SPINAL CRACKERS

Let's talk about spines for a second.  Not who has one and who doesn't, I couldn't care less.

I'm talking about packaging and design.

I'm boxing up my stuff, figuring out what to keep and what to sell, what to take and what to keep in storage.

I can't remember the last time I watched a VHS tape, but I have no intention of discarding my boxed sets of Twin Peaks or The Singing Detective.  

Twin Peaks (Worldvision Home Video, 1990)

The Singing Detective (BBC Video, 1997)

It's not about being stubborn or my tendency to hoard things. Well, maybe it is.  

These things represent something to me.  Not just the past, not just inferior home entertainment platforms. 

Besides, they're too pretty to give up.

And then there's this thing, this boxed set of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels from 2008. Five Highsmiths for a hundo, though I doubt that was the actual campaign.

The Complete Ripley Novels by Patricia Highsmith (W. W. Norton, 2008)

A generous gift from a publisher's rep. Not exactly the type of thing I'd buy myself, but exactly the type of thing I'd keep and not resell.

I might need a bigger storage space.