[Robo]

Pretty straightforward.

This is one of my favorite questions to ask people, but I don't think I've ever asked it here. (Sitcoms and movies have told me that the archetypical way to snoop on new friends is by checking their medicine cabinets, but I've always been much more interested in casing their bookshelves.*) Movies and music seem to have a short shelf life; most people buy things when they're new and popular and don't ever give a second glance at anything that came before. I know a lot of people who consider themselves major cinephiles and the oldest movie they own is Star Wars, which of course means they're missing more than half of cinema history. And if people own any older movies, they're usually the same ones—I think at this point Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, It's A Wonderful Life, and Wizard of Oz are the only pre-1950 movies that normal people know. (The idea of King Kong is known, but a lot of people "know all about" that movie but haven't actually watched it, much less own it. The same might go for all the others, actually.) I recently heard a coworker call Titanic an old movie, and I felt positively ancient.

This isn't terribly surprising, of course—most people only read old books because schools make them, and few schools make students watch old movies—nor is it necessarily a bad thing. (I own far more movies from the 2000s and 2010s than earlier decades.**) But it's always been something that interests me, and it makes a good benchmark if you're trying to decide whether to really trust someone's opinion and "taste."

A few caveats: compilations are okay, as long as you consciously bought the movies in that collection; for example, if you bought one of those "100 Terrifying Mysteries for $19.99!" collections at Walmart, and it includes some public-domain movie from 1922 but you didn't know anything about it when you bought the set and you basically own it by accident, that doesn't count.

For albums, classical music throws a wrench in this, and I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty over whether the composition date or recording date "counts," since this is really about popular culture anyway. So if you list a classical album please also list the oldest album of popular (contemporary) music you own.

Feel free to list the oldest game you own, too. Oh, and please include the year of release if you know it.

For me:
Film— Metropolis (1927)
Album— A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles, 1964
Classical Album (by recording date)— Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, 1959 Leonard Bernstein version
Game— Super Mario Bros. (1985)

*) Although they rarely contain actual books, I couldn't bring myself to write "media shelves." I'm in favor of continuing to call them bookshelves even when that becomes a total anachronism, like "spear closet"

**) If you have a lot of movies or music, this sort of decade-by-decade analysis can be really interesting. For example, I own significantly more 1980s movies than 1990s movies, despite ostensibly being a child of the '90s. The same goes for albums.

[psmith2.0]

I have a small place and would rather not have hundreds (or even dozens) of things cluttering it up. And I have no albums or CDs, having digitized my collections ages ago and either sold, traded-in or gave away all my CDs.

I have about 10 favorites on DVD (but even that's silly as I don't watch any enough to truly need to "own" them, and I'm always thinking about taking them to the big used book/CD/video place here in town). My DVD player has been broken for over four years and I just never replaced it.

But to answer your question: the oldest would be Key Largo (Bogart, Bacall, Robinson), from 1948. I used to have The Wizard of Oz (1939), but gave it away to someone who's a fan (and who'd repeat-view it more than I ever would).

Music-wise, even though it's digital, I've got a bunch of swing/band stuff, so I guess it's from the 40's or so? I might have a couple of Robert Johnson recordings, so that's probably the 20's or 30's? Stuff I purposely bought, knowing it's old? Buddy Holly or Bo Diddley (mid-late 1950's). I'm a huge fan/lover of 50's/60's rock 'n' roll, and all the architects. And for the past 16 or so months, I've been on a ferocious surf/instrumental tear, so all that stuff from 1960-1964...all these questionable, one-hit bands out of SoCal and other places who bought a Fender Jaguar, reverb tank and learned three chords, etc. I've become quite the connoisseur of early 60's surf/hot-rod/instrumental music and bands.

I love a ton of stuff, movies and music, but the way the world is now I can usually reach out somewhere and rent/view/borrow it when the mood strikes. I don't keep a "library" of everything that's ever impressed, or moved, me (I wouldn't have room to walk or sit).

