Patience is a virtue
I often repeat the above words to myself when I’m ogling the latest movie releases in HMV as if I was still a ten years old boy - there’s that latest CGI spectacular right next to the new Bond movie – all beautifully, tantalisingly packaged. But have you noticed the wording in most of the advertising: ‘OWN IT now on DVD or Blue Ray!’ My response is; why do I need to OWN IT? I can understand why I need to own shoes, furnature, a fridge etc. I can even understand why the ownership of music CDs is important. But music CDs are usually played frequently. Most DVDs we buy get watched once and then put away.What I’m trying to get at here is, shouldn’t we be questioning the idea that things like favourite TV shows and films need to be owned at all? Or perhaps, more importantly – as this website is all about saving money – why do we need to own this film NOW? What’s the rush. All that’s achieved by rushing to own a favourite film is that we end up giving the retailer a lot omore of our money. Even just a few months later a DVD may well have halved in price. By the time the January sales have arrived, a movie which came out in the Summer is often in the HMV Sale for a quarter of its original retail price. Let us know what your bargain of the week was!
Logically, unless you get knocked down by a bus and killed, it matters very little whether you see a particular movie in July or the following January – except to your bank balance. I have also personally benefited – both financially and from a point of vew of being entertained – by a more flexible attitude towards the arts. For example, I frequently go to a book warehouse sale were all of the books are a small fraction of the price books are elsewhere. This sale may not have exactly the book I would most like to own at the time, but because the books are so cheap I can afford to take a gamble on a writer I’ve never read before. I’ve therefore made literary discovies I wouldn’t have otherwise made.
You could also patronise your local charity shop by getting cheap CDs, books and DVDs there. You might even end up leaving with a new set of clothes and a cuddly toy for your neice! Once again, they may not have exactly what you want, but whose to say that the item you take a chance on isn’t better than the over-hyped, just-released item you felt you wanted, or needed, more? You’ll get to see it in the end anyway – if you follow my ‘Entertainment conmes to those who wait’ philosophy. In fact, as regards films, the longer you wait, the cheaper it gets, until eventually it ends up on TV and it’s completely free – now, that’s what I call a good deal!