Want to know something weird about a twenty-something living in the digital age?
I HATE VIDEO.
I don't hate movies or anything. And I don't care if everyone else wants to record their lives. But I don't really "get" it. I didn't really "get" it before YouTube even existed. I just don't like videos of my life.
Maybe it's because my grandma was obsessed with her video camera and carried it to every family function and trip around the world. Then I spent hours of my formative years watching her fast-forward through 93 minutes of the sidewalk in Prague.
I know there are some videos of my childhood. One rare occasion we tried to watch one and it was 20 minutes of us playing in mud by the lake: riveting stuff people. Then there are the many, many clips of my dad's shaky hand recording the wrong kid at swim meets (in his defense, it can be hard to distinguish little people in the water).
My mother-in-law was shocked when I said there would be no videographer at our wedding. Her kids used to love to plop down on the couch and watch their wedding video. I really didn't see much use. I was pretty confident I would never watch it. In my defense, it's been four years and I have never once regretted not having a video. (There is ONE thing I wish had been videotaped-- when all the guys at the wedding got down on their knees and sang "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling." It.was.awesome. Totally YouTube material)
Now I have my own kids and sometimes they do something cool and I think to myself, "shoot, I should probably video tape that." And then I wonder why, because I really don't have much intention of ever watching it.
It's not that I don't want to remember. Quite the opposite actually-- I am a huge lover of nostalgia and I value my experiences with people and in life above most things. But I am happy with a beautiful picture and the memories of those moments.
Oh, and I hate the way I sound on video. Maybe that's it.
I'm just the opposite!
ReplyDeleteWe have tons of video when Jack was a baby, including our trip to Disneyland with him with he was 11 weeks old.
We LOVE to just put it on. He loves to watch himself and ask us where we were and get all the info he can.
Even the long train ride I questioned my husband recording is now something I treasure.
I wish we had recorded more!!!
BUT...I loathe the way I sound on video too. :p
I also loathe the way I sound (and look) on video. I did have a friend video our wedding and make a video which we watch once in awhile, but I HATE the parts with me in it. We've never had a video camera and recently got a Flip. But I've used it probably 4 times. I never remember to take it anywhere!
ReplyDeleteYou know what I do? I make music videos. That way we never have to hear ourselves say something stupid like "hi mom" and we can fast forward through the hour and a half Prague sidewalk journey (everything looks way cooler in fast forward with some Rolling Stones jaming). Every trip or cycle in life then gets condensed into 5 minutes or so and you get the whole experience with out sitting on the couch for 2 days. Of course, someone has to spend the 2 days editing it down to 5 minutes. ... but that's what husbands are for.
ReplyDeleteWe have no video of anything that can't be recorded on our phones. And even then I only have 5, all less than 3 minutes. That's 15 minutes of live action.
ReplyDeleteSorry kids. I'll put the picture feed on slideshow and you can pretend it's a movie.
This actually makes me feel a lot better about the fact that I accidentally recorded over the video of Mac proposing to me...it was this rigged up thing with a bunch of our friends (one of them taped it)...I always felt REALLY BADLY about it. I feel slightly better now. So thanks.
ReplyDelete