Oddity Archive: Episode 124 - Useless VHS Tapes

No, this isn’t about those 100 million (or more) copies of “Titanic” and “Jerry Maguire”-useless as they are.
Visit our website at www.theoddityar...
Social Media:
Facebook: / oddityarchive
Twitter: @oddityarchive
Help out the Archive by making a monthly donation to our Patreon campaign at / oddityarchive

[@dhpbear2]

Speaking of useless tapes, I heard that, back in the 90's, someone actually published a VHS tape on how to hook up your VCR!

[@jaydensvhsarchive3.095]

WTF

[@VolkswagenNut1969]

During the roller coaster video, all I could think was: "So, Billy! Ever seen a grown man naked?"

[@prismstudios001]

Tim Moses “Ever been inside a Turkish prison?”

[@TheApoohneicie]

“Do you like gladiator movies Billy?”

[@randypanthegoatboy7114]

The guy in the rollercoaster video is giving me a "Bike store owner from Different Strokes" vibe.

[@eileenf7991]

Jesus. That end bit made me so uncomfortable.

[@EddieMillerStudios]

14:15 ~ Who else heard Ben smack himself upside the head and say "Ow"?

[@daveporter0217]

The Big Bad Wolf was and Loch Ness Monster is at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. I rode Big Bad Wolf in 2005, before being diagnosed with high blood pressure.

[@DrewberTravels]

I love picking up the random video tapes. They are like a slice of life... sometimes.

[@ouchquitit3300]

the second tape had some great Ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ ｓ

[@excrono]

ouch, quit it 14:45 in particular is so Weather Channel it hurts.

[@FernieCanto]

奇妙なアーカイブ　ＭＩＮＮＯＴＴＥ　ＤＲＥＡＭＳ　９５

[@visaman]

Thank you for the clip from the Strip for your man video! Gio was a very popular and famous dancer in her day in Vancouver, I used to see her shows quite a few times at the Drake Showroom, in the mid 80s. In the documentary, Stripper, she has a fun segment with the legendary dancer, Mouse! The 80s was The Golden Age of Exotic Dancing in Vancouver. The Bon Jovi Album title, Slippery When Wet, was inspired by a visit to Vancouver's, Number 5 Orange, Strip Club.

[@mattkkjc]

"I haven't sold a popsicle in three years..." That's because his ice cream wagon is always too full of crazy hats.

[@SmeddyTooBestChannel]

It's always a brilliant idea to try and get you to defocus your eyes on a panning static image.

[@visaman]

Smedis2 That's what I did with the last video!

[@missbleach8767]

📺

[@plushifoxed]

gotta love the generic character generator text in the intro/closing of the striptease tape

[@visaman]

Roxie Mika That's was considered high tech in 1986.

[@emmittmorgans8076]

I was frustrated by Magic Eye for about the first 2 months after discovering the fad, but when I realized I could control my eye muscles well enough to cross my eyes and keep my vision in focus, I've been able to see Magic Eye images within 2 seconds... and I've also used the same technique to check the depth of 3D KZbin videos (so long as the image is small enough) in side-by-side mode. That Magic Eye tape was quite a cool thing, but mostly because it had Pepsi Man in it (@ 16:05)! I also don't know why that guy at Magic Mountain went from Cockney to New Zealand accents when talking about Nessie...

[@asmythe2977]

that generic text at the beginning of the striptease video is sooo 80s.

[@DarkPuIse]

Wow, this episode, the Magic Eye stuff is still of high enough resolution that you can take snapshots of the images, feed them to a magic eye decoder, and still make them out. Thanks for giving good-quality video, Ben! Well, as good as VHS is gonna get, anyway...

[@XX-121]

you couldn't do it with your eyes? :) well you weren't missing much anyway. fun fact: the background of the discographies section of the pink floyd archives website is "magic eye"

[@DarkPuIse]

@@XX-121 I've got a lazy eye, so I actually don't have binocular vision, pretty much... so yeah, Magic Eye illusions are impossible for me to do naturally, really, lol.

[@zyber9]

RIP Original Colossus and Shockwave at Six Flags Magic Mountain! RIP Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

[@WeatherSTARIII]

That striper video at the end reminded me of an unaired pilot episode/skit of "Tim and Eric's Awesome Show" (not to mention the Amiga Video Toaster-like effects).

