teenage years, Mr. Morrison, 37, stocked his first Free Blockbuster box in Los Angeles with old VHS tapes, hoping to create community around film watching.

Though DVDs and videogames showed up later in some boxes, he says VHS tapes were the more interesting draw for Free Blockbuster users. Mr. Morrison connects tape fanatics in different places, who maintain their own boxes.

VHS tapes “aren’t just DVDs’ older cousins,” Mr. Morrison says, “they’re an art form in many ways.”

The 69 Free Blockbuster boxes, now located across the U.S. and in Canada and Australia, are maintained by a network of fans.

Mr. Morrison said he received a request from Blockbuster LLC, which is owned by Dish Network Corp., last year that he change the name of his organization. He said he asked if the company would consider licensing out the name but hasn’t heard back.

A Dish spokesperson said the company “loves bringing Blockbuster back to fans through partnerships, social media engagement and promotions. At this time, this is not a partnership we have chosen to pursue.”

Dish Network Corp. bought the Blockbuster video-rental chain out of bankruptcy in 2011. One independently operated Blockbuster store is still open for business, in Bend, Ore. That store was the subject of a recent documentary on Netflix.

Kim Lettiere, 29, who works for an animation studio, maintains a Free Blockbuster box in the Philadelphia area. Earlier this year, she received a plastic garbage bag at the studio filled with 800 VHS tapes of various sorts, including recordings of public-access television shows. The former owner, a 98-year-old man, had kept the tapes for decades, crafting individual labels with tiny drawings and cast information. The tapes were in pristine shape by the time Ms. Lettiere received them from the man’s son.

“You can’t find a lot of stuff like this, to have a physical connection that you pop in your VCR,” she says.

“The one big question I get is, who still has VCRs these days?” Ms. Lettiere says.

The last VCR maker stopped production in 2016.

Ebay lists hundreds of used models, as well as refurbished box TVs with embedded players. Specialty electronics retailers still carry VCR/Blu-ray combo players.

On occasion, Free Blockbuster fans drop off VCRs in the boxes. Many still have their original units, such as Mr. Morrison. “I like to maintain the hardware,” he says, “and access those memories in ways I can’t otherwise.”

The Philadelphia area, home to six Free Blockbuster boxes, is one of the most prominent VHS fan communities, according to Mr. Morrison. That includes Gisele Barreto Fetterman, wife of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who, with Ms. Lettiere’s help, recently erected a box in Braddock, Pa., outside of her nonprofit. “Movie nights and snacks are for everyone,” Ms. Fetterman said.

Ms. Wiegand, the Philadelphia art store owner, and her wife, Nicole Krecicki, have received anonymous boxes of VHS tapes. Customers also pass along movies, for their growing home library or the new Free Blockbuster box, sitting just outside of their shop.

“We took the clothes out of one of our bedroom closets and converted it to a VHS closet,” Ms. Krecicki says. As well as shelves stocked with tapes, the closet contains vintage VHS drawers, the kind popular in rec rooms in the 80s, and boxes of extra tapes waiting for display space that may never come.

Ms. Krecicki gushes over a 1988 made-for-TV teen flick “Dance ‘Til Dawn,” and Ms. Wiegand holds close a tough-to-find acquisition, “Beetlejuice.”

Mr. Morrison, who started Free Blockbuster, says his collection features a shelf solely for the display of family-friendly films. His favorite? A Muppet version of “The Frog Prince,” an early Jim Henson special featuring Kermit the Frog.

Anna Marie Dooling

Wall Street Journal

Some movie fans are the kind who like to rewind.