In fact, this is my entire DVD collection, as of right now:
- American Graffiti
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Jaws
- Goodfellas
- The Exorcist
- Reservoir Dogs
- Urban Cowboy (what can I say...it makes me laugh)
- Raising Arizona
- Donnie Brasco
- Star Wars Original Trilogy
- Key Largo

Make of it what you will.

Seems I like Spielberg, gangsters and Southwestern dipshits (and stuff either made or set in the 1970's).

[Robo]

Digital counts, as long as you own it. I feel sort of bad for all the people who are going to just use Spotify (or Netflix, for that matter) for everything now. I used to always just YouTube for music, because I was a broke college student, and then I decided to start actually building a music collection and I have to tell you, it's been incredibly satisfying. It's not just the quality difference, which is palpable. There's just something comforting in owning your music and knowing that you can listen to it whenever wherever forever, internet connection or no. I think this would be true whether you owned your collection physically or not. (I usually buy whichever version comes with bonus tracks.)

In fact, if I were to write my own take on Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, one of them would be "build a good music collection." I wouldn't underestimate the pleasures of building a good music collection. It's brought me more joy than I ever expected.

As for my movie collection, that's literally one of my most treasured possessions. I know this because not long ago I ran into financial troubles and I had to sell and pawn pretty much everything I owned to stay afloat, and my movie collection was one of the last things I wanted to part with. (I actually sold my TV before I touched my movies.) That's not a result I would have expected, either, but I guess you learn what's really important to you then.

I'm not a pack rat, by any means. I've moved across the country five times and I never took a moving truck. My furnishings are somewhere between "minimalist" and "spartan" and for over a year I only lived out of half of my one-bedroom apartment because I couldn't afford to furnish the whole thing. But I've always had my movie collection. It's a sort of history of me, in bookshelf form, and the thought of having to rebuild that all from scratch just seems unbearable to me.

[chucker]

This thread makes me feel young, so thanks.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by chucker This thread makes me feel young, so thanks.

the people driving on the roads next to you might not be old enough to remember the year 2000

you're welcome

[chucker]

Wait, we passed the year 2000?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by chucker Wait, we passed the year 2000?

Judging by Hollywood, the world stopped in like 1998.

The new Godzilla flick was okay, but I'm so excited for next year's new Star Wars movie! It feels like we've been waiting for it forever, it's going to be great!

[Ryan]

The oldest movie I own is Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three staring James Cagney from 1961. Cagney plays a higher-up at Coca-Cola stationed in Berlin before the wall went up. His boss charges him with taking care of his Southern Belle socialite daughter as she tours Europe. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

She married a communist? That's going to be the biggest thing to hit Atlanta since General Sherman threw that little barbecue.

[Robo]

Thanks for sharing! I hope more people answer the question.

Does anyone else feel like there are sort of "off decades" for media? Like, there are times when it just seems like there is an explosion of genius, and then there are other times that are just sort of meh? I feel like if I were to say that, people would just assume I was wearing nostalgia goggles, that everyone thinks "everything is awesome" when they're young and then they grow old and become more selective/jaded/realistic and less easily impressed. But in my case that doesn't line up with my experience.

Without giving away how many movies I own (gulp), I own just a couple from the 1920s, a few more from the 1930s, and more still from the 1940s and about the same amount from the 1950s…but then I own fewer films from the 1960s than from the 1950s, which is interesting. But then I own more films from the 1970s, and there it starts to hockey-stick—almost. I own way more films from the 1980s, but I actually own fewer 1990s movies than 1980s movies, despite the fact that the 1990s represented my childhood and most of my '80s films came out before I was born. So that's interesting. And then it really hockey-sticks, with me owning a good deal more 2000s films and way more 2010s films, which I think makes sense—these are films that came out when I was old enough to be part of the movie-buying public.

Obviously, age and personal interests have a lot to do with it. I love film noir, for example, which is why the '40s and '50s have a bit of a boost compared to the '60s. But the period from, say, 1975-1985 really does seen to be a uniquely creative period in cinema, and I'm too young for that to be nostalgia talking. There was Jaws and Star Wars, of course, but also Alien and Blade Runner, E.T. and Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Romancing the Stone. The list goes on and on. And yes, those were all crowd-pleasing blockbusters, but that was in an era where blockbusters could be good. Perhaps more importantly, they could be new. What a fresh an exciting time that must have been!