[@DanZero77]

8:25 - Now with footage of guy in front of you getting out of boat, driving home, having dinner and sleeping.

[@LucaW.]

The rowing video actually seems really calming.

[@jstr4life]

I used to do the same, only with obviously taped off of TV tapes and Screener Copies of movies...because I'm weird. Now I have way too many VHS tapes sitting on an old video store storage shelf. Also: When Lord, When do I get to see the sailboat!

[@Fuzy2K]

5:55 -- The music makes it sound like someone's about to get murdered...

[@WAQWBrentwood]

Holy Hell, Did I just literally see "Mom" in the credits for the stripping video !?!? 😨

[@visaman]

WAQWBrentwood Yes, Gio's mother, who was her manager.

[@WAQWBrentwood]

Albert Giesbrecht I was just hoping it wasn't MY Mom,...Just saying.....😧

[@cheddarcheese7928]

I started laughing out loud when the ice cream guy went to sit with the little kid at 19:34 . Just seems wrong

[@bunnybismuth]

The music in the animated part of the Magic Eye video sounds like something right out of the Genesis or Super Nintendo library.

[@nicholsjoshua15]

Part of it sounded like the BladeRunner theme, the part where all the cars are flying around, just before the Coca-Cola advertisement.

[@thancrus]

i still cant do those eye puzzles.... i could as a kid but something happened in my teen years and now i cant.... if i know whats there ...sometimes

[@Fuzy2K]

20:53 -- What happened with this music is that, while they were recording it, Joe Satriani was in the studio next door, and they left the door open. ...Either that or they mixed the guitars too low.

[@Rubycon99]

Anyone wanna come over for Robitussin and Magic Eye tapes?

[@EddieMillerStudios]

Say no to medicine abuse.

[@SRMkay]

I would've loved that Magic Eye tape as a kid...

[@marktubeie07]

_Marital aid_ - what a great term!

[@Fluteboy]

As a kid in the UK, we would pass by a shop with a blacked-out window, and a sign that said "Marital aids". I used to say to my mum: "Mum, it's a martial arts shop!"

[@marktubeie07]

LOL excellent line!

[@stephl8304]

Thank you for showing the magic eye tape.I loved magic eye as a kid and this vhs tape fascinated me and I loved to watch it. What a great nostalgic moment.

[@chrysanth.5700]

Were you able to see anything at all? I had no clue what I was supposed to see.

[@Gadgetman1989]

reminds me of a VHS I had for reveal computer company: setting up your modem lol

[@CoolDudeClem]

I can never get those magic eye things to work, well I can, but it always comes out inverted, everything that supposed to be "popping out" is going inwards, and everything that IS supposed to be going inwards is popping out instead.

[@DurradonXylles]

Jeez, Ben, you got enough useless and offputting content to fill a month's worth of EverythingIsTerrible's uploads! And that's not even counting the VHS footage! :P

[@memyopinionsche6610]

who keeps a space helmet in an ice cream cart? creepy is not the word I would say.. serial killer may be.

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

Talk about useless videotapes - one time I was able to borrow the employee training tapes while I worked at Long John Silver's and copied them.

[@jamesroach1180]

That's actually kinda funny

[@JL-sm6cg]

Sounds like my friend absconding with McDonald's videos and watching them at home.

[@3991justin]

Magic eye is easy for those that can see double on-command due to lazy eye or whatever. When looking at the image, just have one eye see double so that the adjacent objects overlap each other, and they'll "lock in" and produce a stereoscopic effect. The animated segment was really crappy, they could have done so much more with that!

[@fragdude4450]

I can see someone actually making one of those rowing exercise videos today.

[@danmount9462]

Ben goes through box. Sees copy of Hired Stud. Sobs.

[@joeblow8593]

I can't wait to see the outtakes from the "Watching Wet Paint Dry"

[@CineCid]

There's a replica of the Mister Twister coaster at Knobels, which is an amusement park located in Elysburg, PA. When the Twister footage came up, I had to double take because I'm somewhat of a local to that area

[@TheRealPentiumMMX]

The Magic Eye video makes me feel like I did drugs

[@andypritchard9644]

22:29 RIP Vortex. Also I wonder if Ben cut out the part that mentions Vortex and left in the part that talks about the Racer. Knowing this tape, it probably made that little screw up on its own

[@GenoCuddy]

That wasn't the Nutcracker, its actually Capriccio Italiano 5.

