On Collecting

I like to collect things. Maybe it's a quirk of my upbringing or perhaps it's my nerd brain performing at peak, but collecting things - curating and compiling and displaying those things - brings me comfort.

My two biggest collection revolve around Aquaman and Beetlejuice.

AQUAMAN

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Wait. What? Aquaman!?

Yeah, Aquaman. That Aquaman. King of Atlantis & DC Comics superhero.

Look, my first comic books were Batman related - specifically the "Batman and the Outsiders" original run in the 80s, purchased from a thrift store in late summer 1989 - but my first real exposure to superheroes and comics came from the 60s Aquaman cartoons. We had a VHS collection of them years before Tim Burton's BATMAN and that thrift store broadened my horizons.

I never understood why people made fun of Aquaman. All I saw - as an evolving proto-nerd - was a hero with cool powers who tried to do right while living under the sea. That wasn't lame to me.

Anyway, about 12 years ago, DC Comics rebooted itself into The New 52 and the Aquaman book, written by Geoff Johns, hung a lantern on the whole "Aquaman's lame" trope and I was there for it. All. The. Way. As a result, I bought my first Aquaman thing and I was off to the races. You can see it below...in the second picture, action figure on the right with the sparkly orange shirt.

Making fun of Aquaman isn't cool anymore, thanks in no small part to Jason Momoa, and I'm really quite proud of my collection.

Aquaman will always be cool to me.

BEETLEJUICE

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I'm hardly unique in loving Tim Burton's quirky take on the afterlife. My wife and I attended a Beetlejuice watch party at Alamo Drafthouse last month and that place was packed!

Here's me, being a goob, that night...

When Beetlejuice came to VHS it was the movie I picked almost every time we rented movies from Hastings...which was a lot since we didn't have cable and our antenna was garbage so our VCR was our main source of entertainment. I think I wore that tape out because one day it disappeared and there was no more Beetlejuice for a few weeks until, one day, it was back but it was a newer, shinier tape.

I never missed an episode of the Saturday morning cartoon of Beetlejuice (unless the antenna crapped out). I have every episode of it saved on my home video server and I watch them fairly regularly.

I went through a phase in the 90s where Tarantino flicks were my vocal favorite movies, and then there was the period when I claimed it was Jurassic Park, but ultimately my heart always flies back to Beetlejuice.

I can quote the entire movie, verbatim.

I have the musical's OBC album downloaded and always ready for me on Spotify. I listen to it every few weeks. We're going to see it when the traveling cast comes here in February.

I'm a fan. Period. It's probably pretty easy to see why I'd start collecting Beetlejuice stuff. It's modest, but mine.

I collect other things - fantasy maps, antique cameras, art supplies - to name a few. I can share them if you want. Let me know.