The '90s seem pretty dull, in comparison. There was Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump and such, but it was also a time when blockbusters got a lot more formulaic ("It's like Die Hard on a _____!" Or, for comedies, "Honey, I Xed the X!") and merch-driven and "toyetic." The Batman sequels were terrible. The Phantom Menace was…well, you know. More independent stuff like the Tarantino films and sex, lies, and videotape were the saving graces here. (Twister epitomizes the decade to me, and nobody puts Twister on the same pedestal as Indiana Jones.)

Today's blockbusters are still formulaic, of course, but the formula has been improved. The '90s look like a bit of a rough patch in hindsight, having neither an excess of genius nor a replicable recipe for consistent quality.

Or maybe I'm just making shit up. Either way, it's interesting (I hope) to think about.

[psmith2.0]

I just think it's tougher/different overall...so much stuff out there to grab our time and attention. The Internet, video games, on-demand everything, etc. makes it tougher for certain types of movies and music to find a place. We're bombarded from all sides, never a break from entertainment/information. I imagine it's tough for any one thing to truly stand out...it has to be so much more impressive and "ohmigosh!!!" than anything ever before, otherwise...who's gonna look up from their 4" screen and give a rip? That's just how it is now, for better or worse.

I sit in movies now and 1/3 of the crowd can't put their phones away, after paying $8+ (and another $260 for snacks)...I just always find that so strange. "You're (voluntarily) here, paying to watch this big, loud thing up there on that giant screen...and you're still going to sit there for two hours and putz around with your phone? Why did you even come and spend all this money? Are you truly that hard-up for entertainment and distraction?!"

The answer, sadly, is "yes". And then that bleeds over to the kinds of stuff being made, to cater to/adapt to that shift.

In 1955 (or 1975 and even 1995) there just wasn't much beyond the TV/music/movie trio in terms of mainstream, pop culture-based distractions/amusements (there have always been books and plays, but I'm talking more technology-based pursuits that require some sort of hardware/electricity).

The studios and record companies now exist in a world where 11-year-olds have the entire world - and everything in it - in their pocket 24/7. That's gotta be tough to go up against, and changes everything.

[Robo]

Maybe I'm good at tuning stuff out, or maybe I'm just fortunate to live in places where people have good etiquette, but I can't remember ever being bothered by people using their phones during a movie. I'll be annoyed to death if light is leaking onto the top corner of the screen because the usher forgot to close the doors, and I'll be ticked if the projectionist neglects to turn up the brightness to compensate for it being a 3D show, but I don't even notice the other patrons. Half the time I forget my $260 snacks.

I'll never forget walking out of Wall-E at the Rave Motion Pictures in Las Vegas with my friend Tay, and being just blown away by how beautiful and moving the movie was, and the first thing she says to me is, "Did you know the couple behind us was having sex?" But I didn't notice at all. I clearly have a rare gift.

I never got to go to the movies when I was a kid, so I guess it just feels sort of special and magical to me, even now. People always complain about ticket prices being so high and grumble grumble 3D surcharge but I've never felt like I wasn't getting my money's worth. Even when it's kind of a meh film, I'm always happy I went, because it's always better in the theater.

[thegeriatric]

Oldest movie appears to be The Towering Inferno (1974)

As for Music Probably The Beatles/Rolling Stones. (1960's)

I had a good clear out a few years back. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

[Bryson]

Just looking over my bookshelves: looks like the oldest Movies are White Christmas (1954) and West Side Story (1961). Music: I don't actually own any CDs any more, but I do have a 1955 Bing Crosby record: Merry Christmas which I assume came out in conjunction with the movie.

And I have a 1955 Magnavox record player/stereo (with an Airport Express retrofitted to the inside of it...) that we listen to everything through. It's hardly hi-fi quality but it has a pleasingly warm sound that I like.

Edit: just spotted that I also have a copy of Harvey (1950). So I guess that's the oldest.