[@ChuckD79]

Another fun episode....I think that stripping video set a new record for "NOT OUR EDIT" alerts!

[@Dannypuck]

They should have had a certain Billy Squier song in the background of that rowing VHS.

[@tommynesbitt4837]

Dan M. "Rock Me Tonite?" #jkjk

[@danmount9462]

Dan M. Everybody Wants You. #JK

[@stonebleeds]

Did the editor for the Gio tape use the same character generator as the venerable Captain Midnight?

[@robsimp1436]

Took me 2 tries but I was able to finally see the moving video at the end, and it was crap. I think this stuff is a lot easier to do if you're used to looking at the 3DS or VR.

[@thaddeusmcgrath]

20:23 reminds me of a young Mister Herbert looking for a young boy. "I'm Lookin for a Car Thats Been Tricked Out to Be an Ice Cream Truck"

[@JMein13074]

The production value of the stripping video feels like something Tom Rubnitz would make.

[@ToxPhy]

24:49 Me after eating all that amusement park food.

[@EthanLong]

Many parts of this video were filmed a few blocks from me. It's the Charles River in Boston/Cambridge just by Allston

[@EthanLong]

You can see big pharma company Genzyme on the banks of the river

[@josephgioielli]

I was distracted by the "city Skyline" gobo at the beginning of the stripper video. That was a dang fine gobo. I also like how she thanked her Mom at the end of the tape. Touching. Great video, Ben. Really brightened my day.

[@csukosd]

I feel like in the center of the box should be a green screen. Think of the madness you could do! Weather reports, test patterns, old westerns ran at 2x the speed! lol.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

so I guess my lady in my life can't strip to death metal! damn it my fantasy will never come true.

[@EpicB]

I've never been able to figure out those magic eye things.

[@schmootheonly]

To be honest I used to row and I really sort of felt like I was back on the water again with that first video. I'm tempted to find a copy cause I'm too broke to join a crew

[@pearofsalamanca]

See? You're part of that niche audience Ben was talking about! Be proud!

[@mrgbig6237]

Apparently I still have the knack for those 3d eye images, that tape was awesome.

[@drumboy02]

hey Ben, love your videos! I live in NJ but my older brother lives out in Denver and he has worked for elitch gardens for many years. I just wanted to tell you that you got a good laugh out of me over your comment about lakeside!

[@LynchMobFilms]

Talks about the Loch Ness Monster....with an English accent....

[@Madness832]

Well, as a Bostonian, I did appreciate the scenery in the first tape (the dude's broad shoulders weren't bad, either!).

[@Fluteboy]

14:12 - I see the X.

[@Dillinify]

19:00 sounds like the soundtrack to a horror movie! Michael myers is probably lurking just off-screen

[@TheApoohneicie]

Oh man the Big Bad Wolf was amazing!!! So sorry it’s gone but at least we still have the Loch Ness Monster.😢

[@SomeSickDingus]

That popciclemonger fed him a few DXM laced ones before taking him on all them rides in the minds eye.

[@LucaW.]

Aw, c'mon the roller coaster guy is just trying to cheer the kid up.

[@collegeman1988]

Hey Ben, why don't you do an oddity archive video on instructional television? These were instructional programs broadcast on public TV in the 60s 70s and 80s on weekdays and shown to kids in school. The schools I attended as a kid and as a teenager did not show these, but I remember when not having school or being sick and staying at home and watching these. The shows I'm talking about included Inside Out, Mathmakers, All About You, The Clyde Frog Show, The Write Channel, Vegetable Soup, It Figures, et cetera et cetera.

[@5roundsrapid263]

collegeman1988 I used to love those shows. I grew up in Mississippi where several were taped.

[@pearofsalamanca]

I don't exactly get the creeper vibes from the rollercoaster tape. I've seen far worse media that accidentally gives off creeper vibes.

[@pearofsalamanca]

6 months later, I can tell you, in fact, that the snippets of the rollercoaster tape gives me ASMR. I couldn't tell you why.

[@calzonemaniacsvideocorner0804]

I always thought your voice sounded like Curtis Armstrong. Your videos are very intriguing.

