I just got back from seeing Cinematic Titanic LIVE! I got an MST3K tape (Pod People) signed by the entire cast, as well as my ticket.
The movie I saw was The Alien Factor.
"We'll use this gasoline to set the monster on fire!"
"Good plan!"
"OH sh!t! THERE IT IS!"
*screams, throws gas-can at the monster and runs*
Yup, it was that bad of a movie. They tore it to shreds. ^^

You get Clones of Bruce Lee.

I put in a Veritech.

I bought the LaserDisc edition of The Man With the Golden Gun (my second favorite Bond movie after Moonraker. What can I say, I like cheese) and the VHS editions of Godzilla VS Monster Zero and Godzilla VS Spacegodzilla, all for a grand total of FIVE DOLLARS. God damn, how I love thrift stores...

You get Magical Trevor!

I put in Foamy the Squirrel.

You get a copy of Jazz the Jackrabbit.

I put in YouTube.

The mere fact that Daft Punk did the soundtrack makes it awesome. There is no way to refute that statement.
Anyway, I'm going to see it with my uncle on Monday...

You get Kato from The Pink Panther.

I put in a furry's fursuit.

You get a copy of the animated movie 9.

I put in some post-Christmas depression.

NEW YEARS EEEEEVE!!!1!
Farewell, 2010. We hardly knew ye.

You get a LaserDisc player.

I put in the Bismark.

You get a giant nickel-iron asteroid.

I put in 400 pounds of Spam.

You get a pack of Voyager trading cards.

I put in a coke machine.

You get a topic revival!

I put in some old batteries.

I have finals next week.
'Scuse me while I cram and panic...

MAH BIRFDAY IS IN 12 DAYS! That's right, folks, I turn 20 on the 22nd.
However, my actual birthday CELEBRATION won't be until the 26th, while all my relatives are over for Thanksgiving. S'gonna be awesome.

Happeh birfday!!

I'm seriously considering dipping into my savings account and buying a netbook to replace the piece of sh*t I have now...

Rest in peace, Mr. Shudo. May a flight of Pidgeots guide thee to thy rest.
...
...sorry, that IS really sad... you have no idea how much of a Pokemon freak I was back in the day.

...

DAMMIT! Forgot what I was gonna post.

You get one of those coupon inserts they put in new DVDs! It's for Legoland California!
...
And it expired in 2003.

I put in a CG dinosaur.

You get one of his lesser known movies.

I put in a crystallized fragment of the 1990s.

It would basically be squarish in shape, about the thickness of a VHS cassette, but wider and squarer. There probably wouldn't be a window on it to see the tape, since it would have to be rewound completely before coming out of the machine anyway (and thus you wouldn't have to check how much tape was on the reel). My closest guess would be that it would look something like an old 8-track tape.
I'm glad you like the idea, though! I'm thinking of talking to some of my engineering student friends at the college about it...

Yeah, it is a pretty weird post. But, I needed to get this thing out of my head. I know magnetic tape isn't exactly the best format in the world, but, I collect VHS, I'm mostly in it for the experience.
Anyway, the self-cleaning feature wouldn't be hard to implement in the cassettes. It'd basically just be a cloth pad you could dab cleaning solution onto when the picture was looking a little shabby. It would clean the tape as it played.
The whole "self-threading" mechanism isn't quite as far-fetched as it sounds, believe it or not. One of the first home video formats, EVR, used one. Basically, it was a film strip that was drawn past a scanner and shown on a TV screen, but it used a reel-to-reel system with one reel for the content and a take-up reel inside the machine.
Problem was, the self-threading system was a bit complicated and jammed easily as a result. My system uses just one motion to thread the tape, not much to go wrong or wear out.
I dunno, there are probably a million problems I haven't foreseen.

Yes, my latest obsession is old analog video cassette formats. I've created my own, on paper, and it's very technical and such. I have no idea if it would actually work, since I'm neither an engineer nor an electronics expert.
But, here it is. My competitor the VHS and Betamax that never was.

Name: Magnetic Video Cassette (MVC).
Type: Helical-scan magnetic-tape video cassette format.
Tape Information: Single-reel cassette, capable of holding up to eight-hours worth of 1/2 inch magnetic tape. Capable of recording and playing back 300-line color video, linear stereophonic/quadraphonic sound and miscellaneous digital information.
The tape is wound around the single internal reel, with the end attached to a small metal bar that is kept in a recess on the outside of the tape. To learn why, looked below.
Cassette also includes a built-in anti-static brush and refillable "wet-type" cleaning head, in order to keep the tape in good condition.
Recorder/Player information: A cassette is placed into the machine, constituting one reel of a two-reel system. The take-up reel is built into the machine. To thread the tape, a simple mechanical swing-arm catches the metal bar attached to the end of the tape, pulls it over the read/record head, and clicks it into a catch on the take-up reel.
Once the tape is fully threaded, it remains so for all operations. This allows for faster mechanical response times, allowing for a faster activation of the pause and record functions.
A piezoelectric crystal, controlled by signals encoded onto the tape, is mounted under the head and keeps it in near-perfect alignment at all times, dispensing with manual tracking, and allowing for a noise-free picture during rewind and freeze-frame. This idea is swiped from the European Video 2000 format players.
Also, all moving parts are controlled by a single drive motor and belt. This allows for near-perfect synchronization between tape reel and head rotation.
Advantages: A relatively uncomplicated mechanical design, which would have been cheaper to make than those used in early VHS and Betamax machines. Same goes for the cassettes.
Disadvantages: Tape must be fully rewound before being ejected. This would require viewers to watch an entire tape in one sitting, or leave the tape threaded in the machine while they took breaks, not allowing others to watch or record other material in the meantime. This could be solved, however, by a "Time Index Memory" system. VCRs could "remember" the last few tapes that were played in them (via a serial number encoded at the beginning of every tape), as well as the time-index when they were stopped. Then, when the tape was reinserted, it could be fast-forward to exactly the time index where it left off.
Another problem is, simple as the mechanical systems of the player are, they aren't exactly conducive to miniaturization without a lot of headaches. Thus, camcorder use would not be terribly practical.

So, yes, there it is. Tell me, do you think this would have kicked ass back in the early '80s?

You get ownership of a Roller Disco.

I shove in Maaaagical Trevor.

Started watching Star Trek Voyager last night. Also, got some games for my Sega CD.

Team PLASMA... *sigh*... they need to lay off these Team Rocket ripoffs. What's wrong with the original Team Rocket?