[Ebby]

*Gulp*

Soooo as part of my major, I covered the history of American and Japanese film. My collection features pivotal films such as: Nanook of the North (1922), Un Chien Andalou (1929), Sisters of the Gion (1936), etc. My collection also includes such gems as The War of the Worlds (1953), loved this as a kid, and Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) because I saw it in the bargain bin for $2.

[psmith2.0]

Robo, did you ever listen to the Yeah, It's That Bad podcast? Your use of "toyetic" made me wonder. But maybe that's a common word.

[GSpotter]

The oldest movie in my collection is "Citizen Kane" (1941), followed by a german classic comedy "Die Feuerzangenbowle" from 1944 and the James Bond movie "Frow Russia with Love (1963). (I was a big Bond fan in my teens and have managed to see all Bond movies in theatres, thanks to some reruns).

My oldest album is probably "This was" from Jethro Tull (1968), followed by the recordings of the Woodstock festival from 1969.

[Capella]

Movie: Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Album: Horizontal by the Bee Gees (1968)
Game: Myst (1993)

[Brad]

I think the the oldest movies in our house belong to my wife: Little Women (1949), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and White Christmas (1954). The oldest movies in my own collection are The Time Machine (1960), Planet of the Apes (1968), and 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968). Can you figure out our tastes in cinema from those truncated lists?

The oldest album is tougher to figure out, but I know we have the Bing Crosby album for Merry/White Christmas (1954?). So, let's go with that!

I gave up the physical copies of my Nintendo games long ago, but I still have them as ROMs for when I'm in a nostalgic mood. The oldest games I actually owned are Pinball (1984) and Super Mario Bros (1985).

[Wrao]

I have no idea, and I'm not entirely sure how I would find out. One of my great shames, organizationally is that I have about 6 boxes in my garage of exactly what you're describing; 'old media' and damn if I'm about to go through them

[Robo]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Robo, did you ever listen to the Yeah, It's That Bad podcast? Your use of "toyetic" made me wonder. But maybe that's a common word.

Nope. (Should I have?)

It is an actual buzzword in The Industry: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyetic

[psmith2.0]

Oh.

It's gone now. It lasted for two-and-a-half years (January 2011-summer of 2013). I liked it. Three friends out of NJ reviewing/talking about movies that have a 50% or below (rotten) rating at RottenTomatoes.com and if they deserved it. It started a bit slow (none of them are professional podcasters/presenters...two graphic designers and an accountant) but they hit a groove/format after a while and it was very enjoyable/funny. In that time you get to know the personalities, inside jokes, etc.

You can find some reviews/interviews online. I was genuinely bummed when they packed it in because it was just like hearing people I knew/liked talking about silly movies. I've got all 143 episodes loaded on my iPhone and on my iMac, so I can always go back and listen...in fact, I do every night. I hit the shuffle (I've ripped them all as mp3s so I treat them as music files/playlist) and put my phone on a 1-2 sleep timer and drift off listening each and every night to 1-2 random episodes.

[Robo]

You are a film junkie, aren't you! Maybe you should start a podcast.

The only film podcast I listen to right now is the /filmcast. I'm not saying it's the best or anything, it's just the one I listen to. I like that I sort of know their personalities and can grok what they're into, and I feel like I have similar tastes.

[psmith2.0]

That's how I was with these guys. The stuff they thought was lame or cool, so did I.

[curiousuburb]

Music:
CD: Ken Burns Jazz Box Set contains a recording from Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1917)
Digital: Jelly Roll Morton Compilation (1923-1927?)

Film:
DVD: I used to have some Charlie Chaplin Box Sets, but at the moment I can see Dangerous Moonlight (1941) I bought for Grandparents, and Citizen Kane (1941) I bought the GF, and my copy of The Time Machine (1950)
Digital: Metropolis (1927), and a compilation of Georges Méliès, including Voyage dans La Lune (1902) and The Astronomers Dream (1898)

Games:
Mac/PC: SimEarth (1990) / Battle Chess (1991) but I used to have Oregon Trail
Platform: PS/2 Burnout (2001), I think... used to have MAME ROM of BattleZone (1980)