A veritable treasure trove of VHS tapes

We're in the process of cleaning out our basement. It may be a five-year endeavor, Internet.

One bright spot -- if you can call it that: When I opened up our ancient (1990s) TV cabinet, I found two shelves of VHS tapes. Mind you, these are the ones that I'd deemed Too Good Too Trash last time we cleaned out that cabinet, which was before we got rid of our VCR. Which may ALSO have been in the 1990s.

If I'd been thinking about blogging about it at the time, I would've stacked them right-side-up for you. THE EASIER FOR YOU TO MAKE FUN OF ME WITH.

BUT. Believe it or not, these photos were made for the EXPRESS PURPOSE of making sure I was "allowed" to throw them out. God forbid I throw away a VHS tape that we have no means to play without checking with my husband to be sure he doesn't want to keep it.

I VAGUELY remember going through these 15 or more years ago to decide what I wanted to keep. I stand behind some of my decisions.

I mean, I don't generally watch films more than once, but for whatever reason, at some point in college I joined that dadblasted Columbia Movie Club or whatever it was, and I ended up with scores of videotapes. I probably WANTED ONE MOVIE, paid a penny for 20 movies and then paid the equivalent of our current mortgage payment for the remaining five on my contract. That's how that works, right?

At any rate, I did choose some keepers.

And yes, I AM including Die Hard in the "keeper" category. I think the males who read this blog can get behind me on that one.

But among all of the keepers were a few more ... interesting choices.

Hmm. I don't recall large chunks of either of those films, but I'm pretty sure I didn't need them with me long-term.

And then ...

Oscar was still in the original plastic-wrap. I don't even know what to say about that. And Tae Bo? Yeah, Billy Blanks kicked my butt for at least four days in 1998. And I don't know that he and I have met since.

I haven't slid any of these out of their sleeves, but I imagine that the tapes themselves are crusty and have maybe even begun to disintegrate. They're all going in the trash, every last one of them. If I absolutely had to, I'm sure I could replace MOST of them on DVD.

But let's be realistic: our DVD player is booked full-time with Frozen for the foreseeable future. Like until 2020.

What's on YOUR bookshelf or in your DVD cabinet that might merit an embarrassing admission?