[@asmythe2977]

elitch gardens ah yes i lost my first wallet at the tourist trappy one when i was 13

[@johnpriceprice6860]

I remember when there were dozens of those magic eye puzzle kiosk in the mall. I never could see the hidden images.

[@AaronRedding]

i have never seen a magic eye other than one time on the back of a box of honey nut cheerios and it was a damned ad for honey nut cheerios

[@zackstewart920]

Sample for intro to goth song @18:54 ...why do they begin a roller coaster video with the sound of Garthim?

[@andypritchard9644]

33:12 Ben you missed a black box

[@danmount9462]

Andy Pritchard The Cinema Snob will take points off for that.

[@bingo99aa]

deffo a bare nipple!

[@Redspl]

it's funny how i needed to get closer to my screen to actually be able to see those magic images.. I've actually experienced them the first time today!

[@bakonfreek]

Wow, the VHS magic eye thing is disorienting as hell when the superimposed graphics are introduced. I need some booze so I can hold the out of focus more effectively.

[@snowandice8804]

The water noise would drive me to insanity.

[@SillyEwe]

14:14 POP ow!

[@JayDee284]

hey the Magic Eye 1 works :)

[@kristina80ification]

Doesn't the "moving magic eye" video kind of defeat the way a magic eye works? since you are supposed to pick a focal point and then defocus your vision? The moving images would make that nearly impossible to do, but then again I could never get those things to work for me anyhow.

[@rwdplz1]

What are you printing large quantities of, anyway?

[@cheddarcheese7928]

imagine getting off a roller coaster and seeing a strange ice cream guy giving ur son a Space Helmet? Someone’s getting knocked out. After I stopped laughing that is

[@z-man652]

with a really strong indika you actually can enjoy the majic eye video (that's what a friend told me anyway )

[@FernieCanto]

"Exercise toolage"? Ben, have you been hanging out with Karl Pilkington?

[@s8wc3]

"but only if he keeps his arms behind his back and does it with his teeth" NICE

[@memyopinionsche6610]

I guess stripping to Mayhem and Cannibal Corpse would be kind of hard.

[@iamoutofideas1]

14:27 Korg M1, Universe Preset

[@eileenf7991]

I was thinking "this sounds like an FM synth thing...."

[@gctechs]

@@eileenf7991 Korg M1 is not FM

[@eileenf7991]

@@gctechs Really? I thought it was

[@netsurferx1]

Man...All of a sudden, I want to try to get an OA t-shirt.

[@joeblow8593]

29:08 Sounds like a bad attempt of someone trying to do "Backfired" by Debbie Harry

[@TheApoohneicie]

I can see a basket on the Magic Eye on the box and some sort of mice or rabbits?

[@mannyowlstein8144]

The magic eye thing on the box is 3 bears, though I had to put it in full screen and HD to see it.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

stranger danger! stranger danger!

[@NortelGeek]

6:04 - This sounds almost identical to the theme from the Walt Disney World ride, Horizons (kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWW4Y3l-Ys-JpbM) or perhaps Dreamflight by Delta Airlines, albeit in a major tonality. (kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKO2pKl-pLqtaMU)... Is it just because of the "postmodern" 80s/90s synth, or does anyone else hear it?

[@12345marios]

Hello and welcome to the oddity archive.

[@kombi9648]

Have you tried to get ahold of then preservation N groups. At all? Some of your stuff should go three

[@buffclary]

Badly want to know if anyones phoned the number for a longer version of the rowing video 😉

[@funnyscares595]

I CAN'T SEE THE SAILBOAT!

[@steverye8872]

It's a schooner...

[@centrevezgaming4862]

I remember winning the magic eye video and jigsaw way back in the 90's I don't have either of them now . centrevez vectra

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Ben needs to meet the guys at RLM with one of the Wheel of the Worst episodes.

[@svinjamaria]

21:49 BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - THE PREQUEL

[@ChaunceyGardener]

The song that appears at 21:00 is the same as this budget DVD anime opening: watch?v=DVKu355tSpY

[@delmontoon]

OK, WTH!?!? Magic Eye pictures NEVER worked for me as a kid, but the video does!?!? GAAAHHHH!!! My youth was wasted!